The lie is that I was supposed to do the Tri in September, but a number of things kept it from happening, not the least of which was a money crunch. So, I didn’t go. I think I was also very burnt out on the whole ‘tri’ thing. September would have been my 12th month, and I was getting a little sick of it, I think. 

I was also sick of the gym. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do thru the rest of the fall and winter, but I was VERY sure I didn’t want to spend the rest of my summer indoors.  I was tired of spending 2-3 afternoons a week in the gym when I could be outside biking, running or even indoors swimming, so I decided that I would take a break from the regular workout schedule and just enjoy the rest of the summer.  I ran a several times a week and hit the pool, but just skipped the strength workouts.  In all, it was very enjoyable, and in fact, now that its 30 degrees outside and threatening snow, I miss it quite a bit. 

Next Challenges 

Anyway, as you may know from earlier posts, including this one, two smaller goals that I had had were to drop to 250 lbs and to be able to do at least 50 push ups in a single set.  I had come close to the weight by hitting 266 at one point, and even closer on the push ups by knocking out 45 in a single set, but ultimately, had failed in both. 

Push Ups 

I was thinking about how I could refocus on both of those goals when I got back into the gym this fall when I heard about the 100 Push Up Challenge that several of my twitterati had come across.  I liked the idea of being able to do 100 push ups at the end of 6 weeks, and I decide that I would start on October 1st. That would give me several more weeks to enjoy the sun, and bring me back into the gym as it got cooler.The more I thought about the challenge, though, I began trying to figure out how to fit this into my next workout designed by Mike. I really liked the idea of the push ups, but I wasn’t liking the idea of integrating this workout, which uses 5 sets and focuses on very narrow muscle groups, with a workout of the type I had been doing.  It didn’t seem like they would be a good fit.

Then, I had an uneducated brainstorm.

See, I figure that push ups are a pretty core exercise. Without using any tools, you simply lift your own body weight off of the ground as many times as you can. It works your chest, shoulders and triceps. Not to mention it works a lot of the rest of your body as you endeavor to keep yourself straight. So, what if I picked a handful of exercises that would each target a different area of my body and only used my own body weight as resistance? Could I make them fit the program too? Could I also be doing 100 pull ups and 100 crunches in 6 weeks?  Well, now THAT I wanted to try.

Weight Loss

Also, I’m looking to drop the weight and get more of a handle on what I’m eating. One tool I wanted to get into, but didn’t have time for before, was using a calorie counting tool. I’d seen several online, but never made time to get set up and really use any. I had started once last spring at http://fitday.com/, but the tool really bugged me, so I had bailed on it early. I had also run across several others, but never bothered trying to set any up.

So, this fall, I’ve set up an account at http://Livestrong.com and I’m using their Daily Plate tool to track my food intake.  Turns out I can also track my workouts and a number of other fitness related activites. I’ve got from Jamie a calorie goal, as well as protein, fat and carb goals.  The idea here is to start dropping weight, of course, and also to focus more on my actual nutrition. Last year I was more focused on the exercise and didn’t have extra time to look at the food. For now, since I’m just doing the core exercises and some cardio, I’m taking the time to focus on diet a bit more, but especially on really seeing in-depth what I’m eating.  To be honest, its really eye-opening to see it all laid out in numbers. One meal or poorly chosen snack can really throw a monkey wrench into the plans. On the other hand, its easy to see how eating healthy can make it impossible to get fat. On a good day, I can easily under-eat my calorie goal by 500 to 1000 calories. But on a day when I eat poorly, the calories and fat can add up quickly with a couple of poorly chosen snacks.

Set Backs

I had all of this planned to start on October 1st, but I got sick with some sort of  chest cold the last week of September, and it hung around my chest so that I couldn’t work out at all without hacking up a lung for the first couple weeks of October.  So, then I decided I’d start the 1st of November.

In mid October, I got a solid week of workouts in, but my wife’s grandmother began dying in earnest the last weeks of October. She didn’t last long, but between being there for my wife and kid for that, and a visit from my own mother right on the funeral’s tail, we were basically too occupied to try anything new right thru into November.  Once everything cleared up, I decided that I’d better just start, since waiting around for December 1st might be a bad idea.

After 3 months of no weight training and at least 5 weeks of no real exercise at all, it felt like I was starting almost completely fresh. My max pushups had dropped to 30 and I was several pounds heavier than I was for the race in August. And boy did I feel it the day I walked back into the gym for my initial weigh in and counts.

Come Find Me

Since this particular project is not really related to triathlon training, for the next 6 weeks or so, I’ll be blogging over at http://www.livestrong.com/profile/aithene/.  If you belong to Livestrong or decide to join, feel free to send a Friend Request. After that, I’m going to come back and get ready for next year. This time it’ll only be 6 Months to Tri. I’m looking forward to the Winding Trails races again. They run June thru August and I would really like to run that trail again.

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Optimal blood pressure is 120/80.
My initial blood pressure was 150/100.
My screened blood pressure was 136/90.
My current blood pressure is 132/89.

Optimal total cholesterol is 150 mg/dL or less.
My initial total cholesterol was 238.
My screened cholesterol was 223.
My current total cholesterol is 208.

Optimal HDL (good) Cholesterol is 40mg/dL or higher
My initial HDL cholesterol was 42.
My screened HDL cholesterol was 46.
My current HDL cholesterol is 44.

Optimal TC/HDL Ratio is 4.5 or less
My initial TC/HDL Ratio was 5.67.
My screened TC/HDL Ratio was 4.85.
My current TC/HDL Ration is 4.73.

Optimal LDL (bad) cholesterol is 70-129 mg/dL.
My initial LDL cholesterol was 152.
My screened LDL cholesterol was not measured.
My current LDL cholesterol is 123.

Optimal Triglicerides are 35-135.
My initial triglicerides were 220.
My screened triglicerides were not measured.
My current triglicerides are 205

Optimal Glucose is 100 mg/dL or less.
My initial glucose had no number, but was rated as ‘normal’.
My screened glucose was 90.
My current glucose is still ‘normal’.

Electrolytes, Kidneys and Blood count are all normal as well.

Oddly enough, my Liver enzymes are a “TINY bit off” and the doc wants to look at those. I only mention these here because he tells me that this might just be due to exercise OR due to Advil or Tylenol intake. Now, while I haven’t taken a lot of these medicines, I have take them more often than normal. Even so, we’re talking once every couple of weeks (whereas before, we’d be talking once every couple of months). It might also be due to my diet. The paper says “especially alcohol”, but I don’t drink so that’s not likely to be it. If it turns out to be due to the training or diet, I’ll be sure to mention it here.

—- Update —-

I got the test results back from my liver enzymes, and the doc said no problem. They were on their way down. Something had caused a spike, but since they weren’t dangerously high to begin with, and since there was an obvious decline, he chalked it up to a diet or environmental factor that has since dissipated.

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Anyway, early last week, this ad came through on our intranet and I immediately wanted to share it with everyone. I just really liked it. I almost posted it immediately, but then decided I wasn’t sure if it would cost me my job or not, so I started asking around. Turns out I wasn’t the only one who liked it, and finally, we got permission to post, print and share the ad.

So, a quick bit of history. As you know, the Olympics were covered here in the US on the NBC network, not ESPN. As you might guess, a good majority of the people who work here at ESPN love sports. Now, I like sports, especially if I get to play, but the guys we have around here blow me out of the water. Spouting stats. Up to the minute news about who’s doing what and for whom. Opinions on any team in any sport and in any country. ESPN’s brand is “We are the world’s biggest sports fan,” and working here for almost 3 years, I can attest to the truthfulness of that statement.

