Zia CrossFit group ride and weight gain- muscle or fat?

My favorite bike ride is riding from the 599 rail runner stop south of Santa Fe New Mexico to the Sandia Rail runner in Albuquerque. I take highway 14 to route 66, then Route 66 to Tramway all the way down to the Rail runner station. That route is called Turquoise Trail, it's a famous stretch of road because of it's history and beauty. I haven't ridden that route in almost 2 years. I'm motivated to give it a shot now. I'm motivated because I'm finally losing weight, because of the fitness competition I'm in with fellow blogger "I suck at CrossFit", and also because I'd really like some of the people at my new gym Zia CrossFit to go with me. I really love the people Zia CrossFit. They're wonderful. They're supportive and a blast to be around. It's more like a big family than members of a gym. I'm trying to get as many of them to go with me as I can, I want to share the pain!

I weighed in this morning at almost 242 pounds. I was heartbroken. I've gradually been creeping back up from 239 a week ago. I've been working out a lot, eating 100% Paleo, I feel like I should be losing weight not gaining! In mid December I had measured 6 areas of my body in case something like this happened. I wanted to make sure if started gaining weight I had some way of being able to tell if it was fat or muscle. Here's the results:

+1/4 inch circumference arms
+ 3/8 inch circumference forearms
- 1/2 inch circumstance waist
- 1/4 inch circumference neck
-1/2 inch circumference thigh
+ 3 inches circumference of my chest and back!

Well, thankfully it looks like I'm losing in all the right areas and gaining in areas that is good to gain! A gain of 3 inches in my chest and back! That's pretty awesome!

strong enemies suck

I'm in a competition with another blogger. It's a diet, health, workout, etc, competition. Until I beat him he's my enemy. The enemy is strong, knowledgeable, and tough as nails. But that's alright 'cause I'm going to smoke him anyways. There's no way I could lose to this guy:

Yup, those are his shoes. Purple shoes. I cant lose to a dude who wears purple shoes. If I lose to him it makes me less than the man who wears purple shoes.

I lost 7 pounds in the 1st 11 days of this competition. But for some reason my weight loss has come to a screeching halt. I'm stuck, platoed. I've still been eating 100% Paleo and doing CrossFit, but no more weight loss, which is disturbing because I still have a lot to lose. Unlike my competition I'm chubby, which is a nice word for fat. I think the reason I've stalled is because I haven't done any base building cardio since last Saturday. Long slow days are the best way to burn fat and train the body to use stored body fat. So tonight after CrossFit, after I took the kids to the park, after I cleaned out the hamster cage, after I fed and watered the rabbits and Guinea pigs, after I did the dishes, after I finished the laundry and folded it, I rode my indoor trainer and watched a the biggest Loser on TiVo. I didn't feel like it but I did it anyways. I gotta do something! I can't lose to the dude in those shoes! Besides, I really want to NOT be the fattest guy competing in the triathlons I race in.

BTW, I never thought it was possible, but I found something I hate more than burpees. Wall climbers. They suck. Rather, I suck at them. I did ok for the 1st 7, but after that I was HORRIBLE.  I couldn't do them to save my life. I know they dont look hard, but try a set of ten and you'll see. Better yet try 4 sets of 10 like we did today and you'll develop loathing! From now on before the daily WOD I'm going to do a few sets of the 2 things I'm worst at in CrossFit. Pull ups and wall climbers. If I do them every day before my WOD I should get better at them soon. At least that's my hope.

Paleo competition days 5-11

I'm really enjoying eating Paleo and being in this Paleo competition. I'm getting great results with weight loss and I'm still making gains with strength and endurance. I weighed in this morning at 239, so far in 11 days I've lost just shy of 7 pounds. Normally I'd say that's to much weight to lose to quickly, but I'm eating a ton of calories each day. Usually over 3000.

In the last 2 weeks our Suburban broke down and it cost us $2,500 to fix. And we just got a bill from the IRS claiming we owe them $3,600 for the 2011 (so much for hiring a CPA to do our taxes). Consequently I'm going to have to start working 6 days a week, 12-16 hours a day until I can get us recovered financially again. That means I'm not going to be able to work out as much as I have been, but I'm going to do my best to continue eating 100% Paleo.

