I didn’t see a continuation thread from our 2017 thread, so I decided to start one.
I just finished my third Ragnar. I was runner 3, and my first leg was 7 miles, which I completed at a pace of 12.3 min/mile (don’t laugh, that’s pretty fast for me!).
I felt good enough at the end that I thought I could have done another few miles.
My second and third legs were something else entirely - I was so sore and stiff! I was really slow on both of those, but I finished on time.
After losing 40 pounds two years ago, I put about 30 of it back on last year. Since January, I’m back down 10-15 and upped the walking exercise. Glucose is down from 135 to 110.
I was always active, sports in HS and college, then the kids came, we got caught up in them, then one day, in my late 30’s, I got on a scale in the plant and realized that for the first time, I was over 200 lbs…so, back on to a health trend, regular gym, etc., maintained for about 15 years, then put on about 40 lbs. over the course of a year…so, back to the gym, eating healthy, I was able to get back into the swing of things…two years ago, I had my left shoulder rebuilt again (story for another day) and used that as an excuse to get complacent…
Three weeks ago, I experienced chest pains, BP was running high, mentioned it to Mrs. BLTC, she freaked, OK, ‘freaked’ is not a fair term, she encouraged me to see the doc, the EKG results sent me to a cardio doc that afternoon and a stress test the next day…
Fortunately for me, it’s early, and it’s nothing diet and exercise won’t take care of, OK, they did put me on an additional BP med (low-dose beta blocker)…
So, change in lifestyle is overdue, been getting back to the gym, better diet, and in two weeks I feel better, more energy and lost 7 lbs…got a long way to go…but at 55, no time is better than now…
I’m about six weeks in this session of Boot Camp. I had a medical procedure in early December and I’m finally back to my pre-procedure squat weight.
Last Monday I rolled my ankle in boot camp and fell on my butt. Just twinged my ankle a bit, but it got me out of one round of sumo squat jumps. I find I can jump on and off the bench no problem, but jumping OVER the bench takes some mental preparation, and I’m probably as graceful as a baby hippo.
Still, I’m happy with my weight, fitness, and energy levels and will continue doing what I do!
Today ends my third week of Weight Watchers. I am determined this time. I’ve lost 2 pounds which comes to a pound a week which I am perfectly happy with. I ride my horse 3-4 times a week, and workout at the gym (under the guidance of a trainer) 3 times week. I average between 7-10K steps a day. My activity is decent. My food habits and choices are bad, but getting better.
My streak, which I will end by the end of the month, has now surpassed a whole freakin’ year!!!
My ‘new’ running shoes also have 100 miles on them in just under 2 months, which isn’t too shabby for winter time when I’m not ‘really’ training.
Now, I’m just waiting on some race lotteries before I plan out the calendar; there will be one long race in the fall, the question is where.
I failed hard in December. Stuck with low carb, but too much of it, and not enough activity. I’ve been doing keto and intermittent fasting, and it’s working. I’m down a pants size.
I just signed up for a half marathon in May, so I’ll be working towards that. I’m really short, so my TDEE is not high and I don’t get much of a deficit unless I exercise. According to my Fitbit, I burn 1200-1300 calories per day, so I look to burn an additional 400-500 through running or lifting weights.
After dozens of weeks,
After hundreds of days,
After thousands of miles,
After tens of thousands of minutes
After millions of steps
I have decided that I have my base back; it’s time to *really *train for this year’s races! 
Fin!
I got my body composition test results today, I’m up five pounds of lean mass! My fat percentage hasn’t changed much (just over 1%) due to the Bad Timing Fairy making sure I had the long weekend full of social eating obligations right before the test, but I’m thrilled last year’s workouts are paying off. I’ve gained 3.6 pounds of muscle around my core! Whooohooo!
I started training hard for the Invictus Games. On one hand, it’s very motivating to have this breathing down my neck, on the other hand…I am definitely kicking my own ass. I am combining it with a kickstart of a Keto plan.
So far, so good.
I benched 195 today, for the first time in a very long time.
I swear I’ll do 225 before I die.
Body weight 168 this morning.
Well speaking of last year’s thread, I went back to see what I posted there. I gotta say, I am about 180 from how I felt in September.
What changed? No idea. I didn’t run much over the winter, then did a 10k in February which turned out middling. I didn’t train for it very well and strained something in my arch that discouraged me, and I didn’t do shiiiiiit for about a month and a half.
Then in March, something happened. I decided to get the hell back on it and do it right. So I decided to start from scratch: for a week, I ran a mile a day. Then building on that a half-mile at a time, it took me 12 weeks to build back up to 3 miles. During that 3 months, I only skipped two days in a row twice, and averaged about 24 days of running each month. I’ve never, ever run that often.
Last weekend I ran my first 4-mile run since February.
All that stuff from my linked post about never getting back in the shape I used to be? Bullshit. Absolute crap.
I know I can get back there, and since I’m doing things right this time I’ll shoot right past and do crazy things.
I’m crazy motivated these last 3 months. My ‘best’ running year was the end of 2013. This month, I matched my monthly mileage from all of those months but one. And I’m not hurt and I feel great. And it just ramps up from here.
I’m signed up for a 25k trail race in September and getting ready to pull the trigger on a half-marathon in November.
Then my plans for 2019 get…interesting. I watch a lot of trail ultrarunning videos and it’s having a strong effect on me.
About three months ago I was at 276 pounds. I belonged to a gym I never stepped foot in. Then I started walking with a couple of coworkers every day for about 30 minutes during lunch (about 1.5 miles including a steep hill). I’ve continued that walk nearly every work day, even alone, and even on days like today that topped 94 degrees outside.
Then about four weeks ago I joined Weight Watchers at work, and I am following it faithfully. In those four weeks I’ve lost 15 pounds. My goal for this 12-week session is 10% of my weight or about 27.5 pounds, so I am more than half way. My goal for the end of the year is 50 lbs which seems much more achievable than it did two months ago.