Back from the Doc…………………………………..

I have returned from the doctor and the news is mostly good! X-rays were taken of my entire right leg, knee and ankle, and…………………………..no fractures were detected. We are still going to do a bone scan for my right shin to make sure there are no stress fractures, so training is on hold for now. My doctor thinks that the new-found pain is a result of changing my running style. He advised me to slow down a bit until my body can get used to the new running style, which is a mid-strike landing as opposed to a heel to toe landing. I think, in the long-term, this will be a better running method as the heel to toe method wears out the heels of my shoes in about a month! Plus, that method hurts my hips and the mid-strike method does not. Since I got the clean bill of health, it is time to register for the Disney Marathon in January 2014!! This will be my first marathon!!!! 🙂

On to the diet. I stepped on the scale today and weighed 226 pounds! If all goes well, I will finally break on to the other side of the 220 pound range and then, lose even more weight. Speaking of food, yesterdays diary:

April 24, 2013

FOODS	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Cholest	Sodium	Sugars	Fiber
Breakfast
Jones All Natural Golden Brown – Breakfast Sausage Link-Fully Cooked, 2 Links	167	1g	16g	5g	30mg	253mg	0g	0g
Lunch
Chicken – Breast, meat only, cooked, fried, 0.5 breast, bone and skin removed	161	0g	4g	29g	78mg	68mg	0g	0g
Dinner
Pork – Fresh, loin, center rib (roasts), bone-in, cooked, roasted, 1 piece, cooked, excluding refuse (yield from 1 lb raw meat with refuse)	571	0g	34g	61g	164mg	103mg	0g	0g
Snacks
Kraft – Colby and Monteray Jack Cheese, 3 oz	300	0g	27g	18g	75mg	660mg	0g	0g
Peter Pan – Crunchy Peanut Butter, 1 tbsp (32g)	100	3g	8g	4g	0mg	55mg	2g	2g
Liquids
Lipton – Decaffeinated Tea Bags, 3 Tea Bag	0	0g	0g	0g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Supplements
Bsn – N.O. Xplode, 1 scoop	25	6g	0g	0g	0mg	235mg	0g	0g
TOTAL:	1,324	10g	89g	117g	347mg	1,374mg	2g	2g

I am trying to keep under 20 carbohydrates and in the 1,500 calorie intake range. The best part of the low carbohydrate diet is that I really do feel much better. I can breathe better and “feel” lighter.

Tomorrow is more work, Saturday is Marshall’s third and final birthday party, and Sunday will be spent relaxing in the pool! For Marshall’s party, we will be having smoked Boston Butt for pulled pork, smoked ribs, smoked/grilled chicken, cole slaw, baked beans and dessert. I’ll try to make a blog post with pictures!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

It’s Hump Day!!

Today is Wednesday…the supposed middle of the week! This feels like the longest week of the year. Possibly, because I am waiting to hear what hopefully will be good news from my doctor tomorrow. It certainly doesn’t feel like good news is coming my way, but I can still hope for the best.

The pain in my leg seems to be located in my ankle, knee, and the center of my leg bones. I don’t think I broke everything, but then again………………………

Yesterdays food diary:

April 23, 2013

FOODS	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Cholest	Sodium	Sugars	Fiber
Breakfast
Jones All Natural Golden Brown – Breakfast Sausage Link-Fully Cooked, 4 Links	333	1g	32g	9g	60mg	507mg	0g	0g
Lunch
Boar’s Head – Black Forest Ham, 2 oz – 28.3 g	60	2g	1g	10g	30mg	440mg	2g	0g
Kraft – Sharp Cheddar Cheese Block, 1 oz	120	0g	10g	6g	30mg	180mg	0g	0g
Dinner
Cabbage – Raw, 0.25 cup, chopped	5	1g	0g	0g	0mg	4mg	1g	1g
Chicken Breast – Barbecue Chicken Breast (No Skin), 100 g	150	0g	4g	22g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Snacks
Kraft – Pepper Jack Natural Cheese Kraft 3 oz Pkg, 1 oz (1/3 pkg)	110	1g	9g	7g	30mg	190mg	0g	0g
Claussen Pickles – Kosher Dill Halves, 1/2 pickle half	5	1g	0g	0g	0mg	270mg	0g	0g
Liquids
Lipton – Decaffeinated Tea Bags, 3 Tea Bag	0	0g	0g	0g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
TOTAL:	783	6g	56g	54g	150mg	1,591mg	3g	1g