In true fan-boy manner, the week after the Olympics, ESPN spent I-don’t-know-how-many dollars to run this full-page ad Sunday in the New York Times and Monday in the USA Today to congratulate U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps. I love how it honestly points out that not only did ESPN NOT carry the Olympics, but that when we got home at night, we also didn’t flip on SportsCenter, but instead we all flipped on NBC to watch live Phelps and the other athletes competing from around the world in Beijing. We’ve all heard that sports transcends culture and politics. Sports apparently transcends networks, too.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this ad as much as I do.

On a side note, has anybody else noticed themselves picturing those races as they’ve done laps in their local pool? I have. Did it again today, in fact while pretending I have a gut as flat as those 20-somethings.

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It doesn’t get any more post race than this.

Its Sunday; its been five days since the race. Physically, feeling much better, though I’m up too late tonight, and will most likely be tired tomorrow.  The initial effects of the race are already starting to drift away. The unease of the swim. The pain of the bike. The cramps and worries about being stuck in the woods during the run. They’re all starting to fade to the back.

I’m already making plans for the next race. Plans. From training to gear to food. Schemes? No, we’ll call them strategies.

One thing I wanted to clear up is about the Tuesday night races at Winding Trails. I WOULD have been doing them all along, except that Tuesday nights my family and I go as a family to a bible study. Its something we’ve always done. We do it as a family and as its part of my worship, I haven’t been willing to simply disregard it so I could race. However, we did make the decision to skip it for one week and we came as a family to watch me get my butt kicked.

Next year, our study will be shifting to Thursday night, and I’m going to see about rearranging the rest of my schedule so that I can do at least 5 of the 10 races. I’ll do that mountain bike route in 25 minutes. Just wait and see.

What have I learned?

• Train for the course you’ll be racing on.
• Go swim in a lake before you race in one for the first time. If possible, swim with a handful of buddies and ask them to swim right on top of you so you get a feel for it.
• Make sure you’ve got the right gear for the course you’ll be racing.
• Wear the gear during your training, not breaking it in new for the race.
• Even after training for 9 months, 268lbs is a LOT of weight to lug around. Working out and training is fine, but diet can’t be glossed over.
• Even though I wasn’t training daily with my colleagues, having them ride me until I actually SIGNED UP for a race was very helpful. My head has been so out of it, that I might not have actually done it.
• I enjoy the gym in the winter, but abhor it in the summer. I’d rather be out running/riding in nice weather. Spring and Fall can go either way depending on the actual day.
• 9 months is a long time to stay motivated about anything. Just ask your wife.
• Blogging takes a lot more time than I thought it would.
• Video podcasting takes even more. Especially if you’re going to do actual editing.

What am I going to do next?

• Well, I’m ordering road tires so I can race in the Lake Compounce Sprint Tri on September 21st.
• While exercise seems to be well underway, I’ve got to admit that diet has been slipping. I still eat much better than I used to, but not as healthy as I should be.
• After talking with Jamie, we also discussed the difference between eating for health and eating for weight loss. I’ve more or less been doing the first. I’d like to drop another 50 lbs, though, so we’ll be switching it up.
• I’m not sure what will become of this blog after September, but I’m going to continue training. Its worked out well for me, and kept me going to the long winter months.

So, what would I LIKE to see happen to this blog?

• Ideally, it would be great if someone else would step up in October and start their very own 9 Months to Tri experience, and document it in their own way.
• I will most likely continue to document training changes, diet, etc. along my course, but it would take back seat to someone who is starting their own 9M2T challenge.

Finally, what kinds of improvements have I seen overall during the last 10 1/2 months? Has it REALLY changed my life?

• Well, I dropped between 20-25 lbs.
• I’m wearing clothes AT LEAST 1 size smaller.
• I’ve successfully integrated regular workouts into my daily life, something that had vanished many years before.
• Between eating healthier and working out, I’ve increased my overall energy levels.
• Its been a while since I’ve had strain-related pain in my hips or legs.
• I actually CRAVE healthier foods now.
• I can do 45+ push-ups in a row.
• I no longer get these moments when my heart starts racing for no reason whatsoever.
• Focusing on all of this has FORCED me to reassess my work habits. I’ve stopped working evenings entirely, which has allowed me to get more rest, eat less, and has eliminated a lot of stress overall, I think.

Best of all, I think, is the impact that I’ve had on other people in my life that are important to me:

• The improvements that my wife has seen in me have inspired her to get back into shape. She’s joined a local gym with the goal of getting back to the mountain bike trails next spring.
• Without pushing her, or even mentioning that she SHOULD, my daughter has asked if next year she can run the Kid’s Tris at Winding Trails next year. She wants to start doing this with me. She’ll be 8 in a couple of months, so I’m not worried about her health. She’s active and enjoys playing. But wanting to compete is something else entirely, and its something I hope she decides she likes and will continue to pursue. Within reason.
• My mother, who has always been very keen on fitness, has renewed her recently waning determination to stay fit.
• While it was these other three, Brett, Mandy and Erik, that inspired me, as a group, I think we’ve also inspired other members of our team at work. My boss has been walking a lot more, eating a bit healthier, and in general seems to be more fit himself. Several people have been more active, using the gym and joining us at swimming.

So, that’s it. I’ll stick with you thru September, and we’ll see where it goes from there.

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Well, its Friday night. The race was Tuesday. Its getting harder to remember the little details, but I’ve still got enough to finish this up, I suppose. First off, while I went for a 5k run today at lunch, my muscles seem to still be wiped out. It was just very difficult to get things going. I finished the run in about 47 minutes, and stopped several times to shake my legs out.

But, enough about today’s run. That’s not what we’re here to talk about. We’re talking about a 5k that I had to run after I had been going full out for an hour already, right?

So, after finishing my bike ride 25 minutes over my target, I headed out towards the trail. However, I’m declaring the run at least mostly ‘On Target’, since even tho the bike had blown the race for me, I still finished the 5k run within a few minutes of the 40-45 minutes I had allotted.

As I passed Mike on the way out (that’s him, in the black shirt behind me in the photo above), he said in his best coaching manner, “You can do it Chris, just remember, pace yourself.” I almost laughed. Pace myself? I’d be lucky if I didn’t walk the entire course. My lower quadriceps, all around the top of my knee, were burning with fatigue. There was no way I was going to get up to a 10 minute mile pace. I’d be happy at 12.

As I headed out of the transition area, there were several boys manning the hydration station. “Water! Want some water?”

“Gatorade?” I asked, wanting something with a little more kick.

“You can close your eyes and imagine its Gatorade,” one kid said. What a wiseacre. I grabbed two small cups of water, downed them, and headed on out to the trail, crossing the wooden bridge to the trails.  I had only planned on a quick drink at this juncture.  Of course, my plans had been to hit the water station 25 minutes earlier, but I didn’t’ think that this might be a good time to start changing plans.

The run started on the same stretch that the bike ride started on. And a few dozen yards in, I came to the same hill I had had to walk my bike up. The first of many, actually. I ran up it, but realized that I would have spent less energy and still climbed it at the same speed if I had just walked it. I remembered that for several other hills along the way.

After the hill, I walked. That first climb had been too much. I thought about going back. I even walked backwards, looking at where I had come from. I couldn’t see anyone. No one could see me. Maybe I should just quit and go back.

I began reasoning on it, and in the end I realized that if worse came to worse, I could walk the course in an hour. I was at least going to keep trying. My body wouldn’t let me walk, tho. Every time I stopped to walk to catch my breath, my body would start bouncing, so I gave in and just kept jogging, even tho I could have walked at roughly the same pace. The next day, Erik would inform me that they call this “yeah, I look like I’m jogging, but I’m barely moving” form of running the “stupid shuffle”. Not because its stupid, but because you’re just so out of it that YOU are stupid.

