Week 5 update

This last week was not bad.  Although I skipped Tuesday's 3 miler, I made it up on Thursday and with some extra walks along the week.  On Wednesday, I had a good solid 6 miler.  Still too slow, but it did feel more constant and pace-worthy, so to speak.

I've been adding some cross-fit work outs to my strength training to good effect.  I learned walking push ups and added those.  This week I also learned of air lunges which did leave my thighs feeling rather sore this morning, but this is supposed to be a post about the week that just ended.

The long run was a bit of a shamble.  The 12 miles ended up taking 3 hours.  I had a visit at home waiting for me, and I sure scared the hell out of him, getting home much later than planned.  I would say I hit the wall at around 10 miles, but I was already fighting a bad thick fog since around mile 9.  This being a step-back week, the Sat. mileage is only 9, which will hopefully go well.

As for nutrition, I've mostly kept up a good show.  Eating well, keeping alcohol levels low.  At the end of the week, I was still holding steady at 139.  However, on Saturday and specially on Sunday, there was quite a bit of beer drinking due to a birthday.

Sunday night, my mom and I agreed to lose 5 pounds in two weeks.  On Monday morning, I weighed the usual 139.  This morning, I'm down to 137!  So, that's two down!

Hope to see the trend stick.

A Look at Progress So Far

In all honesty, I can't really be bothered to write down every thing I eat. But I will say, I've been very healthy, eating within the 1200 calorie range for a while now. The only problem was the booze, which was adding countless calories. However, starting on Monday, I've ingested 0 empty calories via drink, sticking mostly to water and partially to diet coke. Also, I have not touched a cigarette since Saturday night. This is obviously easier to do if there is also no drinking, so the eating/drinking part is going well enough.

So is the training. So far, I have skipped 4 runs all together. I've noticed that my stamina is better and that I can do many more push ups than at the start of this. I could barely do 70, yesterday, I did 150 comfortably, plus some strange walking push-ups, although I'm not quite certain I did them right. I do need to do more strength training, and include weight lifting as well.

The bit where I'm letting myself down is on not getting up at 6 am to do my runs in the morning. Yesterday I did my required 3 with no problems, but after work. Today's 6 will also have to be done in the evening. I just HAVE to get myself up in the mornings. But even writing about this just produced a huge yawn. Bad Frances.

This morning I weighed in at 140. I am really hoping to see some significant drop soon due to the reduction in calorie intake and the effects of an up week (23 miles).

Also, is someone reading this? I think I see more visits than I've logged on my own. If that's the case, would you mind writing a comment just so I know who you are?

That's all for now!

Week 4

After a lackluster week, due to illness, we are on our way to s new big week.

Last week I didn't run until Thursday, and only got 4 miles in. I have the feeling I did something more, and that I even started a blog post on it that I decided to save, but it is gone now. So Saturday was a bit low key, but Sunday I got my 6 miles in and walked another mile or so. Same today.

I haven't been keeping track of my food intake, although it has been pretty good. The quantity of beer ingested last week, however took almost all my good work. Putting me at 141 this morning. I haven't seen below 138 in a long, long time. Soooo this week: No booze. None. There are a few beers in my fridge, but beer doesn't go bad.

About Sunday's run. It wasn't too bad. It was rather hot by the time I got out (due to beer) and I was feeling a bit shaky (due to beer). I'll be interested to see how Wednesday's 6 mile pace run goes. Very interested.

Week Three

This week, I'm adding some extra information to each post. This should help me drop some weight by monitoring what it is and what I'm eating.

But first, to finish last week. Yesterday I took it pretty slow, aside from vacuuming the house, I just basically ate. Part of the reason I'm going to start keeping tabs on that. I think the 9 miler really did take it out of me.

Now, for this week.
Monday 7/23 should be a rest day, but judging from my lack of activity yesterday, did 20 mins. elliptical, 20 stationary bike, 400 sit ups, and 100 push ups (writing this on Wednesday, my abs are still a bit sore!)

This morning I weight 142 lbs. I believe on Friday I clocked at 139 lbs. I suspect this is part water weight, part the extra eating I did.

For breakfast I had a bowl of TJ high fiber cereal with skim milk. 180 calories and 1.5 grams of fat.

