October 31st: Boo!

OK, it’s time to get back at it. It’s really past time to get back at it.

The morning turned frenetic in a hurry. I had to drive my daughter to the bus transfer again -- but after waiting at the train gates for TWO trains, we pulled into the high school just as her bus was pulling out. After a half-mile of beeping and high-beams, the driver figured it out and pulled over, and my daughter was able to get on. Otherwise, I was facing a drive all the way to Wall Township and back.

I got back to the house a couple minutes before 7:00, so I figured I had time for a 5k or so. Not a big run, but probably not the worst way to get back into things after a week and a half.

I have to say, I’ll be glad when we set the clocks back this weekend. It’s weird starting a run at 7:00 a.m. in the dark. But it was a good temperature, so in the spirit of Halloween, I threw on what I’m pretty certain is

my only orange article of clothing and got moving.

My pace surprised me. I assumed I’d take it slow to get back into the swing of things. But being agitated after the school-bus chase, I guess I had some energy to work out. I realized by a half-mile in that I was moving pretty good -- not as fast as that crazy under-8:00 5k I did a few weeks ago, but still pretty fast.

I hit 3 miles at about 26:00 and decided to pick up the pace for a bit. Did another .44 miles at a 7:38 pace. Overall: 3.44 miles, 29:24, 8:32/mile. Not bad for an ease-back-in run, right?

I also learned a valuable nutrition lesson over the past couple of weeks -- when you dial back on exercise, it takes your metabolism a while to make the adjustment. I have simply been HUNGRY the past two weeks. Normally, that’s not too big a deal: As long as I’m making my calories valuable and am not completely overeating, I’m good. But the past week and a half, I’ve been taking in all those calories and not burning them off, except for once at the gym and that one home workout. I definitely added a couple pounds -- the usual notch on the belt has been feeling a smidge tight of late.

Not sure if tomorrow is a gym day or another run. I’m going to try to get a long in on Saturday, though long probably means 8 or 9 miles, tops.

Total miles since starting the blog: 97.8. Next run puts me over the century mark!

October 28th: HIHW

It was too cold to run outside this morning, and after my daughter missed her school bus, it was definitely too late to get to the gym. (Andrew, that Planet Fitness is really calling your name.) What to do? A little high-intensity home workout.

Now I don’t own a weight bench or anything like that, so there is some improvisation required. But it’s also a

good opportunity to work on core muscles, since a lot of that is either without weights or using your body weight for resistance. So I rolled out Jackie's yoga mat and got at it in the dining room. I did two circuits, three exercises each, three sets of each exercise:

• Circuit One: Bicycle crunches, lying leg lifts, body-weight seated press. (Sit at the edge of a chair or bench, extend your legs out, put your palms flat on the edge of the chair and lower and raise your body. Your upper legs should be horizontal when you get back up.) 12 reps each, three sets.

• Circuit Two: Kettlebell squats, kettlebell jugglers and lunges (12 each leg). Wait! What did I use for a kettlebell? My work bag. The handle is about the right size, and with my usual crap in there, it’s probably about 10 pounds.

I finished off with a couple minutes of jumping jacks, just to keep the heart rate going. My upper legs and back are pretty sore -- and I got this done in about 25 minutes. Honestly, I was beat. Part of that is probably that I haven’t been hitting it too hard since the race. But part of it was just the tempo I was going at. This is a great way to go if you’re pressed for time and want to get a little something done.

I do have a few other things I can throw in there: planks, side planks (a good way to learn them without looking dumb at the gym), burpees (if there’s enough vertical clearance), mountain climbers, push-ups… But at some point, I’m going to have to get back on the road or see if I can get that old treadmill going at a reasonable pace. I’m willing to run in shorts and long sleeves at 45 degrees, but not 35. Or I’m just going to have to get to the gym earlier. Stay tuned!

