Dilemma guys,
I’ve worked very hard to get up from 127lb to 150lb but am now seriously considering doing a sprint triathlon (750k swim, 20k bike, 5k run)
Is it realistic for me to expect to retain this weight whilst I train for approx. 14-16 weeks for the triathlon?
Should I eat enough, can I retain most of the muscle mass? Or is that far, far too simplistic?
If this is a question for beginners, please send it there so that I don’t get blasted over here.
Many thanks for any help!
If you diet you will lose muscle.
If you lift during your training you “should” be able to maintain most if not all of the muscle mass.
It really depends on how well you want to do in this sprint triathlon.
I used to be a pretty decent distance runner, 2:32 marathon/15:43 5k. Started lifting, gained 30lbs and barely run much at all these days. I’m planning on running a 5k here in a couple weeks and don’t plan on running much faster than 17-18 minutes.
So, it depends on what your priorities are…I would do this:
Monday: lift upper body, cycle (easy hour)
Tuesday: lift lower body, run (sprints or intervals, total 2-3 miles)
Wednesday: swim
Thursday: Lift upper body, cycle (easy hour)
Friday: lift lower body, run (sprints or intervals, total 2-3 miles)
Saturday: Off
Sunday: combined cycle/run (this is the day that will kill your muscle mass…1-2 hours total time)
EAT!!!
Alan
[quote]BantamRunner wrote:
If you diet you will lose muscle.
If you lift during your training you “should” be able to maintain most if not all of the muscle mass.
It really depends on how well you want to do in this sprint triathlon.
I used to be a pretty decent distance runner, 2:32 marathon/15:43 5k. Started lifting, gained 30lbs and barely run much at all these days. I’m planning on running a 5k here in a couple weeks and don’t plan on running much faster than 17-18 minutes.
So, it depends on what your priorities are…I would do this:
Monday: lift upper body, cycle (easy hour)
Tuesday: lift lower body, run (sprints or intervals, total 2-3 miles)
Wednesday: swim
Thursday: Lift upper body, cycle (easy hour)
Friday: lift lower body, run (sprints or intervals, total 2-3 miles)
Saturday: Off
Sunday: combined cycle/run (this is the day that will kill your muscle mass…1-2 hours total time)
EAT!!!
Alan[/quote]
Alan, thanks for your reply. I’ll take that plan into account when working out my decision.
In the plan that you suggested, when you propose lifting, I imagine that the weights are lighter than usual and volume smaller?
Or does it not matter how I train them if the goal is to maintain?
PS. I don’t want to fly through the course. I’d be happy to finish above average. The reason is that I’ve not been able to run AT ALL for over a year because of knee injuries.
Cheers for the response though!
[quote]Magicpunch wrote:
Dilemma guys,
I’ve worked very hard to get up from 127lb to 150lb but am now seriously considering doing a sprint triathlon (750k swim, 20k bike, 5k run)
Is it realistic for me to expect to retain this weight whilst I train for approx. 14-16 weeks for the triathlon?
Should I eat enough, can I retain most of the muscle mass? Or is that far, far too simplistic?
If this is a question for beginners, please send it there so that I don’t get blasted over here.
Many thanks for any help!
[/quote]
How tall are you?
[quote]vikingrob wrote:
[quote]Magicpunch wrote:
Dilemma guys,
I’ve worked very hard to get up from 127lb to 150lb but am now seriously considering doing a sprint triathlon (750k swim, 20k bike, 5k run)
Is it realistic for me to expect to retain this weight whilst I train for approx. 14-16 weeks for the triathlon?
Should I eat enough, can I retain most of the muscle mass? Or is that far, far too simplistic?
If this is a question for beginners, please send it there so that I don’t get blasted over here.
Many thanks for any help!
[/quote]
How tall are you?
[/quote]
Just under 5’10 (176cm) so pretty skinny
You can’t run because of knee pain and you want to run 20k in one day? Also at 5’10" and 150 you will have to problems retaining your muscle mass just eat more.
[quote]LazyElemental wrote:
You can’t run because of knee pain and you want to run 20k in one day? Also at 5’10" and 150 you will have to problems retaining your muscle mass just eat more.[/quote]
I don’t want to run 20k, I want to cycle it - the running is only 5k, but I understand what you’re saying. Things are improving and come July-August, I’m hoping that I’ll have had a good 8-10 weeks of soreless knees.
Thanks for the input - I’ll eat a ton more and keep monitoring it. Who knows, my priorities might change.
Cheers mate.