Year 2, Week 36 Weigh-In

233.2 today for a September average of 234.6 so only a couple 10ths of a pound more is needed to round my average down to 234 which would be a 4lb drop from August.  I’ll take that 🙂

From the 20th of this month until the 18th of next month there are 4 half marathons and one 5K on the books with a strong possibility for another double half marathon weekend.  I’m not sure I realized the upcoming intensity but here’s what we’ve got

• 09/20 – US Navy/AirForce Half Marathon, Washington DC
• 09/27 – Chicago Half Marathon, Chicago, IL
• 10/10 – Brooklyn Rock n Roll Half Marathon, Brooklyn, NY
• 10/11 – Shades of Death Half Marathon, Allamuchy, NJ
• 10/17 – St Louis Rock n Roll 5K, St Louis, MO
• 10/18 – St Louis Rock n Roll Half Marathon, St Louis, MO

I’m registered for all those runs except the Shades of Death Half.

Another interesting run coming up in November is a 5K on Thanksgiving morning which has a Clydesdale Division for runners who weigh 220 lbs and over.  There’s a good chance I’ll be below 230 by that run and according to a chart from Runner’s World the extra weight drop will help my speed.

As of yesterday my Run Streak was at 71 days, on Thanksgiving I’ll be on day 149 so that’s over double the streak running and I’ve also added weekly Tempo Runs and Speedwork to my running routine.

From what I’ve read an average elite runner is around 130 lbs and I’ll never weigh that little so I’m kind of excited about a chance to be competitive against people of similar weight 🙂

Loonies Midnight Marathon

Sleep is Overrated…..Run 26.2 at Midnight

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it’s Wednesday – Saturday or…Friday night at Midnight is when this Loonies marathon is set to kick off and I’m pretty exhausted.  I’ve got three bottles of water and I’m going to finish those while blogging here then head over to my brother’s house to help him rip out some shrubs or trees or something so he can get a new shed put in this weekend.  I figure dehydration may be one reason for feeling so tired, hence the extra 3 bottles of water before I head back out into the sun.

I also have individual 20 oz bottles of Gatorade and have been drinking at least one of those every evening before bed along with double doses of vitamin packs each day to help make sure I’m topped off on electrolytes, minerals, vitamins and anything else that may be necessary for completing a marathon.  That strategy seemed to work pretty well for my first marathon this year – about 66 days ago.  This Saturday will be my third full in 70 days.

I’ve been working on my “About Me” page.  Last year I thought I was going to whip myself in shape quickly enough to knock out a 4:22:00 or maybe even a sub 4 hour marathon by the end of the year.  I wasn’t even close to that much less close to being able to complete a 26.2 mile distance but, I’ve been thinking about the past reality I had to work with.

Back in 1994 I took a running class at SIUE over the Summer.  It was a simple Mon, Wed, Fri class that met at 6 a.m. and it was only 3 months after that class when I completed my first marathon in about 4 hours and 30 minutes.  Not too shabby for a non-runner and only 3 months total training.

10 years later in 2004 I did not train AT ALL.  I went to the Spirit of St Louis Expo on a Friday and signed up for the marathon that was held that Sunday.  On Saturday, I went to a local park and jogged the 1.5 mile path and that was it.  Mentally, I just needed to see that I could cover some distance.

That marathon took me about 5 hours 42 minutes and that is the first marathon where I can actually look up my time online.

These days ….we’re adding about 2.5 hours to my first marathon time but, at least I’m covering the distance this year.  I have no illusions about my speed.

On SmashRun.com – and, click here if you want to join > http://smashrun.com/dukowitz/invite

That website ranks me in three categories:  Distance, Devotion & Speed.

for Devotion/Discipline/Dedication I am now ranking in the 85th percentile overall.

I’m doing a run streak now for the month of July which is why I’m at 100% for the past 14 days but the other time periods keep increasing in value as well.  So, theoretically, If I were to run 365 days straight I would be at 100% for all time periods but, as is, I’m still ranking in the 85th percentile which is the minimum for the Gold level which I just achieved yesterday.

