Day Forty Nine: Realization and Recommitment

Well after a long thinking period I have made a big decision about my goals this year. With my foot injury I have missed my window of training properly for the Hogeye Half Marathon. I realize that now. I hate that fact but that's the way it is. I can't train in a month, especially coming off an injury, to run 13 miles. Before I got hurt I was able to run 5 miles but 5 miles is a long way away from 13 miles and I still have to work back up to 5 miles. That plus the time it takes to train is time that I don't really have right now. I think this goal, attainable as it is, was just a little more than I could commit to. The weight loss is still on. Believe me, I will still hit my 180 goal but the half marathon run will have to go on the back burner for a little while. So I missed one resolution this year so far but I will not miss my weight goal. But in losing a goal, I have something already in line to take its place. Running the 3 miles in 30 minutes made me feel like I accomplished something. It made me wonder how fast I could actually run a 5k. So I plan on getting faster in my 3 mile run and finish more in the middle of the pack when I run 5k's or better. I know guys who can run them in a little over 20 minutes. That would be awesome in my mind. 3 miles in a little over 20 minutes. That is my new plan. My training will go completely different now. Instead of being able to run a distance and keeping a good pace, I will train to have speed. I will have to develop more leg muscles and much better cardio. This training I think will be a lot more up tempo and harder than the training I was doing. I actually can't wait! I have to do some research on how to train to be faster but first I will need to acclimate myself back to running 3 miles. I will still do some distance running just to change things up but I want to have a much faster 5k time.

So although it makes me sad to say that I didn't hit a goal I set but I know that in my mind I am comfortable with this decision. I will hit my weight goal and I can't wait to start training to be faster. We go to Florida this upcoming weekend and I can't wait to run on the beach. Something that I have always wanted to do. I think that will reinvigorate my desire and will to run. When I get back from Florida I have a memorial hike at Devil's Den. When I get back from that, I will share the story with you about that hike. It will be a long post with the details about that day that I have written down.

Lots of things coming up for me. Here's to new roads to go down and new obstacles to overcome. Hopefully I can remain healthy and take care of my foot so I can reach my faster 5k goal. Wish me luck! Until next time...Peace be with you!!!

Day Forty Three: Back to Blogging...

Update time!!! I think this week I will get back to running! Finally!!! I miss it so much I had a dream about it and I was running a 5k doing my running style and I was actually up in the pack, looking to finish top 20 then I woke up. Don't think I'm quite that fast yet, but usually dreams become goals and that is a good goal to aim for. Maybe after the half marathon. This foot injury has put me back a whole lot I'm afraid. I was running over 4 miles easily before the injury and now I will probably only get 3 miles. More hard work ahead to get back to where I was. I has been 7 days since my last blog and a few things have happened. 1: I have stayed at 193 ish. I go up and down but I stay at 193. Just by calorie counting I have managed to stay at a good weight. I thought for sure without running I would be gaining weight but not so. 2: Went on another HUMP yesterday. We went about 10 miles in a little over 3 hours. On the way back the weather started turning colder and colder but it was a good hike. Can't wait for the hike on 3.3.2012. Going to get my sticker that day and Jarrod's sticker as well. A few people that will be going with me will also get their stickers as well as long as they still plan on going. For sure my brother and me are going. Hopefully no one backs out. Well I said a few things but that is all. Figure after being out for this long I would have something to report but not so much. My phone died over the weekend and I got to be honest, it was good not being connected with the world. Don't know if I could get used to that but every once in a while is good. I suggest everyone do it at some point. No need to live your life in the digital world all the time. Unplug and live in reality otherwise what is important will pass you by. What made me the maddest about me not having a phone is my music. I used my phone more than my iPod nowadays and I missed not having my music whenever I wanted it. But now I have it back and I love it!!! Until next time...Peace be with you!!!

P.S. Valentine's day is tomorrow. I hate that day with a burning passion. I'm totally Anti-Valentine's day but if it makes the wife happy then I will do it.....I guess!

Day Thirty Six: Sidelined...

