Birthday Run Carnage Report...

Well... I didn't make it the full 29 miles like I had hoped to, but I did run a very, VERY hilly 24.

I also learned a very valuable lesson early on in my run. Shit happens... especially when you down a probiotic drink right before you start running! Thank God for porta potties! If there wasn't a house being built 30 down a intersecting road this story would have a very shitty ending. Pun quite intended!

I haven't posted about my new favorite drink, Kombucha with Chia seeds. Mmmm... more on that in a post to come.

But any who... it was a very good run, a great way to spend my birthday! Then to make my day even better! My awesome wife and mother in law cooked one of my favorite meals! Fried eggs and bacon sandwiches... Mmmmm Mmmmm!!! Topped that off with a massive glass of chocolate milk!

Perfect way to end a really good day! Well.... there's some special mommy daddy time to hopefully end it later on, but that's not going to be discussed here!

Birthday run!

I feel like a virgin with a drunken prom date. I'm excited, yet a little nervous. 

Next Wednesday I will celebrate my 29th birthday by attempting to run 29 miles. My new job gives you a floating holiday to use on your birthday. Most employees probably use it to sleep off a hangover. I'll be using it to run my age in miles. 

I think there's something wrong with me. 

And, just like that prom night virgin, I'm afraid my party might abruptly come to an early end. I'm not sure if I can go for 29 miles right now. And even worse, I really don't know of a good place to attempt knocking out 29 miles in the middle of the week! The only place I can think of is The Woodlands. 

The Woodlands is the next city down the road from Huntsville, and its a real happening place. It's also home of several marathons and triathlons and such. So there are a lot of rich people that run and cycle often. Being rich has its benefits. For example, they get nice wide sidewalks on damn near every street. Everyone I drive through The Woodlands I see a dozen or so people out for a run. I choose this area to celebrate because of the sidewalks and the fact that I will never be far from a good source of calories and hydration. Plus I might get to have lunch with the wife if I time it right!

So while I'm really unsure of how things will turn out, I am very excited for the challenge. If I succeed and can actually move the next day, then I think I could actually be ready to run in the Rocky 50 mile come February!!!

League Line Road, Revisited...

I'm slowly adapting to hills.

Hell, I'm even starting to enjoy them!

The other day I ran home from work. Something like 7.1 miles or something like that according to the Garmin. But I was more interested in the elevation changes because of all the hills and valleys around here, so I used a new app I downloaded on my phone called "Map My Ride". Its called that, but it can be used for more than cycling. That's all in another post though. Maybe one day I'll get around to writing it...

Anyways. Map My Ride gives you a elevation profile of your run. This is about 90% of the reason I downloaded it. 

So here's my elevation profile from my run home from work on Tuesday. 

It's actually backwards from how it felt. I can't wait to run TO work now! Its mainly down hill from work here as you can see. 

Today I ran League Line Road again. This road has kicked my ass several times before, but today it wasn't bad at all. In fact, it was quite enjoyable! I think its because I just ran. I didn't try to beat any set time, or work harder on the up hills. I just ran. Nice easy stroll. Everything felt really good!

So here the out and back profile of L.L.R.

Pretty steep climbs and decents, but taking them easy seemed to make a world of difference. 

I really like running LLR. It's got a good sidewalk, and it's hilly. What more could you ask for!

I even decided to snap some pics during my run. 

This is from the crest of the first hill. You can see the 3 remaining hills in the background along with the nice sidewalk. Lake Conroe is about a mile and a half directly behind me. 

Very steep valley. You can't see the bottom from the top of either hill. 

This is the steepest climb, and you know it about halfway up. 

Another steep ass valley. Its fun gaining speed on the way down. You can really let the leg turn over and feel the gravity working in your favor for once!!

At the moment, LLR might be my Conroe replace my for FM 421, my old favorite running road. It's defiantly safer as I'm not running on a 2 foot wide shoulder down a road with notorious blind corners. 

After writing all this I realize that I should probably make another post regarding my opinion on running and training on hills. I'm no expert in the field, but if I keep running courses like these, I might get there quickly!

Chaser Williams' Intro to Distance Running

Ok, this is attempt 8 at writing this.... So bear with me here. 

Distance running is the simplest sport you can participate in. Running distance events is even simpler because your usually provided assistance with all your caloric, hydration, and medical needs. Well, maybe medical issues related to the mental issues of a person claiming to be "sane", yet wanting to run races where the mileage tallys up into triple digit range won't necessarily be addressed at the race by anyone that could be considered even remotely qualified. But I'm sure you could find someone more tire than you at the moment and proceed to have verbal diarrhea all over them with little resistance because, well... Their too tire to tell you to shut up, and it's probably taking their mind off of some part of their body that feels as if its either on fire, or is grinding tiny shard of glass where there should be a tendon or ligament. 

