Another small milestone

I'm under 280 this week! Woohoo! Actually, I've been under 280 since last Friday, but I promised I'd only update once a week.

I seem to be on schedule to be at 250 by the time we go on our cruise, but there's no telling whether I'll be able to keep this pace up for the next nine weeks. I don't think we'll end up going on any of the weight-restricted excursions, but it'd be really nice to know I could.

Tomorrow I'll be running over two solid miles. If I stay on schedule, I'll be running 5K in two weeks. The moment I complete 5K on the treadmill, I'm signing up for the 5K race on Ottawa marathon weekend at the end of May.

Exhilaration

It's been a long time since I've had a feeling of accomplishment like I did Saturday night. At least, I think it must be a long time, because I don't remember the last feeling like this I've had. Maybe my university graduation, maybe landing my first permanent job.

So what did I do? I ran a mile and two-thirds without stopping. About half a 5K. That's all.

I really wasn't prepared for how I was going to feel when I finished the 20-minute run. It was an incredible feeling. The fact that "The Final Bell" from the Rocky soundtrack, the piece that closed the movie, was playing on my iPod at that exact point certainly enhanced the moment. I'm glad I was running in the exercise room in my condo building all alone, because I was able to just let loose with a series of fist pumps, excited whoops, arms in the air, etc. I probably looked like I'd just finished a marathon.

So, on to week 6 then. 5 run/3 walk/8 run/3 walk/5 run, then 10 run/3 walk/10 run, and then a 25-minute run. I'm ready. Bring it on.

Banished indoors

Here in Ottawa, we got our first major snowfall of the season yesterday. Altogether I'd say it probably amounted to 8-10 inches. We're also getting flurries right now, which will probably put another 2 inches or so on the ground. All of which means that I'm retiring to the treadmill until spring (unless all of this melts, which is possible given the long-range forecast, but unlikely).

Now, if the trails in Ottawa were plowed regularly, I would probably keep running until it got so cold that I'd be in danger of body parts falling off. I'd imagine it would be pretty nice to run along the frozen Ottawa River. However, since there are so many trails that the city can't justify spending any of its snowplow budget on them, and/or because the cross-country skiers would scream bloody murder if they had to ski on pavement, the trails are left alone during winter, making them completely useless to runners, bikers, or any other people who like to pretend we don't get winter. I could run on sidewalks, I suppose, but then I'm dealing with icy patches, cars that speed through puddles, plows, and OK yes I'm a wuss what do you want from me?

The 8/5/8 run last night went perfectly fine, so I'm attempting the 20-minute run tomorrow. The thought of me finally running a continuous mile is a bit intimidating, to be honest.

Oops.

Turns out I've been doing week 5 wrong. Only the first day of three was supposed to be three repeats of 5 min run/3 min walk. The second day is supposed to be 8 min run/5 min walk/8 min run, and then the third day is supposed to be (gulp!) 20 minutes of running with no walking. I had done three days of 5/3 repeats, thinking I was onto week 6, but no. So, I'll probably give day 2 a try tonight, with day 3 coming sometime on the weekend.

I'm glad I got onto the treadmill last night, because I really didn't need three days off. I just felt lazy as all get out last night, and I was thisclose to bagging my workout and trying tonight. That's been the week in a nutshell -- the newness of the whole regimen has worn off, and it's become a lot more difficult to stay in line. As a result, I'm only down 0.2 pounds this week, and didn't fulfil my goal of being under 280. The nice thing, though, is that I still haven't really lost any ground, and I can increase my effort this week to try and reach it.

All I want for Christmas is...

...a Suunto T3 heart rate monitor with Foot Pod. Only $300. Surely someone's got that lying around.

One thing I noticed on the weekend is that I don't run as fast outside as I do on the treadmill. I used Google Earth to track two parts of my run on Sunday that I had timed, and both were right around 4.8 mph. Inside, I try to run at least 5.0 mph. Part of it is probably because the outside world is not flat and windless as it is indoors (no, I don't use the hill setting yet). Still, this might explain why I tend to have more trouble running indoors -- I'm running faster than my body expects! This is why I think I should get the watch, so I have an idea of how fast I'm going outside. Of course, with the weather getting progressively worse, I probably won't even need it until, oh, say March.

I'm going to test this theory tomorrow, when I try to complete week 5 of the Couch-to-5K program.

