Excellent workout this morning with M. at the gym. Seems like the first one for a long time where I wasn't constrained in some way (tapering for a race, recovering from a race, sick, etc. etc.); good full-body workout, nothing special but just generally kinda enjoyable.
I don't like it that I'm down to only one strength-training session per week. Two is better, and three is ideal. But one strength and one yoga is a sensible compromise during the school year, and really my highest priority right now is to build in more bike time. Really, for the rest of the semester I should just reconcile myself to once a week...
(But in December and January I am going to have a massive six- to eight-week surge of working out, back off endurance stuff and move to three sessions per week at the gym and more high-intensity cardio in the other hours of the week and do one final stab at losing ten more pounds--it's not really the weight loss per se, though I do think that my running will benefit if I can do it, it will be more sensible to focus on body composition. I really do not have the urge to post my weight for everyone on the internet to read, but suffice it to say that I feel I'm currently in a position where I fit into smaller clothes than I ever would have imagined--like size 6 or even 4 sometimes, and S or XS in the brands I would be likely to buy, i.e. Nike running clothes or Patagonia or Eileen Fisher--it is true that I mostly shop at stores where the sizes run fairly large, though--but that I still weigh a surprisingly large number of pounds. Yes, it's true, a lot of it's muscle--but still...)
Really of course I wish I was training about 15 hours a week! I don't have the time during the school year, but I think I should be able to build up to those kind of hours this summer. I would say I've been exercising about 10 hours a week for the last couple years (from nothing before that!), some weeks even a bit more... The fact is it's not just not having the time--I can always make time for something I care about. It's more that you have to give your body time to adapt to new regimens. So I should just think of it as biding my time--I need to train to be able to train for the Ironman...
I am increasingly feeling like if I get the chance to do a half-iron distance race next summer (ideally in early to mid-August), I should take it. I don't want to rush anything and injure myself. But the trouble with waiting and preparing and over-preparing is that your expectations become higher and higher. I'd kind of like to do one next summer where I'd put in the hours training, sure, but where I was still just approaching it, like, "Let's see what this feels like!" And not worrying so much about times and stuff. Hmmm, we will see--but I think it probably could be done...
4 comments:
Have discussed some of these points already, but must say that there is a time aspect to it. Because ten hours of working out, especially the way you are, with separate workouts twice a day, is really at least 15 hours of time, what with dressing and showering and getting to places one works out, probably more even. And that starts to add up and cut into one's other responsibilities and desires. Of course part of this is projecting my mom constraints onto your life, but then your work is, at the moment, much more demanding and time-consuming than mine, so it may come out equal, especially as one can work in the middle of the night (as both of us, alas, do), but the hours for working out, at least some kinds of working out (though not the BIKE TRAINER, or whatever it's called) are limited by such things as daylight and open-ness.
The sad thing about it is: we just can't do everything! One strength + one yoga + runs + swims + trainer rides is really a full schedule. Remember, you're almost in the off-season!
I came across your blog by accident but wanted to say that strength training does not have to be an hour long, 3 day per week endeavor for best results. Research tells us time and time again that 2 twenty minute sessions per week provide the same benefits as 3 hour long sessions or more.
As for losing 15 more pounds of fat, rather than up the cardio and sacrifice muscle mass (which you will) eat less sugar. Keep your carbs between 60-150 grams no more and make sure you are getting a lot of good fat in your diet.
Respect recovery. Just because you feel up for exercising does not mean you are recovered - fully. It takes at least 48 hours for the muscles of the body to recover fully.
My 2 cents and good luck in the IM contest!
Yes, good advice of course--thanks...
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