Getting Real

Posted on by Lucas

It’s really been awhile. Time moves fast, unlike my runs. Jokes aside I have gotten faster but not feeling for this half-marathon I’ve signed up for this weekend. The goal is to break PR of 1:57. Ideally I’ll be happy for anything under 2 hours but I have zero idea of what the course is like. Despite my hopelessness I have been consistently consistent this time around with my runs. We even beat an injury riddled two weeks but things definitely feel tighter. The diet has been starting tomorrow this whole training block. The hype I started with is still there but the grind got to me. If I run first then I don’t want to lift and I feel tired regardless of whatever workout I did so I deserve a treat is how each day ends up. This time around the running came first for once, then lifting, and then my diet in a far third.

I can actually taper this go around but when I think of taper I only think of lowering the mileage to almost zero because it’s an excuse to not run. My mind wants me to take it somewhat easy so I also don’t tweak anything before the big race. These excuses are probably coming from the same conscience that wants to give me treats all the time. Fighting my inner demons on taking the easy way out. The last mile is always the least crowded.

Sticking with It

Posted on by Lucas

Some time has definitely passed since my last update. Same traps I’ve encountered before. My consistency with running has definitely improved while my lifting frequency has declined. I may only lift once a week at most now but I’ve skipped less runs throughout the week. In fact, I ran at 6:30am this morning and it was glorious! I’ve missed that feeling for quite some time. It reminded me of running the Detroit Half-Marathon and realizing I was accomplishing something in my running career.

I’ve had some setbacks already. Life throws curveballs but we get back up and live another day. It’s wild how far I’ve come with my training already. The easy base runs were a chore at the beginning but now we’re finding our stride. I still can’t do VO2 max runs to save my life but I’m happy to live at a threshold pace. As much as the wind tries to blow me into the middle of traffic I enjoy the harsher weather as long as I can’t slip. Send me anything but a truckload of snow and I’ll weather my way through it.

Focus points are still the consistency in other areas. Maybe I tone down lifting a smidge to build the consistency and add stretching after my runs. Diet has been hit or miss but better overall. I need more variety with my tofu and chicken. I could eat my chipotle bowls all week for lunch though. Just need some changes for the sides. Now if anything else could taste like a nature’s snicker bar does to an actual snicker’s bar for a healthier dessert I would sell my soul. Ninja Creami is good but you can tell there’s a difference. Maybe I gotta do all the recipes with the blended cottage cheese.

Slowly getting closer to the place I want to be. Just gotta stay consistent.

Tired and Hungry Pt. 1

Posted on by Lucas

We’ve gotten thru the first week pretty unscathed. Skipped one run but still got my steps in. The hip flexors were sore after the first two runs and some targeted lifts in that area. No shame in that but hopefully I’m getting more acclimated to the routine sooner than later. We’re definitely sore, tired, and hungry already as I’m all of these as I write this.

Stretching is still a struggle I’ll admit. I’ll reference Atomic Habits again and say I have been minimally stretching at least but it feels like I’m devoting a lot of time every day and it’s just not been fully accepted in my mind that this is my new routine. Just wait until my runs are consistently an hour and a half when I start doing marathon training. The training splits are definitely easy mode right now.

Hunger is setting in a bit and I’ve had good days and somewhat bad days so far. Finally understanding I have a snacking habit when I don’t drink water and meal prepping burritos saved me this week. I think I could eat black beans for every meal if I had to. Reminds me of the meals I had in Costa Rica: rice, beans, protein. I think I could do that every day. Ah, simpler times…

Lifting has been somewhat consistent this week as well. As I run more I think I need to tone back some of the lifts and just focus more on my hip and glute lifts. Trying to stay in the game as long as I can before I get my first injury. I think any runner guarantees there will be some injury bug biting you at some point in your training. I’ve seen so many micro influencers tout their stretches and lifts will give you “bulletproof” this or that but I doubt they actually run and train for anything. I think most are you generic fitness influencer that gets paid to lift. Would be nice with my current circumstances but I don’t think there’s many unfit-fit influencers out there.

