Why the Bionx Pedal-Assist is Not Cheating

This weekend I installed a Bionx PL-350 system on my trusty Trek 7100. It was a hefty investment, but it's worth it because now I can ride anywhere in the city, sweating as much or as little as I want, hills be damned! Why, just yesterday I rode to the National Shrine, to a cafe, and back home - 16 miles of undulating hills that, unassisted, would have killed me and left me exhausted. But with the Bionx on a high level of assist, I rode to church in my Sunday best without getting sweaty, and afterward I turned the assist down and got a pretty solid workout coming home. I was exhilarated and dripping with perspiration by the time I got home, but I wasn't WIPED OUT, like I would have been normally. The Bionx gives me the freedom to ride where I otherwise wouldn't. Without assist, I would not have attempted Sunday's ride; I simply would have driven.

When people find out I bought an electric pedal assist for my bike, there are two common responses.

Average Joe: Cool! I've heard about those. Sounds fun.
Cyclist: THAT'S CHEATING. You're such a cheater, Mister Cheater.

My standard response to Average Joe is "Yeah, it is fun! Really helps with the hills." We both walk away smiling and I am left with the thought that there are lots of friendly people in this world.

Then comes the Cyclist. He is usually very skinny, owns thousands of dollars in Lycra and Spandex, and has a 15-pound bike made of carbon fiber infused with Borg nanobots. And he is looking at me with derision I have previously only seen directed at people who stand to the left on the Metro escalators.

To the Cyclist, biking and sweating are synonymous. He enjoys nothing more than the long haul, dripping, drenched, standing on the pedals and pumping harder. The downhill is your reward for making it uphill. Hills build character. Stop whining. Cheater.

I have developed a few responses to this particular breed of judgmental creature. Each responses satisfies me, but is very unlikely to satisfy the Cyclist.

Cyclist: That's cheating.
Me: ...I wasn't aware there were rules?

I thought this sort of rhetorical response would make them pause and think and realize that, of course, outside of a race, biking has no rules. Cheating is by definition impossible without rules to break. I expected smiles all around, the Cyclist perhaps asking if he could try my Bionx, and then maybe we would all go out for drinks and we would sing drinking songs about our glorious rides past.

Yes, I live in a fantasy land.

Cyclist: Of course there are rules. You have to pedal.
Me: I do pedal! I just use assist on the hills so I can get up them.
Cyclist: Just shift to a lower gear. Hills will get easier.
Me: I have used the granny gears. I don't particularly like getting up a hill at 4 mph and still feeling totally burned out at the top. I don't see what the big deal is?
Cyclist (look of disgust): YOU'RE CHEATING.

So, given that the Cyclist abhors cheaters, and likes to do everything the old fashioned way, with sweat and tears and sore muscles, I change my approach.

Cyclist: That's cheating.
Me: How heavy is your bike?
Cyclist: About 20 pounds.
Me: That's cheating! Mine is 33!
Cyclist: Whatever, I'm still pedaling.
Me: I'm pedaling too. Do you have a road bike?
Cyclist: Of course.
Me: That's cheating! Your tires are so skinny! It's so much easier to go fast on your bike. I have a hybrid!
Cyclist: I'm still pedaling.
Me: So am I. Do you use wicking fabric?
Cyclist: ...yes.
Me: That's cheating! I ride around in a cotton shirt! You're giving yourself all these advantages!
Cyclist: Whatever, I'm still pedaling. Cheater. You are the lowest of the low. Get off my path.

Apparently, every advantage in the book - feather-light materials, skinny tires, racing geometry - why that's just part of the sport! But a pedal-assist on hills? Cheating!

There is nothing one can say to calm the haters. So most times I don't even try. I just smile, bow to their "superior" stamina and character, and let them zoom away. And then I get on my bike and dial in the exact level of assistance that will let me achieve whatever goal I have at the moment. Do I want to get to work in a hurry yet not have to take a shower when I get there? Push the assist up to maximum and make heavy use of the Throttle button. Do I want to get a great workout on the way home? Keep assist on level 0 (nothing), or 1 (equivalent to a nice tailwind), and power up those hills.

That's not cheating. That's smart.

On Hills

I want to talk about hills.

It turns out I have been doing them all wrong.

There’s this major hill by my house, and it’s great because the long 4.6% decline on the way to work gets me up to over 25 mph and is super awesome. It’s a great way to start the day and make my way the 13 miles to work.

Perceptive readers already know what’s coming next: Returning home is murderous. I have never been able to get all the way back up the 4.6% incline without getting off and pushing. Even on the walk-and-push section, my pulse approaches 170 and it Ruins My Day.

I love riding my bike on the flats, and on the declines, and even on the slight inclines. But over 4 percent is just too much for me – or so I thought. After extensive research on The bike forum on the Internet, I realized I’m probably in too high a gear. Apparently that’s a common problem for beginners – we think we need to pedal hard to get up a hill. That’s only partially right. What’s more important is pedaling fast – in a lower gear.

Could I make it up the giant hill that had always bested me? It was time to find out. This massive hill comes after a deep valley of sorts, so there’s always a steep downhill portion that precedes it. On the downhill, I pumped as hard as I could in my highest gear, trying to build enough momentum to take me mostly up the other side.

Gravity soon began to slow me, and I turned the left handlebar gear to “1” and began spinning.  My right handlebar gear was on 7… too hard… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2…

Gah! Chain is not staying! Something’s going wrong! Bike is trying to shift but can’t!

Okay, turn it back to 1-3. Chain is secure. I can do this. Spin spin spin.

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever, I actually made it all the way up that hill without getting off to push. My pulse was 160 and I was going less than six miles an hour and it SUCKED, but I was doing it. After riding at speeds averaging around 7 mph for the next tenth of a mile, I made it over the top, and from then on out, things got better. I hit 25 mph on the next 4 percent decline, and it was awesome.

But a half mile later, I still couldn’t ride through my apartment complex parking lot to my building at the back – which is, of course, at the top of another massive hill. I was just too tired.

In conclusion! Three truths:

1. I can do hills with a 4 percent incline if I shift to the granny gears. I just have to resign myself to going 6 mph.
2. Just because I can do them doesn’t mean I have to like it. Hills SUCK even if I am in the granny gears. And I’m pretty much done for the day after a hill that’s just a couple blocks long.
3. The Bionx is looking more and more tempting each day…

Have I foreshadowed enough?

Join us next time.

Oh yeah, I rode 40 miles

So I have already saturated all my other online media outlets with this news, live-tweeting at five-mile intervals, uploading pictures on my journey, and generally delighting in my accomplishment for several hours and days afterward... but I forgot to mention it here. And I really think I should, since this is, after all, my Fitness Blog of Record:

I rode my bike 40 miles!

This was about 10 days ago, on a Saturday, when I had grown accustomed to my regular 13 mile commute to work, and I wanted more of a challenge. So on a warm and humid weekend morning, I strapped up my heart rate monitor, filled my water bottles, and headed out on the two-trail 20 mile journey from Silver Spring to Old Town.



The ride out took a little over 90 minutes, and entailed taking the Capital Crescent Trail (my daily trail) 12 miles from Silver Spring to Georgetown, then crossing the Key Bridge over the Potomac, and taking the Mt. Vernon Trail the remaining 8 miles to Old Town.

