Occupation: Comedian; Host,The Price is Right
Age; 53
Residence: Los Angeles
What inspired you to start running?
I went to this place in Santa Monica called Phase IV, and they put together a training program for me. When I started to lose weight, I did everything on the elliptical because my trainers were worried about my knees. I did that all the way through the end of last year. I would run once in a while. Like when I went out to the World Cup in South Africa, I would go to a local gym and the treadmill was open so I would do a 40-minute run. But I usually used the elliptical. I did a 10-K last August and I did a little running to prepare for that. Then I lost the weight, so I thought,Is there anything you do to psych yourself up for a run. I knew having a running goal or a race coming up would give me a little more motivation.
How hard was the transition from elliptical to running?
Well, I still went on a treadmill. The music is the same and the machines are right next to each other, so that was easy. The environmental part was easy. I had to work on my stride a little bit. They did an analysis on my stride and gave me some tips on how to improve it. And I had orthotics made for my running shoes. I had to change running shoes and all of that stuff to make sure that I could run without injury. I actually was worried about the pounding, but I actually love running more than working out on the elliptical. Now if I get on the elliptical, I feel like I'm trapped. Even though I am running on a treadmill, on the elliptical, my feet are locked into a thing and on the treadmill you can go a little faster or slower or make your stride longer. I have done some running outside, too--long runs out on the street--but I am just a little more private right now.
Are there are any places aside from L.A. that you've had an amazing run?
No, I wish! When I went to South Africa, I was worried about going out to run in the street, so I would go to gyms down there. Virgin Active. And they are great. They all have lap pools and are all swanky. I had security with me, so they would take me to the gym. I didn't go every day, just a few times a week to keep it up.
Health - Injuries?
I don't run outside, honestly. Sometimes I go out around my house, but mainly it's the stupid treadmill. I wish I had a better answer, but I'm very businesslike about my runs. I am not out to run to enjoy the scenery. I am not out to run because of the sunshine. I don't say to myself, "It would be a beautiful day to get some exercise!" That's not the way that I look at it, though I wish I did. I get a program every month, and it will say something like run 45 minutes and have your heart rate at this. Let's say that's Monday, and Tuesday I'll do intervals so that my heart rate is at a certain rate for this many minutes, and then it goes down and back up. The only high mileage I do is on weekends, but I still have to keep my heart rate up. I am never out there just jogging for the heck of it. I never do that. I start to run with a goal in mind, whether it's a certain time or certain distance or a specific heart-rate goal, and then I am done.
CA Notice at Collection?
Well, exercise is the main thing, you know. It's the diet and the exercise together.
People always ask how I lost 85 pounds, hoping I'll say, "Just take this pill," but it was a drastic lifestyle change. I went from sitting around doing nothing, eating Doritos and fettuccine, to being active, exercising, and eating well.
Running Was His Life. Then Came Putin’s War?
I used to go to a diner near CBS every morning. Half the time I'd have steak and eggs, and the other times I'd order pancakes. I would always have four cups of coffee. They would also make me a breakfast sandwich with sausage and eggs on an English muffin that was really good. I would have that, hash browns and maybe a pancake. I know that this is the stupidest thing, but I would think,Well, I am just getting a short stack! I am not eating that much. When I only put one pack of sugar in my coffee, I'd be like, "I am being good today!" And then I would go to work and I would have a Pepsi, do the show, and I would take a break before the showcases backstage and grab another Pepsi because I was diabetic and always having a sugar crash with the coffee with sugar in the morning and then the Pepsi.
For lunch, I would grab another Pepsi or iced tea for the caffeine, and then I'd have grilled ham and cheese at the cafeteria. Sometimes I'd have beef stroganoff or a club sandwich with fries and an iced tea. After that I would take a big, long nap. Then I'd have Pepsi again during the show. Then I would go back to the diner and almost every single night get fettuccine and chicken. And sometimes I'd have a cupcake on top of that, a salad with ranch, and more iced tea. That was the usual. I didn't even have to order it. If I didn't eat at the diner, I would come home and order a pizza. I would get it delivered, a small, and eat the whole thing by myself with wings and another Pepsi. Then I'd watch TV when I got home and have Oreos or Doritos with ranch and that was honestly like a typical day.
