The last few blogs, I've been focussing on weight, food and calories. However, the title of this blog is "RunBrettRun", not "LoseWeightFatBoy"!
I run (and blog about it) because I love to run. I love the feeling of running, the "click" of endorphins I get at 5 minutes in and after 20 minutes of running. The other benefits are really side benefits for me.
Changing the focus back to runnig just makes everything simpler. It is kind of a "Power of Intention" thing.
As an aside, I had thought of calling the blog "RunGordoRun". The pun of that is that my middle name is Gordon and that "Gordo" in Spanish is Fatty :).
Showing posts with label 10K. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10K. Show all posts
Monday, December 28, 2009
Monday, December 21, 2009
Weeks -25 and -24
Week -25 was characterized by way too much food and no exercise. According to Lose It! I was 1414 calories over for the week. I suspect it was closer to 2000 or more.
Week -24 was fine, 653 calories under and three days of exercise. Christmas lunches are done, so things are a little saner food-wise. The only major issue is that I felt very hungry a lot of the time.
The frustrating thing with both those weeks is that the weight is not moving. I'm running on a target of 1843 calories per day. Lose it! calculates a daily intake of 1893 should be enough to get me to lose 1.5 pounds per week. In the four weeks that I've been doing this, I've been under my weekly limit by 151 calories, 430 calories, over by 1414 and finally under by 653.
My metabolism isn't slow, it's special :)
So, the only cure I know of for this is to first increase the running and decrease the percent of calories by fat. Lose It! has this fantastic feature where you can review your nutrient balance for the past as well (depending on entering it, of course). Although some of it is estimated, my % of calories from fat for the past 4 weeks was: 32%, 37%, 25% and finally 17%.
Everything I read indicates that fat breeds fat. Some authors (remember Pritikin?) advocate a diet where only 5% of your calories come from fat. That's a bit extreme for me. I think if I can keep it in the range of 20% and pump the running, we'll see if that will turn the corner.
Exercise this week consisted of a 30 minute fast walk on Thursday and two 25 minute runs on the weekend.
The weirdness is that walking still hurts my hip and stiffens my leg. Running doesn't. Note that the running is not particularly speedy. I think I was about a 14 min/mile pace on Saturday and a 13 min/mile pace average on Sunday. (Each day, though, I did a minute at 8 min/mile, just so my body remembers). The speed keeps my heart rate in the high training zone, so that's the speed I need to go. I expect that will improve quickly as heart/lungs tend to respond pretty quickly to the training effect.
Likely no post next week, I'll do a two week summary again in January.
Week -24 was fine, 653 calories under and three days of exercise. Christmas lunches are done, so things are a little saner food-wise. The only major issue is that I felt very hungry a lot of the time.
The frustrating thing with both those weeks is that the weight is not moving. I'm running on a target of 1843 calories per day. Lose it! calculates a daily intake of 1893 should be enough to get me to lose 1.5 pounds per week. In the four weeks that I've been doing this, I've been under my weekly limit by 151 calories, 430 calories, over by 1414 and finally under by 653.
My metabolism isn't slow, it's special :)
So, the only cure I know of for this is to first increase the running and decrease the percent of calories by fat. Lose It! has this fantastic feature where you can review your nutrient balance for the past as well (depending on entering it, of course). Although some of it is estimated, my % of calories from fat for the past 4 weeks was: 32%, 37%, 25% and finally 17%.
Everything I read indicates that fat breeds fat. Some authors (remember Pritikin?) advocate a diet where only 5% of your calories come from fat. That's a bit extreme for me. I think if I can keep it in the range of 20% and pump the running, we'll see if that will turn the corner.
Exercise this week consisted of a 30 minute fast walk on Thursday and two 25 minute runs on the weekend.
The weirdness is that walking still hurts my hip and stiffens my leg. Running doesn't. Note that the running is not particularly speedy. I think I was about a 14 min/mile pace on Saturday and a 13 min/mile pace average on Sunday. (Each day, though, I did a minute at 8 min/mile, just so my body remembers). The speed keeps my heart rate in the high training zone, so that's the speed I need to go. I expect that will improve quickly as heart/lungs tend to respond pretty quickly to the training effect.
Likely no post next week, I'll do a two week summary again in January.
Monday, December 7, 2009
10K week -26
Biggest mistake of the week was not recording this stuff day by day.
I am going to make a minor change in the recording method as well. I'm using the app lose-it to track food and exercise and the app has the week ending on Sunday. (Weird - I know) and no way to change it. So this week will be an 8-day item:)
So, I am closer to the 1200 calorie goal for the week. The interesting thing that I found is that while I was a few hundred net calories under for the week I lost no weight. This is the issue with the slightly lower metabolism.
