Hey

Wednesday I ran a sub 6:25 mile and felt real strong, I could have run faster. Tuesday i ran 3.5 miles in 25:08. Today (Friday), I ran 2.5 miles in 17:27, in case you were wondering that is my first sub-7 time for multiple miles. 6:59. Felt great! I maybe could have done another half mile or so but probably would have slowed down a little. Lifting has been going great, seriously great. I benched 185 four times this week, with a little help on the last one I am sure. Lifting in the over 100 weights for back and approaching that for shoulders. The weight is holding at 188 and I haven't tested my body fat in two weeks, but I feel strong. My resting heart rate is 45 beats a minute, my blood pressure is 110 over 65, and I am having fun getting stronger. Can't wait to see you guys in a few days.

Fri, Sat, Mon, Tues, & Wed

Friday I broke the 8:00 mark finishing 2.5 miles in 19:50. Saturday I didn't run. It was another day of helping the Ewell's move. So I've missed my longer Saturday run for about a month. This makes me a bit nervous about running with you guys. I’m a short distance guy and I’m proving it more and more all the time.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have all been good for pushing that time down just a little bit more. This morning I did 2.5 miles in 19:28 for a 7:47 pace. Getting below the 19:30 mark means I’m going to bump up my distance another ¼ mile. But I’ll likely wait until I’m back from vacation to check my pace; set new goals; and make that small increase official.

The truly great news is I measured 17.5% body fat this morning. I’ve completely plateaued on weight lose for the past six weeks, but I’m still shaving down the body fat. After 10 straight days at 18% I got the scale to take that little step down to 17.5%. The weight loss plateau I mostly get as I’ve been much less rigorous about my diet, though still disciplined. Now it’s all about putting muscle weight back on.

My measurements say I’ve basically traded two pounds of fat for two pounds of muscle over the past six weeks. That’s great considering I’m still not lifting yet. I’ve lifted a little, but nothing I’d call a workout.

So now I just have to not get too out of control for Christmas. See everyone soon!

Wednesday & Thursday

The two of you have to be busy at this time of year. One thing I remember about being in school was being so busy headed into finals that I didn’t really have time to get into Christmas until I was traveling to my family’s house. It’s probably a bit different being married and having kids around, but I’ve no doubt you’re busy.

I’m plugging along making progress feeling more than a bit old and jealous thinking about Mike just walking down to the track in kicking out times I hope to achieve by some time late spring. This morning I did 2.5 miles at an 8:02 pace. Yesterday and today I pushed up to 9 mph (6:40 pace) on the treadmill for the last half of my final lap. That’s stretching the legs out for me. But I do take solace remembering the first few times I pushed up to 8 mph (7:30 pace) I thought it was real fast too.

The other day I was reading about 4 minutes milers. I read about the first guy that did it and how the world record is down to something like 3:48. Do you realize a 4 minute mile is running at 15 mph? I can’t sprint that fast for any distance let alone a mile. There has been one guy ever to run a sub 4 minute mile over age forty.

On the fat side of life I’m still whittling it down. Five days in a row at 18% now. My dream is to see 17.5% for the weekend. I’m betting that it will go back up bit for Christmas, but to be under 18% would be a real boost.

Tuesday the 13th

Since there hasn't been a posting today yet and I actually did get out and run finally, I thought I would do the honors. I went up to the track (1/8 mile, indoor) with the intention of running 6 miles at a reasonable pace, but after 1/4 mile warm-up and then stretch I ran the first mile in like 9 minutes. I freaked out that I was so slow and decided to pick it way up. So as I was running around the track now (instead of merely jogging at a BFTW pace, that's barely faster than walking for your information) and starting to feel my legs burn I decided I should probably just see what I could do for 2.5 miles to compare with Jason's recent posting. The competitor in me kicked in a bit I guess because I held a ~7:10 pace for the first two miles and then decided to make it an even 3 miles to make the times easier for me to calculate. Did 7:20 on the last mile of those three, putting my total to 4.25 miles so far. I then thought, "you know, I should make this symmetric" and proceeded to run another mile at the slower pace (kind of a cool down, sortof) but fell short and did that mile in like 10 minutes, truly a BFTW if I have ever seen one. Then I decided that since I was already at 5.25 miles I might as well just go all the way to 6. Unfortunately the slacker in my kicked back in around 5.5 though and I just quit, but at least I sprinted the last 1/8 of a mile (one lap) just for kicks.

