Andrew is getting fit

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Today’s scheduled run (OHR program) called for a run of 38 minutes. I decided that I would be a bit ambitious and try to run up one of the volcanic cones that is quite close to my workplace - not the same one that I ran around last week.

Auckland is built on top of a volcanic field so we have a lot of volcanoes (all extinct I think) around the place.

I started off in the Auckland Domain and headed up Mountain Rd towards Mt Eden. Mt Eden is the volcanic cone I wanted to run up. I should have realised that a road called Mountain Rd would be all uphill but it wasn’t too bad.

I arrived at the bottom of the volcano and that’s when I realised how steep the climb was. I ran most of the way up it but the last 200 metres or so were too damn tough were stairs and it was slippery so I walked them (that’s my story and I’m sticking with it). The view from the top was great and I felt rather virtuous having made it up. Running down it wasn’t bad at all as it was all downhill.

I then headed in towards the city and decided I would run a different route back to my starting point. Unfortunately the run took me past a lot of little cafes and bakeries and the smells were making me really hungry. I was thinking some fond thoughts of a custard pie. Fortunately I left my wallet back in my car so I wasn’t overly tempted.

I ran over the motorway and saw hundreds of people sitting in their cars not really moving much and it felt so great to be outdoors and running.

I arrived back in the domain and was supposed to end my run but I was really enjoying it so I decided I would run a little longer and added an extra loop through Parnell which headed me back towards work.

If you click through to the actual map you will notice that I ran over 10 km today! That’s a personal best and a major milestone for me. It took me 1:09:11 which includes a short walk up the stairs as mentioned earlier.

I probably shouldn’t have run that far but it just felt good today so I did.

Some of you may have noticed that my traineo counters on the right have also hit another mini milestone. This morning I hit over 90 pounds lost. That means I am now just over 75% of the way towards my goal.

Since I started running this year I’ve lost 30 pounds and done 132.5 km worth of running. Not bad if I say so myself.

That is week 05 of the One Hour Runner program completed. Hmm - I ran for over an hour today but I still have 5 weeks to finish the program!

Tags: Milestones, OHR, running // 24 Comments »

In my previous post I posted some pictures that showed how I’ve changed physically. I also put another “before” picture in my About Andrew page.

I think that greater changes have happened mentally and emotionally.

When I was a bit younger and a lot larger I was famous for always smiling.  One of my friends went so far as to call me the Cheshire Cat as I always had a silly grin on my face.

However, I don’t think I was particularly happy.  Like the Cheshire Cat, sometimes all that was there was the smile with nobody behind it.  I think my smile hid a deep seated insecurity and I was probably rather depressed a lot of the time.

My life has changed quite dramatically since those days.  The most important change has been that I met a wonderful woman who became my wife.  Through her quiet example she taught me to be a better person.  Some of my friends think that she is the one who has ‘forced’ me to make all these changes in my life but that is not the case.  She just set the example and I decided it was a good one to follow.

Since I’ve become healthier through eating right and doing more exercise I’ve felt so much better about myself.  I know I’m not skinny or anything yet but like my fellow blogger Justtoofat, I find myself feeling skinny and you know what, it feels good.

She wrote on her blog:

Lately, I’ve been feeling so good about myself. I’ve been counting up the calories, eating (mostly) right, posting my food intake each day and exercising like a mad woman. I’ve even been taking expeditions to the far reaches of my closet, and returning with outfits that haven’t seen the light of day for years, only to find that many, many of my “skinny” clothes (if one can ever be forgiven for calling a size 22 skinny) are starting to fit again. And even though the scale hasn’t moved much in the last couple of weeks (I’m down a pound and a half from last week), when I’ve looked in the mirror recently, I haven’t seen a fat girl at all… rather, I’ve seen the new, healthier me.

And it’s funny, because I know that this change in attitude has translated to other aspects of my life as well. For example, I know that my walk has changed. The way I carry myself is completely different now. Whether it’s walking down the hall at work or passing another walker along the “loop” near my house, lately, I’ve been a little surprised myself by how easy it seems to make eye contact with other people, to smile and look them in the eye as I go by. The old me would have never had the courage to face other people in that way. Instead, I’d have searched the floor, or followed my feet to my next destination. I’ll tell you, it’s hard to carry around that kind of shame.

