Not much going on last week. Weight lifting is going well and so is running. I put in about 16.5 miles last week which is OK. I did the Donkey Dash 5K and it was my first 5K in awhile. I really need to work on my pacing in 5Ks but still did 22:40 for a pace of around 7:18/mile. Not that bad but first mile was 6:40 and last mile was 7:49. Yep, need to work on pacing. It was good though.
Weekly run mileage: 16.5 miles
Asics mileage: 71 miles
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
IBM Uptown Classic 10K
The highlight of last week was the IBM Uptown Classic 10K. It is my fall baseline 10K to see how I much I improve over the winter and I did it last year. I've been iffy about my fitness lately so I really didn't have many expectations for this race. So, I'll skip the details because a 10K isn't really that exciting. I did a few tuneups during the week though and carbo loaded a bit.
Started off on the race and I was taking it fairly slow but not too slow. Actually, I was going hard. Well, it is difficult to say but I was pushing it a bit from the beginning. First mile clocked in at about 7:46 which is about what I did last year if I recall correctly. Second mile was about 7:42 and it felt pretty good. I was surprised at the time and how well I was feeling so I decided to push it a bit more. Came in at 7:28 for Mile 3 and then Mile 4 was a nice gradual downhill with a time of 7:12. I was pushing it the last 2 miles, and still feeling good, because I knew that Mile 5 was the hilliest mile on the course and I would go off pace in that mile. Well, that didn't happen. For Mile 5, I averaged 7:39 while climbing about 150 feet. I pushed it up the hills but not to the point of blowing myself up. Also, there were lots of people following the curve of the road and not running tangents. When my Mile 5 split came in and saw that it wasn't 8:20 like it was last year, I got excited. I started thinking that I could beat last year's time so that was more motivation to keep running strong. For the last mile, I knew that half of it was downhill and half was uphill. On the downhill, I was cruising easily at about a 7:00/mile pace. Did I mention that I love the gradual downhills because I can run them well? Turned around to go up the gradual uphill and crossed Mile 6 at 7:14/mile. I was way ahead of last year's time and still feeling great. I kicked it up a gear to finish the last partial mile with a pace of 6:22/mile and a total time of 46:38. This was 1:40 faster than last year and I am very happy with that result. I wasn't expecting to go this fast and I just ran the race that I wanted to race. I was looking at the splits of many others and I actually negative split the 5Ks by about 1:00 while most other people had a positive split of a few seconds to sometimes minutes. I like to ease into the race instead of going out too hard and blowing up early.
Overall, I am very happy with my race and my fitness and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do over the winter.
Weekly run mileage: 12 miles
Asics mileage: 54.5 miles
EDIT: Forgot to post my Garmin data.
Started off on the race and I was taking it fairly slow but not too slow. Actually, I was going hard. Well, it is difficult to say but I was pushing it a bit from the beginning. First mile clocked in at about 7:46 which is about what I did last year if I recall correctly. Second mile was about 7:42 and it felt pretty good. I was surprised at the time and how well I was feeling so I decided to push it a bit more. Came in at 7:28 for Mile 3 and then Mile 4 was a nice gradual downhill with a time of 7:12. I was pushing it the last 2 miles, and still feeling good, because I knew that Mile 5 was the hilliest mile on the course and I would go off pace in that mile. Well, that didn't happen. For Mile 5, I averaged 7:39 while climbing about 150 feet. I pushed it up the hills but not to the point of blowing myself up. Also, there were lots of people following the curve of the road and not running tangents. When my Mile 5 split came in and saw that it wasn't 8:20 like it was last year, I got excited. I started thinking that I could beat last year's time so that was more motivation to keep running strong. For the last mile, I knew that half of it was downhill and half was uphill. On the downhill, I was cruising easily at about a 7:00/mile pace. Did I mention that I love the gradual downhills because I can run them well? Turned around to go up the gradual uphill and crossed Mile 6 at 7:14/mile. I was way ahead of last year's time and still feeling great. I kicked it up a gear to finish the last partial mile with a pace of 6:22/mile and a total time of 46:38. This was 1:40 faster than last year and I am very happy with that result. I wasn't expecting to go this fast and I just ran the race that I wanted to race. I was looking at the splits of many others and I actually negative split the 5Ks by about 1:00 while most other people had a positive split of a few seconds to sometimes minutes. I like to ease into the race instead of going out too hard and blowing up early.
