More Fat = Better Cholesterol Numbers

Yeah, this is going to be a good one. But let's start. I've been on an alternative diet for about 6 months now. I started out on a paleo diet, but that didn't work for me. There were too many foods that I liked that were forbidden on the paleo diet. However, I've heard the health benefits of paleo diet as well as the Omnivore's Dilema diet and other alternative diets. Here is one thing that pretty much all of them have in common: they all promote eating of natural, unprocessed foods. So, I decided to ditch the paleo diet and move to more of a "paleoish" diet but in actuality, I just try to eat clean, unprocessed foods. I did drastically change the intake of macronutrients. For example, the typical low-calorie American diet is something like 60/10/30 for carbs/protein/fat. The typical triathlete's diet is closer to 60/20/20. My diet is more like 30/35/35. Drastic reduction in carbs and pretty healthy increases in protein and fat.

Now, what are the tenants of my current diet? Here they are:
- Meat. Lots of lean meat with some bacon thrown in there. I eat bacon 1-2x/week and most people consider this very unhealthy but my cholesterol numbers below show differently. Most of my protein comes from fish and poultry but I won't turn down red meat either.
- Fruits and veggies. Lots of them; pretty much unlimited of both of them. Try to eat them raw but can't tolerate most raw veggies so I end up lightly cooking them. Avocados are great for any time of the day and I put them in many dishes. Again, most people consider them unhealthy because of their high fat content.
- Nuts, beans. Yep, lots of them. Nuts are mostly for high fat content and a balanced ratio of carbs, protein, and fat. Beans are good for carbs, if needed, and fiber.
- Whole grains & legumes. This is where I start to diverge from the typical paleo diet. They say to basically don't eat anything that humans have started to eat as a result of agriculture. With my whole foods approach, I feel that things such as quinoa and oats are OK. Also, legumes like peanuts and chickpeas I consume.
- Wheat, corn, & soy. I'll continue to eat wheat and corn, but they are in very limited quantities. I'll actually seek out some gluten free dishes but the truth is that I still eat about 3-5 servings of wheat a week. Compare that to the average American that eats 3-5 servings of wheat per day. Limited corn as well with virtually no HFCS. As for soy, I haven't been a fan for years. Soy is OK, but if you eat too much of it, there are chemicals in it that are very similar to estrogen and this could produce hormonal changes in your body for both men and women.
- Dairy. I have low-moderate dairy consumption. At the moment, it is mostly Greek yogurt and regular yogurt for smoothies. Cheese is cool too, but not too often. Don't get me wrong though because I still love cheese.
- Other. Sugar is the big thing which I try to avoid unless cheating, but things such as olive oil and spices are fine.
- Cheating. I allow myself 2 cheat meals a week. Sometimes, I don't even take them. I'll still cheat during the week with a soda or a piece of chocolate, but my cravings for those things are starting to go away.

So, that is basically the diet that I've been on through the last 6 months and I've been sticking to the 30/35/35 pretty well so far. I haven't lost much weight on it, but my pants are looser and I just feel damn good, too. I rarely have those afternoon crashes from huge lunches because I'm eating lower GI foods that don't spike my blood sugar as much. I just feel great on this diet.

Now, I had some blood work done last week. I wanted to see how this affected my blood chemistry. I don't have numbers from the past year or so so I don't have a good baseline to compare these to.

Numbers from 02 JUNE 2010:
Total: 159
HDL: 59
LDL: 84
Triglycerides: 82
Total/HDL Ratio: 2.69
LDL/HDL Ratio: 1.42

As for the results, my HDL has never been higher. All of the other numbers are within normal and acceptable ranges. Actually, I have damn great cholesterol numbers! I've heard about people going to paleo diets and their cholesterol numbers skyrocketing. Although I am not on a true paleo diet, I am definitely consuming more fat in my diet and it has had a good effect on my cholesterol numbers. Now, tell that to the average American and watch them get a confused look on their face.

Now, time to discuss my workouts. I consider the workouts on Monday as part of last week so I won't talk about those. Nothing on Tuesday because I skipped the Texas Iron run workout to go to a happy hour instead. Can't remember what I did on Wednesday, if anything. Wait, I think maybe I did a light elliptical. Yes, I did because I was watching the crime where Armando Galarraga was robbed of a perfect game. Thursday was suppose to be a TI aquathon but it got rained out. Oh, I did do 3 miles in the morning. Friday was 3 miles when it was 96* outside and I think I set a new PR for my neighborhood 5K time of 24:41. It was an easy run but it was hot and I was tired. Saturday was a 2 hour ride where I felt really strong on the ride but averaged only 19.5mph for it. Damn headwinds. Got off the bike and ran 10min/mile for 3 miles. Fucking horrible. It seemed that I was stopping to walk 50m every quarter mile or so. Not the best run at all, but it was a brick and they hurt when you're trying to get back into them. Today was a humid 7.2 mile run around Town Lake. I was completely soaked with sweat when I was done and there wasn't a dry piece of clothing on me. I maybe averaged about 8:30/mile which is OK.

But here's the thing. Last weekend's workouts completely defeated me. This weekend, they weren't nearly as tough, but they were tough and I stuck them through. Part of this heat acclimation is just getting out there and getting it done and this weekend, I got it done. It ain't pretty, but it was done. So, I am trying to stay positive and focus on pushing through these barriers. Also, this is 4 straight days of running for me.

Weekly run mileage: 16 miles
Asics mileage: 59 miles

Rough Weekend Workouts

Man, work is keeping me busy. I had a rough weekend of workouts this past weekend. Friday and Saturday were "rest days" where I didn't do anything. Sunday was a bike ride where I just rode around the Bee Caves loop. Then, I went down Lost Creek and decided to keep going on Lost Creek to see how it was. It was BAD. It was hot out and I almost called in some SAG support because those 3 hills back there were kicking my ass. Then, on Monday, I was under nourished, under hydrated, tired from the day before, hot, humid, and had bronchial spasms from the day before and had a miserable 5.5 mile run with 9:00/mile. Just horrible, but it is done. Still ended up with 15 miles for the week. What else? Oh, I weighed in at 190 on the 1st so I was flat for all of May. Why the fuck can't I lose weight? I'm on a super clean diet and still can't lose weight. Oh well. Because of the rough workouts this past weekend, I need to have some good, strong workouts this weekend and to get back on track.

Weekly run mileage: 15 miles
Asics mileage: 43 miles

Motivated

After fighting laziness for months it seems, I seem to have a spark of motivation back when it comes to working out. I've had some great workouts the last 2 weeks and I just have the desire for the next work out and to kick ass at it. A couple of my recent great workouts were a long run last Saturday night, a tough brick workout with Texas Iron on Thursday, a portion of the Real Ale Ride on Saturday, and then a long run followed by an "easy" bike that had me averaging 18.6mph this morning. Seriously, I took the ride at about a moderate pace and my legs woke up and kicked ass during it. I had a lot left in me but took it kinda slow because B&G were taking it slow.

There were some downs though. I tried to do the Splash N Dash on Tuesday. Well, I did it but it wasn't pretty. I got some kind of stomach bug a couple of hours before and did the entire race wanting to throw up. Yeah, that wasn't fun but got redemption on Thursday from that brick workout. It was one of those work outs where I can't look down at my heart rate monitor and must keep going no matter how much it hurts. I needed that work out.

Weekly run mileage: 12.5 miles
Asics rul mileage: 28 miles

10 Miles

10 miles last week. I really need some spare motivation all around if anyone has any that they want to give me. Also, I'm done with my current pair of shoes due to blisters. Getting new ones tonight. Man, I feel like crap at the moment.

Weekly run mileage: 10 miles
Asics mileage: 248.5 miles

15.35 Miles

I ran 15.35 miles over 3 runs last week. Not bad. I also did two bike rides. Oh, that reminds me. One of those runs was a brick run. The highlight of the week was a tempo run with Texas Iron where I pushed the same pace that I did at the Texas Round-Up 10K. It was only about 4 miles, but I was a bit fatigued. I should've gone faster though. Also, my weight for April started at 192 and ended at 192. Sucks.

Weekly run mileage: 15.5 miles
Asics mileage: 238.5 miles

Looks like I'm in need of new shoes.

I've run half marathons faster than that!

First thing first, last week, I ran exactly 15 miles. Since it was over a week ago, I've completely forgotten what else I did.

This week, I was leading up to the Texas Round-Up 10K on Saturday. A bit of tapering and work getting in the way. I did the race on Saturday and it went OK. Usually, I pick it up a bit in the last mile, but at around Mile 5.25, there was a pretty large hill, actually the largest one on the course. After that, I was dead so my last mile was actually one of my slowest. I guess this is good because I held steady pretty much the entire race. I felt OK. The end result of this race was suppose to be a measurement of how I did in regards to run training over the winter. At the IBM Uptown Classic 10K in October, I did 48:18. On Saturday, I did 48:34. So, I was about 16s slower. The course was tougher but the biggest thing was I was hampered by 2 injuries over the winter. Now, I'll do the Updown Classic again in October and see how I improve in the heat over the summer. Oh, my title. When I did a half marathon in 2006, I averaged 7:40/mile. On Saturday, I averaged 7:50/mile. I can't wait to get faster.

I also rode outside today for the first time in awhile. Yeah, I need to ride more. Somehow, I still managed 20.1mph. My ass hurts now. I did a 2.5 mile brick run and yep, bricks still hurt.

Last Week Run Mileage: 15 miles
This Week Run Mileage: 13.25 miles
Asics Mileage: 223 miles

15 Miles And Focus

Well, I got 15 miles of running in this week. Not bad at all, but I'm going to hold this for about 2 more weeks and let me body get used to the mileage. Other than that, I did a couple of weight sessions and a spin class. Yeah, still lazy/busy with work but I'm getting more focus and discipline about getting workouts in.

Weekly run mileage: 15 miles
Asics mileage: 194.5 miles

Better

Last week was a bit better. I was pretty consistent about running, but I know I didn't do a single swim and I did maybe 1 bike. Actually, I don't think I did a single bike workout last week. Since I'm working again, I have a tough time remembering what I did each week since my day now focuses around working and then fitting in the workouts versus the unemployed mentality of workouts and then everything fits around it. Anyways, I'm getting more into the mental discipline of trying to fit in more workouts. I still need to do core/strength stuff because my body is hurting from being in an office chair again and I need to keep my back strong and psoas loose.

I did 14.5 miles last week on the ground. This week, I'm shooting for 15 miles and then holding that until after my 10K on April 24th. I think I've ramped up my mileage fairly quickly and just want to hold my mileage steady while my body rebuilds itself.

On a bad note, I gained 2.5lbs in March. I'm back to eating better so far this month and trying more paleo-ish/whole foods diet and not cheating as much. But when I cheat, do I cheat! Easter Sunday was a gorgefest of all kinds of good food. Between three people, we devoured 2 lbs of bacon and it was delicious.

