Small Victory: Kentucky Speedway 2012

The location of this small victory was Kentucky Speedway.  No it wasn't because a Dodge ended up in victory lane but because something DIDN'T happen for the first time in a long time.  That would be, "chub rub", chaffing, or whatever you want to call it.  Those going whats chub rub let me explain.  It would happen to me when it was hot and I would be outside for extended periods of time.  Normally when I wore jeans or jean shorts but it could happen while wearing anything.  I would sweat, then add that I was in jeans and the inside of my thighs would get raw from rubbing together.  After the 2011 Cup race at KY, my thighs hurt for 2-3 days.   TMI probably, but most folks know exactly what I'm talking about.  Now its 2012 and we are in the garage area at KYS.  We walked from the parking lot, all around the front of the track (1.5 mile speedway), back to the car, then through the tunnel to the infield.  While inside you basically do numerous loops and my guess we do anywhere from 4-6 miles of walking.  It's very possible we did more when we walked out on the track for driver intro and the pre-race concert.  We left before the finish of the race since people were still stuck in traffic from last years race.  I sit down in the car and noticed my legs didn't hurt.  I'm down around 90 lbs compared to last years race and in extremely better shape also.  The first thing that popped in my head was, "wow, no chub rub!"  Sad but it was.  That was the first time I've been down there, (it was over 100 deg in the pit area with the track being 130+ at times) and not hurting at all.  I will take every victory I can get along the way.  My thighs also agree with me there.

Month 10 and 11, Reagan said it best.

"Tear down this wall!"  Ended Month 9 with a goose egg and started Month 10 with a gain of .4.  Was it me or was the wall getting bigger?  It was time to step it up a notch.  Added more jogging and started to go out twice a day if my early walk/jog wasn't that long.  I racked up 528 mins with 6789 calories burned that week and finally saw a loss of 2.2 lbs.  That put me at 260.8 and I knew this had to be the week to break the dreaded 260 wall.  408 mins with 2-a-days and 2 3-a-days lead to a 2.6 lb loss and finally put me in the 250's! FINALLY!!!  I graduated high school in the 250's in 1996.  It seemed that jogging was the key because the next month the losses continued.  Just as soon as I got in the 250's I was out of them.  I ended Month 11 at 246.4 and over 94 lbs lost.  Not only did I break thought the plateau, I signed up for my first 5K!  That was one goal I had in mind but one goal I wasn't planning on was 100 lbs lost in a year.  Once I hit 90 lbs that 100 lbs seemed to be achievable.  100 lbs lost sounded so much better then 80 lbs.  :)  I posted on MFP,  "My new goal, 1 year 100 lbs!"  I even made a nice logo for it.  I didn't have a lot of time but I was less then 6 lbs away.  I was on a solid run to this point and just needed to keep those feet moving.  Jogging 1 mile straight turned into 2 miles and towards the end of the month I was able to stretch out to 5K's.  All the stars seemed to be lining up for that first 5K.  At this point all I could do is go out and run.  Cue slow motion video of me training for my 5K. Minus the beach, everyone else, and moving as fast as these guys were.  Other then that, it was just like that.

My Intro into the Jogging World.

My name and jogging were two words that were not to be spoken out loud at the same time.  To me jogging was just some sort of medieval torture.  I knew I needed to step up my walking and jogging seemed to be the easiest option for me.  Since I am an internet geek, it wasn't to hard to find heards of sites for runners.  My biggest hurdle was to sift through all the crap out there.  I figured my first goal should be to do a 5K.  I found a few training programs for 5K's but one that I've read the most on was Couch to 5K.  It was a free app on my android phone and there was a nice group in the MFP forums.  For a couple of weeks I would add 5-10 mins of jogging (3 times a week) to my daily walks.  While I wasn't in jogging shape, all of the walking seemed to make the intro a bit easier.  About this time I joined the Runners World Beginner Forum.  Hands down the best forum I found for running advise.  They suggested even though I've been jogging for a short time, I still should start with the C25K program so my body could get used to the beating.  I have no shame in admitting I was clueless about this at first, so I took their advise and started the program that week.

