113--The Plan is Working

I'm down about 1.5 lbs. in 6 days and pretty sure it was fat. I've been tracking my calorie intake and calculating daily and cumulative deficit in 2 ways (cuz I'm anal): first, based on what I was told about a year ago the last time I had my BMR/RMR measured, which was to just plug in 500 calories per hour for any type of exercise I do (swim, bike, run, lift) and second, based on what I have estimated my actual burn rates to be for different types of exercise taking average pace into consideration.

I'm pretty sure I don't generally burn 500 calories per hour swimming, although the last time I used an HRM in an Ironman, I think my swim came out to about 750, so under the stress and excitement of a race, that may be true. For biking, the Ergomo tells me exactly what I am burning based on my power output, and on an average basis, it comes out to about 550. For running, I definitely don't meet the 100 calories/mile estimate because I am so small, but if I remember from when I used an HRM, it was around 525-550/hour. Strength I have no clue!

So my 6-day deficit as measured with what I believe to be my burn rates is about 3800 calories, which should be a little over a pound. I've been adding about 10 minutes of extra stuff per day that is not included in my calories burned total, and if you figure on 500 calories per hour for that, it comes out to another 500 calories, so maybe 4300 (although I'm not including that extra stuff in my calories burned for purposes of dropping weight), and 4300/3500 is 1.3. Nice!

It is good to see that the old calories in/calories out equation is working the way it should. I frequently hear people bitching and moaning about how they can't lose weight even though they believe they are technically creating a significant calorie deficit. I always tell them that the only way to prove their statements is by having their RMR/BMR measured, their exercise burn rates approximated based on that (which requires a bodyfat % calculation, too), and then keep meticulous records of intake and output. But then one needs to recognize that as you drop weight, your RMR for sure is going to change, and unless you keep adding more exercise, your BMR would drop, too. So it is true that there's a delicate balance between how much you eat, how much exercise you do (on average), how lean you are and to an extent, age. Which is why I have had rules of thumb about what I will and won't eat based on the average number of training hours per week that I do, and I knew full well that I was not paying close attention to that this winter, and presto, extra fat. DUH.

Why should RMR/BMR be affected by age, all other things being equal? Technically, it may not be. That is, if you maintain the same bodyfat %, then as you age, all other things being equal, your RMR/BMR should stay pretty much level. Many RMR/BMR estimates will use your age but not your bodyfat %. So the assumption is that as you age that you get fatter, which is true for most sedentary to moderately active people. Is it more difficult to maintain lean mass as you age? I think that may be true to an extent, but is it biochemically based? I doubt it. I think that as we age we adjust our standards to be "OK" with a little more fat than we had when we were younger. I mean, face it, it's hard work to stay lean and muscular. Like I always say, if it were easy, then everyone would be ripped and gorgeous!

I can tell you from my pre-endurance days that I was able to maintain a weight of around 118 lbs. on very few calories--maybe 1800 per day. I think there is an individual daily quantity of food that makes you feel "not deprived." I remember when I was watching my intake like a hawk and that 1800 did not seem like a whole lot of food. Since I've been tracking things again for almost a week, it "feels" like around 2000-2200 is satiating to me. But if I wasn't doing all the CV stuff, that would be enough for me to get fat pretty fast.

A nice by product of the extra stuff that I'm doing is that I'm using/developing muscles that don't normally come with the "triathlon" package. It feels really good! Jumping rope is an excellent warmup for anything else and is awesome for your calves, core and arms, the pushups and pullups may be helping me in the water, and changing up/supplementing my abs work was something I needed to do anyway.

Where this will all lead, who knows. In case you're asking the question, am I vain? Of course. I'd like to stop/slow down the aging process as much as the next person, but I also want to feel strong in my daily activities aside from triathlon. It's nice, for example, to be able to shovel my driveway when I feel like it and not be sore, or to rake leaves for 4 hours or be bent over for a few hours gardening. And it was really nice to be able to weather a stupid back injury--I'm not saying I did it with aplomb, but it could have been much, much worse.

I'm sure some of you are wondering when I will post pics of my work. Give me another week and we'll see what I think after dropping another pound.

Writing for Another Blog

My friend, Brett, has asked me to begin contributing to his excellent blog, Triathlon Jones, which is geared towards beginners. So I wrote my first piece here. I was pretty amazed that I could write something so short yet true. I get asked or I hear people asking quite frequently how to become a better biker. It's not rocket science! Sure I have a power meter, but even without one, it boils down to a few simple concepts.

I enjoyed writing this article and hope to write more. If you are or know of beginner triathletes, please send them over Brett's way. He knows a few things and more importantly, is 100% into the mental aspects of training and racing, which is one of the things that led us to become friends.

Weekly Workout Totals 02/23/2009-03/01/2009 and Getting Into Gear

Overall, last week was great, training wise. I nailed my key workouts. I embarked on my 4-week disciplinary action, which was a good excuse to do some tweaking to my diet and some other things. On paper, everything was pretty solid, and I am feeling damn strong.

2 years ago when I did the 4 indoor tris and just added them on top of my usual serious training build, I wasn't able to keep up my run volume. Looking back, it may have been because I did a marathon in January, 2007 (actually Goofy Challenge), but it may have been that I wasn't strong enough at the time to do it.

This year, though, I haven't missed a beat (knock wood!) on my running except for one week when I was sick, and I cut back just a little there. Don't get me wrong--Mondays after a sprint plus 1:30-1:40 of running has still been a challenge to recover from, but I've been getting it done in the midst of recovering from a serious back injury, my strength buildup, weekly track workouts, and pretty solid bike workouts.

