Fresh legs will travel

So yesterday I decided to take the day off when I woke up on a Monday and was sore from head to toe. I also downloaded another pretty cool app for my phone called six week training that helps with upper body strength training which is why all of me was sore. When the alarm went off yesterday I realized that I had not taken a day off in a week so I decided the hour of sleep was much more worth it. This morning  I told myself that  I was going to add some more distance to my run today. If you recall I started into my 7th lap around the neighborhood on Friday but didn't get all that far. Today I woke up feeling refreshed and decided I was not going to TRY and do seven laps around the block I was going to DO seven laps around the block. As it turns out that is exactly what I did and I was pretty darn excited that I could. One thing I was disappointed about was my run tracker app. Here is how it has gone the last few times I have tried to use it. Saturday it would not find me on GPS, Sunday it found me right away and then dropped me before I was done with the first lap and today it never found me. I was hoping that I could get away with using the app rather than buying a runners watch but it does not look like that is going to happen. The good thing is the Garmin watches allow you to upload their data to the runkeeper site so I can enter my runs and tracking that way. As you can see I ran almost 4 miles today and I never stopped for a walking break the entire time. When you look at the picture ignore the pace and calories burned since I had to manually enter my run again and I did the math wrong on the time it took me to do it. It takes so long to enter the run manually I didn't want to have to do it again. Take note of the distance that is the important thing. Tomorrow I know I will have some stiff legs so I will not be doing any running but I will get up and walk 5 laps around the block. Here is hoping that the runkeeper app will track me tomorrow but I guess we will just have to wait and see. At least I have a birthday coming up so I can ask for the Garmin Forerunner 110 and see if anyone gets it for me. Here is hoping!!!!

Nice surprise today

ChiRunning: A Revolutionary Approach to Effortless, Injury-Free RunningSo today was a nice surprise, I tried to go out and run 3.5 miles (7 laps) this morning. I was pretty excited to do it now that I have my cool new runkeeper app. Well I was a little deflated when I could not get it to get a GPS signal so I didn't use it. What I ended up doing was taking a look at the time and starting my run and taking a look at the time when I finished. Well I did my six laps and got about a 1/4 through my 7th before I had to stop. It took me 36 minutes to do it. I was a little unhappy when I saw that because my mile time went above 10 minutes or so I thought! As it turns out my neighborhood lap is close to .6 miles than it is .5 so when I manally entered my route (giant pain in the ass) it said that I went almost 4 miles. I didn't think that was right so I decided that I would confirm that by driving it in my car and it turns out that it was right. Now I'm totally excited because the 5K should be nothing for me as I am shooting to get to a 10K before the end of October when I am doing the race for the cure. If anyone out there (and I mean 1 because that is how may views I got yesterday) knows of any whys to train and add distance I would love to hear it. Right now I am just pushing myself each run to go a little further than the last.

Justin 1 pain cave 0

This morning I was pretty excited to get up and run this morning like I talked about yesterday. I found a new app for my Windows phone called RunKeeper and was excited to give it a try. As it turns out it is very accurate and tracks your running very well. I am pretty darn impressed with it, what makes it even better is that it is free! By the way it is also on Android and iPhone as well. I just need to remember to keep an eye on my data usage to make sure it isn't going to chomp every bit of it up. Another great thing about the app is it posts to RunKeeper.com so you can track calories burned, distance speed, elevation change etc. For all of you that are wondering what that means, it meas that I can start putting pictures on my posts again. One thing I did learn about the app is not to hit the power button to put the phone to sleep when you are using it, that makes the tracking stop. I am lucky that I didn't do this until the end of my run so it didn't miss much of it. That brings me to the point of the title of this post. I am beginning to think that this whole running thing is just as much mental as it is physical. When I started running the first thing I told myself was that my legs felt good and that this shouldn't be a problem. Through out the run I just kept reminding myself how much distance was left and that  I could finish my goal. As it turns out that is exactly what happened, although the picture only shows 2.87 miles (oops with the going to sleep) I did run the entire 5K again and according to the tracking data did it at the pace that I have been shooting for. I guess we will just have to wait and see how Friday goes to see if I can do it again. That is twice in less than a week that I have been able to run the entire 5K without having to stop for a walk to catch my breath and I am thinking that I could have gone a little further. That being said now that I have sat and rested and am at my desk the mental challenge seems to be over but the physical is kicking in. My legs are a little sore but that is OK because I know it means that I am building strength in my legs and should be able to start going further in the mornings. Tomorrow I am going to walk two miles and use my RunKeeper again and see how that tracks. The one thing that rally excites me is that according to the data from this morning I am running a sub 10 minute mile so I may have completed both my running goal much much sooner than I had expected to. Keep an eye out for more posts about how the running is going.

