Billy-Off 2009 Week 1, Day 1

Pshew.

Thanksgiving was good; however, when I hit the scales on Saturday, there was an ugly number staring me in the face:

180

Wow. 180 pounds. The last time I was there was probably 3 years ago. 180 was a number I didn’t think I’d see again. But there it was, and the fact of the matter is that it’s been almost as long (2 years) since I’ve seen 160, which is about where I ought to be. So, the focus this month is going to be trying the Men’s Health “Belly-Off” plan.

It’s not that I’m not running. Mostly, I think that the problem is diet – Too easy to go grab junk from the geedunk machine or a drive through, and even though I’m more conscious than most, not thinking packs on the pounds. It’s really just the focus part.

The plan’s pretty simple – a “2 minute drill” every morning (15 seconds each of jumping jacks, skips, pushups – basically some plyometrics first thing in the morning). Then there’s about 15 minutes of exercises, and 15 minutes of interval training on M/W/F, and a longer workout on Saturdays.

I did the first workout yesterday – the “No-Gym classic” workout A. I was pretty pleased I was able to finish it, but BOY did I feel it this morning. It wasn’t until I was going through the weekly plan last night that I realized I was supposed to do intervals yesterday, too, so I did those this morning. I hate to say it, but I’ve been focusing on just endurance for SO long, that my legs were jelly by the end of the 6th interval and I wanted to puke. That’s how you know you’re doing them right, right?

So, we’ll see how this goes. If I can stick with the eating, I think I’ll drop weight. If not, I think I’m hozed. I’m planning on working in a long run on the weekend so that I can maintain mileage to start working up to VT the first week in January. But I think that getting some “old-school exercise” might be a good thing, at least for a month.

Longer-term, I think that I’m going to shoot for the Vermont City Marathon – Missy doesn’t want to run it three years in a row

PS – I’m going to spare the before picture. Save for linking to this picture of a scary guy with a moustache during Mo-Vember. (It’s December now, so the ‘stache is gone. It’s also never too late to donate, and most of you guys still have a chance to go talk to your doctors. Take care, fellas)