Look out…here I come!
Yup, it’s been a hot minute since my last post. Let’s get this thing started again! Once again the WHBOP has begun another marching season. We had our first away game last Friday (tough 27-6 loss to Station Camp) and have our first home game tomorrow vs. Greenbrier (nothing like a little Friday Night Lights on a Thursday). Stay tuned for more!
Planks…
One thing I never had was a strong core. I could do a few sit-ups, but not more than a dozen or so at a time.
Part of the work-out at Main Street Strength and Conditioning is ab work. This is where I learned about planking. Doing a 30 second plank seemed like torture, but after reading about the benefits of having a strong core and how planks are an excellent exercise to build a strong core, I decided to start working on my plank.
First I started out small with 30 second planks. I would do this daily and then looked for opportunities like commercial breaks while watching TV to do a plank. I was slowly moving to multiple minute planks!
Then during one of the ab workouts at Main Street Strength and Conditioning, we had a plank hold contest. I lasted just over 9 minutes! That put me on the quest for a 10 minute plank which lead to a 15, 20 and ultimately I did a 30 minute plank!
I now routinely do 10 minute planks after my morning walks and on Saturdays I will do anywhere from a 15 to 25 minute plank (every once in awhile I will do 30 minutes, but that’s a long time to be planking and the weekends are short). And to think I used to struggle to do just 30 seconds.
See what you can do. Find your current limit and build on it and before you know it you’ll be doing 10 minute planks without breaking a sweat! Then for some fun you can throw in leg lifts, side planks, arm raises and shoulder taps.
Get off the couch and start planking today!
Weight loss is still going great!
It’s been some time since I’ve last posted, but I want to let everyone know that the weight loss is still going great! I have been able to maintain the 150 pounds I have lost and feel awesome!
I plan on being more active here as I’m constantly asked how I lost all my weight. Let me tell you a secret (and it’s really simple)…
It’s what your doctor always tells you to do, change your diet and exercise!
Yes, that’s the secret. While it seems simple, it can be pretty tough at times. The reason being, once you’re used to eating whatever and whenever you want…it’s hard to change that habit.
I am here to tell you though, IT CAN BE DONE! You just need to start slow, set reasonable goals and stick to it. When you slip from time to time (and you will, as I did…and still do), just remember that tomorrow is a new day. Forgive yourself, regain your focus and get back on the road to weight loss!
Push-ups…
So Ronnie over at Main Street Strength And Conditioning told me to try to add some exercises to my morning walk every quarter mile. He mentioned adding burpees, push-ups, mountain climbers, pull-ups, etc.
I decided to start doing push-ups. So every quarter mile or so I drop and push ’em out. I started low doing 10 at a time ending up with 100 at the end of my walk. Then on my longer walks (Monday and Wednesday) I would end up with 125 push-ups completed.
This started a little over a month ago. Since then I am up to 175 push-ups on my long walks and 140-50 on my shorter walks. I make sure to do a few sets uphill and a few downhill. I have noticed a difference in my arms, shoulders and chest in regards to muscle growth, which has been nice. I have also noticed an improvement in my core and legs. This nice side-effect has helped during my ab workouts on the nights I get to the gym.
Every now and then I will throw in a set of burpees. I may try some mountain climbers as well, but the push-ups and burpees have been treating me well so I plan on sticking to them.
Finally back at the gym!
So tonight was my first day back at the gym since my knee surgery. It was good to see Ronnie and crew at Main Street Strength and Conditioning again. If you’re looking for a great place to have some group or one-on-one training, come on down for one of the classes. You can try it out for a week for free and they currently have a Groupon going on for 10 classes at $39. Can’t beat that with a kettle bell!
I took things easy and even swapped out a few of the jumping exercises as I didn’t want to put any undo pressure on my knee. I forgot how tough the ab work was and my abs were screaming at the end. I’ll be there twice a week on Mondays, Tuesdays or Thursdays at 6:30 PM so come on down if you can!