The ride out was thrilling. I'm pretty good at the Crescent trail since I ride it all the time, so that was no problem. After a few minutes of quizzical searching - as I had forgotten to map out exactly how to get from the sea-level trail to the 100-foot-level Key Bridge - I found a roundabout street path that led me there. The next 8 miles were a nice little bit of reminiscing, as I used to ride the Mt. Vernon Trail to get to my old job in Crystal City about 4 years ago.

The Mt. Vernon Trail is mostly flat, so it was an easy 8 miles... I will admit to passing a fair number of people and bikers on the way, as its posted "10 mph" speed limit is utterly ridiculous for a flat trail. On the way there were beautiful views of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, and kayakers enjoying the water.

I felt great until about mile 17, at which point I began to feel a little winded. Fortunately, Old Town was just a few miles ahead of me, and so I soldiered on. After another 15 minutes, I made it!

A friend said this looks like a magazine cover :-)

Having gotten to Old Town, I realized something rather pressing. I had no idea what to do next.

There were definitely a good dozen dead flies on each arm.

I walked my bike around for a while, and eventually settled on Thai food. It was delicious.

I was so proud, I Skyped my parents to tell them all about Matt's Big Adventure!

"You're riding too much! You'll hurt your knees!" --Mom

Fully satiated, it was time to head back. I knew the trip back would not be as pleasant as the trip out, but I didn't realize it was also going to be 10 degrees hotter (mid-80s) and that I would be totally exhausted. It turns out 20 miles is a great distance for me. FORTY miles is insane, at least at my current level of fitness.

It didn't help that the last 10 miles are mostly uphill. After around cumulative mile 31, it was a matter of sheer will to get back home. Luckily I was still surrounded by the beauty of nature, so it wasn't all bad.

When I arrived, I wiped all the dead bugs off my sun-block covered arms, and collapsed on the floor in a heap.  It took about 3 days to recover, but I found that the next time I got on the bike to ride my normal 13 miles to work, everything felt about 20 percent easier. It was incredible! I felt so much stronger! I can't wait to do a long trip again. :-)

I passed 200 miles this weekend... I was having so much fun I didn't even realized I'd hit that milestone. I think I'm up to around 230 now -- and that doesn't count the 16 miles' worth of testing pedal-assist ebikes this weekend................ (DUN DUN DUN)

Join us next time when I explain why pedal-assist is NOT, in fact, "cheating."

On the Joy of Trails - or - Why I Will Not Take the City Shortcut Again

When I decided to try bicycle commuting from Silver Spring to downtown DC, the first choice was whether to take the Capital Crescent Trail, or just to make a straight shot down 14th Street into the city core. The trail would take a long time, but it would be safer - no traffic. The straight shot wouldn't be as peaceful, but it would be a lot faster. For the first couple weeks, I made the 12.7-mile hour-long journey around the Capital Crescent Trail. Today, for the first time, I took the direct route: Seven miles straight into town. Even with traffic and stoplights, it only took a little over 40 minutes, effectively cutting my commute time by a third. Instead of lazily wandering my way around the outskirts of town, I went right in there and got 'er done. So, I'll be commuting like this every day, right?

HELL TO THE NO.

I far prefer the hour-long trail journey, for many, many reasons, presented here in reverse order. I will try to recall them here, but bear in mind I am still woozy from all the bus fumes I inhaled this morning, so I might miss a few.

• Asshole Cabbies and Ignorant Trucks.
  
  I really do like the concept of "bike lanes." Even though I'm really no farther from the cars than I would be if they just went around me, that solid white line provides an impregnable mental barrier and gives me the confidence I need to just keep swimming, just keep swimming. At least, that's the theory. All too often it's blocked by a megatruck that's decided to rest a while while the CVS unloads some shipments, or by a reckless taxi driver who thinks "bike lanes" and "passing lanes" are synonymous. Actually it's not just taxis that do this, but they seem to be the most flagrant violator. So sometimes when my path is blocked, I have to move into the traffic lane, but there's no room, so I am just stuck there breathing in fumes, until I decide to just pick my bike up and bring it to over the sidewalk, where I have to walk it past hundreds of people until I can get back onto the road.
  
  
• Metric Fuckton of Hills.
  
  For some reason, I had the impression that riding from Silver Spring to downtown DC was basically one big hill. After all, Silver Spring is at 340 feet above sea level; DC is basically at sea level. That's 340 feet over 7 miles, or about an 8 percent decline. But it didn't play out like that, ohhh no. Here's the log from today's trip -- be sure to check out the elevation profile at the bottom:
  
  
  See that? That's not a smooth slope. That's a series of extended half-pipes culminating with a mega hill at mile 1.5, a minor mega-hill just before mile 2, another at 2.5 and 2.75, then again at 4, until FINALLY we see the big quarter-mile roller coaster drop off just before mile 6. So there's a lot of uphills, which sucks, but it's usually not so bad because uphills have a built-in reward: downhills. But EVEN THE DOWNHILLS ARE NOT FUN, because there are so many Stop Lights and Pedestrians and Weaving Cars and Inattentive Drivers and The Possibility of Danger, that you can't just sit back and enjoy the hills. Which brings me to the main problem...
  
• Not Enough "Weeeeeeee!" Time.
  
  Here's what it comes down to. The only way I am going to ride to work is if it's fun. Dodging traffic and dealing with hills is not fun. It gets me to work faster, sure, but it feels so... utilitarian. I'm getting some exercise, yeah, and I'm getting there about as fast as I would with the metro. But it's not fun. It's not something I seek out. It's not something I dream about.
  
  I dream about the bike trails. I dream about the long 4-mile gently sloping uphill ride into Bethesda, and more to the point, I dream about the amazing 8-mile downhill into DC. I don't buy bike gear and wake up early and get all suited up to go pedal through traffic; I do it so I can feel the intensity of powering up that long big hill, and the rush of reaching the other side. I do it for that feeling we all get on long steep hills with no cars to dodge and no stop lights to contend with. I do it for the Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!
  
  I dream about the trails because I get to ride to work under a beautiful green canopy, surrounded by nature, passing waterfalls and streams, and when the trail opens up into a view of the Potomac and I've gone over 10 miles and there are only 2 left, I feel satisfied and content and happy. And I'm smiling all the way to work.
  
  And when I get there, I can't wait to do it again tomorrow.
  
  Cut 20 minutes off a beautiful journey by shortcutting through a noisy, crowded metropolis?
  
  Why on earth would I want to do that?

Zen and the Art of Cycling

I am finding cycling to be invigorating, refreshing, relaxing, and therapeutic. The other day I snapped a shot of the Potomac on my ride home from work:

On Saturday I met up with a friend in Bethesda and we rode along the trail together! It was the first time I've ever gone bike riding with someone. :-) Here we are being awesome:

I have admittedly gone kind of wild with the bike-related spending. But it's all in the name of safety, so I'm okay with it. My blinking lights are awesome but I think my favorite item has been the Reflective Dots and Dashes, which I got on clearance at City Sports for $2.86.  Check out my helmet!

Looks like my reflectors work!

This morning I woke up too late to ride to work and by the end of the day I was regretting it. After a long day at work I was so wound up, and I realized how great the hourlong bike ride home felt last week. It's hard, especially on the uphills, but it's also calming. I almost crave it.

