Now that the Marine Corps Marathon is behind me, it's time to get a grip on things again. You'd think that training for a marathon would really help you lose weight, but... apparently not. Many runners have told me that it's hard to lose weight when training for a marathon because of the hunger. It hits so hard sometimes that it feels like you'll never bee full. However, most of these runners have faster metabolisms than I do... and aren't 30-40lbs overweight.
I realized a little too late that I was taking this training as a license to eat. I didn't think I'd even be able to gain weight while training as much as I was. I was wrong. I gained a solid 8-9lbs over the last month or two. I'm not overly upset about it, but I'm certainly not happy about it. But it's a wake up call. I need to monitor my calorie consumption better.
It is time to start all over. I'm going to start from scratch with a whole new set of goals. I feel like I need to start off slow and go with an 8 week plan this time around. Here are the goals...
Running
My wife and I are tentatively planning to run the Ocean Drive Marathon in March. Our training starts this week, as we are 20 weeks out. Luckily it starts relatively slow so we don't completely burn out by race day. Our current training program calls for 4 days of running and a cross training day. Because of my new job in PA, we'll be resting on Monday and Friday to accommodate for the 2.5 hour drive I'll be doing on those days. I will follow this program at least 6 of the 8 weeks. I will make exceptions for bad weather (for example... blizzards or hurricanes) or injuries.
Water
I've realized that I'm not drinking as much water as I should be. Again. I have been drinking plenty of fluids, just not the calorie free, hydrating, kind of fluids. Too much beer, too much soda, too much Gatorade. I'll be drinking 80oz of water, minimum, every day, for at least 50 of the 56 days.
Calories
I need to get my calories back under control. I'll be eating between 1928 and 2485 calories per day 6 out of 7 days per week. I'm going to also add four days for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, and Man Weekend (something I planned with my brother). That gives me 44 days out of the 56 total. I'll be using LoseIt.com to track my calories. On days that I exercise, I will be allowing myself extra calories to accommodate for what I burn. I will take 1/3 of the calories I burn and add them to my budget for the day, if I need them.
Weight
I want to be able to lose an average of 1.5lbs a week, so I will be shooting for a 12lb weight loss. I currently weigh ***.*lbs, so my goal weight for December 30th will be ***.*
Pushups
I found that my upper body was getting more flabby during the last training cycle. To combat this, I plan on working my way back up to a 50 pushup set. I will be using an app on my phone called "Pushups." It's similar to the hundredpushups.com program, however, when I tried this app last time, it felt better than when I was using the other program.
Here is how you'll see me tracking my goals on the side bar...
Running: 0/6
Water: 0/50
Calories: 0/45
Weight: 0/12
Pushups: 0/50
Because of my work/travel schedule, I'm not sure when I'll be updating, but I hope to find a time that works out. I'll post links on facebook when I can get something written up.
