Round 2 - I'm Back

Hi all were to start?.Lets see since last June I was in the peak shape of my adult life. I dropped down to 158lbs (for like 2 days) and worked up to running around 30 miles a week, also competed in two races! The reason I lost so much weight was simple..a bet between co-workers on who could lose the most weight within 20 weeks. I lost 42lbs and claimed third place for $200 prize (top 3 split). Immediately following the 'competition' I dropped down to running 15 miles a week at first. Canceled my gym membership due to high costs and eventually due to the heat of summer stopped running altogether (still managed a couple miles a week every once in awhile to see if I still had it...(well you lose it pretty quick).

I managed too keep my weight in the 170-175 range until around thanks giving when i got fired at work. Due to really bad upper management, my company layed off 10% of there employees including me. This left me with 8 weeks severance and a lot of time to enjoy the holidays. I ballooned up to 180s soon after despite working out 5 days a week (exercise videos) during my 30 day layoff. I was gainfully employed once again officially on Christmas eve day, my Christmas present from my wife was a renewed gym membership. So things were looking up for my health/career.

The last month I have been strength training pretty hard along with some cardio (running...yep I can still do it). I remembered this blog for some reason and came back to revisit my journey of last year. What a trip down memory lane, I have been re-inspired me it also turns out the second annual St.Patricks Day 8k is 8 weeks away (exactly the same amount of time I trained for it last year) and after reading my adventures last year it has inspired me to return and avenge myself by beating my previous time. Can I do it? time will tell. (not sure I'll be inspired to return to my hellish beach run ...one race at a time).

Step 1 was to assess my current condition.

Weight: 186lbs (hey some of that's got be muscle).

To be honest my weight isn't as bad as last year as I'm stronger and more in shape then last year as I was coming off 15 years of inactivity a broken foot and I weight over 200lbs. I really do believe I've packed on some muscle as I feel pretty strong since I have been strength training pretty regularly. My goal is to be at 165lbs by race day. that's like 3 lbs a week. No problem if I'm disciplined.

Cardio Shape: 5 Miles in 54 minutes.

That's right I went to the gym and hammered out 5 miles on the treadmill. I was amazed I still had it..sure I'm not running the sub-8 minute miles but last year I wasn't running sub 12s..not to mention I couldn't run 3 miles when I started. So I feel my cardio shape is really good considering the circumstances. I mean I had nightmares I would be returning to run/walks and to my surprise I ran 5 miles with negatives splits (the last mile was actually 8:50). Also my tolerance of "uncomfortable pain" has gone up. I really felt good running at 80-85% MHR (maximum heart rate %) as last year I trained in the 70%-75% zone exclusively.

The Goal: 8k in 7 weeks in less the 47 Minutes

I only need to cut 7 minutes and I haven't even began training that hard yet (other then below). Honestly as long as I don't get injured I should smash last years effort.
The Plan: Custom

No Hal Higdon this year as his novice plan is to easy and his intermediate is to much (I need my rest as I have not put in a good solid base). I'm going to design my own plan based on my what I learned last year. I want to log good strong quality mileage but I need to give my legs time to recover as I'm at a risk of injury without proper rest. Also since weight loss is important but not key I'm going to emphasise weights and cross training as well. To allow myself to rest legs and still get exercise.

More to come.. I'm stoked for this race.