Not a lot of updates this week. I am back on full training mode this week after last week’s flu spell. I do have to find out if I am going to join Fitworks for the spinning class or maybe figure out some type of cross training that I can do from home. I know one thing that I am going to have to start doing some core exercises. After running anything of long distance I can feel my lower back give me a little hello.
Week’s training runs were really nice because the weather warmed up little bit, so that meant I could strip down on the cold weather gear. Just feels a lot better running in shorts. Monday was the day after my ½ marathon so I used it as a rest day. Tuesday is a scheduled rest day. Wednesday I ran 3 miles @ 9:56 pace, which is weird because usually I run slower on the first run of the week. Thursday was a 7 mile run @ 11:23 pace. It feels good going to work knowing that I all ready ran 7 miler. Friday moved up to a 4 mile run that I did @ a 9:56 pace. Saturday is a rest day. Sundays 10 mile run I did @ a 11:13 average. The last two mile of the run felt really draining, and my feet really hurt for some reason. I pushed though it and when I got home had a nice long ice bath to help clear out my legs. I really dig those ice baths, I only soak for about 10-15 minutes (from the legs down) and my legs feel about 60% less of the after run aches and pains. Then I pigged out on some Boca burgers and veggies. I know not much of a pig out to some but for me it was a feast.
I signed up for a new race on March 28th, it’s the 13th Annual Strides of March 5K run and walk. All proceeds from this race will benefit children and adults with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. There are a couple of good reasons for me to run this race, One my brother has down syndrome and I have a lot of good memories when I was younger of him attending lots of school, community programs and sports that I know he enjoyed. If I can help give a little funding to them so future people can also enjoy the things that he had, Plus one! March 28th is also the date that I went to the emergency room because I was having chest pains all week and couldn’t tuff it out any more and was then checked into the hospital because I had a heart attack. Yes I said heart attack at 37 years old. I had one small blockage in some rear lower artery and another that was about 95% blocked. I had arthroscopic surgery and had a stent implant. My cholesterol level was over 600!!! I was diagnosed with CAD Coronary artery disease. I would say it was the scariest event in my life so far. So scary that it was life changing. I felt that I had to make a change to better me and hopefully my change would cause a change reaction with in my family to better them. My change started with my diet, when I was released from the hospital every doctor and nurse pounded into my head that my diet had to change. The way that I was eating and lack of exercise was… well killing me. When I left the hospital I was 5’8” and weighed 235 pounds. I started with eating very little red meat maybe once a week I would have a burger with nothing on it. I mainly was eating turkey, salads and some fruits. I also started walking some, I wasn’t allowed to do anything crazy until I healed up from the surgery. I think that it was about three weeks after my heart attack my friend Jerry stopped over and we were talking about the event that happened and the reasons why it happened. Jerry has always been a body builder type of person very conscious of his diet and such, he told me about this book he just read call the Engine two diet and thought I should check it out. Basically it’s a vegan diet and a the book is about a group of firefighters that tried the diet for 28 days and as a result there cholesterol levels dropped and there over all health was improved. I thought what the heck I’ll try it out and see if I can do it, I was already barely eating meat anyways. I told everyone that I am going to try this out for 28 days and see how it goes. 28 days turned into three months, three months turned into a half of a year and now in April it will be one year since I have eaten any type of meat. I have not eaten any animal products either, well up until last week… I ate a whole medium veggie pizza with cheese after my ½ marathon. I though what the heck I earned it. I really don’t have any cravings for my old diet, no McDonalds no Wendi’s no anything like that. Oh and my cholesterol levels are totally normal now! Also after today’s run I weighed in at 179.4 pounds that’s about a 56 pound weight loss so far. I have a one year check up at the end of this week so I am excited to see the results of my test to see how I am doing.
After I was allowed to move around more after my surgery I thought I would start walking, just to get off the couch and start moving. I walked about almost every night after work. There is a metro park/ hiking paths near my home that made the perfect route for me. A lot of local people use the paths for walking and running, so I got to see a lot of my neighbors that I never met. It was until one night that I was out on my walk and these two younger girls ran by me. It was almost like they ran/floated by me, it was a very graceful run. I thought aahh why can’t I do that. So after they passed I kick up my heals and ran a full 50 feet before I stopped and was gasping for air. I thought that I was going to pass out. I walked the rest of the way home, but I kept thinking that I could run, why not? When I got home I jumped on the computer and looked up running and starting to run. Looking though 1000’s of pages, a lot of them talked about the couch to 5K program. It was a walk run program that trained you to run 5K in about 9 weeks. They also have a cool iphone app that tells you when to walk and when to run. I don’t want to bore you if the painful detail of my first few weeks but it all ends up with me at the local running store buying a new pair of running shoes. Then some new running clothes. I finished the program but it was a timed program, not by distance so I never really ran the 5k only ran for 30 minutes. I decided that it was time to take my running to the next step and run a local 5k race. It was the scariest feeling signing up for a running race. They say the difference between and jogger and a runner is a entry form. My first race 5K race I ran in 34 minutes and something. It didn’t matter how long it took me to run it, it was the fact that I ran it start to finish. I signed up for two more 5K’s and my times improved. Then I had some dumb Idea that if I could go from total non-runner to a 5K runner, why couldn’t I run farther maybe a marathon? That idea bring us to this blog, half way through my marathon training and a ½ marathon under my belt, two more months of training… only time will tell.
Oh ya that’s why I am running this race on the 28th, got a little side tracked .:)
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