summer break continues

It’s been almost 4 weeks working on my summer goal of a 15 lb weight loss (starting weight 193 lbs). It’s been obvious the body has been getting amazingly efficient with the reduced food intake. At 185 lbs now, it’s going to take a renewed effort to make it.

I’ve been itching for a long run & I can’t help but to look ahead to the fall races. In fact, I’ve been thinking of attempting a 100 miler this fall. A couple brand new races have taken shape within a 7 HR drive of Louisville – the Grindstone 100 in Virginia in October and the Pinhoti 100 in Alabama in November. These 2 new races conflict with 2 events I had tentatively planned on starting though – the Iron Mountain 50M in October & the OPSF 50M in November. I’ll just have to wait & see how the body feels & see what kind of shape I’m in when off this diet & training resumes in cooler weather.

I’ve been continuing to work out in the heat on local trails – I can lose 5 pounds easily (even when drinking all the ice water I wish), but I eventually gain it all back when I finally get re-hydrated. This is out on the Siltstone Trail on the LLTH course:

summer break

It feels odd now that I don’t have a scheduled event for a couple months when I’ve been used to running in an event every 2 weeks or so. But I do have a goal this summer & that’s to lose weight – so far 6 pounds in about 2 weeks on my way to 15 pounds. Right now I don’t see a problem with reaching the goal, although I can tell the body is adjusting quite rapidly to the different diet by becoming more efficient & changing the metabolic rate -- so the weight loss won’t be as easy & it will be at a slower rate as the summer progresses.

I’m having mixed feelings about the works I’ve started at the gym to help my back. I don’t know if what I’m doing is aggravating the condition or that I must first endure pain to help. I feel if the pain is muscle pain, I’m on the right track – if the pain is in the backbone itself, it means I’ve done something wrong or I’ve overdone it. It’s a very tough thing to get right.

I worked about a half a day yesterday on the Siltstone Trail in Jefferson Memorial Forest – very satisfying work knowing that I’ll be running on the very same trail during Louisville’s Lovin’ the Hills 50k next February. This new segment at Jefferson Hill is very close to opening up. Yesterday I concentrated on grubbing out small tree stumps & roots – a good workout for the back.