Heather Fell: Finding the perfect weight isn't easy at the best of times.
Add in the fact that you might be training and racing triathlon throughout the year,
then how on earth do you find that perfect balance for your body? Should you be trying to shed those
excess pounds during the preseason, where you're doing a low intensity but maybe longer miles,
or is it best to do it during the season where it really counts? If you want to know,
stay tuned. [music]
I guess first you need to work out why you're losing weight, and then you need
to think about how much it is that you actually want to lose. If it is more than a few kilos,
then you're going to need a longer period of time, and, say, race season could give you,
that's just not going to cut it, and then you want to think about the sports. Is it for the
run that you're losing weight, or maybe you've got a hilly bike course coming up in an event.
If, say, you're someone that's carrying quite a lot of weight, you might find that
running is bit too much impact on your body to do too much of it, and you might need to then
add in another sport to just help increase the calorie output. Having a clear goal of
why and how much will really help to keep you motivated and focused when it gets tough.
I'm not delving into specific weight loss techniques today. We've covered that
in the past. Natural fact, we've made a video on how to lose weight in swimming, one on cycling,
and one on running, so if you need some tips, go and check those out after this, but in basic
terms, you need to be burning more calories than you're consuming so you have a calorie deficit.
That does sometimes come a little bit tricky though when you've got a set training plan,
which you obviously need to make sure you've got enough energy in order to be able to complete it.
This period of training does tend to be more aerobic lighter intensity
sort of work. You'll find you'll have a lot of sessions in zone one and two,
and these are naturally going to be in more of a fat-burning zone,
but you do need to know this doesn't just mean you're going to suddenly be losing excess fat and
weight is going to be dropping off you, it just means that your body is going to be utilizing
those fat stores that already has as fuel and not needing excess carbohydrate to be taken on.
If you do have a session, you're not going to need to top up the carbohydrate levels so much,
which might then mean you're able to reduce your total calorie intake throughout the day.
As you require less of those simple, fast releasing carbohydrates, it doesn't mean you
can slightly change your diet and have more fiber and foods that are slower to release,
they'll still give you the same energy, but it will stop those spikes and hopefully reduce any
sugar cravings as well. Whilst you're building your fitness base with these longer rides, and
runs increasing in length as well, you'll naturally be burning a lot of calories.
As long as you don't over-refuel at the end of these sessions, it tends to be easier to reach
that target deficit. It's worth noting, though, that you will still need to fuel throughout, say,
a long ride. If you try and go without, you'll either bonk before you get home,
or once you're back, you'll be so hungry, you'll end up eating a lot of that food out of the junk
cupboard. It's about planning and being realistic with your food and your body's requirements.
I know the length of preseason does vary from athlete to athlete, but on the whole,
it tends to be a longer period of time than race season, and it comes with more structure. If you
know that you've got more weight to lose, you're going to need a longer plan to make
sure you cover this to reach your goal. It does tend to go hand in hand with the winter
months for the majority of us and that can quite often be dark and a little bit cold.
It's quite easy to just find yourself feeling a little bit flat, especially when you're trying to
lose weight, but bear in mind that it's much easier to be able to grind out those sort of
low-intensity sessions and tick them off than it is to get yourself up for a high-intensity
speed workout if you are slightly trying to cut that calorific deficit.
Try to just keep a picture on the bigger goal. I'm aware it sounds like I am selling a preseason
weight loss. Yes, it's got a lot of positives, but it also comes with some challenges. Like I
mentioned, if it is the winter months for you, if you're racing in the summer, then
it's easy to feel a little bit flat. If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, then
you're going to have the holiday season falling in the middle of it, which doesn't really do any of
us any favors if you're trying to lose weight. Another thing with preseason, irrelevant of
where you live, the competition season can often seem a really long way away, and it's
hard to hold yourself accountable. If that's you and you've got a big goal of weight loss,
then try to set yourself some mini bite-size goals to keep you focused along the way.
Your goals are now within reach. It's race season, and with that comes a lot of motivation and
excitement, but sometimes, it's also met with a little bit of panic when you realize you're
just not quite where you want to be when it comes to your weight, but you need to be sensible here
because there's a much shorter time frame, and ultimately, you need to stay healthy.
If you're realistic, you can probably lose just a few kilos, obviously,
that does depend slightly on your starting weight. As your training moves to the shorter,
higher intensity sessions, you're likely to find that your appetite can change, and as a result,
you maybe don't even crave such calorific foods, or at least not straight after your training.
Working hard does suppress the appetite for many. Be aware, though, that you still need to fuel
adequately, especially for those tough sessions. It's also going to be summertime, so your mind
naturally isn't going to be giving you those same cravings for feeling stodgy, warming food that we
so often feel during the winter months. It's now more about just fine-tuning your weight,
getting yourself ready to race. That said, there are quite a few things on
your side when it comes to weight loss during the season. In order to complete these high-intensity
sessions, you need to make sure that you've got topped up glycogen stores in your muscles so that
your body can work aerobically and anaerobically. Training hard and nailing these sessions needs
to be your priority. There's no point in having a lot of weight loss if you can't actually optimize
your training. When it comes to the race season, there's quite a few things need to bear in mind.
If you're racing regularly, it's going to be taking a lot out of your body,
and you might even notice that you're naturally just be losing weight from doing lots of races.
With that in mind, be aware of when your A race is and what physical shape you want to be in
when you get there. It might not be possible to be in complete peak shape for every race throughout
your season as you need to be still strong enough to enjoy several races and that whole
period. The most important thing is to make sure that you've nailed all of your training sessions,
and that you get to the start line injury-free and without ailments.
The number on the scales should be actually lower down on your priority when it comes to
actually just being healthy and being ready to race. This brings us back to your goals. Are
you trying to lose weight for your health, or are you trying to find that absolute exact raceway?
Now, as an athlete, I had several friends who were training, who had to actually go
on a calorie deficit during their preseason training, whereas I personally found that I just
dropped off a few of those extra pounds throughout the season just from racing,
and summer naturally just reduced my appetite. You need to remember the focus of staying healthy.
It might be one thing getting brilliant or dropping your weight and improving
your watts per kilo, but if you keep picking up niggles and colds, then
it's going to defeat the object. You're going to have to work out where the best place
is for you and what your goals are. Good luck with that. If you've enjoyed this,
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