Newbz'z summer mentor group is FULL!!!! (Page 78)

I will be out of the loop for the next few days. Hubby is doing the Copper Triangle bike tour in Colorado on Saturday. The road bike tour is 80 miles and 6000+ feet of climbing. After that we will be doing a little camping and river rafting. Should be a fun long weekend.

Is anyone racing this weekend?  If so, good luck!

Have a good weekend Robin.  The bike tour sounds like fun but I doubt I could handle all the climbing since my hilliest route has about 950 feet of climbing.  The rafting would be awesome too.  Enjoy!

I am in the middle of my recovery week and it is driving me nuts.  I ran an easy 5k tonight but I actually had to rush it because of another commitment.  I wanted to run faster to keep my training where I want it to be.  The rest weeks cause me a lot of frustration but I will slow it down and reduce my efforts.

Who's racing this weekend?

Ok, question for Newbz (and anyone else who wants to throw in their 2 cents)

Newbz- I was reading your comments on the "belly fat" thread in "tri-ing for weight loss". My question is what do you eat? I know you do insane amounts of exercise (compared to me, of course), but do you avoid certain foods? Do you pay attention to calories, carbs, something else? What did you do to get your body fat % down?

As you know, I've been trying to lose weight since my daughter was born almost a year ago. My strategy has been counting calories and trying to cut out (but not totally eliminate) processed foods. It's worked well for me & I'm only 5 pounds away from the weight I started my last pregnancy at (after having gained 55lbs in those 9 months-ouch). After getting to that weight, I'd like to lose another 10-15 lbs. more. I will admitt, I could probably cut more calories per day, but I would not be happy and it would be hard to stick to. I'm ok losing weight slow (like 1- 0.5 lbs per week) as long as I don't feel hungry. Might sound cliche, but I'm really trying to make a lifestyle change with my eating and exercise & don't want to do anything extreme to lose weight quickly.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks 

BTW- Nice pics!

PS: Don't tell me to eat poptarts. They are banned in my house


Edited by jpbis26 2010-08-05 9:06 PM

I don't have a 6 pack, and I have a very bad diet...so I'm of no help as far as what it takes to get really lean.

But I'll just say that weight loss is something you can't rush.  It's a very long process once your body gets to a "normal" weight.  I also believe that genetically...some people are just not meant to have really flat stomachs.  And if you fall into that category...you can actually do a lot of damage to your metobolic health trying too hard to achieve something your body is constantly resisting.

Congrats on your weight loss so far...and losing .5-1 pound per week is A LOT.  That's nothing you should be "settling for"...that deserves a major pat on the back IMO. 

Not racing but planning on doing a 90ish mile ride this weekend...which will be my longest to date.  Hoping for clear weather and calm winds...which we hasn't been the case recently.

A normal day for me is something like this:

cereal or somethign similar (or more often rice) for my first meal.

midday either a salad or smaller sandwich

dinner is normally rice or pasta, chicken, some veggies, or a big hoagie (i guess you cant call it a sub on the east coast), or some fresh pizza.

a few days a week beer and fries take the place of dinner. (i know i know).

when i have it around/can afford there is as much fruit as i can carry back from the market (lot of oranges, LIMES BECAUSE I LOVE THEM, grapefruit).

honestly its whatever i can get my hands on food wise. everything else aside though i eat a LOT of white rice (its cheap, you can make it into a million things, its fast, and its something i have always loved).

a lot of meals are made as a stir fry or something similar (both my parents are chefs and i have worked in the food service so i kno how to cook very well).

As far as weight loss goes, by and far the largest thing is simply cal in vs cal out. cleaning up your diet will help in how things are used, but without a deficit you'll still get fat if you eat more than you burn, and lose weight if you burn more.

honestly, at least right now, i think yo uare on the right track. its much easier when its a small change. the only time i ever have a bigger jump is the start of offseason training i'll make a big cut (say new years) to kick start things. after that its back to slow and steady.

any weight loss i am seeing right now is simply due to training 24+ hours a week and is not intended.

J- Thanks. Believe me, at this point in the game, I'm not after six pack abs (didn't mean for my post to imply this-just looking to lose fat in general). In fact, that idea is down right delusional for me after 3 kids & lots of weight gain & loss my abs are pretty non-existent.

But I do appreciate what others who have lost weight have to say, I figure there's always something to be learned. Just when I think I've got this weight thing figured out I hit a plateau or worse gain a little back. So I guess that keeps me humble. But, I agree with you, some people are not meant to have a six pack. Just like I was never meant to look like Barbie. Bummer.

