Food=Energy

This past week I started a new training program/job. After 18 months of being completely unscheduled, I was thrown into 13 hour days. Talk about shell-shock!

It's not like I didn't plan and prepare for the schedule change. I took out my calendar and figured in when I would work out around my daily commitments. Everything seemed to be in place.... except for one important thing.

Food.

I woke up at 6 am every day this past week. However, I only made it out of my apartment for a workout once! That one time, I didn't hit snooze and I didn't eat breakfast, and I was out of energy 15 min into the run. The other 4 days, I hit snooze too many times and convinced myself I would workout when I returned home at 8 pm. Of course I didn't factor in that my last meal will have been at noon, and by 8 pm I would be starving and wouldn't have enough energy to run. So I ate as soon as I got home, and promptly fell asleep. Rinse repeat.

So what did I learn this week? It's imperative that I schedule meal times as well as workout times. Or else I end up like I did on Saturday. I showed up for the 8 mile training run with T2EA not ready to run 8 miles. By mile 3, I knew I was in trouble. By mile 6, my legs were yelling fatigue and I was out of energy. Everything seemed labored. I ate the energy chews I should have eaten 3 miles prior, but I was still ready to walk. But my running partner suggested we just walk more frequently and not stop running. What a great idea.... I should have thought of that.

It worked. I finished 8 miles, a tough 8 miles and vowed to do whatever it takes this week to schedule my meals, and get in those maintenance runs.

Insatiable

Calories! My body is craving calories! It's like my body woke up a couple days ago, and it's starving. It seems like the swimming makes me hungrier than running ever did. Yesterday was a perfect example. The only time I wasn't hungry, was the 5 min following each meal. I woke up at 7, ate a large bowl of mini-wheats at 8. By 1030 I was starving and ate a roast beef sandwich. I pushed off eating until 3, when I ate a bowl of chicken curry soup. I finished the evening with an italian sub at 7. I came home 2 hours later and I was still hungry. How am I supposed to lose weight, if I replace all of the calories I burn?

This morning I wasn't sure what to do for food. I wanted to run before school, so I set my alarm for 6, expecting to be out the door by 615. This left me trying to decide whether or not I should eat before the run. For my long runs, I give myself extra time to factor in food and bowels. But, not this morning. I ended up going out the door without food. Needless to say, the energy wasn't there for my run and I had trouble getting through the 30 minutes. Argh!

Hopefully I'll get this eating thing figured out soon. But until then, I'd keep an eye on your small dogs.... mmmmmm.

Running for a Better Life

I guess I better get this blog going now that T2EA Marathon training has officially begun. I will also be swimming/biking and running the Chicago Triathlon, but I'll write more about that in a later blog.

First, I'd like to share something very personal with you. Not too long ago, my 55 yr old uncle, Dr. David Yanase, passed his physical with a clean bill of health. Then just a couple weekends ago, he was feeling tired and decided to go for a run as he often did. Unfortunately, he didn't return home from that run. While running, he suffered a heart attack and died. The autopsy indicated he had 100% blockage in his artery. There were no indications that he had any heart problems. 

For me, this is further reinforcement that when it's your time to go it's your time to go and there's nothing you can do to stop it. With this in mind, I've thought about why it is so important to me to train for a marathon and the triathlon. I train for fitness, not because I care about prolonging my life, but because I want to be able to live every day to the fullest with the most energy, comfort and strength possible.

In addition, no matter what your beliefs are about life after death, the fact is, we are all here for a limited time. This is why I try and do/see/experience as much as possible. I don't want to be laid up in a nursing home thinking about the things I wish I had done, or places I wish I had seen but can't anymore. I also don't want to lay there thinking wishing I had done more to make life more enjoyable, or better for other people. But, one thing I hadn't really thought about, was the thing my uncle did best. He made sure that every person in his life knew his love for them. He left nothing unsaid.

So while I was pushing myself to run my timed 3 miler a little faster on Saturday, I thought about my uncle. I don't know how far he planned to run, or how fast he ran, or even his route, but I know he died running. Note to self: don't think of sad things while running. Getting choked up, doesn't help your breathing. So I quickly dismissed these thoughts, and instead thought of how this was the beginning of my journey towards improving my fitness for all the reasons I listed above. 

I checked my blog from last year and found out I completed the 3 mile run with about a 13:00 min pace. This year, I finished with a little less than a 12:00 min pace. I'm still not breaking any land speed records, but Hot Damn! I'm proud of myself. So, I'll keep on running, biking and swimming.... and I think it's time to cut back on the french fries and save my arteries.

Schwinnnnnn! Part deux

In progress

Complete

Schwinn update:

I was surprised at how quickly this went. I took everything off the bike to soak and scrub the gunk off of every little part. As I removed the rear derailleur I began to wonder if I would be able to figure out how the chain went back on. This is also about the time that I realized I hadn't been keeping track of the parts as they were coming off the bike. I sifted through the bowl of parts and couldn't recall how they all fit together. 

Solution: forget about it. I took a photo for nostalgia and hopped on my other bike to go to the bike shop for parts. Although the bike shop is only about a mile down the road, riding into a strong wind on semi-flat tires made for a slow ride. You may be wondering why I would ride on semi-flat tires rather than go to the gas station one block from my apartment. The answer is pure economics. I'm not paying 75 cents for air when the bike shop has free air. 

