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

[veginator]

Weight this morning: 155.6. First breakthrough on weight I've had in almost 2 months--I weighed 157.2 in late June and hovered between that and 160 until now. I'm a little ahead of where I was at this time in '08, when I eventually got down to 150. Last year I wasn't as successful at shedding body fat, only getting to 160, so it feels good to get past that.

 

Went to get a bike fitting today. Set me back $150, but I think it will be worth it--there's no reason why biking the amount I do should cause my feet, knees, and shoulders to hurt! Everything felt much better afterward, though I still need some adjustments, such as a better footbed, to help my foot issues.

 

Rode some indeterminate amount--somewhere between 5 and 10 miles, I guess--on the trainer at the bike shop, and then another 9.52 miles afterward. Entirely city/stop & go riding, so average speed was only 12.5 and HR was 102, max 131.

[veginator]

Tempo run. 1-mile warmup, 11:11. Heart rate: No idea, probably between 120 and 125. Even after making sure the chest strap was tight enough and that the sensors were moist, I can't get accurate readings for the first mile.

 

Anyway, the rest of the run was 5 miles in 40:37, around an 8:07 pace. My goal pace according to the training plan from Runner's World that I'm very loosely following was 8:16, so I beat that quite handily, and this is by far the fastest pace I've run 5 miles in. Splits were 8:17 (avg HR 143, max 169), 7:54 (avg HR 150, max 158), 8:11 (avg HR 155, max 172), 8:22 (avg HR 163, max 175), and 7:50 (avg HR 161, max 172).

[veginator]

Weight was at 156.6 this morning. So, probably 6/10 of a pound lost since before my long run on Sunday.

 

Bike ride was just shy of 15 miles this afternoon (don't have accurate distance data on my Garmin due to turning it off at one point, and I don't feel like getting up to look at the bike odometer). Time was about 1:15, average HR was about 114 and max was 159.

[veginator]

Friday: Ran a slow, easy 2 miles (21:04, avg HR around 125) just to test out my legs. Muscles just under the tendons on the outsides of my knees were pretty sore the last couple of days. Went for a swim later in the day, 1000 meters.

[veginator]

5k race this morning. Nice, flat course along the canal in downtown Indy, so if my asthma hadn't decided to act up a bit this morning, I may well have set a PR. As it was, between the flat course and the hard workouts starting to get me in good shape, I had my best time of the summer, 22:49.3. Placed 22nd overall out of 166 and 3rd out of 7 males in my age group (45-49). Guess I should have stuck around for the awards ceremony!

 

I forgot to start my monitor when the race began so I don't have heart rate data for the first mile (not that that's been accurate lately anyway), but best guess is my average HR was about 160, max of 168. Mile splits were 7:14, 7:24 and 7:30, so I guess that leaves 0:41.3 for the last tenth.

 

This afternoon: 1000 meter swim.

[veginator]

Only a couple of days ago, I found out that there was going to be an informal half-marathon here today. The organizers are planning to make it an official event next year, but this time they just threw together what was more of a timed group run than an official race. Since I was already signed up for yesterday's 5k, I wasn't sure I'd do this, but eventually I figured what the heck, I can always take it easy if my legs don't feel good.

 

So, I did my first half marathon this morning, and it went pretty well, especially considering that it was an extremely hilly course. The course was just a wee bit short, 13.05 miles, and my time was 1:59:46, so I achieved my goal of breaking 2 hours. (I suppose I should thank the organizers for giving me a free 20th of a mile! ) Overall pace was 9:10, average HR was 142 and max was 159. Splits were: 8:34, 8:37, 9:47, 9:09, 9:18, 9:28, 9:42, 9:46, 9:21, 8:59, 9:04, 8:51, 8:50, and the last .05 was at a 7:45 pace.

 

It's amazing the difference in the fields for the 5k race in Indy I ran yesterday and this race. I placed 22 out of 166 in Indy yesterday, not because I ran much faster than I usually do but because it was a pretty slow field. Today I was 35th out of 50, even though I ran what to me was a pretty good time. We have a lot of good runners here in Bloomington anyway, but for whatever reason nobody who showed up to this race was slow.

[veginator]

Easy ride, 9 miles, pace 12.1 mph, HR 105, max 145.

[veginator]

Weight this morning: 156.8. So, no weight lost over the past week. Not that this is a bad weight for me, I'm well within the "normal" weight range for my height now, and more than 40 pounds less than I was 3 1/2 years ago, but I think my ideal weight (assuming no changes in muscle mass) would be about 140. I ran about 30 miles last week, so I guess I need to do at least 40, or some combination of running and something else that adds up to that amount of exercise, to keep losing fat.

[veginator]

Tues. afternoon: 3 miles, 30:59, pace 10:19, avg HR 129, max 153. Just trying to rest my legs from Sunday's effort.

 

This morning I ran another 4 miles, 40:52, pace 10:12, avg HR 128, max 139.

 

This afternoon: 21.81 mile bike ride, 1:47:30, avg HR 104 and max 130.

Edited September 5, 2010 by veginator

[veginator]

Took yesterday off. Thursdays are really busy this semester, and my legs needed a little more rest anyway.

 

Today: Ran 8.06 miles in 1:16:29, pace 9:29, avg HR 134, max 146. Splits were 9:28, 9:37, 9:56, 9:21, 9:28, 8:58, 9:18, and 9:42.

 

For the month of August, I had about 117 miles running and 193 miles of biking, as well as a few thousand meters swimming and roughly an hour on the elliptical machines. Not a great deal of weight-lifting, but pretty good month for aerobic working out. Only have a measly 3 pounds or so weight loss to show for it, but at least I'm in better condition. We'll see whether it pays off with breaking 23 minutes for a hillier 5k course next weekend than the ones I've run sub-23 on before.

