Move. Do something. Anything.

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Me after a great run recently having accomplished many personal bests.

My sister used to tell me this. “Don’t set out to run a marathon on your first day. Just get up off the couch and move. Do something. Do anything. Just don’t sit your life away waiting to die.” I used to think she was crazy. Why would I want to be uncomfortable and sweaty and work hard for something I don’t care about, anyway? What’s the benefit of being fit if we’re all going to die, anyway?

Well.

Let’s go over some of the benefits of being fit.

  1. Comfort. Life is more comfortable when you’re fit. I can bend over, reach my shoes, run up a flight of stairs, play with the dog, and have “Mommy and Daddy time” without as much effort anymore. Seriously; life is so much easier when you’re fit.
  2. Clothing. I can shop off any rack in any store now. The mainstream clothing stores stock clothes that look nice for people who are “Average,” and I’m “Average” now. The clothes not only fit better, but look good, too.
  3. Self esteem. Yes, this is a real thing, and it does matter. We all try to say it doesn’t, and that we all feel fine when we’re fat. I used to tell people all the time that I was completely fine with the size I was. I lied. Every damn time. I wasn’t fine. It hurt, I was sore, I was tired, and I felt horrible because I didn’t look anywhere near what I wanted to look like. We can’t change our faces or who we are, but we can change our body size and health through diet and exercise. Being fit helps you feel better about yourself which makes it easier to eat right and make health and fitness decisions. It also helps you with social situations. When you feel better about yourself, you’re more confident, etc.
  4. Health improvement. I know, most people would put this first, but who in the hell cares about health improvement if they don’t want to exercise in the first place? I mean, if you cared so much about improving your health, you’d already be exercising. We all know without being told by some ol’ Marine that exercise improves your health. If you don’t know that, you are probably still in the second grade and should stop reading the Interwebs and go out and play with your friends now. Go on, get out of here!
  5. Not dying. Seriously; this is better than a health benefit; it’s an existence benefit. I have stated before on my blog the dire condition my health was getting into. Now, I’m literally fit enough to rejoin the military. I call this a huge bonus.

My friend Steve has started walking and riding his bicycle since downloading Pokemon Go! onto his iPhone. He gets exercise walking around, hatching eggs and catching Pokemon. He said to me that it wasn’t much compared with what I do, but he enjoyed it. I told him that it doesn’t matter what I do, and it’s not a competition. Do what you can do. Do what you enjoy. Just do something.

A Day of Personal Bests

file_000-67Today was a day of personal bests for me, and I couldn’t be more excited! I started the morning off as I always do; with push ups. Today, I decided to go up from the 45 I’ve been doing for the past few days by doing 50 push ups and I did it! It was hard and I had to push myself a little, but I got to 50 and stopped. Could I have done more? Probably, but not many more. I’ve been doing a good job of avoiding injury, so I didn’t push myself to a breaking point. Just to 50 and stopped.

Then came the run. I decided to stretch out the legs a little and start with a faster pace. I normally don’t like to do this, but I decided to stretch the pace by increasing the distance my legs kicked out, and I concentrated on the feeling in my feet as I pushed the ground away from me. It’s hard to explain, but I could actually feel the speed this time. I got into a comfortable run pace and held it steady for three miles, which is a huge win for me.

I didn’t look at my pace or splits during the run; I wanted to just give it what I thought I needed to give to get a decent time, and it worked. I was able to run 3.52 miles with a 9’26” pace! My two mile time was 18’08” (my goal was to do it under 19′) and my three mile time was 27’46” which for my age would be a passing (decent) run in the Marine Corps PFT. This is a benchmark for me. I wore my USMC dress blues this past weekend as I was within the height/weight regulations, and now I’m able to run within the USMC PT standards as well. If I had a pull up bar and someone to hold my feet, I could have done the pull ups and crunches to see what score I could get for my age. Maybe some weekend I’ll go to a park with Sherry and take a PFT to see how I do.

I am very happy this morning! My weight is still declining, my physical abilities are increasing, and I’m feeling great. I have a good burn in my legs today from pushing it out a little harder than normal, but none of the bad pain. And to think, I just started running on September 10th of this year, and already, I’m running sub-10 minute miles. Heck, I’m almost to running sub-9’s consistently!

Back-to-back runs

Friday morning, I ran. This is not a big deal, and normally isn’t blog worthy in and of itself, but what is significant is that I ran after running Thursday and not taking a rest day. My pace was on-par with my average runs, and the distance was 3.5 miles.

I did have a little bit of pain in my left hip, but I think that was because I pushed it and sprinted in the last mile a few times. Maybe I’m not ready for that just yet, but the run itself was nice, and I wasn’t in any discomfort or pain with the exception of the little aches I get typically when I start. I infer those as my muscles saying, “Dude. Why are we doing this. You know, you can just stop and we’ll stop bothering you” which then turns into, “Oh well. You’re not going to stop. We might as well join the rest of the team and just get through this.” It typically happens around the .5 to 1 mile mark and then the rest of the run is just fine.

