A Lean and Hungry Look

The good thing about this morning's run is that it is Monday and I still managed to drag myself out of bed at 5:30 to get the run in.  A small moral victory, if nothing else.  The other good thing was that when I opened the paper to read while eating my cereal, I learned that Bin Laden is dead.  That was easy.

Still working on getting back to 5-6 days per week, not worrying about mileage yet.  Brooke and I have been eating more carefully over the past week or so, and it seems to be working, as I'm down 3 pounds so far.  The goal is to dip under 150, but we'll see how that goes--I was around 155 when I graduated from high school and was in great shape.  Since I was lifting weights at the time, though, I think getting below 150 is realistic and will help me shave time from my marathon and minimize injuries.  When I trained for St. George in 2009, I dropped down to 154, but that was during August, when my training was at its peak.  It was miserable to be limited to 2000 calories per day at a time when I was burning 1000-1300 each morning in my workout.  The idea this time is to drop the weight before the training gets intense.  Hopefully that helps me improve the quality of the training as well as preserve the sanity of my family in having to live with me in the midst of it all.

Today's run reminded me why I get up early.  After a long winter and a snowy spring to this point, it was incredibly refreshing to be out on a beautiful, clear morning with the green grass, trees in blossom, and flowers in bloom.  I felt like singing, almost.  Maja and I headed across the U campus, up to Popperton, then up near the Shoreline Trail (we stayed low and cut behind the JCC and through the Huntsman Cancer campus), then through Research Park and home.  The hills still feel like mountains, but I think my fitness is slightly better than it was last week.

Brooke's work with my dietary habits also seems to be paying off, at least so far.  I'm down about 4 lbs from where I was 10 days ago, when she started me on a low-grain, low-dairy, high veggie and protein diet.  So far, I'm not grumpy and have had enough energy to get through the day without any trouble.  We'll see what happens when I actually start my training program in a couple of weeks.

With Brooke gone Friday and Saturday, I wasn't able to get out for a run either day.  Jacob had an early soccer game on Saturday (he had to leave just after 7 am), so I had to be around when the younger ones woke up.  So much for my goal to run 5-6 days last week.  Oh, well--I'll try one more time before next week's training schedule starts up.

Today's run was a little drizzly but not cold.  The rain was light enough that Maja didn't refuse to join me.  We did the usual short route across the U campus, finishing along Wasatch and Foothill instead of going through Research Park.

Popperton-JCC-Med School-Research Park loop.  Maja seems to have dropped a lot of her winter weight (which was mostly my fault, since my achilles issues kept me from running much, and since the kids just don't take her on walks) and is keeping up better.  She's not going to be happy when I start doing speed and hill work next week and can't take her along.

Maja was dragging today for no apparent reason.  Maybe she's sore after having not run with me for three consecutive days in a very long time--do dogs get sore?  We headed down 900 South to Diestel, down Bonneview to 15th, down to 17th South, up to 16th East, up Harrison to 19th East, then up Sheridan/Claremont to 13th South, then to 21st East and home.  For the record, I've been guessing on mileage lately (they are educated guesses based on similar runs with the Garmin) because my focus has been on reestablishing the habit of running nearly every day.  I'll worry about speed and distance as I get into my real training schedule.

Brooke and I are thinking about trying the Paleo diet for 30 days to see if we can drop some weight quickly at the beginning of my SG training regimen.  I'm already down to around 157-158, but my goal is to hit 149.  We've already started a modified version of the diet by limiting our grain and dairy intake (with a little cheating), but this would be the real deal.  We're trying to come up with an incentive to make the suffering worth our while.  The sooner we come up with it, the sooner we can get this 30-day clock running (and the sooner we can get it over with!).

I brought my gear to work and ran 1.5 miles on the grassy field by Extra Space, then drove to Murray Park and did the rest while I waited for Jacob's soccer practice to finish (it was about 5 min away from the park).  It was around 65-70 degrees, which would normally be perfect.  Since it was my first warmish-weather run, though, I felt a little sluggish, as I always do when I start making the transition from cold to warm training.

I settled on an incentive for my weight loss plan.  If I drop down to 149, I get the new Garmin 610 (since it's pricey, it will also count as my Father's Day and/or b-day present).  I'm hoping I can do that within 30 days, but the reward comes after I hit my weight goal, not after doing the diet for 30 days.  Brooke is still working on her reward, but hers will come after sticking to the diet (modified Paleo, allowing ourselves one grain--not cereal--and one dairy per day, otherwise eating lots of vegetables, especially green veggies, lean meats, no processed foods, and strictly limiting grains and dairy).  I was really grateful that we decided to allow one grain this morning (it's now Friday), because I was getting pretty sick of scrambled eggs for breakfast.  We had oatmeal with fresh fruit and honey this morning, and it was a nice change of pace.

