Monday, September 28, 2015

Reaching New Heights!

I have to admit, this was not my best week eating in the last 60 days straight that I have religiously monitored my calories.  But, I got to eat some food that I truly enjoy like some authentic Mexican food and a nice buffalo chicken wrap with some fries another night.  I am by no means perfect when it comes to eating, but I do my best not to go over my calories.

I managed to get in a round of golf Sunday morning.  I played at Cool Lake between Frankfort and Lebanon which is the course I set my best score on.  This time I was able to tell a little bit about my fitness improving.  I feel I have improved my short game simply because I am able to keep my upper body straighter since I have a little less gut in the way.  I also became keenly aware that although I chose to wear long pants on a day when the temperature reached around 75 before I was done playing that I was much lighter on sweat than normal. I also decided to post my best score of the year at 100.  Hey, I never said I was a professional.

This week, I was a little light on my workouts during the week.  But boy, oh boy, did I make up for it on Sunday.  Sunday was my second Long Slow Distance (LSD) and this week I spent almost an hour on the treadmill completing 3.5 miles at a constant 13:20 pace and completed a total of 4 miles including my warm up and cool down.  That is quite literally the farthest distance I have ever run in my life!  Holy Cow I am making progress!  I have also been working on my breathing while I run and I think I am getting better in that department, but I definitely have some work to do.

After the food that I ate this week, I wasn't anticipating a great number on the scale this morning.  I was actually surprised to see it show 263.9 lbs.  That's a loss of 0.5 lbs. from last week.  Everything is progress and I am finally officially over 30 lbs. lost.  Even though I got credit from FitBit last week ;).    I will do more work on my eating this week and hope to get in a couple more of my "short" runs during the week.  Until next week...Food. Feet. Water. Repeat!!

Monday, September 21, 2015

Just Missed!

It's been a pretty good week overall. As I sit here watching middle school volleyball I am thinking over my week and would consider it a success. In the past week, I have started Lego league after school programming, stayed for a late school meeting, just finished a Sunday/Monday professional development session and still managed to help my wife with her online class and get in a couple of workouts.

The professional development sessions I attended the past two days revolved around reading and writing and they are aimed at improving and exciting the attendees with their teaching. However, I occasionally caught myself thinking about applying some of the things I am learning as I am writing this blog. I don't think this is due to my lack of focus but instead a sure sign that I am not only a teacher, but I am still a student. 

The ability to persevere is a key item I have been reading about as a requirement for a true runner. That's something I definitely worked on this week. My first run this week I felt a little less than strong. I was struggling to keep my pace. I considered cutting my run a couple tenths of a mile short. But, I pushed through. I slowed my pace a little but maintained a constant speed. I didn't cut the distance short and instead overcame during the mental aspect. I finished! 

Last night, I didn't have to persevere. Last night was my first "long, slow distance."  I reached another milestone when I managed to maintain a 13:20 pace on the treadmill for 3.1 miles. I was even able to pump up the last two tenths between a 11:00 and 12:00 pace.  That's right folks...I know now that I can physically finish the distance in October. Needless to say, I felt a little good about myself. Now it is about working on improving my speed and overall fitness. 

I stepped on the scale this morning to find another 0.9 lbs lost. That puts my weight at 264.4. If you have been reading along through this you will know that I started this journey at 294.3. I have now lost 29.9 lbs. I JUST MISSED 30!  I was a little aggravated until I received an email from FitBit. Apparently their theory is "ehh...close enough" because they sent me an email to congratulate me on my 30 pound loss complete with a badge. You know what?  I'll take it 😀. Until next week...Food. Feet. Water. Repeat!!
P.S.  Here's the badge!

Monday, September 14, 2015

Making the Commitment!!

Last week was a great week!  I know you were all as happy to see that 3.1 lbs. drop as I was.  This week I am focusing on truly making the commitment to my fitness.  Let's talk about how my week went and then we will get to that.  Time to hash out the details.

I was on a high from last week's loss.  I am enjoying running and after running once with my brother-in-law realized I could push myself to go a little faster.  Although he gassed himself by pushing too hard at the beginning of the run when he was with me, I am glad that I forced myself to his starting pace and never went below my original pace towards the end.  I learn new things about myself everyday.  I went on to decide that if I was able to push through that workout when the temperature outside was in excess of 90 degrees that I could push myself harder every workout after.  In my following workouts for the week I vowed not to let my pace rise above 13:00 minutes per mile (if you look at my workouts below it includes a walk warm up and cool down so the pace is not just for running times).  Amazingly I was able to do so.  I think that's pretty good for a guy that still weighs well over 250 lbs. On Sunday, I was even able to complete the workout after having mowed the yard in the morning!

