Now as you are all aware of I’m sure, Mr. Lemonhead has set himself on an amazing journey towards a physically fit body and a figure that has been hibernating ever since I failed to see my name on the list for the 2000-2001 Morton High School Varsity Boys Basketball Team. Those 35-45 pounds I put on this figure over that winter (I don’t know why, I only ate a hot pocket after school every day?) have melted off, though never completely, and then somehow managed to find their way back to my waist. This mission that I am currently on with the ultimate goal of seeing a scale that the first digit starts with a “1” instead of a “2” (or a “3” which was my trajectory at 12/31/10) also comes with other minor goals that I, Mr. Lemonhead, hope to accomplish in 2011. As has been my philosophy since creating these Diaries what better way to hold yourself more accountable, than to let everyone know what your intentions are (I know, I know, you don’t care but I don’t know if you don’t tell me). With that being said, I give to you The 2011 Goals of Mr. Lemonhead:
Previously Stated Goals
Newly Stated Goals
I understand that these goals are primarily related to running and may have you asking yourself, why do I care? I wish I had a good answer for that but I don’t. If you don’t care, then I apologize for the 3 minutes of your life that you will never get back. Last week I tipped the scales at a beefy 231.0 lbs and this week I had a modest gain of .4 lbs. After losing 7+ lbs the previous week, it is to be expected to come down to earth a little bit so I am not concerned. So if you are keeping track at home my weight loss for the year has been 10.6 lbs, or 4.38% of my body weight as of 12/31/10. Not a bad start but this engine needs to keep on moving. Here is how my grades went for the week.
Exercise - B-
I managed to get my 20 mile minimum in for the week but it took a day in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. to accomplish it. If I wasn’t able to sleep in on Monday and then go for my run, I am not so sure I would have been able to get in the 5.38 miles I ran that day. I will take them anyway I can get them though. I also ran 3.06 miles on Wednesday, 6.27 miles on Saturday and 6.11 miles on Sunday for a weekly total of 20.82 miles (that makes me 2 for 3). I can also tell you another certainty: this large body of mine was not meant to do sit ups and push ups. I am now up to close to 40 situps after my runs and I think the effects are paying off. I’ll give you a sneak preview of next week’s picture of my progress (I also included Jamie in the picture because she has been working on them as well). Push ups are just an awful idea and I am up to close to 20 and you would think that it was 200. Those dogs are not easy and my body hates me every time I put it through a measly 20 of them. Overall, it was nice to get the minimum in but I also missed out on 2 runs that were in my marathon training schedule. There is always next week I guess.
Eating - B-
Monday through Thursday night went according to my new eating guidelines and everything was great and then Friday hit. I started off my Friday morning with 4 eggs (scrambled of course) with cheese and salsa. It is part of my effort to change up my eating habits in the morning and stray from the standard bowl of cereal and glass of orange juice. 4 eggs was probably a little too much but there were only 4 left in the container so why leave just one egg left (that’s fat-kid speak for I have a way to justify when I eat more than I should). At work somebody made a delicious French toast casserole and I had a small plate with real maple syrup and a couple bagel bites with cinnamon. Overall, a success if I had stopped there. Unfortunately I then helped myself to more of the casserole and bites and threw in some pieces of chocolate. For lunch I then had Orange Chicken from Panda Express with chow mein and then I overdid at dinner. Compared to last year it wasn’t nearly as bad as Friday’s have been, but it was a return to the 2010 Mr. Lemonhead (at least partially) for a day. On Saturday I enjoyed some Quatro’s pizza in Carbondale along with chocolate chip cookies and a Diet Pepsi while Jamie and I visited the other Larson’s and Poppy. Sunday brought the NFC Championships and some boneless wings, rotel cheese and chips. I was damaged by three days worth of eating but for 4 days of the week things went well.
Overall - B-
I have made significant progress in my campaign towards a slimmer body and the results are starting to show as I don’t put on my dress shirts and instantly feel like the air into my lungs is reduced by 75% due to the tightness of the collar. I am no longer on the verge of moving up to the last hole on the belt loop and my dress pants couldn’t double as khaki running spandex anymore, so things are really on the up and up for Mr. Lemonhead.
I hope I made up for the brevity of last week’s entry. I thought it necessary for me to get my goals out there for you to hold me accountable to since I obviously am incapable of doing it myself.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions as I peregrinate (thank you Webster’s!) the path towards my pre-2001 figure.
Thanks.
Mr. Lemonhead
Previously Stated Goals
- To run 20/miles a week
- - I know that I have already fallen short of this goal but that is still my goal for the year. By the end of the year if I fail to achieve this goal for the remaining weeks I hope to make up for with a weekly average > = 20 miles a week (I can’ t believe I bombed the greater than or less than test in 1st grade - it still haunts me)
- To run 1,000 miles in 2011
- - This one kind of piggy-backs off of my previous goal, but one that should be stated, none-the-less. This has been a goal of mine ever since I started my running career (4+ years and counting). I came tantalizingly close in 2010 but succumbed to the pressures of fountain soda and eating whatever I could. The horse that I was riding on to my elusive goal bucked me off and there was no recovery. I ended the year with somewhere around 920 miles.
- To weigh less than 200 lbs at 12/31/11
- - THE ULTIMATE GOAL and the reason these diaries exist. My weight loss history is well documented but what isn’t so pretty is my ability to keep those lbs off after my “diet” ends. Achieving this goal and maintaining same pants size for a year would hopefully lead to a life of good habits and the need to confess to you all the damage that I do to my body.
