NYC Marathon Training Recap – Week #3

SOME MOTIVATION:

Besides, Madrid and NYC marathons, I have signed up for a couple more races. Maybe doing this will light the fire in my belly to get out and run. Also, it will help me burn off some fat from my belly. 

NYCRuns Ice Cream Social 10K

Fun! Running and ice cream. I think it will be a cool race because I have never visited Governors Island.

Actually, I hope they have lactose-free ice cream or popsicles. Now that I think about it, having ice cream after running 10K does not sound like that much fun.

Rock n Roll Va. Beach (Half Marathon):

I forgot that I purchased a three-race pack from Rock n Roll race series so I decided to make my first selection and run Va. Beach’s half marathon. It will be kind of nice to run a race in my home state and home city. I have not run a race in Virginia since my high school cross country days back in the late 90s. Hopefully, it will not be hot or humid as hell during Labor Day Weekend

BOULDERING:

To improve on my technique, I signed up for a footwork lesson at my bouldering gym, and the class was just ooook. The instructor provided some nice tips, but he seemed very distracted. The instructor’s cousin was visiting the city, and he seemed more interested in catching up with his cousin than in teaching the class. I mean, I’m all for family reunions, but not when it’s on my dime. The cousin was also attending the class, but at one point the cousin was kind of over climbing about 30 minutes into the 90-minute class so the instructor became quite aloof. At one point, he was explaining some balancing techniques when you scale the wall without using your hands. I asked if he could demonstrate how to do it because it was a new concept for me. He was like I cannot give you all the answers and started talking to his cousin again. Actually, writing this has gotten me all pissed off again. So after that, I was done. I told him my arms were tired, thanked him for his time, and bounced. In his defense (slightly), he mentioned that he taught two other classes before my class. Buuuuuuut, that is kinda your job.

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Just checking in

I have to say that there have been a few downs over the past couple of weeks. Nothing too serious - no illnesses, no deaths, no insane fights, etc. It seems that I have lost motivation and general joie de vivre. Perhaps, this is just the Monday blues talking.

Running:

Eh, running (or the lack thereof) has been pretty much a sh*tshow. I think that I just need to start from the basics and build up my running prowess. I pretty much should a running reset and start running as if I'm training for my first 5K and go from there. In my opinion, I think that I have been setting my expectations a bit high and disappointing myself when I do not meet them. While I'm waiting to hear if I am running this year's NYC Marathon, I found a 24-week couch to marathon training plan that I'm going to do. Yes, most may consider 6 months a bit much for training for a marathon, but this plan starts off very easy. Also, the plan is broken up into distinct goals: 5K to 10K; 10K to half marathon; and half marathon to full marathon. Let's see what happens.

Weight loss journey:

HA! See above.

Bouldering:

I have been going strong (at least in my mind) with bouldering by hitting the bouldering gym 2-3 times a week. Unfortunately, I have not been progressing that much in my new sport. Maybe 2021 is just going to be the year where I suck at everything. I think one of my issues is not planning out my routes (or beta) on the wall.

That said, I do have an intro to bouldering technique class on Friday, which hopefully will help out. Also, I think that I need to watch some videos to see how the pros handle those weird grips. Right now, I'm still going back and forth between V0 and V1 walls. Perhaps, I should still to this V -500 wall. ;)

Plans for the week:

-Since I pretty much live and die by Google Calendar for work, I should set up a fitness Google Calendar. As a matter of fact, I can begin populating it with workouts from the couch to marathon training plan.

-Figure out why I have been so 'zestless' lately. Maybe it's because summer is around the corner, and I am nowhere where I want to be physically. Then again, that is 100% my fault . . . no one made me eat crappy takeout during this pandemic. Hey, admitting that you have a problem is the first step.

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It's been kind of quiet here

Since I have not made or met any REAL running or fitness goals over the past few weeks, it has been hard to update this thing. Story/struggle of my life, I guess. This lack of progress is definitely hitting home because my COVID Chunk (aka Pandemic Pounds) is no joke.

But that was then, and this is now because I think that I have a new plan on life.

Over the weekend, I read this amazing book, “The Obesity Code” by Dr. Jason Fung.

This book provides quite a bit of information regarding weight gain and (more importantly) weight loss. According to Dr. Fung (and other folks in nutrition), most diets will be unsuccessful unless you manage insulin levels.