Yesterday was a light day, and it was by accident. I’ll have to eat more today!!

Off to work…everyone have a great day!!

Onward………………..

Now that another race is in the books, it is time for some evaluation.

The last race  and for that matter, each race I have participated in, I have learned something about myself. This time out, it was that I can work my way through anything. Some other lessons learned were that I feel much better on a low carbohydrate diet. I don’t know why, but I just do. The other notable item from the previous race was the lack of pain in my hips.  That was a big worry that has gone away. That also clears the way for marathon training. Later today, I will be signing up for the Disney Marathon in January 2014. But first, a visit to the doctor is in order to check out my entire right leg. Three days after the race and there is still pain present. It is eerily reminiscent of when I broke my elbow. The stabbing pain coming from what appears to be a bone. Thursday I will find out for sure.

In the meantime, yesterdays food diary:

April 22, 2013

FOODS	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Cholest	Sodium	Sugars	Fiber
Breakfast
Jones All Natural Golden Brown – Breakfast Sausage Link-Fully Cooked, 4 Links	333	1g	32g	9g	60mg	507mg	0g	0g
Lunch
Kraft – Monteray Jack Cheese, 3 oz	330	3g	27g	21g	90mg	570mg	0g	0g
Dinner
Steak – New York Strip, 10 oz	550	0g	11g	29g	54mg	66mg	0g	0g
Snacks
Generic – Jones All Natural Fully Cooked Sausage Links, 2 link	170	0g	16g	5g	30mg	254mg	0g	0g
Claussen Pickles – Kosher Dill Halves, 1/2 pickle half	5	1g	0g	0g	0mg	270mg	0g	0g
Liquids
Diet Sierra Mist – Diet Soda, 24 oz	0	0g	0g	0g	0mg	70mg	0g	0g
Lipton – Decaffeinated Tea Bags, 3 Tea Bag	0	0g	0g	0g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Supplements
Bsn – N.O. Xplode, 1 scoop	25	6g	0g	0g	0mg	235mg	0g	0g
TOTAL:	1,413	11g	86g	64g	234mg	1,972mg	0g	0g

Low carbohydrate and low-calorie!

Checking the ketone strips, I am back to dark purple on the scale, so, the weight loss should continue. If I do indeed have a broken leg or damaged knee and I have to take time off from running, at least I will be losing weight!

The rest of today will be resting. Wednesday and Friday I have inspections to do and Thursday is Doctor day! Thursday is also the first day of the wife’s new job which means, I will start taking Marshall to school and picking him up every day. I am about to become “Mr. Mom”!

I will continue to post the diet diary and Thursday will be the next big post. I hope the doctor brings good news!!

Race Around the Lake Part 2 Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

This post will be a review of the Race at Lake Minneola.

We registered for this race in February after the A1A Half Marathon as we wanted a race to train for in between the Disney Wine and Dine. As the race was only $60.00 and the course actually went right by Tealas Fathers house. For $60.00, how bad could it be?

By comparison, the A1A Marathon for 2014 costs $85.00 and we got a $10.00 discount. What is a $15.00 discount as it pertains to quality of an event? Read on……………….

We will start with the registration and payment. This , as it seems to be with everything these days, was the easy part! Payment was made, a confirmation email was sent, and everything seemed normal. So far, so good.

