Week 12 Food Times

Week 12 -- 10:45 a.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Week 12, Day 1 & 2

Day 1
Weight: 240 lbs.
Waist: 44.0 inches

Ride: 30.0 miles
Time: 2 hours 5 minutes 2.74 seconds
Pace: 14.4 miles per hour
Conditions: light north wind.

Calories burned: 2,272.54

First food: 10:33 a.m.
Last food: 2:53 p.m.
Exceptions: Scone at Starbucks; salad later.

Note: Rode over the causeway to La Bou in West Sac, but arrived just before it was closing; so I stopped at the Enterprise Blvd Starbucks and had a good coffee and a good scone. On the way home I took the Olive Drive bike path.

Day 2
Weight: 240 lbs.
Waist: 44.0 inches

Run: 3.0 miles
Time: 30 minutes 0.00 seconds
Pace: 10.0 minutes per mile
Conditions: no wind.

Calories burned: 545.41

First food: 11:09 a.m.
Last food: 3:02 p.m.
Exceptions: Post-run banana.

Note: Today was my second post-illness run. I ran the west loop of the North Davis greenbelt + an added circle on Heron, Curlew and Sandpiper, before returning to the greenbelt. The route was a bit too short, and I think I'll do a full outer greenbelt loop next time I run in North Davis.

Week 11, Day 7

Weight: 240 lbs.
Waist: 44.0 inches

Run: 3.7 miles
Time: 41 minutes 0.00 seconds
Pace: 11.1 minutes per mile
Conditions: raining; light south wind.

Calories burned: 672.67

First food: 10:44 a.m.
Last food: 3:24 p.m.
Exceptions: Post-run banana.

Note: Today was my first post-illness run. I returned to my exercise routine on Friday, October 16, but put off returning to the restrictions of the diet until today. On Friday and yesterday (Sunday), I rode the 17.7 mile Tremont Cemetery course; and Saturday I rode to Steady Eddie's in Winters (27.3 miles) and back. I'm not where I was on the bike -- or running. But I had a nice pace going on the bike ride home from Winters, even passing a number of riders on much faster bicycles.

The infection which won't ever die

It's almost been three weeks since I first got sick. Typical for me, my throat began to ache. That was on Sunday, September 27 -- 19 days ago. Since then, I have had a cold, ranging from mild to miserable. I've had a lot of mucous in my sinuses, headaches, some coughing, a little sneezing, and generally a feeling of fatigue.

My thinking from the beginning, which I now largely regret, was that I had to go off the time and nutrient restrictions of this diet for the duration of my illness, because I didn't want a lack of food throughout the day to prolong my sickness. Yet despite violating every rule -- eating ice cream, cereal, bread and so on at all hours of the day and night -- I didn't get well. I'm still not perfectly healthy.

So today, feeling mostly better, I return not just to the diet but to the exercise. This afternoon, I will go for my first bike ride since I caught this infection. And should I get sick again, I'll not use that as an excuse to quit the diet temporarily. All that does is make me gain weight, which was hard enough to lose in the first place, and make it that much harder to get back the inertia of the entire diet and exercise program.