Wow, 6 months have passed since I began running again. How time flies when your having fun, but most of you will agree this year flying bye. This year is marked with change. Starting with getting back in shape then caring for my health and focusing on my future goals. Major strides have been reached in such a short time. Followed by some minor setbacks that have only made me stronger in my running journey. Today I will cover my weight loss. The next blog will cover how the diet has changed and I am not talking about pill popping diet either. Then finally the Run.
Weight:
6 months ago I hated the fact that my weight was controlling my life. I hated the having to struggle to even tie my shoes. I lived a sedentary lifestyle. Watched way to much tv, ate out to often, and found myself resting more often when free time became available. I found it difficult to focus throughout the day without multiple cups of coffee or caffeine. Today is a much different story. I am 25 lbs lighter and it feels great. I don't struggle with the simplest of thing anymore like having to tie my shoes. I am surprised at how much of an impact the weight loss has had. The major impact is the amount of energy I have gained from loosing weight. I don't get tired easily as before. A friend recently commented on how my older pictures compared to today are so different. It was funny how you could see the round face from the past transformed to the healthy me of today. The praise from people I am around all the time is a major confidence booster. Friends are amazed at the amount of weight I have dropped. I even have to do more shopping as my old wardrobe is to big for me to wear. Loosing weight is not easy. It takes allot of discipline, hard work and motivation. I will follow up next time with the how my diet has helped the transformation. Until then happy running.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Run, Run and more Running
I have been running allot recently. This last week I have increased my milage to about 18 miles per week, goal was 20. Working on a weekly training program to prepare for a good marathon run. Each week I find my pace getting faster. Recent 5K Diploma Dash timed at 26.11 minutes. Many of my friends are amazed at how much weight I have lost. One reason is bc I am sticking to a good eating program. I am amazed at how much improvement I have made in a short period of time. It is hard work but worth every mile.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Slow down, you might...
It has been a while since my last post. Got to say getting in shape is hard. Much less trying to do it during the holidays. Who can resist all those delicious, mouth watering, stuff your face foods they serve up during the holiday season. With that second serving of turkey throw in more green bean casserole, some loaded mashed potatoes, stuffing, slice of pie, oh with whip cream and a side of ice cream. Yes in South Texas you can have ice cream in the winter time. Shoot you can even go to the beach with this weather we had. Unless your my friend Mike, who looks at fatty food as disgusting. This guy couldn't enjoy eating a cup cake cause of fear head become one of them!!! What is wrong with this guy? Just kidding Mike, don't take it serious.
Anyways, I shouldn't just blame the food. As a youngster one can run, jump, hit, be hit, fall, wreak bikes, jump off building(really), and not ever hurt a dam thing. Yes I would do all those things in no particular order but as we age the body can't take that. It just doesn't recover as fast. That what happened to me. I tried to be patient with the workouts. Take time and care to stretch properly and warm up. Then I got to impatient with the workouts and pushed it to hard. At my age and how in shape I am not in, muscle strains don't take days to heal, they are more like weeks. At that point why even try?
Well that is why I am here today. Trying, a little. Actually been doing well. I started by getting the body ready for 2 mile runs. I feel that 2 miles is a good starting point to develop good techniques in running. I believe I have said this before, but a good runner uses 90% mental preparation and 10 % physical. Key areas I focus on are breathing and form. Focusing the mind to work on these 2 areas have great impact in improving running distances and pace. Also keeping the distances short will hopefully prevent injury as I begin to build muscle and get rid of fat. I am also doing weight training between running days and watching how I eat. Such as, instead of the whole burger, cheese, fries and a coke, I just get a burger. 460 calories beats a 1200 calorie lunch any day. For now it works. Stay tuned, more to come as I progress to that 26.2 miler.
Anyways, I shouldn't just blame the food. As a youngster one can run, jump, hit, be hit, fall, wreak bikes, jump off building(really), and not ever hurt a dam thing. Yes I would do all those things in no particular order but as we age the body can't take that. It just doesn't recover as fast. That what happened to me. I tried to be patient with the workouts. Take time and care to stretch properly and warm up. Then I got to impatient with the workouts and pushed it to hard. At my age and how in shape I am not in, muscle strains don't take days to heal, they are more like weeks. At that point why even try?