Here's a log of how I've been doing daily with the Paleo competition:

Day/  
calories ate/  calories burned
points earned for the day
Workout.
Lifestyle point earned

Day 5
Feb 14/
 3532/  1090
I maxed out my points today.
For training I did: CrossFit, biked 1 hr 20 min. Didn't feel that was enough for a bonus point so I rode my bike on my indoor trainer for 30 min, then rode my mountain bike to work.
For lifestyle point: I read the bible and did a CR bible study.

Day 6
Feb 15/
 3336/ 917
I maxed out todays points.
Training :CrossFit + 1 hr bike.
Lifestyle read the bible and read Arnold Schwarzenegger's Total Recall

Day 7
Feb 16/  1917/  1686
I maxed today's points.
Biked 1 hr 30 min + 39 min run with sprint until muscle failure.
Watched a kids christian movie about death and heaven with the kids and had a discussion after.

Day 8
Feb 17/
2493/  0
5 points earned today, no working out today, I needed a day off.
I cleaned the yard, fixed up one of my daughter old bikes and gave it to a neighbors kid.

Day 9
Feb 18/ 
2488/  0
5 points earned today.
No workout.
Took the kids to the zoo and played kids board games that night.


Day 10
Feb 19/ 
4153/ 268
5 points earned.
CrossFit.
Cleaned and rearranged the bedroom for my wife, hung a piece of art for her. Cleaned out and rearranged the shed. Got rid of a bunch of stuff for a garage sale.

Day 11
Feb 20
3978/ 213
5 points earned.
CrossFit.
Instructed my sons BJJ class.

day 4 of the Paleo challenge

<sup>I'm on my way to work and am taking my meals with me. I can post the days food and exercise points since I know ahead of time what I'm eating.

5 points earned for the day. 1 for eating a paleo meal, 1 for Paleo all day, 1 for working out, and 1 for a life style change, 1 for taking fish oil.</sup>
I ate 3834 calories. I burned 325 calories working out. I ate 258g fat. 58.1g carbs. 324g protein.

For the lifestyle change I read the bible and did a bible study called C.R.

day 2 and 3 of the Paleo lifestyle competition

On Saturday I found out there was going to be a diet, exercise, and lifestyle competition at my gym, so I stopped taking Garcinia Cambogia Extract. I felt it would have been cheating if I was taking a hunger suppressant while doing a weight loss challenge. After I stopped taking them it took me longer to fall asleep than is normal, but I still slept well. No other side affects that I can see.

Here's how the competition is going so far:

Day 2

<sup>5 points earned for the day. 1 for eating a paleo meal, 1 for Paleo all day, 1 for working out, and 1 for a life style change, one for taking fish oil.


I ate 3192 calories. I burned 325 in exercise. I ate 88.5 g carbs, 220 g protein, and 232 g fat.

For my change of lifestyle instead of kicking back and doing nothing during my daughters 1 hour gymnastics I took my boys out and had them practice hitting baseballs and I ran around and fetched them. I had to have ran 5 miles in that hour and squatted down 500 times picking up baseballs.

Day 3

I weighed in the morning at 244.

6 points earned today! 1 for eating a paleo meal, 1 for Paleo all day, 1 for working out, 1 for fish oil, 1 for a life style change, and 1 for a 54 minute run after a CrossFit workout.</sup>

I ate 2694 calories, burned 959. Ate 159 g of fat, 50 g of carbs, 267 g of protein.

For the lifestyle change I ran during my sons Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, when I'd normally just veg out for an hour. And I read the bible before I went to bed. It's ironic because the point I got for running is also when I earned my point for a particularly hard or long workout.

hydrostatic body compostion test

Today I got a hydrostatic body composition test at the UNM exercise physiology lab. The results weren't good. But there is an upside: I have a ton a fat I can shed to win this Paleo lifestyle competition I've started with http://isuckatcrossfit.com/. I'm going to SMOKE YOU Mr I suck at CrossFit! (I'm not calling him names, that's the name of his blog). To check out the competition check out this link: http://cody-the-clydsdale.blogspot.com/2013/02/day-1-of-paleo-lifestyle-competition.html

Here the results of todays body fat test, and the results of my previous body fat tests:

Feb 2013: 241.1 pounds @ 28.1 % body fat. 173.3 pounds lean mass. 67.8 pounds fat.

Oct 2011: 181 pounds @ 6.86% body fat. 169.3 pounds lean mass. 12.5 pounds fat.

June 2011: 188.4 pounds @ 10.9%. 169.4 pounds lean mass. 19 pounds fat.

