JD and Pam had a conversation last night about The Biggest Loser. At one point JD mentioned to Pam that he eats less when he’s tracking his calories! Of course he does, so do I. To me that’s the point of tracking my calories. Instead of mindlessly filling my mouth whenever I walk by the pantry, I think about what I’m eating. Adding that extra step of thinking about how I’m going to input those calories into fitday sometimes makes me not want to deal with eating the food. It works great most of the time.

I’m really looking motivated to attack my fitness and nutrition plans and to make some downward progress on the scale. But temptation is everywhere! It’s still easy for me to not exercise, though most days I make the right choice. But eating well is still tough for me and I don’t think that it’s something that will magically go away one day. For example, on Monday at my son’s preschool class someone had placed a girl scout cookie order form on the counter for people to fill out. I didn’t order any, but I did look at the form. I was amazed at the propaganda that I encountered there. In a very light shade of grey, in the background behind the order form were some reasons why you should buy girl scout cookies. Standard phrases like, “It’s a great cause” and “Support your neighborhood” were lining the sheet from top to bottom. But the one that caught my eye was this…”Girl Scout Cookies can be a part of a healthy and nutritious diet.” The careful wording of that phrase made me laugh. Sure they CAN be a part of healthy and nutritious diet, but they definitely don’t contribute anything healthy or nutritious. It made me laugh. Even a wholesome organization like GSA has to spin their cookie crack so that we’ll buy more of it.

• lost 22 pounds
• decreased my body fat by 6%
• went from a non-runner to a frequent runner
• competed in my first 10K race and 2 other organized races of shorter distances
• took my shirt off at the beach and didn’t worry about it

I didn’t accomplish all of the goals that I set for myself in 2008.  For example, I thought I would have reached my goal weight by this time.  Instead, I’m only about half way there.  I also would have liked to have been a little more consistent with my blog posting last year.  I have yet to figure out how to work ahead!  Everything I write is for today, maybe for tomorrow, but never for the days or even weeks after.  I’d like to get to the point where I spend a few hours blogging and get the weeks posts completed.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get there, but I can definitely improve on it.

So how about 2009?  Here are the fitness goals that I’d like to accomplish before the end of the year:

• lose another 17 pounds to get down to 175 pounds
• drop another 6% of body fat to get down to 18%
• complete a 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours

Here’s my POA so that my goals don’t fall by the way side during the first month.  According to the many calorie calculators available online, I need about 2600-2900 calories/day to maintain my current weight.  In order to drop a pound/week, I need to create a daily 500 calorie deficit.  So I’m going to shoot for 2000 calories per day.  I’m going to keep track of my calories using fitday.com.  And after workouts, I plan on immediately replenishing burned calories with a high quality snack that contains both a dairy product and a protein.

Dropping body fat is going to be the hardest of my goals.  Staying within my 2000 calorie budget, eating low fat foods, high quality carbs, and lots of proteins will be my diet plan.  Meanwhile, back at the gym, I plan on rehiring a personal trainer to meet with every other week.  Once a month, I want my body fat measured.  I also want him to give me totally different, high intensity weightlifting and cardio workout every other week that will raise my heart rate, build muscle mass, and keep my body guessing.  After I’ve dropped some weight and built some muscle mass, I’ll ask him to coach me up on the proper form of all the exercises in the stronglifts 5X5 program.

My final goal for the year will probably be the easiest for me to complete.  To complete this goal, I have to run a 9:10 min/mile pace for 13.1 miles.  If I find a relatively flat course to run, I think that I can accomplish this goal pretty easily.

Always keeping these goals in my mind will help me have another productive year on the fitness front.  I don’t think I’ve ever had two good years in a row–I’m confident that I can do it this time!

First of all, it took me a long time to get started toward my fitness goals. I mostly sat around and wrote about getting fit instead of doing anything about it. It wasn’t until a Get Fit Slowly reader prodded me into action that I was able to get off my butt and get to the gym.

Two steps forward, one step back
For several months, I did well. I exercised. I tried to watch my food intake. (I ate healthfully for me, but that’s not saying a lot.) By mid-summer, I had dropped 20 pounds and was down to 26% body fat.

Then, of course, I injured myself while training for the marathon. Several of you &madsh; most notably Greenman2001 — cautioned me that I was ignoring the “slowly” part of my mantra. I didn’t heed your warnings. Instead, I kept plowing ahead.

When a family health crisis occurred and my nagging injury did not improve, I lost my focus. I was able to tread water for a couple of months, but by November I was starting to put on weight. Now, at the end of the year, I’m back up to 197 pounds and 31% body fat.