Notice that I haven't talked about calories or my heart rate or anything like that. I've just been talking about how fun and relaxing and invigorating it is. Oh, I'm still strapped up and I know I'm burning about 1,000 calories a ride, but that's not what I think about, it's not what I'm focused on. I just want to get back on there and ride some more. It's exercise, but it doesn't feel like exercise. It just feels... awesome.  And THAT is how I know this is going to help me shed some weight.  :-)

Biking to Work Rocks

I rode to work today and it was AWESOME.
I made a trial run on Saturday, checking to see how long it would take, and to see whether the trip back was doable or far too uphill. (Answer: Doable.) This morning I strapped up my heart rate monitor, completely immersed myself in blazing yellow spandex, and set out on the 12-mile arc.
Below is an incredibly cool interactive map of the trip. Go ahead and click the "Speed" and "Heart Rate" check boxes to see them overlaid on the elevation graph. (Isn't that cool!)

In total, the ride took about an hour of actual riding time, six minutes of resting or waiting around at stop lights, and ten minutes of enduring taunts from coworkers when I showed up wearing skin-tight bike shorts. The hour is only about 10-15 minutes longer than it would take for me to take the metro (walking to metro + riding the train + walking to office), and I arrived at work with my exercise already done for the day!
If the calculations are to be believed, I burned over *900 calories* on my ride -- and I felt GREAT when I got to work! Totally energized, and -- after a quick hop in the office shower -- ready to go. (NB: I did need coffee about an hour later.) Over the last couple hours I have felt the slightly odd combination of tired and wired.
I've also been incredibly hungry all day; going forward I'll be sure to have some more protein and slow-digesting carbs before I head out.
I've got choir rehearsal tonight so I plan to leave my bike here, take the metro to work in the morning, and ride back tomorrow evening.
So far, so good.

SCHWARTZ ARMSTRONG

I went on a 9 mile bike ride on the Capital Crescent Trail and I loved it! 

That is the good news.

It has come to my attention that I am kind of fat.

That is the bad news.

Hopefully, those two pieces of news will take care of themselves. By taking the Capital Crescent Trail about 12 miles to work a few days a week, I hope to have fun AND melt away the pizza pounds at the same time. (NB: This will work better if I stop adding NEW pizza pounds. Believe me, I am trying to work up to that.)

My bike had just been sitting around, gathering dust, ever since it came out of storage 7 months ago. It was leaning up against my bedroom wall and the tires were deflated and it looked very sad. So a couple mornings ago I filled up the tires and rode it a couple times around my apartment's parking lot... seemed sturdy enough... the next day was beautiful and so I decided to see what the trails around here have to offer...

Wow!

It was a blast!

I was kind of nervous at first, because I haven't ridden in a while, and because the first part of the trail is a packed gravel, which I'm not used to - it's kind of bumpy. But after a few minutes I got the hang of it, and over four miles went by like they were nothing. I rested briefly near a fountain in beautiful downtown Bethesda, took a couple pictures to prove I had been there.

The ride back was even better than the ride out, because I was more comfortable and knew what to expect. In total I rode almost nine miles and I could have gone a lot farther. This bodes well for my 12 mile commute!

I'm thinking that for a while, I can just do the one-way trip there, and then put my bike on the bus rack in the evening. Once I build up my endurance a bit more, then I can tackle 25 mile days (and a somewhat more uphill trail ride going home).

One problem I noticed was that, because I wasn't wearing my wrap-around sunglasses and hadn't taken any allergy medication that day, my eyes became so teary at one point I could barely see!

But once I'm all Zyrtec'd up and wearing sunglasses, I should be fine.

Bike riding is a lot more fun than running, and I reaaaallly hope I can build this into my life.  I've already gone on an Amazon shopping spree for a "SCREAMING YELLOW" windbreaker, a SCREAMING YELLOW pair of bike gloves, some nifty padded bike shorts with SCREAMING YELLOW accents, a bike mirror, and an iPhone holder so I can track speed and distance and all that. Yes, yes, I know, probably overkill, but I like my accoutrements.  :-)

I'll do my next bike ride either Friday evening after work, or on Saturday. The first commute to work is planned for Monday morning. It should take a little over an hour, which may sound like a lot, but it's only about 20 minutes longer than my Metro commute takes normally.

Onward!!!

Dancing Body Parts

I can make my pecs dance.

The above sentence is part boast and part excuse. I know I've been gone for a while. And this time it's not because of some sort of "good silent period" where I am chugging along. I fell off the wagon. I fell off the wagon, but don't worry, for my fall was cushioned by a pile of stuffed crust meat lovers pizzas. You know how if you overeat for several weeks a row, you can gain something like five pounds? Yeah. That.

But it's okay because I can make my pecs dance!

I realized this the other day when I was trying to imitate a classic scene in which Marge asks Homer if he drinks to escape reality, and he responds by looking in the mirror and jiggling his pectorals while humming the Can Can. I can do that! I won't post video of me doing it, because I may have political aspirations one day, but trust me, it's pretty awesome.

Over the past couple months I have gone through a couple jugs of protein powder. I ate like crap, yes, but according to my napkin math, those two jugs were the equivalent of about 12,000 calories of pure protein. And, other than a 2.5 week period in which I didn't set foot in the gym once (2/21 - 3/8), I have lifted weights hard once or twice a week for the past three months.

It turns out 3 months of weight lifting + 12,000 extra calories of protein powder = a few extra pounds of muscle. You see, my scale measures body fat too, and here's an interesting statistic:

Body Composition

	Weight	Body Fat %	Fat Free Mass	Fat Mass
Oct. 2007	207.2	26.0	153.3	53.9
Mar. 2012	212.7	24.8	160.0	52.7

Over the last 4.5 years, it's true, my weight has gone up over five pounds. But look at the breakdown. My fat free mass (muscle, etc.) is up almost seven pounds! And fat mass is down over a pound. In other words, I haven't really lost much fat, but ALL the weight I have gained in the past 4.5 years is muscle!

This explains why I can wear pants I bought in 2005. And it explains why I can now make my pecs dance.

Good News

Don't worry! Unlike certain BAD periods in the past, three weeks of silence in this case does NOT mean I have given up or fallen off the wagon or anything like that. I have just been busy with my new job.  :-)   Admittedly it is harder to fit a daily workout in when I have to leave for work at 8:30. I have not and never will be a morning person, and so morning workouts are simply out of the question. I've tried them; even when I can force myself out of bed (which is doubtful), I am never awake or energetic enough to get a good workout going.

So I've tried to fit workouts in after work, but it's tricky. I've mostly been getting them in on the weekend. I'm averaging about 2 workouts a week, which is not ideal, but it's better than nothing. My weight is holding steady.

Here's the REALLY GOOD NEWS. I've compared my weight and body fat logs from 4.5 years ago to now, and it turns out that although my weight has gone up 3 pounds, my body fat has actually gone down over one pound! Which means I've lost more than a pound of fat, and gained more than 4 pounds of muscle!

I still have a lot more to lose, especially around the middle, but it's nice to know I haven't completely dropped the ball these past several years. :)

Today's Workout:

• 36 mins recumbent bike (pulse avg 130-140)
• Leg Press: 10 reps at 170 lbs, 10 @ 240, 10 @ 290

Treadmill and crunches = good combo

I wouldn't go so far as to say I've "fallen into a routine," but I've noticed that I tend to naturally follow my treadmill C25K runs with 60-80 Swiss ball crunches. It works out pretty well, and I'm in and out of the gym in less than 45 minutes. And I feel great when I'm done!

