Just Say "No"...To Food

The temptation to eat everything in sight reveals itself every year at Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Last year I was able to lose almost 7 pounds over the Holidays because I was committed to not overeating. I'll be fortunate to break even this year and I'm OK with that since I know that I can back on my exercise routine in a week or two. To avoid gaining weight, I try to follow the rules similar to the ones I found at HealthCastle.com. To help me avoid being stuffed, I fast for 24 hours once a week. Of course, it is easy to say "no" to food when it is not the Holiday Season!

Of Ice And Pain

There was a pretty significant ice storm in the Chicago area yesterday and everything is still covered with ice.  Power lines are down in some areas and the local schools were closed.  I wanted to run outside this morning in the 25°F weather.  But, that clearly would have been too dangerous with all of the ice on the side roads.  Instead of hitting the outdoors, I convinced myself to do an 8 mile run on the treadmill.  After the first four miles, I had a strong urge to relieve my bladder.  Although I stopped the treadmill for just a minute to make a quick run to the bathroom, my legs felt like lead.  In any event, I finished my run watching two of my favorite shows: Survivorman and Man vs. Wild.  When I reached the 7 mile mark, my left knee began to ache intensely.  I did not think I was going to finish, so I began to pray for strength to complete the run.  As soon as my treadmill registered 8 miles, I immediately went into cool-down mode.  My knee is fine now.  I just needs lots of water and rest!

Note: I watched the final episode of Survivorman last night.  Survival TV will not be the same without Les Stroud!

No Time To Exercise?

I found this cartoon on the internet and wanted to share with others to motivate exercise in everyone's life.  I did not want to exercise this morning.  However, I know how great I feel when I'm done, so I focused on the end result and plunged into my routine of 90 sit ups and 30 pull ups every other day. On the other days, I perform 200 push ups in sets of 4 over a 15 minute period.  It's rough, especially for a 40-year-old.  But I make the time to exercise.

Can You Believe It?

Well, I've only been able to run 5 miles or more on a treadmill a few times. And, today was one of those days. I got on the treadmill early in the day and set the program for a minimum of 5 miles. Following the marathon training program, I ran about a mile at a pace of 10:30 minutes/mile to warm up. Then I ran 3 miles at a pace of 9:05 minutes/mile. Finally, I cooled down for a mile at 10:30 minutes/mile. The run felt great. Since it's snowing and cold outside, I have the ultimate challenge: Running for 8 miles on a treadmill on Saturday!

Marathon Man

Today was an easy 5K, the slowest one I have ever run - my pace was over 10 minutes per mile. That's because today I started my marathon/half-marathon training program I created from RunnersWorld.com. The plan calls for no more than 3 running days per week which will work well with my schedule. My shortest runs will come this week; while my longest runs will occur the last month of training - March 2009. After I finish this 16 week program, I will restart the program in preparation for a half-marathon or, perhaps, the Chicago Marathon.