182.5!

I weighed in at 182.5 today! Yesterday I was at 184. I know there can be a lot of variation in daily weight. However, when I was at 184 yesterday, I had my body fat measured. I came in at 14.8% with a lean body mass of 156.8lbs. My trainer said I was 1mm out of 50 from going down a notch to 13.9% body fat, so I'm right on the edge. I've noticed that I have been getting skinnier lately. Also, that lean mass weight is the highest it's been in awhile. My body loves to put on muscle even though I'm having a 500+ calorie deficit per day and I'm doing a ton of cardio. I don't have the lean gene I guess, but I'm making progress towards getting down to 170lbs.

13.1 in 1:48:28

On January 29th, I ran in the 3M Half Marathon. It was my first half marathon. My coaches said it was OK to run in it if I felt fine. I've been having some PF and Achilles tendonitis problems recently. I ran the race with Lauren so after I got up at 4:30 that morning, I went to pick her up and then went to the race site. It was kind of cold and there was a long line for the bathrooms. We never warmed up and just got in the back of the pack. We never heard the gun go off but the crowd just started moving. The first mile was about 8:45, but that was to be expected because we had to run around all of the slow people and I was just trying to get into my stride. About mile 2.5, Lauren and I took a detour off the course to go pee, but quickly got back on course. We were running pretty well and after Mile 2, we were holding a pretty good pace. I felt fine and I had minor pains through my legs, but nothing major. At around Mile 10, I left Lauren. I had been going at about a 155bpm pace, while Lauren was much higher at around 178. I had more energy left in me, so I pushed myself the rest of the way. I finished really strong with a time of 1:40:28. Not bad for my first half mary. I averaged 7:40/mile. I'm pretty happy with my race and I'll see if I can improve at the Freescale Half Marathon in 2 weeks.

184.5!

I'm losing weight! It feels good. I'm down to 184.5 as of this morning so I should be under 184 by the end of the week. I've just really hammered down on eating crap and drinking alcohol.

Last week was a recovery week and it was needed. Today, I went out and ran an easy 40 minutes and I was much, much faster. I probably averaged 8:10min/mile instead of my usual 8:40min/mile.

It looks like I'll be swimming with Lauren a lot. We are both at about the same pace so it great pushing each other. It'll make both of us faster.

33 & 1/3yds

Well, I figured out how to take improve my swim times by 25%. Find out that the pool that you are swimming in is 33&1/3 yds, *NOT* 25yds like you thought.

On a side note, I swam a "real" 100yds in about 1:27, so I've gotten a lot faster when I thought I was way, way, way slower.

Do you need more fiber in your diet?

Man, this will probably be way TMI, but I gotta post this. I usually eat a high fiber diet. My usual morning breakfast is the grandpa cereal, aka Kellogg's All-bran. Well, I've been feeling a little stopped up lately because I switched my breakfast cereal to something that is a little more appetizing, but contains a lot less fiber. I need to go back to All-bran for about a week to get the sewer system cleared out again.

PF Sucks

I think I'm starting to develop plantar fascitiis. If this is true, it really, really sucks. I'm seeing a PT later this week so we'll say what they say.

Weekend Workouts

This week, I only missed one workout not counting the weightlifting workouts. I missed a spin sesion on Tuesday. Everything else I did almost to completion. I'm proud! I don't lift weights because I hate it, but I need to start doing it again. I do get benefit from it.

This weekend, I biked 50 miles with the accompanied crotch soreness, and then ran about 5 miles off of the bike. Running off of the bike is very, very difficult right now, but I was still able to run 4.1 miles in about 34:00. Not too bad.

Today, I ran 9 miles and swam 1/2 miles. Nothing special, but the weather was great.

Ugh

Not much is new. I've only missed one workout this week, but it's only 2 days into the week. I'm seriously going to try to make every workout this week. I don't see any problems why I can't do it with the exception of last night's bike trainer workout. Hell, I even got up and swam when it was just under 40 degrees this morning. Man, I love heated pools.

Biking is biking. Running is running. My swimming is sucking right now. On my swim this morning I was doing 50's in 60s and 100's in 2:05. Pitiful when I used to do them in 0:40 and 1:35 respectively. I'm getting massages every 3 weeks which is helping out with tight calves and muscle soreness greatly. It's completely worth it.

Weekend Update

This weekend, I biked about 35 miles and ran about 16.5 miles. I was also going to swim, but after my 11 mile, 90 minute run today, I was on the verge of bonking and it was freaking cold outside so I just went home. Now, I feel like total crap. Headache, I can't warm up, really, really tired. I feel like crap.

