2016 ends with RSD 550

It’s been a little while since I posted last.  May 11th, 2016 was my last post and my last weight and mileage posted was in April 2016 with 34 miles posted for that month and a weight of 243 lbs.  I was working towards winning a diet bet worth $2,096.00 if I could get my weight down to 212 lbs or lower by mid July.  I hit that goal, won the money and continued my run streak for the rest of the year and hit RSD #550 on the last day of 2016.
I still need to get out tonight to get in my run streak mile and a few extra miles for a Step Bet competition I’m in.  The Step Bet isn’t too difficult, mainly 3 to 4 miles per day for 6 days out of the week and one rest day.

Currently, I’m working on a badge from Smashrun.com where I’ll need to increase my mileage by at least 10 miles per month for 6 consecutive months.  I had a low of around 32 miles this past September so thought it would be a good opportunity to make another attempt at getting this badge.  For Jan 2017, I’ll need to get in 73 miles.  The toughest part could be the cold weather 🙂

boot camp, karate, running, success :)

OK, I had to wait until current DietBets were finalized before i could sign up for new ones and I did that as soon as I could so, for right now these are the dates and body weights I need to be at in order to win my diet bets on DietBet.com

1. May 16-17, 238.6 lbs   (a 10% 6 month diet bet)
2. May 23-24, 232.9 lbs    (4%, 4 week diet bet)
3. May 23-24, 238.6 lbs  (a 10% 6 month diet bet)
4. May 25-26, 233.1 lbs    (4%, 4 week diet bet)
5. May 26-27, 233.1 lbs    (4%, 4 week diet bet)
6. June 1-2, 238.6 lbs      (a 10% 6 month diet bet)

That’s the reality of the body weights I need to achieve in the foreseeable future.   I’m currently in the 240s …Low 240s so I have my work cut out for me.    There were several days when i expected to see a weight in the 230s but that hasn’t happened yet so I’ve had to re-evaluate and think a bit.

For one thing, sparse eating worked very well in the past in terms of melting away bodyfat & weight and I’ve emulated that but I’ve mainly only been doing my minimum 1 mile per day to maintain my runstreak (which is somewhere around day 310 now)  Previously, I was running much more and even hitting that 100 mile per month milestone in terms of miles run per month.  So, increasing mileage is one solution and since the weather is getting nicer that should be a do-able goal.

Another thing – I haven’t known exactly what I’m eating or how many calories per day I’m consuming so I broke out the MyFitnessPal app to help track things so I know exactly what’s going on.

ANOTHER thing …. My mom helped me with this one.  I told her about expecting some weight drops that didn’t happen and she mentioned ….Beer.   huh?  yeah – ok.   Well, I was only counting food, i never counted beer before.  However.  On one of the days I expected a weight drop, I only ate 3 helpings of wings ….I was at a bar that had free wings and $1.50 bottle beers …..Blues game …then the Cardinals game …then the Kentucky Derby ….it was a good day for sports 🙂  and I had maybe 6 wings per plate and figured that was very little for the day but never considered the beer ….I guess there’s calories there also….  so, now we track beer and I may have to do without that staple until I hit my 212 bodyweight …we’ll see.

Other solutions thus far…..

Karate – that’s going pretty well, if i can make at least 30 minutes of class then I go and I may just go even if I can only make 10 minutes – doesn’t matter, i need to be there and one of the guys is wanting help training for his black belt testing this coming October and, more than likely, I’ll be able to test also as long as I keep showing up.

between him, myself and another black belt named Jesse, we stay late after class to brush up on our katas and other fun stuff like that.

Boot Camp – this is new.  In fact today was my first boot camp workout and a very local gym.  I’ve got 30 days with them I got via a Groupon coupon which is much nicer than the $147 or $197 price they charge which ….will never happen.   However, I also belong to a regular gym where I take my karate and have a friend there that runs several classes so I’ll probably hook up with her to continue to augment the boot camp type workout.

