10 pounds short? Just add carbs!

So, I’m currently sitting between 185-188 lbs. That’s just about ten pounds short of my 178 goal by race day. <Insert sad face here> I had some distractions the last couple of months and really couldn’t get back into the groove once I dropped below 190 lbs.  I’m not sure what those 10 lbs will equal on race day, but I do know the 20+ pounds I did loss should be pretty significant.

That being said, starting tomorrow I begin carbohydrate loading.  That means about 75% of my diet will be carbohydrates.  Unfortunately, that does not mean I can have a steady diet of Twinkies and Little Debbie’s, all though that does sound pretty good.  What it does mean is about 1 cup of Bulgar wheat, 3-4 times a day until the race.  I’ll also be supplementing the Bulgar with pasta to change it up a bit.  All said and done, it’ll be about five meals a day for a total of 600g of carbohydrates, about 2400 calories in carbs alone… ouch!  I wish some of those calories were Margaritas! No worries, I’ll still be getting my protein though.

Carb loading saturates the muscles with glycogen (energy to the muscles) which helps keep you moving and preventing the dreaded “BONK!” which is one of my biggest fears for such a long race.  Fueling the body is critical and without the fuel, it could be a short day or a very, very long painful day.  This will also cause me to retain water, which means I’ll probably be even heavy at the start of the race.  Not a big deal since the first hour and half I’ll be swimming and the water in my muscles will slowly absorb as the day presses on.

As far as the last ten pounds, it’s not over after the race.  The goal will be to finish off the last ten pounds by the end of June.  I haven’t done any strength training since I started training for the Ironman and I am really looking forward to getting back into the gym.  Studies have shown that the best way to lose weight is combination of cardio, strength training, and a clean diet. So, I’ll hit weights, stay on the cardio, and keep it clean.   I’ll be shredded in no time!  We’ll see about that…

Wednesday is three days and a wake-up!

Week 30 - This Is The End

The End - The Doors

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes, again

Can you picture what will be, so limitless and free
Desperately in need, of some, stranger's hand
In a, desperate land

Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane, all the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah
There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the King's highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles

Ride the snake, he's old, and his skin is cold
The west is the best, the west is the best
Get here, and we'll do the rest

This is the end, beautiful friend
This is the end, my only friend, the end
Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes, again

Can you picture what will be, so limitless and free
Desperately in need, of some, stranger's hand
In a, desperate land

Lost in a Roman wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane, all the children are insane
Waiting for the summer rain, yeah
There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the King's highway, baby
Weird scenes inside the gold mine
Ride the highway west, baby
Ride the snake, ride the snake
To the lake, the ancient lake, baby
The snake is long, seven miles

Ride the snake, he's old, and his skin is cold
The west is the best, the west is the best
Get here, and we'll do the rest

The blue bus is callin' us, the blue bus is callin' us
Driver, where you taken us

The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall

He went into the room where his sister lived, and, then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and
And he came to a door, and he looked inside
Father, yes son, I want to kill you
Mother, I want to, fuck you

C'mon baby, take a chance with us
C'mon baby, take a chance with us
C'mon baby, take a chance with us

And meet me at the back of the blue bus
Doin' a blue rock, on a blue bus
Doin' a blue rock, c'mon, yeah
Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill
This is the end, beautiful friend

This is the end, my only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end

 

 

Week 28: Texas 70.3 review and some other stuff

Well it’s been a few weeks since Ironman Texas 70.3 and apologize for the delay.  I started a race review when I got back from Galveston… well, it didn’t make the cut. I noticed it was a long and drawn out account of my race, which seem overly wordy.  Not to mention I want out of town for a couple weeks, immediately after returning from the race. So I regret that the review kind of got pushed aside.

Here are is the Cliff Notes of the race:

What: Ironman Texas 70.3

Where: Galveston, TX
When: April 6, 2014
Who: Me and my brother
Why: Crazy?
How: Standard 70.3 race (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run)
Finish Time: 6:15:16
Weather: Overcast, air temp 70’s, water temp 69 degrees

Details:  Overall not a bad race, considering it was my first half Ironman.  I finished at just over six hours.  The swim did not start off very well.  My age group was wave 13 of 20 and we started at 8am. I broke my wetsuit 15 minutes prior to entering the water and I decided to go without the suit.  The water was cold (69 deg F), but I’ve been in colder and didn’t think it was too bad.  That is mostly because I was concerned about the insane amount of chop that I was swimming headfirst into for the first 550 meters.  I made it out of the water unscathed, but a lot slower than I would have liked.

                                                                 Going in (one of the last)

 

                                                              Age Group Mass Start                                                             

 

                                                                         Donzo!!!

The bike went well.  The route was very flat and we had a tail wind on the way out and back (not sure how that happened, but it was nice).  I found an impromptu team mate and followed her for about 38 miles before I had to hit the port-o-john.  All said and done, I averaged 19.5mph for the ride and I don’t think I could have asked for anything better. 

