Allot of progress

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.      

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. 

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.