Did I mention I can be a little long winded? No, wait... That was in another draft. I'll go ahead and state it now...

Warning: I can be a little long winded...

Ok. Whew, that's out of the way now I can proceed. 

I have a few ideas in my head about distance running that I hold to be very important. And since someone that I actually care about asked me how to run a marathon, I'll go into a little more detail than my normal answer of "Just put one foot in front of the other until someone puts a medal around your neck.." Hopefully someone, somewhere, will find this helpful. 

I was asked specifically about a marathon. I've never ran a sanctioned marathon, but I have ran several training runs on the range of 25~27 miles, and one 50 mile ultra, so I know what it takes to cover the distance. So I will focus on that distance for the purpose of this post, keep in mind that the same guidelines apply to all distances really. 

The main thing to keep in mind is that it's all in your mind. It's all a mental game. A gigantic mind fu€k if you will. Yes, there will be physical pain / discomfort. You will have muscles that you didn't know even existed become fatigued and sore. You might develop blister that encompass the entirety of the soles of your feet. Or you might not have any of these problems and finish the 26.2 miles without a single problem. Either way, it's all in your head. The pain won't last forever. Blisters, raw skin, sore muscles, achey joints.... These things go away with time. The feeling of giving up because you thought a blister on your toe was going to ultimately end up in a double leg amputation doesn't go away, and neither does the regret or self-shame. I'm not in anyway saying that there aren't legit reasons to drop out of a race, I know there are. My buddy David just dropped out of a race the other day because he tried out a new pair of running shorts (more on this later) and ended up rubbing one of his testies raw. You gotta keep the boys safe. Not worth it. I haven't been there, but you could probably slap some vasoline or a bandage on it and keep going provided the damage wasn't too severe. Obviously if your dehydrated and can't keep anything from coming back out of your stomach in the form of high speed projectile vomit then you might want to consider dropping out. If at any point you take a fall and when you get up you actually think "is that a bone sticking out" more than twice, you might consider dropping out. If your so tired that you feel as if you can not force enough energy to take another step forward and your about to fall flat on your face, you need to suck it up and take in some calories. Remember the most important lesson you learned when you first watched "The Matrix"... There is no spoon. 

Ok, next...

Back in the "pain is temporary, pride is forever" section I mentioned David's unmentionables. There was another reason for that aside from comic relief on David's behalf (besides, that would have been a short joke...). And that's the all to important rule of "NOTHING NEW ON RACE DAY". That means exactly what it says. If you've never eaten a banana before your long runs, don't start on race day because it will only give you the shits. If you never tie your shoes really tight, race day isn't the day to decide to try and cut off circulation to your toes. I will say that it's never a bad time to add lube, as there's always time for lube, apparently this tidbit of knowledge went over David's head. And yes, that was my short joke of the night. Your welcome. 

Ok. We have addressed 2 important topics that are pretty straight forward. Nothing is real, and don't try new things. Great!

Now let's discuss some actual training concepts / thoughts / ideals. 

I'm a HUGE fan of Phil Maffetone. He says that in order to be the ideal endurance athlete, you need to train your body to burn stirred fats as energy rather than depend on injested carbs. This makes total sense when you read into it more, and I'll leave that to you. I have multiple posts about it in my blog already, and I don't have all day to type this out. Basically you need to eat a cleaner diet, void of starchy, carb loaded, sugary, fake, and other wise very yummy foods and focus on eating nuts, meat, berries, fruits, veggies, eggs, and other natural foods. This will teach your body to live off stored fats because your not pumping it full of sugars that it will automatically convert into energy, therefore storing your fat for a time when it may be needed. This is how humans are wired. This is why 99% of us have love handles and big bellies. We're not eating right. 

The second part to Mr. Maffetone's thought process is that you need to train your body to work more efficiently in its aerobic state. To do this you need to spend more time in this state. To do that you need to run at a level that keeps your heart rate below a certain level. For me that number is 150. For the person that this long, rambling, often sidetracked, poorly written blog post, that's probably full of poor grammar as well, your ideal Heart Rate max will also be 150. There's a long complex way to figure out where your HR should be, but if I told you I would have to kill you. So go buy a heart rate monitor (I REALLY like my Garmin Forerunner 305), set the HR high level alarm to go off at 150, and start running. 

