Hot! Hot! Hot!

Tonight's attempt at a 5 miler (and I use the term "attempt" loosely) was thwarted by severe heat, humidity, and a total lack of energy. I've experienced a run like this before where you're not really breathing hard. Your not tired in that respect but your body just won't go. You think you can walk a bit but as soon as you recover and start running again, you just can't hold it. Every happened to you?

I think the week got a little disconbobulated with what turned out to be two consecutive tough workouts in a row on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday was speedwork and Wednesday's easy 3 turned into 4 hard trail miles as Matt introduced me to the Ho Chi Minh trails south of Memorial Dr. There was a pretty good turnout of Striders for the run and much fun was had muddin' through the woods and sultry air.

I think my average pace for the trail run did not reflect my effort. Of course, the trails are like that. I heard somewhere that trails basically add a minute to a minute and a half to your easy run pace. Anyway, we weren't racing but I'll tell you what, those trails gave me a pretty tough workout. And after emerging from the forest and crossing back over to the Memorial Loop, I felt pretty frisky and cooled down the last mile or so at around 13 minute pace.

So, I think tonight my body was just telling me to shut it down. Now, a few weeks ago, I would have shut it totally down and just strolled back to the car. But tonight, to show a little bit of guts, I did the run/walk thing, walking mostly, but keeping my walk very brisk. I brought it in with a run for the last quarter mile and finished with 3 total. Tomorrow is a rest day while I get ready for 10 on Saturday.

The weight loss is going well. 6.8 lbs. lost since the competition started. I'm closing back in on sub-300 again. That will sure feel good. I know SteveB says it's hard to concentrate on improving your running and losing weight at the same time, but for me personally, the running really, really helps me focus on the weight loss. I think it's that if I spend a lot of time running, I'm not spending a lot of time wondering what to eat and what not to eat. And after a good workout, I don't want to spoil it by a trip to McDonalds or Shipleys. So, for now, I'm going to just see how it goes. I feel in a good grove this week and intend to keep it going.

A First

Well, running continues to be fresh and new for me as this morning I did my first ever short-interval workout. After a 1 mile warmup, I did 8x30/30, then a 1 mile cooldown. Here are the stats.

Total distance - 2.7 miles
Venue - Memorial Park
Warmup (1 mile) - 13:21
8x30/30 - 10:35 / 10:56 / 10:49 / 11:23 / 10:34 / 10:41 / 10:38 / 10:43 (Average - 10:47)
Cooldown (1 mile) - 13:17

For the most part, I feel like I kept it pretty consistent. The one repeat of 11:23 was on a slight incline. I was shooting for around 1 mile race effort but probably ended up a little above that but definitely shy of 5K effort. I really concentrated on staying relaxed. It was a different feeling stretching out my stride like that. It reminded me that I need to work on my flexibility.

The real plan

I know I've posted a couple of plans the last few weeks as I was trying to find my way "back" from wherever it was that I went to. I took some time this afternoon to plan out the next 8 weeks, trying to make quality workouts, long runs, rest days, and steady weekly mileage fit into my work and on-call schedule. The following is what I came up with. Click on the image for a better view:

The blue denotes long runs. The yellow is quality work. Red are the days I'm on call. The on call stuff is what forces me to juggle stuff around and precludes me from doing the same thing every week like I'd like to do.

Any close scrutiny of this schedule is certainly welcome. It's pretty ambitious but I think if it all works out and I can do this schedule, I will be in a position come the end of July to have some options for marathon training. The only thing I may change is I may try to throw in some trail running in place of a couple of those Tuesday quality workouts. Variety is a good thing IMO.

Now I'm just mad!!!

The weight loss contest that Bill and I have going on has been good. The competition gives me some motivation. Having to wear a dress to Terry Hershey park for the first SMARTie workout...well, let's just say I'd rather avoid that embarassment. But truth is that I want Bill to succeed as much as I want to win. As far as the competition goes, I'm fine either way.

So, if competition isn't as strong a motivator as I need, then maybe getting downright MAD will have some effect on me. And people, I am PO'd!!!

