Testing the new Amazon Associates blogger functionality

Amazon just released a widget which allows you to very simply place relevant links in your blog.  It's called the Amazon Product Finder.  I was just reading about Tim Ferriss' Four Hour Work week, so I will see if this works.  It seems like it did.  I just highlighted the text above, and pressed go on the Amazon associates widget to the right, and it came up with a product. 
The only downside was that it wasn't the book, it was an audio cd produced by someone else.
I'm going to try again and just say Four Hour Work week.  This time I got 28 results, but the first was an audio cd and the second and third had no image.  So not as yet impressed. 
I'm gonna try one more time.  4-hour work week.
This time I got the Audio CD.

I don't understand why the search is so crappy because when I did the search on amazon, I got the hardcover, newly released book. 








Let's see what else.  We just got a toy called 20-Q which is an automated 20 questions device.  This actually worked pretty well.  The game is pretty cool.  I thought of "bowling ball" and then the toy asked me 20 questions, and guessed it first try. 

Almost done with week 8 of 16

Good news this morning...although I have plateaud in the 183 range, my body fat % was 25.2 this morning, which is the first time it's been below 26. I did 8 miles with Sarah on Wed night (2 miles of warmup/cool down, and 16 x 1/4 mile "sprints" with 1/8 mile in between). We went about 1:46-1:57 for each of the quarters, which is just over 7 min pace to just under 8.
This weekend is 17 mile long run!

And then off to China for a week, so we'll see how running in the smog is.

heading out for 15

I am going to try a couple things different today...I only have one GU packet, so I won't be continuously refreshing my carbs, and I'm going to carry gatorade on my belt, rather than leave it on the car and drink every time I come around Greenlake (gonna try to run somewhere different today).  I have a feeling it won't go well.  On the other hand, it will teach my body to use fat instead of carbs to run...maybe.  We'll see how it goes.

1/4 mile sprints...you gotta love 'em

My running buddy Sarah was sick tonight, so I was flying solo for our interval training.  I went 14x1/4 mile sprints (7:45 pace-ish) with 1/8 mile walking in between.  Tack on a mile warm up and a mile warm down and it turned into 7.33 miles.  Average pace, 11min mile.  Funny that's about what I'm running the long runs at. 
I've put in 18 miles so far this week, including a (short) long run of 8.4mi on Sunday.  This Sunday is a 15 mile run, so next week should be coming up on 30 miles.  Cool, huh?

I'm still a bit over 180, so I've got 10-20 lbs to lose before the race, so hopefully that starts decreasing my time.

Good news and bad news

I hopped on the scale this morning and to my slight dismay I was up to 186, after running a half marathon this weekend. But then the body fat readout came on and I was at 26.1%, 90bps less than my best of 27.0% (100bps = 1%). So it may be that I added muscle from the running on the weekend. I expect that after a few more days, the incremental weight loss will again outdo the incremental weight gain from muscle and I'll start losing again.

In the category of "Ph.D's can be stupider than you might think" for the week. I'm trying to get over this cough, but I didn't want to miss another track workout. So Sarah came and got me, and we went and ran in the rain. Not only did we run in the rain, we did intervals, so there was sprinting followed by walking. By the time we were done, our shoes and socks were soaking wet, and I had mud caked all the way up my legs. I did convince her to reduce our cool down run to 2 laps, rather than a full mile. As it turns out, I am coughing less after the run in the rain than I was earlier today. Go figure.

Getting over the sickness

I haven't been writing for the last couple weeks...I caught a cold that turned into a cough and kept me from running and writing.  The good news is that I'm back in training now, I went 13.1 miles this Sunday, and a quick 5k this morning.  Over the two weeks where I wasn't running and I was not as strict on diet, I only gained about 1 lb, but it seems like I grew out of one of my smaller pairs of jeans.  So it looks like I lost muscle and gained fat. 
I hit a 2009 low of 184.2 a few weeks back, and now I'm around 185.  So 22 lbs down, and 15 more to go.  I expect that as the long runs increase, the weight will decrease.  Only about 12 weeks to the marathon.

