Re-Genesis

In the last 9 months I've moved to Utah for my new job. I have been working really hard to build my reputation at work. I've created a bit of a name for myself and my hard work is really starting to pay off. Here's the rub. I've been so stinking focused on my job that I've pretty much stopped working out. I gained close to 40 lbs and I'm back up to 256 lbs. That was my highest weight when I decided to get in to triathlon. So, what do I do? I join Gold's Gym and start swimming. 400 yards and I was pooped. I pushed and pushed and I'm now up to 2400 yards in less than an hour. I hope to get to 2 miles in under an hour in the next 2 weeks. I've lost a couple pounds and am well on my way back to health. I'm in full scale training. I want to do Ironman Coeur D' Alene next June and hope to do a couple smaller tri's this winter. My long term goal is Kona 2015. I'm really focused on working toward my goals. Wish me luck with the "re"-start of my fitness plan.

Starting over for the new year

It's hard to believe that I did the Ironman a mere 7 months ago. Not because so much has happened in the last 7 months, but more along the lines that anyone who looks at me would probably raise a skeptic eyebrow to finding out that I actually did it. I've gained quite a bit of weight back and have decided that it's time to get back on the wagon. Now that we're pretty settled into our new lives here in Utah, I feel that it is time for me to start training again. I think that New Year's is a good time for starting over.

Here's my plan. I've got to get back to running. That is my ultimate priority. My work has a gym that I'll visit 3 times a week for a half hour or so of strength training and I will be running every other day. I'll be starting small with maybe a mile and a half and increase by 10 percent every week. This starts tonight. Wish me luck.

Ironman Race Report (6 months later)

Ironman Boise 70.3. was an incredible experience. Kristy and Ryleigh came with me to check-in. It was quite the process. First was the identification stage. 

 

Then there was packet pick up.

After check in and the rule reading, We went out for bagels and met up with my sister and a couple of her kids.

Day of the race was really cold. It was 39 degrees and windy. A lot of people dropped out because of the cold. The race officials shortened the bike leg to 15 miles. So short that some of the pros did the bike in their wetsuit, (including my hero, Mr. Matty Reed)

When I got in the water, it was actually 20 degrees warmer that it was out in the air. About a hundred yards into the swim, half of the men in my heat, including myself, started getting cramps in our calves. We had all been so cold while waiting for the race to start, we were bouncing around on our toes so when we got swimming, our calves started fighting back. I stretched out in the water and finished the swim in 44 min. I was pretty happy with my swim time.

The bike was really fast because of the shortened course.

During the run, the weather started cooperating and it warmed up to about 64 degrees which was a welcome change. The run was definitely my worst leg so I know what I need to work on. I was happy the whole time but the last 4 miles my knees really started hurting so it slowed me down a lot.

After the race, rather than going home,  I went back to the hotel where my family was staying and slept for about an hour and a half while everyone went to the pool and played. And yes I did sleep with that medal. 

I loved running this race. I loved having my family come and support me. I can't wait until I can do it again.

Ironman post coming.

My home computer and my laptop have both suffered a harddrive issue. I will do a full recap of the race when the PC's are back up.

Make Up Post

Well, isn’t this embarrassing? I go off spouting that I need to be more diligent in my blogging and then I don’t blog for a couple months. A lot has happened in the last 2 months. The big one is that I traded in my Saab 900 convertible for a 2007 Chrysler Town and Country. That’s right, a minivan. And guess what….I love it. I don’t think it’s possible to be happier with an automobile choice. My daughter, now 4 years old, helped me come up with a name for her. We named her Wonder Red. (she’s a cartoon character from PBS Kids). The seats fold into the floor and I can put my bike and all my gear, including coolers, inside and still have comfortable room for 5 people. I even got some personalized plates. Check it out.

