Initial training tips (I would be happy to coach u some each week as you go):
1. Enjoy it! Cardio/Endurance training generally doesn't hurt or burn. That is a super counter-cultural thing for Americans (especially lifters, footballers, soccer players, baseballers, basketballers, etc). American sports tend towards pinpoint intense efforts (anaerobic). Cardio/Endurance is generally about putting in the time to train at a non-painful (aerobic) effort. Only once or twice a week should you do a workout that makes you feel the burn in your lungs/body (anaerobic). Otherwise your physiology will literally begin to rebel and even though you could mentally force yourself through it, your body will eventually prevail by either getting injured or sick thus forcing you to back off. I could go on about this for a long time but this is a good paragraph to start with for this subject :)
2. More (time) is better. More time on the bike, more time running, more time swimming. This is why #1 is so important. If your doing this stuff intensely then you won't be trying to do more time, you will be trying to do the same amount of time at faster paces. And usually people begin to press into the anaerobic when doing this. The funny (weird) thing is that as you do more and more time you will also start to get faster and faster without even trying. It is one of the miracles of the body. There are many factors of why this is true; you will lose more weight (making you more efficient), your body chemistry will hone into this endurance machine (making you more efficient), your muscular fitness will improve (making you more efficient). In the end we excel in endurance races because humans are fantastically efficient at aerobic exercises. In fact, besides our superior brain power, our abilities over long distances (aerobic fitness) exceeds that of most other animals. I'm such a geek.
3. WARNING!!! this is big so I save it for last. INJURY!!! Soooo many people start out following the above 2 points, they improve! They get excited because they discover how amazing our aerobic abilities are! They begin to train more, push the boundaries. Life is good! Then they get injured. Frustrated. Grrrrrrrr. You are at an even higher risk right now because you are so heavy. Granted for most Americans the weight is from fat and your weight is muscle. But both forms of weight put load on the joints, bones, tendons, etc. So what do you do!? Its a damn catch 22! The more you train the more weight you lose but until the weight is off, the more you train the higher risk you have of hurting a precious piece of cartilage. Train moderately and eat less is the answer. This is actually what all the skinny pros do as well. Its a crazy little secret that no one (in America) likes to talk about because our culture wants to believe that we just train hard and the food will burn away. But the truth is that we tend to eat significantly more than we should. And our bodies have another incredible ability other than aerobic fitness. We can out-eat almost any amount of calorie-burning activity to maintain body mass. This is useful if there is an upcoming famine but in the US we don't tend to ever have a famine and so we just stay big. Anyway, losing body weight is a top priority for you, not just to go fast, but to be healthier on your joints and avoid injury. if you do start to feel pain that is beyond some muscle soreness, you gotta stop right away. don't struggle through it! contact me and lets discuss. most injuries can be knocked out with 1 day of rest and a little ice if you get off of it right away. but if you train through it you run the risk of developing all kinds of ITIS (tendonitis, arthritis, etc.) or muscle pulls or stress fractures etc.
WOOWEE!
That is probably too much but I love people and this sport.
