Monday, February 8, 2010

As a brief catch-up... Cornbread and I are signed on for a half-marathon in Indianapolis on May 8th. We are training. I made a training schedule that began on January 4th, so we're a little over a month into it. We run 3 days/week with a long run on Saturdays, circuit train on Thursdays (which totally sucks), cross train and weight train on T/F.

Weight: 126.0
Workout: 3.5 miles

Ran on the treadmill this morning. It wasn't quite as bad as Saturday's run, but I think part of it had to do with the fact that I was running in front of people - who probably weren't paying any attention to me - and didn't want to be the sucker on the treadmill who has to stop every couple of minutes because she can't handle it. I wanted to stop several times but forced myself to get through. I think I stopped twice.

I had been running really, really well up until the end of last week. I was running my miles continuously without any breaks and was feeling very confident about it. And then I donated blood on Wednesday and have sucked since then. My heart rate prior to Wednesday was between 160-170, after Wednesday it has been 180-190. I HAVE to assume that donating blood is affecting this, there really is no other logical explanation for the difference in heart rate. BUT I have no information to support my theory.

So this morning was alright. I struggled to get involved in my music, which leads to me expending a lot more energy... I have to step to the beat of the music right now, otherwise I'm laboring - physically and mentally. It all has to gel. As I go through the training and build up my mileage and endurance, this will change (slightly), but right now I have to have the exact right music to run well.

Weight has been up slightly. I had gotten as low as 123.4 last Thursday, which would bring me back to my pre-holiday weight. Everyday it has gone up 1/2-1 pound, which indicates to me that it is water retention. I haven't been eating poorly either, so I'm not concerned. I'll hammer the water this week and see where I get.

With blood donation, Lifesource does a cholesterol test. Mine was a non-fasting test because I forgot that they did that. I checked my results on Thursday and was astonished to find that it was down to 197! I have never seen my cholesterol below 204. The first time I ever had it tested - fasting - it was 288. I was 22. It has never been that high again, but it has always hovered around 210-237. I'm excited - this is validation that the eating changes I have made are helping and are benefiting my body in ways that I can't feel. Also gives me encouragement to continue.

"Plant first" will continue to be my thought before choosing what to eat.