Some Good, Some Bad

(Found this on a Google image search for 'not bad'. Makes no sense
yet gives me the giggles. Thanks, Natalie Dee.)

As easy as my last post makes that 5k run sound, I do have to say my legs are surprisingly sore afterwards. I was definitely prepared aerobically and didn't anticipate this muscle soreness. Apparently not actually running is poor preparation for a running event. Who knew?

A little bit of everything is sore below the waist (no, not there.) The worst are my quads, which is surprising since they are still huge. This is a genetic trait I've inherited. Of course I'm not this guy, but his nickname has been teased in my direction before. It's not a deep soreness, which is kind of strange, but it's there and bad enough that I didn't exercise yesterday or today. Also pained are my hams, calves, and abs but only enough to notice.

What's not sore are my shins. No shin splints at all. Also not complaining are my knees and ankles. I'm not sure I've ever been able to say that after doing even a little distance running. Just a couple of months ago it felt like I was beating myself up running 1 or 2 miles on the indoor track. I have to credit Chi Running for this. I am in no way claiming to have figured it all out, but it does seem like putting just a few of the ideas to use has been very helpful. The slightly sore ab muscles are telling because they were helping maintain a forward lean. Good stuff.

Done Did It

The day I've been working towards since November has arrived. The annual Groundhog Run held in the underground warehouse complex that is the Hunt Sub Tropolis in KC. A cave is definitely a strange place for a run, but that was what attracted me in the first place. The walls and ceiling are sealed/painted limestone with asphalt ('ASHphalt' for you Canadian readers) underfoot. Fluorescent lighting above. Temperature was 60-70F a comfortable distance away from the door.

(A few minutes before the start of the 5k. Photo by the lovely Ann Rogers.)

The event is limited to 3500 runners, most of them probably signed up for the 5k distance like me, which was one odd shaped lap in a maze of caverns, marked with cones and volunteer stations. The 10k course is an additional lap of the same.

Annie, concerned about being trampled by a thousand runners, scurried out of the crowd a few minutes before the start. The sea of people counted down the last 10 seconds before 9:00 AM and the first runners crossed the starting line, automatically registering with the timing computer via the RF ID chips tied into their shoe laces. The actual start of movement was pretty slow. I couldn't stretch out and run, even with my typically short stride, until a few hundred yards past the finish line. The advice I've heard from REAL runners is that one should resist the temptation to sprint from the starting line of an endurance event. I'm sure some did, but most were just trying to find space. All the yelling and excitement became a tense hush of anxious breathing and soft footfalls. I spent a decent amount of time in the left lane, passing runners that were clearly slower and made room on my left for others looking to get past me, which there were plenty of. At this point I simply wanted enough space to run the course at my own speed.

(A fat guy ties his shoes sitting down. Photo by the lovely and
talented Ann Rogers.)

After spending the first mile swimming through the crowd, the cavern widened and the race distance set in for most people. Real estate became available. I had managed to stay out of the heals & elbows of the people in front of me and had spared the same to those behind me. I didn't see anyone go down or get injured but there were a few walkers by this point. People of all shapes, sizes, and ages were running this thing. The volunteers must have had a good time people-watching. If I ever get to run this thing again at a slower pace I'll tote a camera just for this purpose.

Also somewhere near the 1 mile mark I remembered what watches were for. I'd practically forgotten since the age of the cell phone set in years ago. Technically earbuds weren't allowed here for safety reasons, so I left my equipment with Assistant Annie. As a result I had no idea what pace I was actually setting and was forced to rely on my own sense of the speed and effort, which wasn't really a bad thing. Each mile was marked on the floor, but a watch still would have been valuable. Next time.

I've been doing a lot of cardio work the past couple of months and my heart rate and breathing were comfortable. I was working hard but felt prepared and unstressed, focusing on my stride, thinking of the book Chi Running that I'm still reading. Slight forward lean. Mid-foot strike. Relax. It was a good feeling and about as efficient as a guy carrying 43 extra pounds while running can feel, I think.

The course made several turns, but the scenery doesn't change much. Still white walls and mostly flat asphalt ground. It would be tempted to route runners in and out around the stone columns like an autocross slalom (there's today's automotive reference!), but I can see why the organizers wouldn't like that.

Rounding the last corner I think I heard U2's Where Streets Have No Name playing on the loudspeaker. I swear I'm not making that up. Passing the finish line was a bit anti-climactic. There was a hype man on the microphone but I mostly didn't hear him. The crowd was cheering away. Volunteers were seated on folding chairs, clipping off the RF ID chips off runners' shoes and dumping them in 5 gallon buckets. Just like that it was over and I had rejoined the crowd of non-runners. It had gone well; no doubling over, cramps, or puking. Shins and knees weren't screaming. Just a warm, fuzzy, sweaty feeling.

