(Full) Marathon Man

While I may not have met my weight goal for the Coeur d’Alene Marathon, I did beat the time goal.

Ran it in just under 12 minute miles. Splits were terrible, started out waaay to fast. (Like I always do.)

It was a very painful experience, though. If I ever decide to run another full marathon it’s not going to be for another 20 or 30 pounds. As frustrated as I’ve been with my plateau, it was good to do something like this. I would have never been able to run 26.2 miles at my pre-band life; I recall 13.1 being a struggle.

Now it’s time for new goals. I don’t know what. I think moving back to a half marathon and aiming for a sub-2 hour race might be the next big goal. I’ve found that speedwork really helps weight loss, too, so it should tie in well with my goal of moving back to shaving off weight over the summer. I also need to pick up weights again. My arms are looking pretty pathetic right now.

Hello!

I got a fill today for the first time in 3 months (!) (+0.6 ml to 7.4 ml) and realized I hadn’t updated this blog for quite some time.  Well, there’s a good reason. I haven’t had much to say.  I’ve been pretty much stuck on this plateau of right around 300 for 9 months. The plateau is entirely mental.  I can’t seem to work my head around not grazing.  Or at least grazing sensibly.

My exercise has been up. I am still planning on running the Couer d’Alene Marathon over Memorial Day weekend and have been training like a mad man for it. I ran a 20 mile training run and the Tacoma City Half Marathon the weekend before that. (I’d never thought I’d be to a place where running a half marathon was not a big deal.)

In any case, I think recommitting myself to using the band properly to continue to lose weight and not just maintain my weight loss will be a good summer project. My wife and I are expecting our third child in September, and I’d like him to see his dad more than a few pounds lighter when he or she sees me for the first time.

Fill; Stuck!; New Year / New Goals

Checked in with the gang down at the doctor’s office for my first fill of the new year.  My last check in was just before Thanksgiving where I was told I was a little lose, bu that it was probably a good idea to stay a little lose through the holidays.  But, now, with the holidays over, time to get after breaking that plateau.  I weighed in exactly the same this time as I did on my last fill. Something like 308.8 which translates to right around 299 once I subtract shoes, clothes, and half gallon of coffee.

Ultimately, they tightened me up with an additional 0.3 ml of fluid, which I believe puts me at 6.5 ml . So I should no doubt be propelled towards achieving my new intermediate goals with this new tightening.

But before I get to those, I have one ugly incident to talk about. On Christmas Eve I got stuck on breakfast. This is the first real incident of sticking that I have had.  It went on for about four hours. And it hurt. And it was really annoying that I had to keep spitting out mucus.   I got the doctor on the phone, and he was going to see me in Olympia to open up the band.  On my way out the door I threw up about a pint of mucus and the cursed culprit, which I saw was a piece of sausage casing that didn’t get chewed up well enough.  I probably finally loosened it up enough with papaya enzyme to get it to go one way or the other, in this case up.  So, no more breakfast sausage links for me.

Now, for my goals from now until Memorial Day.

On the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend I am running a FULL MARATHON in Couer d’Alene, Idaho.  Running a marathon seems beyond me right now,  but probably not more than  a half marathon did when I first decided to run a half marathon and both times I registered before I could talk myself out of it. Now that hardly seems like a challenge any more.  I could work on my speed for half marathons as a goal, but I am so curious as to whether I can push myself to do a full marathon, I decided now was the time to do it.  Much like my first half marathon, my goal time is “finish before they close the course” which in this case means finishing in less than 5.5 hours.

As for my weight goal, on the day of the marathon, I want to weigh 260 pounds or less.   That’s about 2 pounds per week from now until then. Very doable when coupled with marathon training.  I think I’ve had my fill of sitting right at 300 pounds, and frankly, taking the holidays to not worry about it probably helped reset me for the push to come.  And in praise of the band: I didn’t think about my weight through the holidays and didn’t gain any weight!

What’s Up?

I’ve been quiet. There’s a couple of reasons.

First, I’ve just been crazy busy. In addition to the regular Christmas stuff to attend to, I’m opening my own law office on the first of the year, and have

Second, there’s not much to report. I’m still plateaued. I went to an adjustment appointment right after Turkey Day. They said my pouch shrunk nicely, that I was a little loose, but recommended waiting until after the holidays to fiddle with it.  I agreed, especially since I’ll be going to the Rose Bowl and attending the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s tailgate party and associated bratwurst tent before the game. (And because being extra careful with eating and stress of opening my own office don’t go together well.)

After the first, though, I’m going to make an all out attack on the 295-299 plateau. So hopefully, I’ll have much more to report moving forward. As part of my assault on this stubborn plateau,  I’m 90% sure I’m going to try to run a full marathon in Couer d’Alene on Memorial Day Weekend.  My new office’s location will save me 30 minutes of commuting time a day, which is an extra 2.5 hours of training a week, right?

