The Stakes Are Raised

I just checked my personal best time for the 10k, and bettering it is going to be a lot tougher than I thought it was going to be. I ran this in my first ever race, it was the Mission Fiesta 10k in 2005. I had my brother-in-law Shawn to thank for pushing me. I remember feeling pretty bad for the first 4 miles. Probably started out faster than I should have, I was fighting through a cramp. Shawn and his friends were out of sight and I was just trying to finish. Then I got my wind and I caught a glimpse of them ahead. I picked up my speed and I think I remember running the last mile in about 8 minutes with Shawn keeping pace. I finished in 55:18 which is an average of 8:53/mile. I'm nowhere close to that right now. To get it done I'm going to really watch what I'm eating, which I haven't been doing well with in the last few days. Long story short, we're getting ready to move and things have gotten kinda hectic with all the things we need to get done and painting I'm trying to do before we move into our new house. Anyway, when I start feeling a little pressed, it's easy to so 'yes' to that chocolate cake that is calling out in the darkness, or those Somoa Girl-scout cookies that are looking for a friend.

I did get a 6 mi. run in already this week and I need to do another one tomorrow. I am really excited about this move. We'll still be in San Antonio, but we'll be really close to the biggest park in SA which has pretty decent trails. We'll also be closer to a pool I can swim at, so it'll only take me 5 mi. to get there rather than 15 if I go at night. I'm pretty sure I'll get back on track after we get moved and settled in a couple weeks. I'm not going to feel guilty much about eating poorly. Just try to compensate by staying active and get back to the healthy diet after the move.

Raw Hide

Another decent week down. I didn't get my cross training in this week, but I got three good runs. Here's my run for today:



Another beautiful day for a run. It was about 50 degrees and cloudy. I think I'm up to about 135 miles for the year, which feels pretty good. No news on the weight front as I've decided to step off the scale for a while. I am noticing my clothes fitting better and a general improvement in energy. I'm looking for runs to do this year. I looked at a schedule around here and I can't really decide on a run to do. There's a 5k in my neighborhood in a month or so, I may do that and then start on the 10k training schedule and see what happens. I do plan on doing the San Antonio Marathon (I'll be running the half-marathon) in November. It'll be a "Rock N Roll" marathon this year, which should be fun. I'm also planning on participating in the World Wide Half Marathon this year. If you've ever thought about doing a race, this is one to consider. It's free and people will be running in it from all over the world. There is also a "Kick the Couch 5K" if that is more of your distance.

So, this week I went to Whole Foods to do some shopping. I hadn't been in a while, but I wanted to see what it would be like to buy most of our groceries from there. I was mainly interested in the produce, but since I was there I got some of their meat as well. So, this is my question if there is anyone out there. Is it a good thing to buy meat that has never been given antibiotics, has no artificial growth hormones, and is allowed free range the majority of its life? I heard an interview on NPR a couple months back about this subject, so I'll have to go back and look for it, but I remember the person talking about the difference even between cage-free chickens/eggs and free-range chickens. So, if you have any thoughts about the subject I'd enjoy hearing them. Given the choice and equal price (without any research done), I'd choose the meat from Whole Foods. The real question for me would be how much of a premium would I be willing to pay in order to buy this meat/poultry.

Good Week

Wow, it was a good week this week. I got in my three training runs and two cross training swimming times. Here's my run from this morning:



It was a really fine run. I can feel my runs getting easier, and today I passed a milestone. 6 mile in less than one hour. What was nice, was that I didn't feel like I was really pushing myself too much. I recovered easily and my muscles aren't sore. I was supposed to run it at a 10:26 pace according to my schedule, but I was just feeling good. I may need to go back in a couple week if this continues and adjust my training schedule to reflect the faster times.

Yesterday was another good day for swimming. As I mentioned earlier, I started doing the somersault turns last time. This time, it felt like I was starting all over as a swimmer. Now I don't consider myself an experienced swimmer, but I could at least go out and swim 1200m or more sometimes without stopping for a rest. What I found out is that it's a lot easer to get in a quick little rest when you do the above water turns or whatever you call them. So I found myself trying to put 100m runs in. After about 6 of those, I went to 200, then I tried a 400m, then another. It felt great. I think I just had to find that sweet spot where I wasn't pushing myself past the point of optimal oxygen consumption. That sweet spot, as I'm calling it, is a good thing to find for any endurance endeavor you're in. Once you find it, you can lengthen your time doing a motion and gradually work on increasing the intensity.

Big thanks to everyone who has posted a comment about this blog. You don't know how much it helps to know that there actually are a few people out there following this. It really keeps me accountable to do my runs and make good choices with the food I'm eating.

