Yesterday I clean and jerked more than 84k for the first time in almost 7 months. Then I did an 86 and a 94. Then coach told me to try a 100k. I stood there on the platform staring at the bar for an eternity trying to pump myself up. Finally I tried. And it was easy. I was so excited and it felt so good I did it a few more times. Thankfully the old saying about muscle memory is true. It comes back quick.

Anytime my schedule changes and I can't lift at High Dessert Athletic Club I text my coach and ask for the workout so I can do it on my own. Yesterday coach Chavez told me not to text him anymore. That throws a wrench into things. I'm a Dad of three young kids. My schedule can be hectic. I guess on the days I can't train at High Dessert Athletic Club I'll just repeat last week's workout for that day. That's not ideal. But life happens. I just need to learn to improvise, adapt, and overcome. Even with no communication or guidance with workouts during schedule changes, he's still one of the best weightlifting coaches in the nation.

I did some investigating. From 2007-2015 I worked 42,120 hours. That's 4,680 hours a year. An average person that works 40 hours a week works 2,080 hours a year. I averaged more than double that. These are the types of things no one tells men and boys about marriage. If they did we wouldn't do it.

my son and weightlifting

Some wives give socks or ties for presents. Not my wife. She knows exactly what will make me happy. Weightlifting suplaments baby! I got this in the mail today for my 40th birthday. I'm a happy man. 

Today at my son's weightlifting practice coach Miller gave my son a Miller gym t-shirt for an early Christmas present. My son was was so happy about the shirt he refused to take it off last night. He slept in it. He really loves weightlifting, and he's pretty darn good at it. I'd really like it if I could watch him practice just one time without my eyes filling with tears. It's funny how love and and being proud of seeing my children exell  makes me cry.

Here's a video of my son doing power cleans. If he continues progressing as well as he is coach Miller will let him lift in the 2nd annual John Henry Davis meet in January. My dad even said he'd come to watch my sons first weightlifting meet. Even though my Dad only lives a few hours away he only visits once every couple years. So that would make it a particularly special day for my son. He and I would be lifting in the same meet together. Now that's what I call father/son bonding! 

teaching my son to ride his bike without training wheels

Yesterday i taught my youngest son how to ride a bike without training wheels. I ran for what felt like miles hunched over his bike to keep him from falling. Today i woke up so sore! i rarely feel like i may be unable to get through a workout, but half way through today's workout i was struggling. My hands and back kept cramping and i had  to take a long time to recover between sets. I finished every set with all the proscribed weights. It was tough, but i did it.  Tomorrow is recovery day!  Yeah!

10 days left until i cant start taking creatine monohydrate again. I love creatine!  I've heard the results of creatine are individual, not everyone gets such wonderful results, but i sure do.

body fat too low?

I had my body fat tested at the UNM physiology lab late last month. I had 6.8 percent body fat. The person who ran the lab told me it wasn't a good idea to get below 5 percent. I googled the reasons why. The net didn't have much to say. What information I was able to find was very basic. I posted some of the info the web site's had posted (see 3rd paragraph and below).

After giving up on getting the information on the net I contacted a dietitian. He told me essential body fat is necessary to regulate my core body temperature. Fat is necessary to create hormones like testosterone. Eating fat and having a minimum amount of essential body fat is also necessary for absorption of fat soluble vitamins. Vitamins A, D, E and K are all classified as fat soluble vitamins - since they are soluble in fat and are absorbed by the body from the intestinal tract. They follow the same path of absorption as fat and any condition interfering with the absorption of fats or not having enough fat in storage would result in poor absorption of these vitamins.

Wikipedia says:
A person's percentage is the total weight of the person's fat divided by the person's weight and consists of essential body fat and storage body fat. Essential body fat is necessary to maintain life and reproductive functions. The percentage for women is greater than that for men, due to the demands of childbearing and other hormonal functions. Essential fat is 3%–5% in men, and 8–12% in women. Storage body fat consists of fat accumulation in adipose tissue, part of which protects internal organs in the chest and abdomen. The minimum recommended total body fat percentage exceeds the essential fat percentage value reported above.

ask.com says:
Men can get down to around 5% and women to about 12% body fat. Below those numbers you really have to be careful that some basic physiological and hormone systems aren't disrupted to the extent that you get ill. The immune system can suffer, and in women, periods can go missing and bone health can be affected adversely.