It would be easy to become frustrated by this turn of events. Actually, however, I’m pleased. Sure, I wish I’d kept off the weight I’d lost, but look at the net gain for 2008. I lost 10 pounds. That’s not a lot, I know, and my current habits are poor, but it is progress.

A brand new day
My goal for 2009 is more modest than 2008. I’m not going to try to lose 40 pounds. I’m going to try to lose 20. I know I can do it. I’d done it by mid-year last year. If I can get down to 177, then I only have to maintain for the year to meet the goal. More than that, however, I want to change my diet so it’s healthier still. (I’m eating better than I was at the start of 2008, but still have my weaknesses.)

I went to the gym yesterday to renew my membership. As soon as I’m finished writing this, I’ll get out of bed, put on my gym clothes, and exercise for the first time in a month. It’s going to feel good.

What about you? Did you meet your fitness goals for 2008? Whether you did or you didn’t, are you happy with your progress? What are your objectives for 2009?

Though I may not post as often in the coming months, I’ll still be here, and I still plan to share my progress. I hope you’ll join me.

Sometimes it takes a little speed bump to see just how much progress you’ve made.  In previous fitness/health improvement attempts, any little setback would totally derail me and I’d give up for years.  In the process, I’d erase any progress that I made and most likely regress further into the pit of obesity.  But not this time.  This little back injury has me yearning to get back into the gym whole-hog.  I NEED to get back on the treadmill and run instead of walk.  I HAVE to get that scale back on the downward trend.  These are feelings that I haven’t dealt with before and they make me very happy.

This morning at the gym, I was able to do some light running.  I did 3, 15-minute cycles of 5 minutes at 4.0 mph, 5 minutes at 5.5 mph, and 5 minutes at 6.0 mph.  My back didn’t hurt, but it did feel awkward.  However, my lungs didn’t feel taxed at all which was a little bit of a surprise to me.  It was the first positive athletic step for me since I hurt my back.

My back injury (and JD’s recent post about his gym habits) has also made me reflect on my current plan of action at the gym.  So once again, when my back is back to 100%, I plan on modifying my weight training regiment.  I’ve said so before, I love the 5X5 program.  I don’t think the exercises are the cause of my back injury so I intend to resume the same exercises that got me results in 1/2 hour 3 times a week.  But I’m not going to focus so much on increasing my weights as quickly as before.  This time, I’m going to go back to the more traditional 3X10 sets of those same exercise with about 80% of the weight I was lifting before.  And I’m not going to increase those weights as often.  Hopefully I’ll still see similar results in my body composition and will decrease the chances of injury.

Speaking of body composition, my weight has remained constant throughout this whole ordeal.  In fact, this morning I went through my closet and pulled out 5 pairs of paints that I shouldn’t be seen wearing.  They ranged in waist size from 34-38 inches.  Yep, that’s right I threw out pants with a 34″ waist size because they were too big for me!  That’s something I haven’t been able to say since 1999, the year I got married.  So now, my waist AND my wardrobe are significantly smaller then they were 12 months ago.  I feel like I’m righting the ship and am getting back in the groove.

I’ve been sick for the past couple of days, and that’s made a couple of crazy things happen. I’ve actually applied two other reader tips!

Just do it
Some GFS readers encouraged me to just eat the damn vegetables. This might seem like lame advice to some, but it’s actually not bad. (Once during one of our phone-based training sessions, Lauren was tired of hearing me whine. Just solve the problem,” she said. I thought this was good enough advice to jot down on a sticky note that I keep at my desk.)

Last night, Kris offered me some acorn squash and roasted golden beets for dinner. She was just kidding around but I said, “Sure.” She did a double-take. “Are you my husband?” she asked. I smiled wanly.

I tried the squash but did not like the texture or the taste. It was mushy, and not in a good way. Plus I didn’t like the balsamic vinegar Kris had drizzled on it. Strike one.

But — gasp — I liked the beets. They had the consistency of potatoes, and they tasted like the earth. I could eat them again.

Eat what you like
Tonight I took another piece of reader advice to heart: eat the fruits and vegetables that you like.

“You know what I’m hungry for?” I asked Kris. She shook her head. “Watermelon,” I said. “I have an intense craving for watermelon.”

We don’t have watermelon in Oregon in late October. We do, however, have grapes — luscious purple Concord grapes.

