First 5k Done! – Goal Achieved…. What’s Next?

On March 16, 2013, at about 4:00 PM I ran the Luckython 5k, an Uberthon race event. I was super impressed at how organized, professional, and fun the race turned out. There were hundreds of people (nowhere near as big as the Shamrock Run) there for the event. People’s costumes were hilarious. I opted for the “Nike” look with dri fit shirt, and Nike shorts and shoes. 🙂 There was even a small contingent of barefoot runners!

The run was held at the Aloha Reserve golf club, and the course wound through the greens on the paved golf cart path. It was pretty much flat the entire way, with a few very small inclines and declines. The weather was horribly rainy and cold, but after a few minutes of running I didn’t seem to notice or care that much. This was a chip timed run, so the slow waved start didn’t matter until i crossed the sensor for the chip timing to start.

Once I crossed the sensor and my time started, I moved out to a pretty quick pace. I was running with my iPhone and running application, so I was able to check my pace as I went, to ensure that I’d hit my goal time of 30:00. Starting out I rapidly noticed that I was running too fast, and my heart rate started to climb pretty fast, the initial navigation of getting past slower runners, and finding my point to level off was a tad challenging.

I did like the fact that I was running with a group of people. It created opportunities to challenge myself, I’d see someone ahead of me, and I’d think to myself “Hey, I want to catch up with them, and maybe try and pass them.” It was also frustrating at times to be passed. 🙂 When I hit the first mile mark, I felt like I was moving too slow, and was concerned because the mile on the pavement sure felt further than the mile on the treadmill, but I kept at it. Having the running application on my iPhone, it would tell me my pace, and when I was running a 9:30 mile or slower, I would speed up, and then when I would hear that I was running too fast, I would slow down. I ended the race with a 9:41 average.

When I hit the 50% mark, I was worried that I may have to walk some, but I was motivated to run the entire race, and I never did ANY walking. When I hit the three mile mark, the last bit before the finish felt very long, but I  had upped my pace dramatically, I knew I had to be very close if not over my goal. I crossed the finish line at 30:07 just seven seconds over my goal. I was so tired, and my heart rate was in the 170’s. I typically train in the 140’s-160’s.

What’s Next?

My girlfriend and I (and possibly our two oldest kids) are going to run the “Rum Run” at the end of May, it’s another 5k, with a rum and beer finish! – Yum

I’m going to sign up for a 5k with obstacles, called The Epic Grind, it’s put on by my spin class instructor and has an eco friendly theme. It should be a blast, another post specifically about that race is coming soon!

There’s a mud race that I’ll be doing in August too, along with my girlfriend and a bunch of folks from her office.

I’m trying to keep myself motivated and moving all summer long!

First 5K for 2013 – Luckython in Aloha OR

Well I missed the boat on the “Shamrock” run, but after thinking about it, running with 35,000 people sounds daunting. I’ve opted for a run the day before 3/16 in Aloha OR, the “Luckython”. I literally don’t know any more about it than that, it’s a 5K run, starting at 4PM, and I’m planning to run it.

I’d like to set a goal of 30 minutes or less, meaning about a 10 minute mile. I know I can go faster than that on the treadmill on pretty much flat terrain, so I think I should be able to hit this mark. I now need to focus on my running more, hope this gets me to that goal!

If anyone wants to join me, let me know! It should be fun. There’s even a potato bar at the end… lol.

Losing 10 lbs. seems harder than the first 50

I haven’t lost my desire, nor will power to lose 10 more pounds, but it feels so much harder right now. I’m motivated, but not charged. I’m only in the gym like 2-3 times a week, I really need to amp that back up to 4 – 5 times. I’m about even from my goal, sitting steady at that 220 mark. I really want to get down to 210.

I think I need to challenge myself more…. I think I need to establish a new goal. I need to find a run to train for, and keep running. I’ve only been running once a week, I think capturing these ideas from my brain here are going to help me.

I find myself making excuses, or allowing things that I wasn’t previously allowing to distract me. I’ve been crazy busy at work. Excuse. I’ve had lots of things going on in my personal life. Excuse. I’m starting to see that I need to re-focus my energy.

I know I’m capable of getting to my next goal, I just need to reset my expectations and realize that this one is going to be harder than my first one. It sounds crazy, but I already know that is how it’s going to go. I need to establish a bigger goal (aside from losing the 10 lbs.) and allow that goal to push me into my smaller goal. I think running a 5K or maybe a 10K is where I need to go. I think the Shamrock run is approaching, maybe I need to register for that, and set a goal to finish in a certain amount of time.

