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

 

Race Review: Frog Hill Half Marathon

The Ultimate Training Run – The Frog Hill Half Marathon & 10K

This is a slightly smaller local race held in the city of Waynesville, Missouri which is located fairly central in the state of Missouri just north of Highway 44 and about an hour South-Eash of Lake of the Ozarks. I estimate about 200 people participated this past October 3rd, 2015. There are two races to choose from, a 10K and an extremely challenging half marathon.

OVERALL –
This is a well-run race with chip-timing and medals given to all finishers of either the 10K or half marathon.

 

T-SHIRT/SWAG –
This race is sponsored by the Team 413 Gracerunner Ministries and the 413 refers to a verse in the bible, Philippians 4:13 which says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” That verse, along with http://www.Team413.org was printed on the back of the green t-shirt and a fun looking frog with the race name was on the front. The t-shirt sizes ran from small, medium, large and extra-large. The rest of the SWAG bag contains papers on various upcoming races in the area and a nice brochure about the historic city of Waynesville, MO which was founded back in 1843.

 

AID STATIONS –
There are an adequate number of theme based aid stations throughout the out and back course which feature water and Gatoraid. The end of the race was the best. In addition to bottles of water & Gatorade underneath a nearby pavillion were free grilled hot dogs, chips, soda and more Gatorade.

COURSE SCENERY –
This race offers a variety of running surfaces which each have their own unique scenery. There’s about 20% asphalt & paved road which starts at the school parking lot then onto nice section of downhill roadway which may lull the newbie Frog Hill runner into thinking they could be getting a PR with this race. That road then turns onto a fairly short stretch of running through the a section of the towns quant downtown before turning off onto the majority of the running surface which consist of a mixture crushed gravel and a dirt road. The race director had commented that there hadn’t been rain in a while so the trail type portion of the run may be harder than normal but I found no problems with the surface other than it was very dry and the few times cars drove by they would kick up clouds of dust. There’s a nice mixture of trees, rock formations and views of the Roubidoux Creek along this majority portion of the run. The run ends at a point about a mile and a half from the start at a local park which conveniently is hosting the Waynesville Frog Festival so there is plenty to do and see after the run as well.

Half Marathon Course Route

EXPO QUALITY –
Packet pickup for this race may be done the night before the race at a local VFW or from about 7 a.m. to 8:15 a.m. the day of the race. I believe final registration was also available on race day as well for an additional $10 fee but the already low price of $45 was available online all the way until the night before the race, which is when I finally got around do signing up.
I picked up my race packet on race day and was pleasantly surprised to see complementary donuts, chocolate donuts and coffee available for all the racers. There was also a costumed frog walking around and available to all who wanted pictures.
The pickup was inside East Elementary School which provided some nice relief from the slightly chilly weather outside until the race started.
This race used tri-athlete style ankle timers which contestants were instructed to put on their left ankle. I’ve never used this type of timing system before but put it on over my sock and never noticed it was there.

ELEVATION DIFFICULTY –
This may be the part I love and hate the most about this run. Just before the 10K turnabout is an aid station where people were dressed up as ghouls, goblins & monsters which ….if you continue past this turnabout point – be forewarned because how those people look is going to be how you feel if you continue ….just beyond that aid station is Superior Hill and you must be MORE superior to conquor and continue! This is no small hill and for me, only the Pikes Peak Ascent in Colorado had a greater incline. This incline in Waynesville, MO goes on for MILES – well, maybe “just” a mile but it’s up and up and up …..I thought there was an end to it that I could see so I tried running up the hill but the hill didn’t stop …so I tried speed walking and the hill still didn’t stop ….it’s formidable to say the least.

This hill could make the Frog Hill Half Marathon the ultimate training run because there is NO WAY I would have pushed myself up this many hills of this magnitude on my own. My quads were lit up and on fire after Superior Hill and there’s still 7 or 8 miles miles to go AFTER you’ve fried your quads on that hill.

PARKING/ACCESS –
Parking was very adequate at the Elementary school parking lot.

RACE MANAGEMENT –
A runner by the name of Melissa Martinez is the current race director and did a superior job. She is very caring and responsive to the needs of the runners.

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.

2015 Week 12 Weigh-In

We’re down another 3.2 lbs from last week and down 8.8 lbs from two weeks ago but don’t begin to think that’s anything miraculous.