EDIT: Garmin has updated their Garmin Connect interface and it looks a lot better. A lot more good info is easier to get to instead of clicking 4 or 5 times to get to anything good.

Weekly run mileage: 14.5 miles
Asics mileage: 179.5 miles

Back to running

I logged about 13.5 miles last week which was 2 more than the previous week. I'm shooting for 14.5 this week but both weeks (this and last) have had tough Texas Iron workouts which are great for me. I think I did maybe 1 weight session, 1 elliptical session, and then 1 bike ride last week with the 3 runs. So, 6 workouts in a week which is actually pretty light for me, but the new job is throwing things off a bit. I'm getting used to being all "Go! Go! Go!" all day long and for the most part, it is good for me. Another week of one-a-days and then easing back into two-a-days most days next week. Oh, the bike ride on Sunday with Brian and Geri was actually a fun ride. It was windy as hell but we tooled around this neighborhood off of Wm. Cannon with some nice hills and that was pretty awesome.

Weekly run mileage: 13.5 miles
Asics mileage: 165 miles

Overdue Update

I started a new job this week so I really haven't had time to really update much. I did workout a decent amount last week and I actually put in 11.5 miles which is the big thing. I haven't been in the pool in a long time but I was hitting the weights a decent amount and got maybe 2 bike rides in. Now that I'm working again, my goal is to get in one workout per day for a couple of weeks and then try to move back to two-a-days after that. My weight has gone up a couple of pounds this week which isn't good but I don't know why because I haven't been drinking so I don't know what's going on. Oh well, I'll get back on the wagon and start losing weight again soon. I'm actually above 190 again at the moment which doesn't make me happy.

Weekly run mileage: 11.5 miles
Asics mileage: 151.5 miles

We now return to your regularly scheduled workout program

After the bike wreck, 3 weeks ago today exactly, I'm back to a normal workout schedule. I ran on Monday, rode twice on Tuesday, ran on Wednesday, no freaking clue what I did Thursday, core and spin class at 0'dark thirty on Friday, nothing on Saturday, and then 4 mile run and 22 mile ride today. I'm still having a bit of rib pain but it is definitely decreasing. My hip is sore to the touch but doesn't impede me at all while exercising. I thought my ribs would hurt more on Friday from the core work but it wasn't that bad. I'll be doing upper body tomorrow so we'll see how that goes. I'm glad that I have nearly full range of movement in my torso again because my posture was being affected negatively from the bike wreck i.e. I was slightly hunched over all the time. As expected, working out hurts like hell because my LT is pretty low, but after today's ride, I feel it coming back already. On Tuesday, I'll be back with Texas Iron and that run will surely make me want to puke, but I love it.

Weekly run mileage: 10 miles
Asics mileage: 140 miles

Back To Running

I'm still recovery from my wreck, but I did get back on the bike last week on Thursday. It was for only about 45 minutes, but it felt good. I am still a bit mentally wary on the bike, but it'll get better with time. My hip was OK on the bike but the ribs were still a bit sore, especially breathing heavy or getting out of the saddle and really cranking on the pedals. I also went for a 1 mile run on Saturday night and my ribs and hip hurt for about half a mile. After half a mile, the hip stopped hurting and my ribs hurt less. Did nothing yesterday because I was hungover, but ran another 3 miles today. Fuck it, I'm running again. It felt way too good to run again and I can suffer through the pain of the bruised ribs for the joy that running brings me. So, I'm back! In addition to that, I have silky smooth legs again for the first time since the wreck.

Weekly run mileage: 1 mile
Asics mileage: 130 miles

February Weight

On the first day of Feb, I weighed 190. I jumped up to 192 pretty quickly, but came down to about 188 9 days ago. 8 days ago, I had a bike wreck and the only physical activity that I've done since then is 30 minutes of elliptical twice. Today, I still weighed 188. On my old diet, I would've been up a couple of pounds by now. Since I'm on this paleoish/natural foods diet, I was able to maintain my weight even without exercising. And that's a good thing. I started running again and that felt OK, but the bike wreck has delayed my training a bit. One week out and I'm feeling a lot better, but still not nearly as active as I want to be. It'll get better and I plan on getting back on the bike this week and maybe trying running again on Sunday.

Wreck

I crashed my bike. I'm OK though. The next question is how did it happen? Well, I had stopped to adjust something on my bike. I started going again and I was in the back of the group. I was going to try to catch up with the guy in the front since he and I were of similar speeds. So, I stood up to accelerate and as soon as I started on my downstroke of my right leg, the chain skipped or popped off. You know the feeling that you get when you are walking up or down stairs and you are expecting one but it isn't there for some reason? Yeah, that's what I felt at that exact moment. The problem is that there are a few more laws of physics that come into play. I was completely off balance and started swerving? I swerved right, then left, and then right again. This time, the wheel turned perpendicular to my frame and over I went. I was thrown from the bike a bit because I didn't have the telltale bruising on the inside of my legs and I ended up with my feet caught in the brake pedals. I remember everything of the wreck and I even remember hitting the ground and my head whiplashing onto the asphalt. The impact caused my glasses to come off and go skidding along the road and I remember hearing that sound, too.

I just laid there for awhile to kind of assess the situation. I remember moving my hands and legs and they were fine. Since my head hit the ground, luckily I was wearing my helmet, I had a slight headache. The thing that hurt the most were my ribs and I had trouble breathing for awhile. I could feel the burn of road rash already and I was seeing blood, too. And my hip hurt. My riding buddies were on the scene by then and I just continue to lay there until I felt like getting up. A few people in cars stopped and asked if I was OK and I gave them a thumbs up.

So, I got up to assess the damage. It was by far my worst wreck in my life, but not bad compared to other wrecks I've seen. My money maker was OK, but I had road rash, cuts, and scrapes in 14 different spots. I was mobile and Alicia checked my pupils and there weren't dialated or anything like that. I just remember that if this happened to me as a kid, I would've been screaming and crying. Anyways, I had half a thought to continue on the ride, but since I was only 1 mile from my house with a cracked helmet, I just bagged the ride and went home. I told my friends to have a good ride. Then, I went home to lick my wounds.

Got home and my roommate helped me out. The bike was OK, surprisingly. The handlebars, saddle, and skewer got a bit of damage but luckily my body protected the bike. I cleaned my wounds in the shower and that wasn't exactly pleasant. I had someone around for the rest of the night in case any symptoms of head trauma presented themselves but I seemed to be OK. I got some bandages the next day and that really helped. I put 2nd Skin on my elbow because that had the worst road rash. It is in a part that moves and it was just very annoying. My shoulder and knee cap had Neosporin and large bandaids on them. My ribs and hip were pretty well bruised. Laughing hurt like hell for about 2 days and moving because of the hip wasn't pleasant either. Sleeping that first night wasn't fun.

Six days out and I'm feeling a lot better. My hip is still sore as well as my ribs. I'm done with bandages on the scrapes because they are heeling pretty well. Running and swimming are out, but I did the elliptical very easily yesterday. I could do a spin bike but I'm not ready to be back on the road. In case I need to make a sudden move, my ribs are going to hurt so I just need to protect myself. I am moving around very gingerly still which sucks but I've had an accident and I need to heel. I'll be better in about 2 more weeks and then I should be back to normal.

First Run!

First run in 6 weeks was yesterday. I did a 4.1 mile loop around Town Lake and it felt great. Here is the data for that run. I was really, really happy to be able to run again. At the end of it, nothing really hurt. Well, my toe didn't hurt and that was the biggest thing that I was worried about. Even a day later, it still feels OK. I'll get a few pangs every once in awhile, but it is nothing like what it was when I first hurt it. The soleus on each calf was bothering me yesterday day but they are fine now. This morning, my quads and hamstrings are a bit sore but that means I was working hard yesterday. It seems that the aquajogging paid off because my pace was OK at about 7:58/mile yesterday even though my heart rate was a bit higher than I wanted.

Other than that, some good news is that I'm officially below 190 now. I weighed in at 188.5 this morning. This paleo-ish diet seems to be working because even though I'm not strictly paleo, I'm definitely eater cleaner.

Other than that, I had a good week of workouts. Had a hard swim with some tough spin workouts and some outside rides. I even did a few weights and core workouts as well. Now that I'm starting to run again, I can't wait to see how much ass I'll kick in training over the next couple of months.

Weekly run mileage: 4 miles
Asics mileage: 128.5 miles

Born To Run versus Paleo

This morning, I took a trip to the local coffee shop to finish up reading Christopher McDougall's Born To Run. It was a good read and I enjoyed it thoroughly. It has definitely motivated me to have a kick ass run which will be my first run in 6 weeks.

Long story short is that this book is about ultra runners, runners who regularly run 30-100+ mile foot races. It goes into some of the philosophies behind running these distances and what intrigued me even more was some of the evolutionary biology as to why humans evolved to run and evidence that points to these conclusions. It also focus on the Tarahumara people of Mexico who are known as the greatest distance runners on this planet. It also explains their training and diet techniques that they use for running these great distances.

And that's kind of where I want to pick up with on this post. I've recently adopting a paleo-ish diet recently and the purpose of this post is to kind of share my thoughts of comparing and contrasting the BTR methods and the paleo methods.

For paleo, there are several great sources of information out there that can provide a much more clear picture of what it entails, but in short, the diet consists mostly of meats, veggies, fruits, beans, legumes, and other foods that were available to human ancestors for the last 2 million years. The lifestyle promotes the avoidance of any dietary elements that have been developed in the last few thousand years and the main ones are dairy, grains, oats, and starchy foods. Lots of protein and fats are essential with few carbs. What these means is no milk or milk products (cheese, ice cream, etc), wheat, corn, rice, potato, etc. For the typical Western diet, that is a lot of foods that are now staples. Expanding upon the diet, a lot of the paleo concepts include little cardio work and more focus on sprint/speed work as well as weights. Intermittent fasting is also another concept that is promoted within the paleo community.

As for Born To Run, it seems to be a vastly different philosophy. In it, it says that humans have evolved to be creatures of chronic cardio where early human ancestors needed to run 20+ miles a day to run down their prey. And meat was a rare treat, but a necessary one. Most of the early humans ate carbs, grains, and basically any plant source that was edible. So, most of the people in BTR eat a high carb diet with some meat. In addition to that, BTR promotes barefoot or minimalist running. Most of the people in that book have no shoes or thin leather coverings on their feet mainly to provide protection from rough, sharp surfaces. The theory is that with barefoot running, you'll develop a more natural running form that humans have evolved over the years. You'll also strengthen the bones and soft tissues of your lower body that will actually help you run further. You'll be less injury prone because modern shoes pamper the human body, gets it weak, and therefore it isn't able to take the punishment of even running 10 miles per week a lot of times.