I can really identify with this (except I’m a guy not a girl. And I don’t wear dresses.)  I think how we feel about ourselves impacts tremendously on our happiness levels.  I feel a lot better about myself not just because I’ve lost weight but also because I’ve achieved (and am still achieving) lifestyle changes that I never believed would be possible for me.  I’m getting fitter than I have EVER been and I’m still improving.

I’ve proven to myself that I can do what I thought was the impossible and so I feel less need to have to prove myself to the world (if that makes sense).  I think I’ve made peace with who I am as a person.  Of course I still have off days and suchlike (boy there are a lot of things that annoy me!) but overall life is good.  Maybe this happens to everyone as a function of getting older and wiser and I hope it does.  Having said that I’ve been accused many a time of being hopelessly naive.

I will always I still have a cheesy grin but now I’m really happy.

Tags: Life // 19 Comments »

It pouring down with rain today so I headed to the gym to do my run. Today’s schedule called for a 32 minute run. I did 5.55 km in the 32 minutes which translates to a 5:46 pace per kilometre (8:12 min per mile for the metrically challenged - there is a great calculator here). I did my 5K distance in 28:18 which I was pleased with. I’m always faster on the treadmill but I have to admit the runs outside are a lot more enjoyable.

I got to thinking while I was on the treadmill (as you do) and I think I’ve come a long way (More on this in a later post).

I used to be a couch potato (307 pounds in the photo) and now I’m a runner (225 pounds in the photo - 218 pounds today).

Tags: Life, OHR // 30 Comments »

Well I weighed in at 99.7 today. This is .1 kg down from last week. A loss is a loss I guess.

To tell the truth I’m not surprised as I had a bit too much food this weekend.

Saturday I had some friends around and we got a selection of Indian curries and some garlic naan bread for dinner. They were very nice but I ate more than I normally would for dinner. I also polished off the chocolate bar that Marshmallow gave me as a prize…sigh I’m weak.

Then Sunday evening I had a late dinner as I went to a baptism and celebratory dinner afterwards. I ate too much then as well but at least it was healthy food that I ate too much of.

I pigged out on green beans with black bean sauce. Who would a thunk it? A few years ago I wouldn’t have touched green beans with a barge pole. Now I’m eating too many of them. Boy my life and habits have changed somewhat.

I’m going to have to learn better portion control in social situations. I’ve got a few weekends in a row coming up where I will be away from my normal routines so I will have to be careful. Social gatherings are nice but always problematic for us social eaters!

One of the reasons I have my weigh in day as Monday is that it is supposed to help me avoid overindulging over the weekend as I have the thought of reporting my weight on Monday morning in the back of my head. This strategy doesn’t always work!

Tags: Weigh in // 14 Comments »

I was planning on running at Mission Bay again this morning but I found that the road was closed as there was an event on today. So I decided I would go for a run along the harbour and through the city today.

I started off running along the shoreline near where I finished the great run I had on Thursday and instead of going out towards the boatsheds I headed in the other direction towards the city.

This route took me past the Ports of Auckland which is our main container terminal. There were lots of cranes going and people working even early on a Sunday morning which I guess is not too surprising. Just past the port is Auckland’s main ferry terminal which is just behind the historic ferry building which you can see on the left). It was very quiet and the only other people I saw where these big groups of runners all wearing the same uniform. I think they were the YMCA running club but I couldn’t really tell as they were on the other side of the road.

Once I got past the ferry building that I decided I would try and stick to the water side of the harbour for a bit so I ran around the Auckland Hilton.

The Auckland Hilton is located right on the docks and the views from it are phenomenal. I ran around it and then through the area of the harbour where all the nightclubs are located. I guess it was a bit early for the party people as this area was deserted. There were a few superyachts in the harbour outside them and one or two America’s cup yachts which are always nice to look at. I then ran back to my car through the city centre. I should have gone back the way I came as the scenery wasn’t nearly as spectacular.

The run today wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t as nice as some that I have had but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I did 5.25 km in 30:15 so it was a nice easy run and by completing it I completed run 01 of week 05 of the One Hour Runner program.

One other thing of interest that happened was that while I was doing my cooldown walk a girl ran past me and she was absolutely motoring!  I was astounded at how fast she was running and truth be told it got me down a bit.  I started to hear the negative voices in my head but I borrowed Non-Runner Nancy’s club and beat them down!  It’s funny how even when we are doing well we still have to smack down the negativity sometimes.  Oh well, at least I realised what I was doing and managed to laugh at myself.

