Well done ladies.

So something strange happened to me yesterday in class and at this point I still don't have an explanation.  I felt fine before class and I felt fine after class but the entire time during class I felt light headed and could not exert myself at all.  I feel like I just kind of went through the motions and did what I could but after five or ten exercises in a set I hit a wall and just wanted to sit down.  This has only happened to me once or twice before and I can only assume dehydration.  Literally right after I stopped pushing myself I felt fine but during the exercises I wanted nothing more than to stop.  I will be drinking plenty of water today with the hopes of catching back up and being fully hydrated.  Don't want another class like last night.  While I am glad that I worked out I by no means had a good workout.  Oh well, at least I am feeling better and today is a new day.

So this Sunday was the Girlfriend 5K that Hila planned with all her girlfriends.  I think there were 14 girls total.  I could not be more proud of these girls.  Some are lifetime runners and others this was the longest they have ever run in their life.  Hopefully they will continue to run these races and pick up the running bug.  Well done ladies.

Let the countdown begin.

The dreaded weekend.  While I love the weekend for more reasons then I can count, I also know that this is the time where the damage is done.  I will eat and workout every single day of the week, but come Friday night/Saturday morning is a 48 hour countdown to absolute destruction.  Dinners, parties, boredom, get-togethers, wine, whatever it may be, I can easily mess up everything I have done over the past 4 days in the few short hours of the weekend.  My goal this weekend is to focus on not overeating and counting everything that I do eat.  As they say at Weight Watchers, "if you bite it, write it."  That is my plan, no cheating, no making up eating calories by working them off.  All it takes is one night, and yes its easier than you think to put down a good 100 point meal.  Believe me I have done it several times.  And that one meal can be the difference between weight loss and weight gain come Monday night.  Last week I gained .8 pounds and this week I want to lose that plus some.  I need to stay focused and keep my eye on the prize.  The prize = SUCCESS.

Babies don't sleep this well.

Last night was hard, really hard.  I didn't want to stay but I knew I should.  My shoulders were killing me, the cadio wore me out.  Even with all the physical pain, it's the mental struggle that's the hardest.  That little red devil on my (oh so sore) shoulder says "you just worked out hard, really hard, go home, rest, eat".  It's so easy to listen to him, he sounds so right, he makes perfect sense to me, I want to listen to him and most times I do.  Last night though I left that devil sitting on the curb and paid him no mind and stayed for the second class.  Let me tell you I feel it today.  Sore...all over.  Sitting up to get out of bed this morning, yeahhhh I was slow going for sure.  Sitting here typing my arms don't quite move the way they should.  Pain is good, it's weakness leaving the body, pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever, we have all heard it before, a thousand times.  Until you experience it do you really even begin to understand.  I love working out, I love being sore but today I love it even more.  I get it today, I feel it today, actually it's more than that, today I understand it.  I pushed myself beyond what I thought was the limits of my body and I loved it.  Let me tell you...babies don't sleep this well.

Next goal - boot camp, boot camp, boot camp!!!

Official times have been posted.  So even though my watch clocked an extra .2 miles, that does not count into my pace.  So, officially my pace was 10:27.  I am quite happy with that.

So I have been thinking of what to do next and at this point I think that I am just going to try to hit boot camp consistently for 4 days a week (Monday - Thursday).  I want to work on strengthening my shoulder, and focus on all around fitness not specifically running or biking.  I want to get back to the level in class where I can use the more difficult bands, be first on all runs/sprints/stairs, and untimely take my fitness to the next level.  I want to push my limits, see how strong I can get, see how much faster I can be.  Starting this week at boot camp there will now be two classes, one at 5:15 and another at 6:15.  I have done two consecutive boot camp classes several times and let me tell you it is tough.  Just taking one class is hard enough but two definitely changes things drastically.  I can by no means put forth the same effort in the second class, frankly if someone can then they are simply not trying hard enough in the first class.  Even though I cannot push as hard, the second hour my body is in fat burning mode and as I go to class more and more, the second class will get easier (a little bit anyway).  I will not be able to stay for two classes everyday but I will try to do so at least twice a week.  That should also help with these last 11 pounds I have to lose to get under 200.  I do have a weigh in tonight, I am hoping for somewhere around a 1 pound loss.  I will be happy with that anyway.  Maybe with all the calories I burned running yesterday I will have a better weight loss that I expect.  I was also pretty much starving all day yesterday so I may have eaten a bit too much, but we shall see tonight.

