plateaus and speedwork

I have been stuck at the 302-305 weight for a week now. My clothes continue to get looser, but I can't imagine muscle gain going on. That wouldn't make sense. Maybe I'm retaining water or something; I don't know.

Whatever the physiological reason, I have convinced myself that there is a psychological basis to this - my mind is working against me, keeping me from crossing that elusive 300-lb barrier, something I haven't weighed since High School. It is an enourmous goal for me, the first significant goal of my diet. After losing 7-10 lbs per week, I have been stuck within 5 lbs of 300 for a week. Consciously, it's driving me nuts - but I have a feeling that there is some sort of subconscious factor which is preventing me from getting past 300. It may be manifesting itself with my eating habits; I haven't been as disciplined as I was a month ago - yet I've been careful to log every calorie I eat in fitday, and I'm still well under my BMR - so that shouldn't be it. It may be some sort of psycho-babble mind-body connection that I'm unaware of and unable to control. Who knows? I just wish I could see that scale read 299 so I can get on with this thing. I'm almost ready to fast until that happens; I'm that eager to blow through it.

"But no fasting yet; instead, I'm going on a 4-6 mile jog today."

and that was the attitude I had when I was driving to the course that I was going to run today, intending to run 5 or 6 easy miles. but on the way, I reflected on:

1. I think I have a psychological barrier to break through, and I'm desperate to weigh less than 300 lbs
2. I just had a nice little conversation this week about how much more effective intervals are than long & slow distance runs from a weight loss perspective.
3. in order to run the marathon in 3:40, what I really need is some speedwork

so that's what I did. 3x800 (800 meters (½-mile) of running fast followed by a period of jogging to recover; repeated three times.) my garmin gps does a really crummy job at logging it, but I ran the intervals at 9 minutes/mile, the recovers at 12. http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2462202

it was my first speedwork of the season.. good workout. now, a few hours later, I can still feel the endorphins flowing.

-steve

entering month 2

While I had stopped eating wheat and red meat for a couple of weeks prior, March 12 was my first day on the 1000-calorie diet.
Now that it's april 12, I am going to increase my daily calorie intake slightly - and increase my running as well. I'll aim for 1200-1400 calories per day, and run about ten miles per week.

By July, I'll be eating something between 2000 and 3000 calories a day, and running 20 miles per week.
peak marathon training, 45 miles per week, and as many calories as I need to support that (and maintain weight)

30-45 minute workout tunes

Heavy metal is a prevailing theme for these high-intensity runs.

1. B.Y.O.B. - System of a Down
2. Ten Ton Hammer - Machine Head
3. Chop Suey! - System of a Down
4. Down With the Sickness - Disturbed
5. Killing in the Name - Rage Against the Machine
6. For whom the Bell Tolls - Metallica
7. Caught in a Mosh - Anthrax
8. Mota - Offspring

I'm usually done at this point, but if I'm still out there sucking wind,

9. Metallica - Master of Puppets

at 8½ minutes, will usually carry me to the end of the workout. If not, I start over with System of a Down again.