Tale of the Tape, Week Five

Week five, Monday morning weigh-in

Starting Weight: 208 lbs

Last Week’s Weight: 201.3 lbs

Current Weight: 205 lbs

Weekly Difference: +3.7 lbs

Total Lost: 3 lbs

So… New Orleans was completely awesome and I would not change a thing about the weekend.  That being said, I am up three pounds from last week.  I dreaded the thought of typing this all day.  Did I really gain over three and half pounds last week?  I’m not sure about that; however, the scale doesn’t lie. 

A friend of mine and I were talking about body types this weekend.  He’s in great shape.  He’s tall and athletic.  He’s even got the obliques that run down the front inside of your pelvic bones. It’s ridiculous. If you’re up on your physiology, his body type would probably be considered an ectomorph.  Ectomorphs can burn calories just by thinking about eating food (I made that up, but I think its true).  My body on the other hand, hates me.  It literally wants to gain weight.  Maybe it’s preparing me for a nuclear winter or possibly for a plane crash in the Alps. Unfortunately, all those ectomorphs would try to cook my ass up, once the packaged peanuts ran out.

I know the deal.  Diet, exercise, genetics, and age - they all play a factor.  It doesn’t mean I have to like it.  Every day is a new day.  Every week is a new week.  I’ve learned way more from my failures than I ever learned from my successes.  So, here’s to a new week. Cheers! < raising glass of water  >  ;)

This week’s stats:

Beer: Check (New Orleans)

Scotch: Check (New Orleans)

Wine: Check (New Orleans)

Champagne: Check (New Orleans)

Champagne taste test results: 1st $20 bottle, 2nd $12 bottle, 3rd $55 bottle (price isn’t everything!)

Unexpected great food of the weekend: North Star Caviar, with nitrogen chilled Grey Goose

Worst food producing horrible face: Yellow mustard (also see FB profile pic)

Best food I don’t remember eating: Wagyu beef

Best breakfast: Sliders and donuts (District Donuts Sliders Brew, New Orleans) – Un-freaking-believable!

OK… I think I’ve gotten all my partying out of me for a while.  The holidays are traditionally tough on the diet, but I still have a lot of work to do.  Increase the activity and decrease the intake… too easy, right?!?

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and safe travels.

Week four complete; Rough Scheduling

This past week was pretty challenging when it came to my training schedule.  Between craziness at work and an awesome trip to New Orleans, I did not get all of my training sessions in.  Luckily it was a recovery week and I don’t feel like I missed too much.  I was short one swim, one bike, and one run.  I did get a long run in, which I definitely need the most, but I hate that I missed the long ride.  I’m going to make it up tomorrow, which is normally my rest day.  Considering I just took three rest days in New Orleans, I don’t think my body will hate me too much. 

Because I knew my schedule would be crazy I tried to frontload some workouts early in the week and even double up on them.  I also moved my long run to Wednesday, because I was fairly certain I would be in no condition to run on Sunday, after three night in New Orleans.  I was correct.

 

Monday

Rest Day

Tuesday

Swim: 300m warm up, 8x50m drill, 3x125m @ 20sec, 2x175m @ 30sec, 3x125m @ 20sec,     
     8x50m drill, 200m cool down
Run: 0:30 HR Zone 2

Added: Bike: 0:30 HR Zone 2 (Quick Change to run)

Added: Run: 0:15 HR Zone 2

Moved swim Wednesday due to conflict with work.

Wednesday

Bike: 0:30 HR Zone 2 (Quick Change to run)

Run: 0:15 HR Zone 2
Swim: 30minutes of freestyle

Added: Bike: 0:30 HR Zone 1 (100+ RPM)  

Had to do a short swim due to work.

