Here's the skinny: I've been near 300 lbs. for years and need to lose weight. I'm married to a wonderful lady, and we have a family. One of our boys often asks if I'll run with him. I've always had to tell him, "No." In August of '09, my wife learned about a couch-to-5k running program, and I agreed to try it with her. This blog chronicles our progress on that training program. I hope I'll soon be able to surprise my son by telling him, "Yes, I'll go running with you!"

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Saturday run

This week has been lighter on the workout front as Ive been dealing with shin splints on the side of my legs. Plus my knees were a bit achy. I thought it best to keep it slow and easy this week.

I did two runs on the treadmill on monday and wednesday at 2 miles a piece. I finally got my first outside run in over a week in today. I set out hoping to hit 3 or 4 miles today but my muscles didnt agree. I cut the run short and ended up going only 2.2 miles. My pace was 13:45 -- so I figured slow and short is good for this week.

I think I just need to ease back into upping my miles. I went too far too fast. I looked at my running tracking site and realized I doubled my output -- oops! I was doing about 6 miles a week and then the next went to 13, then 10. So thats likely why Im dealing with shin splints. My goals got a bit ahead of my body!

But I did put in 39.5 miles for the month of January. I am extremely pleased with that output. Ideally, Im shooting for 42 a month but I will definitely take the 39!

Keep on running folks
Mrs. F

Weight check January 29

FatManRunning

Last Friday: 280.9 lbs.


Today: 281.6 lbs.


Gain/Loss: +.7 lbs.

Goal: 210.0 lbs.


Cumulative: 18.8 lbs.


Pounds to lose: 71.6


Comment: My focus this week was homework, I only have three more classes to go.

Mrs. F
Last Friday: 166.9 lbs.


Today: 166.8 lbs.


Gain/Loss: -.1 lbs.


Goal: 150.0 lbs.


Cumulative: 16.0 lbs.


Pounds to lose: 16.8

Comment: I was dealing with some shin splints on the side of my legs so I deliberately took an easier workout week. I only ran 6 miles this week. I feel pretty good about not gaining as I seemed to eat a lot and worked out less! Hopefully I can get back in gear and get the numbers trending downward again.

Monday, January 25, 2010

FatManRunning and climbing and skiing...

It's so nice to have a free evening.  I got my school work in a day early this past week and am facing a lighter list of assignments for this week (one week before my finals).  Tonight's Scout meeting was also cancelled because of the weather (blizzard conditions here resulted in recommendations against any travel this evening and two of the other leaders indicated that they wouldn't be able to make it). That meant I was home on a Monday evening without any real pressure to be doing anything other than getting the treadmill up.

I was excited to learn that Mrs. F and our eldest son got a head start on putting the treadmill together.  By the time I got home, there weren't too many steps left to complete.  I let our son continue the fine job he was doing while I went upstairs and made some calls to make sure the boys knew there would be no meeting tonight.  When finished, I helped him finish the treadmill assembly.

Once it was up and running, I took the first run, and then a number of the older kids wanted to give it a try.  My run was very short (I inadvertantly activated a pre-programmed run and worked myself up to a headache within moments), but I got on for another one later. Mrs. F got a couple of miles in.  Since this was my first night of running in weeks, I opted for a single mile.  I started at four miles per hour, and increased my speed as I went on, until I finished one mile at seven.  I don't know why, but running that one mile on the treadmill felt longer than three miles outside! We do have the TV up on the wall now, though, so I was able to watch as I was running, so I did not focus on the clock or mileage figures in front of me. All in all, I finished with a 14 minute mile pace.

Since I've not been running, I kept it to one mile and will see how I'm feeling tomorrow before committing to run again.  On my last weight check, I was glad to find out I was within one pound of where I was back at Thanksgiving.  Since I've not been running--and have not been eating so well--I was afraid that I could have been up at least 10 lbs.

Last week, I chaperoned a trip with the local 6th grade class.  We had lots of fun, and activities included cross country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and climbing on an indoor climbing wall.  I've always wanted to try cross country skiing and snowshoeing, and was excited that they had gear I could use.  Both activities were really fun, and I hope I'll have a chance to try them again.  I never imagined, however, that I would ever try a climbing wall.  I was always afraid of heights when I was a kid, and I've always figured my size and weight would make climbing a 45' wall an impossible feat.  I agreed to give it a try (in part to try to convice one of the kids who was a bit fearful to try it), and I made it to the top! Wow!

That one activity helped renew my hope that I can yet get back on top of this weight loss initiative. I still have a hectic schedule ahead of me.  Finals for my current class are just a week away, and I have three more classes coming in rapid succession, so I don't have any illusions about it being easy.  I've also made it clear that I need someone else to take on my responisbilities with the local Boy Scout Troop, at least until I am done with my schooling.  Hopefully, that will allow me to set aside a little more time for running.

It's good to be back!

The treadmill run

Our eldest son did a good part of putting the treadmill together this afternoon before Mr. F came home from work and helped. It was very exciting! All the kids who were old enough were asking for turns on the treadmill. It was fun seeing them all run!

Mr. F got a run in as well, but Ill let him tell you about that. I was really excited to try it out. Overall I found it harder to use. I like the ablity to slowly increase my speed or lower it. But in general, it just seemed like my mileage progress was sooo slow! I think it will be great for short runs (1-2 miles) and great for bad weather days. I think I will stick to my outside runs for the long ones though.

I started the run with the intention of running for 45 minutes. I even let all the kids have their turns first, so that I could get my longer time in. Ha! After it felt like forever(really only 11:49 ) I got to the first mile point. I adjusted my plan to run for 30 minutes. At about 1.5 miles, I thought, forget it -- Im only running 2 miles lol! So I ended up doing 2 miles in 22:30 -- which is an awesome pace -- 11:15. Perhaps if I had slowed it down, maybe it wouldnt have seemed so hard. It just seemed to drag though.

My mp3 player wasnt charged. So Im looking forward to trying that option out. Mr. F also spent several hours getting our wires rewired so that we could get reception downstairs where the treadmill and tv are. I found it hard to concentrate though on the show. It might depend on how interested in the program. It would be interesting to run while watching biggest loser!

On the eating front, it was a tough weekend. On Saturday, I think I was about 300 calories over. Sunday -- I did okay during the day but watching the football game, gave in to the snack cravings. Eeek! Today, too, wasnt the best. But Im officially going to get back on track!!!


Keep on running folks
Mrs. F