New Goal - Half Marathon

I've been quiet for a few weeks. I stopped Insanity for a while and have been running again. The crazy thing is, that I've been running a lot. Longer distances and more endurance. Insanity really paid off (even if I only did 6 out of 9 weeks). This culminated last weekend while I was visiting family in Phoenix and I ran 13.2 up and down South Mountain. It is the first time I managed half-marathon distance and it got me thinking. So I signed up for the St Louis half marathon event of the Rock & Roll Marathon in October.

That being decided, I needed to take my running to a different level of intelligence. I knew I couldn't just go out and run as far and as fast as I can every day and expect to be ready. So I asked a seasoned running friend for advice and he pointed me to the SmartCoach at runnersworld.com. This handy app lets you set up a training program very easily. Lets just say I'll be putting in a lot of miles in the next 21 weeks. 

Race Goal

Now I know I can finish the half marathon, so that really isn't the goal. Right now, since I'm still fuzzy about what I can do in the next few months training wise, I'm setting my goal at finishing at 2 hours (or less) I've got a lot of work to get there.

I'll be adding some more posts about some of the gear, apps and training I am doing as we move forward.

Let the INSANITY Begin!

I received 2 health related items for my birthday.  Polar FT7 Heart Rate Monitor (Google Affiliate Ad) (which I will review in another post) and the INSANITY workout from Beachbody. So my oldest son and I hit the Gym at 5:00am this morning, popped in the first DVD. The first day of INSANITY is a 'Fit Test' which is a series of 8 exercises that you perform individually for 1 minute each as fast as you can. Then you record how many repetitions you did. Through the 9 week program, you do this test every 2 weeks , then at the end to see what kind of progress you are making. Here are this morning's stats:

Exercise	Reps
Switch Kicks	56 per leg
Power Jacks	46
Power Knees	75
Globe Jumps	8
Suicide Jumps	12
Push Up Jacks	22
Low Plank Oblique	24 per leg

I've committed not only to complete the program in the allotted time, but also to follow (to the best of my ability) the Nutritional guide provided with the DVDs. You first Calculate your caloric needs using the Harris Benedict Equation (which has been around for almost 100 years) and then adjusting the result to your specific goals (weight loss, weight gain, maintain weight) against the program. I myself will be upping my calorie intake quite a bit from the calorie restricted diet that has helped me lose my first 50 pounds. The guide then gives you a plan for how what to eat, how much to eat and when to eat it. In reviews of INSANITY that I have read, most people who talk about getting great results from this program followed the nutrition plan. Those that did not, did not see as good results. So I might as well do what I'm told! Since I've been eating a calorie restricted diet for the last 3 months, I'm ramping up to my calories over the first week adding a little more each day.

I am really excited to be doing this program and I'll keep you posted on how it's going.

edit: Here is my starting photo

myFitnessPal

Every once and a while, a website comes along that changes the way the you go about your daily life. Gmail, Facebook, Twitter just to name a few. myfitnesspal found it's way into my daily routine very easily. One stumbling block of keeping a food diary has always been knowing how many calories something is, what the serving size is, and keeping the information in a way that is useful and convenient. myfitnesspal does all that. At it's core is the food diary. You define up to 6 'meals' a day that you want to track and when you eat something you choose a meal and click add. A quick search of the very large database and generally you can find what you are looking for. If not, you can always just quick add calories if you have a guess. The site has good mobile apps that really make it easy to use. A barcode scanner in the mobile apps lets you enter packaged food by scanning it's barcode, it rarely cannot find what I'm looking for. MFP then helps you keep track of calorie intake. It also hooks up to several fitness apps like Endomondo, Runtastic, Fitbit and others to help you keep track of burned calories. The site lets you track measurements for weight and body size (or any arbitrary numeric measurement). There is then some basic reporting features on this data. That is probably one of the areas the site needs the most work, but it does seem pretty new still. The site has some social features and an active user forum, best of all, it's free. 

I would highly recommend that if you are wanting to do a food diary, to check out myfitnesspal,  it has helped me stay focused on my goals for over 80 days now and still going strong.

A New Start and a Recap of the Last Year

This blog has gone through a bunch of changes over the last few years. Generally reflecting the things that I am focusing on at the time. For the foreseeable future, I will be focusing on something new:  In the summer of 2012 I realized that I was not only getting overweight, but I had crossed a line. I had seen on weight charts that I was 'obese' but just said "oh, those charts are broken, I'm fine" Then I saw this photo of myself and knew I had been lying to myself and I had to do something. ( by the way, that's my youngest son with me in the photo)

July 2012 at 235lbs

It was late in the summer that I decided what I was going to do to try to make a difference in my life. I purchased my first pair of running shoes and hit the local high school track. I knew if I spent some money on the process, it would help me stick to it.

 My first time out, I could not jog around the track one time without stopping, 1/4 mile, slow jog was too much for me. It took a while to build up. 6 weeks later I participated in a fundraiser 5K for my kid's preschool and ran it in 34 min 55seconds. Not too shabby, I was down to just under 230lbs and felt pretty good. I managed to twist my ankle soon after and by December it had gotten cold outside and I stopped running to let my ankle heal.

In January, my wife and I bought a treadmill, and I hit it pretty hard. I put in 4 to 5 runs a week on it averaging 5K distance each time. I also signed up for myFitnessPal and Runtastic to log my activity. One thing I did not do in the fall was change the way I ate. So I drastically cut my eating and kept close tabs on it. In 2 weeks I dropped 10lbs, and after 4 weeks, I was down 20lbs. Then the circuit board on our treadmill died. As an employee at Greenville College, I have access to our sports training facility.  So I started going there in the mornings before work. In February, I ran 66 miles total.

At the beginning of March, I weighed in at 198lbs. The first time had been under 200 for about 15 years. I ran 111 miles that month (including a 59 minute 10K on the treadmill) and added weight training into my fitness routine.

Today, April 3rd 2013 I weighed in at 188lbs.

April 3rd, 2013 - 188lbs

I've still got a ways to go until I reach my ultimate fitness goals which are ever evolving, but I'm going to be blogging about them right here, I've been working hard for over 80 days now and I need all the motivation and accountability I can get. I'll talk more about some specifics about the tools I'm using, the routine I've put together, my goals and such in future posts. I just needed to post this backstory to give context for my future posts.

If you are on myFitnessPal, feel free to friend me, my username is johnnyGizmo of all things.