Sunday, April 30, 2006

Sunday

I started the new diet today. Loaded up with everything I need for the week at Crest. Plenty of lean meats (chicken and beef) and good carbs. I have to say, I felt a little sad today, with it being marathon day in OKC. After running one leg of the relay last year, I really feel like I took a step back by not being involved at all this year. On the plus side, two of my team members from last year ran another relay this year, and knocked almost 45 minutes off of last years time. If I'm not mistaken, they placed 5th in their division. That is pretty damn cool. I've made myself a vow that this will be my last year to not be a participant in some way.

So I guess all I can do is focus on the marathon in November. I think I mentioned some time last month that I was kind of torn between going old school with my training and trying to be cutting edge. I think I am going old school on my diet. I almost hate using the word diet, because I don't want to make this seem like a temporary change. I really need to make a lifestyle change more than "let's try this this month" change. My new diet is hopefully going to be as natural as possible, while still being as flavorful as possible. If it is a bland, rice cakes, celery and dehydrated rabbit poop-type diet, there isn't a chance in hell I will stick with it. So I am going to eat lean meats, good carbs, good fats and smaller portions. The good proteins will mainly be eggs, lean beef, fish, chicken, and cottage cheese, the good carbs will be vegetables, fruits, and oatmeal, and the good fat will mainly be olive oil.

The biggest key will definitely be portion control. For someone who could easily sit down and eat a large pizza, trying to manage not only what I eat, but how much, is going to be an ongoing battle. I'm not sure when this started, but I've noticed in the last couple of years (I'm sure this started a long time ago, but I just noticed) that I refuse to let myself be hungry. At the first tiny little sign of hunger, I start eating. Not to mention the times I start eating because I am stressed, bored, sitting, standing, breathing, etc, etc. I tend to graze. Which seems to work well for gazelles, but not so good for us bovines. Hopefully, raising my protein intake will help while in the strength building phase of training, or what I like to think of as the off-season. Once I get down close to the weight range I need to be, I can start upping the carbs to off-set all of the endurance work. Call me crazy, but I like to think of it as my "Common Sense Diet".

That is the plan as I see it now. Keep in mind, all of this is subject to change at my whim. Think of this as either the fine print at the end of a contract, or all the auctioneer-speed babble at the end of a car commercial.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Friday

250

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Weight

253

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

The Deal

OK. Time to stop screwing around. Figuratively speaking of course (I'm not crazy!). It is time to do something drastic to get the diet and training back on track. The plan is to weigh in tomorrow morning, and then drop 6 pounds by next Friday. If I can't drop the weight, I will post a picture of myself swimming at the pool last summer. How is that for a scary thought??? If I do have to post the picture, I'm pretty sure the horrifying embarrassment of everyone seeing the terrible truth will be almost unbearable. On the plus side, though, I'm pretty sure that either Animal Planet or National Geographic would pay good money for that nature footage, so that's pretty cool.

So I will post my weight in the morning, and then provide updates every morning. That way, if it looks like I'm not going to make it, you will all have fair warning. I would hate for someone to show up here for the first time next Friday and think they stumbled onto some kind of weird, chubby dude, softcore swimming pool porn. Not that there is anything wrong with that....

Monday, April 24, 2006

Fat Bastard

So it turns out the hot link and Miller High Life diet isn't working. Damn that Atkins and his shitty ideas. I haven't actually read any of his books, but I thought that low carbs were good. I read the label on my Earl Campbell Hot Links, and unless mechanically separated meat parts and beef hearts are chock full of carbohydrates, I thought I was on my way to some South Beach hotness. I was pretty sure that after a weekend of hot links, the Champagne of Beer, and pizza (none of those carb loaded veggies for me!), my body fat would start to resemble Lindsey Lohan's after a weekend of bingeing and purging between hits off the crack pipe. Instead, I've turned into Marlon Brando after shutting down a Chinese food buffet. And not a buff On the Waterfront Brando. We're talking full on Apocolypse Now, please put your shirt back on and stop hacking up that cow Brando. I guess that Atkins thing is all in the details. Interesting.

So I have to get started again. I've lost track of when the weight loss challenge ends, but I bet we are about half way there. I'm thinking about running at lunch for awhile, because I am having a hell of a time getting anything done after work. With end of month coming up, things are only going to get worse at work. I can't really blame anyone else, though. I've just had a hard time getting motivated lately. So I'm going to start trying to lose weight right now. As soon as I stop typing, I'm heading straight to the bathroom, and I'm going to stare at myself in the mirror until I throw up. Shouldn't take long, so wish me luck.....

