AM Run
After two days of morning exercise in a row, normally I snooze Thursdays. I set the alarm for 4am and got to sleep about 9pm last night. For whatever reason, I was up and wide awake at 3:50am. I even tried to sleep another minute, but my internal clock had me up. I was going to head out and run as much as I could on an out and back, so I lubed up the thighs with Body Glide and Petroleum Jelly. Lots of it. Like I was walking onto a porno movie set. I also put heavy duty Band-Aids over my nipples, just in case I went far enough to cause an issue. I ate a light peanut butter sandwich (I'm not a big PB fan, so I just barely cover the bread), and watched this video a couple times - sipping Gatorade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Swa8sVoDr7E
This video gets me charged up. During my run, I even thought about making a similar video. The GoPro models are only around $100 used. But then I thought how I'd have to take hours and hours of footage just to come up with a short 3 minute video, and who has time to edit that? I can barely get out to run. Also, what song would I play? Something heavy or soft? Maybe I could make three versions, each with the same footage but heavy/medium/soft songs? Would the YMCA allow me to take the GoPro into the pool? Would I look like a nerd with it at the pool, monitoring my 1:54 100yd swim? Check a big yes to that last one. Would Given Road's hill get justice on camera? All of this really went through my head during my run.
Anyway, I headed out to Montgomery around 4:30am - charged! If I went all the way to Weller Park and back, that's 12 miles exactly. I know of a 10.5 mile and 8.25 mile turn around spots on the route. Any of these would be okay after two "hard" days, right? Huh! I'm wimping out before I even start. One thing I did know I wanted to do was to run this, and hopefully most future runs (and all activities, really), with an aerobic heart rate. For me, at 33, this is roughly 140 to 145 bpm. Because my running has really dropped off since the marathon in October, my aerobic runs are in the 12's (was 10/11).
It was not raining, but it was drizzly - if that's a real meteorologist term. Humidity was high, though the temperature was nice. I had my iPhone cranking out the hits of the 80's, 90's, and today. Reflective vest with flashing lights - check. I was good to go. The good thing about these aerobic runs is how "easy" they feel. Mile after mile clicked by, albeit slow, but with light impact and easy effort. Once I got about 3 or 4 miles in there started to be a couple hills, so I would start the hill and get going until my HR jumped, then I'd walk up the rest of it. Is this ultra lame? Absolutely. But I'm not trying to impress anyone, and it's possible no one will ever read this. So, it's just my little secret.
I got to the 8.25 mile turn around point, roughly 4 miles, and kept going. I was going slow and had about 2:30:00 to do whatever I was going to do before I had to be home at the latest. As I approached the 10.5 mile turning point, I passed my first runner of the day. It was still drizzly and dark, and I didn't see him until I was nearly knocking him into the woods. Wear a damn vest or light or something people!!! If I can't see you until I'm nearly on top of you, how is a car backing out its driveway going to see you?
At the 10.5 mile turn around point, I decided to head home. Though I felt great (benefit of aerobic running), I didn't think I had enough time to do the full 12. More inclines on the way home, which I walked up. As I got to mile 9 or so, I saw a large group of runners. The Moeller boys!
The Archbishop Moeller High School is about 2 miles from my house by road, but about 1.5 as the crow flies. In the past, I've seen a large group of maybe 40 high school looking guys running part of my route. Gotta be Moeller guys. Today, I was running into their path. I came up on them and joined near the end of the pack, with the slower runners. The lead guys looked tough, smooth, powerful. By the time I caught them, I was running with the "JV" looking squad at about an 8:00mm. Anaerobic for me. I can only imagine how quick the lead runners were going.
I was passed by a little kid, about chest height, who looked about 80 pounds. He was doing 8:00mm with a very awkward stride, almost like he was about to trip or something. Picture Forrest Gump before the leg braces. Yet, here was this little kid with a goofy stride, cruising along at 8 and not breathing heavy at all. He was fine! Man did I feel old... and slow! 8:00mm for me is a good day, and he was near the back of the pack.
I stayed with young Forrest for about 0.25, not long, before they turned into Sycamore Junior High's parking lot. Heck, maybe they're Sycamore kids? I think I've seen them wearing Moeller colors before though, and there is a bridge over Ronald Reagan from the junior high to get back to Moeller.
Regardless (note I didn't say "irregardless" - as that's wrong!), I headed home and finished my 10.5 mile run in 2:10:58, for an overall average pace of 12:25mm, avg HR of 140/141, burning 1105 calories (per Garmin, Strava says 2264!). I felt great after the run, though I was dripping with sweat and water (drizzly). I could do this every morning!
Work party at lunch to celebrate an employee's 50 year anniversary - and she's not even the longest tenure. We have a 67 year tenured person. Nuts!! So, no lunch workout for me today.
