Week end 04-10-2005

NO COMPLAINTS

I think I might be a tad bit depressed. I'm seeing lower weights but I'm not as ecstatic as I should reasonably expect. I'm pushing past the 220 mark and heading down into the teens. This is a very good thing.

SCALE

Speaking of which though, the range of my scale can be as much as 20 pounds. . . I can manipulate my stated weight by either standing on it with my weight on my heels (this produces the highest weight, ~230 these days); or I can reduce the number if I stand with weight toward the balls of my feet (goes down to about 220 or so); I can further reduce things when I stand on the balls of my feet -- particularly the outer edges and then use my leg muscles to exert force onto the outside of the scale toward the inside (Like I'm trying to taco the scale) -- this method produces weights of as low as ~205. So when I'm asked (or think) what do i weigh now (or how much have I lost) I think I should use the 220 number. One answer may be to go the school gym to weigh myself.

EXERCISE

An incredibly adept week of exercise. The numbers are as follows:

Run = 10.1 miles;
Aerobics (weights) = 1.0 hour (in three workouts);
Cycling = 69.1
Swim = 5400 yards;
Rowing = 68 Kilometers.

So, very strong numbers for the week. Potentially deficient in running -- mostly because I opted to complete a half marathon on Sunday instead of a 5 mile run (13.1 miles of rowing against 5 miles running).

COMPARISON OF RUN TRAINING AGAINST TRAINING ON ROWING MACHINE

There is a school of thought which says the only way to get better at running is simple: Run. Others say cross training can help to increase run performance because it provides aerobic training without the beating that running produces in a body.

My own school of thought is a bit different: The pounding the body takes is excascerbated when an athlete is overweight. Therefore, I KNOW the best actual way for me to increase my athletic performance is quite simple: Weigh less and the run times will decrease dramatically. It seems to me a substitution of running for rowing will be quite good in that regard: Rowing burns lots of calories (some 1200 during today's half marathon).

In fact, rowing may explain my superior performance at cresting Mt. Hollywood on Saturday on the bike. I simply noticed I felt stronger and was able to really attack on some of the hills -- particularly the first hill. This is probably two pronged: Increased strength (from, perhaps, aerobic "navy seal" drills; combined with more rowing which is building power/strength), and the second prong: a greater power to weight ratio -- to the extent the rowing takes weight off of my frame, the easier it is to climb, all else being equal.

FOOD INTAKE

My food intake appears to be pretty good -- however, I have noticed that I have become hungry at particular moments recently. Also, I think the bread with cream soup at the grocery store is probably killing me a bit; I'll need to stop that.

On the upside though: I'm going through copious amounts of a wide variety of fruits and lots of veggies. Perhaps a little light on the protein aspect, but given the long straight line of weight loss, it all seems pretty sensible to me.

Also, still drinking large quantities of Diet Pepsi which I simply rationalize: Better than diet than regular soda (of course, better no soda at all, but given all of the evils I'm fighting this seems like perhaps a battle best saved for another day).

Overall, it's all positive. Finals are distinctly on the horizon, and that could explain some of the overwhelming feelings I currently have :-).

kc.