Last Place Runner

The week went pretty well. Earlier in half training, I’d had a lot of trouble with my left foot going numb while I was running. So I got some new grandpa shoes and started wearing compression support under my socks and I haven’t had any problems at all. The girl at the running store modified the laces on my new shoes, too, and it has made a lot of difference. Good thing I got over feeling like I needed to look cute while I’m running — yes, I got over that a long time ago.

I made but one resolution for the new year, and I actually made it late last year: Don’t pay to lose weight. I knew that wouldn’t include the nutritional supplements and amino acids that I love and use every day. I was thinking more along the lines of Weight Watchers and Dietbet. And then I joined a month-long Dietbet. So, good job Meghan!

I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how much I should eat. I use MyFitnessPal and it defaults to 1200 calories. But that’s not enough for me. And when I started adding mileage to my running, I put on a lot of weight in a short amount of time. I had my daily calories set at 1500, plus I ate back whatever my heart-rate monitor said I burned off running. And a person who weighs as much as I do can burn some calories running three miles. So I started to wonder if maybe that wasn’t such a terrific idea.

If you ever want to know what to do, ask the Internet. And the Internet will be firmly divided on ANY issue you’re dealing with. So I spent the past week trying out the TDEE -20% method.

TDEE is your daily total energy expenditure, a number determined by your age, height, weight, and activity level. When figuring my TDEE, I chose one level lower than my actual activity level. I sit at a desk all day and run during my lunch hour every day and have a long run on Saturdays. So I’m getting a good workout every day, but I also just sit around and breathe most of the time.

I calculated my TDEE on a website called IIFYM.com. My TDEE ended up being 2,053 calories and I subtracted 20 percent for an aggressive weight loss. That gave me 1,643 calories. I ended up eating about 1,700 calories a day all week and that seemed like enough.

But then Friday I woke up feeling off. Just kind of loopy and my stomach felt touchy. I felt like I was hungry, but I also felt like eating much would make me sick. Luckily, I get off at noon on Fridays, so I stopped by the store and picked up a few things for dinner and went home to rest. I had planned to do my run that afternoon, but I just never felt well enough to do it. And I didn’t want to feel worse on Saturday and have to miss the group run. So I ended up taking the day off on Friday.

Justin and I went to bed early so I could rest and just watch TV. He was eating a snack, so I got up and got one, too. A big old fattening snack. And I immediately felt better. Like a million percent better. My head cleared, my stomach unclenched and I felt so good I drifted off to sleep by 9 o’clock. I wasn’t sick! I was hungry! Wow!

I got up early on Saturday and had two pieces of toast with butter and honey before I left for the run. It was raining, but it was supposed to snow, too. I hesitated at the door — the weather was just miserable and the house was so cozy.

We had four miles on the schedule. By the time Coach finished his discussion on form, the room (packed with 300 people) was hot and I was sweating in my carefully chosen layers. It was raining when we took off, but before long it was snowing big, fat snowflakes.

I was running intervals (half-mile run, then a brief walk to check my heart rate) with Bridget and Alisha. Then another woman caught up to us and said she had been way, way behind us but didn’t want to be alone. Her name is Ruby and she’s never run before. She stayed with us the rest of the time and I know it was kind of difficult for her.

I was keeping an eye on our mileage with my watch and trying to make sure Ruby was feeling OK. Every so often I would tell everyone where we were. And at 2.9 miles, I told Ruby if she could just run a little bit further, she will have run a 5K. And she was in. After we hit 3.1, she still felt good and we kept running.

And this is why I love being part of a training group. It’s not just about me. Ruby said she wouldn’t have been able to do it on her own. I know she could have, but I also know the mental block. I could tell she was so proud.

She did end up walking some more while I ran ahead with a super sweet volunteer named Amelia. When we finished, Amelia went inside and got three cups of water while I waited for Ruby to come in. Then we had a big celebration in the snow on the parking lot at the Downtown Activity Center.

It was one of those days where the more I ran, the more I felt like I could keep running. I had started out telling Alisha that I would never be one of these people who ran negative splits. And then I ran negative splits!

Tomorrow night I’m going to my first speed session. Coach said you could skip the regular workout on the schedule on days you came to speed workouts. I got really excited. And then really scared about what kind of torture he’s going to put me through.