Inspiring

Easy Tuesday

Tonight was strength night. I spent around 45 minutes doing my normal full body routine and even did some light leg work. I'm really pleased with how quickly my body recovered from the 10.3 miles last night. This morning was rough but once I got going the soreness was minimal. I'm looking forward to doing a nice easy 3 mile run tomorrow night. It will probably go by very quickly.:)

Completing that 10.3 miles last night really gave me the confidence to know I can complete that half marathon in April. It wasn't like I had doubts but that run last night just help confirm in my mind that the 13.1 distance is right there and I'm looking forward to it. Well, tomorrow is the last day in February and I'm hoping I can squeeze out one more pound or two in the weight loss department. Overall February was an active training month for me and I'm very pleased with my progress. Here is a snap shot of my running mileage and weight loss since October.

Running Miles
November: 24 Miles
December: 47.2 Miles
January: 50.6 Miles
February: 66.9 Miles

Total: 188.7 Miles

Weight Loss
October: 13 pounds
November: 8 pounds
December: 13 pounds
January: 8 pounds
February: 5 pounds so far

Total: 47 pounds

I would be an idiot to be disappointed with those numbers and I'm looking forward to the next 5 months. I hope everyone has a safe Wednesday. - Jason The Running Man

Personal Goal Achieved

Run: 10.3 Miles
Time: 2:00:22 (11:40 pace)
February Totals
Running Miles: 63.9
Biking Miles: 57.4
Total Miles: 121.3
Weight Loss: 5 Pounds

Back in the beginning of November I set a personal goal to run 10 miles before the end of February. Tonight, I achieved that goal.

I started my run around 8:30pm and went a total of 10.3 miles in 2 hours and it felt awesome. I am incredibly sore at the moment but that's to be expected. I'm anxious to see how I recover from this long run. Tomorrow is strength training and an easy bike ride. I will tell you that there will be no leg workouts in that strength training session.:) Tonight I had two dinners, one at 5:30 and another at 7pm, as well as about 32 ounces of water. I will tell you that I did not hydrate or fuel myself during the run in any way. My next 10 miler will be different and I will take my sports drink and water in a fuel belt for that distance. However, I didn't feel like I suffered by not hydrating on this run and still had energy to finish the run strong.

What an amazing feeling to set a goal like that and complete it. Running a marathon has been a goal of mine for several years, that and complete an Ironman event and it wasn't until I really started my journey in May of 2004 that I started to think more about those goals. So tonight was just another smaller step closer to those larger goals. Check out the overview of my run from tonight. - Jason The Running Man

Sunday Rest Day

Today I decided to take another rest day. I haven't had too many this month and enjoyed the time playing with my daughter and just hanging out. The official race results will be out tomorrow and I will update when I get them.

This morning I'm down another pound on the scale weight. That brings my February total weight loss to 5 pounds. Since October I have lost a total of 47 pounds and I'm really pleased with the progress. A little slower this month then I would have liked but still good none the less. I did make some changes to my diet last week to assist in breaking through a little plateau and so far it seems to be working.

No matter how hard you train losing weight is still about calories in and calories out. I do have people that think I'm crazy for counting calories the way I do but by counting calories there is no guessing game I know how much is coming in and a rough estimate of what's going out which allows be to be as accurate as I can. It's never going to be exact but I believe it's close and my experience proves that for me. Once you figure out what your BMR (Basal Metebolic Rate - the amount of calories you would burn if you stayed in bed all day) is you can then figure in your activity level which will give you the amount of calories you need to consume everyday to maintain your weight. Once you have that number you can then subtract the amount of calories based on how much weight you want to lose each week. If you want a detailed description please read this post. I will lose weight even while training for my events because I've done my math, and because I track my calories I can really dial it in.