Too bad I forgot to weigh myself.

Today's run made me more than a little wary of this whole modified Paleo diet shenanigan.  About half a mile into my run, I felt drained.  I was planning to run at least 10, but it was clear that that just wasn't going to be in the cards.  Every time I encountered a hill, my legs felt like lead and I had to struggle my way up.  In fact, I had to start taking walk breaks around 2.5 miles (up the final climb to Popperton Park).  Although it seems like I just have a bad day every now and again, this felt different.  By the time I slumped through the door, I was convinced that the diet was the problem, and that the reason I felt so awful was because my glycogen stores were depleted.

Brooke and I talked about it all weekend and she picked up a copy of Matt Fitzgerald's Racing Weight for me to peruse.  It quickly confirmed, more or less, what I was feeling--that an endurance athlete (such as I am) is not likely to do well on a low-carb diet.  I've said the same thing a million times to friends who are pumping the  latest high-protein, low-carb craze, but after having actually experienced it myself, I was even more convinced.  As a result, I'm in the process of tweaking my diet right now.  The current thinking is to incorporate whole grains but to continue to load up on fruits and veggies, limit (but not eliminate) dairy, strictly limit processed and sugary foods.  I think I'm going to allow myself one dessert on Sundays, just to make the experience a little less spartan.

I also went through a calculation in the book to figure out my optimal racing weight (based on current weight and body composition).  The goal I set for myself several week ago was 149.  After buying a scale that measures body fat (mine is apparently 15.5%) and running my numbers through the formula, the calculations confirmed that number (actually, the number is 149.33333).  I was disheartened by the body fat number, since the last time I remember getting my body fat checked was in high school (caliper method, so probably not accurate), and the number was 4.1%.  Those days are long gone, but I'm hoping to dip below 10% by the time I toe the starting line in October.

Day #1 of SG training plan.  Easy run with Maja out to Sugarhouse and around inner loop and home.  I could feel the difference from adding a few carbs between Saturday's death march and today's easy jaunt.  Amazing how much better it feels when you're not trying to run an unleaded vehicle on diesel fuel.

I started tracking my calories today as a means of controlling them (per Fitzgerald's recommendation and after having experienced the benefits of it the last time I trained for SG--, basically, the simple process of tracking your weight helps you lose more).  I'm trying the Livestrong app on my iPad.  So far it seems a little more convenient than the online system I used last time.  Of course, I've only tracked one meal and one mid-morning snack so far.

3 x mile repeats at Sugarhouse Park.  Here's the summary:

Warmup: 1.86 (outer loop) in 16:30 (8:54 pace)

Mile 1: 5:51 (155 bpm)

5 min active recovery

Mile 2: 5:41 (178 bpm)

5 min active recovery

Mile 3: 5:44 (181 bpm)

Cooldown: 1.34 in 11:34 (around 8:30 pace)

I never looked at my Garmin to get an idea of pace; instead, I just went by feel.  The mile course included two downhills and one uphill on all three repeats.  By the final one, I had cracked by the time I reached the top of the hill (on the southwest side of the park) and lost a lot of speed for the next 200 meters or so.

While my splits were not outstanding, they were a lot faster than I expected, since this is my first speed work in well over a year.  The legs seemed to hold up pretty well, even though they were pretty leaden by the final 400 meters of each repeat.

 Note to self: don't try to store the key to the car in the rear pocket in the gray Sugoi shorts--there is a hole (confirmed by two attempts during this morning's workout--fortunately I was able to find the key both times and learn from my mistake--eventually).

Easy loop through U campus, across the bridge to Fort Douglas, through Research Park and home.  Calves were a little tight after yesterday's repeats, but otherwise everything feels good so far.

There was a major thunderstorm last night around 3:30 a.m., complete with hail, wind, lightning, etc.  It woke me up and I didn't get to sleep until just before my alarm sounded at 5:30, so I turned it off and decided to try to sneak in my run later in the day.  Fortunately, it worked out and I was able to run home from my office downtown.  I took the scenic route up toward Memory Grove, then ran up the steps to A Street, up A Street to 7th Ave, then to B Street, then up to 9th Ave, over to K Street, up to 11th Ave, stopped at 11th Ave Park to see if Kaela was there for tryouts (hers didn't start til later), then past Popperton, down to Federal Heights Drive, then to North Campus Drive, then along Wasatch, through Fort Douglas, Research Park and home.  Whew.  Weather was gorgeous and the run was glorious.