Rehab is done, first post-surgery “walk” in the books…
While the knee isn’t 100%, I have to say it does feel a lot better and gets stronger every day. I finished my rehab and have been getting out in the morning and walking. I also hop on the bike from time to time, but there aren’t any really good paths around and too many young, distracted drivers out so mainly I stick to walking.
I had one run slated prior to my surgery that I had already paid for which was the Nashvillle Fourth of July 5K/10K. I was signed up for the 10K and wasn’t sure if I was going to just do the 5K and be done or do the full 10K. When I checked in I asked what the course time limit was for the 10K and they told me 90 minutes. OK I thought, that’s a 15 minute a mile pace, I should be able to walk that.
The weather was nice and cool this 4th of July and my knee was feeling good. The race started and it really sucked “walking” while I was seeing everyone else running. I logged the first mile just around 15 minutes so I figured I might be able to pull off a 90 minute 10K.
Prior to the surgery I was hoping to be around 55 minutes for this race, now I was praying to finish within the course time limit. I hit the 5K mark at 47 minutes and figured what the heck, I kept going and tried to pick up my pace. For the majority of the race I was in last place, but at the 5 mile mark I caught up with the group ahead of me and for a bit wasn’t actually in last place. Then in the final stretch those “walkers” jogged it in and passed me up…all but one. That made me the 2nd to last finisher!
Finishing a 10K in 1 hour and 34 minutes wasn’t what I had in mind but it did feel good knowing I didn’t quit at 5K and actually finished the entire course! Now looking ahead to next year’s Country Music Marathon, the course limit for the 1/2 marathon is 4 hours…hmmmmmm. I have a lot of walking to do until then and I’ll have to see how things go this fall with the walking. I plan on getting back to the group at Main Street Strength and Conditioning this upcoming week so hopefully that will strengthen up the knee even more.
While I could probably start running again, I really am not looking for my next knee surgery which is a full replacement. The knee feels good now and there’s no reason to “rush” any unnecessary wear. There are few other races this month that I’m going to consider going out for as there still is nothing like lining up with a bunch of other runners and hitting the pavement. I doubt I’ll ever get a mud run in, but that 4 hour 1/2 marathon sounds tempting!
Oh, I’ve still been able to maintain the weight loss and have actually met my final weight goal of 220! I’m at 215 and down to a size 38 pants. That’s a weight loss of 135 pounds, 5 pants sizes, 4 shirt sizes, 1 shoe size and two ring sizes! At my lowest in high school, the smallest waist I ever had was 40! I just spent a week up in Ohio for work and it was interesting seeing how many “hellos” it took some of my co-workers to realize who I was. I also got to get out to Cedar Point for the first time in about 10 years and I was able to ride some rides that I had never been able to because I was too big. Let me say, Top Thrill Dragster is a rush!
Country Music Marathon
Today was the 15th annual Country Music Marathon. Big ups to Scott Wietecha of Hendersonville, TN for winning the marathon once again. He was a few minutes slower than last year’s 2:22 finish (finished at 2:25:51 today) but this was a new course. I had the chance to see him run in a 5K earlier in the year which he finished in just over 15 minutes. You can follow his running blog here, http://runwietecha.blogspot.com.
Once again I was part of Team TobyMac and I was registered to run my first 1/2 marathon. Unfortunately I ran into an issue during a run earlier in the month. I was out during a run and noticed a sharp pain on the outside of my knee three miles in. I had this pain before earlier in the year and was able to run through it, not this time. I tried to walk back home but ended up having to call for a pick-up. Definitely a first!
I took a few days off and picked up a foam roller thinking it was an IT band issue. Rolling my IT band did provide some relief. I went to the gym after being off running for a few days and it was feeling good. I even picked up a new pair of running shoes and found out that I was now a size smaller. I figured my body was telling me that I was in the wrong shoes, needed to do some more stretching and that I would feel fine if I were to ease back into it. I did a quick run the next morning and only noticed some minor discomfort near the end.
