Good morning to the one or two of you that might actually see this!
Friday mornings are my weigh in mornings – and this morning, I weighed in at 317.8 pounds, which is a 4.2 pound loss from last week and a total of 5.2 pounds.
Which is outstanding. I needed to see a week work to keep up the motivation – and this week worked. I had a very good week in terms of my food consumption and exercise. In particular, I have been for 5 runs since last Friday, which is the best extended stretch of getting out there I have had in over a year.
Quick note on weigh in timing: I chose Friday very deliberately, and that is a Weight Watchers thing. If you aren’t familiar, Weight Watchers works on points – they assign a point value to everything you eat and drink, and you are given a daily allotment of points that you are supposed to stay within. You can eat whatever you want, but you have to stay within those points. On top of that, you are given a weekly allotment of “cheat” points – best I can tell, this is 49 points for everybody, regardless of what your daily allotment is. That 49 points can be used any way you want – you can go over your daily allotment by a little bit every day, or you can save it up and blow it out on one big meal. The rule is that you can’t save up your daily points – use ’em or lose ’em – and when you run out of those extra points you’re pretty constrained. Crucially, your points reset on your weigh-in day.
I find it much more difficult to stay within my daily point total on the weekends, for a lot of reasons that are probably obvious enough I don’t need to discuss. So most of my 49 points winds up getting used between Friday dinner and Sunday dinner, with Friday dinner and, believe it or not, Sunday breakfast being the two huge weak spots. When I first started WW, I was using a calendar week and weighing in on Sunday morning. The problem with that is that all of that my perception of weigh-ins was that they were being skewed. And so I was depriving myself needlessly or feeling very guilty about things even when I stayed within my points. Also, if I had a slip up during the week and was very low on points, I was finding it hard to keep it reined in on the weekends.
By weighing in on Friday I get rid of almost all of that psychological crap. And, for the record, I know that is all psychological. Over time, this comes out in the wash. However, managing my energy is a big part of this process, and this way I just don’t have to spend any energy worrying about tonight’s perfectly legal dinner unduly impacting tomorrow morning’s weigh in.
Anyway.
Progress is good! I feel great, and this is just the kick in the ass I needed.
I suppose we could call this one a Throwback Thursday, couldn’t we? Because this happened almost exactly one year ago, though I never did a race report. I’m a bit out of practice, but here goes nothing.
The morning dawned bright and muggy.
Nope – too much.
Each year for over 10 years now, my wife’s parents rent a beach house at some very nice location for their vacation. What has always happened is that they would rent a house big enough for all of their kids and their families, and then they would invite everyone. Come, don’t come, that doesn’t matter – you are all invited. July of 2015 will be the 8th year I’ve been in the family for this, and it was a long-established tradition before I got there.
They started in the Sandbridge area of Virginia Beach, Virginia. That’s where my first year was. But my first year in Sandbridge was the family’s last year in Sandbridge – the drive from northern New Jersey was proving too much. So we gradually began migrating up the coast. The following year was in Cape May, New Jersey. The year after that began a two-year run in Mantaloking, New Jersey. And then there were three years in Southampton, New York, on Long Island.
By this point in the summer of 2014, I was basically not running anymore but had not yet given up on the idea of me running. And one of my sisters-in-law is very athletic and saw this 5k and sent out a blast to the family – I want to run it, lets have a bunch of us do that. So I signed up.
There was some confusion at the bib pickup, and I knew there would be – when I signed up online, there was never an option to pay. So when I showed up at the race, they said “You’re the guy that didn’t pay!” But, because I was expecting that I was prepared with cash and we didn’t have a problem. It turned out that the only family members that actually were running the race were the aforementioned sister-in-law, my niece who is in high school and runs cross country, and me. I made it clear very early on that my feelings would not be hurt when they left me in the dust.
The 2014 Southampton Family Vacation 5K team
We got there pretty early, so we spent 30 minutes warming up by jogging around the little park where the start line was. And then we lined up and were off. We ran down about 200 yards, turned left and climbed the only real hill of the race, and then ran a big square in a neighborhood area full of $1million+ homes in the Hamptons. We then came back down the hill and headed back to the finish line.
So, yeah, I was unprepared for this race. Things went OK until I got maybe a quarter mile past the top of the hill, and then my right shin seized up and that was it. I run / walked the rest of the way in pain, wondering what in the hell my shins had against me.
My wife’s family is the cheering type, and since there were three of us running, they came out and sat near the finish line. As I come through, this is what I’m greeted with:
Seriously – that’s worth your time. That’s my son on the left – I love it when he gets to come out and see me doing this.
