The Half Marathon Plan

The training plan is up. I've incorporated it into my log so it's easier to follow. The perscribed activity is in blue. When the day comes, I'll turn it green if I did it, red if I didn't. I'll fill in Monday, Friday, and Saturday with whatever I do on those days.

This should get me up to running the Half in May. We'll see.

Switching up the running, and new stretch goal!

I need to start increasing my distance, so I'm going to go to a longer run every other day format. I'm going to set them on my off day for pushups. So it will go run, pushups/gym, run, pushups/gym, etc...

I'm starting it today with most likely a 2.5 mile run. I want to get to comfortable 3's soon (5K). I'd like to get some races in this spring, and ultimately run a half this summer.

I also have a new stretch goal. The original goal of "in shape by the family reunion" is still intact. The new stretch goal is "in shape by when I leave for my survival training". I'm taking a 7-day survival training course in the Michigan wilderness at the end of June. That should be about 1 month before the reunion. I'd like to get in shape by then. If not, then I have 1 month to sprint before the reunion.

I'll keep you posted.

Updates

Cycle 4 of perfect pushups starts today. My new 1-set max is 28, which is 3 up from last time. That's still better than 10% increase, so I'll take it. The pushups are really working. My chest and arms look noticably different. I've got 17.25" arms right now, which is the biggest I've ever had. I also have noticably more strength and endurance.

Cathy had her second personal trainer session. She received quite the ass kicking, which is exactly what we're paying for. The trainer isn't cheap, but for your money you get
A) personalized workouts that change on a weekly basis
B) way more workout for your time because the trainer pushes you through the workout and sets all the machines up
C) a workout partner, which allows you to do more things than you could do solo. Cathy's most effective activity involves tossing a medicine ball back and forth, which she can't do without a partner.
D) encouragement that you're doing well and making progress. That's a big one. Going to the gym alone and working out in silence has amazingly negative effects on your motivation. You start to get into the mindset of "hoorah... I get to go run on the treadmill again. Why the hell am I doing this again?" The trainer keeps it fun and interesting for you.

Cathy and I have all sorts of physical-type activities we want to do, and for the first time I really think we're on the road to being able to do them.

One catch....... with Cathy having a trainer, she's going to start catching up to me and eventually passing me on the road to physical fitness. I'm going to have to step my game up. I haven't lost any weight in 6 months. I've maintained, which is good, but I better start losing again or I'm going to be in trouble.

That's all for now.

An interesting new way of doing the gym

Ok, time goals don't work for me. The whole "I'm going to go do 30 mins on the bike" doesn't work. The new plan is to have the machines at the gym tell me I burned calories equal to whatever my dinner was that night. So last night I had a 700 calorie dinner. At the gym, I did my 20 Run(2 miles) and the treadmill claimed I burned 340 calories. So that meant I needed 360 burned on the stationary bike. It took me 41 minutes. If I eat less, I don't have to work out as much. It should keep me in steady weight loss. We'll see. At least it means I do varied amounts of cardio nightly, and not the same thing for the same amount of time every day, which gets boring and burns you out.

The land of 20 Run(2 miles)

You're going to see a lot of those... I've decided to keep doing 20 min(2 mile) runs until I can do it without discomfort. I could just wait until it doesn't hurt, but increasing at that point will probably lead to injury. I'm supplimenting the cardio with station bike work, so no worries on weight loss impact.

Finishing the ramp up

Ya know you just can't start gung ho on a new year's workout/eat right plan because you burn out. I've been ramping up the exercise with 2 mile runs this week, and have been trying to eat better off and on.

My weight is not 193.5, as the blog says, but I haven't updated it yet because it's in constant flux. I'll be eating right and exercising regularly starting Monday morning. After that week, I'll do a weigh-in and post my correct weight and body fat%. I think I'm around 195ish after the holidays, but I'm just not sure.

Stay tuned.

New Logs

The new logs are easier to read I think...if nothing else they're MUCH easier for me to maintain. I just fill in the little boxes.

I'm getting a slow start, but I have good excuses. Cathy and I are waiting on new MP3 players to show up before we can go to the gym. We fear if we go to the gym now, and it's utterly boring, that we will burn out faster.

That, and with my layoff from running, the feet need to ramp up again. I'm reading a new book called "Explosive Running" that has some very good insight into proper running form, and training for running. It basically says that the old method of training was to run more... and then run more... and then run more... and eventually you get strong and can run as much as you want. I tried this, and found that at the some level of running, every time, I would get injured. If I remember right it was around the 4 mile mark. Whenever I would ramp up to running 4 miles, I would screw my legs up. This book says the problem with the "just run more" theory is that running does not build strength in the legs. So what happens is you run more and more, your cadio keeps increasing, your tolerance to the shock of running increases, but your strength doesn't increase. Then logically there comes a point where your cardio takes you past what you have strength for, and you get injured. For me, it was 4 miles. This book is going to put me on a routine of strength building exercises specifically targetted at the mechanics of running. This should be really good for me, because I was a little worried about what strength training I would be doing at the gym. I'm on this Perfect Pushups plan, and so I can't very well go to the gym and lift on top of that. Hopefully I'll be able to do leg stuff at the gym, upper body stuff at home with perfect pushups, lots of cardio, and have all my bases covered.

We'll see....

Welcome to 2008

Ok everyone.... Time to kick it into gear!

Things I want to accomplish this year:
1) Get in shape for real. No more piddling around losing a pound every 3 months. I want to be in SHAPE. Not average... not low fat. I want rock hard abs. I want endurance for days. I want big arms.

2) Run! I want to get up to running for real. No more running a 5k and then being out for a month recovering. I want to run a half marathon this year

My new logs for 2008 are up. There better not be very many blanks in them as the weeks go by.
I'll keep you posted.