Vacation over

So, I got back from the beach on Wednesday and I feel great. My feet haven't hurt in days and I'm ready for a good run.

On the downside, my running plans for the beach fell through completely. I was hoping to get in my run before my wife woke up everyday. It seems that while she can sleep to 11 a.m. when at home, she rises with the sun when she is on vacation. Before I could get out the door, she was ready to hit the beach already.

Today, Evan and I are going to go try some hill repeats. It's not part of the schedule, but my aching feet have really thrown us off the schedule anyways. I really hope we can make up the lost time in phase 3 of our training.

One more thing: the scale is saying I gained around 5 lbs. at the beach. That's what you get when your vacation diet consists of milkshakes.

Now, that I've fallen off the horse, it's time to dust myself off and get back in the saddle.

Another new record

This morning the scale told me I had finally pushed through my plateau weight. I finally got to 281 lbs.

I know this doesn't seem like much, but it feels like I was stuck at 282 for forever. It's really nice to see the scale start dropping again. It just sat still for so long.

The scale's revelation has really motivated me to get out there today. I think I'll try to get my hill work done tonight after I hit the YMCA and lift a little.

I'm going on vacation soon, so I'll get to run on the beach while my wife snoozes in the morning. I don't plan to do too much running, but I know I'll enjoy some short distance runs in the sand.

Am I doing it backwards?

I think I might be getting this weight loss stuff all wrong.

Last week, I tuned my diet so that I was getting quite a bit less calories and I was trying to stay active after work despite my aching feet. The goal was to finally break through this plateau I've been experiencing where I'm stuck at 282 lbs. It was almost a sure thing that I'd have it beat by the end of the week. By Friday, the scale read back that I had gained 2 lbs. I've stayed at 284 through the weekend and it kept me a little dissuaded over my failed attempt.

Yesterday, I finally gave into my sugar cravings and had two different soft drinks and a large chocolate shake. This morning, the scale told me I had lost those 2 lbs again. I'm pretty sure I may have invented the greatest diet ever.

Today, I start the new program where I run one day and hit the pool or bike on the other days until my feet recover. I'm still very committed to finishing the marathon in February, but several runners that I have talked to say that I'm just too big to be trying to run so far. My plan is to keep attempting to run, but I will swap out different types of crosstraining until my feet heal up. Hopefully, as I lose weight, the pain will recede in my feet and I will be able to get more running in. Seems like a sound plan to me.

Rethinking

Last week, I spent the major part of the week in pain due to the running I did on Tuesday. I'm not sure what's causing it, but it's really getting to bother me. As I've noted before, it feels like the bottoms of my feet are bruised, especially around the balls of my feet. The pain also seems to like to hang out around the back of my knee. I'm not sure if the two are related, but it sure feels similar.

I'm pretty sure it all comes down to how heavy I am. I was losing weight pretty regularly when we first started all the running, but now I'm stuck around 280. I think this is due to the fact that I usually run early in the week and hurt for the rest of the time.

My new plan is to get a run in early and let it hurt, but instead of missing the next run, I plan to go swimming or hit the bike until I'm better. That way I can keep burning calories. It will help me to not let my lazy side take over for recovery. The hardest part of this will just be taking off my shirt around people at the pool. Other than that, I'm pretty excited about these changes. Hopefully, my feet will stop hurting so much and I can find myself doing much more running.

More pain

Due to a crazy schedule yesterday, Evan and I ended up getting our run in between 11 and noon yesterday. Big mistake.

Now, not only are my feet hurting, but I have manage to rack up quite a sunburn. This one will have to be chalked up to learning a lesson.

Today, speed work is on the schedule. I'm not sure how likely this is to get accomplished. I worked late last night and had to be back up here around 6:00 a.m., so I'm not very focused on running right now. I went ahead and told Evan to show up at the house at the usual time, but I assured him I would be getting a good nap first.

So tired of hurting

I really am sick of hurting after running. I know there are such things as good pains, but I'm pretty sure this is not the case.

