Day 84 and 85 - Half-Marathon and Junk Food Weekend

That's me with the Camelbak at around mile 4 or so.

So this weekend ending up being both significantly healthy and unhealthy at the same time.  First things first, I completed my half-marathon on Sunday in less than 2 hours.  That's both a major accomplishment all on it's own and a 27 minute improvement on my PR.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/308089819

The negative for the weekend (continuing into Monday) was my continued consumption of junk food.  After the race on Sunday I decided to treat myself one more time to 5 Guys before getting back to the diet.  Probably a mistake at the time (it left me uncomfortably full), but I convinced myself I'd just get back to eating healthy today.

So this morning I woke up with m knee feeling extremely sore (I'm guessing it's more likely my IT band that's hurting, but it feels like the knee anyway).  As it hurt to even walk around the house I decided to take the day off and rest and ice it for another day.  This wouldn't have been bad either, except I took advantage of the "weekday off" to feed one more of my junk food cravings.  The Pizza Hut buffet was a place I used to eat at weekly (sometimes more often) when I used to have weekdays off.  I haven't eaten there much in the last three years but it's still on my list.  Today was a chance to go and eat too much food again.  The only real positive to take from the day as far as my goals go is that at least I didn't give in on my caffeine/soda ban.  I was severely tempted when I got there (traditionally I'd down a bunch of mountain dew with the pizza), but stuck to some lemonade instead.

Going forward I don't have a choice, I've got to get back on the healthy eating track as I'm sure the weekend's junk food has probably cost me a couple pounds worth of weight gain.  Luckily I have sufficient groceries in the house.  Shouldn't be too hard to get back to it.  Just can't be careless.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2500 and 2300
Exercise: 1977 and 0
Points Earned: 2477 and 700
Total Points Earned:  145370
Points to go:  54630

Day 82 and 83 - Race Weekend

First things first:  Friday's weigh-in result:  207.2 pounds. 

That's down 4.4 pounds from my last weigh-in.  I'm slowly approaching the 200 pound mark again (which is approximately where I maxed out the last time).  Of course if I keep eating too much junk food like the last couple days that's not going to happen.

So tomorrow morning I'm running my 4th half-marathon (and my first of the year).  Regardless of how I do I'm planning on running two more this year.  If I do better than expected and break the two hour mark though I'm also going to start training for a full marathon.

So race weekend has always been a pretty good time.  My last three half-marathons were all with Team Challenge so the entire weekend was an event.  This time I'm on my own but there's still a bit of a benefit and a danger to the weekend.  The benefit is that in preparation for the race, eating a little unhealthy isn't a problem.  In fact you kind of want to "carb up" in preparation for the race.  The danger is that you can't let that become a habit after the race.

Friday was a bad day for the diet, with a pot-luck at work and 5 Guys for dinner.  Saturday was better, but still involved a junk food meal.  I'll be back on track by Monday I'm sure but it's still something I need to be aware of.  One other change for this race versus my others, for those other races this weekend would have been the goal I was training for.  After it was done training would have stopped and I would have taken time off for a few months.  Next week I'm going to be back to it, maybe not as long a distance but I'm hoping to train for some longer races in the future.  I assume my next half will be in August or September.  It will be interesting to see how that changes things.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), fish and chips (1300 calories) and another egg and cheese (300 calories).  Exercise was walking the dogs (100 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 3000 and 1900
Exercise: 0 and 100
Points Earned: 0 and 1200
Total Points Earned:  142193
Points to go:  57807

Day 81 - Biking Instead Of Driving

So one of the little things I've done over the last couple years to get some extra exercise is to bike someplace instead of drive when it's warranted.  Now that doesn't mean I bike everywhere.  If I'm going shopping, or going a distance, I'll still usually drive.  I bike to work, and would even for longer distances.  I also occasionally bike to events (the movies, parties, family or friends' houses).  It all depends on whether there's a need for cargo.

Today I decided to bike to and from kickboxing.  On the positive side, the bike path is a much more direct route (taking the highway practically doubles the distance).  The only concerns were that it would get dark on the way home, and how tired I'd be after class.  It worked out pretty well, and I'm planning to make it a regular thing (it also replaces a run before kickboxing which I wanted today to rest my knee a bit).

