Plateaued - To reach a level, period, or condition of stability or maximum achievement.

I am the poster child for "plateaued."  I'm stuck at 190 pounds after initially losing 5 pounds 3-months ago.  People say I look better, and I'm wearing old jeans with a 2-inch smaller waist again, but the pounds just aren't coming off. To run my first marathon before I'm 50, with the minimum amount of wear-and-tear on my body, and with the least discomfort, I've got to drop some LBs.

People tell me I look like I've lost weight, or say "at least you didn't gain weight over the holidays," or  "your probably converting fat to muscle," but none of that make me feel better about seeing the same number on the scale every morning. This calls for serious effort.

The last time I lost significant weight I followed a low-carb diet.  I lost 30 pounds in four months (and, yes, it all came back). A low-carb diet won't work with marathon training.  This time I'm going to eat what I normally eat, just less of it. First, I must know how much I'm taking in.

To that end, I've created an account on LiveStrong and today I started using The Daily Plate (or My Plate).  There are hundreds of calorie counter web sites.  In 2005 I used My Food Diary.  It worked fine while I was using it. My problem with calorie counting is that I don't stick with it.  Tracking calories takes too much effort. Nevertheless, I'm going to try it again through March 1 (I don't think I can keep it up through April).   My goal is 1,800 calories a day in order to lose 20 pounds before I run the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, April 26. 

I chose The Daily Plate, and paid for the membership upgrade, because I'm a fan of the LiveStrong Foundation. The Daily Plate works like most calorie counters.  You set-up your account with your current weight, daily calorie goal, etc, then start tracking meals. There is a wizard to help determine your target calories if you don't have a number in mind. The food database seems pretty good so far.  I haven't had to add my own items yet, but that looks straight forward.

My biggest complaint is that I don't see an easy to group ingredients.  I had a EggBeaters ham and cheese omelette for breakfast, as I often do.  I had to add the Egg Beaters, ham, and cheese individually.  It would be nice to group those ingredients as meal so that I can reuse it.  I suppose I can just look at the totals and use them to create a new single, combined item.

Lunch was easy to record.  I had Pico Tacos from On The Border.  I give On The Board credit for listing the food label values on its menu.  I quickly found the Pico Tacos in Daily Plate's database.  All I had to add was the four margaritas I drank (just kidding... I had ice tea).

I can already tell that I will lose weight as long as I stick with recording my food, if for no other reason, it will cause me to reduce snacking because I don't want to incur the inconvenience of recording another food item!  Also, when you know you are recording your diet you tend to eat healthier.

I'll let you know how it goes.

I was chatting with DaShaun Carter Monday.  I met DaShaun through the Kansas City Java Users Group years ago.  We’ve worked together a couple of times since then. When I told him my plan to run in the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, April 26, 2009, without hesitation he replied “I’ll do it with you.”  True to his word, he registered for the marathon and signed up for The Runners Edge Spring Program.  I laughed, telling DaShaun that we may run the same race, but we won’t see the finish line together.  He is younger and far more athletic.  Nevertheless, it will be great to have him along for the journey.

It was a double workout day for me.  I started the day with The Runners Edge Winter Boot Camp, and I finished the day with a 5-mile run.  Normally I don’t double-up like that, but tomorrow I need to rest so that I can do a 6-mile New Years Day run with the Kansas City Track Club.  I’ll finish the week with another 6-mile run Saturday.

Today I learned a lesson about controlling my pace.  I’m fortunate to live close to the Indian Creek Trail, a 17-mile paved, multi-purpose trail running from Lenexa, Kansas to Kansas City, Missouri along Indian Creek.  It is mostly wooded and passes through several parks.  It’s a great place to run (if your are not downwind of the sewage treatment plants in Overland Park and Leawood, Kansas ).

As you leave my house at the top of the hill it’s a quick half-mile jog to the trail, dropping in elevation about 350 feet.  It is easy to let enthusiasm get the best of you and start out too fast.  That is what happened to me on Sunday.  Saturday was a travel day.  Sunday I was eager to repeat the performance of my five-mile run in Springfield the previous Friday.  As I setout on a fresh set of legs I felt great. I glanced at my Garmin and saw that I was running a 9:30ish pace.  Even after trying to ease-up I was still running in the low 10’s.  Everything was great until I got to the icy part of the trail.

