I'm having trouble making the distinction between "grossly underfit" and "about normal".

Don't fret, just remember all the work you have in the bank (e.g. this).

Personally, I haven't been in the water since last March and my running has been fits and starts as I've cycled through a series of run related injuries. I feel good on the bike though and banking on all the riding I've done since the pandemic to carry me through.

Wow, thank you for linking that, I can’t even remember the person who wrote that.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

best line was

"The losses are temporary, the gains you make are forever."

I feel like you. Overweight, under trained. Going to Eagleman this weekend hoping my experience will get me through.

Just remember that everyone once started from a place of being grossly underfit - which, by the way, is not where you're starting from, since you don't have to learn how to swim all over again.

Yeah I’m pretty out of shape right now compared to other triathletes.

I’m probability more fit than the average American, but that isn’t saying much.

I haven’t swim since last year, but not too worried about swimming as I usually seem to do middle of the pack which is fine.

On the positive side, I’m not injured.

I weighed in at 208lbs today at 72.5in. My next race is Augusta 70.3 in September. I’m looking to cut 25lbs between now and then.

My PR is 4:48 at Augusta, originally was planning on getting 4:25 in 2020. I was in really good shape last year. I’m not sure if I’m even going to PR in 2021, but I guess my mentality right now is to ‘just finish’ it and savor the sweetness of getting another medal. I’ve also thought about doing the race ‘just for fun’, which was definitely not my mentality last year.

There are some positives such as I’ve gone from zero motivation to some motivation. I’ve also been going through severe crippling anxiety which has abated recently and allowed me to train.

I need to start running in July and may add on Swimming in August.

Good luck with your journey. Cheers - 🍻

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

One of the great features in Strava is the fitness & freshness tracking that lets you quantify just exactly how shit you are!

For example, my run fitness (long term hip injury/surgery);



Cheers, Rich.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

^ all activities

Run only:

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

The good news is that the weather here in the South is just about perfect for lots, and lots of slow running.

Fortunately, I started back at it (running only) in early April. So, I can run half-way decently...when the temp/humidity doesn't suck balls. Unfortunately, that part of the year ended three days ago...I fear for good. We've finally crossed into the 90s (after the coldest/wetest May I can remember)...but, its humid AF....so, its pretty miserable to go for a run.

I hear you Eric.
I had massive fitness last summer, then health issues that prevented me from training properly (luckily ended up being not serious).
Will be interesting to see how racing goes this weekend on such low CTL.

But I do agree with other comments. Fitness is built and lost in years, not weeks/months.
We can rebuild, so I'm optimistic even if my race results will suck.

I did a sprint tri (800M, 20K, 5K) on Sunday off of basically no swimming, cycling or weight training (other than push-ups and pull-ups) since the pandemic began. I've been averaging just under 40 mpw running since March 2020, but that training load is about 25% less than when I was doing more balanced tri training in the summer of 2019.

I was 5 minutes slower than my 2019 time on the same course, but I was more competitive and felt more normal than I expected on the swim and bike. I did hold back nearly the entire race for fear of blowing up.

If you had asked me before Sunday whether I was grossly underfit on the swim and bike I would have said yes (and I probably am I if I was racing long course), but I answered moderately underfit to the poll question. No significant soreness post race.

I think one advantage to getting really fit again is having been there before. I know exactly the tools I need to get fit including gear, nutrition, and the limits of my body. The only thing I have to do is execute.

I'm a big believer in cycling also. I think cycling is the heart of triathlon training. Currently I'm in the state where my legs are more ready for endurance than my sitting bones. I just can't sit on the bike for hours and hours. I'll have to gradually build up over time again.

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

This is where we can take advantage of multiple sports, and cross-over effects (imperfect though it is) between them. I can't run long enough because of the friggin humidity, and I can't ride enough because of my friggin sit bones. But, I can add them on top of each other to get some of both. Of course, that means I have to get the bike out of storage and fix whatever's guaranteed to be wrong with it. flat tubes, dusty chain, mis-aligned brakes, poor shifting, charge the Edge computer, find my left shoe, and my right glove, etc.

Maybe I'll stick with Bourbon.