You can see the rides here:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/306844665
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/306844676

Food today:  skipped breakfast as I was still full from last night, lunch was Subway meatball sub with chips (750 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (700 calories), snacks were some pretzels (100 calories), and an english muffin and slice of cheese before kickboxing (200 calories).  Exercise was the ride to and from class (800 calories) and class itself (500 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1750
Exercise: 1300
Points Earned: 2550
Total Points Earned:  140993
Points to go:  59007

Day 80 - Started Well, Ended Poorly

Fairly routine day for the most part.  Unfortunately after going running today I decided to satisfy a craving.   The fish and chips I wanted wasn't open, so instead I went to a nearby Wendy's and ate too much food.  Always sucks to have a down day like this but it's mostly a minor concern.  As long as I don't repeat it the rest of the week the run on Sunday will probably take care of most of those extra calories.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), pretzels (200 calories), Wendy's (2000 calories).  Exercise was a running class (600 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 3000
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 600
Total Points Earned:  138443
Points to go:  61557

Day 78 and 79 - Nothing to Report

So I missed another post yesterday.  This is starting to become a habit again.  I'll have to do something to keep on track.  Otherwise the last two days have been fairly routine.  Monday I took the evening off as a rest day and a chance to simply hang at home.  Tuesday though I got back to the gym and ran for a bit.  I've started the process of building my speed up to the next level again.  Other than that I'm mostly just focused on avoiding any breakdowns or injuries before the run on Sunday.

Food Monday:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks were pretzels and some cheese (200 calories), dinner was steak, noodles and green beans (1000 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).

Food Tuesday:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snacks were pretzels and some chips (300 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (700 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories) and an hour on the treadmill (1078 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2000 and 1800
Exercise: 100 and 1178
Points Earned: 1100 and 2378
Total Points Earned:  137843
Points to go:  62157

Day 77 - Mostly Recovered and A Rest Day

Well as the morning started I still wasn't feeling 100 percent.  In that case though I think it had more to do with the leftover effects of yesterday's medication than any particular digestive issues.  Even so today was kind of a mixture of rest day, and day off from focusing too much on the diet.  I still ate sensibly, but I also went to the movies and had a lot of popcorn.  It was a birthday celebration for my mom so my sister and I also took her out to a fancy pizza place afterwards (that's fancy for a pizza place, so realistically it's fanciness level was slightly higher than average).  All in all it was a pretty relaxing day.  The only downside was missing my now semi-traditional Sunday bike ride.

Food today:  two scrambled eggs (200 calories), some turkey and cheese at the grocery store, and then some more later as a snack (400 calories total), popcorn (600 calories), and a half of a small meat lover's pizza (800 calories).  No exercise on the day.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2000
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 1000
Total Points Earned:  134365
Points to go:  65635

Day 76 - 12 Mile Run and a Slightly Disgusting Post

The title's just a bit of a warning about today's post.  It's a little disgusting thanks to the events of the day.  I apologize in advance but I need to rant about it somewhere.

So first the run.  I did 12 miles on the bike path today in 1 hour and 50 minutes.  So on the one hand, that seems to suggest I might be able to actually break the 2 hour mark at next week's race.  On the other hand there was an extenuating circumstance that had me running 20 to 30 seconds faster per mile than I would normally have run.  That's part of the disgusting part.

Even so, here's the run data if you're interested:  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/303911600

Now the gross part.  If you check the race data you can see my speed picks up quite a bit in the second half (particularly by the beginning of mile 8).  There was a reason for that.  I very badly needed to go to the bathroom for at least the last 50 minutes of the run.  I've often said that one of the weird satisfying parts of running is that it shakes things up, and when I get home after a longish run there are few things as satisfying as a "post-run poop."  Unfortunately for me, instead of kicking in at mile 10 or 11, the need to use the bathroom kicked in by mile 6.  By mile 8 I was struggling with an overpowering need to go.  That's why my second half splits look so good.  When you're doing everything in your power not to poop, it's surprising how little you notice being tired.

Getting home at the end of the run was absolutely amazing.  Unfortunately holding it in for an hour left me somewhat constipated.  So instead of some of my plans for the day (grocery store, a movie or concert, maybe a Revs game), I spent the day either in bed or the bathroom.  The only thing I ran out for was lunch, and because I needed a decent meal, and wanted to try and take my mind off everything I went to 5 Guys.  Probably a mistake, but other than breakfast and a post-run fiber bar it was my only meal of the day.  After hours, and a post lunch trip to the pharmacy for stool softener I seem to be most of the way to recovery.  We'll see how I feel tomorrow.  So that's my gross discussion.  Hope I haven't revolted all of you.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), granola bar (150 calories), 5 Guys cheeseburger and fries (2000 calories).  Exercise was the 12 mile run (1888 calories according to an online calculator).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2450
Exercise: 1888
Points Earned: 2438
Total Points Earned:  133365
Points to go:  66635

Days 74 and 75 - Blah Day Followed By Pretzel Day

So...I missed a post.  Not too big a deal, but I did feel a little stupid just now when I signed in a saw that.  So I'll throw a couple days worth of food into this post. 

