Week 7 Half Marathon Training Recap

Appropriately enough, week 7 included a 7 mile long run.  Did my long run on Saturday with Jennifer, and so adjusted my schedule to take Friday as a rest day and did not do my cross-training on the bike this week.  I’m past halfway, and I have more days marked off of my training schedule than are remaining.  5 weeks until the half marathon! Next weekend I am running an 8K in Salisbury, so that will be my “long run” next week (5 miles).  Here’s the numbers.

Starting weight – 282.2
Running (4.5, 4.5, 7) – 16 miles
Yoga – 60 minutes
Total miles – 16 miles
Ending weight – 281.8 (0.4 pound loss).

I know, I loss is a loss is a loss…. but I have to be honest.. not happy.

Bling Baby Bling

I had to share this little bit of motivation.  The Rock and Roll Marathon series posted pictures of the New Orleans Full/Half/Relay medals for 2012.

Green (top) is the Half, Yellow (middle) is the relay and Blue (bottom) is the Full.  I will be rocking the green one up top. 🙂

The picture is from the Rock and Roll New Orleans Facebook Page.  Check them out here: www.facebook.com/RnRNewOrleans

Week 6 Half Marathon Training Recap – Halfway Point!

Well, we’ve reached the halfway point in two ways.  I’ve finished week 6, and I have 6 weeks left to go.  Also, my long run this week of 6 miles is just under half the distance of a half marathon.  (Next weeks long run of 7 will be just over half of a half).  It’s hard to fathom in a month and a half I will be attempting to run my first half marathon.  Also this week I registered for another race between now and the half and it will be my first race longer than a 5K.  It’s the Winter Flight 8K in Salisbury NC.  I was hoping for a 10K but there just wasn’t one on the schedule.  8K is 5 miles, so I’ve got a general idea from my training how long it will take, and I do know I can finish it, but it won’t be easy.  Here’s a look at this weeks numbers.

Starting weight – 283.3
Running (4,4,6) – 14 miles
Cycling – 5.5 miles
Yoga – 60 minutes
Total mileage – 19.5 miles.
Ending weight – 282.2 (1.1 pounds lost – same 1.1 I gained last week)

So back to losing weight which was good, hopefully that will continue.  The mileage keep increasing.  Next week is 4.5, 4.5, 7 so that is 16 miles total.  I’m going to likely need a new pair of shoes soon and get them in time to break them in before the half.   I’m pushing 150 miles on my Saucony’s and I wore them a long while before I started tracking that on DailyMile so surely they are closer to 200-250.  They will still be great for wearing around the house, so I won’t throw them out, but once the cushioning starts to go and the soles start to wear I’ll have to “retire” them from running.

Not a plateau, but not losing….

I’ve hit a little bit of a snag in my weight loss but it’s not a plateau per se where my weight stays the same, but rather a Groundhog’s Day scenario of gaining and losing the same couple of pounds over an over again.  Here how the last month has looked since right before Christmas.

Dec 23 – 285.2
Dec 30 – 285.6 (0.4 pound gain)
Jan 6 – 282.2 (3.4 pound loss)
Jan 13 – 283.3 (1.1 pound gain)
Jan 20 – 282.2 (1.1 pound loss – from the week before)

Stranger in this scenario, is that 282 is the lowest weight in my log from June of 2010 before it drops off the planet until I started logging again in September of this year.  Because I have always hovered around 295-310, I consider 282 to be my “Lowest Adult Weight”… so another brick wall that needs to be broken through.

Even stranger is how my weight fluctuates as the week goes along.  I try not to weigh 3 times a  day, but it’s hard to not step on the scale when I’m in the cardio room of the Y.  The week of the 3.4 pound loss started on Monday as a 5 pound loss (280.4) but then I “gained” some of that back over the course of the week before my “official” weigh in on Friday.  Same happened this week.  280.6 or so on Tuesday, 281.4 on Thursday and then 282.2 tonight.. steadily gaining throughout the week.  I have no idea what is going on and why this is going on.  I have a problem with dehydration and I’m trying hard to drink more water, and so it’s not out of the realm of possibilities, and I’m sure some of these fluctuations are in fact water weight, but why would I be my lowest at the start of the week after a rest day? And then higher during workout days? (Drinking more water on workout days? Possible).

