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Jeff's training blog: 3 months, 30 pounds lost!


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Thanks for asking. Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted anything on this. Basically I'm about where I was last time I posted. Unfortunately my upper back and shoulder tightness continues despite regular self-massage and a couple of brief free massages from others. Thank goodness for Ben Gay! I'm really not sure whether working out my upper body would help, hurt, or not make any difference, but I've been playing it safe and not working out very much lately, partly because I worry about making things worse and partly because I only have so much time for exercise and right now, with a 5k race coming up this weekend, I want to focus on aerobic conditioning.

 

I've been playing racquetball (finally!) the last couple of weeks--there's often somebody to play now that the students at IU are back in town--and it's been great to do some of my conditioning by playing one of my favorite sports. A few days ago I played 2 days (6 games one of them) with about a 10k training run on the day in between, and I was pretty sore. Today I ran about 10 miles at a pretty slow pace with lots of walk breaks. I'm hoping to keep my legs fresh but be in good enough shape Saturday to at least match last month's 5k time. We'll see!

 

Weight is holding steady at between about 152 and 154 in the mornings. Still about 15 pounds above where I want to be (before I start bulking a bit), but I'll take it for now.

 

How are things going? Just wanted to check in on the blog. Hope all is going awesomely!
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Thanks for asking. Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted anything on this. Basically I'm about where I was last time I posted. Unfortunately my upper back and shoulder tightness continues despite regular self-massage and a couple of brief free massages from others. Thank goodness for Ben Gay! I'm really not sure whether working out my upper body would help, hurt, or not make any difference, but I've been playing it safe and not working out very much lately, partly because I worry about making things worse and partly because I only have so much time for exercise and right now, with a 5k race coming up this weekend, I want to focus on aerobic conditioning. So, alas, I've clearly lost some strength and definition in my upper body, which I hate, but what can I do?

 

I've been playing racquetball (finally!) the last couple of weeks--there's often somebody to play now that the students at IU are back in town--and it's been great to do some of my conditioning by playing one of my favorite sports. A few days ago I played 2 days (6 games one of them) with about a 10k training run on the day in between, and I was pretty sore. Today I ran about 10 miles at a pretty slow pace with lots of walk breaks. I'm hoping to keep my legs fresh but be in good enough shape Saturday to at least match last month's 5k time. We'll see!

 

Weight is holding steady at between about 152 and 154 in the mornings. Still about 15 pounds above where I want to be (before I start bulking a bit), but I'll take it for now.

 

How are things going? Just wanted to check in on the blog. Hope all is going awesomely!
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Not sure why my last post showed up twice, as I'm pretty sure I only sent it once.

 

Anyway, this morning I ran in the Jill Behrman 5k race, and much to my surprise, I bettered my 5k time from last month (23:49) by almost a minute, 22: 55! That's a little over 6 minutes faster than my time a year ago when I ran my first 5k. Yeah!

 

I wasn't expecting to do even as well as I did last month, as my Achilles tendonitis has been bothering me some the last few days, I haven't done a long bike ride in ages, and my resting heart rate is noticeably higher than it was a few weeks ago. I guess RHR can be a misleading indicator of fitness sometimes and maybe I'm in better shape than I thought. One indication of that is that my legs aren't really sore this evening. Maybe playing racquetball on a few occasions lately is helping my conditioning more than I thought--it's high-intensity interval training, after all, which is said to be the best form of training for VO2max.

 

Average heart rate during the race was 161 with a max of 174, so I feel like I ran about as hard a race as I could. Luckily, my Achilles tendons didn't really bother me once I got warmed up, and my asthma decided not to bother me until right after I crossed the finish line. I'm sure the fellow who cut off my chip timer was wondering why I was gasping for breath even more than everyone else!

 

Weight is still holding steady in the 151-153 range in the mornings. I haven't measured body fat lately. I guess I need to up the cardio back to where it was a couple of months ago to get back on the weight-loss track, but that's probably not in the cards for a while.

 

Still no significant change in the upper back and shoulder tightness, and I'm still (due to that and to time constraints) holding off on lifting and focusing on cardio for now.

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Ran about 9 miles today, at about a 9 minute per mile pace. Wasn't sore at all from yesterday's 5k run, and I'm not sore now after my long run. I think the key has been all the self-massage I've been doing lately. Alas, it hasn't noticeably helped my shoulders and upper back much yet, but it's really helped keep any pains in my legs in check and keep them loose enough to keep on running. I highly recommend the Thera-Cane and foam rollers to anyone who works out a lot but can't afford a massage therapist! Also a book called the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook.

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Weight around 152 this morning, still pretty much holding steady. I don't have time these days to get in the ultra-long bike rides I was doing in the summer, and just haven't been in the mood to restrict calories, I just try to keep the fat intake down around 10% the majority of my meals. So I guess I don't have any reason to expect further weight loss at the moment.

