Well today was day 5 of my "offical" training for Bellingham with my new orthotics. Between being in better shape and the new feet (ok well the feet are the same but you get the idea) I am feeling so much stronger than when I was training to run Eugene.
Today I ran at an average speed that was as fast as the fastest training run I had during my whole training program for Eugene. If I was to put it in a timeline that aligned my training for Bellingham with the Eugene run this is a run that I did 5 weeks from today, so that gives me a 5 week headstart on my speed training and I am currently running .64 mph (1.03km/h) faster today than I was at this point in my training for Eugene.
What does this all mean? Well it means that I'm in better shape, I'm lighter, My feet are working better because along with this speed I am not having any ankle or calf pains on my left side (like I did the whole time I was training for Eugene)
Speed and weight loss are both like snowballs, once they start picking up steam they just keep getting better. Now the trick here is as I start to run further distances I want to keep the speed up. If I were to be able to run at the speed I did today for the whole half marathon I would come in at a little over 2 hours 18 minutes for the 13.1 miles. I have set a target this race to run sub 2:30 so that would be a wonderful achievement to keep building on this speed.
As for weight loss once again I have not set a goal for myself. I am going to eat right, get sleep and keep on running and see where it takes me. I believe that by doing this and paying attention to my weight this is sustainable weight loss (even with my travels) and that is the most important thing. I do have two training runs to do while I am in Bangladesh so that will be fun but they are short ones so I am not worried about getting them in because I can do them at the hotel gym.
13 weeks 3 days to race day!
Til next time,
Mike
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
On the Road to Eugene (Day 13 and 15)
January 3, 2010
So I’m back at it after missing 5 workouts. I should have known that trying to do something over the Christmas vacation was really dumb but hey I’m forever the optimist. the good news is I only gained 0.6lbs (just over half a pound) over the Christmas vacation, the bad news is that I am so freakishly out of shape cardio-vascular wise that it sucks. After my 5 minute warm-up I started my “running” which took my heart rate up to 164bpm before I had gone 3 blocks. But I fought through it and walked and ran and walked and ran and I am determined and I am going to make this run in May happen. It is 4 weeks until I start full “running” so I need to keep building up my cardio and keep pushing through those moments of self doubt.
January 5, 2010
So second day back after my Christmas to New Years break, on a good note I pushed myself a little harder today and most of my “running” was on the uphill’s as opposed to Sunday where they were mostly the downhill’s. I’m going to keep pushing. Again, I’m not supposed to be at full run until the beginning of February so I just need to keep reminding myself of that fact. Food is still going to be a problem for me for awhile. I “snacked” late last night which was not good and when I finished my run this morning I didn’t eat at the right time either and then lunch was not the best (Wendy’s). but I’m back running and I will take that positive with me right now. I need to keep focused and get things going. I will do a full weigh-in and measurements this Sunday in order to set the milestones for each week leading up to the race. In the meantime, baby steps and I’ll just keep plugging along
So I’m back at it after missing 5 workouts. I should have known that trying to do something over the Christmas vacation was really dumb but hey I’m forever the optimist. the good news is I only gained 0.6lbs (just over half a pound) over the Christmas vacation, the bad news is that I am so freakishly out of shape cardio-vascular wise that it sucks. After my 5 minute warm-up I started my “running” which took my heart rate up to 164bpm before I had gone 3 blocks. But I fought through it and walked and ran and walked and ran and I am determined and I am going to make this run in May happen. It is 4 weeks until I start full “running” so I need to keep building up my cardio and keep pushing through those moments of self doubt.
January 5, 2010
So second day back after my Christmas to New Years break, on a good note I pushed myself a little harder today and most of my “running” was on the uphill’s as opposed to Sunday where they were mostly the downhill’s. I’m going to keep pushing. Again, I’m not supposed to be at full run until the beginning of February so I just need to keep reminding myself of that fact. Food is still going to be a problem for me for awhile. I “snacked” late last night which was not good and when I finished my run this morning I didn’t eat at the right time either and then lunch was not the best (Wendy’s). but I’m back running and I will take that positive with me right now. I need to keep focused and get things going. I will do a full weigh-in and measurements this Sunday in order to set the milestones for each week leading up to the race. In the meantime, baby steps and I’ll just keep plugging along
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Sunday in Halifax Nova Scotia (with Flat Stanley...)
