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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 12 Sep 2015 04:23 pm |
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Weight: 172.0
Wow! Almost 5 lb lost overnight. What a relief. It only took over a week before all that dieting paid off.
Last night I did really well. I had a good sized dinner and didn't go back for seconds. Instead I took the family with me on a walk. It was super humid, but it had cooled enough to be nice. The Tall Ships Festival is going on so we had a nice view of all the old tall ships sailing out by the harbor. After 3 miles I felt great and didn't want to eat anymore, not even something sweet.
Today I'm still sore but I'm going to attempt my big ride on the trainer. I guess I'll just see how far I get. My calves are super tight and don't seem to want to relax. They're worst when I first wake up in the morning. I really hope it goes away soon. It's really messing up my training.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 Sep 2015 09:20 pm |
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Weight: ?
Forgot to weight this morning, but yesterday is was 174.0. It's up a little bit, but that's just daily fluctuation and nothing to worry about. So far I'm on target to meet the goals for my first 2 dietbets and way ahead on the 3rd bet. I just need to lose another 3.1 lb over the next 18 days. My first 2 bets end just before my next race. I get to indulge a little bit after that race, but otherwise need to stay on track for the last bet which ends several days afterward. Once the 3rd bet is done I'm going to binge. I wish I could say that it's not going to happen, but I'm pretty sure I need to get it out of my system before I fall off the wagon completely. I think it's better to do it mindfully so I can keep it under control. One day of major indulgence and then back to proper eating. After all, I want to start prepping for the next set of bets which begin a week later. If I'm successful for 2 more series of these bets then I will be back to a size 8 in just 2 months. After that I can decide if I want to slow down to a maintenance bet or try to keep going.
My legs are still sore a full week after that Baldy race. I can't believe it. My calves are so sensitive that I'm unable to massage them with either the stick or the foam roller. Every morning I wake up stiff-legged. It's getting better, but there's no way I can run yet. So in place of running, I did some extra time of the bike trainer. I'm going to do more trainer work tonight and see how I feel tomorrow. Maybe then I can do a short run?
Today I had a doctor's appointment which I thought would be wham, bam, give me my prescription and let me be on my way thank you maam. Unfortunately, the gyn saw something on my ultrasound report that made her want to be extra cautious, so now I have to go back Thursday for a biopsy. Boooo! It wouldn't be so bad if it didn't take so long, and I didn't have to pay for parking. Even with a morning appointment I waited almost an hour for just a 10 minute visit. The total time out of my day including driving is over 2.5 hours. That's no small change.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 15 Sep 2015 06:33 pm |
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Weight: 175.0
Weight is up a little bit, but I think that's mostly due to constipation. I'm not sure what it is that I ate, but my belly has been hurting these past couple days. I did have a little flank steak a few days ago but only about 2 oz. I think I need to keep recording what I eat if not to just calorie count but also track what causes me pain. In the meantime, I got some visceral massage this morning and I'll be doing some belly stretching yoga tonight. Oh yeah, time to drink some warm lemon water as well.
Last night I researched why the doctor wanted to do a biopsy and why she gave me the option of an ablation. She will be checking for cervical polyps to be more thorough. I'm not sure why, but I get the feeling that there is a very very very small chance of cancer. That seems to be good precaution and I'm glad she's doing it. As for the ablation, I'm going to hold off on that. The thought of going through another surgical procedure makes me want to cry. Plus I've read that many ablations end with hysterectomies in later years. I'd rather monitor the cyst and hope that the hormone therapy reduces it instead.
No exercise yesterday. I had to work until 8pm to make up for lost time from the dr appt. I was also very tired. Today I'm going to do a short run at lunch and then try to get on the bike trainer tonight if I can find a pair of bike shorts. The ones I have either don't fit right now or are in the garbage. I've ordered a couple new pairs and should have them soon, so if I don't ride tonight I can do it Thursday or Friday.
In my new quest to simplify my life, I've thrown out our sofa set and set aside a bunch of clothes and purses for donation (shoes are next). I've made a personal To Do list with the priority item being at the top. My goal is to do at least the first item on the list every day. I'm going to de-clutter and organize my life. It's my preliminary step to becoming a business owner. My next step, which happens simultaneously, is to do one business task every weekend. That list is more dynamic as I research what is needed to get started. I want to do my first business venture by the beginning of next summer and submit my first patent application by the end of this year.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 16 Sep 2015 05:29 pm |
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Weight: 169.0
Woohoo!! I'm back in the 160s! It's been many months since I've seen that number and I'm so pleased. It's been such a struggle to get my motivation and control back. I now realize that if I can find something more important than food, then I can use that to stay motivated. In my case it turns out money beats food. It's not like I need the money, and it's not like me to hoard it either. It's more like the idea of just throwing it away that bothers me. After all, I'm betting on myself on something that I have total control on the outcome. Losing money in this kind of situation would just be foolish on my part.
At this point I've exceeded my goal by 1 lb and I still have 2 weeks left to go. I want to try to continue to lose some weight however. I would still like to be a little lighter for my upcoming race. My training has been better but still not as consistent as I would have hoped. I'm not confident that I will be strong enough by race day. Even just losing another 2 lb will be a big help not only for the 56 mile hilly bike course but also the long hills on the run.
My run yesterday was so-so. I took it slow and did a run/walk for most of the 3 miles. My calves still had a little bit of cramping, but they're much better. They were still too sensitive to pressure last night, but I think I'm good to start foam rolling tonight. Spending a couple minutes a night over the next 2 weeks to foam roll my legs will be the best prep I can do for this race. It's amazing how much pain from dysfunctional muscle can slow a person down. On a side note, I'm so glad I went running when I did. The rain (a heavy downpour on our sad, drought-stricken state) had just stopped and the usually bone dry river beds were full and roaring with water. It was a beautiful sight to see. I heard a news report that said tree ring samples have shown that California has not had this bad a drought in over 500 years. Hmmmm, proof of global warming? Too bad there are so few of us concerned about this issue.
No time to get up on a soap box today. I'm happy to report that I also got in a bike trainer ride last night. Digging through my workout clothes I found one last pair of bike shorts. It wasn't quite the 15 miles I had planned (I had to quit because it was 11 pm and too noisy to continue), but 12 will do and they were a quality 12 of long simulated hills from 3% - 5% grades.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 17 Sep 2015 10:11 pm |
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Weight: 170.4
Lately I've been into Korean food. Of the many side dishes, I enjoy dried squid the most. Today a friend brought her homemade recipe. Yummm. I'm already snacking on it. Because it's so chewy I don't think I'll eat more than an ounce. Besides I have to be careful considering my digestion problem.
Yesterday's spin class was the best so far. I had my highest average power output ever at 188 Watts. The class was killer with lots of high resistance and high cadence. I'm glad my legs were all recovered and ready. My brick run wasn't as stellar however, and even though I felt like it was under 11:00/mile, it turned out be well over that at 11:43/mile. Boo!
Today I was going to swim after work, but I just got back from the biopsy procedure and I'm cramping painfully and bleeding. The procedure itself was only uncomfortable, but the cramping afterward feels pretty bad. I might even have to leave work early because I feel so uncomfortable. I've taken some ibuprofen and will take more if it doesn't work. Owwww!
I had 2 biopsies done, one on the cervix to check for polyps and one of the uterine lining to check for cancer. The doctor said that I should get my lab results back pretty quick, so maybe I'll find out that all is well on Monday. The doctor also wants me to have a second ultrasound to check the ovaries. That means another trip back but hopefully not another 3 hours lost. Yeesh.
One last thing and then I think I'm going home. I made the crazy decision to sign up for a full ultra distance triathlon. It's not the Ironman brand but it's the same distance. This one is sponsored by HITS and will be in Palm Springs in December. I will have about 7-8 weeks to prepare for this race following Silverman. That is just enough time to get ready with minimal training. I've scheduled training weeks at 10-13 hours / week with recovery weeks at 5-6 hours. I find I do best when I've had a very easy week to recover as my training weeks tend to be aggressive and full of intensity.
Ok, it's been over an hour now and the cramping is not going away. In fact, I'm getting nauseous now too. Time to go home.
Last edited on 17 Sep 2015 10:12 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 18 Sep 2015 09:23 pm |
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Weight: 171.6
Time to bring the weight back down again. Luckily today is a fast day, and this weekend has got some long and tough workouts so I should see another big drop next week. I just need to keep most of my eating under control, unlike yesterday which turned out to be comfort food day.
The cramps I got from the biopsy plagued me through the night. The pain made me tired and I was asleep by 6 pm. Up until then I had eaten a light dinner and thought I'd be good for the rest of the night. Unfortunately, the pain woke me up several times last night. The midnight one had me restless and hungry, so I binged a little on fried rice and cookies. I did try to fill up with 2 cups of cooked bok choy and gai lan, but it wasn't enough. I'm always weakest when I'm tired and not feeling well. Even when I try, my food cravings still get the best of me.
I also didn't do my swim workout yesterday, so I'll have to get it done today. Fortunately, I'm feeling better. The cramps are not as bad, and the bleeding has stopped (can only use pads after biopsy). I'm going to try to swim for 45 minutes, but I think I'll have to take it slow. I'm still very tired after such a restless night.
I'm also bummed that I didn't commute today. It's now been 2 weeks since my last commute day (woah, that just felt like confession). However given how I feel right now, I thought it would be safer if I drove to work instead. No need to take chances when riding in traffic.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 20 Sep 2015 05:32 am |
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Weight: 171.6
Yesterday had some unexpected obstacles get in the way of exercise so no workouts done. Instead I was up until 2 am and ended up sleeping in until 8 am today. I felt pretty #%@&! when I woke up too. I felt sore along my lower back and belly, maybe residual cramping from the biopsy? My belly has been bothering me all day today, and I barely felt well enough to do a run. I had just enough time before full dark to do 5 miles of hills. An hour after my run my abs started to cramp. Ugh! It's probably these stupid adhesions.
Today also had it's fair share of busyness. Shopping, errands and the kids' recital meant I didn't have a 5 hour window to do my long ride. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I have time but am hoping my belly won't give me pain like it did today.
Only 2 more weeks until race day, and this weekend is my last chance to do a long ride.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 21 Sep 2015 09:29 pm |
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Weight: 175.2
Weight is up partly from Sunday's workout and partly from dinner, which was sushi and udon and very salty. Even the salad dressing tasted very salty. Anyway, no worries about the weight. It should drop pretty quickly over the next couple days. After all, yesterday's weight was down to 170.4.
