mammogram test results

I had my mammogram today. All is well. Nothing cancerous. There's a hardening of the fat between my left pectoral muscle and the skin. The people at the xray center kept calling it a breast. I refuse to call my pecs breasts. Its a pec or a chest. I dont have breasts. They suggested I look into my diet to see if that was causing the hardening of the chest tissue. I've logged my food consistently for the last 70 days so investigating  my food history was easy. I just logged onto myfitnesspal. I couldn't find anything that could cause a hardening of the tissue. No soy, etc. I did read some articles on gaining and losing large amounts of weight. Not only can gaining and losing large amounts of weight cause hardening of the fatty chest tissues, but it's also extremely bad for the heart. And I've gained and lost a 100-150 pounds a bunch of times.

weightlifting, massage and illness

My wife's family bought my wife a couples message for her birthday. She and i had a the massage on Monday. I thought that was perfect timing because I have a weightlifting meet this Sunday. I figured the massage would help me recover and taper. Instead of helping me,  3-4 hours after the massage i became sick. It was the exact same thing that happened last time i got a massage. Same symptoms and time frame. I'm trying to figure out if it's the massage that's making me sick or if I'm over training. The next time I get a massage I'm not going to get it during my taper. I don't know, can a massage cause a person to get sick?

The  week before last my wife and i did our budget,  but we neglected to factor in that our kids are home for summer break so we'd be going through a lot more food. By Thursday the following week we were out of food. That day was my last heavy day to determine what weights I'd be attempting at the New Mexico games weightlifting meet. Even though i hadn't eaten i still lifted a 85/105. After every lift I'd see spots and get light headed. Apparently eating  before lifting is important. Who knew? Haha.

motivation and weightlifting numbers

Out of 5 training cycles I'd become sick at the end of all 5. That was a sure sign of overtraining. This training cycle i've decreased the number of days I'm working out a week. Its worked perfectly. I haven't become sick  once.

On Sunday Barry Schroeder showed up to train at The Miller Gym the same time i did.  That was great motivation! I trained harder and took less recovery between sets that I'm used to. The next day i was so sore! For those of you who haven't read my blog one of my goals in life is to loose enough weight to be in his weight class and beat Barry in a weightlifting meet. When i set this goal I needed to loose 106 pounds. I still need to loose 83. Even if I'm able to loose that much weight, getting strong enough to beat him is another thing. His PR's are 105/125/230.  He knows my goal is to beat him, yet he still is constantly helping me. Sometimes it's weightlifting advise, diet advise, or just moral support. Needless to say, he's one of the nicest and most supportive people I've ever had the pleasure of training with.

The 2015 State Games is only 12 days away. My strength still hasn't returned to what it was in April of this year, but I'm still much stronger than i was at last years State Games. At the state games last year i only did a 65k snatch, 88k clean and jerk, a 154k total. This year i think I'll get a 84/104, 188.

sick again- overtraining

I got sick on April 2nd. It was a heck of an illness. I took 32 hours of sick leave last week, and today i was still too sick to go to the gym. Last week i almost drove myself to the emergency room, i thought i was having a heart attack. Of course I'm   a stubborn man. I decided i would wait to see how i was feeling rather than go get checked to see if i was dieing.

I think it was a really horrible upper respiratory illness. I don't know what it was (is), but i do know what caused it. I've been getting ill at the tail end of every 3 month training cycle since i started weightlifting 15 months ago. I'm great at digging deep, pushing myself longer and harder than most could, but I'm not very good at allowing myself the proper amount of recovery. I've been told from one of my former coaches I'm all heart, no brains. Starting next week I'm going to train one less day every two weeks. Hopefully that will give myself enough rest and recovery to stop me from getting sick every training cycle.

This long of an illness may have totally destroyed my chances at setting more PR's and state records at the next weightlifting meet. As a matter of a fact, i'm going to ask coach Miller if i could just skip this next weightlifting tournament. Taking this long away from training would make for a piss poor performance.

massage causes illness?