 

We need to keep in mind that my weight went up two weeks ago and the week before that I was at 267.6 so we could also say I’ve lost 3.6 lbs in the past 3 weeks.  It’s a perspective thing.  Too many people trying to lose weight are short-sighted – nearsighted or live in a constant state of myopia – they only see the short term and not the big picture.  Weight loss is not linear, it does not follow a straight line.  If we had an accurate enough scale, we could probably record weight changes by the second and certainly by the minute.  Hourly our weight will change, daily and certainly weekly.  I have my averages for each month in my Running Log tab and for March we’re at an average weight of 268lbs so I’m down 4 lbs from last month’s average.  As an instantaneous snapshot of weight, the 264.0 represents a weight that is less than my average for all of last year so, we’re moving in a good direction.  Current efforts which include the same kind of effort that was put out during the week when weight was gained are bearing fruit and should be maintained and continued.

In all these DietBet’s I’m in there isn’t a day that goes by where somebody isn’t lamenting the fact that “they gained a pound this week”  It’s like the 12 or 15 lbs they lost over the preceding 6 week’s no longer matters.  It’s a crappy way of thinking and an attitude that is detrimental to any long term plan of success.  That mental attitude and the psychology behind it is probably something that needs to be changed and worked on more than the diet and exercise aspects if any real success is going to be achieved.  Mentally fertilizing and growing the perceived failures while ignoring the success and what’s working only heightens the probability of quitting while diminishing the likelihood of continued, long term efforts.

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Right now I’m 5 for 5 with my DietBet’s and only need a weight of 264.3 for this Saturday’s weigh in so it’s looking good for going 6 for 6.  The following week I’ll need to reach 260.2 in order to win my $100 monthly bet.

For now, I’m well ahead of the game compared to last year when I didn’t have a single recorded run until March 26th and, as of today, I’ve managed 18 runs totalling 52.5 miles.  We’ve got a local 5K coming up this Saturday and then the much awaited Bridge & Dam 10K the following week at the Lake of the Ozarks!

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Some of my main current ponderings deal with the end of April and whether or not to partake in the Nashville Country Music Marathon on Saturday, April 25th.  There’s also a local 5K on the same day which would be much more financially friendly although not nearly as exciting or fun 🙂

The following day – on Sunday, April 26th is very interesting to me.  There’s a Duathlon consisting of a 1.5 mile run then a 10 mile bike ride then another 1.5 mile run.  The shorter distances make it ideal for a newbie like me.  I don’t recall ever doing a multiple sport event before.  I think it would be a neat challenge to knock out a half mary the day before in Nashville then get up the next morning to another event like the duathlon.  Right now, the local 5K doesn’t increase in price until the 10th of April so current thoughts are to make a more informed decision after the Lincoln Presidential Half on April 4th.

One amazingly cool run is the Moonlight 1/2 in Springfield, IL – it is entirely run in the 300+ acre cemetery where President Lincoln is buried.  If you’re running the full marathon then you start when you want and the winner is the person who finishes closest to midnight.  That might be a neat way to get in my 3rd full marathon since time isn’t much of an issue – just endurance.  No GPS or phones are allowed on the course and everyone wears a glowstick around their neck.

Week 11 Weigh-In

“What gets measured gets managed”

Peter Drucker”

AND – when you have a financial incentive you can help increase your odds of losing weight by a factor of 5!  Which, is a great reason to click on my HealthyWage badge below which also doubles as my referral link to help you take a significant step in managing your weight as well as giving me an extra $20 towards my final Jackpot! (link opens in new window)  Plus, 10% of the winnings go to help fight ALS (via www.alsa.org)

Click on the Banner to get your share!

 

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This week, we find ourselves at the lowest weight of the year so far, 267.2 pounds.  That’s a 5.6 pound drop over last week which can be typical following a week where the weight has gone up.  That 267 lb weight has been pretty stable and is exactly what I weighed the day before this week’s weigh-in.  Today (Friday, 3/13) I actually weighed in at 256.8 lbs which is good since I need to be at 264 next week and down to 260 the week after that.

As you may have noticed above, my official HealthyWage prize banner has changed from it’s original $2036.00 base prize to a new total of $2096.00 because I’ve had 3 people click on my link and sign up which has added $60 to my potential prize.

