An Interesting Side Effect

Well, it has been an interesting week.  I am within two weeks of the Colonial 200, a 200 mile relay that I am participating in and have been training for the last 2 months, I discovered that I will be advancing in my career (more money so score), and I discovered a five pound weight falling from a height of at least 2.5 feet produces enough kinetic force to break human bone. Who would this test subject be, you ask? That would be me. Now, I love science as much as the next guy, I mean my job has it in it's name, but this science experiment is one I would have loved to not have been a part. I don't even have a cool story to go with it, like I was saving children from a burning building, or I just finished a One rep max on the Clean and jerk and when I dropped the weight it landed on my foot. No, it was none of these...my story runs along these line: I was in the garage looking for my jump-rope so I could complete my WOD, I was bare-foot and my garage (like most garages) is concrete, this is foreshadowing by the way. I found said rope on a table with a bunch of the boys' stuff on it. I picked it up and the next thing I knew was my toes were on fire. After I peeled myself off the ceiling and kids weren't saying things like, "Mom what are those words Dad is saying" or "is Dad dying?" I realized a weight had been hiding/lurking under the kids' stuff and I had disturbed it slumber so it had sought to take its revenge upon me. I had it x-rayed.  It was confirmed, no race for me. One week of no exercise, to allow the swelling to go down, and 30 days of no impact PT (Physical Training). Insert sad face. I had been training for this event for 2 months and was really excited to try the new training regiment out and to put a proverbial sock in the mouths of the haters on the running team at base. So what does one do when training hard for something and something happens with in weeks of the event that leave him unable to accomplished the it? Well...pout on the couch with his foot up.



So at this point we are going to have a side bar. Old me, lots of me to love, and tons of fun are phrases that would describe me. New me, smaller than old me but still grossly obese (according to the Coast Guard and the archaic BMI, I mean we ought to be clacking rocks together if we are using this) and I had the metabolism of a snake. Feed me and I would be good for a month. Problem was, I loved the taste of food so I would eat every day like I was preparing for winter.

So back to the previous line of thought. Based on past experience a week of inactivity and eating like I normally do, I would gain weight. Interestingly, I haven't.  In fact, I have lost wieght. What! Yes, I have lost weight this week. I haven't been gorging myself, but I haven't been watching what I was eating, either.  But, at the end of this week of inactivity I have lost one pound. To me this is crazy talk. I have been "running" two years now and this has never been a side effect I have had when I have stopped training. After two months of prescribing to the CFE philosophy, my resting metabolism is effectively still burning fat. Now, I don't have delusions of grandeur and think my body can maintain this for very long, but for this short period I have been okay.

Not wanting to push my luck, and as I have been cleared by medical to do no impact PT, I will be starting again tomorrow. Mostly it will consist of bike, kettlebells, weights (not the heartless vindictive kind), and the Versa climber. I want to keep that resting metabolism; I want to keep finding new things about myself and things i never thought my body could do. Once the toe heals up I will be hitting the road again,. but hopefully with less impact.