That number up there is a bit of serendipity.
I just felt that I needed to make a quick (maybe not so quick) update as far as what I was doing with the nutritarian/unethical-vegan thing and my running progress. Yes, it's definitely been a while.
For the last few months, I've been on the unethical vegan train. I have my rare-and-appropriate Saturdays where I do indulge a bit. Especially breakfast. Need my pancakes, bacon and eggs! But during the week, I don't do too bad. I've simplified my breakfast and lunches by buying a refurbished Vitamix on Amazon. I picked it up for $360, shipped! It's the best thing I've purchased since I purchased my 1972 VW Bug.
My breakfast smoothies consist of the following:
1/2 Quaker oatmeal (Costco size!)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tbls of raw cocao
1 tsp chia seeds
2 tbls hemp seeds
1 tbls almond butter (going to stop this item)
150 grams of frozen spinach/kale/chard
500 mls (or 2 cups) water
I make this the night before and stick it in one of those Hydro Flask 40oz tumblers and in the fridge it goes.
The lunch or dinner smoothie (depends if I'm hungry or not) can be varied. But it close to the following:
2 tbls flax seed
2 tbls almond butter
200 grams spinach/kale/chard
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp pepper
And whatever I have available. Such as:
carrots
celery
broccoli
cauliflower
onion
beets
I will tell you, this stuff cleans you OUT! It a bit TMI, but I feel so much better now than I have before. It sure made training for the Salinas Valley Half Marathon much better and comfortable. I've lost some weight without really focusing on that aspect. But that is about to change now that I no long have to worry about training. I'll still be trying to up my mileage, but main focus will be weight loss. The lighter I am, the better the run!
Training was done with the Salinas Valley Elite running group. It was headed by Coach Z of the Hartnell College track/cross country teams and Coach Rudy of SVE.
As for that 333, that is the number of days that I've continuously run or walked a least a mile a day. It got me ready for the SVHM training group when it began the last week of May. During those ten weeks, the unethical vegan changes helped fuel my training and recovery.
However . . .
I'd experiment with food the night before our Saturday long runs. I should have paid more attention. It would have helped with race day.
Thinking back on my long runs for training, the best ones had been fueled by Chipotle. Or really any vegan burrito loaded with beans, rice and veggies. But I'm blaming Chipotle for my horrible race results. I know I should feel better about it because I was able to complete the race without any nausea or soreness the day after. I was feeling the aches immediately after the race, but the 1/2 mile walk to the shuttles wasn't as excruciating as in years past. I will attribute that to both training and diet.
If I had properly fueled the night before with enough legumes and good carbs, I would not have gassed out just past mile 5. I attempted the 2 minut run, 1 minute walk. That worked for a couple of miles. then I had to go 1/1 . . . then 1/2. By the time I got o mile 11 I was just running whenever my heart would stop racing so bad. My feet were a bit sore, but again, not as bad as years past at that point. MY HIPS . . . my hips were always the worst. I've never NOT had a problem with my hips until this year! Coach Z, you really nailed that part of training. Runners lunges are a godsend!
I'm just disappointed with my nearly 3 hour finish time! IF I had fueled properly, I was expecting under a 2:45 finish. I should have finished under 2:45! But I gassed out. No juice. This truck was running on fumes the rest of the way. I would get a short burst of energy here and there, but it wouldn't last long enough. Sucks.
The race was this past Saturday (August 4th, 2018). Official finish time of 2:57:39. Placed 544th out of 772 runners. Placed 272nd out of 345 men. Placed 27th out of 33 men in my age group (40-44).
Last year, the race was completed with minimal training at 3:47:22.
The 2016 race didn't happen because of the Soberanes fire. Too much smoke.
The 2015 race was completed in 3:12:24.
The 2014 race was completed in 2:55:08.
The 2013 race was my best year when I completed it in 2:19:59. I was down to about 215 lbs that year.
The 2012 race was completed in 2:47:05.
The 2011 race was completed in 3:00:24.
And my first race ever with the training and assistance of the YMCA Salinas Valley Half Marathon training group was completed in 3:24:03. I was about to turn 38 and nearly 300 lbs. I was in excruciating pain. But the buses picked us up at the race finish. No stinking 1/2 mile walk of pain to the shuttle buses.
Ahhhh . . . memories.
GD
p.s.
keep on runnin'
GaUDeNTiUS: Fat Runner
Formerly of experiences of Ubuntu n00bism. Now random postings on learning barefoot form.
Thursday, August 09, 2018
Thursday, May 03, 2018
5 Days as a Nutritarian . . . fail?
So . . .
I started on Sunday and everything was going well. Last night I kinda fell off the wagon . . . kinda.
I went to Chipotle.
I needed something a little more substantial than what I was planning to have that evening, which was gonna be another huge salad with a side of steamed veggies and half a cup of black beans. Yeah, the salad is humongous but it really is low in calories. I was feeling kinda foggy, which I never got when I was following the Slow Carb Diet. After doing a bit more reading, I think I need to re-plan my meals. I'll finish this week as close to what I'm supposed to be doing, but adding a bit more legumes and grains.
As for what happened yesterday with the Chipotle stop? I NEEDED food. I picked up a burrito with brown rice, black beans a double scoop of the mild salsa (love that shit) and guac. It was fantastic!
So what I need to figure out is what to do for dinner. I'm gonna stick with the oatmeal breakfast and monster salad lunch. Below is my "recipe" for breakfast and lunch.
Breakfast
1/2 cup of Quaker Oatmeal
3/4 cup of frozen berries
1 banana
1 cup of unsweetened almond milk.
Breakfast is usually no problem as far as energy. It's after lunch when I start feeling fuzzy-headed.
Lunch
1/2 pound of mixed greens (baby spinach, baby kale)
1/2 pound of mixed veggies (tomato, cucumber, bell peppers)
1/2 pound of steamed veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots)
1/2 cup of black beans
Dinner is where I think I may have been missing some stuff. I was just eating the same thing I was eating at lunch. I needed a hearty meal instead of another monster salad. Though ideally that should be fine. I need to figure out what I need to make for dinner. Need to add some rice or quinoa and more legumes. I do love the Chipotle black beans. I need to look for the clone recipe for those. AND for the brown rice too!
