Water weight

I went out for drinks with Kyle after work on Thursday. We had a good time just chewing the fat - arguing our philosophies, making fun of stuff and the like. It was a good time that could be easily measured on the scale the next day. Did I mention that there were a few cookies (3 to be exact) involved. I'm a sucker for beer and cookies. The scale was up 4 pounds in one day. This does not surprise me but it can be frustrating. I was hoping to go strong for the last few days of the month for the weight challenge at work. I do believe, baring someone losing a limb, that I will this friendly competionwin hands down, however, I have not met my goal weight. The saving grace is my true weight deadline, a line in the sand, is not until the following week - The Heat Wave Triathlon.

Regarding this weight loss - everything has been clicking - just working the plans. There have been 3 changes during the last week or so that have caused the weight to fall off. This is huge for me. First, I have been following my training plan - nothing more - nothing less. My fatigue has been in check and I have been feeling good. This keeps my appetite in check and my body is not screaming at me. Also, I do not think that my body is holding onto the calories like it does under stress. Second, I have not been cheating at all on my diet - this is partly due to lack of fatigue. Third, I have cut out packets of artificial sweeteners (pink, blue and yellow). I really developed a bad habit of adding these to my coffee and oatmeal and cottage cheese (don't ask). Although I still get plenty of the artificial stuff from some of the things I eat (diet soda and protein powder) I have cut my consumption dramatically - and I don't even miss them! Studies show that artificial sweeteners may cause a spike in insulin - I do not know if this makes much of a difference but I do know that consuming the sweeteners is not helping anything.

I rode the bike into work on Friday and the weather was nice and cool. Just a leisurely ride and it felt great - no time trialing or race just a nice ride - I do not do this often enough. But, I did not have time to get my swim in during the morning so I rescheduled it for lunch. I wrote down the training plan and headed to the pool. After the bilateral breathing warm up (getting better) I had 7 x 300 yards with 45 seconds recovery. These would all end up between 4:45 and 4:55 - for an average pace of 1:36 / 100 yards. That was my average for my last 1000 yard TT. My swimming might be a little slow at this point but I am feeling more comfortable. All in all I got 2800 yards. I am wanting to start getting out to the lake for a morning swim a couple of times a week. I will just need to look at my schedule and find a buddy that is willing to see the sunrise from the water.