My time was horrible – 38 minutes and 23 seconds. That is slower than my first ever 5K. I was so discouraged that this performance basically ended my running for the next six months – my last run was on August 3rd, with a little attempt in February 2015 and then a couple of fits and starts in May / June.
Notes:
– Hard to say it more strongly – that really really sucked.
– Having a cheering section like that, though, is amazing. Seriously, amazing.
– Running in the Hamptons is a bit surreal, if you want to know the truth. The houses we were running past were protected by huge hedges, so mostly we were running through a big green tunnel. And then when you did see a house, it was a freaking mansion. Weird.
– My sister-in-law and my niece both did run away from me – they had a decent race. I was happy for them, even if I was disappointed in myself.
– I don’t remember much about the SWAG. The t-shirt was a cotton job that my wife wears all of the time around the house. And the bib was a unique one that said Southampton Rotary Club, which I love. The spread at the end was bagels and bananas, and there were plenty left when a back-of-the-packer like me made it to the table.
– That race was the 17th and last race of my streak. In January of 2013, I weighed about 315 pounds. In March of 2014, I ran my first 5K, and then ran at least one event in 16 straight months, losing 50 pounds in the process and feeling amazing. During the streak I ran a Ragnar, two half marathons, a 15k, two 10ks, a 5-miler, ten 5ks, and a 4k. I ran events in 6 states and the District of Columbia. I ran through three pairs of shoes, and just basically felt like a million damn dollars.
– I want that back. I want it back badly.
– Next Race: The Great American Bacon Race, 5K, Tampa, Florida, October 3rd, 2015
My son and his grandfather. This – this right here – is what this is all about
Back in December, a headhunter got in touch with me about a great job opportunity. And he was right – it was great. There was a catch, though.
The job was in Florida.
But – against all odds, we sold our house and moved to Florida at the end of April. There will be a lot of discussion of the adjustment of moving and the running in Florida vs. the running in New York (preview: no hills!). This post, though, is going to focus on a specifically new thing for my runs: wildlife.
I’m sensitive to this topic because about six weeks after we moved here I took this picture from the pond about 3 minutes from the house:
That is EXACTLY what it looks like
When I took that picture, I was standing on a sidewalk that is part of my regular running route. It has to be, because I have to regularly go through there to get to a lot of places.
So … yeah. I run in the early morning, before work. Before dawn. When it is still dark. I pay attention when I run now, to indulge in understatement.
Of course, this means I notice a lot, and it turns out that there is a lot to notice in Florida. The big one for me is the birds – an example is this guy, whose picture I took not 100 yards from where I took the picture of the alligator:
They stand like that all the time
This one is called an anhinga, and they are basically South American birds who also have a small range in the extreme southern United States, including most of Florida. In other words, I never ever would have seen this bird in New York. Incidentally, I looked him up, and they stand with their wings like that to dry them – they are water birds, but their feathers don’t get oily like a duck’s, and they struggle to fly with wet feathers.
There seem to be a million of these little lizards:
These guys are EVERYWHERE
And, just, in general there is a lot of wildlife. Several runs ago I spent 5 minutes watching two bats going crazy catching bugs. On the run after that I was close enough to an armadillo that I could have kicked him. And then just after the armadillo, there were three deer that included a little yearling buck about 10 steps away.
The next day I almost stepped on something that scared me to death, and I still don’t know what it was. It was, however, furry – so not an alligator. Or a snake.
The practicalities of it were mystifying to me, but now that I’ve been using it I get a better idea of how it works. There is a story (zombies take over the world, survivors live in a little enclave, a group of runners go out and get supplies, etc., you become one of those runners) that happens while you’re running. You are given a mission and you head out running – periodically, the characters pipe up and give you updates or new missions, or tell you there is a zombie near and you better get off your ass. During the dead time, you can either have silence or you can have it play your music. Essentially, this is a form of interval training, with somebody else calling the interval shots.
Frankly, this sounded kind of silly to me. Its not like there are real supplies in the real world – seems like just having something there for the sake of having it there. And I was wrong. When one of those zombie sounds happens out of nowhere and somebody screams in your ear “Run!” – yeah, you respond.
I’ve only recently begun the 5K training program – I’m not involved in the full-blown game yet. But I will be. And if you happen to look threatening on my run, don’t be surprised if I act funny, ok?
