Real-Life Training Log: 125 Days Of Preparation For My First Marathon

[Ben E Lou]

I didn't check it yesterday morning. It was 57 Thursday, 56 Wednesday, and 56 on Monday after a Sunday off.

[Ben E Lou]

(I don't track it in a spreadsheet or actually examine it, but the app I use to measure it does store it, so I suppose I *could* go back and look at it more carefully if I had time and desire...)

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK ONE, DAY SIX (SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH) RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
175.3

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170

EXERCISE
RLRF had a 13-mile run at 8:35 planned. It was warmer and more humid than it has been in quite some time here today, and I didn't get started until 8:30am due to being on kid duty this morning. I completed the run faster than the prescribed time (13.11 miles @ 8:27,) but it wasn't easy. Strava scored it as my 2nd-highest "Suffer Score" ever at 275: Run Profile | 13-Mile Run. Warmer than it has been (71F/71% at end.) | Times and Records | Strava

Here's the Garmin version: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/404839762

NUTRITION
Budget: 1956
Consumed: 1965

Fat 72.4g 32.9% Saturated Fat 19.3g Cholesterol 368.6mg Sodium 1,281.4mg Carbohydrates 170.1g 34.4% Fiber 42.5g Sugars 36.8g Protein 162.1g 32.8%

Breakfast: Almond milk with whey protein mixed in, Whole Foods bulk coconut almond granola, chia seeds (eaten all together as cereal)
Lunch: Wild-caught salmon, sweet potato, 1 box Green Giant Healthy Weight veggies (carrots, peas, black beans, edamame)
Dinner: smoked turkey (dark meat, no skin), broccoli
Snacks: none
Water Consumption: 96 oz. + however much I drank during my run (probably less than 16oz.)

COMMENTS
This has been an unfathomable week of weight loss, and it doesn't appear to be over just yet. It's looking like I could be under 174 tomorrow morning. If that is the case, I'll switch to .5 pounds per week of loss, upping the calorie intake by 250 per day, and maybe eat a little extra on Saturdays to compensate for the long run.

[Ben E Lou]

Yeah, 173.1. Making the change right now...

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK ONE, DAY SEVEN (SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 17TH) RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
173.1

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 172.4 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
Sunday is a "Cross-Train Or Rest" day in the RLRF plan. With the intensity of the Saturday workout this week being ramped up by the temperature, I chose to just rest.

NUTRITION
Budget: 2192 (this was the first day back to the "1/2 pound per week" LoseIt plan, so the budget increased by 250 per day)
Consumed: 2250-ish*

Fat 93.1g 36.2% Saturated Fat 22.5g Cholesterol 285mg Sodium 867.8mg Carbohydrates 206.1g 35.6% Fiber 57.6g Sugars 67.2g Protein 162.9g 28.2%

Breakfast: Greek yogurt, triple berry blend, walnuts, morning delight bulk granola
Lunch: pork tenderloin, black beans
Dinner: smoothie: 1.5 cups unsweetened almond milke, 50g kale, 100g blueberries, 2 scoops whey protein
Snacks: apple and assorted nuts*
Water Consumption: 64 oz. + one glass

*--The wife made a Whole Foods run on Saturday evening, which means that the three big bins in the pantry got filled up with walnuts, almond slices, and pistachios that we buy in bulk. They are my biggest "unplanned and unlogged snack" temptation right now. I'm going to try moving those to the back of the pantry and put the bulk stuff that has to be cooked (black beans, quinoa, steel-cut oats, etc.) in front to make it harder to just grab some. Sunday's calorie and nutrient totals include estimates for the amount of nuts I ate. I may not have made this clear prior to now in this thread, but otherwise I weigh/measure virtually everything I consume these days, and almost always pre-plan my nutrition for the day.