Overall, I am very happy with my race and my fitness and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do over the winter.
Weekly run mileage: 12 miles
Asics mileage: 54.5 miles
EDIT: Forgot to post my Garmin data.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Random Thoughts
A few random thoughts:
- Did the last Splash N Dash of the year at the end of Sept. It wasn't that fast for the swim, but it was actually my fastest run ever. Weird.
- Interval work with Texas Iron last Tuesday felt great!
- Doing a long run the day after lifting weights isn't good.
- I'm done with biking and swimming for awhile to concentrate on weights and running. I'll swim and spin occasionally but it won't be on any frequent schedule.
- Also changing up my diet to see if it'll help.
- I'm sleepy.
- Got a new pair of running shoes.
- Got a benchmark 10K this Sunday with the IBM Uptown Classic. It'll be interesting to see how my fitness compares to last year.
- Got the Donkey Dash 5K the weekend after that.
Asics Mileage: 42.5 miles
Run Mileage, Last Week: 17
Run Mileage, 2 Weeks Ago: 12.5
Run Mileage, 3 Weeks Ago: 13
- Did the last Splash N Dash of the year at the end of Sept. It wasn't that fast for the swim, but it was actually my fastest run ever. Weird.
- Interval work with Texas Iron last Tuesday felt great!
- Doing a long run the day after lifting weights isn't good.
- I'm done with biking and swimming for awhile to concentrate on weights and running. I'll swim and spin occasionally but it won't be on any frequent schedule.
- Also changing up my diet to see if it'll help.
- I'm sleepy.
- Got a new pair of running shoes.
- Got a benchmark 10K this Sunday with the IBM Uptown Classic. It'll be interesting to see how my fitness compares to last year.
- Got the Donkey Dash 5K the weekend after that.
Asics Mileage: 42.5 miles
Run Mileage, Last Week: 17
Run Mileage, 2 Weeks Ago: 12.5
Run Mileage, 3 Weeks Ago: 13
Sunday, September 26, 2010
I'm running again!
After bruising my toes in the Austin Triathlon and taking 2 weeks off, I got back to running this week. I ran 2.5 miles on Monday night, 4 miles on Friday morning, and then 6.5 miles this morning on Town Lake. After taking 2 weeks off I thought my hip flexor would be a lot better. It isn't. I ran on Monday and my hip flexor was hurting pretty much the entire time and it was fairly bad, too. It was actually more painful than before taking off the 2 weeks. After the run, my hip flexor hurt on Tuesday and Wednesday but was feeling a bit better on Thursday. Ran again on Friday a hip flexor hurt bad for first mile and then the pain lessened a lot but I still felt it. Today, I had the same thing going on but by the end of the run, the pain had gone away almost entirely and I was running about an 8:30 mile. I see my doc tomorrow to assess the situation but I think I'm back to running. I've lost a bit of fitness though which sucks, but it happens. The good thing is that it seems that the weather is about to change and it is going to get a lot cooler soon.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
My slowest Oly time ever and I'm very happy with it
Well, I did the Austin Triathlon this past Monday. I was a bit intimidated by it because my training this year has been really inconsistent except for the last month or so. Last year, I felt the same way but I dropped down from the Oly to the sprint and ended up with 3rd in my AG. This year, I actually felt worse but decided to tough it out and use it as motivation.