The workout was interesting this morning.  It only last 30 minutes but that seemed REALLY long when you’re pushing yourself for that much time.  We had a series of 6 exercises and would do each exercise at our own pace for 12 repetitions then we would go through the cycle again for 11 repetitions then again for 10 reps and so on until we eventually did 1 rep per exercise.  Today I made it down to 9 repetitions 🙂  so….  idk, 6×12 plus 6×11 plus 6×10 plus ……2×9 plus 3 reps – that’s how many i did.

there were several boards around the gym room with the exercises on them so I took a picture of one of them so maybe i can finish up the reps later tonight after work.

So, that’s the dirty dozen..

 

I’ll try to bump my mileage up.  I seem to recall doing 2x per day at one time, maybe 3 miles in the morning and 3 in the evening or maybe 45 minutes in the am and 45 in the pm.  doing that all in one shot is too much for me, at least it was in the past and probably is now as well  but breaking it up reduces the intensity.  I’d like to get back to Long Acre park, that’s the place where I first started running for my first marathon back in 1994 and, I did meet a lady who goes there after boot camp so I’ll probably meet up with her there later this week.

I’ve also got a Walk with a Doc program  …one of about 1,000 different ideas floating around but have someone interested in that so that will add to my activity. .

gotta run – will keep everyonen posted – primary goal – 212 lbs by July 5th to July 19th, somewhere in that time frame I gotta weigh 212 or less.  …piece of cake 😉

Run Log Updated & 30.6 lbs to $2,096

10 weeks and a couple days from today I have a two week window to weigh 212 lbs, in which case I’ll win $2,096 from HealthyWage.com.

I hadn’t updated my Running Log since last August but now have my miles filled in through April ’06.  My run streak is in tact and as of yesterday I’m at Run Streak Day (RSD) 298

I count on my Nike Plus app synced with Smashrun to keep track of my streak now since it can be a bit cumbersome to make out a post for Instagram everyday to keep track of my running.  If anyone is interested I can be found on Instagram at @drdukowitz

I have 6 months worth of question marks for my weight in my Running Log but, I really don’t mind because I don’t necessarily want to have to keep track of my weight every day or even every month of my life (if i don’t have to) but, I did weigh in yesterday for another wager going on DietBet.com in which I needed to weigh no more than 243.8 and I beat that by a bit over a pound with a 242.6 weigh-in.

I don’t think I’ll have time for all the cropping and edits to make nice charts so readers will just have to deal with my feet being in the pics.  Regarding the Log which I keep under my Running Log tab it’s not too shabby

Last year I kinda got huge into running and while there are still ambitions there, my priority focus is definitely body weight mainly because if I don’t make my 212 weight then not only do I not get a $2,096 prize but I’m also out the $756 I put up to make the bet.  I have to say it’s a lot easier with other real & local people that you know you are going to meet up with after 12 weeks like was the case in the local Lose to Win contest I was in.  There’s a much higher degree of competition which, for me, fuels a lot of activity and motivation.  However, this will still be a good test.

Looking at that log, it appears I’ll need my average weight to drop a decade with each successive month.  May will have to average in the 230s, June in the 220s and July definitely in the 210s.

One motivational aspect I’ll use is working to obtain the 3rd rarest running badge available on Smashrun.com which is the Towering Stairs badge.  To get it, I’ll need to increase my mileage by at least 15 miles per month for 6 consecutive months.  I made a go at it last year but was starting with mileage well over 100 and would have needed to work my way up to 165 miles or so during the 6th month …something kind of ridiculous, at least at this stage of the game.  Anyway, I have another shot at it here.

My next run is a half marathon in Nashville, TN this coming weekend so I’ll be sure to have all the miles I need in for this month.  After that, I am registered for a half marathon in Geist, Indiana.

I’ll just have to keep posting because this stuff isn’t always on my mind and a big challenge now is simply maintaining awareness of this 212 goal in spite of everything else I’ve got going on.

