Back On The Wagon

Well it’s been way to long since my last blog so here we go. Since my last one I have ran two 5k races. I did well in both of them. The first one was May 9^th. I ran 24:59 and came in 11^th out of about 90 people and 3^rd in my age group. I got a bronze medal (my first ever performance based running award). I was so happy to get a 5k under 25 minutes. The other 5k was July 4^th. I thought about doing the 10k instead but I have been nursing a sore knee so I opted for the 5k. My time was 24:30 and I was 12^th out of about 90 people. I got 2^nd in my age group and got a pretty cool dog tag medal. 24:30 is starting to get pretty quick. It gives me hope that I might start getting pretty competitive at the 5k distance.

The July 4^th 5k was the kickoff to my official marathon training. That’s what this blog is all about now that I completed my ½ marathon. My next scheduled race is The Middle Half. It’s a half marathon in Murfreesboro on October 3^rd. Then it’s crunch time. I want to run a full marathon before the end of the year. Here are my 3 best options…

-Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon in Fort Oglethorpe, GA on November 14^th.

-St. Jude Marathon in Memphis, TN on December 5^th.

-Run Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, Al on December 12^th.

Currently it looks like I will be traveling for work the first 2 weeks of December, so I will probably be doing the Battlefield Marathon. Its limited to only 600 people so at least it won’t be as crowed as the Country Music Half. I am hoping to have a much larger sense of accomplishment after doing the full marathon. The half just wasn’t fulfilling enough. In regard to my knee soreness, I self diagnosed myself with an inflamed Iliotibial band. I took some time off and also purchased a Pro-Tec Iliotibial Band Compression Wrap. I have used it on every run since I got it and have not had any pain.

Finally, I am still working on losing weight and getting fit. I still teach spin class on Tuesday nights and fill in occasionally on other nights. I have settled in on the following workout schedule…

Mondays – Short Run

Tuesdays – Teach Spin Class

Wednesdays – Lift Weights

Thursdays – Short/Medium Run

Fridays – Lift Weights

Saturdays – Long Run

Sundays – Lift Weights

I am focusing more on my weight lifting currently. I am drinking GNC’s Amplified Muscle Meal after each weight session. I like the results I am seeing so far. I am getting stronger and leaner. My only concern is that my muscle gains will cancel out my fat losses. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I would like to lose another 10-15 lbs to make running that much easier.

Im Teaching Spin Class

Yesterday I taught my first spin class. I think I gave everyone a good work out. Also I get paid and I get free gym membership, so why not. It was a great workout for me. I pushed harder than ever and had to talk to the class the whole time!

And here are some pics from the Country Music Half Marathon.

Well...It's Over

The Country Music Half Marathon was yesterday. This entire blog's purpose was to document my journey to completing it. But fret not one or two followers of my blog, I will continue blogging under a different title. Yesterday was probably about 20 degrees warmer than everyone expected. The direct sun made it feel hotter. I found my corral at about 6:30 am. It was pretty empty and I did not see Paul anywhere. Brian and Jessie were in corrals farther back. I decided to go pee before the race and found a mile long line to use the bathroom. It was 7am when I finally got out. I quickly found my corral as they were starting the first group. Now it was packed! I squeezed my way around until I found Paul. It was already warming up quite a bit. Our corral moved closer to the line and we were off! We decided to keep with the 2 hour pace guy. After about 4 miles he was started to pull away. It was around then I realized I did not know where Paul was. I had slowed a bit, so I thought he was ahead of me. Around mile 6 or 7 I see Paul catch up to me. We run side by side until mile 10. At this point we were under 10 minute miles with just 3 miles left! I knew we would not get 2:00 at this point, but the time would still be good. And then I hit a WALL. My calves and hamstrings cramped. I had stretch them out every so often. I blame the heat. My last 3.1 miles were at a pace of 12:30. So my time ended up being 2 hours 16 minutes 53 seconds (2:16:53). And I placed 7,655 out of 22,279 finishers. Not bad for a guy who weighed over 340 lbs a little over a year ago. I am having quite a bit of pain in my right knee and my left foot, but its already feeling a little better today. Now on to my next challenge!

