First 5k: Success

The first 5k, or any race for that matter, of my life went on as scheduled yesterday. You can read about my pre-race expectations and plans here. I kind of knew what was going to go on at an event like this but, since it was my first, I certainly was a little nervous and unsure of what would happen.

• How competitive would it be?
• How formal is the actual race?
• Were there rules you had to follow?
• What does the course look like?
• Will there be a long line to get your packet?
• Is the course hilly?
• How will I react to "competitive" racing?
• Will I be able to run like I have in training?
• On and on and on...

You get the picture, I really didn't know much going into the event. Some of it, I'm sure I could have alleviated with some research but I wasn't too worried about it and I can go with the flow in about any situation so it was going to be okay.

Pre-Race Plan
I gave myself a rest day on Friday after running 2.5 miles on Thursday so I could make sure that my legs were feeling good Saturday morning. I planned on getting a good amount of sleep but helping out a friend the night before kind of limited that. I ended up sleeping for about 5 hours and waking up a little after 6 am Saturday morning, a little earlier than I had planned. I didn't have a hangover: good news; didn't drink much on Friday, as planned. And I had about 500 calories of peanuts for breakfast at about 7 am (2 hours before race time) and drank plenty of water.

Once at the race site, we got our race packets/numbers; there was essentially no line: more good news. I was number 47, don't really know if this is good luck; I'm not really superstitious anyways. The weather was great: chilly and sunny; I bet it was about 40 degrees at the time we moved to the starting line. I made sure to warm up/stretch just like I do for training and soccer and this seemed to work. I made sure I kept loose/moving as we got ready to go.

Race Time!
Time to move to the start/finish line! Me and my training partner have decided we are going to push the pace and try to finish as fast as we can. As we are standing there, I still don't really know what to expect; I don't know what the course looks like beyond the start, I don't know how competitive I'll be, I don't know much of anything except the distance and that I'm going to try to push my pace as hard as I can. Our collective goal is to finish in under 25 minutes.

We move towards the front of the pack, there's over 200 people "running". Then right as we get toward the front...the horn goes off! My buddy is out ahead, pacing us, we start passing everyone who was still in front of us, weaving in and out of traffic. The course is a 10-foot wide, loose gravel trail through the woods in western Wake County; as I will find out, it is very flat and goes out and back; halfway through the race, there is a mark on the ground that you run around and go back the opposite direction. About 1/4 of a mile in, we've passed almost everyone and everyone is starting to move to the right of the trail; I don't know how we're going to finish as far as speed, but I know that right now, we are moving fast, at least for us. Between about 1/2 and 1 mile in, I take the pace position and don't relinquish it for the rest of the race. As we get near the turn, we start seeing runners come the other way; one guy is way ahead, the rest are nearer to our ability level. I count the racers, I'm in 7th overall as we hit the turn. Also as we turn, I start pulling away from my buddy, slowly; I'm feeling good at this point. My legs are holding up and my air is working pretty good as well; I don't know if I'll be able to keep it up, but I'm going to try.


Just after this point, I pass a girl...6th place overall! I'm also not hearing any other racers behind me and still feeling good. With about a mile left, I feel like my pace slows a little and I'm laboring a little more. I get passed by 3 runners at this point, but I know I am in 9th overall coming into the final 1/2 mile. At this point, I'm breathing heavily and my legs are hurting pretty good, but I'm still not hearing anyone coming from behind and there's no way I would ever look back! After I pass the marker for the final 1/2 mile, I start searching for the finish; I make my way over to the left side of the trail, peering around the trees.


