Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Race Schedule, 2014

Today my coach and I planned out my triathlon schedule for 2014.

So far, I'm signed up for:
 Boulder Sprint, June 1st
 Boulder Peak (Olympic Distance), July 13th
 Harvest Moon Long Course (1/2 Ironman Distance), September 7th



She also wants me to do a few running races, and possibly one more tri.

This shit is getting real!

:)

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Swim, Bike, Run, Repeat


It's the off season for triathlon, which means most triathletes take a little time off from training and let their bodies rest and recover from the season.  Since I didn't have a "season" this past year, my Coach isn't giving me an off season.

As the title of this post suggests, I have been biking twice a week, swimming twice a week and running twice a week.  My only off day is Friday, that's when me and the little lady do something fun like go to the aquarium (My gym has daycare, and she loves it).

Some stats:

I've been averaging 50 miles a week on the bike, 2.5 miles in the pool, and about 8-9 miles running.

These numbers will obviously go up the further into the training I get, but the important thing is that I'm injury free.  When I first started racing, I was constantly plagued by calf injuries, which would set me back on my running.  Thanks to our careful build up, I am running pain and injury free (knock on wood).

I've actually gained a few pounds, but I have dropped in pants size from a 38 to a 34, and the 34s are fairly loose.  I can definitely notice definition in my arms, legs and core...as well as a skinnier face and neck....no more double chin!

My goal weight that I'm shooting for is 185, based upon my ideal weight for my height and body comp.
I expect some weight to come off once the run miles gets higher.....thinking about doing a modified atkins to help kick start the fat loss.


Thanks for reading, and have a happy holiday season!

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

One month down....

It has been awhile since I last posted, but honestly, not too much has happened.  The general purpose of this blog is to make you the reader laugh...and nothing really funny has happend.  However, a friend pointed out that if I'm not posting, I must not be working out.....well that's not entirely true.

I've made it through a little over a month of my training, except for last week.  Typical for me, I get sick when the season changes.  So last week it was bronchitis and sinusitis, with a good portion of lung-hacking up chunks of what looked like fancy dijon mustard.  YUM!  So in the interest of my continued breathing and living, my coach and I decided to take a week off, which really isn't a big deal this far out.

But we're back at it now, and honestly it felt good to get back in the pool and swim.  It was a shorter workout with lots of intervals...about 1500 yards (ok, shorter than the 1800 I was swimming).

See, I told you..nothing funny to report.  So I hope you enjoyed reading my (really boring) blog entry.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

2 weeks down, 100 to go....

I have successfully completed two weeks of my Ironman training program.  Sorry I haven't posted anything, but I haven't had anything amusing to say, so I didn't bother.  And I really don't have anything to say in this post, except I think my coach is trying to kill me.  She already has me swimming almost a mile.....at this rate, by the time we get to the actual race, I'll be able to swim to Cuba and back (take that, Diana Nyad!)

The only other news is that our container shipment from Germany has finally made it to American soil, which means I'll finally have my triathlon bike, so I can ride something (faster) than my mountain bike.
Oh, and the body fat scale, so I can show you just how fat I am...<sarcasm font> YAY!!!

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

My first swim workout, AKA "Shamu swims laps"

Today, as the title of this post so eloquently pointed out, was my first swim workout in over a year.  After getting clarification from Coach M. on a few things (what the hell are easy odds and :30RIs?) I hit the pool with 'lil miss in tow (ok, not literally in tow, although that would be fun for her in little dinghy or something...but I digress).  She went to the daycare at the gym, which, by the way is the greatest value EVER.  $20 bucks a month for unlimited (two hours at a time) babysitting.  The only catch is that I have to actually be at the gym during those two hours....Still, I'm thinking of just taking her up there and I'll sit in the lobby and surf the 'net....or I could lift weights...nah, I'll surf.

