Tuesday

ORN: 15 X 90"R/ 90"W
Just creeping along, muttering about my weight every step of the way.

Saturday

ORN: 14 X 90" R/ 90" W

Thursday Night

[ORN: 13 X 80" R / 100" W; 20 minute walk Total Time = 1 hours]

Weight not dropping a bit, and don't understand it. (Of course, refusing to count calories at the moment might have something to do with it.) Anyway.... pushing on.

X-Training

weights; 30 ' stationary bike; 30' walk

Outside

Outside tonight.

ORN: 12 X 75"R / 105" W plus 23' walk Total Time = 1 HR

Slowly Building..... Again

ORN: 11 X 75" R / 145" W
Raining.... so I took to the treadmill.

Back at It

Well.... had to go back to 70"R/ 110"W intervals because of the previous period of illness. Dang, it took a long time to recover.
But did 9 intervals last night. Should be able to reach the Thanksgiving goal of running 2 minutes, walking one minute for the 5 miler. Seem to have my strength back..... finally.
And the other good news is that it looks like the weather might cool off for good this weekend.
Of course, I think I thought that last weekend also.

August Drought

By the end of July, training was on target. Even the first week of August was ok.
Then I traveled to Nashville and picked up a bug (I'm thinking it was on the plane).
Not a bug I was familiar with. Some coughing, but no fever. Just a complete lack of energy.
It took all my energy just to attend to work duties before crashing into bed immediately afterwards. Next week was a trip to Dallas, and the lack of energy continued. This past Tuesday, I felt better and returned to the gym. After twenty minutes on the treadmll, running only one minute out of 3, I was a dripping mess. Sheeeesh. And my legs hurt for two days.
How does one become so unconditioned in 3 weeks? Guess it's a pointless question. Although I had no energy for exercise during the past 3 weeks, I seem to have had plenty of energy to eat. Gained back 6 pounds. Anyway..... ONCE AGAIN..... it's back to training for the 5 miler on Thanksgiving morning. I don't care if I have to walk the whole damn route..... I'll be there. I'm sick of my excuses. I read about the athletic exploits of Waddler, GeekGirl, S Baboo, Mary Sunshine, and others, and shake my head. I don't ever expect to compete with them, but it would be nice if I could acquire the same self-discipline they display. Oh well..... tomorrow is September, and a chance for yet another beginning.

Resurfacing

While other bloggers have been out running various races, I've been staying at home, steadily plodding along, slowly building up my base.

ORN: 20 X 87" R/ 93" W (Total time = 1 hour) + 30' walk

Approximately 6 months ago, on Ground Hog Day, I started with 10 intervals composed of running 10 seconds every 3 minutes. Now, I'm up to almost 50% running every 3 minutes for a total of an hour. I probably could have reached this stage quicker, but I really wanted to try to avoid injury, and I didn't want to find the workouts so daunting that I would quit.
So, all and all, I'm satisfied with my progress so far. The Thanksgiving day 5 miler is clearly attainable, even if I have no speed; but I'm not going to worry about speed until after the half marathon next April, and maybe not even then. I've lost 10 pounds during the past 6 months. I'd like to lose another 20 by next April because that act alone would probably help with my speed.

Wednesday Night

ORN: 42"R/78"W X 16 Walk 25' Total Time 1 HR

Tuesday

Weights; 40' bike; 24' walk

Monday

ORN: Treadmill 9 X 41" R/ 79" W
Track 5 X 63"R/ 117"W
Walk 24' Total Time = 1:02

Saturday

ORN: Total time 45' (40" R/80"W X 15)

40 years ago, right after Cooper's Aerobics book came out, my dad, a couple of my friends, and I use to jog a few times a week during one summer. We jogged a steady 9 1/2 minute/mile pace, talked while we ran, and had some good times. Today, out of curiousity, I set the treadmill at 6.3 (which is suppose to be the equivalent of 10 minute miles on the road), just to see what it felt like. I only ran about 30 seconds.
Good Lord..... I felt like I was doing a 100 yard dash. Now that's stone cold reality.
Whew.

