Race Weight

Recently I had a conversation with one of my friends about race weight.   In my opinion he made a very valid point, saying that it didn’t make sense to do all of the training (leading up to the half Ironman) and not make sure that you weren’t at your optimal race weight on the big day.

A few days before my last race I did an open water swim and when I put on my wetsuit I got worried.  It was tight… and I mean really, really tight.  Especially the legs.  I don’t weigh myself very often but when I came home from swimming I got on the scale and was horrified.   Well.. horrified might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I was really worried.  After two workouts that morning I was almost 4 pounds over the weight that I like to be on race day.

Now 4 pounds might not sound like a lot of extra weight but when you’re 5 feet and 1/2 inch tall 5 pounds is an entire size in clothing!  I needed to get serious really quickly about my weight.  My Half IM was just over 2 weeks away and our local triathlon in 3 days.

So I ate really clean for the 3 days leading up to the sprint tri.  Lean protein and spinach salads.   By race morning all was good in the world and I was back to race weight.   Here is my blog post that includes a short race report from last Saturday.

Why would you do months of workouts goaling toward a specific endurance event and not get your weight where you race best?  Seems really logical to me.  Hundreds and thousands of dollars are spent getting lighter and faster bikes but if you neglect to make sure that you don’t go into your “A” race at your optimum weight it’s  kind of a waste of money.  Yes, I know that weight is not directly related to speed – aerodynamics trumps weight.  But think about the run then.  Try this – next time you go out for a run strap 5-10 pound weight around your middle and see how much harder you have to work.

One of my friends’ weight was up before the last race too, she is also doing Austin 70.3.  We talked about it at the race and she cleaned up her diet too.  She’s down 2.5 pounds!   “We may be small but we are mighty!”

p.s.  yes I know you shouldn’t “diet” before a big race – it’s about making smarter choices in what we do eat.  So until race day… no dessert and no liquor!   Post race dinner???  TexMex in Austin, TX!!  ”  Quiero una margarita por favor!”

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