Beer Drinker Appreciation Society - Closed (Page 8)

I would say we came from about the same place...I am 6ft and around 215 now. I am more of a calories in/calories out guy. That being said, in order to fuel properly and stay under my calories, I need to pick and chose better options. I shoot for 1-2lbs/week loss. The closer I get to my goal of 190, the tougher it is to lose weight. I have a larger carcass so 190 is about my limit. I hope to be around 10- 15% body fat(currently 20%, did a dunk test recently)

Great job on the weight loss already!

"I suffer guilt when I over indulge as well. Much easier to just say no than to have a sampling. I'm sort of an all or nothing type of person. Hence my schedule this year,  1 OLY, 3 HIM and 2IM distance races."

I did a drunk test and it told me I drink too much beer but did not give me an accurate read on my body fat %.

In the new year I am going to be careful  with my carbs. I have done paleo before but felt rough (even after the initial carb flu weeks). The weight does fall off. (I really like marksdailyapple.com). I am going to try to concentrate on whole foods and use carbs before/after/during exercise. I will titrate my daily carb intake with my energy needs as I try to trim off another 10lbs. I would like to be 195lbs on this 6 foot 2.5 inch carcass. This is my time to indulge in bananas and pancakes. I love pancakes and will have them after my long runs (or even take some with me in a zip lock if I am running over 8 miles). It kind of lets me have my cake and eat it too. Simple sugars are also less damaging from an inflammitory point of view when used in the exercise timeframe.

I haven't found anything that has worked for me consistently.  Logging is extremely helpful but I lack the propensity for consistent daily entry.  

Cassady,

Agree with your comments. Staying on plan can be tough. That is aweful about the pulmonary edema during the swim. Based on your profile photo, I suggest you cut your hair and remove your wrist bands to reduce drag for the OWS.

One of the coolest things for me about losing so much weight and doing tri's is that my kids look at me different now. I have heard them talk with pride to others about how their dad is a triathlete. Many things make sense to do for yourself, but for me setting a good example regarding eating right and exercising is pretty important. Life is about a proper balance. Too much of anything is bad. I think most of us here likely run the risk of pushing things to the extreme. At home, we do not have soda pop or chips in the house. My vice is cookies. I have tried to get my wife to keep them out of the house but she says I need to have control over myself and that it is unfair to the poor kids in my household. I kind of lost that battle, mostly.  At home we eat mostly healthy food and my three boys are very active and enjoy whole foods. They are also pretty helpful in the kitchen as we all learn to cook more whole foods as a family.

Mostly I was tracking my calories and trying to keep them around 1600-1700 daily.  However, last week I went to the Dr. and was told I have high cholesterol etc. and he put me on his diet for the next month.  Essentially it is no sugar, no white rice, no potatoes, no white flour, no corn, and no beets and keeping my calories around 1600-1700.  It is based off the assumption that anything that causes insulin to be released is bad and pro-inflammatory.  Of course I didn't keep to it for Christmas eve and Christmas Day, but I am going to try and stick to it for the next month and see what happens.  

Hey All!

Ended up having a pretty lax two days but I got my run in today and started on a plan for the rest of the week and next week so I'm sure to keep focused.  I even bought some "reward beer."  I'm only letting myself have it if I manage to get my workout in that day.  It's a small little reward but it worked today.  Not sure how well it will work after my 7am swim tomorrow but maybe I can have it with lunch instead.  

I have officially started to freak out about my half marathon even though it's almost 2 months away.  Every time I start running, I keep thinking that I must have been nuts to sign up for one this soon.  I need to kick up the focus and make sure I'm actually working my plan.

Don't know about anyone else but I train for my major event and let that training carry me through my smaller events. Last year i had an  Ironman in July and that was my main event but I also had 3 scheduled marathons in april and may.  I Trained for my IM and just added some distance to my runs to make sure I had enough time on my feet for the marathons. 

I ran Nashville 4/28/12, followed by New Jersey Marathon5/6/12, and then Buffalo 5/27/12.  I feel your pain with a short time to train. I just signed up to run an impromptu 1/2 marathon next weekend to benefit Sandy Hook Elementary School via the United Way.  My farthest run is only 6 miles in the last 4 months.  

Thanks!  That's what I've been trying to do though my major event is only an Olympic distance race so the run distance won't cover me for my 1/2s.  Currently, I basically scrapped the run part of my Olympic distance training plan and am using a 1/2 training plan in place of the runs.  It's working okay but I feel like I'm slacking on my biking and swimming because the run training seems rather demanding.

What I need is more hours in the day or a dose of toughen up buttercup.  

If i remember correctly your first tri is the one in Olds a tri a tri?

Not sure of the rest of your races but I would focus on the run first, bike second  and swim last. 

Last year I did a HM in Feb. and pretty much focused on run up until then.  I didn't even touch the pool until the middle of february!

Kim

My best marathon came in prep for my only tri to date, a HIM distance.  I did the Marathon in May and the HIM in Aug.  I was super worried that I wasn't getting enough bike in for the 56 mile HIM during peak marathon training.  I was following a 20 week free HIM plan on this site, and using a run 3x per week plan for marathon training.  I have my logs up to date if you look at my feb, mar, april, and may.  May 19th ws my marathon, then I went to 2 bike focus weeks prior to picking back up on the him training plan. 