Oh, Phil Maffetone also believe that having sex is one of the healthiest things a human being can do, supports barefoot and minimalist running, and is all all around kick ass guy that has trained dozens of the endurance worlds top performing athletes. Did I mention he supports lots of sex? The man is practically a genius!!! 

Handsome devil ain't he?

So now you know how to turn your body into a lean mean fat burning machine. Cool huh? But what else can be done to make your first marathon experience even better?

Proper Running Form!!!

This is a touchy subject for some people. Most people don't like being told their doing things wrong, especially when it comes to something as simple as running. It should be one of the easiest, simple, relaxing things you ever do, but it seems as if very few people see it that way. If running hurts, your doing it wrong. Don't take this the wrong way. If you run long enough, or fast enough, you will experience pain. This is normal because your doing something that's not normal to your body. Its a foreign. Just like bad form is foreign as well. So, if you know that your going to be hurting from just running 26.2 miles, then why would you go into it running in a manner that will hurt you regardless of distance?

Here is where the taboo part comes into play. There is no "perfect" form that's universal between everyone. Everyone's perfect form is just as unique as they are. I'm a fairly evenly distributed fat guy. My legs are proportional as far as length is concerned. Other people have short legs, some people have legs that start at their arm pits. So how should everyone have the same identical running form? It's almost asinine to think they should. 

BUT.... There are something's that should be universal between all shapes and sizes. 

Land under your center of gravity! This is VERY important. If your landing in front of your center of gravity then your acting against your forward motion and just fighting a loosing battle. Plus your putting a lot of impact on your legs, this leading to injury. This is not to be read that your legs never go in front of your body, they should and do. And your foot might even contact the ground in front of your center of gravity, but it should not be "weight bearing" until it's under your COG. Keep your knees bent. According to the legendary Ken Bon Saxton, you can never bend your knees too much. 

Barefoot Ken Bob Saxton executing flawless form.... For him.... Its tricky, I know. 

I could go on and on about ideal running form techniques, and maybe half of what I was trying to say would make sense to half of the people reading it, and then only half of it would sink in. So since we're working in units of 1/8's now, I'll just summarize by saying take off your shoes and see what happens. 

Seriously. I know I sound like a Koolaid drinking barefoot running cult member, which I proudly am, but it really works. 

Go find a nice hard, clean, flat surface like a good cement sidewalk or road, and run half a mile or so. Just don't over do it. Your body will start correcting itself within just a few strides. Make a note of how things feel and how your moving. Listen to your body as it tells you how it's meant to move along the ground softly and quietly. Notice how your now easily gliding over the ground, feeling like your barely leaving a trace that you were once there. In shoes I feel like I'm destroying things as going about with reckless abandon. Barefoot I feel like I'm one with the surface I'm running on and that together we can go on forever. 

Damn.... Maybe I had a little bit too much Koolaid there, went all hippie-fied out for a few minutes there... I feel like I need to go kill an animal and pay my taxes to make up for that overdose of free spirited thinking above. 

But really, just try it. I'm not saying you can't ever run in shoes again, but I'm pretty sure you will quickly rethink why you spent as much money as you did on the shoes your currently running in when all their doing is masking sloppy form as encouraging bad habits. 

I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of things, like how far you should run in your training, what kind of workouts you should be doing, and other important stuff like that. But that's all secondary to the basics, which I feel I've listed above. If I think of anything else that I feel is important, I'll just make another post. 

Good luck, and good running!

Rocky 50 2014...?

Its not sold out, I've got 3 months, and the worst that could happen is that I DNF...

My finger is on the trigger, I've got the bosses permission, the target is in my sights.... If I take the shot and miss, no biggie. But if I hit the target then... Well... Hell I don't know what happens if I actually manage to finish the race, but it would be very kick ass!!!

Success!

Im loosing weight!

HELLS YEAH!!!

I've went back to a fruit / veggie only until dinner type diet again. Lots of Fugi Apples, Grapefruits, Oranges and Strawberries. 

I even added a new fruit today that I've never seen before!

A PUMMELO!!!

Talk about a cool fruit! And yes, it is THAT big! In fact, here's a comparison shot between a regular orange, a large grapefruit, and the Pummelo...

The Pummelo is supposedly the daddy to the Grapefruit. I unknowingly had taken a family poitrait in the above picture. The Pummelo and the Orange for a little tipsy one night (I would imagine Tequilla was involved...) and 9 months later (or the next fall...) little baby Grapefruit came out. Grapefruit was a little bitter about being a bastard son. I mean, whoever heard of a Pummelo anyway?

Ok, now that that's done...

I had a red Pummelo, which is supposedly the more bitter variety and I thought it was quite sweet. Especially when compared with the Grapefruit. 

