Running for a reason - helping wounded veterans reintegrate

I've dedicated my Nov '10 1/2 Marathon to raising money for Team RWB!
Thanks Mir for giving me this opportunity!

On November 27, 2010 I will run a half marathon with Team RWB (that's red white and blue) to raise money for wounded veterans.

Linking my running to charitable work is working out great for me!  Since February 2010 I've run in a number of 5K and 10K runs, my own run-a-thon (Running for Relief) to help needy children, to fight racism and to raise money for the suffering children of Pakistan.  My efforts have been extremely selfish as I've used the causes as a means to motivate myself to run, and the running in turn has dramatically improved my health!

My next running goal is a half marathon.  It's going to be a physically and mentally challenging feat!  I ran 7.5 miles two weeks ago as part of my training and while I finished the run without too much trouble and without too many post-run problems, that's still a far cry from 13.1 miles (which is the distance in a half marathon).  My training plan calls for a 9 mile run this Saturday (gulp!).

Initially I was just going to run the half marathon for myself, but my friend Mir Ali reminded me about Team RWB when he emailed me about a marathon he was running on 10/3/10 for Team RWB.  I visited the Team RWB website to make a small contribution to his effort and while there I browsed the site.  I learned that there was an opportunity for me to help the cause by becoming a Team RWB athlete myself (yes, yes, I know - I'm using the term "athlete" very loosely).

Here is a a little bit of information about Mir.
He's an excellent role model for all Americans and he's
certainly  someone I'd like my kids to know.

Over the Memorial Day weekend this year I ran a 5K for veterans - Miles for the Military - in South Barrington so  this cause is something I've helped out with in the past (albeit in a very very very small way).  This cause is important to me.  I want to be able to show my support to the men and women who risk their lives in defense of our country.

The South Barrington Park District's
"Miles for the Military" 5K raised money for
The Heart of a Marine Foundation

Helping wounded veterans is a no-brainer.  Whether or not I agree with the reasons for and objectives of the wars our soldiers fight in, I feel that the risks soldiers take and the sacrifices soldiers make in service of our country require our support.  And lets be frank - our government is sorely lacking when it comes to helping our soldiers after they've returned home.

Please consider helping Team RWB.  Their goals and mission are worthy of our support.  In Team RWB's own words, this is what they seek to do:

While much has improved since the post-Vietnam era, some polarization between veterans and our society still exists today. Strong relationships between wounded veterans and their fellow Americans are critical to veterans’ reintegration into civilian life as well as our nation’s success. That’s why Team RWB’s mission is to enrich the lives of wounded veterans and their families. Team RWB works toward this mission by focusing on three key areas:

1. ENDURANCE EVENTS

Endurance events (e.g., half-marathons, marathons, ultra-marathons, triathlons or even hikes) allow the Team RWB community to come together and honor the commitment and dedication of our veterans – both in service and now during their struggle for reintegration. More specifically, these events help raise awareness and funding, and connect Team RWB members with other like-minded individuals to inspire our movement of personal appreciation and caring for war service veterans and their families. Team RWB sponsors its own events and organizes Team RWB participation in existing events throughout the country. However, our movement would not be possible through Team RWB-sponsored or organized events only. Athletes are encouraged to represent Team RWB in any event that is of interest to them and/or host their own events in support of Team RWB. Examples include 1 mile fun-runs or 5k races for family and friends, long-distance hikes or walks and community bike rides.

2. SOCIAL LEADERSHIP-BASED NETWORK

During a June 2010 study of Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans, almost all veterans surveyed expressed interest in services to help adjust to civilian life. Additional research has shown that 90 percent of today’s war service veterans actively search for information and connections online. Team RWB will launch a social leadership-based network using social media and other interactive tools to meet both of these needs, achieving local impact on a national scale. Once complete, teamrwb.com will enable all interested team members to create relationships within and outside their local communities. This network/community will serve as the backbone for raising awareness and funds, and connecting wounded veteran families with athletes, advocates and others.

3. ONE-ON-ONE RELATIONSHIPS

Today’s veterans face many challenges to successful reintegration into society following their experiences in a combat zone. Short-term solutions can include medical prescription drugs or counseling; however, research has shown that veterans’ reintegration challenges can be compounded by feelings of isolation from no longer being part of a “unit” or team. Team RWB aims to combat these challenges by connecting veterans and their families with others (known as “advocates”) through meaningful, friendship-based relationships. Wounded veterans and advocates define the exact nature of their relationship, ensuring each relationship is mutually beneficial and unique. To better meet veterans’ needs, advocates will focus on the “everyday” – not the spectacular: being a friend, spending time together and performing small acts of kindness on a personal level.

Please consider helping Team RWB.  You can do so by becoming a Team RWB athlete yourself!  You can also sponsor my upcoming half marathon on November 27, 2010 in Schaumburg, Illinois by clicking here for the Team RWB website and making a tax deductible donation (please make note that it's "on behalf of Junaid" in the space provided).

Thanks for your support!

Bad week of training

I came down with the flu last Sunday.  I didn't actually realize it was the flu until about Monday evening.  I missed my scheduled runs on Monday and Tuesday of this week and didn't actually get back into it until Thursday night (Wednesday is a day off anyhow).  On Thursday I ran 2.5 miles.

I intended to run on Friday but I allowed myself to miss it so that we could accept a last minute invite to my sister-in-law's house for dinner.  I hate that I let myself do that!

Saturday morning I ran 5 miles.  I was supposed to do 5.5 miles.  This coming Saturday I'm scheduled to run 9 miles.  I'm definitely going to have to get geared up for a good week of training!

I'm going to run and lift weights tonight to purge my body of all the crap I put into it yesterday and today will attending the Iowa vs. Penn State football game in Iowa City, IA.  Good times for sure but way too unhealthy!

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.