This time next week I’ll just have finished my second 5K event.  I’m really looking forward to that and am hoping to set a new PR!

Tags: OHR, running // 11 Comments »

I met up with the lovely Marshmallow for a drink and some curly fries after work today.

I’d won a prize in her scavenger hunt competition and it was a handy excuse to meet up and indulge in some delicious curly fries. They may not look like much but, oh boy, they were delicious!

They were definitely not part of my healthy eating plan but I don’t really care (The second plateful was probably a mistake however)!

I blogged a few weeks ago about how I wanted to start riding my bike again and today was the day. It was another beautiful sunny day and I just wanted to get outside and do some exercise as a preemptive strike against the curly fries. I went for a run yesterday so I thought it would be a good to do something different and start cycling again.

So I got my bike off the hook in the garage and pumped up the tyres. Then I had to try and find my helmet. We have mandatory helmet laws here in NZ so I couldn’t go out without it. After 15 minutes of increasingly frenetic searching I found it and headed out.

I made a bit of an inauspicious start as I got my gear selection wrong which made me feel a bit silly. It’s been a while since I’ve been on my bike!

I got onto the road and started cycling along. Within 500m I remembered why I didn’t like cycling that much. Auckland traffic is terrible! I had a close call with a bus so, first chance I had, I headed off road into a park.

The Orakei Basin is very close to my house and there is a very nice track that goes around the edges of the lake (it’s actually a tidal estuary but it looks like a lake). It was a great ride along a gravel track under some huge trees. There were heaps of people out walking their dogs and truth be told I got chased a few times. However, I’m faster than dogs! I followed the track until I couldn’t go any further then turned around and headed out of the park and into suburbia.

Once I was off the main road I found the traffic wasn’t really a problem. The next part of my ride was mainly uphill but I found it wasn’t really a problem. I think I’ve lost quite a bit of weight since my last bike ride and I really noticed the difference.

I got to the top of the hill and then it was a high speed run downhill all the way back home. That’s one thing I really like about biking - downhills!

My bike is back hanging from the ceiling of my garage but I think it will be seeing a few more outings in the near future. I think I need to invest in a bike rack for the car. I much prefer off road biking and there are quite a few good biking tracks around town.

Tags: fitness // 19 Comments »

I had a 8am class today and on my way back to my office afterwards the sun felt so good that I decided to go for my run which I had planned on doing after my afternoon class. Today’s schedule (OHR) called for a 35 minute run which I had planned on doing on the treadmill but it was just to nice a day to go run inside.

I think I’ll be making a point of doing more of my runs outside as the weather has been unseasonably great and winter is fast approaching. It won’t be long before it’s miserable and gloomy for most of the time.

With that in mind, I decided I would run along Tamaki Drive (pictured above - My good friend Stephen took the photo). This is a road that runs along the coast and I have run on it before but normally further along near Mission Bay.

It took me about 10 minutes to walk down to it from work and then I set off for what would turn out to be an absolutely glorious run. For some reason I have been listening to a lot of R.E.M. this week and today’s album selection (In Time - Greatest Hits) on shuffle just worked really well. The scenery was absolutely stunning, the weather was great and the tunes were thumping. I really live in a beautiful city.

I ran along Tamaki Drive and then up Ngapipi Rd until I hit the boatsheds pictured below. I then turned around and ran back.

I ran 6.2km in 36 minutes and 36 seconds. That means my pace was 5:55/km which is faster than I’ve run outside for a while. One of the advantages (have to take them where I can find them!) of being overweight is that running burns off a lot of calories. 638 in today’s run. I actually had to stop myself running today as I really wanted to keep on going.

This is the aerial view of my route today:

I felt like I could have run forever today. It was really amazing. While I was running I was reflecting on how far I have come in such a short time.

I really feel that the running has helped to set my spirit free in a way. I’m doing something I believed that I would never ever be able to do and it has changed my outlook on life a lot. And it’s just fun!

That’s week 04 of the OHR running program done.

Tags: OHR, running // 12 Comments »

I had to work from home today as we had two sets of tradesmen popping around to fix a) our ventilation system and b) our security system. I don’t think either set managed to fix what they came to fix which is a bit annoying but such is life.