Split Times:
5k - 28:50
10k - 58:51
10 mile - 1:38:16
13.1 - 2:16:53

2 Weeks Later and 1 Week To Go

Well its been two weeks since my last blog, but more importantly, I am one week away from the Country Music 1/2 Marathon! I have been tapering my runs quite a bit and not dieting much. I have lost little two no weight in the past two weeks, but I'm ok with that. I want to be strong for the race. I have felt great on all of my recent runs. I will be shooting for a half marathon time of 2 hours. I don't think I will be able to get under that, but I want to get down as close to 2 hours as possible. I had a yard sale Friday and Saturday. It was successful, but I wore flip flops on Friday and my heels dried out. My left heel had a very painful crack in it right now. I hope I can get it healed by Saturday. I also need decide my next running goal beacause in a week my blog title will be obsolete.

Back to Normal

Well the past week would be best described as normal. A little spin class, a little weight lifting, alot of running, a little weight loss. Mix it all together and you got a normal week for me. Well normal as of the past few months. I ran 6 miles on Wednesday and Friday. Each one took about 55 minutes. Saturday skipped boot camp to rest my sore hip. I had gotten some new shoes from Fleet Feet, but developed hip pain after my first run, so I returned them and got a new pair of New Balance 1063. I have pretty much worn out my 1062 pair. Today I ran 12 miles in 2 hours and 10 seconds. I am feeling really good about the 1/2 marathon at this point.

Monday was the last weigh-in for the 11 week weight loss competition at work. I lost some more weight and won the competition. I lost 11.3% of my body weight during the competition on top of all I had already lost. I am still hoping to be down 100 lbs from my starting weight by marathon time.

Oh and I tried frisbee golf for the first time today. Loved it. I will probably be playing more in the near future.

Hawaii Runnin'

Oh man it’s been way too long since my last blog. I was working in Hawaii for 2 weeks, and I am just now getting back into my routine here at home. Luckily the navy base I work at in Hawaii has a fitness center and a nice running path. The first week I was in Hawaii, I got 3 runs in. The first was 4.5 miles, then Paul showed up. We ran 6 miles and then 10 miles that weekend. The 10 miler was brutal. The temperature was about 90 degrees, the humidity was like 85% and it was noon. We had our work cut out for us. Around 8 miles my hydration ran out and I was struggling to keep going. My body was screaming for me to stop. At about 9.25 miles I gave in. I had to walk. I walked for a minute or so and picked it back up to a slow jog. My pace ended up averaging about 10:30 a mile…its usually well under 10 for my shorter runs. The next week we only got one run in Hawaii. It was supposed to be a quick 6 miler. At about 4 miles my stomach rumbled. Not good. I told myself I could hold it another 2 miles. There were no buildings between me and the fitness center. Just bushes and trees. Over the next mile the ‘urge’ got worse. Finally I had to veer off into the woods and find some cover from Paul and the other runners. I guess it was bound to happen at some point. So I emerged from the woods with one less sock than I went in with and continued on my way. I still got a 10 minute pace. Paul and I took the red eye from Hawaii Thursday night and arrived home Friday afternoon.

We had planned to run the 10k at the Manchester Rec Center at 8am on Saturday morning. This was looking like a tall order, but we still showed up for the race. The race took us around the rec center, fairgrounds, and the older parts of Manchester. The course had more hills than I expected, but I did ok. My time ended up being 55:48 which comes out to be exactly 9:00 a mile for 6.2 miles. I was jetlagged, but still very happy with my performance. It seems a 10k draws more serious runners than any 5k I have been to, but I still finished close to the middle in terms of overall rank. The next day I ran another 6 miles. After running a 10k the day before I did not feel up to running 10 miles as I had planned on my training schedule.

That brings us to the current week. Tuesday I ran 6 miles around the rec center. My time was 57:50. I rested for 20 minutes and then did 1 hour of spin class. My calf cramped in the first 5 minutes, but I was able to pedal through it. Thursday I was going to do the same thing, but did racquetball instead of spin.

