12 Week Marathon Countdown

Marathon Man

Marathon Man

New member
In 84 days I'm running the Madison Marathon!

Seven months ago I couldn't run a mile straight. With only 12 weeks to go and coming off a rough couple weeks of eating and running, I need some motivation! So it's time to start a new journal, kick it up a notch, bring my A game, show the world how much ass I'm gonna kick, etc.

My old journal is here --> a fat man and a marathon

I stepped on the scale this morning and weighed 294.5 pounds! :cuss: That's about 15 pounds MORE than I was at my lowest before I decided to binge on donuts and pizza. I was feeling amazing 3 weeks ago, before gaining back some weight and hardly running at all. Now I feel fat, lazy and blah, again. I can't believe I used to live every day feeling like this! I need to get running again and get my groove back! And while I'm sure I'll be ONE OF the fattest people running on May 30th, I'd like to drop some more weight and make sure I'm not THE fattest!

So here's what I'm going to do for 84 days

1) Run 5 days/week (following my training schedule)
2) Cross train (weights and bike 2-3 times/week)
3) No sweets
4) No cheeseburgers or pizza!

Every 30 days or so I'm going to take a picture. Ideally I'll see some progress every week and have a nice little before and after.

Here's the races I'm signed up for so far.

April 24 - Crazy Legs 8K Madison, WI
May 30th - Madison Marathon
June 19th - 5K Pancake Run Janesville, WI
October 3rd - Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon

I'll post my first pics tomorrow!
 
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You've got a nice plan laid out for yourself. Sorry to hear you got a little off track, but now is the time to get into it head strong! April and May are coming up fast... and those other runners better watch their booty's cuz you are gonna rock like no one's business! :coolgleamA: Haha looking forward to hearing more from ya! Take care ~ Sarah
 
Day 1 - Wowza was it a tough day. Picking up a bunch of overtime, so I only had 6 hours off between shifts. I get to the health club at 8pm and I'm thinking, "man do I gotta get a great workout in today, since I'll be beat tomorrow." Every Sunday night I'm working 18 hours straight starting at 10pm, AND since I also picked up a 9 hour Sunday morning shift that means I basically just skip a whole night of sleep once a week in March.

So I'm jacked up to kick some arse, swipe my card and ... the light stays red. The door locked. Swipe it again. Red. So not only does my health club charge me a bogus $20 returned check fee for last month (even though I ALWAYS had more than the $35 monthly charge in my checking), but now I end up paying $55 last month and I CAN'T EVEN GET IN THE BUILDING! So much for kicking ass.

So I didn't do my weights or cross training like I was planning. Guess I'll have to do them after my long shift on no sleep. But I ran outside through the streets in my baskeball shorts and thin breathable t-shirt. And it was 31 degrees. I was sweating halfway through. Wow, it's amazing how quickly you lose your endurance with just a few weeks of doing nothing! :ack2: That was a HARD 2.5 miles! Haha! I'm sure it'll come back quickly, but I'm never going to take 2 weeks off again! At least it'll be nice seeing some quick gains these first two weeks as I get back to fighting shape.

83 more days w/o ANY junkfood. This may be brutal, but I'll do it.

skkroll said:
April and May are coming up fast... and those other runners better watch their booty's cuz you are gonna rock like no one's business! :coolgleamA: Haha looking forward to hearing more from ya! Take care ~ Sarah
Click to expand...

No kidding. I'm so excited it's nice out again, especially since I can't get in my dang health club! Can't wait to start hitting up the local races again!
 
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Wow, sounds like your working super hard at your job. Bummer about not getting into the gym, I give you credit for showing up. You did what really mattered.

I recently gave myself a hard talking to re: junk food. No one loses weight that way.

Have a great day tomorrow and glad to hear the weather's decent.
 
Day 2 - Worked and slept ... oh, and we had a little "field trip" to see Alice in Wonderland. The boss paid and bought us all popcorn and drinks so I drank a bunch of diet pop and a few handfuls of popcorn. Then I slept. No workout, but I'm supposed to take Mondays and Fridays off. Gonna hit everything hard after work and blast this fat away!

2Skinny said:
I recently gave myself a hard talking to re: junk food. No one loses weight that way.

Have a great day tomorrow and glad to hear the weather's decent.
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Well it's so foggy I can't see more than 5 feet in front of me today. No more junk food for us!
 
Day 3 - Went well. Picked up some extra shifts so I had to cram in a 5.5 mile jog around work. Walked a bit and ran pretty slow, but it felt good to be back in the groove.

My health club is still giving me problems, so I think I'm just going to dump them and check out the YMCA tonight. Then I can swim laps in the pool and play basketball and all that fun stuff! Hoping I can get it all worked out after work. I'll have six hours off to run to the grocery store, cancel my membership, sign up at the Y, run 4 miles, swim some laps, lift some weights, drive home and shower and cut up some salad and make this delicious looking noodle and bean pasta I found in Men's Health, then head back to work for 18 hours! Woo. Day 4 is off to a great start. This is gonna be fun!

I feel sooo much better already!
 
Day 4 - The YMCA here is almost $50 a month! So I think I'm gonna pass on that one for a little while. That means I'm going to have NO health club for a little while. :(

Ate dinner then decided to sit down on the couch for 20 minutes to let it settle before heading out for a 4 mile run. 4 hours later my boss was calling wondering where I was. Whoops! First time I've been late to work in a long, long time. So I did not work out. But I should still hit my goals for the week. As long as I figure out something to do for cross training at home.
 
