Hot weather running

Another Tuesday, another lunch time run...This time with a slight twist.  Its warm outside.  OK, its a little more than warm outside, its 27 C with a humidex of 31 (thats 81 feeling like 93 for those of you south of the border).  This is definitely lessons learned territory. 

We all know fat is an excellent insulator, and I benefit from this fact all winter long.  That said, running in this kind of heat while being "well insulated" is definitely not a benefit.  Could be one of the weakest runs I've ever had!  My abject apologies go out to my ever patient running partner, she was incredibly tolerant of my walking/gasping for air and stuck with me until I finally told her she needed to go and finish at her own pace (which I might add was twice the rate I was going at).

I'm getting fitter, that's true, and actually even a little faster, but today I learned that there are still some hurdles to overcome, and that until I get much closer to my goal weight I'm still going to see restrictions on what I can (or at least should) do.  And this is a good lesson to learn!

I've been carrying a lot of extra pounds for a very long time, and really don't remember what it was like without them.  As they are coming off, I'm finding myself able to do more and more, and I like it!  Today though served as reminder that as things become easier I need to be aware, I am still very overweight, and this will have repercussions that I need to keep in mind.

Still, 6 months ago I wouldn't have been sitting at my desk right now blogging about my run (well actually, there wouldn't have been a run to blog about), I'd probably be lying on the sidewalk half a kilometre from the office waiting for someone to collect my heatstroked butt and take it to the hospital!  And that, to me, is definite progress.

Next stop, weigh in day.  Probably get there tomorrow and write it up if I get a chance, in the meantime though, I'm going to enjoy this beautiful day, though in a less strenuous manner!

Just a quick weigh in update

Hey all, just a quick post about my latest weigh in.  I have lost another pound.  Not much in the greater scheme of things I know, but I'm focusing on the fact that its the right direction.  Definitely beats going the other way and gaining one!

I figure it really doesn't matter how much I lose in a week, but only that I do.  And I'm pretty happy that I'm not only giving that lip service but actually believe it.  I think that all in all, that's the important lesson for this week.  The quantity of weight I lose is much less important than the basic fact that I lost.  Today I am a little less than I was, and that brings me incrementally closer to becoming half the man I used to be.

My goal for the next week though is to clamp down and work a little harder at staying on the straight and narrow.  I'm going to break out the journal again and start to follow the "if you bite it, write it" rule.  I know when I do this I get better results, and given that this is a long weekend coming up, any help I can give myself is a good thing.

I'll try to update this on Monday or Tuesday, not with weigh in results or anything, but just to talk about how the long weekend went, and review what worked and what didn't.

2.5 pounds closer

Well, I weighed in on Tuesday.  Not too bad, 2.5lbs down and that little bit closer to reaching my goal, though I am still not sure what that is.  I've been overweight for so long now I don't really have anything to act as a comparison.  I think I definitely belong in Onederland (for those who don't read weight loss blogs this refers to inside the 200lb mark, and I was really amused by it), but having not visited there in many, many years I don't know if that's true.

Anyway, the weight is pretty irrelevant, I'm much more interested in the fitness and activity goals.  Can I get to the point where I can run (not run/walk) 5Km?  Can I do a sprint triathalon?  Can I sit comfortably in economy class seats on a plane? OK, the last one's pretty unlikely, as far as I know no one does, so let's modify that to say can I sit as uncomfortably as the majority of people do?

Still, the weight's nice, it acts like a scoreboard, and a motivator, and someday (fairly soon I hope) I will be in a position to say "there's the weight I need to get to".  But in the meantime, I'll keep setting interim goals and enjoying the little victories.

The Biggest Loser

Last night as I watched the Biggest Loser I realized a couple of things.  Firstly, as it was makeover week, how badly I want to get to the point where I can do that.  Make myself over, new clothes, new look, all of it.  I'm really just at the start of this whole journey, and the point where I want to do the makeover seems very far away today.

There's a contestant on the show named Michael, he arrived at 557lbs and since being there has lost an incredible 183lbs.  I can't even imagine the dedication and perseverance an accomplishment like this requires, and yet during makeover week he was still forced to shop at the Big and Tall store.  I truly felt for him.  For weeks he had been focused on how well he was doing, how far he had come, and then this came up and he was forced to look at how much farther he had to go.

Now I didn't start where he did, but neither have I accomplished what he has.  Still, I can truly identify with the reality of looking past what you've done and facing how far you have left to go.  Don't get me wrong, this is a lifetime for me, I have no intention of ever becoming who I was again, but for some reason that show really made me think about how much farther I need to go.  And today I'm a little disheartened.  I'm sure this will pass, as all these dips do, but as I write this, the light at the end of the tunnel looks about the size of a laser pointer.

Part of this I'm sure is the fact that I didn't run yesterday or swim either Monday or today, so I'm feeling pretty down on myself anyway.  I know as soon as I hit the gym, ride my bike or go for a run I'll feel completely different about things, and my weigh in will hopefully help out too.  Anyway, just a part of trying to change I guess, sometimes the journey feels much longer than others.

On the plus side of my realiztions from the show I saw them doing a challenge on a Jacob's Ladder excercise machine.  I want to try this.  I mean I really want to try this!  Its not that it looks like fun, more like it is completely different from any workout machine I've ever seen, and I've gotta see if its as hard as it looks to be.

Anyway, just an update since I haven't written anything in a while, I'll definitely add something in (probably tomorrow) after I have a change to face the scales and see how things played out (or weighed out as the case may be).