I Have Fallen!

I am not sure what I was expecting really.  After being fairly lazy (that is the nice way of putting it) for the better part of the last year, I have had a terrible time running these past couple of days!  I don't think I have ever been in worse shape in my life.  Sadly, in the best interest of my running health I think I must start slower than I have ever started before.

Previously most of my breaks were over a one month period, so I was able to get back into the grove of running 3 miles or so every other day.  This time however, I am stuck running around 2 or less.  That just makes me feel terrible!  I am so determined to get my base fitness level back now, more than ever before.  I just need to keep my head up and stay consistent.

I know then next couple months will be rough, but I think I will set a goal of running the firecracker 5k again!  I am already looking forward to training for this race, and I think if I do it correctly, I can beat my time (24: 25) from two years ago.  Anything below that will surely be a victory!

Until then I just need to remember that it is all about the consistency.  Consistency, consistency, consistency!
Wish me luck!

Brett

Living Healthy: Take Two

My life has been a whirlwind lately, and not in a good way.  Since my last post, I have actually moved out on my own, and my health has dropped tremendously!  I could blame it on college, or because they way I have been living is "easier"  but in all honesty it comes down to the fact that I have just been lazy.  Its plain and simple.  To correct this, I have challenged myself to live healthy for an entire year, and hopefully at the end I will just do it naturally.  I need to start first with my diet!

Food!  In my opinion this is the easiest thing to forget about when working on improving my body.  It is easy enough to just say that what I am eating is good enough.  It becomes even worse when I am tight on time, and just decide to eat fast food.  Since August, fast food has been my diet and it has been terrible.  I am 21, I should be in the best shape of my life!  In reality I am in terrible shape, even if I don't look like it on the outside.  I guess that is one of the downsides to not putting on weight from eating junk!  

I also realized that I have set my goals to high!  I need to set reasonable goals, that I can achieve even with a busy schedule.  I will think about those goals more tonight, and post them tomorrow.  Until then, I can start researching different diets and also post about them here!  My goal for this blog is to become a resource and an inspiration to others in the same situation.  If you want to improve yourself as well, stick with me and we can do it together!  

First things first, time to cut out all alcohol and energy drinks.  Not only will that be a good start, but it will save me money too! 

Anyways, if you have any advice or tips, let me know!  

  

Back

Short post to say I finally can run again.  My knee is no longer killing me, yay!  I have been taking it super easy this time around, not even bothering myself with how fast I am going, just that I am going.  It is strange, but I kind of like it.  As long as I go the distance I want, I can take as long as I want!  I feel so free!  I can't wait to get back up to the long runs, even though it will be a while.

Just thought I would drop in and post that, but now off to studying!

Tagging, Updates, and Football Oh My!

To start off I was tagged in a previous bloggers post, and I said I would do it as well.  Well I am keeping my word so here it is!  The rules are I post 7 random facts about myself, then I tag 7 other blogs.  Should be fun!

1. I have lived all over the world, including Germany.
2. I was a top ranked video game player when I was 16. I sure am a nerd! :)
3. I wrestled for 7 years.
4. My favorite color is Green.
5. I use to think my career was going to be a magician.
6. I was denied entry into the Air Force for being too skinny.
7. I have broken both of my wrists within 6 months of each other!

Now, onto the tagging!
Earn Your Donuts
Long May You Run
For The Love of The Run
Watch MeGo Run
There Are Two Sides
Run With Jill
Geeks in Running Shoes
DC Rainmaker

If you haven't checked a blog on this list out, I would!  They are all very good, and informative.  I really like Geeks in Running Shoes, but maybe that is because of my inner geek!

Some Updates:
My knee is still bothering me, and worse now.  I haven't ran since Thursday but it still becomes sore when I don't move it for extended periods of time (such as sleep).  I plan on sucking it up and going to visit the doctor because I think I may have torn my meniscus, according to the internet.  Lets hope the internet is wrong!  If anything that will just give me more time to write on here, and also to work on my upper body/core strength!  Because honestly, given the choice between running and other workouts, I choose running every time.  Its time to give the other workouts some love too!  I did some push-ups today and my arms felt it.  I definitely need this...

