General Jackassery

46 Miles, 150 miles, 6 reasonably difficult climbs and one’s a flat out bitch. That’s what I’ve done in the last two weeks and I’ve even been traveling. I have run 46 miles at an average pace of 9 minutes 30 seconds per mile. I’ve ridden 150 miles at an average speed of around 17.5, I’ve climbed Bankhead parkway 4 times, Cecil Ashburn once up the front and once up the back in the same day and I climbed Keel Hollow Road (probably the hardest climb I’ve ever done).

I was in Monterey, CA last week so it was an actual pleasure to go for jogs on the coastal trail. But when I got back on Saturday it was back to the heat and humidity. Jackie and I drove down to the Jones Valley shopping center and set out on our bikes up and over Cecil Ashburn and out to Keel Mountain. I road up to the top and then we headed back over Cecil Ashburn to the car. Not a bad 35 mile ride. I had a blast; I think Jackie thinks I’m doped up or something.

In my last couple of post I’ve talked about having some trouble with Plantar Fasciitis and I have to say I’ve been taking the Physical Therapist’s advice. I have had no problems with running the last couple of trips out and my foot is not nearly as tight in the mornings when I wake up. It seems like I’m finally healing up and starting really progress nicely towards my training goals. As I mentioned up top I’ve been running sub 10 minute miles in just about all of my runs, even the longer ones, and I have been feeling better and better.

Fundraising seems to be in the ebb and flow cycle. I seem to go through spurts where I raise $400-$500 dollars and then I’m stuck for a while. I’ve been putting out some feelers for corporate sponsorships but I haven’t gotten any bites yet. If you know anyone who’s got some spare change lying around it would be really nice to have someone drop $1000 to help get me over the top.

On another note, my buddy Kari is in town from Finland and we’re heading up to the Blue ridge Parkway next week to ride bikes. Kari is planning on riding the entire 469 miles of the BRP in a one shot deal, non-stop that is. I plan to try to ride about 120 miles or so in the 28 hours that it will take him to ride the whole thing. This will serve as a great training ride for the record attempt that I will take part in in August. On August 25th, I will take part in a team-relay record attempt where three other guys and I will attempt to ride from Cherokee, NC to Waynesboro, VA relay style and we’ll try to do in less than 26 hours. Should be a lot of fun. We will ride from the start of the BRP to the end of the BRP exiting the BRP only during the night time hours when we ride on Highway 221 from Blowing Rock to an area in Virginia where we’ll get back on the Parkway at dawn. Stay tuned for more updates on that.

Well that’s about it for now. Hope all is well out there in the world. Good talking to you.

You never know what I’m going to get into. I’ve made a lot of excuses lately. I’ve been traveling a lot, I had the shoulder surgeries and I’ve worked some long hours over the last month. While those might seem like good excuses for not exercising, they’re not good excuses for not eating right.

I worked very hard to lose the 40 lbs that I’ve lost and while I feel better than I’ve every felt I haven’t reached my goal. The problem seems to be that I’ve settled into this mode of feeling good and not really having the desire to commit myself to continuing the process of Operation Svelte. In all honesty I have another 35 lbs that I want to lose. I want to know what it’s like to be “thin.” I’m in the best shape of my life, and I’m probably close to the lowest body fat percentage of my life. Unfortunately I’m still considered overweight by medical standards. On the day that Sarah and I got married, I weighed 286 lbs and had a BMI of 34.8 (Obese). Today I weigh 238 and have a BMI of 29 (Overweight) to get “Normal” I must weigh 204 and have a BMI of less than 24.9. Now, I understand that BMI doesn’t take your skeleton into account or muscle mass. But, I’ve got a relatively small frame for my size and my only muscle mass is in my legs. So, I should be able to get down to 204 and that’s where I want to be. I would like to be classified as “Normal” for the first time in my life. It may be the only thing that’s normal about me, but that’s fine.

Where things have gone awry is in the fact that I’ve had a really hard time motivating myself. I really do feel great, my clothes fit so much better, I sleep better, I have more energy, and I’m the poster child for weight loss and its positive effects. That is what makes it so difficult to get past this point. You get caught in the web of comfort that and start to think that this is good enough. It’s not, not yet.

Sarah and I talked about this when we got back from vacation and I told her that this was something that I needed to do. I’ve always been someone who has had great goals and ambitions, but I’m not really a finisher. I tend to get off on great starts and then somewhere along the way I lose interest and never finish. I haven’t had a lot of personal successes lately and I feel like I need them more now than ever. I need to know that I can set goals and accomplish them.

A while back I created Todder’s List of Unfinished Projects, I put that list on my refrigerator and after two years I have still not completed all of the tasks. Some where too expensive, but others were left due to laziness and lack of desire. Today I’m laying out a new list of Unfinished Projects and I want you to help me stay motivated to finish them.

1) Finish Losing the Weight. I will set small incremental goals along the way to help myself stay on track. My first goal is to get back down to 235. My second goal will be to get down to 230. You get the picture, but the ultimate goal is to get down to 204.
2) Raise and additional $3000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I’ve already raised $1000 in about 6 weeks. I have until October 28th to finish raising the rest of the money. Again, I’m setting incremental goals of $500 at a time. When I get to $1500 I’ll look for $2000. The minimum amount I have to raise is $3300, but I want more. I definitely need your help with the fundraising. I’m asking you to ask your friends and family members to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on my behalf.
3) Complete the Marine Corps Marathon on October 28th. Complete means not only finish, but finish well and be able to walk afterwards. I will accomplish this by getting back on track with my training runs. I ran 3.6 miles on the road on Wednesday at an 8:58 min/mile pace and I did a 3.5 mile trail run yesterday at 11:00 min/mile pace. I’m working hard on keeping my Plantar Fasciitis under control by stretching and specific exercises to loosen up and strengthen my foot. This Saturday I’ll do a 10 mile run and next week I’ll get back to my three mid-week runs.
4) As part of my overall fitness regimen I’ve been back to riding my bike. This allows me to work the cardiovascular system without beating my joints to a pulp. However, there is a new goal attached to cycling. On August 25th, I’m hoping to take part in a Team-Relay Ultra-cycling event. Three other riders and I will ride from the Southern Terminus of the Blue-Ridge Parkway to the Northern Terminus in less than 28 hours straight. We will probably take turns of 30 minutes or less on the bike and rotate on and off the bike for the better part of 28 hours. The total length of the ride will be 458 miles.
5) As a continuation of my cycling efforts, I would like to ride the Six-Gap Century in September.

Okay, those are my current goals. I’ll keep you posted on how everything is going. I know it sounds like a lot of stuff, but the fitness stuff is all pretty intertwined.