Lowest Weight in a Decade! Week 22 Weigh-In

In this blog:

• Week 22 Weigh-In, Lowest Weight in a Decade!
• Starved Rock and Marathon Maniac Status
• The Mayflower Phenomenon
• The Courage to Start
• Two Future Full Marathons

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The lowest weight I can remember with certainty (other than my high school football playing weight) happened back in the one year period of time prior to January 2002.

It was sometime during that year I was listed in Powerlifting USA magazine as having one of the top 100 Bench Presses in the nation, a 515lb bench at a body weight of 222 lbs.  So, I’m guessing there may have been a month when my weight was in the 240s or maybe less but other than going back 14 years I don’t know of any other time when my average weight for the month has been in the 240s.

This month, I have an average weight of 248.2 lbs!  🙂  So, I am 4 lbs lighter this month then I was last month.  The dynamics of this month’s weight change are kind of interesting.  After my double run weekend with the Starved Rock marathon on Sat followed by the Chicago 13.1 on Sunday my weight steadily increased to a high of 251.8 however – after a memorial day weekend of eating BBQ, hamburgers and pizza, my weight kept dropping down to it’s current low of 245.8.

So, run a lot and gain 4.4 lbs then eat a lot and lose 6.0 lbs!  🙂

I don’t fully understand all the physiological mechanisms associated with running a marathon due to a lack of experience with that distance but ….and I don’t mean to offend anyone here and I’m not sure how to couch this topic but, when I was in clinic a standard part of every patient’s first visit was to do a simple dip stick check on their urine.  We’d look for basics like nitrates, sugar and specific gravity of the samples.  From visual inspection, I know I had a very low specific gravity (light colored urine) prior to my Moonlight full marathon as I was very well hydrated but, after the double run weekend that specific gravity went way up to maybe 1.2 to 1.3 (much darker color) so, I associate this with the physiological stress and extra waste products that the kidneys had to contend with after those runs.  Various corticosteroids and creatinine kinase come to mind but, I’m sure there’s a whole host of other variables of which I’m unaware of.

Generally speaking, I associate the 4.4 lb gain with stress and the subsequent 6.0 lb loss with recovery and much less stress.

Starved Rock and Marathon Maniac Status
oh boy ….well, Starved Rock was supposed to be my 2nd full marathon in a week and thereby giving me Marathon Maniac (MM) eligibility but …There was a torrential downpour, thunderstorm and lightning strikes along the course which prompted race officials to send out school busses to pick up runners so, for me, that run ended around the 12 mile marker.

On a positive note, bright and early the next morning I knocked out a half marathon up in Chicago.  The plus side here is when you compare this past weekend to a very similar situation I had last year.  In April of last year I was signed up for a half marathon in St Louis which was to take place on a Sunday but then noticed the ultra cool medals given out for the Lincoln Presidential half marathon (50th anniversary) which was taking place the day before the St Louis run.  I did the Lincoln half but was so physically decimated by that run I couldn’t walk right even the day after that run and ended up giving my bib for the Sunday run away.  So, I’ve at least improved to the point where running back to back half marathons no longer intimidates me and is now within my ability level.

The full marathon – 26.2 miles – still intimidates the heck out of me.  Having failed at completing two full marathons in 16 days my only other option for meeting the minimum requirements to become a MM are to complete three full marathons in a time period of 90 days…. good grief….

Personally – I’ve started to refer to my marathon aspirations as …..

The Mayflower Phenomenon
My thinking here is akin to when man first set foot on the moon back in 1969.  Literally just years prior to that time we didn’t have the ability to accomplish such a task so, we really ended up accomplishing that feat with nearly the minimum amount of ability possible.  I see this the same was as Columbus sailing across the ocean ….in a wooden boat ….virtually zero navigational acumen available other than a sexton and yet …he did it.  When it comes to me and full marathons, I’m kind of like that wooden boat – sort of the minimum level of ability to cover the distance.  Still, there’s been some improvement over last year when I believed my boat would flat out sink had I attempted the full marathon I was originally signed up for in October of 2014.