Well that is why I am here today. Trying, a little. Actually been doing well. I started by getting the body ready for 2 mile runs. I feel that 2 miles is a good starting point to develop good techniques in running. I believe I have said this before, but a good runner uses 90% mental preparation and 10 % physical. Key areas I focus on are breathing and form. Focusing the mind to work on these 2 areas have great impact in improving running distances and pace. Also keeping the distances short will hopefully prevent injury as I begin to build muscle and get rid of fat. I am also doing weight training between running days and watching how I eat. Such as, instead of the whole burger, cheese, fries and a coke, I just get a burger. 460 calories beats a 1200 calorie lunch any day. For now it works. Stay tuned, more to come as I progress to that 26.2 miler.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
IPO-Initial Public Offering
Today I posted a comment about an IPO on facebook and had little response. It made me wonder if my friends knew what I was talking about or they probably just didn't even care. So I thought I would just blog about it since no one really actually follows my blog. Becoming an IPO meant that companies could raise capital for ongoing growth. Well an IPO stands for initial public offering, for which companies offer stocks to the public. Companies have earned the opportunity for Wall Street investors like you and me to buy stocks based on the performance of how they do business. (if you have a 401k or some type of retirement account you invest in wall street) I learned about them during the dot com era back in the 90's or the dot com bubble. So many companies were gaining investor confidence. The economy in the early decade was picking up steam and investors had pockets full of cash to spend. Many of the wall street investors invested heavily into the bubble and many lost fortunes. I remember one such company I would of invested in if I had the dough. Such companies like Palm. A hand held computer organizer maker that was going to become the next hottest item, like the I pod is today. It never made it. The Wall Street Journal once wrote a front page article of how the palm pilot was changing the busy house wife's life. It touted that the device became ones daily planner for their so busy lives. At the time Palm was worth under $3 a share. Within a month of the article Palm company was trading near $50 a share. Unheard of investment were common place during the bubble.
Today Palm is bankrupt and has since been bought up by HP. Which leads me into why I am posting today's blog. General Motors, GM, announced an IPO today with shares trading at $33. GM ended the day trading at above $34. Wow, to just think that this company filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy 16 months ago is amazing. It rather irritates me that a company can screw the investor over by forfeiting all their debt to the shareholders and within 16 months offer new debt to new investors. Furthermore GM got to erase allot of bad debt by closing plants and dealerships, laying of workers, changing their pensions owed to retired workers and canceling debt owed to suppliers. Understandably the US citizens owned allot of the company because "We" bailed out GM with our taxpayer dollars. Yet we will never see a return on our duty to pay taxes. So what do we do? Many companies have been able to do this. Example, K-Mart filled for bankruptcy, loosing allot of investors fortunes and retirements. Yet in a short time after selling many of their lucrative properties, they were able to buy Sears company for $11 billion.
What about you and me? Many Americans the last several years have lost their jobs, homes and livelihood due to the economy. Most have faced bankruptcy. So in most cases it will take decades of repair for them to even have another opportunity to purchase a home ever again. Many have been forced out because the home values have dropped so much they will never be able to get out under such steep mortgage payments. Who is going to bale out the American people who have worked hard for that American dream to see it crushed by such a bad economic state brought on by greedy corporate companies?
Today Palm is bankrupt and has since been bought up by HP. Which leads me into why I am posting today's blog. General Motors, GM, announced an IPO today with shares trading at $33. GM ended the day trading at above $34. Wow, to just think that this company filled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy 16 months ago is amazing. It rather irritates me that a company can screw the investor over by forfeiting all their debt to the shareholders and within 16 months offer new debt to new investors. Furthermore GM got to erase allot of bad debt by closing plants and dealerships, laying of workers, changing their pensions owed to retired workers and canceling debt owed to suppliers. Understandably the US citizens owned allot of the company because "We" bailed out GM with our taxpayer dollars. Yet we will never see a return on our duty to pay taxes. So what do we do? Many companies have been able to do this. Example, K-Mart filled for bankruptcy, loosing allot of investors fortunes and retirements. Yet in a short time after selling many of their lucrative properties, they were able to buy Sears company for $11 billion.
What about you and me? Many Americans the last several years have lost their jobs, homes and livelihood due to the economy. Most have faced bankruptcy. So in most cases it will take decades of repair for them to even have another opportunity to purchase a home ever again. Many have been forced out because the home values have dropped so much they will never be able to get out under such steep mortgage payments. Who is going to bale out the American people who have worked hard for that American dream to see it crushed by such a bad economic state brought on by greedy corporate companies?
Sunday, November 14, 2010
What is R.I.C.E.
Road blocks can stop us from pushing forward with goals and aspirations. They seem to always come during the first week of venturing into some new journey. I think they are made to discourage us. We loose confidence on what we set out to do. Finally we just give up on the whole venture.
That is what happened to me this week. Last week I ended the week strong with a good 3 mile run. This week I started out the week with a couple of cardio workouts just to take some time off of the road. The last workout I had was hitting the punching bag with some jump rope and light weights. The next day I started out with a pain in my leg. The pain just seemed to get worse as the day progressed. Then the discouragement begins. I begin to question my motives to this journey. What should I do now? Should I just give up? Should I bare the pain and work through the workouts? Or should I just go get a whaterburger and forget the whole thing?