But man! Talk about a pain in the ass to eat!!! Geevus!!!

Its segmented like any other citrus fruit, but in between the actual edible fruit part is a layer of... Leather? Some very bitter, tough, hard membrane. Here's a picture of it!

And here's a cross section view. 

Of course, I saved the seeds. I figure if I can grow my avocado tree to over 7 foot tall now, I can maybe grow a Pummelo tree? Right?

Inner cleansing

So far this week I ran a double on Monday, 3 in the morning and 3 in the evening, then 3 Tuesday morning, and that's it. I didn't run Tuesday evening, or Wednesday at all and I probably won't run any today (Thursday). And it's not because of a lack of time or want...

It's because in afraid I will shit in my pants. 

On top of eating healthier and running again, I've decided I need to do an inner cleanse to clean out all the toxins and waste that's just sitting in my bowels taking up precious real estate, adding to my protruding gut, and making me feel like crap in general. 

And it working!!!!! Every hour to 2 hours the urge hits and I go speed walking, cautiously, to the nearest bathroom. The whole time hoping and praying that it's not occupied, and that I make it in time! 

Luckily the later of the 2 hasn't become an issue yet! Whew! 

But I haven't been running because I don't want to kick start some action and be stranded without a bathroom within a few seconds of accessibility. I mean, I consider myself a runner and all, but I'm not THAT guy...

Luckily this shit is working (no pun intended...) because my stomach is getting flatter and in pretty sure I'm loosing weight, and I'm feeling better. When the initial "excitement" goes away I will resume running again. 

And it starts....

Geez! What return am I on now? 4? 5? Something like that. 

I really need to eliminate these large breaks from running. They kill me. There's always a legit reason for my months on end hiatuses (that is the correct plural form for hiatus, look it up!), from work to remodeling a house so that we can sell it and move, there's always been something. 

And I'm sure there will be several more "something's" come up in the future. That's life. But it sure does suck! Lol! 

Disney World was a blast! It's always fun to get away from the everyday hum drum of life and have fun with the family. I know I said I was going to take pics of my food... But I usually was about half way through stuffing my fat face before remembering that, so I got very few pictures. 

Speaking of fat face. I weighed in this morning at 197.1.... Eeek....

So I har some work to do! I'd like to say that I will be around 180 by my birthday, but who knows. That's 3 months away still, so it's definitely possibly. That only 17 pounds after all. A pound a week would pretty me pretty damn close. 

Oh, and I did run a smidge over 3 miles this morning at a new track that was just built a few months ago. Didn't really like it so I will continue running at the high school. 

Disney World!!!!!

Wheels up in 3 hours for Disney!

This is our second time to visit the most magical place in the world! We went last January and it was a blast! But since I was in the peak of my training for RR50, I felt guilty for rating terrible the whole time. 

This time around, I'm already in fat ass mode. So it's no biggie! 

Once we get back from Disney we (me, my perfect wifey, and my awesome mother in law) have all decided to get back on the Makers Diet bandwagon and get back into shape. So starting 2 Mondays from now I will be waking up at 4 every morning and knocking out a few miles. Then in the evening I will either run a few more miles, or go swimming or weight lifting at the YMCA. And when I feel confident with it, I will start running to and from work a few days per week. That's a 14 mile day if I just run there and back. Not bad! 

So I'm looking at a good increase in my MPW (Miles Per Week), and the change in diet for the better. I should be able to whip my sorry ass back into good running shape in a good month or 2. 

BUT.... For now I'm going to go enjoy my family at Disney World! I'll post pictures of all the great food after were done!

9-34-3013

It was a nice brisk 72 degrees this morning when I started up my little car, though if you had asked me I probably would have guessed it to have been in the 60's. 

Its funny how people, or at least me, perceive temperature. After months upon months of sweltering 100+ temps day after day, 70's are suddenly freezing. I debated coming back inside to grab a light jacket or sweat shirt or something. 

Since I started my new job last Thursday I now have a pretty set schedule. The time I get off in the evenings seems to fluctuate from day to day, but I know I have to be there at 6 every morning. So as a result I woke up at 4:30 this morning and ran a little over 2 miles. I wanted to run more, but I figured that I should give myself enough time to get ready for work with enough cushion for things to go wrong since I wasn't fully sure of how things were going to work out. 

But man did those 2 little miles around the high school track (took me 3 minutes to drive there!) feel good! 

