2 is the number of the day

2 is a good number for me today, I am another 2 pounds down and another 2 miles up. My wife and I jogged today for her first time since the baby. It was fun. I am now at 195 pounds, 10 to go to hit my final goal.

Pounds keep droppin

I have been able to stay at 199 for about a week and this morning I had a good surprise. I am down another 2 to 197. That means I have lost 13 pounds to date and I am a little over half way to my goal of 185. I had a good workout the other day, a 2 mile run followed by a 5 mile clip on the bike. Actually, it was 5.5 miles at 19:37, an average of 17 mph. I will post the run when I can but it was actually quite fast also at 8:30/mile.

I am thinking about going for another vegetarian stint this week, maybe 5 days. It is kind of time consuming though to cook 3 meals a day for 3 people and have them all want or need different things.

Today I think I will make a large batch of vegetable pocket pies and stash them in the freezer. I also need to make bread and I would like to make a few dinners to freeze so I do not have to kill myself all week.

I had a goal of a record 5K that I have not hit yet but I have only run one this year. I am not feeling great about ponying up the money for them at the moment. I need to put something on the calendar to work toward, my workouts are sporadic because I am working on the house constantly.

Veggie - Day 3

Day 3 went well, I had no problems sticking to the diet and still feel good. The big news is that I hit my first goal. I am now 199 pounds. I also checked my body fat percentage which is now at 17%, down from a high of 22.5%.

Breakfast:

Coffee, Oatmeal with flax seed, half bagel with olive iol

Lunch:

veggie pizza, penne a la vodka, beer

Dinner:

Spinach and cheese ravioli in marinara

Vegetarian Day 2

Today was a much better day than yesterday. Here is what I ate:

Breakfast:

Coffee
Oatmeal

Snack:

Cheerios

Lunch:

Veggie Burger

Snack:

Fried Okra

Dinner:

Pizza with broccoli, peppers, onions, and cheese

I feel like I ate plenty and ate well. I also went for a 2.33 mile trail run that really gave me a beating. I was able to use some different muscles jumping and sidestepping and dodging rocks and roots.

Lacto-Ovo Vegetarianism - Day 1

Today was my first day of going veggie. I am curious to see how it feels and thought I would try on 3 days at first and see what happens. It will certainly not be a lifestyle change but perhaps a plateau breaker. So, day 1 here is what I ate.

Breakfast:

Coffee
Fried Egg on 1/2 of an Asiago Bagel

Lunch:

Spinach and Mozz stuffed bread
Potato and Carrot soup
Beer

Dinner
Veggie Burger made with Chickpeas
Beer

I guess the real question isn't whether or not I was able to stay veggie but if I set out to do what I was trying to do. The answer is no, not really. I am looking to eat healthy. I made two major mistakes. The first is that I did not eat near enough calories today. My body needs 2800 calories just to maintain its weight. I might have taken in 1000 today if I am lucky, that is terrible. The second is obviously beer, and plenty of it. I had probably 3.5 beers today. I should limit that to 1, maybe 2. I will try to do better tomorrow.

A Slow Week

It has been a slow week for me in running. I have been very busy but I did manage to get an 8.5 mile bike ride in that was pretty good. I was pushing pretty hard and it was windy. I spent as much time as I could on the aero bar to get used to it and it was finally starting to feel confortable. Here is the route that I usually ride.




Also, I am at 200 pounds now. My first goal was to get under 200 so I am getting close. I have decided to try a vegetarian diet for a few days to see if I can break through. I think I will try 3 days starting tomorrow.

Run and Back on the Bike

Sunday I went for a pretty good run, I am still averaging aroun 9:14/mile on my runs but I have dropped weight to about 201 and am feeling a lot more coordinated. My lungs seem to have plenty to go all the time. My legs still get tired but I have extended my rund to the 3-4 mile range.



Today I really got back on the bike. I went for an 11 mile ride to the next town over to pick up some medicine for the dog. I averaged about 16 mph but it was a bit cold out.

