Running For My Life, Aug. 10, 2012

Day 4

Today I am 191.4 pounds of rolling thunder.

Now I've read enough health and fitness magazines and books to know better than to be a scoreboard watcher, but I'm a guy, I watch scoreboards.

But I've also read enough literature on the topic to know that swings of 2 to 5 pounds can be attributed to a lot of factors, especially in the early going. And while it feels good to be going down instead of up, the fact is that this could merely be a subtle amount of dehydration or fluid depletion.

The trick will be to see if this weight number can stay level for a few days and then continue downward. I am listening to the conventional wisdom that says a pound or two a week is a safe expectation. Naturally, with any change of diet or fitness regimen there will be extreme swings in the beginning followed by slow movements and plateaus.

Yesterday's guilty pleasure was a handful of chips at dinner and then another while watching "Suits." That Harvey Specter is a pill, isn't he? And Lewis, what can you say about Lewis?

Sorry, I digress. No cookies or cakes or anything sweet beyond a granola bar for three days. I bought some lime sherbet in the hope that it would slow my family's binge ice cream eating down, including and especially, my own.

The biggest change for me yesterday was taking the time to split two moderate workouts throughout the day and not go for just one long slog. I rode my Spin bike for 45 minutes at noon. Then after the U.S. beat Japan in soccer (you go girls!), I went for an hour run/walk. 

There's been a nice break in the temps lately, so running was much more of a joy and less of a death march. Those 100-degree days really take it out of you.

I've also been using my stability ball more for stretching and strength. Instead of reaching for a snack while watching the Olympics, I just sit on the ball and use a weighted ball to put some weight exercise into the mix.

So far the magic rolling thunder number is going down. Hopefully, it will continue at a modest but steady rate.

And again, if you see that slowest moving human running down the street, just give me a wave and a smile.