Ahhh… the post season
Posted by Admin on October 4, 2008 in Training
Nearly every year since I got into this triathlon hobby, I’ve taken off the last three months of the year as a sort of “earned vacation” from training and racing. Since I’ve typically begun training on January 2nd of each year (can’t do it on the 1st since I’m usually in a post NYE stupor), it’s been necessary after nine months of focusing on fitness, diet, and a good training regimen.
In my first few “off-seasons”, I’ve gained as much as 30 lbs! I know, it’s an incredible feat and it hasn’t been lost on me that I look like Jiminy Glick (see Martin Short’s character). No, unfortunately, I don’t carry the weight well as it tends to go to my belly and my neck and face.
Part of being a triathlete means that there exists some form of vanity, and although we all probably have some element of that in our respective characters, triathletes seem to have a just a bit more than usual. I don’t claim to be particularly vain in general, triathlon hobby or otherwise, although I do admit that it’s relevant and omnipresent because, frankly, I’m single! Some married folks will tell you that just because you’re married, you shouldn’t lose focus on looking good for your mate. I support that but I was married once and admittedly, I got a little chubby after the nuptials. I wasn’t a gym rat per se as I preferred sports. I played hoops every second I could and prided myself on being the token white guy on the uptown courts who could carry a game. But fast forward to the late 20s and I found that most of my peers were married, focused on work, or otherwise disinterested in team sports. Triathlon took hold of me primarily as a method to drop some weight so that my wife wouldn’t laugh at my girth. She never did so overtly, nor frankly was it ever a real concern that it she cared, but my ego couldn’t “stomach” it.
I’ve been lucky that the weight-gains in my previous off-seasons have been quick to eliminate. Typically, I get it off in 4-6 weeks. It wasn’t dangerous for me despite the general advice that folks looking to lose weight shouldn’t drop more than 2-3 pounds per week. With each new season, I had greater muscle memory to function in a way that would allow me to add distance and/or intensity which would both promote fitness and fat-burning. They say though that as people get older, it’s harder to lose the weight, so last season, I decided to not engage in an off-season and instead enter the NYC Marathon. It had always been a goal and would be perfectly juxtaposed into maintaining a decent physical condition year-long. Add to that Ironman Brazil in May and I’d be much better positioned to begin that training without having to start from scratch, or relatively so.
I should note that following the marathon, I took about six weeks off to recover from the pounding and in that time, gained 15 lbs. It’s not like my metabolism suddenly changed; it was all diet. Eating three pieces of pepperoni pizza after 8 beers at three a.m. is a great way to gain weight!
Fast forward to now; I’m officially in the off-season following the Malibu Triathlon and although I’ve not weighed myself recently, I’m probably up about 6-8 pounds. I’ve tentatively laid out my race calendar for next year but the first race won’t be until March. I’ll begin my self-imposed boot camp January 2nd where I’ll be TOTALLY focused on training for 6-8 weeks to re-build my base fitness, then steadily work through a training plan that addresses the various races on the calendar.
In the interim, I’m not sure what to do. I don’t feel like sitting idle but I’m torn between which activity to do. I’m on two football teams, each of which plays once a week. On one team where it’s a two-hand touch contact league, there’s a lot of running and the season runs through December. I play QB on that team and get to run the option, and I return kick-offs and punts which gets me into the running mode. I live for that. I’m also playing a lot of pick-up hoops in and around the neighborhood. In Harlem, you can find a game anytime, anywhere. I’m trying to find tennis partners since I miss the game a lot and used to be decent. As for swimming, cycling, and running, there isn’t a strong interest. I did about 25 miles of cycling on Friday which was fun because it wasn’t according to any agenda or training plan. I got to out-race some bike messengers up 6th Avenue which was a great thrill, albeit a dangerous one in rush-hour traffic, but other than that, it was an unusual experience to just ride for fun.
It’ll be interesting to see how much more cycling and running I’ll do in the coming months without a reason to do so. See, it’s always been a part of a program or training schedule and to do so without a specific goal is strange to me. I’m so competitive when it comes to physical stuff that even a leisurely bike ride on Friday turned into a race when I saw a fairly fast guy in front of me. Something just clicked within me as if to say, Get him! I am however committed to not gaining a lot of weight to avoid making boot camp harder and turning off any potential women. Maybe the latter is a figment of my imagination, but it feels better for the ego for me to blame anyone not interested in me on my girth rather than the potential that they may just not like me for me!!
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