Holiday Stuffing and End of the Year thoughts.

If you took a thousand random pictures of me in December, they would look like the picture above. I have been stuffing my face at every opportunity. To make matters worse, I have been resting my body for most of the month with a full 10 days with no activity.

As we all know, the balance of calories in and out have some unwanted side affects on the body. I steered away from scale most of the month. I checked it in the middle of December and today. To my surprise, the damage was not as bad as I had anticipated. I came away with a gain of 6 lbs. I may not have gained allot of weight, but I have felt horrible all month. I actually miss my clean diet and fuel.

The month was not a total loss. For the first time in three years, I am rested, relaxed, motivated and injury free. These were my main goals for December. I knew I had to be at this level to begin the Ironman training.

I started exercising last week. I have been on my MTB several days last week and this week. The first couple of rides were horrible. I felt heavy, sluggish and I am fairly certain I was sweating sugar from all of the sweets I have been eating. One of the side affects of not maintaining a balanced diet is fluctuating blood sugar. The result has been sugar cravings galore.
The rides this week were much better and I had an awesome 2.5 hour MTB ride yesterday. I almost felt like my old self. My legs were strong, but my cardio is a bit weak. That is to be expected from a long layoff. I got back on the treadmill this week to get my legs moving. I will start outdoor running this weekend and continue my preparation for the Marathon in March. I am so ready to get back to real training.

2008 was a great athletic year! For starters, I finally lost weight. I ended up almost 40lbs less than 2007. I finished my first Half-Ironman and completed a Half marathon in less than 2 hours. One of the most exciting things of 2008 was the fact that I finished those events without much training. I was dieting so I didn't have the full energy and power I plan to have next year.

2009 should be an awesome year. I plan to lose another 15 to 20 lbs by April 1st. This will allow me to be near my high school weight and allow me to train and race hard the rest of the year. I have three big events next year. I will start with my first marathon in March, then a 24 hour ride with Geo to support Arkansas Children's Hospital and finish out with the big daddy, a full Ironman. I have several events and goals scattered throughout the year, but those are the big ones.

I have a very important goal that I have been able to reach every year since I started it. The goal is to enhance the friendships I already have and create several new ones. I have always been blessed with an abundance of friends. I would like to take a moment to thank all of my friends who shared 2008 with me. I hope we can continue to share good times and share our friendships with others.

I wish you all a great 2009!

Ironman Louisville - We are so there!

My wife and I have decided to do an Ironman event next year. We are taking the plunge and going for the 140.6 at Ironman Louisville on August 30th 2009.

For those of you who don't keep up with the Triathlon world, this is the holy grail, the grand daddy of them all, the life changing event. Believe me when I tell you, this was a big decision and was not an easy decision.

I call my wife while on the way home from work. We chat about what to grab for dinner and the usual, "how was your day", chat. Toward the end of the conversation, she mentions that our good friends, Jo and David, are doing the Ironman Louisville. David is a seasoned Ironman competitor, but this will be Jo's first Ironman. We started our Triathlon adventures around the same time as Jo, so I was getting that "left behind" feeling.

Rebecca and I had worked out our Ironman plans last year. We both decided we would do our first Ironman together when we turned 40. That is still three years away, so there was no pressure, until I heard Jo was taking the plunge. Truth be told, for the last few months, I had been slowly moving our Ironman plans up a year at a time. I had already convinced my wife we would look at doing and Ironman in 2010. She was not against the idea and I had confidence in my abilities to persuade her to participate.

We decided to eat out and headed over to Schlotzky's. During the entire ride and meal, I was a focused zombie. All I could think about was doing the Ironman. I had convinced myself I was ready to start the journey. However, I had one big issue. My wife and I planned to do our first one together. She immediately started telling me that is was fine with her if I took the plunge. She was definitely not doing it next year and would still target 2010. Being a man, I really didn't believe her. We had the same conversation ten times in the next thirty minutes. I finally decided to believe that she didn't mind me doing the event with her, but I didn't really believe it. Women never really say what they mean.

I went upstairs to change clothes with the idea of signing up when I was done. I came down the stairs and my wife immediately informed me to sign her up. I was a bit confused. I then noticed her cheeks and face were red. Oh crap, I know what that means, crying was involved in the decision. I walked over and gave her a hug and told her I wouldn't sign up. I didn't want to rush her and it was important that we do this together. She told me she had made up her mind and I need to sign her up right now before she changed her mind. I am husband, must obey.

We both hovered over the computer as I signed us up. I was more nervous signing up than I was starting an event. We were both nauseous after the sign up was complete. There was just something crazy about signing up. It made everything final and signified a complete change in our training mindset and lifestyle. This is big time stuff. You can do minimal training and complete a half-Ironman, but a full Ironman takes dedication.

We are going to stick to our holiday training plans. We will redo our yearly training plan for next year and have it ready by January 1st. Not only do we have redo our training plan, we have to redo our family plans and our daily routines. We have to get the house where we want it and a ton of other tasks we need to complete. Training for an Ironman takes a lot of time and energy.

