Monday morning weigh in:

243.8

Week 1 -5.4 lbs
Week 2 -1.0 lbs
Week 3 -3.4 lbs
Week 4 -1.6 lbs
Month 1 -11.4 lbs
Week 5 -.4 lbs
Week 6 -1.8 lbs
Week 7 -3.2 lbs

Total -16.8 lbs

Total mileage:
Week 1 17.2
Week 2 20.1
Week 3 22.2
Week 4 25.3
Week 5 16.1
Week 6 21.1
Week 7 25.0

It's not rocket surgery...keep the calories in check and with all the running I'm doing the pounds will fall off!! I'm starting to get compliments again from players at work asking if I'm losing weight. Haven't heard that in a long time...actually had a few players ask me earlier this year if I had quit trying since I was clearly gaining weight back!! This obviously feels so much better.

Great progress, OP. Engrossing thread, even with the lolrunning content. Seeing you log your days/weeks even when you go a little over your target is heartening, and something from which YTF could learn.

I assume the goal is still to get down to 180 or so in advance of a full marathon in November of next year? Seems like 180 should be achievable a decent bit before that, assuming you stay on the wagon like you've been doing.

Thanks!! Yeah getting down to and maintaining 180 is my long range goal...235 by November 8th, 219 by December 31st are the short term goals. If I stick with it I think 180 is attainable sometime next summer.

Day 50

Felt great!! No soreness at all from yesterday's run...did probably the easiest 4 mile run I've ever done. Felt like I barely broke a sweat. Gonna mix it up and do some intervals tomorrow, thinking I'll start with half mile splits and see how that goes.

Breakfast: Usual-553 cals

Lunch: Bacon egg & cheese on honey wheat toast-560 cals

Dinner: Grilled chicken (6.8 oz), tortilla, swiss, bbq sauce-525 cals

Snacks: Peanut butter (1.4 oz), nachos at work (~25 tortilla chips & 4 oz cheese sauce)-626 cals

Totals: 2265 cals, 140g protein

Running:
Mile 1 11:12
Mile 2 11:21
Mile 3 11:28
Mile 4 11:02

Day 51

Interval day! Started out with a half mile jog to warm up then did 4 half-mile interval runs with 2-3 minutes of walking in between. I got progressively faster until the last one. Felt great and finished with another half mile slow jog for a cool down. Gonna do an easy run tomorrow then two days of rest before my 10K race Saturday morning.

Breakfast: Usual-468 cals

Lunch: Made some pulled pork in my crock pot, very yummy. 6.5 oz pulled pork, 2 slices Sara Lee honey wheat bread, bbq sauce-497 cals

Dinner: Taco Tuesday!! 2 hard shell tacos w/ cheese, 9 oz pulled pork, bbq sauce-861 cals

Snacks: Special K protein shake, skinny cow-340 cals

Totals: 2165 cals, 182g protein

Intervals:
4:44
4:38
4:28
4:31

Day 52

Easy 5 mile run today. Woke up late and didn't get out there til almost 11 am. It was pretty warm, almost 80 degrees and not much wind. Did ok though, glad to be taking 2 days off before the race Saturday.

Breakfast: Usual-505 cals

Lunch: Pulled pork sandwich-601 cals

Dinner: Wasn't super hungry...Special K protein shake and protein bar-360 cals

Snacks: Special K protein bar, Sonic soft serve cone-420 cals

Totals: 1885 cals, 133g protein

Running:
Mile 1 11:12
Mile 2 11:32
Mile 3 11:18
Mile 4 11:43
Mile 5 11:21

Gl with the race Saturday. Looks like you're doing everything right atm. Keep on going!

+1

Day 53

Relaxing day off from work...didn't do too much but didn't go crazy eating like I would've in the past out of boredom.

Breakfast: Usual-484 cals

Lunch: Pulled pork sandwich-612 cals

Dinner: Pulled pork, homemade fries, bbq sauce-861 cals

Snacks: Skinny cow, 2.5 oz fudge-441 cals

Totals: 2398 cals, 166g protein

Day 54

Another lazy day...10K race in the morning! Not gonna be as cool as I was hoping, race starts at 8 am and it's gonna be around 70.