A rough dismount

 

And I'm good!

 

 

To the run… it was very slow.  I pretty much committed myself to running everything, but to walk  the water stations.  They were about a mile apart; so, it was a good mental goal as I tried to finish up the race.  It was three loops with multiple U-turns... I wasn't a big fan.  However, the good thing about the three laps was you had lots of folks cheering you on the whole run.  Very cool.

                                                                      One more lap!!

                                                        With John (He finished 5:29:40)

All in all, not too many hiccups for the day. The wetsuit was obviously a big one. One minor mishap did occur prior to the start on race day.  Somehow we missed that the transition area was closing at 6:30am. I didn’t start unit 8am and John not until 8:15am; so, we were in not hurry as we arrived at 6:22am.  That’s when we heard the announcer say that all athletes had to be out of the transition area in eight minutes.  Needless to say, we had to run into the transition area, drop our stuff, get our swimming gear and get out, with barely a minute to spare.  So, neither of our transition areas were ready prior to the race.  That led to a very slow T1 time (7 minutes), but I wasn’t overly worried.  I was just trying to catch my breath and not forget my helmet as I got my bike gear together.  I also broke my bike computer sensor off at about 1/8 of a mile out of the transition area… not a good way to start the ride. However, it turned out well, so no biggie.

 

                                                                       Race breakdown

 

Only 19 days until the big race.  Am I ready... yes and no.  Yes, I'm ready to get that sucker knocked out.  But... no, I didn't get all of my training in and I'm going to pay for it.  However, because I know that, I'm that much more mentally prepared for the suck.  I can hardly believe I paid to do this!

 

So with three weeks until the race, I'm pretty much trying to get in the rest of my workouts and mentally prepare.  I don't have anymore work trips and my schedule is clear, thank goodness!  Here's to good weather. Cheers!

 

 

Week 24: Back from outer space... I will survive

Or at least, let's hope so. So my three weeks away was horrible for my training, both physically and mentally.  Obviously, I missed out on some pretty significant training, but psychologically it’s done some damage as well.  I’m seriously starting to worry about the race in May.  Only 45 days left!  Now don’t get me wrong, it is going to happen. Although it’s going to be a whole lot more painful than I would have liked.  One of my life rules is coming to mind: You can’t cram fitness.  I guess I’ll need to add an addendum to that rule: However, you sure as heck can try! (Safely of course)

So that being said, I had a pretty good week of training last week.  I got most of my workouts in, including the weekend long ride (60mile ride + 45min run) and long run (1hour ride + 2:15 run).  They weren’t all that fun and not quite where I should be at this point in my training; however, I didn’t think it was too bad considering the long break.  I also got some time in with the wetsuit, which obviously feels a little different, but isn’t too bad and very buoyant (bonus!).

I’m sure some of you are wondering about the weight loss.  Luckily, I guess, I stayed pretty steady throughout three weeks of hotel living.  This past Monday morning I weighed 189.6 lbs.  I believe the boat for the sub 170lbs by race day has sailed.  I’m not even sure what’s doable at this point.  I really just need to make it through the race.  Maybe sub 180, who knows?

This weekend I have the Texas 70.3 in Galveston.  It’ll be a good test to see how I am physically, but I also need to keep in mind that’s only half of a full Ironman.  However, things are not looking good for the race.  Thunderstorms are forecasted (99% chance of rain), starting in the morning and going through the afternoon.  I HATE RIDING IN THE RAIN!  What concerns me is the heightened chance of a crash, which could wreck my bike, wreck me, or any combination of the two.   Normally not a huge deal, but it’s getting really close to the big race in May.  So if you thought the weather was bad enough, who would have guessed that a barge would collide with a ship, spilling 160,000 gallons of oil in to Galveston Bay. Seriously?!? Sooo, is Someone against this race from happening? I’m still going, but when the frogs start dropping from the sky, I’m officially out.  As of now, the swim is still happening.  We’ll see how things pan out and hopefully it’ll be a go. 

So, the hits keep on coming.  I’m going on a trip for two weeks, starting next week.  I will have my bike and I don’t foresee having as much work to do as I did on my last trip; however, it’s still going to be a huge distraction.  The key is to stay focused and to keep my eye on the prize. Although, I can’t keep from feeling like I’m on a sinking ship.  Life vest anyone?

FYI, I've been humming this song for the last hour... you're welcome!

At first I was afraid I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side
But then I spent so many nights
Thinking how you did me wrong
And I grew strong
And I learned how to get along
And now you're back
from outer space
I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face
I should have changed that stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I had known for just one second you'd be back to bother me
Go on now, go walk out the door
Just turn around now
'Cause you're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye
Do you think I'd crumble
Did you think I'd lay down and die?

Oh no, not I. I will survive
Oh as long as I know how to love
I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my love to give and I'll survive
I will survive,
I will survive!