We both have blogs and will routinely provide updates. This is going to be an awesome journey with friends. As I have always stated, the training journey with friends is the best part of an event. To all of our friends, we are going to need your companionship, your courage and occasionally a shoulder to cry on.

Stress Management

The holidays arrive bearing gifts of stress!

Why do holidays have to be stressful? Holidays should be about spending time with your loved ones and enjoying time off. We shouldn't be battling the inconsiderate shopping crowds, traffic and hustle and bustle. We shouldn't be up cooking all night, only to load up and travel to three different cities to visit relatives the next two days. I don't want to sound like a scrooge, I love the holidays, I just don't like the hustle and bustle. Why can't my wife and I just set on the couch for a couple of days and eat bon bons in front of the fire?

As we all know, this holiday season is more stressful than most. Our country's financial and job loss situation make this a very difficult time for everyone. I have always tried to find a way to manage my stress. The majority of the time I can use exercise to wipe away my stress. However, we have stressful times that move outside the boundaries of our normal stress management procedures. Last week was one of those times.

I reached a point last week where I did not want to exercise at all. I was eating crap, feeling sluggish and completely unmotivated. Naturally, this amplified all of my stress. I had to find a way out of this stress loop and get back on track.

My youngest brother is a hunter. He will hunt anything that moves as long as as he can eat it. I call him to brag about a new bike and he calls me when he has a new gun. I may wear spandex in public, but he thinks camouflage is fashionable for any occasion. I try to hunt with him at least one weekend a year. I am not big on hunting, but it gives us some much needed quality time. My brothers and I are very close and we don't get to spend much time together. Besides, maybe some time in nature will clear my mind and reduce some of my stress.

Last Friday night, we pack up the camouflage and headed to South Arkansas for a weekend of fun in the woods. We arrived at our destination around 1 AM with plans of being in our deer stands by 6 AM. Not getting much sleep did not bother me nearly as much as knowing the temperature Saturday morning was to be around 23 degrees. I had every piece of warm bike clothing I own, under my camouflage pants and jacket. Surprisingly, I wasn't a bit cold. As far as the hunting goes, I saw over 50 deer that weekend but didn't even take a shot. Being in nature and watching the deer run around seemed to be helping my stress.

The deer camp is actually the house of a good friend of ours. He and his brother live across the street from each other out in the country. They are both divorced and have daughters. When ask why they are divorced, they will both tell you some version of their wife not being able to fish or hunt and they had to let them go.

Their daughters, however, are excellent hunters, even the 9 year old. We stayed with the brother with the 9 year old. I had a first class lesson on how a 9 year old girl can run the show. I guess it is somewhat comforting to know that women are born with certain traits and it is natures plan not some evil plan they develop as they get older. I had no idea that a 9 year old girl was so proficient at sarcasm and ordering people around. Truly, women are the more intelligent species.

While chatting with the 9 year old, I noticed a couple of guitars and a drum set by the TV. I was immediately informed she was in charge of this equipment and would allow me to join in the fun if I so desired. I couldn't see myself spending time playing Rock Band, but I would participate if it made her happy.

She turned on the equipment and ordered me to take over the drums. Her dad would be the lead guitar, my brother would be the backup and she would be the lead vocals. I have extremely good hand eye coordination so it only took a few minutes for me to get the hang of the drums. I was mildly entertained and started to relax. As time went on, I started to enjoy myself and loosen up. The next thing I know, we have a house full of people singing and dancing. I have been on the drums for over three hours and all of my stress has disappeared. Who knew that this silly game would wipe away all of my stress. I had a blast, although I will admit there is something inherently wrong with a 9 year old girl singing Hotel California and The Joker.

I returned home refreshed and longing for a good run. I guess I am back to normal, well, as normal as I can be.

Winter Training

We are closely approaching winter, well, an Arkansas winter. An Arkansas winter could be 75 degrees one day and 35 degrees the next. Even worse, it could be 75 in the morning and 35 by the afternoon. We spend most of the winter with our pockets stuffed with arm warmers, leg warmers and other warm clothing. The rule of thumb is to carry a lot with you and be able to remove anything you start out wearing.

Winter time also marks the end of long daylight hours. This reduces every ones training time and forces us to perform unspeakable things like riding the trainer, lifting weights and core training. Fortunately, I have enough warm clothing to avoid the trainer as much as possible. Unfortunately, there is no way to get out of weights and core work during the winter. I know it is necessary but I would much rather be on my bike.

I did my first chest, back and core workout Tuesday morning. My chest and back are sore but my core is in the most agony. Did you know you use your core when you are typing? Oh the agony. I climbed out of bed a 4:30 am and stumbled to the coffee pot. This is not a misprint and I have a witness. Rebecca, horribly shocked, witness my early morning stumbling. If you know me, you know that I like to have a plan for everything. I started training for my early morning rise a couple of weeks ago. I started getting up at 5:30 and started the day with coffee and music videos on VH1. I would set around for an hour then proceed to my normal work day routine. This brutal training routine help me prepare my body for the early morning workouts. (Don't tell anyone, but I felt really good after my early workout. I may one day reach Jedi Master status).

