Control-Alt-Delete.........RESTART!

Monday

10 minute run and gym session, mainly machines for the legs and lower back. The vibrations hurt the hand when running but seemed to improve as it went on.

Tuesday

45 min on the turbo.

Weds

20 min run and gym session.

Hand has improved greatly over the last 48hrs.

So weekly updates will have to do for now. Nothing much to report, as in there is no secret to losing weight and there are thousands of blogs on that.

I am just following some simple guidelines:

Exercise everyday
Cut sugar out as much as I can
Cut wheat out as much as I can
No take aways
Burn more calories than I consume.

I am on target after two weeks-target into lose 0.75kg per week. I have my progress usable in my kitchen for one and all to view, it's a daily reminder and I find it motivating. Plus I LOVE trend graphs, especially when it is I that has the power to control the trend 😎

So...it's been a while, just over 2 years! There has been nothing Triathlon related to report for all that time. Between one thing and another, mostly stress related, I fell out of love with the sport and started binge eating pretty much.

I was very active until June 2013 in triathlon. My last race was Feb 2014, a duathlon in Ballinrobe. 3 years ago. My last triathlon was the Hell of The West in June 2013😬 Long story short I piled on 4 stone (25.4kg), this had me at 104kg and the heavier I got the tougher it was to get back to exercise. All my life I was active and sporty so this new reality was hard to accept. Then on the 27th of Aug 2016 (then and now pic attached) I played a game of soccer, I was disgusted about how unfit I was. So I had the bright idea to try and lose weight by just cleaning up my diet and when I got to 90kg I'd start training again. I started to count my calories and just ensured what I was putting in was less than what I was burning. Simple maths. The My Fitness Pal app was great for this. I only needed to count calories for two weeks, after that I was used of it and let's face it, if we are honest with ourselves we know what we should be eating anyway. Anyway...the weight fell off. 3.5 stone in 4 months. It was rapid. The big mistake I made was not upping my protein intake and doing some mild exercise because I lost an awful lot of muscle mass. Once I realised this I got on it and it only took 2 or 3 weeks to gain some muscle mass. I'm at 79kg now and I want to just maintain that. I'm still really unfit but the hard bit is done and I've been training regularly for the last 6 weeks and feel great! The plan is to do some racing as this is what I love doing.

The pic...

On the left 27 Aug 2016, 104kg. On the right 21st Dec 2016 82kg. Amazing what can be done in 4 months with making the right food choices alone, yes, no exercise at all went into the loss of 22kg (3.5 stone). It wasn't even about clean/healthy food, it was more about total calories in < total calories burnt - so quantity, portion control. I was running a calorie deficit, no specific number in mind, usually 100 - 300 a day. When I hit around that mark - no more eating for that day, usually about 7pm that happened. Nothing until breakfast then. On reflection it got me to where I wanted and the thoughts of running and cycling are not as daunting now. Lighter means way easier in those two particular pursuits and more, way more, enjoyable. However, as I said above I wish I had done a bit of exercise during the weight loss period - I lost a lot of lean muscle mass. Even some gym/weights or swimming would have done the trick. That's the only thing I would have done differently. All good now though, muscle mass back to where it should be, only took three or four weeks.

I have labelled two races as "A" races BUT the main goal for 2017 is to just enjoy racing and training. I love racing, I love the whole day/evening, getting ready for it, meeting people, the coffee/pint and chat after so I will race a lot this year, especially smaller mid-week ones. It's all about keeping healthy and doing what makes me happy 😊

I wanted to do a middle distance in August as this would give me enough time to put miles in the legs. Then I saw the price. F#*k that. No other middle distance really suits so I opted for an olympic distance around that time - Caroline K. Must buy my entry soon. My other "A" race is the dublin half marathon.

I'll update the log when I can. I wonder who still reads these? Any of my old friends around anymore? 😬

Thanks folks! Great to be back.

Where am I at?

Swim

Strangely enough this is the discipline that I feel I have least amount of work to do. My body position and technique isn't too bad. I'm lacking fitness and endurance of course but that will come.