To compare, BTR is about chronic cardio whereas paleo is about short bursts of speed and strength. BTR is about high carbs with some meat while paleo is about high protein and fat with minimal carbs. The thing that they have in common is to go back to lifestyles that humans have developed over thousands of years instead of the modern lifestyle which is frankly very lazy for ancestral humans. I guess that one advantage that has set us apart from the Neanderthals is that modern humans have developed the ability to become more efficient and adapt to changing conditions. Unfortunately, it seems that our genes haven't caught up and a lot of the modern comforts are actually killing us.

During this post, it seems that the paleo diet should be considered more of a Neanderthal diet. While it worked for our cousins, they are now extinct.

There are good points that both viewpoints make. I'm not saying that one is better than the other because both are very one sided and once you have made your mind up about a particular issue, it is a bit difficult to pull yourself back and see it from the other side as well. I'm glad that I've learned about both recently and can compare and contrast them against each other as well as modern medical knowledge. If anything, it made me think about a lot of things and thinking is always good.

Nothing

Nothing really to talk about. Not much new on the training front; well nothing to mention. I get to run in about a week and I can't wait. I did a spin class on Wednesday night and averaged 160bpm for the entire ride with a max of 184. That was a big thing for me. My shoulder is still bothering me. It is the short head of the biceps where it attaches to the coracoid in my shoulder. I don't know if swimming bothers it but I'm pretty sure weights (biceps curls) bother it.

Oh, almost forgot!

I almost forgot my update for last week. Not much to really say except that I swam once, did a bike ride, more weights, and an aquajog. Not really a full training week, but I felt good. I'm lifting weights more and I like it for the most part. Still not the same as a hard run workout, but it is enjoyable. I saw Phil on Friday and I'll be able to run in about 2 more weeks. 10mpw at first and then adding 10% per week from there. Hopefully my toe is healed well and I have no issues getting back into running. Also, my weight at the end of the month was 190 so I was down from the high of 196 at the beginning of the month, but only down 2lbs from 192 which is what I weighed on 01 JAN. At least I made a little bit of progress but I do feel a bit thinner.

Week In Review

Well, another week is in the books. I hate aquajogging. I'm doing the shorter interval stuff during the week but I'm skipping the long, boring aquajogs on the weekends. My toe is feeling better though and it has been 3 weeks since I last ran on it so hopefully I have no more than 1-3 weeks before I can put my running shoes back on. I am doing more weights though and I think I need it. I was doing a lot of spin classes each week but I did a bike ride yesterday and I now believe that spin classes are a piss poor substitute for time in the saddle. You can try to imitate hills in spin classes, but you can't imitate the effects of gravity and the change in position of your pedal stroke in a spin class. So, I'm only going to do 1 spin class a week and try to get more time in the saddle. With that, I'm going to try to do about 2 hours tomorrow with some weights. Also, I swam 1600m today which is the first major swim that I've had in months. It felt good. Not much back pain and no shoulder pain. It'll be good to get back in the water regularly.

Now, the bitching. My body hates me still. Even on this paleo-ish diet, I'm not losing weight or it is fluctuating wildly. Here are some weight values for the week:
Mon: 191
Tues: 190
Wed: 189.5
Thurs: 189
Fri: 191.5
Sat: 192
Sun: 193.5

WTF! I can't figure out what is going on. I've also been going crazy with cravings and I binged on some Dr. Pepper and Girl Scout cookies today. Maybe I'll feel like a fat ass tomorrow and really buckle down. I guess this paleo-ish diet would be better but I'm getting bored with what I'm eating because it is almost always eggs and fruit for breakfast, salad for lunch, and meat and veggies for dinner. I need more variety. I've been feeling better and I thought I was getting skinnier. My jeans were fitting looser and I was getting cold easier which are signs of losing weight for me. I'll give it another week to see what the fuck is up.

Things I can't do:

Running, elliptical, swimming, yoga. Things I can do: bicycling, water running, weights. With a combination of my stress fractured toe and some weird back thing that I have going on, my activity at the moment is pretty limited. However, I am trying to get as much bicycling, water running, and weight in as possible. Bicycling is through spin classes with cute chicks but I want to get out on the road and play with my new toy: Garmin 310XT. I'm doing a bit more weights and trying to do physical therapy, body weight, and core stuff instead of trying to squat plates and bench press. I just need more functional stuff. As for water running, it is still boring as hell, but interval training while water running makes it better.

My diet is going OK. I weighed in at 190.5 this morning. Of course, I would like to be lower, but I've been struggling with the no wheat thing the last few days. Wheat tastes delicious and when I go out, I can't get about 80% of the things on the menu which is tough. I'm getting tired of my breakfast fare and need something new. I'll try this diet for about 6 months and see the results (weight, body fat %, and blood work) before I decide to try something different.

Fuck! (stress fracture)

Here is the timeline:
Dec 26: Ran a 8.4 mile run for Tammy's birthday. I started feeling some soreness in my foot about 5.5 miles in. I did notice that the camber of the road was so that my right foot was higher than the left foot for pretty much the entire run.
Dec 27: Off
Dec 28: Off
Dec 29: Off
Dec 30: 4 mile run. Foot felt OK, but I could feel it.
Dec 31: 4 mile run. Foot felt OK, but I could feel it.
Jan 01: 8.5 miles of total running and I was feeling it a bit more during the runs and after it.
Jan 02: Toe was a bit sore but off from running.
Jan 03: 7 mile run. I was feeling the foot pain a bit more. It was sore afterward. Not good.
Jan 04: I woke up and my toe/metatarsal area was definitely hurting first thing in the morning. At this point, I knew there was a problem and I had to go see a PT to figure out what was going on.

Previously when I did my IM training, I had bruised metatarsals which felt very familiar to this injury. There were a few differences though. With the metatarsals, I would get the pain a bit on the foot strike and then a the beginning of the push off. With this one, I would get the pain towards the end of the push off. While at yoga on Monday night, I was feeling around on my toe and that was when I realized what was wrong. I felt around on my metatarsals and they didn't hurt. I went further up on my toe and that was hurting. It hurt both on the top and the bottom of the toe but not the joint, not the metatarsal, and not the middle toe bone. At that point, I knew what the likely injury was.

Talked to Phil on Tuesday and I said that I needed to come in and see him most likely. He agreed and I saw him on Friday. He did his exam and then said "I'll be back." He came back with the tuning fork and I knew I was right. He did the this is what it is suppose to feel like. Now, what do you feel when I do it to the hurting toe. I said I feel a sharp pain almost like a stabbing or tattoo needle pain in that toe. Then he said the words. Stress fracture. So, I have a suspected right 3rd proximal phalange stress fracture.

What does this mean? No running for 2-6 weeks as well as no elliptical. Weights, cycling, and swimming are OK. Also, I have to wear stiff soled shoes to minimize the amount of pressure on the bone and allow it to heal. No tennis shoes so I'm in hiking boots for at least 2 weeks before we reevaluate it. The toe is feeling better already though. I'm back to aquajogging which is not fun, but I gotta do it. Luckily, I'll take this as an opportunity to get in to the weight room more, back in the pool, and to take lots of spin classes with 2-3 water runs a week. So, 2010 is starting off not in a good way already.

First Week of 2010

Well, I'm at the end of the first week of 2010. OK, it's only a partial week but who really cares? This has actually been a decent week for me. I ran 4 miles on Wednesday, 4 miles on Thursday, and then two runs on Friday. One was about a 4 mile run with HCRC for a New Years Day run and then another NYD run with J&A later in the morning. That run was about 4.5 miles. The first run was slow and lazy and I felt like crap afterward. The second run was much faster and I felt great after that one. I like running fast and I like feeling great after a run. Saturday was a lazy day because I felt like I was getting sick. Sunday (today) was the 6.88 mile run around Town Lake and I felt fantastic this morning! I thought I was going to feel like crap but it was great. I wasn't pushing myself but I felt fast with good form (high knees). Total mileage this week was 23.5 which is fantastic for me. However, I'm feeling a bit of a sensation in my right metatarsals so I have to be careful about that. Oh, I lubed up my taint so now chafing at all.

After many attempts to resurrect it, my Sports Instruments Pro9 heart rate monitor is dead. This is actually the 2nd one. It just is on the fritz and isn't reliable at all. I really liked it and it has served me well for something like 7 years, but it is time to move on. At this point, I'm looking at getting a Garmin Forerunner 305. The GPS is really cool and using it on the bike is great as well. I actually want a Garmin Forerunner 310XT, but I can't justify the money for that one considering my work situation.

As for my diet, it's going pretty well. I feel good on it. I don't get hungry that often anymore and I'll end up eating only 2.5 meals a day instead of 3 meals and 3 snacks a day on a higher carb diet. There is still a bit for me to learn. My discipline is actually pretty good so far. I do cheat, but not that much. I did have a couple of donuts for breakfast this morning since it is my birthday, but I felt like crap afterward. The fact that I recognize this makes me want to stay on this diet more. I will cheat tonight with my birthday dinner where I'll likely have some pizza and beer, but I'm back on the paleo/primal diet tomorrow. I haven't lost that much weight yet because of the cheating. We'll see how it goes next week though. If not anything, I just feel better physically and mentally on this diet.

What else. I plan on getting back in the pool on Tuesday. I also plan on either getting on the bike more or going to the spin class at the gym more. Oh, and weights and yoga and core, too. Eh, sounds like the usual. I'll get 2 workouts in a day and see how it goes.

Weekly run mileage: 23.5 miles
Asics mileage: 124.5 miles

Year End Thoughts

I apparently logged 641 running miles in 2009. I don't know how accurate that is, but that is what I could figure out. I want to double that in 2010. After being injured for all of 2008, I made some progress this year and I'm pretty happy with it. Could've been better, but I did well considering the circumstances. I think I have a great base which will lead to a great training 2010.

For 2010, here are my goals:
- Lose weight to get below 180 and stay below 180.
- Work on run fitness.
- Stay injury free.

Wait, I guess that was my major goal for 2009: stay injury free. For the most part, it was done. I did have some hiccups with my feet and my left shoulder again. I also had some back issues as well. However, I was able to keep focused and working out.

For 2010, I need to HTFU. I have to push through the cold, the rain, and the heat. Some days I'm not going to have it but I need to stop making excuses and just do it. I just need to maintain focus and get things done.

2010 will be a good year though.

My taint hurts

My taint hurts. I did 8.4 miles for Tammy's 40th Birthday Run and I forgot to put on SportSlick on my taint. I knew it wasn't going to be good about 5.5 miles in but I kept going. Not much you can go while you are out there. I got home, took a shower, and about passed out from the pain. Holy fucking shit, that hurt whenever ANYTHING touched my rubbed raw taint. I really need to learn to lube up beforehand for any 6+ mile runs. Or wear proper running shorts. Or lose weight so my taint is nice and tight and not so flabby down there.

