Where did you go? Training for the TC10 that's where.

Ok, you know it's been a while since you last made a blog entry when a buddy tells you that he's gone back and re-read all of your entries for inspiration.  Thanks Bob!  Appreciate the boost to my analytics!!

So, where have I been for nearly 2 months since my last blog post?  Well, maintaining. After reaching my goals for Project David 2.0, I've stepped back a bit and gone into mostly maintenance mode. I'm almost 90 days out after hitting my goal for weight loss and I've been able to stay within 2 pounds of my goal.  I bounce up a little, but settle back to goal within a few days.  Still tracking my steps, haven't been as religious about logging what I eat, but I've been very consistent on what I am eating and staying within my calorie intake goal.

So what else have I been up to? Well, I am in the middle of training for the Medtronic TC10 Mile. I am half way through week 7 of 10 of the Hal Higdon 15k training program.  Been a great experience.  Confident that I can run this race and complete it and complete it in what I will consider a respectable time. My goal is sub 9:00 mile average, but think that might be a push.  Will be happy if I can stay under a 10 minute average.  Realistically, I'll be happy to run the entire distance!! Not too bad for a guy that couldn't run for more than 30 seconds at a time 8 months ago.

In August I ran the Minnesota Zoo Tiger Tracks 5k, but more importantly and exciting to me was that I also ran the 1 mile race with my soon to be 5 year old (tomorrow) son Jacob.  He had run two half mile races this summer and we trained for the 1 mile.  He wasn't sure about it, but signed up, got his shirt, got his bib and we ran the race.  I dropped back with a couple hundred yards to go so that he could cross the finish line on his own.  He was all smiles.

Next week (fits in perfectly with my training program) I'll be running the Best Buy United Way 5k with many of my co-workers. A great opportunity to support the community.

Last weekend I finally bought a bicycle.  The rest of the family has had bikes, and kept asking me when I was going to get one.  I can't always run as fast as they ride. So we've been on a few rides this week.  Looking forward to many more as I combine running and cycling with my training.  No, not prepping for a triathlon.  There's a key element that is limiting me right now.  I can't swim.  Never learned.

Hmmm.  Project David 3.0?

Final goal reached!!

Project David 2.0 ended on July 17th.  But there was one last goal to accomplish.  My last goal to reach was to be able to get off of my medications for my Type II Diabetes.  I was diagnosed over 8 years ago and have managed to keep my numbers in check with medications and eating better.  Each year my A1C has dropped.  I had my annual A1C check a month before I decided to start this project.  Numbers were good.  Down a bit from the previous year.  Then 90 days into my transformation I was tested again and it had a significant drop.  I was near the bottom end of the normal range, if I wasn't on meds.  I wondered, once I hit my goal weight, could I actually fall below the normal range, and without meds, fall into the normal range?  A little over 4 months ago I went off of my medications.  Last Friday I went in for a complete lab workup.  Today I met with my doctor to review my results.  After he talked with the nurse, and reviewed my results he came in the room.  "You are a miracle man!".  My unmedicated A1C was in the normal, non-diabetic range.  My doctor said all my hard work had paid off.  I watched as he updated my records, deleting all of my medications, and then the next change he made was something I never expected to see.  He pulled up the box that said Diabetes, Type II, and cleared the check box.  I was no longer diagnosed as diabetic.

Genetics come into play, and while today I am no longer considered diabetic, the possibility exists that no matter how successful I continue to be with weight management, diet, and exercise, the possibility exists that I could again become diagnosed as diabetic and have to go back on medications.  I will continue to have my A1C tested every 6 months to see that I am staying within the normal levels.  I'm ok with that for today I am no longer diagnosed as a diabetic.  Final goal reached.

