Yikes!

Before I address the "Yikes"-inducing moment, a couple comments.

Yesterday morning, I ran 4.6 miles with my wife, instead of the 8 total I was planning. My knees were kind of achy and creaky after Saturday's track workout. Saturday was the first time I'd run in racing flats in years, and I think that was part of the problem. Then, I didn't re-hydrate very well on Saturday, which didn't help matters. We went to my in-laws' camp (not as primitive as it might sound - it's a mini-home on a remote lake) in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, and spent the rest of the weekend there. My "re-hydration" on Saturday included some Bass Ale and Talisker Scotch - not the best way to re-hydrate.

This morning, I did upper body lifting - 5x5s again. I am really starting to feel that I'm adding some muscle mass by concentrating on heavier lifting recently. This is part of what leads to the Yikes moment.

After my workout, I stepped on the scale. I knew my weight had gone up since Western States, but I was well above 190 pounds this morning - a significant increase in a few short months. Part of that increase is muscle mass, but more than I want is fat.

In the past couple months, I've been drinking more alcohol than I had in the months leading up to Western States, and I'm sure that has helped to add a few pounds. Alcohol consumption can suppress testosterone levels and it can also cause the body to move away from fat-burning as a fuel source.

If I'm going to be successful in my marathon in November, I really need to get my weight back down, which means it's time to pay much better attention to what I'm eating and drinking.

The kids are back in school today; their summer vacation is over. I guess it's time for my summer dietary vacation to come to an end as well.

No running today, but I've got 5 MP miles planned for tomorrow. On Wednesday, I'll do lower body lifting and an easy run. Thursday will be an easy run. On Friday, I'll either do an easy run or I'll rest. On Saturday, I'll be racing a 5K. Next Sunday, I'm planning a moderately long hike on Vermont's Long Trail.

If I'm making appropriate progress towards my marathon goal, I should be able to run 21:45 or better this Saturday. That would be my fastest 5K since the fall of 2003, I believe. That fall, I won a small local 5K with a time just under 21 minutes. I did that a week or two after running Wasatch. In 2004, I won that race again, with a pathetic 21:51. Other than those races, I think I ran 20:37 in 2000 at the same race I'll run this weekend. I haven't gone sub-20 for a 5K since 1995 - the year that I ran my only sub-18 ever.