My weight – no worries – well kind of…

Like I had mentioned in earlier posts, I started running again after a 20 year layoff, three (3) years ago. At that time we had just returned from a trip to Disney World and to put it lightly, I enjoyed the food on the trip.

So, when we returned home I noticed that my weight was now 195lbs – that was not good. I had been able to hold my weight around the 185 to 190 range over a number of years with little change in my diet. Well, at that time I decided it would be easier to add some running to my lifestyle than it would be to cut back on eating. Little did I know, that "little bit" of running would turn into an IronMan three (3) years later.

During the first year of running my weight went back down into the 190 range and just stayed there for a number of months. I then decided to start training for my first marathon and began increasing my running to 30-40 miles per week. This helped and brought my weight under the 190 mark into the high 180’s.

I’m around 6 feet tall (a little above that mark), so my ideal weight should be around 180. I then started my IronMan training and over the first 6 months my weight decrease to around 184 and stopped. No matter how much I seemed to train, my weight would not move. I would attempt to slow my calorie intake, but still no movement in the weight.

Then, I had a break through (well kindof) – I participated in WIBA in Madison and decided to try my hand at the 112 full IronMan Wisconsin bike course with the temp’s outside being in the 90’s. By the time I was done with the ride, my weight had gone from 182 to 175 – 7 lbs lost in 8 hours – not good. I was a bit wiped after that ride and actually kindof got lost on my way back to Madison (and I have lived in this area for 42 years) because of the dehydration.

So I knew I had a problem and it wasn’t losing weight -- it was keeping the same weight on my long rides or long runs. From that point forward I always kept the scale in the car and used it before and after each ride or run. I found that I would lose 3.5lbs a hour on my workouts (without hydration/nutrition). My goal on each ride/run was to keep my weight the same or more by the end of the workout (through hydration/nutrition). I got very good at this and I was ready for the IronMan.

My goal weight for the IronMan was the low 170’s if at all possible but it wasn’t a major issue if I didn’t reach it. Well, thanks to the 20+ hour workout weeks leading up to IronMan – my weight moved down the scale and sure enough I was 173 to start IronMan. After completing the IronMan, I stepped on the scale at home and I still weighed 173 – the next morning I was very happy to see 169.

Now the goal during this short off season is to just maintain that low 170’s and then move it down into the high 160’s and then I’m done/completely satisfied.

We'll see what happens by the time I hit IronMan Louisville.