PE Lessons Finally Learned

This morning was a tough morning to get out of bed. I think a late night 2 nights ago and plenty of stress at work were weighing into my sleepiness. Anyway after two snooze buttons I got out of bed and found it was raining but if I was up I may as well go anyway, so I set off and found the rain a welcome companion.

I don't know if they taught this in any other PE classes but at my school they taught us that when you run you should breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth because it would be more efficient or some other garbage like that. Needless to say I sucked down as much air as I could when I ran because I was out of shape and I didn't care one bit about "in through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose out through the..." it was more a matter of opening my mouth as wide as I could and gulping it down just to survive and there never seemed to be enough oxygen (there is even less here in Utah than back home because of the altitude.) The down side to the rain is that it seemed to stimulate about a hundred trillion million bugs. So I am sure you can put 1 and 1 together, I ran through swarm of these things and lets just say I had my protein for the day, all 100% of it. So the real PE lesson is "In through the nose, out through the mouth so the bugs don't get in!" If my teachers had of been honest to begin with I would have believed them and run in that fashion. Who wants to swallow bugs, apparently not PE teachers.

Good run though and and I pushed myself to run with better form (after all, it is all for looks, right?) and to not take rests. On the same route a week or so ago I found that I had to stop about 3 times to walk (maybe even 4 but I don't remember,) today I stopped at the half way point then ran it home. I used different markers to run to and then keep going. I am not sure how long my body is going to keep believing the lies my brain is telling it..."oh, just run past that tree then walk for a bit." My brain is laughing at my body the whole way knowing it has not intention of stopping to walk.

Sea Biscuit

I had a great run this morning. I had forgotten how great the morning really is. I had a full moon with a reddish hue at about 6:15 and it flirted constantly with some clouds on the horizon. Then as the sun started rising there were some grey clouds a few miles away that were raining and they were highlighted by the peach light cast by the sun. All very romantic and way to sappy for this manly blog. (LOL)

I have discovered that I am a bit like Sea Biscuit. A couple of hundred yards ahead of me there was a lady running and all I wanted to do was run her down and pass her. I don't think it would have even mattered if she was in a wheel chair, in my head all I wanted to do was go past her. So I did, it was great motivation. Then I realized I did it on the bike ride on Saturday as well. This really is great motivation and highlighted the need to continually set goals. As soon as I passed her my goal disappeared and I wasn't quite prepared for it and I found my body stopped responding the way I wanted it to. It took more effort to run when I didn't have a focused goal. I guess the moral is that I need to plan ahead for when I meet my goals so there is another goal waiting.

Great Ride

My ride this morning was great. I left the house at about 7am and rode to meet Kyrk at his house. I learned very quickly that if the sun is not out and you are going down hill it is very cold. Kyrk was waiting with a spare pair of arm warmers (yeah I know that sounds like a sissy thing to wear but you need it), Kyrk then said "How does it feel to wear tights and arm warmers?" My manliness was taking a beating and I had only ridden a mile.

From here though I was very grateful for the girly arm warmers and will be investing in a pair at first chance. Gear is expensive though and I will blog about that a different day. So we got going and I was feeling pretty good about myself in the Lindon section of the ride (Lindon, UT) and then we reached the mouth of the Provo canyon and the winds just about blew me off the bike. It was a tough, stiff head wind and it didn't really let up the whole ride. I made it to Vivian Park in pretty comfortable fashion though and enjoyed it. I was a little apprehensive about continuing up South Fork as I knew it was all climbing but I said I was ok and pushed on. It was a a reasonable climb (for someone of my skill anyway, a purist will be laughing at my last comment) but I felt better than I id when I did Suncrest (Alpine to the top of the hill above Draper.) Toward the end of the climb I was starting to worry about my ride back and how I would handle it but I was forgetting 1 thing...ADRENALINE!

When we turned to come back down the hill it was awesome, I hit 40.8 miles an hour, not the fastest I have gone but there were a lot more turns and blind corners it was awesome and it gave me what I need for the whole return ride. We made it back to the mouth of the canyon in no time and from there we had a few hills but after doing South Fork there was nothing that would really challenge me. Don't get me wrong it was still effort but it was doable.

We went 34 miles, in 2 hours and 22 minutes, average was 14.7 and max was 40.8. It was an awesome ride.

Cute but dangerous

My 3 year old decided that it would be great to meet me at work and take me to lunch. I thought it was a very cute idea until I realized I was being used and manipulated by a 3 year old. She had no interest in quality time with dad, when asked where we should go she had her mind on one thing and one thing only... McDonalds! That was a killer for me. I tried to convince her that there were better places to go but how can a good healthy salad compare with a Fun Zone and chips and chicken nuggets and whatever else McDonalds sells. Needless to say we went to Mac'ers. The things we do for a cute face.

My only reprieve is that I am going on a good ride in the morning with a good friend that will psh m harder than I would push myself... thank heavens for friends.

Beautiful morning but...

I got up at the usual time (6:10) and started out and it wasn't long before I started to feel tight, particularly in calves. My body just did not want to respond this morning, the entire run was tough and I found that I needed to take a couple of short breaks to give my body a break.

Today was the first day I ran with an ipod and I am undecided about whether I like it or not. I find that when I run without it I use the sound of my feet and breathing to set a cadence to run to, when I didn't hear that today I struggled to get into a good rhythm.

I went 2.9 miles today.

Anyway it was a great morning for a run as there were storm clouds all around and the odd bit of lightning. Made for a good run despite my body.

Junk Food is Tough

So I have quickly discovered that there is a lot of junk food out there. When you are not consciously trying to avoid it you never realize how much you consume. In the last 2 days I have been bombarded with brownies, chips, pizza and the killer....soft drinks. I decided it would be near impossible and impractical to cut myself off so I am going for a moderation approach.

Anyway, I am getting into running and while I am only doing about 2.5 miles a day I am working on trying to be consistent and going greater distances without stopping or walking (granted it has only been 3 days.) Anyway the most important thing about this is that I am enjoying the exercise.

I am looking forward to a longer bike ride on Saturday, it will only be about 33 miles but I really love getting the bike out. I have a friend that has recommended "Crossfit" I'll check it out later.

My Attempt

I really want to run a triathlon and so in an effort to do that I have decided to document the attempt to get into shape and do it. I have been riding my bike for about a month now, I love my bike, but I need to do more. So I have found a rinky dink little family triathlon put on by the local high school that I intend to enter into.

I currently weigh 190lbs or 86kg and have 23.5% body fat. I want the weight to drop down to 170lbs or 77kg and the fat to get down around 9% to 11%. As you can see I have a long way to go.

I think the hardest thing about this will be the diet. It is hard to eat truly healthy but I will endeavour to do so, except for the fact that I just received a big box of Australian goodies, thanks mum.

So I went for a run this morning and I was only chased by one dog but I think that may be the solution to dedicated running. I seem to run really well when chased by a dog, so anyone in the Battle Creek area of Pleasant Grove please feel free to let your dogs loose around 6:15am.

I find that the top of my legs and my over sized love handles really itch when I run. It is annoying and very distracting and I am not entirely certain why it does it. I think that it is that my body is unaccustomed to the exercise and the circulation of blood.

Anyway it was a great start to the day and I am feeling good, but I suppose the first day of school was never tough either. I'll be running again tomorrow and then riding my bike to work.