Lunch was a walk and a chop't salad which, checking it out on their website was a whopping 480 calories and 21.5 grams of fat (only two of them saturated fat). I'm not sure how to feel about this. Most of the calories are from the dressing, which in turn means that they are from olive oil... All the same I'm going to stick to their 'spa' dressings from now on.

Dinner was a can of low fat beef chilli from TJs with reduced fat string cheese and three tortillas. Also a few chips and guacamole. I'm already bored of keeping tabs on calories and fat, but I can assume that this was in the vicinity of 400 calories and 7 gr. of fat.

This is the last time I try to guess at nutritional content, from now on, I'll just try to eat healthy, but I will keep writing down what I eat.

Tuesday 7/24
I was sick, so I could not run.

For lunch I ate a ham and cheese sandwich with roasted red peppers and pepperocini. Dinner was a bowl of cereal.

Today is Wednesday, and I am not sure if I will run or not. I should, to not get too far behind after such a promising start, but then... what if I make it worse? I have half the day to make up my mind, as I did quite a bit of sleeping yesterday.

First Long Run

Mind you, it should not be. This should be the second. It was 9 miles and it exhausted me so very much! It should not have been that hard. This is just another sign that I am seriously out of shape. I'm glad I took the training down to the Novice 2. I'm sure I'll get much better. I am serious about sticking to the schedule strictly, unless there is a good reason not to. No more, "I just don't feel like it." Also, Fridays are going to be low wine days. Finally, starting on Monday, I am also going to keep a record on this blog on my weight (which is too high) and what I am eating.

I have to say, I was proud of myself for doing my run. It is a good start. The week was perfect!

Change in Plans

The last two training seasons, I've noticed at some point or another that I can't put up with the Intermediate 1 schedule. This year, I am once again walking into training in pretty bad shape. I did notice last weekend that getting the 8 miles on Sunday was not possible.

All this is to say that from now on, I'm switching down to Novice 2. It basically takes away the Saturday semi-long run and adds one extra day of rest. It is possible that I will cross on Sunday AND Monday (the new rest day), thereby helping with the weight lifting problem. As I go on, if I feel I'm getting stronger and doing well, I might jump back up to Intermediate 1, but from now on, I will step it down a notch.

Treadmills are BORING!

Thursday 7/19 - I again chose sleep over a nice outdoor run this morning (shame on me). So I put in 3 miles on the treadmill at a pace of 11:34 or so. I then did 300 sit-ups and about 70 push ups. I need to step up my weight training a bit.

Moving Right Along

Wednesday 7/18 - I didn't get up in the morning like I was supposed to, so I was reduced to running on the treadmill in the office during my lunch time. It is too hot to go outside, close to 100 F. I ran 5 miles at a more or less reasonable pace 11:21, which is about what I want to shoot for the marathon. As much as I dislike treadmill running, it can be helpful when trying to get a pace going.

Into Week Two

I had some tourble with the weeks leading up to training.  The first week (July 9-15)didn't go quite as planned:

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were fine.  Cross, 3 miles (+strength training), 5 miles.  Thursday I skipped due to a dinner engagement, thinking I'd run the 3 on Friday.  Friday my stomach had the runs, due to the dinner.  Saturday I had a nice 5 miler, but Sunday, the 8 miler did not happen.  Mostly out of lack of organization.  Got up too late and didn't get another chance until the evening, when there was a bit of a thunderstorm.  I decided to let those 8 go and instead concentrate on this week.

This week is going fine so far.

Monday 7/16 - Although I did not get up early, I did walk/run on my treadmill for about 4.5 hours after I came home (cleaning people came for the first time ever!)
Tuesday 7/17 (today) - I got up early, ran 3 miles outside before the heat got a foot hold on the day (rather slow) and then did about half an hour or so of core work - 300 sit ups and 300 repeats with the rolling thingy (must find a name for it).

From now on, I'd like to try to update this a bit more often.  If not daily, then at least every other day.

Let's get back to it.

In the time between that last post and now, I've run two more marathons.  All in all, 4 MCMs.  This year, it is Richmond, which is much hillier.  Also, I'm totally out of shape.  With any luck, keeping this blog updated will lead to a better training plan.  Training officially begins the week of July 9th and ends on November 10th, the day of the marathon.