Anyways, back to the workout.  Coach M set up my workout today for a total of 1200 yards, including a 200 warm up and a 100 cool down, with intervals of varying intensity and length in between (I'm not going to tell you my exact workouts, cuz I'm paying good money for them...but I can recommend a superstar coach if you're interested).

As I previously stated, I don't think I had swam 200 yards in the past year, let alone 1200!  But, I managed to get through the whole thing in a shade over 30 minutes...I'm sore as hell, and I think someone from SeaWorld tried to harpoon/net me, but other than that...good workout.

Ok, back to your regularly scheduled lives.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Blood work

The results from my blood work came back, and they are MUCH better than my previous physical in 2009.

Here are the highlights:

2009 results:
Cholesterol (Acceptable range 0 - 199 mg/dL):   208 <-- High

Cholesterol, non-HDL (Acceptable range  <=150 mg/dL):   171 <-- High

HDL (Acceptable range  >=40 mg/dL):   37 <-- Low

LDL (Acceptable range <160):   111 <-- Acceptable Range

Triglyceride (Acceptable range  <=149 mg/dL):   302 <--Really High!


2013 results:
Cholesterol:  174 <-- Acceptable Range

Cholesterol, non-HDL:  132 <-- Acceptable Range

HDL:  42 <-- Acceptable Range

LDL:  94 <-- Acceptable Range

Triglyceride:  192 <--Still High, but much better!



My training officially kicks off on Monday, so I'm going to enjoy some Greasy Fried Food until then....
:)


PS: I'll be doing regular weight and body fat updates as well, but seeing as how my scale is somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean on a freighter, that will have to thankfully wait.  Until then, take comfort in the fact that the title of this blog is accurate.

PPS:  I should probably change it to slowfattyironman.com




Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Step 1: Dr's Clearance

Since I am in my forties now, I thought it would be a good idea to get a physical before I started my IM training.  I went this morning, and am good to go.  Blood results will be back tomorrow or the next day, but otherwise, I'm fine (and so are my testicles, thank you very much Dr. C.).

Now I really have no excuses!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

I think I might be crazy

For a few weeks, I've been kicking the idea around of doing a full length Ironman triathlon.  For those of you out there that don't know what that entails, I'll break it down for you.
An Ironman is composed of a 2.4 mile (3.86km) swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.25km) bike ride, and then to top it off a full marathon (26.2 mile (42.2km)) run! Most Ironman events have a strict cut off time, so that means I have to complete all 140.6 miles (226.31km) in 17 hours.

17 hours.

I don't think I could do 140 miles in 2 days, let alone 17 hours.

So, in order to do this, I've decided to hire a coach.  Oh, and not only am I going to do it, I want to do it in under 12 hours.  Yeah, a full five hours faster than the cut off.  If I can average 20 miles an hour, I can do the bike in 5.6 hours.  And if I can run 10 minute miles, that's 4.4 hours for the run.  Which leaves a full 2 hours for the swim and transition times.  If I break it down like that, it almost seems achievable.

Because I'm a giant fat ass, I've decided on a two year training plan, and plan on toeing the line at an IM in 2015.  Along the way, I'll race a 1/2 IM, and probably run a marathon too.

As I mentioned, to help me with this herculean task, with Rock Star Wife's permission, I have decided to hire a coach.  Now, I've never interviewed a coach (or anyone for that matter - I've always been a low-level peon at my paying jobs with no authority whatsoever...just the way I like it), but I think I did a pretty good job picking the one for me.

My future coach, Coach M, is a superstud woman.  She consistently finishes at the top of her age group, has won two slots to Kona (yeah, the IM world championships in Hawai'i), and almost exclusively trains newbies running their first IM.  UH YEAH! SIGN ME UP!

I have created this blog to:
A: Make you, the reader laugh (at my pain?)
B: Keep me accountable (GET OFF YOUR FAT ASS AND DO YOUR WORKOUT!)
C: All of the above.


So join me on this unbelievable goal I've set for myself, and help hold me accountable as well!
Thanks for reading.