BGoody Lose

Baby It's Cold Outside!

2012-01-30T16:57:00.001-08:00

Long Run

I had to run my long run on Friday as I was busy on Saturday. More on that later. It was a "short" long run. This week I was supposed to put in 6 miles. One of those miles was to go as hard as I could at a sustained pace. That is different from running as fast as you can. One of the criteria was "no puking." The reason for the fast mile is to give you a feel for how fast you an expect to do other distances including a marathon. I was able to pull in a 10:17 for the mile. It is not my fastest mile, not even my fastest 5K rate, but it is where I am. The projected finish for me is 5h 50 min marathon. We'll see if that holds up.

Klondike Derby

http://newbirthoffreedom.org/firstcapital

As I have mentioned before, I am a Scoutmaster. This weekend was the Klondike Derby for our district. Several storms have come through the area recently so we had plenty of snow. We hoped to get up there early enough to find a campsite down low so we wouldn't have to haul our gear to very far. However, we found out that this year had a new policy where you could come early and get your place staked out. So we had to all make about three trips up a steep, snowy road to get our gear to from the vehicles. It was quite the workout. It was also very cold. The overnight low was 5 degrees, but we prepared well and everyone got through the night in pretty good shape. I was glad to be in good enough shape to keep up with everyone and do my fair share on our camp.

Biggest Loser Contest

I have several daughters. It goes without saying that I have had several experiences as Father of the Bride. Another daughter recently announced that she is getting married the first part of April. Another daughter suggested that we hold a Biggest Loser contest to prep for the wedding. It seems like weddings and losing weight go hand in hand so we will add some incentive to the mix. I will keep you posted on how the contest is going.

Hope you are all keeping warmer than a 12 year old first time scout this winter. Hang in there and I will too!

Going Long

2012-01-23T20:33:00.001-08:00

Long Run

I went on my long run on Saturday.  This really was a long run.  17 miles worth of long!  It was a challenge for many reasons.  The length, even with walk breaks, was really quite far.  Half of it was uphill and it was raining a snowing most of the time.  By the time I was through, I was soaked, tired and cold.  A warm shower never felt so good.  Even though it was so hard and I had to walk quite a bit the last two and a half miles, there was plenty positives to be taken from this run.  The Ogden Marathon is mostly downhill so being able to do this mileage and half of it be uphill gave me a bit of confidence.  I also mentioned a few weeks back that I needed to reach the 17 mile mark in the actual marathon in four and a half hours.  I did it with 2 minutes to spare!  :) Sure I was slow, but I wasn’t racing and the adverse conditions didn’t help improve my pace at all.

Speaking of adverse conditions, it was good to know that I didn’t let the bad weather get me down either.  Weather conditions in Utah during May can be all over the place, I now know I can make 17 miles in bad conditions.

I Can't

Last week I talked about the limits that we put on ourselves.  I had to deal with the “I can’t” part of me during the run.  Several times in fact.  It was good to not listen to the voice of doubt and just keep going.  That is going to be my biggest obstacle in finishing the marathon. As I have said before, I just need to trust in my training.

Gross

Warning! Don't read the next section if you don't want to be grossed out.  After reading Melissa's puke in the backpack and other such stories, I thought I'd share a bit of fun as well.  I was about two and a half miles into my run when I looked down and saw a Pink Nellie.  What is a Pink Nellie you ask?  Almost 50 years ago, I remember sitting in my classroom when a girl named Nellie deposited what looked like an egg salad sandwich on the top of her desk.  I still remember the vivid colors, the putrid smell and the horror that spread through the class.  Those memories came flooding back when I looked down and saw a Nellie just off to my left.  Why pink?  They must of had a slurpee to go along with the sandwich!  Don't say I didn't warn you!  Luckily I was not to far into my run so I averted my own Nellie!

Care to share any Nellie stories?  Feel free to comment!

Hang in there and Nellie and I will too!

I Can't

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-08:00

Last March, I read a post by Big Daddy Diesel how he can get motivated by someone telling him that he can't do something. I think I have some of that in me as well. But I think that there is one person that can tell you that you can't do something that has a big effect on you. That person is you!

When you tell yourself you can't do something. Like in "I can't do _____ because ______.", we too often listen. Maybe you've told yourself you can't do something because you are too old, too heavy, too ...., you get the point. Too often we limit ourselves because we believe what we tell ourselves. I am not advocating doing something that is unwise or unhealthy for us, but too often the excuses we give ourselves are given too much credibility.

Too old?

Photo by Andrew McClanahan, PhotoRun

Ed Whitlock finished the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 3:15:51! He set a record for an 80 year old. Pretty amazing.

Last year a 100 year old completed a marathon! Age isn't necessarily a limiter.

Too Tired?

Fibromyalga can cause your muscles and joints extreme pain. It can keep you up at night dealing with the issues. Jo Nodell found that exercise helps her. It may be hard for the first 30 minutes, but by the time she has done an hour, she feels better as she warms up her muscles. The pain is less severe and her attitude is lifted. She even walked a half marathon in about three and a ahlf hours! Not a bad time for walking!

http://www.realage.com/walking/fibromyalgia-exercise

Too Big?

Just watch Biggest Loser to debunk that myth. It's amazing how people transform in a manner of a few weeks.

Bob "Motivating" a Contestant (nbc.com/thebiggestloser)

I'm not advocating that you try to lose 150 lbs in 12 weeks. I'm not saying it doesn't matter what your doctor says, you should go out and run a marathon. I'm not telling you to go run some 800 meter intervals. What I am telling you is to not limit yourself by telling yourself what you can or can't do. Most times, you don't know until you try (and try and try).

Hang in there and I will too!

Reaching for the Stars

2012-01-09T09:04:00.000-08:00

Thanks for you many encouraging comments last week. I have updated the stars and hope to get those blank stars filled in here this year. I have been bouncing around 100 and 110 lbs lost for the past couple of months. I have been much better the last couple of weeks eating healthy, but the scale hasn't reflected it yet.

Marathon Training Schedule

Jeff Galloway

I think I have decided on my training schedule for my first marathon in May. I have heard about Jeff Galloway and started doing a little research about his training methods. He contends that you can actually improve your times by including walk breaks. This might work for me because I have a tendency to tank at the end of a race, especially longer distances.

The Long Run
Saturday was a long run and I put this to the test for the second week in a row. I was able to go fifteen miles. I was slow, but I don't think I could have done it at all without the walk breaks. This was quite the jump in weekly miles which has it's risk. The reason that the mileage was so high is that his training schedule is much longer than the other two I was looking at. If I was going to do his schedule, this was the mileage I needed to do on Saturday. I felt that if I could get this long run in without killing myself that I could continue on from here on out with his schedule. This week backs off the mileage to recover from the run so hopefully I will recover and will be in sync with the rest of the training schedule.

I had my first slip of the winter season. A few weeks back, I posted pictures of where the Provo Trail was covered with ice. I should have used my head and realized that the ice was still in the same place. The deception was when I walked over that part of the trail, there was a layer of snow on top. I had been running up the canyon in the snow without problems. Having a false sense of security, I was walking over the before mentioned section when BAM I was down. I wasn't even half way through my run. After taking a quick inventory, finding all my parts still in one piece, I continued on. I am a little sore by my knee where I hit, but nothing that should stop me from training.

Here is a picture from a couple of weeks ago. The ice was still there but the whole path was covered with snow.

You can see the ice just past the bridge.

I tried to take pictures. I had my phone with me. There was a place where I crossed over the river, on a bridge, to a closed off road to avoid the ice on the way back. It was really pretty because the road was covered with snow and no one had been on the road. It was pretty cold, but I fumbled my phone out, tried to snap a picture and as I did my phone crashed. I was too cold to stop and wait for the phone to start back up. I have become disenchanted with my EVO. It was a great phone at first, but the battery doesn't even last half a day with minimal use and it has become tempermental. I will have to take my point and shoot with me next time.

I hope you are keeping appropriately busy and healthy this winter. What have you been doing to keep up your fitness?

Hang in there and I will too.

2012 - Looking Forward

2012-01-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Like a lot of you, a new year gets me thinking about what I want to accomplish this year. We often hear of resolutions, but to me a resolution has to do with something that we are determined to do. It can have a negative connotation to it. To me it sounds like something that we think we should be doing and by will power we will get it done. I can get excited to do something and make a great start at it, but it's easy to start when enthusiasm is high, but when the adrenaline wears off, will power seems to wane. The concept of New Years goals seems more on how I am geared. It is usually something that I want to do and it will help me in some way that I want. Not just something that I should. I won't lay out all of my goals here, but here are my health and activity challenges I want to at least start this year.

Seven Peaks Challenge

Mount Nebo (http://utahpictures.com/images/atlanta_salt_lake/smPB190101.jpg)

I live in Utah County. Most of the population in the county lives in a geographic area called Utah Valley. It is lined on the east by the Wasatch Range which is part of the Rocky Mountains. We have a local resort called Seven Peaks. I have been trying to find out what those seven peaks are that they refer to and finally found out which of the mountains are part of the "seven." I have written several post about Mount Timpanogos and had my trash kicked by Cascade last year. I knew that Lone Peak and Mount Nebo had to be part of it as well as Provo Peak. I just wasn't sure what the last two would be. I found out that they are Santaquin Peak and Spanish Fork Peak. Mount Nebo is the highest at 11,928' and Spanish Fork Peak is the lowest at 10,192'. At first I was going to make it a goal to climb all seven this summer, but I don't want to over reach here. I have only been to the top of two of these (Timp and Cascade). They are all a challenge to climb so I get to the top as many as I can this year and hopefully finish up next.

Ogden Marathon

Ogden Marathon

This is the granddaddy of all of my goals. My goal is to continue to train for this marathon to put myself in a position to finish my first marathon. It still scares me a bit to think that I am already registered. But with my other races that I have entered, I trusted my training plans and they all got me to the finish line. I am still trying to decide which of three training plans I will follow. I am building my base back up, but I need to make a decision soon because some of the marathon training plans kick in in a couple of more weeks.
One more thing about this marathon makes me nervous. This statement on the website.

For safety reasons, runners that have not entered Ogden Canyon by 11:30am will be required to board the bus and be transported to the finish line - No Exceptions!

But then a quick calculation says that would be a 15.40 min / mile pace. I would deserve to be taken off the course I guess. More on my marathon goals and concerns in an upcoming blog.

Earn Those Stars Back (and then some).

I do not want to go back and do this all over again!

Michele left a comment last week that made me realize that my sidebar wasn't accurate any more. About a year and a half ago, I made it to within 20 lbs of my goal weight. Many factors including (surprisingly so) training for my first half marathon chipped away at that weight loss. I need to update those stars by taking a couple away and working to fill them back in. I will get that done by next week and make some definite plans on how I will get those stars back. It is really hard for me (and for others I have talked to as well) not to eat more as the miles start increasing. Sorry about not keeping that up to date. I will think this through a bit more and post on my plans to make this a highlight this year.

How About You?
I have read some of your goals for this coming year. Please comment on what some of your plans are for the year. Let's make 2012 a great one!

Hang in there and I will too!

2011 Retrospective

2011-12-28T16:22:00.001-08:00

Sorry to be slow posting again this week. I had a nice (in my own humble opinion) all typed up on my iPad but the app crashed and I lost all my changes! I am retyping a slightly varied version with another app (Blogsey) and hope it does better. If you have any suggestions on any experiences you might have had blogging on an iPad, let me know.

I thought for my last post of the year, I would look back on the year. It helps me to realize what progress I have made and be greateful for how the year went.

Kiwanis 5K

This was my first race after working back from an injury. It was a wet slushy run but I came in third in my age group. And in case you were wondering the we're more than three people in my age group. :)

Kiwanis 5K

Several Great Hikes

I had a great time on several hikes this year. With all the snow we had this spring, we had to be creative on our hikes, but all of them were great. The highlights were:

July Uintah Hike with Troy, Mike and Gordon

September Timp Hike with Paul and Gordon

Kings Peak Hike with Evan and Gordon

The Kings Peak hike was the highlight because it completed my Three Peak Challenge that started me on this journey. If you noticed, my brother Gordon was a part of my hiking. He's a great brother and we've had some great times together.

Two Half's Don't Make a Whole

At least as far as a marathon goes. I ran two half marathons this year. Hobble Creek and the Halloween Half. Both were a challenge to complete, but I was able to finish both of them.

Halloween Half

Hobble Creek

I have had a lot of positive experiences this year. More than I could have ever imagine! Thanks for following along with me! I would be interested to hear of some of your highlights of the year. Feel free to comment. Next week a look ahead as we celebrate a new year! Happy New Year to you all!

Hang in there and I will too!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-21T21:53:00.001-08:00

Things have been busy this week. I kept hoping to post something longer but it will have to wait until next week.

Have a Merry Christmas and I will too!

Catching Up

2011-12-13T09:51:00.000-08:00

I thought I would do a little catch up on what has been going on.

Thanks

First of all, I enjoyed your comments about running from your monsters! Makes the blog worth writing with the such great comments! Thanks!

Earn Your Turkey Run

This was a 4 miler on Thanksgiving morning. I have not been running for speed lately so I didn't expect to be fast. I thought if I finished up between 45 and 55 minutes, I would be happy. I finished up at 44:29 so I was quite happy. I didn't start out too fast, I stayed steady through out the race and had just a little extra in the tank at the end to finish strong. I was really happy with the way it turned out.

Accountability
I said that I would be accountable about my weight over the holidays. I am down a few pounds from my initial weigh in from just before the holidays so that is great! I need to be careful because I have let up a more than a few times. I don't want to gain weight over the holidays. I think the running is saving my bacon here!

A Little Bragging

My daughter Sarah had her first baby during the last week of November. He is a cutie and it is fun to see Sarah and Mike as first time parents. They are doing great and my new grandson is (of course) a cute kid. That puts us at 14 grandkids! Holy cow! The two youngest and I are getting by as my wife is back east helping out. Yesterday I got up at 5, sorted and started my laundry, ran 7 miles, made sure the kids were out the door OK and went to work. I don't know how single parents do it! Helps me appreciate my wife!

Goal Accomplished

I was hoping to get in over 2000 miles for the year and I turned over the odometer in the last couple of weeks. Yes!!!

Saturday's Long Run
The mileage for my long runs is nudging up This Saturday was an eight miler. Most of the trail was ice free until I got up to Bridal Veil Falls. The water from the falls had overflowed onto the trail and iced over. Baby steps! Baby steps!

Bridal Veil Falls Starting to Ice Over

Ice over the Trail

Biggest Loser

I am a big fan of The Biggest Loser. Tonight is the finale! It's always fun to see the changes that the contestants make in a relatively short period of time. I don't know who is going to win but I am glad Ramon is in the mix because I have always enjoyed his upbeat attitude. This interview with him shows why exercise is so important in a healthy lifestyle. As he mentions in the video, he was diagnosed as the most unhealthy of all the contestants who competed this year including those who were in their 60's. Ramon is one of the youngest! As he pointed out, he had diabetes and sleep apnea but in a few short weeks of eating right and exercise, he has not only lost over 135 pounds, he was told that he no longer has diabetes! Physical activity is not just a weight loss tool. Exercise is the best medicine we will probably ever find.

nbc.com

A lot of you are doing great on not gaining weight over the holidays. Keep up the great work. Hang in there and I will too!

Running from the Monster

2011-12-05T10:56:00.001-08:00

When Iwas young, I spent many of my summer weeks at my grandmothers house. There were many things I like about herstaying with her. A creek split atthe top of her property and surrounded her house that my grandfatherbuilt. There were fish to becaught, trees to climb, cherries to eat and most importantly someone who reallyloved me. It was an acre ofparadise.

Anothergreat thing about spending my days there was the fact that two of my uncles hadhomes on adjoining properties. Sonot only did I get to spend time with my grandmother, but my cousins were closeat hand. Those growing upyears were filled with many fun filledmemories.

Onememory that I had wasn't pleasant though. Sometimes I would be at my cousins' house until after it was dark. That meant when it was time to go backto my grandma's house, I had to go down a dark driveway. This wasn't just a short driveway, butmore of a dirt road that connected their houses. It was a long walk down that road. But usually it wasn't a walk, it was a run for my life. I would pause at the top of the drive,screw up my courage and then run like crazy. I ran past the trees, the duck pen and the unseen monstersthat lurked waiting to grab me. Iraced as fast as I could go and then make a sharp left, head for the porch andburst through the door out of breathe and grateful that I made it homealive. I'm sure my grandmotherknew why I was a little wild-eyed and breathing hard but she loved me enough not to say anything.

Image: Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I don'tthink I realized at the time that there was a monster. But it wasn't in the trees or the duckpen. The monster was inside of me. I had created it and hid it along thedrive. I couldn't outrun themonster because it was running right along inside of me.

I thinkwe all have a monster or two inside of us that keeps us from doing what wewould like. They freeze us intoinaction or get us running off in the wrong direction. They cause us to place the blamesomewhere outside of us.

I had oneof those monsters that was keeping me for living a more healthy life. It was making me believe that it was tolate for me to make a change and lose some weight. I'm glad that I had something give me hope that that mosnterwasn't real. I could make achange, I could be fit again, I could lose weight.

I'vestill got some monsters that I need to quite believing in and quit avoiding thefact that I am that I am the one I am running from. One of them is this last thirty to thirty-five more pounds Ineed to lose. Why am I not willingto quit running from it? What's itgoing to take for me to get rid of this monster? I hope I can face this monster soon and get it out of mylife!

You gotany monsters you need to get rid of?

Hang inthere and I will too!

Don't Take Things For Granted

2011-11-29T07:23:00.001-08:00

Never Say Never

I often will post a quote that I find inspirational. However, when I saw a quote the other day that included the words "running", "rain", and "crying", I thought that's not a quote I will post. I thought to myself that I don't run crying in the rain. So what happens this morning? I listen to a podcast from Radio Labs that got me tearing up as I was running. Stupid show! If you aren't a Radio Labs listener already, I highly recommend it as a podcast to listen to. This one in particular was powerful in many ways. If you are interested you can listen here.

Kohn Ashmore

Slow
There were several things that got me thinking as I listened to the story of Kohn Ashmore. He was severely injured when he was hit by a car when he was eight years old. He was in a coma for five months and when he awoke, he couldn't talk or walk. He had to relearn many skills and had to learn how to cope with his permanent disabilities. One thing that stuck out was how he never realized that his speech was so slow until he recorded himself trying to sing. He came to an abrupt realization of how he sounded to others and it devastated him. It took him a long time to overcome that devastation. Luckily he found friends along the way who helped him in his struggles.

Like I said, there were many things I thought about as I listened to this podcast, but one that really stuck out was how it took a moment like that in my own life when I realized what I was doing to myself and others with my weight problems. It was a devastating moment of my own. Thanks to others encouragement and my willingness to work hard I was able to turn things around. Thanks to all of you who have encouraged me and I hope I have helped you as well.

No Exceptions
With Thanksgiving weekend behind us now, I wonder if you like me made too many exceptions. We not only had the holiday and the food to deal with, by the time this week is done, there are three birthdays and a family Christmas party we have celebrated as well. I made way to many exceptions when it came to food choices. I need to get back into No Exceptions mode for a while. It's too easy this time of year to make too many exceptions and gain weight over the next several weeks. I'll be accountable in my blog about how I am doing through the New Year.

Hang in there and I will too!

Attitude

2011-11-19T12:27:00.001-08:00

Attitude plays an important part of everything we do.

Provo River Trail

For example, It has gotten colder here the past few weeks. I was getting a bad attitude about it getting cold. We had a cold spring and I just wasn't ready to head into winter. After a couple of days of grumping about it, I got to thinking that the main problem with the cold was my attitude about it being cold.

I was able to get through last winter (other than an non-weather related injury) just dandy. I know how to stay warm and mostly comfortable. I just needed to accept the fact that the cold is going to be here for a while.

There are plenty of things to be positive about.

I really enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the fun associated with getting together with friends and family.
I enjoy extra time off from work.
I enjoy how things look after a fresh snow.

There are plenty of things I like about this time of year.

I have settled down a bit and am getting back into the cold routine. I just check the temperature when I get up and layer up accordingly. I use up more clothes in one day than I do all week it seems when the weather is warm, but that's no big deal.

What I do to keep warm.

I layer according to the temperature.
I wear moisture wicking clothing. (No cotton at all!)
I even layer my hands. I have light weight running gloves that I start with and will either put fingered gloves over them if I need extra warmth. I also have some thicker mittens when it gets really cold. I have on occasion even used hand warmers with my gloves, but not very often.
I warm up just a bit before I go out. I will do light leg and arm swings to loosen up a bit. It also warms my core up a bit making the shock of the cold not so bad.
A nice synthetic wool hat makes a big difference.
I invested in some wicking thermals as well. They cost a bit more, but I have been happy with them on the occasions when it is extra cold.

I used to worry about rain and snow getting me wet, but on most of my runs, I get wet from the inside out from sweating so I realized that it didn't make much difference what the source of the wetness was. As long as I'm moving, I am keeping warm. The only exceptions are my hands and feet. I explained above about my hands and it's not often when my feet get cold. Just on those wet, cold, slushy days. But even those days are not that bad.The only thing that I don't deal with well is ice. I have slipped too many times in my life to enjoy that, but most of the time, the roads are clear enough to run on. I go early enough and try to avoid the really busy streets so I don't have much of an issue with cars. I wear a reflective vest and sometimes use a headlamp. I have used Yak Traks knock offs before. They do help with traction on slippery surfaces, but don't do well when the snow is wet and heavy. I might not have used the best model for what I was trying to do. Mine didn't have a strap across the top, like the video shows. I think they would do better.

On those rare days when it's just not doable because of ice, I do have a tread mill as a backup.Now if I can just get a better attitude about the rest of my life, everyone else will be happier! :)What do you do to deal with the cold?

Hang in there and I will too! (5 miles away from 1000 miles for the year!)

Justification

2011-11-13T09:04:00.001-08:00

Alan at Pounds Off Playoff wrote a couple of thought provoking post. Read them here and here. It got me thinking about what I do to justify my actions. These justifications are what sabotage me in the long run. Here are two of them.

I am working hard so I can have a little extra.

I deserve a little extra!

This one gets me every time. If I run six miles, it's OK to throw in a little treat. I know darn well that it isn't a good thing, but I easily fall into this one. If I run six miles, I burn a net 812.7 calories. For more info see this article in Runner's World. So let's say I justify eating a Whooper with cheese as a result and I've eaten 760 calories in about ten minutes. Not much calorie deficit after that! I usually don't go out and get a Whopper with cheese, but I do tend to eat a bit more here and there throughout the day and that adds up really quick.

I'll start being good on Monday
Michele blogged about the importance of today. I commented that my tomorrow is usually Monday. Like in, "Monday I'll start watching what I eat better." But before long it's Tuesday... Thursday... Friday and then it's time to say, "I'll start being good on Monday." Like Michele pointed out today is the day. It got me thinking that today is the only day we can do anything. Yesterday is gone and we have to wait until tomorrow becomes today to actually do anything. I need to quite justifying today's behavior based on a better tomorrow.

On an upbeat note

I have been logging my mileage on dailymile.com. I noticed a stat on there that had me feeling pretty good and gives me some incentive to keep going this year. Since I logged my first mileage in there last year I have run (mostly) 2028 miles. This year I am at 971 and counting. I am on track to get in another 1,000 mile year. Keep your eye on my daily mile update on the side.

Inspiration
People comment that I am an inspiration. I am happy if I can help others "hang in there", but you have all helped inspire me as well. I read of you successes, dealing with your challenges and a lot of you have given me pause for thought many times. Thanks for inspiring me!

Hang in there and I will too!

What's Next?

2011-11-07T10:13:00.000-08:00

There is something magical about running; after a certain distance, it transcends the body. Then a bit further, it transcends the mind. A bit further yet, and what you have before you, laid bare, is the soul.

Kristin Armstrong, Mile Markers blog at Runner's World.com

Kristin Armstrong

It is hard for me to express sometimes why I run. I think the quote I included today helps in a small way to explain to me what it is. There are few things in life that can help me get a better look at my character, my determination and persistence than running. It gives me a chance to face my limits and see what I have in me.

So... What's Next?

I've had a fun and challenging last few months. I ran a couple of 5K's, ran a 10K, ran two half marathons. I even made it to the highest peak in Utah! So what am I going to do now? I find it helps if I have some short and long term goals. Here's what's up for me.

