GOAL: Go from 201 (Dec 2nd, 30th bday) to 179 by April 1st, beginning of race season.
Rewards: PR At every distance this year from 5k to Marathon, life best running fitness.
Consequences: Stagnation, failure, and total lack of confidence going into late season-and 07-races.
Method: Consistency, adherence to diet and training plan, regular MAF/AeT testing. Obsession with improvement.
Backstory:
I'm in, albeit late! Here's my story. Christmas time I was 200lbs. My "IM race weight" is hopefully 179, peaking. Right now I am down to 188 and the last 10lbs are the toughest, where every food choice is critical. However, I am relying more on fitness goals and increasing volume than starving myself. 179lbs feeling weak is worthless. 183 super lean and feeling strong/recovered is obviously better. SO the real experiement is to see how much gristle I can carve off before hitting a point of diminishing returns. Many or all know someone about 190-200lbs who has gone 9:30ish/top 20 at an Ironman. Would they have been faster at 190 or 180? Not if they were sick or weak...it's all about the engine, the chassis, and the fuel. Aerodynamics/aethetics are tertiary here, but we all want the whole package. Including me:
My only training since Dec has been running. Adding swimming and lifting for Feb. I am coming off 8 months of unstructured training. Before it was 12-25hrs per week IM/expedition AR training.
12/15/05 Weighed 201 Ran 30mpw MAF 9:00
1/1/06 195 Ran 35mpw MAF 8:45
1/15/06 189 Ran 40mpw MAF 8:30
1/30/06 188 Ran 45mpw MAF 8:15
I am eating clean, if it doesn't come out of the ground or ocean or have a mother I don't eat it. Lots of water, one drink (red wine) maximum, couple times per week. Omega 3s (4-5g/day), Glucosamine/MSM, multivitamin, extra Vit C PRN (as needed).
Goals for this year are to turn my weaknesses to strengths so I can do a sub 9:30 IM in 2007, qualify for Kona. Last year after doing Subaru Primal Quest I sold my bikes, gear, everything and moved from Seattle to HB, and took some time off, just lifting, occasional good run weeks but no consistency.
Focusing mostly on my run training and MAF/AeT pace. Jan 1st I was running 9:00 miles at 150 hr. Jan 15th it was 8:30s. Jan 30th it is getting close to 8:00. All training has been at 150hr (except steep climbs on 3-5 hr trail runs), building mileage and strength. February sees intro of tempo runs. I want to get it under 7:00 this summer, in order to get into 2:50 shape. I will add swimming goals as the year goes on, swimming is my weakness. Cycling is my strength, but I'm not racing tris early this year, just focusing on my weaknesses so I won't add cycling until summer. Long story!
Goal is 178 by April 1st, which is tied to performance goals (sub 7:00 MAF/AeT), PR in half marathon, marathon, 10k, 5k. All this summer. Keep body fat under 6% during race season, maintain muscle mass
and flexibility, stay injury free.
That's the plan. So far so good, the last 10lbs are always the hardest!!!!!!!!
Sean
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nuun-feedthemachine.com adventure racing team
2008 National Champions
http://www.clancymultisport.blogspot.com