David- Sounds like what I've been doing. We eat a lot of white rice too. Never could get used to the texture of the brown rice. Once again, turns out there's no weight loss secret. Too bad, I'll have to just keep counting calories. Thanks.

some things i'm just not willing to change/give up.

i'm sure in some ways brown rice is better for me, but i dont like it, plain and simple. and i would rather eat something slightly less good for me that i like.

some things like cleaning up the diet may speed thigns up a bit, but it wont change the cal in vs cal out.

once you start hitting a wall, then in my mind is when you start to look at things like diet a lot more, vs just totals (assuming you are not eating like crap to start).

now one thing that can help, and this is something i do before i really get back to working on race weight, is start cutting out small little things.

watch how much oil you cook with, cut out salad dressings (i prefer oil and vinager or just balsamic without the oil), replace some snacks with veggies/fruit vs a sandwich, half the time you want them because you are used to eating vs really needing it and simply filling up on something like carrots will be a MUCH lower cal snack.

apples actually curb hunger (i forget which thing in them does this), and a salad is a great way to fill up with almost all water/fiber.

cutting out things like juice, soda, how much toppings you put on things, etc, is another easy way to lower things.

changing around meal formats a bit, more carbs before workouts and more protien/less carbs after will help you stay fueled better and recover faster/feel more full.

all of the above will cut cal out of your day without actually eating ANY LESS, and not really feeling hungry.

David- Thanks. Yeah- brown rice sucks. When I did Weight Watchers (which I still basically follow, only I don't want to spend money on going to meetings since starting triathlon) they talked about trying to eat low energy density foods. Just like everything you mentioned (apples, carrots, salad). Foods that fill you up, but do not have tons of calories. These foods have a lot of water in them. That's why I've been trying to limit the processed stuff (high energy density-takes more of it to fill me up)

On a different topic

Decided to keep doing the swim group for the next 10 weeks. We will continue to do OWS every Saturday morning in addition to one evening pool swim. I'm also going to continue the running group every Sunday morning. The groups meet early due to the heat, so it doesn't really cut in to family time, the problem is the bike. If both weekend mornings are out, then I'm not sure how to get the bike in. Right now, I'm thinking that I'll just alternate doing the biking on Sat or Sun and have to miss the other activity. I already know that I'll have to miss some of the Saturday swims for some of my son's soccer games, but I figure something is better than nothing and class really pushes me harder than when I'm on my own.

Again, because of the family I don't really want to do anything after 9am, so doing a bike ride in the afternoon can't be a regular thing. Biking might end up being on the trainer in the evenings on weekdays after kids are asleep.

Since I'm doing the HM in Dec, I think it's ok if the bike is not a priority right now. Hate to say that because it is my worst area and desperately needs attention, but I can always work on it more in the winter (we can ride year round here in the desert) which is not the case for OWS. 

I actually love brown rice.  I grew up on white rice for the first 25 years of my life, but now eat brown rice whenever possible.  The sucky part is it takes like 4 times longer to cook. 

Another thing you may want to look at to help you beat the plateau is your frequency of meals.  Smaller, more frequent meals keeps your metabolism higher.  I know it's hard to do, but I had awesome results when eating 6 meals a day.  I loved it...because I felt like I was always eating and I was never really hungry.  My energy levels were also way up.  But it's just so hard to prepare 6 meals a day when you have to work and do other stuff.

I could def lose a few more pounds myself.  I have been kinda if trying, kinda not trying.  I figure when my run mileage really starts to get high from my marathon training I'll lose more weight by default.  I really only need to lose about 5 more pounds to be happy for a race weight, which is the only reason I care.  Right now I am bouncing back and forth between 162-164 but I would like to get closer to 157-ish to be happy.  I have allowed myself to lose a lot of muscle mass in the process and that kills me in some ways.  I have had a couple people make comments like: "You used to have huge arms, what happened?"  Those arms came from a 5 days a week power lifting training regimen that I did several years ago.  Now I am committed to tri's and running and need to lose some mass to be faster.  Anyway, I'll contiue to allow my process to be a slow one too.

Jackie I think it sounds like you are doing pretty good by the really slow process of weight loss.  By going as slow as you are you are developing habits that should stick with you for a very long time and make you more successful in the process.  You said lifestyle change was what you are looking for and you should be able to accomplish that by the slow loss.  Good job!

J- Wish I could get into brown rice. I try it every couple of months to see if I've changed my mind, but so far just can't say that I do. I have, however, made the switch to whole wheat pasta. The Barilla brand is good and my family has not noticed the difference. Also have started eating whole wheat breads.

I've heard that some foods you have to try at least 10 times before you like them (read that in a Parenting magazine about toddlers, but it might be true for adults too). I have started to like a lot more veggies or have found new ways to prepare them that make me like them better.
But, as Newbz said, if I'm going to eat the calories, it better be something I like.

Def agree about the frequent small meals. Once I go too long without food and feel really hungry (on top of feeling rushed and tired) is when I start to get very bad ideas, like going to the nearest fast food drive thru

I guess I just like grains.  I always preferred whole wheat bread over white bread.  And I always prefered cereal like Total, corn flakes, wheaties, shredded wheat, or regular cheerios over the sugary stuff as a kid.

my mom is a baker/pastry chef, and i LOVE good bread regardless, good french, whole grain, etc.

cannot stand white sliced bread, outside of that i'm good.

i just dont like brown rice.

cereal, i'm all over the place, my top 5 right now are:

raisin bran, cinnamon toast crunch, golden grahams, cheerios, and lucky charms.

