Weight Loss Train...

This week just seemed to fly by and its now time for some weekend fun!

My niece turns 8 tomorrow so we are headed over to Rock Hill, SC. for her party which is about an hour away. Gracie is so excited and went out today and got her cousin a couple of gifts so it should be a fun time. There will be lots of pizza, cake, and ice cream but none of that will enter my stomach. I will be preparing my own meal and taking it with me. I'm now at a new cutting low of 203. Not much longer now and I will finally be below the 200 mark! I'm also seeing some great improvement in strength at the gym as several exercises have increased in weight over the last week.

For my strength workouts I'm using almost all dumbbell and barbell exercises. I love the free weights. I do use a few of the Hammer Strength machines for quads, hamstrings, and sometimes biceps but mostly free weights. My waist size has now gone down another full size as I'm now in my 34 shorts! It feels really good to pull clothes out of my closet, try them on, and them being way too big to wear. That's a great feeling!

My running this week has been non existent but I'm really ok with that because I will be running enough come July 9th. I am going to get a few runs in this weekend just to keep up some running but my mileage for June will be the lowest since October of last year. That will soon change! I've been doing some research on this new training concept that is very similar to what I've been doing over the last month. This concept addresses nutrition and workout frequency. I'm still reading so I will share more when I educate myself more, if that's possible!:) The pushup challenge is going great. Tonight will be 29 pushups and hopefully this time Gracie won't try and add 56 pounds to me. Talk about challenge!:) I found this picture of me this week at my heaviest weight and was floored. I will scan the photo in and post it this weekend. I couldn't believe it when I saw it.

I hope everyone has a great Friday night and Saturday morning! - Jason

Quality Training

So far this week has been about strength training.

Monday
Bench Press: 4x10
Standing Calf Raises: 4x10
Lat Pulldown: 4x10
Weighted Crunches: 4x15
Incline Press: 3x10
Decline Press: 3x10
Shoulder Press: 3x10
Hammer Curls: 4x15
Regular Curls: 4x10
Leg Curl: 3x10
Pushups: 1x25

Tuesday
Bench Press: 4x10
Weighted Crunches: 4x15
Incline Press: 4x8
Decline Press: 4x8
Shoulder Press: 3x10
Flat Flyes: 3x10
Regular Curls: 4x10
Hammer Curls: 4x15
Pushups: 1x26

The pushup challenge is going strong as I pushed out 26 strong pushups with no problems. My weight has been very consistent and I anticipate finally hitting sub 200 very soon. No cheat meals for me as I've been like a rock! Tomorrow will bring another strength session at lunch and a short 3 mile easy run in the evening.

This weight loss success has been about consistent QUALITY training. My June so far:

June Snapshot:
Running: 31.3 Miles
Biking:48.3 Miles
Strength: 15
Weight Loss: 7 pounds

I will probably see somewhere between 10 to 12 pounds lost for June. I am very pleased to be able to lose basically the max amount of weight per month and still gain strength...very cool with me! You really don't want to lose any more then 2 pounds a week and if my strength was decreasing I would adjust my caloric intake and decrease my cardio to slow the weight loss to maximize the amount of lean body mass. So far though my strength gains are still increasing. My calories are sitting between 1500-2000 calories depending on the day. Sunday was a day off and I just creeped over 1500 calories for the day. Saturday I actually had just over 2100 calories but with strength and a 3 mile run it needed to be higher. Come July 9th I will be consuming more carbs and the amount of calories will slowly increase as the mileage increases. Hope everyone has a great Wednesday and hey Wes did I win a free dinner? - Jason

Candlelight 5k

Got over to the race around 8pm last night and it was packed! I didn't do this run last year but looking at the results they had around 500 runners and this year had 800 pre registered.

Well, I would say they had close to a 1000 runners last night easily. I moved to the start line a little earlier so I could get a good spot at the front to avoid the traffic jamming. We waited a few minutes and then it was time for the countdown.


The gun went off and we were off. The first part of this course is slightly downhill and then goes uphill for a little then levels off and turns right into a new business complex called ICAR. Once you make that right hand turn it is all downhill for the next mile or so and then you turn around and come back. Yes, that means the last 2 plus miles, for the most part was all up hill with the exception of short level off and downhill section right near the finish.




