Couch to 5K week 5

I'm not sure which is tougher, starting week 5 of the couch to 5k training program, or starting that 6 days after the last run of week 4.  This has been so far the toughest run of the program, I'm sure that delay had much to do with it.  I ran Sunday, and then Monday and Tuesday are pretty full from morning through night, and then Wednesday it snowed.  Today the walks were clear enough to get a good run in.

Might be time to think about a gym membership, we got more snow coming!

And yet, having said all that, I feel good.  Tired, but good.

Weight loss continues to come ever so slowly.  But the good news is that it's happening, slow is better than not at all.  And there's a level of fitness taking place now that is incredibly encouraging.  The nice thing about the bad weather is, it gave me an excuse to finally take my bike in to get it tuned up.  My work responsibilities have shifted to the point where I rarely will have to go out to customer sites, meaning I can ride my bike in quite regularly.  That is the one thing I missed the most about changing my job from Sprint a couple years ago was getting rid of the commute.  How dumb does that sound?  But in getting rid of the commute, it got rid of the opportunity to ride and walk so much.  So now, work is only 6 miles away, which isn't so bad, but I find myself looking very forward to riding that on a regular basis.  Especially with gas prices going back up.

There are times I wonder, should I have done the surgery?  I mean, I'm not losing weight all that fast, I see people all around losing it without surgery and doing great.  I saw an update from an old friend that I hadn't seen for awhile, who had lost a BUNCH of weight and looks incredible.  I watch the Biggest Loser on TV and what they accomplish is amazing.  I think about times I've lost so much weight on my own, and... did I do the right thing?

And then I hear about people finding out about conditions or things they never would have known were going on, things that may or may not have been caused by weight or exacerbated by weight.  I remember when I had my workups a couple years ago and just some little things here and there and I realize, yes, I did do the right thing.  I took a huge step to change something in my life and it IS making a difference.  Surgery is not what is needed by everyone in my situation, but having said that I know with full confidence that it was the best answer for me.

I thank God for how people I know and care about have been through some amazing challenges in life and have been able to come through with a whole new perspective on life.  I'm amazed at things that I see.  And...  I also thank Him for where my life is going.  Life is good.  Pretty darn good at that!

A Little Scary How Much Google is Taking Over

So here I am, for the first time, making a post from a Chromebook.  It's a little laptop but with Google Chrome operating system.  I originally got it for the kids to use so they don't use my laptop, but I find myself thinking maybe I'll keep this and let the kids use it.  It would certainly come in handy for taking to classes, it's nice and compact.

But I find myself thinking, wow...  it's like Google has taken over my life.  Now I've got their laptop.  I've been an android junkie for awhile, living off my cell phone which is powered by, guess who, Google.  I use their navigation program all the time for work.  Right now, I'm thinking that if the powers that be at Google wanted to become megolomaniacs intent on ruling the world, the only thing that stops them is that evil Empire at Apple.  But then again, my apple addict friends would argue that it's Google that's the evil empire.  If the two ever got together, look out.

I did run into one disappointment though when it comes to Android this past weekend, as it would relate to this blog anyway.  I've always loved having the applications on my phone for workouts and such.  While doing the Couch to 5K workouts, I've been tracking with two different apps, Endomondo and Active.com's Couch to 5K trainer.  This weekend, Best Buy had the Wahoo Blue heart rate monitor strap on sale.  I've always been thinking of getting one of these monitors that can connect via Bluetooth so that programs like Endomondo can also track heartrate, so I was pretty happy about that.  It's advertised as being for iPhones "and other Smart Bluetooth" devices.  My Galaxy S3 has Smart Bluetooth capability, sweet.  So I pick one up.  Only to find out that I need Wahoo's application to sync up and, guess what...  they don't make an Android app.  So, my wife, who has an iPhone, got to inherit my nifty little gadget.

So, yesterday I did run the third workout of week two on the Couch to 5K training program.  Heart-rate-monitor-free, albeit.  I will say I'm a bit surprised how good I've felt so far this time around.  In week two, you do a five minute warm up walk, run 90 seconds, walk 2 minutes, run 90, walk 2, etc until you've done six of the 90 second run intervals, then you do a cool down walk of 5 minutes.  It's a total of 31 minutes.  Last summer I tried doing the C25K program again, and mid way through week 2 pulled a calf muscle and got slowed way down, never really did complete the program in time for the Firefly Run, a 5K I was training for, but still was able to run/walk the course.  But this time around, I feel even better.  It's harder to compare with the training that I documented better earlier in this blog, but one thing I will say is that I do feel more like I'm running than I remember ever feeling during the running segments.  I've lengthened out my stride, don't feel like I'm shuffling as much and don't feel like the motion is nearly as herky jerky as I felt before.  Add to that I'm a good 40 pounds heavier than when I was training the first time...  but I don't feel the stress in my joints that I've felt in times past either.

