Category: running

Here is the latest update on my training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my current effort to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the ninth in what will be a series of updates here…

Well, temperatures reached into the 70s in the central New Jersey area this week before falling into the 50s on Thursday. But I managed to complete three 3.2-mile runs during the week.

I finished the first one, on Tuesday, in a new personal best time for 2012: 29 min., 32 sec. I finally came in under the 30-minute mark and with decent room to spare. During the run, I didn’t feel like I really pushed myself. For the most part, I ran at a nice, comfortable pace while pushing it a bit every 1/2 mile or so.

However, I did push it at the end of Tuesday’s run and didn’t like how I felt after that so I decided to take it easy when I went for another 3.2-mile run on Wednesday. As a result, I finished that run in 31 min., 52 sec. A disappointing time, but what was nice about it was that I got in a workout and hardly felt winded at all at the end of the run.

Today’s run was a bit of a letdown. My initial pace felt way too fast so I pulled up a bit. I ran the rest of the first lap at that same consistent pace, but it turned out I slowed up too much and it threw off my pace for the remainder of the run. I turned it on at the end, but I still wound up completing the run in a lackluster 30 min., 22 sec.

However, the fact that the best of my three runs this week was the first one is telling me that I shouldn’t run a day or two before the 5K on March 31. I’ll get in a run 3 or 4 days before the event and just do some workouts the rest of the week. Maybe I’ll do a quick mile two days before the 5K just to keep my legs conditioned.

Meanwhile, I continue to make progress on the weight-loss front as I’ve now dropped an additional two pounds. That means I have now shed 15 of the 40 pounds I want to lose.

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Background

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes and lose 40 pounds.

On a personal note, another reason I am doing this is because my wife and I are expecting our first child in early July. I’ll be 41 a few days after my wife gives birth and I want to make sure I’m in shape into my 50s and 60s so I can do things with our kid (or, thinking ahead a bit…kids).

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances* and times during this training period:

Here is the latest update on my training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my current effort to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the eighth in what will be a series of updates here…

With temperatures in the 60s yesterday and in the 70s today, I made sure to get in 3.2-mile runs on each of the days.

I completed Wednesday’s run in 30 min., 06 sec., which marks my best time of 2012. In addition, I recorded a mile time of under nine minutes (8’48”) for the first time in about six years. It also was my fifth straight run in which I improved my time from the previous outing.

However, that streak came to an end with today’s run, which I finished in 30 min., 32 sec. I was feeling good halfway through the run and, in fact, clocked in at 14 min., 56 sec. at the midway point, so I was on pace at that point to finish in less than 30 minutes. But about two-thirds of the way through the third lap, I started cramping up and eased up a bit. Usually, I can go easy for about a 1/2 mile and pick up the pace again, but my body just didn’t respond today.

Again, one of my goals is to complete the Phillies 5K (3.1 miles) in less than 30 minutes. And since my usual route is 3.2 miles (0.1 mile further than a 5K), I’m at the point where I should be able to achieve that objective. Even though I struggled a bit today, I was still around that 30-minute mark so I’m confident that I’ll be up to the task by the time March 31 comes along.

That being said, I’m not going to relax once I start consistently finishing my runs in less than 30 minutes. My all-time best 5K time is 27 min, 54 sec. so I still have that to shoot for.

On the weight-loss front, there is a little better news to report this week compared to last. I’ve dropped an additional two pounds so I have now shed 13 of the 40 pounds I want to lose.

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Background

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes and lose 40 pounds.

On a personal note, another reason I am doing this is because my wife and I are expecting our first child in early July. I’ll be 41 a few days after my wife gives birth and I want to make sure I’m in shape into my 50s and 60s so I can do things with our kid (or, thinking ahead a bit…kids).

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances* and times during this training period:

Here is the latest update on my training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my current effort to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the seventh in what will be a series of updates here…

It managed to get into the 50s (or close to it) a few times this week so I managed to get in three 3.2-mile runs. On Monday, I recorded a time of 31 min., 41 sec., which was eight seconds faster than my 2012 best set last Thursday (2/23).

But I turned in an even better time on Tuesday, finishing that run in 30 min., 57 sec. This marked my first 3.2-mile run under the 31-minute mark since I started training in January.

However, I bested that mark today when I posted a time of 30 min., 35 sec.

I’m getting closer to the point where I should be able to complete a 5K (3.1 miles) in less than 30 minutes (especially when you factor in I’m running an additional 1/10th of a mile each time out), which is a goal of mine for the Phillies 5K event on March 31. Today’s run also marked the fourth straight time I posted a faster time than the previous effort. Hopefully, my days of up-and-down run times are behind me and I will start seeing consistent improvement from here on out.