Progress update:

Weight: 223 (21 pounds lost)
Total distance: 117 miles (one 6 mi. run under 10:00/mile pace

I think I'm probably getting to the point that I'm not going to see much dramatic movement in weight loss. So I'm going to step away from the scale for a while. I won't weigh for at least two weeks, but hopefully longer. I'm at a healthy pace the last few weeks, about 2 pounds a week. That'll probably slow down to about 1 in the weeks to come.

Well, all for now. Thanks for reading!

Got an Itch?

Okay, close your eyes. Now picture you're in the African safari and you wander along a watering hole. There's plenty of wildlife there, including a hippo sipping from the cool water. Now, picture that hippo getting an itch and needing to scratch his rear end. Why are we doing this exercise, you might ask? Well, that's the imagery that popped into my head as I was swimming yesterday. You see, I decided to work on something that I had been putting off for a while. Instead of focusing on a good cardio workout, I decided to focus on trying to turn (one of those underwater, somersault turns). I used to be able to do this when I was in Elem/Jr. High School. But since I hadn't really tried to do it much since that time, it was a bit difficult. I picked last night to do it, because there was hardly anybody at the pool and I relative anonymity. By the end of the session, I was getting okay at it. I say that, not because it was technically sound or pretty, but because I was able to put several (about 8) lengths together with underwater turns. I found that it is much harder to keep my wind when I turn underwater, but I know that it'll help push me to gain endurance for when I try to do any open water swims in the future. So, from now on, I'm planning on only using the underwater turn and not the easy breathing turn in order to further my training.

Slightly on the same topic. I've told many people, but in case you haven't tried it, swimming is probably my favorite way of exercising. I think I appreciate it more after running in hot Texas because when you're finished with the workout, you are very tired, but at the same time, your body doesn't hurt. It also was my exercise of choice while I was training for the two triathlons I competed in because I was pretty afraid of not being able to swim the entire route. I had the best results with weight loss while I was swimming and hopefully I'll see that again if I make it a regular part of my routine. So far, I've gone two weeks in a row and I'm hoping to go again on Friday.

100 miles down

I passed the 100 mile mark for the year this morning. Here's my certificate to prove it!

This morning is turning out to be a good morning, though it didn't seem like it was starting that way. Elliot wok up about 3:50 and I went in and gave him his paci and blanket. He quieted for a while but woke up again around 4:25. So I went in and rocked hiim back to sleep. I was going to "try" to get up at 5. So, I had a choice to make at 4:45. Should I go back to bed because I hadn't gotten much sleep in the last hour, or do I just get up and go run. Well, I just did it, thanks NIke. Another interval workout. 5x800m with 400m rest intervals. Total, about 6mi, which brings my total for the year to 101.85. It's a great way to start off a week with a run. It feels like you're ahead of the game and not trying to play catch up. I don't feel this way often because I've always been a procrastinator, but it feels good. I'm really enjoying the quietness of the house before Elliot wakes up.

Latest run

I did the interval runs this morning. Not as hard as I thought it might be. I guess 2:15 400m is still pretty slow. I could've walked the 400m rest intervals, but I felt good, so I just jogged them. Ended up with over 6 miles including warm up and cool down.

Sad day, though. My favorite running podcaster, Steve Runner, said in his latest podcast that he was going to be reducing the number of podcasts he does from weekly to when he feels like it. I think he'll continue to do them regularly, just hope it doesn't gradually whittle away until he hangs it up altogether. I'm not sure what it is that draws me to listen to them. It's not entertaining to people who don't run, I don't think. But he's a pretty witty guy that enjoys doing the podcast, and it feels like there is a community of runners that I'm a part of, since I do almost all of my running solo.

Weekly Progress and Dinner Planner

Another week down! Let's get the stats out of the way:

Current Weight: 226
Mileage this week: 10.5 (including walking)

I didn't get the interval training in yet, but I plan to do that tomorrow. I'm interested in seeing how I do trying to run 400m intervals in 2:15 when I've been pretty comfortable running a 10:30 mile for so long. I'm scheduled to do 8x400m at 2:15 with 400m rest intervals inbetween. I didn't get my full long run in this week either. I went to McAllister to run with Elliot and he started getting hungry/fussy about half way through. It was only a 5 miler and I had done a 6.2 miler at a quicker pace that I was scheduled to last Saturday (before I started FIRST), so I don't think it'll affect me much. Must just carry on with the training. At this point, it's more about losing weight than getting in the miles anyway.

I did get a good swim workout in yesterday. I love the way I feel after a good swim. I'm tired and I can tell I've spent a lot of energy, but my body doesn't hurt.

Now, I'd like to comment on one of the "tools" I'm using on this quest. I think I owe much of my success so far this year to a website called dinnerplanner.com. It's a business that provides busy people with a weekly meal menu, recipes and shopping list. It has two different menus, one labeled a "Family Friendly" menu and one termed a "Heart Healthy" menu. We're using the healthy menu and it has made quite a bit of difference in how we're eating. We haven't been eating out or getting take-out as much and the food we've been eating has been much healthier.

