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THE OFF-SEASON
December 15, 2011
With my wife, Deborah, due to give birth to twins around the end of the year, I've been maintaining a higher training level during the off-season than would be normal for me. My original intent was to combine my training with a low-calorie, low-carbohydrate diet to attempt to shed some pounds now, as I anticipate my training time and quality will decline once the twins arrive. However, I found that this diet was insufficient to support the level of training I was looking to maintain, causing me to feel pretty fatigued most of the time and detracting from the quality of my workoput routines. In fairness, I was forewarned this would likely happen. Though I picked up some good nutritional tips along the way, I had largely abandoned the diet plan by late November.
Because I prefer the convenience and controlled settings, I do the lion's share of my bike and run training indoors on the bike trainer and treadmill. For my treadmill work I develop my own basic routines; long steady runs, fast tempo runs separated by short rest periods, sprints, etc. For my bike work, to date I have purchased a couple dozen videos from the Spinervals series. These are video routines featuring a variety of workouts (from 30 minutes to 5 1/2 hours in length) narrated by a professional coach (Troy Jacobsen) instructing groups of students. I find the videos help me get the most out of my training time, providing structure and easy-to-follow instructions as you progress through a given routine.
As luck would have it, I just began to follow Spinervals on Facebook a month or so ago. Shortly thereafter, they announced the first ever Spinervals Challenge, in which participants do one bike training routine from a recommended list of options daily from December 1st through January 1st (32 days). I'm currently at the halfway point, feeling pretty strong, and have lost three pounds. The purpose of the challenge is to keep you motivated and focused on your diet and exercise through a time of the year when it can get very difficult to do so. So far, so good.
November 4, 2011
With my last triathlon behind me (the Ironman 70.3 in the Poconos on October 4), the last few months of the year are normally a time to ease up on my training and exercising and focus on developing a regimen for the upcoming year before I begin to ramp up again in January. But, as is often the case, reality intervenes and forces a change in plans.
Debbie and I are expecting twins (a boy and a girl) in late December or early January, so I anticipate I will have minimal time to train in early 2012, and more limited time beyond that. With that in mind, I've made three critical adjustments to my routine; instead of reducing my training volume as I normally would in the fall, I continue to train at a moderate intensity to maintain my fitness level and hopefully partially compensate for the expected reduced training time next year. I am also developing a training program that focuses primarily on short, high-intensity exercise sessions (mostly 30 to 60 minutes or so), which I can squeeze in when an opening arises in my schedule. Finally, I am adopting a diet and weight training program to correspond with my new exercise format, which I hope will help me shed an additional 10 to 15 pounds and make me a stronger, more efficient competitor.
As opposed to the carbohydrate-rich diet necessary to support racing and long training sessions, this year's early off-season diet will be heavy on protein, helping me to build strength but limiting the energy I'd have available for extended periods of exercise. For strength training I will utilize standard free-weight exercises, along with videos from the P90X exercise program.
Over the past several years, my weight dropped from around 225 lbs. to around 192 lbs. today. According to some calculations I've done, my ideal racing weight should be around 160 lbs. While this may be an accurate ballpark figure, commonsense tells me it is not a reasonable or healthy goal for me to try and reach. But180 lbs. or so seems very reasonable and achieveable at this point. The objective should be to lose as much weight as you can without sacrificing your strength, stamina, and health.
Though I've been tinkering and toying with my new diet and training format for the past month to see which exercise routines and foods most agree with me, come Monday, November 7, I will begin a much more structured and disciplined program and hope to end the year leaner, stronger, and a father of three.
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INTRODUCTION:
The Fitness Center is a new section we've added to the site. The inspiration came from my decision, several years ago, to take some concrete steps to improve my general health and well being. In early 2008, Deborah had just given birth to our first child. By Ethan's teen years, I would be in my mid-to-late 50s, and I was already at least 30 lbs. overweight and moving in the wrong direction. Like many, I exercised occasionally (mainly some weights and running on the treadmill) but without any focus, structure, or goals, my results were less than impressive.
Being my most obvious point of reference, I began to think about the way we approach our financial planning and investment management practice here at Center Square Asset Management, and consider whether some of the principles and practices we utilize could be applied to my fitness routine. The first thing I realized was that, when we work with clients, we begin with the goal(s) in mind, be it accumulating enough savings to help fund a comfortable retirement, build a college fund, or generate a certain level of income. We then develop a strategy for getting there, implement the plan, monitor progress, and make changes as necessary along the way.
My exercise routine, on the other hand, largely consisted of doing the same things over and over, regardless of what I got out of it, if I had the time and depending on whether or not I felt like it. Needing an achievable goal, looking to diversify my exercise routine, and with my options at age 42 somewhat limited, I decided to train for and complete a triathlon. I purchased a bike, some goggles, and a pair of running shoes and was on my way. I added biking and swimming to my running and weight training to make my overall routine more interesting and productive, and training for an actual competition gave me the spark of competition I hadn't felt since my college soccer days in the 1980s. After a few months of preparation, on July 13, 2008, I successfully completed the Pine Bush Triathlon in Albany/Guilderland. Though the Pine Bush is a short race (325-yard swim, 11-mile bike, 3.25-mile run) and I finished 265th out of 377 participants, it is something I doubt I could have completed without first setting the goal and developing a plan to reach it.