October 25th: Gatorade Before Beer

Quick entry today. Finally got back to the gym -- first workout since the half-marathon. It's kind of no fun heading out in the morning in those last days before we set the clocks back. It's cold and it's dark. There's WOW, and there's the moon.

Just did some basic strength training today. The new wrinkle I threw in was dumbbell presses. I went with a pretty low weight that I knew I could do. It's totally different than the bench-press machine -- you really have to pay attention to keeping things stable!

Most of the rest of my routine focused on core exercises. I'm a big believer in that. No matter how big your arms or your chest, no matter how strong your legs, if you don't have a strong core, you're not going to reach your fitness goals. Specifically, I did lunges, lying knee raises and twists on the Cable Cross machine. I also mixed in some arm stuff on the Cable Cross. Next gym visit will include horizontal leg lifts, bicycle crunches, maybe planks.

Honestly, it wasn't that great of a workout. But it's important to start getting back into my routine -- especially with a Rutgers football tailgate coming up tomorrow and overnight company tonight. I'm hoping to get a short-ish run in on Sunday, so I'll need to keep cognizant of my new-look Beer or Gatorade attitude.

October 21st: Halfway There

Exciting news: I did my first half-marathon yesterday! The Seaside Half-Marathon is in the books!

Final kick in the last tenth (courtesy Mark Stalford)

I completed the 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 0 minutes, 40 seconds -- so close! If I hadn't had to stop and pee around mile 8... I finished 286th out of 678 runners.

Logjam at the start of the race (courtesy Mark Stalford)

First, the good: I was able to maintain a solid pace through 12 miles. I generally stuck to my game plan: Fall back on my training, maintain form, walk through hydration stations. It's also great to have a little cheering section -- big thanks to Jackie, Carol and my folks for being there at a bunch of spots along the course. And the other big positive is that I learned a lot about the ins and outs of running a distance race:

• Definitely get there early before the crowd at the check-in table is insane and the line for the bathroom is out the wazoo. 
• Don't worry about pace at all in the first mile. There's just too much traffic, and you waste far too much energy trying to run around people.
• Probably don't need to hydrate as much as I did. (Could have avoided that pit stop.)
• GPS isn't super-accurate. MapMyRun was more than 4 tenths of a mile off by the end of the race.



Look at that form! Run with your gut, not your calves!
(courtesy Mark Stalford)

• Maybe this was just this race, but make sure your own stuff is ready to go at the finish line. I assumed that Gatorade and other provisions would be waiting for me, and left mine in the car. We wound up having to walk back to the car and missed the awards ceremony.

The bad: I ran out of gas in the last mile or so. As I've mentioned before, I suck at judging my pace, and I'm still getting used to exactly how much I can do, since I'm still improving both on time and distance. I had to walk a couple times in that last mile, which is actually what cost me those extra 40 seconds. I think there's a learning experience here, and I'm sure that as I run more races, I'll get a better sense of what I'm capable of and how much fuel I can burn in any given mile. But when I saw the Mile 13 marker, somehow I found the energy to sprint the final tenth to the finish, with my family cheering me on!

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the organizers of the race were a little scattered. As you may know, they had to change the course and the check-in location on short notice because of the boardwalk fire. The check-in was a zoo, and afterward, none of the racers realized that the post-race provisions were all four blocks away at that check-in spot (a restaurant). Someone was ferrying stuff to the finish line, but not nearly enough or quickly enough, and nobody was informing us that there were bagels, bananas, Gatorade, etc. back at the restaurant. It was a good run, so I don't want to let that mar the experience, but I hope they run a tighter ship next year.

I'm still recovering today. Might get back at things on Wednesday. Work Out World misses me, I'm sure.

Total miles since starting the blog: 93.4

October 16th: Miles in Music City

Got in my run in Nashville this morning. It was slow, mostly because I kept stopping to take pictures. I wound through a bunch of Vanderbilt's campus and then did a loop in Centennial Park, where they have that replica of the Acropolis. 4.5 miles total, and it was nice to get something in after two days off. Not sure if I'll run again tomorrow, but that's it until Sunday's half-marathon.