Few things right off the bat they suggested: 1) take it easy, every run isn't a PR (personal record) run, 2) follow the program, 3) use the rest days, 4) don't over do it, to much to early can lead to injury, 5) use good form, foot strike and breathing is key, 6) speed will come with miles under your belt.  While some of that made sense and the speed part with miles seemed odd, they were the experienced runners.  I threw shot put and discus on the track team.  Not once did I run a race. lol  By the point I started C25K I already could jog 30 mins straight so I wasn't sure if I would gain from this.  I started with W1D1, then skipped to W2D1 and finished the next 3 weeks.  After W4D3 I decided that I was probably a tic farther then the C25K program was but I still feel it helped me concentrate on my form and breathing.  Since I wasn't going out to do 3-4 miles at time and my pace could be timed with the sun dial, I had time to make sure I wasn't looking like a total muppet.  Week in, week out, I tried to jog 3-4 times a week.  I read up on running form and saw a post talking about shorter steps can help alleviate some knee pain.  Granted I didn't have any and figured that could help make sure I didn't get any.

Every few weeks I noticed I could go a little farther, a little faster.  I wasn't going out to run farther/faster it was just happening.  My avg 15-16 min pace was now 14-15 mins and 2 miles was turning into 3 miles.  I was starting to hit 3+ miles, while I wouldn't say easily but it wasn't hard either, so I decided it was time to start thinking about that first 5K.  I like the idea of goals and knew it would keep me motivated to keep moving forward.  Once I saw the scale moving in the right direction again (plus the 20-30% more calorie burn), TBH that was all the motivation I needed.

WAIT! 20 mins...

I have read a few places and I'm fairly sure it was one of those tips from Extreme Makeover Weight Loss, that after you finish your meal if you are still hungry wait 20 mins.  The reason for this is because it takes time for your brain and stomach to text each other.  This is why at times you feel you're still hungry right after you just ate.  Also, from my understanding, it takes at least 20 mins because your stomach uses AT&T.

Inspiration at its finest.

If you are not inspired by these stories, go see a doctor.  You might be dead inside.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/team-maddy-triathlon-rick-van-beek-cerebral-palsy_n_1773662.html#slide=1375401

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roZrT_tciKA&feature=related

Month 8 and 9, The proverbial wall.

March started off a lot better then February ended and April I finally hit that ugly diet word, plateau.  End of March it seemed I had things going in the right direction.  First week of April I lost 3.6 lbs and felt confident I would be in the 250's in just a few weeks.  Last time I weighed 261 lbs was 1996 which is the year I graduated high school and started my first freshman year at NKU.  I didn't get a great week of exercise but still managed 184 mins and the scale showed 0.  It wasn't a gain and at this point I have lost almost 80 lbs.  Next week little more exercise and a .6 lb gain.  I had a bad feeling I have finally hit that proverbial wall.  Week 26 I entered the 260's and week 38 I'm still there.  Thing is, I knew this would happen.  This wasn't a big, "WTF" moment at all.  I am still proud of the 75+ lbs I've lost at this point and knew I just needed to change things up.  I've already been walking since day 1 and with the wife in school couldn't afford a gym membership yet.  Since I played football/basketball/track at this weight, I figured lets start to jog some.  I read upping the intensity of workouts helps break the plateau, so around week 33 I did just that.  Very little at first but each week added more.  I knew I needed to get used to this and going out full bore jogging would have just led to an injury.

One Crazy Week

In the past week I've hit a few major milestones.  I've run my 2nd 5K with a PR, I hit my 1 year mark for my diet, I logged into MFP for 370 days in a row, went to family party where I basically had to re-introduce myself (not really but amuse me) and I got to scratch 3 goals off my list with one of them being jogging 6 (6.2 total) miles straight.  That is not a typo, I jogged a 10K.  Plus, I got my Facebook and Twitter pages up and running to make it easy to follow my ramblings.   Thanks to everyone at home and online for the support this past year.  I really do appreciate it.