I finished Week 3 of C25K today. Less than 60 days now until the Cherry Blossom 10 Miler. Honestly I don't know if I'll be up to 10 miles by then. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle it from a cardiovascular standpoint, but I'm still just worried about doing too much too soon and getting another stress reaction in my metatarsals, like I did back in aught-nine. But we will see how I feel a couple weeks before the race; if I can't handle it, I'll drop down to the 5K and shoot for 30 minutes.  :-)  (OK, 35 minutes.)

Today's C25K didn't feel quite as easy as a couple days ago -- my body is likely still rebuilding from the 9 mph I threw at it! -- but I did keep the treadmill between 6 and 7.5 mph on the running portions, I didn't have too much tightness, and I felt pretty good overall. It's still hard to believe that in just two weeks I'll theoretically be running 20 minutes without stopping! That's what the program calls for anyway. We'll see if that happens.

I'm not sure exactly how high my pulse got while running, but just after finishing the last 3 minute run it was around 170. Yesterday I ordered a Polar heart rate monitor, so starting with my next run I will be able to monitor my heart rate continuously over the treadmill. I enjoy heart-rate training, as it lets me know quite naturally when I should pull back, and when I can push harder.

My new job starts tomorrow and I am super pumped... it's back to a journalist's life for me! I won't be able to workout tomorrow, and maybe not Friday either, but I will hit it again on the weekend and I'll try to figure out a way to incorporate fitness into my daily routine once I actually have to leave for work every day by 8:30!

(Say what you want about unemployment, but I will miss the lazy mornings and 11 am workouts.)

Here's a picture from today between sets on the Swiss ball! Good runs + good crunches = happy Matt!

9.0 mph ACTUALLY EXISTS on a treadmill

Tonight, in an attempt to make my cardiovascular system capable of running 10 miles without stopping just two months from now, I flung myself down to the gym, where I set the treadmill to a 1% incline and proceeded to do Week 3 of Couch to 5K.

Here's the news: I started my first running segment (90 seconds) at about 5.8 mph, but I was feeling good and quickly pushed it up to 6.2 mph. Did the second running segment (3 minutes) at 6.5. Third running segment (90 seconds) zipped along fairly easily at 7 mph. Fourth and final running segment (3 minutes) started at 7, but my footfalls weren't keeping up with Aerosmith's beat, so I pushed it up to 8. Now I was barely keeping up with the beat, but I still felt like I could do more...

For the first time in my life, I pushed the treadmill up to 9 mph!

I kept it there for over 30 seconds before my body forced me to pull back. I quickly dropped down to 8, 7, 6, and finished the last 30 seconds with a 5.5 jog.

The key takeaway here is not just I managed run at 9 mph for half a minute and not go shooting off the back of the belt (that's a 6:40/mile pace!), but also that my speeds were generally off the chart the whole time. Except for that part at the end where I really pushed myself... it was all so... easy! When has 7 mph EVER been easy? Sure, I didn't hold it for very long - just 90 seconds - but just a few weeks ago, even holding a 5.5 mph jog for 90 seconds was treacherous. I felt like I was going to die. And today it was EASY!

Is this all just a quick reaction to a bit of applied exercise? Sure that's part of it, but I think there's more: For one, my diet today was pretty clean. I started with a spinach florentine bagel with butter, and coffee. With butter, cream, and sugar, we're probably close to 700 calories. So far not so good, but after that, the next thing I ate was a wild rice mix with grilled chicken breast and sauteed walnuts! It was positively delicious, and probably no more than 600 calories. A few hours later, I had some whole wheat pasta with three turkey hot dogs: 500 calories, perhaps. And throughout the day, I had been partaking of sweet Honeybell oranges. Add 200 calories for the juice and fiber.

All told, before I went out running at 9, I had consumed about 2000 calories for the day, most of them pretty solid grains and protein. My body had no gooey cheese to contend with, no disgusting deep fried BLECH to clog the veins. I was appropriately fueled and my body had rebuilt itself from the last time, and I was ready to go.

(Oh, and due to frequent massages with The Stick, my calves didn't tighten up at all.)

For the first time in years, a really good run! To cap off a really good day. I might just make this 10 Miler after all.

--

Addendum: Upon reviewing the archives, I am shocked to learn that tonight's experience is about exactly where I was, cardiovascularly, in 2003 -- nine years ago! Take a look at my 2003 description of a treadmill run. I wasn't knowingly using the C25K program, but my method -- run till my pulse hits 170, walk till my pulse hits 130, rinse and repeat -- is essentially exactly what I'm doing now. Wow! This means that I might be in just as good shape as I was when I was 23; I just have a little extra padding around the middle, that's all!

Sickness derails fitness: NEWS AT ELEVEN

Ah, January 16. I remember it well. As readers of this blog may recall, I worked out harder than I had in years. I warmed up with 20 minutes on the recumbent bike, then did an intense upper body workout, and THEN did a bunch of running on the treadmill. I got the speed up to 8 mph at one point. I felt exhausted, and amazing.

But there's something I neglected to mention in my last post. You see, while I was running I felt great, but right afterward, I felt a tightness in my chest. It wasn't a heart attack or anything, but it did feel kind of hard to breathe. I've never really had asthma, but it felt kind of like what I thought asthma might feel like. I came home and Googled "exercise-induced asthma." Such a thing exists, so I chalked it up to that, and vowed to take it a little bit easier in the future.

Then, calamity: Over the next week, I got very sick. My main symptoms? Fatigue... and chest congestion. It turns out that while I was KILLING myself at the gym, my body was also trying to fight off a bug that has been going around DC, and which has cleared all the DC-area drug stores of every formulation of Mucinex. By working out so hard, I inadvertently compromised my immune system.

I fell off the wagon. I couldn't exercise, and because I was sick, I decided it was okay to treat myself with some of the foods I love.

When you go to the gym every day, and exercise hard, and eat well, you build up a momentum and it is easy to keep it going. You always have energy and you WANT to exercise! You WANT to eat nutritious foods! You just naturally want to build on success. Your body has no desire to consume pizza and donuts, because it will just make it harder to exercise, and it will undo the very real gains you are making at the gym.

The flip side is also true. Once you fall off the wagon, it's really hard to get back on. The momentum is lost. It sucks, and it's hard to get started again.

And I don't even want to think about how much pizza I've eaten over the last week. And donuts. Ohhh the donuts.

I know what happened, I know what I did wrong, and in the future if I feel myself coming down with something, I will take it really easy until I know I'm in the clear. I've had almost two weeks off, and my diet has been horrible, and the scale reflects that. Now it's time to get back on the wagon. It will be hard for a few days...

But then it will be easy again.