Just bought a Garmin 305 Forerunner. Woo! Figure all this hard work deserves one little toy. Now I can be a total data junkie and have graphs of my heart rate, pace, elevation and everything for my workouts. This is gonna be awesome knowing what my heart rate and pace is just by looking at my watch!

:party:
 
Some pics. First is probably within 10 pounds of my fattest, around 330. The second two are recent and around 295-ish, down about 35 pounds.
 
caddyguy said:
You don't look that fat. How tall are you? You look like a pretty big guy. Big as in "big" not as in fat.
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Well, I'm wearing a compression shirt that's kinda tight, so that makes me look a little more firm. I'm 6'1" about.

Day 6 - Woke up this morning and ran 3 miles (walked some), then did a nice little series of 10 minutes cycling, benching, rows, shoulder press, dead lift, squats. Repeated that 3 times. HOLY HELL that's a workout. Even though I had to some lighter dumbells than I should have. That's how you cross train. Haha! I was soaked in sweat and out of breath waaay more during the end of the weights than the bike. Getting back on the bike was a nice break.

Tonight I'm gonna do a 5 mile run so that I can still hit all my weekly goals. Dang work schedule messing up my plans!

Gonna post my food again too to keep me more on track with that.

Friday food
-Protein shake, banana, orange
-Buffalo Chicken Salad
-Noodle/veggie crap I made
-Buffalo Chicken Salad
-Banana, Orange.
 
Gotta get me a compression shirt :)

I'm 6'1" and I'm 215lbs today. You don't look your weight. Good luck with the running.
 
Marathon Man said:
Day 6 - Woke up this morning and ran 3 miles (walked some), then did a nice little series of 10 minutes cycling, benching, rows, shoulder press, dead lift, squats. Repeated that 3 times. HOLY HELL that's a workout. Even though I had to some lighter dumbells than I should have. That's how you cross train. Haha! I was soaked in sweat and out of breath waaay more during the end of the weights than the bike. Getting back on the bike was a nice break.

Tonight I'm gonna do a 5 mile run so that I can still hit all my weekly goals. Dang work schedule messing up my plans!

Gonna post my food again too to keep me more on track with that.

Friday food
-Protein shake, banana, orange
-Buffalo Chicken Salad
-Noodle/veggie crap I made
-Buffalo Chicken Salad
-Banana, Orange.
Click to expand...

Wow nice food! Yum too! Your running is going great and what a workout. I find squats super exhausting. Great pictures showing the 35 pounds lost WHOO HOOOoooo!! :hurray:
You are going all the way brother!
 
Hey MarathonMan, haven't stopped by in a while so just wanted to say hello. Where are you?! Hope you're still on track with everything and that you're keeping up OK. I can't believe the Madison marathon is just 2 months away... crazy! I haven't been training like I should so it's crunch time now!

Take care,
~ Sarah
 
Hey!

I'm running the Madison Marathon as well. Hope the weather is nice that day.

You have a great watch there, by the way. I've been using the Forerunner 305 for over two years, and it's incredible. It's my most prized possession.

Anyways, keep training! Do you have a goal finish time?
 
Just Checking in

How's the training going? I ran 12km on Thursday. Longest continual run since I started.

Have you been doing any hills or intervals? On Saturday I ran 50 minutes of interval mixing running fast (for me) and serious inclines (up to 15 degrees). It seems when I run outside I run the same pace no matter what. Also if I'm doing an out and back run vs a loop my return leg is always faster.

Keep posting no matter how it's going, we all have bad days (weeks/months)
 
Hey everyone!

I'm not dead. I haven't been on here in forever! Like a month ago I went to do a 12 mile run with my running partner, and got some serious SHIN SPLINTS. And they just got worse. And I got pretty depressed about it and pretty much stopped running. Once a week I'd get jacked up and excited about running again, but then 5 minutes into the run I'd have to stop.

AGRHHHHHHH!

I thought it was because I'd gained about 12 pounds back and the weight was holding me back ... but then yesterday I got my new Saucony Triumph 7's in the mail ... and I'M ALL BETTER!!!

:party:

I ran 2 miles straight yestereday morning at a slow-ass 13 minute pace at 4:30 am with the biggest shit-eating grin of my life! I'd never WANTED to do something before and then NOT physically been able to do it. And all I needed was to switch out my 300 mile old running shoes. DUH! I want to go on Saucony's website and write them a testemonial or something I'm so happy.

I'm probably going to have to do the half marathon though now, or else hurt myself, since it's only 7 weeks away and today I was actually WALKING on my 3 mile jog. I'm sure I'll get my endruance back pretty quick, but it's so nice to know that it's back on me now. It's like I fell in love with running and then had it taken away from me for a month. THAT SUCKED!

I'll check up with all you guys later. 7 weeks to build up again and rock the half then 18 weeks later until the Milwaukee full.
 
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Tried running 5 miles today, ended up walking the last 1.5 though because I FELT LIKE I WAS GOING TO DIE! But I'm still happy that I'm able to run at least.

Crossing my fingers I get my endurance back pronto over the next 2 weeks. I've now run 4 days in a row! Woo-hoo! First time in 5 weeks.
 
I'm not posting very much in my own journal since I spend most of my time over at RunnersWorld.com forums. If anyone needs running advice, GO THERE. The community there is as amazing as it is here!

I'll still be following all my friends on here and updating you guys when exciting things happen ... like the 5 mile crazy legs classic in Madison, WI! 18,500 runners registered from around the world. It's gonna be chaos! Only 1 week to go!
 
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