Three weeks prior to the race, I emailed the company putting this event on, Sommer Sports, for information on where the package pickup was going to be, a map, little things that one needs to know before a race. I received an email back stating that those things will be sent out prior to the race. Fortunately, the Wife and I were at her Dads place for Easter and we mapped out what we thought was the route while we were there. On April 19th, at 2:38 in the morning, I received an email with the information…sort of.

Here was the “map” of the race course: Map   😦

We drove up Friday and got the packet pickup. It only took four minutes and was very organized. This is where the problems started. First  here is the advertisement from the Somer Sports website: 

We can start with the “tech shirt”. The shirt we got as well as everyone else, was a plain white cotton T-shirt with the race logo on the front. We will come back to the promises made on the advertisement a little later on.

Saturday: As the race was slated to start at 7:00 am according to all of the emails and website information, we arrived at 6:00 am. Although we had planned to get there at 5:30 am, it didn’t matter. The first thing we noticed was that there were no race personnel to tell you where to go…like for instance, where the starting line was. A lot of people were milling about wondering the same thing. Apparently, this is a somewhat local event and others that had been here before told us where the starting line was.

There was an area under a pavilion which was serving fruit, coffee and a few other food items. Again, a sign telling you that would have been helpful.

As it was getting near the start of the race, we followed the crowd to the starting line. At five minutes to 7:00 am, a man using a bullhorn informed everyone that there were a few issues with the “traffic situation” and that the start of the race would be delayed. This was where I determined that this was a local event as some of the participants we talked to said this was common at this venue. Others that had never run this race, and were like us, used to Disney races, couldn’t quite understand how this could happen.

The race around the lake is run on public streets for the most part and as such, one lane of traffic on a two-lane road has to be blocked off. We have been to Tealas Dads place during other races and the signs telling you the road will be blocked off Saturday morning were already in place, and they were at this event as well. Maybe the cops were still at Dunkin Donuts!

At 7:25 am it was announced that the race would start at 7:30 and as the sound system had not been erected or installed, instead of singing or at least listening to the Star Spangled Banner, everyone recited the Pledge of Allegiance while looking at a flag that was about a mile away. We also had a moment of silence for the victims of the Boston Marathon. At 7:30 am, using an air horn, the race was started. There were no fireworks, no countdown, just “go” and a blast from the horn!

Fortunately, this was a small race as far as participants go because if there had been a couple of thousand runners, it would have taken 20 minutes to go one mile. The path was narrow as we headed out. Now that we were out running, the previous issues didn’t seem to matter.

As my Endomondo tracker announced that I had run one mile, I noticed that there were no mile marker signs. I seem to remember the signs neatly stacked up against the trailer Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. As the race went on, there were no markings of any kind.

Let’s go back to the advertisement. “A flat and fast course”. The A1A marathon was classified as a flat course. It had one bridge to traverse. This course, had several hills throughout the entire race. Those that expected a “flat” course, were in for a big surprise.

The first 5K of the race, goes off to a park and then you have to come back and cross the starting line. There were race volunteers there to help you…at least for the early runners. After a majority of the half marathon participants went through this area, the 12K participants were sent off. Unfortunately, for those that were slower than a 12 minute/mile pace, you got caught in that traffic. The Wife and several other runners got caught in this mess and were forced to run on the grass which was about five feet wide.

As I carry 60 ounces of refreshments, I usually do not have to stop for water until mile 7. If I remember correctly, the first water station was at mile 4. I took a drink of the water and it was the same crappy water you get out of the tap…..which is barely drinkable. At least there were people there to give you water and Gatorade. There have been numerous people who have posted on the Sommer Sports Facebook Page, that there were no personal present at the water stations after 10:00 and my wife can verify that as she had to pour her water into cups herself.

