another 3 PR's!

Today I was barely able to wake myself up in time to make it to Miller weightlifting. I need a day of rest and recovery. An entire 24 hours where I can do nothing but sleep and veg out on the couch. I've been working WAY to much and I'm SO TIRED! But all that fatigue disappeared once I started lifting. The gym was virtually empty today. It was just Faith, me, and some kick butt music jamin' out from the Zia CrossFit side of the gym. It was the perfect environment and perfect company to throw some weight around. Faith A is a hero of mine. She's one of the strongest, fittest, fastest, and most humble athletes I've ever met. Virtually everyday someone says something along the lines of, "I wanna be Faith when I grow up." Ya, she's that awesome. Apparently all the conditions were right because I set PR's in the snatch, front squat, and dead lift. I completed 2 reps of my snatch PR, which happens to be a state record baby for the super heavy weight 40-44 division!

More good news, I didn't binge eat yesterday. That's rare now-a-days. Any day I don't binge eat is a good day.

My first Olympic weightlifting goal

I've been training in Olympic weightlifting for a little more than 2 months now. My form is still really bad, especially in the snatch. I don't think I've progressed enough to have picked any goal weights to hit this year, but I have decided I want my A event to be the 2nd annual Buffalo classic weightlifting competition held by Zia CrossFit November of this year here in Santa Fe NM. I have 10 months until the 2nd annual Buffalo Classic . That's 10 months to work on my form and build some more strength. I'm planning on competing in a couple sanctioned Olympic weightlifting events before the Buffalo Classic so that I can get used to lifting in a formal competition.

I posted a link to the 2013 1st annual Buffalo Classic weight lifting competition below.

https://www.usaw.hangastar.com/EMS_Events_Results.aspx

first run in many moons: treadmill tabata

I have been postponing running until I get below 250 pounds, I'm currently 260, but since I signed up for The Missile Man duathlon (formerly the Jon Stermer duathlon) on Feruary 1st 2014 I decided I needed to start running now. Yesterday I did a tabata so that I'm building my running ability while also building fast twitch muscles. I did a 5 minute warm up on the treadmil, then set the incline to 4% and the pace at 8 mph. Then I ran 20 seconds on 10 seconds off. I could only keep that up for 6 rounds, stopping at the 9:50 mark. I've also started cycling to and from work again. Until the Missile man duathlon I'll be weightlifting on Mon, Wed, Fri, and Sat's. Cycling on Tue's, and running on Thur's. After today my tabatas will be more strenuous. I'll set the incline to 12% and the pace 30 seconds slower than my latest best 5k. Then 20 seconds on 10 seconds off for four minutes or 8 rounds.

I have to say thank you to Travis from Zia CrossFit for helping me out with this fast twitch building cardio. It's new to me and I'd never have known what to do if it wasn't for your help and guidance.

post triathlon

To be able to stay active, eating healthy, and motivated I need to feel like I'm an athlete. Since I retired from multisport I feel like I've been a lazy fat bum. I didn't have an athletic goal to keep me dedicated. Since I wasn't motivated by any particular goal I have been eating like crap and not working out. I missed 3 weeks of CrossFit. I'm back up to 250 pounds. Damn it! This weekend my prayers were answered and I have found a goal that motivates me. My goal is to continue to build overall fitness and losing weight by doing CrossFit 5 days a week while working out on my own to get a 350 pound squat, a 275 pound bench press, and a body weight of 219 by my birthday on November 18th. My body builds strength fairly easily so I should be able to reach this goal somewhat easily, especially with the strength training plan BJ, the owner of Zia CrossFit, has designed for me. I'm excited to be back into athlete mode once again.

to race or not to race

I've spent a lot of time thinking weather or not I want to get back to hard core triathlon training. I assumed training for and racing at the duathlon national championships would give me the motivation I needed, it hasn't. I really have no desire what so ever to train for endurance athletics, I don't even enjoy racing anymore to be honest.  I might race an occasional local race for fun, but that's it. I'm retiring from competitive multisport. I'm going to focus on CrossFit for awhile. I really enjoy CrossFit. The workouts, environment, and people are awesome. The owners of Zia CrossFit have even taken the time to help me with my diet and a training plan to accomplish my goal of beating my natural fathers bench press PR. The only negative about CF I can think of is my fault. I need to fix my form on dead lifts. Every time I do them my lower back hurts for weeks. I did a max dead lift yesterday and I can barely stand up straight today.