And yes, I did drive there. Since I'm basically just now starting back, I'm using the Maffetone method 100% so I'm running by heart rate. To get to the track I'm required I climb 3 smaller hills and 1 massive hill that goes for a good 1/3rd of a mile and is steep enough for my little Mini Cooper to start at the top going 40 in neutral, and hit 46 by the top I reach the bottom. Keeping my HR down while climbing that beast won't be easy, I even feasible! 

My goal for tomorrow is to wake up at 4:00 so that I can get a little longer run in. 

Brick

I did my first brick style training session yesterday afternoon. It was different, that's for sure!

A brick is a triathlon training term for combining 2 different events into one work out. So for example, I rode my bike for about 8.5 miles, then ran 3 miles immediately after getting off the bike. 

It's very strange going from cycling to running. Your legs don't seem to want to move like they're supposed to. Instead they sort of mimic the same cycling motion. 

My legs were very tired afterwards, although I wouldn't say that either workout was particularly "hard", although I must say that hill climbs suck on a bike! And since there not a flat piece of land anywhere near the house, I was doing a lot of climbing.... I would rather run up a very steep mountain than bike over a small hill. 

I also picked up a new accessory for the bike. It's something I have been wanting for some time, just didn't feel like dropping the cash on it. 

Clip in shoes! Hells yeah!!!

And they really do make a difference! Your not just using your quads to force the pedal down to propel you forward, your also using your hamstrings to now pull the pedals back up since your foot is attached to the pedals. 

I was a little worried about busting my ass due to not being able to remove my feet from the clipped in position, but that never seemed to pose a problem!

So my next purchase for the bike will be a proper fitting, and a tri suit so that I don't have to change clothes to go running after I get of the bike. 

Oh! More great news, today is my last day with Metco, and I start my new job with Energy Alloys tomorrow! So my work hours will follow a pretty set schedule, and I'll be at the same place everyday. So ill be able to get into a workout routine, and start eating right for all my meals throughout the day instead of just 1 or 2. Very excited!

The Excitement is Mounting....!

I turned in my notice to my current job on  Tuesday. My boss told me to just write up my notice with my last day on it and he would let me work out the rest of my tenure, so I put my last day as next Wednesday. It was more like a 1 weeks notice than a 2 weeks... Oh well!

I will start my new job this coming Thursday. The company that makes their automated scanning machine I coming in on that Thursday and Friday to do some extensive training on their equipment, so I sort of figured that would be a great time to start. Seeing as how I will be training guys on how to use the equipment, I figured it would be a great if I knew how to use it myself. 

I'm not sure what my schedule will be these first 2 days due to the training, but after this week I will be on a set schedule.... For a week. Then we go back to Disney World!!! 

YAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!

After Disney, things should settle down, I will be back in a normal routine, and I will start running again and resume my training!

At first ill just start running around the neighborhood before work, and maybe grab a few miles in the evenings when schedule allows.  Since were members of the local YMCA, i have access to a 25 meter lap pool, so i will also start incorporating some swimming into my workouts! Then start getting my long runs in on the weekends after I've worked back up to it. 

On top of that, I will be able to start eating right again!

When I'm comfortable with it, I will start making my daily commute to and from work via my new bike. Then eventually I will start making the commute on foot! It's 7.17 miles away (yes, I've actually used my GPS and measured it...) so I figure a little over an hour to run there, and a little over an hour to run back. But if I could get to where I'm running to work 3 or 4 days a week, that's an additional 42 to 56 miles a week ONTOP of my weekend long runs! 14 miles a day if I ran both ways! 

PERFECT!!!!!!

Needless to say, I'm very VERY VERY excited about the opportunities that are about to open up in my life!

But I think the best thing about this jobs is the fact that I will be able to make it to all of my kids extracurricular activities! 

It's been awhile

Life has been busy. 

After the move to Conroe I remained unemployed for a few weeks, and during that time I got a few runs in, but nothing spectacular. Between trying to finish working on a house that was 2 hours away so that we could sell it, adjusting to the move, watching the kids, and becoming fat again I just didn't have the time to get many good runs in. 

Then I got a job.

Don't get me wrong, I actually love working. It's strange, and I think its genetic because both my father and his father were workaholics (as well as alcoholics...) that seemed to work 7 days a week, an usually 12~16 hours a day. 

That's not me though. I like my 40 hour weeks and a pretty set schedule. I like to know where I'm going everyday and how long I should expect to be there. 

My current job is the complete opposite of that. I'm performing call out work for a company where the office is anywhere from a 45 minute to an almost 3 hour drive, dependent upon traffic, from the house. I don't know where I'm going until about 4:00 the evening before, and I never know how long I'll be there. 