I'm getting hardcore about training again. On Friday, I swam when it was about 50 degrees outside. Saturady, I cycled when it was 39ish. I hate the cold so when I train in the cold, it's a big deal.

Things are coming along well with my training. I'm not getting that much faster, but I'm able to go longer and keep up my pace.

Man, this is going to be short because I feel like crap.

187!

My weight is down to 187! After battling the holidays, drinking, medications, and other negative outside influences, I've lost 2 pounds in the last 2 weeks. Hopefully, I can keep this up and be well under 185 by New Year's.

I've been sick the last few days. I'm still training, but not as much as I want to be training. I'm feeling better now and I did do 8.5 miles on the trails yesterday and 30 miles on the roads on Saturday. Tomorrow, I should be back to normal.

Over the hump!

I know my body decently well. Whenever I'm out of shape and I'm trying to get back into shape, the first month or so is difficult and painful. I'm not motivated and when I work out, it just hurts. It takes me awhile to get over the hump. Usually, to get over the hump, I have to just hammer it out, wear myself out, and make myself hurt. This past week, my friend Lauren came into town from Miami. On Wednesday, we rode 42 miles. Thursday, we got in 45 miles. Friday was a day of running 8.2 miles. I felt great and I needed it. It's a great feeling once you know that you can do anything physically. It feels good to be over the hump.

Monday (yes!) & Tuesday (no!)

Monday, I ran during lunch. 15min easy, 15min strong, 15min easy again. I also slightly dislocated my left patella again. I stepped on an acorn or something wrong and I felt my knee cap slide out of socket ever so slightly. This is the same knee where I've had two major dislocations before. Not fun. I also swam about 1200yds that night when I was completely lacking motivation.

Tuesday, I didn't do shit. I was tired from this past weekend so I went out, had a beer, came home and slept 9.5 hours. It was well needed.

I'm also not doing any weight lifting or physical therapy exercise per my coach and my physical therapist. I'm lazy. Not really, but I'm busy. I'm trying to get back into the total training mindset, but the house stuff is keeping me busy.

1600 yds

Swam 1600 yds today on a 8x200 interval with 30s rest. I was pushing myself a bit, but not too hard. Once again, I felt like I'm way out of shape. I may be hurting a little bit tomorrow, but that's a good thing.

Legs hurt!

Today's workout consisted of 90min on the spin bike and then a 20 minute run after that. I'm getting old because it seems to take me forever to get warmed up and willing to work out. My legs felt heavy. Today's bike workout had 3x10min intervals of a big gear followed by 5min spin between each interval. Man, those intervals were tough. I didn't even turn up the resistance that much and it felt like a lot. I ran afterwards and I kept having to stop because I felt exhausted. I checked my heart rate and it was under 160. I guess it's because I'm still not in that great of shape but I'm improving. It hurts though.

And my tendonitis in my foot is acting up again as well. Fun!

Core

I really need to work on core strength. I went for a run this morning and my body felt all wobbly. My back was hurting a bit as well. All of these are signs of a weakened core. I haven't been going to yoga or any core or PT exercises so this isn't a surprise. Starting today, more core exercises are in my routine from now on.

It's official, I'm crazy (IMFL 2006)

I'm in for Ironman Florida in 2006. I have roughly 364 days to get ready for this. It's going to kick my ass, but it is going to be awesome.

Stranded (or how I'm a dumbass)

I went for my usual Saturday taco ride with the ATC guys. I ended up riding with my friend Mark instead of the usual Dam Loop so we split off from the main group. We went riding for a bit and it was time for me to turn around. I wasn't going to ride with Mark the entire time because he was going for a 5 hour ride and all I needed was a 90 minute ride. I split off from Mark and went riding by myself.

After a few minutes, I realized that once again I've forgotten my blowout bag (this is an example of foreshadowing). I keep riding and I venture onto Manchaca. I'm flying because I'm catching a good tailwind. I take a left onto Slaughter because I want to head back to the ATC shop to get my car. I'm riding along and I see some glass in the road. I try to miss it but I can't. Immediately, I hear some hissing. I pull over and my back tire is going flat. No biggie. I forgot my blowout bag, but I'll just pull out my cell phone and call someone. Shit! No cell phone! Damnit! Well, I'm screwed now.

