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Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!!

01-20-2016 , 10:22 AM
Day 156

Did another easy run 4.5 miles...felt hungrier than normal all day and was jonesing for something sweet. Contemplated making brownies but I knew that could be disastrous so I settled on a pint of blue bell ice cream instead.

Breakfast: Usual (Special K protein flakes w/ 1% milk), 2 El Monterray mini breakfast burritos-836 cals

Lunch: Same as breakfast minus the burritos-511 cals

Dinner: Made baked garlic Parmesan chicken, rice a roni, sweet peas-890 cals

Snacks: 2 granola bars, blue bell ice cream-780 cals

Totals: 3017 cals, 177g protein

Mile 1 10:58
Mile 2 11:11
Mile 3 11:12
Mile 4 11:07
Mile 4.5 10:34/pace
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-21-2016 , 10:28 AM
Day 157

Off day from running...gonna do hill repeats Thursday.

Breakfast: Protein bar, McDonald's sausage biscuit-600 cals

Lunch: Baked garlic Parmesan chicken, rice a roni, sweet peas-826 cals

Dinner: Same as lunch-625 cals

Snacks: 2 Skinny cow, Lance toasty crackers-553 cals

Totals: 2605 cals, 127g protein
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-22-2016 , 02:03 PM
Day 158

Took a sub teaching job...wasn't feeling up to a hill run so just did an easy 4.6.

Breakfast: Protein bar, 2 granola bars-350 cals

Lunch: Baked garlic Parmesan chicken, rice a roni-845 cals

Dinner: Usual breakfast (1.5 bowls)-823 cals

Snacks: Skinny cow, Oreo thins-410 cals

Totals: 2428 cals, 184g protein

Mile 1 10:54
Mile 2 10:59
Mile 3 10:59
Mile 4 10:51
Mile 4.6 10:52
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-22-2016 , 02:05 PM
Friday morning weigh in

233.8

Week 1 -2.0 lbs
Week 2 -1.4 lbs
Week 3 -1.6 lbs

Total -5.0/50 (10%)

Total mileage:
Week 1 26.0
Week 2 28.5
Week 3 28.0

Total 82.5/1300 (6.3%)

Another solid week!
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-23-2016 , 11:49 AM
Day 159

Did an easy 5 miles before a nasty cold front came thru.

Breakfast: Bacon, egg & cheese on toast-603 cals

Lunch: Special K protein flakes, 1% milk-550 cals

Dinner: Baked garlic Parmesan chicken, yellow rice-789 cals

Snacks: Skinny cow, Oreo thins-500 cals

Totals: 2442 cals, 152g protein

Mile 1 10:35
Mile 2 10:49
Mile 3 10:37
Mile 4 10:40
Mile 5 10:32
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-24-2016 , 06:23 PM
Day 160

Brrrrrrr it was cold Saturday morning! High 30s but with a frigid north wind blowing 12-15 MPH when I got out to run. It was an easy run but I was motivated to go faster and get outta that cold weather! Ended up going 5 miles again...long run Sunday morning, I'll be shooting for 9 miles.

Baked some pork chops with bbq sauce and took them to work intending on making two meals out of it. Ended up eating them over the course of 3 beaks and just logged it as lunch and dinner.

Breakfast: Protein bar, 2 granola bars-350 cals

Lunch: Baked BBQ pork chop, Mac & cheese-722 cals

Dinner: Same as lunch-722 cals

Snacks: None!

Totals: 1794 cals, 101g protein

Mile 1 10:35
Mile 2 10:49
Mile 3 10:37
Mile 4 10:40
Mile 5 10:32
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-25-2016 , 08:34 AM
Day 161

Sunday long run...got out around 9 am and it felt great! It was cool again but the wind was gone. The brisk morning had my pace a little faster but I felt great the whole way.

I picked a new route...the first half had several downhill spots and miles 5 and 6 were mostly uphill. Ended up going 9 miles and definitely could've gone much further. No soreness at all even as I write this up almost 24 hours later!

Breakfast: Usual-543 cals

Lunch: Baked BBQ pork chop, Mac & cheese-601 cals

Dinner: Bacon, scrambled eggs w/ cheese on toast, grits-775 cals

Snacks: Granola bar, skinny cow-240 cals

Totals: 2160 cals, 120g protein

Mile 1 10:26
Mile 2 10:19
Mile 3 10:19
Mile 4 10:20
Mile 5 10:58
Mile 6 10:51
Mile 7 10:29
Mile 8 10:40
Mile 9 10:20
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-26-2016 , 04:01 AM
Day 162

Easy 5 miles...gonna take Tuesday off.