I took it easy this last week. I have found when you run races, it puts extra stress on your body and you are pretty much forced to take it easy. I didn't do anything on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, I walked a couple of miles on the treadmill and stretched. That really helped. Friday was my first day trying to run. Even six days after the half, my legs still felt sluggish as I ran almost three miles. This would have been an easy run the week before. Saturday, I ran 5.5 miles as a tip of the hat to my age on my birthday. I posted on Facebook that "Bill Hiatt ran 40 miles on his 40th. Not to be outdone, I ran 5.5." That was a hard 5.5 miles, when I was done, I hurt more than I did after I ran the half. I think part of the problem was I ran too fast and a little too far. This morning's run of 3.5 went much better. I slowed down a bit and I felt much better, especially after stretching.

Last Tuesday, I made the commitment to run a marathon by signing up for the Ogden marathon. Others who have run this have said that this is a great marathon for someone doing their first and they really enjoy the course. I must be crazy! I'll be writing more about this as the weeks go on. I start official training on January (brrrrrr) but I need to keep my base training up and get my core strong again.

Ogden Marathon

I also signed up for a Earn Your Turkey run on Thanksgiving morning. It is a 4 miler. It will be a good short term goal to get me back into training.

Earn Your Turkey

I signed up for my work challenge - Challenge: Maintain, don’t gain this holiday season! I have had mixed results in the past with the annual challenge. I plan on being successful this year. Last blog, I challenged you to do the same.

Big Clyde (I always enjoy his blog!) left me a question in the comments last week that got me thinking. He said:

"All-in-all, we're you happy with the race? I think you should be proud."

Thanks for that question because it really got me thinking. I was disappointed with that this was my slowest half marathon. But putting things in perspective, IT WAS A HALF MARATHON! And thinking more about it, IT WAS MY THIRD HALF MARATHON! Many years ago, I started training for a marathon. When I got up to about 11 miles, I couldn't do it any more. I was in my early thirties and I had to quit. Here I am over 20 years later and I have done 10 miles and more dozens of times now as I have trained. Two and a half years ago, I was 325 lbs and couldn't even walk a quarter of a mile without a lot of effort. Now I am thinking I can do a marathon! Thanks Clyde for putting this back into perspective for me! I learned a lot from this last half marathon. One thing being, that you get out of it what you put into it. The change to an easier paced half marathon schedule left me with an slower pace on race day.

Thanks to the support you give in the comments. It really helps and encourages me to keep writing and to keep after my goals. If I didn't post about them, I wouldn't be near as accountable as I am now.

Hang in there and I will too!

Halloween Half

2011-10-31T09:14:00.000-07:00

“I don't run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run towards it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your foot” ― Nadia Comaneci

Nadia

I haven't talked much about the Halloween Half this year in my blog other than mentioning that I was training for it and it was coming up. Last year, it was my first half marathon ever and I was running (pun?) a little scared leading up to the race.

This year was quite different. I had already run the Hobble Creek Half in August and I wasn't going to run the Halloween Half this year but after a couple of weeks of recovery runs, I was ready for another challenge.

There were a few things that happened that made me wonder if I had made a mistake. I chose a different training schedule to work off of. My previous two halfs were based on Hal Higdon's training schedules. He has generously provided training tips and schedules at no cost. You can pay for additional help, but this is a great resource for runners who want to run anything from a 5K to a marathon. This time, I used a Runner's World schedule. In all fairness, I used their beginning schedule since it was about were I was in running when I decided to run this one. The longest "long run" was 10 miles and I was struggling on the long runs just a bit.

Packet Pickup for Justin Bieber Fans
Most of my reservations were pre-race experiences however. The first was at Packet Pickup. They only had one day to pick up your packet. I went Friday night about 5pm to a local mall and we had to stand in line for an hour and a half to get our packets. I talked with others later who waited 2 hours! That's a long time to stand in line the day before a race. The line went half way through the mall. I tried to tell curious mall shoppers that we were in line for Justin Bieber, but no one fell for it and joined the line. :)

Morning Fun
They had us get up nice and early to catch buses at the same mall to drive us up Provo Canyon and then head up past the Sundance Ski Resort to the race start. Even though the race started at 9:00, they had to get the buses up the canyon early since it impacted traffic. The only problem was is that the race starting point was at a new place this year and the first buses up didn't know exactly where. The bus driver asked for help to get where we needed to go. I was on the front seat behind the bus driver and knew where the start of the race was supposed to be so I was his Garmin voice giving him turn-by-turn directions.

When we got to where the race was supposed to start, I could see some starting gates, but the "heated tent as big as a football field" was not seen from the road. There wasn't anyone from the race there either. The bus driver got off and asked the bus drivers behind him if they knew where to let us off. On of them told him there was a drop off point ahead. So off we went up a narrowing road with barely enough room for one bus. We soon were stopped by a bus load of people walking down the same narrow road. On runner said, "He nearly drove off a cliff so we got off." Our bus decided to take the same action. Soon we were traveling in the pitch dark down this narrow road with four other bus load of runners going back to where we saw the starting gate. It was about a half mile back to there. For about 10 minutes, we gather in the cold (20*) while someone tried to figure out where we were supposed to go. Finally someone finds and empty lite up heated tent behind some buildings so we headed en masse to our temporary shelter.

I won't say much about the tent experience except to say there is nothing like sharing a tent with thousands of other runners who are dressed up in Halloween costumes for about 2 1/2 hours.

The Race Itself

The Tail End of Last Years Start (Halloween Half Web Page)

When we actually got going, I purposefully got way back it the start. I knew it would help me not to go out too fast. I was lined up a ways behind the 3:00 hour pacer. It was a good strategy except being near the guy dressed as a cow. The costume wasn't that bad except for the cow bell that he had hung around his neck that clanged for miles. His race strategy was fun/walk. Every time he passed someone, he would say "MOOO!" This went on for miles and was only slightly irritating. :)

Race Pace
I thought my race pace was good. The first part of the race is really steep. I eventually caught up to the 2:40 pacer (dressed as a gorilla) and stayed with him through about mile six where he went a little ahead of me. I thought this was great and I wasn't really that tired yet and felt I had reserves. I stuck to my nutrition plan fairly well. My only problem was the early steepness took a bit of a toll on my calves which felt like they wanted to cramp, but thankfully never did during the race.

During the last part of the race though, my pace kept slowing. I didn't have to walk except when I took some water and Gu's, but I couldn't keep my pace up. The way my long runs had gone before, I was afraid I was going be right around three hours to finish. Toward the end, even though I was running (shuffling), I would have trouble passing power walkers. But I never really thought about quitting, I knew I just had to go at my pace and keep after it. I know if I would have pushed any harder, I would have cramped up big time.

The Finish

I don't run from a challenge, I run through it.

I saw this on the back of a shirt as I was headed down the stretch. This race was definitively a challenge, but I was close to the finish. Right after mile 13, with only .1 miles to go, I got a huge cramp on my left inner thigh, I had to stop, massage it out, and then headed for the finish line.

Post Race

I will save until next week what my next plans are, but I would like to suggest a challenge that comes from my work that fits right in with other challenges you might have.

YOUR CHALLENGE:

Maintain your weight during the holiday season!

To complete this Wellness Challenge:

1. Maintain (or lose) weight during the coming

holiday season

2. Begin with an initial weigh-in around

November 1, 2010 (the last day to join this

Challenge is Monday, November 15)

3. Have a final weigh-in on January 2, 2011

4. Use the same scale for the initial weigh-in

and your final weigh-in

5. You’ll be weighing yourself. So be honest

6. Keep records of your completed challenge

Maintain, don’t gain!

I'll be weighing in tomorrow and promise to report on my loss/gain on Monday, January 2, 2012. Feed free to join in!

Hang in there and I will too!

Fall Break and General Weirdness

2011-10-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry to be late this week. Busy, busy, busy!

Fall Break Scout Trip

The kids were off school for a couple of days last week so we planned a camping trip for the scouts. Normally I just take the scout troop out, but for this one we had the Varsity team and Venture crew join us as well. The 11 year old scouts joined in the fun so we had 13 scouts and 8 leaders and fathers along.

Goblin Valley is a State Park in southern Utah. Most people are familiar with Moab because of the great mountain bike trails along with Arches and Canyonland National Parks. Goblin Valley is about 50 miles or so west as a crow flies from Moab so you know it is in some fun country.

Goblin Valley (Utah State Parks Site)

Goblin Valley is filled with "hoodoos" which are unique formations created through years of wind and water erosion. The great thing about this state park is that they allow you to go all through and all over the formations. It is fun for all ages. The next day, we hiked Little Wild Horse Canyon which is an easily accessible slot canyon that provides a ton of fun. No worries about flash floods as the weather was perfect.

Little Wild Horse Canyon (zaek.info)

Half Marathon Prep
With the Halloween Half Marathon this Saturday, I needed to get my long run in. It was another 10 miler. I was scheduled to run this on Saturday, but being that I was with the Scouts I knew it wouldn't work so I ran on Friday morning before we drove down. I read about a trick to help your legs be less sore. Lay on your back near a wall and rest your heels on the wall. I did this for about 10 minutes. It really helped. When I dropped my legs back down, I could feel a rush of blood going back to them. I was able to drive for about four hours and hike a little in the evening and my legs held up just fine. I'll have to remember that one!

Weird Things!
Do you ever have weird things happen when you are out exercising? This morning I took off a little later and walked two miles (taper week). As I was walking down the sidewalk next to a busy street, I noticed someone cross in front of me into our church parking lot. As I got closer, I saw an old Volkswagen bug halfway on the grass and half way into the parking lot. During the week the gate to the busy street is closed. He was attempting to push it off the grass into the parking lot. I helped him get the car off the lawn and asked if everything was alright. He said that he was worried leaving his stalled car on the busy street so he was attempting to get it into the parking lot. I walked away thinking that was weird.

A couple of blocks down the road, I saw something lying on the grass in between the sidewalk and the street. As I got closer I saw an 8x11 picture of Jesus. There was nothing but businesses on this side of the street so I figured it had blown over here from somewhere else. I didn't want the picture to get wet or mangled any further so I carried it home and found a place for it in my garage. It will serve as a reminder each time I back out of the driveway to be a better person.

I've had many weird and funny things happen while I have been out exercising. Any of you want to share your experiences in the comments?

Hang in there and I will too.

How You Can Become a Runner - Part 2

2011-10-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Runner's World Quote of the Day

Every time I go out there, I win. Every time I finish the task that I've set before myself, I win again.
- David James Elliott, actor

David James Elliot (Netflix)

Last week, I talked about building up a good base and running at a good heart rate. Today I'll finish up with three more things that I feel are important.

Don't forget to rest

Proper resting!

Even elite runners know you need to have rest days when you run. You might be inclined to think that the more often you run, the better you become. There is some truth to that as far as building up mileage, but it's important to let your body recover as well.

Most training schedules include days off. Some have up to three days off of running. As with any form of exercise running breaks you down a bit in order to build you back up. That's why regular rest days from running are important. Does that mean you can't exercise? Not at all! You can do something different, even walking is usually okay because the way you use your leg muscles walking are different than when running. Other popular ways to cross-train are weight lifting, biking and yoga. I often use rest days to work on my core strength. Keep your core strong and you can prevent a lot of problems down the road.

Don't go all out every run

Usain Bolt

You might be tempted to think that the harder you go on every run, the quicker you will improve. I found in previous attempts at running that doing this leads to an eventual burnout where you break your body down and are forced to take a break from running. Unfortunately that break can be for years as I found out.

Just like you should have rest days, some of your runs will be "easy" runs. What this means is you don't push it on these days. Your pace and heart rate need to be slow. Often an easy run is the first run after your "long" run. An easy run helps your body work out some of the stiffness or soreness from either longer miles or from speed work.

"Long runs" are also usually runs that you have to back off a bit. Your goal on a long run is to build up endurance. It just won't be a good experience for you when your mileage picks up if you start out too quick. You need to hold some of that extra energy for the last part of the run. Ever heard the term "negative-splits"? That is where the first half of your run/race is slower that the last half. You know you have done it right if you reserve some of that energy for the last part of the run. It's harder than you might think. It is great training for a race as well.

Good form
Good running form cannot be over-emphasized. Make sure you are not hunched over. There should be a straight line from your shoulders, through your hips down to your ankles. Keep your arms at about 90 degrees and keep those shoulders relaxed. Lean forward from your ankles so you are letting gravity help propel you forward.

Heel Striking (Image from http://www.carifinonline.com)

Don't be a heel striker! Heel striking occurs if you let your foot land too far in front of you. Why is this so bad? It's because it causes your heel to absorb a lot of impact which transfers to your knees and hips. It also slows you down because it causes a bit of a braking action when you land on your heel. Make sure you keep your feet underneath your hips and let the natural action of pushing off propel you forward. You should be landing somewhere from mid-sole to the balls of your feet. There is a big push towards bare-foot running. I won't get into the pros and cons here, but just be aware that if you were to run barefoot, you probably wouldn't land on your heel. You would naturally run further forward on your foot. Being aware of this one fact will probably save you a lot of injuries. I find I do better at the first of my run. When I get tired or push my pace, I tend to get sloppy and land further back on my foot.

I hope these little tips I've learned help. There are pretty fundamental, but when you are first starting out, you just get out there and try to move. Keep these thing in mind will keep you running longer and with better results!

A quick shout-out to Mark for running 6 miles! Great job Mark!

Hang in there and I will too!

How You Can Become a Runner - Part 1

2011-10-10T14:06:00.000-07:00

This quote from Runner's World Quote of the Day fits perfectly for today's post.

My goal has always been to introduce other people to running. They might accomplish something they never thought they could.
- Grete Waitz, Norwegian marathon runner and former world record holder

Grete Waitz 1954-2011 - 9 time winner of the NY Marathon

Thanks for all the great comments and encouragement last week. I wasn't sure if there would be any interest in my take on how to start running. Once again, I am not an expert, but I have learned a lot along the way. Some things I have learned the hard way and other things I have learned by applying advice I have picked up from other runners or articles.

Not sure if you should run?
Often there is concern if you would put to much stress on your knees and back if you start running. It's a valid concern. The best thing is to see your doctor and get his/her opinion. I was worried about this myself. I have had back problems before but I found out that my problem was muscle related, not joint related. I just needed to strengthen my core. My knees were holding up with the walking and hiking I was doing. As I became more fit, I got the urge to try running a little and see what would happen. I found that I could do more than I thought. If I remember right, I was about 250 when I started trying running.

Build up a good base
Start with walking. Keep walking a little further each day until you can walk at a good clip for at least 30 minutes. Don't be discouraged if it takes a while to get up to 30 minutes or more. Just do a little more each time you go out. When I started out, I could hardly go a quarter of a mile before I was wiped out. I would just add a little more each time out and I made progress.

When you get to the 30 minute mark, try short, slow intervals. I think a great way to do this is either by heart rate or perceived effort (see below). You want to challenge yourself a bit, but don't feed like you have to go either hard or long. You may only be able to jog for 15 seconds at first, but hey, your doing it! Slow back down to a walk and recover. When you get your heart rate back down or your breathing is back to where it is comfortable, try another interval at the same pace and time. I could make it about a block before I had to stop, but I was proud of myself and was able to that several times during my normal walk.

Heart Rate Zones and/or Perceived Effort
This is a lesson I learned the hard way. When I started out doing intervals, I would go until I my heart was pounding and I was out of breathe. Talking with others, I found out that a heart rate monitor would help. Last week I mentioned that I bought a Garmin 305. It not only tracked distance, (which at the time I was most interested in), it also tracked heart rate. I didn't know if I would use it much, but I spent the extra money for it. In hindsight, I am really glad I did. When I charged it up and took it out the next day I just let it track my progress as I did my usual intervals. When I got back home, I loaded the data into the Garmin software. When I saw what my heart rate was doing, it was obvious that I was running way too fast. My heart rate was spiking at the 90% level and I would have to stop. The very next time out, I slowed down the running portion and doubled my running time/distance.

There is a lot of info that you can read if you google heart rate zones, but in a nutshell, when we workout at about 60% of our maximum heart rate, we can go for much longer because our body can produce the energy we need much easier and for a longer time. It is the aerobic part of exercise. When we go at a higher heart rate 80-90%, the body has to produce the energy needed less efficiently. This is the anabolic part of exercise. It is the state the body gets in when we hit the weights hard. One of the by products of this is lactic acid. So the idea is to run at a pace that your body can keep up better. Most of the heart rate monitors will walk you through what you need to do to set things up for your age. It isn't completely accurate because the numbers are based on averages. But it is a good start. on most monitors, heart rate zone 3 is where you want to be. Most monitors can be set up to warn you if you go above or below your target heart rate zone.

A lot of runners can also "feel" when they are in the right zone. I can to some extent, but it is rare that I notice that I my effort is a little too high before the heart rate alarm goes off. You might do better than me in this area, but I find that a heart rate monitor is a great tool.

In Conclusion

I have gone on too long as it is, so I will save the rest of this for next week. Hope this helps and gives you some confidence that you too can become a runner! It has made a world of difference for me.

Hang in there and I will too!

How I Came to be a Runner

2011-10-03T10:54:00.000-07:00

When I started getting serious about losing weight again, it all started as a Three Peak Challenge. I have written about this challenge several times before. In a nutshell, I got inspired to get back into hiking shape by choosing three mountains to climb that I either hadn't done before, or it had been decades. I spent a lot of time getting back into shape to get to the top of the first mountain, Big Baldy.

When I didn't make it to the top by the end of fall that first year, I had to wait until the snow melted off. I spent the winter trying to get off the extra weight and building up my endurance. A few months in to the next year, I was ready to try a walk of significant distance for me. I went on what I call my Riverwoods Route which I enjoyed in the past. When I was able to walk the 4.5 mile loop, I was really excited. When I started out, I had trouble covering a quarter of a mile.

As I kept walking and also dedicating my Saturday mornings to longer walks/hikes, I wondered if I could run a bit. I started out slowly running a block and then walking to catch my breath. It was fun to go faster than I had gone in a long time. I was making progress, but it was slow.

Fortunately, I have a cross country coach (Andy) and a long distance runner (Bill) in the neighborhood who had noticed that I was dropping weight. They were both very encouraging to me. I told them about what I was doing in trying to run. The both told me that they used a Garmin to track their running. I liked the idea because I often would go out but not know how far I had gone. After researching, I found one that also had a heart monitor. I didn't know if the heart monitor would be that big of a deal but I decided to get that model.

Garmin Forerunner 305

When it got delivered, I got it set up, charged it and the next morning strapped on the heart monitor and headed out for my walk/run. When I got back, I loaded the data. It was interesting to see how far I had gone, but I was surprised when I looked at the heart rate chart. It was easy to see why I had to stop and walk. My heart rate would build up quickly to a level where I had to stop and walk. I learned that I was pushing too hard. On my next time out, I ran slow and steady and as a result immediately was able to run almost twice as far.

Things improved rapidly. My weight continued to drop. I was getting more bang for my buck during my exercise time and before long I was able to run most of the way. Gradually I was able to build my mileage to where I was running about 6 miles twice a week and then hiking 10 or so miles on Saturday mornings.

As I would talk to my running friends, they kept encouraging me. Bill told me I should run a 10K. He knew I could do it. I felt so great to have a runner that I admired telling me I could do something that I never though I would be able to do. I ran the Freedom Festival in 2010. I was so excited when I finished.

Freedom Festival 10K 2010
Copyright Zazoosh.com

I kept running. I began to wonder if I could even go further. Both Andy and Bill had full confidence in my ability to run a half-marathon. I found an online training schedule and a fall race that fit with the schedule. Before I knew it, I was at the starting line of the race and ran the 13.1 miles down to the Riverwoods. It finished up on the route that got me started! My wife and daughter were there to cheer me on at the finish. I had a hard time not getting emotional as I crossed the finish line. I did it!

Sorry no personal photo, but here is the poster from this year. (I am running this again)

I still love hiking and now I love running. It's not easy, but I have overcome so much and learn tons from it. I never knew there was so much more beyond just getting out and running. Heart rate, different distances, speed training all play an important part. I am still learning a lot.

I hope this long post captures just a bit of how much I have come to love running. If there is any interest, I would be willing to post a few of the tricks I learned (and am still learning) about running. Let me know in the comments if you would like to hear more.

Hang in there and I will too!

Carry That Weight

2011-09-26T10:51:00.000-07:00

David W. posted this article about a cross-country runner named Josh Ripley on Facebook and shared it. As I read the article, I got thinking how often I get helped by others when I get discouraged along the journey including many of you. Thanks for the support!

Blog Award

Michelle over at Ruminations was kind enough to award me with a blog award. If you don't follow Michelle, I would recommend you do. She is doing well on making a lifestyle change and is losing weight the right way. A great combination of exercise (over 1000 miles biking this year so far) and making reasonable and healthy changes in the way she eats. Slow and steady wins the race in the long run. Keep up the great work Michelle.

Back in Training
As I posted last week, I decided to run the Halloween Half again this year. I started at week 4 training on a new schedule. My running up to this week was sufficient enough for me to start where I did. I like the new schedule if for no other reason it mixes things up a bit. Speed work is mixed in to the middle of an easier pace. It's fun for me to run faster for short sprints and then crank it back down. For now the length of the intervals is about right. Saturday's long run was a bit rough however. I have been trying to really watch my heart rate. I tend to push it a bit too hard and end up paying for it on race day. I decided this time out, I would really train within the parameters that the training calls for. The problem on Saturday was my Garmin which tracks both heart rate and distance got knocked off the charger and it didn't even last getting out of the car. I didn't have a watch with me, so I had to guess on my heart rate by effort. I know the distance of a 6 miler on the path I took, but it was an 8 mile run so I had to guess when to turn back. I am not sure if I was short or long. I also had to take off later than I usually do. The first part of the run was a real struggle and I ended up having to choose between walking or falling over. I chose to walk for about a half mile until I felt ok. From there on, I was in a bit better shape and able to run the rest.

When I got back to the car, this was on my windshield.

This is both wrong and funny in so many ways!

Hang in there and I will too.

The Price (of Great Health) is Right!

2011-09-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

A few bits and pieces this week.

Drew Carey

Runner's World ran a great article on Drew Cary. You might have heard his story of losing weight, but this article is the latest in his efforts to get fit. I can relate to what he has gone through and we are close to the same age. I hope you get some motivation and some good practical advice from it as I did.

September Challenge. Mer at We're Losing It posted a challenge a few weeks back. Really quite simple but effective. I thought I ought to report on my progress since we are now more than half way through September.

Minimum 30 minute workout (Every day I worked out was at least 30 minutes.)
5-6 days a week (5 times / week is 71.4% of the time, I've exercised 86.6% of the time so far)
Cardio or strength training (Both. I've been mixing it up)
Post daily about it on your blog. (Missed a couple of tweets, but for the most part logged my workouts)

Bob Harper - Totally Ripped Core. I am a big fan of the Biggest Loser and have always wondered how I would do if Bob was my trainer. Last year I bought several of his Inside Out DVD's and they are hard. Just last week, I got his Totally Ripped Abs DVD and it is a killer as well (in a good way.) If you are looking to mix things up, I would recommend his DVDs. Most are $10 and under from Amazon, Walmart and Target.

One last bit of news. I have decided to run the Halloween Half again this year.

I was not going to race anymore this year but after cutting back on my running for a couple of weeks, I am feeling ready to train again. I have benefited a lot from training for races. Saturday it really started bugging me so I checked where I should be in training according to a Runner's World training sheet and found I was about right on my weekly runs. So I started on week 4 this morning. I am going to really focus on my heart rate on this training schedule and see how it goes. This morning went really well.

Hang in there and I will too!

Timp III

2011-09-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

My brother Gordon and I tried to hike Mount Timpanogos about 6 weeks ago. After 5 miles and several snowfield crossings, we turned back when one of them proved to be too much. I didn't know if we would get another chance this year until some of the guys at work said they wanted to hike it. I set up a date, we got about 10 people saying they wanted to go and the plan was set in place. After all was said in done, on Friday we arrived at the trailhead with Gordon, one other guy from work, (Paul) and me. I've described this hike several times, so I won't go into much detail here other than to point out a few things that were different about this hike and also a few pictures.

It was fun to have all three of us be matched up well in our hiking abilities. We took turns switching off leading and it kept us on a good pace. We hit the summit after hiking about four and a half hours. Not bad considering the average is six to eight hours to the top.

Paul and Gordon at the place where the snowfield stopped us last time. Just a small patch is all that is left.

Looking down at Emerald Lake which is still partially covered with ice. It's usually snow free by the first of July.