GD
I started on Sunday and everything was going well. Last night I kinda fell off the wagon . . . kinda.
I went to Chipotle.
I needed something a little more substantial than what I was planning to have that evening, which was gonna be another huge salad with a side of steamed veggies and half a cup of black beans. Yeah, the salad is humongous but it really is low in calories. I was feeling kinda foggy, which I never got when I was following the Slow Carb Diet. After doing a bit more reading, I think I need to re-plan my meals. I'll finish this week as close to what I'm supposed to be doing, but adding a bit more legumes and grains.
As for what happened yesterday with the Chipotle stop? I NEEDED food. I picked up a burrito with brown rice, black beans a double scoop of the mild salsa (love that shit) and guac. It was fantastic!
So what I need to figure out is what to do for dinner. I'm gonna stick with the oatmeal breakfast and monster salad lunch. Below is my "recipe" for breakfast and lunch.
Breakfast
1/2 cup of Quaker Oatmeal
3/4 cup of frozen berries
1 banana
1 cup of unsweetened almond milk.
Breakfast is usually no problem as far as energy. It's after lunch when I start feeling fuzzy-headed.
Lunch
1/2 pound of mixed greens (baby spinach, baby kale)
1/2 pound of mixed veggies (tomato, cucumber, bell peppers)
1/2 pound of steamed veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots)
1/2 cup of black beans
Dinner is where I think I may have been missing some stuff. I was just eating the same thing I was eating at lunch. I needed a hearty meal instead of another monster salad. Though ideally that should be fine. I need to figure out what I need to make for dinner. Need to add some rice or quinoa and more legumes. I do love the Chipotle black beans. I need to look for the clone recipe for those. AND for the brown rice too!
GD
Tuesday, May 01, 2018
Hello World! Been a while . . . part II - PLANTS!
Whole food, plant based nutrition.
It pretty much means to eat
like a real vegan. No eggs or dairy. With the added restriction of no oil, added
salts or sugars or processed foods. Limit grains and starchy vegetables, nuts
and avocados. I like the description of being an un-ethical vegan. I’m not
doing this to sympathize with the animals slaughtered for our diet. I’m doing
this for health reasons.
Saturday's will still be "cheat days". As Ray Cronise says,
Rare and Appropriate.
What does that mean? Stick to
the diet.
Except:
- Ideally once a
week, during a 4 hour window, the world is yours. Eat what you want.
- Holidays aren't
often. Eat, but be conscious of it.
- Other special
events, ie birthdays, weddings. Again, be smart about it.
I don't know how close I'll
stick to that 4 hour window, but I probably will not. I'll take Saturday.
Why am I doing this?
#1 Kevin Smith.
He's only three years older than I am. I don't know what his diet has been
like, but I at least have been somewhat conscious of what I was taking in. It
hasn't all been pretty. Like 60 percent of what I've been eating has been
"okay".
#2 Ever since I
got hurt, I've been feeling my age. I'm getting aches and pains that didn't
used to bug me before I got hurt. I think that all goes to diet.
#3 I just need to change
something.
Ray Cronise in one of the podcasts on The No Meat Athlete and/or
Rich Roll says that when we’re younger, we can get away with eating almost
anything. Evolution directed that we take in what fuel we can to make sure we’re
strong enough to spread our seed. Once we get to about 40, evolution is done
with us. We start breaking down. If we want to make sure we have a healthier
lifestyle, we can’t get away with eating junk. We need to start taking in the
right nutrients our body needs to run efficiently.
This is what I’m doing during the week for food:
Breakfast: A cup of
oatmeal with berries and/or bananas
Lunch: 226 grams of greens
(spinach, kale mix),
226 grams of
veggies (tomato, cucumber, celery, bell peppers)
226 grams of steamed veggies (cauliflower,
broccoli, squash, carrots).
Dinner: Same as lunch.
In American numbers, that a pound and a half of food for one meal.
3 pounds a day!
And I’ll tell you, I am so friggin’ STUFFED!
AND IT TAKES SO LONG TO EAT!!!
Luckily I don’t mind bland. But I can see how this kind of diet
could be difficult for someone. One of the things I do like is that fruit is
encouraged. Actually, they are unlimited, but 4 pieces minimum recommended. But
still need to eat the other stuff first. Damn, that’s gonna be hard.
There’s a bunch of other stuff I’m missing, but the gist of it is
all here. I hope it goes well.
GD
Monday, April 30, 2018
Hello World! Been a while . . .
This whole trying to be healthy thing is hard!
I was on the wagon with the 4-Hour Body thing and that worked great. Then I fell off and gained half of what I lost! The fat I gained back was bad food choices and no running. My excuses were that I got really sick (I did, horrible month-long flu or something) and comfort food. BAD COMBO!
Then I started dragging my feet trying to get BACK on the wagon, by beginning to run at least a mile a day beginning September 10th, 2017. I've kept at it and was making big improvements up until about February when I screwed something up in my ankle and couldn't run. I could barely walk, but I continued walking at least a mile a day.
Here we are at the end of April, and I'm able to walk at least 3 miles with some discomfort. I can probably go further and I will try next weekend. As for diet . . .
As we should all know, weight loss starts in the kitchen. That was why I had been on 4HB. I re-learned about Ray Cronise again. Cronise was mentioned in the 4HB book when talking about maximizing weight loss with Cold Thermogenesis. The way it was explained, was using Michael Phelps as an example. When training, Phelps was eating 12K calories a day. There was no way he should have been as fit looking as he was eating all that. However, with some self experimentation, Cronise figured out that because Phelps was training in water that was at a lower temp than body-temp, he was expending more energy (calories) just by being in cold water for hours on end.
Juliana Hever wrote a book a while book called The Idiots Guide to The Plant Based Nutrition. She recently rewrote it with Ray Cronise under Idiots Guide: Plant Based Nutrition. The forward was written by Penn Jillette. PJ is one half the magician duo of Penn & Teller. He also dropped a crap-ton (actual unit of measure BTW) weight following a drastic diet plan by Cronise. He did it because he had a 98% occlusion of the Widow Maker artery of the heart.
And all this whole preamble started because of . . .
Kevin Smith.
