You should let weight loss run its course without worrying about cutting calories. I tell this to my wife all the time; don't make weight goals, make athletic goals and the training will take care of the weight loss. That said, you make may need to look at your eating habits and cut out the empty calories that are doing you no good. Anything with lots of sugar, corn syrup can throw in three or four hundred extra calories and you can't afford that if you are trying to lose weight. The good thing is ...

...the goals you set for training will help you acheive the weight loss unless you keep eating like a pig. Don't be too quick to think you must do an Ironman to be a "real triathlete". Some here won't say it out loud, but the tone of things they say implies that Ironman is king. I did my first sprint this year after four years of O-distance and Half-IM and it was a great race. There is something to be said for going as hard as you can for an hour and not having to worry about pacing or nutruition. Just pain.

Keep an accurate journal of your training and aim for a reasonable distribution of time between events. Your time distrubution should be roughly 15 pecent swimming, 35 percent running and 50 percent cycling to be decent at all three sports. Since all triathlons are primarily aerobic events then 95 percent of your training should be aerobic as well. If you don't have a heart rate monitor then it might be a useful tool to help you find your effort level in the beginning.

Do a max heart rate test on the bike or running where you strap on the monitor and slowly build effort over time until you swear you can’t pedal one more revolution or one more step. On the bike I have to use a pretty steep hill for this and running I like to use a treadmill. Add about 5 or so beats for the ‘wuss-factor’ since most of us don’t like the pain and then make sure you keep most of your training in the 65-80 percent range of your max heart rate. If you have hills around they act as natural intervals, but you should still try and keep under the 80 percent mhr level or you are not training aerobically.



Once you have that figured out, wear the monitor for your runs and rides until you have a good feel for pace. After that you don’t need to be a slave to the monitor; just pull it out now and then to see how your progress is going.



With the journal you need to note your level of training now and start a progressive build in volume up until you hit your time constraints, keeping the good ratio between sports. Be patient in your build-up. Only add a little at a time and hold that for a few weeks or a month. Some will say you can be more aggressive, but why risk injury. Take the long view that this is a lifetime sport for you and don’t be in rush.



If you max out your time and find that you can comfortably maintain 14 hours of training a week then you can start moving a few of your workouts up into the upper aerobic zone. Before you wanted to be mostly in the 65-70 percent range, but for a few workouts a week you can start bumping up against max aerobic at 80 percent for periods of time. For me this also corresponds with my Half-IM bike effort for the first 40 miles or so, so it is a good pace to learn by heart. It will be more tiresome than your regular aerobic training, but the recovery will be much faster than from efforts where you exceed 80 percent max and are trashed afterwards.

Some people will tell you to jump into hard efforts early, but this type of training only helps you improve for a few weeks (Arthur Lydiard said 6-8 weeks at the most) and then you have to go back and build up your aerobic engine again.



Chad



P.S. I’ve done it both ways and wasted my college running opportunity running low-volume, high intensity workouts with mediocre results. I now run faster than I did 10 years ago in college. High-volume aerobic work over a long period of time is the way to train. At some point you may want to do some speedwork for A-races, but that comes at the very end.

I had similar weight issues, although you are taller than me. I try get my weight down in January and February when I'm just doing base work. (I always seem to put on 10-15lbs. Nov-Dec). That way when the intensity goes up so does the food, and off comes the last few pounds. That weight change has made a huge difference in my running. I found if I diet during race season I'm just weak (makes sense).

I can't say much more than cdw! That is spot on.

I will add that I am 6'2"also and started my '05 season (my first) at about 208 lbs. I raced between 183-187 this season and have not topped 190 since I dropped down. I still eat alot and don't think of dieting - just look at food as fuel, and think about whether you want McFuel and how it makes you feel when you are training. Eat well and keep an eye on the Beer, Soda, and crap. Eat lots of lean beef, chicken, fish, and pork with salads (easy on the ranch) and balance carbs in there too. The weight will take care of itself. Losing the last few lbs to look super lean will require some restrictions on the diet, but it's winter, who wants that?