Easy Day, Sort of

Weights (not so &!@* easy)
36' bike; 24' walk

Focusing

Today, I signed up for both the Thanksgiving 5 miler and next April's Columbus Half-Marathon, and reserved a hotel room in Columbus. Kind of early, I know, but my hope is that these actions will focus my training on real deadlines. For the most part, I've usually needed well-defined goals in my life rather than vague, indefinite notions of accomplishment. Anyway, hope these commitments provide some assistance in maintaining self-discipline for the next eleven months.

[ORN: Total Time = 65' (60" R/ 120" W X 13)

Change Up

Trying something different for the weekly 2 short sessions. The R/W ratio is the same I used last week, but the interval is reduced from 3 minutes to 1.5 minutes. Now that I can focus on a goal of something around an hour on Thanksgiving (have no way of knowing for sure at this point), I'm trying to concentrate on a bit more speed and better running form, rather than just lumping along for longer time periods. For my one long session each week, I'll continue to lump. :)

[ORN: Total time = 35' (30" R / 60" W X 20); 25' bike

Revising the Goals

Got back from Chicago last night, and had some time to reflect on my goals while there.
I might be able to finish a half-marathon by the fall of this year, but my body is telling me it will be quite a struggle. When you're 60, the endurance --- or least my endurance -- just doesn't return as rapidly as one might hope. So..... my new goal is to run a 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day morning and complete a half-marathon next Spring. Initially, I was bummed out about "only" completing a 5 mile event; how quickly I've forgotten that a mere 4 months ago I wasn't doing anything. (And even if I decide later this summer to cut back to a 5k, I don't care. I'm still moving forward, and I will eventually get to the marathon.)

Weights; 30' bike; 30' walk

Easy Night

Not sure how many Pistons' fans are switching between the game and Dancing with the Stars, but I am. No explaining old age.

ORN: Total Time 35' (63" R / 117" W X 11) 20' bike

Paris Going to Jail?

A nice thought, but we'll see.

ORN: Total Time 1Hr, 35' ( 62"R / 118"W X 22)

Yesterday

ORN: Total Time = 1Hr 30' (60" R/ 120"W X 20)

Cliff Gone

Billy Ray survived and Cliff got the boot from "Dancing." Thought they might kicked 'em both off and get it over with. If Billy Ray survives next week, I'm launching an investigation. (wonder how one does that)

Last night: 36' bike; 24' walk; weights

Goodbye April

ORN: Total Time 1 HR -- (58"R / 122"W X 10)

No pounds lost during April, but did lose one belt notch. Unfortunately, the knees don't care about losing a belt notch :)

Out & Back Before the Rain

ORN: Total time = 1 hr, 25' (57" R/ 123" W X 17)

For some reason, I don't seem to have many words to pass on about my training.
It's progressing as planned, and I'm just holding my breath that nothing goes wrong.

Plodding Along

Total Time: 1 Hr (55"R / 125"W X 16)

Easy Day

Yesterday's ORN: Total time = 1 hour (54" R / 126"W X8)

I've received the Garmin 305, but I'll probably wait until my run/walk intervals are 50-50 before taking it out of its box.
I'm more concerned right now about total time on the road rather than how slow I'm moving.

Spring......Again

Sunny, 58 degrees, & Saturday morning. It's Spring (I hope). Last time I thought it had arrived, I ended up with snow on my head and wind in my face.
Still plodding along. Nothing fancy. Just hoping the real heat arrives gradually this year, so I have a chance to acclimate. If not, this penguin will be muttering things unfit for public web postings. But concentrating on the here and now, for a change, today was a great day to train.

[ORN: Total time: 1 Hr, 20' (53"R / 127" W X 15)

Back on Schedule

Returned to the streets last night. Much too windy for a good time, but I guess it's time to start building a little mental discipline anyway.

