Week 28: Weight Set Point

I was able to make back (lose) most of the weight that I gained last week. So I am happy about that.

I think I might be at one of those "set points," a preferred weight that my body wants to maintain. I seem to be fluctuating around my current weight without much effort, one of the indicators of a set point.

However, I am in charge of my body, and it will go where I want it to go (at least, that is what I am telling myself!). Strange that I am having all of these internal conversations. If I start answering back, I should probably get that checked.

But I digress.

When I look at my average pounds lost each week, I notice that the average has gradually decreased from Week 1. So I expect the last 17 pounds will become increasingly difficult as I progress.

Have you found the same thing... the pounds are harder to take off once you get closer to your goal weight?

Hill Work--16 MPM

My training plan today called for a hill workout. Since I live in north Texas, I don't really have many hill options. So I typically perform this workout on the treadmill.

The primary reason for doing the hill workout is to train my body to walk up hill for extended periods of time. Why would I want to do that? A key strategy for the ultramarathon is walking up hills and running the flats and down hills. So I need to train my body to become more efficient at waking up hills.

My approach is pretty simple. I start out walking at about a 20 mpm pace. During my warm-up I increase the incline by two levels, every minutes. My treadmill has 12 levels, so at six minutes into my workout the incline is at maximum height.

Next I start increasing my mpm by one mpm every minute until my heart rate breaks 170 bpm. I keep my heart rate between 170 and 180 bps for the balance of the workout, one hour in total. Then I cool down.

My theory is that as my fitness improves, I will be able to increase my pace at the same maximum incline. Today my maximum pace was about 16 mpm. I'd like to eventually increase this to 12 mpm.

For now I will just focus on instilling the habit and discipline to repeat this workout once per week.

What do you do for your hill work?

UltraRunning Video

I'm totally diggin' this video!



I'm looking for more. Please post a link to our favorite ultra or trail running video.

Week 27: Oops... Again

Well, I gained weight again last week. I don't really have a good reason (or a bad one for that matter). I have been trying to eat smaller portions and to eat more frequently. Maybe I am eating too many smaller portions more frequently? Not sure, but I basically gave back almost everything I earned the week before.

So, it's time to regroup (again) and to come up with a new strategy (again) or to increase my resolve to stick with my old strategy (again) so that I can start losing some more weight (again).

Maybe I need to go back to counting points? But I much prefer the freedom of just eating when I am hungry and stopping when I am full. However, as I mentioned previously, I still haven't mastered that last part (stopping). I tried to reduce portion size and to allow more time before trying to determine if I was still hungry. Not sure what happened last week. It just seems like I couldn't eat enough to satisfy my hunger.

Do you ever get that way? You just can't seem to get satisfied? What do you do about it?

Week 26: Smaller Portions

When I weighed in this morning, I was pleasantly surprised with the result. I have been focusing on learning how to eat when hungry and stop when full. The first part is no problem. But I've struggled with the second part.

Per the suggestion from Scatman, this week I reduced my serving size and increased my frequency. I am using smaller plates and putting less on the plate. The idea is that if you start with a smaller portion, you do not feel obligated to finish everything on your plate, even if you aren't hungry anymore.

The smaller portion approach seems to work for me. After I complete my serving I wait at least 30 minutes. If I am still hungry, I eat some more. If not, I wait until I am starting to feel hungry again. But I am also making sure I do not wait too long between portions. I don't want to get so hungry and then feel like I need to eat a cow in order to satisfy my hunger. So I am also trying to incorporate a little healthy snacking between meals.

So far it seems to be working. I much prefer this approach over the constant counting and measuring needed to follow the Weight Watchers system.

Thanks Scatman!

What approach works best for you?

L-Five Trail Run Report (13 Miles)

It was raining, cold, and muddy. And I loved every minute of it. I ran a little over 13 miles on the technical portion of the Northshore trail to prepare for my upcoming milestone race.

My legs, lungs, and laughs (mental state) are all great.

I am learning about layering to address the rain and cold and testing products to counter chafing.

Where is everybody? Usually the parking lot is
packed on a Sunday morning. Just me here now. Rain/cold?

Sports Bras vs Speedos

Who is better at running? Men or women? Check out this comparison...



What do you think?

Got Treadmill?

I was planning to run the trail today but I opted for a little jaunt on the treadmill instead. Why? Because...

IT'S TOO DAMN COLD!!!

Yes, we have some of that Canadian arctic air passing through Texas. I lived in Canada for many years, so you would think I would be used to the cold. But after living in Texas for the last five years, I don't do cold anymore!

So instead, I jogged about six miles on the treadmill while I caught up on some recorded CNBC shows.

Definitely prefer the trails. But ain't gonna do the cold!

Hope it warms up soon.

100-Mile Run on Elliptical Machine!

You gotta see this...

Doug Ryan, a member of my local trail running club, is planning to run 100 miles on an elliptical machine to raise money for the MS Society.

(01/20 update--Doug successfully completed his 100-mile run on the elliptical machine! More on Facebook.)

Help me support Doug by promoting him on Twitter and Facebook and by donating to this worthy cause!

Watch the video and then scroll down to read more about Doug Ryan, or go right to the bottom and leave a comment to cheer him on!

Week 25: Stop When You're Full

Last week I started trying to learn how to eat when I am hungry and to stop when I am full. Well, I nailed the first part. I have no problem eating when I am hungry. Got that down. Slam dunk. Ba-buy. See ya later. Adios amigos. Toodle-oo. Fade to black. Piece of cake.

However...

I tripped over that second part--stop when you're full. DOUGH!

Yea, I gained weight again. Just .4 lbs, but a gain no less. So I need a little more work on dialing this in. I will say I continue to eat good quality food. I just need to get that second part squared away.

I'll get this.

Pushing It

I pushed my pace a little today. I ran from Far Gate, the furthest north-west end of the Northshore Trail. This is the most technical part of the trail. I am trying to focus my attention here to train for my next milestone race, the Cross Timbers Half-Marathon. The Cross Timbers trail is know as the toughest little trail in Texas. So I am focusing on the toughest part of the Northshore trail in order to prepare for Cross Timbers.

About a mile in from Far Gate on the Northshore Trail.

Week 24: Eat When You're Hungry

I took the last two weeks off from my diet so I could enjoy the holiday season. During those two weeks I did not track the amount of any of my eating. However, I continued to make mostly good decisions about what I put into my body.

Let me explain.

I typically keep track of the amount of points consumed each day and compare that against the amount burned. If I stay within my points allocation, I lose weight. Over the last couple of weeks, instead of tracking, I just switched to eating when I was hungry and stopping when I was full.

A Pacing Breakthrough

My running routine the last few days has been a little unusual, due to the holiday schedule and all the busyness that goes along with that. But the activities resulted in a pacing breakthrough. Let me explain.

I didn't take the time on Tuesday to run.

Wednesday I needed to stay around the house, so I decided to do my run on the treadmill. I kept it nice and slow and easy, just jogged while I caught up on some recorded shows. I jogged about six miles at a nice and easy 15 mpm pace.

Once again on Thursday I needed to stay around the house, so I hit the treadmill again. But this time I decided to try something a little different. Like most treadmills, mine has different programs that you can run, one of which is called an endurance run.