Watch Rick Train

Diet & Training Log 11/9/10

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Tuesday was a busy day, with lots going on in the rest of my life.

Lunch/dinner was a burrito at Chipotle (I probably shouldn’t eat there too much, but I feel like it’s a good amount of food and the veggies are good in the burrito.) I splurged and had chips and salsa too, because…

my first swimming class was Tuesday night. I lost track of how many laps I swam, but it sure wasn’t enough to brag about! The best thing about it is that I have already improved dramatically over my two days of swimming — as long as you grade on a curve, I’m doing great.

I had a funny thought as I was catching my breath after one of the exercises. I flashed back to the second or third week of basic training, when I was thinking “I may have made a mistake.” But I didn’t want to quit, and wouldn’t have, but I remember thinking that if I just happened to twist my knee or ankle, then I could probably pop out and just forget the whole thing. Then, a few years later, I had a similar thought a week or three into Ranger School — I’m not sure I’ve ever really told anyone these stories — but I knew that the feeling would pass and then it would just be generically miserable, in the way that Ranger School is.

I had popcorn as a snack late after swimming, during a long call with a California client.

Diet & Training log 11/8/10

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I’m apparently back on the post-Ranger School diet now that I’m down to my post-Ranger School weight (that’s ca. 1993 for those keeping score at home; here’s my graduation photo from Class 9-93 — spot me and tell me in the comments!).

I left the office early for a meeting with my son’s teacher and grabbed a large pretzel as breakfast/lunch. I’m looking forward to a quick sandwich at home.

I called the Ridgewood Y today to inquire about swim lessons. I have a sort of tryout tonight to see if I can fit into the class that has an opening. Kinda funny, isn’t it?

I went  to the Y tonight to see if I “qualify” for the intermediate class. Considering that the intro class is titled “Chicken of the Sea,” I was going to be pretty bummed if I didn’t get past that — heck, I passed my Ranger swim test, and isn’t that all you need (unless you’re training for an Ironman, that is)? Swimming class starts in earnest tomorrow. I feel like I need to run so I can get in shape for swimming!

I guess I swam 8 0r 10 lengths, short ones, in my short workout. Not an impressive beginning, but I’m satisfied with the notion that beginning is impressive. I’ll know more tomorrow night.

The good news was that my technique wasn’t as sucky as I thought. Oh, it sucks all right; it’s just that I actually have some non-trivial amount of technique, meaning I can breathe from the side multiple times while attempting to swim a length. I think I was going too fast at first because I was getting sort of tired pretty quickly. I would much rather be running: it seems so much easier to just crank out the miles. The bad news is that I have a lot of work to do.

But I knew this was going to be work, a real stretch goal. What’s the point of setting goals you’ve already accomplished?

That reminds me of how I tell people that I could go back to Ranger School pretty much any day in any shape and sail right through — because after a week or two or three, everyone is beaten down physically and so that advantage goes away, as does any disadvantage. Then, knowing that I can do it eliminates virtually any doubt; thinking of myself as one who believes that “surrender is not a Ranger word,” eliminates the rest.

Being = Knowing = Doing

Dinner was pretty much a big ham sandwich 750 cal (5/8 loaf of French bread -600 & 5 slices ham -150 & mustard -0 cal.)

For a snack/dessert, I had a Sbux strawberry & blueberry yogurt 300 cal
Grande awake tea latte w/ just 2 pumps and whole milk — ??? (I suppose I should figure this out — it’s my preferred free drink when I get a coupon from Sbux from my gold card membership.)

Weigh-in 11/8/10

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Weigh-in Monday 7am: 183#, 18.5% body fat

I’ll use the same scale throughout and generally aim for the same post-shower time to weigh in. It has a built-in body fat calculator, and so I aim for consistent conditions to reduce the variability. (Although even though I took the notes right after I did it, I can’t remember now whether that was actually before or after my shower — and I’m assuming that residual moisture on my feet will affect the conduction test that feeds into the calculations, but maybe that’s not true.)

Hmm, I wonder what the precision of my scale is? Perhaps I should review the scale that tweets your weight to save time reporting it!

Diet & training log 11/7/10

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Yesterday was a mixed bag:

Big plus — I got into the race, after a half-hour of frenzied button clicking before learning that contrary to my assumption, Pensacola is in the Central time zone.

I ate:

  • Starbucks tea (I get a grande awake tea in a venti cup, add one sugar in the raw and about 1/4-1/2 cup of skim milk depending on how much room there is; occasionally I’ll freely substitute whole milk or half & half if there’s not a lot of room) — about 60 cal
  • Burrito (Chipotle fajita burrito, salsa, a bit of sour cream, and lettuce) — about 820 cal. for dinner (I now pretty much only drink seltzer so zero cal there).
  • Snack – 1/3 cup plain almonds
  • Snack – one bag microwave popcorn (maybe 150 cal? I will have to figure this out)

Kept working until late; I got home about 11pm from spending the day in the city on Sunday.

Training: none to speak of (I don’t count walking around the City or stairs as training). I’m not real pleased with my start.

Watch me train for Ironman Florida 2011

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Hi, I’m Rick Colosimo. Over the next year, you’re going to be able to watch me train for my first triathlon, Ironman Florida 2011. My goal is to post everyday, with at least what I’ve eaten, what I’ve done in the way of training, weight/bodyfat, and probably a picture/video if I can make that work quickly and easily enough to do everyday.

Some quick answers:

  • I’m 42.
  • I’ve run three marathons, the last in 2001.
  • I’ve never swum a lap in the pool and will start lessons very soon to get some kind of decent freestyle stroke.
  • I’ve never biked except for leisure.
  • I’m raising money for REED Academy, a private nonprofit school for children with autism. (Details and fundraising links will come soon.)

Yes, I can do it. No, I won’t quit.

I’ll let you know in the next few days what you can do to help me — and it certainly won’t all be fundraising. Thanks!