Last night after my massage i got the aches all over my body. A few hours after that i became sick. Cough, aches (very bad aches), sinus pressure, runny nose, weakness, cough, etc. i have no idea where that came from. Perhaps my body was fighting the illness and the massage pushed my body over the brink?  I dunno,  but it sucked.  I'm afraid to get another massage now.

traveling, illness, a dying family member, and Compass Crossfit

I still haven't healed up from my flue yet, and my big weightlifting meet is in 7 days. I'm starting to get nervous. I've never been sick this close to a meet before.  By the end of my workout on Thursday i was so fatigued from being ill i couldn't complete any of the repetitions of my three heaviest sets of jerks from the rack. 

In the morning my family and i will be leaving for Lubbock Texas to say goodbye to my favorite aunt. She has cancer and is in heart failure. The stress & emotions of traveling out of state & having a loved one leaving this life won't be good for my taper or help me heal up from my illness. 

My Aunt who we'll be visiting used to have me stay the summers with her and her husband. Those summers meant the world to me. It was one of the few times in my childhood i felt safe. She took care of me and loved me like one of her own children.  I've never had anyone who i love this much die. This is going to hurt. But i sure am glad for the time i had with her. She has been such an angel, and a source of hope and strength for me  my entire life. 

On Monday while in Lubbock I'm supposed to hit a small workout building up to the weight of my opening lifts of 78k & 98k. The last time i was in Lubbock Texas i trained at Compass CF. They were awesome about letting me use their facility. The trainer and the athletes were really friendly. I'm hoping they'll let me use their gym again while I'm there.

illness and an 81k /105k lifelong Olympic style weightlifting PR

A couple weeks ago i felt i was gaining strength in Olympic style weightlifting so quickly that the training program i was on wasn't keeping up with my gains. I wanted to do more but couldn't add more weight to the bar because my weightlifting coach watched everyone lift and he'd see if i veered from the training plan. So instead i threw in an extra day of training. I did 5 workouts in a week i was only supposed to do 4. By the end of the week my body was beat up, i felt unbelievably fatigued and i ended up showing the beginning stages of being sick. This was the 2nd time I've doubted my coach's programming, each time i did more than he prescribed, both times I've gotten sick. I've learned my lesson. My coach is extremely good at what he does. One of the best in the nation.  I need to learn to trust him. 

This morning i woke up feeling horrible.  I had a horrible cough, body aches, and the shivers. This morning was also the morning i was supposed to meet with coach Miller to do some heavy clean and jerks. It was also my last heavy day before starting to taper. I decided to gut check it, ignore the illness and lift. i felt like death warmed over. Even though i was slow, felt sluggish, and was getting fatigued very quickly i still lifted a life long clean and jerk PR of 105k. Last week i lifted a lifelong snatch PR of 81k. So at the John Davis memorial meet, the meet I've been training for the last 12 months, i should be able lift a minimum of an 81k /105k /186k, which will break the New Mexico weightlifting 105k+ 40-44ag state record by a hundred pounds!

a rough but healing time

It was a rough week last week. We knew something was wrong with my 7 year olds sleeping. We'd gone to the Dr every few months since he was little. The Dr always sent us away and told us everything was fine. I finally demanded to have my son seen by an ear nose and throat Dr.. As soon as the Ear Nose and Throat  DR saw him he said he has a level 4 airways obstruction in his throat, and the obstruction was probably to blame for his difficulty learning, emotional out bursts, irritability, etc. So on Thursday I found out my 7 year old son is going to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. At first that sounded horrible to me. But it's supposed to be an easy surgery and all the medical people who know about these things say this will turn his life into something so much easier and happier.

On Friday night I came down with a horrible illness. By Tuesday I wasn't better, went to the Dr's and found out I had strep. For 6 days I've been stuck at the house, bored, unable to train. I was supposed to take the family out to dinner on Saturday (we're on a strict budget, we don't get to eat out much)and camping on Sunday and Monday. we missed both. This sucks. Hopefully I'm going back to work on Wed night.