A Crazy Week

Ok, the last week has been pretty crazy. On the 27th we had a baby boy so we were in the hospital through Sunday. I took a week off of work to spend with the family and then on Thursday was laid off. I have had a lot of time to run this week and looks like I will have more coming.

On Monday I went for a short run of 2 miles. I took my toddler and his library books in the stroller and ran him to the library to return the old books and get some new ones. So even though it was a short run I was pushing a good 60 pounds the whole time.

Tueday was a bike ride to the grocery and back again with the toddler in the baby seat. I have been spending a lot of time with him to get him out of the house.

Wednesday I went for a longer run, 3.4 miles. It felt pretty good. Here is the graph.



Thursday was another bike ride, this time to the park with the toddler. Then I found out I no longer had a job.

Friday I needed to go for a long run to relax and think. I put in about 4 miles along the water listening to my mello mix which consists mostly of Bob Marley. I have to say when I was looking out over the water and Bob kept telling me "Everyting would be alright" I felt pretty good. Here is the graph.

A little Behind in Mileage

So I am a little behind in mileage right now. I really have not been getting my runs in. As much as I try I am just busy all hours of the day. This past Friday and Saturday however I played in a Volleyball tournament so that was a lot of calorie burning. I was still sore on Tuesday from it and found it hard to move. I am feeling better today though and will run tomorrow. I am also going to pull the road bike out of the shed and get it ready for Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat rides. I am sure I will only get 1 or 2 in a week but I have to try.

Quick Pic From the Race

A Rough Week but a Nice Recovery

So I ran my 3 miles 2 Saturdays ago and then I had a couple weeks of traveling and an illness that ran the gamut of nose to sinus to throat to lungs. It was terrible and sidelined me for a while. So after about 2 weeks of very minimal running I was feeling demotivated. The cure of course for me is to race. Get out there and do something fun. Lucky me there are St Pattys day 5ks starting up everywhere and New Haven had one such event, the PLR Shamrock and Roll. I decided the night before to head down to New Haven and regain my motivation. It worked, it was a nice day and a fun race. There were bands on the course and Guinness afterwards. It was no steller performance but it was my second best 5k and more importantly I have successfully regained my focus.

The race was Sunday and already I have put a lift in on Monday, a lift and a run today and I am feeling great.

Saturday 3-Miler

Great Morning Run

I woke up this morning and it was 40 degrees, just beautiful. I decided to take advantage and sneak my run in before work. I blazed a quick 1.5 miles in 12:36. I know it doesn't seem that fast but it is about 1.5 min per mile of my normal pace. I just felt like moving and moving fast this morning. On to the details:

Ran with the little one again

Today was a bit colder than I expected. It looked nice out and about 40 but I guess it was 32 degrees. I tool the little one out int he jogging stroller again, this time I remembered to put a nice 40 pounds of pressure in each tire so it felt a little easier. Still, he is no infant anymore. He is still yelling "Daddy run, fun" all around the house. I am sure glad it was fun for him.

Sick Run Today

That was a rough run. I have had a lung and throat thing since the midle of the week that is just starting to loosen up. I was scheduled for 3 miles today but decided to drop it back to 2. Surprisingly, my lungs felt strong, it was the rocks on the back of my legs that just wouldn't loosen up. It must be the hour and a half of volleyball I played on Friday. Either way, it was a good run altogether.

Windy Run

Its blowing 50 mph gusts out there. I picked up the pace today because I really didn,t want to be out there long. It felt pretty good but what a nasty day.

First Stroller Run of the Season

Tonight was a lot of fun, I took the jogging stroller out for the first run of the season. It got up to about 43 degrees today so I thought the little man might want to go with me and give mom a break. I forgot to pump up the tires and they were completely flat. It was tough but I still managed to crank out 2 miles at 9:15 pace. Overall I am happy and feel good and I think he will want to go along on Thursday.

