Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Status Quo

I really don't have much to say, I am still running twice a day (well except for most of last week) and watching what I am eating. I have had a recurring injury with my right ankle, which led to only running for 30 minutes a day for the last week. My ankle just felt stiff and generally unhappy. This week I am back to my regular plan and so far so good. I am seeing some results, I would like to see more obviously but I will take what I can get for right now. Thanksgiving was pretty much a blip on the radar, and did not involving insane amounts of eating which is good news. I am running pretty comfortably now at 5.1 mph and next week I will increase the speed provided that my ankle allows me to do so. I chose not to run the 5K on thanksgiving which I was thinking about because of the nagging soreness in my right ankle which I do think was the right choice. Anyway, I am off to lift weights and get my second workout in now.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Reflecting on Running

Today was better than yesterday in terms of running, not fun but better. I know my body well enough to know that it usually takes me about 2 weeks to adjust and accept a new level of difficulty in exercise (even if is only a tiny level of change). I was reflecting today as I was running (a vain attempt to keep my brain distracted from the pain) that sadly running is the only thing in the long term that really works for me. I don't necessarily love running, I don't hate it, but it works better than any other form of cardio for me. Perhaps this is because it does not require coordination and I can constantly adjust the degree of difficulty (and it is hard to cheat while running, possible but hard). I was doing a lot of other cardio exercise and not having any success and now everything is begining to work again. This is a good thing, and obviously better food choices is also a plus. Still, really, it is all about the running for me. So, I should work on liking it because I am going to be doing a lot of running for a long time. This naturally leads into the realization that I will be exercising forever and having to do a lot of exercise because my body is completely against losing weight as a concept. Sigh. However, given the alternative, I can live with having to exercise and watch my food intake. It is all about the tradeoffs, the pluses and minuses, and being healthy and fitting into the clothes I own outweighs the negatives in the long run.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

5.1 mph, oh the agony

I actually got back into town on Sunday, but did not get around to posting until now. I am back on track, and despite entirely too much food over the weekend, I did not gain any weight. This is good news. I am now at the painful stage of running, the part where I start increasing my speed rather than my time. I spent the last month running at a 5 mph pace and on Monday I began running a 5.1 mph pace. This should not make a major difference in the pain level of running on the treadmill. However, it made a big difference and the last two mornings have been brutal. I trust that the pain will end up equaling more progress over the next month. Part of the reason I am pushing myself right now is that I believe at some point, someone will want to interview me. I say this as I keep sending out resumes and letters into the job market abyss. I know that first impressions count and that the thinner and healthier I am, the better I will look in my interview suits. So, I keep running like a little maniac. I am running about 7.6 miles a day, 5.1 in the morning and 2.5 in the afternoon and I am watching what I am putting into my body. Progress remains slow in many respects but I've lost about 6 lbs over the last 5 weeks, and that is progress in the right direction.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Off on a trip

Tomorrow morning I am off with the parental units to visit my grandparents for 3 days. I'll be back on Sunday. I admit that trips always make me a bit nervous, I can't stick with a regular exercise schedule and food is difficult. Since we are staying with family it will probably be a bit more difficult than normal just due to the lack of gym access. The great thing about hotels is the gym facilities (okay the gym facilities are usually crappy but they exist which is the important thing). I am going to take workout gear with me, in the hopes that exercising will be a possibility but I am not holding my breath. I will be able to workout on Sunday and be back on schedule then, so really this is only a minor break. It may even be a good thing since I have been exercising so much recently. Anyway, I have to go pack and get everything sorted out, I will be back next week.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Random ramblings

I finally got all of my boxes that I shipped when I moved home. Other than some clothing and a ridiculous amount of shoes, it mostly consists of things I probably really don't need in the long run. Still, it is nice to have all of my stuff (especially my dive gear and my shoes). I am still on track with exercise, I had forgotten how brutal it could be to run for an hour at a time. Still, stretching the last couple of days has really helped and it is a reminder that I should do it more often than I generally manage. I figure that I am running between 6 and 7 miles everyday which is a lot more than I have been running for a long time. I am beging to see results, although they are not really measurable yet. I am down about 4 to 5 pounds since I came home, which is about a 1lb a week. I figure in a few weeks I will really began to notice the results (I hope) otherwise I shall become frustrated yet again.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Monday, Monday

