So January 20th was my first race of the year, and my 3rd half marathon since I started running. It was the 2nd annual Tinkerbell Half Marathon at Disneyland, and my second time running this race. This was my first time running as part of a team, consisting of myself and my wife Lara. This was Lara's first half marathon.
The course was different this year compared to last year. More time spent in the parks at the beginning meant that we didn't hit the streets of Anaheim for any length of time until after around mile 6 as opposed to last year when we left Downtown Disney about mile 4. This was a change I was in favor of, it helped the early miles go by quicker. One thing I wasn't in favor of however was that the latter portions of the race were a lot lighter on both crowds and on course entertainment than I recall them having been for the Tinkerbell last year or for the Disneyland Half Labor Day weekend. There was still some and I tried to go out of my way to thank them for being there as it was much appreciated, but they were fewer and further between which made those later miles seem just that little bit longer than they might have otherwise.
This distance, while nothing to scoff at, didn't really impact me that much, it was Lara who was having the experience. I regretfully admit that I was terrible at keeping on pace for her, which is why she had her pace in her ear from Runkeeper during the race, and may have caused her to go out a little faster than she might have otherwise. I also was a bit overzealous in my running and got ahead of her by a few paces more often than I care to admit. But I like to think I was there for her when she needed me throughout the day. She seemed to have a fairly easy time of it until mile 8 or 9 when things started to slow down and eventually included a little bit of walking.
When all was said and done we finished together, in true Gagnam Style, with a time of 3:12:31 upright and with a smile on our faces. (I was promised 10 minutes off my time for that dance for the record) When I finished I knew it was only another few short weeks before my marathon. When Lara finished she'd done something she didn't think she could as recently as a few days before the race. It's a good reminder to me why I run, because running, like any kind of fitness, lets you continually do the impossible. With some dedication and training you can do things you never though possible and help others do the same. You can see that pure joy in someones face as they transcend their limits and do what they thought they never could.
Sure when all is said and done there may be some soreness in the feet, knees, hips, back, whatever. What's more important though is whether you've grown as an individual for having done the experience. Pain will go away, but the knowledge you are more than you once were will stick with you. Once that pain is gone suddenly you forget your promises to never do this again and find yourself signed up for another race in a few months time. Or maybe that is just us. :)
Go out there and be the you you want to be.
Showing posts with label Running. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Running. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Growth and Rebirth
Been quite a while since I've posted anything in this space. Had some thoughts on the run this weekend that it might be time to change that a little.
So Sunday morning started as my Sundays often do with a run. This Sunday saw me, again as I often do, climbing the hill north of the apartment which has Talliesin West, fancy house made by Frank Lloyd Wright. As I was running up and down the hill in the morning air I had some thoughts. I am not the man I once was, nor am I the man I thought I would be. I'm better.
Years ago I participated in a charity walk up South Mountain for cancer research, a noble cause and something I'm glad I did. Someone affiliated with our group ran up the mountain that day and I remember saying to him after the fact, by way of congratulation, "I could never do that". For the longest time I thought that was true. That there were some things that I just wasn't able to do because that's not who I was. I'm happy to say that I've managed to prove me wrong. I can do that. While I've not done that specific event or run I've done that. I've run a half marathon, two of them even, I managed to just run 14 miles on Sunday because I could (and I almost certainly could have gone further had I bothered to bring any water). I've done things I literally used to think I'd never be able to do. I'm a better me than I used to think was possible.
I've realized through my life experiences that many of the limits that I've taken without question in my life were self imposed. Things I never thought I'd do, foods I didn't like, things that didn't interest me. Many of them were only foreign to me because I'd either decided I wanted them to be or just decided that's the way things where. It's only when I've begun to question those notions of what my limits are, what things I've never tried might be fun or tasty or possible, that I've been able to find my way past my assumptions into unexplored and amazing territory.
While up on the mountain as it were I was struck with some inspiration. Not just about the running, which I do because I love it regardless of how beneficial it may or may not be to my overall health and fitness, but also about some goals and some plans for achieving them regarding my general training. Firstly I came back reinvigorated with a desire to work on gymnastics/bodyweight skills as a way of improving not only my strength but my body awareness and my flexibility. As a result, and most likely with some help from the wonderful nerds over at NerdFitness I'm gonna be putting together a new training plan, and you all know how much I love designing training plans. So far I'm thinking 2 parts pushing, 2 parts pulling, and 1-2 parts legs done about 3 times a week with the other days being filled with some skill work and some core work. That plus my running should help give me a decent base of fitness to enable me to accomplish most things that get in my way.
So with a general format for a training plan in mind what the hell are my long term goals? Well thanks for asking! Firstly a running goal, I'm gonna finish a marathon, and beyond that I'd really like to try and run a sub-3:00 marathon at some point. That's a really long term goal though so for now I'm gonna set my goal as finish and my not-goal as do it under 4:30. Really that's my only specific running goal and I'm ok with that for now. Eventually it'll probably expand to include a HM PR shooting for 1:55 or something but that won't be happening for a while yet.
That leaves me with some strength goals next. I'd really like to be able to do a muscle-up for a couple reasons. First it's a really impressive looking skill and being able to do one is therefore pretty sweet. Secondly, and a little more helpfully, it would actually come in handy for me at work from time to time to be able to grab a platform edge over my head and be able to lift myself up onto it. It's also a skillset that should transfer to rock climbing which is something I'd like to get into doing more often because it's always been fun when I've done it in the past. Second strength skill I'd like to master is the pistol squat and it's close cousin the weighted pistol. I'm already making some really great progress on this front and should hopefully be there within the fairly near future. The increased leg strength seems already to have helped my running slightly and I'm hoping that the practice will help further in injury proofing my body if not in increasing my speed or endurance. The third strength related skillset I'd like to master is back related. I'd like to be able to go from a standing position into a bridge and back to standing (also from the bridge into a handstand would be nice but that's a separate goal path). Again I'm making some pretty good progress already just need to focus in a bit on it. My work on this one over the past months seems already to have helped with some back pain I was having and not unlike the muscle-up this skill is a neat party trick. When people see me press up into a bridge from the floor it's pretty impressive so I'd imagine it's only more so to be able to get there from a standing position. Being a cool-looking skill is a good reason to make something a goal right?
So there's a brief list of goals for the next little while and some ideas about how my training might look. It's not completed nor is it a perfect plan but it's something and it's something I like and that I can work toward, and more importantly inform my training. So there you have it, a revelation from the mountain top about the path that has led me to be the me that I am, and which will lead that me to be the me I can become.
Until next time, be the you you want to be especially if it's a you you never thought possible.
So Sunday morning started as my Sundays often do with a run. This Sunday saw me, again as I often do, climbing the hill north of the apartment which has Talliesin West, fancy house made by Frank Lloyd Wright. As I was running up and down the hill in the morning air I had some thoughts. I am not the man I once was, nor am I the man I thought I would be. I'm better.
Years ago I participated in a charity walk up South Mountain for cancer research, a noble cause and something I'm glad I did. Someone affiliated with our group ran up the mountain that day and I remember saying to him after the fact, by way of congratulation, "I could never do that". For the longest time I thought that was true. That there were some things that I just wasn't able to do because that's not who I was. I'm happy to say that I've managed to prove me wrong. I can do that. While I've not done that specific event or run I've done that. I've run a half marathon, two of them even, I managed to just run 14 miles on Sunday because I could (and I almost certainly could have gone further had I bothered to bring any water). I've done things I literally used to think I'd never be able to do. I'm a better me than I used to think was possible.
I've realized through my life experiences that many of the limits that I've taken without question in my life were self imposed. Things I never thought I'd do, foods I didn't like, things that didn't interest me. Many of them were only foreign to me because I'd either decided I wanted them to be or just decided that's the way things where. It's only when I've begun to question those notions of what my limits are, what things I've never tried might be fun or tasty or possible, that I've been able to find my way past my assumptions into unexplored and amazing territory.
While up on the mountain as it were I was struck with some inspiration. Not just about the running, which I do because I love it regardless of how beneficial it may or may not be to my overall health and fitness, but also about some goals and some plans for achieving them regarding my general training. Firstly I came back reinvigorated with a desire to work on gymnastics/bodyweight skills as a way of improving not only my strength but my body awareness and my flexibility. As a result, and most likely with some help from the wonderful nerds over at NerdFitness I'm gonna be putting together a new training plan, and you all know how much I love designing training plans. So far I'm thinking 2 parts pushing, 2 parts pulling, and 1-2 parts legs done about 3 times a week with the other days being filled with some skill work and some core work. That plus my running should help give me a decent base of fitness to enable me to accomplish most things that get in my way.
So with a general format for a training plan in mind what the hell are my long term goals? Well thanks for asking! Firstly a running goal, I'm gonna finish a marathon, and beyond that I'd really like to try and run a sub-3:00 marathon at some point. That's a really long term goal though so for now I'm gonna set my goal as finish and my not-goal as do it under 4:30. Really that's my only specific running goal and I'm ok with that for now. Eventually it'll probably expand to include a HM PR shooting for 1:55 or something but that won't be happening for a while yet.
