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!"

Friday, July 9, 2010

Weight Check 7/9/10

FatManRunning

Last Friday: 277.2 lbs.


Today: 274.8 lbs.


Gain/Loss: -2.4 lbs.


Goal: 210.0 lbs.


Cumulative: 25.6 lbs.


Pounds to lose: 64.8


Comment: I'll take 2.4 lbs! I still need to run yet today.


Mrs. F


Last Friday: 155.0 lbs.


Today: 154.3 lbs.


Gain/Loss: - .7 lbs.


Goal: 150.0 lbs.


Cumulative: 28.5 lbs.


Pounds to lose: 4.3


Comment: I expected to be up this week, I didnt overeat but I did eat up all my calories and some of my run burn. So Im extremely pleased with a 7/10 lb loss! The even better part was I looked at my bmi and I am officially, albeit barely, in the normal range with this latest loss!!!!!!!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Back to biking

Well, I got back to biking to work this week.  Mrs. F borrowed my bike to take a ride (hers was stolen a few weeks ago), and since she topped off the tires I no longer had an excuse.  So, that gives me four quick half-mile sprints a day, except on days like today when I needed to run back and forth one extra time to fix a faucet.  It feels good to be back in the saddle again.

Aside from July 4, calorie counts have been good over the past two weeks. We've had more fresh fruit and veggies around, so that has made a big difference. I'm due to run again today, but didn't feel like going out at five-thirty this morning.  I should run this evening, but might postpone until tomorrow morning so as to be back on the same running schedule as Mrs. F.  I'm due to run a longer one this week, and I'm not sure if that will be tomorrow, or on Saturday.

I've been thinking about doing a short (one mile) run on my off days, just for the calorie burn, but am wondering if that's a good idea. I'd still reserve one day as a complete day of rest, meaning I'd run my three primary runs and those three one-milers each week, leaving me one day for relaxation and recovery.

Temps have cooled off a bit here in the past few days, so the runs shouldn't feel like bathing in a roaster oven any longer.  I'm looking forward to the approach of fall, when the days will be cool even when the runs make me hot.

Well, I must go for now (break's over).

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Todays run 7/7/10

Currently Im working on a 5 week training plan to helps with improving your time for a 5k. So todays workout was a 5 mile run - 1 mile warm up jog, 3 miles @ 10:52 pace and 1 mile cool down jog.

I thought, hmm I normally run around 11mm mile pace, this will be pretty easy. Um yeah ... It wasnt. It didnt help that I forget my mp3 player, so 5 miles felt really really long!

I took 8/10 of a mile warm up walk as well. I wanted to see if it made a difference to my inside leg muscles. It seemed to help some, the jury is still out on that one.It was bright and sunny as I didnt get out til after 7 am. I did the first mile at about 11:58 pace, nice and steady. Then came the fun part. I discovered that I really dont run at a very steady pace at all. One minute, id be pacing at 10:01 and the next 11:20. I focused on keeping my pace sub 11, that was a little easier than focusing on the precise second.

I did 3 miles (using the lap feature on my garmin) in 32:55, which comes out to a 10:59 pace. Thats pretty close to where I wanted it to be. I did walk a tenth of a mile after the 3 miles, I was beat! Then I took up running again. I ended at 5.0 miles even and walked the last couple of blocks home.

I did 5 miles in 57:20, which comes out to an 11:28 pace. Not bad at all for 5 miles!! and I beat my previous 5 mile time of 57:51!!! Even 31 seconds counts. My heartrate stayed pretty well within range, at least averaged out to 153. i think during the faster portion it was closer to 160's.

My legs are definitely feeling the workout today and Im glad to know there is a 2 day break after this! I have another 6 mile run slated for Saturday. I might shorten it depending on how my legs feel.

Keep on running
Mrs. F

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Cross training

I borrowed Mr. F's bike(mine still hasnt been recovered) and went on a bike ride tonight. I really had forgotten how much I really do enjoy biking. It was really nice to get out by myself and just ride. I didnt even take my mp3 player.

I started by riding around the lake, which from my house, is about 5 miles. After coming back into town, I was feeling really good so I decided to press on. I added in another running route that I somtimes use.

I thought pretty seriously bout taking a 10 mile bike ride tonite but then I remembered my slated run for tommorrow is a 5 miler. Yeah probably best to take it easy! I was going to add in another run route which would have brought the total to 10.

I also thought bout walking the dog tonight as well. Is walking considered cross training or is it too similar to running? I do enjoy swimming but it would take a 10 minute drive to a lake that I could swim in. So its just not as convienent.


Mrs. F

Two miles

I had the pleasure of running with son #4 tonight.  He's been practicing for a run during the city festival in August, but he's never run two miles before.  We had a good run.  He was running through the mile-and-a-half point, and then walked a fast walk while I ran on.  As he felt able, he ran a bit more, then walked again. When we hit two miles, I was slightly better than 15mm (14:50), and we walked the last block or two home.  It was a nice run.