Here's what happened. I took the family to Kemah Saturday night for some food and fun. We ate and then headed over to the rides. The kids were so excited. They wanted to ride some of the "scarier" rides but not without Dad. So, I bought tickets for us for everything. We got over to the Aviator and watched the ride before ours. The anticipation was mounting. DD wanted me to be in the swing behind her. I gave the guy my ticket and got in the seat. Well, wouldn't you know, the dang bar would not go down far enough. Then the guy came over and pushed it down trying to make the light come on, signifying I was locked in. Then, they moved me over to another swing. Same story. I COULDN'T FIT IN THE FREAKIN' RIDE!!! (I hope my kids don't read this. I don't let them say "freakin'") So, I got to watch my kids ride the ride without me.

Well, fine. I'll ride the Inverter, right? We stood in line again. To the kids this was a REALLY scary ride and DD and DS wouldn't even ride it if I didn't ride it with them. We got on and they brought the bar down. I felt like I was in and that it locked but again, the stupid little light wouldn't come on and I had to exit the ride and watch. By this time, I wasn't smiling to say the least. I was embarassed, angry, and sad that I couldn't live my life because of my weight. I missed it. I missed this one opportunity to do this one thing with my kids. That was a memory I'll never get to remember. If I were to die today, God forbid, one of the last memories my kids would have wouldn't be the fun we all had riding those rides. They'd remember how Dad didn't get to ride with them because he was so fat. (Oh, crap, I'm tearing up right here in my office.)

So, yes, I'm mad! I'm pissed. I'm embarassed. I don't want to miss any more moments like that. And, Bill, I'm afraid the contest is over. You may as well pack it in buddy 'cause THE GAME IS ON! If I were you, I'd eat nothing but lettuce for the next 8 weeks because that's what it's going to take to beat me. :)

Isn't this fun?

Peak Performance Nutrition Seminar

I highly recommend that every runner in the world attends this seminar:

Peak Performance Nutrition Seminar

Speaker: Catherine Kruppa

Are you an athlete or fitness enthusiast?

Would you like to eat to fuel your active lifestyle and improve your performance?

This Seminar will:

• Help you to estimate your energy needs based on your activity level.
• Develop an eating plan to maximize your workout.
• Discuss the effects of nutrition on muscle strength, endurance and performance.
• Provide recommendations for fluid replacement.
• Advise you on the latest research on supplements.

Date: Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Time: 6 pm

Location: The Houstonian Club Library

Cost - $20

RSVP 713-316-2707

Catherine Kruppa, MS, RD, LD

ckruppa@houstonian.com

Lost in the City!!!

When planning my Saturday run this week, I was faced with a difficult choice. On the one hand, I really needed to get about a 9-10 miler in and the Striders' Big Bear run seemed like the perfect recipe. On the other hand, I've been pumped all week about June's upcoming attempt at a sub-30 5K at the Houston Heights run Saturday morning.

I decided I couldn't pass up seeing June's face after breaking the 30 minute barrier so to have my cake and eat it too (no, Bill, I'm not eating cake. It's a figure of speech.), I figured I'd run from Memorial Park over to the finish of the Heights run via the popular Heights run route. It's a simple route. Leave from anywhere in Memorial Park, jump over to Blossom, up Jackson Hill to Washington, skip over to Heights Blvd and then you're home free. Just run up Heights as far as you want which in this case was the start of the race at 18th street, giving me 4.5 out. Then the return trip, according to my best calculations, would put me at a bit over 9 miles.

Now, the plan was to rendezvouz with June just after the race started, a little after 7:30, and then wait for her at the finish. I really didn't want to get there too soon as I'd be standing around too long and with the 2nd half of my long run staring me in the face, I didn't want to be completely cooled down. But, I wanted to surprise June early in the race and maybe spur her on a bit knowing that I had run all the way over to see her finish at 29:59 or better. This would take perfect planning. I calculated that at between 14:00 and 14:30 pace, it would take me 1:03-1:05 to cover the 4.5 miles to 18th and Heights. So, to reach my waypoint precisely, I knew I must depart the swimming pool parking lot at precisely 6:25 AM.

