Way Too Fat

Me. Because of the dexamethasone (DEX) cancer treatment I have lost muscle mass, that's what it does, but at the same time I have gained weight - it does that too. Twelve pounds since the summer of 2006, when I was racing my best and ran TCM in my PR time of 3:36. The result is fat, a layer of fat on my belly and chest, exactly where it goes on men who let themselves go. Since 2006 my marathon time has gone up by almost an hour and a half, and my 1-mile race time by at least a minute and a half. I have NO doubt that this fat is at least partly responsible, along with the reduced muscle mass.

Fortunately, I have a plan. I'm a lifetime member of Weight Watchers, and still go to meetings every month with my sweeties, so I know exactly what to do. I just need to DO it! I started last Sunday, and so far so good. I've started twice before in recent months, but fallen off the wagon. Perhaps this public declaration will give me the incentive to stay on. 12-pound goal, then we'll see if that's enough.

Challenge:

Anyone want to join me? Consider it a challenge if you like - we are challenging ourselves, of course. Choose your plan (Weight Watchers is one of many good plans) and set a goal, then leave a comment here. I'll report my progress every week or two, and you can too if you wish.

Sunday, July 19, 2009:

Another trek in the park, but hot enough that I cut it short. Jim picked me up and we drove to the park to run a route on trails that neither of us has seen in a few years. It started out OK, and the new trails were as lovely as any. Mowed grass, like the others. We intended to go about 9.6 miles on a combination of the old trails and the new.

But I started to overheat in the 82-degree afternoon sun. When that happens my face becomes flushed, and I can feel it getting hot. Slowing to a walk helps a lot, and we did that with increasing frequency. Finally I decided that it would be safer to shorten the run and turn back toward the parking lot, for a total of about 6.0 miles instead of 9.6. That was a good decision. Jim seemed fine, but I wasn’t. Maybe it would have made a difference if I hadn’t eaten lunch just 90 minutes before the run, or if I had brought a water bottle along on the run. Lessons learned. Six miles in 1:00:30 for a pace of 10:05. Faster than I thought, considering the walking.

Saturday, July 18, 2009:

St Croix Valley Runners, five miles again. We tried my big-loop route for the second time, and for the second time the roads didn’t match either the map or Google Earth. New construction. So we had to reverse ourselves once and then cut across a lawn. I’m going to have to actually TRY a route before leading a bunch of runners on it. Tsk.

But I like the route. It does have one tough hill, but that’s not all bad of course. Needs a little tune-up to avoid cutting across a lawn, but I think that’ll be easy. It doesn’t include any roads with speed limits above 30, it does include a lot of trails, and it will be exactly 5 miles when it's tuned up correctly. There’s a good chance that it will be open in the winter, too. We’ll see.

I finished the route last, in almost exactly 46 minutes, for a pace of 9:12. Good enough - it’s a masterpiece.


Recent lunch: Organic chicken, vidalia onion, Jim's broccoli, Jim's beans, organic winter squash, organic slivered almonds, organic black pepper, sea salt.