Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Strong Like Me: The Return of Thursday 13.

Dear Diary,

I have spent most of the second quarter of 2013 hating myself. Getting bigger. Trying different diets. Nothing was working. When I get this heavy (I'm back up to 170+) running is painful. Nothing fits. Clothes hurt...so I had to buy bigger ones, which for me is a size 12. I know that isn't that big, but in my quest to be fast, it's a hindrance..

At a race I was kvetching to a woman I know, Tove, lamenting my return going to a size 12. She shrugged. "Well, girls like us, we yo-yo. That's what we do." Then she grinned, shrugged again, this 60-year-old Athena I have long admired...and then came in 7th female out of 20 in a tough duathlon, beating most of the women decades younger than she.

13. have long felt bad about my weight. I supposedly weigh 173 today, and when I look around, I see women way bigger than me who say they weigh less. I figure they are either full of air, or they are lying. In any case, with the advent of the new Olympic weighlifting classes, we bought a new toy: The Tanita some number plus. 1000, I think. Eventually, it gives you data showing your progress, so that although your weight is staying the same your bodyfat is dropping.

I like this because is says, yes, you do weigh that much, but it's not all fat, and hey, you're getting better. Just look how much!

This is quite useful because on the second week I got onto the scale and it flashed at me

176

Which, of course, resulted in this:

 

 

12. In my lifelong quest to become waif-ish, or willowy, I have accepted the fact that I'm built like a sprinter

not like a long-distance runner.

I have also discovered:

11. Left to my own devices, I probably eat well enough. I have a craptastic binge, followed closely by a couple days of eating nothing but vegetables. This doesn't really match any known diet out there. It's just Misty's Craptastic Binge/Fast/Eat Healthy Way. Generally low fat, high protein with lots of vegetables most of the time, and the occasional bag of chips. But, I must, must must exercise, or I'll blow up like a balloon. And

10. Speaking of which, if you're like me and you forget how to spell "balloon," someone once told me to remember that the two Os are balloons, and the lls are the strings. Each balloon needs a string, ergo, two lls.

9. During June, I did two marathons and a duathlon. I will write race reports about those soon.

8. In preparing for the duathlon, which was supposed to be a triathlon but the lake was too low AND DON'T THINK I WASN'T PISSED ABOUT THAT LACK OF SWIM I pulled my bike out of the garage where it has sadly hung for the past two years. Then Baboo and went for a ride. 1-2 miles into the ride I flatted out, tried to make a sharp turn, and went over onto my elbow. I hate cycling. Did I mention how much? ANyway, it turns out that there are many, many helpful cyclists out there wanting to help a damsel in distress even when that damsel is screaming, "MOTHERFUCKER I HATE CYCLING!!" I had an egg-size swelling on my arm.

 

7. Did you know, on average, that you nudge things with your elbow about sixty times per day? Me neither, until I brused the sh!t out of it. About sixty times a day I nudge something OW!! and then I swear. More than usual.

6. After years of lusting after a t-shirt that says SHARKFEST 2014 I am now signed up. Baboo and I are doing SHARKFEST, 2014. My coworkers were concerned. But as I told them, I don't have to outswim the shark. I just have to outswim several other tasty swimmers.

5. THe day after the SHARKFEST 2014 I am hoping to do a run called the Big Basin 50K. I hope, I hope.

4. I am seriously on the fence about Ironman Boulder. I have worried that since it's been 5 years since my last Ironman that my tattoo might expire. But man, did I mention I hate cycling? Still, I'm leaning closer...and closer...

3. About three weeks ago Sweet Baboo told me excitedly that he had ordered himself a practice shotput and discus. We had started talking about the senior Olympics, which I'll be able to try to enter in 2015. And, as he excitedly shared, he bought one for me, too

Uhhhhh....

wait. What?

I tried to get excited about it. I really did. But the fantasy me is a gazelle, not a large, burly thrower. I just couldn't feel it.

Then they arrived, the discus and the shotput, and he took me out to the field at the high school near our house,

And, well...

I had fun! I think I might have a penchant for the discus. The shotput, well, we'll see.

 

2. As you can see, throwers are not willowy. They are strong.

 

 

 

 

1. Like me.

...

