Tenacious Tweaking & Training (additional alliteration as appropriate)
Scribess will appreciate that I labored hard on the thread title and *still* don't think it is perfect. Writers are so picky!
Ok ya'll, I'm starting the log. Not much for my first post - details will come in bucketloads soon enough, but the gist is:
I eat too little to support my training load and have for at least 5 years, leading to weight loss, weight gain, amenorrhea, moodiness, binging, and general bouts of "I'm screwing myself up and I feel guilty about it but not enough to actually solve it."
So now I'm going public with my bout of solving.
__________________ "My yoga class had me trembling and sweating and I feel MUCH better." - Fang
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenacious Training and Tweaking (the A lotta Alitteration thread)
I'm a data junkie, one of those perpetually procrastinating "analysis paralysis" types.
So, here be the data. Some of this is reposted from another thread, but keeping it all together is probably good.
To set up the story, 35 year old female, never overweight, adult weight range of 118-147 (interestingly the latter weight wasn't "bad" - I had bigger boobies and lots of muscle and was on the pill in college). My fallback "set point" weight is in the low 130's.
I have a desk job with a "do nothing day" burn of 1500-1600, but I run 5-6 hours weekly and do 6-8 hours of hot Vinyasa yoga. Not much NEAT to speak of. Still (should) mean a burn of 2100 average, and I've been weight stable for 8 months.
My average calories (monthly) for the last 12 months was (actual is slightly higher due to one or two untracked days monthly in the 2500-range):
Kcal (fat/carb/pro) – carbs include ~40g daily of fiber
September 1477 (46/174/111)
October 1608 (54/188/113)
November 1597 (56/182/113)
December 1530 (51/186/108)
January 1514 (50/178/113)
February 1543 (50/199/110)
March 1538 (50/190/113)
April 1579 (53/199/106)
May 1666 (61/197/106)
June 1710 (69/177/109) (only moderately successful attempt to eat more)
July 1588 (54/192/105)
August 1720 (60/215/104) (2 refeeds and 2 marathons)
Beginning about 9/24, I decided enough with this and I need to just freaking eat and "see what happens". Maybe I'll gain, maybe (hope) I won't. Maybe my running will get better, maybe the scratch on my leg I got 3 months ago will actually heal.
Here's the stats for the first chunk of days. Burn (as per GWF) is in red.
9/24: 2142 (55/277/152) 2430
9/25: 2341 (85/283/127) 2381
9/26: 2269 (94/203/161) 3091
9/27: 2033 (82/258/98) 1772 (positive calories!)
9/28: 1753 (44/215/150) 2520
9/29: 2041 (81/221/140) 2424
9/30: 1961 (48/250/174) 2658
10/1: 2063 (45/322/121) 1995 (positive!)
10/2: 2131 (101/202/138) 2454
10/3: 1899 (63/262/74) 2608
10/4: 2177 (66/270/132) 2874
As you can see, I'm STILL in a deficit. Not as big as I have been (I have those numbers coming, too - don't worry), but I'm wondering right off the bat that if I'm "trying out" this eating big phase, should I very deliberately try to reach my estimated burn each day???
Thank you all for your input. Personal messages to come.
__________________ "My yoga class had me trembling and sweating and I feel MUCH better." - Fang
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenacious Training and Tweaking (the A lotta Alitteration thread)
yeah, I mean, that & totally kills yer sweet-assed rhymes, yo
*shakes head*
Quote:
Originally Posted by tattooed phat man
welcome, you've found some good people who are willing and able to help.
looking forward to the details.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gen
Hi! Will be looking forward to it all
Quote:
Originally Posted by kfisherx
In the top 10!
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheWookie
Really pleased for you!
Thanks ya'll.... I'm really excited and hope to be a good resource for both MRM veterans as well as the other "cardio bunnies" out there, a.k.a. runners.
I've been running on and off (seasonally) for 22 years, and pretty much year-round for the last 7.
My primary goals are athletic/metric. I want a certain time at the half-marathon, the marathon, and maybe 10K/5K as well, before I get "too old". I am well aware that there is more age cushion for women than once thought and that keeps me going. Yay, Colleen De Reuck!
I have it lasered in my brain that a good/respectable runner should look wiry like Paula Radcliffe or really freakin lean like Kara Goucher....
So I should focus on performance and fueling to achieve it. The rest may or may not come along for the ride.