There is no schedule.... At all. Sometimes I get to wake up at 6:00 AM, other times I have to get up at 2:45 AM, and all times between. So getting into a running routine is, well... Impossible. 

On top of that, I don't work out of an office, so I can't really bring a lunch. Instead its usually a run through either a fast food joint, or a sit down lunch. Depends on the job. 

So no real running, poor dieting, and excessive levels of stress. 

But that should change soon! 

I interviewed with a company here in town earlier this week. It went good. Real good! I should get an official offer from them Monday or Tuesday. And it should be good! Real good! 

Best of all.... Ill have a set schedule at 40 hour a week, with a spot of overtime here and there. 

Even better?

THE SHOP IS 6.5 miles from the house!!!!!

I can run there and back everyday if I want! It's borderline perfect! 

Or, if I don't want to run, I can take my new toy!

I love it!

So hopefully, here in about 2~3 weeks, things will change and I will be able to get some damn good training in again!

Hills, facial hair, and trying to be healthy again!

Ill go in that order...

Conroe has hills. In fact, its proven difficult to find somewhere to run (outside of a high school track) that does not have elevation changes. 

That said, League Line Rd kicked my white ass the other day. 

4.6 miles, out and back, and not a flat spot anywhere! The road itself is a straight shot from the interstate to Lake Conroe, but the 4 persons wide sidewalk wiggles itself along the side of the road for about 80% of its length. Unfortunately (or maybe I should say FORTUNATELY...)  it stops just before the biggest, steepest hill of them all. 

I haven't hooked up our desktop yet (for those younger readers out there, that's what your grandparents owned back in the early 90's for a computer. Their big, bulky, and have separate components) so I don't have an exact elevation profile for this road just yet, but I did attempt to take a picture, and I drew my own elevation profile as well. 

The sidewalk is on the right, and you can see 3 or 4 of the hilltop peaks in the distance. Steadily dropping down further and further as they go. 

This is a fairy accurate portrayal of the elevation profile for this run. Yes, I'm running up a vertical wall. That happened. My pace was slow. 

If I can make a good habit of running this course often, hills shouldn't ever pose a problem for me again (unless I attempt the Barkley....)

  

Facial Hair. 

Since I'm unemployed, and an aspiring ultra marathon running barefoot hippie, I decided to go all natural with the facial hair and proudly display my white trash heritage. 

This is about a week and a half worth of razor-less glory! Duck Dynasty guys better watch out!

Trying to be healthy again. 

I've been trying to get back on path. I've been trying to get back in the habit of eating healthy (per The Makers Diet) but with the actual move, going back to Lumberton to clean the house, and all that junk, its been very hard. Ill do really good for a few days, then it will all go to hell and I just say screw it and go to the nearest gas station and grab a King Sized "Zero" bar.... Mmmm.... Zero bars.... NO! Must... Resist...

Need to eat more of these instead!

Mmmm..... Fruits and veggie smoothies... Much better than Zero bars (wtf? Did I just say that????)

But I have been running more than I had in the past couple of months. I've enjoyed the change of scenery and the actual elevation changes. I'm used to a speed bump being an "obstacle", now I'm running hills that are a steady incline for miles on end. 

Arghhh

Life is good!

 

Loosing weight!

We (my lovely wife and I) started The Makers Diet again this Tuesday. 

I'm excited!!!

Tuesday morning I weighed in at a nasty 196.6 pounds. I was down to 179.9 back on March 26th (day after our wedding anniversary... Maybe I burned some extra calories that night!!!), and that was after being on the diet for 11 weeks. So in 11 weeks I went from 203.6 to 179.9. That's 23.7 pounds in 78 days, or .303 pounds per day. 

I want to do it faster this time. Since I'm not working, I'm not going to be constantly bombarded by coworkers bringing cakes and brownies and donuts and the sort. I will be able to follow the diet much better this time. 

Something else interesting about last time we were on the diet, I lost the first 20 pounds in just 6 weeks. That's .47 pounds per day on average. And there were several cheat days in the mix there too. 

If I can average something like .5 pounds per day (somewhat doable I think!) then I could hit my goal of sub 170 at around day 53... But since I'm on day 3, and I'm already down 4.5 pounds to 192.2, I'm already ahead of the curve! Not that that means I'll hit my goal by day 53 (Monday, September 2nd...), or anywhere near it, but that the first little bit of weight is easiest to loose!

I did take some before pictures that I'm refusing to post anywhere until after I've lost some more weight so that I can show before and after pictures and the length of time between them. No weight loss supplements or anything like that will be used, just good dieting and a good exercise regiment!

