Have I lost my mind to consider a HIM? (Page 22)

Soap eh? What kind.. that's pretty amusing.

Congrats on the great numbers!

I'm going with Zest as that is what I have.

I was so proud of your numbers I had to read them to my husband.  This is awesome.  Congrats Leah!!  I think you are on to something with the processed foods.  Huge difference in how you feel after eating a box of something v. your fresh leafy greans.  Keep up the good work!!

QUick question - Has Chuck been loosing weight b/c of your change in lifestyle?  I would think so. 

2011?!  I think it will be interesting to see if any of us want to do another one after completing one.  Some people are "One and Done".  Right now I think I will be in that category but who knows.  I thought I'd never do another Marathon again either, but I'm doing one in January.  I really want to improve my time. 

Debb - What is your daily calorie deficit?  Your weight seems to be falling off you.  I need to follow your lead.  I'm sniffing the 180s, and I SOOOOO want to get there.  If I could lose 15 to 20 by the HIM (March 2010) I'd be stoked. 

Ideally I try and go for 1500 calories. It doesn't always happen. Some days I'm over it's not a big deal as I'm active enough, but 1500 is the plan. If I need more that day or feeling low on energy or just need a treat I don't worry about it. I try for about 2 hours of exercise a day if I can manage and that usually gets me to the proper deficit.

Leah has me wondering about my lab#s. I never got copies of my last Labs which were in May/June and I was 235ish and on a gain trend... I'm sure those numbers were better then time before that because I think I was 290 and not yet active. I want to compare w/ the last 2.

My numbers were never that bad for a fairly obese woman... but higher then they should be and I was probably on the verge of them becoming an issue.

I agree Wildflower sounds fun. Kir should have a great time. I remember reading about it in "The Slow Fat Triathlete" book before I even started Tris. Sounds like a cool atmosphere.

Thanks for the info Debb.  My hubby and I are talking about healthy living tonight and thinking about diets and training.  (He has lost 30 pounds since May)  We started the conversation with leah's numbers and now are on your diet strategy.  (I"m so HAPPY he is into this!)  He totally thinks I can lose the weight before the race if I log like you are logging.  I sure hope so.  Right now, Diet isn't really happening.  I'm eating what I want when I want and trying to stay away from HUGE portions.  Halloween gave me a huge sugar rush and I need to ton it down a little. 

I think I'm going to research your bodybug next. 

Chuck has lost about ten pounds, but I don't think he is as consistent with the "Paleo" diet as I am, plus he drinks a lot.  Not alcoholic a lot (but definitely more than he should), but comes from a family tradition of gin and tonics when coming home from work.  No one in my family drinks hard alcohol so this is a little different for me.  He still thinks of our eating program as a diet and I think of it as how I eat now that has nothing to do with weight loss.  If you asked him, he would say he "believes" in it, but the little comments every now and then about what he is going to eat once he loses the weight tell a different story. 

He also does not exercise consistently or very much.  If I go out for a run, we usually try to manipulate the time and distance so that we walk the warm-up and cool-down together and if there are intervals, we walk together on the walking part.  It makes my runs more challenging logistically, but that is about the only exercise he gets and since this is really about the healthy lifestyle, and less about my "training," I work with it.  He does nothing on his own - either I go out for a walk with him or he sits at home.

He is on blood pressure and cholesterol medication and I really, really believe that if he dropped the thirty or forty pounds that he should, he could eliminate most, if not all, of his medication.  Since his blood pressure and cholesterol are so well controlled with medication, it is not a serious motivator for him.  It would be for me - I do not, let me repeat DO NOT want to be on any such medication. 

He loves how I look now and is very proud of my progress.  Etc.  Etc.  Etc.  That doesn't mean that he likes it when I get up at 5 am or so to go swimming or to Crossfit.  He doesn't like how much time I spend training as he regards it as selfish. 

He is a lot older than I am - I just turned 54 and he is almost 67 - and that makes a difference too.  But he could drop a whole lot of metabolic age just by losing weight and exercising.  When he is gloomy about the differences in our respective health and lifestyles, he moans about being too old for me. 

All of that is more info than you probably need, but it adds a little difficulty to getting in exercise.  Not as much difficulty as having little kids at home, but someone dismissing my workouts as "you go do what you want" is not the level of support that I wish I had. 

Thanks for listening. 

Interesting.  If we want to look at the bright side you could think it is really cute that Chucks wants you all to himself!  He cares for you sooo much he can't stand to be apart from you.  Those early morning work outs means he looses some snuggle time with you.  I would think the "I'm too old for you" talk would get old though.  That sounds like a cop out.  I wouldn't be shocked it you inspired him into a more fit lifestyle.  I think active living is contagious! 

I think my man is in to it b/c he has been riding with us.  I think he actually gets how hard it is now to do all of this.  He is really nervous about the bike ride next week.  We have never ridden over 45 mile and we are going to do 66.  I'm more worried about my Rear!!  It is nice to have him on my team for a change.  I like it!  I do need to start watching my internet time.  I think he is starting to get jealous all my research and tri talk!! 

