Week of 1/14 - 1/20

Monday - Woke up at 195.8 pounds. After work I grabbed 4.07 cold, wet, fun miles in 42:29. It was 38 outside and had been raining all day. I almost got attacked by a large goose.

Tuesday - 195.8 again. Tried to run at the track since the park I have been running at tends to hold large puddles of water and it was a chilly 34 degrees when I go off. Unfortunately the synthetic rubber track also holds moisture, just not in puddles . Run was limited to half a mile barefoot, the. I threw on my Merrell trail gloves and attempted to keep going. It turns out that I'm spoiled to running barefoot and I could t manage but another mile in shoes... No goose attacks.

Wednesday - 194.7! No running, but we did take a "cheat hour" that night to shove as much Mexican food and Dairy Queen blizzard as possible into my stomach. I spent the remainder of the night feeling like total shit.

Thursday - The effects of cheating made themselves known! I was up to 195.1 and I felt absolutely terrible all day. My stomach was upset, I was tired, I had no energy, and although I wasn't hungry, I was craving bad food. Lesson learned here is that if I am going to cheat, I do not need to gorge myself on everything in sight.

Friday - 193.5, only .2 pounds to go until I'm at -10 pounds!

Saturday - 194.2? Somehow I went up almost a pound? No way! So to make up for it I went and ran 5.04 miles in 57:46. The first mile was at the new park, but it wasn't all that great so I went to my "home track" and finished up the last 4. It was also my little princess' 3rd birthday party (although her birthday is December 17th...) and I resisted the call of the cookie cake. I don't think that it's allowed, even in phase 3!

Sunday - 193........ 1!!!! I did it!!!! 10.2 pounds down in under 2 weeks!!! Awesome! I can already tell at this point that my weight loss is slowing quite a big. The next 10 will take longer than 2 weeks, that's for sure! I didn't do any running due to my father in law's father passing away and we had his funeral Sunday. RIP Denny, you will be missed.

I ended the week weak, just short of 10 miles... Bleh.... I was hoping to get in a 10 mile long run on Saturday or Sunday, but with family being in town and everything going on I was very thankful to have been able to get 5 in.

Luckily next weekend is pretty open. We have a birthday party to attend for my niece. That's it. I'm planning on at least a 10 mile long run either Saturday or Sunday, either or. I'm not picky!

1/21 - 1/27

Had a pretty good week this week!

Monday - Waking weight was at 197.1, so a good bit higher than the week before. Ran 4.08 miles in 43:50 (10:44 pace) with an average Heart Rate of 151. My last mile was ran much much faster than the prior 3.

Tuesday - 194.0 waking weight. No running, but while I was stuck in a training class they brought in some Chick-Fil-A mini chicken breakfast biscuits. In case you live under a rock and have never tasted anything from Chick-Fil-A, I'll go ahead and fill you in. Their good... Ok, more like heavenly. I couldn't resist and I dove in head first, so yeah, I cheated. But it was sooooo worth it!!!

Wednesday - Woke up at 193.8, apparently my indulgence in the dark side the day before didn't make too big of a difference. Snatched 5.12 miles in 58:10 (11:22 pace) with an average HR of 149. Again my last mile was much faster than the rest.

Thursday - 194.4 in the morning. Grabbed another 5.10 miles after work in 57:19 (11:14 pace) with an average HR of 150. As per course, last mile was ran faster than the rest.

Friday - 192.2 upon waking up, not bad! Went for a short 1.07 mile run. Meant to go longer, but my calves were feeling a little tight so I cut it short. We were bringing the kids to gymnastics for a trial type of thing to see if they liked it that evening, so it was all good.

Saturday - 191.3 and didn't do shit all day! Just relaxed and enjoyed my family!!!

