10/25/13 WEIGH IN - LIFE HAPPENS

Life happens.  Normally people say this when they are upset or things just didn't go the way that they wanted.  The past couple of weeks I would have most likely used that analogy of the statement, however this week I have a more positive outlook.  I have been working my tail end off getting ready for my marathon over the past several months and just in the last few weeks my mileage has been getting pretty extreme.  It's crazy that I am exited to ONLY run 14 miles this weekend.  With that being said, my wife tells me that I really need to remove my 13.1 sticker from my truck.  With tomorrows run, I will have ran in excess of 13.1 miles 6 times in last 7 weeks.  WOW!

Back to "life happens".  Last month I hit my 10 year anniversary with the company that I work for.  This of course is a milestone that not many people reach, especially in my generation.  One of the things that I was taught growing up was that you put 100% in everything that you do.  My dad was a very hard working person and taught me a work ethic that many people do not have today.  Last week my boss's wife asked when my wife and I could go to dinner to celebrate my achievement.  With the amount of work and dedication that I have put into my health lately I suggested a Monday or Wednesday Night.  This was strategic for me.  If I go out on Monday or Wednesday night, I will have already worked out for that day and the days following I already do not get up for anyways.  However, she also works out on Mondays & Wednesdays, just not in the mornings as I do, so she suggested going to dinner on Tuesday night.  My plan was busted and so I graciously said Tuesday was good and was not able to get my run in that night.

For dinner they took my wife and I out to a very nice steak restaurant that neither of us had ever been to.  The food was awesome and I did not even think twice about the calories that I was about to consume.  This was a special occasion and I had worked very hard to achieve it.  Now I will say that I did not consume the entire 20 oz Bone-In New York Strip, I probably ate about 1/2.  All in all I did not leave the table feeling like I had just consumed a weeks worth of food in one setting.  I guess that this whole eating better thing is working even when I think I am splurging.  Just a few years ago I would have consumed probably twice that amount of food.  After getting home and making sure the oldest were asleep, I did not get to bed until close to 11 pm.  Wednesday 5 AM boot camp = NOPE. Thursday's I have been running in the evening after my kids finish their practices but this week some were cancelled and one we played hooky as I needed to mow the yard to get ready for my nephew's birthday party on Saturday.  Thursday's Run = NOPE.

So it's Friday morning and I am ready for what the scale has to tell me.  I know that it can't be good.  I did not stick to the plan because of "life".  So what's it going to be?  1 pound? 2? I hope it is not 5.  So this morning my weight was...............

Seriously?  Exactly the same?  This is AWESOME!.  What this tells me is that if you work your butt off, when "Life Happens" whether good or bad, you do not have to start all over.  You can just pick up where you left off.  Just don't WAIT TILL MONDAY.  START TODAY.

10/25/13 STATS
Last Weeks Weight: 225.2 lbs
Current Weight: 225.2 lbs
Past 7 Days lbs Lost: 0.0 lbs
Journey195 lbs Lost: 14.8 lbs
Journey195 % Lost: 6.17%
Overall lbs Lost: 59.8 lbs
Overall % Lost: 20.98%

THE "I'LL START ON MONDAY" SYNDROME

We have all said it before and have failed. The question I have is what is your "Monday"?  For me it is usually Tuesday's and Thursday's as those are the days that I am on my own to get a workout in. Currently my Tuesday's and Thursday's are designated short run days in preparation for my marathon.  I would like to be able to get up and run from the house at 5 a.m. yet I have failed to make myself.   Why?  It is just boring.  Every other day of the week I have a group that I am a part of.  In those groups I have made connections with people whether it be my boot camp trainers or a few fellow runners that I can count on to be there when needed.  Sure part of me likes the extra hour and a half of sleep, but I know how good I feel the rest of the day when I work out in the mornings. So what is keeping me from running on those mornings?  Accountability.  Hence the reason for this blog.  Even when I do not want to continue, I also do not want to just drop this thing and take two steps backwards.  My suggestion is for you to find someone that can help hold you accountable.  For those of you on my side of town, I would LOVE to see you at 5 AM at boot camp.  HINT HINT.  And tomorrow, Wednesday, can be your Monday.