When I didn't eat the Doritos, I would think I was having a good day, but I'd still eat all of that other stuff. That's how I ate, and I didn't exercise. And then when I did, I would make such a big deal of getting dressed in the morning to go. "Today you are going to exercise!" I would write it on a Post-It note and go down to the gym and use the elliptical. I'd do, like, 10 minutes and be really exhausted. I'd be really sweaty after 10 minutes, and then I'd stop. I'd say that I would do 10 minutes this week and then 12 minutes next week and work my way up. That was the plan in my head. I'd go a few more times that week, and then that would be it. That counted as a workout.
Once I started working with my doctor, my whole diet drastically changed. If I went out to eat at a steak place, I would have gotten steak, mashed potatoes or a baked potato loaded with butter and sour cream, tons of bread and dessert and I wouldn't even touch the vegetables that came with it. Now, get double vegetables, no butter, no bread, salad with balsamic, and chicken instead of steak. Just now for lunch I had Thai chicken and snap peas, and for breakfast I had scrambled egg whites and turkey bacon. Now I drink water all day. Pepsi doesn't cross my lips anymore. Though I did have kind of a binge over the holidays last year.
Did it scare you that you would go back to bad habits?
No, but I did gain weight, and I thought,You have got to stop this man. This is bad! I didn't have to buy any new clothes or anything like that. I didn't gain that much. I binged one meal out of the day, but the rest were healthy. Christmas dinner I had cake and stuff like that. Anyway, water is like my preferred drink now. I would rather have water than anything even with dinner. It tastes great. I'm not into beer or wine anymore. But the whole thing was a drastic change. The doctors did a two-hour assessment on me before I even started. My first appointment was at 8 in the morning or some ungodly hour in Santa Monica, and nobody likes to drive to Santa Monica unless you live in Santa Monica. I had to get there at like 6 or 7 in the morning or something. First thing I had to do was lie down and be still and not listen to headphones or anything and just lay there and not fall asleep. They had an oxygen thing and a heart-rate monitor hooked up to me and they took my resting metabolic rate. I think I lay there for a half hour and I couldn't move--just breathe, relax, and keep my eyes closed. No music. Then they hooked me up to an oxygen mask and a heart-rate sensor again and put me on a treadmill, where I ran until I was exhausted. First thing in the morning! With this test, they come up with your ideal heart rate at which to exercise. So instead of the usual formula where you take your age minus whatever, they did this. It was a more scientific way to measure my heart rate and really, honestly, it made me laugh because when I got my average heart rate or main zone, it was as if I had fallen off the chart. It has changed since then. I go back and get my heart rate retested every few months, and as my aerobic condition gets better, my resting heart rate gets lower. My resting heart rate now is like 40... 45 or 42. It's always around there, so it's really good. It used to be like 65.
I read that you once said that it's like you're aging in reverse?
Yes, it's really strange. And one of the first things that my trainer had me doing was 10 minutes on the elliptical with my heart rate at a certain rate, and before I never really bothered with my heart rate. I remember specifically I emailed her and said, "Are you trying to kill me?" My T-shirt was drenched, and I was like, "What the f--k?" I never exercised where my whole entire shirt was so drenched that I could ring it out. Yet there I was every day on the elliptical machine doing just that. When I look back at the charts, I realize I wouldn't even break a sweat with those workouts now. That's like the kind of transition I had to make. I went from fooling myself with the Doritos and one pack of sugar or having chicken and fries instead of fettuccine and chicken. I did all of those things that fat people do so that they can say, "Well, I am doing something." My life is so different now, its crazy.
A Pro Athlete Takes on The Great World Race?
Well, not anymore. No pills. Nothing. Every day I have no symptoms, no medicine. All of my blood tests and my levels are just perfect.
How good does that feel?