Thursday

Swim: 300m warm up, 8x50m drills, 16x25m @10sec, 1x400m @60sec, 16x25m @10sec, 8x50m drills, 200m cool down
Bike: 0:30 HR Zone 1 (100+ RPM) 

Added: Run 1:00 HR Zone 1-2

Friday

Run: 0:45 HR Zone 2

New Orleans

Saturday

Bike: 1:30 HR Zone 2

New Orleans

Sunday

Run: 1:00 HR Zone 1-2

New Orleans

 

Total Hrs: 7:00

S: 2:00
B: 2:30
R: 2:30

This week is Thanksgiving weekend, and yet again, another challenging week of scheduling for me. I’ll be traveling to Texas on Wednesday to be with the family through the holiday weekend.  I’ll probably have to take my bike with me and possibly find a place to swim. I am doing a 10k Turkey Trot on Thursday, which I’m excited about.  Hopefully I can cram in all my sessions this week.  I think it’s doable. 

Hope everyone has a great week!

Tale of the Tape: Week Four

Monday morning weigh-in

Starting Weight: 208 lbs

Last Week’s Weight: 205 lbs

Current Weight: 201.3 lbs

Weekly Difference: -3.7 lbs

Total Lost: 6.7 lbs

Ok... three weeks since my first weigh in and I’m just over six and half pounds down.  Not spectacular, but not bad.  Pretty much what I’d expect, since I’m not being uber critical about my diet. I’d say I’m well on my way to 178lbs by race week.  I don’t feel much lighter, or don’t think I look it, but I’ll take the stats as a win.  I just have to remind myself it’s a long race, not a sprint.  Also, every pound I lose, makes for an easier run and better ride.  The down side, I don’t float as well in the pool. 

Next weekend I’ll be in New Orleans and the following is Thanksgiving… oh, crap!  Discipline don’t fail me now!  I’m going to call New Orleans a wash and Thanksgiving... I’m not sure.  We’ll have to see.  I do love Thanksgiving.  Having parents that are divorced equals multiple meals, which is actually one of the few benefits of divorce.  My poor brother will be having about four Thanksgiving meals... did I say "poor" brother.  Lucky, I'd say! Anyways, I'll try to drop at least one pound per week, for the next two weeks. That'll put me under 200 lbs post Turkey Day. I'd say that's pretty good for the first round of holidays.  That'll give me a good three weeks of hardcore training and diet before Christmas hits, and then the awesomeness of the second round of holidays occurs.

This week’s stats:

Beer: None

Scotch: None

Wine: None

Favorite indulgent: Two handfuls of dark chocolate chips

Guilty pleasure, I hated myself for eating every bite: 1 x Donut (damn work mates!)

Best health meal: Stuffed baked chicken, with steamed broccoli and sweet potato slices

Second best meal: Turkey meatballs, with wheat pasta and marinara (Yummy!)

Breakfast I haven’t gotten tired of yet: Greek yogurt

I hope everyone has a great week.  I’m excited about New Orleans and seeing my buddy Brock.  I’m sure I’ll come back with plenty of beads, especially since I’m still rocking a “C” cup!

Week Three Complete: The ups and downs.

Training week three… done.  I didn’t find this week’s training any more difficult than the previous.  The mileage increase is gradual enough that it doesn’t feel overly taxing. That being said, I did have my moments this week.

If you read Friday’s blog, you know how bad that was, but this week wasn’t all figurative blows to the nether-regions.  This week I swam 2500m freestyle, straight, with no brakes. I’m pretty sure that’s the farthest I’ve ever swam.  I did swim for four hours straight once, in order to motivate a youth swim team who was trying to break some kind of swimming relay record. However, that wasn’t freestyle and I was a young, studly lifeguard at the time.  I have no idea how far I swam, but I do know that afterward, I had the best Dr. Pepper and Snickers bar that I’ve ever had in my life. Mmmm, I loved being a lifeguard.  Anyways, it was a good training swim and I felt pretty good afterward.

As far as my running goes, I don’t really feel like it’s coming along that well.  I’m not exactly sure what to expect though.  This is the base phase of the training; so, it’s just time to get use to the mileage.  I feel like I’m just trudging along though.  I really don’t enjoy it that much, at least not like I use to, years ago.  I’m counting on the running getting easier as I continue to lose weight; especially, if I don’t have to carry all this “tons-of-fun” around with me. 

