Good week!

I've had a decent week so far and kept up with my running! It felt good to do the 5 miles on Wednesday and a nice 3-miler yesterday.

7 miles tomorrow which is a bigger challenge but I've done 8 and 9 milers in the last 2 Sundays so I should hopefully be ok!

Have a good weekend all!

Still on track!

I had my first minor setback yesterday all though I don't see it as a setback. I've always read and been told "LISTEN to your body" so when I set out for my 3 mile run yesterday I really wasn't feeling it. I ended up doing 2 miles instead of 3.

With that being said today I was back on track with the scheduled 5 miler which I completed in 53:42 which is a fairly decent time, about 10:40 per mile. It feels good to have midweek break in the running on a Thursday because it doesn't seem so monotonous that way. Gym session tomorrow, 3 miles on Friday and 7 miles on Sunday. Should be easy-peasy (Hoping I haven't jinxed myself).

Ploughing on!

Another 3lbs lost!

I'm waking up this Monday morning with my body aching all over the place. It's with no doubt due to my 9 mile run yesterday which I found much tougher than the 8 mile run last week! I was very pleased to finish the 9 miles without stopping even if the last couple of miles were slow.

I then weighed myself to found I lost another 3lbs last week which is pleasing as I was very strict with my diet. That's about ½ stone lost now in 3 weeks so I hope I can keep this going. I'm going to try and be strict again this week even though I have a meal out on Friday and Sunday.

Loosing all the weight makes the aching more bearable! I'll also pass 250 total miles this week which is a bit of a milestone!

2 weeks down - 5½ months to go!

I set a goal 2 weeks a go to not eat crisps or chocolate for 6 months. Today makes in 2 weeks success!

I've not really struggled as much as I thought all though the temptation has been there. If the remaining time is as easy as these 2 weeks have been, I should be able to achieve my goal no problems.

Great run, great progress and new weigh-in

Today has been an excellent day.

I ran 8 miles but felt good doing it. The first mile was very slow - around 12 minutes as I wanted to pace myself but after that I upped the pace and even managed a 9 minute mile on my 7th mile of the run. I also overcame a stitch around 3 miles and so I'm very pleased. It's the first time I've manage to finish stronger than I started and I'd like all my runs to carry on that pattern if I can.

The only negative from the run is bloody nipples and a rash where I wear my iPhone to track the run but it hasn't bothered me too much.

When I got back, as I told you a few days ago I wanted to weigh myself to start tracking my weight again and I was pleasantly surprised to weigh in at 197.5lbs - the lightest I've been in years! Let's hope I can keep loosing weight and keep upping the distances. More days like today please!

Protein shakes

I've been going to the gym with my mate Mark who is a man mountain for about a month or so. The training is very intense and so I am now doing this 1 time per week to couple my running. It's weight lifting focusing on shoulders, arms, chest and stomach muscles and I'm hoping I can tone these up along side my running training.

The owner of the gym is a bit of an expert (he's a bodybuilder) and so I explained my marathon training scheme and my diet etc. and he suggested I don't eat enough protein. He therefore suggested protein shakes to supplement my diet. I've decided to give it a go.

I'll let you know if I feel a difference.

All the best

Erik

Weight progress

As some of you eagle-eyed readers have spotted - I haven't updated my weight progress in a while. I intend to start updating it again. I was thinking every Sunday after my run would be a good time to do it as it's at the end of the week once I've done all my exercises for the week. I shall start this Sunday... I'm a bit worried as I have slacked off recently and so hopfully I'm not too far over 200lbs (14st 4lbs).

-Erik

Training plan!

Feeling positive

So the first week back in proper running training ended well, I really enjoyed my 5-mile run all though the route I have is a tough one and there is about a mile between 3-4 which is steep uphill. I struggled through it and felt really good afterwards - I'm beginning to think a marathon is actually possible if I stick with this training plan!

Also, on Saturday and Sunday I had some really nice comments about my weight loss, one of my mates was stunned when he saw me and said he couldn't believe how different I looked... Not that I can tell myself but it's those sorts of comments that spur you on to train even harder. I've still got a long way to go with the weight loss but when you hear from others that it's making a difference, it makes you more determined to go further.

All in all I'm feeling very positive at the moment. This week consists of 3,4,3 and 8 mile runs as well as a gruelling hour in the gym on Thursday. I think it's those Thursdays that have made the biggest difference in my appearance so far.

-Erik

Another milestone - 200 miles!

I know I've only just started back properly and today was my 2nd run since I booked the marathon (flights, hotel and place in the race). Even so, I still feel a sense of achievement that on my little 3-mile run today, I passed 200 miles!

I was also very pleased with the time, I did it in 29 minutes which is faster than what I normally do for that route. I bought myself some proper running shorts which felt better to run in and I also think the motivation of Spain in 6 months drove me to push myself that little bit extra.

A day off tomorrow followed by a 5-miler on Sunday.

Have a nice weekend!

-Erik

Diet goals

So in order to do well with the race and in order to get to a stage where I believe I can complete the race I have set myself so goals in my diet. I'm not going to count every calorie I eat but I hope some simple rules will help me on my way:

1. No crisps or chocolate consumed until March
2. A limit of 5 days where I can drink alcohol between now and Christmas - then 3 days between Jan-March
3. 5 takeaways between now and March - I'm not including meals out but simply trying to cut out the random Wendesday night Pizza or KFC on a Saturday lunch time.

I don't have too many takeaways as it is today but I think some simple rules will help. The biggest test for me I think will be crisps - I can't get enough normally. Alcohol is another test but the motivation of running the marathon should hopefully see me through - it's not like I'm cutting it out all together.

What do you all think?

Erik

New goals, new start, EXCITED

So most of you regulars will notice that I haven't updated the blog in a while and there is a reason. I was going off running - it was getting very boring and so I didn't keep up like I should have! This was made worse when it was confirmed to me that I didn't get a space in the London Marathon and there were no more entry places for the backup plan - the Brighton marathon either.

So what I was in DESPERATE need of was a new goal to re-ignite all the early initiative that I had toward my running and the inspiration and the idea came from my friend Dave who's got some experience in running marathons. He suggested doing a European city marathon as it's so much cooler than London and it will also give me a chance to visit somewhere I haven't before.

The choice was very much impulse but I've decided to run the BARCELONA marathon on 25th March 2012. My friend Dave agreed to run it with me and so I'm now very excited and flights, hotel and spot in the marathon is booked!

So, to the training. I've drawn up a similar plan to take me up to March 25th. It's very similar to before but the difference this time is that I don't have to start from scratch! I have 199 miles under my belt to date and I think that could only be a good thing. I'll update with the training plan in a few days or so, so that you can see what I'm doing.

I can also say I'll try and keep the blog more up to date!

All the best!!

Erik