My week's training started off well enough with a 50 minute run on Monday. I chose the flat option and at no point did I push the pace but I was pleased to have survived my longest run for ages. So building on this success I then took the next three days off! I have a variety of excuses (working late, attending the weight loss challenge, more working late!) but the closer December comes the less I can use these as valid excuses.

Friday rolled around (the week just flew by) and I had two options for Friday evening. An hour run or 90 mins on the windtrainer. It was dark, cold and p!$$ing down outside. The basement with the windtrainer was warm and cosy and I could watch U2 on the DVD.

So no competition .... I laced up my running shoes and headed out into the darkness.

It was a little bit too dark for my liking. The rain on my glasses was a pain and meant I could hardly see one foot in front of the other because of the car headlights shining in my face. I didn't want to go fast anyway but I was extra cautious and extra slow going out. Even so I came within an inch of running into one tree. Why the path along Fraser St has to take so many detours I'm not quite sure. They could have built the path to the left or the right of all the tress rather than zigg zagging around them all. Oh well ...

The run back was easier as the headlights were over my shoulder and seemed to light the path more. I was able to avoid the trees, puddles and even the roadworks at the estuary.

Completed the 10K in 59:14. Certainly not my fastest run along that route but anything under an hour along there is OK by me.

Saturday was supposed to be a family/rest day but Jo was out for the day so me and the kids got on with stuff in the morning (cleared bedrooms/cleared bit of the garden/baked cookies) and then got a DVD for the afternoon. I didn't really want to watch it and so being the great dad I am I gave them each a bowl of popcorn, sat them in front of the DVD and escaped to the basement to get an hour on the windtrainer. Watched U2 live in Chicago. I didn't go mad but did a few intevals along the way. Got just over an hour in, got showered and was back upstairs just as the credits rolled. All good. We even got the house tidy before Jo got back home which was a bonus.

Sunday was my usual long ride but it was different this week because a friend from work was joining me. He rides a mountain bike and is training for Motu so the speeds along the flats weren't fast but we got some good climbing in. We tried a new loop off the main Welcome Bay Road and it was OK on the climb up but most of the downhill was on loose gravel. I was not enjoying it. On the brakes most of the time. It was also really slippery from all the rain yesterday and there were a lot of landslips with gawd knows what strewed across the road in places. I was slipping all over the place. Never again! :)

It was a great ride overall and we finished up with a climb up Reid Rd and a hard ride home. I stayed in my big ring and middle gear and had to really work hard on the climbs. I let him get away on the downhills and then reeled him in on the climbs. Good fun.

I wasn't really looking forward to running off the bike but I wanted to do it just to get back in the swing of it. I set off on the run at a very slow pace. Both sides of my groin were extrememly tight and my stride was tiny. I went the undulating route so it was just a case of surviving the hills rather than getting any pace going. I turned at the top of the biggest 'slope' on the route (quite steep but not long) and was thankful for the downhill. I think I finished stronger than I started. Groin didn't really loosen up so I need to work on that. Well that's my excuse anyway ;)

Hoping to get a bit more consistancy in my training next week. At the moment I only have one night class planned on Thursday so in theory I might get a 8 hour week in. That's the plan anyway.

My Diet

Aaron said...

Have you radically changed your diet or is it more exercise?

The only way I can lose weight is to remove the association of pleasure with food.

I love sitting down at the weekend with everyone to break bread and enjoy dips and chicken and olives and nachos and salsa dips then have cake and ice-cream for afters with coffee and chocolate biscuits after that. But I don't lose weight.

I love 4 slices of jam on toast and a cup of coffee (few biscuits after) on a Sunday morning. But I don't lose weight.

I love cooking a hot chicken curry and rice and onion bhajis that would feed a family of 6 and then sharing it all with Jo. But I don't lose weight.

I love raiding the chocolate vending machine at work if I'm having a bad day. But I don't lose weight.

I love take-aways on the beach. But I don't lose weight.

I love cooking cookies with the kids. But I don't lose weight

Now I know I could incorporate all of these into a healthy diet and lose weight at the same time but I know I won't. I was explaining to Laura why they had to shoot and kill that white tiger the other week because the argument goes that once it's tasted human it's wants more. She said 'what like you and chocolate' ... smart ar$e!

I'm thinking that I will be able to incorporate all of the things I love into a maintenance plan once I get to goal weight but until then I'll get my pleasure from other things. Seeing the weight go down is one way. Being able to ride up Reid Rd easier (which it seemed to be last week) is another. Even running my undulating run course last night seemed a bit easier. I loved that!

The only way I can lose weight is to get boring with my food. I do not need new delicious wonderful flavoursome dishes to keep me on a diet. I need boring regular food that I know will keep me full until the next feed. We have to keep a food diary for this Weight Loss Challenge and I am waiting to get told off for not eating a variety of foods. My plan looks the same almost daily but certainly weekly.