The Hardest Workout in YEARS

I don't have a lot of time because I want to go to sleep, because I am exhausted, because of what I am about to discuss. Today I was at the gym for two hours and I pushed myself harder than I have in years. I started with 20 minutes on the recumbent bike to warm up (getting my pulse up around 150), then did about an hour's worth of upper body resistance training, and THEN to follow that up, I decided to do one of the Couch-to-5K Week 2 programs. This means I was walking for about 15 minutes, interspersed with 9 minutes of running for 90 seconds each. And this wasn't just any running. It went something like this:

• Walk 5 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 5.5 mph
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 6.0 mph
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 6.5 mph
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 6.5 mph with 1% incline
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 7.2 mph with 1% incline
• Walk 2 minutes
• Run 90 seconds at 7.5-8.0 mph with 1% incline

During that last run, when I pushed the treadmill up to 8 mph and held it there for at least a minute before I "dropped it down" to 7.5 (normally "dropping it down" would be to 4.5 or 5!)... just WOW. I felt incredibly invigorated. My arms were pumping. And I absolutely could not have gotten through it without Aerosmith. 

Another cool thing is that I took my pulse right after the final run, and it was just a little over 160. I wasn't even in my top 10% heart rate zone!

And when I learned that, I realized something pretty awesome: I don't know if I'll be able to train myself to run the 10 Miles on April 1st, but I have no doubt I'll at least be able to run the 5K. And not in 42 minutes like 4 years ago, either. I've got 74 days left till the race. I haven't even begun to fight!

Mmm dinner

My food today was equally healthy:

• Chocolate protein shake and banana (500 cal, 44g protein)
• Grilled chicken with whole wheat pasta and sauteed peppers (~700 cal, 40g protein) 
• Vanilla protein shake with skim milk (500 cal, 54g protein)

TOTAL: 1700 calories, 138g protein

I know, that's pretty low calorie-wise, but I just haven't been hungry. Whole grains and slow-digesting protein powder keep me pretty full.

The scale has been hovering around 210 lately but I'm convinced 208 is at my doorstep!

--
Addendum, 7:50 am - 208.4!!!

Regrets and Rebounds

I did a bad thing. On Sunday night, after eating well all week and losing weight, I decided it would my "Free Day" (a la Body for Life), and I treated myself to a major eating binge. MAJOR. I ate basically a large stuffed crust meat lover's pizza from Pizza Hut, AND an order of cinnamon sticks with extra icing.

It was tasty. I felt like I was getting away with something. I went to sleep, fully intending to get right back on track in the morning.

When I woke up on Monday, I literally felt like I had a hangover. I could feel my body trying to fight all the poison I had fed it. I was dizzy and nauseous and lethargic all day. Even the next day, I still felt out of it. I slowly got back on the healthy eating wagon, but it wasn't until Wednesday that I finally felt like myself again.

That's the bad news. The good news is that I came back to the light. For the last couple days I've been eating clean, and working out hard. On Wednesday I did 20 minutes on the recumbent bike, a bunch of heavy leg presses, and 60 Swiss ball crunches! Today I did week 2 of "Couch to 5K," putting the treadmill on a 1% incline, and toward the end I had pushed my speed up to 7, 7.5, and then 8 mph! My pulse shot up over 180, but I felt great, and I could have kept going, and I could have pushed it even faster. And, even more amazingly, my calves didn't tighten up at all! I have been massaging them regularly, but I was still surprised the tightness has left me so quickly. I haven't run without tightness in years!


I am in love with Syntha-6 protein powder, both chocolate and vanilla flavors (although the vanilla may be a bit too sweet for me -- I'll have to see if I can tone it down: does anyone know how to make something less sweet?). This protein powder keeps me full for so long, that by evening I'll wonder why I am suddenly hungry, and then realize that I've only eaten 1200 calories the whole day!

All told, the pizza-and-cinnasticks incident pushed my weight up by 2.6 pounds, but as suspected, most of that was water weight, and as of this morning I was lower than last week. I am soon to cross the 210 threshold. Next goal: 200. Final goal: 190. Then I'll reassess.

Onward! :-)

--

Thursday's Food Log:

• Banana - 100
• Vanilla protein shake - 200, 22g
• Grilled chicken, spinach salad, wild rice - 500? 30g?
• Vanilla protein shake - 400, 44g
• Banana - 100
• Orange - 50
• Glass of chardonnay - 100
• Whole wheat pasta and chicken breast - 800? 50g?

Total: ~2250 calories, 146g protein

Beautiful night for a walk

Today after work I went to the gym where I used a really nifty machine called the "Vertical Traction" by Technogym. It's kind of like a high-tech lat pulldown machine that really works your arms. I LIKED IT. Unfortunately I had to cut my workout short because I forgot my sneakers, and I looked ridiculous sitting there in shirt, shorts, and... black dress shoes.

So I showered and left to go meet some friends at a pub about 1.5 miles away. I could have taken the Metro, but it was such a beautiful night, I decided to walk!

About halfway there, I realized I was right in front of the White House, and I took a few moments to make several Skype mobile video calls to some somewhat amazed family and friends.

"Who WOULDN'T want to FaceTime with that handsome man?!?" -Ari

I then thoroughly threw away my healthy eating plan for today by sharing a trio of appetizers with friends: Big fried pretzel things, vegetable spring rolls, and grilled chicken skewers (at least there was one healthy option). Oh, and a pint of Strongbow.

My eating choices for today were not that great, mostly because I didn't make my meals last night and I waited until I was hungry before heading out for lunch. But I kept the calories low enough that I won't gain today:

FOOD LOG:

• Syntha-6 Protein Shake (400 calories, 44g protein)

• Chipotle burrito: chicken, brown rice, pinto beans, cheese, sour cream, salsa, guac, lettuce (1200 calories, 65g protein)

• Bar food: Deep fried pretzel thing (~300), chicken skewer (~100 / 15g), veggie spring roll (~150), Strongbow 20 oz (230): (~800 calories, 15g protein)

TOTAL: ~2400 calories, 124g protein

Definitely not what I would call "healthy," but perfectly adequate for a resistance-training Friday. And I have to have some fun sometime or else I won't be able to stick to a mostly-healthy eating plan for the rest of my life! (...eek, it sounds scary when I put it like that).

Tomorrow I'm meeting a friend for lunch at a deli about a mile away, and I've already decided that if the weather isn't too bad, I'm walking. My friend Josh lost a TON of weight by walking all over Boston (and watching what he ate). I can too!

The smallest belt hole!

Today I noticed that my pants were loose so I went to adjust my belt, and it turns out I only had one belt hole left! Now I am on the smallest one and that just feels so awesome. And look at the awesome graph! It looks like this "Calories In < Calories Out" thing really works!

Food Log

• Syntha 6 (400 calories, 44 grams protein)
• Chicken, rice, quinoa (~600 cal, 30g)
• Subway 6" turkey melt (400, 25g)
• Chicken and barley soup (160, 14g)
• Two sticks of string cheese (160, 16g)

Total: 1720 calories, 129 grams of protein

I'm not purposely starving myself, I swear. That protein drink just keeps me SO full, and by pre-emptively eating just before I get hungry, I am basically never hungry at all and don't get any cravings! 

I'll probably get hungrier once I'm exercising regularly -- things are really tight right now with rehearsals every night, but after Saturday the 14th my rehearsal schedule will drop down to ONE PER WEEK. I am sincerely looking forward to having almost every other evening free. It's time to take care of Me.


PS - I just noticed how many exclamation points I used in this post. Please accept my humble apologies.

Forgot my shoes AGAIN

Well, I was planning to hit the gym today and do a little running on the treadmill, and I managed to bring everything I needed -- shorts, T-shirt, extra socks, extra underwear... the only thing I forgot was my SHOES! Again! I always forget my shoes! Alas.