An article written by a UNM exercise physiology student says:
Body Composition
The body is composed of water, protein, minerals, and fat. A two-component model of body composition divides the body into a fat component and fat-free component. Body fat is the most variable constituent of the body. The total amount of body fat consists of essential fat and storage fat. Fat in the marrow of bones, in the heart, lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, intestines, muscles, and lipid-rich tissues throughout the central nervous system is called essential fat, whereas fat that accumulates in adipose tissue is called storage fat. Essential fat is necessary for normal bodily functioning. The essential fat of women is higher than that of men because it includes sex-characteristic fat related to child-bearing. Storage fat is located around internal organs (internal storage fat) and directly beneath the skin (subcutaneous storage fat). It provides bodily protection and serves as an insulator to conserve body heat. The relationship between subcutaneous fat and internal fat may not be the same for all individuals and may fluctuate during the life cycle.
Lean body mass represents the weight of your muscles, bones, ligaments, tendons, and internal organs. Lean body mass differs from fat-free mass. Since there is some essential fat in the marrow of your bones and internal organs, the lean body mass includes a small percentage of essential fat. However, with the two-component model of body composition, these sources of essential fat are estimated and subtracted from total body weight to obtain the fat-free mass. Practical methods of assessing body composition such as skinfolds, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), and hydrostatic weighing are based on the two-component (fat and fat-free mass) model of body composition.


Standards of Body Fat nessary
Our bodies require essential fat because it serves as an important metabolic fuel for energy production and other normal bodily functions. Referring to Table 1, you can see that the essential fat requirements are < 5% for men and < 8% for women. Normal body functions may be disrupted if body fat falls below the minimum level recommended for men (5%) and women (15%). The body fat ranges for optimal health (18%-30% for women and 10%-25% for men) are based on several epidemiological studies of the general population. Body fat percentages for optimal fitness and for athletes tend to be lower than optimal health values because excess fat may hinder physical performance and activity.

still losing & fatherhood

This has been the longest I've gone without updating my blog. Things have been busy busy. I'm back to being consistent with my triathlon training (hurray), I'm back to working 6 twelve hr shifts a week (not so hurray), my wife is going to school now so I'm on baby duty 2 days a week (a big hurray).

A few weeks ago my weight was up to the 230's. Based off what I read on Couch-potato-to Ironman's blog I decided to try upping my daily calories to see if I could stay more consistent with the ole diet that way. It has worked miracles! I'm a little hungry, but never REALLY hungry or ever feeling like I was starving the way I had felt before. I've lost an average of 2.3 pounds a week the last few weeks. I weighed in at 222.2 this morning. I'm so happy to have diagnosed the reason I was having such horrid up & downs with my eating. If I keep losing 2 pounds a week I'll be down to 200 pounds by July, just a little late for my A race in June. But better late than never. I'm even having dreams of grandor of racing EVERY race next year as an age grouper. Rather than doing like I did in 20008, when I dropped below 200 for only 2 races, but then had to compete the whole year as an AG'er or lose the points of the races I did below 200 pounds.

Like I'd said my training is back on track again. I had been burned out since I'd completed Ironman Arizona in November. I haven't been missing workouts like I had been. I'm hitting most all of them, even the swims!!!! I know, it's amazing. I'm even swimming!

I am training exclusively for sprint distance triathlons this year rather than Ironman distances like the last few years, so my training emphasis is on speed work rather than long & slow. But even so, my long bike rides are up to 62 miles & my long runs are up to 7 miles. I've knocked off 18 seconds on my 400 meter run intervals in the last 3 weeks. I'm still no where as fast of a runner as I usually am, but I'm improving quickly. Hopefully I'll be back to running my usual 6-7:15 minute miles for a 5K. My biking is actually faster now than I ever:)

Right now my diet is great, my training is awesome, & my speeds are improving quickly. Life is looking good my friend!

