Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Sept. 28, 2010 Catching up is a reward of hard work.

I can see the result of my efforts.  I am indeed getting stronger and fitter by the day.  I no longer feel like the fat guy that always falls behind.  I mean don't get me wrong I am still the last one but not by much anymore and while on the bike I can now hold my own for about 1 hour to 1.5 hours.  The infimous "recovery" is slowly catching its meaning although I must be doing something wrong.  After sunday's ride I was dying to get on the bike again and process all the acid I had.  I had scheduled 40 minutes yesterday.  I took off on the beach route which I thought for sure would be safer because at this time of year I am for sure riding at night.  I had my lights and everything I needed.  By no means I wanted to press the pace so I remained light on the gears and kept my cadence comfortable.  At some points I was doing about 17-18 MPH which was rediculous for me three weeks ago, now it is my recovery speed!!  Who would know.  However my HR was picking up above 135 and I really wanted to keep it below 130.  I slowed down and it took me a while to settle in to the pace.  The road was pretty bad so that did not help at all.  Finally I rode 25minutes up wind and headed back feeling realy good.  After 44 minutes I was back to my car and dismounted.  11 miles are you serious.  That is kids stuff!!!!  Not quite, I might be getting stronger but I am not stupid.  11 Miles was a struggle 2 weeks ago so I decided to stay humble and be happy with my ride.  Despite thinking I did everything right and felt good, falling asleep was a huge challenge.  My legs were hurting like I rode 50 miles and all thru the night I could not figure it out.  By morning I figured that I rode to hard even as it felt really easy.  That means I need to get disciplined on my HR zones and stay there regardless of how slow they are.  I am still questioning the term Recovery but I will make sure to give it a better shot next week.  Today I swam and even having no sleep I felt really good.  I did my practice of 1400 meters no problem.  My technique is better and I feel stronger thru the water.  I am not the slowest of this sport!!!!

The run continues to be my problem.  Even as I know I am getting better running saturday a 12 minute mile I continue to struglle thru.  The swim and the bike were more of a mental challenge than a phisical one but the run is just hard to do.  I have not given up yet and I figure I will get it somehow but I am questioning what I should do about it in the inmediate future.  I feel clumsy and my feet kill me after a while.  I am pretty sure it is the weight.  I don't think the human body was made to run very fast or very long while being severely obese.  I mean how many 247 lbs chubby guys do see in the olimpics.  Maybe in the hammer throw but not in the 100 meter run or the marathon.  I think I am doing pretty good on my weight loss.  I had a target of being 245lbs by the Ironkids in Tampa and today I was 247.  So I am pretty close.  Tomorrow I should be at 146 and by saturday I mught break 245.  I am loosing about 1 pound every 2 days but I kind of misbehave about 1 day a week.  I now automatically leave about 1/3 of whatever I am served.  I do not drink anything but water except on the long rides where I am finding that a coke at about 2 hours helps me thru the rest of the bike ride, I have quit all the sweets and I have not had a Soft & Creamy Ice cream in I forget how long.  I am pretty proud of my progress because it is not sudden but structured and that way I get stronger as I get thinner.  By the way size 44 is oficially too big to wear.  I look like I have pijamas for shirts and the pants fall off, pedriod.  I am officialy a size 42 weist.  So that is 13 punds in 28 days since I am keeping count but remember I am coming from 270 since August 15 which is 23 lbs.  But back to 13 lbs in 28 days.  If I can keep this up when Santa Claus comes december 25th he will be bringing me pants and shirts for a 208 lbs man.  By then I should be ready to get some serious running training and my knees will love it.  That leaves me with 8 months to get in marathon shape.  But since I want to be ready by June 15th that is 5.5 months.  I figure I will somehow make it by december thru 6 miles or an olimpic distance tri.  So I need to whip into shape 20 more miles.  That is a rate of about 4 + miles per month or a mile per week.  It sounds like a lot to me but I will confer with Coach K and see.  The contender half Iron distance looks every day better for a try out.  We will see what happens. 

My Plan is to do my 50 miles saturday morning in Tampa.  Coach K gave me Saturday and Sunday off so I can be a dad at IronKids.  But who are we kidding, my kids are having the time of their lives just to see me suffer thru training.  Coach K if you read this, believe me you and the kids will be better off if I ride saturday.  That would be great and will set the basis for the next three to four weeks.  If by then I can get a solid 50 miles at 14MPH or better I will feel very happy.  In the end it all seems so posible that I am thrilled about my progress.  Don't get me wrong I still have a very long way but for what I have acomplished in these past 28 days I feel awsome.  I no longer feel like the last kid in the competition I am indeed catching up, and that is the reward for my hard work!!!!

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