As I look forward to this week, it remains very busy at work and I have three Christmas lunches to attend. I do not expect to get in more than 600 - 800 calories of exercise due to high time demands.
I am going to make a minor change in the recording method as well. I'm using the app lose-it to track food and exercise and the app has the week ending on Sunday. (Weird - I know) and no way to change it. So this week will be an 8-day item:)
| Day | Food Calories | Exercise Calories |
| Sunday | 1974 | -291 |
| Monday | 2267 | 0 |
| Tuesday | 1616 | -393 |
| Wednesday | 1211 | 0 |
| Thursday | 2382 | 0 |
| Friday | 1938 | 0 |
| Saturday | 1696 | -257 |
| Sunday | 2036 | 0 |
| Week total | 15120 | -941 |
So, I am closer to the 1200 calorie goal for the week. The interesting thing that I found is that while I was a few hundred net calories under for the week I lost no weight. This is the issue with the slightly lower metabolism.
As I look forward to this week, it remains very busy at work and I have three Christmas lunches to attend. I do not expect to get in more than 600 - 800 calories of exercise due to high time demands.
Friday, November 27, 2009
10K - week -27
Sunday
I worked downtown today, so I had the opportunity to do the walk home. Total of 380 Calories. The walk was great and I felt great.
Monday
This day, I needed to grab some items as Safeway, so I walked from there for 217 Calories. Grand total for the week so far, 597 Calories.
Tuesday
This day, I had a Chiropractor appointment in Kensington, so I walked to that. This was one of the day that the @#$^%@# Garmin Forerunner 305 just could not pick up a satellite while I was downtown. I ended up picking it up for the last 8 minutes of the walk which was 25 minutes. The Garmin recorded 58 Calories, so I'm estimating 153 for the walk, making a weekly total of 750 Calories.
Wednesday
OK - at this stage, walking three days in a row doesn't work for me. I was so exhausted in the AM that I was dizzy. In the evening all I did was lie down and read.
Thursday
Feeling much better today, but still taking it easy. My plan at this point is to do the remaining 450 calories on Saturday, although I may just settle for less that 1200 for the first few weeks of the program.
Friday And Saturday
On Friday I woke up achey and with a slight sore throat and a plugged ear. No exercise today unless I radically improve.
Today was also the day of the first of four Christmas lunches between now and the end of the year. I certainly indulged --- and paid dearly for it in the middle of the night = 5 hours of diarrhea which just wore me out. Sigh. No exercise on Friday or Saturday, so, thus ends the first week of the training plan.
Summary
Mistakes:
Good things:
Totals for the week:
I worked downtown today, so I had the opportunity to do the walk home. Total of 380 Calories. The walk was great and I felt great.
Monday
This day, I needed to grab some items as Safeway, so I walked from there for 217 Calories. Grand total for the week so far, 597 Calories.
Tuesday
This day, I had a Chiropractor appointment in Kensington, so I walked to that. This was one of the day that the @#$^%@# Garmin Forerunner 305 just could not pick up a satellite while I was downtown. I ended up picking it up for the last 8 minutes of the walk which was 25 minutes. The Garmin recorded 58 Calories, so I'm estimating 153 for the walk, making a weekly total of 750 Calories.
Wednesday
OK - at this stage, walking three days in a row doesn't work for me. I was so exhausted in the AM that I was dizzy. In the evening all I did was lie down and read.
Thursday
Feeling much better today, but still taking it easy. My plan at this point is to do the remaining 450 calories on Saturday, although I may just settle for less that 1200 for the first few weeks of the program.
Friday And Saturday
On Friday I woke up achey and with a slight sore throat and a plugged ear. No exercise today unless I radically improve.
Today was also the day of the first of four Christmas lunches between now and the end of the year. I certainly indulged --- and paid dearly for it in the middle of the night = 5 hours of diarrhea which just wore me out. Sigh. No exercise on Friday or Saturday, so, thus ends the first week of the training plan.
Summary
Mistakes:
- Exercising three days in a row (actually 4 as I had done about 300 calories the Saturday before this week).
- Ordering a steak too rare for me on Friday. shudder
- I need to track my food and get sensible with it as well.
Good things:
- I did a good job of enjoying the exercise.
- I kept up on the blogging.
Totals for the week:
- Calories: 750
- Distance: 6.7 miles
- Average pace: 16 min / mile
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Planning for the 10K
So, running a 10K in May. From pretty much sedentary now.
The biggest question for me is "how not to overtrain?" I've been doing start-stop training for the past couple of years. What seems to happen is that I start off reasonably, then I remember how I used to run when marathon training and I start overdoing it. This is really frustrating because I like running.