Project David 2.0: Lessons Learned

July 17th.  My birthday and the go live date for Project David 2.0.  Can't really call it the go live date since this project really went live on the day I started it, August 14th, 2011.   It's really the project completion date.  The target date to deliver all of the results scoped for Project David 2.0.   This project has been a huge success.  We came in under budget, we finished a head of schedule, and we delivered more to our shareholders then we committed to last year.  :-)

Let's recap.  There were two primary areas of focus - Professional Transformation and Personal Transformation.

Let's start with Professional Transformation.  The goal was to determine what I wanted to be when I grew up.  What my professional aspirations were, and how to attain them. Could my professional goals be reached if I continued down the path of a consultant? If not, where could I find what I was looking for?  This goal moved much quicker initially than I expected.  By the end of August I was interviewing with Best Buy for the role of Program Director for Global Business Services.  The focus was on IT, specifically Infrastructure.  My sweet spot, having spent the last 20+ years working in various IT roles, usually around Infrastructure.  In this role I would be able to achieve what had been missing for me as a contractor.  Being able to help define the strategy, implement the solution, and be able to mature and refine the solution.  That is, release 2.0 and so forth.  I accepted the offer and joined Best Buy on November 28th.  It's been a challenging and rewarding experience so far, and a lot of challenges and opportunities a head of us.

The Personal Transformation.  It started out simple.  Lose 61.6 pounds in 11 months.  That was it.  Then came scope creep.  With success came the desire to add to the requirements.  First was to increase the total loss to 71.6.  I hit 72.8 on June 22nd.  At the end of September I started walking 6-7 days a week, 3-4 miles a night.  In January I was up to just over 400 miles, and I started the C25K program.  I added a goal to walk or run 1,000 miles.  In March I ran my first 5k. In June a 4 mile race, and so far in July I've completed a 5 mile and a 4 mile race.  Another 4 mile coming up this weekend.  I've also entered the lottery for the TC10 in October.  As for the 1,000 miles? 1,001.32 miles on July 15th. Two days to spare.  One other goal I set was to get off of the medications for my Type II Diabetes.  I'll know where we stand with that next week when I see my doctor to review the results on my lab work later this week.

Always nice to bring a project in under budget, and a head of schedule.

I could not have done this without my wife and kids, who provided support all along the way.  They have been my fan club at each of my races.  Their words of encouragement and their excitement as I bought each 10 pound sack of flour, representing my weight loss progress.  Nothing offers more encouragement than a 4 and 7 year old saying "daddy, you're getting healthy." Thank you Deb, Anna and Jacob.  I love you and I couldn't have done this without you and your support and encouragement.

I also want to thank my friends who offered their encouragement and support along the way, particularly my good friend Bob Stanke.  He inspired me to share my story through this blog and through Twitter.  Last year Bob set a goal to run 1,000 miles.  He shared his journey on his blog and other social media avenues.  Sharing created accountability which helped drive him to reach his goal.  I found the same thing.  When I didn't update my blog I heard from people asking how the progress was going. I was already driven to reach my goals, but the added accountability helped provide incentive. It has also given me the opportunity to share my story and help others start their own journey. To those that are on their journey, I wish you success in the pursuit of your goals.

It's been one heck of a journey.  I never imagined what the end state would feel like.  All I can say is it is an amazing feeling.  I look forward to the next phase of this journey.  As with any project there are release updates, maintenance fixes and enhancements.  This next year will be about building on the results of David 2.0.  Maintaining my new weight, improving my running - longer distances, faster times, and overall fitness, and continuing my professional development.

Thank you to all of you for your support, words of encouragement, and just listening to me tell my story.

GOAL!!! - 1,000 miles

Tonight I passed that magic number.  1, 000 miles.  1,000 miles since September 30th.  9 1/2 months.  A combination of walking and running.  Not my every day, walking between buildings, walking around the mall miles, but focused cardio sessions.  I started on September 30th, walking 45-65 minutes a night, 6-7 days a week.  Started running in January, and decided later in January that I wanted to get to 1,000 miles before the end of Project David 2.0 on July 17th.  Today I did it.  1,001.32 miles.

