As many of you are aware, I'm training for the Charleston, SC Marathon in January. We stand just under 4 weeks away from me toeing the line of a race again. Crazy to think! But then again, outside of a couple of 5Ks in November and December, I haven't really attempted racing since the Cedar Point disast-debacle. So...we're due.
To take you through a sample week: one recovery day. Run slow. Run trails. Run uphill. Run fast. Run long. Run long with tempo. Bike hard. Bike long. Swim somewhere in there. And oh yeah, get some core work done too.
Add on top of this that I got to spend the better part of two days with a sledgehammer and a crowbar taking out about 2500 square feet worth of engineered hardwood that was overglued to the floor (evidently, the previous tenant used the glue to LEVEL THE FLOOR)...and I'm *ahem* tired.
But it's all going to the right place. I've never run this much before healthily. I feel strong. Running is coming easier and easier. On some of these long runs, I just start jamming out 7:00 pace without really thinking about it. Of course, I then slow down when I realize what the hell I'm doing (don't leave your race in a workout).
This week, though, is the test: have a predictor run tomorrow (basically, what I can punch out for that test workout is a great indicator of marathon time/pace) and a 20-mile progression run on the weekend (get to test out that indicated pace).
Bring it, John. You haven't killed me yet.
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Under that same token, I've been doing a lot of work with Christine Lynch to figure out what the ruddy hell has been wrong with my stomach.
As you've probably tired of reading in this space, I've had a lot of challenges with my gut. Whether it's pre-race, during the race, post-race, cramping, vomiting, etc. I was tired of it. Plus, Christine is the one that took this phenomenal photo of me in the medical tent at Cedar Point:
So...she's seen me in some pretty bad spots before.
After some consulting, we decided that the best approach would be to follow an elimination diet for the better part of 6 weeks. What's an elimination diet, you ask? You pretty much get rid of anything and everything that could possibly be a food intolerance. So...pretty restrictive overall. You then add foods back in, one item at a time, to test how your body responds to things.
Add that on top of the training from John...and there were some days where I certainly contemplated putting my head through a wall. (There was in fact a day where I got violently ill from cutting my coffee habit off cold turkey. Worst migraine ever, fever, chills, you name it I got it.)
Well, as it turns out, I'm intolerant of soy and don't handle fructose well under training load. So, out goes soy out of the regular diet, and finding new sports nutrition that doesn't contain fructose in it. Good times. But as we've done this, we've gotten rid of almost all of the symptoms that I used to deal with. It's awesome.
Christine's also helping out on the daily diet front, trying to find some more healthy recipes, etc. that aren't simply "lay protein over massive spring mix and spinach salad, add balsamic vinaigrette (good luck finding one that doesn't have soybean oil in it!)" which, although delicious, is awfully repetitive. We're getting there.
It's been an awesome experience, getting to know what works in my system and how it responds under the volume John's putting me under. It's been, dare we say, fun. One of the biggest lessons out of all of this is enjoying the process of what works for me as an athlete, and even what doesn't work. Then taking those lessons and applying it to racing.
Still a little ways to go before that happens. Time to keep slogging onward.
Editor's note: video is NSFW. But needed the first :30 for this post.
So, now that we've gotten the fun part out of the way...
See just how many, well, different flavors of gels and products there are? Each one of them isn't necessarily just a different flavor, but rather a different blend of carbohydrates, amino acids, and other supplements. In other words: there's a lot of choices. (bold added because, well, there's almost too many choices to make.)
We've reviewed a fair number of nutrition products here at Crashing the Boards, and wanted to try out a new brand and a couple of their flavors here.
PowerBar has been a sports nutrition giant, founded in 1986 in California. It was marketed as the first nutritional bar designed specifically for endurance athletics. As the company grew, it has expanded their product line to include drinks, gels, chewables, and bars. The company was purchased by Nestle in 2000.
In PowerBar's terms, there are three distinct phases in which their products will fall: it will either be meant for use prior, during, or after athletic activity. Each one of these is referred to in a numerical stage: Stage 1 products are meant for consumption before activity; Stage 2 products are meant for use during activity; Stage 3 products are then meant for recovery afterwards.
Here around the offices, been doing a lot of intense skiing here this winter; yes, despite the lack of quality snowfall, the snow's been fantastic at some of the ski resorts. So with that in mind, we (meaning yours truly and ski buddy Josh) wanted to test some of the during activity products out. This is where the PowerBar gel line comes into play.
