Not a bad day, or a bad race- but not quite as good as I hoped. It was way too hot, even at 9AM, and that certainly didn't help. I had hoped to manage something very close to a flat 8-minute mile pace. I didn't really think I had any chance at the prize money, but basing the prizes on gun time instead of chip time was a little more motivation to start up front. I still got a little caught in the crowd behind some slower runners, but not nearly as badly as I had in a number of other races. The start went fairly well, and having Edwin C Moses Blvd to spread out across definitely helped ease the start-up crunch.
The first mile went well, and I managed the a reasonable pace- 8:39 or so. I had expected to go a little faster than that, but it was about what I could do just then. I was trying to hold back just a bit, and expected to pick up the pace each mile along the way. As it turned out, the best I could do was maintain about that pace. I kept playing games with the plan- where, exactly, would I start my "kick"? In the end, I couldn't really have done better. I worried if I was going to throw up most of the last quarter mile or so. Seems like I probably couldn't have done much more there, though I did manage a slight kick in the last 200m or so to the finish. My time put me in 21st place for my age division- out of 45 in my age bracket. On the other hand, to make top 5, I'd have to take 2.5 min/mile off my mile pace. Not sure that's doable- though that's about the pace I hit in the kick section.
So, end result- I'm pretty happy about this. I'd love to have had a little faster time, but I pulled off a time at approximately my personal 5K record, in the heat. It clearly wasn't my best day, and I still managed this time. Now, on to the marathon training... I'm behind, but I need to work on catching up.
Monday, May 30, 2011
New Challenges
edited a bit tonight, to fix all the typos, etc- from posting on the phone.
Well, here we go. Another summer season, and I have to figure out what to work on.
Running a marathon-check. I'm signed up for the Air Force Marathon in September. Already struggling with doing the training- I'm behind. RAGBRAI- little training done for this or anything, with all the rain and work and family stuff. But today, I can do one thing:run. The Lou Cox 5k, and try for a personal record. It's a fast field, with actual prize money to draw the best runners. Hope they can drag me to my best time. I just really want to feel like I've left it all out there. We'll see in about half an hour.
I'll let you know how it turns out. Here goes everything.
Well, here we go. Another summer season, and I have to figure out what to work on.
Running a marathon-check. I'm signed up for the Air Force Marathon in September. Already struggling with doing the training- I'm behind. RAGBRAI- little training done for this or anything, with all the rain and work and family stuff. But today, I can do one thing:run. The Lou Cox 5k, and try for a personal record. It's a fast field, with actual prize money to draw the best runners. Hope they can drag me to my best time. I just really want to feel like I've left it all out there. We'll see in about half an hour.
I'll let you know how it turns out. Here goes everything.
Friday, May 6, 2011
The plans for the summer...
So, activities for the summer:
- Train with my wife and run at least one 5K with her- preferably 3 or 4
- Ride RAGBRAI again- this year's route is like a tour of the towns that I have a connection to in Iowa, so it seems like I have to do it again
- I'm tired of thinking about running a Full Marathon and letting the "You're crazy" comments keep me from doing it. I'm registered for the Air Force marathon this coming September. Guess I better get started training for that
- Proving the "You're crazy" people's point, I'm toying with the idea that I might just barely be able to hit a Boston Qualifying time in that marathon. Since Boston is scheduled to keep getting harder to qualify for each year, I feel like it's now or never. Just not sure yet that I want it bad enough to work as hard as I would need to for that one- and not sure I can even manage it. Looks like I'd need to run the whole thing at an average pace just above 8 minutes/mile- which is currently slightly better than my 5K mile pace. Definitely not easy.
- Try out some other fitness options around- I'm somewhat interested in seeing if I'd like everything from Zumba to Kettlebell workout classes to some other Yoga classes.
