Running and Diet

I managed to run just over 5 miles today at 8.15 minute mile pace. It's quite odd how running improves radically by getting out and doing it. The extra motivation of my GPS powered 'virtual partner' doesn't hurt either. I set a pace and time and my virtual partner runs with me at that pace. The readout on the GPS tells me all the time whether I am ahead or behind. So, speeding up the virtual partner a little every time I run, combined with my competitive streak, helps me speed up.

Even with the virtual partner I'm a bit surprised I scrubbed over 20 seconds per mile off my last 5 miler; and was only 2 seconds per mile off my 3 mile circuit pace.

I imagine the diet is helping. I'm down a couple of pounds now and persumably up on some leg muscle, so it's heading in the right direction. Dieting is hard enough that it's become a challenge, though not having had any alcohol for 9 days is a bit weird, good but weird.

I'm eating a fraction of what I normally eat and still feel fine. It is quite amazing that the human body needs so little. It's quite surprising that we don't get fatter by the amount we normally overeat. The body seems pretty efficient at dealing with excess really, well, mine does anyway. My diet is so radically different at the minute that I'm surprised my weight loss is not greater. I could go back to my usual slack diet and beer and not gain much weight, and yet radically cutting back scrubs off little. A bit more of that reasoning and I could give up. This is probably the first time I've dieted really seriously and it's surprising slow!