Random Banter

 Another week in the books! I want to try and make this a bit more interesting, not that anyone reads this, but I have yet to figure that out! So once again I'll go day by day...or something like that.  Monday/Friday - These are weightlifting days and this new training is taxing me a bit more than the last one was. So it's a good thing.  I wasn't as sore on the day after, like last week, but they were still a bit taxing. Hopefully I'm getting stronger and it's helping my running.  So far I have not had lower right back issues on the long run like I have had in the past.   Tuesday was the typical easy run.  Like last week I ventured outside. And like last week it was freaking cold!  I felt like I was getting ready to go skiing with the amount of clothes I was putting on.  OMG! Thursday is workout day.  I did a repeat of last weeks workout but hopefully dialed it in a bit more.  I did one long threshold run for 22 minutes. The goal wa...

 I have just completed my 10th week of training and overall I think I'm getting faster.  I don't have any races, yet, to be sure about that but the training I'm doing looks like I'm overall faster. And this is at the same critical power that I've had before.  I think it's a combination of things that has made this happen.  Losing weight - I'm carrying around 10-15 lbs less. Additionally I think some of that weight has also been transferred to muscle which is helping.  Getting thyroid in check - As of my last blood draw, March, my numbers were as low as they ever had been.  So I think that's helped out a lot.  I know that I've had much more energy.  I'm hopeful that the training I'm doing right now does not bump it up again (ie: I'm not over doing it).  I didn't realize this but I was listening to the Kara Goucher and Des Linden podcast a few weeks ago and apparently this drug I'm on is controversial in the running world for helpin...

So I just finished week 5 of training on Saturday.  This is the first week after our "deload" week.  It was easy.  The amount of work was a bit more than my week two training.  I'm trying to stair step up my time and not push it to hard. Each 4th week I kind of back off an do a CP test at the end of that week.  The first time around I took off the Monday from running but I'm not sure yet if I will do that this time around.  Time will tell. The biggest thing about this week is that I was able to input a couple of my runs that I did outside that were faster and a critical power test and my power jumped WAY up (my watch wasn't syncing with Stryd).  I went from 193 CP (LOL!) up to 261 CP I believe.  So I'm now running about where I think I should be. Saturday was my first day running at this power and it felt good.  Felt like I was doing something! Most of the running was in high zone 1 and low zone 2.  I'm really trying to take things easy....

 Another week is in the books.  I'd love to say that I have lost a bunch of weight this last week but that is not the case.  While it didn't go up it didn't go down by as much as I had wanted.  The lowest weight that I saw on the scale was 214.6.  So it's still down from the 217.6 that I started at.  However today when I got on the scale I was at 216 which I've seen before.  Not sure why but that's what it is.  The lack of weight loss in the past would bother me, and it still does now, but I'm happy that I'm off of my blood pressure medication.  Numbers have been looking really good (this morning's was a bit higher than what I've seen however).  While the weight isn't going down I feel like I'm putting on some muscle, even if it's a small amount! I'm hopeful that at some point the weight will come off and I can begin to see onederland!  It's going to take time and some experimentation to get there.   A couple of things to ...

Week 2 starting weight: 212.8 (after running) Week 2 ending weight: 216.2 (WTF!) Starting waist measurement (8/29/2022): 40.5 Starting chest measurement (8/29/2022): 38.7 Waist measurement (9/12/2022): 39.9 Chest measurement (9/12/2022): 38.4 A big WTF stepping on the scale this morning.  It was lower than my starting weight on 8/29/2022 (217.6) but most of my weigh ins have been a lot less than what I saw this morning.  Not going to put to much thought into it and move on.  I will say that on Friday night I had my wedding anniversary and I did splurge a bit there, but it wasn't super bad.  Ate keto for the most part the rest of the weekend.  Just one of those mornings where things were up.   The measurements being down is nice.  I knew they would be down based on how my shirts were fitting.  My XL shirts are pretty lose and I should probably wear a large shirts but they are still just uncomfortable enough (ie: tight) that I'll stick with my ...

 I hope that over the next few months I'll be good about documenting my journey as I try to transition to a low carb diet and continue to run and to top it off I've been diagnosed with hypothyroidism (I'm on medication).  Which might explain why it has been some damn hard to lose weight.  I probably won't be updating this blog every day but at least once a week I hope to.  As I've looked for information on hypothyroidism for men I've not found a lot so if at least one person happens upon this and it helps them it will be worth it.   So why low carb you might be asking?  There is a couple of reason's.  My wife is doing low carb to drop some weight and I'm going to be there to help support her.  It should be easier to make meals.  The other reason is that when you find information about losing weight with hypothyroidism a lot of it is low carb related or AIP (Auto Immune Protocol).  With AIP you are eliminating a bunch of stuff for a ...