Distance is another category – I rank Silver in this area with 74th percentile overall

My 7 and 30 day mileage is quite a bit lower than just last week, mainly because I’ve been cutting back on the mileage in anticipation of the upcoming marathon.  at best I was showing 40 miles for 7 days and 106 for the past 30 days.  Of course, after this Saturday those numbers will be inflated for a bit due to the extra 26.2 miles but …those miles will be retained considerably longer for the 90 and 180 time spans.  Between the running streak and occasional twice a day runs I should be able to hit and hopefully maintain a good 100 miles per month worth of running.

Speed is my weak point.  My best rank here is at the 40th percentile for the 1 mile run and all other distances are single digit percentiles.

you know….I did analysis on the GO! St Louis Marathon and there was a hefty chunk of people that came in with times between 2:30 and 3 hours.  I did like 2:51 so, within that group there’s no way i was in the 1 percentile with 99% people better.  But, SmashRun is a fairly new website which is still in it’s beta stages and still developing.  There are several thousands of people using it and I would guess that most of them are pretty serious runners which would be a lot different than the GO! half marathon which attracts a very large spectrum of running abilities.  Still, the reality among serious runners does put me in single digit range for most distance ..well, all distances beyond a mile.

An ultimate goal of mine is to be able to finish in the top 50% of any race I enter.  From the charts on Smashrun it looks like I need a mile time of about 8:14 to be at 50%.  36 minutes and change is my best 5K time and I’m figuring by next year at this time I should be knocking at sub 30s door – maybe not all the way there but somewhere between 30 and 35 minutes for the 5K and hopefully closer to 30 than 35.  That’s about as far as my vision takes me right now.  Sort of focusing on the goals closer at hand and letting the rest works their way out in time.

Even though ranking 1 and 3% in the half and full might seem poor.  I am well aware of the fact that I wasn’t even able to be on the list last year so I am proud that at least I can rank this year.  🙂

1.5 bottles of water consumed – feeling full and waterlogged….

I’d be lying if i said i wasn’t nervous about this upcoming run.  I suppose that is a bit typical.  I should be able to do better than the last two full marathons.  The BIG difference with this one coming up is that it starts at MIDNIGHT…  that’s a pretty large deviation from the norm.

guess there’s only one way to find out what’s going to happen and that’s to do it.

I checked the driving mileage yesterday and we’re looking at a 5 hour 32 minute drive.   I had 4 hours in my head but that’s only to Nashville.

I have two full days – or two full nights at a hotel in Tennessee but saw no other way.  I’ll be checking into my hotel around 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon and the race starts at midnight.  I had planned on sleeping or at least laying down as much as possible before the run however the packet pickup is from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Friday night.  Kind of an oddball time frame.  Running will range from midnight up until probably close to 7 a.m. for me and I don’t think it will be at all possible for me to check out Saturday morning at 11 a.m. and drive home so, I have the additional Saturday night hotel stay.  I WILL be submitting my Marathon Maniac application after that Marathon and BEFORE going to bed.  I never bothered bringing my laptop with to the Hatfield McCoy marathon but it will be with me for this final qualifying MM run 🙂

After this Saturday’s full marathon I should be able to cut back on the running stress levels quite a bit and focus more on leveling up with the Half Fanatics with the ultimate goal of completing 30 half marathons in 30 different states in 365 days.  We’ll see how close I can get to that.

There is a chance to pull off a double half marathon weekend in August with one half marathon either in Iowa or Wisconsin on a Saturday and another one in Minnesota on Sunday.   The next double half weekend chance could be in October with the Brooklyn half on Sat in New York and the Shades of Death half in New Jersey the following day.

Beyond that, in 2016, I’ve looked at a series of 3 half marathons in 3 days in 3 states – part of the Riverboat series of races promoted by MainlyMarathons which could knock out Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi.

Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois are four more races in that series but I’m already signed up for the Country Music marathon in Nashville next year and could always drop that to a half if I don’t have any other runs in that state and Paducah, Kentucky is literally only a couple hours from where I live and I know they have a run there and, if not, Louisville isn’t all that far either.  Missouri & Illinois are already well covered.

Which reminds me – I’m also part of the 100 Half Marathon club which is a pretty cool little club.  Membership is only $5 per year or $20 for a lifetime membership and there are a host of discount codes which can pay for the membership in a very short period of time.  I know the MainlyMarathons group offers $10 off per race so, two races and I’ve got my money back and, I’m looking at 3 in April 2016.

The big tamale I’m looking at would be in May of 2016 –

7 halfs in 7 states in 7 days.  I could cover every state NorthEast of NewYork in 6 days; from May 15th through May 20th and I’m already signed up for a run on 21st in Indiana.