And finally as for my weight loss. I lost about 5 lbs while I was gone to Hawaii. That brings my total to about 90 lbs. I have gone from 340 lbs down to 250 lbs. Only 10 more lbs until I hit the century mark. Also, I am only 25 lbs away from my final goal of 225 lbs. Although my actual plan is to hit 220 and build back up to 225. Once I am at 225 I will focus on maintaining that weight, reducing my body fat, and continue running.

Head Shaving

So I woke Friday and was pretty sick. I drug myself into work because I had stuff that had to be done. I managed to make it through even though I was fatigued, coughing, and had some pretty severe aches. I got home and sat on the couch for minute. Then I decided I would go to the rec center and try to get as much of my run in as possible. I really wanted to get my 5.5 miles. I started my first lap and every single step hurt my entire body. Those aches were not going away. I decided to tough it out even if I had to go really slow. 5.5 miles is 66 laps. On lap 53 I hit a wall and decided to walk a lap. I thought I could run the rest of it. I ran one more lap and felt horrible. I stopped at 55 laps and 47 minutes. That was a pace of about 10:15. After I took a break I did just a couple upper body exercises. I got home and just crashed on the couch. I felt a little dizzy and light headed. I watched TV for about 2 hours and then realized I actually felt better. So I set my alarm so I could do boot camp the next morning...

So I woke up the next morning and felt alot better. I would say I was about 85%. I pushed it pretty hard in boot camp, played a couple racquetball games, and lifted weights. As the day progressed I started to feel sick again. Aches and pains started coming back. So it is about this time I started thinking I wanted to go get my head shaved. I have been wanting to do it for awhile and had planned to do it Sunday, but figured what the hell. I am not doing anything. So I went to the barber and told them to shave me with no guard. They were more than happy to oblige. So when I got home I got out my razor and finished the job. Now I have a nice shiny dome. So that night I met my friend Chase in Murfreesboro. We grabbed some dinner at Moe's then went to Gentleman Jim's for pool and darts. When we walked out shortly before midnight we were surpised by the crazy amount of sleet/snow/ice covering the ground and my truck. It took me well over an hour to finally get home. But at least I made it.

Today I awoke to find more snow on the ground than I have seen here in awhile. So I took the camera down to the park to snap some pictures. I needed to run 9 miles today, but it was too messy to run outside, so at 2pm I dorve to the rec center. They are only open from 1-5 on Sundays and the roads were all clear by noon. Well of course they are closed. I was pissed. Give me a freakin break. Dejected, I drove back home. I guess I will have to go in the morning before work to make sure I make weight for my competition...

I Better Not Get Sick...

Warning: I am not proofreading this post.

Well I am not feeling so hot, but here is the rare and elusive midweek blog. Monday I weighed in for my weight loss competition and was down 4.5 lbs from the previous Monday. That puts me at 80 lbs lost since February 2008 and almost 24% loss in body weight. Only 20 more lbs until I reach the century mark. That evening I played racquetball, went to spin class, and then lifted weights. I felt pretty good.
Tuesday was the health expo at work. They started it off with a 5k so I ran in it. I came in at 28:53, but after checking gps watches and google maps, we decided the course was about 3.26 miles. So after a little correction, I ran a 5k in about 27:30. That evening I did racquetball and spin class.
Wednesday I had 3 tournament racquetball games. I did not do so well. I was feeling sluggish and my oponent was damn good. After that, I attempted to run. I got in 2.5 miles to get my weeks total to 5.5 (where it should be). I then did a very short weight lifting session. I was feeling very drained.
Today (Thursday) I woke up coughing. I felt fairly awake, so I was hoping my body was fighting off whatever funk was trying to take me down. Tonight I played racquetball, and then during spin class afterward I really hit a wall. My back and neck were in pain. And not from working out. Just aches really. My legs felt week and I was coughing. I managed to get through class (though I was a little light headed) and came home. I really hope I do not get any sicker. Making weight this Monday will be difficult to say the least.
Tomorrow I hope to run 5.5 miles and then Saturday morning I want to do Joyce's boot camp at 8am. We shall see...

Weekly Blog...Apparently

Well another week has gone by. I feel like I made pretty good progress this week.

Monday - I weighed in and lost more weight. 2 lbs maybe. I can't really remember, but that put me at 17 lbs for the competition, and 75 lbs overall since I started losing weight about a year ago.
Spin class was a breeze.

