The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Diet fatigue is hitting me hard now. Knowing that I have a few vacations coming up that will make it hard to stick to a calorie budget certainly doesn't help either. I try to convince myself that if I made a hard push now I could make my goal beforehand, but regardless, I'd probably have some work to do after to get back to the goal.

Starting off with Weight Management, I burned even less calories than last week (1519) but ended the week 204 calorie below budget, so this week I didn't eat back more than I burned. If you add that deficit to my expected ½ pound a week loss, you'd expect that I'd lose 0.6 pounds. Here's my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
04/01-04/08	172.5	170.6	173.6	173.2	97.7	38.6
04/08-04/15	172.4	171.4	173.4	172.8	97.7	38.4
	-0.1	+0.8	-0.2	-0.4	0.0	-0.2

Well, I didn't hit expectations, but at least, my weight was down (ok, yeah, not by much). Results like these are fueling the fatigue. I'm trying to be positive, but it's hard.

Moving onto running, I had planned to get back into things, but work got in the way early in the week, and late into the week, I convinced myself to do the Sacramento Zoo Zoom instead. Since I set a new PR, I'm glad I did, but I need to get back into training this week. Here's my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
						6.24
Total Mileage: 6.24

This is the most I've fallen short of my weekly mileage goal this year:

Miles Ran Short of Goal 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 264.02 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 927 miles in 2013. My legs feel a bit sore from the Zoo Zoom, but hopefully light training will not be too much for them.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Another week down, and the after-effects of Easter weren't really realized. I guess one can over-indulge every once in a while.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had my first "over" week of the year mostly due to a decrease in exercise. I only burned 1785 and ended 88 calories over budget for the week (ok, not really that much over). Subtract that surplus from my expected ½ pound a week loss, and you'd still expect that I'd lose 0.5 pounds. Here's my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
03/25-04/01	173.0	172.2	174.4	174.4	98.5	38.0
04/01-04/08	172.5	170.6	173.6	173.2	97.7	38.6
	-0.5	-1.6	-0.8	-1.2	-0.8	+0.6

Well, I dropped the expected half pound, but I lost more than that in water weight (and gained fat weight if you believe my scale). This could affect next week's results. On the plus side, I hit a new low for the year which is always good encouragement.

Moving onto running, I took the week off to rest up for the Credit Union SacTown Ten Mile Run as I was started to have some lingering soreness in various parts of my legs. Here's my mileage for the "week":

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
						10.12
Total Mileage: 10.12

The rest helped me beat my goal for the run, but had me short of my weekly mileage goal:

Miles Ran Short of Goal 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 257.78 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 970 miles in 2013. Not sure how much I'll run this week either as I might be a bit more cautious about ramping back up especially since I don't plan on doing another race until the end of June (although I might try to pick up a run in May if possible).

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

One quarter of the year is now in the books. Seems like I've been "dieting" for quite a while now. All things considered, I've had success so far in 2013, but not to the extent that I would have liked. Additionally, I indulged more than I should have on Easter. Thankfully, it was my first real lapse of the year. Unfortunately, it was yesterday.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had a bounce back week in regards to exercise burning 3549 calories. I ate back ~2175 of those (I wrote off Easter dinner as 2000 calories ... that was hopefully in the ballpark) to finish 1374 below target. If you add that to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.9 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
03/18-03/25	173.1	171.4	174.6	173.6	98.3	38.3
03/25-04/01	173.0	172.2	174.4	174.4	98.5	38.0
	-0.1	+0.8	-0.2	+0.8	+0.2	-0.3

After last week's results, I was happy to see any sort of loss this week and especially glad to see that my fat pounds were also down. It was a bit disturbing that my low and last weigh in of the week were up over last's. We'll see how my over-indulgence at Easter affects next week's numbers.

As for my Lose It challenge regarding minutes spent walking, jogging, and running in March (goal of 2000 minutes), I completed the challenge with 2062 minutes and beat the challenge. The challenge apparently wasn't scored on a pass/fail basis (which seemed lame to me), but I'm pleased that I met the spirit of the challenge.

Moving onto running, I returned to normal: running two five milers during the week and a ten milers on the weekend. Ok, the ten milers was more than my usual eight, but I wanted to make sure I was ready to do the ten for next week's race. Here's my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
5.61			5.32			10.41
Total Mileage: 21.34

My run on Thursday was different than usual (as I posted about on Thursday), as I ran a "magic" mile. I'll probably attempt another "magic" mile two weeks after the Sac Town Ten Milers.

Here's how I did towards my goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 247.66 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 1004 miles in 2013. This week's running may be a bit light as I rest up for the Sac Town 10 Miler on Sunday. I'd like to still get a couple runs in, but I have tennis on Thursday, and I'm starting to get the feeling that my legs could use a bit of a rest.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

So much for being stuck: I got my "make up" week weight-wise to compensate for my results last week. It was a light week running-wise as I recovered from the Shamrock'n Half Marathon.

Starting off with Weight Management, I hit a new low for the week twice: Thursday (172.6) and Saturday (171.4). Will be interesting to see if this is a sign that I'm almost done or if I'll struggle to beat that weight for a month.