On February 25th, Kevin Smith was shooting a new stand-up special for Showtime that is now set to air May 11th. He was going to do two shows. But from the story that I've now heard numerous times through the several Smodcast podcasts he has, he wasn't feeling too well. He was sweating profusely, nausea , couldn't get a full breath and it felt like something was on his chest. As the symptoms got worse (never painful, mind you), it was decided that the second show needed to be cancelled. As he's being checked out by the paramedics, they find that he's having a massive heart attack.
They get him to the ER, and Dr Daniel Eisenberg shoved a stent through his groin (femoral artery) and opened up the Left Anterior Artery with a stent. It was 100% blocked. Kevin said as soon as it opened up, it made a HUGE difference on how he felt. One thing that was kind of funny during this event was that Kevin was pretty blown (as in using the wacky tabacky, the devils lettuce . . . pot). The doctor asked him how he was so calm and Kevin pretty much told him he was high. The doctor then tells Kevin that's probably what saved him. I'm pretty much straight edge, but I have been reconsidering that lifestyle decision. My one vice is alcohol, bear and whiskey.
Kevin received the same advice all doctors give when one is overweight and nearly died of a heart attack. Lose a crap-ton of weight. I can't recall who got a hold of whom, but Penn gave Kevin Ray Cronise info. Kevin followed (is following) CrayRay's (Penn's nickname for Ray) diet plan and lost at least 30 pounds as of today.
Whole food, plant based nutrition.
. . . to be continued . . .
I was on the wagon with the 4-Hour Body thing and that worked great. Then I fell off and gained half of what I lost! The fat I gained back was bad food choices and no running. My excuses were that I got really sick (I did, horrible month-long flu or something) and comfort food. BAD COMBO!
Then I started dragging my feet trying to get BACK on the wagon, by beginning to run at least a mile a day beginning September 10th, 2017. I've kept at it and was making big improvements up until about February when I screwed something up in my ankle and couldn't run. I could barely walk, but I continued walking at least a mile a day.
Here we are at the end of April, and I'm able to walk at least 3 miles with some discomfort. I can probably go further and I will try next weekend. As for diet . . .
As we should all know, weight loss starts in the kitchen. That was why I had been on 4HB. I re-learned about Ray Cronise again. Cronise was mentioned in the 4HB book when talking about maximizing weight loss with Cold Thermogenesis. The way it was explained, was using Michael Phelps as an example. When training, Phelps was eating 12K calories a day. There was no way he should have been as fit looking as he was eating all that. However, with some self experimentation, Cronise figured out that because Phelps was training in water that was at a lower temp than body-temp, he was expending more energy (calories) just by being in cold water for hours on end.
Juliana Hever wrote a book a while book called The Idiots Guide to The Plant Based Nutrition. She recently rewrote it with Ray Cronise under Idiots Guide: Plant Based Nutrition. The forward was written by Penn Jillette. PJ is one half the magician duo of Penn & Teller. He also dropped a crap-ton (actual unit of measure BTW) weight following a drastic diet plan by Cronise. He did it because he had a 98% occlusion of the Widow Maker artery of the heart.
And all this whole preamble started because of . . .
Kevin Smith.
On February 25th, Kevin Smith was shooting a new stand-up special for Showtime that is now set to air May 11th. He was going to do two shows. But from the story that I've now heard numerous times through the several Smodcast podcasts he has, he wasn't feeling too well. He was sweating profusely, nausea , couldn't get a full breath and it felt like something was on his chest. As the symptoms got worse (never painful, mind you), it was decided that the second show needed to be cancelled. As he's being checked out by the paramedics, they find that he's having a massive heart attack.
They get him to the ER, and Dr Daniel Eisenberg shoved a stent through his groin (femoral artery) and opened up the Left Anterior Artery with a stent. It was 100% blocked. Kevin said as soon as it opened up, it made a HUGE difference on how he felt. One thing that was kind of funny during this event was that Kevin was pretty blown (as in using the wacky tabacky, the devils lettuce . . . pot). The doctor asked him how he was so calm and Kevin pretty much told him he was high. The doctor then tells Kevin that's probably what saved him. I'm pretty much straight edge, but I have been reconsidering that lifestyle decision. My one vice is alcohol, bear and whiskey.
Kevin received the same advice all doctors give when one is overweight and nearly died of a heart attack. Lose a crap-ton of weight. I can't recall who got a hold of whom, but Penn gave Kevin Ray Cronise info. Kevin followed (is following) CrayRay's (Penn's nickname for Ray) diet plan and lost at least 30 pounds as of today.
Whole food, plant based nutrition.
. . . to be continued . . .
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
MAD 33 01/13/2016
Hello.
You may know me from my other promises that I haven't been able to keep.
Well, I am here to tell you that I am not making any promises . . . maybe.
Okay, I am. But only to myself. I need to. I gained back the fluff I lost before my nearly year-long hiatus from running. I am back to nearly 260 POUNDS! Do you know how that looks on a five foot six frame??? It's not pretty, I tell ya!
I didn't want to post anything until I had at least a months worth of daily runs on the calendar. So here's a bit of what's been going on:
As you know, holidays can be hell when trying to do something healthy. There's food EVERYWHERE! So I'm fairly certain I gained some 10 pounds of fluff between Thanksgiving and Christmas. No matter.
I attempted several times last year to get my streak going again. My best go at it was in August with a whole 18 days of running. Then . . . I can't tell you what happened. I must have made some sort of excuse to not continue on. Probably plantar fasciitis looking back at my mileage. Way too much too soon there. After that, I had a week or two every month of runs. Not pretty.
But leading up to December, I made a plan. And it was a (key word) SENSIBLE plan. I was going to begin running like I was a n00b. I know myself and what I'm capable of . . . realistically. I signed up for the Jingle Bell Run in Pacific Grove. It was a 5K event that I knew I'd be able to complete. It's only three miles. I can walk it if I need to. Plenty of walkers in that run. I was fine with that. I didn't want to walk, but I knew I would if I was dying.
I didn't die.
My official time for that run was 37:13. I forgot to shut off my watch for a couple of minutes and my watch showed 39:58. I was getting blood back into my brain. I was slow as fuck, but I didn't stop (only to pick up the Christmas tree that had fallen over at our turn-around point.
