Winter Season Plans

So I’ve been feeling pretty darn sloth-like over the past few weeks.  Even though I ran a race not that long ago.  Basically, it feels like life and work and illnesses have thrown me for a loop and my training plan has gone off the rails.

In all honesty, it’s not been that bad, and if it’s going to happen, this is a fine time for it.  But I’m definitely eager to get back to proper training and scheduling.

One thing I’ve learned from all of this is that when I’m given a chance to really step back, I have a tendency to take it too far.  When I know I don’t have to prioritize my workouts or my diet, well, things go a little crazy.  But rather than just go whole hog back into things, I’m trying to ease back in.  For example, I’m mostly recovered from my cold.  I ran 4 miles on Tuesday night.  My schedule called for 5 last night.  However, since I was on my feet all day at work and was pretty exhausted when I came home, I opted to take a rest day and hit tonight’s workout hard.  Normally, I would have pushed that 5, but since I have the time and space in my schedule, I decided to step back.

I’m also trying to revamp my diet.  I let things go a little crazy for a while there, and while I’m still down from my high weight, I had gained back about 5 pounds, and I didn’t like the direction I was going.  I tried Weight Watchers for a while in solidarity with my coworkers and I liked it, but all of a sudden, I stalled out.  I put my food into My Fitness Pal and realized why.  I had fallen into the trap of not getting enough calories to fuel my day.  Why?  Because I can’t turn down a piece of good chocolate, and that was killing my points.  Now, I’m not knocking WW.  It worked really well for me and helped me get back on track.  It made me realize how important it is for me to track my food.  And it’s made the transition back to MFP a lot easier.

I’m approaching MFP differently this go around.  I’m going to focus on really hitting my macros, rather than just calories.  Let me tell you, getting enough protein is hard!  I’m constantly low.  Right now, I’m far from perfect, and my general goal is “around 1600 calories, not over on carbs, eat more protein.”  I’m getting there, and I’m okay with being far from perfect.  I’m not tracking exercise on MFP.  No more of this “I worked out so I get to eat more.”  Yes, on long run or long bike days, I will increase my intake, but on a day where I just have an hour workout?  1600 is more than fine.  I’m not a tall human, and I have a desk job.  And you know what?  When you focus on protein, watching your sugars, and lowering carb intake?  1600 feels like A LOT of food.

So for the winter season, I’m just going to try to get myself back on track, race some half marathons, have fun, and get myself prepped for 70.3 training.  Hooray?

 

The post Winter Season Plans appeared first on Elbowglitter.