AN ADDED CHALLENGE

G'day!

Ok, so I woke up this morning still feeling FULL from dinner, lol. BUT it's not all bad. While I hate feeling that way in the morning after too big a dinner at least this time I didn't overeat bad stuff. That is not an excuse, BTW. Still, I must get the portions under control.

I made veggie fajitas, no wrap last night for dinner.

My yummy veggie fajitas!

I love these. I cut up six bell peppers, two onions and about 2 cups of Beyond Meat, Beyond Beef crumbles as my meat substitute/protein source and two packs of McCormick's fajita mix. In all it was roughly 768 calories total. I ate a lot of it, about 3/4 of it all-that's even excessive for me. It was way too much but at least it was extremely low fat, high fiber and vitamin rich. Needless to say, if I wake up feeling full I am not going to weigh...

I had a crunch in time yesterday for running. I wanted to at least run 5 miles but I only had time for 3. On the up-side, the run felt really good. I felt strong. I can't believe that after only one day at the gym that it made a difference in strength but maybe it woke up my muscles in some manor.

So, I found a useful link from Runners World. It talks about weight loss and running. There were several Q&As. I was particularly interested in this one, especially the first sentence.



Q: Will losing five pounds help me shave a few minutes off my half-marathon PR?
A: For every pound you lose, you'll run about two seconds faster per mile. So losing five could cut two minutes off your time. But if you're already slim, dropping more pounds could lead to muscle loss. Even if you have weight to lose, slashing calories will affect your energy and increase your injury risk. To safely slim down, lose one half to one pound per week by making small changes: Eat fiber-rich foods (like sweet potatoes or beans), which fill you up. Trim calories by skipping snacks when you're not hungry, drinking less alcohol, and eating fewer desserts. —Lisa Dorfman, R.D., is the Director of Sports Nutrition and Performance-UHealth at the University of Miami.
 

If that formula is linear I could run a 2 hour-even half marathon if I were 55lbs lighter which, in theory, translates into a 4 hour marathon...I take that last part with a grain of salt.  The second half of a marathon is so completely different from the first half. For me it's almost like a different sport. I don't know how else to explain it. You just have to run one to understand that. I'm sure that is not the case for more talented runners.

Anyway, I decided to do an experiment. As I lose weight I will track my half and full marathon times and plot them. Of course this means I will have to run another full at some point. But, if I can get my act together with the portion sizes and lose the weight I should be able to do this. This will make it a more fun and challenging event. 

One caveat, though. We are heading into summer come March. It is like a light switch when the temperatures change. It will go from being in the 60s one day and the next day it's in the 80s and never goes under again till next Fall. In fact, it will go up rapidly. Therefore, the next half I run will in all likelihood be in Fall. So, I will have to plot the most recent half before Summer (it might be that Shark Bite Half I just ran) and use that as the start point. My next half, that I am already scheduled for, is slated for Nov '17 when I do the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Vegas. But I know there will be one before that! I guess the full marathon I have coming up in New Orleans in a few weeks will have to be the marathon starting point.

Oh, here is the link to the rest of that Runners World article if you're interested.

http://www.runnersworld.com/weight-loss/lose-weight-with-help