The week started off quite well.  I was schedule to run 17 miles on Sunday, but I felt pretty good and I decided to throw in an extra mile to make it a nice round 18-mile run.

After that, it was all downhill.  From the Monday, I started waking up with a sore throat.  Monday was a rest day, but Tuesday was a 10-mile run.  I struggled through my run and decided to call it a day after just 5 miles.

Wednesday was a 5-mile run, but I felt a bit better and decided to run an extra couple of miles making it 7 miles for the day.

I woke up Thursday feeling even worse than the previous days.  I had a 10-mile run scheduled, but I just felt too ill to go run.  I even contemplated taking a sick day from work.  My wife suggested I at least get up and take a shower and see how I felt after that.  I took her advice and I felt well enough to work, but I was sure to take cold medicine.

Friday was a rest day and I started to feel a bit better, but my throat was still bothering me.
Today was a 5-mile run, but I decided to throw in an extra rest day.  I figure the most important workout I have each week is my Sunday long run so I’ll rest today and see if my body will let me run an 18-miler tomorrow.

In the end, I managed 30 miles for the week whereas I should have run 47 miles.

I’m travelling on business next week.  Next week was supposed to be a recovery week so I’ll probably take it easy again.  Maybe I can come back from that trip fully recovered and ready to resume my training at full speed.

Posted by derek as Training, Chicago, Marathon at 6:24 AM PDT

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Today marks the end of the first year since I laced up a new pair of running shoes and started the C25K running plan. A running plan designed to take a complete couch potato and get them to the stage where they can run 5Km (3.1 miles) at a time.

I had just turned 38 the previous week and after evaluating my weight (230 lbs) and fitness, I had decided I wanted to be in the best shape of my life by the time I turned 40. I wanted to lose at least 50 lbs and I figured 2 years would be a good start. I had tried running in the past and only stuck with for 3-4 weeks. I had tried to lose weight in the past, but would usually stall after losing the first 10-15 lbs and then I would gain it back. I was determine to not repeat the cycle again this time around!

Even now when I think back to those early days, I’m amazed at how far I’ve managed to come. At the start, I could barely run 60 seconds, and now I just did an 18-mile long run this past Sunday. I was able to lose 50 lbs by the end of 2006, and while I haven’t lost any more in the last 6 months, I’ve kept it off.

Here are some of my accomplishments:

The following chart shows my daily runs since finishing the C25K plan:

The following chart shows my weekly mileage since finishing the C25K plan:

When I started running, my only goal was to lose weight. Since starting though, I have managed to set new goals for myself. I initially wanted to run a marathon around now, June 2007, but I realized that I would not be properly prepared and even though the general advice for first-time marathoners is to just finish, I can never be satisfied with that. My goal is run a sub 4-hr marathon. I don’t know if that is even a possibility, but it’s something I need to strive for and work towards.

On my long runs, I actually spend a lot of time thinking about why I’m there running and what motivates me. I think the answer is improvement. There are three ways I can improve:

• Lose weight
• Run further
• Run faster

As long as I see an improvement in one of those areas, I’m motivated to go out running the following week. In the beginning, I would see improvements in all three at the same time….oh how I miss those beginner days. Now I still see improvements, but it tends to come in just one of those areas. Today, it’s running further as I gradually increase my weekly mileage and my long runs.

The other motivating factor I have right now is knowing that every day that passes, I’m one day closer to the Chicago marathon. I can’t say that I enjoy running and as matter of fact, if given a choice between going for a run at 5 am or sleeping an extra 2 hours, I would much rather sleep the extra two hours. I’m too competitive with myself though and I know I wouldn’t be satisfied with my marathon performance unless I gave it my very best attempt.

I haven’t lost any weight recently, but this week, one year after I managed to set goals for myself to lose weight, I’m setting new goals. I really want to lose another 20lbs to get down to 160. I’m going to resume tracking everything I eat and ensure I maintain a calorie deficit so I can lose about 2 lbs a week.