Football Rant:
If you are a football fan like myself, you will know today was a crazy day in football!  The packers finally fell, and to the Chiefs of all teams!  No offence if you are a Chiefs fan, but they are sub-par this year.  That was a magnificent upset, take THAT Green Bay muhaha!  Also a shout out to the Colts for getting their first win of the season, I was a little worried they would go without a win and that would be a shame.  The there is my team, the Broncos.  Tim Tebow has been making some huge news these days, so the Broncos v Patriots game was pretty hyped today!  Sadly it ended up with a loss for the Broncos, but at least the Raiders also lost keeping them in the lead.  Lets go Broncos, make the playoffs!  Well that ends my football rant!

Some Questions for You!
- What are some of your favorite blogs to read, running or otherwise?
- Favorite sports team?

Now to Focus on Running!

Finally done with finals! *happy dance*

Just finished my last one yesterday afternoon.  Then I packed up and drove home and had a good long sleep.  I never realize how sleepy stress makes you until it wears off.  I am super excited because this gives me the next five or so weeks to focus solely on running, fitness, and being well!

I had a realization as I slowly ran today.  We had absolutely no rain this summer when it was over 110 almost everyday, and now we have had nonstop rain for the past 2 weeks.  I am not complaining, because I love the rain.  In fact, I even go to rainy mood when listening to music or studying!  But I would have loved it more if it were to have come to cool us off over the summer.  But the good news is, it looks like we shouldn't shrivel up like we originally thought was going to happen over the next 5 years.  

Now onto my run!  It was a simple 2 mile run, back on the path I ran over the summer.  To summarize it, it is a flat path out and back. Flat, in Texas? Crazy I know!  But it was a pretty peaceful run.  It was like all the stress of the last 4 months were washed away and I was a new runner!  Sadly, it didn't wash away that nagging in my knee.  I did stretch before it this time, and it made it so I went all 2 miles without having to stop, but it did creep up late in the run.  I am going to the chiropractor after this weekend though!  Overall was a pretty slow pace because I did the 2 miles in a little less than 20 minutes, but I shouldn't complain, at least I was able to get out there and run!

I won't be able to blog this weekend though, which is both good and bad.  Bad because I really want to put some more time into this blog over the break but good because I am going to go see my cousin graduate from college!  I always find it inspiring to see someone accomplish something you are also striving for.  Its like they are telling you that it IS possible, even if not directly.  So I should be back on Monday and ready to write!  Something else I have noticed is the lack of pictures on my blog.  I am not a great photographer, in fact the only camera I own is on my phone, but I think I am going to try and take some more pictures to make this more than a wall of text for everyone.

But to break the monotony of this text, here is some music!  The artists name is Ellie Goulding, and I think her music is pretty catchy!

Until next time, have a safe weekend, and happy running!

Final Countdown

Life, always getting in the way am I right?

Still here, still running, still trudging through finals week.  We have all been here at one point or another.  Whether it is High School finals or College finals they all suck.  My one complaint about College finals would be the fact that I had two finals on Saturday, which threw off my long run for the week.  Darn integration and graph theory...

Anyways, this is more of a short post saying that I am in fact not disappearing like last time (ohhh 2 months or so).  Instead I am putting all of my energy into getting those A's I talked about in the last post.  I am so so close...48 hours until sweet sweet freedom!  I do hope to get in another 3 miler tomorrow though.  It looks like the rain is finally clearing up!  And it was a fantastic 60 degrees today!

And thanks to Another Mile for the tag back!  I will have to play the game as soon as I am back at home this Wednesday :)

Burrrr

We don't have snow, but its cold!

It is officially that time of year again!  Finals are quickly approaching, the winter cold is finally setting in (hey, 40 is cold here in Texas!) and the annual Polar Plunge is this Thursday!  This is going to be one heck of a busy week.  Then I throw in the first week of marathon training and it become chaos!  Although, I guess I can't fully call it chaos because I will be able to handle it... I hope!