So, I took off and when we hit the first hill I had no problems. When I reached the top I was really winded and just seem to be struggling. It was very humid and I was already drenched but I was thinking I never get this winded this quickly and then I glanced at my Garmin and noticed I was running a 6:55 pace...OUCH. No wonder I was hurting and had to slow down. I quickly slowed to about a 7:50 then eventually settled in around 8:00 pace. The downhill was great and I tried to take advantage and go as fast as I could knowing full well my pace would slow coming back up. The pic on the right is just after I crossed the finish line.

Made the turn around and headed up the climb. What makes this hill very difficult is not only is it steep but it just keeps going on and on. As I was running up the hill I passed two folks tossing their dinner and to be honest I was close to joining them. Hills are bad enough but add in the humidity and it just plain sucks. I wanted to stop and walk a few times but I stayed strong and was able to push my way without stopping. Once you crested the hill it leveled off and then a slight downhill before you hit the next hill straight up to the finish. Yes, the finish line was right on a small hill. When I neared the finish line I looked down and to my amazement I was still seeing sub 27 min. So I went into high gear and gave it everything I had, literally! Hit the finish line at 26:58 (8:36 pace). I'm happy to hold a sub 9 min pace on a course like that especially since I haven't been running nearly that much in the past few weeks. In fact, I think I can PR that course if I ran it again.:)


Gracie wanted to take a pic of Mommy and Daddy after the race. One frustrating note about the race. I went down to pick up my packet a little after 5pm. Got my packet and shirt and took back off to the house. When I got home I went through the packet which was filled with the typical race packet junk. I never thought twice when I didn't see a race chip. In fact out of all the races I've done only two have used chips so it wasn't a second thought not to have one. When I crossed the finish line I was pissed to see people taking their chips off. I received no chip which means my time was not recorded! Nothing I can do now but just be frustrated. Glad I decided to wear my Garmin! Oh well!

I will say this about the course, it was the toughest 5k course I've run. Besides the hills the humidity made things very difficult. Overall it was a great night and a lot of fun and for a great cause. We had a blast!

My weight this morning came in at 204 for an all time cutting low. I'm now very close to my sub 200 goal and the weight is just falling off. I am going to make one change to my marathon plan. I'm going to move my quads/calves workout from Tuesday to Thursday. That makes more sense since Friday is a rest day and Saturday is cross training. The quad workouts will be very light anyway.

Hope everyone has a great Monday morning! - Jason

Marathon Training & Race Day...

The last couple of days have been right on target with the nutrition. This morning I jumped on the scale to a new cutting low of 206. The cool part, my lifts in the gym are going up and in fact last week I hit one of my personal goals for my strength training, bench pressing my body weight!

That means I'm dropping the fat and adding lean mass which is a very difficult balance between really hard work in the gym and in the kitchen. I'm dialed in now, last night we were out getting some sandals for Gracie and decided to head over to Sonic for some ice cream! Not me, they sucked down their ice cream and I stayed dialed in, no thank you!

Tonight is the Candlelight 5k charity run and I'm really looking forward to the run. It's a challenging course but I'm up for the task. I would love to PR but I'm not going to worry about time I'm just gonna go out and run as hard as I can. Bring on the hills, I love hills, can you tell I'm trying to convince myself there?:) Anyway, it should be alot of fun and Gracie is excited because she gets to stay up much later then her normal bedtime! I remember when I was a kid that was a really big deal so she will have fun.

This week brought on 4 strength training sessions and just 9 miles of running. I'm keeping the mileage dialed back a bit and will try and be consistent with 2 to 3 days a week. No more then 6.5 miles in distance. Come July 9th when the marathon training starts it will start to increase. My peak week is on week 15 (10/15 - 10/21) which will calculate to 42 miles with a long run of 22 that week. I will continue, as I said earlier, the strength training through the entire 18 week training plan. It will be the normal 4 day split routine up until week 10 and then I will move to a three day a week full body routine. That will last until week 16 were I will drop it down to just 2 days a week doing my full body routine, which will continue right up to race day.

