...I drank the Kool-Aid

It's 4:30AM and I'm still not feeling great, but I'm up and getting ready for work!  You know you drank the Kool-Aid when you feel guilty for not being at work to take care of your health!  Anyway, if my health allows, I'm excited to get back.

Tonight is New Year's Eve!  I hope everyone out there has a great time.  My friends tend to not plan much (in fact, most of them have to work), but I really feel like living it up a little so I'm heading into downtown Seattle for a multi-course dinner and a new beer release!

As for training, I'm not sure if I'm up for it, but I really do want to run today.  My schedule says to do hill repeats.  Maybe I can grab a light hill and go at it.  The nice thing about running up hills, you can curl into a ball and roll back down!

How are you spending NYE?  Stay tuned for my New Year's Resolutions post!

Great Wall Marathon

I just read about the Great Wall of China Marathon.  Wouldn't that be amazing? Two problems that stand in my way: run a marathon, afford it.  Adding bucket list items are free!

Monday Workout Forecast

I can't believe I made it to the third one of these!  So what have I done since creating this Race Ready Ryan blog?  A few things!

1.  Created some accountability in that I've been sticking to my runs as planned.
2.  Got my friends involved.
3.  Promoted a local running shop that deserves more attention!
4.  Caught a cold!
5.  Ran my first virtual 5K.
6.  Started bike-commuting to work.

Not bad!  It's as if putting these down in words helps when the results are not immediately tangible.

So here's my schedule this week if my health permits:


- Monday, December 30, 2013:  3M run and Strength Training
- Tuesday, December 31, 2013:  6 x Hill Repeats
- Wednesday, January 1, 2014:  3M run and Strength Training - Happy New Year!
- Thursday, January 2, 2014:  40 min Tempo
- Friday, January 3, 2014:  Rest, Stretch, and Beer
- Saturday, January 4, 2014:  3M run w/Fartlek
- Sunday, January 5, 2014:  90 min long run (3/1)

Under the weather... and I won!

Good day runners!

Yesterday, I received awesome news that I had won the 12 days of Christmas challenge at my LRS!  I stopped in, met Ginny the owner, and got a new pair of Saucony Triumph 10s!  This is what the super kind people at Running Elements said about me on their Facebook page: Ryan did every single challenge for 12 days! We are so lucky to have him as a friend and as fitness inspiration. And we can't wait for him to come in and get his free pair of shoes!

For those of you who had not shopped at a real running shop before, my experience with Running Elements may convince you to stop going to the mall shoe stores when picking our your next pair.

- They checked how I walked.  I was asked to walk barefooted to check my gait (this means manner of walking).  I was told that my gait was very neutral, which is awesome as I'm not placing additional strain on my legs.

- They asked me about what I currently run in.  I mentioned that I don't remember the model, but I run in M9.5 Brooks.  I said that most of the other shoes I have tend to slip in the ankle.  If I had brought the pair with me, they could also analyze the wear on the sole.

- They asked me to test out the shoes.  Ginny handed me a pair of Saucony Triumph 10s (I'm still not familiar with brands and models) and told me to try them out.  She had me run up and down the sidewalk.  They felt amazing!  She also said that I run very efficiently... I'm sure I'll learn what that means as time passes as well.  I did mention, however, that I felt that these were slipping off of my heels.  At that point...

- ...they showed me how to lace my shoes for a better fit.  It was perfect!  After some research at home, I learned that this is called the runner's tie...  I learn something new everyday!  This will make all of my shoes better!  Here's a link that I found helpful: http://katierunsthis.com/2011/10/04/running-shoe-lacing-techniques/

So unfortunately, after getting new shoes and all the excitement from finishing the challenge, I'm actually stuck at home with a cold.  I caught a cold only a month ago as well so I'm quite surprised.  I hope I can kick this soon!  I've got new shoes to break in!

My commute

On Christmas I picked one of my bicycles up from my sister's house so that I can ride it to work.  The ride is only a little more than 4 miles so it's not too hard and it gets rid of the frustrating traffic that I deal with everyday.

Today is supposed to be a rest day, but I biked to work anyway.  Hopefully the ride home won't be too hard.  It's 75% up hill!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from all of us (me) at Race Ready Ryan!  Hopefully everyone got exactly what they wished for... and perhaps even a few miles in!

This year I received some awesome running gear!  I got a Brooks L.S.D. Lite Jacket III, a foam roller, and a framed photo of me crossing the finish line at the Seattle Half Marathon!

