Thread: Year 2 - Keeping a journal

So most of you saw my 1 year wrap up posted a few weeks ago:

1 year - time for celebration and thanks

It prefixed my first go at the Noosa Olympic length Triathlon - I posted about the results here:

Noosa Tri - Done and dusted

I really value the support and the advice I get from this forum so I thought I might keep a bit of a journal of my efforts here for this year. Hope that is not too narcistic.

My goals statement for this year:
1 - Get down to a more 'cut up' mid 90kg weight range with more muscle definition
2 - Cut 1 hour off my Brisbane to Noosa imperial century (160km bike race)
3 - Complete my first full marathon
4 - Complete Mooloolabah Olympic tri in <3 hours
5 - Complete a half ironman event

I have planned and started my first 3 month plan yesterday and will post it up with current stats later today (my brekky date just called me). Once it is up - would love feedback.

So Status right now:
I weighed in yesterday at 102.4 kg.

My goals for this 3 months (Nov, Dec and Jan) are:
1 - to lose 5-8kg
2 - to improve my muscle definition
3 - to improve my swimming
4 - to improve my transition times from cycling to running
5 - maintain and consolidate my aerobic base for races.

To accomplish these I have put together the following plan:
Monday - Gym session 1 - Chest and Triceps

Tuesday - Cycle to work (25km - ~1hr if not rushing), run to my running group and run with them (10-15km, 75-90 minutes), cycle home.

The run immediately follows the morning cycle so this will help with goal 4.

Wednesday - Gym Session 2 - Back and Biceps, cycle to work, cycle home

Thursday - Gym Session 3 - Abs and shoulders, cycle to work, cycle home

Friday - Running group, speed work (2km warmup and 5x1km laps, 3km cool down)

Saturday - Gym session 4 - Legs.

I am going really hard on these gym sessions. Dropping most of the cardio to the medium intensity level rather than always trying to hit new PBs.

Diet:
I am not going to work too hard on counting macros anymore but am following the below guideline:
Pre morning workout - caffeine based supp, glucosamine, creatine, MV

Post morning workout - brekky - big serve of oats with milk, 1 spoon brown sugar, 40g protein (scoop and a half of protein supp)

M-Tea - Apple

Lunch - 1.5 chicken breast or similar, cup sweet potato, cup mixed veggies

A-Tea - protein shake, banana

Dinner - grilled fish or similar, salad or mixed vegies

Drinks are all water, maybe occasional glass milk

On the bigger cardio days (really only Tuesday on this plan) - can add on a muesli bar or similar to help go the distance.

So the nutrition plan, cardio and weights should all combine to make goals 1 and 2 really easy to achieve.

Tuesday morning workout will help with goal 4. (I reckon I lost 5-10 minutes at Noosa due to cramping when I had to run after getting off the bike)

I have plenty of cardio to help maintain my aerobic base (goal 5).

For goal 3 - I am swimming on Thursday evenings and on the weekend - however this thursday I will be investigating joining the pools swimming squad to add some structure.

So - opinions?

By the way, rough draft for the coming year:

Feb, March - gym sessions drop down a bit too favour building up Cardio

Mooloolaba Tri at end of March.

Corporate tri (little sprint distance event) in April - no specific training.

Feb, March, April, May, June - Saturday's leg session will drop out on every second weekend:
Week 1 - Gym session for legs
Week 2 - Bike training - 150km+, hilly terrain (training from Brisbane to Noosa)
Week 3 - gym session for legs
Week 4 - Run training - starting at 22km, up by 10% each run (training for Gold Coast marathon)

After that it depends on which half ironman I choose to compete at, plus I will be doing Noosa Tri again and maybe another marathon event.

My erights went great - except for 1 or 2 sessions where I was dismayed at the drop in capability.

I reduced my weights work a 3 months ago to focus on training for Noosa. Then stopped it altogether about 4 weeks ago - to start again 1 week ago - this week. To be blunt, it had an impact, but I expect to be back on top soon.

My cardio was frustrating - the lack of food had me feeling like I was wearing cement shoes. I am going to play with my cardio routines for the next few weeks until I am under 100kg - then I can eat a bit more.

Weight loss wont be measured until Monday but I feel good about achieving over 1kg. The only thing in the way is hat I stopped taking creatine when I stopped the weights. Creatine usually causes a weight increase due to water retention.