Apologies for some blurriness -- I was trying not to lose all momentum.

Very cool Greek Revival building

This is at the end of what looks like a mall.

Obligatory college campus abstract sculpture.

This is where they have those sunken benches at the end of the court.

Site of the great comeback in 2004.

A view from behind the end zone.

The Acropolis

October 14th: Weekend Wrapup

Did plenty of exercising over the weekend, but didn’t get to the blog till this morning. Let’s catch up.

Saturday, Jackie and I went to the gym midday, while Carol was at her riding lesson. (They’re nearby each other.) Got in some good strength training -- core work, arms, leg press. Then I did 4.3 miles on the treadmill at pace, around 9:05 per mile on a 1 percent incline.

Sunday, I took the dog for what I assumed would be an easy recovery run. Remember when I once said that the dog slows me down? Not so much. 3.67 miles at under 9:00 per, with me holding her back on the leash. We also had to use the alternative route home, because the low-lying road near the beach was flooded after 4 straight days of onshore winds. (This area got hit really hard during Sandy.)

The other issue was that with runs in 4 of 5 days, the whole lower leg was barking at me yesterday. So today is a rest day, and tomorrow is a travel day, so that makes it a rest day, too.

And that brings me to the other thing I want to mention: I’m looking forward to getting in my first out-of-state run this week. I’ll be in Nashville, staying near the Vandy campus and a pretty big park. Looks like I’ll have a great chance to get a few miles in. Also, I won’t have the dog guilting me into taking her along.

The Seaside Heights half is on Sunday. So if I get a good run in on Wednesday, and something easy in on Thursday, I’m going to give it a shot.

Total miles since starting this blog: 75.8.

October 11th: Flying

Quick run today, so a quick entry, too.

I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to dry roads and no rainfall this morning. And I was running a bit late; after getting home last night from my friend’s Rutgers game-watch get-together, it was too late for me to assemble my lunch for today. So instead of heading to the gym as planned, I got in a quick run.

A lot of times, I really don’t know what kind of run I’m in for until I get out the door. Wednesday’s long was kind of that way -- though I had an inkling -- and today was no different. But the weather was pleasant, and I didn’t want to be out for a super-long time, so a tempo 5K it was. I leashed up my running partner and hit the road.

Nothing particularly interesting about today’s route. Really, it was just all about getting a move-on. First mile: 8:35. Second mile: 7:48. (That’s the one with the big hill, which I just hammered.) Third mile: 7:26. Overall pace: 7:57. That is absolutely flying for me. And I’ll be completely honest: That was probably harder than my 11.5 miles the other day. Granted, my recovery was a lot easier, but I felt more tired on the road today than on Wednesday. And I don’t know if it made a real or imagined difference, but I didn’t have any Chia Fresca this morning -- no way I was squeezing limes at 11:30 last night.

I sort of have it mind to see how fast I can do one mile all-out. I did one in 5:51 when I was 16 years old. I’d like to compare myself now.

Tomorrow is a gym day for sure.

Total miles since starting this blog: 67.8.

October 10th: Going the Distance

Today's run was a total confidence booster after this weekend's wackiness. 11.5 miles!

I had an inkling I was going to go long today, and the weather forecast basically made the decision for me. If I hadn't gotten it in today, I probably wouldn't at all. But when I woke up, it was pretty questionable whether I'd even get it in today. That storm's a-brewin'. The bay is already kicked up significantly. I was frankly
surprised that none of my route was flooded out yet.

But the upside was, aside from the wind, I had a nice, cool day to run. Lily did the first half with me, and I think she appreciated the weather, too -- she was still pulling the leash when we got back to the house. We did the Cliffwood Beach loop, including the seawall path and Pirate's Cove park.