12 days to go, and only one goal remains

With 12 days to go, I am down to just one remaining goal - run/walk 1,000 miles before the end of Project David 2.0.  Since I started walking on September 30, 2011, that gave me 9 months, 17 days to complete that goal.  With 12 days to go I have just another 38.12 miles to get there.  Since I carry a Fitbit tracker, people have asked if I was counting the miles that it reflects on a daily basis.  The answer is no.  I've only counted the running and walking miles from my workouts.

The last goal you ask? Yes.  But wasn't there another goal to be completed? When I wrote my last entry there were two remaining goals - 1,000 miles and my revised (upward) weight loss goal of 71.6 pounds.  Well, happy to report that on the morning of June 22, as we were getting ready to leave for our road trip to Oregon, I stepped on the scale and learned that I had lost - drum roll please........ 72.8 pounds!!!  An extra 1.2 pounds!!  10 months, 7 days.  More to come on that as I am preparing my Project David 2.0 "recap" blog entry for July 17, my "go live" date.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

30 days to go!

There are 30 days left in Project David 2.0.  How have we done? There are two key goals remaining - run/walk 1,000 miles, lose 71.6 pounds.  Are we going to make it? Well, we have 100.73 miles and 0.8 pounds to go.  I have no doubts that I will make these two remaining goals.  This nearly year long project has been about success!  And we're not stopping short!

If you've been following along with me, you know these are not goals that I set last August when I started this journey. If you are new to my blog, let met tell you where these goals came from.  The weight goal was 61.6, but I decided along the way to increase it by 10 pounds. Why? Because as I got closer to my original goal, I thought there was room for an extra 10 pounds. The 1,000 miles? Yeah, not in the original plan either. In fact I had no exercise goals when I started. At the end of September I started walking every night.  I logged all of my walking sessions. In January I decided that maybe I would try running. Walking 4 miles a night was taking about an hour. If I could run, I should be able to cut that down. So I started the C25K training program.  This is designed to get a non-runner ready to run a 5k in 9 weeks.  The 1,000 miles? Inspired by my good friend Bob Stanke.  In 2011 he set and achieved a goal to run 1,000 miles. I decided that take that one on - but in a combination of walking and running.  Since I wanted to hit my original goal date, July 17, I only had 9 1/2 months to complete the task.  Kind of aggressive for someone who was not a runner.

So how has the running gone? On Saturday I ran my second race.  This one was a 4 miler.  Beat my goal by 2 minutes, running it in 35:53.  I'm working towards a 10k, and a co-worker is trying to talk me into a 10 miler.  I think I am ready for the 10k.  Tonight was a 5.25 mile run.  It felt good.  It was my longest run to date. Adding another mile shouldn't be an issue.  Up next is a 5 mile race on the 4th of July, a 4 mile race on July 7th, and another 4 mile race later in July.  And I'll be entering the lottery for the Medtronic TC 10 Mile in October.  I have time to get from 5 miles to 10 miles by October. Keep your tigers crossed that I can get in.  It's very popular. Some will say that once I get to 10 miles, I am probably ready for a half marathon since I'm only 3 miles away.  Pretty amazing that a guy who has never been a runner, and 6 months ago just started running, could be working towards running 10+ miles.

I'll keep you posted on my progress!!

Thanks for reading!

Last bag of flour!!

Another accomplishment today.  I reached the 7th and final bag of flour.  70 pounds.  That leaves 1.6 pounds to go to hit my revised goal.  39 days to go and reach that mark.  Pretty sure I won't need that much time!

Additionally, I am 864.37 miles towards my goal of 1,000 miles walking/running.  This was a goal that I added in January, about 5 months into Project David 2.0.  I started with walking on September 30, and then started the C25K program in January because walking 3-4 miles a night was taking too long.  :-)  Since that time I've done a combination of walking and running to get this far.

More goal updates as they occur!  Thanks for following along with me on this journey.

