I blame Vegas and Meb

Weigh-in Wednesday: April 9, 2014 -- 214.2lbs

So this past week wasn't the best. As you may have noticed, I didn't do a full week in review and I gained weight. I was pissy, I wanted to get the hell out of Dodge, and I didn't want fall into a funk. I did start the week well but then I couldn't get past the end of the block while running on Thursday. It wasn't good.

But then we went to Vegas and it was great fun. My lovely wife and I met my parents for a weekend of eating, drinking, and throwing money away. As is tradition we ate copious amounts of food. The only exercise I took part in included doing arm curls with my drink or walking from one eating establishment to another.

Surprisingly this didn't fit into my get back into shape plans...but hey it was part of the getting mentally back into shape. So suck it.

Last night, it got late, we needed dinner fast, and I have been wanting to go to this Eritrean restaurant in our hood. It was great! Assab was everything I wanted and more. Honestly, I figured I would wake up put on my Sketchers and run a one hour half marathon. But I couldn't. I was really full and there was a ton salt in that delicious Eastern African food.

I finished the same race (one year, two hours, 51 minutes later)

So it wasn't the best week. But tomorrow I will talk to the doctor to discuss next steps and have "run" 10 boring miles thus far on an elliptical machine. On ward and upward. Hopefully I will be running by next week and not prepping for surgery.

Week in Review - March 23-30

Considering I don't have much witty or insightful to say right now, I will present my first Week in Review post. These will come on Sunday. Weigh in Wednesdays will clearly be on Wednesday and then I will try to read something and share something at least a few more times a week. Like with my running, if I have a plan I like to stick with it...so there is my plan for the blog.

Mileage: 20 miles
If I was being honest, which is sort of the point, the runs this week were tough. I didn't particularly enjoy any of these runs. I believe it had a bit to do with the high pollen level (in addition to being out of shape).  I got four miles in the rain on Tuesday along a boring local route. It was a moderate effort with a decent pace. Thursday took me to Golden Gate Park and the Panhandle which was exactly at 9 minute miles (which felt pretty quick) and then slowed way down on the up hill sections of Masonic. I slowed, a lot.

On Saturday, I got eight with the club which I talked about yesterday and this morning after taking the lovely wife to the airport at 5:30am, I knocked out four nice miles with my chum Stephen.

Goal for Next Week: Keep the mileage and increase the week day pace for a completely even four to five mile run. 

Classes: Two out of Three
The spin class I took on Wednesday with Liz Bradley at the JCCSF was insanely difficult. As anyone who has taken a spin class knows, you check the clock at some point during the class. I checked 10 minutes in...it was that bad. But I my goal is to back to Liz this coming week. Because I am crazy like that

I also got a Hard Core class with Tara Widmer under my belt, who is a great teacher except when she is mad. Her bracket got really messed up, so we paid for it in crunches and leg extensions. I am still in pain.

Goal for Next Week: All three classes and don't feel like death after Tara's class. 

Strength: One out Two
I did some strength work at home on Friday that included ankle work, back, and some arms. It was weak sauce but it wasn't nothing, so I am counting it.

Goal for Next Week: Hit the weights at the gym.

I got a pre-plan plan

I am back. My ankle is at a solid 85% nearly 95% of the time. The other five is either much better or not but at this point I see it as healing and on my way to the New York City Marathon.

I bet that guy to the right gave up.

But I am way out of shape. And not just running shape. But cardio, speed, strength, and perhaps most importantly, mental shape. I am way out of it.

So here it is, my perennial promise to keep this blog updated with my progress and engage in a number of Pintrest-like work outs where I look like an emaciated model doing lunges with script inspirational quotes floating above my poorly lit face, but perfectly sculpted ass.

But seriously I am promising to run about 20-25 miles a week based on pain, stretch and foam roll daily, one take a spin class and two core classes per week, and do two days of strength training until we reach the NYC Training Start Date (TSD). I will keep my goal weight of approximately 200lbs prior to the TSD and get below it for race day. I will blog. I will read. I will get in shape physically and mentally for the hard race that the New York City Marathon will be for me, both physically and mentally.