Well, the only thing that I can do now is to start walking and believe in the kindness of strangers. Luckily, I didn't have to wait for long. I started walking towards a gas station to try to bum a ride off of someone in a truck. I got to the gas station and fortunately I didn't have to wait long, but it wasn't a truck. A couple in an Acura came by and asked me for directions to some park. I told them that I didn't know where the park was, but I told them my story. They offered to take me to my house so that I could change my tire. I loaded up my bike in their trunk. I finally got home and changed my tire. Then, another dumbass thing happened. I was ready to head back to the ATC shop and I was getting on the bike. I fell over. I put my right cleat in first instead left as usual. I completely fell over. The second time that I've ever fallen over on my bike. Embarrassing.

I learned my lesson. Don't forget both my blowout bag and my cell phone when I go on bike rides.

188.5

So, that's my weight as of 3 minutes ago: 188.5. I want to be under 180 by Thanksgiving (impossible) and I want a permanent weight of about 170. I think the best case scenario is that I get below 180 by Christmas. I'll keep trying though. I'm about to drastically cut back no my alcohol even more than I've done right now and that should help.

IronStar Race Report: DNF

My first triathlon was the St. Anthony's Triathlon back in April. During my training, my coach, Matt, thought that I had made enough progress and that I could be ready for a half Ironman with the right training by the end of the year. Well, this got my thinking that I could actually do this. Matt has a coaching program on the side so after St. Anthony's, I decided to join Matt's coaching program for the half Ironman.

Then, there was a problem. After St. A's, I developed peroneal tendonitis in my right leg. Not fun. Because of the tendonitis, I had my first DNF at the CapTexTri in Austin in May. I did the swim, did the bike, came out of T2, and turned in my chip. It wasn't worth trying to run on it since every time I ran, it started to hurt. I started physical therapy in June for my tendonitis and kept at it until last week.

I started running again and I did the Dilloman sprint tri here in Austin and I actually won my age group with minimal running. My PT had correct a lot of stuff in my running form and I was much more efficient and faster with little training.

About the time that I started my PT was also about the time that I started my HIM training. It was going well, except for the fact that I couldn't run. If I'm healthy, I follow a training regiment pretty strictly, but since I was hurt, I half assed a lot of the training. I also had other things come up in my life. Work picked up and I was working 60 hours a week for a few weeks. I bought a house and moved into it. I got sick 4 times in 4 weeks. I travelled a lot and had people visit me in Austin. All of this happened between June when I started training and October when my race was going to happen. Between all of this, I had minimal training. I averaged working out 3 times a week over the last 4 months. Pathetic. Towards the last 3-4 weeks before the race, I got serious about training again and just did some LSD to keep my aerobic base up. Training had gone out the window, so I was in a mode to just do anything to get ready for the race. The longest that I had run since I was injured was 6 miles and the longest bike ride was about 30. Swimming was at most 2000 yards.

Right before the race, I wasn't worried about the swim or the bike. I've done that kind of mileage before and it wasn't an issue. However, I had never run 13.1 miles before, especially after being injured for so long. I had enough of an aerobic base to attempt the race without any problems, except for the run.

I went to the race with a bunch of my friends who've started a small training group called the Austin Tri Chicks. They are basically a bunch of TNT alumna that still are friends and compete in triathlons together. Most of them were doing relays this weekend, but I was going to attempt the full race and so was an ATC chick. All weekend, it was me and 7 girls. It was interesting. They were getting worried about saying stuff that would embarrass me because I know these girls pretty well and they can get pretty vulgar. Most guys would be freaked out and looking for a manly place like a sports bar when they hear comments like "How come my period always knows when I'm about to race","These shorts chafe my cooter", and "Hey, I can see your areola through your tri top!" For some reason, I prefer being around outspoken and vulgar chicks so this stuff didn't phase me at all.

I was really relaxed for this race. I hadn't been training for it well and I had no expectations for it. I was just going to do it and see what happened. I still carb loaded like a mofo though. I hate carb loading. I like to eat, but eating 5000 calories a day of healthy good is just ridiculous. I was sick of eating. And carb loading upsets my stomach a bit since my body has to process so much food. I was hydrating well except for the night before the race. We went to a friend's parents house to have pasta dinner and I ended up having almost an entire bottle of wine by myself. Yep, that is how seriously I was taking this race.

The morning of the race I wasn't that nervous, but my stomach was. I had 4 RP's that morning which is typical. I could never been without line of sight of a portapotty because of my stomach. It would just hit me and then I would have to run over uncomfortably and do my business. The problem with race morning was that it was cold. Freaking cold. I wore my race shoes that morning to the transition area and once the T-area closed, I had about 30 minutes before my wave went off. It was cold, the grass was wet, and I didn't bring a wetsuit; I was kinda freezing.