Newly Stated Goals
- To run a sub-4 hour marathon in the Spring and a marathon in the Fall (3:30 - 3:35 finish)
- - This goal depends heavily on numbers 1 and 2 above. While I am known as the King of the Taper, my last two training programs were derailed by two injuries (strained calf and pulled hamstring) that forced me to stop training for a month each. Oddly enough these two injuries occurred 1 year apart and on the same training run that I was trying to complete. I am sure these injuries were a result of my lack of a base so if I can keep the weekly mileage where I want it to be, hopefully the injury bug won’t rear its ugly head. I have decided to run the Illinois Marathon on April 30 as my Spring Marathon and the Fall marathon is TBD. My plan is to ease into the training for the Illinois Marathon while building my base and to use that base for my Fall marathon (hence the better expected finish time).
- To run a sub 20-minute 5k
- - Yet another bold goal that is achievable with some consistent running. This goal materialized after seeing that my old grade school classmate Kris Rampelberg (who I may have gotten into a tussle or two with while on the Jefferson School playground) had a 5k time that was superior to my own. This averages out to be about a 6:26 pace which may kill this fat kid, but there is nothing wrong with setting this bar high.
- To rid myself of the overwhelming desire to eat anything and everything that I feel is edible
- - If I was able to achieve this goal there would be no need for Mr. Lemonhead and his never-ending thoughts. We could move on to more important things, like what the Cardinals need to do to shore up their left side of the infield or what the if Ron Zook is cut out to be the guy who leads The Fighting Illini back to bowl glory and consistent winning seasons. And in ten years, I may be able to talk about the excitement of having a kid on the way (I may be being a little aggressive on that front). Until I achieve this said goal all you will get to hear about is my eating exploits and the lack of will power that was undoubtedly given to my upon birth and I have no control over (no need for excuses here).
I understand that these goals are primarily related to running and may have you asking yourself, why do I care? I wish I had a good answer for that but I don’t. If you don’t care, then I apologize for the 3 minutes of your life that you will never get back. Last week I tipped the scales at a beefy 231.0 lbs and this week I had a modest gain of .4 lbs. After losing 7+ lbs the previous week, it is to be expected to come down to earth a little bit so I am not concerned. So if you are keeping track at home my weight loss for the year has been 10.6 lbs, or 4.38% of my body weight as of 12/31/10. Not a bad start but this engine needs to keep on moving. Here is how my grades went for the week.
Exercise - B-
I managed to get my 20 mile minimum in for the week but it took a day in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. to accomplish it. If I wasn’t able to sleep in on Monday and then go for my run, I am not so sure I would have been able to get in the 5.38 miles I ran that day. I will take them anyway I can get them though. I also ran 3.06 miles on Wednesday, 6.27 miles on Saturday and 6.11 miles on Sunday for a weekly total of 20.82 miles (that makes me 2 for 3). I can also tell you another certainty: this large body of mine was not meant to do sit ups and push ups. I am now up to close to 40 situps after my runs and I think the effects are paying off. I’ll give you a sneak preview of next week’s picture of my progress (I also included Jamie in the picture because she has been working on them as well). Push ups are just an awful idea and I am up to close to 20 and you would think that it was 200. Those dogs are not easy and my body hates me every time I put it through a measly 20 of them. Overall, it was nice to get the minimum in but I also missed out on 2 runs that were in my marathon training schedule. There is always next week I guess.
Eating - B-
Monday through Thursday night went according to my new eating guidelines and everything was great and then Friday hit. I started off my Friday morning with 4 eggs (scrambled of course) with cheese and salsa. It is part of my effort to change up my eating habits in the morning and stray from the standard bowl of cereal and glass of orange juice. 4 eggs was probably a little too much but there were only 4 left in the container so why leave just one egg left (that’s fat-kid speak for I have a way to justify when I eat more than I should). At work somebody made a delicious French toast casserole and I had a small plate with real maple syrup and a couple bagel bites with cinnamon. Overall, a success if I had stopped there. Unfortunately I then helped myself to more of the casserole and bites and threw in some pieces of chocolate. For lunch I then had Orange Chicken from Panda Express with chow mein and then I overdid at dinner. Compared to last year it wasn’t nearly as bad as Friday’s have been, but it was a return to the 2010 Mr. Lemonhead (at least partially) for a day. On Saturday I enjoyed some Quatro’s pizza in Carbondale along with chocolate chip cookies and a Diet Pepsi while Jamie and I visited the other Larson’s and Poppy. Sunday brought the NFC Championships and some boneless wings, rotel cheese and chips. I was damaged by three days worth of eating but for 4 days of the week things went well.
Overall - B-
I have made significant progress in my campaign towards a slimmer body and the results are starting to show as I don’t put on my dress shirts and instantly feel like the air into my lungs is reduced by 75% due to the tightness of the collar. I am no longer on the verge of moving up to the last hole on the belt loop and my dress pants couldn’t double as khaki running spandex anymore, so things are really on the up and up for Mr. Lemonhead.
I hope I made up for the brevity of last week’s entry. I thought it necessary for me to get my goals out there for you to hold me accountable to since I obviously am incapable of doing it myself.
Thanks for reading and please feel free to leave any comments or suggestions as I peregrinate (thank you Webster’s!) the path towards my pre-2001 figure.
Thanks.
Mr. Lemonhead
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