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2015 Running Preview –

I still need to finish up Part II of my running preview for the runs I have scheduled for this year – logistically, this blog is a godsend in terms of helping me keep everything straight.  Current list is as follows;

2015

1. Saturday 3/14 – St Pats 5M Run. – REGISTERED
2. Saturday 3/21 – McKendree 5K – REGISTERED
3. Saturday 3/28 – Bridge & Dam 10K – REGISTERED
4. Saturday 4/4 – Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon – REGISTERED
5. Sunday 4/12 – 15th Annual GO! St Louis 1/2 Marathon – REGISTERED
6. Sunday 6/21 – Go! St Louis All American 5k – REGISTERED
7. Saturday 6/27 – Macklind Mile – REGISTERED
8. Sunday 6/28 – Pride 5K – REGISTERED
9. Friday 7/10 – Tour de Belleville – registration not yet available
10. Saturday 7/11 – Tour de Donut – REGISTERED
11. Saturday 8/8 – Moonlight Ramble – registration not yet available
12. Sunday 9/20 – US Navy/AirForce 1/2 Marathon – REGISTERED
13. Saturday 10/17 – RnR 5K Spinning Medal – REGISTERED
14. Sunday 10/18 – Rock n Roll St Louis 1/2 Marathon – REGISTERED
15. Saturday 10/24 – 5K Monster Dash – reg not avail. pending.
16. Sunday 11/1 – SLTC’s St Louis 1/2 Marathon – reg not available
17. Virtual Run – Race with Reason – 500 Miles in 2015 for Fighter Medal

The Macklind Mile registration became available so I got signed up for that so I only have two bike rides and two more runs where registration is not available.  I’m not sure if the 5K Monster Dash will be an option unless it’s held  a week earlier due to scheduling conflicts with my Part IV board reviews.  The SLTC 1/2 is the longest running 1/2 marathon in St Louis and I wouldn’t mind doing that again.

Mainly, I’ve been looking at more runs – a few notable mentions would be the Country Music Marathon in Nashville TN.  As a single race, it’s very pricey with a current going rate of $125 and that’s a bit to wrap my head around.  However, the Rock n Roll series has what’s known as a Tour Pass available for $199 that entitles a person to run in any 3 Rock n Roll events.  There is also an extra fee which brings that price closer to $210 but that still comes out to about $70 per run which is easier to swallow than $125.

However – getting that Tour Pass also opens up the option of partaking in two additional RnR 1/2’s this year and in addition to Nashville, I may opt or the Chicago 1/2 which also features the Remix Challenge which means I can run a 5K the day before the half, as well as the 1/2 the next day – this gives participants a total of 3 medals.  One for each of the races as well as the bonus Spinning Medal showing you ran in the back to back races.

For me – the third RnR would only be second to the Washington DC 1/2 marathon I’m already signed up for because RnR #3 would be the Inaugural Run of the Brooklyn, New York 1/2 on October 10th, 2015.  General registration for the run begins March 16 but, as a pass holder I could sign up early.  It even has a special $55 early entry fee.  (which also makes me wonder if using my Tour Pass for this run would be prudent….)

But – I’ve never been to New York before except for flying into the airport once – I’ve never seen the city.  From what I’ve learned the Brooklyn Bridge crosses right over into Manhattan – another place I’ve never seen before 🙂

Most likely – I’ll sign up then figure out how to get there afterwards… 🙂

 

2015 Week 10 Weigh-In

It looks like the status quo of weight loss is being maintained and, after 5 consecutive weeks of drops we have a gain to this morning’s weigh-in of 272.8lbs.

Why do I say status quo?  I say it because in three previous 12 week contest with over 1,000 other competitors, I’ve ended up placing 1st, 3rd and 4th so, I did about as well as a person could do and often better than most and in each one of those contest there were 3 times my weight would go up in each 12 week period of time.

To be honest, I’d forgotten this was Thursday and time to weigh in again.  I got an email this morning from DietBet stating that Round 1 of one of the 6 month bets was over and I had 48 hours to weigh myself, take pictures then submit all that good stuff to dietbet.  The email said the weight goal I needed was 272.8 lbs and it just so happened I hit it right on the button so I took the pics needed, submitted, got the weight verified and now …I’m one of the official winners of this Round 1.

Now we get to have some fun!  There’s finally a challenge!  Besides those two Six-Month bets I have going on, I added a single 4 week challenge that ends on the 28th of this month.  I’ve got $100 riding on this bet and will need to be at 260.2 lbs by Saturday, March 28th – a full 12.6 lbs less then I weigh today in only 23 days 🙂

Thus far, I am undefeated on DietBetter.com – 5 for 5 which includes three 1 month challenges where I was to drop 4% of my bodyweight as well as Round 1 (the first month) of two 6 month challenges.  Let’s make it 6 for 6 come the 28th of this month 🙂

2015 Week 9 Weigh-In

In spite of a pizza before bed last night (and the night before) I’m still down 2.2 lbs from last week with a weight of 267.6 and have an average weight for February of 272.

