Ironman Coeur d'Alene : Official Thread (Page 17)

I'm liking the idea of a weight loss/maintenance challenge during the off season. I don't have too much to lose but am worried about gaining once fall marathon season is over and before serious training begins. Maybe those who wish to participate can post their weight once a week on Mondays just to keep on track? That's enough motivation for me!

Sounds like some good ideas.

Current weight, goal weight, Monday weigh ins, anything else we are missing?

I'll start.  Good lord this is embarassing.  As of this past Monday...
Current: 175 lb, 33% BF
Goal: 145 lb, 22% BF

Great idea to have those of us with weight loss goals regularly post how we're doing - putting it out in public makes for much more motivation. One thing we can do rather than post regularly is set up a google docs spreadsheet that everyone interested could set up with their goals, and then fill in their progress. I'd be happy to set it up if people wanted to go that route - let me know what you think.

All this talk about the HOT/COLD weather got me thinking a little bit about transitions and S/N bags.  As this is my first IM I was wondering if you get a bike S/N bag and a run S/N bag or is there just 1 bag that is to include everything?

You do get a bike s/n bag a run s/n bag.  You can get your bike s/n bag around mile 65 of the bike and you can get your run s/n bag a few different times as you runby it 4 times; ~ miles 1, 3, 13, and 15.

You'll also get:
- swim to bike bag that you get in T1.  It'll have your bike stuff in it to start and you or a volunteer put your swim stuff in it at T1

- Bike to run bag you get at T2.  Starts with your run stuff and then you put your bike stuff in it after the bike

 - a dry clothes bag to pack clothes to wear after. 

I bring my swim training mesh bag with me to bring all the above bags home after the race.  It's amazing how much stuff you wind up with.

 

Edited by PGoldberger 2010-09-16 6:13 AM

Amen to that, I am still unpacking from IMWI this past weekend. The forecast looked like it could rain or be windy so I brought everything under the sun and then all the stuff they give and I bought at the expo, crap I thought I might need a uhaul to get it back home. Unfortanately  for CDA I will be flying so I might have to be much more precise.

I will "weigh in" here next

Currently 225

Goal   175

For the current I took my weight at IMWI and added a couple cause this week and into next week I am blowing the diet right up and doing a little more than splurging til I knuckle down.

 

I just got back from WI and got to spend a few hours at the IMWI race on Sunday.  My wife’s parents had no idea what the Triathlon was until they saw the race.  It was nice to see how the race was organized and what to expect for some things at IMCD.  We actually walked up when New Zealand's Gina Crawford came across the finish line to win and set a new course record.  It was cool to be literally just 3 ft from her when she crossed the finish line.  We could not get over how she could be interviewed within seconds of finishing such a long race.  I am so amped now it's not even funny.  I cannot wait tell IMCD 2011.

 

Exact same thing here. My inlaws came along to help my wife watch the kids and they just thought it would be a small little thing. They were blown away. It was funny by Saturday night watching my mother in law talking it up like she was a tri vet on spectating, cost of bikes, and dudes shaving legs and wearing spandex. They couldn't believe the swim start and just the mass of humanity out there when the cannon goes off.

I was also at IMOO last weekend and loved being around all the excitement!  It definitely got be motivated to begin training for IMCdA.

I'm in for the weight goal thingy!

Current - 185
Goal      - 150

I have a serious lack of discipline when it comes to food so I'll take all the help I can get!

Matt,

This would be awesome.  I have used this format for challenges in the past.  Thanks.
Kelly

I see lots of folks with 20-50 pound weight loss goals.  This emphasizees my previous post even more... you likely are not going to be successful losing big chunks of weight when you are also trying to adequately fuel "in season" ironman training.  That means NOW is the time to start losing the weight.

I lost 66 pounds in the 8 months leading up to LP last year.  I was in full fledged serious weight loss mode during November-April... and then continued to lose (but much more slowly) during my IM builds.

I think people are right to point out that if we are struggling with weight we likely have food problems.  If we're eating too much it will be almost impossible to train enough to cancel out that damage.  You're reading the words of a guy who toed the line of his first marathon the heaviest I had ever been... because I wrongly thought that I could eat whatever I wanted since I was running 40+ miles per week.

I'm assuming for people signed up for an IM that we don't struggle with exercising enough... we struggle with eating too much.  Success, then, will come from real change with respect to what we put down our pie holes... not primarily with how many hours of aerobic exercise we log (logging hours will happen automatically).