Nov 2010: 222.2 pounds at 19.01% body fat. 180 pounds lean mass. 42.2 pounds fat.

July 2010: 189 pounds at 9.81% body fat. 170.6 pounds lean mass. 18.5 pounds fat.

Jan 2010: 207 at 18.4% body fat. 169.2 pounds lean mass. 38.5 pounds fat.

day 1 of the Paleo lifestyle competition

Here's how I did my 1st day of the Paleo lifestyle competition.

Day 1/ Sun Feb 10^{th.
6 points earned for the day. 1 for eating a paleo meal, 1 for Paleo all day, 1 for working out, 1 for fish oil, 1 for a particularly long workout, 1 for a life style change
weighed in the morning at 247}
Calories eaten 3152/ calories burned 1649/ protein 248 g/ fat 221 g/ carbohydrates 41.3 g

Exercise
Workout #1
Bike 1 hour 52 minutes
Run 25 minutes 10 seconds
Workout #2
20 minute repeat super set of
push ups, side planks, pull ups , planks
Lifestyle change:
turned off the TV and read the bible
Breakfast
2 eggs
4 oz ground beef
50 grapes
20 oz coffee
1/3 cup milk 2%
Snack
1.5 oz broccoli
4.1 oz country pork ribs
20 oz coffee
¼ cup heavy cream
Lunch
4 oz Ground beef
1 oz cheddar cheese
20 oz coffee
¼ cup heavy cream
Dinner
Turkey wing
3.3 oz Turkey breast
4.1 oz turkey skin
1.6 oz squash
Late night snack
Fish oil

Paleo lifestyle competition

After going to a functional nutrition class at Zia CrossFit some of the gym members decided to start a Paleo lifestyle competition (one of them is http://isuckatcrossfit.com/). It's going to be a 9 week competition.

Here's how the points system works:

1 point for eating at least 1 meal Paleo in a day.

1 point for eating the entire day Paleo.

1 point for lifestyle change, such as reading for an hour or playing with the kids for an hour instead of watching TV.

1 point for eating fish or fish oils

1 point for a particularly tough workout, such as riding my bike 70 miles, etc.

negative 2.5 points per cheat per day.

plus 2 points per pound of weight lost at the end of the competition.

plus 2 points per body fat percentage lost at end of the competition.

There's a max of 40 points per week.

We have agreed to allow coffee and small amounts of dairy. I'll keep you updated as we go along.

day 4 on Garcinia Cambogia Extract

On Wednesday I purchased some Garcinia Cambogia Extract to help me lose some weight. I had to do something. I saw a picture of me taken during the Missile Man Duathlon last weekend and I was horrified. I knew I'd gained weight, but I didn't realize how big I'd become until I saw the picture of me racing last weekend. I posted a couple pictures (below) to show how horribly things have gone in regards to my weight and to show why I felt I needed to do something extreme.

 

Here is a picture of me shortly before I got ran over by a vehicle while cycling in late 2011:

 

 

 

This is me last weekend at the Missile Man duathlon, approximately 14 months after the accident:

Since Wednesday I've dropped my calories significantly and am only a little hungry, so Garcinia Cambogia extract works at controlling the appetite. FYI, iť doesn't work as well at controlling hunger as Saffron Extract Satiereal does, but the main reason I decided to try Garcinia Cambogia Extract wasn't because iť suppresses the appetite. I'm taking iť because its supposed to help prevent emotional eating by increasing the production of seritonine. Saffron Extract Santiereal didn't help with emotional eating at all, hopefully Garcinia Cambogia Extract will.

I usually only struggle with emotional eating on my days off of work or when I'm extremely tired. Since I started taking Garcinia Cambogia Extract I haven't had a day off and haven't had to work any double shifts. Until I do I won't have the opportunity to see if Garcinia Cambogia Extract works at preventing emotional eating. As soon as I find out if does or not I'll post iť here.

Since taking Garcinia Cambogia Extract I've noticed I feel much more rested when I wake up and I'm not needing to sleep as long. I'd read that sleeping better was one of the benefits to taking Garcinia Cambogia Extract. Apparently its true.

The 2013 Missile Man Duathlon race results Whit Sands Missile Range NM

Here are the results for the 2013 Missile Man duathlon. The South West Challenge Series Clydesdale Open division isn't listed on The South West Challenge Series web page yet so I posted them here.