50 days and 184.6 miles to go

With 50 days remaining in Project David 2.0 I have 184.6 remaining to reach my goal of 1,000 miles. This was a goal that I added 45 days into the project, so the 1,000 miles is over 9 1/2 months time.  It is a combination of walking and running on the treadmill and running outside.  It is going to be close.  No more days off.  Or else extra daily doubles. :-)

The 1,000 miles was not in my original plans, but after a couple of months, and tracking every session I decided that maybe it should be another goal.  Last year my good friend Bob Stanke made his goal of running 1,000 miles.  A little more aggressive then I am, but great inspiration.  Maybe next year I'll try running the 1,000 miles.

With 2 months to go......

Thursday marked two months to go in Project David 2.0.  It also marks one month since I hit my original goal weight.

So what's happened in the last month? Well, we continue to drive to our final (David 2.1) goal of 7 bags of flour.  That would take us to a total of 71.6 pounds.  Over the last month we've lost another 4 pounds.  (There was an amazing Mother's Day brunch in the mix that might have had an impact on the weight loss. Might have had something to do with dessert. A chocolate layer mousse cake.) So we have two months to lose the last 6 pounds.  Pretty sure we'll get there.  And once we do we'll continue to focus on toning and strength.

What about the other goals? Well, the running continues, sort of.  I am planning on 2-3 5k runs this summer.  Schedule has been such that it's been limited, but we are continuing to walk.  I am up to 758 miles since I started walking/running on September 30th. That's like walking from Minneapolis, MN to Knoxville, TN.  In January I decided to see if I could get to 1,000 miles by July 17th.  I'll need 242 miles over the next two months.  Going to be tight since I am averaging about 100 miles a month.  Need to pick up the running to increase my daily totals.

People frequently ask me how I did it.  Did I use one of those commercial weight loss programs? Nope. I did it by diet and exercise.  I tracked everything I ate using MyFitnessPal, working against a reduced calorie diet.  I tracked all of my activities with a FitBit tracker.  The really nice thing is the MyFitnessPal app and the FitBit tracker sync together.  My activities log on MyFitnessPal and calculate my net calories letting me know how I need to adjust my diet.  And as you can see on my blog page, MyFitnessPal updates my blog with my total weight loss.  Great tools.  Check them out!  I highly recommend them.

GOOAAAAALLLLLLL!

On August 15th, 2011 I kicked off Project David 2.0. A transformation project with two major goals - personal transformation and professional transformation. My goal was to complete Project David 2.0 by July 17th, my 48th birthday. As I've previously shared, I hit my professional transformation goal when I started a new position with Best Buy on November 28th.

Today I am excited to share that I have reached my personal transformation goal. I set the goal to lose 61.6 pounds, and today, 8 months and 2 days, and 6 bags of flour later, I have achieved that goal!! 3 months early! Unbelievable.

It has been an incredible journey, but I am not done yet. Along the way I added several goals to reach before July 17th. Stay tuned as I continue to prepare for my first 10k run, try to lower my A1C to the point that I can get off of the oral meds, and get one more bag of flour!!

Thank you to my family and friends for all of their support along the way. I couldn't have done it without you all!

You've lost how much?

How much weight have you lost? I hear that question pretty frequently. So how much have I lost? Well, let's just say it's....

more than a 4 yr old, more than a 6 yr old, and more than 6 bags of flour.

As of today I have lost 60.6 pounds. 1 pound away from my original Project David 2.0 weight goal, and three months ahead of my goal date. But I'm not stopping there. I've decided to go for another bag of flour. Why? I still have some work to do to get to where I want to be. And I am still working on bringing down the body fat number as well. That has some room in it.

