Thanksgiving Day

For anyone that is trying to lose weight and train for a marathon, Thanksgiving has to be just a killer. Maybe that's why that decision should have been made after the first part of the year. But no, the decision has been made, and I must act accordingly. So, today I awoke early, which is normal. I watched some news and all, and then at 6 AM, hit the treadmill. Did 40 minutes on that badboy. Burned several hundred calories as well. Followed that up at 9 AM with about an hour and a half of basketball -- another good calorie burn.

I think that I will soon solidify my marathon commitment by going ahead and signing up for the race itself. Plus, if I do it before the end of the year, I will lock in the price break. Price jumps up about 15 or 20 bucks on January 1st. I'm pretty locked in as it is though. When I shared my plan and goal with a friend of mine in California, he was so excited he got himself a plane ticket to come cheer me on. So, I'm pretty locked in.

The weight keeps coming off too. Can't remember if I've written this or not, but I'm currently on a workout plan that has me running 3 days a week, cross training 2, and resting 2, although I sometimes only take 1 rest day.

Anyhow, hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving. And remember what you're thankful for. At my house, we create a "Thankful Turkey" every year. It's a box decorated like a turkey where we can write things we're thankful for on slips of paper to deposit them in the box. Then we read them, usually before thanksgiving day. But we haven't read them yet this year. Good thing, cause I need to make a few more deposits in the box before we do.

Studs on Ice

Well, my season for basketball started Monday night. I've been refereeing for 12 years now, and I really enjoy it. Even if some of the games are just horrible. Like the second one today. But it was junior high ball, so what do you expect. Oh, well.

My games were in Nikiski. About a 25 mile drive. The drive out wasn't bad, but when it came time to drive home, the weather had taken a turn. It was RAINING. Unreal. Temps were in the high 30s.

Made for an interesting ride to work Tuesday morning. By morning, the temps had dropped, and naturally that meant some icy roads. Which, actually, I was a bit excited for. That meant I got to REALLY test my studded tires on my bicycle. They worked great. It was cool to listen to them grinding on the ice. And also to see the tracks in the driveway.

I strapped on my hear rate monitor for haalf of the first game and all of the second one. Didn't even get a half mile per half. I've gotta find a strap extender so that I can wear the watch part on my ankle or something. It just don't look right wearing it on my wrist when I'm refereeing.

A Near Disaster Avoided...And Other Thoughts on a Saturday

So Thursday afternoon, I was getting ready to leave the office and head home for the night. When I went to turn on my GPS/Heart Rate Monitor, I got nothing. It wouldn't turn on at all. I found that rather odd given the fact that I had even plugged it in to chage . I was pretty disappointed to say the least. I love all the information I get from that thing. I was sure something was haywire and I would end up having to send it in for repair. I had to do my 40 minute run Thursday night without it. Friday morning as I got ready to try calling tech support, I got it to turn on but only for a second. So I put it on the charger again. And it worked!! So, hopefully it was just a fluke. Glad it's back up and running.

Yesterday was a day for some cross training. I didn't get it done, but I did get about 7.25 miles of walking in during hockey practice for my kids by walking laps around the outside of the rink. In about 7 degree temperatures. Does that count as a substitute? I didn't think so either. So when I woke up at 5:15 this morning, I flipped on the Wii, put in my EA Sports Active, and did a cross training workout. I do still have a 2 mile run to do today in accordance with my marathon training. I'll get it done.

I like this new program I started this week, while it still has 3 days a week of running, it adds 2 days of cross training. And I, not liking to take Wednesdays off to rest as it says to, throw in a day on Wednesdays as well.

A Streak Broken

Well, other than the 3 weeks during which I was without a bike because it was stolen, I had ridden my bike to work every day since sometime in late April. That streak came to an abrupt end yesterday. While it was somewhat planned, it couldn't have come at a better time. I knew a couple days ahead that I had to drive to Kenai at midday, so I was already planning to drive instead of bike. But it couldn't have come at a better time. The outside temperature this morning was -10, colder depending on who you believe. I even got a phone call close to when I was about to leave from a friend of mine who knows of my commitment to biking offering me a ride. I thanked him and let him know that I was already driving, albeit for different reasons. I have a feeling that by the end of the winter, I will most likely be taking him up on his offer at some point.

Yesterday was supposed to contain 30 minutes of cross training as a part of the program I am now following. I didn't get it done, so since I woke up early today, at just after 4 AM, I did my time that I was supposed to have done yesterday after watching the early broadcast of the Today show. For my cross training days, I am using EA Sports Active on the Nintendo Wii. It gave me a pretty good workout, and I finished up just a little before I had to wake the kids up for school.

THis morning, the temperature is back up above zero. 4 above to be exact. So, I'm off to my bike again.

As far as my marathon training, today is supposed to be a rest day. This is going to be the biggest struggle for me. I feel like I should do SOMETHING every day. I probably will. Even if it's just some fast walking on the treadmill tonight. Or something like that.

Riding in the Cold

So, my quest continues, despite the freezing temperatures that came in so suddenly. I left for Las Vegas on November 6th, and the current local temerature was around 35-40 degrees. The day after I left, I heard that it had snowed. That was of very little concern to me as I was enjoying temperatures in the high 60s and mid to high 70s. I didn't really think about the temps back home here until the day I was set to leave Las Vegas. The warmest thing I had with me was a hoodie sweatshirt. BOy was it chilly as I walked off the plane in Anchorage at 1 AM on Saturday morning.

