Race Weight
I'm a big muscular guy compared to most normal triathletes... My starting "pre-triathlon" weight 6 yrs ago was 230lbs with a 19.5" neck (and a peak of a 38" waist). 3 days before I raced IMMT in 2014, I hit my all-time low of 178lbs. In Jan of 2015 I ballooned back up to ~207lbs. I did IMWIS on my Fat Bike last yr ~190lbs (give or take). I was as high as 200lbs in January of this year and I think my right "normal lean weight" should be in the ~195 context. Fast forward to this week... My "Skinny Pants" with a 32" waist are baggy now and I'm on the final tightest hole on my smallest belt. For the record, I have been hungry exactly ZERO times in the last 6 months as I don't believe in losing weight through hunger while wearing a heavy training load. I eat A LOT all day every day, but I pick the foods that I eat carefully.
I have been regularly attending my LBS (Gear West) Wednesday night "tri club" rides this summer. The owner of the Gear West running store is a ~50ish yr old woman named Jan who is a local "elite" who wins her AG in every local race (run or tri). I haven't actually see Jan since June and this was the conversation we had last night prior to the group ride:
Jan: Whoa, you look skinny, have you lost a bunch of weight?
Me: Yeah, I'm racing IM Vineman in 10 days
Jan: But you must be at least 10 lbs lighter than you were last yr.
Me: That's about right, but I wasn't racing last yr...
Jan: What are you talking about? I watched you race at IM Wisconsin last year...?
Me: I "participated" in IM Wisconsin last year. This year I'm "Racing"...
Jan (turning to look at her friend Derrick): We better get to work if that's what we need to do before IM Wisconsin this yr... How the hell do you even get that skinny!?!?!?
Comments
Hard to argue with a man that calls his shots then follows up with actions......some call that leadership.......
@Josiah-- See you soon! Make sure to pre-load salt and hydration... It's gonna be a hot one!
PS: listen to Kori, I know I listen to every word she says, full of wisdom...
Very impressive weight loss! Just curious to find out your body fat percentage - do you know what it is? How would you define ideal body race weight? I've been thinking this whole race weight thing over this past year. I have actually raced a little heavier this year and I had a great race. Not 100% sure the two are related!
Many, many years ago I used to run 85 per week and I did that for probably 6 years. Race weight was somewhere between 130-135. For marathoning, I'm convinced you can't be skinny enough. Start working for a living, stopped exercising and the next thing you know I'm closing in on 200 pounds. I took up exercise again about 15 years ago and now manage my weight to around 165 when not racing. My scale says that's 10-11% bf. In past years I spent a few months before every Ironman trying to drop well below 160, often getting close to 155. This year I decided to race at the heavier 165 weight. Bike power was good and I ran well. Maybe 10% bf is good enough for an old man like me.
Anyway, would love some of your thoughts on your end goals for weight.
Went from 188 to 154 this year and never felt that great !
You may know my rule of thumb for determining if you are are the "right" racing weight for an Ironman. You must meet the following two criteria:
Nice work! Reading around some of your other posts I think we share a few similar ideas about nutrition- and it seems to be working for me too.
My scale measures BF%, but I'm sure it's not accurate. Now it reads as low as 8.5% and as high as 10.5% depending on the day and my hydration level, but lets just say it averages around ~9.5%. But I have watched that number slowly come down over the last several months and was 15.6% on Jan 1.
I don't know how to define proper race weight. For me it's one of those "know it when I see it" types of things. I had a guy at work tell me that I "needed to go eat a cheeseburger"... So I guess that means my face is sufficiently chiseled. I know I could not sustain this weight from diet alone, not could I have the discipline to eat this clean if not for a race goal... When I can see veins in my quads I know I'm getting pretty close and when I can see all 8 abs I know I'm there. As per Al's comment above, I can see some "love handle" pudge when I personally look in the mirror. As of 4 weeks ago, I was mentally prepared to race at ~185 or so but have accidentally lost several pounds since then with my final big training push. I'll likely be racing at 181-182 after my final taper week and super-hydration protocol the day before the race. That's still ~3-4 pounds heavier than 2014, but I'm convinced I have added leg/butt/core muscle since then (especially from my R2R2R training last fall). My "goal" race weight is really about a feeling and what I can see than it is a number on the scale, but the number on the scale is much easier to quantify and measure than anything else.