Nutrition Breakdown
There were two flavors of gel that we ordered, but both follow the same basic breakdown of formula with one key exception. (We'll come to that in a bit.)
PowerBar uses a proprietary carbohydrate blend that they call C2MAX. Essentially, it is a 2:1 ratio of glucose (delivered as maltodextrin) and fructose. PowerBar claims that this gives anywhere from 20-50% more energy to muscles than glucose on its own and improve endurance performance by up to 8%. Now, if those numbers seem high, I won't claim to know whether or not they work. What I will tell you is that I know that this ratio works well in my system as compared to, say, Hammer Nutrition's gel products, which only use maltodextrin.
PowerBar also throws in 200 mg of sodium, as well as potassium and chloride. These are three of your five key electrolytes that you lose during athletic activity (the others being magnesium and calcium). This works well for a salty sweater, like myself. I mean, on a recent trainer ride, I had bricks of salt on my temples. It gets bad.
There are 110 calories worth of gel in each single-serving packet. PowerBar recommends one gel for every 25-45 minutes worth of activity. I find somewhere around the 40 minute mark to be ideal for myself, but like with many things in sports: your results can and will vary.
So, How's it Work?
We tried out two different flavors: Kona Punch and Tangerine. The key difference between them is the Kona Punch has no caffeine in it, whereas Tangerine has a double-round of caffeine in it totaling 50 mg per packet. Caffeine is something I try to save towards the end of the day, simply because too much of it doesn't do well with my heart-rate and stomach.
The Tangerine flavor is definitely brighter, very loud citrus notes. It also doesn't hide the sodium much. This is something I like, as during the course of racing I find that the saltiness hides away and you taste more of the sweet notes of the gel. The ones that taste good early in the day tend to taste like frosting by the end.
The Kona Punch flavor reminds me a lot of the Strawberry Lemonade nunn tablets, which makes it delicious. It's not as salty as the Tangerine, but that's a good thing. It fits in with my strategy of taking the uncaffeinated gels earlier in the day, and then switching to the saltier and more caffeinated bunch further down the road. I also found the Kona Punch flavor works well when mixed into a 20 oz. bottle of water, if you prefer to draw the majority of your calories from a bar.
Overall, I've found I really enjoy these gels. They are a fair bit thinner than other brands, making them much easier to get down and make sure you're getting all of your calories in. They also tend to be just the right consistency during colder weather runs when other gels almost become chewy. Definitely look forward to racing with them this summer.
Alternate title: "You're just a slut for punishment, aren't you?" (A quote from fellow Maine Running Company employee, Ben Webber, after hearing that I wanted to race again so soon after the disaster-debacle known as my experience at Rev3 Quassy).
After having a week to look back at what happened during the race experience, there's an awful lot that I'm still happy about. But, in the recesses of my mind, I've got a fair bit of disappointment lying around, too. After all, when you're shelling out between $260-$300 a race at the half-iron distance, you want to maximize the potential value of the day. (Some would argue, of course, that by staying on course longer, you actually maximized your money's worth, as it was cheaper by hour out there compared to others. I digress.)
For myself personally, I think I've identified four major things that, going into Timberman 70.3, need to be improved upon in order to ensure that another Rev3 result does not occur:
NUTRITION
This, obviously, was the big downfall at Rev3. Once I got behind on the calorie count on the bike, I never was able to catch back on up. Now, I don't ever foresee another situation with the heart-rate monitor happening quite like that again. But, analyzing my choices for both liquid and solid nutrition, I think I may have also set myself up for a bit of a long day.
To review, for the bike the game plan was as follows:
Carbo-Pro: Glucose polymers derived from hydrolysis of maltodextrin
Analysis: First and foremost, we're talking about three separate needs during the course. We need to be replacing fluids lost via sweat/urination; we need to be replacing the electrolytes in the system; and we must be replenishing the glycogen available to muscles to continue using it as fuel. For the uninitiated, glycogen is what the body stores carbohydrate as; when somebody says that they are "carb-loading," they mean that they are trying to maximize their glycogen stores.