COMMENTS
Even with the nuts yesterday, I'm still on target for a bit of loss from yesterday, and may well be 15 pounds lighter than last Monday's 188.1, though that weight was inflated, I'm sure, by the high sodium of the ribs I had on Sunday evening, and the fact that said ribs and the butter pecan ice cream and extra pecans that I had for dessert were at least partially undigested when I weighed on Monday. Bottom line: it's good to be back near the lowest weight I've seen since my early 20s (172.4 on October 14th and October 17th of this year).

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK TWO, DAY ONE RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
172.1 (new 25ish-year low)

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 172.1 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
Did the same full-body circuit (http://runkeeper.com/user/benelou/st...tivity/387197), followed by the RLRF-prescribed workout on the recumbent bike at the gym: 10 minutes Easy, 10 Minutes Tempo, 2 minutes Easy, 3 minutes Hard, 5 minutes Easy ( polarpersonaltrainer.com .

HRM estimated 332 calories fro the strength training, 280 for the bike.

NUTRITION
Budget: 2185
Consumed: 2230

Fat 98.3g 39.5% Saturated Fat 13.7g Cholesterol 668mg Sodium 1,916.7mg Carbohydrates 180.3g 32.2% Fiber 47g Sugars 34.2g Protein 158.6g 28.3%

Breakfast: steel-cut oatmeal with blueberries, apples, walnuts, protein powder
Lunch: grilled chicken breast, black beans, homemade guacamole
Dinner: wild-caught salmon with 2 eggs
Snacks: None
Water Consumption: 96 oz. + one glass

COMMENTS
I moved the nuts I like to the back in the pantry, behind the black beans, quinoa, and steel cut-oats, all of which have to be cooked. I found myself going into the pantry this evening to grab a handful, but then didn't bother to do so because of the inconvenience of having to move the other stuff. Using my own laziness against myself ftw!

[Ben E Lou]

Looking ahead to the rest of the week's runs...

Tuesday: 880x4 in 3:20 with 2 minutes rest in between. Hmmmm...I think I can do the 3:20, but only 2 minutes of rest is going to be tough. I might need to just walk that rest time.

Thursday: 1 mile easy, 5 miles @ 8:05, 1 mile easy. This one sounds very doable, maybe even a little too easy.

Saturday: 15 miles at 8:50 pace. I did 15 @ 8:39 two Saturdays ago (and was nearly 10 pounds heavier). This appears to be very doable.

So one again, the Tuesday run looks the most daunting.

[Subby]

How crazy is it that you are probably less than 2 weeks away from weighing below 170 pounds?

[Ben E Lou]

Yeah..that's crazy!


I was wrong about the rest time. I did walk to begin the recovery times, but it turns out that my HR was recovering down to 140 in 40-50 seconds. Once I hit 140, I jogged the recoveries. User error on my part with my running watch. I set up the workout, but forgot to start it as a workout, so had to do the lap timing by hand. Two of the intervals ended up at .51 rather than .5. Goal was to hit each of 'em in 3:20:

Interval 1: 3:18.8 (.50 miles)
Interval 2: 3:23.1 (.51 miles)
Interval 3: 3:17.0 (.50 miles)
Interval 4: 3:20.8 (.51 miles)

Overall pace: 6:35.9, so 3:17.5 average. Very happy with that. The intervals are the toughest part of RLRF for me, so it's nice to hit goal times on them today.

http://connect.garmin.com/splits/406307197

[HerRealName]

Great job. Those interval sessions are downright scary looking. The other training runs all look very manageable. I'm due to start on Jan 6, thanks for being the trailblazer on this one.

I still haven't read the book but my daughter's basketball season is winding down so I should be able to get to it soon. Does it say anything about whether it is acceptable to run faster than the prescribed times? That certainly won't be an issue on the speed work but I lack patience on long runs... and i don't see that improving as the temp keeps dropping.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by HerRealName

Great job. Those interval sessions are downright scary looking. The other training runs all look very manageable. I'm due to start on Jan 6, thanks for being the trailblazer on this one.

I still haven't read the book but my daughter's basketball season is winding down so I should be able to get to it soon. Does it say anything about whether it is acceptable to run faster than the prescribed times? That certainly won't be an issue on the speed work but I lack patience on long runs... and i don't see that improving as the temp keeps dropping.

