When the numbers fail you

My weight has been going up since my Ironman. This is pretty normal for the off-season, but it does worry me and also there are certain numbers on the scale I have trouble with no matter how I look or how much of it is muscle.

The thing is, I can look at my body and know I'm a bit fluffier than I was right before Ironman Canada. But I can also see I'm no more fluffier than I normally am during the off-season. I can fit into my clothes and they are as tight at they normally get in the winter. So I have objective and subjective measures that tell me where I am.

But that doesn't stop me from getting upset when the scale says I'm a certain weight. My head tells me that I've put on a bunch of muscle and I look pretty good if not my 100% best, but my emotions say "fatty!"

It doesn't help that my scale lies to me.

That sucked, but I survived

I had a free entry so I did the Morgan Hill Half Marathon today. Unfortunately, most of the course is on roads that are banked. So I was constantly running with one side of my body lower than the other. This really aggravated everything that is wrong with my calf and by mile four I was really feeling it.

The really bad part came when I was trying to go down this big hill. I made a point to run up it because I could and I knew down would be hard. But down on a banked course is beyond hard. It was hell. If an official had come by in a car and asked me if I was okay, I would have said "no" and let him or her SAG me to the finish.

I must have looked pretty bad because a ton of racers asked me if I was okay including the 3:00 pacer.

Say something nice about your body today

And I mean something really nice. Not "my thighs are enormous, but at least I have nice ankles" nice.

Here's mine:

I love my calves. Every time I look at them,  I think about how lovely they are.

Now, what's yours?

Today is the first day of "Fat Talk Free" Week

This week was set up by the sorority Delta Delta Delta (the Tri-Delts) and is a way to get women (and men too) to stop ragging on ourselves about our bodies and our perceived imperfections and stop focusing so much on weight.

From their website:

Fat Talk describes all of the statements made in everyday conversation that reinforce the thin-ideal standard of female beauty and contribute to women's dissatisfaction with their bodies. Examples of fat talk may include: "I'm so fat," "Do I look fat in this?" "I need to lose 10 pounds" and "She's too fat to be wearing that swimsuit." Statements that are considered fat talk don't necessarily have to be negative; they can seem positive yet also reinforce the need to be thin - "You look great! Have you lost weight?"

The motto of "Fat Talk Free" Week is "friends don't let friends fat talk".

Stopping When You’re Full or Satisfied

I haven't done a post about The Rules of Normal Eating in a while or anything that wasn't endurance race related for that matter. So I think it's time to start back up!

Full vs. Satisfied is an interesting topic because a lot of obese people never do feel full or satisfied. The part of our brain that registers satisfaction and fullness tends to have weaker signals than non-obese people. Also the hormones that tell us we should stop often aren't produced in high enough quantities for the signal to register.

What this means is that after weight loss surgery, many of us have no idea what "full" feels like. This can lead to the uncomfortable phenomena know as "the foamies" when we eat just one bite too many, our bodies think we're choking and start producing saliva like crazy (to get the food to slide down) but there's no room for anything more. The end result is pain and often throwing up.
Yes, it's as gross as it sounds.

Furnace Creek 508 - my introduction to insanity

A couple of friends of mine do these "ultra" races. In bicycling, the ultras are often hundreds of miles over more than 24 hours. I have always thought this was insane. I am happy to push my  body for an entire day, but I want to be able to go to sleep afterwards.

In fact, part of the reason I set my sights on Ultraman Canada was that the race takes place over three days so you get to sleep each night. While some people may think doing a 10k swim, 90 and then 171 miles of biking and a double marathon over three days is crazy, it seemed completely doable to me once I get my bike speeds up from where they are. Staying up for 40-48 hours biking, on the other hand, just seemed completely undoable.

However, when given the opportunity to crew for a friend at this year's Furnace Creek 508, I jumped at it. I figured I'd get to sleep a bit in the car and crewing isn't the same thing as biking. Plus, I figured I'd learn a lot that would help me with Ultraman.

San Jose Rock 'n Roll Half - Race Report

First of all, nobody died this year during the race. So that's good. And I had a good time. I didn't think there were as many bands on the course as the last time I did this race, but I didn't count them or anything.

My plan going in was to walk the aide stations only and take Advil about 30 minutes before the race started, then as little during as I could get away with. I also brought some of this pain-relief cream they had at the Expo with me. The guy in the booth gave me 3 packets and they fit perfectly into my Spibelt, much better than the 4 oz. Rock Sauce that I normally carry.

For nutrition, I was going to drink the provided sports drink and water on the course but also bring some little snacks. I brought some Sports Beans that were being given out at the Expo and a Payday bar.

Yes, my plan for nutrition included getting calories from three new food sources.