[ORN: Total time: 1 HR 15' (51" R/ 129" W X 12)

Back from Boise

Spent last week in Boise on business. Only did one workout. Nice to see my slacker ways can return so easily. Oh well...... another week has begun, and I'll get back on schedule.
Watched a bit of the Toledo marathon yesterday. It's a small marathon to begin with, and I think about 1/4 to 1/3 of the registrants probably didn't show up. Really windy, although not as bad as it will apparently be in Boston today.

Outside

After Monday's debacle, I decided I needed to stay outside and let my legs adapt to asphalt and concrete. Unfortunately, it was 28 degrees and windy outside today. Nevertheless, I was out there. I dropped back on the number of intervals, but assuming there's no more leg muscle and hip discomfort, I'll increase them one a session to catch up with my total time on the road.

Total Time = 1:10 Hr (47" R / 133"W X 10)

Reality Check

Both my Buckeyes and I got a nasty reality check last night. In the Buckeyes' case, the better team won. Rats.
In my case, for the first time this year, I went outside to run. Holy Moly. I expected a significant difference between running on a treadmill and running outside, but I did not expect such a huge difference between running on an indoor track and running outside. Sheesh.
My total time for my run/walk session last night was suppose to last 1:18; instead, I went 52 minutes before calling it quits. Even though I was running on the streets, I felt like I was running in mud. I am sooooo slow. Clearly, running on the outside terrain, even with very minimal slopes, is a whole lot different than running on an indoor track. Not sure how I forgot that. The whole thing has called into question my goal of completing a half-marathon this October. Well, I'm not giving up, but I may have to adjust the goal. In the meantime, it's back to the drawing table to see if I can devise a different schedule to reach my October goal.

ORN: total time= 52' (45" R/ 135" W X 17)

Still Inside

Despite the nice weather, I'm still training inside. I'm trying to delay for a while longer the pounding from asphalt and cement, until the muscles and ligaments are a bit stronger. Probably won't matter in the end, but that's my rationale. That and I don't have to worry about intersections, cars, dogs, rabid squirrels, etc.

ORN:Treadmill: Total Time = 1 HR (44" R @ 5.0/ 136" W X 18)

Wonder why my Saturday morning workouts always seem the best of the week. Couldn't be because I do absolutely no exercise on Friday, could it? Nah.

The Inquiry

Walked into the gym last night, and the woman at the counter asked me if I needed a walker.
I know I'm slow, but sheesh. Turns out she wanted to know if I needed a locker. No, but apparently I could use a hearing aid.

ORN: Indoor Track: Total Time = 51' (43"R/137"W X 16)

Dancing

Last night I watched Dancing with the Stars. Clearly this is a manifestation of the withdrawal I am about to experience when the college basketball season ends next Monday. So, someone named Paulina Porizkova gets the boot from the show. I asked my wife "who is Paulina"?, and if she's such a star, why don't I know who she is? My wife reminds me that I am pop-culturally ignorant of anything happening much later than 1978 (which is true), and informs me that she's a former super-model and married to Ric Ocasek of the Cars. I know of Ric (although I don't know if he's done anything during the past 20 years), and wonder if Paulina would have been attracted to Ric if he hadn't been a rock star. Hmmmm. Maybe tonight, if I'm lucky, I can find a curling match to watch on ESPN.

ORN: weights and 35' stat bike

Just for the Record

ORN: Indoor Track: Total Time = 1:15 (41"R/139"W X 24)
(Think it was warmer inside than out. Guess I'm doing early heat training )

Final 4

Well, 3 of my final 4 picks for the NCAA office pool survived. (Wasn't exactly rocket science this year. UCLA surprised me; apparently they were just resting during their end of season "collapse.")

I'm getting event envy watching all the other bloggers talk about their upcoming races.
But... I know.... I know..... I just have to follow my plan during the Spring and Summer and pay my dues like most everyone else did. Fall will be here soon enough, and I'll be complaining about the impending cold weather.

ORN: weights; 35' on stat bike

Uneventful

Just keep trying to build up the base.

Treadmill -- Total Time = 1 hour (40"R @ 4.9/140"W X 17)

Nothing Much....

Nothing much happened at my workout last night, which is good news. I'll settle for a comfortable workout with no surprises. Of course, that provides zero material for a blog entry.

