Alright, guys. This is happening.
For those who don’t know…
I’ve been running another blog for several years. It started out as a creative project where I shared some of the art, music, designs, etc. I was working on and included a haiku every day for 365 days. Over time, this blog changed to reflect whatever I had taken an interest in at the time until eventually it turned into almost entirely fitness.
Fitness and overall wellness has taken over my life in many ways over the last few years. I’ve developed a passion for it and the desire to help other people as much as I can. I’ll give you the Cliffnotes version of how we got here, but if you’re interested in reading about all of it, I got you covered..
Back in 2009 I was fatty fat fat. I was in awful health and was doing nothing about it. When my doctor told me I was flirting with diabetes, I decided to make some serious changes. Over the next few months, I learned as much as I could about nutrition, attended spin classes and learned how to run. Before the end of the year I finished my first 5K and had dropped a considerable amount of weight. Over the next few years, I continued running and found TITLE Boxing Club in Knoxville, TN, and almost immediately signed up.
After a year of training I was hired on as a trainer in the club and I was able to realize my passion for helping others reach their goals. I got my Personal Trainer Certification from NASM some time later just to make it all official. From fat slob to personal trainer. It can happen. It did happen. It’s now called JTFFit
What are you going to get from this? I’m glad you asked.
- I can teach you how to punch better, how to lift heavy things and how to run long distances — this site will be dedicated to sharing fitness tips as well as the occasional free workout plans.
- I can help you change your lifestyle, feel better and get healthy — this site will also be dedicated to to helping you make healthier choices no matter if you’re just getting started or you’re trying to get rid of that last 10 pounds.
- I also cook like a Paleo freak — this site will be dedicated to sharing meal prep tips, recipes and my own personal plans, though be aware that I cannot create meal plans specifically for you.
- Finally, just so you all know I’m not asking anyone to do something I’m not willing to do, expect frequent updates on my fitness goals and what I’m doing to achieve them.
So what’s this about Bluegrass?
In my other blog I started a series called The Road to Bluegrass to discuss the training I was doing for my upcoming half marathon, cleverly named Bluegrass Half Marathon. I shared my running training but also my schedule at TITLE Boxing Club and my cross-training plan. Let’s do that — NOW:
Last week I talked about how much I benefitted from actually doing a tempo run so I kept that in mind this week. My first-ever tempo run was 3 miles and I covered the distance averaging 11:05/mile. Last week I headed out to run 4 miles at goal race tempo (for me, I’m shooting for 11:27/mile) and I finished with a record-setting 10:51/mile pace!
My weekend long run wasn’t remarkable. It wasn’t easy and I admittedly struggled through mile 8. Largely due to doing heavy squats the day before, but I mean, no excuses, right? Ultimately, I finished the week at 12 miles averaging 11:50/mile.
This week is going to be weird due to scheduling but this is how I think it’s going to look:
- Monday: Rest
- Tuesday: 3 Mile Run
- Wednesday: 5:45am Boxing at TITLE
- Thursday: 4 Mile Tempo Run
- Friday: 3 Mile Run
- Saturday: Cross-Training BOOT CAMP at TITLE, 11am T-75 (12-round) Boxing at TITLE
- Sunday: 4 Mile Run, 1pm Boxing at TITLE
You’ll notice there’s no long run this week. LSDs are for weekends, y’all, and due to my TITLE schedule, there’s no way I can do a long run and teach a quality class on the same day, let alone within minutes of each other. I was originally scheduled to hit 8 miles again this week anyway. I’ll resume next week with an early-morning 9-mile run.
I’ve completed 9 weeks of my 16-week plan. We’re closer than we’ve ever been, y’all.
And that’s it. JTFStrong is officially a thing. Thanks for following along and please feel free to share anything you read. I hope it doesn’t end up sucking.
JTFStrong 