Shane's Flat Stanley meeting another tourist in Niagara Falls
Well good morning from FOGGY Halifax. I've had a really good week so far (not enough sleep but I never do when I travel). I met 7 amazing candidates for a new sales job I am recruiting for in Toronto. I said before I left that I wanted to have a really difficult decision when I got back because that meant I would get someone really good and that is how it is going to be. Maybe more difficult than I want even :-) but not a bad problem to have. I'm in Halifax as I am going to be meeting with a former colleague who is now the VP of an organisation that I believe we can help. Having said that, I've never been to Nova Scotia before (I know in all my travels I've missed out somewhere in Canada go figure) so this is actually a neat thing to be able to do.
Today I will be taking a road trip around the island with my son's "Flat Stanley". Flat Stanley is a story book character who Grade 3 classes in my son's school make a copy of and then mail him to different people they know to "experience" life where they live. The people take pictures of Flat Stanley doing things they would do, exploring their part of the world and telling a story about his journey's. Well this year my son's class is studying Canadian Pioneer times and quite frankly they ran out of time to have everyone send out their Flat Stanley's. When his teacher found out I was going to be travelling to Ontario and Nova Scotia she and my wife talked and Cheryll suggested that I could take Flat Stanley on a road trip with me. Needless to say his teacher thought this would be a great idea and so with that, Shane and one of his friends Ralph, made two Flat Stanley's for me to take with me.
So far on this trip Flat Stanley has been seen on a plane, in an airport and while we were in Toronto we took a road trip to Niagara Falls for Flat Stanley to see one of the wonders of the world. I had so much fun getting people to take pictures with Flat Stanley and I can't wait for the kids to see the pictures and hear the stories. Today Flat Stanley and I are going to go around the island here but most specifically we are going to go to Peggy's Cove (site of the Swissair 111 crash on September 2, 1998) I'm hoping to get more pictures of Flat Stanley with some other people but even if I don't I'm sure he'll have a great time.
Well it's 7:20 am here now so I better get going and have breakfast so I can get on the road. Going to visit my friend and his wife this afternoon so it's going to be a busy day.
til next time...
On the Road to Eugene (Day 3 and 4)
Decemeber 24, 2009
Well today, I forgot to turn on my HRM watch properly so my Kcal numbers are based on calculations from my last half-marathon workout. I started out feeling crappy at the beginning of my walk but by the time I finished I was actually feeling pretty good. Tomorrow is Christmas Day and the gift I am giving myself this year is this commitment to me. I have a busy day ahead of me today but I’m going to try to be responsible with food and make better choices. 2 more training sessions and then I start the run-walking so that will be encouraging (and I’m sure challenging to start).
December 25, 2009
Yeah, who was I kidding, working out on Christmas day! It was a wonderful day today with the kids. It is nice that our kids have Christ in their lives and understand that Christmas is not about the toys but about the birth of our Lord and Saviour.
Well today, I forgot to turn on my HRM watch properly so my Kcal numbers are based on calculations from my last half-marathon workout. I started out feeling crappy at the beginning of my walk but by the time I finished I was actually feeling pretty good. Tomorrow is Christmas Day and the gift I am giving myself this year is this commitment to me. I have a busy day ahead of me today but I’m going to try to be responsible with food and make better choices. 2 more training sessions and then I start the run-walking so that will be encouraging (and I’m sure challenging to start).
December 25, 2009
Yeah, who was I kidding, working out on Christmas day! It was a wonderful day today with the kids. It is nice that our kids have Christ in their lives and understand that Christmas is not about the toys but about the birth of our Lord and Saviour.
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