Some words on weight

So, how do you make 60x50 in the pool exciting? Well, you cant. Throwing in the use of an Ankle Band without a pull buoy from 20-30 and again at 40-50 tends to help, as you spend the majority of your time surviving and not drowning, especially with a 5 second rest interval.

My shoulders held up with this set, so probably ready to slowly increase my mileage in the pool. I will stay away from hand paddles for at least the next month. Good old fashioned push-ups in the mornings, not over-doing it, but just a few...seemed to really help the shoulder pain I've been having.

Regarding my diet over a couple days on my last post. You must remember on these days my workout loads were light. I will eat oats, rice-egg whites, etc when I need to, on intensity days and volume days. I have received more than 5 emails regarding athletes wishing to drop weight and you have to be very careful. I am attempting to get down to the weight I carried last summer for training, and my racing weight in May will be held for only about 2 weeks, then again in June. So, my 18 pound weight gain over October-December is just coming off. I am not trying to perform some miracle of weight loss. I have gone down very light in the past (148 at one point) considering I race strong at 158-160. Well, below 158 I can see the power losses and feel weak. There is a breaking point that is definitive. If you go below that, you stand a high risk of chalking up another bad race.

Cyclic eating in relation to your workout load is not something that comes easy and over-night. I have learned this over the past 18 years of being coached and in training. It takes self research, education, and most importantly a will to succeed. Now, its not all horrible. I binge, especially if going to a Trailblazers game, or out drinking with friends. But, for the most part, adherence to a relatively bland diet, and fairly limited to foods that offer me benefit is the key. Yes, and I dont love food, and food is not love for me. I eat to live. I dont live to eat. These two are important to distinguish. I eat a variety for breakfast during the week, but still very limited. My morning feedings are composed of 1 or 2 of about 6 items. Apple, Grapefruit, Whole Oat Oatmeal, Egg whites, rice, skim milk. Cup of coffee always. Now, the combination of these depends on my prior days' workout and/or the workout coming up that day. Yesterday, I only had a swim. So, 1 apple for breakfast, salad with mixed vegies and a few black beans and 3 oz chicken breast and no dressing for lunch. Protein bar in the afternoon. Today,
I have a relatively moderate ride, so 2 yogurts and 1 apple in the morning. If I had a big workout last night or a big workout to come today, likely would have been egg-whites and rice combination for breakfast.

The bottom line is taking in slightly less than you burn. Thats it. The recent major study that came out last week discusses this. They looked at multiple combinations of fat to carb to protein ratios and in ALL combinations, there was NO difference in degree of weight loss with various combination of calorie sources. So much for Adkins, L.A., SouthBeach and all the other diets out there.
The bottom line? Consume less calories then you burn and you will lose weight. There is a caviat to this and thats if you morphologically change your frame. If you put on more muscle you will gain weight. Of course, lean body mass increases and lean body mass is more important than just being "light". Too much body mass and of course you tip the scale the other direction and will hinder your performance. Keep it balanced. Eat higher percentage of carbs after long or intense workouts, keep protein at least 1 gram per kilogram body weight as a minimum while training, and always replace some calories immediately after a big workout with 3:1 Carb to protein ratio recovery drink (no not a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich) containing at least 1 gram carbs per kg body weight with proper protein ratio. So for me, I will take 75 grams carbs + 25 grams protein as a drink, within 10 minutes of long or intense workouts. These are calories you should never sacrifice. Keep total fat intake below 50 grams. Be a little hungry during the day, but after a big workout, eat and recover. Bad idea to try to intentionally lose weight on the days of 4+ hour workouts or during big training weeks. This is when recovery and building takes priority. Once you get within 2 weeks of a key race, stabilize your weight where its at and do not try to lose weight too close to your race. Treat yourself here and there and dont feel guilty about it.

Man, take a look at the pic of myself in 1996 on the right, and a pic from 2007 on the left. The 1996 race I was a lean 152 pounds, after tanking in a couple of races in the prior season when I raced at 148 pounds. As you can see, triathlon has changed me and thus the extra 8 pounds of muscle gained with all my cross training. Weights are minimal for me, a 6 week cycle once per season in Jan-Feb, then its all specific to my sport. Regardless, my 160 pound race frame today is far different than that of 10 years ago when I was a runner. Yes, you can change and adapt to better yourself for you sport. It takes time, patience, and sacrifice.