Pheidippides’s BodyBlog

I ran the Shriner’s 8K race this morning.  It’s part of the Pacific US Track and Field Assocation road race circuit, so it always has a lot of fast runners from all over California and some other parts west as well.  It was my first 8K ever.  My goal was to try to set and stay at a roughly 6:30 pace, and demonstrate my progress toward a sub-40 minute 10K.

Temperature was probably 60s, mostly sunny, light breeze.  Good conditions for an 8 a.m. start.

I started a bit farther back than I would have liked because the starting line was so crowded, and got off to a slower start than I expected.  But after about 600 meters it started to thin just a bit, and then I was able to get  up to my target speed.  At that point I started passing slower runners.  My mile splits (rounded) were 6:33, 6:20, 6:30, 6:34, and my last .97 mile split was 6:13.  I was able to hold pace, pretty much, and I passed a few runners over the last two miles as some runners slowed down.  Overall time was 32:16, a pace of exactly 6:30.  So I hit my target right on the nose.  In terms of age graded performance that’s equivalent to about a 40:50 10K, so I’m definitely getting closer.  With a little more mileage and steady training I should be able to get under 40 minutes by early fall, maybe earlier.

I was very pleased with the performance, since it showed I’m right on track with where I want to be.  But to put it in perspective, I only placed 14th out of 41 runners in my age group, and the top runner in my age group (45-49 years old) ran the 8K at a 5 minute/mile pace !!  So I’ve got my work cut out for me. I’m looking forward to it.

Summer is underway (I guess it technically starts on Sunday, but I count from when the kids’ school gets out), and so far I’m making progress on my fitness goals.  Running is going very well.  Number 1, I’ve stayed healthy; number 2, I’ve managed to slowly and steadily increase my mileage; and number 3, I’m getting faster.  Tomorrow is an 8k, my first race at that distance.  My goal is to run under 32:30, a 6:32 pace.  The course will be fast and flat, and the competition will be very tough, so it will be easy to go out fast.  It may be just a bit warm.

I’ve set my summer goals for weight and bodyfat.  Goal date is September 4, a Friday, rather than a Monday, to make it a bit easier, since I tend to be a bit undisciplined in my eating on weekends.  The goal is to reduce weight to at least 164 pounds by Sept. 4, from current weight of 168.4, to get bodyfat from 16.4% to 13%, and to reduce my waist from 35.8 inches to 33 inches.  The goal is to achieve all three goals, so, for example, I may need to lose more weight than that to get my bodyfat down that low.

I also want to keep upping my pushups total and also start working on pullups.  Current pushups high is 47 — want to get that up to 50 if possible by next Friday, but I’m doubtful.

Today I ran my first 10K.  Well, it was billed as a 10K, but as I was timing my mile splits I figured out the "mile" between mile 5 and 6 was about .2 miles short!  So I ran 6 miles.  What it lacked in distance it made up in terrain, because the first and last miles were through twisty, narrow, somewhat hilly, and soft dirt trails.  So it was not a course to get your best time.  Of course, since this was my first it was bound to be my best time.

Anyway, my goal was to use this race as a way of figuring out what my 10K level was so I could calibrate my training toward my 10K goal race in the fall.  So the plan was to go out at a very controlled, moderate pace, hold it for three miles, then see what I could do over the last half of the race.  The one thing I absolutely did not want to do was to go out fast and crash.
There were 184 participants, not an overly big bunch.  I started out fast, well within the top 10 runners, though well behind the really good ones, about three of whom took off far in front.  After about the first mile I settled in with about four to five other runners, one of whom also was named "Steve", and who seemed to be known by all the race volunteers, who all yelled out, "Go Steve."  After a while, knowing it wasn’t me, I started to get irked.  I made it my goal to beat the guy.  Around mile 4 I passed a guy who looked about my age, along with a guy around 20 (it’s great to pass guys who are 20), and set my sights on catching the other Steve, who looked like he might be my age.  I thought if I did that I would definitely be the top over 40 finisher, because I knew the guys who were far ahead were a lot younger.  So I stayed right on Steve’s shoulder and felt pretty good about being able to catch him at the end.  With 200 meters to go, out of the dirt trail, I took off, and when he saw that I was going to try to beat him he took off too.  I was still maybe 5 yards behind with 50 meters to go, but I ran as fast as I could and beat him by .1 seconds at the finish line. As it turned out, his "chip" time was a bit faster than mine, because he lined up at the start farther behind the starting line than I did.  It also turned out he was a lot younger than I thought.
My finish time was 40:42.  Assuming it was about 6 miles, that’s a 6:47 pace, so I assume translated into a real 10K it was the equivalent of a little over 42 minutes.  Because of the terrain, though, I ran at least one minute slower than I would have on a flat, faster surface, so I would describe it as about a 41 minute effort.  That was good for 7th overall out of 184, 1st out of 15 Men 45-49, and first among all Master’s age (40+) runners.  I actually beat everybody over the age of 34.  I was very happy with that result.  I’m not completely certain but it may be the first time in my life I actually placed first in any athletic event, even in an age group, so that was good.

