Weigh-in Wednesday

Despite some pretty significant mileage run last Saturday and Sunday combined (19 miles), with some other exercise mixed in, the scale did not budge this week. No surprise there.  A couple too many pasta dishes on the menu, an abundance of faux hot dogs and hamburgers over the July 4th holiday weekend, not to mention some cookies and St. Arnold's Weedwacker beer.  So I think I was lucky to get away with a 'status quo' instead of going into the wrong direction, this week.

To counteract any 'last minute' diet shenanigans as I approach the 160 pound mark, I'm having a registered dietitian give me weekly feedback in the way of a 'food record review'.  The additional accountability will definitely help keep me on the straight and narrow and I'm sure I will learn a thing or two about tweaking my diet to best effect, in the run up to the Oct 9 marathon in Albany.

Running still going well although I have not quite shaken off the nagging plantar fasciitis in the left foot.  Not bothering me too much (with regular icing) but will have to re-up on stretching and foam rolling to prevent a flare-up.

Week #4 of the training program included a 6 mile pace run on Saturday; I managed an average pace of 8:40, heart rate around 150 and slightly over, another extremely hot & humid morning.  Sunday's 13-miler was quite a slog too, and I had to slow down to an average pace of 10:40 to keep my heart rate at around 130bpm.  Yesterday's mile repeats at Rice University track was done with the outside temperature at 95F, but I eked out 3 miles of 7:52, 7:50 and 7:35 nonetheless.  Again, heart rate mostly around 150 to 155, and over 160 on the last lap of the third mile.  


Recap:

Week 1: -1
Week 2: -1
Week 3: -3
Week 4:  0
Week 5: -1
Week 6: -1
Week 7:  0

Week 8: -1

Week 9: -1

Week 10: -1
Week 11: 0

Starting weight: 175
Current weight: 165

Loss to date: 10 lbs.

150 or Bust: 79 days down, 94 to go.

Wednesday Weigh in

It was not by much, but my Tanita scale (the only place where I'm still 54!) settled at 165 this morning, so I am 'officially' 10 pounds down from 175, over the course of just about 10 weeks.  The next goal post is of course 160, where I've been a couple of times over the last few years.  At the rate we're going, it won't be until the end of July or early August, but that's ok.  It would not be possible or even sensible to try to speed up the weight loss process in the middle of a marathon training program.  It is tough enough already to maintain the daily calorie intake at 1800.

Recap:

Week 1: -1
Week 2: -1
Week 3: -3
Week 4:  0
Week 5: -1
Week 6: -1
Week 7:  0

Week 8: -1

Week 9: -1

Week 10: -1

Starting weight: 175
Current weight: 165

Loss to date: 10 lbs.

150 or Bust: 72 days down, 101 to go.

Running is going as well as can be expected in the Texas heat.  Completed first 3 weeks of 18-week Hal Higdon program, no hiccups so far.  Doing the longer runs at < 140 HR which translates into some pretty slow miles at times, but I have learned that lesson the hard way.  'Race' your regular runs and you've got nothing left for speed work or tempo runs, not to mention increasing the risk of injury or even becoming over trained.  Struggled a bit to maintain my pace during last Saturday's 6 mile pace run; ended up at 8:38 instead of the planned 8:35 pace.  No big deal this early on.  Yesterday's mile repeats at Rice University track were much more encouraging.  The first two were at about 7:42 and 7:35 respectively (botched the timing on the last one; it was slower).  It was around 94F so I was quite happy with the outcome.  Carrying quite a few less pounds around the middle is starting to make a difference!

Weigh-in Wednesday

Completed first week of 18-week Hal Higdon Intermediate II marathon training program.  26 miles total, with Sunday's 10-miler - started a little late so it got too hot - by far the toughest workout.  Still waffling a bit on target pace; will likely try for 3:45 which would put the marathon pace at 8:34.  I think.  

I will be modifying the program just slightly by doing the Tuesday and Thursday runs as mile repeats and tempo runs respectively.  Starting with 3 and increasing up to 5 or so total mile repeats on the track on Tuesdays at a heart rate of around 155.  The Thursday run will be at tempo pace with the heart rate around 150 or so, depending upon what our group leader Steve has up his sleeve.

I did my first 'Body Pump' barbell workout last night at Rice Rec Center.  Light weight, lots of repetition, great fun. It will probably get more challenging as I increase the weight.  There were only 4 of us, so it was practically like having a personal trainer!

Weight is down to 167.
 
Week 1: -1
Week 2: -1
Week 3: -3
Week 4:  0
Week 5: -1
Week 6: -1
Week 7:  0

Week 8: -1

Starting weight: 175
Current weight: 167

Ten pound loss is within sight!

150 or Bust: 58 days down, 115 to go.

Who knew maple syrup is good for you!

Day 3 is never quite as much fun as Day 1.  At least I started the day off with a good helping of oats - prepared a big batch of steel-cut oats in the pressure cooker  so all I had to do was measure out 1 cup, add about a half cup light vanilla soy and a tablespoon of maple syrup.  I never knew that maple syrup is positively  good for you until I saw a reference to some recent research in an article a few days ago.

In a new study conducted by the University of Rhode Island, Dr. Navindra Seeram discovered that pure Canadian maple syrup contains more than 20 compounds linked to human health. Several of these antioxidant compounds are reported to contain anti-cancer, anti-bacterial and anti-diabetic properties.

So goodbye to the articificial sweetener which I've enjoyed with breakfast until yesterday.  Maple syrup it will be from now on.

Getting back into both a workout program and back into running have turned out to be quite challenging.  My abs are sore (from some situps and related exercises), my shoulders are aching (lat pulldowns) and my calves remain borderline at best (run-walk) despite regular foam rolling.  Physically I am probably in the worst shape right now than I have been in nearly 10 years. There's a lot of work to be done. 

Even so, my thoughts have turned to running another marathon, likely the Mohawk-Hudson in upper NY State in October.  It will be a long journey from where I am now to being able to comfortably finish a 26.2 mile race, never mind trying to race it.  To get the process going I will follow Sally Edwards' half-marathon training plan in her new book 'Be a Better Runner'.  I have always been intrigued with the relationship between training/racing and heart rate training zones.  Edwards' plan makes extensive use of heart rate data to figure out how easy or hard one's running efforts should be.  So from this afternoon I will be strapping on the Polar HR Monitor to establish some benchmarks.