So, walking home from work today, I came up with a plan so cunning in its simplicity, I was astounded. :)
I'm going to plan to Calories for the next 5 - 6 weeks and then re-evaluate. What I'm thinking at the moment is do a minimum of +1200 calories / maximum of +1800 calories a week, spread over at least three days per week. Each session should be a minimum of 200 calories and a max of 600. My goal would be to do this in 4 -5 sessions, preferably just by walking home from work. This is a 45 - 50 minute walk, yielding 380 calories. If I take the train to Kensington station, that cuts it down to about 30 minutes and 220 calories. That leaves quite a few combinations that will work.
Check back later, we'll see how it goes.
2009-11-23: Small clarification / update: Reduce the minimum number of calories per session to 150. That seems to be where I can definitely "feel" something. Max of 6 days of exercise per week. Max of 600 calories per day, not just per session.
The biggest question for me is "how not to overtrain?" I've been doing start-stop training for the past couple of years. What seems to happen is that I start off reasonably, then I remember how I used to run when marathon training and I start overdoing it. This is really frustrating because I like running.
So, walking home from work today, I came up with a plan so cunning in its simplicity, I was astounded. :)
I'm going to plan to Calories for the next 5 - 6 weeks and then re-evaluate. What I'm thinking at the moment is do a minimum of +1200 calories / maximum of +1800 calories a week, spread over at least three days per week. Each session should be a minimum of 200 calories and a max of 600. My goal would be to do this in 4 -5 sessions, preferably just by walking home from work. This is a 45 - 50 minute walk, yielding 380 calories. If I take the train to Kensington station, that cuts it down to about 30 minutes and 220 calories. That leaves quite a few combinations that will work.
Check back later, we'll see how it goes.
2009-11-23: Small clarification / update: Reduce the minimum number of calories per session to 150. That seems to be where I can definitely "feel" something. Max of 6 days of exercise per week. Max of 600 calories per day, not just per session.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Goals, goals, goals
As I reflect on the last few months and my spotty / sporadic running during that time, I asked myself: "Why can't I seem to get some consistency"?
I've come to believe the biggest reason is a lack of goals.
I started running in my early thirties, somewhat as a response to a divorce and wanting to get fit - but then it lead to just a sheer joy of running. After about a year of on again / off again running, I bought some books and set a goal for a Marathon.
Naturally, I ignored a lot of the advice about first marathon goal setting (Biggest one is - only goal should be to finish). The nice thing is that I created a plan, followed it reasonable closely, modified the plan as needed and actually reached my modified goal (Initial goal was for a 3:30 Marathon, modified it to 3:45).
The big thing about the goals for me is to be Specific, Measurable and Achievable. Specifically, I'm going to run a 10K next year. Currently, the one I'm considering is 10K associated with the Calgary Marathon.
What I don't yet know is what time I should set? (This is the Measurable and Achievable parts). What can I achieve in the next 6 months of running? Right now, I think 10K would take be about 2 hours :), most of it walking. If I remain injury free in my training, I'm likely to be able to run it in under an hour.
Given that I really don't know what is achievable now, how long will it take for me to get a good sense of what is achievable. Am I just creating a tempest in a teapot - perhaps the right answer is to set the goal, work towards it and then modify if required. Hmmm - sounds like a good way to go.
The goal is:
I've come to believe the biggest reason is a lack of goals.
I started running in my early thirties, somewhat as a response to a divorce and wanting to get fit - but then it lead to just a sheer joy of running. After about a year of on again / off again running, I bought some books and set a goal for a Marathon.
Naturally, I ignored a lot of the advice about first marathon goal setting (Biggest one is - only goal should be to finish). The nice thing is that I created a plan, followed it reasonable closely, modified the plan as needed and actually reached my modified goal (Initial goal was for a 3:30 Marathon, modified it to 3:45).
The big thing about the goals for me is to be Specific, Measurable and Achievable. Specifically, I'm going to run a 10K next year. Currently, the one I'm considering is 10K associated with the Calgary Marathon.
What I don't yet know is what time I should set? (This is the Measurable and Achievable parts). What can I achieve in the next 6 months of running? Right now, I think 10K would take be about 2 hours :), most of it walking. If I remain injury free in my training, I'm likely to be able to run it in under an hour.
Given that I really don't know what is achievable now, how long will it take for me to get a good sense of what is achievable. Am I just creating a tempest in a teapot - perhaps the right answer is to set the goal, work towards it and then modify if required. Hmmm - sounds like a good way to go.
The goal is:
- Run the 10K on May 30, 2010.
- Stay injury free throughout the training period.
- Focus on finishing rather than speed.
- Plan for an under 60M 10K, revise this number in January and April.
- Blog weekly or better about my plan, approach and progress.
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