Here it is: my first day in trying to become healthier and happier with my body. Let me start by telling you a bit about me and my physical past. I’m 44 years old. I grew up always being a bit on the heavy side compared to those around me. I’ve also been pretty physically active most of my life up until the past three years or so. I played baseball, football and basketball growing up through high school. After high school, I played intramural sports with friends – softball and intramural football as well as racquetball and basketball on a pick-up game basis. A couple of years after moving to Chicago in 1998, I got involved in triathlons. During the winter of 2001, my friend Tom Sanders talked me into trying a triathlon in the spring. I registered for the Galena triathlon to be run in mid-May, 2001. I trained with Tom at Bally’s on a fairly regular basis until it got warm outside. I not only did that Galena Triathlon that season, I raced in and finished the Tri-Sharks Tri, Indianapolis Sprint Tri, Three Rivers Tri and the Chicago Triathlon (a whole other sort of chaos with 7000 participants). I wasn’t very fast in any of them, but I did finish all of them. Since then, I’ve participated in a half-dozen other triathlons with only one race that went uncompleted due to dehydration. I’ve raced in all my races as a “Clydesdale” class – that is guys over 200 lbs.. The lightest I’ve ever been for a race was around 254 lbs. for the last race I did in 2006.
My most recent race was at the end of the 2006 in Oklahoma City – the Redman Triathlon and it was the longest I’ve ever raced in as a half-ironman (1.1 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). My target was to finish that race under nine hours. I finished in 8 hours, 59 minutes and 13 seconds - BOOM!! (results here – check under the “Clydesdales” down at the bottom – that 7th place dude) Before we get all excited about the, keep in mind for that race everyone started the race together, half-ironman and full ironman racers alike. The guy who won the full ironman race, Justin Wolfe, finished about 25 minutes after me covering double the distance – I heard someone say he crushed the course record by over 30 minutes. I ended up walking most of the run because of cramps in my legs. I’ve always been the big slow guy at the end of the race getting big cheers of enthusiasm from the crowd as I crossed the line.
I’ve never been the kind of guy who can just go to the gym for the sake of working out. Having some sort of competition in front of me for which to prepare has always been a big motivator. So starting on this journey, I have decided to make the same sort of commitment this time around as well. Next summer, I intend to do three triathlons with at least one of them being an Olympic distance race (1500 Meter swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run)
I will be using as a training companion for this voyage, the Triathlete’s Training Bible by Joe Friel. I’ve owned this book for a long time and have never really used it in earnest and at this point it’s time.
I currently weigh 289 lbs. and my target weight is 210 lbs. by December 1, 2012. That will be less than 2 lbs. per week over a year’s time and a total of 79 lbs. to lose.
I will be sharing here on a daily basis my exercise for the day which will initially start out on the light side (30-60 minute workouts 3-4 times per week) and by the time May rolls around and the beginning of the triathlon season I should be working out at a much higher level (120-150 minutes in total workout time each day I exercise, 5-6 days per week). This sounds a bit intense I know, but it’s not uncommon for a triathlete doing sprint/Olympic distance races to train 15-20 hours per week.
I will also include as part of my daily log my food intake along with nutritional information and a short paragraph on how I feel at the beginning and end of the day.
This initial entry has been kind of all over the place - hopefully it will get better as I go along. For now, let me just say in the words of Dr. Arliss Loveless, “LET THE PARTY BEGIN!”
|
Daily Totals |
Date |
Cals |
Fat |
Cholestoral |
Sodium |
Carbs |
Fiber |
Protein |
Sugars |
|
|
12/1/2011 |
2940 |
121 |
50 |
3411 |
322.9 |
16 |
109.8 |
96.8 |
|
Time |
Exercise description |
Minutes |
Cals |
Distance |
Heart Rate |
|
5:00 AM |
Treadmill - 3.8 mph |
35 |
306 |
2.07 |
118 |
Workout this morning was at the gym - 35 minutes on the treadmill. Some stiffness when I got up in my lower back and my hips. After the workout, those were loosened up nicely. Had a little bit of a sore ankle, but after the 15 minutes to drive home, it was fine.
Food consumed today ends on a crappy note with the onion rings and spaghetti & meatballs from can - but I was tired and they were easy. Which is a mistake, I know. I need to plan meals better.
Last updated: 8:30 PM 12/01/2011
