Toshuo Diet

Exercise

It’s been nearly a year since I’ve posted. Since things have been getting busier and busier at work, my running frequency has dipped a bit from a few months ago. Sometimes, I only go once a week. Other times, I can get in three or more runs. I’m still slowly getting faster, though.

I’ve been doing no weight-training except for a single set of pull-ups after my runs and occasional push-ups when I feel like it at home. I can do about 6 pull-ups right after a 55min 10k run, and when I’m fully rested at home, I can do about 40-45 pushups.

Food

I still eat whatever I feel like. Recently, I’ve been eating tons of that braided string cheese. Probably about 1000 calories a day just from that… and I love it! I’ve mostly lost my sweet tooth though. I’m drinking less than one soda a month, and I don’t like it that much anymore. My chocolate binges, which I do still enjoy, are infrequent.

I’ve lost about 3 more kilos. Down to 96.

I haven’t posted in a couple of months, but that doesn’t mean that I’ve given up. Some things have changed at work, and I’ve become far busier than I had been. That’s the main reason I haven’t posted. Even when I do find the time to work out, I still get bogged down with too things to find the time to blog about my workouts. Getting to 大安 park for long runs just hasn’t been that practical, but I have been doing decline push-ups at home and getting into the gym a couple of times a week. It’s not much, but it is helping.

One great find I’ve made is my friend Gene’s successful workout regimen. A year ago, he was about as pudgy as I was, but now he’s in great shape. The change over the last six months has been downright startling. I asked him what kind of workouts he was doing, and he told me it was mostly running… three kilometers three times a week. My first thought was, “That’s it!!?”

I’ve built up to hour and forty minute long runs, and I had been going just as often. The more I thought about it, the more I marveled at how Gene was losing so much weight from a workout that burned less that 1000 calories a week. It couldn’t just be from energy expenditure. It has to be the secondary effects from so much intensity. Everyone knows that walking two miles doesn’t do the same things for your body as running two miles. I guess the same comparison holds between jogging for two miles and running hard for two miles.

To make a long story short, I’ve been copying Gene’s program and last week, dipped under 100kg in the first time in years! Here’s what my workout was like today:

Run:
23 minutes on the treadmill at a speed of 11.0, plus a cooldown

Row:
I rowed fairly hard for 10 minutes. I kept the calories burned per hour on the machine’s display over 700 for nearly the entire time.

Pullups: 4
Dips: forgot

I did three laps tonight. My blister hurt quite a bit on the last one, but strangely, it looked fine when I got home and took off my shoes.

I got some nice hi-tech sweat-whisking clothes at 愛買 last night. It was only 200 for the shirt and 200 for the shorts! Anyway, they did dry out a bit quicker. I’m not sure if they kept me much cooler, though.

My butt was still sore from the badminton tonight. Even, though it’s been two days, I guess I haven’t quite recovered since I used so many muscles I’m not used to using on Friday. Anyway, I went down to 大安 park and ran five and a half laps! It took me 93 minutes! Yeah, baby!

I got up at 6:30 today, and headed over to 古亭 to meet up with Wayne and play some badminton at some courts by the canal. It was pretty good. We played three games, and I was really going all out, running, making giant lunges and giving it my all. If nothing else, I’m sure the testosterone boost of victory made it a worthwhile endeavor.

Afterwards, I went for a run along the canal. It sucked. It was hot, there was little shade, stray dogs were making me feel uneasy, and jackasses were driving their scooters along the running/biking trail, making the air pretty foul. I made it maybe 25 minutes before heading back. Oh, yeah. I got too much sun, too.

2 laps

3 laps

Tonight, it was raining hard. I taped up my blistered foot, grabbed my mp3 player and headed to the park. The entire place was mine. Other than me, only the occasional frog was crazy enough to be out in that downpour. I ran and ran and ran, loping around the park. Eventually, the rain let up a bit and the occasional couple with umbrellas started coming into the park. I ended up running more than five laps, my mp3 player was water damaged, my shoes and all my clothes were soaked through, and I felt alive.

