Hey guys, I am just getting into all this and wondering if any of you out there, were kind of lazy, overweight, and smoked when getting into this…how did you make the changes…any help, or web sites to check out, would be appreciated…thanks!
Hey guys, I am just getting into all this and wondering if any of you out there, were kind of lazy, overweight, and smoked
Sadly, I can’t help you. But you did steal my M4W Craigslist personal ad.
All of the above. My wife was training for a marathon, and I figured I’d better do something so she wouldn’t leave my fat ass. I bought a crappy hybrid bike, and started running a bit.
Then I decided I wanted to attempt a sprint tri. It was anything but a “sprint”, but I had a blast, and decided I needed a lifestyle change if I wanted to do better.
First thing is quit smoking (talk to your Dr and get some Chantix). Once you start training, the weight should come off. Most of all, keep the training fun, and the lifestyle change should be easy.
Good luck.
Hey guys, I am just getting into all this and wondering if any of you out there, were kind of lazy, overweight, and smoked when getting into this…how did you make the changes…any help, or web sites to check out, would be appreciated…thanks!
Running helped me quit smoking.
Seriously though, keep it up! You seem to have a great attitude, and always remember that our perception of life shapes our experiences. Enjoy the ride!
Are you still smoking? How long have you been training? Height and weight? What is bringing you into the sport? Would I approve of your music collection?
Sign up for a race! Then find some people to train with. That really helps with accountability. Trust me. That extra cigarette, shot, or 3:00AM cheeseburger will not seem all that appealing anymore when you know that a 7:00AM training ride is scheduled for the next morning. Set realistic goals and keep in mind that all change happens over time. Check out some of the before and after triathlon posts on this site. Don’t be intimidated by anyone or afraid to ask questions. The really cool thing about his sport is that it truly rewards hard work and determination. Good luck!
I did this a few years ago.
What I found for me is this: the most important thing is commit. Figure out which race you can do. Sign up for it. TELL EVERYONE YOU KNOW. When you tell everyone, you make sure that backing out will be harder.
Once you have the commitment, I found the Tri books and a log helpful. The books give you some direction and knowledge and the log gives you something to pat yourself on the back with.
Then, the hard part: Get up and train. Take it easy so you don’t kill yourself or injure yourself. Start slow and build up. Give yourself ample time to build up.
I was not a swimmer. So, I got a coach. I only had to go a few times to get me able to finish the race. The goal on the first one: just finish.
Good luck!
Depending on your age, other risk factors, start with a doctor’s visit make sure your ticker is ok
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I can’t help with the smoking end of it but I was certainly lazy and overweight. One day with the help of my 6 year old son I decided enough was enough. I did things bit differently than others though.
Some suggest signing up for a race to give yourself a goal to work towards. That sounds great but I needed something more immediate so I signed up for a “sprint” race the next weekend. Nevermind the fact that I hadn’t swam in 15 years, had never run and was a slow slow charity bike rider. It was anything but a sprint. I think I averaged 15 mph on the bike and about 13 min miles on the run. That was in 2006 and I was 32nd out of 35 in my age group. I’ve gone back to that race every year since then and won my age group in 2008 and was second in 2009 (local pro raced age group, argh!).
After that first race I never wanted to feel that way again and started training hard. I’m 50 lbs lighter and focus now on 70.3’s and Ironman.
Stick with it. It can be done. Good luck.
Find yourself a club that has a mix of beginners and experienced people. It will help you learn quicker, but the social aspect will give you some accountability.
I can’t comment on the smoking but I will say this about starting to make triathlon/triathlon training a regular part of your lifestyle- there is a noticeable positive-feedback loop. The more you swim/bike/run, the more you want to swim/bike/run. The more you do it, the more you will start to notice a difference in how much you enjoy your training based on the things you are doing outside of training. I rarely have more than a couple beers anymore on a Friday night. I find more enjoyment with a couple beers Friday and a great Saturday morning long run than I do with too many beers Friday and a crappy or no run on Saturday.
Commit to regular training and your body will start to let you know what changes you need to make to enjoy your new lifestyle. It won’t be a sacrifice to quit smoking and start eating right, it will be the choice that leads to increased happiness.
Yes.
3 years ago (age 29) 213lb chainsmoker
Now 158lb, train hard every week, FOP at my local sprints (although I’m slow as hell by ST standards)
As far as I can tell, reading Allen Carr the day after I quit smoking helped, and really loving the outdoors, and loving /s/b/r and loving to push myself is what helps. A supportive partner was a wonderful help too.
My hunch is that you should throw yourself into something you are sure you have the ability to be passionate about. Don’t pick tri (or even quit smoking) unless you know that you can seriously dig it. Otherwise you’ll get stuck in a cycle of failure.
My father, who is also an ex-smoker, said to me, “isn’t it like a renaissance?”, and I knew exactly what he meant. Smoking kills one’s zest for life, and replaces it with a constant stream of fake rewards. Getting out of that is liberating spiritually, and physically. From this perspective, quitting was thrilling.