Yesterday's workout was tough, mostly because of the heat. It was 102 degrees by the beach, which is very unusual, and hardly a breeze. In fact, it was a record high. We've had a lot of those this year. Sigh. Anyway, I had no choice but to try and get this workout done, a 56 mile, hilly ride on the trainer, on a second floor with no air conditioning. I didn't even have a fan since the family had taken all of the available fans for other parts of the house. I ended up lasting for 40 miles in under 4 hours. In that time I had drunk over 100 oz of fuel and water. I stopped my ride when I noticed that I had stopped sweating and was starting to feel stomach cramps. After a cold shower I felt completely recovered except for a little soreness in my legs.
So that's it on training. I have to start my taper for the race. I wish I could have done more, but I did the best that I could at this time. I feel a little stronger, but I don't think my endurance improved enough. None of my rides ever went over 4 hours, and my longest run was only 8 miles. My swims were ok but could have been better. On a good note, my body is finally adapting to the rigors of training again. I've had my second longest workout week this year. I was able to average 6 hrs/week over 12 weeks as opposed to the 4 hrs/week for my previous race. It may not be enough of a base to start full ultra distance training in a few weeks, but I guess I'll find out soon.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 22 Sep 2015 05:57 pm |
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Weight: 176.6
Nothing much to report today. My weight is up again, but I'm still feeling sore, maybe a little more so today. I will try to drink lots of water to flush the system.
No workout yesterday because it was a rest day and super busy anyway. Today I'm going to do an easy swim. I'm going to work on sighting once every pool length and see how that affects my pace. I also need to get a better feel on how to do sighting without dropping my legs and slowing down too much. I feel like I should be doing more, but it's taper week.
Now that my exercise is down this week, I'm going to have to be extra diligent about my eating. I need to get back down to my goal weight for this dietbet and for the race next weekend. After I get it back, I need to work hard on maintaining or losing a bit more. That's the hardest part. There's something about success that makes me slack off. I'm trying hard not to let that happen this time.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 23 Sep 2015 06:55 pm |
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Weight: 175.8
Intake: 1495 cal
I had a pretty yucky day yesterday, feeling nauseous and gassy after lunch. As usual, after a visceral massage, it becomes difficult to eat without pain. I ate half of my soup and a boiled egg and was done. By the end of the workday I was starting to feel worse. I skipped my workout and went home. I couldn't stomach anything more substantial than some cooked veggies and a bland baked potato. That little bit of food helped perk me up a little so I decided to do some yoga, stretching and foam rolling. That always helps with the gas, and I felt a little better. Still feeling a little nauseous and dizzy this morning though but agitated as well, like I need to do a couple sprints in the parking lot with someone to hold my hand so I don't fall over. Maybe I should ease up on the coffee.
My blood pressure has been high lately (140/90). Maybe that's the reason for the dizziness? It might be because of my asthma medication. Maybe allergies. I should try to eat better and remember to take my omega-3 which is supposed to help relieve asthma. On the other hand, my heart rate is fantastic. My waking heart rate is below 40 bpm, and my last measurement in the doctor's office was 43 bpm. I'm not sure what all this means for heart health, but I'm reluctant to discuss with my doctor as I don't want medication or a bunch of time consuming tests, again. On a side note, all of my other tests came back negative so no more GYN stuff for a while. Just need to monitor the fibroid to make sure it shrinks.
Today I'm doing a spin class and a 6 mile brick run. I'm really looking forward to this workout. I feel the need to just get away for a while. I'll make up my swim tomorrow.
After talking to my Ironbuddy yesterday, I've decided to do one last long run before Silverman. I really need it if I'm going to be ready for HITS Full in December. Even with this run, I'll still need to increase my long runs by 2 miles every week in order to reach 18 miles by race day. My longest ride will be 100 miles, and I've scheduled 3 big brick sessions and 2 small bricks. My longest swim will be 1.5 hours. For every 12-13 hour training week, half of that time is spent doing one huge workout on Saturday. The rest is spread out over the rest of the week with 2-3.5 hours of it being a long run. I was dreading training for another ultra distance triathlon, but I've scheduled only 5 tough weeks, the rest being recovery weeks. I'm not sure if my body will be able to adapt fast enough, but that's all I really have time for considering the short notice. My secret hope is that my body reacts well and I'll have no problem finishing the race before the cutoff. Fingers crossed.
Last edited on 24 Sep 2015 11:44 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 24 Sep 2015 11:43 pm |
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Weight: 175.0
Intake: 1440 cal
My weight is down a little bit more, but I was certainly hoping for better. I need to be back down to 170.0 in order to meet my dietbet goal. I'm pretty sure I can. The weight is not a calorie thing but a blockage thing. The PT did more visceral massage today so I'm hoping for some release today. Luckily I don't feel the nausea that I felt from Tuesday's treatment, so I can get back to my usual activities.
I want to get back to calorie counting at least until the end of the year. Of all the things I've tried, it's the only method that has worked for me. With calorie counting I had reached a low of 155 lb. I want to get back to that and keep going. My goal is to be below that weight by the end of the year.
Yesterday I didn't get to my workout. I got stuck at work because of some last minute needs for a show. Boooo! I hate when that happens. So to make up for yesterday, I have to double up on my workouts today. I got in Tuesday's 45 minute swim during lunch and was able to complete 2300 yd (1.3 miles). The swim headache came back but is starting to subside now. After work I will do the spin class and 6 mile run.
I forgot to work on sighting, but I feel ready (except for the surf) for this weekend's Tiki 1.2 mile swim. The surf forecast for Sunday morning is for 2 foot waves. That's not that big, but I've had trouble getting through waves that size before. I'm not sure if it's anxiety or my wetsuit, but I seem to have trouble either diving down far enough or staying under long enough to get past the wave. Well, even if I swim slow I should still have about an hour to try and get through the waves and still make the cutoff.
Last edited on 25 Sep 2015 03:36 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 25 Sep 2015 08:42 pm |
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Weight: 172.2
Intake: 1051 cal
Yes! There's the big drop that I need! Now just 1.3 lb and 6 days to go to meet my DietBet goal. I know I can do this. Plus, today is a 500 calorie fast day, so that should help for tomorrow's weigh-in.
Yesterday's workouts were tough but very satisfying. I felt great just completing them. Spin class was fun. I love sprints, and with the heavy flywheel on the spin bike, I can churn the wheels at tornado speed. Ok, not quite that fast but it feels like I'm flying. Woohoo!
I took it easy on the run. My left calf is still giving me problems, and my achilles is sore. It makes it hard to walk in the morning because it feels like there's a stone bruise on my heel. I really need to be more diligent about the foam rolling, but it hurts so much. If I want to get faster though, I need to suck it up and do proper recovery or I'll just end up injured, unable to workout, and getting fat while sitting on the sidelines.
Today is an easy day because it's commute day. Other than 2 short, leisurely rides on my folding bike, I have 2 short strength routines (15 minutes total) to do tonight. I love my commute days. People tend to be selfish and mean behind the wheel of a car, including me. I admit to throwing my hands up in a WTF gesture every now and then. I don't like being that way either and always feel ashamed after the anger goes away. When I'm commuting by bike, all of that goes away. I don't even get mad at the crazy drivers because I tend to ride much more defensively. Instead it's nothing but smiles and greetings once I get on the bike path. People in cars are usually angry, stressed, evil demon monsters, while people walking or riding bikes are mostly happy, polite, rainbow-wearing teddy bears. For every car that tried to mow me down today in their race to cut in front of me to get on the freeway ramp (only to have to wait at a red light by the ramp meter - hah!), there were 2 nice people on the trail who smiled and said good morning. Seriously people, it takes me 3 seconds to move past the on ramp - you have to wait at least 5 times that for the ramp meter. I could rant all day about bad California drivers, but I don't have the time. I just have to state my biggest pet peeve - use your turn signal. The car makers did not put it there as a pretty decoration. It actually serves a safety purpose. DUH!
Last edited on 26 Sep 2015 05:41 am by mchen01
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zenobia
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 27 Sep 2015 04:45 am |
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oh man everything in your last post is dead on. funny you mention turn signals.... i'm originally from a nice Midwestern state where everyone uses thier blinkers... i went to CA for the first time like 10 or so years ago and found that NO ONE used theirs. i was shocked and horrified... fast forward to 10 years later, and here in CO, we get 50/50. we have a solid mix of Midwestern and CA implants. makes total sense. lol
Also.. i miss biking to work. it was a great way to start the day.... you are so right- driving is pure stress, anger, and.l... hate nuggets. so dumb. it's like, it's only work, people. do we really want to stress before we even clock in?
it sounds like the working out is going well- you know, sometimes it is just the celebration of finishing them. lol.
Last edited on 28 Sep 2015 04:11 pm by zenobia
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mchen01
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Posted: 28 Sep 2015 04:22 am |
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Hi Zen! I notice that midwesterners tend to be more neighborly. It was like that when I lived in the south(east) too. Back there if you were sitting out on your porch and someone drove by you'd wave hello even though they were total strangers. When I tried to do that here I got the weirdest looks. Haha!
Weight: 173.2
Intake: 1670 cal
Ok, I forgot to log calories yesterday. It was just too busy, but I think I did ok. I remember a 6 inch turkey Subway and a big salad with blue cheese dressing. What else... Oh yeah, tuna salad on crackers and a can of sardines. Haha, no wonder I want to forget what I ate. I don't normally eat so much stinky fish, but I had a huge craving for animal protein. Given that I can't seem to stomach meat anymore, fish was my easiest, no-fuss choice.
Yesterday I did a 10 mile run in the hot sun on a very hilly route. It was slow but I felt ok at that pace. There wasn't too much pain in my achilles. Today I did the Tiki Swim 1.2. That's 1.2 miles in the ocean with a beach start. A bunch of waves showed up just when the gun went off. They weren't too bad, but it doesn't take much to bring on the anxiety. I had one bad moment when I swam over the crest of a wave only to feel this awful sensation of falling down the other side. I panicked and had a difficult time catching my breath. I hate how I react that way. It doesn't make sense and I don't understand why I can't get over it. Ah well.
I have 4 more days until the end date of my first DietBet and now need to lose 2.2 lb by that date. Time to go low calorie and eat only veggies.Last edited on 28 Sep 2015 05:17 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 28 Sep 2015 10:56 pm |
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Weight: 174.6
Intake: 1225 cal
Shucks!! My weight is up again! I'm sure it's water weight from inflammation. Even my feet feel swollen . I now need to lose 3.7 lb in 4 days. Time to start drinking tons of water over the next couple of days, and minimizing salt intake. I'm going to try and drink at least a gallon of water today and tomorrow. That should help flush out all of the stuff that's keeping me bloated. I'm currently on my 4th glass of water. Each glass is 16 oz. That means I have to drink another 4 glasses to get in a gallon. Holy cow! I'm already going to the bathroom every 1-2 hours. How do people drink this much water every day? Not only that, but how do some people actually drink 2 gallons a day.