Breakfast since the start of the challenge has been porridge and honey. Keeps me full till a bit of fruit (usually apple) at 10am. The only difference in the diet is at the weekend when for lunch instead of my banana, peanut butter and honey sandwich (which is nice but not so nice that I want to eat 4 more rounds of bread) I have a LARGE bowl (think large dog bowl) of chicken salad, nuts, seeds and vegetables with hot lime pickle. Lots of goodness in there.

When I get home from work I used to raid the cupboards for food but I have stopped that and now wait till dinner. Such a good boy now! Dinner is either a 'Laura sized' portion of whatever Jo is cooking or my standby of a large bowl of cornflakes if I get home late or miss the 'family' dinner for whatever reason.

Once the kids are in bed me and Jo get really naughty. Out come the nuts and dark chocolate. A handful of (healthy) walnuts and a few squares of dark chocolate with a cup of tea watching trashy TV with the kids asleep in bed. Life don't get any better (in the relaxing stakes) than this. I read on a blog that one lady has a treat in the evening of a square of dark chocolate. $h!t, ONE square! We have 8 each!!! IT'S MEDICINE PEOPLE!!!

I think another thing that has helped with the weight loss is that I am not having any energy drink/gel/food for any exercise under two hours. An hour run for me would normally involve a bit of food before I went out (banana) a 750ml sports drink on the way and usually a gel at the half way point. Now it's just water and there's no problem. I'm not going to die from lack of food.

Oh ... and another thing. The challenge being for money has certainly helped. I've had a few work buffets in the past weeks and I would normally attack them with vengeance. In the past I would have been embarrassed to explain my lack of eating with the usual 'I'm on a diet' BUT I feel different (and people's reaction has certainly been different) when I explain that I am doing a challenge to win $$$. The usual reaction is 'you don't need to lose weight, an extra muffin/cake/brownie won't hurt' but now it is 'good on ya, good luck, stay away form the cakes'. Much easier to deal with.

At the end of the 12 weeks if i haven't reached my goal of 80Kg then I will draw out $600 put it in an envelope and set a time to lose the remaining.

If I do, I get the $600.

If I don't, Jo and the kids get it. I need short term incentives.

Medium term is to be faster at a lighter weight.

Long term is to live healthier and longer.

Short term I need MONEY!!!

I'll settle for that.

Weigh in day again at the local Weight Loss Challenge. The weeks go so quickly.

Turned out to be a good weight loss. I was worried (again) that I wouldn't lose but it turned out OK.

Last week's weight 88.8kg

This week's weight 87.9kg

This week's loss 0.9Kg (2lbs sounds more to me)

Total loss so far is 9.6Kg which is a 9.8% loss overall. Few grams loss next week and I should hit the 10% mark. Well pleased.

I'm still leading the challenge by neary 5% and next week is the halfway mark. One person lost 2kg this week. I'll have to keep an eye on her!

The only bad news is that they didn't explain about the admin fee from all the subscriptions. They made it sound like winner took 50% of all takings. I found on another challenge (same company) that they take $15 of the $35 and then winner takes 50%. Still means $500 for winner so not complaining. (50% of 50 starters x $20 = $500)

I nearly invoked the last minute turbo training weight loss option because I didn't think I had lost this week but I ran out of time. I can use that in an emergency though. I'm sure I could drop at least a kg by pedaling for an hour in the basement with no fan on and drinking no water. Bit drastic I know but when there's money at stake ..

Better

Training time was nearly seven hours this week. Getting better. I want to get to the stage where I'm doing 8 hours week in week out (without the swim). Once I start swimming it'll go up to 10hrs. That's the plan anyway.

I'm coming to the conclusion that I should have bought a windtrainer years ago. It definitely saved my training week this week. I spent three hours on it including a 1hr30 session on Friday watching Dodgeball.

I only managed two runs this week and one of those was with Laura around the Mount base track on Monday which was the Queen's Birthday holiday. Great fun. The other run was a 5K at a very steady pace in just under 30 minutes. I'm currently thinking that I'll ban all speedwork and just concnetrate on getting the miles and time in without injuring myself. I'll leave the speed to others.

Today (Sunday) was my long ride. I was looking at doing 3 hours but it turned out at 2:45 so not too worried. Went back to Reid Rd and did three hill repeats. I took it very easy and stayed in my lowest gear. I intentionally didn't time it so that I wouldn't go too mad on my first big hill ride. Maybe next week.

I rode home using the bike as a fixed gear. I left it in the big ring at the front and middle gear at the back. I know that means nothing unless you know the gears I have but it works as a reference for me. I'm going to see if I can increase the gear that I can ride home in from Reid Rd.

We went swimming with the kids after my ride. I'm blaming fatigue from the bike but Adam was able to keep up with me up and down the 16m pool. I'm hoping that it's because he has gained some fitness from the cross country training he has been doing at school. Surely it can't be me :)

I did a 100m interval (WOW!) in the BIG pool (it was freeeeeezing after the kiddies 16m pool) and I clocked 2:09 which is about right for me. I WILL get faster once I start proper swim training ... rather than splashing about in the kiddies pool getting beaten by Adam and Laura :( haha