I hope everyone has a great Christmas! See you in 2011!

What’s the difference? About 30 minutes.

Pre-Thanksgiving Weigh In

Some progress:

This is my lowest weight since being banded.  I’m not quite ready to declare victory on the plateau, but at least it looks like I’m inching forward towards my goal now.  It’s amazing how with the band, like most everything else in life, paying A LITTLE BIT OF ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING can help things along.

Somehow I doubt I’m going to make 289 by Sunday, with Turkey Day between now and then and all, but I’ll take what I can get.

I’m starting to think about what is going to keep me motivated to exercise after the half marathon on Sunday.  Still mulling doing the full Seattle Rock and Roll marathon in June.

Weigh-in; Non-Fill; The Incredible Stretching Pouch.

I was supposed to get a band adjustment check today, which reminded me that I haven’t made an official weigh-in in awhile.

So here it is:

As you can see, there is a reason I haven’t checked in. Nothing really to report. The bouncing around between 296 and 300 continues.

So I asked for some guidance when I was in this morning for my fill. Fortunately, the surgeon was in the office and not gutting someone else this morning. He came and watched the fluroscopy after which he asked me if I felt if I thought I was eating too much volume.   Yes.  My pouch seemed a little stretched, he said. No fill today. Shrink the pouch and come back after Thanksgiving.

So, I have to try to shrink it. That means being on a liquid diet if I can stand it, and if not being very particular to the banding rules of eating, which I have not been.  Fortunately, as anyone who was in gross anatomy lab with me and remembers the great “cat-gut nitrogen balloon incident” of ’96 can attest to, the stomach is very elastic.  But still, it is a bit of a wake up call.  As my surgery gets longer and longer ago, I take Judy for granted more and more.  And if I’m going to get to my goal weight, I have to continue to remember to use this tool in the proper way.

And speaking of goals, see that 269.5 by the day of the Seattle Marathon over there in the sidebar? That has to goal. I’ve missed that goal.  I will set it for a loss of 10 pounds by that day, though – 289.5 pounds. Should be doable back on the wagon (and with the liquid diet).

No one ever expects the Poulsbo Half Maraton!

I ran the inaugural Poulsbo Half Marathon on Sunday. I found out about it on Tuesday, and ran it Sunday. Normally, I wouldn’t attempt to run a half marathon on five days notice, but, as it so happens, I am training for the Seattle Half Marathon, and was supposed to run 10 miles on Sunday anyway. So I figured tacking on 3.1 miles wouldn’t be that big of a deal. I looked at the course, decided it was too hilly for a good time where I was in the training, and vowed to take it easy.

That vow didn’t last very long once I got running with the group.  And once I hit mile 9, I calculated that I could make a PR with a reasonable pace in the last 4.1 miles. Problem is the last two miles are straight up a hill. But, forgetting my vows, I dug in anyway, and ended up breaking my old PR mark, set in August, by about 4 minutes, coming in at 2:15:12. This was my sixth half marathon and the first I have run weighing less than 300 pounds.

Here is the GPS data and map from the race:

I was plenty sore yesterday (but still managed to mow the lawn) and am still feeling it today, but, hey, new PR.  The question is can I beat it on November 28? Frankly, I’d assume so. The course is a little friendlier. The Poulsbo course certainly had the feel of a first-try course. It seemed awfully slow in places, with problems like a slippery boardwalk, crisscrossing with runners on a hairpin, spots where the course was one runner wide, and some sections that were more trail running than road running. The Seattle Marathon course, on the other hand, throws a few hills at you, but there is always plenty of room and flat concrete under your feet.

Cross-posted at BMSB.

Weigh in – 10-15-10

Still up from my low, but there has been a definite downward trend since the fill:

I upgraded my old BlackBerry to a Droid R2-D2, so the picture looks a little different. I need to figure out the best settings for taking pictures of the scale.

The surprise half marathon on Sunday will be the first one I’ve ran at under 300 pounds. (I doubt that will be reflected in my time though, due to the hilly course and where I am in my training cycle.)

Fill / Surprise Half Marathon.

Another month. Another 0.6 ml fill.  That makes 6.2 ml total.

Then this morning I read that there is going to be a marathon/half marathon in my county. I had no idea. I’m not really prepared for a race-setting 13.1 miles, but I really want to show support for this race so it comes back next year.  I am supposed to run 10 miles anyway on Sunday. So I figure I’ll tack on the extra 3 miles, hope for the best, try to keep my pace under control. Between my level of preparedness and the hilly course, I don’t think I’ll be setting any personal records, but it will be nice to try a new course.