At that point I was more convinced than ever that, with a goal, planning, and preparation, be it in athletics or financial planning, over time we can accomplish far more than seems initially possible. I successfully completed three more triathlons that summer and elevated my goal from surviving the races to improving my performance and times at each race. Three years later, in each race I have done my times have improved each year over the previous year and, at age 45, I have completed two Ironman distance races (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) in Lake Placid, Nye York. The thought of transitioning from a 60- or 90-minute race to a 12- or 14-hour race initially seemed daunting. But, while the cost of college or retirement can seem insurmountable to some, defining the goal, putting a plan in place to reach it, and committing to that plan can, over time, yield tremendous results. There will be minor and major obstacles and setbacks along the way (flat tires, 7,000-point drops in the D, etc.), but by adjusting in the short term and maintaining our focus on the long term, these can be overcome.
In the time ahead, I will provide regular updates on my progress, successes, and setbacks, and hopefully provide some helpful insights and observations on how planning, preparation, and the proper focus in so many aspects of life are crucial to our ultimate success. For now, I have completed preparing for my first-ever half-ironman distance race (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.2 mile run), which will be this Sunday in Lake George, New York. I'm still recovering a bit from Ironman Lake Placid in late July. It looks like rain and the course is new to me and likely very hilly, so I am expecting the unexpected.
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September 7, 2011
Much like the financial markets, long distance races such as a half-ironman can present you with the unexpected. Fortunately for me, in this race the surprises were mostly pleasant. After calling for rain all week, in almost six hours of racing I felt barely a drop. And, despite the course taking us through the Adirondack mountains, it was not nearly as hilly or challenging as I had feared. Feeling a bit off at the start, I took it fairly easy on the swim and finished a few minutes later than I should have but felt good getting out of the lake (then again, I'm always glad to get out of the water). On the bike, I was able to maintain a fairly steady pace throughout and finished in a little over three hours . . . average for me. Feeling pretty strong for the run and now gunning to finish in under six hours, I was able to maintain a strong pace through the first 10 miles or so before the fatigue really set in and forced me to struggle through to the end. Still, I was able to finish in under six hours (5:54:46), good for 82nd place out of 224 competitors.
Though I placed a bit lower than normal for me, the level of competition was fairly high. I was able to stick to my original plan to start slow and steadily build toward the finish. It sounds like it should be easy and straightforward, but my career as a financial advisor has embedded in me the understanding that even sticking to a simple and well-though-out plan can become very difficult when the environment around you becomes extremely stressed. Yet it is at these times that staying on course is most critical to long-term success.
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September 20, 2011
In the middle of the toughest part of this season: the one-month lag between my last two races. After my second half-ironman in a row, on October 2 in the Poconos, I can put the 2011 season in the books. But training at this point presents some problems. After a long, active season, if I train too hard, I can enter a difficult race mentally and physically burned out. If I take it too easy, I can find myself too out of condition to be as competitive as I'd like, and I know I'll regret it if I end a good season on a bad note. So I'll spend this time keeping busy and hoping I get the training volume about right. At these times, if I get the urge to train too aggressively too close to a race, I tell myself the same thing I tell myself in a investment environment: sometimes the right thing to do, and the hardest thing to do, is to have the discipline to do nothing.
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September 30, 2011
I just received an e-mail notice that, due to hazardous conditions caused by recent heavy rains, the swim portion of the Pocono's Ironman 70.3 this Sunday has been cancelled. Instead, the race will consist of biking and then running. Normally in this race the bike portion would be 56 miles and the run would be 13.1 miles. I'm not certain if they will extend those in light of this turn of events, but I'm assuming not. Though the swim is usually my weakest of the three legs, I'm suprisingly disappointed by the news. My plan for the last month has been to take it steady on the swim and the first part of the bike portion, then pick up the pace for the second half of the bike leg and push hard through the run to the finish. No choice now but to come up with a new strategy in a hurry.
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October 17, 2011
Had a pretty good fininsh to my season in the inaugural Poconos Ironman 70.3 race. As I mentioned, the swim portion was cancelled due to heavy rains, leaving us with the 56-mile bike ride, followed by the 13.1-mile run. The first four or five miles of the bike leg were the most challenging of the course, and it was clear right away a lot of the competitors were not as prepared as they would have liked. Many pulled over early on to catch their breath, while others pulled over pretending they had issues with their bike (near as I could tell).
While my legs were a bit tired after a long competitive season and the course was pretty difficult, I felt pretty good aerobically and was able to maintain a good, steady pace throughout the ride. I finished the bike leg in 2:58:22, several minutes faster than my bike leg in Lake George one month prior. Exiting the transition to the run, I felt pretty energized by the thought of finishing the last leg of the last race of what will likely be my longest season. Barely breathing heavily, I pictured myself finishing in the top third overall up until about the five-mile mark, when fatigue and reality asserted themselves. From my hips to the tips of my toes, I just hurt, and it seemed like the last mile to the halfway point would never come. I held out hope the pain and heaviness in my legs would subside as it sometimes does, but that hope faded after a few more miles. Instead, I resolved/resigned myself to just trying to hold a respectable pace to the finish.
I completed the 13.1 miles in 2:03:33, 7 or 8 minutes slower than my time on the tougher Lake George run course. My final race time was 5:05:13. In most previous races, my run splits were stronger than my bike splits relative to my competitiors. In the Poconos it was the reverse and I faded at the finish; not surprising given my heavy race load this year. The average time was about 5:22:00, so I was well within the top half of the 1300+ participants who completed the race. But, as 2,000 signed up, I'm not sure how many started the race and subsequently dropped out, and how may opted not to race at all for one reason or another. Due to the high attrition, it is difficult to gauge my overall relative performance. Going forward, I plan to end my racing season Labor Day weekend. Racing into October is just a bridge too far.
Now it is on to the off season.
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