The Last Week

It has been a busy week since the last post. Although I was traveling Thursday through Sunday I did get quite a bit of exercise in. I got my Thursday run in in Annapolis. It felt good and I like the change of scenery. 1.25 miles done, 9 min/mile. Friday I headed into DC to go to a couple museums and the zoo. Overall I walked about 6 hours so that made up for the fact that I did not get a run in at all during the weekend. This week I got my Tuesday run in. I sneaked in a quick mile and half to my in-laws for dinner. It was another beautiful snowy night run. I averaged 9:16/mile for that run. I missed my workout on Monday and Wednesday due to being on the road but I did get a treadmill run in yesterday. The details are below.

Running for Travel

Today was a new experience for me. I had to get a run in and I had to put my car in the shop. The solution for me was to drop the car off and then run the 1.25 miles home. It was awesome. It is so much more fun running from point A to point B then to go for a loop or an out and back. I call it running for travel and not exercise and it was a lot of fun.

Cold Night Run

It was cold and it was dark out and it didn't feel great, but I did it.

Saturday Run - 2 Miler

It was a beautiful morning for a run, about 40 degrees and clear. There is still a bit of ice but for the most part it is melted. The run itself felt good, my legs were strong and my lungs were feeling great. It took awhile to settle in. I am still at the point where it takes about 1.5 miles until it starts to feel good but then I am done at 2 miles. I have found my favorite running song is "Road to Zion" by Damian Marley featuring NAS. It is kind of meditative but still has a good beat that seems to match my pace well.

A long Week

Well it was a very long week. I got up on Tuesday morning at 4:00 AM to head to Long Island. After a full day of appointments I drove through NYC and up to Saratoga Springs, NY arriving at the hotel late that night. Needless to say I missed my run on Tuesday. I did get the skiing in on Wednesday however in VT. I skiid for about 3 hours, blasting through close to 1800 calories which is good because it is hard to eat well on the road. I was pretty sore on Thursday and had to take off early to get to NH for another appointment. I didnt get my run in on Thursday either. I did get my workout in on Friday so overall not too bad for the week. I missed 2 runs and one workout but replaced them with an afternoon of sports.

Quick Update, Workouts and Weight Loss

I just got done with a quick workout. I am circuit training now every M, W, F starting last Wednesday. I am in week 2 of 16 weeks and am already feeling a lot stronger. I have purchased a pullup bar for the door frame and resistance bands. Both items are working out very well. As of Monday last week I was 210.5 pounds and this morning I weighed in at 208. 2 pounds gone in the first week is not bad, especially when I missed 2 of my 4 runs and 1 of my 3 workouts last week due to weather. I am expecting more weight loss by Monday of next week. The first goal is to get under 200 pounds. I will reward myself at that point. Now I just need to think of a good reward to work towards.

It looks like this week will be a lot of squeezing in workouts. I have a whirlwind tour or Long Island, upstate NY, Vermont, Massachusetts, and then New Hampshire before I finally head back home on Thursday. I dont think I will get my run in tomorrow but I am not going to sweat it because I plan on skiing for a couple hours on Wednesday afternoon (about 2400 calories burnt). I will get my 1.5 miles in no problem on Thursday morning unless I am too sore from skiing.

The main focus for this week will be eating well. It is hard to squeeze in meals and to make them healthy while on the road. Hopefully Subway will come to my rescue and I plan on packing some trail mix and fruit for snacks.

Until Wednesday,

Clint

2nd Long Run

I was becoming very antsy today and really wanted to get my run in. I missed 2 runs this week. I missed a mile on Thursday and one on Saturday due to weather. It has not gotten over 5 degrees in days and most of the time with the windchill it is negative. I have decided I am not joining a gym because I dont need to pay all that money when I will be running outside no matter what within a month. Onto the run:



So here I am, it has finally warmed up to 19 degrees. Its cold but at least we are in double digits. I look out the window and on top of the snow, on top of the ice layer, another layer of snow is coming down and has put a nice inch of powder across everything.