 

 

 

 

10 comments:

  1. Ok, Sorry to be a guy and comment on your weight. But, first of all, based on the picture of you above, you look fabulous. Secondly, you mention your problem right in the same post. Low fat. Get off the stupid low fat thing. Fat is an essential nutrient! Sugar is not. We've all been duped into thinking that fat is bad for us. And obviously some fats are, but mostly just processed food fat. Get full fat yogurt in your diet, eat avocados, use copious amounts of virgin coconut oil and olive oil. Eat chicken with the skin (free range chicken), eat the fat in red meat (pasture raised and fed red meat), yada, yada, yada.
    I recommend some sites on info. The podcast by Vinnie Tortorich, anything involving Jimmy Moore and Marks Daily Apple. Also, I'm pretty sure that Tammy Metzger and I are on the same page (or there a bouts) on this subject too. Ask her.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. x2 what he said. Make friends with fat. Ditch the grains and sugar. Vinnie Tortorich's book comes out on Monday, I think. Fitness Confidential.

      I've been on and off the Paleo wagon for the past several months and put on 10lbs. I know it's the grains. Sh*t. But I've got a big race (Cycle to the Sun) I've been training for and it's Saturday. As soon as that's done I'm going back to 100%. 10lbs will come off like that.

      Love the weight lifting photo! YOU ARE BADASS. After all the cycling I've been doing I'm looking forward to getting back in the gym ASAP. Hang in there!

      Delete
  2. You ARE strong -- that picture of you is incredible. I wish I could do that, and look like that while doing it. (I'm neither willowy nor strong, but stuck in some nondescript, gooey middleness. It's like being invisible.)

    Sorry about the elbow (holy ouch!) but yay for reigniting your hatred of cycling.

    Can't wait to read about Sharkfest and...Ironman Boulder. I shall continue to live vicariously through your adventures.

    ReplyDelete
  3. First of all, GRAAAAAAAAH! to the weightlifting picture! That is awesome!

    Second, the elbow thing. YES. I broke my elbow 10 weeks ago and the hardware is loosening and trying to escape through my skin (I strated blogging, so full story here: thesethingshappentootherpeople.blogspot.com/2013/06/elbow-update-or-why-yes-i-do-have-screw.html) and I cannot BELIEVE how often you brush against walls, doorways, armrests, etc, etc, with the tip of your elbow. Ow ow ow every time.

    Oh, and good luck on the cycling. I just got back on my bike post-arm break and loved it, but I only ride a few miles at a time. (Because I want to KEEP loving it!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I volunteered at the recent NM Senior Olympics in Roswell, it was an awesome experience! You absolutely have to get involved!!! My husband couldn't go to any events due to work, but was inspired enough by the pictures and my descriptions that he will be competing in a few years. I have longer to wait.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7:48 AM

    see you at Sharkfest! Cheryl and Brant

    ReplyDelete
  6. You are awesome. I love how candid and honest you are. And I absolutely love that power lifting pic of yours. Very badass :) I did paleo for 30 days and felt so amazing! I've since gone back to eating grains but should really go back to eating paleo if I want to drop those 25 lbs I've put on in the past 7 years! Keep writing. I love reading you :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I have been stalking your blog for several years now and have to tell you that I LOVE that you are now Crossfitting and would love to see more posts about that. I am a recovered triathlete and runner who now loves Crossfit about a hundred times more than I did running. I too have been scale obsessed, but am now, for the first time in my life, focusing on how my body performs instead of how it looks. Yay!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I would like to just say that weight is NOT WHAT SHOULD BE MEASURED.
    Pinch the the areas behind your side where the fat piles up and use that as your metric. Screw the scale.

    Or get dunked and actually track your percent body fat...

    Please be reasonable. You have a man that loves you (and plenty more that would if he suddenly veers into loserville 8))
    and he you so stop this incessant worrying. Its so not a problem given the exercise you get... ok maybe backoff the really fatty stuff a bit 8)
    (not for calories but cholesterol.)

    Ok so now let me say enjoy that big basin 50 next year. ALso known as skyline to the sea.
    It's got a lot of up and down (net down!) but you are up for that.

    It's an amazingly beautiful trail. Redwoods, chaparral, river , etc. It was my first 50k. Unforgettable. So cool to be up on Skyline drive and
    set off for the Pacific Ocean!

    My RR is here:
    http://50-is-the-new-30.blogspot.com/2011/04/rundown-2011-skyline-to-sea-50km-9.html


    Coastal trail runs right? Wendell organizes a good run. (PCTR : Pacific Coast Trail runs, not so much)

    -paul

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes there are others out there, both men and women, who beat themselves up regularly about their weight, how slow they run etc, etc. I am one.

    Just thought you might like to know.

    ReplyDelete

Comments containing links to commercial websites from people with invisible profiles are deleted immediately. Spammers are immediately deleted.

Moved.

 I'm no longer involved in multisport or endurance sports. I've started my own business, a psychotherapist specializing in anxiety d...