 

It is an odd and different situation to find myself “underweight” according to these DietBet games.  The only real reason I have for not letting myself drop too much is because of another one month long 4% diet bet challenge which starts on February 28th …and …holy cow – I just checked that game and it looks like the initial weigh in is …NOW.   I have between today and the 28th to weigh myself in for an initial weight.

My unique weigh-in word is FOOTBALL.  I like that 🙂  I don’t have time before work to take care of this but, it looks like I’ll need to drop another 10+ lbs or so between that initial weigh in and March 27th.  That will put me down to 257 lbs.  These weight drop goals are pretty small and it does look like I’ve had 5 consecutive weeks of dropping weight.  In previous 12 week “mad dash” weight loss contest there are usually 3 times where my weight will go up or stall.

I’ve updated my Running Log tab and have 17.5 miles of running in for the month.  I also spent some time a few days ago updating my individual runs with some extra thumbnail pics.

I do have those two 1/2 marathons coming up in April and I remember well, after my Lincoln Presidential Half Marathon last year my legs were totally spent after the 13.1 miles and had them packed in ice right after the run because there wasn’t any formal training before hand.  I’m looking to avoid that this year and would also like to beat whatever time I got last year.

I did a 2.5 mile run yesterday and was testing out a new 1/2 marathon run strategy.  In the past, I got one of my best (recent) times by chunking the race into 5 minute run/walk intervals.  One great thing about jogging a minute or two every 5 minutes is being able to pass people throughout the entire race (assuming you start at the back of the pack which, I normally do)  because nobody else jogs at all in the back of the pack, especially towards the end of the race.

With this strategy, I am considering jogging the first and last mile and doing 5 minute intervals in the middle 11 miles.  As I progress throughout the year, then I’m thinking I can increase the beginning and ending run times thereby minimizing the 5 minute interval times.

For now, my goal is the same as last year – to simply finish a half in under 3 hours.

(Calculator out…)  3 hours times 60 minutes per hour…. 180 minutes …divided by 13.1 … equals …13.74 minutes per mile or, about 13 min 45 sec per mile.

I should be able to do this.  I let myself jog at a more normal pace yesterday since I wasn’t trying to maintain my jogs for any great length of time or distance and that equated to speeds ranging from 5.8 to 6.2 mph or, about 12 minutes per mile.  I’ll just need to keep aware of not letting my walking intervals get too slow.

Looks like a pace of 13.75 min/mile comes out to a pace of just under 4.4 mph which is a fairly brisk walk but, doable.  I just need to build up the endurance between now and April 4th …probably need to request off from work as well 😉

10 Strategies to Empower Your Life

In this blog:

• Day 14:  Say No – 10 Strategies to Empower Your Life
• Week 39 Weigh-In
• 5K – Karate Testing – Half Marathon
• Future Plans & Death
• Week 2 – After Action Review

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Start Saying No.   The Day 14 Video is called Say No.  There is a pretty detailed 10 step list which can help a person empower their lives.

A short Yes List and a long No list.

10 Powering and Productive Strategies you can use to empower your personal & professional life.

1. What strategies, initiatives and activities will you say “No” to?  List the activities that can slow down or prevent progress from happening.  Everything is fair game – nothing is sacred in this exercise.  Simply put, if an activity does not advance you forward, then say no immediately.
2. What meetings will you decline or delegate?  List every meeting you have in the remainder of the challenge and determine which you will NOT be attending.  Meetings consume large chunks of productive time and most can be declined or delegated to someone else.
3. What relationships will you not keep?  The way you manage your relationships has an enormous impact on your ability to perform at high levels.  Identify the top three energy draining relationships you are committed to saying No to then, focus on creating strategies to free yourself from each of them immediately.
4. What competitors will you not follow?  Too much time is lost by following and focusing on too many competitors and so-called gurus.  Identify the top 3 and immediately remove yourself from all of their email distribution list, blogs and other related communications.
5. What websites will you not visit?  Websites are like magnets & vampires they draw you in and suck away your productive time.  Pull up your list of favorites and delete most from your favorites and keep only the ones of greatest value.  You must institute a “No Surfing” policy and stick to it.
6. What money will you not spend?  Put yourself on a fiscal diet – every dollar spent should be thought of as an investment towards greater operating income even petty cash.  With this in mind, what things or entire even budget categories will you not spend money on.
7. What foods will you not eat?  We are all reservoirs of energy and everything we do requires that we use it wisely.  So, it’s imperative that you focus in on your nutritional intake and exercise.  Eliminate any food or drink that compromises your energy levels.
8. What thoughts will you not entertain?  Remember, that which does not move you towards your goal, takes you away from it.  Therefore, remove those thoughts that are limiting, defeating or downright negative and consciously replace them with thoughts of abundance, optimism and positivity.
9. What television shows will you not view?  If there was ever a time hog that needed to be slaughtered, television tops the list.  If you stop to think about it those tv hours don’t take long to add up.  Even in a moderately tv watching household, it’s amazing how many hours are spent in front of the box.  The solution — go cold turkey and focus on making huge performance gains.  Take control of those previously lost hours and put them to good use.
10. What will you no longer tolerate from yourself or others?  Identify the standards you wish to measure your life by and reuse to lower or negotiate at any time or any reason.  No is a tool of liberation and empowerment so use it with absolute authority and conviction.