It feels amazing! I no longer need those big naps that I used to take in the afternoon or when I came home from work at night. It got so I would have to take an Ambien every single night to fall asleep. Oh, here is my heart rate--its 42. I have an app on my phone where I keep track of it. It was 42 and the morning after the half-marathon, it was 43.
How was it running your first half-marathon?
Great!
Any favorite songs to run to.
It was the Marine Corps Half, and I finished in the top 25 percent. The plan was, again, all heart-rate based, and I talked it over with the woman at Phase IV. She told me not to go past this [heart-rate] level or I may bonk in the last couple of miles. She also said to get my heart rate as high as I dared for the last couple of miles.
What was it like crossing the finish line?
Just keeping my pace under 10 minutes a mile would have been a victory for me. When I did a five-mile run out on the street a few weeks before the race, my Nike Plus thing said I did 8:30 pace, so I wasn't worried on race day. I wasn't holding back, but I wasn't killing myself either. That is until I got to a hill between miles 10 and 11 on the race that they call Hospital Hill because it goes by a hospital and is very steep. I kept checking my pace as I climbed the hill because I figured I could finish under two hours if I made it over in good time. I passed the hill and knew I could do it if I pushed hard. The last couple of miles I remember saying to myself, "Please finish in under two hours!" Then I heard the loudspeaker at the finish line with the guy on the platform saying, "If you can hear the sound of my voice, then you can finish in under two hours!" And I just got it done man. I felt like, the last couple of miles, I had given it my all.
What was it like crossing the finish line?
1:57:02.
That's great!
For somebody who is 53 and used to be fat, I thought that was really good. I'd never run a half-marathon before, and given what my diet and exercise used to be like, I was amazed that I even finished. I was exhausted, but that's because of the way that I ran the last couple of miles. Up till then, I remember thinking to myself,I can run a marathon, no problem. If I had to run a marathon that day, I felt like I just could have.
What would it take to get to 10?
Yes, I am running a marathon in October. If I would have kept to my same pace before that hill, I could have run a marathon, I am pretty sure.
Did you do anything to celebrate?
I had to go to New York the next day, so I just relaxed and sat around all day. I think I went to the movies. I did have a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. I remember my nutritionist told me that if I was ever going to cheat, it was after a run like that.
Was it the best sandwich ever?
Yes! Then to celebrate the race, I wore my hardest-to-fit-in Paul Smith suit the next day. You can't wear his clothes unless you're skinny. It's like impossible. I remember I went to his store in Vegas, where I bought my suit, and I asked the guy if I could try on slim fit trousers and it was like wearing leggings! Dude! And then I got a medium fit and everything was so supertight. I was able to pull off this Paul Smith suit when I went to New York, and I was excited about that. I went to a museum and saw a play and I did the Craig Ferguson show, and I wore a Tom Ford suit. I mean you have to be skinny to fit into these clothes.
Well you must have a bigger wardrobe now?
Yes, its like I celebrate by being able to wear these three nice suits. I mean there were stores that I couldn't even walk into before because I was wearing like the biggest waist size at the Gap that they sold, which was like a 44. But I think Gap was sort of generous with their measurements, so it was probably more like a 46. That's what I was wearing! Most stores, they go up to like 38 or 40 and then they stop. Gap went to 44 or 46, so I was as big as I could go at the Gap. Maxing out the Gap sizes wasn't at the top of the list, but it was on the list of things that motivated me to make a life change.
Health & Injuries?
There was a bunch of things all piled on each other. It was not being able to keep up with Connor.
Is Connor your son?
Yes, he's my son. Connor just turned 6. He ran a 5-K the same day I did the half. You should be doing an article about him. He ran it in like 45 minutes or something like that.
So it was the same race you ran in?
It was on the same course--they started the 5-K after the half. There were like 5,900 runners or something for the half-marathon, and they are all crowded onto this road and there was this poor frog that was in the middle of it. The frog didn't have a chance. It was only like 20 feet out from the starting line, so nobody could do anything to stop it. As soon as his race started, Connor had to stop to look at the frog. On the way back, he stopped and talked to the Marines, and then he had to stop and look at the frog again. I thought that if he just ran it, he would have done it in less than 45 minutes. Still that's a pretty good time for a 6-year-old with little legs! He ran it in Skechers light-ups and a pair of jeans. He wasn't even wearing running clothes. I was just shocked that he did the whole 5-K. I thought he would do a little bit, and then somebody would escort him back. To me that was the biggest accomplishment of the day, him running the race. But it was a really good experience for everybody, and I can't wait to do another race.
