I'm Not a Skinny Runner

As I’ve said before, I’m not a skinny guy in a big guy’s body. I am a heavyweight trying to run. And, as usual, I’ve done my duty. I’ve waken up early, I’ve suffered heat and humidity, I’ve scheduled around real life, and I’ve pushed when I didn’t want to. I have kept to my training and put in my miles. I have run 2 races (27:31 and 27:03) Though not as well as I’d like, but they’re done.

I planned on running another 5k this weekend (6/11/11, but we’ll talk about that later), one on July 4^th, and a smattering of 5ks until the Thanksgiving day 10k. This plan gives me a 3 week window between this weekend and the Edgewood Fourth of July race. As I promised myself, a few blog posts ago, I was going to use that time to get back into the weight room.

Because as much as I’ve accomplished in my running, I’ve lost so much in strength. This morning I weighed myself (226), checked my bodyfat percentage (17%, but the device might not be entirely accurate, it’s pretty cheap), and most importantly I dressed down to my Hanes and looked in the mirror (don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not that vain, this doesn’t happen very often). I wasn’t surprised with what I say, though I wasn’t entirely happy either. Well, for the past few weeks my pants were getting looser and I’m 2-3 holes deeper into my belt, which has felt great. Now that I was thoroughly examining my torso, my “feelings” were confirmed; I am significantly leaner, and my abs are growing more visible (yeah, I know: I’m awesome!). Then I looked a little farther south, the legs. As always, they were lean, tan (-er than most men), and hairy. However, my quadriceps did seem slightly smaller than usual, but don’t worry my calves are still freakishly large. Then I took a deep breath and looked up top…then I took a long sigh. My chest, shoulders, and arms have shrunk. Now, I won’t be misconstrued as a runner anytime soon, but I’m losing that bulk that has always been me. Even when I was down in weight for fights, I still had plenty of meat up top. Now, while my upper body may be leaner, my arms are down to 14.5inches (Update: turns out there is an inch of blank tape before the numbers start, so I'm only down to 15.5inches; which still is less than I am usually)! Not quite my style.

I know that on race day, I’m a middle to back of the pack kinda runner. Now while I’d like to change that to ‘frontal’ middle, I know that I’ll never be front-runner. And I’m fine with that, because I have (and plan on in the future) taken consolation in the fact that I’m one of the biggest guys at the finish line. Not the most muscular guy in the race, but usually one of the first heavyweights to cross the line. If I’m no longer that proud mix of muscles and speed, then I’m just some heavy guy running behind skinny guys. I will never be a skinny guy, and that’s fine, I don’t want to be a skinny guy. If nothing else my girth was a good excuse, but it’s not just that. I like being strong. So I have less than a month until the Edgewood 5k, which is where I plan on breaking my PR (26:00). I’m going to devote a good chunk of these next 2-3 weeks powerlifting. And even if I don’t return to my former size, I at least want most of my strength back.

Back to this weekend. The Redlegs 5k. I do still want to run this (if for no other reason, I want the Reds technical t-shirt), but I heard the weather is going to be stormy and I’d like to scrape it in favor of an early start on my weightlifting. It’s going to be difficult intermixing the powerlifting and the run training, and phasing from the emphasis on lifting to running halfway between here and Independence Day. Wish me luck in accomplishing both.

The Problem With Packing It On

Late-April

Any rookie lifter can tell you “you can’t cut weight and powerlift at the same time.” And yet, I (and almost every other lifter out there at least once or twice) find myself breaking Rule #4 of lifting.

I’m trying to cut weight for running. Even a lean (which I’m not) 240lbs is a lot of pounds per inch on my feet and joints. So I decided that I could knock it down to 215-220lbs, near my old fighting weight. And for those of you out there who don’t think 25lbs is a lot of extra to run on, try running with 25lbs of gear on your back next time out.

But then something strange happened, just as I was starting the new diet and upping my activity I noticed something… I was making huge gains. And I had been making gains for a few months, but my squat was jumping 30-60lbs a week, I was starting to max out the machines.

Being the addict I am, I just couldn’t quit. After 3 weeks my clothes were looser in some places, yet I had trouble fitting into my suit jacket (which was fine because I looked enormous in the vest alone). However, my body was still taking a pounding every time I ran, because I had only lost 1.5lbs.

The meathead within told me that running can wait, and that I need to get bigger now. But the rational adult within realized that if I was going to take this running thing seriously (like I promised myself) then I would have to put lifting on the back burner until after I can make some serious running gains. (especially when my free time for workouts is limited). I have a pretty packed race schedule through mid-June. As of now I plan on focusing solely on running, then I have a 3.5 week hiatus before the Edgewood Fourth of July 5k Race. Last year I set my current PR at the Edgewood 5k, and this year I plan on breaking it there. So perhaps I’ll spend that first week of my hiatus on muscle building and just rest the legs.

None the less, it still sucks walking into the gym to run on the treadmill and/or cycle and/or swim and walking past all those weights. Hearing them call to me “Michael, Michael, come over here, lift us, get huge…”