My Goals And Training

I harp on everyone else to have fitness goals, so here are mine:

Early in 2008 I realized that I would be turning 50 in three years and I needed a new fitness goal. It was unrealistic for me to have a goal of adding muscle mass because I had reached my genetic potential almost a decade ago and there was no way I could add more muscle mass. I decided that I wanted to do something different and hopefully something that I could continue into my 60's and 70's so competing in a triathlon seemed perfect. My goal is this: To complete an olympic length triathlon before my 50th birthday and finish at the 50th percentile of my age group. Completing it without getting injured will be challenge enough for me but getting a competitive time when I outweigh most competitors by 100lbs will be the real challenge. The hardest part of the triathlon for heavy men like me (240lbs) is the running because that muscle mass that took me decades to add is now compressing my old knees on every foot-fall. I started running mid 2008 and started with just two miles three times a week, I needed to start really slowly to make sure that my body had ample time to adapt to the new stresses being put on it. Boy, that first month was really humbling because I considered myself in good shape from all the running I do playing beach volleyball but I was pathetic! Huffing, puffing and whining after a single lap. I persevered and added 1/4mile a week and after 8 months I was able to run 7 miles in an hour. I swam on a swim team back when I was 11 so I'm comfortable in the water but its been over three decades so it was like starting over. After my running was under control in Dec 2008, I started up the swimming again. Funny, again it was pathetic. Although I have really muscular lats and can do pulldowns with 300lbs, 20 minutes of doing freestyle and my lats felt like they were going to explode - talk about high rep/low weight pump! After a few months, I was back to my old incompetence level :) By March 2009 I was ready for my first triathlon, a sprint triathlon (half as long as an olympic triathlon). I actually did much better than expected, my cycling was strong, my running not bad(8.5min/mile) but my swimming was pathetic (20min). In August of 2009 I did my second sprint triathlon and tried to better my times, I did significantly. During the fall of 2009 and winter of 2010, my goal was to prepare for the olympic triathlon which is twice the distance, again I knew that the running would be the major obstacle for me. In May of 2010, I got to test my newfound endurance and compete in my first olympic length triathlon. Despite the major setback of having back problems so bad two weeks before the race that I couldn't walk, I did really, really well! My overall time was 3 hours and 10 minutes. My 1500m swim was 35min 45s, my 40km bike was 1hr 19min and my 10k 'run' took a whopping 1hr 3min. In August I did another olympic triathlon and bettered my time despite the fact that I didn't use a wetsuit and used a folding bike with 20" wheels.

I actually achieved the goal I set out to do three years ago, I finished at the 50% percentile for my age group in the olympic length triathlon!

Of course, where do I go now? Well, now that I'm here I know I can do much better. My swimming has improved a lot by using the "Total Immersion" techniques but I know I can shave 5-10 minutes off my swim time and 5-10 minutes off my transitions, there is no reason I cant get under 2hrs 50min and get in the top 25% of my age group. I'm not 50 quite yet, I still have time to accomplish this before my odometer turns over :)

Anyway, that's my specific and measurable fitness goals - what are yours?????

My immediate goal is to take care of my shoulder, I just had a cortisone shot which means I cant do anything other than physical therapy for upper body. If the physical therapy and cortisone don't take care of it then I will need surgery in September which will prevent me from doing chest and lats for three months - yikes!


My Workout Schedule:

Below is my training schedule for August 2010, this is a great example of what to do with an injury. I could sit back and just say that with my lame shoulder I "Can't" workout, nope! Do what you can! First lets look at what I was doing before I lost use of my shoulder:

  Weights Cardio
Monday 60min chest workout & abs indoor cycle 1hr
Tuesday 60min lat workout swim 1hr
Wednesday 60min shoulder workout run
Thursday 60min arm workout & abs swim 1hr
Friday 60min leg workout heavy indoor cycle 1hr
Saturday - swim 1hr
Sunday -  

Now lets cross out the things that the doctor has forbidden me to do:

  Weights Cardio
Monday 60min chest workout & abs indoor cycle 1hr
Tuesday 60min lat workout swim 1hr
Wednesday 60min shoulder workout run
Thursday 60min arm workout & abs swim 1hr
Friday 60min leg workout heavy indoor cycle 1hr
Saturday - swim 1hr
Sunday -  

So where does that leave me? Well for cardio, I can still run and bike - that's fine, I can just alternate days with that. Now with workouts, technically speaking I cant do arms but I know that I can do biceps without activating my shoulders at all so that's fine. I think I can find a triceps exercise that doesn't use any shoulder. Chest is completely out of the question. Lats technically I shouldn't do but, I think I can do those without activating any shoulder also. So where does that leave me? Lets take a look at my modified workout to avoid exacerbating my shoulder problem

My Non-Shoulder Workout Schedule:

  Weights Therapy Cardio
Day 1 60mi quads and abs Shoulder PT cycle
Day 2 60min lats? and calves Shoulder PT run
Day 3 60min hamstrings and abs Shoulder PT cycle
Day 4 60min biceps Shoulder PT run
Day 5 60min triceps and abs Shoulder PT cycle

Looks like Scooby is going to be doing lots of legs and abs!!!!! Use injuries to focus on other body parts that you may have neglected in the past. Your injury might be the best thing that has ever happened to your physique :) Before I did legs on one day, now I have spread them out onto three different days, I'm not going to be able to walk!