Next up is an 8K this coming Saturday. Since that race is part of the PAUSTF circuit, it will have a very competitive field.  I will not be winning any awards in that race!

According to my scale, I have entered uncharted territory:  166.6 pounds, and 16% bodyfat.  The bodyfat figure is the lowest figure I have recorded yet since I started recording it a year and a half ago or so, and the weight number is the lowest since I can remember — certainly the lowest number since my 20s, nearly 20 years ago — possibly even more.

My waist measured 35.75, possibly a bit lower (it seems to be impossible to hold the tape measure completely still, or at one measurement), but I’ll call it 35.75.

So, I’m on track to get down under 165 by June 26, and I’ve already reached my BF goal (although that figure fluctuates wildly because of scale error).  Still three quarters of an inch from getting my waist where I want it.  Still, great progress over mid-Spring, when my weight was regularly in the mid-170s, my BF was up around 19%, and my waist was well over 37 inches.  It is getting to the point that I should begin to see the positive effect of weight loss on my race times.

May was a success, fitness-wise.  I achieved my goal of getting my weight from 173-177 (it varied a lot, depending upon how much I ate) to under 169 (168 last Friday).  I finally broke 20 minutes in the 5k (19:30).  And I improved at pushups (high for a single continuous set: 46).  I didn’t quite get my bodyfat or waist as low as I would have liked, but it was a good month.

So now that it’s June 1 it’s time to set some new goals for the month.  Since I will go on vacation in Yosemite starting June 28, my goal date will be June 26 — not quite 4 weeks from now.  Fitness goals for that date:

1)  Get weight down to 165 (will take hard core effort)

2)  Get bodyfat down to under 16%

3)  Get waist (at largest point) under 35 inches

4)  Run 10K under 41:30 (that’s 70% age graded factor, pace about 6:40)

5)  50 pushups in one continuous set

6)  Install pullup bar in my garage and get going on pullups to complement pushups

That’s six goals, which is a lot over a short time, but I’m already underway with most of them.  I’ve got the 10K on my calendar; it’s on June 14, 13 days from now.  My recent 5K pace was 6:16, so finishing a 10K under 6:40 pace should be doable.  If I feel good I’ll try for sub-41 minutes (6:35 pace).

The weight will be hardest, because I know from experience that my current weight level is a kind of threshold I’ve reached several times over the last three years, but never broken past.  At this level my body starts really telling me it wants more food, and I have a hard time saying no.  The difference this time, I hope, is that my diet already is underway AND I’m increasing my running mileage.  The last three weeks I’ve run 31.8, 32, and 34.3 miles.  I plan to keep my mileage up in the 35 mile range through June.  Saturday morning I had one of my best training runs ever: 13 miles in 141:16 — 7:47 pace.  Losing weight and running SHOULD work together, with the running burning off the calories and the lower weight making it easier to run faster.

I met my May diet goal, with the scale showing I weighed 168 when I got up this morning.  The BF measurement was a bit odd — it showed I was 18.4% rather than 17, which it showed yesterday, but I attribute that to a significant error factor in the machine.  I think I’m really somewhere between.

That’s one of only two times I’ve weighed 168 since I start keeping measurements on this site 1 1/2 years ago.  With more focus and diligence, this time, that number will become a ceiling, not a floor, and I’ll continue to shed unwanted flab and pounds.  Already I’ve lost some flab around the middle.  I wouldn’t say my abs have definition yet — I’d say I have about 3% more BF to lose before I get even a hint of real abs showing — but they are looking more presentable than a month earlier.  Enough, anyway, that I’ve run without a shirt a couple of times.  Yesterday I ran mid-day, completely sunny, temp in the low 90s (mild by Sacramento summer standards).  Too hot for a top.

The bigger advantage with the weight loss is faster running times.  If I can lose 5% of my weight (say, drop from 173 pounds, my approximate last race weight, to 164 pounds), then I should be able to improve running time by about 5% as well (according to some experts I’ve read).  That would mean lopping about another minute from my current 5K time of 19:30.  That is very strong motivation! 