Week 2 of training continued

I had a cold this week, so missed my Friday morning workout.  The good news is that I revived my Forerunner GPS and took it for three laps around Greenlake (9miles) today.  Unfortunately the lap database was full, so it lost part of the run, but I did the last three miles at 10:08, 10:04 and 10:15, which is significantly faster than what I had been running. 
The big conundrum is that I ran the whole run between 10 min miles all the way up to about 11:15.  The 4-hour marathon schedule says to do it between 10:40-11:10.  So I'm good there.  But my heart rate was in the 170s and 180s, which is higher than it's supposed to be for burning fat rather than carbs.  So what to do?  Keep the HR down in the 150s and go really, really slow?  or run at a comfortable pace with a higher heart rate. 

Week 2 -- wed night work out

Sarah said she'd kick my butt if I didn't update the blog in the next two days.  It's apparently been a week since my last update.  The lowlights -- I am still around 187 so no big weight loss over the past week.  The good news is that even with her at 95 lbs, I'm still less than 2xDanicas. 

I bought new running shoes this weekend -- the Brooks Defyance.  These are less "supportive," and certainly less clunky.  These are probably should have been using since I got my orthotics.  I ran 8.4, three laps around Greenlake.  Since my Garmin gave up, I used a regular old stopwatch.  I made it 8.4mi in just over 90 min, which I think is just under 11min/mi.  Not fast, but an improvement over last week. 

Tuesday morning, I went for a recovery run, including my usual run up Phinney Ridge.  I think I am getting better at the uphill. 

This evening, Sarah and I did a track workout.  The book we are using says to run 8x400m (1/4mi) at 2:05-2:15, so between 8-9min mile pace.  Sarah ran them all at about 7:15 pace.  At first I felt bad, because she kept beating me.  Then I realized I was following the 4 hour marathon plan, and she isn't.  So I don't feel so bad anymore. 

As for the weight, I've backed off the no-carb diet a little, as I know that as I get towards 10mi long runs, the body will need some carbs.  And as I told Laurie, once you're running 25+ miles/week, it's much easier to lose weight, even if you're not so careful with what's going in.  Although I am still staying away from rice, beer, french fries and other super carby stuff!

Lost some of the extra

I'm back down from 190 to 188, which isn't quite 187, where I was, but closer.  And my body fat was 27.3% which is about as low as it's been.  That's roughly 10% decrease in body fat in 3 months.  Not so bad.  Tonight is speed workouts at the track with Sarah, which replaces mid-week semi-long run.  Sounds like fun.

More weight, less fat (I hope)

So I went for a 5k run on Friday and a 7mi run on Sunday, and then did some cross training on the seated bike machine at the gym yesterday.  So after that, I'd think I'd be thinner.  But from last Friday to today I've gained almost 3.5 lbs.  So, either I've been eating a ton of food to make up for the calories I'm burning or I'm putting on muscle from all this dang ol' exercise.  Hopefully it's the latter.  I'm still fitting into my 34 jeans, so the wheels aren't coming off yet.  We'll see how this week goes...

My friend Danica now weighs 96.2 so it's getting tougher and tougher to get to 1.9 x Danica.  It will take a little while longer, but I will get there!

A little more weight, a little more running,

So yesterday I got up around 6 and found that I was at 187.0 (and 28.5% body fat), 0.2 lbs up from the day before.  I putzed around the house, read my email, watched Dollhouse on the Tivo and used the bathroom.  This took about 90 minutes and I re-weighed after that.  I had dropped 0.4 lbs from using the bathroom and respiring (I guess).  So I had a new 2009 record of 186.6, but the body fat was over 29%.

Don't ever do this!

Why not?  I got up this morning and was at 188.0.  So that's not much more than 187, but it's 1.4 lbs more than 186.6.  So don't give yourself artificial short term wins.  Because they always turn into artifical short term losses the next day or the day after. 

So I had a setback of 1.4 lbs.  What did I do?  Went for my scheduled 7mile Sunday run and then had a low carb lunch.  Had I been still at 186.6, what would I have done?  Went for my scheduled 7mile Sunday run and then had a low carb lunch.  Remember, manage the inputs! 

I do have one problem with the marathon training.  I was working off the Hal Higdon Novice 1 marathon training schedule, and it seemed pretty simple.  Add a little more mileage each week, culminating in a long Sunday run.  Then I found that there was a Novice 2 schedule, which has a little more mileage each week than the Novice 1.  And then my friend Sarah is following a schedule from "How to run a four hour marathon" or some such book.  She sent me the schedule, so I am now trying to rationalize three schedules.  This puts me in split brain mode which I don't like.  Sarah's schedule replaces the semi-long run in the middle of the week with track/speed workouts, but also has two short runs during the week and a long run on the weekend.  But it culminates in a 24 mile run in week 14 rather than the Hal Higdon program where we only ever do 20 until the race.  Arrgghh!  Too many choices suxxors. 