It was a light week for exercise as I was resting up from my run. I only burned 2581 calories but ate back 2369 calories to finish 212 calories below target. If you add that to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.6 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
03/11-03/18	174.5	173.2	176.0	174.0	98.5	39.5
03/18-03/25	173.1	171.4	174.6	173.6	98.3	38.3
	-1.4	-1.8	-1.4	-0.4	-0.2	-1.2

As you can see, my numbers were quite a bit lower than last week's, but since last week's were up over the previous, I think this was just an evening out. I haven't had much of an additional deficit the past two weeks, so I'm not expecting much out of next week.

As for my Lose It challenge regarding minutes spent walking, jogging, and running in March (goal of 2000 minutes), I made better progress than expected in my recovery week (gained a number of extra minutes from walking). I finished the week at 1606 minutes (394 shy of the goal). In a typical week I walk and run 380 minutes, so if I just pick up an additional 14, I'll complete this challenge. There's a bit of rain in the forecast for the week, so to be safe, I'll probably try to get a few extra walking minutes in early. I'd be very surprised if I don't hit 2000 minutes.

Moving onto running, I took Monday and Tuesday off to rest after the half. I planned to do 2-3.5 miles on Wednesday and was happy to finish the 3.5 miles. I did another 3.5 on Thursday, and then did my normal 8 on Saturday. I had thoughts of doing another 3.5 on Sunday (I'd like to get to where I run both days on the weekend) to make up for the missed miles during the week, but I was a bit sore after Saturday and thought it better to rest. Here's my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
		3.67	3.86		8.38
Total Mileage: 15.91

I came up just a bit short of my goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

Here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 226.32 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 995 miles in 2013. I expect to return to doing my two 5 milers during the week, and I'm planning on doing 10 miles on Saturday. That'll be my last long run before the Sac Town 10 Miler on the following Sunday.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

I knew it would happen eventually, but it never makes sense when it does: even though I've stuck to my calorie budget the past two weeks, my average weight went up week over week. Emotionally, it was a good week for that to happen as my excitement and feeling of accomplishment from the Shamrock'n Half Marathon well overshadowed my disappointment of going up in weight.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had a rough start to the week as my weight expectantly jumped a couple pounds and that increase stuck around for a few days. I burned 3618 calories but ate back 2957 calories (purposely as I wanted to be at "full strength" for the half marathon). I ended with a 661 calorie deficit and if you add that to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.7 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
03/04-03/11	174.1	173.0	176.4	176.4	98.6	38.9
03/11-03/18	174.5	173.2	176.0	174.0	98.5	39.5
	+0.4	+0.2	-0.4	-2.4	-0.1	+0.6

Looking for the sliver lining, my max and last weights were lower this week than last which does make me optimistic about next week.

As a side note, I did my health check at work this past week, and the fat percentage measuring device at work put my body fat percentage at 18.0% whereas my scale at home tends to have it around 22.5%. I'm not sure which is more accurate (if either), but it does suggest that I might not be as "fat" as the numbers above state.

My Lose It challenge regarding minutes spent walking, jogging, and running in March continues, and I continue to make progress towards the 2000 minutes goal. I have completed 1206 minutes so far which is 256 minutes ahead of my "expected" 950. My expected minutes would put me 290 below the goal, so I've nearly made up 90% of the difference. However, I expect this upcoming week to be on the light side. However, it can't be too light if I want to have the opportunity to nail this one next week.

Moving onto running, I had a bit of a situation on my second run of the week (planned to be five miles) and had to cut the run short. I wasn't too concerned, and as I did want to go light this week, it may have turned out for the best. Here's my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
5.43		2.09				13.17
Total Mileage: 20.69

Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 210.41 miles so far this year (surpassing the 200 mile mark) and am on track to complete 1011 miles in 2013. I'm not sure how much running I'll be doing this week since I'll be recovering from the half marathon, but I can't recover for too long as I'm signed up to run a ten miler in 3 weeks. My hope is to do 2-3 miles before the weekend, 6 on the weekend, and then back to two 5s and an 8 next week. We will see.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Another week in the books, and for the most part, it was a good one for weight management and running. My final weigh-in of the week (today's) was unexpected and disappointing, but I can't complain too much about how the week went.

Starting off with Weight Management, I burned a whopping 4394 calories (my highest weekly total so far this year). I ate back 1565 of those to end the week 2829 calories below target (which I found impressive because I went to my quarterly poker night which is usually quite the night of excess). Add that calorie deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 1.3 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
02/25-03/04	174.8	174.2	175.8	175.6	98.8	39.4
03/04-03/11	174.1	173.0	176.4	176.4	98.6	38.9
	-0.7	-1.2	+0.6	+0.8	-0.2	-0.5

After spending the entire week weighing in between 173.0 and 174.5, I was disappointed to see the scale show 176.4 this morning. With the week I had, I don't understand why it jumped up so much. I'm hopeful it will fall back down tomorrow.

As I mentioned last week, I signed up for a challenge on Lose It regarding minutes spent walking, jogging, and running: the goal is to complete 2000 minutes. With my normal minutes, I'll finished the month at 1710: 290 short of the goal. I finished the past week with 708 minutes. Based on my usual activity, I would have completed 570, so I've put in an extra 138 (just a bit shy of half of what I need to make up). With the half marathon on Sunday, I expect this week to be pretty normal. How soon I'm able to return to running (and perhaps walking) will determine if I'll be in range to complete this challenge or not. Completing the half marathon is job one, and anything that detracts from my goal of finishing in under two hours shall be avoided, so I'm not too concerned if I fail at this one if I hit my half marathon goals.