So….how many trips can this Mayflower boat of mine make over that 26.2 mile ocean?  I have no idea.  Mentally, I’m having to do a lot of work to help encourage myself to push my boat from the safety of it’s harbor.  I’m listening to YouTube videos from Jana Stanfield, for example, with a really nice song called If I Were Brave.  I’ve also found many more mentally nutritional supplements on YouTube from simple searches like “What would I do If I knew I could Not Fail”  and, I’m relying a lot on poets like Henry David Thoreau who stated, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!  Live the life you have imagined.”

 The Courage to Start
I believe the Courage to Start is the name of a book by John Bingham, affectionately known as “The Penguin” but, with my recent runs my thinking has changed to the point where I now believe that finishing a race is the easy part – relatively speaking, when compared to the courage displayed by everybody at the starting line who all had to overcome something in their personal lives in order to even sign up, show up at the race and begin.

You just don’t see a lot of 250 lb boats attempting to complete a full 26.2 mile marathon.  Pretty much none.  For the most part you have a ton of incredibly amazing athletes with stunning abilities.  I know going into these races that the probability of finishing last is a bit north of 99%.  It’s like that saying, “The miracle isn’t that I finished, The Miracle is that I had the courage to start.”  So, I’ll continue to play a lot of mental ping-pong in which I am mainly working towards signing up and getting to that starting line.  🙂

Two Future Full Marathons
I’d like to make this MM endeavor as fun as possible and to that end I am considering two races, one for this coming June 13th and the other on July 18th.

On June 13th is the Hatfield and McCoy full marathon.  This takes place in South Williamson, Kentucky right on the border with West Virginia.  It’s about a 7.5 hour trip driving but, there’s no time limit and I’ve never been there before and I can count either Kentucky or West Virginia as one of my 50 states.  Also, there is a bit of real life history associated with the run which I’m always up for and …did I mention – there’s no time limit?  On the downside, this run is apparently one of the 15 hardest full marathons in the country but, I must do my best to ignore that portion of reality – there’s no time limit.

On July 18th, in Livingston, Tennessee there is a Looney Midnight Marathon!  Yep – that’s right, the marathon STARTS at midnight.  one Huge plus to this run is that I will not have to content with the sweltering heat of a daytime run – no sun ….except maybe for the sunrise which I’m sure I’ll have to contend with but really, how many times can you say you’ve jogged 26.2 miles BEFORE breakfast!  😀 😀 😀

 

 

 

Moonlight Marathon Recap!

In this blog:

• Self Image – i.e., incoherent rambling
• Moonlight Marathon Recap!
• This Weekend – a Full Marathon and a Half Marathon – Back to Back
• Week 20 Weigh-In

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I guess we all (speaking only about myself actually but it seems less like i’m opening myself up if i say “we all”…) have a picture in our mind of what we like to look like whether we look like it or not.  For me, at 300 lbs, 320 or 254 ….i still have this same image of myself that doesn’t look like any of those body weights.  This latest truth comes from the fact that I signed up for another 1 month diet bet to lose another 4% by June 9th.  In those bets, like all others, we need a shot of the scale with some key word on an index card along with a full body shot of us standing on that scale.  I don’t normally take full body shots of myself so every new weigh in or weigh out tends to be an ever humbling experience.

An ideal selfie is taken from the chest up, smile and …if you angle the camera just right… volia! no double chin!  🙂  …and why bother sucking a stomach in when you can avoid the matter all together? 🙂

However, all these full body shots has allowed me to do something I’ve never been able to do before.  I was able to put pictures side by side from Feb 3rd, my first diet bet and May 1, three months later as kind of a transformation duo picture.  There’s quite a difference and even though neither picture looks the way I’d like to see myself there is considerable change in the right direction.  I have another slot open in that picture collage to the right for a 6 month progress picture.  I’m very curious to see what that is going to look like.  reality is so slow when it’s happening…

Moonlight Marathon Recap!
This was a very interesting race.  From 5 p.m. (ish) to nearly 1 a.m. there was a total of 7 different races held at the Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois this past Saturday night.

