Tag Archives: exercise

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visualizing running 2,422 miles

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View San Diego to Jacksonville, 1 Fuel Stop in a larger map

i get asked every day how i lost lost 100 pounds and the shortest answer i give is that i ran a lot and a little less. at the time i hit the 100# mark i had run 2,357 miles ( as of writing this i’ve now run 2422 miles ).

i wondered how far 2,422 miles is, in terms of driving across the U.S., and thanks to this ask metafilter post learned that 2,357 miles is almost exactly the same distance as the shortest drive across the continental U.S. from san diego, california to jacksonville, florida.

so, i’ve run the equivalent of the shortest drive across the U.S. with plus two marathons and a half marathon!

and that’s how you lose 100 pounds 🙂

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76 weeks later – I LOST 100 POUNDS!

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i almost can’t believe it, but 76 weeks after starting running again after a 7 year hiatus, i’ve logged 2,357 miles and finally hit my goal of losing 100 pounds!

it’s been just a year since i committed to running another marathon and i’ve kept losing weight since meeting my original goal of losing 70 pounds by the time i ran the chicago marathon 4 months ago and hit a big fitness milestone a month later at 75 pounds and realized i could keep going and lost 90 pounds by the new year.

at that point i thought, why not just hit a nice round number and erase a full 17 years of weight gains and go for 100. AND I DID IT! of the many wonderful things to love about losing 100 pounds, one of the best is that at 195 pounds i’m now no longer a clydesdale!

so, now i’m reprogramming the reprogramming and am a couple of weeks into phase II fitness – stage I. 100 push-ups and 200 sit-ups ( already for the first time in my life i can do 60 push-ups and 91 sit-ups ) while i think about new ways to kick 30 year old me’s ass.

as you might imagine, i get a lot of questions about how i lost so much weight and i do plan to write a longer post revealing all my secrets! the abridged version? i ran a lot and i ate a little less. it adds up over time 🙂

according to the BMI calculators at 195 pounds, i’m now solidly in the “normal” range for body mass index and the 28th percentile for my age. but BMI is a rather imprecise gauge for body composition and given the number of questions i get about how much more weight i plan to lose ( the implication being that i don’t need to lose anymore ), i think it’s time to get a more rigorous assessment of how much i should lose. at most i might try for 5 or 10 more pounds, if for no other reason than to weigh what i weighed in high school lo those many years ago.

but for now, i’m happy to have lost 350,000 calories worth of weight and am hopeful that i never, ever, ever have to do this again 🙂

also, i need new pants.

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the hardest part? reprogramming the reprogramming.

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i’m within a pound or so of hitting 100 pounds lost and increasingly getting “you look great, but you’re not going to lose anymore weight, right?” comments. turns out, the hardest part after embarking on The Great Reprogramming and running 6-7 days a week for 73 weeks, logging 2134 miles, eating 1,700 calories a day for over 6 months and crushing every fitness goal i set for myself?

reprogramming the reprogramming – taking it easy, eating a little more and not kicking myself for not going out for a run.

it’s tough, but i think i can do it.

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phase II fitness – stage I. 100 push-ups and 200 sit-ups.

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i cruised past losing 90 pounds by the year and even though i’ve slowed up a bit on the rate of weight loss, i’ll hit 100 pounds lost sometime in february.

so what about that phase II fitness program focused on strength training?

i’ve been slowly working with dumbbells doing a few reps here and there to get out of the OW! OW! OW! phase and am now ready to commit to a fairly simple goal – build up to 100 push-ups and two hundred sit-ups over the next 7 or 8 weeks or so.

it certainly fits in my original requirements of not requiring a lot of expensive equipment ( maybe a few dumb bells), that can be done a few times a week for relatively short periods of time ( 30-60 minutes ) that will play well with running ( i.e. not looking to bulk up ).

and, as importantly, i’ve never been able to do either in my entire life. so i get to kick 30 year old me’s ass all over again 🙂

whose in with me? if you start, let me know how the progress goes!

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the lies we tell ourselves while running with a chest cold.

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the lies we tell ourselves while running with a chest cold.

“oh, a -5°F wind chill isn’t really that cold. and it’s only 4 miles. i mean, the cold will agitate my chest in a good way and help, you know, clear the gunk out.”

uh, huh. the icicle’s hanging from my eyelashes produced from my breath venting out the face mask are messing with the “it’s good for you” narrative. that said, it did clear things out. briefly. sort-of.

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YOU GUYS, I DID IT! I LOST 90 POUNDS BY THE NEW YEAR!

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i really didn’t think i was going to do be able to do it over the holidays, but thanks in part to burning over 2,000 calories on a new year’s eve 13 miler with a new toy i weighed in this morning and have lost 15 pounds since my big fitness milestone ( and 12 pounds over december alone! ) which means I LOST 90 POUNDS BY THE NEW YEAR!

it’s hard to believe i’ve lost 30 pounds since running the chicago marathon and 55 pounds since august when i adjusted the weight loss program and began doubling my monthly weight losses to average 11-12 pounds a month ( i’ll write up more about how i did it at another time since, unsurprisingly, i get a lot of questions about how i managed to lose 90 pounds from people who can’t seem to lose 10 ).

i suppose it’s worth noting that, at 205 pounds ( yes, if you do the math i weighed an astonishing 295 when i started running again ), i have now reversed 18 years of weight gains and am now, finally, at a “normal” BMI ( and the 36th percentile for my age and height ). i do plan on losing 10 or 15 more pounds over the next couple of month to finally escape the brutal math of Being A Clydesdale and get solidly in the middle of a normal BMI ( at least in the US! ).

so, what’s next? i’m going to try and take a break from running in the freezing cold and blizzards ( or at least run a lot less ) and read up on how to design a Phase II fitness program focused on strength training ( send me your reading suggestions! ).

and while i realize the challenge of losing 90 pounds is only going to be surpassed by actually keeping it off, you can bet i’m going to enjoy a new year’s day 100% grass-fed, bacon, blue cheese, olive burger with caramelized onions and french fries while relishing in the fact that i don’t have to make a new year’s resolution to lose 90 pounds.

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a new year’s eve 13 miler with a new toy!

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a new year's eve 13 miler with a new toy!

due to the snowdeal holiday travel schedule santa arrived at the snowdeal household on the eve of new years eve ( much to odin’s chagrin ). and i was very surprised to get a nifty timex ironman watch from kris and odin! no more jostling with my phone to check my pace with runkeeper ( not to mention the fact that gps tracking sucks the battery dry on my android phone )!

so i thought i’d give it a try on a 13 miler for the final run of 2012. ooohhhh boy does it ever play into my obsessive compulsive tendencies. now i can glance at my wrist every tenth of a mile to check my pace and count calories 🙂

a 9:52 pace is a pretty average, relatively easy half marathon pace these days while trudging around in slippery, wintery slop in 10F temps. it’s about a 4:15 marathon pace. if it was dry and not sloppy i could probably easily hit 9:15 minute miles which is a 4:00 marathon pace and pretty good time for me given the fact that i am still subject to the the brutal math of Being A Clydesdale, even after dropping 90 pounds. i think if i lose a few more pounds and focus on developing my speed i can probably hit a 8:30 pace which is around a 3:40 marathon time and about my upper limit.

with a final 13 miler, i’ve ran 2089 miles over the 68 weeks since i started running again and 1,800 miles in 2012!