Battle of the bulge

Evening all! Here are my vital statistics for the week:

	Distance (miles)	Time (hh:mm)	Energy (kcals)
Since last post (4 Feb 2013)	20.6	05:54	3312
Since records began (27 Dec 2012)	119.6	34:27	22724

No surprises that I broke through the 100 mile mark. I also managed to keep my weekly total above 20 miles (barely) for a second week despite a three-day hiatus while I broke the spirits of inspired our new recruits at a training course in the UK. I might have pushed 30 miles if I'd been at home.

We've had quite a bit of sunshine this week, which has kept temperatures down. Nevertheless, I did get out for six miles on both Saturday and Sunday, including a trip to nearby Karlštejn Castle. The pace was slow, as we were off the usual paved streets and paths and on to icy woodland tracks for part of the time. However, our stately pace did afford us a few good photo opportunities (pictures courtesy of Mrs W):

Karlštejn Castle from Karlštejn village

Woodland near Karlštejn Castle

A long and winding road near Karlštejn Castle

On weekdays I've found that it's rather difficult to build up the enthusiasm for a long walk home when it's dark, cold, and I've had a tiring day. Instead, I've extended my morning walks to about 3 miles; it enables me to get the targeted mileage under my belt while it's light and my motivation and energy levels are higher.

Weight loss while training: mission impossible?

In my first post I explained that one of my training goals was to get down to a target weight of 77kg (12st 2lb) by the day of the Parish Walk. Although I shed a lot of weight very rapidly on a zero/low-carb diet last year, I'm struggling to lose much at the moment. I'm currently hovering around 85kg (13st 5lb): down from my post-Christmas peak of 87kg (13st 9lb), but not by much.

I can think of two likely factors for my slow progress this time round:

• I'm enforcing the low-carb principle rather less strictly this time around, which I justify to myself on the basis that I need carbohydrate to burn while I'm training (by contrast I was mainly sedentary this time last year).
• My training will inevitably be building some muscle in my legs, so my net weight loss maybe lower.

I still think it will be helpful to bring down my weight so that there's less impact on my feet and joints during the race (and in the later stages of training, when I expect to be covering greater distances). To achieve that, my instinct is to gradually reduce my carbohydrate intake to a level which ensures a steadier weight loss, while not compromising my ability to train.

Is there anyone else out there that's struggled with this issue? I'd be interested to hear how you overcame it.

Thanks for reading and have a good week!