If I stay on track the inflammation should be gone in a few days. That and a little bit of dehydration should take me down to my goal weight. Once I'm there I can start eating a bunch of salt and getting re-hydrated for Silverman, where the temperatures will be in the mid-90s.
I'm getting ready to landscape my front yard. All of my grass is now completely dead (along with some less hardy plants and bushes). It started about 2 years ago, and with our severe drought I decided to not bother. Either the drought ended and the grass would come back (with a little help), or the drought continued in which case it would be better to get rid of the lawn entirely. Looks like the drought is going to continue for some time. It's very scary watching our lakes and reservoirs slowly drain. We are supposed to get some reprieve this winter with El Nino, but my concern is that the heavy rains will destroy my yard which is nothing but dirt. Ugh - so much to do and so little time!
Last edited on 29 Sep 2015 06:15 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 29 Sep 2015 06:15 pm |
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Weight: 174.6
Intake: 1610 cal
Of course the weight didn't come down. I think I'm going to be struggling until the last minute. I'm thinking for the worst case I'll be doing a 24 hour fast and sitting in a sauna to lose some water weight. In the meantime I'm going to keep up with today's gallon of water. I did over a gallon yesterday, but it was hard. I had to chug a bottle of water right before bed to make my quota. I think today will be easier now that I have a better sense of how much a gallon is.
Because of my bowel problems, I've been steering clear of most meats. I no longer eat beef or pork. The pain from the bowel obstruction is still too fresh in my mind. Now that it's been a while I notice my desire for meat is slowly going away. I don't even want to eat a hamburger. It makes me wonder how hard it would be to make the full conversion to vegetarian, and then maybe vegan. How much better would my body feel if I stopped eating meat or only ate it rarely and stuck to mostly veggies, fruit and beans. Would my bowel pain go away? Would my skin rashes go away? Would my asthma get better? Would my blood pressure come down?
I'm giving this lifestyle some serious consideration, but am not sure how to go about it. I want to do it gradually and not in such a strict sense. Is it ok to still eat chocolate? I don't think I can ever give up chocolate. Nor will I ever be able to give up ice cream. I think I'll still want to eat eggs, chicken or fish in some form from time to time. For starters I'm going to do Meatless Monday. I don't know that I'll join officially, but it's a place to go for advice.
Yesterday was a much needed rest day. Today I'm switching things around and doing a short run instead of my swim. It's time to start getting ready for the race. I need to go through my packing list and itinerary. The first day is going to be busy with registration and transition setup. Then it's an evening of rest before the next day's race on a tough course in hot temperatures. After a celebratory dinner it will be time to drive home, but not without a few stops for some well deserved milkshakes, french fries and other forbidden treats.
Last edited on 30 Sep 2015 03:54 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 30 Sep 2015 07:59 pm |
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Weight: 174.2
Intake: 750 cal
Less than 2 days to go and I need to lose 3.3 lb. After lunch today I'm going to have just veggie juice for dinner. For tomorrow I'm just drinking hot lemon water and will see how that works. I'm leaving the option to dehydrate as the last resort. For now I'm going to try and void the solid stuff first. If I can't bring my weight down enough by tomorrow night then it will be time to work on water weight.
I didn't run yesterday or do any of my strength training. I suddenly have a sore throat and am worried I might be getting sick. A couple days ago my TSS did dip into the -30s, which is where I'm susceptible to ilness. But then again, it might also be from the ocean swim. My inhalers can decrease the immune system of my mouth and throat, and I think something in the ocean gets in that part of the skin and infects it. Except for the sore throat I feel fine, maybe a little tired and sleepy, but otherwise my sinuses are dry. If I feel ok later today I'm going to get in that little run.
Yesterday turned out to be an all vegetarian day (if you don't count the hard boiled egg). I didn't miss animal protein at all, although I did enjoy the egg. Unfortunately my calories were too high because of the pasta. Speaking of pasta, I finally found the soybean pasta I was looking for and ordered it online. The same company also made a bunch of other bean pastas so I thought I'd try the black bean pasta as well. Calories are still high, but nutrition is much better. If I'm having a vegetarian day, these pastas will give me the protein I'm missing from meats. It will also reduce my carb intake which is already too high from rice and pasta. I hope I like them.
The more I think about it, the more excited I'm becoming about going vegetarian. I feel ready to make the lifestyle change. If I'm lucky, my need for salt will also come down. I like no salt substitute seasoning, but I'm not sure how to replace soy sauce. What will I dip my dumplings in? Hahaha.
Last edited on 1 Oct 2015 03:38 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 1 Oct 2015 04:27 pm |
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Weight: 172.0
Intake: 352 cal
Yay! Most of the weight has come off. As long as I don't eat anything heavy today, I'm just one sweat fest away from meeting my goal weight of 170.9. The plan is to stick to a liquid diet today: fruit juice, coffee, veggie juice and water. After work I can jump on my bike trainer and shed some water weight. The hunger will probably keep me awake tonight, but the DietBet is over at midnight. If I can make my goal weight by midnight, then I can take my proof photos then and then have a late night snack.
This is certainly not how I wanted to meet my DietBet goal. I have been working on a healthy and moderate calorie diet and getting plenty of quality exercise. When I met the goal 2 weeks ago I thought I would be fine. Even when I ate out I made sensible choices, the only thing being the extra salt. Given how hard I worked I expected to be far below my goal, not struggling to meet it at the last minute. Sigh. Maybe it's the hormone therapy.
So what do I think of DietBet? It definitely kept me hyper focused on my diet. I ate mindfully ALL of the time. I never had a moment where I ate something unintentionally out of habit. That's the good thing. The bad thing is that it is very hard to control weight, which is not a good indicator of fat loss. Having to resort to dehydration is generally not a good thing, but as long as I don't make it a habit I don't see any big harm. It just bothers me that I have to resort to these last minute tactics to meet a number that has so little to do with healthy fat loss.
Last edited on 2 Oct 2015 04:43 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 2 Oct 2015 06:31 pm |
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Weight: 170.6
I made my goal weight. It took a little extra effort these past couple days, but I think it was worth it. In fact, I still can't believe I was able to lose that much weight in 4 weeks. I've never been this successful before. I'm definitely going to join another bet after the race. If I can keep my weight around 171, then another successful bet should bring me down to 165.
I slept off and on last night until about midnight. With no alarm set, I woke up naturally around that time. I was feeling hungry enough that my sleep was fitful. Once I weighed in I immediately had something to drink. That felt really good. Then I ate a light snack of peanut butter on 2 slices of toast and half a honeydew melon. I thought I could go back to sleep, but turns out I was still hungry. I went back for a cheese sandwich and some nuts. After that I was out like a log.
So today I expect my calories to be on the high side, maybe a little over 2000 cal. It will make up for the past 2 days of eating light and then fasting. I'm still going to eat my regular sized meals though. I want to save my big indulgences until race day and the day after. I get 2 days of celebrating and then I'm back on track for my last bet which ends Oct 8.
I've got a lot to do today so I didn't have time to do the bike/train commute. I have to do a quick maintenance check on my bike and change the rear tire. Then it's time to pack all of my race gear, fuel and clothes. As with every race, I've got the jitters. Did I train enough? Am I in the right mental state? Omg, omg, omg. I'm still afraid of this course, but at least the weather is looking good, overcast and in the mid 80s. The goal is to learn something new from a race I've never done before, race hard and smart and to enjoy the day. After that it's milkshakes and french fries baby! Yeah!
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mchen01
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Posted: 6 Oct 2015 06:37 pm |
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Weight: 172.0
Intake: 1179 cal
I'm back form the Silverman race. Boy was that a tough one, but I don't think it was worse than St. George. I had a great time even when I was in pain. I loved every challenging part of it, and I learned a lot of new stuff. I'll write all about it in my race report later.
One of the best things about a mega race like this is all the food I get to eat afterward. With over 8 hours of racing I burned about 6000 cal. As usual, I didn't eat anything for breakfast and had only race fuel, coke and oranges during the race. I estimate that I took in about 950 calories during the race. Postrace food was about 200 cal. Dinner was maybe 1450 calories. That means I still had a 3400 calorie deficit, which I took advantage of the next day with an oreo milkshake and french fries. I'm done with indulging though and am back on track. I've gained a little bit of weight but am sure it's all inflammation.
Weight loss is going great, and I'm having so much fun doing it with DietBet. From an initial investment of $55, I've won almost $53. I almost doubled my bet. Yay! The best reward was that I stuck to a healthy and nutritious diet and exercise plan, and the weight is staying off. I feel like I'm hyper-motivated and am loving the extra monetary reward, even if it's just a little bit. BTW, I bought a new dress with my winnings. It's a size to meet my goal weight of 155 lb, so it will provide some extra motivation. I can't wait until I'm small enough to wear it.
My next DietBet ends in a couple days. I'm only 0.2 lb from goal (since I weighed in slightly heavier than the previous 2 bets). Right now I'm just eating my usual intake of about 1200-1400 calories and then going for a quick 45 minute walk after work. That should keep me on track. I will wait for tomorrow's weigh in to decide if I need to do any last minute fasting to meet my goal. I've already signed up for 2 new bets which starts in 2 days.
Last night I tried out the black bean pasta. As a pasta lover, this stuff is going to take getting used to. It's rubbery with an odd, almost grainy texture. It didn't go well with the usual tomato and marinara sauce because it doesn't seem to absorb the flavor of the sauce. It's easy to swallow the sauce but still be left with this chewy mass in your mouth. I found it to be edible only with a liberal sprinkling of cheese. On the plus side, it was incredibly filling and seems to be very healthy with only 2 ingredients, black beans and water. It's also a very versatile way to get in my protein on vegetarian days. I think it's worth trying to like, so I'm going to try some different recipes and see if there's something that will make these noodles more palatable. I'm thinking maybe something with olives or a creamy sauce or maybe even huevos rancheros style.
Last edited on 7 Oct 2015 03:32 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 7 Oct 2015 05:59 pm |
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2015 Ironman Silverman 70.3 Race Report
Pre-race:
No breakfast, no fuss. I had everything ready to go the night before. I almost never eat breakfast and didn't feel like eating. The night had been restless with some concert going on late. I kept waking up to the crowd screaming outside my window. Even after the concert ended I still kept waking up through the night. I think I was more nervous for this race than I have been in a while.
