Weight Loss vs. Triathlons.
I’m going thru a major internal debate. Concentrate on weight loss or on long tri training.
Unfortunately the two are not mutually exclusive, its hard to lose weight and do long endurance events, at least in my experience. You have to feed your body so much for long tri events and training that its hard to drop weight (recommended to take in about 3000-5000 calories a day depending on training schedule), BUT, in doing weight loss you feed the body less (1800-2200 calories) and do different workouts that do not really help in doing a long tri. In this case training for a full ironman.
The pros and cons of weight loss;
- PRO: I will weigh less, which in turn will help my biking and running significantly.
- PRO: I will feel better about myself in all aspects of my life. Deeper meaning in this is yes, unfortunately I wrap allot of my worth around the scale.
- CON: It will hinder my ironman hopes this year.
- CON: I don’t particularly enjoy the weight loss working out like I do tri workouts.
- PRO: I won’t feel like a fraud when someone finds out I was on Biggest Loser cause I don’t weigh my finale weight (note, I am no where near my beginning weight of 321)
- PRO: I’d feel better. It’s proven that if you lose just 10% of your weight you feel amazing. And I want to get back to my finale weight or preferably less, which is more than 10%.
- CON: Well, this is kind of a con, but, the excess skin I have around my midsection when I lose weight (stomach and love handles) has always been a source of frustration for me.
- PRO: If I do lose weight and get down to my goal weight, I will seriously look into getting my skin chopped off, although it is quite expensive. #creditcard
- PRO: Even with working on weight loss I think I can still do some of the shorter tris (Sprint and Oly, maybe even a HIM late in the season)
- PRO: Less weight = easier running. I hate running, anything I can do to help it is a huge pro.
- CON: I will lose allot of workout time with my training partner cause he does not need to lose weight like I do and he will continue to do tri specific training.
The pros and cons of tri training;
- PRO: I love being a triathlete. LOVE IT. I love training for an upcoming event. I also love just calling myself a triathlete. I mean, how cool is that?
- PRO: I would train and complete the full ironman and get to check a huge thing off my bucket list.
- CON: I might lose a few pounds, but at best I will stay close to my weight now.
- CON: I won’t be the best triathlete I could be cause you inherently lose speed and time just because of weight.
- CON: I will feel gross in my singlet for each race, with my stomach/love handles. (note, I always have, but now they are not quite as “aired out” I feel more insecure.)
- PRO: Just accomplishing a major event in your life makes things all better.
- CON: Tri training takes me away from my family, and training for a full means some 8 hour training days later on in the schedule.
- CON: There are other events that I want to train specifically for (San Francisco’s Biggest Loser Oly tri), that would be tough while doing weight loss. By training for specifically I mean timing training to get to my peak for that event.
- PRO: When I was training for my HIM I got tunnel vision and cutout allot of negative things in my life. This can also be a pro for weight loss in that I will cutout allot of that when doing weight loss.
- PRO: I just got a new tri bike that I cannot wait to start kicking some major ass with!
- CON: I think I might have to stop being a vegetarian because I am either not doing it right, or my body is just not responding (less protein). I am having trouble right now with training, I can go hard for a few days then my body stops for 3 or 4 days, which I am thinking is due to lack of nutrition. BUT, this could also be due to me restricting nutrition cause I want to lose weight too.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on it, what would you do? I am truly torn between what to do, I love triathlons just about as much as I hate gaining weight.