I will measure specific body parts today (NO, not THOSE body parts.... Geez...) to set a baseline on where the weight is lost. 

Wish me luck!

Relative Temperature Chart!

I've been looking for an electronic copy of this for a long time now, and it just randomly shows up in my email inbox this morning attached to a local running organizations monthly email! 

How cool!!!

In case you've never seen one of these, or can't figure out how to read it, at the top it lists off actual air temperature going from left to right for the columns. Going vertically on the left is the relative humidity for the rows. You just find the row and column that fits your situation an can the deduct the relative temperature (or the "Feels Like" temperature). 

So, for example. Right now where I am in Conroe its 77 degrees F outside, and 98% humidity. Therefore... The chart doesn't go that low on temperature. Damn. Lets just say its 80 outside with 98% humidity (which it will be here in a few minutes I'm sure). That would mean that it FEELS like its more like 86~87 degrees outside. That's almost a 10% increase in temperature just due to humidity. 

Unfortunately, 77 is a bit unseasonably cool for this time of year. Normally we're looking at closer to 85 degrees at this time of day (8:00 AM) with 98% humidity. That would make it feel as if it was between 103 and 108 outside.... 

Not egg frying temperature just yet. But we're getting there! 

On a side note, I have started doing a little training again. I've ran a few 5K solo runs. So not an awful lot of volume, but I'm getting there. We're actually still trying to move! The relocation company has been dragging their feet, so we haven't officially moved yet although we're now spending the majority of our time in Conroe. 

So, until next time.... Stay cool and keep hydrated!

OUCH!!!

2 weeks ago I managed to barely escape breaking both of my legs. Instead of breaking them, I just hurt them really really bad. You would think that I would know better then to try my luck on a trampoline by now!

I was teaching my son, Preston, how to do a front flip, and he's almost got it down! He's almost landing on his feet now, which is very exciting.  Realizing that he's almost got that down I decided it was time to introduce the back flip. 

I did 3 or 4 of them with no problems and the. Said "ok, watch this Preston! It's my last one, and its going to be a big one! So get ready!"

Yeah... It was a big one alright... I found myself coming down in the springs and the frame on the side of the trampoline. I knew that if I landed on my feet I would most definitely shatter multiple bones within my feet and just be all out pissed off. So I decided to attempt to fold my legs under my body and land more on my right butt cheek / hamstring area since its pretty beefy (fat...) in that area it might be able to absorb impact better. 

I wasn't fast enough and instead came down on my shins. OUCH!!!! My son started freaking out, along with myself. The pain was quite immense, and I was sure that I had just broken both shin bones clean in half. I grabbed the trampoline and pulled myself erect and started hobbling my way to the house. Although it hurt something fierce, I figured that since I could put weight on them that they weren't broken. 

My caring wife insisted that we go to the hospital, but I declined saying that the only thing broken on me was my pride. 

There wasn't any bruising at first, just lots of swelling. LOTS of swelling. I had an area on my left leg about 6" long that was raised a good inch and a half high. 

Now for the good stuff. Here's some pictures in chronological order....

Left leg the next Monday (4 days later) there's some bruising and swelling. 

Right leg / ankle the same day. Lots of swelling and a little bruising. 

Here's the right leg / ankle the next day (Tuesday / day 5)

And the left leg same day. 

Here's a few days later. I think it was on day 7? Right ankle first. 

Left leg. 

Day 8, left leg. 

Right ankle. 

Here's day 11. Left leg. 

Right ankle / leg. 

And here's today. Day 13!!!!!

Left leg. 

And right leg. 

There's still a good bit of swelling, and obviously a lot of bruising and discoloration. There's also a lot of tenderness and pain Involved. I think there might be a permanent tender spot on my left shin. Just lightly touching it (even the covers at night) sends a shock up my leg into my stomach. 

SO, what's the lesson to be learned here? Hell, I don't know! But it could have ended a lot worse than it did!!!

88*!!?!???

WTF???? It's ONLY 88 degrees outside???

Just ran 3.07 miles. Would have sworn it was closer to 95.... I've been soft for far too long!!!

Ran at the gravel dirt track behind a local high school. It doesn't heat up like a solid paved surface does. It's a little rough on the feet, but I know I'll adapt to it and e alright in just a few days. 

But good lord its hot outside!!! 

Here's my home away from home for the next few weeks! Hope to whip my fat ass back in shape here until we move to Conroe. 

A Quick Trip Down Memory Lane...

So since we're remodeling the house, I've been going through a lot of stuff that I haven't seen in a long time. My daughters closet was full of stuff that we put in there when we first moved in over 8 years ago! One of these items was a chest of all my high school memorabilia, primarily my running stuff. 