The traffic was supposed to be blocked off for everyone except the runners of the event. Here is a quote from the FB page: “Hi Stephanie. for the safety of the runners no bikes are allowed along the course”. That is in response to a pre-race question if bikes were allowed on the course. Apparently, the race organizers did not tell the bike riders or enforce this rule. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the traffic signs around the course clearly stated that the roads would be for one-way traffic from 7:30-12:00 noon. The law enforcement officers apparently didn’t think it was important to separate cars and runners, as several cars were driving the wrong way down one-way streets. Others were right in back of runners. One lady in a van, with her 4 or 5 year-old child, in the front seat with no seat belt, nearly plowed into a water station as several of us were waving her over into the other lane.

As I neared the finish, I noticed, that there were no signs directing you to the actual finish line. There were a bunch of cones….but no markings. Several individuals missed the turn and ran an extra 1/4 mile before realizing that they had missed the turn! As I crossed the finish line, I noticed there was no clock. I also noticed that during the run, there were no “humps” for interval timing. All you got was your finishing time and pace. Unfortunately, none of that matters as this race was about a half mile short.  My Endomondo tracker voice announced 13.1 miles..before I crossed the finish line. Several others have reported that their Garmin watches showed what seems to be an average distance of 12.8 miles.

To add insult to injury, when my wife crossed the finish line, and I ran the last 1/4 mile with her, she was greeted with a water bottle and a kid stating, “we ran out of medals”!!!!!!!! I said, “What?” Yes, they ran out of medals. And here is the response from Sommer Sports:

Mary, our medals are custom die cast medals and they have to be ordered 6 weeks out from the race. When we order medals we have to estimate how many finishers we think we will have. At the time we placed the oirders we had about 300 athletes registered so we ordered 800, which we felt would be more than enough to cover the race and allow us to have a few extras on hand. Last week we realized we may not have enough so went ahead and ordered an additional 100. Because these are not stock medals that you run down to your local trophy shop to buy, they have to be cast, color filled and shipped to us, and that will take about 3 weeks. We know exactly who did not receive a medal and all finishers who did not receive one will be sent one as soon as they arrive at our office. We apologize we did not have enough on hand, but when athletes wait until the last minute to enter a race, it makes it a challenge for a race organizer to determine the number of shirts and medals to order

To quote one of the other posters, “That is Bulls**t”!!!!

Although they did run out of medals, they didn’t run out of t-shirts!!!

Out of the promises made by the race advertisements, so far, none have been met.

Tech shirt? No!

Flat course? No

Race medal? Only to some.

Great food? Under-cooked hot dogs and fruit, not quite.

Free photos? Only if you had a cellphone or your own camera.

Entertainment? Yes, there was a band there…who started playing as most were leaving or had already left!

I think I have covered about everything. In conclusion, this has to be the most poorly organized event I have ever been to. After the race, I searched around and found that it appears to be the normal operating procedure for this company, Sommer Sports, as there have been many of the same complaints, no medals, no signs, etc.

I would advise anyone thinking about participating in one of their races, to do your research and if you do participate, expect the worst and hope for the best!

From now on, we will stick to Active.com for all of our race events!

Race around the lake recap Part 1

Here is the recap for the weekends racing event. It is being broken down into two separate posts. This entry will be the race, stats, preparation, etc. Part two will be a review of the event itself.

Friday: The wife and I left for Clermont around 1:30. At 5:00, we arrived at the designated place for our race package pickup. We went in, the wife and Marshall went to the bathroom and I got our race packets. In all, it took four minutes!!! I also got some inside information from one of the volunteers to park on 5th street.  This would be the last thing to go right at this event. Turns out, by driving down fifth street, you ended up at the start/finish line parking spot!

We then drove over to Tealas fathers house, which was only two miles away and set out to dinner. The usual dining spot for the pre-race meal is Carrabbas. We went in and got seated right away.

