Since as long as I can remember I'd overeat. Not just a little. When I was in 2nd grade I remember I came home after a particularly bad day & continued eating a large bag of chocolate bars until I'd ate so much I threw up. I had this horrible feeling of guilt. I hid the wrappers under my bed & tried to clean up & hide the mess so no one would know what I'd done. I knew I wouldn't get in trouble for eating the chocolate. That's what they were there for. But I was afraid someone would find out about how much I'd ate & think there was something wrong with me or think I was bad. No one ever told me or even hinted overeating was bad, but I seemed to know even then there was something not right or normal about what I was doing.
I've turned to food for comfort, stress relief, guilt, feelings of inadequacy, elation, or even to help ease my overwhelming remorse for having just overate. For years I was in a state of denial. I'd just chalk what I'd done up as a lack of inner strength. I'd tell myself I would never do that again. Each commitment to no longer go over board with the food would inevitably end with a binge on food, sometimes in a few weeks, sometimes as soon as the next meal. As long as I just keep telling myself I was weak it made me feel like I was normal. But convincing myself that I had a lack of inner strength made me feel like I was a pathetic excuse of a man. The lack of self control made me beat myself up. The more I beat myself up, the more I'd turn to food, the more I'd gain weight, the more I'd beat myself up. It was a horrible snow ball effect that very frequently sent me into a state of depression. Not to mention a weight of 292 pounds in 2003. In late 07 a guy who read my blog frequently & was also a triathlete with over eating issues tried to contact me. He was emailing me, & leaving messages on my phone. I wanted to talk to him because everything he'd said about eating disorders rang true deep down in me. But I still avoided contact with him because I didn't want to admit to having an addiction. I don't know why I was so afraid to admit I had issues with food. Once I finally opened my eyes to the signs of what I was doing & what it meant I realized its not some horribly dark or evil secret. What I was doing didn't make me bad. What I was doing wasn't even an evil thing. It was not the healthiest thing for my body. But I wasn't doing anything dishonest or hurtful to those around me. Perhaps at times it was annoying to my wife when a treat she was looking foreword to was gone, all of it. But I wasn't hurting anyone.
Once I'd accepted the fact that what I was doing was an emotional response & my way of dealing with issues, not some horrible thing to be ignored & hidden, I started to learn what things triggered my emotional eating. I've learned to figure out what emotions I'm feeling because I eat particular foods for different emotions. All that knowledge has helped me somewhat control my eating disorder. Its by no means "fixed". Simple fact of the matter is that I will never be able to stop my emotional eating, but there are things I'm learning that can help to minimize the overeating to one meal, or even a couple days rather than binging for weeks like I have more times than I'd like to count.
The most important lesson I learned is acceptance. It is a part of who I am. Its the way my body deals with stress or overwhelming situations. That doesn't mean I just say "ok, I'm stressed, I'm going to eat uncontrollably." But it does mean I am learning to accept that when it happens I need to realize it is what I do in these situations. If I beat myself up over it, it'll just get worse. I've learned to try to minimize it, but not dwell on it when I'm doing it, & not to dwell on it after I'm done. I try & stop, or simply slow down the amount of emotional eating I'm doing. If for example I had an entire day of uncontrollable eating. The next day I try & accept yesterday for what it was, not make it worse or happen again by beating myself up. I look at today as a new day. I often tell myself, "ok, yesterday wasn't a good day, but I'm going to make today a better day." No self chastising, no regret or remorse. Just optimism because today is a new day. That alone has helped immensely. I still have my eating addiction, I realize it will never go away on its own or even with help. But with the right mindset I have learned I can minimize the damage I do to myself physically, mentally, & emotionally. I'm now down to 189 pounds & this weekend I fit into a size 32 pants for the first time since my Junior year of high school. There is light at the end of this tunnel if you have the same problem. When you overeat, that is not a "bad" thing. It's how you deal with your problems. There is nothing wrong with you, it doesn't make you evil or abnormal. But most importantly there are skills you can learn to help you minimize it. When you binge eat, you need to learn to still like yourself. There are allot of people out there who do love you knowing about your food issues. There are even more people out there who would still love you if they found out about your food issues. So why shouldn't you like you too? Talk to someone who has a food issue, or talk to someone who is trained to help people with food issues. If you don't want to do that, get into contact with me. I'm not the most intelligent or articulate person, but I understand what its like & I don't want you to feel like I did for years. Don't be embarrassed because I guarantee you there are allot more successful people out there than you & I who have eating disorders. It doesn't make them less successful or likable. There's light at the end of this tunnel. I promise.
June 01, 2008
May 26, 2008
Iron training
I completed my long run today on a hilly trail. I did the entire 13.2 mile trail run in Z-2 & completed it in 2hrs 8 minutes. Considering my speed was limited because I was pretty impressed with my time which is really making me pumped up about my upcoming 5430 half Iron in Aug & REALLY pumped up about my IMAZ in Nov. I know I've said this before, still feels sereal, my coach told me I could go under 13 hrs at IMAZ. That really motivated me, but I wasn't sure how true that could be. I mean going 13 hrs less than a year after an Iron DNF? I looked at a triathlon pace calculator tday and realized it is very accomplishable.
Lets say I finish the swim in 1 hr 45 minutes. That's a conservative # & easily accomplishable for me. I'll probably go more around 1:30.
My biking has improved vastly. So also being conservative here, lets say I keep up a 16.5 MPH on the bike I'll finish the bike in 6:47. I'd be at 8hrs 20 minutes including the 2 transition times.
That means to go sub 13hrs I only have to run a 10:43 pace for the marathon. That would be a 4 hr 40 minute marathon. I believe that will be pretty easy at my new lower body weight.
Dang I'm pumped up this year! I'm back down to 190 pounds. 1 more to go before I get to my pre-Buffman & Squeaky weight. 15 more pounds from my ultimate Iron goal weight of 175. I believe this will be a good year for triathlon my friends.
Lets say I finish the swim in 1 hr 45 minutes. That's a conservative # & easily accomplishable for me. I'll probably go more around 1:30.
My biking has improved vastly. So also being conservative here, lets say I keep up a 16.5 MPH on the bike I'll finish the bike in 6:47. I'd be at 8hrs 20 minutes including the 2 transition times.
That means to go sub 13hrs I only have to run a 10:43 pace for the marathon. That would be a 4 hr 40 minute marathon. I believe that will be pretty easy at my new lower body weight.
Dang I'm pumped up this year! I'm back down to 190 pounds. 1 more to go before I get to my pre-Buffman & Squeaky weight. 15 more pounds from my ultimate Iron goal weight of 175. I believe this will be a good year for triathlon my friends.
Relearning...again
It's been a rough few weeks. My wife & I have been struggling financially the past few weeks. I've only taken a few days off from work in 4 weeks to try & catch up financially. Seems no matter how much I work & all the money's gone before we get my next check.
I was at church today & an elder of the church asked me "what do you think Gods trying to teach you with this?" Man, how could I have been so stupid. I learned this lesson a couple months ago. & here I am in the same situation. When I put all of life's stresses on my own shoulders I become overwhelmed & start sinking. The minute I put it on God's shoulders or pray for what it is that I need or want, He provides.
Apparently I'm a slow learner because I've learned this lesson numerous times before. I seem to get into a rut and then try to get myself out on my own. & that's when things get overwhelming & I start to feel like I'm sinking. As soon as I pray & put it in God's hands things get better. I sure hope I learn this lesson this time because I'm so tired. Like I said I've only taken a few days off the entire month of May, & those days were spent visiting a sick relative or traveling for races. I'm dead tired. I can't keep this up much longer. I'm very grateful my elder opened my eyes to what I need to do. I think it'll all be better soon, but any prayers would still be appreciated.
I was at church today & an elder of the church asked me "what do you think Gods trying to teach you with this?" Man, how could I have been so stupid. I learned this lesson a couple months ago. & here I am in the same situation. When I put all of life's stresses on my own shoulders I become overwhelmed & start sinking. The minute I put it on God's shoulders or pray for what it is that I need or want, He provides.
Apparently I'm a slow learner because I've learned this lesson numerous times before. I seem to get into a rut and then try to get myself out on my own. & that's when things get overwhelming & I start to feel like I'm sinking. As soon as I pray & put it in God's hands things get better. I sure hope I learn this lesson this time because I'm so tired. Like I said I've only taken a few days off the entire month of May, & those days were spent visiting a sick relative or traveling for races. I'm dead tired. I can't keep this up much longer. I'm very grateful my elder opened my eyes to what I need to do. I think it'll all be better soon, but any prayers would still be appreciated.
May 25, 2008
May 23, 2008
Santa Fe Seals, calorie reduction
Today was the 2nd day of having lowered my daily caloric intake. Today was allot easier than yesterday was. Yesterday I was hungry all day. Today, there were a few times I got hungry. But overall it wasn't as bad & was a much easier day to handle. Not sure if it's a mental thing, or physical. But I won't complain.
I completed my 1st swim workout with the Santa Fe Seals today. It was hard because all those kids knew the drills & most of the workouts without being told. Since I'm not a member of their team I didn't want to pester the coach with questions about what drill I should be doing. Out of the hour long workout I may have spent 20 minutes actually swimming. The rest of the time I spent trying to watch kids swimming & figure out what drills or techniques they were practicing. I'd like to say when it got to the actual swim sets it was better going, but I'd be lying. The coach gave each child's times that they should be swimming each set in. I was trying to find a child that my swim time was comparable to, & there weren't any. All of them were either much faster or slower than me. I did my best, which when it comes to swimming isn't great. But I'll keep practicing on my own & with the Seals until I'm a good swimmer. No matter how much work & humiliation it takes. The next practice should be allot more productive because I've figured out mostly what I should be doing.
There is a funny story to tell. I was trying to immolate one 8 year old girls swim drill, but I couldn't figure out what it was she was doing. So I asked her what drill it was & what the drill should teach. She started giggling & told me there was a spider on the bottom of the pool yesterday & she was looking for it. I'd been doing the same thing as her for almost 5 minutes. Not only did I never master the way she was swimming, but neither of us ever did see that pesky spider.
I completed my 1st swim workout with the Santa Fe Seals today. It was hard because all those kids knew the drills & most of the workouts without being told. Since I'm not a member of their team I didn't want to pester the coach with questions about what drill I should be doing. Out of the hour long workout I may have spent 20 minutes actually swimming. The rest of the time I spent trying to watch kids swimming & figure out what drills or techniques they were practicing. I'd like to say when it got to the actual swim sets it was better going, but I'd be lying. The coach gave each child's times that they should be swimming each set in. I was trying to find a child that my swim time was comparable to, & there weren't any. All of them were either much faster or slower than me. I did my best, which when it comes to swimming isn't great. But I'll keep practicing on my own & with the Seals until I'm a good swimmer. No matter how much work & humiliation it takes. The next practice should be allot more productive because I've figured out mostly what I should be doing.
There is a funny story to tell. I was trying to immolate one 8 year old girls swim drill, but I couldn't figure out what it was she was doing. So I asked her what drill it was & what the drill should teach. She started giggling & told me there was a spider on the bottom of the pool yesterday & she was looking for it. I'd been doing the same thing as her for almost 5 minutes. Not only did I never master the way she was swimming, but neither of us ever did see that pesky spider.
May 22, 2008
Daily caloric decrease & the newest member of the Santa Fe children's swim team
Daily caloric decrease & the newest member of the Santa Fe children's swim team
A couple weeks ago I hit a weight I never really believed I'd be able to achieve. 190. For the 4 years before that I'd been trying my best to lose weight while triathlon training & racing. The best I'd been able to do was 227 a couple times, & one crash diet that got me down to 211. Nine months after that crash diet my weight promptly shot up to 256, which unfortunately was right before my failed attempt at the Silverman Iron distance triathlon in Nov 07.
To reward myself for getting to 190 pounds I raised my daily calories from 1900 to 2200 a day. After that I was still losing weight consistently, just at a slightly slower rate. After I raised my calories I was not nearly as hungry. I was more content & comfortable throughout the day. After my last 2 speedy race performances I've decided I want to try to get to 175 pounds & I want to get there a little quicker than I was wanting to when I decided to increase my calories to 2200 a day. So starting today I have gone back to 1900 calories a day while replacing 50 calories for every 100 I burn. I've been hungry all day, but the juice is worth the squeeze. I'm eating unlimited amounts of raw veggies to combat that hunger. The veggies are making it tolerable, but not necessarily comfortable. I did this for 4 months, November through April with great success, 67 pounds of success to be exact. I'm hoping to get the same results as before, probably a little slower because the lower I get the slower I seem to lose. But I'm ok with that because I have allot less weight to lose now. I mean dang, I'm only 15 pounds from my ULTIMATE goal! Last time I was 175 I was a 14 year old freshman.
With the exception of the last 3 weeks when the Geneva Chaves Community center's pool closed for resurfacing I've done more swimming in the last 6 months than the 4 years before that combined. I've made decent gains, but I swim alone so I'm sure I'm just getting better at swimming with poor form. I've tried to find a masters group to swim with, but the only 2 in Santa Fe swim from 6am-7am. Because of my work schedule I can't swim then. So I've had no other choice but to continue practicing on my own. Today the local Santa Fe children's swim team called The Santa Fe Seals were practicing while I swam. They seem to be at the pool the same time I swim most everyday. So today as I was getting taken to school by a bunch of 7-18 year old's an idea was born! Since their practice time is perfect for my schedule perhaps they'd allow an old slow guy to practice with them. I asked their coach, at first he looked at me & smiled as if I was pulling his leg. The smile quickly faded once he realized I was still straight faced waiting for an answer. After a moment of contemplation he said sure. So I'll be practicing with the Santa Fe seals, a childrens swim team from here on out. Hopefully I'm not to old to pick up some of the children's swimming skills that made those little guys so dang fast!!! Seriously, there are some very fast swimmers on that team. Many of them aren't even tall enough to touch their legs to the floor when they sit on the bleachers, yet they can out swim me easily. Although I'm elated for the opportunity I won't be telling any of my friends I'm the newest member of a children's swim team. Ha, the things I'd do for speed.
A couple weeks ago I hit a weight I never really believed I'd be able to achieve. 190. For the 4 years before that I'd been trying my best to lose weight while triathlon training & racing. The best I'd been able to do was 227 a couple times, & one crash diet that got me down to 211. Nine months after that crash diet my weight promptly shot up to 256, which unfortunately was right before my failed attempt at the Silverman Iron distance triathlon in Nov 07.
To reward myself for getting to 190 pounds I raised my daily calories from 1900 to 2200 a day. After that I was still losing weight consistently, just at a slightly slower rate. After I raised my calories I was not nearly as hungry. I was more content & comfortable throughout the day. After my last 2 speedy race performances I've decided I want to try to get to 175 pounds & I want to get there a little quicker than I was wanting to when I decided to increase my calories to 2200 a day. So starting today I have gone back to 1900 calories a day while replacing 50 calories for every 100 I burn. I've been hungry all day, but the juice is worth the squeeze. I'm eating unlimited amounts of raw veggies to combat that hunger. The veggies are making it tolerable, but not necessarily comfortable. I did this for 4 months, November through April with great success, 67 pounds of success to be exact. I'm hoping to get the same results as before, probably a little slower because the lower I get the slower I seem to lose. But I'm ok with that because I have allot less weight to lose now. I mean dang, I'm only 15 pounds from my ULTIMATE goal! Last time I was 175 I was a 14 year old freshman.
