Holy Cow, what a weekend

Wow, I don't want to get into the car for the rest of the week. My uncle's funeral was really sad on friday. Our whole family is really going to miss him. Saturday would have been their 5th wedding anniversary. The worst part is the only thing I could think of during the funeral was a dick joke he made one thanksgiving. Apparently the old man was hung like a baby elephant. While I appreciate a good dick joke, it was not exactly appropriate to laugh that hard even though Charlie would have loved it.

After the funeral, we frantically packed everything into the van and headed to Raleigh NC for the weekend. 5 hours each way with 2 sleeping or screaming kids (apparently there is no in-between) was as much fun as a barrel of monkeys. But we really had a great time in North Carolina. It's always good to visit with Wifey's dad and his wife, the kids loved it.

Saturday I wanted to get in a long run. And since long runs in a new city always go smoothly it was fun. I mapped a nice 8 mile route through the NC State university campus, as Mickey only lives about 3 blocks off campus. Then I was going to hit some of the city parks nearby and come on back to the house. Raleigh doesn't like street signs though, so I missed a turn. And once the route is gone it's up to my horrible sense of direction to get me back home. Yes, I got turned around on campus some, but it wasn't as bad as the city streets. I used map my run when I got back inside and found out I ran 9.5 miles! Wow, that's really farther than I have ever run before. It took 2 hours and burned over 1200 calories. But it was soooooo cool to get to see an entire new city. Sometimes getting lost (or directionally challenged) can lead to some great discoveries. I found a cool long route for when we're up there next time too.

Sunday I was determined to see some of the parks near his house, including the rose garden. So I mapped out a 2.5 mile route. After finding the rose garden, the street signs went away, and I became directionally challenged again. I didn't get a time for the run, but it seemed closer to 3 miles. Still, I got to see some of the great parks and learn my way around the neighborhood a little better. I got a couple of lucky guesses too not really knowing which way I should turn here but I know this road has shown up on the map...

So my 12 mile weekend was smashing. Fantastic. One in a million. But I think it may be time for some new stomps. My shins are killing me today, and it feels like my arches have fallen, which usually means a trip to the chiropractor. My chiropractor is amazing, he deals with athletes of all kinds including a number of triathletes. He can adjust my knees and feet to correct anything, even though his real specialty is the top 2 bones of the neck. And the last time I had shin splints this consistently it took some new running shoes and an adjustment to make it go away. I think being this heavy I will run through shoes faster than they should wear out. I think this pair has 250 - 300 miles on them.

OMG, the eating plan was shot completely while out of town. I normally refuse to eat fast food, but gobbled down taco bell for the first time in years. And pizza and burritos and waffle house and all of the other trans fat filled junky crap I swore I would never have to consume again. I felt really really terrible afterwards. Heartburn, seemingly instant belly fat, no energy yesterday all really took its toll. I'm going to have to really be healthy eating this week just so I will finally feel better. I even had bojangles and hardees biscuits for breakfast sat, sun, & mon. wow, that's really bad.

Yesterday I had to go to Atlanta for work. It's a 2.5 hour drive each way from here. So I left the house at 6:30 am, still got to the office before my boss did, worked all day and made it home about 10:15 pm. what a long day! Good thing there's not a gas shortage going on right now, when I have to spend 15 hours driving over fri, sun, & mon. Actually, about 60% of the gas stations I drove past in all 3 states were out. maybe more. Some of the ones that still had gas only had one grade. So I'm on the bike for the rest of the week anytime I want to go anywhere. Including straight to insane-land. That seems to be a straight flat road.

So best of luck to you for the rest of the week. I'm going to be in the gym today, tomorrow, & thursday and I'll try to track my bike miles too. I need to pick up one of those Garmin watches that track pace & milage. What's the best place to get one?

Week Update

Well, work caught up to me yesterday. I had one tough problem to figure out that took until maybe 6:30 last night to get it working. Such is the trials of a programmer. Hey, you try to make a vb.net dll to abuse a supplier's xml web service, then consuming it in a Classic ASP page. It's not so easy. I'll give you a hint: you have to make the dll COM visible, use gacutil to publish to assembly, then regasm to load the ddl into the server.