I took my godson. He's 14 and doesn't do SHIT but play on his XBox all fucking day and he finished in about 24 minutes . . . asshole.
Anyway . . . I got back on the Mile A Day (MAD) wagon. When I go for my run this evening, I'll be on MAD 33. I'll try to update my DailyMile log with all my runs so far and attempt to keep track of the runs there too. I already have them tracked by my TomTom Runner watch and app, as well as the Nike Run app on my iPhone 5S. I love that I can upload my runs through bluetooth from my watch to phone.
One thing that I've been doing as well is including walks. I'm still walking about a mile, so technically the Mile A Day still applies. I'm doing a couple of walks a week. But they're not easy. There's a trail where I work that has a tortuous climb. I hate it when I'm running, but love it as a walk. It really works those hip flexors! And with all the rains we're gonna be getting, we'll begin seeing all those funky mushrooms we haven't seen in a while. I've already found some Witches Butter and fresh Hairy Curtain Crust.
I've gotta figure out how to link my Instagram on here.
I started with a mile. Right now, I'm up to a mile and a half. Sometime this week (next week?) I've got to kick it up to two miles. So far, this slow increase has really helped in preventing any foot injury funkiness.
AND I'm having fun doing it!
Isn't that what this whole running thing is supposed to be about?
GD
p.s.
i got to buy new running shoes. i'm now sporting the vibram fivefingers bikila evo's!
You may know me from my other promises that I haven't been able to keep.
Well, I am here to tell you that I am not making any promises . . . maybe.
Okay, I am. But only to myself. I need to. I gained back the fluff I lost before my nearly year-long hiatus from running. I am back to nearly 260 POUNDS! Do you know how that looks on a five foot six frame??? It's not pretty, I tell ya!
I didn't want to post anything until I had at least a months worth of daily runs on the calendar. So here's a bit of what's been going on:
As you know, holidays can be hell when trying to do something healthy. There's food EVERYWHERE! So I'm fairly certain I gained some 10 pounds of fluff between Thanksgiving and Christmas. No matter.
I attempted several times last year to get my streak going again. My best go at it was in August with a whole 18 days of running. Then . . . I can't tell you what happened. I must have made some sort of excuse to not continue on. Probably plantar fasciitis looking back at my mileage. Way too much too soon there. After that, I had a week or two every month of runs. Not pretty.
But leading up to December, I made a plan. And it was a (key word) SENSIBLE plan. I was going to begin running like I was a n00b. I know myself and what I'm capable of . . . realistically. I signed up for the Jingle Bell Run in Pacific Grove. It was a 5K event that I knew I'd be able to complete. It's only three miles. I can walk it if I need to. Plenty of walkers in that run. I was fine with that. I didn't want to walk, but I knew I would if I was dying.
I didn't die.
My official time for that run was 37:13. I forgot to shut off my watch for a couple of minutes and my watch showed 39:58. I was getting blood back into my brain. I was slow as fuck, but I didn't stop (only to pick up the Christmas tree that had fallen over at our turn-around point.
I took my godson. He's 14 and doesn't do SHIT but play on his XBox all fucking day and he finished in about 24 minutes . . . asshole.
Anyway . . . I got back on the Mile A Day (MAD) wagon. When I go for my run this evening, I'll be on MAD 33. I'll try to update my DailyMile log with all my runs so far and attempt to keep track of the runs there too. I already have them tracked by my TomTom Runner watch and app, as well as the Nike Run app on my iPhone 5S. I love that I can upload my runs through bluetooth from my watch to phone.
One thing that I've been doing as well is including walks. I'm still walking about a mile, so technically the Mile A Day still applies. I'm doing a couple of walks a week. But they're not easy. There's a trail where I work that has a tortuous climb. I hate it when I'm running, but love it as a walk. It really works those hip flexors! And with all the rains we're gonna be getting, we'll begin seeing all those funky mushrooms we haven't seen in a while. I've already found some Witches Butter and fresh Hairy Curtain Crust.
I've gotta figure out how to link my Instagram on here.
I started with a mile. Right now, I'm up to a mile and a half. Sometime this week (next week?) I've got to kick it up to two miles. So far, this slow increase has really helped in preventing any foot injury funkiness.
AND I'm having fun doing it!
Isn't that what this whole running thing is supposed to be about?
GD
p.s.
i got to buy new running shoes. i'm now sporting the vibram fivefingers bikila evo's!
Thursday, February 06, 2014
The DRC is DONE!
For anyone who actually reads this blog, I haven't posted in a while. I suck at updating this thing.
I think the last time I posted was in September of 2013 and it was about my helping my cousin move to southern California.
Since then, I'd been doing pretty good with the Daily Run Challenge (DRC) I had begun back when Trisha Reeves of Barefoot Monologues first proposed it back in June of 2012.
When I first started the challenge, I didn't think I'd even make it past the first month. I thought I would eventually just tire of it and quit after the 30 days were done. I kept up with it until I got horribly sick this past January and finally put my toe shoes up for the day and slept all day.
I ran at LEAST a mile every single day from June 4th, 2012 until my last consecutive day on January 13, 2014.
That was 1 year, 7 months and 10 days of running at least a mile a day.
589 consecutive days of running at least a mile a day.
243 hours, 35 minutes and 45.6 seconds running.
I averaged a running pace of 10 minutes and 26 seconds during that period of time.
I'm sad that it's over. But kind of relieved. I don't have the pressure of it sitting on me anymore. It's not that I was accountable to anyone else, but with my OCD it bugged the crap outta me that I hadn't run yet if it was late in the evening. Now that I broke that cycle, I can now have a more manageable training schedule I can keep . . . not that I've started one yet.
I'm still kinda in recovery mode right now from that horrible flu. I haven't been laid out like that in at least 10 years. I think a part of it is (unfortunately) a challenge I undertook that I was nowhere near ready for. On Instagram, I follow a gentleman who's handle is @oldguyrunning. This guy truly is an inspiration. He has pushed himself to a level I would like to (kinda) reach eventually. He started running probably about the same time I began on my running challenge, but he was further behind than I was. I had already had a half marathon under my belt and had been running about a year. He was at the level I was when I first began running. The barely able to breath stage after running a couple of minutes.