This part of the race I actually had mile markers for. They were the jeep trails for the electric lines. Every time I crossed one, it was a mile. So, at about mile 1, the first signs of cramping started in. I had to stop and stretch my quads. I did this again about half way to mile 2, then again at mile 2. I began recalling Brett’s story of his triathlon when both of his legs cramped up and he couldn’t even stand under his own power. I looked around. I hadn’t seen anyone coming up behind me, nor had I caught up to anyone. What would happen if my legs locked up while I was out here? How long before my wife and kid talked the race coordinators to come looking for me?

The good news is that, while I was really muscle-tired, my breathing had recovered from the bike ride, and I was actually very awake and could jog without running out of air.

I also noticed that while I was on the trail, it was getting dark. When I got to the jeep trail for mile 2 and entered the clearing tho, I saw that it was actually pretty light, so I figured I was OK. At this point, I was over half-way thru the course, anyway, so it made no sense to go back now, cramps or not, light or not.

Then I reentered the woods. As the trees blotted out the sky, it became MUCH darker than the jeep trail. But it was just an illusion caused by the trees, right? It looks dark out, but the sun is still there. So, on I went. I think I stretched one more time about a quarter mile in, but fortunately, that was it for the cramps. However, the trail was getting darker. I could no longer make out details, just contrasts between light and dark. The signs were white with dark arrows against dark trees, so they were easy enough to see. The dirt of the trail was lighter than the ground around it, so I was able to see the boundaries of the trail well enough.

I started noticing how bright the lights inside the homes whose back yards bordered the woods were. “At least, if I cramp or can no longer see the trail, I can go to one of these homes and call my wife on her cell”, I told myself. Then, my pacing actually got stronger. I was actually able to run. Apparently enough of the fatigue from the bike ride had worn off, and I was able to pull out a nice strong pace. Still probably not a 10 minute mile pace, but far better than the jog I had been going at.

The light dropped drastically over the next 5-10 minutes, to the point that I was now just following signs.  The woods were too dark to see into.  Then I saw the blue arrows that showed I had just merged with the bike trails. I knew the finish was just ahead, and I refused to jog over those darned timing plates. I picked up the pace to a full on run.

The trail was near the parking lot, and anything I could see was illuminated only by headlights and flood lights at the transition area. A lady getting into her car to leave spotted me and yelled “keep going! You’re almost there!” I kicked it in with whatever I had, crossed the wooden bridge, crossed the timing plates and there was Mike, Steve, Mandy and my wife and kid. I was wearing a big grin and they were all clapping. I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I was. Not just because i had finished, but also because everyone had stuck around and waited for me. Mike said, “We were getting worried. Thought we’d have to send a search party for you.” I laughed.

My time was 1:47:42. I asked, half jokingly, if I was last, dreading it would be true. They said I was. So, I asked, “does that mean I was the last one in on the bikes? Because no one passed me on the run.” But it turns out that I was the last person to start the run. They stopped letting people go because they were afraid they’d be stuck out on the trail in the dark.

So, officially in last place of those who finished. Nice.  Another few minutes on the bike trail, and I might not have been allowed to finish, either, so I’m very glad I slipped by.

“There’s Gatorade over there,” someone said, and I immediately began downing several paper cups of the stuff. They were asking me how I felt, how things went, and I answered them, telling them about my cramps and how I had been getting worried because it was getting so dark.

There was a big cookout that night, since it was the last race of the season for Winding Trails. But my little girl was SOOO tired, and there was a very long line for food, so I just changed, said goodbye and thanked everyone again, and we left.

Of course, we were still VERY hungry, so we treated ourselves to Bertucci’s. I downed an entire bottle of Gatorade from my duffle on the way, and once at the restaurant, I ate just about anything I could get my hands on. It has been a LONG time since I’ve been that kind of hungry. If it wasn’t for my wife and the fact that I could feel myself getting full, I would’ve just kept on eating. Salad, pasta and broccoli and chicken. And of course, several of their rolls.  My wife wisely counseled that if I ate too much I might toss it all back up. So, I stopped, wishing I could keep eating.

At home, the muscles around the sides of my lower back were killing me. I even got the hiccups on the way home, and each one cause jolts of pain up my sides. I popped 2 Aleve, took a shower, jumped on Twitter for a few minutes to let everyone know how I had done, then hit the sac. I couldn’t breathe too deep, or my back would get stabbed with pain. I couldn’t get comfortable on my stomach or sides, so I had to lay flat on my back.

Then, I was out.

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So, this is where I lost my race. And my spirit. And possibly my mind. Totally.

But first, its now been two complete days since I finished. I was hoping to write posts 3 and 4 tonight, but it isn’t going to happen. I am just far too tired. I can’t believe I’m even awake and writing this. Between capturing the images from the camera last night, choosing the ones to use and then writing the first two posts, I got to bed about 2 a.m. last night and then got up again at 6 a.m. Stupid, I’m sure.

Anyway, besides being just generally tired (I decided against working out today) I’m still sore. Some muscles are more sore today than yesterday. Its that whole “second day” effect at play. But nothing abnormal. All is fine. I just need to finish this and hit the sac. Lack of sleep can’t be helping my recovery.

So, OK. The bike ride. Right. This is where I totally lost it. I guess it was just stupidity on my part and a real overconfidence in my abilities. Also, I feel like I got some bad intel on the bike course. When questioning folks and trying to find out what kind of trails I’d be riding on if I chose the 5 mile mountain bike route (as opposed to the 8 mile road course), I got the picture that it was a lot of fire roads and jeep trails, mixed in with a little bit of non-technical single track. Boy, was I wrong. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t hyper technical riding, but it was almost all rough single track. Lots of bumps, hills (my eyes popped out of my head when I saw a few of the climbs; I swear some of them were 40 to 45 degrees) and switchbacks. Lots of slowing and going.

Now, let’s look at my ‘training’. Besides a few rides I had actually taken on my own bike on non-technical firetrails and riding paths, most of my riding was done in the gym on a stationary bicycle. My training was geared for a road race. Straight ahead and 100 rpms. Not slowing, speeding, gear-shifting or climbing. I was also apparently SO unconfident on my bike that I couldn’t even take full advantage of the downhill portions; riding cautiously and watching for a trail that I’d never ridden before.

I was actually supposed to have a new, non-ten-pound bike this year. My wife had saved up for one for our anniversary, but economics being what they were, I ended up telling her is was OK to spend the money on some more essential items that came up unexpectedly.

So, 10 minutes into the race, I was dead. If I’d been in the least bit prepared, I could have at least put road tires on my 18 year old mountain bike and done the 8 mile road race. I SHOULD have been able to finish that in 24-30 minutes. In fact, that had been my original estimate.

Here I’m going to speculate, but I really think this is how it might have played out, and why I’m just very unsettled with my performance. IF I had chosen to ride the road rather than the trails, and IF I had finished the 8 mile road race at my standard 3 minutes per mile, I’d have finished in 24 minutes. That’s HALF of what I actually did. And IF I had finished in 24 minutes, then I would have started the run 25 minutes earlier, and with a LOT more energy than I had after a 50 minute bike ride. IF I had that energy back, I think I could have knocked another 10 minutes off my run. More about the run in tomorrow night’s post. But seriously, let’s think about that (but not too much, or I’ll get upset again). 30-35 minutes added to my time because of a bone-headed decision. 1:12:00 would have put me in the 190s, not at 262nd.

Well, enough of the fiction. Let’s get back to reality.