Interesting that you mention that today, actually. They don't speak to it directly other than to say something along the lines of "you may be tempted to run faster. You need to make sure you can recover enough to complete all three runs in a given week." I take that to mean "if you find that you can recover and do all the runs faster, go for it!"

I say that it's "interesting" because I've been thinking about doing just that and was re-reading some of the book with an eye toward that just last night. Specifically, the book includes training plans for Boston Qualifying at the specific age/gender-based times. The BQ plans are identical in structure to the one I'm using, just faster. With the Tempo and Long Runs not looking as challenging to me, I'm thinking about ratcheting those up to the speeds of the 3:25 plan. The plan for me based on my HM race in October has me doing 1M easy, 5M@8:05, 1M easy for my Tempo run tomorrow, then 15@@8:50 for the long run this weekend. The 3:25 plan has the Tempo at 7:49 and the Long at 8:34. I'm pretty sure I can pull both of those off on Thursday and Saturday, so I'm leaning heavily toward doing just that. The prescribed plan for me is very close to their 3:35 plan, so basically I'm looking at doing the 3:35 plan on Tuesdays for the intervals, and then the 3:25 plan on Thursdays and Saturdays until I'm ready to approach the 3:25 speeds on Tuesdays as well.

The book *does* state that if you can do all three runs in a given week and don't feel challenged, it's time to speed up. They don't have a 3:20 plan, but right now some of the 3:15 speeds look close to doable. I suspect that before I'm done with this, I'll "create" and use a "3:20 plan" by just splitting the difference between the times at 3:15 and 3:25.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK TWO, DAY TWO RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
172.0 (new 25ish-year low)

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 172.0 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
Previously-mentioned interval run. 4x880 @ 3:20 was goal. Actual average for the four was 3:17.5. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/406307197

NUTRITION
Budget: 2185
Consumed: 2183 + a small amount (200ish calories worth) of pine nuts.. I wasn't particularly hungry, but they were staring at me after dinner and looked really good. The numbers below don't include the pine nuts.

Fat	85.4g	34.1%
Saturated Fat	21.2g
Cholesterol	217.8mg
Sodium	861.6mg
Carbohydrates	206.9g	36.7%
Fiber	51.9g
Sugars	57g
Protein	165g	29.3%

Breakfast: fat-free greek yogurt, triple berry blend, ezekiel 4:9 flax granola, sliced almonds
Lunch: smoked turkey breast and sweet potato
Dinner: pork tenderloin, normandy blend veggies, broccoli
Snacks: 85% dark chocolate + walnuts + coconut almond granola---FREAKING YUM!!
Water Consumption: 96 oz.

COMMENTS
The chocolate/walnut/coconut almond granola snack was carefully planned. I intentionally had extra-lean meats and fat-free yogurt to fit that snack into the budget without getting crazy on sugars or saturated fat. WORTH IT!

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK TWO, DAY THREE RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
171.9 (new 25ish-year low)

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 171.9 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
I was particularly productive with work in the morning, allowing a little extra time at the gym for cross training. Also, the cycling workout looked a little easy so I wanted to do a bit more. So I worked out as follows:

Cycling (per RLRF)--10 minutes easy, 2x(1minute hard, 3 minutes easy), 10 minutes easy
Strength Training--Full-body circuit: Apache Tomcat/7.0.42 - Error report
Incline Treadmill Walk--20ish minutes, 3 to 3.5mph, 15% incline: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/406711214

247 calories on the bike, 305 strength training, and 213 incline treadmill

NUTRITION
Budget: 2184
Consumed: 2177

Fat	76.8g	31.7%
Saturated Fat	14.8g
Cholesterol	273.8mg
Sodium	992mg
Carbohydrates	210.3g	38.5%
Fiber	45.5g
Sugars	42.2g
Protein	162.4g	29.8%

Breakfast: morning delight granola eaten as cereal in unsweetened vanilla almond milk with added whey protein, sprinkled with chia seeds
Lunch: flank steak, broccoli, sweet potato
Dinner: salad: baby spinach, kale, pistachios, smoked turkey breast, olive oil & vinegar dressing
Snacks: had a banana late morning before going to the gym
Water Consumption: 96 oz.

