Get Back to Marathon Fitness Level (Read 170 times)

Wow!  To lose a pound a day, you have to have over a 3000 calorie deficit a day.  How does that affect your training?  Do you feel weak?

So ... you can (I have) lost weight very quickly by significant calories deprevation, but...

Your body will consume muscle along with fat as you lose weight and you will be unable to build any muscle / strength.

On the other hand ~ Because you are losing significant weight, you need less muscle to go faster / further.  It can and does work up to a certain point.  But you are playing a risky game that has a good chance to end in injury, because you muscles are never getting to recover fully.

Weight loss can come from:  1)  Glycogen depletion (Your body has 1 pound or so and uses 6-8 pounds of h20 to store the glycgen.  By now you are in a pretty depleted state = 7-10 pounds of weight loss is from depletion and not fat.  2)  Dehydration 3)  Fat loss and 4)  muscle loss.

I ended up losing 87 pounds in 90 days and was very fit at the end.  Of the 87 pounds:  10 was glycogen related, 10 ish was dehydration and the remaining 67 pounds was a mix of fat and muscle (maybe 80/20 or 70/30 fat to muscle)

Do not be suprised if you restore glycogen reserves to be 7-10 pounds heavier.  I had lost the weight for a bet ($$) and within 2 weeks when I was not dehydrated or glycogen depleted I was 20 pounds heavier (Not fatter)

Let myself go over the last 5 years since my last marathon. Getting back into shape...

 

Just an observation of the last 3 weeks: 

Week 1: Exercise: 45 miles jogged, 4 hours ice skating. Calories: 7382, Weight loss: 7.4 lbs. 
Week 2: Exercise: 52 miles jogged, 4 hours ice skating. Calories: 7021, Weight loss: 4.5 lbs. 
Week 3: Exercise: 64 miles jogged, 2 hours ice skating. Calories: 7311, Weight loss: 6.9 lbs. 

No definitive conclusion, but my best 2 weeks of the last 3 involved eating 300 - 360 more calories. 
The increase in exercise from week 1 to 2 did not seem to impact additional weight loss. 
I ran 19 more miles in week 3, then I did in week 1, but I loss 1/2 pound less. 

The last 3 weeks, I have been trying to aggressively lose weight by eating under 1200 calories a day and increasing exercise. The goal is to run my 5th marathon in October, and to do that, I feel I need to take off another 18 - 20 pounds yet. Anyhow, just plan on watching this closely and see if as I progress, any conclusions can be made.

PS - I do play the same game, but not as much of restriction.  If I am running for weight loss, I run slow and even sometimes gallowalk, it is not about getting fitter, but losing weight.  Either one (Fitness or weight loss) can make you faster.

I fixate on this duality frequently. I want to weigh less so I can race faster, but I want to keep well nourished so I can train well to run faster. Sometimes I think the key is to keep my weight a bit on the high side during training to allow muscles to build and mitochondria to multiply, and then cut back on calories near race time. But I suspect that may then cut into the muscle mass at the last moment, not at all what I want. Wish I knew the perfect weight for optimal training and racing.

Week 4: Exercise: 65 miles jogged, 2 hours ice skating. Calories: 6828, Weight loss: 5.0 lbs.

Good news: I'm just a few days away from no longer being a clydesdale.

So this was my highest milage week, and my lowest calorie intake week. The weight loss was somewhere in the middle. However, I expect the rate to slow as there is less fat now to take off. At this point, need to be careful restricting calories so I dont lose muscle.

Feeling strong, energetic. I'm 5 years older then my last marathon, but I will be 10 pounds lighter when I line up at the start. I think that 10 pounds will make a difference in miles 20-26.