So far the Clydesdale open division points for the South West Challenge Series, 3 races into the season are:

1st Michael Barrow 2 races/ 20 points

2nd T. Strasser 2 races/ 15 points

T-3rd C. Roehrman 1 race/ 9 points

T-3rd D. Wilson 1 race/ 9 points

T-5th E. Ytuarte 1 race/ 8 pts

T-5th Zapata 1 race/ 8 pts

T-5th Cody Hanson 1 race/ 8 pts

T-8th Greg Trujillo 1 race/ 7 points

T-8th John Barefield 1 race 7 points

2012 Polar Bear triathlon race results (White Sands Missile Range NM) December

I had been having a hard time finding the results to the Polar Bear triathlon. It wasn't listed on The South West Challenge Series web page or anywhere else online that I could find. The Rd was nice enough to send me them so I thought I'd post the results here in case anyone else is trying to find them. Click on each page to view.

 

So far the Clydesdale open division points for the South West Challenge Series 3 races into the season are:

1st Michael Barrow 2 races/ 20 points

2nd T. Strasser 2 races/ 15 points

T-3rd C. Roehrman 1 race/ 9 points

T-3rd D. Wilson 1 race/ 9 points

T-5th E. Ytuarte 1 race/ 8 pts

T-5th Zapata 1 race/ 8 pts

T-5th Cody Hanson 1 race/ 8 pts

T-8th Greg Trujillo 1 race/ 7 points

T-8th John Barefield 1 race 7 points

 

 

 

Garcinia Cambogia Extract, appetite suppressant, emotional eating, and triathlon

Below the links is my post. The links are my posts about Garcinia Cambogia Extract:
Day 4 of Garcinia Cambogia Extract trial:  http://cody-the-clydsdale.blogspot.com/2013/02/test.html


Recently I watched an episode of Dr Oz where he explains how Garcinia Cambogia Extract helps people to lose weight, curbs appetite, and helps prevent emotional eating by increasing serotonin levels. This interested me because I'm an emotional eater and I've gained a lot of weight the last year. I've tried unsuccessfully more times than I can count to get back down to my race weight. So I've decided to try exercise and eating a Paleo diet (again) with Garcinia Cambogia to see how it works. I'll post my results here.

Last year I'd heard on the Dr OZ show that Saffron extract helps with appetite suppression, I'd tried it, but it didn't work for me. It was AMAZING at suppressing the appetite, but Saffron extract didn't help me at all because it doesn't help prevent emotional eating. Supposedly Garcinia Cambogia extract does.

FYI, I went to three stores before I found some Garcinia Cambogia extract. Since Dr Oz had it on his show and said great things about it it's been sold out and hard to come by. It was $24 for 60 pills at the vitamin shop I finally found it at. When I got home I Googled Garcinia Cambogia extract and found most sites sold 180 pills for $24.99. So if at all possible buy them online. You can buy 3 times as many for the same cost and not have to drive all over the place.

Below is the article I found on Dr Oz web site. It almost sounds too good to be true!

What Is Garcina Cambogia Extract?
Garcinia Cambogia is a small, pumpkin-shaped fruit, sometimes called tamarind. Though native to Indonesia, it is also grown in India, Southeast Asia, and West and Central Africa. It has long been used in traditional South Asian dishes, including curries and chutneys. Many also use the fruit for curing fish and preservation.

Adding this ingredient to meals is considered to be effective in making meals more “filling.” In some villages in Malaysia, garcinia is used to make a soup that is eaten before meals for weight loss because of garcinia’s appetite-blocking abilities.

This plant offers one of the least expensive herbal supplements on the market. The ingredient from the rind of the fruit could hasten your weight-loss efforts. The natural extract is called hydroxycitric acid (HCA), and researchers claim that HCA can double or triple one’s weight loss.

With proper weight-loss efforts (dieting and exercising), the average person taking HCA lost an averagw of 4 pounds a month.

Garcinia may also be great for emotional eaters. Those who participated in the study showed an increase in their serotonin levels; hence, it may also improve mood and sleeping patterns.

How Does Garcina Cambogia Work?
The HCA extract from garcinia cambogia supplement aids in weight loss by doing two things: It helps to block fat, and it suppresses your appetite.

HCA blocks fat by inhibiting a key enzyme that your body needs to make fat from carbohydrates: Citrate lyase. Usually carbohydrates or sugars that are not used immediately or stored in other forms are converted into fats. When HCA inhibits citrate lyase, the fat-making process is halted and the production of LDL (bad cholesterol) and triglycerides decrease.