Swim (56:29; 2:55/100m (2:40/100yd); 41 div):
Water temperature was too high (77.1) so no wetsuit. Those who chose to wore wetsuit would have to move to the last wave. My wave was second to last. With a wetsuit wave added I would now be third to last. If I didn't wear a wetsuit I would have a time cushion of 6 minutes. So the question was whether it would be slower to swim without a wetsuit or to take the time to strip out of the wetsuit and lose the 6 minute cushion. More out of pride than confidence in my swim, I chose to go without a wetsuit.
Turns out my swim wasn't too bad. Given the heavy winds and all the chop on the water I think my time was very close to wetsuit version. It was only 2 minutes slower than my Tiki swim which had been done in salt water and using a wetsuit. I did make one glaring mistake at the second turn buoy. Right after the turn I put my head up to sight and take a breath and was hit by a big swell. I can swim without needing to stop to cough, which I did, but I somehow got disoriented this time. When I looked up to sight a second time I found myself facing swimmers in the opposite direction. I had turned the buoy too far. To be safe from DQ I decided to round the buoy one more time.
Getting out of the water was also a chore. The bottom or Lake Mead is covered with sharp rocks. It is nearly impossible to walk. Unbeknownst to me, there was a rubber mat that we could use, but it was only about 2.5 ft wide and on one side of the 8 ft wide finish area. Of course I was on the far end of it. I got back down on my belly and pulled my way along the rocks to get to the mat.
Other than those 2 things the swim went pretty well. The wind was strong which made sighting and breathing a challenge, but I really didn't have too much trouble with that. My biggest problem is still lack of strength and endurance. I could tell I was getting tired halfway through as my legs started to separate more and my elbows dropped, making me less streamlined and less efficient. Another thing I learned is that a swim skin would have been very helpful. I could feel the pockets on the back of my jersey luffing in the water, acting as a parachute to slow me down.
T1 (5:48):
This time I remembered to grab my glasses off the table. It wasn't obvious and I feel lucky I found it considering how blind I am. There was a man sitting on the table so he kind blocked it from my view. I only saw it as I was passing it. My glasses were the only thing sitting on the table. Good thing because I would have had to pick everything up to hold it close to my face to see if it was mine.
Now that I've done my first non-wetsuit swim I've learned that I need to lube the undersides of my arms. All of that rubbing against my jersey rubs my arms raw. Owweeee. I wish I had kept my bodyglide in transition instead of turning it in with my morning bag. As I ran down my row I completely passed my bike. I got totally confused and it took me at least a minute to circle around and try looking again. Once I found my stuff everything was quick and smooth.
Bike (4:29:02; 12.49 mph; 45 div):
I trained hard for these hills. It wasn't the hills that got to me. It was the wind. The wind was strong and gusty, putting major fear into me on the downhills. At times I had to cut my speed in half on the downhills because a sudden gust would have me wrestling with my steering, trying to stay upright. I would go from a happy 40+ mph down to 20 mph. The wind cost me a lot, not to mention the headwinds.
By mile 40 I was starting to feel defeated. My watch showed me I had about 1.5 hours to finish the last 16 miles. Normally no problem, but the last 16 miles are the hardest with 2 significant hills. By this time I was feeling some issues that I hadn't expected. My arms were sore from all of the braking (having done most of my riding on a trainer left me unprepared for braking) which triggered my shoulder and neck pain. My right ab was also cramping, and that kept me almost entirely out of aero position. Finally that dry wind was sucking every bit of moisture out of my body. Normally 80 oz of fluid is enough for a 4.5 hour ride. For this ride, I stopped twice to completely refill bottles. At the other 2 aid stations I just sucked down as much water as I could before riding past the station. I estimate I had at least 120 oz and still felt dry. In fact my lips are still cracked and peeling.
At mile 40 I seriously considered stopping for a minute to catch my breath before beginning the first of those 2 hills, but as I turned the corner there was a penalty tent. I didn't want to rest in front of a penalty tent. People will think I got carded, and considering I was so far in the back that would have been embarrassing. Feeling sorry for myself I just kept going, and as my thoughts dissolved into a tired, zoned out nothingness my legs went into autopilot. Before I knew it I was over the hill. I remember thinking when was I going to hit the big hill not realizing I had just ridden over it. What followed was a series of easy rollers that brought my speeds (and my spirits) back up. Checking my watch again I found I had 30 minutes left to get through the last 5.5 miles. It was mostly uphill, but I had a chance so I pushed hard and made it.
BTW, I crossed the bike finish at 5:31:19. The bike cutoff is 5:30:00 from the last wave. If I had been in the last wave with the wetsuits, I might not have made the bike cutoff. Too close to know for sure.
T2 (6:53):
T2 was a mess. There was a bike laid on the ground spanning 4 spots, and another bike had rudely used my spot rather than move the grounded bike out of her way. I had to move both bikes to use my spot. (On a karmic note, I saw that the person who took my spot forgot her helmet after pickup.) With lots of volunteers hanging out, I wish one of them had come over to help. The extra time cost me, and I was really close to the cutoff. I think I was lucky to be able to get out on the run. Maybe it was a good thing that everyone was so slack at T2.
Run (2:48:58; 12:53/mile; 42 div):
The raw spots on my arms were killing me as I started my run. I had to hold my arms out away from my body to keep them from rubbing. I know there's vaseline somewhere out on the course, I just didn't know where. Luckily, at the first aid station after the first mile, there it was. What I huge relief.
The run went nearly as planned. I did a run/walk on the uphills and felt fine. My pace stayed pretty consistent on the uphills. On the downhills I chose to run completely to make up for lost time. However, with every loop of the downhills (3 loops total) my pace got slower. That's because my legs started to cramp more and more on the run. I'm pretty sure the cramping is from already tight muscles. I didn't spend enough time stretching and foam rolling before the race. Big mistake.
At least I didn't suffer as much as a lot of people I saw on the course. In fact, I passed people and gained 3 positions in my division, 13 places among females and 76 places overall. I'm pretty happy with that. That meant that I didn't waste myself on the bike and had enough energy to get through the run.
I tried something new for this race. I brought a cooling towel and wrapped it around my neck. I had a bottle of water in my T2 bag which I used to douse the towel and myself. Every once in a while, I would wrap ice into the back of the towel to keep my neck cool. It was perfect. Other than that my usual run fuel was water, coke and oranges. I was sad that there was no redbull this time.
Final thoughts:
I crossed the finish with 2 minutes and 50 seconds to spare. It's a sucky time, but I'm happy with it. At the time I started training for this race, I was skeptical that I would be able to make the bike cutoff let alone finish. Not only did I finish, but I gained almost 80 spots on the run. That meant that I trained well.
What is really interesting (and disturbing) to me is that the swim turned out to be my best event for this race. Back when I was in shape, the bike was my best event followed closely by running. Now the bike is my worst event. In fact, here are my overall rankings for swim, bike run: 882, 995, 919. I realize now how much harder I need to work on my bike training.
For reference statistics, there were 927 finishers in this race. I counted about 162 DNF. That means almost 15% of athletes did not make the cutoff times.
Last edited on 7 Oct 2015 06:01 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 7 Oct 2015 08:54 pm |
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Weight: 172.4
Intake: 1041 cal
Weight is a little up with another DietBet weigh out looming over me. The bet ends at midnight tonight and I now need to lose 0.6 lb by Friday morning at the latest. I don't want to wait that long though and am going to finish this by tomorrow morning. The plan is to eat minimally today with a fruit smoothie in the morning, soup for lunch and a salad and veggie juice for dinner.
I also plan to get in a longer workout today. Yesterday found me still too sore and tired to do my 45 minute walk (I guess 2 days after a 70.3 race is expecting too much). Besides my hubby was on Skype and I wanted to talk to him. It's still hard being away from him so often. Anyway, I'm going to go to the gym and ride a spin bike for an hour and then head out on the trail for a 30 minute walk. Nothing intense. I just need to move my muscles.
Last edited on 8 Oct 2015 05:14 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 8 Oct 2015 06:28 pm |
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Weight: 170.4
Intake: 2510 cal
Last night was another battle to make my DietBet goal. By the time I got home my weight had dropped to 170.8. I didn't want to risk gaining weight so I ate very little for dinner and then waited. I fell asleep before the midnight weigh out but was happy to see my weight at a good spot this morning. But boy, was I hungry. After taking my photos and immediately receiving verification, I went to the kitchen and ate my leftover dinner which was steamed fish. I rolled the fish into a tortilla with lettuce and mayonnaise and thought it was one of the best meals ever.
So now I'm starting with a big meal for this morning. I think that's ok. Besides I could use a little added weight before starting the next bets. My guess is that my weight will be back up to about 172 tomorrow morning, making my goal weight loss about 7 lb. If I can make it I'll be at 165 in 4 weeks. Woohoo!
Enough with the diet stuff. It's time to start concentrating on the next race goal, which is a combination of half marathon training and full ultra triathlon. That means the emphasis with be running speed and endurance and bike speed and endurance. The swim will just go into a maintenance mode with a max swim of 2 hours.
My current predicted half marathon pace (or date pace) is 10:18/mile for a 2:15:00 finish. My goal time is 2:05:00 which would push my goal pace down to 9:33/mile. The plan is to do these intervals first and then finish off with a long easy run to meet mileage for the full marathon training. I would like to do a similar goal pace/date pace workout on the bike. I'm not sure if I can fit it in. I think the only way would be to replace my spin class, but that would get rid of the intensity workout. Hmmmm, maybe I can alternate the two workouts.
I will look at my training schedule again tonight. In the meantime, my legs still feel trashed from the race. That was obvious from yesterday's light spin where trying to push beyond 90 Watts brought instant fatigue. My walk wasn't too great either. My pace was ok, but I felt nauseous. It felt like something inside my body was twisting along with my steps, kind of how a roller coaster will make your insides flop up and down. Maybe that had something to do with the visceral massage.
On a good note, I'm finally eating without pain. Yay!
Last edited on 9 Oct 2015 02:56 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 9 Oct 2015 04:07 pm |
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Weight: 171.8
Intake: 1276 cal
I'm so pleased that with even trying to put on some weight, I'm still not gaining much. That means this weight loss is solid fat, not water. I ate a lot of animal protein yesterday, which is heavier than my usual meals. Plus, it was salty and a lot of food. My DietBet weight was a little higher at 172.2 because when I moved my scale for the photo and added my phone weight, the scale nudged up 0.4 lb. The extra weight will help me get through the bet. I don't consider it cheating as it's all me, but I would rather be a little heavier than lighter at the start of a bet. Losing almost 2 lb / week is really hard.
After indulging yesterday I feel ready to get back on track. For some reason I feel really good, and I'm very motivated to lose this weight. I'm so close to breaking 170 that I'd like to push extra hard this next week to get there. The only thing that might sabotage me is a wedding this weekend, so to get ready I've decided what I will and will not eat. I will limit alcohol to half a glass of wine. I will only take one bite of dessert. No bread or butter. No crackers. No cheese.