My next scheduled weigh in is for Tue/Wed the 26th/27th of April so maybe we’ll see a number less than 242.6 and since I’m blogging and have this on my mind, I think I can sign up for another 1 month 4% weight loss dietbet and use that 242.6 weigh in as a new starting point …..calculating……that would mean needing a 232.9 weight or less in 4 weeks.  I guess the weather is nice enough to get out and run more often now….

OK.  We can only be in three 4% 4 week bets and three 10% 6 month bets so I only had room for one more game and found Mama Laughlin’s DietBet which starts tomorrow and my last verified weight of 242.6 was able to be used as my starting point.  I have two more of those 4 week dietbets ending this week, one in two days and one in three days ….looks like those two weigh-ins overlap on the 27th so….well, honestly, I don’t want to lose too much in the next couple days or I might get a goal out of reach ….or, maybe just let the chips fall where they may and put ‘er into high gear to help make my 212 weight asap.  I’ll post again Wednesday with updates.

btw – This latest DietBet I joined has 1,916 players (more pending) a total Jackpot of $67,060 and only $35 to join.  I was given a link directly to the game if anybody wants to join —> http://diet.bt/9iCOzw

 

11 Weeks & 30 lbs to $2,096

There are many different areas of life that vie for our attention and there is only so much time we may devote to any one area.  Generally speaking, I can improve most any area of my life I pay attention to, simply staying aware of any particular facet of life is almost curative in terms of improvement.  So, this blog is kind of like my insurance policy to help me keep track of my weight and running although these days I am most concerned about weight and not running because of a $756 bet I made on HealthyWage.com over a year ago to weigh no more than 212 lbs by July 5th-July 19th which will pay out a nice $2,096 if I can make that weight 11 weeks from now.

There are limits as to how much extreme diet and exercise manipulations can do so the bulk of the weight loss between now and that final weigh in will need to be legitimate weight loss.  If I can get down into the teens, 216 or so then I should be able to employ some emergency measures to hit my final weight.

I am still on my Run Streak and completed day 291 yesterday (4/17/2016) but have usually only been doing the minimum 1 mile per day to maintain that streak.  I’ll have to update my chart on the Running Log page.  I have data for all my runs and mileage but will have question marks for several months regarding my weight.  About 5 days ago I had a legitimate weight of 243.8 which I’m happy with because at the beginning of last year my goal was to weigh in the lower 240s so, I’ve maintained that pretty well and, at the worse have kept with in striking distance of that previous goal weight.

To help push me down to that 212 weight, I put up an additional $470 on DietBet.com and joined three 6 months contest where I need to lose 10% of my weight and will cycle through several one month contest where I need to lose 4% of my weight.  I should be able to turn that investment into $1,000+ sometime in August which will be very helpful in paying the 2nd installment of my property taxes on Sept 1st 🙂

Mainly, sparse eating combined with an increased volume of lower intensity distance training with lesser bouts of speed work and probably some weight lifting thrown in there should be an effective combination towards achieving this 212 goal.  That goal still boggles my mind a bit because …well, I can’t really remember the last time I weighed so little.  In terms of overall health, it may be the case that weighing even less may be optimal but, one step at a time.

The six month, 10% weight loss diet bets which end in August have a target weight of 233.2.  My thinking here is that there will probably be a bounce up in weight after achieving the 212 weight but I wanted to put a cap on it and 233.2 seems like a good cap.  Perhaps I can work at maintaining a weight in the 225 to 230 range which would be very nice 🙂

Other than that, I’ll probably be adding a net tab or page called Money, since i landed a freelance writing gig that has this webpage listed in my bio and figure I would put a link to my Facebook, S4 Mafia Investment Club page since this page doesn’t have much to do with finance.

