Sunday, July 29, 2012

One year and counting...

It's been a while, but I'm back. With exactly one year until Ironman Switzerland it is time to get serious about training, diet and the most importantly the mental game. The race is set for Sunday July 28th 2013 and I plan to be on the starting line. If you want to join me you can find more information here. http://ironmanzurich.com/After many months of frustration with my ankle I decided to have surgery. On May 9th I went under the knife and have been recovering ever since. My training and racing have always provided an outlet for me to not only reduce stress, but to give me something I don't get at work. I don't generally discuss work in my blog and I probably won't after this either. I work for a large private company which doesn't really suit my personality. I am not one for office politics and we have a ton. With triathlon I am able to set goals and make plans to achieve them, in other words I am in control. This has been missing the last few months.
Speaking of goals, the main goal is a lofty one for me. Sub 13 hours. This will be my second attempt at the distance and after the first one, 13:56:34 means I have about 1 hour to make up. My weakest link in that race was the bike, which works out well since improvement on the bike will yeild the biggest time gains. Obviously the ankle surgery will put a damper on my running fitness especially at the beginning, but I have the most confidence in that leg and feel a 5 hour marathon will still be in my grasp. Not sure how the transitions will be setup but looking at the results from last year I don't see very many double digit transitions so I suspect they will be fairly quick. A basic blueprint would be start the bike before 1:30, start the run before 7:45, that will give me 5 hours and 15 minutes for the marathon.
My next few posts I'll be describing what I think I need to do to make that main goal happen and setting some other goals that are all geared to bring about the sub 13. So do I really think I can go sub 13 one year from now? Yes, yes I do.

Monday, November 21, 2011

IFWL Experiment - Week 7

update for week seven results
weigh in on 10/3            - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat   / 24.4% body fat
end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54.8 lb fat     / 25.6% body fat
end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat     / 23.8% body fat
end of week 3 on 10/24 - 214.4 / 51.7 lb fat  / 24.1% body fat
end of week 4 on 10/31 - 208.6 / 53.4 lb fat / 25.6 % body fat
end of week 5 on 11/7   - 209.8 / 51 lb fat    / 24.3 % body fat
end of week 6 on 11/14 - 207.2 / 47.9 lb fat / 23.1 % body fat
end of week 7 on 11/21 - 206.8 / 45.9 lb fat / 22.2 % body fat

This was an odd week. I decided to take a break this week and didn't do any of the core/resistance workouts and scaled back on my biking and running so was half expecting to gain some weight. Then on Friday morning the scaled said 212, that was a shock as I hadn't been over 210 in 4 weeks, but the body fat % was down in 21 so I chalked that up to my body being in recovery mode soaking up a bunch of water and stuff. This week it's back to the regular work outs, at least as many as thanksgiving will allow. Have company at the house so getting in those early morning workouts without waking everyone up will be difficult. Thinking about moving the bike trainer into the sunroom...

Monday, November 14, 2011

IFWL Experiment week 6

quick update for week six results
weigh in on 10/3            - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat   / 24.4% body fat
end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54.8 lb fat     / 25.6% body fat
end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat     / 23.8% body fat
end of week 3 on 10/24 - 214.4 / 51.7 lb fat  / 24.1% body fat
end of week 4 on 10/31 - 208.6 / 53.4 lb fat / 25.6 % body fat
end of week 5 on 11/7   - 209.8 / 51 lb fat    / 24.3 % body fat
end of week 6 on 11/14 - 207.2 / 47.9 lb fat / 23.1 % body fat

at the half way point for this experiment and things seem to be right on track. I've lost 11.2 lbs or almost 2lbs a week and if the scale is to be believed almost 6lbs of body fat. Not sure how long the 2 lbs / week will keep up, but the incentive and reward are still there, so doing the exercise at aerobic pace while fasted is still something I can get myself to do without problems.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

IFWL Experiment - Week 5

quick update for week five results
weigh in on 10/3            - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat   / 24.4% body fat
end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54.8 lb fat     / 25.6% body fat
end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat     / 23.8% body fat
end of week 3 on 10/24 - 214.4 / 51.7 lb fat  / 24.1% body fat
end of week 4 on 10/31 - 208.6 / 53.4 lb fat / 25.6 % body fat
end of week 5 on 11/7   - 209.8 / 51 lb fat    / 24.3 % body fat

That was a hard week, coming down off the prednisone, wife has to have semi-emergency wisdom teeth removal, and daughter has rehearsal every night for her ballet on Saturday and Sunday. Finally feeling back to normal and the body fat % is coming down again. The drug should be totally out of my system this week so I'm hoping to get a more normal reading next monday, but it looks like the fat is still coming off. I'm still doing my weight routine and am getting stronger with those exercises.

Monday, October 31, 2011

IFWL Experiment - Week 4

quick update for week four results
weigh in on 10/3            - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat   / 24.4% body fat
end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54.8 lb fat     / 25.6% body fat
end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat     / 23.8% body fat
end of week 3 on 10/24 - 214.4 / 51.7 lb fat  / 24.1% body fat
end of week 4 on 10/31 - 208.6 / 53.4 lb fat / 25.6 % body fat

At first glance it looks great to lose 6 lbs in a week, but of course we know that's not real since the body fat went way up. I did some yard work the previous weekend and was bit by something and got poison ivy or something like that and had an allergic reaction. so I've been on some kind of drug, prednisol?, for the past week and last night my body decided to get start a faster filtering process so I was up every hour to go flush out the system. Anyway I was definitely dehydrated this morning. On the positive side if I look back to the end of week one when I was at the same body fat % I am 6 lbs under that. Saturday morning at was at 212 and I suspect that is about right, so I'm going to claim 2 more lbs this week and 6 for the month.

Monday, October 24, 2011

IFWL Experiment - Week 3

quick update for week three results
weigh in on 10/3            - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat   / 24.4% body fat
end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54 lb fat     / 25.6% body fat
end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat     / 23.8% body fat
end of week 3 on 10/24 - 214.4 / 51.7 lb fat  / 24.1% body fat
I slacked off a bit last week and it shows, will attempt to get back on track this week. no cheating with the peanut M&M's and more focus on whole foods...

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Week two of the IFWL Experiment

quick update for week two results
weigh in on 10/3            - 218.4 / 53.3 lb fat   / 24.4% body fat
end of week 1 on 10/10 - 214.2 / 54 lb fat     / 25.6% body fat
end of week 2 on 10/17 - 214.4 / 51 lb fat     / 23.8% body fat
looks like progress is being made, about 2 lbs a week is nice and where I'd like to be, so business as usually this week