1. Ultra Marathon – 5 laps or 32.75 miles
2. Marathon – 4 laps, start anytime from 5ish to 9 p.m.
3. Daylight 5K
4. Dark 5K
5. Single lap 6.55 miles (a bit more than a 10K)
6. Half Marathon – 2 laps
7. Marathon Relay

Mentally, it’s a bit like the weight I mentioned above.  In my mind, I’m a 4 hour 22 minute marathon runner – that equates to 10 minutes per mile.  Even though it’s been 20+ years since I’ve even run close to my weight, that’s what has always stayed in my head.  4:22:00 and capable of much more.  I have a lot of reality to interject with my ideal thoughts.  The first reality is the training I did last year for the Southwest Championship Marathon race that was held in Wynne, Arkansas on October 31st last year.  That’s one race on my list that I paid for but – DNS – Did Not Show.  The magnitude of the marathon, in my mind, simply exceeded what I thought I was trained for at that time.  I suppose I was still holding tightly to that 4:22 or so time and thought I was capable of getting to that level during last years training but that was not the case.

So, a slight shift in mental attitude had me thinking more along the lines of “let’s just see if I can cover the distance” and that I did. 🙂

The course at the Oak Ridge Cemetery is a crazy 6.55 mile loop.

with about 600 blue reflectors along the 6.5 mile path.  As runners, our mantra was to keep the blue reflectors on our left which, at times was easier said than done.  As a marathoner in the race, we were not allowed to have watches or any timing devices so, my exact start time is unknown but I know it was sometime after 5 p.m.  maybe 5:15ish when I started with the Ultra Runners.  The first lap was a bit like sightseeing and seemed very long since the entire path was new.  I alternated walking and jogging and then jogged in the last couple miles of the path.  When I came back around to the start I saw a guy named Kevin that I had become friends with before the race sitting on the knoll and asked him when he was going to start and he responded by jumping into the race at that time and running alongside me.  Since I’d already been running a couple miles nonstop I only made it another 2 miles or so with him at my side but it was very nice having someone to talk with during the run.  Along the way we both made another friend with a guy named Jesper Christensen who was from Denmark and had been up in Chicago the preceding week for Microsoft conferences.  He has a personal goal to run a half marathon every month of 2015.  He said he had never seen an American cemetery before and thought this run looked interesting.  This was his 2nd full marathon.  Kevin was an arborist from Decatur, IL and this was his first marathon.

When the second lap was coming to an end I remembered thinking that I would be sad if my race would have been over at that time and was glad I opted for doing more.

The third lap was kind of exciting because soon after starting that lap I knew I only had one more full lap to do and simply had to complete the remaining fraction of that third lap to hit the final lap then I would be able to claim my third full marathon.  It was dark by the third lap and during one of the inner loops of the race I came upon a young lady who was distraught with tears, pleading for help and had totally lost her way.  Apparently her mom had yelled at her for not training enough and took off without her.  I did my best to console her situation and told her to stick with me and we’d get her back on the right path.  She was a half marathoner and only had one previous lap in the daylight and the darkness tricked her up a bit.  Eventually she calmed down and took off at her previous pace.  About an hour later she came up behind me again confessing that she had, once again, gotten lost….  She only had about 4 or 5 miles left when I first came upon her but I had well over 10 and knew my hardest miles were ahead.

Finishing that third lap was awesome as I knew I only had one more lap to go to achieve my marathon goal.  However, the vast excitement I had during the beginning of lap 3 no longer existed.  It became more of a mental game to keep moving from miles 20 to 26.2.  Overall though, it wasn’t that bad.  I had paced myself within my limits.  I knew I had another full marathon to complete the following Saturday and had to be judicious with my efforts to make sure I’d still be in working order the next week.

In that last lap, the last 6.2 miles, the last 10K, it’s like every single step takes the same effort as 10 steps in the preceding 20 miles.  My toes felt like they were being smashed forward in the toe box of my shoes but, I had taped my feet up pretty well before hand to help avoid blisters and, in the end, there was only a small cut on the top of my left foot.