I decided that I would go for a run in Cornwall Park during my ‘lunch break’ as it would be a run in a place that I haven’t run before.

Cornwall Park is a big park in the middle of Auckland. It’s actually a working farm and my run today incorporated the aromas of fresh cow dung when the wind was blowing the wrong way. It’s actually quite nice being in the middle of the city and seeing sheep and cows.

The park also has One Tree Hill (of the U2 song fame) inside it. One Tree Hill is a volcano cone that used to have just one tree on it. Some idiot chopped the tree down as a form of political process and so it is now known colloquially as No Tree Hill.

I ran right around the hill and it was a good run. I had REM’s new album Accelerate blaring away on my ipod and that, combined with the fact that the weather was just perfect, meant that I didn’t even notice how long I was running. I was supposed to run for 29 minutes today but went closer to 31 before I realised that I had shuffled a bit too far.

You can see the volcano and park on this route map:

I love getting maps of my run from my Garmin.  It’s great!

The run today was quite a bit hillier than normal. Nothing too steep but just a steady climb and then a sharpish descent on the other side of the volcano. I really enjoyed the run. It was slower pace wise than I normally do (6:11 per km - I like to aim for at least 6:00 per km) but I think that may be a good thing. There is something almost spiritual about getting out and running in the middle of nature. It was great.

That was run 02 of week 04 of the One Hour Runner program.

Tags: OHR // 17 Comments »

Well, Monday is my official weekly weigh in day and I’m pleased to report my weight today was 99.8 kgs (220 pounds). That’s down .9 kgs (2 pounds) from last week.

The rule of thumb for weightloss is supposed to be about a pound a week. I’ve been doing about 2 a week lately and hopefully can keep that up. I’m expecting the weightloss to slow down somewhat as I get closer and closer to my goal but hopefully not yet! My goal at this point just relates to getting my bmi under 25. I don’t know how realistic it is but we’ll see. I may have to revisit it at some point.

I had a good weekend, mostly just spending quality time with my wife and daughter. My mother has been admitted to hospital and is awaiting surgery. Hopefully things will go well and she can get her operation done today. She keeps getting bumped for more urgent cases as the hospitals are pretty busy at the moment.

I went for a run along Tamaki Drive yesterday morning and it was pretty good. There was a woman’s duathlon on at the same time and I kept nervously looking over my shoulder looking for the pack as I was running on their course. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) our paths never crossed. It was a beautiful morning and it was great seeing heaps of runners and walkers out and about. There’s something about running before most people are out of bed that just makes you feel virtuous!

I did 5km in 30 minutes. I’m relatively happy with this kind of pace at this point. I’ve done a bit of reading and pushing for pace too early seems to be a common way of getting injured. If I want to do the half marathon later this year I need to avoid injuries. My reading also indicates that increased pace comes with increased distance so I should kill two birds with one stone this way.

This run was run 01 of week 04 of the One Hour Runner program.

Tags: OHR, Weigh in // 15 Comments »

One of my aims when I started learning how to run in January this year was to do the quarter marathon at the Auckland marathon in November this year.

Maybe I’m totally crazy but I’ve started to think about doing the half marathon instead. I’ve had a look at Hal Higdon’s Novice Half Marathon training guide and he reckons it should only take 12 weeks to train up to complete it. I don’t think I’d be ready in 12 weeks but I have 30 weeks.

What do some of you more experienced runners think?

As motivation to keep up the training I’ve lined up the following races:

Upcoming Races:

• 20 April 2008 - Run Auckland Race 2 Te Atatu Coastal Reserve 5k
• 11 May 2008 - Run Auckland Race 3 Eastern Beach 5k
• 25 May 2008 - Run Auckland Race 4 Craig Road 5k
• 22 June 2008 - Run Auckland Race 5 Western Springs 5k
• 13 July 2008 - Run Auckland Race 2 Takapuna Beach 10k
• ?
• ?
• 12 October 2008 - Waitakere Half & Fun Run - 11K
• 2 November 2008 - Auckland Marathon - Half Marathon

I still need to find two events to do in August and September but will worry about that a bit closer to the time.

I don’t have to make a decision just yet so I will keep thinking about it. It still seems a little like a dream that I’m even considering doing a half marathon.

Tags: running // 20 Comments »