That leaves me with some strength goals next. I'd really like to be able to do a muscle-up for a couple reasons. First it's a really impressive looking skill and being able to do one is therefore pretty sweet. Secondly, and a little more helpfully, it would actually come in handy for me at work from time to time to be able to grab a platform edge over my head and be able to lift myself up onto it. It's also a skillset that should transfer to rock climbing which is something I'd like to get into doing more often because it's always been fun when I've done it in the past. Second strength skill I'd like to master is the pistol squat and it's close cousin the weighted pistol. I'm already making some really great progress on this front and should hopefully be there within the fairly near future. The increased leg strength seems already to have helped my running slightly and I'm hoping that the practice will help further in injury proofing my body if not in increasing my speed or endurance. The third strength related skillset I'd like to master is back related. I'd like to be able to go from a standing position into a bridge and back to standing (also from the bridge into a handstand would be nice but that's a separate goal path). Again I'm making some pretty good progress already just need to focus in a bit on it. My work on this one over the past months seems already to have helped with some back pain I was having and not unlike the muscle-up this skill is a neat party trick. When people see me press up into a bridge from the floor it's pretty impressive so I'd imagine it's only more so to be able to get there from a standing position. Being a cool-looking skill is a good reason to make something a goal right?
So there's a brief list of goals for the next little while and some ideas about how my training might look. It's not completed nor is it a perfect plan but it's something and it's something I like and that I can work toward, and more importantly inform my training. So there you have it, a revelation from the mountain top about the path that has led me to be the me that I am, and which will lead that me to be the me I can become.
Until next time, be the you you want to be especially if it's a you you never thought possible.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Changes
So it's been another rather long gap between posts, and this one is where I announce some changes going on over here.
As some of you who follow me on twitter may have seen/heard I'm currently working through a Whole30 challenge. This limits my food choices to things which are health promoting and eliminates things which are not health promoting. That's a pretty big simplification but it's all the detail I feel like getting into here, if you want more feel free to look into the information available at the website of the challenge authors, Whole30.
As part of it I'm abstaining from weighing myself for the duration of the challenge, in using it as an opportunity to stop tracking most of the other things I have been tracking for so long, body fat, mood, calories, water, sweat rate while running, body temperature, heart rate while running, all of these things are going out the window for at least 30 days, possibly longer. The only things I'm still tracking are my daily mileage for walking and running, my workouts, my sleep, and my resting heart rate (and that's not really being logged so much as measured to protect against the mild chance of overtraining as I ramp things up toward my half marathon on Labor Day Weekend).
At the start of the challenge I was sitting at around 205 pounds and a not terrible body fat percentage, and there is good chance the challenge will improve that, but that's not the point. The point is about becoming healthier in my life, my relationship with food, and with my body. So far I'm doing alright with it and hoping to continue to do so. While I'm still highly interested in improving myself and hopefully providing a useful template for others I'm not sure what avenue that will take going forward and what it will look like. I'm going to continue working to improve myself and offer advice and well researched opinions to anyone who seeks them.
In the meantime, take steps today to be the version of you you wish was staring back at your from the mirror. If you want to lose weight, do something to make it happen, if you wish you were stronger, go lift something heavy, if you want to be faster, go run faster. If what you've been doing isn't working try something else and see if maybe it does. Take matters into your own hands and make sure that you do something today, right now, to make yourself into what you wish to be.
As some of you who follow me on twitter may have seen/heard I'm currently working through a Whole30 challenge. This limits my food choices to things which are health promoting and eliminates things which are not health promoting. That's a pretty big simplification but it's all the detail I feel like getting into here, if you want more feel free to look into the information available at the website of the challenge authors, Whole30.
As part of it I'm abstaining from weighing myself for the duration of the challenge, in using it as an opportunity to stop tracking most of the other things I have been tracking for so long, body fat, mood, calories, water, sweat rate while running, body temperature, heart rate while running, all of these things are going out the window for at least 30 days, possibly longer. The only things I'm still tracking are my daily mileage for walking and running, my workouts, my sleep, and my resting heart rate (and that's not really being logged so much as measured to protect against the mild chance of overtraining as I ramp things up toward my half marathon on Labor Day Weekend).
At the start of the challenge I was sitting at around 205 pounds and a not terrible body fat percentage, and there is good chance the challenge will improve that, but that's not the point. The point is about becoming healthier in my life, my relationship with food, and with my body. So far I'm doing alright with it and hoping to continue to do so. While I'm still highly interested in improving myself and hopefully providing a useful template for others I'm not sure what avenue that will take going forward and what it will look like. I'm going to continue working to improve myself and offer advice and well researched opinions to anyone who seeks them.
In the meantime, take steps today to be the version of you you wish was staring back at your from the mirror. If you want to lose weight, do something to make it happen, if you wish you were stronger, go lift something heavy, if you want to be faster, go run faster. If what you've been doing isn't working try something else and see if maybe it does. Take matters into your own hands and make sure that you do something today, right now, to make yourself into what you wish to be.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Life after Work
Been quite a while since my last post, life has been busy.
Got a promotion at work to a very different position which has me working more hours and at somewhat odd times in some cases. As such it put a rather large cramp in my usual workouts. As a result I ended up taking nearly a month off from running with only minimal strength training either. I've since gotten back on the wagon and started running again and increased my resistance work.
I've learned a couple important lessons from this incident though. Firstly I've learned that I need to relax a bit and not stress about getting out for a run every day. Any running is better than no running, and missing a day because work is just not lining up right or my body is just not in condition for it that morning doesn't need to be a big deal. One day off can be just that and not snowball into a week or more without any running at all. Starting back in slow, 10 minutes or so a day, and as often as I can manage, with a day off when scheduling or recovery demands, and building up the time from there. Hoping to get to a point where 30 minutes a day can be reasonable with more on weekends (up to as long as 2-2.5 hours perhaps). The real trouble is soon going to be weather, as things start warming up either I'm going to need to be out earlier or move inside.
I've also learned that with frequent application of gravity the body can become surprisingly stronger in a short amount of time. While I did not reach my goal of unassisted pistol squats, I did manage to improve my ability, and move closer to that goal, using doorway assisted squats. I've also started playing with some inverted work, headstands for now but eventually handstands are a goal. Also made good progress on my pushups and bridges as well. Leg raises and pull-ups have sort of stalled but I'm sure they will progress again shortly, if after a bit of tweaking to bust the plateau.
In terms of my diet of late I've been having some interesting opportunity to experiment on that front. My food choices still leave some room for improvement, but my timing has been changed up a bit. I've been finding myself unable to get much chance for a decent breakfast, so I decided to use my new schedule as an excuse to finally try some intermittent fasting. Instead of the normal 8-12 hours of not eating that comes from sleeping after dinner and before breakfast I've been not eating lunch until 1:30-3 which, given my usual habit of ending my feeding window around 9-11 in the evenings an average of 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating a day. So far I've not been having any issues with excess hunger or rapid weight loss so I'm not concerned with the ramifications at present. It'll be interesting to see how things progress over time as I refine my plan.
So there you have it, a summary of my last month or two. In the next interval I'm hoping to continue progressing with my cardio and my resistance. Here's hoping things keep going as well as they've been going the last week or so.
So what's the weight looking like. 203.6, up around 2 since last time. Overall, I'm not really bothered by that. A little weight fluctuation isn't abnormal for me, I'm still feeling and looking good. Anyway, until next time, keeping being the you you want to be.
Got a promotion at work to a very different position which has me working more hours and at somewhat odd times in some cases. As such it put a rather large cramp in my usual workouts. As a result I ended up taking nearly a month off from running with only minimal strength training either. I've since gotten back on the wagon and started running again and increased my resistance work.
I've learned a couple important lessons from this incident though. Firstly I've learned that I need to relax a bit and not stress about getting out for a run every day. Any running is better than no running, and missing a day because work is just not lining up right or my body is just not in condition for it that morning doesn't need to be a big deal. One day off can be just that and not snowball into a week or more without any running at all. Starting back in slow, 10 minutes or so a day, and as often as I can manage, with a day off when scheduling or recovery demands, and building up the time from there. Hoping to get to a point where 30 minutes a day can be reasonable with more on weekends (up to as long as 2-2.5 hours perhaps). The real trouble is soon going to be weather, as things start warming up either I'm going to need to be out earlier or move inside.
I've also learned that with frequent application of gravity the body can become surprisingly stronger in a short amount of time. While I did not reach my goal of unassisted pistol squats, I did manage to improve my ability, and move closer to that goal, using doorway assisted squats. I've also started playing with some inverted work, headstands for now but eventually handstands are a goal. Also made good progress on my pushups and bridges as well. Leg raises and pull-ups have sort of stalled but I'm sure they will progress again shortly, if after a bit of tweaking to bust the plateau.
In terms of my diet of late I've been having some interesting opportunity to experiment on that front. My food choices still leave some room for improvement, but my timing has been changed up a bit. I've been finding myself unable to get much chance for a decent breakfast, so I decided to use my new schedule as an excuse to finally try some intermittent fasting. Instead of the normal 8-12 hours of not eating that comes from sleeping after dinner and before breakfast I've been not eating lunch until 1:30-3 which, given my usual habit of ending my feeding window around 9-11 in the evenings an average of 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating a day. So far I've not been having any issues with excess hunger or rapid weight loss so I'm not concerned with the ramifications at present. It'll be interesting to see how things progress over time as I refine my plan.
