Triathlon Goals for 2012.

Back in May 2011 I decided to change my life.  I wanted to lose weight and get fit.  Like lots of people in this position this wasn't a new desire, I'd dreamed of being lean and mean for ages but had few ideas of how to make it real.  Triathlon, the idea of competing, the training this required and the lycra it required me to wear all conspired to give me a focus and and framework I had lacked until then and its worked.  In the 7 months since then I've lost 28kg and gone from struggling to run/walk 3ks to routinely running 16+ k's and while the goal I'd once had of averaging 30 kph on the ride to work has become my average speed on a bad day.

So, here we are, approaching 2012 with a pretty successful 2011 behind me and its time to set new goals.  So what will they be?  Well the core of my new goals will be tri based and thats what I'll discuss here:

1.  Finish Sparke Helmore Olympic distance triathlon in Mar 2012.

2.  Finish the Cairns Challenge 2.80.20 half(ish) ironman in Jun 2012.

3.  Finish losing weight - get to 90.0 kgs average (about 10% body fat)

4.  Come up with some other goals for the back half of the year.

Based on 2011 form these should be achievable.  What I need now is a plan.  And I have one!  Buts thats for tomorrow.   

Two milestones achieved

A big day today.

1. I finally managed to be classified as Overweight (ie a BMI of over 26.9 but under 30). That might not sound like an achievement but remember I came it overweight from obese (BMI over 30) so getting down to overweight is great. When I started this journey I weighed 128 kgs, at 192 cm this gave me a bmi of 34.7. Frankly, this was scary for me, I felt sick all the time and was seriously concerned I was heading for a heart attack. Now I'm 109.3 kg, for a BMI of 29.7.

I'm not at my goal weight yet, and even then this isnt really about weight. At some point I'm going to stop worrying about weight and start tracking fat content.

My next weight goal is to get under the tonne - that is 99kg. This would also give me a BMI of 26.8 so put me in the healthy range. Note, I know the BMI is a flawed metric not really suitable for tracking individual health but still its a commonly understood measure.

2. I also ran 10.3 km today. This is the longest run I have ever tried. I had to slow to a walk twice on the return leg, for about 50 meters each time, as I just couldnt keep it going. More than anything the small (but very steep) hills on my 'course' really sucked the life out of my legs.

But, one thing I learned from my first triathlon is that no course is flat and if I want to improve I must get used to hills.

The best news is, however, what I dont have to report. I have no foot, ankle, knee or back pain to report. That is fantastic! That said I'm interested to see how I pull up in the morning.

Losing weight got harder - I'm injured.

Ok, the latest installment of my fight with fat - to see where it started go here. Well losing weight just got a little harder. One of the problems with being fat and over 40 is that you are also prone to more injuries.

This one was embarrassingly ordinary. I went out for a gentle kick around with a soccer ball with mates at work, overstretched a touch and strained a groin muscle - how dumb. Well now I'm hobbling around like a really old man and have to be careful about staying still too long or it gets used to being in one place and it kills to move.

Still, I've got on the ride and refuse to get off - I can still swim. So I started swimming yesterday.

All in all swimming is a crap exercise for losing weight, at least when you first start. Why? Because to lose weight you need to lift your heart rate and keep it high for some time. When you first start swimming this is virtually impossible as your arms and shoulders will simply run out of power well before your heart is working hard enough. That's whats happening to me. Yesterday I squeezed out 400 meters, and I could only do that as 8x50 meter swims. Today I stretched that to 500 meters, a 100m plus another 8x50 meter swims.

This is killing me emotionally, you see I used to swim competitively as a kid and I wasn't bad. At my best I was swimming around the mid 23 seconds for a 50 freestyle. Today the fastest I could manage was 1 minute 10 seconds. That's nearly 17 seconds slower than I used to do a 100m!

Well, its just another thing that's going to have to change. If you are interested in my progress, have tips or questions feel free to comment.

My fight with fat - a personal thread

A slightly different, and pretty personal, thread to start today.

A week or so ago I just felt bad, nothing specific, just kind of off. Anyway, I went to bed, still feeling off and just couldnt sleep. A couple of times through the night I found myself feeling sick, like my stomach was being squeezed and its contents forced back up my throat.

Well I know what was causing it now. I'm fat.

You know, its kind of creeps up on us. I know my clothe's dont fit properly and I know I avoid beaches and things but ultimately I can hide from all that by buying bigger clothes and telling myself I dont really like the beach anyway but this, this I cant escape. When lying down and trying to sleep leaves me feeling ill, well thats pretty hard to avoid.

So what counts as fat then? Well the morning after this night I weighed in at 126.5 Kgs, since I'm 193cm tall, this gives me a BMI of 34. Considering that, as a guide, 25 is healthy, and 30 is obese I'm in trouble.

Since then I've done some things, I've joined Weight Watchers - just the online site and I've tried to start exercising more.

This morning (Monday is my weigh in day) I was 123.5 KGs. So I've lost 3 kilos and I've got to admit I feel a little better for it. That gives ma a BMI of 33.2 so I'm on my way.

So whats the final target?

I'm shooting for a weight of 95kg, thats a BMI of 25.5. I'll take that.

Its often said that dieting is a struggle and I've always found it so. Also, Weight Watchers et al have all suggested that giving yourself 'little' goals and (non food) rewards is a great idea. So whats are my goals?

I'm thinking they are:

119 kg (yay - under the 120 mark) - small goal/reward

111 kg (BMI under 30 - not morbidly obese anymore) - big goal/reward

105 kg (nothing really special here - just half way to the next big goal) - small goal/reward

100 kg (obvious really, a nice round number and weight I first passed when I was 19 years old) - big goal/reward

95 kg (final goal) - small goal/reward (why?????)

95 kg - three months on. Huge goal/reward. The sign I've made it.

So thats it - I figure that if I share this with the world and tie it to a blog I'm committed to keeping and god forbid, get some comments and support, I can keep this going.

I'll keep the blog updated with what I'm doing to lose the weight semi regularly but tune in again each Monday for the latest weight data.

Wish me luck.