Finally, I see the black arch/red numbers of the clock! I'm in the home stretch and still don't hear any other runners. In a perfect world, I would have had a kick to be able to catch the 2 runners in front of me, but I don't have anything left. I keep telling myself, "Just keep running." I don't want to get passed but I couldn't have done anything about it someone tried to overtake me. As I get closer to the clock, I start to see the numbers: there's a 22 in the place that is supposed to have the minutes! It seems to take forever, but I move toward the finish. As I cross the line, the time on the clock is 22:56. (My official chip-time: 22:52.1)


I made sure to keep moving after finish, to do my cool-down walk. I'm doing everything I can to not throw-up in the woods. My throat feels like it's bleeding from the cold air and I taste blood every time I spit. But I had finished and there was almost no one there to greet me, which at this type of event, was a great feeling; I had finished almost at the front. I ran a 7:23 mile pace over 3.1 miles; faster than any other timed mile I have ever run previously.

Link to Race Results


My finishing stats:

• 22:51.1 over 3.1 miles; 7:23 mile pace
• 9th place overall out of 226 "runners" (Many were, in fact, walkers by choice)
• 7th place male, 1st in the 20-29 age group (Not counting the 2 that were Overall Top 3)

I actually didn't get beat by anyone younger than me...so...in your face, kids (CORRECTION: Got beat by a 17 year-old girl) . And I also had a great rest of my binge day eating pizza and tortilla, and drinking beer with friends. Generally unhealthy, but a great day overall. I look forward to my next endurance event: any kind of run, bike or triathlon/duathlon; I'm excited to try them all.

First 5k Ever This Weekend and New Exercise

So I know I have talked big about different endurance races/events that I would like to do but the truth is I have never been involved in any kind of competition like this...ever.

I grew up playing organized team sports: soccer, baseball, basketball, even football and hockey for a bit. I love playing team sports to this day, but this also did not allow for me to do some of the other sports that a lot of people were into like swimming and cross country/track. It even led me to disdain these things. Recently though, I've kind of switched my thinking: these activities are some of the best cardio you can get and you can do them alone. I always have, and continue to, like riding my bikes; running and swimming are growing on me, maybe it'll be easier once I'm not so terrible at them.

So...I've never been involved in any kind of official running race in life, unless you count first in First in Fitness in elementary school. That will change this Saturday.

I'm registered for the "Running Free with K-Wayne" event in Cary, NC. It's a charity event to benefit research of mental illness. I'm running in it in support of a friend who lost a love one. If you are in the area, it's certainly something that would be a healthy thing to start off your weekend with and it would benefit a good cause. You can register or donate at the website if you are so motivated.

Now for the race...I'm not too worried about the distance, especially given that I run 3.5 miles every Wednesday, but I would like to perform well, so I'm going to try to do it right. I'm going to give myself a rest day on Friday before, I'm going to try to not wake up with any sort of hangover, and will try to get up rested. I'm going to eat well (as usual, but just saying it anyways) and I will try to arrive early to warm up. I think I will try to warm up like I do for soccer games, this seems to get my body loose; we'll see if it works for races too. I think my goal is to finish in 25 minutes or under as I have done this once in my life, which was about a month ago.

Hopefully it goes well and, and as work and busy scheduling allows, I will get to do more races of all kinds in the months to come. I will make sure to report back my results and how everything went next week.

New Exercise
I've been looking on YouTube for different ideas of exercises and fitness plans to follow and I've definitely gotten some good ideas.


Here is one that I like a lot:

1. Start in plank position. (If you've never done this, it is like a push-up position but on your elbows instead of hands. Planks are a GREAT ab workout and have many different variations.)
2. Hold base plank position for a 10 count.
3. Now you will go in a rotation: lift your right arm and point it straight forward putting all your weight on your other three appendages. Hold this position for 5 seconds.
4. Cycle through all 4 appendages until you can't do it anymore: right arm, left arm, right leg, left leg.
5. Advanced: If you can do the above easily, now try to lift 2 at the same time (right arm and left leg or left arm and right leg). Hold for 5 seconds and alternate, slowly.
6. The key of all these is to remain stable and move slowly.
   

Recipe #6: Turkey, Broccoli, and Gravy

This one is kind of like a hamburger helper without the noodles and cheese. I have substituted healthier options for pretty much all the ingredients and it turned out pretty well.