I did buy some yoga videos.  They’re specific to triathletes.  I did a couple of sessions this week and it felt pretty good.  I need to establish more of a routine and incorporate them into my training schedule.  The videos are called:

Spinervals Flexible Warrior 1.0: Athletic Yoga for Triathletes
Spinervals Flexible Warrior 2.0: Cross Training for Multi Sports
Spinervals Flexible Warrior 3.0: Flexibility for Swim, Bike, Run

In retrospect, they were a bit pricey and I’m not a fan of the names (flexible warrior… give me a break), but they seem to be pretty good so far.  I bought all three volumes and have done the flexibility routine on the first disk.  I might have gone overboard with buying all three, but I figured I would get bored quickly, so I thought variety would be nice.  I’ll let you know if they just repeat themselves. Namaste Bitches!

Monday

Rest Day

Tuesday

Swim: 2500m
Run: 0:40 HR Zone 2

Moved swim Wednesday due to conflict with work.

Wednesday
Swim: 2500m
Bike: 0:30 HR Zone 2 (Quick Change to run)
Run: 0:15 HR Zone 2

Awesome swim… a little boring, but got it done.

Thursday

Swim: 300m warm up, 8x50m drill, 12x100 @ 20sec, 8x50m drill, 200m cool down
Bike: 0:45 HR Zone 1 (100+ RPM)   +0:15

Moved swim to Friday for recover from Wednesday’s awesomeness.

I rode an hour on accident; I forgot how far I had to ride.  Oh well!

Friday

Swim: 300m warm up, 8x50m drill, 12x100 @ 20sec, 8x50m drill, 200m cool down
Run: 1:00 HR Zone 2

Crappy run day.

Saturday

Bike: 1:45 HR Zone 2

Sunday

Run: 1:00 HR Zone 1-2

Total Hrs: 8:00

S: 2:00
B: 3:00
R: 3:00

Next week is recovery week; so, the mileage is a little less.  It’s a good thing too. We’re going to New Orleans on Thursday and will be there all weekend, trying to stay out of trouble.  Not a whole lot of training will be happening.  I’m going to try to get most of my training done before we leave, we’ll see. 

Thanksgiving is coming up soon!!!  I LOVE TURKEY DAY!   Cheers.

A mental punch to the groin

This afternoon I had a grueling run, including a mental punch to the groin.  I had to move my swim from Thursday to Friday, due to some work conflicts, but I didn’t think it would affect my run too much.  I’m not sure if it did or not, but today’s run was not good.  It was only an hour run, with the first half not being so bad; however, the second half was just horrible.  My back was killing me, it felt like I was running through one of those ball pits for kids (the ones that always smell like pee), and I was dragging along, feeling sorry for myself.  With about five minutes left, this Air Force weenie (no offense to my AF brothers and sisters), ran past me like I was standing still.  Now, I’ve been in enough races that I don’t normally care about that kind of stuff anymore.  I’ve been passed by old folks, young folks, big folks, little folks, boys, girls, you name it, and I’m sure they’ve all run by me at some point in my life; however, today was different.  How dare this dude run by me with such ease, while I sucked so badly?  Sadly to say, I converted all my pain and self-defeating attitude to a not so positive emotion, hate.  Then I spent the next five minutes focusing on two things:

1. Mentally trying to make the guy trip over himself. (it didn’t work)
2. Finish the run with some dignity and stop being such a pansy about it. (that did work).  

I finished the run, still felt like crap, but finished nonetheless.  I did do a 25 minute yoga session that focused on flexibility afterward and it actually made me feel a lot better, both physically and mentally. 

So, I guess I should thank that little guy for motivating me to finish up and thank God for not having the ability to move stuff around with my mind, like some crazy Jedi dude. I don’t think I’d be very nice.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Cheers!

