I'm too busy (lazy) to start a journal

I really try to avoid the term low-carb for what I do. I prefer to consider it a sensible carb intake, which fluctuates with my training and activity level, as I believe it should

RE: carb intake on longer runs.
I've run up to two hours now, right after eating breakfast consisting of 2 eggs, cheese, and a slice of ham or pork cutlet. I felt fine, having at least a 1/2 hour before running. I was a bit worried at first, but did not experience any discomfort, nor lack of energy. In fact, I felt I could have carried on. I breakfasted at 05:30, and was feeling REALLY hungry by 10:00. Other than that, no problems/concerns.

p.s. Quick, easy, delicious breakfast?
Small frying pan, heat on medium.
small pat of butter, break in two eggs
let them set a bit, put on some luncheon meat, sliced ham, whatever you have handy.
Top off with some TASTY cheese ( my preference - Monterey Jack with Jalapeno, or OLD cheddar )
Place a lid on top, and let it set for about 2 or 3 minutes.
When ready, remove lid, and slide it onto a plate, season as desired.
Yum, yum, yum.

You guys are great! I'm really enjoying this thread. I have not run a marathon, although it's always been a goal, but I do run 5-10 daily. (or should I say daily until gaining all this weight this winter!) I am back to running now, 3-5 slow miles, and feel great to be back at it.

I'm very impressed that you guys can run such distances while LCing. Some on the forum have suggested I cut down on my cardio, since I'm experiencing fatigue but I think I'll just hang in there and eavesdrop on this thread.

Amy

Sirius,
Nice to see another runner following the forum.

I started out with about the same weight situation - 215 with a goal of 150. I'm now 162 and getting close to my goal weight.
I did most of it by following Sugarbusters. When I started to follow this forum, I was having trouble around 170 and wanted to decrease my carbs, lose more weight and still run marathons.
However, aside from increasing my veg intake; I've pretty much gone back to SB, which is still relatively low carb, especially for a runner. The big change I made was I STOPPED CHEATING!! I've been very careful the past 3 weeks and 8 pounds has come off.

The great thing about forums like this is you can pick up ideas to personalize what you are doing. I've gotten some great ideas from some others; but I can't eat exactly the way they do.

Did you go long this weekend? I am planning on going some extra in the AM. I will see how I feel but I'm thinking I may run eight miles. Not much for you I know but it will be a truly long run for me. I have a three and a five mile loop from home. I'll start with three and choose to repeat for six or go out for five more. I'm going to keep an easy pace and just have fun. I have trouble holding back on the pace but I will try to keep it at 8:00

Has anyone found any decent bars that are not so high carb, suitable for running distance? I have found Atkins bars here, but they tend to be pricey. Has anyone used them for longer runs? Any other suggestions? I'm going to try the almond butter and soy/protein powder balls to see how they work.

Shane,
I alternate long run weekends. Last week was 24. I'm on my way out right now for 14. I just thought I'd check in for some inspiration. Next weekend is my last long run before the marathon March 29.
8 miles is great. You are on your way, with the weight as well. Your gradual progress will reduce the risk of injury.

Farside,

I don't worry too much about carbs on my longer runs (2 hours or more).
In fact, Long run days generally stimulate my weight loss, despite a lot of extra carbs. I eat Power Bars and Carbboom gels on my long runs. I only bought the Power Bars because they were on sale. I think most of that stuff is overpriced.

My wife has a homemade protein bar recipe that we use. They are quite good and if you take out the brown sugar and use Splenda, it is only moderate carbs. Far cheaper than the others. Let me know if you want the recipe.
The main ingredients are soy flour, oat bran, yogurt, raisins, pecans...

Livvy,

I found the bread....at the Kroger (I think you mentioned Kroger)


$2.29 is expensive for bread; but far cheaper than the stuff they sell in the low carb stores.


Great 16 miler today. It was so nice out, I added a few miles. Its 75 degrees here.

My lofty idea of an eight mile run were cut short. The wind was something else today. My five mile out and back is along the beach and I was getting knocked arround! Between the wind and my lack of vegis yesterday I came in after five. The good news was that I stayed on my desired eight min pace. I clocked out at 40:14 so I thought that was good. I tend to push the pace regardless of the distance so I'm happy with that.

I will be running a "race" a week from today. A four miler here in town. I really don't know what to expect. I would like to run 28:00 but who knows. It has been so long. I am still 40+ lbs over race weight. It will be an experiance for sure. A starting point.

