I'm shrinking!!!

More strength training, if you want to keep all the muscle. You don't need too much muscle for the endurance of a triathlon. this could be a good thing.

Unfortunately, I am dealing with the same issue. I did a good deal of strength training before my tri prep to gain the mass that I knew I would then loose with the long endurance stuff. If you increase your protein intake and wieght training you may slow it down. I personally target a 50%carb/30%fat/20%protein diet. If you keep your heart rate down in the fat buring zone (for me under 140) you will also minimize your muscle loss and burn a higher percentage of fat during hte cardio workouts. I still want to loose some fat so I eat 500 cals less than I expend daily. Since I do a greater amount of training at a higher intensity now I have noticed a lot more of my weigt loss is muscle mass. It sucks! I also noticed if I eat a higher percentage of carbs (>50%) then I slow my fat loss. My friends latest Men's mag called running the "incredible shrinking mans" exercise claiming if you want to build muscle mass DO NOT RUN. Most tri pros look very lean in the upper body and it seems the less mass you have to push through a triathlon the better. I plan to do 1-2 months of muscle build to regain some mass after my main triathlon later this year... Good luck.

Edited by speedlee 2004-02-12 7:09 PM

A PT told me that its very important to eat before and after exercise if your not wanting to lose muscle.

Thanks for the info, very helpful. I guess doing tri's and having bulky muscle mass is not to my advantage. I am getting faster and more efficient daily as I shrink so I shouldn’t complain. The mass is a vanity thing I guess and turning into a rake won't be so bad.
Anyways, thank you everyone for the info, this is such a great site.

Geoff


Edited by geoffs 2004-02-12 8:21 PM