COMMENTS
I'm starting to feel a little hunger near the end of the day when I exercise hard. Given that my weight is getting close to where I think it needs to be and I have 14 weeks to go, I'm thinking that it's time to start
eating some of those exercise calories. It may start as early as today, but I'd say definitely with Saturday's 15-miler scheduled. Right now I'm thinking that I'll keep the base budget at 1/2 pound a week, then add half of the reported exercise burn to my daily budget, so yesterday's estimated 765-calorie burn would have added around 385 calories to the day, which sounds about perfect.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

The 3:25 plan has the Tempo at 7:49 and the Long at 8:34.

So the Tempo today ended up being at a 7:33 pace. That might have been a little too much. We'll see what I've got on Saturday.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK TWO, DAY FOUR RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
171.0 (new 25ish-year low...for the 4th day in a row )

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 171.0 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
1-mile warmup, 5 miles @ 7:33, 1-mile cooldown. 7:48 overall average pace.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/407004777

RLRF had the five-mile tempo portion at 8:05 for me, which seemed slow, so I took it up a few notches to what felt "comfortably hard" as I've read about how Tempo Runs should feel.

NUTRITION
Budget: 2178
Exercise Calories: 807
Consumed: 2524

Fat	120.8g	42.2%
Saturated Fat	25g
Cholesterol	286.8mg
Sodium	2,111.2mg
Carbohydrates	210.6g	32.7%
Fiber	54.7g
Sugars	49g
Protein	162.4g	25.2%

Breakfast: steel-cut oatmeal with blueberries, diced apple, walnuts
Lunch: grilled chicken breast, homemade guacamole, black beans
Dinner: smoked turkey (dark meat) and steamed normandy blend veggies
Snacks: Despite having eaten nearly 1700 calories by lunchtime today, I was *really* hungry at 2:30pm, so I had a very big "snack": 11 oz. full-fat Greek yogurt with unsweetened cocoa powder, sliced almonds, and some Ezekiel 4:9 cinnamon raisin: almost 600 calories. That held me over until dinner, where I cut back a bit on the original plan, but still totaled over 2500 for the day. I suspect I'll record another loss tomorrow morning despite that, though.

Water Consumption: 96 oz. + 2 glasses

COMMENTS
I guess it's time to try to figure out the proper balance of caloric intake with my exercise. I had a big breakfast and a big lunch and was pretty ravenous by 2:30pm. Given where I am weight-wise, I'm certainly not against eating some of those exercise calories, but getting a good handle on "how much more" seems pretty crucial.

[Subby]

Looking forward to see how you handle hitting and staying at 165ish. At that point you are probably going to be looking at eating upwards of 2500-3000 calories per day to maintain weight.

Good problem to have.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Subby

Looking forward to see how you handle hitting and staying at 165ish. At that point you are probably going to be looking at eating upwards of 2500-3000 calories per day to maintain weight.

Good problem to have.

Yeah. I'm curious about that myself. At this point I'm thinking that it'd be nice to go ahead and get there sooner, rather than later, so I can get that figured out well before the marathon. I'm sure there's going to be some trial and error.

Possible problem: Carter has been *begging* to go back to Golden Corral for breakfast, and I relented and promised to take her tomorrow morning. I've got a 15-miler planned beforehand. Must...resist...bacon...candy! I'm thinking I'll eat something at home after the run and before GC so I can keep myself to just an omelette and steak there.

[Subby]

digamma and alan and anyone else might want to chime in, but I think you always want to eat something within 30 minutes after your long run is done. I have seen varying recommendations, but I know that this is supposedly when your body is most receptive to glycogen rebuilding. Something with 200-400 calories with a good blend of carbs and protein should do the trick (whether it be a power bar or apples with almond butter, whatever).