HCA also suppresses appetite by increasing serotonin levels. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in your brain that makes you feel good. It’s a target of many antidepressant medications. Having low levels of serotonin may make you feel depressed or anxious; it drives many people into emotional or reactive eating. By increasing serotonin levels, HCA improves mood and suppresses the drive to react to stressful situations with food. As you eat less, your body senses this and it releases stored fat in your fat cells.

Many studies have shown promise. One randomized placebo-controlled study followed 60 obese persons for 8 weeks. With a calorie-restricted diet (1200 kcal/day) and an HCA dose of 1320 mg/day, the experimental group lost an average of 14 pounds (compared to 6.1 pounds in the placebo group). The participants also noted reduced appetite.

Is It Safe?
The plant and its fruit have been eaten safely for years. The HCA extract is also likely in safe amounts.

However, don’t take this supplement if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. If you are taking a diabetic medication (like insulin or glyburide), talk to a doctor before taking this to make sure this is right for you, otherwise this supplement may allow your blood sugar to fall even lower than normal.

Those taking a statin (a cholesterol-lowering drug) should use this supplement with caution because it can increase the risk of harmful side effects, like rhabdomyolysis or muscle degradation. Those with Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia shouldn’t take HCA because of the risk of worsening dementia.

How Much Should I Take?
You can buy garcinia cambogia extract in health food stores or online. When looking for a supplement, look for “garcinia cambogia” or “GCE” with at least 50% HCA (active ingredient potassium). Some experts believe that the newly available HCA potassium salts are more effective than the other HCA formulations.

Take 500-1000 mg before each meal, and make sure to take no more than 3000 mg total per day.

When looking for supplements, make sure you can see and review the list of ingredients. Do not purchase if you can’t see any ingredients. Furthermore, there should be no fillers or artificial ingredients.

With no other changes, you may lose 2-4 pounds within one month. However, it is highly recommended that the person taking HCA also find time for moderate exercise a few times a week and eat properly portioned meals. Let the power of the HCA supplement work along with making healthier choices.

Also, understand that no pill is more effective than maintaining a regular exercise regimen and a healthy diet.

The Super Bowl, food temptations, and triathlon

I had a choice to make, watch the super bowl and be tempted with all the food at a Super Bowl party,
or go to work where I'm in complete control of my food. After my crappy performance at yesterdays duathlon I've decided I'm going in for a 12 hour overtime shift.

I gotta get back to my race weight. Not only was yesterday an embarrassment, but my body, especially my knees are beat up. It's not good to be racing or training carrying around as much weight as I am right now. Things change now.

On February 9th my wife and I are going to a functional nutrition lecture put on by BJ and Will, owners of Zia CrossFit. Both are amazing athletes. Both compete regularly in Olympic lifting competitions, the CrossFit games, etc. Will is a former collegiate swimmer. He's finished numerous triathlons up to the half Ironman distance. After the seminar they are going to be have a club nutrition competition. I'm not sure how long the competition is going to last, probably 6 weeks or so. I'm looking foreword to it. Not only will the info be helpful, but I love competition. The competition will be motivational for me.

My goal is to get down to 220 by The Billy The Kid Triathlon held on June 8th. I weighed in at 252.8 this morning.

duathlons, bloody nipples, and other uncomfortable things

I hadn't trained much in the last 14 months, so I knew I'd be sore the day after yesterdays race, but I forgot that there are things that hurt from racing and/or training other than muscles. One of those things is bloody nipples. Sounds painful doesn't it? It is. It's pretty common though. If you run and bike for long distances, and your shirt rubs your nipples each time you take a step running or peddle, it eventually rubs them raw. So this is the end result:   

 

And my arm pits are chaffed raw where my tank top style shirt ended in my pitts. The shirt got rubbed back and forth in between my arm and arm pitts as I ran, and this is the result:

 

And my butt crack is chaffed- don't worry, I didn't add a picture of that.

And my gooch is rubbed raw. Are you new to cycling and don't know what a gooch is? A gooch is a cycling term for the area of your body you sit on when cycling.

Makes you want to go out and do a duathlon or triathlon doesn't it?