Mark Rucker Story, MFP Member

I just found a post in the My Fitness Pal forum of a guy who CNN did an article on.  He was wearing a KY shirt in his profile pic, so he can't be that bad of a guy (I'm from KY).  lol  I clicked it to just read and all I could say is WOW!  I basically just read what could be my story in a few years from now.  He was 6'2 and 380 lbs.  He has lost over 120 lbs (article doesn't say exactly how much nor his MFP profile) but that is not why this article stood out for me.  Since early 2011, he has done 5K's, 10K's, half-marathon, full marathon, and he competed in an Olympic distance triathlon.  On August 26, he will compete in the Louisville Ironman competition. That is insane to me to have come that far in such short time.  This could be the first person, that I can say I would like to follow in their footsteps.  Looks like I need to step it up.  Here is the CNN article.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/10/health/rucker-weight-loss-race/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

A great quote, that is also very true.

"Weight loss isn't a sprint, it's a marathon."

TMI, Bathroom Frequency

Yes, the topic that some folks don't like to talk about and others share WAY to much info on.  I would say before and during the first 4-5 months of my diet, nothing changed in how often I went #2.  #1 wasn't an issue since I drink like a baby camel.  I don't remember if it built up or one day I just finally noticed, "I didn't go today."  I was a daily person and it was rare that I would skip a day.  Next thing you know I wouldn't go for 2-3 days at a time.  A few times 4!  EEK!!!!  Instead of consulting a doctor, I asked someone way more knowledgeable, Google.  Seems its not abnormal at all to go a few days without dropping the kids off at the pool.  It wasn't like I was constipated and it didn't hurt.  I just wasn't going anywhere near as often as I used to.  Since I am not a doctor, nor play one on TV my guess is I just wasn't shoveling food in like I used to. Since I'm taking in less food and exercising, I'm running a slightly more greener body.  Less in, more used, less waste.  Now, I have absolutely no idea if that is correct.  That is just my uneducated guess.  If I'm wrong, at least it sounds good.  If I'm right, I knew that.  :)

Months 6 and 7

January and February, 2 months of poor results.  Week 22 and 23 looked promising and since our winter was very mild I managed to get a few walks in.  The scale was still going in the right direction.  Week 26 was 6 months straight with a loss.  I went back through a post on MY Fitness Pal and I said, "I've never stuck with anything this long before in my life."  Which is very true, my mind tends to wander after a few months of anything.  Week 26 rolls around and I got sick.  If I remember correctly it was the flu.  Zapped all of my energy and as you can see, the next 3 weeks I didn't even get 1 min of exercise in.  I lost 3.2 lbs on week 27 somehow but week 28 it finally happened.  I gained weight!  From being sick and not stepping a foot outside, I knew it was going to happen.  I was in the 260's so I was still pleased with my progress.  Week 29 rolled around, CRAP!  Another gain but with the weather slowly getting better I knew I would be outside walking again soon.  I only lost 5.6 lbs the first 2 months of 2012 but that still put me at a total of 71 lbs!  I'm now in the 260's which is what I graduated high school at in 1996.  I'm 9 lbs away from my 2nd goal of another 40 lbs lost.  Getting sick did set me back but I was a man on a mission.  I wanted to see 250's on the scale again.  Another small victory was that I've logged into My Fitness Pal for 205 days in a row!

Inspiration

It's one of those things you really don't think about when you talk about diets.  Sometimes you need a little inspiration to keep moving forward.  Some of us can inspire ourselves where others might need outside help.  Watching Extreme Makeover inspires me to keep going.  Reading success stores on My Fitness Pal inspires me to keep going.  Every Monday when I get on the scale and see a loss, that inspires me to keep going.  For me, its the little things that keeps that fire inside me lit.  Passing on cake or any other unhealthy snack at a party, is a little victory that inspire me to stay on course.  It's all those little victories that makes the losses not hurt as much.  You will have those bad days, weeks, or like me sometimes months.  Unless your an absolute freak, there's no way around it.  Workout for hours on end to see the scale not move or even go up.  Thing is, all those past victories let you know, while you might lose a battle or two, your still going to win the war (or however that saying goes lol).

So what inspires you?