I used to dread making up a shopping list and a menu for the week. It was time consuming, I didn't always get what I needed, and I ended up going from one end of the store to the other because my list wasn't organized. I was about to write that I think this is a great product idea for stay-at-home parents, but it's would probably be even more useful if both parents work because of the time it would save. Now, the meals aren't always your 30 minutes or less meals, but they are pretty easy and usually don't take much time to cook up.

The details. You get 7 meals a week with a color coded shopping list, for about $10 for 8 weeks. I've been saving the menus/recipes in .pdf format and plan to reuse them at a later date. The recipes use healthy meat like fish, chicken, lean turkey and beef, lots of vegetables, and some grains/breads. It usually makes more than Violi and I can eat, so we have leftovers for a healthy lunch the next day.

The site allows you to try a free sample menu (not the heart healthy menu) to get a feel for the product they offer. I looked at another website mealmixer.com which allows you to do more customization according to your family eating habits and lets you plan for breakfasts and lunches. The downside and reason that we didn't use it, was that you have to pay for a whole year ($52) in advance.

Either way, I think this type of idea is a great way to save time, money and eat better. I love hearing what other people's ideas for either eating healthier or getting more active, so drop a note anytime!

Furman FIRST Program

I've decided to try the Furman FIRST training program as I'm working toward my goals of running a personal best in the 10k and in the half marathon this year. It's a running program that stresses doing only three runs a week but focusing on quality runs with specific goals/purposes for each run. The have a book that you can read more about the programs that is entitled, "Run Less, Run Faster."

Right now, I'm not where I'd like to be to actually start the 10k training. It calls funs of 8-10 miles just a few weeks after you start the 12 week series. I'd like to focus on losing weight first and then begin this program as I get closer to my goal weight. So, I'm going to start with the 5k training program. This seems to be close to the same mileage that I'm already doing, about 5 or 6 miles, three times a week. It does get up to 8 miles around week 7, but that'll be the longest distance. It's not really so much the distance that I'll be going, but the time that it'll take to run more than 8 miles. As a slow runner, if you start running 10+ miles, it kinda eats into your day, and I'm not quite ready to spend that much time training yet. Instead, I'll run a 5K race and set a personal best for that distance without a doubt (I've never run a 5k).

The program consists of three runs a week, with 2 cross training workouts. The three runs are broken down into Interval runs, where you run your 5k pace for 400m-1600m with rest intervals between sets. The second run is a tempo run where you do a warm up mile then 2-4 miles at a predetermined tempo that is close to your 5K pace. The last run is a long run which varies between 5 and 8 miles and is run at close to 5k pace as well. This will be challenging for me, because I have for the last couple years focused so much on endurance that I have neglected speed, but I am looking forward to the challenge.

1 Month Progress Report

Well, it hasn't quite been a full month since I began this blog, but it is February and I returned to running and eating healthy close to four weeks ago, so here's the one month progress report.

This morning was a perfect day for running. I've started taking my Saturday morning runs during Elliot's first nap of the day, so it was about 9 am when I left the house. It was about 60 degrees and sunny, with a slight, refreshing wind. It's days like today that keep a runner going during those really tough, hot summer runs. I'm really excited about the improvement I'm already seeing in my 6 mile run times. This graph is from today when I ran a 10k at about a 10:08/mi pace.



That's a 0:41/mi pace improvement over where I was only a few weeks ago. Here is the graph of my first 6 mi. run this year.



I'm really starting to feel momentum when it comes to exercising and eating right. The first few weeks are usually the hardest. That's when you're changing habits, changing what your body is used to, and just being different. I think the body and the mind have a tendency to fight that. But now that I'm 4 weeks into it, I'm almost craving the road and not wanting to eat something that's set me back.

Though, it also helps that I'm not completely restricting myself either. Like yesterday we went to my favorite pizza place with Violi's family. Usually I would cram as much pizza as possible in my face and then maybe one more for goodwill. Instead, I ordered a greek salad and one slice of pizza. There was a lot of pizza left over, but I had my fill already. You get a sense of empowerment when you do something like that. It also makes it easier to say no the next time, because you did it before already.

Now, for the weight loss issue. I started out at a whopping 244 lbs. and I'm pretty pleased to report that I'm down to about 229 lbs. That's about 15 pounds in four weeks. I did weigh myself following my run today, and the scale said 225.5, but it'll be back to the 228-229 area tomorrow morning, if I were to weigh. I'm not expecting these kind of numbers in the future. I'm hoping to lose a pound a week or every 2 weeks in the future.

All in all, I'm feeling really good and I have a good outlook for keeping up my regimen of running and eating well for the forseeable future.