Sunday - Down to 191.1!!!! Only 21.1 left to go to hit goal weight... Geez! At least I'm down 12.2! Went for a nice long run after waking up. I love running early in the day. Things are peaceful and serene. Knocked out 13.1 miles in a sluggish 2:36:13.... Yeah, that's a 11:51 pace. I was almost crawling but I didn't care. I was out running long and exploring a new sub division their building off my favorite running road and startling herds of deer. It's amazing how quietly you run without shoes on, it's really like a stealthy ninja out on a mission. At least that's what I pretend sometimes.... Average HR was 141.

Now, why was I running so slow all week?

Maffetone Method!!!!

I'm back in the Maffetone camp again, and I couldn't be loving it any more! Ill make another post later on about the Maffetone method and why I've gone back to running slow again.

And to wrap things up, here's a pretty picture of what I got to look at on Sundays long run!

New locations!

I tried to run at a new place tonight.

Normally the change of scenery, atmosphere, surface, and attitude are a good thing bringing new aspects and shedding light on opportunities.

This time wasn't like that.

At first I thought to myself "alright! This new city park looks like it might actually be a good place to go run!" They had paved (cement) a big loop that ended up being. Hair over a mile in length (3 laps makes a 5K), but as is typical in my little town ran by idiots they made the road / trail section LOWER than the rest of the area. Now when it rains all the small pebbles and sticks and sediment get carried onto the path and left there as the water evaporates. So the path was littered with those little bitty tiny pebbles that are scattered just enough to where there's at least 1 or 2 per step. After 1 mile I got back in the truck and drove back to my beloved and trusty figure 8 track and ran 4 more miles.

I do love that figure 8 track with its nice and worn asphalt that's usually cool to the touch. Just enough roughness so that it isn't slick, but smooth enough to feel like its molding to my feet as they softly land on its embracing surface.... Ahhhhh.....

I also have to say that since going on the Makers Diet I have noticed a HUGE difference in my running. There are a bunch of similarities between Mr. Rubin's suggest diet plan and Mr. Maffetone's suggested diet plan. So it's like I'm really getting the best of both worlds! Plus I've been dropping poundage quite consistently, making running even easier!

I'm loving getting healthy again!

Cheat hour

So Mr. Ruben, the author of the book "The Makers Diet" says that if you are to cheat on your diet, do it all in an hour.

So we did.

In 1 hour we (wife, 2 small children, mother & father in law) DEVOURED 5 baskets of chips with accompanying hot sauce, green sauce, and queso, 12 flour tortillas covered with honey and butter, and I had a large taco salad. Afterwards I had a big M&M blizzard with chocolate and caramel from the local DQ.

All within an hour....

I feel like I could literally pop. My stomach is extended multiple inches and stretched beyond belief. I took in more calories than I have in the past 2 days in one single hour. I've been 9 days organic and natural, just to stuff gullet with everything I'm not supposed to have.

And for what?

No satisfaction at all. I feel bloated and fat and sluggish. I'm very tired, but I'm pretty sure I will be pooping my brains out all night long.

Totally NOT worth it!

It makes me wonder if cheating is like this on all levels? I mean, surely Tiger Woods had to have felt some remorse. He had a good looking wife, then he went and banged a million trashy sluts. There had to have been some feeling if regret there. Right? Surely at least Arnold Schwartzeneger felt like crap after he realized what he had done. I mean, geez, he had sex with a troll... Really, I think he got her into show business and she was on that new movie "The Hobbit" as one of the trolls that were trying to eat the Dwarfs.

I will not be doing another cheat day. Not for a good while at least. I had gotten down to 194.7 this morning. ONE NINETY FOUR point SEVEN!!!!! That's major from the 203.3 I was just 9 days ago. With the way I'm feeling right now I'm sure that ill be over 203.3 tomorrow morning...

The moral of the story...?

Cheating = not worth it!

Week one of organic eating... WOW!!!

I can't believe it! Not only had I managed to eat organic this entire week (organic roast with veggies for Dinner tonight!), but I somehow to squeeze in 3 runs although it literally rained its ass off for most of the week a we were in Galveston Friday and Saturday for my daughters first cheerleading competition.