This weekend I have another triathlon at White Sands Missile Range. It's the Wind Triathlon, a 5K run, 30 K bike & a 400 meter swim. Should be interesting because my biggest competition, Jason McClure will be there. This will be the third time of the 09 season that we'll be racing against each other. The first one I won, the 2nd he slaughtered me by 7 minutes! Even though Jason is much faster than me right now, it just so happens that I'm slightly ahead in the South West Challenge Series. He has 26 points, I have 29. As long as I place in the top 3 in my division at this weekends race I'll be able to keep my lead, even if only by a point or 2. I'll keep you posted on how the race & the results go.

Well, as I've said before my daughter who is 3.5 years old is taking swim lessons. & I'm excited to say she swam for the first time this last week. She swam about 4 or 5 feet, all under water & using a semi-breast stroke. I was so excited I when I saw her do this I interrupted the class by jumping up & down & yelling hysterically "she's swimming! She's doing it! She's swimming, she's swimming!" I must say, that was one of the coolest experiences of my life. She's 2 years younger than the next youngest child in her class of 8 kids, & she is the 2nd one to be able to swim. There's only one kid who can hold her breath longer than my daughter too. I'm telling you peeps, my baby girl is a natural swimmer.

I've been hoping my daughter could do the Jay Benson kids triathlon in May. To be able to do that race she needs to be able to swim 1 lap which is 25 meters by herself. I wasn't sure if she'd be able to learn to swim that far by then, but it looks like she may. How cool would that be. You can bet I'll record the entire triathlon on our camcorder. Oh, how wonderful father hood is!

A big announcement for the big 200th post

This year I had a wish list. Among other things I was hoping for a Rocket Aero helmet.

Not sure where the confusion came from. 3 babies in 3 years. Apparently the endurance I'm developing for Multisport can affect other areas of my life. At the Dr.'s office they said they know what causes that now..... Who knew?

We've made progress this time though. There's 4 more months between #2 & #3 than there was between #1 & #2. We may even make it to the 2 year mark between #3 & #4. But then again maybe not, I do find my wife quite irresistible.....I knew my coach shouldn't have given me so much time off after IMAZ.

Our house is much happier & more full of life with 2 babies than only one. I think 3 is going to be great. I'm excited.... and really grateful I'm not the one who has to go into labor for the third time in 3 years.

6 days until Ironman Arizona & cold weather training

Well, 6 days until Ironman Arizona. By Sunday night I will be an Ironman. I feel strong & confident. My training regiment has been spectacular. I'm weighing at 220 right now. Not as low as I'd like, but more than low enough to race well. My family & I will be leaving for Tempe AZ on Thursday morning. Friday I'll get my race packet. Saturday is equipment drop off & the mandatory pre-race meeting. Sunday morning is the day I've been training for 5.5 years. God willing I will conquer this distance.

Race stats 7am Az time Sunday morning. If you'd like to track my progress get onto http://www.ironmanlive.com/ & type in my name, Cody Hanson. That sight will keep you updated on where I am on the course. It will give you my splits, time, average pace, etc.

Last week a small cold front had come through northern New Mexico. I'm weighing 35 pounds less than what I was last winter. Weighing less sure makes a person cold easier! It was about 51 degrees out. Last year I'd of been fine going on a bike ride in my usual attire of sweat pants & cotton T-shirt- yes I train in sweat pants & cotton T-shirts. Sweat pants only cost $7 at Wal-Mart & I get a cotton T-shirt @ every race I do (I usually average 12-16 races a year, that's a lot of free shirts). Cycling pants are around $60. Cycling shirts are $50. I'm much to cheap to train in a $150 outfit when for $7 I can ride/run in sweats & a free shirt. Every year I train all year long. Even on the coldest of days I still swim, bike, & run. Running in the cold is no problem. I just wear multiple layers & as I run & warm up I take layers off. I took a 45 minute run last winter in -9 degree with the wind chill. Not comfortable, but doable non-the-less.