Paul, Bruce and Gordon at the summit.

On the way down, we met two others from work, Scott and Joe, who had a conflict in the morning. They started hiking around noon and kept going until they met us coming down. As you can see on the following picture, it is a beautiful trail.

Heading back down.

I felt really great on this hike. I even packed the poles away for most of the hike on the way down. I think my training for the half marathon on downhill routes helped. The only thing that was painful is my trail running shoes are too small in the toes and they were a bit tender. I need to get another pair. Other than that, it was a great hike and I'm glad I got to do it again this year. It also makes Gordon a member of the Three Peak Challenge club. Great job Gordon! Thanks to Paul for being a great hiking buddy as well!

Another quick note. My daughter Sarah suggested that I read "The Long Run" by Matt Long. It is an inspiring story of a NY city fireman who had run marathons, was an Ironman finisher and is a survivor of the 9/11 attacks 10 years ago. He was hit by and sucked under a bus, survived after receiving 69 pints of blood and over 40 surgeries. He chronicles his recovery, his discouragement and how he overcame this and became determined to run a marathon again against all odds. It was truly an inspiring book. I felt it was fitting to drop this book back to the library by running the 1.2 miles down there instead of driving. Just a small tip of the hat to Matty and his inspiring story. I highly recommend the book.

Hang in there and I will too.

Carry That Weight

2011-09-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

Over the long weekend I was trying to decide what to blog about on Monday. I had some general ideas, but I didn't realize that most of my blog this week would happen on Monday itself.

My brother Gordon invited me to on an early hike to Silver Lake with him and one of his neighbors. That worked out well with it being Labor Day and I was scheduled for a 3 mile run. This would give me a similar workout since the hike is about a 4.6 mile round trip.

I haven't been to Silver Lake for quite a few years, but I remembered that both the hike and lake were pretty. I got to my brother's house at 6:30 and we climbed into the van and off we went.

I have mentioned before that I feel really blessed to live where I do because there is so many outdoor opportunities. I love to hike and within a half hour or so, we can be to many wonderful trail heads. Extend that out to a couple of hours and the options are limitless.

After last week's disaster hike, I wondered how this one would go. I decided to go very minimal with what I took and it ended up being a good decision in more ways that one. I didn't even take my hiking poles with me on this one. I felt really good on the hike and I had more than enough energy and endurance for this one. I was very encouraged.

Silver Lake

Me and my brother

Reflection of the sky.

As we were there at the lake, we were approached my a guy who had been camping overnight. He asked if we were heading back soon. When we said we were, he told us of another camper who had hurt his back and needed help getting back down the trail. He said his group could help him, but they had full packs themselves and were wondering if one of us could take his pack down. I said no problem since I didn't even have a day pack on. Both Gordon and I both know from personal experience about back problems so we were glad to help. We went over and helped him finish packing. I know how hard it is to get up and down when the back hurts so we finished packing his tent up. I put the pack on, Gordon gave me his hiking poles and we took off. It was a little over 2 miles back, so I decided to hike as quick as I could with the pack on. I made good time back to the van. We prearranged a place to leave the pack. Hopefully all went well with him getting down with the other campers.

Later that day, we had already planned as a family to go to Lisa Falls. I haven't been there in years either. It is up Little Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake. The hike is short and easy and the falls are pretty as you can see.

The main falls coming down a granite face.

Not really big, but pretty.

We didn't stay long. We made it back home in time to see "The Help." Great movie!

Hope you had a great holiday weekend.

Hang in there and I will too!

Bonus Post - September Challenge

2011-08-31T10:48:00.000-07:00

Mer over at We're Losing It has put out a Supreme September Super Duper challenge which is easy enough to do, but I think will have a big impact on your health if you are not already doing it. Consider doing the following:

Minimum 30 minute workout
5-6 days a week
Cardio or strength training
Post daily about it on your blog.

I'm in. I am going to tweet (@brucegud) my daily workout (I guess tweeting is micro-blogging). How about any of you?

Hang in there and I will too.

Getting Back Up

2011-08-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

This posting is dedicated to Clyde and Alan who have been a constant source of inspiration and the ability to put a smile on my face. I guess I can relate to both of them since we all came to a realization that we need to make some serious changes in our lives. Clyde and Alan are having some struggles of their own right now and maybe a few of the rest of you are as well. Let me share something with you.

Saturday I went on a hike. If you have followed this blog at all, you know I enjoy getting out and hiking. We have so many beautiful places to go and I enjoy the challenge of them all. This hike was different however.
Even though I saw sites as beautiful as this I soon lost my appreciation of the hike.

Early on in the hike

It could have been a number of things. I was just finishing up a recovery week from my half marathon last Saturday. I only got 5 hours sleep. I ran a long run the day before. It has been hotter than normal the past week. And for this part of the country, it was muggy as well. I haven't sweat that much in a long time and even though I had plenty to drink and enough to keep me fueled, I realized I wouldn't be making it to the Cascade Saddle as I had planned. It wasn't because I didn't have time, I was because I was exhausted after four miles and a lot of climbing. I felt like I did when I started out a couple of years ago. The only difference was that I had gone four miles instead of a quarter of a mile. Still I was defeated! Those four miles back to the car took forever.

Even though I knew how far I had come, I felt like a failure when I climbed back into the car to go back home. I haven't felt like this in a long time. I had been knocked down for sure. Maybe the stumble started when I didn't finish the half marathon in the time I had hoped.

So what to do. Going home, getting something to eat and soaking my tired legs helped. I took it easy the rest of the afternoon until it was time to go to a family reunion on my wife's side. It always cheers me up to see them. I got a few compliments since they haven't seen me in a while and several of them are runners as well. It's funny how much I not only like to run, but also talk about it as well. What a running nerd I've become!

A good night's sleep helped as well. I realized as I got up, that I was a bit weary in the body, but I was recovering quickly. No limping and no getting back into bed. I was ready for the day. I went to church and things were looking and feeling better.

This morning I got up and went out for a three miler. I made sure this was the recovery run it was meant to be. I came home, stretched and got cleaned up, had a healthy breakfast and headed to work.

How am I feeling now? Still a bit discouraged, but I got back up after the knock down and kept on going. Do I always bounce back this quick? No, but we all need to keep the perspective that our knock down times are not going to last forever. We need to do what we can to get back up, be patient with ourselves and never, ever, give up. Don't give up and turn back towards where you came from just because your having a rough time. Catch your breath, get your bearings and get back up as quick as you can. You have come further than you realize. Keep moving forward!

Hang in there and I will too.

Hobble Creek Half Marathon - Lessons Learned

2011-08-22T10:48:00.000-07:00

Training and running in a half marathon is one of the most physically, emotionally and mentally challenging things I have ever done. Last year is the first year I even considered that I could do it. Thanks to the encouragement of running a 10K and having running friends telling me I could do it, I took it seriously and trained in earnest for the Halloween Half Marathon last year.

This year, I knew I could do it and I wanted the challenge again so I signed up for the Hobble Creek Half Marathon. It has a reputation locally of being one of the best courses, so I eagerly signed up in time. It sold out in about 1 hour this year.

Last year, I was happy to be able to finish. This year, I had hopes of finishing around 2:30. My training runs had given me the confidence to think it was doable. When I finished though, I was disappointed with my finish time of 2:43:10. Training right leads to a good race, but it doesn't guarantee it. Here are some things that I just couldn't train for:

The buses that drove us to the start line were late and there were not enough buses. This lead to a late race start and got us down to the bottom of the canyon as the day was getting warmer. I really started to tank when I got out in the sun.
I have been training getting my nutrition down, but I didn't train on carrying my Gu's pinned on the inside of my running shorts. I ended up having one of the Gu's leak and run down my leg. I knew I was having a problem with this as we went up in the buses, but it didn't become an issue until I used the porta-potty and when I came out, the Gu (chocolate no less) started oozing out more. Looked like I had a bad accident. This lead to getting yelled at and threatened. We were starting at a campground which they blocked access to the runners going down into the camp area. I asked the host if there was a water spigot near by that I could rinse the Gu off. They were more than helpful in letting me use a nearby tap. An ornery lady was camped near the spigot and kept yelling at me to get out of the area. Even though I told her that the campground host said it was ok, she kept yelling at me. She stood up with her German Shepherd and asked if I wanted her to sic her dog on me. By this time, I had had enough and told her to go ahead. She said, "Are you sure?" I said, "I didn't care." I think that surprised her. One of my running buddies came by about that time, I finished cleaning up and left without incident. I told the campground host about her. He said to his partner, "She's the one I was telling you about that I would like to kick out of here. She's the camper from *$%%!"
I finished in 1013 place!
I finished last in my age group!
I finished 13 minutes later than my goal time.

Recreation of the killer German Shepherd!
Uncredited photo.

It took me a while to get out of my funk, but I started thinking about some positives from the race.

I cut 10 seconds a mile off from last years run.
I set a PR for my half-marathon pace.
Walked only once besides the water breaks. Even jogged up the hills.
I wan't last. About 80 people finished after I did.
I rode up with two running friends from the neighborhood. Matt who finished in 213 place and Todd who finished in 46th place! They were both very encouraging and patient with me in finishing long after the did.
Even though I was a bit sore in the calves today, I still was able to go out and run 3 miles. Last year, I wasn't able to run more that a mile for about 6 months due to getting hurt during and after the race.

Things I learned

Losing the weight I talked about last week will make a big difference.
The heat is a killer for me. I need to do some of my training in the heat to get used to it.
Something is always going to be different than you expect.
Don't do something new that you haven't trained for. The Gu didn't work out well. Should have tried it first.

Funny stuff
I have had many funny things happen while running. This race was no exception. During the latter part of the race, we went through a sub-division. There were three young girls and one house with a toy drum, a tambourine and water sprinkler. As I passed, the first girl half-heartedly shook the tambourine, the the little drummer girl did a tap-tap. Even though I was pretty tired at this point, I waved and smiled. They both just stared straight ahead. I guess after a thousand runners had gone by, they were tired themselves. The last girl was still enjoying herself as she pointed the water sprinkler out to the street for us to cool ourselves off with. I was appreciative for a small break from the heat.

I am grateful for the lessons learned while training and running this race. Even though I was disappointed in my time, there were a lot of positives from the race and I am going to stick with my plan to lose the weight and get ready for the Ogden Marathon next year. Thanks for all the encouragement you have given me through all of this. It really makes a difference! Hang in there and I will too!

Taper Week and New Goals

2011-08-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

I didn't get much of a chance to rest from my King's Peak trip. I have the Hobble Creek Half Marathon this weekend. This last week of training included my last long run.

I did a 12 miler on Saturday. It was really a different type of long run for me. The first few miles were rough. It could have been due to many factors including, 5 hours of sleep, not the best meal the night before, and being a little wore out. But I made it! It helps being dropped off 12 miles away from home and the only way to get back is to put the miles in. :) The middle part of the run went well. Even though the last few were a little rough as well, I was getting close to home and knew I could make it. I have found that these long runs are not just important to build up mileage, but also to train how to do nutrition and hydration as well.

This week is a taper week. It came at a good time. I need to back off a bit anyway. The weeks of training and a ton of other stuff going on has wore me down a bit. I felt pretty good on my four miler today. I tried not to push too hard and just kept it at a pace that was comfortable. As a result I was able to finish strong which is always a good feeling.

Now on to another important subject. Now that I have completed my Three Peak Challenge, I need to have a new goal. I have given this much thought. I have toyed with the idea of doing a marathon. But with training for two half-marathons, I realize that I am pushing myself running longer distances at the weight that I am at now. If I want to complete a marathon, I need to get down to my goal weight. So here is my next challenge and the steps I need to take to get there.

Goal - Complete the Ogden Marathon on May 19th, 2011.

Steps I need to take to make it happen.

Get to 175 lbs by December 31st. If I am not, I cannot run in the marathon.
Sign up for the Marathon. If I am on track on November 1st weight wise, I will sign up. If not, I can't sign up until I am on track.
Start 18 week training on January 16th.
Track everything that I eat from September - December. This has worked every time I have done it in the past. It's a bit of a pain, but it works.
Stay accountable on this blog. I will post my weight and progress each week until I hit by weight goal and am signed up for the marathon.

It seems funny to me that I am preventing myself from running or signing up for the marathon unless I am where I need to be. Almost like a punishment! But I really would like to try. If I am not on track, it will be a miserable experience for me and I don't want that to happen.

Getting this written out, has gotten me even more excited about my plan. I am going to do this!

Hang in there and I will too!

Kings Peak and the Three Peak Challenge!

2011-08-07T22:03:00.000-07:00

Kings Peak stands tall at 13,528' above sea level. It is the 7th highest place in the United States. But more importantly for me, it was the last peak for me to climb from my Three Peak Challenge. Big Baldy was climbed in April 2010. I hiked Mount Timpanogos twice during the summer of 2010. Kings Peak was the last of the three I challenged myself to hike.

I was really beginning to wonder if we (my brother Gordon and his nephew-in-law, Evan, from his wife's side of the family), were going to be able to hike it this year. When we went up Timp a little over a week ago, the unusual amounts of snow still in the mountains turned us back. But after a few calls to the Forest Service and online trip reports of groups making it to the top of Kings, we decided to go.

There are several ways to hike into Kings Peak, but the most common is to approach it from the north side of the Uintas at the Henry's Lake trail head. This is the most direct approach. We took off last Wednesday night and stayed at Gordon's sister-in-laws house. We really appreciated the hospitality in letting us stay the night and sending us off in the morning with a great breakfast!

We got up early on Thursday and drove for about an hour to get to the trail head. The lot was full of cars so we knew we would have company. We spent the most of the day backpacking through beautiful country.

We didn't run into any snow along the way, but we did have to navigate around patches of mud here and there. We talked to many who had already made it to the summit and were headed back out so we were optimistic about our chances of being able to make it to the top.

Our first glimpse of Kings. Pointed mountain in the distance.

We had planned on camping at Dollar Lake, which is a little over 8 miles up the trail, but we missed the turnoff to it and hiked about a mile further up the trail before we realized we had gone too far. But it turned out to be a blessing. We found a decent campsite that was being vacated and they accommodated us setting up early while they waited for the rest of their party to return from the summit and head out on horseback. We were pretty much by ourselves and there weren't any Scout troops around for miles. Being a scoutmaster myself, I enjoy scouts, but only when they are my scouts. :) It was nice and peaceful where we set up.

After hiking with heavy back packs a better part of the day, we were all ready to relax. It was about mid-afternoon by the time we had set up camp. We were all ready for a short nap. After we woke up, I was low on water that I had packed in with me, so we filtered water for our dinner and the next day as well. Dinner consisted of freeze-dried meals for all of us. After a day of hard hiking, my lasagna tasted good even though a few of the noodles were still crunchy. After a cup of cocoa and talking about the day and the day ahead of us tomorrow, we were ready to get a good night's sleep.

Nice little place to camp.

The view from our campsite. Note the waterfall in the distance.

It rained quite a bit through the night, but the forecast for Friday was clear weather. I shared a tent with Gordon and after talking for a bit, the conversation slowed as we drifted in and out. My body was ready for sleep, but I was thinking a lot about how unreal it seemed that we were actually this close to Kings Peak and I was within reach of this last peak to climb. I pulled out the iPod, put on some music that meant a lot to me and just tried to take it all in. I had come so far physically and emotionally to reach this point that I am not too ashamed to admit that the tears came rather effortlessly. This was more than hiking a challenging mountain, I was also meeting a challenge within that had started over two years ago.

We got up early on Friday, eager to get an early start. Even with a clear forecast, it is not unusual for afternoon thunderstorms in these mountains. Kings Peak is not a place you want to be on if the weather is bad. The skies were clear and the air was crisp as we headed out with our day packs. We climbed up to Gunsight Pass fairly quickly and had the decision to make of dropping down from the pass and take a well established trail that dropped down and then back up as it wound over to Anderson Pass or take a short-cut across a rock field that would save time and distance. The rock slide is fairly steep so you need to be careful even under ideal conditions, but this time around, there was a snow field across part of the short cut. We all decided to take the shortcut, but I chose to drop down below the snow field and then hike back up to the short cut. It took a bit more effort on my part, but I felt more confident taking that route. We all made it across in good shape and as soon as we got on top of the ridge, we could see Anderson Pass. We worked our way across a meadow and rock field and got to Anderson Pass in good shape.

Shortcut with the snowfield.

The final climb to the top of Kings starts at Anderson Pass. The top of Kings is a bunch of huge boulders that you need to scramble up and over to get to the top. I had heard how hard this last part was, but we just worked our way up amongst the boulders and other hikers and kept a steady pace.

Anderson Pass. Just before heading up Kings Peak.

Evan made it up a bit before us. His twenty year youth advantage paid off on this part of the hike. It didn't take us too much longer though before we saw him waving at us from the top. There it was! Before we knew it, we were taking pictures, giving each other high fives and just enjoying the view. We saw numerous lakes and many beautiful mountains that surrounded us. But most of all, just reaching the summit filled our souls with happiness that is hard to express.

Pretty darn happy!

Evan's summit pose.

That's my brother!

The Three Mountaineers!

One thing that got us off the mountain a bit quicker than we might have normally was the wind that was constantly blowing. I estimated between 30 and 40 mph when we first got there. We found a place out of the wind for a snack and I wanted to go back up top and look around and the wind was blowing even harder. I couldn't stay there for very long as I tried to take it all in one last time.

We made it back to camp the way we came. We had put close to another 9 miles behind us on the round trip. We were happily exhausted by the time we got back to camp. After the pumping water and dinner routine was over, we were ready for another good night's sleep.

We woke up early again, broke camp and headed out. We made great time coming back out. It was such a great trip and we were all happy campers at the end of the trip.

If you read this far, thanks for sticking with me, not only on this entry, but all the support many of you have given me both in person and through the blog. I count you all as great friends and a great help in me making my Three Peak Challenge!

What's up next? I am still training for the Hobble Creek Half Marathon coming up on the 20th. After that? Probably a good subject for next week! Hang in there and I will too!

Another Hike (Timp) and July Totals

2011-08-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

On a few other blogs, I noticed that others post their monthly totals. It got me curious on what I have done in July.

July Totals
Running - 92 Miles
Hiking - 26.5 miles

Not too bad! I have been putting in some long runs the past few weeks as I am training for a half marathon on August 20th. On my long run Saturday, I was pleasantly surprised by how many of my neighbors I saw that were out running and biking. Todd, Matt, Wayne, Nevin and Kevin to name a few. This was at a place on the trail that was pretty far out so I know they were all doing some serious miles. Always fun to see someone you know! I also saw David out this morning as well.

Timp Hike

My brother Gordon invited me to hike Timp with him last Thursday. I have previously written about how much snow we got over the spring and it is still affecting hiking in any of the high altitudes. Timp is no exception. I hiked it twice last year and there wasn't any snow at all. This year, we started running into snow three miles up and got stopped at 5. We weren't overly surprised since we looked around online and also made a call to the ranger station. They said not to many people were making it up too Emerald Lake. A picture online showed that a rather large emergency shelter was still half buried in snow as of mid-July. I remember eating my lunch there last year the first time I went up.

Still we were not disappointed. The snow melt that is still going on made the waterfalls plentiful and beautiful! The hike was absolutely gorgeous!

Plenty of water

Scout Falls

This is where we decided to turn back. We had already crossed several snow fields. This one was steep and dropped down several hundred feet. We weren't equipped to get across. Gordon started over but said it was pretty shaky.

Another view of the falls. Beautiful! Worth the hike just to see all the waterfalls!

Another snow field. This is on July 28th!

We slid down one of the snowfields on the way back down. It was pretty fun to do it on purpose.

Heading out to King's Peak this week. Still a little questionable, but there have been reports that people have gone and made it to the top. I told Gordon that even if we don't make it this year, it will be a good practice run for next year. If we do make it, that will complete my Three Peak Challenge.

Hang in there and I will too!

Making Time During Busy Times

2011-07-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

For the majority of July we have had family in town. Most of my kids are adults now and many have kids of their own. As time has gone on, they have scattered all over the country. While we still have some in Utah, the others are from Ohio, Michigan and Arizona. As you can imagine, it is hard to get us all together at once.

This year was different. Several were in town for three weeks and some of the others made it for two of the three weeks. It has been a while since we have all been together. It has been a lot of late nights, laughs, screaming, running here and there and seeing this and that. Being together or going on vacation can make working out a challenge.
Let me give you a few ideas of what we did to keep up on the workouts and still have lots of fun.

Plan a family race.
I told about the Goody 5/10K a couple of weeks ago. It was really fun and we got a lot of the family involved in this one. Just remember, no one beats grandpa! (Except Rachel and Mike on the 10K)

Get out and explore the local sites and use resources.
We visited our local zoo, went swimming at Oma and Opa's pool a couple of times and one of my son-in-laws planned a great hike up in the Uintah mountains. It took a lot of planning for the hike due to the high levels of snow still hanging around at the higher elevations. But we found a great trail that was a bit lower than the ones we usually hike on and ended up doing 15.5 miles. Hard, but extremely rewarding!

Troy, Mike, Gordon and Bruce

I give this hike a big thumbs up!

Find a new workout buddy.
Chances are that there is someone else in the family that likes to workout. See if you can plan a time each day to get out and do something together. This trip I was pleasantly surprised that one of my son-in-laws, (Mike), wanted to running with me in the mornings. He even did two of my scheduled long runs of 9 and 10 miles respectively. We learned a lot about each other and the miles flew by.

What do you do to make sure you get the workout in during your busy times?

Hang in there and I will too!

What Motivates You?

2011-07-18T16:15:00.000-07:00

About two and a half years ago, I was well over 300 lbs, extremely out of shape, and tired most of the time. I was ducking out of a lot of things because I was either embarrased about the way I looked or knew I couldn't handle anything very physical.

A turning point came when I was listening to a talk. The speaker was giving an analogy about a local hike that he made several times a year. Mount Timpanogos is one of the most prominent mountains in the Utah Valley portion of the Wasatch Range. There are two main trails to the summit. Both are very popular and both are over a 14 mile round trip. I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the talk because my mind went back to the time many years ago when I had made it to the top. I have always enjoyed hiking. Utah has many diverse and beautiful trails. The terrain varies from high altitude alpine adventures to red rock desert slot canyons and arches.

I knew what I needed to do to get back in shape! I always do well if I have an upcoming hike which I know will be a challenge! I came up with a Three Peak Challenge. Peak one was Big Baldy. It is a smaller peak near my house that sits in front of Mount Timpanogos. Even though it is over 8,000 feet, it is hardly noticeable with the bigger peaks that tower over it. Peak two was Timpanogos itself. I hadn't hiked it for over twenty five years and wanted to do it again. Peak three was the largest in Utah, Kings Peak. I have always wanted to hike this but never set aside the time to do it.

I left that talk ready to get started. It was a long struggle that started with a quarter of a mile up and back the Dry Canyon trail. I hiked further and further each week during that summer, but failed to reach the summit before the snow flew that fall. I didn't give up and kept losing weight and working out. Along the way I took up running the same way I took up hiking. I alternated running and walking and before long my distance was increasing. Even better, I was enjoying both the hiking and the running more.

By spring of 2010, I was able to run 6 miles several times a week and I made it to the top of Big Baldy! As the summer progressed, I hiked Timpanogos twice, once on each trail. I raced in my first 10K and by late fall, I trained and ran my first half-marathon. I never would have dreamed that I could have accomplished all this in the course of a year and a half! I can look back to my source of motivation and realize it helped me lose 130 lbs, make two of my peaks and even start running races of significant distances.

I still have King's Peak ahead of me. The snow kept falling this year in record amounts and there is still
a lot left up above 10,000'. With King's Peak sitting over 13,000', it may have to wait for a year. I guess I can look at it as another year of motivation to stay in shape and lose those last pounds I need to.

What motivates you? What gets you out of bed and out the door for a walk or a run. What helps you keep on track with eating right. Grab a hold of that goal and start making the steps you need to reach it!

Hang in there, and I will too!

Goody 5/10K

2011-07-11T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have family in town for a while. It is a bunch of fun. I have a large family and several of the adult children and spouses are into running, walking and exercising. One daughter suggested we have a 5/10K while we were there. I got to thinking about it and put together a 1K, 5K and a 10K course that would stay out of traffic for the most part.