Okay, I take that back. Just looking at his Instagram post, he had already begun getting healthier and had been a gym-rat before he took up running. He had made a significant improvement in his health. His first run was a 3.39 miler with a 20:12 minute pace. He was disappointed that he had to stop several times. But look at that jerk now (if you're reading this Bart, I'm using it as a term of endearment).
He has a bucket list that consists of 3 half marathons (which he's completed), 3 marathons (2 of which he has under his belt), 3 50K's and 3 100 milers. I don't even want ONE marathon under my belt. I just want to be able to run a whole HALF marathon!
Anyway, he has a list of monthly challenges under the hash tag of #challengeville on Instagram. They are challenges one (usually) begins at the beginning of the month. He has recommended training days for each one, but I'll just give you the basic info:
Time Fighter: 48 Miles
Tin Man: 93.3 Miles (I think this was the birth of the Challengeville)
Bigfoot: 150 Miles (more on this)
Madman: 200 Miles
Psyco-Lex: 250 Miles
Traveling Man: 300
I can't rightly recall, but I think I may have started with the Tin Man. I was already running about 3 miles a day so I figured it wouldn't be too difficult. I was dropping off the brat to her cheer coaching gig and I'd go for a run in the meantime while she was there. At the time, 3 miles was nothing. Now, it's a fight.
Anyway, the reason I think I may have got laid out was because I had decided to go for the next rung in the Challengeville ladder, the Bigfoot. With my running everyday, that would call for 5 mile days. In the 13 days that I ran that challenge, I completed 66.73 miles. I don't even want to get into pace because by the first week, I was getting really worked over. And by the end of the 2nd week, I was done. I think I may have weakened my body to the point where I was not getting stronger because I wasn't allowing any recovery time on these relatively long run days.
When I finally put my shoes up, I was dead to the world. That first day of not running, I didn't care. I was out most of the day. I only had some water, juice and a bowl of chicken soup. The next day, I kinda felt relieved that I didn't have to run every day anymore, but kinda sad that I wasn't able to complete the Bigfoot. I'm going to have to start all over again with Challengeville.
With the time we have left for this month, I can probably do the Time Fighter. And next month attempt the Tin Man again. I'll probably follow the training plan Bart has for it too. I don't need to run every day anymore. Having a day off to recover sounds good to me.
GD
p.s.
too busy to check, i wanna keep runnin'
I think the last time I posted was in September of 2013 and it was about my helping my cousin move to southern California.
Since then, I'd been doing pretty good with the Daily Run Challenge (DRC) I had begun back when Trisha Reeves of Barefoot Monologues first proposed it back in June of 2012.
When I first started the challenge, I didn't think I'd even make it past the first month. I thought I would eventually just tire of it and quit after the 30 days were done. I kept up with it until I got horribly sick this past January and finally put my toe shoes up for the day and slept all day.
I ran at LEAST a mile every single day from June 4th, 2012 until my last consecutive day on January 13, 2014.
That was 1 year, 7 months and 10 days of running at least a mile a day.
589 consecutive days of running at least a mile a day.
243 hours, 35 minutes and 45.6 seconds running.
I averaged a running pace of 10 minutes and 26 seconds during that period of time.
I'm sad that it's over. But kind of relieved. I don't have the pressure of it sitting on me anymore. It's not that I was accountable to anyone else, but with my OCD it bugged the crap outta me that I hadn't run yet if it was late in the evening. Now that I broke that cycle, I can now have a more manageable training schedule I can keep . . . not that I've started one yet.
I'm still kinda in recovery mode right now from that horrible flu. I haven't been laid out like that in at least 10 years. I think a part of it is (unfortunately) a challenge I undertook that I was nowhere near ready for. On Instagram, I follow a gentleman who's handle is @oldguyrunning. This guy truly is an inspiration. He has pushed himself to a level I would like to (kinda) reach eventually. He started running probably about the same time I began on my running challenge, but he was further behind than I was. I had already had a half marathon under my belt and had been running about a year. He was at the level I was when I first began running. The barely able to breath stage after running a couple of minutes.
Okay, I take that back. Just looking at his Instagram post, he had already begun getting healthier and had been a gym-rat before he took up running. He had made a significant improvement in his health. His first run was a 3.39 miler with a 20:12 minute pace. He was disappointed that he had to stop several times. But look at that jerk now (if you're reading this Bart, I'm using it as a term of endearment).
He has a bucket list that consists of 3 half marathons (which he's completed), 3 marathons (2 of which he has under his belt), 3 50K's and 3 100 milers. I don't even want ONE marathon under my belt. I just want to be able to run a whole HALF marathon!
Anyway, he has a list of monthly challenges under the hash tag of #challengeville on Instagram. They are challenges one (usually) begins at the beginning of the month. He has recommended training days for each one, but I'll just give you the basic info:
Time Fighter: 48 Miles
Tin Man: 93.3 Miles (I think this was the birth of the Challengeville)
Bigfoot: 150 Miles (more on this)
Madman: 200 Miles
Psyco-Lex: 250 Miles
Traveling Man: 300
I can't rightly recall, but I think I may have started with the Tin Man. I was already running about 3 miles a day so I figured it wouldn't be too difficult. I was dropping off the brat to her cheer coaching gig and I'd go for a run in the meantime while she was there. At the time, 3 miles was nothing. Now, it's a fight.
Anyway, the reason I think I may have got laid out was because I had decided to go for the next rung in the Challengeville ladder, the Bigfoot. With my running everyday, that would call for 5 mile days. In the 13 days that I ran that challenge, I completed 66.73 miles. I don't even want to get into pace because by the first week, I was getting really worked over. And by the end of the 2nd week, I was done. I think I may have weakened my body to the point where I was not getting stronger because I wasn't allowing any recovery time on these relatively long run days.
When I finally put my shoes up, I was dead to the world. That first day of not running, I didn't care. I was out most of the day. I only had some water, juice and a bowl of chicken soup. The next day, I kinda felt relieved that I didn't have to run every day anymore, but kinda sad that I wasn't able to complete the Bigfoot. I'm going to have to start all over again with Challengeville.
With the time we have left for this month, I can probably do the Time Fighter. And next month attempt the Tin Man again. I'll probably follow the training plan Bart has for it too. I don't need to run every day anymore. Having a day off to recover sounds good to me.
