Thursday, December 31, 2015

Ready .... set....wait wait wait

Ok, so I didn't think I'd actually nervous about it. Truthfully it was kind of weird. I wrote last night, posted late, and was off to bed. Then I woke up to see people that I didn't think really followed anything I did, and were just "FB friends" not "friends IRL" commenting words of encouragement. I even got texts from people that ARE real life friends pretty much saying they gave a shit more than a like or a comment on FB and wanted to say good luck. Already have an invite to a run with a " no excuses " attached.

I thought by putting this out there at the very least I'd end up with a little bit of annoying from friends at work and it'd make me think twice about not running or skipping the gym. Turns out there's a pretty awesome thing that happens when you put yourself out there..... others do too. I've received few personal messages and texts about people wanting to follow either because they're on a journey themselves, or will be, or because they're too afraid to.

So in a way I'm pretty glad that I did.

So the benefit to the job I have is that it's a health company for the most part. For those of you reading that DON'T know what I do, I work for Spartan Race. Down side to that is 10+ hours a day on site, and a few off, then with travel, trying to get something to eat, and a solid night rest, running anything over 3 miles is a hard for me. Though, like I said yesterday I'm going to try to make it work as best as I can.


On the other hand, now I actually have to do something about this shit right? So ... the following are the rules



Run/work out regularly  - Have to have this gray area in here because honestly if I jumped back to where I was I'd hurt myself. So I need to get back into it in a smooth way, but without injury. Looks something like -
  • 5 days on 2 days off  - running 
  • 3-4 days at the gym 
  • 1 - 50 mile race within 6 months and work towards a time goal not just completion. 
  • 1 - 100mile race by EOY - under 24 hours. 
  • Sign up for multiple 5ks and 10ks 
  • Give myself practice "race days" when traveling. [ knowing that I can't actually sign up for a race while I'm gone, I can set myself up for a goal on a 5k at race pace and try to get it] 
  • Have to get down roughly 20lbs too. This won't be TOO hard, but  it's not going to be easy. 
NO BOOZE for 90days   - So this isn't a HUGE deal, but this is needed for me. Not because I have a "problem" but because usually what ends up happening is something like this. "Yeah I'll have drink" and then I'll order an appetizer that has something that I didn't REALLY want to eat. Then I might order another drink. Though at this point I'm thinking that I'll get up early and run it off. I don't want to start off that way. I don't want to give myself an excuse to "cheat" and then be able to work it off. Truthfully, that doesn't work for me. 

BIGGER reason, is running = stress relief, for me. So does booze. If I have a glass or 5 of wine at the end of a day, I'm much less likely to NEED to go for a run. Then what ends up happening is because it's not a HEALTHY stress relief. I end up needing that run more than anything. 

NO COFFEE for 90 days -  go big or go home right? This one has sat with me for a while. Ever since I started training for my first marathon. I LOVE me some coffee, like a  lot. I just want to see if I can chase some natural highs for a bit. I'm not giving anything up for keeps. Just want to see what happens if I take some crap out of my life for a little while. 

Those are the main points. Nichole and I are going to join the Y that's pretty close so we can get in some work outs. I've started to plan out some runs for the next few weeks. I've also taken a page out of some one else's book and given myself some goals. First one .. lose 10 lbs and I get to buy myself a new running pack the UltrAspire Alpha 2.0..... 

- fatass signing out. - 





Wednesday, December 30, 2015

A Fresh Start

Welp - I've never done this before.... I'm not sure how it's going to go. I know me, and I know what I need to do, and this requires major action. I'm going to make a New Year resolution ( I hate the way that sounds)

Little background -

Not sure if you can find them anywhere on here anymore or not, but I used to be an ultra runner. I ran 100 miles in 20 hours and 20 mins. That is where I need to get back to.

Somewhere around last year I had a lot of changes. Things like where I lived, one of those baby things, a job that requires me to travel and work weird hours, and well, apparently a LOT of excuses. That being said, it needs to stop. Hopefully I'll get back into a groove and won't need to type everything out and annoy everyone by posting it on Facebook, but until then. I'm going to hold myself accountable to do just that.

I'd like to get back to a point where I can go out and compete in a race, be it 5k, 10k, 50m 100m whatever. I want to look back at my old times and get them back in my sights.

So where am I now - As I type this, I've drank 2 beers, eaten more than I should have at dinner, and if there were cookies here, well, they'd be gone by now.  I weigh in now somewhere between 193-197 depending on the meal or poop I just had. My longest run over the past few months is no more than 10  -12 miles, except the one that I got lost around mile 8 for 4 miles, only to realize the smart thing to do was just turn around, so I ended up with 17 or so.

Now down get me wrong, being 197 lbs and having a few beers at night and stuffing your face, that's fine man, if that's what you want. I personally do not. Over the past few weeks I've looked at photos of me in the past 3 years and noticed little things like.. "hey that shirt I was wearing is pretty loose there" or "holy crap I took a picture of my watch because that was a PR!" and then realize it's 3 mins fast and 2 miles more than what I just ran.

I'm giving myself ONE day ( tomorrow) to relax, enjoy a big fat meal and a few drinks. Mainly because my wife and I had plans to do so for a while now. We might still run.

Fact is - it just needs to stop. No excuse, no reason, no bullshit. I've accomplished a LOT in my short 36 years on this planet. I've gone through some things that would have knocked others to the ground and left them there. I'm proud of that. I'm not going to wake up and hate the way I feel just because I'm eating like shit and not going out to run.

My job doesn't lend itself to eating great or working out the best, but it's not impossible. It's doable. Just need to find the rhythm. I've got some solid time off over the next month or so, where I can really put some work in and get myself in a groove. Once I find that groove I'll be fine. Though there are NO cheat days, there are NO off days, there are NO .."eh it's a holiday" days- I need to get back to doing what I love to do. Going to go hard on this one too, food will be strict, going to ditch all of the crap, candy, coffee ( yep) booze. See what happens.

So for now, all runs get logged in Strava. All days get a recap on here as to how my run was or why I didn't run. I've got a belt buckle out there somewhere to earn....