Returning to track for reps, feeling strong at 7:15 per mile pace.
Typically you will hear people say they need to start running to lose weight. Well, leave it to this architect to think differently. I knew I needed to lose weight in order to run!
A bit of background here. My friends and running buds know that I have been running in some form or another for more than 50+ years, and over the years my weight as gone up and down, so why now? Well, the short version is that I had several non-running injuries and two different surgeries during the past four years. This along with the lack of any motivation to race is how I gained unwanted pounds. Just when I was starting to recover from most recent surgery along came Covid and the end of racing.
Motivation returned this past March when I realized that I had the Glass City Half Marathon on my calendar for late April and I was in less than desirable racing condition and had very little time to get back on track! Then by chance, my long time trainer professional, Kirk Vickers from Triad Performance Training was presenting a webinar for what he called a “30 Day Jump Start”. The presentation was insightful but I said at the time why spend the bucks when I can simply do the diet and lose the weight? I gave myself two weeks to make a significant (at least 5 lbs.) dent in my weight. I tried, but it was tough to break my bad dietary habits and too easy to give in to certain temptations such as a glass of wine after a long day’s work. I like to say that during these two weeks I lost more than ten pounds. The problem was, it was the same dang pound that I kept losing only to see it return the next day! Realizing this was not going anywhere, coupled with my continued difficulties in completing a 3 mile, very slow paced, training run without stopping was futile, I signed on with Kirk and his awesome support team at TLS and was anxiously awaiting the start of the 30 Day Jump Start!
Had to give up my morning brew and honey soaked muffins!
The program first appears very daunting and like signing up to train for a marathon, other people may question your sanity for doing so. For starters the rules require; no dairy of any kind, no alcohol, understandable, and the kicker was, NO CAFFIENE! No coffee whatsoever even if just black. That seemed to be the biggest hurdle. In fact, giving up my strong dark morning brew was difficult, but only for a day. Other requirements included; no weighing of self, except for weekly reports, exercise routines, attending weekly support group sessions, and the most surprising one for this avid runner was NO strenuous exercise during the first week! It seemed counter intuitive. but it all worked for after the first week I had lost 9 lbs! I knew full well I was not going to lose 9 lbs every week for the next three weeks but my goal of losing 15 lbs. suddenly seemed not only very attainable, but also raised my hopes of exceeding my goal!
Race day for The Glass City Half Marathon arrived in the middle of this 30 day challenge and that presented certain unique challenges. For any distance run, especially a long race, runners “carb-up”. Runners need to load plenty of sugar sources deep into their muscle fibers in order to have sufficient energy resources to finish the long distance. The 30 day diet was void of any carbs and sugars. My solution was to “cheat” just a bit and have bananas and a slow burning carb supplement UCAN, a product that worked well for me in the past. I also took a very realistic approach to my race goals. A full race report can be seen in my previous post “Ready of Not Here We Race”. I was very happy with my results and excited not only about my summer training plans but also looking to return to being competitive in my fall races.
I did stay on target with the plan for the next 15 days but my rate of loss slowed a bit. It took an extra couple of days, but I did hit my targeted loss of 15 lbs.! The morning of the 31st day of the plan I was back to enjoying my freshly brewed cup of dark French roast coffee! Later that day, grilled rib eye steaks, special red wine, and trimmings were on the dinner menu. Just a short celebration, not to fully fall of the wagon here. Back to smart choices and realizing that the previous long standing poor habits had been broken and replaced with new healthy focused habits.
A minute per mile faster and conquering the biggest hills too!
The following morning I laced up my running shoes for a run through town. The sun was bright, the temps were perfect, no wind, and I was 15 lbs. lighter! I felt like my old self from years ago during that run. It was just a training run, yet for what felt like the same effort as a run just a few weeks ago, I was running at nearly a minute per mile faster! I had so much greater energy that I extended that run for a few more miles too! It didn’t stop there either.
The following Saturday I started my long run at my usual location at Kensington Metro Park. I challenged myself to take on the longer and higher hills and was not disappointed with my effort! Similar results, I felt stronger throughout the longer distance, conquered the biggest hills, and my average pace was nearly a minute per mile faster.
Celebratory dinner of grilled ribeye, wine, and all the trimmings.
It’s now been a few weeks since the formal end of the 30 Day Challenge and happy to report that my running has continued to improve, I have greater motivation to train, I now look forward to training where as before it was a dreaded effort, and I have even continued to lose a few more pounds too! I am looking forward to the fall racing season and even into spring racing next year! By coincidence I also had my annual physical. Great news to report here too. The results of my blood work tests were all great and my doc recommended I plan for a long lifetime ahead!
Thanks for taking time to read this post. If you would like further information on how to connect with the same 30 Day Jump Start with Kirk Vickers, Triad Performance Training, and the TLS Program please post a comment to this post or email me at Therunningarchitect@gmail.com
Continue to Run Happy !
Coach Lee
PS: Check back for future updates and race reports.