We started of with the kids 1K. We made a rule that no one could get ahead of grandpa and no one could get behind the last mom. The kids (the oldest being 8), were complaining that grandpa would slow them down and make it so they couldn't run fast. I told them sorry, but that was the rule for safety. After some goofy warm ups, they lined up behind me and I said ready, set and go! I wasn't much more that a block underway when I could hear some of them saying "wait up grandpa!", but I could still hear someone breathing behind me and keeping up so I kept up the pace! By the time we had circled the block and were nearing the driveway, I peeled off and saw that my 8 year old grand-daughter had kept up and came in first, followed by my 8 year old grandson and then his little brother not far behind. There was no complaints about grandpa being too slow after that.

Later that evening, the 5 and 10 K runners / walkers lined up and off we took. The daughter who had suggested the race took off in the lead step for step with one of the son-in-laws and they lead the 10K from start to finish. I ran for quite a while with my brother who is just taking up running, but I really started getting exhausted about mile 2 and had to slow down. Many factors I think, a bit dehydrated, second 10K in the week and time of day. I caught up with my brother and the turn back as we doubled back. Since it was my brother's first time going further that a 10K, he wanted to walk portions and I just didn't have it in me myself to run the whole way back either so we just talked as we ran/walked and had a good time. I even had to stretch a few times due to some cramping (which never happens in the morning). That's is one of the clues that I had about dehydration.

On the way back, we saw the walking 5K group and they were having fun and doing well going the 3.1 miles to the waiting cars in the lot. For our first family race things went well. We all had a good time, the lead runners R & M ran it in under 1 hour and G and I gimped back about 1:25 or so.

The funny thing was, I went 4.5 miles this morning and had no problems other than needing to loosen up a bit at the first. I have a few challenges this week with a long day hike in the Uintahs and a summit hike up Cascade with the Varsity Scouts on Saturday for On Target.

Shout outs to all the family who participated in the Goody 5/10K . It was fun and inspiring to see all of you going the distance. Another shout out to Bill who paced another half-marathon on Saturday. It wouldn't surprise me if he logged some additional miles after. Todd A is doing some great training for a BQ attempt at St. George in October. Keep up the great work Todd! Very impressive. Last shout out is to all the June Boomers who did really will on their goals! Hang in there and I will too!

June Boom Ends - Scouts, Quick Weight Loss and the Freedom Run

2011-07-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

I felt June Boom was a big success. Thanks for a great challenge Alan! Because I tracked my food and worked out 6 of 7 days, I lost weight. I'll give 8 of the 12 pounds I lost to the June Boom. The other 4 to Scout camp.

How did I lose 4 pounds at weight at Scout camp you ask? Easy just get a good case of the runs on Friday and Saturday and don't eat much of anything. Quick weight loss! But not recommended! Other than that and a fun spider bite things went well. I would wake up most mornings and run from the Scout camp gate, up the Nebo loop. It turned out to be a 900' climb over 1 1/2 miles. It wasn't fast, but it was a great workout and it was a lot better coming back down. We were also camped at the top of the camp. One of the dirt roads back to camp has a nickname of Cardiac Hill. The other was is just about as bad. When you make that trip several times a day, you get extra workout points! The scouts did great, worked hard and we all had a good time. They qualified for about 25 merit badges between the 5 of them and we were able to get one of the newer scouts caught up to the others on advancement which was great!

This morning, I ran in the Freedom Festival 10K. Between the 5K and the 10K there were about 4,800 runners. I paced myself well, but I didn't have the best endurance after the two days of sickness. But I still ran without stopping and finished at 1:08:36.61. I was hoping to run under an hour, but it is a challenging course with some good climbs. It was fun to have my brother along to run the 5K. One unexpected benefit was running for a short time with Chad Lewis, who had a great run as a BYU tight end and then went on to play for the Eagles. He has lost some weight and slimmed down himself.

Shout outs to some family that have lost weight. Hillary and Rachel came into town and look great! I am proud of what they have done! We will see the results of Sarah and Mike who have worked hard as well when they come out next week. We will have the whole family in town when they come in. Fun times. Hope the rest of you are doing well. Need to catch up on some blogs! Hang in there and I will too!

June Boom - Week 4 - What's Up Doc?

2011-06-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

Checking in a bit early this week. I am taking my Scouts to scout camp. Lots to worry about but at the same time, we should have fun. This year we are going to an organized camp so a lot of things are taken care of for us. I plan on getting my exercise in this week. Fortunately it is a taper week for my 10K on the 4th so I don't have a long run scheduled in my training this week. I will probably run an extra day since the 10K is on the following Monday instead of Saturday. After the 10K, I jump into the middle of the training for my August half-marathon. It worked out well meshing with the 10K training because the distances are similar.

June Boom Report
Date -- Minutes exercised / calorie deficit or surplus
June 20 - 49 / -1182
June 21 - 71 / -1625
June 22 - 68 / -1364
June 23 - 47 / -1202
June 24 - 95 / -361
June 25 - 60 / -588
June 26 - * / -325
Totals 390 / -6647

So after being up 4 last week, I said I wasn't worried because the numbers said I should be good. As of Friday, I was down 8 lbs from the previous weigh in! That is also what I am down this month with all the ups and downs. I committed to track all though June, but it looks like I should keep it up and keep the weight coming down. In July, we have a lot of family coming in with a bunch of great food being planned. I think I will be a lot better off if I keep tracking.

I forgot to mention that in getting ready for summer camp, I had to get an annual physical. I used to dread getting even a physical because I knew at my previous weight that I was a mess. This time was nothing but good news. The PA who gave me the physical is quite a bit younger than me and is dedicated to being fit. He looked at my numbers and said that my stats were better than his. He patted me on the back, shook my hand and told me how proud he was of me! I didn't ever think I would hear that in a doctor's office! Big score on that one!

Shout out to Todd who is piling up some great miles. He is training hard for a marathon and wants to BQ. The rate he's going, it's looking good! Keep up the great work everyone, especially you June Boomers! Hang in there and I will too!

June Boom Week 3 - "Exercise is better than medicine"

2011-06-20T12:23:00.000-07:00

Nancy Clark M.D. wrote an article for active.com that I found interesting and I also believe that is true. The quote that stuck out was this:

Exercise is better than medicine

June Boom Report
Date -- Minutes exercised / calories deficit or surplus
June 13 - 44/-1062
June 14 - 74/-1390
June 15 - 77/-1474
June 16 - 50/-649
June 17 - 81/-931
June 18 - 120/+485
June 19 - */+527
Totals: 446/-4494

I started out the week with a bang. Had a good calorie deficit. On Saturday, I took my granddaughter to an amusement park and spent a lot of time on my feet and we walked all day. Went swimming for the first time in years. We had a great time together. I had a surplus on calories, but wasn't too awfully bad, but I think I had some food(s) that caused my body to say, "I am going to hang on to every piece of food and water you put into me for the next two days." Even though I should have lost a little over a pound, instead I was up 4! Once again I am not to worried because these things take care of themselves, but I was totally surprised this morning. I can already tell a difference between this morning when I weighed in and lunchtime. My ring is already quite a bit loser than it was this morning. We'll see what happens over the course of the next few days as I get back into my routine. I am still on track for June Boom. I have exercised as much as I committed to, I continue to track my calories and I am staying accountable in this blog. Hope the rest who took the challenge are doing well.

The bright spot of the week was my long run on Friday morning. I knew I would be busy all day Saturday, so I moved it back a day. All week long, I didn't take my iPod with me running and it helped me focus on my running. Friday I went 7 miles and just made sure that I didn't push too hard. I got into a good rhythm with my breathe and pace and I was able to maintain a pretty good pace (11:29) for the mileage that I put in. I keep seeing my times inch down which is nice.

Shout outs to many of my friends who ran the Utah Ragnar this weekend Bill's team took 9th overall and 1st in his division! Wow! Hang in there and I will too!

June Boom Week 2 - One 2011 Goal Checked Off!

2011-06-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

June Boom Stats

Date --- Minutes exercised / calories deficit or surplus
June 6: 47/-768
June 7: 68/-1815
June 8: 79/-1725
June 9: 42/-518June 10: 63/-1152
June 11: 73/+449
June 12: */-606
Totals: 372/-6135

Other than Saturday, I had a good calorie deficit week. My problem on Saturday was a good, hard workout in the morning, followed by a couple of easy to go over events during the day. But the great news is being down 3 pounds. The pound I should have lost last week carried over and added to the 2 lbs that my calorie count said I should be. Yippee! Loving the June Boom so far!

My running last Monday and Tuesday were great! I haven't felt so good on a run in a long time. The mileage is increasing at a reasonable rate as well. Even my long run of 6 miles on Saturday was good. My pace has dropped almost a minute and a half in the last month. The training is paying off. I still am not really fast, but I am seeing improvement. I also got the time from Camie's run and am now able to check off one of my 2011 goals. I finished a 5K under 30 minutes. My time was 29:41 and change!

My sister Chris sent me an article about counting calories. In summary it stated that all calories are not equal. I find that is true. When you are watching your calories, you can help yourself in may ways by making sure that you are getting the most bang for you buck in the calories that you choose to eat. For example eating an orange is much better for you than drinking the equivalent calories of orange juice. When you couple fiber with carbs, it is a slower burn of those calories. Your body can handle the carbs much better when it doesn't get a super dose all at once. Read here if you would like to know more.

Had a good laugh this week when I read this facebook status from Melissa:

It's all fun and games until someone poops on the trampoline.

I nominate it for one of my top five favorite statuses. Thanks for the laugh Melissa!

The shout out of the week goes to Bill H. He always amazes me. On Saturday he paced the Provo River Marathon. He paced group was 3:50. He was only off by 16 seconds! Then to top it off, he added another 14 miles later in the day to make it an even 40 miles for the day to celebrate his upcoming 40th birthday! How amazing is that! Another shout out to the above mentioned Melissa who has lost over 30 lbs since having her last baby! Way to go! Hang in there and I will too!

June Boom Week 1 - Camie Run Report

2011-06-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

A quick update on my June Boom progress.

Date --- Minutes exercised / calories deficit or surplus
June 1: 81/-546
June 2: 56/-1183
June 3: 32/-784
June 4: 30/-248
June5: */-953
Totals: 199/ -3714

I'm happy with both my minutes exercised and my 3700 calorie deficit for the partial week. If a pound of fat equals 3500 lbs, I should have lost a pound, but I stayed about the same. But I don't let that bother me too much because I feel a bit leaner. I definitely ate better quality and quantity because I was tracking. Logging my food was something that I have been putting off even though I know it helps me to see where my problem spots are. Thanks Alan for setting up this challenge and getting me back into this good habit. In case you are curious, I have an Android phone and use Calorie Counter. I really like it because it has a great food database, remembers frequently eaten foods, supports bar code reading of food and also tracks your exercise calories. It syncs up with the fatsecret.com web site which has lots of stats. And it's all free!! Just look for it in the app store if you are interested. I have no affiliation with the developer or the website. I just appreciate the great software.

Now for a quick report on the Camie Run. I have not raced in a lot of organized races, but I knew going into this one that it would be a different race. One street up and over from me live the Jacobs family. I have known them for quite a few years and they are a great family. Andy and I work together in Scouts and I have seen first hand how great Andy is with young people. His wife Camie is equally influential with young men and young women. She has had a personal impact on my daughter Emily as well. Besides being busy with their own families, Andy is the cross country coach at Orem High School. Both he and Camie have had such a positive influence on the cross country team. Not too long ago, Camie received the devastating news that she has colon cancer. As you can imagine, it sent a shock wave through the community. There was a write up in the local paper about how the cross country team, especially Taylor Charles, rallied around Camie and her family. The Camie Run was born as a result. Read the details here if you are interested to find out more.

Andy and Camie

For me this wasn't so much a race, but a way to support Andy and Camie. I wasn't the only one. Over 400 racers pre-registered and many more signed up the day of the race. There was also a lot of support from friends and family. I have been to a few races and have seen a face or to I recognized, but this was much different. There were so many people from the community that I knew that came out. Most were local, but many came from out of town just to support Camie. Many were there for their first run ever. My brother Gordon was among the first time runners. My heart was full in so many ways to see friends, family and so many young people come and race. It was a beautiful day to top it off. Considering that this was organized by a member of the cross-country team, it was amazing how well things went.

It was so much fun to race with my brother. For his first 5K he did great. He stayed with me for most of the way and was less that 30 seconds behind me at the finish. I kept pushing because I was trying to break 30 minutes. I know I was close, really close, but the official times have not been posted yet. If I did, I made one of my goals for the year. If not, I know with just a bit more training, I can do it.

The shout out today goes to Camie, Andy and the Orem High Cross Country Team! Way to go! hang in there and I will too!

Bonus edition - June Boom

2011-05-31T10:34:00.000-07:00

Alan over at Pounds Off Playoff issued a June challenge. If I wait to post this next week, it will be too far into the challenge if you want to take it yourself.

I pledged to do the following in June:

Work out everyday but Sunday (my rest day). I will do at least 30 minutes and most days 60+. I want to be ready for my 10K on the 4th of July.
Log my food each day for the month of June. I have been meaning to do this, but haven't yet. I seem to do better when I log what I eat.
I will be accountable each week in this blog. (It continues to motivate me to do better!)

How about you? Are you in?

Hang in there and I will too!

Record Setting Spring!

2011-05-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

No it's not me I'm referring to, it's been Utah this year. As of Sunday, we have received more moisture that has ever been recorded. The records have been kept for about 150 years here so that says a lot. The rain today will probably break the May all time record for precipitation as well.

This is how things looked this morning just before 10am.

You can see the snow up on the foothills. Cascade is covered with snow. Sooner rather than later that snow is going to melt too fast.

I check the forecast at places around the country where I have family and this is what I saw for the high today in each state:
MN - 86
AZ - 88
MI - 89
TN - 93
OH - 93
UT - 56!
Our high was colder than everyone else's low! Facebook comments from friends and family that live in Utah.
"Looking at the ice slush on my deck and snow on the "G" of the mountain. Really?! You can stop anytime now."
"It is pouring! Yay! I love rain! Yee Haaa! S#@%!"
"Is all this snow ever going to melt I want to run up Timp..."
"Is this March 30 or May 30? I'm a bit confused."
"My car is covered in snow...
Dear weather,Stop ruining my life. Or else."

You get the idea! We'll get over it. I hope!

I'm giving the family a big shout out this week! We Skyped with a lot of them yesterday and many have lost weight! Way to go! I also got a chance to go on a bike ride with my several of my cousins on Saturday. First time on the bike this year. Thanks for a fun time! Hang in there and I will too!

You Gotta Have Heart

2011-05-23T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have been struggling with my training lately. I did some research on heart rate and from what I read I found that it is recommended to train in a specific heart zone. My Garmin supports this and so for the past week or so, I have been making sure that my easy and long runs have stayed in Zone 3. From what I read, it says to build up your base by staying in the zone. Even though it has been hard for me to slow down, it has been less of a struggle for me and I feel better during and after the run. My long run was a 5 miler and even though it was slow, I felt ok. I will make sure to train in the recommended heart zones.

Last Wednesday, I did intervals. I may be weird (goes without saying I guess), but I really like interval training. I did 8X400. Most of you know what that means, but for those who aren't sure, I warmed up by jogging a mile over to the high school track. I then ran 400 meters in zone 4 and then walked/jogged for the next 400 meters to recover. I repeated this 8 times. It's designed to help you with your speed work. I enjoy picking it up a notch for once around.

Another tool for speed work is tempo runs. In a nutshell, you run easy for 10-15 minutes, then ramp up slowly to a pace that matches your 10K pace for 15 minutes and then another 5-10 minutes of easy running. This helps build up your lactate threshold. Zone three is where they say your threshold level usually is and you can run for distance at this pace. By throwing in intervals and tempo runs, these help you run at a faster pace while running in Zone 3. My current schedule, alternates intervals and tempo runs every other week. The rest of the week consist of shorter easy runs capped of with a long run at the end of the week. I have used Hal Higdon's training schedules for 5K, 10K and half marathon. There are many other training schedules out there and each have their strengths. Regardless, a training schedule (or a coach if it is in your budget), will help you race successfully. I also find it fun to see my fitness, miles and endurance all increase along the way.

Do any of you have additional insights into heart rate training? What works for you? Please feel free to comment.

Keep up the great training everyone! Have to give a quick shout out to Bill H. who ran the Ogden marathon last Saturday. I then saw him out mowing his lawn! Twice!!! Todd - Nice mileage!! Gordon - keep up the great training. It will fun to race together in a couple of weeks. Hang in there and I will too!

Finding Your Inner Dean

2011-05-16T07:50:00.000-07:00

I have enjoyed following Dean Karnazes as he ran across America in 75 days. It has only been a couple of months since I found out about Dean and I have become a big fan! I believe in finding a dream, making a goal and taking the steps to make it happen. We can do so much more than we think we are capable of! We just need to dream and do!

"Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not demanding more from yourself - expanding and learning as you go - you're choosing a numb existence. You're denying yourself an extraordinary trip."

-Dean Karnazes

From the workout perspective, I feel like I am getting back to decent health. Finished up my antibiotics and the allergies have subsided. I am really paying attention to my heart rate when I am running. It has been going too high. I recently read that it is important to run in your heart rate zone and build the endurance base from there. So that is what I am doing. I just started a training schedule for a 10K. I registered for the Freedom Festival 10K on the Fourth of July. I need to build that base now and hopefully it will pay off down the road. This will also help me build a base for the half marathon in August.

Keep up the great work everyone! Hang in there and I will too!

The Perfect Storm

2011-05-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

Finally broke down and went to the doctor about my allergies/colds and general fatigue. I'm glad I went because I came home with pills and nasal spray to help with the allergies, antibiotics to help with the sinus infection, and a B-12 shot to help with the fatigue. Guess I was fighting at least three things. No wonder I was tired! Making a slow come back. I did go running the day after and I was able to run further without walking so that was some serious progress.

The weekend found me camping with the Scouts. Our troop is quite small right now, but we should be getting some more boys in as the year progresses. Out trip this time was to Antelope Island on the Great Salt Lake. I wrote a bit about Lake Bonneville a while back. The Great Salt Lake is all that is left of that former mega-lake. In ways the island is barren. Mostly desert vegetation, but it has a ton of wild life to observe. We saw bison, antelope (you would hope so!), deer, cranes, hawks, quail and a lot of song-birds. There is an extensive trail system on the island and may beautiful overlooks. The boys enjoy geocaching as well and there were plenty of those to be found. About the only thing that was really unpleasant were the biting gnats! There were swarms of them. The good thing is that they would not fly if there was much of a breeze and went away at night. So we were good about 75% of the time. I am sure it is a seasonal thing as well.

Not too long after sunrise

Where the deer and the buffalo play

Great views

Long, gnat-filled, walk to the lake

Great job everyone! EMZ ran for 24 hours straight on a treadmill and covered 100 miles. How awesome is that! She raised a ton of money for a great cause! Mike is busting out the miles and posting some great paces all at the same time. Todd ran a great race and is making great progress in reaching his goals. Bill paced a half-marathon over the weekend and was in seconds of hitting the pace goal. Mr. Incredible does it again! Rachel gets the boys out with her and they are getting in some good mileage as well. Gordon is putting in some good reps on the bike and the treadmill! The rest of you are doing well! Keep up the great work! Hang in there and I will too!

Dragging the Line

2011-05-02T08:37:00.000-07:00

I think we all reach a point that we hit a wall in our attempts to get more fit, get faster or go further. Regardless of what may be the cause, be ti an injury, sickness or fatigue, there are times when it might be all we can muster to get up the gumption to get the workout in for the day.

For me it gets frustrating when I can't point at any one thing in particular. Maybe it is fatigue or going in to my fourth month of serious allergies with a cold thrown in the middle for good measure. I am doing good to get the distance in and have had to walk frequently where I used to cover the distance running. These are the times to suck it up, try and figure it out and not give up.

On a positive note (and part of not giving up), I registered this morning for the Hobble Creek Half Marathon which is a popular local race. I am excited to get training for it in the near future. I will also register for the Freedom Festival 10K when that opens up in a couple of weeks. Last years 10K was my first race in a very long time. It's hard to see it happening now, but I am still going to try and race it under an hour so I hit one of my goals for the year. Two things that will be important for me to make that goal. 1) Lose some more weight, 2) Train hard! My goal for the half is just to finish under my finish time from my first half last year. I think that is possible!

The other big event for this summer is hiking King's Peak! That will probably happen the first weekend in August. The last of my Three Peak challenge.

Shout out to Todd, Matt and another unidentified runner that I saw this morning on my jaunt out. You guys looked great! Keep up the great training. Clyde! 204 miles!!!!! Way to go my friend! Bill thanks for the encouragement and the inspiration. You are a great runner! Hillary - I can't believe how good you are looking! Way to take off the weight! Same goes for Mike who is down below 200 and seeing his time drop and his distance increasing. Sarah proud of you! Getting in the exercise that you can under the circumstances! Rachel! Way to include the boys in your workout! That will be beneficial for them the rest of the lives! I'm sure I have missed someone, but you are all an inspiration. Thanks for the encouragement! Hang in there and I will too!

Crawling Across America!

2011-04-25T08:36:00.000-07:00

I have been following Dean Karnazes as he runs across America in 75 days. I am motivated by individuals who test the limits. It always inspires me to do better! I also just finished his book. Ultramarathon Man: Confessions of an All-Night Runner. It was very enjoyable to listen to as I was out running myself!

"Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl if you must, just keep moving forward and never give up!" - Dean Karnazes.

Crawling pretty much describes my workouts this week. I didn't miss any workouts and I enjoy getting out, but I just seem to be slower than usual. I continue with the allergies. They started out early this year and have never really gone away since February.

The highlight of the week was getting out in the foothills. Even though it continues to be wet and stormy, the snow has melted off a bit higher so some of the lower trails were in decent shape on Saturday. I decided to take the trekking poles with me on the trail and see if I could run with them. I knew I would be able to run much anyway due to this being my first trail with any significant elevation gain this season.

I was glad I took them. I have written before about how for regular hiking that they are great. They take a lot of pressure off the knees and allow you to get up the hills faster having the arms and upper body there to help out. In the stretches where I could run, I found that they weren't too cumbersome. I got into a rhythm where for each pole plant, I would take two strides. I could push off with the poles slightly and was similar to cross-country skiing. I will probably try them again. They definitely helped with balance as well.

Here is a picture not far after I had reached the top of my climb and started heading back down. The cliffs you see off to the left are the mouth of Provo Canyon. It is a lot prettier when things green up and the sun comes up first thing in the morning, but it was still an enjoyable view.

Several shout outs are over due. Hillary, great job in getting your weight down to pre-kid levels! Martha and Gordon are looking good and keeping in great shape. We may even make a runner out of Gordon yet! :) Bill continues to amaze with his ability to run incredible distances every week (day!). Todd gets in some great workouts every week! Clyde doing his 30 day challenge has done great in consistency and improvement as well! Those who ran Boston, way to go! Oma and Opa, keep up the exercising! Great job! Mark A. is staying true to his commitment as well! Hang in there and I will too!

Warmer Weather

2011-04-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

More of a laid back week. It was spring break for our school district so we packed up the van mid-week and headed down to Arizona to visit my oldest daughter and her family. We had a great time visiting and it was workout heaven for me. After being a long and cold winter and spring, it was nice to go out running not long after the sun was up just a shirt, shorts and my running shoes. The warmth felt wonderful! Looking forward to that happening back up here but I will have to wait at least a week with rain and snow forecast again for most of the week. There is even a flood watch out for those who live close to the creeks and rivers.

I am still fighting a cold and allergies at the same time. I will sure be glad when I am back up to snuff and not have to sniff! I am glad that it hasn't been bad enough to keep me from working out. Just gotta keep going within reason.

A side note: A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about hiking the 'Y'. A friend posted this video on Facebook about the making of the 'Y' (Thanks Jason S!). Watch this if you are interested.

Hope you all had a great week! Hope your weather is drier and warmer than what we are having. I am really excited to get out on the hiking trails! I enjoy reading others blogs and post on daily mile. Sounds like you are all doing great! Hang in there and I will too!

5K - Making a Comeback of Sorts

2011-04-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

After my physical therapy was over and I got a few long runs under my belt, I decided to train for a 5K. Based on the training schedule, I found a nearby 5K being run on Saturday, The Midvale Kiwanis 5K. I had hoped to meet one of my goals of the year by running this under 30 minutes. I was able to get the proper mileage and training in, but my speed wasn't coming along so I didn't have much hope in making my goal. To top it off, I haven't been feeling good for over a week now and I was really dragging on my taper before the race. I just made up my mind to not push to hard and make myself feel even worse, but would go and just try to run a steady race. I was not only not disappointed, but ended up being happy with the results.