But wait...a new record low this morning

I got on the scale this morning and found out that I had lost another pound, so I'm down to 186.8. That's an even 20 lbs since I went to work for Diego! So what caused it? I was thinking about it while I was running this morning (after the weigh in). Possible causes:

Late aft snack, plus small dinner = less weight in the morn
A glass or two of wine = dehydration (I was about 29.5% body fat rather than my low of 28.5%, which sometimes indicates dehydration)
No running for a week = muscle loss = less weight

Each of these are short term corrections, so I expect that I may pop up a little bit.

In the end it doesn't really matter in the long run. If I keep managing the inputs -- run regularly and cut out the carbs -- good things will happen. That's why it's good to manage the inputs and just keep an eye on the outputs!

Also, I am wearing my new stylish jeans (size 34) to work today so we'll see if anyone notices.

New record low

This morning I hit 188.0 which is my 2009 record low...even after not running this week.  Of course, it may be that the leg muscles I built have just atrophied.  But I like to think that I'm sticking to the diet.  Anyway, it's new ground for this bout of weight loss.  My friend Alissa took me to Nordstrom's today and I got some Lucky jeans.  Apparently I am now hip when I wear them.  I don't understand why my faded jeans from The Gap don't count as hip, but she's an expert.  Also, I get to run again tomorrow morning.  5k is on the cards, and then a long run on Sunday.  Should help re-accelerate the weight loss plan.  Hopefully, I will have to exchange my 34 jeans for 32 pretty soon.
I am now in week 3 of the marathon plan, and let's hope tomorrow and Sunday go well.  I'm gonna do "track work" next Wednesday night with Sarah Burch, so hopefully I don't injure anything. 
My friend Beijing Laurie has evil friends in town from Seattle so I am sending positive vibes out to her to keep the faith and stay away from the carbies!~  Go Laurie!

Unfortunately not much to report this week

I've got a little injury so I'm off the running til Friday.  I lifted some weights yesterday in the office (I think Sarah thought I was crazy).  And did some situps and pushups for "strength training."  Friday I will be able to run again, and I think I go either 5 or 8mi this weekend.  Next week Sarah Burch and I are going to do interval training at the track to do something...build speed or endurance or stamina.  She's in charge of the wed night training plan.  I'll be in charge of a couple short early morning runs, and a long weekend run!

The outputs are going in the right direction

After two weeks of running, I'm down to 188.2 this morning, with body fat of 28.5%. Still in the Obese category, but down almost 10% in body fat. So I guess we know...diet and exercise together can lead to quick fat loss. :)
I am going to buy some new jeans this week to celebrate...and I mean new, from Nordstrom's, not new from the Goodwill. So I will have invested some serious dollars in the thinner me.

I was thinking the other day that people think that Running is an easy sport that doesn't need much equipment. So I made a list of all the equipment that I use...GPS watch, iPod, shoes, scale. Altogether it adds up to a nice little investment, especially when you need two or three pairs of shoes. Anyway, I made a list of the things that I have purchased for running, and stuck it in a nice little Amazon widget so if you want to get the same gear, all you have to do is click!

Manage the inputs! Measure the outputs.

I'm in week 2 of Hal Higdon's marathon training program and all is going well. I went 5.6 miles last Sunday, and 3 miles each a couple times this week. This morning I did 7 miles (11.2k), to get ahead of the long weekend run. I haven't lost a lot of weight in the last week -- I was still 190.4 this morning, but I've gone from around 30% body fat to 28.5%, which I take to mean that I'm putting on muscle at about the same rate I'm losing fat (I hope).
But this brings me to the title of this post. One of the thing I've learned at work is that the way to optimize your output metrics, you need to manage the inputs. At work, the outputs are profit and sales. On the diet/weight loss/health kick, the outputs are weight, body fat, and (if you measure it) waist size. One can measure these outputs, but in the end the way that you affect these metrics has nothing to do with them.
Fortunately, in weight loss there are only a couple inputs...Calories in and calories out. If I have the right strategy I don't need to change it if the outputs slow up for a week or so. When I'm trying to lose weight, I want to decrease my calories in -- this is done through cutting out sugar, and increase my calories out -- this is done via running. So even if my weight is not decreasing, I'm going to continue with the strategy. Low carb in, exercise out.