Guess what. I left late. Who'd of thunk it, huh? I ended up departing 9 minutes later than planned. Oh, well, that just meant I'd see June a little later in the race, probably just after mile 1. Leaving the parking lot out the back, I thought I'd save a little time and try to stay north of Washington. It's not as nice an area as running down Blossom but it might save me 5 minutes or so, I thought. There was only one problem with that plan. There are basically only 2 bridges that cross White Oak Bayou, the Heights Blvd. Bridge and the Shepard/Durham bridge. Of course, I didn't think of that at the time and made the mistake of thinking that as long as I stay between Washington and I-10, I'll make my way over to Heights Blvd. and shave some time off. WRONG!!!

I basically ended up running through the worst part of town and dead ended right into White Oak Bayou and the base of the I-10 overpass. I basically just stood there surveying the situation. To backtrack would have put me even later and that wasn't an option. I would have loved to just billy goat it under the I-10 overpass or run down the side of the bayou but, ugh, that was even too adventuresome for me. Besides, a 12 foot fence was blocking my way. Then I did the unthinkable. I ventured up a driveway in the worst part of town, along the fence that blocked my way, trying to find an opening. The further I walked along the fence, I noticed there was an overgrown sidewalk that paralleled it. I'm in business. The sidewalk opened up and I saw that it took me under I-10. Woo-hoo!! Or so I thought. This was no yellow-brick road. It was truly scary. I thought to myself, I'm sure glad I didn't drag anyone else into this mess but then I thought how it it sure would have been nice to have a running partner on a day like this. The goal at that point was to just not step on any syringes or needles and hope that I didn't run into the middle of a gang fight.

I hopped a couple of poo-poo diapers and finally emerged on some street this native Houstonian never knew existed before today. I still had my bearings and I knew that I was headed in the wrong direction. I had to backtrack all the way to Sheperd, then over White Oak Bayou. When I got to the overpass that goes over the old railroad tracks, I finally made a good choice. I decided to stay on the low road, under the overpass, through the industrial park and to see if I could possibly make my way East from there. BINGO!!! Under the bridge, I was able to hop onto 7th street which was just a hop and a skip over to 8th which goes all the way through to Heights Blvd.

At that point, I just wanted to get to Heights to catch June before the turnaround. I got to Heights and headed north. It was exactly 7:30 when I turned onto Heights so I figured the race was starting. Racers were heading South while I was heading North. It's such a straight shot up Heights Blvd that I could see the flashing lights of the lead escort waaaaaay in the distance. It wasn't 3 or 4 minutes when the lead runners came streaking by and very close to the front of the pack early in the race was butt-kicker Steve Schroeder. Now, Steve is a fast runner but he was looking particularly speedy at that point, early in the race..

In just another 2 or 3 minutes I saw June and Sarah. June looked real relaxed. Sarah did too for that matter. I waved and told June that I had run all the way over here to see her break 30 minutes so she'd better not hold back. They smiled and off they went. I was close at this time to 18th so I put the hammer down a bit to finish off this first leg of my run.

I waited at the finish, cheering on the runners. I watched Schroeder come in FAST with what ended up being a ~30 second 5K PR. Huge congrats, Steve!!! Steve got some water and then came back to where I was standing. He said he was going to go back out and run June in the last bit so off he went. I'm watching the clock and it's 28:00, 29:00, 29:10, 29:15... THERE'S SARAH!!! What? Sarah had intended to just hang with June as long as she could and then let June go on to her sub-30 but here was Sarah, nailing a sub-30 of her own. I figured June would be right behind but unless my eyes were mistaken, no June. My eyes weren't mistaken. Sarah came to meet me. Then, I see Steve walking back towards us. "Did I miss her?" he asked. It's 32, then 33, then 34, and still no June. Something was wrong. I tried not to think the worst but knew that she must have gotten hurt. Then we see June walking towards us, all pink and in tears. It turns out she majorly pulled a hamstring after about mile 2, I think.

After we got June some medical attention and some food, I headed out for my return leg. This time, though, I chose to go back the way I had originally planned. The run felt pretty good. Even though it was basically split up into 2 runs, I still count it as a long run. Here are the stats:

Total distance: 9.2 miles
Total time: 2:10:23
Mile 1 - 14:11
Mile 2 - 14:17
Mile 3 - 14:19
Mile 4 - 14:04
Mile 5 - 13:36
Mile 6 - 14:13
Mile 7 - 14:10
Mile 8 - 14:50 (including a brief walk break across Durham/Sheperd)
Mile 9 - 14:03
.2 miles - 2:37 (13:41 pace)
Average pace - 14:11

It was nice to do a long run again. I feel fine. Sufficiently sore but not incapacitated. Know what I mean?

