Category: exercise

The weather today was bright and sunny, a little cold but not too bad. When I left work at 4:00 PM I knew I wanted to run outside. Decided to go home and run in my neighborhood rather than along the waterfront.

Since I’m running for time, not distance this week, and tonight called for 30 minutes, I further decided I would run away from home for 15 minutes and then turn around and run back to my starting point. Wore shorts, short sleeves, and my Adidas. Walking to my starting point I felt an odd indentation in my right shoe, near the outside of my foot near the toe. Pulled off my shoe and shifted the insole around a bit and put my shoe back on and didn’t notice it again from there.

I have no idea what my pace was. I would describe it as “moderately easy” – breathing heavy but not too much so. Legs felt really strong. If I had to rate my effort on a 1-10 scale, with 1 being not moving at all and 10 being my hardest run, I would say I ran about a 6.5 – 7.0.

And the best part is: I didn’t stop to walk except right at the turn-around point for about 3 steps.And even crossing the busy streets (Tacoma and Bybee), I didn’t have to stop – traffic seemed to be on my side, too. It felt good to just keep moving. The air was fresh and crisp and cold. Once I was moving I didn’t even notice the chill at all.

An awesome run. I’m looking forward to seeing if cutting the calories helps me improve even more. Although to be honest I’m not sure the calorie-cutting had anything to do with tonight’s performance. Maybe, but it seems too soon to have an effect.

So… dieting.

As stated before, I planned on a mini-fast over the weekend, to jump-start my calorie cutting beginning today and lasting at least through May. I was going to hold myself to only 500-600 calories a day.

Well… I ended up with at least double that each day. Saturday, I went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of fresh fruit and vegetables, some almonds, stuff like that, and figured I’d snack on those if I got hungry. And, I did. Um… a lot. I also had two whole wheat bagels, once with two teaspoons of blackberry jam. And I drank lots of water. I also didn’t run – too tired. I’ve forgotten how much dieting makes me tired. Ugh. But I’ve got to run… it’s the combination of exercise and calorie-cutting that reduces my weight. At any rate, at the end of the day, I’d eaten around 1550+ calories. I decided that was OK because it was still probably half of what I have been eating, and resolved to do better on Sunday.

Except I didn’t. Oh, I did great during the morning and early afternoon; but 3:00 or 4:00 I’d only had around 500 calories. But I got really hungry, and went for a walk, and found myself near Mike’s Drive-In… and convinced myself to have a bacon cheeseburger. No fries, and a diet to drink, but, still… I figured that if the cheeseburger was around 1000 calories, that means I only had about 1500 total for the day, which is what I had on Saturday…

Damn, cutting calories is hard. I’d feel a bit better if I’d managed to run at all this weekend. Or even walked further than 10-15 blocks. Oh, well, it’s a moving target.

Be that as it may, this morning I weighed myself: 201.5 lb. Now, granted, some of that might just be water weight (once your body starts burning fat you lose more water at first) but considering I’d managed to cut my intake by at least 3000 calories over the course of two days, and a gain or loss of 3500 calories equals one pound of body weight, some of that must be fat.

I’ll keep monitoring and only update the blog on this topic when it seems significant.

I think, for running this week, I’m going to try to do the schedule I posted for last week. Which is as follows:

• Monday: – Run 30 minutes
• Tuesday: – Run 40 minutes + strength training
• Wednesday: – Speedwork – 4 x 4:00 fast/2:00 slow
• Thursday: – Rest day + strength training
• Friday: – Run 35 minutes
• Saturday: – Run 60 minutes + strength training
• Sunday: – Rest day

Ran last night. Since I missed my planned run Wednesday night, and was actually sick on Thursday, I had to decide if I should try to make up the missed run (my speedwork for the week) or just continue from where I left off. I decided to pick up where I left off, because I still plan to do my long run this weekend and didn’t want to have back-to-back “hard” runs.

The plan called for 35 minutes, no worries about distance. And, I did it. On the treadmill at the gym, incline set to Level 2. Wore my Asics. Did slow three times for no more than a minute each time to walk, but the rest of the time I ran at a 10:30 pace (per the machine).

And then… this morning I got up, feeling pudgy, and did something I haven’t done in months. I weighed myself.

203 pounds.

Ugh.

That’s horrible! I knew I’d gained some weight over the winter but not that much. No wonder my running has been suffering compared to the improvements I’d made in my first season. Obviously, if I’m carrying more weight, it’s harder to run. Lose the weight, my speed should improve, even if only slightly.

Sure, some of this can be muscle. I have been doing strength training, after all. But I can see and feel the flab, too.

On the spot I made a plan to cut back on calories until I was back to around 180. I’ll start this weekend with a mini-fast (around 500-600 calories per day, tops, lots and lots of water) and then, beginning Monday, limit myself to 2000 calories per day. That, combined with my running and other exercise, should be good for 1.5-2.0 lb. per week loss, which will get me back under 180 by the end of May.

Oh, and I also shaved my head. No reason other than feeling like starting over where it comes to my hair.

