Well, duh. I don't want to be the best in the world, but I'd like to do better than I did the last time each time I run. That won't always happen, but my excess weight certainly holds me back. I'm pretty sure my feet would be feeling a whole lot better today if there had been less of me pounding the pavement on Sunday.
While I can never even dream of weighing 120 pounds [I blew right by that sometime in junior high school I think], I can visualize myself maintaining 135 or 140 for more than five minutes. At one time I weighed 128. That seriously didn't even last a week. But I stayed around 135 for three or four years, 11 years ago.
As many of you know, this blog is called Shrinking Knitter because I started it as a method of accountability while I lost a bunch of weight. And I did lose a bunch – I've kept 25 to 30 pounds at bay for almost two years now. But I both want and need to lose more.
I've proven to myself that I can maintain a loss. It's time to move on. And down.
If you're still with me, you're probably thinking, "But she's been trying for-freaking-ever, and is doing all the right things and still that scale doesn't budge! She runs a bunch and eats right and what else can she possibly do?"
Quick time-out to show you my mileage for the past three months [plus Sunday's race]:
The thing I'm not doing is strength-training. We all know how vital it is. I know that when I lost 56 pounds 11 years ago, the weight started melting off after I started lifting. It's the one chink in my armor. I start and then stop. It's boring and I don't like doing it. I don't get that sense of accomplishment increasing pounds lifted like I do when increasing miles run.I don't belong to a gym [there are none nearby here in the Middle of Nowhere], and do my [mostly non-existent] weight training in my garage with dumbbells, a barbell and a bench. I have a set of resistance bands, as well, but have never used them. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and boy, do I ever have good intentions.
What I don't have is a good follow-through.
I've experimented with different things to try to get myself to stick with it, and one of the things that does seem to help is music. Don't laugh at me, please, but I find unplugging the portable iPod speaker system and dragging it to the garage for each session to be enough of a deterrent to not do it at all. I'd call that the epitome of laziness, wouldn't you? So after much thought and a conversation with Lori, I decided just to go ahead and buy another speaker system, one that would stay in the garage.
The cool thing is that I had a $20 credit at Overstock.com and I found some wee little battery-powered speakers for less than $15. I love free stuff! The reviews were enthusiastic and positive and I didn't have much to lose, so I ordered them. They came while I was in Tennessee, but I haven't had even a minute to open or use them yet.
Today's the day. The blister hasn't healed enough for running today. I might try to cushion it somehow and take a short walk. And. I. Will. Lift. Weights. Two sets, 15 reps, lots of arm stuff and as much leg stuff as my quads will allow. If they scream too loudly, I'll do upper body today and lower body tomorrow.
The other thing I'm going to do is print some of the more inspiring Friday quotes in big letters and hang them on the walls of the garage where I can see them. Including …
make a new plan, Stan.
6 comments:
Re the run, don't forget:
"DLF > DNF > DNS"
About the weight-lifting... I know everyone has to find the thing that works for them, no question about that. I understand how the music can be just too much of a discouragement. Regular exercise can be a pain in the neck, an inconvenience--too many negative factors and it's off the schedule. Here's an idea: do the bodyweight turbulence workouts; you don't need any equipment and you can do them inside with the music. And they will totally kick your butt as much as lifting pieces of metal!
If only ebay allowed the sale of human body parts I'd happily auction off some arm/shoulder/back muscle.
Oh this is such a wake up call. I've been talking about lifting weights for weeks, and I keep reading about it on others' blogs. I'm thinking--I'll wait until I get to goal and then I'll start lifting. I don't want to slow the progress of the scale with all that "muscle mass gain." Ha. I'm deluding myself, because I don't want to do something new that I'm inexperienced with. I'm such a baby.
I can't wait to read some inspirational weight lifting posts from you. Come on, I'm counting on you! Make me wanna join you on the bench! ;-)
Glad you got the speakers. That's such a good idea.
Okay. Sorry, but I am going to lecture you.
Can you pat yourself on the back for one second? You just ran a half-marathon woman! And in a decent time! How many other 56 year old women were out there with you?
You are putting some serious mileage in. You deserve some credit dammit!
I have to agree with Mary Gee, give yourself some credit. Yes, we can ALL do more healthier things for ourselves and we can ALL look at ourselves and pick, pick, pick. But what does that accomplish?
You run, you eat well, you have a wonderful mental attitude (most of the time) and you have the technology (the speakers) so you can rebuild yourself. You're more than halfway there, anyway.
Tag you're it!
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