With the exception of the last 3 weeks when the Geneva Chaves Community center's pool closed for resurfacing I've done more swimming in the last 6 months than the 4 years before that combined. I've made decent gains, but I swim alone so I'm sure I'm just getting better at swimming with poor form. I've tried to find a masters group to swim with, but the only 2 in Santa Fe swim from 6am-7am. Because of my work schedule I can't swim then. So I've had no other choice but to continue practicing on my own. Today the local Santa Fe children's swim team called The Santa Fe Seals were practicing while I swam. They seem to be at the pool the same time I swim most everyday. So today as I was getting taken to school by a bunch of 7-18 year old's an idea was born! Since their practice time is perfect for my schedule perhaps they'd allow an old slow guy to practice with them. I asked their coach, at first he looked at me & smiled as if I was pulling his leg. The smile quickly faded once he realized I was still straight faced waiting for an answer. After a moment of contemplation he said sure. So I'll be practicing with the Santa Fe seals, a childrens swim team from here on out. Hopefully I'm not to old to pick up some of the children's swimming skills that made those little guys so dang fast!!! Seriously, there are some very fast swimmers on that team. Many of them aren't even tall enough to touch their legs to the floor when they sit on the bleachers, yet they can out swim me easily. Although I'm elated for the opportunity I won't be telling any of my friends I'm the newest member of a children's swim team. Ha, the things I'd do for speed.
May 20, 2008
Buffman & Squeaky post race report
Buffman & Squeaky post race report
I competed in the Buffman & Squeaky Olympic distance triathlon on Sunday It was the 4th time I've completed the Buffman, & my 6th Olympic distance triathlon altogether. I PR'd this distance last year with a 2 hr 52 minute performance. Because I've lost 40 pounds since last year & my Coach The Mad Scientist Pete Alfino has been getting freakish results from my body this year, I set a lofty goal. I wanted to get a 2 hr 40 minute time or better. That would be a 12 minute PR. Normally that would be an outlandish goal. But I have faith in my fitness level & body this year.
Like I wrote on my blog in an earlier post I really struggled with this taper. I binge ate from Thursday until Saturday night. Everyday I woke up telling myself it won't happen again today. It did, & each day was worse. In the 4 days of struggling I gained 5 pounds. I'm up to 193.8. Up from 188.6. The bad news is I've been averaging 1 pound a week of weight loss so this backslide will take me at least a month to recover from. The great news was as soon as the race was over I didn't have any cravings at all. I haven't had any since then either. It's always my greatest fear that I won't get back on the band wagon after one of these rough periods. That has been the story of my life with this current weight loss streak being the only exeption so far.
I showed up at the race sight at my normal 6 am arrival time. I got my favorite spot for this race. I've got that spot every year for the past 4 years. I set up my transition area & commenced mingling until race start time It was unusually cold that morning. I was hoping it would stay cooler than normal the entire race. The Buffman & Squeaky has a tendency to be hot on
the tail end of the bike & very very hot on the run. Add the killer hills on this course & it can make for a rough race. The temps did end up staying unusually cool the entire race which is especially good news for me, since I'm a bigger triathlete I have allot of difficulty dispersing heat.
The water at the Buffman & Squeaky triathlon is spring fed so it's always a bit of a shock every year to see how cold the water is. It was a mass swim start. I usually wait until most everyone is in the water & on their way before I start my swim. This year I hopped right in the mix, mid pack. You see, even though I fought him tooth & nail my coach has demanded I swim more. The
difference this year has been amazing. An open water mass swim start is a contact event to say the least. About 500 meters into the swim I hear a heavily accented voice yell "this is fun!" It was a guy I met named Marcos. He's a really great guy I met pre-race who is from Germany & was competing in his first real triathlon. I say "real" because he's done some of the White Sands Missile Range triathlons. But those are not open water swims, there are not usually many racers at those, & their not mass start swims. So it was his first mass start but apparently it didn't bother him at all because he finished a couple minutes ahead of me despite my best swim ever. I finished the swim in 32 minutes & got out of the water at the same time as fellow Outlaw Carl Armstrong. That was a first. Carl is normally a vastly superior swimmer compared to me.
As I ran out of the water & into transition I was very dizzy. That's common after a long open water swim, but this time was much much worse than normal. When I got to my transition area I was so dizzy I had to sit down to put on my socks & shoes. Not something I normally do & not something I'd suggest if your looking for a fast transition.
On the bike, immediately out of transition there is a huge hill about 8 percent grade and probably around 150 yards long. All the other years this hill saps my strength for the rest of the race. I never really recover from that climb. Not to mention that all 6 or 7 of these very steep & long hills on this course used to have the same effect on me. Not this year! I tore those hills up like I've never dreamed I could do. I usually get passed by dozens of people on each climb. I would hold my own on the flats, but the hills was the place I lost all my time. Again, not this year. I only got passed a few times by people who were obviously bike dominant triathletes. Most of those I caught back up to & passed on the run.
I pushed myself as hard as I possibly could the entire bike. At the turn around I thought I had made a pacing mistake because my legs were hurting really bad. I though if I kept up this pace I'd have nothing left for the run. To late now I thought. I might as well go for broke. By the time I reached the transition to the run my legs were on fire, they even felt slightly swollen & pumped up from the effort I was using to push the pace on the bike.
I thought to myself as soon as I started the run that I was in trouble. My legs were hurting & I felt much more exhausted than I ever had before starting a run on an Olympic distance. Well, I thought for the 2nd time that day, might as well go for broke. I figured it was pretty much certain I was going to fall apart on the run. My legs really were trashed. I figured I might as well run as hard as I could for as long as I could in hopes that I could put enough time between me & my competition so that once I had to start the tedious run/walk process I'd be far enough ahead that not to many would catch up. I was wrong in my theory. But wrong in a good way. I continued pushing myself harder than I thought I could sustain, but I never had to slow down. I kept pushing my legs harder & further into what I felt was the point beyond what I could handle. I never slowed down! Apparently my training for IMAZ is going well because I have what
seems to be a limitless well of energy/endurance in my legs. I finished my race in 2hrs 40 minutes 55 seconds. I made my goal of finishing in 2hrs 40 minutes or under. I broke my PR by 12 minutes!!! Its not like I had only done 1 or 2 Olympic races to have a PR of 2;52. I'd done 6 Olympic races & crushed the previous best by a kickin 12 minutes!!!
As I've said before, my coach told me I'm on tack for a 13 hr Ironman in Nov. That seemed way to good to be true. But now, I do believe. From an Ironman DNF in Nov 07 to a possible 13 hr Ironman in 08. Oh Goodness, God is very kind to me indeed. The splits of the Buffman & Squeaky aren't posted yet. As soon as they are I'll update my blog. Thanks for tuning in, & God bless you all.
I competed in the Buffman & Squeaky Olympic distance triathlon on Sunday It was the 4th time I've completed the Buffman, & my 6th Olympic distance triathlon altogether. I PR'd this distance last year with a 2 hr 52 minute performance. Because I've lost 40 pounds since last year & my Coach The Mad Scientist Pete Alfino has been getting freakish results from my body this year, I set a lofty goal. I wanted to get a 2 hr 40 minute time or better. That would be a 12 minute PR. Normally that would be an outlandish goal. But I have faith in my fitness level & body this year.
Like I wrote on my blog in an earlier post I really struggled with this taper. I binge ate from Thursday until Saturday night. Everyday I woke up telling myself it won't happen again today. It did, & each day was worse. In the 4 days of struggling I gained 5 pounds. I'm up to 193.8. Up from 188.6. The bad news is I've been averaging 1 pound a week of weight loss so this backslide will take me at least a month to recover from. The great news was as soon as the race was over I didn't have any cravings at all. I haven't had any since then either. It's always my greatest fear that I won't get back on the band wagon after one of these rough periods. That has been the story of my life with this current weight loss streak being the only exeption so far.
I showed up at the race sight at my normal 6 am arrival time. I got my favorite spot for this race. I've got that spot every year for the past 4 years. I set up my transition area & commenced mingling until race start time It was unusually cold that morning. I was hoping it would stay cooler than normal the entire race. The Buffman & Squeaky has a tendency to be hot on
the tail end of the bike & very very hot on the run. Add the killer hills on this course & it can make for a rough race. The temps did end up staying unusually cool the entire race which is especially good news for me, since I'm a bigger triathlete I have allot of difficulty dispersing heat.
The water at the Buffman & Squeaky triathlon is spring fed so it's always a bit of a shock every year to see how cold the water is. It was a mass swim start. I usually wait until most everyone is in the water & on their way before I start my swim. This year I hopped right in the mix, mid pack. You see, even though I fought him tooth & nail my coach has demanded I swim more. The
difference this year has been amazing. An open water mass swim start is a contact event to say the least. About 500 meters into the swim I hear a heavily accented voice yell "this is fun!" It was a guy I met named Marcos. He's a really great guy I met pre-race who is from Germany & was competing in his first real triathlon. I say "real" because he's done some of the White Sands Missile Range triathlons. But those are not open water swims, there are not usually many racers at those, & their not mass start swims. So it was his first mass start but apparently it didn't bother him at all because he finished a couple minutes ahead of me despite my best swim ever. I finished the swim in 32 minutes & got out of the water at the same time as fellow Outlaw Carl Armstrong. That was a first. Carl is normally a vastly superior swimmer compared to me.
As I ran out of the water & into transition I was very dizzy. That's common after a long open water swim, but this time was much much worse than normal. When I got to my transition area I was so dizzy I had to sit down to put on my socks & shoes. Not something I normally do & not something I'd suggest if your looking for a fast transition.
On the bike, immediately out of transition there is a huge hill about 8 percent grade and probably around 150 yards long. All the other years this hill saps my strength for the rest of the race. I never really recover from that climb. Not to mention that all 6 or 7 of these very steep & long hills on this course used to have the same effect on me. Not this year! I tore those hills up like I've never dreamed I could do. I usually get passed by dozens of people on each climb. I would hold my own on the flats, but the hills was the place I lost all my time. Again, not this year. I only got passed a few times by people who were obviously bike dominant triathletes. Most of those I caught back up to & passed on the run.
I pushed myself as hard as I possibly could the entire bike. At the turn around I thought I had made a pacing mistake because my legs were hurting really bad. I though if I kept up this pace I'd have nothing left for the run. To late now I thought. I might as well go for broke. By the time I reached the transition to the run my legs were on fire, they even felt slightly swollen & pumped up from the effort I was using to push the pace on the bike.
I thought to myself as soon as I started the run that I was in trouble. My legs were hurting & I felt much more exhausted than I ever had before starting a run on an Olympic distance. Well, I thought for the 2nd time that day, might as well go for broke. I figured it was pretty much certain I was going to fall apart on the run. My legs really were trashed. I figured I might as well run as hard as I could for as long as I could in hopes that I could put enough time between me & my competition so that once I had to start the tedious run/walk process I'd be far enough ahead that not to many would catch up. I was wrong in my theory. But wrong in a good way. I continued pushing myself harder than I thought I could sustain, but I never had to slow down. I kept pushing my legs harder & further into what I felt was the point beyond what I could handle. I never slowed down! Apparently my training for IMAZ is going well because I have what
seems to be a limitless well of energy/endurance in my legs. I finished my race in 2hrs 40 minutes 55 seconds. I made my goal of finishing in 2hrs 40 minutes or under. I broke my PR by 12 minutes!!! Its not like I had only done 1 or 2 Olympic races to have a PR of 2;52. I'd done 6 Olympic races & crushed the previous best by a kickin 12 minutes!!!
As I've said before, my coach told me I'm on tack for a 13 hr Ironman in Nov. That seemed way to good to be true. But now, I do believe. From an Ironman DNF in Nov 07 to a possible 13 hr Ironman in 08. Oh Goodness, God is very kind to me indeed. The splits of the Buffman & Squeaky aren't posted yet. As soon as they are I'll update my blog. Thanks for tuning in, & God bless you all.
May 16, 2008
Buffman & Squeaky Oly & a taper
My favorite 2 races are the Atomic Man duathlon & the Buffman & Squeaky Olympic distance triathlon. I'll be competing in the Buffman this weekend in Lubbock TX. This is the 4th year in a row I will have done this race. Last year I set a personal course record of 2 hrs 52 minutes. I'm hoping to finish this race in under 2 hrs 40 minutes. That's a lofty goal. 12 minutes faster than last years PR. 12 minutes, that's no small feat. Especially considering how difficult this course is. Its the exact same course as the BSLT 703. It's a hot & hilly course. 12 minutes faster would usually be unattainable. But this year I'm coming in 42 pounds lighter. My training's been on the money, I'm following my coach's plan to the tee, & I'm doing a taper for this race. I'm only doing 4 tapers this year. Its part of my plan this year of racing less. Hopefully this plan will help me to do a sub 6 hr half iron at the 5430 & a Sub 13 hr Ironman Arizona in Nov. But before I focus on those races I have the Buffman & Squeaky in my sights.
Only one problem. This dang taper. To taper is a good thing because I get to see how my efforts are paying off. But in all honesty I hate tapering. I don't do well with tapers at all. Allot of it has to do with the mental aspect of tapering. I keep thinking that if I wasn't tapering I'd be gaining more fitness for my Iron aspirations. But my biggest problem with the taper is the food cravings & weight gain! Most athletes struggle with their weight during a taper. All endurance athletes get cravings during a taper. But when it comes to food cravings I'm a weakling. Yesterday I was almost giddy when I got off the weight scale. 188 pounds. 190 was my dream goal back in November when I DNF'd my first Ironman due to being obese. I was 256 pounds in November. I never dreamed I could actually get to 190. Now I'm below 190. A dream come true! This is the first time I've been this light since I was 17 years old. Maybe 16. Then last night I had a taper induced sweet tooth go rampant. I ate 128 weight watcher points yesterday. 6400 calories. More than I'd usually eat in 3 days. Most of those calories were consumed from 3pm to 9 pm yesterday. Today I ate 2 plates of nachos & 1.5 packages of graham crackers before work. The only reason I stopped over-eating today was because I had to go to work. When I'm at work I'm stuck in a tower for 12 hrs a night & have no access to any food other than what I bring to work. Thank the good Lord for my work.
I keep telling myself today & yesterday is over. Tomorrow is a new day. There's 3 days left until my race & then my tapers over. I'm hoping I can hang onto my diet plan the next 3 days. I won't dwell on the last 2 days because when I beat myself up I turn to food for comfort. Its a big bad snow ball affect. I'm choosing to accept what I've done the last 2 days, & just move on. 3 days. I can do anything for such a short period of time. I just need to keep praying for strength & fortitude. I need to keep my eye on the prize.... Ironman, a 13 hr Ironman to be exact.
Light is fast.
Skinny isn't a body type, its a tactical necessity.
I'll see if I can minimize my food cravings until this taper is over. 3 days. Any prayers would be appreciated. Keep tuned in & I'll let you know how my taper, diet, & race goes.
Thanks for reading. I'm out!
Only one problem. This dang taper. To taper is a good thing because I get to see how my efforts are paying off. But in all honesty I hate tapering. I don't do well with tapers at all. Allot of it has to do with the mental aspect of tapering. I keep thinking that if I wasn't tapering I'd be gaining more fitness for my Iron aspirations. But my biggest problem with the taper is the food cravings & weight gain! Most athletes struggle with their weight during a taper. All endurance athletes get cravings during a taper. But when it comes to food cravings I'm a weakling. Yesterday I was almost giddy when I got off the weight scale. 188 pounds. 190 was my dream goal back in November when I DNF'd my first Ironman due to being obese. I was 256 pounds in November. I never dreamed I could actually get to 190. Now I'm below 190. A dream come true! This is the first time I've been this light since I was 17 years old. Maybe 16. Then last night I had a taper induced sweet tooth go rampant. I ate 128 weight watcher points yesterday. 6400 calories. More than I'd usually eat in 3 days. Most of those calories were consumed from 3pm to 9 pm yesterday. Today I ate 2 plates of nachos & 1.5 packages of graham crackers before work. The only reason I stopped over-eating today was because I had to go to work. When I'm at work I'm stuck in a tower for 12 hrs a night & have no access to any food other than what I bring to work. Thank the good Lord for my work.
I keep telling myself today & yesterday is over. Tomorrow is a new day. There's 3 days left until my race & then my tapers over. I'm hoping I can hang onto my diet plan the next 3 days. I won't dwell on the last 2 days because when I beat myself up I turn to food for comfort. Its a big bad snow ball affect. I'm choosing to accept what I've done the last 2 days, & just move on. 3 days. I can do anything for such a short period of time. I just need to keep praying for strength & fortitude. I need to keep my eye on the prize.... Ironman, a 13 hr Ironman to be exact.
