Gray Guys/Girls Maturing Triathlete - Always OPEN (Page 9)

Here's the first week weight-loss/workout progress results.  If you don't see your screen-name, or if your entry is incomplete, I didn't find your progress posted.  If you get the results up, I'll do an update.

One week down!  Remember - strive for progress, not perfection.

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Never thought you were a slacker - HONEST!

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LOL, it isn't a lot of math if you just plug numbers into a spreadsheet!  I'm a data geek - guess that flows from being an I.T. Consultant most of my adult life.  I have spreadsheets for everything!  This is just one more excuse to play with numbers.

I didn't read the entire article nor did I link to the research paper that was referenced but I've seen this anecdotally over years working with athletes.

At the end of the day, it still comes down to -> calories in - calories out = weight gain/loss.  If that total is a negative number, you will lose weight, it that number is positive, you will gain weight.  Absent underlying medical issues, it really is that simple.

In my humble opinion, the problem people run into is two-fold -

1) People look at calories in/calories out as one thing.  I did this for a long time.  Like the woman in the article, I tied food and exercise together.  I regularly joked that I did triathlon so I could eat whatever I wanted.  It wasn't until I looked at calories in and calories out as separate that I began to see results.  I found that cleaning up my nutrition and maintaining a healthy diet went a long way.  Once I had that done, THEN I looked at the other part of the equation.  When I no longer tied the two together, I had MUCH more control.  I can control calories in, and I can control calories out.  When the two were conjoined, it was nearly impossible to control them.  A real common symptom of this is justifying calories in because of calories out - "I did that hard workout so I deserve that donut."

2) As we increase our physical activity, our bodies will need additional energy - i.e. calories.  That means more food intake.  Back when I was in High School and College, I was swimming 6-10 hours per day, seven days a week at times.  I was easily taking in over 15,000 calories a day.  That's all well and good when you are in your teens or early 20's.  You could eat Tupperware and survive.  As we get older and need additional calories, it becomes that much more important that we are following sound nutritional guidelines.  Taking in additional calories isn't, in and of itself, a bad thing.  Taking in the WRONG calories is where the problem lies.  I have been to countless races where a glass or bottle of beer was waiting for any finisher.  Many, many triathletes run over to the beer garden and chug down that cold beer, thinking, "I deserve this beer because I finished that triathlon" (see number one above).  Nutritionally, the last thing they should be doing is taking in a couple hundred empty calories.

Of course, none of my informal observations prove anything.  That said, it is fairly obvious to me that any meaningful weight loss will only come through a lifestyle change that includes an evolving nutritional strategy as well as exercise.  One without the other will likely only result in frustration.

Hey Dwayne,

This is a gray area we get to re-visit every time we do a workout challenge.  Obviously swim/bike/run time counts as does strength/core time.  We've included yoga time as that certainly goes to core stability and balance.  

Beyond that, there are lots of things that certainly qualify as exercise, even strenuous exercise, but if they aren't somehow directly traceable back to triathlon we haven't included them.

So I guess the question is what sport categories are you talking about?

Hey everyone!

As those of you that have been around for a few years know, Steve Lutz (lutzman), is the guy that started the Gray Guys/Gals mentor group back in the day.  I became a "Gray Guy/Gal" shortly thereafter and in 2014, Steve and I began Co-Mentoring the group.  Following his bike accident at the Boise HIM in June 2014, Steve's focus understandably turned to his health and recovery.

Well, Steve is recovered and he is back!  I am happy to announce that Steve has agreed to again join me as Co-Mentor for the Gray Guys/Gals group.

Steve has been an inspiration to me as I'm sure he will be to all of you.  Together, Steve and I look forward to answering questions and helping all of you Gray Guys and Gals as you progress on your triathlon journey.

That sounds fair to me.  I'll get the chart updated and posted in the next day or so.

Here's the updated challenge points -

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I just saw the subject heading "Tri TV star".  I really think of myself as pretty quiet - not a star type at all but this has been fun and I'm glad I did it.  

I skipped a run yesterday and then went out with a group of people to celebrate a fellows 6oth b'day.  So I may have blown my weight loss for this week but I did enjoy the beer and I had 3 (I usually don't drink 12 a year total).

For my indoor cycling, I go to a group lead by my coach.  He keeps it pretty interesting and pushes us harder than I would push myself.  I probably wouldn't ride all winter on my own.  Just in the last 3 weeks he started showing videos starting with my video 3 weeks ago and then old (1995) IMKona videos.  I find it distracts from the riding and I tend to ride faster and the time passes more quickly with the videos.  