This post is for that tiny sub-segment of my readers (which, honestly, is itself a tiny-sub-segment of its own) who don’t like my posts about running.

Because this post is about not running.

Yeah. Guess what I was supposed to do tonight? And didn’t?

I came home and pretty much fell straight into bed. So tired. I’m afraid I might be coming down with an actual cold, which is ironic because I’ve started keeping track of how many days it’s been since I used my last sick day and it’s only up to 17 days. Or maybe that’s the opposite of irony. I don’t know, maybe it’s like rain on your wedding day or somethin’.

Anyway, I’m up for now but heading back to bed soon. I’m going to try to get up super early tomorrow and go do the workout I was supposed to do tonight. The one that involves… ugh… speedwork.

After last night’s disappointment, I was well-prepared for tonight. The plan called for 40 minutes of running. So I adjusted my expectations and decided to split that time into two 20-minute runs.

Oh, and in other, semi-related news, I bought a sexy new accessory for my sexy nano. The Nike Dri-Fit armband. Nike MP3 players? Not so sexy, they’re bulky and ugly. Apple iPod nanos? Sexy, slim and sleek. Nike armband for iPod nano? Sexy. See?

That’s my sexy hairy arm. Nice, huh?

I got the armband because not all of my running shorts have suitable pockets that hold the nano. I needed something, and I don’t like clips and cases hanging off my clothes when I’m running.

OK, back to the actual running. Because I accidentally did the strength training on Monday when I’d planned it for tonight, I could skip that part. I got one of the good treadmills, warmed up with a walk as usual, and then set the time for 20 minutes, a pace of 10:20 and a 2% incline, or a Level 2 incline, whatever. Mild incline, is what I’m sayin’. And I started running.

Everything felt fine, just the normal running discomfort, until about 12 minutes into it, at which point I realized that I could probably have gone the whole distance in one set.

Oh, my negative inner voice kept trying to talk me out of doing the whole thing – it suggested that I shouldn’t be running so far tonight if I’m doing speedwork tomorrow, it suggested that I just do 30 minutes instead, it kept trying to talk me into walking… but I finished the first 20 minutes without stopping to walk at all. It was beautiful. Even my breathing didn’t get too labored or tight, but that might be because I took an extra Sudafed an hour before running to help clear things up.

I took a bathroom break, about 5-10 minutes, tops, and came back to my treadmill. Again, set a time of 20 minutes, a pace of 10:20, and a Level 2 incline, and started running again. Breathing was, if anything, easier. I swear that I breathe better after warming up than I do while I’m warming up, which I will note for later. And, again, I made it through the whole 20 minutes without having to stop to walk or any change in pace at all.

Tomorrow night will be difficult but a) I’m giving myself permission to take at least one break at the mid-point, and b) my “slow” speed might have to be actual walking, instead of a jog. But I now have no doubt that I will soon be back in the same shape I was in last fall. And then I’ll exceed my previous condition…

I almost didn’t want to blog about my workout tonight. Or, worse yet, lie about it or not give all the details.

But if I’m not honest, how am I going to improve? These posts are for me, not anyone else.

The plan called for 30 minutes of running. After a quarter-mile walking warmup, I hopped on one of the good treadmills and set the pace for 10:20 or so, with a 1% incline. I figured that I could maintain that speed for most of the time, if not the entire time.

8 minutes in, I was stiff and my legs felt heavy and hard to move. 10 minutes in and my breathing was becoming more labored. I had to stop to walk. I walked for a minute and let my breathing return to normal, then picked the pace back up. But as the minutes passed, my guts started to, um, make themselves known. Ugh. My digestive system wasn’t cooperating, along with my lungs and my legs. I stopped at 15 minutes, walked for a minute, felt my shins (of all things! I’ve never had problems with my shins before!) feel tight and sore and just on the verge of hurting, and then… I got off the treadmill, got some water, and went to the bathroom. I was so disappointed in myself.

However, when I returned, after about a 10-12 minute “break”, I got back on the treadmill and set the pace for 10:30, and just plodded along. I kept setting a goal of “just another 2 minutes” or “just another quarter-mile” and, as each goal approached, I would set another one further out. I finally saw 10:00 of jogging. I told myself to just keep going… and I made it to a full 15 minutes before I had to stop again.

My breathing, while deep and heavy, wasn’t labored during my second 15 minutes. I think that, for these early runs, unless I’m working on speed work, I’m going to have to give myself permission to stop and walk if I need to during the first half of the time or distance, but push myself harder during the last half, just as I do during a race. Running hard during the last half is called “negative splits” and the running that I do later in the workout is more beneficial to me. But taking that break tonight felt like giving up.

After my run, I hit the weights. I got through one of my ‘circuits’ when I asked one of the trainers for some advice on how long to rest between sets. He told me that what I had been doing was more inclined to increase muscle mass rather than simply burn calories like I’d like. He suggested, instead, that I a) not rest between exercises, and b) do 15-20 reps at a slightly lighter weight (60% of my maximum, rather than 70-80%). I did one more circuit using his suggestion and then decided I was done for the night.