Also, I really have to figure out how to properly calibrate my Nike+ sensor. As I have already stated in previous updates, I have confirmed that four laps around my neighborhood equals 3.2 miles (0.8 miles per lap). However, except for my first run of the year, Nike+ has consistently recorded four laps in the 3.05 to 3.08 range, which I am ignoring. Tuesday’s run was only 2.95 miles, according to Nike+, which is really inaccurate. And today’s run was back at 3.03 miles…but I’m running the same route—and path—each time. Again, though, I am posting all my distances here based on the reality that each lap is 0.8 miles.

Progress hasn’t been as good on the weight-loss front. While I have now dropped 11 of the 40 pounds I want to lose, I only lost one more pound since last week. I’m still struggling with tracking my caloric intake so my workouts and runs are mostly only burning off the calories I shouldn’t have consumed in the first place.

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Background

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes and lose 40 pounds.

On a personal note, another reason I am doing this is because my wife and I are expecting our first child in early July. I’ll be 41 a few days after my wife gives birth and I want to make sure I’m in shape into my 50s and 60s so I can do things with our kid (or, thinking ahead a bit…kids).

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances* and times charted during this training period:

Here is the latest update on my training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my current effort to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the sixth in what will be a series of updates here…

I took advantage of the nice weather this week to get in a couple of 3.2-mile runs. I completed one in 34 min., 18 sec. on Wednesday, which was a bit of a disappointing setback. So I decided to push it a little bit today and completed a run in 31 min., 49 sec., which is my fastest 3.2-mile run time since the start of the year.

What I really need to do is use the calorie-tracking apps I installed on my iPhone and start monitoring what I am consuming in order to accelerate the weight-loss process. When I lost 35 pounds in 2006, I did it rather quickly by running and exercising regularly, and by limiting my caloric intake so that I would lose at least one pound per week even without any exercise. Therefore, the additional calories expended through exercise caused me to lose about 10 pounds in the first two or three weeks, before the rate of weight loss slowed to 2-3 pounds per week.

At this point, eight weeks into my new regimen, I have just hit the point where I have dropped 10 of the 40 pounds I am aiming to lose…so I feel the need to pick up the pace in getting lighter, which should make me a bit faster.

On a personal note, another reason I am doing this is because my wife and I are expecting our first child in early July. I’ll be 41 a few days after my wife gives birth and I want to make sure I’m in shape into my 50s and 60s so I can do things with our kid (or, thinking ahead a bit…kids).

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You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes and lose 40 pounds.

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances* and times charted during this training period:

Here is the latest update on my training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my current effort to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the fifth in what will be a series of updates here…

This week, I managed to get in a 3.2-mile run* on Wednesday and a 2.4-mile run* on Friday. I finished Wednesday’s run in a tidy 33 min., 33 sec. It was a little bit slower than my previous runs of that distance, but my back actually started hurting halfway through so I slowed up a bit to ease the pain a bit.

Friday’s run was cut short by a) an appointment, and b) tightness in my left calf muscle that slowed me down to the point that I wouldn’t have been able to finish another lap and get to where I needed to go. Anyway, I finished that run in 24 min., 19 sec.

*My Nike+ sensor is still messed up. I have confirmed that one lap around my neighborhood is 0.8 miles, so four laps should be 3.2 miles. I’ve decided that I’m going with that distance no matter what the Nike+ sensor is telling me.

As far as weight-loss is concerned, I lost another pound this week. That means, I’ve now dropped 8 of the 40 pounds I need to lose to reach my weight-loss goal.

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goals are to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes and lose 40 pounds.

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances* and times charted during this training period:

As mentioned previously on this blog, I am currently training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my latest efforts to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the fourth in what will be a series of updates here…

I took advantage of the mild temperatures earlier in the week and got in a couple of runs Monday and Tuesday. Since I was still recovering from eating way too much food and drinking more beer than usual on Super Bowl Sunday, I decided to just do a quick mile run and see if I could break the 10-minute mark. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. I finished that run in 10 min., 3 sec.

I ran just about 3.1 miles* on Tuesday and finished in 32 min., 56 sec., which I was OK with considering I know I put on a couple of pounds over the weekend. It was only 31 seconds slower than my previous 3.1-mile run last Friday when I wasn’t weighed down by a weekend of gluttony.

*I think my Nike+ sensor needs to be calibrated again because I’ve consistently marked one loop around my neighborhood as 0.8 miles, which would make four laps around a total of 3.2 miles. That was what I did on my first four-lap run on January 26 (which took place after I calibrated the sensor) and it came out to 3.2 miles, as expected. However, four laps around keep coming in under 3.2 miles, according to the Nike+ sensor. And Tuesday’s run was recorded as 3.04 miles on my iPod nano. There is no way I ran 0.06 miles less than 3.1 miles. I’m going to assume the time is right, but I’m recording it as a 3.1-mile run (if anything, it was more than that — not less).