About two miles into my run there is an arched iron pedestrian bridge with a wooden deck crossing Indian Creek.  On the other side of the creek the trail is set into the base of steep wooded hill.  Snowmelt from the top of the hill that gets sunshine freezes as it crosses the trail in several shaded parts.  As I tried to negotiate the ice I was forced to walk.  Even after I was past the ice on the hillside my pace was slow and running was laborious.  I decided to stop after four miles.  My pace was a disappointing 12:19.

When I ran today I paced myself for the first mile.  I felt like I was running in slow motion.  It was all I could do to slow down to an 11:00 pace.  Even after the first mile I never “opened it up,” per se.  I just tried to keep my pace under 12:00.  The temperature was in the low fifties so the ice was gone.  I only walked briefly at the turnaround point.  On the return leg I really felt like I had hit my stride.  Instead of slowing down I was on cruse control.  I finished 5-miles in 57:59, or 11:35/mile, matching the pace of my last Springfield run, but with much less effort in the end.  It was wonderful to be able to finish strong.

So, now I know. It really is important to pace yourself at the beginning of a training run.  I suppose that is just common sense, but now that I’ve seen the dramatic effect I will make a concerted effort to pace myself better from now on.

This is our year for Christmas at the in-laws.  Twenty-three family members, spanning three generations, are gathered at my father-in-law’s house in Springfield, MO.  My running drill for the week is getting to the bathroom first upon hearing the pocket door start to slide open in the morning.  I'm surprised there haven’t been any serious injuries!

My daughters got a Wii.  My wife received a gift certificate to M. Taylor; a store owned by a good friend of ours that is struggling like all retailers this year.  Please support any locally owned businesses near you!

My gift was a bright yellow LiveStrong hoodie from Nike. The Therma-Fit material is thick, like a sweatshirt, but smooth, like a technical T-shirt.  It feels great, fits well, and looks great, but unfortunately, it didn’t help me run any faster.  Most importantly, the licensing fees go to a good cause.

I took advantage of Christmas Day by running my first five-mile run of the year. This was also my first time to try out my Garmin Forerunner 305.  My father-in-law lives just a mile from the start of a multi-purpose path on Seminole Road.  A bike route connects his house to the trailhead.  I strapped on my Forerunner and headed down the bike route mid-morning.

The first obvious benefit of the Forerunner is the pace readout.  I knew at a glance that I was starting out too fast, at a 9:40 pace. I settled into an 11:30 pace that eventually gave way to my usual 12:xx endurance pace.  I tried to keep my pace under 12, but kept drifting back over 12.  It watched hundredths of a mile tick-off as I approached the 2-½ mile turnaround point.  GPS is a wonderful thing.

I couldn’t wait to get back and upload my data.  The bad news is that it took me 1:01:59, at a turtle’s pace of 12:23/mile. I’m still giving in to walking briefly at hills or when I’m feeling winded.   I was surprised to see the walks when I uploaded the data.  I ran the first 18 minutes and the last 10 minutes, but in between I walked every five or six minutes—a lot more than I realized.  I’ve got to fix that!

I’ll hit it again tomorrow and see if I can’t eliminate half, if not more, of those walks.  I’m definitely enjoying my new toy.

This morning I awoke to the countdown: 365-days left to achieve my goal of running a marathon before I turn 50.  That’s a pretty audacious goal for a non-runner to set for himself; nevertheless, I’m determined to make it. 

I rolled out of bed at 6:00 AM and began pulling on layers of running clothes.  It was 21 degrees out and today is Saturday—long run day with The Runner’s Edge.

This week we ran from Grandview High School.  Once again I was amazed at the turn out.  The parking lot was almost full.  I didn’t see Carl today so I just kept to myself, running with Terry’s 11:00 pace group again.  As we ran I listened to the banter between some of the runners.  A very tall sender woman said that she was on her last long run before her marathon. For many people today was the final 20 or 22-mile run before heading to the Disney World or Phoenix marathon.  My measly 4-mile run seemed so trivial—not much more than a warm-up run.  I need to remind myself that I am just getting starting.

Last week Coach Eladio told me to find inner turtle.  Well, I have, but I don’t like it.  I’ve run three 4-mile runs since last Saturday, and every one was over 12:00.  This morning my pace was 12:09.  Now, in my defense, I copped out and walked several times in the last mile, so I should easily get down into the 11:00s next time, but I’m still bothered.  That is so stinking slow!   When I run at a 9:40ish pace I only seem to be able to keep it up a couple of miles.  I think I’ll still shoot for 9:45 on my weekday 3-mile runs.  Perhaps I can improve the pace of my long runs as the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon gets closer.