Dang Right!!!

Barbara and Joe, you know me all too well. Dang right I registered today.

PUMP UP THE VOLUME!!! PUMP UP THE VOLUME!!!

226

Well, it's 226 days to the Houston Marathon. I know. I know. It's a bit early to start getting too excited but I can't help it. I'm really looking forward to the coming season. I asked Amalia yesterday excitedly, "So, you ready to start marathon training?!?" She looked at me like I had 4 eyes and I didn't even have my glasses on. :) So, I know it's not at the front of everyone's mind but I'm starting to think about it a lot and really getting excited about the coming training season.

Along those lines, I had some good advice from Coach Bill via e-mail the other day and it makes a lot of sense. Of couse I'm hearing the same stuff from Coach Steeve so that just seals the deal. What Coach Bill said is a propos too because his advice addresses not only marathon training but also post-race recovery and even gearing back up for 2009. Hopefully he won't mind my posting what he said here.

What happened after Houston happens to everyone. You just did 6 months of training building and building and toughing it out week after week. You needed a break and you’re body just forced it on you in terms of your motivation.

You are getting back in the cycle to begin again and this year will be better than last…you have experience now.

What we do with our runners is build the break into the training. I cut some of the runners buy as much as 50% in their training and some are Boston Qualifiers.

This year…2007/2008 do your training for Houston the same as you did last year. You have a very good support system in place. Plan to take an active break after the race….two week recovery to the end of January then spend the winter and spring months concentrating on the shorter distance races. Keep your longest run to an hour max. In June start thinking about new fall goals and begin the build up again. This is a healthy cycle that will help keep you motivated and fresh year after year. Fall – long races….Spring short and a possible 5K PR. Stay in this cycle a couple years and watch what happens.

So, here's the plan. I'm going to be joining Houston Fit. I'm not going to go into all the reasons I'm not going to repeat my experience with Katy Fit but suffice it to say, I was not impressed with their program last year. I love the venues on the west side but...well, that's all I'm going to say about that. Of course I'm hanging pre and post race with the Striders for all the warmup races and don't be surprised to find me toughing out one of Miriam's core workouts every now and then. I'll definintely work the SMARTie Hop workouts into my schedule and wouldn't miss the Tour de Memorial and the Longest Long run for anything. So, basically, the plan is the same as last year. Sticking with the Fit'ers, ramping up through the week of the Half at the end of October, running on my own during the week and then playing it by ear through the warmup series and through January, running with the Striders/SMARTies as time and my body allow.

This morning's run was another thriller. The plan was to meet the co-workers at Memorial Park again. We had one no-show so Wendy and I did one loop. She runs 11 minute pace or so and eased out ahead of me after about a quarter mile. I kept her in site through a mile and a half, just because she had to stop 3 or 4 times to tie her shoe. I ran well again today. 3 easy miles at average 12:54 pace. I pushed some bit harder than long run effort but kept conversational nonetheless. Not the kind of conversational where you can recite the pledge of allegiance without pausing for a breath but the kind of conversational where you can speak in short phrases in between breaths. I guess what I'm saying is I was somewhere between long run, easy effort and tempo effort, probably closer to easy effort. Ok, none of that makes sense.

Regardless, I was happy to get in 3 sub-13 miles with moderate effort. Feels like I'm getting a lot of the cobwebs worked out. I'm definitely ahead of where I started last year. I looked at my logs for June 1, 2006. My weight was 334 lbs. I did 3x5R/1W intervals for a total distance of 1.5 miles. My pace was 15:46 average. OK, I feel a lot better now.

Not a perfect execution but working hard

Today called for a 25 minute tempo run or a 2 mile tempo run, whichever came last. A tempo run should include a warmup and cooldown. So, cooldown, check. 25 minutes at tempo effort, check. Warmup...what's that?