Tuesday - Racquetball and then spin class with Don. My favorite class of the week as usual.

Wednesday - Ran 5.5 miles. My time was 53:10. I was ok with that since I am just trying to do better than 10 min/mile. Weight training afterward.

Thursday - Racquetball then spin class.

Friday - I had a 5k on Saturday so I didn't want to run the planned 5.5 miles. I ran 1 mile in 7:50 then did weight training.

Saturday - Paws for a Cause 5k. I was expecting alot more people, but since they had a seperate 1 mile fun walk, only 17 people signed up for the 5k. After sizing up the other 16 people, I was actually worried I might come in last! So we lined up and the horn blew at 10am. We took off. After a short distance, I counted 10 people in front of me. So that meant there were only 6 people behind me, and I could hear thier footsteps. The 32 degree air was burning my lungs already. After about a mile most of the pack had disappeared ahead of me. I could see two people. I was gaining on the first guy. I passed him at around 1.5 miles. Then I sized up the next guy. At 2.5 miles we were going up a very long and steep hill. I passed him about 3/4 of the way up. So at this point I was in 9th place. And thats how I finished. 9th out of 17 with a time of 27:53. A little slower than the Preds 5k, but it was colder and I just didn't feel as motivated. The winner had a fairly slow time of 21 minutes and change. Later that day I got to hang out with my friend Jennifer. We went to Shelbyville that night to watch my friend Chase perform at the Courthouse Cafe. It was fun and I got to see alot of people I have not seen in forever. One person in particular I had not seen since 8th grade. Others not since high school. After his performance alot of us went to his house to hang out and play a little ping pong. Good times.

Sunday (today) - Today I ran 9 freakin' miles. It's the longest distance I have ran without stopping. I was a little worried about my shorts since they don't have a very good drawstring, but after jumping up and down I was confident they would stay up. Turns out I was wrong. After about 6.5 miles I feel them start to slide down. They are heavy with sweat and my under armor underwear is slick with sweat. A bad combination. So just when they are about to fall to my ankles, I grab them and pull them up. I repeat this process every 2-3 laps. Lesson learned on those shorts. I was shooting for 10 minute miles and finished with a time of 1:29:47. Just a hair faster than 10 min/mile. And now I hope I have lost weight for tomorrow's weigh in.

Has It Been A Week Already?

Wow, its been a week since my last post. Hmm well it was a pretty normal week I suppose. I did run less than normal so that I could do my best at the Predators FANGtastic 5k on Saturday. So yesterday I ran my 2nd 5k ever. It was alot of fun and had alot of runners there. My last 5k time was 29:02. So I set a reasonable goal of getting under 29 minutes. The race was pretty uneventful although I did hear some fall down behind me. I turned around and saw someone on the ground and people helping her. I pushed it hard and got across the finish line. I was heaving and close to puking. I checked my watch. It said 27:17. I was very pleased! My chip time agreed exactly. 27:17. So that is my new PR for the 5k. Here is the link to the overall results. I am #74 in the Male Age Group 25-29. I will also include a picture.

Weekend With Old Friends

The weather this weekend was awesome! I started Saturday off with Joyce's bootcamp. I did not like it nealry as much as last time. Since basketball took over the gym halfway through, we were forced to do the rest of class in the aerobics room. It felt to much like a normal aerobics/step class. I am not a fan of those. I probably won't be doing any more boot camp as long as its in that room. Then I went upstairs for an uperbody workout.

My friends Sharon and Mark came up from Chattanooga to hang out with me. They had never been to the Jack Daniel's distillery so we went down there and took the tour. It was fun. We hung out the rest of the day and caught up on old times. After the left around 10pm I drove to Shelbyville to hang out with some old friends. I discovered some awesome ping pong skills and became almost unbeatable haha. I left there about 2am and came home.

Sunday I went to Murfreesboro and met up with a good friend from college, Ashley. It had been a long time since we saw each other. Instead of grabbing dinner like we would have done in our past, we went to the greenway and walked while we caught up. We ended up walking 6 miles, and when she left, I ran the same 6 miles in under an hour.