Tale of the tape: Week three

Monday Morning Weigh-in

 

Starting Weight: 208

Last Week’s Weight: 205.7

Current Weight: 205

Weekly Difference: -.7

Total Lost: 3

This week wasn’t as productive as last, only a loss of .7 pounds.  But as many backpackers will attest, “ounces make pounds.”  I’m not overly concerned, though it is nice to see that scale display a little better progress.  I was about 204lbs late last week, so it’s pretty normal to fluctuate a pound or two on a daily basis.  I did enjoy half of a pretty awesome hamburger and fries last Friday night.  I had a major craving for some red meat… and fries… and beer; but, mostly red meat.  

Saturday was homemade pumpkin ravioli night, which was a pretty fun endeavor.  We’ve never used our pasta maker, so we gave it a run.  It’s actually fairly easy to make pasta, though it is a bit messy.  However, with a little Pinot Grigio and a beautiful wife, it’s a lot of fun.  So, by the end of the night, we had some aesthetically challenged, giant pumpkin raviolis and baked chicken, with a scallion cream sauce.  We definitely have some tweaking to do, but the trial and error is the fun part; especially, when there’s more wine to drink!

While I thought last week would have fewer temptations than the previous week, guess I was wrong.  I will need to buckle down a bit this week, because the following weekend I’ll be headed to New Orleans.  It will be my first trip there and knowing my gracious host, it will be filled with fine food and merriment… lots of merriment!  

This week's stats:

Beer: 2 x Abida Amber, 3x Sam Adams

Wine: 2 x Pinot Grigio, Sterling, Vintner’s Collection, 2012 (I would recommend if you like whites, good stuff)

Scotch: 1 x Ledaig, aged 10 years, “wonderfully peated” (To me “wonderfully peated” means, not so good. I’ll be sticking with the non-peated, like Glenfiddich 18yr or 21yr)

Champagne: 1 x Barefoot, extra dry (Not just for celebrations.  It’s kind of like eating breakfast for dinner… awesome!)

Water: Lots

Weeks without a soft drink: 3

Favorite meal: Abnormally large pumpkin raviolis and chicken

Biggest craving satisfied:  Hamburger

Replacement snack: Pistachios

Food we don’t normally have in the house that has got to go because I love them so much: Tortilla chips

Worst thing eaten this week:  Assorted alcoholic beverages.  (Alcohol is not only empty calories, but also suppresses the fat burning process.  A process which my body does not need help suppressing; old age does it well enough on its own!)

To make up for my transgression this past week and in preparation for Nawlins, I’ll be shooting for three pounds this week.  So it is written… so it is done!

Week Two Complete: So easy, a fat guy can do it.

Alright! Week two is complete.  I got all my workouts in, but I did have to cut both swim days a little short.  Not that the second set of swimming drills aren’t important, but if that’s all I’m short, it’s not too bad.  I’ll need to find a way to squeeze in an extra 10 minutes and then I should be good.  I felt pretty good throughout most workouts.  My long ride on Saturday started a bit slow, but got better after about 30 minutes in.  It took a bit of time to work out the fatigue from Friday's run.  All in all, it was a good week of training.

With two weeks down, I’m starting to feel it.  A friend of mine advised me to work in some mobility training throughout the week, or my body would hate me.  Being a guy who’s no stranger to triathlons, he was right.  My body is definitively reminding me that I’m 40 years old, I weigh over 200lbs, and that I have years 17 years of pounding to my body from the Army. That being said, I’m going to incorporate yoga, mobility exercises, and some additional stretching throughout the week.  This will obviously add additional training time per week, but I believe it will be worth it in the long run… no pun intended.  ;)

Monday

Rest Day

Tuesday

Swim: 300m warm up, 8x50m drills, 16x25m @10sec, 1x400m @60sec, 16x25m @10sec, 8x50m drills, 200m cool down
Run: 0:30 HR Zone 2

I had to cut out the second set of drills due to a work.

Wednesday
Bike: 0:30 HR Zone 2 (Quick Change to run)
Run: 0:15 HR Zone 2

Thursday

Swim: 300m warm up, 8x50m drill, 1x300m @ 40sec, 3x200m @ 30sec, 1x300m @ 30sec, 8x50m drill, 200m cool down
Bike: 0:45 HR Zone 1 (100+ RPM)

I had to cut out the second set of drills due to a work.