The Army 10 Miler

Just got home from the race.  While official results are not posted online yet according to my watch the race was 10.2 miles and I ran it in 1:44, that is a pace of 10:11 per mile.  Just to see how that compares to the rest of the 10 milers I have run, I pulled up the results of all seven Cherry Blossom races and my one other Army 10 Miler time.  While this was not a PR (Personal Record) it was my third fastest time ever.  With everything we have had going on the last few weeks, I am more than happy with this time.  I am ecstatic actually.  My initial goal was a nine minute pace, and while I didn't meet that pace goal, I still pushed through and I feel great, I am very proud.  Seeing all these race times I remember now that the only two Cherry Blossom races I have missed in the last eight years have each been due to both my shoulder surgeries a few weeks before hand.  I did not realize until pulling up these results that I have now run nine 10 mile races, I just didn't realize I had been running for so many years.

Cherry Blossom Results 2012:

Cherry Blossom Results 2005 - 2011:

Army 10 Mile Results 2009:

I also ran today with Hila and Jess, each of them running together at something like a 9:20 pace (unofficially).  That is great.  Hila has run maybe eleven 10 milers, beaten me every time and still beats me even being close to five months pregnant.  They both crushed it and I could not be more proud.  Well done ladies.

Today I am definitely look forward to relaxing some, opening up a bottle of Kosta Browne and watching the Redskins game with the wife.  Not going to lie I am already sore and sitting down feels fantastic, especially since where we had to park was a 40 minute walk from the finish line, I mean really Mr. Race Officials, you make us all walk even more miles after just running 10?

Now I just need to figure out what race I want to sign up for next...

 

I may not be the fastest...

Monday night weight loss - 2.4 pounds.  Down to 211.8.  Getting there...slowly but surely.  Down 8.8 pounds in total.  On average that is about a 1/2 pounds a week.  Now that sure feels like a weight lifted...

I can only hope I feel as great on Sunday as I did on my long run last night, running was just a little bit easier last night than it has been for me on my last several long runs.  I was able to push both the pace and the distance a bit.  Ran 8 miles in just over a 10 minute pace.  Like I said before, not where I wanted to be at this point but still faster than last time, and I felt fantastic!

I keep all my running stats on a site called Dailymile.  All you do is enter your time and distance for each run and it gives you all sorts of different stats.  Since last night was possibly my last run before the race (I may run a 4 miler on Friday just to stay loose and make my total distance a cool 100 miles) I was reading through some of the stats and thought this was interesting.

In the past three months I have run 23 times for a total distance of 96 miles.  The breakdown shows exactly how many miles I ran each week and I like the comparisons about 70 donuts burned, and hey look I saved $5 in gas...sweet.

This is a great tool for tracking workouts if you want to closely follow your progression.  With this site I can see exactly where I missed runs, or how my pace has improved, and even where I think I could have pushed harder.  One difference in my training this year has been a GPS watch, this is the one I have.  I don't know how I ran without one before.  I set the watch to show my pace, so whenever I want to see how fast or slow I am running I just check the watch.  Like last night I kept checking to make sure that I was as close to 6 miles an hour as possible.  If on the uphills I slowed down then on the downhills I tried to pick up the pace.  Without the watch I feel that I just run slower since I have no way to gauge exactly how fast I am running.  With the watch I find I push myself harder because I am in constant competition with myself.  Whether I succeed or not I always try to beat my last time, pace, distance, whatever.  For me this watch helps do that.

The Clydesdale That Could

So I entered a mountain bike literature contest for Dirt Rag Magazine.  The following essay was submitted today and I will have to wait several weeks to see if I win.  I just really liked the idea of writing a story that someone else will read.  Of course I would love to win but for me at this point it's more about just playing the game, if that makes any sense.  The story below is slightly based off true events, but is a work of fiction.  Enjoy.