Jeremy, benchmark at RX

A few days ago I stopped dieting and started eating enough to maintain my weight. Apparently more calories was EXACTLY what my body was needing. Today before CrossFit started I did some push ups and pull ups. I do this daily since those are 2 of the  things I'm weakest at. I was able to crank out a lot more pull ups and push ups than I've ever been able to do, a lot more! Once class started we did the workout called "Jeremy" which is reps of 21-15- then 9 of overhead squats and burpees. Jeremy is a  a CrossFit benchmark workout, and up until today I had never been able to do the RX (recommended weight)of a benchmark workout. Today I did the RX for the 1st time! I was very stoked! I was really close to busting out in a happy white boy dance!

the 2013 CrossFit games: 13.1 and an injury

I'd been training at a CrossFit gym for 9 weeks when the 2013 CrossFit games started. I'm one of the slowest, least fit athletes at Zia CrossFit, but I decided to attempt the games anyways. The CrossFit games will be 5 workouts/fitness tests, one a week for 5 weeks. The 1st test is called 13.1, meaning it's the 1st test of the 2013 games. The 13.1 workout is:

17 minute AMRAP (as many reps as possible in 17 minutes) of:
40 Burpees
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
30 Burpees
135 pound Snatch, 30 reps
20 Burpees
165 pound Snatch, 30 reps
10 burpees
210 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible


1.5 weeks before the CrossFit games I maxed out (most weight I can lift one rep) on snatches at 125 pounds, so I was disappointed to see the 101st rep would be snatches of 135 pounds. I assumed I'd get to 100 reps and not be able to get a single rep of 135 pounds. Somehow I was able to accomplish 18 reps at 135 pounds, with a total score (reps) of 118!!!! That was much better than I dreamed. So far I'm ranked 2,384th out of  4,549 athletes in the South West.

One of the gym members posted a video of Matt S., Sarah B., and myself doing the 13.1. at one point I got so excited I yelled. I was embarrassed later, but the excitement got the best of me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbG6IwP1vzA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

On Monday I fell and injured my foot while practicing walking on my hands. My foot has been swollen and I can't walk on it. I'm hoping and praying I heal up in time to be able to attempt 13.2, the 2nd workout of the 2013 CrossFit games. The 2nd workout I should be able to kick butt at, because I'm really good at box jumps. The 13.2 is:

10 minute AMRAP (as many reps as possible in 10 minutes) of:
5 Shoulder to overhead, 115 / 75 lbs
10 Deadlift, 115 / 75 lbs
15 Box jump, 24 / 20 inch

I'm currently weighing 234 pounds. Since starting CrossFit I've lost 22 pounds and have gained over 3 inches around my chest and back. Since starting a Paleo diet competition with I Suck at CrossFit 4.5 weeks ago I've lost 12 pounds.

Paleo diet gains and mistakes

In early January I started working out at Zia CrossFit. Immediately I fell in love with the workouts and environment. After almost a month of working out there I was getting stronger, faster, more endurance, and more flexible. But every time I tried to lose weight by counting calories like I did when I was training for triathlons I became overly hungry very quickly which would lead to me falling off the diet wagon, overeating and gaining even more weight. My buddies BJ and Will who are competitive Olympic weight lifters, strong man competitors, and owners of zia CrossFit took some time to teach me how they ate, which is Paleo. They eat meat, vegetables, fruit, and small amount of nuts. They eat until they are satisfied, and never count or restrict calories. They eat 1.5 ounces of protein for every pound of lean body mass.