Today I'm at around 138 flabby lbs, which is at least 20 lbs too heavy compared to my lean version on my first marathon in 2008 when I believe I was at 115 with a goodly amount of musculature.

I've been running an average of 20 miles or less a week for the past few of months, with some exceptions.  The first week of training has 24 miles in it. 

Today there will be no run, as I don't feel very steady on my feet due to a bit of vertigo that wants to hit me.  Starting tomorrow, I'm going back to a normal schedule which should seamlessly lead to that first cross train of Monday July 9th.

Must keep up!

This is for my own benefit.
Marathon is over. I hurt my foot rather badly around mile 13, and by 17 I was in serious pain. This was after many stops to massage foot. I did finish, but angry and at 6:13 and some. But I did finish.
Since then, I've been recovering well.
Monday - Wednesday I rested. I mean rested. Didn't leave the couch, much less my house. Slept as much as I could and ate well.
Thursday I went for a short @ 2 mile run. Followed by a long walk around Georgetown
Friday I took most of the day slow. All the activity the day before did have a toll on me. But I did do the static bike for about 2.5 miles and lifted some weights.
Saturday I went with my parents to Great Falls National park, and although there weren't many easy running trails and I didn't have a watch, I must have run around 2 miles again. Beautiful spot with great views!
Today, Sunday I went for my first real run. I went about 1:20 or so. I took it slow and stopped to walk twice. I suppose I ran somewhere between 6.5-7 miles.
I feel rather sore, but my foot has been perfectly fine since the day after the marathon. Thanks to an ice bath, elevation, and a nice rub. Figures!

So far, this week

Monday I crossed trained rather lightly. I did a stationary bike for about 20 minutes and lifted some weights with my upper body only and some sit ups. I wanted to give my body, mainly my legs, time to recoup. My foot was quite sore as was my left leg where it joins the hip by the butt area.
Yesterday, I just could not get going for some reason, so I ended up talking the day off. I'll just run through the week, skipping Friday's rest and it will all balance out.
I realized that a big part of why I hadn't been feeling my best is that I've been forgetting my medicine for at least 3 days. So today I took it and went out for a bit of an unpleasant 5 miler (my mood was still awful, but I got it done). By the time I got back home, my mood was improving, so I went to lift some weights with my entire body this time. It helped, because I could see my muscles defining themselves both on my legs and my arms.
Tomorrow I have a busier day than I'm used to, so I have to get the run in in the morning. This means, I have to be out no later than 8 am. It is only 6 miles, so I should be able to handle it without too much trouble.

20 miler

I spent a few moments going over what I did write about last year's training, and it looks like my 18 miler, although painful, was much better last year. I have no record of how I did on 20 milers. Today I finished the only 20 miler of my training in a bit under 4:30 hours, which seemed good until I noticed that last year's 18 miler took me less. But I chose to compare this training season to itself, as last year I didn't have the health issues I did this time around. Also, I finished the 20 miles in much less time (about 35-40 mins) faster that the 18. All in all, I feel ready. I am really in not much pain, aside from my foot.
GOOD TIMES!

The tough week begins

This week is peak week. Last week's long run was a 12 miler and the one before was 18 (had I been sticking to my Intermediate I plan it would have been 20 also, but it gave me time to recover).
Yesterday, I did what I said I would do, and had a nice easy 20 on a stationary bike and some weight training, plus some house cleaning (it helps if I make that part of working out :))
Today I had a 5 miler, which I forced my self to do in one go, i.e. no walking breaks. For crying out loud, I used to do 12 milers like that and at 10 miles an hour!
I still clocked over an 11 minute mile, but at least I kept the run under an hour.
I also had a promising job interview, we'll see what comes of that later.
Tomorrow is an 8 miler, which I intend to take a bit slow, but also try to do in one go. Breaks are fine, and necessary for strategy, but I need the endurance. I realize it is a bit late in the game, but I figure if I can ace this week, I"ll be good.
I'm toying with the idea of only tapering for two weeks as opposed to 3. I'll decide that next tuesday, see how I feel a couple of days after the 20.
This is a lot of work, but I still have fun!

