Sunday, September 21, 2008

Weighty Issues

I think I mentioned on this blog about how I tend to gain weight when I'm running, and more weight during my peak running. I've concluded that it must have something to do with my metabolism getting more efficient with calories as I increase the demands--an inbred survival mechanisms.

Well, it sure doesn't seem to remember how to be efficient when the hard training lets up.
After less than a week of cutting back my mileage AND my evening trips to the gym, I promptly lost a couple pounds despite and increase in daily calories. No biggie.
BUT after taking a few days completely off, and a lot less milage for the last couple weeks, I lost another couple pounds....putting me about 5lbs under where I was at my peak weight this summer, even if only a couple pounds under where I seem to gravitate to.

I know it's not much, but I was too skinny to start with. Even at my "setpoint" I had the goal of gaining, although my body seemed to fight it. Whether or not this was a good goal or not, whether ever managing to gain weight would help or hurt my running [only questioned since I found myself running worse whenever I ate myself sick--and then my metabolism would speed up and I'd lose the initial gain anyways]....the one thing I DO know is that I can NOT afford to lose.
I definitely have to turn this trend around, running or not, and take it as far as I can. At LEAST get back to the point where I was strongest and running my best, and see if I can't manage to push it even further and possibly gain more strength, not to mention a solid, injury-resistant, foundation to hold up to my bigtime athletic dreams.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i haven't tried the odawalla bars but i think i'll do that sometime soon. its always nice to find a good snack when your always on the go like i am.

have you thought that the weight gain could just be water? i've heard that muscles tend to hold more water during periods of intense training.