With four soccer games and a piano recital on the docket, I had to squeeze in a shorter-than-planned run early.  I took Maja with me for the first 8, which I did around my Sugarhouse to Highland Park loop, then dropped her off at home and ran downtown to my office, where I showered quickly and picked up my car (which I left last night) to drive to game #1.  I was a little anxious about doing a long run the morning after doing a mostly uphill run in the evening (my Achilles sometimes freaks out when I do that sort of thing), but I had no problems and felt good all day.

I missed my early run because I had to get in to the office to get a jump on a busy week (four loan and acquisition closings), but I brought my gear with me when I took Jacob to his end-of-season soccer party at the Northwest Community Center.  Don't get me wrong, I love comp soccer parents and would like to spend all of my social time with them, but I decided to leave the scene for 40 minutes to sneak in my run.  I wasn't sure where I'd run in the area (300 N 1300 W), so I just started jogging on the grass around the community center.  Fortunately, within a quarter of a mile I ended up on the Jordan River Parkway Trail, which I took north to Rose Park Golf Course and back.  There were some truly lovely sections along the opposite side of the river from the trail itself, complete with wood chips in one section and otherwise with nice dirt paths.  It was so nice to have a flat trail to run on--we don't have a lot of that in my neck of the woods.

The only bummer was that it rained pretty hard throughout the run, but I had come prepared with rain gear, so it wasn't bad at all.

Since I ran last night, I decided not to chance it with speed work this morning and instead decided to move my Tuesday workout to Wednesday and my Thursday workout to Friday (which works better anyway, since my church assignment keeps me out late on Wednesdays and makes it hard to get up at 5:00 for speed work the next day).  Easy loop through the U campus and back through Fort Douglas and Research Park.  Maja was as excited as always until I let her out and she felt the rain on her back, at which point she tucked her tail and darted back into the house.  It's always a little sad but comical to watch her wrestle with her greatest love (running) and greatest fear (rain) at the same time.  As it did this morning, fear usually wins out.

1/2 mile repeats at Sugarhouse Park.  The workout went like this:

1.85-mile easy warmup jog

Repeat #1: 2:39 (5:20/mi)

2-min active rest

Repeat #2: 2:39 (5:20/mi)

2-min active rest

Repeat #3: 2:33 (5:07/mi)

2-min active rest

Repeat #4: 2:45 (5:32/mi) (I paid for overdoing it on #3)

2-min active rest

Repeat #5: 2:38 (5:18/mi)

2-min active rest

Repeat #6: 2:43 (5:28/mi)

I should note that it worked out just right so that 1,3 & 5 were all from the top of the hill at the northeast corner to the pond (including the downhill), and 2, 4 & 6 were all from the top of the hill at the southwest corner to just west of the Highland track (including the downhill), which is a slightly harder section.  No climbing in either section.  As I get more fit, I'll vary the starting points more so that I have to deal with climbing in the intervals.

Given that this is only Week #2 in my training, I'm feeling pretty good about my progress thus far.  I have hit a plateau in my weight loss, but I continue to eat healthy and think the remaining 9 lbs will probably just melt away slowly as my mileage increases throughout the summer.  I may try to slip in some evening spins on the bike just to make sure my body understands that it's fueling for performance right now, and that it needs to shut down any impulse to store fat and burn muscle instead.  Once I feel like my running base is solid enough, I will try to work in 2-3 evening jogs a week to supplement my mileage and keep trying to get down to that optimal racing weight (which I haven't seen since my junior year of HS 20 years ago).

After yesterday's effort, I felt sluggish and a little sore (mainly calves) today, but I also forgot to take my inhaler, which likely made a difference.  Maja and I did the usual U Campus loop over the bridge.

Hill repeats on 23rd East.  I jogged over and measured the hill as part of my warmup, and it turns out to be a little longer than 1/4 mile, so I set the Garmin for 1/4-mile intervals with 1/4-mile rest and went for it, doing 8 repeats.  I jogged back down between each repeat as my rest interval.  My average pace ranged from 6:40/mi (the first one) to 5:50/mi (the last one), with most of them being in the 6:10-6:15 range.  I clearly have work to do in this area, since in my last St. George race in '09, I feel like I lost hold of my goal on the uphill sections (beginning with mile 2 and then especially from Veyo to Diamond Valley).  For my first hill workout in well over a year, though, I'm reasonably pleased.

U campus to Shoreline loop with Maja living it up off-leash on the trail sections.  What a gorgeous day for a run!

Neighborhood 5k pushing Janey and Eli in the double jogger with four nearly flat tires.  I'm giving myself credit for an extra mile because the effort was much more significant than a simple 3-miler.

Sugarhouse to Parkway Ave to 21st East loop with Maja.  The paper said today's low would be 53.  I think it was more like the upper 30s during my run.  Gorgeous and bright, sunny morning, but a little cold for a run without gloves. I'm going to do my hard days on Wednesday and Friday again this week.