As far as training is concerned, I’ve been hitting it pretty hard. I’m swimming 2000 to 2500 yards in my workouts. I’ve had some really great bike rides and some really crappy rides as well. One weekend, I got into the zone and before I realized what was happening, I’d gone 50 miles in 2 hours and 32 min. I took 2 miles to cool down but I was flying. It was awesome. Then the very next weekend, I went out to test the Ironman Boise bike course (56 miles) and the weather turned sour. It was cold and super windy and I made it 44 miles in 2 and half hours and just threw in the towel. It was so stinkin cold. My buddy Jarom handed out gels and water at the same point along the course where the aid stations will be. He got a video of me grabbing a gel right before a really rough hill section.

 It was kind of a dance. I’d grab the gel and he’d get back in Wonder Red and drive up next to me and I’d toss the empty gel pack through the passenger window then he’d speed ahead to the next aid station point.

I also had a really funny thing happen on that terrible ride. I had a Rocketeer moment. There I was, going down a hill, facing a massive head wind.  This wind was directly in front of me. Blowing so hard, that even down a hill in full aero position, I was only going about 28 mph. I was pretty happy I’d chosen to wear my aero helmet, until this happened. I get to the bottom of the hill and it feels like there was a small break in the wind so I sat up and stretched my neck. I thought I heard a car behind me so I rode the line and turned my head to look over my right shoulder. And that’s when it hit me. A gust of wind hit me head on and with my head turned wearing that aero helmet, it wrenched my neck and it pushed me and my bike onto the shoulder. The only reason I didn’t eat it was because there was no curb and about 8 feet of shoulder. Super lucky.

Fast forward through a week of crap weather and a lot of indoor training to Saturday the 5^th of May. Happy Cinco de Mayo!!! My first open water swim of the year. Don’t I cut a cunning figure.

This was my 2^nd swim in the wetsuit. I swam half of the just over half a mile then ran for 45 min after. I think my transition was close to 20 minutes though J. I swam slow but I’m ok with that because it was more of an educational experience. I’ll get a couple more in this week because the weather will actually be cooperating.

Ironman Boise is now less than 5 weeks away and it seems like time is going faster. I don’t seem to have enough hours in the day. But isn’t that the way of things? Anyway, I’ll try to blog again at the end of this week. See you then.

P.S. The Avengers movie was awesome!! Make sure you stay for both of the clips in the credits.

Mumford and........Daughter?

We had a nice day on Saturday. One of the highlights was during our trip to one of my LBS Meridian Cycles. (I also go to Bob's as well) I bought a mount for my new Profile Design Aquacell. It is a huge water bottle. Anyway, back to the story. The whole family piled into the minivan and we were rocking out to the Ipod. The Cave by Mumford and Sons came on and she just let it out. She loves that song. Here she is rocking out in the car.

I'm going to try to get another video of this.

Holy Rollers!!!!

I have recently made a new purchase. This is really hard. Any tips?

Somebody HELP ME!!!!!

I wake up when it's dark, drive to work when it's dark, get out of work when it's dark, go to school when it's dark, and go home when it's dark. I don't feel safe riding my bike in the dark and thing is, I HATE running in the dark.  I hate it so much that I'm not running. I really need to get back out on the road and get some miles behind me but it's cold, dark and I just don't wanna. I need some motivation. How do I get motivated to run in the winter?? I'm afraid I'm going to gain my weight back. I'm getting desperate for motivation. Any ideas??????????

I'd also like to take a quick moment and say congrats to Molly from "BounceBarkRun", Amiee from "I Tri to be me", and Jano Soto(pronounced Hahno) from "Janosoto" for their Ironman accomplishments this season. In 6 months I'll officially be an Ironman after I do the Boise 70.3. I look forward to attaining the rank of Ironman.

The end of summer

Well, it’s official. Tri season is over. The last tri of the season for the Boise area is called the YMCA Fall Sprint. This race was a huge mile stone for me. The last time I did a tri, I nearly drowned, barely survived the bike, and was the 3^rd to last person to complete the run. (I even got passed by a 65+ age grouper). This was in July of 2009.  I got kind of discouraged by this and didn’t really use it as motivation for my next race. Then, in May of this year, I stood on the bathroom scale and was shocked to see a 261. That was all I needed. I started working out again and after 4 weeks of run/walking, I started doing 2-a-days and my weight dropped like crazy.