When I dropped Lily off, I also got rid of my sweatshirt, grabbed a quick drink and headed back out for half number-two -- through Keyport to the Henry Hudson rail trail, as far as Union Beach and then back closer to the water. It was somewhere in this leg that I realized just what a confidence booster this run was becoming. I feel like I can do that Seaside Heights half in a week and a half now. After this weekend, I was feeling a lot of doubt about my ability in general.

My split times were really fast, but I promise I wasn't really thinking about pace at all. I was just going at a comfortable pace and trying to focus on form. I'm not 100 percent sure the GPS in my phone is entirely accurate, so that could explain part of it. But I do run all the way into corners and take the outside of curves wherever possible, so it's probably not that far off. The other thing that, in retrospect, must have helped was that I drank about a third of my bottle of Chia Fresca before I headed out. I had serious energy!

Tomorrow is another off day -- I have an obligation in the morning. Based on the weather forecast, it looks like Friday and Saturday are gym days. Maybe Saturday I'll do some incline work on the treadmill -- something I haven't done since before I started talking about the MTSNBN.

Total mileage since starting this blog: 64.7

October 7th: Catching Up With a Wacky Weekend

Lot of catching up to do today. It was an eventful weekend.

Jackie and I got in a quick gym workout Saturday morning, and I confirmed what I assumed on the leg press machine -- my 1rm is all of it, 400 pounds. I did a pretty varied workout because the place was more crowded than I’m used to, and it wasn’t easy finding open machines. Jackie said she saw someone next to her doing a crazy interval workout on the treadmill -- first a sprint for a few minutes, then hand-walking the treadmill -- hands on the belt, feet on the ground behind the machine in basically a push-up position -- then flipping around with hands on the ground and feet sort of crab-walking. Then back to sprinting, and so forth. Sounds super-intense -- I don’t know that I could do that.

Later on Saturday, beer or Gatorade became beer and Gatorade on Saturday. After the gut-wrenching triple-overtime Rutgers win, I had a lot of excess energy to work out, so I went for a run. And yeah, I wasn’t exactly sober at the time. I didn’t bother with MapMyRun -- just grabbed Lily and went. I estimated 4 miles, but later on when I mapped it out, it looked like closer to 4.5. No idea on time, which is fine. I actually had a lot of fun, but my right leg didn’t appreciate the lack of focus on form.

The other problem: Sunday morning. I gave it the old college try, but after about 2.5 miles, my stomach really started feeling sour. I’m sure I could have done a bit more, but there was no way I was finishing a long. It also didn’t help that part of my route was flooded out -- in retrospect, that was probably a sign that this run really wasn’t going to happen. I’m going to have to try to sneak one in this week.

The larger issue here is that I really need to start getting serious about my conditioning, and that means making some changes to other parts of my life -- not just diet and exercise. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this, and I think part of the issue is that I’ve been approaching it the way a lot of people approach diets -- instead of just adopting a lifestyle in which you generally make healthy choices, it’s deny-deny-deny-deny-indulge. But the bottom line for me is that, as much fun as those days and nights can be, ultimately they’re getting in the way of who I want to be -- and not just as a marathoner. 

So, much like the idea of adopting an overall healthy approach to eating, I’m committing myself to a healthier approach everything else, too. I think there’s no benefit in turning funtime into the enemy; I just need to be more reasonable. The holidays will be the holidays, and I’m not going to beat myself up for silliness at Thanksgiving or Christmas. But ultimately, the reason I named this blog what I did is that it’s about choices, and to reach my goals and be the man I want to be, I have decided to change the way I approach those choices.

Mostly out of a sense of guilt, and partly because I needed to give Work Out World my new debit card to keep on file, I got back to the gym this morning. I’m really digging the kettlebell squats and jugglers -- low impact, high cardio intensity and a great challenge for your core muscles. I also tried a few new machines today -- a triceps press machine (instead of just using the lat bar) and a biceps curl machine. The latter was especially challenging and engaged stabilizing muscles, so that seems like a winner for sure. I then did about 20 minutes interval training on the elliptical. Somehow the program I was using had 6-minute segments -- that’s too long. I’ll have to pay more attention to that going forward.

