Today is the sixth update of my goal to to return to race weight by April 13th. I am in a "sort of" competition with my brother-in-law Mike to reach our mutual goal of 169 pounds. See my first blog for details on where we started. I think you will see we both tackle weight loss in a completely different way. The goal of this series of posts is to show how a couple of average guys get back to their goal race weight.
Dave
Week Six Summary and Results:
Surviving the tough New England winter and maintaining your fitness is extremely difficult. Let's be honest...you have every excuse in the book to miss workouts. It's freezing cold and there is 2 feet of snow on the ground. Time to cash it in and wait till spring, right? If you allow yourself to fall into this trap you will be very unhappy with what you look like in April. If you want to get in shape to perform well at spring road races or just want to look good at a Florida beach during April school vacation week the time is NOW to start losing the holiday weight. Don't wait! No excuse! There is no snow at the gym and if anything, it is too warm not cold.
Last week was a good one for me. I mentioned on my last post that I had a bad weigh-in, and I think this week's results prove that. I dropped 2 pounds last week, and I am still going strong. And it's going to take some mental toughness over the next few weeks. As the picture above shows, the New England winter dumped close to 2 feet of snow yesterday. It looks like I will be forced to complete all of my runs on the treadmill indefinitely, but I am mentally prepared and I will get it done.
Exercise:
Sunday- ran 6 miles tempo
Monday- off
Tuesday- ran 5.25 miles easy
Wednesday- ran 10 miles (long run)
Thursday- off
Friday- ran 10 miles (another long run to beat the storm)
Saturday- off...if you call shoveling for hours a day off
Totals: ran 31.25 miles (first time over 30 miles in awhile)
Results:
Starting weight: 189 Feb 10th weigh-in: 183 YTD loss (6 weeks): 6 lbs
Mike
Week Six Summary and Results:
Every great athlete will usually have the old adage "finish strong" drilled into his head from the time they first start competing. Finishing strong and pushing through the pain at the end of a game or a run is essential for realizing your best as a competitor. Hitting heartbreak hill and pushing through, or making sure your splits are faster in a 5k, both take practice and discipline. When I finish any training run, I usually am running uphill. I try to go as fast as I can and after I cross the finish line, I want to have nothing left for the day.
Exercise:
Sunday- 1 hour elliptical
Monday- 75 minute run
Tuesday- off
Wednesday- 1 hour yoga
Thursday- 1 hour spin
Friday- 1 hour run
Saturday- 1 hour run
Totals: 1 hr yoga + 1 hr cycling + 1 hr elliptical + 3.25 hrs running
Results:
Starting weight: 192.5 Feb 10th weigh-in: 174.2 YTD loss (6 weeks): 18.3 lbs
Week Six Recap:
Losing weight is a marathon not a sprint. As we get closer and closer to April, the key is to know you are on the right path and continue moving forward. You have to maintain focus on your goal day after day week after week. Mike survived his vacation last week and has returned to juicing. He is determined to hit his goal weight ASAP...he isn't content to wait until April like I am. Since I was training outside for most of my runs the most recent blizzard will put more pressure on me than Mike to maintain focus. Training indoors is tough and gets boring quick, especially for long runs. We will see what happens....
As you can see from the results of the past 6 weeks Mike's strategy is extreme but really works. He has lost over 18 pounds in 6 weeks. If you would like more detail on what he is doing check out his blogs from last year. He used this strategy to lose over 60 pounds in 2012.