I did taper a bit for this workout but didn't really do much carb loading. Last week's workouts were definitely lighter and I did do a tune up on Sunday. Got everything done on Sunday and was up most of the weekend getting ready for a cookout on Monday. So, it wasn't the ideal taper that I would try to do for an A race. Got up and went to the race site on Monday morning. Said hi to a lot of people and did a lot of waiting around. Wandered down to the water and put on my wetsuit for the first time in over a year. Got in the water and it actually felt great at about a nice 73* or so. I thought it was near perfect water temp for racing. I swam and didn't get much traffic and just tried to take it fairly easy. It was actually a pretty relaxed and comfortable swim for me. I tried staying on feet the entire time but every time I caught up with a pair, they weren't going fast enough for me. I need to work on starting out faster and settling in to stay with someone to draft off of. Time was 27:30 which I was happy with since I'm swimming about twice a month for the last 9 months or so.
In and out of T1 fine. Took awhile to get my wetsuit off though so lost time there but no other issues otherwise. I did it in about 2:35 which was fairly fast for the rest of my AG but not in the top by any means. I do remember that I was running faster than others with my bike. A lot of people forget that transitions are still part of the race and take their time. I actually race them.
Got on the bike and there is the usual bunching of people right after the dismount line. They annoy me. I got past them and got going on the bike. It wasn't until about a mile into the bike that I had my feet in my shoes though. I just wanted to get going comfortably before trying it. However, I do need to try to the rubber band trick with my shoes to get going a few seconds faster. The bike was fun and I really like that course. It wasn't too crowded the first couple of laps either. I think I went a bit too fast on the 1st lap and tried to dial it back a bit on the 2nd. On the 3rd, it started raining. I took it cautiously around the turns but dialed it up a bit on the straights. There were a few parts where people were taking bad lines and I tried riding the tangents and there were definitely a few spots where I took much better lines that other racers. Finished with a time of 1:07:51 for 21.9mph according to the race results. Oh, I didn't have areo wheels or an areo helmet.
T2 was meh as well. I got into T2 and realized that there weren't many bikes around me at all. My socks went on fairly quickly this time but I still need to figure out how to do these races without socks. Got running and could've been going a bit faster.
Got on the run and checked my time and was shocked. I was just at 1:40 or so which left me 0:50 to break 2:30. Before the race, I was thinking that I would've been happy with anything under 2:40 or 2:45 due to my lack of fitness. Well, this was my longest race of the year by far and I just went fairly strong on the bike and I haven't done many brick runs nor running in the heat and humidity, but let's give it a shot anyways. At first, it felt like I was running 9:00/mile but I clocked in an 8:06 for the first mile and I felt good. It was hot and humid but I still kept going. I just remember the entire run that I tried to keep my form going which will make my coach happy. I noticed a few times where I was letting my body get upright, tilting my head back, and shuffling my feet and tried to stop that immediately. I got through the 1st loop and was still on pace for a sub-2:30 race but was waiting for the wheels to fall off at any moment. I thought they would at around Mile 5 when I clocked a 8:45 mile, but I had only 1 mile left to go so I turned it up a bit the best that I could. Crossed the line at 2:29:02 with a run time of 49:30.
Shit, I broke 2:30! I was ecstatic because this was way better than I was hoping to do. I guess this race really reinforces that I race much better than I train. My bike and run splits were faster this race than any other race this year and this was my longest race. I will also say that this was probably my most intelligent race too since I raced the tangents whenever I could. My GPS watch said that the run course was only 5.92 miles compared to the 6.21 miles an official 10K is. Either the distance was off or running the tangents on a twisty course like that really, really adds up.
But I finished, I was very happy wit my slowest Oly ever, and I can't wait for the next one.