My initial mapquest estimates puts the number of driving miles at 2,818 but …to see all those states …to run 7 half marathons in 7 days…. I’m salivating over the prospects 🙂

Based on this year’s New England series, New York should be the last state in 2016 and that’s when I’ll drive back and do the Geist Half Marathon in Fisher, Indiana.

I kinda like the complex, the improbable.  I like the idea of improving to the point where I can run a half marathon every single day for 7 days straight.

We’ll see what happens.

I think.  For right now, I just need to be patient and maintain what I’ve been doing.  I’ve worked my way up to some respectable per month mileage and my devotion/discipline is already maxed out at 100%.  Those are variables I have some control over – if not nearly total control, baring injury or something out of my control 🙂

With those two aspects in place, The speed should take care of itself. plus …I do keep getting lighter every month and that’s certainly going to help as well.

One weigh-in for the last two months of May & June each included one weight in the 250s.  which gave me an average weight of 248 for each month.  For July here, it looks like every weigh-in will be in the 240s and we should end up with an average weight below 245.  If my average is below 245 then I’ll achieve another goal set for this year which was to weigh in the low 240s.

As long as I keep on pace with the running I’ll also hit another goal of having another 100 mile month and….then I should hit my 5th and final goal of hitting 500 miles for the entire year some time in August and I’ll still have 4 months left to increase that number 🙂

In the back of my mind, I would like to gently push my one hour pace up to 5 miles.  Right now I’m hitting 4.25 miles per hour in training.  I’d like to see 5 miles per hour in training.  and god …what a difference there is between training times and racing times.

2.5 bottles of water consumed.  I can’t say I feel any better at the moment – kinda full but probably going to be worth it in the long run.  now…to grab a bottle of Gatorade and head out for some nifty yard work …(joy) 😀

52 Weeks of Weigh-Ins

There we go – 52 weeks worth of weigh ins, starting Monday, January 13th, 2014 and ending on Thursday, January 15th, 2015.  …thought i’d throw this blog up during halftime of the Hawks vs Packers game… didn’t happen – under 2 minutes left in that game – freakin’ game of the century here – holy cow!  …  …OT!

After that initial Monday weigh in all subsequent weigh ins were on Thursdays.  Week 32 was the last time I weighed under 260.  From week 33 to 45 I stayed in the 260s.  Battery started going out in Week 46 and was dead in Wk 47.  Week 51 I totally forgot and had to do a catch up weigh in two days later on Sat.

Anyway – looking forward.  I really like how Kyle, who post under Running Large, has running odometer’s for each month of the year dating back to January of 2013.  I’m going to update my Running Log tab to show an Odometer for 2014 along w/ my corresponding average weight for each month.

Below that Odometer table, I want to have a table comparing last years runs to this years runs.  I’m currently signed up and registered for 3 runs in 2015.  Two 1/2 marathons in April and the Rock n Roll 1/2 in October – all runs I’ve done in 2014 so I’ll be able to compare my 2015 times and compete against myself.  Beyond those two, I definitely want to do the Macklind Mile again as well as the Go! St Louis All American 5k – the best 5K I’ve ever run.

For 2014, I ran in 13 of the 14 runs I’d signed up for.  …3 of those “runs” were actually bike rides – Tour de Belleville, Tour de Donut and Moonlight Ramble.

I’ve gotten rid of two of my tabs – the music tab is gone, with several hundred pieces of music on my phone it’s not much of an issue anymore and I don’t need last years marathon training plan but will need something for the 1/2’s coming up in April.  I did virtually nothing for those runs last year except a lot of walking leading up to the runs so it should be pretty easy to beat last years mileage for the beginning of 2015.

I don’t have any specific physical goals at this time – I would like some sub 3 hour 1/2’s in April and I’m fond of a bodyweight in the low 240s – that’s kinda slenderized for me 🙂  For running, the thing I’m most proud of from last year is the 100 mile training month I had in August.  I wouldn’t mind emulating that again and for sure – I’d really like to get in a mile under 10 minutes – that is definitely the Macklind Mile goal 🙂

OK – I also need to blog at least once a week, at least for each of my Thursday weigh-ins.  I’ve already looked up several runs while writing this blog entry and that’s something I haven’t done for a couple months.  The Nashville CMM is $120 for the half – kinda high.  But, the Las Vegas RnR half is sitting at $99.