So there you have it, a summary of my last month or two. In the next interval I'm hoping to continue progressing with my cardio and my resistance. Here's hoping things keep going as well as they've been going the last week or so.
So what's the weight looking like. 203.6, up around 2 since last time. Overall, I'm not really bothered by that. A little weight fluctuation isn't abnormal for me, I'm still feeling and looking good. Anyway, until next time, keeping being the you you want to be.
Monday, March 5, 2012
February Training Wrap-Up
Here it is a nice Monday in early March and time for a post I think. This time around a summary of how my training schedule has looked since the Tinkerbell Half just over a month ago.
So first let's do this by the numbers. February saw 89 miles of running logged, up from the 73 miles I logged in January. I ran every day in February for at a minimum of a mile and on most occasions at least 2 or 3. This month was the first half of my aerobic base building on this training cycle, consistent mileage at a slower pace every day. I feel like I'm better prepared for my mileage than I have been before and the second half of that base building this month should leave me in still better shape as I progress up to daily 5 mile runs by the end of the month.
Also this month I started to kick up my ancillary work by adding a warm-up and expanding my cool-down on my runs throughout the week. I've added in a Lunge Matrix (from Jason at Strength Running) before each run and will likely be expanding that to a couple of other warm-ups as time goes on. Adding more core work to my routine has helped strengthen my running if only in the subjective range. I've also been doing some work on increasing my turnover rate on my runs, another thing that seems to have met with success last month.
So where do I want to go from here? Well more running of course, but more importantly expanded ancillary strength work and further work on my turnover. I'm planning in the next month to expand my static gymnastics style work to help try and expand my exercise options to handstand work and planches, and continue working my l-sit and various other strength exercises. I've been making good progress lately and hope to continue it. Hoping by the end of the month that I'll be able to manage a pistol squat on each leg (just the one will be an improvement I'm happy with), and a successful frog stand at least (possibly further on my way toward inverted work). That and keeping my diet clean should keep me on track toward my long term goals.
So for those interested how's my weight doing? 201.3, down 2 from my last update. Doing alright on that front, just have to make sure to keep the progress in the right ways.
So first let's do this by the numbers. February saw 89 miles of running logged, up from the 73 miles I logged in January. I ran every day in February for at a minimum of a mile and on most occasions at least 2 or 3. This month was the first half of my aerobic base building on this training cycle, consistent mileage at a slower pace every day. I feel like I'm better prepared for my mileage than I have been before and the second half of that base building this month should leave me in still better shape as I progress up to daily 5 mile runs by the end of the month.
Also this month I started to kick up my ancillary work by adding a warm-up and expanding my cool-down on my runs throughout the week. I've added in a Lunge Matrix (from Jason at Strength Running) before each run and will likely be expanding that to a couple of other warm-ups as time goes on. Adding more core work to my routine has helped strengthen my running if only in the subjective range. I've also been doing some work on increasing my turnover rate on my runs, another thing that seems to have met with success last month.
So where do I want to go from here? Well more running of course, but more importantly expanded ancillary strength work and further work on my turnover. I'm planning in the next month to expand my static gymnastics style work to help try and expand my exercise options to handstand work and planches, and continue working my l-sit and various other strength exercises. I've been making good progress lately and hope to continue it. Hoping by the end of the month that I'll be able to manage a pistol squat on each leg (just the one will be an improvement I'm happy with), and a successful frog stand at least (possibly further on my way toward inverted work). That and keeping my diet clean should keep me on track toward my long term goals.
So for those interested how's my weight doing? 201.3, down 2 from my last update. Doing alright on that front, just have to make sure to keep the progress in the right ways.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Race Weekend Recap
Well it's been nearly a month since my last update and it's been a pretty busy month, so my apologies for the lack of updates. Today I am bringing you an update from my recent weekend trip to Disneyland for the inaugural Tinkerbell half marathon weekend. I've got some pictures, some fun commentary, and hopefully some stuff you'll find worth reading, and if not you won't know til you did anyway so I guess I still win. So without further delay, here we go.
Got up and loaded the car at around 4am on Friday and headed right on over to California. Stopped for breakfast in Quartzite, and did our best to pretend we didn't just get fruit when we hit the border, and then headed straight for the hotel. After checking in and dropping our stuff we went to the parks. Paid the race expo a visit to pick up my bib, shirt, and some inaugural race loot (toothpick holder anyone?) and then headed to the parks. We visited Bengal Barbecue for dinner,
and then popped over to DCA for a couple rides and some ElecTRONica fun. Finally turned in around closing time and went back to the hotel for the night. All told we did about 11 miles of walking over the course of the day.
Saturday we were at the parks from around 8 to 9, hit up all the best rides and stopped by ElecTRONica again before meeting up with Amanda to get some food and go back to the hotel and crash early in preparation for the race the next morning. Best advice for food that I came away with for that day is that both the Hungry Bear restaurant in Critter Country Disneyland and the Lucky Fortune Cookery on Pacific Wharf in DCA are quite excellent. The first provided sweet potato fries which were delicious, and the second had both edamame and stir fry with a choice of sauce, we tried the spicy korean this time out but I'm likely to go or the thai curry next time we visit. Did about 13 miles Saturday, though can't be perfectly sure as the data from my Fitbit never made it online, more on that later.
The next morning started early, about 4am to be exact. Got dressed and headed out to the starting corrals.
As I was placed into corral E due to my lack of a qualifying time and various other factors it was 24 minutes from the starting gun before I managed to get to the starting line.
And then the race was begun, at first with the density of the starting area I was stuck in my starting position and not able to move at anything close to a pace I was happy with, a moderate jog more than anything, but as the roads opened up a bit and people spread out enough I was able to get a bit more clear and my pace improved to something a little more comfortable. After the first couple miles we entered the park and were made to feel like beloved guests.
After passing the Disneyland Hotel and assembled Red Hatted Ladies we left the Resort property behind for the greater Anaheim area. Up from the park a few blocks to a nice spot to cross the freeway puts us at mile 6, which was when I noticed that I no longer had my Fitbit. Sadly it disappeared between the start of the race and this point. Still holding out some small hope it will get turned in but whatever, if it's gone then it's gone.
Lots of wonderful sites in Anaheim to see, and a number of school bands and cheer squads to help us keep our spirits up. Over down by the GardenWalk and that brings us to about my next photo at Mile 11:
Crossed back across the freeway to get to the side by the park again around here and headed back toward the parks for the run through DCA. We could see the Tower of Terror a while before we actually got to the park, but the suspense finally gave out and we dropped in for the final stretches of the race.
We entered the park around the Tower and then headed up the Hollywood Studios lot toward the construction of Buena Vista Street.
After passing through Condor Flats and around Grizzly River we hit the boardwalk briefly on our way to a Bug's Land. After that it was back into the backlots of DCA and around behind Monument Valley and Cars Land as we made our way around to the Simba Parking Lot and the finish line.
I finished the race having run the whole time, excepting water stations which slowed me down even if I wasn't drinking at that one, and my splits only improved over the course of the race. My final time was 2:10:17, a time I'm rather happy with for a debut half. Next time out I'm planning to break the 2 hour mark, perhaps a little better than that if I can manage it. After a short recovery at the finish area with some much needed stretching, we went back to the hotel and I took a sorely needed shower. Went to the parks for the day and had plenty of time to ride rides, enjoy some pizza and pasta at the DCA Boardwalk, and participate in a twitter fueled scavenger hunt in the parks that was a lot of fun, though I think perhaps the race medal had started a thirst for more glittering gold.
It was a bit of a long day, I seem to recall we turned in around 9 or 10 after probably putting in 12 miles at the parks after the race, but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. I ran my first half in a time I'm not ashamed of, and I actually ran the whole thing. Taking a bit of rest to reset things and get myself back into the right place to start up my next training cycle and see what I can do with what I've learned. And for those of you interested, yes I did the whole race in my Vibrams and all 3 days at the park as well, though Sunday post-race was done in my Classics and not my Komodo Sports as those were in dire need of a wash.
Got up and loaded the car at around 4am on Friday and headed right on over to California. Stopped for breakfast in Quartzite, and did our best to pretend we didn't just get fruit when we hit the border, and then headed straight for the hotel. After checking in and dropping our stuff we went to the parks. Paid the race expo a visit to pick up my bib, shirt, and some inaugural race loot (toothpick holder anyone?) and then headed to the parks. We visited Bengal Barbecue for dinner,
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| Lara and I at Bengal Barbecue |
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| The portal opening at ElecTRONica |
The next morning started early, about 4am to be exact. Got dressed and headed out to the starting corrals.
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| Me in the starting corral. |
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| Talking heads at the start line, with Minnie and Daisy |
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| See the pun up there? It's only the first Disney pun in this post. |
The course went through the backlot before it got into the public areas of the park around where the above shot was taken, then went around the matterhorn and past pixie hollow and through Tomorrowland past the Innoventions carrousel back to the backlot. We emerged near the gates to Main Street USA and went up toward the partners statue and the castle.
From there the route went up through Fantasyland, where the Lost Boys had taken over King Arthurs Carrousel supervised by Captain Hook of all people, and then around the back of Big Thunder Mountain, perhaps the wildest curve all race. From there it was around the Rivers of America and through New Orleans Square up toward the Haunted Mansion. The cadaverous pallor of some of the runners betrayed an aura of foreboding, almost as though they were apprehensive about the rest of the race.