- Maybe lose another 10-15 pounds (which will be difficult at this point, but should probably help with the Boston Qualifier craziness
- Make a road race plan for the summer with 5K and trail races to keep up the variety and see what's fun
- Really work on improving my sleep- that's the one part of overall fitness that I'm still not doing very well at. I know this is an important piece to making any of the rest of this work.
- And, oh, yes- update this blog much more often. At least every other week seems reasonable, and I think it will help me work out the issues that remain and keep on top of what I'm doing with this active, fit life.
Moving on to new goals
Well, this about winds up another semester here with a personal trainer, and summer is just around the corner. This is the time of year that it's easiest for me to plan what's coming as we move into the active summer season. My wife just finished a fitness competition program at the YMCA, and she continues to see improvements in her fitness. I think she's finally at the point where she wants to try some running, so we'll train together to get her ready for her first 5K. She's sure she can't do it- and I would bet money she could do it right now if she could believe that she could. I've done so many things that were only about half about the physical conditioning. I'm excited to keep moving forward with her, and I think we'll have a great time in our active life this summer.
This past week, I had a sad time in my life. My dog, Shadow, had been getting old and struggling with getting around a bit for a while now- but she still had energy and was ready to go. Just a bit slower. A few weeks ago, she went downhill and started having seizures. These became more often, and we had to say goodbye to her this past week. I knew it would be hard, but I still said to myself, "She's just a dog, and it's time for her to go". I was surprised at how difficult it was for me. That morning, after she was gone, I wasn't sure what to do with myself the rest of the day. I planned to go ahead and go to my scheduled training session, thinking it would do me some good. I felt I needed to go into work for at least a short while to deal with some needs there. Next thing I knew, I found myself thinking about the movie Forrest Gump. Forrest takes off running across America on a whim- trying to make sense of his feelings. I found myself with the urge to have a nice long run alone. I cancelled my trainer at the last minute (sorry), and headed home to do a run. I decided that I wouldn't have a goal for time or distance and would just run as far as felt right. Having occasionally hurt myself a bit by overdoing runs, I decided that I would make a rule to run as easy as I could stand to. That would still let me get into the run, but would be less wear and tear on my body. I chose a route that would give me repeated options to lengthen or shorten the run- lots of places to "turn back" or go on. And off I went.
It was a somewhat cloudy day, as all of them have been lately, but not too cool at the start. I ran. I thought about Shadow. I ran. I remembered what it was like having her around. I ran. I thought about all the changes in my life- and how she was there through them. It started to cool off and the wind started to blow as it got ready to blow in a storm. I ran. Mostly, I managed to go at an easy pace, which is currently hovering around above 10-minute miles.
As I finally decided it was time to close the loop and turn back home, I realized that she wouldn't be waiting there to greet me. Of course, I knew that, but it seemed to make it all real again. After a moment of sadness, I had a picture in my mind of this enthusiastic puppy. Though she had less energy and less ability to jump around like that, she seemed to still be that way. A few days before she died, she was laying on the floor and seemed unable to get the energy to get up. I was trying to move some things around and grabbed her leash as a part of that process. She was still slow, but she dragged herself to her feet, enthusiastic to have the chance to go somewhere with me. The puppy was still there, even if the body wasn't quite willing. That was still her until the end. My mind went on to imagining here now- back to being the puppy she always was, without the limitations that her body had given her for the last few years. I felt joy in that image- and realized I was doing 6-minute miles. I eased up, satisfied that this was going to be OK. In the end, one of the longest runs I've done in about a year- a little over 8 miles. Somehow, the run worked. I'll still feel sad, but I also know it was time and she's free now.
It's interesting that a run seemed like the thing to do, and that it worked. Guess this stuff really is a part of my life now. Shadow was one of many things that brought me here, with her unconditional love and her enthusiasm. I owe her thanks, and I owe her a life well lived. Guess I better get started...