Now, cycling in extreme weather is a little more difficult. As long as there is no snow or ice on the road I'll still go out & complete my scheduled rides. Up until this year I'd wear a Baklava, 1 or 2 pairs of gloves, multiple pairs of sweat pants and sweat shirts, & a conglomeration of stuff on my feet. For my feet I'd start off putting on a pair of cycling socks, then I'd put a plastic Wal-Mart bag over the socks, then I'd put on a pair of white cotton socks, then my cycling shoes, then if needed another Wal-Mart bag on top of the shoes, & lastly I'd put on a pair of cycling booties. This worked great in temps as low as 30 degrees. But anything colder than that & my feet would still get cold. Very cold. If my ride was long, by the time I got back my feet would often times be so cold they were completely & totally numb. When I got back from my bike ride & started my run I'd frequently stumble. It's not easy running when you can't feel your feet. I even fell a few times. Funny looking back, but sure wasn't funny at the time.

This year I've decided to spoil myself. I bought myself a pair of Lake CXZ302 Winter Road Shoe's, $250. Expensive, but these bad boys are good in temps as low as 10 degrees! I'm also going to buy a pair a clod weather gloves. I'm still unsure what pair to buy. I'd hate to spend the $ on a pair of cold weather cycling gloves only to find out the pair I bought doesn't work well. I was thinking of buying a pair of GORE-Tex BIKE WEAR Cross Gloves. Any suggestions on gloves that work well in freezing weather please share the info.

On a side note here, I took my 2 children in to get their hair cut on Monday at Jungle Cuts in Albuquerque. As my daughter was getting her hair cut I asked her jokingly if she wanted a hair cut like mine? She responded in her sweet little 3 year old voice "no Daddy, you have no hair on your head. It's all on your back." The 2 girls who worked in the shop laughed so hard they were crying. I was SO embarrassed. It's true, kids say the darndest things;)

On the up & up

I haven't blogged for awhile. Usually when I don't write in my blog it's because things have fallen apart in one form or another. I'm usually an optimistic person. So when I'm doing well, or planning on doing well I'll blog to share the excitement. I wasn't doing well. But I'm back on track now.

In early Sept I wrecked my new Cannondale carbon slice triathlon bike. I still haven't gotten it back from the bike shop yet. How long does it take to order & put on a new fork? Somehow I doubt it takes an entire month.
After the wreck I missed about a week of training while healing up the nicks & bruises. A couple days before I was ready to train again I got sick It was just a flue. But dang this was a kicker! On average I only get sick about once a year. It's usually a stomach virus, & it's usually during a big training block. Other than that one stomach virus a year I don't usually catch anything at all. As a matter of a fact I believe it's been almost 4 years since I got the flue. This one made up for it. I was down & out! It stuck around for a good 3 weeks. I missed another one & a half weeks training from sickness. Total time training lost was 2.5 weeks.

Late August I started to get depressed. That's very unusual for me. I don't get down in the dumps very often. I suppose because I'm always expecting things to get better, & since I'm always looking foreword to what tomorrow may bring, that by the time I realize I'm depressed I'm usually pretty deep into it. Last week I was having a hard time even getting out of bed. I'd missed more workouts this month than in any month in 5 years of me training for triathlon.

Some of the reasons for my emotional state was me missing my Dad who died in July.

Worry over my Mom, who isn't handling his death well. She tends to dive head first into projects, keeping herself busy enough that she won't have time to feel, much less heal. Which explained her heart attack in July.

My biggest reason for my emotional downer was that I've been missing my 2 children. I've been working 72-86 hrs a week since last Oct when my wife quite her job to be a stay at home Mom. I went from having 3 days at home with my babies while my wife was at work to only seeing them a couple hrs a day between shifts. That's been hard. Really hard. In the last year I've watched my daughter go from a complete Daddy's girl to wanting her Mom most of the time. That's understandable considering my wife is now there all of the time to give her the love & attention she needs. I'd do anything to go back to the way things were with my children. But to do that I'd have to break my wife's heart by having her go back to work again. One of the steps I've decided to do to help our financial situation is something I have been avoiding for 13 years of me working here at the new Mexico state Penitentiary. I'm going to put in for Sergeant. Call me content or complacent. Same thing I suppose. But I've always enjoyed my job so much that I didn't want to promote in fear that I'd end up hating my job like most every other person I've ever known. Given the choice between being content with my job or more time with my babies I'll choose more time with my children.

