Start the Running Process Tomorrow and Get the Run Bug Again

Finally! It is happening! Finally, I am getting motivation to start running. Not remembering the last time I ran, I had to go look at my apps to see. The last time was July 2015. I ran for approximately three weeks and then stopped. Not feeling like running since that time. It is time again to start running. Finally!

Plan is to get back into running. Starting out slowly using the Couch to 5K app. My plan, is to be able to run the Bow Tie Run which will take place in the fall. Starting now, I should have more than enough time to prepare and be in running form for that event. The plan is to run Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday each week. The Couch to 5K is a eight week process. The focus for this eight week process is to simply be able to run again. Not lose weight, although, that will hopefully happen as part of the process, but to be able to run again. Not be winded walking up the stairs in our house, but be able to do things that I was doing back in 2012 when I was running regularly (see Running Posts from my Blog).

Remembering back to running regularly, I recall how good it felt. How good it felt to run outside listening to music and feeling as though I was being productive. The best part was after a run outside, my dog Oliver would be so excited because he knew that part of my cool down process was to take him on a walk. He would get so excited when I was putting on my shoes because he knew what it meant and that he would be going on a walk.

The worst part is that I have been paying a gym fee each month for the past year and not been to the gym once. Starting the running will at least make me feel like that payment each month is not going to waste. Plus, I will not have any excuse to not run as I always have the gym as a backup in case of weather.


The worst thing I think I did previously was that I ran the same exact route every time I ran. The above being the route that I ran each time. I d not think that I got bored of the route, but I did get lazy and simply did not feel like running. Gradually during the past few months I have been telling myself that I am going to get back into running again and that time is now.

I am looking forward to running again and looking forward to taking my dog on regular walks again too.

Exerice Again... Gave it up for a while... back now.

Yes it is true. I gave up running for a few months. I finally started running again last week. I ran two days last week. I had intended to run three days last week, but only got in two. The first day was Tuesday and it was rough. I started the couch to 5K again from the beginning. I was sore Wednesday and Thursday. I ran again Thursday night for day two week one and felt much better. Tomorrow night will be the end of the first week and hopefully get on a three time a week running routine this week.

I figured what better way to get back into running than to start blogging about it again. It helps to motivate me into exercise. I know I need to do something with my eating too. I have not been making the best selection of snacks or desserts. A few weeks ago with I had three nights where I had ice cream each of those three nights. It was great, but yeah, that needs to stop.

So, this is hopefully one of many updates that I am back to running. I am going to try and post progress over the next few weeks with my progress. Instead of posting tweets or FaceBook updates when I finish a week, I plan to post on here with how my progress is going and how my jogging is progressing. Right now, I know I could not run a 5K without stopping. Hoepfully in about eight weeks, I will be able to run a 5K without any problem and post about it too.

Happy jogging and have a great summer!

BolderBoulder in Denver, CO

Headed to the finish line.

What a great event! We had such a great time running in this race. Seems like just yesterday, but it is already almost two months ago. The summer is winding down and I am in a slump with running. We will get to more of that later.

First of all, I would like to say I cannot believe it has been about two months since my last post. The last time I posted was about a week before we left for Colorado for this race. I had plans of posting on a regular basis through the summer months on my status with running, races, and of course summer. You can see how far I got with the posting part of that, but I have been happy with my running and races ... for the most part!

The last race I ran was the BolderBoulder in Colorado. Up until about July 3, I was running and exercising on a regular basis. I was running a minimum of three times a week and sometimes four times. I was doing a spin class three times a week. Since July 3, that came to a halt. Having holidays in the mix tend to cause issues with my exercise routine. Then, once the holiday is over, I lose the energy to keep it going. I did manage to get back to spin class twice this past week. No running since July 3. I do intend to start running again tomorrow. I am not planning on doing anything crazy, but just a nice easy two or three mile run.

Back to information about the race.... It was a beautiful Memorial Day weekend in Denver, Colorado. Brenda, Carrie, and I drove out to Colorado for the race. We met our friend, Javier, in Colorado. Javier and I ran the race while Brenda and Carrie walked. I did not have problems with race at all. I felt good throughout the run and it was exciting finishing the race running into Bolder football stadium.

Javier and I broke apart from one another about the two mile marker. I did manage to find him again at the finish line. I ran the race in 1:11:48.74. While I had only run a 10K one other time leading up to this race, I was hoping for a little bit faster. I trained using a Couch to 10K app which worked great... Taking a few breaks through the months leading up to the race, I did not account for enough time to finish the app and race time. So, I only had the one real 10K run leading up to race day. That first 10K I ran in about 1:09 and it was in my neighborhood. So, I was only a little disappointed with 1:11 for the race. I think a lot of that had to do with the number of people running. There were water stations at each mile marker which was great, but the number of people stopping to get water made it so that I had to walk into those areas to get water. Not that I was complaining though as I was winded and thirsty at those times, but it did slow me down a bit.

Overall, I was happy with the results and it was a race that I would definitely run again. We are talking about doing it again next year, but so far, we have not made reservations for hotels or gone beyond the talking point. If we are going to do it again next year, we need to book our hotel as they filled up fast!

Javi and I enjoying beer after the race.

