Fitness Plan

Up until now I've kind of just been doing everything hard and hoping it'd stick, all while 'trying' to lose weight! But I'm 31 now, so I probably can't really maintain that. Yesterday, I had to call an easy 50 mile ride short to a meager 30 miles, and I even had a hard time keeping up with my girlfriend on her 35lb Surly Wednesday with 27.5x3 tires - I was on my Fuji Jari! Bike is easily 10lbs less with 35mm Gravelking SK tires.

Strava also thinks I'm overtraining according to the heart rate data. I've been 'above weekly range' for a few weeks now. It has no idea that I am also doing some weightlifting. And it has no idea that I am (trying) to be in a calorie deficit.

Here's what my plan was:

  • Monday/Wednesday/Friday:
    • 10mi round trip bike ride to the gym
    • Squat/Bench press/Machine seated rows or Deadlift/Overhead press/Lat pulldowns
  • Tuesday/Thursday
    • 1-2hr hard/training ride
  • Saturday/Sunday
    • 4+ hour ride on at least one of the days
  • Diet:
    • Intermittent fasting: no food until noon
    • Preferably a protein shake at noon for lunch
    • Large-ish dinner, focus on high protein and low carb counts
Ultimately, this failed for a lot of reasons. It's too much of a demand on my body to make progress in all these axes at the same time. Now that November is starting, I think it's a good idea to plot out a plan with a realistic goal. I'll get some relatively quick feedback on how well I adhere to it.

Let's maintain cycling fitness while losing weight. Medium-term, there are some fat bike races in February that I'd like to do, and it'd be fun to try and enter a 100+ mile gravel race next year. There's a wedding in June that I'm going to, and I'd like to have a nice tailored suit in a fit size for me. Long-term, I'd like to make an attempt at the Tour Divide in 2021. 
  • Cycling Fitness:
    • Strava Fitness started the month at 86, with fatigue of 116 and form of -31. 
    • Success on this goal will consist of keeping my cycling fitness between 80 and 90. 
    • One long ride, two short training rides, and three recovery rides per week should do that, but I will adjust mid-month to see how it's going.
  • Weight:
    • An aggressive (but doable) weight loss regime can do about 2lb per week.
    • I just weighed in at 207.2lb, though this is likely artificially high from eating a ton of chicken wings and pizza last night. I've been trending up, but somewhat stable around 200lbs.
    • Success on this goal will have me between 192-194 on December 1st.
    • Implementation:
      • Intermittent Fasting: Probably 16/8 (1pm-9pm) with a fasting day (Monday?).
      • Tracking calories: MyFitnessPal + consistent lunch shake
      • Keto? I do really well on ketogenic dieting, typically, but it's hard to balance that with my girlfriend, who is hypoglycemic and needs a lot of carbs.

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