Week 1 Results

I weighed in at 229.8 this morning...I figured that this is going to be a plateau period for me...I am still happy I lost weight...Goal is 225...

Been a great week of running...

So, I have officially scaled back to 3 days of running a week and it seems to be working out really well. Come Saturday, when the long runs happen, I am not overly tired and ready to rock out 12+ miles every week.

So, Tuesday night was my normal "No Boundaries" run with the Fleet Feet crew. We have been working our intervals up every week with the hope of being able to run a high interval at the Race for the Cure here in a few weeks. Currently we are running 4:1's which I can handle on the shorter miles...currently we are running for 60 minutes...the other night, we made it 4.5 miles. We have 2 more nights of this particular workout before the race, so I think we should be around 5.5 before we are done...

Thursday night I was thinking of running with a local group here in Spring Hill, my schedule did not really work out to meet them at 6 at the Hacienda, but I will make it work for next week. This week I decided to just run a quick 3, an out and back from the house, so that I could get back and have dinner ready for when Karen and Bella got back from their girl scouts/swimming lessons/karen's class...it all worked out. I had a great run and only had to cook partially in the rain.

We run 12 tomorrow...a 'recovery' run...I will let you know how it goes!

Quick Update and Day One Weigh In

Some information from over the weekend:

1. We ran 14.5 miles on Saturday...it was an awesome run...
2. Sunday is swim day...got my 500 meters in...I am really starting to enjoy this workout...

Also, today officially starts the game again...Todays weigh-in: 231.6. I am looking to lose about another 5-7 lbs during this round...

Will keep you posted.

What a great week....

1. It is an off week on the diet...I mean, the diet has been pretty easy, but it is always cool to be able to eat an extra grape or have a little snack other than the healthy stuff here and there.

2. Marathon Training Started!!!! We did our first 12 miles on Saturday! It was tough, but we made it through! We did 2 times around the "loop" in downtown Brentwood. It was hilly at times, but nothing we were not prepared for. Now, what I was not prepared for is the stomach issues that I started having around mile 10...I need to go back to peanut butter and jellies on long run days. Something that I know that I can digest and not have to poop out while I am out on the course...

3. I did my first "double dip" workout on Tuesday night. Our Marathon training calls for a long run on Saturday and then 2 'shorter' runs during the week. Most weeks I will be doing between 5 - 8 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Since I already do my No Boundaries training (5k training for the Race for the Cure), I decided I would get there an hour early and then run 3-4 before my 3-4 that we do with the NOBO group. Both runs went well...the first one was HR while the second one was straight time intervals with the rest of the group. This week was 3.5:1, I ran strong and finished even stronger...

4. The best news of the week? Well, Karen and I are not running alone in Las Vegas in December! My Brother Ryan, who just started running relatively recently decided to take the plunge and run the half with us...Not only that! Mom is making the trip too! It should be TONZ of fun...

"Final" Weigh In

234.2

So, during this last month, I lost 13.8 pounds...I lost 2 inches around my waist and went from an xxl shirt to an xl...good progress so far...

Marathon Training Eve

So, we "officially" start marathon training in the morning with a 12.05 mile run from the Fleet Feet store in Brentwood. I am a little nervous, but also very excited. There are no major expectations for the full marathon except to have fun...since it will be at Disney. The good news is that I will be putting in the miles to be totally ready for the Vegas run in December...

After tomorrows run, we will see how many training runs I will be doing during the week. It is definitely going to be at least 2, but no more than 3...we will see.

More info tomorrow...

Franklin Classic

It was an early start for me, I woke up around 5:45 this morning to go through my normal morning routine. Had to have breakfast, had to take a quick shower to wake myself up. Had about 2 sips of coffee...then by 6:30 I was on my way in to downtown Franklin for the race. The 5k started at 7:00 AM while the 10k started at 7:30 AM, I had plenty of time. I found a nice spot on top of the parking deck and made my way down to the square to see what it was like. There was a ton of folks, at the time, mostly 5k-ers trying to get their chips on their shoes and get down to the starting line...



I walked around for a bit, took a few pictures...here is the end of the 5k-ers starting.



I also walked down to the finish line and took a few pictures there...



After that, I had to take a picture of the Fleet Feet tent...I seriously love these people...they are totally supportive and really care about what we do. Of course, they were mostly overly concerned where Mom was (LA, visiting Ryan)...



Anyway, I put my camera away and spent about 20 minutes stretching out...ate a banana...then went over to my corral...10 minutes and above. I can handle that. I started out kind of shaky...not sure why, but I gather it was nerves. This was the first time I had raced without Mom or Karen. Once I got in my rhythm, I was good to go. The first 2 miles were fairly flat and the weather was awesome...had to be just below 70...I zoomed through the first few miles at about a 12 minute pace. For some reason, I thought I could keep that up for the whole thing...which was wrong because just after mile 2, the hills started. Nothing terrible, just not flat...the rolling hills went from about mile 2 - 4.5...I adjusted well and ran most of it...