My birthday present was the Garmin Forerunner 305 GPS with heart monitor.  It is charging as I write.  I can’t wait to learn how to use it.  All my premeasured routes seem so restrictive.  With the Forerunner I can take off either direction on the nearby Indian Creak Trail and just run what I feel.  Hopefully I can take advantage of its capabilities to train better… if not, it makes a pretty cool toy .

It happened at a Christmas party Saturday night.  I was savoring a handful of delicious honey roasted peanuts when one fell.  As I bent over to pick it up off the floor I felt “The Pop.”  If you’ve experience lower back problems you know what I mean.  “The Pop” is like an earthquake with an epicenter deep below the surface, like a tectonic shift in your spine, often a harbinger of a tsunami.  The tsunami is wave after wave of muscle spasms that often follow that first twinge.

It’s been 20 years since I was hospitalized with a herniated disc.  Since then I have learned to listen to my back.  I recognize the song it is singing now, tightness punctuated with sharp twinges when I bend, twist, or lift the wrong way. I’ve avoided major problems for 15 years after going through physical therapy and a shot of cortisone in my spine.  When my back starts complaining I respond by stretching, exercising and strengthening my core.  I’ve found stretching my hamstrings especially effective.

Ironically, Carl and I had a long discussion about injuries during my four-mile run Saturday.  Carl is the seventy-something marathoner I mentioned in my last post.  He told me that over his 25-years of running he has endured every kind of injury that can afflict runners, and he has overcome them all.

Carl’s advice to me was not to give in.  He has seen too many runners simply stop running in the face of adversity, which is exactly what I did when I pulled a groin muscle a few months after my half-marathon.  His philosophy is to keep pushing on however you can, within the confines of a common sense about the nature of the injury.

Fortunately, I only have the warning signs of injury and not the full Monty.  My plan tonight is to stretch, take an easy three-mile jog to loosen up, and then head to Gold’s Gym to do my upper body exercises very gingerly.  I haven’t been to the gym for six-weeks, perhaps that is why my back is complaining.  The real test will be how it does at boot camp 5:30 AM tomorrow morning.

The Olathe Marathon is March 28, not in May like I thought.  My plan is to try to get into the Chicago Marathon when registration opens in February.  That was to be my "homecoming" marathon since I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, but Olathe was going to be my first Marathon attempt.  If I fail to complete my first marathon, I don't want that failure to come at Chicago where some high school buddies will be cheering me on.

Looking at Hal Higdon's Novice 1 marathon program I'm already two weeks behind for the Olathe Marathon.  Plus, I've been working on pace, not distance, to keep my first marathon experience under five hours, so I'm only running 2-mile runs (other than the The Gobbler Grind 5K a few weeks ago).  I think a March 28 marathon is out of my reach.  I want to take my time and lose more weight first.

My ideal schedule is the following:

1 - Spend the rest of December working on 3-mile and 4-mile runs at pace under 10:00, ideally 9:30.

2 - Start a 12-week half-marathon training program January 4.

3 - Run the Olathe half marathon March 28.

4 - Roll into the middle of a full marathon training program.

5 - Run a late May to early June marathon.

6 - Roll into a maintenance training program leading up to the Chicago marathon in October.

The trouble is that I can't find any late May - early June marathons in Kansas or Missouri.  Perhaps a series of spring and summer half-marathons, culminating in run my first full marathon at Chicago makes sense given my current physical condition. I'll see what Eladio at The Runners Edge has to say.

Today was my first day of The Runners Edge bootcamp with  Coach Eladio Valdez.  It's being held at 68s Inside Sports Warehouse.  I was nervous about the level of difficultyhung up on the "bootcamp" partbut I survived. Eladio did have me sweating buckets by the end. The level of exertion was tolerable, though I had a tough time finishing some of the drills.   We'll see how sore I am tomorrow.  

I'm really glad this bootcamp is part of my training.  There were several exercises designed to help prevent injuries, like twisted ankles, that I would never have thought to do on my own.  It included a good mix of flexibility, calisthenics, and running drills.  Many of the drills involved exagerated running motions, high stepping and mule kicks, that should help open up my stride.

I'll put my stride to the test tomorrow.  My goal: 2 miles at a 9:30 pace... hey, you've got to start somewhere!

The Pudgy Penguin