Matthew Carlton, Words, Art, Photography

Today was a good day, 68 degrees at 4:30pm in the afternoon.  I broke in my new running shoes with a 3.1 miles jog, it was a tad windy as it has been lately, but really it’s been a good day.

I’m still on a journey, since I’ve changed my lifestyle I don’t expect it to ever end.  It was around nine months ago I made the choice to be healthy; this goes above and beyond just dieting.  I decided to eat better and be active while making smart choices.  It’s paying off; I’ve officially lost 50 pounds since I’ve made this change.  I’ve come to another point where I need to shed clothes that don’t fit anymore; my size 38 jeans I bought around Christmas are just too big.  It’s not such a terrible problem to have.

I’m ready for the 8K (5 miles) race in April; Liz should be ready as well.  I’d like to get a few longer 5 mile runs in before then.  I am running with Liz in her first 5K later this month, I’m so proud of her!  I’ve also picked up strength training, a fitness area I had been lacking.  I never realized how out of shape my upper body had become!

Besides eating well, exercising, and getting healthier I have been working on my first work of fiction.  I’m currently working on a third draft of the plot; I plan on writing the actual story once this draft is complete.  I’ve really enjoyed working on it so far, it’s been such a great release for me.  I still haven’t figured out and possibly never will why I never enjoyed writing until I was older.  I hope to be able to share a lot more about it in the coming months.

Until next time, stay classy.

My wife and I bought Nike+ fobs to track our running indoors.  They’re pretty cost effective at twenty bucks and since we have iPhones (Nike+ technology is built in to the iOS) it made sense to do that instead of buying a pedometers or highly overpowered stopwatch.

I’ll let you know how it works out.

It seems that the Carmel Marathon and the Komen Race for the Cure are on the same day, April 21st, 2012.  That’s going to make it a little hard to try and do both this year.

Scheduling is hard.

This afternoon I went to jog, the first jog since I fell on my shins, and I experienced discomfort in my left knee.  The discomfort is hopefully because I fell near my left knee.  As I outlined in my previous post, I’m clumsy.

I’m disappointed but I felt like I shouldn’t push it so I walked back home.  I’m going to take it easy today and tomorrow and see how it feels Saturday morning.  I want to try this new interval, but I know I should play it safe and just rest.

Hopefully it will feel better for Saturday, if not I’ll have to figure something out.  The elliptical is an option as it doesn’t impact my knees as much as jogging.  However, it’s not as fun as actually getting out on the trail, road, or sidewalks.

Once and a while I do something that isn’t graceful, for instance this past Sunday I tripped myself walking up the stairs of my basement.  I landed shin first on one of steps, where the sharp edge of the tread meets the riser.  It didn’t feel good, other than the welts I’m sure I’ll have some great looking bruises before it’s all healed.

Ah well, such is life … well, such is my life.

I wasn’t able to run Monday because of this little mishap, should the rain hold off I’ll be able to get back outside and start on my next interval.  The cooler weather should be a big help.  I’ll continue to train as it gets colder and through the winter so I can run my first 5K in the spring.

I enjoy jogging.

Not something I thought I’d be thinking or saying.  My wife and I signed up to do the 8K race at the Carmel Marathon in June.  About two weeks before the race we started training by going out and walking three to five miles to get to a point where we would be able to finish on race day.  My goal was to finish.  I knew I wasn’t in good physical shape, but this was a good place to start.  From the day we started training I’ve not stopped and I’ve started using Weight Watchers’ online program to track my eating habits.  I like this program as it helps keep me accountable for what I eat.

Anyway, two weeks before the race we begin to train.  I decided to jog when I could and just go with the flow, I didn’t start timed intervals until after the race.  The race went well; I beat my training times to pulp.  Soon after the race I went to Blue Mile and got fitted properly for running shoes, this is by far one of the best decisions I’ve made in regards to jogging.  My first interval time was one minute of jogging then three minutes of walking.   I progressed to one and a half minutes jogging and two and a half minutes walking then to two minutes jogging and two minutes walking.  Around two months after I started timing intervals I’m at two minutes of jogging and one and a half minutes walking.

This latest interval step is currently kicking the living energy out of me, but I’m not going to give up.  I’ve been able to reach sub twelve minute miles since starting this interval routine.  I am hoping to be able to run the two mile course I currently run around my neighborhood by the time it gets too cold to run outside on a regular basis.  I have a regular two and three mile course that I can do my intervals on, I have not tried my newest interval yet on the three mile course.  I’m a little intimidated by the thought knowing how tired I’ve been after doing this new interval on the two mile course.

I’m trying to hit the two mile course the three days during the work week I get out, I want to save the three mile course for my Saturday morning run.  This Saturday I’m going to try it and see how it works out, I should be fine as long as I remember to breathe properly.

I’m getting healthier as I continue to exercise and eat right; so far I’m down a little over fifteen pounds.  I’m hoping to lose at least another fifty pounds before I go into maintenance.  I can only imagine how the weight loss will help me as I train for something bigger in the coming year.  I know that I want to run a full 5K in the spring and beyond that I know I would like to run the 8K that I walked this year.  If things continue go well I will continue to try for something bigger.

I’ve discovered that running is like a drug, you always want to do more.

I enjoyed the Carmel Marathon’s 8K walk/run this weekend; I was very pleased with my time of 72 minutes (14 minute miles). It was 7-8 minutes faster than my training time of 80 minutes (16 minute miles). However last evening my feet and ankles starting swelling … I wasn’t expecting that. I had planned on starting a regimented program of intervals to work up to running the 3.2 mile loop around my housing addition. It’s the first step toward running longer distances … since I’m not in pain I hope the swelling goes down soon so I can get back out there!