knottylady

In addition to December 25 of every year, Christmas comes to me once a month in the form of a Runner’s World magazine.

Receiving the June 2009 issue was no different. My eyes went wide as they do every month when the open door to my mailbox revealed the shiny gloss cover with mint pages that will be dog-eared in a matter of minutes. Just like always, I go inside of the house, toss the unimportant mail on the table (bills, ads, magazines, etc.), plop down on the nearest chair and zone out completely until I am done reading cover to cover.

It wasn’t until I reached the last page before the cover (page 116), however, that something different struck me. The article was a brief summary of a celebrity runner, Jennifer Beals of The L World, but it wasn’t the words that made me stop; it was her picture. My eyes analyzed the pretty lady in the orange top and black pants as my mind worked overtime to make sense of what about the image that made me stop. Then it hit me.

That is my body. (Not like my bod was photoshopped in there, but it was eerily similar to me)

Here I am with a slim waistline above big muscular thighs and arms that can’t make up its mind on whether they want to be lean and cut or puff out like little marshmallows. Recently I finally was able to accept my freak-a-zoid body, but it turns out, I have a runner’s body. Who knew!

Quickly, I flipped the pages back in an attempt to confirm my notion. Males and female models aside, it turns out, other female runners pictured in the issue also resembled the weird arms-slim waistline-big thighs body shape. Has my hypothesis been unscientifically deemed true?

On a recent interview with Hugh Jackman on Howard Stern, Jackman mentioned about training like who you want to look like. Well, it seems that I inadvertently trained to look like a runner, but that was never my intention. But then again, I never had a particular image I wanted to look like; I was more excited to see what my body would morph into. (Posting pictures of celebrities and models never made sense to me. You can’t look like someone else; you have a particular body shape… It’s about morphing into your own best body – now THAT is exciting stuff!!! Besides, photos are airbrushed and touched up so that exact result is unattainable. You might as well aim to look like Minnie Mouse for that matter.) Anyway, it’s an interesting feeling to know that this time I didn’t change my body to look like something; instead, my body altered itself to accommodate my passion: running.

How cool is THAT!

Soooo I gained about 6-7 pounds since hitting my lowest weight.

ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!

I should not let the scale control me, after all, the scale does not account for the insane muscle I built since last December. I now have the ability to clench my quads; it’s pretty darn sexy (to me!) on how they kind of pop out on their own when I stand up. I even have that “slit” on the side of the leg… Me likey! And my biceps – holy moly. I feel strong. I look strong. My shoulders are fabulously sculpted. Even my back is starting to develop little by little. I can do full planks and rotate my planks like nobody’s business (side plank 1 min, regular plank 1 min, other side plank 1 min, regular plank 1 min, repeat – all done with no rest in between). My cardiovascular health is just fantastic: I can keep up with the hardest instructors at the gym without collapsing and I can run miles upon miles without my heart rate spiking. :)

But best of all, a gym instructor described my physique as “athletic”!!!!!!!

But I am annoyed that my once-defined 6-pack is now a puffy 4-pack-ish. A layer of fat developed on my arms, hiding my guns a little. Same to be said about my thighs.

How did this happen? Oh I so know how this happened. It’s called the holidays and marathon training.

I can’t believe I’m still battling holiday weight. It’s May for heaven’s sake!

But the marathon… Running longer distances makes me out to look like an Ethiopian at Hometown Buffet. Seriously, after an 11-miler last Monday, I ate a pretty good sized dinner (1.5 cups pasta, veggies, garlic bread, 6-9 oz jumbo shrimp), but an hour later, I was experiencing hunger pains. Not only am I eating more than HB, but I end up begging for scraps from his plate! I already upped my caloric intake to 1500-1800 with 6 meals a day, but I’m going to have to eat at least 2000 with 8 meals or so on weeks where I have a long run. That’s the downside when you start burning 1000+ calories in one session.

Thankfully, the appetite spike lasts for about 5-6 days or so. Last weekend I went a little nuts while we were in Palm Springs (yes it was a vacation, but I should still have been able to exercise some kind of restraint when it came to the chocolate fondue lol), but by Monday, my appetite lessened by a whole lot; to the point where 1300-1500 calories felt okay again (I am only 5’0)... just in time for this week’s huge reduction in mileage for rest week!

So what am I to do about the weight? Well I should do zip-zero-nothing about it, at least until I am done training for the marathon. After all, my body needs all the nutrients (and carbs carbs carbs!!!) it needs to carry to the 26.2 finish line. The real question is, “Choose one: great looking body OR finish a marathon”, after all, a it isn’t a great looking body that helps me run; it is a strong, practiced body that is fed with enough nutrients that helps me to cross this goal off my list. Plus, I certainly am desperate to become the 1% of the population who completed a marathon. Hoorah!

Riiiight. Easier said (or typed!) than done – especially when you have a pair of in laws boasting with brand new figures thanks to Weight Watchers coming into visit in two weeks. o_O (They’re actually very nice and gorgeous people. I’m happy for them and can’t wait to see how amazing they look (additional motivation!); this is just the insecure me talking/typing.)

Fortunately, I’m more of a “get it fixed” girl rather than “drown in my woes,” so here is my plan:

1. Remind myself of the commitment I made to the marathon.
2. Exercise every day. As in Monday through Sunday. I’m going back to what I know works, which is exercising every day (I did it for 120 days straight!). I already have Monday through Friday down, I just need to make Saturday and Sunday a habit. I already talked to HB about walking on the weekends and he is down for it. HB himself is currently not working out at all, so this will be a very good thing for him too.
3. Veggies veggies veggies. People say Chinese food is fattening, but I actually lost a lot of fat from eating it. lol Early in the week I order brown rice, fish steamed with ginger and onion, and three orders of different kind of veggie stir fry (eggplant dish, green beans stir fry, and gourmet vegetable). For lunch every day I would serve myself 1/2 cup brown rice, a 3 oz serving of fish and a cup of each veggie dish. That, followed by a small dinner works like a charm and – unless I’m running long distances! – keeps me from going hungry.
4. STOP PICKING MYSELF APART! Write a brag sheet on a post it and stick it next to my before picture.
5. Wear beautiful clothes It makes me feel my best and at the same time, draws my attention away from the parts I am so desperate to change.

Wish me luck as I’m certainly going to need it! Here goes…

Planned: Run 4 miles, easy
Results: 5.00 miles
Since my right knee was bothering me (prolly from the lack of walk breaks and speed sessions), I definitely planned on taking it easy. I started with walk breaks at 4:1 ratio (run 4 minutes, walk 1 minute) as slow as possible, which was easy with it being 65 degrees and humid, HOWEVER, I had another spiritual moment. lol It’s just on this day, the flowers were extra gorgeous, the cloudless sky behind the shining sun was such a pretty shade of blue, the ocean sent breezes that were the perfect temperature and speed to cool my sweat, the birds were singing such catchy tunes, and the leaves danced to the catchy beat of a soft rustle. With all this going on, I just HAD to run that extra mile!!! In fact, I ditched my run-walk-run program at about mile 3.25 and ran the rest straight because the breaks distracted me too much from admiring nature. lol And people wonder why I run sans iPod always.

Planned: Yoga, 75 minutes
Status: DID NOT COMPLETE
I haven’t attended a Wednesday afternoon Yoga session in weeks. I was just not in the mood, I guess! I’m considering buying yoga videos to do at home. Maybe that will help me get in touch with my inner yogi again.