Fast forward to today. I am still losing weight and currently weigh in at 227. But the biggest and best part of all the training is what happened at the Fall Sprint. I swam faster than I’d expected. Much, much faster. I had expected a 16 minute swim and I did it in 12:37! This put me in 15^th for the whole race. I maintained on the bike and run with faster than expected times and ended up with a 3^rd place finish in my age group and 25^th over all!!!! Here are some of the pics.

I have a lot of gratitude to give out with this recent success. First is God. I’m thankful for this amazing life and all I’ve been given. Next is my wonderful wife Kristy and amazing daughter Ryu. You are the reason I want to be healthy. You’re my target beyond the finish line. Jarom, you’re a great running partner, even with those bright green shorts. Wes, for motivating me, when I was really discouraged. Allstate Insurance for replacing my bike with the best customer service I’ve ever received  after Magnus fell on the freeway. And last, but not least, all my friends, followers, and family who encourage and support me.

I only have one race left this year. It’s a 5k fun run through a corn maze. Kristy has agreed to run it with me! That will be Saturday the 29^th. Until then, thank you all.

Elbow issues

Background: I have really hit the training pretty hard in the last few months. I amped up the biking and was hitting some good mileage. My right elbow was consistently sore for a few days after each ride. I realized that I was locking my elbow so I had to work on my form. My elbow continued to hurt but I was able to tough through the pain.

Fast forward to today: My elbow has been hurting more and more recently. I finally made an appointment for an x-ray. Well, here's the Roentgen picture.

The little red circle is showing a lovely little thing called a bone spur. It's right next to the ulnar nerve (funny bone). Every time I bump my elbow, pain shoots down my arm and it hurts a lot. I will probably have surgery over Thanksgiving.

I'll survive, but it kinda sucks.

Real Ironman Training

Have you waited long enough?

Well my friends, I have someone I'd like to introduce to you.Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to the Black Canary. 

 I've named her after a character from the Flash comic. She first showed up in issue #86 (1947). She's blonde, beautiful, and can really scream. I love classic comics. First Magnus the Robot Fighter and now Dinah Drake the Black Canary. Due to bad weather and a very busy schedule, I haven't been able to get many miles on her yet but I look forward to many happy miles with her.

She has Oval Concepts A901 carbon aero bars, full Ultegra groupset. Oval carbon wheelset. I'll probably trade the saddle for a white Fizik.The front brakes are behind the fork and the rear brake calipers are hidden within the frame. She's a beaut.

We'll be very happy together.

Happy Anniversary!!!

I was fortunate to marry my best friend 6 years ago. Our anniversary was on Friday, October 7. Kristy, I want to let you know that you are the most amazing, supportive, beautiful woman I know. I love you and stuff. We had an amazing date. The sushi was delicious, the movie was great, and you looked beautiful. Thank you for supporting me in work, school, and training.  Best Wife Ever!

Saturday, we watched the Kona Ironman and saw Craig Alexander set a new course record. Great work Craig. My boy Potts was first out of the water. Chrissie won the women's and made us all proud. I was motivated and inspired. Sunday the Malibu Nautica Triathlon was on. The coverage was only a half hour but it kept me in the proper mindset.

This was a fantastic weekend. The only thing that would have made it better would have been spending it in Hawaii with Kristy actually watching the race. All things considered I couldn't be happier in my life right now. I love my wife, my daughter, my training and my life. See you tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be another fantastic day! I will be bringing home my new bike! I will have pictures of her posted by the end of the night.

New contender!!

I think there's a new big bike in town. I'm really liking the Fuji D6 Matt Reed Edition. What do you think?

What will be the new bike?

So, guess what!! I'm getting a new bike!!!! With the unfortunate demise of Magnus by falling onto the freeway, my insurance will be replacing him at a value of about $3300. So I'll be getting a check for a new bike. Any suggestions? I'm leaning toward the Cervelo P2 or the Trek Speed Concept 7.2 or 7.5.

