The upward progression continues!

Totals for Last week!
My mileage for last week topped out over 24 miles!  The grand total came in at 24.77 miles for the week.  My six week total is 114.65 miles, over the 100 mile mark!

Steps were all over 10,000 for the week!

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat
12263	13784	11807	11629	13037	13459	12397

Coming in at a grand total of: 88,376 Steps for the week!  Since I've been keeping track during this training, that now makes 335,740 steps! 

C25K Week 6 Review
This week was pretty good.  I was mostly able to get the long run segments and I managed the 20 minute monster!

In the older version of the app, the 20 minute run came at the end of week 4.  I think it fits into week 6 much better.  The re-tooled version seems to be tweaked, so that it flows better.

Warm up walk - 5 minutes	Warm up walk - 5 minutes	Warm up walk - 5 minutes
Run 8 Minutes	Run 10 Minutes	Run 20 Minutes
Walk 3 Minutes	Walk 3 Minute	Cool down walk - 5 Minutes
Run 8 Minutes	Run 10 Minutes
Cool down walk - 5 Minutes	Cool down walk - 5 Minutes

I was extremely happy that I was able to keep going the whole 20 minutes.  

Week 7 continues to up the ante!  

Warm up walk - 5 minutes	Warm up walk - 5 minutes	Warm up walk - 5 minutes
Run 20 Minutes	Run 26 Minutes	Run 27 Minutes
Walk 3 Minutes	Cool down walk - 5 Minutes	Cool down walk - 5 Minutes
Run 5 Minutes
Cool down walk - 5 Minutes

Yard work ahead!

Spent some money today, so I can get some much needed yard work done. Whoever put down the bricks & mulch around the 2 trees in the front yard, did a horrible job.  I'm going to get rid of the bricks (mulch is long gone) and put down rubber tree ring mats instead.  Much easier to mow around.  I'm also going to put the tree rings around the 2 trees in the back yard.

As it is now, every time I bump one of the bricks, they fall out.

I also picked up weed & grass killer sprayer for the driveway & sidewalks.  They are in deep need of getting the cracks cleaned up.  I started treating the driveway cracks tonight.

Next weekend I will have to pick up more gas mix for the edger/weed eater and actually figure out how to use the edger attachment.

The fence is another story though.  It's in such poor shape, it just needs to be taken out.  I just don't know if there are rules about that or not.  Rental agreement puts me responsible for it... so...  If left up to me, it goes.  It's in the way, it's ugly, it just needs to go.  If it has to stay, then I'll need to power wash and treat/paint it or something.

Counting down!
Family reunion (Mom's side) in 3 weeks.  That's the last of C25K, I may consider doing the final run for C25K on the Panhandle Pathway!

Vacation in 55 days!  EEEK!!  I still haven't made my hotel reservation for the trip down & back!  I have to get that DONE ASAP!

171 Days until Marathon Weekend!  Still having issues trying to make dinner reservations!  Boo!  Disney's servers need some more power!

Only weeks 7, 8 & 9 left in the C25K program!


Thanks for Reading!
Regards, ~Kipp

2016 - Challenge Year: Me Vs. Me!

Check the link above to see my current and past races.

1st Me Vs. Me Weigh-in!

1st Weigh in - Me2011 v. Me2016!
Okay, so when I said this week was the first weigh in?  Well, I actually weighed in last week, so I could have numbers that made sense this week! 

Week	Date	2011		Weekly%	Overall%	2016		Weekly%	Overall%
0	5/31/2011	257	3	1.15%	6.55%	285	0	0.00%	0.00%
1	6/7/2011	256	1	0.39%	6.91%	283	2	0.70%	0.70%

So, Week 1 goes to Me2016!!  Now the big test comes next week.  Now that I've actually started being active, lets see what I can do for next week!

New phone problems
A few months ago, I got a new phone.  Well, when I got the iPhone 6, I had also moved all of my music at home to a network drive (NAS).  Well, iTunes blew up.  So, I've been rebuilding it, and now realize that all of my "running" playlists are all gone!  I've got to rebuild something up, as the C25K App I use only plays music from playlists!  ACK!  

Also, my Fitletic arm band isn't big enough for the monsterous iPhone 6 (not the super mega iPhone 6 Plus).  So, I'm going to need to pick up a new armband too. 

C25K W1 D2
Tonight I put Couch to 5K Week 1 Day 2 into the book.  It was pretty rough for me this evening.  Leg muscles are really starting to wake up and give me the "WTF" attitude.  

I'm feeling it at work too.  The new job is very much a desk jockey, so I'm starting to get really fidgity when I sit too long.  Unfortunately, today my legs were really restless when I was in a meeting...  ugh.

Once the C25K routine was done, I continued walking for a while longer, just to start helping my daily step counts to go up also.

Training Plan

Week	SUN 6/5	MON 6/6	TUE 6/7	WED 6/8	THUR 6/9	FRI 6/10	SAT 6/11
1		C25K W1 D1		C25K W1 D2		C25K W1 D3

The next nine weeks should look very similar to this.  MON-WED-FRI will be my C25K days.  Any other day will be open for me to do whatever I feel like.

If I need to repeat any weeks, which I'm sure I will, I do have four weeks of buffer.