Grossly underfit even as a triathlete would have to be barely be able to swim.

I'm definitely between grossly and moderately, but we're getting back.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

I haven't even smelled chlorine in 2 years, and I've ridden my TT bike, like 7 times. I only took 3 months off from running...so, that's decent.

I just got a new fancy Fenix6pro....so, I should probably give it a reason to exist...otherwise, I might as well have gotten a F45 (or a fitbit).

thanks!

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

that's a good point actually... it's a journey.

thanks :)

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

On this side of the Pond, I'm with you too.
Similar to many who've already posted.
25-30lbs over race weight, slow (even more than usual). When talking with a mate whilst out on the bike on Friday, I recalled my last proper Tri was 2 years ago (a half distance, in't t'Yorkshire). And the last race was a 22 mile off road run, the last weekend of freedom before the world ended in March 2020.

I'm lucky that I have been able to swim intermittently since then, and got a good OW season from June through to Sept and some good distance swimming in.
After several months with all pools shut and the rivers only a few degrees above freezing, the nearby spring fed outdoor pool (water about 15-21C depending on time of year) reopened at the start of April so am 'back on it' with swimming. I think it took about 5 or 6 sessions to feel I could swim properly again and start ironing out a couple of technique flaws that had come back in. But all sorted in less than 2 months. I got 4 miles in on one sesh last week, so again as per others saying, it does come back if you could do it before.

But conversely the running is basically at zero due to injury.
I have a half distance race in August in the Scotish Highlands, with the swim starting at midnight in a loch, then obvs a night 56 mile bike, then a half marathon that goes up and down 2 bleedin big Scottish hills on footpaths.

I'm hoping that like others have said I'll get by on experience, and accept it for what it is and what I do do, not worry about whether I could have been better.

I hope we all have an enjoyable journey back to where we want to be, wherever in the world we are.
And don't forget - enjoy the ride.

I've felt like this for the last few years, finally getting a routine going that should see something positive happen.
It's just a bit hard to accept that 5.30/km is a good pace rather than "go home, you're clearly overdone" as it once was. And that 300w isn't tempo anymore. I do remind myself that a lot of people would be happy to go the pace I am in each of the disciplines, but it still feels like the cliff I feel off is very high.

Night time triathlon sounds interesting.....

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Let food be thy medicine...

You make a good point about the ego… I struggle with that, comparing myself to my old self. Also, people compliment me now about my “fitness” and I cringe. It’s off putting to others to be such a jerk about a normal compliment.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

I find motivation to get after my training has been hard to come by over the last few months, particularly in the pool. Covid fatigue, race cancellations and work increases are all factors I’m sure but I’m really just being a lazy ass making excuses. I’m doing CdA (and a 70.3 on Saturday) and am approaching both as an experiment in determining how fast I can go off of shitty training. I suspect it’s going to be a shit show but low expectations should make the races more enjoyable. And they’ll serve as good baseline for getting my ass back in gear for Cozumel in November.

I entered moments after a friend said 'swim start at midnight in a loch'. I didn't hear the mountain run bit until it was too late 😖.
The midges should be in bed at least at that time of night rather than biting me.

I haven't swam since March 2020, and really hadn't done much after DNF at LP 2019.

The bike is there, hooray Zwift. My run glues itself together.

Extra poundage courtesy of the new prescriptions I'm on, but whatever.

Just need to get back in the grind of things, particularly in the pool. It'll come back. Not really planning on racing until 13 months from now anyways.

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----------------------------------
Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Yeah those helpful medicines are insidious sometimes because side effects and how it affects our self image.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Tried getting back in the pool in January. Caught covid and started a kitchen renovation and got married and never made it back til a few weeks ago. Started small with 1200 yds. Up to 2400 after two weeks. I figured within a month or two I'll be in shape enough to race. I've never been a FOP swimmer but I figure I'll only be a 2-3 mins off my normal swim time for a HIM. Perspective is everything. My arms were on fire yesterday and I felt miserable and a guy in the lane next to me was asking for swim tips just because of the fact I could swim a few laps.

Swim fitness seems to be the easiest to get back for me.