 

Planning is Key

One of the things that continually throws me for a loop is unexpected things that happen in life. It’s the mundane, unplanned, and necessary things. Unplanned child pickups, work running later, emergencies, these are the things that can screw up your plans for the day. It’s ok to miss a workout here and there, but for me, I need to stay focused. My old track record is a series of events like this; getting sick or injured, being busy at work, or a busy home life. These are things that have traditionally derailed my success in the gym.

Now I’m trying to not allow these type of small setbacks be an excuse for failure. It all goes to where I’m at mentally. I have to realize that life happens, and I need to try to make sure I keep focused, and don’t let these things allow me to create an excuse for failure. So when I’m planning to hit the gym after work, and I have to do some unplanned thing, I’ll often try to go later at night when things have calmed down, or work out at home doing some sort of cardio.

Time isn’t the only thing you have to plan. Planning what you eat is crucially important too. There’s been days where I forget to bring my (calorie planned) lunch to work, and I just assume that I’ll go to Subway, or get some grilled chicken, or a salad. But days get hectic, and before you know it, lunch has passed, and the day is closing. Now I’m hungry, and not thinking clearly. These are the times when I make poor decisions. Decisions based on emotion.

It’s important to plan for these type of things. I usually try to keep some protein bars or other “quick-grab” things to eat. Where I work we have a little vending area that has the ubiquitous selection of chips, frozen pizza, candy, and other unhealthy options. If I don’t have anything to eat at my desk, I’ll go down and try to grab a yogurt, or some fruit – something. I look for a balance of satisfaction, measured calories, and something that’s better than fast food.

Remember, life doesn’t always go as planned, make sure you think about things in a way that you will ultimately be successful. If you have an “all or nothing” mentality (like I tend to) make sure that you approach situations realistically, with a plan, and a mindset that shit happens. Just make the best of what you can.

About a week ago, I had several (3-4) days of weight gain, not a ton, 1/2 a pound here, 1/2 a pound there, but I was wondering if I was going to hit the dreaded “plateau”. I was mentally prepared for this, but it was a bitter thought. I was doing everything right, eating right, exercising, so I was a bit confused. I realized a couple things, I had slacked a little here and there on a handful of cheerios, or a small amount of corn chips. I had almost started slipping back into old habits. I went back to my regimen, and over the next few days started to see the predictable weight loss I had been experiencing. I also realized that some sort of wall is coming, and I don’t know when it is. Several days of no weight loss, or even weight gain, are very normal in this process, just stick to what has been working for you.

If you encounter more than a week or two of a stalled plan, you may have to start changing things up. I don’t think I’m at that point yet, but I feel like I could be getting close. I’m so close to my first goal, a goal I’ve set many times and never achieved. But this time I will achieve it, failure is not an option.

Work Out at Work

It may seem obvious, but it’s worth pointing out, that a lot can be accomplished during a lunch hour. Take your lunch to work, and when you’d normally go out to eat for an hour, go for a run. If you’re lucky, your work may even have showers and locker rooms. My office has a small, but decent gym, so when I know I won’t be able to make it to the gym after work, I make sure to try and squeeze a work out in during the day.

Even getting outside to just walk for an hour is a great thing to do. You don’t have to become a sweaty mess. At a decent pace, you can easily walk several miles, and burn a few hundred calories. Eat your lunch at your desk when you’re back to work!

Another great thing to do at work is stairs. Sure you may get some weird looks, but remember you’ll be getting fit! A good set of stairs is a great workout, up and down, burns a ton of calories. Set a goal of 25 flights of stairs, and then go for a small walk to cool down. If you have a large office, chances are you can find a low traffic area.

The point I’m trying to make is plan ahead. If you know your normal gym night is a busy one that won’t let you get away, find a way to cram something into your day, whether it’s before work, during work, or even later, make sure you don’t let it slide. Even if you’re not doing your full workout and calorie burn, get something in, you’ll feel better, and it’s a mental win.

Working Out Mentality

Establishing the mentality to lose weight and workout is hard. It’s probably harder than going to the gym and doing the actual workouts. There’s several components that I have to drill into my thick skull on an almost daily basis to ensure that I’ll continue to keep at it. Ensuring that I keep these things in mind helps me a great deal!