This weekend I went and purchased a much needed fitness essential. Well, actually my mother bought it for me, I love parents. It is a training log, to record daily workouts. I realize this seems odd given the fact I track everything by blog. However, this is more for tracking progress, times, types of workouts, and difficulty levels. Very dry boring stuff in the abstract, but useful in the long run. It will tell me what to do and where I am lacking and why over the next few months (it is a 6 month book). I used to keep a training manual religiously but I stopped and it is a good thing to resume. On other subjects, I did not run yesterday, I went and walked/hiked with my parents. About a 3 mile loop with a fair number of hills, not as challenging as I remembered it being, which was interesting. This morning it was back to running on the treadmill. I ran for an hour which translated to about 4.8 miles and then added on another 50 minutes of walking. Then, I managed to convince myself to lift some weights, do a few situps, and some proper stretches. I have been sorely lacking in all of those areas recently. I am trying to add back in more weight lifting and strength training in order to build some more muscle. Hopefully all of these efforts will help over the next few weeks. I am making some progress (slowly) and that is the good news afterall.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Getting medival

I think my body is about to go medival on my brain. You know, use battleaxes and other implements of destruction to stop my brain from making it go and work out because it is a really good idea in theory. Yesterday afternoon and this morning were not good workouts (in case you missed that bit) for entirely different reasons. After all, variety is the spice of life. Yesterday it was due to chaffing issues (yes, fine that was TMI) and this morning it was just due to general exhaustion. I stopped running twice this morning, albeit briefly, before resuming and finishing out my 55 minute run. Yesterday, I ran in 5 and 10 minute increments with 5 minute walks in between each segment adding up to 30 minutes. Normally, I run 30 minutes straight. I am about to go workout again (okay 50 minutes from now) which is probably a silly idea. However, tomorrow is a day of from working out (yay!) and I only workout once on Sundays as a general rule. I am pushing my body a lot, but I find it hard to slack off because that generally leads to a lot more laziness than is good for me. Next week I am going to be gone for a few days so I won't be working out as much as normal, and that is probably a good thing. Anyway, I am going to go forage for an afternoon snack and change into workout clothes, I can feel the battleaxes coming out already.

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Lucky Number 500

I've been keeping this blog since May 12, 2004, approximately two and a half years. Today marks my 500th post. It has been a bumpy ride, on all fronts over the past couple of years. I think like many bloggers I have chronicled more of the rougher patches than the smooth ones (trauma is often more interesting than triumph). I have not kept all my weight off over the past 2.5 years, but I am far skinnier than I was when I started this process. I am in decent shape as well in terms of fitness level (I can jog for extended periods of time) and I wear a size 12 as opposed to a size 22 or 24. I am grateful for that reality everyday. I was thinking this morning again as I was slowly jogging away on the treadmill about how much of working out is doing it when you do not want to exercise. Somedays are easy and make you feel better (almost lighter on your feet), many days are not at all. The dirty little secret of working out and most fit people is that they have really bad exercise days too, but they do it anyway. This morning I did not want to run, and I just started moving and kept going, I ran for 55 minutes. I can remember the days when I would have just skipped the workout or walked on the treadmill. I like this version of myself better, the version which does it anyway because it is routine and part of my daily life. Secretly, I like exercise now and if that is not worth slogging through 500 posts, I don't know what is, that is a gift worth all the bumpy rides in the world.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

And so it goes

I don't have that much to say on this site right now, so I haven't been posting as often as normal. My body is as always failing to do exactly what I want it to do in the time period that I have allotted for change. In other words, my body has one time schedule and my brain has another. However, I soldier on and right now I am trying to ignore things like scales. I am running for 55 minutes in the morning (straight) and 30 minutes in the afternoon (straight) with an extra 50 minutes of walking in the morning and 30 minutes of walking in the afternoon. Everything is sore, and everything hurts. My eating is as good as it has been in at least a year. I am still job hunting, no responses as of yet. I am attempting to manage the frustration on all fronts, so far it is working. Patience has never been my strong suit, I am working on it. I trust that my body will respond eventually and that I will get responses to my job inquiries. Right now it is hard, but I keep working at it. The problem with hard work is that it is just that "hard". If losing and keeping off weight was easy, everyone would manage it and this country would not have an obesity epidemic. I am trying to remember that and it is working to some extent. I'm still running 6 days a week and that is the good news, so lets stick with that today.