Weekly run mileage: 13 miles
Asics mileage: 231.5 miles
I did taper a bit for this workout but didn't really do much carb loading. Last week's workouts were definitely lighter and I did do a tune up on Sunday. Got everything done on Sunday and was up most of the weekend getting ready for a cookout on Monday. So, it wasn't the ideal taper that I would try to do for an A race. Got up and went to the race site on Monday morning. Said hi to a lot of people and did a lot of waiting around. Wandered down to the water and put on my wetsuit for the first time in over a year. Got in the water and it actually felt great at about a nice 73* or so. I thought it was near perfect water temp for racing. I swam and didn't get much traffic and just tried to take it fairly easy. It was actually a pretty relaxed and comfortable swim for me. I tried staying on feet the entire time but every time I caught up with a pair, they weren't going fast enough for me. I need to work on starting out faster and settling in to stay with someone to draft off of. Time was 27:30 which I was happy with since I'm swimming about twice a month for the last 9 months or so.
In and out of T1 fine. Took awhile to get my wetsuit off though so lost time there but no other issues otherwise. I did it in about 2:35 which was fairly fast for the rest of my AG but not in the top by any means. I do remember that I was running faster than others with my bike. A lot of people forget that transitions are still part of the race and take their time. I actually race them.
Got on the bike and there is the usual bunching of people right after the dismount line. They annoy me. I got past them and got going on the bike. It wasn't until about a mile into the bike that I had my feet in my shoes though. I just wanted to get going comfortably before trying it. However, I do need to try to the rubber band trick with my shoes to get going a few seconds faster. The bike was fun and I really like that course. It wasn't too crowded the first couple of laps either. I think I went a bit too fast on the 1st lap and tried to dial it back a bit on the 2nd. On the 3rd, it started raining. I took it cautiously around the turns but dialed it up a bit on the straights. There were a few parts where people were taking bad lines and I tried riding the tangents and there were definitely a few spots where I took much better lines that other racers. Finished with a time of 1:07:51 for 21.9mph according to the race results. Oh, I didn't have areo wheels or an areo helmet.
T2 was meh as well. I got into T2 and realized that there weren't many bikes around me at all. My socks went on fairly quickly this time but I still need to figure out how to do these races without socks. Got running and could've been going a bit faster.
Got on the run and checked my time and was shocked. I was just at 1:40 or so which left me 0:50 to break 2:30. Before the race, I was thinking that I would've been happy with anything under 2:40 or 2:45 due to my lack of fitness. Well, this was my longest race of the year by far and I just went fairly strong on the bike and I haven't done many brick runs nor running in the heat and humidity, but let's give it a shot anyways. At first, it felt like I was running 9:00/mile but I clocked in an 8:06 for the first mile and I felt good. It was hot and humid but I still kept going. I just remember the entire run that I tried to keep my form going which will make my coach happy. I noticed a few times where I was letting my body get upright, tilting my head back, and shuffling my feet and tried to stop that immediately. I got through the 1st loop and was still on pace for a sub-2:30 race but was waiting for the wheels to fall off at any moment. I thought they would at around Mile 5 when I clocked a 8:45 mile, but I had only 1 mile left to go so I turned it up a bit the best that I could. Crossed the line at 2:29:02 with a run time of 49:30.
Shit, I broke 2:30! I was ecstatic because this was way better than I was hoping to do. I guess this race really reinforces that I race much better than I train. My bike and run splits were faster this race than any other race this year and this was my longest race. I will also say that this was probably my most intelligent race too since I raced the tangents whenever I could. My GPS watch said that the run course was only 5.92 miles compared to the 6.21 miles an official 10K is. Either the distance was off or running the tangents on a twisty course like that really, really adds up.
But I finished, I was very happy wit my slowest Oly ever, and I can't wait for the next one.
Weekly run mileage: 13 miles
Asics mileage: 231.5 miles
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Actual Update!
It's been awhile but I have an actual update this weekend and it is a good one. I've seemed to have turned a corner with my workouts lately. I'm actually not dreading them and I'm completing more than I skip. I'm looking forward to them and I am actually making progress. Fucking feels great! We'll see if I can keep it up for a couple of weeks before it becomes habit but I am trying to sacrifice workouts less for workouts because the work will be there tomorrow. The biggest thing is that my runs have actually been very nice the last 2 of the 3 weeks.