And yes, the plateau remains.  There are times I shake my head and think, I'm eating less, I'm doing a great job getting a work out in every day, and yet...  everything remains the same.  I know that if I were continuing to use the BodyMedia armband I've talked about in the past, which measures all my activity, it would show I'm burning a butt ton of calories, a LOT more than I'm eating.  And yet the plateau remains.

Having said that...  I'm not that concerned.  Okay, maybe the fact that I'm talking about it points to a small level of concern.  But there is something that is telling me I'm on the edge of busting through that plateau.  Maybe it's the past experience?  I've been here before, after my last surgery.  Not for nearly as long, I know that.  But I remember being at a point for awhile, being a bit perplexed at how I wasn't really losing weight even though I was eating less and working out a lot more.  And then it was like something burst.  I think that's where I am now.  I feel better, I feel lighter, I feel the effect of the runs and the workouts and all, and it's a good feeling.  I don't know if it's that the workouts are kind of helping the plateau along in some way, whether it's the building muscle (which we all know the mantra that muscle is heavier than fat), or what.  But I know I've felt this before, this point where it's like the weight is making one last stand, or that my body is preparing or whatever and that's keeping it here in the low 240's...  but something is about to break.

I believe it.  Okay, mostly anyway.  I will admit that a part of me says, yeah, it's been a month and I've been thinking it's going to be any time now.  At this point a month ago I was looking forward to hitting the 330's by the start of the year...  and now I'm looking forward to hitting the 330's by February.

And this is the point where plateaus do such nasty damage because it gets you into that kind of thinking.  That's why, I know it's better to focus on that part that, honestly I can't really back it up other than knowing there is something deep down that just tells me, it's about to break free.  Sometimes you just have to have that confidence, because that confidence keeps you doing the stuff you gotta do to make it happen, you know?

Tricking the Wii

There was a period after my last surgery where I got pretty active with the Wii Fit.  There are a number of pretty nifty aerobic exercises, really a bunch of things.  So I think to myself, okay, I'll give that a try again.  

Just one problem.  It wouldn't let me.  It seems that 330 is the maximum weight it will accept.  The little balance board that goes with it can actually measure your weight among other things, and it pretty bluntly let me know sorry dude, you're too fat.  Come back when you are a little lighter.  

So I'm thinking I really don't want to wait.  I heard about people putting foam under the balance board to trick the wii.  I looked around, no foam.  Thought about 'borrowing' some batting from my wife's quilting stuff, that's kinda foam like.  She wasn't too keen on that idea.  So...  I tried a towell.  A couple three folds later, just enough to push up against the bottom of the board but little enough to allow it to still settle in some when I step on it (and to keep it from groaning too loud) and, voila.  The Wii now thinks I'm 300 pounds.  Woohoo!

Okay, so I'll have to reset my character when I get to where I can actually get on it without using the towell.

But, 29 minutes of actual exercise later, with heart rate ranging 125-135 beats a minute during the exercise, is a good start.  Sure, I could do some stuff probably without the Wii just as well, but...  something about having the goofy little characters prodding you on works pretty nicely at keeping you going.  And it gives you somethign to shoot for.  Not a bad little tool really.

I feel like that's a good follow up to yesterday.  I started my couch to 5K training last night.  1.75 miles in 30 minutes.  Active.com has a good training app for that now, there's even a drill sergeant kinda character that shouts commands at you to run or walk.  Having said that, I might like Endomondo a bit better though in the kind of reports it gives you.  You can customize it for the kind of intervals involved.  So maybe I'll run both.  But the nice thing is, I can walk today after doing the workout, and even have the energy to do the Wii fit, so I think that's pretty positive.

Here in the next few days we'll see if some of this additional exercise will help get me off this plateau.

The Lapband verses the Sleeve

Today marks my 8 week anniversary of having the Gastric Sleeve done.  It's interesting because I am in the rather unique position of being able to compare surgeries, having had the lapband a couple of years ago.

