Alexander from Spokes Etc got me up at 5:45am this Sunday to go hammer out 76 miles through the Northern Virginia county side. We met at 6:15am and headed over to Ida Lee Park Rec Center to catch up with the 6 others. Tracy Killmer had mapped out a great 60 mile ride which took us up into Maryland and back across Whites Ferry.

I used this ride to get a brick training session in. After the ride I racked the bike and headed out for a 13.5 mile run. This was my last big training session for the Patriot half ironman in 2 weeks.

Here is the course map and I would put this ride in my top list.

I rode my Trek Madone instead of the Trek TTX. As when you ride with roadie's you bring the road bike.

My Sunnto training log shows the 76 mile, 5hr bike followed by the 13.5 mile, 2hr run.

JonathanFit

My interview came out today with Metro Sports magazine.

Jonathan Hinkle is half the man he used to be. A former high school football player, Hinkle's weight maxed out at over 355 pounds in his early thirties. In 2005, he set out to reverse his path, first focusing on diet then adding exercise.

As the pounds slowly dropped, his workouts ramped up and he eventually started competing in races for added motivation. This spring, Hinkle weighed in at a remarkable 193 pounds and he placed third in his category at the season's first EX2 Backyard Burn trail run. Hinkle details his long steady adventure towards fitness on his new blog: http://www.jonathanfit.com/.

What got you motivated to lose so much weight?

A coworker had tried to motivate me for awhile to lose weight. He finally convinced me to try a diet plan that taught me about mini meals five mini meals and one sensible meal per day. I used a lot of bars and shakes as mini meals because I didn't have to think about it. Thirty days later, I'd lost around 15 pounds. All of a sudden, I was motivated. I didn't constantly check the scale because I was afraid that if I didn't see a certain number each time I'd be deflated and unmotivated. I just kept noticing that I could pull my belt in more and that was motivating. I had a general goal, but I didn't over-think it and get caught up in the mental game.

When did getting active enter your regime?

I had always enjoyed biking when I was younger. After I lost the first 50 pounds, I borrowed my brother's bike just to try to ride around the neighborhood and I broke it. That pushed me to go buy my own bike. I went to Spokes http://in Ashburn, Va. and they set me up on a full-suspension bike; told me where some of the trails were; and got me started. They became my go-to guys when I had questions and really introduced me to a larger community that I could be involved in. The next year, I was doing 2-hour rides three days per week and another 50 pounds came off. In the third year, I broke my collarbone biking so that got me motivated to try running.

Did you have very specific goals?

In the beginning I didn't want to get caught up in weight goals-chasing the scale or some magic number. To me, there's too much failure in that. The goal was simply to lose weight. After a couple of years, I decided I needed a more specific goal. I was reading a magazine and read about XTERRA. That got me interested in doing the XTERRA 2008 East Championships in Richmond. I decided I needed to figure out how to race, so I signed up for a 5-miler that spring. Then I did a few duathalons. The general goal was to lose weight. The events are the short term milestones that give me something to work toward.

You travel for work. How do you stay on track?

Even when I travel around town, I always have a briefcase of snacks-a banana, an orange, nutrition bars, things like that. If I have a big lunch with a client, I'll eat a small dinner or vice versa. When I stay overnight at a hotel, I ask the desk where I can go run or I call a local running to store and see if they have a run. Most YMCAs will let you have a free visit, so I walk in and use the pool. All I need is running shoes, shorts, shirt, goggles and trunks. That's my travel kit.

Any advice for others looking to lose weight?

Be active. Find something you enjoy. If you enjoy it, you'll want to do it. For me, I wanted to go biking. It's the same with food. I found a diet that I enjoy, so I want to follow it. One size doesn't fit all. You've got to find what works for you. You need to find other likeminded people. If I'm overweight or inactive and want to do something about, I need to find likeminded people who will do it with me. You need that community-that support group.

  Being the bargain shopper that I am, I wanted to share this with everyone. I used Medifast shakes and bars the first 3yr of of my weight loss adventure. I easily lost over 100 pounds as a direct result. The first year was diet alone with 50 pounds lost. I added exercise the being of the 2 year and have lost 160 pounds total in 4yrs.

The 3rd year I started to add other products to get a variety. I found EAS products at Target and Costco. With eating 5 or 6 mini meals a at 2 or 3 dollars per servings, shopping at Costco and Target I could get it down to a $1 per servicing or less. Check out my nutrition page for examples of my different foods.

This Medifast coupon code came in the mail this week for $25 off $150 purchase or $50 off $275.