Breaking down further: hydration needs are an entirely independent sort-of inquiry. For some people, they need to be downing 30-40 oz. of fluid per hour while out there. That doesn't work for me in the least. I can handle about a bike bottle per hour while out there. That's approximately 20-24 oz. of fluid per hour. (Note: I only managed to put down about 10-12 oz. per hour at Rev3 on the bike. And we wonder why I med-tented it.)
IM Perform is also pretty high in a fair number of the electrolytes. There are five key electrolytes that are lost during endurance activity. Most people only focus on sodium, but the other four are potassium, chloride, calcium, and magnesium. They're all necessary to keep the body functioning at a high level during intense athletic activity. As you look at IM Perform, you see potassium, salt, and magnesium, but a bit lacking in chloride and calcium. Why? Often times, it's a matter of digestion: in order to get calcium into a drink such as this, you will regularly need to be adding some kind of dairy extraction into the mix. You can imagine how palatable that would be on a 90 degree day. Other drink mixes do, however, manage to do this (First Endurance being one of the primary examples).
So now we come to carbohydrate, and this is where things get a bit tricky. There are both simple and complex carbohydrates (also referred to as short-chain versus long-chain carbohydrates). Simple carbohydrates are your primary sugars, like glucose, sucrose, and dextrose. These are quick-burning, and easily absorbed by the body. However, it's much like throwing gasoline on a fire: you get a quick, explosive effect, but the body burns through it rapidly, and you're back to where you started from.
Long-chain carbohydrates, meanwhile, are a more refined fuel: think of it more like putting that big log on the fire instead of the gasoline. You'll get a much longer, more sustained burn out of it. However, it takes the fire some work to get on that log: it's going to have to bring in enough oxygen from the outside in order to keep the original burn strong enough to light the log, before finally being able to penetrate and start burning the large log. Much the same in the body: it's going to take some work for your gut to be able to process a longer-chain carbohydrate, but when it does, you get sustained energy. But if there's not enough energy available to start that log on fire...well, things can start getting bad quickly. Nevermind getting into the osmolality of the solution (essentially, you want the solution to be at a lower osmolality than body fluid, so that it can process through your system easier).
So, what do we take from this? Why would this drink mix work during training, but not during racing? I think it is mostly due to the composition of the carbohydrate in the drink mix. Because IM Perform's C2Max energy blend is more long-chain than short-chain carbohydrate, I was essentially taking in nothing but longer-chain carbohydrates during the course. This meant that I needed to have things low enough out of the gate that my body would be able to process this. Well, here's the rub: my heart-rate coming out of the water was going to be much, much higher than that of when I was doing a normal training ride. I didn't have enough energy available to transfer blood to my gut and start processing the fuel; when that happened, I got backed up, nauseated, and then behind the eight-ball. I also didn't have enough short-chain carbohydrate on board the bike to try and get things rolling again.
So, then, it's no surprise that at about the one hour mark on the bike (or about 90 minutes into the race), I was going to have to slow down a bit: your body only has enough glycogen storage for 90 minutes of activity. This meant that the body would start using fat as fuel instead, which means the heart-rate must come way, way down. So, when reviewing my data from the race, it wasn't a shock to see my average heart-rate drop down to the 135 BPM mark at the one hour mark on the bike, down from the 150/155 mark that I was planning on racing at all day long. This also marked a pretty heavy departure from the 20.5 MPH I was averaging on the bike down to 14-16 MPH.
So, to review: I was too heavy on long-chain carbohydrate, and did not have the tools on hand in order to put the wheels back on once they started coming off.
This. Will. Not. Happen. Again.
What to do, then? Well, I'm looking into new drink mixes. The First Endurance stuff listed above intrigues me the most, as it is a bit higher than most other mixes in the five electrolytes. It is also a different sugar blend (higher in short-chain carbohydrates), which I think, when mixed with Carbo-Pro, would make a better solution. I do like Hammer's HEED for taste, but unfortunately it isn't high enough in sodium for my needs, and it too is fairly high in maltodextrin. I'm also planning on a contingency plan of GU Roctane, or incorporating it a bit more. Perhaps 200 calories of drink per hour supplemented by a gel. I'm also debating implementing a 600 calories "slurry" bottle (essentially, a concentrated mix of the electrolyte and carbohydrate drink), and then having a separate bottle for my hydration needs. Undecided. Luckily, I have some time to figure it out.