Staying Home on a Friday Night

Well yesterday Brian, Paul, and I had a 1 mile race. I did not do so well haha. I started off in the lead trying to push the pace as fast as I could. My first lap came in at 1:40 which means I was on a 6:40/mile pace. Then I hit the wall. The next laps came considerably slower while Paul and Brian extended thier lead. My final time was 7:55. I have done better on the indoor track but under 8 minutes isnt bad for a guy who weighs 270+ lbs.

Today I had a 5 mile run. I started at my house and made a loop out of Hills Chapel and Hwy 55. My time came in at 48:20. I ran with Cytomax today and it seemed to help a little. I am glad the gym is reopening tomorrow. Its been closed the past 2 days. I am doing Joyce's 8am boot camp.

Tonight I have decided to stay home and get stuff done around the house. Pretty boring, but oh well. Tomorrow night should prove to be more exciting.

Oh and I ran across the race in the UK. It really makes a 1/2 marathon look like a walk in the park! I'll post a pic from it as well.

http://www.toughguy.co.uk/

Competitors brave water, fire and smoke during the Tough Guy Challenge 2009 at South Perton Farm on February 1, 2009. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Feeling Good

Well lets see. Monday I weighed in for my weight loss competition and only lost 1 pound last week. I was ok with that since I lost 7 lbs the week before and spent 1/2 of last week in Boston. Monday night I played 6 games in my racquetball tournament. 3 against one guy and then another guy I needed to play showed up so I played him 3 games also. I was pretty tired but managed to win 4 of the 6 games. Then I hit the weights.

Tuesday I did Don's spin class. It's getting pretty easy. Either I am getting in better shape or my body is just getting used to the spin class routine. Probably a little bit of both. Oh I did an hour of racquetball before spin class.

Today I ran 5 miles. I ran the first 3 miles with Brian and the last two by myself. I was concentrating on keeping a consistent pace shooting for 9:30 a mile. I ended up with a time of 48:01 or about 9:36 a mile and was pretty consistent throughout. I hit the weights afterward. I lifted pretty heavy and I am really starting to see real muscle definition.

Tomorrow Paul, Brian, and I are going to have a one mile race. This will allow us to set a good one mile benchmark to compare to in the future. Should be interesting to say the least.

End of the week

Thursday - Got my ass handed to me in racquetball. Had spin class.

Friday - Ran outside for 50 minutes. I assume I ran 5 miles or more.

Saturday - I showed up for Joyce's boot camp, but it was cancelled! I wasn't happy. I just shot some basketball and hit the weight room. I also went shopping a to buy new clothes since all my old cloths do not fit anymore.

Sunday (today) - Ran 8 miles in the wind. My total time was 80:50. Not too shabby, but I was having a hard time today. My entire body really did not want to cooperate. Also some creepy old guy stopped on the shoulder and blocked our path. As we got closer he motioned for us to come to the driver side. It looked like he had something in a bag. We ignored him and ran on the other side of his car. I looked back and saw that he was backing up toward us! I was like what the f**k is this guy doing? As I was getting ready to change from running to defending myself, he turned down a side road and disappeared. Tomorrow is my week 3 weigh in. After losing 7 lbs last week, I hope I can muster up a loss for this week.

60 Laps...

Well its been awhile. I think my last post was about my 5k on Sunday. So what has happened since then. Well I weighed in on Monday for my weight loss competition. I lost 7 lbs since the previous Monday. So I was pretty happy with that. Then I flew to Boston for a work meeting. It was supposed to last all day Tuesday and Wednesday. I was going to fly home late Wednesday. Well we got word of a large snow storm coming in Wednesday morning, so out meeting lasted 12+ hours on Tuesday so we could get everything in and we could fly out the next morning and hopefully miss the storm. So I we changed to an 8:45 am flight with a Baltimore layover. We get to the airport early because it was already snowing. As soon as I walk in, the airport I hear my name being paged. I get through security and to my gate. They get me onto the 7:15 am flight to Baltimore and the plane is supposed to continue on to Nashville. Even better I thought! Then I realize everyone has boarded the plane. So I know there is nothing but middle seats. What I did not anticipate was the flight attendant taking my carry-on away from me since there was "no more overhead space." I did not check any bags for this short trip. I had my mp3 player, cell phone charger, magazines etc in my bag. Now I had nothing. It was whisked away and put under the plane. So I take the last middle seat on the plane. And I sit there miserably as I listen to the pilot announce that Baltimore was not accepting any more flights and that we would have to sit there at least an hour before we could take off. Well shit. An hour and a half later they tell us to get off the plane (I took the above picture after I got off). I ask for my carry on. They say they cannot get it for me and I will have to pick it up at baggage claim. In Nashville. It is then my cell phone beeps to let me know it is about to die. If only I had a charger....

