Holiday Weight, Cold Running, and Decisions

This time of year is very busy for everyone and I my life has been no exception this week. On top of work has been holiday shopping, holiday get togethers, annual and semi annuals doctors appointments, and a million other things. Last night we stayed up till 1 AM decorating the inside of the house for the holidays after we got home from a holiday party. And as a Christmas present to ourselves we entered the 21st century with the purchase of our first flat screen TV.  It leaves our old big A. tube tv for me to use in the spare bedroom when on the trainer, should it ever be cleaned out.



 For some reason blogger isn't letting me add captions, after an hour of frustration I give up. So... the 1st shot is of CB's nativity scene and my menorah. The second is our new TV with my nutcrackers. One is from my first year in law enforcement and the other is from my time studying in England.





During all this busyness I know that weight management is a big concern for many of us. Personally, from my post race weight on Thanksgiving day to my morning weigh-in on black friday I had a 9 pound gain. It is ok though! I was able to work it back off and somewhere near the midle of last week I finally broke through my next weight loss benchmark. I do not celebrate these until I am at or under the weight for three consecutive days and it finally arrived. My reward for this benchmark is a Yankees Jersey, but since all of my clothes are running too big these day I decided to pick up a new pair of work pants and two sweaters instead. With my end goal for the year being 186, I still have 13 pounds to go and I am hopeful. I have joining the Fat Cyclist's 10 pound challenge to try and keep my motivated.

With this effort to hit my goal and to train for next years triathlon season I have maintained my training. Today I had what I think may be my coldest run ever. If not it is a close second to last years New Years Eve race. The weather was 34 degrees with an 8 mph breeze. Since I kept on the treadmill until June last year I am never sure how to dress for cold. That's why I asked how to dress for my last race. Given the weather the "what to wear" application at www.runnersworld .com said winter hat (toboggan/beanie), long sleeve tech shirt, tights, jacket, gloves and sun glasses. I did not have all of these so I made some concessions. I no longer have a winter hat suited for running so I wore my Brook's nightlife hat with an ear warmer over it, a Under Armor heat gear turtleneck, a long sleeve race tee, tights, shorts, and sunglasses. I didn't wear gloves because my hands always get hot, I could have worn them after all. I also noted again that I need to buy a jacket or vest, and a new fleece hat. After reading the comments from Adam's review on a pair of tights, I realized how others think about guys in tights and about wearing shorts over them. Well, I got to do what I got to do.

In my last post I asked for suggestions on how to proceed with training. Today I made my decision, I am going to just stick to no goals for this month. In order to keep structure, I am going to write my own training plan just to have something to check days off on the fridge. I am am going to keep my two a week strength training going, my Sunday long run, and Wednesday speed work. I will also add a group fitness class and hopefully Saturday yoga. I will shoot for at least an hour of cardio everyday, plus my LSD Sunday and Terrible Tuesday. Wednesday I began regulating my workouts using the heart rate monitor again, and this is my plan for the rest of the month. After my reading this summer on training zones I began with a workout in zone 2. A run in this zone gave me an average pace of 15 minute miles and required walking breaks on all hills to stay in the zone. After this, I kept the majority of my workouts in zone 3. From my reading you shouldn't use this zone, should either be harder or easier. This zone gives me 10:30 miles, still slower than my normal training paces. I find it odd how much slower I run when using this method, when I am doing pace based training I must be staying in zone 5 most of the time if I had to wager.

Another decision I have been toying with for a month and a half is to go back to school. My mind is not in the right place any more for my work. After over 4 years, I can no longer tolerate having to work with a caseload of 80 inmates who feel my life should revolve around them and unfortunately my tactical duties do not pull me out of the office enough to help me cope. CB and I have discussed it and a career change is in order and going back to school will be necessary. My options for what to do vary greatly. I am applying to the local community college to take the prerequisites for a nursing program. This would mean taking biology and chemistry and then applying to a nursing program in the fall. Secondly, I am applying for a Ph.D. in Sociology at NC State University. Ideally, I would get a doctorate in criminology but there is no program in this state, but this program has a crime and deviance concentration. One of my favorite professors from undergrad got her doctorate there. This would mean a move, but I could keep working for the state while doing this. Thirdly, and mostly for shits and giggles I am applying to a college in Utah for an Associates in Aviation Science. They have a program worked out with my local airport and I would be able to use federal financial aid to pay for flight time. Having a commercial pilot's licence could lead to good jobs in this area flying for NASCAR race teams.

Lastly, my week in number.....

Strength- 1:30 minutes
Stationary Spin Bike- 60.7 mile
Run-17.4 miles
Concept 2 Rower- 40 minutes
Hike- 2.5 miles