A Day Late, But Not A Dollar Short!

Shazam!!!



299.5!!!!!

There's a reason why I end yesterday's post the way I did. While I was annoyed that I didn't reach the 200s yesterday, I knew why and I knew that it was only temporary. But, I didn't really expect to hit it today. But, I will take it!!

It is hard to explain, but there's just something that 2 in 299.5. It represents what I'm not anymore... a 300 pound person. It also represents what I've accomplished, so far.

Now, for the not quite so good news...

My training plan called for 4 miles today. I had not run since Monday because of my left foot, but since Wednesday I haven't had the slightest problem...until today. My warm-up felt fine and I felt good (and maybe too good) in the first half mile or so. Then the twinge came back and I decided to cut it short after 1 mile (but a 13:33 mile). I think I didn't expect to feel so good and also didn't expect to go so fast. I didn't feel like I was going as fast as I was. I even skipped a couple run intervals, so I could have done a sub 13:00 mile if I wanted to.

So, I will continue to take care of my left foot and take each run one at a time. My next scheduled run is Monday.

In the mean time I will continue with the core and weight workouts. And, I will start with an additional cross-training when my new "toy" arrives in a week or two.

Till Next Time...Keep Moving Forward!!!

ARGH!...Maybe?!

301.0

Well, darn, it didn't happen this week...officially, that is. And it is because of a stupid food decision I made last night. I won't say much about it except that it was high in sodium. So, by this morning I ballooned up like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man in a microwave. While the change is not visible, I can easily tell that my hands and wrist are swollen.

Last night, right after I finished eating, I knew I made a mistake. There wasn't a lot of calories or even weight to the food. I knew the sodium would cause me to hold water and there wasn't anything (withing doing something stupid) that I could do about it. Of course, one question to ask is whether or not the water I'm holding would put me under 300. If you consider that a normal bottled water (16.9 oz) weighs 1 pound...then yes. The only way to know is to give my body a couple of days (without stupid eating) to flush the water and sodium and then weigh again. And that's exactly what I'm going to do. This will be one of the few times that I will weigh more than once in a week...at least that I'll admit too, anyway. Because this is such a huge milestone, I do not hesitate to do what some would call trivial. But, I would say...read on...

Now, it doesn't matter how it happened or that I didn't get under 300 today. What matters is how I handle the disappointment of not hitting the 200s today. See, two years ago I got down to 304 pounds. At the time, I had the same thoughts as this last week..."This is the week!" But, back then, it didn't happen. In fact, that was the end of the weight loss and the beginning of the journey, not only to where I started, but all the way to 350. So, this morning, my mind raced back 2 years and a few thoughts of doubt and the proverbial "Oh no, here we go again" crept in.

But not for long!!

This time, I choose to see the reality of the situation...that I've lost almost 50 pounds in about 4 months...that a delay of a couple days to "officially" reach a goal means nothing...that I am not about to let anything stop me...that I will not let go of the momentum...that this is about a journey to a better place and not about passing a mile marker on the side of the road.

For some time, I have worried about hitting the 200s. And I worry about finishing the 1/2 in January. Why? Because, they mean so much to me that I'm afraid that I'll focus on these "mile markers" and lose sight of the road itself. That these are the end, the final goals. So much time and energy has gone (and will go) into these efforts. And at some point one does need at least a mental break from it. But I can't afford to...not yet.

So, I press on. In my long run progression I have a low week this week...4 miles. After the long run last week, the issues I've had and taking a few days off, I'm very curious about how I will do. But, do it I will. And in the process I will reach my next (new) goal of 275 before the 1/2!

Till Next Time...KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!!

Time To Take A Couple Days Off

Well, to some degree I think the 10 miles on Sat are catching up with me a little.

The calf issue I mentioned in the last post lingered until I went to bed Sunday night. As of now, that issue is gone. However, during the easy walk on Sunday my left foot starting acting up on me. I started having some light pain along the outside middle of the foot.

However, none of this prevented me from doing my scheduled 30 run on Monday. But, I did take it easy and only did 2.77 mi in 46:21. I was more focused on my calf than my foot. During the warm up I think I may have found something that could be part of the cause of my right calf issue. I realised that I transitioned from each walk interval to the run I tended to make the first hard move with my right leg. Do that 150+ times and I imagine that it could cause something. So, I focused on either pushing off on the left leg or making the whole transition more gradual. In the end I had no pain or discomfort in my right calf. But, my left foot did bother me some during the warm up, but seemed to be better once I started into the intervals.

My foot continued to bother me some last night so I babied it today, even limping when I didn't really have to just to give it a chance to recover some. Ultimately, I think it has paid off. The pain has disappeared but it still feels a little off.

With all that said, I am going to skip my scheduled Wednesday run with the hope of resuming with 4 mi on Saturday. This might jeopardize my sub 300 weigh-in this Friday. But, I would rather put that off a week than get injured and jeopardize the 1/2.

But, picking up from last week I want to get in a core and weight workout before Saturday. And speaking of last week, I got in every workout I wanted. I may also get in some bike time to get some extra cardio.

Till Next Time...Keep Moving Forward!!!

10 Miles?! Are You Serious?!

Saturday morning was about as close to perfect run conditions as you can get.



Absolutely clear skies and temps in the mid-upper 40s.

