Brief Check In

It is midnight now and I reall have to be going to sleep. I am waking up in four hours to catch a plane to Austin, TX for work on College Baseball and Softball. From there I head off to the Women's Final Four in Tampa, FL. I told myself I could not go to sleep tonight until I blogged. I promise all you readers out there that there is more information to come. I have been making notes over the past three weeks of my blogging absence. I have been keeping up with my running and can say that I am on track for the OKC half marathon in less than four weeks. Thank you for your patience. I will get you more detailed updates from the past few weeks shortly, but for now, I must get to sleep. Sorry this is so short and non-descript.

Great Workouts and a Plan

Nothing long today. Just a short note to keep you updated. Yesterday I put in a 5.8 mile run with the cooldown. Today I put in a cross-training session. I spent 20 minutes on the stationary bike, 40 minutes on the eliptical and did 3 sets of my strength training weights. The run yesterday felt great after the first two miles. I kind of did not want to stop, but it was getting late and I did not want to end up eating dinner at 11pm. The cross-training session also felt great. Exciting info of the day was stepping on the scale and seeing 241. I am not making that down officially yet because I want to see it couple of more times before I change the total in the sidebar. I am still officially calling myself 243.

The workout plan for the rest of this week and all of next week is going to be modified a little because of having to work on Tuesday and Thursday next week. I will be doing 8 miles on Sunday this week, followed by another 2 miles on Monday. I will be off on Tuesday for work, Wednesday will be a 6 mile temp run, Thursday again off for work. Friday I will get in a 2 miler with some strength training before visiting with my sister. Saturday will be a fun day and then I will finish the week out next Sunday with a 7 miler. This next week is the first week on my training schedule that calls for me to run on 4 days, so it is making it more of a challenge as my work schedule this month is picking up a bit more.

That's all for now. Check with you later.

Life, Lewis and the Pursuit of Cross-Training

So it has been a few days since I last posted. Strength training did not happen last Friday. Life, Huey Lewis & The News, and work got in the way. I did get my six miles in on Sunday. I spent the first half of it with my wife as she busted out her new running shoes and her own GARMIN. We covered what I call the 5k loop around the block. It really is more like 3.3 miles, but makes for a nice warmup, run, cooldown. The only downfall to it is there is a lot of concrete sidewalk, some asphalt, and a little bit of dirt/grass along the roadside. I made two laps around the loop, while my wife only did the first lap. She's training for the OKC 5k the same day my sister and I are doing the OKC Half (04/27).

Monday I was hoping to cross-train, but again, life got in the way. Waking up and having to wait at home for the cable guy to arrive, then there was the whole process of setting up my newly installed TiVo, and by the time I got done with all that I had to go do the grocery shopping for the week. Yes, these are excuses. BUT, they are excuses for cross-training. I have still been getting in my runs when they are due. I have not been cheating myself there. It was a bum deal that I did not get to cross-train Monday because I was all jazzed up to do it. You see, in the morning when I did my weigh-in, the scale read back to me a weight of 243. That means I have lost 9 lbs. since I have started my more concentrated effort to get my weight down and train for the Goofy Challenge. I was so pumped I wanted to go pump some iron.

Today, Tuesday, I was only on schedule for 2 miles. I did a total of 5 laps around my condo complex, each lap is .56 miles. The fifth lap was a cooldown lap. Even with the cooldown lap I knocked off about 50 seconds from last week's 5 laps of the complex. That was cool to see since I was not trying to beat any time. Thanks GARMIN for that knowledge. I also managed to do the laps at an overall average pace :07 faster than last week. Another thing I took note of is with each lap I was getting faster. This was the same situation last week, and I was not intentionally trying to make that happen. Again, another GARMIN nicety I have been enjoying. Following today's run around the complex I did do some strength training in the fitness room.

With work tomorrow (Wed.) and another run on Thursday it will be Friday before another cross-training session takes place. That's all for now.