Residence: Los Angeles?
Well, yes. I want to stay slim, and one of the ways to do that for the rest of my life is to have these kind of goals and races to do. There was a 60-year-old guy who finished the half-marathon in 1:32.
That's impressive.
No kidding! I am 53 right now, so if I can do that when I am 60, that would be awesome. I am happy that I ran the half-marathon, but to me, just running and saying that I finished a race isn't enough for me. I want to run the race as best as I can. Working out for pants size isn't enough. I need a goal or a race to get back on the treadmill every day.
How hard was the transition from elliptical to running?
So, because of my time in the Reserves, I'm running the Marine Corps Marathon in October. I am still working with Phase IV, and the training will be like what I did for the half-marathon, but more so. My training plan is all heart-rate based. Some days I just do an easy 45 minutes. Other days I do high-intensity speed or hill work that gets my heart rate as high as it can go. The only high mileage I do is on weekends--I'm never out there jogging for the heck of it. My trainer also wants me to work on my speed, so I will be doing over-speed training as well.
What is "over-speed training"?
They put you in a harness above a treadmill so 20 percent of your body weight is off the treadmill and you are not putting your full weight down. They speed up the treadmill, and you have to move your legs quickly. When you get older, you forget how fast your legs can move, so you just don't move them that fast. You have to retrain your mind and body to know what it feels like when you move your legs that swiftly. So when you get on that and they put more and more of your weight on the treadmill, you see if you can keep your legs as fast as that original speed.
From Runners World for New Balance?
Yes, I will now that summer is here. I'll probably do longer runs outside. I was thinking, like, tomorrow I have to do a six-mile run, so if the weather is nice, I may just run up and down the street.
Are you more comfortable running on your street or is there somewhere else you are dying to go for a run?
When I was driving around the other day I was just thinking that I should go online to look up places in L.A. to run. I could just ride my Vespa to a spot where there isn't a lot of traffic or some trails through a park or something like that. I would like that especially on the weekends, but in the mornings when I am working, it's just a lot more convenient to just hit the treadmill. When I was in the Marines, I used to run outside a lot.
How long ago were you in the Marines?
It was in the '80s like '80 to '86, and when I was in the Reserves, I ran quite a bit and did a few 10-Ks and sprint triathlons. My claim to fame was a perfect score on my Marine physical fitness test--I did my three-mile run in 17:45.
It's like full circle.
Well, that's why I did the Marine Corps Half-Marathon.
What was it like crossing the finish line?
The reason that I was psyched about the half-marathon was because I was so prepared. I had learned how to eat beforehand, and I got enough rest because I knew I had to. I took the right supplements. I stretched and trained just like I was supposed to do. I followed my training plan exactly, so I didn't have any questions in my head thinking,What if this goes wrong? For instance, I knew exactly how to eat the morning of the race.
What do you eat the morning of a big race?
We had a hotel room that had a little kitchenette. So, I bought a banana and peeled and froze it the day before. It was for the protein shake I was told to drink two hours before the start of the race. The race was at 7. I got up at 5 and the first thing that I did was make the shake so I had protein and carbohydrates. I drank that, and then I stretched because I was told not to stretch right before the race. I got dressed, and by 6:15 I was at the starting line shaking hands. I was already stretched out and I had eaten my carbohydrates. I did some light jogging, and I did this thing where I do real high knees and I hold my hands out and slap my hands to my knees. I also did some butt kicks. I did a bunch of those standing in place. I had to fire the starting gun, and then I went in with the pack.
The Best Songs to Add to Your Playlist This Month?
What would it take to get to 10.
Health - Injuries?
