Fitness Resolutions

As indicated earlier, the Disney week was basically a fitness disaster. When coupled with the injry at camp, it means that I basically haven't run well for a solid month. (Yes, there was a week in there where I ran every day, but only 2 miles at a time... that's just pitiful.) I came back from the parks and got on the scale to find that I topped out at 149 lbs. That's 11 over my racing weight and the biggest I've ever been in my life. Obviously, there are probably millions of truly overweight guys who would trade straight-up for 5'10" and under 150 lbs. But everything, as they say, is relative. So I'm actually going to have to be proactive about my weight for the first time ever. In addition to being serious about my running, I'm also resolving to watch what I eat (NOT diet, exactly, but just not be stupid), to drink a couple of liters of water a day, and to take a multivitamin. The water is difficult. Trying not to "graze" like I've done my whole life is more so. But we've been back 3 days and I'm already down 6 of those 11 pounds. The trick is, it looks like if I take my foot off the gas, the default position is now a slower metabolism. Thank goodness I have a wife who also takes this stuff seriously and can help me with the food end.

On another note, there are only 4 weeks until the beginning of cross-country practice. Missing most of June really put me behind for that. I'm running 20 minutes at a time this week (2.5 miles), going to 3-milers next week, and hope to be up to 5 or more runs of 4 miles each by the first day of practice. At that rate I won't really be able to run with the team (they'll probably start at 6-7 miles a day and build up from there), and as they will probably progress at a faster rate than I do, I may never catch up. But at least having the practices as a set time and place to run (and maybe running the first part of some workouts with the group) can perhaps give me a little boost from August through October. All I really want to be able to do is comfortably run half an hour three or four times a week with a longer run of an hour on the weekend. Whether that means I'll be able to race is not even on the radar at this point.