Today, I ran about a total of 4 miles, but I have no idea exactly how long it took. Why? Because I tried to calibrate the Nike+ sensor and wound up running 0.5-mile for nothing. So then I started timing a four-lap loop around the neighborhood—from a different spot than in front of my house. However, I planned on running all the way to my house, which added another 0.2-0.3 miles to the run. That meant with the 0.5-mile calibration run and the planned 3.4-3.5 mile run, I covered just about 4 miles.

But guess what? I had trouble controlling the iPod nano again. I clicked play to momentarily—or so I thought—pause the workout for a time check at the halfway mark. Well, apparently, the iPod did not register my hitting the play button again to resume the workout…because it was still paused when I finished my run.

According to Nike+, I ran 1.94 miles in 22 min. exactly. Of course, I had picked up my pace after the time check so my last two laps were probably closer to my more typical 10-minute mile pace. But I guess I’ll officially record it as 44-minute, 3.88-mile run since I have nothing else to go on. I probably ran a longer distance, especially including the un-timed calibration run, and in less time, but that’s what I’ll go with.

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goal is to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes.

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

Here is a table with my run distances and times charted during this training period:

As I posted previously, I am currently training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my latest efforts to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the third in what will be a series of updates here…

Although it was a bit on the chilly side today, it was sunny and dry so I went for another run. This time, I ran 3.1 miles—the equivalent of a 5K—in 32 min., 25 sec. That means I knocked nearly two full minutes off my time of 34 min., 10 sec. on a 3.11-mile run on Wednesday. Finally, I’m making progress in getting my time closer to 30 minutes.

As far as weight loss goes, I’ve now lost a total of 7 pounds…so 33 more to go. I have to admit, though…since it’s Super Bowl weekend and I hate both the Giants and Patriots, I’ll be eating a lot and drinking several bottles of Beach Haus Classic American Pilsner and Beach Haus Winter Rental to ease my pain…so I’ll probably have to work harder next week to shed the weight I expect to gain this weekend.

You can read my post from Jan. 28 for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goal is to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes.

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

As I posted previously, I am currently training for the sold-out Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race on March 31 as part of my latest efforts to lose a total of 40 pounds. This is the second in what will be a series of updates here…

I took advantage of today’s spring-like weather in the low 60s and ran 3.11 miles — the equivalent of a 5K — in 34 min., 10 sec. Considering, I ran 3.2 miles in 34 min., 18 sec. a few days ago, I didn’t really improve any and — unless I can run .09 miles in 8 seconds — probably did worse.

You can read my post from Saturday for specifics, but I finished my only real 5K race in 27 min., 54 sec. back in fall 2006. However, I had been running regularly in the months leading up to it (the first time I ever ran like that in my life) and had lost 35 pounds. Now, after putting all the weight back on and being five-plus years older, my goal is to finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes.

I’ll be posting updates on my progress here once or twice a week.

 

Well, I am officially in training mode…I’ve registered for the Phillies’ 2nd annual 5k race scheduled for March 31.

After losing about 35 pounds in 2006 and running quite regularly, I ran in a 5K at Mercer County (N.J.) Park and finished in 27 min., 54 sec. I had two goals going in: 1) don’t die of a heart attack, and 2) if I don’t die, finish in less than 30 minutes…so I was happy I succeeded on both fronts.

However, shortly thereafter, I lost my way and began regaining the weight I had lost. I wound up gaining 20 pounds back within the next year and had stayed right around there ever since…or so I thought. I hadn’t weighed myself in months (and, of course, I’m well overdue for a checkup) and quite recently discovered I was hovering right around where I was before I dropped all the weight in ’06.

So I have been working out more regularly and have started running again in order to get back into shape. When I saw someone tweet about registering for this year’s Phillies 5K, I jumped at the chance since last year’s inaugural event sold out in 24 hours. Well, it’s a good thing I acted quickly the other day because registration for this year’s race is now closed.

This means I’ll be posting updates here as I train for the 5K and work on shedding the pounds. Again, I have two goals: 1) finish the Phillies 5K in less than 30 minutes, and 2) lose 40 pounds from where I was a couple of weeks ago.

I’ve already lost about five pounds since I started working out again, but I really need to do a better job of tracking what I’m eating — something I did pretty well back in 2006. I ran 1.6 miles today in about 16 minutes (I stupidly never hit the button on my iPod nano to start the Nike+ workout, so I wasn’t able to track the run).

I did complete a 3.2-mile run in 34 min., 18 sec. the other day, though. While it was good to get in a 5K-distance run, it was disappointing to see how far the drop-off has been in my performance. But I’m also seeing it as a great challenge.

When I lost 35 pounds in 2006, I actually wound up five pounds short of my goal back then. I will not let that happen again.