__________________ "My yoga class had me trembling and sweating and I feel MUCH better." - Fang
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenacious Training and Tweaking (the A lotta Alitteration thread)
As you really made an almost literal leap of faith, the safest thing to do now is to just stick to the number your GWF spits back at you.
It can be hard enough to eat as much as this.. or is it what you wrote in my log that 'eating begets eating' and you have no problems in eating this amount of food?
Apart from that.. it is good to let your body adjust for a bit & then decide if you want to embrace 'Teh Bulk' like Karla did! Maybe focus on what & how you want to approach this.
you may want to look at the marathon race training forum on runners world on line. many of the posters are on the "just run more miles" program, but there quite a few experienced and successful marathoners who have put lots of thought and effort into running the big race well. it's not always the safest place for the easily hurt or offended, but it's often funny as well as informative.
As a former endurance weenie who's now alllll about weights & nutrition, I got to ask you & tattooed phat man: how come many/a lot of runners are much more about training than cyclists are?
Or is it an American thing?
Back in the days I was only into endurance cycling, any given time you'd look on a forum or email group (actually still subscribe to a few but rarely post), it's 100000000001 topic on equipment (bike, clothes & for endurance peepz also lights) as well as 'stories' and may maybe 100 topics about food but then more practial stuff or about taste .. rarely if ever about how to actually approach a training/long ride. And then 0 to 1 topic about training!
Once I got more interested in training & wanted to improve myself it struck me how there is just nothing absolutely NOTHING on Dutch or European cycling groups/forums on that topic.. the only place I ever found that was interesting was either the US randonneuring group or the very extremist ultra-cyclist (those that do RAAM = Race Across America).
Still 'don't get it'... at all!
Why o why o why? Can anyone confirm it is a Europe vs US/Can thing or is it just because of the type of sport..
you may want to look at the marathon race training forum on runners world on line. many of the posters are on the "just run more miles" program, but there quite a few experienced and successful marathoners who have put lots of thought and effort into running the big race well. it's not always the safest place for the easily hurt or offended, but it's often funny as well as informative.
have you run marathons before?
I've run 2 road marathons and one trail/mountain marathon in the last 2 years, and several half-thons. Prior to that I was a more hardcore trail weenie and ran a bunch of ultras from 1997-2005, before deciding I didn't have forever to see how fast I could really get on roads, hence the recent "short" distances.
Had a good workout this morning:
2mi warmup
3x2K @ 10K race pace w/ 3min jogging between
1x400m @ 5K race pace
1.5mi cooldown
Felt just the right combination of good/hard. Eating well now to refuel.
Oh, and I couldn't keep myself off the scale at the gym. Not horrible, but up 1-2# since one week ago (which was day 5 of higher cals). It should be mostly water/food weight, as evidenced by an earlier-than-normal morning belly bloat. Hmph.
Onward.
__________________ "My yoga class had me trembling and sweating and I feel MUCH better." - Fang
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenacious Training and Tweaking (the A lotta Alitteration thread)
As a former endurance weenie who's now alllll about weights & nutrition, I got to ask you & tattooed phat man: how come many/a lot of runners are much more about training than cyclists are?
Or is it an American thing?
Do you mean that Americans seem to be much more into the details of training plans and such?
Yeah, I definitely fit that mold. I adore studying training technique, sample plans, other people's plans, theory, etc etc. It eats into my reading time which my SO would prefer contained more fiction/novels.
__________________ "My yoga class had me trembling and sweating and I feel MUCH better." - Fang
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenacious Training and Tweaking (the A lotta Alitteration thread)
Do you mean that Americans seem to be much more into the details of training plans and such?
Yeah, I definitely fit that mold. I adore studying training technique, sample plans, other people's plans, theory, etc etc. It eats into my reading time which my SO would prefer contained more fiction/novels.
Yes, exactly. Since I didn't read up much on other types of endurance sports I've always been wondering if it is because of how the sport is like or a cultural thing.
Even the American counterpart of the European lists don't go into detail very much when it comes to training but it is slightly more than the Euros do.
[quote=Espi;764977]As a former endurance weenie who's now alllll about weights & nutrition, I got to ask you & tattooed phat man: how come many/a lot of runners are much more about training than cyclists are?