I ran 19.5 miles this week. Not 20, but I'm saying it is. Did 6.1 with Texas Iron on Tuesday and that was a damn good workout. I was gassed at the end so I guess I pushed myself hard enough. Then, I did 5 on Christmas Day with Veronica and the above mentioned 8.4 on Saturday for Tammy's birthday. I took a spin class or two and did some yoga and weights, too. It's been a bit cold here, but I actually got out and did the J&A ride this morning with a starting temp of 34*. I was dressed perfectly for it, too.

OK, so my diet so far. I like it. It's taking a bit to get used to, but I'm liking it so far. I haven't dropped much weight on it because I haven't been that strict about the no wheat. Plus, I've imbibed a decent amount of alcohol over the last few days. Yeah, yeah, yeah, a bunch of excuses but I know what is going on. I was good for the most part today except for the glass of beer that I'm drinking now. I'll get back on the wagon fully tomorrow and I may actually be skipping some social events that are tempting me to get off of my diet plan.

Weekly run mileage: 19.5 miles
Asics run mileage: 101 miles

Not 20+

Yeah, my goal of 20+ miles this week didn't happen. I was on track though, but once again, life got in the way. No excuses there; it's just what happened. The great thing this week was the Tuesday run workout at Rainbow Hill. We did the usual two legs forward, one leg back workout and I ended up running with Jo. Jo is a girl that weighs about 60lbs less than me, is super fast, and kicks me ass all of the time. At one point, we got to smack talking and I decided that my way of "punishing" her would be to hang on to her hip up a hill. Holy shit, I actually was able to stay with her. My lungs were about to come out of my ears, but I kept up with her up the hill and then pushed her on the downhill. I did this a couple of other times as well and it felt good. I needed this because I needed the push to hang with the fast guys and girls in the group. And it was a good workout for that. It was one of those breakthrough workouts.

For my Sunday run, I did the usual 2 small loops around Town Lake which is about 6.88 miles. I remember over the summer that some of these loops would take me about 56-58 minutes. It might've been the heat or just my fitness, but it was slow. Yesterday, I did the same loop in 51:38 for a pace of about 7:30/mile. And I was taking it pretty easy, too. It's nice to actually see progress.

Now, the big change for me. I bitch and complain about my weight a lot. I know that I'm bigger than the average athlete in both muscle, bone structure, and body fat. The first two I really can't do much about, but the third I can. For whatever reason, the diet that I was on wasn't working in regards to me losing weight. It just wasn't coming off so I decided that I needed to change things up and do something different. Before, I was doing a 60/20/20 diet for carbs/protein/fat. I'm changing it up to a 40/30/30 diet while avoiding wheat, corn, and sugar. The Three Bad Things won't be ZERO, but they'll be limited. I'll still get pizza, tortilla chips, and ice cream, but I'll get them a lot less now. The biggest change so far is no more cereal, bread, pasta, and granola bars. I'm trying to eat really natural foods, almost a paleo/primal diet. Lots of meat, eggs, fruits, veggies, nuts, etc. Nothing processed. So far, it has been a challenge trying to find new foods to eat and new recipes to try. I'm making it so far though. I think it'll be a good thing because I've already seen some results. I was down to 190.5 on Friday and I actually felt fit. Today, I weighed in at 193 but that was because of an unusual weekend of drinking 2 nights in a row and eating whatever I want. I'm back on this diet so we'll see some results. Ultimately, I want to get below 180, but the stretch goal is to get around 170. We'll see if I can get there, but I've made the biggest change that I can make, diet, and we'll see how long I'll keep up with it. It is tough though because it requires a lot of thinking and preparation for me meals now.

Weekly run mileage: 12.5 miles
Asics mileage: 81.5 miles

20+

My goal this week was to do 20+ miles and I was successful. I got about 9 miles between Tuesday night and Thursday morning with TxFe. Four more on Saturday and then about 7.5 for my long run on Sunday. Tues was some shorter (1/2 mile) intervals really pushing it. Thursday were a couple 1.25 mile repeats. I only did 2 because my right hip flexors were talking to me and my heart was tired from the though run on Tues and then a tough spin on Wed. Saturday was a lazy day for me and I just did a nice, easy 4 miles that night. Sunday was a couple of loops around Town Lake. On the 2nd lap, I did a pyramid of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1min progressively harder with 2min easy in between. I like those workouts because I feel fast on the intervals.

I'm about to change up my diet drastically. I've been bitching about my weight for long enough and whatever I'm doing isn't working. I'm doing a 60/20/20 diet and I'm about to change it up to 40/30/30 by dropping a lot of wheat out of my diet and eating more fruits, veggies, and meats. We'll see how it goes though. Wish me luck.

Weekly run mileage: 20.5 miles
Asics mileage: 69 miles

Two Runs

I've had only 2 runs this week, but they were 8.5 miles and 9 miles respectively. No swims and 1 spin class where I got my heart rate up to 178 which is good. I couple of core workouts are also in the books. I have a friend and we are keeping each other in line with weight loss and workouts. I've been OK but alcohol is still the biggest factor. I was 195 last week. Ugh. Why can't I get below 180? Not much else to talk about besides I'm aiming for 20+ miles next week.

Weekly run mileage: 17.5 miles
Asics mileage: 48.5 miles

Burn Your Jog Bra Day

Today, it must've been Burn Your Jog Bra Day at Town Lake today because it's been awhile since I've seen so many bouncing boobies while running. I think I have whiplash and I almost tripped like 8 times today.

Before this week, I did 5.5 miles on Tuesday with a good workout with Texas Iron and then I did 7 on Saturday. On my run on Saturday, I knew something was up. Later that night, I started feeling bad and woke up Sunday with a cold. A week later, I still have it lingering a bit. I was feeling like crap until Thursday night. I was feeling a bit better, but not awesome by any means. On my trip to TN for T-day, I was expecting to put in 3 runs and get about 15 miles in. However, I only was able to do about 3.5 miles on Saturday and it felt good. Today, I did my standard 6.88 miles around Town Lake and despite the numerous near trips, I did it in 53:09. I had planned on taking it really easy and I thought I did, but my time showed that I was either VERY well rested or I'm actually getting quite a bit faster. I was watching my heart rate and it was in the 150-155bpm range as well.

Last week's run mileage: 12.5 miles
This week's run mileage: 10.5 miles
Asics run mileage: 31 miles

Seriously?

Seriously? What the fuck? I'm healthy. Well, I try to be healthy. My back has been jacked up for a few months and I'm trying to get it healthy. I went to get a massage today to work out my back, shoulder, and neck issues. Well, that well (painful) but I fucked up my neck at core practice a few hours later. Now, I can barely move without my neck hurting immensely. I try to take care of my physical issues for one thing and I end up hurting myself in another way. Damnit! Why can't I get completely healthy for once?

18 Miles

I ran about 18 miles last week. Well, I think. 5.5 on Tuesday, 6 on Thursday, 3.5ish on Friday for the pub run (do we really count those?) and then 3 on Monday morning that really should be Sunday. Only 8.5 of those were on my new shoes. And as I expected, I drank on Friday night and woke up at 195 on Monday morning.

Weekly mileage: 18 miles
Asics mileage: 8 miles

Wow

So, after struggling to get below 191 forever now, I weighed in at 190.5 yesterday morning and took a rest day. I was expecting to be up over 191 this morning but I weighed in at 189.5 I was not expecting that. I'm also working out hard today (30mi attack the hills ride and then track workout) and moderate workouts for the rest of the week so we'll see how it goes. I think I've finally made a break through.

Abuse

I've been meaning to get back in shape. And I don't mean just triathlon shape, I want to be in good shape overall. Let's face it, most triathletes, that are in shape, I'm not talking about the people with 30% body fat in Spandex that eat 6 donuts after a 10 mile bike ride, have skinny little T-rex arms and chicken legs. I don't want that. I actually want a bit of muscle on me. Well, I have some muscle but it's covered in a nice layer of fat. I thought of it right before my yoga class that I'm going to start abusing my body. Well, I already abuse my body but I'm going to start doing it than more in just a certain area. If it is difficult to do, I'm going to do it. If it hurts, I'm going to keep doing it. Things I'm weak at, I'll do.

Because of this, I had a great fucking yoga class tonight. I pushed myself a lot tonight and it felt fantastic. I have been working on handstands in yoga class for awhile. Well, I haven't actually gone to yoga class in awhile but I came back like a champ today! We usually do handstands against the wall and I was working on and keeping my balance just off the wall. Then, we did handstands in the middle of the room with assistance. The instructor just had to keep a finger or two on my legs for balance and I was doing all of the work. I couldn't do it if I didn't have the upper body strength to push up, the core strength to keep my torso flat, and the lower body strength to keep my legs straight and pulled in together. And on top of all of that, I had the neuromuscular control to keep all of this in mind.

So, I have a new mantra for the next few months to take my physical fitness to a new level and I'm going to put myself through so much abuse and I'm going to enjoy every second of it.

255 miles

My Asics Gel Nimbus 10s now have about 255 miles on them after this morning. I think they are in need of replacement because they feel flat in the front when I run and I'm getting some pain in the balls of my feet. Except for this morning because I ran around Town Lake and wore some new, padded socks. It's better to be safe than sorry so I'm going to retire this pair at 255 miles when the last pair got 304.5 miles before they were retired. Money is tight, but I think it is time to switch. The last pair did last about 4 months so that is an average of 64 miles per month or 16 miles per week. Looking at it that way, that's not too bad, but I want to average 20mpw. I now have a pair of Asics Gel Nimbus 11s that are ready to go and I'll christen them on Tuesday.



I had 1 day of swimming. Wait, it might've been two. I can't remember. I think it was two. I also had at least 2 bike rides this week. Why the hell can't I remember anything that I've done this week? I do know that I did the core workout on Monday and Wednesday. I have to say that my core strength has gotten incredibly better since I've been laid off. I attribute it to not sitting in a chair 8-9 hours a day without my core being used at all. Also, working at Performance Wellness, I see a lot of patients with problems from lack of core strength and that just motivates me to work on mine. Oh, point being I can tell my core strength is better is because I wasn't sore after Monday's core class and I was a bit sore after Wednesday's core class. Core class used to be so tough that even if I did it every Monday and Wednesday, it would take me at least 3 weeks of consistently going to not be sore anymore. I'm also doing pull ups utilizing the pull up bar that I put up in my garage. In the course of 1 week, I went from struggling to do 1 pull up to doing 2.5 a couple of times a day. My goal is to go out into the garage and knock out a couple of pull ups a couple of times a day and I eventually want to do 10 easily before Christmas and then up to 20 at some point next year.