This past week, I had a sad time in my life. My dog, Shadow, had been getting old and struggling with getting around a bit for a while now- but she still had energy and was ready to go. Just a bit slower. A few weeks ago, she went downhill and started having seizures. These became more often, and we had to say goodbye to her this past week. I knew it would be hard, but I still said to myself, "She's just a dog, and it's time for her to go". I was surprised at how difficult it was for me. That morning, after she was gone, I wasn't sure what to do with myself the rest of the day. I planned to go ahead and go to my scheduled training session, thinking it would do me some good. I felt I needed to go into work for at least a short while to deal with some needs there. Next thing I knew, I found myself thinking about the movie Forrest Gump. Forrest takes off running across America on a whim- trying to make sense of his feelings. I found myself with the urge to have a nice long run alone. I cancelled my trainer at the last minute (sorry), and headed home to do a run. I decided that I wouldn't have a goal for time or distance and would just run as far as felt right. Having occasionally hurt myself a bit by overdoing runs, I decided that I would make a rule to run as easy as I could stand to. That would still let me get into the run, but would be less wear and tear on my body. I chose a route that would give me repeated options to lengthen or shorten the run- lots of places to "turn back" or go on. And off I went.
It was a somewhat cloudy day, as all of them have been lately, but not too cool at the start. I ran. I thought about Shadow. I ran. I remembered what it was like having her around. I ran. I thought about all the changes in my life- and how she was there through them. It started to cool off and the wind started to blow as it got ready to blow in a storm. I ran. Mostly, I managed to go at an easy pace, which is currently hovering around above 10-minute miles.
As I finally decided it was time to close the loop and turn back home, I realized that she wouldn't be waiting there to greet me. Of course, I knew that, but it seemed to make it all real again. After a moment of sadness, I had a picture in my mind of this enthusiastic puppy. Though she had less energy and less ability to jump around like that, she seemed to still be that way. A few days before she died, she was laying on the floor and seemed unable to get the energy to get up. I was trying to move some things around and grabbed her leash as a part of that process. She was still slow, but she dragged herself to her feet, enthusiastic to have the chance to go somewhere with me. The puppy was still there, even if the body wasn't quite willing. That was still her until the end. My mind went on to imagining here now- back to being the puppy she always was, without the limitations that her body had given her for the last few years. I felt joy in that image- and realized I was doing 6-minute miles. I eased up, satisfied that this was going to be OK. In the end, one of the longest runs I've done in about a year- a little over 8 miles. Somehow, the run worked. I'll still feel sad, but I also know it was time and she's free now.
It's interesting that a run seemed like the thing to do, and that it worked. Guess this stuff really is a part of my life now. Shadow was one of many things that brought me here, with her unconditional love and her enthusiasm. I owe her thanks, and I owe her a life well lived. Guess I better get started...
Friday, January 28, 2011
Armband Monitoring
My employer has a strong wellness program for employees including health-related lunchtime lectures, inexpensive fitness classes, health screenings on site, etc. Recently, they started a new program that is a team weight-loss competition. They have tried to structure it to focus on healthy, long-term changes by promoting healthy weight loss through better diet and exercise. They asked me, as someone who took full advantage of this program and lost about 100 lbs, to speak at the kick-off event. It went well, though I was a bit nervous and found that I forgot several things that I wanted to say while telling my story:
Thc BodyMedia company has recently release their latest version, which includes a Bluetooth-enabled version that will sync in real-time using your Bluetooth-enabled Droid or iPhone. I haven't spent the money to replace mine, but I will definitely go that way when I do. With the release of the Bluetooth device, prices dropped a bit, but it's still expensive to do the initial purchase- around $200, without the Display Device.
A couple of quirks / notes if you get one of these. If you use the display device in the wristband strap, be careful that it doesn't fall out of the device. After I lost it a couple of times (and had to spend $80 to replace it), I started using just a dab of silicone seal to make sure it didn't fall out. This is one thing that BodyMedia needs to fix, thought it's possible they have already done that. The other area of weakness that they had problems is in the velcro strap that holds the armband on your arm. The velcro would pull loose from the plastic tab long before the strap itself was worn out. After I had spent over $100 just on replacement straps, I had enough and complained loudly to their customer service. They said it was a known issue that they were working on, and they would send me another strap free. I've done that a couple of times now. In my opinion, these straps should last at least a year.