I thought about how I will tackle my bike training and decided it would be best to concentrate on endurance intervals. I'm going to throw in threshold endurance intervals on both my midweek 2 hour spin and my long ride. For spin class I plan on starting an hour early where I will throw in 3x10-15 minute threshold intervals. For the long rides, which are 5-7 hours, I plan to build 2-4 hours of varying intervals from 10-30 minutes. I'm getting desperate about building back my bike strength. With my current times, I'm looking at maybe 8 hours on the bike. Yuck!! I do not want to be on the bike that long. Time to get serious.
Last edited on 10 Oct 2015 03:21 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 10 Oct 2015 03:37 pm |
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Weight: 168.2
Yeehaw! I'm back below 170. I'm very happy about that. Now only 3 lb left to go if I don't gain. I'm truly shocked that I've been able to get the weight down and keep it down. Why was I having so much trouble before? Was I really eating that much more? I guess I'm going to have to pay better attention to how I'm eating now. I want to be able to eat intuitively without having to count calories every day for the rest of my life.
No exercise yesterday. I had an orthodontist appointment that took a while and then the hubby met me for a coffee date. I should have gone to the gym, but it was a freaky 105 degrees outside, a new record high. A few days ago it was in the 70s, and I thought summer was finally over. Now it's back to being hot, hot, hot. Anyway, I did some self massage on my abdominals yesterday because they were very achy. I got too aggressive, reaching under my ribs until I could feel the crunchiness go away. There was a lot of crunchiness too which meant a lot of scar tissue. I was in pain all night.
I'm going to do some stretching this morning and some icing to try to ease the pain. I hope it will be better by this evening so I can get on my bike for a couple hours. Other than that I plan to go down to the beach and mark out an interval course for myself. There's a chain link fence, and I think if I tie a little ribbon marker at the bottom of the fence no one will notice. I want to mark out an 800 yd distance, but if there isn't enough fence then I'll do a 400 yd distance instead.
Lots to do this weekend, but if I'm lucky I'll have enough time to go see The Martian. I loved the book. Can't wait to see the movie.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 12 Oct 2015 05:54 pm |
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Weight: 170.6
Intake: 1301 cal
Weight is better than I thought given the indulgent weekend and lack of exercise. It has been extremely hot with record temperatures, and I have not been feeling well. I'm not sure what I ate, but my right side has been cramping big time. I've had terrible heartburn and nausea and even lay in bed with the chills Sunday morning despite the heat. Because I wasn't feeling well, I've been resorting to eating soft and easy to digest foods. Those turned out to be puddings, fruit and breads. I did try something a little more significant and healthy in the way of hummus and that made me writhe in pain all night. It felt like I ate a bunch of bricks. Today I'm sticking with just coffee and water until I can get this food to move through my bowels.
Last edited on 13 Oct 2015 03:44 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 13 Oct 2015 06:29 pm |
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Weight: 170.0
Intake: 1943 cal
I'm feeling a little better today but still kind of blah. I'm a bit nauseous and my right side is crampy, but I think eating won't be as painful today. I went through yesterday with hardly anything to eat until dinner. It was even hard to get down water because of the pain and pressure in my bowels. Unfortunately dinner was mostly starches and soft foods because they don't hurt as much, and I think I aggravated the pain with all the extra sugar. Lesson learned - lay off the sugar.
I'm back to proper eating now and have 3 DietBets to stay motivated. My total winnings from the 3 previous DietBets totaled $69.97. I doubt I'll win that much again, but it's super exciting to win period. I love logging in and seeing the congratulations with a dollar sign. Gosh, does that mean I'm materialistic? Is my motivation that base and silly? I hope not. I think maybe I enjoy it so much because it's my little reward to do with what I want. It's money that I get to spend guilt free because it wasn't already earmarked for bills and family stuff. Most of all, it's making weight loss fun.
Today I'm doing a time trial run. I have a fairly flat route mapped out. Tonight should be a little cooler too so hopefully my time won't be affected by heat. I hope my time has improved from my last time trial. I really want to get stronger and faster. I'm going to commit to a new wake up time so I can treat my workouts as a priority. I'll only be able to fit in the short runs and strength training for now, but it'll be a start for the better. So tomorrow morning, I'll be up at 5 am for a 30 minute tempo run. Yikes!
Last edited on 14 Oct 2015 03:44 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 14 Oct 2015 05:37 pm |
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Weight: 169.6
Intake: 1420 cal
I'm trying really hard to get below 170 and stay there, but what I do doesn't always add up to the right results. Last night for instance, I ate a lot, but my weight still came down. Then there was that time where I lowered my calories for a week and the weight wouldn't budge. Anyway, it's very hard to control one's weight and because of that lack of control it can be very hard to figure out what is being done wrong.
This morning I woke up on time to do my first early workout. I was both excited and miserably tired. As soon as I put my left foot down though, I realized I would not be running today. The heel pain was the worse I've had so far. I couldn't stand any pressure on the heel. Usually the pain goes away with the first few steps, but 5 hours later I'm still limping despite the stretching and foam rolling.
This is beyond frustrating. All I did last night was a 15 minute tempo run. I did an easy 10 minute warm up first, felt great during the tempo run, and then did a 10 minute cool down. Before that I did a 45 minute strength routine including some active stretching. I did everything right so I don't understand the sudden pain. Ok, maybe I do. My calves have been tight for a long while now. Still, there is no problem with my right leg which is equally tight to the left. The pain is only in the left side. I guess I'm going to have to do some extra treatment on the left side. The foam roller doesn't seem to be enough so I'll try using the tennis ball for a while, and I'm going to go back to a night splint (yuck!). If all goes well I will try to do my next run tomorrow.
Last edited on 15 Oct 2015 04:18 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 15 Oct 2015 05:17 pm |
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Weight: 168.8
Intake: 1767 cal
The night splint did the trick, but my toes were really achy this morning. Luckily that is temporary. I could hardly feel the heel pain this morning, so a little achy toe is worth it. I think I will have to wear the splint again tonight, but that should be it for now. If necessary I will wear it after every run until the pain goes away.
So no workout yesterday and no workout today maybe. Last night was the kids' school concert. We didn't get home until after 9 pm. I would have done a late night trainer ride, but the hubby is home (wish there was someplace else to put my trainer besides the bedroom). Tonight I'll be looking after my niece who I'll pick up after work from a volleyball match. Unfortunately, I don't know when her games end because how many games her team plays depends upon wins and losses. If she finishes at a reasonable hour I may be able to squeeze in a strength workout.
Since I'm missing so many workouts, I think I will have to skip another bike commute day tomorrow. That way I can do an early morning run, get to the gym during lunch for a swim and then hit the bike after work. This weekend I'll begin ultra training for HITS Palm Springs. That means it's time to begin building bike endurance.
It feels like I've been bitten by the Ironman bug again. All I can think about is training for that 140.6 mile race and getting my body used to the distance. I want to be able to continue to race until I'm in my 70s. The oldest female competitor at Ironman Kona was 74 years old. I want to be her. I want to have the chance to go to Kona just by being able to endure. So with that in mind, I keep looking at new ways to train, and I've found something I'd like to try. It's a training program that Chrissie Wellington once did, and I like the thought behind it. It's based on Frank Horwill's Five Pace Theory which basically states that to reach goal marathon pace, one must train for the goal paces that lead up to it. The training plan looks exciting and promising. I just hope my body will be able to handle it since it's a 10 day cycle and more running than I've done in a long time. Here's what the plan (from the Serpentine Running Club) looks like:
Day 1 – Duration run, building up to 21/2 hours.
Day 2 – Recovery run – 35 mins
Day 3 – Marathon rehearsal run – 9 miles at xx:xx min/mile up to 18 miles.
Day 4 – Recovery run – 35 minutes
Day 5 10K pace session – 3 x 2 miles - with 90 sec rest.
Day 6 – rest
Day 7 – 5K pace session - 4 x 1 mile with 60 sec rest
Day 8 – Recovery run – 35 minutes
Day 9 – 3K pace session – 8 x 800m with 90 sec rest
Day 10 – Recovery run – 35 minutes
Day 11 – Start Day 1 again
Last edited on 16 Oct 2015 03:38 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 16 Oct 2015 04:27 pm |
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Weight: 169.6
Intake: 967 cal
It's difficult watching my weight hover around the 170 lb mark. Last night I was at 168.6 right before I went to bed. This morning I couldn't believe that my weight had gone up to 170.0. I wonder if the humidity is freaking out my scale. Anyway, I refused to be back up at 170.0 so I went running and reweighed myself. I know it's a bit of a cheat, but I felt much better seeing a 6 instead of a 7.
It felt good and bad to get up early this morning. It was good to be productive, but I'm just not a morning person and trying to get energized and moving was hard. I guess knowing that I had to do a time trial this morning didn't help motivate me. Still I'm glad I got it done - yay me! I was rewarded with a faster timed mile, 11 seconds faster than my previous one back in July. However, I'm still nowhere near where I was before my bike crash and surgery. Right now my mile is at 8:13. I need it to be at 7:28.
My heel pain is back. Last night I wore the splint and was good to go for this morning's run, but since the run I've been hobbling around. It's hurting constantly now, not just when I stand. I'm going to do a lot of stretching today along with continuing to wear the splint. I hope I can get this to go away. I want so badly to be able to train harder so I can get stronger and faster. I'm tired of eating everyone's dust at races. I'm not a novice, so it's time I stop racing like one.
I forgot to mention that I finally bought myself a power meter for my bike. I've been wanting one for a long time, but nothing out there appealed to me, and I didn't want to spend huge amounts of money for something that I didn't love. Five years ago I settled on a trainer that had a power meter which was great for training, but did me no good for racing. Still I decided to wait. Now there is finally something out that is just what I wanted. It's a power meter in bike peddles. It's easy to swap between bikes and it has the potential to provide a lot of information like uneven leg strength and power differences in ankle flexion. I went ahead and pre-ordered and was hoping to have them by now, but an email from the vendor makes it look like I might be waiting until November. They must be really popular. It's disappointing, but I've waited five years so another month is not going to hurt too bad.
I haven't fasted at all this week. I kind of miss it. I feel better when my bowels are emptied - no painful pressure and feeling backed up. I want to give my weight loss a little boost too. I shouldn't fast today because I have a lot of workouts planned, but I'm not hungry anyway. Last night's homemade hummus is still sitting pretty heavily in me. So no food until after my last workout tonight, which is 2 hours on the trainer. Only coffee and water to keep myself well hydrated and energetic.
