KKC training, week 3 recap

On Nov. 3, 2017, I started training for the Krispy Kreme Challenge, a five mile race that includes a doughnut stop in the middle. By registering as a competitor, I will be timed and will have to carry my dozen doughnuts — either in my belly or in a pack I plan to carry — with me.

With my recent weight gain, my concern with this challenge is the time component. I’m not as fast as I was a year ago. I have to average at the maximum 10-minute miles in order to give myself 10 minutes to consume my doughnuts and run to the finish.

This will be a rolling hills course. I live on flat land. I’ve been doing more squats and lunges and I have already seen the payoff. While roaming the streets of hilly San Francisco, my legs, for the most part, felt great. They held up well for going up 40 flights of stairs in 13 miles.

The training plan I’m using at the moment is from Zombies, Run! It’s five days of running in the intermediate 10K program with weekly speed work and a long run. Every run is time based except the long run, which is miles based.

After coming back from my trip, my recovery was horrid. I felt weak and jetlagged for almost an entire week. It didn’t help that I may have caught a cold from the coughing passenger during the plane ride home.

Despite the fatigue, I tried to keep with the plan as best I could. But the runs kinda sucked, as I felt like it took everything I had to get through them.

Today’s long run was 6.2 miles. While disappointed by my overall time, I felt better than I had all week, especially toward the end of the run. It was proof that I could and should push the pace a bit next time.

Part of the cause of my slower pace is my recent weight gain. I took more steps toward working on alleviating the stress that cause me to binge, but didn’t eat as healthy as I should have. I comforted myself, a lot, with some awesome potato chips and pieces of a cake that fell apart while I was frosting it. I know it was a bad thing to do, and I’ll get back on track.

Now that I’ve recovered from my trip, I can get back to putting a whole-hearted effort into training.

During my time recovering I ran, not necessarily because my training plan called for it, but rather because I knew I’d feel better if I went out and did something. I must admit, getting out felt good. It helped me, so I could help my family.

So now to build back up during week 4. I plan on slowly reintroducing the plyometrics and other strength training I was doing prior to my trip. I’m also going back to the basics with my food intake, tracking as much as I can. I’ll adjust things after this week, which includes Thanksgiving.