SWIM FORM
Although I had myself a pretty solid swim at Rev3, I also realized that a bunch of my fellow age groupers are a HELL of a lot faster here than I am. So, it's time to hit the water. During the build to Quassy, I thought that I had done a good enough job getting into the pool. Well, I did but I didn't: although I had good fitness, I think my form limitations made me have to work a bit harder to get that swim time.
To be blunt: I need to work on technique as much as I do aerobic capacity. The better my form is, the faster I go, with less energy exerted. The fresher I can come out of the water, the better; then, the lower my heart-rate is coming out of the water, the better off my nutrition gameplan can go.
I know I can swim faster; the question is, can I swim faster while exerting less energy? That, too, I believe can be answered in the affirmative. It's just going to take a lot more work.
BIKE FIT
This isn't to say that my bike fit was wrong. To the contrary, Doug Welling and I had decided to go a bit conservative with my fit at the outset.
The thing is, we both think I've outgrown it. By that, I mean I can definitely ride a more aggressive position than I could have just a couple of months ago. So we're going to go aggressive with my fit, and try to lock in a better aero position on the bike. We will also make the final determination for pad reach, etc. and cut things down. It's time to make this bike mine, and mine alone.
I'm also looking into gearing and crank length. However, considering my run time off the bike was not nearly as catastrophically terrible as one would suggest with the bonking that I did do, perhaps things are where they should be. (For those wondering, I am riding a 175 mm crank, 53/39 chainrings, with a 12-25 cassette. I MAY switch to a 12-27. We'll see. It may also be more effective to go to a compact crank. But again, not sure as of yet.)
BIKE FITNESS
To make this long story short: more hills, please. More time in the saddle. A few more light brick workouts (35 mile ride, short run afterwards.) I think this is where I have the most overall to gain. I'm happy with my running ability; I know I can run a 1:38 open 13.1. I also know I can hold that pace pretty decently, even when the wheels come off. So it's the bike where I have more to gain.
Overall, then, I think I've had the time, and the patience, to look critically at how Rev3 went. Now it's time to put the work into Timberman. This week is my "ease back into things" week, meaning I'll start a little bit of swimming, biking, and running. Next week is a full-on recovery week, where the intensity stays quite low, but I get back to normalcy. Then it's time to crank up the wick, and start the fun back into Timberman.
Questions? Comments? Concerns? As always, post a comment and I'll respond.
First off, a Happy New Year to all! Now that we've shaken off our New Year's imbibing, it's time to get down to business.
If you've been following along, you'll know that I'm a pretty big skier. I've been a passholder at Sugarloaf for the past few years. This year, I'm holding over at Saddleback instead, just a short trip across the valley. It's a fantastic time, no matter where you are.
However, how many times have you had to bag your day early because you simply had nothing left in the tank? Couldn't make it till last chair, despite arriving on the hill late? More often than not, the answer isn't technique or lack of conditioning. Instead, it's because your nutrition strategy failed you.
We attempt to get by when skiing on a steady diet of...well...nothing besides breakfast and lunch. Would you try that for your next race, whether running, biking, triathlon, etc.? Didn't think so. Why would you try that here? Your body can only store enough glycogen for ninety minutes of exertion, at which point you switch over to burning fat as primary fuel. The problem, of course, is that you have to slow down when that happens so your body can process fat as fuel. Ever wonder why you start to struggle midway through the day?
I've had three ski days so far, all at different mountains, with all different types of terrain and surface conditions. We'll go through each, talking about the quality of the skiing as well as the nutrition presented for both.
Saddleback Mountain, Dec. 20: Amazing what a little bit of snow can do in a short period of time. Saddleback had only been open for three days prior to my 2+ hour venture to the northwest. I wasn't expecting much. After all, not a lot of natural snow had fallen, and a big rain event delayed the opening by a week.
Boy, was I wrong.
Conditions were superb, especially for early season. Glade skiing before Christmas is like finding $100 bill in your jacket that you didn't know was there from last ski season. (Nope, no cash in the jacket this year. Sigh.) It's just something that doesn't happen around these parts.
Considering it was the first day out, and skiing pretty aggressively, it was time to get aggressive with the nutrition. I utilized three products on this day:
PowerbarIronman Perform: Think of Gatorade, except by somebody else and in powder form. A solid mix of electrolytes and calories to put fuel back in your system. This is also the official drink of all Ironman races this year, so it's good to be fueling with something that I'll have to use on race day. Overall, it works quite well. The taste isn't fantastic, but it gets the job done in lemon-lime form. Started nursing a bottle of it from the start of the day, all the way till the finish.
