Next Monday I start the 18 week marathon training program. I'm ready for it. I already know I'm not going to be able to follow it exactly. Our summer is just too busy and there are too many other fun options. It's a guideline and as I get further along into the plan I will need to follow it more closely.
Here is what I'm thinking. I'm going to give the Hal Higdon Intermediate 2 plan a shot. There are 3 20 milers and one 19 miler on that list. That may be way too much for me. The thing is, I can dial it down to the Intermediate 1 plan if it's not going well. I'd rather go for it rather than play it safe by starting with the easier plan. (bad idea?)
I've looked ahead and there are big runs on the weekends of the 2 sprint triathlons near home. (Skylands/Buckman). I guess on those days, I'll be the guy that finishes the race. Then has to go back out for another couple hours of running. Or I'll have to have done my long run the day before these races. Actually, I'm guessing I'll only be doing one event for Skylands. I think I can get our relay team back together. Team "Steve Austin" needs to win it this year.
Sunday, Genine and I finally got out on the bikes, it's been awhile because of travel and such. We had been wanting to do the Buckman bike course twice and we finally made that happen. This was also the first time riding since I purchased my headsweats cap. Well we had the heat to make it a good test for that. It was in the low 90's and we were out for about 2 hours. That course isn't as shady as I thought it was. The headsweats cap was great. I'd say 80% effective on helping keep my sunglasses clear of sweat. On a flatter course it probably would have been even better. I'd really start dripping on the hill climbs. Anyhow, big thumbs up for the headsweats cap.
I got 7 miles of running in with Todd on Saturday morning. Then that afternoon Genine and I got to the pool. I knocked out 3000m following the workout to the letter.
The new masters swim coach came over and introduced himself. Classes will be Monday and Friday nights. Well that pretty much says we won't be signing up until late in the fall. We are gone too many Fridays and Monday night is Yoga. Not a big deal, I'm feeling pretty good about my swimming at the moment and other than the Tango race, I don't have anything on the schedule that has me worried about my swimming.
The calorie deficit is still rolling. I'm down 5.5 pounds in 21 days that's ahead of plan. I'd love to be down a full 10 after our vacation in NH, 14 days from now. After that if I lose a pound a week every week until the Marathon I will be where I want to be. It may not be possible but I plan to find out.
2 comments:
Good luck with the Marathon plan, Matt! I am doing Hal Higdon's Intermediate 1 plan. My last 7 weeks of tri season overlap with the marathon plan, and the run mileage is comparable. I love when things work out :)
Nice job on the weight loss! Care to share any secrets besides eating less?
I've never had an official triathlon build schedule so you are ahead of me there. Best I've done is make a schedule as to what I plan to do each day (Tues: swim AM/ Bike PM). Maybe I should build a better plan for Triathlon next year.
Weight loss: Here is how it worked for me. Started exercising, lost 25 pounds and got stuck. I wasn't capable of adding more exercise, it had to be my diet.
Tracked my food on fitday.com. By doing that I was able to see what high calorie dense foods I was eating which really were not necessary. Especially in the quantities I was eating them in. So I cut out some big ticket items and dropped another 25 by using fitday and the 500 calories a week deficit.
As for a secret, I really liked this comment I read somewhere. When shopping at a grocery store, buy the stuff on the perimeter of the store. All the stuff that's bad for you is in the middle.
Of course that's not 100% but it's pretty good.
Unfortunately if you don't want to eat less, you have to burn more. Calories in vs. calories out is the name of the game. Sadly that game never ends.
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