Week 40, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 190

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.8*

Today's blood pressure: 136/83

Today's food: yogurt, peach, barbeque chicken, spaghetti with meatballs, small bowl of popcorn

Today's exercise: run 2 miles

* new low

Week 39 Wrapup

The long run this week was supposed to be 20 miles. I stocked up on a wide variety of gels, clif energy chews, and even Jelly Belly Sports Beans™. I also stashed two frozen gatorades on the trail.

I hit the trail at 4:00 AM, and the first 15 miles went great. I felt like I had plenty of energy. By mile 16, though, I was really, really hot. After about 16 1/2 miles, I just held my head under a drinking fountain for about 5 minutes and didn't feel any better, so I just sat in the shade for a few minutes. I got up and ran to where I had the second gatorade, but didn't feel any better after that, so I just walked back to the car.

It was a really painful walk back, too. I was wearing my older pair of shoes, and I think I need to retire them soon, and definitely keep them on the shorter runs in the meantime.

The unofficial reading I got later in the day was a high of 113, so I don't think I'm being too much of a baby or anything. I saw lots of other runners on the trail that were running way faster who are probably able to manage it just because they're better trained, thinner, and not stupid enough to run such long distances. Either way, I was envious of the fact that they weren't as visibly struggling.

I'm debating whether or not to take steps to try to lose more weight (like actually diet). My new theory is that if I were to lose another 20 pounds or so, I'd be much better at running. This is based on the assumption that carrying less bulk around makes me run better, but also on the as yet unproven assumption that all the extra fat I'm carrying is actually insulating me and making my body hotter than it would be otherwise. If I can find something to back up this assumption, than I might actually try eating less (gasp!).

Either way, the one thing that I'm very clear about is that I will in no way be ready for a marathon in three weeks.

Week 39, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 189.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 190.9*

Today's blood pressure: 136/89

Today's food: banana, 1 1/2 salmon burgers, bowl of peanuts, pulled pork sandwich, 2 ears of corn

Today's exercise: day of rest

* new low

Week 39, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): 190.6

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.0

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: clif bar 400-500 calories of gels and things, 4 liters of gatorade, turkey sandwich, can of pepsi, peach, chips and salsa, 3 cookies, ribeye steak, baked potato, can orange soda, can pepsi, haagen dazs bar

Today's exercise: run 16.5 miles

Week 39, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): 189.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.0*

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: granola, 1/2 peach, spaghetti and meatballs, green beans, 2 pieces garlic cheese bread

Today's exercise: none

* new low

Week 39, Day 4

Weight (today's reading): 188.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.2*

Today's blood pressure: 139/81

Today's food: yogurt, solaris (escargot, 2 rolls, kobe beef burger, tiramisu), small bean burrito, peanuts

Today's exercise: none

* new low

Week 39, Day 3

Weight (today's reading): 188.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.5*

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: yogurt, nectarine, hot dog estilo sonora, 2 pieces barbeque chicken, pizza buffet (salad, 2 breadsticks, three pieces pizza, 2 chicken wings, a few bites of lasagna and spaghetti, cottage cheese with peaches, mountain dew), pretzels

Today's exercise: 1 mile warmup, 3 miles @ 8:57, 1 mile cooldown

* new low

Week 39, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 188.6*

Weight (weighted moving average): 191.8*

Today's blood pressure: 140/93

Today's food: pop tart, yogurt, 2 plums, pork tenderloin sandwich, onion rings, orange chicken, rice, broccoli, watermelon, cherries, barbeque chicken

Today's exercise: run 2 miles

* new lows

Week 39, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 190

Weight (weighted moving average): 192.1*

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: corn muffin, yogurt, banana, leftover pork roast and potatoes, beef 'n' cheddar, curly fries

Today's exercise: none - too much work tonight

* new low

Week 38 Wrapup

This was a rest week, with easy runs all week. Next week starts the last phase of the marathon training program, with a long run of 20 miles, then starting in to the taper.

For the last few months, I've been doing pushups after my runs. This week I couldn't do any because I've screwed up my left shoulder/clavicle/armpit somehow. I don't think the pushups screwed them up, because I haven't increased the number I'm doing in weeks. It's more likely that I slept on it funny, or I have some sort of shoulder cancer or something. I first noticed it on the drive back from Alex's house last week. It's gotten slightly better all week, but if it doesn't improve in a few more days, I'll consider going to the doctor or the acupuncturist or shaman or something.