That’s one heck of a list!

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Week 39 Weigh-In

While updating my weekly weigh-in wallpaper for my computer, I realized my weigh-in isn’t until tomorrow BUT …I’ve already done it and we’ll just say it’s close enough for this week.  For today I’m weighing in at 263 pounds which is a 2nd consecutive week of declining weight.  Overall, still maintaining +/- 3% of that 260 weight I started at from a week after my winning weight loss contest so – ….27 weeks of maintaining a weight loss is fine by me!  🙂

…maintaining a 50+ lb weight loss for over 1/2 a year – 27 weeks 🙂

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5K – Karate Testing – Half Marathon

This should be a really fun weekend….

On Saturday I have a 5K in downtown St Louis at 8 a.m. – and ….as soon as that is over I’ll need to get my butt to the dojo back over in Illinois because Karate testing starts at 10 a.m.  On Sunday, the St Louis Rock n Roll half marathon starts at 7 a.m.   Packet pickup for these events ….I’ll do that Friday – there is supposed to be a wrist bank in the 5k packet that I wear during the half marathon then when that run is finished there is supposed to be a tent where I can get my Spinning Guitar Pick medal for participating in back to back runs 🙂   …just remembered – since this will be my 2nd Rock n Roll half marathon of the year I’ll also be getting some kind of repeat performance medal… I think i have pics of these somewhere …. all told, I’ll net 4 medals from this weekend.

obtained for running back to back races in the same weekend

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Future Plans & Death

Running – Here I’m looking at repeating the 26/30 week program I was doing for my 3rd full marathon. It was originally a 26 week program and I added four blank weeks so it would end on the date of my 3rd marathon (November 1st) and, ironically enough, I pretty did exactly what was listed during those extra four weeks …nothing – pretty close to nothing anyway but, I did get in a good 1/2 year of training and made running progress.  When I started that 26 week program it was kicked off by a couple half marathons so I’m going to let this week’s half marathon be the kick off for my next 1/2 year of running.

I will be going back to Kansas City for a week long review for my part IV boards exam which is scheduled for May of 2015.  Part IV is interesting and once you pass you can never take it again and whatever score you get is what you live with for the rest of your life.  It determines which states you can practice in and even which insurance companies will pay you.  It is quite important so – KC review beats out my trip to Wynne Arkansas.

There is a nice half marathon on Sunday, November 2nd which I have run in before – maybe I’ll make that my 2nd kick off half.

Scrolling through media to find those upcoming medals reminded me of several events I want to do in 2015 – Macklind Mile, Tour de Belleville, Moonlight Ramble, Tour de Donut, Lincoln Presidential 1/2 mary, Go! St Louis 1/2, etc.

New Spreadsheet plan – shorter distances but maybe faster times.  I want a much higher percentage of running as opposed to walking … I almost forgot what the Future Plans referred to but I think I remember it mainly pertains to setting up a new program and creating a new spreadsheet.  I think I’ll start a new weigh-in wallpaper with that new spreadsheet.

Death – I’m still pondering this concept – this reality.  I went to another Masonic Funeral last week for a fellow Mason who had been a master mason for 61 years and 9 months.  I remembered during my first Masonic Funeral that one of the higher ranking members of the lodge tried explaining to me that one of the objectives of freemasonry was to overcome the fear of death.  What exactly does that mean, I’ve wondered.  I suppose ….well, I can’t speak for everyone but thinking about dying isn’t a constant thought in my head.  I suppose it’s just ignored but even my awareness level of an impending death but, at this point, I know one thing.  I know partly how my funeral is going to look.  I know there will be Masons present and I’ve heard what they are going to be saying a couple of times now.

