I know how stupid it is

I just noticed on my blog stats Ive had a lot of hits for that phrase.  "I know how stupid it is"

To add fuel to the fire... Here's another one.


I know how stuipid it is, but I have about 13.5 weeks before Oct 21 which happens to be the date of a marathon Im about to sign up for. I hope I have enough time. Mr Higdon and I are going to be close friends for a while. Ill do my first ever Half Marathon 15 days before I do my first Full. Is that how your supposed to do it?


Half Marathon High Trestle Trail Half
Full Marathon DesMoines IMT

***UPDATE***
High Trestle Trail was cancelled.  So I wont be doing a half marathon this weekend.  

From Woodward City council Mayor Pro TempThank you for your interest in participating in the High Trestle Trail Marathon on October 6^th.  A third party company was responsible for the event’s organization, registration, and execution. This company is not affiliated with the Community of Woodward, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, or the High Trestle Trail Authority. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, that company is no longer able to host the marathon, and the race has thus been cancelled.
 On behalf of the High Trestle Trail managers, I apologize for the event’s cancellation, and I want to assure you that you will be receiving a full refund of your entry fee via Active.com. Please allow 1 to 4 weeks for this refund to arrive.
 With that being said, the High Trestle Trail managers were excited about the idea of a trail marathon and even more thrilled by the response that it received. They are considering hosting a marathon in 2013 so please keep your eyes and ears open for future updates on that potential event.

Swimming progress

In the past 2 weeks Ive swam a mile 2 different times.  This is truly and epic accomplishment for me.  Im slow and I just dont feel "awesome" in the water.  Aside from that Ive been terrified of the water since my Peregrine Charities Tri.  I dont understand why.  Im not afraid of the water.  Im afraid of the distance more than anything else.  I suppose its a lack of open water swims.  On my list of goals to do more open water swimming.   Aside from that.  2 mile long swims in less than 2 weeks is a big deal for me.  Im not really losing any weight at this moment but I do seem to be progressing at least in one discipline.  Now to focus on some running too.  If I can get the Swim and Run down I can "Fake" the Bike right Rachelle?  ;)  An Olympic may not be to far fetched for me even yet this year.  I was truly hoping for a 70.3 this year but I think my season is going to lapse before I can get there.  I guess ill focus on the run and get the Half marathon and potentially a marathon.

Workouts to improve your swim

http://www.swimsmooth.com/breathing.html

Great Article : Chrissie Wellington's guide to the open water swim

Update:
I absolutely love my Prescription goggles I got from swimoutlet.com.  They are a good fit and feel and for the first time ever I feel more secure in the water because I can actually see.  Cheap enough for anyone and easy too.

Compromising your Metabolism Part2: The hardest thing

This is a follow up to this post. Compromising your Metabolism?

I've been trying to lose all the fat on my body since January 2010. For about a year I ate at 2000, 1800, 1600, and 1490 daily caloric intake exercising 5-6 days a week and reducing calories levels as I lost weight which was about every quarter.
For the majority of 2011 I struggled to lose weight at 1500-1450 calories/day while exercising. I was exercising 45-60 min with occasional 90 min workouts an sometimes on weekend double workouts I was burning 500-1500 calories a day in exercise. This caused me to be eating at a severe deficit for a long time frame.

Now I'm committed to eating enough calories and I am convinced, finally, that I truly was starving myself.

 For 2 weeks I have maintained my intake at 2350-2550. Regardless of exercise. I don't eat calories back because I'm technically eating at my maintenance or slightly under (200-300 cals). This past week I was traveling for 3 days and despite poor nutritional options I monitored my caloric intake the best I could. ** I made a best guess on the mexican fajitas I ate.** I worked out 2 days of the 3. One day I did 20 min of HIIT calisthenics in my room and the next night I ran 4 miles. This morning I weighed and I was .2 heavier than the day I left. Im ok with this because i didn't really gain I haven't been exercising consistently and my nutrition hasn't been super clean so I definitely think I could be retaining a bit of water. Since I started I have lost about 4 lbs and kept it off instead of YoYoing. Despite always believing, and telling others, that eating your calories back was the right thing to do; I lost weight for a year consistently by not doing it. Being morbidly obese when I started, and working hard enough to compete in triathlons I was terrified to eat my calories back fearing I would start putting all that weight back on that I had worked so hard to lose. It took me a year of not losing anything and being frustrated to the point of giving up to get to this point. I'm excited once again to be moving forward instead of being in a state of constant frustration. I urge you all to determine your TDEE and then eat at a slight deficit. It maybe working for you now to starve your body but eventually it will catch up to you and you will waste a lot of time and destroy the motivation and drive you have.

The hardest thing was me forcing my brain to accept the fact that doing this wasn't going to make me fat and if gaining a little weight the first week was my only way to make progress over the long haul was to take this step of faith than doing that was better than continuing to gain and lose the same 10 lbs for another year.