October 30, 2009

Smaller Bootie = Faster Time?

I know enough about science to know that lighter objects are easier to move. Physics 101, right? I've been like the majority of women in the world, in that I've always wanted to lose weight. During college, I didn't pay TOO much attention to my weight and I ran decent. I wouldn't say I ran well, as I was never a top-notch college competitor. I weighed about 145. This is perfectly normal for a female that is 5'8", definitely nothing wrong with that.

After college, I transitioned from shorter distance running to marathoning. My mileage remained in the low 70s, as it was in college. It was in my first few stressful years of teaching, that I dropped about 8-10 lbs. I remained about 135 until this past spring. Talk about maintaining- I weighed 135 for nearly a decade! Last spring, I read Glover's book Competitive Road Racing and found this weight chart. According to that, I had about 9 lbs to lose before I reached my "goal racing weight." So, I set to work. The first 5 were pretty easy, cutting out sweets, less snacking at night, etc. It was only in the past 3 weeks that I finally hit Glover's Goal weight of 126, and even a few 125s the past few days.

Shockingly, I feel the same. In the long run (pun intended), I think being lighter will help my times. I saw THINK b/c I could really see myself not watching my diet enough and underfueling. I don't see how it can't make me faster, if all goes as planned. My problem is that I sometimes can't tell if I need more fuel or if I just need sleep. Both of those things could be a possible need of mine at any point. Honestly, I am pretty stinking hungry a LOT. My workouts and energy remained the same, so I am not underfueling, but the feeling of wanting to eat is still there. I'm hoping that if I can maintain this weight, continue to train hard, that my times will decrease dramatically. It's sort of like the fine line b/w high mileage training and overtraining. You have to find that difficult sweet spot. With weight loss, you need to eat a low enough amount of calories to lose weight, but need enough nutrients to fuel your running.

I do very well during the school day, it's the social events that get me. For example, Tuesday night I played Bunco, Thursday night Bridge, and tomorrow night will be eating with a friend. It's HARD, but not impossible, to say no. I've found that other people leave you alone more if you just go ahead and lay it all on the line. It goes kind of like this at my school:
Overweight teacher: YOU can eat as many of these cookies as you want, you're so thin.
Me: Well, it's hard to run fast if you butt is big, so I'm really trying to keep my weight down. Thanks for offering, though.

Easy, right? My outside-of-school friends are better about cooking healthy things if I'm at their house or understanding why I don't want to drink 5 glasses of wine. I think they see my efforts and passion for running more than my coworkers. Heck, they should, I'm much closer to them.

THE REST OF THIS IS FOR LADIES ONLY!

There are downfalls to this weight loss thing. Ladies, why is it that we can't CHOOSE where to lose weight? I mean, I was small enough up top as it was, now it's like I'm concave. Does Victoria's Secret make negative sizes? I could be on my way. Also, the bootie... sigh. Southern men like big butts. It's true, ladies. I wouldn't say that my old butt was BIG, but it was at least THERE. Not so much, anymore. But, like I said earlier, it's a price to pay to be faster. I mean, in my dream world, those last 5 pounds would've come from my inner thighs. Why do I still have fat there? I'm honestly not understanding this.

Oh, wait! Let me go ahead and steal someone's comment-
"R, don't worry. It's what's on the INSIDE that counts." or "You at least have beautiful eyes and smile."
Ha! Bologna.

14 comments:

  1. Hmmm...feeling hungry all the time may mean that weight just isn't right for you. You shouldn't be hungry if you're eating the right foods.

    Couple thoughts: in real life there are usually 5lbs between heights, Glover's only allowing 3, which I hadn't realized since he's asking me to be 114, which isn't as bad as having you be 125. The other thing is, this is racing weight, not necessarily "all the time" weight. So if you're not in the midst of racing at this moment, you could maintain a few lbs up from there and lose them the last month. That's what I'm going for, I'm usually around 117.5 but plan on being 115 for Philly.

    As for the weight loss location, lol, them's the breaks. I haven't minded the boob loss since at my age, it made them perkier :-) but I do wish I had more ass.

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  2. Anonymous10/30/2009

    being hungry isn't fun. maybe it's not the best place to be weight wise? is this a weight youre trying to stay at for awhile or just during training for a particular race or two? i don't think i'd be happy trying to stay at a racing weight for long periods of time.

    also something to keep in mind is that the number listed in that chart might not be the best for you. but it's prolly a worthwhile "experiment" to see if you can go faster. although i can't imagine going as fast as you already do ;)

    and i feel you on the no-boobage. soooo annoying!

    p.s. you'll be happy to know that i'm taking baby steps with hot-spanish-ta and send him a facebook message basically saying we should hang out haha

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  3. I've lost 48lbs since starting to run in 2007 and I hear you on the bewbies/booty. I think I had more at 12 than I do now, lol.