Friday
Run: 0:45 HR Zone 2

Saturday

Bike: 1:30 HR Zone 2

Sunday

Run: 1:00 HR Zone 1-2

Total Hrs: 7:00
S: 2:00
B: 2:30
R: 2:30

Week three... bring it on!!!

Mid-Week Update

So far it's been a pretty good week of diet and training.  I have found its been hard to get my entire swim work out complete in the time I have available.  I currently do not have the speed to complete the work out in the hour that the program prescribes.  It's not a big deal that I take longer than an hour, but I swim at lunch and sometimes I have meetings at 1pm that I can't miss.  When I'm short on time, I've been dropping the second set of drills, which equates to about 400m out of 2500m missed.  Unfortunately, the swim sessions only get longer.

This week began the first week of daylight savings, which means after work rides aren't going to be happen anymore.  Rides will probably be in the morning before work; however, it was 47 degrees this morning and breezy.  Now, that's not bad at all if you're running, but on a bicycle, traveling at 20+ mph... that's freaking chilly!  I'm a self-admitted "fair weather" rider.  I don't like to ride in the cold, rain, snow, dark, or any combination of those.  I guess it's time to man up; it's going to be a long winter.

The diet has been pretty good so far.  Fonda made a big batch of butternut squash soup that I've been destroying all week.  It's pretty health stuff, besides a little bit of cream, which we substituted with whole milk.  I am looking forward to a cheat meal this weekend. We're breaking out the pasta maker and making pumpkin ravioli, with cream sauce, and chicken.  We'll see if Wolfgang Puck knows anything about pumpkins.

Off topic... if ya'll are ever in Dallas, TX, go to the Five Sixty Restaurant, located in Reunion Tower (the big tower, with the giant ball, downtown). It is a Wolfgang Puck sushi/Asian inspired restaurant. The bar/lounge is pretty cool.... and the restaurant rotates 360 degrees (awesome!).  This place has great food and it's a cool place to hang out, even if you just want drinks. Check out the beautiful sunset and I'd recommend trying Pepino's Revenge: Patron Silver Tequila, lime juice, fresh basil, Japanese cucumber, and simple syrup.  It is basically a twist on a margarita, good stuff!

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants/fine-dining/3917

Have a great weekend.  Cheers!

Tale of the tape - Week two

Week Two Monday Morning Weigh-in

Starting Weight: 208lbs
Current Weight: 205.7lbs
Difference: -2.3lbs

Alright, not a bad starting week; just a hair over two pounds lost.  That's not too bad considering I didn't eat overly "clean" throughout the week.  I did have a few beers and ate more chips and salsa than I should have, but all in all, I'm pleased. 

It seems that I do pretty well with breakfast, lunch, and snacks.  It's the evenings where I fumble a bit.  One beer on Halloween night while handing out candy and three beers on Saturday night; held up in my office while the girls had bunko night downstairs.  I did have a few sweets, which were left over from bunko.  I'm not normally a sweets guy, but they were just staring me in face, all day! I am lucky my wife didn't buy any Reese's peanut butter cups for Halloween though... holy crap I would have been screwed!  I can defend myself against Nerd's and Smarties, but not those delicious chocolate cups, filled with peanut butter.... YUMMY!!!

This week should be better.  I'll have fewer temptations than last week.  Wish me luck!

This week's stats

Beer: 4 (2 x LA31 Pale Ale; 2 x Fat Tire)
Scotch: None  :(
Water: Lots
Favorite healthy meal:  Homemade chili, with beans and lean ground beef
Favorite healthy meal turned unhealthy: Frito Pie (Same homemade chili + Frito's corn chips and cheese)
Favorite midday snack: Almonds
Favorite midday snack I'm getting tired of already: Almonds (I bought way to many!)
Bad late night indulgence: Chips and salsa
Good late night indulgence: Supreme spicy hummus with carrot sticks
Worst thing eaten: A piece of chocolate, swirl cheesecake (It wasn't even that good)
Unexpected appetite suppressant:  Pool water
Days without a soft drink: 15
Bottles of Chardonnay I looked at and then put back in the fridge: 1

Week one complete: The start of a long road.