I’ve always claimed that blackberries are my favorite fruit (followed closely by watermelon), but now I know that’s not true. During the last two weeks, I’ve discovered that I’m crazy for Concords. I love to suck the meat and juice from the skin, tasting the sweet-tart juice (like liquid summer!), extract the seeds with my tongue, and then slurp the grape down like an oyster.

So tonight, instead of watermelon, I ate an orange and a bunch of grapes.

Not the end of the world
I still feel sick. I have a mild fever (99.5 — my normal body temp is 98.2), and am exhausted. I can’t focus on anything but my book (The Godfather). But who knows? If I’m sick long enough, I may even begin eating broccoli!

Now I’ve heard stories about weightlifters advertising on Craigslist for breast milk so that they can bulk up easier but that’s just one individual seeking to consume breast milk.  Even if Ben & Jerry thought this was a good idea, I don’t think too many people would be into breast milk ice cream.  Call it a hunch.

Speaking of weightlifting, I’ve completed 3 weeks of the stronglifts 5X5 program and haven’t stalled yet–nor have I missed an early morning session.  I’ve successfully increased my weights by 5 pounds each and every time I go to the gym.  In addition to the prescribed exercises, I’ve also added some core work to the end of the routine.  I’m already starting to notice changes in my body.  I haven’t lost much weight (only .5 pounds), but I’m definitely firmer around the chest and ab area and my legs are downright hard.  I need to pick it up on the cardio front so that I can burn a little bit more flab.  In general I’m pretty happy with my progress.  But it’s starting to get hard and I’m anticipating my first failure to reach 5X5 next week.  My legs always have that tired and heavy feeling by the time Friday comes around and this morning’s overhead press was really hard for me–that’s supposed to be the first exercise that people run into problems with.  We’ll see how it goes next week.

On Monday, as I talked about correcting my course, Greenman had an interesting comment:

When a plan goes wrong in the Army, the brass debriefs the participants, calls in some outside experts (that’s me), and produces a “Lessons Learned” report, which informs the next plan. What does your “Lessons Learned” report say, JD?

I’ve thought a lot about this over the past couple days. (And, to an extent, over the past couple months.) Here are five things I’ve learned from my adventures in fitness this year:

Set realistic goals
It’s okay to have big goals, but it’s important to also maintain realistic expectations.

When I decided to get out of debt, I told myself I wanted to pay off $35,000 in five years. That was a big goal, but I believed I could do it. Turns out I beat my goal by almost two years. But if I’d decided I wanted to pay all my debt off in just twelve months, I would have been setting myself up for failure. I wouldn’t have come close to achieving my goal.

Similarly, it’s fine for me to want to run a marathon, and to lose 50 pounds, and to bike across Oregon, but it’s unrealistic to believe I can go from couch potato to doing all of these things in just nine months.

Establish priorities
It’s important to prioritize. By knowing which goals mean the most, and which goals lead naturally to other goals, you can decide what to accomplish first. In my case, I was trying to do too much at once. My attention was scattered. And, as many readers have noted, I was putting the proverbial cart before the proverbial horse.

Now I realize there’s a natural progression to what I want to accomplish.

First, I need to develop good eating habits and build a base of fitness from which I can pursue my other goals. For the next twelve weeks, I intend to follow the Body for Life program to completion. (I cut it short last spring when my attention shifted to other goals.) This should help me learn the behaviors I need to continue improving my health and fitness. It should, in theory, also help me lose weight, another goal along the way.

Having achieved a basic level of strength and fitness, I can spend a few months preparing to run, and then once again tackle marathon training next April, but much better prepared than I was in 2008.

Remember the basics
In his comment on Monday, Greenman suggested I have a sort of emergency backup plan for when things go wrong. “There were no tools in your toolbox for dealing with major interruptions,” he wrote. “There still aren’t. Your plan strikes me as being somewhat inflexible.” He has an excellent point (and one he’s been trying to make for months). The only plan I have now is to keep the fundamentals in mind at all times.

During times of stress, it’s especially important to be mindful of the basics. As with any skill, once you begin exercising (or eating right), it can become second nature. That’s both good and bad. It makes things easier under normal conditions, but it also means we become less mindful about our behavior. We’re doing it out of habit rather than choice. Stress can derail us, and suddenly we find ourselves following our old habits rather than the new.

If you sense yourself losing control, don’t panic — simply force yourself to be more conscious about your choices. If, like me, you have particular books or articles you find inspiring, go back and re-read them. Remind yourself of the core tenets of your program.