I decided to change up my winter routine this year. I have all but retired the road bike and spent considerable time on the MTB. I will still do Wednesday hill training and weekend fun rides on the Road bike, but most of my harder training will be on the MTB. It is a nice change of pace, killer workout and just plain old fun! I have been on the MTB around a dozen times in the last three weeks. I have gained some much needed and long lost skill and balance. MTB is so much more fun when you don't have to worry about killing yourself on a jagged rock. I am actually training very hard right now. I will do the sport class at a MTB race in Hot Springs in two weeks. The sport class is 20 miles of fast single track. There are a few technical spots and some climbing, but most of the course is fast. I have no aspirations of finishing above the middle of the pack. Actually, a middle of the pack finish would be great. I am hoping my end of the season fitness from the 70.3 will help me toward the end of race. I will give a full report after the race.

Tomorrow is another 4:30 rise and shine. Summer will not return fast enough for me.

70.3 - The Sticker is Mine!!!!!

I have finally achieved Jedi status! After two failed attempts, the sticker is mine.

My wife and I hit the road on Thursday morning. The Austin Ironman Longhorn 70.3 was just four days away. I like to arrive at the destination of a big event a few days early. This gives ample time to relax, enjoy the process and survey the course. When possible, I like to stay a couple of days after the event to further enjoy the relaxation. We took two additional days off after the Ironman Kansas 70.3 and found it very relaxing. Since this was the end of the season and a huge event, we decided to take the entire week off after the event. Neither us has taken extended time off in a long time. We were looking forward to some much needed downtime and some sight seeing in Austin.

I don't know if it was the importance of completing this event or the shock to my brain that I was about to take eleven days off, I was not my usual anal retentive self. I normally start packing for a Triathlon several days out. I didn't start packing for this trip until the night before and didn't finish until about an hour before leaving town. Even more out of character, I didn't test ride my bike with the race wheels. I couldn't help but think I was forgetting some equipment or losing my focus.

Race morning was a typical race morning. Everyone was up early and dealing with the usual race jitters. However, I noticed my wife's race jitters were a bit worse than normal. Parking at was about a half mile from the race site so we had to ride buses from the parking lot. My wife had the expression of kid on her way to the first day of school and she looked terrified. I tried to calm her nerves but was not making very much progress. I deiced to let her sort out her feelings and wrote if off as race jitters. Little did we know about how this day would end. I can honestly say women's intuition now scares me.

The race site was buzzing with activity. There were over 2300 participants, but it seemed like 10,000 people were at the site. I am a very relaxed guy on race day and nothing really bothers me. I can't image what was going through my wife's mind as she organized her transition area.

With this many people racing, there would be sixteen swim waves going off two minutes apart. I was in the fourth wave so I didn't have to stand around long. I am not a fast swimmer, but I am a very strong swimmer. I can maintain an steady pace and keep a fairly straight line. I know I can't swim fast, so I prepare for a long journey of mind wandering and full contact swimming. Tons of people pass me in the swim with several of them having unpleasant experiences. Being a strong swimmer, and a big guy, it is not likely anyone is swim over me or move me around in the water. I had more people attempt to derail me on this swim than any other swim I have done. I had a lady swim all the way up my back and hit her chin on the back of my head. Without missing a stroke, I looked back to see if she was OK. I thought I was going to have to turn around and rescue her. A very stubborn guy decided he was going to swim right through me to get closer to the buoys. Each attempt became more aggressive and I became agitated. I am not easily agitated, but I can be quite unpleasant if you get me to that point. After several minutes of this behavior, I decided to plant my right elbow to his forehead. Needless to say, that was the last I heard from him. The swim was a bit short, but my time would still have been a good seven minutes faster than usual. I had gotten off to a good start.

The bike is where I let the big dog eat and enjoy myself. I have noticed the majority of Triathletes, at every level, are average cyclist. Coming from a cyclist background, I usually have very good times on the bike, even at my higher weight. The bike course was extremely congested. Cyclist were stretched out from the yellow line to the edge of the shoulder, it was madness. One of the worst things about racing with average cyclist are their average knowledge of riding in a pack. You should always be as far right as you can be so you don't impede the faster riders passing on your left. I am a big safety guy. Being the club president, and leading group rides of fifty people or more, safety has to be my main concern. To my surprise, I found myself going over the yellow line to pass the crowds. Even worse than that, was my average speed. Through the first twenty miles I was averaging twenty-two and a half miles per hour. That is faster than I average on the sprints. I must have gotten caught up in the moment and was concentrating too much on getting away from the crowds. I knew if I didn't slow down I would be toast later. The crowd started to clear out at around mile thirty. My speed had started to go way down, much further than I wanted it to. The wind, the rolling terrain and my early pace had already done the damage I had hoped to avoid. My legs were toast. It was going to be a long thirteen mile run.