GD
p.s.
too busy to check, i wanna keep runnin'
Thursday, September 26, 2013
30+ DRC Day 479
I'm not making ANY MORE PROMISES!
I keep saying I'm gonna stick regular to this blog and I never do. Oh well. I'll take it as I go.
So the last time I posted anything I gave a post-race report of the SVMH and mentioned something called the Tin Man Challenge that OldGuyRunning on Instagram posted up. I took up the challenge and completed it.
The challenge called for having completed 93.3 miles in a month.
I ran 104.56 miles in August. I'd say I did fairly well. September isn't looking too well right now, but I'm gonna see how well I do. I'm not trying the challenge again, but I am trying to keep my single mile runs to a minimum. I'm trying to get at least 20 miles in a week.
Week 1: 21.2
Week 2: 21.2
Week 3: 15.8 (story time in a bit)
Week 4: 12.1 . . .
If I just run 3 miles in the next couple of days, I'll make my goal. But I want to have at least a 6 mile run on Saturday, so that should push me over to 24 miles for this week . . . kinda making up what happened last week.
Speaking of which . . .
Last week was almost normal:
Monday, I wasn't feeling to well and kept it short hoping to make it up later in the week with a longer run.
Tuesday, I left work to go pick up the brat for her cheer coaching gig and went for my run (4 miles).
Wednesday, the same as Tuesday except I ran 3 miles.
Thursday, ditto, but ran 4 miles.
Friday . . . Friday . . .
Friday was an adventure, to say the least. One of my cousins was moving to Glendale in Southern California. Near Burbank and LA and all that fancy crap I can do without. I hate LA. It's a nice place to visit, but you better be a pedestrian or a cyclist if you want to get anywhere if you live there.
I woke up relatively early to get my run out of the way because I was gonna help him and his family move. I kept it short and ran 1.5 miles around the neighborhood. Jumped in the shower and headed out after to pick up the brat to drop her off at school. I grabbed bad food for breakfast (Carls Jr. Biscuit Sausage, Egg and Cheese sammich and an OJ) and headed out to my cuzzos.
He had already made arrangements to pick up a U-Haul and off we went in his little 2007 Chevy Aveo. He special ordered this thing stripped down to the basics. Manual everything . . . except the transmission. I wish I'd known the history of this car before agreeing to driving this beater. He'd done all the fluid changes and he said it was ready to go . . . ugh.
The car felt a bit weird and loose, but I just figured it was just me noticing the differences between this car and mine. We got back to his pad with the truck and loaded her up in about 3 hours (with a LOT of nagging from my aunt on how to load it). We stuck around for a bit and had lunch and then we rolled out.
He had asked if I had two-way radios to use for the trip. A bit better than cell phones and cheaper for him because he is weird and has one of those AT&T pay as you go phones. The radios would end up being a godsend.
We left Salinas around noon or so and drove the stinkin' speed limit. We made it to Paso Robles then took the 46 to Lost Hills. In Lost Hills, we made a pit stop and grabbed some refreshments. I smelled something, but I figured it was all the trucks driving around. We left there and jumped onto Interstate 5 and were still driving the stinkin speed limit.
And did you know that in the state of California you have to go through the state weigh stations? I didn't, but my cousin asked the U Haul guy. I followed him through the exit thinking that there would be a bypass or something for cars . . . nope. I had to follow him through sheepishly. I had the windows rolled down and still smelled something weird. But I was surrounded by monster trucks and pushed it out of my nagging mind.
Once we passed the weigh station, we began the climb up the I5 Grapevine. I kept smelling something, but it smelled sweet, like radiator fluid. Then I'd get that weird fishy smell, too. Again, I thought it was all the trucks making the climb or going into the valleys of the mountain. It wasn't strong because I was driving with the window open.
About 15 miles before Castaic . . . it happened. The transmission took a dump . . . literally. I was cruising along just fine, then the engine red-lined. I let go of the gas, shifted into neutral and it slowed to about 30 (luckily not much traffic and moved to the truck lane) and tried to put it in Drive again. No go. I radioed my cousin and let him know the car dropped it's transmission or something. I still had enough momentum to pull off to the side of the road and park.
He pulled off about a quarter mile in front of me and asked if the car would move at ALL. I tried it and it caught. I was able to drive to him. At that moment a tow truck pulled up. Apparently it's a state provided tow truck to pull cars off the dangerous highway. We popped the hood and checked the transmission dipstick.
Bone dry.
I looked under the car and it was greasy, but nothing was pouring or dripping out. I figured all the shit I was smelling was the transmission fluid spilling out. The tow truck driver kindly got us to the next rest stop (that was closed to remodeling, lucky us) and let us know the next town over was Castaic and about a 15 minute drive.
We pondered getting a trailer hitch for the U Haul to tow the car on, but he wanted to try getting some fluid into the car first. I was a bit peeved, but okay. We headed out to Castaic and along the way he proceeds to inform me that the replacement transmission appears to be faulty . . . that luckily he has a warranty on it and that he just needs to find out how to get it serviced.
Both him and his wife were oblivious to my seething, silent anger. If I'd known about the transmission, I would've been checking every so often along the way.
We got to an AutoZone in Castaic and got 3 quarts of fluid and a quart of some transmission stop-leak stuff. Didn't work, but may have helped some. After pouring one in, the stick still read bone dry. Loaded another, and it was just hitting the tip. One more and just a bit more on the stick. Started her up and tried her out.
She lost 4th gear. We drove ALL THE WAY TO GLENDALE AT 50 MILES PER HOUR!
She was at 5000 RPM's all the way til we got off the highway. By the time we got to a gas station there, we looked under the car and she looked like a stuck pig. Tranny fluid rapidly dripping out. We hurried to his new apartment.
Anger inducing moment number 2: He found an old apartment in great neighborhood . . . with no parking garage. Parking literally is at a premium. People that have driveway or something will rent out their spot to people that will pay! We found a spot for his tiny car, but the U Haul we had to park at the local college about a 10 minute walk away from his new home.
Oh! And did I tell you he mentioned NOTHING about getting a second story apartment?! His door is on the ground floor and I was like "Cool! It won't be so bad!"
Then he opened the door.
There is a stairway/hall directly in front of the door going to the rest of his apartment. How fun!