Plan to succeed
When I began exercising in March, I planned my exercise sessions. Every night, I would sit down at the kitchen table and review my last couple workouts. Based on my notes, I would then construct a plan for the next morning. This was great. It gave me that outside structure that I crave. (I know this was actually internal structure, but it felt like external structure because it came from Past J.D. and not Present J.D. Yes, I know I’m strange.)

Similarly, my marathon training worked well because I had a plan and I followed it. It was only once I began to deviate from the plan that things got hairy, leading me to injury.

This week, as I’ve returned to the gym (and yes, I’ve gone all four mornings so far), I’ve made a point of planning my workouts the night before. There’s something about these sessions that put me in the proper frame of mind. In fact, I like them so much that I’m going to try something similar with food.

What if on Thursday I was to prepare my meals for Friday? If I have trouble making the right choices in the moment, maybe I can make them in advance. Maybe I can plan to succeed rather than leaving it to chance. (And the whims of my belly.)

Share your progress, but share judiciously
There’s no question that sharing your progress with your friends, family, and folks on the internet can help keep you motivated. But it can also have a negative effect. Share your goals and your overall progress, but unless you need specific advice, keep the details to yourself.

I’m an open person. For the past ten years, my life has pretty much been an open book, available for anyone on the web to comment on and criticize. Constructive criticism can keep me motivated. It can help me spot problems I’m not even aware of. But too much criticism, or the wrong kind of criticism, can actually thwart my aims.

For the next 11-1/2 weeks, as I work through Body for Life, I’ll still share bits and pieces of how things are going, but I’m going to employ a stronger filter than usual. It’s important to me right now that I finish this on my own terms, doing the best I can as who I am right now. I don’t want to get distracted by comments that lead me to self-doubt.

Conclusion
So, there you have them: the five things I feel I’ve learned about fitness over the past six months. They may not be the five things you’d hoped I learned, but they’re the lessons I’ve learned nonetheless.

I want to make it clear that I’m not really disappointed with my progress. I’m down 15 pounds for the year, I’ve run a couple hundred miles, and I’m stronger than I’ve ever been in my life. (My workouts at the gym are basically picking up from where I left off a couple months ago, much to my surprise — I think the ongoing pushups program and stretching regimen helped me to maintain some muscle.)

But, as many of you have noted, at some point I allowed myself to stray from the get fit slowly philosophy. That’s okay, though. I’m not perfect. I’m learning. And as long as I keep a good attitude and continue moving toward my goals, I’m happy.

My grand plans for hitting the gym once Megan got back into school lasted for about 5 minutes.   On Monday, I suited up for my workout and headed out the door.  After dropping Meg off, Liam and I headed straight for the gym.  I paid my three bucks, plunked Liam down in the daycare, and listened to him scream as I turned my back and headed out the door.  FIVE minutes later, they hunted me down and told me to take my kid because they couldn’t calm him down–and I didn’t even get my 3 dollars back.  I was mad.  Mad that I didn’t get to work out, mad that they made hardly any effort to pacify my son, and mad that I had to rethink my workout plan.  This was not a good start to getting back on track.

I spent the rest of Monday thinking about how I was going to get my workouts in.  I could take 2 kids to the gym daycare every time I want to work out.  I think Liam would be OK if Megan were there with him.  But then I’ve got to haul two kids worth of stuff every time, and pay for two kids instead of 1 every time.  I don’t think I want to deal with that.

So the solution is simple, right?  I’ve got to get my butt out of bed in the morning and get to the gym.  It’s 6:25 in the morning, and I’m back from the gym, workout completed, muscles sore, wide awake, and feeling awesome!  So the new plan is a 4:30 wake up call on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to renew my efforts in the stronglifts 5X5 program.  For my cardio, I’ll be using my treadmill during nap times on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  I’d like to get some cardio in everyday, but we’ll see how this goes for a few weeks.  Small steps, right?

I feel great after my workout this morning.  I was able to complete my 5X5 program with no muscle pains.  I’m tired and sore, but not injured.  I warmed up properly, correctly performed my “ass to the grass” squats with a very light weight, and even added in the 15 minute core routine from my personal trainer.

So, I’ve woken up at 4:30 one day in a row.  Friday morning will be small step #2.  So you see, things aren’t as gloomy as they seem.  We’ll get back on track, slowly.  And we’ll continue to…get fit slowly.

As part of getting “back on the bus”, I’m remedying that situation today. I performed a one-time exhaustion test as a sort of reset switch. I was able to do 33 pushups, which is more than I’ve been able to do at one time before. So, even though I took a break, I haven’t lost too much stamina.