It seems like every two days after I complete a run, the bottom of my feet will get so sore that I can barely stand or walk. It feels as if the bottom of my feet are completely bruised. It tends to go away as the day progresses and is usually at its worst when I wake up in the morning. I have no idea what causes it, but I'm hoping that working through the pain and getting rid of some weight might help. Right now, I'm just sick of it and I really want to get to a place where I just tend to feel good more often than not.

That was all I needed to rant about. Sometimes it just feels good to get the complaint out.

I'm working a weird schedule today, so it looks like I'll be moving my speed run to the front of the queue. I'll have to go to the gym to do this since I'm working at the cooler parts of the day.

Accidentally Awesome

I thought I was supposed to run 7 miles yesterday. I failed at that. I made it 4.2 by the time I had returned to the house. This morning, I checked my running plan and realized I was supposed to run 4 miles. Sweet.

I found some revamped motivation yesterday and it was all I needed to get myself out the door. The way Evan and I have been slacking lately had really been wearing away at me and the fact that we were now way off schedule was getting me down. So, I decided to go out and get back on track despite the large distance I thought I was supposed to cover.

It feels great to find out that I actually did more than I was supposed to. My time for the run was an 1:17. I know it's not the best time for a little over 4 miles, but I know I'll be getting better. It has really gotten my motivation up. Hopefully I'll be able to run the seven miles by the time I get there on Sunday.

Also, I bought a water bottle belt since I thought I was going a huge distance. Now I just have to find out how I'm supposed to wear it. I feel like I look stupid with it in front of me and it's hard to get to if I turn it around and it's unbalanced on either side. I guess I'll just have to go with looking stupid. Who am I trying to impress anyways?

Trying to find the motivation

I'm starting to see a pattern between how much sleep I get and how motivated I am to run in the afternoon.

The last couple of nights, I've stayed up late playing video games. This has had an amazingly adverse effect on my overall want of fitness. It's very depressing that I keep managing to fail at keeping up the schedule. I've decided to find a way to give up video games completely.

If I can just focus on the fact that video games are nothing buy a time and money drain with little accomplished at the end, I may be able to make it. It's ridiculously addictive.

Anyways, I'm going to try to do my hill repeats today, since I've missed them all week. Hopefully, I'll succeed at that.

Feeling motivated

After a weekend trip tore into my running schedule, I feel pretty good about starting this week.

My wife and I had to go to Athens for her sister's wedding, but I still managed a small run and I got in some strength training for the first time in months. I forgot how good that stuff makes you feel. That little bit has just about pushed me back into a lifting schedule. As soon as I get my older brother a membership to the YMCA, I think we're going to start lifting on our lunch breaks.

Besides the workout I got, I really didn't take too good care of myself. The wedding food was really good and the open bar was a temptation that I did not have to power to refuse. Though, the day after I found myself unwilling to drink alcohol ever again.

Better shape than I thought

I finally got the chance to go for a run yesterday and I was really surprised with the results.

I decided to go ahead and do hill repeats since our previous attempts to do them were... um, repeatedly... foiled by the weather. Evan told me he might be able to meet me, but he never showed, so I ran solo.

Since I was by myself, I took the opportunity to push myself and noticed that I got my mile time down to 14 minutes and I was able to get in 5 hill repeats before heading home. My final time ended up at 59:02. Now I just need to see if I can cram in some more hill repeats and still beat that time.

It was really good to just go out running and and finish that mile with no trouble.

What the Crap? II: The Crappening

So the same thing happened yesterday.

Before our scheduled run, I had apprehension towards bringing Evan to the YMCA since they had just informed me that I wasn't supposed to bring guests in on Wednesday night. So, we planned instead to do our hill repeats. It appeared to be a cooler day and I decided we could head out earlier since it was so overcast. About that time, the thunder began again.

I want to be healthy and fit, but I don't care to find myself outside in a thunderstorm. That's just a bad idea. So now I've got Evan trying to get our Mom and Dad to buy him a YMCA membership. That would make it foil proof as to where we could exercise during inclement weather. Now, we just gotta do something about being fat and lazy.