I am just going to talk a little bit about my run today though.  It was on a treadmill sadly, but it was for the best! Or so I tell myself.  It was beneficial for two reasons.  The first is that I was able to avoid the chilly weather, and the other was that I was able to force myself to go at a nice easy pace to keep my knee from pinching and me grimacing.  It was a 3 mile run like the training plan called for, and it took roughly 30 minutes to run to make sure I took it easy!

Wednesday and Thursday will also be 3 mile runs with a 6 mile on Saturday.  I really hope that my knee is all good to go this Saturday.  It will feel good to run after my second Final!  But before Saturday, there is another challenge.  Will I accept this challenge? Probably.  There is a T-Shirt involved.  So yeah, I am totally jumping into the freezing water!  I will defiantly take a picture of the event and said T-Shirt.  And if I plan it right, I can finish my run and jump in to ice my leg that way!

I hope that running and the Polar Plunge will help relieve some stress until next Wednesday, then I will be free!  Wish me luck, starting Friday is the longest week ever.  I hope to be getting tons of these (6 to be exact)

Muddy Fun Run

This week had gone by in a blur, so I figured I would wait until the end of my running week to talk about it all at once.  A quick breakdown of the week would be as follows:

Tuesday - 3 mile run
Wednesday - 2 mile run
Saturday - 2.8 mile run

Far from spectacular, but that is about 7.8 miles more than I have done in the past 2 months!  Although I did vary from my original plan which would have been 3 miles on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.  The reason for this variation is that my right knee acts up when I start to run again after a long break.  I am starting to think that it is because of the years I Wrestled, because that was the knee that would get slammed into the mat more often than not.  But from what I remember this summer, as long as I take it easy and run until it bothers me then stop for the day, then I should be okay in a couple weeks.  That is good news because that means I will be healthy for the rest of the marathon training that I will be doing starting next week!  This time I swear I am going to stick to it too, for real.

Back to this title of this post though!  It has been raining non-stop for the past 3 days and my campus does NOT drain well.  And if you know my thoughts on the treadmill, then you know I was really sad to think I would have to visit it again.

Luckily the rain let up!  I was able to run outside with no rain! Yippee! The only downside (upside if you like this I guess) was that the trail I run on campus was thick and muddy.  I thought I avoided getting muddy by not running the warrior dash, but it seems I was meant to be muddy anyways! So in preparation, I dug out my old shoes from a couple years ago that I didn't completely run into the ground and used those.  I felt great running outside in the cool mist though, and I was sad I had to stop .2 miles short of 3 because my knee started to pinch sharply.  While I was running though I started to wonder about others and how they deal with weather, so I thought of a couple of questions:

Do you have backup weather gear?
What is the worst conditions you have purposely ran in?

The Six Basic Nutrients

As promised, I am going to expand this blog into not just a running blog (although that will still be the main topic), but also in a personal wellness and fitness blog!  The first stop on this wellness journey will be to define, and take a closer look at what makes up the food we consume.  What do we need to stay healthy?  What should we avoid?

I think to answer questions like those stated above the 6 basic nutrients need to be looked at closely.  In this post I will outline what the 6 are, and what I plan on doing to cover them.  I think it would be best to give each nutrient its own, in depth look.  I will do a mini series of posts over the next couple months to cover them all.  The first will be shortly after December 14th because I will be having finals all next week.  It might come out earlier than that if I have some free time.

Now onto the 6 Nutrients, in the order I will be writing about them:

• Proteins
• Fats
• Carbohydrates
• Vitamins
• Minerals
• Water

I hope to do some research and write informal papers about them, so that they can be used as a reference for what these nutrients are all about.  Of course I also want to see how each of these nutrients will effect running, and runners and if there should be any variations to common "rules" because we are runners.

I am excited to get started on this project, and if you have any suggestions for points I should hit in my posts, feel free to let me know in a comment below!

Seriously?

I had made up my mind over the last few days that this time around, I would run just to run.  No schedule, no races, just running however long I felt that day.  Why would I do this you might ask?  Because I feel like that is where I fell through these last few months.  I would notice I didn't have time to run x miles one day, and I would feel discouraged and wouldn't run at all and thus, I became a couch potato.  So this time, I would run as often as possible, however far I could in the time I had!