10 mi in 2:32:49 (15:17 avg pace)
Including warm-up and cool-down: 11.16 mi in 2:56:30 (15:49 avg pace)

10 mile splits...
15:34
15:18
15:15
15:06
15:22
15:00
15:49
15:11
15:27
14:46

In the end it was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Considering how my last two long runs were (6+ and 8), I thought I would hit the wall somewhere in the 8th mile. Not only did I not hit the wall, I felt great and turned in a 14:46 last mile. My right foot gave me no problems as before, but my foot developed a hot spot for the first time. But, by the end of the day my feet felt like I hadn't run at all. The only issue that concerns me some is the inside of my right calf. I had felt a little something there during my previous 30 min run on Wednesday, but it wasn't anything that couldn't be explained by a little tightness. I had no tightness at all during my long run so I'm thinking that's not the issue. It took a few miles for it to start and progressed throughout. It is high on the inside of my right calf about 3 inches down from the knee bend. If I had to guess I would say it is a slight strain. And if I had to guess again, I would say that the camber of the roads in my neighborhood might be the cause.

I was curious to see how sore I would be throughout the day and especially today. I am shocked! I have practically no soreness at all. Could the ice bath after the run be the reason why? I'm convinced it is. I went out for an easy 30 min "recovery" walk tonight and had no soreness, no issues with my feet and didn't feel anything in my right calf.

I believe that if I had to, I could do the WDW 1/2 Marathon next weekend. But, I'm kinda glad that I still have 2 months to get ready. While the long runs are not the most fun thing in the world, I now know that I can do them and that I will not feel terrible afterword.

I now have exactly 2 months before the 1/2 and have 3 more long runs (11, 12.5 & 14). This time last year I was debating whether or not I would even go to WDW in January much less try to do the 1/2. I'm in such a different place this year and I like it. I actually look forward to seeing what I can do.

Till Next Time...Keep Moving Forward!!!

So Close I Can Feel It!

303.5!

Another weight goal down. I am now below my best weight (304) from almost 2 years ago (24 DEC 2007).

Before I go any further, here is my updated Geek Chart...






Falling below 304 is huge. That number represents conquering a past "failure". A point where I quit and more or less gave up. So, reaching this goal is a little bittersweet. It is both a reminder of what I didn't (but also did) do 2 years ago and a sign of the commitment, effort and accomplishment of the last 3-4 months.

Passing the 304 weight goal also means that I'm literally on the doorstep of the next goal...under 300! This may be a little wishful, but I have no doubt that it will happen next week. I am focused now more than ever. I want to be in the 200s so bad that I'm not letting anything get in my way!

So far this week, I have done exactly what I said laid out on Monday...

Monday - 30 minute maintenance run - 3.02mi in 48:56 - Splits 15:13 13:56
Tuesday - Core - 1 set intermediate
Wednesday - 30 minute maintenance run - 3.04mi in 49:31 - Splits 14:29 14:54
Thursday - Upper body free weights

Today is an off day before my Saturday long run...10 miles! Then on Sunday I might do core again.

I am a little nervous about the long run tomorrow. It is easily my longest run ever and I'm not yet used to doing long runs, so it's all still new to me. My biggest challenge will be keeping myself in check early on and keeping the pace around 15:30-16:00. I will be doing the long run using 30/30 intervals. However, my plan is to skip every 5th run interval right from the start. If I need to skip more, I will, but having the plan decided on going in will help me stay more consistent and also know that I will have a longer walk break every five minutes. The weather looks to be just about perfect in the morning with temps in the 40s, clear sky and just a very light breeze.

Till Next Time...Keep Moving Forward!!!

A Wii Little Update

Back on August 3rd I mentioned several weight goals that I have. The first, and so far only one I've reached, is 330, the weight limit for the Wii Fit. On September 7th I passed that first goal. I even mentioned in the post that I had passed my first weight goal. However, it didn't dawn on me for several weeks what that weight goal really meant. There was a good reason for that.

Our TV was broke!

The TV where the Wii is connected was broke at the time I went below 330. I was not playing on the Wii at all and knew that I couldn't till the TV was fixed, so, the 330 goal kinda passed by almost without realizing it. Even after the TV was fixed, it took a few days for the reality to hit me...I could now do Wii Fit! As soon as it hit me, I pulled out the balance board and did about 30 minutes of the balance games.

The games are fun, but just being able to do them made them that much more enjoyable. Now, they have released Wii Fit Plus. It is basically the old Wii Fit plus several new additions. Also, a lot of the games, etc that you had to unlock in the original Wii Fit are available out of the box in Wii Fit Plus. Another nice thing is that your old Wii Fit profile and stats are retained in Wii Fit Plus.

Other news
My closet just got a lot "bigger". I'm already wearing some of the clothes in my closet that have been too small. I had maxed out at size 44 waist jeans. I'm now in a pair of size 40. I also recently bought a new belt and am already half way through the holes. This is one of the fun parts of losing weight and getting in better shape. Though I'm still so looking forward to being able to wear 2x shirts. At that point, my options for clothes increase drastically. So many stores don't offer shirts above 2x. While that has bugged and annoyed me in the past, it is about to go away and no longer be an issue! I'm also getting really close to being able to wear my "In Training for Disney 2010" shirt. By Thanksgiving? We'll see!

This week starts the push to January and the 1/2 marathon. It will also be the most challenging time I've had to date. After two weeks with long runs of 7 and 8, this week will be 9 or 10. I know these long runs are critical to success in January, but they are also uncharted territory. Going out and doing 3 miles twice a week is one thing, but 10? Wow, that's intimidating!

Plan for this week...
Monday - 30 min maintenance run
Tuesday - core
Wednesday - 30 min maintenance run
Thursday - strength/weights
Friday - off
Saturday - long run.

Ok..so this turned out to be not so little of an update. But, before I go, I want to give a shout out to Jonathan. He has been able to maintain his weight over the last few weeks surrounding the birth of his first child, Elizabeth. I know what I challenge that is and now he is getting back after it.

Till Next Time...Keep Moving Forward!!