On a good note I think I've finally come to peace with my Dad not wanting to be a  part of my life. I'm not 100% certain where this peace in my heart came from but I think it's because I asked for my church group to pray for our relationship to get better. Our relationship didn't improve but my heart healed rather unexpectedly.

So back to my Dad. I've come to think each person sees others not as those people are, but as they would be themselves. For example my 2nd step dad thought I liked to have so many pets because I was a control freak. I was shocked and confused when I heard that. I've always had so many pets because I'm a nurturing and paternal person. He saw things incorrectly because he saw me not as I am, but as he would have seen himself. So now with that tid bit of information I realized that I was seeing my Dad's relationship the way I think. To me, there's nothing that means more to me than each one of my kids. I assumed all dad's felt the same way deep down inside them. And if he felt that way then he must think I'm a horrible person for him to not care about me enough to call me more than a couple times a year. Well now I've realized him wanting to have minimal contact with me isn't a problem he has with me, it's just because he's different then me. He has different priorities than me.... And now I've healed from 26 years of guilt and shame. It feels good.

skin cancer and middle aged athletes like me

I had a Dr's appointment yesterday. All of my tests like blood pressure, blood sugars, triglycerides, and liver functions came back great. She found a couple precancerous growths she froze off. She also found another spot on my back that was concerning to her so she wants to cut a piece out and send in to biopsy.

Each year for the last few years my DR has had to freeze off a couple precancerous growths. Last year they found a spot on my chest that had to be biopsied. She has become concerned enough to send me to see a dermatologist. Looks like I'm getting to that age where my irresponsible parents and my reckless youth is starting to catch up to me.

Parents, put sun screen on your kids no matter how busy and broke you are.

first cardio since respiratory illness

I got the worst respiratory illness of my life the last week of December. I didn't feel well enough to lift again until a few days ago. Today was the first day I've felt well enough to try doing cardio. I did a tabata on my indoor bike keeping the hard sets above 22 mph. Tonight I'll be commuting to and from work on my bike. Hopefully I've recovered enough for my body to handle the cardio. I'll soon find out, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

Olympic weight lifting motivation while sick

Today I tried to go back to the gym and train for  the first time since I got sick. Even during my warm up I was out of breath, coughing, sweating profusely, and light headed. I decided I was going to do a few sets of light clean and jerk to practice form, then go crawl back into bed. After only a couple sets I was contemplating going home. Rise miller who is only 14 years old and is the coaches son told me when your sick or unmotivated that's an opportunity to teach yourself to push through adversity. He said, "your feeling crappy right now, but if your able to put your mind in the right place, focus, and train through it now, then there will be nothing that can happen to you during a competition that could be anywhere as bad as this." Rise then told me about how Michael Phelps swimming coach had stepped on his swimming goggles on purpose during a meet once so that his goggles would fill with water while he was swimming to teach Michael to continue to push hard and stay focused on the task at hand even when things aren't going your way. Rise was right. Me being sick wasn't a problem, it was an opportunity. If I could stay focused on the weights and form at that moment, then anything I faced at a meet would be easy in comparison. I finished 5 sets of jerk, and 5 sets of clean and jerk. Lesson learned. Thanks Rise.

becoming debt free with Dave Ramsey's The Total Money Makeover

In late 2011 my wife and I decided to try to become debt free.We attended The Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University to learn how. So far we've completed step one of The Total Money Makeover which is saving $1000 for emergencies and step two which is paying off all debt using Dave Ramseys debt snow ball. I'm very proud of my wife and I, we've accomplished so much. Who in America these days can say they have no debt? My wife and I now can. The most important thing we've learned in the process of paying off all our debt is that ppersonal finance is 80% BEHAVIOR and only 20% HEAD KNOWLEDGE. Most people live outside of their means. They use credit cards and get loans to get things they don't need with money they don't have. They buy more than they can afford and justify it by saying to themselves we deserve this, we work so hard, or the kids shouldn't go without should they? But what they should be saying is "do we deserve to be broke and should we be teaching our children to be broke and live irresponsibly too? We know, because we lived like that most of our lives.

