139 and <200

I have a little widget on my Dashboard (computer one, not car one) that tells me how many days it is until the Calgary 70.3. Today it's 139 days away. Usually when I flick over to the dashboard I'll check it out and think "Have I made progress today?".

On Thursday (when I meant to write this up, but was too tired) I definitely made progress. I started the day with a short but sweet LCM swim, followed that with an easy 70 minute run, and then ended the day with a 90 minute spin session with Scott. Actually I guess I ended the day having a beer and a cheese burger, but that's not the point.

Not only was that my most involved day of training yet, it was also my longest run ever. I think. And even though most of the sessions were pretty easy, the toll was definitely noticeable the following day. All I had planned was a 45 minute recovery spin, and it was very hard to get my legs to move against any resistance. Awesome.

So that's the 139. <200?

Today I weighed in at 198 lbs. That's the first time I've been under 200 lbs since I stopped competitive swimming.

At my highest I weighed in at 230. There's probably a bit of error in there because it was a fully clothed weigh in and had no regard for hydration, recent bathroom usage, etc.. Still, 230 is not very slim. Infact, for my height it puts me right at the line of being obese. Note how I didn't let it get any higher once I noticed that fact.

Now-a-days when I weigh in I do it exclusively after a run, right before I shower. Can't have eaten recently -- otherwise I'd toss it up on the run, gotta poop before the run 'cause I'm afraid of needing to poop in the middle of the run, etc... So it's a much more controlled weigh-in timing. Or so I've lead myself to believe.

Anyway, obviously cracking under the 200 lbs barrier is another sign of progress in the direction of fitness. Sweet

Recovery

It's the name of the game right?

It always seems tough having to concede a workout to recovery. Saying to yourself "No, I shouldn't run today, I should just sleep" sounds like you're giving in. And some times it probably is.

Today I think it was the right call, I didn't get to sleep until 9:20am so should I have gotten up at 3:00pm to squeeze in a run before heading back to work? Or was it smarter to let my body catch up with the world and bump the run to tomorrow?

Here's my logic: there was pretty much no way I was going to get a quality workout in this afternoon, but tomorrow evening when I don't have to go back to work there's a good chance that I could end up having a good quality run.

Actually, now that I think about it (still a bit sleepy, see) maybe it's just that I need to plan my schedule out a bit better and not put any workouts on the day between night shifts. Hrm.

Anyway, to recap: recovery is super important, allowing flexibility in your planning -- equally so.