I have a long work day tomorrow.  i don't know if I'll get any exercise in but I have a 2000 m Splash n Dash on Saturday and a 10 mile run on sunday.  I don't have big expectations for the swim.  I just want to try to cover the distance.  Talk to you all soon. 

Hey ladies,

Quick question. Do you take fluids/foods/gels on your longer training runs? I've gone up to 1.5 hours with no fluids/nutrition just fine, except finishing slightly dry-mouthed. I've only done that one long run/walk, but have a couple 1.5-2 hour ones coming up in the next two weeks and i'm thinking taking some water/gel might be a good idea. But since this is new territory for me I'm looking to you longer run gurus for some advice. Any ideas?

Weather looks like I might be able to get a 2 hour (very brisk) training ride > outside < in tomorrow! crossing fingers... Will probably ride my touring bike though (bigger tires) because the roads are super slick right now with fallen leaves - and the temp's dipping into the 30s tonight = maybe extra slippery conditions out there.

have a great weekend all!
kiri

If it was me, and the weather wasn't hot, I would eat a banana before starting out and that's all.  For about 1-1/2 hours or less, I don't necessarily eat anything before or during.  If the weather is warm, I would take water for a run longer than an hour.  Honestly, I don't ever remember a training run long enough where I brought nutrition along.  I did a marathon back in 2000 and don't think I have done a really long run since then.  That's about to change, of course, and I do intend to be smarter about nutrition.  But anyway, for two hours or less, a banana before heading out is all I would do.

Have fun on your training ride and be careful.  Thank goodness for cycling tights and full finger gloves.  Stay warm. 

My rule is I have to have something over 1.5 hours.  I will try to either plan my route so I can hit a gas station or convenience store so I can get some water and go to the restroom or take my belt with me and wear my water.  I will also take gu with me if I am over two hours. 

On the bike I try to drink every 15/20 minutes and eat gu every 1 to 1.5 hours.  I don't know if that is right or not but so far so good. 

I have my swim tomorrow.  I'm nervous.  The longest swim I've had this season is 1600m and that was some time ago.  I didn't get any swims in this week so I'm nervous.  I need to remember I had a great swim on Sunday and that was 1000m.  I'll keep you posted. 

Good news or Bad news first? 

I'll start with Bad news.  Today was my splash n dash.  It was a 2000m swim and a 3k run.  I was LAZY this morning and didn't want to get out of bed.  I tried not to go to the race, but I felt too guilty.  I knew it was the last OWS of the season so I had to suck it up.  I got to the race in the nick of time.   Of course all of the superfit tri god/goddesses were there preparing for the IMAZ.  I finished D-F-L!  I was so last that they started hualing in the Buoys in before I finished.  I was so dead f'in last that my cute little tribuddy finished her swim and run and had time to root me on the last 100m.  I finished SOO VERY last that they race company gave me a consolation prize!  That was crazy. 

The Good news?  I did it!!  I swam 2000m in open water and didn't freak out or flip to my back.  I was slow but I was steady.  I did it!!  I swam the distance of our HIM!!  This was s huge mental hurdle for me.  It was a LONG swim.  I knew it would be tough for me.  The longest I had ever swam was 1600m and that was some time ago.  I'm pretty stoked about today's accomplishments.    This was good for my head.  Now that I know I can do the distance it is just a matter of improving on my time. 

Next weekend the bike distance . . . 

Edited by ~ AZ Sunshine ~ 2009-11-14 12:11 PM

Well, your "bad" news was pretty gosh darn good.  Let's face it - someone has to be last, but not everyone gets a consolation prize.  And 2000 meters is a long distance.  How long did it take you? 

For the swim, basically my goal is to do it and not be wiped out at the end of the swim.  You gotta have something left for the bike and run.  I have already figured out that I am never going to be a fast swimmer, but faster biker and runner is possible so that is where I concentrate those energies. 

I did a trail race in January, probably half marathon distance or close.  I don't know what my problem was that day, but I was slow slow slow.  Toward the end the truck came by and they asked me if I wanted a ride.  The first two times this happened I said that I didn't, but by the third time I figured out that they wanted me off the course so I accepted the ride.  When we got back, no one was left.  All of the competitors had gone and most of the workers.  It was a shuttle/parking situation and the shuttles had all left so they had to give me a ride to my car.  They put on a pretty good post-race food spread, but nothing was left.  So, yeah, I understand.  But I am thinking about doing this race again next year.  Is that sick or what?

Anyway, congrats on your race.  I think you have every right to be very proud of yourself, starting with sucking it up and going to the race all the way to finishing with a calm, smooth consistent swim. 

Let's face it.  You now know you can do the swim.  You regularly do the bike or at least close.  How close are you on running a half marathon?  And you have 4-1/2 months left to go before Cali 70.3.  Nowhere to go but up. 

