Tuesday Night Tempo Run - 8K - 32:23

Despite a temperature of 76 degrees, the run last night felt pretty good. We went out quick but Patrick was too strong for me to stay with him. Definitely need to shed another ten pounds or so (maybe even a limb or two) to catch him!

Miss C is coming back from a cold so I was just able to stay ahead of her. But not without a Herculean effort. The spike in my heart rate to 187 is a bold, if perhaps foolish attempt on my part to show I would NOT be passed. Hugh, recognizing that the leaner and meaner version of yours truly finally means business, has been lightening the load himself over the past month. He confided that he was down six pounds to 180. Hugh did a 3:23 a few years ago and he feels he can duplicate that again in Kelowna, so I am drawing major inspiration from him.

I was asked last night by a couple of people how easy it was to limit myself to 1,800 calories per day, Monday to Friday, on my diet. My answer was twofold. By eating well, and by that I mean the kinds of food I am putting in my body, I have not had too much trouble feeling both satiated and full. By cutting out all the heavily processed foods in my diet and by eating lots of fruits and vegetables, I am actually consuming quite a bit of food. There are NO cakes, cookies, chips, junk food, chocolate bars, soda pop or alcohol in my diet. So there are not any empty calories fighting for space on my plate with the good stuff. I have very little dairy, little processed wheat and most of my carbs are very complex. The fish is low-fat.

My fat cravings, if I have any, seem to be satisfied with the handful of nuts I have every day. As for sweets, I'll make a drink out of a tablespoon of maple syrup, lemon or lime juice and a little cayenne pepper. It's the same recipe people use for ten day or week long "cleanses" and fasts. That seems to take the edge off.

Secondly, I am astonished at how badly I misjudged portion and serving size in the past. I had hundreds and hundreds of extra and unnecessary calories per day in my diet just from having too much of what I was eating. Too many times I left the table feeling stuffed. If I have a steak now, I order the small one on the menu. I order a quarter of a chicken instead of half a chicken. I avoid the obviously fatty and deep-fried foods all together.

None of this is new, revolutionary or rocket science, but it is working for me. I feel great, I enjoy people telling me how much fitter I look, and, best of all, I LOVE HOW MUCH FASTER I AM IN TRAINING!