Fat Loss Update

I met with my nutritionist again on Friday and was prepared for the "speech" and I got it. I realize that I have no will power when sweets are in front of me. With all the gift baskets arriving in the office everyday, I find it necessary to sample it all to make sure it tastes okay.

I started out by telling Charlie that I'm having problems with my will power and being tempted by this food. He went to tell me that I don't have my mind and spirit conquered yet. He then proceeded to take out his bible and read a verse to me and explain what it meant. Honestly, it went in one ear and out the other. I don't even remember the message. It didn't help.

I actually lost a few more pounds but I lost more lean weight but I lost some fat too. I attribute this mostly to my intense workouts and not my disciplined eating. I really feel like I will be much better in January when many of those temptations will be gone.

Overall, I'm still feeling very optimistic and I'm going in the right direction. Its a long year so I am content on taking my time to get where I want to.

On a separate note, I lost a client to cancer yesterday. I was scheduled to see her in the hospital yesterday on her death bed but she didn't make it that long. She asked for me. She suffered a very long time and she is in a much better place now. This woman was a true "IRONMAN" who suffered and fought this horrible disease for 15 years.

I worked out with my coach yesterday who is helping me with my swim stroke. My catch phase really sucks so that is my focus now for a while. Even though I know it, I can't seem to do it right which makes me wonder if I don't have enough flexibility in my shoulders or I'm not rolling enough.....off to the pool :-)

This week was an 11 hour training week with 5 swims (13,000 yds.), 3 bikes, 3 runs, and 2 core workouts. All my swimming is pale in comparison to my coach's wife who swam 14,000 yds. yesterday (that's right, I said yesterday). She is training to swim across the English Channel.....a 21 mile route in cold water, against currents, without a wetsuit......that may or may not happen depending on the conditions.

Swimming and Snow

Well, the snow has hit us here in CT. This presents some challenges to training but I have set myself up to have alternate methods of training indoors. My temperature limit for cycling outside is about 40 degrees F. I have a pretty good setup at home to cycle indoors with my computrainer. I put my road bike onto a trainer which is hooked up to my computer. I am able to train with a power meter and track key performance indicators with this. It is such a valuable training tool that I use it all year round but obviously more now since I'm not riding outdoors.

My swimming block is continuing. I missed a day last week because of a snow storm that closed the YMCA. I "only" swam 12,000 yds. last week but I got in some good run and bike workouts along with a bunch of core workouts.

I managed to train 12 hours last week and I'm on pace for a similar week this week. I suspect I'll have a recovery week next week.

My biggest challenge isn't the cold weather or the snow or the treadmill or all the swimming......its the darn Christmas cookies that are floating around everywhere this time of the year. I have no will power to say no to cookies. I really can't wait until the holidays are over for this reason only. I'm still maintaining my weight but not making much progress....but its okay.....its a long year and its time to enjoy the last few weeks of the year :-)

A good week!!

I started my swim block of training this week. I knew it was coming sooner or later and my coach didn't disappoint me :-) I finished the week with 12 hours of training and 7 hours in the pool. I swam over 15,000 yds. for the week. This is equivalent to 8.75 miles or 616 lengths of the pool.

I think it was less than 3 years ago that I couldn't swim more than 25 yds. without resting at each end of the pool. I'm working a lot on technique right now because my endurance is really feeling pretty good right now. I'm still not moving through the water with the grace of a fish that I'm hoping for.

I have a feeling that I'll be having more weeks like this for the next few months.

I had some solids bikes and runs this week too.

I also lost 2 pounds for the week which was my goal.

Looking at potentially going to spain for a week to cycle, possibly mallorca or malaga. This is where many of the top professional cycling teams train during the winter because these areas have over 300 days of sunshine with temps in the 50's and 60's......sure would be fun if I can swing it.

Bike Update

I finished designing the paint scheme for my new bike....I'm really excited to see how it will turn out but also nervous that it won't look the way I am envisioning it......Oh well, its just a bike, right?

I wanted to incorporate the colors of this bike but it won't quite work because I am planning on a fade. If I fade from blue to yellow, then it will appear green (not a good thing) so I decided to fade from blue to white back to blue with yellow letters/logos.















Update on my back....its fine. Healed quickly and just a little tender now to the touch. It hasn't restricted me at all.

Big training block of swimming this week.....6 days of swimming/15,000 yds. or 8.5 miles. Also a little running and biking in there too. I had 4,000 yds. today and could only get through 3500 yds. b/c my legs were cramping so bad I couldn't get through another lap. If anyone reads this and has a tip to stop the cramps, please let me know.

Also did a power test on the bike this week. 8 min. all out on my computrainer to test my power and HR. Results were 321 watts and 165HR. I am very happy with this and my coach was too. My best last year was 299 watts for a 20 min. test. I do these periodically to help design my bike workouts. I can use these numbers as my max efforts and work backwards to determine my training efforts. I would never train at those max efforts because its not sustainable over the period of an entire race, especially an ironman. I might race at 60% of this effort for ironman.