Running is really starting to get fun again.

I got up after only about four hours of sleep and went running before work today. It was hot and I only did two laps, but I’m glad I went. I felt terrible when I got up, but since getting back home, I’ve had more energy and managed to get some curriculum work done.

I did four laps today. It felt pretty good, and I actually got faster for the last two.

I really wanted to do four laps, but my blister was hurting and it was hot. I wimped out and stopped at 2.5 laps again.

I did 2.5 laps.

I drained the blister, and ran four full laps today. I didn’t get started until 9:50, so it was pretty hot by the time I finished. I definitely took in a lot of sun. On the good side, I think my aerobic fitness is finally starting to make noticeable improvement. If I can keep going 4+ times a week, I’m sure I’ll be up to 10 mile runs in no time.

I did two laps at 大安 park today. I tried to take them extra slowly, but they still came out to 15 minutes each. I’ve gotten a painful blister, so I’m not sure if I’ll run tomorrow or not.

I was out late on Friday night, and slept through most of yesterday. Today, though, I got up really early and had a great run. I did almost four laps at 大安 park (I stopped at the playground area) , and held at a steady 15 minute per lap pace the whole way through. It’s been more than two years since I’ve done a run of this length in under an hour.

My diet hasn’t been going well recently. Since switching from weights to running, I haven’t been as motivated. I don’t have hard evidence of improvement every time I go out. Also, I think it takes more running to do much good. Twice a week is enough to see plenty of improvement with weights, but with running, I really should be getting out there five times a week.

Anyway, I’m feeling motivated again, and I’m going to try to improve my diet. Here’s the plan- no processed foods while eating alone. That means that I’ll be eating vegetables, fruits, beans, eggs, potatoes, yams, and other whole foods, but no bread, no snacks, and most importantly no “7-11 food”. I’ll still eat whatever I feel like when I go out with my friends on Friday, though. I’m going to try to do it for one week.

Today, I did well. I ran three laps, and then continued running on a short-cut back across the park to the playground (where I did a set of pull-ups). I guess it counts as about 3 and 1/4 laps. I didn’t take many walking breaks either.

I did two laps, with a stretching break 2/3 of the way through the first one. Just as I was about to start a third lap, I took a walking break so I could drink some water. Some dude on a bicycle showed up out of nowhere and started talking to me… you know, the usual. “Hello! Where are you come from! How ah you!”

He was some college kid and I just didn’t have the heart to tell him to piss off so I could start running again. We walked around the park and I left once I got to the side nearest to the MRT. It turns out the guy was an Indonesian exchange student at Danjiang Daxue. He wants to be a businessman someday.

I ran 2 laps at 大安 park, and then walked one more this morning.

Today, I did four laps. The last lap had a lot of walking breaks as I passed through shady areas, though. I also did pull-ups between each set of laps.

I did three laps at noon.

I got up at 6 this morning, took the subway down to 大安 park, and ran three laps there. As always, it felt great! After I finished stretching, I also did 10 pull-ups.

Since I’ve started running again there must have been a dozen people who have told me, “oh, why don’t you just go run over to 國父紀念館(Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall) and jog there?”

Next time I’ll have a really good answer. It’s fairly close to where I live, but there was no good route. I took back roads and it was still really smoggy. The park wasn’t insulated from traffic that well, either. It’s right by a main road. The other problem is that it’s just way to small. I ran over there and did five laps around it, which might be equivalent to one lap around 大安, and by the time I was done I’d taken in enough pollution that I was light headed. Ugh. I’d rather not run at all.

After enjoying The Beer Factory with Wally, Franc and friends last night, and then continuing to drink until 3:30AM, it was a bit tough to get out of bed this morning. I didn’t actually get up until about 10:30. I threw on some shorts, grabbed a coffee and went to 大安 park. I ran from about 11:15 to 12:00, and it was hot. I must have had 2 liters of water and sweat out every bit of it. It was purifying. Getting some sun was nice, too.

three laps at 大安 park