I am feeling great. I can't remember when I've felt this good. I am enjoying the running. Really enjoying how it feels when I finish up a 4-5 mile run. For me, an amazing accomplishment. Two reasons. I never had the desire to run, and with all of the walking and running that I've been doing since the end of September, I've not had any problems with my knees. Something that has been an issue for 30 years. Maybe it has something to do with dropping 25% of my body weight. Now that I've got my first 5k under my belt I am "training" to do a 10k. I'll keep you posted on how that progresses.

Each day I continue to be amazed at what I've accomplished in the last 7 months. When I started Project David 2.0 I just hoped that I could come close to my goals by July 17th. Today I am celebrating another milestone in a growing list of milestones and accomplished goals. I wouldn't have gotten this far without the support of my family, friends, and the vision I have for myself.

It was about more than just the shirt.

With my wife and kids cheering me on at the finish line, I accomplished something today that I never really thought I'd do. Something that 60 days ago I couldn't believe I would do. Today I became a runner. Today I ran my first 5K race, the St. Patrick's Day Human Race in St Paul. Not bad for a guy that 60 days ago struggled to run for 5 minutes, let alone 3.13 miles. My time, 28:25. I'll take it!! It was an unbelievable feeling as I came down the last few yards to the finish line. Seeing my kids jumping up and down cheering me on, giving me another burst of energy to "sprint" home. What a feeling. It was about more than just the shirt (although I proudly wore my first race shirt).

It was also about another accomplishment in my Project David 2.0 journey. It was an amazing day. I can't wait for the next race, and looking down the road to improving my distance and time and working towards a 10k.

I am 7 months and 3 days into Project David 2.0. An 11 month project. On Saturday I hit the scale, down 57.6 pounds. 4 pounds away from my original goal. So close to a goal that I hoped I could reach by the middle of July. And today I accomplished another goal - I earned the shirt.

3.38 miles - an incredible feeling!

Today marked another milestone in Project David 2.0. This one was did not involve flour. This afternoon I did something that I haven't done in more than 30 years. A road run. I've never been a runner. Now I've run before. Back in 7th grade. My last road run would have been while playing soccer in 7th grade. I went to school at Oak Grove Jr High in Oregon and soccer practice was at North Oak Grove Elementary. Every day we had to run to the other school for practice. A distance of about 3/4 of a mile.

As I've shared before, I decided I wanted to change things. 9 weeks ago I started the Couch to 5K program (C25K). So, over the last 9 weeks I've been working to go from a person that walked 4+ miles a day on the treadmill (since September 30th) to someone who could run 30 minutes three times a week on the treadmill. My goal, to run a 5K (it's about the shirt). Running on the treadmill I reached the 30 minute sustained run mark. And with a combined run/walk I've covered the 3.13 mile distance in 37 minutes. A major accomplishment for me. I had been told that running on a treadmill was different than running on the road. It was easier. Works the muscles differently.

Having accomplished the goal on the treadmill, it was time to take it outside. The weather forecast this week was looking good for today. A high near 60. And amazingly, no kids activities tonight, so I was going to hit the road. Last week I mapped a route that would cover roughly 3.13 miles. My practice 5K. Biggest question - how fast could I run it. At 5:04 this evening I walked out my front door, hit start on the Nike+GPS app on my iPhone headed down the driveway. 36:07 later I had covered 3.38 miles. Wow. Unbelievable rush. I can't wait to get out and do it again.

New goals for Project David 2.0: faster and farther.

Milestone Day: 50.2 pounds!

Today marks another milestone - 50.2 pounds. It's flour time. Took a little longer to get to the fifth bag of flour. I think a number of things need to be taken into consideration on why it took a little longer to hit the next milestone. But considering we went through the Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Holidays, and during the holiday window, I only gained 0.6 pounds. I have to consider that a win. To have enjoyed the feasts of the holidays, in moderation, and basically come out at the weight I went into them, that's a win.