Long weekend in review...

I didn't post anything over the weekend, so here's the quick summary: one short run, too much food on the 4th, but otherwise a nice weekend.

We had a medical emergency Friday night (a daughter with significant burns from a bowl of soup), so I didn't get out running.  [She's okay now--our quick reactions and plenty of cold water limited the blistering burns to a narrow band on her abdomen.]  On Saturday, since I already had 12 miles in over the preceding seven days, I decided to run one mile as fast as I could.  I did a mile in 12:28.  I have no complaints. 

I never imagined myself running 12 miles, ever--whether over the course of a week or even over 100 days!

With a good week behind me, I decided to take a couple of days off before running again.

Independence Day brought too much food for me--too many bratwurst and too much cake--but that just means I'll need to work harder this week.  I planned to run this morning, but woke up with a headache, so I lingered longer in bed and will try for a run this evening.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Monday Madness

I did not want to run today -- I just wasnt in the mood at all. I had Mr. F snooze the alarm several times before I finally got up just after 7 am. I couldnt find my workout clothes and I seriously thought of not going at all.

I looked around and found the various workout clothes in 3 different spots. Still wasnt really keen on going. Mr F. was still sleeping as this is his off day.

Im looking at a new training plan that a friend created for me off Runners World website. So today was supposed to be 2 miles at a 12:30 pace. So i figured I could take it slow and easy.

I set out to do my 2.8 mile route( I never did follow directions well lol) and kept my pace slow. I sped up at various points but today waS just hard. I fully realize that my mental game just wasnt there today. I had some emotional stress this weekend and a lot of that is still lingering. It didnt help that I discovered my mp3 player wasnt charged when I went to use it. So I had more time to think bout how much I really didnt want to run.

I even allowed myself to walk up a hill in the middle -- I hardly ever do that. I finished stronger than I started though and that felt good. I did 2.8 miles at a 12:01 pace. Not too shabby for a slow run!

I had a little muscle soreness on the inside of my legs again today. Someone mentioned needing to warm up or that happens. So Im going to try doing a half mile or mile walk first and see if that helps.

Keep on running
Mrs. F

Sunday, July 4, 2010

How fast can you go?

Today was slated to be a rest day for me. The weather dawned nice and warm and by 10 am, it was already 81 degrees. I thought -- you know Im kinda glad to not be running today.

Mr. F had gone out earlier in the morning, Ill let him chime in on his run later. Suffice to say though -- he did fabulous!

While chatting online with a friend -- a fellow runner-- she challenged me to run a mile as fast as i could. She guessed that Id do an 8:48. If you havent figured out by now, Im a bit competetive. I took that challenge and ran with it. I suited up in a tank top and shorts, strapped on my garmin and ran.

The first two tenths I was able to run between the pace of 6-8 minutes per mile. That quickly led to some serious huffing and puffing. I ended up doing the middle part of the run around 9-9:20 pace. At various points I was able to speed up a bit but not like the beginning. It was hot!

I ran a mile in 8:41, beating my friends guess by 7 whole seconds! Way to go me! :)
I seriously felt like I might just collapse right there in my driveway though. I was breathing really really hard. Ive wanted to run a mile as fast as I could go for awhile. I havent though wanted to give up a larger calorie burn to do that single mile run. So it worked out well that I snuck it in on a rest day. I wasnt feeling too sore from my 7 mile run yesterday and felt overall good.

As I sit typing tonight -- I feel great -- muscle wise at least.

On another note, eating today wasnt so well. I just felt hungry most of the day and kept eating and eating and eating. I think I ended the night 200 calories over and that already included 120 calorie burn for the run! Oh well ... tommorrow is a new day and its good to remember that. Part of me wonders though, if it could have been from undereating the day before. I ended up eating 1850 for the day, burned 823 on my long run, so only netting just over 1000 for the day. Hmmm ....

Switching back to a more fun topic -- I got a new dress today. Its really exciting to buy a dress in a much smaller size than I was 10 months ago! Im feeling really good about myself and Im really enjoying that. I even bought some toenail polish to go with my new sandals and dress.

I find myself talking bout couch to 5k everywhere. I mentioned to the fitting room clerk that I have lost almost 28 lbs. And she asked how I did it. It was exciting to talk about couch to 5k. The even more cool part was when she was skeptical about being able to do it herself. Thats when Mr. F chimed in and told her that he was over 300 lbs when he started and did this! I dont know if she will look it up or start it or anything but it was good to share a bit of our success.

I really should get to bed. For some reason, I stayed up late tonight. Usually its the opposite -- Mr. F is the night owl and IM usually the first asleep.

Keep on running,
Mrs. F