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Vacation

No, Aaron, my computer isn't broken. But I've never had a less relaxing 11 days off. Between my dad running over my Grandma's dog (RIP Lucas) on Sunday, Logan being sick on Sunday and Monday, Emma being sick on Tuesday and Wednesday, our 10 year wedding anniversary on Thursday, Cowboy Hall of Fame on Friday, 4 trips to the dump after cleaning out the sheds in the back yard and the in-laws 35th anniversary party on Saturday, Easter with the in-laws on Sunday, and Logan's first baseball practice on Monday (where I am the head coach), I don't think I have ever had a week where I had less sleep. That's not even mentioning the puke I cleaned up over and over again.

On top of that, I've been promoted at work, at least temporarily. I'm a little nervous, but I'm hoping the change will do me good. So with the new management position combined with my head coaching gig, I am definitely going to have to work on my leadership skills. So far, though, the kids seem to be having a good time and they are playing together nicely. Hopefully I can get the baseball team to do as well.

Now that the excuses are out of the way, no, I haven't been doing any exercising. I have been eating pretty well, so my weight is still around 245. I really need to get going if I am going to make weight. But I have to say, trying to lose weight is no fun, so I think I am going to take a different path for awhile. Instead of trying to lose weight, I am going to try and get in shape. I know it sounds like I am splitting hairs, but I think the difference is significant. I feel like I have been babying myself with my training so far, so I am going to try and turn up the intensity a little bit. Instead of a lot of long, slow, easy walks, it is time to start running. The only way I am going to get strong enough for the marathon is to start running. Hard. If I get injured, I get injured, but it is time to stop worrying so much.

Right now the marathon seems a long way off. What is needed is some intermediate goals. It is time to start setting up a racing schedule. If I run enough races, with increasing distances, I think it will be easier to stay motivated. I haven't picked out all of the races I want to run yet, but I think I am going to start with the 5K at the Sooner State Games on 5/13, the Full Moon 5K on 6/3, work in the Lighthouse triathlon in the fall, use the Jenks Half-Marathon as my last long run on 10/28, and then finish the year with the Route 66 Marathon. I may be dreaming, but White Rock on 12/10 sounds pretty appealing also. Maybe I should do one first, though, huh?

So if you are interested, check out OKRunner.com, and see if any of these look appealing. By the way, did a faster mile tonight than I had in a while, so the new workouts are getting started. I will try and check my weight in the morning and see where I stand.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

LSD Saturday

Man, do I love Saturdays. Especially this week since I am off on Monday. So that is almost like getting 2 Saturdays. My legs were really feeling weak the last couple of days and the wind has been kicking my ass, so I took a couple of days off to try and get my legs back. I felt pretty good this morning, so I decided to try another LSD day. If you remember correctly, I went out too fast the last time I tried for long, slow distance, and ended up cutting the day short. Today, since I was feeling good, I really had to try and keep it slow, and decided I was going to measure in time instead of distance to see if that would help. I wasn't really sure how long I wanted to go, but I knew I wanted it to be more than an hour. For some reason, an hour seemed like a mental milestone. I have no idea how far I went, but I ended up walking for an hour and a half. And now I am paying for it.

The little bit of breeze we had today was nice and cool, so the weather really was perfect. My knees starting feeling a little tender at about the 30 minute mark, but I knew I couldn't stop there. I thought I would keep pushing it for a little bit and see what would happen. They never really stopped hurting, but they didn't get any worse, either. I knew I really needed to work myself today, just for a little peace of mind. I'm getting a little concerned that I have been taking it a little too easy, and I'm not pushing my legs hard enough to build the strength and stamina that I need. Since I'm not going to run the Redbud tomorrow, I thought I might test myself a little bit. It sounds pretty easy, but try going to the track by yourself and walking for an hour and a half with nobody to talk to and see how you are feeling afterwards. To ease my knees a little, I actually walked the last couple of miles (about 35 minutes) on the grass along the inside of the track. The softer surface made my legs feel alot better.