Of course, that won't work...

I walked into my room today, and was promptly asked by one of my roommates and his girlfriend if I was going to run the Big D marathon in April with them.  Of course I can't say no, because I already bailed on them doing the warrior dash last weekend.  So now I am back in the training grind, this time for good.  I know I will have more than enough time to run this next semester, because I scheduled it to give me more time between classes.  So now I have a new countdown clock, 140 days, and my first marathon.

Today's Run
I ran a solid 2.5 miles today, mostly into wind.  Its odd, even though I am coming back from a lengthy break I have started better than I ever have before.  Usually with wind I move pretty slow, but today I was cutting through it and it felt great!  My face became slightly numb, but hey, its defrosted now and I can feel it so no trip to the emergency room!

So there you have it, another marathon in sights, maybe this time I will be able to do it!

Brett

Food Fight

Ah, the Food Pyramid

Is it just me, or does it seem that food guidelines are always changing?  If you live a busy life, it is extremely difficult to keep up with what is healthy and what will harm your body in the long run.  On top of that, it is difficult to eat healthy with our quickly moving lifestyle.

Lifestyle, I think that is a factor that a lot of people leave out when considering eating healthy, exercising and dieting.  I know that I forget to think about it.  The perfect lifestyle would include multiple hours a day to run, lift weights, prepare fresh food from a garden and eating REAL food.  Sadly, we don't all have that, and if you do consider yourself lucky!  I have the issue of living in a dorm with no stove and I am at the whim of the cafeteria for what my meals will be.   Let me tell you they don't pick the healthiest food, they pick the quickest food.

Going back to the Food Pyramid I see that I usually am missing out on a couple servings in each category, which is unacceptable.  The funny thing is that my school had an Academic Symposium on food and healthy lifestyles last year, yet it is still difficult to live the way they recommended.  So I decided that I am going to attempt to come up with a "cookbook" of sorts to help out anyone interested, but mostly college students.  It will take a while, and any additions will be added to the list with the contributor cited, but I want to find a way for money and time strapped people have healthier foods.

Before I end this post, I wanted to link to a book that I did read last year that got me more interested in health and food.  In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.  I would recommend picking up this book if interested in how food has become unhealthier, and the western lifestyle has made food not really food.  It is a quick read, and you won't regret it!

Brett

Crazy Fall

As you may or may not have noticed, I have been MIA since September.  It has been driving me crazy, but I had to put blogging and sadly running aside for class.  We all make mistakes right?  That is the last time I will be taking 7 classes in one semester, that is for sure!

I think I am going to redesign this blog a little bit as well, to show my new beginning as a reborn runner!  Instead of just focusing on my progress as a runner, I want to learn more about the sport as a whole, write more "articles" and also focus a little more on total fitness.  One thing I have learned is that it really is important to live a healthy lifestyle when possible.  Eating healthier has defiantly helped me through this hectic time, but I really do wish that I had been able to run as well.  Oh well, I am still young and I can't wait to get back in it!

Tomorrow is another day, and it shall be grand.

Brett

Persistence

No, I am not giving up.  Running is one of the few things that I truly enjoy doing no matter what, so I am always looking for time to do it.  College on the other hand is making the time limited with classes, but that's okay.  Where there is a will there is a way right?

I was able to run two days in a row!  Believe it or not, that is the first time in well over a month that I was able to accomplish such a feat, but I do think that I will be able to keep this trend up.  I am starting to realize that I need to have an outlet, a stress reliever from all the work I get assigned.  I do hope I will be able to keep blogging about running topics, but if I start throwing in some random computer science type posts feel free to ignore them, I might just find it super interesting and want to share it!

Today's run was another 3 mile, in about 25:30.  I really want to break the cycle of 3 mile runs this upcoming week though, I need to start pushing back up to that 8 mile long run.  If I can do that in the next three weeks, there still may be hope for me to run the half marathon(I know my goal was the marathon, but that will need to be tackled at a later date).

Just to make sure I don't have really short posts like this one I might only blog 2-3 times a week unless there is something I can substantially talk about.  But again, if any company sees this blog and would like to review some products for them, I would defiantly have time to do that.  Until next time!