MARATHON TRAINING UPDATE:
Saturday 10/19 20 Mile Run = AWESOME - I couldn't have asked for better weather or a better run as I reached the peak mileage of my training before my race on November 17th.

Mile 1   10:55
Mile 2   11:05
Mile 3   11:08
Mile 4   10:58
Mile 5   12:26 - Fuel & Water
Mile 6   11:33
Mile 7   11:24
Mile 8   11:21
Mile 9   13:20 - Fuel & Water
Mile 10 11:22
Mile 11 11:07
Mile 12 11:09
Mile 13 13:06 - Fuel & Water
Mile 14 11:05
Mile 15 11:08
Mile 16 11:06
Mile 17 14:05 - Fuel & Water
Mile 18 11:42
Mile 19 11:40
Mile 20 11:40

All in all my average pace for the entire run was around 12:00/mile and I didn't feel like my legs were about to break off as they did a few weeks earlier for my 18 mile run.

10/18/13 WEIGH IN

I haven't been too excited about this week.  If it were not for my wife, I probably would not have completed my workouts as I did.  Starting Monday, I skipped my normal morning boot camp.  However, my wife hit me up to take a Body Pump class at our Y that evening.  Monday - Check.  Tuesday I ran in the evening.  Wednesday I did Boot Camp.  Thursday I ran in the evening. Friday, I got out of bed, weighed myself and went back to bed.  Honestly, if it would have been a better number, I would have most likely went to boot camp.  I will however be running 20 miles tomorrow morning which more than makes up for the calories that I would have burned in today's workout.  Though I would probably feel better today if I would have just got out of bed and worked out.

Just as last week this week was a small decrease, which is still a move the right direction.  This mornings weight was....

With the amount of work out sessions I am doing, I know that there is a lot of muscle mass being added to my body.  The question I have is whether I am just putting on that much muscle or do I still have some figuring out to do to get this process right?  Which ever it is, what I am at least sure of,  my clothes are getting looser and I am about to be fully into a size 36 pants that I have not been in for probably 12 years.

10/18/13 STATS
Last Weeks Weight: 225.8 lbs
Current Weight: 225.2 lbs
Past 7 Days lbs Lost: 0.6 lbs
Journey195 lbs Lost: 14.8 lbs
Journey195 % Lost: 6.17%
Overall lbs Lost: 59.8 lbs
Overall % Lost: 20.98%

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER - ADJUST & MAKE IT UP

"Better Late than Never" is something that was never taught in my home growing up.  My dad would always make sure that we were extra early to everything.  That has rubbed off on at least myself over the years. (Can't say the same for ONE of my sisters.  Not mentioning any names here, but you know who you are)  The only thing my dad was o.k. with being late to was church.  Now it wasn't that we were always late on a typical Sunday.  No, the only time it was o.k. to be late for church was when were getting back from a 10 hour drive home from Arkansas on a Sunday or Wednesday night and he made sure that we quietly caught whatever was left of the sermon.

Fast forward to current day, I am close to the same.  Now I do not finish a 10 hour road trip with sitting my kids or myself for that matter in a church service, but I do make sure that I am early for most everything.  Now how does that have anything to do with my journey?  I have a habit that if I oversleep at all and have to rush out of bed and to the gym to be 5-10 minutes late, my habit is to just not go.  This is something that I have to work on.  Sure I do not want to show up for just the last half of the class, but if I am only 10 minutes late, I still get a good 40-50 of exercise in.  This is something that I need to ingrain in my mind and live by.