I met a couple of people from work at Memorial Park at 5:30. One was a co-worker and regular MP runner. The other was a consultant visiting from out of town. We got to talking about running and I wanted to give her a taste of the Houston running scene. After chatting, stretching and enjoying the beautiful morning air for a few minutes, we set out. I knew the two of them ran 10-12 minute miles so I told them to feel free to go ahead. Still, not having run with them before, I thought I may be able to hang for a while. It didn't take long to realize they were closer to 11 minute pace or better so I lagged behind, keeping them in view for the first mile.

About 3 minutes into my "warmup", I looked down at the Garmin and saw that I was keeping about 12:40 pace. It felt good so I went with it. Mile 1 was 12:37. Then mile 2 was 12:21 which also put me right at 25 minutes. So, my warmup kind of got skipped altogether. I fought the urge to stop and walk at 2 miles and completed my cooldown in 13:22 pace. 2.9 miles total in a 37 minute workout. I'd say mission accomplished.

I saw lots of peeps out there that I haven't seen in a long time. It was great to see Amalia who almost got a big wet, sweaty hug. Jenny and Heather were bookin' it. And it was good to see my friend Karl who's flirting with joining the Striders.

All in all, a great morning of running. Man, I needed that!

Great comments!!!

Thanks for the thought Holden. Depending on how things go, I may be considering a trail race like Sunmart or something in the Fall. Besides that, my ultimate goal race is the Houston marathon '08. Of course, there are plenty little goals along the way but they are all secondary to Houston.

Thanks for the good words Matt and David. I understand what you are saying. Like I said, my goal race is the Houston marathon 2008. I know from last year that I have time to do that so I'm not worried about the past couple of months and the time I've taken off. I think the thing that I need to come to grips with is that SMART may or may not be the training program for me. No doubt, given continued weight loss from January through present and a proper recovery from the marathon, I would be in good shape to jump right into SMART. But, I'm afraid that my brief lapse may have precluded me from being ready for SMART full time. Coach tells me that I need to be to 25 mpw with a 10 mile long run and one quality workout per week (I guess besides the long run), then I should be dandy for SMART. To be clear, coach never told me I COULDN'T do SMART but I think he's looking out for me and doesn't want me to get into something where I would risk injury. But to be honest, SMART may not be the best program for me right now. For sure, SMART IS THE BEST PROGRAM IN TOWN!!! but I'm not sure my body can take it and stay injury-free.

All this is worry about SMART or not SMART is really a moot point. The goal is to run the marathon, not to participate in any particular training program. There's really no reason to fret. The fact of the matter is that I love running with the Striders and I can do that no matter what program I'm in. The good thing about a program like Houston Fit is that I'm likely to find some runners at about my pace that I can do long runs with. Anyway, I'll see how the next 8 or so weeks go. I've a tempo run planned for tomorrow, an easy 4 miler on Thursday and on Saturday, if I don't get paged, I'm going to do 10, a slow 10 but 10 nonetheless. That should be 20-22 miles for the week. I'll try to get through this week healthy and after that, I should feel better about things.

Another 3 today

There was a pretty decent crowd at the park this morning. Sadly, I was a bit sore from my short 3 miler last night but that didn't stop me. I got in another 3 miler at about 14:13 pace. By the end of the run I was feeling good and loose.

One of my problems now is not having a plan. There are certainly times in my running where I'd rather just run and not be tied to a training plan but now is not that time. I'm kind of wondering what to do. I know there's the Saturday long run and I'll be at 8 miles come next Saturday. But what to do during the week. I think I'll make Monday an easy run, 3-5 miles. Then on Wednesday, I'm going to do some quality work, alternating tempo one week, and 30x30's the next. I'll follow up on Thursday with another 3-5 mile easy run. With Sunday as a rest day, that leaves Tuesday and Friday to get in some weights or some light XT. Any other suggestions?

I got sunshine!!!

The sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds this evening and I decided to go out for a run. I'm sure come July, I'm gonna be beggin' for rain.

Nothing much to report. 3 miles in ~14:24 pace. Lotsa sweat which felt really great.

When I was finished, I was standing at my car, trying to cool off and this guy came up to me and started talking. I asked him how it was going and he said he was just out trying to get into shape and lose some weight. I said, "Well, you're doing the right thing." It turns out John's lost ~70 lbs. He used to weigh 370 and is now down around 300. I told him we were two peas in a pod because I had been about 370 when I started losing. He said he was having a hard time running and that it was very difficult for him. He said he looked at me and said, "Man, that guy is really running." LOL! I told him just to ease into it and be patient and it'll come. Anyway, it was cool meeting another kindred spirit.