I promised to outline my running for the week before actually, y’know, running. OK, maybe not here in public on my blob, but to myself. I like to know, before I head out, what my goal is for the run and how it fits into my overall plan.

That’s what this post is about. Starting to set some goals for the week, and getting me started towards planning a longer-term strategy for the spring season.

But that’s a ways off, and I want to just focus on this week, so here goes my plan:

• Monday: – Run 30 minutes
• Tuesday: – Run 40 minutes + strength training
• Wednesday: – Speedwork – 4 x 4:00 fast/2:00 slow
• Thursday: – Rest day + strength training
• Friday: – Run 35 minutes
• Saturday: – Run 60 minutes + strength training
• Sunday: – Rest day

Notice the focus on time, not distance. That’s how I’m approaching the next couple of weeks, I think, until I’m back up to speed.

Yay! I got to run outside again yesterday. Spring is on its way, although I don’t think winter is quite done with Portland yet.

It was raining when I left the house, and had been all morning, so I was resigned to running at the gym. I planned on about 4 miles, maybe more if I could, which was going to be boring running on a treadmill. Ugh. But after I’d changed into running clothes, I looked outside and saw actual blue sky and sun. I decided to go outside and run my crazy figure-eight loop, where I cross over the Morrison Bridge twice, which, I think, is about 3.5 miles or so.

Luckily, because I originally planned on running on the treadmill, I didn’t take my watch, so I don’t have any idea how fast I ran. It felt good, though. Legs felt strong, my ankles and heel felt fine. Breathing… was normal. Ugh. I’d had a hard time getting some pseudephedrine earlier that day to clear out my sinuses, but I did get some. Hopefully it was just the humidity.

It was also tough going up and over the bridge twice. That’s a fairly steep ramp. I did make it about halfway round the entire loop before having to stop and walk, though. I’ll get back up to speed soon enough.

Once back to the gym, I stretched out and then went through my normal strength exercises. It, also, felt good.

Hit the gym tonight. Only intended to do my strength training, but when I got there, there was a treadmill open, and I needed to do some aerobics to warm up, so… I did a quick mile. Inspired by my youngest nephew, I aimed for a 9:00 pace, but ended up finishing the mile in 9:24. Cooled down, stretched out, and hit the weights.

I think I’ll take tomorrow off, then try a longish run on Saturday, and more strength training.

Ran last night. Stupid rain was back, so it was back to the gym.

I got on the treadmill after having made the cardinal mistake: starting a land war in Asia going up against a Sicilian when death was on the line not deciding in advance what my goal was.

I had run just under 3 miles on Monday. I want to build my miles back up to over 20 a week by the spring. I also want to build my speed back up. All of these aspirations were floating through my mind but hadn’t coalesced into a daily goal, the goal of that specific session on the treadmill. Those aspirations colided with my stuffy sinuses and overall blah-i-ness.

As I finished my quarter mile walking warmup, I thought, 3 miles? 3.5 miles? 4 miles? 30 minutes, no matter the milage? What, man? What’s the goal?

Again, as I plowed through the first mile, my legs felt strong. I set the pace at a nice 10:10. I did increase the incline to a 1% grade, despite the pain that had caused me previously. Where before my break, I would have heel pain in my right foot and some ankle soreness in the left, there was little to no pain at all unless I lengthened my stride to far and leaned too far forward. Standing tall, and keeping my stride fairly short but quick, produced no pain. However, if I started to lean forward, or I started to run toes-outward even a bit – and there were little pricks of pain. I have to work on my form, then. The strength training will help here.

However, after the first mile and a quarter, my throat became ever-so-slightly constricted, even at this fairly slow pace. I slowed a bit, to a 10:30 pace, and just kept pushing for another quarter-mile at a time. 1.50 miles came and went. 1.75 miles… and I had to slow to a walk. I walked for about a minute and a half, and then picked up the pace again. 2.0 miles came… 2.1 miles… and I had to stop again. Dammit. Is that enough, I asked myself, as I kept walking and my breathing returned to normal. No, I said to myself, that is not enough. I increased to a 9:50 pace and aimed for 2.5 miles.

At 2.5 miles, I decided to aim for 2.75 miles. And at that point, I stopped to walk again. I finished my walking warmup and called it a day.

Today, this morning – I wanted to see if my ankle and heel pain would return. Again, in the past, it would be worse in the morning right out of bed – the tendons would tighten up from not carrying any weight during sleep, and then that first few steps out of bed would feel like needles, mainly in the sole of my foot. But, no, nothing. I think, at the very least, that the 3-week break from running has given me enough time to heal up and strengthen up my feet and ankles. So that’s a positive.

I didn’t do any strength training last night. I will go back to the gym tonight to do that, and then run again on Friday or Saturday. This weekend I’ll plan ahead for the next couple of weeks to get my miles back up to where I’d like – but slowly. I’m aiming for a peak in April, then I’ll start planning for the late summer races and maybe (maybe, may-be) try a half-marathon in the fall.