er…

A quick update, as interesting things are afoot.

Week 5/60 begins well, with the scales registering a 12.8 lb loss over the 4 weeks.

There was a brief exchange on the forum today about how easy, or otherwise, it is to lose weight. For me, it is quite easy. I know the formula. But it helps that I live on my own most of the time. This allows me to obsess without reproach, temptation or guilt. And obsession (sometimes generously called ‘determination’ by others) is what it requires.

In other news… three days into what I am telling myself is a 24-week marathon training plan, I can report two early morning plods along the lake — around 5 km each. Monday and today, Wednesday, had der Wecker jangling at 6.30 a.m. 15 minutes later, I’m yawning and groaning my way down the stairs to the outside world.

Having a balcony is useful, even in this grey and clammy season. The GPS watch can locate a satellite in advance, and by popping out there to balance it on the balustrade (an accident waiting to happen), I can also snatch a few lungfuls of pure Swiss air and get a preview of  the temperature.

The mornings are getting blacker and colder, though nowhere near cold enough to merit a jacket or leggings. I get down the hill to the lakeside by the shortest route I can find — and it’s odd how I keep discovering further short-cuts. Today it took barely 5 minutes, and I discovered an even shorter short-cut on the way back.

It must sound quite pleasant — going for a jog alongside Lake Zurich in the early morning — but frankly, it’s nothing special. Apart from having little visibility in the darkness and the patchy fog,  the frequent double-decker commuter trains rumble past just a few metres from my shoulder. Summer is better, with the early sun illuminating the lake, while proper winter — and a little later in the day — is also good, with no fog and the snowy peaks decorating the background. The trains don’t go away, mind.

So anyway. Chi Running. I’m still wrestling with it, even though the training plan tries to coax the technique along gradually. On Monday my two focuses were “Align your feet and legs” and “Create your column”. Today we had “Level your pelvis” and “Lengthen the back of your neck”. The instruction is to alternate these modes, with a minute for each,  over 35-45 minutes. So far I’ve made it to the end without any calf twinges. Pleased, though these are obviously very early days.

The training plan has another run scheduled tomorrow, but I might push it out to Friday. Partly because I prefer not to run two days in a row, and partly because I have a day off and an entry for TEDxZurich, which I’m stupidly excited about. These are hot tickets. I had to persuade the TED gods I merited an entry by providing some convincingly brainy answers to their intimidating questions. Y’know, trivial enquiries about how I would save the planet and preserve civilisation as we have come to know it. Can’t remember what response I was able to offer, but they bought it without too much probing and prodding, thankfully. Anyone with a bit of spare time on their hands and a computer, can follow the entire day on a live stream at the event website. Here are the speakers,

Oh yes, and when I got home this evening, I found four packages waiting for me. The updated Chi Running book (2009), the Chi Walking book, plus a metronome to help me get my stride rate right, and a microphone to help me talk about it in the long-awaited RunningCommentary podcast (Executive Producer, @marathondan.)

What was that I said about obsession….?