Ah, holy
crap! I knew the wheels would fall off this blog sooner or later. Really, it
was my wheels that had fallen off. Let’s see, what has happened lately…
Well, I:
- Got a concussion.
- Got an Achilles tendonitis flare-up
- Got a kidney infection
- Got another concussion
- Got a really bad cold
I think
that accounts for the really terrible statistics I’ve had running-wise in the
past few months. I’ve been well enough to start a new program, only to get a
week into it and have something happen. My weight “ballooned” up to 165 lbs a
couple weeks ago before I had to give myself a mental note that I can’t eat
like a runner when I’m not running. Everything still fits, but I’m just a bit…
soft.
Right now I’m
still battling a cold, but I am planning to start back up on Week 1 of my Stew
Smith workout plan. For those who don’t know (and I’m sure I’ve mentioned this about
a hundred times), Stew Smith is the #1 reason I even consider myself a “runner”
today. Around 10 years ago I was a chubby kid who really liked sports but just
couldn’t get the whole diet and exercise thing in sync. With a bit of help from
StewSmith.com, I started to run on a treadmill every night with my dad at the
local rec centre. I was obsessed with the military (I was in air cadets at the
time and had this huge dream of being a fighter pilot), so I knew I had to be
fit to pass my PFT. I ended up aiming for the USAF fitness requirements despite
being a Canadian. Once I “beat” the required times for that, I went on to the
Navy, then the Army, then the Marines, then the US Army Rangers. Before I knew it,
I was running 7:30 miles.
When my
training season was left dead in the water after I pushed it way too hard
racing, I wanted a coach. I first tried an Ottawa coach (whose name I will withhold) who
was absolutely terrible. I had little
online support, my run instructions were “Run 45 min”, “Run 30 min easy, then
go harder”, “Run 60 min”. This worked for about a few weeks before my injuries
flared up. I get some serious tendon pain after 6 miles, so the 60-75 min runs
left me hobbling home. With an ice pack on my knee, I contacted Stew. I knew he
did personal training and I could never bring myself to pay for it, but his
articles had helped me so much and the training program was perfect for an
injury-prone klutz like me. He’s been fantastic and very patient with me as I’ve
had to battle things non-stop since the summer. I’m hoping for a turnaround
after this holiday season.
That’s it
for the update right now. I’m back to Week 1 of my 12 week program. I took some
“Before” pics and I’m hoping for some good “After”s. My goals with Stew are:
sub-25:00 5K in 2013 and a sub-20:00 5K one
day. It will happen!