Week 38, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 190*

Weight (weighted moving average): 192.3*

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: banana, bowl of cherries, 1/2 pint of beans + tortilla and cheese, barbeque cornish game hen, corn muffin, broccoli, jello, plum, fritos

Today's exercise: day of rest

* both new lows

Week 38, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): 191

Weight (weighted moving average): 192.6*

Today's blood pressure: 125/74

Today's food: 2 plums, costco samples, leftover lamb stew, crock pot pork roast with potatoes and green bean, watermelon, thai noodle stir-fry

Today's exercise: run 6 miles

* new low

Week 38, Day 5

Weight (today's reading): 191

Weight (weighted moving average): 192.8

Today's blood pressure: 130/76

Today's food: nectarine, 8 mini donuts, spanky's (teriyaki-pineapple chicken sandwich, side of cottage cheese, handful of fries, 1 onion ring)

Today's exercise: none

Week 38, Day 4

Weight (today's reading): 191.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 193.0

Today's blood pressure: 131/75

Today's food: banana, yogurt, hot dog estilo sonora, banana, leftover tortelloni mixed with leftover london broil, cheeseburger, watermelon, popcorn, circus animal cookies

Today's exercise: none

Week 38, Day 3

Weight (today's reading): 191.4

Weight (weighted moving average): 193.2

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: banana, yogurt, chicken/broccoli lean pocket, el pollo feliz (two pieces chicken, 1 ear corn on the cob, beans, tortilla), mike and ikes, handful of pretzels

Today's exercise: run 6 miles

Week 38, Day 2

Weight (today's reading): 191.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 193.4

Today's blood pressure: 143/84

Today's food: banana, yogurt, manuel's (chips and salsa, ribeye, baked potato), sausage and onion and pepper and potato skillet dinner

Today's exercise: none

Week 38, Day 1

Weight (today's reading): 196.8

Weight (weighted moving average): 193.6

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: banana, chicken/broccoli lean pocket, beef and rice noodle stir fry, 1/2 chocolate chip cookie

Today's exercise: run 7 miles

Week 37 Wrapup

This week the tempo run on Wednesday went fine, which was a marked improvement from the last tempo run two weeks ago. The long run was 16 miles this week. I thought it would go just fine since I had done 20 last week. However, I did it a day early because I was going to be out of town, and that made me suffer a little bit. Also, I just couldn't stomach eating another clif bar, and I hadn't gone down to the running store to find any gels yet, so I had no nourishment on the course aside from the two liters of gatorade I had on my back.

So, the 16 ended up the same way that last week's 20 did, with me kind of petering out the last 2 miles. My dad was out bike riding at the same time, and we met up about halfway through my run. He rode slowly alongside me for a few miles while we chatted, so that helped me out a little bit.

One highlight of this week's long run was my first really gnarly blister. I have had maybe only three blisters from running prior to this, and those were very infrequent. After yesterday's run, though, I notice a huge blood blister on the tip of my left middle toe. Those middle toes were the sites of my blisters before, so I don't know if that means I've got the wrong shoe size or what. Either way, I stuck a needle in it, and it was under such pressure that blood actually spattered across the bathroom on to the wall. I highly doubt this one will be the last I see, either.

On Friday night I went up to my cousin Alex's house for the semi-annual McRae Bachelor Party/Video Game Fest where all the men-folk get together for two days to play video games and eat, and leave their women-folk to do women things together (like see Mamma Mia in this case). We also saw The Dark Knight on Saturday. I ate quite a lot there, as well as eating a lot on Friday as well. I was kind of alarmed to find out that my weight on Sunday was around 5 and a half pounds higher than my weight on Friday. I know it's not possible for me to have actually gained this much weight unless I had eaten well over 20,000 calories in those 48 hours, but it was still disconcerting. The real reason for the weight gain is that all of the crap I ate over those two days is sitting in my gut waiting to be pooped out. It will take a couple of days, but I'll be back down to normal in short order.

Week 37, Day 7

Weight (today's reading): 198.2

Weight (weighted moving average): 193.3

Today's blood pressure: forgot

Today's food: banana, leftover meatballs, 1/2 chocolate chip cookie, bowl of cherries, cheeseburger macaroni with a side of broccoli, watermelon, dq chocolate dipped cone, more watermelon, 2 chocolate chip cookies

Today's exercise: day of rest

Week 37, Day 6

Weight (today's reading): not at home

Weight (weighted moving average): 192.7

Today's blood pressure: not at home

Today's food: from what I can remember, it's a muffin, cookie, squirt, large popcorn, 2 large cherry cokes, root beer, orange cream soda, a few more cookies, spaghetti, 2 bratwurst

Today's exercise: none

gorging myself at the movies and at alex's house