EDIT: I Finished! i did the half Marathon in 2 Hours and 50 Minutes.
About 2 months ago, my wife came home and informed me that she had signed both of us up for a half marathon. So my wife decided actually. She also got my sister and cousin to join us for the half, blocking all excuses for not running.
So over the past few months I’ve made some life changes and I’ve actually been able to see a turn around.
For reference, I’m 5’10” and was hovering at 230lb for about 3 years in NYC. I Initially dropped about 5lb just because I have to walk to and from the subway (and Pokemon Go had launched so I was busy catchin em all). But after 2 years, a new subway route, and life, I was back at 230.
So, I’ve made 3 main changes:
- Intermittent Fasting
- Running
- Mild Dieting
Intermittent Fasting
I’ve been trying to do IF during the weekdays since Mid July. I don’t eat anything in the morning besides black coffee (Learned I’m Lactos recently). My timeframe to eat is between 1PM and 9 PM.
The underlying theory in IF is that it takes 16 hours to burn all the energy you get from food, and starts to burn the fat. So I only do liquids in those 16 hours. For the most part, its worked out well. I was able to drop 2-3 lb a week at first using this and basic running. Once I get closer to the race, I’ll probably transition this a bit to make sure I have enough energy for the race and training.
Running
I hate running. I have always hated mindless running. I’m not one of those skinny CEO guys that’s just bones in a jumpsuit running for hours. I played soccer, and I was the tank, I wasn’t fast, and wasn’t built for grace, just evacuating the ball as far from the goal as possible.
At first, my lovely wife ran with me as we started. I was basically doing a couch to 5K style run. I was running for 1/4 a mile and then needed a break. I had bad gag reflex, I felt trapped in my own body sometimes.
Thankfully with encouragement and trying to keep a schedule, I was able to make major progress in August. I started August running a 14 min Mile and dying. I finished August being able to run 3 Miles at an average of 11 minutes with my fastest mile being 8.5 Minutes. That, combined with IF, got me down to 222 lb by the end of August.
In order to cure the insatiable boredom that is running I’ve been listening to audiobooks as well. This past month I burned through the end of the Stormlight Archives to motivate me in my run.
Right now I have a goal of a minimum of 10 Miles a week and slowly adding 1 more mile to my max run on weekends.
Mild Dieting
My love for food is best described as the inverse of my hate for running. NYC has a billion options and the best of the best for those options and I love every second if it. That’s also what probably led to being that overweight. Since running I’ve started to cut certain things out of my life as much as possible.
I started saying i wouldn’t drink unless i ran that day. Then once i ran out of beer, I just maintained that I wouldn’t buy more until after the race. Same for Coke. I love a good Whisky Coke (Bulleit Bourbon) but that just isn’t going to mesh well with running and trying to find a way to run for 2.5 hours (if that’s even possible). So i’ve also cut that out and don’t buy either.
I still eat bread, and black beans. I’m not doing Keto or Whole30. So far, cutting out those liquid calories has had a net positive, and once i reach my goal weight I might be able to enjoy them with a lifestyle that offsets them.
The Half Marathon is October 26th in Cape Cod. Wish me Luck