The Farthest I've ever run! 7.5 miles this morning!

I ran 7.5 miles this morning.  I finished the run in 90 minutes.  That’s 12 minute miles all the way through.  I probably started slow, I felt like a few of the miles were faster than 12 minutes, and the last 1 mile was definitely a bit more brisk.

This is the run route:



The run felt good.  There were numerous reasons that contributed to today’s good run.  First and foremost, I got about 7 hours of sleep last night and this helped (since my average is about 5.5 hours).  I had a protein drink and some coffee in the morning.  This was just the right balance of calories and stimulant to get me moving.

I started my run at about 10am so I had about 2.5 hours from the time I woke up to the time I started running to get warmed up.  I did a lot of slow stretching all morning.  My joints and muscle felt good as I started the run.

It was about 60 degrees out and I was wearing running pants and a hooded sweat shirt on top of my tech-shirt.  The attire was just right for the weather conditions.

I ran a route on the bike path at the forest preserve.  I ran 3.75 miles out and then turned around and came back.  The scenery and the other runners, bicyclists and walkers kept me going.  It would have been a lot harder to cover 7.5 miles if I were running laps around the block.

All of the foregoing things contributed to a good run.  I drove home right afterwards and had another protein drink (GNC brand whey protein isolate 28 mixed with soy milk).

I didn’t drink any water during the run.  That’s because I didn’t take any water with me.  I may need to invest in one of those belts (I don’t want to carry a water bottle in my hand) that I’ve seen other runners wear with the holsters for small plastic flasks of water as I begin to close in on double digit runs.

A few hours after the run I began to feel the soreness in my legs.  It wasn’t an injury-like pain but it was definitely painful.  Even though I say the run was easy, I know that it was tough on my body.

Running 90 minutes really got me hungry.  I’ve eaten a lot today after the run.  The good news is that I cut off the eating at about 5:30pm.

After consuming the post-run protein drink, I made and ate an egg and cheese sandwich (3 eggs fried with PAM non-stick spray, 2 slices of double fiber wheat bread, some shredded cheddar cheese and some Shedd’s Spread).  I ate this sandwich at about 2pm.

By around 4pm I was really hungry and I had a craving for burgers.  This is where I made the classic “running to eat” mistake.  I at a couple of big burgers from Wendy’s.  The only positives to this are that I didn’t have any cheese on the burgers (I’m using this to make myself feel better about it).

This is my achilles heel!  Mmmm....

Then, after an hour or so I drank about 16 ounces of skim milk.  That’s not so bad.  The bad part was that I snacked on some bite-sized candies from kids’ collection of “goodie bag” treats which they collect from the various birthday parties they attend every month.

I should have planned for the hunger in advance.

Oh well.  It could be worse.  And I should have been better.

My post-run diet aside, I feel very good about my half-marathon training.  I feel very confident about my ability to complete the Schaumburg half-marathon on 11/27 given where I am in my training right now.

Given that I’m not focusing on my time for the 11/27 Schaumburg half-marathon I just need to build up my distance by another 5.7 miles over the next 8 weeks.  I can do it!

Not so intense strength training session / TCU vs. SMU Game Watch!

Tonight, a Friday night, was to be a strength training session.  I did it but it wasn't easy.

My in-laws came over and then some of their family friends dropped by and I was really eager to watch the TCU vs. SMU football game this evening as well.  I found a way to fit it all in!

While the strength training session wasn't as intense and focused as I'd like, I still got in a decent work out. I also watched the game.  I was pulling for SMU to upset TCU.  TCU didn't cover the 17.5 point spread so I got my point (I put down 1 confidence point on SMU beating the spread) but an outright win would've been a lot better.

She means well... and is perhaps a bit excited...

I worked on my chest, shoulders and triceps this evening.  I performed barbell bench presses (flat bench), dumbbell incline presses, dumbbell shoulder presses and tricep pushdowns.  I also did several sets of sit ups.

Tomorrow morning is my long run.  I'm scheduled to run 7.5 miles.  I'm nervous.  I've never run this far before.  I'm certain I can do it.  I'm anxious to see how it feels.

I'll share the results of the run tomorrow afternoon.  I'm going to do the run tomorrow morning.  The Iowa Hawkeyes football game kicks off at 11am so I need to be done, at home, showered and in front of the tv by 11am!  I'll post something about the run at half-time or after the game!

Go Hawkeyes!

