Welterweight

It's the lean wolf that leads the pack - Once a Runner

Yesterday I weighed myself for the first time in months and was shocked to see that I had dropped down to 148lbs. I've always thought that I was between 152-155lbs, and that's pretty low already considering that since college I've always been north of 155, peaking out at 165lbs.

I have somewhat of a mixed reaction about this. The good thing is that the wattage that I've been outputting on the bike hasn't changed, if anything it's gone up. That's great news as I work towards my goal watts/kg.

I'm sure this isn't a bad thing for my running either. Being lighter puts less stress on my joints with each step I take. Unfortunately, there is a component of vanity in all this competitive drivel. Personally, I think that anything under 150lbs for a 5'10-'11 guy is way too skinny. So here I am, faced with a slight conundrum. Should I stuff myself and try to work back up a few pounds, or should I keep going at this pace and hope that my weight stabilises soon? I'm leaning towards the former to be honest.

Now, the question is after two years of training and of maintaining about a super welterweight to middleweight class (155lbs - 160lbs) how did I drop 5 plus pounds so quickly?

Looking at my logs, there is absolutely no question as to what was responsible. I'm spending significantly more time training this year. The jump in volume from year 2 to year 3 (this year) is monumental compared to the jump from the year 1 to year 2. And I owe it all to my lacklustre marathon performance last October. After the mediocre race, I pledged to work on my weakness (endurance) over the winter and that has resulted in a physiological transformation that has allowed my body to absorb a tremendous amount of work. (Obviously 'tremendous' is relative, but I'm comparing this to myself a year ago).

Who says marathons aren't good for triathletes?