Week 5 - It's all about the Soup!

  This week was a slow one. In fact, there is absolutely nothing to report on the fundraising side of things, so I'll keep this weeks post on the short side and just talk a bit about the training.

The Training

Ughh. The Calories.

Sometime last week, I finally accepted the truth. 

I've been eating too much.

For the last few months I've been frustrated that I haven't been losing any more weight. In fact, I somehow managed to GAIN a few pounds. This is especially frustrating to me because I've been running a lot more these last few months, averaging about 125 miles a month. (compared to about 75 miles a month during the summer and early fall.)

After listening to another one of my recent frustrated rants about this, my wife Kate gently suggested that if i don't start paying attention to my calories, I probably wasn't going to lose any more weight.

Knowing she was right, I had her show me the iPhone App she has been using to keep track of her calories, and dove into it myself.

I won't get too detailed, but so far so good.

By keeping my calories "under budget" just about every day these last 2 weeks, I have dropped about 4 pounds! I've been learning a lot about the nutritional values of the foods I eat. It has been quite a shock to see how many calories i've been (over) eating while thinking that I've been "eating well".  I don't really know how hard core I'm going to be, but I'm hoping I can use this method to drop the last 10 pounds to get to my goal weight of 185.

This Weeks Running

(34.5 miles)

Although this week's mileage was a little less than it has been for the last couple of weeks, it was marked with a couple of cool "firsts"

On wednesday, I ran in the snow for the first time. It was actually pretty nice! I stayed off the road and did some trail running in Hopedale. The snow never really accumulated, so it ended up being a pretty run without the hidden dangers of running on the snow.

Saturday Long Run

13.25 miles

The other big first for this week came on my saturday long run with the Run For the Memory crew.

I did  my first training run longer than the half-marathon distance! 

We met at the same spot as last week, (the top of Heartbreak Hill) and headed back towards Wellesley. A  few of us extended the distance out about 3/4 of a mile further than last week. The end result was 13.25 miles finishing at the top of heartbreak. I was definitely huffing and puffing as I finished, but i think it was because of the uphill finish, not the distance.

This being the last run before Christmas, a few of the runners came in festive get-ups.

(but most of us Scrooge-types dressed in our normal running gear.)

Here are a couple shots of the good sports!

Ed Cederholm is one of our team's leaders and a multiple time Boston Marathon finisher

A few other long time members of the Run For the Memory Crew including the infamous "Dales"
in the black and orange tops.

Sunday Soup Group

7.4 Miles

This week, the Soup Group ran on the Milford bike path, which is part of one of my regular route. 

This is a great place to do a group run because everyone can run alongside each other and chat

without worrying about sidewalks and cars. After the run, we all headed over to Nick's house for the soup!

The payoff! Not sure what this soup is called, but does it matter? I mean, just look at it!
It was supplied by Jeff Hattem.

Soup Group Face of the Week!

Nick Julian

Nick Julian is one of the group original members. This year he's making a big comeback from an injury.
He was this week's Soup Group host, and as it turns out, he's also my cousin!

Thats it for now......