I run by default so I never truly lose it. Basically run endurance is mental -- once you've done enough marys/ultras you are just telling your body to shut-up and keep running. Run speed is the challenge to get back.

Biking is my struggle. It doesn't take much pain, but it takes a lot of hours in the saddle to reclaim it. And it is very weather dependent being in Chicagoland and having become a pu**y biker. If it is rainy, cold, or windy I'll run no problem, but cycling it has to be perfect including non-rush hour traffic and plenty of daylight remaining.

Weekend warriors are very like mountain running. You hit the peak and then you run down and then you level up and you have to start running back up the next hill. Your fitness isn't a plateau it is peaks and valleys. Life interferes with maintaining "peak" fitness besides which I think one needs to become underfit so you can enjoy the improvement journey of the peak.

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Swim - Bike - Run the rest is just clothing changes.

Yuuuup.

Thankfully my wetsuit still fits, but...yeah. Not great. We'll see what happens.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

You’re doing the right thing!

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Both of us are, man.

Have to avoid falling into the comparison trap. It ain't about where we used to be. It's about where we can go from here. Time to love the process, not the outcomes.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Maybe Slowman should do another poll - >

how fit and fat are you -

my reply -> Grossly overweight, incredibly unfit


2021 race season there I go!!!!!!

You’re speaking my old language with that process comment, unfortunately for the time being I don’t recognize my old self enough to take my own advice LOL.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

I run into KP often enough riding around in VT that I need to remind myself of those KP-isms, and take 'em to heart.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

I got in the pool yesterday for the first time since September of 2019. After 300 yards, my arms and shoulders were burning and my stroke went from bad to complete shit. Ended the workout after 1000 yards and thought about stopping sooner. That's drastically different than the 7-10k weekly yardage I was doing in 2019.

The good news was my speed was only marginally slower than 2019, I just couldn't swim for very long.

OK... I ran a few times, and it doesn't seem as scary or as daunting anymore. Me, not the running per se... the running is easy but I'm harder to figure out.

Stumbled on another thing I wrote myself a year ago, in addition to what someone linked to upthread... I'm going to process it and see if it's also relevant.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

I’ve come back to this forum after some three years away and that couldn’t be a more timely post to bump into. I raced last at Roth in 2016 at circa 180lbs. Went through a bit of a tough spell with some life stuff and then got back into a rhythm just in time for covid to hit and shut down life. Without the incentive of training with others alongside working frontline in healthcare I just lost my mojo completely. All I seemed able to do was eat poorly and booze, and a couple of months ago had one of those rock bottom moments when my other half made a joke about being out of breath coming upstairs to bed. She was right - knackered climbing two flights of stairs.

Weighed myself the next day and gulped at the 255 pounds that flashed up. Put on my shoes and jogged / waddled 10 mins to the end of the road and back. Since then I have been doing something daily and am now able to run 5km in about 28 mins. Far cry from the 18:xx I used to run. My swim club started back up and I got into Zwift again. I’ve dropped 14lbs in 6 weeks or so, and have had a few bad nights out over that time, but am still ensuring I do something daily.

I cannot remember the last time I was this unfit, but there is some solice funnily enough in owning it and getting back on the road. So. Yeah. I don’t think grossly unfit really does it justice in my case. I hope I’ve intervened in time and can get back to some sort of decent shape (200lbs ish) for Xmas.

You are not alone

For the last year and a half, being super fit was not our objective, it was well below the top ten objectives, stay alive, lead kids, work, keep house clean, home school, be a good spouse, try not to pick fights in the LR.....and so on

If you like most people got some stuff done and you have years in the sport you will be fine and are probably not as unfit as you think you are. I was considering myself grossly unfit after this last year, have run 300 k this year and went to my local 5 K knocked out 20:10, okay slow, unfit, maybe compared to old self but I was 11 th out of 200.

Bike I can hang with zwift B grade and ride with solid bunches but I try not to pull turns, lacking a bit endurance.

Swimming, well no point sugar coating it the first week sucks, but just swim every day for two weeks and some of old self comes back.

Also, just start doing it, every little bit helps

Mate, I was feeling like this 5 weeks ago.