Light is fast.
Skinny isn't a body type, its a tactical necessity.
I'll see if I can minimize my food cravings until this taper is over. 3 days. Any prayers would be appreciated. Keep tuned in & I'll let you know how my taper, diet, & race goes.
Thanks for reading. I'm out!
May 14, 2008
change of goals
Well. I'm down to 190 pounds. My average weight loss is about 1- 1.2 pounds a week right now. I'd like to be losing big numbers again like I was Nov-Feb. But hey, I'm only 10 pounds from the goal I'd set earlier in the year of 180. As long as I keep looking at the results & physique I've built for myself I'm able to avoid becoming frustrated, heck I get down right giddy. From 256 pounds to 190 since Nov. 66 pounds in 6 months. From a size 46 to a size 44. Not to
shabby. I am content with what I have done so far. But I'm not through yet.
I've decided I'm going to continue losing weight until I see it is a hindrance rather than a help to my triathlon speed. I'll be able to tell by the tests my coach Pete Alfino gives me every rest/test week & by watching my workouts very carefully. When I start feeling exhausted on long workouts I normally could handle & other signs like that I'll increase my calories to maintain my weight. Regardless of how light that is at that time. You see, I've learned that fat is
not just weight, it's speed. Skinny is not just a body type. Its a tactical necessity. I was able to talk to a local triathlon legend this weekend, Clay Mosely. He's one of the fastest triathletes in the South West. He told me he's 6 foot 1 inches tall & 175 pounds. Now that I have my nutrition dialed in I don't see any reason at all I can't get that low too, perhaps even lower. He's 2
inches taller than me afterall.
I just finished reading an AMAZING book called Lance Armstrong's War. Absolutely wonderful book. It was talking about how you can tell when a cyclist is on his peak physique because he has cheek folds. The book explains that cyclist get to the point where they no longer have enough fat to have dimples when they smile, so their skin just folds. I'll stop myself before I get to that
point I'm sure. But I'll let my performance tell me when enough is enough. It's funny how life changes a persons opinions on things. I grew up idolizing Arnold Scharzinegger & Sly Stalone. I just wanted to be big & strong. When I trained I always lifted weights & that's all. But now I've actually gone the other complete opposite way & am willing to try & lose some upper body muscle to gain an advantage of speed on the bike & run. All I do is cardio barely any weights at all. Definitely no lifting for size anymore. Never would I have guessed that this would happen.
shabby. I am content with what I have done so far. But I'm not through yet.
I've decided I'm going to continue losing weight until I see it is a hindrance rather than a help to my triathlon speed. I'll be able to tell by the tests my coach Pete Alfino gives me every rest/test week & by watching my workouts very carefully. When I start feeling exhausted on long workouts I normally could handle & other signs like that I'll increase my calories to maintain my weight. Regardless of how light that is at that time. You see, I've learned that fat is
not just weight, it's speed. Skinny is not just a body type. Its a tactical necessity. I was able to talk to a local triathlon legend this weekend, Clay Mosely. He's one of the fastest triathletes in the South West. He told me he's 6 foot 1 inches tall & 175 pounds. Now that I have my nutrition dialed in I don't see any reason at all I can't get that low too, perhaps even lower. He's 2
inches taller than me afterall.
I just finished reading an AMAZING book called Lance Armstrong's War. Absolutely wonderful book. It was talking about how you can tell when a cyclist is on his peak physique because he has cheek folds. The book explains that cyclist get to the point where they no longer have enough fat to have dimples when they smile, so their skin just folds. I'll stop myself before I get to that
point I'm sure. But I'll let my performance tell me when enough is enough. It's funny how life changes a persons opinions on things. I grew up idolizing Arnold Scharzinegger & Sly Stalone. I just wanted to be big & strong. When I trained I always lifted weights & that's all. But now I've actually gone the other complete opposite way & am willing to try & lose some upper body muscle to gain an advantage of speed on the bike & run. All I do is cardio barely any weights at all. Definitely no lifting for size anymore. Never would I have guessed that this would happen.
May 13, 2008
weight loss ideas
I've been struggling with my weight since I graduated from high school. I've tried every diet out there. Allot of them were bad & did more damage than good. But I learned something from each & everything I tried. Sometimes I learned what worked. Sometimes I learned what things were really really bad I've applied all those lessons into my training & diet & have gotten some great
results....finally. I thought I'd share some of the things I've been doing.
1st & foremost I pray. I pray to lose weight. & I even pray to become a faster triathlete. Its a truly selfish request of mine that God seems to be granting. So the first thing I want everyone to know is that I give all the glory to my Lord Jesus Christ! The reason I am able to succeed is because of Him. He's allowed me to learn the skills to be able to apply to losing weight, & he's
given me the fortitude to live with my emotional eating issues. He's put great people in my life to support me & to teach me. Great leaders for triathlon, faith, diet, & a better more rewarding way to live life, which would be for Him, not me. For all things that are good lead to Him. Period.
A great guy asked me this weekend what the heck my trick is to losing weight. I told him I'd put it up on my blog. So here it goes. First, pray. Ask for help from Him. The 2nd part is hardest. Accept whatever his will is regardless of whether His answer is the one you wanted or not. Be willing to accept his will regardless of whether its success or failure at what you requested. Its as
simple as that.
I'll also try to explain some of the things I've been applying to my diet that I've learned over the past 12 years of fighting a battle with obesity. I guess you could say the way I eat is by periodization. I eat 2200 calories a day to start (my base). I eat approximately 32-40 grams of lean protein every 3 hrs. That usually adds up to 6-7 meals a day. I then subtract the amount of calories those lean sources of protein have from 2200. The amount of protein I eat a day
always stays about the same. The remaining calories I split up equally into each of those 6-7 meals a day I eat. Those remaining calories are what I eat in carbs & fat. Then from there I keep track of my exercise. I figure out how many calories that day I am going to expend. I divide those calories into each meal I'm going to eat that day with a good portion of those being consumed immediately after my workout to start the body's recovery process immediately. These earned calories are always more carbs & fat. As I said, my protein levels always stay roughly the same. I don't add more protein from my earned exercise calories. By following this plan on light workout days I avoid eating extra calories, on heavy workout days I'm properly fueling my body with quality fats & carbs to allow for high quality workouts & refueling.
The other thing I've learned that I've got amazing results from is I only eat things I can grow, pick, or kill. If I can't grow, pick, or kill it I don't eat it. That allows me to eat fruits, veggies, lean meats, nuts, beans, & moderate amounts of dairy. It keeps me away from any processed foods.I've found staying away from processed food really helps me get & stay thinner. I have found through trial & error that if I eat the same amount of calories in clean foods rather than processed foods I lose more weight & feel allot better, I fatigue less during my workouts etc. Some people think this means I don't eat grains. Its true most of the grains people eat are processed, & I don't eat those. But I do eat grains. Just the unprocessed ones. I eat oat
meal (not individually packaged & flavored stuff because those are more highly processed), bugler, brown rice etc. That is all I have been doing. That simple.
God bless you guys, & thanks for tuning in.
results....finally. I thought I'd share some of the things I've been doing.
1st & foremost I pray. I pray to lose weight. & I even pray to become a faster triathlete. Its a truly selfish request of mine that God seems to be granting. So the first thing I want everyone to know is that I give all the glory to my Lord Jesus Christ! The reason I am able to succeed is because of Him. He's allowed me to learn the skills to be able to apply to losing weight, & he's
given me the fortitude to live with my emotional eating issues. He's put great people in my life to support me & to teach me. Great leaders for triathlon, faith, diet, & a better more rewarding way to live life, which would be for Him, not me. For all things that are good lead to Him. Period.
A great guy asked me this weekend what the heck my trick is to losing weight. I told him I'd put it up on my blog. So here it goes. First, pray. Ask for help from Him. The 2nd part is hardest. Accept whatever his will is regardless of whether His answer is the one you wanted or not. Be willing to accept his will regardless of whether its success or failure at what you requested. Its as
simple as that.
I'll also try to explain some of the things I've been applying to my diet that I've learned over the past 12 years of fighting a battle with obesity. I guess you could say the way I eat is by periodization. I eat 2200 calories a day to start (my base). I eat approximately 32-40 grams of lean protein every 3 hrs. That usually adds up to 6-7 meals a day. I then subtract the amount of calories those lean sources of protein have from 2200. The amount of protein I eat a day
always stays about the same. The remaining calories I split up equally into each of those 6-7 meals a day I eat. Those remaining calories are what I eat in carbs & fat. Then from there I keep track of my exercise. I figure out how many calories that day I am going to expend. I divide those calories into each meal I'm going to eat that day with a good portion of those being consumed immediately after my workout to start the body's recovery process immediately. These earned calories are always more carbs & fat. As I said, my protein levels always stay roughly the same. I don't add more protein from my earned exercise calories. By following this plan on light workout days I avoid eating extra calories, on heavy workout days I'm properly fueling my body with quality fats & carbs to allow for high quality workouts & refueling.
The other thing I've learned that I've got amazing results from is I only eat things I can grow, pick, or kill. If I can't grow, pick, or kill it I don't eat it. That allows me to eat fruits, veggies, lean meats, nuts, beans, & moderate amounts of dairy. It keeps me away from any processed foods.I've found staying away from processed food really helps me get & stay thinner. I have found through trial & error that if I eat the same amount of calories in clean foods rather than processed foods I lose more weight & feel allot better, I fatigue less during my workouts etc. Some people think this means I don't eat grains. Its true most of the grains people eat are processed, & I don't eat those. But I do eat grains. Just the unprocessed ones. I eat oat
meal (not individually packaged & flavored stuff because those are more highly processed), bugler, brown rice etc. That is all I have been doing. That simple.
God bless you guys, & thanks for tuning in.
May 09, 2008
Halfmax Triathlon series
Another busy week almost in the books. I got back from visiting my favorite Aunt in Hobbs NM on Sunday. She has cancer. It was an emotional weekend. That entire weekend I didn't work any overtime. So I'm having to make up for it now. I've worked a 12 or a 16 hr shift everyday since my return. I plan on continuing working everyday until May 17th when I plan on driving to Lubbock TX to compete in the Buffman & Squeaky Olympic triathlon. That will be 17 days working in a row. Race then probably another couple weeks working in a row. I really need to win the Lottery. Anyhoo....
While surfing the web yesterday I found a new series called the Halfmax. It may not be all that new of a series, but it's new to me. It's a series of half Irons that are non-Ironman sanctioned events. That is good because I have a bone to pick with the Ironman & 70.3's. They don't have a Clydesdale or an Athena category in their Championship races. I.E. Kona 140.6 & the Clearwater 70.3. They've gotten numerous requests, but stead fast refuse to have championship slots given out to Clydesdales or Athena's at any of their numerous qualifying races. I think that is wrong & I support any series trying to compete with the Iron Sanctioned events. Anyway, back to my findings on the Halfmax. There are multiple Half irons throughout the country. If you qualify at one of these qualifying events then you can race at The National Halfmax Championships race in Boulder NV in Oct. I've decided that I'm going to attempt to qualify for the Halfmax National Championships. There are 2 ways to qualify.
1) To take the top 33 percent of your age group in any qualifying Halfmax race.
2) To finish any 70.3 distance (half iron) in a designated time. The times are different depending on your AG. 5 hours 5 minutes is the time I would need to qualify for my age group of 30-34. 5 hours 35 minutes for Clydesdales 39 & under.
My first attempt will be in March 2009 at the Lone Star Half Iron in Galveston TX. I chose this race because because it suits my strengths. I'm pretty fast on flat courses. To put it bluntly I suck at climbing. Its the whole power to weight ratio on the bike that makes me so dang slow on hills. The Lone Star Half Iron is a very fast & flat course from what I read. I should do very well at this race.
If by chance I don't qualify at the Lone Star Half my next attempt will be The Moose Man Half Iron in New Hampshire. I chose this race because my wife wants to go to New Hampshire for a vacation. Perfect. First 3 days I get ready & race. Next 4-7 days we vacation. Win win for my wife & I.
If I don't qualify for the Halfmax National Championships the 2nd time at The Moose Man Half Iron I'll do attempt #3 in Sept 2009 in Arora Co at The Harvest Moon Half Iron. If I do qualify at one of the 2 races earlier in the 09 season I won't do the Harvest Moon at all. I'll just put all my attention , focus & training to the October Halfmax National Championships in Boulder NV. Boulder NV was where I DNF'd the Silverman Iron distance in Nov of 2010. So qualifying for the Halfmax would be particularly sweet because on top of racing a National Championships race I'd also be able to take my revenge on that course. I did the Harvest Moon Long course in Sept of last year as a tune up race for the Silverman Iron distance. I came into that race overweight. On top of that I decided to race with only one water bottle cage on my bike to make my bike as light & aerodynamic as possible. HUGE mistake! When I picked up a bottle of Gatorade at an aid station I'd finish the bottle of fluid before I was half way to the next aid station. By the end of the 56 mile bike ride I was severely dehydrated. I finished the race in 6 hours & 25 minutes. Considering what a hilly race the Harvest Moon is & how dehydrated I was that wasn't a bad time. But I could of done SO much better. If I do this race in 09 I will do better. Much better. Revenge of the Former Clydesdale!!!
Yes. I realize how anal it seems to have my triathlon schedule planned out until October 2009. 17 months in advance. But since I'm giving you a glimpse of my madness I might as well share with you that I have my season planned out until May 2010. My next A race after the Halfmax National Championships is the Florida 70.3 May 2010. Yup, my tri schedule is planned out 2 years in advance. I know I know. Borderline psychotic. Welcome to my world.
While surfing the web yesterday I found a new series called the Halfmax. It may not be all that new of a series, but it's new to me. It's a series of half Irons that are non-Ironman sanctioned events. That is good because I have a bone to pick with the Ironman & 70.3's. They don't have a Clydesdale or an Athena category in their Championship races. I.E. Kona 140.6 & the Clearwater 70.3. They've gotten numerous requests, but stead fast refuse to have championship slots given out to Clydesdales or Athena's at any of their numerous qualifying races. I think that is wrong & I support any series trying to compete with the Iron Sanctioned events. Anyway, back to my findings on the Halfmax. There are multiple Half irons throughout the country. If you qualify at one of these qualifying events then you can race at The National Halfmax Championships race in Boulder NV in Oct. I've decided that I'm going to attempt to qualify for the Halfmax National Championships. There are 2 ways to qualify.
1) To take the top 33 percent of your age group in any qualifying Halfmax race.
2) To finish any 70.3 distance (half iron) in a designated time. The times are different depending on your AG. 5 hours 5 minutes is the time I would need to qualify for my age group of 30-34. 5 hours 35 minutes for Clydesdales 39 & under.
My first attempt will be in March 2009 at the Lone Star Half Iron in Galveston TX. I chose this race because because it suits my strengths. I'm pretty fast on flat courses. To put it bluntly I suck at climbing. Its the whole power to weight ratio on the bike that makes me so dang slow on hills. The Lone Star Half Iron is a very fast & flat course from what I read. I should do very well at this race.
If by chance I don't qualify at the Lone Star Half my next attempt will be The Moose Man Half Iron in New Hampshire. I chose this race because my wife wants to go to New Hampshire for a vacation. Perfect. First 3 days I get ready & race. Next 4-7 days we vacation. Win win for my wife & I.
If I don't qualify for the Halfmax National Championships the 2nd time at The Moose Man Half Iron I'll do attempt #3 in Sept 2009 in Arora Co at The Harvest Moon Half Iron. If I do qualify at one of the 2 races earlier in the 09 season I won't do the Harvest Moon at all. I'll just put all my attention , focus & training to the October Halfmax National Championships in Boulder NV. Boulder NV was where I DNF'd the Silverman Iron distance in Nov of 2010. So qualifying for the Halfmax would be particularly sweet because on top of racing a National Championships race I'd also be able to take my revenge on that course. I did the Harvest Moon Long course in Sept of last year as a tune up race for the Silverman Iron distance. I came into that race overweight. On top of that I decided to race with only one water bottle cage on my bike to make my bike as light & aerodynamic as possible. HUGE mistake! When I picked up a bottle of Gatorade at an aid station I'd finish the bottle of fluid before I was half way to the next aid station. By the end of the 56 mile bike ride I was severely dehydrated. I finished the race in 6 hours & 25 minutes. Considering what a hilly race the Harvest Moon is & how dehydrated I was that wasn't a bad time. But I could of done SO much better. If I do this race in 09 I will do better. Much better. Revenge of the Former Clydesdale!!!