But I am accepting recommendations. I want to make sure I get a bike that suits my personality and my style. Leave a message below with what you think I should get.

Training has really been cut back since School started. It's really hard to find the three hours a day that I want to dedicate to the program. Any ideas on where I can find a couple extra hours in the day. I've already cut back sleep to 6 and a half hours, so I can't shave any more from sleep. What does working out at 8:30 or 9PM do to sleep? Is it harder to sleep? I guess I'll have to try it out for a week.

Any way that's about all I have for you today.Keep strong and live hard.

It's been far too long.

It really has been a while and I apologize for that. Life got really crazy there for a while. I've been training but not quite as hard as I should and I have hit a plateau in my weight loss. I'm stuck at 230 because I'm not nearly as ambitious with my work out schedule as I could be. That being said, there have been some major awesome's in the past month. I was able to visit my parents in Nevada. Work is going great. School started up again and I am super healthy according to my doctor. Cholesterol was low, fats are low, glucose was low and everything looked great.

Now for the sucky stuff. First of all,want you to know that I am ok both physically and emotionally. about a week and a half ago, I was on my bike when I was broadsided by a Chevy truck. I was thrown about 15 feet and I got a few bruises. This was on my junk bike. The hardtail I leave at work for the work-to-school commute actually survived better than I did. Just a loose brake and a twisted seat. My legs are a bit banged up making running a bit painful so I've been focused on swimming. I swam close to 5 miles last week. A couple days after the incident, the guy took me out to lunch. I could have easily gotten money out of the insurance company but since I was ok and the guy was really cool about the issue, I didn't really want to pursue legal action.

On Friday, we went down to Fallon, NV to visit my parents. It was really good to see them and they really enjoyed the face time with Ryu. I got a good run in and an even better bike ride in and felt pretty good about my workouts. Then, (you might want to sit down for this), On the way home 2 straps on my bike rack snapped and dropped our bikes on the freeway at 75 miles per hour. I'm now desperate for bike parts. The frame set and derailleurs were fine but my shifters are toast, wheels are bent and my cassette got banged up. Kind of a traumatic experience. I really need some charity right now (or a sponsor). I can get my bike up and running with about $500.00. Until then I'm stuck on the spin bikes at the gym.

Now back to some fun news. I have earned another bib. A buddy and I ran a 10k mountain obstacle course called the dirty dash. It was a lot of dirty clean fun. It really was a blast. Close to 10000 people showed up. Kris took Ryu on the "Piglet Plunge" which was a little 1 mile run for all the kids ages 3-12. Here are some pics.

We had some serious fun and some kinda sucky moments in the last little while, but all in all, spirits are high. Please let me know if you have any spare parts you'd be willing to donate to Magnus. 

 I'll try not to let life get so much in the way of my blogging. Until next time my friends.

Relapse

Last week I ran a 10k and that is my longest distance to date. I'm afraid that I may have injured my knees because they still feel inflamed. The pain goes away after my first half mile and will be fine during the run but after my runs, my knees get really stiff. Any suggestions or thoughts? I haven't been able to run a lot so I've been swimming and biking. I still got a couple small runs in though.

Star Celebration

 Today was amazing. Wait a sec, let's start last night. Earlier this week, I decided to run a 5k on Saturday. The small town where we live has an annual celebration in July sponsored by the businesses and it kicks off with a morning run. I called my buddy Jarom and told him that he'd be joining me. He's a good man for agreeing considering he hasn't done any running in the last few months. Anyway, Friday night rolls around and we go for a small run and just having someone to run with made the mile go fast. We did it in 8:32 which is much faster than any mile I'd done this year. We made my pie for the pie contest and Jarom went home.

Then we woke up on Saturday and went to the run. I'd mentioned to Kristy that I kinda wanted to try the 10k instead of the 5k and with a little ribbing from Jennifer ( a girl from church who was also running) I quickly changed my registration and decided to go for it. I finished very last with a time of 68:24. I couldn't have been happier with my performance. I really had to push myself and this was a longer run than I've done in the last 2 years. I averaged approx. 11 min per mile. Here's me at the finish.