Hammer Gel Apple Cinnamon: I use Hammer instead of other gel products simply because it doesn't upset my stomach. As an added benefit, Hammer's gels use both a short and long chain carbohydrate to keep your fueling consistent across the board. Apple Cinnamon tastes a lot like a store-bought apple pie: not great, but good. Any gel would probably be of decent benefit to people, but this is my particular brand and flavor. Used mid-morning, it helped me push across those last couple of runs.
Clif Shot Blocks, Tropical Punch: I love these chews. They stay nice and solid the entire time, and you can pop a single one in the mouth and suck on it for a little while. Absolutely delicious. Each little block is 33 calories, so you can dispense them as needed throughout the day. I get them with caffeine for a little extra kick in the rear end when necessary.
In all, a super solid way to kick off the season.
Butternut Ski Area, Dec. 31: Gotta burn those calories before taking part in the evening's festivities, right? Going from Saddleback to Butternut was a big change, as it's apples to oranges. Saddleback is a big mountain, with a lot of difficult terrain. Butternut is more of a family-style approach, with a decent amount of pitch. Consistency of their snow was what they make their bread-and-butter on. Really soft, buttery turns all day long that results in some pretty serious GS-style turns. A good cruiser mountain, rather than super challenging.
As such, the nutrition strategy here wasn't so much to keep me on the mountain as long as possible; instead, it was just to keep the tank chugging along. Only one product, along with some good old-fashioned water.
Honey Stinger Waffle: A word of warning to the addictive personalities in the room: these darn things are awesome. Modeled after the strupwafels of northern Europe, this little gem in the Honey Stinger line has 160 calories and a fair amount of sugar. For those who would normally snack on candy, this would be an excellent organic alternative. Caution: will make you thirsty. Not that this is a bad thing, as it forces you to continue to focus on hydration. I'm using these straight out of T1 this year to force me into my liquid nutrition. Plus, they're delicious.
Another solid day, although spring skiing in December is a bit odd.
Shawnee Peak, Jan. 3: Stout little mountain only about an hour from Portland, this is a place that can really sneak up on you. It doesn't look all that imposing, and then you roll off the top and go "whoa! Where'd that come from!"
Conditions didn't help matters much, as the skiing was a bit *cough* firm. The mini-thaw had come and gone, and things had firmed back up. Those not from the northeast may have called it icy. However, because you couldn't see fish beneath it, it could not be ice. Therefore, the following terms are acceptable to describe the conditions: firm, edgeable, carveable, slick, hardpack, boilerplate, or my personal favorite, classic New England skiing. You know it's firm when a snowboarder, sliding with his board perpendicular to the fall line, is not bringing any snow with him.
However, this was also my first day with my new toy: a Garmin Forerunner 305. And seeing as it has a Max Speed function....well, you can imagine what we were trying to do. 35.4 MPH was all we could manage in flat light and conditions. I'm thinking a test at Sugarloaf on Widowmaker-Flume will be in order...
Experimented with the nutrition strategy, as the legs were still a little sore from the 31st.
Clif Shot Bloks: See above review.
Hammer Endurolytes Fizz Mango: A new product from the friends at Hammer, this is a low-calorie effervescent drink (read: it makes the bottle fizzy!) It's a solid option for those who already are eating their calories, and just need to get the electrolytes back into the system. The mango flavor wasn't bad, although I could see it needing some water as a backup. However, I did enjoy it, and think it would be a strong addition to a skiing strategy for those who sweat salt, like I do.
In all, another good day, even with some teeth-rattling conditions.
Got two more days upcoming in the next week, at which point I'll have some other products reviewed. If you have a particular product you would like to see reviewed, mention it in the comments or shoot me an e-mail, and I'll try to work it in.
This is something I hear quite a bit through my days at Maine Running Company. People are either looking to start seriously stepping up their training, or they are coming down off the season and want to start getting back into things. I, too, am in the middle of base training.
But what is it, really?
