So it has been a while since I posted.  Been traveling a lot and work has been killing me.  Haven’t gotten any swimming in the last few weeks or any bike rides.  I have been concentrating on my running and I have to say it has improved.  During training for the first triathlon I would run between 3 and 4 miles and there were times where I would stop after 2.5 or 3 miles cause I was cramping up or just didn’t have the energy.  But I think it was more mental.  Now that everyone is running a lot I have picked it up.  Over the last 3 weeks I have run 8 times with 5 times over 5 miles and the others between 3 and 4 miles.  On the shorter runs they were because I didn’t have as much time and I made sure to pick up my pace.  So I am not only running more distance but at a quicker pace.  I am really starting to enjoy running….it gives me a break from work and the kids.   Now I just need to make sure I didn’t take a step back in the swimming and biking portion of the race.

First brick workout since completing the first triathlon…12 mile bike ride followed by a 2 mile run

My primary goal was to get in a bike ride seeing that it’s been weeks since my last solid ride but I had time to tack on a 2 mile run afterwards. I made a cautious effort to push myself all 12 miles so my legs felt like jello by the end. I took a minute to put my bike away and then started my run. The first mile or so always feels very awkward on the legs when transitioning from a bike ride to a run but it does get better after that. Unfortunately, I am also out of breath at that point so the feeling moves from awkwardness in the legs to grasping for air on my run. Needless to say (for me anyways), I am not a fan of the run portion of a triathlon and/or brick workout as I always feel dead during it…I guess that is a sign that I am not dogging it though!

Nutrition – I dropped another 1.5lbs so I am down to 197.5 which is close enough to my goal so I am no longer going to swap out dinner with a shakeology meal-replacment shake. I lost 6.5lbs in three days, not bad…now I need to keep it off

This should be the last day of heavy rain in my area for the next 5-7 days so I ended up staying indoors. I actually changed it up a bit and completed a workout that I have not attempted in over a year…the elliptical machine (similar to a stairmaster). We purchased this machine a few years ago (mainly for my wife) who uses it consistently 3-5 days a week. I prefer weight training and/or cardio outdoors so I never embraced it as much as she did…until today anyways. I ended up doing it for 60 minutes which equaled out to 4 miles on it. My shirt was soaked by the end so I definitely considered this morning’s routine a solid cardio workout.

On the nutrition side, I lost another 2 pounds so I am down to 199lbs. All I am doing is swapping out dinner with a shakeology meal-replacement shake. I am eating what I normally eat for breakfast and lunch so nothing has changed during the day, just dinner and I am trying to avoid unhealthy snacking at night. Below is pretty much what I have consumed that last two days where I have lost 5lbs total (times are not exact)…

-Lots of water throughout the day

5:30am –              Exercise
7:00am –              Whole wheat english muffin with reduced fat peanut butter
9:00am -               90 calorie FiberOne Bar
10:00am –           Fruit (Apple or Banana)
12:30pm -            Can of tuna fish mixed with light mayo on whole wheat toast
3:00pm -              Fruit (Apple or Banana)
5:30pm –             Shakeology mixed with 18oz of water and crushed ice
7:00pm –             Grapes (also snuck in some pretzels the first night, somewhat weak)

My goal is to drop another 2lbs by the weekend so my plan is to swap out dinner with another shakeology shake tonight…maybe the following night if need be

Started the morning off weighing in at 201lbs so I lost 3lbs since yesterday. I did expect to lose 2-4lbs seeing that yesterday was my first real strict day in weeks (nutrition-wise) but it’s always nice to see it actually happen. I still would like to lose 4 more pounds by the end of the week and I think it’s very doable if I continue to exercise and eat well.

As expected, I woke up to rain so I decided to do the P90X Back &  Bis routine. To my surprise, I banged out 22 pull-ups (most I ever completed) on my first set. I was looking back at my earlier post and I did 21 pull-ups on day 90 of P90X. I know I am stronger right now but I also weigh 8 more pounds than I did on day 90 so I am thinking if I was 8lbs lighter…I could have easily completed 25-26 which is great for me. That set the tone for the rest of the workout so I did feel great through to the end.

Before calling it quits, I realized I had 15-20 minutes to spare before getting ready for work. Even though it was pouring out, I sucked it up and went for a 2.15 mile run outdoors. Knowing I was running half the distance from yesterday’s workout I started out at a fast pace. About a ½ mile into it, I realized I needed to slow down a bit to finish at a decent pace (compared to walking). At the end, my average mile time was 6 minutes and 56 seconds. My goal was to maintain a less than 7 minute mile but it was for a 4.3 mile run, not 2.15. I was pumped with the time but I am thinking “no chance” I could have maintained that pace for another 2.15 miles…we’ll see what happens, I am going to try at least

Bring it!

Not sure if I should feel good about today or not…

For starters, I weighed myself this morning and I tipped the scale at 204lbs…about 9lbs heavier where I want to be. I would have been naive to think I would not gain any weight after 5 days of brew-b-queing  (aka cookouts w/ beers) last week so I did expect my weight to be higher than what is has been. My goal this week to be very strict on my nutrition and hopefully get back around the 197 range by the weekend. I am going to eat small meals throughout the day, drink tons of water and swap out dinner with a shakeology meal-replacement shake (I am not doing the shakeology cleanse). I also plan on having some sort a vegetable during dinner as well. I have no desire to be too strict that it becomes uncomfortable for me but rather just enough to shed some of that weight gain that has occurred since my first triathlon. Last week was not a good week nutrition-wise but I would say the last couple of months have not been great either. I have no regrets though as I feel like I am still in great shape and I have been taking full advantage of this once in a lifetime New England weather that we have had so far this summer (excluding this week, everyday has been gorgeous…which is not the norm here).

Even though I was not too happy to see my weight as high as it was, I did feel good about my workout this morning. It was only drizzling (rain) this morning so I went for a 4.3 mile run outdoors. I decided to push myself a bit and I ended up clocking in at 7:33 minute miles. This is good for me, I have always been a slow runner but I felt good this morning. I was thinking if I can cut my weight down 5-9 pounds, I might be able to break the 7 minute mile mark…..so that is my goal by the end of next week (I know it’s aggresive)!