I'll keep the back story as short as I can. If you are not interested, skip down to I Got fat.
Back story:
I'm a longtime reader (Lurker) of this forum and I have been inspired and educated about a great many things with regard to triathlon over the years. I never signed up to post because I didn't have anything useful to add. I have only signed up now because I find myself in a position to offer something I have not seen on this forum. This post is about what happens when the wheels fall off and you find yourself fat.
This forum is full of people with incredible fitness that are capable of incredible feats of athleticism. That's not me, never was. I was fit, but never so fit that I was mistaken for a walking skeleton. My love of Cheese did me in!
Starting at age 28 I completed 5 full distance Ironmans (CDA), a couple halves, and some sprints over about 7 years. I am 5'-10" and I usually made it to race day at about 163lbs. I never had a coach. I would train about 12-16 hours a week. My cold northern climate reduced my outdoor training a lot, so trainers and treadmills were my life. Most importantly I had the worst thing any athlete could have, an 8 to 5 desk job. It was a high stress job that very often would get in the way of my scheduled workouts. Throw in family obligations and it was rare that I would hit every weekly goal. Getting to my first ironman nearly killed me because I had no idea what I was doing. I was horribly malnourished and poorly rested and it caused a severe lung issue 8 weeks before the race. My oxygen levels were in the low 80% range and I felt like death for 2 weeks. They patched me up and I was able to finish the first ironman in 14:26 (7 weeks after being hospitalized). It was not fast, but I was just happy to make it to the race. I got better with my nutrition and training and I improved my times. After my 3rd ironman I had some hip issues (due to poor running form I'm sure). So I stopped racing. I thought I was done with triathlon at this point. My hip healed but I still thought I was done.
About a year later I signed up for ironman again in 2012. I don't know why, I just did it. I read the forums and I know that my times were never anything special, so why bother. There are guys on here that can take 2 months off and still do an 11:00 ironman. On my 4th ironman I posted a 13:01 finish time (1:21 swim, 6:20 bike, 5:06 run). Still not fast by Slowtwitch standards, but I was 993 out of 2100. So I signed up again. Unfortunately when I came back in 2013 my job and other commitments had snowballed and really interfered with training. My business was in chaos, my training was horrible, and I showed up at 175lbs (BMI 25.1, Technically Overweight). I pushed hard and produced a pretty average bike leg, then I ran 200 yards out of the change tent and knew I had nothing left for the run. My choices were to bury myself and still be slow, or just walk/jog and save my joints. I chose the latter. While I was finishing the run leg, I was not thinking that I was done with ironman. I was thinking that this was a turning point. I had let my training go to hell and this was my rock bottom. It was time to start fresh and really get my nutrition and training back in order. I crossed the finish line somewhere north of 14:00, but I don't feel like looking it up. It was a sad effort, but an honest reflection of my poor condition. I was however looking forward to getting back to training. I had been passed by far too many people with 52, 55 on their calf and I wanted to put in a time more reflective of my age. I was also now thinking about the legacy program (because everyone dreams of Kona). I was thinking of doing 2 IM each year to get to 12 sooner.
And then......
I Got Fat:
This is the part that no one ever talks about on this forum. This is the part were I never signed up for another race. I never even cleaned my bike after the last race. I put it on a hook and left it for 20 months. I didn't swim, I didn't run, I didn't eat healthy. I would always take a month off after my ironman races and go fishing and camping, but something was different after that last race. I didn't sign up for another event, so I had nothing to shoot for, and as it turns out I need something to shoot for. I'm not a food addict, I just engaged in the typical american diet and stopped exercising. My weight went up slowly at first, 180, 185. I wasn't panicking because I knew I could come back from that. Then suddenly a year had passed and I hadn't exercised much at all. I climbed on the scale and I was 200lbs. Then 2 months ago I hit 210. I have stabilized and even lost a few pounds now that the holidays have passed, but the damage is done. There is no easy way back from this.
So here is the advice. Don't stop doing races, even if you are slow. An upcoming race keeps you away from the dessert tray, it makes you workout on Easter, it keeps you from doing the things that will make you fat. I love to read this forum and find people talking about Kona qualifying and endless discussions on fastest wheel sets, but I need to put that stuff in perspective. I have 40 pounds of dead weight to get rid of. I never raced to raise money for charity or sick kids. Maybe the only reason I raced was to keep me going to the gym. The training allowed me to overcome the horrible curse of a desk job and the disaster of processed food. I still love reading about about seconds saved by tire pressure and looking at bike porn, but maybe there is something different I can do here. I am planning to make some periodic updates as I try to figure out what to do. This post may end up being a way of spilling my guts to myself and starting to make changes. If nobody comments or reads it I will not take it personal. Like I said this might end up being for my benefit only.
Or this post could get hijacked and everyone can call me a fat ass. Either way, its just the internet, I can't take it too serious.
I have taken the "Before" photo. It is too horrendous to post for now. Just picture normal healthy male that looks 5 months pregnant. I need to get down 15-20 pounds so I can add a progress picture and preserve some dignity.