I know huge gains are not good, and as long as the scale keeps moving down that’s a good thing, but man is it disappointing to see a 3-4 pound loss earlier in the week turn out to be a fluke and slide back up to only a 1 pound loss.  yeah, a loss is a loss is a loss but sheesh.  I’d like to see the southern side of 280 before the next 6 weeks.. LOL

 

Week 5 Half Marathon Training Recap

Tough week this week, been tired and sore all week long after my 5 mile Sunday (last week’s long run) then my 4 milers from Hell on Tuesday and a tough Yoga class Wednesday.  Whewww.  Took my long run real easy today and ran with a friend at an easy pace.  Was a good time though, kept the conversation flowing and 5.1 miles and an hour 27 minutes flew by.  Also gained weight this week, but I think I’m seeing some water weight fluctuations.  My big loss last week was almost even bigger, since early week was looking at a 5 pound loss but I “gained” some back over the week, so obviously water weight.  Not surprised I gained a little of it back, but still down versus two weeks ago.  Probably lose again next week and start going back and forth.  Here’s the tale of the tape.

Starting weight – 282.2
Running (4,4,5.1) – 13.1 miles (hey what do ya know! half marathon distance this week)
Cycling – Crosstraining – 5.7 miles
Yoga – 60 minutes
Ending weight – 283.3 (1.1 pound gain)

The 5.1 was from Jennifer’s 10K training who I ran with this morning (my schedule was 5).  I just noticed when I added it up it totaled 13.1 for this week.  Nice week long half marathon! (Now just to do it all at once). 🙂

Running Scared

OK, so I made it home safe and sound so I can kinda chuckle about this now after the fact, but I had to write about my horrible experience of a run last night which I labeled as my worst run ever.

It was a beautiful day yesterday, 60 degrees, sunny so I’m thinking all day, I’m gonna run outside in a tshirt and shorts, take advantage of a January outside run day.  Those don’t come along often.  So I had to go into town to take care of something with the cable company that they couldn’t do over the phone, got that taken care of and then decided to hit up the Chinese buffet for lunch which was probably not a good idea.  Came home feeling sluggish and put off my run for a couple hours.

Finally hit the greenway at 5:30 (horrible traffic) and figured I had enough light left for an hour long run.  Was out in my t shirt and shorts, and after about a 1/4 mile it started getting dark and cold.  I briefly considered quitting and driving over to the Y to hit this run on the treadmill, but decided I was already out there and it would take 30 minutes to get to the Y in that traffic and so I decided “Heck with it” I would just be cold.  Well then it got darker and darker and colder and colder and then things were not getting any more fun.  A little over a mile in and I am frozen solid and it’s only getting darker.  I get to the two mile turn around point and it’s so dark I almost can’t see the path, so I’m doing a lot more walking then running at this point, and then a thought hits me that puts the fear of God in me.  Most of the city parks are “7AM to Dusk” or something like that, and the parking lot for this greenway has a gate.

Bad thoughts start running through my mind, what if they lock me in the gates and I am stuck here? Or worse.. what if they tow my car and I am stuck on foot? At this point I am sprinting, I don’t even feel the heavy breathing, I don’t feel any pain, I am literally running for my life.  I was running like something was chasing me.  I would slow down to walk and then the panic would strike again and I would be off to the races again.  I don’t think I have ever had a run where my last mile was my fastest.  I ran my fastest pace for the last 0.27 miles of the New Years run, but that wasn’t over the course of a whole mile.  My splits for last night were Mile 1 – 13:10, Mile 2 – 14:00, Mile 3 – 12:30 and Mile 4 – 12:29.

I make it back to the car and my hands are so numb I can barely work my keys in the lock, and it’s too dark to see the gate at the top of the hill so I don’t know yet if I can even get out yet or not.  As soon as I get in the car and my hands start to thaw then they start to HURT bad.  Ironically, it felt like that was the only part of me that was cold but they were bad cold.  I get up to the hill and the gate is open, so sigh of relief but now I feel like crud and my hands are hurting.  Had a hard time driving home with dead legs and hurting hands.