Yes. I realize how anal it seems to have my triathlon schedule planned out until October 2009. 17 months in advance. But since I'm giving you a glimpse of my madness I might as well share with you that I have my season planned out until May 2010. My next A race after the Halfmax National Championships is the Florida 70.3 May 2010. Yup, my tri schedule is planned out 2 years in advance. I know I know. Borderline psychotic. Welcome to my world.
May 08, 2008
training by heart rate
Training by heart rate.
There is no “miracle” cardio training routine that will work for every body type or fitness level. But heart rate training comes close.
It is still amazing to me that with so many books on heart rate training, and so many athletes training with heart rate monitors, that the majority of people still do not understand this training concept. But out of the hundreds of my co-workers and fellow triathletes out there training hard, the vast majority still train “by pace” or “by feel”. Even if they do run with a heart rate monitor, they are usually training in the wrong zones. Those people are training very inefficiently. With the majority of athletes having to juggle family and careers you’d think they’d make every minute of training count.
Everybody, no matter what their fitness level, or experience in endurance sports can make improvements through more effective heart rate training. Training in the correct heart rate zones, and in conjunction with the proper training programs will make you faster and build more endurance. Often times accomplishing more gains with less time spent training.
The majority of the triathletes I have trained with thru the years train at what some may call “my pace”. They usually go out and run or bike as fast as they can. Or they simply go out and train at the same time-measured pace at which feels most comfortable, regardless of what their heart rate is telling them. Training by “pace” leads to junk miles and is ineffective training.
These athletes would make better improvements if they trained in a whole range of paces. They should work both aerobic and anaerobic systems. You see pace is simply not a reliable indicator of how hard you are working. To many external factors can affect the effort level required to maintain a certain “pace” such as hills, heat, altitude, wind, fatigue, or even stress levels. All these factors can affect your heart rate.
Athletes training by pace usually end up training in the wrong zones. Why? Because running in the aerobic range seems too easy or comfortable. While high intensity training that develops the anaerobic system is very uncomfortable. It takes focus and discipline to maintain an anaerobic level of effort, and discipline to maintain that level of effort for any period of time. Those that are training by “pace” or by “feel” tend to push beyond the aerobic training zone, but not all the way to the anaerobic training zone because it’s so unpleasant. This in-between area is a “no mans land”. They are going too slow and too fast for optimum training of the aerobic or anaerobic system. They should be careful to avoid this in-between zone, as it leads to performance stagnation!
Effective heart rate training prevents us from training in the wrong zone, and it ensures that all of our training is beneficial and time efficient. Heart rate doesn’t lie. It will tell you how hard you are training. It automatically makes all of the adjustments for heat, wind, altitude, hills, and fatigue- whatever. Heart rate, not pace or how you feel should be your primary indicator of training intensity.
You can estimate your HR levels by using a low-tech method based off your estimated maximum heart rate. Simply subtract your age from 220. This is your max heart rate. You can figure out your training zones based off of your estimated max heart rate. I did this generic method and my max was calculated to 180. I had my heart rate tested at a physiology lab recently, and I found my max heart rate was actually 168. That is a BIG difference. Training by my estimated max heart rate of 180 would make my aerobic pace 12 beats higher than where I know my true aerobic zone to be. In addition your heart rate zones should be based on your lactate threshold. Not your max heart rate.
First I’ll show you how to how to test your lactate threshold (LT). Then I’ll give you your heart rate zones based off your LT. You need a heart rate moniter with an average heart rate function. To find your training zones for the run: warm up well, a 15 minute easy jog should be sufficient. Then do a 30 minute time trial (TT) meaning run ALL OUT for 30 minutes. At the 10 minute mark start your heart rate moniter. Your average heart rate for last 20 minutes of your all out run or TT is your lactate threshold.
To find your LT for the bike: Warm up with easy spinning for 20 minutes. At the end of the warm up do 4X90 seconds of increased effort to get your heart rate elevated. Then do a TT (all out) on a flat course. At the 10 minute mark of your TT start your heart rate monitor. The average heart rate of the last 20 minutes of your TT is your lactate threshold.
Your zones based off your LT are as follows:
Zone-1 60-69% of your LT
Z-2 70-79% of LT
Z3 80-89%
Z-4 90-94%
Z-5 100%+
Zone 1 is for active recovery and extensive endurance.
Zone 2 is for endurance. Both Z-1 & Z-2 are the only zones that you can burn fat, build mitochondria and build more blood capillaries.
Zone 3 is for increasing your lactate threshold levels.
Zone 4 is for tempo runs and bike rides.
Zone 5 is interval training. You should only do work in this zone in the build phase of your program. This zone is where you build your speed. You should only start speed work if you have built up a good aerobic base.
–Cody Hanson
There is no “miracle” cardio training routine that will work for every body type or fitness level. But heart rate training comes close.
It is still amazing to me that with so many books on heart rate training, and so many athletes training with heart rate monitors, that the majority of people still do not understand this training concept. But out of the hundreds of my co-workers and fellow triathletes out there training hard, the vast majority still train “by pace” or “by feel”. Even if they do run with a heart rate monitor, they are usually training in the wrong zones. Those people are training very inefficiently. With the majority of athletes having to juggle family and careers you’d think they’d make every minute of training count.
Everybody, no matter what their fitness level, or experience in endurance sports can make improvements through more effective heart rate training. Training in the correct heart rate zones, and in conjunction with the proper training programs will make you faster and build more endurance. Often times accomplishing more gains with less time spent training.
The majority of the triathletes I have trained with thru the years train at what some may call “my pace”. They usually go out and run or bike as fast as they can. Or they simply go out and train at the same time-measured pace at which feels most comfortable, regardless of what their heart rate is telling them. Training by “pace” leads to junk miles and is ineffective training.
These athletes would make better improvements if they trained in a whole range of paces. They should work both aerobic and anaerobic systems. You see pace is simply not a reliable indicator of how hard you are working. To many external factors can affect the effort level required to maintain a certain “pace” such as hills, heat, altitude, wind, fatigue, or even stress levels. All these factors can affect your heart rate.
Athletes training by pace usually end up training in the wrong zones. Why? Because running in the aerobic range seems too easy or comfortable. While high intensity training that develops the anaerobic system is very uncomfortable. It takes focus and discipline to maintain an anaerobic level of effort, and discipline to maintain that level of effort for any period of time. Those that are training by “pace” or by “feel” tend to push beyond the aerobic training zone, but not all the way to the anaerobic training zone because it’s so unpleasant. This in-between area is a “no mans land”. They are going too slow and too fast for optimum training of the aerobic or anaerobic system. They should be careful to avoid this in-between zone, as it leads to performance stagnation!
Effective heart rate training prevents us from training in the wrong zone, and it ensures that all of our training is beneficial and time efficient. Heart rate doesn’t lie. It will tell you how hard you are training. It automatically makes all of the adjustments for heat, wind, altitude, hills, and fatigue- whatever. Heart rate, not pace or how you feel should be your primary indicator of training intensity.
You can estimate your HR levels by using a low-tech method based off your estimated maximum heart rate. Simply subtract your age from 220. This is your max heart rate. You can figure out your training zones based off of your estimated max heart rate. I did this generic method and my max was calculated to 180. I had my heart rate tested at a physiology lab recently, and I found my max heart rate was actually 168. That is a BIG difference. Training by my estimated max heart rate of 180 would make my aerobic pace 12 beats higher than where I know my true aerobic zone to be. In addition your heart rate zones should be based on your lactate threshold. Not your max heart rate.
First I’ll show you how to how to test your lactate threshold (LT). Then I’ll give you your heart rate zones based off your LT. You need a heart rate moniter with an average heart rate function. To find your training zones for the run: warm up well, a 15 minute easy jog should be sufficient. Then do a 30 minute time trial (TT) meaning run ALL OUT for 30 minutes. At the 10 minute mark start your heart rate moniter. Your average heart rate for last 20 minutes of your all out run or TT is your lactate threshold.
To find your LT for the bike: Warm up with easy spinning for 20 minutes. At the end of the warm up do 4X90 seconds of increased effort to get your heart rate elevated. Then do a TT (all out) on a flat course. At the 10 minute mark of your TT start your heart rate monitor. The average heart rate of the last 20 minutes of your TT is your lactate threshold.
Your zones based off your LT are as follows:
Zone-1 60-69% of your LT
Z-2 70-79% of LT
Z3 80-89%
Z-4 90-94%
Z-5 100%+
Zone 1 is for active recovery and extensive endurance.
Zone 2 is for endurance. Both Z-1 & Z-2 are the only zones that you can burn fat, build mitochondria and build more blood capillaries.
Zone 3 is for increasing your lactate threshold levels.
Zone 4 is for tempo runs and bike rides.
Zone 5 is interval training. You should only do work in this zone in the build phase of your program. This zone is where you build your speed. You should only start speed work if you have built up a good aerobic base.
–Cody Hanson
April 27, 2008
Atomicman duathlon post race report
Atomicman duathlon post race report.
I completed the Atomicman duathlon today. The Atomicman duathlon is by far my favorite race of all time, followed closely by the Buffman & Squeaky triathlon in Lubbock Tx. Which will be my next race on May 18th by the way. I ended up swithching my registration at the Atomicman
from the long course to the short one. It was a 4k run, 15k bike, 4k run. Last year I had done the Little boy course (that's what they call the short course) & PR'd it with a 1;11 time.
I got off of a 12 hr work shift this morning at 5am. Drove straight there and raced on no sleep. Both of my runs were great, but I threw a chain on the decent of Ocho canyon. By the time I got the bike stopped, put the chain back on, & got back up to speed I'd lost no less than a minute, probably allot more. Even with the thrown chain I finished in 1:07:13 taking 10th overall, & 1st place in the 30-34 AG. My 2 runs were an 18:25 which averages out to a 7:28 ave & a 19:00 for an ave of 7:36! My bike time was a 28:29 which averages out to a 19.6 mile per hour average. Those were by far my best runs ever, considering how hilly this course is those times still seem a little unbelievable to me. Turns out I was 45 seconds behind the 8th place guy. If I hadn't of had mechanical problems on the bike I'd of been in 7th or 8th place. Not to bad for a recovering fat guy eh?
I completed the Atomicman duathlon today. The Atomicman duathlon is by far my favorite race of all time, followed closely by the Buffman & Squeaky triathlon in Lubbock Tx. Which will be my next race on May 18th by the way. I ended up swithching my registration at the Atomicman
from the long course to the short one. It was a 4k run, 15k bike, 4k run. Last year I had done the Little boy course (that's what they call the short course) & PR'd it with a 1;11 time.
I got off of a 12 hr work shift this morning at 5am. Drove straight there and raced on no sleep. Both of my runs were great, but I threw a chain on the decent of Ocho canyon. By the time I got the bike stopped, put the chain back on, & got back up to speed I'd lost no less than a minute, probably allot more. Even with the thrown chain I finished in 1:07:13 taking 10th overall, & 1st place in the 30-34 AG. My 2 runs were an 18:25 which averages out to a 7:28 ave & a 19:00 for an ave of 7:36! My bike time was a 28:29 which averages out to a 19.6 mile per hour average. Those were by far my best runs ever, considering how hilly this course is those times still seem a little unbelievable to me. Turns out I was 45 seconds behind the 8th place guy. If I hadn't of had mechanical problems on the bike I'd of been in 7th or 8th place. Not to bad for a recovering fat guy eh?
My coach, Peter Alfino, has really been doing miracles with my training. The longer he works with me the more he knows what my body is capable of. He told me when I hired him the longer he trains me the better results I'll get from his training plans. I believed him, but I had no idea he could get me this fast. I never dreamed I would be able to race as fast as I did this weekend. I've been coached by other coaches before. Some were better than others. But coach alfino has been performing near miracle typ results with me. He's in a class of his own. He says if I continue to follow his plan he's pretty sure I'll finish IMAZ in 13 hrs or less! & to think I'm still in the base phase of training where athletes tend to be slow. Can't wait to see what will happen when I get into my build/speed phase!
April 22, 2008
Huge goal accomplished!
I weighed in today. I weighed in at 192. I have now lost a total of 100 lbs since I was at my heaviest of 292!!!!!!!!!! I think I'd like to see if I can get to 180. That would be pretty skinny, but light is fast in triathlon, & I want to be fast.
I love to ride my bike. Not just in training but also as a form of transportation. I really enjoy taking my bike rather than a vehicle to drop off rented movies @ the video store, buy groceries, ride to the pool, etc. My problem has been that both my road bike & my triathlon bike are worth a bit of money & I'm constantly afraid someone will steal it while I'm doing my errands. Today a buddy of mine said he has a cheap road bike he bought for $100. It's a GMC Denali model. He's going to bring it tomorrow so I can see it. If it's in decent condition we've agreed I can buy it for $50. That will be my commuter bike from now on. I'll chain it up of course, but if someone goes that extra mile & cuts my lock or chain I wont be devastated by the loss. It'll take most of my worry about commuting away. God is good to me:) The only problem I have is that I will now own 5 bikes. 2 MTB, 1 TT, 2 roadies. Add my wife's road bike we just got off lay away that is 6. We have 8 pairs of wheels too. I'm running out of room in my shed!
I'm competing in the atomicman duathlon this weekend. It's a 10K run, 40K bike, 5K run. It's by far my favorite race of all time. Great RD's excellent support, great shag, super challenging course-I believer its a harder course than the BSLT, just not as hot. I got a HED 3 rear wheel yesterday off ebay. So I'll be sporting a fest wheel set. I'm really excited. This will be my 3rd year competing in the Atomicman, but my first as an AG. Not sure how I'll place amongst those little guys, but I know regardless of where I place I'm going to leave it all on the course. Is that cliché enough? I love this race, I really do. so far I've taken 1st place clyd both years I've raced. That would be nice to see this weekend because I've got 2 races in the SW series & only 14 points. Meaning I'm averaging a 4th place finish in the series so far. I'm not going to be doing many races this year, so I need high placing in every race I do if there's any chance of taking top 3 in the series. So, yes I want to place high, but my only real goal is to shatter my PR. It is 3:01. I'll be racing around 33 pounds lighter this year than my 2 previous years. I think I can go sub 2:45, shaving 15 minutes off my time would be a stretch. But I'm up for the challenge!
By the way, I had decided not to go low carb because of all the great advise & reasons not to given by my fellow bloggers. Thanks for the advise. Especially S.Baboo.
Peace!
See you at the races!
I love to ride my bike. Not just in training but also as a form of transportation. I really enjoy taking my bike rather than a vehicle to drop off rented movies @ the video store, buy groceries, ride to the pool, etc. My problem has been that both my road bike & my triathlon bike are worth a bit of money & I'm constantly afraid someone will steal it while I'm doing my errands. Today a buddy of mine said he has a cheap road bike he bought for $100. It's a GMC Denali model. He's going to bring it tomorrow so I can see it. If it's in decent condition we've agreed I can buy it for $50. That will be my commuter bike from now on. I'll chain it up of course, but if someone goes that extra mile & cuts my lock or chain I wont be devastated by the loss. It'll take most of my worry about commuting away. God is good to me:) The only problem I have is that I will now own 5 bikes. 2 MTB, 1 TT, 2 roadies. Add my wife's road bike we just got off lay away that is 6. We have 8 pairs of wheels too. I'm running out of room in my shed!