Now for the good news. My wife & I paid off our house last month so that means I can work a little less. Instead of working 70-80 hrs a week I'll only have to work 60 hrs a week to make our minimum bills. That's more time home with my kids, not as much as I'd like. But I'll take what I can get.

Since July I've gained 29 pounds. I went from a fast & slim 188 back up to a 217 pound Clydesdale. Jeez, it took a lot of effort to get from 257 last Nov to 188 this June. Half of that work on weight loss disappeared in 3 months time. Very disappointing. In June I had a 6 pack. No 6 pack now that's for sure.

My coach Pete Alfino wrote me an email a couple weeks ago. I wish I'd of kept it because it was very insightful. To sum it up he said I am way to hard on myself when things start to slip a little in training. I thought about what he said & I had a realization. During every build phase I've done just before my years "A" race I've gained between 30-50 pounds. Every time I start getting close to an A race I beat myself up if I miss a workout, or have a bad day training. When I get stressed I turn to food. When I turn to food I get pissed because I know I'm putting my A race in jeopardy by gaining weight. In turn the weight gain pisses me off and I turn to food to find temporary comfort. It had been a big snowball effect. That snow ball is the reason that after 5 years of training & 2 failed attempts I'm still not an Ironman.

I know, I know. I should of realized this pattern awhile ago. Not sure why I didn't see the pattern before. But regardless, I now know. I believe knowing what was happening & why will help me deal with this in the future. Perhaps I won't be able to completely stop the weight gain during every build phase. But I'd be willing to bet this knowledge will help slow the fat tide dramatically.

Since this realization my attitude has completely turned around. Since my attitude about working out has gotten better my workouts have gotten better again too. I've not gained weight this week for the first time since June.

So now I can start spending a little more time with my children & my triathlon training has gotten back on track. Things are better. Now if I could just get my triathlon bike back from Bike World in Albuquerque.

Thanks for being a part of my gripe fest. If you don't hear from me on my blog in the next couple weeks you'll know this turn for the good didn't continue. Hopefully I'll post again soon. Peace! I'm out.

Growing up

My son sat up for the first time today. Last week he weighed in at 20 pounds so he can face foreword in his car seat now. My children are growing up so quickly. To quickly. In each stage I see them in I think to myself "this is my favorite stage." But I'd be lying if I didn't say I missed the last stage with all my heart.



My precious daughter has learned what things are funny. When she sees or hears something funny, she'll laugh or say "that's silly Daddy". She heard someone tell a knock knock joke recently. She came up with one of her own & now tells me it 20-30 times a day. She says "Daddy, knock knock." When I say "who's there" she replies "it's me!". She says this with so much glee I can't help but to laugh. I laugh even after hearing it a thousand times.



It's so wonderful to see them growing up. But I so desperately wish they'd slow down. I do believe my wife & I are lucky that she & I don't take for granted the times we have with our children. We even catch ourselves smiling at one another when our children are having a fit or tantrum. It's not that we spoil our children when they are bad or encourage their misbehavior. It's that she & I are realistic enough to know we will look back at these moments in fondness & miss them.



When my daughter was 6 months old I took her to visit my Grandmother in Hobbs. It was just my daughter & I. My wife was stuck in Santa Fe with work. The 1st day there I gave my princess some food that gave her horrible gas pains. I held her all night as she cried. She cried louder than I thought any child as small as her could. Consequently my daughter & I were both tired & cranky the rest of the trip. But I remember that night as one of the most precious moments of her childhood because in between her crying fits she would wad up my shirt in her tiny little hand & keep hold of me as she slept. If I tried to move or lay her down she'd feel it because she'd have hold of my shirt. So she'd wake up & start crying again. I ended up not getting up or even moving much the entire night. I just held her up against my chest, rocking her gently in my Grandmothers lazy boy chair.