Last edited on 17 Oct 2015 04:37 am by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 19 Oct 2015 06:09 pm |
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Weight: 171.2
Intake: 1317 cal
Weight is up but not unexpected considering the salty food I had last night. Still I will work hard to do some extra cardio and strength as well as sticking a little harder to the diet. I did slip a little this weekend with some cookies and small pastries. It wasn't much, but I really can't afford a tiny cheat if I want to win the next few DietBets. I have a little over 2 weeks to lose about 6 lb. The goal is to drop 4 lb this week as I suspect at least 2 lb is water weight.
My heel pain got worse over the weekend. After the time trial run, I haven't been able to bring down the pain at all. It's been difficult to even walk. Luckily, cycling does not seem to bother it. I'm going to substitute all of my run workouts for the bike for the next 2 weeks. Last night I spent an hour rolling out my calves and stretching. I also pulled my night splint into a more aggressive position. I noticed a bigger improvement this morning. It was still painful to walk but less so. I think if I continue with the same routine for the next couple weeks I should be fine to start running again then. Unfortunately the run will have to be easy run/walk routines. No speed or hill training. I'm going to keep everything in zone 2 and just try to put some miles on my feet without hurting them. The goal is to make it to HITS Palm Springs with no pain and enough endurance to get through the marathon run. it's another disappointing "just finish" plan, but at least I'll be able to work a little harder on my bike.
I have been watching my blood pressure lately. With the recent dizzy spells and racing heart issues I decided to stop taking my asthma maintenance meds, thinking it was a blood pressure issue from the meds. So far I seem to be ok. I've had some mild asthma attacks which go away within minutes of relaxing and deep breathing. The dizziness and palpitations have not come back in the 2 weeks since I stopped my meds. Unfortunately my blood pressure did not come down. It's pretty consistent at 146/90. Now there's more reason than ever to try and lose more weight. I'm also going to make an effort to drink lots more water as that might thin my blood and help lower the pressure. One gallon was hard to do, but I think I can do more than the recommended 8 8oz glasses/day. I'm going to aim for 10-12 glasses/day. One gallon is 16 glasses.
Today is a really busy day at work so I didn't do my bike commute. Instead I got to work early to complete a document and load my latest code into the demo unit. I have the kids' violin lessons after work but should be able to do a nice trainer workout this evening. I'm supposed to do a bike time trial on Wednesday but may move it to tonight since it's only 1.5 hours. That way I can start my focused workouts tomorrow instead of waiting until after Wednesday.
Last edited on 20 Oct 2015 04:24 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 20 Oct 2015 08:44 pm |
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Weight: 168.6
Intake: 1508
I drank a lot of water yesterday and that seemed to help with the weight loss. At least it flushed out the salt from the previous day. I wish I had remembered to check my blood pressure. I'm going to continue with the increased water intake today and will try to remember to check my pressure tonight.
I didn't do my time trial last night. Lessons went a little long and we got home pretty late. Instead I worked my tight calf with the stick and foam roller and then did a yoga stretch routine. I bought a yoga app called Yoga Studio which is really good. Not only does it come with a bunch of classes of varying difficulties, I can custom create my own class. I don't know when I'll have time, but I'd like to try it someday. In the meantime I'm going to try and fit it a yoga routine everyday, even if it's just a 5 minute class.
I also set up my bike on the trainer last night. That way I'll be all set to go tonight. My current FTP on the bike is 165 Watts. At my current weight (76.5 kg) my power to weight ratio would be 2.16 Watt/kg, which is a weak number and puts me in the lower middle section of a typical cat 5 racer (most amateur category). At 2.82 I would be in the middle of cat 4. To get that number my FTP would need to be at 216 Watts at my current weight or at 205 Watts at 160 lb (72.6 kg). Back in February I had a FTP of 176, so I don't think I'm too far off from breaking 200. I'm going to aim for 185-190 Watts for my 20 minute FTP test tonight. I think I'm a lot stronger than when I tested with the 165 Watts. It will be really interesting to see tonight's results.
I also did some analysis on what it would take to reach my goal weight of 165.2 in 2 weeks. I need to lose about 1.7 lb / week. I have 13 hours of exercise planned this week. At about 500 cal / hour, I should burn at least 6500 cal. If I also reduce my daily intake about 500 cal, then that's another 3500 cal. If I use the NIH estimate of 7000 cal / lb then I will lose about 1.4 lb this week. How much I actually lose will be another really interesting thing to see. I actually think it will be more than 1.4 lb as long as I stay away from refined sugar and too much carb.
Last edited on 21 Oct 2015 04:21 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 21 Oct 2015 04:41 pm |
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Weight: 168.4
Intake: 2014
Today I'm taking a sick day off from work. I started feeling ill last night, very exhausted and feeling some stomach pain. This morning I woke up with even more pain and a headache. I think I just need some sleep.
The plan for today is to sleep some more and then if I'm feeling better I'm going to tackle that bike time trial. I can't wait to find my new FTP. If I'm able to do it then I'll update later.Last edited on 22 Oct 2015 05:37 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 22 Oct 2015 05:37 pm |
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Weight: 169.0
I don't know if I'm coming down with something or it's just fatigue. Yesterday I slept most of the day. I had to take care of some kids stuff in the evening and thought I could get in my workout afterward. It was late but I had slept so much I thought I'd be fine. I got through 27 minutes, which included 3x1 minute high cadence intervals, and then I crashed. My heart rate was low but it felt like it was racing, and I had difficulty breathing.
I still feel tired but came into work anyway. I want to feel better and figured getting up and moving might help. I'm going to try a short swim at lunch today and then a longer trainer ride later this evening. Even if I'm not feeling my best I think I can manage something if it's at a lower intensity.
I'm starting to wonder if I'm getting enough iron. I maybe eat animal flesh 1-2 times / week now, and that is usually chicken or fish. On the days that I don't eat meat, I don't make a conscious effort to substitute with beans or grains. Considering I've been doing this for several months now (and still experiencing heavy menstruation) makes me think an iron deficiency is highly possible. Yesterday I had a huge craving for nuts which is highly unusual, but in light of this iron theory it makes sense as nuts have a lot of iron. I would rather get my iron needs from food, so I'm going to start monitoring my daily iron intake and find ways to fit more iron rich foods into my diet.
A couple nights ago I took my blood pressure and got 126/79. This reading was my third try and after switching to my right arm. Before that they were both high on the systolic but normal on the diastolic. Still, it was a relief to see these new numbers. I think if I continue to lose weight and drink lots of water I can continue to bring down my blood pressure.
My heel is still hurting. I haven't done any of my stretches of calf rolling in 2 days and it shows. Today I've got a strap at work to help with some seated static stretching. I will make sure to do the other stretches and rolling tonight before bed.
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mchen01
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Posted: 23 Oct 2015 04:48 pm |
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Weight: ?
I don't know what is wrong with me but something is up. Yesterday I broke out in hives from my neck down to the top of my thighs. It was maddening. I wanted to just strip naked and scratch myself against a rug made of brillo pads. I itched all over and at times 2 hands were not enough to reach all the itchy spots. It was embarrassing how many times I had to run to the bathroom so I could scratch in privacy. The hives started on my back along my spine, moved up the back of my neck and down to the base of my spine. Then they moved to the front of my body from the top of my chest then down my belly, finally ending at the tops of my thighs and along my bum by the end of the workday.
I suspect it was the cat as the cat will not stay off my bed. When I got home I took a hot shower and scoured my body. Then I washed the cat. The I stripped my bed and washed the sheets and blanket. It definitely helped, but the hives continued to move down my arms and legs to the tops of my feet. At least the itch wasn't so intense. Unfortunately I had scratched myself raw in places and couldn't bear to put on my workout clothes, much less sweat and start the itching all over again.
Today I'm still a little itchy, especially around the face and eyes (final spot?), but all the welts and red spots are gone. I'm also feeling a little more energetic so I hope, hope, hope that I can get a workout done tonight. My breathing still feels a little shallow though, so I'm definitely going to take it easy. I just feel so restless and frustrated. I've got to do something, anything.
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mchen01
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Posted: 26 Oct 2015 04:32 pm |
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Weight: 167.6
Intake: 1990
Weight is still going down but not fast enough. I'm a little behind on my next DietBet, needing to lose 2.4 lb in the next 10 days. That's almost a quarter lb a day. If 7000 cal equals 1 lb, then I need to have a deficit of 1750 cal/day. Even if I ride 2 hours/day I still won't be able to diet enough to meet that kind of deficit. It will get me close though, and I will try to do extra on the weekends and when I have time.
I'm pretty excited about my continued weight loss. I feel like I can truly maintain this time, especially now that I eat a more plant-based diet with minimal animal flesh. I'm going to reread Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald. As I get closer to the 150 lb range, I'm going to start recording my weight/body fat along with my run time trials and my races. I think working towards my ideal racing weight will give me the added motivation to push that last little bit of weight loss.
This past week was really rough for me, especially with training. My workouts have been difficult to complete due to all kinds of health issues including asthma, hives, exhaustion and this stupid plantar fasciitis. The fasciitis has been the worst. Not only is it difficult to walk, but now I feel it when I ride as well. I was almost an hour into my trainer ride when the pain got to be too much, moving into my achilles as well. I stopped after an hour to stretch and roll my calf muscle. 10 minutes later I felt better and got back on the bike. This time I started to hurt after 30 minutes. I slowed down but wanted to get in at least another hour before taking another stretch break. I did the same stretching and rolling but couldn't get the pain to go away this time. I didn't get back on the bike. Only 2 hours out of the 5.5 I was scheduled to do. I'm going to try again this Saturday to do a 6 hour ride.
Next race is coming up fast. I can't afford to lose another long workout.
Last edited on 27 Oct 2015 04:47 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 27 Oct 2015 05:53 pm |
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Weight: 167.6
Intake: 1661
Food was great yesterday until after my workout when I got really hungry. I was just going to have 1 serving of dark chocolate almonds, but they were more than satisfying last night. I ended up eating 3 servings for a total of nearly 700 extra calories. At least they're all gone so I can't do that again.
Last night's workout was supposed to be an optimistic 2 hours on the bike trainer. That's if I could ride without pain. I ended up doing only 1 hour because the same thing happened. As I approached an hour my foot and achilles started to hurt. I could have gone longer, but I really want this heel to heal. I don't want to go into the next race even remotely injured. There is nothing to prove in pushing past the pain. I already know I'm tough. The question is am I patient enough to train smart.