My ultimate goal is to run 5-6 times a week without it being hard. I don’t want to run super-long distances, nor am I looking to break any land/speed records. I just want to go out, run 4-5 miles, and feel normal afterward. I’m not quite there yet, but I’m getting there, and that feels good.

Now, however, I think that maybe running 4 times a week max is a better plan for the time being. After taking three days off to allow a spot on my heel to heal (haha),  a lot of other pains and aches I’ve been having have gone away. I think I needed the time to rest and to let the joints and muscles heal a bit. I haven’t been pushing myself hard, but maybe back-to-back runs are a bit much for me. Only time will tell, and we’ll see. The point is, I’m not going to push it to get to daily runs just yet. Maybe after another month or two, but for now, I’m okay with every other day.

As for push-ups, I’m up to 45 consistently now. I’ll likely up that to 50 soon, but again, I’m pretty pleased with the progress.

Skipping Run Days

Tuesday, I skipped a run. I’ve been running every other day since September 10th, and it’s been working pretty well. I want to get to a point where I can run every day, and I thought that would begin Tuesday morning, but when the alarm clock went off, I just wasn’t feeling it. I didn’t have the overwhelming motivation to go anyway; I ran Monday, and I could still feel it in my legs. So I stayed in bed for the extra 45 minutes.

I’m glad I did.

I felt refreshed, energized, and well-rested Tuesday morning, something I haven’t felt in a few weeks. I’ve been trying to get enough sleep, but it’s looking like I haven’t been. If Monday night’s sleep and how I feel the next morning is any indication, I need more sleep.

In all honesty, I don’t ever skip actual run days. For me, these have been every other day. Tomorrow, for example, will be a run day, and unless Mother Nature is unleashing hellfire and fury from the sky, I will be out there running. I feel that my rest days have been every bit as important as the run days, and I think that these rest days have played a large role in my avoiding injury and making the progress I’ve been making.

On my non-run days, I am going to try to run, but it’s not an imperative. Yet. If I run, I’ll run. If not, then that’s okay too. But on my run days? It’s go-time!

Running with music vs without

runneredgeI have completed all my runs while listening to music. I prefer listening to something that keeps me motivated and pumped to keep running. I use my iPhone to play the music which is in a belt pouch that I wear while running. It’s reflective, and it fits really well; I don’t feel it at all while running. I use a set a Phaiser Bluetooth headphones that work remarkably well. I accidentally let the charge die on them on my last run, and I ended up running the last mile without music.

I thought that running without music would be harder, or that I wouldn’t like it. I used to run without music for my entire time in the Corps as running with a Walkman was always a disappointing experience and running with a CD… please. I remember how much I would fixate or concentrate on my breathing and I remember not liking it.

So there I was, listening to Sumo Cyco singing “Interceptor” (I love that song, especially while running) when all of the sudden, the Bluetooth voice said, “Power: low” and then shut off. I went from hearing really powerful and driving music to hearing… me, breathing hard. I noticed that my breathing wasn’t in-sync with my steps, and for a while, that continued until I noticed that I started breathing in a rhythm in-sync with my steps. For every six steps, I inhaled once and exhaled once. It was very efficient, and my pace actually improved.

At the end of the run, I felt good. It was a good, hard workout, and I felt as if I’d accomplished something. It turned out, I did. My average pace for the 3.45 miles was on-par with my best runs, and the pace actually improved mile after mile which is the opposite of how my runs have typically gone up to this point.

I don’t know if I’m going to run without headphones. I really enjoy listening to music as I run, and it helps take my mind off the running and allows me to think about other things. However, when I concentrated on the running and breathing, my pace improved and my breathing became more rhythmic. Maybe I need to do more experimenting with this.

Do you run with or without music?

Feeling Fit is Feeling Good: How to Start Running

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Me after a 5k run in San Antonio wearing my fancy (and old in age but not in mileage) Brooks Glycerin 9 shoes.

Another strange admission from me: I am enjoying being fit. I can now do things I could never do before like run in and out of a store without breaking a sweat or even getting out of breath, climb (more like run up) stairs in a football stadium or at work without even raising my heart rate, or chase the dog around the house (his favorite game) without getting tired or winded.

Losing weight opened up so many possibilities for me, the last of which I expected to be feeling good when getting fit. As I am working toward getting more fit, I actually like the improvements and how my body feels. I miss it when I skip a day of running. My legs actually ache more when I don’t run than when I do. And when I increase the distance I run? I actually feel better.

Weird.