The Clydesdale That Could

Having not been an avid mountain biker for more than a few months I wanted to try and up my game by signing up for a local bike race.  Now, I have been out and seen some of the other riders gallivanting along on the courses and I could just tell that I was in better shape than them and could easily beat some, if not most, in a race.  So, I decided to put my money where my mouth is and sign up for a series of four races called Wednesday’s at Wakefield.  There were several different categories available, Junior, Beginner, Expert, Masters, and Clydesdale (200 lbs. and over).  Being the brut of a man that I am, pushing a solid 216 lbs., I thought why not, let’s give it a whirl.  So I skip the Beginner level entirely and sign up for the race in the Clydesdale category and begin my training. 

I ride the course weekly, getting better and better, faster and faster.  I am able to handle turns with lighting speed, push through climbs like my legs have been made for nothing else in the world but to ride a bike.  Having come from an athletic background, I like to think of myself as a rather fit individual.  I have participated in many types of organized sports, baseball, basketball, football and now I can add mountain biking to the list, another notch in the old sports belt.  Week after week I ride in the sweltering heat with my camelback, my mini first aid kit (learned that lesson the hard way), my Leatherman and my bike multi tool.  Let me tell you, I am prepared for anything.  If anything I am probably too prepared, come to think if it, I may even be able to ride a bit faster with less equipment strapped to my back.  Regardless, I ride all the local trails to prepare for my new racing endeavor. 

For each ride I pack the car up with all my gear, my new riding shorts, my iPod shuffle, and a much needed granola bar for my pre-workout carb load, which is really just pure sugar but I like to pretend that it helps.  I venture out into the great outdoors and ride anytime day and night for at least a good solid two hours.  Each week I begin to understand just how well I am going to do in this race series.  There is no way I can lose, I am not aiming for first place but I know without a shadow of doubt that I will finish in the top percentile.  I mean how hard can it be, it’s riding a bike?  Kids do it all day long, old folks on the boardwalks in their little beach cruisers pass by without a care in the world.  I am a man and an athlete and can conquer anything that comes my way.  As Diddy once said “can’t nobody take my pride, can’t nobody hold me down, Oh no!”

As we get closer to race day, the anticipation continues to grow and grow until I can barely contain the joy that consumes me.  I talk about the race with all my friends, coworkers, and family.  I buy a new helmet, racing gloves, and chain oil just because I can.  The night before the race, I drift off to that state of sleep one gets to when the greatest day of his life starts just as soon as the sun rises.  I know I am unstoppable and I have done everything I could do to be prepared for this race. 

The day of the race I wake up early (I mean really I barely even slept), I prepare a home cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs and a freshly squeezed glass of orange juice.  Breakfast being the most important meal of the day I want to make sure that I feed the machine that will pedal me to victory in just a few short hours.   I get to check in a bit early, I have never done this before so really I have no idea what to expect.  I ride over to the check in booth and proudly claim my spot on Team Clydesdale.  I am told by the race coordinator/volunteer/racer’s wife/whoever she is that there are 15 to 20 others registered in this same category.  Now this is exciting, that’s even more people for me to beat!  Because I am early, I ride around a bit to warm up and get the blood flowing to the stems.  I am amazed at how many people are there.  All ages, shapes, and sizes.  As we approach the start time all the different riders line up according to the category for which they signed up.  First are the Juniors, then the Beginners (female then male), next the Experts (again separated by gender), then Masters and of course the ever valiant Clydesdales.  Being a Clydesdale they assume we are slow so we are the last of all the heats to start the race.  Ha, what do they know? 