Not to get too carried away here, but it is time for a Mike McD-style Ali-like return to the ring, so … we’re back
They say when you come back from not blogging that you don’t have to, and maybe even shouldn’t, apologize or explain. They are wrong. That makes no sense.
So, in one of my very first posts, one of the things I talked about was how I was inspired by, but ultimately disappointed and frustrated by, Ben over at Ben Does Life. About how he was so cavalier about “just do it!” when his process didn’t match reality for so many – we don’t all get to cut class and go running at midnight and not worry about our families and our mortgages, etc. The reality for most people is that fitting in fitness is about juggling schedules and making it work, and we don’t get to just drop Ironman training onto our daily schedule and expect a maintenance-free transition.
Ben fell off the wagon and quit blogging, and that has been frustrating, too. Because part of this whole story is the journey – there and back again, as it were. And for whatever reason I was overcome with cognitive dissonance because I never equated my abandoning this blog with Ben abandoning his. I was wrong about that.
I also fell off the wagon. After I dealt with my first (and I guess still only) running injury last summer, I was frustrated by how HARD everything felt. It was hard to eat right, it was hard to be motivated, my running performance was falling off (some of that was because I was out of shape because of the injury, some of that was because IT WAS THE MIDDLE OF THE FREAKING SUMMER, but, whatever it was, it was hard), and I just got into one of those mental funks. I didn’t have a concrete next goal to be working towards, and I just … stopped.
There was another race – a 5k in July that went very poorly – and then, on August 3rd, 2014, I went for what would become my last run for several months. I didn’t make a positive choice to stop running and eating well. I just fell back into an old routine and old habits.
When I started focusing on my food and my running, I lost 55 pounds, and needed to lose another 30 – 50. I’ve gained almost all of that back. I’m at 322 pounds as of Friday, and I’m not happy with myself for it. This size limits things you can do, and I’m not OK with that. Not to mention that a doctor would almost certainly put me on blood pressure medication, and I don’t want to do that, either. Clothes aren’t fitting and I’m just not comfortable with myself at all.
It is time.
I’ve been back on the Weight Watchers bandwagon for two weeks now, and I’ve now spent a week running again (lots of walking, but I’m getting out there). I’m signed up for a 5k in October and a half marathon in January. And I still have a goal in life to run a full marathon. This is not over, not by a long shot.
This blog will be a little different, though I’m still me. Life has changed, too – we moved our family to Florida from New York, and our family has grown – my younger son is now 18 weeks old and is an absolute little angel. I’m not focused on my race streak anymore, and though I’ll mostly talk about food and running and fitness here, I want to incorporate more of the elements of my life.
We’ll see how it goes. For the two of you that might actually read this, let me know what might be interesting.
The Branford 5m Road Race was recommended to me by a poster over on the Motley Fool. The recommendation was basically that this is a relatively large race that they’ve been doing for a long time and has great support. The race is also part of a festival that is done on the green in Branford every Father’s Day. When I looked it up, and saw that the race itself didn’t start until 10:15 – which means late enough that my family could come – I signed up.
So … it turns out that this Branford Festival is a thing. A legit thing. At 9am when we got there we were very surprised at how difficult parking in the area was … and then when we got to the green there were people and tents and just activity all over the place. We didn’t explore a whole lot at first because I was prepping for the race, but it turned out that on the next block over there were rides and carnival games and food vendors and car shows and just all kinds of stuff. And after the race was over we hung around and had a blast. Overall, in spite of what I’m going to say in a minute, this was basically the best Father’s Day ever.
I like starting line pictures like this…
Not that I was as prepared as I thought I was for the race.
I went in optimistic – my mileage has been slowly increasing, and I’ve been feeling pretty good. My intention was to try and keep it under control in the first mile and then see what was left in the tank at around mile 4 and try and finish strong. My stated goal was 55 minutes, so 11 minute miles, which I expected to be very achievable. My backup goal was an hour flat, which I almost didn’t even think bore mentioning. And if I’d gotten to mile 4 at 44 minutes or less I was going to try and uncork it and see what I could do in the last mile. I understood the course to be basically downhill or flat through the 3rd mile, mostly uphill in the 4th mile, and then flat to slightly uphill into the finish.
Confusion at the start – there was a 2-mile walking course that was, against all logic, set to start 5 minutes before the regular 5 mile race. The idea was that after about a quarter of a mile they took a turn we didn’t, so they cleared the course. However, we all were lined up in the same starting chute, so nobody was sure if they were in the right place. When they let the walkers go there was a collective “oh shit!” from the walkers lined up at the back, and it took them awhile to push through. Once they cleared the course, though, we had a national anthem and were off – just under 2,000 runners.
