Jun 7, 2010

May recap, June goals

Wow, I decided to took one day (memorial day) off of updating this blog, and it turned into a whole week off!
Unrelated but cool: Joey ran 2.5 miles with is TaeKwonDo class this weekend
May:
Ran 18 out of 31 days in 19 distinct workouts
Total Mileage: 141
Weight on May 31: Unknown
(Weight on June7: 311 +6)

2010:
Ran 111 days in 115 distinct workouts.
Total Mileage: 569

Here were my May goals:

And that brings me to May goals:
1. Run 31 out of 31 days
2. Run 100 miles at the 48-hour race, and 200 miles total
3. Weigh 280 on May 31, losing 25 lbs
4. Complete 5 ascents of Bear Mountain, including one double-ascent

My May goals were quickly canceled by Tony and Herb offered to help me with my training. I've mentioned Tony numerous times in this blog before, his qualifications are apparent. Herb is a fast runner who has run Boston in 3:05 and has a half-marathon PR at about 1:30. Needless to say, both of these guys know what they're doing (more so than me) and I'd be stupid not to accept their advice.

Here's how the conversation with Tony went down.

Great. I think that the smart thing to do is focus on Javelina as your "A" race, the one you care the most about finishing. We will get you ready for Damn Wakely and the ST Marathon, but you have to figure that if there is one thing you want to do in 2010 it is to finish a 100 miler.

Now, go to Facebook and announce that you have retained me as your coach/guru/shaman, and the first order of business is to abandon the mile-a-day streak, and that you will be finishing your first 100 in October.

And there you have it. Tony and Herb are giving me a training log and I'm running it.

In other news - I have felt like utter hell on all of my runs lately. I can't remember the last time I actually felt good when running. I'd like this feeling to stop, please.

If there is anything wrong medically, I guess I'll find out on the 24th when I have that follow-up appointment with the Doctor. Otherwise, I'm not sure what's going on. A couple of people have suggested taking a week off, because the symptoms I was having sounded to them like overtraining. It was a risky and drastic proposition, but I decided to do it because my runs have been so miserable and I'm feeling like I'd do almost anything to get back to where I was. So, on Saturday of Memorial day weekend, I did 3 miles easy and didn't run again until the next Saturday, in which - I saw little improvement. Damn.

Weight is, of course, always an issue for me, and may be what's behind the crappy runs lately. The magnitude of the crappiness seems to be an overly-dramatic effect for just a few pounds, but I suppose it's possible. Either way, it would be fantastic if I can lose a few pounds before Badwater (and, by extension, Wakely Dam.) I feel like I have tried nearly everything out there, and nothing has seemed to work for more than a week. Yet, I'll keep coming up with ideas and every time I'll believe this idea will finally work.

So, this time, my brilliant plan which can't fail is:

Step 1: Plan everything I eat.
Step 2: Log everything I eat next to the plan.
Step 3: Do this in a public matter, so people can see where I'm screwing up
Step 4: ???
Step 5: Profit!

Ok, steps 4 and 5 are a little iffy, so I would be thrilled if the effect is simply to lose a tremendous amount of weight. It seems to me that will make the biggest difference possible. I've done it before - my lowest weight in 2008 is 130lbs lighter than my max weight in 1997. I don't need to lose that much. 100lbs would be fine. (:

So here's where you can see my eating log and plan:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AjYFLSDsZldwdHpTSU9xb05BUXplUWMzeFJCSHVYdmc&hl=en


The June goals (starting on June 7) are thus:
1. Do whatever Tony and Herb tell me to do
2. Plan and log everything I eat in the link above.





New entries for Steve's blog are published every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10:00am NY time

1 comment:

  1. Hi Steve!

    I've been reading your blog for a while, and I enjoy your writing. Also rooting for you in your endeavors!

    Eating/weight loss can be a personal thing, especially for those who love to eat (like me). So you can take this with a grain of salt (!) - one thing that has helped me with weight control is eating a spinach salad in the evening. Big salad - baby spinach, tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, carrots. Sometimes also: avocado, corn, sprinkling of sunflower seeds, olives. A bit of dressing on the side. It fills me up without many calories, provides a bunch of vitamins, and keeps me hydrated overnight. It takes some prep time and you may not be as "into" vegetables. Just a thought.

    Keep up the efforts!
    -Marcy

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