El Guapo

El Guapo, you can't live with him, you can't live without him.

Over the past few months I've had good success in the areas of weight loss and training. I'll provide a training update later in this post but for now I want to share that some of old nemeses have begun to creep back in over the past couple weeks. Typically when one hears the word nemesis, thoughts turn to heroes and villains. Flash Gordon and Ming the Merciless, Batman and the Joker, Seinfeld and Newman are such examples. The list is endless.

Now I’m not battling any super villains but lately I’m finding myself slipping into some old habits. Job stress has been a big factor. I’m currently involved in a project that should have been resolved last spring (or actually last year).

Over time many of the computer systems my office uses will receive an” End of Life” notice. Such is the case with our Video On Demand hardware. Our vendor notified us way back in February 2010 that when July 2011 rolled around they would end hardware support on certain systems. There are many details about the delays in this replacement that piss me off. (All of which are in house) I won’t go into it here let’s just say that it took a catastrophic event after July 2011 to wake up the higher ups and get the ball rolling. (Hello I’ve only been ringing the cowbell on this for a year) Now I’m responsible for getting this project complete by months end. So right now STRESS is my El Guapo and its led to a few nights here and there where I have eaten more than I should and even to enjoying the occasional beer. But the big issue I’m fighting is Pop. I am surprised at the amount of Diet Mountain Dew I’ve been drinking. Sure I’m getting a little bored with flavored water but I know its stress driving this pop issue. Funny thing is that on some level I know I really don’t need the pop. It’s more about just taking a few minutes to step out of the office.

Ok ok ok, What was today’s theme anyway? Oh yes the dreaded nemesis. In training a number of factors can negatively influence your thinking and if you don’t keep them in check… well then El Guapo wins and the next thing you know, you’re riding off into the sunset with nothing but your fancy sombrero.

What El Guapo do you need to crush in the weeks ahead? Is it a food craving, fear of injury, lack of motivation, not setting aside time to train, apathy? Think about it and please share some comments.

Now don’t be too worried about me. Besides the work stress I’m doing well over all. When I’ve indulged in a little extra food or had a beer I am logging it all down and counting my calories. The calorie counting is still paying off although I wish I was seeing some bigger numbers. My past three weigh ins have been -1.6, -1.4, and another -1.4. By my calorie counting I should be losing at least two pounds per week. Mentally I’m trying to stay focused on the BIG PICTURE, knowing that a loss is better than a plateau and also that slow loss is healthier than rapid loss. As of last Friday I was down 32lbs from my heaviest with another 30 to go. Ideally I would like to drop another 12lbs by January.


On the running front I’m quite happy. This past Saturday I completed 8 miles in 81 minutes for an averaged paced of 10:2. It was a good solid run. The only thing lacking was that due to colder weather the city has turned off water fountains in the parks. So I ran without taking in any water. The cool temps kept me from overheating. I also completed a 3 miler a couple weeks ago that pace out at 9:45.

So far I have been able to overcome those moments when motivation is lacking. Hopefully in the weeks ahead I can continue to meet my weekly mileage goals.