This week, I have been limiting my carbohydrate intake to less than 30. I managed to lose 12 pounds by race-day and also, seemed to feel lighter. There wasn’t the “full” feeling after meals and, as always seems to happen, I felt great all week, with the exception of Tuesday. During Tuesdays run, I heard a “snap” from somewhere in my right knee. After the run, my lower right leg was sore and I could hardly walk. During the week, I iced down the leg, took several baths and used the 18-inch foam roller as much as possible. By Friday, I was about 90% healthy so I was going to race! Back to dinner……………………………….

I had read recently that someone competing in a 100 mile iron-man race, did so on a low carbohydrate diet. I figured this race would be a good time to test this diet out.

Here is Friday nights dinner:

April 19, 2013

FOODS	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Cholest	Sodium	Sugars	Fiber
Breakfast
Jones All Natural Golden Brown – Breakfast Sausage Link-Fully Cooked, 4 Links	333	1g	32g	9g	60mg	507mg	0g	0g
Lunch
Eric’s burgers – hamburger , 1 patty	200	0g	11g	22g	75mg	75mg	0g	0g
Dinner
Carrabbas – Mussels “Cozze Bianco”, 464 g	570	12g	20g	48g	10mg	350mg	2g	0g
Carrabbas – The Johnny (From Website), 1 Serving	700	6g	47g	60g	188mg	989mg	1g	1g
Carrabbas – Shrimp Scampi Appetizer, 1 serving	1,200	1g	22g	26g	247mg	392mg	0g	0g
Carrabbas – Chargrilled Ribeye Steak 10 0z., 10 oz. (208g)	539	4g	36g	50g	162mg	179mg	0g	0g
Liquids
Fb Red Wine – Fb Merlot, 2 container (8 oz ea.)	400	13g	0g	0g	0mg	19mg	3g	0g
Supplements
Bsn – N.O. Xplode, 1 scoop	25	6g	0g	0g	0mg	235mg	0g	0g
TOTAL:	3,967	43g	168g	215g	742mg	2,746mg	6g	1g

As you can see, the carbohydrates were limited at this meal and the calories were nearly 4,000. The waitresses were all looking at me as I finished the rib-eye steak. I had already eaten the mussels, shrimp, and “The Johnny”, and when I asked for the rib-eye, our waitress asked, “Is that to go?” Believe it or not, I wasn’t “full feeling” but I was not hungry!

Race-day Saturday April 20, 2013:

3:30 am: Woke up and had my serving of Noxplode and a Zero Carb protein shake.

4:00 am– Eliminations (drinking game participants imbibe)

4:30 am: Attach race bib to shirt and also get all of the water bottles filled and make all preparations for the race.

5:00 am: Load up the Durango and head to the race..unfortunately, someone wasn’t ready…………………………

5:45 am: Head to the race.

6:00 am: Arrive at the race

6:30 am: Take all needed medications (Advil, Vicodin, Nitrix)

7:00 am: Start race……..or so we thought!

7:25 am: Everyone at the race recited the “Pledge of Allegiance”  and had a moment of silence for those who lost their lives and the injured, in Boston.

7:30 am: The start of the race………………………….

Mile 1:     12:26 This was the fastest I have ever started a race!!!

Mile 2:     11:55

Mile 3:     11:59   (5K time 36:20 a PR!!!!)

Mile 4:     12:04

Mile 5:     11:53  (total time: 1:00:17 another PR!!!!!)

Mile 6:     12:07  Still cruising and at this point, there was no pain..at all!

Mile 7:     12:59  At this point, things began to go horribly wrong!

