Month: March 2013

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4 mile run – better than dieting

Three days this week I ran 3 miles a day.  Three days this week I gained 1 lb each day.  So 3 runs and 3 lbs gained.  Hmmm.  I am not eating poorly.  Of course I am eating more than when I was on the diet, but I could never run without some food and carbs.

Yesterday was my 4th run of the week.  I ran 4 miles rather than 3.  I am gradually increasing my mileage this week and going to try running a normal week next week.  It was a good run with some hip pain in the beginning, but the pain went away as I concentrated on relaxing and my keeping my running form.

This is the interesting part.  I lost a half pound when I weighed in this morning.  The reason it is interesting is that I remember last summer as I graduated from 3 miles to 4, I began loosing weight.  Each day I ran 4, I lost some. Each day I ran 3, I didn’t.  Now yesterday I ran 4 and lost weight.  I don’t know what that one mile means, but 4 seems to be the magic number for me to loose weight running.

All that to say, when I was running 5 to 7 miles a day and 10 on Sunday, I rarely lost any weight.  It was always confusing to me.  I think that at that mileage, my body is trying to hold onto fat since it knows I will need it for my runs.  That is the only reason I can come up with as to why I can run 40 miles in a week and sometimes gain weight.

Today is a 4 mile run.  I’ll be interested to see if I loose weight in the morning.  At least I am back under 180.  I don’t want to go back to the 190’s.  Right now I am off all meds and for the first time in a long time my blood pressure is down to normal.

I’d say my 2 weeks off and my diet was a good idea.  I love wisdom!!

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3 days running and back on pace!

Getting my running legs under me again.  Yesterday was my third run since I took 2 weeks off and lost 20 lbs.  I felt really good running and felt my stride was longer and easier to maintain.  Ultimately I ran just over 9:00 pace on Monday and just over an 8:00 pace yesterday.  I did feel like I was pushing it a bit after the first mile, but I knew I was running well and wanted to see what I could do.

The good news is I am still not taking and anti inflammatory meds or fish oil.  I think that is my biggest success from my time off.  I used to be in a lot of pain with my hips and back that I had to be on meds everyday.  Now I really have almost no issues other than after my run yesterday my left hip hurt for a while, but the pain went away on its own.

I am trying to keep to my run plan.  Today and tomorrow I up my mileage to 4 miles each day and then Sunday I go up to 6.  I hope by next week to be in the 5 mile a day range again.  I just didn’t want to take things too fast.  Also, I didn’t have any muscles pulling as I ran yesterday so that was great.

Our next race is a 5k in May.  It was our first race we ever ran and it will be fun to compare our progress.  TJ has a training plan worked out for me when I get myself back to normal running.  My goal is to finish in the 20 minute range, which would be a miracle.  But in the past year I have seen a lot of miracles happen because of my running.  I wish more people could experience what I experience.

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Use gravity

First, Kudos to TJ for running a 5:15 paced mile a couple of days ago.  Wow, that is amazing and he has been running less than a year.  He is really moving forward with his running.  Ah to be young again…

I have had some issues getting back to running which actually suprise me a bit.  I always have some pain becuase of my running, but not during my runs.  In fact, my back was really bad before the half marathon, but only when I wasn’t running.  While I was in my run, it never hurt.  Strange, I know.  Now, the second day back running 3 miles again, I have had two days with muscles pulling during my run that actually slow me down.  Yesterday, I thought I might have to stop during my run, but I got through it.  Another strange thing is now it is the opposite.  I hurt during my run and not after.  In fact, I have been running my first mile really slow, and my others at a faster pace, but still rather slow for me so I don’t think it is because of my warm up.

Half way through my run as I was starting to hurt, I remembered some things I used to practice that I had forgotten about.  To begin with, as soon as I hurt, I told myself to relax.  I let my shoulders down, I made my arms loose.  I even relaxed my jaw and forehead.  I relaxed my whole body, including my legs.  My feet started almost flopping on the ground as they hit.  After about a quarter mile of doing this, the pain went away and I was better.