Breakfast: Usual-547 cals

Lunch: Same as breakfast-538 cals

Dinner: Clam chowder, club crackers, hot dog-710 cals

Snacks: Protein bar, granola bar, pistachios, popcorn, Skinny cow-647 cals

Totals: 2442 cals, 132g protein

Mile 1 10:42
Mile 2 10:54
Mile 3 10:53
Mile 4 10:50
Mile 5 10:32
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-26-2016 , 12:01 PM
nice work!

you don't track HR, do you? afaik you use the smartphone to track, so you could simply buy a bluetooth HR-strap, should cost 30-40$ or so. would give you good additional data points (and i'll find out if your easy pace is really easy pace )
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-26-2016 , 12:32 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by trontron
nice work!

you don't track HR, do you? afaik you use the smartphone to track, so you could simply buy a bluetooth HR-strap, should cost 30-40$ or so. would give you good additional data points (and i'll find out if your easy pace is really easy pace )
Nope I don't track it right now...I have an iPhone and use Runkeeper to track my runs. I'll look into the Bluetooth strap though...so I just get my resting HR then what % of that should my easy runs be?
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-26-2016 , 04:24 PM
opinions differ
in general: test your max HR, test your resting HR.
here are the pfitzinger numbers (it's always "max HR%" // and then "heart rate reserve%"):
- VO2max: 94-98% // 92 - 97%
- lactate threshold: 80-91 // 75-88
- endurance (aka long runs): 74-84 // 65-78
- general aerobig (aka easy runs): 70-81 // 62-75
- recovery runs: <76% // <70%

as you see, everyone kinda has his own names and categories. the main idea is always the same: easy runs for most of the volume + something slower than easy runs (aka recovery runs) + long run pace (normally very similar to easy runs, slightly more intense normally) + tempo runs (aka lactate threshold) + intervals (= vo2max session)

heart rate reserve is just the difference between max hr und resting hr. so for example max hr is 180 and resting hr is 60. then you calculate it: [(maxHR - restHR) x factor] + restHR. (there are calculators online if you are confused or lazy)

so easy runs category would be in this example: 126 - 146 with direct calculation and ([180-60]x0.62 + 60) = 134 - 150 with heart rate reserve calculation.

as you see, the values differ slightly between the two calculation. that's normal. use heart rate reserve and measure resting HR a few times in the beginning (ideally directly after waking up): make sure that you are completely at rest (aka flat in bed). you should be as comfortable / lazy as possible and stay like this for 10-15min before measuring (or just measure it the whole time and then look at it afterwards). or measure your HR during your sleep. max HR: just look at race HR of a shorter race. normally you get close to max HR towards the end (as long as you feel that you went all out). or do very fast hill-repeats with short recoveries until you are literally completely finished, that's the best way to get your max HR outside of a race.
test your resting HR every few months, it can change a lot over time. max HR is a lot more constant normally.

and it's also not an "absolute science". your HR can fluctuate due to stress, temperature, hydration-status, illness etc... so don't overvalue the precision of the different categories (and it's not like there are any clear borders between them; with the exception somewhat of LT hr). personally, i think HR really helps newer runners to get a better feel for their body and how different paces should feel. you start to get really good at estimating your current HR.

so for example, if your easy run HR ends up being 136-148 (just to throw out random numbers): you normally start out closer to 135 - 140 (because easy runs are easy) and on most runs, you have a slight (or large) increase in HR as the run goes on (this is called cardiac drift). and so you maybe end up with 145 towards the end of the run. or maybe you take it slightly easier and your average HR ends up just being 132. that's no problem (as long as it's not the case for every run). but if your easy run ends up with a HR 165 (without changing the pace), that tells you a lot. or if the average HR is way higher, then it's clearly too fast. (afaik everything's flat in in florida, so you don't have to consider the impact of hills on your hr, hehe)
in the end, HR is just another tool to get a better feel for your body and pace. don't be a slave to the HR. but don't ignore it either.

Last edited by trontron; 01-26-2016 at 04:33 PM.
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-27-2016 , 04:06 PM
Day 163

Off day from running, gonna do hill repeats Wednesday no matter what.