I'm competing in the atomicman duathlon this weekend. It's a 10K run, 40K bike, 5K run. It's by far my favorite race of all time. Great RD's excellent support, great shag, super challenging course-I believer its a harder course than the BSLT, just not as hot. I got a HED 3 rear wheel yesterday off ebay. So I'll be sporting a fest wheel set. I'm really excited. This will be my 3rd year competing in the Atomicman, but my first as an AG. Not sure how I'll place amongst those little guys, but I know regardless of where I place I'm going to leave it all on the course. Is that cliché enough? I love this race, I really do. so far I've taken 1st place clyd both years I've raced. That would be nice to see this weekend because I've got 2 races in the SW series & only 14 points. Meaning I'm averaging a 4th place finish in the series so far. I'm not going to be doing many races this year, so I need high placing in every race I do if there's any chance of taking top 3 in the series. So, yes I want to place high, but my only real goal is to shatter my PR. It is 3:01. I'll be racing around 33 pounds lighter this year than my 2 previous years. I think I can go sub 2:45, shaving 15 minutes off my time would be a stretch. But I'm up for the challenge!
By the way, I had decided not to go low carb because of all the great advise & reasons not to given by my fellow bloggers. Thanks for the advise. Especially S.Baboo.
Peace!
See you at the races!
April 20, 2008
Time to give credit where credit is due
Wow, what a busy week and a half I've had. I'm usually busy by normal peoples terminology. I work 6 12hr shifts a week. As soon as I get home I sleep, train for triathlon as soon as I awake, then spend a couple of hours with my wife & kids before I go back to work & do it all over again. So like I said, I'm usually busy, but this week was unusually busy. Last week the transmission went out in my van so my wife I are were trying to use one vehicle between the both of us. Since time is such a rare commodity with me, juggling who can use our only remaining vehicle, & when, made things pretty rough. But we made it through that just fine. My wife a I have always had the ability to make the best & see our way through anything as long as we have each other. Our mini-van has a 100,000 mile warranty & we had 90,000 miles on our van.
I called the dealership about our transmission & told them our extended warranty should cover it. They said "bring it in & we'll see if it is covered. The new tranny will cost 2,400 dollars. We'll put the new tranny in & in the mean time we'll see if its covered." A red flag went up in my mind. I'll spare you all the gruesome details, but long story short after what felt like a hundred hours on the phone with the dealership they decided to cover the cost of replacement & labor. We only had to pay 100 dollars for the deductible. We also had the battery & oil changed. Total damage was 350 dollars Much better than over 2600!
Tonight an immediate family member & I worked out some problems that we should of worked out over a decade ago. It wasn't easy, and there were some hurt feelings on both sides that we were able to talk out. But we worked it out. First time since 1993 I felt like all was well in that relationship. I've missed her so badly even though she was right here the whole time. We made up allot of ground tonight.
I weighed in yesterday st 193 lbs! I've met my WW goal so now I'm going to spend a couple weeks in the maintenance phase of the diet. In the maintenance phase I'll be getting allot more calories a day to eat. 6 more food points to be exact. For someone like me who has a love-hate-love-love relationship with food like me that is great news!!!!
In Nov 2006 I did the Clearwater 70.3. When I had my bike shipped from Fla. back here to NM, UPS damaged my bike during shipping. It just so happened that this week they finally decided to work out all the kinks to try & send me a check to fix or replace my bike. 17 months fighting with them & they just now decided to get off their butts. So there is another large block of time spent on the phone, sending out email & faxes. It looks entirely possible that UPS will be sending me a 2000 dollar check in the next 14 working days. The new Cannondale Ironman carbon frame came out recently. Cannondale has a frame trade in policy so that I can get the new frame for 2250 dollars (usually 3800) by trading in my old frame. I don't think it was a coincidence that it took 17 months to get this UPS claim resolved & Cannondale just now came out with their first carbon frame. No coincidence at all.
My son is normally a perfectly behaved 8 month old. He's teething this week so all hopes of sleep & peace have been out. Poor guy. But today he got his first good nap all week. There is light at the end of this tunnel.@The gate on our fence broke. Normally I can't fix anything mechanical or home project to save my life. The gate only took about 45 minutes to replace. Usually fixing broken things are one of my 3 triggers to send me into emotional eating. I didn't turn to food this time!
I thought I had broken the pinkie toe of my right foot. The Dr said I stubbed the heck out of it, but its not broke & I could continue to train as long as I didn't feel like it was at anytime becoming more badly damaged.
My wife and I put a bike for her on lay away 3 months ago. This was the last week we had to pay on it. By Saturday we had to either pay it off or lose the money we had put down on it. We got our tax refund about 10 days ago. So my wife & I not only was able to pay the last 400 dollars owed on the bike, but we also got her a helmet, cycling shorts, a jersey, & cycling shoes. Before I went to work my mother in law watched our children while Cindy & I went on our first bike ride together. It was amazing. We had more fun than I could ever have dreamed. We rode through a neighborhood in the NE heights of Albuquerque looking at houses & talking of when I retire from the Penitentiary & we can move our family to a real home in Albuquerque away from the prison. We talked about our children. We discussed each others dreams & inspirations. I have over 10,000 miles on my Cannondale Ironman bike. That's only 1 of the 4 bikes I own & ride. I've ridden allot of rides that I've felt were special, but today was by far the most magical ride I've ever had. We enjoyed it so much we decided we're going to do the Albuquerque quarter century together May 7th.
Friday night my wife & I went out with friends to the Horse & Angel bar & grill. It was the first time in 2 years I'd gone out on the town. I had my wife by my side so I was bound to have a great time. But last night ended up being one of the best times I've had in years. Friends, my wife, laughter, & love. Truly, I had so much fun last night out on the town with my amazing wife. Add today's bike ride, I can truly say I fell in love with her all over again. Today, before work I didn't want to leave. I felt like it was when Cindy & I had just started dating again. All I wanted was for me stay with her & in each others arms.
God is good to me. I don't deserve even a small tidbit of what he has blessed me with in my life, but he goes & blesses me anyway. God deserves some much deserved and over due credit. Thank you my Lord. You are so big, & sometimes I don't recognize all the blessings you give me in my life. This week you threw so many blessings into my life not even someone as blind as me could have missed it all. Thank you my God.
I called the dealership about our transmission & told them our extended warranty should cover it. They said "bring it in & we'll see if it is covered. The new tranny will cost 2,400 dollars. We'll put the new tranny in & in the mean time we'll see if its covered." A red flag went up in my mind. I'll spare you all the gruesome details, but long story short after what felt like a hundred hours on the phone with the dealership they decided to cover the cost of replacement & labor. We only had to pay 100 dollars for the deductible. We also had the battery & oil changed. Total damage was 350 dollars Much better than over 2600!
Tonight an immediate family member & I worked out some problems that we should of worked out over a decade ago. It wasn't easy, and there were some hurt feelings on both sides that we were able to talk out. But we worked it out. First time since 1993 I felt like all was well in that relationship. I've missed her so badly even though she was right here the whole time. We made up allot of ground tonight.
I weighed in yesterday st 193 lbs! I've met my WW goal so now I'm going to spend a couple weeks in the maintenance phase of the diet. In the maintenance phase I'll be getting allot more calories a day to eat. 6 more food points to be exact. For someone like me who has a love-hate-love-love relationship with food like me that is great news!!!!
In Nov 2006 I did the Clearwater 70.3. When I had my bike shipped from Fla. back here to NM, UPS damaged my bike during shipping. It just so happened that this week they finally decided to work out all the kinks to try & send me a check to fix or replace my bike. 17 months fighting with them & they just now decided to get off their butts. So there is another large block of time spent on the phone, sending out email & faxes. It looks entirely possible that UPS will be sending me a 2000 dollar check in the next 14 working days. The new Cannondale Ironman carbon frame came out recently. Cannondale has a frame trade in policy so that I can get the new frame for 2250 dollars (usually 3800) by trading in my old frame. I don't think it was a coincidence that it took 17 months to get this UPS claim resolved & Cannondale just now came out with their first carbon frame. No coincidence at all.
My son is normally a perfectly behaved 8 month old. He's teething this week so all hopes of sleep & peace have been out. Poor guy. But today he got his first good nap all week. There is light at the end of this tunnel.@The gate on our fence broke. Normally I can't fix anything mechanical or home project to save my life. The gate only took about 45 minutes to replace. Usually fixing broken things are one of my 3 triggers to send me into emotional eating. I didn't turn to food this time!
I thought I had broken the pinkie toe of my right foot. The Dr said I stubbed the heck out of it, but its not broke & I could continue to train as long as I didn't feel like it was at anytime becoming more badly damaged.
My wife and I put a bike for her on lay away 3 months ago. This was the last week we had to pay on it. By Saturday we had to either pay it off or lose the money we had put down on it. We got our tax refund about 10 days ago. So my wife & I not only was able to pay the last 400 dollars owed on the bike, but we also got her a helmet, cycling shorts, a jersey, & cycling shoes. Before I went to work my mother in law watched our children while Cindy & I went on our first bike ride together. It was amazing. We had more fun than I could ever have dreamed. We rode through a neighborhood in the NE heights of Albuquerque looking at houses & talking of when I retire from the Penitentiary & we can move our family to a real home in Albuquerque away from the prison. We talked about our children. We discussed each others dreams & inspirations. I have over 10,000 miles on my Cannondale Ironman bike. That's only 1 of the 4 bikes I own & ride. I've ridden allot of rides that I've felt were special, but today was by far the most magical ride I've ever had. We enjoyed it so much we decided we're going to do the Albuquerque quarter century together May 7th.
Friday night my wife & I went out with friends to the Horse & Angel bar & grill. It was the first time in 2 years I'd gone out on the town. I had my wife by my side so I was bound to have a great time. But last night ended up being one of the best times I've had in years. Friends, my wife, laughter, & love. Truly, I had so much fun last night out on the town with my amazing wife. Add today's bike ride, I can truly say I fell in love with her all over again. Today, before work I didn't want to leave. I felt like it was when Cindy & I had just started dating again. All I wanted was for me stay with her & in each others arms.
God is good to me. I don't deserve even a small tidbit of what he has blessed me with in my life, but he goes & blesses me anyway. God deserves some much deserved and over due credit. Thank you my Lord. You are so big, & sometimes I don't recognize all the blessings you give me in my life. This week you threw so many blessings into my life not even someone as blind as me could have missed it all. Thank you my God.
A shirts eulogy: It will be greatly missed
I bought this shirt my Junior year of high school, back in 1993. It was sold by
the Moriarty high school basketball team to help raise funds for their
basketball program. It quickly became my favorite shirt & I wore it every
opportunity I got. My wife hated this shirt. Yet because of how supportive she
is, she handled it with the utmost care when it was time for it to be washed. As
you can see it had seen better days. I still wore it out in public up until a
couple years ago, it became so well used that I had to stop or risk a divorce;) At that point I started wearing it underneath my stab proof
vest at work at least once a week. As you can see from the picture it was doubtfull that it would make through another wash. If you have received this email I
have already said my goodbyes and it has been given its last respects. I hope
everyone can find the joy from a shirt that I had found in this one.
the Moriarty high school basketball team to help raise funds for their
basketball program. It quickly became my favorite shirt & I wore it every
opportunity I got. My wife hated this shirt. Yet because of how supportive she
is, she handled it with the utmost care when it was time for it to be washed. As
you can see it had seen better days. I still wore it out in public up until a
couple years ago, it became so well used that I had to stop or risk a divorce;) At that point I started wearing it underneath my stab proof
vest at work at least once a week. As you can see from the picture it was doubtfull that it would make through another wash. If you have received this email I
have already said my goodbyes and it has been given its last respects. I hope
everyone can find the joy from a shirt that I had found in this one.
April 08, 2008
190 or bust
I've really made great gains since Nov. I've made great improvements in my bike, my swim, my weight, & a healthier diet. This has been a great 4.5 months. My first 3 months of trying to lose weight I was averaging 3-4 lbs of weight loss a week. It has recently slowed to 1 lb a week. I'm so close to my goal in terms of body weight. But the closer I get to my goal of 190 the slower I lose. Of course weekends of overeating like I had this weekend doesn't help.
I'm a very impatient person. One of my favorite things in the world is coffee. I really love coffee, but I drink instant coffee simply because I don't like waiting for regular to percolate. I'm running out of patience with getting to my ultimate weight. I've struggled with my weight most of my adult life. So I really have allot of experience with diets. I've tried every diet you could ever have heard of. Perhaps in this case that's a bad thing. Back in the summer of 2008 I lost 25 lbs in 30 days doing allot of base work & eating a low carb diet. I eventually got off the diet even though got really fast results because its too difficult to live everyday life on a low carb life style. One of the reasons I love weight watchers so much is I can live a normal life. I can eat the foods I want, just in moderation. But I am simply tired of waiting for that magical # of 190. I have decided to go low carb until I get to my goal weight. I know its a stupid decision. Low carb doesn't work for endurance athletes, its an unhealthy diet full of artery clogging fats, etc. But dang it I'll get fast results! I will probably get to 190 in less than 2 weeks! In my mind that IS worth it. Now that I've gotten to 200 I've done great maintaining it. I believe once I get to my goal weight I'll be able to maintain that easily. Its so much easier to maintain a weight than to get to a certain weight. My daily calories will go up once I reach that weight, I'll stop having to desire that dang # of 190 so much. I can think of dozens of reasons to go low carb, only a couple not to. So starting today, I'm on the Atkins diet until I'm at 190. Wish me fast results. The faster I get to 190 the faster I can get back to a healthier way of eating. The faster I can get to a diet that is more conducive to an endurance athletes needs. Thanks for tuning in.
I'm a very impatient person. One of my favorite things in the world is coffee. I really love coffee, but I drink instant coffee simply because I don't like waiting for regular to percolate. I'm running out of patience with getting to my ultimate weight. I've struggled with my weight most of my adult life. So I really have allot of experience with diets. I've tried every diet you could ever have heard of. Perhaps in this case that's a bad thing. Back in the summer of 2008 I lost 25 lbs in 30 days doing allot of base work & eating a low carb diet. I eventually got off the diet even though got really fast results because its too difficult to live everyday life on a low carb life style. One of the reasons I love weight watchers so much is I can live a normal life. I can eat the foods I want, just in moderation. But I am simply tired of waiting for that magical # of 190. I have decided to go low carb until I get to my goal weight. I know its a stupid decision. Low carb doesn't work for endurance athletes, its an unhealthy diet full of artery clogging fats, etc. But dang it I'll get fast results! I will probably get to 190 in less than 2 weeks! In my mind that IS worth it. Now that I've gotten to 200 I've done great maintaining it. I believe once I get to my goal weight I'll be able to maintain that easily. Its so much easier to maintain a weight than to get to a certain weight. My daily calories will go up once I reach that weight, I'll stop having to desire that dang # of 190 so much. I can think of dozens of reasons to go low carb, only a couple not to. So starting today, I'm on the Atkins diet until I'm at 190. Wish me fast results. The faster I get to 190 the faster I can get back to a healthier way of eating. The faster I can get to a diet that is more conducive to an endurance athletes needs. Thanks for tuning in.
April 07, 2008
2 wrongs don't make a right
I missed my 1st long bike on Saturday since the birth of my son on Aug 5th 2007. I never miss long days. I've called in sick to work rather than miss a long work out. The reason I'm so vigilant about completing my long runs & bikes is I know a triathletes most important workout is their long bikes & runs. I'm so obsessive compulsive that when I do miss them I get so upset I end up falling apart on my diet. & this weekend fall apart I did!
My family & I were going to Las Cruces for a weekend getaway. I hopped on my bike at first light, 6am, to insure I'd get in my workout, but my rear derailleur stopped shifting about an hour into my long ride on Sat. By the time I got back to the house & got my bike shop to get it working, it was time for us to leave. I spent the entire weekend stuffing my face with cookies, candy, coke, pizza. Oh boy, it was a bad couple days.