What did I do? I did what runner's do. I laced up and hit it. It was the greatest run I have had in a long time. I felt perfectly free, only my footprints on the ground. The snow was soft underfoot and so my legs felt strong. Somehow my lungs held out and I cranked out a great feeling 2 miles. I dread my rest days now. I will be traveling all week so my Tuesday and Thursday runs will be treadmill work at the hotel most likely.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Whew, man is it cold out there today. I guess it is about 30 degrees right now, just got back from the maiden voyage of my Nike+ system. It was a lot of fun but my lungs are burning something fierce. They don't clear the roads off here very well so I ran on a mix of snow, ice, icy snow and a little bit of asphalt. As is started off my left ankle was painful with every step. It loosened up though about half a mile in and my lungs were just dying. I figured it was the cold but according to my Ipod I ran the first mile at a 8:03 pace, a lot faster than I should be running. I should be around 9:30 - 10:00. I guess I was just excited to be outside.

The Truth is Ugly

Well I am a little down now. I decided that it was important to chronicle my progress so that I can look at it weeks down the line and use it for motivation. I took a few pictures of myself with my shirt off fully intending to post them to the blog but I have to say they are not going public. Maybe at the end when I have an after photo I will feel more comfortable putting up the before. I am going to go have some lunch and then go for a run this afternoon.

Week 2

Well I am all set for week 2 of my running. I missed my mile run on Sunday last week due to inclimate conditions(and I got locked out of the fitness center). I will have to figure out another back up plan so that I can still get my runs in when it is too icy out (it often is in New England). The major development is that I bought myself an Ipod over the weekend so that I can use the Nike + system. I have been curious about it for a while and I though it would be motivating to have the Nike widget on my page. I picked up the silver 8 gb Nano. I still have yet to get an armband, nike sensor, and pouch so that I can connect it to my non-nike shoes.

First "Long" Run

I completed my first long run this morning. I was geared up to go outside but it was 19 degrees so I felt my lungs were probably not ready for that. I went once again to the treadmill for a 2 miler. I call this my long run which to me is a little sad but I am still building from nowhere so I am not going to push too hard too quickly. The good thing is I fell back into it pretty easily and the 2 miler felt much better than the first mile I ran this week. I still feel like I have a way to go though. 2 miles at 10:30/mile is a long way from running 5 miles at 9:30/mile pushing a stroller.



This is last summer (I am the bald one.)

Second Run - 1 mile

After having a horrible sleep in the hotel last night (really dry air) I got up this morning dreading running. I felt like crap from hacking and coughing all night. I chugged a lot of water and dragged myself down through the lobby to the fitness center. After walking for a few minutes I began my run. The first .25 mile was not feeling too good but lucky for me someone left the TV on and the movie Bedazzled was playing. It is not a very good movie but it doesn't matter does it, Liz Hurley in the red dress was enough to keep my mind off the running.




After about half a mile I was falling into a good rhythm and by the time I hit the mile mark I was still feeling strong and ready to go more. I stopped as not to overdo it and walked a little more to cool down. Overall it was a strong 10 minute mile and I felt exponentially better than the last one.

First Run

You have to start somewhere. I ran my first mile in a few months on the treadmill tonight. I had wanted to run outside but waited too long today and then we got hit by an ice storm. So I walked a quarter mile at 4% incline and then started running. I ran a 10 minute mile with the last .1 mile at about 85% effort. It felt pretty goof to be running again. I have another one on Thursday morning. I will be up in NH but am staying at a hotel that has a fitness center so I should be able to get it in on Thursday morning.

The Goals

2009, the year of the marathon for me. I want to start off with a quote:

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars." - Les Brown

I have set the lofty goal this year of running a marathon. 26.2 miles is my moon. I have set up my training schedule through October. I have every day mapped out and tomorrow I set out on my first run, a mere 1 mile. You have to start somewhere. On to the goals:

March 2009: 5K PR
Currently my PR is 00:27:28. I want to hit 00:25:00.
May 2009: 5 Mile PR
My current is 00:48:14. I want to hit 00:40:00.
July 2009: Run a 10K
This would be my longest distance race.
September 2009: Run the New Haven Road Race or Philly Distance Race(half marathon)
20K would be the longest distance to date
October 2009: THE MARATHON
First choice is the Marine Corp Marathon, second is the Hartford Marathon

Those are the goals, as we go on I will keep them in full view on the blog and continue to work toward them.