Back story:
I'm a longtime reader (Lurker) of this forum and I have been inspired and educated about a great many things with regard to triathlon over the years. I never signed up to post because I didn't have anything useful to add. I have only signed up now because I find myself in a position to offer something I have not seen on this forum. This post is about what happens when the wheels fall off and you find yourself fat.
This forum is full of people with incredible fitness that are capable of incredible feats of athleticism. That's not me, never was. I was fit, but never so fit that I was mistaken for a walking skeleton. My love of Cheese did me in!
Starting at age 28 I completed 5 full distance Ironmans (CDA), a couple halves, and some sprints over about 7 years. I am 5'-10" and I usually made it to race day at about 163lbs. I never had a coach. I would train about 12-16 hours a week. My cold northern climate reduced my outdoor training a lot, so trainers and treadmills were my life. Most importantly I had the worst thing any athlete could have, an 8 to 5 desk job. It was a high stress job that very often would get in the way of my scheduled workouts. Throw in family obligations and it was rare that I would hit every weekly goal. Getting to my first ironman nearly killed me because I had no idea what I was doing. I was horribly malnourished and poorly rested and it caused a severe lung issue 8 weeks before the race. My oxygen levels were in the low 80% range and I felt like death for 2 weeks. They patched me up and I was able to finish the first ironman in 14:26 (7 weeks after being hospitalized). It was not fast, but I was just happy to make it to the race. I got better with my nutrition and training and I improved my times. After my 3rd ironman I had some hip issues (due to poor running form I'm sure). So I stopped racing. I thought I was done with triathlon at this point. My hip healed but I still thought I was done.
About a year later I signed up for ironman again in 2012. I don't know why, I just did it. I read the forums and I know that my times were never anything special, so why bother. There are guys on here that can take 2 months off and still do an 11:00 ironman. On my 4th ironman I posted a 13:01 finish time (1:21 swim, 6:20 bike, 5:06 run). Still not fast by Slowtwitch standards, but I was 993 out of 2100. So I signed up again. Unfortunately when I came back in 2013 my job and other commitments had snowballed and really interfered with training. My business was in chaos, my training was horrible, and I showed up at 175lbs (BMI 25.1, Technically Overweight). I pushed hard and produced a pretty average bike leg, then I ran 200 yards out of the change tent and knew I had nothing left for the run. My choices were to bury myself and still be slow, or just walk/jog and save my joints. I chose the latter. While I was finishing the run leg, I was not thinking that I was done with ironman. I was thinking that this was a turning point. I had let my training go to hell and this was my rock bottom. It was time to start fresh and really get my nutrition and training back in order. I crossed the finish line somewhere north of 14:00, but I don't feel like looking it up. It was a sad effort, but an honest reflection of my poor condition. I was however looking forward to getting back to training. I had been passed by far too many people with 52, 55 on their calf and I wanted to put in a time more reflective of my age. I was also now thinking about the legacy program (because everyone dreams of Kona). I was thinking of doing 2 IM each year to get to 12 sooner.
And then......
I Got Fat:
This is the part that no one ever talks about on this forum. This is the part were I never signed up for another race. I never even cleaned my bike after the last race. I put it on a hook and left it for 20 months. I didn't swim, I didn't run, I didn't eat healthy. I would always take a month off after my ironman races and go fishing and camping, but something was different after that last race. I didn't sign up for another event, so I had nothing to shoot for, and as it turns out I need something to shoot for. I'm not a food addict, I just engaged in the typical american diet and stopped exercising. My weight went up slowly at first, 180, 185. I wasn't panicking because I knew I could come back from that. Then suddenly a year had passed and I hadn't exercised much at all. I climbed on the scale and I was 200lbs. Then 2 months ago I hit 210. I have stabilized and even lost a few pounds now that the holidays have passed, but the damage is done. There is no easy way back from this.
So here is the advice. Don't stop doing races, even if you are slow. An upcoming race keeps you away from the dessert tray, it makes you workout on Easter, it keeps you from doing the things that will make you fat. I love to read this forum and find people talking about Kona qualifying and endless discussions on fastest wheel sets, but I need to put that stuff in perspective. I have 40 pounds of dead weight to get rid of. I never raced to raise money for charity or sick kids. Maybe the only reason I raced was to keep me going to the gym. The training allowed me to overcome the horrible curse of a desk job and the disaster of processed food. I still love reading about about seconds saved by tire pressure and looking at bike porn, but maybe there is something different I can do here. I am planning to make some periodic updates as I try to figure out what to do. This post may end up being a way of spilling my guts to myself and starting to make changes. If nobody comments or reads it I will not take it personal. Like I said this might end up being for my benefit only.
Or this post could get hijacked and everyone can call me a fat ass. Either way, its just the internet, I can't take it too serious.
I have taken the "Before" photo. It is too horrendous to post for now. Just picture normal healthy male that looks 5 months pregnant. I need to get down 15-20 pounds so I can add a progress picture and preserve some dignity.