In the world of Geekdom, I am not the biggest you will find. There are some, like my co-worker Covert, who is infinitely a bigger geek but that’s also part of his job. I like my gadgets that tell me my running heart rate and speed. I like my Nano with my upteen playlists so I can listen to my music at a moments notice. There are more things that qualify me as a techno geek but these give you the general idea. It is this geekdom that will help me get to a slimmer me.

In a very short time, as my previous post suggests, I have gotten out of shape more so than I should have allowed it. So I’m doing something extreme. I’m setting a goal to coincide with my completing my second marathon. By the time I complete my second marathon I will have lost 30lbs. That means I am going to train for the marathon and lose 30lbs in 3 months.

Now to help myself I have established some rules. I am splitting up the effort into 3 different phases. The starting phase, the keep it going phase, and at last the run for the gold phase. Knowing that the starting phase is always the most difficult I have added some additional motivational incentives.
First: I will not shave until I have lost 5 lbs. Why is this incentive, because if it takes longer than a week I’ll go crazy with the itch.
Second: I will not get my haircut until I have lost 10lbs. This is even more incentive because except for the time I shaved my head I haven’t gone longer than 4 weeks for my haircut and every day I do I get crazier and crazier.
The other rules I have created to help are that unless I work out for a minimum of one hour a day there are no alcoholic beverages and no deserts. (even then I don’t want them that much anyways)
For the duration of the diet I will:
Record every day’s food in my sparkpages
Log my workouts here in my blog
Balance my workouts so I don’t get burned out
Include my family in 3 workouts a week
Have one long run a week
Have one speed/hills run a week for 30 minutes
Drink 8 glasses of water a day
Limit Caffeine to Morning and one post lunch
Limit meals to one helping
Lift Weights 2 Days a week
Swim 3 Days a week
Spin 1 - 2 Classes a week
Soda is only acceptable as an alternative for Alcohol.

There will be more added to this as time goes on as I refine my processes.

So how does my geekdom get me through this? By how it will help me keep track of what I’m working through. Today I ran for 30 minutes and did my 30 minutes of exercise. I consumed 1694 calories, 120 Carbs, 60G Fat, and 82G of Protein.

It’s been 2 full weeks since the marathon. I’ve taken my break, my feet have healed, and my body is starting to put on my winter fat. It’s been 6 weeks since the baby was born so now we can take him to the gym as well.

Tomorrow I’m going for a short 4 slow mile run. I’m going to be working on my speed and my timings. I’m going to put together my workout for the next 4 months and what I’m going to do to be even better prepared for the next marathon. Including losing 25lbs.

Susan and I will be going to beautiful Tybee Island off the cost of Savannah for the February Marathon there. Her dream and my goal.

Dead Celebrity 5K

Yesterday I completed my first marathon. It was considerably harder than I ever expected. With work projects, having a baby, and being sick most of last week including yesterday it was a physical and mental challenge. Going into yesterday I had devised a plan. Frequency of water vs. Gatorade, gel packs, music layout for the course, mental things to think about to take my mind off the race. Here’s how it turned out.

Mile 1 - 3 - Easy going kept my heart rate going and kept it at a nice even pace. Music play order is not right. Not sure what happened.
Mile 4 - 5 - Started walking through the water stops as planned. Tried alternating gatorade and water but they keep switching which one’s first. So took a half glass of each. At mile 5 had my first gel pack.
Mile 6 - 8 - Grabbed a bunch of gel packs at mile 7 and had my amino vital supplement at 8. Start of the Bryden Rd. hill. It’s a long slow hill. I take a sudafed strip to try and clear my head and chest a little.
Mile 9 - 10 - Kept a good pace. Fallen behind my pace because of the hill at 8. Kept my heart rate in range as planned. Should be seeing Susan soon.
Mile 10.5 - There’s Susan taking pictures. It is so nice to see someone you love during this event.
Mile 11 - 13 - Along high street up to Nationwide blvd. I’m doing ok but my heart is pounding. I’m taking walking breaks every half mile now.
Mile 14 - 16 - We’re on high street headed towards Dodridge through campus. The pack has really thinned out now. I’m running around some other people that seem to be struggling as much as I am. At mile 16 my legs quit running. One of the other runners from Team in Training gave me two of her extra gel packs to help me out. My hands are starting to swell up.
Mile 17 - 18.5 - My heart rate is through the roof so I’m tempering my run so I only run to 175BPM then I walk until it’s back down to 155BPM. It works out to about 2 - 3 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking.
Mile 18.5 - 20 - My legs siezed up with cramps in my calf, quads, and hamstring muscles. I almost fell over. I refused to quit. I walked at a 15 minute pace for the next mile and half and then started back to my routine. I’ve stopped drinking gatorade and just water. I’m pumping my hands constantly trying to get the swelling down. One more sudafed strip.
Mile 21 - 25.75 - I’m just keeping my interval. I’m so exhausted I can barely walk. My heart rate now climbs so I’m only running for 2 minutes and walking for 2 minutes. All I can think of is stopping. There’s a group of Team in Training runners that I’ve been going back and forth with that are struggling too. At mile 22 I passed 2 guys wearing bathrobes that walked the event. There’s no way I’m letting them come even close to finishing behind me.
Mile 25.75 - 26.2 - It’s only 1/2 mile. I just have to put one foot in front of the other. No matter how much my chest hurts because I can’t get any air in. My heart feels like it’s going to burst and my legs have are only responding my mental urges to continue. Up Down. Up Down. I can do this. I see friends waiting for me. I hear voices and realize that I only have 100 yards to go. I cross the finish line and struggle to move. Suddenly my Susan is there helping me stand and I finished.

Every muscle in my body aches from my neck to bottom of my feet. I can barely put one foot in front of the other. My knees, quads, back, everything just hurts so much. I wish I had done better but considering the circumstances I know finishing was my goal. Had I more time, less big events going on, yesterday would have been a better day. Now more than anything I know what needs to be done for January.

Powell 5K Roast & Toast