Basic Dieting & Training Theory

On my way out for an easy road ride today, I ran into the father of one of my neighbors. The decision to start getting in shape for triathlons early in the year coincides with the last time he saw me. He remarked that I looked a lot slimmer than the last time he saw me and inquired about my training and diet. I told him that the weight loss is kind of threefold. For starters, I currently weigh 175 pounds. This is equivalent to my freshman year of college swimming weight. The weight came off over the course of a few months, but it's a noticeable difference from my 200 pound starting point. At the start, I was lifting weights 3 times per week, averaging about 4 hours of cardio per week split between swimming and mountain biking, and proudly carrying my clean plate club dining card. I elaborated on my basic training schedule in an earlier Blog, but I'm about 3 times more active than previously. I also eliminated weight lifting from my routine. My weight room time is generally limited to stretching and core exercises. I find that for me, the negative effects of extra muscle mass on my swimming body positioning cancels out the strength gains found from weight lifting. Also, with little serious running or cycling training under my belt, and a finite amount of training time, actual cycling and running is more beneficial. Anyway, the elimination of weights from my routine combined with the sharp incresase in cardio, accounts for the majority of my weight loss. I love to eat, so I don't get too carried away on the diet. However I do have some basic guidelines. First, I turned in my clean plate club card. I now try and eat until I feel the first signs of being full, rather than until all the food is consumed. Second, I replaced all soft drinks with water. Third, I eliminated beer and limit wine and spirits to about one/week on average. Fourth, I limit the sweets/pastries/doughnuts to special occasions (birthdays,graduations, and weddings). Fifth, I avoid deep fried foods. This is probablly the most difficult (those fries and nacho chips are always tempting), but there is almost always a tastey alternatve. Finally, sitting out on wing nights, avoiding the cheese sauce and multiple meat topping pizzas, and replacing the vending machine chips and candy bars with dried fruits and granola bars, are all daily healthy choices that go a long way without sacrificing too many of the enjoyable parts of life.

Beyond Clothing

I came across a pretty neat contest sponsored by Beyond Clothing. Check it out here: http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=339980

Xterra Worlds Training Update

Two weeks from today I'll be duking it out with the worlds best at the Xterra World Championship in Maui. I'm really happy with my overall training for this season. In my first year of training for triathlons, I've completed three major goals: staying true to a consistent training regiment,showing measureable improvements in all three disciplines, and staying realtively injury free. There was a bike crash in mid July, and some shin splints from running early in the season, but nothing that kept me away from any one sport for more than a few days. The ability speed injury recovery by replacing one sport with another is a great benifit of triathlon training. In my first year, I still have lots of room for improvement in all disciplines. My basic schedule for the last 3 months has been the following: AM - PM Mon: Swim Tue: Run- Road Bike Wed: Swim- Mnt Bike Thur: Run- Road Bike Fri: Swim- Sat: Swim/Road Bike Sun: Mnt Bike/Run This schedule has worked to give anywhere from 12 to 15 hours a week of solid training. I have varied the running between treadmill,track, trail, and road in order to minimize joint impact and try and maximize leg conditioning. I've also mixed in some spin classes with the road cycling in order to minimize my exposure to cell phone wielding motorists. With two weeks to go, I plan to taper with the basic formula of scaling back the amount of time spent doing each discipline, and then scaling back the intensity. More to come on the road to Maui...

DOUBLE WHAMMY WEEKEND July 7-8

As a test of endurance, I entered two triathlons in one weekend. The Wet Dog Sprint Triathlon in Decatur Alabama came first. I treated this race as a warm-up race to the Lock 4 Blast Xterra the following day. I came out of the 400 yard swim feeling strong going into the bike. Until this race, I hadn’t ridden a road bike in over 10 years, so I was naturally a little nervous. Without a road bike of my own, I borrowed a friend’s steel frame road bike for this race. Despite my lack of road riding experience, the strength developed from mountain biking was enough for me to hold position. I completed the 5k run, achieving my goals of keeping a controlled pace and keeping my heart rate out of the red zone in respect for the next day. My efforts were rewarded with an age group win and second place overall finish. Next up was the Lock 4 Blast in Gallatin Tennessee. Gaining more experience with each race, I started the swim focusing more on staying in a straight line between the buoys. It’s much easier to make up time by swimming a shorter distance than swimming further and faster. The bike course consisted of two laps of the best marked single-track that I have ever ridden. During the first of 2 loops on the bike, a slight inattention allowed my handlebar to catch on a tree and catapult me over the handlebars. Luckily, the tree didn’t inflict any damage to me or my bike and I was back up and rolling in less than 30 seconds. I completed the two loop run without incident and went on to an age group win and 6th place overall finish. Not bad for rookie season two races weekend.

Panther Creek Weekend Aug 5th

I went up to Morristown Tennessee a day early to preride the course Saturday afternoon. This was classic east coast riding with some steep climbing and plenty of tree cover. After a season of little rainfall, the race kicked off with a swim in a lake that was so low, that most athletes, including myself, were scraping the bottom for parts of the race. Despite this, I felt very strong during the 800 yard swim and emerged from the water in second place. Unfortunately, the remainder of the race didn’t go as well. After gaining the lead in the early part of the mountain bike, I was misdirected off course. This wasn’t made apparent until entering the transition area to start the second of two laps. After a heated exchange with race officials, I was allowed to continue. I finished the bike still in the lead, but was assessed a time penalty. Going into the run, a leg twitch turned into a cramp at the halfway point. This sidelined me for approximately 5 minutes and was another mishap in an overall disappointing race. After having great luck in my first few races, this was my first introduction to some of the things that can go wrong in a triathlon. I took two big lessons from this race. First, you can never ask too many questions concerning course layout. Second, despite what happens during a race, its imperative to stay relaxed. I have yet to completely figure out a pattern to cramps, however since all other variables, such as outside temperature, nutrition, stretching, and hydration were consistent with my other races, I can only assume that the leg cramp was due to the additional stress that I put on myself after learning that I went off course. I’ll be experimenting more with cramping during my next few months of training. My next race will be World Championships October 28th, 2007 in Hawaii.

WHY I TRI

Alot of people ask me this, so here it is. My first taste of Xterra came in June of 2006. After being out of the water for almost 6 months, I hesitantly agreed to do the swim leg of a relay race at the Xterra Sport Race in Pelham Alabama. Halfway through the 750 meter lake swim, my arms fatigued so much, that I turned over and started doing backstroke. Even with the fatigue, I still emerged from the water with over a minute lead on the main field of swimmers. It was so exhilarating that I was ready to keep going on the bike. I was hooked at this point. The adrenaline rush from that race was enough to re-awaken the competitive spirit from my earlier swimming career. With the encouragement from local Xterra veterans, I decided to get in better overall condition to tackle a full Xterra triathlon. Similar to many swimmers, I avoided races longer than 200 meters like the plague. However, I’ve found that a strange thing occurs when cycling and running are added to the equation; a one mile swim suddenly becomes the least of concern. With the thrill of the mass swim start, the rollercoaster effect of mountain biking, and the amazing scenary and terrain varieties found trail running, its hard not to get a thrill out of Xterra triathlons.