DOA

Ok… DIA sucks. The airport is confusing as hell, you have to go on a tram to make it to the gates, and there’s no freak’n starbucks. You can, of course, get some Seattle’s Best (which I think might actually be better) but still.

Ok, I’m being picky. But this airport ain’t great.

Of course… I am MR. FSCK’n LUCKY- I got upgraded to first class, and the incredibly helpful person at the desk said she’d keep her eye open for a window seat for me. HOW SWEET IS THAT?

Today I’m on my way back to Menlo to get my SUV. My battery has 7 minutes left, so this is probably gonna be short. I can’t wait to get back and see my old roomates Aimee and Kristine again, not to mention Brontie the St. Bernard and Pilot the Newfoundland. HUGE frickin’ dogs but wonderful.

Yesterday I did a combo workout. It lasted an hour and was pretty intense, so I feel good about that.

I need to lift several times this week. I think I am also going to sign up for CaliforniaMan, in Folsom, then perhaps the Great Floridian Ironman. The Great Floridian is a late season Ironman, and I’m looking for some motivation through the summer. Of course I’d like to make it through CaliforniaMan first.

So my goal for Californiaman is to get down to 12.5% body fat. It’s more than doable.

A Wafer Thin Mint?

This Blog is for no one but me. Sorry. Or at least it won’t make any sense to anyone but me.

Cal consumed yesterday: 2872

Cal burned yesterday: BMR: 2266

Workout: 650

Looks like I won yesterday’s battle.

FYI: A cup of mixed nuts contains about 1.2k of calories. Once I saw that little number I just simply tossed ‘em out.

I had a good test-piece run yesterday- Two laps of Wash Park, 57:26. We’ll see what happens in a month of training.

The Poop on Baby Poop

Ok, so Jim Riccitello is my kinda man. He tells it how he sees it, and he sees it like it is.

Fat Bastard

So last night I got my hydrostatic bodyfat tested and the results were astounding. It cost me $45, and it was the best thing I have ever done WRT figuring out what my weight should truly be. Now I have an unmovable goalpost that has been determined by science, not by me guessing.

I thought I was 35 lbs overweight. I thought my ideal weight was 186. Turns out I was very wrong…

My BF percentage is 19.7%.

My lean body mass is 179.85 lbs.

Right now my body fat percentage is “fair”.

Ok, so here’s the deal: To get to where I want to be I need to get down to about 12.7% body fat. (16% for optimum health, but I’m an endurance athlete, so I’m more interested in being lower in body fat than general overall health)

I would need to loose about 23lbs to get to 200lbs. That would put me exactly where I need to be for optimum performance. I’ve already been there, and can get there again fairly easily. I lost 20 lbs two years ago for Death Ride, so gettin’ there again shouldn’t be a problem.

Each pound of fat contains 3500 calories.

I need to loose ~80,000 calories.

My base metabolic rate is 2266 calories per day (The number of calories that my body needs to simply maintain it’s weight).

So I generally work out twice per day these days- I do a run/bike or combo workout, then hit the gym either for weights or a couple of thousand meters in the pool. Last night I burned about 1600 calories over a spin workout and time in the pool. That’s a total of ~4000 calories for the day. I probably consumed 2000 calories worth of food.

The key is that my training has to be within certain heart rate zones. Basically there are five heart rate training zones. Zones four and five are tempo and max- Hard training for speed. I need to stay out of those. Zone one is basically warming up and recovery. Really light work. Zones two and three are where I need to be.

Last week I had my blood lactate levels tested and they also displayed some startling results. The way they do that is they put you on a treadmill, make you run for 3 minutes, then take a blood sample. You repeat this six to eight times, upping the intensity every time. At the end you’re huffing and puffing.

The results of these tests were that a) I wasn’t consuming enough food, and b) that I am mostly slow-twitch (endurance) muscle. That makes a lot of sense since I’ve been really conserving on the food, and I’ve never taken strength training seriously.

Well, both of those things are changing- I’m starting to eat properly, AND I’ve started strength training.

Last night I did a spin workout then an hour in the gym. I need to get a gym routine down so I can be in and out in an hour and fifteen minutes. I hate hanging out in the gym.

Hi. I’m Mark, and I’m addicted to endorphins.

Basically I’m your run-of-the-mill Jewish tech-geek that found endurance athletics like other people find religion. I train a lot. Right now I train with Bike-Source Tri Club of Highlands Ranch but might start up with the DU program soon.

Tonight I get my body fat tested by hydrostatic immersion. Basically they figure out your lean body mass then dunk you in a tank of water to see how fat you are. I can’t wait.

Basically the deal is that I just moved to Denver, and I’ve gotten out of shape.

It’s time to turn it all around.

These colors are awful. I gotta figure out how to change ‘em.

This is something special…