How I gained 10 pounds while training for a half marathon

I hesitated for a long time about writing this because, well, it’s embarrassing.

Yes, I trained for a half marathon. I trained for 14 weeks and ran countless miles. Yes, I burned many calories. No, I didn't lose weight. Instead, I gained weight ... 10 pounds.

Woo-hoo for running 13.1 miles. Boo for gaining 10 pounds!

How does this happen?, you ask. I wondered the same thing. I actually went into training thinking I'd lose a few pounds. It seems like you should, right? Well, not if you're eating too much, I learned the hard way.

Here are the reasons why I gained weight while training for a half marathon, as well as how to prevent this from happening again:
 
I just ran 10 miles! I can eat whatever I want.

When I’d first complete a long run, food was repelling. I just wanted liquid. Lots and lots of delicious Gatorade and water, and I don’t even like Gatorade (thank goodness I found Nuun). 

 

Eventually my hunger came around, though. As in I-can-eat-a-buffalo-and-still-be-hungry type of hunger. This led to eating massive quantities of food with no regard for calories because hey, I just ran 10 (or insert any number here) miles. Not cool. 

Fix: Even though I ran 10 (insert any number here) miles, it doesn't give me free reign to eat anything I want. I still need to make smart choices.

I wasn’t burning as many calories as I thought.

I’ve always been active. Before I started running on a regular basis, gyms, walking, softball and beach volleyball (a lot of beach volleyball) were my exercise methods of choice. All came pretty easy to me. So, when I started running and thought it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done, I knew I had to be burning crazy calories, way more than I did with my other activities. Right? Right?! Please tell me I was right.
 

This level of difficulty and sweat = bunches of
calories burned, right?

You don’t have to lie to me. I was wrong. I realize that now.

How wrong? Well, I know the calories you burn can be difficult to determine. But, using a self.com calculator, an hour of beach volleyball burned exactly the same amount of calories as running for an hour at my slow pace. The same?!? Yikes. I ate a lot more after running than after playing hours of beach volleyball.

Fix: Keep in mind that I didn't burn endless calories. Yes, I can splurge a little more on a long run day, but nothing crazy. 

I took fueling for a run too far.

I had a long run that was absolutely, completely miserable. I didn't have much to eat the day before and determined that I wasn't fueled properly for my run. I was probably right. But, I took it to the extreme before each next long run, eating more than enough to make sure I never felt like that again.

Fix: I need to fuel for runs, but I need to do it the smart way: right quantities of healthy foods. I need to work on this to see what works best, but I need to emphasize quality over quantity.  

Notice what isn't on the list?

With some days off from work, I had time to spend however I wanted (a nice change). So, I:

• Did laundry
• Took Chloe to the dog park

• Cooked Thanksgiving dinner
• Ate Thanksgiving dinner (and leftovers and more leftovers)
• Watched football
• Watched "Beverly Hills 90210" reruns
• Got a massage
• Played beach volleyball
• Met friends for dinner
• Caught up on "American Horror Story" episodes
• Took my car in to check out that pesky "difficult to start" problem
• Bought the Lucky magazine with Jessica Simpson on the cover

• Read the Lucky magazine with Jessica Simpson on the cover cover-to-cover
• Drank wine
• Shopped (online only, thank you)

You may have noticed that running was not on my list. I have not ran since my half marathon on Sunday. I'm not really sure why. I've thought about it some. It just never happened. I'm going to try and change that tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. (although I must admit I'm not terribly motivated at this moment).

Daze of activities

Sometimes I wonder if I have too many activities. This is why:

Sunday: long run with the training group (7:30 a.m. ... yuck)
Monday: off
Tuesday: speed workout with the training group (6:30 p.m.)
Wednesday: beach volleyball (7:00 p.m.)
Thursday: speed workout with the training group (6:30 p.m.)
Friday: softball (7:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m.)
Saturday: off

These are all my scheduled extracurricular (hello, high school) activities. It's not all that I do (workout-wise or otherwise), but these are all the things on my calendar.

Sometimes I think I should cut down. I could maybe see cutting softball out ... it's not my favorite, and I still hold a grudge against it for severely spraining my ankle a few years ago. But, we're currently in first place (we've never even came close before ... like, we're always last), and I like to win. Hmm ... so I might stick it out for awhile longer.

I love volleyball, but sometimes I get irritated at some people that play (OK, one in particular). I'm competitive, so I understand the desire to win. But, one dude takes it too far. He stoops to being a bad sport and using cheap tactics to try and get the other team to mess up (making a loud noise when someone goes to spike ... crap like that). But, overall, I enjoy the people that play, and I love the game. Hmm ... so I might stick it out.

Source

Due to my almost daily love fest about my running group, you know I'm not giving that up.

So, I guess I'll keep everything. I'd probably end up doing something unproductive if I didn't have them. I kind of need the group motivation and competition, too.

What's your weekly schedule? Are you busy every night of the week with extracurricular activities?

Day 13 (Sept. 7)

I flew back to Florida on Sept. 6 (a Tuesday and a group run day). I landed about 3 p.m., and I thought I could make it to the group run at 6:30 p.m. Timing-wise, sure I could have made it. No problem. But, I just didn’t feel up to it. I was tired, and I knew I hadn’t eaten properly or drank nearly enough water. So, I skipped it. I really didn’t want to since this was our first day of speed intervals, but it just wasn’t happening for me.

So, thanks to some tropical storm-wave-depression-high-pressure-system, it rained quite a bit on Tuesday and Wednesday, and it rained out beach volleyball. But, it wasn’t raining that evening so I could make up my run. And, my best running buddy Caroline went with me.

The plan: run 45 minutes with two, three-minute hard intervals with a three-minute jog after each hard interval. So, after a 15-minute warm-up run, we started the intervals. Three minutes felt way longer than it ever has before. Yikes. But, we made it through them and kept running (OK, running could be a bit strong, but it wasn't walking) for the remaining time. That was hardest running workout I’ve done to date.  

Day 8

After our group run rainout on Tuesday, I thought I'd get some running in later Tuesday when I got home (Florida rain is so spotty that I thought even if it was pouring at our group run location maybe it wasn't at home ... wrong). Then, I thought, "Oh! I'll just wake up early and run on Wednesday morning." Um, yeah. Didn't happen. Mornings are not my thing. Evening was out since I play beach volleyball on Wednesday night. So, I came to our group run on Thursday not having run since Sunday. And, it was OK.

We upped our usual 40-minute run to 45 minutes. I didn't run the entire time. I hit my what-is-becoming-typical 2.5-mile wall. Then, I did some walking-running intervals. I ended up walking a total of seven minutes, which I'm OK with ... I guess.  I'd really like to run the entire time during these early training runs. I'm just worried that it'll never come together for me. 

I need to get in a 30-minute progressive run today (each 10 minutes is progressively faster). Since I woke up late (as mentioned, mornings aren't my thing), I think I'll do it this evening when the big, scary sun sets. 

Our Sunday morning group run is set at 4 miles again ... maybe I can run the entire distance. And, maybe not.