I still have about 40 to 50 pounds to go before I stop my cutting diet and go to maintenance or even a bulking phase to add 10 to 15 pounds of muscle. The bulking phase just doesn't mean I hit the weights harder but more importantly it will be consuming more "clean" calories. Your nutrition really has to be dialed in. In fact, if your trying to lose weight my advice is to get your nutrition dialed in before your workouts because it doesn't matter how far you run, bike, or swim if you are still eating more calories then your burning you won't lose the weight. I have been recording my calories since January of 2005 and here is a snap shot of my weight loss and weight gain since that date. Have a great Sunday night. - Jason The Running Man

Jan 2005 - Present (Weight Loss/Gain)

Green Valley Road Race 8k - Race Report

Run: 5 Miles

Time: 51:21 (Unofficial)

Last night I hit the sack around 11pm and I think it was around midnight before I fell a sleep. The alarm went off around 6am after hitting snooze three times I finally got up around 6:30. After my shower and getting dressed I made it in to the kitchen and had about 32 ounces of water and a large banana. By the time my wife and daughter got up and ready we were pulling out around 7:30. We parked the car and got my daughter all bundled up in her stroller and headed to the start line...The Wonders of static electricity....

when all of a sudden I hear...Hey number 115!

It was Neese and her husband. We had a great prerace chat and some pics before I headed to the little boys room. When I came out Neese had already made her way to the start line and as I was walking up looking for her, I finally found her and we were able to start the race together.

After a few minutes the race started and we were off. My legs were real tight for the first half mile or so and then they loosened up. The first mile or so Neese and I were step for step and at around the mile and half mark she dropped back behind me. I thought she was right on my hip for a while but when I looked back I didn't see her. At mile 2 my legs felt strong but I just kept at or around the 11 minute mile pace. At mile 3 my 5k time was about 31:35 which is slower then my normal pace time so I decided it was time to pick up it up a bit. From that point I pushed to around a 9:40 minute pace and I just seem to get stronger. I did slow down on the hills a bit but was able to push through. In the last half mile there was one more hill to traverse and it nearly made me pass out as I slowed to about a 13 minute mile pace. When I finally reached the top I struggled for about 100 feet to recover but once I turned the last corner I was able to push back up to a 9:30 minute pace and finish strong. When I crossed the finish line I think the time read 51:15 but not sure. I forgot to stop my Garmin right away but when I did it read 51:21.

After getting some water and catching my breath I walked up the course a little to wait for Neese. I kept looking at the clock because I knew she wanted to come in around 55:00. As she turned the corner I decided to run the last 200 feet to help push her in and she finished under the 56:00 mark! WAHOO Congrats Neese. We talked for about 20 minutes or so and then came on home. I had a great time meeting Neese and her husband, fantastic people. It's amazing to me how these blogs bring people together. Thanks Neese for a great Saturday morning and Congrats on your run, you did great!:) - Jason The Running Man

Here is my race pace and elevation...

Race Eve

Tonight I went down after work and picked up my race packet and I'm number 115. The race starts at 8:30 tomorrow morning and I'm jacked up and ready to go. Feels good to just rest and relax today. I think I may have a slight bruise on the bottom of my right foot and I do have some slight pain but nothing I can't run through. I will be watching it closely. I have not seen any course maps for this race tomorrow so I have no idea what to expect and I like it like that.

On the weight loss front I did lose another pound this morning and kept my eating very clean today. Hopefully the weight will continue to drop and not stall like it has been doing. So, the changes I made seem to work pretty well it looks like. Well, wish me luck and I will update tomorrow after the race with happy pictures! - Jason The Running Man

Crunching Data

Run: 5.2 Miles
Time: 57:06 (10:54 pace)
February Totals
Running Miles: 48.5
Biking Miles: 57.4

Well all I have to say is WOW! I love my Garmin! What an incredible tool. I did spend a little too much time looking at it but that's to be expected.

I felt great tonight and decided to do the 8k distance tonight and then take my well earned day of rest tomorrow. Didn't get out to run until about 9:30 pm. The weather has just been fantastic as today the temp reached 78 degrees. I would say it was still in the high 50's on my run, perfect. I mapped out my run with the RunningAhead site this morning before I got my Garmin and RunningAhead had the distance at 4.94 miles. When I finished and looked down my Garmin read 5.2. I've noticed with the route websites that they are all off about .2 to .3 miles. On my bike I have the CatEye Micro Wireless computer and I noticed the same trend, as well as driving the distance. The run was great and a good one to finish before the race on Saturday. I'm pumped and ready to go. My goal for Saturday is to just finish in under an hour. Based on tonights run that should be achievable.

On a cool side note one of the blogs that I read is Neese who is also from Greenville and is also running the Green Valley on Saturday. It will be cool too catch up with her and chat. These blogs have a way of really making this a small world! Check out the neat data from Garmin's software, Training Center, from tonights run. Have a great night. - Jason The Running Man