4 and 40

DAy 60... A Hump

Rod — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 09:51:51 GMT

208 lbs.

I ran 1.5 miles today. Totally lost energy. Lifted a bit and then hopped on the elliptical machine for a while.

Not great. Gotta get into the gym more.

Day 55 - Goin' Good

Rod — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 14:59:19 GMT

208 lbs... still.

Ran 2 1/2 miles in 20:20. Nearly a 7 1/2 mph pace. Good stuff.

Leg feels good.

Need to focus on losing a bit more weight now.

Day 52 - too much time off

Rod — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 14:36:39 GMT

208 lbs. some water weight?

My right calf felt a bit off, so I took longer off than I would have liked. 6 days is just too long.

I ran 2 miles at a 7 1/4 mph pace. I was exhausted after those 2 miles. Not a banner day.

Day 46 - 20% and 10%

Rod — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 19:18:12 GMT

Well, 207.5 means I've lost 20% of the weight I'm looking to lose. On the treadmill I was all set to do about 2.25 miles, but I figured that I felt pretty good after 1.5 miles and that I should try to do 10% of the goal distance.

I hit that. 2.62 miles in 22:28 - 7 miles per hour. That's about a 3 hour 42 minute marathon pace. Hurrah. Now just another 80% and 90% left.

Not that I'm all that close. Still a long way to go.

Day 42... Resumption

Rod — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:43:27 GMT

I'm back... finally. Seem to be recovered, though not quite where I left off as far as my conditioning.

I still weigh 209. (Kept up with some of the shakes despite not working out - tastes good anyway).

Went to the gym last Friday (4 days after the injury) but it was way too soon.

Did 1 3/4 miles averaging 6.8 mph.

So, after 1 1/2 months I've lost 6.5 pounds and can run 2 miles at the pace I need to go. Not great, but I'm sure once I lose some more weight and get into just a little better shape, it'll start to move quicker.

Day 28... Injury

Rod — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:44:23 GMT

Cold has been recovered from. Weighed 209 this morning. Made it to the gym last Thursday. Ran 1 3/4 miles averaging 7.4 mph.

Today I felt great when I went to the gym, so... I pushed it. I decided to try 2 1/2 miles at a slower pace. I did the 2 1/2 averaging 6.8 mph. But 4/100 of a mile from the end I pulled my right calf. Not great. Now I'm going to be completely unable to run for at least a week. It will probably be 2-3 weeks before I can run at my normal pace.

But my shakes seem to be working. I feel great - they definitely don't leave me hungry, which is, after all, the point. One a day (most days - not all) to replace a meal. Good deal.

Day 23... The Upshot

Rod — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 10:54:13 GMT

Exercise went ok Monday. I ran 1.6 miles before petering out, though I did average 7.4 mph. My legs just felt leaden.

I'm feeling it now.

I had hoped to get back in the gym again today but I'm not so sure. Overdoing it early on when my body is this out of shape can't be a good idea. I suppose I'll see how I feel a bit later on.

I seem to have stabilized, post-cold, at 211 lbs.

Day 21... Catch a Cold, If You Can

Rod — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:05:41 GMT

Wow. I caught a nasty cold last Saturday. Or at least that's when it hit me. No exercise the entire week. I spent most of last Saturday and Sunday in bed.

No exercise but I lost weight. My appetite was nearly gone. When I get back into the gym today, we'll see what it did to my already meager athletic capabilities.

Weight: 210 lbs

Day 13

Rod — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:38:23 GMT

Wednesday I managed about 1 3/4 miles at a 7 mph pace on the treadmill. Accidently hit the stop button about 1/4 mile in, but not sure exactly and then did another 1 1/2 miles.

Friday I did 2 miles at a bit better than 7 mph. Felt good and did some additional exercise on the elliptical machine after a bit of lifting.

I must have worn myself out a bit (I know - 2+ miles and I'm tired out - not too great) because I got hit hard by a cold. Spent most of Saturday in bed and wasn't much more active today. Will stay away from the gym tomorrow even if I'm feeling better when I get up in the morning. I have nearly a year and there's no point in blowing a week because I wouldn't let my body recover enough from a cold.

Still at 113 lbs. I'd like to think that I've lost more than 2 1/2 lbs and that I've gained some muscle mass, but I can't tell yet.

Day 8... Bad Blogger

Rod — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:49:12 GMT

Hopefully I'll start doing this a little more frequently....

So, Saturday I did 1.5 miles on the treadmill at a 2% incline at 7 mph. Monday I couldn't even make it that long. At least I have almost a year to start getting a few more miles done.

Hmm... As I posted this bit about myexercise, I realized that I should have some factual basis for setting the treadmill at a 2% incline. I found the following... http://mysite.verizon.net/jim2wr/id110.html. Seems like pretty good stuff. No more 2% inclines for me. Maybe some variable inclines to simulate hills, but otherwise 0%. And the title of the post is even called The 1% Incline Treadmill Myth.

So, I'm still at 213 lbs as of this morning. Making it through a food and wine tasting event and baking a birthday cake for my daughter and not gaining any weight seems good to me. Not what I'd hope for a typical week at this stage, though. At some point in the near future I'm going to have to get serious about this thing or I just won't make it.

Intro

Rod — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 12:31:01 GMT

This past Sunday was the NYC Marathon. My wife ran a few marathons a couple of years back. The most I've ever run is 3 miles and that's on a treadmill.

I've been looking to get into shape (and lose some weight) so I figured betting her I could run a marathon next year in under 4 hours would prove to be good motivation. And blogging about can't be a bad idea to add to the motivation.

So, here I am.

Monday I weighed in at 215 1/2. Today 213 1/2. Water weight? Maybe.

Anyhow, my entries will have a bit about my diet, a bit about my excercise and a bit more about various other things.

Oh yeah.... 4 and 40.... 4 hours. 40 pounds. I figure that to run a marathon in under 4 hours, I really should get down to about 175. I'm 6'1". I'm 34 and haven't been at 175 since high school. I'm taking bets!