What else? My weight is OK. Weighed in at 191.5 on Friday, 190.5 on Saturday, and 191.5 this morning. I didn't drink much this weekend (a bottle of wine over the course of 2 nights) so that's good. As long as I don't wake up weighing 194 on Monday morning, it'll be a good week for me. Right now, I've ran 7 miles and I plan on going to yoga and I don't plan on playing beer pong or going to any Chinese buffets today so I should be good to go tomorrow morning.

Finally, I ran an OK 5 miles on Tuesday night with Texas Iron, a crappy 5 miles on Thursday afternoon, and then a pretty decent long run today of 7 miles with reverse pyramid of 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 minute of progressively faster intervals with 2min of rest in between. I've also been working on high knees when I run and pushing off and getting more leg extension. I'm also going to work on hip flexor strength as well since I have huge, muscular legs and it takes a lot of strength to get them to move quickly.

Weekly run mileage: 17 miles
Asics run mileage: 255 miles

Decent Week

Nothing really spectacular to say about this week's training. I had two good morning swims with T3 but that ended up causing my shoulder to be a bit sore. I was also doing weights so it might have been a combination of those things but it was sore for a few days. Right now, it's not hurting at all. I don't think I even got on the bike this week. Wait, I did a spin class at 24HR Fitness on Thursday and won the award for Person Who Sweats The Most easily. I had a puddle on the floor under me. There were a few cute girls in that class, too. For running, it was a pretty quiet week with I think only 2 runs. However, today's 8 mile run around Town Lake was awesome. Oh, there was a pub run/scavenger hunt on Friday but that wasn't real mileage.

Weekly run mileage: 12.5 miles
Asics mileage: 238 miles

I Forgot

I had a blast this past weekend and I forgot what kind of workouts I did last week. Swimming was meh since I tweaked my shoulder again but I'll get back into the pool tomorrow. And I have been doing weights for my shoulder so that's helping. Biking was me as well unfortunately. I blew off my long ride over the weekend to ride today and it is suppose to rain all day now. For running, I actually put in a decent 13.5 miles or so. And my shoes smell so bad at the moment. They seriously smell like ammonia and cat piss. Nasty! And now that it is towards the end of the month, I thought this was going to be the month that I get below 190 and stay there. With 5 days to go, I'm at 194 this morning. I know that it is because of the alcohol and that's the key to me but I drank something like 7 of the last 9 nights. Now, I'm not getting shitfaced every night, but I do go out and have 1 or 2 drinks a lot of those times. There is nothing else going on there besides by lack of discipline.

On the positive side, I've actually been having a lot of fun lately and being social. I volunteered at the Longhorn 70.3 yesterday and that was a blast. I was out there for 9 hours and I was so exhausted last night that I couldn't sleep.

And there isn't much more about the past and I just need to concentrate on the now.

Weekly run mileage: 13.5 miles
Asics mileage: 225.5

48:18

That was my time at the IBM Uptown Classic 10K this morning. This is actually my first ever standalone 10K. I've done 10Ks in triathlons before and I've actually gone faster in tri 10Ks, but I gotta start somewhere. The plan was to use this 10K as a baseline for winter training. Then, in the spring when I'm 15lbs lighter and in much, much better running shape, I'll crush this PR and come in at something like 41:57. Well, we'll see if that happens. The weather was nice and cool, but I was overdressed for running. I wore my REI Powerstretch top and that was fan-fucking-tastic before the race, but about 3 minutes in, I was hot. And I was hot the entire race. I took off my gloves and was thinking about taking off my hat as well. Next time, I'll skip the super warm parka and just wear a tech t-shirt. For the first 3 miles, I was on a 7:44/mi pace and I was quite happy with that since I was gunning for a total time of 47:59. However, the mile from 4-5 was brutal with some good hills in there. I think that mile was 8:20 or so. I recovered and blew up again in the middle/end of Mile 5-6. We ran through the IBM parking lot which was a slight hill and a lot of people passed me. I got another wind towards the top and passed a lot of those people and I finished strong. My heart rate was about 160bpm at the beginning and climbed pretty much the entire race until about 181bpm when I crossed the line. The last mile and a half had it at 170+ but I was able to hold on for the most part. Also, I paced the run pretty well with a 7:47/mi for the first half and 7:46/mi for the last half with a pace of 7:47/mi overall.

Oh, I checked and this is my 3rd fastest 10K. I actually went 2 minutes faster in the 2007 Austin Triathlon but I was in fucking amazing shape (for me) at that race.

Other than the race, this was a recovery week for me. It was an easy 13.5 miles of running or so. I fucked up my knee doing strides and drills on Tuesday night. I don't know what I stepped in or on, but I slightly twisted my knee/dislocated it. It wasn't bad but I tried to do 1 interval out of 4 and stopped after the 1st one. It isn't worth it and it was feeling very janky, too. I iced the hell out of it that night and I ran on Friday morning without any problems. I think swimming 3x/week is a bit much for my shoulder especially since I've been lazy with weights the last week or so.

Oh, and I have a very positive attitude about working out right now and I'm very motivated to do what I need to do to get better, get stronger, and get faster. Weight is still a bit of an issue so I gotta watch the alcohol but I think I can drink smarter, still have a social life, and still be able to go run the next morning. I need to limit myself to 2, *maybe* 3, drinks and that's it. Overall, things are going pretty damn well at the moment.

Weekly run mileage: 13.5 miles
Asics mileage: 212 miles

21.5 Miles

I ran 21.5 miles this week. The first time that I've run 20+ since January of 2008 when my plantar fasciitis really set in. I'm feeling good, too. My body is feeling OK. Well, I had to go see Dr. Laurie last week because of some issues with my back, but luckily, those issues weren't keeping me from working out (yet). Those are on the mend. I hit the pool twice last week as well and my shoulder is starting to feel better with the weights that I'm adding in as well.

My weight is meh. I got down to 191 last week but it keeps going up on the weekends just from a few drinks on a single night. I have to stop things because I want to get down to 175. I know I can do it but I'm missing the one thing. Well, I know what the one thing is (alcohol) but it is really tough to go out, have a social life, and not have a couple of drinks on the weekends. If anyone has met me, I can be a bit of an introvert/social retard at times and a little bit of liquid courage really helps out. Things are coming together though so we'll see how this recovery week goes.

BTW, I fucking hate my Polar S720i HRM. I need a new one so badly.

Weekly run mileage: 21.5 miles
Asics mileage: 198.5 miles

Something has changed

I don't know what happened, but it seemed that something changed with my workouts. I wasn't just slogging through them but it seemed that I was having quality workouts and pushing my body. And it felt fan-fucking-tastic! I'll keep it up and see how it goes. I did stuff every day and only missed a few workouts. I take that back; I missed on Monday (rest day) and Sunday (hungover). I would've had at least 21.5 miles for the week but I stayed in bed instead. I'll get 20+ this week though. I'm very glad that things are turning around and I'm interested in seeing how things will go over the next few weeks.

Weekly run mileage: 18.5 miles
Asics mileage: 177 miles

Consistent Again

I had another fairly consistent week. It was a recovery week so the workouts were a bit lighter. I did have some really cool highlights though. On Wednesday, I had one hell of a run when it was about 65 and lightly raining and it was such a great run. It felt good and there were lots of puddles to splash in. On Friday, I had a brick workout that my coaches gave me and it was a fast one. I got my heart rate up to 180bpm which is about 7bpm higher than I have seen it in awhile. That's very good because I need it.

Weekly run mileage: 16 miles
Asics mileage: 158.5 miles

More Consistent

After struggling with consistency all summer, last week was a decent week. By that, I did a workout on every day that I was suppose to do a workout. I didn't do exactly what I was suppose to do, but I did something every day that I was suppose to do. Also, I started doing yoga again which I enjoy.

Weekly run mileage: 15.5 miles
Asics mileage: 142.5 miles

14 Miles

14 miles this week. Not bad compared to 10 miles last week. The heat has broken here in Austin and makes it a lot more tolerable to workout. Also, it has been raining off and on for the last 5 days which is wonderful! I got back into the pool this week by swimming on Thursday morning at Circle C with T3. It was a good swim. I need to work on my arm/shoulder a bit before I start ramping up a lot.

Weekly run mileage: 14 miles
Asics mileage: 127 miles

Austin Triathlon

I usually give pretty long race report but I'll try to keep this one a bit short. The Austin Triathlon was last Monday and I think it is the best race that High Five Events and Jack and Adam's puts on. Just a great race that is much better than CapTex. I hadn't felt in shape all year and even though I've been trying to train for Oly races, I haven't been as consistent due to the heat. I decided to try to switch to the sprint from the Oly 4 days before the race and I did. I didn't want to die during the race.

My swim was actually pretty damn good. I call it a very good tactical swim since I was able to follow feet almost the entire time and had a very good situational awareness during the race. I was able to hop from one set of feet to another set of feet that was better for me to follow. At one point, I was on 1 set of feet that was going a bit too slow for me. I saw to my right by about 4m a line of two guys that were going a bit faster and had a better line in the water. I ramped it up a gear and got over to them. Actually, I encroached on the trailing guy and if he was willing to fight for that space, I would've given it to him. Instead, I bumped him a bit and he let me have the front guy's feet. Awesome! I got tied up in the prior age group a bit which was tough but I got through it.

T1 was awesome for me because I actually ran through it and passed a few people. I had the fastest T1 of my AG. The bike is deceivingly not easy. There are two longish but not steep climbs that hurt some people and 1 short and steep hill. I pushed it a bit too hard on the bike and I knew it going into the run. I had 8th in my AG for T2 and then the run was horrible as usual. I really need to work on my T2 because I got caught up a bit by putting socks on and lost about 10-15s because of it. I was 22nd on the run (oh, I was 3rd on the bike) and finished with a time of 1:27:41 which was for 3rd place in my age group! I was totally not expecting that but I'll take it.

Swim: 13:11/4th/1:53
T1: 2:10/1st
Bike: 45:56/3rd/21.94
T2: 1:30/8th
Run: 24:52/22nd/8:01

Last Week

It's Saturday and I'm talking about last week. Long story short is that I had an OK week. I didn't work out for 3 days because life got in the way, but I did run 10 miles total.

Weekly run mileage: 10 miles
Asics mileage: 113 miles

Last Week Wasn't Worthless

Last week wasn't as bad as the week before. Actually, it wasn't bad at all. I got 17 miles of running in and 1 bike ride. No swims though. The temperature here is starting to cool off and my runs on Thursday and Sunday morning were actually not bad at all. They were comfortable and somewhat fast (for me). Hopefully, once it cools off a bit, I'll get my motivation back to train consistently. Also, I'm going to work on getting back into the pool regularly.

I have my last triathlon of the season a week from tomorrow. I'm just going to take it easy and see how it goes and not really race it by any means. I'm just not in that great shape right now and we'll see how it goes.