So no running yesterday, but I did get to squeeze in lunch with my friends Nicole and Eric which was wonderful. I hadn't seen either of them in too long, and I'm trying to talk Eric into running the Greenville Tri next year with me. It's just over 6 miles from my house to his by bike, so that could become a good little training route.

Wednesday had me in the gym for 9 miles on the stationary bike in 30 minutes, then 2 miles on the treadmill in 30 mins. I also got in a couple of miles outside on the bike after work. The dreadmill was not my friend on wednesday. I could "feel" my feet in an incredibly uncomfortable way every step. Inside heel to inside ball rolling to the outside of the foot. every step, it was really freaky. I also had some pain in my shins and a little in my right hip. So I walked most of the 2 miles and didn't mind resting yesterday and today. It was still 500 calories together.

Tuesday I did get in a great 700 calorie workout on the elliptical. And I figure as long as I can stay at an hour and burn over 500 calories everything will be ok. Still pushing that weight loss.

On a sad note, one of my uncles (by marriage) passed away on wednesday. He had a heart attack mid day, and we're going to the funeral this afternoon. I had only known Charlie maybe 7 years, but he was a really cool guy to hang out with and he will be missed. My aunt is really torn up about it too, so keep her in your prayers.

This weekend might only provide one run. We're going to visit Wifey's dad, so I'll get to run in some new terrain saturday for a long run. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm going to try and map out 8 miles and see how far I can make it. If there isn't too much pain, I might try to get in about 4 miles on sunday morning too.

This Week in Training

Or not in training. Marathon plan starts October 4th, so the weight loss plan is in full effect until then. I'm hoping to minimize the impact on my knees and ankles. I'm having some pain in my lower shins too that has been lingering since the race on saturday. Maybe I pushed a little too hard on the new course. Or maybe it's time for some new running shoes.

I've been thinking about my time on the track team lately. As a freshman in high school in 1990 - OMG was that really 18 years ago? - I ran the mile in every match. Sophmore year I threw shotput and discus. But since I was 6' tall and only 120 lbs at the time I didn't think I was very good at either. I really was out of my league with the shotput, the iron weighed more than I did. But my worst mile time was 6:10 and my best was 5:50.

Now I know there's a big difference between 120 lbs and the 203 the scale told me yesterday. But I was really happy with the 10 minute pace from the race saturday. Also, you don't find 33 year old men that weigh 120 lbs. But how much does my current weight affect my run times? A six minute mile seems INSANE to me right now. And I felt bad back in the day because I always finished the races in last place. Like 10 or 12 races on the track team and I never beat anybody from my own or any other school as a miler. I just was in it to have fun and get outside and run. I wanted to play a sport as a high schooler and that was it. I was a wide receiver on the freshman football team too, but I never was thrown a pass much less made a catch. So that was frustrating.

But at least my track streak is still intact. I finished last in the Novice category at the Greenville Tri and last in my age group at the Ache race. And I'm still happy with my results. And I'm still happy just to be outside running and playing a sport. And that's really all that matters.

I know we are supposed to put distance before time but I'm getting anxious to find out how to safely increase pace times, and to see how fast I can get for say a 5k race next year. My current PR in 5k is 32 mins from the Greenville Tri. So how big of an impact can weight loss have on pace times? And what is your favorite technique for getting faster? And finally, how long do you want to be able to go before starting to work on speed?

Yesterday's workout was 1 hour on the elliptical machine at the gym. I like doing weight loss workouts there because the machine told me I went 7.5 miles and burned 700 calories in 60 minutes. Today is supposed to be cross training, I'm thinking 30 mins on the stationary bike, 30 on the treadmill and maybe a longish bike ride outside if work time allows. Tomorrow will be an hour on the treadmill or several miles outside, and I'll post on friday.

Race Results

We ran the Ache Around the Lake race on saturday, and it was fantastic! Katie and Scarlette really kept everything under control, everyone had a good time and the run was challenging and exciting. I finished in 49:52, a 10:00 pace, 6th (last) in my age group and I am very pleased with that time. My goal was to break an hour, so mission accomplished. A 10 min pace with those mountain hills is pretty good too.

Wifey blew it away however. She finished in 57:51 and took 3rd (of 6) in her age group. She freakin' awarded at her first race ever! Wow, we were both blown away.

We didn't get anyone else there to take pics, so our camera got left in the car. That means no "after" pic yet.

