Gearing back up

Well, last week was supposed to be the start of my second Body for Life challenge. I started out the week doing just that, but my adherence to the eating plan was erratic, I missed a workout, and we didn't get our pictures done. So, I decided to trash that week and start this week. I was worried that I would really have problems getting in all my workouts while the play was going on. Now, I don't have to worry about it so much, since I'll be done with the play only a fourth of the way through the challenge. This also gives us time to get our pictures done. The other thing is that we were right at the limit of the last day we could officially enter the 2005 challenge. Now, we will be in the 2006 challenge instead. This means that, if we were to win, we would not know for well over a year, but I don't see that happening and it wouldn't matter if it did. It's not the reason we're doing this.

I still haven't updated the web site with our final pictures. We got the last of them back last week. There are some good ones. But this week became devoted to visiting with friends and getting our bikes out on the road and I decided the web site could wait. I want to make some major changes to it anyway, so I feel I should take some time and think about it.

As I mentioned in the last paragraph, Cheryl and I got back on our bikes this weekend. Incredibly, it was for the first time this summer. I'll tell you right now, my new fitness has translated into some serious gains on the bike. I really felt strong and fast. We did 22 miles and didn't push the pace much, but I felt very comfortable on the bike and actually looked forward to the few hills on the route. Of course, my power to weight ratio is probably better than it's been since I was 25.

I saw two of my college friends over the weekend. We were comparing stomachs and I had the flattest stomach of the three of us. Neither of these guys is in bad shape. In fact, all three of us work out regularly. I think I'm the only one who's doing anything with diet, though. When I described what I was doing, the others didn't think it sounded too hard. The truth is, it's not. At least for me, it's not.

I have some goals for the coming challenge. One is to lose the remaining abdominal fat. The second is to build more muscle. To get a little more specific, the body fat scale and the calipers give different results for my body fat numbers. The one-site caliper test is the lowest and seems to be the most consistent. At the end of the first challenge, it showed me at about 15% body fat. I would like to get that down to around 11%. I know that doesn't sound too ambitious, but I also want to add ten pounds of muscle. The combination of those two will be very difficult. It means I will not have as large a calorie deficit to play with, so my margin for error will be very small (one slice of chocolate cake would probably exceed it). I also have to factor in the week of my latest play, which will probably mess up my workout schedule. Plus, we're going to Florida in about seven weeks and I want to look good for the beach (yes, I know, vanity is a terrible thing), so I want to manage some worthwhile gains before then.

My plan, as far as I've formulated it, is to work the diet and aerobics hard until the play is over, and just try to get my weight workouts in as well as I can. Then, when I have more time available, I'll hit the weights harder and see if I can build up. I don't know how we're going to manage in Florida without our home gym. We might have to find a fitness center there and pay the daily rate.

Sorry, just thinking out loud....well, not really out loud, unless you count the sound of me typing...