ORN: indoor track Total Time = 48' (38"W/142"R X 15)

I Blame Ali

So why this adult onset athletic endeavor? It was a trivergence (is that a word?) of 3 factors. One) I was approaching my 60th birthday and thought if I was ever going to run, it had to be soon..... real soon. Two) My football Buckeyes got stomped by Florida, and I went into an irrational funk. This made me realize that I needed some type of athletic activity of my own, rather than deriving vicarious enjoyment (or pain) from the activities of others . Finally, a few days after the OSU-Fla debacle, one of my dogs and I were sitting on the couch, munching on cookies, and admiring my brand new running shoes sitting in their Christmas box...... when I got mail: email. It was from an old high school classmate, informing me that Ali (another high school classmate) had just completed a half-marathon in Arizona. Despite the upcoming 60th birthday breathing down my neck, my aging fuel tank had just enough testosterone to cause me to make the predictable and preposterous statement: "Well if she can do it, I sure as hell can." (Even my cookie-munching dog rolled his eyes.) Of course, this outburst of bravado ignored a few pesky facts: Ali wasn't overweight, wasn't a former heavy smoker (so far as I know), and had been running for the past 21 years. Nevertheless, Ali's achievement was the final catalyst for me to give the rest of the cookies to the dog, put on the new shoes (filled with cookie crumbs) and get off the couch. So..... I blame Ali for my late life running obsession. Of course, if I actually achieve a half-marathon, then I guess I'll have to give her some credit too.

ORN: 20' bike; 28' walk /treadmill

Beginning of Spring

Spring starts tonight and calorie counting started this morning (Ack!!).
Last night at indoor track: total time = 1:10 (37"R/143"W X 23)

March Madness hasn't been nearly as much fun this year as last. Course I seem to have my own March Madness going with this beginning running business.

Weight

Well, the weight isn't budging. Time to return to the tried and true (at least for me)........COUNT CALORIES. I'll start tomorrow, of course, because....uh... that's what procrastinators do.

Treadmill.......

On the treadmill today. I gather from other blog sites that this isn't a universally popular piece of equipment. I may reach that stage.... but so far, since I'm just beginning, it's an excellent way to control progress and make certain I increase my work load incrementally. I do slightly hang on to a sidebar while walking, however, lest I daydream and drift off the moving path.

Total Time = 1 HR (36"R/144"W X 15)

Bingham.......

So, the head penguin, John Bingham, posts today that he's down with numbness in his leg and groin. This isn't particularly good news to this newbie penguin. In fact, during the past week....as I've perused the running blogs..... I've been amazed at all of the injuries and aches and pains. Back in the late 60's, when Kenneth Cooper wrote his first aerobics books, thousands of middle aged people (my father included) started running. Unfortunately, Cooper preached the message that "more is better," and I watched as my father jogged and carefully logged mile-after-mile-after-mile and ran himself into the ground; finally an injury to his sciatic nerve put him on the sideline. I'm beginning to wonder if anything has changed.

March Madness ......

Last night: Total time = 32' (35''R/145"W X 10)
Calf problem seems pretty much over. (75% certain I know what I did wrong. I tried to increase walking speed, but instead of increasing my turnover rate, I increased the stride. Hope that's what it was.)
Vickie commented I need to stretch. I know she's right, but I hate stretching. Does anyone still do Dr. Sheehan's stretching exercises? (I'll have to Google to find them.)

So, March Madness is upon us. Ever since the beat-down of my Buckeyes this past January, I've sworn not to get so vicariously involved with sports teams. But....... this is MARCH MADNESS AND I GOTTA WATCH!!! (Think I'll go take a sedative.)

Calf Problem and Drive-by Commenting

Didn't cross-train last night. Was bothered by a cramping left calf muscle much of yesterday.
How is that possible? I'm not doing that much (although clearly my calf disagrees). I may have to stretch the training intervals from 3 minutes to 4. Good grief; at this rate I'll be drawing Social Security before I'm able to enter my first event.