So after and hour in the terminal they finally reboard us, but no one has a boarding pass. So they have to check everyone's ID on a list and board us in proper order. So I get stuck in yet another middle seat. We finally take off after another 30 minutes of misery and land in an icy slushy Baltimore. Everyone gets off the plane except the Nashville passengers. Finally I get to move to a decent seat. I take the nice roomy exit row. The flight to Nashville was half empty and uneventful. I get off the plane, wait patiently for my carry-on to come down the belt and I come home.

I get home fairly exhausted. Today is supposed to be a 5 mile training run. Since I did not work out any the past 2 days, I force myself to go to the gym. I hit the track and start running. I have 60 laps. I decided not to push the pace and just run to the music in my headphones. I checked my split times for each of the 5 miles. They were... 9:00, 9:20, 9:40, 9:40, and 9:20 for a total of 47 minutes. Actual time was 47:04. Then I hit the weight room for a little upper body workout.

I dont feel like proof reading this entry, so just overlook any typos.

My First Race

Well today I had my first race. It was the Black Horse Pub 5k. It was organized by the Clarksville Running Club so I did not know what to expect. Brian and I got there and got registered. We were given a number and just waited for others to come. By race time there were probably 40+ people ready to run. We drove around a little to check out the course, especially the insane hill at the end. The run went pretty well I was around 17 minutes at 2 miles and felt pretty good. We had to cross a pedistrian bridge twice which mean running up and down stairs which slowed me down some. Then came the last hill. I ran most of it, but eventually I had to walk some of it (as did everyone else I could see). Then I finished strong with a time of 29:02. Not as good as I had hoped, but given the cold and the terrain, I was happy with it. Especially since I beat over half the field. I think 10-15 people were ahead of me. It feels good to get my first race under my belt.

And here is the map and elevation profile of the run...

Boot Camp

Well yesterday was Joyce's boot camp. It was interesting to say the least haha. It was a good workout though and welcome break from spin class. I will probably do it again next Saturday. I am a little sore today from it (or racquetball). I am running the the Black Horse Pub 5k today so I hope the soreness doesn't slow me down. I am interested to see what my time will be in my first actual race.

Only One There...

Well when I got to the gym there were a few people there. Its Friday night so its usually a slow night. I ran 4.5 miles on the track. My time was 41:49 so I shaved a whole 4 seconds off my Wednesday time haha. After my run I hit the weights. I was doing some cable crosses and realized I was the only person in the weight room. I dont think that has ever happened. It was a strange feeling. Especially given how crowded its been since the New Year. It made me feel dedicated! And I am planning to be back there at 8am for Joyce's boot camp... I wonder how that will go :-/

Its Not Easy Being The Fat Kid

Well today I broke my bike in spin class. Not a strap or a knob or anything like that. I broke the entire crank arm and pedal right off. Broken metal. I was the only person in the front row and about 20 minutes in Leslie had us cranking our tension up and standing. I was determined to push as fast as I could. Then all of a sudden *snap*! I was standing on the floor with flashbacks of my youth when I would sit in chair and break it. So did I run out of the room sobbing? No I calmly moved my towels and water bottle to the bike next to me and picked right back up. I was really hoping this bike would not break...now that would be embarassing. Well I pushed hard and made it through class. We were listening to songs from the new Metallica album so at least the music was good. I also played some racquetball before spin class. I beat one of the veterans in a singles game so I was happy with that.

Getting Faster...