Even though I didn't hit my personal goal, I came close at 31:30. I also came in 22nd out of 106 runners who showed up in the wet, cold and snowy run. And I came in third in my age group. Great progress considering I had to start over because of injuries at the first of the year.

Keep up the great work everyone. You all continue to inspire me as I hear and read about what you are doing! Hang in there and I will too!

Get Back Up!

2011-04-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

All of us have times in our lives where we fall down. Whether it's physically, mentally or spiritually we have let downs. The important thing is what we do after we fall down. The important thing is to GET BACK UP!

We are all in a race of some sort or another. Most of you who read this blog are trying to do better. You are trying to eat better, exercise more, be better to your family. If you have fallen short, fallen down, GET BACK UP! You can do it! You aren't in a race with others but you are in a race for your life. GET BACK UP and get moving forward!

I had another great workout week. I got my training runs done and enjoyed them even though I was dragging a bit mid-week. I had a good Saturday hike. Up above the campus of BYU, the have a big block Y on the mountain. There is a well established trail to the top of the Y.

It is a mile long series of steep switch backs. I can't run up it yet, but I still get a great workout just by hiking it up without stopping. For those that haven't had a cardiac getting to the top, there is a trail which continues on to the top of Y Mountain. I still had plenty in the tank so I kept on going.

I made it up to where the snow level was that day. I say that because we got 5-8" of snow the next morning! I trotted back down and put in another mile and a half on the BST to get some mileage in. I was beat but happy I went. I am excited for more hiking adventures this coming summer!

Shout outs to so many of you! Great job Clyde on getting some serious mileage in this last month and being so consistent. Mark A is putting in some serious mileage as well with his Will's to Will's route. I follow a lot of running/tri blogs and am so impressed by how well people are doing! Reagun thanks for dropping by. Keep up the great work and let's hope for warm weather to come and stay. Hang in there and I will too!

Today's Choices

2011-03-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Jillian Michaels posted a great tip on Facebook the other day:

Smart Tip: Most people sabotage themselves because they aren't mindful in the moment. Let your daily actions be governed by your goals & dreams. Whenever you are making an important decision first ask if it gets you closer to your goals or farther away. If the answer is closer, pull the trigger. If it's farther away make a different choice. Conscious choice making is a critical step in making your dreams a reality.

Each of us has sabotage spots in their day. Some struggle with getting the workout out in, some like me struggle with eating the right thing in the right amounts. This spills over into other parts of our lives as well. We have good intentions, but in the choice of a moment, if we are not mindful of what we are doing, we can automatically make a choice that is governed by an impulse or a habit rather that what our goal is. I think we can all be better in this. Make conscious choices in your eating, your exercising and life in general. Is the next action I'm going to take going to move me towards where I want to be or will I regret making the choice. It's good to keep our goals in front of us and use them to weigh our choices.

I did well on the workout this week. My long run was 7 miles on Friday. This represents a lot of progress in my endurance. Usually on Saturday's I try to do a hike, but it had been storming most of the day after my run on Friday and it was cold so it would have been sloppy trying to do a trail. Near my home, I have access to the Provo River Trail which is paved, but even it was treacherous in spots. I took my time to get through the slick spots. They were running a race and I saw a runner slip and smack her tail bone a good one. I had sympathy pains for sure. She bounced back up and ran off, but sometimes the after effects can be long lasting.

About 2 1/2 miles up. Iced over trail.

I have run this trail enough to know where it is especially icy so I was careful and got my run in without falling.

Big Clyde gets a special shout out for how he has stepped up his workouts! Impressive times and distances! I enjoy reading about his progress here. He has a down to earth sense of humor and his choice of pictures always amuse. Mark A. keeps hanging in there on his walks. Great job Mark. Gordon is back in the saddle on his mountain bike. Bet he's glad. He has even done Bob Yoga torture with Martha! Way to go you two! Emily and Corey are doing great in the workout department. Sarah, Mike, Rachel and Troy are on track for a serious competition in July for running and hiking. Should be fun! Hang in there and I will too!

Spring has Sprung

2011-03-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

Spring arrived Sunday with a bunch of gray skies around here. It has been this way for quite a while. I am forgetting what blue skies look like. Hope your spring is a bit warmer and sunnier than ours has been so far.

Training went well last week. I did my usual training runs: intervals on Monday, tempo run on Wednesday and a long run on Friday. I was able to run the entire 6 miles on the long run which was great progress for me. For the first time in a long time, I ran without listening to music or podcast. I really concentrated on my running form and paid attention to what my body was telling me. I do enjoy music, but this was a good run without it. I may do that more often.

Saturday, I decided to hit the Bonneville Shoreline Trail from a different trail head. The elevation gain and loss was moderate for the 1.25 miles and then I headed up Dry Canyon. I ran what I could but didn't push myself overly hard. Dry Canyon is steep and is hard for me to run up it at all, but my heart rate still pushes high even if I just hike it so it is a great workout. I made it up to the snow line and turned back.

From the top most part of the run.

On the way back down Dry Canyon. Nice flat spot where you can catch your breath before the next steep section comes.

Shout outs to so many of you who are working out hard and making progress! Keep up the great work. You are all a great source of inspiration to me. Hang in there and I will too!

Take a Hike

2011-03-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

Even though the weather has not warmed up dramatically, the temperatures are moderating and the storms with any snow in them have dumped on us and then melted quickly. Typical for March in this area. I have a great view of the foothills from my office and can tell when some of the lower trails have cleared off. I decided to make Saturday a hike day.

Back in the day when there were mastodons and saber tooth cats, there was a huge lake that covered a lot of Utah called Lake Bonneville. At some ancient time, the lake overflowed drained most of the lake and through the years the rest evaporated and left behind the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake and Sevier Lake. Why the ancient geology lesson? Because the Bonneville shoreline still remains. Salt Lake and Utah counties have developed a trail system that roughly follows the shoreline and is enjoyed by hikers, runners and mountain bikers alike. It is still a work in progress, but long sections of it have been completed with several trail head access points up and down the Wasatch Front. One nice thing about the trail, is it is close to home and is at a low enough elevation that it can be used most of the year.

For this being my first hike of the year, (not counting snow shoeing), I felt it went great. I did a 6 mile round trip and it felt great to hike at a good pace and I enjoyed the elevation changes. Even though it was a challenge, I still had enough energy when I was done to spend a couple of hours doing yard work. As I was mulching up some old leaves that had been buried in the snow and then laid some fertilizer down after, I remembered how a couple of years ago, I had to stop several times mowing the lawn and rest before I could finish. Thank goodness of miracles in our lives!

It's not very green yet, we still have a ways to go before that happens, but it sure was nice to get out!

So many of you are doing so well. Mike is down 30 lbs, Sarah 20!!!!! That is so great!!! Mike, Sarah and Rachel are improving their mileage and the times are great as well! Big Clyde is doing well both on the bike and running! Keep up the great work my friend! Bill is so amazing on his running ability, my long runs are a warm up to him. He is a great trail runner. Todd thanks for the inspiration! You are doing great! Hillary has been losing some more weight. Way to go! Mark A., way to keep after it! I'm sure many more of you are doing exceptional things as well! Hang in there and I will too!

Shake It Up

2011-03-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

I have shook up my routine a bit and it has paid dividends. First, I have modified my 5K training schedule and patterned it after Run Less, Run Faster. Even though I haven't read the book, I have read others' experiences and have also visited the website to glean enough information to get me going. My original schedule had me running 6 days a week. It involved three training runs and 3 "easy" runs. What I am doing different now is I still have three training runs, (intervals, tempo and a long run), but now instead of an easy run in between, I cross train. For cross-training, I am doing the Bob Harper - Inside Out DVD series. Most of these, as well as the Biggest Loser DVD's do circuit training. You get both aerobic and strength training. Bob really emphasizes core strength and most of these DVD have an extra strength segment as well. I have been really happy with the results so far. I can really concentrate on my run days and give it all I have. The cross training days give me a great cardio, core and strength training. I also throw in some of the exercises that I learned at physical therapy. I end all of my running and cross training with stretching and that has helped a lot too. A lot of the aches and pains I have been having lately have gone away. I am now free to work on my endurance and speed again.

No snowshoeing this weekend. Instead it was an outing with the Scouts. It was the annual Klondike Derby with our scout district. We had a great time even though we are currently at two scouts. Our numbers were few, but they gave it their all and did well. I did manage to embarrass myself the next day when we were reporting our outing at church. One of the men asked if it was cold and I stupidly said, "It was in the 20's but we slept warm when we put Hotties in our sleeping bag." Dang! I should have said "hand warmers". About all I could mumble out amid the laughter was, "I think I better sit down now!"

Shout outs to Sarah, Mike, Rachel, and Troy. Tough competition for the 10K and hike in July! Hillary is hanging in there. Emily is doing great! Todd and Bill are running machines! Clyde is on the mend and hanging in there! Mark - keep up the great time and distance you are putting in! Jeff is training for a marathon! Hope the rest of you are doing great as well! Hang in there and I will to!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

2011-02-28T08:37:00.000-08:00

Well maybe not so much cold, but it sure has been stormy the past week here. As a result, I have spent a lot of time working out indoors. Thank goodness for the treadmill. Not only has it been great as far as getting in a good workout without worrying about slipping, but I feel it has been perfect in helping me get better quicker!

I had another great workout week. I compared to comparable runs from the last two weeks and my minutes per mile dropped anywhere from 30 to 20 seconds quicker. It's nice to see the progress! My endurance is getting better as well. My most improved mile is the last mile. Also on my long run last Friday, I was able to run four of the five miles. Things are looking up.

I am also changing up my running schedule a bit in prep for the 5K on April 9th. I will run on M-W-F and cross train on T-TH-S. This is roughly based on "Run Less, Run Faster". The idea is to have quality runs when you run (Interval, Tempo and Long runs), alternating with endurance cross training. This is my first day doing this and I really enjoyed the interval training this morning. More on this next week.

I finally got a grip on the weight fluctuation. I have been doing the "400 Calorie Fix" program. The idea is simple. Eat healthy 400 calorie meals, start off with three times a day for 2 weeks. After that you add another 400 calorie meal in. I will finish up the 2 week fast start tomorrow and have lost about 13 lbs. It is good to get some of the weight back off that I have gained back. I am now at 205 and dropping! I'll keep you up to date on the progress on this as well.

Just a quick picture to show that the snow isn't all negative. Had another great snowshoe outing with Gordon and Corey. They set a great pace up to Big Springs. With all the fresh snow it was beautiful!

Shout outs to Hillary who dropped another 5 lbs! Yeah!!!! Mike, Sarah, Rachel and Troy are finding ways to get the workout in! Keep up the great training. Bill and Todd are posting good mileage and times as well. Jared and Mark are making great progress in improving their health as well. I know how hard it can be! Keep up the great workouts. Emily is doing great on her eating healthy and working out. Gordon and Corey, thanks for the fun workouts! Mom and Dad are even putting in some time working out! Way to go! S1 never skips a beat! Hang in there and I will too!

Running for the Gold

2011-02-21T07:55:00.000-08:00

Another great training week! I was able to put in the required miles for my 5K training and I felt good for the most part. My hips still need a bit of strengthening, but all in all I was happy with the results. I have discovered the enormous benefits of stretching as well. It is helping me recover and prevent further injuries. I don't think I would be making as good of progress with out it.

On Saturday, Corey and I went out for another adventure. We were both going to rent cross-country skies and give it a go, but they didn't have any boots in his size. I decided to go ahead and rent a pair and let him use my snowshoes. It turned out not to be the best conditions for cross-country. I got a hard work out, but the it was snowing a wet snow and the skis were sticking. Not much glide action going in, even down hill. I still did manage to fall down on my rear a couple of times. Not a big fan of that! I may try it again someday, but not for a while. Corey on the other hand is hoping to rent this weekend. I guess seeing his old man struggle didn't disinterest him in trying.

I have been looking at some DVD's to use while running on the treadmill. Some have you following behind a runner through diverse locations. They do look fun, but I am not ready to lay down some coin for that yet. We have several videos that I thought might give a similar effect. This morning, I put in the highlights of the 2002 Winter Olympics that were held in Salt Lake City. It was fun and inspiring to see the athletes performing at their best. It brought back to mind Jim Shay who's father and grandfather had competed in the Olympics before him. He dedicated his performance to his grandfather who passed away a short time before. Remember him pulling out the picture of his grandfather from his helmet after each of his runs? It made the time go by quickly and was very inspiring. The only problem was I got a little too distracted once and misstepped and did a very awkward 90 degree bobble for which the judges deducted 10 points off my run costing me a medal. Maybe next Olympics.

Mark A., great job on the increase in miles and pace! Well done! Rachel, Sarah and Mike! You guys are awesome! Keep up the great training! Looking forward to watching you guys smoke me in the 10K. Bill, way to go on the early morning training! Welcome to my world. Running in a haze! S1, thanks for your consistency. You are an inspiration. The rest of you, keep up the good work! Hang in there and I will too!

That's More Like It!

2011-02-14T10:29:00.000-08:00

Things are on the upswing. I was able to run a bit longer on each successive run last week. Yesterday, I got thinking about my first goal to run a 5K under 30 minutes and decided that I would start the training today. In ways I feel like I am starting from scratch, but that is not a bad thing after being injured. For the half marathon last October, I used Hal Higdon's schedule to train on. He also has schedules for 5K and 10K training as well. I decided to use his 5K intermediate training since I just don't want to finish, I want to improve my time.

This first run was a 3 mile easy run. I warmed up for a half mile and then took off at an easy pace and ran 3.1 miles. This is the longest I have run since October. I was quite happy. Even during my cool down, I had some extra energy and alternated jogging and walking. I made sure I took the time to stretch when I got home and I think that helped the recovery as well. Tomorrow I will attempt some interval training. I haven't done this in a while and need to make sure I don't over do.

I had a nice breakfast with my wife. Today is not only Valentine's Day, but our anniversary as well! Putting up with me makes her the ultimate endurance athlete of all time!

Many of you are making a great comeback after injuries as well. Way to go Todd and Bill. Great workouts! Martha is doing some great recovery as well. Turning your habits back around to healthy ones are the ultimate recovery in my book. Clyde, great job in coming to gripes on a few steps back and turning in back around. It took a lot of courage to admit what you did and then have a great weight loss week. You will do great my friend. Sarah and Mike have lost some serious pounds and getting in some great workouts. Rachel continues to improve on her way back. Proud of all of you! Hang in there and I will too!

On the run

2011-02-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

Great news for me. I was given a tentative go ahead last Thursday to try limited running on Friday. It went well with no damage! The thing that limited me the most was not being in running shape, but I stayed on level surfaces and was able to walk and run. It felt good to be running again. I went back in for physical therapy and the chiropractor on Friday and I had a good session. The chiropractor was happy with my progress and that will probably be my last visit with him. I got the go ahead to even go a harder on my running! I did a longer route this morning and was able to run about half of it. I sure was happy that it felt good! It has been a long time. I will continue to increase my running time as I get back in shape and hopefully will be back to where I was before this all happened.

I also really focused on my core again last week. I think it has helped my recovery tremendously. I have taken the strength training and stretching that I have learned from PT and combined it with Bob Harper's Inside Out DVD training and it has helped a lot. I can feel a difference as I run.

I hope you are all doing well. Mike and Sarah have been losing great lbs with their new focus on limiting calories. I think it is the 400 Calorie Fix diet. Don't know a whole lot about it, but it is doing well for them. Rachel is also doing great getting back in shape. Martha is still doing well! Todd and the gang have been consistent in their running as well. S1, great job as always! Hang in there and I will too!

The Core of Recovery

2011-01-31T13:59:00.000-08:00

I have been through two weeks of physical therapy and chiropractor care and can feel an improvement. Still haven't been given a green light for running yet, but my last session of PT they worked me quite hard with exercises that I couldn't have done the week before. I am a lot more mobile in my back and my hip seems to be getting better as well.

One thing that I have learned from this is DON'T NEGLECT YOUR CORE. Before I started training for the half marathon, I would spend from 2 - 3 times a week doing core exercises. Most of it was with Bob Harper and Biggest Loser DVD's. You may not be big fans of Biggest Loser, but they have the right idea when it comes to making sure your core gets strong. Bob Harper always reminds you to keep your abdomen pulled in and may of the exercises strengthen your core. However you like to work your core, do it! It will help you be a better athlete and prevent many injuries to the rest of your body. It does wonders for the balance as well.

Another thing that I was made more aware of that had nothing to do with therapy was reading about mindful eating. I have heard of the concept before, but came across some new reading. I have a book on the way but just by thinking about what I am doing before putting something into my mouth has made a big difference on what I eat (and how much). Just asking yourself a simple question of, "Am I really hungry or is something else going on?" makes a big difference for me. I'll read the book that I ordered and let you know what I think. All I know is that I lost two pounds this week by doing nothing more about the why I am eating. I found myself naturally eating less and finding alternatives to deal with issues such as emotions and discomfort without using food. I also became a lot more aware of the difference between my stomach telling me I was hungry and my head telling me I was hungry. Sounds weird, but give it a try and you will see that there is a difference between the two hunger signals.

Lots of shout outs. Jimmer Ferdette!!!! Had to throw that one out there! Corey keeps getting me out there snowshoeing! He really likes it and wants to do King's Peak with me this year. Emily and Barbara put in good workouts this week. Martha made it a month with no sugar and some great weight loss. She is getting into some really healthy habits as well. Gordon is hanging in there as well. Sarah and Mike are putting in the miles and times with Bob as well as Rachel and I would assume Troy. Todd is getting some consistent miles in! Haven't heard from some of you, but I hope that you are keeping after it. Hang in there and I will too!

Recovery

2011-01-24T16:03:00.000-08:00

I finally got to the point last week where I decided I needed to go in and get my back and hip checked out. The back went out around Christmas time when I shoveled some heavy wet snow. Usually I can bounce back within a few days if I tweak the back, but it just wasn’t healing up. The hip has been bugging me since my half-marathon tumble at the beginning of the race. So last Tuesday, I made a call to my doctor and much to my surprise got in the same day.

During the checkup, Todd (the p.a. in the office), found that my pelvis was tilted and gave me a couple of prescriptions, an appointment to get an x-ray and a referral for physical therapy and a chiropractor. By the time Friday had come and gone, I had already at one session with both and it was really helpful. I felt good enough to go snowshoeing on Saturday and had a great time with my son and brother.

Today I had another visit with the physical therapist. The timing was right. I woke up a sore this morning and the session really helped. I am working on building up those areas which have gotten weakened by the injuries. Another thing that I have learned is it is really important to keep up the core exercises even if you are in training. I stopped doing my core exercises when I was putting in the extra mileage. I need to make sure that it is always part of my routine. Thanks to the therapy, I have learned even some more exercises to help strengthen the core and the other areas that are weak. I need to hold off running maybe a week or two more. We’ll see how it goes. I do have the green light to do ab training and walking and elliptical so I can keep some level of fitness going. I just need to be patient, do what I can now, and I will be back in the saddle in a couple of weeks.

Shout outs to Gordon and Corey! They both are loving snowshoeing and I am too. I am jealous of you guys from the warmer climates at times, but we aren’t without our unique fun during the cold weather. Todd is doing great on his mileage as he is starting back up. Hillary has kept up her losing weight. Chris has been keeping after it with her farm work. Toughest workout you can get by my book! Sarah, Mike, Rachel and Troy have been doing great running and having regular Bob Harper torture sessions. 10K this summer! Speaking of 10K, CLYDEEEE!!!!!!! Well done my friend. A Clysdale running a 1:08!!!! Awesome!!!! Proud of Emily too! She has been very consistent on working on most everyday! Barbara is the rock in our home! She has been very faithful in her working out for years and it shows! Martha has been sticking to her guns and is doing great! Hang in there everyone and I will too!

Dealing with Injuries

2011-01-17T11:11:00.000-08:00

I took it a lot easier this week. I still am not able to run. It has been a bit frustrating to want to but knowing it would just aggravate my back and hip if I start back to early. Thanks Chris for the suggestion of trying to keep my exercising on the level. There are plenty of opportunities for hills around and with the snow shoeing I've been doing there is a lot of vertical involved where I have gone. The roads are slowly clearing up, but there is still a lot of ice and slick spots to contend with. I wish businesses and home owners felt more responsible about keeping their walks clear. It would make things easier for those trying to navigate around.

This isn't to say I haven't been exercising. I have mostly done elliptical and walking and that has helped keep some level of fitness around. I will have some ground to make up when I get healed up though. Just have to keep things in perspective. I went out for about 4.5 miles today. A year and a half ago, that would have almost been impossible. I also listened to a story about a woman who was burned over 80% of her body while I was walking and realized I had a lot to be thankful for. I have a lot of wonderful things in my life. Many of you are those wonderful things! Thank you!

I have to give a special shout out to Mark A. who has started getting back in shape. He has been consistently walking every day one of my favorite running routes. I hope he enjoys it as much as I do! Martha is doing great in sticking to her commitment to be healthy. She has turned the corner from just losing weight to seeing the need to be healthy. That can make all the difference. Todd A., I hope you can continue to work out in spite of your injuries! Bill continues to amaze with his running skills. Rachel, Troy, Mike and Sarah are all being dedicated in their working out. Great job you guys. Hillary still looks good as well! Big Clyde! I am reliving what I did last year by reading your post about your 10K prep and committing to training for the 13.1. You can do it! All of you keep me posted in what you are doing! I am cheering for you all! Hang in there and I will too!

Good Week - Bad Week

2011-01-10T14:53:00.000-08:00

First the good. For the most part, I ate healthy and started losing weight again! I also got off the diet drink daily indulgence as of this morning. I just kept tapering off so it wasn't so dramatic just stopping suddenly! I won't go into the pros and cons of diet drinks, but at the least it does save a little cash. I also met my exercise goals for the week! The bad? I tweaked my back a couple of weeks ago and every time it gets a little better, I tweak it again! This has stopped me from any type of running for a while until it gets better. It has also been cold and very icy out which doesn't help either. It is supposed to warm up above freezing by mid-week. Hopefully the streets will start clearing off.

So what have I done for exercising? I have walked a couple of times. Done the elliptical a couple of times and went snowshoeing again. You would think that snowshoeing might be hard on my back but so far so good. I was able to do a loop with my son where I had taken the scouts out about a week and a half ago. This time the snow was packed down and the going was much quicker, but it was still a great workout as we climbed around the hills. I highly recommend it if you climate is conducive for it.

Everyone seems to be sticking to their resolve. Remember, NO EXCUSES! Not going to let a sore back stop me from eating right and getting what exercise I can! Hope the rest of you are not starting to make excuses! Hang in there and I will too!

Over a 1,000 miles later.

2011-01-05T10:16:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd better drop a quick update and say I am still here and (re-)committed!

I didn't make my goal of no weight gain over the holiday's. I just wasn't careful enough. I am over being depressed about it and never did stop working out. I was talking with Barbara about it and she said that gaining 4 lbs wasn't as bad as it could have been. That is true, I have gained well over 10 lbs in the same period before. I was also happy that I kept working out in spite of the bad leg and now the sore back. Reading this entry from a blog I follow was helpful as well! When we stumble along the way, no reason to get all upset and panic. Get back up, take a breath and get back after it!

2010 was overall a great year. I have blogged about many accomplishments, many of which I would have would have been impossible in 2009. I kept up with my scouts on our many hikes including our 50 miler, I ran a 10k and a half-marathon. I hiked Big Baldy and Timp twice reaching two of my three peak goals! I lost a bunch of weight and feel a lot better! I have logged over 1,000 miles of activity on dailymile.com since March! Here is the breakdown:

March through December
Total Miles 1040.79 mi
Walking 117.1 - Longest 20.38 mi 08/21 – 20 miler with the scouts, Best week - 50 miler with Scouts
Cycling 105.59 mi
Running 763.19 mi - Fastest: 09:40 08/27 – Personal 5K with Mike and Sarah, Longest run: 13.1 - Halloween half
Fitness 54.9 mi - Farthest: 14.60 mi 09/18 – Timp Hike

I am looking forward to a successful 2011! For sure I want to hike King's Peak. I want to run the Freedom Festival 10K under 60 minutes this year and an official 10K under 30 minutes. I haven't decided about another half-marathon and/or a marathon. We will see how the next few months go on getting off the weight. And most definitely I want to reach my 175 goal!