Moving onto running, I've start tapering off and "only" went for a 8.7 mile run on Saturday (my plan was 8 miles or 80 minutes - whichever was longer). I was just a couple seconds off of the pace needed for the half marathon, so I think I'm in really good shape for my two hour goal. The threat of rain midweek resulted in me moving my second run to Tuesday. Here's my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
5.40	5.33				8.70
Total Mileage: 19.43

The back-to-back five milers wasn't as rough as I expected them to be. Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 189.72 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 1004 miles in 2013. I plan to do two 5 mile runs during the week (preferably Monday and Wednesday) and then the half marathon this weekend.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Two months of 2013 are now over and I'm now just a couple weeks away from the Shamrock'n Half Marathon and roughly halfway through the expected length of my diet. I performed well in regards to expectations (staying within my calorie budget and getting in the necessary miles) this past week.

Starting off with Weight Management, I burned 3759 calories in the past week (my highest weekly total so far this year) and only ate back 1522 of those to end the week 2237 calories below target. Add that calorie deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 1.1 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
02/18-02/25	174.7	172.8	177.2	174.2	98.0	40.4
02/25-03/04	174.8	174.2	175.8	175.6	98.8	39.4
	+0.1	+1.4	-1.4	+1.4	+0.8	-1.0

I'm not completely sure what to make of my results. This is my first "up" week of the year (other than the first which was impacted by not dieting the last week of last year) although being up by 0.1 isn't bad. My minimum weight for the week was way up, but my maximum weight was down an equal amount, so that's a bit of a mixed bag. My fat weight was down while water weight was up, so if those measurements were accurate, I probably had a good week. I expect if I have another good week next week that I will see a decent loss.

Lose It added Challenges near the end of last year, and up until March, all of the challenges I participated in were around logging every day. For March, I found a challenge regarding minutes spent walking, jogging, and running: the goal is to complete 2000 minutes. Doing the math, in an average week I do 380 minutes (four 30 minute walks with the dogs, two 40 minute walks with the dogs, two 50 minute five mile runs, and one 80 minute eight mile run). Multiple that by four, and I'm at 1520. The "extra" days in March are Friday (30 minute dog walk), Saturday (40 minute dog walk plus 80 minute run), and Sunday (40 minute dog walk) which should get me another 190 minutes for 1710 minutes total. So if I do the "normal", I'll end up 290 minutes short.

With the half-marathon, I'm probably not going to have a very normal month. I'll get some extra running in early, but then less than normal while recovering from the run. Additionally, rain may play a little havoc with my dog walking schedule. I figured when I signed up that I wouldn't get the full 2000 minutes, but now that I've signed up, I want to meet the goal. For now, that means I need to get in another twelve 25 minute walks.

Through the first three days of the month, I'm off to a good start. I've walked the dogs three times for a total of 110 minutes (expected), went for a long run on Saturday for 2 hours (40 more than expected), and did an additional 25 minute walk on Friday. So I'm currently at 255 minutes (65 minutes above expected). This coming week may be rough as I have tennis on Thursday and poker on Friday so I'll miss one of the dog walks. I'll try to get in a solo walk on Friday to make up for some of it. There's also a threat of rain which could cause me to have a further deficit. Regardless, it's nice to have this challenge.

Moving onto running, I completed my longest run of the year as well as the most miles in a week so far this year. I had thought about going out for a short run on Sunday to make it the most miles "ever", but I was pretty sore after the 12 mile run. Here's the chart for this week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
6.27		5.21			12.10
Total Mileage: 23.58

I ran in new shoes this week, and I wasn't a big fan of them. Luckily I found a few pairs of my previous shoes and they arrived today. I walked and ran in them today, and I definitely made the right choice. I may buy a few more pairs (I bought two this time) to stock up before I can't find them anymore. Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 170.29 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 1003 miles in 2013. I'll be tapering down this week and next with the plan of doing two 5 mile runs during the week (preferably Monday and Wednesday) and an 8 miler this weekend.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

I went on a short trip to Southern California to attend UFC 157 and visit the Universal Studios theme park. As such, I didn't get as much exercise in as usual, but I think that will actually turn out in my favor.

Starting off with Weight Management, I burned 2076 calories in the past week but ate back 1143 to end the week 933 calories below target With the trip to So Cal, I was surprised that I ended with more than a couple hundred under. Add that 933 calorie deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.8 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
02/11-02/18	175.7	174.2	177.2	175.8	98.6	40.6
02/18-02/25	174.7	172.8	177.2	174.2	98.0	40.4
	-1.0	-1.4	0.0	-1.6	-0.6	-0.2

My week started off as if it was going to be a repeat of last week, but since I missed out on some of my usual exercise, I think my body released some of the extra water its been holding onto. As a result, I had a pretty good week in regards to weight loss and set a new low for the year. I expect my results next week won't be very good.

Moving onto running, I completed the second least amount of miles so far this year. I had intended to run on Wednesday, but my wife cooked, so I skipped the run to have dinner with her and then focus on packing for my trip. Not a great time to be missing a run with the half marathon so close, but I think it'll turn out ok and perhaps I'll benefit from the extra rest. Here's what I did this week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
8.10					3.65
Total Mileage: 11.75

The 3.65 miles on Saturday was on a treadmill: my first such run this year. I did a 1% incline which I heard simulates running outside. Regardless, I reconfirmed that running on a treadmill is beyond boring. Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran Short of Goal 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 146.71 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 974 miles in 2013. My plan is to do a 12 mile run this weekend before tapering down for the half marathon. I will likely complete more miles in the upcoming week than I have an any other so far this year.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Recovery week was over, and it was time to get back to business. My weight management results were disappointing, but I was pleased with my progress in regards to running.

