As IMAZ is getting near I am starting to freak out a little bit. Here’s why. I am 5’7" and last year as I raced IMLU at 137 lbs. When I started training I was at around 155 lbs but by the time the race came about that weight came off by itself.
This year the weight seems to want to stay. My training has been quite a bit more aggressive and I’ve been setting PRs almost every race I did this year but with exception of one 70.3 they all have been Sprint and Olympics. My endurance has definitely improved in the process. My resting HR is almost 10 beats lower, the HR max is 7 beats higher. I seem to have developed a lot more “explosive” power as well.
I have been able to complete most of the workouts on my plan. The problem is I “feel” heavy (mostly on my runs) and I am asking for help. If I were to shed say 10-15 lbs by Nov 21, what would I need to do?
10 lbs over 5 weeks is ~ 7000 calories per week deficit. Simple math.
You’d need to pay close attention to your pacing, power #'s if you use them, etc. to make sure that the weight loss doesn’t also diminish your capacity to perform.
Keep energy dense foods before, during and after your workouts. Skimp some calories by eating to satiety on lower energy foods (veggies, lean protein etc.) at other times during the day. More fibre, fewer simple carbs and limit calories in liquid form when not training.
At this point, it may not be something worth messing with. You say you have better endurance, better speed, and better times from doing what you have been doing. Why mess with it now?
You’ll probably naturally drop a few pounds before race day anyways. I find I can be fairly stagnant in weight for the first 2-3 months of a structured training plan, and then the weight will just fall off in the last month or so without making any significant changes in training or diet. Not sure why that is, since it seems a bit counter-intuitive.
It sounds like you are faster and fitter than last year. Why would you potentially mess that up by doing something dramatic? Maybe you are faster at a slightly higher weight. I say stick with your plan and race at whatever weight you happen to be. Feeling heavy doesn’t mean you are slower.
Let me third/fourth what some people said. Don’t change anything now. Lots of people suffer adverse consequences as a result of losing weight quickly when it comes to athletic performance.
Get the flu. Spend a couple days vomiting. That will do it.
Still waaaaay slower than lypo, and more importantly, doesn’t fit the ST credo of
“don’t train speed, buy speed”
Lypo costs way more than a stomach flu, so should be a slowtwitchers first avenue to pursue! Flu is too much like training so shouldn’t even be considered!
Nah, I think flu is better. A high fever burns calories. No fever with food poisoning, right?
i’m not an infectious disease specialist, but i’d guess that depends on what kind of bacteria you get.
i lost 5 lbs in one evening from food poisoning and was sweating heavily the whole time.
to the OP, after i got over the hump of weight loss a couple of years ago(180 → 160), i started to gain some of
it back and realized that my legs had gotten huge/massive from riding six days per week. some of your
weight gain-back may be muscle-mass(remember that muscle weighs more than fat…)