We are now approximately 4 weeks away from completing step three which is saving 3 months of expenses in case I lost my job or became temporarily disabled. Dave Ramsey said on average it takes most families 24-36 months to complete steps 1-3. If all goes as planned by August my wife and I will have completed steps 1-3 in 8 months. It's been hard, much harder than I thought it was going to be. I've been working 72-84 hours a week every week since December of last year. I've had to miss kids soccer games, family activities, friends get-to-gethers, UFC parties, workouts, triathlons, bike races, etc. Pretty much all I've done is work and sleep. I'm beyond tired. Since I started working this many hours I've struggled with weight gain, being too tired to work out, getting sick frequently and taking a long time to get better. Worst of all is that I miss my wife and kids desperately. But it's been worth it. After 8 months of sacrifice and prayer we are so close! I can't wait to be able to wake up every morning knowing we owe no one any money and we are finally living the way God wants us to. The bible says these things about debt:

The borrower is slave to the lender. When you are in debt to another, you enter into a slave/master relationship with your creditor. (Proverbs 22:7)

We are required to pay back what we borrowed. It is easy to take this lightly, but if we borrowed it, we should pay it back. (Psalm 37:21, Ecclesiastes 5:4).

There are no instances in the Bible where God provides through a loan. He provided for His people in many ways but loans were not one of them. That is something to think about next time you get tempted to reach for the credit card. 

If anyone else is interested in becoming debt free I'd highly suggest attending The Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University. It's nine 90 minutes classes over a 9 week time and it costs less than $120. I promise you, it'll change your lives and your children's lives. It'll change your legacy.

running on a broken toe & Saffron Extract Satiereal

I'd been cycling with my seat at the same height for years. Recently I've started having some pain at the tops of my knees, that's a sign of my seat being to low. I think the seat height got pushed down when I got ran over by a vehicle last September. I raised the seat height up on Saturday, not only did I feel more comfortable, but I was faster and didn't get fatigued as quickly.

On Saturday I completed my 1st workout since I got sick and broke my toe last week. By the middle of the one hour bike workout my foot had swelled up to the point where my foot was too big to fit in my cycling shoe. Even though my foot had swelled during the ride I felt no pain so I decided after the bike ride to go for a quick run to see how my toe/ foot held up. I felt ok at first, but the pain would start to build up and I'd have to walk after a couple minutes. I kept the run/walk up for about 20 minutes. After the run my toe was hurting quite a bit and my foot had swelled up to the point that it was difficult to get my shoe off. The Dr had said working out would cause me pain but that it probably wouldn't cause any more damage as long as I did it in moderation. Moderation is a difficult thing for a triathlete to interpret. A triathlete who works out in moderation works out much more than the average Joe. So is that moderation for an average person or me? I figure I'll just start out slow and watch how my foot holds up.

Most of the swelling in my foot has gone down, so on Monday I'll try cycling again. If my foot is ok after Monday's bike ride then I'll try running again on Tuesday.

I've been struggling with my weight a lot recently. I've gained 25 pounds since April, and I'm hoping to get back down to around 180 pounds by August. To help accomplish my goal I've been taking Saffron Extract Satiereal, which is an appetite suppressant. It hasn't been very successful for me, it's a miracle in regards to suppressing hunger, but it doesn't do anything to stop the behavioral aspect of eating which is what I struggle with. It doesn't stop social eating, eating because of boredom, or celebration. I'm currently weighing 198 pounds, I want to lose 18 pounds in 5 1/2 weeks which is a 3 1/4 pounds a week. That kind of weight lose is a little too fast to be healthy for a triathlete in the middle of a hard training season, it would of been much better to have never gained the weight to begin with.

I'm hoping my foot has healed enough to race again by August. I'll keep you updated on my weight lose struggles and when I feel up to racing again.