If you’re not a runner and you’re still reading this, I applaud you. It’s because you’re either curious, not believing what I’m saying (because you’ve heard me say time and time again how much I hate running) or because you want to try it yourself. If it’s the first two, I’ve got nothing. But if it’s the last reason, I’m happy to say that it’s possible for you to enjoy running to!

Here is what I recommend when getting started.

  1. Get good shoes. This is super important. Your feet are your vehicles, and they need to be protected as best as possible. If you can, go somewhere that fits shoes individually. It’ll cost a bit more than Payless or even Academy, but your feet are worth it. This is your most important investment.
  2. Start with a plan to run a short distance. If you can’t run more than, say, 100 yards without stopping, make a goal of running a quarter of a mile, or half a mile without stopping. The way you do this is to keep your pace, but chop your steps. Turn it into a jog. It’ll take longer, but you’re building the stamina.
  3. Don’t push too hard, too soon, and don’t expect immediate gains. This is going to take some time. Be okay with that up front. You’re not in a race here. Take it slow and easy.
  4. Increase your distance as you feel comfortable. If you make no distance improvements after some time, that’s okay too. Just increase only when you feel ready. Trust me; when your body is ready, it’ll WANT to run farther.
  5. Fake it ’til you make it. Hate running? I did too! What changed? I told myself that I have to like this. I need to run, and I need to do so at least 4-5 times a week. Why do something you hate? That’s one of the hardest things to do. I figured that I might as well enjoy running since I’ll be doing it so much, and guess what? I actually DO enjoy it now. It’s something I look forward to, and while I’m doing it, I feel myself being active and making progress toward being a more fit person.

There are so many more tips I can give for running, but I don’t want to overwhelm you. Start with those five and then come back for more tips. I’ll have some posted soon!

Running is getting easier

file_000-57I just looked it up in my Fitbit app: I began running on September 10th; that’s seven weeks ago. I’m astounded by the progress I’ve made in that short time. I have been purposefully taking it slowly and trying hard to not overdo it. In the past, my efforts in getting back into running were always derailed by my over-enthusiasm and injuring myself by doing too much too soon. Not this time.

My first run, looking back at it now, was laughably short: 1.63 miles. My pace was 12:17 which, compared with my last pace, was pretty slow. But at the time, my primary goal was to complete a run without stopping to walk. I wanted to do more than 1.5 miles and I wanted to run the entire time. I accomplished that goal and then let my legs rest for a day before going out again and aiming for more. I reduced my pace and increased the distance by a quarter of a mile. My main goal was to never give up and walk unless I injured myself. So far, I’ve been able to complete every run without walking.

My most recent run was an easy 3.12 mile run. My pace was a very comfortable 10:25 pace. I could have run faster, but since I plan on running 5 times this week, I decided to play it safe and run it easy. Tomorrow I will run an extra mile, so the pace may not be much faster, but adding 33% more to the run distance will be the extra effort for tomorrow. The following day, I may work on pace. We’ll see.

The bottom line, however, is that I’m now able to get out and run without it being a bad thing. It’s not something I dread. It’s not something that I feel horrible doing. What I didn’t expect was that the opposite happened: I actually enjoy it, and I feel good doing it. I look forward to it. After a few days off from running, I find myself waking up at night excitedly awaiting the alarm clock so I can begin my run. This is very weird to me; I’ve never felt this way about exercise before.

My ultimate goal is to run 4-5 miles daily 5-6 times a week. I don’t necessarily want to run marathons or half-marathons, but I would like to be fit. I like the way I feel after my runs, and when I need to run out to the car to get something and run back into a store, I’m not out of breath and sweaty. When I went to the Texas A&M football game last weekend, I was able to run 20 rows up to my seat without losing my breath. It was exhilarating! Having the stamina to do things that only a year ago were out of the question for me has really changed my outlook on life.

I know I’m a big proponent of using diet to change your health, and I still firmly believe, based on my own experience, that diet is more important for weight loss than exercise. However, adding exercise if you are able to engage in physical activity definitely improves your quality of life. I would never lie to you about something like this. I was the guy who swore off exercise at the beginning of my journey. I have seen the error of my ways, and I admit I was wrong. Get out there and move. Start by walking. Progress into jogging, and then if you’re able, into running. You won’t regret it.

Reddit Running’s Spotlight Runner: Me!

2016-11-04-07_34_05-peopleThis week, I was honored to be selected as Reddit Running’s Spotlight Runner (I’m Edge767 there). I was interviewed earlier this week, and the interview went live today.

Of all the things to happen to me in the past year, this is the least expected and most surprising to me. Besides the fact that I never thought I’d be a runner, and that I found how much I enjoy it, to be selected as a part of that group to be spotlighted after running again for just under two months is really special. I feel like even at my slow pace, I’m making advances and achieving goals nearly every time I’m out there hitting the pavement. To me, that’s what’s special about my journey, right now.