The good news was that my calories were pretty low today:

• Protein shake (400 calories, 44g protein)
• Potbelly Tuna Sub + chips + Mt Dew (1400 calories, 50g protein) - yes yes, I know, but it kept me full forever)
• Chickarina soup (260 calories, 16g protein)

Total: < 2100 calories, 110g protein

I've got chicken and rice cooking in the kitchen right now, so my lunch tomorrow should be back on track. I'm on this.

Tomorrow's lunch!

Food log

• Coffee with cream/sugar (100, 3)
• Subway Cold Cut Combo (900, 42g)
• Protein drink (400, 44)
• Chicken and dumpling soup (320, 14)

Total: 1720 calories, 103 grams protein

Thoughts: Boy that protein is filling!

Stats for Vacation Week

• FOUR: excursions to the gym, at which I lifted many heavy things, began to learn to run, and kept my pulse up very high, hovering around 150 but blowing past 180 when necessary!
• THREE: healthy meals taught to parents: Whole grain rice with tofurkey sausage and peppers; whole wheat thin spaghetti with butter and chicken; and the tastiest protein shake you'll ever find.
• TWO: family members who are PUMPED to continue eating right and working out. AND
• ONE: redheaded man who has returned to the DC, eager to get back on the eating-right gym wagon. Left DC at 214.8 lbs; returned to DC at 212.6 lbs.

The long green shaded area is the VACATION!

On the Wagon, Even at Home

I have spent the past week in Michigan, but that hasn't stopped me from exercising and (mostly) eating right. My dad has a membership to the local Planet Fitness -- an amazing gym for the price -- and his membership comes with guest privileges, so I have been working out hard every couple days. And I've been showing my family how to eat well, cooking them whole wheat spaghetti and making wild rice and Tofurky sausage and peppers -- ya know, all my classics. And they really like it! Eating healthy doesn't have to taste bad.

I have also started to train for the 10 Mile Cherry Blossom Run on April 1st. Just 92 days left (according to my nifty countdown app). It starts off slowly -- a minute of running, 90 seconds of walking, repeat 8 times -- but I have really been pushing it on the last couple minutes of running. Yesterday I pumped up the Aerosmith and pushed the treadmill up to 7, and then 7.5 mph! I kept that pace up for a whole minute and I felt totally exhilarated by the end.

Then I slept like a baby.

I will admit I've been eating more Thai food than is normal, and going out to eat with old friends. That will taper off soon and I plan to get right back to my healthy diet once I'm back in DC. And then... onward.

The Planet Fitness that has been keeping me sane this week.

Today I didn't eat so cleanly but I kept the calories low AND I started Couch to 5K.

I know it's silly but I already think my face looks a little thinner. I'm SO tired from all the exercising but I am also a lot more chipper!

• Bagel with cream cheese (400), coffee/cream (100), 15g protein
• Beefaroni (420, 16g)
• [EXERCISE: C25K Day 1]
• Grilled chicken with jasmine rice and butter (600, 35g)
• Chocolate chip cookie (200)
• Chickarina soup (260, 16g)
• Syntha-6 (200, 22g)

TOTAL: ~2,200, 104g protein

ONWARD

My weight cannot be as bad as I think because today I wore pants that I bought 6.5 years ago, and they still fit perfectly. And they are not the kind of pants that would stretch over time. Sooo at least some of the weight gain has to be muscle mass.

HOWEVER, that changes nothing. My resolve is strong and I will succeed.

I would type more, but my chest, arms, and shoulders are incredibly sore -- Wednesday's workout has finally hit me, and it was almost impossible to put my jacket on tonight.

I can do this.

--

LOG

• 10:30 am: 2 servings Syntha-6 chocolate protein powder, with 10 oz. of 1% milk (400 + 120 = 520, 54g)
• 1:30 pm: Potbelly's: Big Wreck on Wheat, thin-cut (835, 42g) + Zapps chips (120, 1g) - half
• 3:00 pm: Other half of Potbellys
• 6:00 pm: 2 servings Syntha-6 chocolate protein powder, with 10 oz. of 1% milk (400 + 120 = 520, 54g)
• [8:30 - LOWER BODY WORKOUT + 27 minutes on the recumbent bike]
• 10:30 pm: Chicken breast with 1/3 cup of rice (400, 30g)

TOTAL: ~2400 calories, 181g protein

No More Complacency

Okay.


Looking over the other day's insane graph, three things jumped out at me:

1. When I pay NO attention whatsoever to my diet, and eat whatever the hell I want, I generally gain 1/2 to 1 pound per month.

2. When I vaguely pay attention to my weight, and generally try not to pig out, but allow myself a fair number of indulgences (regular pizza, Chinese, etc), I always gain 1/4 to 1/2 pound per month.

3. When I pay close attention to my weight, and choose my food wisely and with purpose, I always lose 1-2 pounds per WEEK.

That is not a typo. When I actually try, I lose up to two pounds a WEEK. And that's with diet alone. When I throw exercise in there, my numbers are even better.

In other words, complacency makes me fat. Luckily, that graph gave me a kick in my complacency. I simply cannot eat whatever I want anymore. I have to reverse the trend. If I do not, if I just amble through life vaguely paying attention, eating whatever I feel like, and not getting exercise, I will continue to gain 1/4 pound a month. That's 3 pounds a year. In 10 years, that's THIRTY POUNDS.

You may be thinking: Oh, come on, surely you'll notice and stop the trend before it goes that far. Well, I'd like to think so too, but the numbers speak for themselves. Go look at the graph. Yeah, in June of 2008 I started paying attention, and dropped 20 pounds over the next five months, but then I got complacent again and look what happened: The line started back up at a rate of over 1/4 pounds per month. The linear trend line from high school graduation to now is a perfect fit.

If I keep on my present course, then in 10 more years I will be pushing 250.

It's so easy to become complacent. Three pounds a year is nothing. "Oh, I'm almost the same as last year," I say to myself contently, every year, every year. After a decade, that becomes a pretty wide gulf.


I don't want to get back to my high school weight. I was a scrawny little twerp with absolutely no muscle. But I would love to get back to my pre-law school weight of <190, and even my post-Body for Life weight of <180. It's not just about looking better; it's about feeling better. I never had more energy than when I was working out six days a week and eating healthy. (And yes, I looked pretty damn good too!)

It took several false starts before I finally completed a Body for Life 12-week challenge. What caused me to succeed that last time? I finally realized that I had to make a big change. Well, it's time for another big change, and I think I'm finally realizing that.


---

FOOD LOG FOR DEC. 21, 2011

1. Spinach florentine bagel with butter (400 + 200 = 600, 17g protein)
2. Large turkey Italian wedding soup from Zoup, with sourdough roll (240 + 170 = 410, 10g protein)
3. Random food at Lobby party: 3 veggie dumplings, 5 small meatballs, 2 meat pie things (600? 20g?)
4. 2 servings Syntha-6 chocolate protein powder, with 10 oz. of 1% milk (400 + 120 = 520, 54g);  Radishes and hummus (100, 5g)
5. 1 serving Syntha-6 chocolate protein powder with water (200, 22g)
6. Pack of sliced deli chicken breast (275, 50g))

TOTAL: ~2700 calories, 178g protein
EXERCISE: Upper body work out (chest, back, shoulders, triceps, biceps; recumbent bike)



FOOD LOG FOR DEC. 22, 2011

1. 1 serving Syntha-6 chocolate protein powder with water (200, 22g); 1/2 cup of Kashi GoLean Crunch with 1% milk (150, 8g)
2. "Blackened chicken gyro" from Devon and Blakely (700? 50g?)
3. Naked Protein Smoothie (450, 32g)
4. Turkey sausage and 1/2 cup of Jasmati rice with tbsp butter (750, 34g); Radishes and hummus (50, 2g)

TOTAL: 2250 calories, 158g protein

Oh Crap.

