The $500 Diet

Have you made a resolution this year?  Let’s see, today is January 5th.  Is your will power starting to wane? 

I always here people talk about the movie stars and the shape that they are in – It goes something like this – I could look like Brad Pitt in Fight Club if I had a personal trainer and $20 million to lose.  Well what if instead of getting $20 million you had to pay $500?

Enter the website stickk.com .   You make contracts with real consequences (optional money) on the line.  You commit to do something and then have a nonpartisan report on you progress.  It is strict accountability! 

How about losing weight.  Say you want to lose 10 pounds over the next 10 weeks.  You set up a goal date and goal weight.  Then you weigh in each week and have the nonpartisan report it.  If you met your goal – CONGRATULATIONS.  If not, your credit card is charged the appropriate amount ($$$) - Would you rather lose a pound next week or $500?  Let me show you how it works.

Just in time for New Year’s Resolutions, here’s a guide to make weight loss resolutions stickK.  It’s The $500 Diet and for a limited time you can read it for free.

Most diet books are written by physicians and scientists, but The $500 Diet is my attempt to give economics and contract law a chance to change how much you want to eat. It’s a seven-step plan to strengthen your resolve – to help you make credible New Year’s resolutions.

Would you rather lose a pound next week or $500?

You can pick from several resolutions – Lose Weight, Exercise Regularly, Quit Smoking, Race!, Maintain Weight, or a Custom Goal.

Optionally you can put money at stake to ensure that you reach your goal.  You give you credit card information.  You can have the money go to an individual, a charity or an ANTI charity (brutal).

You then assign a referee to monitor and report your progress.  If you do not succeed then your credit card is charged appropriately.

Here is the one I made for myself – Mardi Gras Marathon – sub-3 hours.

If anyone needs a referee just let me know.

New Year 2010 and Steam Whistle Race Report.

Closing out 2009 – This was a year of many firsts. I stepped into the deep end and signed up for my first ½ ironman as well as my first full ironman. I enjoyed the experience of both races. I also increased my volume in all three disciplines – the swim / bike / run. While increasing my volume I was able to achieve a Personal Best in almost all of my races (actually all of my races except for the Jazz Half Marathon – I ran this race for fun). I believe that this is typical of your third year in endurance sports. I am hoping to continue this trend by dipping into my ironman base.


Races in 2009:

Run for Love 5K – 19:19 PR
St. Thomas Irish Italian 5K – 19:09 PR
April Fool’s Duathlon – PR – 57:07 ***
70.3 New Orleans – 5:30 PR ***
Heatwave Triathlon – 2:09 PR (by 5 minutes)
Dragonfly Triathlon – 1:36 PR ***
Sunfish Triathlon – 1:17 PR (by 6 minutes)
Heart O’Dixie Triathlon – 2:13 PR (by 10 minutes)
Ironman Louisville – PR – 11:18 ***

Jazz Half Marathon – 1:40 (NO PR)
Baton Rouge Beach Half Marathon- 1:37:07 PR (by 8 seconds)
Ole Man River Half Marathon – PR – 1:33:53 PR (by 4 + minutes)
*** First time at this distance

2009 Totals –

Bike:        4459.58 Mi - 249h 19m 14s Pace: 17.88 Mi/hr
Run:         1023.25 Mi - 148h 28m 31s Pace: 08m 38s Mi
Swim:  231014.00 Yd -   76h 31m 30s Pace: 01m 59s /100 YdAvg

As you can see in the chart below – my volume for October and November really dropped off of the map. I did not meet any of my mileage goals for the year (5000 bike / 1200 run / 300,000 swim) but I count this year as a huge success!  On a side note, last month was my biggest running month for the year – I guess that is what happens when you shift to a running based goal (to BQ at the Mardi Gras Marathon).

Now onto The Steam Whistle 12K New Year’s Day race.

This race is on the trace just out my back door.  Jodie and I rode our bikes down to Jackson Station and picked up our race packets.  I programmed my GPS watch to run at a 6:40 minute / mile pace. This would be a reach for me. Last week I ran a strong 4 mile tempo run with the last 3 miles being at 6:40 pace. I though that in race conditions I could, maybe, push this pace and last for the entire 12K (7.45 miles). This would be tough. It was a cold morning lining up at Jackson Station and we were all anxious to run. I spoke with Steve C. before the race and hoped that I could pace off of him. He was not sure of the pace that he would be running. I stuck to my plan and ran off of the ‘virtual partner’. He was set for exactly 6:40 minutes per mile which should allow for me to finish the race at just under 50 minutes. This would be my Gold Medal goal for the race.

First the first 2 K’s I was in fourth place – first and second being way out in front and pulling away fast. I was running a little too fast and quickly got about 180 feet ahead of the ‘virtual partner’. This guy just goes out too slow – or maybe I was a little too fast. I tried to slow down just a little bit and run even pace. I was slowing during the middle part of the race – Terry and Robin paced me easily. They were just doing a ‘training run’. They passed me easily. I was able to pick up the pace towards the end of the run and achieve my goal time. I finished the race in 49:38 with an average pace of 6:39. I met my goal and I am going to continue to try to race myself to a Boston Qualifying Time of 3:14:59 (7:28 minutes / mile pace). I ran this race hard with an average heart rate of 181. I ended up finishing 6th out of 97 and first in my age group. Everyone that beat me was years older (8 of the top 10 were older than 42). These guys were always fast and have just gotten older.  After helping clean up and getting Jim's truck unstuck (a huge effort by many pine belt pacers) - Jim and I decided to get a few more miles under our belts.  We got another 4.6 miles to end up with just over 12 miles for the day.

