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 footfall. 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). Turns out that since I learned to swim 40 years ago there has been a technique revolution. My stroke is churning and inefficient, the new technique (Total Immersion) is all about efficiency. I've made good progress toward my goal in the last 11 months but I still have my work cut out for me. In the next year I need to work hard on my swimming efficiency and increase my speed by about 25%. I need to continue to baby my knees and slowly work up to the olympic running distance without losing a knee. Anyway, that's my specific and measurable fitness goal - what's yours?????


Here is my current (June 2009) training schedule:

Summary - Scooby Offline Name: Scooby Posts: 691 (4.346 per day) Position: Administrator Gender: Male Age: 48 Location: Date Registered: June 14, 2009, 04:13:41 PM Last Active: November 19, 2009, 08:43:02 AM Contact Me :) hidden Scoobys Home Workouts Signature: My Fitness Goal: Complete an Olympic length triathlon before 'm 50 Karma: 192 Language: Local Time: November 20, 2009, 06:58:24 PM Report to admin Show the last posts of this person. Show general statistics for this member. My Buddies Evilcyber Online michaelzwarszawy Offline Mitsuomi Offline dodothebird Offline 877EKM Offline canadianguy Offline

My Pictures About Me I got a late start in fitness, I was one of those awkward, lanky, clumsy kids who always got picked last when choosing teams in PE class - not athletic in the slightest. I really didnt do anything fitness wise till I was 21 and started lifting weights. I'm 48 years old now and have been lifting weights an hour a day, five-six days a week, 52 weeks a year, for the last 27 years. I take at most one week off from weights a year, but usually only skip a day or two. After starting to lift weights, my confidence was boosted and I started to enjoy other sports as well - skating, hiking, volleyball, cycling, windsurfing, and recently running and swimmng. I reached my genetic potential at about age 40 and have been stable at 235lbs with 8% body fat since then, no strength or mass gains or losses. I started this website back in 2005 because I got fed up with how fitness and bodybuilding had become nothing more than another big business run by money hungry corporations. I was looking for some fitness info on the web and I was disgusted that the only thing that came up were slimy ones all trying to push expensive products. The only good unbiased website I found was a Christian based one but it hadnt been updated in several years and wasnt very complete. Bodybuilding has done a lot for me and I wanted to give back to the community and help those without money to build killer bodies. In this era of high-tech fancy machines and expensive neon lined gyms, people have forgotten that bodybuilding started out with very simple equipment - namely just cheap dumbbells and barbells. I wanted to show the people with no money how to build the same ripped, muscular physiques as the ones who can afford supplements and expensive gym memberships.