Anyway. What should have been a nice 5 hour and change drive ended us arriving at his pad at around 9:30 at night! So almost twice as long as it should'a.
One thing I'll say is that his neighborhood is NICE! Something you won't see in Salinas is people walking their dogs or having an evening stroll with all the family. It was odd, but comforting.
But this might explain everything:
I felt much safer when I realized BA would be watching my back!
Once we got a late BK dinner and parked the truck, we headed back at some and then made plans for the next day. I asked him what time he wanted to get started. I had already mapped out a route around his neighborhood for a 3 mile run in the morning. He said he wanted to start at 6am . . .
There went my plans for the run. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep right away as I was still a bit jazzed from the drive. But once I changed into some shorts and curled myself around the blankets we brought in, I was out! I woke up around 5:45 and got ready to begin the move. I stepped out the room and I heard not a peep from his room. Dammit.
I debated changing into my running gear and heading out. Once decided, I changed and as I was about to head out he stepped out of the room and went to the bathroom. Crap. I went back and changed again and waited . . .
and waited . . .
and waited.
He was in there a half hour or so! It was nearly 7 when he finally stepped out and went back to his room. I expected him to step out again to get started. Nope. He went back to sleep. Fuck.
I didn't get to run in Glendale. He finally got up around 8am and we headed out to the truck and grabbed some breakfast. Here's a weird thing about this part of Glendale, Starbucks are few and far between. You want coffee? Go to a fast food joint or a doughnut shop. Umm, no. I wanted a COFFEE shop. Nobody we asked knew one close by. I Googled one, but it was 10 minutes away. I made do without coffee.
The whole moving thing was okay. One thing I learned is that I am awesome! Whereas my cousin and his wife were dying going up and down the stairs, I was practically running with all the crap we were unloading. All that running he was making fun of me for was paying off . . . or he was taking advantage of me . . . bastard!
No, he WAS dying. Everytime we moved something big and cumbersome and we finally got to the top step, he needed a breather. He was red as fuck and sweating up a storm. I was sweating, but I was doing okay. I guess this made up for not running . . . not really. I really wanted to run.
In total, I think we got everything off the truck in a couple of hours. It's easier to destroy than make. We hydrated, showered and waited for his sister to arrive with his OTHER car. We headed out from his apartment around 1, dropped off the truck at the local U Haul place and went to a pizza place we hadn't seen since our childhood when Salinas used to have one, Shakey's Pizza Parlour.
That's where it should'a stayed. The pizza was edible, like Chuck E. Cheese's pizza, but the Mojo's haven't changed. Those were still great. The thing they've added is the fried chicken. Greasy as fuck! But tasty.
Hey, I was hungry!
We left Glendale around 3 and made it to Salinas by 8:30. I got home and went for my run after taking care of some stuff, showered and crashed out.
Sunday was football for the brats cheer squad. Luckily, it was just her game and part of the Midgets. My Browns won, so it was a good Sunday.
The rest of this week has been relatively uneventful aside from my runs.
I think that's all for now. I'm tired and I need a nap. Just reliving those two days got me tired.
I make no promises, but maybe I'll be more up to date with this blog . . . HA!
GD
p.s.
to beat to check. run smiley :)
I keep saying I'm gonna stick regular to this blog and I never do. Oh well. I'll take it as I go.
So the last time I posted anything I gave a post-race report of the SVMH and mentioned something called the Tin Man Challenge that OldGuyRunning on Instagram posted up. I took up the challenge and completed it.
The challenge called for having completed 93.3 miles in a month.
I ran 104.56 miles in August. I'd say I did fairly well. September isn't looking too well right now, but I'm gonna see how well I do. I'm not trying the challenge again, but I am trying to keep my single mile runs to a minimum. I'm trying to get at least 20 miles in a week.
Week 1: 21.2
Week 2: 21.2
Week 3: 15.8 (story time in a bit)
Week 4: 12.1 . . .
If I just run 3 miles in the next couple of days, I'll make my goal. But I want to have at least a 6 mile run on Saturday, so that should push me over to 24 miles for this week . . . kinda making up what happened last week.
Speaking of which . . .
Last week was almost normal:
Monday, I wasn't feeling to well and kept it short hoping to make it up later in the week with a longer run.
Tuesday, I left work to go pick up the brat for her cheer coaching gig and went for my run (4 miles).
Wednesday, the same as Tuesday except I ran 3 miles.
Thursday, ditto, but ran 4 miles.
Friday . . . Friday . . .
Friday was an adventure, to say the least. One of my cousins was moving to Glendale in Southern California. Near Burbank and LA and all that fancy crap I can do without. I hate LA. It's a nice place to visit, but you better be a pedestrian or a cyclist if you want to get anywhere if you live there.
I woke up relatively early to get my run out of the way because I was gonna help him and his family move. I kept it short and ran 1.5 miles around the neighborhood. Jumped in the shower and headed out after to pick up the brat to drop her off at school. I grabbed bad food for breakfast (Carls Jr. Biscuit Sausage, Egg and Cheese sammich and an OJ) and headed out to my cuzzos.
He had already made arrangements to pick up a U-Haul and off we went in his little 2007 Chevy Aveo. He special ordered this thing stripped down to the basics. Manual everything . . . except the transmission. I wish I'd known the history of this car before agreeing to driving this beater. He'd done all the fluid changes and he said it was ready to go . . . ugh.
The car felt a bit weird and loose, but I just figured it was just me noticing the differences between this car and mine. We got back to his pad with the truck and loaded her up in about 3 hours (with a LOT of nagging from my aunt on how to load it). We stuck around for a bit and had lunch and then we rolled out.
He had asked if I had two-way radios to use for the trip. A bit better than cell phones and cheaper for him because he is weird and has one of those AT&T pay as you go phones. The radios would end up being a godsend.
We left Salinas around noon or so and drove the stinkin' speed limit. We made it to Paso Robles then took the 46 to Lost Hills. In Lost Hills, we made a pit stop and grabbed some refreshments. I smelled something, but I figured it was all the trucks driving around. We left there and jumped onto Interstate 5 and were still driving the stinkin speed limit.