The festivities following the race were a lot of fun too! Of course there was beer and there were all kinds of vendors. We picked up all kinds of swag and sampled all kinds of sports foods as well as delicious beer. One of the things we tried was a PowerBar. I had tried PowerBar years ago and did not care for it at all. Well, let me tell you they have come a long way in the R&D on nutrional bars. It was actually gummy type of things that PowerBar was providing as samples and they were so good! Much better than the "chocolate" bars I had so many years ago.

Being in Colorado is always fun! It is so beautiful out there and the weather is always great too. It was rather a quick trip as we went out on a Saturday and went back home on a Tuesday. Definitely worth the trip! I did manage to take some pictures while we were out there, but not a lot. We managed to get around to sample wine and beers while we were out there. A brewery that we went to two years ago when we were out there too was Upslope and we went back there again this year too. Good beer and I love their bar/brewery.

I am sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been thinking about making posts on some technology type of issues, but I am still pondering exactly what to post about those ideas. There are the Royals that I could post about too, so I might do that as a way to keep my site at least some what active.

Until my next post, have a great rest of the summer...

 

Eight Days out from First 10K

I look forward to running in Colorado in about a week for the annual BolderBoulder which takes place every year on Memorial Day. While I have been running and training for this event, I do not feel as though I am ready. I did have one of my best runs so far this year this past Thursday, but the others have not been great. Feeling lousy with breathing or following a run have all been part of the process. I am very excited to be running in Boulder, CO and to run in my first 10K.

The training and motivation has not been very strong at all this year. While I am putting in the effort to run at least three times a week, I have often times found myself having to talk myself into running. Tonight, we are having storms and so I would need to run inside, well, I made the excuse that I do not want to run as the power might go out. A new workout I have been doing is spin class. That is helping me to build endurance and push myself on days where I would normally not be doing anything at all. Still, I find that I am struggling as I go for runs.

We will arrive in Boulder on Saturday which will give us Saturday to get use to the altitude. I plan to do a light run on Sunday and then Monday is the big day for the race. I have not checked the weather yet, but I am hoping for nice weather for our run too.

My goal for this first 10K is to run the whole thing and not walk. I want to go at a moderate pace with it being somewhere in the neighborhood of 10:30 - 12:00 minute miles. I know that I often times am sucked into the start of a race and go very fast, but I know that I will not be able to maintain a 9 - 10 minute pace if I do that type of pace... especially in the altitude. So, I am hoping to target about a 11:30 minute pace and stick to it. If I can stick to that pace, I will finish the 10K in about one hour and eleven minutes. While this is a much slower pace than what I normally run for 5K's or even when I am out running in the neighborhood, I do not think I can maintain anything faster for this race.

The other part of the running is my diet. I have been very steady with my weight for the past year. This year, unlike last year, I have not cut out alcohol from my diet. This helped me lose weight the fastest and kept it off. I love the cold beer in the evening or following the mowing of the lawn, so I made the decision I would not cut out drinks. They taste good and gives me a reward following a workout or working in the yard.

I continue to use MyFitnessPal to track my calories and also my workouts. I have been using the site for the past three years. Great site! This site allows me to record my weight daily, weekly, or whenever you like. I was tracking it daily, but now it is randomly throughout the month. My weight stays right around 220. Yes, sometimes I dip down to 215 or go up as high as 225, but I usually fall right back down again to the 220 mark. That seems to be my constant.

I hope that following the race in Colorado, I will have another post. A post with additional pictures and of me smiling at the finish line with a respectable time. Until then, I hope you have a great spring and I do plan to post more over the summer.

 

Running Update for November... Updated in December

We are flying high over the United States on our way to Florida where we will spend one and half days before departing on our cruise. The plan for the cruise is to work out everyday. Treadmill, track, or running on the beach... Keep the running alive even while being on vacation.

My running the past month has been probably once or twice a week on average. With the days getting darker earlier and the cold starting to set in has led me back to running on our treadmill. I joined the gym at work, but have only been there once... That was only to check it out and see if I would like it. I need to get a new lock and figure out a routine for using the work gym. In the meantime, I have been running regularly on the old treadmill in the basement.

I really do not mind running on the treadmill. However, since I got my Garmin watch and like tracking miles and where I run, I miss not being outside to run. A few times when it has been nice, I have run outside. It is so easy to get cold running outside even when the temperatures have not been bad at all. Not having the right running clothes for winter has a lot to do about that problem.

The above three paragraphs were written while on our way to our cruise...  I never got back into finish up this draft blog posting and just came across it today.  So much for keeping the blogging going as I mentioned in my last post.  Instead of clearing this post, I decided I would go ahead and post it.

I did keep the exercise going during our vacation back in November.  I ran a couple times during our time in Florida and then while on the cruise ship.  Even though I ran, I gained a lot of weight.  With the vacation and holidays which includes a lot of eating, the battle of getting to my target weight is not working too well.

The running continued into December, but so did the eating.  I am basically back up to where I was a year ago when I started all of my exercise.  It still amazes me that when I take off a week or two from running that the next time I run I feel horrible.  It should be a lesson to myself not to take off because it is just like starting out new when I start running after a week or two off.

Until next time... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!