Got 'em.
Running at 11am near the coast when it is 80 degrees outside will do it to you!
That was Sunday, but back to Saturday. Saturday morning, a few of us headed 75 miles north to Coldspring, TX for "Bike Through the Forest and Hills." They sure got the hills part right, well, and the forest for that matter. It was a beautiful ride, but the hills at the end were just awful. I did not realize until over half way through that I had been in a tailwind, and would be in a headwind the rest of the way. I also did not realize I had gone down more than up on the first half. The second half had a good stretch of 10 miles or so with not really any downhills at all, and tons of uphills. Then you got a tiny break for a couple of miles, but then, miles 30-33 (the last miles) were the worst of all! Uphill, into the wind. At one point I was in my last gear, at 30 something RPM not sure if I was going to keep my bike from falling over or not. Yes, I'm in awful bike shape, yes this would have been much easier in a few months, yes, being out of bike shape made this ride seem 10 times harder than it really is. But, I lived to tell about it. I also wore too many clothes. It is really hard to dress for a bike ride where the low that morning was 28 and the high that afternoon was forecast to be over 70, with brilliantly sunny skies! All lessons learned though.
Saturday afternoon Jon and I headed down to his neck of the woods for a change of pace and scenery. It really was like we were in a completely different world. We ate dinner at the Kemah Boardwalk, and walked the entire boardwalk looking at various stages of the Ike repairs. Some things look like they haven't been touched, while others look brand new. The weather was awesome too - a great night to be outside.
Sunday we ran on the Seabrook trails, where the Seabrook Marathon and 1/2 Marathon is every year. I love the race, and the trails are just a few miles from Jon's house, but he hasn't seen them yet because he has been too busy. Our only problem is we didn't start the run until nearly 11am and it ended up plain hot at times. The trails are in the woods at times, along canals at times, over a marsh-like area, and along the water. You get several different environments in just a few short miles. Once we were ready to go, my MP3 player conveniently wouldn't turn on. Uh oh. 10 miles by myself is big enough of a challenge...without music? Not sure that would happen!
As I melted my way through the miles, I was once again overdressed, but I started in about 8 less layers than the day before! By the end my shirt and hat were off. I don't think I've ever had to take off a dry fit hat because it was too hot, but yesterday it just was. I made it though, with an average pace of 12:07, which is better than the 12:45 pace I had for my 13 mile long run before Houston. My heart rate monitor was beeping at me every 2 seconds because it was so hot and humid, and I stopped and walked every time, but still managed the 12:07 average, so I'm happy. I'm also proud of myself for running that far by myself, without music! Of course Jon ran 12 miles in the time I ran 8, but that is a story for another day, or one that will repeat itself over and over again.
Tomorrow morning I think I'm getting my BMR tested again. It has been 5 years, so the numbers I'm using may be a bit off. I'm having a hell of a time losing any weight and I'm getting pretty frustrated with it. I have eaten, on average, about 1600 calories/day for the last 4 weeks and haven't really lost any weight. I'm usually around 1400 cal/day during the week and a bit more on the weekends, when my workouts are longer, but all in all around 1600 average. I'm starving, yet not losing weight.
Tomorrow morning I also get to go to the neurologist for autonomic testing. That should be interesting...For now I'm just mad that I can't run tonight because I can't exercise for 24 hours before the tests, and I can't eat for 12 before the BMR test. Looks like I will be one happy camper by 11 or so tomorrow morning.
Running at 11am near the coast when it is 80 degrees outside will do it to you!
That was Sunday, but back to Saturday. Saturday morning, a few of us headed 75 miles north to Coldspring, TX for "Bike Through the Forest and Hills." They sure got the hills part right, well, and the forest for that matter. It was a beautiful ride, but the hills at the end were just awful. I did not realize until over half way through that I had been in a tailwind, and would be in a headwind the rest of the way. I also did not realize I had gone down more than up on the first half. The second half had a good stretch of 10 miles or so with not really any downhills at all, and tons of uphills. Then you got a tiny break for a couple of miles, but then, miles 30-33 (the last miles) were the worst of all! Uphill, into the wind. At one point I was in my last gear, at 30 something RPM not sure if I was going to keep my bike from falling over or not. Yes, I'm in awful bike shape, yes this would have been much easier in a few months, yes, being out of bike shape made this ride seem 10 times harder than it really is. But, I lived to tell about it. I also wore too many clothes. It is really hard to dress for a bike ride where the low that morning was 28 and the high that afternoon was forecast to be over 70, with brilliantly sunny skies! All lessons learned though.
Saturday afternoon Jon and I headed down to his neck of the woods for a change of pace and scenery. It really was like we were in a completely different world. We ate dinner at the Kemah Boardwalk, and walked the entire boardwalk looking at various stages of the Ike repairs. Some things look like they haven't been touched, while others look brand new. The weather was awesome too - a great night to be outside.
Sunday we ran on the Seabrook trails, where the Seabrook Marathon and 1/2 Marathon is every year. I love the race, and the trails are just a few miles from Jon's house, but he hasn't seen them yet because he has been too busy. Our only problem is we didn't start the run until nearly 11am and it ended up plain hot at times. The trails are in the woods at times, along canals at times, over a marsh-like area, and along the water. You get several different environments in just a few short miles. Once we were ready to go, my MP3 player conveniently wouldn't turn on. Uh oh. 10 miles by myself is big enough of a challenge...without music? Not sure that would happen!
As I melted my way through the miles, I was once again overdressed, but I started in about 8 less layers than the day before! By the end my shirt and hat were off. I don't think I've ever had to take off a dry fit hat because it was too hot, but yesterday it just was. I made it though, with an average pace of 12:07, which is better than the 12:45 pace I had for my 13 mile long run before Houston. My heart rate monitor was beeping at me every 2 seconds because it was so hot and humid, and I stopped and walked every time, but still managed the 12:07 average, so I'm happy. I'm also proud of myself for running that far by myself, without music! Of course Jon ran 12 miles in the time I ran 8, but that is a story for another day, or one that will repeat itself over and over again.
Tomorrow morning I think I'm getting my BMR tested again. It has been 5 years, so the numbers I'm using may be a bit off. I'm having a hell of a time losing any weight and I'm getting pretty frustrated with it. I have eaten, on average, about 1600 calories/day for the last 4 weeks and haven't really lost any weight. I'm usually around 1400 cal/day during the week and a bit more on the weekends, when my workouts are longer, but all in all around 1600 average. I'm starving, yet not losing weight.
Tomorrow morning I also get to go to the neurologist for autonomic testing. That should be interesting...For now I'm just mad that I can't run tonight because I can't exercise for 24 hours before the tests, and I can't eat for 12 before the BMR test. Looks like I will be one happy camper by 11 or so tomorrow morning.
Comments
And something's fishy that you aren't seeing results. You're eating like a freakin' bird. That's not right.