There were LOTS of pictures and news paper clipping and such. Maybe one day ill just start taking pictures and post them all up here, but below are a few of my favorites / more notable pictures. 

Hope you enjoy!

Here I am in the 8th grade at my very first Cross Country meet coming through the chute at the finish line. The course was a 1 mile loop, I finished in first place with a time of 4:55!!! Second place finished in something like 5:30 or so. 

This is our team photo from that first meet. From left to right you have Joe Archer, Jackie Seamens (not making that one up...), Jeff Ratliff, yours truly holding our trophy and wearing my first ever first place medal, my best friend Tony Frye, and Ryan Roth. Our team took home an overall team victory. We did this every meet my 8th grade year. I also saw a girl cross the finish line at this meet with her legs crossed. I thought she was a retard (if you read that like Zack G from the first Hang Over movie, I thank you) then she uncrossed her legs and let loose a flood of piss all over herself. I realized at that point that she wasn't a retard, just strange. 

This picture was taken at the awards ceremony at our cross country meet at Claiborne Park, again in 8th grade. Here I am accepting my first place medal (with a 2+ minute victory over second place) and returning to the stands holding up the oh so popular at the time "Diamond Cutter" symbol made famous my Diamond Dallas Page of the WCW... We were a little special back then. Probably rode the short bus to the meet that day. We also took home another first place team win. 

This is me coming into the chute at the finish line in our 8th grade district meet. I won by a margin of over 3:30 on a 2.5 mile course after running a 106 fever the week before the meet. I managed to go undefeated my entire 8th grade season with my narrowest margin of victory being 13 seconds. We won the team victory again at this meet (we also won team victories at every meet this year) and made the biggest ruckus you've ever heard at the awards ceremony. Lots of yelling and screaming and banging on tables and such. At this point in our running careers, Lumberton Boys Cross Country were well known and probably thought of as being a little off in the head. Oh how right they were....

This is a Cross Country team pic from my Junior year in high school. We had a pretty good team. No first place victories, but we usually finished in the top 5 teams. The other teams in the area had several runners that REALLY kicked some ass. One guy my age was running a 4:04 mile as a sophomore, what do you do against that? I'm on the far right side of the picture by Coach McCraw. He was the best coach we ever had. He pushed us beyond what we thought was possible. He took the little short guy on the far right in the blue uniform from being a pot head that threw up after running his first ever mile in 11 minutes, to a pot head that set the school record with a 4:29 mile just a year later. The rest of us improved drastically under him as well. I ran my fastest ever 5K in 17:10 under his wings. He moved on to a neighboring school to become principal and got fired and arrested for supposedly beating his wife...

Here's our Junior years track team picture. That's me in te front on the far left in the red leggings. I didn't enjoy track as much as I did Cross Country. I think its because there were more people involved, and I'm not what you would consider to be a "people person". The guys (and some of the girls) in Cross Country were a little off in the head, so I fit in great! I was actually "Team Captain" my sophomore, junior, and senior years. 

If your noticing that the kid on the far right of the picture appear to have a beard, its fake. This is my good friend Scott Broome.  He rubbed on some fake beard makeup to give the impression of having a beard in high school. Little did he know at the time that we squeezed some permanent marker ink into the jar of makeup and mixed it in real good. He had a splotchy fake beard for a few days. He went on to go to West Point Military Academy. 

I was a little off too.... Yes, my hair was spiked. You can't really see it in the picture on the left, but I had a Mohawk in high school. 

This is the picture of my very last cross country meet ever. District my Senior year. I'm the one with the war paint on the far left. Next to me is, again, my best friend Tony Frye, then Ryan Pruit, a guy I don't remember, Colby Woods (we told everyone we were brothers), Scott Broome (also in war paint, or it might be left over fake beard...?) and in front is Kent Bellows. I didn't finish this race. I rolled my ankle in a small hole with half a mile to go and had to drop out. I was in 8th place and would have gone on to district. This was also my last race in my high school career as I didn't run track my Senior year, much to the surprise of everyone that knew me. Truth be told, we had a shitty coach that asked for me to tell him what workouts I thought we should run, and he would tell us to do them. I knew I wasn't going to get a scholarship, so I quit. If we had still had Coach McCraw I'm pretty sure I would have stuck with it and went on to college. Maybe. 

Well, that's it for now! Thanks for going through my memories with me. I had a great time with my running career throughout school. Looking back, its some of my best memories. The only thing from my school days that trumps them is when I met my wife (we were sophomores), those were the good old days...