Getting Nutrition Right

Tuesdays have been kind of rough for me. I'm out later than normal on Tuesday nights - leading an Israeli Dance group from 7pm to 10pm.

It means I'm on my feet and moving for 3 hours in the evening, I get home close to 11pm and by the time I get home I'm still a bit "amped up" from the activity level that it is difficult to fall asleep. Add that to my young kids who have been waking up around 5:45am lately (or last night, my younger one was up from 1am to 3am and then the older one woke up at 5:45am), I am usually dragging on Wednesday mornings. This is why I pushed out my Wednesday runs to my lunch break (when I can).

However, Tuesdays also presents a challenge nutritionally. I can't eat too much before leading dancing - this will make me feel heavy (so I can't move around as much) or give me a stomach ache or depending on what I've eaten - other GI issues (i.e. no eating black bean burritos before leading dancing...). But when I don't eat enough I feel ravenous afterward and munch on lots of snack food.

Lately, I have been eating a bigger and later lunch - which helps on the side of not eating too close to the dance session, but not on having enough in the tank to get me through. I'm going to try to bring an energy bar tonight - either to eat beforehand, or to munch on throughout the session - and see if that helps.

On a bigger picture for nutrition, when I visited the doctor in March, the doctor told me that I should lose at least 10 pounds. I weighed in at 170 lbs - which is still on the "safe" BMI for my height, but on the border of "overweight".

When I initially lost weight 5 years ago, I was down in the 160 lbs range. I have since yo-yo'ed between 160 lbs and 170 lbs. I believe the doctor would like me to yo-yo between 150 lbs and 160 lbs, if I need to yo-yo somewhere :-)

I ran the Frederick Marathon last year at 164 lbs. I had been down around 162 lbs about ten weeks into my training, but as the miles ramped up, so did my eating.

Anyhow, I'm currently weighing in at 168 lbs. Although I really don't want to be counting calories, if I don't start seeing the pounds gradually come off (goal for 1 pound a week) I will need to start counting them again...

Bright Sun, Heavy Legs

I got out for a noontime run today (OK..more like 12:30pm).

I went to the eye doctor this morning and my eyes were still a bit dilated. I was wearing sunglasses in front of my computer screen, so being outside in the bright sun was a little annoying - but I didn't want to go to the gym an run on the treadmill with sunglasses on (what a sight that would be!!!!)

This was my first official run since giving blood on Monday (I did a run/walk with my son yesterday morning...I'm not sure if that "counts" or not). The first half mile was rough. My legs were stiff and heavy; I was contemplating whether I should stop, turn around and try to run tomorrow morning instead. I somehow convinced myself that it would get better - and luckily it did.

As expected my HR was higher - but not by 15-20 bpm like I thought it may be. Average HR was 156 with an average pace of 10:55/mile. Last week I ran the same lake loop in a slightly faster time - 10:45/mile pace - and an average HR of just a tad lower - 154. Perhaps it won't take me a full three weeks to recover from the blood donation this time???

Check Up at the Doctor

Today was my "annual" physical (annual is in quotes, because I don't get one every year - it's more like every 2-3 years).  This included my blood work and cholesterol check (which is annual due to how high my cholesterol was 5 years ago and my family history of high cholesterol and heart disease).

I won't get my blood work results until Monday afternoon, but here's a few of the other numbers:

The good - Blood pressure - 108 over 70.  Resting Pulse - 48 (huh?  I'm usually around 60...she must have missed a beat or two)

The not so good - Weight - 170 lbs (damn doctor's scale!)

My doc took a look at me and said, "You don't look 170 pounds!"  Of course not, I'm the skinny guy, right???  But the doctor wants me to lose some weight - first goal should be 160 lbs, and then I should be able to get down to 150.  (I can't remember the last time I weighed 150 - maybe Middle School?)

The other thing is that I need to come in for an EKG.  We could not do it today because of the shag carpet I'm flaunting on my chest.  So I need to shave my own chest and make another appointment to do the EKG.  I'm not sure which I prefer, getting the EKG with my hairy chest and having the nurse pull off half the hair of my chest when taking the electrode sensors off (not pretty...been there, done that!) or having to shave my own chest and go to the doctor's office again.  I guess this time I don't have a choice...

So...today's doctor's appointment was no surprises.  Low pulse, low blood pressure, weight is a bit too high.  Cholesterol results will be in on Monday...stay tuned!

A Few Good Runs

This week, the schedule calls for 4, 7, 4 and 14 miles. But I did my 14 miler last weekend to swap with the 9 miler on last week's schedule.

I also had some "obstacles" on my schedule - I had a late rehearsal with the Israeli Dance group on Tuesday night (we were dancing past midnight, ouch!) for our upcoming performance on Sunday in New York (I'll try to post videos of the performances early next week...). I have my doctors appointment Thursday morning - since I'm doing bloodwork (yes, that cholesterol test I'm still cramming for) I need to fast and can't run that morning. Oh, and I'm leaving for New York on Saturday afternoon for the Israeli Dance festival - which is the main reason I switched the long run schedules in the first place.

I started off the week right with a 4 mile easy run on Monday morning. I hit the treadmill at the gym. I was amazed at how effortless the run seemed - 4 miles in 42:58, 10:45/mile and an average HR of 144. After Saturday's 14 mile run, this one seemed like a walk in the park.

Tuesday morning was my speedwork run. The schedule said 7 miles, but I had a long day ahead of me with the late Israeli Dance rehearsal that night, so I decided to cut the run short. I did a pyramid intervals run on the treadmill at the gym - 1 mile warm-up and then intervals of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1.0 and 1.0 miles with 0.25 mile recoveries. The warm-up and recoveries were at 5.4 mph and the intervals at 7.4 mph (just under an 8:00/mile). The last interval I bumped up the pace to 8.0 mph towards the end. 5.5 miles in 50:20; average pace of 9:10/mile with an average HR of 151.

Today I'm just plain tired. It's almost a blessing that my doctor's appointment is tomorrow morning! I'll likely do an easy run on Friday morning of 3 or 4 miles and then the 9 mile long run on Saturday morning.

Another Busy Week

It's been another busy week at work, along with everything else outside of work, so blogging - and reading blogs - got put aside again.

I looked in my Google Reader subscriptions, and I have over 60 blog posts to read. And it's not like I follow 200+ blogs like Marcy does...

Fortunately, running did not get put aside! I have 12 miles in this week (6 on Monday, 3 on Tuesday and a sneaky 3 lunch-time run yesterday). I'm planning on a 12 mile long run tomorrow, which should give me 24 miles for the week. That's the most I've done so far this year. Yes, I need to ramp up the mileage in the next few weeks as I prepare for the half marathon on April 19.

The other thing I need to prepare for - my yearly check up at the doctor. I've set it on the calendar - March 26 - so I have two weeks to shed a few pounds and eat less fatty foods so my cholesterol readings don't shoot through the roof. Am I the only one who crams for their cholesterol test???