My shins/feet were kind of sore sunday. We had to move one of my grandmothers into an assisted living facility after the race, so I spent the afternoon carrying furniture up 3 flights of stairs. You'd think they would have more elevators with that many senior citizens living there. ouch. So I didn't run sunday. I'm still trying to decide what to do this week.

Nicotine levels are running sky high today. I'm getting a ton of stress from the job, the bills, the house... Anybody want a mountain house? http://www.booneinv.com/ has a house that I am trying to sell. It's been my vacation house for the last few years and I have got to get it sold or rented. Booneinv is one of my sites that I use to sell properties that I own.

So even though today is supposed to be a rest day, I've got to get some endurance in. Plus I ate nothing but crap all weekend. I normally keep a very low fat high fiber diet but a hamburger on sunday and pizza and a beer saturday night don't exactly fall in line to make me feel better. At least the pizza was Brixx, and they are fairly healthy.

I'm thinking about focusing mostly on weight loss workouts until the marathon training program starts Oct 4. We'll see what happens. Starting weight for this phase is 204.

Racing tomorrow

It was a great week of training getting ready for "The Ache" race tomorrow. Now I am willing to admit that I earn a living as a software developer building mainly database driven and eCommerce web sites. I've been an IT guy for about 10 years now, and it's fun to volunteer and donate my time as an IT consultant to some small non-profits when I can. So I volunteered to rebuild the http://www.achearoundthelake.org/ site after talking with the organizers (Katie and Scarlette) and having my own personal failure to register online. They clearly needed some help and I was glad to donate to their cause. This race benefits a hospital, and with 2 kids I spend about 14 grand a year on health care costs. So I'm all for helping the hospitals keep costs down. But that's why I keep posting links back to the race web site and encouraging others to sign up. It helps the search engine placement. In the process, I have also gotten to be close friends with both Katie and Scarlette. That was unexpected and extremely pleasant. Katie is going to help us get through the marathon training plan!

On the training front, I got in a great run of 5 miles in 55 mins on the treadmill tuesday as it was raining heavily here. Then wednesday I got in a great cross training workout at the gym. It was late and I had the kids in the nursery, so I only did about 20 minutes of weights and 30 mins on the stationary bike. Then yesterday was a solid 45 mins on the eliptical machine. Between the three workouts, the machines told me I burned over 2000 calories plus what I lost on the weights. So I'm really pleased about the mid-week training. Since tuesday was the only day with impact, my knees and ankles should be fresh for the race tomorrow.

Today's a rest day for Wifey too. She normally hits the gym mon - fri before the kids get up and then doesn't run on the weekends. But she slept in yesterday to "taper?" before the 5 mile race tomorrow after running 4.88 miles on the treadmill wednesday. I can chuckle at this because I'm confident she will make me look slow at the race anyway.

As promised, here's a before picture:

This was May 31st 2007 while we were in the hospital waiting for our second daughter to be born. I was about 230 lbs with my winter coat (beard) on, and seeing this picture is one of the biggest motivators to keep becoming more healthy.

Just look at the size of that belly! Looks like I'm the one about to give birth.

Having girl #2 caused me to make some very drastic life changes. I was still smoking then. In July 2007 I sold my business and took a job working for a company out of Atlanta so that I could work from home and keep up with the kids more. Wifey is a long time SAHM, so we're both always here and rarely leave. Those changes led to less stress, which allowed me to stop smoking in December and kicked off this whole triathlon infatuation. Now I'm determined to get and stay healthy, and this picture has become quite motivational when those cravings get too bad.

Hopefully I'll have an after picture of me crossing the finish line at the race tomorrow. I say hopefully because I don't know which one of us will have the camera. It could end up being staged. I'm pretty confident we'll both be able to cover the 5 miles.

And thanks for all of the encouraging comments! That really means a lot to me.

Race Prep

Today's weekly training is race prep for the Ache Around the Lake race http://www.achearoundthelake.org/ on saturday. You can still register if you want to run that race too. It's a 5 mile race around Lake Lanier with some challenging hills. It should be a lot of fun. So while I normally train in the 3 - 4 mile range, I did a 6 mile long run on Sunday. The plan is mapped for this week, and turning out better than I expected. It's supposed to rain most of the week (for South Carolina to be in such a severe draught, it sure has rained a bunch lately) so I'm planning on training in the gym this week. Yesterday I kicked things off with 5 miles on the treadmill! This was quite a surprise, I just set the timer for an hour, then looked down and 55 minutes into the run I hit the 5 mile mark. So I cut the last 5 mins and went into cool down.

