Friday, October 2, 2009

I'm still in the game!

My 10 weeks of interval training is officially complete, so I decided to start using a two-week training schedule generated by Runner's World's website. They have a tool you can use to create a custom training plan. All you need is a recent race time, and then you answer a few questions about how much you're currently running and how long until your next race.

This week involved an easy 2 mile Recovery Run at a 14:38 min/mile pace (Nice and slow!) and a 5 mile Tempo Run which included a warm up and cool down mile on either side of a faster-than-usual 3 miles. I held a 13:57 min/mile pace for all three miles - which was really envigorating. It was really encouraging to see and feel how far I've come in the past 6 months. My 10k race is 9 days away (well... 8 days, 9 hours and 16 minutes as of this moment... ha!) and I'm getting REALLY excited. I actually think I'll be able to do it. No... I know I can. What a crazy feeling. :)

Oh, and a couple more exciting tidbits!

First - 6 months of running = it's time for new shoes! My "hips-and-knees-and-feet-and-shins" (at least that's what I call them when I ask Daniel for a massage) have been telling me for the last two weeks that it's time for new shoes. I'm waiting until after my 10k to buy a pair, so I won't have to deal with breaking in a new pair during the race. But I'm really excited to have a fresh pair for Half Marathon training, and to officially retire my pink shoes to the Becca Sue Running Hall of Fame.

Secondly - today was also my 6 month weigh-in. Nothing super-official. I just weigh myself at home and Daniel takes my measurements. He's a trooper. I usually make him measure things two or three times to ensure accuracy, and if for some reason I haven't lost as many inches as I think I should have... he has to endure my pouting and accusations that he's "measuring wrong!" There should be medals for husbands who love their wives through training. :)

Anyway - I'm happy to report that I've lost another three pounds. Bringing the grand total (since January of this year) to 30 pounds of weight loss. It's all happened rather slowly, but I'm sure that's for the best... right? I was also delighted to find out that my body fat percentage dropped nearly 2%. So, even though on the scale it only looks like I lost three pounds, apparently I actually dropped 5 pounds of body fat and gained 3 pounds of lean mass. That makes sense to me, since I've made a point the last four weeks to actually do my weight training (I sort of wimped out on it for a while this summer).

Not too shabby!

As a reference point (for those who care) here is a chart on Body Fat Percentage Classifications for Women. I'm only 2.7% away from officially being at a healthy weight. Weeeeee!

*American Council on Exercise

Classification

Women (% fat)

Essential Fat

10-13%

Athletes

14-20%

Fitness

21-24%

Acceptable

25-31%

Obese

32% plus

1 comment:

  1. this is all so amazing! i am so proud of you, not to mention sinfully jealous ;-)
    keep up the good work!! and good luck at your 10k, you will do FABulous

    erica (fite)

    ReplyDelete