I think I ran a high 28, maybe a low 29 minute time, which was my goal. The finish timer read 30:15 but I hadn't yet set off when it started. The results will eventually be posted to the event website. The day before I weighed in at 218.4 lbs, nearly 2 lbs better than my goal of 220, so both of the goals were achieved. High-fives all around.

(The Man in Black, post-finish of his first 5k run.
Photo by the lovely and talented and
gracious Ann Rogers.)

Although I'm not looking to make running a serious hobby by itself, I'll be back next year. The challenge of the 10k is calling. Or maybe I should run the 5k again and see how much improvement is possible with much less baggage and yet  more preparation. It would be great to bring Isabella, who will be 10 years old then. I'd like to raise my kids doing things like this. Assistant Annie wishes she could have run but has struggled to find a running stride that doesn't hurt. I bet we can fix that before next year.

Jan. 30th Update: My elapsed time was 29 minutes, 26 seconds. That ranks me 649th out of 1801 runners. Better than the median then. No average time listed and I'm too lazy to convert the results to a spreadsheet for further analysis. I may be an engineer, but time is still a limited resource, even for nerds.

Yay

My apologies for failing to entertain the past 2 weeks. I've been a piss poor blogger.

On the plus side I've been a great exerciser and a decent dieter, at least by the calorie count. I'm a pound below my goal of 220 lbs by January 29th; weighed in at 219.0 lbs this morning. This was despite eating a $4 movie theatre box of Mike n' Ikes candy and a Zone bar for dinner last night. Proof that weight loss really is all about calories. Or possibly that I took 2 days off from exercise to recuperate from a long week full of exercise and recovered well. Probably both.

Not that I regularly sub junkfood for a real meal, but there are still bits of it left in my diet. Downed a cake donut for a snack today because I still haven't stocked my cubicle corner with healthy snacks. The calories are not so heinous that's it's impossible to end the day on 1750 calories, but I think we can all agree it would be better to eat something else, even for an engineer.

In other news, the interval training really seems to work. My cardio game is out-freaking-standing right now, if I can toot my own shiny brass horn. I can feel my heart rate recovering VERY quickly after exertion. This ought to feel downright amazing 40 lbs south of here.

This weekend is the 5k run I've been training for since Thanksgiving. It's not a long distance in the scheme of things but will be a milestone that I worked towards and hope to look back on fondly in the future. Enough sappiness. Time to crash.

January 15th, 2012

Weight was 222.6 lbs this a.m. For a couple of days this week I dropped 1 lb a day. I was excited to get on the scale after that but it didn't hold. Still, very tangible progress.

Interval Training - Day 2

I repeated the 20 minute interval workout on the Precor AMT from yesterday. It was just as difficult but the recovery has been less incapacitating.

In other news, the numbers on the scale have been dropping recently. I think some positive momentum is building from being consistent with the diet and gym work. I'd still lose a weigh-in on the Biggest Loser at this point, but can't complain. I'll post an updated number on Saturday a.m. No, I don't know what you'll do with yourself until then.

(Another completely off-topic pic for your entertainment.)

Comments on Interval Training

Time will tell if 'Fit Yummy Mummy' was on to something back in 2009. I spent 20 minutes doing an interval workout on the Precor after work today. It was difficult, but not impossible to sprint at 8 or 9 tenths for 2 minutes and recover at a lower effort for another 2 minutes. It really did use my full lung capacity and there were few comfy cruising points in the workout.

Afterwards it felt like my very life force had been sucked out. I just wanted to fall over and take a nap. About 3 hours later and I'm beginning to feel close to normal. Not sure I'd want to do one of these workouts before heading to the office. Might make for an unproductive morning. The calorie readout was on par with a similar amount of time on a constant resistance setting. I went ahead and entered this in MyFitnessPal. Hopefully the interval training theory (more than Fit Yummy Mummy subscribe to it) results outpace the nominal calories burned.

Here's your completely unrelated but funny pic for today.

(What?! She *IS* on the floor of a bathroom.)

January 8th, 2012

224.8 lbs per the digital scale. Progress has been great thanks to a decent diet and somewhat regular exercise despite battling a cold virus this past week. Down nearly 4 lbs since New Years. My short term goal of 220 lbs by January 29th is definitely possible.

While surfing for an entertaining photo of a fat guy destroying a treadmill, I stumbled across a blog article about interval training. While written for busy moms trying to lose pregnancy pudge and become 'yummy', it's still good info.

(This picture is way more hilarious-er than the other stuff I'd found.)

Up to now I've been doing long duration, constant resistance workouts. I put the Precor AMT 835 in Manual mode, warm up on a lower level for 5 minutes, and chug along at a steady pace for another 40-50 minutes at a constant higher resistance setting. Results are immediate and the work is satisfying, but it does take a long time and every now and then makes for sore joints.

If you read the linked article, the benefits of using short duration interval training over long duration training are explained. It's actually more effective and takes less time with interval training. I have seen interval training programs on treadmills, the AMT, stationary bikes, and etc but had always assumed they were for anaerobic training. We'll see how this works.