Yesterday's ran was just fantastic. It started out at a nice, cool 64* and Mile 1 was 8:35. They got progressively faster and I kicked it up a lot the last full mile for a time of 7:39 for Mile 7. Cooled down after that and had a generally pleasant run. Today was a bike and a brick and my legs were definitely fatigued from yesterday's run. Overall, I am making progress again and I'm enjoying it.
Weekly run mileage: 19 miles
Asics mileage: 218.5 miles
Yesterday's ran was just fantastic. It started out at a nice, cool 64* and Mile 1 was 8:35. They got progressively faster and I kicked it up a lot the last full mile for a time of 7:39 for Mile 7. Cooled down after that and had a generally pleasant run. Today was a bike and a brick and my legs were definitely fatigued from yesterday's run. Overall, I am making progress again and I'm enjoying it.
Weekly run mileage: 19 miles
Asics mileage: 218.5 miles
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Mileage Update 2
Another update since the last update. I've been running but I haven't been diligent about logging my miles. This is a decent estimate based upon my Garmin data. For the last week, I have been more motivated though and I think it is showing in my training. I actually had decent workouts on Thursday, Friday, and today. My run today was actually not bad with the last 3 miles of the 6 miles at about an 8:30/mile pace which is decent for me considering my recent long runs. The last 3 miles really felt good and I just ran based off of PE instead of heart rate. We'll see if I've turned a corner with my training.
Asics run mileage: 197.5 miles
Asics run mileage: 197.5 miles
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Mileage Update
I have completely lost track of my mileage lately so I'm going to do my best guess since my last update. Been sick a few times in the last few weeks and other excuses for not being more consistent with training. It isn't anything but my own fault but I think I'm starting to turn things around. I just have to realize that sometimes I'm going to work out tired or fatigued and I just have to pull on my big girl panties, suck it up, and do it.
Asics mileage: 142.5 miles
Asics mileage: 142.5 miles
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Humidity
So, at Tuesday practice last week, I had a "come to Jesus" talk with my coach about running in the heat. He said that what I'm suffering (1:00-1:30/mile slower than winter base pace) is happening to everyone. He said that it is usually the humidity that slows people down and that is definitely true. I've noticed that I can run fine at 98* later in the day, but running in the mornings at 80* and 80% humidity kills me. I should be going off of perceived effort instead of pace and/or heart rate. OK, this makes me feel a bit better, but not much. I'll keep chugging along though. We also talked about my hurting foot and he said to not change my gait at all because that'll cause injuries. Yeah, I don't want anymore of those.
I did have a great run workout last Tuesday. We did two 1 mile loops and then we did 4x900m intervals. My times were 2:59 (uphill), 2:53 (downhill), 2:52 (uphill), 2:38 (downhill) so I got faster each one and my heart rate got up above 180bpm as well. The last one felt great because I was really concentrating on form and it shows.
Other than that, I ain't got much other news besides the fact that I'm still having motivational problems for what seems like 2 years now.
Weekly run mileage: 15 miles
Asics mileage: 107.5 miles
I did have a great run workout last Tuesday. We did two 1 mile loops and then we did 4x900m intervals. My times were 2:59 (uphill), 2:53 (downhill), 2:52 (uphill), 2:38 (downhill) so I got faster each one and my heart rate got up above 180bpm as well. The last one felt great because I was really concentrating on form and it shows.
Other than that, I ain't got much other news besides the fact that I'm still having motivational problems for what seems like 2 years now.
Weekly run mileage: 15 miles
Asics mileage: 107.5 miles
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Varsity Triathlon
I really do mean to write these on Sunday or Monday when things are fresh in my mind, but life is busy. So, the run mileage last week was 16.5 miles or so which isn't bad. The problem is that most of those miles were junk miles just to get the miles in and not any quality miles. I bit problematic but I did get the a bunch of LSD miles in.