It was then I had a flashback to the half marathon.  I was about 8 miles in (which was the hardest part for me because of some big hills) and a local runners club was on the side with signs and yelling encouragement to us as we went by.  One thing I heard and remember was, “use gravity”.  Oh yeah, I thought to myself, I need to use gravity.  I had practiced that a bit, but had forgotten during the race.  The idea comes (or at least I first heard of it) from Chi Running.  Although I bought a book about it, I admit I haven’t read it.  I have done Internet research on it though.  The main idea is to run tall and balanced and lean forward at your ankles allowing you to be in a controlled fall as you run.  Then as you move your foot under you to “catch” your fall, you move forward.  Basically using gravity to propel you rather than energy.  This makes running not only easier, but also prevents injuries since you are not using as much effort and putting strain on your muscles.  There is a lot more involved, but this is a quick summery of what I learned.  The main website is at www.chirunning.com, but you can search the net and get a lot of info from a lot of people about it.  I consider this the reason I have gone a year and only missed 2 planned running days from injury.  That says a lot coming from the out of shape old man that I was a year ago.

That is it for today.  My run today is going to be 3 miles.  It is to be warmer and the winds should be less than 20 mph that they have been the past two days. I am looking forward to that.

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My first day running in 2 weeks

It all begins again…

Running. Yesterday was my first day back since my 2 week break. How was it? Good. Not great, but good. I ran 3 miles at a 9:00 pace and felt okay. A few aches and pains as I got my muscles moving again and my lungs burned as I ran. I assume that was because of a sinus infection I had late last week, but it could just be from the time off.

The interesting thing was that I am off all anti inflammatory meds and woke up with no back or hip pain and no aches at all. Wow. I guess loosing 20 lbs made a huge impact. I hope it does in my running. A coworker who used to be a nurse told me that for every pound of fat, the body needs a mile of veins and arteries to support that pound. So if that is correct, I have 20 miles less of veins and arteries for my blood to have to travel around my body.

I feel great.

Three miles again this afternoon and I am shooting for a total of 23 miles for the week. That is almost half of my past mileage, but better safe than sorry.

In so glad to be back. I am amazed that in 19 months I went from 278 lbs and not able to run 800m to 178 lbs and a half marathon under my belt. God is good.

I love running (and am enjoying eating again 🙂 )

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Running again

Today is the day.  Diet: Over.  Running: Starting.  Me: excited.

Since I ran my half marathon, I have lost 18 lbs.  The biggest reason this was crucial is because my hips and back were giving me a lot of pain.  I could cover the pain with ibuprofen, but I didn’t want to be on that stuff long term.  Loosing that weight will take a lot of stress off of my back.

This morning, I weighed in at 178.4.  Exactly 100 lbs since my highest weight July 2011.  I am pumped and can’t wait to run this afternoon.  I’m going to take it easy for a couple of days and only run 3 -4 miles.

Can I say what has helped me more than anything else in running and dieting?  WATER.  I have been drinking almost 100 oz of water a day for 18 months.  I believe that is close to 3 liters.  This has been huge with my running and weight loss.  I am almost always hydrated, except sometimes in the middle of the night.  I can run 13 miles and not need a drink.  It keeps me full and makes me feel so much better than before I used to drink it.

So, going past water, today is the day for my first run in 2 weeks.  Of course the forecast is for storms this afternoon.  The only weather I won’t run in is storms, especially with lightening.  But, maybe I’ll hit is right and get in 25 minutes of running.

I love running.  I can’t wait.  By the way, congratulations to Emma for running her first half marathon and beating her target pace and raising money for her charity.  Very exciting.

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1 day to go

Today is the last day of my diet /  recovery.  I plan on running tomorrow for the first time in two weeks.  It has been hard not running, but I know I feel a lot better for taking some time off.  Also, I am down to 179 for the first time since I can ever remember.  For those who don’t know, at the height of my weight gain, I was 278 in July 2011, so I have lost 99 lbs so far.  Wow, a year and a half ago I would never have thought I’d loose so much and have run a half marathon!

I am a bit hesitant about running again since I have had almost no carbs of fat in 14 days.  I’ll take it slow to begin with and see how I feel.  I hope that loosing so much weight will make a big difference, especially in my aches and pains.

I can’t wait to love running again.

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Learn How To Do A Perfect Tempo Run

I really liked this article about tempo runs. 3 more days and I’ll be back out there!!!

Learn How To Do A Perfect Tempo Run From Runners World.com | Runners World & Running Times.