Breakfast: Sausage McMuffin, hash brown-522 cals

Lunch: Bacon egg & cheese sandwich on toast-513 cals

Dinner: 2 soft tacos, 1 hard taco-587 cals

Snacks: 2 granola bars, popcorn-469 cals

Late night: Ramen noodle soup-360 cals

Totals: 2452 cals, 91g protein
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-27-2016 , 06:29 PM
are you doing strides yet? if not: start doing them! once or twice a week, when you are feeling good on an easy run.
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-28-2016 , 12:30 AM
Day 164

Yucky day, cool with a light rain. Tackled the hill though! Started with a one mile warm up then went up and down the big hill 6 times. Added some distance to the cool down and finished after 5 miles.

Breakfast: Usual-569 cals

Lunch: Sonny's pulled pork sandwich, fries, baked beans-1041 cals

Dinner: Same as breakfast-540 cals

Snacks: 2 granola bars-180 cals

Totals: 2330 cals, 151g protein

Mile 1 10:42
Mile 2 10:35
Mile 3 10:59
Mile 4 10:56
Mile 5 10:47
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-29-2016 , 10:04 AM
Day 165

Took a sub teaching job so I didn't get out to run until late afternoon...I was a little tired and not really feeling it then the poop monster got me with almost 2 miles left to go. I made it the full 5 miles but barely! Then I ate everything...literally couldn't shove enough crap down my pie hole.

Breakfast: Usual-542 cals

Lunch: Spicy chicken sandwich-520 cals

Dinner: BK bacon double, Grilled chicken, red potatoes, corn-845 cals

Snacks: EVERYTHING!! Nacho cheese crackers, 2 Moon pies, PB crackers, Doritos, white cheddar popcorn, Ms Fields ice cream cookie sandwich-1567 cals

Totals: 3474 cals, 165g protein

Mile 1 10:49
Mile 2 10:56
Mile 3 11:04
Mile 4 10:56
Mile 5 10:57
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-29-2016 , 04:51 PM
Friday morning weigh in

232.8

Week 1 -2.0 lbs
Week 2 -1.4 lbs
Week 3 -1.6 lbs
Week 4 -1.0 lbs

Total -6.0/50 (12%)

Total mileage:
Week 1 26.0
Week 2 28.5
Week 3 28.0
Week 4 34.0

Total 116.5/1300 (8.9%)

I'm sure my mini binge yesterday inflated my weight some but I'm still trending down so I'll take it.
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-30-2016 , 02:27 PM
Day 166

Brilliant weather, high 50s and sunny! Did another easy 5 but I felt a little lethargic and my legs were a little sore after. I've already done my Saturday morning run as I type this and it was even worse today. Gonna skip my Sunday long run and start to ease back to get ready for the 15K on Feb 13th.

Breakfast: Protein bar-170 cals

Lunch: Special K protein flakes, 1% milk-546 cals

Dinner: Chicken Alfredo w/ penne pasta (no bread!!)-911 cals

Snacks: 2 granola bars-180 cals

Totals: 1807 cals, 130g protein

Mile 1 10:50
Mile 2 10:54
Mile 3 10:43
Mile 4 11:03
Mile 5 10:57
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
01-31-2016 , 09:58 AM
Day 167

Easy 5 miles on Saturday morning but felt like crap. I struggled to get thru it and my legs were sore after. Gonna take Sunday off although I did wake up feeling good this morning. May do a long run Monday depending on how I feel.

Breakfast: Bacon, egg & cheese on toast, grits-669 cals

Lunch: Chicken Alfredo w/ penne pasta-859 cals

Dinner: Chicken soup-302 cals

Snacks: Popcorn, skinny cow, protein bar-542 cals

Totals: 2373 cals, 139g protein

Mile 1 11:10
Mile 2 11:20
Mile 3 11:02
Mile 4 11:00
Mile 5 11:04
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
02-01-2016 , 12:16 PM
Day 168

Skipped the Sunday long run, might do it Monday if I feel good.