Getting Back

I'm in the final month of marathon training and haven't kept a diary, and I keep hearing that it is useful, so here we go, starting with this ending weekend.
9/26 I did a 10K race just to see how I did and did terrible. I had a seriously slow time of 1:8:30. I felt horrid afterwards, but proceeded to run up hill for another mile 1/2 to fulfill my quota for the day. The weather was perfect, and I didn't feel in pain, just slow. I have been running rather slowly these days anyway, but I thought this would help. I did eat a very modest meal of artichokes, a little brown rice and a tomato salad, this might have been part of the problem. The other problem was there were few people cheering along, and that makes a difference.
9/27 12 mile long run. I did it mostly comfortably, did need to take quite a few walking breaks and it did take 2:45 minutes, which is again, way too long. I also noticed I started getting hungry around the last 4 miles. I have to remember always to eat something. My foot was sore and also my knee hurt (left leg).
9/28 Cross training day, but I still have the soreness. I'm planning to take it slow and also clean the house.
Good news, I'm finally losing weight! I've lost about 8 lbs since late August! Hope yesterday's pizza doesn't counteract too much.

It is time, again!

So, I decided to run a second marathon, which of course means, a second bout of training, which began this week. Monday was cross train day, so I went to the gym and used the stationary bike for a half hour or so, then lifted weights for about an hour.
Today was a 3 miler, and that's all I did, aside from walking up to the store twice (about .3 miles away) as I am trying to look after my visiting mother who clearly has food poisoning due to a 3 day old burrito, the poor thing. Good news is, she's been laying down and sleeping for the last couple of hours without bathroom trips. I take this to mean the nasty part is over.

Done!

I stopped writing this log/blog, but not training. I finished my first marathon in about 5 hours. Not great, but I finished. Now for the next one...

And now nothing...

Since that pseudo Herculean 18 miler, I've been sort of out of commission. First I was just too sore, then I got sick. So out of 3 five millers I only did two, and my cross training was nothing more serious than stretches. I've also been going light on weight training. I'm planing an 8 and 13 this weekend. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow morning though.
Next week is another push forward, as I will finish the week with a 20 miler. It is one of two in the training.

I ran a marathon over the weekend.

Well, sort of. In two days. I'm skipping taking about my midweek runs because I didn't do many, due to a sore ankle and an ugly cold. Yesterday it was raining rather hard, so I ended up running on my treadmill for 8 miles, quite at pace, and I have to say, it rather took it out of me, but although boring to stare out of the window instead of running outside, it was good to know for sure I was running at pace.
Today was an 18 miler, and I still need to finish them faster. Mostly I need stamina to finish if not very strong, at least still running. The run was really pretty and up until mile 15 or a little before, I was doing quite well, but then my ass and my hips started paining me quite a bit and I ended up walking for, I would say, about a mile and a half, perhaps two of the last bit, which put on the minutes. I finished in just under 4 hours, and I was really hoping to finish in 3:20 or so. But I'll get there, I hope. Oh, and I know gmaps pedometer says something like 11 miles, but that's because they are being weird with the there and back function, but trust me. I ran 9 miles each way.
Easy week next week, and I hope to find some time to be social too.

This is NOT easy

Last Thursday 28th I had a nice short run and Friday I rested. Saturday's 8 miler at pace was more than comfortable. I think I might have run closer to 9 miles (and I locked myself out of the house). I spent a good amount of time at the gym afterward, no problem. On Sunday I had a 17 miler to run, which I did, but it was really very hard. It took me almost 4 hours to complete because of all the walking breaks I took. I think I let myself be daunted by the distance and thought about it too much during the run. I plan to take a book with me (audio book, of course) for this week's long run (18 miles) which I will also do in a new place, Mt Vernon to Old Town.
On Monday Sept. 1st I did some walking and strength training. Yesterday I could not get out of bed. Today I had an 8 miler, but I decided to just run. As if I weren't training for anything. Just run. I ran a pretty fast, comfortable and enjoyable 10 miles. I plan to do something similar tomorrow and get some strength training in as well. I think I will take Friday off, but I'm not sure right now, I might do something easy. I need to build up for these long runs as well as rest.