Another milestone

Today was my first official day over 20 pounds lost. I'd bee flirting with it all week, but today I finally went under 281.6 for the first time. Yay! By this time next week, I'm hopeful that I'll be under 280 for the first time in years.

At my next running workout, I'll be starting week 5 of the Couck-to-5K program. That's three repeats of 5 min run/3 min walk. I actually think this has the potential to be easier than week 4, because what was killing me in week 4 was the 90-second rest periods after the three minute run. I was finding it difficult to recover adequately in such a short period. The 2.5 minute recovery after the 5 minute running segments was generally not a problem.

Weirdly fun things to do while losing weight: The other night, without meaning to, I pulled my jeans down around my ankles without undoing them.

WHAM

I hit a wall today in my running plan. I ran on the treadmill this morning, intending this to be the last leg of week four, but couldn't finish the last five-minute segment.

I'm wondering if it's a result of working out in the morning, not long after breakfast. I think if I'm going to work out in the morning, I'm going to need to eat more and/or wait longer for my body to absorb the fuel and/or take some Gatorade instead of water. All I know is, right now I feel like I couldn't even walk to the kitchen.

Now THAT was hard.

I started week 4 of the Couch-to-5K running program yesterday. I had taken the day off work due to sinus problems (my head felt like it was caving in on itself when I woke up), but I was feeling well enough by the afternoon to go out running. Of course, by the time I got changed, stretched and got downstairs, it had started to rain. It was one of those cold November showers that are horrible for running. So I changed course and headed for the ancient treadmill in my building.

The plan for week 4 is: 3 min run/90 sec walk/5 min run/2.5 min walk x 2. So, 16 minutes of running overall, a big jump from the 9 minutes of running in week 3. Everything went reasonably well until the last 5 minute running segment. I didn't feel like I recovered well enough during the 90 second walk, and so when I looked down at my watch halfway through the segment and saw my pulse was already 165, I was legitimately concerned that I wasn't going to finish. Incredibly, my pulse didn't get above 167 after that. But my legs were feeling quite wobbly when I was done.

Incidentally, I was watching The Biggest Loser last night, and watched Neil post a -18 for the week. To put that in perspective, I wasn't even able to post a -18 for the entire month of October. I'm glad I can watch this show without saying, "Why can't I do that?" and then going out and killing myself trying to do it.

Running is fun

If running wasn't fun, then how could I derive so much pleasure from two runs this weekend?

Yesterday, since the weather was so nice (albeit a bit cold), I decided to go outdoors for my workouts this weekend. I set out to run this route, 2 miles starting from Running Room and going through the Glebe to the highway. I altered it a bit, though so that I went all the way to the end of 5th Avenue and onto the path along the Rideau Canal. I was quite cold for the first bit, but warmed up nicely after about 10 minutes. (It probably didn't help that I was wearing shorts.) It was clearly harder than running on the treadmill, because I can't tell how fast I'm going and probably tend to run faster than indoors, but it was really nice being out among so many other runners.

I enjoyed it so much that I decided to go out and do it this morning. This time, I mapped out my own route, doing an out-and-back through downtown that went around the National War Memorial and past the Canadian Parliament buildings. This turned out to be a more difficult route than yesterday, because of the rather steep hill at the start, and the longish uphill past the Parliament buildings on the way back. Even worse was that I hit the uphill right at the start of my second 3-minute run section. But, when you look across the street and see this statue:



it's easy to find some extra motivation.

I don't know how long I'll be able to keep running outside, since I don't plan on doing much when the snow and -30 days arrive, but it's such a nice change from the monotony of the treadmill that I'm going to try and keep doing these weekend runs whenever I can.

Weight update / shoes

I've updated my weight stats on the right. I plan to do this every Thursday, but just didn't get a chance to do it yesterday, with me being at an all-day planning session and away from my computer, then not having an opportunity to do so at night, with it being a workout night and other stuff.

Anyway, I'm weighing myself every day, but will only update once a week to prevent information overload. Yesterday I weighed in at 285.8, which is lower than I've been in nearly a year and a half.

I tried out the new shoes last night on the treadmill. Initially, there weren't any problems, other than tightness I normally associate with new shoes, but my left arch started to hurt in the last 5-10 minutes of my workout. I'll try them out a couple more times to see if it's just something about the shoes being brand new, but if the pain persists, I'm taking them back and getting a pair with better arch supports.