Starting Monday, I’ll be back on the project, but with week three column three. This may be too ambitious. If it is, I’ll drop to column two on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I’m continuing to try to make smart food choices. Kris is helping me. (She nixed the trip to Dairy Queen last night after we made another trip to clean up my mother’s house, for instance.) This morning I had one chicken sausage, an egg, some toast and jam, and a cup of tea. Very nice.

Right now, I’m going to walk one mile to the bicycle store. They tell me my bike is ready to pick up. As I walk, I’ll eat an orange. Then, if all goes well, I’ll do a quick twenty mile ride to be sure the bike is working properly.

As I said on Thursday: it feels good to be making the right choices again. When I make the wrong choices, I beat myself up over them. But when I do the right thing, I feel good both physically and mentally.

The last month has been difficult for me, both mentally and physically. My mother has been in the hospital, I’ve been injured, and I’ve done a poor job of prioritizing fitness. If you think I’ve been whiney here, you should try living in my head!

“You need to go to the gym,” Kris told me Tuesday night after losing patience with my mopiness. “It’ll make you feel better.”

I knew she was right. (She’s always right!) Mental health professionals extol the virtues of exercise as a deterrent for depression. I’ve experienced this in my own life. Yet somehow when I need it most, it’s most difficult for me to do.

So yesterday morning I said “enough is enough” and hauled my ass to the gym for the first time this month. I spent half an hour stretching and then about twenty minutes lifting for the lower body. I also did my first set of pushups in a week. (Yes, I had even dropped my pushup routine. I’ll pick it back up now, though.)

Though this was a modest workout, it felt great. It was also good to have people say, “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while. It’s good to have you back.” I’m not the most social guy at the gym, so it kind of surprised me that people had noticed my absence.

In the afternoon, I went to physical therapy. Dana put me through a couple of terrible routines (”the frog” sucks big time). Then she examined the IT band. “It’s still tight,” she said. “But it’s getting better. In fact, the right IT band feels tighter than the left today.”

When we were finished, she said, “You can run a little this week. You can run every other day, and no more than five miles at a time. If you have intense pain, though, you need to stop right away.”

Throughout the day, I ate well. I had a sensible breakfast (yogurt and fruit), a sensible lunch (chicken sausage), and a sensible dinner (fish and snow peas). I did snack a little, but I did so consciously. I didn’t just gorge myself on Hostess Sno-Balls!

Things feel like they’re finally moving again. I did more stretching this morning. In a few minutes, I’m going to go for a mile walk, try to run for three miles, and then finish with another mile walk. Afterward, I’ll have something healthy to eat for lunch.

Why is it that I tend to forget the connection between physical activity and mental health? When I’m blue, exercise seems like a chore. But exercise isn’t a chore — it’s a treat.

The picture from December looks painful to me. We both look sheepish and pale. I remember thinking that this picture was going up on the blog as a before picture and I was totally uncomfortable–hiding behind JD and my own two hands. Now, we both look a lot better–more confident and slimmer. But JD looks buff. I think he’s sucking in his gut too. Keep up the good work partner.

Have a heart
I’ve been especially pleased with the ongoing improvements to my aerobic fitness. My heart rates have been dropping slowly but steadily over the past few weeks. This tells me that my lung capacity is improving.

Subjectively I’ve noticed the difference, too. The big hill a couple miles north of the house is still a pain, but not as much as it used to be. Earlier this year, I had to get off and walk my bike to make it to the top. Then I got so I could ride up, even though it made me feel like death. Now I can get up with only a moderate amount of panting. Before long it’ll be easy!

My improved cardiorespiratory endurance has also helped on the long marathon training runs.

Stiff as a board
There have been some setbacks, too, though. As you’ll recall, my doctor declared that I was as flexible as a two-by-four, and instructed me to stretch several times a day. I’ve been doing that. At first it seemed to help, but now I feel as if the stretches don’t do much. (Maybe it’s time to add something new?)

This is a problem because I’ve come to realize that many of my aches and pains really are related to my lack of flexibility. Yesterday, for example, I stood from this chair to go do my noon stretches, and in doing so I pulled something in my right hip. Just by standing! I feel like an old man.

A sore knee
My worst current injury, however, is in my left knee. When I awoke on Saturday to go for our sixteen mile trail run, my IT band pain was gone but my left knee was sore. (This was new. It hadn’t been sore before.) I ran a couple miles, but the pain just seemed to increase, especially when running downhill. Eventually, at mile four, I stopped and turned around. I walked out of the forest to my car.