I would suggest that you run a short recovery run, (3-4 miles), a medium run 6-7 miles, and a long run of 9-11 miles per week.  These runs should not start out at this distance, but you build up to this starting at say 2, 3 4, (miles) and increasing by 10% per week, per workout to avoid over increasing and injury.  start out small with workouts that you can do, and slowly add 10% to your total for 3 weeks, then for your 4th week, decrease by about 25-30% of your 3rd week total.  When you start back up, start at your 3rd week total, and increase the following 2 weeks after that before puting another rest week in.  so essentially the week after rest week is the same totals as your 3rd week, then the next two weeks increase by 10% each week, and then another rest week.  This way, your body has  a chance to recover while still working out. 

For your bikes and swims, plan those around your run days.  If you can, do 2 bricks s/b inbetween the 3 run days, and add a rest day after your long run.

I hope any of this is helpful.  It's how I approached it last year training for marathon and HIM in the same year.  This year, my marathon and HIM are far enough apart that I can fortunately do 2 complete cyles with no overlap, but I'm still biking and swimming so as not to lose that fitness base.

Yes, the tri-a-tri is my first event this year.  It's funny you suggested culling back on bike and swim, my husband had almost the same advice.  I've been trying to build my confidence on the swim.  It's the only part of the Oly I'm worried about because it has a 45 minute cut off and based on my OWS at the sprint - I'm not there.  I can do that in a pool but not OW.  Of course, I went off course during the Sprint... but still, I need to know I can easily clear that time in the pool just so I can be confident going into the Oly.

Do you think swimming once a week now until the end of February and then at least 2 (maybe 3) from March to mid-June would be enough?

2 days of training back under my belt and my bro in laws are taking me fishing tomorrow.  It's all these legs can stand.     I went to the store tonight to p/u a 6 pk, and the 22's were on sale at rediculously low prices.  I had to support the local grocer.  I bought 8 22's (All different IPA's and 1 Barleywine) that I wouldn't normaly buy, and 2 6pk's plus a 1/5 of Jim.  I'm a little impulsive,     but figure what doesn't get drank for by myself and 3 bro in laws can be my bevi's for next month.

Hoping to catch a few limits of rainbow's tomorrow.

Happy training all.

Kevin

All this running talk leads me to question....

Is it better to do faster pace with shorter duration and build, or slower pace and longer duration and build? 

Just trying to figure out before I train with less efficiency or worse end with an injury and not be able to do either.

Alex

This has to be an individualized question for fitness and for goals.  I think in general, it's better to go slow and long to build overall fitness.  if you go too long, then you'll injure yourself.  You can't go too long if you only go as long as you can safely go.  If you slowly increase, your less likely to injure than increasing too much too soon.

I like to go fast, but I can manage one intense workout a week w/o feeling I'm overusing.  The rest of my miles are specific workouts, but I do not fiddle with intensity or I'm laid up for a few weeks with plantar, or an achilles injury etc.

slow and distance is the way to go IMHO.

Going for speed and distance, unless you are young, is a recipe for disaster.

I really like Hal Higdon running plans and used a run/walk format of 4:1 on my long runs and HM. I hated running before my HM training. Now I like it.

Alex - Bobby and Kevin's advice is spot on... the only thing I would add is that over the course of the season you might actually think about doing both but at different times and for different purposes.  Start with long slow runs, which will help prevent injury and increase endurance (which is exactly what you need right now).  Then when you're about 6-8 weeks from your first race, you should begin to add speedwork to increase your pace.  This can get dicy because if you try to do too much too fast, you will probably end up injuriung yourself.

Here is a good article on periodization on breaking your training down into blocks.  http://www.trifuel.com/training/triathlon-training/what-does-periodization-mean-and-how-does-it-work

Hope this helps!

The question is what is your "A" race? If your swimming is weak and you are doing a HIM middle of June then I would lighten up the bike. It is tough slugging if you are doing an early season half in Calgary as you won't have much time to put in open water training...well if you are a cold weather/water sissy like me that is!

Looking at your race schedule(Disney HM end of February) Calgary HIM Middle of June, and not being confident in your swim suggests to me more swim less bike.

Good luck, we may see you down in Olds as my wife is doing her first triathlon and that is one of the possibles on her list, although the Napa one in April sounds better to me!

I think you should fly me down there to assess your running....

haha, it is currently -21F with windchill -33F here...

Damn, where is the like button! have a good fishing trip and a few pops for me!

Last year, I was a nervous wreck as I prepared for races because everything was so new to me.  Like you, I needed to convince myself that I could do it before I actually could do it.  the fact that your sprint didn't go as well as you would have liked makes your apprehension totally understandible.  

However, you had only been working out for 4 months prior to that race.  When you do the OLY, you will have a year of training under your belt.  Plus, there is plenty of time to build up your swim, which is the shortest element in terms of time (but also in terms of mental energy as well because its at the start of the race when you've got the most energy).  Plus, the threat of having to drink a warm Coors Light will ensure that you will finish strong.   

Damn nice of you kevin to buy a couple 22s for me to enjoy.  I hate fishing but I love drinking beer!  Good luck!