But what's most amazing is the result of eating how were supposed to eat for a whole week! I'm down 7.8 pounds in one week! I know it's not water weight, because I have been drinking more than I have been in the last few months. I've had no sweets, no processed carbs, no anything bad! Everything has been strictly organic and natural foods. And they have been very yummy!

Here are the runs I managed to get in this week.

Monday - 1.54 miles in 16:49. I weighed in at 203.0 this morning.

Tuesday - 4.23 miles in 49:00. I weighed in at 203.6 this morning.

Wednesday - Nothing. Weighed in at 199.3.

Thursday - No running, but I did manage to beat on the heavy bag for a little bit, do some jump rope (see the 6 minute post) and do some body weight exercises; push ups, pull ups and dips. Weighed in at 198.4.

Friday - Nothing. Went to Galveston for daughters cheerleading competition. Weighed in at 197.5.

Saturday - Nothing, still in Galveston. No weight in.

Sunday - 6.58 miles in 1:11:57. Great run!!! Weighed in at 195.8!!!! That's down 7.8 pounds for the week!

Ended the week with a measly 12.35 miles and 2:17:46 worth of running. Hopefully next week steps up into the 20 mile range with more than just 3 days of running.

Weekend morning long runs!

The thing I've missed most about running consistently, aside from the feeling of general improved health, is my weekend long runs.

At work I'm constantly bombarded by a million different things from every angle. It's constantly "Chaser, I need a UT tech to check something out" "Hey, I'm gunna need a tech for about half an hour after lunch" "How are we coming on those injection point circuits?" "Have we finished walking down that EP feed line project yet?" "Had you filled out your daily update report?" "How are we on man power?" "Do you have somebody working on tank 83 tomorrow morning" "where are the Meridium reports for the monthly visuals that are due this month?" "Do you have someone available to go shoot the crossover piping on the Ethane furnace?" And so on and so forth with about 30 requests coming through my desk every day to use a tech, when I only have 2 techs that can be used.... Then I start getting projects pushed off on me from every angle as well. Things that were initially going to take place over the next year are now due within 90 days. Things that we were going to spread out over the next 3 years are due in 2 months. Now I've got to create a budget, inspection plan and a man power needs proof sheet so that I can prove that we are waaaaay understaffed so that I can get additional people in to start on a job that's already way over due because some one set up an imaginary bull shit time frame that's completely unrealistic because they don't fully understand what's going on. On top of all of this, we started using some new software that doesn't do half the things I need it to do, and the stuff it does do, I haven't been trained on yet but I'm supposed to know exactly how to use it... THE FREAKING COMPANY REP THAT WE GO TO WHEN WE HAVE PROBLEMS DOESN'T EVEN UNDERSTAND HOW TO USE MOST OF THE APPLICATIONS IN THE SOFTWARE!!!!!!!!! Aaaaarrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhsjhhcnfnslzoxbanakakanhahahhhhrrrrggrhhhhhhhh ..............

But at least he's a nice guy!

So my weekend long runs are a way to escape everything and just zone out. No real stressors in my environment, except for the fact that there are large, five thousand pound chunks of steel flying down the road at 70 plus miles per hour within feet (if not closer) of me threatening my very life. But I don't see that as a stressor, just something to catch my attention.

I haven't had a weekend morning long run in waaaay too long. It's been months, literally, since I ran a decent length of distance period, let alone an actual LONG run, and little to no running on weekends.

That changed this morning... Sort of...

I managed to get out of the house at 5:15 this morning just to discover that it was about 50 degrees and rainy with gusts of wind up to about 15 mph.

So I grabbed my sweet Adidas rain jacket and strapped on my new Vibram SeeYa LS's (since I had to run down my terribly rough chip seal road) and hit the road.