 

I was so happy to have finished. the water and Gatorade at the end where definitely what the doctor ordered.

I entered the pie contest with that chocolate-peanut butter dream that I entered in the contest a month or so ago. I got 2nd prize and $15 dollars. Then I won a raffle for a $20 giftcard to The Athlete's Foot (local run shop) Now we're all headed to the pool. Like I said, today was awesome.

Weekly weigh in....235. Need to work on diet.

Who'da thunk???

Today was an interesting day. When I woke up this morning I needed to go for a run. Not "wanted to" or "felt like a run" but actually NEEDED to run. My legs were, for lack of a better term, twitchy and my energy level was high so I threw on my shoes, kissed the wife, and hit the road. I didn't wear my watch or heart rate monitor or iPod. It was exactly what I needed to do. I didn't pay attention to my time or pace. It was liberating. I turned around at a mile and a half to head home finishing at exactly 3 miles in about a half hour.

After the run, we all grabbed our suits and went to the pool for about 40 minutes. Ryu's swimming is coming along slowly but she is progressing. We're working on using arms right now. I didn't do any "exercise" swimming. I was there to spend time with the girls. After that, went home for showers and lunch. Then it was off to babysitting for Kristy and Ryu and I headed into Boise for some errands.

Dinner was light and filling. Chicken breast with brown rice and broccoli. We watched some TV then around  10:30 Kris asked if I wanted to go for another run. I thought, "Your legs feel good, you're not tired and you wanted to do some 2-a-days, so why not." It was awesome!!! I ran my longest distance of 4.14 miles and did it in 42:38. That's 10:18 per mile!! A new top speed. I did have to walk a couple times but I haven't run 4 miles in a while. That puts me at 7.14 miles today. I love seeing my own progress. Still got a lot of weight to lose though. Check out how sweaty I was after 4 miles.

It was a pretty awesome day.

235!!!!

I did it!!! I lost 2.5 pounds this week and broke the 20 pound mark. The scale said 235.0. I am really excited. There just might be something to this whole exercise thing. I feel really good about my workouts last week. I didn't get my brick in on Saturday but I did have some aggressive pool play time for about 2 hours. Not enough to replace a work out but enough to get rid of my guilt for missing it. I didn't like not blogging for the whole week. I thought it would give me incentive to work harder toward my goal but I think it had the opposite effect.

I am getting into the habit of working out and that tickles me pink. I really need to start focusing on improving my diet. I'm going to set up a recipe section here in Freementia that focuses on foods for the triathlete so keep checking in.

Oh and by the way I received a phone call on Tuesday night while on my ride telling me to call Robert from the Idaho Tax Commission in the morning. Wednesday morning rolls around and Robert offered me a JOB!!!! I start on the 11th. I am so excited. It's been a tough few months and now that I have a job, I'll be able to start entering races.

So for a recap of the week... Hit stage 1 of weight loss goal... Got a job... and had 6 awesome workouts. Not a bad week at all. I'd like to shout out to Kristy, my loving wife, for being so patient these last months. You've been so amazing. Next, thanks to the Guerrero's for what you gave us. You helped us in a big way. And third, thanks to Wes for your support and encouragement.

Weekly Weigh In

I'm still losing weight though it has slowed down a bit. My weekly weigh in was 237. That puts me at 18 pounds lost. My goal for this week is to hit 235 and break the 20 pound mark. Wish me luck. My workout schedule for this week is as follows. Run 30 min Monday, Wednesday, Friday and bike 90 min Tuesday and Thursday. Saturday will be a brick of 90 min bike and 30 min run. Sunday will be a rest day. 

This will  be a hard week for me. It will be my first 6 day workout week. I've been working up to it for a couple weeks now and I'm excited to have reached it. I will weigh in Sunday afternoon as usual.

On Saturday I took my family to a community cook out and long story short, I won a drawing and got a gift certificate to my favorite Mexican restaurant, Cafe Ole'. I am going to take Kris and Ryu out on the 4th for a nice lunch then some holiday festivities. Until next time friends.