This morning I also woke up with lower back pain. That was from my stupidity. After my workout I sat down on my yoga mat to stretch and roll out my calf muscle. I guess the cat missed me though because he crawled immediately into my lap and cuddled himself into this incredibly soft and warm ball of purring cuteness. With that and getting lost in a movie, I ended cooling down in this stiff and awkward position. When I finally got up my lower back was cold and tight. Lesson learned.
Tonight I'm going to try another 2 hours on the trainer. After all, there's no telling how my foot is recovering if I don't test it. Besides I'm losing fitness now. Even though I rode for an hour yesterday, because it was so light and easy, my fitness dropped from the day before (-0.2 CTL). That was surprising and very disappointing. That means I have to work at a higher level now to keep my fitness up. As of yesterday my CTL was 48.9. After Silverman it had gone up to 61.4, my highest recorded CTL so far. I definitely want to see my CTL above 100.
I've read that a safe rate of increase of CTL is about 5-8 / week. My last long ride made my CTL jump about 6 pts. That leaves me with 2 pts for the rest of the 5 workout days. Divided evenly that's a daily increase of 0.4. I need to go about my training a little more intelligently. I'm a little too gung ho and that makes me prone to injury. I think I'll play around with my training plan and see what numbers I get.
Last edited on 28 Oct 2015 04:24 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 29 Oct 2015 12:08 am |
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Weight: 168.6
Intake: 1436
Once again I was really good on my diet until I came home and there were lemon sugar cookies sitting out on the kitchen counter. Noooooo! I thought one wouldn't hurt, and it probably wouldn't, but the second and third were definitely not ok. I'm going to punish myself at the gym tonight to make up for it.
No workout at all last night. I couldn't even stand up straight. My lower back was so tight and painful. It's still sore, but the more I stretch it the more it starts to relax. I think I'll be find by this evening. The cat may have triggered the pain, but I think PT had something to do with it too. The pain extends through my right abs and into my lower ribs. I feel like my body is a total lemon. It breaks down constantly. Oh well. No exchanges so I'll just have to try rebuilding as much as I can.
Tonight's workout is a 2 hour spin class (1 hour on my own and the second hour instructor led). I still can't run so I'm planning to do an hour of elliptical after spin.
Last edited on 29 Oct 2015 04:37 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 29 Oct 2015 11:18 pm |
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Weight: 167.4
Intake: 1719
I'm in a bit of a dilemma now. I need to lose 2 lb in one week to make my next DietBet. I'd like to exercise more, but my training numbers tell me I'm heading into the danger zone with over training. The extra workouts put my CTL increase for the week at 10.1. Considering how weak I already am plus the injury, it has a fair potential to hurt my training. On the other hand, it's just one week and if I take it easy (stay in zone 2) then I might come out the other end much stronger. Right now the lure of short term reward is making me choose weight loss over conservative exercise.
Today I'm doing an open water swim for lunch, probably for 1.25 hours. Tonight I'd like to get on the bike for another 1.5-2 hours. Tomorrow is a commute day, but the shorter day and crazy drivers has me rethinking commuting in the dark. I'll have to re-plan that, but in the meantime, I think I can fit in another 1 hour ride on the trainer tomorrow night. Saturday ends my week with a 6 hour ride.
My heel is starting to feel a little better. I'm still limping but I'm not doing the tippy toe limp anymore. It doesn't hurt as much to try to stretch it either. I have a tentative run scheduled one week from today. I really hope it's ok by then. I'm waiting until the last minute to decide on whether I'll be recovered enough to do HITS Ultra, but the anxiety of not knowing is aggravating.
Last week I talked about the possible lack of iron in my diet so I've started tracking. Coincidentally I've had this huge craving for tapioca pudding which I haven't eaten in many, many, many years (not counting tapioca in boba tea). Looking at my nutritional numbers I see that tapioca has iron. Wow! That's a bonus I hadn't planned on. All this time I've never even known what the ingredients for tapioca. If I had to guess I would have thought something along the line of gelatin like goat's feet. Turns out it's made from a plant, the cassava root. I want to try making my own tapioca pudding using non-dairy milk and less sugar. Yummy.
Last edited on 30 Oct 2015 04:15 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 30 Oct 2015 07:04 pm |
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Weight: 169.4
6 days left to get my weight down to 165.2. Weight is up a couple pounds but it's definitely water. I can see and feel the puffiness. My lips are especially puffy. My asthma is bothering me today too so maybe somethings is up. I don't remember eating anything different to cause an allergic reaction. Maybe it was the ocean swim. My swim partners and I all felt small stinging sensations, but shouldn't any toxin be gone by now? Maybe it's the cat again.
Last night's workout was tough which means I'm beat. I was already tired from the open water swim (and sore from neck chafing - forgot my lubricant). My calf had done a bit of cramping on the swim (despite no kicking), and it was still bothering me when I got on the bike. I stuck it out for an hour on the trainer, but it was a total slog. I hope tonight goes better. I plan on doing another hour on the trainer.
I'm having an annoying day today. It makes me want to eat chocolate. Maybe if I look at a few cute kitten photos it will cheer me up, and I won't binge for comfort.
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mchen01
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Posted: 3 Nov 2015 08:31 pm |
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Weight: 167.8
Two more days until my next DietBet weigh out, and I'm about 2.5 lb away from goal. Today will be a light day of eating beans, fruit and veggies with lots of water and 1.5 - 2 hours on the bike trainer. Tomorrow will be a fasting day and 2 hour spin class. I'm pretty sure I'll make my goal, but it's going to be rough. On top of that, I have to do it all over again with another DietBet weigh out in four days and another in seven days. That's the last time I sign up for bets ending on 3 separate days. Two is ok, but three is too much extreme, last minute weight loss dieting.
I think I will also lose a big chunk of weight when I finally have a BM. I've been pretty bad about keeping up with my water intake and have been dehydrated these past couple days. The dry, windy days we've had of late have also sucked some extra moisture from my body. Anyway, I'm starting to get desperate because it's starting to hurt pretty bad. Today's goal is to drink a gallon of water at least.
My heel is still bothering me, but it seems to slowly be getting better. Last Saturday I was able to ride 4 out of my 6 planned hours. It wasn't great, but it was much better than the previous week's 2 hours. Unfortunately, I don't think my foot will be well enough for running for at least another couple weeks, if not longer. I haven't decided what I want to do for the next race. If it were just a 70.3 race then it would be no problem to mostly walk the run part, but since it's a 140.6, I may be asking too much of my body. I'm still in wait and see mode. The plan is to substitute all runs with rides. If my foot gets better in a couple weeks I'm going to try doing a combo elliptical/walk routine and see how it feels. Even if it doesn't work, I figure a little extra fitness never goes to waste.
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mchen01
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Posted: 4 Nov 2015 08:32 pm |
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Weight: 165.8
Yeehaw! I knew my weight would come down after I got past the constipation, but I didn't expect this much. Now I just need to drop about 1/2 lb today to win tomorrow's DietBet. That should be no problem, but to be safe I'm going to do the same thing today that I did yesterday. I'm going to have a light lunch and dinner and lots of water and then another sweat fest on the bike trainer.
I feel like I've got my diet better dialed in so I'm taking a break from recording my food intake. I'm just a little too busy right now. One of the biggest changes I've made, besides trying to drink more water, is to start eating nuts. I love all kinds of nuts but prefer lightly salted and roasted instead of raw. The nuts fill me up and give me the extra protein and iron I need after dropping red meat from my diet. I also find that even though they are high in calories I can eat quite a lot without suffering the fast weight gain that refined carbs gives me.
Last night I didn't get in as long a ride on the trainer as planned. Instead the kids needed some help, and that took 2 hours. I tried to get in an hour on the bike, but honestly, my legs were feeling a bit weak. Not only that, but riding almost daily now to replace my runs has given me saddle sores. I'm not used to being in the saddle that often. I ended up just doing 30 minutes.
Tonight's workout is hopefully a 1.5 hour trainer ride. I'm going to put my new power pedals on and see how they compare to the power readings on my trainer and to confirm they are working. I'm pretty excited. New toys are always fun.
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mchen01
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Posted: 5 Nov 2015 06:02 pm |
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Weight: 165.2
Whew! I made the bet goal by a hair after dehydrating myself with an hour long ride and 3 hours of no fluids. I was so thirsty that I didn't even feel the hunger anymore. I wanted water so bad that I was salivating at the thought of it. After posting my weigh out after midnight I knocked back 2 bottles of water and just felt supremely satisfied.
I've got 2 more bets to complete. By the end of them I should be at 164 lb. After that I'm going to need a break. I just need a week off from the diet so I can bump my energy levels back up and enjoy some forbidden foods. The plan is to maintain weight during that week. It is very hard to lose 4% of your weight in 4 weeks. The extra restriction on my diet is hard to sustain. I'm not enjoying what I eat, and too often the diet is at odds with my training. On the other hand, I liked being pushed to lose the weight faster. I can't begin to work towards my racing potential until I lose the bulk of this weight, which is at least another 20 lb. At my age I don't have time to lose this much weight slowly. If I stick with the DietBet pace then it will only take another 3-4 months to get there.
Once my weight hits 145 lb, I'm going to start recording my training performance according to weight. From what I've read a competitive female cyclist at my height weighs at most 125 - 130 lb. I could work towards another 10 - 15 lb loss to see how my race times change. This will be the time for me to try to move up in the pack and develop the beast within. What an adrenaline rush that would be and how exciting to look forward to that point in my life.
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mchen01
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Posted: 10 Nov 2015 12:20 am |
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Weight: ?
I did step on the scale this morning but what number popped up I couldn't say. My brain was in a total fog this morning. I kept thinking about work and everything I needed to do and bring that my morning ritual went into autopilot. I am happy to report though that my weekend weight hit 163.6. Actually it hit 163.2 but moving my scale for my mirror selfie for the DietBet weigh out gave me a new reading. No worries. It was still well below my goal.
My last weigh out is tomorrow. I can't wait. I really need a cheat day, maybe two. I feel like I could eat a half gallon of ice cream or a dozen donuts in one sitting. And bread. Don't get me started on bread. It's not that I've given up on bread, but I did give up on big chunks of crunchy sourdough dipped in oil and vinegar. Sigh. I'm hungry. Today I'm fasting to meet my goal.
My heel is still bothering me. On top of that I've got some major saddle sores from all the riding I've been doing. Because of the pain I feel like I'm getting nowhere with my training. I've only been able to manage easy riding and sitting on the bike for only 1-2 hours at a time. I have 2 more weeks to decide whether I'll race in December or not. Who knows. A lot can happen in 2 weeks.