So I accomplished what I wanted to do today. I worked my legs hard, but without risking injury. And more importantly, I proved to myself that I can work through the pain and keep moving. I think it is going to become more and more important to get mentally fit, because while an hour and a half seemed like a long time to be out there, on race day, we will be out there at least 3 times longer on race day. I need to start searching for races between now and the marathon, because I need the practice of preparing to race. One of the big surprises today are my feet. I am amazed at how bad the balls of my feet were hurting when I got home. I'm thinking I need to stop putting any lotion on my feet if I am going to keep from getting blisters. That should make wearing flip-flops very attractive all summer.

I'm off to ice my legs right now, or there is a good chance I will be on the couch all day tomorrow. But with all-day Masters coverage, that might be OK, too.

By the way, if you are also training for a race out there, let me know how it is going and if you have any tricks we can use.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Wednesday

Not really much going on today. Really trying to focus on my diet right now. There is a fine line between eating to lose weight and eating to train. I'm trying to make sure I get enough carbs to fuel the workouts, but not so much that I can't lose the weight. Haven't remembered to hop on the scales first thing in the morning for awhile, so I need to try and remember in the morning.

Ran for about 35 minutes this evening at the track. It was pretty windy out, but I had a good time. The temperature was perfect, and other than my legs feeling like lead, I felt great physically. I kept a pretty good pace walking, and then ran the 100 yards or so on the downwind side of the track each time around. Everything is starting to come together, slowly but surely. I had brief thoughts today of running the Redbud this weekend, but I just don't think I am ready. I've been asked to run a 5K leg of the marathon relay later this month, and I'm really not even sure I can be ready for that. I guess as long as the rest of the team realizes how slow I am, it won't be much of a problem. Hopefully I can be down to around 240 by that time, which should help.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

The need for Speed

Turns out, the running is really starting to pay off. My speed has become incredible. I hadn't really noticed the improvement myself, but when other people start telling you how fast you are, you must be doing something right. Just today, on the way home from work, this nice officer from the Oklahoma Sheriff's Department went out of his way to stop me on the way home and let me know that he noticed!! He was so impressed, he wants me to stop by the courthouse where he works and tell his boss (Judge Something or other) just how fast I am! Unbelievable!! He even said something about a fee. Not sure I'm going to take it, though, because that might cause me to lose my amateur status. But it sure was nice of him to offer!

It's funny how flat Oklahoma seems. Not as bad as Kansas, but pretty damn flat. At least it seems that way while you are driving a car. But when on foot, or on a bike, it is amazing how much of a difference a very slight incline can make. The loop around my neighborhood has a couple of subtle hills and one very vertical hill. How I feel when I start a run usually determines the direction I go when I leave the house. But last night I felt pretty good and decided to work on my leg strength a little bit by doing hills. There is a dead end road a quarter mile or so from my house, and it is a about 100 yards of steady incline, followed by a short level spot, and then about 50 yards of very sharp incline. I ended up doing about 45 minutes of running (actual running included, not just walking). Very exhausting, but it felt great. No injury pain, just the pain of a good, solid workout. My legs were actually sore today, for the first time in awhile, so I decided to take the evening off to recuperate a little bit. My back even feels good today, with no pain at all to speak of.

So right now, everything is going according to schedule, knock on wood. There was even a little glimmer of motivation spotted in Chad today, who is thinking of getting back out on the road. I'm hoping we can at least get him to run the half in November. I know he can do it. By the way, congrats to Pascal for getting his new bike today! Pretty sure that is the end of our riding together, because I don't think the new bike has a gear as slow as I am....

Monday, April 03, 2006

Opening Day!!!

Screw the NCAA Championship tonight. Forget about how crappy and busy it was at work today. Two little words trump them all. Quite possibly my 2 favorite words. Play Ball! Damn, I love me some baseball!! So there is not too much that could bring me down today. My Braves just held on for an opening day win and all is right with the world. The only thing that could make the 12 straight hours of baseball on TV better is if it was on a Saturday so I could sit here and watch all of it. And just as a word of warning, all negative comments about baseball will be deleted ruthlessly. Consider yourself warned.