Mentally, this sucked. Physically, the pain isn’t too bad for most normal movement, but it comes on strong when I walk down stairs or when I walk across our uneven lawn. My knee even hurts a little when I’m biking.

I suspect this may just be the problem with my IT band, but moved lower on the leg. Before, the pain was about mid-thigh. Now it’s directly at the side of the knee, which I understand to be a common place for IT band to manifest itself.

Whatever the case, I don’t like it.

Moving forward
Meanwhile, I continue to progress with my weight-training program. After a longish plateau, I bumped some of my weights up last week. Also, I’m ready to try some new exercises (including the barbell bench press).

I’m doing fairly well with my water-only routine for July, and feel better because of it. (Maybe this is only mental — I don’t care.) I’m focusing on portion size a lot lately, and have been trying to choose fruits and vegetables more.

Now, if only my body would heal itself completely, I’d feel like everything was peachy!

So I went back to the end of October and tried to find some pictures of me that document my journey so far. I have to say that I look like a much different person today than I did on Oct 31. So, take a look at the new and still improving Mac.

This is absolutely the most embarrassing picture I’ve ever seen of myself. I can’t believe I’m posting for everyone in the world to see. The only good thing about it is that my crow’s feet are covered up in fat.

By Christmas of ‘07 I was already showing signs of improvement. But I still had a long way to go. Isn’t the kid a cutie!

In March, we went to Hawaii. I took my shirt off on the beach and didn’t feel terribly about it. I did it again last weekend and didn’t even think about it.

We went to visit Pam’s parents in May. I think white is my color! Isn’t the kid a cutie! Check out the flaming SPF 10million swim suit.

Here I am as of last night. Look at those crow’s feet no longer covered in fat! I’ll take them any day.

On the fitness and diet front this week, I’ve suffered a small setback. My weight was down this morning, but that’s because I haven’t been eating at all. Some nasty little GI bug has been eating at me. So instead of exercising and eating, I’ve been napping when my kids nap, and laying around as much as they’ll let me. They haven’t gotten it yet and I’m feeling better so maybe we’ll make it through this one relatively unscathed. And, I have managed to get my pushups in this week, but they’re really hard for me. Next week will be better!

One month ago today, I ran my first 10k. That run was a mess and I injured myself. I’ve slowly been recovering. I’ve been biking. I’ve been stretching. I saw a doctor. Today I had my first-ever massage (with an emphasis on the IT band) — not frugal, but wow! And this afternoon, exactly one month from the date of my last hard run, I went out for another.

Actually, I sent the following e-mail to Pam before I started:

I’m going out for a moderately-paced four miler. (Meaning quicker than the 13 min/miles I do on weekend, but not at 10 min/mile.)

I ran at my natural pace, and was surprised to see I was at 9:30. Fine. And then I discovered I was running 9:00. Felt good. “I’m only running once midweek this week,” I told myself. “And my Saturday run may be 14 miles, but those will be 13 minute miles. I’ll see if I can do today’s run in 36 minutes.” I also vowed that I would stop at the first sign of trouble. But there were no signs of trouble.

It felt great. When I finished, I bought some lemonade from the little girl across the street. And now I’m going to stretch…

I’ve been biking moderate distances (12 to 20 miles) in order to maintain my aerobic conditioning, but that doesn’t compare to a two or three hour run. I took a three mile run mid-week, which felt good after I’d warmed up.

Saturday morning was like Christmas — I rose eager to see my new friends again. I went through my pre-run routine (hydrate, prep water bottles, gather gear), hopped on my bike, and pedaled into Portland. The 12-mile ride was good warm up, helping to wake my sleepy muscles. I arrived at the starting point early, which allowed me go through my entire stretching routine.

On the road again
I was a little worried as my group headed out. My leg was sore. Our group was scheduled to do 13 or 16 miles, but I spoke with the run leader, and explained that I might have to turn back at the five mile point (which would give me a ten mile run). She understood, and checked in with me frequently as we made our way down Portland’s waterfront and out onto the Springwater Trail.

Fortunately, my leg felt fine. I made it to the 6.5 mile turnaround ecstatic that everything felt great. But on the return trip, I ran into a little problem.

Runners always have little injuries. During our group runs, we like to share them with each other. On Saturday, I experienced another one. The little toe on my right foot began to hurt. I pulled off my shoe to check for pebbles or splinters, but found none. (I shifted the seam of my sock, though, since it seemed likely to have been the source of the problem.)

I continued to run for another twenty minutes, but at the 10.5 mile point, I had to stop and walk. My toe was killing me, and my legs felt like jelly. One of my companions was also in pain, so we walked the last couple miles together.