Today is cross training. I'm thinking 30 mins of weights and 30 mins on the bike. Then I'll do 45 minutes on the elliptical on thursday to save the knees & ankles for the race. No more impact for me, thanks. Friday is a rest day anyway and saturday is the race. But if 5 miles (or 6 on sunday) was supposed to be my long run, and for the rest of the week training will be in the 5 - 8 mile range, how am I supposed to ramp up to a long run? Who knows.

My abs don't care. They are just happy I'm staying over 5 miles now. I tried on some "thin jeans" last night with moderate success! I haven't been able to fit into those pants for many, many years now. They did button but weren't what you would call "comfortable". I think everyone has been there before. But I noticed my belt was up a notch so I wanted to give it a try. I'll post some before and after pics soon.

great, another rest day

what a cool weekend! I like the friday rest days. Then saturday I got on the eliptical machine at the gym. When it's over 90 degrees here I'm going to be inside. period. So I did a solid hour at the gym instead. 7.3 miles, burned 740 calories it said. I tried some speedwork for the first time, but I might have done it wrong. I did the first 40 mins trying to keep a 7.0 speed, then the next 15 mins at a 8.0 speed, then for the final 5 I kept it around 8.5. Obviously, those were attempted speeds if i only got 7.3 miles in for the entire hour. There was also the clemson football game on the tv mounted on my machine. I ran faster when the tigers were putting up touchdowns.

I like the elliptical because it's zero impact. Less stress on the knees and ankles. You also use your arms in the motion, so it looks like your speed is faster than when you run alone. That also makes it a better full body workout, and you can burn more calories on the elliptical than on the treadmill. So when I feel like I need a weight loss workout, that's the weapon of choice. If my goal is endurance, impact isn't a problem, then treadmill is the way to go. I wanted elliptical today because I wanted to do a long run on sunday.

I did a long run on sunday. Actually, the longest I have ever run. I got in a full 6 miles! And where I live is nothing but hills. There are no flat spots on my route. I literally run the entire length of sidewalks that are connected to my neighborhood. Some of the hills are a really steep grade, and they are all really long. My neighborhood has exactly 1 mile of streets. It's only 2 streets they both exit onto the same road. The road runs between a 6 lane road with no sidewalks to a school, where the sidewalk ends. I did the neighborhood loop, then to the school, then to wade hampton blvd, then back to the school and back home. On my normal 5k training route, I just run the neighborhood and to the school and back home. That's 3.2 miles. If I stretch it to Wade Hampton and back to the house, it becomes a 3.5 mile run. just found that out last week. But that was the first time I have ever gone back to the school for a second time. Wow. It took 1:10, which is an 11:45 pace or a 5.1 m/hr speed. Which is pretty good for all of those hills. I'm just amazed at the distance I pulled.

Long runs are fun, but I'm getting tired of running up and down that same road with all of those hills. I need to find a city park with a trail. A nice, long trail. If I can bike the trail too on cross training days that would be even better.

Today's a rest day, so tues wed thur this week will be 2 3.5 mile runs and an hour of cross training.

Nutrition

I got stranded yesterday, stuck on the job during a normal workout time. I was all gunned up, ready to go lift some weights and keep a light run at the gym. I was even dressed in full workout attire. but the clients called when I was three steps from the door and kept me at the desk for the rest of the day.

I made it to the gym at 6:30 pm instead of the normal 11:30 am, and I could tell the nutrition deficiency was getting to me. I had no energy and felt really weak during the weightlifting. I don't lift heavy weights anymore like I used to. But I had no grip for the hanging ab excercises, and I could barely push out for any of the machines. I ended up doing some abs, no back (I like to work abs & lower back together, they act together when you use them) and only one circuit of the weight machines. Then it was 3.4 miles in 30 minutes on the eliptical machine and call it a day.