Posted by derek as Training, Weight Loss at 12:00 PM PDT

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Today I finished my 8th week of marathon training.  I’m now 1/3 of the way there!

This week wasn’t too bad.  I wouldn’t classify as a great week, but I think I got through it quite well.  Once again, I now have a new weekly mileage high of 45 miles.

This week was the first time I had to run 10 miles in the middle of the week.  As I mentioned recently, I noticed that on my Thursday runs, my legs just feel drained and it’s a struggle to get through it.  For this Thursday’s run, which was 10 miles, I decided to take a Gu with me.  Normally, I only take gels on my Sunday long run, but I remember it wasn’t that long ago that my Sunday long run was 10 miles and I used to take 2 gels on those runs.  I took one gel which I ate at mile-5.  It made a huge difference to me.  Right on schedule, about 1.5 miles later, I noticed I was actually running faster without even thinking about it or trying.  The gel helped me up until the last mile where I once again started to feel drained.  Next time I’ll take 2 gels.

The other change I made this week was on Sunday’s run which was a 16-mile run.  I remember from the previous week that on my 15-mile run, I actually ran out of water in the last 1/2 mile.  This time I took an extra 20 oz bottle of water which I left at a sign at a street corner that I would pass several times as I do a few loop before heading out for the bulk of the run.  Together with my water belt, I had a total of 60 oz of water.  I was much better hydrated. But probably not hydrated enough….

I decided to weigh myself before and after the run.  My net loss for the run was 7 lbs.  When you factor in the water I consumed, I sweated out about 11 lbs of water weight!!!

Posted by derek as Training, Chicago, Marathon at 7:48 AM PDT

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There is a website I monitor on a regular basis called SlickDeals where people post various deals out there. Two weeks ago, a deal was posted for a BowFlex at Amazon.com. It was on sale for $600, but there was a coupon code you could use to get a $200 discount and it included free shipping. The deal was even better because Amazon.com would send you a $100 gift certificate in about 6-8 weeks. For $400 out of pocket and a net cost of $300, my wife and I couldn’t resist.

The BowFlex came less than a week after we ordered it. The first problem we had was where to put it. It’s unbelievable, we have a 3,500 sq ft house and have no where for the BowFlex!

We decided to put it in our media room. We already had an elliptical trainer in there. The BowFlex is kind of big though and while it is open, it actually blocks part of our screen. Here are some pictures of it:

Our media room has thus now become our media room/exercise room. If you look to the far right, you see the elliptical trainer:

I realize I can’t do any lower body work, but I think I’m going to some arm and upper body work 3 days a week.  I’ll do it on Mon and Fri which are rest days and on Wed which is a recovery day.

Posted by derek as Training at 8:56 AM PDT

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Today’s 5-mile run brought an end to my 7th week of training.  I ran 43 miles for the week which is a new high…..I’m going to be reporting new weekly mileage highs quite a bit over the next few months

This week started well with my 15-mile run on Sunday.  I’m amazed that I’m always nervous before my long runs, especially when it’s a distance that I’ve never run before.   But somehow, I manage to get through them pretty well, and a matter of fact, they seem to feel easier than my mid-week 9-mile runs.  I suspect it’s because I rest on the Friday and do an easy 5 miles on the Saturday so I’m fairly well rested.

My mid-week runs are another story.  This week was tough.  especially the 9-mile run on Thursday.  I think the problem with these runs is the constant tiredness I’m feeling.  After running long Sunday, running 9 miles on Tuesday followed by 5 on Wednesday, Im tired on the Thursday.  I’m pushing through as best as I can, but only time will tell if I can maintain this for anohter 17 weeks.

I have another business trip planned to South FL in 2 weeks time.  It’ll be interesting keeping my running schedule while in FL.  I’m not looking forward to the higher humidity levels.

Posted by derek as Training, Chicago, Marathon at 6:54 AM PDT

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