Starting off with Weight Management, I burned 3121 calories in the past week (my most in the past four weeks) and ended the week 1622 calories below budget (so I ate back roughly half of my exercise calories). Add that deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 1.0 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
02/04-02/11	175.9	174.2	177.2	175.6	97.7	42.0
02/11-02/18	175.7	174.2	177.2	175.8	98.6	40.6
	-0.2	0.0	0.0	+0.2	+0.9	-1.4

I had a feeling the numbers weren't going to look good and actually expected to have a higher average this week than last, so I was pleased that wasn't the case. I'm pretty disappointed that I had a good week calorie-wise last week and this but didn't really see any results from it. My fat pounds recovered from the increase last week and are now lowered than two weeks ago (or at any point this year).

I'm down 4.2 pounds from the start of the year (looking at average weights). Based on calorie deficits, I should be down 7.0. If I ignore the first week (where I gained 0.6 when I should have dropped 0.9), I'm still 1½ pounds heavier than I should be. So for now, my actual results are averaging to be 75% of expected. The big question is if the problem is my recording or does my body not burn calories at the average rate.

Moving onto running, I completed my new longest run of the year on Saturday and had a good pace of 9:48 minutes/mile. I need to hit 9:10 per mile to beat 2 hours, and I think I'm in good shape to have a chance at that. This past week was my most miles ran in a week since five weeks ago:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
5.19		5.30			11.41
Total Mileage: 21.90

Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal of 16 miles:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 134.96 miles so far this year and am on track to complete 1026 miles in 2013. With four weeks to go until the Shamrock'n Half Marathon, I think I'm in good shape. My 12 mile run in a couple weeks will be my last big checkpoint before the big run.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

It was a recovery week for me in regards to running, but even still, I had a good week keeping to my calorie budget and still managed to get in the miles needed to keep me on track for my yearly goal.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had two "over" days during the week, but one of them was just by 30 calories, so that hardly counts. I burned 2621 calories in the past week and ended the week 2097 calories below budget (thus I ate back 524 of my burned calories or less than one-fifth: probably the best I've done percentage-wise this year). Add that deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 1.1 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
01/28-02/04	176.6	175.6	178.0	178.0	98.9	41.0
02/04-02/11	175.9	174.2	177.2	175.6	97.7	42.0
	-0.7	-1.4	-0.8	-2.4	-1.2	+1.0

I didn't quite lose the expected amount, but I still lost a good amount. The numbers are a little bizarre this week: my fat weight was up for the first time this year, water weight is down quite a bit, and my ending weight was less than my weekly average (usually my Monday weigh-in is the highest for the week). Well, I'm guessing that my Tuesday weigh-in may be a bit higher than today's. I've never fully trusted the fat/water percentages from the scale, but I do keep an eye on them. Will be interesting to see how next week's numbers look.

Moving onto running, as I mentioned before, this was a recovery week (since I ran the Super Bowl Sunday 10K last Sunday). My speed was a bit slower than typical for these runs, but I think I got a good enough amount of miles in with all things considered:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
3.38		5.05			9.30
Total Mileage: 17.73

I faded quite a bit at the end of the 9 mile run, but I did do some additional hills near the end, so that wasn't completely unexpected. Looking at my mileage compared to my weekly goal:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

And here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

My first 100 miles of the year are in the books (I've completed 113.06 in 2013), and if I keep up my current pace, I'll end the year with 1006 miles. I'll be doing a couple long runs (11 and 12 miles respectively) over the next three weeks, so I expect that number to climb a bit through the Shamrock'n Half Marathon before starting to drop down.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

January has come and went, and now we're in February. The first month of the year was a successful one for me in regards to my weight management and running goals, and I'm looking forward to having similar success in this month.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had a cold (minor case of the flu?) at the start of the week, and it affected my ability to exercise, so I only burned 1874 calories in the past week. Of those, I ate back 368 thus ended the week 1506 calories below budget. Add that deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.9 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
01/21-01/28	177.1	176.0	178.0	177.8	98.8	41.6
01/28-02/04	176.6	175.6	178.0	178.0	98.9	41.0
	-0.5	-0.4	0.0	+0.2	+0.1	-0.6

Since I lost more than expected the past couple weeks, I'm not surprised that this week's actual results were below mathematical expectation. I still hit my ½ pound loss, and that's the important thing.

Moving onto running, as I mentioned before, I exercised less this week due to illness and not surprisingly had my lowest mileage of any week this year. I could have done more miles, but I saved myself for the Super Bowl Sunday Run, and if you read yesterday's post, you'd know that turned out to be a good decision. My week of running ended like this:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
			5.18			6.25
Total Mileage: 11.43

I didn't hit my 16 miles for the week, but I expected there'd be weeks like this. I more than made up the miles in the previous weeks this year, and I expect to be over up until the week before the Shamrock'n Half Marathon. Here's the graphical view of the week:

Miles Ran Short of Goal 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

Here's a look at my progress towards my goal of 800 miles ran this year:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 95.33 miles in 2013, and if I keep up that pace, I'll end the year with 1023 miles. As I've said before, I think that number will drop once I've gotten past the Shamrock'n Half Marathon although it dropped a bit this week due to the light week.

