Week 8 & 9: Beau 2 Boston

Anything Cool?:

Sometimes, when I really lean into excuses, I skip my scheduled runs. I say things to myself to make me feel better, to assuage that inner guilt.

It’s alright, man, you have a lot going on.

You’ve already lost a ton of weight and made amazing progress, it’s not a big deal to skip this run.

You will run tomorrow, it’s too hot today.

Sunnie is pretty, and cute, and petite, but she snores and rolls around the bed like a grizzly flopping at a salmon; it’s ok to skip your run today, you are tired.

All of those.

I say em’, and then I lean into the rationale as I skip my run. 

What has always helped me, though, and enabled me to sustain higher levels of cardio-respiratory health despite skipping miles far too often, is F45. 

On days I skip a scheduled run, for reasons just noted, I will still be in my/our gym. Most of my runs are scheduled in the morning, so if I do miss, I compensate with an evening F45 session*. Because I have a set a pretty lofty goal for myself (3:00 marathon to qualify for Boston) and I have taken steps of accountability, like this blog, when the evening rolls around motivation typically returns to me. I squash the excuses and I bust my ass for forty five minutes of fitness. These evening sessions are my safety net.

Below is a quick re-telling of something cool that happened recently, one evening in the week 7 and 8 timeframe, when I disregarded, and disrespected the safety net.

It’s just turned 5:00 PM, and I’m in the gym, two thirds of the way done with the 4:30 class. I’m really just taking up space: my movements are slow, energy is low, and I’m stopping to rest three or four seconds early each set; I might as well be working out at Orange Theory.

After a quick, built-in water break, I return to the same station where I began the first and second lap of this circuit. I prep myself for the first set at that station, as the workout timer ticks down from 10. Sunnie isn’t in this class, so I perform a few basic trunk and torso rotations, casually limber, keeping to myself (when she’s in the class, at any and all rest periods I’m on the ground, straight up getting floor hip thrusts and eye contact).

As noted, I’m not doing much, barely perspiring. I’m taking up space, and I’m doing nothing bringing me closer to a 3:00 marathon. 

Then, as the cooler, revelatory interactions seem to always do, I am jarred from my reverie. Shanel, one of our newer members and just a super, super awesome lady, hits me with a fist bump and a “last lap, let’s get to Boston!” In one of those instances—one or two seconds in real time, much longer in your head—I recognize and appreciate so much. I’m aware of the close family and friends in my life that support me and I’m connected to the community in our gym where so many like-minded, selfless people join together. She doesn’t have any reason to be aware of my fitness or pursuit of Boston—do I force it down the throat of everyone around me? maybe?—but she is, and she takes the time to motivate me.  It is all so humbling, and all so cool. I crush the workout, buy some earplugs, crushing a good night’s rest, and then crush a run the next morning.

*If unfamiliar with F45, know four things: 1) you’re a bad friend 2) F45 stands for “functional forty five minutes” and is a creative, high intensity exercise program of group fitness 3) If you push yourself, it is the best, most intense, varied, and effective workout I’ve come across 4) If interested in a free 7 Day Trial please contact gym owner and manager Beau Didier, at 2532496838

Training:

