November 11, 2014

My brother's comparison photos!

I couldn't believe I was still really sore when I woke up this morning. I was supposed to do speed work yesterday, but there was no way that was going to happen the day after that half-marathon, so I decided to do it today instead. But even at that, I wasn't sure I'd be able to do speed work because my calves are very sore.

When I was cleaning yesterday, I found an old Runner's World book called "Competitive Running". I don't know where or why I got it, but I flipped through it, and looked at some of the speed workouts. They were certainly more interesting than the 6 x 400's I had on the schedule, so I decided to replace mine with one today. On paper, it looked easier than the 6 x 400's, and since my legs aren't fully recovered from Sunday just yet, I figured it wouldn't hurt.

The problem was, I knew I would have a hard time hitting the correct paces outside, because I'm just returning to speed work, and it takes a while to really get a feel for the "right" paces. So, I decided to do the treadmill, even though it was a nice day outside today. Here is what the workout consisted of:


My goal half-marathon pace right now is 9:00/mile (9:10 would be a sub-2:00 half, but I want a little cushion in there). I used a race comparison chart to figure out what paces to do the 10K race pace and 5K race pace intervals at, because I haven't raced a 5K or 10K in a long time. According to the chart, I should aim for 8:20 and 8:40 for the 5K and 10K respectively.

The whole workout went REALLY well, which kind of made me second guess my foot pod. I used the outdoor track several times to make sure the calibration was correct (or at least very, very close). The calibration number it kept giving me on the track was just over 100% (101.2% to be exact). But whenever I've used my treadmill, I have to keep it at 89% to make it read the same as the treadmill. This means that if the 101.2% calibration is, in fact, correct, then I've been running MUCH faster than my treadmill displays. I've suspected that for long time, but I never really knew how to calibrate the treadmill.

Today during my run, I was afraid to either the foot pod or the treadmill. I sort of just aimed for a number in between. My splits ended up looking like this:


Too fast according to my Garmin, but too slow according to the treadmill. I don't know which is right. I'm going to see if I can figure out how to calibrate my treadmill.


Anyway, today is Veteran's Day, so I first want to acknowledge all the veterans out there. I posted this on Facebook, which totally sums it up:


As I've mentioned before, my younger brother, Nathan, is an Army veteran. This morning, I was looking through his Facebook photos to see if I could find a good one of him in uniform. I did find a pretty cool picture (although because it's shadowed, you really wouldn't know it's him!):


He's on the right in that photo. I saw another photo that made me stop and stare really carefully to make sure it was actually my brother. I barely recognized him! When he got out of the Army, he apparently gained quite a bit of weight. I didn't really notice the weight gain, because he was just "Nathan" to me, but looking at the photo was shocking, considering what he looks like now. I made a couple of comparison photos of him to show the drastic difference:


His waist now is smaller than mine, for sure! haha

I had never thought of him as being overweight, or even a "big guy". He was always just "my little brother". Anyway, I'm super proud of all he's accomplished (on the outside AND the inside). He inspires me!

And speaking of being inspired, I am super excited for tomorrow. I have plans to go for a run with Dean! I met Dean because of Motivational Monday last year after he'd run his first 5K. Since then, he's lost 140 pounds total (he went from 317 to about 177)! He's also become a running machine (my Ragnar team calls him "Dean the Machine"), and he just finished his first marathon in 3:52:43. He continues to amaze me all the time. He lives fairly close (relatively speaking--it's about an hour away, I believe). Tomorrow he is driving up this way so we can run at the State Park. I'm looking forward to it!

6 comments:

  1. A big thank you to your brother and all who have served our country so bravely. His comparison photos are amazing. I can hear/read the pride in your words when you write/speak of him.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Give Dean hugs and kisses for me! Miss you both! *hugs*

    ReplyDelete
  3. Loved the silhouette picture. Thank your brother for me. I'm so glad this country has finally realized what heroes our military are. They were not respected during the Vietnam era and that makes me sad. Nathan reminds me of my son Chris. He runs too and has lost a ton of weight. They both look great don't they?!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you Nathan for your service! You look fantastic! Keep up the great work.

    ReplyDelete
  5. does Nathan know
    how many pounds
    he lost?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's lost 46. He's now at the weight he was when he got out of basic training--a big milestone for him! :)

      Delete

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