A graph of heart rate vs. speed. For the first 6.5 miles, we’re doing about 4.5 miles per hour and my heart rate is about 158bpm. On the return trip (without a group leader), we were a little faster at about 4.6mph, and my hart rate jumped to 167bpm. When we started walking, we were traveling 3.6mph and my heart rate was about 148bpm. See that bizarre speed spike at about mile 10? That’s one of the weaknesses of this device, which I hope to review soon.

Though I might have felt defeated for not being able to run all thirteen miles, I actually felt good about my performance. The nagging injury didn’t bother me. My aerobic capacity was fine. Mentally, I was strong. The real problem was the toe, which turns out to have developed an enormous blister (it’s huge — it looks like it doubled the size of the toe!). I know that’s temporary, so I can deal with it.

I biked home, drew an ice bath, took some ibuprofen, and did some stretching. Do you know how I felt on Sunday morning? It felt awesome! When I rolled out of bed, nothing on my body was sore! (After sitting at my computer for half an hour, my IT band did stiffen, however, and I haven’t done anything about my blister yet.)

The road ahead
So, I got a lot of exercise last week. I biked 67 miles and I ran 16. (Not to mention weights, pushups, and stretching.) I feel fine. I feel like I’m doing exactly what my body is capable of.

Now I need to bump up my weekly distance. I know that I’m only supposed to bump up my mileage about 10% each week. That’s going to be a challenge for me. I’m going to want to go out and add distance in great chunks. I’ll try to resist the urge. For now, I’m going to add one mile to my mid-week run and one mile to my weekend run every seven days. (Yes, that’s a little more than 10%, but I think it’s fine.) When the weekend runs plateau at 16 miles in a couple weeks, I’ll begin adding in a third running day which, at the advice of my doctor, will focus on interval training.

Meanwhile, I’ll continue getting in miles on the bike. I’ve been biking to the gym (5.5 mile round trip) and for errands, but I need to keep adding longer rides when possible. Cycle Oregon is only about two months away!

(The only negative thing about the past week? Since my weight bottomed out at 188, I’ve put on three pounds. Since I resumed exercising, I’ve been ravenous. Maybe Greenman is right — maybe it’s difficult to focus on exercise and weight loss at the same time…)

Next week, I’m going to get my body fat and other stats measured at the gym to see how much progress I’ve really made on the reshaping of my body. I feel firmer, and less flabby, but I’ve definitely still got some work to do on the body sculpting front. We’re going to a swim party on Sunday, and I’m still a little worried about the whole shirt off in public thing, but I’ll gut it out and have a good time.

Meanwhile, some of our colleagues have written some interesting posts this week, here are two that I particularly related to.

Lazy man wrote a nice post about how to get exercise without feeling like your exercising. Go play sports!

Kevin talked about the importance of ramping up your metabolism (naturally)if you want to lose weight and keep it off.

That’s all for today, have a great weekend!

Yesterday at my personal finance blog, I wrote about the importance of ignoring daily stock market fluctuations. Daily movements are meaningless. What’s important is the long-term trend. The same is true with fitness and weight loss.

As regular readers know, it’s very easy for me to get wrapped up in the day-to-day minutia of my diet and workout. I stress over little things. My wife calls me Overanalytical Man, and she doesn’t mean it in a good way. I spend too much time focusing on the details sometimes so that I miss the Big Picture.

There’s been a lot about my fitness regimen that makes me unhappy. I’ve done a good job lifting weights, and during April and May I did several hours of cardio work each week. I’m proud of these accomplishments. But since my thigh injury two weeks ago, I’ve managed just two hours of aerobic activity, all of it on the stationary bike. Until the past few days, my weight had plateaued. I was eating too much, and often not well. I even bought a pack of Sno-Balls last week.

If I wanted to be crazy overanalytical, I could let these setbacks get me down. I’m not going to do that. I want to focus on my achievements instead:

• I’ve lost seventeen pounds.
• I’ve discovered a love for running. I ran 12.62 miles one day. I ran a 10k race. I’ve run 114 miles this year, which is two miles more than I’ve biked!
• I’ve made slow, steady progress with the weights. I’m mostly doing upper body now, having abandoned lower body workouts because they seemed to be interfering with my running. But these upper body workouts are progressing well. I’ve learned to enjoy the long plateaus (and even occasional setbacks). I know that the repetition will make me stronger.
• With Mac, I’ve made a tentative start to this site, sharing what I do and learn with you. Your feedback has been awesome, and has had a tremendous influence on what I’ve done.
• I’ve begun to learn about healthy lifestyles, and how they can be incorporated long-term.