With six weeks to go until the half marathon, I think I'm going to target a long run of 9 miles this weekend, 11 next, 8-9 the following, 12 after that, and then 6-8 on the weekend prior to the half. I think that's the best way for me to be where I need to be on March 17.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

The fourth week of 2013 is in the books, and I'm continuing to have success in regards to running and weight management although I did have a few challenges on the running front this past week. Additionally I'm noticing that I'm hungry than usual, so I wonder if I have a rough week coming up in my future.

Starting off with Weight Management, I had two "over" days in the past week (Friday & Saturday) but still ended up 668 calories under target for the week. I burned 2,667 calories during the week meaning I ate back 1,999 of the calories I burned. Add the deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 0.7 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
01/14-01/21	178.2	175.8	179.0	175.8	98.9	42.6
01/21-01/28	177.1	176.0	178.0	177.8	98.8	41.6
	-1.1	+0.2	-1.0	+2.0	-0.1	-1.0

Another good week of results, however, with actual results about a ½ pound lower than expected, I could be in for a rough week this coming week. My last weigh-in of the week was two pounds heavier than last week's, but that wasn't totally unexpected.

Rant-time. Up until this week, I was working my way towards earning the "Inferno" badge on LoseIt: "You have burned an amazing number of calories for 8 weeks in a row!". And by "amazing" they mean 20% of your weekly budget of calories (the calculation is slightly off from that, but that's a rough approximation). Based on that, it's much easier for a person targeting a 2 pound/week loss to earn the badge rather than someone like I targeting ½ because at my calorie target, I have to burn ~3200 calories a week while a person who weighs the same but is targeting 2 pounds just have to burn 2150 a week. Why should someone trying to lose more weight per week be targeting over a 1000 less calories burned? If anything, the person targeting more weight loss should be targeting more calories burned to avoid losing muscle rather than fat weight. Just sayin'!

Moving onto running, as I mentioned before, I had a couple of setbacks but would still call it a good week. I skipped running on Thursday due to rain and had planned to do a long run Saturday morning but awoke with a cramp in my left calf, so I waited until Sunday to do the run. My week of running ended like this:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
5.32	3.64		Rain		Cramp	10.40
Total Mileage: 19.36

My 10.4 miles on Sunday was my longest run of the year and puts me on track for being ready for the Shamrock'n Half Marathon in March. I have the Super Bowl 10K this coming Sunday, and my original plan was to run 5 miles on each Monday and Wednesday to get to 16 miles. However, since I did my long run on Sunday, I'll probably move that to Tuesday and Thursday. Here's a graphical look at the miles for the week:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

I set a goal of 800 miles ran this year, and here's a look at my progress towards that:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 83.90 miles in 2013, and if I keep up that pace, I'll end the year with 1134 miles. As I've said before, I think that number will drop once I've gotten past the Shamrock'n Half Marathon. I look forward to seeing if my training leads to a new 10K personal record in this weekend's Super Bowl 10K.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

Another week is in the books, and it was a good week for both weight management and running. Although weight management was aided a bit by what was a poor decision.

Starting off with Weight Management, I was under my calorie target every day but Sunday (I was just 180 over on Sunday but had planned to be more). I burned 3,230 calories during the week and finished 2,537 calories below my target calories based on a ½ pound a week loss (so I ate back 693 of the calories I burned which is the least I've eaten back so far). Add that deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 1.2 pounds. Here are my actual results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
01/07-01/14	179.6	178.2	180.6	180.0	99.2	43.4
01/14-01/21	178.2	175.8	180.0	175.8	98.9	42.6
	-1.4	-2.4	-0.6	-4.2	-0.3	-0.8

Once again my results were quite good. However, like I mentioned above, they were aided by a bad decision. Sunday was NFL Conference Championship Sunday, and I had planned to go well over target on Sunday with beer and food. Well, I may have overdone it with beer and didn't end up eating dinner (saving me some calories). Also since beer dehydrates, I believe my "last" weight (today's) was probably 2 pounds less than expected. That two pounds would have a roughly 0.3 pound impact on my average weight. This will likely result in my next week's numbers not looking as good as they actually are. And I certainly don't expect to see my weight go below 175.8 next week and perhaps not for a month.

Moving onto running, it was a good week of running as I set a new long for the year (which wasn't the plan: I just felt so good during the run that I continued going) Here's a look at my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
5.20		4.75	3.68		9.40
Total Mileage: 23.03

I'm certainly happy with how the week went. I juggled my running schedule a bit to have dinner with my wife on Tuesday. I thought the back-to-back days closer to the long run might impact it, but with the distance and speed (9:44 minutes/mile) I had during it, that definitely wasn't the case. Here's a graphical look at the miles for the week:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

I set a goal of 800 miles ran this year, and here's a look at my progress towards that:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 64.54 miles in 2013, and if I keep up that pace, I'll end the year with 1178 miles. As I've said before, I think that number will drop once I've gotten past the Shamrock'n Half Marathon. My biggest concern now is not to overdo it in advance of the half marathon and hopefully to not peak too soon.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

The second week of 2013 is down, and I'm starting to see some progress on the weight management front. I logged a descent number of miles also which certainly helped.