Mile 8:     14:18

Mile 9:     16:12

Mile 10:   14:01

Mile 11:    13:05   And I never fully recovered…………………………………

Mile 12:    12:49

Mile 13:    13:19

Total Miles: 13.2                       Total time: 2:51:53                         Average pace: 13:20

Chip time:                                    Total Time 2:50:59                        Average Pace: 13:03

As you can see, almost near the end of mile seven, I developed a pain that I have never felt before. I had cramps in both legs from my buttocks all the way down to my ankles. The best way to describe it, was being hit by lightning and then, having 20 hands grab and squeeze your legs as hard as possible. At the Tower of Terror run last year, I had cramps in my calves. It went away and wasn’t that bad. In this race however, the pain was severe and it was instant, there was no warning. I was nearly paralyzed. I staggered over to a nearby fence, and tried to stretch, but this didn’t help. I continued walking and massaging my legs and finally, a water station was in view so I ran a little bit. When I got to the water station, I refilled my water bottles and also drank four cups of water.

I continued to walk and halfway into mile 10, began to run. There was still slight cramping, but it was a lot better. I drank all of the water in my fuel belt…60 ounces, by the time I reached mile 11. I refueled the bottles again and had a couple of cups of water while the girl was filling my bottles.

Mile 11-13 I ran and walked at a reduced setting on my run/walk interval app. 45 seconds running/60 seconds walking. By the time I finished, I felt fine. I crossed the finish line in a full sprint with two other girls that were running with me most of the race. We would pass each other during walk intervals, and sort of developed a little race banter as they were also wearing the Boston tag in the picture above, that I was.

Looking at the numbers from Endomondo, I have to conclude that this race was about a half a mile short. When I made the final turn, the Endomondo tracker voice announced 13.1 miles……..before I even finished!

I waited for the wife to finish and ran with her as she crossed the finish line.

We went back to the Durango, had a couple of beers and went back to her dads place for Marshalls second birthday party of the month.

Conclusions:

1. Running the race on a low carbohydrate diet can be done and will be done in my future races.
2. The cause of the cramping appears to be related to a lack of water consumption. I remember at the Tower of Terror race, everyone was complaining about the heat. It wasn’t the heat, it was the humidity, which if I remember was around 95%. For this race, it was 93%.
3. Although I did have a major scare with regards to the cramping, I now know, I can run through it. It never happened in the training runs, but I did adapt to it during the race.
4. After consuming the nearly 4,000 calorie meal, I was full of energy all day before, during, and after the race. We didn’t go to bed until around 9:30 pm.

Injuries: The injury to my right leg, which I thought had healed, clearly hasn’t. In fact, I could barely walk on the way up the stairs going to bed Saturday night. Today was no fun either. I will be calling the doctor tomorrow and try to get in to see exactly what is causing this pain.

My left knee, and in fact every other part of my body feels fine. I could probably go out and run right now.

Even better news, is that the hip pain that usually shows up around mile 11, was nowhere to be found! Today there is still no pain in my hips!! This was the one thing that wold have prevented me from running in a full marathon as when my hips start to hurt, they actually “lock up” and I can barely move my legs.

Equipment:

The new Motorola 600 headphones worked perfectly. The Motoroal Atrix2 phone, also worked perfectly. The fuel belt now requires an adjustment as I have lost around an inch from my waist! The new Saucony shoes show little wear and the wear they do show is very even. This is great news and I appear to be running using a mid-foot strike, which in the long run, will be much better than the heel to toe style I was using before.

Although I am disappointed, for the first 7 miles, I was well on my way to a personal best and very close to a 2:30 pace. That will have to wait until the next race, The Disney Wine and Dine!!!!

Tomorrow will be part two of this post which be a review of the race.

As a small preview, when my wife finished, they had run out of medals…….and it goes downhill from there.

Pre-Race Day!

This time tomorrow, if all goes well, I should be finishing or finished with the Race Around the Lake!

I decided not to run on Thursday as my right leg was still bothering me. As of now, it is about 80%, so by tomorrow morning, I should be good for the race.

Got my bib number, 455, so now I am officially excited!

On the weight front, the Atkins diet is wonderful! As of this morning, I weighed 228 pounds which is a loss of 10 pounds in a week. I hope that it doesn’t affect my endurance. I am also going on a low carbohydrate approach. The dinner tonight will be a large steak and some sort of seafood.