The bad news is my testicle discomfort is back and now it's noticeably firmer than the other one so Monday I'm getting it checked out. Trying not to freak out...I looked online and there's several benign things that could cause it so fingers crossed.

Breakfast: Usual-485 cals

Lunch: Pulled pork sandwich-512 cals

Dinner: Special K protein bar and shake-360 cals

Snacks: Homemade fries, protein bar, popcorn-584 cals

Totals: 1941 cals, 125g protein

Hopefully your ultrasound tech is a fine looking female at least, like when I had it done ages ago after smashing mine into my motorcycle gas tank after doing a wheelie and having to bring it down fast to prevent going over the back lool.

Yikes!! Sounds like more than a little discomfort there...

Didn't beat the world today but I'm still happy with my finish. Started out pretty fast but it was too hot and windy to maintain it. First mile of 9:36, 5K split was 30:05 but the second half was much slower and mile 6 was a struggle! Finished in 1:01:54 so about 40 seconds slower than what the race predictor showed. Still my 3rd best 10K and I'm about 20 lbs heavier now.

I think every issue I've ever looked up online was listed as a symptom of something life threatening. Hope your doctors appointment goes well!

Great work in the race. Keep on training like you have been doing and that time will just keep on coming down.

I wouldn't say your 2nd half was way slower, only a minute or so.

What's your next goal?

Second half was like 31:50...guess it just felt slower cause I knew I had almost no chance of breaking 60 minutes. My next race is a half marathon in 4 weeks. Not quite sure what my target is gonna be yet. Have to see how the training goes the next few weeks. The course will be tougher than the races I've done the past few weeks. There's one pretty decent hill in mile 8 and a couple smaller ones before that.

Day 55

Race day!! The weather was spectacular...if you wanted to relax at the beach. Little bit warm and the race didn't start til 8 am, ended up being closer to 75 at race time and only got warmer from there.

I knew it was a long shot but I wanted to break 60 minutes, which would be a 9:39 pace for 6.2 miles. My goal was to go out in 9:35 for the first 3 miles so I'd have a cushion but I knew during the second mile that wasn't gonna happen. Finished the first 5K in 30:05 but just couldn't hold that pace. Mile 6 was a struggle but I kept chugging along and finished strong and posted a 1:01:54. My personal best for this distance is 1:00:24 and I'm about 20 lbs heavier now so I think I can get there by the end of the year.

Half marathon is 4 weeks away!!

Breakfast: Protein bar, pretzels & cookies after the race-479 cals

Lunch: Pulled pork (11 oz), bbq sauce-674 cals

Dinner: Oscar Mayer protein pack, protein shake, pizza slice-646 cals

Snacks: Little Debbie zebra cake, Fritos (break room at work got me today)-593 cals

Totals: 2393 cals, 135g protein

Running:
Mile 1 9:36
Mile 2 9:44
Mile 3 9:45
Mile 4 9:54
Mile 5 10:01
Mile 6 10:28
Mile 6.2 9:57/pace

Keep up this training and you'll be under the hour within a few months for sure. In fact with the dedication you've shown so far for training and your weight loss, you'll be looking towards 50 mins before you know it.

Have you ever tried running negative splits - starting off slower and picking the pace up so your second half is faster than the first? I'm not really experienced myself with this cos I don't do much road running but apparently it's the smart way to go.

I've read a little about negative splits but never really tried it during a race. Definitely something to consider...thanks for all your input by the way. You and Tron have been extremely helpful!!

Day 56

Did a nice easy 5 mile run this morning. It felt so much cooler outside, around 60 degrees and the air was crisp instead of humid like Saturday. My legs were a little sore but not too bad. Had a bit of a cheat day but didn't go too crazy...should be a decent week when I weigh in tomorrow morning.