I need to lose about another 15 pounds. I need to work on my speed, and then I just need more time running. Becoming a runner doesn't happen overnight. You can't go from being sedentary like I was to doing a marathon. Just finishing this marathon will be a big deal. After that I'll train to go farther faster and not get injured. If you try to do too much too soon, you are going to hurt yourself, so you have to be careful. You have to always be aware when you are in a running program that you can't suddenly say to yourself, "I don't care what happens. I am going to run seven-minute miles." You may be able to do it, but you're going to kill your tendon, hurt your hip, or damage yourself to where you won't be able to run. You have to gradually improve and get faster and do it in a smart way.
Do you have a running goal?
Yes, a marathon under four hours, and then I would like to do a marathon in three and a half. I like to always beat my last times. When I saw that there was that 60-year-old guy who finished the half in an hour and a half, right away I thought,That's what I want to do when I'm 60. By the time that I'm 60, I will have been running for seven years. I have a lot of roadwork and a lot of training ahead of me. You give me seven years, and I'll be able to get my time down from 1:57 to 1:32. In my head, that's what I think to myself that if I am just the guy who shows up and finishes the marathon, that's not enough for me right now.
There was a bunch of things all piled on each other. It was not being able to keep up with Connor?
I do sometimes, and other times I'll just want it to be quiet. And sometimes I'll listen to "Morning Becomes Eclectic" on the radio. The show plays music that I can run to--nothing too heavy or with words that will distract me.
Just Nike stuff, but my shirt is always white?
I have a marathon playlist of high-energy rock, punk, disco, and anything else upbeat and high energy. I got " Wrong Way," "That's the Way I Wanna Rock 'n' Roll," by ACDC; "Does Your Mother Know," by Abba; "Art of Losing," by American Hi-Fi; "Taken For a Ride," by AM Radio; "Work to Do," by Average White Band. I'm all over the place! I got "Back in the USSR," and "Helter Skelter," by the Beatles, Jim Dandy, the Strokes, Billy Squire, Bobby Sherman. Anything that puts me in a good mood, but it has to be really upbeat. Busta Rhymes and "F--k You," by Cee Lo Green. "New Rose," by the Damned is a really good one. "New Kind of Kick," by the Cramps is also a really good one. "I Feel Free," by Cream. Anything that has a beat, moving, I have. One thing I put on for the heck of it was "Masquerade" fromPhantom of the Opera. I was coming around the corner during the run and as soon as I rounded the corner, the park was there and I heard, "Masquerade!" It was pretty cool. I have 634 songs. I put them on shuffle and I just go. The Who, "Wonder What She's Doing Tonight." "Ballroom Blitz," by Sweet. "Baby Got Back."
The Best Songs to Add to Your Playlist this Month.?
No, because I never go out and run. One time after I had my heart surgery in 1991, I was out running and someone was taking pictures of me and I got really mad. I shouldn't have gotten mad; I should have just smiled. I feel really bad that I said something to him that I shouldn't have. There was no reason for me to do that, and I apologized. So now I go on the treadmill and its fine. Nobody takes pictures of me.
And you don't have to worry about what you wear.
Well, honestly, even when I run on the treadmill, everything still matches.
You have running outfits?
Yes, and I make sure that the colors all match. There is a TV right in front of the treadmill. I normally don't watch the TV, but I can see my reflection and I can see it in a window off to the side.
Do you have a favorite running outfit?
No, but I did gain weight, and I thought.
Why?
I like the way it looks.
Do you wear spandex shirts?
No, just baggy ones. Sometimes when I am doing a long run, I'll wear the three-inch shorts, but usually the five-inch ones. I might have been more comfortable doing the half in a pair of three-inch shorts, but I didn't want everyone to be like, "Look at that dude with half of his butt hanging out!"
Phantom of the Opera?
I was drenched and my shorts were sticking to my legs, but at least I felt a little more modest.
Dana is a freelance journalist who covers a variety of subjects for health and fitness publications. She specializes in writing and editing health and wellness pieces and has contributed to Runner’s World, Yoga Journal, Livestrong, PopSugar Fitness, Women’s Health, and Self.