The big positive here is Customer Service. I've gotten upset at BodyMedia a few times in this process, but once I got a Customer Service rep on the phone, they have always made it right. Just remember my final tip in this area: call them on the phone. I've had less responsive answers from email queries for some reason.
Putting all of these pieces together worked for me. If you decide to make a similar change, consider what will work for you in a similar way. Get solid information, set challenging but achievable goals, and get feedback as often as you can on how you are doing in your progress towards those goals.
- That I had testing of my body fat using the BodPod ( an accurate way to measure body fat % ) fairly early on, which indicated I was above 40% body fat when I started to work . I have had a couple more done along the way, and the last one I had last fall measured my body fat % at 14%.
- My medications have gone from five required prescriptions ( most $50/month co-pay ) to two prescriptions ( generics- a free one and a $5/month one ). And those two are ones that I wouldn't technically have to stay on- based on my research regarding their long-term use by type 2 diabetics, I've decided that it's best to stay on those two for now.
- ... and a few others
- Talking over my decisions with a number of people around me, especially my wife. She's struggled with her weight and was working on the same kinds of changes as I. She had great feedback and information on any particular decision I was trying to make. Talking with someone helps you explore possible answers until you find the right one- even if their answer isn't the one you end up with.
- Having specific, reasonable goals that challenge me and have a set deadline. If I had started with a goal to "eventually lose 100 pounds", I don't think I would have gone terribly far. I did have that general idea in my mind, but I had goals like, "Get my protein intake up above 15% in the next two weeks, while still eating healthy" and "Run the Turkey Trot 5-mile race next Thanksgiving at a pace of 10 minutes / mile or better". These goals had a deadline and a measurable goal that weren't easy but weren't beyond my grasp. These short-term, reasonable goals helped me keep making day-to-day decisions that contributed to the ultimate goal- a healthier body and lifestyle.
- Having great data to help me understand if I am progressing towards my goals right this second. I couldn't believe in things that calculated my calorie burn by, for example, having me say I ran for 20 minutes. How hard was I running? How does it know how hard my particular body had to work to do that? Granted, this could produce and estimate, but it was too easy to be way off through cumulative estimation errors.
Thc BodyMedia company has recently release their latest version, which includes a Bluetooth-enabled version that will sync in real-time using your Bluetooth-enabled Droid or iPhone. I haven't spent the money to replace mine, but I will definitely go that way when I do. With the release of the Bluetooth device, prices dropped a bit, but it's still expensive to do the initial purchase- around $200, without the Display Device.
A couple of quirks / notes if you get one of these. If you use the display device in the wristband strap, be careful that it doesn't fall out of the device. After I lost it a couple of times (and had to spend $80 to replace it), I started using just a dab of silicone seal to make sure it didn't fall out. This is one thing that BodyMedia needs to fix, thought it's possible they have already done that. The other area of weakness that they had problems is in the velcro strap that holds the armband on your arm. The velcro would pull loose from the plastic tab long before the strap itself was worn out. After I had spent over $100 just on replacement straps, I had enough and complained loudly to their customer service. They said it was a known issue that they were working on, and they would send me another strap free. I've done that a couple of times now. In my opinion, these straps should last at least a year.
The big positive here is Customer Service. I've gotten upset at BodyMedia a few times in this process, but once I got a Customer Service rep on the phone, they have always made it right. Just remember my final tip in this area: call them on the phone. I've had less responsive answers from email queries for some reason.
