Aussie cattle dog? So Bluey? Border Collie?
How are you liking the DC + hard cardio this far in?
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I think it’s super efficient and I’m enjoying it, but I’ve been in a deficit this whole time and my focus shifted almost entirely to this triathlon I have on Saturday, so I honestly haven’t given it enough of a try to comment on the effectiveness on hypertrophy thus far. I’m down to 202 pounds as of this morning from 225 2 months ago, lol. I only just see my abs, meaning just as I suspected, I have less muscle than I anticipated and less than @Frank_C haha. Honestly I can see myself getting down to 195. At 6’3, that’s pretty skinny!
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Well, I’m at least 6’4" so I have my extra 10-15 lbs spread over an extra inch of height and who knows much space through the arms. If memory serves me correctly, I had close to a 6’7" wingspan when we checked for high school basketball.
The only picture I have of him is from a couple years ago when they first put him up for rehoming on the local shelters website, and he’s fully grown now and looks more cattle dog-y, but his coat could be from any dog and he has a bunch of different characteristics. He’s about 40 lbs.
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Great work!
That’s actually pretty cool, because you hear of it as a total mass gain program, so it’s awesome to be able to manipulate your diet to get what you want and still enjoy the training.
Good luck on the triathlon!
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Yup, with 3x a week lifting and 3-4x a week with cardio/conditioning, any lifting program that isn’t totally retarded will work with a deficit. IMO, of course.
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Yep, face looks a bit like a Red Heeler, very popular here. He should be a great companion no matter what breed, good on you for taking him on mate.
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I’m very excited. I’ve wanted a dog literally my entire life. Got big outdoor plans for my buddy.
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This week has just been lots of calisthenics and final form tweaks. Got a hotel in Hampton, VA for the night, going to have a pre-race meeting this evening. Then I’ll go back and scoop up my family (including my mom, who drove down from NY to support me) and hit an Italian restaurant so I can pound buttloads of carbs. I don’t plan on eating anything the morning of the race, just drinking half water half Gatorade. My swim wave goes out at 7:16. It’s the hottest day of the year tomorrow, of course - 101 degrees. Fortunately the race is right on the water.
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Good luck for tommorow buddy, enjoy!
Cheers, none of the distances are bad but I’m a bit nervous nonetheless.
That’s awesome! Good luck tomorrow! 
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Good luck man!
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@Frank_C emphasis on the !
@mr.v3lv3t thanks man!
Just picked up my “packet”, which is a bag containing a shirt, socks, a swim cap, a label for my helmet/bike/shirt, and a staff member talked me through the layout of the course. Half of the swim will be with the current, which is nice. The bike is a 2.5ish mile there-and-back that you do twice for 10.5 miles, and then the run is just an out and back along the boardwalk. Scoped out the whole course, everything is a go. Now to eat some hearty food and drink a beer, then hit the bed early.
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Kids kept me up in the hotel room until 1130, then I woke back up at 130, 230, and 330 before falling asleep and having a dream that I woke up at 730 and missed the race. But, I got up at 415, made it to the race site by 5, had everything set by 530 and spent the next hour trying to relax myself enough to drop a huge dump, because I went on a rampage at Outback Steakhouse last night. Never got the shit out, ended up starting the race bloated as hell.
Swim was tough at first, but only because with all the adrenaline I totally forgot my form for the first 30 seconds. Then I got into a rhythm, stopped lifting my head and dug in. 8 minutes 8 seconds for the swim (400m/quarter mile open water), killed it. Also, jellyfish killed me. I got stung like 20 times.
Ran out of the water. Got new socks last night that just slip on your toes and heels like a slipper, they were easy to pull on and my shoes went on easy too. Grabbed a handful of Vaseline and lubed my crotch up, wiped my hands, put on glasses and my helmet and started the bike.
Riding on a hybrid sucks vs road bikes. I passed quite a few people who were on road bikes but the people who actually biked would just fly past me. My tires are too thick and grippy, and my frame is too heavy, plus clips would help. Finished the ride in like 40 minutes, about a 15mph pace, I wanted 16-17, oh well.
Got off the bike and never stopped moving. As @mortdk said, transitions were big. People who passed me on the bike were walking their bikes to the racks. I ran past all of them.
The run was tough, 100+ degrees in the sun, but I powered past a whole lot of people who kept stopping to walk. Sprinted into the finish with my son running alongside me. Finished 7th in the run, 12th in the swim and 26th (ouch) on the bike in my category of 53 people. 14/53 in my category, and like 120th/350 total.
I’m very happy, because I planned my effort as such: if I finished and felt I could have expended more energy, I went too slow. If I burned out and had to stop or walk ever, I went too fast. But if I crossed the finish line and felt as if I gave all my energy that I had, I did it right. At my sprint at the end, I knew I couldn’t do any more. I was spent. Super happy. Doing this again.
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Absolutely incredible: you set a goal, prepared, and nailed it. Well done!
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Great job man. Are you already coming up with ideas on how to train for the next one?
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@trainforpain thanks man! It’s awesome when hard work pays off.
@flatsfarmer thanks man. Yup. This one was 400m/10miles/2miles, I found one in September that’s 800m/18miles/3miles. Good place to go to next. Need to run a bit more - I kept an 8 minute pace for my run, which wasn’t bad considering it’s the last event, but I can smash that normally. And I need a better bike. It’s unavoidable. I was pedaling twice as hard and being passed by people on sweet carbon bikes who were barely working. My bike won’t even fetch 100 bucks for a trade in anymore. In the meantime I’m doing a 40 mile ride on my POS in a couple weeks with friends. As for swimming, I just have to keep swimming and improving. As I said, my swim was TERRIBLE to start but all my training kicked in quickly. I’m excited for the next one! And thanks for checking in.
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