It can mean a lot of different things to different people. As I am entering the world of triathlon, my base training is going to be a little bit different than, say, my training buddy Adam, who has competed at Ironman Lake Placid for the past three years. But that being said, I feel that base training should be comprised of a couple of different things:
Technique/Form Work: This is the time to focus on exactly what it is your body is telling you in your sports. When you are in midseason, it's extremely tough to try and get technique correction into your system. You are too focused on working on speed, or adding distance, or ensuring you grind it through that next workout. Instead, in the off-season, where you don't have a specific end-goal in mind (until you get to the official start of training for the following season), this is where you can focus on the task at hand.
Let me give an example: running form. I won't get into the debating of the merits of running in Five Fingers (that's another blog post for another time), but let's say that you are working on not pointing your toe quite so much through the gait cycle, because by pointing your toe skyward more, you put more stress on the front side of the shin than is necessary. Considering the number of steps in a half-marathon, e.g., that's a hell of a lot of toe raising.
Well, now's the time to get that sorted out. Because you're not focused on running for speed, or running to add significant distance, you can instead be more focused on how to make that happen. Put the same level of concentration into it as you would hitting your splits during speedwork.
This also applies to your swim stroke, your biking cadence, bike fit (more on that in a minute), or whatever off-season applies to you.
Get Your Equipment Sorted Out: This is along the same lines as the technique and form description above. Think about it: if your equipment does not fit you properly, you will not be able to take those form and technique enhancers to your racing equipment. And if there's anything worse than getting to something you've prepared months for, and realize that you won't be able to do that thing the same way you've trained for...well, tell me what it is.
So, check it off: does your wetsuit fit you properly? Does your bike fit you properly? Did you change anything on the bike, etc.? You sure you're in the right type of shoe? Let's get that out of the way now, rather than attempting to experiment with it midseason.
What's that you say? I just got my bike? Yeah, your point? Now is the time to find the position that I can train with, and race with, for next season. And then if I want to tweak it a bit more? Well, that's why God invented the off-season!
Challenge Yourself (a little): OK, remember that whole "not focused on speedwork or endurance?"
I lied. A little.
Here's the thing: this applies to you if you're looking to go faster next year, or if you are going to be trying your hand at a longer distance. Or, if you're like myself, trying to do both in one year. Because you're theoretically insane.
You need to at least put a small challenge into your base training to help break up the monotony of it. For me, I am doing a little bit of speed work in the pool. I know I can swim 1.2 miles continuously, and I know that my current time (40 flat) would put me right in the middle of the pack at Timberman. But I want to go a little faster. So I've been using my technique work, along with some speed drills from Training Peaks to get things together.
However, there's a limit to this: I'm trying to keep all my workouts to heart-rates below 165. Why? Just to make sure I'm not working too hard this off-season. Need to start a training plan fresh, you know?
Of course, with ski season coming up, that's going right out the window. I mean, come on...when you get a view like this:
Well, all bets are off. Nothing like skiing over tree tops.
Oh, and that reminds me...
Do Something Else! I happen to ski. A lot. Like, driving to Rangeley every weekend from next weekend through April. And then some.
As for you? I can't tell you. But branch out and get something else to do for a little bit. It helps break up some of the muscular imbalances that come with the territory of tri, and also just gives your mind a break from the monotony of doing the same thing all year long.
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And now, for your regularly scheduled training update:
Just been hitting the pool quite a bit. Haven't really been spinning or running all that much, as I'm trying to remain flexible enough for ski season. Season starts on Dec. 20th. I'll be there rocking along with some Clif Shot Bloks and probably some Hammer HEED to keep me moving right along.
As always, questions are welcomed, whether about my training, nutrition strategies for yourself, or anything else, at this link.
I get told a lot of the time that I am one skinny bastard. I don't disagree; I mean, 6'3", 153 lbs. isn't exactly "big dude" territory at all.
But it hasn't always been that way. In fact, me being as thin as a rail is a recent development. It may look like I'm a natural at this weight, but it's still an unnatural thing for me to see on some mornings. Look to the photo on the left, and well, you can see what I'm talking about. (And for those looking for the easy joke, I'm the one on the left. I know, lobbing 'em in like softballs here.)
That photo is from 2000, and it shows what kind of path I was on, all the way through until January 2004. Food was a method of comfort, to make things OK; the different tastes and the
different types of things to enjoy were my drug of choice. What was I running from? Why? I think a lot of it had to do with my own self-confidence, being painfully aware of my shortcomings socially, athletically, romantically...you name it.