Fast Start Not So Good

Today was to be 5 miles with speedwork. I started out on the treadmill with my warmup mile going at 3.9 mph. My next mile was to be at 4.2 mph, however, after a half mile I had to knock it back down to 3.8. My ambition to do the warmup mile faster came back to bite me and prevented me from doing the full mile at 4.2. My legs just could not keep up at the 4.2 rate today. I did a quarter mile at 3.8 then kicked it back up 4.2. I held it there for another quarter mile and then dropped back to 3.6 for the next half mile. Realizing my legs were not going to do 4.2 today I lowered my hi-end speed to 4.0 and managed to take this for the next mile, took a quarter mile break at 3.7 and then back to 4.0 to finish out my first four miles. After a brief two minute break to reset the treadmill (it's time limit is 1 hour plus a five minute cooldown) I was back up for the final mile, which I did at 3.8.

Looking back over today's and other previous workouts I am able to see the benefit to starting slow and then picking up the pace. In workouts I have done the slower start I seem to have less struggle with and feel as if I can continue further than what I set out for.

During today's workout I consumed two bottles of Propel (50 calories) and a packet of GU (100 calories). This time the GU was tri-berry flavored. It was not as bad as the banana-strawberry, I could have it again if need be, but I will pass when I have the option. Sunday I think I will give the orange flavored one a shot.

Cool Running

To keep from continually complaining here I am jumping right to the run. Tuesday was a light day for me, only 2 miles on tap. It was 9pm when I finally got the chance to get my run in. The fitness room was locked up. I did not have reflective gear, so, dressed in my lightest colored sweats I opted to do laps around my condo complex. Each lap came in at .56 miles. I did the first lap rather slow, as a warm up. With the temperatures outside being at 32 degrees I wanted to get moving so I would feel warm. My next three laps continually got faster with each one. Throughout the run I was trying to remain focused on my pacing, keeping it more stable. In the past, when not on the treadmill, I have had the problem of my pace fluctuating. Having GARMIN at hand, or rather just above my hand, I was able to continue checking on the pacing. For much of the run I was hovering in the 14:09-14:45 range. During the fourth lap I managed to get the pace steadily in the 13:30-13:50 range. I even looked down and saw the pacing in the 12:30-12:40 range for about a tenth of a mile. Upon completion of my four laps I took a fifth lap as a cool down. My total mileage for the run came in at 2.87 in 43:23, including the cooldown lap. Here are my average pace speeds for the .56 mile loop:

Lap 1: 15:51
Lap 2: 15:35
Lap 3: 14:04
Lap 4: 13:43
Lap 5: 16:21

A great thing about this run is I felt revived. I don't know if it was the cool air or the results on GARMIN when I got inside on the computer to analyze. Either way, I really did feel good about this. Looking at the graph on the computer I was much more successfull in stabilizing my pace and it was easier to see the speeding up as the distance went on.

Today, Wednesday was an off day all around. I took a total rest day. Thursday will be 5 miles with speedwork, Friday I will cross-train, Saturday will be another complete rest day because of work, and I will finish the week Sunday with a 6 mile run after I work the Women's Basketball game at OU. I would love to get outside for the 6 miles but I will have to wait and see what time I get home and if I will have enough daylight.

Cross-training Weight Loss

One of the reasons I began running is to lose weight. I am sure many of us have used that as a reason to run. When I returned from my three week honeymoon and a weekend cheering my sister on in the Disney marathon this year in mid-January I stepped on the scale. I was shocked and surprised to see it read 252 lbs. Never in my life had I topped the 250 mark. Needless to say, I was not happy with that sight and knew some things had to change. I first began with some walking/running. Then I began to take a look at the foods I consumed. Now, about a month and a week later I stepped on the scale this morning. To my delightful eyes I read the numbers 247 lbs. I was so happy to begin seeing the weight loss I went ahead and ate breakfast, had some lunch later in the day, along with a light snack in the middle. To top it all off, for dessert I had a good 90 minute cross-training session in the fitness room with two bottles of Propel, again one lemon and one berry. There are a couple of ways I can go from here.