This week has not been a good one with regards to my training. My running partner, Jamie, has been out of town, and my self-motivation has been severely lacking. I've only run 2x since Sunday and both times less than 3 miles which is way less than I normally do on an average week. I may have to get in a run tonight out of disgust with myself.

Good news is this weekend is official bike my a$$ off weekend. I'm riding tomorrow and Sunday. Tomorrow will be a not-too-tough ride around 25-30 miles. Sunday will be the punisher. My friend, Glen, who I ride with has decided it is time for me to ride with his other friends. (little background- the rides we do together are his recovery rides, the guys he wants me to ride with on Sunday are the ones he does his harder rides with)

So I told Glen, "Hey they'll be easy on me. They know I'm a beginner." He said, "Whatever, you're not a beginner anymore. It'll be hard, but you'll kept up." I guess we're doing a really hilly route too. What have I gotten myself into? And more importantly, why am I looking forward to this torture?

training is going well on my end,

did another 20min power test yesterday,

1 hour warm up
20 min test, then finished out hte 3 hours.

ave 332 watts over the 20 min, weight is down to 147, for a power to weight rations of 4.97 watts/Kg
ave speed was 28.0
very very happy about this:-)

wow...I'm lucky when I get my watts/kg over 3.2

Recovery week is over.  Now I can start hitting it again.  I was itching to get the hard stuff going again yesterday but I was able to hold off the urge to run harder and longer.

My marathon/run focus begins tomorrow and I will add one easy 2 mile run in the middle of the week and ditch one swim a week to make room for the additional run.  (Although now that I think about it I could probably still do both.  2 miles won't take very long to run.)  I will increase the mileage of my 4th run every week as time goes by to allow me to adjust to the additional mileage.  I am ready to get the run focus going and work on a possible BQ time at the MCM in October.  Wow!  that race is coming up faster and faster.  I also have determined not to injure myself just to get a BQ.  With the problems I have had with my knee I am looking to miss another marathon target.

Yesterday's long run (8 miles) and today's long ride (32 miles) are done, so my workouts are done for the week.  I start tomorrow again and I am amped for the time I'll get to train hard.

Dirk- Good luck on your marathon training!

Did a 31 mile ride this morning at Red Rock with some friends. Very happy with it, definately getting more comfortable on the bike and am able to push my pace a little more.

be careful riding out there, seems like a lot of bike accidents in that area recently

Thanks. I will be. I think this may be because there are always a ton of cyclists out there. It is a very popular area to bike out here. For the most part, there are hardly any cars on the road most of the time, but it is a higher speed road. Tomorrow I will be biking in Lake Mead on a bike trail.

Edited by jpbis26 2010-08-07 4:15 PM

At my tri last weekend a cyclist hit a van that was turning into a Burger King.  The rider got a broken collarbone, broken teeth and several abrasions and lacerations.  they did not cite either one of them but it seems they should have cited the driver, if nothing else than for stupidity.   I think the aero's were broken on the bike and the front wheel looked trashed when I saw the bike later.  Definitely need to be careful out there.

David, I have a photography question.  I have a Cannon all auto camera that I have been taking to races for my wife to take pics of me and I would like to have it set up before hand to make it easier for her to get better shots.  Right now many of the pics are blurry when I am moving fast.  what should the ISO be set on and the shutter speeds to get the best quick shots?

Since when do they have bike trails in the lake?  =P

Ok...so I went out for my longest ride to date.  89 miles.

To get that mileage, I had to start at 5:30 am and hash out the first 20 miles solo before latching on with my group ride which does 69 miles.  I ran about 8 miles yesterday...which was the longest I have run in quite some time...so I suppose I was a little tired from that too.

So I finish the 20 miles pretty good, and I suppose I got a little cocky and started hammering out some of the first miles with the group instead of hanging back.  It was also really hot today...maybe about 90 with 75% humidity.  Oh and did I mention I only got about 2.5 hours of sleep.  LOL

By mile 70, I'm gassing out...which is right where the hill repeats are in the ride.  I somehow make it to mile 80, and am drafting the slower folks coming in (where I'm normally up front).  Very humbling experience.  I swear there were a few times where I just felt like falling off my bike would make me feel better.  And I think I was riding a bit sketchy the last 5 miles as my head was down a lot.  I wouldn't call it a bonk...but 10 more miles might have done the trick.

Anyway...even though it was "only" 90 miles...I couldn't imagine doing a marathon after that...especially in the mid day heat.  Totally new respect for those who have finished an IM.  Crazy stuff.

Haha...I guess that sounded weird. I will be biking next to Lake Mead Congrats on your long ride and run.

Edited by jpbis26 2010-08-07 8:00 PM