I have a lot of pictures to share from this race but, I think putting them in a facebook album might be the way to go so I can add captions and most easily review them 🙂

This Weekend – a Full Marathon and a Half Marathon – Back to Back
I don’t have a lot of time now but, there is another full marathon this Saturday morning in Ottawa, IL which is a place I used to live back in the early ’70s then another half marathon in Chicago that I have to be at starting at 5 a.m.  It’s been very interesting to get a glimpse behind the scenes as a volunteer for that race as well as a runner.  My job will be to help get and keep the starting corrals in order then jump in at the end as a back of the pack pacer.  I think the allowed time for that half may be as long as 4 hours which, is even slow for me but having done a full mary the day before I’ll be lucky if my legs are still working.  I think I should be fine though and I don’t get to visit Chicago all that often so it should be an enjoyable time 🙂

Week 20 Weigh-In
I had an interesting series of weigh ins before and after that last half.  I ate plenty leading up to the race.  Before I left my house for Springfield, I weighed 249.0 and when I got back home I weighed 245.8 and the next morning I was 243.8 🙂  This morning I was 247.4 🙂

I had another pasta meal last night and am looking to duplicate last week’s results.  For now, I’ve completed a marathon in my late 20s, 30s and 40s and I do believe my mind is much better now.  Much more readily able to handle the mental rigors of the marathon.  I remember clearly after my first marathon telling myself that once every 10 years was good enough but, perhaps I was selling myself short – mentally, in my 20s though, that’s what I thought.

The very best weapon I have in my arsenal as a great ally is calm.  Simply staying calm.  Kind of reminds me of those Stay Calm sayings which have become so popular over the past few years.  I did see one of those as a poster during the race this past Saturday that I really liked.

 

 

Two Marathons & One Half in 8 Days

In this blog:

• Two Marathons & One Half in 8 Days
• Week 19 Weigh-in

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7 days, 18 hours – from 5 p.m. Saturday, May 9th until 11 a.m. Sunday, May 17th.

I think it started out with a single half marathon, the Moonlight Marathon, in Springfield, IL on May 9th.  Then I heard my LPHM pacer was pacing a back of the pack group at the Starved Rock Full Marathon in Ottawa, IL on Saturday, May 16th.  So, I signed up for that run as well.

Then I learned about a new ranking system within the Half Fanatics and Marathon Maniacs …two groups which are dedicated to running nuts.  I’m already a Half Fanatic (#10814) but, for people who are able to qualify for both the Fanatics and Maniacs there is a title known as a Double Agent.  The minimum requirement to become a Marathon Maniac is to either complete 2 Marathons in 16 days or 3 Marathons in 90 days.

So….I chatted things out a bit with the race director of the Moonlight Marathon and I bumped that up to a full mary to meet the Maniac requirement and then get relisted as a Double Agent.

Then, this past Monday, I’m at my usual park looking to knock out an evening 10K and get an email before my run that there is a spot open with the back of the pack pacers for the Chicago Spring 13.1 event on May 17th.  That race has been sold out since March 14th and not only did I have a chance to get in but, I was able to get in for free 🙂

It took two miles into my run to make a decision and reply that I would take that last spot available.

1994 was my first full marathon – 2004 was my 2nd.  I was intimidated enough by the full mary coming up this Saturday and I have absolutely no idea in the world if I’ll be able to walk the day after my 2nd full in 8 days.  Literally doubling my number of fulls …from 2 to 4.

As long as I don’t break, I should be able to complete the full this Saturday night.  I’m almost apprehensive about even posting this because I’m so far out of the norm that I have no idea if this is all even possible, especially doing a half mary the day after a full.  The best I can think of doing after the Starved Rock full (besides eating soon after the run) is to get a couple bags of ice and soaking my legs in an ice bath, 20 minutes at a time to help reduce any inflammation.

I just looked up the Chicago 13.1 course for the first time and it looks like an out and back course which runs just east of Lake Shore Drive along the Lake Michigan.  Should be flat anyway.

One thing at a time.  For Saturday, I picked up the mandatory headlamp earlier tonight.  Found my biking shorts, CEP compression socks are washed & ready to go.  Ate first round of pasta a few hours ago, maybe 300-400 grams of carbs right there.  Doubled up on supplement packs over the past week and am constantly drinking water – enough to make sure my urine is clear, especially on Saturday.

I haven’t had any of the traditional 15-20+ mile long runs so, all my toenails are still attached, which is nice 🙂  I’m looking for the lowest intensity possible this Saturday night.  I’m pretty confident that I’m good for 18-20 miles.  The last lap through the cemetery.  The last 6.55 miles will be very interesting.  I’m going with the Brooks Glycerin for the two full mary’s because the New Balance are getting a little loose feeling and want to avoid blisters.  Got athletic tape and will probably go along the balls of my feet as well as a single wrap around the ankles and crossing anteriorly to meet up with the balls of my feet tape.  couple bandaids in the appropriate spots (marathon runners know what I’m talking about)

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 Week 19 Weigh-In –
omg, I’m tickled to death with this week’s weigh-in.  🙂  Officially, and to the uninformed eye, it might look like I gained a pound ….LOL  it’s really getting funny to me to even comment on bland, all-inclusive weight because it means so little.