I think part of this Masonic teaching kind of embodies that Carpe Diem notion which was briefly mentioned in a previous blog.  Some of the lines from the Dead Poet’s Society such as…. “did these boys wait until it was too late to take one iota from their life of what they were capable of?”  …just paraphrasing from memory there.   or that poem – To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick – “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying and this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying.”

I’ll keep learning.  On a kind of related note, it looks like I’m going to be an officer in the lodge come 2015 or maybe starting in December of this year so… still more to learn.

Week 2 – After Action Review (AAR) phone call – 

compare & contrast….  wow, what a difference a week can make.  week 1 of this 100 Day Challenge was fraught with poorly defined objectives and mainly only served to provide a greater awareness of what a loser I was in certain aspects of my life.  Week 2 AAR – huge difference – yesterday was a simple day consisting of work, karate and then coming home and kicking butt around the house with various endeavors but, at the end of it all, I could honestly say that I had lived that day about the best I possibly could.

Anyway, each week at Noon (CST) there is an AAR phone call with Gary, the guy that made up this 100 Day Challenge and in that 40 minute phone call he mentioned a list of 12 things to help improve our lives so, I took notes in this blog to share with others who might be interested.  My list has 14 items but I wasn’t able to completely differentiate between all the items so …there is a two item bonus in my list.

Also – I mentioned previously that this was a $147 course but there was an offer extended for me to be able to add up to 3 people to the program for $47 each.  Not that I would pay that but, if anyone is interested I’ve still got two extra people I can add to the program.   Leave a message – paypal me $47 to my email address of dukowitz@gmail.com and we’ll set you up.  I’ll probably shoot out a mass email to the 300 or so Masonic brothers in my lodge, maybe one or two of them will be interested as well.

There are 77 days left in the 2014 –

1. Elevate your conversations
   – High Achievers talk about Big, Bold, Better Ideas
   – Average People talk about common events
   – Little People talk about other people – gossip, etc
2. Elevate your Beliefs –
3. Elevate your Actions
4. Elevate your Attitude – expose your mind to a better life.  expose yourself to excellence – surround yourself with it
5. Elevate your expectations by demanding more from yourself and others.
6. Elevate your discomfort by elevating & challenging your discomfort zone.  it’s inconvenient to workout when you’re tired – reality is it’s convenient and easy to make an excuse.  it’s inconvenient to make a good meal and convenient to buy fast food.  expose yourself to discomfort.
7. Elevate your value by raising the bar and going the extra mile.  the difference – go the extra mile –
8. Elevate your gratitude by elevating your consciousness.
9. Elevate your future by focusing on key priorities.  What we think, know or believe is of little value compared to….
10. Elevate your joyfulness – it’s perfectly fine to have fun in everything that you do.  joy is a virtue that hides in plain site
11. Elevate your reputation by delivering exceptional results.
12. Elevate your network
13. Elevate your Focus by saying No and Setting Boundaries.  Have a short Yes list and long No list.
14. Elevate your Fun by laughing more and worrying less.   outlook not determined by circumstances (reminds me of Victor Frankl)

Your thoughts your words and your actions & beliefs can help improve your situation.

77 days left in this year and Each One Counts

– Everything Matters –

Everything Counts

Your thoughts, words, action, beliefs are like an elevator that can either help bring you up or take you down.  Well said, Gary 🙂

The Difference Between a Violin and Viola

Many years ago I had the privilege of seeing comedian and piano virtuoso Victor Borge perform at the Fox theatre in St Louis, MO.  It must have been a very good show because, like my first marathon, it left many indelible marks on my memory.  One thing I recalled reading about Victor was that if he didn’t practice for a day then he could tell a difference.  If he didn’t practice for a week then his wife could tell a difference and if he didn’t practice for a month then his audience could tell a difference.

The recent four day vacation I had with my family over this past 4th of July weekend and subsequent lack of karate practice over those four days reminded me of Victor’s thoughts on practicing and who could notice.  Last Thursday was a fantastic day for karate, my practice before Karate class was sharp and crisp.  So many people started their holiday weekend early last week that there was only me and one other black belt that showed up for Karate so my sensei was able to get a good look at me during our initial katas and before he left said that he wanted to test me again in a couple months which, is a very good thing 🙂

The next testing will put me at the rank of Ni-Kyu or 2nd degree brown.  When a belt rank is under black then the numbers go backwards on their way to black belt so I’ll only have Ichi-Kyu or 1st degree brown left before I test for my black belt.