One other option is to ADJUST the plan that you set up for yourself.  Just because you overslept and missed the planned workout, you can still MAKE IT UP.  This is what I did on Monday.  I did not get up to go to my boot camp so my wife and I met at the gym after I got off work and did a Power Pump Class together.  Sure it may have been different from what I wanted, but if I am so critical about the times that I work out, I will be constantly beating myself up for my "failure" and probably abandon my journey in the end.

10/11/13 WEIGH IN - BEING CONSTANT

This morning is a bit of a bittersweet weigh in.  This has been an awesome week again, work out wise, however there have been some screw-ups.  Last week I titled my blog "Hard Work, Dedication & a Few Screw Ups" and one of our friends asked my wife where my screw ups were mentioned in the post.  Here are my screw ups.  I know I may sound like a girl, sorry ladies, but my demise at my workplace are the bags of chocolate candy that my boss' wonderful wife continually puts out.  I cannot resist.  Especially when I get stressed and am having a bad day.(Yes I have admitted and accepted the fact that I may be an emotional eater)  Again, I feel like a girl, sorry again ladies.  So there you have it Amanda, my screw ups.

Over the past several weeks I have been thinking about my Journey and the goals that I want to achieve.  Inside all of us is a want to be competitive in some area of our life.  I began to get a little discouraged during a few of my boot camps because I was not able to keep up with some of the other guys, or ladies for that matter.  I have to realize that this Journey I am on is not a competition to see who can do the most reps during a workout, it is a competition with myself.  The only way I am going to succeed LONG TERM in this is to base the competition on my own abilities.  Beating the other guys in boot camp is not going to make me succeed, because what happens when they move on and quit coming to that class?  What happens when I am the most advanced?  Who will I compare myself to?  Myself.

Additionally, over the past several weeks of my marathon training, I have entered in to uncharted water in regards to the mileage I am running.  This past week was 18 miles, and in two weeks it will be 20.  So I have been trying to go with the mindset of just moving forward.  This is also the mindset that I am taking with my workouts.  I feel that if I am being CONSTANT and continuing to move forward, and not quit, I will be achieving the goals that I want.  With as cliche as it sounds, I want my Journey to be a Marathon and not a sprint.  I want to make sure that the changes that I am making are ingrained in me and not just some sprint to loose weight and then turn around and gain back more than I lost because I did not make a lifestyle change.

As I said above, this morning's weigh in is bittersweet.  I did not loose as much as I would have liked, however, the scale is continuing to move in the right direction.  So this mornings weight was...

10/1/13 STATS
Last Weeks Weight: 227.0 lbs
Current Weight: 225.8 lbs
Past 7 Days lbs Lost: 1.2 lbs
Journey195 lbs Lost: 14.2 lbs
Journey195 % Lost: 5.92%
Overall lbs Lost: 59.2 lbs
Overall % Lost: 20.77%

CARB-CYCLING BASICS

So I have mentioned a couple of times about the eating plan that I have decided to give a whirl.  Last year a friend of mine, Christian, asked me in a conversation if I had tried Carb-Cycling.  I had not and at that time I had never heard of it before nor did I look into it after that conversation as I was not committed to my Journey.  Fast forward several months and as I was watching Extreme Make Over Weight Loss Edition, Chris Powell mentioned that the process he uses in his make overs was Carb-Cycling which reminded me of the above conversation.  Basically it is providing your body with just enough carb's to fuel it but not over do it to where it turns the left overs into fat.  I wanted to know more so I purchased Chris Powell's book Lose More Choose More for Life.  This book expanded on his initial Classic Carb Cycling plan and gave a couple other variations that offer different levels of cycling.

I chose to use the Turbo Cycle.  As with each cycle, they are based around eating 5 meals a day, 3 hours apart, with the first meal being eaten within 30 minutes of waking up.  You are rotating between low carb & high carb days or meals.  Your first meal each day is a high carb meal that gives you the fuel that you need to jump start you metabolism.  So here is what my cycle looks like.

