New Diet: Lose 15 lbs. in 11 hours

[Guest guest]

Gripping a paper cup of coffee and shouldering a backpack, decathlete

Clay trudged through the gates of Hayward Field shortly before 10 a.m. on

Monday, nine hours before the stadium would fill with fans. Clay made his

way to a practice track, ditched the cup and tugged on a baseball cap.

Minutes later, he began shuffling around the grass infield to loosen his

sore legs, his gait befitting an octogenarian, not the world indoor

decathlon champion.

At that moment, as the morning chill still hung in the air and workers

scurried about to prepare for another onslaught of fans on the fourth day of

the U.S. Olympic trials in track and field, Clay stood halfway to his goal

of making a second Olympic team. But halfway didn't mean close. Clay knew

what 10 events over two days could do to a person, even the top-ranked

decathlete in the world -- which Clay was in 2005-06.

Over the next 11 hours, he would try to take care of his body while exerting

it beyond all common sense, expending an estimated 8,000 calories and losing

perhaps 15 pounds as he ran hurdles, threw a discus, vaulted over a pole,

heaved a javelin and ran four times around the track. By late Monday, Clay

had won his third U.S. title and set an Olympic trials record in the

process.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/30/AR2008063002432.\

html?hpid=artslot

--

Ortiz, RD

A morning without coffee is like sleep.