Note to self

I'd like to respond to a recent comment from my good friend and reknowned butt-kicker, SteveS, not to be confused with my other good friend and reknowned butt-kicker, Steeeve. Here's the comment:

Vic,
The actions comment was only put there to remind you that we have heard it before. There is nothing wrong with being a "back of the pack" runner but when you workouts always end with, "I took it easy and cut it short" then you have shorted your other health goals. It is Friday and you have nothing posted. This would lead me to assume another light workout with a side order of bad eating. I refuse to be part of the sheeple to offer congrats on work that is not done or done poorly. I have offered advice before but you have to implement. When I lose more weight than you in the past month, there is a problem. Show me actions.
SteveS

Let me say first, that SteveS hit the nail right on the head about not posting this week. Like many others, SteveS knows me like a book. Although I wouldn't go so far as to refer to readers of this blog as "sheeple" (by the way, that's hilarious), I do understand what SteveS is referring to. I think for the most part, most bloggers aren't fishing for a butt-kicking when they post their workouts and struggles with weight-loss, nutrition, etc and most commenters respect that and try to give encouragement any way they can. However, in this case, I feel like SteveS's comment was not only appropriate but timely. I'm afraid that were I to go back to read my posts from the last 10 weeks, I'd feel an irresistable urge to kick my butt as well. By the way, I may be wrong but I take some people's relative silence in the comment field as being a reflection of some of the same thoughts that SteveS presented above. I imagine there are others who would have loved to go off on me as well.

I think in a way, I have been "riding on the coat tails" of Marathon Vic, telling myself that I've done the hard work. I've come so far and now it's time for a break. Like I deserve it or something. What a friggin' retarded, perverted way to look at this journey and at my life. How stupid is it for me to think that just because I've lost 70+ lbs. and run a marathon that I deserve a break, that I can indulge in fast food, that I can start watching TV again and sitting around the house eating chips? Actually, the opposite is true. I worked hard last year and rather than deserving all the above things, I deserve more of the good stuff, more energy, more flexibility, strength, long life, a feeling of accomplishment, to be faster, all that stuff.

Yes, these are more words. I'm tempted and inspired to just delete this post right now, put on my shoes, and hit the pavement. I'm also real close to purging the Pappa's baked potato I had for lunch. :) Suffice it to say that I hear what you're saying, SteveS. I'll say nothing more. It's time to get to work. Feel free to kick me in the ar$e any time.

It's ALL good, July!!!

Thanks for reminding me, July, that I haven't posted since Wednesday. Fortunately, all is well, quite well as a matter of fact.

Sounds like a lot of fun was had in Corpus Christi this weekend. I hope Bill got his fill of Mexican food and sleeping on the beach. Bill, did you look at any sun dresses in come of the cute shops down there on the strip? Oh, I can't wait to see you in that dress.

I hope the weather in Corpus was nice because if you're a runner and you weren't in Houston on Saturday morning, you missed one of the top 2 or 3 days of the year, IMHO. I met my good friend and running buddy Jo at Patterson at 6, right at daybreak. It was a cool 62 degrees and almost no humidity. It was one of those mornings where if you were just standing around, you were a bit chilly but as soon as we got moving, it was just right. I mean it was perfect. Jo joked that that if we could bottle this weather and sell it, we'd be millionaires.

We did a little over 6 miles. I've got the splits on my Garmin but don't feel like bootin it up right now. Our first mile was 14:06, I remember. We stayed pretty consistent the next couple of miles. Our 3 back were at about 13:40. It really didn't feel like we sped up that much. I think I was just getting warmed up. For the first time in what seems like a long time, I felt like I could have done 6 more. I ran continuously the whole way, except for a potty break. I really felt good. I know the weather had a lot to do with it.