In September 2010, I had the lapband surgery.  A little band was placed around the top portion of my stomach, creating a small pouch at the top of my stomach.  When I would eat, the food would sit in that pouch first, creating a full feeling pretty much right away.  Success for me was pretty amazing, losing 60 pounds or so over the next 5 months.  However, by that following February, the band had slipped in a pretty major way, with most of my stomach having slipped through it.  It had gotten to where it was keeping me from being able to keep down any fluid or food, and had to be removed.

I had gone from 352 pounds to under 290.  Right before I had the band removed I weighed in at 267, though I don't know that I could ever say that was a "real" weight because there was nearly a week of really not getting any food into my system at all, not to mention being extremely dehydrated.  After the band was removed, I settled in at right around 290.  Over the next couple of months I think I moved up to around 300 pounds, hovered there for several months, then slowly regained pretty much everything I had lost, and then some, getting up to 375 pounds.

So, on November 20 I was back in, this time getting the Gastric Sleeve.  This is a more permanent procedure, as a pretty good portion of the stomach is removed, leaving a rather small sleeve for holding food (thus the name).  Right now, I'm sitting at 344 pounds.

As far as how it felt after surgery and all, I would say the two are pretty similar.  Now with the lapband, I was at home the same night after surgery, after the sleeve they kept me overnight.  I don't know how much that had to do with the procedure itself and how much had to do with the approach of the different surgeons and hospitals.  Overall, I felt the recovery and the way I felt after surgery was pretty much the same.  The only difference was that with the sleeve, I had a surgical drain in place for a week, which was a big nuisance.

As far as diet, at this point it is all pretty much the same.  You can eat pretty much anything, it's just that the quantity is limited.  I do believe that I can eat more with the sleeve, but not by a huge amount.  After the lap band I could eat maybe 4-5 ounces of solid food at one time, now maybe 6-7 ounces.

In the end, I don't know that I would say that either one felt any different than the other or that I would prefer one over the other.  My weight loss was more rapid with the lapband than it has been this time around.  I'm sure there's a strong correlation with that last bit of being able to eat more.  I think too I tend to graze on food between meals now which has some effect.  Finally, my level of activity was much much higher after the lapband because of all the walking I would do going to work and back.  Truth is, that is an excuse as much as anything.  I pushed myself into that kind of situation with the activity, and right now I'm working on doing the same thing now.

There will be other posts I'm sure talking about the differences and similarities.  One thing I want to make sure is clear to anyone thinking about surgery or just wanting to know about having it done.  Having surgery is not an easy way to losing weight.  That's how I used to look at it, it was taking the easy way out.  Long long ago I mentioned what one doctor said.  It's more like it levels the playing field so that diet and exercise CAN really make the difference.  I believe that's what I'm really coming to understand especially this time around is, surgery does not replace diet and exercise.  It's really more of a safety net.  It's kind of like, when it is too easy to slip back into some old ways and really snarf down some food, well, I can't do that.  You learn pretty quickly where your limits are and how miserable you get if you eat too much.  And that kind of serves as a check or balance.  In the end, you still have to do the exercise, you still have to eat wisely.  That's the only way you lose the weight.  Believe me, it's very possible to not eat wisely after surgery, it's very possible to defeat the surgery.  But in the end, maybe the best way to put it is it gives you a way to stop the backslide before it gets out of control, if that makes sense.

Slow progress

I'm not sure you can call it progress.  Here I am 11 days later and my weight is pretty much the same.  Okay, strike that 'pretty much,' it IS the same.  I'm a little surprised by the plateau, and by just the slower progress than last time around.  

But, maybe I shouldn't be so surprised really.  I went through and updated my exercise.lbl.gov stats (where you walk/run/bike across the country virtually) off my recorded workouts on my phone apps, and it was really pretty striking the difference in exercise after my first surgery and now.  Back then, I was commuting to work, and my work was a mile away from the light rail station, my home is 3 miles from it, and because of the wonkiness of my work schedule often it made more sense to walk those segments than to wait for a bus. So, back then, it was not uncommon for me to get in 4-5 miles of walking in in a day's time.  Today, I'm making a decent effort to get out and exercise more, trying to work in a good walk during lunch break or something like that.  That said, right now I'm averaging a mile a day instead of the 3 miles a day I averaged in November.  I'm sure that has a lot to do with it.