I started the run with some surprising enthusiasm. Even though my legs were toast, I had several celebration points. I had a good swim and a descent bike time. More importantly I had not had any cramping and my energy levels were good. By this point of the Ironman Kansas, I couldn't bend over to put on my running shoes. The current pain I was experiencing was child's play to that pain. The run course was a tough six mile loop with two miles of dirt trails on each loop. There was a huge hill, Quadzilla, on the trail section. The pain of running up that would only be surpasses by the pain of running up it a second time. The run course had its good points. The rest stops were awesome and had live bands. I have never seen as many spectators at a race as this race. The run course was lined with hundreds of people. It seemed like everyone was cheering you on and handing out wet rags to throw on your neck. It was by far the best supported run course I had every experienced. I never really relax at a run course until my wife passes me. I always worry about her making out of the swim. She is small thing, so she is like a small fish in a big pond of piranha. She passed me at mile seven. I gave her a high five and told her to finish strong. I had started my walk run procedure so it would still be a while before I crossed the finish line. I was very happy at this point in the race. My wife was safe and I was going to finish. My only remaining goal was to try to run enough to finish in under seven hours. I would have to some painful running, but I thought I could do it.

I ran the last one hundred yards to the finish line. I mean, hey, you can't walk across the finish line. I looked at the clock and smiled. I had finished in under seven hours. I hobbled across the line over to the section where they take your timing chip off your ankle. It is really great that they have people to do this for you. Bending down would be a big mistake. I had my medal around my neck and a big smile. I looked around for my wife. I knew she had finished before me and would be waiting at the finish line. I looked for a few minutes, but didn't see her. She must have got tired of standing around and went to the team tent to rest her legs. I reached the tent to receive high fives and congratulations from the crew. I took of my shoes and slipped on my flip flops. One of my friend then ask me a question I was not prepared for and made me feel a bit sick to my stomach. "Where is your wife"?

I looked at them in disbelief. I quickly pointed out that she had passed me at mile seven and I had not seen her after that moment. She had surely finished at least thirty minutes before I finished. One of our friends, Gary, immediately took off in a mad dash for the medical tent. I grabbed a bottle of water and started to gather my thoughts. Moments later, I could hear someone yelling my name. Gary was running at me in a full sprint waving for me to come running. My wife was in the medical tent and was in bad shape. They were preparing to put her in an ambulance and get her to a hospital. I hobbled as fast as i could after Gary. I could hardly walk, I was in pain and very hungry and thirsty. It is amazing what adrenaline will do for the body and mind.

I arrived at the medical tent and nearly went into shock. My wife was laid out on a stretcher surrounded by medics and a doctor. She had an IV in each arm and an oxygen mask covered her nose. I can't tell you how pitiful she looked. I quickly bent down by her side. She looked up at me with those big eyes that were full of fear and tears. It was all I could do to stay calm. I grabbed her hand and calmly told her it would be all right.

I could hear them calling out her blood pressure numbers and had to ask them to repeat those numbers because they couldn't be real. Unfortunately, they were real, sixty-six over forty-four. That wasn't the worst part of the problem, her oxygen saturation levels were low and were not rising. I had recently seen this problem with my mother, who had a bad lung infection. I knew this was bad. The doctor informed me they were waiting on an ambulance.

Our friends were now around us figuring out what they could do to help. Jo and David were going to load up our bikes and gear and get my Xterra back to the hotel. I have mentioned this several times but it is worth repeating, you can not underestimate the value of great friends. As we stood around waiting on the ambulance, I heard the doctor say my wife's blood pressure was rising and so was her oxygen saturation levels. We were not out of the woods, but this was great news. As the gang heard this news, we all started to relax a bit. Gary leaned over to me and stated this will be really funny in a couple of months and someone should get a picture. I looked at him like he was crazy.

The ambulance arrived and they loaded her onto another stretcher. At this point her vital signs were looking good, but they wanted to play it safe and continue with the planned visit to the emergency room. I looked to the left and saw David snapping off several pictures of Rebecca on the stretcher. What was I saying about friends? The paramedics were very nice and accommodating. The driver would relay me information from the guy in the back. We were looking very good now. Her vitals were really looking good. We stayed at the hospital for around four hours. The visit wasn't all roses and made me very glad they sent us to the hospital. Rebecca received almost four bags of fluid. The diagnosis was a heat stroke.

Rebecca had finished the race and was waiting on me at the finish line. She decided to run to the ladies room and felt dizzy. She had walked over the medical tent to get some help. Luckily, she made it there before she passed out.

We arrived at the hotel that night and ordered pizza. We were all hungry and exhausted. Rebecca and I stayed in Austin another three days and relaxed. We tasted the local flavor and and some fine dining. I awoke in the middle of night several times that week. I couldn't help but stare at my wife sleeping peacefully beside me. Life will beat you up on occasion, but in the end, Life Is Good!!!!!!