Dedication – Realize that losing weight takes dedication. If you don’t dedicate yourself to the process, the process will not work, no matter how half-assed you go at it.

Never take No attitude – Don’t let yourself become victim to excuses. Beat your brain into submission, that you will be working out a lot, and that you will be good at it. Don’t let your life be the excuse to hinder your progress.

Don’t settle – Don’t settle for less. Remember that you’re worth the hard work, and you shouldn’t settle for anything less.

Push yourself – For me this is key. If you’re not physically drenched in sweat at the end of your workout, my opinion is your weight loss is going to take way longer. I’m drenched in sweat at the end of my workouts, and I continually try and push myself further.

Try new things – Trying new things at the gym, or for your workouts will help you progress in your weight loss journey. I’ve tried running, spin class, and kick boxing.

Measure your calorie burn – Measure what you’re burning. You’ll feel a better sense of accomplishment and appreciation for what it takes to lose weight. Remember you typically have to burn roughly 3500 calories to lose a single pound. You’ll also develop a sense of how hard you have to work to burn several hundred calories. I try to burn 500+ calories at least four days a week. A good week I’ll see five days of workouts.

Know you’ll fail at times – Know that there will be setbacks, but don’t let them beat you. Fix the problem, and move on. Realize that some amount of failure is inevitable, don’t let it consume or beat you. It’s ok to cut yourself a little slack sometimes.

Racquetball

Playing racquetball is one of my favorite work outs that I do at the gym. The tough thing about racquetball is that it requires depending on another person. Another challenging thing is most gyms don’t have racquetball, I’m lucky that my gym has one court. I typically have to play later in the evening, but generally it’s easy to get in to play.

The game keeps you moving all the time. The thing I like about playing it is the competition, my good friend and I play at least once or twice a month. I also like the fact that it mixes up my workout, and keeps things fresh.

During a one hour session of racquetball, I’ll generally burn at least 600 calories. It’s so fun that I don’t even realize that I’m working out. I’m just playing a game with my friend, trying to beat him at it!

It’s not a very expensive sport to break into, all you really need is eye protection ($10 – $20), a racquet ($20 – $$$$), and a can of racquetballs! The courts usually have a place inside that you can store your wallet and keys/phone during the game. It’s pretty hard to have a conversation when you’re playing, as the sound bounces all over.

If you’re interested in how to play check out this out, the rules are seriously simple, you can learn them in this video, that’s just over one minute.

Small Victories

When I started running, I could barely get a mile or two in under an hour. I probably honestly walked more of it than I ran, it felt horrible. As I’ve stated before I’m not a good runner, but I’m getting faster, stronger, better. I’m by no means fast by running standards, but compared to MY standards that I started with, I’m way faster. I’m trying to push myself out of my comfort zone on almost every run. It’s a weird thing, some days I feel invincible when I’m running, others, I just want it to be over, and I’m beat.

I really try to approach every run with a positive mindset. Even though I’ve said I hate it, or that I’m not good at it, I really try to be happy about doing it. I’m trying to remember that it’s making me stronger, thinner, and a better person. I’m trying to do a number of things, and building character is one of them. So I’m learning to celebrate the days where I feel like I can push past what I had historically struggled to do. They’re small victories, but they’re huge. It’s something I need to remember not to glaze over and forget.

The running application I use does a great job of keeping track of so many things I never even considered; your fastest 1K, 5K, mile, most calories burned in a single run, as well as a plethora of other milestones. It’s great to see with each run that I am consistently improving some of these metrics. This week I ran three times instead of two, and the application even applauded me for “running more than you normally do”. Awwww shucks, thanks! So, while my achievements may not impress hardcore runners, they’re impressing me, especially when I see improvement almost every time I go out.

Sure they’re just silly images on a web site, but they’re motivating, and something that makes me keep wanting to do this, so I think that’s great.

Get Rid of TV

About eight months ago, I did something drastic. I got rid of cable. I got rid of the boxes, the DVRs, and the hefty $150 a month cable bill. I only have Internet service, and I pay about $45 a month. Let me explain this to you, I was a TV junkie. I used to record so many shows, that my dual tuner DVR would be recording two shows, and I’d be watching another in the other room, while it was recording the others.