So, if you want to see what  I have to say on the subject of running from being interviewed by a runner, head over to Reddit and check it out.

Run, run, run

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Selfie post-run this past Monday morning at 5:30 a.m.

I took a two-day break this past weekend from running due to the many activities we had scheduled that required a lot of physical activity. I didn’t want to over-do it and risk an injury. Oddly, on Saturday evening, my legs were very tired but also uneasy. It’s as if they really wanted to run, and without running that morning, they felt like they were filled with nervous energy. On Sunday, the feeling was gone, and it actually felt nice. My legs felt like they were healing from the previous day’s heavy use (I was working in the garage building props which required a lot of squatting and up/down movement).

By Monday morning, I was ready to run. I set out with a comfortable pace and surprised myself with a second-best pace since starting six weeks ago. I also ran almost 4 miles which, while not my longest distance, was probably the longest I’ve run and felt so comfortable. Again, I could have run longer, but time was of the essence and I couldn’t spare the time to run the extra distance.

People mistakenly assume that my weight loss has been due to running. Nothing could be further from the truth. Actually, since running, I’ve only lost about 5 lbs, and even that has been very hard fought. My weight goes up from time to time, and right now I’m actually up a few pounds from my low of 177.7 lbs. I’m hoping to get back down to that weight and perhaps even lower, but it requires a lot of discipline and hard work.

I lost over 100 lbs through diet alone, and by diet, I don’t mean through a weight-loss diet. I changed the way I eat, and I have adopted the Paleo lifestyle which is not a weight-loss diet like Adkins. It’s a way of eating for the rest of my life. The fact that I ate good food in normal portion sizes has allowed my body to shed the excess weight and get down to a normal weight. Now that I want to lose another 12 lbs, I’m having to work for it in a way I haven’t done in a very long time, but it’s rewarding and I’m finding that I’m actually able to enjoy it quite a bit.

As the weather cools, I will have to wear long running pants and long-sleeved shirts, but I’m ready for it. My headset, belt (for holding my iPhone) and shoes are all set, too. Most importantly, I’m motivated to do it, and I am enjoying it. Sometimes I have to force myself to enjoy it, but I find it really helps to make it easier to run faster and to get more out of it if I’m enjoying it. “Fake it until you make it” really works. Try it!

So many changes in my life: who am I?

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Me after a run with my amazing Phaiser Bluetooth headphones. Seriously great.

This is something I never thought I’d be doing: browsing Amazon and Woot! for running gear. Fortunately, I have shorts I like, and enough shirts to last me for a week. I have a belt that holds my iPhone when I run, and a really amazing Phaiser Bluetooth wireless headset that has been all kinds of amazing. The Brooks running shoes feel like they weigh nothing at all and fit perfect (thanks to Fleet Feet). Next up: some running pants. It’s getting cooler out, and anything under 50 degrees is downright cold to me. I want something covering my legs when I run in weather that cool.

I haven’t shopped for exercise equipment or PT gear in a very long time. With the exception of the kettle bells Sherry and I bought a few months back, Academy was a place I went to for ammunition, not exercise clothing. Now, when I go there, I find myself looking at shirts, shorts, sock, shoes, etc. It’s not that I need anything, but I want to have ideas and numbers in my head for when I do.

There are many indicators to myself of how much life has changed. I have so much more energy in the mornings partly due to the better sleep I get now. My appetite has normalized to allow me to eat three times a day without snacking. Better yet, I don’t have snack cravings, and foods don’t tempt me anymore! I feel normal in my clothing: nothing binds, feels weird, or falls off me due to having an odd body shape (when my stomach was huge, it was always a battle to keep pants up even with a belt; I refused to wear suspenders). I can run up a flight or two of stairs without getting winded and I find myself not getting colds or feeling run-down anymore.

I realized this morning that I have a life I always wished I could have: A beautiful wife, great kids, a beautiful home, amazing and loving friends, a good job, a nice car, and a dog who drives me nuts sometimes but ultimately is a sweet and loyal buddy. I have no needs, only wants. It’s a good place to be. I want to enjoy this as long as I can. If eating right and exercising helps me do that, then I’ll gladly do it. It’s no imposition.

A final thought. There are many who have fought harder battles and who are unable to exercise like I can today due to physical limitations thrust upon them. I run for myself, but this morning, I decided to also run for them. I actually thought of all the veterans that can’t be out on a morning run like I was today. I picked up my pace to honor them. I plan on picking a week in the upcoming weeks where I’ll run 25 miles over the course of 7 days. It’s not much, but it’s more than I’ve run in a week since being on active duty in the Marines. It’ll be tough for me as a new runner, but I’m up for the challenge.