Putting all of these pieces together worked for me. If you decide to make a similar change, consider what will work for you in a similar way. Get solid information, set challenging but achievable goals, and get feedback as often as you can on how you are doing in your progress towards those goals.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Finding time to work out
For years before I even started to work on changing my life, I would say "My health is one of the most important things in my life- if I don't have that, everything else goes away". The problem is, I didn't really act like it, because I would also say, "I don't have time to work out". Let me talk for a minute about a few thoughts from my current perspective about those two statements together.
First, it doesn't just have to be scheduled workouts. I take the stairs instead of the elevator. the time difference is nothing these days, and was very little even when I struggled more with those stairs.When I go to lunch with people from work, those of us taking the stairs ( for three flights, in my case) beat the ones on the elevator every time. For a while, I had decided that if I extended my stair climb of three flights of stairs a bit, I could probably get a significant gain in my daily activity. I generally have at least four trips on the stairs in a day- coming up in the morning, going down and back up for lunch, and down at the end of the day. For a little over a month, I decided that I could manage to travel up the nine flights of stairs to the top of my building every time I took the stairs, then go to my destination. It was slow and hard for a while, but then I got used to it and it wasn't so bad. And all of those extra trips didn't take up enough time in my day to even notice- I had the time to do that. You can always find this kind of time, if you want to.
Secondly- if health is my priority, then exercise has to be a priority. Improving diet is important, but I do believe that exercise is even more important for health. To get the health results I want, I have to have an active life that includes some vigorous exercise. So how can I say I don't have time for a workout? There are 24 hours in a day- if exercise is as important as I say it is, there's something else that I could give up to do it. I can get up a little earlier, eat a little later, something. So, if I'm saying I don't have time to work out, I'm really saying that it's not a priority. Once I understood that, it was much easier to really make the changes that gave me workout time. It was still hard, but I started acting like it was an actual priority.
I still had to listen to my body, and make sure I was getting my sleep and meeting the other obligations in my life. But I found the time, and you can, too. Just think about what you are trying to accomplish, and why. you are trying to do this. Then you can easily act like it's important- because it is.
First, it doesn't just have to be scheduled workouts. I take the stairs instead of the elevator. the time difference is nothing these days, and was very little even when I struggled more with those stairs.When I go to lunch with people from work, those of us taking the stairs ( for three flights, in my case) beat the ones on the elevator every time. For a while, I had decided that if I extended my stair climb of three flights of stairs a bit, I could probably get a significant gain in my daily activity. I generally have at least four trips on the stairs in a day- coming up in the morning, going down and back up for lunch, and down at the end of the day. For a little over a month, I decided that I could manage to travel up the nine flights of stairs to the top of my building every time I took the stairs, then go to my destination. It was slow and hard for a while, but then I got used to it and it wasn't so bad. And all of those extra trips didn't take up enough time in my day to even notice- I had the time to do that. You can always find this kind of time, if you want to.
Secondly- if health is my priority, then exercise has to be a priority. Improving diet is important, but I do believe that exercise is even more important for health. To get the health results I want, I have to have an active life that includes some vigorous exercise. So how can I say I don't have time for a workout? There are 24 hours in a day- if exercise is as important as I say it is, there's something else that I could give up to do it. I can get up a little earlier, eat a little later, something. So, if I'm saying I don't have time to work out, I'm really saying that it's not a priority. Once I understood that, it was much easier to really make the changes that gave me workout time. It was still hard, but I started acting like it was an actual priority.
I still had to listen to my body, and make sure I was getting my sleep and meeting the other obligations in my life. But I found the time, and you can, too. Just think about what you are trying to accomplish, and why. you are trying to do this. Then you can easily act like it's important- because it is.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Starting up the blogging once again
Early on in this journey, I came up with the idea of setting up a blog to post some of my thoughts, discoveries, and ideas that were a part of this trip towards my healthy life. It took me a while to get started, and as you can see, it's been a little bit spotty along the way. Life catches up, work makes demands on my time, and eventually it gets away from me for a while. Despite all of that, I keep coming back to it. I've learned so much along the way that I always have a hard time answering the inevitable question: "How'd you do it?".