The jacket is truly awesome.  I have not owned a running jacket before this so I don't have much basis for comparison, but this jacket has everything I'm looking for.  It's bright, comfortable, and reflective.  It's also incredibly light and breathable which my other athletic jackets are not.  I can't wait to come home from work and try it out!

I was also able to pick up my bicycle from my sister's house so I may start riding to work soon!

Buddy run

Today I invited a couple of friends from work to join me in my 3 Mile w/Fartlek.  We ran at Downtown Bellevue Park where I normally run.  A first I was nervous that they would have a miserable time as non-runners typically don't like to run.  However, after the first lap, they were having a good time.  We maintained about a 10:10 pace and sprinkled in speedplay here and there.  This all worked out well as I found my LRS challenge was to run with a buddy!

At about 2.5 miles in, Glenn wanted to time himself around the park.  Downtown Bellevue Park is supposed to be .5 miles around, but my GPS has it closed to about .44.  He did a great job an finished one lap in 3:28.  I'm happy to say that I kept up!

My other friend was having some muscle soreness so he had to take a few breaks.  Better safe than sorry!  He'll be running the full park in no time!

In the end, we did 5K in 32:58.  Not bad for a guy who hasn't run in about 13 years!  I'm hoping they'll join me again soon.

Monday Workout Forecast

Hoping my 5M fast workout beats my 5M race from 2011.

It's Monday again (which means I've been consistently blogging for over a week!  New record!) and it's time to post my weekly workout forecast!  This week I'll be celebrating Christmas so it might be tough to squeeze in some of the runs, but I'm stubborn enough to get it done. 

They've also opened the pool in my building recently.  Assuming it's not too cold, I'll probably through some laps in here and there.

-Mon: 3M run w/Fartlek
-Tue: 7 x 400 sprints
-Wed: Christmas and binge eating!
-Thu: 40 min Tempo
-Fri: Rest, Stretch, and beer
-Sat: 5M fast
-Sun: 75 minute Long Run

Have a great week everyone!

My first Virtual Run

My training schedule today has me running 5K at 5K race pace.  It seems like it would just be a good idea to race instead, but unfortunately, there are no 5Ks available for me to run today in the neighborhood.  As I was looking around, I came across virtual races!  I've seen these before, but never really gave them much thought.  I thought "why would anybody sign up for a race that has nobody else in it?"

Then one caught my eye.  At Races For Awareness, I found a race that benefits Autism Speaks.  I had completed an awareness walk for them a few years ago as well.  Autism awareness and support is important to me as my nephew is autistic, as well as my good friend's brother.  I've seen many great times, but I've also seen some of the challenges presented when a family member is in the Autism Spectrum.  The more research that goes into this disorder, the easier it could be for many families out there!  And this year has been a great year for autism research!

So a little bit later, as the sun comes up, I'm going to run my first Virtual 5K!  By the way, the race comes with a medal and downloadable bib!

Wish me luck!

-

Results:  Here we are about an hour later.  No PR, but I'm still happy with my time.  I also found out that I'm in first place!

It's snowing!

Yesterday was my first run in the snow... and maybe my last! 

The challenge presented by my LRS was to run 5K.  Easy enough right?  The night before, I packed all my gear and took it with me to work for a change in scenery.  I love the park near my house, but it's only a half mile circle.  On my way to work, it started snowing, and snowing and snowing and snowing.  It stopped before work was over, but was still on the ground.

I wasn't sure what running on the snow would be like.  I assumed it would be cold, slippery, and unstable.  Yes, yes, and yes!  Not only did my pace suffer significantly, but not having solid footing put some serious strain on my hamstrings!  I finished in 27:59 and my socks were soaking wet!

So with that, I'm happy for the experience, but I think I'm going to have to find some dry ground to run on next time!

I also stopped by my store (I work retail) after the run.  You never know how little people actually know you until you show up at work in your athletic gear.

My first group run

Tonight's LRS (Running Elements) Christmas challenge was to join this evening's running group and to jump rope for 6 minutes.

I showed up at the shop at 6PM and me Glen.  Glen is a running coach who travels all around to run marathons.  However, I was the only one there so it started to look like the run was going to get canceled!

A few minutes later, we had another person join us, and then one more as we were heading out the door.  It's definitely a cold evening!!!  One of the runners said that she was comfortable with a 10:00/mile pace.  Sounds good to me!