Hope you make and reach your health goals for the year. Martha, Sarah, Chris and Hillary are already on board with the No Excuse challenge. It is really simple. Make your goals this year and don't let any excuse get in your way! So to sum it up, mine are:
1) Make my goal weight of 175!
2) 5K under 30 minutes.
3) 10K under 60 minutes
4) King's Peak hike (go for sure, making it to the summit is weather dependent)

Shout out to Todd who is back running again. Bill started out the New Year by running a half-marathon! Martha is off to a great start on her goals for the year. Chris lost 6 between Thanksgiving and Christmas! How great is that? Hang in there and I will too!

Snow shoeing

2010-12-23T14:49:00.001-08:00

I am super late blogging this week. It was a short work week and I had a lot to get done. I also forgot to weigh on monday tuesday and Wednesday and weighed late today. So this report will have to do.

I ended up buying some snow shoes and have gone twice already. I enjoyed both trips. I had Gordon with me today. He had fun as well. You go half the distance and get a great workout.

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!

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Quick Report

2010-12-13T14:56:00.000-08:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 215.0
Weekly Loss: 0
To Go: 40
Total 110

Not a lot to talk about this week. I have been quite busy trying to juggle things this week. I pretty much stayed the course.

My plan to back off a bit on exercising seems to be a working. My leg has not bothered me a bit. I still am putting in about an hour each time and exercised five days last week and then again this morning. Two more weeks of easy does it and then try ramping back up again.

How are the rest of you doing? I do know that Hillary is still maintaining. Nicely done! Kelly is back down to one more pound to go until she is at her pre-pregnancy weight! Way to go Kelly! Hang in there and I will too!

"Are You Going To Finish Strong?"

2010-12-07T12:59:00.000-08:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 215.0
Weekly Gain: 5.6
To Go: 40
Total 110

I am glad I ran into this video half way through my tough week. I was all over the place. Most of it was my fault. I didn't watch was I was eating very well. Most of it could be classified under the category of "mindless eating." I wasn't purposefully trying to be really bad, but I wasn't being very careful either. 212 would have been bad enough, but when I stepped on the scale on Monday, I was 215. How in the world could I have gained nearly 6 lbs back! Normally, I blog on Monday's so that is the weight I usually go with. I got on the scale this morning and I had dropped back to 212. I know I didn't do anything to merit a 3 lbs loss in one day. I am back to being all over the place again.

I don't know if my body is super stressed out or what, but I have been wondering if I didn't recover properly from the half marathon. I probably should have recovered by doing less stressful things considering what I had put my body through and by getting injured either from the fall at the first of the run or all of the extra downhill on the run. When I got up at 5:15 this morning, I felt terrible. As I tried to talk myself into exercising, I was wondering if my body just needed a time to recover. I don't mean no exercising, but rather choosing to exercise at a less strenuous rate for a few weeks. When I thought about that and what I could do to modify the routine this morning, I found that I could get up off the chair in the bedroom and head down to workout. I have several DVD's that I fall back to on either cold days of on off-running days. I found a 15 minute routine to work on legs and abs, stayed at a moderate pace as I followed along and then got on the elliptical for 20 minutes. That was doable and I didn't feel any stress either physically or mentally.

So here is my plan for the next few weeks. No running. I still am feeling the effects from the half in one of my legs that has been slow to get better. I plan on walking on my usual running days. I will spend as much time exercising, just not running. I tried that on Monday and was able to do a 4.5 mile loop with no pain at all. I will also keep any high impact exercising to a minimum and so if my over-all health will be better as I take stress off the body and the mind. It takes a lot of mental effort sometimes to push yourself to your limits. I will keep you posted on how I am feeling over the next few weeks. That will get me to the first of the year, hopefully healed up and ready to "stand up and finish what I started!" (Bob Harper) I still plan on not going over 215 over the holidays and complete my no weight gain goal over the holidays.

Great job to all of you who have maintained/lost weight during the challenge. Chris, Hillary, Martha, Gordon (I think), Rachel!! (stand and delivery method!), and me (even with all of the up and down). Sorry if I missed anyone else who is on the challenge. Hang in there and I will too!

Here are some thoughts from watching the video.

Time to finish strong. Finish strong in the month of December, don't give up keep trying. Finish strong in 2011. Finish strong the rest of my life. What are you going to do to finish strong. If he can get up, so can I from my struggles.

Snow Workout

2010-11-29T09:24:00.000-08:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 209.4
Weekly Loss: 1.2
To Go: 34.4
Total 115.6

Sunday is usually a rest day for me, but we got about 6 inches of snow. Earlier in the week they predicted a blizzard and we got zero inches. This time no blizzard warning and we get a good dose of snow. You all know what that means. SNOW WORKOUT!!! I can always tell when we are going to get a good snow storm because when my neighbor goes out of town, it usually snows hard. We watch out for each other when it snows and so I got a double dose of the workout.

It has been cold the past week and the streets were snow packed this morning. I bought a pair of rubber cleats that fit over the bottom of your shoes. I put them on not knowing how well they would work and I was pleased. I had good traction the whole route. Most of the route was plowed, even most of the river trail, but as I got close to the canyon, I had to trudge through the snow. It was a good workout on the legs and it got me excited to try snow shoeing in the near future.

How did you all do during the holiday? I know Martha did another tread mill torture the day after. Good job Martha. I myself ate a little too much at Thanksgiving dinner, but I did workout and ate good the rest of the day. Hillary is doing well. Rachel will soon have a big weight loss (couple days past her due date!). Hang in there and I will too.

A Pleasant Surprise

2010-11-22T10:03:00.000-08:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 210.6
Weekly Loss: 4.4
To Go: 35.6
Total 114.4

The pleasant surprise this week is when I stepped on the scale, I was down 4.4 lbs. I think I can attribute this to two things. Most days, I was very frugal on eating. I tried on those days to eat every three hours, but tried not to go over 300 calories for each meal. This kept me at about 1800 calories on those days. The other thing, is with the colder weather and trying to get my leg better, I mixed up my workout routine a bit. I had bought some Bob Harper workout DVDs and they are quite the challenge. Even the people that he has one to put through the workout struggle, moan and complain at times. I can't do all of the workouts, but I can do most of them and keep up for the hour. Mostly it has been fun. I also was able to run a bit further on each run until I needed to rest my leg so that was good too. I am hoping by the end of the week to be up to four miles straight.

Cold weather has taken a firm hold. We have snow on the ground here. I am better equipped to run in the cold, wet weather this year. The run this morning went well. I stayed nice and warm most of the run. When we get some more snow, I have plans on giving snowshoeing a go. I'll let you know how that goes.

Shout outs to Hillary this week. She has kept her weight off and has even lost a bit more. Whoooooohoooooooo! Way to go! Andy had another good outing with his cross country team! Nice job coach. Martha, Hillary, Chris and Rachel, I trust that you are all doing well on the no weight gain challenge. It's not to late for anyone else to commit about not gaining any weight during the holidays. Get yourself weighed before Thanksgiving, write it down and then weigh back in during the first of the year. The official weigh in will be between Jan 1 and 5th to determine if you made your goal. Hang in there and I will too!

Stabilization

2010-11-15T12:57:00.000-08:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 215.0
Weekly Gain: 0
To Go: 40.0
Total 110.0

I said last week that I was only going to post my weight, but my friend David, who is an accounting junkie says he missed the numbers. Fair enough I will keep posting the stats partly because of David and partly because I said I would at the beginning.

The meaning behind my title is that my weight did not jump all over the place. I saw consistency throughout the week which is great. I am still hampered by my a couple of nagging injuries that aren't serious, but prevent me from running as far as I would like. This morning was my best distance since the half. I was able to go about 2 1/4 miles before I needed to walk it out. That is a mile better than last week. I walked and ran the rest of the 4 1/2 miles. As hard as it is to be patient, I need to not push it too hard or it will take longer to heal up.

I took the Scouts out camping this weekend. The only thing I miss about my former weight is the insulation. It was cold and I had to throw on a lot more clothes than I used to and my feet were cold all through the evening. I guess the price of some good insulated boots will be worth the it compared to the cost of being overweight and out of shape!

A shout out to those who took the no weight gain challenge from last week. Rachel, Hillary and Chris are on board. Still time to weigh in and commit to no weight gain over the holidays. Bill is happily running again! Keep going Bill! David said he was going to start back at it. Go David! Hang in there and I will too!

Reset - Onward and Downward

2010-11-08T07:48:00.000-08:00

Current Stats
Current Weight - 215.2

You noticed that I didn't post any other info other than my current weight. This is for several reasons. First of all, my weight is still all over the place. I weighed in anywhere from 210 to 219 during the week. Even though I it was birthday celebration on Friday, there was no way that I ate enough extra calories (or cut back for that matter) to justify 9 pounds up and down. I am going to go with my weigh-in weight from this morning and use it as a baseline. This may all be related to the half-marathon.

During my last few weeks of training, I was all over the place as far as weight goes. I felt that when the race was over, I could get right back into the regular routine which was working for me, but I have been surprised about my recovery. I went out for what I thought would be an easy run for me last Monday. I thought I would be a bit sore, but I would be fine. I had run 12 miles the week before and was able to not only do my taper training the next week, but felt good going into the race. After talking to a couple of runners, they said that the downhill was probably pretty hard on me. It really was quite a drop during the first 5 miles of the race. I probably did a little damage. I have also read that recovery days from a long run can take as long as a day per mile. So for a half marathon, to expect 13 days of recovery time. That advice may not be far off for me. Here I am at day 9 and I still had some hip and knee issues this morning. I had to alternate running and walking this morning because of it. I just need to be patient.

For the next two weeks, I am going to focus on portion control and get back into some good habits. Hopefully this weight roller coaster I've been on will stabilize and I will start heading down again. Until I get back down into the 190's I am going to just post my weekly weight and get back to that 130 lbs lost and keep going.

I would like to throw out a challenge to anybody that needs a little motivation. Make a goal not to gain any weight over the holidays. We have been challenged at work to that goal and I am going to take it further by getting to 200 lbs by the end of December. Sound hard? It can be, but it is harder to take off an extra 5 - 15 lbs that I could gain instead. I don't want to go there, do you? What it takes is to be mindful of what you are eating. Allow yourself a little treat now and then, but fill up on healthy alternatives when they are available and make sure you exercise! If you want a little accountability, post a comment about your commitment and we will all keep each other motivated!

Great job Hillary! Looking good! Bill is back running and happy about it! Way to go Bill! Saw my neighbor, Lynn, getting his bike ready for a ride! Great job! Hope to catch the rest of you doing your great things as well! Hang in there and I will too!

Thirteen point one and done!

2010-11-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Current Stats NA

I was planning on weighing in this week as a baseline, but my weight once again varied a whole bunch this week. I will eat right this week and establish my new baseline next week.

I had a great experience running my first half marathon. Not that it was easy, but I am glad I reached what I thought was unreachable goal for myself. I learned a lot about myself along the way and even during the race.

It all started out early Saturday morning. We boarded buses to take us up to the start line. Barbara was good enough to get up early and drive me there. I really appreciated the support. This race ended up have close to 3,000 people enter. There was a line of buses and I got in the line and got on board. The bus was full and there were many who were excitedly chatting while others were sitting quietly. For me it was a lot more emotional than I thought it would be. It was hard not to cry as we drove on some streets that I had done my prep work on, realizing I was on my way to face a big challenge that I had been training for for weeks. This meant I lot more to me than I had realized.

We got off the buses at Theater in the Pines parking lot, not far from one of the Timpanogos Trail Heads. It was quite cold and there was still a bit of snow around from a storm that had come through earlier in the week. Here I was at the start, but I still had about two hours to go until the starting gun sounded. They had a heated tent that filled up as the morning went on. I found a place near the back and waited. A lot of people wore costumes. This was the Halloween Half and costumes were encouraged. I am not much of a costume wearer anyway, especially not in my first half marathon!

After a long wait, both for the start and the lines for the bathrooms, we were all ready to start. I lined up near the back were there was a pacer for a time of finishing in two and a half hours. That's the quickest I thought I could finish, but I would be happy if I was done by three hours.

Between a late start and all of the runners, I didn't get past the start line until after 15 minutes of when we were scheduled to start. Not far from the start, I could tell that someone had fallen. I was trying to watch out between all the people around me, not to step on the downed runner when suddenly I went down in probably the same big hole she fell in! Luckily, I had my running gloves on and long running pants and averted disaster myself. I got scraped up a bit but was able to get right back up. The girl that went down was being helped off and I heard her say, "I heard something pop!" I knew what that meant having heard that noise come from my own ankle before. I felt bad for her, having to drop out of the race before it even started and was grateful I had avoided the same fate!

The first part of the race was quite steep. I was glad I had put duct tape on my feet as suggested. I think I would have had blisters coming down at that incline if I hadn't. I passed my pacers without much effort realizing that I would slow down later. It was a quick run down past Sundance and to the intersection with the Provo Canyon road.

As many of you know, Provo Canyon is a well traveled highway. They had been stopping traffic to get the runners over to the other side of the canyon. By the time I got down there, they made the runners stop to get the backed up traffic a chance to get my. We waited quite a while until they stopped them again and they let us cross to continue the race.

We ran on the road for a bit until we hit the tunnels. Some of my neighbors were helping at the aid station there and it was fun to see their surprised faces as they handed my water. It was a bit of a lift. We then headed down to Vivian Park to where we were directed onto the Provo River trail for the rest of the run.

About a mile down from the park, I kept leap frogging a runner who would run and then walk. I tried to encourage anyone I passed my telling them they were doing good. We were about half way at this point and fatigue was setting in to many. After passing her another time, next thing I knew, she was running along side me and without saying much we paced each other. After about a mile, I struck up a conversation and found out that she lived just a couple of streets away from me. We stuck together for several miles and chatted which helped both of us take our minds of the pain. With about two miles left, she had to stop and walk, so I slowly went on. I had another conversation for a while with a guy about my age from Heber. Those talks really helped! As I was approaching the last mile, I was really bonking bad and it was all I could do to move my feet, when much to my surprise, the girl that had been running with my pulled even with me. It really helped us both I think to turn out of the canyon and make the homestretch down to the finish line. As I approached the finish line, I became emotional as I could see not only the finish line, but my sweet wife and my youngest daughter. I didn't have the words to explain how much it meant to me to have them there!

Running has become an important part of my life. I have learned a lot about myself and have learned that I can do much more than I thought I could. For me, running is a way of looking at yourself. It strips you down to your emotional and physical limits. You get a glimpse of what you are really like deep down inside.

Thanks for all of your encouragement. I have said this quite frequently, but it has made a big difference for me. More than once during the race, I thought about being able to report back to you all that I had finished the race! It was quite motivating to keep going! Andy and Bill, thanks for supporting all of the runners on the race! It was nice to know that friends we helping to make it happen. Great job Hillary on keeping after it! You look great! Hope the rest of you are doing what you need to to keep yourselves healthy and happy! Hang in there and I will too!

Countdown to Half Time!

2010-10-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

Current Stats - N/A

I am on one week reporting hiatus since I am focused on the race this week and once again my weight was varied up and down six pounds this week. Next week I will do a reset and start the last leg of the weight loss journey.

I have been trying to decide if I should run a marathon. My decision will be based on two things. 1) How I feel after completing the half-marathon this Saturday. 2) If I am going to to run a marathon, I need to be at least at my goal weight. I think it would be too taxing on my body if I trained at a heavier weight than that.

Last Thursday, I did my last long run for training. It was 12 miles. I had a better perspective of how far 12 miles is because I decided on the fly to take a different route. I headed down 8th East and then ran down University Parkway. I turned back north at the intersection of University Parkway and University Avenue and headed over to the mouth of Provo Canyon. I still had about 3 miles left to do after all that distance! It made me appreciate how far 12 miles is when you are running.

My long run was a bit early in the week. That's because we took the Scouts to Goblin Valley. It was fun to be in shape to explore and have fun with them. There was also a ultra-marathon going on and a 10K run as well. We tried to encourage the runners as we encountered them. It was extra hard among the hoodoos because recent rains had turned the clay in to a slick and sticky mess. I slipped once just walking and can imagine that the runners really had to watch their steps.

Wish me luck for the run this weekend. Excited and nervous all at the same time. Shout outs to all those who ran the race down at Goblin Valley! What an inspiration! Thanks to Andy who came with us on the Scout trip and gave me lots of great pointers for the upcoming half! Hang in there and I will too!

The Long Haul

2010-10-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 204.0
Weekly Gain: .4
To Go: 29.0
Total 121.0

Bad news on the scale again this week, but the gain was not as dramatic as last week. I am still focused on the training for the half on the 30th.

I ran 11 miles for my long run on Saturday. It was a tough run, but I made it and am optimistic for success when I run the real thing. I need to run a 12 miler for my last long training run. I would normally do this on Saturday, but we are taking the Scouts out this weekend and won't be getting back until early evening on Saturday. I would be a mess if I delayed the run until then. So my plan is to do my long run early Thursday morning.

I almost signed up for a marathon last week, but it filled up 6 hours before I was ready to click the button. There is another marathon a few weeks later, but this one doesn't fill up as quickly. I will make a decision on whether to run a marathon or not after I have run the half. Anyone out there had any experience running a full marathon?

After the half, I am going to focus on getting the rest of this weight off. It will be good to get it off. I feel so much better now having over 120 lbs off and I know that getting the last 30 off will be even better. It is weird to say, but I am actually looking forward to losing the weight in spite of the pain involved.

A shout out to Janet and her husband for getting back into getting the weight off. It's hard to start back up after a diversion! Way to go! Bill ran the St. George in spite of an injury! Nice Bill! Hillary is looking great after her weight loss! Whooohoooo! Hang in there and I will too!

Nothing to Lose

2010-10-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 203.6
Weekly Gain: 1.8
To Go: 28.6
Total 121.4

I am still up and down on my weight. Can't seem to get down below 200 again. Though I am looking forward to the half marathon in a couple of weeks, I will be glad to get back into an increased emphasis on getting my weight down. I seriously will bounce up and down from 5 to 8 lbs each week since I started training. You would think with as much work as I am putting in that the pounds would melt off, but it's not the case. I have a feeling that once I get back into my previous training and mix it up a bit that things will be more consistent.

I was going to hike Timp once last time this last Saturday, but we had a cool-down in the weather. Timp has had snow on the top for several days, not a whole lot, but it would probably would have been a bit sloppy. I decided to hike Big Baldy going up Dry Canyon and coming back down Battle Creek. I estimated about 10 miles and it ended up being over 11.5 miles. I think that this hike is harder than Timp. Even though it is less mileage, it is quite steep and the heart rate is high most of the time.

Thanks again for the encouragement. Keep up the good work everyone! Hang in there and I will too!

Hiking in Circles

2010-10-05T08:28:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 201.6
Weekly Loss: 0.6
To Go:
26.8 Total 123.2

I have to make a disclaimer on my weight. It is still jumping around quite a bit, so I am taking my best weight loss day over a four day period (Friday - Monday). I have logged my food intake this last week and it has really helped.

I ran 10 miles on my long run on Saturday. I was concerned going into this run weather it would be tough like my eight mile run or great like my 10 mile run. It turned out to be a mixture of both. Between mile two and three, I did not feel good and thought it might last the whole time, but as soon as I hit the canyon and headed up things started getting better. By the time I hit my turn-around point and was able to go downhill from there, I felt pretty good. I even had an eye opener for me.

I had been reading some other blogs and saw how many focused on just the physical challenges of losing weight. Many challenged themselves to a certain amount of miles over a stated period of time, but not many set many dietary goals over the same period. I had a epiphany about when people get lost, they tend to travel in circles. This happens because we usually have a dominant leg. One leg is usually stronger than the other and without a sense of direction the one leg over the course of time leads us back to where we started from.

I think this is true if we dominate on either diet or exercise without setting goals in the other. We can make great headway with our health and fitness by lifting or aerobic exercise, but if we don't watch our diets, our appetites increase and it doesn't take much to undo the calories we burned while exercising. The opposite is true as well. If we just focus on dieting, we lose weight, but we suffer physically because we lose not only fat, but muscle as well. When the diet is over, we can gain the fat back, but not much muscle in the process so we are worse off than when we started. We need to stay balanced on both fronts. We need to have good physical goals and challenges, but we need to watch what is going into our bodies as well. Feed your body what it needs, in portions that are appropriate for you height and weight.

Shout out to Hillary who reached her weight goal. Great job! Bill H. completed the St. George Marathon (his 7th!) in spite of having a recent injury! Wow Bill, way to go! Thanks Mom for the great article on Drew Carey! He is inspirational in what he has done. Thanks for keeping mee motivated Mom! Hang in there and I will too!

9 miler

2010-09-27T09:45:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 202.4
Weekly Loss: 0.2
To Go: 27.4
Total 122.6

It has been hard to lose weight with the extra training that I have done. I am trying to keep my body fueled and repaired with the extra work, but it hasn't led to much of a weight loss. I am going to commit to keeping track of my intake with a food journal for the next two weeks to make sure I am not eating too much. I do need to be careful though that I am eating the right types of food as well. Hopefully next week will see better progress in losing weight. I read a little blurb that said that tracking calories has a much bigger impact in weight loss than exercising does. Exercising is essential, but the calories that you burn in a workout can easily be undone by unwise food choices.

Two weeks ago, I ran eight miles for my long run. It was the hardest run I have done in a long time. Friday, my nine mile run was just the opposite. It was a challenge, but I felt good most of the run. I kept hydrated and also kept fueled. It didn't take much to keep my energy up and it sure helped me keep going.

A big shout out to Hillary! Lost 10 lbs and looks great! Way to go! Proud of you! Phil is keeping after it and seems to be enjoying life! Bill, I hope you heal up quick and can run this weekend! Good luck. Keep working hard everyone. Hang in there and I will too!

Timp II

2010-09-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 202.6
Weekly Loss: 0.2
To Go: 27.6
Total 122.4

Saturday was my official hike Timp day. Last spring, I had about 5 people express interest in hiking, but by the time the hike came, no one could go. I just felt like I needed to stick to my commitment of hiking. I blogged earlier about the hike I did a few weeks back on the Aspen Grove trail. This Saturday I went up the Timponokee trail. It is amazing how many people hike Timp from this trail head. I got there shortly before 6am in the dark and the lot was already full. I parked out on the road and had to hike to even get to the trail head. The first part of the hike was with a headlamp on. After about 45 minutes it was light enough to see without it and I was able to see the fall colors. It was a beautiful morning and I made good time without having to stop much. This trail was not as steep, but it was a bit longer. I made it to the summit about 10am. Even though the day was forecast into the 90's, it was still cold as the wind blew up on top. I ate a sandwich and headed back down. I figure I cut between a half to a full hour from my last hike. I was glad I went. The biggest contrast for me between the two trails was, the Aspen Grove hike left me exhausted, but very sore. This hike left me sore, but not near as exhausted.

I have not given up on my goal of getting down to 175. I have found though that when you are training at longer distances, that it is hard to cut back much calorie wise. You put the body through so much, that it needs to be fueled during training and recovered from what you are asking it to do. I need to be patient and make sure that I continue to eat right. After the half marathon I can focus in a bit more on losing this last 25 or so lbs.

Things are kind of quiet on the shout out end of things. It's not that people aren't doing great things I'm sure. It's that I just haven't heard about them. I did notice that Phil is continuing to log great workouts. Great job Phil!!! Thanks as always for the support and encouragement. So many people have been kind to me so a big shout out to you all! Hang in there and I will too!

Training

2010-09-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 202.8
Weekly Loss: 0.2
To Go: 27.8
Total 122.2

I stayed on track this week on my training for the half marathon. Saturday was my long run and even though it was a struggle I was able to go 8 miles. First time that I had to deal with my legs tightening up. Not enough to stop me, but I could tell that they were thinking about cramping. Could have been a lot of factors. I took the scouts out camping the night before and so I was a little out of my routine. I also carried a water bottle of Gatorade and tried sipping on it, but my son-in-law thinks that I might not of had enough regular water to go along with it. According to the training schedule that I have been following, I am scheduled for a 10K this Saturday, but I am doing the official Timp hike this week. I know that will be a good workout as well. I will give a full report next week on that.

Shout out to Barry and Sue who I saw up on the trail as I was running. Great job! Sue has lost weight and Barry said she put in 40 minutes on Saturday! Barry is getting better after a few things that set him back and didn't go as far as Sue, but put in the time. Way to go to both of you! Haven't heard from my usual running neighbors this last week. Hope all is well with them! Corey and Emiy continue to put in the time running and walking this last week as well. I am proud of both of you. Barbara is focusing in on eating right again and she continues her workouts like she has done for years! Great job sweetie! Hang in there and I will too!