[Ben E Lou]

I always eat something shortly after my long run. I'm freakin' starving!

[Ben E Lou]

(Usually way more than 200-400 calories. It's usually my full breakfast, more like 700-1000 calories.)

[Alan T]

Yes, that is what my coach has told me, to make sure to eat/hydrate and roll my muscles within thirty minutes of the long runs. You don't "have to", but as Subby says, it is when the body is most receptive to it and you get the most bang for your buck so to speak.

If I remember correctly, the ratio I have been told is for recovery, you want 4:1 ratio of Carbs to Protein, with Carb amount being 0.5 gram of carbs per pound of body weight. So for 170 pounds, you would be looking at something like 85g of carbs and 21g of protein roughly. A common favorite that many like is low-fat chocolate milk, and 24 oz of that would be like 90g of Carbs, 24g of protein and 532 calories.

I personally have been getting into the habit of Peanut butter &Jelly on whole wheat bread after long runs, but I really do not like chocolate myself.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK TWO, DAY FIVE RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
171.0

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 171.0 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
None. Rest day. One of the most sedentary days I've had in nearly a year, actually. I never went outside, not even to get the mail. The pajama pants never came off. I even took a 90-minute nap.

NUTRITION
Budget: 2178
Exercise Calories: 0
Consumed: 2175

Fat	92.4g	38%
Saturated Fat	23.3g
Cholesterol	223.4mg
Sodium	1,034mg
Carbohydrates	166.8g	30.5%
Fiber	44.8g
Sugars	47.8g
Protein	171.9g	31.4%

Breakfast: greek yogurt, coconut almond granola, walnuts, triple berry blend
Lunch: flank steak, quinoa, green giant "healthy weight" frozen veggies (carrots, black beans, peas, edamame)
Dinner: pork tenderloin, broccoli
Snacks: none

Water Consumption: 96 oz.

COMMENTS
Not much to say here. It was a prescribed rest day per the training plan. I felt like I could have exercised. If I'd had the time, I might have gone to the gym and done some slow time on the exercise bike, but I had other things I wanted to do, so I just let it go.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

The 3:25 plan has the Tempo at 7:49 and the Long at 8:34.

Actual: Tempo: 7:33, Long: 8:33. It was significantly warmer than normal for the Long Run. I'd say that the temperature combined with doing the Tempo Run too fast made the Long Run cut it closer than it needed to. Still, it's nice to feel like I'm at least partially working the BQ plan now.

Next week's interval run looks fun, but I have no earthly idea how difficult it will be.

3/4 mile in 5:02 (220 Recovery)
5/8 mile in 4:10 (220 Recovery)
1/2 mile in 3:16 (220 Recovery)
3/8 mile in 2:26 (220 Recovery)
1/4 mile in 1:36 (220 Recovery)

Based on previous runs, I know that I am capable of the 1/2 and 1/4 intervals, at least in a vacuum. I'm looking forward to doing these five on top of each other, each one a little faster and shorter than the last. Sounds pretty cool.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK TWO, DAY SIX RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
170.5

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 170.5 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
Long Run: 15 miles.
RLRF Plan for me = 8:50 pace
RLRF BQ Plan = 8:34 pace
Actual run = 8:33 pace
Garmin Connect - Sign In

NUTRITION
Budget: 2175
Exercise Calories: 1768
Consumed: 2856
Surplus/Deficit: -1087

Fat	119.3g	39.1%
Saturated Fat	22.4g
Cholesterol	244.9mg
Sodium	2,727.4mg
Carbohydrates	259.7g	37.8%
Fiber	62g
Sugars	69.6g
Protein	159.2g	23.2%

Breakfast: greek yogurt, walnuts, triple berry blend, morning delight granola, almonds, ezekiel 4:9 flax, chia seeds (1108 calories...ate right after the run)
Lunch: black beans, guacacmole, smoked chicken breast
Dinner: salad with spinach, kale, turkey breast, apple, Danish blue cheese, 8 oz. red wine
Snacks: 1 banana before the run, 1 gu energy gel during the run

Water Consumption: 128 oz. + whatever I drank during the run

COMMENTS
I just ramped up the caloric intake today mostly by feel. At least I wasn't hungry. The wife talked the little one into pushing Golden Corral back to Sunday morning.