Barilla Plus Pasta with Tomato Sauce at dinner

I read an interesting article at the Runners World website recently.  The major takeaway from the article (for me) was the timing of my carb intake.  I need to maximize the benefits of eating carbs (the energy it produces) by eating them prior to my run (as opposed to at lunch time when I'm sitting around riding a desk).

On the weekday evenings that I need to run I've started eating a large serving of pasta with tomato sauce.  I eat the pasta at around 6pm.  My run/workout is around 7:30pm.  I may eat a banana around 7pm as well.

I'm eating what I believe to be a healthier pasta.  It's "enhanced."  It's called PLUS pasta from Barilla.

I like the penne pasta

It has more fiber, protein and Omega-3s than regular pasta.  Frankly, I can't tell the difference between this pasta and the non-enhanced kind.  That's good.  I don't feel like I'm missing anything by eating the "PLUS" version.  The sauce is a basic Target brand tomato sauce.  I don't use an olive oil or other fats so the only fat I get from this meal is whatever's in the pasta and the sauce.

I added this "PLUS" pasta to introduce a change of pace from the quinoa.  I ate the quinoa almost daily for about 6 weeks and I needed a break.  I'm going to mix up the carb meals with both of these options and I may also add some high fiber wheat bread too.

The pasta hasn't performed miracles thus far.  That is to say, I don't feel like it's giving me any noticeable increase in energy before my run.  But I'm eating it because I know that it's better than a protein shake or a piece of lean chicken breast in terms of providing me with the energy to run.

I'm counting on this conventional wisdom in lieu of what my body is saying because I realize that my tiredness isn't so much the result of my food intake as it is the result of a long day at work.  You see, by 7:30pm I've been up for about 13 hours, I've commuted 3 hours round trip to downtown Chicago and put in a solid 8 hours at my desk, in my chair and behind a computer screen.  While none of that is strenuous in an exercise context, it does wear me down.  Plus, I only sleep about 5.5 to 6 hours a day.

In the past several months I didn't worry about the quality of my runs because I was doing them largely to burn calories.  Now that I'm trying to run a half marathon I'm becoming concerned with the quality of my runs.  Frankly, I don't want get on the course in November and hurt myself or even pass out in the middle of a forest preserve!

To ensure that this doesn't happen, I'm taking my running training a bit more seriously.  That means taking care to make each training run a meaningful one that builds my strength and stamina.

Day One of 12 Day Mini-Program

I have a short-term program that I'm focusing on over the next 12 days.  The goal is to drop about 8 to 10 pounds, to get back on a rigorous exercise and diet regimen, and to re-focus my mind on my fitness goals.

Why a 12 day mini-program when I'm already on an 11 week (now down to 10 weeks) half-marathon training program?  Why a mini-program given that I've been on a successful "health kick" since February of this year?  The reason is "results".  I want to see concrete, tangible results.

There are many types of goals - long term, intermediate term and short term - and even within those broad ranges there can be goals that vary in length.  I've been able to stay on track with my fitness efforts in large part because I've pushed myself along using short term goals.

Over the years I've tried to get back into shape on many occasions and in all of the previous attempts I simply set an intermediate term goal (or long term depending on one's perspective).  I'd tell myself I want to run a half-marathon in 8 months and then I'd start running.  I'd set a goal for losing 60 pounds in 8 months and then I'd start dieting.  But my "achilles heel" in these previous efforts was time.  I've always deluded myself with the notion that I had plenty of time.

So, if my goal was to lose weight and the only benchmark was 8 months off, I found it very easy to splurge with ease knowing that I had 8 months, or 7 months or even 6 months to drop the weight.  And then eventually I'd be 4 months or less away from the goal and I'd realize that I was way behind.  And at that point there might be a few weeks of crazed and extreme dieting and exercising but it was often unsustainable.  And the goal was regularly scrapped.

This time around my long term goal has been supplemented with bi-weekly and monthly benchmarks.  I've set targets for my body weight, for the distance I wanted to be able to run or the weight I wanted to lift and then went about working towards it.   It was hard to procrastinate when the goal had a 14 day deadline.  And then, by day 14, the success of hitting the target objective fired me up to set a new goal.

Over the past 2 months I've gotten away from this tactic.  I've dropped a lot of weight, my strength training and running have been very successful, and frankly, I've gotten a bit complacent about making further improvements.  But I realize that I'm not yet as healthy as I should be, and I also know that complacency is a ticket to reversing all of the positive life-style changes I've made.

