20/25 Challenge Week 8 & 9

Slacker, yeah that’s me well blog slacker at least, very little reading and a fraction more writing! My bad! So by way as a round up here are two weeks of results for the challenge! Week 9 at the top and Week 8 below. It looks like everyone has moved about, that seems pretty usual somehow I floated to the top, not the purpose of the exercise, figuratively not literally! So I’ll pass on the prize and pass my good fortune to Frenchie who ties for equal top place in Week 8 with Big Bork.

That’s the second week in three he’s topped out so a big well done. There are multiple weeks prizes to be claimed, Big Bork has two weeks and Frenchie has one, claim your prizes here.

LARunr and Lindsay are a little late with their reporting!

With only two weeks to go there’s a little steam left, keep the reporting up and the accountability will follow, personally I have managed to drop 15lbs, so I am more than happy and thank everyone for keeping me on the straightish and narrowish.

Talking of which the dust has nearly settled on the VitalSox giveaway with Rio and Don winning the Medium and Large respectively, that leaves a small which is 3-6 mens or a 4-7 womens…there must be someone who entered who has dainty feet? Claim them by the end of the week or I’ll just give them away! I’ll be mailing out them out over the weekend, remember you need to write up a review.

I have one more giveaway, for a race entry left in my coffers…are you gonna be in SoCal in November? D0 want to take a boat to the start line? Would you like to run in a pristine car free environment?

Oh and there’s around 3700’ of elevation gain…

….but the climb is worth the view, stay tuned….

20/25 Challenge Week 7

Sorry folks a bit late in posting the results this week, work, life. training and losing the friggin’ spreadsheet all conspired against me! Anyway as usual it’s all change, this week Big Bork takes the lead, this may be the kick in the pants he needs to get the ball re-rolling, yeah Brian I listened to your latest podcast episode, hey we’re all busy! But nice job for staying away from the artery blocking fast food! There were a few non reporters, you know who you are and so do we as you have a grey mark! Fortunately for me marathon training is kicking in and I am on the loss side again!

So with only a month left to go there’s still $125 left to claim, talking of which you winners need to contact me to claim your prizes, check out this spreadsheet and tell me whose you want!

Oh and on the prizes front stay tuned I have a couple of good give-aways coming up; including some pairs of Vital Sox, read the reviews here and an entry into the Catalina Marathon Eco Challenge in November.

Finally I came across this and thought you would like it...

20/25 Challenge Week 6

Momentum is drying up, with five weeks to go progress is slowing with some backsliding and lots of status quo and some non reporters, (in yellow), I am sure the weather has contributed; rain, snow, we've had it all around here in the last week…well snow in the surrounding hills. Don't loose sight of the prize folks! That being said Billy wins again!

I am back on the wagon, having hung up my shoes for two weeks the second week giving me time to get my feet wet at the new job. I am finding my time slot in the wee early hours before work, at least for now, works well, well at least until the runs get longer. I'm getting a good reminder of how nice it is to get that run in early head torch or not. I am back in the training groove following the FIRST marathon plan which will bring me to the start line of the Rock N Roll Marathon in San Diego in June.

This weekend I am volunteering at the PCTR Malibu Creek race, it’s virtually in my back yard and it’s a good opportunity to meet up with some fellow bloggers and runners including Billy and Penny. I am working the Tapia aid station so stop by and I’ll fill your bottles!

20/25 Challenge Week 5

As we approach the half way mark so the scales tip, metaphorically and literally Ms V and Billy do a 180 and switch places; I sense a bit of horse trading for gift cards is about to take place!

Every one else seems to have found some balance or loss and despite Lindsay abstaining from M&Ms she goes positive as does Billy who had too many ribs! Of the losers/winners Pachina and Frenchie are leading the charge. Big Bork failed to report in so he gets a zero grade. I myself show a slight gain; which in itself is not bad as I haven’t done anything, nada, zip, zilch for 12 days! My mojo has taken a hiatus and I am left in a bit of a funk; I had a monstrous study week last week and started a new job yesterday so my brain is in a spin right now and I fully expect it to remain that way for the remainder of the week so you all get hall passes from me as far as I am concerned, the good news for me is that my new job is basically in the foothills of the San Gabriels so I get to look at them everyday, see photo below. I am thinking I need to fill in a race entry to get my mind back in the game, that usually focuses me!

If you missed the video from the last post you can find it here! It’s worth 4 minutes of your time, trust me!

