improvements

When I fail at something I always try to come back stronger & smarter. I realized after my Silverman DNF I had ALLOT of improvements I needed to do to be able to accomplish an Iron distance event. Going into the silverman I was overweight, I rarely swam, I had poor strength to weight ratio on my bike, I was a horribly slow cyclist at long distances, & my speed at long distance runs was poor. So far since Nov I've lost 51 pounds, I've been swimming more now than I ever have, I'm already a much better runner at long distances, & I'm doing a great program built by Pete Alfino of Mile High Multisport to improve both my endurance & speed on the bike.

So far my best swim at a race was at the Jay Benson where I swam 400 meters in 8:30. That is an average of 1:56 per 100 meters. Today while swimming I did a 500 meter warm up, followed by 3X500 yards #1 free style, #2 paddles & PB, #3 free style. On my first 500 after the warm up I swam free style 500 yards in 7:45. My 2nd 500 yard free style I did in 7:31 for a 1:30 ave per 100 meters. That's an improvement on my average swim time of 26 seconds per 100 meters. If hypothetically I was able to keep up that average over an Iron distance I would complete the swim portion of an Iron in 1 hr 5 minutes compared to the 1 hr 50 min swim that I completed at the Silverman. That would of been a 45 minute faster swim. I would of been close to the bike cut off if I'd of had 45 minutes more time on the bike. If I consider that I'm allot lighter so I'd be faster & a better climber on the bike, I'm positive I'd of completed the Silverman's bike leg before the cut off. Even in Nov at 256 pounds the run was never a concern for me. I'd of been slow, but there was no doubt that I'd of completed the marathon by the cut off time. I'm signed up for Ironman Arizona in Nov of this year. I still have 8 months to improve all 3 disciplines. I'm motivated & approaching my training with more intelligence, with a better diet, & I'm making improvements on my swim hand over fist. I hope that will be enough to complete a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, & a 26.2 mile run in 17 hrs. There's not many things I've wanted more than to become an Ironman, especially since I failed so miserably at my first attempt. You see, I believe it's not how hard you can punch, but how hard you can get punched and continue.

I decided to check my measurments today. Last time was 3 weeks ago

.........Nov 08/ Feb/ .Today/changes in last 3 weeks
Chest 43.5/ 41.5/ 41.5 / no change
arms 16.75/ 16 / 15.5/ -.5 inches
stomach 46.5/ 40.25/ 39/ -1.25inches
hips 49.5/ 44.5/ 43.5/ -1 inch
quads 31.5/ 27/ 26.75/ -.25 inches

Total loss in 3 weeks is 8 lbs & 3 inches.