Patience is the answer
Sometimes when we begin to make progress the hardest part is having to take 2 steps back. In my situation that means rest for a couple of weeks with no physical activity. I am not giving up. A healthy diet was in order to help reduce those pounds that weigh down progress. Above all practicing R.I.C.E will get me back on the in no time soon. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.
Rest is the hardest part. All the work put in to have to start over again. In the end taking a couple weeks off isn't to bad after all. Hopefully, during the time you can work on developing a training program that will keep you prepare and prevent workout injuries.
Ice will help alleviate any swelling and get you back to the road. It is important to apply ice within the 1st two days of the injury. Apply it ten to twenty minutes about 4 times a day for the first 2 days.
Compression helps limit and reduce swelling, which slows down healing. Use an ACE bandage to help wrap the swollen area.
Elevating an injury will help reduce the swelling. Best if the injured area is elevated above the heart. Use a few pillows can help.
With a little bit of time off I hope to be back on the road. I hope during this time I can drop about 5 to 10 more pounds by eating healthy. Although this is going to be challenging with Turkey day and the holiday deserts just right around the corner. Oh give me strength not to over do it.
That is what happened to me this week. Last week I ended the week strong with a good 3 mile run. This week I started out the week with a couple of cardio workouts just to take some time off of the road. The last workout I had was hitting the punching bag with some jump rope and light weights. The next day I started out with a pain in my leg. The pain just seemed to get worse as the day progressed. Then the discouragement begins. I begin to question my motives to this journey. What should I do now? Should I just give up? Should I bare the pain and work through the workouts? Or should I just go get a whaterburger and forget the whole thing?
Patience is the answer
Sometimes when we begin to make progress the hardest part is having to take 2 steps back. In my situation that means rest for a couple of weeks with no physical activity. I am not giving up. A healthy diet was in order to help reduce those pounds that weigh down progress. Above all practicing R.I.C.E will get me back on the in no time soon. Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation.
Rest is the hardest part. All the work put in to have to start over again. In the end taking a couple weeks off isn't to bad after all. Hopefully, during the time you can work on developing a training program that will keep you prepare and prevent workout injuries.
Ice will help alleviate any swelling and get you back to the road. It is important to apply ice within the 1st two days of the injury. Apply it ten to twenty minutes about 4 times a day for the first 2 days.
Compression helps limit and reduce swelling, which slows down healing. Use an ACE bandage to help wrap the swollen area.
Elevating an injury will help reduce the swelling. Best if the injured area is elevated above the heart. Use a few pillows can help.
With a little bit of time off I hope to be back on the road. I hope during this time I can drop about 5 to 10 more pounds by eating healthy. Although this is going to be challenging with Turkey day and the holiday deserts just right around the corner. Oh give me strength not to over do it.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
1st week is always the hardest week
Fitness goals usually don't make it past the first week. The individual realizes how much work, sweat, and pain goes into workouts. Then decides to stop well before something else begins to hurt. Pain is the icing to the cake. Soreness starts to set in places you didn't know muscle existed. Stuff just hurts period.
The diet becomes a major factor especially if your running. For example, Sunday after church I decided to cheat a little. Well cheddar burger, fries and a chocolate shake is more than a little. Anyways the next day I went for a run and paid the price. The run was horrible. I pounded the pavement. I felt if I were carrying a tire around the wast. The body felt lethargic. Could never focus on the run. Believe it or not mental focus is 90% of the training process. Since that Monday I have decided to change my entire eating habits. Didn't do so bad either. Stayed away from sweets, red meat and my favorite, cheese. You can put cheese on almost anything. I began eating smaller meals by substituting fruits and nuts in between meals. Water consumption is becoming a major factor to the daily routine. I have begun carrying a water bottle everywhere I go.
This week I logged about 10 miles of road work. Starting with about 2 miles every other day. The importance of these runs are to work on form, breathing and mental preparation. Stretching and warming up have become important to injury prevention since I am not as young as I use to be. Even though I can pass for 20 something most of the time. I like working up a sweet before taking off on a run. So I usually will hit the punching bag for about 10 minutes then get a good stretch. Time is not a factor right now so I don't carry a watch or time myself. I also worked on breathing. Establishing a good rhythm to ones breathing can be crucial to adding good extra miles to runs later on. I finished the week a good 3 mile run and felt satisfied. The cherry on top to this weeks workout was dropping 7 pounds by the end of the week.
Caution:
Although the week went well, preventing injury has to be at the top of every ones mind. By the end of the week I have begun developing shin splints. Which I have always had to deal with and can become very painful if not treated properly. The best treatment is that old acronym R.I.C.E, rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Which pretty much means stay off your feet as often as possible. Don't get me wrong, I am so tempted to go on a run and feel that this will put a hamper into progress. Yet I have decided to find an alternative for a couple of days until the swelling and pain recede. Tonight I did some cardio boxing with the punching bag with some tai kwan do I picked up from a class last summer. Not bad for a start to the new week.
