Pheidippides’s BodyBlog

I met my May diet goal, with the scale showing I weighed 168 when I got up this morning.  The BF measurement was a bit odd — it showed I was 18.4% rather than 17, which it showed yesterday, but I attribute that to a significant error factor in the machine.  I think I’m really somewhere between.

That’s one of only two times I’ve weighed 168 since I start keeping measurements on this site 1 1/2 years ago.  With more focus and diligence, this time, that number will become a ceiling, not a floor, and I’ll continue to shed unwanted flab and pounds.  Already I’ve lost some flab around the middle.  I wouldn’t say my abs have definition yet — I’d say I have about 3% more BF to lose before I get even a hint of real abs showing — but they are looking more presentable than a month earlier.  Enough, anyway, that I’ve run without a shirt a couple of times.  Yesterday I ran mid-day, completely sunny, temp in the low 90s (mild by Sacramento summer standards).  Too hot for a top.

The bigger advantage with the weight loss is faster running times.  If I can lose 5% of my weight (say, drop from 173 pounds, my approximate last race weight, to 164 pounds), then I should be able to improve running time by about 5% as well (according to some experts I’ve read).  That would mean lopping about another minute from my current 5K time of 19:30.  That is very strong motivation! 

I ran a 5K this morning.  Great conditions - temperature was probably in the high 50s at race start, course was perfectly flat and fast.  My goal was to beat 20 minutes.

I started fast, as I always do, often to my later regret. It didn’t feel crazy fast, but I finished the first mile in 6:01.  I just about held on to that pace the second mile, finished that in 6:08.  At that point I was slightly regretting the superfast start, but at the same time knew that I just about had my PR and sub-20 minute time in the bag, because I could slow down a lot the last mile and still get under my goal.  I did slow down over the last mile, to around 6:37 pace, but still held on and finished pretty strong.  This time I think I passed a couple people the last 200 meters.  To be honest I was concentrating so hard I was barely aware of others at that point.

My best race by far, in terms of age-graded performance.  My overall race pace was 6:16 min/mile — faster than I thought I could do.  I finished the 5K exactly 1:10 faster than I ran my last 5k one month ago, and the course was almost identical.  My aerobic fitness and stamina have improved a lot in that time, and my workouts and overall mileage have improved.

I’ll be recalibrating my workout paces and my goals for the year, but I now feel a lot more confident about attaing my goals of a sub-1:30 half marathon and sub-40 minute 10K, and with enough smart training and some weight loss I think a sub-3:00 marathon may even be in sight.

I weighed myself this morning, and with 10 days to go I am just about there.  169.8 pounds — one third of a pound from my June 1 goal.  If I keep watching my food intake and keep up the running, I’ll definitely hit and surpass my goal.  That will set me up nicely for getting faster in my running and for losing a bit more weight and improving my physique over the summer.  According to the scale my bodyfat right now is 17%, and I’d like to get that down into the 12-14% range over the summer.  I’ve never been that lean, at least not since high school, if then.  Even at my fittest I’ve always had love handles.  It’d be nice to get rid of them.

Waist still hovering around 36 inches. That’s from the widest point, just below the navel.  So that still needs some work.  But I’ve knocked off an inch in the last 3 weeks, so it’s good.

I’ll be running a 5K on Memorial Day, and the weight loss makes me think I have a good shot at finally breaking the 20 minute barrier.   That will be the goal, anyway.  The biggest obstacle will be maintaining discipline on Sunday while I go wine tasting and eating out in Napa with friends.  I will have to hold back on the wine consumption and not eat too heavily.

My wife and I both started diets on May 1 — the goal is to eat really well and lose a significant amount of weight by June 1.  She’s trying to lose 10 pounds, which sounds like a lot to lose in one month.  My goal was a bit more modest.  I was at 177 on June 1, and I wanted to get under 170.

I seem to be well on the way toward that goal.  I’ve been eating very carefully, and running at the same time, so I think I’ve been running a bit of a calorie deficit as well as shedding water weight.  Yesterday the scale said 172.8, and today it said 170.8.  I obviously cannot have lost 6.2 pounds of real weight in six days, but it does mean that some of the weight I was carrying was just water weight or bloat from all the eating I was doing.  I feel a bit trimmer and lighter, and the measuring tape also indicates I’ve lost a small but significant amount around my waist.

I’m a lot more confident now that I can get well under 170 by the end of May.  That bodes well not only for being able to look and feel better for the summer but for improving my running fitness and times before Labor Day, when I plan to kick my training into higher gear.

My diet isn’t all that strict; it’s just a matter of eating a lot less.  So far I’ve eaten a little less at every meal, avoided late night snacking and snacking generally, avoided ice cream, and drunk lots of water.  I’m allowing myself to go for stretches at a time feeling just a bit hungry, and enjoying the sensation after feeling bloated so much of the time previously.

I’ve got my sights now on achieving a "real" (meaning consistent, rather than one day) weight of 168 by June 1.  That would put me ahead of previous schedule.

My ultimate goal is to get my weight down into the low 160s to see how carrying less weight will help my running times.

I haven’t done any weight lifting lately, but I’ve been doing pushups almost every day.