John Carrier

The day after running the Twin Cities Marathon, after properly rehydrating and recovering from a 5,000-calorie deficit, I got on the scale and saw that I weighed 250 pounds (or 114 kilograms, Frenchie).  This is not my highest weight ever, but I’ve never crossed 260, and frankly, I was shocked that I hauled all that 26.2 miles in 5 hours, 6 minutes.  I mean, just the sheer…physics…of it all.

Oh, did I mention I ran a marathon?

I thought I would have lost a lot more weight during the months of training.  Even though I kept up with my longer runs on the weekend, I skipped a lot of the shorter weekday runs and speed work, and I think that  prevented me from reaching a high enough metabolic plateau for any kind of sustained weight loss.

Now I figure the surest way to improve my time for the Las Vegas Marathon is to drop some pounds.  Less weight to carry, less stress on my joints, and the same expenditure of energy should push me down the course faster.

In addition to being more disciplined about maintaining my weekday short runs, I’m trying to cut all “white foods” out of my diet, specifically white flour, white sugar, and white shortening.  This means trading bread and pasta for whole-grain rice and quinoa — which take longer to metabolize and keep your blood sugar more stable — and chucking most processed foods.  Pretty much the only white food I eat now is egg whites, which is among the purest sources of low-fat protein available without a prescription.

As of today, I’m down to about 240, and I’m shooting for 220 on race day, about seven and a half weeks away.  I think I can do it.

Sunday I ran about 21 miles.  I say “about” because I took a wrong turn off the route, and I don’t use a pedometer; suffice it to say that I’ve now seen more of North Minneapolis up-close than I had to date.  It took me a little over 5 hours, not counting time that I stopped to check my map, refill my water bottles in city parks, or buy sports drink at gas stations (appropriately).

This marks two personal records: It is both the farthest distance I’ve run and the longest continuous time I’ve spent running in a single session.  My previous record was around 18 miles in 3.5 hours sometime last summer.

Upon finishing, I felt like a superhero.  Then immediately afterwards until sometime yesterday, I felt like a cripple.  But also still like a superhero.

In case you don’t have my trading card, I’m 6′2″ and weigh somewhere in the neighborhood of 240 pounds.  The word “Clydesdale” comes to mind.  Coincidentally, I’m pretty sure that what the people were recoiling from when I went into that bike shop for a water refill was the scent of horse.  Sorry, bike-shop people.

Good tunes for getting your running cadence back: HaDag Nachash

Good tunes to get up those hills on the U of M campus: Rammstein

Good tunes to cross the finish line: White Zombie

Yes, my pace was similar to that of a brisk walk; however, I was not passed by a single walker.

The Twin Cities Marathon is just under 6 weeks away, and I’m gunning to finish in just under the 6-hour time limit. Participant Ribbon, here I come.

It’s no fifty-miler, but 26.2-mile first step.  I’m training for the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon which takes place on Sunday, October 5, 2008. 

I’m a few weeks into a marathon clinic at the Uptown Running Room, and my training schedule has me running a total of 35+ miles this week, including an 18-mile run this Sunday.

My training runs, most of which take an hour our more, have proven an excellent opportunity to practice Hebrew with the Pimsleur recordings I’ve ripped to my iPod.  Pimsleur is an excellent complement to my book learning, and it has really sharpened my pronunciation, I think.  Furthermore, I believe the regular exercise contributes to my mental fitness, which has helped my acquisition and retention of the language.

My wife says my weight is down, too, and I’m feeling pretty invincible.  Theoretically invincible, that is.  My longest training run so far has been 16 miles, and after something like that, I feel physically crippled for a few hours, but the idea that I can run 16 miles (albeit slowly) makes me feel — mentally, emotionally, egotistically — like a dang superhero.