Thursday 28 February 2013

Shrinking Man Becomes The Running Man

On a High………You Betcha
This week has been an amazing week for me when I look back over the last few days.  For those following my blog you will know that I have been determined to learn to run and do it over a decent distance.  I am also trying to go on a bit of a mission this round to make up for the last 2 rounds which have really been a waste in the weight loss department.  I have deemed this round to the ONE!!!!  After seeing the winner of last round take home a trip to Paris, my wife has told me to go and win her one.  So I might as well have a crack.

The last few weeks have been fantastic weight loss wise, but they have been just as good for me diet wise and training wise.  Obvioulsy the correlation between those 2 have an impact on the weight loss, but the big bonus for me is that I have not had a drop of alcohol in 19 days we have been doing this round.   There have been times when I have certainly wanted a drink, but we decided to go without for 12 weeks and at the moment it is working.  I can’t say I have been sleeping better, the hot nights have killed that, but there are no excuses for not working out.
Monday was a big day as I decided that I was going to enter the Half Marathon at Run Melbourne.  Following this hair brained idea, that night saw me go out and brave the weather for a run.  The gods must have been smiling on me as it didn’t rain until I walked back in the door.  I managed 8.25kms which was my longest run to date.  I was stoked.  It wasn’t fast, it wasn’t pretty but it was a little further than before.
1/2 Marathon Course

Wednesday saw weigh in day come and with a little apprehension I jumped on the scales.  I wasn’t apprehensive about my weight as I knew I had lost, the question was had I lost enough to be under 110kgs?  This is a weight I can’t last remember being at for at least 20 years.  Well I jumped on the scales and saw a number which I was stoked with.  109.6 was what looked back at me.  You little BEAUTY!!!!!!

Needless to say I walked out of the bathroom, after taking the obligatory photo to do a happy dance.  Yes I was still naked and thankfully Julie was still half asleep and couldn’t see me jumping about like an eejit.  What an awesome morning.  That means this round I have lost 8kg in 18 days and 6.8% bodyweight.  The thought of being under 100kgs before the end of this round is something that I had hoped for but now I am staring it in the eye and want it so badly that I am going to be working my rear end off to get there in the next 4-5 weeks.
Training yesterday consisted of a run, but once again I was unsure what it would end up being due to the crappy weather.  I had planned a route which could give me the option of a 5km, 8km or 10km run depending on how I felt, but this had to be altered on the go when I found the bridge I needed to cross under water.  So on my altered course I still had various options and decided to go for the middle one which would give me a run of approx. 7km.  Now this was not as far as I wanted to go but still a decent run and I know you should not always go out and just try and beat your last distance, but being competitive I always like to try and raise the bar, even if it is only with myself.  As I neared the point where I could turn home I decided to keep going.  I had been having stomach pains since the 3km mark but decided to push on and thought I could managed a few extra kms.  I did exactly this and when I decided to turn around it was at the 8.5km mark, which was now my longest run and I still had 2.25km to go to get back home.  Big question was, would my legs last that long.  I kept going, pounding the pavement like a galloping wilderbeast huffing and puffing but determined to out run the lion behind me, which in my case was just the shadow of doubt I had cast by choosing to go for this sort of distance and wondering if it would actually happen.  The lady talking in my left ear kept telling me the distance I had covered, average time per km and overall time and when she said I had made it to 10kms I actually gave out a yell of joy and a fit pump to myself.  I have no idea if anyone heard or saw me, but I honestly don’t care.  39 weeks ago I couldn’t even run the entire 1km for my time trial now I had just done 10kms in just over an hour and was still going. 

I ended up getting home to see 10.74kms completed in 1:09 which was my furtherest distance and longest time running.  Besides having run 10km’s I was more excited by the fact that the distance I had completed was in fact over half the distance I will be running in the half marathon.  This is more important to me as it means I know that I am capable of doing bigger things and I know I will complete this run because I WANT to.  My best mate (who is a fitness freak) has said to me that if I do this run, he will do it with me.  He has always wanted me to get involved with his triathlon club, so for him this will be something he never thought I would do, nor would we do it together.
I have also rewarded myself for my fitness progress and the fact that I am looking to ride over 1000kms later this year raising money for cancer research with a new bike.  I haven’t picked it up yet, but will do so in a couple of weeks.  This monster will have me flying around the burbs hopefully developing calves and thighs like Cadel Evans.  I know my wife likes my calves when defined, how will she like the rest of the muscles when I am lean mean running a cycling machine?
My New Beast - Yet to be Named


Watch this space for more progress reports as the shrinking man becomes the running man.

3 comments:

  1. So very proud of you Sweetheart! xxx

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  2. Sounds like you have had an awesome week, Leitchy! You can so hit your target weight loss goal this round for sure!
    Hey, as you are Melbourne based, let me know if you want to do any training runs with me on weekends. I run around the tan a bit on either a saturday or sunday for my long run, and along the yarra for my shorter one on the other day. Di (UltraPrimed: ultraprimed.wordpress.com)

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  3. you should be so proud of yourself!!! keep up the awesome work!!!!

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