[veginator]

Ran 4.2 miles in 39:09, pace 9:19, splits of 9:38, 9:02, 9:45, 9:15, and pace of 7:25 for the last .2. Heart rate data were completely screwed up.

[veginator]

Bike ride, either 30.91 or 30.81 miles depending on whether I believe my bike odometer or my Garmin, time of 2:29:27. Average HR was around 109, max 150 (omitting bad data from early in the ride). Even going up what's probably the toughest hill in the county, I could only get my heart rate up to 150, so I guess that's a good sign about cardiovascular fitness.

 

Ran 6 easy miles in 1:05:33, pace 10:53, avg HR about 125 and max about 143. Not sure what to do about the screwy heart rate readings the first mile or two.

 

For the week, 61.72 miles on the bike and 25.26 miles running.

[veginator]

Weight this morning: 156.2.

 

Ran 8.01 miles, 1:16:44, pace 9:35, avg HR 134, max 152, splits 9:38, 9:40, 9:34, 9:21, 9:13, 9:48, 9:52, 9:30.

 

Played 3 games of racquetball and practiced about 20 minutes.

[veginator]

Ran 6.2 miles, 1:00:16, pace 9:43, avg HR 134, max 150, splits 9:58, 9:22, 9:36, 9:55, 9:51, 9:35, and a 9:47 pace for the last .2.

 

Biked 24.31 miles, 1:45:43, avg speed 13.8, avg HR 119, max 150. It's really hard to get my heart rate above 150 on the bike any more. I rode out of the saddle all the way up a really long hill and 150 was my top HR.

 

I'm slightly ahead of my weight loss pace of 2 years ago. Then I was 158 on Sat. Sept. 6, eventually plateauing in the low 150s by the end of September; this morning I was 156.2, and am hoping to be below 156 tomorrow morning.

 

I ran the 5k that's this weekend in 23:49 in '08, and 24:12 in '09. It will be interesting to see how much I can beat those times by this time. My goal is to be under 23 minutes.

[veginator]

Weight this morning: 155.2. Five pounds away from my lowest point weight-wise since I started this blog, fifteen pounds from goal weight. Officially my body mass index is 24.3--"normal" range is 18.5 to 24.9, so I'm on the high end of the not-overweight range, but the BMI tables don't really account for the fact that men usually have more muscle mass than women. Body fat estimate using hip, neck, and various waist measurements is 18.74%.

[veginator]

Yesterday I ran about 3.1 miles in maybe 34 minutes--don't know because I forgot to reset my watch and the mileage carried over into today's workout. Today I warmed up for about half a mile before I realized that I hadn't reset it. So total mileage between yesterday and the warmup today was 3.64, time 38:02, pace 10:26, avg HR 120 and max 138.

 

Main part of today's workout: ran 5 miles in 47:24, pace 9:28, average HR 134. I'm not going to hazard a guess at the maximum because there were several suspicious readings. Splits were 9:45, 9:12, 8:54, 9:33, and 9:58.

 

Cooled down with a 1 mile run/walk, 13 minutes, avg HR 119.

[veginator]

5k race this morning: Time was 23:03.7 and average HR was around 159 with 169 being the highest heart rate that I'm sure of. Mile splits were 7:11, 7:26, and 7:25. A little disappointed I didn't break 23 minutes. I just didn't have enough left to push the pace at the end. But on the other hand I'm pleased that I got so close to breaking 23 on a course that was nowhere near as flat as the one I did 22:49 on 2 weeks ago; I'm guessing I could probably get down around 22:40 on a flat course now.

Edited October 5, 2010 by veginator

[veginator]

Long run day. 15.02 miles, 2:40:55, pace 10:42/mi, avg HR 126, max 156. Not in any hurry today, obviously, just wanted to get in lots of miles without wearing myself out too much to exercise tomorrow.

 

Mileage for the week: 42.02. Also biked 24.31 miles and played racquetball for an hour an a half. A little bit of weightlifting here and there.

[veginator]

Weight this morning: 155.4.

 

Played 4 games of racquetball as well as practiced for about half an hour. Rode my bike to the gym, about a 6 mile round trip.

[veginator]

Weight this morning: 154.4.

[veginator]

Ran 6.3 miles, 56:25, pace of 8:57/mile. Splits were 8:54, 8:51, 9:10, 9:05, 9:15, and 8:53, and a 7:34 pace for the last 3/10. Heart rate data were pretty worthless tonight. Not sure why.

Edited September 16, 2010 by veginator

[veginator]

Weight this morning: 153.8.

[veginator]

After a brief warmup of maybe half a mile, ran 5 miles in 38:56, a pace of 7:47/mile. Average HR was 155, max was 166, splits were 7:37, 7:44, 7:45, 8:04, and 7:44. This pace is faster than some of my slower 5k times, so I was pretty happy with the effort. Tomorrow I'll do a nice, easy run to get in a few miles but be rested for Saturday's 5k race.

[veginator]

7-mile easy run, 1:09:42, pace 9:58, avg HR 126, max 138. Splits were 10:20, 9:39, 9:41, 9:57, 9:51, 9:55, 10:23.

[veginator]

5k race this morning, preceded by a 1 mile warmup. Time: 22:55, my second-fastest of the season, but actually my best time since the course in that one was totally flat and this one was somewhat hilly--as suggested by the splits, the second mile was almost all uphill and the third was almost all downhill. So, all in all, I was pleased. Average HR was 159 with max of 171, and mile splits were 7:06, 7:42, and 6:45. Either the course was long or my GPS was off, since that made the last 1/10th more than a minute, and I'm quite sure I didn't slow down at the end. At any rate, if I can get this time on a somewhat hilly course, then I should be in shape to have a run at my PR at next week's race, which is on a pretty flat course.