Breakfast: Diner scrambler with 2 eggs, 2 biscuits and sausage gravy, breakfast potatoes-964 cals

Lunch: Fish and chips at work-1077 cals

Dinner: Special K protein shake and protein bar-360 cals

Snacks: 3 thin golden cream Oreos, 1 kit kat wafer, skinny cow-335 cals

Totals: 2736 cals, 121g protein

Running:
Mile 1 11:23
Mile 2 11:25
Mile 3 11:21
Mile 4 11:20
Mile 5 11:01

Monday morning weigh in:

241.6

Week 1 -5.4 lbs
Week 2 -1.0 lbs
Week 3 -3.4 lbs
Week 4 -1.6 lbs
Month 1 -11.4 lbs
Week 5 -.4 lbs
Week 6 -1.8 lbs
Week 7 -3.2 lbs
Week 8 -2.2 lbs
Month 2 -7.6 lbs

Total -19.0 lbs

Total mileage:
Week 1 17.2
Week 2 20.1
Week 3 22.2
Week 4 25.3
Week 5 16.1
Week 6 21.1
Week 7 25.0
Week 8 23.2

Hard to believe it's been 2 months! I'm really happy with my progress...my diet could be a little better but overall I think it's been decent considering my picky eating habits.

I got some great news this morning...went to the doctor and had an ultrasound and they diagnosed the mass on my testicle as a benign cyst. It should go away on its own, so that was definitely a big relief!!

nice race report and good job on keeping it up (in the race and in the log in general).

negative splits: it doesn't really matter for you atm. in general, aim for even splits. depending on form, you'll end up with hopefully either a slight positive or a slight negative split, both which are completely fine. try to avoid extreme splits, those will cost you a lot of time. but there's nothing wrong with aggressively "attacking" a 5k run

what's the plan for the future? do you want to further increase your weekly mileage? or just stay at the 20-25 mile range for the moment?

about calories / eating: just be aware that you will need to eat less than you do atm if you still want to be losing weight (at least at a similar pace) @ 200lbs. it's perfectly fine for the moment, but you will need to "tighten up" over time (or simply run a lot more, hehe).

half marathon: how big is this "decent hill"? are you used to running hills? otherwise, you should really try to incorporate this somewhat over the next 2-3 weeks. uphill won't be the main problem (you just go slower), but downhill will be hard on your quads & knees if you're not used to it.

i would try to get in 2 more good long runs and do it quite aggressively length wise. you're at 8m atm, i'd do a 9.5miler the next weekend and a 11 miler the week after (that's two weeks before the HM, right?). should help you a lot in the later parts of the race.

.

The best part is when you finally hit your goal weight and can change the settings from trying to lose a pound a week to just maintaining. I had MFP set for trying to lose 1 pound a week but 5 pounds below my goal weight of 155 (down from 215#) which I just finally hit. For the past 3 years I have had a daily calorie goal of between 1700 and 1500. I set it to maintain and it jumped up to 1980.

It has only been a week or so but the only way I get near or over my daily calories is on my bourbon drinking and related snacking days, which can now happen more often LOL. I still eat the same clean type of foods, I can just finally eat bigger meals or eat a little lighter and drink a bit more bourbon.

Day 57

Hit an urgent care center first thing this morning to have my health issue checked out so it delayed my run. Hated it because it felt amazing, the air was cool and brisk. Was very, very relieved to get good news and got out to run around noon. I was so pumped up it was difficult to keep the pace slow!

I'm gonna do a tempo run tomorrow, start with a one mile warmup then 2 miles at close to race pace then a one mile cool down.

Breakfast: Usual-496 cals

Lunch: Healthy request clam chowder, 10 club crackers-441 cals

Dinner: Pulled pork (12.8 oz), bbq sauce (2 oz)-705 cals

Snacks: Special K protein bar & shake, pudding, popcorn-562 cals

Totals: 2203 cals, 164g protein

Running:
Mile 1 10:57
Mile 2 11:08
Mile 3 11:15
Mile 4 11:04