In the past 10 days, having come off a fairly hectic fasting and running regimen (Ramadan plus my "Running for Relief" effort), I've allowed myself to binge eat.  And my workouts have been a bit less focused too.

The 12 day mini-program is my way of re-energizing myself.  It's a short period of time.  I can push myself extra hard because it's a short time frame.  And then, if I hit my goals (I will) then I can use the momentum to work on some other short term goals.  The cumulative impact of these short-term goals is to get me ready for the 11/27 half-marathon.

Day One of the 12 day mini-program was very good.  The eating was balanced and my workout was good.  I ran my planned 2 miles.  Instead of the strength training though I rode the stationary bike (while watching Monday Night Football) for about 45 minutes at a moderate intensity level.  I feel good.  I'm tired and now a bit sleepy.  Time to go to bed - I hope to get a good night's rest for another great day tomorrow!

Eating, eating and more eating... Time to re-focus!

Ugh!  I've been on a horrible, junk food/fast food eating binge over the past 10 days!  Thankfully I've been working out a lot so the negative impact of the horrible eating has been somewhat muted.

This has to stop right now though.  Even though the eating isn’t impacting my weight, the empty calories can’t be helping my training efforts for the November 27th half-marathon!

I completed the first week of training.  I ran 2 miles on Monday, 3 miles on Tuesday, 3 miles on Thursday and 6 miles on Saturday.  I was supposed to run 4 miles on Thursday but I had an appointment that night and I was pushing it by doing even the 3 miles.  I consider the first week’s training a success.

Starting tomorrow my diet will return to a more healthy selection of foods.  I’m betting on that helping my training.

One thing I’ve gotten away from these past 10 days is consumption of my dietary supplements.  I haven’t been using the protein drinks and that’s been a huge mistake.  What I realize now, after a 10 day hiatus from them, is that the protein shakes provided more than just a concentrated and convenient source of protein - they also took care of my sweet tooth as well!

Also, in Ramadan I was eating a very good breakfast everyday.  During these last 10 days since the end of Ramadan I’ve slipped back into the bad habit of skipping breakfast.  Without breakfast I found myself famished by lunch time and since there was no reason not to eat lunch, I’ve indulged in some rather fattening foods with huge portion sizes!  Starting tomorrow morning it’s back to a solid breakfast.

These last 10 days were a good respite from the otherwise slightly rigorous regimen I’ve been following.  Now that I’ve gotten my tastes for burgers and pizza satiated, I can resume the consumption of healthier fare!

As a short-term goal I’d like to drop to 200 pounds by October 1, 2010.  That’s about 8 pounds in 2 weeks.  I can do it.  That, coupled with the continuation of my half-marathon training, will be my focus over the next two weeks.

5K - done! 10K - done! Next up - Half Marathon on 11/27/10!

I'm very blessed to have completed 41 years!  41 years of what?  Of living!

And on my 41st birthday I am going to kick off my training for a half-marathon!  Today's goal is nominal - 2 miles.  I can do that without much trouble.  By Saturday I need to run 6 miles and within slightly more than 1 month from today I'm going to need to run 9 miles!

The difference between 6 miles and 9 miles seems daunting.  And by the end of October I should be hitting the double digits!  I'm working off of a Hal Higdon training plan as well as a plan from Runner's World.  I've modified the plans to add strength training.

Here is what my plan looks like:

I know I can do 6 miles.  October 9, 2010 will be my big challenge when I try to cover 8 miles which will be the farthest/longest I've ever run.  And the week after I'm going to push myself to run 9 miles!  On 10/30/10 I'll attempt my very first double digit run - 10 miles!

I've signed up for the Schaumburg Half Marathon Turkey Trot.  I've also announced it to all of my friends and family via Facebook.  Both of these steps were necessary in order to lock myself in mentally to the race.

Let's get moving!

Ramadan's "Running for Relief" successful

I ran 34 miles in the final 10 days of Ramadan.  That's 4 miles more than my goal of 30 miles!

I used this as a fundraising effort to raise money for the child victims of the Pakistan floods.  I raised $1,400 + for UNICEF for the children.  I am extremely grateful to every person who gave money, wished me well or said a prayer for the success of this effort.  Each contribution, in its own way, made this effort successful.  Please feel free to check out the fundraising website (it will remain active through 10/31/10 for anyone who wants to give to the children of Pakistan).

And now I'm moving on to the next big challenge - my first Half Marathon on 11/27/10!