I’m nowhere near perfect. Far from it, as my recent Sno-Ball snack will attest. But I’m making progress. And I have goals.

In the short term, I have an appointment next Monday to have somebody look at my leg. Though I want to be out running, I’m able to take the long view — I know that I need to take care of my body in order for it to continue to be of use to me. Tomorrow this blasted nine-month Oregon winter is supposed to end, which means I can soon focus on cycling. Finally, I’ve spent the past two days re-dedicating myself to small portions of healthy foods.

Although I have bad days, when viewed as a whole my fitness is progressing well.

And today I weigh 190.

In a few short months I’ve gone from absolutely hating running to feeling like I’m missing something when I don’t get my run in for the day. I used to look forward to my days off, and now I only take them because I feel like I need to give my body a break. Sometimes, I even run twice a day.

Some of you may have read that JD and I have been competing this month to see who can run the most miles. We’ve been approaching this contest from two different angles. JD is training for a marathon and so he runs with a training group every Saturday–varying distances around 13 miles. Then, he runs two or so shorter runs a week of about 3 miles. I’ve been running mostly every day–between 3 and 6 miles per day. This month, I ran a total of 83.30 miles at an average pace of 6.36 miles/hour. All month, JD and I have been within a couple of miles of each other, but late last week I realized that the last day of the month was a Saturday. I’d pretty much come to grips with the fact that he was going to win our little competition. But now his quad is hurting and so he won’t be able to make his run on Saturday. So, by default, it looks like I’ll be the winner–it’s no fun winning a competition due to an opponent’s injury so we’ll have to have a rematch when he gets his leg healthy. However, I did learn one thing about running this month. In fact, I learned it twice. Running is a lot more fun when you’ve got something to run for. My 10K race was really fun, and competing with JD for the monthly mileage total was fun too. If I want to keep enjoying my running, I should probably find some more events to train for.

It’s pretty obvious that I concentrated on my cardiovascular fitness this past month. As a result, I didn’t lift weights as much as I wanted to and I didn’t watch my diet as much as I should have. Consequently, I didn’t lose a pound during the month of May. I still weigh 194.4 pounds. Usually, this would be discouraging for me. But I’ve begun to realize that if I lead an active life, I don’t have to count calories to maintain my weight.  This is possibly a life-altering realization for me! If I want to keep dropping the pounds, however, I need to get back on the counting calories wagon.

Because I’m still not at a “healthy weight” for my height, I’m going to shift my focus a bit for the month of June. I’m not going to lose my cardiovascular shape, but I am going to lose four pounds of fat. Here’s how I’m going to do it. I plan on running 3 times per week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I’m going to run 3 miles, 5 miles, and 3 miles respectively for a total of 11 miles per week. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I’m going to hit the weights. I’m also going to strive to count my calories and input them into fitday.com as much as possible. For some reason, this is really hard for me to do . I can never seem to get it done for more than 3 days or so. I need to stay at around 2000 calories/day AND replace the calories burned during my workouts in order to drop four pounds this month. Wish me luck.

Maybe in July JD and I can compete for mileage again. Though I’m not so sure it’s a challenge I want to take on.

1. When I started lifting weights three months ago, my shoulders were weak. They were so weak that it hurt to do even three-pound seated dumbbell raises. Well, my shoulders are still weak, but they’re getting stronger, and the pain has diminished. But I haven’t really been testing them. Today, though, some wise guy had absconded with the 7-1/2 pound weights, which meant that in order to do the dumbbell raises, I had to go far beyond what I’ve normally been lifting. You know what? I did 15 pounds. There was some weakness, sure, but no pain. And I never would have tried if my normal weights had been there.
2. Meanwhile, my left quad has some very real, very intense pain. I still haven’t learned to run properly on hills, and Monday’s race simply exacerbated the problem that had been lingering for ten days. Now walking down the stairs brings stabbing pain. At the gym today, I walked for a mile, and that seemed to help. Then I tried to jog. Nothing doing. I may have to skip this weekend’s marathon training run. I hope not, but it’s certainly a possibility.

One final note: because the gym has been so motivational, I signed up for another three months today. Not frugal, I know, but my philosophy is if it’s getting me in shape, it’s worth the cost. I’m thinking I may actually try the Tuesday and Thursday evening yoga classes. Besides, they gave me a discounted rate this time: they only charged me $32/month instead of $40/month!