Or is it an American thing?
i hesitate to answer for others or generalize, but, yer right, most of the endurance riders i met on rusa brevets just rode their bikes a lot. training details beyond the length of a ride or an epic climb were seldom, if ever mentioned. brevet results were actually published in alphabetical order not from first finisher to last. the emphasis was totally on finishing the ride within very generous time limits, not on speed. it may be different on umca rides, but i never did one so i don't know.
it would also seem from inventions like power tap cranks that some riders are very concerned with training and quantifying their workouts. i suspect it's triathletes, who look to me to want to know the exact number of steps, strokes, pedal revolutions and heart beats from every workout, but i'm not sure. most bike racers on group rides just wanna ride, beat the other guys to a spot on the road that they know and i don't, and buy new toys to lighten their bikes.
When I decided to start riding again a few months ago, I found (1) beginner training program online. It had different types of workouts - e.g. one-legged stroke, cadence development, intervals/repeats, distance/tempo, recovery. Not dissimilar from running programs where you might do pace, or tempo or track repeats.
What I did find in looking around is that there are a more varied training programs like that on video/DVD for cyclists I guess for winter/indoor riding on the trainer/rollers.
I think the detail-orientation is also because Americans in general are more neurotic and workaholic than Europeans (which is at least part of the "french paradox", IMO).
I probably own 12 or more training books all about running only. And then there's more about general athletics, of course. And nutrition, and strength training . . .
P.S. On the other hand, for the record, I do not own a GPS device nor NikePlus pod nor do I run with headphones, ever. Wristwatch, sometimes. Heart rate monitor, rarely.
__________________ "My yoga class had me trembling and sweating and I feel MUCH better." - Fang
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenacious Training and Tweaking (the A lotta Alitteration thread)
I'm trying to get in the habit of taking my temp when I am roused by the BEEP BEEP BEEP of my cell phone, usually about 5:30, which I figure is the perfect time for catching the low ebb of temp.
5 days ago it was 96.5 (6 days into eat-up)
3 days ago, 96.7
(then a couple of days of sleeping way in.... so when I woke up at 9am it was 98.3 already but I woke up feeling really overheated)
Today, 96.6
I was not recording it this summer prior to all this.
__________________ "My yoga class had me trembling and sweating and I feel MUCH better." - Fang
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenacious Training and Tweaking (the A lotta Alitteration thread)
I probably own 12 or more training books all about running only. And then there's more about general athletics, of course. And nutrition, and strength training . . .
P.S. On the other hand, for the record, I do not own a GPS device nor NikePlus pod nor do I run with headphones, ever. Wristwatch, sometimes. Heart rate monitor, rarely.
Sometimes I feel so far behind the techie loop (even though I'm a proud owner of a Garmin,lol) because I don't own an iPod, and have never even seen a GWF or BodyBugg in person. Should use the HRM band that came w/my Garmin, but I need to reconcile with the discomfort it'll cause, first.
Sometimes I feel so far behind the techie loop (even though I'm a proud owner of a Garmin,lol) because I don't own an iPod, and have never even seen a GWF or BodyBugg in person. Should use the HRM band that came w/my Garmin, but I need to reconcile with the discomfort it'll cause, first.
Now, I might be speaking as a member of the TTC, but I just snug the Heartrate strap up under/above the bottom band of the sports bra and it is totally fine.
Some models have a sensor that is somewhere other than the chest but I'm not sure I'd trust the number as much.
__________________ "My yoga class had me trembling and sweating and I feel MUCH better." - Fang
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenacious Training and Tweaking (the A lotta Alitteration thread)
You're worried too much about that luge/skeleton woman, btw. Her squats don't hit the floor so I've decided she's not as cool as Mistress Krista.
__________________ "My yoga class had me trembling and sweating and I feel MUCH better." - Fang
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenacious Training and Tweaking (the A lotta Alitteration thread)
the band with my Garmin 305 is the only HRM that has ever worked for me - and it is comfortable. Other HRM -- well, most of the time they thought I was dead.
It does strike me as odd to see you being a bit OCD on training, yet not use GPS/HRM or even watches much. Is it because having something on your body disturbs your feeling of well-being ?
Back in the cycling days I was always listening to the radio , but that would be with the non-traffic side.. just can't believe how people use ear plugs for both ears.. are they wanting to get killed? That's maybe another advantage of radio over music: it generally isn't as loud especially not when listening to news (in the US , NPR of course!)
But even rarely wearing a HRM? How can you get enough feedback from training ? At least HR was a very important one to me.
Tenacious Tweaking & Training (additional alliteration as appropriate)
Not horrible, but up 1-2# since one week ago (which was day 5 of higher cals). It should be mostly water/food weight, as evidenced by an earlier-than-normal morning belly bloat. Hmph.
Linear Mode