And did you know that in the state of California you have to go through the state weigh stations? I didn't, but my cousin asked the U Haul guy. I followed him through the exit thinking that there would be a bypass or something for cars . . . nope. I had to follow him through sheepishly. I had the windows rolled down and still smelled something weird. But I was surrounded by monster trucks and pushed it out of my nagging mind.
Once we passed the weigh station, we began the climb up the I5 Grapevine. I kept smelling something, but it smelled sweet, like radiator fluid. Then I'd get that weird fishy smell, too. Again, I thought it was all the trucks making the climb or going into the valleys of the mountain. It wasn't strong because I was driving with the window open.
About 15 miles before Castaic . . . it happened. The transmission took a dump . . . literally. I was cruising along just fine, then the engine red-lined. I let go of the gas, shifted into neutral and it slowed to about 30 (luckily not much traffic and moved to the truck lane) and tried to put it in Drive again. No go. I radioed my cousin and let him know the car dropped it's transmission or something. I still had enough momentum to pull off to the side of the road and park.
He pulled off about a quarter mile in front of me and asked if the car would move at ALL. I tried it and it caught. I was able to drive to him. At that moment a tow truck pulled up. Apparently it's a state provided tow truck to pull cars off the dangerous highway. We popped the hood and checked the transmission dipstick.
Bone dry.
I looked under the car and it was greasy, but nothing was pouring or dripping out. I figured all the shit I was smelling was the transmission fluid spilling out. The tow truck driver kindly got us to the next rest stop (that was closed to remodeling, lucky us) and let us know the next town over was Castaic and about a 15 minute drive.
We pondered getting a trailer hitch for the U Haul to tow the car on, but he wanted to try getting some fluid into the car first. I was a bit peeved, but okay. We headed out to Castaic and along the way he proceeds to inform me that the replacement transmission appears to be faulty . . . that luckily he has a warranty on it and that he just needs to find out how to get it serviced.
Both him and his wife were oblivious to my seething, silent anger. If I'd known about the transmission, I would've been checking every so often along the way.
We got to an AutoZone in Castaic and got 3 quarts of fluid and a quart of some transmission stop-leak stuff. Didn't work, but may have helped some. After pouring one in, the stick still read bone dry. Loaded another, and it was just hitting the tip. One more and just a bit more on the stick. Started her up and tried her out.
She lost 4th gear. We drove ALL THE WAY TO GLENDALE AT 50 MILES PER HOUR!
She was at 5000 RPM's all the way til we got off the highway. By the time we got to a gas station there, we looked under the car and she looked like a stuck pig. Tranny fluid rapidly dripping out. We hurried to his new apartment.
Anger inducing moment number 2: He found an old apartment in great neighborhood . . . with no parking garage. Parking literally is at a premium. People that have driveway or something will rent out their spot to people that will pay! We found a spot for his tiny car, but the U Haul we had to park at the local college about a 10 minute walk away from his new home.
Oh! And did I tell you he mentioned NOTHING about getting a second story apartment?! His door is on the ground floor and I was like "Cool! It won't be so bad!"
Then he opened the door.
There is a stairway/hall directly in front of the door going to the rest of his apartment. How fun!
Anyway. What should have been a nice 5 hour and change drive ended us arriving at his pad at around 9:30 at night! So almost twice as long as it should'a.
One thing I'll say is that his neighborhood is NICE! Something you won't see in Salinas is people walking their dogs or having an evening stroll with all the family. It was odd, but comforting.
But this might explain everything:
I felt much safer when I realized BA would be watching my back!
Once we got a late BK dinner and parked the truck, we headed back at some and then made plans for the next day. I asked him what time he wanted to get started. I had already mapped out a route around his neighborhood for a 3 mile run in the morning. He said he wanted to start at 6am . . .
There went my plans for the run. I didn't think I'd be able to sleep right away as I was still a bit jazzed from the drive. But once I changed into some shorts and curled myself around the blankets we brought in, I was out! I woke up around 5:45 and got ready to begin the move. I stepped out the room and I heard not a peep from his room. Dammit.
I debated changing into my running gear and heading out. Once decided, I changed and as I was about to head out he stepped out of the room and went to the bathroom. Crap. I went back and changed again and waited . . .
and waited . . .
and waited.
He was in there a half hour or so! It was nearly 7 when he finally stepped out and went back to his room. I expected him to step out again to get started. Nope. He went back to sleep. Fuck.
I didn't get to run in Glendale. He finally got up around 8am and we headed out to the truck and grabbed some breakfast. Here's a weird thing about this part of Glendale, Starbucks are few and far between. You want coffee? Go to a fast food joint or a doughnut shop. Umm, no. I wanted a COFFEE shop. Nobody we asked knew one close by. I Googled one, but it was 10 minutes away. I made do without coffee.
The whole moving thing was okay. One thing I learned is that I am awesome! Whereas my cousin and his wife were dying going up and down the stairs, I was practically running with all the crap we were unloading. All that running he was making fun of me for was paying off . . . or he was taking advantage of me . . . bastard!
No, he WAS dying. Everytime we moved something big and cumbersome and we finally got to the top step, he needed a breather. He was red as fuck and sweating up a storm. I was sweating, but I was doing okay. I guess this made up for not running . . . not really. I really wanted to run.
In total, I think we got everything off the truck in a couple of hours. It's easier to destroy than make. We hydrated, showered and waited for his sister to arrive with his OTHER car. We headed out from his apartment around 1, dropped off the truck at the local U Haul place and went to a pizza place we hadn't seen since our childhood when Salinas used to have one, Shakey's Pizza Parlour.
That's where it should'a stayed. The pizza was edible, like Chuck E. Cheese's pizza, but the Mojo's haven't changed. Those were still great. The thing they've added is the fried chicken. Greasy as fuck! But tasty.
Hey, I was hungry!
We left Glendale around 3 and made it to Salinas by 8:30. I got home and went for my run after taking care of some stuff, showered and crashed out.
Sunday was football for the brats cheer squad. Luckily, it was just her game and part of the Midgets. My Browns won, so it was a good Sunday.
The rest of this week has been relatively uneventful aside from my runs.
I think that's all for now. I'm tired and I need a nap. Just reliving those two days got me tired.
I make no promises, but maybe I'll be more up to date with this blog . . . HA!
GD
p.s.
to beat to check. run smiley :)
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