Starting off with Weight Management, I did a good job of sticking to my calorie target although I did have my first over calorie target day of the year (Sunday when I knew I was going to be well under for the week). I burned 3,409 calories during the week (a little over 300 less than last week, but that's pretty good considering that I worked this week but not last). Overall, I finished 2,369 calories below my target calories based on a ½ pound a week loss (so I ate back 1,040 of the calories I burned which is roughly ⅓ and better than the ⅔ I ate back last week). Add that deficit to my targeted ½ pound loss, and I mathematically should have lost 1.2 pounds. As I've said before, weight loss doesn't always work mathematically, and here are my real results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	Avg H20	Avg Fat
12/31-01/07	180.5	179.6	181.6	180.6	99.0	44.8
01/07-01/14	179.6	178.2	180.6	180.0	99.2	43.4
	-0.9	-1.4	-1.0	-0.6	+0.2	-1.4

My results were pretty close to the mathematical expectation this week, but it was disappointing that my weight this morning was above average and up 1.6 from yesterday (I know large day-to-day fluctuations happen, but it's hard not to be a bit sad when the fluctuation is upwards). It's looking like Mondays may be my "heavy day" this year. Nice to see that my average fat poundage continues to decrease.

Moving onto running, I ran fewer miles this past week but completed my longest run of the year. I ran four times which I think will be typical during half-marathon training (although I may only run three times in the weeks I plan to increase the distance of my long run). Here's a look at my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
4.76	3.25		4.60		9.25
Total Mileage: 21.86

I ran a little bit further last week, but I'm happy with the mileage I did. Along with getting back into half-marathon shape, I'd like to make sure I don't burn out or get hurt. And this mileage is ahead of what I needed to stay ahead of my goal of running 800 miles (roughly 16 miles a week). Here's a graphical look at the miles for the week:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

Here's a look at my progress towards the 800 mile goal:

Previous This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 41.51 miles in 2013, and if I keep up that pace (I won't), I'll end the year with 1165 miles: well above my goal. I expect that my pace will continue to surpass quadruple digits until after the Shamrock'n Half Marathon.

The Week That Was: Weight Management & Running

The first week of 2013 is in the books. In order to keep myself focused on hitting my goals regarding weight management and running, I've decided to post a weekly review on Mondays with how the previous week went.

Starting off with Weight Management, I did a good job of sticking to my calorie target. This year I'm targeting a loss of a ½ pound a week (which equates to a target of 250 calories below maintenance calories). I do get credit for exercise calories burned, and last week was a whopper as I burned off 3,723 calories. I ended the week 1,290 calories below target (meaning I ate back 2,433 of the calories I burned). Add that the my expected ½ pound loss, and mathematically I should have lost 0.9 pounds.

Sadly, actual weight loss doesn't follow mathematics, and I ended up averaging a higher weight over this past week than the previous. Looking at the tabular results:

	Avg	Min	Max	Last	H20	Fat
12/24-12/31	179.9	178.8	181.0	180.0	98.0	45.4
12/31-01/07	180.5	179.6	181.6	180.6	99.0	44.8
	+0.6	+0.8	+0.6	+0.6	+1.0	-0.6

It's hard to argue against saying that I'm 0.6 pounds heavier. However, if I look at my average water and fat weights, the numbers says that I've been carrying an extra pound of water over this past week while averaging 0.6 pounds less of fat. Although I don't completely trust the water and fat percentage numbers from my scale, I wouldn't argue with the thought that I've been carrying extra water as I returned to running this past week after resting my Achilles injury.

Speaking of running, I had a much better week in that regard. I ran four times in the past week adding mileage to each run to build back up to my target of 8 miles minimum for my long run. Here's a look at my mileage for the week:

M	T	W	R	F	S	S
3.60	4.85		6.50		8.30
Total Mileage: 23.25

I set a goal of running 800 miles which would require about 16 miles a week. I eclipsed that number this week and ran just 1.8 miles less than my all-time week most. Here's a graphical look at the miles for the week:

Miles Ran 16 Mile Goal Miles to Max

As for my progress towards my 800 mile goal, here's a chart showing that (keep in mind that the 3.60 miles I ran on Monday were in 2012):

This Week 800 Miles 1000 Miles

I've completed 19.65 miles in 2013, and if I keep up that pace (I won't), I'll end the year with 1195 miles ran well surpassing my goal. I expect that number will slowly shrink over the next few weeks, but it's nice to be nicely ahead of pace for this goal for now.

Weight Management: Retrospective and Plan

At the beginning of the year, I posted my 2012 Weight Management Plan which I started off with the following line:

2011 was not really a stellar year for weight management.

Sadly the same could be said for 2012. The first two months of the year were good as I was able to trim down my weight from 175 to about 170. After that, I had difficulty breaking the 170 barrier, and eventually started to watch my weight increase. I was able to stop the "bleeding" occasionally, but near the end of November, I found myself in the upper 180s. I put together a good solid effort in December to get myself back down to 180, and that's where I stand today.

I made some interesting observations about my weight in 2012 especially in regards to running. First off, being lighter didn't seem to make me faster. I think this is more so an observation that dieting (cutting calories) not surprisingly affects my athletic performance. I would expect that if I hit my ideal weight (whatever that is ... I was hoping to figure it out this past year) and stayed there, I'd see an improved performance since I'd be lighter and eating normally. My second observation (which affects my ability to commit to losing more pounds) is that at 178 I can run a half-marathon. It's hard to be disappointed with my weight if I can carry it for 13.1 miles.

