Well here we are on Thursday morning and for the last 60 hours I’m sure that something has felt a little off. In case you hadn’t figured it out by now, what you were indeed missing was a little Mr. Lemonhead. For your angst and anticipation I will award you with a lengthened diary entry (you have to give the people what they want, right?) from yours truly. Before we kick things off there are a few items of discussion that I just need to get out of the way. First, I vowed last week to keep my consumption of fountain sodas to a total of 0 oz. for the week. And I must maintain that I was able to keep off the “fountain soda”, however, I was not able to keep from consuming Coca Cola Classic from the can. I know, it’s appalling but there is a good reason. I went to Chicago for a meeting and they catered in lunch and all the water had been consumed so there was nothing but soda for me to drink. It was either drink the soda, which I had vowed not to do, or take the risk of possibly dying from dehydration and I apologize because I chose the former. I'm sorry for choosing life. That led to one can and then I drank a second an hour or so later because the first was so delicious. I must admit that the second one was drunk with water being available so I did slip up. There was also another occurrence of my will power not being sufficient to resist the urge of the good stuff. The second offense took place after a hard run Canal Connection 10k. To quench my thirst and reward myself for a job well done I drank a can of Pepsi and a can of Mountain Dew. I am sorry loyal readers (at least some of you are), but I am only human. While I’m putting myself through confessional here, I have another transgression to fess up. I vowed last week to put at a minimum of 30 miles on these legs and I failed to do so but that commentary will be written in its correct location. Now that I am feeling better about myself let’s move on to what keeps you reading.
This could best describe the week that I had that started with so much promise after getting through the Halloween festivities: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_
Exercise - F
You will have to forgive me because I broke a promise that I made last Monday (11/1) that I would hit the road for at least 30 miles over the course of the week. I made one grievous error in making that vow to you though. That error was that I forgot that I had a race on Sunday in which I had to taper for. For those of you that are not familiar with my training technique I am affectionately known as the “King of the Taper”. I follow a strategy that has very few followers and if I had to venture a guess, most of them are probably overweight. But that Taper strategy is quite simple…don’t run. A few amateurs may just try to cut back on their mileage to keep their legs fresh, but not this guy. What could possibly keep your legs fresher than letting them rest and relax in a recliner? That way there is absolutely no weight to bear. It is simply a brilliant plan if you ask me. So with the said taper plan in place I went on Sunday and ran a brilliant race finishing with a time of 44:58, with an average split of 7:12. There is no need to mention that about ½ to ¾ of the first mile is downhill which may lead to a modest decrease in that first mile time but overall I felt I ran a decent race for being slightly obese. I can only imagine what runners are thinking as I run ahead them with my pants riding up my legs and my feet plodding along, it really can’t be a good feeling. I guess I have been known to be the “King of the Taper” because I inevitably become lazy and don’t get out there and that was the case this week. Being that Daylight Savings Time had not ended it was basically dark until 8 in the morning, so being in complete darkness while running did not help my case at all. Thankfully all bad things must come to an end and I am able to enjoy a little sunlight in the morning now before I go to work and if I muster up enough will, enjoy it while I’m traversing the road. So in all, this week I ran a total of 1 day for a total of 6.214 miles. Next week will bring a better outcome and progress will be made.