The plan for breakfast is to get up around 3:00 am, have scrambled eggs and sausage along with a no carbohydrate shake. If all goes well I should be able to finish this event at 2:30. That is the goal which will be under a 12 minute pace. After looking at the map, I may get lost!

I will post the results Saturday if I can get an internet connection.

Stay tuned……………………………………….

Tuesday run….

After what happened Monday at the Boston Marathon, it is truly a very sad day for runners and the human race. The cowardly act to injure innocent bystanders, most, waiting for their spouses or friends to finish the most prestigious race in the word, is to me, beyond belief. And that’s all I have to say about that.

Here is a site: Runners United, where you can sign up to run 26.2 miles virtually. Last night, after working all day and prior to dinner, I got my first 3.1 miles in. Here are the results:

Mile 1: 10:48 <——————–WOW!

Mile 2: 12:33

Mile 3: 13:00

Total: 3.14 miles                                 Time:   38: 15                                       Average pace: 12:11

As you can see, mile one I was a little amped up! That could be my fastest pace to date. I decided as I have a race Saturday, I slowed down the pace for the last two miles. I also had to mess around with the phone as several apps stopped working! It looks like this may be the last race for the Atrix2! Speaking of electronics, my replacement headphones arrived today. These are much different from the other ones as these are just ear buds and then the wireless part is just a cable instead of a solid band. They sound better…let’s see how long they last. 🙂

Today is work and cleaning up some chores around the house. Tomorrow will be some maintenance work on the Durango and then a 3 or 5 mile run Thursday. Friday is an off day and then, off to the “lake” to get our race package and then dinner. Speaking of food, since switching to the Atkins diet Sunday, I have lost 7 1/2 pounds! Hopefully, I can lose 4 or 5 more and get to 225 pounds for this race. For whatever reason, I feel better on a low carbohydrate diet. I don’t know how that is going to work out in a 13.1 mile race, but I was reading that there are several taking this approach as some of us have plenty of fat stores!! 🙂

Thursdays run will be posted and then updates from the race.

Everyone, enjoy the rest of the week!

One week to race-day!

With one week to go before the next race, the Race Around the Lake, I am plum worn out!

Between work, trying to train, looking for a new house, and the “Marshall’s 5th birthday World Tour”, I need a break!

On to Saturdays run…, but first….As I hopped on the scale prior to the run, I was greeted with some bad news. 238 pound worth!!! It appears that all of the meals I have been hastily preparing have affected the waistline. Not to worry, Monday starts a return to the Atkins diet and by the end of the week, I should be in the 226 pound range for the race. 10-12 pounds makes a big difference, at least to me when running.

Saturdays run:

Mile 1:  12:03

Mile 2: 12:01

Mile 3: 12:55

Mile 4: 12:56

Mile 5: 12:54

Total:      Miles: 5.07                                                   Time: 1:04:00                                       Average pace: 12:38

The run was performed without my trusty Motorola headphones as they exploded and replacements will be here on Tuesday. It also appears my phone is in its death spiral as WinAmp stopped working a few times and I had to adjust my run/ walk interval app twice! The first two miles are more of an accurate representation of my actual times, so, if all goes well, I should finish the next race in 2:36.

I was going to wait until after this race to break out my new shoes, but, looking at the bottoms of the current pair, they are worn out. That would explain the pain in my legs/knees today!  The new shoes will fix that and I should be able to run without pain.

I am currently debating running in next years Disney Marathon as I am scheduled to run in the A1A Marathon next year, which is only six weeks later. I am going to wait until after this race to see if I am going to run in the half or full marathon at Disney.

It looks like work has slowed down, at least for a day or two, so, time to concentrate on training and a few chores around the home.

Until next week………………….Run like the wind…..not against it!

A quick post….

I forgot to do the food diary!!