Year 2, Week 39 Weigh-In

Chomp, Chomp, Chomp!  That’s how I had planned on starting this blog entry for my 39th weigh in of the year because I was eating everything in site and running as little as possible.  I had expected a much higher weight as opposed to a new all time low but, I have one theory as to why my weight dropped again instead of going up.

My thinking is that I removed a lot of physical stress.   Ever since the Navy/AirForce half marathon a couple weeks ago I’ve mainly been running the single miles needed to maintain my run streak and by eating whatever I wanted there was also no need for my body to fear any impending famine so there was zero starvation mode stress as well.  I can only guess corticosteroid levels would be minimized with this type of behavior.  It is kind of bizarre though and a little counterintuitive but, I’ll happily accept it 🙂

Today was also the official ending for the last of three 10% diet bets I had placed at the beginning of this year.  I had bets which started in Jan, Feb and April and each lasted for 6 months.  I have two more 10% bets I recently placed which both end in February of 2016 with an ending weight of 222.

I am curious and wondering if I could pull off a 4 week, 4% diet bet starting at this verified weight of 232.6.  That would require me to get down to 223.3 in four weeks.  A 6 month 10% diet bet would require me to get down to about 209 pounds.

209…that kind of plays games with my head a bit – something I’m not used to seeing.  My HealthyWage bet which comes due July 5th of 2016 is for 212 pounds.

…..OK – I’m committed!  I just signed up for three different 4 week, 4% weight loss diet bets that all started today and will end on Wednesday, 4/28.   The final weigh-in will be Thursday, 4/29 to midnight on Friday 4/30.  Thursdays are my weekly weigh-in day for this blog so I’ll shoot for a Thursday morning weigh-in and it must be 223.3 or less.

I have never lost a diet bet or monthly weigh-in and this will be the biggest challenge yet.  All I know about weight in the low 220s is when I was ranked in PowerLifting USA magazine I had a 515 bench at a 222 lb body weight and that was back around 2001 so, I’ll be pushing the clock back well over a decade if I can pull this off.

Stay tuned!  🙂

Year 2 Week 38 Weigh-In & Washington DC

I was stunned, tickled to death and pretty happy this morning when I saw a 232.8 staring me in the face when I weighed in.  Last night I weighed in at an even 233.0 and was amazed because of all the eating I’d done during my DC trip this past weekend.  Last night we had relatives stop by from out of town and we went out very late to eat & socialize and I ate PLENTY.  I had a snapshot of my 233 weight and half expected to use that weight because it seemed representative of where I was but thought I’d check my weight this morning and was a whole 0.2 tenths lighter 🙂

For the month, I’m at 70 miles and need 30 more to hit my 100 miles so there’s plenty of running left and I’m thinking I have a very good chance of seeing my weight dip into the 220s in October with a decent chance of having an average weight in the 220s for October.

My #1 priority is my Running Streak.  #2 is hitting 100 miles per month.  A distant 3rd was increasing mileage by 10 miles per month for 6 months to earn a rarely earned badge on SmashRun.com.  I have found it interesting that I think of these things mainly in terms of priorities as opposed to goals and while these things are priorities specific to my running it made me wonder what my priorities were in my life in general.  This is where things get a bit hazy.  There’s a plethora of other things in my life, so many items that I can’t hold them all in my head at the same time.  I might be able to jot out 4-6 bigger items but more will come to mind given time and only a list or my calendar can help me keep everything straight.

Having said that, I think dropping weight to a healthy and perhaps a visually pleasing level is one of the top priorities in my life right now.  Kind of nebulous, ephemeral and not so clearly defined as a priority in my life.  I wonder if I were to rank the priorities in my life and if my health, specifically my weight was the #1 priority if I could achieve greater results.  This may be a concept ball which needs to bounce around in my brain more before I have any final conclusions.  I may say that family, friends and people would be a bigger priority but, in a way – taking care of myself could be considered a means of respect and love for those I care about because I would assume that people I care about reciprocate and care about me.

