197 lb
So, about a week ago, i dropped below 200lbs, and have hit as low as 197. Having said that, i’m still occasionally seeing +200 lb readings on the scale, but this is usually at night after a generous dinner. I’m going to try my best and hit my April 1st goal of 190.
Here we go!
Lower Back Problems…
So, Yesterday I had another lower back problem. After several days of recovering from a lower back injury from squatting (pulled muscle in left lower back) I have seemed to pulled the muscle in my right lower back. My only guess is that when running yesterday, I favored the non-injured side to the point that I hurt it. This is really becoming frustrating as I’m trying to get past the 200 lb mark by the end of this month. We will see what happens!
Ab Riper X
Tonight I did another installment of P90X’s Ab Riper X. My core feels like jello – but if that wasn’t enough I decided to do a quick 5K run after. The run wasn’t that bad actually, even though my thighs were a bit sore. Tomorrow I will be taking off from cardio, and I’ll be doing legs at the gym. It’s suppose to ran anyway, so not a good day for running.
On another note, I weighed today and was at 206. I’m getting closer and closer to dropping below the 200 lb mark, and I can’t wait to get there!
Sham On Team Run
Today I went for the very first Team “Sham On” group run. As what will be the beginning of a weekly “Monday-Runday”, Ross, Brandon, Chris, and Myself set out in the Belhaven area of Jackson for a 4 mile run.
After a bit of small talk, we followed Ross outside where he led the way. As we started running, it was apparent that Ross wasn’t playing any games as he quickly ran ahead of the pack. Around the 2 1/2 mile point, we approached a very large hill along side of LeFlure’s Bluff – the same hill of doom that I went up during the MS Blues Marathon. My 8:30 pace quickly turned to 9:30 as I struggled up the incline. The last mile was tough, as I was very tired. Brandon eventually caught up with me and finished slightly ahead. My final pace was 8:54 for 4.12 miles 
.
All in all it was a good challenging run. I’ll be looking forward to the next one!
2010 Mississippi Blues Half-Marathon
January 9th I ran the MS Blues Half-Marathon. This was probably the very first run that I’ve ever ran where I was in fairly good shape and somewhat prepared. During training, I had run as far as 12 1/2 miles on a couple occasions, and had run around ten or more > 6 mile runs. However, once race day approached, I was not so prepared for the frigid cold!
During the week before the race, an Arctic front dipped into the US, causing some of the coldest weather that Jackson, MS has seen in decades – and I got to run in it!
On race day, I woke up at an untypical early time of 4:30. After a shower, a small breakfast, and a few stretches, I put on my gear and left to pick up my wonderful friend Kristi. She was kind enough to brave the cold with me and make sure I didn’t lose my mind. At the start line I met Ross and Mary Catherine Stone, Matthew Manning, as well as a few other friends.
Then the race began. For the first 5K, I struggled to stay on a good pace. The herd of runners around me was something I was definitley not used to, but I soon found my pace and started to really enjoy the run. After about 5 miles, the rolling hills of Belhaven challenged my calves. After a few mental adjustments, I actually began to speed up a bit at this point, and passed several people. Around mile 9, the course turned back and I was faced with a good 3/4 mile up hill along LeFluers Bluff state park. This hill was probably the toughest part of the race, and I was glad to get up it – But as I approached the top, my stomach began to seriously not agree with me. At mile marker 10, I found a empty port-a-poty and took a necessary 2-3 minute bathroom break. Afterward, I made the last 5k without issue and finally crossed the finish line.
Final Time: 2:09:56
Mississippi Blues Marathon
All and all, I was pleased to finished in under 10 minute miles. It was all a lot of fun and I hope to do it again next year, hopefully in temperatures > 18 degrees!
2010 Goals
So, I decided one of the first things I should write down are some goals of mine. Since September 21st of 2009, I’ve gotten into fitness and eating right. At that point in time, i was ~ 260 pounds and was running about a 11 minute mile (for just 1 mile). At the time of this post, I’m now 210 and have gotten my single mile time into the 7:30 area. My 5k time has improved to about 27 minutes. So, now for status quot stats, and goal stats.
~~~Current~~~~
- Weight: 210
- 5k Time: 27:00
- Max Pull Ups: 6
- Bench Press: 270
~~~ April 1st, 2010 Numbers ~~~
- Weight: 190
- 5k Time: 25:00
- Max Pull Ups: 12
- Bench Press: 280
I don’t anticipate making a ton of strength gains – much of the muscle and strength that I currently have are all left overs from my senior year of College (2005) where I had about a 320 bench and could do almost as many pull ups as I can now (4 or 5). My weight goal of 190 will be the lightest I’ve been since 8th grade of High School, so that’s a big part of my overall goal.
Good luck to me!
New Blog
After years of having useless things at my website address, halplunkett.com, i’ve decided to turn it into a blog. Since I have an awful memory, I decided it would be a great idea for me to write a few things down now-and-then.
We will see how this goes, as I’m notorious for starting things and never following through.