Glen had us run to areas of Bellevue that I had not seen before.  I've heard of Clyde Hill as that's where a buddy of mine lives at, but he never told me that you'd get a great view of Seattle and downtown Bellevue on the same loop!  I'm definitely going to run this area again. 

After that, we got into an area that wasn't as scenic.  It was also a slow climb for about 5 minutes...  I was definitely warm by then!

I took advantage of running with a coach.  He gave me some pointers about my training, upcoming races, and other training sessions in the area.  He said that a group of runners train on a track in Kirkland on Wednesdays.  I think I'll check it out!

Our run was about 4.6 miles in a little less than an hour.  It was a great run and nice change to my solo runs.  I'll be joining them again soon!

When I got home, I tore up my apartment looking for my jump rope as the one in the gym was missing.  Who would steal a jump rope?  Saboteurs...  that's who!  Anyway, the pic above was what I used to enter in today's contest. 

Resurrecting my healthy eating

I hate calling it a diet because that implies that eating healthy should be temporary, but in all honesty, that's how it has always been for me.  I'm good for a couple of months, but then I binge!  And when I binge, I eat everything!!!

So reading around about diet and nutrition is going to provide a few things for us:

• Memes that encourage you to keep going!  I love these :)  Sure, I'll read some cliches and cheese, but sometimes it's the only encouraging thing you'll find out there!
• Memes that tell you to love your obese body!  This is really a complaint for another time, but these are terrible.  I don't care how someone looks as beauty does come in all sizes (and you don't get to choose what you're attracted to), but if I didn't hate my obese body, my health problems would be much worse right now.  I hate getting bad news from my doctor.
• Dr. Oz or some other celebrity health expert's fat cure.  If you could take a magic pill that could make you look like a fitness model, no one would be fat.  The labels on these things should say, take one pill after running 5 miles.
• Tons and tons of diets with labels:  Paleo, Baby-Food diet, Alcorexia, Gluten-Free, French-woman diet, etc.  It's all very confusing and seem to have limits on lots of stuff.  I like cheesecake...  probably doesn't fit into any of those.

And I'm no doctor.  I just speak from experience and common sense.  While I've had my trips and falls, I've still been doing quite well and here's what I know to be true.  The diets above probably help some people, some probably hurt, but diets seem to ignore the most important things:

1. Be accountable.  My genetics did not drive me to McDonalds everyday for months.  I chose the job that "made me" stress-eat.  I bought the food that I'd come home to and binge on.  I'm also the one that tells me to get my fat ass outside to run!
2. Have some Self Control.  There's so very little in our lives that we can truly say that we control.  Work piles up the second you step away from your desk!  It might rain today no matter how much I want the sun!  Someone can hit me with their car.  I can say no to a soda with my lunch, it might be the only choice I really get to make for myself today.
3.  Know that it's not easy.  Growing obese was easy, getting fit does not work the same way.
4. Drink water.  I've read more diet books that a normal person should have... they all say this and they are right.  I did find a few of these though:  "Even sugar-free flavored water works" and "Diet sodas are a good alternative if you can't stomach the flavor of water."  No.  Drink water.  If drinking sweet shit made you fat and went well with your multiple cheeseburgers, stop drinking that shit.
5. Understand some basic stuff about calories.  If you're burning more calories than you take in, you're going to lose weight.  If you eat more calories than you burn, you're going to gain weight.  If a tiny bit of food has a ton of calories (an order of fries) and a big order of food has a few calories (spinach), eat the food that is less calorie dense.
6. Learn to cook.  Try to make most of your meals and you'll see what you're eating.
7. Exercise.  Seriously...  most of my stuff on here is in regard to running, but it still needs to be said.  Want to drop the weight, well..  it really happens in the kitchen and while you sleep, but exercise helps a ton and makes you look good when the weight comes off.
8. Plan a cheat meal.  A lot of people disagree with me on this, but it works for me.  The keyword is "Plan" and I usually have it on Friday night.  By Tuesday, I know what food I'll have during my cheat meal.  Usually a pitcher of beer and Nachos.  No more, no less if that's what I planned.  It's all about self control.

So that's what works for me.  I can still have cheesecake (had them during my cheat meals) and lose weight.  Also, runnnnnnn!

Running isn't a sport?

I'm not sure if my boss was trying to get under my skin or if this is truly how he feels, or both.  Last week, he told me that running isn't a sport for a couple of reasons: 1. Other sports involve running.  2. It's just exercising. 

Sure.  And it's great exercise!

Honestly, I'm not at all bothered by it, but I've looked online and saw that quite a few people are.