GAINS:
So far since I started eating Paleo on Feb 3, 2013 I've ate an average of 3,051 calories and 235 grams of protein each day. I've burned an average of 539 calories a day from working out, which is about half as much as I did when I was only swimming, biking, and running. Since Feb 3rd 'veI dropped from 252 pounds to 237 pounds. 15 pounds in 5 weeks while eating as much as I want. What's even more exciting is the strength and muscle gains I've made. While dropping pant sizes and losing fat I've gained 3 inches around my chest and back, and have set new PR's on my power clean, snatch, front squat, and clean and jerk lifts.

MISTAKES:
I was warned by BJ and Will not to cut fat while eating Paleo. Recently I decided to try and speed up my weight loss so I cut 500 calories a day out of my diet. I didn't cut fat, I just lowered how much I was eating each day a little. Withing 2 days I was grumpy and struggling to finish workouts.

WHAT I LEARNED:
Don't cut calories when eating Paleo. When I cut calories I feel like crap and perform like crap. I'm making great gains in strength, endurance, and weight loss by eating Paleo. I need to be patient and let my weight loss and performance gains continue. If it aint broke, dont fix it.

P.S.
Don't think I've given up on multisport. I'm still running and cycling. Not as much as I used to. Just enough to finish them comfortably- not necessarily quickly though. Triathlons and duathlons are still my passion. My races will be the Atomic Man duathlon in White Rock NM (April), The Spring Fling Triathlon in Rio Rancho NM (April).

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!

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.

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.

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.

an enviroment to succeed

Last nights CrossFit workout was brutal! I'm not sure if its because I didn't do anything physical during my week long anniversary trip to Sedona AZ with my wife and I lost fitness, or if its because I put on more weight- I'm tipping the scaling at a whopping 254 pounds now. Whatever the reason was, at the half way point of the workout I was exhausted, cramping up, shaking, and was seriously doubting if I'd be able to finish. I did end up finishing, but my time was HORRIBLE! After the workout I just laid there on the floor of the gym. I was too exhausted and... well.... embarrassed of my performance to get up. Within moments of finishing my pathetic workout a couple people came up to me and told me, "way to finish strong." And "way to push through iť". It's amazing how a few words of encouragement can change my perspective. I had been hurting beyond belief but still finished every rep and set of the WOD (workout of the day) when others may have quit.

After I recovered I noticed that when the other athletes in the gym were finished, they didn't leave until everyone else had also completed their workout.

As I was leaving, my chin held a just a little bit higher in spite of my poor workout at least 5 people yelled farewell to me. Zia CrossFit is like no gym I've ever been to before. It's more like a community. Iť wasn't until last night that I realized why every single person in that gym is in such great shape and looks so good: its virtually impossible not to succeed in an environment like that.

Saturday CrossFit competition class

At the CrossFit gym I recently started working out at they have workout competitions on Saturdays. I'd avoided going to one of the Saturday classes because.... well... so far I suck at CrossFit, and no one wants to be teamed up with the slow guy in the class. Because of a couple of unexpected mandatory 16 hour shifts and the Christmas holiday this week I was only able to hit 2 CrossFit workouts. 2 workouts is not enough to build fitness as quickly as I'd like. So yesterday I forced myself to attend the Saturday class. I'm glad I did. Everyone was just as friendly and accepting as they always are. Everyone encouraged each other, there wasn't a single person who was judgmental. It was the perfect workout environment.

There were 5 stations, at each station we'd row for a minute, then do a minute of strength training such as pull ups, burpees, wall balls, atlas stones, or kettle bell swings, then rest a minute. We did each station 2 times. The teams encouraged each team member and even encouraged the other teams. The competition fueled me to push even harder than I usually do. By the end of the workout I was BEYOND exhausted, and I had  blast! I'll be attending the Saturday classes fom now on for sure. What an amazing way to start the weekend!