C3 Week 8

I have officially registered for a 1/2 Marathon that occurs on May 1, 2005. It’s the Domino’s Pizza Make-A-Wish Half Marathon Run with proceeds going to the Make a Wish foundation. Luckily the course is mostly flat. This 12 week maintenance and half-marathon training cycle ends on April 29^th, so this race will be a nice finale to this cycle. It will also be my first running race since grade school.

I met all of my running goals this week: 10 mile long run & 22.75 miles total for the week; 1/2 marathon chosen & registered for.

My nutrition was just OK this week. I was much better about eating more whole foods and fewer nutrition bars but my ratios for the week were not great. I averaged 2204 calories per day with 35% Protein; 26% Fat; 39% Carbohydrate. This is partly because my free day was worse than normal due to traveling, but also because I celebrated my 10 mile run by helping my hubby with his spice cake with cinnamon ice cream dessert on my long run day. I have not had creatine for the last 2 weeks. Thus, my weight gain, approximately 2 pounds in 8 weeks, seems real. On a positive note, I have also lost about 1% body fat during this same period. So it seems like now that I’m not at a calorie deficit my body is finally building some muscle, albeit slowly. I just wish this was not accompanied by an increase in scale weight.

I am already thinking about Challenge 4. Both Maggie and Nico are on cutting cycles. Their progress pictures (Maggie’s & Nico’s) are simply amazing. They also made me realize that while my 20 to 22% body fat (Omron said 18.2% this morning but I think it is lying) may be perfectly healthy, 15 to 17% looks a heck of a lot better. Thus, my primary goal in Challenge 4 will be to lose another 5% body fat or so. Can I lose fat and train for a marathon at the same time? I really want to do the September 25^th Boulder Backroads marathon. I’m expecting this to be my second running race. Julie has been training for a 100 mile ultra-marathon on a severe caloric deficit, so I know it can be done. The question is whether I want to do it. There are about 21 weeks between the end of this 12 week cycle and the marathon, so it may be possible to achieve both goals.

Goals for Week 9

Running: Long run of 8 to 10 miles (increase again in week 10); total mileage of 20 to 24 miles. 

Eating: Get back to 40:40:20 ratios. Work to get calories back to about 2000 per day including free day.

Training Schedule: Stay on current schedule.