So my thoughts? Who gives a shit? Go run!

What effect does their opinion have on anything?  Your performance won't suffer.  You're still going to train.  You still love it.  ...and has it convinced you that it's not a sport?

Right.

The things I've learned since my start in this sport have been amazing.  I could have a rough day at work, tough talk with my friends, deal with a rude customer (I work in retail), but my run has a great way of letting me work through those things.  Where I might lash out and say things I don't mean (or say things that I mean, but don't want to see the consequences to), my run can silence the noise and make me know that at least this one thing is right.  You can't change others, but you can change the way you let how others affect you.  Running gives you the time to figure that out.

Now go put on your shoes and do some exercising you athlete!

3 Miles and the Challenge

Does this watch make my ears look fat?

On the ninth day of Christmas my local running shop gave to me:  speed work!  The assignment was "Run your track loops in sets of three. Your first lap should be easy pace. Walking is okay. Your second lap is run at medium pace, and your third lap is as fast as you can go. Run this set three times through until you finish at 9 laps."

So with my Garmin Forerunner 405, I set out to do laps of 1/3 mile: 

1. Easy lap - felt just fine, but ran too fast.
2. Medium lap - pace was only 2 second/mile faster
3. Fast lap - Couldn't maintain speed throughout, but ran part of it at 6 min/mile pace
4. Easy lap 2 -  Walked... felt great!
5. Medium lap 2 - OK!  Now we're getting it!  "Medium" pace.. about 10:00/mile
6. Fast lap 2 - Go go go!  7:15/mile
7. Easy lap 3 - Walked...  can't breathe...
8. Medium lap 3 - about 10:00/mile again
9. Fast lap 3 - Grrrrrr!  7:30/mile.  Too many ducks on the path...  old guy with his dog on a leash extended across the whole path...  "I'M GOING TO USE YOU AS AN EXCUSE FOR MY SLOWER PACE!"

...And that's 3 miles.  I walked another to catch my breath and went home.

Thoughts and lessons from my first half marathon

At the beginning of this month, I ran my first half marathon.  It was a big event for me because I achieved what I thought would be impossible a couple years ago.  I couldn't run around the block and now I'm circling Seattle??? It was amazing!  I finished in 2:16.

Anyway, this what I take away from my first 13.1 race and training:

- Running expos for larger events are awesome! I ran the Seattle 13.1 and the expo set the perfect tone for me to get excited.  Allow yourself some time to explore and be ready to pick up some free goodies.

-Trust your training.  My training schedule was 12 weeks and at the longest, it had me run only 12 miles.  I was worried that never completing the actual distance would be a problem.  If you trained for 12, your excitement will carry you 1.1 more.  In many ways, doing my first 13.1 at the race made it much better!

-Remember your safety pins.  I forgot to pick some up at the expo and spent a panic filled 15 minutes looking for some at the runners village.

-Stick to what you know! Don't wear new shoes, clothes, eat something strange, change your form, or even wear new headphones the week prior to the race.  Your body and mind will lose focus trying to adjust.

 -You're gonna have bad days.  It's a fact of life...  just finish what you can and know that tomorrow could be better!  So what if you didn't run as fast as you planned today?  You still ran, right?  How many miles can you knock out on the couch?

-Get there early so you can pee before the race, not during.  Enough said.

-Recruit support!  My girlfriend was at the 8 mile mark cheering me on.  That was after some rough hills.  I gave me my second wind to finish strong.

-Time doesn't matter! It's impossible for me not to set a goal time, but don't let it control you during your first race at a new distance.  I knew I wasn't going to be under 2 hours by the fourth mile.  That's when I started to really love what I was doing.

-Seattle is truly beautiful.  I'm glad I took the the time to take in the scenery.

-This won't be my last half marathon.  I started shopping for the next race that afternoon!

I'll probably add more to this later as I have more time, but if you've come across this and you haven't ran your first half, do it!!!

Monday Workout Forecast

My park is Pac-Man

This is my Monday Workout Forecast! I'll be listing what my workouts will look like for the week.  I allow myself some flexibility in case life happens :) Also, my local running shop doesn't post their daily challenges until later in the day.

-Mon: 3M run
-Tue: 9 x 200 sprints
-Wed: Crosstrain + weights
-Thu: 35 min Tempo
-Fri: Easy run
-Sat: Rest and beer
-Sun: 5K test

Health scare

It's 130 AM...  I'll admit that it's not that strange for me to be up at this time.  I drink lots of water and usually it wakes me up (just realized that this might seem like I wet the bed).