Getting few and far between

So it has been stupid busy the last week or so which is why I have not been able to post as much as I would like but I am still working toward  the 5K even though I have not been telling much about it. Here is what has happened in the last week or so. I was going to get up on Thursday and walk but decided that I was too tired to so I just slept. Turns out that may have been the best thing for me because of Friday I pushed myself harder than I had before and I was able to run the entire 5K distance without stopping to walk. The time was not a fast as I would have liked it to be but I got all of it done in 36 minutes so that made about a 12 minute mile. I went to work that day quite pumped and thinking about how I was going to try and get as far into a 7th lap around the neighborhood so that I could start going faster and adding distance to my runs. Over the weekend I decided I would do some Yoga on WiiFit and since my daughter was asleep I just kept going. By the time I was done I spent an hour and a half and had done all the poses as well as all the strength training exercises at the most amount of reps I could and all of the cardio exercises including the island run. It was the first time in a while that I felt like I got a good workout from WiiFit. The next day all I did in the way of fitness was mow the lawn and use the trimmer. I figured that I could use a rest day before starting this week. When the alarm went off yesterday I was still a little tender from the WiiFit stuff but was excited to get up and run to see how much faster I could get through the 3 miles. I didn't, for some reason my legs were just tired and I ran as much as I could but I didn't even make it two miles before having to walk and I only did a total of 2.5 miles. I was not all that happy with myself but figured some exercise is better than none and every little bit is going to help get my cardio up and my legs stronger for when the run does come. This morning the alarm went off at its normal 4:45 and I did hit the snooze button a few time and almost decided not to get up but then I remembered how unhappy I was with myself yesterday and decided I needed to get up and do something. I didn't run because I was told that running two days in a row is not a good thing but I did get out and walk 2 miles at a good pace just to get the legs going and the heart rate up. It turns out that my legs are a little tired after doing that but I think it will be all for the best. Tomorrow I am going to get up with my alarm without hitting the snooze button and really push myself to run all three miles again. I think that most of yesterday was in my head and I am not going to spend any time there tomorrow during my run I am going to be spending it in my "pain cave" and just work until I finish. Wish me luck running the entire 5K again tomorrow. Time permitting I will let everyone know how it goes.

Fastest three miles yet

I didn't do any running or walking yesterday since my hips and shins were killing me and I didn't want to push it. Today I did get up and run before it got to hot since the last few days have had a heat index of over 100. I started my run the same way I did yesterday by not doing the first half miles as a walk I just went out and started running. I did my four laps without stopping to walk again and decided I would see how much further I could go before having to walk for a little bit. As it turns out the answer was not very far at all. I went about another 100 yards or so and had to start walking. When I started walking I went a little less than a quarter miles and told myself I would run the next half mile and finish the last half lap or quarter miles as a walk to cool down. I am sure you will not be surprised to hear that did not happen. I finished the quarter mile rest walk and started running again. I went the all the way around to the last quarter mile where I had decided I would stop running for the day and walk the rest of the way and decided I would push myself to see how much further I could go. Turns out that as I kept going I would find a land mark and tell myself to make it to it, I would get there and tell my self I could go a little further. Before I knew it the three miles were over and I had run about 2.75 of them. Now I am not going to hurt myself patting myself on the back as some of the last bits of running was not fast and I am sure someone walking with me could have caught up but when I got inside I saw that I broke the 40 minute make by a couple of minutes. If I just keep pushing I should be able to run all three miles without stopping by the end of next week or so then I can start on getting the strength to keep the pace up and beofore you know it I will be ready for the 5K and can start working on longer distances. Still funny to think I an talking like that when just 6.5 months ago I was 110 pounds overweight and would get winded just getting up the stairs to go to bed.