As a distant data point, I wrestled in the 177lbs weight class my Senior yr in college (1998), but my "walking around" weight was 195lbs (and the last ~18 lbs was all water weight cutting the day of weigh-ins). At ~195lbs I had 4% BF% (as measured in a dunk tank). So clearly I have lost A LOT of upper body muscle since then as my legs are way bigger now.
Funny factoid... At 6'-1", My BMI is now 24.4. So really it was only this past week that I finally got out of the "ooverweight" category and got into the "healthy" range. I guess that's more of a statement of how stupid BMI is as a measurement for fit, strong people.
I'm in a good place physically right now and am mentally ready to race!!! I'm pretty sure I'm "slower" than I was 2 yrs ago (as measured by VDot, FTP, W/Kg, and 5hr Power), but I also have an extra 4 IM's worth of experience and of an extra 2 yrs worth of big miles in my legs since then so I'm actually feeling pretty good about this race!
Inspiring as usual!! Best of luck in your race!!
Lean, mean, fighting machine. I prefer you as the 'normal lean weight' guy as there's no way I'm beating a 178lb JW up a mountain. And if Jess likes it better too that's a win-win in my book.
Skinny punks like me have to enjoy the benefit it offers in Triathlon as there is no way I could ever have the muscle mass like you without some serious nutritional and supplemental support, much of which would likely be illegal.
"Athletically lean", Jeremy, athletically lean. We are NOT skinny. My BMI is 21.6, "normal" is 18.5–24.9, which makes me right in the middle - and it would be higher if I were at my pre-age 60 height. I think of myself as Mr. Average, and I'm sure you can imagine the number of times I've been called skinny. I bet you are about the same.
Skinny would be 6'1" and under 140#
And a TdF champion, probably.
I've been called "skinny" by no less than 5 different people in the last week... But I think that actually just means "Skinnier by a lot than I was the last time they saw me because they didn't realize that I used to be fat because I have a big frame and carried it well"...
@Al, there is nothing "Average" about you... I would call you an "Appropriately sized Mr. Exceptional"...
@Jeremy, I think "Skinny" is the wrong word to describe you... I think I would choose "Scrawny"... If you want it to sound better, maybe "Tall and Scrawny"...
Hey John! Nice post. I feel that I am in the same situation you were in when you first started out. I'm 5'7" 235LBS and between Crossfit on and off for the past 10 years and all the bro' science nutrition advice I've gotten at gyms I'm having trouble getting the weight off. I just started with a Ketosis diet recently and I feel great. Was wondering if that may have been the same road you went down?
Athletically Lean....I like it. I'm at 21.2 on the BMI...but frankly I have a fair amount of skepticism on the relevancy of the government's BMI charting. It feels like the science and POV changes based on the administration biases and 'research du jour'. Just like we were told that eggs and dairy were bad, now they are good again. Recommended daily allowances were this, now they are that, etc. Certainly guys like us with 21ish BMIs are much leaner than the 'average' population but we also know that the 'average' population isn't exactly the image of health. We should just be glad we aren't 'big boned' like Withrow.
I'm 5' 11" and tend to stay in the 185-190 lb range. I finished the OS at 178 but couldn't stay there. I raced 70.3 FL earlier in the year at about 182 but think I would be at my best in the high 160s. Hard to get there on comfort food and late night grazing though
@Dave-- I'm 6'-1". My neck is now down to ~17" (from 19.5" in 2010). My Jacket size is now down to 42L (the biggest jacket I ever owned was a 48L, but most were 46L). My 33/32 pants are now very loose on me, and my largest waist pant size was a 38/32 probably 7 yrs ago...
As far as nutrition while your biking/swimming what do you take with you?
Great topic!
Through experience with targeting body composition improvements and weights with associated training and racing experience, you'll likely hone in on a good weight for you. And "good" should be defined within the boundaries of your race goals and what lifestyle choices/changes you're willing to make to achieve them.
You only need to stand at an Ironman finish line from 4:30pm onwards, watch the parade of body comps finishing when and you'll clearly understand that being lean is a significant success factor for successful Ironman racing. The weights of 173, 165, 160, 158, 154, and 152lb definitely mean a great deal to me, as I'm intimately familiar with a range of training and racing experiences at those weights. My best races have come at 152-154lb and I felt I was significantly faster on the bike and run at those weights than I was just a few pounds heavier.
I'm at 162.5lb this morning and have begun to chip it away to 152-154lb for Kona. Pretty much the wrong time of my training to be doing this, and I've felt it in my last couple workouts, but I figure that excellent body comp may compensate a bit at Kona for not so great running fitness.