A quick jaunt through Critter Country and we paid another visit to the backlot before leaving the park for Downtown Disney and one of the first sets of spectators that weren't the very friendly Disney Cast Members. Downtown was also were I ran past the cheering Lara and Amanda who snapped this picture.
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| Following the leaders through the castle |
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| Only ~900 male runners this year, but there's room for 1000. |
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| Keeping upbeat and smooth. |
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| Thinking of wonderful thoughts is cheaper than Red Bull |
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| Just keep running, just keep running... |
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| Haven't lost a guest since last time. |
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| Electrify the boys and girls |
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| You gotta turn with the curve |
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| Don't look into the eyes though, for your safety |
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| The odor from the other shoes was quite a bother |
Last but not least, my weight update. At the start of the race I was at 206.6, down 3 pounds from my last post and 76 from when I started tracking my weight a little over two years back. When I finished the race I was down to 205.4 after having taken in about 82oz of water between seeing the scale, and also that little matter of running 13 miles. So there you have it, a nice race update. Look for another blog update in the next couple weeks I'm tentatively calling the Disneyland Workout. Until then, be the you you want to be.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Words to live by for the new year
Well hello there anyone who's reading this and welcome to the new and, hopefully, improved format of my blog. I'm diverging from my previous mostly weekly updates further than ever before and decoupling these updates from my week count on my journey. The posts will still likely end with a week, a weight, and a change for the next little while but I'm going to see where things go.
So what will I be posting? Well hopefully it'll be training updates, life updates, and random inspirational things. I'm gonna try hard to get at least a post every two weeks but we'll have to see how things go as the new plan develops. So without further delay, here's the first post.
Citius, Altius, Fortius; it means Faster, Higher, Stronger. Not faster than anyone else, just faster. It's the Olympic motto, something strikingly similar to this introduction is what opens the film Without Limits (well worth watching for those that haven't), and it's a motto I hope to live by this year. It's about the constant quest to improve oneself. Faster than you were the last time, higher than you've managed go before, stronger than ever before. Applying this to my life is something I've been doing for a while, running faster, shooting higher in my goals, working to constantly be both physically and mentally stronger than I've ever been. It's a pattern I intend to continue through this year with gusto. I've got my first half marathon coming up at the end of this month and I'm confident that while I may not finish with an amazing time by objective standards but I'm determined to finish having run the whole way with head held high.
Two years ago when I started down this road I wouldn't have been able to finish a mile long run with anything close to a respectable time. Now, though I haven't done a full tilt mile for time, I'm confident I could finish it somewhere between 6-7 minute pace, possibly better. I can do 2 sets of 16 pushups with good form where I wouldn't have been able to complete even a single set of 5 before, a pull-up seems a reasonable activity instead of something laughable, the list really goes on and on.
This isn't something that just suddenly happened it is the evidence of a large body of research and experimentation to find what works for me. At first there was a lot of benefit to be had from simply restricting calories but eventually that won't really take you far due to hunger. You have to transition to not just eating a better amount but eating better. Quality food is not only better for you but I've found it fills you up better as well. I've also transitioned slowly away from processed foods as much as possible, another trend to continue in this new year, and am committing to cooking more at home. I'm down now to a weight around 210 from my peak at 283, and at a much more favorable body fat as well. I look better, I feel better, and I'm confident that there's room for even better results as time goes on.
Once I'm done with my race I'm gonna take a little time to recover from that and head right into the new training plan I've been working on. More emphasis on strength work than before, not only my convict conditioning program but adding in some gymnastics inspired work and some plyometric drills to help round out that portion of my training. My running may come with a slight decrease in mileage at first but an increase in my intensity. Sprints to help build cardio-pulmonary systems, strides to work on form, tempos for lactate threshold, and a long run to help keep up endurance capacity. Tying this all together should lead to a faster and stronger me with a higher amount of overall fitness than ever before (see what I did there?), and I look forward to seeing where that takes me. Until next time, be the you you want to be.
Week 102: 209.7, down .5 from my last post.
So what will I be posting? Well hopefully it'll be training updates, life updates, and random inspirational things. I'm gonna try hard to get at least a post every two weeks but we'll have to see how things go as the new plan develops. So without further delay, here's the first post.
Citius, Altius, Fortius; it means Faster, Higher, Stronger. Not faster than anyone else, just faster. It's the Olympic motto, something strikingly similar to this introduction is what opens the film Without Limits (well worth watching for those that haven't), and it's a motto I hope to live by this year. It's about the constant quest to improve oneself. Faster than you were the last time, higher than you've managed go before, stronger than ever before. Applying this to my life is something I've been doing for a while, running faster, shooting higher in my goals, working to constantly be both physically and mentally stronger than I've ever been. It's a pattern I intend to continue through this year with gusto. I've got my first half marathon coming up at the end of this month and I'm confident that while I may not finish with an amazing time by objective standards but I'm determined to finish having run the whole way with head held high.
Two years ago when I started down this road I wouldn't have been able to finish a mile long run with anything close to a respectable time. Now, though I haven't done a full tilt mile for time, I'm confident I could finish it somewhere between 6-7 minute pace, possibly better. I can do 2 sets of 16 pushups with good form where I wouldn't have been able to complete even a single set of 5 before, a pull-up seems a reasonable activity instead of something laughable, the list really goes on and on.
This isn't something that just suddenly happened it is the evidence of a large body of research and experimentation to find what works for me. At first there was a lot of benefit to be had from simply restricting calories but eventually that won't really take you far due to hunger. You have to transition to not just eating a better amount but eating better. Quality food is not only better for you but I've found it fills you up better as well. I've also transitioned slowly away from processed foods as much as possible, another trend to continue in this new year, and am committing to cooking more at home. I'm down now to a weight around 210 from my peak at 283, and at a much more favorable body fat as well. I look better, I feel better, and I'm confident that there's room for even better results as time goes on.
Once I'm done with my race I'm gonna take a little time to recover from that and head right into the new training plan I've been working on. More emphasis on strength work than before, not only my convict conditioning program but adding in some gymnastics inspired work and some plyometric drills to help round out that portion of my training. My running may come with a slight decrease in mileage at first but an increase in my intensity. Sprints to help build cardio-pulmonary systems, strides to work on form, tempos for lactate threshold, and a long run to help keep up endurance capacity. Tying this all together should lead to a faster and stronger me with a higher amount of overall fitness than ever before (see what I did there?), and I look forward to seeing where that takes me. Until next time, be the you you want to be.
Week 102: 209.7, down .5 from my last post.
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 98)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Got back into the resistance work this week and feel better for it. Also, despite missing a day and having to reduce mileage on another, I ran the furthest today that I've run in a couple months. Making good progress toward my goal for my half next month.
Not really a lot of change in life this week, workouts continue basically as planned, getting Lara into the spirit of exercise isn't easy but she's warming to it and will get there in her own time. Got a new pair of shoes to run through my rotation today. A pair of Vibram Komodo Sports. I'll put together a "review" when I have worn them a bit and have some useful things to say. Sometimes I feel like I'm running out of things to say in these posts, and then other times I have plenty to say, so I may start reducing the frequency of these posts to only happen when I have interesting things to say, we'll have to see how that goes.
So what does the scale have to say about my week? 210, same as last week. So not too bad. Hopefully next week will see it go back down a bit.Until then, keep being the you you want to be.
Got back into the resistance work this week and feel better for it. Also, despite missing a day and having to reduce mileage on another, I ran the furthest today that I've run in a couple months. Making good progress toward my goal for my half next month.
Not really a lot of change in life this week, workouts continue basically as planned, getting Lara into the spirit of exercise isn't easy but she's warming to it and will get there in her own time. Got a new pair of shoes to run through my rotation today. A pair of Vibram Komodo Sports. I'll put together a "review" when I have worn them a bit and have some useful things to say. Sometimes I feel like I'm running out of things to say in these posts, and then other times I have plenty to say, so I may start reducing the frequency of these posts to only happen when I have interesting things to say, we'll have to see how that goes.
So what does the scale have to say about my week? 210, same as last week. So not too bad. Hopefully next week will see it go back down a bit.Until then, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 97)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Back into the swing of things with the running this week. If I can put up with a sprint session this week then things will be nice and back to normal. Eating stayed pretty well in line with things I'd like despite Thanksgiving. Had some good time with family and friends this week.
So what about the future? Lara's going to be starting up on some more working out now than she had been doing previously, which is good for her and means I can start having a local workout buddy for some of my workouts now. Start her off easy and then see where life takes us. Also going to be trying to further clean up our diets from what they are now by doing the majority of our food production at home. We've been doing better with that recently but there's still plenty of room for improvement over the longer scale. Liking where the future is heading in so many areas of our lives these days.
So what about my numbers? 210 this week. Same as last week. Holding steady is good but I'd like to be down a bit from where I am right now. We'll just have to see what happens as the future unfolds. Until next week, keeping striving to be the you you want to be.
Back into the swing of things with the running this week. If I can put up with a sprint session this week then things will be nice and back to normal. Eating stayed pretty well in line with things I'd like despite Thanksgiving. Had some good time with family and friends this week.