I will be doing one 20 mile long run on week 13 and week 15 is the 22 mile run. After week 15 it's time to start the downhill in mileage. I'm going to take Thursday and Friday prior to the race as rest days. Total mileage through the entire 18 week program is 430 miles. I will be one lean mean marathon machine by November. One thing I also will do right up to the end is cross training which will be mostly biking but I may through some elliptical in there to switch it up every once in a while. Here's the breakdown on what I will be doing each week:

Monday - Strength Training
Tuesday - Easy Run + Strength (This day will start at 3 miles and only go to 5 miles by peak week)
Wednesday - Mid Distance + Strength (this day will increase to a 10 mile run by peak week)
Thursday - Tempo Run + Strength (This day starts at 3 miles and goes to 5 miles by peak week) I will rotate Tempo and Easy runs on Thursdays, so not tempo every Thursday
Friday - REST (Phew!)
Saturday - Cross Training (Biking and Elliptical at nice easy pace)
Sunday - Long Run (Starts at 6 miles and goes to 22 miles by peak week)

Strength Routine
Monday: Chest/Biceps/Core
Tuesday: Quads/Calves/Core
Wednesday: Shoulders/Triceps
Thursday: Back/Hamstring/Core

Yes I am doing 4 straight days of strength each week. Keep in mind this is a split routine with good separation between muscle groups giving me plenty of rest between each one. I will also keep a close watch on the program and make changes as needed. I feel this program will be the best at making my marathon experience the best it can be. It will take alot of hard work but I am looking forward to July 9th when the training starts.

So there's the rundown of what my days will look like come July 9th. Most of my runs during the week will be done in the evening with some in the early morning hours. My strength training will occur during my lunch hour Mon-Thurs. My diet will also stay very strict through the entire 18 weeks. That's the plan, now it's time for an egg white omelet and start getting ready for the race this evening! Have a great Saturday night! - Jason

Feeling Thankful...

Run: 5.3 Miles
Time: 53:54
Pace: 10:11

Tonight's run was the first run I didn't look at my garmin at all during the run. Took a nice easy pace and just took in the scenery. No predetermined route just went out and ran.

Funny thing happened...I don't remember much of the run as my mind wondered to how blessed I really am and how thankful I should be just to be healthy enough to be out running. It's so easy to take so many things for granted. Lately I've been unhappy about my job, or should I say, complaining about my job, when in reality, I need to be thankful I have job to complain about. I've been so lucky that God has blessed me with a wonderful wife and a great kid that puts up with all the running and training, getting up early for races, and cheering me on to the finish lines.

I thought about those men and women who are overseas defending the very freedom that allows me to go out and run 5 miles. I thought about their families and how much they must miss their loved ones, what a sacrifice! I thought about my cousin Chucky that's probably headed over to Iraq very soon. I pray that God will keep him safe. I thought about so many other things and before I knew it I was headed down into my neighborhood and finishing my run. I stopped my garmin right at 5.3 miles. I walked around the driveway for about 10 minutes and stretched real good.

It was so nice to be able to get out and reflect on life and what it is I need to be thankful for. It was so nice to be able to just run and not worry about pace, time, or distance. It was so nice to just...run!

My nutrition today was good but I missed my afternoon meal, which is my biggest meal, and it really put my calories too low for the day. I was going to add a meal this evening but I just didn't feel like eating it. My total calories for the day were 1300. I was curious how I was going to feel on my run but as you read above I don't really remember, no I felt fine no problems at all. Hey, it will probably spur some additional weight loss. No cheat meals in my near future. I'm in a zone with my diet!

I did finish my marathon plan and will post an example of what I will be doing sometime tomorrow. I took Hal Higdon's Novice 1 plan and made a few small tweaks to fit my needs but the short of it is, 4 days of running. One tempo, one easy, one mid distance, and a long run. One full day of rest and one full cross training day. I will also continue my 4 day split strength training for the first few weeks and then probably scale that back as I move through the plan. Anyway, I will give a more detailed view tomorrow. Have a great Thursday and think about what it is your thankful for! - Jason

Back to Running...

Run: 3.1 Miles
Time: 28:17
Pace: 9:08

Well, I missed my wake up call this morning and didn't get up until 6:50! Way too late to get in a run and get to work on time. I'm not much of a morning person and I still don't know how for about 6 months or more I did my 5:30am cardio session a couple of years ago...I know, going to bed before midnight might help!:) Back then I was in bed by 10pm every night. Gotta get back to the habit of early to bed, early to rise!

Got a great strength workout in at lunch doing chest, biceps, and core. I also added three sets on the lat pulldown and three sets of standing calf raises to the mix.

Bench Press: 4x10
Incline Press: 3x10
Decline Press: 3x10
Dumbbell Chest flyes: 3x10
Hammer Curls: 4x10
Regular Curls: 3x10
Straight Bar Curls: 3x10
Weighted Crunches: 4x15
Regular Pushups: 1x18
Lat Pulldown: 4x10
Standing Calf Raises: 3x10

Followed my nutrition plan to the letter today not missing a meal and not cheating. Here was the food consumption.

