In my last blog post, I had expressed frustrations about running for about 5 weeks now and not seeing a change in my mile pace, all the while losing weight. To top this off, yesterday I took my measurements after 2 weeks of not doing so, only to find that I did not lose any more body fat or gain any more muscle mass (though I did lose another 1.1lb) - which was disconcerting to me because I had a few healthy eating days in a row.
So that brings me to this evening. Wednesdays are our "short/other" runs and tonight our leader had us run 4 miles. 4 miles was, at one point, our LONG run about 4 weeks ago (and we did the same route tonight). And now we're doing it as a short run! I was not happy, but I did it. And as I ran, I noticed how much better I felt running it than I did 4 weeks ago. How it was a struggle to run even a mile whereas tonight I was able to run 1.76 miles before stopping to walk for a bit. I believe I went from an approximately 15 minute run before walking to over 22 minutes of running before walking. And while I did a run/walk for the middle portion (there was a hill), most of the last 1.5 miles was a run. And it was more of a RUN than a JOG! And my legs were feeling great ... no pain, not even shin splints (yay!).
4 weeks ago I ran the 4 miles at a 13:46/mile pace. My mileage times were: 12:39, 14:20, 14:11, 14:05. Tonight I ran the 4 miles at a 12:59/mile pace. My mileage times were: 12:14, 13:21, 13:29, 12:49. SO MUCH BETTER!!! So now I have a new standard to beat. I know I can pace at just under 13 minutes/mile, I can run 1.76 miles without stopping to walk, and I can run for about 22 minutes without stopping to walk (I assume this may vary on elevation during the route). But tonight's run will be in my head as the best run I've had in my 5 weeks of running. I really felt like a runner tonight.
My food still needs a LOT of help. I took a look at my inputs in my Weight Watchers app -- as I thought I had good weeks -- but in reading back my foods, I had some chocolate there, a cookie there, half a doughnut over there ... and definitely had a few bad meals. I know my eating has become cleaner since starting the running group, but I need to be much better than I am today to continue to make progress. My body is now falling into the groove of me running, so what will propel me more towards a healthy body fat percentage and weight will be my nutrition.
Overall, though, I am down 3.6lb over 4 or 5 weeks, though I've lost more pounds in body fat and gained muscle mass. I believe my body fat is down 2% overall. I've lost 1.5 inches in my waist as well. Imagine what I could do and feel like if my nutrition was even better than it is today (which shouldn't be hard to do because there is a LOT of room for improvement). It's an uphill battle, but I'm still climbing the mountain!
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