[Ben E Lou]

Week 3 (Thanksgiving Week) Recap

It was a busy week and I didn't get around to posting any detail. Great week for exercise, not so good for nutrition. I gained around 5 pounds. Here's a quick recap of the three key runs.

TUESDAY (intervals): The intervals were scheduled to be progressively shorter and faster, with a 220 for recovery. Goal times and interval lengths were...

3/4 mile: 5:02
5/8 mile: 4:10
1/2 mile: 3:16
3/8 mile: 2:26
1/4 mile: 1:36

Actual times were 5:02, 4:11, 3:15, 2:29, and 1:30, so overall I did them in three seconds faster than the goal time. Nice to hit my interval times. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/409012921

THURSDAY (tempo): 1 mile warmup, 5 miles tempo, 1 mile cooldown. Goal pace was 7:55 for the 5 miles per the original plan, 7:34 to hit the BQ plan. My pace was 7:41. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/409784375

SATURDAY (long): 17 miles. 8:50 pace per my plan, 8:34 for BQ plan. Actual pace was 8:34, but with a low (for me) average heart rate of 148. Very encouraging. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/410381553

I also did both cycling workouts, and got in one full-body and one upper-body-only strength training.

I'm not sweating the weight gain at this point. It was Thanksgiving and I indulged a bit. At this point, I'm thinking I'll get back down to 170ish by Christmas, then probably back up to 175-177 again during that holiday, push back down to 170ish by the end of January, then drop to 165 by the end of February for the race. Or something like that. I'm 176.0 as of this morning.

[Ben E Lou]

Tough intervals today. Weather was a little warmer, I'm a little heavier, and I'm battling a head cold. The goal was to do 5 1K (5/8 mile) intervals at 4:10 each. I had a pretty good idea that with the circumstances, I wouldn't be able to do it, so I programmed the watch for a 6th interval (run more, run slower!) Interval times were:

1: 4:14
2: 4:13
3: 4:20
4: 4:23
5: 4:35
6: 5:00

I'm trying not to get too down about this, but it's the farthest off I've been on any of the interval workouts so far. Oh, and I skipped the cycling entirely yesterday because of the cold.

Tempo run scheduled for Thursday. Those usually go pretty well. Looking forward to feeling better and hopefully performing better by then. And I'm hoping to get back under 175 by the beginning of next week. I can definitely tell a difference--not in looks, but in running performance.

[Subby]

Spring marathons are so much tougher than fall races. You have to train all winter and through the two biggest holidays. The fact that you have a structured plan in place means you'll get through it, but you'll occasionally hit a rough patch. Just crank through it (which you are doing obviously). No need to be discouraged about anything.

[Ben E Lou]

It's pretty remarkable that I can have the self-discipline and focus to go from ~280 to the low 170s in 9 months and then lose self-discipline and focus to get from the low 170s to 165. I've been farting around with not logging calories and just eating to hunger the last couple of weeks. That ain't working. It's time to get back on a strict calorie count. I weighed in at 181.4 a few minutes ago.

To update on the rest of last week, dealing with the head cold, I decided to just do the three key runs--no weight training or cycling. Tuesday's update is above.

Thursday--Tempo Run. 1 mile warmup, 4 miles @7:35, 1 mile cooldown. I did the tempo portion @ 7:25 and felt pretty good: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/412417430

Saturday--Long Run. 20 miles @ 9:05. Actual pace was 8:42. Garmin Connect - Sign In

As I said, I really need to get back to a strict calorie count. I'm going to go with the 1/2-pound per week plan for now, and only eat additional calories for exercise on long run day. That seems to work well for me. I get plenty to eat so that I'm not hungry, but lose weight consistently. And logging. I need to log my eating and exercise here daily like I was. I'd really like to be at 165ish by February 1st so I'm not trying to lose any weight for the last 4 weeks before the race. I do seem to run a little stronger when I'm eating a bit more, but it seems that the ideal would be to run the race with as little excess belly fat as is healthy.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

I do seem to run a little stronger when I'm eating a bit more, but it seems that the ideal would be to run the race with as little excess belly fat as is healthy.