The diet becomes a major factor especially if your running. For example, Sunday after church I decided to cheat a little. Well cheddar burger, fries and a chocolate shake is more than a little. Anyways the next day I went for a run and paid the price. The run was horrible. I pounded the pavement. I felt if I were carrying a tire around the wast. The body felt lethargic. Could never focus on the run. Believe it or not mental focus is 90% of the training process. Since that Monday I have decided to change my entire eating habits. Didn't do so bad either. Stayed away from sweets, red meat and my favorite, cheese. You can put cheese on almost anything. I began eating smaller meals by substituting fruits and nuts in between meals. Water consumption is becoming a major factor to the daily routine. I have begun carrying a water bottle everywhere I go.
This week I logged about 10 miles of road work. Starting with about 2 miles every other day. The importance of these runs are to work on form, breathing and mental preparation. Stretching and warming up have become important to injury prevention since I am not as young as I use to be. Even though I can pass for 20 something most of the time. I like working up a sweet before taking off on a run. So I usually will hit the punching bag for about 10 minutes then get a good stretch. Time is not a factor right now so I don't carry a watch or time myself. I also worked on breathing. Establishing a good rhythm to ones breathing can be crucial to adding good extra miles to runs later on. I finished the week a good 3 mile run and felt satisfied. The cherry on top to this weeks workout was dropping 7 pounds by the end of the week.
Caution:
Although the week went well, preventing injury has to be at the top of every ones mind. By the end of the week I have begun developing shin splints. Which I have always had to deal with and can become very painful if not treated properly. The best treatment is that old acronym R.I.C.E, rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Which pretty much means stay off your feet as often as possible. Don't get me wrong, I am so tempted to go on a run and feel that this will put a hamper into progress. Yet I have decided to find an alternative for a couple of days until the swelling and pain recede. Tonight I did some cardio boxing with the punching bag with some tai kwan do I picked up from a class last summer. Not bad for a start to the new week.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
way back, but not to far back
History.
I first decided to run a marathon back in 2004. I dedicated that year to accomplishing the goal of completing a 26.2 mile run before the age of 30. At the time I decided to drastically change my diet, workout routine and lifestyle. At the time I was an avid weight room junkie. Spent most of the time trying to hit that 300lb bench mark, which believe it or not I hit 350lbs a year ago without spending much time in the gym. Anyways, the diet consisted of just chicken breast, tuna, rice, noodles, vegetables, fruits(no salads lol), and lots of oatmeal. I cut out all of the good stuff like beef, oh I missed those burgers from Chesters. Imagine no sweets, mm those large hershey almond bars, sodas, beer or even eggs and bacon.
At first I would run 2 to 3 miles every other day for about 3 times a week. Eventually I was hitting the track daily, I mean nightly. It wasn't unusual to be out running around 12-1 o'clock at night. At that time I was up to about 4 to 5 miles a day sprint pace. Eventually would throw in a 12 mile run, which was easier than it sounds on paper or this pc monitor.
Currently I don't believe the journey to this next marathon will be as extreme, yet we will have to wait and see.
Join me in the journey to the next marathon if you like. I will highlight daily exercise events, diet goals, and struggles with both. People can use this as motivation. Hopefully I can encourage others, maybe not to run a marathon but to think about fitness.
I first decided to run a marathon back in 2004. I dedicated that year to accomplishing the goal of completing a 26.2 mile run before the age of 30. At the time I decided to drastically change my diet, workout routine and lifestyle. At the time I was an avid weight room junkie. Spent most of the time trying to hit that 300lb bench mark, which believe it or not I hit 350lbs a year ago without spending much time in the gym. Anyways, the diet consisted of just chicken breast, tuna, rice, noodles, vegetables, fruits(no salads lol), and lots of oatmeal. I cut out all of the good stuff like beef, oh I missed those burgers from Chesters. Imagine no sweets, mm those large hershey almond bars, sodas, beer or even eggs and bacon.
At first I would run 2 to 3 miles every other day for about 3 times a week. Eventually I was hitting the track daily, I mean nightly. It wasn't unusual to be out running around 12-1 o'clock at night. At that time I was up to about 4 to 5 miles a day sprint pace. Eventually would throw in a 12 mile run, which was easier than it sounds on paper or this pc monitor.
Currently I don't believe the journey to this next marathon will be as extreme, yet we will have to wait and see.
Join me in the journey to the next marathon if you like. I will highlight daily exercise events, diet goals, and struggles with both. People can use this as motivation. Hopefully I can encourage others, maybe not to run a marathon but to think about fitness.
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