Thanks for tuning in.

sick and injured, season goal in danger?

I got sick 6 days ago. I feel better, but still not well enough to bike. I can't remember ever being sick for this long. Earlier in the triathlon season I pulled my quad and it took almost 3 weeks until I felt 100%. I'm telling you, I'm getting old.

I broke my toe on Saturday night. It feels much better. I can walk with only a small limp, but I'm not even close to running yet. Needless to say between the toe and the illness I won't be racing the Tri Raider triathlon or the Grady Williams the next two weekends. I may end up missing even more races than those. My goal this year was to win the South West Challenge Series. Now that I'm not able to train or race for awhile I'm a bit worried I'll lose the top spot in the 35-39 AG I currently hold.

time off of cycling for illness?

For years I made bad decisions in regards to training. I'd train while sick, injured, within days after competing in Iron distance triathlons, I'd train hard year round without taking an off season.....

For the last couple months I've been doing training I haven't done in a couple years; lots and lots of speed work for short course training. My body isn't adapting as quickly as I thought it would. I'm constantly in a slight state of  over training and I got sick as a dog on Thursday. This was the 2nd time in 4 weeks I got sick. Today my lower back was achy and I still had some lower GI problems, but as usual I was planning on doing my cycling workout anyways. I was determined to ride today. I justified my decision because I broke my toe on Saturday and I knew I won't be running for awhile. Cant run, must cycle right? Somehow, someway I finally made a good decisions, I'm taking the next couple days off of training. On Wednesday I'll resume training with a 50 minute bike with speed work. Until then I'm resting up and healing. I must be getting old.....

stomach bug

My wife and youngest son Rion got the stomach bug last week. I thought I had been lucky and avoided it, but apparently my long bricks this weekend in conjunction with 12 to 16 hour work shifts and only 3 hours of sleep in between broke my body down. Monday morning I got a horrible stomach bug. I'm currently able to keep food down, but I'm still battling the aches and fever. I'm hoping to recover in time to do another pair of long bricks this weekend. This Friday and Saturday is my last chance to get in a couple really long training days, after this week I'm supposed to start decreasing my training to allow my body to be fully healed up and ready to race for Ironman Arizona 2011.

illness, tri's, and family

Last week was my 5 year old daughters 1st day of school. While at school she was getting pushed by a school mate while on top of a slide. My daughter told that girl "I'm my Daddy's only princess, if something happenes to me he'll be really upset." Funny but true! Kids say the funniest things!

On Thursday I felt sick with the begginings of the stomach flue. That day I was planning on doing my 75 minute run regardless of how I felt. My wife put her foot down & told me she wasn't going to let me work out that day. She almost never does that so I agreed. Turns out she was right. I ended up getting more and more sick. If I had worked out as scheduled it would have made my recovery time take even longer than it will now. My wife, she's a smart one!

I missed my 2 long bricks which were the 2 most important workouts of the week. I plan on taking tomorrow off and healing as best I can. I'm hoping to be ready to train by Monday.

stomach bug

This morning I woke up with a stomach bug. I'm taking the day off of training. Tomorrow I have a 4 hour bike & a 45 minutes run to do, then a 1 hour bike & a 90 minute run Saturday. I sure hope I feel better by then, nothing bothers me more than missing long brick weekends (a brick is a bike run workout combo that teaches the body to run on tired legs).

Coping With Illness During Aerobic Training

I borrowed this from active.com
By Gale Bernhardt
For Active.com

It stinks to get sick when you feel you are on track with your training for upcoming events. As much as we all try to stay healthy, it happens.

It may start with a scratchy throat or just feeling tired. Those of you that are "Type A" personalities definitely don't need my "toughen up cupcake" blog. Instead you need to take a break.

If your symptoms are above the neck (sinus drainage, watery eyes, scratchy throat) you can go ahead and exercise—but only if you really feel like it and if you keep it completely aerobic. If you are on the edge of an illness, typically an anaerobic workout will push you over the edge into a real illness.