I'm here to suggest to you that most of us will continue to fail, or at best have short term success followed by gaining it all back, until we change our BELIEFS about food.  We will never have long term success making permanent changes in our behavior until we re-wire our brains.  If you need a mantra, it's "behavior follows belief."  That's so self-evident in so many areas, but we miss it when it comes to food.

My success this past year came after reading "The End of Overeating" - this book errs a little bit on the conspiracy theory side (food industry is evil), imho, but it also spends a couple hundred pages convincing me I need to rewire my brain until my first association with bacon cheeseburger or bloomin onion or dr. pepper is "gross"  not "that sounds amazing but I'm going to deny myself that" - and then gives me the data to really make me believe that.

And if you can make that shift in belief, you won't have to constantly restrain yourself.  You'll automatically make better decisions and, if my experience holds true, weight loss will inevitably happen while you exercise consistently.

I've found that keeping a food log, where I write down EVERYTHING I eat helps me to identify what I'm eating too much of or not enough of.  It also keeps me accountable for my food decisions.  I've been at a pretty steady weight since freshman year of high school, but occasionally start gaining a few and have to cut back.  If any of you are iPhone users, there's a helpful app for that called tap and track.  It allows you to enter calories and nutritional information plus calories burned through exercise, so you have a portable way to keep track.  Of course, everyone has different caloric needs, but it's a good start.  Also, we don't keep any junk food in the house because if it's there, we eat it.  

Meal planning is also key to weight loss/maintenance.  It takes time, but it's worth it.  Every week, I spend time planning a menu for the week, including lunches to take to work.  Then I go to the grocery store once (and maybe make a stop or two during the week so I have super fresh protein or produce for a particular meal) with a very detailed list and buy everything for the week.  I spend several hours one day of the weekend prepping stuff for dinner and making lunches.  I put all lunch items in individually-sized portions so they're ready to go.  Pain in the a$$, but totally worth it and I think a little planning and prep work early in the week is worth it to have home-cooked, healthy food for every meal. 

I am also a strong believer in food logs.  It can be startling to see exactly what and how much we eat!

Also, it is a way to practice nutrition for the long day.  I try to keep good records of what I ate before, during and after my training sessions to see whats works and what doesn't.  I definitely recommend everyone do something like this so you don't crash on race day!

I know my issue is what i eat - since I workout a lot and maintain weight!  I am around 148-150.  My race weight last summer, when I consistently put in 10-15 hours/week (for half iron's), was about 142-143 at my lowest.  Replace some of those hours on the bike with hours drinking beer, and I put on a few lbs! 

More so then weight, I am more concerned with shedding body fat, and looking more 'ripped'.  However, I am still struggling with cutting out the things I need to cut out in order to do that.

What is everyone using for training plans?  Last year, I worked with a coach and had custom training plans mailed weekly.  I was using them for HIM training, but I suspect that I would be able to lengthen some of the workouts and they wouldn't be far off (I was putting in a lot of time). 
Some options I was thinking:

BT Free Training plan
Endurance Nation (anyone used this)?
BT Membership plan
Making my own plan based on feedback from experienced friends and a book (Friel?). 

FWIW, I have done 2 HIM's, a bunch of sprints/OLY's, and ran one marathon. 

Hi all, I just joined this thread... looking forward to joining your discussions and getting to know you. I'm Elliot from AZ...IMCDA will be my 3rd IM.

Welcome aboard.  You'll love Coeur d'Alene esp. if it's the same weather we had this year  

Wanted to add that now is a good time to focus on a weak area.  I signed up for the Seattle Marathon (Nov 28) and am mainly running until then, with some maintenance biking but nothing heavy.  Working on weight loss may be easier if you're not doing all 3 s/b/r.


I love cooking.  Hate shopping.  But I force myself to do it.  Home cooked meals are healthier than eating out and you save a lot of money too!


I'm roughly following a Hal Higdon plan leading up to my marathon, and then I added my own biking stuff to supplement it.  I'll decide how I want to do the IM training after the marathon is over.  Last year I had a fairly balanced plan.  This year I'll be minimizing my swim hours to focus on B/R where I can make bigger gains.

I did IMAZ in 2009 and I'm doing it again this year.  I like the flat stuff, but I feel my strengths are on the hills Plus, CDA is closer to home (I grew up in Seattle) so it gives me a good excuse to vacation.  I did Lake Stevens 70.3 a month ago and the scenery is so much better in the NW compared to the desert over here!

Lake Stevens is almost nonstop adrenaline on the bike.  CdA is a bit more peaceful... you can almost get into a meditative zone in some parts... and then the spectators wake you up (they are awesome!)..  Take the hilliness of Lake Stevens and insert some long flat stretches and you basically have the CdA course.