Ken I still can't come up with any of my "old" PR's except for one. That one I will always remember. My high school two mile PR. I placed third in the New England championships with a 9:33.

That was 1989...a long time ago. Notice I put "old PR" in quotes. I think that a ten year retirement in running will require some "new PR's". I would love to get as fast as I once was but for now I will be happy with losing the weight and putting in the miles.

9:33 for 2 miles? That is incredible. My best mile ever was 5:30 or so.

I've found that adding grapefruit juice in small quantities gives me a carb boost and doesn't seem to deter weight loss. I only drink about 4 ounces at a time, 3-4 times a day (about 50 grams of carbs). Interestingly, grapefruit juice is one item that is on Atkins foods list to use regularly, unlike oj.

I am not a fan of grapefruit by any means but I do like the idea of adding some carbs through juice. I keep going back and forth about this four miler this coming weekend. I'm definatly going to run it. I can't decide if I should do anything different before hand. I know that I will not skip my vegis like I did this saturday...that took it out of me. It's no big deal as I do not plan on going too fast, more of a mental thing I think.
Ken I would like to check out the recipe for your "protine bars". I have been treating myself to an occasional LC Bar but they put a hurt on the wallet. I bought one today and did'nt know that it was three bucks!!!

Not too long till the big day Ken! You must be getting a little psyched up. The absolute soonest I will consider the BIG ONE will be this fall for the Maine Marathon in Portland. I am trying to come up with some goal times for 5k-10k-and ten miles to reach along the way.


Remember the two mile time was a very long time ago. My HS mile time was just under 4:30 I forget the exact time and I broke 2min in the half once. I have started an entirely new carear though so I think I will need to establish all new PR's...Master PR's I guess you would call them!!!

I ran the two-miler in HS as well, but cannot remember any of my times, TOO long ago. Since then, the only races I ever ran were 10k's back in Prince George about 20 years ago. No memory of those times either. The only time I do know was my half in October, finishing in 1:58. I'm not worried about how fast, just about completing. I find a 9 min pace is extremely comfortable for me, and I'm very consistent with it, almost to the minute over 10 to 15 km.

I'd be interested in your recipe for the protein bars. I agree the store bought ones are expensive, plus there are a lot of additives in them. I can't do grapefruit juice due to some medication I'm on.

Wow. What a baby I am. As you've been talking about the cold weather I've really been sympathizing, now I realize you've been talking about REALLY cold weather. I think 30 degrees is cold. Anyway, I had an awful run this Sat. I don't know what happened. I ran 15 miles the week before just fine and completely bonked on the 16 I tried to run Sat. This has happened one other time, and I can't find any similar factors. My husband didn't know what to make of it because I'm usually pushing him on our runs, and I was almost walking. He thinks maybe I need to add carbs, but I think I might be really low on iron (I was really out of breath from the very start). I didn't eat as much protein and vegetables as usual this week. I just didn't take the time to cook meat as I usually do and kept grabbing more processed low carb foods. TKMOM says she has bad runs if she doesn't keep the protein up so I'll try to focus on that. I've had great runs with less carbs so I have a hard time believing it's the carbs. Hope everyone else is doing really well!

I'll post the recipe for the protein bars. As for the grapefruit juice, I occasionally add some Diet V8 Splash (Splenda) and some soda water and it makes a great drink.
As for the marathon, I feel great. I'm down almost 10 pounds since last years races. That will be a big help.

I like to think of this as a second running career as well.


Livvy, after 15 miles, I would suggest alternating weekends for your long run. Don't go long every weekend. The key ingredient to successful training is rest. I have no problem whatsoever taking a few days (like today and tomorrow) if I feel like I need to ease up abit. I focus my training around 2 key tough runs a week and everything else works around those.

For those of you doing weights, is anyone familiar with Mike Mentzer? My brother followed his program for several months and saw what I could call very remarkable results.Mentzer apparently beat out Arnold in the 1980 Mr. Olympia using this type of philospophy.

The basis of the program is that less is better and that muscles need time to rest and rebuild. You are not actually building muscle in the gym, you build it during rest. He advocated working out every 3-4 days and only doing 1 set of each exercise. The key was to do that one set until failure, until you can't possibly do another rep. You only return to the same body parts every 10-12 days.

As for the protein bars, I tried posting last night but the server was busy. there may only be limited interest,as they are higher carb and lowe rprotein than I thought.