Brett

Late Night Posting!

I have been neglecting the blog, and I feel terrible about it!  I really want to find and set a time to blog, even if its only 3 times a week.  I do want it to be consistent though.  Sadly I probably won't have to much running goodies to post about, but I will talk about training while going to school full time and having a (sort-of) job.  The one class I am taking this semester that is even slightly related to running is Contemporary Wellness, so maybe I will learn some cool health facts to improve my running.

In other news, I finally "fully" moved into my dorm, in other words I was able to put all my clothes away and get clean and organized.  But outside of that, its been insanely hot this week (105+ everyday) so I haven't ran as much.  But in order to fix that I am wearing my running shorts to bed so when my alarm goes off tomorrow I have no reason not to hop out of bed and strap on my shoes!

I really need to get out there.  I feel so off not running, it helps me clear my head and get my day going.  With as much math and analysis as I am doing, I really can't afford being off.  Well, this is a short post, but at least I was able to hop on tonight(this morning?).  And I am officially posting that I am running in 7 hours!

Brett

First day of classes!

This should add an interesting twist into training.  When I first started training to be a "serious" runner, I only had to deal with work and running.  Now it is 7 classes, friends, homework, and running!  I don't think it will be too much of a problem to fit an hour into the mix to get in a good running workout at least 5 times a week, I am just afraid I will be too tired some days.

I will just need to make sure I cut back on the late 2...3...4am nights!  But I guess that's all part of the college experience.  Maybe that is why it goes by so fast, because it seems like one long day!  Sadly my meal options are a little more limited now, yay cafeteria food?  I will need to get to Walmart stat to get some bread and peanut butter just in case.

I just finished my first day today, 3 classes and a 3 mile run.  Not a bad day in my opinion!  I ran it in 27:02 so I defiantly have room to improve, but I didn't feel like I was going to die today so that gives me some hope.  I need to think of another "article" post to write for this weekend.  Until then, happy running!

Brett

Week 1 Redux

I know I said I was back last week, but I had the feeling I wouldn't be doing too much running with all the new job/orientation training I had in store.  With 8am-10pm days and one 5am-11 pm  all I had time for was sleep!  Now that all the new students are moved in and oriented I will be able to start a real running schedule!  I did 2.4 miles so far, and the plan is to do another 3 tonight after the sun goes down so I don't get too much heat exhaustion.

I am really excited to get it going again, and its a new year(in college atleast!)

Brett

I am back!

You may have noticed I have had a lengthy gap between posts, and I feel terrible about it!  Who am I kidding, nobody noticed!  But in the slight chance that you did, I have returned!

The reason I was gone for oh...around 27 days is because about 27 days ago I fell ill.  For a week.  I was miserable!  Sadly, as all sicknesses do, even once the worst is over it still persists for a little while, so goodbye 3 more days.  Then I had to travel, and clean/move into my new dorm room.  But now...I am back and more ready than ever!

I was able to run with my roommate today.  We did 3 miles at a steady pace (~8:50).  But because I missed so much time, I am pulling a switch and now I am planning to do the half instead of the full marathon.  I am a little bummed, but I will just have to find another marathon to shoot for.  Who know, maybe I will fall in love with the half and commit to that full time.

I do still plan on doing a 10k next month, is it crazy? Probably, but I am going to do it.  My mind is made up.  Case closed.

Anyways, now that I have everyone else up to speed, how have you all been?  Any big changes this last month? And new milestones?  I would love to hear it!

Until next time,
Brett

Street vs Treadmill

I decided to do a similar post as the one I talked about running with and without music.  Another big division between runners seems to be running outside on a road or trail, or running on a treadmill.  While I prefer running outside more, there are benefits to both, as well as downsides.

Running on a Treadmill
I will start with the treadmill, otherwise know as the dreadmill for those who don't like it!  While I find it incredibly boring to run indoors on a treadmill, I have become more confined to it because of this grueling Texas heat.  That is what got me thinking about this post in the first place.  That brings me to my first point

Running on a treadmill helps beat the heat/avoid the cold.

