I'm just a day away from my last race as a father of 2. I'm hoping for a big PR! Once again I expect the Degree of Difficulty to race "fast" will increase with the arrival of #3.
On to the update...
Diet
My primal diet to get to race weight is over. I cheated minimally but consistently. Cheats included a yogurt and two slices of bread; daily. I occasionally had to supplement workouts with energy drinks and energy bars/gels, but that's within the rules as an endurance athlete. Everything else was primal by definition. Tons of meat, fish, eggs, fruit, vegetables and seeds/nuts. My biggest temptations were pasta, pizza and cookies. My kids love all of those things and I was constantly surrounded by them. I leaned way out again and am down 7 lbs in 4 weeks. Not sure %body fat, as I don't have a fancy scale, but I'd guess under 5%, easy. If I was lean before, I'm runner skinny now. I've restricted my eating habits several times in the past but this is really the only "crash" I've tried. It only kinda sucked and I occasionally got a little crabby, but it's nice to know it's possible to safely drop some weight, quickly just by eating natural.
Running
My 1/2 marathon training approach was guided by Hal Higdon's Advanced 1/2 Program. I've used his plans for my marathon running with great success. His plans are easy to execute and generally follow a repeating pattern. I like repetition and not having to worry about carry a crib sheet around to try to remember my workouts. As old as Hal is, the theory hasn't changed: do work, achieve results. Over the past 12 weeks I've reduced my cruise/long run/Z2/ironman pace to sub-7/miles. My speed work paces (400s, 800s, 1M) are down around 5:15s.
My 1/2 marathon PR is 1:25. 7 years ago I had no base fitness, little running knowledge and didn't follow a plan. This time around I'm older and busier but a few things in my favor are 7 years of base fitness and a focused plan that included over-distance, hill and speed work. All that said, I'm shooting for a 7 minute PR. Goal Time: 1:18 (6:00/mile).
Biking
I've maintained 5-7hrs of biking/wk throughout this run focus. I'm getting more comfortable on my new bike. I'll save the FTP talk for another day but I will say this; I'm 5 weeks ahead of where I was last year...and I haven't been working FTP, so that's promising. After Sunday, enter Build FTP phase.
Swimming begins in May.
That's all for now
Hope all is wonderful!
Diet
 |
| Please tell me no one actually believes this BMI crap |
Running
My 1/2 marathon training approach was guided by Hal Higdon's Advanced 1/2 Program. I've used his plans for my marathon running with great success. His plans are easy to execute and generally follow a repeating pattern. I like repetition and not having to worry about carry a crib sheet around to try to remember my workouts. As old as Hal is, the theory hasn't changed: do work, achieve results. Over the past 12 weeks I've reduced my cruise/long run/Z2/ironman pace to sub-7/miles. My speed work paces (400s, 800s, 1M) are down around 5:15s. My 1/2 marathon PR is 1:25. 7 years ago I had no base fitness, little running knowledge and didn't follow a plan. This time around I'm older and busier but a few things in my favor are 7 years of base fitness and a focused plan that included over-distance, hill and speed work. All that said, I'm shooting for a 7 minute PR. Goal Time: 1:18 (6:00/mile).
I've maintained 5-7hrs of biking/wk throughout this run focus. I'm getting more comfortable on my new bike. I'll save the FTP talk for another day but I will say this; I'm 5 weeks ahead of where I was last year...and I haven't been working FTP, so that's promising. After Sunday, enter Build FTP phase.
Swimming begins in May.
That's all for now
Hope all is wonderful!
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