Something I learned over the last year, is that when you set out to achieve a goal excuses will hunt you down and try to derail you all along the way.

For example, I had committed to be in he gym at least 4 days per week.

This sounds easy enough. The gym is on my way to work. If I go to the gym before work, I miss all the traffic. I can shower at the gym which saves me some money at home on utilities.

I talk to a lot of people that make similar goals and it doesn’t even take a week for the excuses to pile up. See below for typical excuses and my responses.

“I forgot my gym bag”

Leave a packed bag in your car. Once I did this, gym attendance became a breeze.

“I remembered my gym back, but forgot my lock”

Most gyms have daily use locks. If not, leave your crap in your car.

“The gym costs money”

The cost of an average gym membership ($25-$50 per month) is less than one doctor visit and much less than almost all of you pay for tv service.

“I’m tired”

I know the feeling. Going to the gym actually makes me feel less tired.

“The gym is crowded”

Make friends.

Now, I bet you are wondering why we are talking about persistence. Well, as you may have seen on my previous post that 2014 I would run a marathon.

Here is the significance. I. HATE. RUNNING.

In my mind, running makes you look like this.

So hungry….

I would rather look like this

I too am hungry

However, my curiosity has gotten the best of me. I continually hear about “runner’s high” so I am setting out to see for myself what running has to offer.

Also, since every Caveman should be a good hunter, running looks like a valuable tool.

If the clip below doesn’t show you some persistence, I am out of ideas.

Does it matter that I ate a steak and drank a half gallon of water while watching that video?

Since I typically over think everything and have to do gobs of research before ever making a decision, I started to read up on marathon forums regarding training and diet.

Here is what I found:

Run, a lot

Eat Carbs

Hmmmm….. Two of my least favorite things. What to do, what to do.

The running, well, not a whole heck of a lot I can do there. Just like lifting, if you want to get better, you have to put in the time.

But the diet; something had me stumped. Why so many carbs and so little protein? At the same time, all of the people taking this advice are complaining about joint and bone issues, pain, fatigue, injuries…. there must be a connection.

Here is my take.

High carb diets are typically high in bread, pasta, gluten, etc

These items are known to cause inflammation

These items DO NOT help your muscles grow or repair

So you have people putting tons of miles on inflamed joints, not feeding their muscles, bodies going into catabolic states, and disaster is just around the corner.

Glycogen

The argument for high carb diets for runners is to increase the stores of Glycogen

Essentially glycogen gives you energy. Energy allows you to run. I see where we may want to eat carbs.

Muscles are made of Amino Acids which are the second largest component of muscle tissue (1st is water).

Now, here is the bit of information everyone likes to ignore.

Carbohydrates -> Glycogen

Amino Acids -> Muscle Tissue (Growth and Recovery)

Amino Acids -> Glycogen

WAIT?!? WHAT?  You can provide the body with the necessary energy to perform without supplying carbohydrates?

There is a lot more to this (read: ketosis) but this is it in a nutshell. Rather than providing carbs as fuel, you can provide fat and protein for your body to run on. In theory, this should enable a person to maintain some muscle mass while training for and running a marathon. This is my plan.

The Plan

DIET

Diet will continue to remain largely the same. High Protein, High Fat, Low Carb. I am going to work harder this time to reduce carbs and see if I can push through the wall to achieve ketosis, which is really where great results have been recorded. This group seems to be experiencing very positive results with ketosis.

Training

Training will consist of 4 days per week running, 2 days lifting, and 1 day of rest.

The running days will follow a gradual progression towards marathon distances, with a half marathon test throw in around the middle.

Thinking about running this for the half marathon. http://www.horsetoothhalfmarathon.com/race-information/

I mean, any marathon that ends at a brewery sounds good to me. It has actually been a challenge to find local running events that aren’t run by elitists. Hoping that this one fits the bill.

Lifting will focus on the four large lifts we have been builing for the last year: bench, overhead press, squat, deadlift

Looking to maintain strength rather than get greedy and attempt to do too much and fail at both goals.

I am currently wrapping up my second week of running, and all seems to be going well. I will report back periodically and possibly post a running log to track my progress online. Also, look forward to some gear reviews as apparently running has become quite to expensive hobby.

See you all on the road.