Kir - On bike rides I take a gu/stingers every 45-60mins and water when I "need it". On runs I haven't bothered with any nutrition, but I didn't run in much heat over 1hr30mins outside of the house. If it was hot out I'd probably stop for water at least. I keep a bottle on my treadmill and drink every 20mins or so. I think on runs over 1:30 I'd Probably use at least one Gu.

I don't use nutrition when I can get away with it because my goal is weight loss this will of course change when my workouts get longer and longer and I have to practice my nutrition.

Kate - That is AWESOME. You'll be fine the first handful of times you do 1mi+ it feels very long but you get over it soon enough. You have plenty of time to make it comfortable enough. And DFL today? No big deal... someone has to be! You were DFL against a bunch of people who were ONE week out from an ironman! Nothing to be ashamed of most of us here would be behind these people!

My day: Swimming was good today. It seems for at least short swims my time is getting better 2:30/100 for 400yds and that was at the end of class when I was tired. If I can manage to make that work for the entire IM swim I'll be perfectly happy. Off to do my Jorge winter trainer ride for tonight... I'm a bit pooped, but I want to keep on track.

I have heard people talk about rollers and how using them makes you a better rider that using a trainer, etc.  So, I had been kind of wondering abut using them.  Go to YouTube and search for videos of people on their rollers.  1.  They are hilarious.  2.  I have been cured of wanting rollers.

Yeah, no thanks I can demo a wall without riding my bike into it!

Congrats Kate! Nice swim! So what is you were last, you did it!!!

Kiri- I always take water on the bike and run. The hotter it is the more I need, in the summer I'll take two bottles 16-20 oz. each often one with electrolytes, though in cooler weather I'll often take just one with only water. I also bring a couple gu's and luna moons but usually just eat the luna moons.


I am just back from Aruba, the internet didn't work the last few days I was there, I just updated my challenge page and I'm ready to get back on the trainer. The Westin that I stayed in had a nice gym with good life fitness bikes, treadmills and ellipticals, I was able to do a bit of bike training while there but the only non recumbent bike had a terribly uncomfortable bike seat and only did HR/Watt training two times though I didn't know if I could get any in. OWS was fun though the water was so salty I had to bring a water bottle on the swim and tuck it in to the back of my suit to wash the salt out of my mouth every 10 minutes or so.

I need to go back through the last week of posts that I just got to skim through to see what I missed here.

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

Congrats Kate! Nice swim! So what is you were last, you did it!!!

Kiri- I always take water on the bike and run. The hotter it is the more I need, in the summer I'll take two bottles 16-20 oz. each often one with electrolytes, though in cooler weather I'll often take just one with only water. I also bring a couple gu's and luna moons but usually just eat the luna moons.


I am just back from Aruba, the internet didn't work the last few days I was there, I just updated my challenge page and I'm ready to get back on the trainer. The Westin that I stayed in had a nice gym with good life fitness bikes, treadmills and ellipticals, I was able to do a bit of bike training while there but the only non recumbent bike had a terribly uncomfortable bike seat and only did HR/Watt training two times though I didn't know if I could get any in. OWS was fun though the water was so salty I had to bring a water bottle on the swim and tuck it in to the back of my suit to wash the salt out of my mouth every 10 minutes or so.

I need to go back through the last week of posts that I just got to skim through to see what I missed here.

I hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

Welcome back Losta!!  I'm proud of you for working out during your down time.  I know me.  I would have been sitting on my rear sipping on fruity drinks. 

Thanks for the run tips everyone!

I forgot to say for running I usually take a fuel belt helium, I have a 4 bottle version but usually take only 2 bottles. Sometimes I'll go with a speibelt and just one fuel belt bottle. Obviously I like to keep hydrated and I hate the feeling of a dry throat. I'm a bit of a wimp in this department.

Oh man, oh man, oh man.  I just got back from my longest and hardest bike ride in a long time.  Just in case I was curious how close to HIM ready I was, the answer is NOT.  My new cadence sensor is killing me.  I went just over 33 miles and for most of the ride kept the cadence in the 80's, which is work for me.  I never before concerned myself with cadence and see that I should have.  There is no way I could have done this ride with the cadence consistently at about 90.  At least not yet.  And the distance is not much over half of the HIM distance.   Plus, this is a bike path that more or less parallels a river, so it is pretty flat.  And I kept it in the small chainring the entire flipping time.  I knew biking was my weak link, but it is really, really weak. 

I keep telling myself that I have really good overall fitness and that this will come, but I wish cycling fitness would get here NOW.

So, what did everyone else get in today? 

Hey ladies - I was exhausted yesterday from my 10 mile run.  Today I hope to swim but I'm so darn tired, maybe not. 

Leah - I am also new to biking and don't really understand why the cadance is important.  CAn you tell me more about that?  Right now I'm just trying to keep a constant speed for longer.  Should I worry about cadence too?  Give me the scoop.  Kate

PS - Maybe Santa Chuck will bring you a new bike for Christmas!!