Observations on food to energy correlation

Today I ate:

* Soy crisps
* Coffee with cream and sugar
* A smoked salmon sandwich on multigrain
* Some Junior Mints
* Jasmati / wild / brown / red rice with canned chicken, and a bit of butter/salt/garlic/olive oil

And I have had tons of energy all day.

Note also that I started the day with a deeply discounted Bob Harper's "Smart Weight Loss" pills - basically some vitamins and caffeine.

So I've had a lot of caffeine today -- but none since about 2 pm.

Looking at the day, I see that I never pigged out (yet was never hungry), and had a lot of caffeine. The result? Lots of energy.

I'll be interested to see what happens going forward...

My tummy is big!

.....that is all.

David Garcia is My New Hero

Back in high school I had a pal named Dave Garcia. David was friendly, and funny, and - most relevant to this post - portly. Actually, that's putting it mildly. David was a BIG GUY.

David and I were both thespians to varying degrees, and I once acted with him in a performance of Into the Woods. Beanpole thin, bright red hair, the kind of guy who might truthfully have a cow as his best friend, I was immediately typecast as Jack of the Beanstalk.

David was also typecast: He played the Baker. Just by looking at the cast, even a stranger would have been able to tell that David was the baker. He looked like the kind of guy who spent all his time consumed by, and consuming, sugary dough.

David and I didn't hang out much in high school, but I do remember the one time I came over to his house after school. Offering to make me a snack, he reached into his freezer and pulled out, among other things, a large box of deep fried beef taquitos. A snack to me might have meant 2 or 3. He emptied the box of 16, putting half on my plate and half on his. I was surprised but delighted at this unexpected gluttony. After all, I was a teenager and I could pretty much eat anything I wanted and stay thin. What I didn't necessarily realize at the time was that, for Dave, this wasn't a one-time treat. He ate like this all the time.

David and I both attended the University of Michigan, but we didn't really see each other much in college. We emailed back and forth about the then-dwindling quality of the Simpsons, and one time I went to his dorm room so he could critique me on an audition monologue I was preparing. But after that, I lost touch with Dave, and I didn't run into him again until our ten-year high school reunion.

Me with David (and a mutual friend) at our 10-year reunion

Just as I remembered, David was friendly and funny and boy had he gotten portly. As I said, he was always a big guy, but the years had paid their respects and Dave had to be pushing 400 pounds. I didn't care, of course. Dave was a friend and I didn't care how much he weighed as long as he was a good person. And if he was happy with being 400 pounds, then that's really all that mattered.

What I didn't know at the time was that David was not happy. In fact, it turns out David had been far less jolly in high school than I had originally thought. He had gone through some pretty rough patches. Depression had hit him pretty hard. And he wanted to make a change.

I know all this because David keeps a blog. The blog is called, “Keep It Up David!”, And it details his weight loss journey. How big of a journey, you may ask? Well, a year ago David tipped the scales at 402 pounds. Today, he is under 250.

Over 150 pounds in one year.

Any particular weight loss secrets? Yep. Four words: Move more, eat less. It is the simple wisdom of every person to have ever shed massive amounts of weight. Oh, sometimes they reverse it: Eat less, move more. Either way, it's four words and it works.

The problem, of course, is sticking to those four words. You need motivation and you need dedication and you need accountability. David is lucky enough to be a pretty optimistic guy after all is said and done, and he desperately wanted to lose the weight, so he had the motivation.

Accountability on the other hand, that is harder to come by. You need somebody there to report to. Be it a reader on a blog, or a best friend, or one's family, or… Richard Simmons.

Richard Fucking Simmons!

Sequined Serendipity

David had been some sort of production assistant on Ellen, and one day Richard Simmons was the guest. While David was helping with production, Richard gave David his personal e-mail address and told David that If he wanted help, Richard was there for him.

A few weeks of deliberating, a promise to e-mail Richard a food log listing everything David ate for the last year, and a lot of healthy choices and Richard "Slimmons" classes later, and voilà. Skinny Dave.

David returned to the Ellen show last week not as a staff member but as a guest. Ellen was stunned at David's new body, the crowd gave him a standing ovation, and the show gave him thousands of dollars in gift certificates to high-end clothing stores and Whole Foods. Watching the segment, I couldn't help but tear up as David revealed his new physique, and reveled in his hard work and fantastic achievements. See for yourself, and try not to shed tears of joys for my dear friend.



And yet, even as the tears fell, my next thought was a sobering one:

David Garcia is skinnier than me.

This is kind of a big deal because of what happens when you turn that sentence around.

Matt Schwartz is FATTER than David Garcia.

Today, although my Body Mass Index is still technically lower than David's, if the two of us took a picture together, I might conceivably be described as the Chunky One. Indeed, if our high school drama teacher were typecasting Into the Woods today, David might very well be Jack; I might very well be the Baker.

Talk about lighting a fire under me.

I have to lose weight. I know that. I have been overweight for the past several years, ever since law school. I don't feel good at 210. I don't look particularly good at 210. I know from experience that I look and feel my best when I'm below 190–and ideally 180. I've wanted to get back there for a long time. And seeing David accomplish such an amazing feat is enough to really inspire me to get out there and work hard.

And for the last couple weeks, I have been working hard! I joined a gym! I've gone five times, doing four weightlifting workouts and one killer boxing workout that left me panting and vomitous on the floor! And it sucked at the time but now every time I cough or laugh I feel muscles I didn't know I had, and it makes me happy! And already I can feel myself getting stronger, and more energetic, and even people at work have noted that I've started slimming down.

David Garcia used to be the Big Jolly Fat Guy. Now, he is the Amazing Energetic Inspiration. He has achieved "Biggest Loser"-level success. If he can do it, I can do it. And I'm lucky in that I've only got about 25 pounds to lose.

So, thank you Dave. You're an inspiration to us all, and I look forward to one day visiting you in Los Angeles, feasting not on deep fried taquitos but on healthy and delicious food, and maybe even celebrating my own weight loss success with you.

Cheers to old friend David Garcia, my newest Weight Loss Hero!

I know.

Yeah, yeah. I know.

drinking and running don't mix

On Friday night I got drunk and signed up for a 5K two weeks from now.

I am not ready to run a 5K in my current state of conditioning.

But I will try to get ready.

On speed work and exceeding expectations

Hello everyone! Matt here, coming at you from the middle of August 2009, in the hot and humid district known as our nation's capital. To what do we owe the pleasure of my reappearance today? The answer is known to runners everywhere as the dreaded and yet exhilarating "speed work."

Speed work is where you work on running fast. This does all sorts of fancy technical things like work your fast twitch muscle fibers, help build your quads for explosive movements, help burn tons of calories, and generally just help you run at a faster speed even when you are not consciously trying to run at a faster speed. Basically, it speeds you up. And we all know I need speeding up.