The other thing that I am finding is that I can eat more today than I could after that surgery.  It's still not nearly as much as I could before surgery, and that is a good thing.  

I do know a plateau is not uncommon.  But usually that just means it is time to change things up.

One decision I made is, I want to participate in some runs this year, get back to being able to run longer distance.  Last year, I actually did three, though I walked all of two of them and a portion of the third.  

So, this year, I've set a goal to comletely run six races.  I'm starting with the Spring Fever 5k in Golden on March 23.  The timing is perfect for doing a 9 week Couch to 5K training program.  Then there is the Cherry Creek Sneak at the end of April, I'm thinking of doing the 5 mile option this time, then the 10K Boulder Bolder on Memorial Day.  10K may be as long as I go, I just know that the time commitment for doing something longer like a half marathon may be more than I can do with work and school also demanding a lot of my attention, not to mention family.  But maybe after Boulder, I can revisit that thought.

Training officially begins in one week.

Another year, another surgery

In one of my last posts, which was a really really long time ago, I said something about if I were to find myself gaining my weight back substantially at all, it would be time to consider going back in for surgery.

Well...  I did, and I did.

After I had surgery to remove my lapband, I gained some weight pretty quickly and then managed to hover around the 300 to 320 pound mark for quite awhile.  I believe my low after the first surgery was 267, though part of that was having a week to week and a half of not really receiving any food or fluid because my lap band had slipped down around my stomach in such a way as to cut off everything.  So I would say maybe 285 would be closer to what I really got to.

For close to a year, I did really pretty well.  I took to running, ran the 5K in April after the surgery, felt good...  I was working a commuter job and managed to work a lot of exercise into the commute, including some 17 mile bike rides, and that definitely helped.

And then I changed jobs.  It was a job I enjoyed more, I worked as a field technician for a telecom company starting August of 2010.  The job did require a fair bit of activity from time to time, but also a lot of driving, and it was a time I got into some old habits.  To the point I was getting back to where I was before my surgery and remembering how I swore I would never go back.  So...  here I was, back again, and this time deciding that I needed to go a more permanent route.

So, on Novermber 20, I was back at it again.  I mentioned before the only other option was a gastric bypass, but that was not accurate.  At least with my doctor, it appears that they have begun doing a lot more gastric sleeve procedures than lapbands due to the higher rate of complication with the lapband.  In the sleeve, to put it simply, they lop off a fair bit of your stomach, creating a smaller space for food.  I foudn that preferable to the bypass because of the nutritional concerns with the bypass, and so....   here I am again, post surgery once again.  And...   feeling better once again.  Today just passed my six weeks since surgery meaning I'm pretty much full speed as far as recovery, eating, etc.  So....  we shall see how this goes eh?

Pre-surgery I got back up to about 375.  I'm about 342 right now.  I think the weight loss has been slower this time around, and maybe that has a lot to do with how involved I got in the walking portion of my commute to work after the last one...  and I think I can eat a bit more than I could after the last one, so that also makes a difference.

That said, I feel great.  I'm starting to feel like walking more again, actually wanting to start running again, have a lot more energy, and...   very optimistic.

Not a bad place to be to start a new year eh?

I don't think I've set a record... but I'm close

Okay, so it's been a month and a half, maybe not quite that, but...  here I go again not posting much.

I have started another blog.  Of course you can see it from my profile, or of course you can go to the link at Into The Second Half.  What I have been discovering is there is a passion growing in me about wanting to minister to older adults.  I've been taking classes at Seminary, though there's nothing available there for that particular field and so far it's been general Bible and theology.  I'm maybe at a crossroads trying to decide whether to even continue, as I have my degree already in Pastoral Ministries, maybe it's time to just start getting active again.  Anyway, as a part of that growing interest, I've created that blog to write about things related to the later half of life.

So maybe in that regard I can say I've not been so terrible about posting, as I have posted a bit more regularly there?  Okay, nice try, I know.

But one thing is coming clear as I look at all that, and it is that that particular blog cannot replace this blog.  It's about something totally different.  And the need to keep living healthy continues here, even though it's not been a topic lately in my writing.  As a matter of fact I've got an appointment this Friday with the weight loss clinic at Kaiser, time to quit trying to do this all on my own.