Ingredients: 1 lb. ground turkey breast (can substitute chicken breast if cheaper), 1 family size package of frozen baby-size broccoli florets, 1 package powdered brown gravy (I usually use MacCormick's), 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder

1.  Put the oil in a large frying pan and drop in your turkey over medium heat.
2. As your chopping up/mixing the turkey with a spatula, add in a solid dash of you salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders.
3. The turkey will take about 10 minutes to "brown" (It'll actually just turn white).
4. Turn the heat up a little as you mix in your frozen broccoli; let it heat up for a few minutes.
5. As your broccoli is warming, pour your gravy mix in a glass and slowly add about 1/2 cup of water, stirring the whole time; you want to make sure you are not leaving any powder dry
6. Pour you gravy mixture into the pan and stir it in as you turn the heat back to medium.
7. Let the gravy get to the consistency you would like and take the pan off the heat.

Estimated calories: ~800, good for at least 2 solid meals

As with all my meals, there is a good bit of fiber and protein without much fat.

Recipe #5: Tuna Salad

Here is the recipe that I use for a healthy tuna salad. It is super-quick, has minimal calories and fat and good serving of protein.

Ingredients: 2 small cans tuna in water, 2 tbsp. brown mustard, 1 tbsp. dill pickle cubes.

1. Drain the water from the tuna and pour in a bowl.
2. Mix mustard and pickles in thoroughly.

Estimated calories: ~225

Some other ingredients I have tried:

• I sometimes use a teaspoon of mayonnaise for flavor and texture; I do think that it makes a positive difference as far as the final dish goes but just know that mayonnaise is about the worst thing on earth as far as health goes. That one teaspoon adds about 30 calories and a good bit of fat.
• I also add in hot sauce, my go-to recently has been Sriracha and it definitely adds some extra flavor.
• On accident I got tuna in oil instead of water (It was in exactly the same packaging.) and if you ate it plain, you could taste a difference but when mixed in a tuna salad, it just added extra calories.

I use this as a quick snack or as part of a meal. As seems to be the theme of my diet, I eat things that are traditionally served on a starch by themselves and, honestly, I don't really notice the difference that much.

Urban "Hiking" Adventure

So going back to my goals post (here) I had started talking about a lot of the things that I had started to think of as goals were just cool physical activities that I would like to do. Some of the things I'm thinking of now:

• Long bike-ride (Possibly from Raleigh to Wilmington)
• Week-long + hike (Something like hiking from Georgia to Virginia on the Appalachian Trail)
• Compete in a challenging duathlon (eventually triathlons when I can get my swimming more respectable)
• Complete a half-marathon (maybe eventually a full)

More long-term:

• Do a section hike of the full AT.
• Do the same with the Mountains-to-Sea Trail in NC
• Finish an Iron Man Triathlon (see above, swimming 2.2 miles is not happening any time soon)

What does this have to do with today? Thinking of cool things that I would like to do, I had the bright idea to "hike" from where I live in east-Raleigh to where my parents live in Apex. I had been thinking of it for a few weeks now. I had looked at and printed out a route from Google Maps, using and modifying their pedestrian route function. It was about an 18-20 mile track and I knew that my normal pace would put me between 3.5-4 mph, so I planned on it taking me a little over 5 hours. Given my work schedule recently, I haven't had a chance to think about attempting it yet...until today.

So work is slow today and I get off early, the weather is perfect; I figure, "What the hell? Let's do it." I came home from work, ate lunch (black beans and eggs) and started to get ready. Packed my backpack with water and some peanuts as a snack and a long sleeve shirt for when the sun went down (I was starting at 2 pm, so it would be getting dark by my hypothetical finish time). I called my mom to make sure she could take me home afterwards and then I just set off walking.

At first I was alternating running and walking but, to be honest, my legs never felt great probably from playing soccer and a good bike-ride yesterday, so eventually I settled in at a good walking pace and was feeling okay. Some observations from the trip:

• Hiking alone is boring. Especially when you are "exploring" scenery that you see almost daily.
• This 5 hours was going to go by slow.
• Hard pavement is not the best thing to walk on for hours on end.
• Nice shoes are important. My shoes are nice but they are not the newest, so maybe they have too many miles on them or maybe my feet just aren't in the shape they needed to be in.