I ran a 5K this morning.  Great conditions - temperature was probably in the high 50s at race start, course was perfectly flat and fast.  My goal was to beat 20 minutes.

I started fast, as I always do, often to my later regret. It didn’t feel crazy fast, but I finished the first mile in 6:01.  I just about held on to that pace the second mile, finished that in 6:08.  At that point I was slightly regretting the superfast start, but at the same time knew that I just about had my PR and sub-20 minute time in the bag, because I could slow down a lot the last mile and still get under my goal.  I did slow down over the last mile, to around 6:37 pace, but still held on and finished pretty strong.  This time I think I passed a couple people the last 200 meters.  To be honest I was concentrating so hard I was barely aware of others at that point.

My best race by far, in terms of age-graded performance.  My overall race pace was 6:16 min/mile — faster than I thought I could do.  I finished the 5K exactly 1:10 faster than I ran my last 5k one month ago, and the course was almost identical.  My aerobic fitness and stamina have improved a lot in that time, and my workouts and overall mileage have improved.

I’ll be recalibrating my workout paces and my goals for the year, but I now feel a lot more confident about attaing my goals of a sub-1:30 half marathon and sub-40 minute 10K, and with enough smart training and some weight loss I think a sub-3:00 marathon may even be in sight.

I weighed myself this morning, and with 10 days to go I am just about there.  169.8 pounds — one third of a pound from my June 1 goal.  If I keep watching my food intake and keep up the running, I’ll definitely hit and surpass my goal.  That will set me up nicely for getting faster in my running and for losing a bit more weight and improving my physique over the summer.  According to the scale my bodyfat right now is 17%, and I’d like to get that down into the 12-14% range over the summer.  I’ve never been that lean, at least not since high school, if then.  Even at my fittest I’ve always had love handles.  It’d be nice to get rid of them.

Waist still hovering around 36 inches. That’s from the widest point, just below the navel.  So that still needs some work.  But I’ve knocked off an inch in the last 3 weeks, so it’s good.

I’ll be running a 5K on Memorial Day, and the weight loss makes me think I have a good shot at finally breaking the 20 minute barrier.   That will be the goal, anyway.  The biggest obstacle will be maintaining discipline on Sunday while I go wine tasting and eating out in Napa with friends.  I will have to hold back on the wine consumption and not eat too heavily.

My wife and I both started diets on May 1 — the goal is to eat really well and lose a significant amount of weight by June 1.  She’s trying to lose 10 pounds, which sounds like a lot to lose in one month.  My goal was a bit more modest.  I was at 177 on June 1, and I wanted to get under 170.

I seem to be well on the way toward that goal.  I’ve been eating very carefully, and running at the same time, so I think I’ve been running a bit of a calorie deficit as well as shedding water weight.  Yesterday the scale said 172.8, and today it said 170.8.  I obviously cannot have lost 6.2 pounds of real weight in six days, but it does mean that some of the weight I was carrying was just water weight or bloat from all the eating I was doing.  I feel a bit trimmer and lighter, and the measuring tape also indicates I’ve lost a small but significant amount around my waist.

I’m a lot more confident now that I can get well under 170 by the end of May.  That bodes well not only for being able to look and feel better for the summer but for improving my running fitness and times before Labor Day, when I plan to kick my training into higher gear.

My diet isn’t all that strict; it’s just a matter of eating a lot less.  So far I’ve eaten a little less at every meal, avoided late night snacking and snacking generally, avoided ice cream, and drunk lots of water.  I’m allowing myself to go for stretches at a time feeling just a bit hungry, and enjoying the sensation after feeling bloated so much of the time previously.

I’ve got my sights now on achieving a "real" (meaning consistent, rather than one day) weight of 168 by June 1.  That would put me ahead of previous schedule.

My ultimate goal is to get my weight down into the low 160s to see how carrying less weight will help my running times.

I haven’t done any weight lifting lately, but I’ve been doing pushups almost every day.

Running is coming along.  My first real running fitness test was a 5K the Sunday before last. I finished in 20:40, well off my PR of 20:04 last Labor Day.  I was disappointed, but not really surprised.  I’m coming off a lull in my running, and I’m a few pounds heavier than I was for that last 5K.  Training is going pretty well, and my mileage is increasing, so I’m confident of improving soon.  My first goal is to get that 5K time under 20 minutes before mid-summer.  Then I’ll concentrate on training for a 10K, with my goal of running under 40 minutes by the end of the year, before I run the California International Marathon again in December.

No progress on weight loss so far, due to lack of discipline.