Getting over the sickness

I haven't been writing for the last couple weeks...I caught a cold that turned into a cough and kept me from running and writing.  The good news is that I'm back in training now, I went 13.1 miles this Sunday, and a quick 5k this morning.  Over the two weeks where I wasn't running and I was not as strict on diet, I only gained about 1 lb, but it seems like I grew out of one of my smaller pairs of jeans.  So it looks like I lost muscle and gained fat. 
I hit a 2009 low of 184.2 a few weeks back, and now I'm around 185.  So 22 lbs down, and 15 more to go.  I expect that as the long runs increase, the weight will decrease.  Only about 12 weeks to the marathon.

Week 2 of training continued

I had a cold this week, so missed my Friday morning workout.  The good news is that I revived my Forerunner GPS and took it for three laps around Greenlake (9miles) today.  Unfortunately the lap database was full, so it lost part of the run, but I did the last three miles at 10:08, 10:04 and 10:15, which is significantly faster than what I had been running. 
The big conundrum is that I ran the whole run between 10 min miles all the way up to about 11:15.  The 4-hour marathon schedule says to do it between 10:40-11:10.  So I'm good there.  But my heart rate was in the 170s and 180s, which is higher than it's supposed to be for burning fat rather than carbs.  So what to do?  Keep the HR down in the 150s and go really, really slow?  or run at a comfortable pace with a higher heart rate. 

Week 2 -- wed night work out

Sarah said she'd kick my butt if I didn't update the blog in the next two days.  It's apparently been a week since my last update.  The lowlights -- I am still around 187 so no big weight loss over the past week.  The good news is that even with her at 95 lbs, I'm still less than 2xDanicas. 

I bought new running shoes this weekend -- the Brooks Defyance.  These are less "supportive," and certainly less clunky.  These are probably should have been using since I got my orthotics.  I ran 8.4, three laps around Greenlake.  Since my Garmin gave up, I used a regular old stopwatch.  I made it 8.4mi in just over 90 min, which I think is just under 11min/mi.  Not fast, but an improvement over last week. 

Tuesday morning, I went for a recovery run, including my usual run up Phinney Ridge.  I think I am getting better at the uphill. 

This evening, Sarah and I did a track workout.  The book we are using says to run 8x400m (1/4mi) at 2:05-2:15, so between 8-9min mile pace.  Sarah ran them all at about 7:15 pace.  At first I felt bad, because she kept beating me.  Then I realized I was following the 4 hour marathon plan, and she isn't.  So I don't feel so bad anymore. 

As for the weight, I've backed off the no-carb diet a little, as I know that as I get towards 10mi long runs, the body will need some carbs.  And as I told Laurie, once you're running 25+ miles/week, it's much easier to lose weight, even if you're not so careful with what's going in.  Although I am still staying away from rice, beer, french fries and other super carby stuff!

Lost some of the extra

I'm back down from 190 to 188, which isn't quite 187, where I was, but closer.  And my body fat was 27.3% which is about as low as it's been.  That's roughly 10% decrease in body fat in 3 months.  Not so bad.  Tonight is speed workouts at the track with Sarah, which replaces mid-week semi-long run.  Sounds like fun.

More weight, less fat (I hope)

So I went for a 5k run on Friday and a 7mi run on Sunday, and then did some cross training on the seated bike machine at the gym yesterday.  So after that, I'd think I'd be thinner.  But from last Friday to today I've gained almost 3.5 lbs.  So, either I've been eating a ton of food to make up for the calories I'm burning or I'm putting on muscle from all this dang ol' exercise.  Hopefully it's the latter.  I'm still fitting into my 34 jeans, so the wheels aren't coming off yet.  We'll see how this week goes...

My friend Danica now weighs 96.2 so it's getting tougher and tougher to get to 1.9 x Danica.  It will take a little while longer, but I will get there!

A little more weight, a little more running,

So yesterday I got up around 6 and found that I was at 187.0 (and 28.5% body fat), 0.2 lbs up from the day before.  I putzed around the house, read my email, watched Dollhouse on the Tivo and used the bathroom.  This took about 90 minutes and I re-weighed after that.  I had dropped 0.4 lbs from using the bathroom and respiring (I guess).  So I had a new 2009 record of 186.6, but the body fat was over 29%.

Don't ever do this!

Why not?  I got up this morning and was at 188.0.  So that's not much more than 187, but it's 1.4 lbs more than 186.6.  So don't give yourself artificial short term wins.  Because they always turn into artifical short term losses the next day or the day after. 

So I had a setback of 1.4 lbs.  What did I do?  Went for my scheduled 7mile Sunday run and then had a low carb lunch.  Had I been still at 186.6, what would I have done?  Went for my scheduled 7mile Sunday run and then had a low carb lunch.  Remember, manage the inputs! 

I do have one problem with the marathon training.  I was working off the Hal Higdon Novice 1 marathon training schedule, and it seemed pretty simple.  Add a little more mileage each week, culminating in a long Sunday run.  Then I found that there was a Novice 2 schedule, which has a little more mileage each week than the Novice 1.  And then my friend Sarah is following a schedule from "How to run a four hour marathon" or some such book.  She sent me the schedule, so I am now trying to rationalize three schedules.  This puts me in split brain mode which I don't like.  Sarah's schedule replaces the semi-long run in the middle of the week with track/speed workouts, but also has two short runs during the week and a long run on the weekend.  But it culminates in a 24 mile run in week 14 rather than the Hal Higdon program where we only ever do 20 until the race.  Arrgghh!  Too many choices suxxors.