Rapid weight loss

A bit of a funny week this has been... But a good one!

When TFR weighed in before the Wimbledon Common Time Trial 5k, he weighed around 100 kg (Saturday 23rd).

His WCTT run performance was dismal. Although he felt great around the whole course, and overtook a few people on each lap, when the clock finally stopped, it was very much the wrong side of 30 minutes... He was at a complete loss to understand why, although a bit of analysis on the Garmin Training Center software showed why. When compared with other (faster) runs around Wimbledon Common, it became clear that the run felt easy because it WAS easy... Basically, he didn't push himself hard enough - his heart rate was a good 5 beats per minute lower for the duration of the run...

So anyway, 100 kg on the Saturday.

Then his weight started to drop throughout the week, so that only 6 days later, he is weighing 3 kg less!!

So what might be the reasons for this?

1) Venom Hyperdrive!!! Actually, no. He hasn't been taking VH for a long time (and never really took it consistently... He has a stressful enough job without adding further anxiety with caffeine pills and other 'metabolic enhancers' in VH

2) Exercise? Well he's done a bit more this week than normally - a 1.5 hour bike ride (around 20 miles) on Monday, and a 30 minute run around Kensington Gardens on Wednesday evening

3) Diet? Not sure - although his lunch has become healthier (the Pret a Manger chicken salad rather than a big toasted sandwich) he has still been having a few drinks in the evening. In fact, yesterday's intake consisted of the salad, 1.5 bags of crisps, a few cans of diet coke, two slices of ryvita with smoked salmon, some shepherd's pie and two glasses of champagne. Not obvious diet food!!

So he's at a bit of a loss to explain why this is happening, but it has given him the motivation to watch what he eats more closely. In fact, he was in the office canteen this morning, where every friday they provide free sausage and bacon baguettes (and they're good!) but he went for the muesli instead.

The good thing is that he'll be hauling around 3kg less in this weekend's Nike 10k race.

Talking of which, I must be going so I can pick up my race pack!
Sun 99.1
Mon 98.6
Tue 98.2
Wed 97.7
Thu 97.3
Fri 97.1

Disappointment and motivation

Just a short post from The Fat Runner today.

>> Disappointment

I did the Wimbledon Common Time Trial on Saturday and came in at a disappointing 30 mins 1 second. There are no excuses - the groud was good, not too warm or too cold, no rain etc. It's simply down to the fact that I'm not training enough.

>> Motivation

So I've decided (perhaps foolhardedly) to enter the Nike Human Race - the 10k race which is hoping to attract 1 million people around the world. In London, the run will be starting off from Wembley and it's planned for 31/8/08.

Looks like I'll need to get serious about this training as I've only got three weeks to go from a slow 5k runner to a slow 10k runner...

Wish I had waited...

I wish I had waited before ordering my Maximum Momentum Sports Team tshirt.

Only a few days after I'd ordered the "Don't feed the animal" tee shirt, they produce a new one which I REALLY want for my slow performances around Wimbledon Common at the Wimbledon Common Time Trial.

Anyway, here it is:



It seems to sum up my running pretty well.

In fact, I would have really liked this tee shirt when I was younger and playing american football. I was a full back - a real power position - which meant I was never as fast as the wide receivers. This would have been a good tee shirt to have!

The Fat Runner becomes the Fat Cyclist

The Fat Runner used to be a cyclist before he was a runner. A childhood spent racing BMX bikes at regional level, and then graduating to a bit of mountain bike racing before deciding to get a road bike (as mountain biking in London can be a little pointless...)

But since he moved out of his house and into a second floor flat, his bike has hardly been used.

That was, until last weekend, when he bit the bullet and decided to give his bike an overhaul (inspired by a conversation he had with a colleague while waiting for a plane to Madrid).

Six hours later (there was quite a bit of work to do) he took his bike down to Richmond Park for a lap. The whole ride was around 20 miles, including the 7 mile lap around Richmond Park which he did in 24 mins 30 seconds. This is quite a way off what he was able to do (around 22 mins 15 seconds) and still short of what is seen as the unofficial target for Richmond Park of 20 minutes.

But he's quite happy - this being the first time he had been out on a bike for over a year. But clearly there is room for improvement!!

He'll be trying to finish work early over the next few weeks to see if he can get any more rides in while the nights are still relatively long.

While the cycling is unlikely to improve his running directly, he's hoping that he will have increased fitness and more weight loss so that his running will at least improve indirectly...

I'll keep you updated on how he does!