But I am finding that there is a way where the two blogs kind of come together.  People dread the later years of life and aging in general, but...  it's not necessarily something that's doomed to be awful.  In fact more and more people are living very vital lives well into their 70's, 80's, and even beyond.  Three things are key to that being likely to happen:  Keeping healthy in mind (keeping the mind active), body (having as good a health as possible), and spirit (one aspect is having a sense of purpose).  Obviously, the keeping healthy in body is a pretty major thing on this particular blog, yes?

So maybe I won't totally fade away.  Besides, the personal health thing for me doesn't have to be related to the other blog at all, it's pretty important stuff either way.

Hoping I won't take another month and a half to post here....  but no promises!

Still Kicking

As you can probably guess, the idea of this blog when I started it was to track my successes and to be able to write about how everything has been great, maybe be able to boast about myself a little, and perhaps to be an inspiration.

Of course, that does not happen very well when I disappear for nearly 6 months. I suppose it doesn't work very well when it's not always about success. While it hasn't been horrible, I have found about 3-4 pounds a month creeping back on. Those are not the kind of results I want to report, are they?

There has been a major change in life for me that has had a tremendous impact on the whole diet and exercise thing. I had been working at Sprint, and while the pay was never tremendous, the commute to work had opened the door to fitting in a regular exercise routine that either involved decent walks to and from the light rail station, or what became a fairly regular routine of riding my bike to work. I do have to say that I liked the look of surprise people would have when I'd say I was doing a 17 mile bike commute.

That did change when I got a job offer to a much better paying job. There is much that I love about the new job, as it has taken be back into the variety that I've enjoyed so much in previous jobs. As a field technician for a telecom company, I get to move around more and not be sitting in one place doing the same thing all day. However, the transitory nature of the job means no longer getting to walk or ride my bike to work as I have to drive to different businesses.

However, there is a clear trade off. While I don't get the exercise of walking or riding to work, I spend the whole day being much more active, especially a lot of days where the work involves a LOT of walking back and forth at a customer site or a lot of climbing latters. I come home sometimes pretty well dead tired, in a good way, from that work. So perhaps in that respect, it's either a net positive change or a pretty even trade off. Of course, I've not really been tracking the actual amount of exercise like before, so I cannot really say for sure.

I think the real difference is what the change has done to my eating habits. With a more stationary job, I found that it was easier to work around my impulses by packing a lunch and not bringing cash with me. Since starting the new job it's been easier to slip into the old habits of going through drive throughs and eating in a much less disciplined manner. In fact I'm sure that has been the difference.

My wife has asked me if I would ever consider going back to consider surgery again. I've always said that if I reached a certain point where I don't think I'd keep the weight off that I'd lost before, I would really need to look at it. Right now the remaining option would be a gastric bypass rather than the lapband, and in my mind I've been incredibly hesitant to consider that, as it is much more permanent. In light of recent gains, maybe permanent isn't a bad thing?

That said, here it is the day after Thanksgiving, and I'm coming to a conclusion that I do need to get back onto the road a bit and at least see what I can do here. I'm still significantly lighter than I was before the surgery... I just don't want that gap closing any more than it has.

So at this point, where I stand is a commitment I've made today to start tracking everything at least for the month to come. Food, exercise, and creating a bit more accountability to myself to start reporting all that again. Just for a month, I think I can commit to that. Longer than that, knowing me, would possibly be setting myself up to fail. Don't think I want to do that to myself right now eh?

Maybe, by doing that, it'll help renew some discipline and passion for keeping healthy that's sort of slipped away the past few months?

Racing Across America

Okay, so this is fun.... Found a great site for tracking workouts, and it looks like a great way to kinda keep some motivation going. exercise.lbl.gov. It's a virtual race across America. You enter in your walks or runs or rides, and it plots where that workout would have taken you on a trek across the Transcontinental Trail, a system of back roads that is popular for people who do take such journeys across the country. Nice thing is you don't have to quit your job or pay for travel to do it! It tracks your progress, shows you on a map where you would be, and gives you a picture of the view you would be seeing.

I just started, I'm 7.6 miles into it so far. I know, a LOOOONG way to go! Still, looks like a lot of fun.

Sprint Get Fit challenge

I was quite tickled to see my employer introduce a fitness challenge.  In it you put together teams and everyone tracks the number of steps, minutes of exercise and percent of weight lost. 