It's been nice to receive comments from other bloggers. (Naturally, I've had to do some drive-by commenting so they know I exist. :) Even though I've barely entered their arena, I get a lot of motivation from the collective energy.

The Women Have Left the Building......

With the emergence of Spring-like weather, the women have vacated the indoor track. I'm left with a bunch of grumpy old men, like myself, and the local high school wrestling team, whose members spontaneously try to pin one another as they pass the corners of the track.
Think I'll pray for rain. (I'd do a rain dance, but I'm afraid I'd get pinned.)

Total Time = 1:05 (34"R/ 146"W X 21)

Countdown. . .

So I've placed a countdown clock on my blog to help me focus on my first goal. I don't know if this a motivational tool or just something to make me more anxious.

And why is my posting clock off by 3 hours?

Visiting the Grunters

Went to a reasonably hard-core weight gym today. Lots of grunting and groaning.
I declined to grunt or groan because a) I wasn't lifting that much and b) I was afraid they'd call 911 and cart me out. Plan to walk tonight before the long run/walk tomorrow.

Impatience

I know that I can train harder than I'm training. I also know that if I do so, I will either begin to dread the workouts or get injured. In either event I'll quit. There's a devil whispering in my ear.... and its name is impatience.

On a lighter note, nice weather in Ohio today. :)

But Why?

"Why would you want to run a marathon?" I'm asked. Honestly... I don't know. It's coming from somewhere deep inside. Some unfinished business, perhaps. Back in my barfly days (which thankfully ended 17 years ago), I would muse about learning to play the saxophone, writing a novel and running a marathon. I've done the first two (note: I said write a novel; fortunately, I didn't say publish a novel.:) The 3rd dream remains. The only thing I see in common among these 3 activities is that for most people they take a long time and require some discipline. That, and maybe all of them enable one to temporarily escape from the normal routines of life. (Hmmm...... sort of like being a barfly. Oh well . . . So it goes.) Whatever the reason. . . I just know that I want to run a marathon.... and preferably finish on the same day I start.

Few Bells.... No Whistles

If everything goes according to my plan, then this blog will most likely be boring reading. This is actually a good thing, because I'm mainly building my endurance ( literally second by second) during the next 7 months. Yesterday, I spent a total time of 1:02 on an indoor track. Twenty 3-minute cycles and running 31" of each cycle. (First 6 cycles were actually done on treadmill at 4.6)
I’m still aware of my right knee, but it’s not painful. Just hope it holds up. Seem to finally be starting to lose a bit of weight. Tonight, some indoors cycling, walking, and weights for the upper body. (Fortunately, all the women who are outlifting me don't snicker too loudly. :)

Beginning....

Two weeks ago, I turned 60 years old. For years I've spoken of running a marathon, and even tried a bit of running every now and then, but the effort never lasted. Now it's time. If I'm every going to run a marathon, it's time to get serious.
The conventional wisdom seems to be that I should start training for a 5k, then progress from there to longer distances. But being 30-40 pounds overweight, I can't run very long without my knees telling me to quit. It will take me forever to build up to a continuous 5k run. In addition, having stupidly smoked for 37 years (before quitting 5 years ago), my lung capacity seems impaired.

I've read about Galloway's run/walk technique, and I've read a couple of the Penguin's books.
They give me hope. I don't need to run continuously -- at least not yet. The only reason I am a "reluctant" Penguin is that deep inside this broken-down 60 year old body lies a 20 year old's spirit that thinks he should be running hard and running to "win" something. The adult Penguin knows better, although even he has to guard against unrealistic goals.

On Ground Hog Day I ran 10 whole seconds for each 3 minute interval, for a total of 30 minutes on a track. Not much, but it is a beginning. I only run 3 days a week and ride a bike or walk on 3 other days.
By March 5th, I was able to run (veeerrry slowly) 30 seconds of each 3 minute interval for a total of one hour. On paper at least, I think that by mid-October I can run 2 minutes out of 3 for a total of 3 hours, and enter a half-marathon. I also think there is a strong possibility I am crazy.:) But we'll see.