So what about the future? Lara's going to be starting up on some more working out now than she had been doing previously, which is good for her and means I can start having a local workout buddy for some of my workouts now. Start her off easy and then see where life takes us. Also going to be trying to further clean up our diets from what they are now by doing the majority of our food production at home. We've been doing better with that recently but there's still plenty of room for improvement over the longer scale. Liking where the future is heading in so many areas of our lives these days.
So what about my numbers? 210 this week. Same as last week. Holding steady is good but I'd like to be down a bit from where I am right now. We'll just have to see what happens as the future unfolds. Until next week, keeping striving to be the you you want to be.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 96)
Sunday once again and time for my weekly update.
Missed last weeks update, was busy with life and didn't get around to it. So this week here we are.
Finally back to running in my Vibrams after the toenail procedure. I'm definitely down a bit in terms of my overall fitness but I seem to be regaining it steadily. Hopefully within another week or two I should be back to full and working on increasing my fitness beyond it's recent peak. My sleep has been improving of late as well which is always a bonus. Hoping to increase the rate at which I'm complying with my planned resistance workouts by moving them from Monday and Friday to Sunday and Thursday, so that in coincides with as few other recurring events in my life as possible.
So what else have I been up to? Today it was cookery. Trying to find some replacement options for the smoothies we've been doing for breakfasts. Made up a batch of the Primal Energy Bars I've done a couple times before, playing around with things trying to find a good match. Also tried out two new recipes, some Primal sausage balls and some hash brown omelette "muffins". Both of them seem pretty decent so we'll have to see how things pan out. For the sweet tooth we whipped up something a bit odd, cookie stuffed brownies, chocolate chip cookies contained within fudge brownies. Those were indeed rather delicious.
So what does the scale have to say? 210, up a pound from last time. Gonna cut back a little and try to get that back down a bit. Bodyfat holding pretty steady. So until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Missed last weeks update, was busy with life and didn't get around to it. So this week here we are.
Finally back to running in my Vibrams after the toenail procedure. I'm definitely down a bit in terms of my overall fitness but I seem to be regaining it steadily. Hopefully within another week or two I should be back to full and working on increasing my fitness beyond it's recent peak. My sleep has been improving of late as well which is always a bonus. Hoping to increase the rate at which I'm complying with my planned resistance workouts by moving them from Monday and Friday to Sunday and Thursday, so that in coincides with as few other recurring events in my life as possible.
So what else have I been up to? Today it was cookery. Trying to find some replacement options for the smoothies we've been doing for breakfasts. Made up a batch of the Primal Energy Bars I've done a couple times before, playing around with things trying to find a good match. Also tried out two new recipes, some Primal sausage balls and some hash brown omelette "muffins". Both of them seem pretty decent so we'll have to see how things pan out. For the sweet tooth we whipped up something a bit odd, cookie stuffed brownies, chocolate chip cookies contained within fudge brownies. Those were indeed rather delicious.
So what does the scale have to say? 210, up a pound from last time. Gonna cut back a little and try to get that back down a bit. Bodyfat holding pretty steady. So until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Weekly Weigh-In (Week 94)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
For some reason it seems my update from last week didn't post. Nothing of real value missing though, mostly just a plan for recovery from the toenail repair I had done last week. Didn't quite stick to that plan but it was good to have had one. Wasn't able to do any real running last week, though I did get in some cycling and a couple walks instead. Hoping that by the middle of this week I'll be able to do some running in addition to some walking I plan to add to my routine. At least in part due to wanting to get into better condition for walking around the parks at Disneyland before and after my race. That and the walking is beneficial to my mental state I've found, in ways that are similar to if not the same as my running but some experimenting will help hammer that out.
Anyway, what's the numbers this week? Weight at 209, same as last week and the week before, BF down from previous two weeks, RHR up a little (but still only at around 50). Everything's going pretty well with my fitness, and that's just the way I want it going into the Fall. Until next time readers, keep being the you you want to be.
For some reason it seems my update from last week didn't post. Nothing of real value missing though, mostly just a plan for recovery from the toenail repair I had done last week. Didn't quite stick to that plan but it was good to have had one. Wasn't able to do any real running last week, though I did get in some cycling and a couple walks instead. Hoping that by the middle of this week I'll be able to do some running in addition to some walking I plan to add to my routine. At least in part due to wanting to get into better condition for walking around the parks at Disneyland before and after my race. That and the walking is beneficial to my mental state I've found, in ways that are similar to if not the same as my running but some experimenting will help hammer that out.
Anyway, what's the numbers this week? Weight at 209, same as last week and the week before, BF down from previous two weeks, RHR up a little (but still only at around 50). Everything's going pretty well with my fitness, and that's just the way I want it going into the Fall. Until next time readers, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 92)
Still Sunday, if only barely, and time for another update.
Good week on my feet this week. Logged the most miles I've yet logged in a week, crossed the threshold for most runs in a week, and most runs in a month, had my best average pace for a week, and just generally kept in good shape with my runs all throughout the week.
This week though I'm gonna talk about what I've been doing for resistance training. It's much reduced from what I was doing a month or two ago with the weights, but it's meshing rather well with my running and it's progressive so I can keep working at it until I manage to see the results I'm looking for or nothing happens.
So what is it? It's a progressive bodyweight program derived from the book Convict Conditioning. A strange name sure but it makes a lot of sense, in prison you don't have a lot of gym equipment to work with, and in many cases you get your body and your cell. Now I have no intention of going to prison but the kinds of lessons from people who have can help me with my own strength work in terms of keeping things simple and natural, and in terms of making sure that my workouts are not tied to any specific equipment or location.
The program consists of 6 basic movement progressions, pushups, pull-ups, squats, leg raises, bridging, and handstand pushups. Each of the 6 movements has 10 steps that go from complete beginner to things like 1 arm pushups, pull-ups, or handstand pushups, 1 legged squats, and hanging straight leg raises and stand-to-stand bridging. Each of the 10 steps has goals for beginner, intermediate and advancement ratings so the goals are always very clearly laid out. Right now I'm working on the pushup, pull-up, squat, and leg raise progressions, the bridging and handstand progressions are recommended against until you reach set levels of some of the other exercises and I'm going to work within that restriction for now to see what kind of results I get following the program as directed.
I'm not sure how this program is gonna work in the long run but so far it seems to be going rather well for me.
The other thing I've been trying out recently is trigger point therapy on my legs using a lacrosse ball. Essentially you just push the ball into areas of tightness in the muscles, ligaments, and fascia and activate the muscles. Doing so is supposed to help relieve the tension in the muscles and help loosen your joints and prevent injury. It's another situation where I don't yet have any proof of whether or not it doesn't what it is supposed to, but as with the resistance training, the best way to find out is to try it.
So what does the scale tell me whit sweet? 209, up a pound from last week. Bodyfat staying about the same. Al this is about what I expected, and I look forward to seeing where things go from here. Until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Good week on my feet this week. Logged the most miles I've yet logged in a week, crossed the threshold for most runs in a week, and most runs in a month, had my best average pace for a week, and just generally kept in good shape with my runs all throughout the week.
This week though I'm gonna talk about what I've been doing for resistance training. It's much reduced from what I was doing a month or two ago with the weights, but it's meshing rather well with my running and it's progressive so I can keep working at it until I manage to see the results I'm looking for or nothing happens.
So what is it? It's a progressive bodyweight program derived from the book Convict Conditioning. A strange name sure but it makes a lot of sense, in prison you don't have a lot of gym equipment to work with, and in many cases you get your body and your cell. Now I have no intention of going to prison but the kinds of lessons from people who have can help me with my own strength work in terms of keeping things simple and natural, and in terms of making sure that my workouts are not tied to any specific equipment or location.
The program consists of 6 basic movement progressions, pushups, pull-ups, squats, leg raises, bridging, and handstand pushups. Each of the 6 movements has 10 steps that go from complete beginner to things like 1 arm pushups, pull-ups, or handstand pushups, 1 legged squats, and hanging straight leg raises and stand-to-stand bridging. Each of the 10 steps has goals for beginner, intermediate and advancement ratings so the goals are always very clearly laid out. Right now I'm working on the pushup, pull-up, squat, and leg raise progressions, the bridging and handstand progressions are recommended against until you reach set levels of some of the other exercises and I'm going to work within that restriction for now to see what kind of results I get following the program as directed.
I'm not sure how this program is gonna work in the long run but so far it seems to be going rather well for me.
The other thing I've been trying out recently is trigger point therapy on my legs using a lacrosse ball. Essentially you just push the ball into areas of tightness in the muscles, ligaments, and fascia and activate the muscles. Doing so is supposed to help relieve the tension in the muscles and help loosen your joints and prevent injury. It's another situation where I don't yet have any proof of whether or not it doesn't what it is supposed to, but as with the resistance training, the best way to find out is to try it.
So what does the scale tell me whit sweet? 209, up a pound from last week. Bodyfat staying about the same. Al this is about what I expected, and I look forward to seeing where things go from here. Until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 91)
Another late update this week, sorry about that.
Increased the bar on my running yet again this week with increased paces, mileages, and days. Days will probably peak next week at 7, if all goes as planned, but mileage and pace will hopefully keep increasing for a while. Need to map out a hilly route in this area so that I can reintroduce my hill training. I've recently decided to add some mobility work based on things I've been picking up over at MobilityWOD and Strength Running. Increasing my mobility and working my joints daily should hopefully help keep me injury free as I increase my running to prepare for my race and beyond. I'm also increasing my strength training overall, though not really my lower body disproportionately to my upper, more on that next week. Sadly my stats will take a bit of a dip after I get this ingrown toenail taken care of, but that should only hinder me a few days.
