STrooper Member

Please note that when you run, particularly longish and hard runs (but any one run that really stresses the body) can first show a weight loss (clearly water) and then weight gain as the muscles do their initial repair. My last half marathon, I came back about the same weight as when I left earlier that morning. But a…

Somebody has to be "last." Don't worry on your first about how far back you finish. To borrow from John Bingham, your goal should be to finish the same day you started. Unless the minimum pace is significantly faster than 16:30 per mile, you should be able to nearly walk the entire distance at a moderately fast pace. When…

My coffeemaker...waiting for the 5 beeps!:glasses:

It should be a long, slow weight loss. It may be faster at the beginning if you really press a bit but, in the end, it will serve you better if its about 1 pound per week. Its a project and more importantly its a lifetime/lifelong project once you get the hang of it. It may take you a while before everything clicks. It…

In the end, it still comes down to calories in versus calories out over some sufficently long time period. Or more precisely, calories/unit time over some sufficiently baseline time period to be meaningful but not to to radically influenced by short-period transients. For example, while we may be "measuring calories" for…

I was wondering about your knee pain. An observation which I have noted elsewhere: When I finally got serious about improving my health (after a couple of years of fits and starts), I was pretty capable of walking 12-14,000 steps per day (got a pedometer to measure that) or the equivalent of about 6-7 miles per day.…

I had a 14-month weight plateau. But I did not have a 14-month size plateau. Over that year, 4 inches came of the waist, the hips and the chest (each). Measuring month to month didn't necessarily seem to show a decrease in size, but couple of months and it was evident that there was really a half-inch, or so, difference…

Race 13.1 Series, Greensboro, NC Half-marathon on 5/18/2014. 2:06:27 (new PR). This was a very hilly course (~900 vertical feet of climb over the span of 13.1 miles as measured by my Fitbit. Approximately 700 feet measured by GPS) Shaved 7:20 off my March half-marathon time that was run on a much flatter course. It has…

Excellent point!

As a follow-up. I use a Fitbit "One" to track my steps and distances automatically. I have kept my goal set at 20,000 steps per day (roughly 10 miles per day). My profile is largely open to everyone and can be accessed at https://www.fitbit.com/user/23BVQ9

Hope you have a good one with great weather. Looks like it might just cool off for great temperature conditions.

So, here is a video I did for a program I have participated in and have sponsored for my people as a "wellness coordinator." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzFGgU1V370 I was just starting my marathon training in 2013 and I had just completed my first 10K in years (my last 10K was run in 1985). My 5K pace was about 35…

So will I and a couple of my coworkers. The City of Oaks was my first (last year) and I loved the run on the greenways. Some complain about the hills, but that's just the nature of running around here.

I have completed 3 marathons since my first one last year (November 3, 2013). I started training for my first one in May of 2013. The gradual buildup of endurance showed in a gradual increase in speed over the months. Don't set a hard and fast time goal for your first one except to complete it the same day you started.…

Yes. I will differ in my opinion on focusing on diet, though. I made very slight changes in my food intake for the first couple of years. Slightly smaller portions, gave up carbonated drinks, reduced the amount of sugar in my coffee, dropped the flavored creamers, used the small dessert dishes for ice cream (but DID NOT…

I use a Zephyr and have for more than a year. Works great! I use mine with an Android phone

Although there are some options under weight/strength training, unlike cardio which requires you to move your own weight (using some assumptions about that) strength training with weights is a total guess as far as MFP is concerned. Your best bet is to use a heart rate monitor to give you an estimate of calorie burn.

MFP gives you the total for the period of time, not the net. That isn't so obvious unless you import data from something like a fitbit or other personal monitor (I use a heart rate monitor that defines both the time and the legnth of time that calories expended are calculated and thus, substituted in place of MFP's own…

A fairly long reponse. It's ok! You've gotten some fantastic comments above. So, the thing I want to to "re-mind" (word separation intentional) you of is that this is a long-haul game. And the game is your life. You get to choose how you keep score or if you do at all. As a practical matter, your weight may briefly climb,…

By the time I started training for my first marathon, I was in maintenance and had been for 8 months. Actually, I found my weight went up by a few pounds and stabilized once I got above 13 miles on the long runs. If anything my weight variation has gotten tighter not wider. Its certainly possible to lose weight while…

As an old guy, I know that some speed improvement is in my future. Speed shows up in my shorter runs and there is that whole aerobic capacity issue. In my age class I have to run a 3:55 in a qualifier race. That's an 1:02 under what I just ran. But things also have to line up right and that's a judgment for race day.…

I have found that it really depends upon the shirt. I just know that certain shirts are more prone to this problem than others. Its also more of a problem running in the rain (again with certain shirts), rather than running in the heat with sweat. I had not had this problem until February when I ran a marathon in a…

Two Steps From Hell (current album: Skyworld)

Often times we have no idea how much what we do and who we be affects others.

It was a picture taken of me. I knew I had gotten overweight. When I saw the picture I knew that wasn't the me I used to be, nor did it fit the self-image I held for myself.

Another one: Yes, "Starship Trooper" Hence the "Genesis" of my screen name STrooper

The Doobie Brothers: What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits (I always loved that ttile)

First of all, a calorie (small c) is the amount of energy required to raise 1 gram of water 1 °C. From a purely thermodynamic standpoint there is no difference between one calorie and the next. And over the longish haul ( and macro scale), in versus out IS the final ruling of the first law of thermodynamics. No matter what…

Oh no! I will have run 3 marathons in 6 months...each after I turned age 60. I guess the "sudden stop at the end," like objects seen in certain mirrors, "is closer than it appears."

Its impressive only if you can run it on a treadmill or on a real outdoor course. My fastest time on the outdoor course is 25:32. That is down from 28:03 in September 2013. And down from 34 minutes when I first started out.