On the nutrition front, I've done really, really well since Wednesday. I've logged the entire week for Catherine to scrutinize. This weekend, I've had some drastic fluctuations in my weight. It's been kind of a roller coaster ride. I've fluctuated +/- 7 or 8 lbs Saturday and today. I've had a VERY active weekend doing lots of yardwork, running, more yardwork, bending, shoveling, sweating, hydrating, sweating more, and even a little swimming thrown in there for good measure. I think I've averaged a good 3 or 4 lb weight loss this week, approximately. Keep this up, and Bill's gonna look just lovely in his new dress.

Oh, and anonymous, I've got your actions right HERE, buddy. :)

Getting back in the groove

Someone reminded me today that it seems like I've been semi-out-of-commission for a long, long time. To be honest, it seems like an eternity to me as well. It seems like forever since I did a Saturday long run, since I did 20+ mpw, since I ran an easy 10+, since I nailed a 12:30 5 miler. But looking back at my logs, I see it ws just 8 weeks ago that I did a 15 miler in a 25+ mile week. So, really, my running hasn't endured much of a hiatus. My nutrition and weight loss, however, have been at a stand-still since the afternoon of the marathon.

I think since January 14th, I've sort of given myself an excuse to go back to eating poorly. Now, dont' take this the wrong way because I totally loved it when Bush landed on that aircraft carrier and announced to our troops, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! But I kind of feel like that's what I did on January 14th after crossing the finish line. Mission accomplished!!! But like the War on Terror, my fight isn't over until it's over, and I've been stuck in a quagmire of sorts since January. So, since my war hasn't been going well, I'm implementing a little "surge" of my own.

I'm pulling out the big guns, logging EVERYTHING I consume, nailing daily deficits, exercising moderately, watching my fats, cutting out sugars, and getting off caffeine. Really, it's just getting back to basics.

And for added incentive, Bill and I have agreed to a friendly wager. Whoever loses the most weight by July 31st gets his Houston marathon entry fee paid by the loser, well, by the other person. Actually, we're both losers. And to top it all off, the loser must show up to day 1 of SMART training in a dress. I'm thinking a mid-thigh, strapless in a floral design would do just fine for Miss Bill.

Let the games begin!!!

Oh, I ran 2.3 miles tonight at about 14:30 pace. Don't know why but I felt really sluggish tonight. I ate supper before my run so that may have had something to do with it. That and I didn't get started until 8:30. When I think that I JUST ran 2.3, I have to remind myself that for me, that's over 30 minutes and there's nothing wrong with a 30 minute workout. Superwomen Barbara and Christy routinely run ~30 minutes during the week. And Flash June's even been known to keep a workout to just one loop around Memorial Park from time to time. These days, she's doing that in about 30 minute, or sub-30 even. So, I'm not disappointed in 2.3 miles. I'll get there. The focus right now is on the weight loss.

Thanks for the encouragement!

Great comments on that last post and I wanted to just say that I really appreciate it. Call me needy but I get a lot of motivation knowing that friends and fellow journeymen are cheering for me and want to see me succeed.

So far, so good this week. I got in another 40+ minute workout yesterday after work. There were TONS of people at Memorial Park last night, probably the busiest I've ever seen it. I got 3 hot miles in at 13:57 pace. Again, I felt very loose and relaxed. The extra stretching before and after my runs seems to be helping a lot.

Tonight will be a good test of my commitment. I'm on call for the next two days but need to run 5 tonight and 3 tomorrow. That means I'm going to have to stay close to home in case I get beeped. I'm very hesitant to venture out when I'm on call for fear my run will be cut short and my pattern of late has been to simply blow off the run altogether. Inevitably, I end up regretting that decision when the pager never goes off. So, tonight, I"m just gonna DO IT!!! If I get paged, then sobeit. I've got to do this.

My main goal right now to get me to July 31 is to lose as much weight as possible. I've got to stay focused. I'd like to work on my running but I've got to concentrate on my calories right now. 25 pounds of weight loss and building back up to a modest 25 miles per week puts me in a very good position to start marathon training the end of July. In my opinion, the 25 lbs alone is worth 5 minutes off my best 5K and will get me a little closer to "keeping up" with the group come marathon trainin season. Hopefully, come the fall series, I won't be struggling to get in under the cutoff for some of these races. I'm really getting pumped up again and looking forward to the Fall.

Big Fat F!!!