Work has been very busy, but I did manage to get in a run on Tuesday.

Here are the numbers:

Mile 1: 12:08

Mile 2: 12:43

Mile 3: 12:27

Mile 3.5: 7:17

Total:   3.56 Miles                           Time:  44:37                                   Pace: 12:32

The run would have been a lot faster except that the phone acted up and then, my new set of Motorola headphones stopped working!!! The Motorola people are sending me an upgraded set  Moto SF600 Wireless headphones  We will see how these perform.

It is also nearing the time to purchase a new phone. I am waiting for the next price drop on the Samsung Galaxy S3 or the introduction of the Motorola “X” phone. I may also just get the Motoactv sports watch, which is supposed to be able to run android apps with the latest software update.

More work today and tomorrow, but I do plan on running five miles this afternoon and 10 on Saturday.

Everyone have a great day!!

Another week..already??????

I hate being busy!! Then again, I shouldn’t complain!

To catch up, we had Easter dinner at Tealas parents. The usual fare of delicious food. I have to give a special thanks to “Nana” aka Sue, for getting me gluten-free bagels, which were delicious!!  I will have to find out where she got them from as Udis doesn’t even have them!! Udis bagels

After we got back, it was time for the quarterly 7-day cleanse. And boy, did I need it! Let’s just say, I was “dirty inside” and leave it at that. 🙂

I have finally recovered from the fiberglass poisoning incident as well as the supplement overdose.

And, as I alluded to in the last post, the Wife has received a substantial promotion! She is now the Director of Nutrition at the new HealthSouth in Stuart! As it would be too hectic to move now, we will be relocating north, sometime next year, probably in-between the school year break, so we don’t upset Marshall too much.

Having scouted the area previously, I will be glad to get to a place with a much slower pace. And, if all goes well, we will be even closer to the beach, as well as to both of our parents.

On to the running!

Taking three weeks off may not have been one of my best ideas, but, my body needed it. My legs have been hurting from work and combined with the training  it was getting to be too much pain for me.

Saturday was the first run in almost a month. The numbers were predictable, but, I wasn’t in any pain after the run. That is the key at this point with another race in two weeks. Speaking of that, the Race Around the Lake, which will be Saturday the 20th, seems to be a straight forward affair. While we were at Tealas parents for Easter, we drove the course as their home is right at the top of the lake. Too bad the start is at the bottom of the lake!

Here are the results of Saturdays run:

Mile 1: 13:15

Mile 2: 13:29  Slowest mile

Mile 3: 13:19

Mile 4: 13:14

Mile 5: 12:36   Fastest mile.

Total:5.30       Time:1:09:48                                 Pace: 13:10

That isn’t bad for the first run and the 12:36 on the last mile is what I was looking for. Not tired or sore. Tuesday will be another 5 miles, Thursday another 5 miles, and Saturday, 10 miles. I would like to finish the 10 mile run in 1:45. That should get me to around 2:30 for the 1/2 marathon the following week. That is the goal anyway.

I have also returned to the gym, although we still have another 2 1/2 months to go before my biceps is fully healed.

Here is this mornings workout:

April 8, 2013

EXERCISES	Calories	Minutes	Sets	Reps	Weight
Strength Training
Seated Biceps Curl	Right arm only		3	15	30
Standard Bench Press			3	20	95
The 21’s			3	15	10
Triceps Pull-down			3	20	65
Seated Biceps Curl	Left arm only		3	15	30
TOTALS:	0	0	15	85	230

My doctor gave me explicit instructions not to use any heavy weight. He did say to increase the repetitions, and then, the sets.  Wednesday and Friday will be 5 sets of 20 repetitions for each exercise! That should be fun!!

Tomorrow I will post the food diary and run results. I have an inspection booked already for tomorrow and Friday, with two more waiting to confirm. It is also Marshall’s birthday tomorrow and his party is Saturday. Five years old…..it seems like yesterday!!!