My stroke rate is quite low at about 44 strokes per minute so that's an area to target.

I did a 1000TT, just for the craic like, on Feb 17th. Time 19:48, 44 strokes per minute

This week I did a CCS Test
400TT: 7:09
100's: 1:44; 1:49: 1:47; 1:48. Stroke rate of 50

200TT: 3:25
100's: 1:40; 1:46. Stroke rate of 52

Happy to see an improvement in my stroke rate over the last 3 weeks. CCS therefore is 1:52/100m

Bike

I was delighted to find out that I still, oddly, like doing turbo sessions 😊 happy days. For the last 5/6 weeks I've been just doing 2 a week with some build and sprints thrown in. I've also done two big gear sessions in the last two weeks - live those.

I had an FTP of 300 3 years ago, no idea where I am now but I would guess somewhere between 220 and 240. I'll do an FTP in two weeks time.

Run

Struggling with running to be honest but still enjoying it. I did one of the awesome, free run in the park in Boyle, Forest Park on Feb 4th

Dist: 4.86km
Time: 27:03

So lots to do on the run.

Sleep

I was surviving on 3 to 4 hours sleep for the guts of 3 years I'd say. Happy to say that I'm getting a good 7 to 8 now, massive difference! We got a new bed too, super king size, bloody amazing 😊I get to bed before 9:30 most nights now.

Nutrition

A bit hit and miss but at least I'm totally gone off take aways now! 😬 I'm supplementing with Vit D, C and protein.

Consistency

This can certainly be improved. I'm not getting my endurance sessions done in the bike or run. Swimming, no problem, I've hit 3 sessions per week for 4 weeks.

This is definitely my no. 1 objective for the next two months.

So that's where I'm at in a nutshell. I'm still preparing for training, I'll do 3 Base Phases, the first base will start in April.

Sunday 12th March

I did a trail run with a mate from home. It's the Suck Valley Way, about 110km of off road/bog. There are 8 sections in total and for years I've wanted to do it so myself and my mate will break it up into sections. We did just over 7km, Ballymoe to Castlerea section. It was beautiful. ☺️ I'm back in love with nature again ☺️ I'm still having to walk on these runs to keep HR down.

Dist 7.3km; Time 48:26; AHR 162; Pace 6:40/km

My longest run in years!

@Neady83 thanks dude! I see you did The Race - looking forward to the report and following you too!

@MojoMaker thank you I've a few trisuits and they all fit again! So does the wetsuit, all of which is a relief as I am on a strict budget these days.

@jackyback thanks man. I hope you and the family are keeping well. I look forward to hearing about your next/new adventures!

No training today - planned rest day.

shotgunmcos wrote: »

Amen!


+1 M great to see you back and with some Mojo! I'm still around, although lurking more than posting and I will certainly read this (as I do many of the logs).


As always love your attitude man

Mike! Great to hear from you. Glad you are still around

@joey100 you are right dude. I intend to enjoy myself

Tuesday

It was such a nice day I opted to get outside instead of the turbo. Ended up doing 14 minutes over the planned. Lovely to get out there.

Time 54:47; Dist 23.2km; Cad 87; AHR 148; AP 155; NAP 181;

Abhainn wrote: »

Great to see you back El D. Its been a while since Rosses point Oly 2013 when I met you first and you wupped my ass on that cold Sligo day in May.
Best of luck.

Hey man, thanks very much! I remember that god awful day! What races have you planned? Do you have a log?

Wednesday 15th 2017

Tempo run on the menu today - my first! I used to love these and I'm happy to report I enjoyed today as well. Sometimes slow running can be painful - mentally and on the body because it's easy to drift mentally on those runs and your form suffers as a result, for me this mans pains in my hip! Decent pace makes it easier to hold form, for me anyway. So 15 minutes tempo as in (3 minutes tempo, 1 min recovery) X 5. I walked to get the HR down on the recoveries and was happy to see it only took 20 seconds or so.

Time 32:39; Dist 5.8km; AHR 151; Ave Cad 160;