During the past month I also made a couple of other changes. First one is that I started the C25K - Couch to 5K - program in an attempt to become a "runner". My goal, to run my first 5K in mid March. The second is that I started strength training on January 3rd. Don't know if that has had any impact on the slow down in my progress, but I do know it is making a big difference in how my clothes fit. So while the pounds aren't coming off as quick as they did during the first 40 pounds, the inches are. The Wellness Zone on the Best Buy campus has a fitness contest called Drop it Like it's hot. I signed up for it. It's a 12 week contest. Next week is the 6 week check in and I am very curious to see how things have changed in 6 weeks.

Next week marks 6 months of Project David 2.0. It's been an amazing journey so far. Hard to imagine what can happen during the remaining 5 months of this project. I know I can't wait to find out!

I'm running? What's up with that? It's about the shirt.

I've never been a runner (well, there was soccer in junior high), and I never planned to be one. Of course I never planned on Project David 2.0. That all changed 4 weeks ago when I decided I was going to run a 5K before my project goal date, my next birthday.

4 weeks ago I started the C25K - Couch to 5K - program. I had seen tweets about it, and decided to check it out. The concept, for those that are not familiar with this program, is a running program that takes you from the couch, or a non-runner, and in 9 weeks gets you ready to run a 5K or 30 minutes non stop. Since I've been walking 60+ minutes a night since the end of September I jump straight to week 2 of the program. My wife asked me why I wanted to run since I've never shown any interest. Told her it was about the shirt. You always get a shirt when you participate in a 5k. The real reason was that I wanted to shorten the amount of time I have to spend on the treadmill each night, so I needed much a faster pace. I was already walking at 4.2 miles per hour, so I was going to have to start running. Tonight was workout of 2 week 5:

00:00-5:00: Warmup walk

5:00-13:00: Run

13:00-18:00: Walk

18:00-26:00: Run

26:00-30:00: Cooldown Walk

I continue my usual walking for another 30-40 minutes beyond the C25K program. I don't have the speed there yet. More focused on actually being able to sustain a run. I figure the speed will come once I can reach a sustained 30-40 minute run. So far in a combined run/walk on a treadmill, I can cover a 5K in 42 minutes. That's with 16 minutes of running in that 42 minute window. The next workout, on Friday is a 20 minute run. Crossing my fingers that I'll be able to make it!! In a little over 3 weeks I'm supposed to be at a 30 minute run. That will be amazing. My first goal will be to run a 5K in under 40 minutes. There are two in St. Paul around St. Patrick's Day, and I am thinking that maybe that will be my first. I think I need to commit to that in the next week before they close registration.

So that's my story and I'm sticking to it - another goal added to continuing to be successful Project David 2.0.

402.97 miles down, 597.03 to go.

I am 22 1/2 weeks into Project David 2.0. 6 weeks after I started I added cardio to my plan. For me, someone who was not a runner, that meant walking on the treadmill. Tonight I went over 400 miles. I don't count all of the walking that I do during my work day, just the miles from my focused treadmill sessions. As of tonight I have walked 402.97 miles. That's the equivalent of running from Minneapolis to Kansas City.

I didn't not set a mileage goal when I started this project but having watched my friend Bob Stanke set and achieve a goal of running 1,000 miles last year, and now setting a goal of 1,200 miles for 2012, I thought maybe I should consider a goal. So tonight I am announcing my goal of walking/running 1,000 miles by the end of Project David 2.0 on July 17, 2012.

Can't remember the last time I saw that.

This morning was a major milestone in Project David 2.0. This morning the scale showed 199.6. Yes! No leading "2" on the scale. It's probably been 20 years since that has happened.

This project, as those that have followed me in this journey know, has been about milestones. A bag of flour at every 10 pound increment, 25 pounds by Christmas, getting my weight to match what my driver's license has shown for the last 15 years, and removing the 2 that was at the front of the scale. There are several other goals, and I'll do a "project status update" soon, but this was a major one for me. So much so that I left a message for my wife this morning announcing it - wrote "199.6" in big numbers in lipstick on the bathroom mirror!

Happy to arrive at the new century!!