Dazed and Confused!

I didn't realize until today, that it's been over a month since I last ran. Why?

Two things have simultaneously scuttled my plans to participate in my first triathlon in August.

1. My oldest son is getting remarried on August 21. I can't miss that!
2. The Iron Creek Triathlon that I was planning on doing on August 22, has been cancelled.

So, now what?

I spent a month wandering with no direction. It didn't help that I was busy with work and eating way too much good food. You can see the results in my chart. 

I ran 5k today and it didn't feel good. Maybe it was because I changed my route. I wasn't feeling too good during that run.

What I am going to do? 

1. I signed up for a 5K that's part of the LA Marathon on Monday. I'm not sure I'll be able to get to the start line in time because of all the traffic I'll encounter. We'll see what happens. 
2. I've already signed up for the Pasadena 5K in March of 2010. 
3. I'm seriously thinking about running the Disneyland 1/2 marathon on Labor Day. Only 13.1 miles... I had gotten to the point during the last 5K that I ran, when my pace was perfect and I felt like I could run all day. Surely I could run 21 kilometers... Hmmmmm.... Gotta find a training plan...
4. I still want to look for a tri to run. Maybe I can find a club. I hate doing it alone.

In the meantime I need to get my weight back down. I haven't lost sight of my goal. I just went off course for a bit...

Hello again

I guess it's been almost a month since I posted. I've been:

1. Busy with work
2. Not running as much as I should
3. Eating more than I should

So today I'm back to the grind. Watching what I eat and trying to get past the wall that I hit a few weeks ago.

Since my last post, I have:

1. Run the L.A. Kings 5K
2. Run the Placentia 5K

My time is getting better. 

Things on my agenda:

1. My next race is in late May. 
2. In the mean time, next week I move from 5K training to Sprint Triathlon training. 
3. I'll be getting on the bike starting next week. I can't wait! 
4. Swim training starts in June.
5. I think I need to be properly fit for a pair of running shoes.
6. I'm going to use my phone to start tracking my training via GPS. Let's see if I can get some good data.

That's all for now....

No Chart Today

Just a summary of the days events...

My 1st 5K today in Pasadena. I don't think anyone expected the cold rainstorm that blew into Southern California from Alaska. It wasn't really that cold but a bit of snow fell on the mountains. 

Was up at 4:25 AM to drive to Pasadena so I could arrive before they closed the parking lots. A nice 20 minute walk in the rain from the Cal Tech parking lot to the start line on Colorado Boulevard in front of Pasadena City College. I was there in time to watch the marathon and 1/2 marathon start in the rain. LOTS of participants! 

After those 4,312 runners went by it was time for the 5K start. There were 771 runner/walkers who finished between 17:03 and 4:00:00. That's 17 minutes for 1st and 4 hours for 771st. I came in 448th or 11th in my sex/age division, less than 5 minutes behind the 10th place guy.

Pretty good for my first race. If you know me, you know I've never been a runner. I'm anxious for the next race so I can see some improvement. I think I'll shoot for the LA Kings 5K run that goes around Staples Center in downtown LA. You get a free ticket to the hockey game that night. That's a great deal! It's on April 4th. Should be fun!

After I finished the 5K, the rain came pouring down and I found a tent to wait out the storm, but not before I grabbed lots of free samples of drinks and energy bars and other cool stuff from the vendors. 

Then it was up to Lucky Baldwin's in Sierra Madre for some fish & chips, Maredsous 6 Blonde Ale and a Nub Cameroon with my good friend Danny from Stogie Info. 

Now I'm chillaxin' and wondering what to grill for dinner. Still need to write 2 syllabi tonight for classes that start tomorrow. Cheers!

Pasadena 5K Tomorrow!

They may call it the Pasadena Marathon but I'm going there for the 5K. A great tune up as I emerge from winter. I've simplified the chart. My line is flattening out a bit but look fore steepness starting next week as I increase my running time. 

Let's hope it doesn't rain too early in the morning on Sunday. My start time is 6:50AM.

Click on the chart for a bigger version.

Milestone

Lost 20 lbs as of today. Although my chart doesn't show that, I was actually about 3 lbs heavier before I started recording my progress. Less than 10 lbs to go until my BMI is in the normal range. 

Ran 5 miles today. Too much heat. I need to schedule my runs at dusk or dawn. It's been rather cool lately. The heat snuck up on me. One more run before the race on Sunday. I think I'm ready.

Milestones

I've been busy so I haven't posted my progress for a few days. I generated a chart a few times but didn't get as far as blogging it. You'll see I changed it a bit to reflect my weight change and calories burned through fitness activities. Right now that consists of walking and running. Biking and swimming will come later.

I use the Nike+ to track my distances and notice that the device tells me I burn more calories for my weight than the LiveStrong.com website does. I need to do some additional analysis to see if I'm telling the LiveStrong.com website the right information. The Nike+ calculates automatically based up the calibration I did on the device. It knows how far I've run or walked and I simply need to enter my weight every day. Yesterday the Nike+ told me I burned 600 calories while LiveStrong.com determined it was 553. On LiveStrong.com I have to tell it how many mph I'm running or walking. Since I have my Nike+ set to kms, my conversion may be inaccurate. Next run I'll switch to miles and break my run/walk sections into different sessions so I can get an accurate read.

I've decided the Iron Creek Triathlon is too far off and I need to set some small goals along the way. Since my current training has me covering 5 - 6K each session, I figured I should try a 5K race. I signed up for a 5K in Pasadena. It's next Sunday so I have 3 more days of training runs before that happens. Since I run 5K on Sundays anyway, why not get a t-shirt to do it. Now I'm trying to decide what's the next goal to set, another 5K or should I go for a 10K. I've been looking for another run in late April. I'll let next Sunday's results decide on the 5 or 10K distance.

Net loss!

Wow! An actual net loss over the weekend. That's a first! My first goal is now less than 10 lbs away. A good run yesterday. A personal best!

Status:

Start: 209.2

Now: 193.6

Goal: 183.8