Day= HOT; Evening=Run

It's 7:30 this evening and we just finished a great dinner of pasta, chicken, and broccoli. I had a pretty eventful day full of walking and donating plasma so I'm kinda tired. Ryu wanted to play in her pool in the yard so I set everything up for a little family trip to the front yard. We pulled out the kiddie pool and set up a sprinkler. Ryu had a good, if not cold, time in the water. Kris read a bit of World War Z (awesome book by the way, huge recommendation) while I either splashed in the water with Ryu or worked on the laptop. Now that I've eaten and it's been 6 hours since my plasma donation, I'm going to go for a run and do a 20 minute core work out. That reminds me, I need help with stretching. I don't know a lot about it. Do I stretch my arms and chest after a run? How do I know I'm warmed up enough to stretch? What's a good quad stretch that doesn't torque my knee? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Rock and Rolla!!!

I get to work out again! Thanks for all the support while sick. I am finally getting all the crud out of my lungs and the leftovers from the cold. While I was sick, I started developing a business plan for a new charity. I am starting a non-profit organization that sponsors a team of triathletes whose jerseys are superhero themed and sponsored by comic book companies to raise money for the recipients of organ transplants. What do you think? Superhero triathletes helping save lives. I like it. I'm hoping for DC Comics (part of Warner Brothers) to allow us to use the Justice League (Batman, Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman...) as the team's theme. If  any lawyers read this and have any advice about charity work, please drop a comment below.

I really hate being sick.

So my workout on Saturday was small but I am NOT in running shape. I've been focusing on my biking so much that my small run of 2 and a quarter mile run made me sore for about 3 days. But even worse is that I got sick from all the toxins that were released. This happens to a lot of people. They work out and push themselves a bit too hard and that weakens their immune system while releasing toxins that are stored in fat cells and boom, you've caught a cold. It's almost gone now but I'll give it an extra day so I don't get sick again. I have a bike ride planned tomorrow and I should be okay by then.

Being sick did give me a bit of time to be creative. I made a special edition sugar cookie to commemorate my Ironman goal. Check it out. 

Helladrome

Well, tonight I had a great time. The Boise Bike Project put on a cool little shindig called the Helladrome. What is a Heladrome? That's a very good question. It’s a looped bicycle racetrack with bends, curves, dips, obstacles, penalty boxes, and speedways. Imagine velodrome + criterium + cyclecross. There were multiple heats and I chose a really fun one. I chose to ride in a "funny bike" race. Ryu (my 3 year old) was kind enough to lend me her bike. Here are some pics.

If there's one thing I learned about a little bike, it's that it comes with a little seat. My backside is killing me. But I had a great time and everyone had a good laugh.

There was also a Hella-Pie contest and this was my entry.

It was 4 alternating layers of chocolate and peanut butter cream. I won the contest and got this really cool belt buckle as a prize.

It's made of recycled bike parts and it's awesome.  I also uploaded a couple videos to my youTube channel (www.youtube.com/pipemover) so click on the Wibia bar at the bottom on the YouTube button for a good laugh.

Back to the grind

This last week was a tough one for me. I was really busy and the weather was crappy. I didn't get a lot of exercise in and that's going to make this week that much tougher. I really want to hit the road hard and put some serious miles behind me to kick start my weight loss again. I haven't been eating very well either. Dang bacon is sooooo good. So today, I'm back on the wagon. Eggs and toast with homemade huckleberry jam. A nice light breakfast to start the day. In short, I had a small relapse into bad habits but it's all better now. I'm off to take Magnus out for a ride.

The other day... I met a bear... a great big bear... Oh way up there.

Ok, maybe I didn't actually meet a bear. But I did go on a hike. It was Sunday evening and Kris and I didn't want to spend the night watching TV so she suggested a walk and I thought hike. We drove out to Jump Creek about 45 minutes and it was well worth it. The hike was nice and easy. Perfect for a Sunday stroll. The best part was the view. It was gorgeous.