Not bad for the first run in quite a while, but not great either. The problem is that it just took me so much time to do the whole thing. Just the going upstairs and getting changed into running clothes, going up to the track, back down to the locker room, showering, changing, and going back down to my lab took about 20 minutes or so. When you combine that lost time with the actual running time it just seems like way too much time to be gone during the day. There must be a better way. How do you guys get in a good workout in a short amount of time?

Monday the 12th

On the 12th day of Christmas I got up real early; killer bicep workout, and a tricep workout;
ran two point one miles;
Okay, I'm getting tired of this song thing already, but it works though right? So, I love being done with my workout and showered before the sun is even up, and most people are still in bed. I didn't want to be late for class this morning so I only ran a couple of miles, but my pace was fast, 7:18, and I started feeling sick to my stomach so I quit and took a shower. I like working out in the morning but I don't like running in the morning. Not enough energy after fasting all night, and I can't get enough food in before I run to have the energy because if I do, I feel like I am bloated when I run. One more thing to train my body to do, run with food in my tummy, a must for long distance training.
Slow runner-
Thanks for the new toy, I love it. There is one tiny problem though: Kristi didn't mail the software and I have no way to connect it to my computer, therefore I can't transfer my calendar or contacts because my old PDA is kaput. Do you have an installation disc floating around somewhere? I will pay for you to send it overnight, or second day. Thanks bud.

Saturday, I mean Friday's, posting

It just felt like a Saturday today, because I stayed home this morning and went to school in the afternoon, but really just to work out and sign my timecard. Anyway, I worked my shoulders over pretty good and then ran 8.1 miles in exactly 60 minutes. Pace equals 7:24, not bad for my first real long run in a couple of weeks. I started off a little slower and then picked it up after about two and a half miles. Although, I have been reading recently about common mistakes that runners make, and it says that I should try to keep my pace fairly close per mile on distance runs, not 7:40 one mile and then 7:20 the next and say I ran a 7:30 pace. I see the point and will try that this next week to see how it feels. You train your body to be more efficient by sticking close to a pace and gradually changing the pace, I think. We'll see how it goes.

Catch-up post

Wow, life has been busy this week. Tuesday I had my fat pinch (aka skinfold) test and then worked chest and abs in the gym, followed by 60 minutes of biking and a 3 mile run at 21:43.

Wednesday. Nothing, studied for exams.

Thursday. Lifted back, both mid and lower with a focus on lateral muscles. Ran 2.75 miles, didn't record the time because I hit a button on my watch.


The skin fold test went fine and the results match the scale. 23.7% body fat, or 44 lbs of the stuff. The nice thing about the test is that it breaks it down by areas. I think the number is a bit high because the doctor didn't do the thigh right in my opinion, but overall fairly accurate. So the test is done on four areas: thigh middway between the knee and hip (anterior), triceps midway between the elbow and shoulder (posterior), tip of the iliac crest (hip bone, anterior), and abdomen (use your imagination, I had 35% of it to grab on this one). There is a fancy formula, that I could look up, that takes into account these 4 skin folds, your weight, and age and spits out your composition. Me=44lbs fat, 142 lbs lean muscle. I will go back for another measurement in 4 wweeks, or right after I get back from Christmas, so you have to help me eat good over the break.

Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday

Where did you go?

Wednesday and Thursday I managed that exact same time twice; two and a half miles at 20:45 or an 8:18 pace. Friday I was able to get that number down to an 8:11 pace; still making progress. I should be under 8 minutes by Christmas for a 2.5 mile distance. My 3.5 mile pace usually trail by 10 seconds per mile.

