Friday, February 1, 2008

Plans for February

I've still got just over 4 months until I start my taper for Western States. I started the year with a good training month and I lost a few pounds. However, the biggest impediment for me having a good race at Western States remains my weight.

So, this month is going to be focused very heavily on weight reduction. While I try to be careful about what foods I eat, I don't focus enough on the quantity of those foods or the total number of calories that I eat. This month, I'm going to count calories on a daily basis, at least for a few weeks, and work hard at limiting the number of calories. I'll let my daily workouts dictate the number of calories somewhat, but I will diligently focus on calories in and calories out.

While running a caloric deficit, I'm guessing that running will be a bit more difficult at times. But, at this time of year, I am focusing on simply accumulating miles, so I've got no problem going very slowly if I'm tired. I may even mix in some walking workouts this month - something like 3.5 to 4.0 mph on the treadmill, with an incline.

I'll still try to get to 200 miles this month, and keep up with my lifting and skiing, but I need to drop some weight. I really want to be training at a lighter weight by the end of March, when I'm done teaching skiing for the year.

On another note, we are going to get slammed by a nasty storm today. It's going to start as snow and then change over to accumulating sleet and then accumulating ice. Getting to the mountain to ski tomorrow morning could be very dicey. Skiing could be really tough tomorrow, even if I can get there. Actually, just getting home from work today is likely to be scary. My commute to work on Wednesday morning was terrifying; my road was a solid sheet of ice and it's all downhill to work. Getting home tonight could be just as bad.

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