Fat? NO. Powerful.

Pure power, baby!

Alright so I have been doing a bit of thinking about the past year. It was by far my best year for a lot of reasons. I also had an excellent year 3 years ago. However after a couple awesome races that year, I trashed myself and put myself deep into the bucket which lead to a 3 year road back to where I am now. I have changed a lot as an athlete. I got smarter and trained differently. I am also WAY bigger. Not sure exactly why but I can’t seem to stop growing up and out. I think this Seinfeld scene sums it up pretty well…

Elaine is trying to set her friend up with George….

Cynthia: What does he look like?

Elaine: Um, well, he's got a lot of character in his face. Um, he's short.
Um, he's stocky.

Cynthia: Fat. Is that what you're saying, that he's fat?

Elaine: Powerful. He is so powerful, he can lift a hundred pounds right up
over his head. And um, what else. What else. Oh, right. Um, well, he's kind
of, just kind of….. losing his hair.

Cynthia: He's bald?

Elaine: No! No, no, no, he's not bald. He's balding.

Cynthia: So he will be bald.

Elaine: Yup.

I would say I am a way more powerful athlete now than I was. Maybe just fatter but I have numbers to back it up too. Ballpark power increase of 20-25% with a weight increase of only ~10%. I am still running the same which really annoys me but I’m biking lots faster with less effort. I want to be a gazelle but I am more of an elephant or a plow horse and that may just be the nature of the beast. The power has been great and despite the mass, at least I’m not bald…yet.