Most suggestions seem to be to try to work at getting to your ideal weight or even a pound or three below that before the start of the marathon training, and then over the course of the training plan just focus on maintaining and feeding the workouts. Trying to cut weight while increase intensity is a good way to possibly hit the wall very hard. Most of the elite marathoners have said they usually end up gaining a few pounds over the 12-20 week marathon build up cycle by just fueling enough to do quality workouts.

[Ben E Lou]

Right, but elite marathoners don't have 10-15 pounds of excess belly fat at the start of training, either.

It's not that I care about whether I weigh 170 or 180. I just want to strike a good balance between ideal training and not having to haul a bunch of unneeded baggage for 26.2 miles. And quite frankly, the reality is that to get to 181.4, I've eaten enough to feel completely stuffed to the point of mild discomfort a few times. I don't feel hungry eating 2200 calories per day. I've just been enjoying myself a little too much. I probably had close to 3500 calories yesterday, for example. We'll see how it goes.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK FIVE, DAY ONE RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
181.4

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 170.5 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
RLRF cross training called for 10 minutes easy, 30 minutes tempo on exercise bike. I did that workout in the morning and burned 406 calories.

Full-body strength training in the afternoon for 313 calories in 36 minutes. Apache Tomcat/7.0.42 - Error report

NUTRITION
Budget: 2247
Exercise Calories: 719
Consumed: 2285
Surplus/Deficit: -681

Fat	122.9g	47.9%
Saturated Fat	25.7g
Cholesterol	343.1mg
Sodium	2,363.4mg
Carbohydrates	139.8g	24.2%
Fiber	38.5g
Sugars	40.1g
Protein	161g	27.9%

Breakfast: steel cut oatmeal with protein powder, banana, walnuts, and some leftover link sausage (just wanted to get rid of it and it fit the budget)
Lunch: smoked pork tenderloin, normandy blend veggies
Dinner: smoked turkey breast, broccoli
Snacks: apple with almond butter before the cycling, dry roaster edamame before the lifting

Water Consumption: 128 oz.

COMMENTS
I leave for Christmas two weeks from today. I think a good short-term goal for me is to have 14 straight days like yesterday, where I log everything and eat within 50 calories of budget. And of course over that time I want to average less than 60g sugar and 20g saturated fat, and more than 150g protein and 35g fiber. That should get me back in the low 170s heading into Christmas.

[Ben E Lou]

Interval run this morning in some pretty tough conditions. It was almost 70 degrees (probably over 70 by the time run was over,) humidity 90-95%, and windy. I didn't hit my mile interval goals but I'm not really worried about it. I pushed myself pretty hard. The HRM saw 182 for the first time in a long time.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK FIVE, DAY TWO RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
180.5 (down .9 lbs)

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 170.5 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
Mile intervals on a warm/humid morning. Bad for times. Good for calorie burn. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/414318522

NUTRITION
Budget: 2241
Exercise Calories: 859
Consumed: 2262
Surplus/Deficit: -838

Fat	82.2g	32.8%
Saturated Fat	11.8g
Cholesterol	588.6mg
Sodium	1,757.2mg
Carbohydrates	208g	36.9%
Fiber	47.1g
Sugars	59.9g
Protein	170.3g	30.2%

Breakfast: greek yogurt, morning delight granola, triple berry blend, walnuts
Lunch: skinless chicken (breast and thigh) with normandy blend veggies
Dinner: shrimp/kale/parmesan/red wine vinegar salad
Snacks: sweet potato after the run, 1 oz. of pistachios mid-afternoon

Water Consumption: Around 110 oz.