What I actually experienced on the trail was VERY humbling. I didn’t pass a single person. Everyone was passing me. I joked to myself that I should have written “On My Left” with a big arrow pointing to my left on the back of my shirt. I certainly heard it enough. The scenery was actually very nice, and the trails were beautiful, but I was too pissed at myself to enjoy any of it.

Another thing I noticed while riding was that I had NO IDEA where I was or how far I had to go. I was just following arrows. Did I have 4, 3, 2 or even just 1 mile to go? No clue. Surprisingly, I found that lack of knowledge to be very discouraging.

In all, I found myself at my absolute LOWEST point mentally during this part of the race. While I didn’t expect that I’d do as well during the bike ride as I did during the swim, I really had expected to hold my own, not watch the entire race crumble around me. It was during this part of the race that I remember thinking to myself that this was insane. I would never do another one of these races again.

Anyway, I finally came into the home stretch, which was by far the most humbling event of the evening. As I guided my bike onto the trail that would take me to the transition area, I found that I was merging with the early runners that were just finishing their race. Imagine that. At roughly 55 minutes, the early finishers had already been done for 10 minutes already, including Mike the Trainer, who finished in 52:04 and who had been done for 2 or 3 minutes. Me, I still had a 40 minute run ahead of me.

I pulled into the transition area, ditched my bike and helmet, and headed out to the trails on foot, completely uncertain as to whether or not I’d even finish this ’stupid’ race. The only bright point of all of this was my little girl cheering “Go, Dad!” Well, sometimes smiles come easy.  :smile:

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First of all, I wanted to say that I had intended to complete this part of the race in under 10 minutes. So, at 7 minutes, 50 seconds, I would say the race started well. On target if not a bit ahead of target, in fact.

We started the swim portion of the race in 2 waves. Men first, women second. Some of the race-proven faster women started with the men, but only a handful from what I could see. The swim was a box. We swam straight out from the beach between a dock on our left and a rope on our right to a white buoy (you can see it just above the left edge of the dock in the photo above). Going AROUND the buoy, we would take a left and swim parallel with the beach to the next buoy, then take another left and swim into the beach. Once we hit the beach, we were to run up to the transition area, get geared up and start our ride.

It was only a quarter-mile. 18 lengths of the pool. I can do this in my sleep. Right?

What I had done in training and what I was now doing in practice are day and night. I’m not sure I’ve ever actually been more terrified in my life. I certainly had no idea what I was getting myself into. A swimming pool is more or less placid and clear. You can see the lane lines at the bottom of the pool. Swimmers occupy predefined lanes in which they, and they alone, swim in. And if things get bad, you can just swim to the nearest wall, or if you’re in the shallow end, just stand up. People in a pool, as a rule, will not run you over if you have to stop for some reason.

We all started into the water, swimming in the general direction of the buoy. At first, that’s enough, since you’re dealing with large, manly bodies bouncing off of each other and trying to work out a space. Hands and arms land and slide around your sides and back from time to time, and shoulders bang into your sides more often than not. This was NOT any sort of relaxing swim. This was a quarter-mile sprint, and everyone was going for the gold.

After about a dozen strokes I realized that I would somehow have to ’see’ the buoy, so I lifted my head out of the water, which is NOT a standard swimming move. Egads, I was swimming straight for the dock, and the guy to my right was going the same direction. I needed… he needed… WE NEEDED to start edging right or we’d get stuck at the dock. So, I started bearing right, PUSHING him with every stroke and kick in the direction we needed to go, and him pushing back, probably figuring I was a total jerk.

As we neared the buoy, everyone who was too far to inside on the left started edging right to try to go around the buoy, and everyone to the right who didn’t want to go way to the outside started edging left towards the buoy, and we all ended up on top of each other squeezing around the turn. I was actually so tight into the buoy that my left shoulder brushed it as I went around. At this point, I was also no longer vertical. I was more or less upright through the turn until I could find room to lay back down again. While I was upright, though, I noticed that several dozen swimmers had cut the corner short. I’d call them cheaters, but realizing that they’d basically be queuing up just to get a turn to tread water around the buoy is reason enough to fudge things a bit. I guess.

The bottom of the lake had long since disappeared into the depths. Any hope of holding onto something was a distant memory. All you could do was keep swimming and hope not to get buried beneath the crowd. I even thought I saw some odd light-colored shape sink into the depths of the lake out of the corner of my eyes and my first thought was “oh my god, did someone just drown?”

I love the water. I LOVE swimming. But at this moment, I felt more exposed, more in-danger than I ever recall feeling in my life. I needed OUT of this crowd, and the only way I knew to do that was to swim faster and leave them all behind. So, that’s what I did.

About half-way to the next buoy, I was in the clear. I wasn’t in the lead, but there just weren’t many of us out here. I stretched out my strokes and tried to get my breathing under control. I started feeling my natural rhythm. It wasn’t exactly a ‘pleasant’ swim in, but I was out of the crowd, feeling much better about things and moving strongly.

My wife, who took these photos, was a first-time spectator. She tried to tell me about the whole thing from her point of view. The entire triathlon was unlike anything she’d ever witnessed before in her life. In fact, she remarked later that she couldn’t believe that no one had drowned. When I told her that people called the beginning of the swim ‘The Washing Machine’ because of the way the water gets all churned up, she agreed whole-heartedly.

You’ll notice that there are kayakers out on the water to the left in the photo above. Also, there are officials on the dock watching for people in trouble. But still, a single head disappearing beneath the water is just far too easy to miss. Seriously, I can’t think about it too much or I might not ever do this again.

Finally, I hit the beach and began running. I was out of breath and felt hardly able to stand, but I kept moving.

We crossed the road into the transition area and I grabbed my tank top (I simply wasn’t going to ride for 5 miles with my gut hanging out) and my glasses. Then I went for my shoes and socks. But my socks weren’t in my shoes where I thought I’d left them. I looked all over, under, and around everything. I couldn’t believe it! Someone had stolen my socks! I didn’t even want to imagine the blisters I’d get for riding and running without socks.

Now, if I’d had a clear head, I would have remembered the cotton socks still in my duffle bag for AFTER the race, but no. So, as I stood there and began to put my right sneaker on, out of the corner of my eye I spied my riding socks sticking half-out from under my duffle.

It was just too much. I was already still recovering from the swim, then almost had a panic over a pair of socks. I sat my butt flat on the ground, put my socks and shoes on, then stood up, put on my helmet and hurried my bike out of the transition area and over the timing plates.

I’m having a tough time wrapping my head around that little bit of information, actually. So, both my swim AND my transition time equalled only 7:50?!? If that’s true, and based on how much trouble I had in my first-ever transition, that swim must have been 6:00 or even less. That’s pretty amazing to me if its true.

Its really late. I’ll write up the bike and hopefully the run tomorrow night along with some more photos.

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So, let’s cheat just a minute and I’ll give the numbers up front and the finale, just to clear away some of the suspense.

I lost. Or I won. Depends on your point of view. My friends all say “hey, you FINISHED”, which is true. And from what I hear, a number of people didn’t, either because they couldn’t, or because they finished the biking portion of the race so late that the race officials stopped them from starting the run since they wouldn’t have finished before sun down. So, I did finish. But of all the people who actually finished, I came in dead last. About 25 minutes longer than I had anticipated. I know exactly where I went wrong and how to fix it, but that’s the subject of post #3.

I finished in 262nd place (last) with a total time of 1 hour, 47 minutes and 42 seconds. My swim was 7:50, my ride was 49:59 and my run was 49:53.  The race started about 6:15, and sunset was at 7:48, so I finished about 15-20 minutes after sundown. Remember that, ’cause I’ll get back to that in post #4.