With the weather improving so its not cold & raining all of the time, it's past time to clean up the bike and start getting it back out on the road!  Maybe get some biking time in during the weekends.

Shout out!

My friend Rick is out in Iowa for a Half Marathon tomorrow morning!  Yes, a Half Marathon on a THURSDAY.

Thanks for Reading!

Regards, ~Kipp

2016 - Challenge Year: Me Vs. Me! Check the link above to see my current and past races.

A Year of Silence

What happened before

Chicago Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon July 20, 2014

  In May, the doctor prescribed a new medication for me.  I had NO idea how it would affect me in a race setting.  Some things learned:

1) GU / Cliff Gels, no longer a good idea for me.  This new medication didn't like the pure sugar bomb effect these have and tore me up.
2) Gatorade/Power-aide, A few drinks of these had me feeling like I wanted to barf. 

Rick had other types of replenishment and they were much more acceptable to my stomach.

With pretty much no training, it took everything I had to continue on.  Without Rick and Mike, I'd have bailed when my stomach went nuclear. 

Since this event, I have found Hammer Nutrition products do not have these adverse effects on me.

Air Force Marathon  September 20, 2014

Bailed on this event.  No training due to being a lazy ass and getting ready to move the following week or so after this event.

I also had a "not-mandatory" but suggested mandatory company function to attend that evening.

Rick went to this event and didn't have a good go of it.  It was very hot and humid.  Not an ideal situation for a Marathon held at an Air Force field and area, or any type of area really.

Indianapolis Monumental 1/2 Marathon November 1, 2014

Rick came down for this one again!  I had next to no training for this one.  Moving at the beginning of October had played havoc with any plans I had originally made.  Plus the fact that I was still just being a lazy ass.

Rick stuck with me to about the 10K/Half Way point.  At that time, he went on ahead, as the portion of the course we were still on was about to officially "close".  We could still progress on, only on the side walks.

It was much better once I got to the point where the full marathon and half marathon courses re-joined.  They had done something different.  They actually marked the left side of the road as the half-marathoners and the right side as the full.  So, here I was, practically the sole person on the half marathon side as the full marathoners zipped by me on the right.

Many words of encouragement from the full marathoners!  I had a Mickey Mouse hoodie on, and many of them would go by and shout "GO MICKEY!".  It brightened up my mood considerably.

I finished.  Not last, that I found out later, but darn near so.

Space Coast 1/2 Marathon November 30, 2014

Rick was thinking of bailing on this event, until I let him know that I was signed up for it too.

Rick stuck with me for the first several miles, almost to the half-way point.  We walked most of that time.  After Rick departed, I fell into a decent pace until the half way point.

This race is an out and back race, so the wind was to the back on the way out.  Coming back, it was in my face.  I kept going along, getting some running in when I could.

I finished.

2015 Disney World Marathon Weekend

I signed up for the Goofy anniversary race(s).

My last preparation for this event, was the Space Coast Half.

The Half Marathon.

Dead. Last. Finish. 

I started my battle with the Balloon ladies coming into Magic Kingdom.  There is a hard cutoff right at the area where you double back to enter into the Magic Kingdom.  We had to be in front of them when we got to that bus.  I made it.

The next battle was on the road going past Polynesian Resort.  The ladies let us know once again, if we weren't in front of them by the time they passed the bus, you were done.  I managed to get in front of them with great effort.  This is where I know 2 of the blisters popped.

The remainder of the course, I was followed closely by the safety team on bikes.  They let me know that as long as I could communicate with them and I was making an effort to continue, I was probably safe.  They spoke with me often, if I started to slow down.  They urged me onward, or else they would have to pull me.

On the way back to Epcot, I was surrounded by many of the Team in Training coaches, as they were concerned about their last person.  A young lady that was participating in the race, very pregnant.  Between her and I, we were the LAST.  Even though I wasn't part of Team in Training, they commented on my WiSH team shirt, saying that they saw those shirts at as many races as they were at.  They loved our saying, and it certainly was going to apply to me on this day.

Dead Last Finish is greater than Did Not Finish which greatly trumps Did Not Start.  DLF>DNF>>DNS.  This motto is now a charm on my RoadID wrist band.

I got lost in the crowd of coaches and they celebrated the last runner as the pregnant lady.  If you saw the live feed, I come across the line after she did.  I didn't care, at that point, I was glad I was done.

Dead.  Last.  FINISHED!

I wound up with very bad blisters on both feet.  So I didn't even attempt 
starting the Full Marathon.  With no training and having managed to complete the half, I left it where it was.

I cheered on my friends and everyone else that was in the marathon with the rest of our WiSH running teammates at the Hollywood Studios area.

There is a much longer story to the Marathon Weekend adventure, but I'll write that up another time.

Where am I going from here?

I'm almost back to square one, from when I first started this blog.  I'm back up even heavier than I was last year, topping out at a massive 285 pounds.  I've made some efforts and have lost the first 5 pounds to put me back at my goal.

To loose one hundred pounds...


With that, I'll end it for tonight.  The rest of the story begins tomorrow.

Thanks for Reading!
Regards, ~Kipp

2015 - something, something! Check the link above to see my current and past races.