20/25 Challenge Week 4

Well they say the only constant is change and this week it was all about change. In with a bullet comes LARunr (Billy) with some serious loss, I am left wondering did he cut a limb off…actually I know this not true as there are plenty of pictures on his latest post of him volunteering at Twin Peaks last weekend, it looks like they had slightly different weather from when I was last there! BTW if you’ve never volunteered for a race what are you waiting for, it makes for a really rewarding Saturday or Sunday morning!

Anyway needless to say it’s an impressive loss and a deserved win! I am sure he has one eye on the Los Angeles Marathon next which month and I know those lost pounds will make his day all the more easier. Let me know whose $25 Gift Certificate you want and I’ll hook you up, you can check their availability here!

By way of a quick and tasty recipe here’s a staple in our household, it’s good for a breakfast, lunch or late night snack: Spinach and cream cheese omelet:

Out of choice I prefer to use one egg and a one serving of Egg Beaters but you can use all real eggs or just egg whites if you like.

Use enough ‘egg’ for two eggs equivalent

Splash of milk

Salt and pepper to season

Tofutti cream cheese

Frozen chopped spinach – defrosted in the microwave; 30 seconds

Mix the egg, milk, salt and pepper and whisk up. Pour into a heated frying pan, keep folding the liquid in until you have a solid base, take a spoonful of the cream cheese and spread over half the egg, do the same with the spinach. Carefully fold over the uncovered half making sure that you don’t squeeze all the contents out…that would be bad! Give it a minute and then flip it over and give another minute or two on the other side. Slide it out onto a plate and serve with a healthy spoonful of salsa!

20/25 Challenge Week 3

Well first off I am renaming the Challenge to the 20/25. Triborg let me know that RRS Gift Certificate minimum is $25, sorry folks my bad…but hey look at this way the pot just increased by $50!

Bootchez claimed her Gift Certificate last week and this week we have a new leader El DeCampo, with a solid 2%+ drop, great job! Let me know whose $25 you want and I’ll hook you up!

Personally I have slowed down, but I am almost at my half way point. It looks like SuperBowl Sunday took it toll and a few super sized bowls of chips were scarfed! Never mind, put it behind you and get back in the saddle. It’s a new week with new resolve!

No recipes this week but a few tidbits from Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald:

…."increasing the nutrition per calorie ratio of your diet will enable you get all the nutrients you need for maximum performance from fewer calories thus enabling you to become leaner. An effective way to improve your diet is to score it the quality of your diet and continue to score your diet quality as you make efforts to improve it”…in other words think quality not quantity!

Weighing yourself often is not necessarily a bad thing…"in 2008 100 overweight individuals enrolled in a 12 month program were encouraged to weigh themselves frequently at home. The study’s authors found that the frequency of self-weighing was significantly correlated with weight loss and weight-loss maintenance. Subjects lost approximately one extra pound for every 11 days they weighed themselves”…

…“For runner’s, high mileage is a better way to get lean that calorie restriction because calorie restriction does not send the same message. Calorie restriction tells your body to conserve energy, which it will do by reducing it’s metabolic rate to retain fat stores, dismantling more muscle tissue than it otherwise would and making you feel sluggish in workouts so you go slower, quit sooner, and thereby burn fewer precious calories”…I gotta say this is true, my long workouts last summer, while not fast were high mileage and I was pretty darn close to where I wanted to be weightwise.

Anyway it’s an interesting read for sure!

20/20 Challenge Week 2

Another week another weigh in and a new leader. Bootchez takes the lead, congratulations, a monster week for her. I had a pretty good week as did Velma. It looks like it’s been a tough week for some with status quo being maintained and few folks have slipped back into negative territory! Still there’s another 9 weeks to go yet.

Bootchez nominate whose $20 you’re claiming and don’t let it burn a hole in your pocket!

I picked Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance during the week, well it arrived from Amazon on Friday, it makes for an interesting read for sure, I’ll keep you in the loop on it as I read through it. Personally I am starting to see some benefits of the weight loss, I had a killer 8 miler on Saturday and nailed my 10k split in 42 and change see the last post where I blow my trumpet all about that; well somebody has to, right!

I also posted on Twitter about the making of some protein bars during the weekend, several people asked for the recipe. It’s an ongoing debate in our household about giving the kids healthy snacks and actually finding something where there second ingredient (and sometimes the third and fourth and fifth) are not sugar or a syrup of some kind can be tricky and you know they’re not going to always want fruit.

I found this recipe in a freebie magazine and gave it a go, I am still tweaking it, the most recent tweaks are in parenthesis, it’s not bad.