COMMENTS
Another solid day. Work and family schedule today may preclude any exercise at all.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK FIVE, DAY THREE RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
178.9 (down 1.6 lbs)

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 170.5 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
Indoor bike: 5 minute warmup, 3x(5 minutes tempo + 1 minute easy), 10 minute cooldown. 279 calories

I felt a little beat-up, so I decided to put off strength training until tomorrow.

NUTRITION
Budget: 2230
Consumed: 2221
Exercise Calories: 279
Surplus/Deficit: -288

Fat	103.4g	42%
Saturated Fat	16.2g
Cholesterol	368.6mg
Sodium	1,633.6mg
Carbohydrates	162.9g	29.4%
Fiber	35.8g
Sugars	39.5g
Protein	158.6g	28.6%

Breakfast: steel-cut oatmeal, apple, walnuts, cinnamon
Lunch: chicken, thigh and breast, no skin, normandy blend veggies
Dinner: pork tenderloin, sunflower seed butter
Snacks: banana and peanut butter before the workout

Water Consumption: 96 oz.

COMMENTS
Still rolling along. Tempo run and strength training tomorrow, Friday off, 18 miles Saturday.

[Ben E Lou]

WEEK FIVE THURSDAY RECAP

MORNING WEIGH-IN
177.6 (down 1.3 lbs)

Thread Begin Weight: 176.8
Training Plan Begin Weight: 188.1
Race Day Goal Weight: 165-170
2013-14 Low: 170.5 (represents my lowest weight since I was in my early 20s, maybe late teens)

EXERCISE
Tempo Run. 2 mile warmup, 3 miles @7:25, 1 mile cooldown. I did the 3 miles at exactly the goal pace of 7:25. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/415045421

I ended up not having time to do strength training. I'll try to get in upper body only on Friday. (I've got an 18-miler on Saturday, so I'm not going to push for lower body.)

NUTRITION
Budget: 2222
Consumed: 2220
Exercise Calories: 715
Surplus/Deficit: -717

Fat	107.4g	42.7%
Saturated Fat	17.4g
Cholesterol	218.2mg
Sodium	961.9mg
Carbohydrates	168.5g	29.8%
Fiber	44.7g
Sugars	56.4g
Protein	155.6g	27.5%

Breakfast: coconut almond granola, 1 cup almond milk, sunflower seed butter
Lunch: wild-caught salmon, antioxident blend veggies, almond butter
Dinner: smoked turkey breast, broccoli
Snacks: a grapefruit before the run, greek yogurt, almonds, triple berry blend, and walnuts after the run
Water Consumption: around 100 oz.

COMMENTS
I need to keep reminding myself that if I can just stay focused on the nutrition side, I might be able to crush this thing.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by Ben E Lou

COMMENTS
I need to keep reminding myself that if I can just stay focused on the nutrition side, I might be able to crush this thing.

I think the more important issue here is.. someone needs to make sure you don't stay up playing FOF7 too late at nights and compromise your sleep for your training!

[digamma]

That's a really fantastic run, Ben.

[Ben E Lou]

Really struggling for the last 10 days due to a nasty head cold. This morning was my first semi-encouraging run in that time. It was only four miles and not all *that* fast, but given the conditions (very warm and muggy,) and that I did 9.5 miles overall yesterday (5 run, 4.5 walk/run,) I'm pretty pleased with the results. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/418313394

Hoping to get fully back on track starting Monday morn.

[Alan T]

Good to see you back out there! Hope you recover from your cold soon.

[Ben E Lou]

Nearly impossible for me to fathom, but today is the first day that I felt 100% since getting the bug around December 12th. It was also my best run in about three weeks. I did manage to run at least three times each week other than the one in which I first got sick. However, very few strength training workouts happened during that time and the runs were shorter and slower. The lower calorie burn combined with traveling/holiday eating probably added 15 pounds. I'll know in a couple of days when we get home. I'm guessing low 190s. It is what it is. The good news is that today I did four miles in a little under 32 minutes without having to go all-out, so I haven't lost a ton of speed.