My first week of training is done and I feel pretty good.  My legs are a little tired, but not too bad.  The weather cooperated most of the week, accept for Thursday morning and afternoon.  We had crazy thunderstorms, so I had to bike at the gym and bump my swim to Friday.  Not a big deal though, I got all my workouts in. I didn’t hurt that the average temperature all week, during the day, was about 75-80 degrees, perfect.  I love the South!

As mentioned previously, I’m using Don Fink’s book, “Be Iron Fit” for my training program. Below you will see that the first week is very doable for many folks.  I imagine the swim might be a hang up for those who aren’t big swimmers; but beyond that, the run and bike are very manageable. 

Monday

Rest Day

Tuesday

Swim: 300m warm up, 8x50m drills, 12x100m @20sec, 8x50m drills, 200 cool down
Run: 0:30 HR Zone 2

I had to cut out the second set of drills due to a dentist appointment.

Wednesday
Bike: 0:30 HR Zone 2 (Quick Change to run)
Run: 0:15 HR Zone 2

Extra swim outside of program: 1000m

Thursday

Swim: Moved to Friday due to weather
Bike: 0:30 HR Zone 1 (100+ RPM)

Friday

Swim: 300m warm up, 8x50m drill, 3x125m @ 20sec, 2x175m @ 30sec, 3x125m @20sec, 8x50m drill, 200m cool down
Run: 0:30 HR Zone 2

Saturday

Bike: 1:00 HR Zone 2

Sunday

Run: 0:45 HR Zone 1-2

Swim: 2 hours
Bike: 2 hours
Run: 2 hours
Total: 6 hours IM training

Week two, here I come!!

The price of pain... about $700

The deal is done.  I have officially registered for Ironman Texas, which will take place in The Woodlands, TX, about 27 miles north of Houston, on May 17, 2013. That’s a pretty easy three hour drive from our house. The race is on a Saturday and starts at 7AM, for the non-pros.  We’ll need to check -in on Thursday and then check our bikes in on Friday; so, it’ll be about four days of fun.  That’ll include the Saturday night celebration and driving home on Sunday.

I’m sure you are wondering what an event like this would cost, well it’s not exactly cheap.  The entry fee is $650, plus a processing fee of $39, for a total of $689.00.  Ouch!  However, that does not include the mandatory USA Triathlon membership, but it’s not too bad.  You can get a one day membership that will cover you for the race for $12.  You can obviously register for longer if you plan on doing more races or if you just want to be a member.  I’m still on a three year membership that expires on May 31, 2013… score one for me! 

Ironman Texas is broken down into three events, just like other triathlons: swim, bike, run.  The distances are what sets an Ironman apart from other triathlons. The swim is 2.4 miles and will take place in Lake Woodlands. It is an in-water mass start, which is pretty much like it sounds.  Everyone walks into the water and starts at the same time. Obviously, the fast/competitive folks are in the front and center, while everyone else finds their spot, typically based on ability (slower folks towards the back).  I foresee myself towards the rear and on the outside.  I may have to swim a little further, but keeping out of the congestion of the masses is worth it to me.  I hate being kicked in head from the swimmers in front of me or feeling someone’s hands on my feet from the swimmers behind me.

The bike route is 112 miles and takes place in The Woodlands and through some of Texas’ rural farmland.  It looks to have some hills, which already makes my legs hurt.  Fortunately, the last 20 miles look to be mostly downhill.

 

The run is 26.2 miles (marathon distance) and takes place throughout The Woodlands. Based on the run profile, there are a few nasty hills, but what can you do?  Just run through them! 

All said and done, this race is going to take all day.  I have no doubt my training program will prepare me for the worst of it.  I’ll really need to figure out my nutrition plan and make sure I stay hydrated and fueled up the entire time.  I’d hate to train for 30 weeks, just to bonk on the run because I didn’t have enough fuel in the tank.  Anyways, I’m stoked about the race and look forward to crossing that finish line.