Week 7

Wow, this week really blew by.  As I previously posted, I went to Port Charlotte Tuesday for a hearing Wednesday.  We drove back Wednesday night, and I finally got to bed aroune 11:30 PM.  The Wednesday hearing was continued until Friday, which we luckly held in Tallahassee.  On top of that, I had to schedule a trip to Titusville this coming Monday and Tuesday to interview witnesses for a PERC hearing (which I will be going back to Titusville on March 7, hearing March 8, and return March 9).  So moving on to my workouts...

Monday, I swam, did my 3x300 swims to establish my T-pace.  This was the first time I did this test in a 50m pool -- my other tests were in the 25m pool.  Anyway, my time was 1:53, which is a step back for me.  However, I am not going to worry that much, b/c I did a hard workout the day before and was knocking back 100's in 1:36, so it is understandable that my times were slower.  Cruised on the stationary bike Monday PM.

Tuesday I don't think I did anything.  Maybe some crunches, etc. in the AM.  Wednesday, I woke up early in Port Charlotte and rode the stationary bike for an hour.  Felt good.  Thursday was definately a day off.  Friday I swam 2500.  It was  "force" workout where most of the work was pulling and using paddles.

Today I am going to swim and then take the cx and ride the entire Munson Hills trail.  Tomorrow is a 40 mile bike ride.

Far and away the best news this week was my weight.  I have really been struggling since really before Augusta.  Last May I got down to 186, but that slowly crept up until Augusta (I raced at 202), and even got to 209 in November.  Basically I was so worried about not eating enough and loosing strength for Augusta that I overdid it.  I could tell it really hurt me on the run.  Also, after Augusta I ate like crap for a long while.  Anyway, after hitting 209, I got pissed off (seems to be a yearly habbit now), and started exercising more and watching what I ate.  So the good news is that Thurs, Fri, and this morning, I have weighed less than 200 pounds!!!  I was 199.x Thurs, 198.2 Friday and today.  Definatly not "celebrating," rather using this as motivation to keep up the good work. 

Last year at 186, I could tell that I was faster/stronger, but still had some weight to loose.  I was still about 20% body fat then.  So I hope to work down to 175 and evaluate how I feel, etc.  I think my strength, speed, etc, will suffer a little bit, b/c I am more focused on loosing weight, but will try to rebuild strength, etc., once I find and stabilize at a happy weight.  I may decide to go up to 180, be happy at 175, or even try to drop to 170.  As reference, in high school I was 158 my sr year (basketball shape -- legs cut from stone, but otherwise a beanpole of skin and bones).  I remember 175 in college and think that should be a pretty good weight.  Of course, that is another 25 pounds on top of the 10 I have lost already -- gonna be tough to get there -- but I will give it a shot.