Biggest Loser

On Monday I started a biggest loser competition with some of Erin's coworkers.  It thought the competition would help motivate me with something I should be doing anyway. So far my strategy is to moderately restrict calorie consumption and focus on letting myself burn off the excess calories with running, or biking.  I'm not interested in taking the time to catalog everything I eat, but making smarter choices on what I'm eating, when I'm eating, and most importantly how much I'm eating.  I'm still trying to find a balance between fueling up properly for workouts and still cutting back on calories.  If I figure it out I'll be sure and post the secret.  So far I've noticed a slight drop off in the intensity of my harder workouts but my endurance is holding up well.  Right now I'm ok with this trade off, but I'd still like try some things to see if I can diet and keep the intensity up when I need it.

Last Saturdays group run was 7 miles from the downtime Y and was our first official outdoor run.  I got a chance to run with some half marathoners for a while and finished with a group of about 8 marathoners.  It was really great getting back outside with the training class. The weather was cold and windy, but nothing too extreme.  This week is 9 miles from the downtime Y again with the weather looking much nicer then last week.

Tonight a mini adventure with Penny, Maggie, Erin, and whoever else shows up.  We'll be doing a relaxed run down by the river.  It will be the second run of the day for Erin and I.  She did 3 this morning, while I ran to the store and wound up with 7.  Two runs a day is odd for most training programs I've seen, but I think we'll be fine.  We're just doing easy runs and I think it's important to go on these little adventures so that running isn't always about getting in the miles in your plan, and more about having fun with friends as part of life.

Also Rick successfully completed the Arrowhead 135 ultra marathon yesterday. I enjoyed following his route online with his SPOT device uploading his location.  I'm happy he achieved his goal, and glad he did it safely. Great job dreaming big and crazy and making it happen.