a new weightlifting gym

Now that I've moved away from Santa Fe I had to find a new weightlifting gym. There's not many weightlifting gyms in the U.S. There's even fewer with decent coaching. Moving to another city is usually weightlifting suicide. But thankfully New Mexico is a weightlifting meca. There's two great weightlifting coaches in this state. Only two you might ask? That's two more than most states have. Weightlifting is a fringe sport in America. It's growing in popularity, but there's still not a ton of interest, and even fewer decent coaches. In New Mexico the two great coaches I know of are my former coach Shane Miller of Miller weightlifting in Santa Fe and my new coach Juaquin Chaves of High Dessert Athletic Club (HDAC) in Albuquerque.

I'm going to miss my old coach like heck. He's a great man and  great coach. I was worried when I told him I wasn't going to be able to train with him and that I wanted to train at another weightlifting gym. His response was so supportive.

time to retire

I was eligible to retire from the prison back in May 215. After much deliberation I've decided it's time to retire. Since we live on prison grounds, similar to having on base military housing, the first step to retiring is to buy a home. I'm wanting to live in Santa Fe New Mexico or New Hampshire. My wife wants to live in Albuquerque New Mexico. After we buy a home I'll get another job, then retire. I'm in shock. I can't believe this is happening.

weightlifting, retirement, and Santa Fe New Mexico

I find great joy from training olympic style weightlifting. The dedication and focus it takes to train in this sport fits my personality perfectly. I have a perfect weightlifting specific gym and like minded athletes to train with. I have two top notch coaches, one weightlifting coach and one nutrition coach. I'm completely content where I'm at. And now that I'm able to slow down on overtime my family life is the best it's ever been. 

I spent my entire career counting down the days to be able to retire and move, and now that I'm eligible to retire from the prison I've found complete satisfaction where I'm at. My wife and I have been house shopping here in Santa Fe, the houses are unbelievably expensive, there's no way we could afford to buy a house here. So after years of wanting to retire, I've found  that now I don't want to, and I sure as heck don't want to move away from my weightlifting gym here in Santa Fe.

I started taking creatine again. I'm always amazed how quickly my body gets strength gains and how much more quickly my body recovers when I take creatine. The only down side to creatine is the weight gain. I've gained three pounds in less than a week. All the weight gain is water weight, and since i don't have to worry about making weight at a lower weight class i don't mind. My next weightlifting meet is in January. The meet in January will be my last chance to qualify for the Masters Weightlifting National Championships.

a world class weightlifting gym, weight loss, and weightlifting progress

Yesterday another athlete, Stephan, joined the Miller gym and is commuting to Santa Fe all the way from Albuquerque, 120 miles round trip to train with us. There's a half dozen athletes who are making that commute to be coached by Shane Miller. He's one of the best Olympic style  weightlifting coaches in the nation. When Shane introduced me to Stephan he introduced me as "...Cody, who owns all three of the 40-44 age group super heavy weight state records". That was the first time I'd been introduced as the state record holder. I must say, it felt awesome! It's addicting! I desperately want to get to the 105k weight class & break those records too. I know, I'm a glory hound. Nothing new there. 


One of the weight lifters, Katie, who commutes from Albuquerque set a personal best snatch today of 62k. One more kilo and she'll be doing a body weight snatch. A body weight snatch is what most amateur weightlifters aspire for, very few achieve it. i cant wait to see that. Talk about inspiring! 


 I've been eating perfectly for 31 days. Lots of meat, fruit, vegetables, nuts, and salads. I've had no sugar and virtually no processed foods. This is the 2nd longest steak I've been on since i stopped training and racing triathlon in 2011. I'm currently 298 pounds, I've lost 13 since mid December.  66 more pounds to lose until i get to my ultimate goal of lifting in the 105k weight class and hopefully breaking the 105k state records of 95k snatch, 135k clean and jerk, and a 228k total too. 

microdermabrasion for cyclists & amazing Santa Fe pictures

I've lived in NM since 1989, and this is the windiest I've ever seen it. While I was out cycling today the winds were 39-40 mph according to the weatherchannel.com

I knew today's bike ride was going to be an adventure so I brought my camera. I got more great pictures than I had even hoped for!

For the first time I got hit by a dust devil while biking. I had no idea the strength those things had! It blew me across 2 lanes of the road & a roofing shingle hit the back of my helmet hard enough it knocked my glasses off my head. Great way to get free microdermabrasion! This picture is the south west corner of the East frontage road & Bonanza creek rd.

I passed a NM highway truck that was repainting the stripes on the road. The end result wasn't pretty. The paint was blown across the entire 8 foot median. It would of made sense to wait to repaint the roads for a day that wasn't this windy.

I saw the biggest bull I've ever seen in my life. He was mingling in a herd of antelope off highway 14 near the New Mexico State Penitentiary.

Somewhere around 4-6 miles East of the frontage road on Bonanza Creek rd I saw some sort of buzzard or vulture feeding off of some road kill. That was only the 3rd or 4th time I've seen one of these in the 8 years I've lived here in Santa Fe. The bird flew away before I could get my camera out, I got this picture off the net. This picture was the one that looked most like the bird I saw.

I found this web site describing the rout I train on daily. It's amazing!!! I pass 2 movie ranches & countless gorgeous sights. If you get an opportunity to ride around this rout you wont regret it... unless you get hit by a dirt devil ;-)

http://www.seesantafe.org/day-trips/41-day-trips/124-into-the-wild-west.html

Fun times being a triathlete in New Mexico!