Thanksgiving under control

Well it finally happened. I hung on to some weight loss over the weekend! And it was Thanksgiving weekend, the best time ever to blow a diet plan out of the water.

Last week: 196 lbs, 24.5% body fat
This morning: 192.4 lbs, 23.8% body fat, 3.6 lbs gone!
6 week Totals: 16.2 lbs gone, and 4.8% body fat gone!

So Thursday I hit the 192.4 lb mark at 7 am before thanksgiving dinner. I thought it was nice to see a number that low while it lasted. Friday morning was 192.6, saturday and sunday I was out of town, and today back settled at 192.4. It is still nice to see a number that low.

We did Thanksgiving at Kelley's aunt's house this year about an hour south of Raleigh in Fayetteville. It was fantastic, but I have no pictures. They have Shetland Ponies and chickens running around, and bunches of dogs. We had about 18 people there and had a blast hanging out. One fun thing about southern thanksgiving dinners is that we rarely, if ever, drink alcohol. I did stay with a single vegetarian plate (well, I did have one piece of turkey) and unsweet tea. A few desserts, hey why not. It was fantastic. and I did not put on the maternity jeans that I love on thanksgiving.

I got a cold, so there wasn't very much in the way of workouts last week. I had an amazing run on Monday. Half a mile warmup, then 5 miles at 7.5 mph (an 8:00 pace) exactly. No signs of slowing down. That was amazing. The last time I tried to do that, my legs felt like they were going to fall off after about 2 miles. This time everything was going strong.

Tuesday a sinus thing kicked in. Dang fall allergies. I went to visit my parents in SC for the weekend, and got in a good 6.3 mile run around the lake at Furman University while I was down there. I'm still cursing the fall allergies, but it feels good to be running again.

On Wednesday, the Biggest Loser aired a "Where are they Now" special show. They did air the 5k that we ran in Myrtle Beach as a part of the special! In the segment where they talk about the 5k, it starts with a few group shots of the starting line. One of those shots is an arial view, and you can clearly see Kelley in the crowd. I'm right next to her, but some dude with a big head is standing in front of me so only my shoulder is visible. But if you know exactly where to pause it and what to look for you could totally see us in the crowd.

So it's been a fantastic holiday and I still put up a great loss. Nothing wrong with that. This week is going to be fun! Enjoy it.

Two Humps

First, the MMNW:

Last monday morning: 197.6 lbs, 25.1% body fat

This morning: 196.0 lbs 24.5% fat

Total: 12.6 lbs, 4% body fat

Netting a 1.6 lb loss this week with nice body fat drop is a-ok. Not ideal, certainly, but I'll take it. I'm starting to see a trend by weighing myself every day. I know you're not supposed to do that, but I understand the fluctuations. I seem to hit a low point on thursday or friday morning, and put some back on over the weekend. Friday I hit 194.8 lbs, and it was sooooo cool to finally break 195. But by monday - the day that counts - back up to 196. This weekend didn't even have much debauchery.

That only looks like a mountain with a giant nipple. It is, in fact, Pilot Mountain in Central NC between Winston-Salem and Mt Airy. If you ever watched the Andy Griffith Show, Mt Airy was the basis for Mayberry. Andy was always going off to Mt Pilot for something, and sometimes they would have to go to Raleigh and stay at the YMCA. This is that mountain.

These poor idiots chose to climb that mountain on saturday. Ray, me, Kyle and Bill met up at 7 am in Raleigh and made the 2 hour drive to Pilot Mountain State Park. We mounted up the bikes from there and rode 12 miles out to Sauratown Mountain, where climbing ensued.

The roads between the mountains were incredibly Greenville-like. Hilly, rolling terrain that was kind of fun but certainly still a good workout. The climb at Sauratown was pretty tough, starting with an 18 degree grade wall and heading uphill for another 3.5 miles. After a few switchbacks it got really straight. So that was a really fun descent. Turns out the 12 miles back to the parking lot was considerably more hilly than the roads out there, even if they were the same roads and we had one mountain down.

The climb up Pilot was only 2.3 miles total, but had two spots of 20 degree grades, partway up the road. So your legs were already nice and fatigued by the time it got really tough. I was averaging 3.8 to 4.4 mph up this road. Once I actually had to stop and walk the last 3 steps up a hill into a curve so I could catch my breath for a bit before climbing again. Wow that was tough. The descent down Pilot was less than epic. It was fast and fun, but not too fast.

My only basis for comparrison is Paris Mountain in Greenville that I climbed 3 times while living in SC. Paris is longer than Pilot, but just as steep and has a few flats leveled in there. On the descent in Paris I have gotten up to 45 mph, the fastest I've ever gone on a bike. Trying to break that this time, the fastest I hit was 42 mph. Kyle got up to 45 once though. I feel another Paris Mtn climb coming up soon.

We stopped on the way back at this incredible brewery in downtown Winston. Wake Forrest (which is in WS) had a home football game against Clemson while we were in the brewery, so that was fun. I didn't expect to see so many orange Clemson fans walking around. I indulged in my cheat meal (gasp - a cheeseburger) and two pints of great beer brewed on-site. After that 35 mile ride (burning about 3000 calories) I thought I could handle the burger without gaining anything this weekend. Overall the ride was incredible! We all work together and ride together a lot, and overall the day was a fantastic way to spend time with friends, get in a great workout, and log some time on the bike.

This is the down side for Saturday. We had a bet going at work over the Appalachian State vs Florida football game. Again with some guys from the office. We have a lot of fun there. Myself and another ASU guy made a bet with the two Florida grads. The losing school's grads had to wear a mustache in a style that was voted on by the entire company. The company chose the "Hulk Hogan" style for all four of us - that was funny. The fact that I have to wear this thing all week long? That's more funny!