So how about my weight? 208, same as last week. Staying rather constant throughout is fine with me. Until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Increased the bar on my running yet again this week with increased paces, mileages, and days. Days will probably peak next week at 7, if all goes as planned, but mileage and pace will hopefully keep increasing for a while. Need to map out a hilly route in this area so that I can reintroduce my hill training. I've recently decided to add some mobility work based on things I've been picking up over at MobilityWOD and Strength Running. Increasing my mobility and working my joints daily should hopefully help keep me injury free as I increase my running to prepare for my race and beyond. I'm also increasing my strength training overall, though not really my lower body disproportionately to my upper, more on that next week. Sadly my stats will take a bit of a dip after I get this ingrown toenail taken care of, but that should only hinder me a few days.
So how about my weight? 208, same as last week. Staying rather constant throughout is fine with me. Until next time, keep being the you you want to be.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 90)
Monday and time for a delayed update.
Set a new record for most activities on Runkeeper in a week last week with 5, my steady increases in mileage are continuing rather well. Been setting some pretty blazing paces on some of the more recent runs and I'm hoping I'm not overdoing it with tacking on the speed. In addition I've been tweaking my strength routine to help increase my overall strength and will be throwing in more running specific strength work as time goes on.
I'm really liking where I'm at with my fitness of late, and we've been making an effort to both cook at home more and try out more recipes we've never done so all in all I'm pretty happy with where my diet has been heading too. Right now I just have to take precautions to make sure that getting my toenail fixed in a week or two doesn't set me back too far, but I'm not too worried about that as my cardiac system seems to be improving steadily (resting heart rate is down to the low 50s now, making steady progress in the direction of the 40s), and my respiratory system seems to keep up pretty well to longer runs. That combined with my strength training should allow me to keep up a sufficient pace over the distance to meet my goals.
So how's the scale treating me this week? 208, same as last week. Body fat is down slightly but pretty much just holding steady, and that's fine by me. Until next time, keep on being the you you want to be.
Set a new record for most activities on Runkeeper in a week last week with 5, my steady increases in mileage are continuing rather well. Been setting some pretty blazing paces on some of the more recent runs and I'm hoping I'm not overdoing it with tacking on the speed. In addition I've been tweaking my strength routine to help increase my overall strength and will be throwing in more running specific strength work as time goes on.
I'm really liking where I'm at with my fitness of late, and we've been making an effort to both cook at home more and try out more recipes we've never done so all in all I'm pretty happy with where my diet has been heading too. Right now I just have to take precautions to make sure that getting my toenail fixed in a week or two doesn't set me back too far, but I'm not too worried about that as my cardiac system seems to be improving steadily (resting heart rate is down to the low 50s now, making steady progress in the direction of the 40s), and my respiratory system seems to keep up pretty well to longer runs. That combined with my strength training should allow me to keep up a sufficient pace over the distance to meet my goals.
So how's the scale treating me this week? 208, same as last week. Body fat is down slightly but pretty much just holding steady, and that's fine by me. Until next time, keep on being the you you want to be.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 89)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Been a really busy week this week. Due to careful planning we actually cooked most of our meals at home this week which is an improvement over recent weeks, and also a trend I hope to continue.
Didn't end up doing quite as much running this week as I'd planned, but I got a few good quality runs in. I also managed to get in a bodyweight routine every night for the last week, pushups, squats, vertical pulls (a precursor to pullups), and knee tucks (a precursor to hanging leg raises). Soon I'm hoping to add some bridging and handstand work to that routine as well. Making good progress so far on these workouts and hoping to continue doing so. Honestly not a lot of new developments this week otherwise.
So, what the scale got to say today? 208, same as last week. Even with that being the case I look better in a mirror now than I did two weeks ago, and that's worth more than any change on the scale right now as I'm fine with my weight, and to the stage of working on my Looking Good Naked factor. So far so good. Until next week, be the you you want to be.
Been a really busy week this week. Due to careful planning we actually cooked most of our meals at home this week which is an improvement over recent weeks, and also a trend I hope to continue.
Didn't end up doing quite as much running this week as I'd planned, but I got a few good quality runs in. I also managed to get in a bodyweight routine every night for the last week, pushups, squats, vertical pulls (a precursor to pullups), and knee tucks (a precursor to hanging leg raises). Soon I'm hoping to add some bridging and handstand work to that routine as well. Making good progress so far on these workouts and hoping to continue doing so. Honestly not a lot of new developments this week otherwise.
So, what the scale got to say today? 208, same as last week. Even with that being the case I look better in a mirror now than I did two weeks ago, and that's worth more than any change on the scale right now as I'm fine with my weight, and to the stage of working on my Looking Good Naked factor. So far so good. Until next week, be the you you want to be.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 88)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Big changes in my fitness plans this week that I'm really liking already.
Firstly, this weekend Lara needed some new jeans so like a good bored husband I went along to help. While out I realized I have only one pair of jeans so I might as well try some on. Turns out, I now wear a size 34. I cannot actually remember when I last wore a 34, the other pair I have is old, from a couple pants buying generations ago, and was a 38. I've dropped 8-10 inches from my waist size in these past 88 weeks, and I feel pretty good about that.
So what else have I been changing this week? Well, last week I mentioned that I'd probably be picking up a pull-up bar, and Sunday afternoon I did. So this week I actually worked out every evening after work with some squats, pushups and pullups. My arms are not liking the pullups, probably because I tried to go straight into full pullups without much lead-in, so I'm going to be pulling back from that and working on progressing toward pullups a little more gradually. I've also been working on increasing the range of motion on my squats and improving my technique on my pushups. I'll likely be adding a couple more exercises into my newly rekindled bodyweight workout fixation in the coming weeks. Handstands and eventually handstand pushups come to mind, leg raises as well (enabled at some stage by the pullup bar). I've found some interesting reading material on progressive bodyweight training recently that I've been going through and hopefully I can start putting it in practice in my workouts and see what kind of results it will get me. I will say that my upper body seems to have gotten a lot of increased definition for a weeks worth of time, so I'm hopeful.
The other big change in my workouts this week was that I started getting up early pretty much every day and going for a run. Some of them had to be adjusted from my plans going into the week, and due to issues with my work-sleep interaction and the water at our apartment I had to skip two of my planned runs, but 5 of the last 7 days have seen me out for a run and that's an improvement I'm proud of. Hopefully I can improve on that in the coming weeks.
So what does the scale have to say this week? 208, down a pound from last week. It seems to be nearly equal measure fat and lean if my bodyfat readings are correct, which I'm never really all that sure of. One of these days I'm going to upgrade to the Withings scale and then I'll have a little more confidence in them. Anyway, until next week, be the you you want to be. No matter what you have you can make it happen.
Big changes in my fitness plans this week that I'm really liking already.
Firstly, this weekend Lara needed some new jeans so like a good bored husband I went along to help. While out I realized I have only one pair of jeans so I might as well try some on. Turns out, I now wear a size 34. I cannot actually remember when I last wore a 34, the other pair I have is old, from a couple pants buying generations ago, and was a 38. I've dropped 8-10 inches from my waist size in these past 88 weeks, and I feel pretty good about that.
So what else have I been changing this week? Well, last week I mentioned that I'd probably be picking up a pull-up bar, and Sunday afternoon I did. So this week I actually worked out every evening after work with some squats, pushups and pullups. My arms are not liking the pullups, probably because I tried to go straight into full pullups without much lead-in, so I'm going to be pulling back from that and working on progressing toward pullups a little more gradually. I've also been working on increasing the range of motion on my squats and improving my technique on my pushups. I'll likely be adding a couple more exercises into my newly rekindled bodyweight workout fixation in the coming weeks. Handstands and eventually handstand pushups come to mind, leg raises as well (enabled at some stage by the pullup bar). I've found some interesting reading material on progressive bodyweight training recently that I've been going through and hopefully I can start putting it in practice in my workouts and see what kind of results it will get me. I will say that my upper body seems to have gotten a lot of increased definition for a weeks worth of time, so I'm hopeful.
The other big change in my workouts this week was that I started getting up early pretty much every day and going for a run. Some of them had to be adjusted from my plans going into the week, and due to issues with my work-sleep interaction and the water at our apartment I had to skip two of my planned runs, but 5 of the last 7 days have seen me out for a run and that's an improvement I'm proud of. Hopefully I can improve on that in the coming weeks.
So what does the scale have to say this week? 208, down a pound from last week. It seems to be nearly equal measure fat and lean if my bodyfat readings are correct, which I'm never really all that sure of. One of these days I'm going to upgrade to the Withings scale and then I'll have a little more confidence in them. Anyway, until next week, be the you you want to be. No matter what you have you can make it happen.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 84)
Sunday once again and time for an update.
Simple week this week, work continued along it's chosen path, my diet choices were slightly less good than they might have been but still good overall. So what are the lessons this week showed me?