I'd always been large, and had presumed that's the way it was going to be. After putting on the famed Freshmen 15 at the start of my career at Emerson College, I tipped the scales at a groaning 250 pounds.
And I was miserable. Football on the Boston Common was a hell of a chore, reducing myself to a sweating, exhausted, hurt mess. My knees were junk. Everything hurt. My ego? Forget about it. And it was at this point that I made the most important decision of my life...at least, to this point.
I was going to lose weight.
I had attempted dieting in the past. Cabbage soup, no carb, no fat, every kind of fad diet that had existed up to that point outside of Atkins. Sure, I'd dropped a few pounds here and there. But they just went straight back onto the pile, and then some, when I resumed eating again.
No, this was a lifestyle change coming. This was going to be getting exercise every week. This was going to be changing what came into the mouth. Moving food out of the realm of "something to be enjoyed and savored," but instead into "something to fuel my body to do what I want it to do." This doesn't mean that I don't enjoy food, or whatnot; to the contrary, I do. But this is more about recognizing how the body uses it, and enjoying the taste while it lasts, rather than eating just for the sake of the taste of it.
The first few weeks were, shall I say, challenging. The whiff of the fries from the grill area at the dining hall made me swoon. I dreaded my gym sessions, for I hated how I looked in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, but it was always too damned hot for my beloved sweatshirts and baggy clothing. I dreaded my chest-and-triceps days, for I'd feel like I couldn't move for the next three. Ab workouts were hellacious at best.
Yet I kept going. I couldn't stop. My mind was made up: come hell or high water, I was doing this. It was all or nothing: no half-assing it.
Winter turned to spring and turned into summer. Getting home was one of the best things that ever happened, as I was able to get away from some of the dining hall crutches and into my own routine. For the first time ever, I paid for a gym membership. I even bought a pair of *gasp* running shoes. And I discovered how delicious some of the healthy sandwiches at Subway were, including my staple: the footlong turkey on wheat with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and jalapenos or banana peppers. Calories: 580. I was sold.
I also began to tinker with sports nutrition for the first time, enjoying a pineapple juice, strawberry, and protein powder smoothie after my workouts. Hey! I don't hurt anymore the day after lifting! I can actually go the gym the next day! I was hooked.
May, June, July, and August all fell by the wayside. I knew I had lost some weight, as I was told as much, but I really didn't have much of an idea as to how much. That is, until I stepped on the scale about three days before the start of the semester. I lumbered out of bed, yawned, stretched, and said, "What the hell." I clambered on, rubbed my eyes, and looked down.
178.
Is this damned thing broken? I got off. It spun back to zero. OK, so it's set right. Let's try this again.
178.
WHAT!?!?!?!?! Pretty sure I woke the neighborhood up, outside of my brother, who can probably sleep through World War III. I'd dropped 70 pounds.
And it's been that way ever since. Now, the extra weight has fallen by the wayside as I've lost some muscle mass, and with my focus on running, biking, swimming, and skiing. I still lift, and I lift for different reasons now. I'm not looking to build muscle mass; rather, I'm looking to build muscular endurance. That's another story for another time.
Another loss of poundage came when I donated my gallbladder to the big glass organ jar in the sky. I had gallstones like it was nobodies business, and wound up losing it. And 12 lbs. in the aftermath that just have never gotten their way back onto my frame. What I've been told, by a lot of people smarter than I am, is that when you are losing a lot of fat, your body can't process both what it is metabolizing that way, as well as what you are taking in through the mouth. It then collects and forms those lovely little stones. The benefit, I suppose, is that I can't eat a lot of fried food. I'm also now a bit more sensitive to dairy products...but hey, what can you do.
As it stands this morning, I'm just a lanky dude who a lot of people think, "he's born that way." It's definitely not the case, as my story shows. My lessons to pass along to people:
The mind will lead you to many great places. It takes a lot of willpower, and strength, to stay on the road that you wish to achieve. However, keep what you want in mind and you will find a way to get there.
Realize how hard it is. Know that there will be stops and starts. But do not become discouraged. Re-focus on the goal at hand.
Find the thing that you enjoy the most. Look at the photo here. See the smile? I'm at home on snow. So I train year-round so I can get days, and photos, like that.
"Don't give up. Don't ever give up."
Don't ever tell yourself you can't. If anything, I hope my story tells you that you can.