Morning
So, race day. I packed my bag the night before. Helmet. Tri shorts. Tank top. Socks. Sneakers. And a pair of running shorts just in case I felt modest. I also packed another set of clothes for after the race. Fortunately, in the shower on race morning, it hit me that I’d forgotten to pack my goggles, so I grabbed those immediately after showering. Whew, that was close. What else might I be forgetting? Stress already, and its only 6 am. 12 hours until start.

I threw my bag into my car, tossed my bike onto the bike rack, and went to work.

Day
At work, I had butterflies all day. Anytime someone would mention the race, I got nervous. I didn’t know why. I wasn’t trying to win. Just finish, and I KNEW I could do that. I talked to Mandy several times about questions I would come up with last minute, and she would answer them. Erik was home sick, fever and all; there was no way he was going to make it.

About 2 pm, I started getting small adrenalin rushes. It was hard to type. I couldn’t keep my mind on my work. Mandy just kept laughing at me and telling me it would be alright; she could see I was nervous. After a while it hit me what I was feeling. This is how I always had felt in high-school between heats at a swim meet. Now, if you’d asked me on any given day how I felt, I would have told you ‘yes’, and started to describe being anxious and excited. But I would have been wrong. There’s no way to really remember this feeling unless you’re going through it. Then you start to remember all the different times you felt it.

[Actually, just remembering yesterday has got me all on edge right now. My fingers are starting to jitter and my heart is beating faster. Typing is becoming a problem. Wow.]

By 4 pm I was exhausted. Its like I was coming down from my adrenalin high. But, finally it was time to go. My twitter network sent a number of goodwill wishes and my colleagues all wished me well. My wife picked me up at 4:30. I’m really glad I didn’t have to drive. On the way, I downed a peach and half a clif bar.

Registration
Next up was registration. We took my bike and gear up to the registration area, signed the waivers, paid my $15 (great price! a lot of races will charge $50, $75 or even more) got my number written in marker on my arms (691, its still there, even after 3 showers and a mile swim at lunch today), got my chip, parked my bike, and went to the changing room to get ready. While all of this was going on, the kids were finishing up their triathlons. Winding trails has the great program for ALL ages. Kids tris, tiny tris and full sprint triathlons.

After that I ran into Mandy, who kept giving me helpful advice, and made sure I had set up my transition area so that I could change quickly. Then, on our way to the beach, we both ran into Trainer Mike, who was surprised to see me there, since apparently I hadn’t told him I was racing. Perhaps I was leaving room to back out? An easily forgotten pair of goggles would have done the trick.  :smile:

At 6pm we got in the water to warm up a bit. No problem I thought as I swam out to the dock and back. The lake was wonderfully warm, and while it was a bit choppy, it didn’t seem too difficult. I was calming down and was feeling ready. It must have been another adrenalin rush, because I no longer felt exhausted. Tired, maybe, but not exhausted.

The race coordinator called us out onto the beach and went over the rules. “Be nice” was the rule of the day. It was the last race, and a lot of folks were going for their best times, but there were also a bunch of us newbies who didn’t know the course and would likely be feeling our way through it. So, “be nice”.

As you can see from the photo above, I’m still a large guy. In fact, according to my wife, there was only one guy there who was heavier than I was. She guessed that he probably had a good 30lbs on me. This is generally just a more fit crowd than I am who participates in these things.

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So, in order to keep such copious amounts of white flour and sugar goods OUT of our home, we tend to give a lot of it away. My daughter’s friends often go home with a bag of Goldfish or a tin of brownies may end up at work.

At home, we call it whatever it is, but with Grampa at the beginning. I.e., as I left for work today, I told my wife, “I’ll take the Grampa brownies to work today and share them with everyone.”

Then, EVERYONE is happy. I’m happy because I don’t have to eat them all or throw them away. My wife is happy because she doesn’t have to keep telling our daughter “no”. And the folks at work are happy because they get free brownies.

Yes, we’ve tried to talk to Grampa about bring so much junk over, but it only lasts a few weeks and then it starts again. So, we just let him do it now.

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So, I’ve got a new bike helmet on the way, and some Tri shorts. The Tri shorts may be a problem, though, since I’ve still got a 48 inch waist and most of the charts say that an XXL has a max of 42-46 depending on the manufacturer. So, let’s hope they fit.

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However, I haven’t let it interfere with workouts and the like.

So, I promised you numbers. They got held up a week while Garret was in North Carolina on business, and he had the numbers with him. When I got them, my machine was down. Oy! Anyway, here they are.

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Its been 9 months since I started. I’ve learned a lot of things. I’ve discovered others. I think the first thing I realized is that its difficult to stay excited for 9 months. If I was going to do this over again, I think I would have set up smaller, 2 or 3 month goals that eventually led up to the final 9 month finale. Gym time has been hit and miss this summer. Some weeks I’ll do 4 or 5 days/week, others (like last week) I’ll only make it in twice. I thought I’d have MORE time to get out and exercise in the warm weather, but actually, I seem to have less (though, I do a lot more ’stuff’, such as yard work, walking around quaint New England towns, and the like).

As for the stuff I’ve learned, a lot of it has to do with nutrition. I can see that there’s still a lot to learn, but I’ve got the basics down, and have used them to build on. I’ve seen how easy it is to cheat (don’t need much of a reason, really) and I’ve also seen how easy it is to cross a line in my intake and go from losing / maintaining to gaining again. For the last 4 months I’ve been doing the exact same gym routine, and I can see that you’ve got to keep it fresh, because right now I’m horribly bored with it. I just didn’t want to change it up right before my race. So, after the race, I’ll change it up.

The best part is that now I’ve got a routine. That’s working well for me. And I enjoy it. Mostly, I enjoy the cardio stuff in the summer. I like the running. I really like the swimming. I love the biking. The gym has been kind of a drag since the weather has gotten warmer, but I think that’s a seasonal thing. I enjoyed it a lot during the winter, but now it keeps me from getting outside and ‘playing’.

OK. I think I covered a lot of this in my last post. I suppose I don’t need to rehash it.

I weighted in at 266 lbs. The 266 lbs seems to be where I’ve held for maybe 3 months now. Better holding than gaining, I suppose.

I did 40 push ups. That’s still NOT where I was at during month 6, when I knocked out 45 push ups.

In all, though, I’ve failed on a promise I made to myself a few months back:

I DECLARE: By the time this is done, July 1st, 2008, I WILL BE ABLE TO DO 50 PUSH-UPS IN A SET.

I DECLARE: By the time this is done, July 1st, 2008, I WILL WEIGH A MAXIMUM OF 250 LBS.

I ALSO DECLARE: I WILL STILL BE ALIVE. That last one I’m a bit worried about, but there it is.

So, I’m not able to do 50 push ups in a set, nor am I under 250lbs. However, I am still alive, and in all honesty, doing better than I was 9 months ago, and with some recent changes to my schedule, doing better than I was even a month ago.

Mike will be at a conference the rest of the week, so Garrett will be doing my final numbers tomorrow. Can’t wait to see how this goes.

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As for me, its been 22 days since I’ve made an entry. Things have not been up to snuff for a while now. I just weighed in at 268 lbs., and I’ve missed both my 8 and 9 month weigh-ins (which at this point have been reduced to weight and push-ups). I’m still not doing the 12 minute run, which I probably could, except that I’m staying away from the treadmill as I’ve been advised to do so from my doctor, my physical therapist and even Garrett and Mike from the gym have agreed it would be a bad idea. And there’s no new body-fat monitor, so that’s still out as well.