Firstly, my flaxseed test has been going better than expected. By Wednesday my lower back pain, which has bothered me for large portions of the past year plus, has disappeared almost completely. Previously it had improved with changes in my work/non-work split, which is as much as I can tell related to how much time I spend in regular shoes vs barefoot/vibrams, and when I had switched mattresses to one both bigger and made of memory foam. This is the first time I can recall that my back pain cleared up so completely. I attribute it to the flaxseed oil, because the flaxseed is high in Omega-3s which help reduce systemic inflammation, which is likely one of the root causes of my backpain. Since the only major change I made to my diet in the past week was the introduction of the flaxseed I think it's safe to say that is highly likely to be a major contribution. In addition to that my gums have improved in color and tenderness, and my toe is both less swollen and in less pain. It's enough that I'm going to continue with the flaxseed for the foreseeable future.
The other thing that I've decided this week is that I need to focus more on my speedwork if I'm going to get to my goals for my race in January. As a result my training for my long runs is going to shift, instead of being strictly based on mileage I'm going to be working on increasing my speed and distance in tandem each week until I hit my target pace, and then focus on making sure I get where I need to be in terms of distance. Which is not to say that I am in doubt about my ability to complete the distance, the doubt is that I can finish it in a time that I'm not ashamed of. That and the continuation of my weight training are the goals for my fitness for the near term. Long term I'm hoping strongly to be able to get back to doing some martial arts in the future, we'll have to see what I can find for that though.
So, what does the scale have to say this week? 208, same as last week. Staying nice and steady, and I'm ok with that. I'm feeling better now than I have in a very long time, and that's the most important thing. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Simple week this week, work continued along it's chosen path, my diet choices were slightly less good than they might have been but still good overall. So what are the lessons this week showed me?
Firstly, my flaxseed test has been going better than expected. By Wednesday my lower back pain, which has bothered me for large portions of the past year plus, has disappeared almost completely. Previously it had improved with changes in my work/non-work split, which is as much as I can tell related to how much time I spend in regular shoes vs barefoot/vibrams, and when I had switched mattresses to one both bigger and made of memory foam. This is the first time I can recall that my back pain cleared up so completely. I attribute it to the flaxseed oil, because the flaxseed is high in Omega-3s which help reduce systemic inflammation, which is likely one of the root causes of my backpain. Since the only major change I made to my diet in the past week was the introduction of the flaxseed I think it's safe to say that is highly likely to be a major contribution. In addition to that my gums have improved in color and tenderness, and my toe is both less swollen and in less pain. It's enough that I'm going to continue with the flaxseed for the foreseeable future.
The other thing that I've decided this week is that I need to focus more on my speedwork if I'm going to get to my goals for my race in January. As a result my training for my long runs is going to shift, instead of being strictly based on mileage I'm going to be working on increasing my speed and distance in tandem each week until I hit my target pace, and then focus on making sure I get where I need to be in terms of distance. Which is not to say that I am in doubt about my ability to complete the distance, the doubt is that I can finish it in a time that I'm not ashamed of. That and the continuation of my weight training are the goals for my fitness for the near term. Long term I'm hoping strongly to be able to get back to doing some martial arts in the future, we'll have to see what I can find for that though.
So, what does the scale have to say this week? 208, same as last week. Staying nice and steady, and I'm ok with that. I'm feeling better now than I have in a very long time, and that's the most important thing. Until next week, keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 77)
Sunday once again and time for the weekly update.
Not much to talk about this week so it should stay pretty brief.
Was pretty bad about doing any cooking this week sadly, and next week won't be much better since every night I'm going to be at the movies instead of home. Picked up some protein powder at the store today so that should at least improve the fractionation of my diet a bit.
Decided to do my long run on the treadmill this week. This had a few consequences. I lost more to sweat this week in absolute terms than I have before, despite being inside, which was to be expected really. The treadmill offers me a few nice benefits over running outside. For one, my run ends at the right place every time, no guess work to make sure that I finish my desired distance when I'm back at the apartment instead of half a mile off. As a result of that I also have more freedom to decide while I'm on the run that I feel good and can do another mile or some such, as happened today. It also allows me to focus more on my heartrate than on my pace. Once I find a pace that I can hold for the duration at about the right heart rate I'm set and I can just do my run and hit the zone. Runkeeper does not yet have truly robust support for heart rate sadly, I'd love to see them add better audio cues for heart rate, and the ability to key coaching off of it. The treadmill also let's me take the time to calculate my turnover, which is a number I like tracking to help keep my form in good shape among other things but which is hard to get on an outdoor run without a cadence sensor I don't have.
Treadmill runs do have a couple limitations though. Firstly, The treadmill can only go for so long it would seem. Today my run lasted so long the treadmill stopped being able to track the time and thus shut itself off. Luckily there is a second treadmill I was able to make the migration to and finish my run. The other benefit that outdoor runs have over treadmill running is moving air. As you run outside you get a lot of air moving past you that helps with your cooling and keeps your clothing that little bit drier. That little bit can be important sometimes, and long runs are one of them. (The squeamish should consider to skip this segment) About 7 miles into this run I ran into some problems with jogger's nipple, leading to a small amount of blood loss. Nothing serious of course, just annoying and unexpected. Picked up some roll-on anti-chafing product from RoadRunner down the street and hopefully that should prevent any further issues.
So anyway, what about the numbers? 207, down a pound from last week. Bodyfat about constant so no worries there, no worries just facts of life. Hopefully in a week or two when I can actually get back to my weight training that'll improve more, sadly due to an injury my training partner wasn't able to make it so I stayed content with my running this week to help her recuperate from her burn. Until next week keep being the you you want to be.
Not much to talk about this week so it should stay pretty brief.
Was pretty bad about doing any cooking this week sadly, and next week won't be much better since every night I'm going to be at the movies instead of home. Picked up some protein powder at the store today so that should at least improve the fractionation of my diet a bit.
Decided to do my long run on the treadmill this week. This had a few consequences. I lost more to sweat this week in absolute terms than I have before, despite being inside, which was to be expected really. The treadmill offers me a few nice benefits over running outside. For one, my run ends at the right place every time, no guess work to make sure that I finish my desired distance when I'm back at the apartment instead of half a mile off. As a result of that I also have more freedom to decide while I'm on the run that I feel good and can do another mile or some such, as happened today. It also allows me to focus more on my heartrate than on my pace. Once I find a pace that I can hold for the duration at about the right heart rate I'm set and I can just do my run and hit the zone. Runkeeper does not yet have truly robust support for heart rate sadly, I'd love to see them add better audio cues for heart rate, and the ability to key coaching off of it. The treadmill also let's me take the time to calculate my turnover, which is a number I like tracking to help keep my form in good shape among other things but which is hard to get on an outdoor run without a cadence sensor I don't have.
Treadmill runs do have a couple limitations though. Firstly, The treadmill can only go for so long it would seem. Today my run lasted so long the treadmill stopped being able to track the time and thus shut itself off. Luckily there is a second treadmill I was able to make the migration to and finish my run. The other benefit that outdoor runs have over treadmill running is moving air. As you run outside you get a lot of air moving past you that helps with your cooling and keeps your clothing that little bit drier. That little bit can be important sometimes, and long runs are one of them. (The squeamish should consider to skip this segment) About 7 miles into this run I ran into some problems with jogger's nipple, leading to a small amount of blood loss. Nothing serious of course, just annoying and unexpected. Picked up some roll-on anti-chafing product from RoadRunner down the street and hopefully that should prevent any further issues.
So anyway, what about the numbers? 207, down a pound from last week. Bodyfat about constant so no worries there, no worries just facts of life. Hopefully in a week or two when I can actually get back to my weight training that'll improve more, sadly due to an injury my training partner wasn't able to make it so I stayed content with my running this week to help her recuperate from her burn. Until next week keep being the you you want to be.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 73)
Sunday once again and time for the weekly update.
This week has been pretty steady in terms of most of the things I usually track, so not really much to talk about there.
So, finishing up the breakdown of my running cycle there are 3 other types of runs in addition to the ones I talked about last week. Each one of them is planned to be done in place of either a treadmill run or a timed run, once every three weeks. The cycle for them is setup so that I replace one run a week with one of my specialty runs.
The first run I've completed out of the selection of specialty runs was a tempo run. Once I get the heart rate monitor it'll help dial in the pacing for them a bit better, a pace that sustains 85-90% max heart rate for about 20 minutes. Luckily for me my typical running route is around 3 miles, which means that just tearing into it at a given pace should allow me to complete it in about the right amount of time. This run through I did the run at an average pace of 9:03, which I think was probably fairly close to what I'm after here based on what I have come to understand of the process, but without some harder numbers I'm not entirely sure. For now, I'll just shoot for improving the pace in small increments until I either get the monitor to check for sure, or I find a threshold at which I just can't pull it off anymore at which point I can reasonably infer I passed my lactic acid threshold by too far. The purpose of these runs is mainly to increase my bodies ability to process lactic acid and prevent my leg muscles from becoming acidic over the course of my long runs, but also to help me train for keeping a consistent pace across a distance.
The second type of specialty run I'm working on adding in is the hill run. Hill training is something I want to incorporate because I don't like it. This may sound odd, but I don't like it because it's harder than my regular running so by doing hill running I get better at it which will come in handy during races, and for increasing all of the various running related metrics. This run will take place on my treadmill day so that I can control the grade of the hills in addition to their length. My plan is that I'll do a quick warm-up, followed by alternating 2-3 minute sets at either 2% grade, or whatever I settle on my higher grade being. I'm not sure what it will be yet, though it'll probably start closer to 6-8% and then move up as time goes on with these workouts. I'll keep up the repeats for 15-30 minutes, a quick cooldown and then be done with the run for the day.