Half Marathon - Personal Best

It was a brisk 43 degrees Saturday morning. This was quite the contrast of the 90 degrees at the Ironman Longhorn just a few weeks ago. Rebecca and I had decided to run the Soaring Wings Half Marathon in Conway. This event benefits a Christian home for children in Conway. I believe this was their first year. This was an awesome event! The course was great, the rest stops were great, the finishers metal was great and finish line food was awesome! Rebecca and I will make this a regular event. Mark your calenders for the third week of October next year. The website is www.soaringwingshalf.com.

The race started at 8 AM so we planned to arrive just before 7 AM to pickup our packets and timing chips. The online registration showed around 600 participants, so this was going to be a nice sized event. We got checked in and ready to roll.

I had some fairly lofty goals for this event. As most of you know, I have lost over 30 lbs this year. In addition to that, I have done more run training than in the past. We trained for the Ironman Longhorn with the plan to move into the Marathon training for the LR marathon in March. Even though this was a spur of the moment decision to do this event, we were physically and mentally ready.

Earlier this year, at the LR Half, I ran with a time of 3 hours. Two year ago, I ran the LR half at 2 hours and 35 minutes. In my mind, with the weight loss and the training, I was convinced I could do this half marathon in under two hours. You read that correctly, I was hoping to do the race in under two hours. I only told a couple of friends this number, and they thought I was crazy. One of my good friends, Hboo, even gave his prediction of a 2:09 finish. Make no mistake about it, for me, that would be a phenomenal time, but I wanted the gold standard of a sub two hours. Another one of my friends, Jo, thought I was crazy as well. She would later tell me her and another friend were discussing my goal and getting a slight laugh. I can just hear them saying, "Oh that Chris Irons, he such a funny guy".

I had a solid plan. I planned to start out with the 1:55 pace group. This would allow me to get a jump start and allow me to drop back to the 2 hour pace group if I needed too. If all else failed, I knew I had to have a pace of 9:09 per mile to get below 2 hours, I had my garmin ready to roll.

I joined the 1:55 group at the start as planned. I was running along trying my best not to look at my garmin. The pace felt great, but I knew the number would scare me If I looked down. I made it two miles without looking at my garmin. We had averaged 8:41 for the first two miles. I snarled a bit but decided to give it my best. Just after mile 3, I had that bonking feeling. I had a great dinner the night before and some pancakes for breakfast. I had consumed plenty of food, but my blood sugar seemed to be in trouble. I didn't bring anything, other than water, with me. A volunteer was handing out sport beans at one of the rest stops. I couldn't get to them in time, but two ladies next to me grabbed some. They didn't like the taste and were considering throwing them away at the next stop. I quickly volunteered to dispose of them. They handed them over and I inhaled them. That seemed to help a bit, but I needed more. I was in trouble.

I hung with 1:55 group until mile 6. I could have stayed with them a bit longer, but this rest stop was handing out Roctane Gu Gels and I needed some crack. I grabbed three packets, a Gatorade and decided on a porta potty quick stop.

The right turn past this rest stop was downhill and I needed it to get moving again. A half a mile later, I was in a race car. My blood sugar shot up and my legs decided they wanted to move. I settled into a 8:30 pace. This course had several inclines and a couple of small hills. I blew up the next hill at 8:20 and found myself running just over an 8 pace on the flats. I was a bit confused. I was not putting out that much effort but was blazing a trail and passing several people who had been in the 1:55 group. I decided to let my body guide me and run whatever pace it would allow me to run, no matter how fast it was. From mile 7 to 10 I was a different person. I would see the pace as low at 7:55 and as high as 9. The important thing was my average being 8:50.

I reached the 10 mile marker and started telling myself there was just a 5k left. How many Triathlons have a done and just had to suffer through the 3 mile run? I can kick in the pace and finish this out. I was already doing the numbers and figuring out what pace I need to finish in under 2 hours if I had to walk. It was then that I had tough talk with myself. I will not be walking I will be picking up the pace.

I keep passing mile markers, 10, 11, 12. At mile 12, my legs decided to let me know they were in some pain. The last half mile starts with a big downhill ending with a flat finish. That downhill nearly ripped my quad muscled from the bone. My legs were screaming, but I was not going to let them win. We were going to finish strong. I picked up the pace as I rounded the corner to the finished line. I looked up at clock and couldn't keep from smiling. I crossed the line at 1:56:24.

They removed my timing chip and gave me my medal. The medal was very cool and heavy. I walked back to finish line to watch other finishers. I took off my shoes to let my feet relax. That is when it hit me, my wife has not finished yet. I had actually finished a running race before my superhero wife who is a great runner. I looked at the clock, she still had two minutes to finish in under 2 hours. Under my breath I started repeating, come on baby, come on, where are you. There she was coming around the last corner. I looked at the clock and she had 45 seconds to finish. She was going to finish in under 2 hours. She crossed the line at 1:59:30.

It was an amazing morning. We both had personal best and finished in under 2 hours. (Don't tell anyone, but I think I like this running stuff).

MTB and Mating

I skipped out of work early today and hit the trails. I had planned to go home and do some P90x, but I just couldn't resist the weather. With just a couple of weeks of late daylight left, I want to get in as many afternoon rides as possible. I have developed quite a MTB addiction. I don't know if i will be able to maintain my sanity if I have to wait for the weekend to eat some dirt. (Sarah is probably grinning ear to ear as I write.)