Breakfast: Usual-522 cals

Lunch: Chicken Alfredo w/ penne pasta-793 cals

Dinner: Usual breakfast-688 cals

Snacks: Skinny cow, 2 granola bars-330 cals

Totals: 2333 cals, 125g protein
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
02-01-2016 , 04:47 PM
Friday morning weigh in

232.0

Week 1 -2.0 lbs
Week 2 -1.4 lbs
Week 3 -1.6 lbs
Week 4 -1.0 lbs
January -6.8 lbs

Total -6.8/50 (13.6%)

Total mileage:
Week 1 26.0
Week 2 28.5
Week 3 28.0
Week 4 34.0
January 126.0

Total 126/1300 (9.7%)

Updated numbers to wrap up January!
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
02-02-2016 , 08:26 AM
Day 169

Woke up feeling good so I ventured out to do my long run I skipped Sunday. Weather wasn't great, about 70 and very humid. Went out on a flat, paved running trail hoping to do 10 miles.

Felt decent throughout, kept the pace slow because of the weather. My GPS was off the first mile, should've been closer to 11:00. I started to get a little fatigued the last two miles but nothing like the past couple runs...no soreness at all. Ready to ease back now on the mileage and be well rested for the 15K in 12 days!

Oh and after my run the scale showed 229.8! I know that's not my actual weight but always motivating to see that second number go down...be even more amazing when the first number is a 1!!

Breakfast: Usual plus protein shake-780 cals

Lunch: McDouble, spicy chicken sandwich-740 cals

Dinner: Loaded potato soup-397 cals

Snacks: Protein bar, peanut butter, popcorn-799 cals

Totals: 2716 cals, 138g protein

Mile 1 10:38
Mile 2 11:09
Mile 3 11:08
Mile 4 11:24
Mile 5 11:29
Mile 6 11:07
Mile 7 11:05
Mile 8 11:00
Mile 9 11:05
Mile 10 11:14
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
02-02-2016 , 09:28 AM
good job! in general, try to make sure to always do the weekly long run. it's definitely the most important workout for you atm. so plan your rest days so that you are fit for the long run and don't have to skip it. i know it's not a common occurence, just saying it anyway (so that i have a reason to post again, hrhr).

but man, 70° sounds awesome, what's your problem? yes, it's slightly too hot to race your absolute best (but still very very close to it). but for a long run: PERFECT! (especially compared to 2 hours in the rain or snow, hehe).

are you measuring your weekly volume friday-thursday, is that correct?

something else: i think you should start working on your snacking volume. i made a quick calculation, and you ate around 13'500 calories in the snacks category in january. that is very close to the amount of calories that you burned running in january. or to say it differently: ALL the running you did last month was just so that you could eat that popcorn and the skinny cows.
now, that's not a completly fair comparison. part of your "snacks" category definitely contains useful / healthy stuff. and sure, you're still losing weight at a good rate. i'm generally always in the "whatever works for you" camp. but weight loss will become harder. your TDEE (without the running) will sink and so will your margin of error. and i'd say your snacking volume has gone up a lot compared to earlier in this log (but i'm not sure about it).
it just feels to me like you got into a routine where you just automatically eat a few hundred "empty" calories every day. now if that's really your goal and important for you: sure, keep doing it. but i feel like you'd be happier long-term, if you would just cut out most of it. at least over time...

Last edited by trontron; 02-02-2016 at 09:44 AM.
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
02-02-2016 , 09:52 AM
Agree with the snacks comment above. I cringe every time you post your snacks, and diet in general. I know I have said it before but you should really be eating some veggies. They are low cal and contain lots of important vitamins and nutrients that you are surely lacking.

When was the last time you had your blood work done? Based on the last few food logs you posted I would guess you have higher than recommended sodium levels and lower than recommended levels of potassium and other nutrients.
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
02-02-2016 , 10:07 AM
Tron,

It was the humidity yesterday that made it feel miserable...especially compared to the amazing running weather we've had this month. Lots of 40-50 degree days, I've gotten spoiled!

I do agree that I've been snacking way too much lately...I'm gonna have to find some lower calorie stuff to put in the rotation.

Fozzy,

I had blood work done about a year ago as part of getting a life insurance policy...everything they measured was in the "normal" range.
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote
02-03-2016 , 02:56 PM
Day 170

Easy 4 miles, felt pretty good. Taking Wednesday off.

Breakfast: 6" Subway club w/ double meat, baked lays-675 cals

Lunch: Protein bar-250 cals

Dinner: 2 tacos, pizza slice-653 cals

Snacks: Protein shake, granola bar-260 cals

Totals: 1838 cals, 112g protein

Mile 1 11:04
Mile 2 11:17
Mile 3 11:16
Mile 4 11:17
Another YTF follower another dream: follow my progress to another half marathon and beyond!! Quote

      
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