I had two DietBet weigh-ins this week, one on Tue and one on Wed and my confirmed weights were 252.4 and 247.2 respectively.  Those would be my 14th and 15th straight wins.  And – check out my late night snack last night….

I weighed 251 after that meal.  In the past I probably could have eaten the entire box (3200 kcal) worth of spaghetti.  I thought of just eating half but ….there was a LOT so, I ate a little over 1/3rd.

Anyway, here’s my nifty new Weigh-in Wallpaper –

I added pictures from two additional runs.  Below the future car are two pics from my last 5K.  I like that one because it represents busting my butt.  I actually had a kick at the end of that race.  There were two people in front of me in the last quarter mile.  Normally, that wouldn’t matter to me because my gas pedal was already to the floor and I wasn’t going to go any faster no matter what, my engine was already topped out …reminds me of my first car, a 1977 Plymouth Arrow which had a top speed of 72 mph…

Anyway, I had another gear and was able to pass both people in that race.  The lower right hand corner pic is from the Lake Ozark 10K and shows me running past the finish, nobody put a medal around my neck as is being done with the lady in pink, I grabbed the medal and kept on running 🙂  That’s what love looks like.  Then I added a goofy pic with my brother at the GO! St Louis half marathon.  I kept that picture small so as not to scare little kids….

What I’m tickled about though is the fact I’m starting this Month out in the 240s which means the probability of having an average weight this month in the 240s is – numerically speaking – outstanding 🙂

Those three pictures on the left that have been part of my Weigh-In Wallpaper for some time now – those remind me of a difference between endorphin and enkephalin.  I think of endorphin as something more readily obtainable such as is often associated with a runner’s high but enkephalins I have more closely associated with achieving a long term goal and victory.  My time in the St Louis 1/2 mary was faster and much easier to achieve but, in that race I only had a sub-goal of simply repeating what I had already done the week before – ie, anything under 3 hours for my finish time.  The first 1/2 mary of the year being under 3 hours – that was very hard and was one of my goals from last year which never was obtained.  so – enkephalin.

The pics engender everything from determination to love and everything in between.

….pondering ….it’s been 11 years since my last full marathon so…. and …. enkephalins are involved with nociception modulation – recalling that nociception is what pain impulses are called before they are interpreted by the brain so… during the last 6.2 miles when I’m in the most pain from this upcoming full marathon, I may also be generating some nice endogenous opiates to help quell that pain.  YeeHaw! 🙂

2015 Week 18 Weigh-In

Two weeks ago we had an anomalous reading of 248.0 but my week 18 weigh in is now solidifying the 240’s as a new reality for me.

246.8 is 2.4 pounds from the lowest weight I’ve recorded in the past 2 years.  Last year at the end of a 12 week contest I hit 244.4 for my final weigh in but that was a bogus and very temporary & manipulated weight.  Just a few hours before weighing 244 I was 248 and told the office staff where I was weighing in that I would be back in a few hours.  There’s always zero eating or drinking on the final day of a contest weigh in so I just walked for a few hours and came back about 4 lbs lighter.

My average weight for April is now officially 12 pounds lighter than my average weight in March – from 266 to 252.

May should be pretty interesting.  My average weight for this month should be solidly in the 240s and that will also bring my yearly 2015 average weight below last years average weight.  My initial goal at the beginning of this year was to weigh in the low 240s so, anything under 245 will give me that.  There’s also a good chance of hitting my lowest weight ever since initially tracking my weekly weight since Jan of 2014.  Anything below 244.4 will give me that.

As enamored as I am with my weight in the 240s – I’m looking at my Calendar and the fact that as of this morning (Sat 5/1) I only weigh 246.6 so there is a strong likelihood of dropping down into the 230s by the end of this month.