5 weeks ago my son who is 9 months old now started grabbing my shirt & pulling on me until I'd pick him up. He'd sometimes pull so hard he would almost pull himself out of my wife's arms. It's gotten to the point where he's so strong that when he pulls if I don't pick him up right away he'll stretch the collar of my T-shirt. Now most of my shirts have stretched collars. I'm not annoyed by that in the least. If anything I'm proud of the fact. The shirts I wear with the ruined collars give me an excuse to talk about my son.



Today my wife & I took my son & daughter to ride the train at the Albuquerque botanical garden. While on the train ride my son grabbed hold of my shirt, but this time instead of pulling harder & more forcefully until I gave in to his demand, he crawled into my lap by himself. This was a first. A very very big first. I'm excited he is progressing as a child should be. It means he's healthy & happy. But I became a little teary-eyed when he did that. I became emotional partly because of what he accomplished. But also partly because he grew out of a stage. There was no warning, no baby steps where we could watch his progress. He simply decided he was ready to move into another stage. As usual I wasn't ready. Them growing into new stages & me getting teary-eyed seems to be a common occurrence around our house.



I had no idea when each child was born I'd become more sentimental & unable to keep my emotions to myself. I must say, the birth of my children has made me a more sensitive person. I cry much easier now than before my babies were born. My eyes fill up at the drop of a dime now, & not just when it pertains to them. Anytime. I don't think it's that I'm weaker now. I think it's that my children opened up a part of my heart that I never knew existed. My children have made me a better man. They've taught me how to love unconditionally & how to forgive. How to better respond when I'm angered or slighted against. How to give more willingly to those in need. All these things God has been wanting me to do long before my children were born. Come to think of it, perhaps the biggest change since the birth of my 1st child 2 years 10 months ago hasn't been in my children after all. Perhaps it's been in me.



Cherish all the joys in your life. But take a moment to recognize where those moments came from & give thanks to Him.

A bonding experience with my daughter

For the last 4 years I've tried to live a very active life style not only to be healthier, but also to be a good example for my daughter. I often take her to the track with me loaded with toys that she can play with on the football field in the middle of the track I end up running on. She'll play around in the grass or the long jump pit entire time I run. While the family watches movies I often ride my indoor bike trainer. I also take her to the pool or park on every one of my days off. I wasn't sure if I was making a difference in the way she'll live her life, but I enjoy living like this. And I really do hope my life style can create healthy choices made by her later in life.

About 5 months ago I bought my daughter a pink Dora the Explorer bike and a pink Princes helmet. I jumped the gun on that one let me tell you. Her little feet couldn't even reach the peddles. She got on the bike that had pink training wheels maybe two times at the most. Both times she got on it I made her wear a helmet. Although she thought the helmet was pretty, she hated wearing it! After 5 months I assumed she would have forgotten all about her helmet and what it was used for.

Today I was scheduled to ride 1.5hrs. I wasn't motivated at all. I grabbed my cycling shoes and helmet, set them in my chair and that's where they stayed for over 2 hrs. I was pretty sure I was going to miss this one. Then around 6:30pm my 22 month old baby girl walked up to me with both of our helmets in her hands. She looked up at me with those big blue eyes and said "please!". I have a bike cart for her but I had never taken her on a training ride with me before. She wanted to go with me on my bike ride and she was even willing to wear her helmet if that meant she could go with me. My heart skipped a beat, and my eyes started filling up with tears. Not only was I touched because she wanted to be with me no matter what it was I was planning on doing. But I also realized all my efforts of exercising in front of her was paying off.

I grabbed us both bottles filled with water, we put on our helmets, and she crawled into the cart before I could even hook it to my bike. I was a little worried that if I did my usual 22 mile loop she'd get bored or uncomfortable and start crying. I wanted to make sure this was a pleasurable experience for her, but the Bonanza loop is really the only place with a shoulder large enough to feel safe riding while pulling my precious cargo. I decided to ride the loop and hope for the best. We ended up doing a 1hr 44 minute 22 mile bike ride. She did great. The entire ride she kept herself occupied and really seemed to enjoying herself. All in all I believe it was a great experience for her. I know this was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I sure love being a Dad.