I was riding a good bit last year, then got married, lazy, and completely derailed. I've reached the point where I feel like a fat slob, don't have energy, and finally pissed off about it enough to do something about it. I'm 5'9'', I'm up to 215 :embarrassed:, and that's after a month of working out about 4 days/week at a local cycling studio.
I was going to race cyclocross this last fall, but I didn't because I stopped training for it, and that's not going to happen this year. I want to race cross next fall. I have nine months. I want to race 3-4 crits this summer so at least the cross races won't be my first race at any point in time, and there's a MTB series I want to do to get better at handling a bike off road. However, any of this pretty much requires me to ditch the obesity first, and training when you're fat and out of shape REALLY sucks. I love pushing myself to where it hurts when I'm in shape and I'm controlling having pain. When you're fat, there is no choice but pain.
Anyway, I'm currently on vacation in Bangkok, been here about two weeks and leaving in a couple days, and it's really nice to recharge, think about your life, and just get out of the rut. I have a plan for when I get back, and I'm going to share here because I want to share somewhere, and can't think of a better place.
So, even though it's not tri or running specific, here is my plan. Note that I am very bad at doing things partway. If I try to take it slow, I will fail. So, I'm jumping in with both feet.
1. I'm going veg. I've been doing some reading on it, I've experimented with it before, and I like it. Will go mostly vegan, but frankly, if I have to avoid all animal products, this just isn't going to work. I don't want to have to worry about recoverite having whey protein in it and similar things. I've read up on diet/nutrition from a general as well as an athletic point of view, and this is the way I want to go.
2. p90x. I know it's cliche, but it will really help both lose weight and gain core strength, both of which I desperately need for racing cross.
3. Cycling. I joined the aforementioned cycling studio a little bit ago, and the guy who runs it is a USAC coach. He's taken a liking to me - I show up regularly, work hard, and I'm great marketing for him. I'm a fat guy who works at a bike shop. He figures people will notice if I drop 55 pounds. I don't work until 10am, right now I'm riding every morning (5 days/week) from 8:30-9:30. Before too long I want to extend that to 90 minutes. As the weather gets better, I'll spend a lot more time riding outside. There's a MTB series that starts up at the end of Feb I'm going to race in regardless of where I'm at.
This is me at 215 earlier this week. I will re-evaluate in 90 days.
Argh