So I get home and log my run and check my pace, of course in all irony, my fastest pace ever, dead on 13:00 minute mile, but of course I was running like the Hounds of Hell were chasing me.  My friend Heather said I must run best when I am scared, so I just need something to chase me when I run.

Maybe I should consider that Run for your Lives zombie 5K afterall.

So there it is… Feel free to laugh now.  I do feel silly the morning after.

Week 4 Half Marathon Training Recap

The mileage is starting to crank up now as the training moves along.  I just completed today’s long run of 5 miles.  5 Miles! Holy Cow.  I’m thinking about running an 8K in Feburary, and that’s how far that is, like 4.97 miles.  Big weight loss this week, to make up for last weeks gain.  Still up and down and all over the place but the overall trend is down.  In just under 3 months since I joined MFP I’ve lost 26 pounds, so averaging a little over 2.3 pounds per week, which is what they have me set on (2 pounds a week), despite some weeks being 3.4 pounds and some weeks being 0.8 pounds, it all averages out. Tale of the tape this week.

Starting Weight – 285.6 pounds
Running – (3.5, 3.5, 5.0) – 12 miles total.
Biking – Crosstraining – 5.6 miles
Yoga – 60 minutes
Total Mileage – 17.6 miles
Ending weight – 282.2 pounds (3.4 pound loss).

Not a bad week overall.  Next week is supposed to be 4,4,6 but with my New Years race pushing the long runs down a week, I have next week as 4,4,5 and then week after as 4,4,6 (when the schedule has 4,4, 5K race, so I replaced that with the 6 miler).  The 8K in Feb. will shift the long runs a little as well too, but I’ll worry about that in Feb.

Changing the way we see food.

It happens to all of us who have made this lifestyle change sooner or later.  A complete reversal of the way we look at food.  Sure, it starts out innocently enough, lower calories, have a single cheeseburger instead of a double, and that works for a while, but then it changes.  Food becomes more than just food.  it becomes fuel.  The things they say about sugary sodas and pure sugar candy  being empty calories is true.  You need more than just energy calories, you need protein, unsaturated fats, vitamins and minerals.  You have to feed your body, especially as you increase your workload and exercise load such as training for a half marathon.

It struck me this morning in the kitchen, as I looked around at some of the things in my kitchen, things I wouldn’t have touched six months ago.  Two different flavors of Kashi cereal full of nuts and granola and “fiber twigs”.  Kashi 7 grain pita crisps (which I am snacking on now with some hummus).  Ground turkey.  Turkey burgers (which are delicious).  Sweet potato fries.  Weight Watchers Ice Cream.  Even Michelob Ultra, low calorie beer, which I used to laugh at but now it makes perfect sense.

Low calorie is great, but it has to have some substance.  Take the Kashi cereal.  It actually has more calories in a half cup serving than a sugary cereal.  But, in exchange for a couple more calories you get a ton of protein and fiber to energize you and keep you full. What do you get from your 110 calories of Lucky Charms? Sugar. Carbs. No protein, no fiber, hungry again in an hour.  The sweet potato fries, higher carbs and higher sugar than white potatoes, bad right? No.. less calories, lower fat (in prepared/frozen fries obviously raw is no fat), higher protein.  Also, most vegetables are freebies.  They are mostly fiber and water.  Pickles? 0 calories.  Salsa? 10 calories per 2 tablespoons.  (Yes, you gotta go easy on the chips, but load up on the salsa).  My salad? 25 calories for the lettuce, so just go easy on the cheese, light dressing and croutons and maybe 200 calories.