My friend Laurie has started a health program and she doesn't even have a scale! She just got focused on reducing food (and beer) in, and she's been running several mornings/week. And all of a sudden, she moved down a size in jeans...all without a scale.

So it's interesting that I obsessively watch the scale every day to see if I've made progress. And if I'm making progress I watch my carbs and exercise. If I'm not making progress, I watch my carbs and exercise. Funny, maybe I should get rid of my scale -- not! If something's worth doing, it's worth obsessing over, so I'm going to keep obsessing over my scale!

In other good news, my friend Melinda is coming in from Hawaii to run the Rock n Roll half marathon while I (hopefully) do the full. I'm still trying to get Laurie to come from Beijing as well. Should be a fun time!

I can't believe I got up!

I was up and at 'em at 6am, and hammered out 5k (sounds better than 3 miles) before the sun came up. Up Phinney Ridge, over to the zoo and back home. Felt great to get ahead of the day. It helped that I went to bed at 9pm last night. :)

So I am into week 2 of the training program. Only 17 more to go!

Week 2 day 1

Well, it seems like I'm on my way to running a marathon...one week down, four more months to go.  Yesterday I went and "cross-trained" by sitting on a bike and pedaling for a half an hour at the gym. I read an article about two women who were running buddies.  One of them moved from Santa Fe back to Maine, and they missed each other a bunch and called every time they ran.  It coulda been a tear jerker, but wasn't.  So I'm gonna sign up Beijing Laurie as my long distance running buddy (although you don't get a call in the middle of the night every time I run).  I lifted some weights after the run, which felt pretty good.

I got to bed abou 9 last night (yay!) and was up and at 'em at 6 with a three mile recovery run.  I went up phinney ridge around the top and then back home.  I'm gonna have to find a seattle based running buddy too.  I'm hanging around at 190 and 29.X% body fat, so I think I may have put on some muscle with all this exercise.  That's ok, even if it slows down the "Road to 170!"

Week 1? or just a run

A few months ago, I signed up for the Seattle Rock n Roll Marathon at the end of June.  At the time, I said "there will be plenty of time to train.  It's not til June."  This week I received the warmup jacket that I ordered at sign up time.  That reminded me that June is only around four months away.  I counted the weeks and determined it's 19 weeks til the marathon.  After consulting Hal Higdon't marathon training guide, I realized that means that I had to be on week 1 this week.  Week 1 includes 3x 3 mile runs, and a "long run" on the weekend of 6 miles.  So I went out this weekend and ran almost six miles (5.6).  It actually felt great.  I started the run at 12 min pace, and finished at 10:40 for the last .6 miles.  Not great, but a start at least.  I now have to figure out if I can stick with the four times a week running program.  It actually isn't that hard to run, but getting out of the house over to Greenlake is very tough!  So wish me luck to get going. 
As it turns out, if you're running 25, 30, 40 miles a week you can be much more lackadaisical about diet, and still maintain/lose weight. 

Also, the other good news of the weekend...I popped back above 190, but my body fat was below 30% (29.7) for the first time this year.  That is potentially an even better indicator of progress than weight, but also noisier so I haven't been tracking it as closely.  I think I started around 37% though, so significant progress.  I have to get to 20% to be "normal," or to 25% to just be "overweight."

So here's how to lose a pound

My buddy Larry once went on a diet where he would eat whatever he wanted to during the day, but nothing after 5 or 5:30. He lost a ton of weight (30-40 lbs). Everyone said it was BS, it doesn't matter in the long term when you eat calories, they all count. But you can't argue with results...

So yesterday, we bugged out of work a little early -- 4:30 -- and had a couple glasses of wine (1g carb each and dehydrating) and some "sliders" (little burgers, which I ate without the bun. We ate the sliders around 5, so that when I got home and had dinner near 7, all I had was a couple pieces of summer sausage. So between the wine dehydrating me and the early meal, I lost a pound since yesterday. Down to 189.4 which is a total 0f -17.4 lbs since I started.

I'm sure that tomorrow I will be higher, but it's good to break new ground every once in a while. And I'm into a new decade of weight.