Last night I finally finished the weight set. It’s a tight squeeze, but it will work. Saturday I’ll run and lift if I’m lucky, but starting next week I should be cutting back to running on M, W, F and lifting T, Th, S. It will be interesting to see how it affects my running.

Curiously my weight and body fat has hit a major plateau. Part of it I simply put on Thanksgiving, and honestly the weight part isn’t a bad thing. But I am curious about the body fat. I’ve only measured under 18.5% twice. My diet is the same one that got me to this point. I wonder how much your body adapts and changes chemistry to preserve itself.

Monday

With a temp of -3 I got up at 5:30 am and went to the gym. I had a killer workout and I am glad I got up so early, inspite of the frozen nose hands and nosehairs. It was so cold that the honda almost wouldn't turn over and certainly never got warm enough to blow even mildly lukewarm air on my hands. I am definitely warming the car up for at least 10 minutes tomorrow. Anyway, I lifted legs today and then rode the bike for a half hour. The thing is that I decided to change things up a little bit last week and for the next two-three weeks I am lifting heavy weights with 4 sets. 10 then 8 then 6 then 4 reps respectively. So today I ended up doing my final leg press set at 6 plates a side (540 lbs plus the machine), granted only 4 times, but that is the most I have ever lifted. It was hard. Leg presses are much easier than true squats, but they are so much better on my knees. I am squatting between 2 and 3 plates a side but even then I don't do it the traditional way, my neck and shoulders just can't take it. I have been doing squats on this great machine that has kind of a shoulder harness that you duck under. Nice big pads, no bar resting across your shoulders, you are still doing real squats because the degree of movement is there but it takes the pressure off my aching back.

Saturday & Monday

You're probably busy so I'll kick this one off.

Saturday ran 3.5 miles @ 8:33 pace. Best part was the first two miles I was crusing @ about 8:40 and felt like I could have gone for a while. Rarely can I justify much more than 30 minutes and with Kristi in Utah and me watching the kids solo I really couldn't justify it so I ended at 3.5 miles in 29:55. But felt like I could definately have gone another mile at that pace.

While the kids slept Saturday afternoon I got about 1/4 of the weight rack set up. Great news is it will fit and still let me pull the car in the garage.

Monday I did my first 2.5 mile under 21 minutes at 20:56. That's a 8:22 pace for those keeping track. Took me two months to drop from 9:22 to 8:22. Right now I'm giving myself four months to drop the next minute.

I figured out how to add my progress graphs for your viewing pleasure. Just can't figure out how to get them next to each other. See below.

Thursday and Friday

Thursday. Only had an hour to workout so I did a short mid-back workout in the weight room and then played basketball for a half hour.

Friday. Great workout today. Shoulders and abs/obliques. I did shrugs with a 45 and a 35 on each side, most ever, and it felt solid. I wish I could bench-press that much! Anyway, for abs I did a couple of things I don't normally do. From your knees, grip the triceps pull down ropes on either side of your head and bring your head between your knees. After a set of 20, do 20 more, rotating to the side..10 left, 10 right alternating. Then I did obliques by grabbing a 45 in one hand, laterally bending side to side, then switch hands. Finally, have a friend toss a 10 lb medicine ball at you while you are on the decline bench. Don't go all the way down, just right before you hit. Set of 15, then 10 to each side so you have to rotate to catch and throw the ball back. Awesome day.

Then I ran 3.0 miles in 21:26 for a pace of around 7:08. Combined with stretching and a protein bar for lunch I am feeling realy good right now, even if the scale doesn't show it. I have gained about 10 pounds since I started lifting weights, my body fat has stayed at 24% and my running times keep getting better and better. I feel great, so I must be adding lean muscle mass even if I am not getting rid of the fat. Maybe I just need to cut down on the fat intake? What do you think Jason?