Getting Close To The Half Marathon

Hey everyone,

Wanted to stop back by here for a short time to update you on the latest.  Namely, the 10 mile run I managed to bust out yesterday in preparation for the half marathon in about three short weeks.

I set a goal of trying to finish the 10 mile run yesterday in a time of 1:30:00.  I figured that would get me fairly close to the goal of finishing the half marathon in 2 hours.  So what time did I manage to finish in?  1:30:07.  Seven f***ing seconds!

My words of advice?  Don’t eat an Oriental Crispy Chicken bowl from Applebee’s before you run.  And try not to burn up your energy in a water park beforehand either (we were there with our daughter and her cousins that morning).  And don’t push it on a new bike the day before either.  You guys probably figured all that out already though.

Back For A Short While

Seeing as I’ve been gone from here for the last few weeks, I imagine I owe everyone who has continued to visit here an explanation.

Short answer – my schedule got too full and something had to give.  Not the best answer I suppose but it is the truth.  I’ve had a lot going on at work lately that’s required a lot of my time and by the time I get home at night I just want to take it easy and hang out with my wife and daughter.  No offense to anyone reading this but they’ll always come first.

I’d like to think that things will slow down here over the summer but I get the sense that this won’t be the case.  A lot of initiatives going on at work and our second daughter will make her debut just eight short weeks from now.  My guess is that I’ll only be updating sporadically for the near future.  For that, I apologize.  I really wish I could be on here more frequently as I really enjoy the community of people but sometimes priorities and responsibilities spin you in a different direction.

With that being said, I did want to give you all an update on what’s been going on from a fitness and training perspective since I last jumped on and, fortunately, a lot of it is good news.

Guess The Lie Challenge – The Answers

Hey everyone!

I won’t keep any of you in suspense one minute longer (if any of you are actually in suspense at all).  Remember, six of the statements are true and three are false.

1.  I’ve never had a soda or an alcoholic beverage in my entire life.  TRUE.  This is the one thing that undoubtedly earns the most looks of amazement and pure confusion but, believe it or not, it is true.  I guess soda has always had the same appeal for me that green vegetables do for a kid.  I just never had a desire for one.  I think the carbonation scared me a little bit.  As I grew older, the aversion just never really left me.  And I’m a difficult person to get to try new things anyway so that didn’t help.  Same thing for alcohol.  I can’t stand the smell of most beers and alcoholic drinks.  Plus, I had two friends die in a drunk driving accident when I was in high school and an uncle who died in his 50s due to alcohol and I’m sure that had something to do with it as well.

Thursday…..Almost There!

Good morning all!  A lot of stuff to get through this morning so let’s get right to it!

Personal training session today.  This will be #19 out of the 24 or 26 session package I bought (kind of sad that I don’t even know how many sessions I purchased) so the days of having a trainer kicking my ass twice a week are slowly coming to an end.  That means I have to start thinking about transitioning from being guided by a trainer to doing it on my own.  I like to think I’ve learned a lot from her but I’m worried about a) continuing to do circuits or sets that hit all the major muscle groups and b) keeping the intensity at a high level when there’s nobody there to keep me in check.  I think this will be a real test in keeping myself accountable to myself!

Developing Power For The Swim

Yesterday was another big day on the treadmill.  I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to do speedwork or run for distance.  So I did something right in the middle.  The result was a 3.25 mile run in 25:39.  That works out to a 7:54 mile pace – a new best at that distance for me.  I’m a happy camper!

I also did this run without any type of knee support.  It turned out to be about 80% the right decision as I did experience some stiffness in my left knee during the last mile.  It wasn’t enough to make me feel like I wanted to stop but it was enough to tell me that I still need to keep a close eye on it going forward.  Some good stretching right afterwards, a short easy stretch on the bike to “unload” the legs and an ice pack later in the day all seemed to be the cure as my knee is feeling fine again.  I never would have guessed that staying loose and pain-free would be so much work!  Maybe I’m getting old.

Hitting The Run

Happy Tuesday everyone and everybody knows (or should know) that Tuesdays are Lost days!  Can’t wait for tonight!

I posted my weekly weigh in results a little early this week (a little late getting around to posting) and was really excited with the results.  Had another solid workout with my trainer yesterday.  We started with an 8 minute spinning circuit followed by leg work (squats and kettlebell lunges), upper body (kettlebell rows and LOTS of push-ups) and abs (medicine ball crunches and the usual planks).  All that along with an evening of sparring at karate and you can probably understand why I slept pretty well last night.

Michael Phelps I Am Not!

….but I am happy to report that yesterday’s trip to the pool for some lap swimming went better than expected!

After taking several minutes to get used to the water (yes, I’m a wuss about cold temperatures….getting the water level above the equator is always a long process for me), I ended up doing 750 meters total in 50 meter increments with about 12-15 breaths in between.  It’s a long ways to go to get to the 1500 meters for the Olympic distance triathlon but we’re getting there.

I Think The Yoga’s Working!

No fancy greetings this morning.  Today, we jump right into the good news.

I mentioned before that it was recommended I try yoga as a way to alleviate my knee pain.  After two days of using yoga, my IT Band brace and icing the knee, I’m happy to report that the triple whammy seems to be working!

I had success the first time using the IT Band brace during a gentle 5K run on Sunday.  During our warm ups for karate on Monday, we coincidentally got into a few yoga poses for stretching – butterfly, Warrior one, etc.  We focused on the hamstrings, quads and glutes and I honestly felt great afterwards (especially after the butterfly stretch which traditionally I’ve avoided due to my lack of flexibility).

Weigh-In Results – Week 9 (Hitting The Wall)

Hey everyone!  Another week.  Another weigh in.  Let’s jump right into it.

For last week’s weigh in, I came in at 195.8 lbs. and 18.6% body fat.  I made a prediction yesterday that I felt I would crack into the 194s based on how I felt the week went, periodic weigh ins at home and my eating log for the week.  Turns out I jinxed the whole operation.  This week?  195.8 lbs.  The same number for three straight weigh ins.  Body fat came in at 18.5% which was down 0.1% from last week.  I’m officially hitting the wall.

I’m guessing that my problem is 20% exercise / 80% diet.  I say that because I think I’ve been able to have better luck managing and dropping weight where I had regular running incorporated into my routine.  I think I’ve been able to do about four runs total in the last month or so that were longer than one mile due to my knee so that piece has definitely been lacking.  But the greatest cause has to be from diet.

Finally A Breakthrough?

Happy Monday morning all (if there even is such a thing).  I had an exciting weekend exercise-wise and want to get right into it.

I’ve beaten it like a dead horse around here lately but I’ve been having some issues with knee pain lately.  I’ve ended up running about once a week max in order to try to give my knee a chance to rest and because, well, it just doesn’t want to seem to run more than that.

I went to the gym like normal on Friday to try to run yet again only to find that all the treadmills were taken.  So instead I went to try out an alternative that I haven’t used in a while – the elliptical machine.  For some reason, I’d never even thought to consider jumping on the elliptical up until Friday.  It operates in something similar to a running motion.  It works with less strain and banging on the knee.  Maybe this is a halfway decent option.