Don’t set up too many ‘rewards’ for quitting. Quitting is the reward. God, not having to have a bloody “reward” every 30 minutes is the real reward! (OK, I’ll just finish X and then I’ll have a smoke. etc. etc. etc.) To look at it in other ways will undermine your will … you’ll think, fuck the reward, I’d rather smoke. But, it’s probably not true. Probably smoking makes you miserable. I didn’t realize it until the end, but smoking was really making me unhappy. It made me hate myself.
The day I quit (which was totally unplanned) I was working on an paper, and holed up in the library at university. I was shocked that I was going to quit, and scared, and confused by it. I thought it was part of who I was as a person. Thousands of very smart people have spent billions of dollars over a hundred years to give us VERY convincing stories to ourselves about why we smoke. They are very good, and very convincing. But they are total bullshit and only exist to make the companies rich. I had this whole stupid idea about how smoking was part of my personality, part of how I lived, and, hey, I’ll accept the risks, cause that’s just who I am. Etc. etc. Total bullshit.
I read a LOT of websites about smoking and stuff that day (yes, paper was late). I got a lot of motivation from searching usenet and forums for stories about people quitting, in groups about things I was interested in. I found climbers who waited too long to quit and now couldn’t get healthy enough to keep going out. On some cycling groups I found a lot of really sad stories about folks who had managed to keep riding and smoking for a long time, but when they quit, the damage was done, and they had to stop riding years before they should have. Or just died. I questioned what I truly valued.
Anyways, I don’t normally get into this, but I thought I’d add a story to the pile like the ones that I read when I quit.
Good luck!
That extra cigarette, shot, or 3:00AM cheeseburger will not seem all that appealing anymore when you know that a 7:00AM training ride is scheduled for the next morning.
x2. Knowing that I have a minimum 2 hour work out on Saturday and Sunday mornings, cured me of my Mommy-martini habit on Friday and Saturday nights and has more recently cured me of my eating crap food on Friday night habit. The more you get into it, the more you realize that quality nutrition (and a reasonable quantity) counts.
I was there 3 years ago. After my first sprint tri, I ran right past the finish line and to my car to grab a smoke.
I wanted to be the first triathlete sponsored by Philip Morris. Take pics of me finishing with a cig in one hand.
Then I trained for my first 70.3. That ended the smoking habit quickly.
However, the past 4 months have been killer as I’ve been training pretty hard for Oceanside 70.3 in March to qualify for 70.3 Championships. If I don’t qualify, I’m going back to smoking and maybe pick up crack too.
Hey guys, I am just getting into all this and wondering if any of you out there, were kind of lazy, overweight, and smoked when getting into this…how did you make the changes…any help, or web sites to check out, would be appreciated…thanks!
You just described where I was at exactly. One day I saw a picture of me holding my newly born nephew and said “Holy sh!t my face looks fat”. And I was getting doughy. So I went to the Dr. and got Zyban to help me quit smoking and went from there. I bought a bike about 2 weeks later and started running/walking. Then just jumped in the pool, took some adult swim lessons and by the end of that first year I had done 3 sprint races and 1 Olympic race.
You can do it.
My BF and I were both massive party animals who smoked, drank coffee all day and then cracked open a few beers to drown in existential despair each evening before drinking an average two to three bottles of wine at dinner and over a lengthy cheese course…he’s a very charming dinner companion and we often talked into the wee hours : )
He quit smoking three years ago and lost 60 pounds. He’s winning in his age group and very close to getting up on the podium with some fairly hefty competition here in Ottawa. He is a talented athlete! I quit smoking and lost 10 pounds (I didn’t gain as much as him!) and placed seventh overall in my first tri last year (okay it was only a super sprint with only 39 other competitors but still!) I’m looking forward to having a full season this summer.
It was psychologically harder for me than for BF. Quitting smoking prompted a big emotional crisis in my life and I had to deal with a bunch of unresolved crap, which was good in the end but pretty intense.
We still drink too much wine, but our lives are so much bigger now. I work at home so for me, swimming in a master’s class and biking in groups is a great way to be with other people. Running is great because you just throw on a pair of shoes and feel the anxiety rolling off the further you go. It’s not about the competition or the gear or the showing off in the end. That’s just a way of keeping focus and disciplined. Developing a sense of discipline in these activities has changed my attitude and the way I live my life. But what’s really most amazing of all is to wake up early in the morning and swim across a whole lake or run up a mountain!
not a whole lot to add, from personal experience.
i’ve gone from pudgy and stocky, to almost no longer stocky. but i did that w/out really trying. i actually eat more than i used to, but weigh less!
as for the smoking: no two ways around it. you have to quit, and it’s going to be hard. apparently, some of the products make it slightly less difficult, but none make it easy. you’re breaking an addiction. there will be times you have to - as STers say - htfu.
best of luck, and let us know how the project goes!
(There’s one guy who’s been posting here who started as (I think) a non-smoker, but hovering up around 400 lbs. He’s got quite the blog, too).
For the record, Zyban made it pretty easy to quit. It’s pretty much just an anti-depressant packaged up as a quit smoking remedy. It REALLY took the edge off and made it pretty easy to quit.
I quit through Chantix and a class offered by a local hospital. If I can do it, you can too.