Mile 1 came in at 10:39, which was fast-ish for what I wanted to do but not too awful bad. Mile 2 was 11:19, which means my first 2 miles were right on. At about mile 2.5 we came to the bottom of the first hill and I just blew up.
Just blew right the hell up.
Seriously, I have no idea what happened other than I’m just completely out of shape. Mile 3 was 12:46, Mile 4 was 13:15 (!), and Mile 5 was 12:42. My shins tightened up, my right foot felt numb on the outside … which was weird. And I just couldn’t summon the energy. The hills went on longer than I expected – from mile 2.5 until basically mile 4.5 – but that’s no excuses … I just sucked. My finish time was 1:00.46. I missed my really easy goal by 46 seconds and my go-get goal by over 5 minutes.
I don’t usually do this – I like to stay positive – but I also got a jolt when I got the pictures after. The pictures are standard, and the photographers were all in the last couple of miles of the course. But one in particular stood out:
So, this is pretty horrifying. I’ve only gained back between 5 and 10 pounds of the weight I’ve lost, but my self body image is no longer this. I don’t think I’m svelte, by any means … but I thought I’d moved past mortifying pictures, or at least farther past them than this.
What I have to face is that I’m still a fat guy.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not that down on myself. Only a little. I think I probably needed this. I’ve been going around lately acting like I’m not a fat guy. I’ve been eating whatever I wanted, blowing off runs fairly regularly, just pretty much behaving as though I’m a regular high-metabolism skinny athletic guy. And I’m not. I’m just not.
For proof, see that picture up there.
Anyway – I didn’t have a great race, and I don’t feel great about where I’m at after it. But I’m not done, by any stretch. And I’m not going to feel sorry for myself. Instead, I think I’ll run. See you out there.
This one is better. They caught me on the up…
Notes:
– Seriously, though, with all of that – what a great day. We had so much fun at the festival, and my wife and I each independently came to the conclusion that we could live in Branford, Connecticut. That’s a successful race by any standard.
– Speaking of successful races – they were quick to claim the title of best 5 mile race in the nation. I heard that several times. Have to give it to them, though – they go out and try to earn that. There were bands on the course, many water stops, and there was plenty of support at the end. Overall a very well run race.
– For the last quarter of a mile or so they had the crowd behind barriers, and you had to round a corner just before the finish line. It felt like coming into a legitimate chute and running for a big crowd. Even the finish was cool.
– Many many strollers. One guy cut me off and nearly ran over the person running next to me. And several others were being pretty rough as they ran through the crowds. Just about the time I got frustrated with it, I was tapped on the shoulder and warned about one coming – but they were pushing an adult, just like the Hoyts. I happily got out of their way – those guys are amazing.
– They had an official 2.5m split, which is a weird distance. I guess I get 2 PRs out of this, though…
– One big acknowledgement of the William & Mary shirt I was wearing – lady practically knocked her husband down getting his attention to show him the shirt.
– Not really any SWAG – an ink pen, several coupons and flyers for local businesses, and the shirt. The shirt is the exact same brand and color as the shirt that I got at the Ridgewood 5K last month, just a different logo. This is a good thing – it is a nice shirt. I did, however, get a pint glass at the festival for $5 … and the festival made up for everything.
– That was June, which is 16 straight months running a race. This wasn’t my best, but it counts, and I’m proud I did it.
– Next race: NYCRUNS Shore Road Summer Mini-Series #2, 5K, Brooklyn, New York
Five mile race next weekend – I won’t crush it, but I’m not going to back off, either. 5K in July I intend to PR with, and then a punishing 10K over Storm King mountain in August … with my family in town. Then a half marathon in September and Ragnar (!) in October.
This was my exactly my fourth run in the month of May. Count ‘em – four. When I took myself out of the Superhero Half Marathon because of an injury, my thoughts immediately turned to the problem of my streak. The half was on May 18th, and because of the injury that weekend was out. But that only left two other weekends to get a race in – one of those was Memorial Day weekend, and the other had to have a race on Saturday because Sunday is the 1st of June.
I began to believe that the streak was going to come to an end. I sat on that thought for a few days. And then my stubbornness rose up, screaming, and basically asked me what the hell I was doing. After 14 months of streaking … and with the next 5 months already booked up and registered for … and with the foot / ankle feeling much, much better … what the hell are you doing?