Week 1 - 3
Sunday - Low Carb
Monday - Low Carb
Tuesday - High Carb
Wednesday - Low Carb
Thursday - Low Carb
Friday - High Carb
Saturday - Reward Day

Week 4
Sunday - High Carb
Monday - High Carb
Tuesday - High Carb
Wednesday - High Carb
Thursday - High Carb
Friday - High Carb
Saturday - Reward Day

REPEAT

In Chris' book you are given several recipes.  Honestly, I have not used many of them.  It does give you a very good look at how you can take lots of meals and make them either a low or high carb meal.  Basically on low carb days you eat a protein about the size of your palm coupled with two servings of veggies about the size of two closed fists with a thumb size amount of fat.  On high carb days, you eat the same protein and veggies but you supplement the fat for a fist sized carb.  Below are some examples:

Protein: Beef, Pork, Chicken, Fish
Veggie: Squash, Zucchini, Red Bell Peppers, Cucumbers, Salad
Fat: Avocado, Olive Oil
Carb: English Muffin, Whole Wheat Toast, Corn Tortilla, Sweet Potato, Quinoa, Couscous, Brown Rice

As with all of these items, you have to prepare them correctly.  No sauteing your veggies in globs of butter or "chicken frying" your steak and chicken.  Below was a good low carb day for me yesterday.

Breakfast 4:30 AM - Approx. 285 Calories
Protein Pancake - 80 calories
Peanut Butter - 1 tbs - 90 calories
1/2 Banana - 55 calories
1 oz Light Pork Breakfast Sausage - 60 calories

Morning Snack 8:00 AM - Approx. 230 Calories
2 Scrambled Eggs -140 calories
Sauteed Zucchini, Squash, Onion & Red Bell Pepper - 1 Cup - 35 calories
2 oz Sauteed Chicken Breast - 55 calories

Lunch 12:00 PM - Approx. 265 Calories
3 oz Sauteed Chicken Breast - 105 calories
Salad Greens - 40 calories (estimated very high)
Salad Olives - 20 calories
Mild Cheddar Cheese - 25 calories
Croutons - 30 calories
Salad Dressing - 45 calories

Afternoon Snack 3:00 PM - Approx. 120 Calories
Honey Roasted Turkey Lunch Meat - 60 calories
Sliced Roma Tomato - 30 calories
Sliced Zucchini - 30 calories

Dinner 6:30 PM - Approx. 300 Calories
2 Large Scrambled Eggs - 140 calories
2 Slices Bacon - 80 calories
1 Slice Pepper Jack Cheese - 80 calories

Entire Day Total - 935 Calories & I ate all day long

Because of the success of such low calories, I treated myself with a 150 Calorie Skinny Cow Ice Cream Cone with my wife while watching How I Met Your Mother.

Upcoming Blog: Preparation is Key
I will be covering sleep, recipes and food prep.

10/4/13 WEIGH IN - HARD WORK, DEDICATION & A FEW SCREW UPS

So this is where I left off after last week's weigh-in:

So what am I going to do differently this next week?  RE-GROUP.

Saturday: 15 Mile Long Run, Reward Day not Sabotage Day (I need to make up for this week) DONE
Sunday: Rest, Meal Plan, Grocery Shop, Prepare quick grab & eat meals  DONE - Sort of - Texans Tickets trumped going to the grocery store - It was an awesome 3 qtrs until we lost in OT
Monday: Boot Camp DONE
Tuesday: 3-4 Mile Short Run (I cannot seem to get this one is the past couple of weeks) DONE
Wednesday: Boot Camp DONE
Thursday: ACTIVELY coach Daughters volleyball practice, 3-4 Mile Short Run DONE
Friday: Boot Camp DONE
Saturday: 18 Mile Long Run READY FOR TOMORROW

As you can see I have completed each workout that I said I was going to do.  I definitely feel good this week knowing that each day I worked my butt off.  I am not going to sit back and say that I did everything right, but I definitely was on the right track this week.  In addition to this weeks awesome completed work-outs, my meal plan was changed slightly.  I have not gone into my entire meal layout, though I will in the coming weeks once I get through an entire cycle, this week was a High Carb week.  I believe that this accounts to what could have been a little lower number on the scale, though I am not complaining.