• 04/26:
  • F45 “Redline” workout
    • Cardio session. Timing of the workout best described by one of our Canadian gym members: “greasy, eh”
• 04/27:
  • Tempo run
    • 1 mile warmup: 7:57 pace
    • 3 miles fast: 7:24, 7:27, 6:50
    • 2 mile cooldown: 8:40, 8:50 pace
    • .6 miles away from my house, poor planning, so I ran very quickly home to finish the circuit. Unofficial time.
  • F45 “MKATZ” workout
    • Strength based workout
• 04/28:
  • Evening yoga
    • A straight up vibe with Sunnie Wilkins. Downward dog on downward dog on downward dog…
      • The session was based in shoulder mobility, so we really did just do a lot of movements and flows that incorporated an elevated plank, with hips held high in the air (downward dog).
• 04/29:
  • Distance run
    • 10 miles: 8:03 average pace
    • (voice of Pedro from Napolean Dynamite) “It was hot.”
  • F45 “Panthers” workout
    • Strength based workout
• 04/30:
  • F45 “Quarterbacks” workout
    • We had a couples “workout showdown” during this dynamic, athletic based workout. Because we are cool. We felt good about it.
• 05/01:
  • F45 “Hollywood” workout
    • Hour long hybrid workout, featuring strength and cardio. And some absolute bangers by DJ Brushy.
  • Sprint, VO2 Max conditioning
    • 110-yard uphill sprint
    • Walk without pause back downhill to starting position
    • After third sprint make .7 mile loop around block: 6:25 pace
    • Repeat that circuit three times
  • 05/02:
    • Installed new King mattress and bed, from Costco, with Sunnie. Functional fitness.
  • 05/03:
    • Interval run
      • 1 mile warmup: 7:50 pace
      • ½ mile run: 6:20 pace
      • 90 second walking recovery
      • Repeat six times
    • F45 “Redline” workout
      • Cardio based workout. Anonymous gym member: “f*ck that workout!”
  • 05/04:
    • Tempo run with Alison Musgrove
      • A run that makes you contemplate your existence, and standing as a man.
      • 15-minute warmup: 7:30 pace (should be about 8:15, but Alison won’t allow it)
      • 5 minutes at 7 RPE (rate of perceived exertion, 10 being your absolute hardest)
      • 3 minutes at 5 RPE (rate of perceived exertion, 1 being a walk to the fridge)
      • Repeat six times
        • It was 91 degrees
        • Alison doesn’t understand what RPE’s are and runs at 10’s for both segments.
        • I broke off during the 5^th cycle and took it directly to the pool, walking in without breaking stride
  • 05/04:
    • F45 “MKATZ” workout
      • Strength based workout
      • Sub-par effort on my part, until the end. I was just taking up space. See above “summary.”
  • 05/05:
    • Evening Yoga
      • Namaste
  • 05/06:
    • Distance run
      • 8 miles at 7:36 pace
      • Intended run was supposed to be 11 miles
      • Got aggressive with the fiber in the oatmeal (grain-free). Sometimes you are forced to listen to your body.
    • F45 “Panthers” workout
      • Strength based workout
  • 05/07:
    • F45 “Triple Double” workout
      • Athletic, basketball-training type movements. Explosive, like the culmination of the aforementioned distance run (05/06).
  • 05/08:
    • F45 “Hollywood” workout
      • Hour long hybrid workout, featuring strength and cardio. Some more bangers by DJ Brushy.
    • “Squash” with Sunnie. Registered as a 5.8 on my Whoop wearable device. If you know you know.
  • 05/09:
    • Distance run:
      • 14 miles: 8:25 average pace
      • 84 degrees
      • Weather/temperature is a big go-to excuse for me, if you haven’t caught that yet.

Summary:

I’m down to 193 lbs. It is such a simple concept—lighter being better over long distances—but feeling the impact of healthy weight loss during my training has been one of the more rewarding parts of this whole journey. Nancy told me I look healthy, and that I don’t have a “fat face or big neck” anymore.

So again, very rewarding stuff. 

Focusing on my “eating windows” has been the most impactful catalyst for this weight loss and correlative increase in energy. 

Again, on par with simple concepts, limiting the time in a 24 hour period where you are eating is better for your body. When you are not eating, and after you have digested what you last ate, your body comes into touch with extra energy. You are not digesting food or storing/processing it—which is a huge energy vacuum on the body—so the other systems inside of you are unimpaired, able to operate freely. Your immune system gets to cranking, your lymphatic and mitochondrial teams pair up, and you connect to real health. 

And, back to Nancy real quick to conclude… 

Last Sunday was Mother’s Day, so I’d like to take a quick second to say that there are not enough days in a year to thank you, and all Mom’s, for all that you do. You’re amazing, supportive, always there, and one of the main reasons I pursue Boston.*

*Equal part the pursuit of my very best, something you instilled in me, equal part the home-for-the-holiday-fatty-neck-grabs.