Heading Back Down

2010-09-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 203.0
Weekly Loss: 0.8
To Go: 28.0
Total 122.0

Things finally turned back around this last week and I am posting a loss! Yea!!!! I was a bit worried about the gain. Hopefully I will trend back down.

This week's training for the half marathon went well. I went on a 7 mile long run on Saturday. It was a bit of a challenge cause I had to start later in the day than I usually due. I wasn't ready for the warm day that it was, but I still was able to complete the run. I was tired after though, but I still got a lot done around the house after so all in all it was good. All of my other runs went really well and I am still enjoying the running.

Today is Labor Day. Hope it is good for everyone. Maybe summer is officially over on the 21st, but for me, this is the last hurrah. Here come the cooler temps, the changing leaves and hopefully the falling pounds!

Couple of my running friends in the ward are struggling with running injuries. Here's hoping for a quick recovery for both Bill and Todd! My brother Gordon is struggling with his back as well. Hope that heals up all the way for you as well. Congrats to my cousin Lisa who just got married over the weekend! She has been constantly cheering for me from the beginning. Thanks to the rest of you as well!
Hang in there and I will too!

Reset!

2010-08-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 203.8
Weekly Gain: 0.0
To Go: 28.8
Total 121.2

I am going with my weigh in from yesterday. I am leveled off which is great except overall the weight gain was alarming! We said goodbye to my daughter Sarah and her husband Mike. We had a great time with them here. It am now also saying goodbye to late nights and not watching my portions. I am also saying goodbye to several unhealthy food choices. I am ready to get back serious at all of this and stay on track.

I did stay true to my workout last week. I think that I mentioned that I am started training for a half marathon last week. I followed the training schedule and had a good workout week. This Saturday will be a good test with a 7 mile run. That will be the longest run I have done since I started back running this year. My next few weeks, I will be posting my training results. Wish me luck in my training! October 30th here we come!

At work, they have a Wellness program where they encourage you to exercise and also one other health goal. This time, besides 30 minutes of exercise, they are giving us the opportunity to set our own goal. They have challenged us to use the SMART method to reach our goal. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Target Date. So my goal is:

I will run a half-marathon on October 30, 2010.

I will do this by following a training schedule. This way my goal will be attainable. I am being realistic because I have been training and a few of my running friends think I am on track to be able to do it. It's definitely measurable with the distance. I guess I better register! :)

Great job to my friends who ran the Hobble Creek Half! That is one I may do next year. See you there I hope! Keep up the great work everyone. You are all an inspiration to me in a lot of different ways. Some by the way they workout. Some how they are struggling like I am to lose weight and get in better shape and a lot of you by encouraging me to keep after it. Thanks to my family who have been so supportive as well. Next week, I will tell you about Ragnar! Hang in there and I will to!

20 miler

2010-08-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 203.8
Weekly Gain: 4.4
To Go: 28.8
Total 121.2

First the bad news. Still not understanding this weight gain over the past two weeks. I am up 11 lbs! I haven't backed off of my workouts at all, as a matter of fact, I have really been doing a lot lately. I haven't been perfect on eating, but I know that I haven't consumed enough extra calories to gain 11 lbs in so short a time. I just need to be patient, make sure I am eating right, get good rest and keep up the exercising and it will come back around. Saturday was an endurance hike, maybe the body is all inflamed from the near death experience! Like I said, I just need to be patient and things will come back around.

As I have mentioned before, I am a scoutmaster and we have been working hard on the hiking merit badge. Last month, we completed our set of five, ten mile hikes. Saturday, we were able to all go on the last big hike of 20 miles. We all met at my house at 6am, wiped the sleep from our eyes, and headed off to Vivian Park. We went via Riverwoods, Will's Pit Stop and then doubled back to Provo Canyon. Nine hours later, we had hiked the scouts 20 miles and I gratefully made it back home. I was tired, but the biggest problem for me was blisters. I had four big ones by the time we were done. It's interesting because I had used the same shoes and socks to hike Timp a couple of weeks back and made it 14 miles without a blister, but I guess this hiking was a lot harder on my feet for some reason. Luckily, I recovered enough to get my training in this morning.

Speaking of my training, today started my official training for a half marathon at the end of August. I have been thinking about doing one and as I looked at training schedules, I am right on track with my current weekly mileage to be ready by then. I will have to get registered for it before to long. My daughter Sarah and her husband Mike are in town for the week. Mike went on the run with me this morning. I don't often train with someone else, so it was nice to have someone come with me. My blisters and generally being beat of from Saturday didn't hinder me too much and I was able to train how I wanted for the 3.5 miles this morning.

Shout outs to Bill and Todd who ran the Hobble Creek Half Marathon on Saturday. Great job to all the scouts and Alan T. who did the 20 miler and earned their hiking merit badge. Great job Phil in working out this week! Hillary! Great weight loss! Keep up the good work! Mike and Sarah continue to work out and are keeping in great shape. Hang in there and I will too!

Holy Cow!!!!!!

2010-08-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 199.4
Weekly Gain: 6.6
To Go: 24.4
Total 125.6

Let me say this again, HOLY COW!!!! I didn't expect to have a loss this week and wouldn't have been surprised with a slight gain, but 6.6 lbs gained was not expected! Looking back over the week, I can say I had a good workout week. I didn't miss a workout and I felt pretty good all week. I did miss out on a super long hike this week, but I still got a 7 miler in on Friday morning and did a three other 6 mile runs during the week so I put the effort in. From on eating standpoint, I did rather well most of the week except for Friday night and Saturday when we were at a reunion, but I didn't eat 6 lbs extra of calories. Just have to chalk it up to a weird week and hopefully it will come right back off.

Speaking of reunions, one of the benefits of losing weight is the compliments that you get when people haven't seen you for a while. To be honest, I have enjoyed it, but I also realize that the time will come that the praise will stop and I will have to stay motivated for more personal reasons. I need to keep that in mind. I need to enjoy how much better I feel, how much more I am able to do now and to never forget how hard it was when I weighed to much. One of the downfalls of having a weight loss goals is when you reach it, you need to have long term goals and a plan to achieve them. If not, it is too easy to fall back into bad habits. I know one guy who made a deal with his wife that if he last X amount of pounds that he could get an iPad. He now has his iPad and some of his lbs have started creeping back on. I know another who had a heart attack and needed to lose weight, so that scared him into to doing it, he did the HCG diet, lost a bunch of weight and it is now creeping back on. It is one of my biggest fears is that I will let up once I reach my goal. I really do want to stay healthy! I need to face the fact that this will need to be a life long habit of eating right and exercising. I'm going to do it! I've got to do it! Let's keep encouraging each other!

Shout outs to Bill and Andy who ran the Epic relay this weekend from Logan to Jackson Hole! I don't know if Bill and Andy are on the same team, but Bill's team took 2nd overall! Nice job!!!! I talked to Wayne who lives a bit west of me yesterday and found out that he has run 7 marathons!!!! Wow!!!! Phil keeps working out! Way to go Phil! Hang in there and I will too!

Timp!

2010-08-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 192.8
Weekly Loss: 0
To Go: 17.8
Total 132.2

After last week great loss, I am grateful to have broken even. It took a lot of work to break even, more than I had even planned on.

Last week, my daughter and here family was in town. We had a great time being with them and it was a good reminder of what is important in life! They had an early flight home on Saturday, so I decided to go on a hike after I dropped them off. Originally I planned on driving down to Boulder and hiking Calf Creek. But as I thought about it, it would take quite a bit of driving to get there and back and I thought I might as well spend the time hiking instead. I thought it would be fun to hike on the Timpanookee trail and see how it was, but by the time I got there at 7am on Saturday, the trail head was already full and people were parking clear up the road. I decided to hike on the Aspen Grove trail instead. I got there about 8 and got the last spot at that trail head. I made it to Emerald Lake about 11 and was hungry enough for lunch so I sat down behind the TERT shack and looked up and saw the shed at the top of Timp. I still felt like I had a lot of energy to make it up in spite of the steep climb up the Aspen Grove trail, so off I headed for the summit. I was still game when I made it to the saddle, so I called home and said I would be later than I thought getting home and up I went. It took me about 5 1/2 hours to make it to the top, but I did it! That makes two of my three summit goals. The only one left now is King's Peak next year. I still plan on hiking up the Timpanookee Trail in September. It will be interesting to see how it compares to the Aspen Grove trail. It is supposed to be easier. We'll see.

The last time I hiked Timp, I was much younger and it seems like it took me about 12 hours to complete. I remember getting cramps in my thighs as I hiked. Not this time! I felt pretty good in spite of it being steep. I made it in about 10 hours so I am happy with the time as well! By coincidence, my neighbor Bill H, ran to the top via the Timpanookee Trail in a little under 2 hours and made it back down in about an hour! Holy cow! I think those days have passed me by. It was all I could do to hike it let alone trail run! Great job Bill!

Great job to the rest of you as well! Hang in there and I will too!

Discouragement

2010-08-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 192.8
Weekly Loss: 2.2
To Go: 17.8
Total 132.2

As I listened to the radio this morning, the morning show host were talking about a story by the AP that stated if we keep talking about the dreaded double digit numbers in the economy, that it just might happen. The point being that consumer confidence in the economy in the factor if it does well or not. If we keep hearing that things are bad with the economy and it affects how we spend, then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy! I think the same is true of most everything in life.

I was a bit discouraged this weekend. I have really pushed it hard the past few weeks with scout camp, family in town and the usual ups and downs in life. Even the scale was not giving me good numbers. (Stress plays a part in weight loss.) It would have been easy to give in this weekend and not worried about what I was eating. Two things helped. Even though we were camping as a family on Friday night into Saturday, I still got up early and went on a hike. It was a tough climb up a beautiful trail and I got a great workout. After breakfast, we packed up and got home and I kept busy the rest of the day getting things put away and doing yard work, so by the end of the day, I had done a lot of work. Having things to do helped me not give up. Another thing that helped was Sunday was the first Sunday of the month and if you are LDS you know that means it's Fast Sunday where we don't eat for two meals and donate the money to help those in need. That in and of itself helps you see outside yourself, but another great benefit is to get out of the habit of eating whenever your body tells you to. It takes a bit of discipline to not drink when you get a little thirsty or stick something in your mouth because your body says it's time to eat. It helps me to see food from a different perspective. I find it a great time to pray for help to overcome problems that I have had with food. I still worry about how easy it would be to slip back into old harmful habits. I acknowledge that I have serious problems with food if I am not careful. I need help beyond my own at times and I find prayer is a great means to reach out for help. I have been blessed with His help many times! After a discouraging weekend where I just felt like I had lost ground, I woke up this morning, went on my usual Monday run. When I got back, I got on the scale for my weigh in and saw a weight loss that I haven't seen in quite while. 2.2 lbs for the week! I had to weigh twice before I would believe it! This was another reminder of how important it is to keep pushing through, even when you are discouraged. As the character, Rocky Balboa, told his kid, sometimes life is not how many times you can hit, but how many hits you can take and not give up! Great advice!

I need to be careful about getting enough sleep as well. When I get tired, it is much easier to let down my guard. I have been getting less than my goal of seven hours each night lately. I need to get back into some good sleep habits again. A good night's sleep is imperative to renewing your body and getting things back into balance each day. It is something that is sometimes not given enough attention when it comes to weight loss and overall health.

Great job again this week to my heroes and inspirations. Great job Todd and Bill. I don't know how you can put in such great mileage with such great times! You are both amazing. Keep up the great work! Gordon keeps up on his biking and puts in some great workouts. Troy impressed me with his ability to hike with me on Wednesday! I can tell he has been working out as well! Thanks for the fun time hiking and fishing! Lisa, Chris, Hillary - Thanks for encouraging me every week. I really appreciate the support! It has helped in ways that you will never understand. Lastly, thanks to Barbara for the listening ear! It is good to have someone to lean on as good as you! Hang in there and I will too!

50 Miles Later

2010-07-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 195.0
Weekly Loss: 0.4
To Go: 20.0
Total 130.0

Back from Scout Camp almost half a pound lighter than I started. I thought I might have lost a bit more, but the payoff of being able to hike 10 miles a day and complete the fifty miler with the Scouts was reward in and of itself. My feet took a bit of a beating even though. As most of you know, I have been hiking quite a bit in the past year, but not five back to back ten milers. Other than that, I feel pretty good and was even able to get back out this morning and run my usual 6.2 mile Monday route.

I do need to give a shout out to the scouts and Alan T. who went on the summer camp. The boys impressed me with getting up at 6am each day and heading out for another ten mile trek each day. They all struggled at one time or another, but none of them gave up or refused to go on. They inspired me and it left us all with a lifetime of memories of accomplishing something that was hard. They were all great!

When I started this journey over a year ago, I had no idea that I would be able to do what I am currently doing. I was hoping to take off the weight and get in better shape, but looking back, it is even hard for me to believe what I have been able to accomplish. I really do have to look heavenward and give thanks for the additional help I have received from the Lord and from a lot of you as well. I have felt nudged to do certain things. I have been lead to read and learn a lot about nutrition. I have been encouraged and strengthened when I have struggled from many of my friends who have followed either this blog, Facebook or on Daily Mile. Thanks again to all of you. I hope to be able to pay it forward as I go along.

Shout outs to all of you who are continuing to work hard! Gordon put together a good week of riding! Way to go! Bill and Andy put in 19 mile training runs and Todd continues to increase his distance and speed! Way to go guys! Phil is keeping at it to with impressive workouts. It will be fun to see how he has changed since I saw him last. Keep up the great work Phil! Hang in there and I will too!

10 Down - 20 to Go!

2010-07-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 195.4
Weekly Loss: 2.0
To Go: 20.4
Total 129.6

I guess I am celebrating a little early with a 10 lbs star, but it is so good to see 195 on the scales and I lost 2 lbs! Also, I won't be posting anything next week since I am headed out to summer camp with the Scouts early Monday. By the time we are done, we will have hiked 50 miles in the beautiful Uintahs. I should come back a little lighter with all of the hiking we are planning on doing and with a big smile on my face as well!

I didn't take a break from working out even though I ran a race last Monday. Since I usually run that distance on Monday anyway, I just kept up the routine. I am trying to get biking into my training, but I have been having lots of fun with my bike. Tuesday, I got a flat with no spare, pump or cell phone. Walking the bike back 3 1/2 miles was not what I had planned on, but I guess I still go a good workout in. Thursday I tried again. This time the stem broke on a brand new tube. I was prepared this time with a pump and a spare so after a repair stop, I was able to ride home this time. Hopefully this won't happen again. I have yet to have a blow out on my running shoes!

See you in two weeks with a brief trip report from a week of hiking! Bill and Todd continue to post great mileage each week. They are a great inspiration for me. Phil continues to amaze with his dedication to working out and eating right. The pounds are coming off my friend! Way to go! Gordon still looks great! Keep up the good work the rest of you. Hang in there and I will too!

10K!

2010-07-05T09:30:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 197.4
Weekly Loss: 1.0
To Go: 22.4
Total 127.6

We returned home from vacation late Wednesday night. Usually when I come back from vacation I have eaten way too much of the wrong thing. But as I posted last week, Rachel and Sarah made sure that I was well taken care of with lots and lots of healthy choices. Thanks again girls! Having lost a pound after being on vacation is a great success in deed!

I raced my first 10k at the Freedom Festival today. I was a little nervous going in just because it was my first race in a long time and I knew there would be a lot of people, but I got there in plenty of time and got lined up at the starting gate in a good place and took off with the several thousand other runners. It was a bit congested at first, but before long we all had more than enough space. I was glad I had my Garmin watch. It helped me keep my pace at a reasonable rate. I wanted to finish somewhere in the 60 - 70 minute range and my unofficial time was 65 minutes. I was cheered on along the parade route by people I knew mostly from work. It was fun. I got high fived several times as well. The last part of the race was uphill and my trail running paid off. I was able to maintain my pace even at the end and was able to pick it up when thing leveled off the last quarter mile or so. I was glad I ran it and would be willing to do it again. Thanks to Bill and Todd who have been encouraging me to enter the race and have given me great running support as well!

It's always good to have a goal to work towards. This 10K was a short term goal. Our scout summer camp where we will be hiking 50 miles during the week and also hiking Timp in September are still ahead! Set some goals and keep going! Hang in there and I will too!

Home Away From Home

2010-06-29T07:10:00.000-07:00

I am on vacation this week. I didn't pack my scales with me since I wasn't sure if it was on the TSA approved list for carry on. I will post my current stats next week.

We will head back tomorrow. We have had a great trip. I thought that I would have to fend for myself on the meals here at my daughters, but Rachel and Sarah came up with a great menu for the entire time! Vegetables, whole grains, fruit, healthy fats and proteins! It has been wonderful!!!! I don't know how I could have tailor made a better solution myself. Everyone has really enjoyed the healthy meals as well. I will have a whole new set of recipes in my arsenal when I get through. Thanks Sarah and Rachel! i can't thank you both enough!

I have exercised every day that I normally would, plus we have been active most days sight seeing and hiking. It has been a lot of fun. I have had fun running around with my grandsons as well!! There is no way I could have done even half of this a year ago. The biggest challenge has been dealing with the humidity! Yesterday when I finished up my run, I was stretching when my son-in-law came up and asked if I had got caught in the rain. Nope just 110% humidity!

Just some encouragement to us all. Even when you are away from home on vacation, work or whatever the reason, if you will think things out before you go, you can have a great time and still keep up your fitness goals. You will feel better while you are gone and have no regrets when you get back! Hang in there and I will too!

Celebrate successes

2010-06-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 198.4
Weekly Loss: 0.2
To Go: 23.4
Total 126.6

I'm a little disappointed in the loss this week. Last Wednesday, when I weighed in, I was at 195 so I thought this week would be a decent. Wednesday for some reason is my lowest weigh-in day so it isn't unusual to go back up just a bit. Just not this much! Having expressed my minor disappointment, brings me to me topic of the week: Celebrate successes!

I have a few things to celebrate this week. I took the scouts in our troop out on an overnighter. We had fun, worked on advancements and had a great campfire! The scouts surprised me when I only had to ask them once at 6am to get up to go on a hike. They got the camp broke down, we had breakfast and then headed to Stewart Falls. None of them had been there before. I really enjoyed the hike. I couldn't believe how much easier it was for me and it was fun to see the boys see the falls for the first time. It was indeed a celebration for me! I was able to come home after dropping the scouts off and spent the rest of the day working in the yard. That would have been impossible a year ago. Hiking to Stewart Falls would have taken it all out of me, but I had plenty left in the tank after this hike! Another success to celebrate. This morning was another celebration as I ran my fasted Monday run of the year and felt great most of the way. I have been training to get a bit faster and it paid off! Yet another celebration! Yesterday, one of my daughters in her Father's Day card said how proud she was of me that I had lost all of that weight. She is one that I want to inspire. She is working on eating better all the time! A huge success to celebrate! I rewarded myself last week by signing up for the Freedom Festival 10K. In the past this would have been a punishment, but I am really looking forward to running in my first race in many years and my longest race ever! Hope to see some of you either running one of the races or along the parade route.

Shout outs to all those who ran Ragnar/Wasatch Back this weekend. What an impressive run. Bill and Andy's team three-peated their division this year and came in 7th overall. Matt N., Todd and Ellie A, Leslie and Roger K also ran. Great job to you all! Maybe one day for me too! Thanks for all the support you all give me! Keep up the great work everyone. Hang in there and I will too!

Get Real

2010-06-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 198.6
Weekly Loss: -0.4
To Go: 23.6
Total 126.4

Had a small gain this week. I think I know what the problem is and more importantly how to fix it. I have been struggling with keeping track of my calorie intake. I found a program called Calorie Counter for my phone and it syncs up online. Just from breakfast this morning, I found out that I was eating too much of a good thing! By just measuring what I ate and tracking the calories, I figured I saved myself about 200 calories. I was way off in estimating this particular breakfast! That adds up quick even if you do exercise a lot. I will let you know (or you will see in next weeks weight loss) how it goes. Other than that, I had a great week. My back, though still a bit tender, is doing a lot better. I am careful in how I run and make sure I stretch the particular muscles that are giving me grief and that helps a lot. I had a great trail run on Friday and a great hike on Saturday. I took my trekking poles with me on Friday to give my back a break. I thought I wouldn't like having them, but it made the run fun! It was like a combination of skiing and running. My back felt good after as well. My hike on Saturday, was a 10 miler and I enjoyed it as well. I missed out getting wet in the rain as my timing was perfect in between storms.

One point of motivation is being realistic. Today's weigh-in has a couple of reality checks in it. Even though we may want to lose 10 lbs a month or run a half-marathon or what ever motivates you, there are going to be stretches when it is hard to stay on course. You might get sick and not able to work out as much as you would like. Perhaps you hit a plateau and are not on track to lose that 2 lbs you had hoped for this week. These things are going to happen. The biggest obstacle to overcome is discouragement. Hope for the best, but be prepared for the worst! Don't fall back into to bad habits because you are discouraged, fight through the obstacle and find a way up, over, around or through! Forward is the direction that you want to be headed. Choose feeling better, being more healthy. Take a deep breath and look back over the ground you've covered up to this point. I have learned that from my hiking. I will be tired from a long, steep climb, but if I take half a second and look back, I will be amazed at how far I have come! Catch your breath and move on. You can do it!

Keep up the great work everyone. Phil keeps pushing his exercise and eating right and is seeing great success in losing weight. Bill H and Todd A ran some great mileage this last week. Todd also had a great race! Hope the rest of you are having great success as well! Hang in there and I will too!

Sugar Roller Coaster

2010-06-07T09:23:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 198.2
Weekly Loss: 1.2
To Go: 23.2
Total 126.8

I was happy to see a weight loss again this morning. I worked really hard this week, but the scale was all over the place. I am dealing with a slight injury as well. Usually when I have back problems, it is my lower back, but this time it's my upper back right around the shoulder blade areas. If I don't concentrate on my posture when I run, it gets really sore by the time I am done, especially on a longer run. My daughter who is a massage therapist said that the muscles up there are quite tight. She showed me a few stretches I can do and an exercise that will help. She also gets a much awaited chance to work her old man over tonight! I'll try to remember to let you now how that goes.

I thought I would briefly talk about a principle that I believe is crucial in weight loss. I have mentioned this several times before but it bares repeating. Last October I was on a very restricted calorie diet. Maybe not the best way to approach weight loss, but it was better than gastric bypass in my opinion. Why? I was eating small portions of healthy food. No refined sugars at all. The first week was a killer as I felt those sugar cravings appear as "almost" headaches. The brain was used to getting the instant hit of sugar and it wanted more. For me it was like coming off a drug addiction! This may sound extreme, but I really believe that there is some addictive quality to sugar. I am no expert in the field, but from the amateur research that I have done, I have read how after you eat sugar, it hits the blood stream. The body needs to compensate for it by releasing insulin. In a relatively short period of time, your blood sugar level goes down and before long, you need another hit to get your blood sugar level up. The brain itself, as an organ, runs off this and when the blood sugar gets low, it lets you know it. The fix is simple, but the first week or so is hard. Limit simple sugars as much as you can! It will make all the difference in the world once you get past the initial craving. Does this mean no sweets at all? No way! Just get them as nature provides them. Fruits are great! The contain fiber and nutrition that you need. It takes the body a bit to break them down and so the release into your blood stream is at a more manageable rate. White bread and pasta has had a lot of fiber refined out of them as well and so they can have a similar effect on blood sugar as well. That is one reason that whole grains are so much better for you. That extra fiber and bran also contains important nutrients as well as slowing the digestive process. Get off sugar for two weeks and you will notice a big difference! It will cut your craving down a lot! Your chances for weight loss have increased dramatically as well!

Keep up the great work everyone. Bill H still amazes me with his running abilities! Todd A keeps making great progress coming off an injury. Phil gets the Mr. Persistence award for hanging in there. Nan gets a nod for her great support of Phil! Lisa H. 5K!!!! Great job. Jean W. - Wow a 5K for you too! Thanks to the rest of you for your constant support, encouragement and inspiration! Hang in there and I will too!

Back to the Future

2010-06-01T08:15:00.001-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 199.4
Weekly Loss: 3.6
To Go: 24.4
Total 125.6

I gave a sneak preview last week on FB about my being below 200 lbs. I have reached the point where my weight bounces around a lot so I would have been happy just to have stayed at that point. That's what happened! I did see 198 on one weigh in, but I often bottom out mid-week so I wasn't sure how things would come in. After last week's mini-gain this was good news!