At the bike shop I picked up new brake and gear cables, two new tubes and tires, handlebar wrap and a bike map. Armed with parts, I made the much easier ride home on fully inflated tires with the wind at my back. 

Once home, I cranked up the oldies on the CD player and decided to tackle the monster. It took a little while, but after looking at a few photos online and making a few extraneous phone calls, I found a place for every part. This morning I finished adjusting the gears, tightened the brakes, and wrapped the handlebars, just in time to take it for a 3 mile ride downtown to meet a friend for brunch. 

Within the first block of travel I began to wish I wasn't already running 15 minutes late. I also wished I had double checked the brakes and properly adjusted the seat height. Instead, I made do with what I had: a seat that was too high, and brakes that barely worked. Thankfully I made it there and back in one piece. When I got home, I did the right thing. I hung the bike up and thought to myself, "Aw.. forget about it." 

Schwinnnnnn!

I don't have much to report on the running front right now. I'm basically just trying to get in the habit of running on a regular basis again. In the meantime however, with the weather predicted to reach into the 70s today, it's time to start thinking about biking. Over the off-season my parents shipped me my old Schwinn 10-speed.

My best estimate is that I bought the bike brand new, during my freshman year of high school, in 1989. Although I probably rode it consistently for a couple years, for the past 2 decades it's pretty much been hanging in a garage. So now it's time to overhaul this heavy metal beast and get it on the road.

I completely pulled apart my mountain bike last summer, and barring any bent metal pieces, or major complications, this 10-speed should probably be a little more straight forward. To be on the safe side, I'm thinking it could use new gear and break cables, new tubes/tires and, for my gripping pleasure,  new handlebar wrap.

The ultimate goal here is to have a bike that is a lot easier to ride in the city than my mountain bike, and to have a bike to ride in the Chicago Tri. 1) I don't think it matters how heavy the frame is, because I'm pretty sure it has to be better than riding the fat tired mountain bike on city streets. 2) It's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a tri-bike... besides, who can turn down nostalgia?

Shamrock Shuffle 2010

For those of you who were lucky enough to be in Chicago last week, the weather was outstanding. Weather like that is the reason Chicagoans put up with the brutally cold winter.

Friday afternoon as I walked down Navy Pier to pick-up my race packet, I had to remove my fleece because it was so warm that I was actually beginning to sweat. So, it seemed to be a practical joke when I received the 'Yellow Alert' from the race officials about the weather. But sure enough, Saturday it snowed and by race time the temps were hanging out in the low 30s. Unbelievable.

Luckily, the Shamrock Shuffle was run with nearly 25,000 of my closest friends. This meant that despite the chilly walk to the start, that there was enough body heat in the start corral to keep us warm. And by the time 9:20 rolled around I was warmed up and ready to run.

Much of the race was run on parts of the Chicago Marathon course, and turned out to be a great way to preview the route. Running the streets of Chicago turned out to be a lot different than running the mostly smooth and flat lakefront path. Never before had I noticed the steepness of the bridges. And the ability to see the roughed up patches of pavement from a runners viewpoint definitely provided a different perspective on how challenging this course may turn out to be.

Surviving potholes and dodging puddles I managed to careen myself up the last bridge to the finish line. Once again, I didn't break any speed records, but I did finish almost exactly on my training pace of 13:45 min/mile. As it turns out, 8k is just enough beyond 5k that I had no interest in attempting to run it straight through. So I stuck with my standard 3:1 run:walk ratio and just enjoyed the day.

And enjoy I did. After finding my way out of the giant crowd of finishers, I jumped on the train and headed straight for my favorite Bloody Mary establishment. Rocks in Lakeview. Now that's a good start to Spring.

What the Phở!

Running season is once again upon us. There is no magical date that marks the beginning of this running season, just magical events.

16 Feb - I was online and ready to register for the 8k Shamrock Shuffle, but decided to wait until my roommate got home to make sure we both registered. 4 hours later, registration for the Shamrock Shuffle Closed.

23 Feb - Team 2 End AIDS - My Britney Spears Moment - I received a call last week from last year's marathon coach, and he had a 'Deal' for me. If I signed up to run the Chicago Marathon right then and there, they would waive the $100 registration fee. What a DEAL! Truthfully, I was already planning to run the Chicago Marathon. However, I was still trying to decide if I would run it with TFKATAMTPNKAT2EA (the Team Formerly Known As The AIDS Marathon Training Program Now Known As Team 2 End AIDS.) The fundraising commitment is worrisome since last year I didn't meet my fundraising goal and this year I can't afford not to meet it. But the benefits of running for a cause and running with a great training group and program seem to outweigh my financial concerns. I signed up. (Oops I did it again!)

1 Mar - I get a call that my roommate and I have both received free entry into the Shamrock Shuffle from Team 2 End AIDS - Running Season Begins!

To mark the beginning of running season, Amanda and I took a 2.5 mile run up to Tank Noodle where we celebrated with a round of water and a couple orders of Phở. Running season has officially begun!