The Gauntlet, one month later

Tomorrow marks the one month anniversary of the Gauntlet Challenge. It looks like both Brian and I have been taking things seriously and have lost a pretty serious amount of weight in one month. My official weigh in for the week brings me down another 2.5 pounds. That puts me right at 221 pounds. So in four weeks I've managed to lose just over 10 pounds. Brian is having similar success. While I don't expect the 2+ pound weeks to become the norm, it sure is nice when you have them. Hopefully when things flatten out or plateau(and they will) we will continue with the fortitude with which we are working right now. So good job us, keep up the good work...

On a side note. It really is amazing how much motivation posting your weight and weight loss numbers on the web can offer. No more is it just a contest between you and the scale. It is now a contest between you and the world(or at least the one guy that reads your blog). It has really helped me stay on track. Thanks public humiliation.

Moving right along

My training plan is moving right along for early February. Yesterday was my long run day, currently up to 6 miles. I met my sister-in-law Megan at Grays Lake for the run. She has decided to do the Dam to Dam with me. A little extra motivation there, which is a good thing. Running with a partner is much different than running by yourself. The 6 miles flew by as there was conversation with a real person going on, instead of the usual talking to myself in my head. We finished in a little over an hour, almost right on pace with my training plan. I was sore for the rest of the evening last night, but am doing pretty good now. Hopefully you aren't too sore Megan. She just started running again last week and decided that day 1 would be a 5 miler. She was pretty sore the next day(s).

Here is a link to the run we did yesterday. I kept track of it with my Forerunner 305. LINK

Today is supposed to be warmer and I have a family dinner to attend tonight. Hopefully it's still warm when I get home. It would be great to get some miles on the bike tonight.

Another Wednesday, Another Update

Hello once again. It's time for an update. I didn't think I had that great of a week this past week. I had a 30th birthday party for a friend on Saturday and ate a few more snacks than I had planned on. And I had a fancy dinner out at The Greenbrier last night, and although I ate healthy(tuna) I'm sure I was still over my calories for the day. So it was to my surprise today when I stepped on the scale and was down 2.5 pounds. I'm not convinced that I'm not just a little dehydrated from the wine with dinner last night, but that's what the scale said and I'll take it. That puts me at 223.5, for a total loss in 3 weeks of 8 pounds. I'm pretty happy with that number, it seems pretty good to me for 3 weeks work. Hopefully I can keep up the 2 pounds a week trend for a few more weeks, it really helps with the motivation. As does telling the world how much you weigh every week.

In other news I just took delivery of a new toy training tool. I've been officially training for the Dam to Dam run for 4 weeks now, following a runnersworld.com training plan. That combined with a determination to start training(not just riding) on the bike too, I ordered a Garmin Forerunner 305. It does all of the heart rate zones that I want, along with running and cycling stats. All this should help me train smarter and not necessarily harder. It should also prove to be a fun tool to map my runs and rides and create maps that I can show people and blabber on about, even though the person I'm talking to doesn't really care and just wants me to go away. It should be a fun summer.

The Gauntlet week 2

Well, now that the website is working again, I can make my Wednesday post. I had a challenging weekend, it was a challenge for me to eat healthy. I didn't do too badly in my quest, but I certainly could have done better. Overall though I had a pretty good week. I'm down 2 lbs this week to 226. Pretty much what I expected as I'm generally a 1-2 pound a week kind of guy. I'm hoping next week that I could be down 3 lbs, but that's asking a lot.

I started a running routine based off of runnersworld.com on Monday. They have a free workout plan creator that takes where you're at and where you want to be and creates a plan to get there. This week I had a 4mile run on Monday(my long run day) and two 3 mile run days. Next week I have a 5 and a 3 and a 4. The plan is to be in good shape for the Dam to Dam run this year. It is a 12 mile run and is a big step for me since I've never run further than 7 miles. It will also help me in my first race of the year on May 3th in Davenport, the Cinco Du Mayo. Which is a run, bike, run road duathlon.

Other than that I'm focusing on some base miles on the bike. I'm hoping to get 10 hours of base miles in the coming week. Combined with the running that should keep things moving along nicely.

A Good Start

Look it's already Wednesday. Another week half gone, another weekend halfway here. It also just happens to be weigh in day. I feel a I had a good start to my diet change. I tried to make healthier meals and snack less. Things went well with the exception of a birthday party at Hickory Park, there are not a lot of healthy options on the Hickory Park menu. But otherwise I had a good week. My weight for the week: 228. Which nets a loss of 3.5 pounds. Not a bad start. Things usually settle down after the first week so I look forward to next week being 226-227.

Great weekend

The weather we had this weekend was exceptional. I think we saw the 50 degree mark on Saturday and it felt like it. I couldn't resist and jumped on the bike and went for a ride. The sun was warm and so wasthe wind. It made for a great day to ride. You don't get many of these days in winter. I was out for about 2 hours, just enjoying myself. I can't wait for spring.

Sunday was not nearly as nice. I ran to the store on the bike and ended up taking a hot lap around town just for fun. I forgot how hilly Norwalk is. The legs already tired from the previous days ride did not want to push me up those hills. It was a bit of a slog. But any riding time is good riding time. Only a few odd looks at the grocery store at the guy in biking tights and helmet picking up beer and chips. Bikers like the Superbowl too ya know.

Speaking of the Superbowl, what a great game. I was glad to see that Arizona played a great game. It started off slow and it looked like Pitt might steamroll the Cards. But Arizona didn't give up and played them tough right down to the end. Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers on a job well done.