This month is going to start out with more board reviews – from Sat 5/2 to Wed 5/6 so that means I’ll be sitting on my butt a minimum of 11 hours per day – 9 for reviews and another 2 each day for commuting.  I’ll be playing hooky again on the first day of reviews to squeeze in a local 5K but overall, I may be lucky to maintain my weight this first week – thinking I may have to make friends with Queeny Park which is near where I’ll be taking my reviews and plan ahead of time to stop there each night after reviews to get some miles in …. I know there’s a decent 4 mile loop at that park which should help offset all that sitting.  I also really need to think ahead of time about my lunches.  Traditionally I have a favorite little Chinese restaurant I like to “reward” myself with everyday during my reviews but, maybe I can change that mindset and look forward to rewarding myself with a sub 245 lb Week 19 weigh-in.

The second Saturday of this month will consist of knocking out my 20th half marathon up in Springfield, Illinois – The Moonlight 1/2 Mary.  There’s also a *really* fun looking Fat Ass 5k that day which starts at 10 a.m. – the water stops along that 5k feature ice-cream, corn dogs, donuts and beer!  no joke – it sounds like a blast.  There’s even a 1/10th mile “Fat Ass Detour” route which takes runners straight to a bar!  🙂  I checked last years race results and some people take up to 3 hours to finish the 3.1 mile route.  I think i have a picture of the flyer….

To me, the most appealing part of that race are the corn dogs!  I love corn dogs 🙂

The Fat Ass 5K street party ends at 3 p.m. and I think the half mary starts at 7 p.m.  idk – it would be easy to rationalize but, I’m also considering how much fun it might be next year when I don’t actually look like a fat ass and have a half mary to run afterwards, maybe even book a hotel room for the night so I have a place to stay after all the festivities.  So …skipping the corn dogs might help but, I’m not all that restrictive with my eating overall.  With the DietBets there’s always plenty of time available to eat whatever I want.  I’ve had no shortage of pizza’s this year, just smaller and less and sometimes if that’s what I indulge in say, for lunch, then that may be all I eat for that day.

The third week in May is a biggie – My third full marathon up in Ottawa, Illinois – The Starved Rock Full Mary.  I’m only about 5 months off from a goal I set 20 years ago to run a full marathon every 10 years so, that’s not so bad and then I’ll be able to restore my original icanrunaminute tagline to “Can a man who can barely run a minute complete a marathon” and be able to answer with a Hell Yes!  🙂

I got an email regarding the Starved Rock marathon today and the Chicago pacer, Christina Chapan will be pacing a 6:45 group and there’s another guy by the name of Walter Evans who will be pacing a 6 hour group.  I’m not sure which group would be a more prudent choice.  Do I start out with Walter then if I fall behind I can always join up with Christina’s group?  Do I start w/ the 6:45 group and stick it out the best I can?  A 6 hour time equates to a 13 min 45 sec pace ….for 26.2 miles so, it’s a tad faster than a very brisk walk.  a 6:45 finish time equates to about 15 min 27 sec per mile.  I think Walter’s 6 hour pace would include a mix of jogging and walking which would inherently stress the muscles differently due to the mix of paces.  That could be a benefit over a more static type of pace which will arduously keep stressing the same biomechanics relentlessly.  Overall, I’m guessing I have close to an 80% chance of being able to cover the distance.  I know there are cheerleader positive thinking type people out there who want to say “you can do it!” but, I know the stark realities of a full marathon.  It’s bear – a beast – an 800 lb gorilla that can crush you.  I know what it’s like after mile 20 to have your legs stop working the way they did for the first 20 miles.  But, as long as I can move I should be able to finish.  I suppose if I knew there was a 100% chance for success then it wouldn’t be as interesting so part of the intrigue is to flirt with the 20% that may challenge me to stop – or, just flat out break me.  We shall see.

For some dumb reason – I am registered for a 5K the day after my full mary.  It’s a run at the St Louis zoo.  Oh, I do have a picture of the full mary medal.  I kinda thought it sucked at first but, it’s starting to grow on me 🙂  It’s actually part of a 5 medal series – the first medal was last year and if you run all 5 years then all the pieces fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and kind of represent the history of Starved Rock State Park.

One thing is certain, I will be creating an indelible memory on Saturday, May 16th and I won’t be forgetting that run for the rest of my life.