I didn’t get up to run this morning. I planned to, but when the alarm went off I rolled over in bed and slept for another 45 minutes.
It’s tricky to get the timing down such that I can run in the morning and not be totally wiped out for the day. As I suspected, the key to running in the morning really starts the night before with getting to bed at a decent hour. Last night I was on a minor cleaning binge in preparation for my mother-in-law — who arrives tonight for a week-long visit — and didn’t get to bed as early as I’d planned. I don’t deal with lack of sleep as well as I did in college, and frankly, I didn’t deal with it very well then either. (Although that fact only became apparent with the benefit of hindsight.)
I checked out my race pictures from the Toughest 10K, and they actually weren’t that awful. From the looks of that second photo, I’m still kicking my right leg out to the side in the same wonky way I always have. I’ve been working on fixing it after some advice from a guy in my tri club who’s also a USAT-certified coach, but it’s tough to change years of habit, especially something so fundamental about the way I run. In short, the wonky side kick apparently stems from the fact that I don’t pick my feet up enough when I run — which I believe is probably a factor of the fact that I run slowly. At the end of the day, I’m more of a habitual jogger than I am a true runner, and my speed and stride reflect that. Hmph. I’ll keep working on it, since the tri club guy says I’m just asking for a knee injury at some point. (I would argue that I’ve been running for 8+ years without injury, but that’s certainly no guarantee that I’ll avoid them in the future.)
On the plus side, I’m happier with the way I look in the photos. I’ve lost almost 15 pounds since the beginning of 2010, but I’ve been stalled at the same weight since mid-June. I haven’t gained, but I haven’t lost either — I’ve just fluctuated within 1-2 pounds of the same point. That point is about 10 pounds above where I ultimately want to be, so it’s time to get serious again. I know why I stalled out — I started eating more sweets, and paying less attention in general to how much I eat. Reversing that should be a relatively easy fix.
They are good photos! You look very relaxed in the one on the right. Keep up with watching what you eat. It is very hard to be consistent but it’s the only thing that really works for me and I think we are pretty similar. I can work out a lot but if I’m not thinking about the way I eat I don’t lose weight. So keep it up! 🙂