May 28th

Exercise update: Today I ran for 35 minutes outside. It was slow and plodding but I think I did ok. I'm still using a sort of Galloway method to lengthen my runs. For those who don't know what the Galloway method is, it's simply to mix in walking breaks, beginning early in your run. The rest plus balanced use of muscles, allows you to perform better. When I ran a half marathon is 2007, I used that approach for the first 10 miles and ran 2:01 for the the half. I also walked the dog for 30 minutes to get to my 60 minutes of movement. Tomorrow, I'm thinking hiking and swimming are what I want to do. If you'd like to learn more go to http://www.jeffgalloway.com/

Tonight's version was modified since the run was shorter. I increased the amount of running time after each walking break. For example, I ran 5 minutes, walked 1, ran 6, walked 1 etc. As I've noted before, running fitness seems to be the gold standard for me. I can go for an hour on the elliptical, but 30 minutes of running is still a challenge. Obviously shedding some weight will make a difference in that area as well.

Today marks 8 weeks until the Castle Rock Tri. That means tomorrow, I'll sit down and work on a strong training plan. I have a couple books that have served me well in the past. I feel pretty heavy for a triathlon, so I hope to lose 8 lbs. in 8 weeks, so I can be solidly under 190 by then. That's still big, but should feel better.

Nutrition update: Today is not a success. I'll be within the guidelines for weight maintenance, but have exceeded the target for losing a pound a week. The culprit is clear though. When it came to dinner time, I didn't really do a meal, I just started eating "small" portions of snack type stuff around the house. I thought that my exercise calories would leave me plenty of room to eat several things.

Nope. The lesson is that I need to be cognizant of what goes in and plan more. Whenever I use my estimating skills, I underestimate what I ate. This was evidence by my malt from Culver's last week that I estimated at 500 calories, that turned out to be over 800! That's a big rounding error. Before a snack binge occurs again, I'll use my tools to make sure I'm ok. I'm glad I didn't blow it entirely, but it does mean that at 7:30 in the evening, i really should stop eating for the day. I'm usually up until 11:00, so ouch...

Random thoughts: I knew my wife had been quietly working on getting fitter (she does things quietly, I blog to the planet, opposites attract?), but today I could tell that she was clearly making some progress (yes that means she looks good). When I asked how much weight she had lost, I was a bit depressed to learn it was clearly more than me. My competitive streak flared, but mostly I need to learn from what she's doing.

I suspect she is more diligent about getting accurate nutritional info in her myfooddiary, whereas I'm still a bit approximate. Hopefully by tomorrow I'll turn envy into support and teamwork. We often joke how we seem to take turns being fit in our house. It would be nice to both be fit at once. As the kids get older, we can get back to the activities we liked before they took over the house:)