If you remember back to June when I purchased my new pair of Brooks Launch 2 shoes I have been running in them and they are treating me quite well.  Remember, I fell off the running wagon for a while there so they still have plenty of miles left in them.  However, I was surprised to recently see that a pair of another Brooks shoes I own, the Glycerin 12s, was starting to crack around the sole.  I contacted Brooks on their website through a Defective product report and they replied within 48 hours that they would replace them for me with the same model shoe.  If I wasn't already happy enough with Brooks shoes for their comfort, I am now a lifelong customer because of their customer service. If you haven't tried their shoes, I suggest you at least give them a shot.

Over the past few weeks, I have been hinting at making a commitment to adding more Feet from my motto in to my routine.  I have been doing that through my workouts.  Well, after quite a bit of looking around on the internet, I have found a way to make that commitment even stronger.  I am going to participate in a couple firsts between now and my birthday.  I have decided I am going to participate in my first 5K race on Halloween morning.  This race is called the Brew HaHa in Carmel, IN and I found it interesting because it is far enough out from now to allow me to really work on my fitness for completing a 5K, but also because of the "swag".  When you complete this race the finisher medal is a bottle opener and you receive a micro brew from a local brewery.  Not a bad way to end a race.  If you are interested in joining me at this event simply click here to go to their website.

The next one is the biggest commitment I have ever made to fitness.  I have signed up for the 500 Festival Mini Marathon in May.  That's right folks... 13.1 miles!!!  I am nowhere near prepared for this race currently, but I know that this amount of time is definitely ample for training with that magic word commitment.  Not only did I sign up for the mini itself, but I also signed up for the miler series (virtually) as a way of testing myself to make sure I can finish like I want to.  The miler series is a group of three dates with three increasingly longer distances (3, 6, and 10 miles).  Although I can't actually attend these sessions in Indy because one of the dates I will be hosting the Jaycees Spaghetti Run, I can complete the runs on my own on the same dates and submit my times through either e-mail or social media.  If I complete all three miler distances on the correct dates and complete the Mini I will receive an additional medal and shirt for being a "Mini Maniac".  I am nervous now about completing all of these, but I have paid my entrance fees and I am COMMITTED!!  Chris Day, my former band director and the reason behind my Truly Inspired post from early on in this blogging experience, is an ambassador for the Mini Marathon this year and I took it as a sign that this was my year to participate.  When you sign up you can add him as your ambassador if you don't have another person that inspired you to run the Mini.  See you all at the finish line!  You know you want to join me!!

What's the weight loss this week, right?  Well I weighed in this morning at 265.3 lbs. for a weight loss of 0.9 lbs. this week.  It's a loss and I am happy with it.  I think through my upcoming training that I am going to annihilate that number, but even if I don't I am not going to get discouraged.  Here's to commitment!  Find something you are passionate about and commit yourself to it.  Until next week... Food. Feet. Water. Repeat!!

Monday, September 7, 2015

Pounding the Pavement


Welcome back.  As I sit here writing this on Labor Day I am thinking back about the hard work I have put in to Re-Dan-imation this week.

After last week, I knew that I was going to be putting in some miles during the week. I managed to get out on the road a total of four times this week.  I am getting a little more stamina and I have gained just the slightest bit of speed ( if you wanna call it that).

After all the running I have done this week I took a well deserved break Sunday evening and went to a Labor Day party. We had fun watching the kids play in a tiny pool, sat by the fire, let loose a couple Chinese lanterns and had some great conversation. Not to mention a little food. Sorry to say I went over my calories for the day, but it was worth it.

Having drank more water this week, having increased my mileage, and only going over my calories on one day I was interested to see what the scale said this morning. Survey says...266.2 lbs. for a loss this week of 3.1 lbs. that's give me a grand total of 28.1 pounds lost so far overall. I also dropped my body fat percentage by 0.2%. That is the number I would like to see continue to drop. I have a feeling that will continue as long as I keep my workouts continuing. I would like to thank those of you that commented on my post last week to encourage me. It definitely helped. Until next week... Food. Feet. Water. Repeat!!!