I know 2 wrongs don't make a right. But I just couldn't stop the feeding motion! I'm surprised I didn't end up with carpal tunnel syndrome. As bad as this weekend was there is good news. I stopped. In the past once something triggered my emotional eating I wouldn't stop for weeks. The more I ate the madder I'd get at myself. The more upset I got the more I'd eat. This time, after 2 days I stopped. 2 days isn't something I'm going to say is ok. It's going to take awhile for my weight to recover from that kind of eating. But I'm learning to stop the avalanche thanks mostly because of some great skills a buddy of mine taught me. There's light at the end of this problem. I'm not trying to fool myself by saying "some day I won't have this issue." But I'm definitely learning skills to better deal with my issue with food. Hey, at least it's not a heroin or crack problem.
While I was in Las Cruces someone stopped and asked if I was Cody? He said he reads my blog & he thanked me. I was floored. Took me completely by surprise, in a good way. My readership is way down. I know that's because I haven't had the time to read others blogs & post comments. Working 72 hrs a week & trying to train for triathlon at least 15 hrs a week has really limited my free time. But someone thanking me for what I'm putting in my blog was sure a high point of the weekend for me. all in all it wasn't the best weekend. But it was a weekend full of future potential.
Peace! I'm out!
My family & I were going to Las Cruces for a weekend getaway. I hopped on my bike at first light, 6am, to insure I'd get in my workout, but my rear derailleur stopped shifting about an hour into my long ride on Sat. By the time I got back to the house & got my bike shop to get it working, it was time for us to leave. I spent the entire weekend stuffing my face with cookies, candy, coke, pizza. Oh boy, it was a bad couple days.
I know 2 wrongs don't make a right. But I just couldn't stop the feeding motion! I'm surprised I didn't end up with carpal tunnel syndrome. As bad as this weekend was there is good news. I stopped. In the past once something triggered my emotional eating I wouldn't stop for weeks. The more I ate the madder I'd get at myself. The more upset I got the more I'd eat. This time, after 2 days I stopped. 2 days isn't something I'm going to say is ok. It's going to take awhile for my weight to recover from that kind of eating. But I'm learning to stop the avalanche thanks mostly because of some great skills a buddy of mine taught me. There's light at the end of this problem. I'm not trying to fool myself by saying "some day I won't have this issue." But I'm definitely learning skills to better deal with my issue with food. Hey, at least it's not a heroin or crack problem.
While I was in Las Cruces someone stopped and asked if I was Cody? He said he reads my blog & he thanked me. I was floored. Took me completely by surprise, in a good way. My readership is way down. I know that's because I haven't had the time to read others blogs & post comments. Working 72 hrs a week & trying to train for triathlon at least 15 hrs a week has really limited my free time. But someone thanking me for what I'm putting in my blog was sure a high point of the weekend for me. all in all it wasn't the best weekend. But it was a weekend full of future potential.
Peace! I'm out!
April 04, 2008
Slowly but surely
My coach Pete Alfino told me the only way to get faster at swimming is to swim. Well apparently he was right. For the first time in my life I've been swimming consistently. I looked back at my triathlon logs & pulled up my 1000 yard swim TT PR's. I've done more swimming TT's, but I'm only going to write the ones where I set PR's.
July 27, 2007
a 1000 yard time of 22:23
averaged 2:14 per 100 yards.
Dec 26th 2007
time 19:43
ave 1:58.
Today April 4th 2008
16:53
1:41 ave.
That's an increase of 33 seconds per 100 yards! If you look at one of my favorite races of all time, The Buffman & Squeaky, my PR is a 2:52, & I PR'd the swim at 36 minutes. If I keep this progression on my swimming going I think a sub 30 minute swim is more than possible. That's 6 minutes faster on the swim alone. Now take into consideration how much lighter I am, I believe a 2:40 may be possible. I'd have to have a great race, but I usually bring my best on that day. I'll keep you informed.
I've been agrivated this month because since March 3rd (one month and 1 day) Ive only lost 4 lbs. I was averaging 4.5 lbs of weight loss every week for almost 3 months. But recently my losses has slowed to a snail's pace. I decided rather than become frustrated I'd take my measurements & see if I've really stopped making gains or if I'm losing fat & gaining muscle. My last measurement was on March 5th 2008. 1 month & 2 days ago. Since then I've lost 4 lbs.
Chest 41.5 41.25 loss of .25
arm 15.5 15.75 gain of .25
stomach 39 38 loss of 1 inch
butt 43.5 43 loss of .5 inches
quads 26.25 25.5 loss of .75 inches
Total loss of 2.25 inches. Not bad, slowly but surely. Just don't ever call me Shirley.
July 27, 2007
a 1000 yard time of 22:23
averaged 2:14 per 100 yards.
Dec 26th 2007
time 19:43
ave 1:58.
Today April 4th 2008
16:53
1:41 ave.
That's an increase of 33 seconds per 100 yards! If you look at one of my favorite races of all time, The Buffman & Squeaky, my PR is a 2:52, & I PR'd the swim at 36 minutes. If I keep this progression on my swimming going I think a sub 30 minute swim is more than possible. That's 6 minutes faster on the swim alone. Now take into consideration how much lighter I am, I believe a 2:40 may be possible. I'd have to have a great race, but I usually bring my best on that day. I'll keep you informed.
I've been agrivated this month because since March 3rd (one month and 1 day) Ive only lost 4 lbs. I was averaging 4.5 lbs of weight loss every week for almost 3 months. But recently my losses has slowed to a snail's pace. I decided rather than become frustrated I'd take my measurements & see if I've really stopped making gains or if I'm losing fat & gaining muscle. My last measurement was on March 5th 2008. 1 month & 2 days ago. Since then I've lost 4 lbs.
Chest 41.5 41.25 loss of .25
arm 15.5 15.75 gain of .25
stomach 39 38 loss of 1 inch
butt 43.5 43 loss of .5 inches
quads 26.25 25.5 loss of .75 inches
Total loss of 2.25 inches. Not bad, slowly but surely. Just don't ever call me Shirley.
April 03, 2008
marathon training
I dont know who wrote this, but the working out on an empty stomach was great advise & has helped me lose allot of weight.
Marathon training
Ahh, the marathon long run. What a worrisome thing for most runners. And for good reason, the long run is such a crucial part of marathon training. I don't think there's any other race distance where one single workout plays such a large part in the success or failure of the race. As a result, you're often left with many questions: How far should I run? Do I run for time or distance? What about pace? What to eat and drink? The list goes on and on.
In this article, I'll answer these questions for you as I describe my thoughts on the marathon long run and how I utilize long runs for the marathoners I coach. As I like to do, I'm not only going to give you the "how-to" but I'm going to provide you with the rationale for why I think this plan works. This way, you can take the information and incorporate it into your specific training plan.
I will preface this article with a note that these are simply my ideas. Some of them have been widely criticized in forums. I aim to address these concerns but in the end, you have to do what you think works for YOU. And, I would also recommend that you experiment in your training to determine what works for you. With that, here is how I prescribe long runs in the marathon phase. The results have been consistent and positive. You can hear from some McMillan Running athletes by clicking here.
Two Types of Marathon Long Runs You Should Use
With long runs during a marathon program, you are trying to accomplish two distinct purposes. On the one hand, you are trying to maximize your ability to burn fat and spare your limited muscle carbohydrate (glycogen) stores as well as improving your leg strength and resistance to fatigue (both physical fatigue and mental fatigue). You are also trying to teach your body to better handle lowered blood glucose levels. On the other hand, you are trying to become more economical at your marathon race pace (learning to burn less fuel for a given pace) along with testing out your race equipment and nutritional plan. You also want to give the mind a taste of the focus and determination that will be required in the latter stages of the marathon itself.
Therefore, when I design a marathon training program, I include two distinctly different types of long runs. You're probably familiar with the first type of long run - the long, steady run. In this run, you simply go out for a steady, easy run and stay out for a long time. The pace isn't fast and time on your feet is the most important goal, not speed. The second type of long run, however, is new to many runners. In this long run, you start at your normal run pace but you try to average your goal marathon pace for the last 30 to 60 minutes of the run. In most programs, I simply alternate the two types of long runs - one weekend, long, steady distance and the next, a fast finish long run.
I'll now go through each type of long run in detail so you know exactly how to run each. I will warn you that if you don't execute the long run correctly, you screw up the program, so listen up.
Long, Steady Distance
The key aims of the long, steady distance long run are to increase your ability to burn fat, store more glycogen and to challenge the body and mind to continue running even when fatigued. From physiology, we know that the body uses fats and carbohydrates while running - the portion of each is determined by the pace. Run fast and the reliance shifts to more carbohydrates, less fats. Run slowly and the muscles rely more on fat and less on carbohydrate. Therefore, it is very important that in this type of long run - the long, steady long run, you don't run fast. You'll rely more on fats at an easy pace, possibly improving your ability to burn fat. When I say steady or easy or even slowly, I mean a conversational pace. Use my calculator and stay in the "long run" training pace range.
Another aspect of the long, slow run is duration. While running slowly increases fat burning for fuel, another way to really increase fat burning is to run when the carbohydrate stores are lowered. When the carbohydrate stores (muscle glycogen) are lowered, fat burning really goes up since there is little carbohydrate available. We know that the carbohydrate stores are lowered after 90 to 120 minutes of running so you want to do 30-60 minutes of running "after" this to maximize fat burning and to help stimulate the body to store more muscle glycogen for future runs (and races). When running (and racing) for this long, the blood glucose level also lowers. Ingesting carbohydrates (either through a sports drink or energy gels) before and during the run, maintains your blood glucose level. However, as you see below, we may also want to challenge the body to run with a lowered blood glucose level and to adapt to be better at handling a lowered blood glucose level. Therefore, the long, steady runs must last at least two hours and the longer the better and you may want to try to slowly reduce your carbohydrate ingestion before and during this type of long run. Except for a few exceptions, you should try to gradually increase your long run above two hours and I find that long, steady runs of two and a half to three and a half hours are ideal for most competitive marathoners.
Running for this long also helps us accomplish two of the other goals for this type of long run. First, with these runs your legs will get very tired but will become stronger and better able to tolerate running for such long periods. Second, you will experience fatigue and have to be mentally strong to simply keep going, knowing that you are going to continue to feel tired. However, it's important to remember that feeling tired is what training is about. You receive many benefits in marathon training only after you're tired. So the goal is to run beyond to the point of being tired so that the body is stimulated to grow stronger and more resistance to tiredness.
Finally, (and this is optional) a great way to ensure that you will deplete your carbohydrate stores on these long, steady runs is to not eat any carbohydrates immediately before or during the run. Any carbohydrates ingested will be used by the body for fuel, and we don't want this. We want to deny the body carbohydrates in these runs so that the muscles will become better at sparing the carbohydrate stores, more efficient at burning fat and used to running with lowered blood glucose levels. Now, many people think I'm crazy when I say this, but it works. It takes time to get adjusted to it if you have always been carbing up before and during your long runs, but with time and practice you can do it. I will note, however, that it is important to drink water and electrolytes throughout these runs so that you don't get dehydrated. I also recommend carrying an energy gel with you just in case you run into trouble (like taking a wrong turn, having to run longer than expected and getting a little woozy).Two words of wisdom here. First, I don't recommend withholding carbohydrates for runs lasting longer than three and a half hours. And second, withholding carbohydrates is the "icing on the cake" for the long, steady run. The "cake" is the fact that you are running for over two hours. If you're sent into hypoglycemia by the thought of having no carbohydrates on a long run then by all means, ingest them. You'll still be stressing the body to adapt to these longer runs.
I cannot stress enough that if you want to adopt this long run strategy that you very gradually wean yourself off of carbohydrates. Your body is likely used to it so I recommend that you continue with your same breakfast and gradually begin to space apart your intake of carbohydrates during the run. For example, if you take an energy gel every 45 minutes, begin to take them every 50 minutes. On the following long run, extend this to 55 minutes. See how your body responds. Then, gradually begin to reduce the amount of breakfast you have before the long run. Over the course of several weeks and months, you will learn that your body has plenty of energy stored in it for long runs and marathons. You just have to retrain it to access these energy stores and not depend on external sources. My experience has been that in most athletes (there are exceptions), the body and mind can be trained to work more efficiently with fuel use in training so that when more fuel is available during the race, you feel like a million bucks!
Another note: I recommend that you do these long, steady runs on a soft, uneven surface like dirt trails. This helps avoid injuries, challenges the accessory muscles and is usually a more enjoyable way to run easily. Take someone along with you as well.
I run my long, slow runs first thing in the morning and have nothing to eat before the run. I tuck a Clif Shot into my pocket on my shorts and hit the trails. I'll drink water with electrolytes during the run during hotter months but no carbohydrates. I get my 120-180 minutes of running in, then begin the reloading process described in the nutrition article on this website.
Fast Finish Long Run
The second type of long run is completely different than the long, steady run. The fast finish becomes the focus of this run. You start the workout at your normal easy run pace, increase it slightly in the middle of the run then try to average your goal marathon pace for the last 30 to 90 minutes of the run. I say 'average' because you will gradually increase to marathon pace but one thing that most people miss is the fast finish. I learned this from Gabriele Rosa (arguably the world's greatest marathon coach). In his program, the last 10 to 30 minutes of the fast finish long runs are like a race. You run as hard as you can and sprint at the finish. It is grueling but very race-specific training. After a few of them, you will see just how effective these are at producing marathoners who can outlast their competitors! Physiologically, you train the body to work more efficiently at marathon pace and mentally, you undergo the extreme fatigue that marathon racers inevitably face during the final few miles.
So, a generic long run for someone who's goal marathon pace is 7:00 per mile might be that the first 12 miles of a long run will be at 7:30 to 8:00 per mile, then the pace over the last 6 miles will average 7:00 per mile with the last couple of miles at 6:15 to 6:30 pace and the last 400 meters very fast. Believe me, this is a tough run so you will need to get mentally and physically prepared.
The fast finish long run provides an opportunity to practice your marathon routine. Have the same dinner the night before as you plan to have the night before your race. Get hydrated like before the race. Wake up like it's race day. Do exactly what you plan to do on race day even to the extent of wearing your race gear - shorts, singlet, socks, racing shoes. This is a true "test run" for the marathon. I also recommend that you have someone help you with this workout. Have someone on a bike with you so that you can drink at the same intervals that you will in the race. And, unlike in the long, slow run, do this run (or at minimum the fast part) on the asphalt - just like the race. Also unlike the long, slow run, you want to eat carbs before and during this run. P lease note that I just said I DO recommend carbohydrates before and during the fast finish long runs. This point has been overlooked by many runners. In fact, you want to mimic the exact nutrition plan that you will do during the marathon. It's likely that you'll have sports drinks every two miles. You may also be carrying energy with you so practice your plan. You'll be amazed at what you will learn about your planned pre-marathon routine - the things that work and the things that don't. When marathon day arrives, you'll be cool and calm because the routine will be second nature to you.
Our general rule when I coached the Discovery USA program was that if you could finish a 14- to 22-mile fast finish long run with the last 8-12 miles at your goal marathon pace and the last 2-3 miles at 10K race pace, then you would have no problem accomplishing your goal in the marathon. For the first fast finish long run, the initial few miles would be about a minute and a half slower than marathon race pace and only the last 5-10K would be fast. But, by the time the last fast finish long run would come around, the initial few miles would be only 30 seconds slower than marathon race pace and the last 15-20K would average goal marathon pace. You can follow this guideline as you implement these workouts into your training.
How to Implement
While I recommend a two-hour long, steady run virtually year round for most runners, you should not start the fast finish long runs until 8-10 weeks before the marathon. Too many of these workouts and you will peak too soon and be flat by marathon day. And, you only need 3-5 of these long runs before the marathon. So, I've found it convenient to simply alternate a long, steady run with a fast finish long run during marathon training. This will put you in good stead for the marathon and keep you from doing too many long, hard runs which can burn you out and make you peak too early. The fast finish long run has to be respected and if taken to extreme will not help but will hurt your marathon. You need to buy into the two types of long runs and do them correctly. Running too fast on the long, steady runs hurts you for the next week's fast finish long run. Trust me, marathon training is hard enough. Be patient and let these workouts work for you.
