Goals Revisited

On Friday, I went to the University of Colorado's Sport Medicine Exercise Physiology and Human Performance Lab for some testing.  I have been thinking about this for a long time and after attending Wednesday's lecture, I decided now was the time.  I've been making little progress in improving my speed over the past six months, and was needing to find out more as to what may account for this.  The testing included a treadmill test, where you wear a mask and the speed is increased in 5 minute increments until you can't take it anymore.  At the end of each 5 minute segment, a blood sample is taken from the end of your middle finger.  The director of the Lab is the very knowledgeable and kind Dr. Inigo San Millan. 

First, I found out that my body fat percentage was 17.5%.  I was pretty excited about this.  Looking in the mirror, I most often see the person I was, not the person I am today.  Cold hard facts help me understand that I'm not that obese person anymore.  Dr. Inigo says an "ideal" percentage would be around 9% but that more realistic for me (age and gender) would be 12 to 12.5%.  And for this, I should be able to attain this if I meet my goal weight of 130 pounds.

I also learned that it is important I focus on my carb intake.  Dr. Inigo thought it was possible that I might be glycogen depleted.  So I need to concentrate on taking in 300 grams of carbohydrates each day.  The other thing I learned is that my lactate metabolism is pathetic.  At 4 mph, my lactate metabolism is a 1.8.  In elite athletes, they hit 1.8 at 12.5 mph.  No typos in that previous sentence.  So how to fix that?  Heart rate zone training.  He also suggested that I get my hemoglobin checked to make sure I don't have an iron defiency, so I've emailed my doctor to see if he'll order that.

300 grams of carbs every day = 1200 calories - in just carbs.  So I've decided to slow my weight loss goals down from 1 pound/week to 1/2 pound/week.  This will give me a few more calories each day so that I can meet this carb goal.  My new daily calorie intake will be 1900 calories, with a day built in to "go crazy" - as Dr. Inigo said.  This "go crazy" day might be hard for me to do, but we'll see how that goes. 

Dr. Inigo talked a lot about eating bread...so yesterday, I made my way to Great Harvest and picked up a loaf of Honey Whole Wheat and a loaf of Cinnamon Pecan Swirl.  I had a coupon from the Canyonlands Half Marathon for a free loaf of the Honey Whole Wheat, so it wasn't such a big splurge.  If I'm going to eat more bread, I want to make sure its some good bread! 

My eats from this morning included coffee with 1/2 c. 1% milk and 1 t. sugar...

And then I had a little oatmeal with my black berries!  My Nature Path's Maple Nut Oatmeal with 5.6 oz of fresh blackberries (the entire package)...I know what you're thinking...fresh blackberries in December?  Well, they started showing up in sale circulars last week and this week all the stores had them...and I couldn't resist.  While slightly more tart than the summer crops, they were still really yummy!

and a slice of the Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat bread with 1 t. whipped butter and 1 t. red raspberry jam.

More eats later today!

Laura