For those of you who occasionally still check this blog in the hopes of finding more stories of botched training attempts or the brilliant insights that only come after mile 18 of a run or mile 60 of a bike ride, you may be in luck.
It turns out that, even after a year of training and the completion of an Ironman, it remains very, very true that IF YOU DON'T USE IT, YOU LOSE IT! (To be clear: what you lose is fitness. What you do not lose is weight.)
Several months ago I was the kind of person who sent actual texts like this: "I may be a few minutes late for our 4 mile hike because I have to finish my 13 mile run first."
Now I am the kind of person who eats this
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after work and then, shockingly, finds it difficult to get off the couch and work out. (Full disclosure: I ate several of the donuts on the 10 minute drive home from Panda Express!!!)
The new me feels like a magician's assistant during the trick where the magician saws me in half, but instead of a saw he is using the waistband of my pants to cut me in half.
Yes, I have gained a few pounds. For reference, "a few" means 10. When I did the Ironman I weighed 139 pounds. When I did the marathon last February I weighed 148. So I actually weigh about the same as I did at this time last year. But once you have been Iron Fit, going back to how you used to be feels worse than it did the first time around. Not that that fact gets me off the couch or pries the 2nd king size candy bar out of my hand.
In the weeks leading up to Ironman I was very healthy. I ate very few sweets, drank very, very little alcohol, and the week prior I cut way back on caffeine. It wasn't hard to motivate myself because I knew how much it would matter come race day; and I had been training for a year so I wasn't going to blow it in the last few weeks! But I told myself that after Ironman I would let myself indulge without guilt. I imagined that would be for a week or so.
It has been 2 months.
I was also looking forward to working out "however and whenever" I want. For the first month and a half after Ironman, that turned out to be "not at all."
I remember in the beginning of my Ironman base training it was hard to make myself do all my scheduled workouts, but I managed to get in most of them, because I had a 140.6 mile day hanging over my head. It turns out, without that hanging over my head...I just don't get out the door. I think I will. I plan to. I eat like I am going to work out a lot. But it just wasn't actually happening.
At least now I am back on the workout wagon (though in an extremely abbreviated form thus far) but it has been harder to get off the junk food wagon.
For example, this is a sneak peak at my backpack right now
Really that sums it up perfectly! An Ironman full of candy!
It turns out that, even after a year of training and the completion of an Ironman, it remains very, very true that IF YOU DON'T USE IT, YOU LOSE IT! (To be clear: what you lose is fitness. What you do not lose is weight.)
Several months ago I was the kind of person who sent actual texts like this: "I may be a few minutes late for our 4 mile hike because I have to finish my 13 mile run first."
Now I am the kind of person who eats this
after work and then, shockingly, finds it difficult to get off the couch and work out. (Full disclosure: I ate several of the donuts on the 10 minute drive home from Panda Express!!!)
The new me feels like a magician's assistant during the trick where the magician saws me in half, but instead of a saw he is using the waistband of my pants to cut me in half.
Yes, I have gained a few pounds. For reference, "a few" means 10. When I did the Ironman I weighed 139 pounds. When I did the marathon last February I weighed 148. So I actually weigh about the same as I did at this time last year. But once you have been Iron Fit, going back to how you used to be feels worse than it did the first time around. Not that that fact gets me off the couch or pries the 2nd king size candy bar out of my hand.
In the weeks leading up to Ironman I was very healthy. I ate very few sweets, drank very, very little alcohol, and the week prior I cut way back on caffeine. It wasn't hard to motivate myself because I knew how much it would matter come race day; and I had been training for a year so I wasn't going to blow it in the last few weeks! But I told myself that after Ironman I would let myself indulge without guilt. I imagined that would be for a week or so.
It has been 2 months.
I was also looking forward to working out "however and whenever" I want. For the first month and a half after Ironman, that turned out to be "not at all."
I remember in the beginning of my Ironman base training it was hard to make myself do all my scheduled workouts, but I managed to get in most of them, because I had a 140.6 mile day hanging over my head. It turns out, without that hanging over my head...I just don't get out the door. I think I will. I plan to. I eat like I am going to work out a lot. But it just wasn't actually happening.
At least now I am back on the workout wagon (though in an extremely abbreviated form thus far) but it has been harder to get off the junk food wagon.
For example, this is a sneak peak at my backpack right now
Really that sums it up perfectly! An Ironman full of candy!
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