Things I saw other than totally normal things that I see all the time:

• An actual professional-wrestling match going on behind Sadlacks on Hillsborough St. complete with ring, crowd, referee, everything.
• The State Fair; I think I saw what I needed to see of it by just walking by it. (Addendum: I like the fair but maybe I like the idea of it better than I actually like going. I'm certainly not a fair-snob; maybe next year...)
• Pretty much everything else was normal...and that was a problem.

Maybe you can tell, but I wasn't having too much fun on the trip. The only thing keeping me going was wanting to finish; and since this was pretty much done on a whim, that wasn't that strong either. About mile 12-13ish, I was pulling into the heart of Cary and decided to give my mom a call and see what her situation was and she happened to be up the street so that pretty much settled it. I walked to where she was and we drove.

So definitely didn't make it but I'm okay with that. I felt like I was developing blisters on the entire balls of my feet and I have to work/be active for the rest of the week. My legs didn't feel that great and this wasn't really a big goal of mine in the first place. That being said, I will definitely have to work on my endurance a lot to meet my bigger goals. I knew it wasn't going to be easy but I didn't think it would hurt as much; I mean, I run 3.5 miles in one stretch every Wednesday night and run at least a mile almost every other day. Whatever, it's a starting point and I got in a very good workout. It also feels good to have just gone out and done it. So good day overall even though my feet and legs still hurt.


 Other Things I've Seen
That section on stuff I saw made me think of the weird things I've seen running around my house:

• The other night I'm running late-night and come within 30 feet of Bambi's dad, who is staring me down and looking like one big 200 lb., 8-point, fur-covered muscle. Needless to say it startled me, there is usually nothing else out moving.
• I say usually but that's not totally true: I saw his wife a couple of weeks ago. She passed 20 feet in front of me going about 30. She was trying to turn me into this guy. 
• About a month ago, I almost stepped on one of their poisonous nature-buddies. A copperhead had come out on the road and, as the sun had been going down, I came inches from stepping on his midsection.
• Probably the craziest thing was a giant owl just standing on the edge of the road at the end of my street. The thing looked to be about 2 feet tall and it didn't even move as I went by and I must have passed within 10 feet of it. I didn't see it until the last minute and it scared the crap out of me (I'm jumpy anyways).

So no need for any Ohio "zoo-owners" to make things more interesting around. Crazy what you can see within a mile of the Interstate. 

New Additions to My Strength Workout

My workout plan has the same overall scope but I have added some new things.

I am still working out almost every day: I try to put in at least 30 minutes but most times I want to do more than that. Running and biking are my main forms of cardio; I just got some new pedals/shoes for my road bike that I'm really liking now.

The things I have added are pretty simple, low-cost strength options. The main one is a pull-up bar. I got this one here:

It's from the people who make the "Perfect Push-up" and I have seen similar models on the market. This one was $30 but is a very high quality compared to the other removable bars that I have used. You can work out all kinds of different muscles using the pull up bar, here are some of the exercises that I do:

• Chin-ups - (This is where you grab the bar with the backs of your hands facing away from you.) You can place your hands inside the middle handles or just outside. When you go towards the middle, it works out your biceps more. Towards the outside, it works out your shoulders and upper back.
• Pull-ups - (Put your hands on the bar opposite the position of chin-ups.) The same principles above apply to these as well, I like to grab the bar on the far outside position and it really gets you shoulders and upper back.
• Grabbing the handles - This just tweaks the muscle groups and will let you totally burn out.
• As with my main strength plan, if you really want to burn your muscles, move slowly both up and down and you'll maximize you're workout time.

The other exercise is something that I saw watching a Crossfit thing on TV, it is the handstand push up. So all you do is do a handstand next to a wall and do a set of push ups in a shoulder press form. This will give you a good shoulder workout and get your balance and stabilizing muscles as well.