The day after I ran my 30 minute 3 miles I noticed that my right foot was hurting a little. Mainly when I moved my big toe. I stretched it out and didn't think anything about it. I figured was from running a little faster and changing the way I ran. I thought that it was just sore from my foot hitting the ground differently because of the form change. So I let it be. The next morning it was hurting a lot more especially when I put my shoe on. The pressure of my shoe on top of my foot makes it hurt worse. With a shoe on I can barely move my big toe without it hurting. So I took a couple of days off from running which is why I haven't blogged. It still hurts but not as bad as normal but I can't push off of it. My wife thinks it might be a stress fracture or a pulled tendon. I tend to agree. When I have a my shoes off I can move it fine, it's just when my shoe is on that it hurts. It sucks. I want to run so bad but I know if I subject it to activity I could injure myself a lot more and could be out of running for a while. I am going to probably take a little more time off from running. Might take a little walk tomorrow evening to see where I'm at. I have a HUMP on Sunday so hopefully it will be fine by then. Going to rest it as much as possible before I pick it back up. Pretty aggravated about it. Now I'm going to have to really watch what I eat since I'm not doing the cardio to burn it off. I will find some exercises to do at home that doesn't require a lot of impact on my foot. I weighted 195 today. Had the Super Bowl last night and my Grandma's birthday on Saturday so I splurged a little bit. Back to watching what I eat and hopefully being able to run in the coming days. So as of now I'm sidelined. Sad panda...Until next time. Peace be with you!!!

Day Thirty Three: 3 miles in 30 minutes and milestone

Time for an update. 1: I have yet to tell you or anybody except my wife that I hit a milestone with my weight. I weighed in on the 1st of February and the scale said 193! I was excited but it was the day after I had ran 4.91 miles so I kind of thought that maybe it was correct because I didn't really get a chance to replenish my fluids so I didn't announce it to the world yet. I wanted to give it a couple of days and get another run in and continue eating good. I weighed on the 2nd and I was 194. That was after a day of getting good food in me and drinking plenty of fluids so that was the weight that I went with. 193 looked good and made me feel good but I knew that wasn't my true weight. Well last night I ran. I was wanting to get 3 miles in. I didn't want to do a long distance. I felt that I needed to save my legs a little bit and try a distance run next time I run. But I set out on my run last night with a definite goal in mind. I wanted to do 3 miles in 30 minutes. That's 10 minutes a mile. On level ground I knew that I could definitely do it but the route I took was not exactly level ground. From my house to the Subway sign in Gentry is 1.5 miles. It has along the way 2 pretty good sized hills that are gradual inclines. On the way back I hit 2 more hills. One just past the sign and the next is Robbie's hill. I was setting a good pace and found that I was maybe running wrong this entire time! I have been reading and watching other runners and noticed that they lift their legs off the ground pretty far and bend them back. I barely lift my leg off the ground. I have a short stride which is fine because to big of a stride will tire your legs. But my stride I think was a little too short. I think my stride was holding me back a bit. So I gradually started to change the way I ran last night trying to figure out what my legs were comfortable with and still be able to keep the energy to go a distance instead of going to fast and waste it all. Then it all clicked! I found that with the new way I was starting to run, I was faster but my calf muscles weren't burning like my normal run. The burn was more in my upper legs and my stride felt more bouncy, I had a better push off with each step. I got to the Subway sign in 15 minutes 24 seconds, the fastest I have ever reached that point! I turned around and started back home. I was doing a very good pace. My breathing was fine with my new running style. My legs were burning but they were no where near the point of giving up. I thought that if I ran faster I wouldn't be able to complete a distance run but that was obviously not true. I came up to Robbie's hill with 3 minutes to go to make it back to my starting point. I burned through Robbie's hill and was, I admit, winded at the top but I recovered quickly and finished out my run. When I looked at my watch it said 30:37!!! The quickest time I have set for 3 miles. A new personal record! I couldn't believe it! I found a new way to run, it was quicker and my legs felt better. Imagine what I could do on flat land! That is actually my next step, I want to see how fast I can run 3 miles at an old route I used to run. Still has a few inclines but it will give me a good reading as to how fast I can do 3 miles on a flatter route. I can't wait! 

So that was my run last night. New record, new running style. All in all a good run. So I got up this morning and checked my weight. And guess what? I weight 193!!! I consider this an official weight cause I had a good run the night before. So that is 130 pounds gone!!! That is awesome. 3 more pounds until I am in the 180's then I'm on the last stretch of weight loss. So far so good. I run again Saturday and will update after that. 130 pounds...never imagined that would happen. Until next time...Peace be with you!!!