To sum up, the marathon long run doesn't have to be a mystery. Just alternate a weekly 2-3 hour long, steady run with a fast finish long run during the 8-10 weeks before your marathon and you will be amazed at how your body adapts. In the long, steady runs, start at the slow end of your long run pace and run for two to two and a half hours. On the next one, increase the duration by 15 to 30 minutes until 3-4 weeks before the marathon, you are running for two and a half to three and a half hours. (NOTE: I like the longest long run to be no more than 30-45 minutes longer than you plan to race.)
In the fast finish long run, start by running just the last three to five miles fast and on each successive fast finish long run, increase the distance of the fast part so that 3-4 weeks before your marathon, you run a 20-22 miler with the last 9-12 miles averaging marathon race pace. (NOTE: I find that jumping into a half-marathon as the last part of your final few fast finish long runs is a great way to get these runs in with the support you will have in the marathon itself.)
If you're planning your marathon training, I recommend incorporating these two long runs into your program. Good luck!
Marathon training
Ahh, the marathon long run. What a worrisome thing for most runners. And for good reason, the long run is such a crucial part of marathon training. I don't think there's any other race distance where one single workout plays such a large part in the success or failure of the race. As a result, you're often left with many questions: How far should I run? Do I run for time or distance? What about pace? What to eat and drink? The list goes on and on.
In this article, I'll answer these questions for you as I describe my thoughts on the marathon long run and how I utilize long runs for the marathoners I coach. As I like to do, I'm not only going to give you the "how-to" but I'm going to provide you with the rationale for why I think this plan works. This way, you can take the information and incorporate it into your specific training plan.
I will preface this article with a note that these are simply my ideas. Some of them have been widely criticized in forums. I aim to address these concerns but in the end, you have to do what you think works for YOU. And, I would also recommend that you experiment in your training to determine what works for you. With that, here is how I prescribe long runs in the marathon phase. The results have been consistent and positive. You can hear from some McMillan Running athletes by clicking here.
Two Types of Marathon Long Runs You Should Use
With long runs during a marathon program, you are trying to accomplish two distinct purposes. On the one hand, you are trying to maximize your ability to burn fat and spare your limited muscle carbohydrate (glycogen) stores as well as improving your leg strength and resistance to fatigue (both physical fatigue and mental fatigue). You are also trying to teach your body to better handle lowered blood glucose levels. On the other hand, you are trying to become more economical at your marathon race pace (learning to burn less fuel for a given pace) along with testing out your race equipment and nutritional plan. You also want to give the mind a taste of the focus and determination that will be required in the latter stages of the marathon itself.
Therefore, when I design a marathon training program, I include two distinctly different types of long runs. You're probably familiar with the first type of long run - the long, steady run. In this run, you simply go out for a steady, easy run and stay out for a long time. The pace isn't fast and time on your feet is the most important goal, not speed. The second type of long run, however, is new to many runners. In this long run, you start at your normal run pace but you try to average your goal marathon pace for the last 30 to 60 minutes of the run. In most programs, I simply alternate the two types of long runs - one weekend, long, steady distance and the next, a fast finish long run.
I'll now go through each type of long run in detail so you know exactly how to run each. I will warn you that if you don't execute the long run correctly, you screw up the program, so listen up.
Long, Steady Distance
The key aims of the long, steady distance long run are to increase your ability to burn fat, store more glycogen and to challenge the body and mind to continue running even when fatigued. From physiology, we know that the body uses fats and carbohydrates while running - the portion of each is determined by the pace. Run fast and the reliance shifts to more carbohydrates, less fats. Run slowly and the muscles rely more on fat and less on carbohydrate. Therefore, it is very important that in this type of long run - the long, steady long run, you don't run fast. You'll rely more on fats at an easy pace, possibly improving your ability to burn fat. When I say steady or easy or even slowly, I mean a conversational pace. Use my calculator and stay in the "long run" training pace range.
Another aspect of the long, slow run is duration. While running slowly increases fat burning for fuel, another way to really increase fat burning is to run when the carbohydrate stores are lowered. When the carbohydrate stores (muscle glycogen) are lowered, fat burning really goes up since there is little carbohydrate available. We know that the carbohydrate stores are lowered after 90 to 120 minutes of running so you want to do 30-60 minutes of running "after" this to maximize fat burning and to help stimulate the body to store more muscle glycogen for future runs (and races). When running (and racing) for this long, the blood glucose level also lowers. Ingesting carbohydrates (either through a sports drink or energy gels) before and during the run, maintains your blood glucose level. However, as you see below, we may also want to challenge the body to run with a lowered blood glucose level and to adapt to be better at handling a lowered blood glucose level. Therefore, the long, steady runs must last at least two hours and the longer the better and you may want to try to slowly reduce your carbohydrate ingestion before and during this type of long run. Except for a few exceptions, you should try to gradually increase your long run above two hours and I find that long, steady runs of two and a half to three and a half hours are ideal for most competitive marathoners.
Running for this long also helps us accomplish two of the other goals for this type of long run. First, with these runs your legs will get very tired but will become stronger and better able to tolerate running for such long periods. Second, you will experience fatigue and have to be mentally strong to simply keep going, knowing that you are going to continue to feel tired. However, it's important to remember that feeling tired is what training is about. You receive many benefits in marathon training only after you're tired. So the goal is to run beyond to the point of being tired so that the body is stimulated to grow stronger and more resistance to tiredness.
Finally, (and this is optional) a great way to ensure that you will deplete your carbohydrate stores on these long, steady runs is to not eat any carbohydrates immediately before or during the run. Any carbohydrates ingested will be used by the body for fuel, and we don't want this. We want to deny the body carbohydrates in these runs so that the muscles will become better at sparing the carbohydrate stores, more efficient at burning fat and used to running with lowered blood glucose levels. Now, many people think I'm crazy when I say this, but it works. It takes time to get adjusted to it if you have always been carbing up before and during your long runs, but with time and practice you can do it. I will note, however, that it is important to drink water and electrolytes throughout these runs so that you don't get dehydrated. I also recommend carrying an energy gel with you just in case you run into trouble (like taking a wrong turn, having to run longer than expected and getting a little woozy).Two words of wisdom here. First, I don't recommend withholding carbohydrates for runs lasting longer than three and a half hours. And second, withholding carbohydrates is the "icing on the cake" for the long, steady run. The "cake" is the fact that you are running for over two hours. If you're sent into hypoglycemia by the thought of having no carbohydrates on a long run then by all means, ingest them. You'll still be stressing the body to adapt to these longer runs.
I cannot stress enough that if you want to adopt this long run strategy that you very gradually wean yourself off of carbohydrates. Your body is likely used to it so I recommend that you continue with your same breakfast and gradually begin to space apart your intake of carbohydrates during the run. For example, if you take an energy gel every 45 minutes, begin to take them every 50 minutes. On the following long run, extend this to 55 minutes. See how your body responds. Then, gradually begin to reduce the amount of breakfast you have before the long run. Over the course of several weeks and months, you will learn that your body has plenty of energy stored in it for long runs and marathons. You just have to retrain it to access these energy stores and not depend on external sources. My experience has been that in most athletes (there are exceptions), the body and mind can be trained to work more efficiently with fuel use in training so that when more fuel is available during the race, you feel like a million bucks!
Another note: I recommend that you do these long, steady runs on a soft, uneven surface like dirt trails. This helps avoid injuries, challenges the accessory muscles and is usually a more enjoyable way to run easily. Take someone along with you as well.
I run my long, slow runs first thing in the morning and have nothing to eat before the run. I tuck a Clif Shot into my pocket on my shorts and hit the trails. I'll drink water with electrolytes during the run during hotter months but no carbohydrates. I get my 120-180 minutes of running in, then begin the reloading process described in the nutrition article on this website.
Fast Finish Long Run
The second type of long run is completely different than the long, steady run. The fast finish becomes the focus of this run. You start the workout at your normal easy run pace, increase it slightly in the middle of the run then try to average your goal marathon pace for the last 30 to 90 minutes of the run. I say 'average' because you will gradually increase to marathon pace but one thing that most people miss is the fast finish. I learned this from Gabriele Rosa (arguably the world's greatest marathon coach). In his program, the last 10 to 30 minutes of the fast finish long runs are like a race. You run as hard as you can and sprint at the finish. It is grueling but very race-specific training. After a few of them, you will see just how effective these are at producing marathoners who can outlast their competitors! Physiologically, you train the body to work more efficiently at marathon pace and mentally, you undergo the extreme fatigue that marathon racers inevitably face during the final few miles.
So, a generic long run for someone who's goal marathon pace is 7:00 per mile might be that the first 12 miles of a long run will be at 7:30 to 8:00 per mile, then the pace over the last 6 miles will average 7:00 per mile with the last couple of miles at 6:15 to 6:30 pace and the last 400 meters very fast. Believe me, this is a tough run so you will need to get mentally and physically prepared.
The fast finish long run provides an opportunity to practice your marathon routine. Have the same dinner the night before as you plan to have the night before your race. Get hydrated like before the race. Wake up like it's race day. Do exactly what you plan to do on race day even to the extent of wearing your race gear - shorts, singlet, socks, racing shoes. This is a true "test run" for the marathon. I also recommend that you have someone help you with this workout. Have someone on a bike with you so that you can drink at the same intervals that you will in the race. And, unlike in the long, slow run, do this run (or at minimum the fast part) on the asphalt - just like the race. Also unlike the long, slow run, you want to eat carbs before and during this run. P lease note that I just said I DO recommend carbohydrates before and during the fast finish long runs. This point has been overlooked by many runners. In fact, you want to mimic the exact nutrition plan that you will do during the marathon. It's likely that you'll have sports drinks every two miles. You may also be carrying energy with you so practice your plan. You'll be amazed at what you will learn about your planned pre-marathon routine - the things that work and the things that don't. When marathon day arrives, you'll be cool and calm because the routine will be second nature to you.
Our general rule when I coached the Discovery USA program was that if you could finish a 14- to 22-mile fast finish long run with the last 8-12 miles at your goal marathon pace and the last 2-3 miles at 10K race pace, then you would have no problem accomplishing your goal in the marathon. For the first fast finish long run, the initial few miles would be about a minute and a half slower than marathon race pace and only the last 5-10K would be fast. But, by the time the last fast finish long run would come around, the initial few miles would be only 30 seconds slower than marathon race pace and the last 15-20K would average goal marathon pace. You can follow this guideline as you implement these workouts into your training.
How to Implement
While I recommend a two-hour long, steady run virtually year round for most runners, you should not start the fast finish long runs until 8-10 weeks before the marathon. Too many of these workouts and you will peak too soon and be flat by marathon day. And, you only need 3-5 of these long runs before the marathon. So, I've found it convenient to simply alternate a long, steady run with a fast finish long run during marathon training. This will put you in good stead for the marathon and keep you from doing too many long, hard runs which can burn you out and make you peak too early. The fast finish long run has to be respected and if taken to extreme will not help but will hurt your marathon. You need to buy into the two types of long runs and do them correctly. Running too fast on the long, steady runs hurts you for the next week's fast finish long run. Trust me, marathon training is hard enough. Be patient and let these workouts work for you.
To sum up, the marathon long run doesn't have to be a mystery. Just alternate a weekly 2-3 hour long, steady run with a fast finish long run during the 8-10 weeks before your marathon and you will be amazed at how your body adapts. In the long, steady runs, start at the slow end of your long run pace and run for two to two and a half hours. On the next one, increase the duration by 15 to 30 minutes until 3-4 weeks before the marathon, you are running for two and a half to three and a half hours. (NOTE: I like the longest long run to be no more than 30-45 minutes longer than you plan to race.)
In the fast finish long run, start by running just the last three to five miles fast and on each successive fast finish long run, increase the distance of the fast part so that 3-4 weeks before your marathon, you run a 20-22 miler with the last 9-12 miles averaging marathon race pace. (NOTE: I find that jumping into a half-marathon as the last part of your final few fast finish long runs is a great way to get these runs in with the support you will have in the marathon itself.)
If you're planning your marathon training, I recommend incorporating these two long runs into your program. Good luck!
Overtraining
I had found this article I'd written a couple years ago. Thought I'd put it up on my blog. The best way to watch for overtraining is to check your heart rate every morning as soon as you wake up. See how many beats per minute it is. If it raises more than 5 beats per minute than your usual resting heart rate you need to rest. Take the day from training or simply don't go as hard for a couple of days. Always check your HR as soon as you wake. If you get up & walk around for awhile before you check it it wont be your true resting heart rate.
Overtraining
Overtraining is a danger for any motivated triathlete. In attempting to improve your performance, you progressively increase the volume and intensity of your training. At some point you hit your individual training maximal ability. When you exceed your bodies exercise threshold, positive gains stop and losses in your performance and health occurs.
Individual training thresholds vary greatly among athletes. Training above your body’s threshold level can cause a feeling of exhaustion known as “overtraining”. Although each athlete has a training threshold, this exercise limit can change. Overtime and with proper training, your body will gain the ability to handle higher intensity and duration levels. But if you apply too severe a stressor for too long overtraining occurs. It behooves you to be aware of its signs, so that you can make the adjustments before a crisis occurs: poor race performance. Did I just hear you gasp? Yes, poor race performance is one of the many effects of overtraining. Let’s go over some of the signs of overtraining so that you can take the proper steps to avoid this nasty problem.
1. Lack of motivation: if you start to feel unmotivated, start to dread your upcoming workout, or can’t exercise at a level you previously could. These are some of the first recognizable signs.
2. Irritability: In the beginning of overtraining things that usually wouldn’t bother at all annoy you. If you continue to overtrain your attitude will get worse. A spouse can be a great asset to your training. They can often times be the first to recognize -be the brunt of- overtraining. Allow them to tell you if they think they see the signs of overtraining. Make a conscious effort not to get upset with them when they do this. That could lead to them resenting your training.
3. Feeling tired or sleepy: You feel tired and sluggish throughout the day, even after a good nights sleep. This is an early sign.
4. Rise in resting heart rate: Also an early indicator. A 4+ beat rise in your normal morning heart rate means your body is tired and is trying to deliver more oxygen and fuel to the overly fatigued parts of your body.
5. Steady deteriation of your performance: You get slower despite, and due to hard training.
6. Inability to sleep: If you are unable to get to sleep and/or sleep restlessly, this should be a big red warning flag..
7. Abrupt weight loss: A 5% loss of body weight can mean two things. Chronic dehydration, or a lack of glycogen during hard training in which can case the body may begin to devour muscle tissue for fuel.
8. Persistent soreness: Constant or persistent soreness in your joints or muscles can mean your body isn’t healing properly from your workouts due to lack of sleep, lack of recovery time, increased levels of stress, or overtraining.
9. Increased incident of illness: A weak body can’t fight off viruses and illness well.
10. Depression: The university of Michigan found that If they stressed the heck out of a rat, the rat will have high levels of stress hormones. The rat’s serotonin receptors become “messed up”. The brain of a highly stressed rat looks very much the same as a highly depressed rat. Depression can be a serious side effect of overtraining. Not only can overtraining affect your health, the depression caused by this can affect your life. You might to start eating unhealthy, looking to food for comfort. You can start having problems with relationships, perform poorly at work, there can be sexual side affects to depression as well -oh, did I find the one thing that means more to you than triathlon?
11. Diarria or constipation: chronic fatigue can disrupt your digestive system.
12. Your nail and hair slow or stop growing: At this point your body is overtrained and stressed that your body is having to pull all available energy, nutrients and oxygen from other parts of your body to simply keep your organs working correctly. If you get to this point you are risking more than loss of performance or injury. Your health is now at risk. Your body will make you stop exercising one way or another very soon. Severe overtraining in lab rats causes death! In some cases overtraining syndrome is caused by not consuming enough calories compared to calories used. If you have a deficit for a prolonged period in combination with hard training, your body’s hormonal system undergoes modifications that make your body easily susceptible to overtraining syndrome. If you neglect giving your body enough calories while training for prolonged periods of time your body can get metabolic imbalance. Even if your weight stays the same or only slightly decreases because your body attempts to adjust to fewer calories. In layman’s terms you are forcing your body’s metabolism to slow down. Which may cause severe weight gain issues later on in your life.