I never really realized how much time I had invested in front of the television, easily 3+ hours per day, if not more. I originally dropped TV to save money, but I got something back that’s even bigger, I got time. I really feel like if I still had cable TV I probably wouldn’t be where I am today, motivated to make big changes in my life, and losing weight.

Now, that I have more time I’m not chained to a television, I can easily spend more time working out, doing yard work, riding my bike, or spending it in the gym. It’s been a very empowering decision, one that I thought that I’d regret, but it has been one of the best ideas I’ve had. My kids don’t miss it at all, we still have Netflix and Hulu, and I do buy a season or two of some of my favorite shows that I just can’t miss. The upside is that even with Netflix, Hulu, and an occasional series purchase, I’m still saving a TON of money, and I have more time to focus on my goals.

So if your excuse is that you can’t afford a gym membership, or that you don’t have any time to work out, dump your cable, you’ll find the extra money for the gym and be able to pay for some alternative streaming services (Hulu, Netflix, Crackle, etc.) AND you’ll be saving money. Be honest about your TV habits, really honest, and think if that’s somewhere you could make a change. In our lives of DVRs and on demand TV services, there’s hardly a show that you really have to be sitting there to see when it airs.

You might laugh, but every now and then I hit the gym when a show I like is on, I’ll run on the treadmill and watch the world series of poker, or “Gold Rush” on discovery! Ask yourself this question, has anyone towards the end of their life ever said “I wish I would have watched more television?”

Family Life and Weight Loss Goals

When you are motivated to accomplish a goal, it’s important to remember that regular life needs to happen in parallel. Just because I’m super charged in my desire and actions to make big changes to lose weight doesn’t mean I can just let everything else slide. I’m trying to be sensitive to my work, kids, loved ones, and friends. I’m also trying to keep up on the details, paying bills, keeping the house clean, cooking, and groceries and errands, it’s a lot to manage!

The most important people in my life right now are my kids, my girlfriend, and her kids. My sister lives in Seattle and we talk a bit here and there, same with my parents, so there’s not really any danger of alienating them during this process. But my kids and girlfriend and her kids, do sometimes bear the stress of me needing to be at the gym. I try to be sensitive to this and make sure that I do several things: communicate when I’m planning to go work out, work out during times when it won’t impact them, and take opportunities to work out at home or with them.

Communication is something I’m a huge fan of. I probably over communicate at times. I try to be in the gym 4 days per week at a minimum. It’s about an hour and a half of being away from home and I’m pretty much unavailable to the outside world during that time. I’ll even put it on my calendar for the classes and things I can plan out in advance, so that my girlfriend knows.

Let me take a second to say how great she is. The spin classes are 2x a weekat 6 PM, I am not done until 7PM and come over to her house afterwards, she generally makes me something healthy to eat, as I’m starving by this point. What a great gal I’m with!

I’ll also try and work out when my kids are with their mom. They come home to my house every day after school, so I do get to see them quite a bit. The days their mom comes to get them, I spend time with them from after school on, but then I usually get to the gym if it’s a workout day about 1/2 hour before they are picked up. I’ll also work out later at night sometimes, even close to 10PM. This can be a good time as my youngest is in bed, and my older one is responsible enough to be home for a short amount of time. It’s weird working out later at night, sometimes it’s the best thing ever for getting to sleep, other times, I’m wired past 2 AM.

The best thing that can happen is when we can all work out together. Whether it’s all going for a long walk, bike riding, or our group favorite, Geocaching. I’ll write a whole other post about Geocaching. We sometimes all play Xbox Kinnect games too, like dance central, or a fighting/kickboxing game, which you’re probably thinking is a simple work out, but when I play the kick boxing game, after an hour I’m drenched in sweat – it’s totally fun too!

It’s also important to remain realistic. If you’re not a morning person, and you think you can squeeze it all in before you need to be at work, you can probably hold it together for a while, but ultimately you’ll probably end up bailing on things. I’m a total night owl, so working out later works for me, it’s actually nice, the gym is empty, and I enjoy it. But if you go to sleep before midnight, this is probably not an approach for you. It’s important to remain realistic as you don’t want to adopt a philosophy that will ultimately cause you to fail. What would be worse is to feel like you failed because you didn’t want to sacrifice your personal relationships. Just realize like everything I’ve talked about so far it’s about balance and moderation.

I feel blessed and lucky to have such an awesome support network. Supportive kids, friends, family, and an amazing girlfriend that also has amazing kids. I’m a pretty lucky guy.