07/01/2011 Week 31 Nothing says the 4th of July like pumping up!

Another week has flown by and it has been eventful! It is getting a lot easier to wake up at 5:30am to get to the gym. I am seeing results and getting stronger. It is worth the lack of sleep. I gotta give a big shout out to my partner is crime Brian "Big Papa Pump" Boykin. He has been keeping me honest and working me into the ground. I forgot how much I loved it!

I ran my simulated 5k on Saturday morning and had a time of 36:53, that's a pace of 11:55 a mile. I also had a speed workout this week and beat my previous mile time and went under 11:30. I am hoping to get it around 10:00 a mile by Duathlon time. I have had a little stiffness in the knees this week and cut my running from 4 days to 3 days, and still ice religiously. I need to work into and slow it down. I don't need to be shelved for another 3 months for tendinitis!

So I figured I had been on a plateau for a few weeks and did some research on how to break one or get off one. I went over calories on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and by Monday morning I had gained 3.8 pounds. I then cut my calories each day until this morning. I lost 5 pounds from the Monday weigh in and am hoping that I can say adios to this plateau. I am going to be doing something called "zig zaging" my calories. Your body gets used to the same amount of calories everyday and then adapts. I need to keep it guessing so it cant get comfortable. I will still be eating around 13,000 calories a week, but I will be eating over 2000 someday and around 1300 on others. I don't want to get back into a predictable pattern until I have gotten past this plateau. So on to the numbers!

I started the week at 230.0 and by Monday was up to 233.8. As of weigh in this morning I was 228.5 and down 1.5 pounds for the week bringing my total lost to 61.5. I still have 38.5 to lose before October 15th to hit my goal. I am hoping with the added strength training and cardio along with keeping my body guessing I will be back to my 2-3 pounds a week and will be back on pace in no time!

I have added a few races to my schedule and will now be running my first official 5k on July 23rd. I will still be racing the Y 5k on August 13th and then the Dualathlon on August 27th. I am then targeting November 5th for the "Rock and Roll" Half marathon in Savannah. I am hopeful that my knees will hold up and I can train. This is a very lofty target, but I really want to put it out there and see if I can get there.

I hope everyone has a safe and Happy 4th of July. God Bless America!