But it was nothing compared to what I got to enjoy today. In my never ending quest to continue riding my bike to work, I had the joy today of pedaling to work in about 2 degree weather. By lunchtime when I rode home for lunch, it was -4. And back up to zero when I came home this evening. Chilly indeed!!! But I will persist. It is just one small part of my marathon training program. Which I am down to 214 training days. Tonight I officially begin a more formal program. 3 days of running and 2 days of cross training for the next 11 weeks. That will take me to the end of January, at which time I will begin a structured, 20 week program.

Up tonight -- 30 minutes of moderate running. I am also going to start doing the correct 5 minute warmup and cooldown periods on each end, and conclude with some proper stretching.

Now, off to the treadmill!!

P.S. -- Has anyone seen my hat?

T Minus 31 Weeks to the Starting Line

So I spent the last week in Las Vegas on a business trip. I managed to wear a blister on my foot the first day I was there while walking up and down The Strip. Luckily it wasn't too bad and by Tuesday I was able to get out and run. Ran again on Wednesday, but managed to get ANOTHER blister, so that was the end of my running while out of town. But, between blisters and watching what I ate, I still managed to drop a single pound while I was there, which was OK by me.

I also took the time to evaluate what training I needed to do between now and June 19, 2010. I found out I had 31 weeks remaining. And so, I have developed a plan that will start tonight. I'm going to do the first 11 of 14 weeks of a half marathon training program, followed by a full 20 week marathon training program that will take me to race day. I'm looking forward to it!!

Running outside.....in November

So I had a pretty good week last week, despite the fact that I didn't record a single blog. The only night I missed running that I had intended to run was Friday night. I had good intentions, but just ran out of time and something had to give. I was leaving that night to go on a business trip and so I just didn't make it out.

I'm currently in Las Vegas. I took a nice walk up and down the strip on Saturday. But in the process, I wore a small blister on my foot. That kept me from running until tonight. As I was getting ready for my trip, I contacted the hotel I was staying at and found out it was $55 for 3 days of using their fitness center. So I nixed that option.

This morning, I checked out the blister on my foot and decided I was good to go. I had discovered earlier today a large parking lot out behind the hotel that I figured I could go run laps around and that's just what I did. It was a little under a half mile per lap, and in 30 minutes of running I did a bout 3.2 miles. It felt good to run outside again. It reminded me of how much I hate running on the treadmill back home. But I'll keep doing it. However, I'll take advantage of the next 3 days and the chances they'll give me to run outside in 70 degree weather...in November!!

Long Time No Write

"The only secret is that it is consistent, often monotonous, boring, hard work. And it's tiring. "

Well, I have been a bit derelict in my writing as of late. Fortunately, I have still been running. And quite frankly, some of my recent weeks have been some of my best and most consistent. Which is why it is a bit odd that I've had some weigh fluctuations I didn't expect lately. I can only blame my consumption for it. Although tonight, I think I nailed down one other contributing factor, which I have since remedied. Early this month, my bike got stolen, and while I wasn't doing a whole lot of biking anymore, I was still commuting to and from work, including a roundtrip at lunch. That amounted to a little over 300 calories a day, but maybe just the mental awareness from that riding had an affect as well. I bought a new bike last weekend, including studded tires so I'm set for winter riding. I also got a good set of gloves today, as my hands have been a bit chilly lately.

Tonight as I was running on the treadmill, I got a great variety of music. Amazing what you get when you have an assortment of over 2,700 songs and put it in shuffle mode. I heard things like Run DMC, Neil Diamond, Debbie Gibson, Mike and the Mechanics, Reba and dare I even admit a dose of Michael Jackson. Love him or hate him, the man could flat out sing.

I had a health screen at work last week. It got me all fired up again. I had my first ever cholesterol test last spring at the end of April. Here I am 6 months later, and I was amazed at the progress I'd made. Everything came back considerably better, with the exception of my HDL number, which dropped from 39 to 36. That's the one number I would have liked to have increased, of course. But overall, I was very pleased. I was also told last spring, TWICE, that I needed to keep an eye on my blood pressure, as it was borderline high. It was down to 110 over 80 -- normal!!!! Exercise is such a good thing.

I still am not that fond of running on my treadmill. But it is a necessary evil. And I will continue to do it. A couple of weeks ago I decided to do something different. The competitive side of me likes to try and run as fast as I can. But I've determined that isn't what's best for me right now. So the fastest I run now is 5 MPH. And I have decided that when running on a treadmill, I won't change that speed at least until January 1, 2010. I'm also going to start putting in at least 20 minutes on the treadmill each morning.

I do have 2 major dilemmas to deal with this month. I have to spend a week in Las Vegas on business. Major Dilemma #1 -- Exercising while in Vegas. There is a health club at the hotel where I'll be staying -- The Rio -- but it's $22 a day according to their website. That is outrageous, I'll run outside in the 60 degree heat before I'll pay that price. I'm thinking about looking into renting a bike while I'm there too. Dilemma #2 -- The infamous Las Vegas Buffets -- I've never been one to turn down a good buffet. I think I'm going to have to determine before I leave to only participate in one or 2 of these scrumptious eateries, and then, keep it moderate, and exercise even more when I do.

Got 45 minutes in on the treadmill tonight. I think it's time to start increasing that time a little more.