Couple these exercises with regular push-ups and you have a great upper body workout that you can use almost anywhere at any time.

Overview of the Blog So Far

It's been over a month now. Somewhere near 400 people have visited from 5 or 6 different countries; not really sure how it's being received but hopefully it's helping people reach their goals.

I've weighed in at 164 a few times, 43 lbs. total loss, and feel like right now I am still converting fat into muscle and seeing changes in my body composition.

What I wanted to do with this post is have an overview of links to all the past posts so they could be in one place that was easily accessible. So we'll start from the beginning...

Introduction
General Diet
Before and After Pics
Exercise Plan
Shopping/Meal Schedule
My Typical Strength Workout
Motivation, Goal-Setting and Measures of Health
Tips For Effectively Using Salad Bars
Restaurant Eating Tips

Here are the recipes:
Pinto Beans
Black Bean "Chili"
Turkey Sausage and Peppers
Chicken Fajitas

The North Carolina-themed "Get Outdoors" beginnings:
City of Raleigh Greenways
Hanging Rock State Park


My Typical Strength Workout

Get Outdoors #2: Hanging Rock State Park

I was watching a show on TV about a large vertical climb in Hawaii that has inspired people to get more active and challenge themselves. I thought this was really cool but I also thought of some stuff we have even closer in North Carolina.

About 2 hours drive from Raleigh there is Hanging Rock State Park (Link), that can give a great taste of outdoors and mountain-like terrain within an easy day-trip distance to the Triangle. (The picture on the top of the page is actually from a trip to Hanging Rock)

The main reason that I thought of Hanging rock when seeing the special on the couple thousand foot climb in Hawaii because on one trip there, me and a friend climbed Moore's Knob on the Moore's Knob Loop Trail which, after looking it up, climbs about 2,000 vertical feet to a total elevation of 2,579 feet over the course of a couple of miles. This sticks out in my head because it crushed me when we did this hike; I had to stop multiple times on the way up feeling like I was going to throw up. I would like to think I would do better now but I'm sure it would still be a good exercise for anyone. (To the left is a picture from after that climb a few years ago, I am as hot and sweaty as I look)

But Moore's Knob is not even close to the only thing at Hanging Rock, there is the namesake, "Hanging Rock," that has a pretty easy climb up and some great views. (Picture to the right.) It also has some good cliffs and rock structure if you like to explore or test your vertigo.

You can also camp here, which I have done numerous times, and form personal experience the NC State Parks are always well maintained.

But probably the coolest thing that you can see while exploring Hanging Rock is the 6 waterfalls that you can see and interact with. There are variety of shapes and sizes but all are worth seeing and you can get up-close and personal with all of them. (Lower Cascades picture to the left.) While there is more to still explore as far as trails and a swimming lake, you can see most of the stuff I've talked about so far in an event-packed day. You'll be exhausted by the end and have burned thousands of calories but while you are doing it, it won't feel like working out at all.












And here is one last picture from Hanging Rock, behind a waterfall called "Window Falls."

This is definitely a great example of why I think getting outdoors can be great as far as making sure that you are staying active and getting healthy.

Restaurant Eating Tips

It's been a few days since my last post; I've just been staying on course with my work-out/eating plan. I have been continuing to run, bike, strength-train, and fight-train for an average of about an hour everyday on top of my normal activities. I have also stayed on track with my diet. So as I predicted last week, I did weigh in at a new low of 164 lbs. yesterday morning. That is 43 lbs. of total weight loss since January and 9 lbs. more to go to my next goal point of 155 lbs. where I will have lost 52 total lbs. and over 25% of my total weight.

So...enough with the update and onto the post. I have talked about my diet in general and given examples of things that I cook at home but what about when you go out to eat? It is certainly easier to stay true to your diet when you eat at home; you can control everything that goes into your meals. Going out can make it tough but I can generally find something to eat on every menu although the selections are sometimes limited.