Eating - F
This is where Halloweak gets really ugly. The best thing may be that I am writing this on Thursday now and I have allowed myself to forget the pain that I put myself through last week. Monday was an alright day as I ate a footlong sub at Subway for lunch and I went with the chicken breast on wheat bread. That may not seem like a big change from my old eating habits but I am used to the Cold Cut Combo on asiago cheese bread with ranch dressing (of 30 grams of fat and about 800 calories). It’s baby steps my friends. When I came home I may have indulged a little too much on the candy treats, but when you are married to the Candy Queen, what choice do you really have? On Tuesday before dinner things went just fine as I ate my lunch at work and was able to survive the work day on that alone. I then traveled to Chicago, as mentioned earlier, on Tuesday night and that is where Halloweak really began. McDonald’s just brought the McRib sandwich back nationwide so Tuesday presented a perfect opportunity to partake in the delicious sandwich. So I ordered the Sandwich (of course it should be capitalized it is a proper noun) and a large fry. I avoided the meal because I couldn’t drink fountain soda due to that cursed weight gain the prior week so I was in a dilemma. What do I order to wash down that delicious sandwich and salty fries? To answer that question you have to think like the obese and once you are able to do that the answer is quite obvious. A large McFlurry!! That way I can quench my thirst with the milk contained in the ice cream as well as enjoy some wonderful dessert. Now you may be thinking, “That is not so bad,” and I would agree with you but then my coworkers get involved. One of my PNC brethren went up early and stopped at Giordano’s pizza for dinner and called when I was on my way to Chicago to ask if I cared for the 3 pieces of leftovers that he had. When asked what he would do with the leftovers if I didn’t take them he responded that he would throw them away and I just couldn’t let that happen. So I et him outside his room upon my arrival at the hotel and he gave me the goods. Once I got into the room and got situated I then wolfed down not 1, not 2, but all 3 pieces of the Chicago-style deep dish pizza (I just don’t understand why it is so hard to lose weight). The next day I ate the cookie that they gave me upon arrival the previous night for breakfast and went to the meeting. At the meeting I had a salad (can you believe it) two Panini’s that were slightly larger than the size of a post it, a large helping of macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, and a cookie along with the two cans of soda. On Tuesday night I had a New York Strip steak along with a baked potato and some vegetables. Let’s just say it was a tough trip to Chicago. On Thursday there was a return to normalcy as I once again ate my lunch at work and dinner at home. On Friday, (I still have not gotten over the habit of eating breakfast at work) I had over the course of the day 3 doughnuts, an asiago cheese bagel from Panera, broccoli cheese soup in a sourdough breadbowl, followed by Jimmy John’s Italian Night Club for dinner. All-in-all I would say it wasn’t a very good Friday. On Saturday, Jamie and I split a bag of Chicago mix Garrett popcorn for lunch (for those that haven’t had it it should definitely be on your bucket list of items to eat) along with a regular size Razmataz smoothie from Jamba Juice and I had to polish off about ¾ of Jamie’s Berry Fulfilling. For dinner we enjoyed the fine establishment of Wendy’s and I enjoyed 2 5-piece chicken nuggets and a Double with cheese washed down with a medium vanilla frosty of course. On Sunday I had a bowl of peanut butter Captain Crunch to power me up for my race and had two pieces of pizza after the race which of course were washed down with a can of Pepsi and a can of Mountain Dew for good measure. Thankfully on Sunday night I was able to limit
myself to two grilled cheese sandies and a bowl of tomato soup.
This could best describe the week that I had that started with so much promise after getting through the Halloween festivities: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_
Exercise - F
You will have to forgive me because I broke a promise that I made last Monday (11/1) that I would hit the road for at least 30 miles over the course of the week. I made one grievous error in making that vow to you though. That error was that I forgot that I had a race on Sunday in which I had to taper for. For those of you that are not familiar with my training technique I am affectionately known as the “King of the Taper”. I follow a strategy that has very few followers and if I had to venture a guess, most of them are probably overweight. But that Taper strategy is quite simple…don’t run. A few amateurs may just try to cut back on their mileage to keep their legs fresh, but not this guy. What could possibly keep your legs fresher than letting them rest and relax in a recliner? That way there is absolutely no weight to bear. It is simply a brilliant plan if you ask me. So with the said taper plan in place I went on Sunday and ran a brilliant race finishing with a time of 44:58, with an average split of 7:12. There is no need to mention that about ½ to ¾ of the first mile is downhill which may lead to a modest decrease in that first mile time but overall I felt I ran a decent race for being slightly obese. I can only imagine what runners are thinking as I run ahead them with my pants riding up my legs and my feet plodding along, it really can’t be a good feeling. I guess I have been known to be the “King of the Taper” because I inevitably become lazy and don’t get out there and that was the case this week. Being that Daylight Savings Time had not ended it was basically dark until 8 in the morning, so being in complete darkness while running did not help my case at all. Thankfully all bad things must come to an end and I am able to enjoy a little sunlight in the morning now before I go to work and if I muster up enough will, enjoy it while I’m traversing the road. So in all, this week I ran a total of 1 day for a total of 6.214 miles. Next week will bring a better outcome and progress will be made.