Weekly run mileage: 17 miles
Asics mileage: 103 miles

Last Week Was Worthless

Last week was completely worthless for training. I did the Splash'N'Dash on Tuesday. I took 9 seconds off my time and got about 2 miles of running in. I did about 30 miles on the bike on Wednesday night. And that's all the physical activity that I did last week. Completely skipped everything on Thursday (busy), Friday (busy), Saturday (hungover), and Sunday (lazy). I'm also ready for this 100* weather to be done. Just completely sick of it.

Weekly run mileage: 2 miles
Asics mileage: 86 miles

Good Run Workout on Tuesday

I had a good run workout on Tuesday. In 105* heat, we had to do 2x1mi repeats. And these aren't flat either; there are some hills in them. They were to be about 5K-10K pace as well. I did the first one in 7:31. Second one came in at 7:14 so I was about 17 seconds faster on the 2nd one. That felt really good to do especially in the heat. I've been struggling with running this year and that was a great workout that I needed.

Other than that, not much going on. Last week was a recovery week so it was pretty easy. I think I skipped only 1 or 2 workouts so that's good. I'm getting back into the swing of things and so far plan on doing every workout this week. Well, that's the plan so far. Also, my Friday weigh in was 191.5 and I seem to be going down again. And I'll probably get to borrow a lab this weekend to play around with, too.

Weekly run mileage: 17 miles
Asics mileage: 84 miles

Crap, I forgot

Crap, I forgot to post my mileage for last week. I think it was something like 11 or 12 miles since I did some short runs or something. Actually, I did 4.5 on Tuesday, I think 6 on Thursday, I know that I did 2 on Saturday and then 3 on Sunday for Jack's Generic Tri. Ok, I'm going to go with 15.5 then.

And last week was 14.5. I could've done 21.5, but I skipped my long run yesterday. I did a pub run on Friday night which left me pretty dehydrated on Saturday. Then, I was drug out to do 45 miles on Saturday starting at 6pm (102*) and woke up yesterday horribly dehydrated still. And I just felt lazy. This week, I'm back on the plan with a rest day today. ;-)

Jack's Generic was a true eye opener of what my age group is going to be like for the next few years. I thought I did pretty well but I finished 17th out of 104 in the M30-34. It isn't going to get easier. I had a decent swim, a decent bike, and my usual crappy run, but I was still putting out 7:30 miles which is good for me. I got my ass kicked comparatively for my AG, but that's a decent number for me considering my injuries recently, my lack of motivation in the heat, and my weight.

Weekly run mileage: 14.5 miles
Asics mileage: 67 miles

Another week in the books

I'm finished with training for the week. What did I do though? I think Monday was off, Tuesday was the Splash'N'Dash (more later), Wednesday was another lazy day, Thursday was a bike workout, Friday was 1200yds in the pool (first time I've swam in weeks), Saturday was an 8 mile run, and then Sunday was about a 38mi ride with the J&A boys that was suppose to be an easy ride which really wasn't easy. It wasn't a hammerfest, but there were parts that were pretty tough. I feel good after the ride because I was pushing but I still had gas left in the tank. I wasn't hurting too bad. Oh, I wasn't wearing my HRM either so I had no clue about that. It was just all perceived effort.

The SnD on Tuesday was fun. It was the 1st time that I've swam in about 3 weeks and I took 45 seconds or so off of my T time. Took another 30 or so off of my run for a total of about 1:15 faster than last time. I was faster and I felt a lot better on this one, too. I ended up finding Bressie's feet about half way through the swim and stuck on them for the rest of the way. I was such a little bastard by letting him know I was there though by tapping his feet every 4 strokes or so. Hehehe.

Ran yesterday at Town Lake. I don't know what the hell I did but the lateral gastroc in both of my calves is extremely tight now. Had Dr. Phil working on it this morning and he said that his thumbs were hurting afterwards. I need to get on the tennis ball and work it out some more tonight.

Oh, some great news. I think the issues with my right foot are almost completely gone at this point. Two weeks ago, my foot would be about a 1 normally and then about a 2 on days where I would run or be on my feet all day long. This week, it is a 0.25 normally and about a 1 when I run or I'm on my feet. I don't know what was the magic bullet but I'm still doing almost everything that I'm suppose to be doing. I can't wait until it is gone for good though.

Asics total mileage: 37 miles
Weekly run mileage: 10.5 miles

Back to training

Looking back on it, I had a decent week of training. I'm still not swimming out of sheer laziness. I have a Splash'N'Dash tomorrow and I haven't swam in 3 weeks. It might be a good idea to get into the water today. Maybe. I had 3, maybe 4, bike rides last week. Oh, I was watching the TdF on my trainer one evening and the damn Polar S720i that I had kept acting up. Stupid piece of crap. The surprise this week is my run mileage. I wasn't actually shooting for it, but I got in about 18.5-19 miles this week. And I actually felt pretty good after having only 8mpw for the last 2 weeks. My quads were a bit sore, but I felt OK overall. My foot still hurts but it is getting better. I just need to keep on my exercises and stretches.

Asic shoe mileage: 26.5 miles
Weekly run mileage: 18.5 miles

More Friends

I had more friends in town this past weekend so the workouts didn't get done. I had a ton of fun and rested my poor feet though. My PT, Dr. Davis, said that my latest foot issues are from an irritated flexor hallicus longus muscle. Actually, it is more where the tendon inserts into the foot and it is getting adhered to the plantar fascia. Let's just say that when he was working out that stuff on my foot on Wednesday, I started sweating. I'm back on the wagon this week though. Clean food, limited alcohol, exercise, and positive mental thinking.

Asics run mileage: 8 miles

Asics are Retired

After I ran another 8 miles last week, my Asics Gel Nimbus have 304.5 miles on them and it is now time to retire them. I have a new pair of gray and red ones that are now broken in and I ran in them last night. The old ones still felt fine, but I know that it is best to change shoes too early than too late. Not much is going on with training since I had friends in town last weekend as well as this weekend. I'll get back on it though.

Tempo Run Repeats

On Tuesday, we did some tempo run repeats with Texas Iron. BTW, what the fuck is up with the temp that night being 92* and it actually felt pleasant? OK, so we did a tempo run but we did it around a loop. I ended up doing 5 loops and here are my times.

4:23
4:30
4:37
4:32
4:19

Each one was suppose to get faster which I didn't do unfortunately. However, that last loop was a good one for me. I was pushing more than I usually push and it really didn't hurt that bad and it was quite a bit faster considering that this was at the end of a tempo run. I felt strong and it felt good. So that is some positive training news which is good since I don't seem to have much positive stuff lately.

Oh, I started June at 189. I finished on July 1st at 190. This may look to be not bad, but both of those numbers are actually valleys. I was back up to 195 at some point in between. It's a bit frustrating, but I'm back to counting calories again which really keeps me on track. I'm also trying to limit the amount of beer that I drink which always affects me. Wine isn't so bad, but beer makes me fat.

18 Miles

I ran 18 miles last week. Did 4.5 on Tuesday, 2.5 on Thursday, 8 on Saturday, and then 3 on Monday morning, but I meant to do that run on Sunday. Yep, that's 18. That's all that I'm going to report on this week.

Asics shoe mileage: 296.5 miles

Well, it's almost time for new shoes.

Weight Graphs

OK, here are the weight graphs that I mentioned earlier.

Last Month:


Last 6 Months:

I have made progress this year, but not as much as I wanted.

Last Year:

Even just a year ago, I was at a weight that I was decently happy with. I'll get back there though.

Last 5 Years:

Over the last 3-4 years, I was as low as about 180 and that was the year that I did IM training. You can also see that I yoyo a lot as well.

So, there it is. Hard data.

I'm still lacking motivation

Well, I'm still lacking motivation/discipline and was slack again last week. I always say that next week (or tomorrow) will be the day that I get back on the wagon but we'll see how it goes. On a bright note, I did run this morning and already have plans for working out later today so that is good.

Let's see how things are going. Oh, I did the Splash'N'Dash last Tuesday. It hurt like hell and it was hot, but I did it. We'll see how the next one goes. I ran about 15.5 miles this week. Let's see, 2mi on Tuesday, 2.4mi on Thurs, 8mi on Sat, and then 3.1mi this morning, but I'm counting that on last week's total. Yep, 15.5mi. I need to start breaking in my new shoes though since my mileage on my other pair is getting pretty high. My right foot is feeling better. Some days are better than others as usual but I am not limping around anymore. My weight loss is stagnate as usual. I've been meaning to post graphs of my weight over the years but I'll get around to that eventually. Eh, that's about it. I need to get more discipline and I need to start training with others more since they kick my ass which makes me faster.

Asics shoe mileage: 278.5 miles

Recovery Week

Well, this is another recovery week. As usual, not much is going on. I can't remember what I did on Monday, didn't do anything on Tuesday due to a stressful day at work, Wednesday was a run, Thursday was a bike ride, Friday was a two laps around Quarry Lake, Saturday was a Chuy's and beer day, and then Sunday was a run and yoga. I'm severely lacking in discipline. I would say that it has been for just a few weeks, but it has been a lot longer than that. It seems that I lost all of my discipline and motivation when I got hurt back in December 2007. Since then, I try to do all of my workouts, but I easily find excuses to skip most of them. Well, I don't intend to skip them, but I don't do them first thing in the morning and then the day gets away from me and I either don't have time to do them or it gets too hot to do them. I really don't have any excuses except for myself just being lazy. Part of it is that I'm really not in the racing mentality at the moment. My goal for this year is just to stay injury free and lose weight. Getting faster is the 3rd goal but I'm not really going to get faster with this heat. It's tough because I'm not seeing many results at all. I'm just bitching about my laziness and as usual, there isn't anything anyone else can do except myself.

Enough of that, my medial plantar nerve entrapment is feeling better. Dr. Phil did something on Thursday to make it feel better until my run today. It is getting better, but it is just another injury added to my list. We'll see how it goes, though.

Asics shoe mileage: 263 miles

I was super lazy last week

I didn't do anything on Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday. I was doing stuff, but not exercising. It happens, but it has motivated me a bit. Also, for some stupid reason, after I weighed in at 189 on Monday, I decided that the best way to celebrate it was to eat everything in sight and drink beer for the next 5 days. I did have a social life last week so it was worth it a bit. I'm back on the wagon today, or tomorrow, or the day after, but I'll be back on it. Tuesday was a run workout with Texas Iron. Friday was a Quarry Lake swim with some T3 people followed by beer and pizza. Saturday was a fast ride with some T3 people since Phil invited me to crash the party. This morning was an 8 mile run around at Town Lake that started at 7:00 instead of 9:00. It was still very humid, but much better than last week. I also wore my Polar S720i for the first time and had a bitch of a time figuring it out. I think I got it though.