PLEASE KEEP ME HONEST.
STATS:
Weight: 213.2lbs
Week's Mileage: 8
Week's Classes: 50 min Spin
Week's Strength Training: Nothing Yet 

Running Myself Aground

My MRIs and XRays will be read tomorrow. I will hopefully find out what kind of damage has been done and what I will need to do to fix it.

I am getting nervous. Ok, I am just willing to admit that I am nervous. I have been nervous since not being able to run more than five miles without serious pain back in June.

And until this morning I was channeling this energy into less-than-healthy pursuits of eating lots of food and drinking lots of beer. And since I (less-than-) humbly bragged about my weight loss on this platform during my running days, I will humbly note that I am just about five pounds off my move-to-California weight. This is bad.

Recently I went to the doctor for a physical and received a very clean bill of health with cholesterol levels well above and below the right numbers, liver and kidneys found to be in good order, and everything else is working-as-intended. As he was leaving the room, the doctor said, "You are a healthy guy. (pause) You could do something about the weight, but otherwise you are very healthy." Yeah. Thanks Doc.

In the best case scenario, I will not be able to run for about six weeks. This means I need to figure out what the hell I am going to do to loss some of this nervous weight I have put back on due to my inability to run and feeling sorry for myself.

So in addition to using my trusty MyFitnessPal app again, I started swimming seriously last week complete with a training program for geared toward developing endurance. I love me a training program. It starts with a 50-100-150 pyramid warm-up, then the main workout is 400s broken out into odds and evens, with odds being a 100IM and 300 Free at a moderate to strong pace and evens being a 400 Free at a moderate pace.  I do a just-barely-not-drowning Breast stroke for the proscribed 200 cool down of "non-Free." Today I did three reps (odd, even, odd) of the main workout, total time in the water was about 50 minutes.

JCCSF: Where I swim with the yentas.

Swimming is fun and I am getting better at it as I continue to swim (shocking I know).  But it isn't running and I am not good. Also, even at my best, I look more like the old dudes doing aqua-floaty-aerobics than the Ironman bros doing mad laps in the fast lanes. Not that I care that much about how I look walking around the pool, but I actually care a lot about how I look walking around the pool. It is quite literally a slippery* slope regarding how I feel about how I look and what I can do about it at this point of my injury.

There will be no running for a while. So into the pool with the hopes of knocking out flip turns without having a gallon of water rush up my nose. Who knows, the doctor my proscribe me a floatation belt and I will get to know some of the older folks yacking it up in the deep end.

The update tomorrow may or may not be comprised solely of profanities. Fair warning.

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*I made a "don't run on the deck" joke and it was very bad. Sorry about that.

On the second day there was spin

Due to very sore ankle I am in the gym all week in hopes of getting better.  As of today, it hurts less than it did yesterday so I call that progress. The plan has been to ride a bike for the same time it would have taken me to cover the miles on my easy days and to do a hard spin class on my speed work days.  So far, so good.

I also lifted for the first time in years.  Thus far I still can lift my arms above my head.  Also a plus.

Today was a speed day so I took a spin class.

I like spinning for its lower-impact, high-intensity vibe.  But today's class started off all wrong.  The teacher was forced to help about six people with their bikes for almost 10 minutes into the class, there were a number of people who also had no idea what they were doing, and two kids up front who weren't even trying.  All of these things kind of made the start suck.

Add water and a tab and be like me.

But then the teacher finally got on the bike, the two kids left, and we all got in the grove.

We did quad isolation for what felt like an hour, long sprints intervals, and number big climbs. The class ended on such a high note that I was drenched in sweat and nearly lost my lunch; a great class always is punctuated with near vomiting.  In the end I say it was a win.

In vain attempt to influence my chances to become a Nuun Ambassador I will note that I never spin without Nuun.  It really helps with the leg cramps and tastes great too.

Seriously, I sweat like a whore in church mad man and it is clear to anyone who sees me after a work out that I lost just a bit of salt.  Often times it is caked on my face.  But in a spin studio, it really turns it on.  The Nuun Tri-Berry tabs help me get back what I lose, and keep my legs from cramping during the last third of the class. 

See Nuun, I can totally be on board.