 

Took yesterday off from exercise entirely, and today ran about 8 miles at about a 10 minute per mile pace. Average heart rate was 139, with a peak of 168.

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Played 6 games of racquetball Thursday. Yesterday, I was unable to exercise at all due to an interminable wait at the Dr.'s office in the afternoon and having company over in the evening.

 

Today, I ran 11 1/2 miles in about 2 hr. 15 minutes. LSD (long, slow distance), as they say. Threw in a fair number of walking breaks to make things a little easier on the legs. Average heart rate was 130 with a peak of 161.

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Weight this morning: 151.4.

 

Monday I played six games of racquetball. Yesterday I drove to Muncie to hear my sister's piano recital, so the only body part that got much exercise was my ears. Today I ran 6.4 miles at about a 10 minute per mile pace. I went all out on one of the (.8 mile) laps in the middle, doing it in about 5:30. Average heart rate was 135 with a peak of 170.

 

I may do a 5k race this weekend, depending on how psyched up I feel!

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Ran a 5k race this morning in 22:39, 16 seconds faster than my time from a race two weeks ago and over a minute faster than my time from a mid-September race. I need to get two or three minutes faster to be competitive for the top places in my age group. Maybe by spring?

 

My heart rate monitor went haywire for the first half or so of the race, so I really have no idea what my average or max. heart rate were. Although it would have been nice to be able to keep track of that, I think I managed to pace myself pretty well despite the technology malfunction.

 

Weight this morning: 150.6.

Edited by veginator
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Sunday I took it easy, just walked my dog 3 miles or so. Monday I ran a little under 6 miles and played 3 games of racquetball. Tuesday--not because of exercising a lot Monday, I don't think--I was feeling like crap all day, so I didn't really exercise. Today I ran 4.8 miles, the first 3.2 at a pretty leisurely pace of about 34 minutes, and then really picked up the pace for the last 1.6, doing it in about 12 minutes. Average heart rate was 125 for the first segment and 155 for the second.

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Ran about 8 miles Friday, slow easy pace with lots of walking breaks. This morning I ran a 5k race with a time of 23:29. Although my time was slower than last week, it was a much hillier course this time. My 13-year old son, who's in pretty good shape from soccer, ran it with me, and I beat him by almost 2 minutes. One victory for the old farts!

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Sunday I ran 11 miles, with lots of walking breaks so that my legs weren't killing me at the end. Took about 2:15, with average heart rate of 120.

 

Unfortunately, my left hip/lower back area has been sore the last few days, so I took yesterday off from exercise. I'm planning to go for a run later today.

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Wow, I never would have thought I'd get essentially no exercise for four days! It has rained nonstop here since Tuesday, so running has seemed like a yucky idea and I haven't been able to make it to the gym.

 

Finally ran last night, about 4.6 miles with around 3.5 miles at a fairly brisk pace and the other mile or so walking. Average heart rate: 130.

 

Tonight I ran about 10k (6.2 miles), in around 65 minutes. Average heart rate: 135. Warmed up for the first 1.1 at a very slow jog, then ran the remaining five or so at a shade faster than a 10 minute per mile pace.

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Today I ran about 10.5 miles in 1:50. So, I managed to get in over 20 miles this week even though I didn't run (or get any other exercise) at all for the first four days of the week. The first 1.2 was at a fairly slow pace, and the rest was at around 10 minutes per mile. I think this is the farthest I've ever run at a pace that wasn't Granny pace. Average heart rate was 145, with a peak of 166.

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Ran 4.6 miles this morning, in 48 minutes, before teaching my Monday classes. Average heart rate 135, with peak of 166. So that makes 25.7 miles in the last 4 days, definitely making up for my 4 days of involuntary inactivity last week.

 

Played 5 games of racquetball. As expected, I kind of sucked, given that I hadn't played in over a week, but it was fun anyway and a pretty good workout.

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Yesterday I ran 7.8 miles in 88 minutes. Took it easy the first mile or so, then a little slower than 10 minutes per mile the rest of the way. Average heart rate: 133.

 

This morning I ran 4.6 miles in 47 minutes. Average heart rate: 134.

 

Mileage over the last 6 days is 38.1. With any luck, I'll be able to run tomorrow and will have my first week of 40-plus miles running. Alas, so far that hasn't resulted in my losing any more weight!

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  • 2 months later...

Well, it's been almost 2 months since my last post in this blog, and the reason is, I've been so busy that I've done almost no training of any kind during that time! And, since my last posted weight of 150.6 on Nov. 1, I've gained 20 pounds. Double ! I've been using my recent hectic work schedule as a (at times very good) excuse not to take the time to run, play racquetball, etc., but this is driving me crazy sitting on my ass and watching the pounds pile back on. So, I may not get back in shape as fast this time now that I'm working a good 60 hours a week, but these next few months, I'm going to do it!

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