• 1 c. quinoa flour (wholegrain flour)
• 2 oz. whey protein
• 1 oz. apple pectin powder
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ c. sundried cranberries (raisins)
• 3 dates (dried apricots)
• 2 oz ground pistachios (or sunflowers) (tried with and without)
• 2 tsp orange zest
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 4 oz brown rice syrup (tried agave syrup and honey)
• 1 oz ground flax
• 1 oz unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tbsp of soy nut butter
• 2 tbsp of egg whites

Directions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350°

2. Combine dry ingredients, dried fruit and ground pistachios in a bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients and stir well. Pour onto dry ingredients.

4. Spray 9” cake pan with nonstick cooking spray.

5. Bake for 25–30 minutes.

6. Cool and cut.

I have been using a 1½” square as a mid morning and afternoon snack, it’s amazingly dense and really fills you up. Once you have nailed the ingredients (Whole Foods) give it a whirl, it’s pretty good stuff!

20/20 Challenge Week 1

Well the votes, are in, well they are not votes but you know what I mean! It seems the weather, travel and a some status quo have all taken their toll.

It’s ok we have another 10 weeks to go and this is early days. All things being equal not a bad week for the first one and especially as I seem to have won…er not quite the point here folks! Still all is not lost as this means I get to claim the $20 RRS Gift Certificate from, well, me! So that was easy and painless, next week someone will need to put their hand in their pocket, you can follow who has here.

I got a couple of emails asking how this exactly will work, so think of it like a pool and each week the winner claims from it; RRS allows you to send a Gift Certificate to someone else, so starting next week the winner will claim from the pool proper, no more claiming your own!

Ok moving on. Today I posted on Twitter that I was making Mac-n-Cheat and someone asked for the recipe. so here you go. it’s a dead easy recipe, and is way healthier than your typical Mac –n-Cheese. You will need:

6-8 medium to large carrots, box of pasta, half block of good cheese, I prefer cheddar, the quality of the cheese offsets the lack of quantity. Ratio the carrots to cheese at 2:1.

Boil the carrots until they are soft enough to puree and them, well, puree them. Using the same water boil up the pasta, drain and then mix in the puree and the cheese and voila. Significantly less calories then your typical version and for fellow parents it’s an easy way to get one portion of veggies inside picky kids, and if I say so myself it’s really tasty too!

Here starts Week 2, let’s get it on, off!

Friday roundup…

Well we’ve been having a bit of rain round here lately, on and off all week, mostly on. It’s not a bad thing per se other than the lack of drainage and the flooding and the mudslides, but other than that it’s all good. That’s why the invented the treadmill.

With Monday being a split holiday in our household; I was off my wife not, I headed off to Santa Barbara Zoo with the kids to run laps around the flamingos and them.

Tuesday night was scheduled intervals, so off to the gym I headed I fully expected to be limited in time but I managed to get my whole session completed in one go 2 mile warm up, 4 x 1200m 400 rest, 1 mile cool down.

Wednesday I should have hit the pool but I didn’t get out of work till 9:00pm and would not be at home for an hour and I had to be back at work for 6:00am the next morning so I just bagged it.

Thursday it was still raining hard so I was back at the gym, it was a short 5 mile tempo run; 1 mile warm up. 3 miles at 6:35 pace and 1 mile cool down.   I was really feeling on top of my game despite not having that much sleep and just let if flow on the treadmill.

I managed to pull off negative splits through the tempo 3 miles and was pleasantly surprised ecstatic with my mile splits, I was actually faster than the prescribed pace and hit a new unofficial PR (previously at 6:15) , yeah it’s on a treadmill, but, well, we’ll see in a couple of weeks.

Tonight I did hit the pool for a 1000m and then polished it off with some weight training on the legs and a spell in the whirlpool! Remaining this week is a long tempo run of 10 miles scheduled for tomorrow, fingers crossed the rain holds off!I have been a bit hit and miss on my Sit up/Push up/Squats challenge  but I am slowly improving, not surprisingly pushups are the hardest!

I picked up this recommendation from Mike over at the DDRTP and placed an Amazon order. During the week this arrived, it’s a spiral bound edition, I have only really flicked through it so far but I want/need to improve my flexibility, typically I do stretch after each run but with the work on my core etc I need to add this in to avoid being overwound, what I do like about the book is that you can make the sessions as long or short as you like, it’s broken down into body areas and there is a section that is divided into focusing on power, strength, flexibility and mental focus. Also in the mail this week was my Brand Champion road racing kit that I ordered from Sugoi including the limited to BCs edition only singlet and arm warmers and a pair of their 42k shorts, so now I am can at least look the part, still there is a lot of value in visualization and the self confidence from simply adopting the attitude of “what would a xxx (insert specialist) do and work it out from there, trust me I have used this and it really works, even in non sports scenarios; think interviews or presentations and the like, the brain is a seriously powerful tool!