I was in the last wave of 4 that morning. I watched the first 2 waves go off and then I went into the water. It was warmer than the air outside and I didn't want to get out. I peed and then reluctantly got out to get ready for my wave. I saw some of the Austin Tri Chicks and they were loud and obnoxious cheering on everyone they knew. Those girls are awesome. I got in the back of my wave because I was just going to go slow and pace myself. The gun went off and I was so glad to be back into the warm water. I just swam my race. Nothing special. I swallowed a lot of water, but I just took it nice and easy. The swim wasn't that rough and I've come a long way since the near panic attack that I had at St. Anthony's. I averaged about 1:50/100m which isn't bad since I didn't have a wetsuit and and it was slightly faster than my pace at St. Anthony's. I'm capable of a lot better (only a 35:38 on race day), but training sucked. The only funny thing was the water level was really low and at one point in the middle of the lake, you could get up, stand, and actually run through the water. I did that for a needed rest.

Came out of the water and sprinted to T1. A lot of other people take a leisurely pace through the transition areas. Not me. I passed several people on the run from the beach to the T-area. Since I didn't have a wetsuit, no need in taking one off so my T1 time was really fast. About 1:23. My goal this weekend was to have some really fast transition times. For T1, I had the second fastest time out of 35 in my age group. I'm happy. I could shave even more time off if I could do the rubber band pedal trick and if I didn't have to shove a water bottle and Gu's into my tritop pockets. Also, if I race, I always wear my tritop with or without a wetsuit. That way, I don't have to worry about putting on a jersey on a wet body which saves a ton of time. Came out of T1 with my bike and once again, I passed a couple of people.

I got on the bike and this was my favorite part of the event: the bike. I love the bike. Running is a bigger stress relief for me, but cycling is much, much more fun. Mainly because I'm better at it and I like going fast. Problem this time was that I was wet and the air temp was maybe 60 degrees. I froze for the first 45 minutes of the bike. At one point, I offered a girl to trade a Gu for her arm warmers. She said no. I got on the bike and was going pretty fast. Most of the pavement on the first half of the bike was nice, smooth, and fast. I was moving at a pretty good pace. My heart rate was really high, but once I settled in, it lowered after about 15 minutes. My goal was to keep my heart rate on the flats in the 145-150 range which is Zone 1 for me. I did it most of the way, too. The scenery was great. We went through a national forest so it was shaded, not windy, and very pretty. I saw Kerri first and talked to her a bit and then kept going. I was pushing a cadence of around 95 at first which was using some muscles from my legs, but I felt good. I really tried to not push myself so hard since I knew and still had 50ish miles to go and an attempt at a 13.1 mile run.

The bike ride was fun. I was talking to people. I was thanking the volunteers. The scenery was awesome. A great ride. I was tucked away in my aero position. Gu eating and Gatorade drinking were going as roughly planned. I was feeling good except for my hip flexors and my left back muscles. I had to stretch out my hip flexors and my back every 20-30 minutes because they were hurting. I have never had my hip flexors hurt that much before. Weird. About 1:20 into my ride, I caught up to Christina. We chatted a bit and then we went through the first bottle exchange together. Now, here is one thing I wish this race and all races would do. They give you about 200 yard warning for the bottle exchange. I really, really wish they gave about a 1 mile warning so that you had time to finish up what's left in your aero bottle, empty your normal water bottle into your aero bottle, and do all that other stuff and be ready to toss the empties and collect new bottles. Just a note to all the race directors out there.

I left Christina once I got her singing "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Lepperd and continued my race. About 10 minutes later, I ran into Helen and talked to her for a bit as well. Both of her computers weren't working so she had no clue as to how far she had gone or how fast her pace was. I left her and kept going. At this point, I was starting to get tired. The course was a bunch of rolling hills and I like rollers. I like flats and rollers with short hills. This course was the latter. I usually attack hills, but since I'm a bigger guy, if I attack a long hill, it can destroy me. These hills were long enough so that I could feel satisfied by attacking hills, but they wouldn't wipe me out. There were a few hills that wiped me out, but not many. I was keeping an eye on my cadence and my heart rate very closely and I was regulating them well. I would actually rest my legs by going faster on the downhills by putting my bike in a very large gear and drop my cadence to about 80. I would be going faster, but resting my legs since I didn't have such a high cadence. It came to a point though that my legs were getting tired, though. To account for this, I had to up my cadence and not hammer on the pedals so much. I upped my cadence to over 100 and I was in the small chainring a lot of times. I still would attack on the hills, mainly to stretch out my hip flexors and to get out of the saddle, but I would do it in the small chainring. Even doing this, I was still flying by people. I finally caught up to Michael and Chris and I chatted with both of them for a bit.