Quick bio lesson: Insulin is responsible for pulling glucose (and other sugars) out of the blood and sending it into the liver. Insulin levels tend to increase right after we consume meals and snacks. In the liver, glucose (a very small molecule) combines with other glucose molecules and is stored as glycogen (a large molecule). Glucose is such a small molecule that it can easily move in and out of cells; whereas glycogen is too large to do this and must be broken down into smaller units. If glycogen is not broken down into its smaller subunits of glucose and moved back into the bloodstream, glycogen will eventually be converted into fat. At the end of the day, one should aim to reduce the frequency and amount of insulin that the body produces.

Since this book kind of lit the fire under my evergrowing ass, here are some things that I plan to do to get back in shape. Or rather, things to start my journey to a healthier lifestyle. Hopefully, I am not trying to do too many things at once. Every month, I plan to revisit this list and add or modify things. 

• Move from 16:8 to 18:6 intermittent fasting. Eventually, I would like to get to a point where I can do one 24-hr fast per week.

• Get to bed (on weeknights) by 11:30 pm at the latest. No more watching Unsolved Mysterious or other random crap on Hulu/Netflix/Amazon Prime till 2-3 am. Hopefully, this will give me a better chance to wake up early, run my morning miles and, do HIIT workouts. Since gyms are still closed, I plan to incorporate some weighted resistance band training.

  • Speaking of gyms: I have learned that NYC is planning to slowly ramp up the reopening of gyms; however, I'm still a bit hesitant to visit my local New York Sports Club. I mean, my home gym was pretty yucky and a hot mess before this whole pandemic mess. I do not want to even think about the gyms and our new normal.

• Actually follow the hubby's Whole 30 diet; however, I will give myself one (maybe two) cheat days a week. Let's not get too crazy here. ;)

• Take more mental breaks during the workday. During these breaks, I plan to go on 10-15 minute walks. If it's too damn hot outside, I'll do a couple sets of planks instead of taking these walks. 

• I think that is a good place to start for now.

Lets’s see how this goes.

TRAINING UPDATE: NYC Marathon (???) WK. 1

Ok, I've finished the first week of training for a marathon that probably will not happen. Man, oh man, my how has my running fitness has significantly gone downhill during this COVID-initiated quarantine. Not that I was in top running shape before this COVID mess stated. Also, I really need to cut down on the smokes. You know, this struggle may be the calling that I need to actually quit . . . again. I'm turning 40 in a few days. Ugh, celebrating a milestone birthday during a pandemic will probably suck. At this point, I have been smoking on and off (mostly on) for 19 and 4 months, and I'm kind of over it.  

Monday:

Planned: Rest day

Completed: 4mi hike

Last week, we took a trip up to Lake George, NY (about a 3-hr drive north of NYC), which is absolutely beautiful and had wonderful weather. Although it has a little bit of everything for everyone, a lot of the outdoorsy activities were closed because of the pandemic. That said, I would not mind visiting again once things open up again. We decided to hike up Prospect Mountain, which was a lot harder than I thought. I mean, it was quite a steep incline the entire way up. But it was fun being in nature for a bit. 

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Tuesday:

Planned: 4mi run

Completed: Rest day

Did not do anything because the lower half of my body was still sore from walking up and down Prospect Mountain. 

Wednesday:

Planned: 4mi run

Completed: 4mi

Eh, basic run. 

Thursday:

Planned: 4mi run

Completed: Rest

Friday:

Planned: Rest

Completed: 6mi bike ride

The hubby and I went on a bike ride from Harlem to Chelsea. 

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Saturday:

Planned: 7mi

Completed: 5.5mi run

This is where crap gets real, and I realized that I am very out of shape. It was such a struggle running because I had to walk quite a few times during this run. Maybe it's a good thing that NYC Marathon probably will be canceled because I doubt that I will be ready to run 26.2 miles by Nov. 1. 

Sunday:

Planned: Rest

Completed: Rest

Upcoming:

I definitely need to up my cardio/fitness game. Since my marathon distances are quite low at this point, I'm going to incorporate some BeachBody on Demand workouts for my marathon training. I plan to do a combination of Shaun T's Insanity, Cize, and Hip Hop Abs.

Next week’s training plan.

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