To be honest, I was a little worried about this week due to the fact that I was not doing the normal carb cycling that I had for the past three weeks.  This week was a reset & trick your body week.  Just like lifting weights, you have to change things up from time to time to trick your muscles.  Since I was not expecting much of a decrease, I told my wife that I needed a side by side picture to point out that it is not always the number on the scale that matters.  TAKE PROGRESS PHOTOS so that you can see the difference and not just a number on a scale.  So here are my progress photos showing my Journey1Ninety5 starting photo taken on 8/1/13 next to last nights photo taken 10/3/13.

Definitely a very GOOD change.  I am blown away by the difference you can see on the side view.  The hard work and dedication is paying off.  That person that I AM NOT is definitely melting away.

So for this morning's numbers.................oh and I am sorry that it is so blurry.................

YES!!!!!  2 lbs lost.  Even with the added carbs, bad previous week, and a couple screw ups this week, there is progress.

10/04/13 STATS
Last Weeks Weight: 229.0 lbs
Current Weight: 227.0 lbs
Past 7 Days lbs Lost: 2 lbs
Journey195 lbs Lost: 13 lbs
Journey195 % Lost: 5.42%
Overall lbs Lost: 58 lbs
Overall % Lost: 20.35%

MY APOLOGIES

My apologies to those that live within or were driving through the areas in which I ran my 15 miles on Saturday.

So why am I apologizing?  Lets back up a few weeks.  I have talked about the need to be prepared.  This is VERY VERY important.  And what I am about to discuss will probably only apply to guys which I will get to in a minute.

• Long Distance Running Check List:
• Pre-Run Hydration
• Sleep
• Easily Digestable Pre-Run Meal
• Nipple Protection
• Moisture Wicking Clothes
• Fuel (ie. GU, Shot Blocks etc.)
• Good Shoes

Did anyone catch the most important bullet?  NIPPLE PROTECTION.  So what is this about?  Ladies, you most likely do not have this issue as your clothing supports and holds snug against this area.  However for us guys,  there is a problem that happens when our soaking wet shirt constantly rubs against and chafes this very sensitive area.  As a result of my unpreparedness a few weeks ago.....

YES that is blood.(this is a very minor amount as I kept squirting water on it to wash away the blood)

YES is did hurt, FOR SEVERAL DAYS.  

YES I did vow to myself to always keep nipple protection readily available.

So as for why I am apologizing.  Let me paint the picture:

• Wife wakes me up at 5:00.  Should have been up at 4:30 to my alarm. 
• Rush around house sighing (my wife says that she has never met anyone that sighs as much as I do) trying to gather everything together and get out the door.
• Take wife's car as my truck is attached to a trailer. (something VERY important was in the console of my truck)
• Start running and 2 miles in begin to get tender.  I FORGOT TO PROTECT THE NIPPLES!!!!!
• Bear through the pain and pray that I will not start bleeding for the next 4 miles.
• At mile 6, the group I am running with turns back and I continue as I have a farther distance to run than they do.  
• Nipples hurt REALLY REALLY BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MY APOLOGY

So far my prayers have worked, NO BLOOD.  Time to do damage control.  Remove shirt and continue to run without it for the next 9 miles.  As I have now stated a couple of times, I apologize.  Normally you do not want to see a "husky" guy running down the street and through your neighborhood without his shirt on.  No, I am sure the ladies would hope that shirtless guy had a six pack.  However, those of you along my route did have to bear the sight of this "husky" guy.  I am not ashamed.  Trust me, if you would have seen me with blood flowing down my shirt from both nipples, I guarantee that image would have stuck with you much longer than this pasty white husky guy running without his shirt.  

YOU'RE WELCOME!!!!!