Half-Marathon Training - September Complete!

Well, I haven't posted in quite a while so I wanted to post a quick update. August was a great vacation month of travel, food and wine. I even did my first portage trip at Algonquin National Park here in Ontario. Great times!

I came back from a pretty lax August, to a very intense September. We've had big changes at work that always seems to stress everybody out (even though we're fairly protected, and heavily unionized). I still have a job - booya! I started my training for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon in the first week of September. I didn't realize how intense it was until I was a week or so into it. I have had very little time to post, so I'm trying to make an effort today to do so.

FOOD:

For the training I started eating 6 small meals a day. Running almost every day really prevents me from having the giant meals I enjoyed in August. It's a weird transition; it almost feels like too much food but it's in such small quantities that it isn't. Constantly eating fools my stomach into thinking it's full. I like this alot, and so does my stomach when I head out for the 5am runs in the morning. It does require quite a bit of meal prep because 4 of the meals are while I'm at work.

TRAINING:

I'll just put my September calendar below. The workouts I'm doing are a stark contrast from my last routine. I'm focusing on the running, and thus I'm just trying to maintain muscle, and keep strong the ones I need to run properly. I'm still very sore  - especially after the long run Sundays. I'm used to running 5-10kms, so it's quite an adjustment. You might laugh at the calendar - but this is something I need to make sure I actually do it. Now do you see to correlation to making the log books? Comments always appreciated!

Hilarious sprints-day GPS map (below)

Enjoy some August photos below - and guess what I made 56 bottles of? So good!

Orlando:

Algonquin & Cottage Weekend:

Wine Making:

My 2 Month Shred Challenge

So recently I decided to start a 2 month shred challenge for myself, to try and cut down some of the extra weight I’ve put on this spring. I tend to… how you say…. “eat like an asshole” when I decide to have dirty cheat meals, and then these easily turn into “cheat weekends”. Recently I've had a lot going on so these have been pretty abundant. Last November I did a 6-week challenge, and my reward was our family Christmas trip to Mexico. That challenge was really effective, I cut down to 158lbs with some great definition - I was really pumped with the results. I didn’t really take any photos for that challenge, as it’s somewhat out of my comfort zone. Also, our travel agency unfortunately cancelled the trip via email on Boxing Day (Canadians - never book with Nolitours!!), so I didn’t feel any satisfaction for of it. This time I’ll be posting weekly “selfies” to showcase the results I’m seeing. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I’ve come out of my shell a bit with the photos.

The Rules:

-          Generally a low carb, low sugar diet. On run days I’ll have a higher carb intake (usually through oats and fruit) -          Nothing with added sugars (this includes dried crans and sweet rice cakes) -          No breads, pasta, rice -          Snacks: fruit on run days only, vegetables otherwise -          3 runs per week -          6 workouts per week -          Meals on side plates only -          No alcohol -          No snacking on almonds as I get out hand with these. I’ll use them as part of meals only. -          Any cheating will be fessed up to

Workout Plan:

I've just begun a new workout routine utilizing my TrainRite logbook. Love this thing; I never have to think about what I have to workout each day – I did all the pre-planning. I actually began this regimen a while back, but due to a neck injury and illness I never got into the full swing of it. Now that I’m 100%, I’ll use it for the entire 62 days. 6 days a week and one rest day. Here’s the breakdown:

Sunday: Rest Day Monday: Lats/Bis Tuesday: Legs/Core Wednesday: Chest/Tris Thursday: Various*/Core Friday: Legs/Shoulders Saturday: Back/Core * “Various” refers to exercises that use a multiple muscle groups, or muscles I couldn’t classify with the other days

Cardio: 3 runs per week – Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday (generally quick 5km runs)

Supplements: -          Protein shake immediately before and after workouts -          5grams Creatine on workout days (taken with the aforementioned protein) -          10grams BCAAs, daily -          Daily men’s multi vitamin -          Daily fish oil

Exceptions: -          1 Cheat item per week (NOT a whole meal) -          1 alcoholic drink per week *I’ll adjust any of these that I deem effective or not as I go.

Keeping Track: Call me lazy, but I’ve found that the best way for me to track my results are weight and photos. A lot of people do measurements, but I don’t really think it’s necessary for me. Does anyone else have a method they’ve used before?

So here we go! Today is Day 1 of my challenge. This time I have a trip booked Aug 11^th, which gives me 62 days. The last challenge I did was extremely strict, this time I’m going to give myself a few rewards along the way.

If you have any comments or suggestions I’d love to hear them! I’ll keep track of my progress here, but I’ll also post weekly updates.

Thanks for tuning in!

Day 1: Monday, June 10, 2013

Weight: 176.2lbs