Day 5

34 degrees this morning for my run brrrrrrrrrrr. I was sore this morning when I got out of bed and told myself just take it easy and get the 2 miles done. I did I took off at a comfortable pace and never looked at my Garmin today at all. When I got home and the Garmin downloaded and I went to check the run I had done an average 11:19/mile... WHAT!!!! that is 16 seconds faster than my best this week wow, I feel really good about that because I just listened to my body and paced myself accordingly.

Have been eating good not tracking calories just eating like I know I should, my water intake could be better but hey its only the first week back. I might track a day or two eating here and there just to make sure my perception isn't messed up but I will not go to tracking daily.

Day 4

Well still going. Cardio done today 10 minute trainer style. There were a couple of moves in there that I took it easy on because I was afraid they might stress my knee, in fact the last move I only did half of then ran in place for the last 30 seconds. Good news is the knee feels fine. Run tomorrow morning.

Day 3

No rain YEA!!!!!!! Did 2 miles this morning at the same pace as Sat so good run. Not as sore as I thought I would be today after the first run and the first workout, that was a nice surprise. I was thinking while running that I am still down 22# since I first started working on my weight, yes I weigh more than I want to but I am still down and have less to lose now than when I first started. I guess it just shows that I have learned along the way and know when I am eating really bad. Oh well enough of that, time to get ready for work :)

Day 2

10 minute trainer total body workout done. Setup the calendars for the next 3 months this morning and have them right by the computer. No excuses just going to get it done. Tomorrow will be the first 4 A.M. run and it say possible showers, I might get wet :) that is still better than running on a treadmill. Not as sore today as I thought I would be which is good so tomorrows run should be fine.

Thats it short and sweet. l8r

Day 1

Wow it sure has been a long time since I have posted here. Quick recap, after that 21 mile run I slipped and slipped bad, I let my training for the marathon just be slow, low miles never did a real long run again soooooo the day of the marathon I was not prepared. I completed the whole thing but did not run the whole thing and after that I hurt so bad and life started happening I found myself not running at all.

Fast forward to april of 11, back to running good and bam plantar fasciitis, ouch that put me on the shelf for quite some time. Got going again but quite simply had no motivation and would find all kinds of reasons to skip runs.

Fast forward again to June of 12, working hard at insanity and doing good, had to take 2 weeks off because of some extensive dental work and when I restarted Insanity I pushed way to hard and managed to get tendinitis in my right knee. I have been getting back to working out and then have the knee flare up ever since.

Now we are at the present Jan 6th 2013, I have taken 2 months off and done nothing and my reflection in the mirror and the numbers on the scale show it. The knee is good, so here is the plan. 180 days of 10 minute trainer, P90X and running.

First I will start with running 3 days a week and 1 10 minute workout on non running days for 1 month. Then it will be running 3 days a week and 2 10 minute trainers on non running days for 1 month. Then it will be running 3 days a week and 3 10 minute trainers on non running days for 1 month.

The next 3 months it picks up running 3 days a week and P90X for 90 days.

So this is day 1 weighed in at 220#, I did 2 miles today no walks averaged a little over 11:30/mile not bad and feel good. Will weigh in on Fridays and push daily but not so hard that I flare up that knee

I made it...

21.26 miles that is in 3:41:40, it took me 3 tries but I did it today.

I won't say it was easy, in fact I pushed through more pain than I ever thought I would. I also never would have made it without the support of my lovely Wife. She gets up early on her day off and drives out and meets me at the 13 mile mark and takes all my pods and refills them with water and Gatorade for me. I am only able to carry 46 ozs of fluid so if she didn't do this for me there is no way I could go that far. And then to top it off when I get home she is making me a nice breakfast and boy am I hungry. My HRM says that I burned over 4600 calories for that run... wow.

I was good through mile 18 at that point I told my body "Just a little more than a 5k to go." At 18.5 miles my body said "hey this is where you got to last week, we could stop and walk a little" My reply was "Yeah thats what you told me last week and you lied you wouldn't start running again.

At mile 19 my body said " hey look 19 miles done you could stop here thats farther than last week" my reply " Ummmmm yeah we are doing 21. 19.75 miles my body said "oh come on look you have done 19.75 miles thats a lot" My reply was "yeah and so a mile and a half is just a little drop in the bucket.

At mile 20 my body really protested "look you just made to the farthest point you could please, please stop here." at that point I took my headphones out and said "shut the heck up you are going the full distance and that is all there is to it"

Fortunately my body listened to me or I quit listening, when I came around that last corner and saw the end of the last block I sped up. I don't think it was a big speed burst but it was more speed. When I got to the end I hurt but you know what not anymore than on any of my other long runs and as I write this the soreness is slowly fading but the knowledge that I did it is still with me.

It was important for me to make this distance today not because it was my third try but because last year this very weekend. The last one in Sep Dennis and I had a goal to run to Sutter and back on the bike path 9.2 miles. When we set that goal we were only running 3.5 miles at a time so it was ambitious but we made it. I wanted today the anniversary of that date to be the day I did the 21.26 and it was.

So, So, Soooooooooooo Close

Went out for my 21 mile run this morning. Felt really good, for the first hour I listened to a sermon by my old pastors son David Myatt. It was a really good message and kept my attention the whole time. After that it was music as usual. DW met me at about the 11 mile mark and refilled my water pods that were empty and then headed down to the 13 mile mark to wait there and refill my Gatorade pods.

At just before 17 miles I started to hurt bad, tried to push on and decided to allow myself a 5 minute walk. Did some stretches walked 5 minutes and off again but the pain just came back after about another mile. Did a couple more walk then runs and finally called it. Called DW and she came and picked me up. I am glad I did not continue to try to push. I was really sore but was able to stretch it out without too much pain.

Final total was 18.5 miles again my farthest run on my own and considering I have not been getting in as many miles during the week that I need that is not bad. Next week it will be farther even yet.

My HRM said I burned 4226 calories HOLY CRAP thats a lot. Spark People Said it was like 3100 I figure the real number is somewhere in between.

When I got home DW made me some awesome biscuits and gravy had a 1300 calorie breakfast that was needed.

Now out to the fruit stand for some yummy peaches