7:15am: 3 eggs/1 yolk, 1 whole grapefruit with splenda, 32oz water
10:00am: 1 large banana, 32oz water
12:00pm: 1 organic whole wheat wrap, 1 tbsp organic light balsamic vinaigrette, 1/4 cup feta cheese, 1 roma tomato, 4oz boneless skinless chicken breast, 3 pickle chips, 1 diet cherry pepsi
3:00pm: 1 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup, 2 tbsp natural peanut butter, 32oz water
5:30pm: 1 organic whole wheat wrap, 1 tbsp organic light balsamic vinaigrette, 1/4 cup feta cheese, 1 roma tomato, 8oz sliced turkey, 3 pickle chips, 32oz water
7:30pm: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 2 tbsp sugar free red raspberry jelly, 32oz water

After dinner I played with Gracie on the new playset for a little bit and then she wanted to ride her bike so we got her helmet on and she road around the cul-de-sac for about 30 minutes pretending to deliver mail to all our neighbors!:) After she went down to bed around 8:30 tonight I was able to get out on my run. The plan was to do 3.1 miles at nice steady tempo. It took my legs about a mile to really loosen up and feel good and by mile two I felt great. My route did take me over a couple of tough hills and I have to say I felt pretty good going up and over. Very happy to keep it close to the 9min mile pace.

My friends Mendy and David are going to run the Candlelight 5k coming up this Saturday night and I decided it would be a fun run to do. It actually starts at 9pm and the run is outlined with luminaries, cool stuff. So, I am adding that 5k and maybe one other 5k or 8k before my marathon but not much more in the way of races after that. I think this race will be alot of fun and also a little challenging. I know the course well and there are a couple of nasty hills in this one so I'm not expecting to PR but I am expecting to have fun. I'm not going to worry about time or pace I'm just gonna go out and enjoy an evening race with friends! Hopefully David and Mendy are still planning on running?:) Should be a nice evening!

I'm almost finished my marathon plan. I decided to do a modified Hal Higdon Novice 1 plan. This is an 18 week plan that will start on July 9th. Once I get it all completed I will post a good example of it. Hope everyone has a great Tuesday! - Jason

Weight Dropping...

My weight is really starting to fall off. I'm now at a new cutting low of 208 pounds. Had a great Saturday at my sister's in Rock Hill, SC. The will power was tested yesterday and I succeeded. I passed up pizza, cake, ice cream, and candy and planned my own meals for the day. Planning my meals out day to day is a big reason for my weight loss success. I've jumped on the weight loss train and I ain't gettin' off for a while!:)

Yesterday was a full day of rest from workouts and a good rest at that. Now it's time to kick up the running mileage again and get back to it. Strength workouts will continue at the normal 4 day a week plan this week. I'm going to make a strong attempt at getting up at the unholy hour of 5:30am and do a 3 mile run...did that sound convincing?:) Will see how it goes! Strength training at lunch and family time in the evening for tomorrow. My pushup challenge is going really well. This afternoon I did my 17 pushups with no problems and I went a head and did 20 crunches as well. Tomorrow will be 18.

My nutrition today was as follows...

8:00 am: 1 Large Banana, 32oz water
10:30am: 1 cup oatmeal, 2tbsp Natural Peanut Butter, 1/4 cup sugar free maple syrup, 32oz water
1:30am: 1 ruby red grapefruit, 32oz water
4:00pm: 1 organic whole wheat wrap, 4oz of boars head turkey, 1 roma tomato, 1/4 cup feta cheese, 1 tbsp organic light balsamic vinaigrette, 1 diet cherry pepsi
6:00pm: 1 organic whole wheat wrap, 4oz of boars head turkey, 1 roma tomato, 1/4 cup feta cheese, 1 tbsp organic light balsamic vinaigrette, 32oz water
8:00pm: 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 2 tbsp smucker's red raspberry sugar free jelly, 32oz water

This calculates to just over 1800 calories for the day. I have to say that turkey wrap I made was really good. So good at 4pm I had it again two hours later.:) I hope all the fathers out there had a great Father's day! I know I did. There was nothing better this morning then getting a homemade father's day card from my 4 year old Gracie! It was awesome when she looked up at me and said...."your the best daddy I've ever had, happy father's day daddy!!!!":) I chuckled and gave her a big kiss and hug! Awesome...just awesome! Have a great Monday morning. - Jason