So I found this race and registered. I had very few expectations – I only knew it was about 30 minutes from the house and this would be the 39th year, so there would be some organization.
The Ridgewood Run (I have no idea who Fred D’elia is) has been run by the New Jersey Masters running club on Memorial Day weekend for longer than I’ve been alive. The day consists of multiple separate races – a 10K wheelchair event, a regular 10K, the 5K, an elite mile, a masters mile, and a one mile “fun run”. There is prize money, and the mile requires a qualifying time for entry. Interestingly, they run the races non-concurrently – the 10K goes first, and then the 5K doesn’t start until that one is completely done, then the mile, then the fun run. That meant that my race wasn’t scheduled to start until 10:15am – which means the wife and child could come.
We got a perfect day, if a little hot. We got there around 9:15, and by that time people were already crossing the finish line from the 10K. Because of the number of people running (nearly 1,000 for the 10K, over 1,700 for the 5K), there actually was a little expo of sorts, with different local businesses set up at tables. They had a DJ / MC presiding over things at the finish line, which is always nice. And overall this felt like a real event.
I had no intention to go try and PR – I knew better. But I didn’t just want to go walk it, either. So I took a couple of warmup laps around a nearby baseball field and then went and lined up. There were no pacing signs or corrals, so the start line was a total free-for-all, and it felt that way for the first half mile. But eventually things lined out and got comfortable. The course itself was through a very nice residential neighborhood, and there was quite a lot of support. There were probably four water stops (in a 5K!) and lots of people sitting out in their yards. Many people had a water hose spraying the street, and in at least one place somebody had attached a sprinkler to a ladder so they didn’t have to stand there with the hose.
Predictably, I started way too fast. My first mile came in at 9.46, which was a PR pace and totally unsustainable. I felt OK, but as an academic exercise I knew that I was going to pay for that. Not far into the second mile there was a little hill that forced me to slow down, and I maintained a more reasonable (for this race, anyway) 11.02 pace for the second mile. The third mile brought a walk break over a decent sized hill, which slowed me down to 11.18 for that one – and then a downhill finish at 10:21 for the last .1 mile. The clock said 33.27 when I crossed the finish line, and my chip time came in at 32.59, for a 10.39 pace, or about 2 ½ minutes off of my PR.
Given my general lack of preparation, I’m pretty happy with that. The day was a big success – I extended the streak, felt good about the performance, and my family had a good time. Win, win, win. Now back to getting after it and preparing for the next race. This time won’t be close to acceptable at my next 5K
Can’t figure out how to stop holding my arms tight like that.
Notes:
– Prize money brings fast runners – the guy that won the 5K did it at 4.40 pace, and the winner of the mile did it at 4.02 pace. Seriously blazing.
– Lots of confusion in the first mile, at water stops, and past the finish line. People were weaving and darting unexpectedly, and twice I nearly ran over someone who just dead stopped in front of me. Much of this was kids – there were several kids in the 8-12 age range. I don’t get at frustrated with all of this as I used to, but it would be good if folks were a touch more considerate.
– Speaking of kids – I’ve noticed a pattern whenever I run races with kids. They do not appear to be able to hold a pace. They run really fast, and then stop and walk, rinse, repeat. It can be disconcerting near the end of a race like this to get blown by, but then in less than half a mile you wind up going back by the walker.
– These things are fun when they feel like big events like this. In particular, having a DJ / MC is great – the announcements are clear and timely and there is just no question what is going on. Another cool thing is that they had a “History” tent, with pictures and t-shirts from many of the past runnings of this race. That definitely lends credibility to the proceedings.
– The wife and boy were set up about a quarter mile from the end of the race. Having a cheering section is great … and some random dude standing next to them was yelling my name, too. Awesome.
– No real swag – I think the intent was that you get stuff at the tents. The shirt was a nice blue technical shirt, and the bib was unique to this race – which you know I think makes a big difference.
– May is in the books, and the streak is intact! That was 15 straight months with races. I’m registered for races in each month through October (2 in October), so barring problems we get to 20 at least. I’ve also targeted a couple of races for November and December. We’re streaking…
– Next race: Branford Road Race 5M, Branford, Connecticut, June 15th.
… is at 15 months. Ridgewood Run 5K this morning, and given that this was my 4th run in a month I’m pretty pleased with how it went. The race report is coming later in the week (I want to get pictures) … but the preview is 32 minutes, 59 seconds. I don’t like being that far behind my PR, but I’m very happy to have gone and done that.
A Constant State of Hunger 