Scott Gibson's Ironman Journey

Having a blast at Disney but as expected, no workouts and not eating all that great.  The only upside is the huge amount of walking that I am doing!  Actually…that’s a downside as I now have huge blisters on my feet.  I won’t go into the details as to how I went about generating blisters on my feet, but this is going to put a dent into next week’s workouts too.

I’ll probably only have 1 or 2 good workout weeks in December, but again, not stressing too much about things during he holidays.

Looks like I have a pretty awesome wager for the Ironman Augusta event now.  My buddy John and I are betting dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse for the best overall time.  Like I wasn’t totally motivated already?  Bring it on!

Another moderately good week.  Only 3 workouts but I ate pretty good this week.  Going to Disney with family and friends for Thanksgiving next week so I expect that it’s not going to be a great week for training and eating well.  Not too worried about it though…not going to stress over having a bad week during the holidays.

The goal was go get at least 4 workouts in per week and with a business trip in the mix, I was only able to get in three workouts. Still pretty happy about what I was able to accomplished and looking forward to a great week coming up. Definitely going to try to get in a few runs outside before it gets too cold.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

As a treat (right), I am going to schedule out my workout strategy for the coming months.  In a previous post, I mentioned that I wanted to move to longer workouts with more rest in between.  Many pros think that is the best way to prepare the body for the longer duration workouts of a triathlon.

I will plan out the next 3 weeks, then adjust from there…hopefully increasing duration.  The only other workouts that I will include are possibly some short upper body workouts and pool time to work on my breathing and technique.

Week 11: 4 workouts: 6 mile run, 24 mile cycle, 1/2 mile swim, 1 cycle/run brick of 18 miles/5 miles.

Week 12: 4 workouts: 8 mile run, 30 mile cycle, 3/4 mile swim, 1 cycle/run brick of 24 miles/6 miles

Week 13: 4 workouts: 10 mile run, 40 mile cycle, 1 mile swim, 1 cycle/run brick of 36 miles/7 miles

Lost 2.4lbs this week and achieved another milestone…total weight-loss is over 20lbs now!

Got in a 70 min run today but still feeling guilty that I didn’t log more hours this week.  Oh well, nothing I can do except to not let myself slack off this week.  Looking forward to meeting JD on Tuesday and get some training tips and guidance.  Need to be sure to ask him about in race strategies (eating, hydration, etc.) because that as much as anything will help me succeed.

Current Weight: 196.8 lbs
Average Weight Loss: 2.6 lbs per week
Total Weight Loss: 20.2 lbs

Well, my first triathlon is in the books and I am definitely pleased with my overall progress.  Not too much to talk about in the weekly summary since my post yesterday pretty much covered the important topic of the week.

Took another day off to recover from the tri and spent the day on the lake with friends and family.  My buddy John Krause seems to have some interest in possibly doing a tri so I may just have training partner in the near future.

This week’s weight loss ended up only being 1lb do to a little celebrating over the last couple of days, but I am still just below the 200lb mark.  I hope I never see 200lbs again.

Thanks to everyone: Dawn, Hannah, Emma, family, friends and facebook & twitter followers for being so supportive.  It truly does make a difference knowing that you have people pulling for you.

Current Weight: 199.2 lbs
Average Weight Loss: 2.6 lbs per week
Total Weight Loss: 17.8 lbs

Today I had plans of getting in some swim time at the lake and then coming home to do my first real road ride on the bike….and I did just that…pretty much.

Heading out to the lake, I hit the water with a course of about 100 meters each way.  I quickly learned that I obviously need to spend more time in the water.  Ended up going out and back 5 times for about 1000 meters.  I was pretty happy about my swim overall, but again, much more work is ahead of me.

After getting back home, my arms were pretty tired, but I was excited about getting my bike out onto the road for the first time.  I jetted out of my neighborhood and turned down the road I had picked out for my ride.

I jammed up the first hill in anticipation of zipping down the other side.  As I was zooming along, transitioning into a flatter section, the rear of the bike started to get a little loose.  Crap!  Flat rear tire.

The summary of my ride? 20 mph out, 2.5 mph back.  I pulled off my shoes and socks and started the 1.3 mile walk back home…the walk of shame as it were.

What made it worse was (1) the warning I got from a co-worker about how she blew a tire 10+ miles out and that I should
always have a spare, and (2) how my wife asked me if I had my cell phone on the way out.  I guess I really learned my lesson.

Even if somebody had offered to pick me up I would have declined.  I felt it was my punishment to walk back.  At least I got in a great swim…and then a nice walk.

On the other hand, I am just shy of getting below 200 at now weighing in at 200.2 lbs.  Chugging right along at nearly 3 lbs per week.

Current Weight: 200.2 lbs
Average Weight Loss: 2.9 lbs per week
Total Weight Loss: 16.8 lbs

Non-training day for Memorial Day weekend.

While this blog is primarily to talk about my journey getting ready for  Ironman Florida in November, I do have to start this off by giving my wife a bit of recognition.

Over the past 5 years or so, she has definitely been more health conscious than I have, and has always worked out in some fashion or another.  After I started my journey, she also decided to kick it into high gear and started getting more serious about getting back into shape.

Without question, she is currently in way better shape than I am, and proved it today by doing an awesome 9 mile run in about 1.5 hours.  Does she rock or what?

I am definitely seeing some gains of my own, but not quite ready to run 9 miles non-stop.  I did another 20 min bike ride around then neighborhood (hills suck by the way), then 40 mins on the treadmill, and finished up with an hour on the exercise bike.  A very nice 2 hours of working out and I actually feel great.  Forcing myself to keep the resistance high on the bike and trying to get that deep burn for as long as I can take it.

As I projected from my mid-week weigh-ins, I did have a weight gain this week and I am truly baffled as to how that happened.  Dawn and I watch the Biggest Loser and I was always curious how those people could possibly gain weight when they are doing nothing but eating right and working out…now I know.  I really watched what I ate and worked out consistently.

Weight loss was a big focus to start, but I have decided to not put any thought into it any more.  While I will still keeping weighing myself and carefully watching what I eat, I have to put my training first…the weight will naturally follow, even if it doesn’t come off as fast as I would like.

Now that I am 4 weeks in, I will be incorporating bricks into my training.  Shifting between the treadmill and the exercise bike is a simple version, but I need to get some swim time in as well.

The 4 week break-in period is over…time to get serious!

Current Weight: 205.3 lbs
Weekly Weight Gain: 2.0 lbs
Total Weight Loss: 11.7 lbs

Exceeded weight-loss expectations with a 3.4 lb drop this week!  With any luck, I’ll be out of the 200′s next week.

Tonight’s workout consisted of P90X…man does that program kick your butt!  Also played around with the Wii Fit a bit.  Actually has some features that are pretty good…some, not so much.

Made a chocolaty recovery drink with a creatine booster….not exactly a frosty beer, but it’ll do.

Really excited about picking up the bike on Tuesday!

Current Weight: 203.3 lbs
Weekly Weight Loss: 3.4 lbs
Total Weight Loss: 13.7 lbs