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, August 7, 2010

I knocked that record right out of the park!

My last 5k race time(last thanksgiving) was 34:48. I have been running thru the winter, thru the spring and training in the summer. I worked it. So I was anxious to see how my training paid off.

I ran todays 5k in 28:45 seconds~~~!!!!!! Thats a 9:12 pace and a full 6 minutes and 3 seconds off my previous race time. I am very proud of my whole family. My 10 yr old son ran his first 5k race today and ran the whole thing. He had never run a full 3 miles before. My 12 yr old son ran a 31:10 and my 13 yr old beat me with a 27:41!!! My cross country runner came in 3rd overall with a 19:01! And Mr. F beat his previous race time as well! Way to go Riemers!

Keep on running folks,

Mrs. F

Just a quick check-in after a 5k

My last run was on Monday, July 26, so I wasn't expecting much today.  It was cool and rainy, and I would have preferred being out fishing to racing today. Still, all said, I managed to finish with a 40:45, a 13:03mm pace.  That's my personal best in a 5k.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Weight Check 8/6/10

FatManRunning


Last Friday: 277.0 lbs.(Mr F went back to weighing at the clinic)
Today: 279.2 lbs.
Gain/Loss: +2.2 lbs.
Goal: 210.0 lbs.
Cumulative: 20.8 lbs.
Pounds to lose: 69.2
Comment: "Blech!" That all I have to say. I havent run at all this week and I have a race tommorrow morning.

Mrs. F

Last Friday: 153.7 lbs.
Today: 151.1 lbs.
Gain/Loss: -2.6 lbs.
Goal: 150.0 lbs.
Cumulative: 31.7 lbs.
Pounds to lose: 1.1
Comment: I didnt get our weight check posted last week due to our out of town trip. I was down .6 and Mr. F was up 7 lbs. (Some of which we attribute to switching scales) I was really really happy to see the scale go down again! Woot -- I worked hard to stay within my eating range even though I snuck in a mini blizzard. I am very excited for my race tommorrow.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Speedwork Wednesday

I did not want to get up and run today, let alone work on speedwork. I was tired and seriously contemplated staying in bed. Our sons alarm was going off though and since he sleeps like the dead, I went in and woke him up. since I was up, I then started getting ready to go out.

I did my typical half mile warm up walk and then jumped into my run. This week called for 5 miles but less speedwork time, so more mileage on the front or back end. It consisted of 1 mile warm up jog, 1/2 mile at 4:52 pace, 1/4 mile recovery(repeat that 3 times) and then 1.75 mile to cool down. I was feeling sore after 4, so I elected to cut the run short to preserve my muscles and legs for the race on Saturday. Then I just walked the last 1.4 miles home.

I managed to nail all of my 1/2 mile speedwork. It helped that a tired brain miscalculated the mile pace I was aiming for. I thought that 50 plus 50 equaled a whole minute, not the actual 1 minute 40 it was. So while I was supposed to aim for a mile pace of 9:46, I thought I was aiming for a 9:04 pace. I was booking it and it was hard but I did it! I pulled off a 4:32,4:38 and 4:31 respectively for those half mile segments. This left me with an overall average of 11:02 for the whole 4 miles. Not too shabby!

At one point, my chest was hurting and I thought I might just have a heart attack right there on the trail. So i looked at my heartrate, say that it was in the 160s and told myself that it wasnt possible lol. It really is amazing what our bodies can do.
I cannot wait to see what I can do for time in the race on saturday. I am down a significant amount of weight since my last race(I think at least 20 lbs) so I should be able to fly! Things that IM still pondering are what pace to go, what should i eat if anything and will my occasional sideache flare up. I think I just need to run :)

Well keep on running folks,
Mrs. F

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Weekend recap

We left early early friday morning to visit family for the weekend. I knew from the beginning, trying to eat well would be challenging while on vacation so to speak. I didnt quite grasp how hard though.

I was away from the internet, so I didnt have access to my daily plate and my tracking plan. In the future, I think Im going to try and make a list of commmon foods I eat when away and take a checklist with me. I know enough portion control, that I could make some good choices but I felt lost without my calorie numbers. Friday was overall okay. Breakfast was big ... those breakfast sandwiches at fast food places are high in calories! But the rest of the day was pretty good, I ate one hot dog at lunch, and one italian beef sandwich. I did claim one victory that night, when everyone else warmed up leftovers at 9 pm and had more sandwiches ... I declined. Oh did I want that sandwich though!

It didnt help that my bil and sil kept saying eat more, you are on vacation. Or you worry too much bout calories or if you go away hungery its your fault. It wasnt a very helpful enviroment to watch my portion control in. Im still figuring out how to be away from home and my supports here and still eat well. Its also hard not to talk constantly in the framework of calorie counting and running and exercise. All of my good friends, it seems, including my husband are all trying to lose weight. Its a great support when IM home but when Im away from those people, not so helpful.

I got up at 6 am on Saturday to run. Mr. F was off to pick up our son at camp and I suited up and went for a run. I left my headphones in the cabin, we were sleeping in,so that distracted me enough, that I forgot bug spray. Oh did I regret that! It wasnt mosquitos, I only had one bite from that. It was the dreaded deer flies, there were so many -- I thought I might just get carried away. So the run wasnt enjoyable in that aspect, I was uncomforatable with all the deer flies. I was constantly picking flies out of my hair, brushing off my arms and legs cause they were biting me. At one point, one bit me on my behind and i went to brush it off, only to discover like 12 stuck to my shorts. EWWWW!