Asics shoe mileage: 253 miles

I was drunk last night

I was going to update this blog last night while I was a bit tipsy, but that didn't happen. So, I'm updating it now.

Last week was an uppage in my mileage to 16.5 miles. I've decided that 15mpw just isn't enough because I get about 7 miles on my long run on Sunday, 5 at practice on Tuesday, and that leaves just 3 miles for the rest of the week. I'll eventually get to 20mpw and hold there for awhile to see how my body adjusts. Oh, the big workout last week was Lost Creek hill repeats. When I did these back in March or so, my fastest one was about 7:15 or so. My times for this workout are here: 7:53, 7:10, 7:00.5, 6:46. I was stoked and it shows that I am getting faster. I also swam 1500yds one night and I felt fine from that. My weigh in on Monday was 189 so I broke through the 190 barrier although it was brief. For some dumb reason, I decided that I needed to celebrate this by eating everything in sight and drinking for 3 days in a row. Eh, I don't understand myself sometimes. But this just shows that I know what to do and I can do it when the discipline is there.

As for my injuries, I found out yesterday that my right foot pain is not plantar fasciitis. My PT actually diagnosed it as medial plantar nerve entrapment. He said I should be back to normal within a few weeks if I do everything that I'm suppose to do. And with that said, I'm going to go do my exercises and stretches now.

Asics shoe mileage: 237.5 miles

EDIT: I had a doctor appointment this morning. 114/82 and 48bpm. Not bad.

Hmmm

Hmmm, I can't remember anything special about last week. Oh wait, it was a recovery week. Nothing special I guess but I did do my 15 miles of running. The PF in my right foot is still present though. Sucks ass. I'm going to go back to my PT next week to see what I'm doing wrong. I really think that my orthodics are causing it in my right foot. My left foot feels great though. My shoulder still aches a bit from time to time but it is definitely getting better. Oh, I did swim 1300yds one day. I really do need to pick back up the swimming. My shoulder should be fine but I'm felling lazy when it comes to swimming. I've been concentrating on running so much though and I think that is going well. Oh, my long run on Sunday was 3:30 slower than the week before. I attribute it to being about 15 degrees hotter, 50% more humidity, and the fact that I wasn't well nourished since I'm trying to lose weight.

Now for this week, I had some intervals on Tuesday. Felt like crap on Wednesday from a headache all day long so I didn't do anything. Tonight, I did hill repeats on Lost Creek. My times were 7:53, 7:10, 7:00.5 (damnit), and finally 6:46. When I did LC repeats the last time, my fastest time was about 7:15 and that is all that I had. That was about 3 months ago so my bike is getting better which makes me feel good. Another good thing is that I'm losing weight as well. My official weigh in will be tomorrow but it should be around 192 or so. I'll update after it though.

Asics shoe mileage: 221 miles

First Crit

On Thursday of last week, I did my first crit at the Driveway Crits Series. I've heard about them for awhile and finally decided to check them out. I knew it was going to hurt like hell and it did. I hung on to the main pack for maybe 4 laps and did the last 3 laps on my own. It was a bit nerve wracking at first because of the proximity of the other cyclists. I hung out at the back. I found a few riders that were annoying because they were taking horrible lines. It was fun.

Friday I saw. Saturday was a lazy day. Sunday was a WINDY 90 minute bike ride with a 2 mile run. Monday was the usual 6.88 mile run around Town Lake. I actually did it in 52:10 which is my fastest so far after coming back from PF. Oh, I'm starting to get PF in my right foot now. Blows, but I'm doing everything to get rid of it. I still have it a bit in my left foot but it isn't that bad anymore. And my shoulder is feel better, too.

Asics shoe mileage: 206 miles

I Hurt

The last few weeks have been tough for me. Lots of stuff going on and I can't seem to get caught up on anything. Now that school is over (my final was last night), I plan on relaxing a bit which leads to me updating my blog more than once a week. And as usual, I am here to complain and bitch a bit. My calves hurt. A lot. I went to the Texas Iron run workout on Tuesday night. We didn't do anything special except for a 0.68mi loop that has some downhills and uphills. Since I wasn't feeling that mentally tough because of stress and heat, I ran with the girls. We ended up doing the loops in 5:20, 5:20, 5:21, and 5:26. Laurie's lungs were about to leap out of her throat on the last one but I pushed her. I could've gone faster on each of the runs but I need to develop some more mental toughness. I'm actually thinking about switching to the Tuesday run workouts since I need to work on my running so much. Oh, yeah, the pain. The road was uneven so I stepped in some potholes and twisting some things a bit and my calves are letting me know that they aren't happy. It seems that every muscle in my calves, posterior tibialis, peroneals, soleus, gastroc, are all simultaneously mad at my in both calves! I'm going to beat them up with a tennis ball for awhile now and see if they lighten up a bit. But this freaking sucks.

Oh, I rode an hour in the heat and wind yesterday. I'm skipping the swim workout today and I'm doing my first crit tonight. It should be very ugly.

Rookie Tri Race Report

Well, I had my first race in a year and a half this morning. First one since Longhorn Tri back in October of 2007. If you don't know, I've been laid up for the last year with injuries. I wasn't too nervous about this race because I know that I love racing. I've been saying that I'm not in that great shape, but I'm actually in OK shape. Got there, did my thing, only had 2 RPs, and got ready. My wave went off at 8:06 and within 10 seconds, I remember how much I missed this shit. I did my warmup swim and it hurt a bit but I'm glad that I did it. The water was awful! I couldn't see past my elbow if my hand was outstretched and it smelled like rotten eggs. I kept pushing myself a bit and was breathing only to 1 side. It's what I do when swimming fast. Considering my shoulder issues, I'm very happy to come out of the water with a 5:47 (1:56/100m) which was 9th in my AG. I came out of the water a second behind Joe, a fellow Texas Iron athlete, smacked him on the ass and went into T1.

Came out of T1 very fast. Just a helmet and grabbed my bike and I was off. Found out that my T1 time was 1:10 which was tied for fastest in my AG. On the bike, I passed a couple of people immediately while they were struggling getting into their shoes on the bike. Seriously people, don't cross the mount line, stop, and then take 45 seconds. Move past the line and then go. The bike course isn't a fast bike course. There are a few bits of mildly rough road, and a few hills. Joe and I were going back and forth and I passed a lot of people in the previous AG. I always try to push it on the bike, but I had to back it off a bit. It was my first race in awhile and I still needed to run but my legs were burning pretty much the entire time. I almost pulled an Ali when I hit a huge crevice in the road. I hit it hard and I was thinking that I popped a tire, but I didn't. I came into T2 pretty fast with a time of 32:13 (20.9mph).

Once again, I actually had a great T2 with 1:01 which was tied for 4th in my AG. I was talking to Joe as well because we came into T2 at the same time. He passed me within about 45 seconds on the run but I knew that was going to happen. Oh yeah, the run. The part that I knew was going to hurt the most. My legs felt like lead but I kept trying to put one foot in front of the other. I was wheezing and couldn't breath, but I kept my ass moving. Nothing really special to note about this run besides the pain which reinforces how much I need to lose weight and work on my running. Total time was 15:08 (7:34/mi) which was something like 17th in my AG.

This was a total time of 55:20 which was 5th in my AG. I'm actually pretty happy with this result. It follows my expected results in previous races. I would've been happy with top 10 but I'll take 5th especially this is my first year in a tougher AG. I'll get faster though and it won't hurt as bad. This is what I needed to keep me motivated for my training. Overall, I had a great day.

2009 2007
Swim: 5:47-1:56-9th 5:21
T1: 1:10-1st 1:15
Bike: 32:13-20.9-4th 31:55
T2: 1:01-4th 1:13
Run: 15:08-7:34-17th 14:28
Total: 55:20-5th 54:13

Asics run mileage: 191 miles

Recovery Week

This week was a recovery week which considering my current training level is just another week. I barely did anything this week. I only got 1 ride and 1 swim in all week, but got 4 runs and 2 weight sessions. My shoulder and foot are feeling much, much better and I'm going to start increasing my distances for swimming and running each week again. I've been at 15 miles/week for a few weeks now for running. My knees aren't as stiff and sore after my Sunday long runs anymore. I'm still feeling like a slug running but it is getting a bit better. The recent humidity spell isn't helping though. Oh, I do have some good news. I've become very focused again and my weight is down to 192.5 on Friday. I'm starting to lose weight again!

And one more thing to note. My first race in a year and a half is next Sunday.

Asics run mileage: 180 miles

Testing texting

Shoulder is better

I've been a stickler for the most part for my PT program regarding my shoulder. It actually feels much better at this point which is nice. I'm also babying it by not using it too aggressively either. My PF is doing better as well because I'm actually doing the stretches and exercises.

I had a track workout on Tuesday morning. First one in a long time and it hurt like hell. I did 10x400m and I probably averaged around 1:48/400m. First one was 1:35 which was WAY too fast, 2nd was 1:53 which was too slow, and then I settled into a good pace for the last 8. I need to do more stuff like that. Other than that, my runs were fine and even got a couple of swims in as well. Biking is meh since I'm so good at it. Actually, oh, here is another good workout. On Thursday, we had a brick workout with Texas Iron. We did 2x(~3.5mi bike, ~1.2mi run) but the bike and run were hard. I ended up dropping a few people on the bike because we were suppose to do these in groups of 2-4 and trade off on pulls pretty frequently. Looks like I still have some decent cycling legs. Then, on the run, I averaged about 7:25/mile which is way faster than I was expecting. This is really good because my first triathlon in a year and a half is in about 12 days from now. It's kind of exciting to see how I'll do. Oh, I got in about 15 miles last week.

Also, I've been a pussy lately about a bunch of things. I'm done being a pussy. Part of it is because I've been a head case for the last few weeks and I've found that the best way for me to overcome that is to get really focused about something. I'm keeping track of all of my calories and exercise again while still trying to do every workout that my coaches give me. I need to harden the fuck up and get serious, focused, and disciplined to clear my head.

Asics run mileage: 165 miles

Another week is done

I've gotten another week of workouts done now. I actually did pretty good this week about sticking to the schedule. Well, practice was rained out on Thursday and I didn't do my swim today, but other than that, I did the workouts. As for doing exactly what I was suppose to be doing, that's a little bit of a different story. I'm still hampered by limited run mileage. However, my PF is getting better again even after just 2-3 days of treatment for it. Also, the Angry Knees that I usually get after my long run on Sunday didn't really happen today. I'm still going to hold at 15 miles per week for the next 2 weeks before bumping it up again just to see how my body does.

Even though I haven't been doing the exact workouts that I'm suppose to be doing, I've been pretty consistent in training for the last 2 months and I think it is starting to show. I'm not hurting as much as I used to but I may not be getting that much faster. I'm still a pussy when it comes to bricks but yesterday's brick run wasn't so bad. Things are getting better in regards to working out and I'm starting to feel much, much better about it.