Anyway, after weighing in at 268 lbs., I spent a lot of time thinking about where I am now in my training as regards to where I was 8 months ago. Its not great, but its not unrecoverable, either. I think. Before we get into it, don’t worry. Nothing horrible is going on. There’s nothing here that I’m crying for help with or anything like that. Its just life, and the way life can sneak stuff in on you when you’re not paying attention. Or, sometimes it doesn’t so much sneak as pound you over the head, but you know what I mean. Happens to all of us from time to time.

My Head

The first thing I’ve come to realize is that when I first started I was highly focused on the training. It occupied a large portion of my thinking, whether I was training or not. Perhaps artificially so. For the first month or three, it was new and exciting. For the next three months, it was winter and what the heck am I going to do anyway? But then there was this stupid knee problem, and a number of things I’d either been putting off or just plain ignoring started to exert pressure on my time and attention at home, and of course not to mention the changes at work. Not that I wasn’t busy before, but some of these are just more mentally draining than others, and my head, as they say, simply isn’t in the game.

Also, where before I could at least make the 10 hours/week to get to the gym or pool, it seems to be difficult to squeeze even 6 hours in a week these days. I’m not sure I can say I’ve made it to the gym more than 3 times in a week for over a month now. When you factor in drive time each way, showering, changing and exercising: 2 hours = 1 workout.

Now I’m about 2 weeks away from when I’m supposed to be running a race, and I haven’t even picked one out. My head is so far removed from the goal, that it feels like it sneaked up on me. Its hard to hit a goal that you aren’t really shooting for.

My Training

Working out has become something of a habit for me, which is nice. Its the habit that’s kept me going. Its no where near enough, but its better than quitting cold turkey. I come to work every day with my gym bag packed and ready to go. I’m still making progress on my cardio, though I’m wondering about my weights. There’s no doubt in my mind that I can finish a sprint triathlon. The question is whether I will finish it strong, or jogging in at a turtle’s pace.

So, what have my workouts been like, lately? I’m not sure I can really answer that well, since I really shone new light on my situation this week, and surprised myself. First of all, my workouts this week were Wed, Thurs, and Friday. I think its the first time in a long time I’ve worked out 3 days in a row, and I’m really feeling it. In fact, I’m in a bit of shock that I can’t remember the last time I felt this kind of sore. It hasn’t happened recently, and it should be happening more often.

Anyway, weight days have been reduced to 2 sets, rather than 3. Its the only way I can finish and get back to work in 2 hours. I’m really thinking I need a new routine, though, since I feel like I’m going thru the motions at this point. Maybe I’ll hit Mike up for a new one after the race. Last thing I need is to start bashing on muscles that haven’t been worked in a while just before a race. Swim days haven’t really changed much over the past 8 months. In fact, yesterday I got in just under a mile in about 30 minutes. I was really sore from the weights the day before, tho, and it took me a quarter mile before the stiffness left my arms and I could really open it up. And today, I did 12 miles on the stationary bike and then ran 2 miles. I hate the stationary bike. I need to just start riding my own in. There’s a serious comfort factor, and a bike is supposed to sway a bit from side to side as your weight shifts with the pedaling. This bike just causes pain in places it shouldn’t and is unnatural. Also, while you can make the resistance go up and down, its just not the same as a road changing its grade as you ride on it. However, the 12 mi ride and 2 mi run is a new personal achievement.

My Nutrition

Like the workouts, a lot of what I’ve been practicing has really started to stick as habit. That’s good. When was the last time you’ve had someone set a steak in front of you and been disappointed that it wasn’t a nice piece of salmon or tilapia? 9 months ago I would have watered over the steak, but now I yearn for fish. Chicken however, doesn’t hold that much sway. I’m sure I’d take a steak over chicken, any day. And the occasional cheese burger attack still occurs, though less every month.

However, I’m not focused on the nutrition right now. I’m coasting. And any racer will tell you that if you’re coasting, you’re slowing down. I’ve noticed that. An extra cookie here. An extra helping of mashed potatoes there. Did somebody just open a bag of Doritos? It does seem related to the keeping of a journal, but not entirely, as I’ve noticed that my journal entries have progressively gotten worse, too. I’ve seen it in the numbers as I’ve put back on roughly 5 lbs over the past 2-3 months. I’ve run into this problem several times before. See, I get working hard, and my calories go up to compensate. Then, I stop burning, but don’t scale down my eating to match, and now I’m taking in way more than I need, and I put on weight. 17500 calories worth of weight actually. While I was still working out 4-5 days per week, I was maintaining. Once I slipped below 4 workouts per week, the weight started creeping back on.

Here’s a numbers game:

1 lb of body fat = 3500 calories.

I burn just over 1000 cal/hour when I run.

I have to run 3.5 hours to burn 1 lb of fat, and that’s assuming I’m taking in 3500 calories less than I need, otherwise I don’t actually burn any fat, I just burn the calories I’m taking in.

The Project

Finally, its not just the workouts and diet that have been affected. It probably took me a good half-hour per day to keep track of my food intake. Seriously. It seems like a small thing, but remembering to stop everything and write down what you’ve just eaten is kind of this horrible burden when you’re really busy. Its 3-4 hours/week of your time and mental energy. I could probably do it privately in a notebook easier, but I was trying to do it as a companion to this blog, which meant I had to find a computer and log in every time I wanted to record something.

And blog posts take time. This one will probably take 60 - 90 minutes as I sit here and try to formulate what I want to say. So, when time started disappearing, so did blogging. After all, blogging one hour every 3 weeks certainly takes less time than blogging a couple times a week. Though, updates once a week would probably be all I really need to do.

The Future

I’m not sure this is the way to go, but this is where I think I’m at. Summer is crazy. The kid is out of school. We’re all over the place on the weekends (even if its just in the back yard). I want to do this run, and set up another one for mid to late September. I’ll regroup in October and see what’s coming up next.

Further nutrition training will probably have to wait until October. Unless someone feels like making me a menu that my wife will actually cook, I think I’ll have to continue coasting thru the summer, but I will be paying more attention to calorie intake.

My ideal workout schedule for summer will be M-weights / Tu-Bike & Run / Wed-Swim / Th-weights / Fri-Bike & Run. This will change based on weather forecasts and the like, but there it is.

I’m going to keep weekly blog posts, probably at least thru my September race, but I might switch over to either a paper food journal, or an online journal that does more than takes notes. Not sure yet, but the electronic one I’ve got now obviously isn’t working, since I feel its more a drain on my time and returns very little.

Well. That’s my plan. Let’s see how it goes.

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We’re targeting a 5k & 10k for early fall on Norterra Parkway in Phoenix, and hopefully a sprint dirt tri at Lake Pleasant in late fall. Right now we are figuring out all the specifics and should be posting new info soon.

I’m also branching off into my own blog, at http://blog.triphx.com. My plan is to start reviewing the races that I do and hopefully get some great correspondents to do the same for races I do not participate in. Jason and I just signed up for the 2008 SOMA 1.2 IronMan on October 26 in Tempe.

I’m still staying involved in Chris’ progress, just posting most of my rambling elsewhere.

~b

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Jason and Ilia did a great job for their first tri, this was the most difficult sprint tri that I’ve done, so it was an awesome job by them to do so well! Jason kicked my butt in the swim, when he gets a big boy bike then maybe he’ll hang for the whole race!

Jason’s Pictures of the event

Tri Hard!