I guess 2009 is the year of the big changes. I am tweaking things here and there, and it feels good to do it and that means it was probably necessary. At the end of the day, I just want to feel strong and solid and be able to train (i.e., have fun) a lot! So doing a few odd group trainer workouts, swimming with paddles (yeah I know there are those who say that's good and those who say not--I don't care--my upper body is responding well to them so good for me), adding some new peripheral stuff (chinups, extra pushups and abs work and jump rope), and paying more (actually what is generally my normal) attention to my diet, all seems to be moving me in the right direction.

This coming on the heels of a stinky prior racing season and major renovation of my house, all feels pretty great. My beautiful upstairs bathroom is finally 100% functional (freezing pipes solved), and I know it sounds silly, but I am really looking forward to taking a bath in there! I don't take baths very often, as I'm usually showering twice a day as it is, but I am going to park myself in there this week sometime and enjoy the hell out of it.

This week my strengh routine moves to maintenance mode, which is going to feel like a piece of cake compared to the last 7 weeks. But as soon as my new, heavier medicine ball arrives, I will be putting the hurt to my abs, which have languished for the last few years at the same resistance level (12 lbs.; moving to 15), so that should be interesting, huh?

I've ordered seeds, a few plants and some lily bulbs to plant once it warms up, and I have already noticed certain bulbs poking out of the ground. We've had plenty of snow this winter, so spring should be outstanding, and while I have a lot of perennial stems to cut down and don't particularly look forward to mowing the lawn, every spring I am always so in awe of all the beautiful flowers I've planted through the years and the fact that with minimal care, they come back and just, well, make my yard a thing of beauty and a place for me to just walk around and be amazed by the colors, scents, insects and birds. Actually something is already blooming--my giant pussy willow is full of catkins (ha ha that's the technical term you pervs) that will soon explode and begin attracting bees, and crocuses are not far behind, and then daffodils, hyacinths, peonies--I have close to 100 different flowering plants in my yard. And yet each spring I am surprised at the procession of green and flowers, and it's so rejuvenating.

March is the month here when you get teased by the spectre of warm weather, and it's important to be prepared to take advantage whenever the opportunity presents. It's supposed to be in the 50's on Friday, so that may mean an outdoor ride. I'll begin transitioning to more and more outdoor running, but need to build that up gradually to get my legs used to the pounding of the pavement and also my nearby hills! Yes, hills! I miss them...and I look forward to cursing them.

Well, time to go run and swim. Happy Monday!

Weekly Workout Totals	02/23/2009-03/01/2009 This week's totals are sponsored by Discipline
Swim:	9500 yards (5.39 miles) in 3.3 hours; 23% of weekly workout time; approx. 1155 calories burned Canadian: 8686.8 meters
Bike:	Approx. 106.56 miles in 5.9 hours; 41% of weekly workout time; approx. 3187 calories burned; Total TSS=355 Canadian: 171.49 kilometers
Run:	Approx. 24.3 miles in 3.81 hours; 26% of weekly workout time; approx. 1729 calories burned Canadian: 39.11 kilometers
Strength:	1.55 hours; 11% of weekly workout time; approx. 388 calories burned
All Sports:	Approx. 136.25 miles in 14.56 hours; approx. 6459 calories burned Canadian: 7.71 kilometers
Sleep:	7.71 hours avg./night
Stretching:	3.3 hours. Massage: 0 hours

Mojo Coming Back

I wasn't sure how much of anything I would do today...some kinda long run (according to Dr. I was not supposed to run until tomorrow, ha ha--actually it started out as "no running for a week" to which I said "That will not be happening") and then swimming, depending. Warmed up with 5' of jump rope, 2x5 chinups, 20 pushups and about 5' of abs. Feeling good! Onto the treadmill, feeling good, nothing seems to be breaking, ended up going 1:55 for 12.3 miles, not blazing, but felt strong. Felt like I could have run a marathon today. Followed up with 2800 yds. (700 with paddles) swimming, which also felt great until maybe the last 400 when my body said FEED ME!!!

I have to mess with the training schedule for the coming week since I want to get in all the regularly scheduled S/B/R plus do well at the last of the 4 indoor tris on Sunday, plus I did no brick runs this week so I need to sneak in a couple or 3. Which means I need to move my long ride to Friday (including a brick run), and instead of a long run on Sunday after the race (my wave isn't until 3:05 PM so fuck that), I'll just spread out running throughout the week to get to my necessary total.

It feels like my mojo is coming back in a big way, as this is the best I've felt in months, really, just strong, solid and ready for much, much more. As it should be with Triple T in 12 weeks! I have to say, I had forgotten how good jumping rope feels and how it just revs you up for whatever follows! Considering that way back when before I began running I used to jump rope for an hour continuously, starting back with only 5' seems pretty lame, but I'm guessing I'll build back up to maybe 15' daily in addition to whatever training I have scheduled on weekdays. I highly doubt I will be up for the jumping on weekends when I'm riding 3+ hours.

I'm having fun cycling through all kinds of abs exercises that I haven't done in years, and it's a good thing because I can tell my abs had gotten used to my regular routine, so it's time to mix it up. And I finally bought (online) a 15-lb. medicine ball with double handles so I can increase the weight on any abs work I do with a medicine ball, and I should be able to add new stuff now that I'll have handles!

My 4-week clean up plan is going well, being on Day 3 now. Maybe it's just the little extra bit of exercise, maybe it's cutting out some crap I was eating, but I feel pretty good, and it should just get better from here, and I'm pretty confident I won't be a fat ass in 4 weeks!