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Weekly Weigh-In 2007-02-25 February 25, 2007

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With the two big weekends (wedding and holiday) now behind me, the weight is starting to drop off again. It feels great to be back down below 90 kg on my daily weigh-ins!

Weekly Weigh-In 2007-02-18 February 18, 2007

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A slight weight gain this week. Hmm. I was expecting that, though, with the wedding last weekend and a group holiday with a bunch of other families this weekend.

I found it very easy to slip back into weight-loss-mode after each weekend, though. A couple more 10km runs and I’ll be losing weight again :-) .

Running 5 km Is Easy Now! February 15, 2007

Since doing that 10 km run last week, I’m now finding 5 km runs fairly comfortable.

In the past week I managed to complete a 5 km course I’ve struggled with in the past. The course goes up and over several coastal headlands, with a particularly hard hill leading up and around the lighthouse at the half-way point. I’ve never been able to run all the way up that hill; I have to walk for a minute or two and catch my breath.

This week, though, I ran right up and over the hill without a problem. I completed the 5 km in 29:45, which I was pretty happy with. I felt great afterwards, coming home and telling my wife what I’d been able to achieve.

Last night, I ran the same course again and did it in 26:45! I knocked a whole 3 minutes off my time! As I mentioned in Breaking Barriers, it seems that once you get it into your head that you can break a barrier, you really smash it. (Note that the 5 km run I mentioned in that post was mostly flat – I’m now running a very hilly course in close to the same time!)

Weekly Weigh-In 2007-02-11 February 11, 2007

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Another great week for running and weight loss!

The big news of the week is that I fitted into my suit for the wedding, and had a great time. I enjoyed a lot of great food, so you might notice a little ‘blip’ on next week’s weight graph :-) .

I Ran 10 KM! February 7, 2007

In my Power Of Focus article, I stated my two health goals for the next 3 to 6 months. One is to get my weight down to 80 kg, and the other is to run 10 km in 1 hour.

Last night, I achieved the 10 km one! I never would have guessed I’d be able to do that so soon!

We’d had my parents and my in-laws over for dinner, and after they left I decided to go for a short 3 km run.

I ran a little bit slower than normal, but when I got to the 3 km mark I decided to continue on to 4.2 km, getting ready for Thursday’s run with a workmate.

At the 4.2 km mark, I was feeling pretty good so I continued on to 5 km (the longest non-stop run I’d done to date).

Still feeling like I had some energy left, I figured I’d push out for 6 km. That came and went, then 7 km, then 8km and 9 km. I felt like I could just keep running continuously!

I finally reached the 10 km mark, and the time was just about exactly an hour. I couldn’t believe it!

The strange thing was, I felt great afterwards. Not tired at all. This must be what it’s like to be fit :-) .

Weekly Weigh-In 2007-02-04 February 5, 2007

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With my new-found focus on health, I’ve really made some good progress this week. It’s like making that decision up-front, that health is my number 1 priority, made all the small decisions through the week so much simpler.

Should I watch TV or go for a run? Should I surf the web or go for a run? Should I eat that donut? Should I have a second helping of dinner? What should I order for lunch?

All very easy decisions, when made from the perspective that health is the most important thing right now.

And the results can’t be denied – 0.85 kg lost in a week! I’m very motivated to keep that up for the next few months! It’s very satisfying to see the average line in the above 5-week graph tipping over – hopefully it’ll be sloping down to the right by next Sunday.

I did three 5 km runs this week, and each time was able to finish without walking. I’m doing the 5 km in under 29 minutes – not bad, but I am hoping to improve over time. I also did a 7 km run with a few walking breaks, and a 3 km run (I was feeling lazy that night!).

I’m going to do a run at work at lunchtime on Thursday. There are a bunch of people from around the area I work who meet at the university for a 4.2 km run each Thursday. The organiser maintains records of everybody’s times and assigns handicaps. The starts are then staggered so that everyone finishes more-or-less around the same time. It sounds fun and is very informal, so it should be interesting.

For the first Thursday run I’ll be tagging along with a friend who’ll show me the course. He does the 4.2 km in around 25 minutes – I’ve timed myself the last few nights and I’m about a minute faster than that, but this will be in the midday sun so hopefully I’ll be able to keep up!

I’m planning to build up my run lengths by 0.5 km every few weeks, so that eventually I’ll reach my goal of running 10 km. I’ve also set a goal time for the 10 km run – 1 hour. That’s an average pace of 6 minutes per km, which I think should be quite achievable.