Asics shoe mileage: 150 miles

Run Mileage

Just another run mileage update for this past week. It was 11.7 only. I was suppose to do another 3.1 mile run around my neighborhood but I skipped it for some poor excuses. I'm going to hold my mileage at about 15mpw for a few weeks because I'm feeling some plantar fasciitis coming back and I want to take care of that. Also, from doing yardwork for a week, my shoulder is jacked up again but it doesn't hurt when swimming. What the fuck?

Asics shoe mileage: 135 miles

Run Mileage

I ran 14.8 miles this week. I'm going to hold there for a few weeks because I'm getting a bit of heel pain again. Not good.

Asics shoe mileage: 123 miles

Another good workout

Today was my long run. I was going to do it yesterday, but I wore cotton socks instead of workout socks. I was afraid of blisters. I was going to do some exercise at PWC but I only had my running shoes and didn't want to do the workout in them. I didn't get much done yesterday except for making lousy excuses. When I did run today, I had a pretty damn good run. It was pretty chilly out this morning but I love running in that weather. I ended up leaving from Jack & Adam's and did two of the 3.44 mile loops. I saw some friends and I actually felt a lot better at the end of the run than at the beginning. My HR was higher in the 2nd lap, but I felt better and felt like my form was better as well. Overall, I ran 7.5 miles in about 59:17. Now, the ride I did yesterday was great. But by yesterday, I mean tomorrow. I still need get about another mile in this weekend though to get my total mileage for the week. I'll probably do that tomorrow.

Asics shoe mileage: 108 miles

That's the fucking workout that I needed!

Tonight's workout was the 8 mile South Mopac time trial loop. This was after an 3 mile run this morning with 5x1min mod, 2min easy. As I was warming up, I really didn't know how I was going to do since my legs weren't feeling it. I kept warming up and doing a few faster intervals to get my heart rate up. Going into the TT, I would be satisfied with anything under 21:00 and happy with anything under 20:40. You see, for the last 4 TTs that I've done around this loop, they've always been 19:40+/-0:04 no matter the conditions nor my fitness level at the time. I've been feeling really out of shape lately so I thought I was going to be really slow for me tonight.

Tonight, I went out and just kept going. I got my heart rate at 170+ fairly quickly. It hurt like a TT is suppose to hurt, but I wasn't going all out quite yet. When I've been doing intervals lately, my HR gets in the 160-163 range and that's it. At 170+, I didn't know how long I could last before I blew up. I just kept a high cadence and kept pedaling my ass off. I didn't take it strong up the Escarpment hill and I even think I went to the little chain ring. Didn't want to blow my load yet. I was passing a decent amount of people at the time though. I just kept going. Turned around at the half way point and was over 10:00 (10:48 to be exact). I knew that I could do the backside faster than that so I had a decent shot at breaking 21:00. I just kept going at it but I was feeling the affects as usual. I actually felt like I was letting up a bit on the way back. I picked off a few more people, but the ranks were thinning out. Once again, stayed in my aero bars and kept pedaling. Climbed up the last hill and was almost toast. I knew I had maybe half a mile and I could kick it up a bit so I tried. As I was coming up the last hill, I was grunting and puffing to get up out of the saddle and across the line.

I stopped my watch and it read 20:06. I knew the official time would be a little bit faster than that. It was 20:03. Holy fucking shit, I blew my goals away. Finally, I wasn't around 19:40, but I was way, way faster than I was expecting. I guess I do have a few extra horsepower sitting around somewhere. This was a workout that I really, really needed mentally though. I didn't do as fast as I have in the past, but I didn't do so bad either. This proves that even though I feel completely out of shape, I'm just being a fucking pussy about going faster. I need to push myself more because I have it inside of me. The way out was 10:48 with an avg HR of 166 and the way back was 9:18 with an avg HR of 166 so I was pretty even the entire time. I had a max of 177 which was right at the end. If I did it again, I could break 20:00 easily. I'm really stoked about this because I still have a lot of fitness left inside of me, but I'm not letting it out because of issues mentally.

This is the exact type of workout that I needed as a kick in the ass and it feels great. I have regained a lot of my confidence now.

Recovery Week

Last week was a recovery week and I still missed a few workouts. L-A-M-E! Running is still going well and I think I put in 13.3 miles last week. Well, close to it. I do my long runs around Town Lake Trail, aka Lady Bird Lake Trail, and there are 3 different maps for the distances which makes it a bit confusing. I'm going to say that the "5.8 mile run" that I did on Sunday was closer to 6.94 miles according to this map. I did it in about 57 minutes or so. I don't know what was going on, but I didn't feel that comfortable during the long run. I had a good, hard bike ride on Saturday afternoon as well.

Asics shoe mileage: 94 miles

Running is going well!

I've been running consistently pretty well for a few weeks now. Two weeks ago, I ran about 8.6 when I was suppose to run 11. I just didn't get around to the last 2.4 miles for whatever reason (laziness). This week, I did all 12.1 miles that I was suppose to do. This upcoming week, I'm suppose to run 13.3 miles. I'm not having any heel pain or anything like that, but I am getting a bit of soreness in my soleus. My PT and me will get it worked out though.

I'm still cycling about twice a week and swimming about as frequently as well. I don't have anything holding me back from cycling but I'm still having shoulder issues. Even though I am getting out and working out, I'm still having some motivation issues. I am feeling more fit and trim, but not that much. It'll come around eventually though. I has really affected me taking nearly a year off.

Asus run mileage: 81 miles

Overdue Update

I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. I have the desire to get back into shape, but I'm completely lacking the motivation and discipline to do it. I'm doing work outs, but I'm kind of autopilot through them. I think the issue is that I'm doing a lot of base stuff without pushing myself hoping that speed will come with that. However, I need to hurt a bit and push my limits before the speed will come. Also, I'm unable to lose weight, but the culprit for that is beer and I'm drinking it about 2-3 times a week now. Bad, Eric!

I am making progress. My foot is feeling a lot better. I did a 5 mile run around Town Lake and it was absolutely beautiful. It wasn't that fast, but I felt great during the entire run. I did have some pain in my lower leg, but it moved around and it never got that bad. I ran 11 miles this week and 10.5 miles last week. This is an amount of mileage which makes me feel a lot better about my progress.

My shoulder is feeling better as well. I haven't had as much progress with it as my foot, but that's OK. I'm still swimming though but only about 800yds at a time.

Asics run mileage: 60 miles

I'm back with Texas Iron!

Well, I rejoined Texas Iron this month. It's nice to be back to a regular routine in a group setting. I'm following my workouts much more regularly now and that is a very good thing. I think I am making some improvements with fitness, but not much with weight loss. My run mileage is increasing as well. My PT wants me to do 11 miles this week and hopefully it won't cause any issues. I'm some new shoes, Asics Gel-Nimbus, and I think I'll like them better than the NB 106x series. They have gel in them instead of the EVA foam so hopefully they'll last longer. My PF in my left foot has made some huge strides lately working with my PT. I really hope that it is gone for good this time so that I can get back into running.

My shoulder is still having issues. I'm still having some adhesions with the tissues in there which is causing some pain. Once again, I'm working with my PT to get this resolved. I have been keeping up swimming 2-3x/week though. It's only about 800yds at a time, but I'm still getting in the water.

Asics run mileage: ~35 miles

What's going on?

Man, no update for awhile. I've been trying really hard to get back into training and I just realized that it isn't happening by myself. Even though I'm probably not ready to run that far yet, I've decided to get back to Texas Iron in February. I just need that extra motivation to get in my ass in gear. The good news is that I'm up to running 6 miles a week this week. My PT wanted me in some different shoes and now that I'm in them, it should be better. My foot and my shoulder are both feeling better. Things are actually progressing! Except for my weight which keeps going up.

Wow, has it been a month?

I can't believe that it has been a month since I've last updated. Well, there really isn't much new. I'm getting my 3 runs in a week but I'm stuck at 4.4 miles per week because I'm getting some pain down in my heel. I'm getting about 2-3 rides a week, but nothing really hard or long. It's OK though. Finally, I'm swimming 2 times per week at about 650yds each. My foot is feeling OK. My shoulder is feeling better as well. I think the bicipital tendonitis has cleared up, but I have some other painful adhesions in my shoulder. Oh, over the Christmas break, I've been taking yoga about 3 times per week. I've also completely lost track of my shoe mileage so I'm going to assume about 5 miles per week.

NB shoe mileage: 75 miles

Update

As usual, my boring update about me doing nearly nothing. I ran 4 miles last week which is getting better. I'm still having a bit of pain in the foot though. It seems more muscular than inflamed fascia though. My shoulder seems to be getting better as well. I was feeling a bit frustrated on Thursday so I went out and did a hard bike ride at lunch. I was high from that ride until Friday night which was great. I need to do more of those because lately when I get on the bike, or any workout in particular, I'm such a pussy about it. This is one thing that I know that I lack when I'm training by myself. I need to train with others to push me because it is going to be tough for me to do it on my own. And as I push myself, I get in better physical shape which makes me feel better. I'll get back to Texas Iron soon, though.

NB 1062 mileage: 49 miles

Shoe Mileage

Not much to say here. I'm trying to get back into a regular workout routine because the holiday pounds have already started creeping on to my stomach. I'm up to 196.5 on Friday. No more! I ran 3.7 miles this week with the longest run of about 1.5 miles. If I keep this up, I'll be at 15 mpw by the end of February.

NB 1062 milage: ~45 miles

Back hurts, crappy run

My back hurts. It is my lower back. I think my lax posture while sitting in my office chair is getting to me. It's been hurting for about 3 days now. Not good. I did go for a run this morning and it felt like my legs were made out of lead. Not a good run, but at least I was running and I ran 1.3 miles. This is the first week where I'm ramping up my running again. We'll see how my feet hold out.

NB mileage: 38 miles

Swimming

I'm swimming again. Well, kind of. I was in the water twice last week. I went to Big Stacey for a 20x33 on Tuesday and then Dick Nichols on Saturday for 25x25. My shoulder felt OK, but I had some aching in it since Friday when I did some weights. I see my PT today so I'm going to address that with him. The weird thing is that it doesn't seem to be the biceps tendon anymore and more towards the anterior deltoid. We'll get it taken care of, though.

I rode once, maybe twice last week. Luckily, I didn't have any flats! I did get 3x1 mile runs in last week. I was going to ramp one of those runs up to 1.3 miles but I didn't have my head in the game at the gym yesterday. This week is where I'll ramp it up more. I think I should be fine because I've been doing 3x1 mile pretty consistently the last few weeks and haven't had any heel pain issues. The only time I really have heel pain is when I'm on my feet a lot or when I wear dress shoes without my orthodics.

Two weight sessions were also done. That's about it for me last week.