Five Things Friday

1.  I went with my husband and running buddy on my last 12 miler of this training cycle straight down Provo Canyon last weekend.  It was unbelievably beautiful!  I could rave on and on about how perfect this run was.  The company, the temperature, good amount of shade, wasn't scary even though it was like running on a highway.  It was just so beautiful.

I mean seriously, if this picture doesn't make you a tad jealous I don't know what would.

2.  We have this fancy new gym membership and are only managing to get there 2 days per week.  We need to double that to justify keeping it.  I have been afraid to try another class because the Hot Vinyasa one that I did left me sore for almost a week afterwards.  So close to my next half marathon I didn't dare risk being that sore on race day.  But after this weekend I'm gonna give some more classes a try.

3.  I did really good with my eating habits this week .. until today.  We had a pot luck at work and I totally got weak.  I'm disappointed in myself.  But at least we only have these every couple of months now.  So I don't have to worry about a repeat performance for at least another couple of months.

4.  I finished reading Bob Harpers, The Skinny Rules.  I actually really enjoyed it and the whole time in my head the voice I heard was Bob's .. with his accent and everything.  I think that for the most part it was good stuff.  While I'm still doing Weight Watchers (you know other than my pork out today on pot luck food), I plan to try and incorporate the rules as well.  I also think there are some good recipes in there that I'd like to give a try.  I think with the two combined I could make some good life style changes.

5.  Tomorrow is race day!  After my 12 miles downhill last Sunday my right calf really started to flare up.  So I haven't run all week and I've been resting it.  Today it feels pretty good.  I did a couple days on the elliptical and some weight training this week. But no running.  I've been rolling it and icing it every night this week.  So I'm optimistic that I can still run a good race tomorrow.  I'm really hoping to finish between 2:05 and 2:10.  My fastest to date was Salt Lake Half with a 2:12.  This is the first training cycle where I introduced some speedwork.  So tomorrow will show whether it paid off or not.  Well tomorrow is also a downhill course though, rather than the hill at mile 12 on Salt Lake.  I'm excited to run it with my brother too.  He's 10 years my junior and really tall, so I know he will push me to keep up the pace.

Me and my husband, post 12 sweaty miles.

 **********

What do you do when faced with a pot luck??  Suck it up or cave?

          --  Clearly today I caved.  Fail.

Have you read Bob Harpers new book?  Thoughts?

Deflated

Well .. I haven't blogged here on the running blog in ages.  Mainly because my last two posts generated a whopping ZERO comments.  So I guess I should quit worrying about writing for other people and just focus on the journal aspect of it.  My journey as a mother of 4 children, who works full time and still makes time for running.  I am very committed to my healthy journey.  So maybe I'll start posting more frequently again.  Who knows?

So here I am, I've been a "runner" now for about a year and a half.  My first half marathon was 7 months ago with a time of 2:45.  My second half marathon I PR'ed big time with a 2:12.  Since then I have introduced some speed work.  My next race is a week from Saturday.  I've worked really hard this training cycle as well.  My goal is to go sub 2:10.  It's a downhill course (a first for me) so secretly I'm hoping to do a bit better than even the 2:10.

Anyway, I finally talked my husband into joining a gym.  I really wanted to start incorporating some more cross training.  Things like yoga, other fitness classes, as well as the elliptical.  And also I've really been wanting to add strength training bad to my routine because I know this will make me a stronger runner.  So with our membership to the gym we are entitled to fitness assessments as frequently as we would like.  They encouraged us to do one pretty early on so that we can then do another one later to see how far we've come.  It all sounded good to me.  Since I'm in some of the best physical shape I've ever been in I was feeling relatively confident that I would score pretty well.

I'm just gonna lay it all out there.

I am 5'5 and I weigh 142 lbs. 
Based on those numbers my inHealth website at work tells me that my BMI is 23.7.

