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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This week I was in FL on a business trip. My original intention was to make this an easy week as I think I was a bit overtrained. I ended up not running at all and eating everything in sight. It’s really tough to maintain a diet and exercise program while traveling as your whole routine is turned upside down.

I’m actually not as upset as I thought I might have been. Just as I think it’s good to have cheat days when dieting, I think it was good for me to have a cheat week. I’ve been running quite a bit since the start of the year and now that I took a week off, I’m ready to refocus and get back into my routine.

Having registered for my marathon is also helping me focus even more. I now have a definitive goal to work towards. I’m the kind of person that needs that target to work towards. That goal to focus all my energy.

My marathon training plan starts on April 22nd. I have a 5K race on April 1st. My goal for between now and April 22nd is to run at least 35 miles each week, run at least one 40-mile week in March and one 45-mile week in April.

Posted by derek as Training, Weight Loss at 7:16 AM PST

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This has been a mixed month for me. On the running side, I think I did pretty well. My goal was to reach 35 mpw and I did that, running 2 weeks at that level. It did take its toll though and I’ve been very tired lately….I just don’t have a lot of energy on my recent runs. I ran a total of 130 miles for the month, averaging 32 mpw.

I’m going to start March off with a rest week next week. Not total rest, but I’d be surprised if I even reach 20 miles for the week. I’ll be on a business trip and my hope is when I return, I’ll be refreshed and re-energized. Once I get back home, I’ll see if I get run at least one 40-mile week during March, but more importantly, I hope to introduce one speed workout each week. I have another 5K race on April 1st and I’d like to put in a good showing.

On the weight loss side, I managed to lose a measly 1-lb. I should have expected that as my eating has been atrocious. I can’t even claim I was on a diet based on what I was eating. Here is an example of what I ate on one particular weekend (Fri through Sun) in the middle of Feb, and these are just the bad foods. I ate other stuff too!:

• An entire large Cadbury’s candy bar
• 3 Arby’s melts and 2 orders of curly fries
• A 1/2 pounder burger and 2 large fries
• An entire bag of Hershey’s kisses
• An entire box of Ritz crackers (yes, 4 ROLLS of crackers)

It’s not pretty!!!

I’m going to make a concerted effort to lose 4lbs in Mar and hit that psychological barrier of 170lbs.

Posted by derek as Training, Weight Loss at 7:35 AM PST

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January has been a good month for me.  My knee pains seem to be subsiding.  Every day that I run, I seem to get less and less pain.  Based on the progress I’ve been making, I may well be pain-free in a few weeks.

Except for a run I had to abandon early in the month, I was able to run quite a bit.  I ran 10 miles every Sunday and I managed to log 134 miles for the entire month.  My best ever month!

I was able to lose 5 lbs for the month.  I am very happy with this progress, especially in light of how badly I’ve been eating.  I ate everything in sight!  The amount of running I’m doing is the only reason I managed to lose any weight.

I’m now 15 lbs from my goal of 160 lbs.

Posted by derek as Training, Weight Loss at 10:34 AM PST

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I have a Tanita bodt-fat scale that I’ve used periodically, but I’ve never quite truested the values I’ve been reading. I decided to get a set of calipers so I can do the pinch method to measure body fat percentage. I bought the Accu-Measure 3000 caliper which seems to the best option for people that inetned to measure themselves.

I got the calipers yesterday and I did some measurements this morning. I used the instructions that came with the calipers which involve just ONE skin fold measurement. I also used the following website which has various other formulas based on various numbers of measurements:

http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

I only did the Jackson/Pollock 3 and 4 caliper methods. I also weighed on my scale. Here are the results I got:

The average is 19.3%

I’ve read that the scale and the caliper methods are all based on statistical models so you never know how accurate they are for your particular body and they should really only be used for tracking trends. The only way to get a true body fat percentage is by water immersion.

The calipers themselves are made of plastic, but they seem sturdy enough. There is an indicator so you can tell when you’ve applied to the correct pressure.

I’ll try and track my body fat at least once a month, but I’ll probably just use all the above methods and take the average.

Posted by derek as Weight Loss at 12:24 PM PST

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