Mainly, I need to do this for overall health reasons but, it’s a bonus to make it fun 🙂  So …looking at a sub 3 hr half, low 240s bodyweight, sub 10 minute mile and another 100 mile month.

Vegas is interesting.  The first time I ran a 1/2 there, it started at 6:30 a.m. and went up the strip (North) starting at Mandalay Bay then back down west of the strip via Industrial Rd and Frank Sinatra Dr.  There wasn’t much to look at on the way back.   The course in 2015 still starts at Mandalay Bay but, heads South until about even with the Southwest corner of McCarran International Airport then heads back North for about 8 miles then comes back South along the strip and ends at the Mirage.  Oh, it also starts at 4:30 PM Sunday – very different.

Walgreen’s, Ferguson destruction, Weekly Weigh Ins

I live in the metro St Louis area.  I ended up in the area when my family moved here in the Fall of ’77.    My Dad started as a manager with Walgreen’s back in his early 20s and stayed with that company until he retired in his mid 50’s.

Part of the reason we ended up where we did was because of a fire at a previous  Walgreen’s store that he was managing.

I remember going into that store the day after the fire with my younger brother and my Dad.  I remember seeing pens and colored pencils floating in the ponds of water which now occupied the aisles and realized it wasn’t so much the fire but all the water that was used to contain the fire and put it out that ultimately rendered all the merchandise in the store useless.

This is one of the last Walgreen’s I remember with a soda fountain in it.  That attached section of the store which was left largely undamaged by the fire and water.  My brother and I waited on that side of the store while my Dad made the final rounds of his store.  I remember making up weird soda concoctions by mixing the various flavors of soda that were available at that time.

and that was about it.  Life changed.

We spent our Thanksgiving that year in a hotel while my Dad was establishing a new Walgreen’s store and finding a new home for us to live in.  A hotel restaurant might not have been ideal but it was a way for the whole family to be together.

We ended up officially moving into our new house on Christmas eve of that year, back in 1977.

Watching all the senseless destruction on the news last night and, in particular, seeing a Walgreen’s burned down – well, it was filled with smoke when I first saw it and right down the street from a Little Ceasar’s which was engulfed in flames over in the city of Ferguson, MO.

…

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Weekly Weigh-Ins – catching up!

missed the last four weekly weigh ins but I have still been weighing in every Thursday morning and taking pictures of the scale.  The past two weeks were exactly the same weight.

In the back of my mind, I’ve been content with keeping my weight within +/- 3% of 260 lbs because I was counting on another Win to Lose weight loss competition coming up in January of next year but, from what I’ve been seeing on the hospital website ….it doesn’t look like there will be another contest.

so…..  yeah…. I’m still down 50-60 pounds from where I started this year.  I’ve maintained much of the weight that was initially lost at the beginning of the year but will have to figure something out without another contest to help me knock off my remaining excess weight.

The weekly weigh ins on the blog are important because I probably wouldn’t bother watching my weight at all otherwise and wouldn’t do anything about it until it climbed back up to an astronomical weight which could no longer be ignored.

that brings us to week 44.  only 8 more weekly weigh ins until i have a year straight of weighing in.  Which means – graphically speaking, I’ll have three more weigh ins on the current line of my weigh in wallpaper picture and one more line of 5 weigh ins.

Week 40 Weigh-In

On Jan 13th of this year I went on a 12 week program to lose weight – lost a bunch, then have kept it off for an additional 28 weeks now.    Still holding today onto 56 of those lost pounds with a weigh in today of 261.0

I have learned it doesn’t take much effort to maintain that weight loss but, it does take something – a couple jogs here or there, a karate workout or two.  Maybe 3 or 4 days with some physical activity.  without that activity the weight starts creeping up.

I’ll need to use this 261.0 weigh in as the start of a new wallpaper – might be next week before I get to that.

Week 1 Day 2 jogging training is in the books with a mile run last night.  That little bit of exercise I mentioned is the absolute BEST sleep medication I could take.  during the couple weeks when I did nothing or maybe only 1 day of running, my sleep was pretty bad and I’d wake up every couple of hours.  Since the Rock n Roll runs this past weekend and every day since I’ve slept like a rock straight through every night 🙂