I think I can use extremes to help with this point.  If I were strung out on drugs, getting high everyday and always drunk then the people who care about me would be distressed but if I’m at the opposite end of that spectrum and doing well then I would be removed as a source of stress in their lives.  Perhaps at the other end of that spectrum lays hope and inspiration …a much better scenario.

I think of a quote attributed to Padmisambha

If you want to know your past,
look into your present condition;
If you want to know your future,
look into your present action.

I think my train is headed in the right direction.  I’m slow to want to speed up the train or alter its course.  Patience and time are great allies now.  Some people make weight loss and their health a priority via surgery which is a huge decision but also one that represents one of their priorities in life.  My venue consist of running, running every day, hitting 100 miles per month and keeping very little food in my home.  If those efforts take precedence over other areas of my life then I may conclude my physical condition is a priority and supersedes other aspects of my life however important those other aspects may be.

I suppose today’s blog, up to this point is mainly clearing out, organizing, clarifying and cleaning up any clutter in the attic of my mind.  Which …now leaves me little time left to cover my Washington DC topic but I’ll do the best I can 🙂

Washington DC

One thing is pretty certain – I’m going back 🙂  I’ve heard back from the race directors of the Navy/AirForce Half (NAFHALF) that a permit has been submitted for Sunday, September 18, 2016 and I’ve already checked on hotels and found a very appropriate one in the Pentagon City area which includes free shuttle service to & from the airport and is only 1 1/2 blocks from the Metro.

I’ve got a couple pictures from my run and have noticed two things about them.  My gait is much better than pictures from the Lincoln Presidential half marathon last year where I was shuffling along and it also appears that I could still stand to drop some weight.

 

Something else I’ve learned in the past couple months is I don’t think I ran any half marathons prior to 2007.  I did full marathons in 1994 and in 2004 but have no record of any half marathons until 13 years after my first full.  As such, I don’t have any spectacular race times for my half marathons.  I really wish I could find data on my first full marathon.  I finished that one in approximately four and a half hours.  The first 20 miles were non-stop running at single digit minutes per mile so I would guess maybe a sub 2 hour half but have no data to support that guess.  The last 6 miles consisted of stopping every couple blocks to squat down so I could keep moving my legs.

Regardless, I’ve still pushed the clock back by beating my best time from 2007.  My time is up here.  I’m thinking next year I’m going to crush the time I got this year.  🙂

Year 2, Week 35 Weigh-In

This has been an interesting week.  This past Monday I saw a weight in the 220s for the first time in I don’t know how long ….

That 229 weight was after a lot of running and a bit of sleep but still a nice preview of things to come 🙂

I took my official Thursday weigh-in at the end of the day for a nice 236 which helps to solidify my place in the 230s which is well beyond what I was shooting for at the beginning of this year.  The next morning I was 234.2 so I am on course for another month in the 230s and should have an average weight maybe 3 or 4 lbs lighter than last month 🙂

I actually set a 5K PR (personal record) this past Saturday (8/29) and thought of the many people on DietBet working to improve themselves.

Changing oneself, dropping weight or improving as a runner can be such a long, arduous process.  I’ve been fortunate and grateful that I am still able to improve.  I am very grateful.  However, the timelines in my head, the pace at which I envision improvement has always fallen short of the reality.  Maybe not by much, a few months perhaps, maybe more but there’s no cheating reality.

I guess a key to success is in bolstering hope while minimizing discouragement and continuing with persistent efforts.

For me, that 5K represented an expression of hope and something I wanted to share.  It represents 20 months of training that started in January of 2014 with a few hundred miles of walking and culminating with nearly a 1,000 miles of running thereafter.  It started with a body weight of 316.2 pounds and barely able to run 15 seconds.  So, while a 5K in 34:25 is below average or mediocre at best in the world of runners, it was huge for me.

There will come a time in our life when we won’t be able to improve our times anymore.  I don’t know exactly when that will be for me but, for now, my goals are still fraught with improvement.

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! 🙂