My legs were a bit tired from the weekend running and cycling so I decided to take it easy and enjoy the outdoors. I have never really been able to enjoy the ride. I never had the fitness or the skill to relax in the woods, not to mention my fear of being in the woods alone. I always feel Jason or a Grizzly bear is waiting at every corner. I have started riding with my IPOD shuffle and that seems to take the edge off. I have finally developed some skill and I am reaping the benefits of the end of the year Triathlons and weight loss.

I was coasting around a corner when I had to slam on the brakes and grab a tree. Just up ahead, on the trail, were four deer. I didn't see any antlers, so these were does, the female deer. With the weather getting colder, the deer are nearing mating season. With that many doe in one area, I was sure there was an anxious male nearby. As I suspected, the big boy was about twenty yards to my left. He had a small body but his antlers had eight points.

I decided to just hang out and watch for a few minutes. The four doe moved about thirty yards and stopped to wait on him. He was motionless and eyeballing me. He was either worried about me shooting him or stealing one of his ladies. Obviously, I had interrupted the mating process and he was not happy. I can't blame him, I would be very upset if someone interrupted me during the mating process.

He had things setup well. He had four ladies show up to his pad. Four to one odds are pretty awesome in the animal kingdom. Oddly enough, that is not top notch odds for men. You really need like thirty to one odds to feel like you have a chance with women. I don't think the ladies understand how hard it was dating as a young man. The fear of rejection was crippling, especially knowing you needed either good looks or good conversation skills to make any progress.

Hey, if you are a deer, all you have to do is rub your antlers on a tree and pee near the tree. If there is an interested lady in the area, she will go to your spot and and duplicate your process. Sooner or later the two of you meet at tree and all is well. How easy would it be if the human mating process was that easy? Well, that might not be a good idea, men would go around peeing on everything.

Frequent Blogging

Alright my blogging friends, or should I say my not blogging friends, it is time to pick up the pace. Several of us are guilty of only blogging a couple of times a month while our other blogging friends pick up the slack. I am going to lead by example and hope the rest of you join in the fun. I am sure you want to share you exciting life with others and they want to share it with you. Lets get rocking!!!!!

I am working on the Ironman Longhorn update. There is allot to tell so it is taking a while. I will be wrapping up the weight loss blogging with the Ironman update. I will recap the race and give some final thoughts on the weight loss. I will still throw in some weight loss conversation in the future, but it is time to switch gears on the blog.

Winter time is just around the corner in Arkansas. The daylight is going away and so are the races and most of the group rides. This is a perfect formula for getting out of shape and putting on some holiday pounds. Do you have a plan to avoid the holiday monster?

I have developed a plan and started it last week. I still have some fine tuning to do, but I have the basics of the plan down. Starting last Thursday, I vowed to do at least a thirty minute workout each day for thirty days. I am on track with completing that goal for nine days now. This is a jump start to get me back into the training mode. With the taper leading up to the half Ironman and twelve days of vacation, I had slipped of the wagon. My diet has suffered as well.

I struggled with the idea of working out that much and not getting bored or injured. They say variety is the spice of life, so I am loading up on variety. My workout plans include, road cycling, running, mountain biking, racquetball, and P90X. I am taking a break from swimming and brick workouts. The P90X will add much needed weight and core workouts. I am training for the Little Rock Marathon in March. With this variety of workouts and intensity, I should be able stay fresh and avoid injury.

I hit the MTB for the first time last Thursday. It was miserable experience. I made it less than two miles into the ride before I drew blood. I went down on some sharp rocks and nearly cut my finger off and bruised my bicep and triceps in my left arm. I was pretty shaken up, but rode another two miles before heading home.

I decided to get back on the horse and went to Cedar Glades on Friday. I had a very nice hour and ten minute workout. I gained some balance and sharpened some skills. I had fun. I went back to Cedar Glades on Sunday for an hour and twenty minute workout. I had an awesome time. Today, I had the breakthrough. I left work early and headed out to Burns Park. I rode for an hour and thirty-five minutes. The ride is hard to describe. I have never felt that way on a MTB. Everything just seemed to be flowing. I imagine the increased fitness from the half Ironman training and the thirty pounds of weight loss contributed to the great ride.

Well, I don't want to waste all of my tales on one blog, so I will end for now. Besides, Rebecca and I are getting up early and doing an eight mile run. Blogging friends, get to blogging!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Circus Bear and The Skinny Guy

A friend of mine posted the photo on the right on his blog. I thought it would be cool to compare that with a an older photo of me. The picture on the left is from three years ago at the same ride. I look like a Circus Bear on a bike. I am having a hard time understanding the feelings that ran through me as I stared at these two photos. I stared at the photos for over an hour. I was overwhelmed with so many different feelings: happiness, sadness, pleasure, guilt, accomplishment, embarrassment, success, failure and many more. I am overjoyed with the new me, yet I am very embarrassed that the old me ever existed. Do we have to be a failure at something before we see success. Do we need to hit rock bottom before we climb out? What does it take for us to realize we need change in our lives? I honestly thought I was going to cry. I did at one point have to wipe my eyes.