It is around this point that I start to get a little confused.  There are only six riders lined up with me.  Six!  And that includes me…  Where are the 15 others that will bow to defeat as I ride to victory?  I think that there has to be some kind of mistake, and then a few more thoughts start to process in my mind.  I am wearing a green baseball style 3/4 length sleeve shirt and of course my new riding shorts (my biking uniform).  I have my gloves, camelback and I am set.  And yet the massive Thoroughbred to my left is decked out in full racing gear.  Red racing jersey, matching red bike shorts (you know the kind, super tight, shows the goods, maybe a bit too much) and clip in pedals.  Then to my right, much of the same except dude is decked out in a completely pink one piece bib.  Pink!  I am thinking what the world is this guy wearing?  I can beat a guy wearing pink, I mean who thinks they can’t beat a guy in all pink, it’s not even a thought it’s just assumed as fact.  Now as I look around at these guys I realize that I am the only one who is not wearing actual racing clothes.  Gradually from this moment on my ego starts to slowly deflate like a kid holding a balloon with the end stretched out so it kind of screeches.  After so many weeks of confidence, doubt enters into my mind.  Now I don’t think you need to have all the best, top of the line equipment to win a bike race but it does help to look good.  I look like I just walked out of a Grateful Dead concert compared to these guys.  As this doubt starts to take hold I try and compose myself, remember my training and emit a sense of confidence.  Guys can sense this confidence, the pheromones maybe, who knows but I was pushing it out of my pores as best I could.  Now it’s just a few more seconds until the start of the race. 

BAM!!  The gun fires and we are off.  The feeling that came over me next was immediate, faster than the sound of the gun was the rest of the deflation of that balloon, more like a POP.  While I am off pedaling to my little heart’s content the five other guys take off like a freight train on a crash course to hell.  Within the first 10 seconds of the race they are gone and it’s just me and my bike.  I know right away that I am going to lose to every one of these guys.  Because we were the last heat to start there is just no chance of me ever catching someone and there is just no chance of me being able to beat anyone as I am literally the last guy on the course.  Then is occurs to me that while all the Clydesdales have to race three laps around the course, the Experts and Masters have to race four laps.  YES!  I still have a chance.  I am now at peace with the fact that I am not going to win, it’s more of a peace that was forced on me but hey I am adaptable and can accept when I am defeated.  Now my goal is to beat one of these four lappers even though they have an extra lap to do, well that was my thought anyway.  We can all dream, right?  Really I was just trying my hardest not to be the last guy to cross the finish line.  After the first lap I am feeling slightly more confident and then I hear “PASSING ON YOUR LEFT”.  Damn it, I am already being lapped.  What the hell?  So I pull over a bit and let Expert number one pass on the left.  Not to worry the Experts started a few minutes earlier than the hefty Clydesdales so again I push with one and only one thought in my mind, don’t be last place.  Please, please, please don’t be last place.  Two, three, five…eight…more people pass me.  It’s like I am a broken down car on the side of the road and everyone is in a big damn hurry to make it to Grandma’s for turkey dinner.  Everyone is passing me, it’s bad, really bad.  Then who do I see?  None other than Thoroughbred Red passes me.  Dumbfounded is the only word that comes to mind, I am only halfway through the race and one of the riders who started right next to me, passes me.  He literally is riding twice as fast as I am.  Twice.  As.  Fast…  Confidence at this point is gone, out the window, caput.  I even consider calling it quits after lap number two just to save myself the embarrassment of being last place.  But I think to myself, I am a man, a Clydesdale, push onward soldier, finish this damn race.  Then the most devastating blow of all, Mr. Pink is a blur out of my peripheral vision as he too passes me like I stopped to get off the bike and tie my shoe.  But there was no shoe tying taking place I was still pedaling my little keister off like I stole this bike. 

Regardless I push on to the finish line, at this point it’s starting to get late and there are less and less racers passing me, I think to myself, finally…  So with a total race time of 1 hour and 20 minutes I cross the finish line.  Success!!  My first mountain bike race is complete.  One small issue, there is hardly anyone at the finish line.  Where is the mass of spectators, where are the other riders waiting to congratulate the finishers?  Then the last bit of heartbreak settles in when the race officials start to pack up as soon as I cross the line.  I know what has happened but I ask the question anyway. 

“Am I the last one to cross the finish line?” 

