Thursday, January 26, 2012

Weight loss success with Lost It (iphone app)

I started lose it in October of 2010 almost a year and half ago. Earlier that year I had lost about 10 lbs on my own 222lbs down to 210 and to prove to myself that had made a positive change I decided to run a marathon (not my first). I failed, I was dead meat at 10 miles and ended up walking 3 more just to pickup my jacket near the finish line. My family and friends where waiting for me at mile 20. It was heartbreaking to let them down and waste half their day. The worst I ever felt was my 3 year old asking “daddy why didn’t we see you at park”, she was actually mad that my wife made her leave before she could see me run (Ok typing that seriously just made me cry… at work in front of my coworkers). A few days later I joined lose it with the goal of getting serious about my health.

When I started on lose I was 210 with a goal of reaching 180. I steadily increased my running and was very strict with my diet. Every day and every week it was a battle of calories in vs. calories out (nothing special). I stepped up my efforts in both exercising (added swimming) and eating healthy. I hit my goal a few days before my birthday in March. 30 lbs in 5 months but looking at the bigger picture I had lost had over 40 lbs in the last 12 months. The support here on lose it was tremendous, which was huge factor in my success. I ran my redemption marathon in April 2011, it truly was a personal victory, I was all alone and in another state. Not a single person I knew went to this race, I just couldn’t take that pressure.

Since March 2011 I have been on maintenance, allowing my weight to fluctuate from 180-185 (10 months now). Switching to maintenance has been a challenge of its own, but it freed up my diet a little and those extra calories eaten meant I could work out a little harder. From their fitness level really took off. In the past 10 months on maintenance I have done many things I would have never thought possible including 3 more marathons. Stick with it and work hard, you can reach your goals!


Before (218 -222 lbs) Left: Christmas 2009, Right: Company picnic summer 2009




After (178 lbs) Left: May 2011, Finish line of a marathon - Right: March 2011, on my birthday.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Frosty’s Frozen 5mi Race Report

I ran this race with my wife’s work our team had about 15 people in the 5 mile race at 9 am and (me and the CEO) in the 10 miler at 10:30 pm. So when I showed up the CEO dude came up to me and said that he was going to switch races to the 5 mile so he could take every out to breakfast right after the race. This was at 8:40, I decided to switch races too but that meant it was time to warm up right now and I didn’t even have my bib yet.

A crazy start
I tossed my clothes in my car got my bib, I only had time to get in about a half a mile warm up. I did a few sprints and then lined up for the race literally seconds later bang the race was off. 10 seconds into the race a car pulls into the race course. The car was confused and just sitting there so I was one of the first runners to go around on the driver’s side. The car then flips a uturn and almost runs me over, to avoid the car me and a few other jumped off the road and ran through the bushes. When I popped out on the other side my adrenaline was pumping and I was flying. I looked around and I was probably in 10th place. I looked at my watch and I had run 5:50 pace for the first 0.2 miles.

Mile 1 – 6:20 Avg HR 177
The rest of the mile I tried to relax and find a sustainable pace. A lot of this mile was slightly down hill and this was an out in back course so I knew that I would have to run back up this section to finish. The course for the most part was clear but every once in a while patches of ice reached across the entire path. 6:20 pace over ice is a scary proposition given my recent track record over ice. Most of this mile I was getting past by people since I went out to fast.

Mile 2 – 6:24 Avg HR 183
By mile 2 all the passing was over and I was now with the people I would run the rest of the race with. I was feeling pretty tired already and this mile really hurt. My breathing was still out of control and I was afraid that I had ruined my race by going out to fast. My foot that has been having problems was starting to complain, not good. I seriously felt like the train was about to come off the rails.

Mile 3 – 6:32 Avg HR 184
As you could probably tell things were still getting worse. We turned around at 2.5 miles which didn’t do much for my mind. I kept thinking only half way done… that first half really really hurt. This was the low point of the race I felt like I was about to turn it off and jog back at 8 min pace. We crossed the creak and started heading towards the finish. Not much longer and I could hear yelling “Go Allen!”, “Your doing great keep going!”. It was coming across the creek from my teammates. I was exactly what I needed when I needed it.

Mile 4 – 6:27 Avg HR 188Remember when I said we had about 15 people running the race. Well each one of them was yelling and cheering for me from across the creek at various locations. My mentality flipped and I was thinking only 2 miles left no big deal. My foot was hurting a lot and my quads felt destroyed but I knew I could hold the pace. My breathing was out of control but still it didn’t matter I was a man on a mission and that mission was finish the next 2 miles under 6:30 pace.

Mile 5 – 6:26 Avg HR 188Coming into the last mile I was actually on 6:10 pace for the first half of the mile but this section had some up hills. All my friends were gone now and I was on my own but their encouragement was still propelling me to the finish line. When I came around the last turn I could see the finish line about two blocks away and I sprinted to the finish (see pic below). My wife and some coworkers that weren’t running the race cheered me across the finish.

Post raceI have purposely stayed away from this distance for a reason. This was not a PR but I am going to call it a non teenager PR or post weight loss record (still working on the name) any ways in need to have two sets of PR’s. I believe that this was mostly likely my best race of my adult life.

Official time 0:32:09 (6:26 pace, Avg HR 183 Max HR 194)
24th place overall out of 700
2nd in Age group out of 36 ($15 gift card to the running store)
1st finisher on our team and made them proud, they paid for my entry and I wore their shirt (I am sponsored!)













 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012