How can something as simple as losing weight make such a difference in your life? Nothing about losing weight is simple. The process is certainly not and the positive affect of weight loss is far from simple. I believe most people realize how hard it is to lose weight. I also believe that most people underestimate the positive affect of weight loss. This leads most of us to believe the hard work to lose the weight is not worth the payoff. I am here to tell you the payoff is worth ten times the work.

The first thirteen weeks were the core of the program. You adhere to a strict plan consuming only the food provided by the program. You are required to go to a class each week. You pick up your food, see a nurse and step on the scales. Every three weeks you take a blood test and see the doctor. This part of the program was very important to me. I needed the accountability and someone watching over my shoulder as I step on the scale.

This week is week fifteen of the program. This is called the Transition part of the program. We start introducing fruits and vegetables and prepare for the maintenance phase. Before this program, you couldn't pay me to eat vegetables. The only may my wife could get vegetables into my stomach was to hide them on my meat lovers pizza. The maintenance phase is just as important as the core phase. In fact, statistically speaking, ninety-nine percent of people that don't go through the maintenance phase regain most if not all of the weight. Putting the weight back on is not an option for me. I will be in maintenance for a long time.

You have seen the visual change so lets get to the numbers. Over the last fifteen weeks I have lost thirty-one pounds. I have lost eight and half inches from my waist and one and half inches from my neck. My blood pressure has dropped from and average of around one-hundred and thirty-five to below one-hundred and twenty. My resting heart rate is in the thirties and averages in the mid fifties during the day. I dropped my bad cholesterol by over twenty points and raised my good cholesterol by seven points.

I have not completely reached my weight loss goals. I still have a few more pounds to lose. My weight loss has slowed the last few weeks. I have been training for the Ironman Longhorn 70.3 in Austin, Texas. That has required me to consume a lot more calories than someone would normally consume at this phase of the program. I expect to regain the momentum after the event and lose the remaining weight.

The 70.3 event is just ten days away. I am in the best shape of my life and I am pumped. I have had two bad experiences in my previous attempts. The first attempt ended with me quitting due to heavy cramping. The second attempt was ended early due to bad weather. To tell you the truth, I am not sure I would have made it. I was experiencing heavy cramping and was already walking the run. I have my chance for redemption. I want my sticker!

Grazing, Binging and Super Powers

A few weeks ago, my parents were in town. My mother had "minor" surgery and they were here for a little over a week. I won’t go into my thoughts of "minor" surgery. To say the least, my idea of "minor" surgery only includes dental work. I am sure most of you have experienced the hospital drill. You wait, wait and wait. Your sleeping arrangements are less than desirable and the hospital food selection is just as appetizing.

My mom had some complications and ended up staying in the hospital for almost a week. Since we live close, my dad stayed with us at night and returned to hospital each day. During the difficult days, he stayed at the hospital. He stayed in the room for forty-eight hours straight at one point. He went without a shower and ate hospital food. Throw all of those factors in to one basket and you have a very tired and stressed out individual.

The complications cleared and mom improved dramatically in a short time. Dad had decided to come to our house for a shower and some sleep. He was very tired, so he decided to grab some food at the hospital café on his way out. The café had a nice looking salad bar. This sounded good to his taste buds so he grabbed a plate and headed for the bar. He loaded the plate to the point it started to fold. He grabbed a soda and approached the check out counter. The lady started ringing up his items and continued to press buttons on the register. My dad looked around as if she was ringing up the next persons items by mistake. This was a café that charged you by the items you added to the salad. By the time she stopped, the total for the salad was almost sixteen dollars. The truly hilarious part of this is that my dad is a bit "tight" with money. He didn’t know if should eat the salad or preserve it as an ornament.

The past couple of weeks have brought a lull in my weight loss efforts. I have weighed in at the exact same weight as the week before or just a few ounces below. I have been stuck at just below thirty pounds of weight loss for three weeks. At first, I just dismissed it as the expected lull the nutritionist was telling me to expect. As the weeks passed, I became concerned and a bit discouraged.

Being of the technical type, I have learned to break things down to their basic level to find the issue at hand. I broke out a spreadsheet and started analyzing the basics. I am not going to tell you that losing weight is easy. If it was easy I would have done it a long time ago. However, I will tell you the basic premise of weight loss is actually very simple. You need to burn more calories than you eat.

I have a daily habit that is crucial to my weight loss and will be crucial to maintaining my weight once I reach my goal. I log every single calorie ingested and every single calorie burned. I run weekly reports and use charts and graphs to track everything. I am not saying everyone should be as anal retentive at this as I am, but I do recommend that you use some sort of system to track these values.