Eating - F
This is where Halloweak gets really ugly. The best thing may be that I am writing this on Thursday now and I have allowed myself to forget the pain that I put myself through last week. Monday was an alright day as I ate a footlong sub at Subway for lunch and I went with the chicken breast on wheat bread. That may not seem like a big change from my old eating habits but I am used to the Cold Cut Combo on asiago cheese bread with ranch dressing (of 30 grams of fat and about 800 calories). It’s baby steps my friends. When I came home I may have indulged a little too much on the candy treats, but when you are married to the Candy Queen, what choice do you really have? On Tuesday before dinner things went just fine as I ate my lunch at work and was able to survive the work day on that alone. I then traveled to Chicago, as mentioned earlier, on Tuesday night and that is where Halloweak really began. McDonald’s just brought the McRib sandwich back nationwide so Tuesday presented a perfect opportunity to partake in the delicious sandwich. So I ordered the Sandwich (of course it should be capitalized it is a proper noun) and a large fry. I avoided the meal because I couldn’t drink fountain soda due to that cursed weight gain the prior week so I was in a dilemma. What do I order to wash down that delicious sandwich and salty fries? To answer that question you have to think like the obese and once you are able to do that the answer is quite obvious. A large McFlurry!! That way I can quench my thirst with the milk contained in the ice cream as well as enjoy some wonderful dessert. Now you may be thinking, “That is not so bad,” and I would agree with you but then my coworkers get involved. One of my PNC brethren went up early and stopped at Giordano’s pizza for dinner and called when I was on my way to Chicago to ask if I cared for the 3 pieces of leftovers that he had. When asked what he would do with the leftovers if I didn’t take them he responded that he would throw them away and I just couldn’t let that happen. So I et him outside his room upon my arrival at the hotel and he gave me the goods. Once I got into the room and got situated I then wolfed down not 1, not 2, but all 3 pieces of the Chicago-style deep dish pizza (I just don’t understand why it is so hard to lose weight). The next day I ate the cookie that they gave me upon arrival the previous night for breakfast and went to the meeting. At the meeting I had a salad (can you believe it) two Panini’s that were slightly larger than the size of a post it, a large helping of macaroni and cheese, pasta salad, and a cookie along with the two cans of soda. On Tuesday night I had a New York Strip steak along with a baked potato and some vegetables. Let’s just say it was a tough trip to Chicago. On Thursday there was a return to normalcy as I once again ate my lunch at work and dinner at home. On Friday, (I still have not gotten over the habit of eating breakfast at work) I had over the course of the day 3 doughnuts, an asiago cheese bagel from Panera, broccoli cheese soup in a sourdough breadbowl, followed by Jimmy John’s Italian Night Club for dinner. All-in-all I would say it wasn’t a very good Friday. On Saturday, Jamie and I split a bag of Chicago mix Garrett popcorn for lunch (for those that haven’t had it it should definitely be on your bucket list of items to eat) along with a regular size Razmataz smoothie from Jamba Juice and I had to polish off about ¾ of Jamie’s Berry Fulfilling. For dinner we enjoyed the fine establishment of Wendy’s and I enjoyed 2 5-piece chicken nuggets and a Double with cheese washed down with a medium vanilla frosty of course. On Sunday I had a bowl of peanut butter Captain Crunch to power me up for my race and had two pieces of pizza after the race which of course were washed down with a can of Pepsi and a can of Mountain Dew for good measure. Thankfully on Sunday night I was able to limit
myself to two grilled cheese sandies and a bowl of tomato soup.
Overall - F
With two F's for my previous grades I am not sure how I could justify anything other than an F for Halloweak. On the positive side of things, I only gained .2 lbs this week but on the negative side of things, I almost annihilated my body. The great news is that I have my loyal readers by my side who aren't going to let me do that to myself two weeks in a row. Even though by now this week is almost half hour I won't spoil anything for Monday's edition. I believe the saying is, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." In the spirit of that I now will make two vows for you to hold me to. First, I will not only run 30 miles this week but I will also put at a minimum of 30 miles on these tree trunks the following week as well. Just to make myself clear, I will be running at least 30 miles for the week of 11/8 and the week of 11/15. A pretty bold promise, I know, but sometimes you just have to stop messing around. My second vow to you is that by Thanksgiving I will have entered the land of the 220's. All bets are off during the days of the Thanksgiving celebrations, but at least you will be able to see some results prior to the festivities.
Well folks, I hope I provided a little glimpse into Halloweak and didn't make you all nauseous with the my large consumption of food as it almost made me sick thinking about it. So it has been two steps forward and now two steps back but thankfully my strides backwards have been smaller. I promise next week (although half over) will be brighter and for the first time in 3 weeks you will be cheering instead of booing my efforts or lack thereof.
As always, thanks for reading (hopefully not sleeping) and feel free to make any comments or suggestions as you follow my adventure towards the elusive land of the low 200's.
Love.
Mr. Lemonhead
PS This week's late edition was due to me having a busy Monday at work followed by an Illini game taking up my Monday night, Tuesday at work I didn't have time and Tuesday night I was having writer's block (ok just laziness) and yesterday I composed some at work but was watching Heather's kids at night so I didn't have time to send it out so that is why you are getting this on this Veteran's Day morning. You, as my loyal readers, deserve better and in the future I will work diligently to make sure this terrible offense isn't repeated.
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