I did the Varsity Triathlon last Sunday put on by Red Licorice Events. Long story short is that I finished 1st in my age group. Actually, there were two others in my AG that finished ahead of me, but they finished in Top 3 Overall so that bumped me up to 1st in my AG. It was a small race so I take that into consideration, but I still won! Swim was shallow with some dolphin diving and it hurt since it was so short and fast. T1 was quite a jog to the area up a hill and on concrete with bare feet. That hurt a bit. Came out of T1 and tried to get going on my bike. Some freak accident happened and my shoe got caught between the ground and the pedal and when I pushed down, I heard a "pop". I thought it had come out of the pedal but when I got to the side of the road, I noticed that the shoe plate snapped in half at around the ball of the feet. Eh, they're 6 years old so it is time for new ones anyways. Kept going on the bike and thought I was doing great. At the turn around, I saw that I was 4th overall at that point. I turned around and ran into a wall of wind. 25mph going out and 18mph going back in. Brian caught up with me and we chatted a bit. Got on the run and I hurt immediately. It was really humid and I averaged about 8:18min/mile which is slow for a 2(ish) mile run. I came in and finished and after talking with a few others, I found out that I podiumed but then figured out that I got 1st in my AG. Sweet!
Other than that, I think I swam once and got a spin class in. I'll write more tomorrow for this past week.
Weekly run mileage: 16.5 miles
Asics mileage: 92.5 miles
I did the Varsity Triathlon last Sunday put on by Red Licorice Events. Long story short is that I finished 1st in my age group. Actually, there were two others in my AG that finished ahead of me, but they finished in Top 3 Overall so that bumped me up to 1st in my AG. It was a small race so I take that into consideration, but I still won! Swim was shallow with some dolphin diving and it hurt since it was so short and fast. T1 was quite a jog to the area up a hill and on concrete with bare feet. That hurt a bit. Came out of T1 and tried to get going on my bike. Some freak accident happened and my shoe got caught between the ground and the pedal and when I pushed down, I heard a "pop". I thought it had come out of the pedal but when I got to the side of the road, I noticed that the shoe plate snapped in half at around the ball of the feet. Eh, they're 6 years old so it is time for new ones anyways. Kept going on the bike and thought I was doing great. At the turn around, I saw that I was 4th overall at that point. I turned around and ran into a wall of wind. 25mph going out and 18mph going back in. Brian caught up with me and we chatted a bit. Got on the run and I hurt immediately. It was really humid and I averaged about 8:18min/mile which is slow for a 2(ish) mile run. I came in and finished and after talking with a few others, I found out that I podiumed but then figured out that I got 1st in my AG. Sweet!
Other than that, I think I swam once and got a spin class in. I'll write more tomorrow for this past week.
Weekly run mileage: 16.5 miles
Asics mileage: 92.5 miles
Saturday, June 19, 2010
17 Miles
I've been meaning to write an update since last Sunday, but I'm just now getting around to it. Oh well. From what I can remember, I did run 17 miles last week. It was hot and slow, but I ran. I think I got a spin class, a bike, and maybe a swim in, too.
Weekly run mileage: 17 miles
Asics mileage: 76 miles
Weekly run mileage: 17 miles
Asics mileage: 76 miles
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
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
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
Thursday, June 3, 2010
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
Weekly run mileage: 15 miles
Asics mileage: 43 miles
Sunday, May 23, 2010
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
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
Monday, May 10, 2010
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
Weekly run mileage: 10 miles
Asics mileage: 248.5 miles
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
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.
Weekly run mileage: 15.5 miles
Asics mileage: 238.5 miles
Looks like I'm in need of new shoes.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
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
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
Sunday, April 11, 2010
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
Weekly run mileage: 15 miles
Asics mileage: 194.5 miles
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
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
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
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
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
Weekly run mileage: 13.5 miles
Asics mileage: 165 miles
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