I had a clif bar before the workout, and put off dinner until after getting back home. Of course, once I got back home I had to go back to work until about 11 pm, so dinner really got put off. So what do you like for energy before or after the workout? I've been looking for a recovery drink mix for post run consumption, but I'm not really sure what to look for. It should be something different from what a weightlifter would need, since we runners don't need as much protein. send me any suggestions.

I'm glad friday is a rest day. I'm going to enjoy it. The plan is to get a decent run on saturday, and a long run on sunday. The marathon training plan has monday and friday as rest days, so I think I will adopt the same schedule. I'm looking for a 20 week plan that will start Oct 5th for my race.

it looks like most plans are like that. Moderate run 3 days, 1 long run and one day of cross training per week. I like to work out during the morning or mid-day, so taking monday and friday as rest days works for me. Take one of the T/W/Th workouts as cross training and hit the long run on sunday. Sounds like a plan. I still need a coach.

Got it

The rains held off yesterday, and I made it out for a 3.47 mile run after the company staff meeting. Demons at bay, the world is right again. It's supposed to rain here for the next 6 days straight. My garden will be quite happy about this, but I'm going to be in the gym for a while I guess.

My legs felt like I was walking on gummy worms for a couple of hours after the run too. Any nutritional ideas to stop that? fruit, anyone? I think carrots and almonds finally got the job done.

I also finished a book last night that I have to reccomend. It's "The Non-Runner's Marathon Guide for Women" by Dawn Dias and was given to me by my friend Deb. She's actually wifey's friend, but I liked the book enough to refer to her as my friend too now. This book is hysterical. And besides the referenced stuggles with jogging bra's, the training plan and journal entries are very applicable for men too. She never smoked, and was just lazy like me. But it's still such a funny read any first time marathoner should find a copy. I was a skinny, happy runner before I started smoking and got lazy so I guess I don't qualify as a non runner. And I certainly don't qualify as a woman. But if I got useful training tips and plenty of belly laughs from this book anyone will.

Be clear. I loved this book and strongly suggest anyone read it. I think her next book will be about cycling. I hope so, when can I get a copy?

The first part of the book is her training plan put together by her coaches. I think this is the training plan Wifey and I are going to use when our training starts sept 29th. The web site for the book is http://www.nonrunnersmarathontraining.com/Home_Page.html but it does not contain a copy of the training plan. The only thing funky about the training plan is the transition in week 7 when you go from running in minutes to running in miles. 115 minutes is the long run in week 6, and 6 miles is the long run in week 7. At my current pace, running 115 minutes would cover about 9 miles, so I don't see how that is a step up. Maybe Katie can explain that.

Katie has a web site and didn't tell me! http://www.malonecoaching.net/ has all of her contact info and background. Turns out she's clinicly insane? who knew. A 13 time ironman finisher, her 2008 goal is to break 11 hours for an ironman. I know you can't be right in the head and set a goal like that. But now I've got to go back through the ache site and add links back to the malone coaching site. And bust her chops to get links from malone coaching back to the ache site. Gotta run, more fun stuff tomorrow.

missed it (oops)

I got caught up in work stuff yesterday and missed my run. Since excercise keeps the demons at bay, my nicotine levels are running at def con 5 today. It's supposed to rain here off and on all day today, so I better get to the gym today or else. the else could be a hospital stay for anyone who tries to prevent me from getting a run in. or maybe a clean beheading.....

Upcoming race

September 20th we've got the Ache Around the Lake (http://www.achearoundthelake.org/) a great 5 mile race. I'm volunteering to help out with the web site, and wifey and I are both running this race. It's wifey's first organized race ever, and I'm really proud of her for taking the bull by the horns with this one. Of course, she's making my training for this one look slow....

Check out the http://www.achearoundthelake.org/ site and sign up for the race if you can. It's going to be in Tryon, NC and benefits the local hospital. But the route goes around Lake Lanier so it should be a beatiful run.

Katie is my new hero! Katie Malone, one of the race organizers just finished the Wisconsin Ironman in 11:56???? Breaking the 12 hour barrier in an ironman is a major accomplishment. I haven't talked to her since she got back to find out what she set a pr on, but wow. 12 hours busted. She ran the marathon portion in 4:01, I'm hoping to break 6 hours. Katie makes a living as a triathlon coach, call her if you want some help with your next race. I know she's got a call coming from me. We need all the help we can get.