Since the marathon was a few weeks away and I had a 10K coming up I started checking the forums over at the running group I joined (Nashville Striders) to see which doctor(s) they were recommending to runners in my situation. I kept reading about a Dr. Johnson over at Elite Sports Medicine so I tried to get an appointment with him. I ended seeing their knee specialist, Dr. Price and he put my knee through some tests and we went away with a steroid shot since everything else tested out fine. We lined up some PT to work on strengthening my hip/leg and we would take it from there.
I was still going to try the 10K I had coming up since I had a friend coming in from out of town who was going to run in it as well. It was during my next gym session though a day later that the pain came back. We had a station where it was a down and back run in the parking lot and while it was supposed to have been a sprint I was just going to jog it. I got twenty feet into it and had the pain once again. It reminded me of the pain I had during an injury in wrestling practice back in high school. I ended tearing my meniscus then and had surgery on this same knee.
I ended up going in for an MRI and while the results were negative for any ACL/MCL tears, I did some straining of the ACL. Prognosis was another meniscus tear so with just over a week before my first 1/2 marathon I was scheduled to have knee surgery. The surgery was this past Wednesday and it went very well. I ended up having whatever was left of my meniscus cleaned up and while the doc was in there he found some torn cartilage that was also cleaned up.
I’m now on my road to recovery and my running future doesn’t look very bright. I go back in for my post-surgery follow-up on Wednesday and I’ll get the skinny as to what the future of my knee holds (and most definitely a full replacement will be in my future, unfortunately sooner than expected). It was the Country Music Marathon that got me into running a year ago and thanks to Team TobyMac I became the runner I am today. I never thought I would have gone out and just ran. I never thought I would have signed up for the races I have run over this past year from numerous 5Ks to two 10Ks and even a 15K! I have lost over 100 pounds on this journey and for that I am grateful.
I never did get that 1/2 marathon completed and it’s likely I never will. I won’t be able to put that 13.1 sticker on the back of my car but I thank God he gave me the chance to change my life with the running I was able to get in. I was hoping I would have been able to start running with my girls this summer but I’ll just have to get them into earlier than I did. I’ll have to resort to lower impact training to get my exercises in and do my part in volunteering at area runs. Who knows, maybe I’ll try and walk a 1/2 marathon at some point!
While it was a year in the waiting, this weekend was a fun filled weekend none the less. I was able to get the family out to the team dinner last night followed by a wonderful concert from TobyMac! We did make it to LP Field today to cheer on the runners before the race and welcome them back afterwards to our post-race area. It was a blessing to have been there with everyone and maybe next year we’ll all walk the 5K as a family. As I look back it’s most definitely better that this happened prior to the race. I would have hated to have had this injury occur during the race and things do happen for a reason.
I did get many words of thanks from various team members for being such an encouragement to them with my journey this past year. That definitely helped with the sadness of realizing I wasn’t out there running. Seeing the first wave of runners take off on the television was not how I was imagining this morning happening during my training. Then when the 1/2 marathon runners were coming in around the 2:45 mark it was tough then as well since that was what I was striving for. Again, I am grateful for all that I have been able to accomplish and still being with the team was uplifting.
I will admit it sucks that many of the mornings I was out training this past year was during one of the coldest winters here in Nashville (I was looking forward to the warmer weather), but I just need to stay on track and focus on a new way of training. I still have my group over at Main Street Strength and Conditioning to look forward to getting back to and I’m sure Ronnie over there will be able to get me in a set of exercises to suit my needs just fine. I’m definitely not giving up. So I say thanks to those on Team TobyMac for inspiring me to do what I’ve done. I say thanks to those that supported me and donated to New Hope Academy. It truly is because of them and you that I’ve been able to accomplish all that I have this past year.
Thank you!
St. Patrick’s Day Kegs & Eggs 10K
Today I ran in my second 10K, the 3rd annual St. Patty’s Day Kegs & Eggs 5K/10K with proceeds going to the Special Olympics of Nashville. Last year was my first 10K and at the time my longest run; boy was I shocked during that run! This time it was a different story as I managed things a lot better.