Here are some ideas and tips for eating out:

• Mexican places have a number of selections that are diet friendly (at least my diet). You can almost always switch out rice for beans and the other main hurdle is avoiding the chips and tortillas (which can be very difficult...especially the chips!) My two go to selections are Pollo Loco (chicken breasts, refried beans, and a guacamole salad) and Texas Fajitas (shrimp, steak, and chicken fajita meat, peppers and onions, refried beans, and a guacamole salad)
• Asian places are also good for a bigger selection of choices. The big thing with Asian dishes is that you obviously have to not eat the rice, although some restaurants with allow you to substitute cellophane noodles (which are made from mung beans) for a cost. Another thing to watch is to make sure that any of the meats are not breaded like a Sesame or General Tso's Chicken. But you can certainly eat effectively with this strategy at Chinese, Thai, Korean, or any other Asian places.
• Salads as meals can be tough at restaurants. They tend to like to add cheese, croutons, and other add-ons that do not fit with the diet and you can ask for them to be left off but at some point, you're not getting anything close to what you paid for.
• You can generally substitute a salad or veggies for the standard side of fries which allows for greater variety.
• Sometimes you have to get creative. At Hibernian, one of my dishes is hummus (chickpeas) with vegetables instead of the traditional pita slices. You might have to do something similar to find anything at some places.
• If in doubt, you can even have chicken wings, just as long as they are not breaded. Fried food is not ideal to eat all the time but if you are in a pinch, these appetizers can be your only option.

 So it's definitely easier to stay on your diet at home but when eating out, it just takes some creativity, attention to detail, and self-discipline to stay on track.

Recipe #4: Chicken Fajitas

Hello everyone, just wanted to give a personal update in case anyone is interested:

• On the exercise front, I have been doing a lot of the stuff I have talked about before: running, biking, weight training, and basic punching bag exercises/jumping rope. This weekend, I did a duathlon each day; I ran a mile, biked about 10 miles, then came back and ran another mile to finish it out. It's a good work-out and I felt good afterwards.
• My diet is going really well; I feel like I am staying very committed and hitting my target calorie and fat intake almost every day.
• I also added ground turkey breast to my "Black Bean Chili" while also increasing the recipe size and it worked out really well.
• I weighed in at 165 lbs. late last week, which tied my low a couple weeks ago, and since I weighed in this morning at 168 (1 day after my binge day), I feel like I will be able to reach a new low this week. We'll see what happens.
• On that note, if anyone is experimenting with/implementing any part of my plan or another weight-loss plan I would love to hear about any experiences, positive or negative.

On to the recipe. This is another pretty easy one, kind of like all of mine.

Ingredients: 1 package (about 2 lbs.) of boneless chicken (either breast or thigh filets), 1 medium white onion (sliced thin), 1 red bell pepper (sliced thin), 1 green bell pepper (sliced thin), 2 clove of garlic, 2 tbsp. vegetable/canola oil, 1 package fajita spice (I use McCormick)

-There are positives and negatives to breast or thigh meat: breast is less fat and calories but more expensive, thigh meat is a little less healthy, but is juicier and cheaper.

1. Cut the raw chicken into thin, bite-size strips. (Be careful to wash your hands after handling raw chicken and don't cross contaminate your kitchen/utensils)
2. Mince 1 garlic clove, pour the oil into a large frying pan over medium heat, and add in the garlic.
3. After letting the garlic roast for about 30 seconds, add the chicken to the pan and brown on all sides.
4. Remove the chicken.
5. Repeat Step #2, and add in onion.
6. After about a minute add in the peppers, let the veggies cook for a few more minutes (you don't want them too soft).
7. Add the chicken back to the pan with the spice packet and stir, you may need to add as much as a half-cup of water to get the spices to dissolve.
8. Bring to a simmer and cut off the heat.

You now have a few meals that, depending on your chicken choice, 1,000 to 1,400 calories. Similar to my sausage and peppers, I like to put it in Tupperware immediately and get out individual servings. If you want to make this even easier, you can substitute the frozen bag of peppers for the fresh, and it's really quick but I don't think it's as good.