This comes at a really good time for me as it provides a kind of boost to get me going back downward in weight.  I have been sitting on this plateau the past 2 to 3 months.  I mean, its been a decent plateau in that while I haven't lost any weight my afctivity level has definitely improved.  I'm very pleased at how I kept to the training for the 5k and all.  I am getting out and playing tennis with Emily about once a week and I feel like my fitness level is way up from a couple months ago.
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Sadly I think I've let the increased activity become an excuse for getting sloppy with my diet.  I haven't been terrible I don't believe but I do think I find myself thinking that okay, I ran 3 miles... its okay to cheat a little. 

So, I'm pretty excited about the program at work because I think it gives me a sense of focus to look again at ALL aspects of my personal fitness.  Week one has just passed and I walked 65,000 steps, exercised about 660 minutes and lost 4 pounds.  Not a bad start but I want to do 70,000 steps a week.

So, there's something to shoot for next week eh?

My first 5k

I made it!  L

Sunday was the Cherry Creek sneak and the one I targeted to be my first official distance run...  And I was able to run the whole thing.

Granted, the word "run" is pretty much relative, there were probably people who walked it faster than I ran it.  A few weeks ago Janiece and I were running at a park and a lady passed us walking.  But that's okay.

My last training run I ran in just over 46 minutes though I walked the first half k.  So, I thought 45 would be a reasonable goal.  I was thrilled to come in at 42:13. 

When Janiece and I met she was training for her second half marathon.  When we'd go out together, me for a walk and her for a run I remember being so wistful and more than a little envious as she'd run on ahead.  Because of the knee problems I'd had in the past I figured those days were gone for me for good.

Needless to say I'm just a little psyched!

Now the question is what next? Focus on 5k's and on getting my times down?  Work up to 10k's (our longer)?  Duathlons?

Maybe all of the above...

Half mile, and I did it twice

Week 5, day 2 of the couch 2 5k. Two 8 minute runs with a 5 minute recovery walk in between. The course I ran was around Kendrick Lake, a nice little 1 mile path around the lake that has these posts every quarter mile, and I could guage by those I was doing more than a half mile on each of the 8 minute splits. According to my little GPS tracking thing I did 1.5 miles in the 21 minutes total, so with the walking and running that's about a 14 minute per mile pace.

My little armband tells me I've burned 2500 calories so far today. I know that's kind of the difficult thing right now is I'm staying very active. About every other day I'm doing my training runs, most days I'm either biking or walking several miles, and it appears I'm burning about 4000 calories a day. And yet my weight is hanging pretty much about the same spot.

Several years ago when I lost a bunch of weight on the Atkins diet, I got to about 300 pounds and just leveled out. I was working out at the gym like crazy and doing all sorts of stuff, and.... just kinda there. I'll admit that the current plateau makes me wonder if I'm back to that point, you know? It's like here I am again... and what do I do to start losing that weight again?

Okay, I know one thing I do... I've gotten a bit lax around my eating habits. Not real lax like constantly stuffing my face, and for the most part I'm choosing pretty good foods. But yeah, it's still a bit too easy to snack.

So I guess I know what the answer is to the question. With that little band around my stomach it was definitely easier to keep to that answer. Now though, I've got to get back at it.

The one thing I have going for me right now is knowing that not all that long ago I was doing it just fine without the lap band. I lost 20 pounds leading to the surgery. Granted, it's easier to lose 20 pounds at 372 than at sub-300, but still, I was able to do it then. Now it's just getting back into that mode again.

Couch 2 5k training update

Today was the start of week 5 in the training routine for the May 1 Cherry Creek Sneak 5k run.

I am quite happy to proclaim I am still alive and breathing. 

Week 5 starts out with a 5 minute warmup walk then has three splits of 5 minute runs separated by 3 minute walks with a cooldown 5 minute walk.  This routine will be repeated Wednesday and then Friday it jumps right into a straight 20 minute jog.  Yikes!

So far actually it's not been too bad.  Keep in mind you're reading from a guy who not all that long ago could not get himself to run through a heavy downpour to his car parked 50 feet from the store entrance but would have to simply walk and get that much more drenched.  So it's pretty exciting to be able to say I could run these 1/3 mile splits and to actually feel like I could keep going.  I can actually run around the "lake"at the park near my home.  I never used to think I'd see that day.