The run itself was pretty uneventfull really. The way out was with the wind, it was raining pretty good and I saw a whopping 11 cars in the 3 miles out. At the turn around it hit me. A cold wet wall. The wind was against me now, sending stinging rain directly into my face and bald head. So I naturally adjusted my lean a little forward to head into the wind without having to exert much more energy while keeping the same pace. I saw 13 cars on the way back in.

I managed to grab a nice 6.48 miles this morning. My longest run since starting back a few weeks ago by 2 miles!

Yay! VIVA LA LONG RUN!

6 minutes of jumping rope

For some unexplainable reason I decided to attempt to jump rope for 6 minutes straight. This might not sound to difficult to the average person with what's called "coordination", but for a clumsy fella like me it was quite the task.

I maybe actually spent 4 and a half or so actually jumping over the rope. The remainder of the time was spent tripping over my own feet and the rope and shaking the tightness out of my calves and shoulders. But even just that small amount of time was enough to cause my calves to be considerably sore now still 3 days later.

It was a good shoulder work out too, especially after doing some dips, push-ups, pull-ups and hitting the heavy bag for a good 10 minutes. Oh, I had also loaded the dish washer as well... Don't want to leave that out!

The hippie in me..

It's true... I'm slowly becoming more and more of a hippie.

I don't know that it's a bad thing, but here's how the progression has gone so far...

- Started running barefoot
- Went vegetarian for roughly 7 or 8 months
- Stopped the vegetarian thing due to being a processed carb addict
- Tried a "no carb" style of diet, found out I can't go without fruit
- Continued running barefoot, never stopped loving that!
- Stopped wearing deodorant / antiperspirant
- Want to live in a "hobbit hole" style home to reduce amount of electricity used to heat and cool house along with the added benefit of having a much larger yard
- Started eating strictly organic based off of the "Makers Diet"

Now I'm wanting to buy bamboo shirts (it's a real thing, look them up), move somewhere where I don't have to pay ridiculous taxes so that the president can continue to go on million dollar vacations every other week, and live a self supported life style where I have no need to interact with anyone other than those that I want to interact with IE; no water / electricity bill, no grocery stores, no gas stations, etc...

Plus there's the obsession with old school air cooled Volkswagen and Porsches... But that's normal for people with good taste in automotive design... Right?

The Makers Diet

Starting Monday the 7th my lovely wife and I will be going on the makers diet in an attempt to regain the health of our long lost youth and loose some poundage.

What is the Makers Diet?

It's a diet that dates back to the earliest of civilizations that relies on real, natural, organic foods that are deemed "ok to eat" by God himself in the Old Testament.

Basically I'll be eating like a Jew.

There are 3 stages and a 40 day "experiment" to see how your body reacts to eating the way we were inherently designed to eat. The first stage is the most stringent, only allowing certain foods to be eaten in order to cleanse your body of all the bad stuff that's in it. I've done a few detox cycles using fruits and such, but no serious ones in a few months, so it should be interesting to see what kinds of hell my body will put me through as a result.

The second phase of the 40 day experiment allows some extra foods to be consumed. I believe some fruits are added back in along with maybe some dairy from cows. I'm not 100% certain of what all is allowed and not allowed. I've few it several times and just can't for the life of me remember the huge lists that each phase entails.

The 3rd phase allows even more variety. I think potatoes are added back in. I wonder if Oreos are allowed in the final stage...?

Luckily the diet strongly suggests eating Eggs. And I LOVE eggs!!!!!

My goal is to drop 30 pounds. That will put me around 170. To put this into perspective, the least I've weighed since I started running again (over 2 years ago!) was 180.3! I want to try to get 10 pounds under that. I feel at that weight I will be able to run at LEAST 5% more efficiently due to carrying roughly 5% less weight than I was at 180.

I want to try to stay on this eating regimen for the long haul. Hopefully my wife will enjoy it as well and will agree with me. It's hard to do a diet like this on your own. Luckily we will have a good support group since my mother in law is doing it as well!