Not quite jumping...

FYI - I was down 2.8 pounds since yesterday - the diet is getting back on track (13resolutions).

I went to the gym again last night to make up my cycling that I missed due to the (surprise) pool being back open. I got to the gym just after 5 PM. School started back up yesterday and the gym was packed. This is typical - all the students trying to lose the holiday weight or the freshmen 15 (I actually think it is more like 20 now a days).

The only exercise bike that was available was a recumbent that did not have all of the foot straps. I was in my cycling shorts so I was committed. Besides, I had brought a book with me and the session only called for 1 hour at low intensity.

Even reading the book and listening to fast techno music (podrunner) I was bored by about 30 minutes. I lasted until 45 minutes and then decided to mix it up. I jumped on a just available treadmill (the good thing about the new students at the gym is that they do not last long) to do a BRICK workout. I have not done a BRICK since, I'm guessing, before Thanksgiving. A BRICK is moving from one exercise to another with very little time in between - usually from biking to running. Your legs feel funny - like bricks.

It must have been the change of pace or the easy riding but the BRICK felt good. I started out at 8:30 min / miles for 2 minutes. Felt good. I went up to 8:00 min / miles for a couple of more minutes. I cranked up the music and I settled into a 7:03 / 6:53 min / mile pace for the rest of the 2 miles.

For an impromptu BRICK I was pleased with the sub-14 2 mile endeavor. It sure made the last 15 minutes pass quickly.

This morning I did not exactly jump out of bed but I did get going early. I was able to complete a slow 6 mile run at the gym in just under 48:00 minutes (about 8:00 min / mile). Getting the run out of the way will allow for me to get the swim in at lunch.

Ballroom dance class this evening.

The time is now!

Got down to freezing last night and I enjoyed a brisk run into work. It was about 35 degrees when I left the house. I was dressed just about right and got a good workout in without getting chilled or overheating. I have done enough of these runs in the past that I have a pretty good idea of how to manage. I did the 6 miles run in a comfortable pace of 8 minute miles. This is a conversational pace for me and I am just adding base miles. It is much easier to run in cool / cold weather than bike. Many more layers are necessary with a 20 MPH wind chill.

My Achilles tendon started hurt just a little towards the end of the run. I need to baby this so that it does not get out of control and actually affect my training.

At lunch I decided to skip the "Dot Race" (everyone was pretty wussy with the temperature outside anyway) and I rode the exercise bike for 30 minutes. A pretty challenging effort but I was still able to read most of a Women's Fitness magazine - good stuff. After the bike Richard, Chad and I hit the WOZ (workout zone) for arms. I generally do not do isolation exercises so these always kill me.

So, it's true, I am very goal oriented. I firmly believe that if you plan something then you will succeed! Write down what you want to do, make it a priority and you can achieve it (sounds like an infomercial - you'll be saying sham wow everytime). I found a social networking site regarding goals ( http://www.43things.com/ ). Not sure if this is the site for me but I registered and put down my exercise goals - (complete half marathon, complete full marathon, complete half ironman, complete full ironman, lose body fat). You can also encourage others on goals that you believe to be worth while. It might help to motivate a little. BTW - do not do a search for fat girlfriends - you will find this guy - link ... and whatever you do - please do not go to his myspace page - link ...

Anyway - back on track -

A glass of water was knocked over on the alarm clock last night - not sure how that happened - the lights go out early at my house. Anyway I awoke to the 'zero hour'. Wake up call?

zero hour - The scheduled time for the start of an operation or action, especially a combat operation of great size. Thesaurus: A decisive point: climacteric, crisis, crossroad (used in plural), exigence, exigency, head, juncture, pass, turning point. See decide/hesitate.

I used to listen to a podcast from (I think) everydaysystems that had an episode about resolutions not just being for New Year's. Why put everything off to one time of year? Why not do resolutions (forming positive habits / breaking negative habits) all year long. So starting next month I am going to pick a new resolution and attempt to stick to it. They (I don't know who they are) say that it takes 21 days to start / stop a habit. A month should be plenty of time for self improvement. I've got tons of stuff that I would like to improve on - and fortunately I have already started some good ones and broken some pretty bad ones. (I already exercise a lot and I don't smoke anymore - if you do these then this is the place to start - let me know if you need any encouragement or to be slapped around if you slip - I'm good at this.) I'm going to try to stick to a little better diet and lose some body fat. I already eat fairly well but I get into trouble as the week goes on. I get in a calorie deficit and I overcompensate with bad food (binge - I like the cake). I have started tracking everything that eat with http://www.fitday.com again. Complete transparency! - my fitday - I'm going to track everything.