“The very last one indeed” he responds.  Like a bug on a windshield I am crushed.  After all these weeks of training, after all these sleepless nights of absolute anticipation, I am Jack’s utter defeat.  I am dead last. 

“You know they have a beginner level where you only have to do two laps?” said the race official as I am walking with my head hung low pushing my two wheeled chariot down to the car. 

“Yeah, I saw that, may have bit off more than I could chew on this one.” I said. 

With that he responds “Better to finish last place as a Clydesdale than quit like an Ass.”  

I may not be there yet but I am closer than I was yesterday.

Well it's official, they have rescheduled the MOCO Epic bike race until next weekend.  For me, this is both good news and a bit disappointing.  The good news being that frankly I am just not ready.  I have not devoted the time necessary to mountain biking that is required to be able to ride 25 miles over several hours.  I have only done half that distance and only once.  The bad news is I really wanted to do this race.  I wanted the feeling of completing such a challenging ride, I wanted that notch on the belt.  Intentions don't win races, it takes weeks and weeks of training, and I just did not train hard enough.  Oh well, it will have to wait until next time.  In hindsight I probably signed up for too many races all at once, especially with them being concurrent weekends.  Next time I will do things differently, sign up for one race and devote my training to that one event.  Not try to run three days a week, go to boot camp the rest of the days and then fit in long distance mountain biking in between.  Maybe it was a bit Too much,.. I eat too much, I drink too much, I want too much, Too much.

At least I was able to get two days at boot camp this week after being sick.  Kristina pretty much killed it, yet again.  Sore legs, arms, shoulders, and abs.  Boom.  Well done and thank you Kristina.  And a big shout out to Brent for signing back up for class.  Here's to many, many sore days ahead!!

Army 10 miler is next weekend so last long run this weekend, I am thinking 8 - 9 miles.  I am still not at the level I wanted to be with the running either, just not as fast as I want to be.  I can do the distances they are just slow going.  It looks like I will not beat my initial goal of running under a 9 minute mile but I will run this race without stopping and I will run it as fast as I can.  I had goals, and I will continue to have goals, and while I may not be there yet I am closer than I was yesterday...

Push hard and love bootcamp.

Finally feeling a bit better today.  I will be back at boot camp tonight, I heard there were 23 people in class last night.  That's great!  I am looking forward to getting back to class, even just missing two days I feel it.  I miss it. It has become part of my day, my life.  I have made working out a habit and like any habit it's hard to break.  In this case though I don't want to break it.  I want to keep it going but forces out of my control have kept me from it.  Fear not though, I will be back tonight.  By the looks of the weather forecast I may finally get my chance at a rain run.  Four months and it has not rained a single time I was able to run.  Now there is rain coming, and of course I have a cold and strep throat, geez, I just can't win.

Speaking of rain, I wonder what will happen for the bike ride this weekend if it rains everyday like it's supposed to.  Kind of hard to mountain bike in the mud.  My issue with this is that if they decide to postpone the race this weekend, they will reschedule it for next weekend, the same weekend as the Army 10 miler.  If it comes down to that I will run instead of ride.  I am more prepared for the run, although not at the speed I planned on what I started this journey but still more prepared none the less.  I feel like this Army 10 miler is more important and I can transfer my bike race entry to another race in the future, that is not an option with the 10 miler.

I never made it to the weigh in on Monday.  I so badly need to get there one day this week just to see where I stand with my weight loss.  I want to get a once over on my bike in case the race is still on for this weekend so maybe I will pop in to WW since the bike shop is so close.  Yes, I will definitely try to do that this week.

Home sick with strep

Well this sucks.  25 mile bike race this weekend and Army 10 miler next weekend and I have been home sick for two days.  Could not be worse timing at work either, I am as busy as can be.  So I did not make it on my long bike ride this weekend and no run either.  I was thinking that this could not be worse timing but I guess it's better than hitting me next weekend.  Good thing is I have been able to spend some time reading so its not all bad.

I really want to weigh in today since this past week I have been on point with food.  I know I am going to have a good weight loss but I am not sure if i will be up to venturing out or if I should since I may still be contagious.  I may just do it anyway because I need to know how well I have done this past week.  I will see how I feel come 7 PM tonight.