One last note about nutrition: I’m going to try Chia Fresca as a pre-workout and recovery drink. I read about it in Born to Run, and it does fit the nutritional profile I’m looking for -- protein, fluids, other good-for-you stuff, with not a lot of calories. 16 ounces is good for before and after a workout. It’s very easy to make -- 2 cups water, 4 tbsp lime juice (I needed 3 limes, 2 tbsp Chia seeds and just enough sugar to make it palatable. (I may try agave.) Shake well and refrigerate overnight, and shake again before you drink it. The seeds will soften up nicely, and it’s very refreshing.

Total miles since starting the blog: 53.2

October 4th: Easing Back In

Quick entry today.

Back on the road for the first time in a week and a half. Everything felt about as good as it’s ever going to, so no need to dwell on that. My goal was simply to get back out there and see what I could do, how I felt. No major worries about pace, and the nice thing about my route is that there are a number of opportunities to cut it short and head for home -- so I figured I’d get out to the water and then up the big hill, which would be a little more than a mile, then decide how far to go.

The answer was that I felt good. So I continued along my 5K route -- until I hit the lowest-lying area on the run, and it was covered with water. WTF? It hasn’t rained in what, a week? I don’t think the tides are running especially high, so I couldn’t figure that one out. Oh well -- had to alter my route to get home. Not as scenic, but the uphill climb is less gradual, so it actually was a better challenge.

It might have been all the rest, but even past three miles I still felt very good, so I tacked a little extra on. And the last couple tenths, I put it into high gear. When it was all done, 3.67 miles (at least according to MapMyRun) at a 9:17 average pace. And I still had plenty in the tank.

I haven’t mentioned yet that I ran with my partner today. She kept up very well.

Total miles since starting the blog: 46.2

October 1st: Elliptical and Nutrition

Got back to the gym this morning as planned and followed through on what I wrote yesterday -- 10 minutes of quick core stuff and then 30 on the elliptical, on interval training. The MTSNBN felt 100 percent. I think tomorrow's a rest day, but then Thursday might be a short run to get back out there.

Today I want to talk about nutrition. I've basically hit a weight-loss plateau (which I'm fine with, because I'm under two bucks in my skivvies), so I've been giving an increasing amount of thought not simply to calorie intake but to what kind of calories I'm eating.

I eat a serving of Greek yogurt every morning. I mix in fruit, and just this week, I've also started adding a
tablespoon of chia seeds. I've been reading a lot about chia seeds, and in addition to helping you grow great-looking green pets, they're highly nutritious. One tablespoon has about 45 calories and 4.5 grams of fat, but also 5 grams of fiber and about 3 grams of protein, along with omega-3 fatty acids.  I'm much more interested in the benefits of the chia than I am in the purported weight-loss assistance.

But one thing I learned the hard way this week is that all Greek yogurt is not the same. We didn't have enough bulk needs to merit a trip to Costco this week, so I wound up grabbing my yogurt at Shop-Rite. Cabot brand Greek yogurt has 310 calories in 8 ounces! That's 170 more than is in Costco's Kirkland brand. Yeah, it's a bit smoother and creamier, but seriously? I will be at Costco bright and early on Sunday so I can buy Greek yogurt.

Lastly, I'm sort of torn on whether to, and what to, eat after a workout. Most days, I'm crunched for time, so I've been grabbing a Clif bar for the protein. But that's adding another 230 calories, and it doesn't seem to have any impact on my overall hunger throughout the day. I want to keep getting protein -- especially after strength training -- but I'm wondering if it's worth adding another 1000 or so calories to my weekly intake. Will my body really convert that protein to more muscle, or am I just raising the bar on what I need to burn to maintain my current fitness level? Or should I be looking for a lower-calorie option?

I'd love to hear what other people do for nutrition -- especially if you're on the run like I am most mornings. And I'd love to hear if anyone else has any experience with chia seeds.