My running log has a Plan tab on it where I can enter my planned training for the week. Then, as I enter my runs in the actual log, it populates my actual miles for each day and tallys what percentage of planned mileage I've actually run through the week. By the end of the week, I'm able to see what percentage of planned miles I actually ran.

I always looked at this page as simply what it is, a percentage of planned miles that I ran for the week. But David pointed out to me that to him, it's kind of like a grade. Now, in the schools I attended, the grade scale was A (93-100), B (86-92), C (78-85), D (70-77), and F (below 70). So, here's the row from last week.

A 38% is a BIG FAT F

I've entered into a whole new level of underachievement. Do I have anything positive to say? NO!!! Man, that's strange, isn't it?

I did 3.3 miles on the beach yesterday at a little over 14 minute pace. I made the mistake of waiting until 9:30 or so to head out. I drove out and planted some water at around the halfway point. My out leg was right into the sun and the breeze was barely noticeable. On the way back, though, I was able to relax a little and stop squinting and get into a groove. I really enjoyed running on the beach. The left to right camber on the out leg was a little tough on my ankle but made for a good workout.

I'm slowly but surely running out of time before marathon training starts. I really wanted to end July at around 270 lbs but that's very quickly becoming out of reach. To get there in 12 weeks, that will be an agressive 2.5 lbs. per week. It's doable, yes but I'm going to have to dig deep. Now is the time. No more putting off what I must do.

It's the shirt

I broke in my new Striders tech shirt tonight at Mem Park. I was running out of day so I decided to just do 3. To make it interesting, though, I kicked it up to tempo effort for mile 2 and then back down for mile 3. Not much time to go into the details but I'll just say it was a fabulous run. I felt really good and relaxed.

The highlight was my son who came with me and did his first ever 3 mile run. I was so proud of him and he was pumped up about his accomplishment. He kept talking on the way home about how his feet hurt and his legs are sore but he feels good, "REALLY GOOD!!" He did great. He said he wants to do the half marathon in January. I told him to go for it. That would be a huge accomplishment for him so we'll see where it goes from here.

My splits:
Mile 1 - 13:52
Mile 2 - 12:33
Mile 3 - 13:54
Average pace - 13:27

This was my first run in a long while where I ran continuously and strong the entire way. I wanted to take a walk break after my tempo mile 2 but resisted the temptation. By 2.25, I was pretty much recovered and back to easy effort. Certainly the beautiful weather and the cool temps contributed greatly to my good run tonight. I'll take it. It was a good confidence builder.

Will be in Galveston this weekend. Hoping to get a run on the seawall in on Sunday. Back on Monday. Later!

This sounds cool

I found information on this in my neighborhood gazette. It's a Triathlon series for kids put on by the Kiwanis Club of Houston Sunrise. The events are 100M swim, 1 mile bike, and .5 mile run for ages 10-12. A little less for the younger ages. Here's the link if you want to check it out. Kiwanis Kids Triathlon Series

SCORE!!!

All the cool people in Houston (with a few exceptions) were gathered at Chatter's Bistro near downtown last night for much fun, food, and frivolity, Strider-style. Hats off to our VP, Ted, who hit a homerun with the new venue. There was ample seating for the masses, the food was EXCELLENT, and the weather was absolutely perfect!!!

Catherine the Great was GREAT as our guest speaker, presenting her heralded Peak Performance seminar to those in attendance. In most other venues, this seminar would come at a cost to each attendee but in good Strider fashion, it was FREE for us. An astute communicator, Catherine was able to pack volumes of information into her 30 minute seminar and then opened up the floor to questions from the group. Certainly everyone left last night with some new knowledge about nutrition for athletes. One point that was hammered home that seemed to strike a cord with many Striders was on the nutritional value of beer to an endurance athlete. Evidently, there was some contention on this point and the verdict is still out.

Speaking of freebies, in celebration of the Strider victories in both the HARRA Fall and Spring club championships, each Strider in attendance was given THE COOLEST Asics technical running shirt with the new Strider logo on it. It's a very, very nice shirt and for all who missed the meeting, they will be distributed at any one of the upcoming Strider events through the summer and Fall. There are limited supplies so come on out to an event. If fun, food, and frivolity isn't enough to bring you out, just the shirt is worth the trip.

Thanks to the Striders for another memorable gathering. STRIDERS ROCK!!!