Originally posted by Onurleft20

Originally posted by k9car363

LOL, it isn't a lot of math if you just plug numbers into a spreadsheet!  I'm a data geek - guess that flows from being an I.T. Consultant most of my adult life.  I have spreadsheets for everything!  This is just one more excuse to play with numbers.

I work for Geek Squad and I think spreadsheets turn me on now.

Wow!  Small world.  The woman who Best Buy contracted with to start up the Geek Squad is a real good friend of our family.

Are you in the field or in the shop?

I've got the Ironman broadcasts from the past 10 years recorded.  Last year I came across copies of the live stream from 2014, '15, '16 and '17.  That has been REALLY cool.  I'm a huge Sebastian Kienle fan so having the entire stream from 2014 when he won is kinda neat.  There's something like 60-hous of video there so that gives me something interesting to watch.

Those pesky coaches!  Making you do more than you would have done on your own!  

I don't know that I have a "favorite" trainer ride - it's the trainer.  I'm still getting used to the idea of HAVING to ride on the trainer versus choosing to ride on the trainer like I did when we were in California.  Somehow that makes a HUGE difference.

I follow a reverse-periodization model to guide my training.  That works well as it puts the bike speed/power focus into the winter months.  That means lots of relatively short, high intensity workouts - perfect for short days and being on the trainer.  My average week has a 50-75 minute VO2 MAX interval ride, a 60-75 minute threshold interval ride, and a 75-90 minute Sweet Spot ride.

VO2 MAX example -

10-minute warm-up followed by 4 x 9 minute over/under intervals consisting of 1-minute at 95%, 2-minutes at 105%, each 9-minute block is followed by 5-minutes at 45%.

If I had a favorite trainer ride, it would be a ride similar to this one.  This workout is cumulative - by the time you get to the third 9-minute set, the lights are starting to go out and it's an effort just to stay upright on the bike.  In addition to the physiological benefits of a ride like this, VO2 MAX rides sharpen you mentally and teach you how to overcome pain and discomfort.  I've said for years, one of the biggest mistakes age-group triathletes make is on easy days they don't go easy enough, and on hard days, they don't go hard enough.  This workout will help you go hard enough.

Threshold example -

15-minute warm-up with 2 x 2-minute spin-ups at 105% targeting cadence of 100+ rpm.  Then either 3 x 15 @ 98% or 2 x 20 @ 98%.  Both have 3-minute recovery at 45% between intervals.

This type of workout is just as challenging as a VO2 MAX workout but in a different way.  The VO2 MAX workout had 18-minutes just above threshold.  This one doesn't have the lactate and lactic acid accumulation but you are just below threshold for 40-45 minutes.  Most AG triathlete's time-to-exhaustion is well below an hour so a workout like this could well be a workout to exhaustion - that makes it tough.  That also makes it go by quickly as you need to focus to hold target power.

Sweet Spot example -

15-minute warm-up follow by 3 x 20-minute intervals at 88-94% with 4-minute recovery at 55%.  There's nothing particularly challenging about this type workout - except fighting off the boredom that comes with close to 90-minutes on the trainer.

My biggest thing on the trainer is keep it interesting to fight off the boredom.  Hard intervals do that.

Hey Steve,

This is a classic over/under workout, or in this case, it's an under/over workout.  I suppose the main interval set should more properly be written as 4 x [3 x (1' @ 95%, 2' @ 105%), 5' @ 45%].  There are 4 nine-minute blocks.  Each 9-minute block is 3 x [1' @ 95%, 2' @ 105%] with 5' @ 45% following the 9-minute block.  So that's more clear, each 9-minute block would be - 1" 95%, 2' 105%, 1' 95%, 2' 105%, 1' 95%, 2' 105%.  Then 5' at 45%.  Repeat that three more times followed by a 5-10 minute EZ spin to cool-down.

Using the RPE scale I attached below, this would be 1' at 7, 2' @ 8, then 5' @ 2.  The idea is to work just under threshold, then just over threshold.  It's pretty easy to tell when you cross threshold because you start getting "the burn."

The "overs" flood your body with metabolic by-products - lactate, lactic acid, etc.  They also train you to work through discomfort while maintaining a high power output.  The "unders" train your body to clear those metabolic by-products.  The workout as a whole will increase aerobic capacity, increase VO2 MAX, increase lactate threshold, improve mitochondrial density and enzyme levels, improve muscular endurance, improve muscular strength, and hurt like hell.  All of that in less than an hour!

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