So I commented yesterday on the comparative merits of time-based workouts as opposed to mile-based workouts. I'm not sure which would be better at this point. I like the sense of completion you get when you finish a 3 miler, and it just doesn't sound the same to say you went out and ran 40 minutes. It sounds like you are trying to hide something. But when you run (or walk) for mileage, you run the risk of doing what I did on Saturday and go out too fast. If you decide you are running for 45 minutes, no matter what you do, you can't make the time go faster, so there is no incentive to go too fast. When you are training for a race, though, you need to be sure you can complete the whole distance, so you have to make sure you are putting in enough mileage. One other benefit to walking for time is the fact that you don't have to be able to measure the distance. You don't have to worry about driving the course you intend to walk while staring at your odometer like it is an order of Ted's fajitas. I don't know that one is better than another, so I may try both on different nights.

I think that the enthusiasm is starting to catch on. Kary and Shell have decided that if they are going to be at the marathon anyway, they might as well participate! So Aaron and I will get to see our better halves (halfs?) walking in the half-marathon. I'm very excited! Kary wants an I-Pod before she does it, though, so I'm not sure if she really wants to do it or if she just wants to go shopping. I'm pretty sure the training will go much smoother, though, if we are both training. So that is another option out there for those of you who don't think you are up to the full 26.2. I'm hoping to find a half somewhere in September as a warm up.

I'm hoping to get in a couple of miles tonight (or a bunch of minutes), but it is starting to cloud up a little outside. I didn't make it out yesterday so I'm pretty sure I will get out for a little bit. My legs are a little heavy, but absolutely no leg pain anymore. Now if I could just fix my back.....

Sunday, April 02, 2006

LSD

Been a couple of days since I posted last, but I haven't been sitting on my ass all weekend. OK, I haven't JUST been sitting on my ass, I did get some exercise in. Before going out to the theatre with friends on Friday (and man, how beautiful did my wife look??), I got in about 40 minutes of walking with Aaron. Tried to go to the track for some nice, flat terrain, but apparently some kind of soccer event was going on. I hate soccer. For real. But this isn't the time or place for that discussion. I was supposed to meet Aaron at the track, but I didn't see him there and when I went by his house, he wasn't there either. So I figured I would just go home and get in a couple of quick miles. I have to drive past the park to get home from the track, so I had the brilliant idea of using the trails at the park for a quick workout. As I'm pulling up, who do I see walking towards me? Aaron. So we walked together for a little bit, before meeting at the show, but I have to tell you, I'm not sure how much I like the park trails. They are very hilly. Not big gradual hills, but they seem to be constantly rolling. That would be OK, but they don't seem to be very level either. They seem to constantly be slanting one direction or another. On the plus side, though, it is a woody trail, and you never know what you might see. There was a friendly cat that followed us around for a while, and at one point, a red fox came shooting out of the weeds and ran down the trail in front of us. Not everyday you see that!

Yesterday, I had planned on getting in one of the workouts that are going to be the cornerstones of my marathon training - the LSD day. My thought is that during the later stages of a marathon, your mind starts playing tricks on you while your body cannonballs into a catatonic stupor, so I should get myself prepared for that by exercising while using potent hallucinogens. Seriously. OK, not really. LSD is short for long slow distance. The long slow distance day does a couple of things for you. The main thing is does is psychological. As a first time marathoner, chances are my race will take somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 hours. Just as I need to train my body to keep functioning that long, I also need to train my mind. Because short of injury, the mind will almost always give out before the body. From a physical standpoint, the body needs to get used to being in motion for that long, and needs to adapt to providing energy over a sustained period. I think that any running program needs to combine 1) shorter runs at faster than normal pace, 2) ideal pace running, and 3) long, slow runs at a pace that is a couple of minutes per mile slower than your normal pace.

So that was the plan for yesterday. 4 to 5 miles of nice easy walking. I decided to use the track because it would be easier to keep track of my pace. I knocked out the first couple of laps at about 4 minutes each, putting me on 16 minute mile pace. It seemed a little fast to me, but I guess my mind was still thinking about my running times from last year. Most of the races I ran were at about a 10 minute mile pace, so I thought that a 16 pace was plenty slow. But I think that if I am walking, 16 was a little fast. I ended up doing 3 1/2 miles in 56 minutes. Still a pretty good workout for me, but not what I intended to do. It was a good learning experience, though, because next time I know what type of pacing I need. If I can drop it down in the 18-19 range, I should be good.

That brings up a discussion between whether to train by time or distance. Maybe I will bring that up tomorrow. I may do some strength training today, because I'm not sure if I will get a chance to walk today since Kary has to work. Speaking of Kary, did I mention how unbelievable she looked Friday? I definitely married over my head.....