Update: 16 Weeks...

Weight: 13-10.6. (Target 14-1.4). BMI: 27.5. Body Fat: 28.0%.
Wk 17 Training: Hours: 7:01 (Target 7:00). Bike: 94.7km @ 26.7kph.

Weight... Down 4.2lbs for the week! Whoa, what's going on here. Amazing loss or crazy anomaly? Well, it has been a while since I'd had a big week of loss, so maybe the sure & steady was lining me up for a bigun? Or maybe my hard ride yesterday has depleated my glycogen (or other) reserves and I'll level out again tomorrow. If it's the former, then great, the latter then I am going to have a very tough task on my hands to keep this run of 11 consecutive weeks of loss from coming to an end.

Training... Exceeded target by a minute (coincidentally). This was supposed to be a rest/quieter week and to some extend it was. Slightly less hours, no training on both Tuesday & Saturday left me feeling rested and eager to get out on. Sunday was my first club run of the season and I headed out with a fastish group (it's all relative!) for a pretty quick blast up a few hills (including Leith & Box Hill). The group was probably a little too strong for where I am at right now and then meant I had to push hard for most of the ride just to keep up... As we were heading up Box Hill anyway I clocked a time to see how I am progressing. Very please with a time of 7:52 as it represents a tidy 27 second improvement from 3 weeks ago. I have also caught up a little on my (stretch) target as I am now just 3 seconds behind the 7:49 I had hope for at this time of the training process.

Diet... Having read in Cycling weekly all about the merits of high protein/low carb diets over my usual high carb/low protein intake I am looking to up the protein levels. [In short the high protein/low carb diet offers similar weightloss opportunities, however as it maintains higher muscle levels it is better for those trying to train/increase power output]. This is being achieved by taking on board more protein after hard workouts as well as moving to higher protein foods for my evening meals (chicken, tuna, etc) - although clearly it has to remain palatable as the wife is going to over rule me...

SWRC Update... Official recorded time was 3:55 (including queuing at the end with my brevit card) which placed me 63rd out of 268 official finishers. The range of times was 3:20 to 5:48. So, I was in the top quartile for both position (77%) and time (76%) which, I reckon, represents a real step forward in terms of the pace that I have been at this time of the year. All-in-all very pleased with the route, the ride and the result.