1. I had a bad cold all week so I only ran 3.1 miles since last Sunday. I feel like I lost a lot of energy from the cold.
2. I woke up around 1:00 AM the night before and never fell back to sleep. I had about 4 hours of sleep for the night
3. It was one of the first sunny hot days that I had run in this year.
4. I forgot the little brace I wear around my knee since having IT band problems last November.
5. I have not found the right strategy for running a 10k. For a shorter race I am able to run under 8 minute miles and hang on. I thought with my marathon training that I could do it for a 10k. For longer races, I am able to do under 9 minute miles for a half Marathon and under 10 minute miles for my marathon.
I ran the first miles in about 7:30 and felt all right, but by the time I got to mile two in 15:13 I knew that I did not have a lot left. There were three times I stopped and and walked a bit. I ended up at 52:23, which was about four minutes more than I was hoping for before getting sick. That was about a minute and a half slower than I did in the same race last year. I ended up in 212th place out of 677 total. In comparison, I finished 97th out of 493 in a five mile race two months ago.
I ran about 7 miles lightly this morning. There are two types of limitations to long distance running.
1. My body, typically my legs ache and prevent me from going further or faster.
2. Endurance I don't have the energy to go further.
For the last six months, the body has been what limits me before the energy. However, this week every since I got this cold, it has been the energy that has impacted my running. Since I ran less this week, my legs have felt strong.
Since Monday is Memorial Day, I have been planning to do my long run on Monday this week. However, since I am getting my strength back, at this point I am thinking that I will go about 9 miles tomorrow on Monday.
The Biggest Loser
Alex and I like to watch The Biggest Loser together. We have watched it for the past three seasons. The episodes are two hours each and they really drag out the weigh ins. The show has a ton of product placement and producer related twists. However, there is an addictive quality to show of getting to know the contestants and watching them shrink physically and hopefully grow emotionally.
There are two trainers with very different approaches. Each contestant is assigned or chooses a trainer. Bob Harper is like a big brother that encourages and will get involved in game play. Jillian Michaels is more no nonsense and seems above the game play. In the end, Jillian's contestants win. Bob is like the Susan Lucci of The Biggest Loser and seems to get more desperate to get a winner each year. The contestants live at the"ranch" which is a nice place with facilities needed to lose wight. They are separated from their normal life and all their time and focus is dedicated to losing weight. The Biggest Loser is hosted by Allison Sweeney from Days of Our Life, who had a baby during this season and took hardly any time off.
There was a bit of a scandal this year they reported that one of the eliminated contestants, Dane had run a Marathon in 3 hours and 53 minutes. As someone who was in the midst of training for a marathon at the time with a goal of 4 hours and 15 minutes, it was shocking to see a person who was 400 lbs recently run a marathon in a faster time. It turned out that not only was the time actually 5 hours and 53 minutes, but that Dane got a ride for at least three of the miles. Dane did eventually complete a real marathon in about six hours. It was very disappointing that The Biggest Loser never went back and corrected the erroneous initial marathon report on the show.
For the last three seasons, the contestants have been grouped with a partner, typically a family member or friend. I would like them to go to individual contestants in the future. Each week, at the weight in the two teams or individuals with the lowest percentage of weight loss are "below the yellow line" and the other contestants then vote which team or individual is eliminated.
The rules bring a Survivor type element to the game with alliances and promises. In addition, there seems to a lot water loading that takes place where a team or individual has immunity for a weigh in, they will try to lose less weight that week so that their starting number for the following weigh in is higher. They did change the rules so that if they gain weight they lose their immunity. This is how Nicole was sent home the first week back at the ranch when she had immunity.
The main contestants this year included the brown team consisting of the father, Ron and the son, Mike who at 18 was the youngest contestant ever. Ron had a bizarre looking stomach from a botched gastric bypass surgery. He had a huge sense of entitlement and was not very likable. Mike on the other hand seemed like a good kid that really benefited from the opportunity to get his weight under control. The green team was friends, Tara and Laura. Tara was very competitive and won virtually every challenge. She was is in her 20s, a good runner and fairly attractive once she lost the weight. Her friend, Laura ended up with a stress fracture. The pink team was mother, Helen and daughter Shanon. The pink team was up for elimination fairly early in the competition and had had to send one member home, they decided to eliminate Shanon. This seemed odd since Shanon weighed more and typically a parent would put their child before themselves.
The finals was a three hour extravaganza that dragged on. It can be broken down in several parts.
A. From the last weigh in the two contestants that were below the yellow line were voted on by viewers to determine the last person in the final three. The two contestants were father and son, Ron and Mike. Both wanted Mike to win. Last season the two contestants were also teammates, husband and wife Ed and Heba. Both asked that Heba win, but they were so unpopular that Ed won with 84% of the vote. Heba won the award for the biggest loser of the eliminated contestants and would have been The Biggest Loser if she had advanced to the finals. However, this year since Mike was well liked, he won the viewer vote and advanced to the finals.
B. The consolation prize went to the oldest contestant ever, Jerry, who was eliminated in week two, but lost about 48% of his weight. Despite losing all that weight, he did not look very healthy and looked much older than 64 years old.
C. They introduced us to two people who want to be on the show next season. Both worked out with Bob and Jillian and viewers voted on who they wanted to become a contestant. Both were young, overweight and blonde. It was hard to tell the difference between them.
D. The finals consisted of Mike, Tara and Helen. Both Mike and Tara lost about 50% of their weight and looked healthy. Helen did not look healthy and looked older than 48, but lost 55% of her weight and ended up at 117 lbs to become the new Biggest Loser.
I am not sure if it was because they were older or that they went to unhealthy extremes to lose the weight, but Helen and Jerry did not look nearly as good as the previous two winner, Ali and Michelle who seem to be important parts of the Biggest Loser franchise. I would like to see more details about the training and less game play, but the show is a guilty pleasure and an enjoyable show to watch with a 10 year old. I give The Biggest Loser a C+.
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