D-Day and H-Hour appoaches!

A very brief update for those that have been wondering "What's Greg been up to?" and "Is he ready for his first race of the year?".  The answer comes this Sunday, April 28th!

Despite high hopes for getting my weight into the 170s, alas it didn't happen.  I'll probably hit the start line on Sunday morning at 185.  There is good and bad to that.  The bad is relatively clear in that I didn't reach that stretch goal of dropping below 180 by the end of April.  I have to be honest in saying that I clearly wasn't as disciplined as when I first undertook a weight loss effort back in 2008.  That being said I started this effort from quite a different place than the first time around.  In 2008 I started my weight loss effort from around 225 pounds and at one time pushed myself down to 179 (just in advance of the honeymoon with my new wife :) - positioned me well to let all the rules go for that 2-week period!).  In 2013, I started weight loss from a starting point of 200 pounds and as I've said now sit at 185. 

The good of where I sit now weight-wise is that I don't believe I've ever run a race at anything below 190 and maybe not even below 195 pounds.  So I should be better positioned from a weight standpoint to give myself a good chance at a personal best half-marathon time come Sunday.

On the training side, I have to say that I believe the quality of my run training (and bike training) has been better than it was when I was preparing for my Ironman competitions.  Maybe no surprise.  I've learned a lot about myself, my capabilities and how much more I can do since I completed my last Ironman Canada in 2011. 

So everything should be set up for my personal goal of a sub 2-hour half-marathon performance this Sunday...except for the weather??  As perhaps most of us in North America might be able to attest to, this year winter was not particularly nice nor has it been all that excited about releasing its grip on our part of the world.  We've continued to have relatively cold temps through to this week and even fits of snow thrown in for good measure.  As I have checked out the course of the race I've not been very impressed to see patches of snow and ice on the course.  Been keeping a wary eye on forecasted race day temp as well - it appears that I will start the race at near 0 degrees Celsius and likely not get much beyond 5 degrees by the time I'm finished.  Neither temp or course condition seem particularly conducive to achieving a personal best. 

I will still give it my best, push myself to a performance I believe I am capable of.

Wish me luck!

The good...and the not so good...

It's been some time since I updated my status as it relates to the goals I've been working on - and the deadline for achievement is approaching at the end of April.

For those following the blog, I had committed a couple of months ago to two goals.  Goal number one was to try work my half-marathon time down under 2 hours.  The best I've done to date on a pure half-marathon effort (i.e., not part of a triathlon) is about 2 hours, 8 minutes.  So should be a reasonably achievable goal.  Now I'll admit right now that I won't be particularly satisfied if I finish my April 28 half-marathon in 1:59:59!  I'd like to do slightly better than that.  My training has actually gone quite well.  I've had what I consider to be some good (indoor) runs accompanied by some equally good (indoor) bike rides.  I'm actually hopeful - if still not entirely confident! - that I'll make my goal of a sub 2 hour half-marathon performance.  If past history is any guide I should do better on the actual race day than in training.  Must be the competitive spirit and adrenalin kicking in.  Still a few weeks to go and I've got some challenges to the workout regime ahead - family coming to visit this weekend and then I'm away from home for a week on business.  So there will be competing priorities and potential barriers in the way.  Got to keep focused!

That was the good.  Goal Number One seems on track!  As for goal number 2, the idea was to lose 30 pounds by the end of April.  So the picture to the right starts to convey some of the challenges I'm feeling right now - how do I keep my fat ass in my spandex and yet perform at my desired level!  Three months time would have meant weight loss of 10 pounds per month.  Reasonably aggressive but not something that I thought was insurmountable.  In a past effort at concerted weight loss I had shed 37 pounds in 3 months.  Granted this time I started at a point that was at least 25 pounds lighter than when I was at my heaviest.  So perhaps I should have expected more challenge this time around.  So the bad news is that I've only dropped 12 pounds to this point in time when by plan/hope I should have been down by 20 at this stage.  I am somewhat frustrated.  At the very least, what I console myself with now is that I will still be racing at my lowest ever weight.  Even when I completed my two Ironman Canada adventures I was weighing in at 195 pounds on race day.  So I should be fleeter of foot come the end of April?

What comes back to me with my current effort on these two goals is my first Ironman effort.  At that time I was also trying to accomplish similar types of goals - lose weight and have a great performance.  Now there was more than a few variables that came into play with my 2010 Ironman Canada race as it relates to my finishing time.  But as I reflect on that reality and compare it to this year's efforts it comes back to me that perhaps weight loss and high(er) athletic performance are not necessarily compatible objectives. 

Oh well, I can still dream can't I!?

Back to you at the end of the month with an update on my race performance!  After all, isn't this supposed to be a blog about athletic performance versus one about weight loss!?