The last of the specialty runs is a type of training called Fartlek, which means "speed play" in Swedish. Basically you do your warm-up, then you pick a landmark and run to it at a fast pace, somewhere between "sort of hard work" and "full sprint" and then you run past there at an easy pace to recover before doing the whole thing again. It's an unstructured type of interval workout that works on improving speed, acceleration, and overall response of the various energy systems in place in the body. I'll likely do these with 5 minute bookends to warm-up/cool-down and then run my normal timed route using the random intervals outlined above.
So there you have it, my 3 specialty runs to flesh out my 3 week training cycle. Now from there onto the numbers for this week. 208, same as last week. Weight seems to have stabilized, and now that I've recalibrated how I'm measuring bodyfat that seems to have stabilized as well. One of these days I'm going to have to upgrade to something automated for that task if I want to start getting better numbers. Until next week, keep on being the you you want to be.
This week has been pretty steady in terms of most of the things I usually track, so not really much to talk about there.
So, finishing up the breakdown of my running cycle there are 3 other types of runs in addition to the ones I talked about last week. Each one of them is planned to be done in place of either a treadmill run or a timed run, once every three weeks. The cycle for them is setup so that I replace one run a week with one of my specialty runs.
The first run I've completed out of the selection of specialty runs was a tempo run. Once I get the heart rate monitor it'll help dial in the pacing for them a bit better, a pace that sustains 85-90% max heart rate for about 20 minutes. Luckily for me my typical running route is around 3 miles, which means that just tearing into it at a given pace should allow me to complete it in about the right amount of time. This run through I did the run at an average pace of 9:03, which I think was probably fairly close to what I'm after here based on what I have come to understand of the process, but without some harder numbers I'm not entirely sure. For now, I'll just shoot for improving the pace in small increments until I either get the monitor to check for sure, or I find a threshold at which I just can't pull it off anymore at which point I can reasonably infer I passed my lactic acid threshold by too far. The purpose of these runs is mainly to increase my bodies ability to process lactic acid and prevent my leg muscles from becoming acidic over the course of my long runs, but also to help me train for keeping a consistent pace across a distance.
The second type of specialty run I'm working on adding in is the hill run. Hill training is something I want to incorporate because I don't like it. This may sound odd, but I don't like it because it's harder than my regular running so by doing hill running I get better at it which will come in handy during races, and for increasing all of the various running related metrics. This run will take place on my treadmill day so that I can control the grade of the hills in addition to their length. My plan is that I'll do a quick warm-up, followed by alternating 2-3 minute sets at either 2% grade, or whatever I settle on my higher grade being. I'm not sure what it will be yet, though it'll probably start closer to 6-8% and then move up as time goes on with these workouts. I'll keep up the repeats for 15-30 minutes, a quick cooldown and then be done with the run for the day.
The last of the specialty runs is a type of training called Fartlek, which means "speed play" in Swedish. Basically you do your warm-up, then you pick a landmark and run to it at a fast pace, somewhere between "sort of hard work" and "full sprint" and then you run past there at an easy pace to recover before doing the whole thing again. It's an unstructured type of interval workout that works on improving speed, acceleration, and overall response of the various energy systems in place in the body. I'll likely do these with 5 minute bookends to warm-up/cool-down and then run my normal timed route using the random intervals outlined above.
So there you have it, my 3 specialty runs to flesh out my 3 week training cycle. Now from there onto the numbers for this week. 208, same as last week. Weight seems to have stabilized, and now that I've recalibrated how I'm measuring bodyfat that seems to have stabilized as well. One of these days I'm going to have to upgrade to something automated for that task if I want to start getting better numbers. Until next week, keep on being the you you want to be.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Weekly Weigh-in (Week 72)
Sunday yet again, time for the weekly update.
Mileage is increasing steadily, run today was over half of my current single week record, with todays run being over half of my first stage goal distance.
So, what exactly am I doing with all this running you may wonder. Well, it's actually a fairly carefully constructed running program I've cobbled together from various other training programs I've found online ranging from Jeff Galloway's Run/Walk/Run program for people shooting for completion of a Half-Marathon to programs designed to achieve specific time goals for Half-Marathons. I've looked them all over, and done a decent amount of independent research into various training options and strategies, and put together the program I'm using now, and the one I'm going to transition myself into in the next few weeks.
Currently I'm using two timed runs each at a total duration of 30 minutes, 20 minutes of intervals (80% "up", 20% "down") and a 5 minute warm-up and cool-down on either side; and a single long run each week run with 5 minutes warm-up/cool-down on either side of mile repeats (80% "up" 20 "down") for the target distance of the week. The immediate goal of the timed runs is to improve my pace and thus the distance per run. The immediate goal of the long run is to increase my distance running ability progressively, by adding a mile to the distance each week, until I reach my current target distance of 12 miles. After that I'm going to decrease the long run to 10 miles a week for a while as I work on improving my pace on the 10-milers. Sporadically I'll increase the long run up past the 12 miles I went to originally, in steps and then back down to 10 again to keep working on pace. The goal of all this being to get myself to a point where I can easily run the race distance in a reasonable pace.
In addition to that I currently do a weekly treadmill run of 3 minutes at what I have tested as my VO2max, the threshold at which exercise becomes more anaerobic than aerobic, and 3 minutes at 50% thereof. Repeats of that for most of the workout duration are designed to increase the threshold, and I increase both the high and the low speeds on those workouts progressively to ensure I keep improving. At the end of those workouts I turn the speed on the treadmill up to see how fast I can run for 30 seconds continuously. Another metric I track during these runs, because there are fewer other things to distract me than most runs, is my turnover. I pick a minute, of my 3 minute up interval, and count how many times my feet hit the ground. The idea being that the more times they hit the ground, the further distance I can cover in the interval at the same stride length, and since my barefoot running style means that my stride length falls within a certain range that I can't change all that much, increasing turnover is the best way for me to gain speed.
Well, that went on a bit longer than expected, so I guess I shall save until next week the changes I plan to make to my running schedule to turn a weekly cycle into a 3 week cycle with even more vectors for improving my running efficiency and capacity.
So, what about the scale this week. 208, down a pound from last week. With the sadly low percentage of my diet composed of protein right now I'm not all that surprised by the thinning out my increase in running seems to be contributing too. My bodyfat seems to be holding pretty stable, which means I am sadly losing some muscle mass along with fat, but I'm working on plans to change that. So stay tuned. Always be the you you want to be.
Mileage is increasing steadily, run today was over half of my current single week record, with todays run being over half of my first stage goal distance.
So, what exactly am I doing with all this running you may wonder. Well, it's actually a fairly carefully constructed running program I've cobbled together from various other training programs I've found online ranging from Jeff Galloway's Run/Walk/Run program for people shooting for completion of a Half-Marathon to programs designed to achieve specific time goals for Half-Marathons. I've looked them all over, and done a decent amount of independent research into various training options and strategies, and put together the program I'm using now, and the one I'm going to transition myself into in the next few weeks.
Currently I'm using two timed runs each at a total duration of 30 minutes, 20 minutes of intervals (80% "up", 20% "down") and a 5 minute warm-up and cool-down on either side; and a single long run each week run with 5 minutes warm-up/cool-down on either side of mile repeats (80% "up" 20 "down") for the target distance of the week. The immediate goal of the timed runs is to improve my pace and thus the distance per run. The immediate goal of the long run is to increase my distance running ability progressively, by adding a mile to the distance each week, until I reach my current target distance of 12 miles. After that I'm going to decrease the long run to 10 miles a week for a while as I work on improving my pace on the 10-milers. Sporadically I'll increase the long run up past the 12 miles I went to originally, in steps and then back down to 10 again to keep working on pace. The goal of all this being to get myself to a point where I can easily run the race distance in a reasonable pace.
In addition to that I currently do a weekly treadmill run of 3 minutes at what I have tested as my VO2max, the threshold at which exercise becomes more anaerobic than aerobic, and 3 minutes at 50% thereof. Repeats of that for most of the workout duration are designed to increase the threshold, and I increase both the high and the low speeds on those workouts progressively to ensure I keep improving. At the end of those workouts I turn the speed on the treadmill up to see how fast I can run for 30 seconds continuously. Another metric I track during these runs, because there are fewer other things to distract me than most runs, is my turnover. I pick a minute, of my 3 minute up interval, and count how many times my feet hit the ground. The idea being that the more times they hit the ground, the further distance I can cover in the interval at the same stride length, and since my barefoot running style means that my stride length falls within a certain range that I can't change all that much, increasing turnover is the best way for me to gain speed.
Well, that went on a bit longer than expected, so I guess I shall save until next week the changes I plan to make to my running schedule to turn a weekly cycle into a 3 week cycle with even more vectors for improving my running efficiency and capacity.
So, what about the scale this week. 208, down a pound from last week. With the sadly low percentage of my diet composed of protein right now I'm not all that surprised by the thinning out my increase in running seems to be contributing too. My bodyfat seems to be holding pretty stable, which means I am sadly losing some muscle mass along with fat, but I'm working on plans to change that. So stay tuned. Always be the you you want to be.
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