The 2013 Missile Man duathlon race report

I left my house this morning at 1:30 am to drive to White Sands Missile Range New Mexico to race The Missile Man duathlon. I really enjoy racing any of the multisport races held at WSMR NM. They have excellent post race meals of pasta, french bread, and Gatorade. During the awards ceremony they have a raffle where free race entries are handed out for any White Sands Missile Range race. There are showers available so you can get cleaned up before you drive home.  The WSMR races are held on a military instillation, so there's little to no vehicle traffic on the bike course; which is important to me since I freak out riding my bike near vehicles thanks to a very large vehicle running over me and giving me a traumatic brain injury in September of 2011.

If you interested in racing a multisport race at WSMR here's the link to their 2013 race schedule:
http://cody-the-clydsdale.blogspot.com/2012/10/white-sands-missile-range-2013.html

The Missile Man duathlon  was my 83rd multisport race, and my 19th duathlon. It was a 7k run, 28k bike, 5k run. I was nervous about this race, I wasn't sure I'd be able to complete it since I've done virtually no swimming, biking, or running, and have gained 75 pounds since the accident.

The last triathlon I raced in was in September 2012. It was my slowest race ever, so I knew I had to do something to stop the gaining weight. I joined Zia CrossFit in Santa Fe NM the 1st week of January. I was doubtful that doing CrossFit 3 times a week for 4 weeks would make me race any faster. But before I knew it, it was time to see....

I started out feeling good on the 1st run of 7 kilometers, or 4.34 miles. I finished the 1st run of the day in 45:01, which is around a 10:21 per minute pace. I was pretty sure I was in 4th place in my division (it's easy picking out who the Clydes are), but I wasn't sure if I could pass anyone later in the race when I'd need some endurance- did I still have any of that stuff called endurance?

The bike is an out and back 17.4 miler, the 1st half is a gradual downhill. On the first few miles I felt fantastic! I was passing people left and right! At mile 5 my left calf started cramping, I did my best to ignore it and focus on my effort rather than the pain. Eventually the cramping went away.... On the return route I started the long gradual (dreadful) climb back. Climbing is all about fitness and being at a low body weight, so I assumed I'd suffer and be slow coming back because I'm heavy and I was pretty sure I'd lost most of my fitness..... I surprised the heck out of myself by doing better on the climb than I did going downhill! I'm not saying I was fast, I'm just sayin' I was climbing fast for a guy weighing 250 pounds. I passed at least one Clyd on the way back to the transition area. Progress! Apparently CrossFit does build speed! Who knew? Well now I do that's who! My end bike time was a dismal 1 hour 19 minutes which is a 13.1 mph average, but it was still faster than my last race in September! Like I said, progress!

After the race I started thinking.... I raced on aero dynamic wheels and wore an aero helmet, and I only rode an average of 13.1 mph. A cyclist has to ride at least 19 mph to make riding on aero wheels or in an aero helmet worth while. I knew I was going to be slow, so why use aero equipment? Why wear out my expensive equipment when it doesn't benefit me? That was dumb. Really really dumb. I bet I looked stupid out there. I bet I looked a lot like the guy in this picture.

On the 2nd run I was a mess, both calf's were cramping up and I was fatigued like crazy, but I didn't allow anything to take my focus off of running as hard as I could to the finish. I knew the clyd I passed on the bike was right behind and I didn't want to let that guy pass me! The thought of missing a podium finish got my competitive juices flowing and I can get REALLY COMPETITIVE! I ended up finishing the 2nd run of 5 kilometers in 23:51, which is a 7:41 pace. Yup, I'm mighty happy with the 2nd run time! Run fat boy run!!!

I finished in 26th place overall, and 3rd place in the Clydesdale 39 and under. So like I said, I did much better than I assumed I'd do, but I'm still a very long way away from my strreak of top 3 overall finishes back in 2010. No, you didn't read that wrong. Top 5. I used to be lean and FAST! I know it's hard to believe it by looking at me now, but back in 2010 I finished 5 races in the top 5 overall. My average sprint triathlon times were 6:16 for a 400 meter swim, I'd average just shy of 21 mph on the bike, then still be able to run just shy of a 7 minute per mile pace. I realize I'm a long ways from where I used to be, but this is a life long sport. It doesn't matter where I am right now, what matters is where I'm going. Next step is to start off supplementing CrossFit with a little cycling and running.

With today's 3rd place finish I have 8 points for the South West Challenge Series. 1 race down, 4 more races to go until I hit the minimum number of races needed to qualify for The South West Challenge Series series, and 4 more races minimun needed to qualify for the Chasing 3 Open Water Series. Yup, I'm going to try and compete in both deries this year.