I traditionally run my easy days at a very slow pace. A typical easy run, for me, has me jogging between 4 and 4.5 mph. This equates to a mile pace of about 14:17/mile, which is fairly comically slow for anyone else. but for me, it helps me build my endurance. Now, normally I am running through the neighborhood, which is very hilly, and so my slow pace reflects that. Today, however, I went to the place where speed work is traditionally done: the track.

Now, I have not been to a track in several years. The last time I was at a track was probably sometime in 2001, when I was trying to get in shape doing Body for Life. Since then, I have had no Need to go to a track. Until today. You see, I have spent several months building up a base of endurance -- the ability to traverse a large distance at a slow pace. But I really want to work on my speed. So to the track I went, with running buddy Dawn.

Now, when I talk about my increased endurance, you should know that that is relative. I have absolutely no endurance compared to someone who is actually in shape and a runner, like Ian of defunct blog "Short Man Running" fame. To me, the word "endurance" means that I can go a couple of miles without collapsing in a heap of sunstroke induced unconsciousness.

But I still cannot run four times around the track without stopping. At least, I think I can't. I haven't tried it in several years. I probably could, but it would be at the slow pace that I discussed above. And, as I also said, my goal is to get faster. To that end, my speed work tool of the day was interval training!

Interval training, for the uninitiated, is where you go fast and slow and fast and slow, repeating it until you collapse into a pile of semiconscious drool. I am proud to tell you that this is what happened to me today. First, Dawn and I walked around the track a couple of times to warm up. (I have found that simply walking for a half-mile is a very effective way for me to limber up my muscles and not get cramps.) Then, I wanted to jog around the track once at a moderately easy pace and see how long it took me. I walked around the track once more, and then jogged it once at a slightly faster pace. I repeated this twice more, walked around once more to cool down, and called it a day.

Here were my results:

• Running lap one: 3:05 (12:20 minutes/mile pace, ~4.86 mph)
• Running lap two: 2:30 (10:00 minutes/mile pace, ~6.00 mph)
• Running lap three: 2:05 (8:20 minutes/mile pace, ~7.2 mph)
• Running lap four: 1:49 (7:16 minutes/mile pace, ~8.26 mph)

Folks, this might not seem like a lot to you, but I'm pretty damn impressed with how I did today. I have not tried to maintain over an 8 mph pace for a quarter-mile in years! It was hard as hell, and my pulse got up to 186 at least, but I did it. And I did it in 85° heat at 60% humidity! Wearing a plain old cotton T-shirt! None of these technical wicking fibers for me. Oh no. I will wear my Cherry Blossom technical running shirt to the bagel store, but give me sweltering summer heat and humidity, and I am old school, man. (Okay, I forgot to wear it.)

A few more observations: the first lap was very easy. True, I only went around once before walking, and I'm sure had I continued trying to run, it would not have been that easy anymore. But for one lap, it was easy. The second lap wasn't quite as easy, but it was still nothing too difficult. Unfortunately, I wasn't wearing my heart rate monitor, so I have to go with my amorphous perceived rate of exertion, which is subjective and faulty at best, but I would say my heart rate did not get much over 160 for that lap. Not exactly a heart rate that I want to maintain on my easy days -- I prefer to keep things in the low 150s on easy days -- but it was still doable.

Running lap number three was pretty damn hard. I would give it an eight or nine out of 10 on the perceived exertion scale. And the final lap was a nine out of 10 up until the last hundred meters, at which point I was running close to full out. I wasn't sprinting like this was the final hundred meters of a marathon and this last bout of exertion meant the difference between gold and silver, or even like this was the end of the 5K that I wanted to set a personal record on, but... come to think of it, I suppose I wasn't running a level 10. Probably a level 9.5. But still pretty damn hard.

After all was said and done, I walked 1.5 miles and ran 1 mile at a pretty quick pace. Not an Olympic feat, by any means, but still pretty fun and pretty damn good for me. And now that I have found this excellent track just one mile from my house, I can say without hesitation that I'll be using it frequently. I can easily foresee an easy one mile walk/jog to the track, a one or 2 mile jog at a moderate pace on the track, and a 1 mile cooldown walk/jog home.

The only downside about this day, fitness wise, is that I bought a pizza to help me through the So You Think You Can Dance finale and voting marathon. (Go Evan!) But my weight is still down from where it has been, and reaching 200 is looking less like a possibility and more like a certainty.

Woo track running! Woo speed work! Woo Evan!

Mid-Summer Update: Running Partners Rock

Hi everyone! I see that I haven't posted in a while, so I just want to give you a little update.

I've been exercising fairly regularly -- not killing myself or anything, but trying simply to Move More. And the big news is that I've started jogging with a running buddy! I'm actually beyond Dawn in endurance, so we are working on building up our running time. We started with 1 minute of walking, 1 minute of running, and repeated it until we got up to about 2 miles. That worked well for the first day or two. Then I noticed Dawn was huffing and puffing a lot less, so for the last 2 times we've been doing 90 seconds walking, 90 seconds running -- and we've been going a little faster too. But again, the huffing and puffing has mostly ceased, so next time it'll be 2 minutes on, 2 minutes off.

It's GREAT to jog with someone else! The run goes by SO much faster, because we are talking the whole time. And it also provides a good way to pace ourselves -- the advice to "keep a conversational pace" takes on a whole new meaning when you are actually trying to carry on a conversation.

We mostly jog together, but toward the end I often jog on ahead or keep on going after the 90 seconds is up. I eventually walk back to her, but those little bursts of solo running are quite fulfilling. Last night, after feeling heavy and plundering for the first mile or so, I started to get into my groove in the second half of the jog, and I fell into a hard yet satisfying pace. It was awesome.

I've also been asked by a couple several Choral Arts people who hadn't seen me in a couple months, "Have you lost weight??" I have lost about 5 pounds in the last month or so. I am told I look good. And I do look better in pictures lately. So that's nice. :-) Here's what I looked like this weekend when my friend Donnie came to visit:


So, that's all! I'll keep on jogging with Dawn, and walking 5 miles a day when I'm playing Tourist with friends who come to visit, and I'll try not to stuff my face too much, and hopefully there will be a lot more green triangles in my future. :-)

Back On the Road

After laying dormant for two months, I got back out on the pavement today. For most of the day it was way too hot to do anything (90 degrees in April?!!), but by evening it had cooled into the 70s. I set out on an easy 1 mile loop through the neighborhood, not pushing too hard, and stopping to walk for a bit here and there.

I could have kept going -- cardiovascularly, I felt great -- but I have to be cognizant of what caused the two-month lay-up in the first place. Two months ago, in preparation for the 10 Miler, I hurt myself by doing too much too soon. My heart, lungs and muscles (once I solved the tight calf problem) might have been ready for a 70 minute jog, but my bones weren't. Suddenly I was able to run as long as I wanted -- but my feet couldn't take it.

But today, there was no pain. And with no Mandatory Distance Goal on the horizon, I'm just going to work up to 30 minutes and keep it there for a while. I'll head out every other day, and I'll aim on getting faster within those 30 minutes. I think a sub-30 minute 5K is a worthy goal -- one that I was only last able to accomplish about 5 years ago.

I enjoyed getting out there today. I'm glad that my hiatus hasn't changed the fact that I still find running to be -- gasp -- fun! I'm looking forward to getting back out there regularly.