So what now?

OK, so my Half Iron Man has been done for more than two months. I am out of goals and out of motivation to keep moving forward. I had a plan of doing IM Louisville in 2012 but I am just not sure that I can swing the training or monitary commitment to such a goal.

Next month will be 2 years since I reached my goal weight of 175 pounds. I have been up and down the scale since usually hovering around 180. However, I am finding it more and more difficult to maintain this lifestyle with each passing day.

During active weight loss it's easy. The constant pats on the back and congratulations help keep you focused on the goal. Fast forward a couple of years and now I am just a regular guy that has always been healthy, by most peoples standards anyway. Without any sort of carrot dangling out there and now I am really feeling the pressure to just relax and stop stressing so much about weight, exercise and health.

To complicate things further I feel normal when I am around my friends, family and co-workers. However, put me in a room with a bunch of triathletes and suddenly I develop a serious case of body dismorphia. I get super self-concious and feel like a big fat, lazy gross under-achieving slob.

Lastly, after almost 4 years of low-carb dieting I wan't to eat a cookie or have a slice of cake at a birthday party. This presents an entirely new challenge. My whole lifestyle has revolved around a very strict diet of whole foods and absolutely no sugar in any form. Should I choose to take a piece of cake how do I address those that I feel would encourage it but privately snicker. I feel like I am doomed either way. Ughh...

I spent the first 40 years of my life struggling with weight and while it appears that I have it all finally under control I am struggling internally trying to figure out how to deal with the new me. Terrified that if I eat something off plan I will slide off a cliff and be 300 pounds again and let everyone that encouraged me along the way down.

My gut reaction is to sign up for IM Louisville but what happens next year when IM Louisville is behind me? This has me wondering what's the point, if training for another big race is only going to be a temporary solution. That's not considering the cost and how to pay for it.

Anyone that has lost weight struggle with similar demons? How did you are do you deal with it?

Iron Man Muncie 70.3 Race Report

Iron Man Muncie Race Report

Ironman 70.3 Muncie
2011-07-09
Muncie, Indiana
United States
World Triathlon Corporation
89F / 32C
Sunny
Triathlon - 1/2 Ironman
Total Time = 6h 55m 6s
Age Group = 40-44

Pre-race routine:

Nothing special. Up at 3:30, coffee, almond butter on arnolds select bread.

Event warmup:

Went to the beach for a swim and as soon as I got in that announced 3 minutes and the water was closed. Swam out 100M or so and back and hung out with the family.

Swim

Comments:

I got lost on the course and somehow ended up on the far side of a sailboat that was there spectating. After a brief introduction with the skipper of said boat he helped me figure out where the other 1K people were that were also swimming. I was about 200M off course by then.

The good part was that I relaxed after I figured out where I was. Knowing the swim was completely blown allowed me to forget about times and just enjoy the swim. I ended up catching up on the tail end of the wave behind that started behind me.

What would you do differently?:

Swim the course as it's marked.

T1

Comments:

I stopped and had a brief laugh with my wife as I exited the water. No hurry in transition and took my time making sure I did not forget anything.

What would you do differently?:

Probably hurry up a bit more.

Bike

What would you do differently?:

Perhaps push a little harder, I probably could have held 22-23 on the way back but I knew the run was going to tough based on my limited running so tried hard to keep my pace down.

T2

Comments:

Again just took my time but did not realize I was thi slow out. Did not want to forget anything and triple checked just to be sure.

What would you do differently?:

Go a little faster.

Run

Comments:

My Calf has limited most of my running with my longest run at 8 miles about 4 weeks prior. I knew this was going to be tough but no way was I going to bail on it. Planned to do 4 minutes running with 1 minute walking.

Plan went great for the first 2 miles and felt prett good. Around mile 3 after a longer climb my calf started to twing and spasm and I knew cramping was coming. Just held off as long as I could. By mile 6 I was done and my 4/1 plan was more run to that pilon 100 feet ahead and then walk.

I was trying to catch up on hydration so started to drink 2 and 3 cups at each station. By the 3rd stop of doing this my stomach was not keeping up with what I was taking in and it started to slosh around a bit. Next 2 stops just dumped water on my head and kept going. Cramps went away and I started taking in fluids again at mile 9.


Post race

Warm down:

Hugged my family and checked line at Medical. All beds were full and IV's were in short supply. I opted for a dip in the lake instead and just stayed there for about 15 minutes floating and cooling down.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Lack of proper run training.

Event comments:

I really enjoyed the race and would like to do it again in the future. Perhaps I can actually train properly for it next time so that I can enjoy it a bit.

Less than 2 weeks to go for Iron Man Muncie!!!

I am exicted about my upcoming race but a little nervous about how the run is going to go. My Calf has limited my running so much the last 4 months that I think it's going to be a tough outing.

Practiced pacing tonight, still find it difficult to keep a pace of 10 minute miles when my legs are trying to spin up at 9 minute miles. I have a feeling the pace will not be a problem after swimming a 1.2 miles and cycling 56. Plan for now is to force myself into a slower pace and then see what's left at the turnaround and adjust.

Training for this race has been fun but I am finding going long is much more stressful than shorter races. This one requires much more discipline and sticking to the training plan.

Also time to tighten down the clamps on carbs over the next couple of weeks. Should be fun to prove to some of the naysayers that you can train and go long on diet consisting of whole foods that are not made of or include grains.

GO BEEF!!!

Tuesday Evening Ride and Weds Lunchtime Swim

Plan called for a run last night but I opted to ride instead. 17 mile Fartlek interval ride done!

Weds I headed over to the gym for a very, very quick swim. Plan called for 1750 but I ran out of time.

1 X 200M Warmup
10 X 100M on Race Pace, 10 Second Rest between
1 X 200M Cooldown

Back to work.

Tuesday Strength Training

Tom Sawyer Fitness Trail.

Short Warmup
Core, Arms, Back
Trail Run
Core, Arms, Back
Table Up and Overs
Cooldown

Monday Lunchtime at Sawyer

Trying to get used to running during lunch instead of feeding my face.

3 Minute Warmup/Cooldown
3 Mile trail run building pace

Lunchtime at Sawyer

The weather is should be taking a turn for the worse tonight so I decided to try and squeeze in a lunchtime run. Planned for 6 miles but had to cut it short because the rain was coming down pretty good.

Ignore the last section that includes Freys Hill to Westport. In my haste to get in the car I forgot to turn off my GPS.