Tonight, I saw blood in my urine.  It freaked me out!  Like every modern person, I looked it up online and only accepted the worst possible reasons for this. 

After a few minutes of realizing that today would be my last, I started to reflect on my last few days... 

Work went really well.  I won an award.
My runs have been awesome!
I spent lots of time with friends.
Received a few Christmas cards.
Ate at a couple of good restaurants.

Which brought me to last night's dinner.

I had a beet salad. 

Well that explains it.  Back to sleep.  Good night.

10th day of Christmas Challenge

On the 10th day of Christmas my local running shop gave to me:  A challenge to run 10K (that's 6.2 miles for anyone new to running) today!  Since today's my long run day anyway, it worked out perfectly.  I ran 70 minutes for a total of 6.86 miles.

A nice surprise I found from today's run was that my 10K training time is now only 1 minute slower than my first 10K race time!

Since the temperature is a little chilly, I've been wearing a compression shirt made by Target's C9 brand.  C9 has worked out wonderfully for me throughout my training for a few great reasons:

1.  Price:  Being that it's a Target brand item, it's cheaper than you'll find in a pro shop.  There are always coupons for C9 gear and when using a Target REDcard, you'll save an extra 5%.  I've picked up quite a few pairs of running shorts for less than $10...  Since I first started at XXL pants and now wear an M, going cheaper made the most sense.

2.  Style and variety:  It's Target, so you'll have tons to choose from.  I believe that if you feel like you look great, you'll perform much better than you would if you were worried about how you looked. 

 3.  Quality:  I do own a few products from higher end brands, but across all brands: my results are the same, they're all in good shape, they get stinky just the same, they all look good! 

Anyway, that's a lot of talk about store brand products.  I'm looking forward to what tomorrow's challenge is! 

Training and the challenge

Currently, I'm training to have my best running year yet!  I'm registered for my first marathon (Seattle Rock & Roll), my first 15K (Hot Chocolate), my second 13.1 (Mercer Island Half), and some 5Ks sprinkled in between!

On top of all that fun, a local running shop (Running Elements) is hosting the 12 Days of Christmas fitness challenge.  I believe the prize is a free pair of shoes, but I'm just enjoying it anyway!

The first day, we had to add 12 30 second sprints to our run.  Yesterday, we did circuits with burpees, push-ups, lunges, and squats for 11 minutes.  I finished that off with a quick 1.5 mile run and upper body weight training.

I'm not sure what's in store for today's challenge, but I have scheduled a 70-minute long run.  Looking forward to it!

Marathoner in the making.

I've decided to run a marathon. 

If you've met me in the past couple of years, that might only come as a little surprise (but that's because marathons are gigantic).  If you met me 5 years ago, you'd think I was lying or drunk. 

My name is Ryan.  I'm 31, I have a regular job, live in a regular apartment, and enjoy the regular things.  A few years ago, I didn't care for running.  Actually, I was over 300 lbs and didn't care for anything physical at all!  I figured it was a lot easier to make an excuse or place blame than to actually go and take care of my health. 

Then something changed.

I'm not sure if it was the day my mom cried about my condition, the day my doctor told me that I'm in serious trouble, when my relationships fell apart, when I noticed I was out of breath tying my shoes, I was tired and hungry all the time...  they were all around the same time...  something clicked and I learned that something wasn't right.  I wasn't always this miserable. 

So I went on a diet and bought some workout DVDs...  I lost weight, but I wasn't enjoying it.  It felt like a chore and I would eventually not be able to keep it up.

A few weeks later, my life changed.  I moved, I was single, and I started a new job.  I was still dissatisfied and really depressed.

So one day I ran.

My first run, I ran to the end of the block.  It was the most difficult thing that I could ever remember doing.   I threw up in my mouth.
Motivating myself to run again the next day was the new hardest thing I could ever remember doing... and that's how it went for a while. 
 Then I ran my first 5K with a couple of my best friends...  and was faster than I ever thought I could be!

I WAS HOOKED!

That was 2010.

Now, we're at the tail end of 2013.  I've run a few 5Ks, 8K, 10K, and a half marathon.  I'm still hungry all the time, but I'm a little under 200 lbs...  with some to go, and I run all the time and love it!  It's no longer a matter of running away from things, but running toward the next.  I don't make excuses about my health, I just take care of it.  So if I eat a rack of ribs (or two), I run and run and run and run...