Half Preview

First, a final word on nutrition.

Thank you all so much for the great comments and feedback on the weight loss post! It was a good article and fun to write. I'll finish out the series over the next few weeks.

I would also encourage you to do as much research as you can about health and nutrition. I know Racing Weight was the only book I mentioned, but I really did a lot of research. Read some Michael Pollan, David Wolfe, even Skinny Bitch and the basic Weight Watchers guidelines play a huge part in my nutrition plan. Watch Food, Inc and Food Matters on Netflix on demand, I'm obsessed with documentaries right now anyway. Watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead recently, it is amazing!

I start out each day by filling a 20 oz bike bottle with water and chugging. I take in at least another 64 oz of water each day. Drink with every meal? water. I gave up soda's in college - best decision ever - and when you eat out you don't have to pay for a drink. saves hundreds $$ every year. From Food Matters I got the concept of superfoods, and started putting chia seeds in my oatmeal every morning. The first thing you put in your body after waking up should be water. It will break the fast you were in during sleep. Not coffee, not vitamins, but water and lots of it. That makes the rest of your morning consumption easier to digest. Food has to become a liquid form before it can be digested, so the earlier it gets into liquid form the easier it is to digest. This is why people lose weight by eating soup for lunch every day. It's much easier for the body to convert a smoothie into a liquid than a steak. That's also why juicing is such an easy way to get nutrients.

I like a 60% carb, 20% protein, 20% fat macronutrient ratio. Veggies all count as carbs, some (beans, tofu) also have plenty of protein. Avacados, olives, plenty of non-meats with good fats also have lots of protein. So that's how I made the ratio work. It really wasn't a conscious thing though. Training Peaks gives you a pie chart with a macronutrient breakdown. Racing Weight suggested 60/20/20, and that's what Training Peaks told me I was getting. The biggest concern about being a vegetarian (usually expressed by overweight meat-hogs) is that you won't get enough protein. There's plenty of protein out there for everyone.

OBX Half Ironman

Tomorrow is the OBX Half, the only half ironman I'm doing this year. It comes with 56 days left before Ironman Florida, so it's really a guage of my iron prep. My training plan actually calls for 6 hours of swim/bike/run tomorrow, so with any luck a 70.3 race will actually be a disappointment and not take as long as the plan has prescribed.

You might remember back in 2009 when I ran the Beach 2 Battleship half and was incredibly (and rightfully) concerned about it. I had specific goals that were not all met. The ones that I did not get then were passed into my second half iron last year (Patriot's half, which is also this weekend), and were still not met thanks to a challenging swim. So those goals have to roll over first:

1. Break 3 hours on the bike split
2. Break 6 hours overall time

I think if I can break 3 on the bike, then 6 won't be a problem. Those 6+ hour times also were fueled by 2:4x:xx half marathon times, and I hope to break that this year for sure.

And as I just mentioned in the weight loss post, not being able to break 3 hours in the Patriot's Half bike split last year was the main catalyst for starting the Racing Weight program. I knew I wouldn't be able to push 200 lbs to a sub-3 bike split. Now that I have lost the weight, it's time to prove my theorem.

Swim 1.2 miles: Goal 40 minutes

Swimming has been going really well this year, the RAM team kicks ass. It's a salt water swim, perfect prep for IMFL. No idea if there will be a current to deal with, but 40 minutes is a 2:04 pace which is what I've been averaging in the open water lately.

Transitions: 5 minutes total

perfectly reasonable. Should be 90 seconds each.

Bike 56 miles: 2:30

That's a 22.4 mph pace, which is slower than what I was averaging in the Lake Logan oly a few weeks ago before hitting the big climb at the end. It's a flat, fast bike course with only a few turns and lots of chances to pass people so I am optimistic.

Backup bike goal: 2:45 which is 20.3 mph, or what I averaged after the big climbs at the end of Lake Logan.

Most important bike goal: Break 3 hours - it hasn't happened in a half iron yet. Please let this be the year. This is why I lost all that weight.

Run 13.1 miles: 1:45

This takes roughly an 8:00 pace steady on the run. Who knows how long I'll be able to hold it after the swim/bike portions, but it's my target. Don't go any faster than that, don't walk unless it's really needed. In practice, I've been able to hold that pace for longer than that distance after shorter bike rides, but that is practice. So I have confidence in the goal.

Backup run goal: Just PR. Anything faster than 2:42:xx is a win.

Overall time: 40 + 5 + 2:30 + 1:45 = 5 hours

I'm quite sure that will end up being 5 hours and change, not 5 hours exactly. 5:07 is still a win.

Backup overall time goals: 40 + 5 + 3:00 + 2:00 = 5:45 or anything under 6 hours will be great.

Online is only showing 130 registrations for the half, and I'm sure some of those people will bail thanks to hurricane Irene blowing out most of the outer banks a few weekends ago. So a small field and a 5 hour time goal, I like my chances here. Could be a decent ranking in the age group or overall standings. Check back on monday for the race report, or on facebook to see how I did!