    CJ

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  4. Anonymous10/30/2009

    I wouldn't get caught up in numbers or formulas if I were you. What was right by one person (Glover) isn't right by another. Some of our teams'fastest National girls are heavier than their lowest 'ideals' and don't obsess about food or thinking about it. Focus on training hard if that's your passion, but to be hungry all the time, well, you can only do that for so long before it comes back to bite you in your (deflated) a$$ ;) Peace.

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  5. nearly A...was in one my entire life until i got pregnant. yes, a nearly a does exist, sadly.

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  6. oh, and being hungry? are you kidding me! girl, you need to be full with all the training that you're doing. that will eventually catch up with you and hurt your times. muscle weighs three times more than fat and i actually find that when i'm stronger, i weigh more and can race faster. i'm in my best shape when i weigh more. kind of weird, but i've learned to get over the numbers. they really don't mean anything. i think formulas for "best" racing time is a load of (junk) but that's just me.

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  7. What about focusing on body fat percentage--that's a little less objective?

    Your muscle mass obviously is doing what it's supposed to in terms of get you to the finish on time.

    I think fixating on a number is the wrong thing even if some expert in a book wrote it down--he doesn't know you.

    This kind of thinking got me into a real mess several years ago and I'm still recovering. I'd hate to see you sabotage one number for another.

    Best of luck.

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  8. I agree with wanting to 'decide' where the weight loss comes from! I have given up on trying to find pants that fit because everything is so tight in the thighs and butt, but then I am swimming in it around the waist.

    I agree with GIM. Feeling hungry all the time is a sign that this weight not be right for you. Okay- that might be your ideal "racing" weight, but trying to maintain it all the time might not be healthy.

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  9. My college roommate decided a long time ago that it would be better if we were all like balloon animals and we could just squeeze parts of our bodies so that they could become bigger and smaller as we wished.

    Good luck finding the sweet spot where you feel strong and light but not starving all the time.

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  10. Hey! I found a great blog that you are going to love, too. It's a woman who started running seriously 5 years ago (over 40) and is planning on qualifying for the Olympic Trials. She ran a 2:46 in Twin Cities.

    Anyway, she's got some great posts about weight and she's 5'5" and 124.
    http://runawayfastjaymee.blogspot.com/2009/05/weight-weight-dont-tell-me.html

    http://runawayfastjaymee.blogspot.com/2009/09/honest-effin-nears-her-fighting-weight.html

    Hope you find these interesting (and don't be hungry, it isn't right, eat more).

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  11. Ok, I am guilty of reading the "ladies only" part... Northern men like big butts too... but bigger is not always better (without getting too graphic, LOL). If it makes you feel better, my mother just told me that my butt disappeared, WTH??? I dont run near as many miles as u.

    And FYI... small and firm is better than big and Floppy-McNasty!! LOL

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  12. I hear you on the weight loss coming from where you'd least like to lose. I was never one of the bustier gals, so it's kind of unfair when the little bit I had went bye-bye when I went from being fluffy couch dweller to runner. Ah well...I guess it means less in the backache department!

    And +1 to Flo's thoughts about racing weight vs. everyday weight...I'm up from my marathon weight last year but am just looking at it as something that I'll take care of once Boston training starts.

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  13. I'm with everyone else about being hungry. If you're really hungry, this may not be the best weight for you. That said, I am a BEAR when I'm hungry...so my two cents would be to eat more and see if you can't maintain without being hungry.

    As for the girl part...I'm with you!

    As of today, I'm about 2lbs above Glover's suggested racing weight and I'm interested to see how I run under 130lbs.

    That said, um...where did my butt go? I've never had a chest (hello, puberty? I'm 25. Please show up), but I could always count on my badonkadonk to be there. And now I'm worried it's gone. I tried on jeans this wknd and I had a flat butt. I ended up buying jeans in a size 2! um, definitely a "never-before" size for me. Don't get me wrong, I love my abs right now but...I'm kind of missing my behind.

    Always a balance between running weight and life weight. Hope you find a good balance soon!

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  14. Anonymous11/05/2009

    Hey,

    Skinny booty or not, go kick some arse next weekend, will ya?

    See, you soon... ;)

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