I was nearing the end of the bike course and I had to take an assessment of how I felt. I felt fine. Well, mostly fine. Maybe I pushed myself a little too hard on the bike (2:48:16), but I knew my run was shot whether I took the bike slow or fast so I took it fast. My left hamstring, both my hip flexors, my left back, and my right knee were bothering me at this point. My knee concerned me the most because I've had a minor, but nagging injury in that knee for over 1.5 years now. I came into the resort and got my feet out of my shoes. I cruised into T2 and had another quick transition. This time, I was 3rd fastest, but I don't think I could have done much better. The most amount of time was spent putting my socks and shoes on. Not much I could change there. I was out of T2 in 1:13 and on the run course.

I felt fine, but I decided to walk a bit to calm down and really assess how I felt. Walking was fine and none of the problems on the bike were hurting now. However, my right calf was hurting. Guess what, it was my peroneal muscles. I walked a bit and tried running. As I ran, my calf got tighter and tighter. I stopped and stretched. Walked. Stretched. Ran. Calf tightens. Walked. Stretched. You get the picture. I was debating on what I should do. I wanted to run next week and this was going to be really, really tough for me to attempt 13.1 with so little run training. I made it about a mile and a half doing the stretch/walk/run/tighten thing over and over before I decided to end my race. I turned around and walked the 20 minutes back to the transition area. I saw Tiffany, Michael, Alexis, and Helen running out as I was walking in and I wished each of them good luck and to run for me since I couldn't run. I'll usually cheer people on, but I didn't say much to anyone walking back. I was extremely disappointed that I had to drop out. I knew it was the right decision considering my peroneals were hurting and I knew how much trouble I went through not being able to run before, but I wanted to run today. Luckily, I could look further than today, but it doesn't make it any easier.

I went back and hung out with a bunch of the Austin Tri Chicks and told them my story. I was really grumpy and didn't say much. It took me a couple of hours (and a few beers) before I was feeling chipper again. Then, I started looking on the bright side. Everyone else had a great race and Helen actually completed the entire thing. Christina, my semi-regular training partner, had an awesome bike and I knew she would do great, but she was really concerned about it. She was afraid Tiffany was going to kill her after Christina pulls in with a 4+ hour bike ride, but that team actually got 3rd place for the women's relay. Christina and I have been training together for a few months now and I've noticed that she has gotten a lot stronger on the bike during those months. She did great. Tiffany had a great run. Chris and Michael both said they had bad days, but they actually got to finish the race. My highlights were pretty good. I had a comfortable swim and a great bike considering how little that I trained for this. I kicked ass at transitions, 2nd and 3rd for T1 and T2 respectively, and I've come a long way on my transitions lately. I had fun all weekend and I enjoyed being out in the sun all day long.

Now that I'm writing this the next day, I'm not feeling that sore. I had some new and interesting and painful chafing in my crotch area, but that is expected. My peroneal tendonitis was throbbing this morning, but not bad. I think it should be fine. I'm still disappointed that I had to DNF my first half Ironman-distance race, but it was the smart decision. This just makes me that much more focused for Ironman Florida in 2006. I have 1 year and 2 weeks to get ready. In that time, I have to manange work, a new house, PT prereqs, and hopefully dating while starting a new training program that will probably take up 20+ hours of my time per week. It's crazy, but not everyone is willing to do crazy things and expects to succeed.

My bike is 1 year old!

One year ago, I bought my beautiful 2004 Cervelo Dual. This bke has done me well. I've put only 2000 miles on it in a year, but I like it. I do a lot of my training on spin bikes which makes the logistics of a bike workout much, much easier to deal with. Now that I'm in shape and I have a decent base, hopefully I can put in some longer rides on the weekends to rack up that mileage even more.

Also, I ran for about 49 minutes yesterday. At the pace I was going at, I was somewhere in the 5.5-6 mile range. That is the longest that I've run since I did St. Anthony's. Wow. I felt good though. It was at an easy pace and I wasn't pushing myself too hard. Hopefully this half Ironman in 13 days won't kill me.