Couple of things learned this weekend

Ok, so here is what I learned this weekend. It seems that the southern cooking diet is a good one. Most of the week I was totally worried about a reunion I was going to in the mountains because of the menu that got sent out. Here is what it consisted of.
The first night for lunch I had a salad at Zaxby's then had lasagna and a piece of chocolate pie for dessert.
For breakfast the next day I had eggs, biscuits, sausage, and bacon, lunch was left over lasagna from the night before, dinner was fried chicken, butter beans, black eyed peas, cornbread, and fried okra. I decided to forgo dessert that day.
The last day were were there I just had some fruit for breakfast, for lunch I shared from chicken fingers and fries with the family, and for dinner when I got home I had some ribs that were left over from a few days ago.

Needless to say it was not the most healthy weekend on top of everything above I ate fudge and grazed on fig newtons and candied orange wedges. I did try to stay active while I was there. On Saturday I played some golf, and Saturday afternoon I did some running with the in-laws family. I did learn another lesson that day.... running in the neighborhood is much easier than running in chalet valley in the mountains. I much prefer the 1 food hills in the neighborhood than the straight up roads of the mountains. The next day I did a bit of walking around Gatlinburg before going home. When I got home I got the lawn mowed so I would have  to think about it this week. This morning I got my lazy butt out of bed and went for a run. I decided to mix things up a little and rather than start with a .5 mile walk I would just start running right away. I ran as far as I could before stopping for a walk like I normally do and I think because of the challenge of the mountain running I was able to get further than I have in the past without having to stop. I ended up running the first four laps (2 miles) before having to take a breather. When I rested I went about another .25 miles of walking before running a bit again. I ran another .5 miles and walked the rest of the way to finish the three miles total. My three mile time is still slower than I want it to be but being able to run 2 miles before slowing down made me want to go out again today and try it again. (I won't be doing that) but I will be continuing to push myself. When I was done running I wanted to see the damage from the weekend and how much weight I gained and it turned out I lost 1.5 pounds...Go southern cooking!!!!!

For all those keeping track, my next two goals are to bring my mile time down to a 10 minute mile (30 minute 5K), and to run all three miles. I have a feeling when I get to the first one it will be because I was able to do the second. I will let everyone know how it goes.

Just did a little waking

So I woke up this morning at my normal just before 5 and got ready to go out and run. One thing that stuck out to me when I was walking around and getting dressed for my run was that my legs totally reminded me that I pushed myself yesterday. They were not as sore as my first week of running and I can walk without looking like a fool but they were a little bit stiff. When I got out on the road  I did my normal first lap walk and then decided that is what I would continue to do. This morning instead or going for three miles and running as much of it as I could I decided to briskly walk two miles. I don't know if this is true but it my mind it makes a little more sense to push myself one day and take an easier day the next. It seems when I do that my legs to get quite as stiff or sore and that puts me in a better place for the next time I want to run. I figure if I start by doing something along the lines of three miles of pushing myself one day two miles of walking the next day and a rest day before starting it all over again I will get 12 to 13 miles in a week to start, keep the exercise going, keep the distance training up but not put myself in a place where I don't train for a few days because I am too tired or still. I won't be taking a day off tomorrow because I need to push this week due to a trip I am taking this weekend where not a healthy thing will be served so I am trying to give myself a little cushion so that when it is over I can still tell people that I lost 100 pounds. If anyone out there has any ideas of suggestions that have worked for them in the past when it comes to training for distance running please feel free to share in a comment.

So it happened

Well for the first time in over a week I got up and ran for a second day in a row. It has been hard to get up and do it the last week or so from that virus I had but I finally did it again and plan on doing it some more tomorrow. Yesterday's run went from 8 AM to about 8:30 or so and was for two miles. Again I felt a little disappointed in myself and considered it a step back since I am really trying to train for the 5K distance and 2 miles it a bit short of that. That changed this morning, I woke up just before 5 and got my shoes on and was out the door right a 5 AM or so. I did my standard first lap power walk to get warmed up and ready to run then I started running. I told myself  that I was going to push myself today and even when I thought that I would be ready to stop and walk for a little bit I was going to make myself go further. That is exactly what I did, I was able to run 3 total laps around the neighborhood again and started on the forth lap. I even got to the first turn on the first lap before I had to finally stop and walk for a little bit. I didn't walk long though, I made it a point to walk about a 1/4 of a lap and run as far as I could again on the next lap. I ended up running a total of just about 2 miles and walked one. I can feel a little soreness in my legs this morning but I don't think that it will be bad enough to stop me from going out again tomorrow. I am making it a point to really push myself this week so I build a little more strength and by the middle to the end of next week I want to be able to run two solid miles before I have to stop for a breather. Today I did get back on track and went a distance of three miles again.