Well today was my 4.5 mile training run. This is the 2nd week of 4.5 mile "short" runs, so I was hoping it would be a little easier. So I decided to push for a good time. My first mile was ran in 8:30 and got slower from there. I ended up with a time of 41:53 or a 9:18 pace overall. I am pretty happy with that. Especially considering a couldnt run a mile in 10 minutes a few months ago. I followed up my run with an upper body workout. Then I went to Andrew's to play a little poker. It was a cash game and I turned $5 into $18. Just call me High Roller haha! Well I am up later than I wanted to be. Good night.

P.S. In case this blog is used as evidence against me, the dollar amounts refer to Monoply money.

Big Day

Well today was a big day in American history...why you ask? Becasue I went to spin class thats why. Im pretty sure some guy got inaugurated to, but whatever. More importantly, I had a good workout in spin class and Don played music from the CD I brought in. His music gets me pumped up more than in any of the other classes. Especially when its my music haha. I'm feeling pretty good about my run tomorrow. I will run 4.5 miles (probably inside) and push for a good time. And probably get an upper body workout in if I have time. Im playing poker with some friends afterward. Guess thats it for tonight...YAWN

Quick One

Hmmm in a nutshell....I lost two pounds last week, had an easy time at spin class and did an upper body workout. Short and sweet.

Elevation Profile

Oh here is today's elevation profile...

Redemption

Well today is the day for my 7 mile run. I geard up in tights and my fleece and went outside. It was much warmer than I expected so I went back in and took off the tights. Such a nice day. I was hoping my easy day yesterday would help me through my run. Paul and I started at the rec center as usual and decided to just run west along hwy 41 until we hit 3.5 miles, and then come back. So we started running and pretty much immediately started up a long hill. I was hurting already. Just 1 mile and I was thinking that I was going to have a repeat of yesterday. Well I pushed through the hill and felt much better once the terrain leveled off. Kept a 10 minute pace going for awhile and turned around at the 3,5 mile mark. Coming back it was more downhill so the pace felt ok. Around 5 miles I got some mild stiches but they subsided. At a little past 6 miles we were going up a hill and I got the worst stitch in my side. It hurt and I slowed down for a minute maybe, but I crested the hill and stitch went away. I stopped my watch at the 7 mile mark. The time was 70:07. I was very happy with this. I have come such a long way from not even being able to run 1/2 mile on the indoor track. And I definitely redeemed myself for Friday's performance.

Yesterday...

Well yesterday I decided to take it a little easy after my subpar performance on Friday. I went to the gym and just did a little upper boday weight training. Then I had lunch with my parents in Shelbyville. Went to Murfreesboro to use my $50 Dick's gift card. Then went to Publix for Clif Bars and other stuff I cant find in Manchester. On the way home, I found out some friends of mine were going to the Predators game in Nashville, so I called my friend Brian to see if he was up for going on short notice. We got there without tickets and managed to get lower bowl tickets for $25. Too bad the Thrashers scored like 5 points in the first period. The Preds lost 7-2. Awful. Today is supposed to be a 7 mile run. We'll see how that goes.

Overestimation

Well today was the first games in my racquetball tournament. I play a different person each week and each time we play 3 games and the total number of points goes toward your tournament score. So today I played Mark. The last time I played him I won, but he was a little tired. We were both fresh today and he brought his A game. He won the first game 15-7, but I managed to win the second game 13-15. The final game was Mark's 15-10. Oh well.

So today I was supposed to run 4.5 miles, and I though it would be no problem to do it after racquetball. I mean I breezed through that same distance on Tuesday. I even decided I would push myself to see how low I could get. I started running at a 9 minute pace. After about a half mile my quads and calves felt really tight. I hit one mile at exactly 9:00. I was hurting, but I was determined to keep pace and push through it. After 1.5 miles I was hurting. My legs felt like Jello. This is when I first started to think I wasnt going to make it. At 1.75 miles I broke down and decided to walk a lap. Then I started to run again and felt terrible. I think I had some residual soreness from spin class the day before. And then an hour of intense racquetball was too much for me. I finished 2 miles in just under 20 minutes and called it quits. I will chalk this up as a learning experience. I will make sure not to do anything physically demanding before my scheduled runs. I definitely overestimated my abilities today...