This weekend sees the first weigh in for the 20/20 challenge; remember you need to have your number emailed to me by Sunday night, there are 10 players so that’s $200 up for grabs! I’ve been pretty mindful all week and already feel some impact…let the games begin.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

This ‘n’ that…

It’s late so here’s a general round up of the week:

Took Monday off after last Sunday’s race.

Nailed my Intervals on Tuesday 6 x 800m all within my 6:25 - 6:47, I am still short of my target pace but I am getting there, slowly but surely

Wednesday; I hit the pool, pushed for time as there was a lesson waiting, it was drills, legs, float, fins on, fins off, up down, up down, 1000m done! Not far by tri training standards but hey!

Thursday; met up with Billy (LARunr) for a great mixed tempo run on the beach path, 8 miles, again short of target pace of 6:35 by about 20 seconds, but again I am getting there.

Tonight; Sufferfest time! An hour on the trainer having my butt kicked on the Downward Spiral…it’s brutal and that’s all I have to say, I’ll be posting a review next week and have two copies to giveaway in a competition; enter at your own risk!

In other news, I am having issues with my Kayano 16s, not long after I got them I developed a pain in my heel, not while running but the next morning or after being in chair for a while when I started walking it would be tender. I have reverted back to my 15’s and I picked up another pair in the sales. I’ve also been running in my flats with some effect and focusing on both form and function, I find myself going back time and time again to the Newton website…hmm we’ll see!

Tomorrow I have an 8 mile tempo run, an hour on the local roads and that closes out this week of training. I only have 4 weeks left on this plan. I’ve decided to do the 10k at the Redondo Beach Super Bowl race rather than the 5k, it’s one week ahead of the end of the training plan but it is the race where I set my current 10k PR, no predictions yet other than an improvement!

I fell off the wagon in my own Situp/Pushup/Squat challenge but I am back in the saddle, talking of challenges don’t forget to email me your start weight if you signed up for the 20lb/$20 Challenge…move over Howie Mandel! There seems to be some confusion mostly caused by me! The basics are it’s a percentage loss challenge not pounds. Everyone buys a $20 RRS card and each week one person will win one from someone else…you only buy one each and when they are all gone it's over, if you’re still confused, don’t worry you’ll get the hang of it as we go!

Finally I’ve a whole bunch of reviews in the pipeline, but I am going to eek them out one a week or so…lots of good stuff for y’all!

****************

PostScript from Saturday Jan 16th

I had an awesome 8 miler today, even after Friday nights Sufferfest I managed to just miss the 8 miles in an hour by 36 seconds, that the fastest I have been in a long time and was 40 seconds faster over today’s hillier course than last weekend’s race!

I also nailed my SPS Trifecta tonight…yep I am back in the saddle!

20lb lost, $20 spent!

So as mentioned in this post I am aiming to lose a bit of weight, 20lbs to be precise, that will put me in the high at 16olbs, it’s a lofty goal but most of mine are right! So here’s the deal, to join me in this challenge you need to buy in, a $20 Gift Card to Road Runner Sports gets you a seat at the table. Why RRS? Well they have a good selection of most things running and you can order the card and whatever you want to buy on line so there’s no hassily lines etc.

Here are the rules:

1. This is a weekly challenge based on percentage body weight lost
2. It will operate on the honor system, you’re only fooling yourself
3. It will operate 1 week per competitor, i.e. 9 players equals 9 weeks
4. You need to email me, quadrathon-at-gmail-dot-com, your start weight no later than 5pm Sunday January 17^th
5. You need to email me no later than 5pm the following Sunday and by that time each successive Sunday thereafter your new weight…you snooze you lose
6. The winner of the week will be announced Monday or Tuesday
7. The winner will receive a Gift Card from a fellow competitor which they will nominate; obviously the first Card you win will be the one you have to start with
8. No sandbagging week 1!
9. Winners and Gift Card givers can negotiate off line as to actually sending the cards etc
10. If you’re over the border or overseas email me and we can figure something out I am sure
11. Don’t do anything silly, be healthy and if in doubt stop

The idea here is that potentially if you’re doing well you can earn two, three or five gift cards, $20 will get you some gels or maybe a pair of gloves $60 may get you a nice jacket, $100; that’s a new pair of shoes!

Based on the earlier post these are the folks that are interested, including me there’s $220 already! Confirm by comment below and we’ll start from this weekend!

Billy Burger, Plain Runner, Run to the Finish, Jennifer, Tri James, Velma, S Baboo, Lindsay, Ms. V and Bootchez

Public peer pressure…don’t you just love it!