If your symptoms are below the neck (coughing, body aches) or involve a bacterial infection (sinus, bronchitis, walking pneumonia) then it is best to take a few days off and just rest. Generally, if you take a break and rest you'll get over the entire illness faster than if you try to suffer though it.

Additionally, I personally know people that have pushed themselves when they've been sick with a cold or flu and ended up with further complications. (Viral Myocarditis and Guillan-Barre Syndrome to name a few).

I'm not trying to scare you, but I do want you to have respect for your body when it is trying to wage war against illness. I do want you to think twice about exercising when you are sick.

How to Adjust Your Training Plan
So, you've decided it's best to take a few days off and rest. What to do about that training plan?

If you miss between one and three days of a training plan, just forget about the days you missed and pick up on the next workout, though with these modifications:

•Keep any intensity above Zone 2 out of all your workouts for about a week.
•You may need to cut down the time of your workouts by 20 to 50 percent. Do enough so that you feel good and leave the workout wanting more.
•If you start a workout and feel worse as you get going, just stop the workout and try another day.
If you miss three to seven days of a training plan due to illness, forget about the days you missed and pick up on the next workout with these modifications:

•Keep any intensity above Zone 2 out of all your workouts for one to two weeks, maybe more. Keep any intensity above Zone 3 out of your workouts for an additional two weeks.
•Definitely cut down the time of your workouts by 20 to 50 percent. Do enough so that you feel good and leave the workout wanting more.
•If you start a workout and feel worse as you get going, just stop the workout and try another day.
If you miss more than two weeks of a training plan due to illness, you'll need to go back and rebuild lost fitness. If you are in the preparation or base phase, there are some options:

•Go back and repeat the three or four weeks prior to the onset of the illness. This may mean you eliminate some intensity workouts later in the plan or closer to the race. This is a better choice than trying to skip foundation workouts and go right to intense exercises.
•Continue with the training plan, but keep any intensity above Zone 2 out of all your workouts for at least two weeks—maybe more. Keep any intensity above Zone 3 out of your workouts for two more weeks. (A minimum of four weeks total.)
•Definitely cut down the time of your workouts by 20 to 50 percent. Do enough so that you feel good and leave the workout wanting more.
•If you start a workout and feel worse as you get going, just stop the workout and try another day.
•Once you begin to do faster workouts, you may need to reduce the volume (accumulated time) of the intensity scheduled by 20 to 50 percent.
Most of the time, it's okay to do some strength training if you feel like doing something but you don't want to risk an aerobic workout. Don't get carried away and make yourself exhausted, just go push around some iron and get the blood moving.

If you are sneezing, coughing and carrying on with your illness, most people (including you, if the roles were reversed) would prefer you stay home until you're healthy.

As always, health first, performance second. Get well soon!

Pre-race sickness

The last 3 days I've been dealing with the worst allergies I've ever had. It wasn't until I woke up this morning that I realized it wasn't alergies, I was sick. I woke up & felt horrible. I tried to go on my scheduled 60 minute run & struggled, I ended up having my first asthma attack in over a year. I knew I should have taken the day off from training, but I can't take a day off without feeling overwhelming guilt & stress. Guilt & stress makes me want to turn to food for comfort, & overeating for any reason is not good for triathlon, speed, or endurance.

I have found through trial & error that getting sick 1 to 2 weeks before a race is a sure sign that I'll have a smoking fast race. When I push myself as hard as my body will go, that breaks my body down, then I have a couple weeks of lower intensity training, and wallah! my body supercompensates, & I end up with a perfect taper & perfect race. But getting sick 3 days before the Holloman duathlon, the worst of it hitting the day before the race not a good sign at all.

This is the life of an endurance athlete. All I can do is show up, ignore the pain, & push myself as hard as I can & leave it in Gods hands. That exactly what I'll do.

By the way, remember those run shoes that I raced in at the Mesa Valley Triathlon that had given me such horrible blisters? I'm wearing them again baby!!!