If You See Me Running, You Should Run...

... is what I used to say to everyone.  No, seriously, there are probably bears coming.  Or zombies.  Or zombie bears.

But Alex was getting sick and tired of Shaun T.'s Insanity and honestly I can't blame him.  It's a long program, but damn if it didn't give me great fitness results.  So, I decided to try running on the treadmill one day and I was surprised at how well I did and how good I felt, but it's not a secret to any serious runner that cross-training is important for performance.

Anyway, I've probably tried the Couch-to-5k about three times and most of the time I get to about week 6 or 7 before I quit.  I figured this was because I suck at running and it just wasn't for me.  I believed that the treadmill was the only way because the track was always moving so I had to keep going.  I thought, "no way will anyone ever make me run outside, ever."

And then Alex downloaded RunKeeper and wanted to try it.  Oh, by the way, Alex used to be a cross-country runner.  No, I'm not joking.  Runners come in all sizes, ya'll.  So, yeah.  He made me.  I was not thrilled by the idea.

RunKeeper has a couple of training programs in the app, so we picked the 5k training program and away we went.  We're due to complete a 5k with this program before the middle of August, so the intensity is slowly ramping up.  There are some interval runs, some long walks, and some straight up distance runs.  Here's my numbers for the distance runs:

June 10 - 12:01 minutes/mile
June 19 - 12:15 minutes/mile
June 23 - 11:04 minutes/mile
June 27 - 11:16 minutes/mile

So, the overall trend seems to show improvement.  My starting pace would be about a 5 on the treadmill, and I'm working towards a 5.5 in treadmill speed.  I'm sure it'll just keep going from there.

The biggest and most surprising revelation is that this is easier.  It should have made sense to me long before now, but treadmill running is exhausting.  The pace never lets up.  When you're running outside, you set the pace.  I was so worried that I would stop running just because the track wasn't moving underneath me yet what I found was that I could simply choose to slow my pace a bit and keep going until I felt stronger.  Well, duh!  Right?  Whatever.  Let me have my little realization.

The point is, I kind of like running outside now.  It's just another way I've proven that I have no idea what my body is capable of.  My body is incredible.  Let's see where this takes me!

MOVE, damn you!

It feels kind of like that.  I'm at a definite calorie deficit, I'm working hard, and the scale refuses to push me past about 220 pounds.  Fuck you, scale.  Get with the program.

Yes, I know plateaus happen.  No, I don't want to hear your advice about pushing past it.

Another Day, Another Fit Test

Continued improvement despite massive exhaustion and laziness.

Here are my numbers from this morning's Insanity fit test (the 4th one):

Switch Kicks
1st: 33
2nd: 55
3rd: 65
4th: 71

Power Jacks
1st: 20
2nd: 40
3rd: 47
4th: 55

Power Knees
1st: 75
2nd: 101
3rd: 101
4th: 105

Power Jumps
1st: 15
2nd: 26
3rd: 31
4th: 45

Globe Jumps
1st: 6
2nd: 9
3rd: 10
4th: 10

Suicide Jumps
1st: 5
2nd: 8
3rd: 9
4th: 11

Push-up Jacks
1st: 15
2nd: 23
3rd: 25
4th: 29

Low Plank Obliques
1st: 46
2nd: 55
3rd: 57
4th: 61

Final test will be in a couple of weeks.  So yeah, bit of a boring blog post.  See previous entry for pics and whatnot.

June Results Deferred

Man, this was a rough month.  You might notice that I'm posting my results on the 5th instead of the 1st.  Well, let me start by saying that it's so difficult to own up and be personally responsible/accountable.  It just is.  I've been mulling over several excuses: my back injury, my PMDD (click link for more info), the stress of my life and work bearing down on me, and the rare interruption of my otherwise peaceful relationship with my fiance.  I keep coming back to the idea that there's always an excuse, but also rebound to the idea that I need to be more self-compassionate.

When I stepped on the scale on the 1st, I was not pleased.  I was in denial.  I was bad at the end of May.  Between not hitting the fitness as hard as I used to and eating without regard for my health, the results were not what I wanted.  I buckled down over the next several days and here I am, water weight banished for now, with results I'm more willing to share.  I just can't bring myself to share my failures.  Not now.  Maybe some day.

Here's the result:

Starting weight May 1st: 222.9 lbs.

End weight June 5th: 219.1 lbs.

Change: -3.8 lbs.

As for photographic evidence, the changes don't seem quite right - perhaps due to change in resolution with my new phone - but there are slight changes, as you can see:



I can't wait until next month's check-in, because it's the six-month mark.  The comparison between January 1st and July 1st will be much more evident.  For now, I'm going to keep at it for 25 more days.