Friday of course is a different challenge.  20 minutes straight...  Good thing is that's not quite as intimidating as five minutes once seemed.  Even still, that's more than a mile of straight running (well, shuffle jogging anyway).  That's still intimidating.

Slow Starts

This afternoon I decided to ride my bike in to class tonight, a 10 mile ride but fairly easy as it is mostly on a bike path. My daughter was teasing me because I was taking a long time getting started. I didn't explain exactly why it was taking so long because, well.... she would have teased me even more.

On the left of this blog is a Map My Run widget that shows some of my recent runs/walks/rides. Way back when I found an application for my phone that would track my runs, and I could import that data into the Mapmyrun.com website, and once it's there it will automatically update on the blog. I had to pay for that application back a couple years ago, and now with my new phone, I now have a wide variety of similar applications that do most of the same thing. One of those is related to the mapmyrun site, which I appreciate because now I don't have to import. Only problem with that is, the app doesn't work real well at times.

So anyway, I've found 5 good applications so far, and I'm sure there are others, but these are probably the best known 5. (Note I said probably) The question is, which one is really the best. I'm sure you're asking, who really cares? I've found one I like, called Cardiotrainer, but I've had suggestions from some others about some to look into. So, for a week I'm doing a sort of trial: I've loaded all 5 apps onto my phone, and when I go out, I'm running all 5.

So before I head out, I have to make sure all 5 are tracking, so there's a bit of a routine involved. I launch all 5 applications and get them to the point of being ready to start, designating the kind of workout involved, etc. I make sure there's a lock on the GPS satellite and the programs recognize that. Then in order I start tracking with one app, wait 10 seconds, start the second, wait ten more, till all 5 are started, THEN get started. When I get done, I shut them off in the same order, 10 seconds between.

So yeah, if my daughter knew the reason it was taking so long to get started was I'm starting 5 different programs to all track the same workout, she'd probably be looking for ways to get me committed.

But, that's the geek in me I guess. I'm having fun with it, but looking forward to when it's all said and done and have gone back to just one program...

And by the way, the bike ride went pretty well. It was along the Platte River, and going upstream, but nice thing about the ride is there's not the huge hills. Having said that I will say that since I'm bike riding, climbing hills is much easier now... something about lugging 70-80 pounds less around probably has something to do with that eh? I think also the additional runnign and walking have me more fit, so I'm better equipped to handle the effort?

That said, my butt still hurts after going that far.

There's some before and after pictures a few posts before, taken right before surgery #2. I was right around 300 pounds at the time then, and I found myself curious as to whether it would fit now. It does, sortta, still too tight to wear in public, but anyway, it was from an MS-150 bike ride I went on about 12-13 years ago. I was able to ride about 135 of the miles over 2 days - the ride got cut short due to tornado warnings (though we won't tell anyone I'd already gotten on the sag wagon before that happened as the hills were killing me...) Anyway, at this moment I find myself wondering how I rode that far, even with a comfortable bike seat... did I mention my butt hurts?

And here I am planning on riding back. Am I nuts?

Week 3 Begins

Yesterday I started week 3 on the couch to 5K program. After a 5 minute warm up walk, it's 90 seconds walking, 90 seconds running, 3 minutes running, 3 minutes walking, and then repeat the whole cycle again. I was a little intimidated by the 3 minutes running, which really speaks to how out of shape I was where I was a bit unsure whether I'd be able to run 3 minutes straight. Or shuffle/jog as it were.

It actually went pretty well, even the second stint of 3 minutes, though I do have to admit I was checking on how soon the 3 minutes was comeing up the second time around.

I guess there's two ways to look at it. One could be that I could think about how pathetic it is I'm nervous about being able to run for 3 minutes. Or I could remember the times where I'd come out of a store and it's pouring buckets of rain and I walk to my car because I just can't run. Looking at it in that perspective, I feel pretty good about it all, you know?

And if I want to be intimidated, next week goes to 5 minutes running, with only 2.5 minutes walking in between for 'recovery' time. At least I get two more runs like this one before then. Regardless, I'm committed now to the Cherry Creek Sneak on May 1, a 5K run. Entry fees are paid for Janiece and I. I can do the 5K no problem, in fact looking at the times I could walk most of it and still end up somewhere in the middle of the pack for times, but having said that I want to be where I can shuffle jog the whole thing. Yeah, maybe that's my new term now for jogging, at least where I'm concerned.... certainly can't call it a run jsut yet.