21 days since testing

It was a little more than three weeks ago I reported to Cadence for testing. Since then Coach Brian Walton has been sending me detailed workouts plans, and my nutritionist, Rebecca Marks Rudy, of Trismarter.com, has been watching over my diet.

As I've mentioned before, accountability works magic when a schedule becomes inflamed with responsibilities. Work has been crazy. But I've hit all my workouts and have been following Rebecca's recommendations quite religiously. Although I did have a few more beers yesterday than my allotted one, Rebecca said that on occasion, in conjunction with heavier training days, it was OK to do something like enjoy the Super Bowl.

It's amazing what can happen in three weeks time. Something clicked over about 10 days ago and I could feel that I'd lost weight. Yesterday, in fact, I weighed in at 197. I'm soon due for a bike test on the Computrainer using a CycleOps Power Tap, but I can tell you right now that I'm feeling more power and fluidity on the bike. On the run my pace at 145 beats per minute has noticeably dropped.

It's funny; I had been out of shape for about two years. There's a despair that sinks in. You start to believe you're ten thousand miles away from feeling like an athlete again. Yet in truth, it's really not that far away. Certainly I'm a long ways off from attaining a level like was, but the feeling alone of being cattle-prodded back into a good training discipline is enough of a buzz in itself. There are 10 weeks of training until I return to Cadence for my followup testing. It's marked on the calendar, believe me. Like Dave Scott often says, a key to good training is to make a game of it.

Another note about working with Rebecca. She understands how life can be, and in talking with her about how to redirect my diet, she didn't load me up with dozens of recipe books. She talked me through how I can set things up so if I get home after a long day of work, training, commuting and errands, I don't have to spend an hour trying to cook something. In other works, I have become a big fan of Lean Cuisine and other relatively healthy frozen dinners. That and a salad and I'm good to go.

That and one light beer. Except on Super Bowl Sunday.