For Ni-Kyu testing I’ll need to perform 9 of the 10 basic katas we have in our style, for Ich-Kyu I’ll be doing all 10 and for black belt, we do more katas then are required for any other rank in the style, all 10 basic katas and two black belt or fighting katas known as Ananku and Wankan.  Last Thursday sensei left early after watching three different katas then I got to stay and work one on one with the remaining black belt and worked through all 12 katas I’ll need for black belt.

Thursday my punches were fast, clean, crisp and focused – kind of like being hit with a bullet.  During my post vacation workout on Tuesday my punches would have been more like getting hit with a sledgehammer and lacked some of the explosive pop from my previous workout.

Still, getting tagged for my next rank was a great thing and formally adding in my karate practice came at a perfect time to help make this next promotion possible.  Karate workouts are a bit different when people are slated for testing and tend to be more geared towards perfecting our katas which I like a lot.

I had a pretty good run last Thursday which was my Week 13, Day 3 run in which I knocked out a very smooth 5k.  After starting my Sports Tracker app, I turned on my music and put my phone in my pocket until the end of the run and found that my pace for all three miles were within 8 seconds of each other and my last two miles were within 2 seconds of each other.  (14:22 and 14:24)

I found a nice running calculator at www.mcmillanrunning.com and when I entered my best 5k time of 38:31 and a goal marathon time of 4:21:00 it gave me back training times for various types of runs and said my easy runs should be at a pace of 13:47-14:27 and my long runs should be at a pace of 13:52-14:49

I had a weekend long run of 7 miles while in the Ozarks of Missouri and that is a very, very hilly part of the country.  One road was so steep it was even named “Up Hill Drive”  I pretty much got fried during that workout and it took about 2 hours & 4 minutes to complete.  The stairs pictured below were encountered many times during my 2 hour adventure run.

  

I wanted to avoid doing my Week 14, Day 1 run at the Ozarks because of those hills but, my brother suggested just staying on the complex and running back and forth along the waterfront to avoid as many hills as possible.

 

Running along the edge of the lake reminded me of a Rock n Roll 1/2 marathon I did in Virginia Beach were the last mile or two of the race was along the boardwalk with the atlantic ocean to our left.  I sort of forgot about all the sunlight that gets reflected from the water and could feel my face burning towards the end of the run.  Fortunately, it was only a 3 mile run.

My Day 2 Week 14 run later on today will be a 5-miler followed by a 3 mile run tomorrow.

This Saturday’s Day 4 run of Week 14 is an 8 mile run which will be replaced by a 9 a.m. Tour de Donut 34 mile bike ride out in Staunton, Illinois.  I was reading in one of the running websites about cross training and it recommended riding a bike for about 1.5 times as long as your projected run if you are going to replace one for the other.  So, I figured the 8 miles would take about 2 hours and I was looking at about 3+ hours for the bike ride so it should be a good replacement.

Friday night will be a short 5 mile bike ride in a local Tour de Belleville.  There’s also a 15 mile option in this 9th annual ride but I don’t want to do too much before my 34 mile bike ride just 12 hours later.  A few years back I found that 30 miles was about my limit on the bike which … I found a little disturbing.  The personal bias in my head was such that I liked to think I could go out and ride 112 miles on my bike because that is the distance a person needs to ride their bike in a full triathlon.

But …the humbling reality was that 30 miles was about my limit before my legs turned to noodles.  So, this weekends 34 mile ride should be a good challenge.  I’m hoping all the training I’ve done up to this point will enable me to eek out those extra 4 miles and maybe even finish strong.

This will be my first Tour de Donut and my 4th or 5th Tour de Belleville.  I like the idea of having annual traditions.