That isn't the big news of the day, the big news of the day is that I got on the scale this morning and was down a lot more than I expected. I had lost 2.2 pounds since the last time I weighed in. That has happened in the past so that isn't the greatest new of the day. The greatest news of the day is that with that 2.2 pounds I have reached the goal that I set out the reach and that put my total weight loss since the first of the year to 101 pounds! So in 185 days I have lost the 101 pounds, I have taken 14 inches off of my pant size and can actually run more than about 100 feet before I have to stop to suck wind. It is quite a change and I am pretty surprised that I was able to do it and do it so quickly. Now I just need to work on keeping it off so I don't have to do this again. I know that this isn't an award show but there are some people that I want to mention that helped me get through this and reach my goal. The first one is my wife Whitney, she kept me motivated everyday, she also worked hard to lose weight over the last 12 months and watching her help me. She also told me to shut up and keep going during the days I was gaining weight and reminded me that it was muscle tone that was happening and not fat. (Check earlier posts to see my crying about the weight gain) Believe it or not but a 23 month old Haley was a huge reason why I was able to do this. Every time things got hard I would remind myself I was doing it so that I could be a fun dad who could play with his child and not the fat dad on the side letting their kid know he was watching. It is amazing how someone so small can have such a huge impact. The final person is God, without a doubt I could not have done this if it was not for the relationship I am trying to build with Him. I know I have a long way to go but as I read and try an study the bible to see all the great things he as done for others and the miracles that he has performed helping one guy in Spring Hill TN to get healthy for his family is just a tiny thing. All the reading and studying I have been doing all point to the same thing, believe and trust in God and he will love, take care of you, and help you do things that you never thought were possible. I think this little accomplishment is proof of that.

Anyway little long winded today but I had a lot to say. Wish me luck on my 5K training and I will continue to post my progress on that.

Just one pound away

So I woke up this morning and mowed the lawn, which also happens to be the first activity I have done outside since getting sick. It was a little harder than I thought that it would be, I think more of it had to do with the 88 degree heat at 8:30 in the morning than anything else. When I got on the scale this morning I was down another .9 pounds which puts me just 1 pound away from the 100 pounds I told myself I was going to lose at the beginning of the year. I is going to feel good to finally get there and put all this behind me so I can work on maintaining the weight loss. I wanted to start running again today but the heat is not going to let the happen I think plus I have my child back and won't be leaving her alone in the house while I do that. Later today or tonight I will try and do another shred to get the workout it gives in the time it gives it in. Don't worry I will be yelling from the mountain tops when I get to the 100 pounds lost. I know the last few posting have been a little dry and lacking but since I have not really done anything to blog about in the way of fitness.i will get back on track with fitness and posting soon, even more so now that I know that I an only a pound from 100.

Yesterday was close but today is better

So I took today off work so that I can take care of my child while my wife does a function that she does every year. The reason why I said that yesterday was close was because I still have not had the energy to run from being sick this weekend but I did get on the scale yesterday morning. I was down 1.5 pounds and got very excited that I was going to be in the normal BMI for the first time in about 9 years. When the BMI meter moved I was at 25.01, that's right just .01 away from being a normal BMI so in the cruel world of WiiFit it was nice enough to tell me that I was overweight. I didn't mind since it has been telling me that for 6 months. Well today was a new day and I got on the scale again and I was down another 1 pound and that brought me down to 24.75 BMI and into the normal range. I was pretty darn happy about that and now I am ready to get going and start running again and working out, as a matter of fact I did workout today for the first time since I got sick. I did the Jillian Michaels shred DVD which is a 20 minute but kicking but it is good to be able to get through it without having to stop. I am going to try and go running tomorrow but I don't kow how possible that is going to be with having Haley with me since I can't leave her in the house by herself. I will most likely be doing other exercises this weekend to start getting back into it. at then end of six months I have lost 97 pounds and am close to the 100 pounds that I want to lose. I will get there but it does show that the last 10 pounds are the hardest.