Learning to float

desertcircus

Well, it's the second of January and time to set goals for the year ahead. This training log is as much a way to keep me honest as anything else - I have one overriding goal for the year, which is simply to complete a sprint triathlon. The secondary goal is to get to under 80 kilos by January 2017. My weight and my severe lack of ability in the pool make any more ambitious goals pretty unlikely.

A bit of background:

Age - 33
Height - 175cm
Weight - 94kg

I've ended up targeting triathlon somewhat by accident - I spent most of my twenties doing no exercise whatsoever and topped out at 110 kilos. I started cycling to work in 2009, then took up rugby in 2010, but I decided to do Gaelforce West in 2013 and spent the off-season training for it. When I went back to the rugby club, I realised my heart wasn't in it, so joined a triathlon club in 2014 to train for adventure races (triathlons being off the menu due to my total inability to swim, or even float). I spent a chunk of 2015 doing swimming lessons as cross-training, with the aim being triathlons this year - nothing more ambitious to start with than a sprint.

As training goes, the bulk of what I do will be focused on either weight loss or learning to swim - speed sessions and the like are useful, but nothing's going to do as much for my times on the bike or run as dropping weight will. I'll be picking up a scales to monitor progress as the year goes on - my diet will be as much of a focus as training.

So far this year: two sessions on my brand new turbo, both focused on fat loss.

MojoMaker

Very good. have you considered the assistance of an app to monitor eating habits and calorie intake? Can be a powerful motivational buddy in your corner if you're ever wavering over a food item you're not sure about, or indeed one you're completely sure about

Myfitnesspal is a pretty accurate logger and can help set some structure around eating habits to support a long term diet goal.

desertcircus

MojoMaker wrote: »

Very good. have you considered the assistance of an app to monitor eating habits and calorie intake? Can be a powerful motivational buddy in your corner if you're ever wavering over a food item you're not sure about, or indeed one you're completely sure about

Myfitnesspal is a pretty accurate logger and can help set some structure around eating habits to support a long term diet goal.

Downloaded Myfitnesspal this morning - this should help a lot, as I have a horrendous weakness for sugar and carbs in general. Replacing soft drinks with straight black coffee has gone reasonably well so far, though!

MojoMaker

Good job, bear with it and try to be brutally honest with it for at least 6 weeks - you'll be surprised. Be careful not to set the daily goal too low as you can confuse the body at the same time and put it into starvation mode. I found a sensible net calorie intake of about 1600kcals was useful to hit some medium term goals and it forces you to seek out highly nutritious foods with fairly low kcal values, which was useful beyond sport in general.

desertcircus

End of the first full week - some stuff going reasonably well, some not so well. Realised over the course of the week that I'm actually about 97 kilos, not 94, so that's a slight setback.

Did an hour last Sunday on the turbo averaging about 75-80% on an RPE scale. Monday was a rest day after a few days on the turbo, then ran the 8.5k to work Tuesday morning. Unexpected rest day Wednesday when my bassist was free for rehearsal an hour earlier than expected.

Thursday evening was swimming lessons with 3D in Belvedere pool. I struggled a lot - I only barely float in the water, so I find it really difficult to get my head far enough around to breathe. Joined the gym beside work on Friday morning, so I'll be in the pool a couple of extra times a week from now on to work on that. Ran home Friday evening, then bike training with 3D on Saturday morning and run training today.

At the moment, I'm not as fit as I should be, and my swimming is absolutely terrible. Right now it's difficult to picture myself comfortably completing a length, much less swim 750 metres in open water. It's somewhat reassuring, though, to be in the pool with other people who appear to be in the same situation. My diet's been heavily improved - MojoMaker's suggestion has made it a lot easier to track what I'm eating and recognise potential problems.