Sorry about not posting yesterday. We were gone for the holiday weekend and for some reason forgot to take my scale with me for the Monday morning weigh-in. :) Things went well. I planned in advance and took both the right food and my exercise gear so I was good to go. I was able to get a good hike in on Saturday and a run in yesterday! Both went well and I had fun.

Last week, I posted several things that have helped me lose weight and get fit in the process. I would like to focus in on one of the most important ones: Forget the past and forgiving yourself. Thinking about this, I think I would modify this to Remember the past and forgive yourself. The past is filled with both regrets and accomplishments. The past can help motivate us in both areas. I was not happy where my past actions had gotten me to the point where I was in such dire straits. I was 325 lbs (I actually had been 330 at one point!), I was ducking out on things I normally like to do, because it was too hard for me physically. I was unable to do several things that used to be easy. I felt physically terrible a lot of the times and would use food to help me feel better (short term fix, long term consequences).

On the other hand, I had had many fun and rewarding experiences in the past when I was in good shape (and not so good shape!). I have hiked many great areas in this beautiful state of ours and have many lasting memories hiking with friends and family. It has been a great sense of motivation to be able to have more of these experiences and it has already happened. Scott and Gordon have contributed to those growing good memories! And now the scouts and Corey are adding to them as well. I want this to continue for a good long time. I am also adding to my pile of good memories of finding that I am able to do far more than I ever thought I could in the last year. I actually am enjoying trail running along with the regular road runs. I didn't know the journey could be so great!

One more use of remembering the past is what I still need to do. I am going to create a little poster that says "Choose this, not that!" (You've probably seen the book), and put a before and after picture of me and put it up in several strategic places, (like the fridge), to remind me of how I used to feel and how I now feel. I could have done this with two pictures in the past using both good and bad to help motivate me as well, but now I am getting close, I really do want to stay here!

This brings me to forgiving yourself. What has happened has happened. No sense beating yourself up. Find a way to let it out. If you can talk to someone, tell them. If you like to write, pour your heart out in a letter to yourself. Let out those negative feelings quit talking negative to yourself. You wouldn't talk the way to someone who needs your help the way you talk to yourself. Help yourself and tell yourself you can do it. Acknowledge the help you need beyond yourself. I found prayer worked miracles for me. The weight wasn't magically taken off, I had to work hard, but I found ways to accomplish what I wanted to do and needed support in hard times though prayer. Talking to Barbara about what I was going through helped a lot too.

Thanks for all the great motivating support on Facebook and DailyMile. Both have been really helpful to me. Shout outs to Todd A who continues to improve after an injury slowed him down. Bill H. didn't let a sore knee slow him down. Phil continues to crank in the workouts and dropping pounds! Way to go Phil! Gordon has kept the weight off in spite of a difficult change in his work schedule. Keep it up bro! Andy J. - thanks for all the great advice! Hang in there and I will too!

Motivation

2010-05-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 203
Weekly Loss: -0.8
To Go: 28
Total 122.0

After a great loss last week, I would have been happy with a small weight loss, but it turns out that I gained a little. My first time since last November. Am I disappointed? Yes. Am I discouraged? Not at all. Here's why. I still feel great! I didn't gain weight by eating the wrong things. I still ate very healthy the whole week. I was also encouraged by a Friday night overnight backpacking trip with the Scouts. I carried probably the heaviest pack I have ever carried up some steep climbs. (The Scoutmaster's pack tends to be the heaviest pack). It was hard, but I made it with energy to spare. Not only was I able to set up my tent and make sure that everyone else was doing ok, we headed out for another hike after dinner and I had fun doing it. (So did the scouts!) As I hefted that pack on at home, I got on the scale and realized that with the pack on I weighed as much as I did last November! I sure am glad I am not carrying two packs around anymore. I don't want to go back to that!

I had a question on my ping box that I wasn't around to answer, so I thought I would answer it here.

Hey Bruce:
... I have to ask if there was one thing, something that jump started you to get healthy?

That's a great question! I would have to say that there was not one thing but actually several things that helped me get off my dime, start and stick on this journey. Here is a list of things that helped. I will just briefly describe each one this week and then make each a separate discussion point over the next few weeks.

1) Others – Having someone to talk through issues that you have really helps. Confide in someone who accepts you where you are now and yet will support you in your struggle. It helps to talk it out.
2) Inspiration - Find sources of inspiration. Talk to others who are where you would like to be. Tell them what you are trying to accomplish. I have picked up great training suggestions from my neighbors who run long distances. Shows like Biggest Loser also help inspire me.
3) Accountability – Wanting to make the change enough, to hold yourself accountable. This one is big and I have talked about it before. Get up the courage to go public with your problem. Find a forum and report on a regular basis. I used Facebook and a Blog for my accountability. The great side effect is all the support you end up getting.
4) Goals – Find something that you would like to do but have not been able to because of your weight or your health. For me my three peak challenge. I really want to accomplish this goal and am having fun trying to reach it.
5) Small steps and milestones. Realize that this won't come all at once. Just start where you are and try to do just a little bit more each time. I was Barely able to hike up Dry Canyon a quarter of a mile when I started on my Saturday hikes. By adding a bit on each week, I can now do 10+ miles in our foothills (and really enjoy it!)
6) Looking beyond the finish line. Think about what you are going to do after you reach your goal. As you progress, you will begin to see what is working for you, and what is improving your health. You need to keep doing these things for the rest of your life. You don't want to go back to where you were! Make life-time changes along the way!
7) Marshmallow– Giving up something now for something you want later! How does the saying go? "Eating never feels as good as thin does."
8) Celebrate successes. As those inches and pounds come off celebrate the success. Just don't do it with food. A new shirt, a fun night out at the movies with friends or family. Do something that you wanted to do, but couldn't because of your weight.
9) Be realistic. Be tough. Don’t give up!
10) Get off the sugar roller-coaster! – For me it was a killer (almost literally). Simple, refined sugars are dangerous. (I'm not kidding!) You don't have to avoid sweetness, just get it from unprocessed fruits (apples as opposed to apple juice).
11) Get rid of the past. Don’t look back. What ever caused you to get to where you are, it is time to forgive yourself, move on and do what you know needs to be done. Do it today!

Thanks to all the inspiration you give me. Great job Phil! Keep up the great work. The lbs are coming off. Great job, Bill H., Todd A., Andy J. and Jeremy T, out neighborhood runners who are an inspiration! Thanks Joanne J. for cheering me up and on Monday mornings. Thanks Gordon and Scott R for being great hiking buddies. MusicMom, you can do this! Hang in there and I will too!

10K - 10 Pounds

2010-05-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 202.2
Weekly Loss: 4.4
To Go: 27.2
Total 122.8

A great week all around! I had a good weight loss this week. I have been struggling to drop lately, so it was nice to see a good number! I also got another 10 lbs star. I have less than 30 pounds of that 150 total left to lose. Plus the 200 lbs goal is in sight! That will be a great milestone as well.

I enjoyed my workouts this week. Last Wednesday, I made it all the way to the Dry Canyon parking lot from home! Hard but rewarding. My Saturday hike with Scott and Gordon was fun! Scott went most of the way with us as we went from the Water Tower road, up and over to Dry Canyon and then across the face of Big Baldy! Gordon and I went a little further and ended up logging about 11 miles total. Lastly my run this morning was my fastest pace since I started and I covered a 10K distance in the process which is the furthest I've run since I started back up.

Shout outs to Bill H who decided to run the Ogden Marathon 2 days before it started. He felt so good that he when he finished he went back on the course and did a total of 30 miles! Wow!!!!!!! On our hike Saturday, we ran into one of Gordon's biking buddies, Steve W. who tore his Achilles tendon a while back. His doctor gave him the go ahead to ride his bike on the road, but knowing that Steve loves to hit the dirt told him he could do it if he left his boot on. So we saw Steve heading up the trail on his bike and wearing his boot! He was the first up the road! That's dedication! Great job Scott in hanging in there with us on the hikes. You get better every week! Todd A. is back training again despite having an injury that slowed him for a bit. Way to be patient Todd! Way to cross-train as well! Lisa H. thanks for your support! Hang in there everyone and I will too!

One Year Later.

2010-05-10T07:54:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 206.6
Weekly Loss: 0
To Go: 31.6
Total 118.4

Tomorrow marks one year since I began my goal to lose 150 lbs. I think it's a great time to reflect on the past year. This will help me to stay committed to my goal as I look back and see how far I have come. Here is a snippet of my first blog entry:

I have been thinking lately about what I have done in the past that have been successful. One of these has been accountability. I plan to use this space to come clean of where I am at, what my goals are and give a regular report of my progress. My main goal is to help me reach my goal, but a hoped for side effect is to motivate others to reach their goals, not just weight loss, but other areas that you have dreamed of doing, but for one reason or another have left undone.

That being said, here is my initial attempt of being accountable to myself and to those who might want to follow along.

Baseline (this is a hard thing to admit to, but is part of the accountability)
5/11/2009 - Weight - 325 lbs, Exercise - Very little other than doing what needs to be done around the yard.
Goals - 1) Ending weight - 175 lbs. 2) Lose at least 2 lbs a week. Total weight loss - 150 lbs. 3) Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.

I am so glad that I had the courage to be accountable. It was so hard for me to post that first blog, but I sure am glad I did! I am also glad I stuck to my commitment to report weekly on my progress. It made a big difference. I can't tell you how grateful I am for all of the support I have received in positive feedback. Some have been consistent week after week in urging me on. Thanks to you all!

So, even though I am not at 175 yet (and I didn't think I would be at this point), I am close to losing 120 lbs. I have been able to lose more than 2 lbs a month, 2 1/4 lbs average), and do well over an hour of exercise 6 days a week. Even though I have a little over 30 lbs more to go, I feel great! I am looking forward to how much better I will feel as I lose the last 30. I have been slowed down a bit the last month or so, but I am going to keep at it and make it!

I think the most dramatic thing I can do though is show you some pictures from the last year. It wasn't until Christmas or so that I can tell a big difference. I am glad I didn't get discouraged and give up.

Once again thanks for all the encouragement! Not done yet and I am excited and motivated to keep going. My last two workouts, I felt really good. Kind of a payoff for all the hard work! Shout outs to Bill who puts in amazing mileage every week! Todd, way to not give up in spite of an injury. Great job to the rest of you are keeping up on your workouts! Hang in there and I will too!

One Half

2010-05-03T07:44:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 206.6
Weekly Loss: 1.8
To Go: 31.6
Total 118.4

The weight loss is being more consistent the past couple of weeks. Even though it has slowed a bit, losing about 2 lbs a week is a good way to go. I am getting close to another 10 lbs star and should hit that in the next week or so. I'm hoping for next week since it will be one year since I started.

Great workout week. My daughter Sarah and her husband Mike have been training for a half-marathon. Rachel had planned on running with them as well, but her doctor advised her not to run that far of a distance while she is on the nest. I told Sarah that I would hike at least that far before they ran their half-marathon. I was able to do that a while back, but as the time of their race approached, I decided to do a personal half-marathon myself. I haven't been specifically training for a half-marathon and I knew I couldn't run the whole way, but I have been jogging over five miles on my weekday runs. I thought that I could walk for a half mile and jog for a half mile the whole time. So that was my plan. I took off at 6am our time to coincide with the 8am start time in Columbus. My calves complained a bit, but I started off from the house and worked my way up to the canyon and headed up the trail. I turned back around after 6.55 miles and was spot on by the time I got back home. My plan worked out well. I was aiming for somewhere around three hours and got finished at about 3:10, tired but happy. Sarah and Mike did well and I am proud of them for all of their hard training to be able to finish.

Another shout out to Mike and Sarah! Woohoo!!!! You did it! A shout out to Rachel, who ran the first mile with Sarah and then caught her with 2 miles to go and finished out with her! Way to be supportive Rachel! Bill H. ran the Provo half marathon and then pushed on for several more miles!!!! WOW! Todd A. has picked up the training as has David W. Great job guys!!!!! Phil and Nan, WAY TO TRAIN!!!!!! Phil is making remarkable progress since he held himself accountable. Keep it up Phil, you are doing great! I suspect Hillary is doing something too, she looks like she has lost weight! To the rest of you who are working out, keep it up!!!! Hang in there and I will too!

Big Baldy!

2010-04-26T09:34:00.001-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 208.4
Weekly Loss: 2.0
To Go: 33.4
Total 116.6

Finally had a decent weight loss this week. I decided to take a different approach on counting my calories. I basically just took my goal calorie intake for the day and divided it by five. The five comes from three meals and two snacks. I took a bit from the snacks and added them onto the meals. I then just focused on the individual meal and made sure I didn't go over for that meal. I didn't have to keep track of what I was consuming through out the day. Instead I just focused on the meal at hand. A little change in mentality, but it seemed to help.

I had a great visit from my Woodbadge buddy, Phil, and his wife on Friday. Phil has had a bit of a struggle with his weight and wanted to know some specifics on what I had done. It was good to see him and to meet his wife. I'm glad he came because it helped keep me motivated as well! Thanks Phil! You can do this too!

Saturday my brother, Gordon, hooked up with Scott and I for a hike up Big Baldy. We knew we would run into snow and mud, but we wanted to see how far we could get. After a bit of slogging and steep climbing in the snow, we made it to the saddle. I have been there a few times and with the summit within reach, Gordon and I were ready to take the challenge. There were two younger guys who caught up with us and had the same goal. To that point, we had followed the trail and footsteps in the snow, but no one had been up the the summit since it had snowed last week. Scott started with us, but he knew it wouldn't be a good idea to keep going for him so he headed back down. Gordon and I blazed the trail part of the way and then the two younger guys passed us and blazed the rest of the way for us. That really helped. Before we knew it, we were up on top. I sure was happy to make it to the top of the first of three peaks that I had for my hiking goals. Timp is next later this year. I can guarantee that Timp will not be a snow hike! I am crazy, but not quite that for gone yet!

Saturday, I plan on doing a self-guided half marathon. Sarah and Mike will be running in the Columbus, Ohio 1/2 marathon. They take off at 8am EDT, so I will leave my house at 6 AM MDT and start out for the canyon. I am sure they will finish way before I do, but it will be fun to do the distance at the same time they do. I plan on walking most of my distance Good luck Sarah and Mike. Rachel, I think you made a good decision not to do it this time. There will be other opportunities for you and you still gained a lot from your training which will help you in the future! Hang in there and I will too!

Here are a couple of pictures from the hike:

Scott and Gordon closing in on the saddle.

Me and my brother at the summit.

Snow along the summit ridge.

Squaw Peak

2010-04-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 210.4
Weekly Loss: 0.2
To Go: 35.4
Total 114.6

Not my best week ever, but I still lost a little. I think there are a couple of factors on my slow-down. First, I'm not sure if it's allergies or a three week cold (I tend to think allergies though). I haven't been achy and stuff, but I sure have had a froggy throat and stuffy nose that I have been dealing with. The reason I think it's allergies is that while we were down in AZ, the symptoms went away. Still I have been dragging a bit. Second, I haven't been getting 7-8 hours of sleep on a regular basis and that can have an adverse effect as well. Third, I haven't been logging my calories for a while. Even though I am eating healthy, I might be creeping up on my intake. I started back up today logging what I am eating. Fourth, I had to shorten a couple of my workouts due to early morning commitments. I just need to make sure that I get up early enough to do my full work out.

I have had some great successes in the workout area though. Saturday's hike was great! I went up Rock Canyon. I didn't have a definite plan on what the hike would be. I played it by ear. There is a split in the trail about a mile or so up where the trail to Squaw Peak heads off to the left. I had run into some snow up to this point, but nothing too bad. I headed up the trail and ran into snow fairly quickly, but others had blazed a trail so I followed along for a while. I just kept climbing and climbing until finally, I was at the top! I was pleasantly surprised! I gave a little fist pump having made it to the top of a place I'd always wanted to hike, but never had. I loved the view. I could also see Baldy, my first of three summits, that I have in my sites. It didn't look all that much higher that the elevation of Squaw Peak. I took some pictures with my cell phone. They turned out pretty good considering. Hope you don't mind a few.

You can see how much snow there still was. Cascade in the background.

Another angle with Timp in the background. If you know what you are looking for, you can see Baldy as well.

Sarah, Mike and Rachel are still training for the 1/2 marathon. Great job! Less than two weeks and they will be running it. Bill H. ran a half and then continued on and did about 20 total! Amazing! Great job to the rest of you who are working out and eating right. It pays! Hang in there and I will too!

A Change of Pace

2010-04-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 210.6
Weekly Loss: 0.6
To Go: 35.6
Total 114.4

Going on vacation, even for a few days like we did, can cause havoc with your weight-loss goals. Fortunately I had a lot of support. If you can go on vacation and still have a modest weight loss, then I consider that a victory. We headed down for a couple day visit to Coolidge, AZ with our daughter Hillary and her family. We had a great time! I did make sure that I got up early on our travel day and went for a 4+ miler before we headed out. I also got in a 2+ miler and a 10 miler hike as well when I was down there. It sure was nice to be outside in the warm weather. It just whetted my appetite even more for the warm weather to finally settle in up here. It was good to have a change of pace as well. It helps you to regroup. Hillary was good to have lots of healthy food for me to eat while we were there so I wasn't faced with difficult choices.

Sarah and Mike did a 12+ mile run on Saturday. They are just a few weeks away from their half-marathon. Rachel put in about 8 miles. Scott put in a hike on his own up Dry Canyon and did well on that. Bill continues to put in the killer miles and Andy is getting back into long-distance running by doing 8 miles as well. Great job to you all who put in the miles/workouts this week. Hang in there and I will to!

Double Y!

2010-04-05T08:59:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 211.2
Weekly Loss: 1.4
To Go: 36.2
Total 113.8

The way the week started off, it looked like I was going to have a killer week. By Wednesday morning I was down to 210.2 However my body found out what was going on and decided not to cooperate any further. I climbed up to 214 before things settled down and I started losing again. Part of the ups and downs (literally) of weighing every day. I still stand by opinion that daily weighing for me is the best way to go. I need the constant feedback and don't need to guess where I will end up by the end of the week. It also keeps me in closer touch on how what I am doing on a daily basis effects my weight.

My Easter basket was quite different this year. The bunny brought me a DVD and that was it. There was not one piece of candy. I wouldn't have even been tempted to eat it if there was. I had just a small portion of most everything that everyone had made. I was really aware of what I was putting on my plate this year. I didn't feel deprived at all and was glad I didn't overeat. Sugar and loads of fat just don't appeal that much to me anymore. (Did I just say that!?!)

I had another great hike on Saturday. As in the past several hikes my friend Scott joined on for part of the fun. Together we hiked the 'Y' and then headed over to Slate Canyon and back. He needed to head back home, so I hiked the 'Y' one more time and made it to the top with only stopping once to talk to some guys that were hiking it as well. I can't believe how much different it was to hike this! When I have done this in the past, I have had to stop what seemed like countless times. I never made it past the trail to the bottom of the Y and would be exhausted by the time I got back to the lot. Doing it twice seems like a miracle to me! I even put in some additional mileage by hiking over to Rock Canyon and back for a total of 11 miles. Not as far as the last two weeks, but considering how steep the Y trail is, I expended a lot of energy for sure.

Mike and Sarah did an 11 mile run on Saturday. I think Rachel was going to do it as well from her place. Great job! They will be running their half-marathon on May 1st! Keep up the great work everyone. If something is holding you back, recommit yourselves and keep moving and eating right. It's worth it! Hang in there and I will too!

Triple Play

2010-03-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 212.6
Weekly Loss: 3.2
To Go: 37.6
Total 112.4

Another great week! I was able to pass the three milestones I referred to last week. First, I got another 10 lbs star! I passed from the BMI obese category to overweight! And lastly I am 75% to my weight-loss goal! Yippee!!!!!!

I am really happy with my workout this week as well. This mornings run I went just a bit further and was able to job the 5.3 miles without walking (except for warm-up and cool-down) and I jogged about .2 miles an hour quicker. I also enjoyed my Saturday hike putting in another 14.17 miles. Here are the details if you are interested.

Thanks for all the support! Sarah and Rachel posted another great run this weekend and are both on track for the half marathon in about a month. Great job to both of you! Bill continues to put in his killer miles! He is amazing! Great job to the rest of you and your work-out efforts. Hang in there and I will too!

Makeup Day

2010-03-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats
Current: 215.8
Weekly Loss: 4.6
To Go: 40.8
Total 109.2

This week was a payback week for last week's no loss report. I was afraid that I might be hitting a plateau (and who knows when that might happen). But much to my surprise when I got on the scales this morning, I saw a number which made me do a little fist pump! I am getting close to several milestones. At 215, I get another 10 lbs star. At 214, I drop from the obese classification to over-weight on the BMI charts (BMI is a bit controversial) and at 213, I will be at 75% of my weight loss goal of 175! These are all good and should happen in the next few weeks.

I also had a great workout week. I really enjoyed using my Garmin to chart my progress this week. I did my usual 5+ mile outings last Monday and Wednesday. On Saturday, I was planning on doing 12 miles, but by the time I got home, I had walked 14.2 miles! I was a bit tired, but I wasn't dead tired so that was great! My friend from work, Scott, joined in for 7.25 miles and he was surprised by his progress as well. We did Dry Canyon up to the snow at the Curly Springs trail and then headed back down and hiked from the Bonneville Shoreline trail from Dry Canyon over to Battle Creek. This is where we put in more miles than we expected, but it was a fun trail and we got in a great workout as well. After we got back to Dry Canyon, he headed home and I hiked over to Orem and back home.

Great job Sarah, Mike and Rachel for putting in the miles this last week. I told Sarah that I would complete at least 13.1 miles before they did their half-marathon on May 1st. I ended up accomplishing that a little earlier than I thought! Kudos to the rest of you who are keeping at it. Hang in there and I will too!

Even Steven

2010-03-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

Weekly Stats Current: 220.4
Weekly Loss: 0
To Go: 45.4
Total 104.6

It's been since mid November since I haven't reported a loss. I guess I was due for a week like this. I am not as discouraged as I was a couple of weeks ago because I had some great success in the workout area. I was also down 2.2 lbs mid-week, but things came back up for some reason. I think I will see a good loss next week.

Why am I so happy about the workouts? I had several great ones. Thanks to Rachel's comment on the blog last week, I looked into getting a gps tracker. It didn't take long to find that people love the Garmin ForeRunner 305. It isn't the latest model, but it still gets great reviews. After using it for a few workouts I can see why. It has been great to see how far I have gone and to also keep track of my heart rate, speed, elevation and lots of other stuff.

Saturday, Scott, from work, and I went up Dry Canyon as far as we could. I took off from my house and found out that it is three miles from the front door to the mouth of the canyon. Scott met me there and we headed up the canyon. We didn't run into much snow until we hit the Curly Springs trail. Since the visible snow level on Baldy is above the trail, I thought that the trail might be good, but much to our surprise the trail still had at least a couple of feet of snow. We hiked along the trail on top of the snow. Much to our surprise, we didn't break through the snow much due to being considerably lighter. We were going to go all the way across to the Battle Creek lookout, but it was quite slow going so we decided to try again after a couple of weeks warmer weather. We headed back down and it was actually pretty fun walking down the snow trail letting our heels sink in just a bit in the snow. We got down quite quickly. We were both amazed at how much easier it was to hike. I probably could have made it to the Curly Springs trail without stopping, but we stopped a few times just for fun on the way up. I am probably 80 lbs lighter than I was when we last went up.

I told Scott goodbye at the parking lot and then I headed south on the Bonneville Shoreline trail over to the water tower road. I wanted to get in a few more miles, so I headed up the road. Once on top where it flattens out, the road got really muddy. I had a choice to go back down the road, but then I saw Timpanogos Park down below and several bike trails leading down so I headed down there and navigated down to the park and then headed down the Provo River Trail and back home. By the time I was done, I had put in eleven miles. Even though it started raining, I was plenty warm and just happy that I could put in the miles that I wanted to.

This morning, I took my usual Riverwoods loop and I was able to jog most of the way. Looking at my heart rate from last Friday's workout, I could see that I was maxing myself out, so today, I concentrated on slowing it down a little and it helped me to jog longer. As I drop more weight and I get used to the extra jogging time, the speed will come naturally. I went 5.4 miles and was quite happy with the outcome.

A shout out to Rachel, who last week reached her marriage weight after 2 1/2 years of working towards it. WOW!!!!! Great job!!!!!! Bill continues to impress me with his mileage week after week! Keep up the great work everyone! Hang in there and I will too!