General Update

I have a few reports I really need to add. I've just been focused on other things. Work is keeping me busier, and I've been out of town quite a bit.

The travel has really had an impact on the weight loss.  I really haven't gone backward except for my trip to Georgia. I just can't eat mom's cooking and not gain weight. The other two trips, one to help at Nueces 50 and the other to visit my daughter, just really kept me from progressing.  Still, I'm down about 21 pounds total this year. And I'm determined to start the downward trend again.

During my trip to Georgia, I managed to get in a nice little 5K race. It was by far the slowest one I've run since I started running again 11 years ago.  Still, I was happy with my effort, and I'm thinking I need to try another one soon.

More later.

Back on the Green Belt with Weight Update

So far, the diet has been going very well.  I'm not super strict; however, I do stick to plan most days.  I've also become much better at getting in regular exercise even adding some weight training to my normal cardio workouts.  Overall, I'm now down 17 pounds from my start weight.  A bigger issue for me though is that I'm feeling much better.  That would show during the run.

This week I finally made it back out to the trail at the Barton Creek Green Belt.  I work only a couple of miles from the Hill of Life so I really should be there more often, but I work from home so much that it isn't as much of an opportunity as I may seem. 

As I hit the trail, I wasn't really sure what to expect.  Would the knee hurt, would it turn out to be mostly a hike, would I cut it short, or would I actually be able to enjoy a slow run of 5 - 6 miles?  My initial goal was to explore some of the trails to the north and west of the Hill of Life.  I used to run a few of these, but lately things have been too routine.  After getting a bit turned around over there the last time I was out running here, I decided it would be beneficial to know these trails a little better and make the run a little more interesting.

To start, I will be taking this long route down the hill of life again. It was rocky, rolling, and twisty. In some places, the GPS track doesn't do it justice.  It also took about 2 miles of this twisty stuff to get to the creek near the bottom of the Hill of Life.

I then took the main trail down to almost Twin Falls before turning around.  I was allowing myself a short walk of 15 - 30 seconds every 5 minutes; however, I found myself skipping the walk a couple of times.  Run pace was very slow for me, but I'm just happy to be running again.  And while the final hike up the Hill of Life slow, I felt much stronger climbing it than I have in a long time. 

There was a little knee pain during the run, but none of it lingered after I was finished.  I believe the weight lifting may be helping in that area as well.  I think the time I've spent on the rowing machine has also helped.

Mostly, I believe carrying 17 fewer pounds made the run much more enjoyable than any run I've had lately.  I'll be limiting the runs quite a bit still and spend time rowing and cycling. I'm already looking forward to the next run.  It has been a while since they have been something to look forward to.
http://www.mapmyfitness.com/routes/fullscreen/69339334/

Week 1 Report

Overall, I am quite happy with the first week of my diet.  I lost 7 pounds in just over a week.  That is a bit faster than I want to lose; however, the first week is always the easiest.  It has been hard to stick to the diet most days, but in general I'm getting close to my targets.  Most importantly, I did not let a bad day derail my efforts. 

Exercise was really weak this week.  I got in a short run after work Thursday, but that was it for the week.  I will get rolling this week.

My Challenge for 2011

Well, this year is about losing weight.  I've managed to gain back every pound I have lost and am back to not being able to run due to all I'm carrying around with me.  So, here I go. 

Losing weight has always been tough for me.  I like to eat.  I stress eat.  I eat when depressed as well.  But this year I have a new job.  I like the people I work with.  And I can't wait to get back to where I can run with my friends again.  Slowly, I'm going to make progress.

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

Reruns and a Cat

OK, it has been forever since I've blogged anything.  It makes sense due to my lack of activity.  But lately the activity level is starting to increase a bit.

Running was down to very, very few miles. I used to log over 200 miles a month. Last month, I was happy to break 30.  As bad as it sounds, it was a great improvement over what I had been doing.  This month, the goal is 40 - 60.  Used to be a normal week.  So what got me running again?  That is where the cat comes in.

Even when I couldn't run, I loved riding the bikes.  I was happy either mountain or road. But after cracking both frames last year, I needed something new.  My answer: a Catrike. The bikes had started causing a little too much pain from the saddle. The best way to avoid that is a recumbent.  And while recumbent bicycles are great, the tricycles are so much more fun.  I ended up purchasing the Catrike Road and had a larger chain ring installed for better top-end speed.  I'm not really sure how much I'll use the big ring, but I doubt the smallest one it shipped with would have ever been used.

