The Mother of All Relays

Well, I chose my legs for Hood to Coast on Saturday. I have legs #7, 19, and 31. Supposedly that's the 7th in difficulty (out of 12) and it carried a total mileage of 15.54. I'm pumped to know what I'm doing so that I can train more specifically.

Today I replicated my first leg on a treadmill at the gym. I planned out the elevation gains at the corresponding distances in order to get a feel for it. It worked out pretty well. The route is 5.65 miles with some hills. It's classified as "hard". I did the route at an average of around 5.3 mph. That's over 11 minutes. Once you throw in hills, that flat-pace you've been working on goes out the window... So, I'll continue to replicate it on the treadmill and do some hill work to increase my pace. Also, this leg is only a dozen miles from my house. I'm sure I'll get several practice runs on it before August. 

My second leg is the tough one. In the first 2.5 miles, you gain 100 feet in elevation, then lose 200, and then gain back those 200. The remainder of the 5.89 mile total is a loss of 150 feet of elevation and then a gain of around 225 feet. It's classified "Very Hard". That'll take some prep to survive. Luckily the final leg isn't too bad and only about 4 miles.  

Perhaps worth mentioning: I did 7.5 miles on the Sandy trails on Saturday. Also, according to the church biggest loser competition, I lost 3.2 pounds and am down to 268 flat. Interesting. I really didn't watch the calories as closely last week. Plus, I took an extra day off at the gym. It's possible I'm not eating enough. I think to be on track for 2 lbs a week I'm supposed to be eating around 3500 calories. Not exactly a strict diet.  :)  

Weight loss tip: If you eat too little, your body will compensate my lowering your BMR (base metabolic rate). In other words, during those 23+ hours a day you are not exercising, your body will conserve energy and burn less calories because it thinks it's beginning to starve. Weight loss can stall big time this way. Hence, by actually increasing calories you can lose more fat. It's a weird deal, but it's true. This seems to be what happened to me in the last two weeks. I've eaten a little more and my rate of loss has increased. 3.2 pounds is a little high. I don't want to lose more than that in a week for sure. 

By the way, this BMR starvation adjustment is another reason why it's really difficult to lose more than around 2 lbs a week of fat. Your body will resist losing more, at least from fat. I may have even lost some muscle last week. Yuck. However, I'm heavy enough that 3 pounds of mostly lard is possible. Does that mean it pays to be a fatty? Well, not in the overall. Believe me.