Post-Marathon Restructuring

Now that the marathon is behind me, I am able to focus on weight lifting again and creating a diet to compliment that. The excessive running in the past couple of months didn't combine well with the class calorie-deficit advice usually given to those attempting to lose weight. I needed so many calories, given the amounts of running I was doing, that any sort of normal value range was resulting in starvation - I was holding onto whatever calories I could. No weight loss. Getting sick.

I'm attempting to construct a fitness plan at this point. Make a list of my goals. Get everything ready to send to the personal trainer, so that he can help me figure things out. What I wasn't planning on, was my love for running to carry me through the summer. I thought I'd fall back again. But instead, I find myself wanting to keep up my running fitness levels. So below will be a list of things I want to learn and do with my workouts this summer:

Powerlifting Technique: Front squat, deadlift, clean, jerk, snatch, strict press, kettlebell swings, sumo-deadlift high pulls
Pull-Ups: Complete at least 1 full body weight pull-up on my own; ditch the gravitron
Push-Ups: Complete 60 consecutive good-form push-ups
Running: ~20 miles per week (10-15 mile long/tempo run on weekend depending on road or trail; 2-3 speed/interval/hill workouts mid-week); goal is to improve speed over distance
Swimming: Complete 18 lengths of the pool (0.25 mile) consecutively; work on this non-running days as cardio
Strength Training: Streamline my current upper and lower body routines to be most effective between the free weights, machines, cables and a calisthenics. These should support my above goals.

Revelation

Backstory and New Beginnings

I never really talked about the reasons why I was getting in shape a year and a half ago. At first it was just to take my mind off things and look good as a reintegrated into the dating world. To feel good about myself and my accomplishments. But then I started to have career aspirations that required a certain level of physical fitness. Seriously high expectations, in fact. So I was pushing myself to really drop the weight and be able to endure physically.

However, as time passed, I reconsidered my goals and as I stepped away from the career change idea, my serious motivation for working out disappeared. I loved to work out, I loved the way it made me feel, but I became stagnant in my progress. I was no longer making progress, just idling in my strength and endurance. I was keeping it up, not pushing my body to progress. I enjoyed working out for the sake of the way it made me feel, not to attain some goal. Which I suppose is ideal in its own way, but I've just done a lot of overtraining rather than streamlining my workouts to make progress. I stopped having specific goals and instead just enjoyed myself.

That sounds like the makings of a hobby, but I'm unhappy with just enjoying myself. It's not enjoyable enough unless I have goals. Unless I have motivation and self-control. And for reasons that I won't get into, I have actually resurrected that motivation which will drive my self-control. First of all I have to shed the weight. That's how this entire thread started over a year ago. I want to shed 15 pounds. And I haven't I've stayed the same. I've accomplished all kinds of things - I excelled in pilates, I ran a dozen races including a half marathon, I learned to love and learn all about fitness and strength training. But I think in order to reach that next step - to reach my goal of running a marathon this year, the pounds are going to have to go. I just can't carry around this much weight for 26.2 miles. It's asking my body to work too hard, placing unnecessary constraints on my training and success.

So I'm stating now that's its just got to go. It's my diet. It's always been my diet that's the problem. I love food, and I've made dramatic progress in the type of foods I consume and love over the past year. I just need to reduce the portion sizes and chop out the extras. I can live and love the clean stuff, I just need to get rid of the rest of it. Thus I'm resolving to eat clean and healthy as I reaffirm my fitness goals and get back on track.