Here is the Strava data for today's run:
Soapbox Preaching About Diet
Side note to anyone looking to lose body fat, versus get their physical fitness up. Jeff Galloway has said that losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise. I notice my weight drops when I keep my calories at a certain level, using MyFitnessPal.com. I tell it I want to lose a realistic and sustainable 1 pound per week, and it tells me to eat 2040 calories per day. If I work out, like today, I add those calories. So, if I eat 2040 + 1105 calories today or less, I'll keep on track to lose 1 pound per week. Since January, I've lost 10 pounds and 2% body fat. This is very slow and not exciting at all, but I'm not burnt out or miserable, and if I stop watching what I eat I don't see it all come back in a week or two. Anyone reading this blog and thinking they need to run 10.5 miles to lose some weight, change your way of thought. Exercise burns calories and makes me in better shape from a "I can jog up this hill and not keel over dead" perspective, but if you want to lose body fat (which most people do), it's as easy as watching your diet. Start looking at labels and you'll be amazed, as I was, what is in stuff. Love cheese, sour cream, beer, Ranch, etc? That shit will kill you. A normal Chipotle burrito with white rice, fajita veggies, chicken, sour cream, cheese and lettuce has about 800 calories in it. Is my 2:10:58 10.5 mile run worth that burrito and a regular Coca Cola? Hell no! I added up a normal day, without watching myself, and I was hitting about 4,000 calories without breaking a sweat. Meeting the guys at BW3's for some wings and beer? Forget it. Their side of Ranch alone has 300 calories. I used to eat 18-24 medium tradition wings with 2-3 sides of Ranch, a celery, and a few beers. No wonder I was almost 270 pounds. Success leaves a paper trail. What do bodybuilders eat? It's psychotically "clean". They know exactly how many calories they take in and how many of those come from protein, carbs, or fat. It's not a hidden secret. Forget Adkins, or South Beach, or whatever the current fad (read: unsustainable) is. Counting calories is easy after doing it for a week or two. I have heard people complain about the "work" that it takes. Hah ha. If you can't stop stuffing your face with Cheese Balls long enough to read the label, then you are hopeless. Forget the diet books or gym membership. You need to save your money for larger sweat pants. Just keep watching American Idol, snacking on empty calories, and forget about looking good for your partner or feeling good about yourself or seeing what your personal limits are. You're "Americanized". Is that what you want? That's depressing! My favorite quote is, "We are who we choose to be." I completely believe this. It's so easy to look up nutrition information and eat something you like that has less calories. Also, you don't have to starve yourself. As I type this, I'm drinking Bud Light. I have extra calories today, and I'm treating myself to the occasional beer. I've had days where I watched my breakfast and lunch, had a sensible portion of dinner, and I could eat some Busken cookies (my favorite) and have a couple beers. I'm not starving myself. If I did, I'd lose more than 10 pounds in 6 months, but then it would give me low energy levels (a big no-no for my training) and I'd probably burn out and fail.
Stepping off soap box. It's just so easy for me to be this motivated. Granted, I'm a little (read: lot) OCD. But I hear people occasionally talking about this diet or that, or saying they couldn't run a marathon so they give up on weight loss. Calories in - calories out = weight loss. Very easy. Try eating a nice size salad with oil based dressing (cream dressings like Caesar and Ranch will kill you on calories) for lunch. I make a large mixing bowl sized salad with about 450 calories that stuffs me and is delicious. I have to use oil based dressings (I use Litehouse Pomegranate Blueberry vinaigrette dressing - very low calories and tasty), put little to no cheese and no croutons on it (that's where the calories hide!). It's awesome. My morning breakfast is instant organic oatmeal. Boring, but I add a large handful of raw blueberries and raspberries, and it's tasty, filling, and the fruit only adds about 50 calories and doubles the size of the meal. If I need a 10:30am snack, I have a couple Gala apples sitting on my desk. Better than the 250 calorie Snickers bar I used to eat regularly. Or I'll eat a banana. Just enough to hold me over until lunch. I'm not getting "full" at snack time, just buying time. I drink only diet pop or water. I actually like the low calorie G2 Gatorade more than the regular strength stuff. These little changes to my routine have become habit and very easy. Just take a stab at it, learn as you go, and it's easy. Habits are formed after 3 weeks, and taste buds replace themselves nearly as fast. Try it. I can do just about anything, beside giving up caffeine, for 3 weeks.
The next time you see someone with six pack abs, don't think to yourself, "I wonder if they're on the same diet I read about." They've probably been active for years and kept their diet clean throughout that time. When I see fast runners, I assume they've been doing it for years and are now great at it. I don't think, "Oh, they land on their forefoot. That's the secret. I'll stop my 12:25mm heel striking and start doing 6:00mm forefoot striking tomorrow. That was all I needed to change." For all I know, guys passing me at races ran cross country in high school and never stopped running. How can I compare 2 years to 20 years of running? The same is true for diet. It took me about 6 years to go from 225 to 268 pounds, and now about 2 years of regular diet and exercise to get back to 220.
Those are my thoughts, for what they're worth. Take them or leave them. Doesn't matter to me, but it should matter to you. No one cares more about you than you could/should. There is a Humana poster at work trying to encourage activity levels by telling you the prizes they'll give you, like movie tickets. The poster says, "Do it for the team", and it shows a co-ed softball team having a laugh. Do it for the team? If John in Accounting doesn't care about himself, why would he care about "the team?"
I have a pug, so here's your photo of the day:
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