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Some quick thoughts and notes about San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon 2008:
I’m sure San Diego is pretty and I know Kristen and I will come visit, but the course was nothing all that special. All in all, there may be no prettier and friendlier courses (and easy) as OBX Marathon. There were parts of this course that I loved (the north part of the course above Sea World) and parts I absolutely hated; there were several times where you ran for a long stretch on the side of a hill where one leg was considerably higher than the other. The most notable part was during the 5-mile climb up the highway, the grading of the road and off ramps was so severe that it took a nasty toll on my hips and ITB. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only time the road was steeply graded; I estimate 25% of the course wasn’t level. I don’t mind hills, but I’ve never met anyone who can tolerate running on the side of a slope. The other part that I really didn’t like was the frontage road and turn-around from 20.5 to 23. The road was tight, hot, congested and bumpy… and annoying at the absolute worst time (for me). I lost my mental focus while I was complaining to myself during this period. It was “interesting” finishing the race at an Air Force base. It was annoying for the spectators to wait 45 minutes to get checked and the commute in and out was delayed, but the cool part was it kept any bandits out of running to the finish line; there were armed guards checking for bib numbers before entrance into the base for the last 1/2 mile. I most likely wouldn’t choose to do this course again, but promised Matt I would run next year if he does. If so, I hope they change the course considerably.

The logistics of holding an event with 20,000 runners are amazing, and I think Elite Racing did an wonderful job. There were plenty of port-o-potties, all the water stops were very well stocked and it felt like everyone was pulling together to put on a great event. No amount of effort on Elite’s part can offset the crush of 20k running on the roads, and the course constantly felt jammed. Part of the course being so tight had to do with  the fact that the traffic into downtown was so bad. Since there was “no” parking at the start, folks had to figure out a drop-off method. Matt and I were gridlocked about 2 miles from the start, so I had to walk to get there in time. The race actually started while I was in line at the port-o-potties and I started the race in corral #24… the very end of the pack. There were 20,000 people in front of me, including the walkers. I spent the first 3 miles trying to find some space to run, and never came anywhere near to an actual “pace” until about mile 8 (during the 5 mile climb on the highway). I’ve never seen that many “runners”, and I was always in a sea of people - it’s a “big city” race, and it’s to be expected. I wish I had started farther forward, but that’s my fault for not getting there sooner (as it was, I woke up at 4:30am!).

*Updated*
My original post had some undue criticism of Team In Training (TNT) because there was an absolute “sea of purple” around me. I took some criticism myself in a comment and decided to do a little bit of research on TNT myself and have changed my stance. TNT is doing an awesome job, and I will support them at any event where I am a race director or participating.

http://gallery.mac.com/brettestewart#100048

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I’m excited for my first marathon in 4 months, I can’t believe the AZ Rock & Roll Marathon was that long ago!

Also, we’re getting geared up for some tris here in AZ, I finally broke Jason Warner down and got him to sign up for his first tri. Saturday, June 7 we’ll be racing in the Tribal Sprint Triathlon about 15 miles away at Lake Pleasant. I’ve heard it’s a hilly bike, and the finish line is after a mile-long hill. We’ve also convinced another couple of co-workers here at 41st to join in too - let’s see if we get ‘em hooked!

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The other thing is that we’ve got a new communications exec who’s all fired up. Don’t get me wrong, he’s got some GREAT ideas, but the fact is, there’s no one but me to really support the graphics end of his plans, and I’m already up to my neck in the routine stuff and the new intranet. In fact, people are starting to get mad, because we’re saying ‘no’ as much as we are.

So, life is beyond hectic for me. The wife was out of town for 4 days last weekend, and time to workout completely vanished. The kid and I were active, to be sure, but its just not the same as a run or a workout at the gym. Its VERY easy to see how single parents might never have the time to work out. But even when the wife is here, my time seems to be fleeting.

Last week should have been the 8 month weigh-in, but I was so tired, I was ready to fall asleep. I just couldn’t make myself do more than a basic workout. I felt like I was a member of the walking dead.

And now, its 1 a.m., and its the first time in a long while it seems that I’ve been able to make the time to sit down and blog. In fact, I had to FORCE myself to sit down and do this, and the only reason I felt so strongly is because I’ve got some numbers I need to share.

Anyway, these numbers, amidst all of this feeling like I’m not getting anywhere, are a strong notice that I HAVE gotten somewhere. Looking at the big picture, I’m pretty happy with where I’m at, even though I know I still have a lot of room for improvement. Yes, I’m still holding steady at 266 lbs. Been there for the better part of 2 months it seems.

That being said, for the last few weeks, I’ve been out running farther than I have in years. I can easily run a 5K, and a couple of weeks ago I ran 4.3 miles. Taking some advice from Scot Little, I’ve started riding the stationary bike for 8 miles, then jumping off and heading out onto the road for a 2 mile run. Next week I’ll get myself up to 12 miles on the bike, then the 2 mile run. When you consider that when I started this I could barely do the 2 mile run, I’m feeling pretty good about myself.

Yesterday the Health Center had a Health Fair. I got my cholesterol screened and my blood pressure taken as well, so I thought I’d compare those to numbers that I’d gotten way back when this all started.

Optimal blood pressure is 120/80.
My blood pressure when I started was 150/100.
My blood pressure is currently at 136/90.

Optimal total cholesterol is 150 mg/dL or less.
My previous total cholesterol was 238.
My current total cholesterol is 223.

Optimal Glucose is 100 mg/dL or less.
My previous glucose had no number, but was rated as ‘normal’.
My current glucose is 90.

Optimal HDL (good) Cholesterol is 40mg/dL or higher
My previous HDL cholesterol was 42.
My current HDL cholesterol is 46.

Optimal TC/HDL Ratio is 4.5 or less
My previous TC/HDL Ratio was 5.67.
My TC/HDL Ratio is currently at 4.85.

Neither my LDL (bad) cholesterol nor my triglycerides were measured at the health fair, though I think its safe to say that based on my total cholesterol count, my LDL, while its probably down some, is most likely still high.

This wasn’t a full work up, and its time I actually went in to get a current test from a lab, but all of the numbers here have improved. Its been a while since I’ve gotten that ‘rapid heartbeat’ feeling from just getting up and moving around. That’s the kind of feeling that makes you feel like you’re on the edge of dying.

In a few more weeks, I should be getting a full workup from Mike as well. We’ll see how the new measurements add up to the old ones.

Now, if only I could find the time to get to making updates to the tri-team website. Egads.

I’m planning to workout tomorrow. Not sure what I’ll do. Then Monday is Memorial Day, so there’s this 3 day weekend ahead. I’ll be out of town on Saturday and Sunday. Might hit the hotel gym Saturday night, or if they have a pool, I might go for a swim. Monday, there’s a congregation picnic. It starts kind of early and goes all day. Lots of fun to be had there. Volleyball, baseball. Just kickin’ around. And the talent show, too!

Have a great weekend, all of you!

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Anyway, some highlights are in order…

Physical Therapy is officially over, but the clicking in my left knee continues. I might have this looked at again going into next fall. After today’s bike ride, my knee not only made noise, but the clicking just ‘felt’ stronger, more physical, than it has in the recent past.

My last two Weigh-ins were less than optimal. 267 lbs for two weeks ago, and 266 lbs for last week. Though, last week, after my 4.3 mile run, I only weighed in at 262 lbs. That’s 4 lbs of water in one run, folks. Anyway, my 8-month weigh-in is tomorrow. On the one hand, I can’t believe I’ve been at it this long. On the other hand, sometimes it feels like I’ve been at it for an eternity.

I’ve also had a couple of ’stupid’ days. I showed up at the gym 2 weeks ago with my sneakers and 2 shirts (I had grabbed the second shirt thinking it was a pair of shorts), forgetting my socks and underwear, and eventually realizing I didn’t even have a pair of shorts. I also had a couple of days where my work schedule rearranged on the fly and the workouts disintegrated. My available time for actually working out feels somewhat more limited as well. I can’t think of the last time I’ve gotten in all 3 rounds of a weight-training workout. For the last several weeks, I’ve had to be content with only 2 sets.