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mchen01
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Posted: 10 Nov 2015 08:41 pm |
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Weight: 166.8
I failed to fast yesterday so I'm going to have to do it today. No worries though. I feel better today and am confident that I can keep up the fast until tonight. My weight is up, and I need to lose 2.6 lb today to meet my goal weight. I think I'm just a BM and 2 hour ride away from meeting this goal. Today I'm drinking lots of water and a little coffee. I'll stop drinking around 4 pm so I can start losing water weight. I figure I only need about 2 lb of water weight which is only 1.2% of my body weight. If I'm not at goal by dinner time then I'll just continue my fast and dehydration through the night. That would be a bummer, but I'm sure I can reach my goal weight by tomorrow morning at latest.
I didn't ride yesterday. I've got a couple of raw saddle sores that are keeping me from sitting on the bike. The only way I could've ridden last night was standing the whole time, which would have been stressful on my foot. Speaking of the foot, I had the best PT session today. The PT tweaked something in my ankle and now all of a sudden most of the pain is gone. No limping either. My fingers are crossed that I'm finally making enough progress to beat this injury so I can make December's race.
I really miss running.
Last edited on 10 Nov 2015 08:42 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 11 Nov 2015 05:06 pm |
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Weight: 165.6
Another DietBet goal won! I will find out how much I've won tomorrow and will sign up for the next set of 3 then. Now for a 1 week break of maintenance. The fasting seems to work well, but it can be exhausting. Trying to workout in a fasted state is not productive, and I don't want to be forced into doing it too often. Not only that, but the dehydration is not fun. Being thirsty is a lot worse than being hungry.
If I maintain my current weight, then my next bet will take me down to 159 lb. That is going to feel awesome. I can't wait to be below 160 again. I might even be able to wear my size 8 clothes again. Best of all, I'm going to feel good in my skin again. I'm so motivated that I'm considering changing my long term goal from 145 lb to 135 lb. If I continue at my current pace I think I can get there in about 6-7 months. I wonder how much faster I'll be. With all of that weight gone I know I'll have fewer injuries and will be able to train harder. I might even be able to place in the top 25%. Now that would be an awesome goal.
One of the things that has really helped me with my diet is getting to sleep on time. I now take melatonin right after my evening workout and shower. I'm asleep within 30 minutes. Before the melatonin I would be up for hours, and the frustration and boredom of being awake brought on the midnight munchies. Now no more late night snacks.
The other things has been my recent diet change. Now that I rarely eat red meat and am eating vegetarian most days the weight is coming down naturally. I still need to make some improvements to my diet. I need to add some whole grains and more beans to my diet, and I still continue to struggle with my addiction to sugary foods. I'm not looking to be a perfect eater, but I'm trying to find my balancing point. I think it lies somewhere within my training season, eating mostly clean during training and relaxing a bit during the off season. I'm learning more about myself everyday so I'm confident I'll find my center of mass soon.
So last night's workout was tough, not because of my foot pain but because of palpitations. I could sit on the bike for 30 minutes at a time. In between I would take a 5 minute break to let my heart rate come down and to massage my left calf. I got in a total of 1.5 hours before I had to stop because the hubby was trying to sleep. My asthma has been bad and I've had to go back on my maintenance meds. Last time I stopped the meds the palpitations went away immediately. Maybe if I stay on them until the week of the race I'll be ok.
I'm still having trouble with saddle sores too, one of which doubled in size after last night's ride. Still I'm good enough to try and do another 1.5 hours tonight. The sores have not progressed to boils yet. They're just swollen bits of chafed flesh. Maybe it's time to lube up with a nice antibacterial ointment. The last thing I need is another issue interfering with my workouts.
Last edited on 11 Nov 2015 09:52 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
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Posted: 12 Nov 2015 06:06 pm |
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Weight: 167.8
I had a very satisfying binge day yesterday involving lots of sweets. I feel so much better now, and the craving for sweets is gone. I have 6 days before the start of the next series of DietBets. My goal in the meantime is to try and maintain my weight in the 165 lb range. That should be no problem, practically relaxed eating.
No workout last night. I wasn't feeling well and decided to go to bed early (8 pm). My allergies have been awful. I have itchy, swollen eyes, a stuffy, runny nose and sinus headache. Plus my asthma is acting up and I have long sneezing fits. As much as I hate to medicate, I'm going to have to start taking something for these allergies.
Tonight I'm going to hit the gym for an hour long spin class which I'll extend by maybe 30-60 minutes. I'm also doing a 45 minute strength routine, probably something simple and random. When my foot feels better I plan on jogging to a nearby park where I can hook up my suspension system.
I really feel a need to go back to basics and rebuild myself from the ground up. My strength is the first thing as that seems to be lacking the most. My body is not balanced and the difference between left and right side core strength is very big. I'm going back to beginner exercises to bring down the stress on my body. I think I keep getting injured because I assume I can do the same level of exercise I used to do. After December's race my plan is to do everything but cycling in low amounts and low intensities but in high quantities. That means 2-3 days of strength, 3 days of swimming and 5 days running. The bike I'm going to let myself be coached to help build power. I don't think intensity on the bike will hurt me. It's going to be a busy schedule, but I really need to do it to get a strong base back.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 16 Nov 2015 06:34 pm |
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Weight: 169.8
My weight is much higher than I thought I could get it in just 5 days. Still I think much of it is water weight which will disappear in the next few days. I checked into a new DietBet at this weight which means my next goal is an even 163 lb. That should be ok given I was close to that weight just last week. I guess the goal will be to make 163 lb a more solid loss instead of last minute dehydration. Still, I'd like to get below 160 by the end of it if only for just a moment.
This next series of DietBet goals are going to be a little hard. I've decided to reduce my workouts because of my foot. This weekend I had to do a lot of errands which meant a lot of time on my feet. There wasn't really that much walking, but the standing killed me. By the end of yesterday my foot was throbbing, and my knee and hip were starting to hurt from all of the limping. To get the foot to heal I've decided to do nearly zero weight bearing exercise for this week. That means 5 days of swimming, 3 days of strength and 2 days of yoga. It's a total drag not to be able to bike and run this week but at least it's better than nothing.
I tried out a new strength routine last week and loved it. It's the routine I'm going to follow this week. The exercises are all on the stability ball, and I found them on the internet. I modified them into 3 rounds of tabata style workouts. Each exercise is done for 40 seconds followed by 20 seconds of rest. I give myself a minute between each round. I also repeat each round for a total of 6 rounds for the full workout of 45 minutes. It starts out easy but quickly builds to a full-on sweaty, grunt fest. In fact, I wasn't able to finish the last round. My abs are so sore it hurts to cough. These are mostly beginner exercises to help me build up my strength before I move onto something more strenuous like the TRX.
I had to cancel my next race. There's no way I'll be able to complete the bike part let alone the run. I'm very bummed about it, but I think it's for the best. If I continue as I am I think I'm going to just prolong the injury or even make it worse. At least I was able to transfer my entry to next year for a small fee. Small consolation. I'd rather race this year.
Last edited on 16 Nov 2015 06:40 pm by mchen01
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 18 Nov 2015 01:35 am |
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Weight: 169.6
I'm still having difficulty curbing my sweet tooth. I hope to get it under control soon. Other than that, my food choices have been good - mostly fruit and vegetables with a little bit of rice and a tiny bit (1.5-2 oz) of animal protein.
I got in all 45 minutes of my strength workout yesterday. It felt a little easier this time too. Today is supposed to be a swim, but I really really really don't want to go to the pool tonight. The anticipation of chlorine stink is already making me feel yucky. Besides, I had a dr appt this morning so I have to stay at work until 7 pm. I'm already tired after getting only 4 hours of sleep last night (busy with kids and wasn't able to do workout until midnight). My foot is still bad, but maybe it wouldn't hurt to just do 30 minutes on the trainer and then a 30 minute yoga strength routine. I want to do something, just not a swim.
I also want to try out a different gym. With the addition of a spa to my current gym, much of the space for working out is gone. Every time I see that stupid spa I get more resentful. People who come to the gym for a massage and facial are messed up. Not my kind of crowd. The other gym doesn't have that junk so I'm hoping there is room to do my strength routine. They also have more yoga classes, and I might be able to fit one or two in during my lunch hour. It's also on my way home and doesn't look like there are as many cars in front so maybe less crowded. The only thing they don't have is easy access to the bike trail, so it looks like I won't give up my current gym entirely. I think switching it up will be fun though.
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mchen01
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 18 Nov 2015 08:28 pm |
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Weight: 170.8
I'm pretty embarrassed by today's weight. I almost didn't post it, but I need to own up to it. I was really hungry yesterday and ate too much, but most of my weight problem is due to my slow digestion. In fact, when I woke up this morning, it felt like there was still food that hadn't left my stomach yet. I felt full and wanted to throw up this morning. Ugh. It was a nasty feeling. I will be more careful next time. Even if I'm still hungry, I must stop eating when I feel full. At least I'm not as hungry today.
To help get back under control I'm going to count calories on MyFitnessPal again. It keeps me honest. I find it much harder to cheat knowingly. Recording everything keeps me aware of how I'm doing with my food quality and quantity. Quantity still needs to be in the 1200-1400 cal range. As for quality, I like partially following Matt Fitzgerald's diet quality scoring. That means having 3-4 servings of fruit, 3-4 servings of vegetables, 2-3 servings of lean protein, and 1 serving of essential fats. The 2 things I'm not ready to adopt is the dairy and up to 3 servings of whole grains. I might have an occasional bit of cheese, yogurt or ice cream, but I don't and won't eat it daily as I consider most of it (not yogurt) a cheat food. For whole grains, I might manage 1-2 servings but I could go days without any whole grains at all. I don't think they're that necessary for a healthy diet. The last thing is the number of vegetable servings. I think it's better to eat more than 4 servings a day, maybe closer to 5-6 servings. What I really like about Fitzgerald's system of scoring is that bad foods get a negative score. That is refined grains, sweets, fried foods and fatty protein are all on the negative list. Additional penalty is given to servings beyond 3. It's another way of being mindful about unhealthy foods.
No exercise again yesterday. I was just too tired and crashed early. I feel like I'm tired all of the time now. There's a lot going on, and I don't feel at my healthiest these days. My asthma is still giving me lots of issues, and I have to keep my rescue inhaler with me at all times now. My blood pressure is back up too now that I'm taking all this medication. My allergies are dragging me down too with dry, itchy eyes and stuffy sinuses. I hate having such a weak body.
Today I'm going to try that swim again. I plan on doing a long open water swim tomorrow so there's no need to go long tonight. I'll just try to fit in 30 minutes of continuous swimming in the pool. After that I'll do another strength routine at home. I'm still feeling depressed about the foot injury and not being able to run or ride. I can tell it's feeling a little better, but the slow progress is killing me.
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