W9D1 – The Nifty Fifty

The Nifty Fifty
W9D1 – Week 9, Day 1

The Nifty Fifty

Pictured above is Dr Norman Kettner DC, DACBR, FICC.  He’s a board certified radiologist and one of the best and highest quality teachers we had at the school I attended to become a chiropractor.  Dr Kettner understood things so well that he could make almost anything understandable.  One of my favorite lines was “an embolism is just a thrombosis on vacation”  🙂

I always remembered one day in class when Dr Kettner first mentioned the Nifty Fifty, apparently these were the top 50 diseases and conditions that doctors saw in their office on a regular basis.  Since then, I’ve tried a few times to write down what I figured the those top 50 diseases were but have always done so on paper which, tends to get lost over time.  So, I figured an extra page on my blog is something that would not get lost.  I have no evidence that my list comprises the top 50 items, it’s more a list of what I could recall studying the most in school.  I’ve got 3 months and 10 days until the Part III exam and I’ll need to be familiar with pretty much everything I can by then.  The list I came up with is a start.  I figured I’ll be rewriting and reorganizing that list several times but, that kind of repetition is usually useful to me.

I’ll need to expand each item with some fundamental knowledge about each one …and for right now, that’s something I need to figure out – …here’s an initial guess

1. What it is – brief definition
2. etiology – where does it come from
3. prognosis
4. tx (treatment)
5. lab test associated with dx (diagnosis) of condition
6. incidence – who gets it?  male/female?  age?
7. Ortho test used to confirm?
8. basic pathobiology
9. dx – Diagnosis – test mentioned above would probably be a subset here
10. ddx – differential diagnosis
11. risk factors
12. category of disease or condition
13. pertinent or necessary diagnostic imaging
14. what exam might reveal this condition
15. …..

Ugh….you see, it’s looking like a lot, i know i already have well over 100 dz’s & conditions listed and I know Huntington’s dz just came to mind – I think that one involves a repeating sequence of CAG and, if that sequence repeats more than 30 times then one is susceptible to the dz and the greater the number of repeats, the younger in life a person may get Huntington’s but ….i know there is another version with a sequence of 5 repeating amines

anyway, a dozen or so bits of info times the 100+ items and we’re looking at over 1,000 bits of info but….I’m glancing through the list – well, gotta know it and i’ve got over 3 months but …there are 9 parts to the exam.   maybe a thorough enough job on that list could cover 3 or 4 of the parts covered.

I did notice those tabs go in alphabetical order so, maybe I’ll put the letter ‘z’ in front of my boards stuff to push those tabs to the end.

W9D1 – Week 9 Day 1
Well…..  not so hot when compared to recent runs but, as my brother pointed out – How did that run compare to last year?  From that perspective my first run of week 9 was pretty good 🙂

I’m not exactly sure what’s going on.  I know that night at the ballgame kind of set me back a bit.  Even 4 days later I felt like I had lost 2 or 3 happiness points.

I’m pretty much ready to take a mulligan on my pending weight loss goal as well but, I just remembered something.  I may have mentioned this before but, it does seem like whenever I try to artificially generate some kind of a huge push that I tend to get knocked back down into humility.  I do remember mentioning this before or maybe it’s just something I’ve thought about before.

By default, I have to stick with my plan and keep hitting each day the best I can.

I do remember one thing I wanted to do and that was to update a portion of my running log which looks at some average statistical type data for the past three months since we just ended May.  I know there has been some really nice improvement and I at least need to give myself a chance and do the best I can this month for any hope of being able to see even more improvement.

Still have work to do today.  I did pass my pizza test!  Ha!  🙂   I am somewhat amazed at how much testing is now involved with just wanting to deliver pizza’s a few days per week.  For Domino’s, a place I’d worked at before about 20 years ago, I had to go to a site called snagajob.com and literally spent hours taking different exams to be able to submit my application.  This other place where I’ll probably end up getting hired had nearly an hour of timed testing I had to take in person with a couple other candidates.

i did miss question 20 on a math page …they asked for the square root of a 5 digit number but now – i’m wishing i would have just put that number in parenthesis and raised it to the 1/2 power!

I’m frazzling my brain and… I’m not liking sitting in one spot for hours on end studying.  I have to break that up.  Maybe interject some walks every hour or two.  maybe taking flashcards with me on walks.  I do have a version of The Raven on my phone mixed in with all my music.  maybe there is something worthwhile I can read and have played back between songs.

Still need to make one more tab for part III regarding logistics and administrative type stuff.  All I really need is a hotel in Davenport and one in Kansas.    There’s so much frickin material that it does make me want to go to the first set of board reviews in Florida, just to get some structure.  idk – i’m a little freaked out but, this is that Blue Arrow stuff – pushing myself, the anxiety and, it is a self generated issue – ie, a good problem to have.  A very good problem and situation.

I’ve got a good hundred days so, even if i add to that list, knocking out a couple a day would get things done in less than two months.  …

yeah…I’m freaking out.