Written by Cody Hanson
Overtraining
Overtraining is a danger for any motivated triathlete. In attempting to improve your performance, you progressively increase the volume and intensity of your training. At some point you hit your individual training maximal ability. When you exceed your bodies exercise threshold, positive gains stop and losses in your performance and health occurs.
Individual training thresholds vary greatly among athletes. Training above your body’s threshold level can cause a feeling of exhaustion known as “overtraining”. Although each athlete has a training threshold, this exercise limit can change. Overtime and with proper training, your body will gain the ability to handle higher intensity and duration levels. But if you apply too severe a stressor for too long overtraining occurs. It behooves you to be aware of its signs, so that you can make the adjustments before a crisis occurs: poor race performance. Did I just hear you gasp? Yes, poor race performance is one of the many effects of overtraining. Let’s go over some of the signs of overtraining so that you can take the proper steps to avoid this nasty problem.
1. Lack of motivation: if you start to feel unmotivated, start to dread your upcoming workout, or can’t exercise at a level you previously could. These are some of the first recognizable signs.
2. Irritability: In the beginning of overtraining things that usually wouldn’t bother at all annoy you. If you continue to overtrain your attitude will get worse. A spouse can be a great asset to your training. They can often times be the first to recognize -be the brunt of- overtraining. Allow them to tell you if they think they see the signs of overtraining. Make a conscious effort not to get upset with them when they do this. That could lead to them resenting your training.
3. Feeling tired or sleepy: You feel tired and sluggish throughout the day, even after a good nights sleep. This is an early sign.
4. Rise in resting heart rate: Also an early indicator. A 4+ beat rise in your normal morning heart rate means your body is tired and is trying to deliver more oxygen and fuel to the overly fatigued parts of your body.
5. Steady deteriation of your performance: You get slower despite, and due to hard training.
6. Inability to sleep: If you are unable to get to sleep and/or sleep restlessly, this should be a big red warning flag..
7. Abrupt weight loss: A 5% loss of body weight can mean two things. Chronic dehydration, or a lack of glycogen during hard training in which can case the body may begin to devour muscle tissue for fuel.
8. Persistent soreness: Constant or persistent soreness in your joints or muscles can mean your body isn’t healing properly from your workouts due to lack of sleep, lack of recovery time, increased levels of stress, or overtraining.
9. Increased incident of illness: A weak body can’t fight off viruses and illness well.
10. Depression: The university of Michigan found that If they stressed the heck out of a rat, the rat will have high levels of stress hormones. The rat’s serotonin receptors become “messed up”. The brain of a highly stressed rat looks very much the same as a highly depressed rat. Depression can be a serious side effect of overtraining. Not only can overtraining affect your health, the depression caused by this can affect your life. You might to start eating unhealthy, looking to food for comfort. You can start having problems with relationships, perform poorly at work, there can be sexual side affects to depression as well -oh, did I find the one thing that means more to you than triathlon?
11. Diarria or constipation: chronic fatigue can disrupt your digestive system.
12. Your nail and hair slow or stop growing: At this point your body is overtrained and stressed that your body is having to pull all available energy, nutrients and oxygen from other parts of your body to simply keep your organs working correctly. If you get to this point you are risking more than loss of performance or injury. Your health is now at risk. Your body will make you stop exercising one way or another very soon. Severe overtraining in lab rats causes death! In some cases overtraining syndrome is caused by not consuming enough calories compared to calories used. If you have a deficit for a prolonged period in combination with hard training, your body’s hormonal system undergoes modifications that make your body easily susceptible to overtraining syndrome. If you neglect giving your body enough calories while training for prolonged periods of time your body can get metabolic imbalance. Even if your weight stays the same or only slightly decreases because your body attempts to adjust to fewer calories. In layman’s terms you are forcing your body’s metabolism to slow down. Which may cause severe weight gain issues later on in your life.
Written by Cody Hanson
April 02, 2008
South West Challenge series stratedgy
My first year competing in the SW Challenge series was by far the easiest year to try to make top 3 in my division. Even though I was slower then & there were a couple of REALLY fast triathletes who were competing at that time & are no longer racing in the series I.E. Arnold Ciniceros. The reason that year was easier was because I was watching those 2 other athletes race/point totals on the SW series web sight, they had completed more races earlier in the season than me. I was able to click on the series results & see how many points they had for the series at anytime during the year. I knew exactly how many races I still needed to complete & how well in those races I had to do to place top 3.
This year is going to be VERY hard for me to place because I'm no longer racing as a Clyd. I'm racing in the 30-34 AG. Those 30-34's are silly fast. Plus I told my coach, Pete Alfino, that my ultimate goal for 2009 was to finish IMAZ before the cut off time. So I have agreed to him being in complete control of which races I will do. If a SW series race fits into my IronMan training plan than he'll let me do that race. But if it doesn't he tells me "No, you can't do it. Stay focused on the goal." I'm glad he is doing that with me because I tend to be a little compulsive. I'll end up doing a race on a day when I should of been doing a specific workout with a specific goal for my IM. But let me tell you, it's going to make qualifying TOP 3 for the series a NIGHTMARE! Almost all of the SW races my coach is allowing me to do are very early in the season. That will make it more difficult to take top 3 because as of right now I'm less than 2 lbs below 200. Later in the season I plan on being lighter, thus faster. & the other reason is that any other 30-34 AG's will just need to look at the series points throughout the year to see how many races & what placing they will need to pass me just like I did with Arnold Ciniceros in 2006. Very easy to pass up someone like me when I'll be one of the slower competitors in my division & they have the edge of knowing exactly how many points I have for the series early in the season. Add in the fact that my last race of the SW series will be in July. That'll give the other athletes 4 months to match or surpass me.
What that means is that I'm just going to have to do as well as possible in the next 3 months of SW series racing & for the first time if I take top 3 will be based solely on quality of my racing rather than quantity of races It'll be one heck of a challenge, but one I'm looking forward to. By July or Aug I'll know if I did indeed have enough quality races to have placed top 3. I'll keep you updated. Wish me luck. Send prayers for speed & slimness my way if you're willing.
Thanks for tuning in.
This year is going to be VERY hard for me to place because I'm no longer racing as a Clyd. I'm racing in the 30-34 AG. Those 30-34's are silly fast. Plus I told my coach, Pete Alfino, that my ultimate goal for 2009 was to finish IMAZ before the cut off time. So I have agreed to him being in complete control of which races I will do. If a SW series race fits into my IronMan training plan than he'll let me do that race. But if it doesn't he tells me "No, you can't do it. Stay focused on the goal." I'm glad he is doing that with me because I tend to be a little compulsive. I'll end up doing a race on a day when I should of been doing a specific workout with a specific goal for my IM. But let me tell you, it's going to make qualifying TOP 3 for the series a NIGHTMARE! Almost all of the SW races my coach is allowing me to do are very early in the season. That will make it more difficult to take top 3 because as of right now I'm less than 2 lbs below 200. Later in the season I plan on being lighter, thus faster. & the other reason is that any other 30-34 AG's will just need to look at the series points throughout the year to see how many races & what placing they will need to pass me just like I did with Arnold Ciniceros in 2006. Very easy to pass up someone like me when I'll be one of the slower competitors in my division & they have the edge of knowing exactly how many points I have for the series early in the season. Add in the fact that my last race of the SW series will be in July. That'll give the other athletes 4 months to match or surpass me.
What that means is that I'm just going to have to do as well as possible in the next 3 months of SW series racing & for the first time if I take top 3 will be based solely on quality of my racing rather than quantity of races It'll be one heck of a challenge, but one I'm looking forward to. By July or Aug I'll know if I did indeed have enough quality races to have placed top 3. I'll keep you updated. Wish me luck. Send prayers for speed & slimness my way if you're willing.
Thanks for tuning in.
March 26, 2008
No longer a Clydesdale
I woke up and weighed in at 198.6 today. I am in utter shock. I weighed in 7 times this morning because I just couldn't believe it! The lowest I'd been before was 204. I am so excited. I'm even more shocked because I've had quite a few "bad days". That's what I call the days where I can't control my eating. A bad day. Well you know what? Today's not a bad day. Today's a GREAT day. I'm officially no longer a Clydesdale!
You know you are obsessed when.......
This is a funny post on Slowtwitch. I thought it was funny at first, & then I
realized all but 3 fit me to a tee. #48 because I never went to collage, #47
Because I make inmates mow mine (leaves more time to train). & 27 because there
isn't enough time in the day to shave myself from the ankles up. God gave me a
365 day a year furr coat.
50. You are over 30 and there is still someone in your life that you refer to as
“coach”.
49. Your last bike cost more than your first car.
48. You have peed outdoors more times in the last year than you did in your
first year of university.
47. You think of mowing the lawn as a form of cross-training.
46. You’ve worn a heart-rate monitor to bed.
45. And it wasn’t when you were sleeping.
44. You refer to the front hall of your house as the “transition area”.
43. When you get home from a training session at the pool, the newspaper is just
being delivered to your house.
42. You have changed more flat tires this year than light bulbs.
41. The most frequently used software program on your computer is the one that keeps track of your
workouts.
40. You have no idea why they call Cal Ripken Jr. “Iron Man” when, after all, he
was a baseball player.
39. The first three items on your grocery list are Gatorade, power bars, and
gels.
38. When you floss at night, it’s to get the bugs out of your teeth.
37. Your legs move in a cycling motion while you are asleep.
36. When you see a drop of blood, your first reaction is that you spilled some
red Gatorade.
35. You know how far you biked and ran last year, to one-tenth of a kilometre.
34. You think the ultimate form of wallpaper is about 64 racing bibs.
33. A 19-year old kid who works in a bicycle shop know more about you than your
next-door neighbour.
32. Your children are more likely to recognize you if you put your bicycle
helmet.
31. You have a vanity licence plate with the work “Kona” in it.
30. About half the shirts you own have at least a dozen logos on the back of
them.
29. You don’t find the word “fartlek” in the least bit amusing.
28. When you refer to your “partner”, you mean neither your spouse nor the
co-owner of your business but the person you run or bike with three times a
week.
27. You shave your legs more often than your wife.
26. The closest you came to punching somebody was when they disagreed with your
position on whether wearing a wetsuit amounts to cheating.
25. It doesn’t feel right that you can’t “clip “ in and out of the pedals in
your car.
24. There is a group of people in your life about whom you are more likely to
know how fast they can swim 100 metres than their surnames or occupations.
23. Some of the shorts you wear today are tighter than the ones you wore in high
school.
22. You are frustrated with the latest Garmin Forerunner because its live
readings have a margin of error of approximately three per cent.
21. There’s a separate load of laundry every week that is just your workout
clothes.
20. One of your goals this year is to be faster at getting out of your wetsuit.
19. You failed high school chemistry but you could teach a course on lactic
acid.
18. All you want for Christmas is something called a carbon crank set.
17. You wore a digital watch to your wedding.
16. You have to have completely separate meals from your spouse because he or
she is on a low-carb diet.
15. Your bicycle is in your living room.
14. You have stocked up on a brand of cereal because it has a coupon that will
save you money on your next two pairs of running shoes.
13. In order to establish a new personal best, you considered peeing without
getting off your bike.
12. One of your proudest moments is when you lost a toenail.
11. When a car follows too closely behind you, you accuse the driver of
“drafting”.
10. When you went for a job interview, you wrote your social insurance number on
your arm in black marker.
9. Your spouse cried during Terms of Endearment; you cried during the television
coverage of the Hawaii Ironman.
8. You are comfortable discussing the sensitivity of your nipples with other guys.
7. Your spouse is looking forward to the day when you will slow down and just
run marathons.
6. You have paused in front of the mirror in your wetsuit and thought, “Hey, I
look like Spiderman.”
5. You see no issue with talking about treatments for chafing or saddle rash at
the dinner table.
4. You recently asked your spouse out for dinner by asking if he or she wanted
to “fuel up” together.
3. For you, “bonking” no longer has a sexual connotation.
2. The magazine secretly tucked under your mattress has pictures of really
expensive bicycles in it.
And the No. 1 sign you’re obsessed:
1. Most of this list doesn’t seem like a joke to you.
realized all but 3 fit me to a tee. #48 because I never went to collage, #47
Because I make inmates mow mine (leaves more time to train). & 27 because there
isn't enough time in the day to shave myself from the ankles up. God gave me a
365 day a year furr coat.
50. You are over 30 and there is still someone in your life that you refer to as
“coach”.
49. Your last bike cost more than your first car.
48. You have peed outdoors more times in the last year than you did in your
first year of university.
47. You think of mowing the lawn as a form of cross-training.
46. You’ve worn a heart-rate monitor to bed.
45. And it wasn’t when you were sleeping.
44. You refer to the front hall of your house as the “transition area”.
43. When you get home from a training session at the pool, the newspaper is just
being delivered to your house.
42. You have changed more flat tires this year than light bulbs.
41. The most frequently used software program on your computer is the one that keeps track of your
workouts.
40. You have no idea why they call Cal Ripken Jr. “Iron Man” when, after all, he
was a baseball player.
39. The first three items on your grocery list are Gatorade, power bars, and
gels.
38. When you floss at night, it’s to get the bugs out of your teeth.
37. Your legs move in a cycling motion while you are asleep.
36. When you see a drop of blood, your first reaction is that you spilled some
red Gatorade.
35. You know how far you biked and ran last year, to one-tenth of a kilometre.
34. You think the ultimate form of wallpaper is about 64 racing bibs.
33. A 19-year old kid who works in a bicycle shop know more about you than your
next-door neighbour.
32. Your children are more likely to recognize you if you put your bicycle
helmet.
31. You have a vanity licence plate with the work “Kona” in it.
30. About half the shirts you own have at least a dozen logos on the back of
them.
29. You don’t find the word “fartlek” in the least bit amusing.
28. When you refer to your “partner”, you mean neither your spouse nor the
co-owner of your business but the person you run or bike with three times a
week.
27. You shave your legs more often than your wife.
26. The closest you came to punching somebody was when they disagreed with your
position on whether wearing a wetsuit amounts to cheating.
25. It doesn’t feel right that you can’t “clip “ in and out of the pedals in
your car.
24. There is a group of people in your life about whom you are more likely to
know how fast they can swim 100 metres than their surnames or occupations.
23. Some of the shorts you wear today are tighter than the ones you wore in high
school.
22. You are frustrated with the latest Garmin Forerunner because its live
readings have a margin of error of approximately three per cent.
21. There’s a separate load of laundry every week that is just your workout
clothes.
20. One of your goals this year is to be faster at getting out of your wetsuit.
19. You failed high school chemistry but you could teach a course on lactic
acid.
18. All you want for Christmas is something called a carbon crank set.
17. You wore a digital watch to your wedding.
16. You have to have completely separate meals from your spouse because he or
she is on a low-carb diet.
15. Your bicycle is in your living room.
14. You have stocked up on a brand of cereal because it has a coupon that will
save you money on your next two pairs of running shoes.
13. In order to establish a new personal best, you considered peeing without
getting off your bike.
12. One of your proudest moments is when you lost a toenail.
11. When a car follows too closely behind you, you accuse the driver of
“drafting”.
10. When you went for a job interview, you wrote your social insurance number on
your arm in black marker.
9. Your spouse cried during Terms of Endearment; you cried during the television
coverage of the Hawaii Ironman.
8. You are comfortable discussing the sensitivity of your nipples with other guys.
7. Your spouse is looking forward to the day when you will slow down and just
run marathons.
6. You have paused in front of the mirror in your wetsuit and thought, “Hey, I
look like Spiderman.”
5. You see no issue with talking about treatments for chafing or saddle rash at
the dinner table.
4. You recently asked your spouse out for dinner by asking if he or she wanted
to “fuel up” together.
3. For you, “bonking” no longer has a sexual connotation.
2. The magazine secretly tucked under your mattress has pictures of really
expensive bicycles in it.
And the No. 1 sign you’re obsessed:
1. Most of this list doesn’t seem like a joke to you.
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