This was an afternoon race and wasn’t as bad as I was expecting (sometimes it’s nice to get these knocked out first thing in the morning). The weather wasn’t the best as it was in the 40s with winds and rain! Luckily the rain was mostly a drizzle during the race so it wasn’t that bad but those winds were nasty and almost took my hat off a few times (need to remember to tighten it up a bit next time).
Last year I ran my first 10K in 1 hour and 6 minutes. This year I was looking to be at right around an hour. It started at Bar Louie in The Gulch so I was expecting some hills and the hills were there! We hit Charlotte Avenue off of 11th Avenue South and went straight up towards the Capitol.
I was expecting to get around 10 minutes a mile and when I hit my first mile right at 9 minutes I was feeling good. Unfortunately this was a “run the course twice” 10K so as I was hitting the half-way point it was tempting to run fast with the 5K runners but knowing I had another 3.1 miles to go I kept things steady going into the “turn”.
I was right around 27 minutes at the half-way point so I knew the 1 hour goal was feasible (as I was really feeling good at this point). I then thought maybe I could get in around 56-57 minutes so that’s what I was going for.
The next time up the hill on Charlotte Avenue I did pretty good. I was actually able to pass some runners who seemed to have been caught up in the pace of the 5K finishers at the turn and I was able to stay in front of most of them. Looking at my mile times my first mile was the fastest at 9:01 (I was at 4 minutes at the 1/2 mile mark and decided to slow things down a bit). I then hit 9:18 and 9:23 for miles two and three. Then for the last three miles I was 9:41, 9:36 and then actually finished even faster at 9:23.
I probably could have finished faster than 9:23 on the last mile but with a half-mile to go my right shoe came untied and it was the shoe which had my timing chip on it. I didn’t really want to lose it and did my best to finish strong but yet keep my shoe on! Not sure if it was the fact that it was an afternoon race or just that I’m getting better at managing my miles but this was a good race.
My unofficial time was 57:44 and that’s 9 minutes faster than my previous 10K so I’ll take that! At the moment my next race isn’t until April 12th (another 10K) with the Music City Marathon on the 26th. I may fit another race in there, but we’ll see.
Run4Missions 5K
Today I ran my 3rd race of 2014, the Run4Missions 5K supporting the Community Church of Hendersonville, TN. The race took place at the Streets of Indian Lake and this is a fairly flat area so I went into it expecting to have a fast finish time.
I’ve been running at the 29-30 minute 5K mark so I was hoping to do a bit better, and a bit better I did. The high for the day was expected to be in the low 60’s. The temperature at race time though was only going to be in the upper 30’s, so it wasn’t going to be a warm race.
The race started at 8 AM and the weather was partly cloudy skies and 39 degrees. I started off feeling really good and was hoping to get the first mile in around 9 minutes. When my running app read off my first mile stats I was surprised to hear an 8:05 pace. Wow!
When I hit the 1.5 mile mark I was at an elapsed time of 12:11 and I was thinking maybe I could get a 26-27 minute time! The last mile though was a bit rough. I could feel myself slowing down but at the 2.5 mile mark I did my best to keep going at my current pace.
My second mile pace was 8:49 and my third mile pace was 8:52. I was a little more consistent those last two miles but that last half-plus mile was tough. My overall time (unofficially) was 27:16 and my fastest time yet. I was please with my time and afterwards I felt good.
I recovered pretty quickly once I was done but I need to work on my finishing pace. I recently signed up as a member of a local running group, Nashville Striders, so I’ll be sure to reach out to the members there and see what I can do to get myself finishing races a bit stronger (and maybe even a bit faster). Next up is the St. Patrick’s Day Kegs & Eggs 5K/10K Supporting Special Olympics Nashville a week from tomorrow. I’m signed up for the 10K and the race course is in the Gulch area of West Nashville and that means hills!