Lose It!

My run this weekend was a vast improvement from the week before. Last weekend I ran 4 good miles before hitting a brick wall; this weekend I ran 8 great and 2 good miles before getting tired. That's (for the mathematically compromised) 6 more at-least-good miles. I also continued for another 4 miles and they weren't horrible, just tiring and slow and somewhat more uncoordinated.

Helping the quality of the run was that Bree and I ran in Alameda this weekend, a cooling improvement of about 20 degrees. It was overcast almost the entire run and I don't think it got much above 60. There was a slight bay breeze - incredibly stinky at the start since the tide was way out. We did the first few miles together and then split up, meeting back at the lot after 6 miles. I did those at 9:1 and had a good average. I slowed down after heading back out but kept up the 9:1 until I passed 10 miles. I rejoined Bree at that point and we finished at 4:1 and all of those "1" times made me very happy. My last 4 miles were about 1 minute per mile slower than the previous miles but my overall average was still about 25 seconds/mile faster than last week.

Also helping the quality of the run was that I was so tired during Thursday's workout that I was slower than before and didn't mange to complete the extended workout of Tuesday. I was sweating like a Miami thunderstorm and sliding all over when I was on the mat. I fell on my face twice while doing planks. I'm weak enough that I do it on my forearms and they kept sliding out from underneath me. Katie had to keep correcting my form. Since my legs are so much stronger than any other part of my body, my unconscious tendency is to let them take all the weight and effort. As the purpose of all of this is to build some strength in my core and upper body, it can be a problem. I was pooped when we finished and worried about the run, needlessly as it turns out.

I'm not loving the whole get-up-at-5:15 am thing. I'm barely tolerating it. The good part is when I wake up at 4 or 5 am, I know I'll be getting up soon and I'm not as anxious about getting back to sleep. The bad part is -- well, the getting up. One thing is not sleeping, another is moving. But I'm determined to continue the running on Monday and Wednesday and training on Tuesday and Thursday, and hoping to throw in an after work walk or run.

A very nice side effect of this is I'm losing weight. No, not from the consistent workouts alone. I'm dieting. Yup, real live honest to pete dieting. Holy Food Journal, Batman! I've been using Lose It!, a free app on my cell phone, and I really like it. Between being able to input full nutritional data on my own foods and their own extensive database, I feel I'm keeping honest track of not only calories, but the balance of protein, carbs and fat. I think their calorie burn for exercise is high but I try not to consume those calories anyway. I really don't think I burned 1,871 calories during my run yesterday but it's a fun number to see. The website has some incredible reports for those of us who like to obsess about what we've consumed. I could spend an entire day playing around with this.

I miss my lazy way of eating. These days there's no popcorn and wine for dinner. No late night 100 calories carb-loaded snacks. Hardly any chocolate. No cartons of ice cream on my lap. Instead I'm roasting veggies and eating fruit. Except for yesterday when I splurged with a soft shell crab sandwich (and kettle chips and cole slaw) after the run (yes, I had an almost 1,000 calorie lunch and it was goooood!).

Anyone want to place bets on how long I can keep this up?