Not doing so good on the weight loss efforts recently.

And I know why.

I’m eating more.  Not a lot more, just enough to tip the scales (pun intended) in the unfavorable direction for weight loss.

And how do I know this?

Went on vacation recently with the family to southern Utah for the kid’s spring break.  What I didn’t do was keep the same eating schedule that I do when I am working.  Guess, what?  I was 2 pounds lighter after vacation than before vacation.

That tells me, I have been eating too much on a regular basis.  My weight is actually up a couple of pounds year to date.  Not good.

What am I going to do?

Stop the “extra” eating I have been doing.  I’ll be honest with myself - I have been eating this “power bar” type snack around lunch time that packs 250+ calories.  Do you think I really need those calories to get through the day?  No, I don’t.

Also, the biggie for losing weight last year was to NOT eat after dinner.  I still do that, BUT I have stretched the definition to what after dinner means.

Technically, I don’t eat anything after dinner - what I do do is just keep eating once the main meal is served for awhile longer.  I’m going to call that cheating and man up to the fact that I have been breaking the spirit of not eating after dinner.  Time to buck up and actually stop doing those things that are causing me to gain weight.

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.. that’s what I did a couple of days ago along the Greenbelt here in Boise on a beautiful early spring day.

click image to enlarge

Above is my heart rate for the 2 hour run.

A few things to note … the first mile or so - not sure why it shows my heart rate so high.  I have noticed that often, the beginning of a run the heart rate is elevated then settles into a lower rate.

To be honest, I don’t believe it.

The other thing to notice is that gradual increase in heart rate over time.  What you should know is that I kept my effort consistent throughout the run as best I could … with the exception of the full stop I made at the one hour mark.

Right where I marked the chart - at 12.4 miles, 166bpm is where I stopped at a cross walk.  I was absolutely beat at that point and could barely get started running again.

Next thing.

Just finished a 30+ minute run that included something I haven’t done in probably 20+ years - run a sub-six minute mile.

At the Boise high school track, I did a mile (1,600 meters) in 5:56 - 1:33, 1:30, 1:27, 1:26.

Stepped up the training effort for Robie Creek.  I actually ran every day last week, not much mind you, but I did make the effort to run for 20-30 minutes each workday.

One day, I put in an interval around the Boise high school track, 1 x 1600 meters in 6:03 - probably the fastest mile I have run in many, many years; though a far cry from my glory days in high school when my PR was 4:26.  That was 20+ years and 30+ pounds ago.  Oh well.

Today I did my weekly long run along the Boise greenbelt, 52:30 out and about 50:00 back for 11.56 miles - yes, I am being a techo nerd when I report those numbers - which I can do know that I am the proud owner of a Garmin 305 forerunner.

I measured my weight after today’s run and I was 2.4 pounds lighter than the morning weigh in.  Probably means I was dehydrated after today’s run.  I have been pounding the water down trying to keep hydrated, doesn’t look like I did enough water hydrating today.

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