Month: December 2015

Weight UP (arghhh); WAIST DOWN though

Having overcome morbid obesity, I focus on the scale; the scale; did I mention THE SCALE.  My exercise since my last marathon has done only one thing:  INCREASE.  My average daily runs are between 9 and 11 miles plus assorted other exercises.

Having skipped the scale for a few months (apparently there is a lack of 9 volt batteries in my house), I was annoyed – actually alarmed – to see my weight was up – like over 152 lbs. NOT HAPPY!

Now on the other hand, my WAIST was DOWN.  I’ m comfortably in size 34 pants now; when not too long ago I was just comfortable in 35s.  I’m also wearing size medium t shirts that I was previously wearing the size large version of.

Now, 34s make me pretty happy given that in the summer of 2013 I was in 48s.  So, I asked someone at the gym “what gives” – my weight is up but my waist is down.  After seeing me exercise a trainer at the gym told me I’m probably building muscle and my body is shifting around.

I sure hope that’s it.  Fairly frustrating to exercise more than ever and see the scale go up while the waist goes down.

Running 5ks: 23:27. I’ll take it.

I started my “competitive” running with marathons.  My major competitor (heck, OK, my ONLY competitor), was and is:  ME!

That said, I can’t seem to get below 4 hours on a marathon.  A friend suggested I would stand a better chance if I built up speed by running some faster, shorter distance.

This fall, I’ve run three 5ks.  One with my youngest son, age 10.  We meandered through a 34 minute race on the Heritage Trail in Chester.  Another, on Halloween, I took 4th overall out of 97, but it was a slow crowd.  Finished that in 25:20.  On the treadmill I can keep it to under 24 minutes, but finally got under 23:30 outdoors with a 23:27 finish.  http://www.eagletiming.com/index.php/2015-race-results/174-2015-11-22-newburgh-turkey-trot-4-3m-2

I had a long-time former colleague tell me that this run (3.1 miles) must be just a little jog for me.  I told him I always have one goal:  finish with heart beating and have fun doing it.  Maybe that’s two goals.

In any event, I was happy to finish with a 23:27 and now of course want one thing – a finish in under 23 minutes.  I’m looking for my next marathon, but that will likely not be till the spring.  In the meantime, I’m focused on strength and speed training.