It did not take me long to figure out what was causing my problem. I don’t know if it was my increase in training or my increased load at work, but I had all but stopped logging my calorie intake and exercise. I was shocked and very upset to see that few entries in my logs. I was even more upset when I started trying to catch up on my logging. I discovered I had a couple of days with a calorie deficit and several days with excess calories consumed. I ran the report for the week, and you guessed it, my totals for the last couple of weeks were at a break even point.

If the first step is finding the problem the second step is finding a way to fix the problem. The first thing I need to do is get back to my logging. That part is easy so I started that right away. The second issue I discovered was a bit more surprising. As I started logging my calories, I discovered I had been grazing and binging the last two weeks.

I have binged before, but I have never been a grazer. In the past, if I was hungry I ate a full meal. Lately, I have been grazing on all sorts of foods. What is even stranger are the foods I am craving. I have been craving sugar. This may not seem strange to everyone else, but I am not much on sugar. Sure I will occasionally indulge, but I rarely seek out sugar. My wife found these low sugar one hundred calorie ice cream sandwiches. They are great as long as you don’t eat five of them in a span of two hours. I always wondered how people who didn’t eat much gained weight. Grazing is a bad habit.

This weekend was the Multiple Sclerosis cycling benefit ride at Petit Jean State Park. This is by far the best benefit event I have had to pleasure to attend. We have been doing this ride for several years. Not only is it a fun time with great people for a great cause, it is one of the best rides on the planet. The scenery around Petit Jean is awesome.

Our cycling club has kind of adopted this event as our main benefit to support. We do a lot of benefit rides across the state. If you want to raise money for something, put together a cycling event with interesting terrain and you will draw a crowd. This event is rather special. Since it is a two day event, they have a great dinner on Saturday night. They invite someone with MS to be the guest speaker. The person always tells their story of when they discovered they had MS. It is always an emotional story that will have you reaching for the nearest napkin to wipe your eyes. If you haven’t had time to join a benefit event near you, you should make the time. It doesn’t matter what benefit you support as long as you support at least one.

In the past, the MS 150 has been a fun ride for me. I was never fast enough to hang with the front groups or even the middle groups. My weight made it hard for me to complete the ride without cramping or taking an hour or two longer than everyone one else. I had different plans for this year’s event. Since we have a half-ironman in four weeks, this was the perfect opportunity for me to test my nutrition and body. I planned to use my Triathlon bike and ride without drafting the entire seventy-five miles. To further test my fitness I planned to run five miles after the ride.

I rolled in the middle of pack to start the ride. We are always bunched up the first few miles until we descend down the mountain. About a half a mile from the start of the descent, a good friend of mine comes around me. I quickly follow his lead so we can be the first ones down the mountain. As we reach the bottom of the mountain, I move into the lead spot. Before the ride started, I told all of my friends that I would be out front all day. If I wasn’t moving to slow for you, feel free to set on my wheel and enjoy the draft.

I had three goals for the day. I have a sprint triathlon next weekend, so I needed to test my efforts for fifteen miles. I plan to put in a hard effort for the first fifteen miles, and then maintain a steady effort for fifty-six miles. My third goal was to have a good five miles run after the seventy-five mile ride. These goals would allow me to test my cardio, legs and my nutrition.
I moved to front and settled into a fast pace that I thought I could maintain for fifteen and not jeopardize my other goals. I looked down at my speed several times in disbelief and decided to slow a bit. I was moving fast and felt great. The fifteen mile point ended at the base of a hard climb. My actual race strategy is to spin up the climbs at a pace that will not kill my legs. I pulled of to the left of the paceline to let the next person take over. To my surprise, there were a ton of people riding my wheel. As I pulled off from the front, the next guy in line complimented my pace and found it astounding that I could pull for that long at that pace. I tried to hide my smile and thanked him for the compliment.

Most of the group shot up the hill and continued the pace. It was hard to let them go, but they weren’t going to be by themselves the next sixty miles and then go for a run. I settled into my pace and stuck to my game plan. I was moving very fast, but still had time to enjoy the scenery. The miles would pass by and I would continue to feel great. Actually, I was getting stronger with each mile. I caught several people along the way. They would jump on my wheel and hang for a bit before they had to drop off due to the high pace. At one point I thought I had super powers. There is nothing that makes you feel better on a bike than being able to drop other riders.

Most of the riders stopped at the lunch stop. I brought all of my nutrition with me, so I only made two quick stops to refill my water bottle. This allowed me to get in front of most of the people that left me on the hill earlier. I ended up being the seventh person to finish the ride. That is far cry from the heavy guy who was one of the last people in last year.

I loaded my bike and put on my running shoes. Needless to say, everyone who saw me get ready for the run thought I was crazy. I took off at a good pace and felt great. I had plenty of speed and power left in my legs. I don’t know if I did this on purpose, I ran in the direction the riders would be coming in. I guess I wanted everyone to see that I was in good enough shape to go for a run. You should have seen the look on peoples faces as I met them on the hill. They would be suffering up the last climb of the day and look up to see me running at them looking fresh. I couldn’t hide the smile any longer.

I was successful in meeting all of my goals. In fact, I exceeded those goals. This was a great weekend. I love having super powers!!!!