In the past, I've always targeted losing a pound a week (which requires a 500 calorie deficit from maintenance calories). Since I'm currently at a "functioning" weight and since I've signed up for a half-marathon in March, I've set my plan on Lose It to a goal weight of 170 targeting a half pound a week (a 250 calorie deficit per day). I think the additional 250 calories will give me a reasonable target that will have me keeping my calories in check without spending too much time being hungry due to the diet.

At a rate of a half pound a week, I would hit 170 in mid-May. I plan to re-evaluate the plan after the half-marathon in March when I should be roughly 175 if all goes well.

When comparing weights, I like to look at my average weight over a week compared to the same measurement in the next. With that in mind, my baseline weight from this last week of 2012 is:

Dates	Avg Weight	Max Weight	Min Weight
12/24-12/30	179.9	181.0	178.8

The downside to comparing weights this way is that the performance of the end of the previous week affects the next week's average. Since I didn't do that well keeping myself in check calorie-wise this past week, I'm not sure that I'll see a half pound loss after the first week under the new plan, but I should see a bit of a loss, I would expect.

Back on the Weight Management Wagon

My biggest failure, goal-wise, for 2012 has to be in the area of weight management. I started the year in the mid-to-upper 170s with plans to get to my ideal weight which I estimated to be somewhere between 165-170. I started off the year strong getting my weight down to almost 170, but I got stuck where I couldn't break through to the 160s.

After a few frustrating weeks of being stuck around 171, I slacked off a bit and increased to around 173. I kept my weight in the lower part of the 170s until I went on vacation in June where I bounced up to the upper 170s. I made a bit of progress with renewed effort but kept having setbacks, and bounced back and forth between 175 and 180.

I started to make progress again when I started training for the Four Bridges Half Marathon and was in pretty good shape when I was derailed by a hamstring strain. From there, I seemed to quickly bulk up, and now a week after the half marathon, I'm close to the mid-180s. This has got to stop, now.

There are seven weeks left of 2012 (and unfortunately, a couple major eating holidays), but I have to get myself back to the upper 170s by end of year ... preferably around 177. I may have made that a bit more challenging these past couple days as I over-indulged knowing that I'd likely have to start dieting Monday. Additionally, I put off some yard work from today so that I'd have it available to do tomorrow (or Tuesday), so that I could get some calories back from the additional exercise.

Those couple of points have me a bit concerned that I'm not quite in the mindset needed for a successful weight loss. I guess it's a bit hard to be critical of my body after completing a half-marathon because, hey, I can't be in that bad of shape if I can run 13.1 miles. Which certainly is true, but I'd definitely be better off with a few less pounds.

So we'll see how it goes. At a minimum, if I force myself to record what I eat even if I overeat, I'll probably overeat by less just by knowing what I'm consuming.

The Week That Was: 03/19/2012 - 03/25/2012

Another week is in the books. I'm definitely continuing to chose enjoyment over dieting. I don't think I can continue to make that decision for too many more consecutive weeks without starting to see some ill effects.

Weight Mis-Management
The mis-management of my weight continues. On the positive side, I did stick with the food dairy Monday through Wednesday, unfortunately, I stopped and didn't record lunch on after Thursday although I did record Friday's and Saturday's breakfast in a lame attempt to get back on the program. I will hopefully do better this coming week. After all was said and done, I was pretty much even over the past two weeks:

	Min	Max	Avg
03/12/2012 - 03/18/2012	172.4	174.8	173.4
03/19/2012 - 03/25/2012	172.2	175.6	173.5

I think part of my program weight management wise is that my ability to complete my runs doesn't make it seem like I need to drop any more pounds.

Running
I was back to doing my 80 minutes training runs this week. I typically run on Saturdays, but due to the threat of rain, I waited until Sunday. My performance was not as good as past weeks. I only covered 7.30 miles in the 80 minutes, and the first 10K of the run took me 68:19. Hopefully this was just an off week. Next weekend's performance should give me a clue into that.

Food Trucks
I hit up two food trucks in the past week. On Thursday, I made a trip out to catch Drewski's Hot Rod Kitcken. I've caught up with Drewski's a number of times, but this was the first time they have deep fried mac & cheese balls. I split an order with two of the guys that chased down the truck with me. The original order was cold, and as we were finishing our first bite, Drewski himself yelled out at us to ask if they were cold. Once we confirmed they were, he had a new batch made to replace them. The hot batch was simply amazing. Other than the mac & cheese balls, I had my usual Mustang which was good as always.

On Friday, I made my first chase down of the Heavenly Dog Hot Dog truck. They have four different dogs you chose from when you pick your item: beef, hot link, polish, and turkey. I decided to order the Three Alarm Dog: a bacon(!) wrapped hot dog with pepper jack cheese, grilled onions, and habanero aioli. I asked the cashier which dog she recommended. The hot link, of course! I ordered a side of onion rings to accompany my dog. When I got my food, the melted pepper jack cheese stuck to the aluminum foil in which the dog was wrapped, but I was able to scrap that off and put it back on the hot dog. I must say that the dog was fantastic! The rings were ok. They serve them with ketchup (I tend to use mustard). I think if I got the rings again, I'd see if they'd give me a different sauce (the habanero aioli, perhaps). Heavenly Dog may be my fourth favorite food truck and could move up. I'm definitely looking forward to chasing them down again.