First, the cross training session. I started out with a round of strength training doing 15 reps of the bench press, shoulder press, bicep curls, tricep pulldowns, reverse biceps, lats, leg press and calf raises. Next I moved over to the stationary bike for 20 minutes and 3.9 miles. It was warmer in the fitness room than usual, as a result I downed the first bottle of Propel during the biking and right before I started the second round of the strength training. Round two of strength training was the same as round one. At the conclusion, I got on the eliptical for 40 minutes, covering 2.5 miles and finishing off the second bottle of Propel. To finish off the day's workout I made one final round of the weights, repeating the same number of reps.

Second, when I returned home from the workout I had a banana, a blackberry yogurt and two pints of water. When I stepped on the scale before I jumped in the shower it read 245 lbs. WOW!!! I chalk that weight loss up to the depletion of liquids, which I would soon remedy with more water afterward.

The third thing for today deals with the weigh-ins. I know most of you might say don't get too excited over a single weigh-in at a certain weight because it will fluctuate. You may also want to tell me how muscle weighs more than fat and not to get discouraged when I don't see the weight coming off right away. That is true and I am aware of it. But, I will also say that over the course of this past week I have been monitoring my weight, and this is the third time I have hit the 247 lbs., enough for me to be convinced that the growing muscles are now starting to eat away that fat.

Through the running catalyst I have begun and a further look into the foods I eat, the changes I make hope to help me reach my target weight goal. Ultimately, I would like to see myself get out of the 200s and find myself happily around 185. But first things first, I will break it down into 10 lb increments and allow myself a reward upon completion of each 10 lbs. Anyone have suggestions for some quality self-rewards? My starting weight on this mission was 252, I am now at 247, yet I will not accept my first reward until the 240 mark has been successfully achieved.

Please share your comments. I welcome your thoughts.

Completing My First Marathon....Sort Of

I have completed my first marathon, well sort of. With my 6.45 mile long run yesterday (Sunday) it brought my new running shoes mileage to an even 26.2 miles. I had no idea until I entered my run into my training log. I was surprised to see I had gone that far already in them. During the run I made note of my 10k time since this was the first time I had actually gone that far. It came in at 1:30:10. I was very psyched to see that.

The breakdown on the stationery 10k treadmill run went like this. I set out for the first mile with the intention of it being a warmup mile at 3.5. Five minutes into it I decided to step up the beat and bumped the speed up to 3.9 for the rest of the first mile. At the onset of the second mile I decided to try the "running" on the treadmill and got the speed to 4.5. This only lasted for a tenth of a mile and then I backed it down to 4.0. I remained at 4.0 until mile three where I went up to 4.1 for a half mile before I pulled an Emeril and "kicked it up a notch" to 4.2. I stayed at 4.2 until I had to stop because the treadmill will only run for 60 minutes and then it does a five minute cool down. At the conclusion of the 60 minutes when the cooldown began I cranked the speed and incline back up until I completed the fourth mile and then hit stop. It took about a minute to clear out the info on the first 4 miles and get the belt back up to speed for the remaining 2.2 miles. With that I was on my way at a 4.2 speed. Once I reached the 10k time I hit the "cooldown" and took that for the five minutes it gave me. Not counted in this run is the 1/4 mile walk from condo to the fitness room and the 1/4 mile back. I never count those. On the way back I did not waste the opportunity to high step it for .2 miles, kicking my knees up to my face, having people look at me weird.

In the realm of refueling, as I closed in on the 45 minute mark of my run I downed my third sampling of GU Gel, this time in the flavor of "Espresso Love." It was pretty good. Of the three flavors I have tried now, I would rank them Chocolate Outrage, Espresso Love, and then Strawberry-Banana from best to worst in taste. My sister had mentioned she did not care for the fruit flavored ones, and I would say that if the other fruit flavored ones taste as bad as Strawberry-Banana I want to stay away from them myself. Throughout my entire run, to remain hydrated, I also put away two bottles of Propel, one lemon and one berry.