I always think that the answer is not too hard, and my initial answer is a short list of ideas:
I've posted some of this information previously, but there's so much more that is useful stuff. I need to document that somewhere, think it through, and share it. So, here we go once again. My goal at this point is to do more than one posting a week, each focusing on a single part of the story, a resource, or whatever single topic is of interest. I hope to share some useful information, and we'll see if I can do a little better at sticking with it this time.
Before I leave you this time, let me add in my other general tip. In all of the changes that you are making to your eating and your exercise/activity, find what you love. You may not love the first time you do a particular exercise, but think about it and give it a real try before you give up on it. And if you don't love it after giving it a good chance, find the thing that you do love. Eat the foods you love that fit into your eating plan. Changing your diet to regain your life isn't about what foods you give up- find the foods that are healthy for you that you love, and enjoy them. Let yourself have those, and try to add more foods that you love to your life. In the midst of all of this, I've found that I like running a lot more than I ever would have thought, and it draws me to it. I keep coming back to thinking about another run that's coming up or another goal I'd like to achieve. I've discovered that I love berries- raspberries, blackberries, blueberries. I eat them almost every day, and I believe they have a positive impact on my health. My wife found that she didn't really like riding bikes- until we found a different bike for her and it changed into something she loved. We've enjoyed a number of bike rides together and it's a common activity for us when the weather's nice. She enjoys her walks a lot more now that she has loaded up her iPod for the walk.
Find those things for you, and choose them. Adding things you love to your life is a lot of fun. Get back your life by making those choices, and have some fun. Good luck!
I always think that the answer is not too hard, and my initial answer is a short list of ideas:
- Control the portions of what I eat - not the automatic "starve myself" kind of reaction that people often think is the only answer, but just make sure I'm not eating the whole pizza and stuffing myself. You don't really have to walk around uncomfortable because your body is crying out for food it needs, just move away from automatically eating whatever happens to be in front of you
- Eat a healthier diet - I think most everyone knows at least most of what that is, and you can keep track of what you are eating and refine your diet as you go. Mostly, this just means eating more fruits, vegetables, and fresh food and less packaged, "fake" food. The more processing, the more likely it isn't the best food for you.
- Become more active- everything from going for a walk or run to scheduling workouts into your week to sports to choosing to walk the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Just work on balancing out the common lifestyle that we have- sitting most of the day.
I've posted some of this information previously, but there's so much more that is useful stuff. I need to document that somewhere, think it through, and share it. So, here we go once again. My goal at this point is to do more than one posting a week, each focusing on a single part of the story, a resource, or whatever single topic is of interest. I hope to share some useful information, and we'll see if I can do a little better at sticking with it this time.
Before I leave you this time, let me add in my other general tip. In all of the changes that you are making to your eating and your exercise/activity, find what you love. You may not love the first time you do a particular exercise, but think about it and give it a real try before you give up on it. And if you don't love it after giving it a good chance, find the thing that you do love. Eat the foods you love that fit into your eating plan. Changing your diet to regain your life isn't about what foods you give up- find the foods that are healthy for you that you love, and enjoy them. Let yourself have those, and try to add more foods that you love to your life. In the midst of all of this, I've found that I like running a lot more than I ever would have thought, and it draws me to it. I keep coming back to thinking about another run that's coming up or another goal I'd like to achieve. I've discovered that I love berries- raspberries, blackberries, blueberries. I eat them almost every day, and I believe they have a positive impact on my health. My wife found that she didn't really like riding bikes- until we found a different bike for her and it changed into something she loved. We've enjoyed a number of bike rides together and it's a common activity for us when the weather's nice. She enjoys her walks a lot more now that she has loaded up her iPod for the walk.
Find those things for you, and choose them. Adding things you love to your life is a lot of fun. Get back your life by making those choices, and have some fun. Good luck!
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