Miscellaneous
I had alcohol three days in a row this past week. Don't think I've done that for a while (last year when I was drinking dessert wine every night for a week, I think). Twice beer, and the other time double skinny pirates (two shots of Captain Morgan plus Diet Coke). Looks like my tolerance for the double skinny pirates is back.

I bailed out on making a trip out to Tahoe on Sunday with some guys from work. My wife was concerned that snow would make the trip back difficult, and that the group may have gotten stuck in Tahoe. I feel bad about bailing on the guys, but as they say, "Happy wife: happy life". Not sure a bunch of outdoor activities in the snow would be all that fun.

The Weeks That Were: 03/05/2012 - 03/18/2012

For some reason I missed writing my usual "week that was" last week, so I'm going to join the past two week's memories into one post. I'm sure I'll miss out on some details and activities, but it wouldn't shock me if I missed stuff each week.

Weight Mis-Management
My desire to behave in regards to calories consumed continued to be absent, and it finally caught up with me:

	Min	Max	Avg
02/27/2012 - 03/04/2012	170.6	172.0	171.4
03/05/2012 - 03/11/2012	170.4	173.2	171.9
03/12/2012 - 03/18/2012	172.4	174.8	173.4

I'm up 2 pounds from 2 weeks ago, and it's time to get serious about sticking to the budget. I hope that getting back to the program will see immediate results, but it would serve me right to have to suffer for a few weeks to get back to where I was. On the positive side, perhaps I'll maintain focus long enough to drop below 170.

The big question now is what will be my next weight loss sprint. I don't have my next run picked out yet (though I have an idea). My last sprint was a bust, and some thought needs to go into where the sprint plan works. Of course, it's hard to really be disappointed with my weight.

Running
I've already covered my performance in the Folsom Shamrock 10K enough. The prior weekend, I ran 7.64 miles in 80 minutes and covered the first 10K of that run in 65:30. Both of those were records to date. I look forward to improving on those to help improve my official run times even more.

I haven't signed up for my next race yet, but I think it's going to be the Sacramento Zoo Zoom, a charity run that benefits the Sacramento Zoo. That run will be held April 15 and would be my first non-Folsom run.

My Corgis
The rain has returned, and Tyson and Fiona have been "locked" inside more than usual. There were pretty much no walks last week until the weekend. I think Fiona was going to go crazy with cabin fever. I hope the rain breaks long enough to keep her sane.

Tennis
Played my first tennis match of the year. Must say that I was pretty awful. There were some decent points, but for the most part, they went to the other team. I think the final score was 6-2, 6-1. Hopefully I'll get some of my game back before the next match.

The dogs are squeaking the crap out of a new toy, and my ability to concentrate is gone. We'll call this post complete.

The Week That Was: 02/27/2012 - 03/04/2012

I made a one day trip to Oregon for work this week on Thursday which made for a long day. The purpose of the trip was to discuss/brainstorm the user interface/experience for the tools on which I work. While no concrete decisions were made in the meeting, taking part in the process should help out moving forward as I'll be able to reuse the tactics for more productive means. I had thoughts of spending a night in Portland as part of the trip, but in the end, I'd rather not get home late on Friday (affecting my weekend) and spend an extra day away from the corgis.

Weight Management
My desire to hold myself to the amount of calories needed to lose weight has disappeared, and so, my weight was even for yet another week in a row. My weight fluctuation this week was the least of any week this year:

	Min	Max	Avg
02/20/2012 - 02/26/2012	170.2	172.6	171.3
02/27/2012 - 03/04/2012	170.6	172.0	171.4

I don't expect that my motivation will return this upcoming week. With the Folsom Shamrock 10K now under 2 weeks away, it's likely I won't "get back at it" until the second half of the month.

Running
I skipped the midweek run again this past week, and with tennis starting up this coming week, I think I likely won't be doing the short fast run for a couple more weeks. My weekend run went well as I completed 7.54 miles in 80 minutes (up 0.12 miles from last week). I was almost a minute faster on completing the initial 10K also finishing in 66:48. I've officially signed up for the Folsom Shamrock 10K, so next week's run will likely be shorter (70ish minutes) to taper down for the organized run.

Food Trucks
Fuzion Eatz made the trip out to Folsom on Saturday. Since the trucks don't really come to Folsom, I made sure to attend to try to prove that Folsom is a worthwhile place for the trucks to stop. Wicked 'Wich was originally going to be the truck in Folsom, but they had to get Fuzion Eatz to cover them at the last moment. This was my second meal at Fuzion Eatz, and I must say, that I enjoyed it more the second time than the first. The waffle fries were still awesome, but my gyro seemed significantly better. Last time I got the Pancho Villa and this time the Kamikaze. Based on ingredients, I would have expected to prefer the Pancho Villa. I will hunt down Fuzion Eatz again: hopefully in Folsom during the work week.

UFC Fantasy League
I finished third in points for UFC on FX 2 but was less than 10 points behind the top guy (the guys who is second in the league) so I'm still comfortably in the overall lead. There aren't any UFC events for almost a month and a half, so there'll be a bit of a break before things get going again.