As the endurance on the trike has improved, I've felt like going out for a run more often. It still doesn't feel good, and I doubt I will ever return to the ultras, but I do see and feel improvements.  Three miles still feels like a long run.  Maybe I'm on the right path to change that now.

Another Bike Bites the Dust

At times when running is not going so well, whether from injury, stress, or boredom, I usually turn to my bikes for exercise.  Neither is a professional-level bike, but they are not Wal-mart junk either.  The road bike, a Motobecane Vent Noir, was bought around 2003 and has worked fairly well despite a few issues.  The biggest problem was the original wheels; however, Motobecane finally got tired of my nagging and replaced them with a better set.  Over the past few years, it has been very reliable.  It is aluminum with 105 derailleurs and a carbon fork.

Unfortunately, it has spent the past few months hanging in the garage since I found a crack in the head tube.  Motobecane will inspect it to see if it was a manufacturer defect and replace the frame if they find no evidence the bike has been wrecked or abused.  All I have to do is send them the entire bike and $40 to ship it back when they are finished.  Having already mailed them wheels several years ago, I know this is not going to be smooth.  Even if they do agree to send me a new frame, that is all I get, a frame.  I still have to have my components moved over to it.  For me, that probably means hiring professional help in addition to the shipping I will have already paid.  I would love to just get a new bike, but those are quite expensive.  My solution to the issue, ride the mountain bike instead.

Crack in top tube of the Kona Kikapu

The mountain bike has been bomb proof.  I bough it in 2005 to allow me to keep on the trails despite having to cut back on the running.  It is a 2004 Kona Kikapu.  Components are not the greatest, but I love the comfort of the full suspension. It has held up to some nasty abuse including a few wrecks and one unfortunate crash into a cactus.  Most of the miles on the bike have been on Brush Creek Regional Trail which is almost more suited for a road bike with all the concrete and crushed granite.  Still, I have gotten it out to the Barton Creek Green Belt, Rocky Hill Ranch, Walnut Creek, and Lake Georgetown for trails more suited to this type of bike.  On Saturday, I had spent a couple of hours out at Walnut Creek riding pretty hard.  Sunday I was cleaning it up for an easy ride down the sissy trail when I noticed that I had cracked this frame as well.  I even scraped off a bit of paint just to make sure, but it is clearly a crack in the top tube near the seat post.

Right now, I'm not sure what my plan is going to be.  Finding an inexpensive used frame is probably the best option.  Buying one new bike seemed to be expensive.  Two new bikes?  I don't think so.

I guess I'll go for a run.

As Setback, or Maybe Not

One of the things I have really missed in the time I have spent away from running is time on the trail with friends.  Seven years ago I was a regular on the HCTR Wednesday night runs from the Hill of Life.  I spent a couple of hours a week with a great group of runners.  Sometimes on Saturdays, we would spend many more hours together.  So on Sunday, I headed out to Bull Creek to join a group of runners for a no-drop run.  The no-drop part of that is important with as slow as I am moving lately, and yes I did test that by being the back of the pack.

I had a great time.  I caught up with a few old friends.  Met a couple of new ones. And put in some miles on a trail much rockier and hillier than I have tried to run in quite a while.  I also added a few extra miles hiking after the group run had wrapped up.  But while I enjoyed myself, my knees seemed to take issue with the rougher terrain.  In fact, the next day I was in quite a bit of pain.  This patellar tendinitis was the primary cause of my long absence from running.  Ice solved the immediate problem, but I was concerned that I may have set myself back with the effort.  Over the next few days, I rested, took an easy mountain bike ride instead of a run, and rested again. 

This morning, I was at Zilker Park before the sunrise to see if I could handle a few easy miles along the green belt.  My earlier plan had me pushing up to 12 miles this week, but that was now out.  I had handled runs of 8 and 10 miles recently.  Still, if I have tendinitis issues starting back up, pushing myself is a very bad idea. I somehow decided to try for about 7 miles and turn back early if pain became an issue.  There were a couple of times when I could feel some tightness under the knee, but overall I felt very good and had a comfortable run.  Twelve hours later, the knees still feel good.

I'm far from declaring victory, but things are not as bad as I had feared.  I'll still be taking it easy over the next couple of weeks, but I expect I'll be back out Sunday morning, running with friends.

Oh, and I did scare up a huge snake this morning on my run.  It was probably somewhere between 3 and 4 feet long, but it was about as big around as my arm.  I need to check the data from the Garmin to see if there is a change in the heart rate.  Normally I would not expect to, but I got way to close to this big boy before noticing he was there.  Battery in the iPhone was dead or I would have a picture.