Yesterday was a "Blah Day."  By the end of my day at work I was worn out and didn't feel like doing anything.  I skipped both running and kickboxing as well.  Missing a day isn't too big a deal, as long as it doesn't become a habit, but I still ended up feeling a little guilty about taking the time off.  I've got 30 pounds to go to hit my stretch goal, and while a night off is probably healthy in the long term it makes me feel like I'm not accomplishing anything.  Now old me would have also ordered pizza or something to make myself feel better (which would have just compounded the guilt afterwards).  New me made a slightly larger portion size than needed but largely kept to the diet.

On the other hand the night off did leave me feeling a lot better.  I went to bed a little early, got a full night's sleep, and was a bit more energized today.  Today was also Pretzel Day at work, and the employee association bought the big pretzels and made them available.  It was fun, and while I ended up having two of them today it wasn't too unhealthy.  I also felt up to going to the gym after work and had a pretty good run without any of the soreness that's become somewhat standard at the end of the week.  As I said, the night off was probably healthy long term, but left me a little bummed at the time I decided it.

Food Thursday:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), slice of cheese (100 calories), larger size penne, sauce and garlic toast (1000 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).

Food Today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), Subway meatball sub with chips (750 calories), 2 big pretzels (360 calories), smaller penne, sauce and garlic toast (700 calories).  Exercise was an hour on the treadmill (1083 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1900 and 2110
Exercise: 100 and 1083
Points Earned: 1200 and 1973
Total Points Earned:  130927
Points to go:  69073

Day 73 - Another Routine Day

Just a quick post today.  I'm tired and nothing major happened.  It was a rest day during the week so no running tonight either.  All in all a fairly routine day.  The only unusual thing that happened today was a weird reaction to some chocolate.  I've cut back on both caffeine and candy of late, so after grabbing a couple little peanut butter cups today I was shocked at how suddenly energized I was.  That was then followed up by a crash about a half-hour later.  Not surprising really, but not something I've really experienced in years.  Can't decide if it's a good sign or not.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), dinner was pork loin, rice and green beans (900 calories), and snacks were a couple slices of cheese and some candy (250 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1950
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1150
Total Points Earned:  127754
Points to go:  72246

Day 72 - Avoiding the Rain

There are a couple advantages to running on the treadmill.  It keeps the pace and time for you.  There's TV to distract from the exercise.  Probably the most important though is that it's inside.  So on a cold, rainy spring day I didn't have to go for a run on the bike path and could run someplace dry (or more honestly, I didn't have an excuse to skip running).  There's are negatives to running on the treadmill as well of course.  It's artificial.  You're paying to run which is something you can do for free.  You have to share the equipment with strangers.  The one I noticed today however is that it is also very easy to talk yourself into scaling back your planned runs.

If I'm running on the bike path I have to keep running until I get back to my starting point.  So if I run out 3 miles, I know I have to do 3 miles back.  On the treadmill if you start to get tired halfway through you have the ability to just stop.  I was very tempted today at the 35 minute mark of my hour long run.  Fortunately I was able to push through it, but when running outdoors I wouldn't have had the choice.  I could slow down, but in the end I still need to get back to the start.  It's an interesting aspect to running outdoors, particularly since it's always the last couple miles that are the toughest.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snack was a slice of turkey and slice of cheese (150 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and a slice of garlic toast (700 calories).  Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories) and an hour on the treadmill (1142 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1650
Exercise: 1242
Points Earned: 2592
Total Points Earned:  126604
Points to go:  73396

Day 71 - Team Challenge

I got into running because of Team Challenge (http://www.ccteamchallenge.org/).  Before I signed up for that first half-marathon program, running was something other people did.  Admittedly that first half-marathon wasn't particularly fast but I did it.  It laid the foundation for the weight loss, running and everything else I've accomplished in the last couple years.  Tonight was a fundraiser to support TC, and it was a chance to once more get to see everyone from the team.  The difference between training alone and training with TC are the people.  These are folks who, as corny as it is, have become my friends and are the reason I was able to keep going when things got tough.  So if anyone reads this who has been looking for something to start their way to a healthy lifestyle, give Team Challenge a try, it's great for you and helps to find a cure for Crohn's disease.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), snack was some peanut butter before running (100 calories), dinner was a cheeseburger and fries (1300 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories) and an hour on the treadmill (1138 calories).

Weigh-in result for this morning (the 120K weigh-in):  211.6


Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2200
Exercise: 1238
Points Earned: 2038
Total Points Earned:  124012
Points to go:  75988

Day 70 - No Rest Day

Last week I'd planned to use Sunday as a recovery day after the long run.  This week I knew there was no chance that I'd be doing that.  Plenty of my hobbies involve sedentary activity.  Even so, I just can't take a full day of doing "nothing" anymore.  A whole day in the house leaves me a little antsy.  So today I knew I was taking the bike ride.  I did the same route as last week, but added an extra couple blocks to hit the 16 mile mark even.  16 miles in 80 minutes is a decent clip with my mountain bike.  More importantly I was trying to get some light exercise and just keep active for the day.  Admittedly the rest of my day was a little dull but I at least had some activity.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), roast beef sandwich (500 calories), dinner was a grilled cheese sandwich (600 calories), and snacks were some peanut butter and a slice of turkey (300 calories).  Exercise was the bike ride (800 calories).


Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1700
Exercise: 800
Points Earned: 2100
Total Points Earned:  121974
Points to go:  78026

Day 69 - 11 Miles on the Treadmill

So yesterday morning started out with some pretty steady rain.  So I chickened out and went to the gym for my long run instead of the bike path.  Running a long distance on the treadmill is a very different experience.  In a lot of ways it's easier (no risk of tripping, TV to watch while you run, a steady pace maintained by the machine).  On the other hand you are running in place for most of two hours.  That gets dull even with multiple distractions.  The other problem at a gym is that the machines usually have timers.  Mine had a maximum time of an hour which meant at the hour mark I had to stop it, run in place a bit while I reentered the info and then start up again.  A little irritating but I'm going to say it simulated stopping to cross a busy street.  One nice discovery was that I learned I could actually make use of my Kindle at the gym.  May make running there work a bit better on days when the TV is boring.

Food for the day went a little high:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), roast beef sandwich for lunch (500 calories), dinner though was pizza with friends and I ate a little too much (1600 calories).  Exercise was the 11 miles on the treadmill (1943 calories according to the machine).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 1943
Points Earned: 2543
Total Points Earned:  119874
Points to go:  80126

Day 68 - Mild Cheat Day

So I forgot to do my post yesterday.  No excuse other than getting distracted towards the end of the night.  Yesterday was pretty straightforward.  We had a smoothie break organized by the wellness committee at work.  Working on that made a nice change of pace, even if I didn't end up having a smoothie myself (had eaten lunch just before).  After work though I decided on two things.  The first was to skip running for the day since I knew I had the 11-miler today.  The second was a craving for fish and chips.  I ended up going to a fish place for dinner and got fish and chips and some clam cakes.  All in all it was a pretty nice night.  The downside was that the points were a little low.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), roast beef sandwich (500 calories), some peanut butter (100 calories), and fish and chips with clamcakes (1500 calories).  No exercise on the day.

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2400
Exercise: 0
Points Earned: 600
Total Points Earned:  117331
Points to go:  82669

Day 67 - Average Day With Exercise

Today was mostly an average Thursday.  A couple minor changes meant that I didn't score as many points as I could have but still had a more than respectable result for the day.  I decided I wanted to buy lunch today, which resulted in a trip to Subway (and a bag of chips at lunch that added excess calories).  Since today's exercise plan was some sprint training followed by kickboxing I also had a per-exercise snack of toast with peanut butter.  Again, not really a big deal but it turned into some extra calories.  Over the long run (both metaphorically, and also my plan to continue long runs) a few hundred extra calories here and there aren't a big deal, particularly if they correspond with exercise.  On the other hand, there's still a part of me that feels bad any time I exceed 2000 calories in a day of food.

Food today:  egg and cheese for breakfast (300 calories), meatball sub with chips for lunch (750 calories), snack was toast with peanut butter (300 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (800 calories today, as a little extra penne ended up in the pot).  Exercise was sprint training (100 calories maybe) and kickboxing (500 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 2150
Exercise: 600
Points Earned: 1450
Total Points Earned:  116731
Points to go:  83269

Day 66 - Improving Weather

Well for the last month or so I've been running outdoors and that has taken me out from running at the gym.  Now that the spring weather is really kicking in that's turned out to be a pretty pleasant place for exercise.  Running alone is still not as much fun as running with other people though.  The difference between my weekday runs with friends and my long run on Saturday by myself is night and day.  Nice weather helps that a bit (if Saturday's a little warmer I wouldn't mind) but at the end of the day two hours running with nothing other than music to keep me company ends up being boring.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories),snacks are a little high with a granola bar, some peanut butter and a slice of cheese during the day (350 calories), dinner was penne, sauce and garlic toast (700 calories).  Exercise was a lunchtime walk (100 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1850
Exercise: 100
Points Earned: 1250
Total Points Earned:  115281
Points to go:  84719

Day 65 - Average Day

Nothing all that special happened today.  The meat I defrosted for dinner did not look good, so that did contribute to a need to put together a less standard meal.  Other than that though I kept to the diet and got out running after work.

Food today:  egg and cheese (300 calories), turkey sandwich (500 calories), granola bar and some peanut butter as snacks (300 calories), dinner was scrambled eggs, light toast with peanut butter and milk (700 calories).  Exercise was a lunch time walk (100 calories) and 5 miles of running (700 calories).

Daily Point Total:
Daily Food Total: 1800
Exercise: 800
Points Earned: 2000
Total Points Earned:  114031
Points to go:  85969