Weight loss - power

Hi after my my first long distance Tri at Gundy Hell of the West, I have recently entered the Port Mac Half IM. I have 2 months to really get the training especially the swimming up (Our Pool in Roma re-opened to day after being closed for the season). I want and hope to loose several kilos prior to the event, to reduce the weight carried around the course. But at present I am no slouch on the bike, I push hard and love it (1hr 4min at Noosa, 2:24 at Gundy)( I don't want to brag, I know the majority of others do better, but that is what I did) and I can run a 43 min 10km off a 40k ride.

My question, Can I loose weight in the coming weeks and not loose power. I don't think I will ever be a Macca or anything like a pro ( my hero is Jason Shortis). But I really would want to get down from 83 kg to around 78-77 if possible. Do I need a dieticain, any adivse would be great. I just want to lift my 'game ' a bit.

Power to weight is the key. Just say you lose 10% of your body weight, then you could lose 10% of your FUnctional Threshold power and still be in exactly the same place. To put it into perspective, a drop from FTP of 300 to 270 is ENORMOUS. I did absolutely nothing for a solid 6 months and lost about that much. Lose the weight, you will be miles ahead. Fluro has a good personal tracking of this going on and may be able to share.

G'day Wayne,

I can guarantee you won't lose power by losing weight.

I started on a power to weight ratio plan about 8 weeks ago and I've lost 6kg (86-80kg) and I'm riding faster than I ever have before. More on that later.....

Look at it like this if you weigh 80kg and your FTP is 320 watts that equals 4 watts per kg. So if I can hold 4 watts per kg if I put on 6 kg I need to find an extra 24 watts to be able to maintain 4 watts per kg and that will mean a new FTP of 344 watts. Do you know how much training that would take??

Here is a really good example comparing myself to a guy I coach and train with every day.

Last weekend I did a team TT over a hilly course so as I team we had to stay together. We did 2min turns off the front before peeling off. It was a 78km TT event with 1100m of climbing. It was a 4man per team event

This is Tom's result. He weighs 90kg. We both ride very similar on the flats and have the same FTHR (166bpm) and produce the same results for our 20km TT and interval work during the week. On the flats we are almost identical.
Tom's file
His av hr for this hilly ride was 160bpm with a max hr of 170bpm.
I weigh 10kg lighter and here is my result
Fluros file
My av hr was 142bpm and my max hr was 166bpm.

Have a look at how much harder Tom had to work in order to pull himself aorund this hilly course compared to me. His av hr was 18bpm higher!!!!!!!!

Hill rides like this really show how your power to weight ratio can effect your result.


In summary, get light............it's free speed.


My goal is to lose another 5kg and get down to 75kg. I really do believe that the general population of triathletes can never be too light. Can you think of a single Pro you feel may be too light?

Hope it helps

Fluro
P.S this is great topic that people should pay alot more attention to, if not then you better be prepared to train ALOT more and harder focusing on raising your FTP to account for those extra kg's your willing to carry around.

This is what I did to lose weight. it's unconventional but it has worked really well.

1. Frequency, I'm not riding long (max 3hrs) but I'm riding often, 6 sessions PW. Your body keeps metabolising for hours after a training session, so if you ride often your total weekly hours spent metabolising will be a lot more than longer rides less often.
2. Post training eating. I hold off eating for as long as I can, because I want my body to metabolise what is in my body and not what I'm putting into my body. When I get home after a ride, I usually have just a cup of coffee or tea to keep my energy up and hunger pains away a little longer. I can usually last for about 1-1.5hr then I eat.
3. Cut out the middle man. This is the only dietary change I have made, and I have altered my snacks and made them healthier. breakfast, lunch and Dinner is still the same. Crackers and nuts are working well for me at the moment, washed down with cups of tea, no coffee after lunch, messes with my insulin too much.
4. Burn more energy. I'm definitely riding more, targeting 300-400km PW, it works too, plus it makes you stronger, added bonus.
5. Depletion ride. For one ride PW I aim to POP, by the 2/3 mark of the ride, so I'll consume just water, ride way too hard, too intense, too long etc,....I find it teaches your body to ring out every last resource you have, including valuable energy. The next day is always my hardest day of week to get up and head out for an easy spin but it's important to re-activate the metabolising process. I'm always find on the scales I have dropped the most weight on these mornings.

Number 2 has resulted in the biggest backlash in which opened up some pretty good discussion and I feel this strategy has worked the best. The only time I feel I need to consume carbs straight after a workout would be if I'm really low of glycogen stores or if I have a second workout for the day. Apart from that I tend to hold off consuming carbs straight after a workout because this will keep you metabolising fat at higher than normal rates. If you choose to consume carbs straight after a workout, your body will release insulin straight away and this will surpress your ability to metabolise fat.

Secondly, there really is no need to replace carbs straight after a workout IF your glycogen stores are only 1/2 depleted, which would occur with any workout up to about 2hrs. In other words, a car with a 1/2 tank of petrol will still perform just as well as a car with a full tank of petrol.

So if your looking at losing weight without adjusting what you eat too much then timing when you eat as I have outlined above would be a good starting point. This has also been backed up with science and if you want to read more about the research just send me a PM.

Hope it helps

fluro

G'day guys,

Just cracked 79.6kg (started at 86kg) this morning. It's been 20 years since I was that light.

Still watching my power closely by doing a weekly 2 x 20min FT intervals over the exact same course for 6 weeks now and last Thursday was another 2 PB's.

I honestly can't reinforce enough the power of improving your power to weight ratio, it is literally free speed at the same level of effort (power)and fitness.

fluro