Archive for: diet

My Own Personal Battlefield

Posted by Jim on March 4, 2012

Chickamauga Battlefield cannonsWhen I started my run today, I was thinking about doing more than my typical four mile run, but I wasn’t sure just how far I wanted to go.  I decided to run at least seven miles at the Chickamauga Battlefield near our home.  I got there around 4:30 p.m. and figured I had about two hours of sunlight.

I choose a route I had not run before around the north and then east sides of the park.  This took me across the recently reopened Alexander Bridge which has a rich history from the Civil War.  I wanted to do a loop, so I kept running south thinking I would soon come across a road that would take me west to the main road through the park. Well, that took a little longer than I had expected.

I finally arrived at Red Belt Road and was able to make my way back to Lafayette so I could run north to my car.  But by now I had run eight miles and had another four miles to go.   It soon became dark, and I found myself breaking an important safety rule.  I was wearing black and running in the dark.  This is NEVER a good idea.  There were white reflective strips on my jacket, but it was still not the best situation to be in.  So, anytime a car approached, which was frequently, I would get several feet off the road and make my way as best I could.

By the time I got to my car I had run 3 hours and 12.8 miles.  Even though I didn’t enjoy running after dark, the rest of the run was relaxing and a real pleasure.  I had no soreness during or after the run.  I feel privileged to live where there are so many great places to run.

So my runs are going very well, but I’ve got another battle going on right now, my weight.  I had added about 10 pounds during the winter break while recovering from injury and illness.  And now I find that my diet is simply not good.  I have been eating more than I should and craving snacks throughout the day.  Usually running helps me control these cravings, but not so much lately.  As of this morning, I have only lost 12.5 pounds since starting the marathon training last October.  The goal was much greater than this.

So, I’m confessing my problem and hoping that it’s one more step toward doing something about it.  I’ve done okay today, but still not great.  I really need to buckle down unless I want to weight 240+ pounds when I run the Nashville Country Music Marathon next month.

(Photo Credit: Michael Noirot)

Categories Diet, Training
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Running on the Riverwalk

Posted by Jim on February 21, 2012

Mile marker 0 on the Tennessee RiverwalkI had an interview near downtown Chattanooga today, so I decided to take a change of clothes and run on the Tennessee Riverwalk (just across the street from my interview). It was a chilly 52 degrees, but the sun was shining and the Riverwalk was busy. I parked by the Chickamauga Dam, changed clothes and hit the trail. Even though I had a long run yesterday, I was feeling great and decided to see how I did eliminating my walk breaks on this run.

My pace for the first mile was nice at 11:45. Again, since I run with a heart monitor, I expected that I would slow down over the next few miles. And I did. I decided to turn around at the two mile mark (easy to recognize by the Jim Collins metal sculptures place at each mile mark, see photo above). My run back was almost a minute slower per mile.

I finished the four mile run in just under 49 minutes. This is a pretty good pace for me right now. I stayed in my training zone of 132-150 heart beat per minute for 95% of the run. Overall, this was a great run for me. I feel confident now that my past injury is healed and I should have no problem training for the marathon these next two months. I still want to lose nearly 15 more pounds so that I’m running the marathon at a weight of about 235. But honestly, I’ll be happy to be under 240.

Tennessee Riverwalk and a view of Lookout MountainOne other note: since I am playing catch-up on my training, I have to accelerate my long run increases for the next several weeks. I’m thinking about adding 3 miles to my long run every other week. That would have me running my longest, a 22 mile run, just two weeks before the marathon. I had wanted to run up to 25 miles on my longest run before the marathon, but the 22 miles will have to do. I don’t want to injure myself from over-training.

(Original Photo Credit: Michael Tinkler)

Categories Diet, Training
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It’s Been A While…

Posted by Jim on January 4, 2012

It’s been nearly two weeks since my last post.  I’d like to blame it all on the busy holidays, but it’s a bit more than that.  Seems that my leg injury (knee and calf pain) wasn’t going to go away as quickly as I had hoped.  Then a non-running related condition has kept me off my feet for nearly a week.  This is a most frustrating situation.  I’ve only run three times since my race on December 17th and none in past five days.

Even though the situation right now is very irritating, I’ve not changed any expectations for my marathon.  I know that I need to let these injuries heal.  And when they do, I will be back out running again.  I will have to tweak my schedule a bit to be sure I get in the long runs that are needed to prepare for the marathon.  But I had already left a little room for adjustments in case of something like this.  As long as I’m back running again soon, it won’t be much of a problem.

The other issue I need to address is the lack of any weight loss these past three weeks.  While my sons were visiting I let my diet waver a bit.  There was junk food in the house for the first time in months.  And yeah, I indulged.  Even though I didn’t put on any weight, I am now behind my weight loss schedule by nearly five pounds.  So I’ve got some work to do.  I’m sure that once I’m running again the weight will come off.

So, it’s a few more days of rest and then I try to run again.  The nearly 200 miles I put in so far are not wasted.  I should be able to get my mileage back up very soon.  Thanks for following me and supporting my efforts!

Categories Diet, Training
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100th Training Mile!

Posted by Jim on November 17, 2011

Today I ran my 100th mile since starting my training for the Nashville Country Music Marathon next April.  It was during a beautiful long run on the Tennessee River Walk in downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee.  It was a 10 mile run that took me just over 2.5 hours.  It was also the first of my training runs that caused me some agony.

About two hours before heading out, I had a wonderful ham and cheese sandwich.  Great tasting, but probably not so wise.  Meat this close to a run was not going to be digested.  Then I grabbed a package of Honey & Oat bars, filled one water bottle with a cherry flavored Poweraid drink I had never tried and left for the trail.  I drank water and the Poweraid throughout the run and ate the bars about the halfway point.  My stomach felt like a cage trying to contain multiple MMA fighters vying for the crown.  After a 5-minute bathroom break (there are several restrooms along the trail) I was back on my feet and feeling much better.

So, what have I learned?  No heavy foods before a run and when trying new trail foods or drinks, expect that there may be problems.

So far the Tennessee River Walk is my favorite urban run.  The main stretch runs 7.7 miles (according to Google Maps) with plenty of scenery and interesting things to see.  I will do a longer post with photos once I have run the entire trail.  This run was an out and back that left a little over 2 miles to still be experienced.

Categories Diet, Milestones, Training
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