I use to be FOP swimmer and took 3 years off with not a day in the pool. I set a 5 week plan to hit specific splits for 100FR and 100 Fly. It was disgusting the first 15 days and putting on a speedo was shameful, for me, just to be clear. 5 weeks later and last Friday, I hit my goals. Once I set the goals - it was much easier to get started.

Go get it Eric!

Thanks, it’s great to hear support from everyone.

My fear or vertigo is that after going thru a five week program like you did I’ll also hit my goals, but I won’t be the same person I was. Like, I know that my fitness will come back, but will my identity?

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Thanks for reaching out, it’s good to know we are not alone. Let’s keep each other posted here.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Go register for a race in the late fall and that should help with getting away from grossly underfit.

This is gold. And training adaptations while they certainly feel transient, absolutely are not. Once you've been fit, you will always be MUCH closer to that level of fitness than you were at any point before you achieved that level of fitness.

I had a striking example of this which really reinforced my professional learning in the area.

Example:
I had a 19" vertical jump around age 17
I worked for 13 years, training like a professional (better actually... most non-endurance sport pro athletes' training is a joke compared to the lengths FOP athletes will go to). I accumulated 13 years of almost nothing but heavy/explosive lifting, plyos, and sprints, and improved my vertical to 40" at age 30.
Now, approaching age 34, I have done virtually everything in my power to reduce my vertical jump (haphazard tri training, reduced protein consumption, no longer taking creatine, muscle loss, the whole 9 yards).

I still have at least a 32" vert. I'll pull a quad muscle if I go outside and test this any further today ;)

Interestingly, I lost almost all that vertical jump ability in the first year off from power sport training. And, I suspect I'd get most of it back quite quickly with a couple months of reasonable power training.

Much like gains are exponential for the unfit, losses are most pronounced early-on in detraining, but the decay slows enormously over time. Further, the re-gain rate is potentially even faster than the loss rate, which is super fun. Trust me, I've detrained what little aerobic fitness I'd developed several times in the last 4 yrs. (See 'haphazard')

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Dr. Alex Harrison | Founder & CEO | Sport Physiology & Performance PhD
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I want to push back slightly on why that not might be gold, not the least of which is that I have no idea who the person who wrote that is, even though it was me.

I feel like I'm realizing that I'm spiritually unfit, not aerobically. And yes, while my aerobic gains are all in there somewhere, and will come back, I'm not so sure about the spiritual side. I don't know that I've got the reps. The person who wrote that year-old post seems unrecognizable to me, despite the fact that physically I look the same for the most part. People say, "don't worry, it will come back", or "don't worry, you look great", or "don't worry, you're so much faster than most people" but that doesn't encapsulate what I'm feeling.

My argument is that it would be cosmically negligent of me to just go back to my old ways, get my fitness back, as if that's what's missing. I feel like there's more work to be done than that. Ironically, in doing that work, I'm sure my aerobic fitness will come back eventually, so there's that.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

A new week, and every little bit is continuing to help as you alluded to. Getting over the hump is hard.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Wow, this is a deep question and something I have been questioning myself lately. In most of the local races I do (running and Tris) I usually podium in AG. My swim is crap (still is) but my bike and run are usually pretty good. Well, after 2020 I put on about 5 pounds and, being almost 50, I can feel that it is harder to get back into shape. I have done three races thus far in 2021 (one Oly Tri) and did not podium in AG in any of them. However, I am having a blast. Which goes back to your question: who am I?!

My identity as an athlete is changing, I think. I love being a bit heavier and feel much healthier for it. And I am definitely not as stressed about performance as I used to be which is actually allowing me to enjoy the season a lot more. I feel no pressure and I am just enjoying getting fitter and having a blast with friends and family at races. So, yes I have lost fitness but I actually feel healthier and happier. Does that make sense?

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------------------
http://dontletitdefeatyou.blogspot.com

Just thought I'd bump this.

I turned 49. I went skydiving (transcendent). I've been running doubles. The more I run, the more I want to run. Classic runners high.

But I'm also experiencing something new... I'm calm AF. Like, super calm, super chill. I think it's from the doubles, which I've never done this consistently before.

E

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”