That’s my update. If I wasted your time, too late. lol

First Run Back, An Update

Posted on by Lucas

It’s been awhile. Just like my other post mentioning this – I need to stay consistent. Things got in the way but I’m looking forward again. The first run of my new training block was today and it was a doozy. Garmin was being difficult for the first mile and not updating my heart rate to then jump and make it overshoot my target HR. Fastest mile was the first one and it only got slower from there. I know running by heart rate does this but it’ll take time to get used to.

I followed up the run with leg day so tomorrow I’ll be regretting this when I wake up. We’ll see how that run will go… Fight thru the pain and maybe I’ll give myself a cookie tomorrow. Stretching is hard even though I’m trying to make it a priority now. Let’s hope it does some magic and hide the worst of it. I’m sure it will save me down the road from future injuries.

Another priority is diet and I’m trying to hold a deficit for real this time. Food is tasty and I love the idea of a good meal to devour. Hard not to think about giving myself a pat on the back and treating myself every day for minute things. Today was a good day though. Protein goals were hit and the meals were filling today. I’m sure as I run more the worst I’ll be so I can’t wait to look back on this. I think focusing on water also helped with that. Focusing on how my body feels has proven I eat when I’m thirsty and bored.

Hopefully, I can stick to the schedule of all this and come out on top. This is truly day 1 now and I have a long road ahead. Let’s enjoy this journey.

Becoming a Habitual Runner

Posted on by Lucas

I’ve started to read Atomic Habits by James Clear and it hits everything I’ve been feeling ever since I started a workout goal. Creating a big plan to achieve your goal, hit specific milestones, just having everything go according to plan…but then after the first few weeks the excuses start to feel valid and skipping workout days starts to be part of the big plan you’ve created. Is there really any reason to skip workouts? I thought I really wanted to achieve my goals but here I was and am. What happened to this big plan of mine? I have all these thoughts “running” (ha!) through my head on if this really is important to me anymore. The book highlights all these feelings and pitfalls that can happen for any habit you’re trying to form. Everyone should read the book themselves but the one thing to takeaway from this post is the greatest achievers find ways to cut through the bad days and show up regardless to how they feel.

I can go back to when I first started running before all the nagging injuries and really knowing what I was doing. I had my best half-marathon time of breaking the two hour mark and have yet to reach it since. What changed from then to now? I was more consistent even on the terrible days. I ran in the snow. I ran on ice. I ran when it rained. I ran in sub-freezing temps. Since then, I’ve skipped plenty of runs with half-assed excuses. Threshold runs were skipped because “I didn’t want to injure myself” when in reality I really didn’t want to push myself. Tempo runs were skipped just because I wasn’t “feeling it” for that day when I should’ve done a replacement run at the bare minimum. When I finish races I look at how I stand out from my age group and am always disappointed I’m never near the top. How do I go about changing this? Embrace the suck, get one percent better every day, no days off, etc. It starts with consistent training habits.

All this is to say where I’m at training is better but needs to be taken day by day and not lose sight of the big picture. Right now, we’re getting strong in the weight room to build a strong base for injuring prevention. I’ve been running injured far too long and been running way to tight. I’ve started new habits of stretching alongside getting to the weight room every day. The training starts today and not tomorrow. Progress won’t be noticeable some days but it builds regardless if you see it.

A quote of a quote from the book stands out perfectly for my goal and runners alike: The last mile is always the least crowded.

Running A Fool

Posted on by Lucas

This is meant to be a running blog for me but we’ll see where it goes. I’m still a novice in my running journey as I’ve been running for a few years now but have yet to be the time of my first half marathon two years ago. Am I disappointed? Yeah, you could say that. But there’s still proud moments. Even as I haven’t improved I’ve tracked my downfalls. Who would’ve thought you can’t just stop running as your “taper” weeks before the race? My last two half marathons went that way as I lost focus (and interest) in my goals leading up to the race.

Now the purpose of this blog is a way to be held accountable. This will be kept in the dark during my short building phase but it’s a whole new game at the beginning of the year. “Hello, world!” whenever you see this. I will attempt a full marathon in 2026. I could be crazy but I want to be part of the 1%. We’re aiming to finish but the main goal is to beat 4:20(hit it!) time.

Maybe I’ll make some additional tools to have fun with this site. Let’s have fun with this along the way. It’s the start of a journey.