I got on the scale to weight myself this morning... I figured that after the big 3 week training camp I just put myself through that surely I would have dropped down to race weight. Nope. Gained a pound. I'm wondering how this is possible? Let's do the math...
60 hours of training over 3 weeks. (Yes! I did say it was a big camp.) At, let's say a conservative average burn of 500 calories/hour, that would be 30,000 calories. At 3500 calories/pound, in theory, had I eaten like a normal person, I would have lost 8.5 lbs. But instead, I gained a pound. So you do the math and figure out just how much I ATE in the last 3 weeks! Lol. It makes me think of The Biggest Loser folks. I don't know how many hours/week they put in, but must be a lot to lose that much weight week after week. And I wonder how they control their appetites? When I'm training a lot I'm just plain hungry ALL THE TIME. There's no not eating, you know?
Anyway, I'm not actually worried about my weight. I just thought that was an interesting point, and kind of an accomplishment really- to train so much but not lose any weight! Ha! It's not like I was eating a bunch of junk either... all good stuff... well, 90% good stuff... ;)
In good news, I feel super fit and durable. I managed to fit in that big training block without throwing myself off any overtraining cliffs, as evidenced by the fact that I ran my fastest 5K ever on Saturday morning. (Even with that extra pound! ;) I ran 15 seconds faster (21:26) than I did on the same course last year (21:41) and split the race much more evenly. In fact, I ran pretty much even splits at 6:53 for all 3 miles. Sort of makes me want to actually train and rest for a 5K to see what I could actually do without carrying the extra fatigue? One of these years...
This week I'm cutting way back on the training, and hopefully the eating too. Sunday will be my first Olympic Distance Tri in 3 years! Last time I did this distance was 2007 (on the same course) so it should provide a good comparison to gauge my improvement. There should be some fast gals there to race with too so it'll be fun to play and see how it all shakes out.
In other good news, I got the job with Coffees of Hawaii! I got an email on Friday from the plantation manager outlining some of the details. Essentially I'll be calling on local restaurants to see if I can get them to start serving local coffee (instead of Italian coffee, duh) and then I'll need to manage those accounts once I get them set up. Scott and Moana and I went out to dinner on Friday night and I struck up a conversation with our waiter about the coffee they serve at their restaurant... By the time we walked out I had the business card and cell phone number of the restaurant manager who was chomping at the bit to hear more about the local coffee plantation and how he could get his hands on some of that Moloka'i coffee. Perfect. I'm gonna love this job. I feel like a hunter capturing these accounts. It's a win/win for everyone though when local restaurants support other local businesses. It's a no brainer, really.
Finally, an update on the EPIC5 guys... their 5 Ironmans in 5 days on 5 islands turned out to be a bigger logistical challenge than they had anticipated. Looks like they're still going to complete it, but in 7 days rather than 5. It's been taking them a really long time to complete each one, and several times now they have not completed until after midnight, which makes it tough to get up before the sun comes up the next day and fly to another island to start all over again. In fact, they started Ironman #4 on Maui yesterday morning at about 10 and didn't finish until 5:00 this morning!! They ran (and walked) all through the night. So looks like today will be an off day and they'll start in Kona tomorrow morning for the 5th and final Ironman. Ironman #3 was on Moloka'i and of course they were sponsored by Coffees Of Hawaii while they were there- staying at the COH plantation house and being catered too quite well it appears. I just cannot fathom the fatigue they must be feeling. They're getting 75 hours of training in about 7 days. I wonder if they're cool like me and managed to gain any weight this week?
11 comments:
I think that if you've trained for a long time your body is probably very efficient and thus not burning as many calories as it would had you been a beginner. There is also the issues of the setpoint. If your body is happy at a certain weight, it is hard to move past that number. Since you PRed in the 5k, maybe this new number is your actual race weight? Congrats, by the way!
Congrats on the new job!! Sounds like you'll be great at marketing their coffee and I love the local supporting local concept!
I laugh only because I was at one of my highest weights ever a few years back when I had the highest training volume I'd ever experienced. Can you say MAJOR appetite? Oops. Unlike you, though, I was eating more like 60% healthy stuff. Live and learn.
Congrats on the job!! Sounds perfect for you.
I think after all of these years of training your body just KNOWS how much it needs, and you make sure it has what it needs! The fact that you didn't lose weight just says you know how to train well.
Congrats on the local coffee gig! That is awesome!!
Congrats on the new job! Sounds great.
I've given up on getting to race weight. I'm just going to try and eat healthy and stay off the scale. The more I train the less I lose.
Congrats on the new job. Sounds like a perfect fit!
I cannot for the life of me loose more than 2-3 pounds at a time, and it always comes back when I am reving up for marathon training. I think it's a good thing that our bodies know what it needs to stay healthy and train well - chalk it up to that :)
Congrats on the new job!!!
Congrats on the new job
Congrats on your new job AND new 5K PR!! YEAH!! :)
Congrats on the PR! Thank goodness for Google Reader (got to see your Flirting With the Edge post, ha!). Congrats on the job too; Epic week for sure! Gained a pound, that is funny. Maybe I am not eating enough, I keep losing (I am NOT complaining).
Yeah re: the new job! I can't imagine selling something...I think I'd stink at it. But, if you really believe in the product, I'm sure it's easy to sell.
Re: gaining a lb despite TONS of exercise. I ALWAYS gain weight when I'm training a lot b/c I'm hungry all the time. Even if I'm trying to eat healthy/not too much. The funny thing is that AFTER I run my marathon/big event, I lose weight. Since running the marathon last month, I've lost 2 lbs. What gives? I guess the monster appetite is gone (evidence by the fact that we've had THE SAME jar of peanut butter from Costco for over 1 week...actually going on week 4 now...that never happens when I'm running a lot!).
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