Dinner Is In The Oven

Well I guess I will blog while I am waiting on my fish to cook. Trying to eat as healthy as I can. Workout started normal enough. Showed up at the rec center. Got my spin pass. Put my towel and water bottle on the bike I wanted to use (like normal) and then played raquetball. I played really well today. Won every game of singles and then played a game of cutthroat with two guys I never win against. Well today was my day. I won! First time I have ever beat these guys and have been playing them for awhile. I guess I have gotten better and have lost enough weight to really be competitive. So then I go to spin class 15 minutes early and guess what. My water bottle is missing, and someone else's bottle is there. So I ask a couple people and they know nothing. So I toss the towels on the floor and put the bottle on the floor. Then the guy comes over and ask what I am doing...apparently he thought the bottle and towel were left from another class. Give me a freakin break. Needless to say I got my bike back. Sigh...sometimes I feel like I am in high school.

Oops

I forgot to post yesterday. Oh well. Typical day really. Boring work. Ran 4.5 miles in 43:24 which I felt pretty good about. And then did some weight training.

It's Gettin' Cold Around Here

Today I did my hour spin class with Don. Definitely my favorite instructor. He plays hard rock and metal which gets me pumped up. After class I played (and won) a few games of racquetball. The weather is supposed to get down single digits soon, so I guess I will be running on the boring indoor track tomorrow. Oh well. I suppose its better than frostbite. On a random note, I have been thinking about getting another tattoo. Any suggestions?

Mondays are AWESOME

Well today was the first weigh in for my weight loss competition. I was trying to sandbag a little and gain weight last week. I lost 3 lbs from a week ago. Oops! Oh well I guess thats a good thing in the grand scheme of things. Today was day one of the 11 week competition that I organized at work. I hope everyone does well. My workout today was spin class and upper body weights. Spin class is getting easier and earier. I will assume its because I am in better shape and not because the instructor was hungover from the holidays haha. I need to find a balance between losing weight, but also building running endurance. Should be an interesting 11 weeks.

First 6 Miler

Well this weeks long run was 6 miles. It was supposed to be 6 miles last week but I was sick and only managed 4. So today I was determined to get 6 miles in. I ran with my friend Paul through Manchester up and down some fairly intense hills in sub freezing temperatures. After about 4 miles I started to fall behind his pace, but I did mange to keep running all 6 miles and got a time that was right at 1 hour. Maybe 2 minutes behind Paul. The run was tough, but I felt pretty good afterward.

Tomorrow also marks the first day of my weight loss competition. I organized one for my building at work to see who can lose the biggest percent of body weight in 12 weeks. I have already been losing weight so I dont expect to win, but you never know...

Titanic Disappointment

Well the Titans lost...but should I have expected anything different from a sports team in Tennessee? Oh well. I watched Gran Turino tonight. It was interesting to say the least, but I did enjoy it. I did not work out today. I do have a 6 mile run tomorrow though (well today technically). We'll see how that goes...

Finally Friday

Well its finally Friday. The end of the first week back to work after the holiday. It was long one. I decided to run outside today since the sun was shining and it wasn't too cold out. But by the time I finished my 4 miles the sun was pretty much gone and it had gotten alot colder. My pace was a little over 10 minutes today. I just wasn't feelin' it. Also there was something creepy rustling around in the bushes as I ran by. No clue what it was, but I certainly pictured myself in a horror movie as I curiously looking into the bushes...

Is it still January?

Well I was 45 minutes early for spin class and it was already full. So no spin for me. I did play raquetball against a good group of guys and actually won every game I played. Did a little weight lifting and called it a night. Now its time to watch the National Championship game...as much as I hate to say it... Go Gators. Ouch that hurt.

Today's Training 1/7/09

Last year I could barely run 1/4 mile. Today I ran 4 miles in under 40 minutes. The indoor track was crowded with New Year Resolutions. Hopefully by Febuary in will thin out haha.

My first blog...

Well this is my first blog. I thought I start posting about my journey to the Country Music 1/2 Marathon in Nashville on April 25, 2009. I have been working out and losing weight since Febuary 2008 when I weighed in at a whopping 340 lbs! I am currently down around 285 lbs with a goal of 240 lbs. Below is a before and after pic showing my progress so far.