workout plan for 05

WEIGHT: I weighed in two days ago at 263.5 (a new high in months); but a few days later I weighed 258; still higher than usual. . . but not as high as 264. . .

Goals for 2005

I think the only way to be honest is to say my initial attempt at weight loss has failed. I need to reconfigure the plan and see what works best.

My ending numbers for 2004 were as follows:

Sport / # workouts / hours / distance / avg pace

cycling / 70 / 71.2 / 1077.6 miles / 15.2 mph
running / 36 / 21.9 / 117.1 miles / 11:29.5 mpm;
Swimming / 18 / 12.7 / 41,500 yards / 32:16 mph
tennis / 1.0 / 1.3 / --
aerobics / 6.0 / 2.1 / --

totals: 131 workouts / for 109.2 hous

So roughly 2.5 workouts per week.

My thoughts over the past few days have centered around a new/improved workout regimen of 7.5 workouts per week to get me over the hump. Now that I analyze it, 109.2 hours, is roughly 2 hours per week. I would think something like 6-15 hours is more in the realm of workout time which seems more acceptable.

In order to make these goals, I need to focus upon the potential downtime; approximately 3 weeks in May for finals; and 3 weeks in December for finals (and then onto taking the bar). Nonetheless, that leaves 46 weeks.

7.5 workouts per week * 52 weeks = 390 workouts for 2005;
390 workouts / 46 available weeks = 8.5 workouts per week in order to make up for the lost six weeks.

Here’s a potential schedule:

Mon: am cycle; pm swim
Tue: day off
Wed: am cycle; pm swim;
Thur; am cycle; pm run;
Friday: evening run
Sat: am ride (long);
Sun: long run

In addition to increasing the number of workouts per week, I would also like to increase the hours and distance.

For hours, that means I would like to get into the 250-350 hours per year (which is roughly 5-7 hours per week of pure training; probably twice that in actual time expenditure). Currently average workout time is approximately 50 mins (.85 hours). If I maintain the same average workout time, I’ll end up with 331 hours – so that should be fine.

DISTANCES

My thought is to set a goal of 300% of the distances completed for 2004. That would mean roughly:

Cycling: 3,000 miles; (approx. 65 mpweek [46 weeks available training]);
Running: 340 miles (approximately 7.4 mpweek [46weeks available training]); and
Swimming: ~120,000 yards (approximately 2600 yards/wk [46 weeks available]);

This all seems quite doable to me; I’ve certainly committed and completed much more difficult regimes. Having said that, this week, I’ve done zero (for no particular reason) – other than C/s/I was in town and I was parked at C’s (gf) for a decent chunk of the weekend – and dealing with my family. Even so, even when the family was here, I did a few workouts. Part of this, is probably asserting myself and just telling people – in fact, I’m going to do a workout, then we’ll do what you want to do. . . it’s just hard at times dealing with those who don’t workout. . . because then your workout becomes their headache (C included – this should be considered in future negotiations. . . ).



CALORIC INTAKE

Now that I’ve broken up with C theoretically it’ll be easier to control the foods I put into my body. More than anything need to control soft drinks and sandwiches. My mode for this is going to be rather simple: mostly fruit and veggies with some turkey sandwiches (and beans) for more of a protein source.

I would like to lose 2.5 pounds for the first ten weeks; then 2 pounds, then 1.5 / 1.0 for remainder.

My initial goal is to try to maintain 1200 calories per day. It’s ultra low, but I sort of figure if I can get an early taste of success (and some rapidity to it) it’s more likely that I’ll continue on and receive that feedback that can be so critical in the initial phases. All I know is there’s a great deal of talk about insulin and this and that and the other thing: when I have heavy workouts, lots of bike time combined with caloric reduction I lose weight. Lots of it.

I lost 50 pounds in wrestling controlling things; and I lost more than 50 pounds when preparing for triathlons earlier in life. Let’s give this another shot.

FAILURE

I have already been tossing around in my head the idea that if by the end of the year there isn’t some success, I may well be a candidate for bariatric stomach bypass surgery. I’m not there yet, but if I spend my whole life trying to become a healthier weight – it may make more sense just to go ahead and have the surgery. . .

Time will tell. It always does.