The weather is nice, and I’ve officially broken out my bike. In fact, I took my wife and kid on a ‘family ride’ around the West Hartford reservoir this evening. Here’s a ‘rough’ map of the course we took.

Or, if you’re in the area, you can find a good map on the official page here:
http://www.themdc.com/talcottmountain.htm

Happily, outdoor running has continued as well, and last week I got my running distance up to 4.3 miles. However, because of my knee, I’ve limited my runs to once per week. Scot Little made the suggestion that because of my knee, perhaps I’d be better off doing two 2-mile runs in a week rather than one 4 mile run. His reasoning was that I would still be doing the same mileage (and same wear and tear), but would get my body conditioned to running more often. I like that suggestion, and I may use it. In this case, I’d probably do a 2 mile run, then 20 minutes on the stationary bike. Or perhaps vice/versa and try to mimic the feel of a tri. I’ll have to see about mapping a new 2 mile route. Maybe once a week at work, and another on Saturday or Sunday at home.

It also sounds like a good idea since I’m finding it harder to work out indoors in the summer weather. In fact, I’d rather go have lunch on a veranda or patio somewhere than go into the gym. I made that decision twice in the past 3 weeks.

Finally, I’m hoping to get the bike more into the schedule and ride to and from work once or twice a week for a cardio workout. I think its only 7 miles one way. Then I can sit down and enjoy a nice lunch in the sun on those days.

More later. Maybe I can even write up the results from the 8 month weigh-in tomorrow.

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This evening, however, my father sent me an email that started me to thinking. It was a link to this very well done tribute piece about Israel Kamakawiwo’ole (Bruddah Iz), a very well known Hawaiian performer. First, here’s the clip.

Nice, isn’t it? Great voice, great music, beautiful scenery, and yet it sparked up one of my strongest fears.

Now, you want to know what my nightmares are made of? When I was a kid, they were strange monsters, sharks (thanks, Spielberg), poltergeists (thanks, Spielberg) and an myriad of other odd and dark bumpy, scratchy, slithery things. And missing clothing. At school. Yep, typical kid; typical teenager.

Anyway, this video, as beautiful as the music and scenery is, fires up thoughts of my newer nightmares. I rarely actually have nightmares, but when I do, these days they tend to focus on my waking fears, which come up more often than I’d care to admit.

For the last 7 years, my nightmares have been made up of abducted children, dying in a fiery car crash leaving my family without a father and husband, watching the house burn down while trying to find a way out for my kid and I, and keeling over at age 38 from a heart attack or some other weight-related complication. And a strange one involving an escaped zoo tiger that I had a few months back, but you KNOW I was doing everything I could to protect my daughter from it. To make matters worse, while encountering a monster, shark or poltergeist are all virtually improbable, my new fears are all far too possible.

See, Iz was only 38 when he died. Granted he was more than twice as heavy as I was when I started this, but he was the age I am now. He was unbelievably talented, incredibly well-loved, a husband and a father. And he was gone due to complications from his 700+ lbs before he reached 40, leaving this world without his talent, his wife without a husband, and his teenage daughter without a father. I can’t fathom ALLOWING that to happen to my family. I refuse to sit down and watch it unfold without fighting back.

I can’t stop tragedy if it finds us, but I certainly don’t have to embrace it. So, I’ve noticed that I wear my head-phones much less than I used to, and am generally more aware of my surroundings, especially when my daughter is nearby. I check the smoke detectors and fire extinguishers (we need one for the kitchen, actually), I haven’t even come close to getting a speeding ticket since 2000, and I’m VERY wary of other drivers on the road, especially late at night. And, now I’m training for a marathon. Come to think of it, I don’t live close to a zoo, either, but I think that’s more of a coincidence than by plan.

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I ran 5K on Friday last week, thought it seemed harder this week than last. Took me 42 minutes to run that 3.5 mile course. That’s only 12 minutes miles. Hopefully in a few more weeks I’ll be back up to 10 minute miles.  The problem with 10 minutes miles is that they were NOT cardio miles. I couldn’t maintain that pace without going anaerobic, and that’s not a good idea for distance racing, since its simply not sustainable.

Saturday was not something I enjoy doing, but basically I worked on my computer from 10am to 2am Sunday. This was because I had work to get done but I wanted to spend Sunday with my girl and not have any work-related distractions. So, Sunday was more play. The park, baseball, grandpa’s, etc. Fun and run.

Today it was so beautiful that I decided to do my 5 minute warm-up outside running. Spent the rest of the workout in the gym on the weights. I’m feeling back to the weights I was doing before everything fell apart a month ago, and I did 3 full sets.

Strength days are longer now, especially with the stretches at the end. I’ve only got 2 of them per week now, so I’m going to start treating them as 2 and a half hour lunches and plan the rest of the day accordingly.  Runs, swims, etc. are still under an hour of workout, plus showers, changing, etc.

Tomorrow I’m not actually working out. My girl is out of school, so we’re going mini-golfing with some folks from work at lunch time. Its a spring-time treat for all of us. Could I make time elsewhere to workout? Perhaps, but in reality, its already 1:45 AM on Tuesday, so not likely.

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Anyway, I weighed in at 264lbs, so no more backsliding. However, I only managed to pump out 39 push-ups, so I’m down 6 from last time. I’m NOT happy about that. So, here goes:

I DECLARE: By the time this is done, July 1st, 2008, I WILL BE ABLE TO DO 50 PUSH-UPS IN A SET.

I DECLARE: By the time this is done, July 1st, 2008, I WILL WEIGH A MAXIMUM OF 250 LBS.

I ALSO DECLARE: I WILL STILL BE ALIVE. That last one I’m a bit worried about, but there it is.

Not much else to report, really. Hit the weights today. Two sets is all I really have time for until I can get my butt into work earlier. Also, I cannot, for the life of me, remember doing a third set of cardio, but I’m sure I did. Its been a strange day. My upper legs are KILLING me. I think it was the squats. I’m really surprised that it hit me this quickly. Usually I don’t feel weight-pain until a day or two after the workout.

And how about that post from Brett? He’s not lying. He chatted with me today and brought up the topic of using Peapod to deliver groceries. In all its not a bad idea, so I talked to my wife about it this evening and she seemed open to it. It seems their organic selection has grown quite a bit. However, she warns me that its not the ‘lack of food’ that’s a problem. If not, maybe it’ll be easier to see once we have a stocked house.

‘Nite!

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Watching Chris from a distance has some pains and joy; I am so proud of all he has accomplished and he continues to push himself with a great outlook for achieving his goals - and I am also bummed that I can’t be there to help him over some hurdles. When I was in CT all it took was a quick visit to my office or the 5-minute drive to the gym for Chris to unload some of his problems. Now, I’m not pretentious enough to think I ever solved any of his problems, but I was always available for some advice. I chat with Chris time to time via instant messaging, but with the 3-hour time difference and the impersonal nature it’s clearly not the same.

So, I call on everyone who’s a supporter of Chris to help fill the gap that I left by leaving him before he reached his goal. He’s doing an amazing job at motivating himself to meet his goals and his blog posts show how hard it is to balance work, life & fitness. We’ve all been there in life where we have enough opportunities to quit and start making excuses - most of us fall prey to using excuses to cover up quitting before we reach our goal - and Chris is doing an admirable job of holding up his end of the deal. I hope to be back soon to see him in action, keep up the good work Chris!

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