Friday, June 15, 2007

Updated Body Comp...

I scheduled another body composition test with the manager of the company gym today, so I had that done at lunch before I went out for my run in 88F 29% humidity conditions, to work on my tan.

I had the caliper test done last in mid March, so it's been a while. I've dropped 15lbs since then and the test shows that I've also dropped another 3% BF.

I'm down to 14% body fat and looking at my new target of 160lbs and 10% BF. Let's see if I can get there. This last stretch is going to be a tough one, I'm sure.

Now I need to start working some resistance training into my program as I appear to be losing a little muscle mass, or lean body mass, along with the fat.

The tan is coming along well. Hopefully, I'll have some more progress shots to show after my week in Yosemite, later this month.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Still running...

I've been getting out running. A lot! Saturday, I didn't have enough time to run the entire distance in one go, so I go out early and ran 5 miles. Then attended the San Jose Fit seminar and took my group out for another 7 miles. At that point I had to leave and be assistant coach at my 7yr old daughter's final soccer game of the spring season. The girls did great, so the coach wanted to get them all together for ice cream as a celebration for a great season. The girls won all but one of their games.

I was supposed to take my older daughter to her game after that, but my wife decided that she'd go instead because otherwise we would have had to swap kids so that the younger one could still go to the ice cream gathering. When I got home, my 13yr old son was finally out of bed, at 11am, so I left him to watch the 7yr old while I ran another 6 miles.

When my older daughter got back from her game, she wanted to go out and run another mile, since we're trying to improve her fitness level and get out a few times a week to run a 1 mile loop in our neighborhood. So, 19 miles total for the day. It was a pretty cool day, starting off in the high 60's and my last run was in the high 70's.

I've been running topless, too. ;-) Gotta work on that tan, eh? So, when I ran at 11am on Saturday, I didn't bother to dirty another shirt. ;-) I've been running my weekday lunchtime runs without a shirt, too, or at least I've been taking the shirt off part way through the run.

The only disadvantage to this is now I'll have a tanned upper body and lower legs, but I'll have this awful honky white ass. hahaha! ;-)

We started our hill runs last night. Every Monday, from now until mid-September, we'll get together at a local county park and run up into the hills and back. Usually we'll run between 4 and 9 miles, depending on the group and the route, and how we feel. Last night was almost 10k in just over an hour.

I'm still trying to think about my reward for achieving my weight loss goal. I've really got an itch to get my nipples pierced, but my wife is trying to persuade me not to do it, so I'm still up in the air about it. I hadn't really thought about anything else. Also, now I'm at my original goal weight, I still see all these rolls of fat around my waist and don't feel that I've really accomplished what I wanted, so I'm pushing ahead for another 10lbs to see if I can work those off and get closer to being able to see those abs. ;-)

My 10yr old's soccer team had a swim party on Sunday, at a local cabana club. I got a lot of compliments about my weight loss there from some of the other parents who've known me for a while. That was pretty cool, and I got to work on my tan a bit more, too. ;-)

Sunday, June 3, 2007

SparkPeople Stages...

Wow! I just signed over to Stage 4 in this SP thing. It's hard to believe I've been here that long, but just looking at my weight loss chart I've come a long way. I need to get some progress photos into my gallery this weekend. I know I've come a long way there, since the March shots when I weighed 190lbs. I've weighed in at the gym at 170lbs for the past two days, so that's what I've just updated my progress to.

Marathon season is heating up, so my running is going to be increasing distance. I've got to train for San Francisco a the end of July, at which point I plan to have lost another 10lbs and be in great shape for setting a new marathon PR.

So, last month's Nike+ challenge finished. I won! Whoo hoo! With my 11 mile run yesterday, I was able to jump over the other two guys ahead of me and win by about 6 miles. Now, let's see if I can do it again for June, eh?

I celebrated by riding my bicycle to work again. That's another 1000 calories burned today, along with the 650 calories for today's 5 mile run. 14 miles scheduled for tomorrow, too.


and... after a break....

So, my training schedule for San Francisco called for 14 miles today. San Jose Fit were running 9 miles this morning, so that was a good start. I had thought I would have time to ru the extra 5 miles right after I'd got back with my group, but it didn't turn out that way. My daughter has a soccer game in Salinas, so my wife needed to leave around 10am to take her there. She couldn't take my other daughter, because they wouldn't be back in time for her game at 2pm, so I needed to be available for the trade off.

So, we met at Starbucks and grabbed a coffee and a bagel. That's my lunch for today, since I ate breakfast at 6:30am this morning, before going for my run.

Once I got back to the house, my son was finally awake -- teenagers, eh? ;-) So, now he can watch the 7yr old while I finish up that last 5 miles. Well, I don't really have a 5 mile loop, but I do have a 6 mile loop. So, that's what I ran. Total distance 15 mile, time 2hrs 4 min. Not bad.

After I cleaned up I took some new progress shots, since I'm now a pretty consistent 170lbs, which happens to be my original goal. So Whoo Hoo! me! Way to go, pat on the bad and a jolly good show and all that. Now, on to my revised goal of 160lbs by the end of July, which is what I want to weigh when I make my benchmark attempt at the Boston Qualifying time.



I guess I need to work on my tan now. ;-) Have a good weekend.

Nike+ Challenges...

I haven't blogged in a while. I've been cycling a lot more recently, trying to force more of a calorie deficit by adding 20 miles of cycling a day. I'm commuting on my bike, rather than driving or taking public transit. It's better for the environment, too. ;-)

Anyway, I've been a bit on the injured reserve as far as running goes. I've got this nagging calf muscle pain, but I think I've figured it all out now and I should be getting back out there again, today.

I've got about 8 miles planned for today, then about 5 tomorrow and 14 on Saturday. After that, we'll see how things are looking again. I'm lining up my training in preparation for the San Francisco Marathon on July 29th. I also want to lose about another 10lbs before I get there, so that I can put in a really good showing towards my Boston Qualifying time.


OK, I caved to the pressure to win. This morning I was 0.2 miles behind the leader in my May Nike+ challenge. The question was how many miles does he have left to upload? How many miles will he run today?

I thought I'd go out for an 8 mile run. Perhaps that would be enough. Right? Well, when I got out there, I felt pretty good, so I kept going. Past the turn around for 9 miles, and a bit further. By the time I got back to work, I'd clocked 11.2 miles on the Nike+. Cool, eh? Stupid perhaps? Will I win? We'll find out tomorrow.