So before I started feeling like complete crap we had dinner Saturday night and found a really good sushi place.  I used to think you can only get good sushi at Sweet Ginger and Tachibana,  I still stand firm that these are the best two in the area but Kumo did not disappoint.  We will be back soon and its so close to home.

Already had a bowl of homemade chicken soup for breakfast, thank you Hila and Elyanah, probably have some more for lunch too, it's fantastic.  The rest of my plan for today is read, sleep, rest, repeat.

Boot camp running week.

Six days in a row working out and pretty much some kind of running workout every day.

Saturday - 5 miles
Sunday - 3 miles
Monday - Serious Ass Kicking
Tuesday - 7 miles
Wednesday - Quarter mile splits, half mile splits, quarter mile splits.  Put 2:30 on the clock, run a quarter mile, how ever much time is left is your break, then immediately start another quarter mile, rest.  Put 5:00 on the clock, run a half mile, how ever much time is left is your break, then immediately start another half mile, rest.  Put 2:30 on the clock, run a quarter mile, how ever much time is left is your break, then immediately start another quarter mile, rest.  Sounds easy right, anyone can run a 10 minute mile or faster for only a quarter or half mile right, easy peasy.  Okay, then you try it.  What happens is you start off running at a 6 minute mile and then by the time you cross the finish you are running a 10 minute mile, breathing so hard you want to pass out.  Then you do it all over again, and again, and again.  It was tough, really tough.  Then after all that, we still had to workout.  Needless to say I slept well on Wednesday night.
Thursday - A bit less running but still running none the less.  One partner sits up, pushes, planks, jumps, lunges, whatever while the other runs a lap.  My issue with this is that I don't like anyone to beat me on the run so I take off like a banshee and push myself even harder.  Result, another deep sleep.

I have loved the workouts this week, also felt great to get 6 workouts in a row under the belt.  One thing I have been focusing on this week is my eating and weight loss.  I have not been losing the weight I want mainly due to the fact that if I have one night "off plan" I tend to let that spread into several nights "off plan".  For this week and also for next week I have lowered my allowed daily points by 5.  So normally I get 46 daily points, now I am only working with 41.  Instead of focusing on just eating whatever I want up to 46 points I have been much more focused on eating healthy foods, lean meats, vegetables, fruits, and limiting my carb intake.  I just want to see how this feels and works for two weeks and see how successful I am on the scale come Monday night.  I have a feeling I am going to have a substantial weight loss.  Honestly I feel better.  I feel satiated and just better in general.  I don't feel weighed down by processed foods and crap that really provides no actual benefit to the body other than calories.  I have not been this focused in a while and I want to keep this motivation going.  After these two weeks, if I continue to feel great and satisfied from what I am eating then I may decide to adjust my diet from here on out accordingly.  I have had highs and lows throughout this entire journey, some days/weeks I fall, but I always find a way to pick myself back up.

I kicked some serious ass today.

Busy, busy, busy.  What have I been doing, well let's see.  I was able to get in two runs this weekend. A five miler on Saturday and a quick 3 miler right before the Redskins game on Sunday.  Ventured out to the old studio yesterday to give Tom a hard time, come to find out it was him giving me the hard time.  I am not sure if all the classes did the same workout as us yesterday but it was brutal.  Okay picture this, start class with a three set suicide, with exercises at each of the four points (leaping lunges, body shapers and something else that was so awful that my mind has decided to block out due to the pain inflicted by such), then immediately turn around and run three 1/3 mile loops, each being 10 seconds faster than the last.  That alone is enough to make you want to hurl.  Next we come inside for reverse lunges with hopping mat things that hurt like the bejezzus.  Next we have three sets of 50 sit ups with agility runs in between each set of 50.  Barf.  Then back outside for walking lunges, leap frogs and backwards leap frogs (I mean who comes up with these things???).  Add all this together, then picture an entire class pretty much flat on their backs, yeah, that was my yesterday afternoon.  What did you do?