In certain parts of the world it just becomes unnecessary to run outside because of weather factors.  It will only discourage us as runners and hinder our goals, unless your goal is to run in insane climates.  If that is the case, more power to you!  My second point comes more from a training stand point.

Running on a treadmill helps keep you on pace.

If you are like me at all, I tend to prefer running at whatever pace feels good, not what pace will benefit me the most.  When I run my pace runs, I am able to make sure I am maintaining a constant speed because I would have to consciously slow the treadmill down.  The third point is

Running on a treadmill allows hill training.

Where I live there are no hills.  It is completely flat.  But throwing in some hill training, although simulated, will help with my overall training balance!  So I have come to realize even though my heart lies with running on the road, the treadmill inst all that bad.

Running Outside    

I love to run outside.  I just feel so free!  Its me, my shoes and the open road.  Simplest entertainment there is in my opinion.  But as there are good things in running on the treadmill, there are good reasons to run on the road!

Running outside mentally prepares you to race.

While that is not proven scientifically as far as I know, I think it helps prepare the runner.  Running outside prior to racing outside helps take out some factors that you might not be use to when running on a treadmill (such as wind resistance).  Another good reason to run outside is 

Running outside is an adventure.

The treadmill is so predictable.  The run will almost always be the same, but running outside you have no control over what you will see/encounter.  That can be good and bad, but hey, whats life without a little adventure?  And because I did three points for the treadmill I figure I would keep it even and do just one more for outside.

Running outside will define you.

That one sounded deep, I know.  But I can't think of another sane way to push yourself and find out what your limits/breaking point are.  Its a lot harder to quit when you are miles away from your house/car and it become a difficult time.  Its interesting to see how much we as humans can put up with physically and mentally!

- Do you prefer running outside or on a treadmill? Why?

Brett

Friday Funday I

I figure since Fridays are the only rest days in my training week I would still write on the blog but not all about my training!  Even though this is the first one I am going to break that rule and talk about my run.  I was supposed to do this run yesterday but I got busy (and then lazy) so I flipped my two days to make sure I at least ran it.

It was a 3 mile easy run, as in about 80% my full speed.  I ended up doing it just under 30 minutes which I think was right on track for 20% slower.  As I stated in my last post I am running on the treadmill now, and it turns out that it was a lot easier to make sure I stayed at a consistent 80% speed, rather than sporadically speeding up because I felt a burst of energy.  It left me feeling really strong and good after I finished.

In Other News
I went and saw the new Harry Potter movie today.  I am slightly sad that it is now over, but alas all good things must come to an end.  I thought it was really good, and so did Haley.  We are both big HP nerds (not big enough to have gone and dressed up for the midnight showing though) so we planned on seeing this as soon as we knew when it was coming out.

It was way more action packed than part 1, which was expected.  They did a great job of including almost everything, and there was never a dull moment.  If you are a  fan, go see it now!  The only sad part was that we ended up in the 2nd row, so my neck became a little sore! :P

- Do you ever have to force yourself to maintain a slower speed?
- What movie/book are you looking forward to watching/reading?

Brett

The Hamster Wheel

The heat has finally beat me, I did my last outdoor run on Tuesday, at least for a while. I took to the treadmill today(Wednesday) for my 5 mile run.  It was really weird to run a 5 miler in the middle of the week, but now that I am on an actual training schedule my mileage should be greatly increasing over the next 18 weeks!

Tuesdays run was pretty rough with the heat and I had to push hard to complete the three miles.  I ran it about 3 minutes slower than usual so I knew I needed to change something.  Especially because I ran it in the evening so the sun wasn't too big of a factor.  Today I ran in the evening (11 p.m.) but because our treadmill is out in the garage I still have a lot of heat in there with little circulation.  I think tomorrow I am going to go pick up a fan that I can put right in front to keep me cool while I run.  A little heat isn't bad but dripping with sweat isn't ideal!

I will say today's run was a lot better than Tuesday.  I was a little worried when I struggled so much to do something I have been doing repeatedly for the past month.  It was good that I was able to get out there and run 5 miles.  I am looking forward to Sundays long run, kind of!

Well that is all for now, happy running!

Brett