Sidelined

I was hoping I wouldn't have to write this post, but I've come to the realization that I am injured and that I need to sideline myself from running until I heal. This injury isn't from my recent face plant. It happened the morning after!

Last Friday I went for a run in the morning before I left for an overnight business trip to Houston. I don't typically run on Fridays. But since I wasn't going to be able to get my Saturday run in, I decided to run Friday morning instead.

Everything was going fine with my run. My energy has returned. My legs feel strong. I was zipping along at a faster pace than usual. I was having a great time!

About three miles into my run, I was going down a small, rock-covered decline, probably going too fast and not paying enough attention, and it happened...

Video of Northshore Trail

I created a little video during my run at the Northshore Trail last Tuesday. Go easy on me... this is my first video attempt! Enjoy.

Week 36: Stopping Self Defeating Behavior

For about the last three or four months I've hit a plateau with my weight loss progress. I thought it was related to a "set point" or something like that. But as I weighted in this week (and gained another 1.6 lbs) I realize that the primary reason why I have stopped losing weight is because I have stopped doing the things that I was doing previously when I was losing weight...

Mainly, tracking my consumption and staying within my allotted points.

So why did I stop? Why haven't I keep doing what I know works?

Face Plant

There is an old saying... "It's not a matter of if--it's a matter of when." That saying applies to just about anyhing, including face plants! I had my first today while running along the Northshore trail. My Blackberry fell out of my hydration vest and as I reached to try to catch it I took my eyes off the trail and tripped over a tree root. Down I went!

I layed there face down in the dirt for a a few seconds, not really believing what had just happened. One moment I was zipping along enjoying an absolutely fantastic run in the woods. The next, I was brushing dirt off my forehead! That wasn't in the plan for my run today!

I pulled myself up off the ground and ran a quick "systems" check. No pain. Nothing broken. Still conscious. That's good! Small cuts on my hands and arms. Otherwise, good to go. I picked up my Blackberry, stuffed it back into my hydration vest, and resumed my run.

Saved

I have a soft spot in my heart for turtles, seeing that I run like one. Today was no exception. I was out for my regular leasurly jog along the Northshore trail when I came across a turtle. But this wasn't just any turtle... it was a turtle in distress! Somehow the little fella (I am assuming it was a fella) had fallen sideways into a space between two rocks (or maybe he crawled up in there from the left side of the picture)...

Now you might argue that he meant to do that. Maybe he wanted to sun his underside a little bit. Or maybe he had an ich he was tring to scratch. Don't know for sure, but I decided that if the little guy intended to get himself wedged in there than he could probably figure out how to do it again.

So I saved him.

Week 35: No Excuse

It's been a few weeks since I weighted in. I wasn't surprised to see that I gained some weight. I was a little surprised to see how much...

5 pounds!

DOUGH!

I have no excuse. I haven't been tracking my consumption and I dropped my miles over the last couple of weeks. More in and less out equals wight gain. Plain and simple.

So now what? I need to get back to tracking and staying within my alloted points.

Here we go again... again!

Pause, Reset, Resume

Over the last couple of weeks I decided to take a break from my quest. I think I was getting a little burned out on the whole exercise / diet thing. I was feeling really tired and didn't care about what I was eating anymore or about blogging or tracking my progress or much of anything else.

So I put it all on pause.

The pause is what I needed. It allowed me to reset, both mentally and physically, so that I am able to resume my transformation with a freshened spirit and enthusiasm.

So here we go again.

Some things on my mind?

First, I think I might have brushed up against the overtraining thing once again. After my last 16-miler, I really went down hill and didn't recover very well--I was very tired for most of the remaining week. So I took a break and dialed back my mileage. Yesterday I ran about 6 miles out at the Northshore trail and felt pretty good. As I write this I seem to have regained my energy and my legs feel good. So I plan to resume my training starting tomorrow.

Tired and Sluggish

Over the last few days I've felt unusually tired. In addition, during my last two runs I felt very sluggish. I've been thinking about what might be the cause. The only thing I can come up with is the change that I started in my diet about a week ago.

In response to continued reading about performance nutrition I decided to change my ratio of carbs to protein/fat from 70/30 to 60/40. The thinking was that I needed more protein and fats in my system in order to help with recovery. However, since I made the change I've noticed that my energy level has dropped and that my runs are much harder. In addition, I wasn't having any issues with recovery. So I probably tried to fix something that wasn't broke.

I am going to switch back to 70/30 to see if my energy returns. I am learning that the recommendations that the experts provide for optimum performance nutrition need to be adapted for each individual. And I need to find my optimum combination to ensure top performance.

The only way I will learn what is best for me is to experiment.

What have you found as the best way to fuel your body?