Another month has gone by and I am continuing to lean out, although it has slowed quite a bit with the holidays. I haven't been able to drop as dramatically as I did when I first started but I feel I'm still on track for my goal weight of 170 by 1/1 as I only have 4 lbs to go. I've also decided that I like my Gluten free diet and going to keep it for good. Since starting I have continuous steady energy levels and my recovery from workouts seems to be so much better. As we all know recovery is key and its allowing me to hit my workouts hard, and then come back for more the next day in a mostly recovered state. Last month I said I thought it could have been due to a decreased training load, but even as I have increased my training load over the last month I have noticed that my recovery has been amazing. In the past month I have had a breakthrough in my running as noted in my post here. I was able to run a half marathon at a comfortable pace without compromising my training for the next few days. I had been stuck at the 1:30 mark for quite some time and not able to break through but a combination of weight loss and more economical running got me into the 1:25's and eyeing a sub 1:20 for 2013. In fact I am now continually running my 13 milers under a 1:30 half marathon pace very easily now. I'll be running another 5k next week or so to see if my short course speed has improved at all and if I can finally break in to the 17's! My confidence in my running ability has skyrocketed and I am hoping to have an even better bike/run combination than in 2012. Speaking of the bike my performance there has increase as well. I was able to get my 20 minute power to 324 watts which is a respectable 4.08 watts/kg. That 29 watts is almost a 10% increase in 8 weeks. Again this is really not that significant as 324/ 20 mins was my peak number for 2012, but I'm excited to see what I can do going into 2013 having 324 as my baseline to improve on. Another 10% increase will put me somewhere around 4.5 watt/kg! As long as my power to weight ratio continues to increase I will look to lean out more. Once I see a drop in my watt/kg I will stop trying to lose and go into maintenance mode until I gain my strength back at that weight or gain a few lbs to get my strength back to where it needs to be. As of now I'm on track and will continue to do what I have been doing until something changes. I have a feeling 2013 is going be a great season and I'm excited to see what these changes I'm making are going to do for me! Summary Stats Weight on 9/24 184 Lbs 12% body fat (start of "off-season" break and gluten free eating) Weight on 11/5 176.6 lbs 9.6% body fat Weight on 12/5 174.0 9.6% Body Fat 20 min Power on 10/2- 295 watts (have not re-tested since) 3.55 watt/KG 20 Min Power on 11/23-324 Watts 4.08 Watt/KG 5k Time 10/28-18:05 1/2 Marathon Time 11/11- 1:25:34