I read labels now, and I don’t just compare calories. 300 calories of protein beats 100 calories of sugar and I know that now.  Not all low cal foods are created equal, and I know I’ve complained about this before, low sugar foods are high fat, low fat foods are notoriously high carb.  I’ve started leaning towards things that are more overall healthy, like Kashi, Fiber One, Special K etc rather than something that is only low in one macronutrient.  Like Snackwells.  I used to love them.  Low fat cookies right? *shakes head* Just as much sugar and carbs as a chips ahoy.  Reduced Fat Chips Ahoys? Oh yeah.. love those… not….. good…… I haven’t bought a single pack of cookies since I joined MyFitnessPal.  I ate what I had in the house, logged their calories but bought no more.   I still eat potato chips when I make a sandwich at home, but I don’t eat them as a snack.  Now I am more into chips and salsa, cheese and crackers (good protein), pita and hummus like I just had.  My one sweet thing I have in the house right now is some Weight Watchers Ice cream sandwiches.  140 cal, 1.5 gram fat… not too bad.  I’m eating more lean protein.  Fish and Turkey.  Not nearly as much beef, and chicken only occasionally.  I have frozen 4 ounce Tilapia filets in my freezer. Bake em up in the oven, it’s like 120 calories, even with a coating of bread crumbs it’s less than 200.  Good unsaturated fats, although tilapia is not a particularly fatty fish.

My diet has completely changed.  And it shows in 70+ pounds of weight loss.  If you want to make a change in your life, you have to change your relationship with food.  It’s not easy.  I’ve been at this over 2 years and some of these revelations have only come in the last 2 months.  But you can do it. We all can.

Beef Stir Fry

I was searching through the produce section at walmart looking for some veggies and I ran across a pre-bagged selection of stir fry veggies (broccoli, carrots, snow peas) and remembered something someone had mentioned about doing stir fry at home and how easy it was.  So then I needed the rest of the ingredients to make it.

The assemblage of ingredients.  Bottom round steak “for stir fry”, stir fry veggies, Kikkoman Stir Fry Sauce, Canola Oil, Cornstarch, Annie Chung sticky rice bowl.

The instructions on the stir fry sauce bottle says to dredge the steak in a mixture of cornstarch and soy sauce, but I didn’t do this, rather just dredged in dry cornstarch and fried up the meat in a tablespoon of Canola oil.  After the met was cooked, I set it to the side, added a couple more tablespoons of oil to the pan and cooked up the vegetables for a couple of minutes.  The I added the meat back in stirred it up and then added the sauce.

Here it is in the pan ready to go.

And here is the final product with the rice.

Here is the nutritional info (courtesy of MyFitnessPal)
1166 calories (the canola oil killed it, may have used too much)
88 grams carbs (mostly the rice, a little from the veggies)
70g fat (the meat and oil, a good bit of unsaturated in the oil)
39g protein

So it was a little higher than I expected, but it was really good. My only complaint was the meat got a little tough and chewy, I tried not to cook it too much, it was still a little pink when I pulled it out.  I smelled the Stir Fry sauce and thought to myself “I am not going to like this”, but it turned out to be one of those things that’s really strong on it’s own, but mixed in with the meat and veggies it was really really good.  I was afraid I had made a mistake with the sticky rice but it was OK.  It didn’t make the dish, it didn’t kill the dish, I guess it was just “eh”… rice.  Ya know?

This was good, I liked it.  And it cooked up in like 5 minutes.  It cooks hot and cooks fast of course (smoked up the whole house and now my eyes are burning.)

Week 3 Half Marathon Training Recap

Week 3 of my Half Marathon training is now in the books.  It was an interesting week considering it was the week between Christmas and New Years and it ended with a bang with my Midnight New Years run.  I will be a little short on my mileage, since my “long run” was the race, but there are race days built into the schedule, so I just juggled things around a little.  I also had a slight weight gain this week, which I know is not the end of the world, but I just need to kick it into gear here for the New Year.  Here’s the tale of the tape.

Starting Weight – 285.2
Running – (3.5, 3.5, 3.3) – 10.3 total miles
Biking – 5.7 miles
Yoga – 60 minutes
Total miles – 16 miles
Ending Weight – 285.6 (0.4 pound gain)

Overall, was a good week.  had a blast at the New Years race.  Might have to find another one of those wherever I’m living this time next year.  Right now I’m looking at a 5K or an 8K the first weekend in February as the only two local races between now and the half in March.  I’ll have to decide which of the two I want to do.  I had hoped for a 10K before the Half, but I don’t see one on the schedule.