I actually feel like a pervert. And yes, that might sound familiar. I've been rehashing all the old jokes from the Caption Contest I put out back in 2008. it. is. fantastic.


Also yesterday I loaded my training plan for IMFL into the spreadsheet. I'm thinking about going with this Trifuel plan. It's 36 weeks with a nice slow rampup, and the timing is right in line with my weight loss completion target. It follows this basic weekly layout, and has a nice base and competetive season builds. Serious planned ironman training doesn't start until Feb 28 on this plan, so I have a while to change my mind. But having the plan on the spreadsheet makes it feel much more real. That's a lot of work, yo.

Big ups to Wes for rocking IMAZ in 13:49 last week! Great job!

Tripin

Today's Monday Morning Naked Weight (MMNW) was a bit dissapointing, but not by much.

Last week: 198.8 lbs, 25.6% body fat
Today: 197.6 lbs, 25.1% body fat
Loss of 1.2 lbs, 0.5% body fat
Total loss: 10.2 lbs, 3.4%


So I crossed the 10 lb mark officially. But it's been 4 weeks and I was hoping to be closer to 14 or 15 lbs. I blew it this weekend. But that was a blast.


I think the Snail tried to kill me saturday morning. I spent the weekend in Atlanta taking some travel time. The trip was fantastic. I got into town friday night after dropping the girls off at my parents house in Greenville. I got to hang with my God-parents which is always a blast.

Then Saturday morning I met the Snail out for a trail run. We decided to take a trail around Kennesaw mountain. Actually, we went OVER Kennesaw. The total run was exactly 6.2 miles. We power hiked what wasn't runnable. That was all of the steep climbing and going up over rock faces. The run was amazing. We ended up climbing two smaller mountains before going to the top of Big Kennesaw. I actually had to stop a few times just to lean against something and catch my breath. thought I would puke. it was awesome. You could see all of Atlanta from the top! And I had no camera (boo).

Saturday afternoon I got to meet up with one of the guys I used to work with down there. Ever been to a Taco Mac? It was really cool. 200 beers on tap. Plus just being in a sports bar in Georgia while watching a UGA football game on 15' tv's..... You should have heard the way that place exploded with every Bulldog touchdown. Go Dawgs! of course they lost though. tough season for the Dawgs; and they were playing Auburn. I had wings, nachos, and plenty of beers. That's why the loss was only 1.2 lbs.

Sunday I got to have lunch with Wes before hitting the road again. He's all ramped up and ready to knock down IMAZ next weekend. Good luck bro!

The rest of my training was really good last week. I got in 4 runs (20 miles), a bike ride, 2 yoga's and 2 Tri Power workouts. Would have shown a decent weight loss if it wasn't for those wings. Bad vegetarian; bad.

Going Down!

Yesterday's MMNW came in at 198.8 with a body fat at 25.6%. That's a 2.4 lb loss from last week and a 0.8% drop in body fat. Total weight loss so far is 9.8 lbs, not bad for 3 weeks! It is incredibly nice to be under 200 again. That hasn't happened for several months. I'm getting anxious about 195. That was the spring low and my lowest weight in about 2 years.

I've got a bike ride coming up. My friends talked me into doing a 2 mountain climb in a couple of saturdays. It's going to be a blast. but I don't want to push any more weight than neccesary up those hills. The two mountains combined are about the climbing and distance of Paris mountain that I've climbed a few times in SC, but there are some steeper inclines (20% grades) and 12 miles in between the two mountains that we get to ride out and back. I can't wait.

I'm still riding the Ironman registration high. Knowing it's on makes it seem so much more real. IMFL 11 baby!

I'm in!

It's on like Donkey Kong!

Today is the day that registration opened up and I can't believe I actually got in. I am registered and ready to roll.

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Any recommendations on a hotel to stay at?

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instant registration shock.

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Summer of 2008 I ran my first sprint triathlon. I thought those people who did ironmans were fucking insane.

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Summer of 2009 I decided that Ironman Florida was the one for me if I ever went fucking insane. Fall 2009 I did the Beach 2 Battleship half and after doing a half I knew I could do the whole thing. I prepared to sign up for IMFL 2010. Kelley wasn't down with that so we agreed to delay for a year, hence the 2010 "Ironman Prep Year".

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Prep year done. I still totally freaked out after actually getting in. Ironman is only for the completely fucking insane.

(semi) Wordless Wednesday

Bigun in her Marathon Maniacs 26.2 shirt. She loves the running club.

Do not give Evil Genius a pair of boxing gloves. Word.

My saturday night halloween costume. The actual costume was Pro Wrestler, but the general perception was either Transvestite or Gay Leopard.

It was fierce.

Fear The Dragon!

Intimidating, isn't it?

Kelley was a boxer. Also quite intimidating. She drew on a black eye that looked real.

Bigun went as Princess Aurora, and Evil Genius went as Woody.

Went trick or treating with some of the neighborhood kids.


Sunday afternoon we all ran in the Monster Dash. Even the kids ran the 1 mile race, and they did great! Everybody ran in costume. I wore a fairy costume instead of the wrestler getup.

You didn't think I could get any more gay than the wrestler costume, did you?
Wings. Pink wings. I ran a mile in public in pink wings as a fairy.




These were in an online gallery from the local newspaper

Woody. Too cute.

MMNW: 201.2 for a week 2 loss of exactly 0 pounds. I'm ok with it. I ate no halloween candy. I got no workouts in the whole weekend. Monday night I ran 6 miles nice and slow, and tuesday morning weighed in at 199. So I'm ok with it.

Happy Halloween!