 

Time away

So, I will start by apologizing for lack of posts over the last couple of weeks.  I've been away for work and have been living in a hotel, which has been problematic.  Unfortunately, any reports on training or diet would only be negative; so, I'll just leave it at that.  For the last two weeks I've worked everyday for approximately 12 hours a day.  It's been extremely hard to squeeze anything workouts in for several reasons.  First of all, my day is packed with unavoidable deadlines and meetings and secondly, its just hard to get motivated to do anything with a schedule like that. I do have another week and half of hotel life and hope I can get somewhat back on track. 

That being said, I'm not sure how much these last few weeks will throw me off of my race.  I've made some moderate time goals for myself, but at this point I may just have to be satisfied with finishing the race.  We'll see though, all hope isn't lost.  Wish me luck... I'm going to need it.

Week Seventeen Complete

Week seventeen is complete and it wasn’t too bad.  I only missed two workouts, which is good, but unfortunately missed my long ride this past weekend.  Though getting all my workouts in during the week is important, I feel that my long rides and runs (weekend workouts), outweigh my weekday workouts considerably.  Two factors kept me from my ride this weekend. One was the weather and the other, I hate to say, was laziness.  It was raining all morning, so I waited for the weather to pass.  Once it did, I just couldn’t muster up enough energy to do a three plus hour ride.  It was a nice day of doing absolutely nothing, which I don’t see very often.  I guess you need that sometimes; although, I can’t afford too many more.  I have six weeks until Ironman Texas 70.3 and twelve weeks until the full meal deal. Yikes! Storms-a-come’n!!!

For this week’s training it was suppose to be pretty light, with an Olympic distance tri on the weekend.  Well, tri season hasn’t started yet and I felt it would be better to move on to the next week, instead of putting on my own personal Olympic distance event.  Skipping over this week will actually put me back on track anyways.  It seems I miscalculated by a week when I started, which was actually 29 weeks out from the race, instead of 30.  No biggie, but I get to look forward to a four hour ride this Saturday. I think I’ll make it an 80 miler!!!

Monday
Rest Day

Tuesday
S -500m warm up, 8x50m drill, 4 x 200m @ 20sec, 6 x 100m @ 15sec, 8x50m drill, 300m cool down
R - 1:00 Z2 (at 0:10, insert 3 x 6 min Z4 @ 2 min jog)

Wednesday
B - Trans: 0:45 Z2 (QC)
R - 0:30 Z2

Thursday
S - 500m warm up, 8x50m drill, 16x25 @ 10sec, 600 pull, 8x50m drill, 300m cool down
B - 1:15 Z2 (at 0:10, insert 6 x 5 min Z4 @ 3 min spin)

Friday
S - 500m warm up, 8x50m drill, 10x50 @ 15sec, 4 x 100 @ 20sec, 10x50 @ 15sec, 8x50m drill, 300m cool down
R - 1:15 Z2 (at 1:00, insert 10min Z4)

Saturday
B - 3:30 Z2 (QC)
R - 0:30 Z2

Sunday
B - 1:00 Z1 (100+ RPM)
R - 1:15 Z1 to Z2

Total Hrs: 14:00
S: 3:00 2:00
B: 6:30 3:00
R: 4:30 4:00

Tale of the Tape: Week Seventeen

Tuesday Morning Weigh-in

Starting Weight: 208 lbs

Last Week’s Weight: 191.8 lbs

Current Weight: 190.1 lbs

Weekly Difference: -1.7 lbs

Total Lost: 17.9 lbs

Even with a spectacular four-day weekend in Colorado, I still managed to drop another 1.7 lbs.  The biggest factor was a good week leading up to the trip, and not completely over doing it to during my travels.  We did spend Saturday and Sunday carving up the slopes, which was fairly taxing at times and a pretty considerable workout.  I assumed my cycling and running would have helped the legs and calves… nope.  Specificity is a bitch!  Skiing has its own brand of leg torture, but I love it.  So we kept the meals pretty light both days, except for dinner.  We did keep warm with a flask of Gentleman Jack; so, there were some empty calories consumed throughout the day, but what are some calories shared among friends? I’ll tell you what it is... AWESOME!!!  By the way, if you’re not a fan of the bite that usually comes with Old Number 7 Jack Daniels, I recommend going with the Gentleman Jack.  It costs just a little bit more than regular JD, but is totally worth. Very smooth and can be enjoyed on the rocks or neat; or, even better in a cold flask on a ski lift!

Including this week, I have seven weeks until my half Ironman in April.  At my current rate of loss, assuming I can maintain it, I should be able to break the 180 lbs barrier by race time.  Following the half, I’ll have six more weeks of training and potential weight loss before the Ironman in May.  Best case scenario, I’ll break the 170 lbs marker by race day: very doable, realistic, and healthy.  It’s hard to imagine what it’ll be like to have 40 less pounds while riding and running.  I’m sure my knees and back will throw me a party!

Hope everyone has a great week. There is no try…DO!