BMI Guidelines Read:

Underweight:  less than 18.5

Healthy Weight:  18.5 - 24.9

Overweight:  25.0 - 29.9

Obese:  30.0 or higher

So okay, I'm in the healthy range, it's the top of the healthy range but still healthy right?

I've been hovering between 140 lbs and 143 lbs for the past entire year.  My original Weight Watcher goal weight was to weigh 145 lbs.  I hit that and have maintained it for a year now.  So I'm feeling pretty good.

I went back to WW's last week because I really want to lose 10-15 lbs.  I've been kind of trying for the past couple of months.  But find that I always let myself slip a little with that age old excuse of, "I ran 10 miles this morning, I can have a treat."  When I did the Hot Vinyasa yoga class this past Monday it completely grossed me out to see all the the dimpling on my thighs when I was in downward facing dog.  Hello cellulite!!  Now please leave.

So I walked into the fitness assessment with high hopes.  Sure I wasn't going to be at the middle of the healthy range for things, but I wouldn't be bad either.  Needless to say I left feeling incredibly disappointed / bummed / deflated / MAD / confused.

Body Fat Percentage:  35.1  (Average is 23%, you want to be below this)

VO2 max:  34.3  (Average is 34.6, you want to be above this)

Metabolic Age:  53 years (umm .. I'm 37)

At which point he dropped these numbers on me and I think I mumbled something about being really surprised. I think my husband was even more surprised and he says, "How can this be?  She runs 4-5 days per week religiously?"  Then the guy went into recommending a full board VO2 max test with the mask and all that.  And to be honest I wouldn't object to this. I think it would be cool to find out that kind of information.  However, I would probably do it in a more clinical setting and not in the middle of the gym.

I was alarmed at the body fat percentage.  According to the Livestrong website, a woman with 30% body fat is obese.    This is where I start to really get confused.  By my body fat I am obese .. by my weight I am smack in the middle of the healthy range.  I mean really could this be any more confusing?  I was SO disappointed by this there really aren't words to do it justice.  It's not like I dispute that I had been wanting to lose some more weight and am confident that I have the weight to lose. But still .. really?  Obese? 

We went over what we eat.  Which I'm sure he thought we were full of crap.  But for the past 2 weeks we've been eating really healthy so he kind of had to take it with that in mind.  The only recommendation he had there was to do the meal replacement protein they sold in their shop rather than the plain protein we currently have in the morning.  I'm not sure I'm entirely sold on that.  One good tip that I picked up was to drink a protein shake 1 hour before bedtime.  Just the plain kind .. protein + water.  He talked about how when you sleep your body goes into starvation mode and your metabolism drops down a ton.  By drinking a protein shake before bed it aids in keeping that metabolism going while you sleep.  That makes sense to me.  It also happens that during a conversation with my running buddy discussing my frustration with the lack of weight loss. She and I theorized that perhaps I should have a second protein shake during the day to assist in getting some extra good calories in for fear that I'm not eating quite enough on days I run. 

So that's where we're at.  We have an appointment with a personal trainer for our couples training session in a couple weeks.  I'm excited for that.  I will stick with the Weight Watchers for now.  I'm optimistic that I can lose another 10-15 pounds.  I think I am also going to work a little harder at trying to run some of my runs in the fat burning HR zone.  I religiously wear my HR monitor when I'm running outside.  So this I think could be another step I can take to improve my body fat composition and overall weight.  I just hope it doesn't mean that my overall running pace slows down.  That's my biggest fear.

This picture here is most unattractive.

Like the dimpling on my thigh?

Maybe that's where those 50lbs of fat are residing?

But then I have to take a step back and remember.

I've been at this running stuff for about a year now.

I love the picture below. It reminds me that running is fun and I am strong.

(HA! you can't see the dimpling through the mud!)

Please help me you more experienced runners!

Can you make sense of confusing all this is?

Have you ever had a similar fitness test done and been shocked by the results?