Welcome

Welcome to the Smoke Training blog. I am a former smoker - a pack a day for 15 years - who is now in training for a marathon. I just ran my first triathlon last month, a sprint that I finished in 2:02:30 and was happy about that.

If I can abuse my body with cigarettes and alcohol for so many years and turn things around with endurance training, you can too. Anybody can do it. I was making myself miserable being overweight, unable to walk up a flight of stairs without running out of breath. Then grabbing a beer and a cig to finish off my trek.

I actually blame my kids for this new endurance push. My youngest girl was born in May 2007 and it created a real turnaround point for me. Seeing how much our older girl has grown really put things in perspective. I couldn't keep the same lifestyle I was used to and still be there for my girls the way my folks are there for me now.

But the real push came from my grandfather. My dad's dad turned 60, and about a week later had a massive heart attack and died in his office. Sure that was almost 30 years ago, but I've got his same body style, attitude, cholesterol, work habits, lifestyle, you name it. My dad is 62 now and healthy as a horse. But he's still scared that what happened to his dad is in our genetic makeup (and it is, family history is very important) and can catch up with him at any time. I'm 33 years old now, and I made the decision in December 2007 that if my life was more than half over, I was not going to live the second half as a repeat of the first. I was going to do anything I could to help fight the genetics that came from my grandfather's side.

Smoking a pack of cigs every day, plus a cigar or two when I could enjoy a nice glass of single malt Scotch (again every day) was not going to help my genetic overcomingness problem. And the post work beers didn't help either. I'm 6' 1", and my weight was up over 235 lbs. Just like my grandfather. Actually, I don't think he smoked. So he even had an advantage.

My mom's dad died of lung cancer about 10 years ago. He was a heavy smoker, but had been off the leaf for about 17 years when his cancer developed. The doctors still blamed cigarettes. He smoked a pack a day (or more) for about 20 years, I'm told. So really for the last 10 years (at least in my mind) heart disease and cancer were having some kind of cage match to see which one could kill me first. I like to think heart disease was winning. Now I'm trying to beat them both. It's really very empowering!

Smoking is an incredibly difficult addiction to overcome. I have tried to put down the cigs maybe half a dozen times. I end up picking them up again about 6 months later. Something comes up, maybe a stressful situation, or I get to play golf again, anything... and I fall right back into the old habits. I started smoking at age 15 and it's been a struggle ever since.

I have to set really high goals to not forget about them. Most people who smoked as much as I did would try to run a 5k as a goal. and take 6 months to train for it. Smoking owns me, and I have to fight hard (really really hard) to battle my addiction. So I knew a 5k wasn't going to cut it. So I set my goal as a sprint triathlon (the Greenville Triathlon in SC) and started a training plan. People begged me not to sign up for it until I was well into training in case I wanted to back out. Forget that. I signed up in January for a race in August and started looking for training plans.

Sprint tri's vary in length. Mine was a 400m swim (8 laps in the pool), a 15 mile bike ride, and a 5k run. See, I got the 5k run in anyway. My goal was to finish, just complete the race. After talking to some other racers and some friends, i reset the goal to 2 hours. Then I missed it by 2 1/2 minutes. crap. now i've got to run this race again next year to break my 2 hour mark.

Tri's are really addictive. I am hooked. If you were ever looking for a "bucket list" item that was extremely challenging and rewarding a sprint tri is the way to go. But they are like Lay's potato chips. Only Chuck Norris can eat just one. I'm drooling over my next tri, and I haven't even signed up for one yet.

What I have signed up for next is the Myrtle Beach Marathon. My wife came up with the idea. One of her friends was already signed up and she's been running in the gym for a while now. She's really a fantastic runner, but I'm not going to mention her name or any of her accomplishments to protect her privacy. Just say I'm really proud of her. So she came to me wanting to run the MB Marathon on valentines day, and I figured it was a good way to get out of having to buy her a card and chocolates.

So the purpose of this blog is to log all the training events of a former heavy smoker. I want to run an olympic (or international) distance triathlon in the spring, a half ironman in the fall, and kick things off with a marathon in february 2009. I'll post training plans and updates, and encourage you to grill me if I miss a run or a training day.

HOW can a man go from smoking 26.2 cigs a day to running 26.2 miles? I have no idea. I might be crazy. I might be a giant. Check back daily to find out.