I did not pay too much attention to intervals, I set my watch for 4:2, but probably only run/walked 3 full intervals...instead of the run/walk for 4:2, I was more around a 5:1 or 5.5:.5...by the time I hit mile 5, I realized I had not broken an hour yet. It was around 58 minutes...I was on a walk break at the time, well not anymore. At that point, I had 24 minutes to run 1 mile to get my PR. This was exactly what I wanted...and I still had enough energy in the tank to really get rolling in the final sprint. I made it down to Main Street and from about 5.7, I could see the finish line. For the last half mile, I put everything I had out there...running at an 8 minute mile pace, dipping into 7 minute range (which I have never done, I do not think)...I finished strong at 1:10:19...my PR by 12 minuted. Another good race. Of course, I still think it is the headband...



I got it at the Peachtree, where this pic was taken...I wore it for 2 races after that one and PR'ed at both...We will see what happens at the Race for the Cure next month...

Weigh In...Last week of the diet...238.0

This morning, I weighed in at 238.0...which is great...my goal was 235 for the 4 week period, so I am getting pretty close. We have to power through this week, then we have a "week off"...Now, what I plan on doing is eating as I have been during the day, but at night, if I feel like have mashed potatoes or mac n cheese, I will do it. After the week is up, we make the next push to lost about 10 more pounds. I would LOVE to be around 220 - 225 by the time we are running in Las Vegas...

Franklin Classic 10k Pre-show

So, I signed up for the 10k yesterday and immediately felt that it was a mistake. Do I really need to run this? It's only a 10k.

Well, that passed, I am back into competition mode. 1 Hour 22 minutes is the time to beat. I think I can do it. The debate right now is should I run heart rate OR 4:2 intervals? I think with 4:2 intervals I should be able to beat the time pretty easily...heart rate, not sure...

I have my bib pinned to my shirt, clothes out, ready to rock...I decided to wear my Fleet Feet colors since they are a major sponsor of the race...



The review will come tomorrow, I will be carrying my camera, so I will try to take some good pictures...

Also, this week is the "last week" of the game diet...so far, great results. I am going to make a big push this week to finish under 235. We will take one week off, then go on another 1 month push before the holidays and the winter races. My goal is to be sub 225 before the Las Vegas race on December 6.

Great Runs this Week...

So, after Monday's great lunchtime run, my next scheduled run was Tuesday night for my normal "No Boundaries" run. It is a timed run, 50 minutes, with a 5 minute run at the beginning and 5 minutes at the end of just walking. The trick is they change the time intervals every week, so you progressively are running further every time you go out. Mom and I are still working on our heart rate training, so we have been ignoring the intervals. I find my heart rate spikes a lot more on NOBO nights. I think it is because I have to go a lot slower than most of them and it irritates me because I know I am just as fast if not faster than 75 % of the people out there. My endurance is better too. Anyhow, I stuck with it Tuesday night until about mile 3.3...then I ran at a pretty fast pace for me (Sub 11 minute miles) for the rest of the run until. Finished about 4 miles in 56 minutes. Not too shabby.

Thursday, I decided to run at the greenway across from the office. I LOVE the River Park at Concord, but it does take 15 minutes to get there. When I run during lunch, that pretty much holds me to 5k. I walked from the office until I was close to the greenway, about 3-4 minutes, then started running 3:2's...I figured I would knock out 3ish miles and be done. Well, it turns out that the greenway is small, but it is a nice little loop with a half mile out and back across the street from it. I ran the loop twice and the out and back twice and found that with the walk to and from the greenway, it put me around 4.4 miles...I ran a little extra and broke 5 miles in just over an hour. Very Nice...great route. Will probably use it for my lunchtime runs from here out...

That leaves us until this morning...I had planned to do 5 or 6...but Bella had a sleepover last night and the children were not very agreeable as far as when they needed to go to bed. LSS, it was about 2:00 AM before we got to sleep...I got out on the road around 7:30ish...ran a quick 5k, then came back. Karen was not up yet, but she was going to be soon and I did not want her to be alone for too long. Like I said, it was a long night. I do not foreshadow any Bella sleepovers any time soon. Karen said, at least until next summer...

I got SOME miles in and that is what counts. I am going to the Y today to sign up for the Franklin 10K, that should be fun...then the our big fall training push starts next weekend. Starting with 12 miles from the Fleet Feet Store. We are technically training for the Disney Full Marathon, although we are going to be running the Las Vegas Half before then...when we run Disney, we are running to finish, to enjoy the atmosphere...times do not matter...well, they do not right now. We will see what happens once the winter comes along...

Will blog again Monday afternoon to let you know what happens at the race...