Book review! "The Long Walk"

Gather round boys and girls, its book review time!

Today I will review the book "The Long Walk" by Richard Bachman, aka Stephen King (on rainy days).

I had heard several mentions of this book before on the various ultra running forums and on the Ultra List, usually in reference to the "Vol State" run which is basically a unassisted death march across the great state of Tennessee in the middle of the summer.

"The Long Walk" was much like this race, but worse.

In "The Long Walk" the "Long Walk" itself is the main focus of the book (catchy title huh?). In a race where 100 boys under the age of 18 are chosen to walk until only 1 walker remains, it's easy to see why I loved the book.

The real difference between the book and Vol State is the fact that in Vol state your allowed to stop walking and not be shot in the head for it. Your also allowed to sleep, and you have a pretty good idea of how far you still have to go until its over. In the "Long Walk" you walk until your the only one left walking. Aka, alive...

If you walk to slow, you get a warning. If you get 3 warnings you "buy a ticket" which ends up being a bullet, or 3, in the head. If you receive outside assistance you buy a ticket. If you walk off the road, ticket. If you interfere with another walker, ticket. If you fall over dead due to heat stroke or delirium, ticket. If you go insane and rip out your own throat with your bare hands, yep, you guessed it! TICKET!

Although the walkers suffered many of the same issues that plague ultra runners like blisters, fatigue, mental insanity, muscle cramps, and more mental insanity the one thing I saw lacking was the ass rash. Chaffing is a MAJOR area of concern for ultra runners (at least the ones that aren't stick skinny), yet although the walkers walked through rain storms and 80 degree weather (which actually sounds quite pleasant) while wearing blue jeans and sweat pants, no one ever got any chaffing. I call bull shit!

I loved the entire book, right up to the final 10 pages where Stephen Bachman King decided he was tired of writing and instead of actually finishing the story, he ended the book. I checked 3 or 4 times expecting to see where I missed a few pages, or maybe they fell out of the book, but no. It was one of the worst endings I've ever read in a book in my life.

Aside from the ending being a major upset, the rest of the book was great and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate this book a 6 based off the lack of ass rash and the let down at the end.

Happy New Years!

2012 is gone, 2013 has started.

Yay....

2012 was an interesting year for me as far as running goes. Compared to 2011 I barely did anything! My yearly mileage was crap. I haven't totaled it up yet, but I don't foresee it being over 700 miles. Last year I finished with 976 or something like that.

I also only did 1 race compared to the 5 (I think?) that I did last year. Granted that this one race was almost as long as all the 5 prior races combined, and almost 4 times longer than the longest!

I'm talking about the Rocky Raccoon! My first, and only, ultra marathon..... So far!

I just pulled the trigger on my first race of 2013. March 3rd, the Memorial Herman Sugarland Half marathon. I ran this in 2011 and ran my fastest half marathon to date. I think it was somewhere around a 1:43 maybe? Somewhere around there I think. This year my goal is under 2 hours.... If even that fast.... Geez, I just thought about it for the first time. I'm gunna be slower than before. I'll be lucky, VERY lucky if I can beat my debut half marathon time of 1:57.

I've got 3 months till the gun fires, and I ran the longest distance I've ran in 4 months just this morning. 3 miles.... Barely a freaking 5K... Further proof that I might, in fact, be retarded!


It more about 2013. A plan on running another ultra marathon. I might just do this half and an ultra this year. Maybe more it all depends on work and how things go this year. I would love to do a few halts and maybe even 2 ultras. A 50K and a 50 mile would be nice. I think there is a 50K at the end of the year up in Huntsville along the same course as the Rocky Raccoon. That would be ideal, especially considering that my mother in law now lives in Conroe which is just a quick 20 minute spurt over from the course!

I'll post up my totals for 2012 when I get them. Hopefully here in just a few days.