On a different note, since I was so distracted with the deer flies that I did not pay as much attention to my pace. I ran on a gravel road in the middle of the forest -- it was beautiful. One deer ran across the path in front of me. I neglected to notice the downhill slope on the way out so I was very surprised at the 1.5 miles of uphill coming back. I did an out and back route -- run 4 miles out and then 4 miles back. It felt long. At about mile two or three, I found somewhat of a stride and just ran. It wasnt easy by any means though but I did it. I ran 8 miles in 1 hr and 32 minutes!!!!!! I did it with an 11:31 pace and 152 average heartrate. I was very pleased with that. The 992 calorie burn didnt hurt either! Thats my longest run distance to date.

Saturday was a little harder on the eating front. Meals were at odd hours and I knew i had a huge calorie burn but no real way to track exactly where I was. I ended up eating two suppers ... not particularly helpful. Im thankful to have had the run burn that day though.

I did okay on Sunday til the drive home and then it was snack city and pizza for supper. We came home sunday night but Mr. F had monday off as well, so we did some fishing at a local park. I didnt end up doing my normal monday run. I was sore still from saturday and more importantly, I was exhausted. So I decided Im going to stick with the original running schedule and run again wednesday. It was only slated to be 2 miles on monday, so I think I will be okay. Our race is this Saturday.

Oh well ... today is a new day :) So back on track, I have my supports back and while i may not lose this week, Im sure gonna try.

Keep on running folks,
Mrs. F

Back from a nice weekend away

Aside from a trip to visit family over Christmas a couple of years ago, we've not had a week-long away-from-home vacation in nearly 10 years.  Typically, it's due to financial constraints.  Since changing employers a couple of years ago, limited vacation time has also become an issue. Still, we try to make the best of what we already have, so I took off this past Friday and Monday to allow us a long weekend away.  One of my brothers has a house in northern Minnesota, so we stayed there, with most of our gang divided between a little cabin (imagine two connected storage sheds remodeled to serve as a simple shelter with a bedroom, pseudo kitchen {no water}, and electric power), and a large tent.  Our eldest daughter was treated to a spare bedroom in the house.  My father lives there, and another of my brothers (and his wife) came up for the weekend, too.

All in all, it was a wonderful and relaxing weekend, though I'm sure my caloric intake was off the scale.  We had many family favorites, including Italian beef sandwiches, and fried fresh fish.  As much as I knew I should have limited my intake, I indulged in these familial delicacies, though I avoided some of the extras (sides) that were served with them. In some ways, it really felt like being home again (though my family was not from Minnesota), but all the pleasures of the weekend came with their share of stress.  Foremost among those also tied to food.  Our hosts have a "we'll eat when we get home" mentality, and they also tend to have only one large meal a day (my brother skipping both breakfast and lunch and then eating a large supper).  They didn't seem to understand that our kids, and especially our youngest and our special needs son, were used to a predictable schedule: breakfast not long after rising, lunch between noon and 1 PM, and dinner sometime before 6 PM.

We tried to be flexible.  When they told us they wanted to have the big fish fry around 7 PM, we figured we could make it work.  We packed snacks and even let the kids get desert before dinner (a little restaurant nearby has huge "small" soft serve cones for one dollar each).   Even with that extra food, nerves were frayed by the time 7 PM arrived, since we all were accustomed to eating earlier.  When we got back to the house, my brothers and their wives were nowhere to be seen.  We waited a bit, but when faced with growing meltdowns from the youngest ones (whose bedtime would normally fall around 8 PM), we broke out the food we set aside for our return-trip lunch, and served up homemade bread, cheddar cheese, good summer sausage (from a small processor, not mass market Yard-O-Beef type stuff), and a stick of pepperoni.  Soon, the kids were fed and the little ones were bedded down.  Our hosts returned around 8:30 PM and commenced with the fish fry.  They seemed surprised that we fed the kids, and that some were already bedded down for the night.  There even was wondering aloud why I didn't start frying the fish when we got back.  Besides not knowing which pots they wanted used for the frying, we had no idea what they were serving with the fish or what time they were returning.  So, I think we'll arrange to prepare all of our own meals next time, or at least make them realize that we need to stick to regular meal times, or at least the times agreed upon.

Anyway, I don't mean to rant here.  It was a good weekend overall.  I got to go out fishing on Friday night with my brothers--something I never would have imagined years ago.  It was the first time I was out trolling on big water for walleye in almost a decade, and the only time I've fished apart from my immediate family in six (or more) years.  The kids got to swin in a lake with exceptionally clear water, and we made our return trip at a relaxed pace later in the day on Sunday.  That gave us one more vacation day in our home area, so we headed off to a park in a neighboring town where we spent most of the day with the kids fishing and playing.  It was, by far, the most enjoyable vacation time I've used in the past year, and the best long weekend we've had in a while.

It's just a shame my available vacation days are so few--two weeks of personal time (combined vacation and sick time) with my current employer, whereas I had four weeks plus dedicated sick time at my former employer.  Of course, the cost of that extra vacation time was a commute that averaged nearly three hours a day, and that ate up far more time each year than four weeks of vacation (it was an equivalent of over 15 work weeks of travel each year!).

Anyway, I feel the weight (figuratively and literally) of how I ate this weekend, so I know I'll need to run it off.  Now that we're home, my portions are back to their controlled normal, and I'm looking forward to my next run...when it cools down just a bit.