---

This is your life, and it's ending one minute at a time. - Fight Club
Industry Brat.

Like cdw said just watch what you eat and the lbs will drop off.

Unlike others, my weight is normally the lowest in march/april/may when I'm doing most of my long/easy training, when racing season starts I put on 3-4 lbs. Cut out the pop, cookies, chips, beer and replace them with healthier foods like water, apples and bananas.

As for IM races, 14hrs is enough to do Ironman but IMO you need to make sure that you can do the distance. When you are capable of running 20 miles at a time without getting injured and riding 100 miles without injury, then IM is all about pacing and nutrition. When you're at the point of being able to complete those distances with ease then you can work on getting faster.

jaretj

Regarding the weight loss: Try just cutting out sugar. That can make a huge difference right off the bat. Really worked for me. Cut the sweets, do lots of fruits and veggies, and make sure you take in enough lean protein in whatever form works for you. These simple things, combined with consistent training, will gradually peel the pounds off. And you'll be amazed at the difference in your performance! This approach really worked for me. "My name is Tricia, and I'm a sugarholic." Once I went cold-turkey on the sweets, the change was remarkable!

Plus, you can do this at any time in your training cycle. It really works. You have to be a bit of a Nazi about the no-sugar thing, but it gets easier over time. I also cut way back on bread consumption. And had to give up my beloved breakfast cereals, because I could just keep filling that bowl over and over again until the whole box would be gone! But anyway, it can be that simple. You'll be glad you did it!

Regarding doing an IM in your second year of racing: It can be done. Whether it "should" be done is totally a judgment call. Some people do IM for their first tri and experience total success. Personally, I think a buildup over at least two seasons, gradually increasing distance and performance, is a logical approach. I had 4 seasons under my belt before my first IM, and it made the whole IM experience pretty straightforward and stress-free. There's a tremendous amount you can learn over a couple of years of racing, buidling up through the Half-IM distance, that can really smooth your path to a successful IM.

How does your body react to the training? What are your nutritional needs? What little things help you to be physically as comfortable as possible over long distances (i.e., clothing preferences, hydration preferences, chafing concerns, "elimination" issues, etc.). Things as small as toughening up your feet over years of run training so that blistering is a non-issue can make a big difference. Taking a couple of seasons to work through all of these little things can make your IM experience a lot smoother and more relaxed.

Having said all that: Some would say taking that much time to gain experience is overrated, and go ahead and dive in if you feel confident!

I think it would be really interesting, though, to do a survey of folks who did an IM in their first season of triathlon (or for their first tri), and hear what their experience was like. I think making that jump is a lot easier for seasoned marathoners or pro/semi-pro cyclists, but for the average joe giving it a go, it must be a helluvan undertaking!

---

TriBaby
"The rule is, jam yesterday, and jam tomorrow, but NEVER jam today." ---The White Queen

"Some here won't say it out loud, but the tone of things they say implies that Ironman is king. I did my first sprint this year after four years of O-distance and Half-IM and it was a great race. There is something to be said for going as hard as you can for an hour and not having to worry about pacing or nutruition. Just pain."

I used to do Olympics and now I only want to do sprints. I like the feeling of racing the whole time rather than enduring. I'm very impressed with anyone doing IMs from an athletic standpoint but less impressed from a lifestyle standpoint. Way too much time spent training for my taste.

Agreed. I don't agree with this jumping right up to IM gig that many do. My advice would be to take 3 years for the first year just focus on sprints and maybe a couple of olympic distance races. Keep in mind for someone new to the sport with minimal endurance fitness, an Olympic distance try may be3:00 hours or more to be out there "racing"! Isn't that long enough.

In the second year build up to and try an 1/2 IM. See how that goes and then in the third year if still keen, perhaps look at an IM.

Fleck

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I wish I would have done that.

I too was a victim of the IM mob mentality

jaretj

"I too was a victim of the IM mob mentality"


You are not alone!

Fleck

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog