September Recap and Body Fat Verdict!

September was a blur.

Since much of it was taken up with either tapering to or recovering from a marathon, I didn't keep track of my mileage. The month's accomplishment was:

*My 15-minute PR and first sub-4-hour time in the Top of Utah Marathon!*

True, it wasn't much of a sub-4 (3:59:11). In fact, this was a disappointing race from a lot of perspectives. I didn't qualify for Boston (far from it). I went out too fast and bonked (hard). I didn't stick to my race plan. I walked (where I hadn't planned to).

So why was and am I not disappointed?

In many ways, I was "like a virgin" with this one. It had been six years and one twin pregnancy since I had run a marathon. I had forgotten what it was like. The prior three times I had done it, I was able to sleep as much as I wanted, go to as much yoga as I wanted and (within the predictable confines of my job) do the runs whenever they fit in.

This time, my window for working out was limited not just by work but by the needs of my husband and kids. It took me two years to get my "base" conditioning back (I didn't run at all after the first three months of pregnancy and for about three months after, and beyond that I ran mostly slowly and not very far). I dealt with two winters of frequent illness (mine and my kids'). And I find myself living in a reshaped body that almost entirely lacks the core strength it once had. I also learned my lesson about pacing and running my own race, about making strength training and stretching non-negotiable, about getting back my core, about what it really will take to meet my Boston goal.

So I'll take a PR and a sub-four.

Now, on to my body fat/weight results from this morning.....(drumroll).......

Home scale: 128.4 pounds and 21.9% BF (both my lowest on that scale since I got pregnant, when I was right around 125 (not sure was BF was then))

Gym scale: weight 128.6 pounds (only 2/10 of a pound higher than the home scale, and this reading was *after* I ate breakfast, so I'm really happy about it; means my home scale is semi-accurate)

Bonus reading: I went to the City of Boulder employee health fair this morning after weights. They had one of those hand-held body fat readers. The reading on that? 17.2%!!! Wow!

Here's the caveat, according to the nice ladies at the fitness table (and just goes to show you learn something new every day): My home body fat scale apparently measures my lower-body fat percentage, while the hand-held measures my upper-body fat percentage. This doesn't surprise me: I am, have been and always will be pear-shaped (alas), and those readings reflect my, um, ample hips and thighs as well as my relatively scrawny arms and trunk.

I was told to get a decently accurate overall number, I should average those two together and round up. Which gives me a number of: 20%. Woo hoo!

Now of course I'm not going to call it good and stop worrying about it. By January, when the Houston Marathon rolls around, I'd love to be at my calculated "racing weight" of 120 (or as close to it as possible). And I'd love my home monitor to register a number that's closer to 19 or 20% (if lower half genetics allow).

So while I'm psyched that weight training, plus the Mario Lopez eating plan, appear to be working, I've still got a ways to go. Lucky thing all the good news has me re-energized for some healthy cooking and some heavy lifting (both of which normally bore me to tears!).