swimming with the Japanese Olympic swim team

Today my coach had scheduled a day of rest. No triathlon training. I don't like taking days off. My training is therapeutic for me. So rather than take the day off I decided to work on my weakest event, my swim. The Japanese Olympic swim team has been training here in Santa Fe for awhile. I figured I could learn allot from swimming at the same time as them. So I called the pool, found out when they'd be training today & just happened to be there at the same time. I didn't learn nearly as much as I thought I would. You see, they speak Japanese in Japan. So although I listened & watched intently, it was like they were speaking another language. Go figure. By watching them I did learn to rotate my shoulders out of the water more as each arm recovers. That made me glide farther on each stroke, thus using less energy & increasing my efficiency. I learned a few other thing also, but nothing else that would of helped my swim speed or technique. I learned that the Japanese swim coaches yell allot. They aren't kind & understanding teachers. Within 30 minutes their coaching staff had 2 swimmers weeping hysterically. I also leaned that they are all shredded, no body fat on any of them.

Another thing I noticed that was disconcerting to me was that all of them, even their largest swimmer had no butt. That's not a good sign for me. The way I see it is
1) naturally fast swimmers are built that way, or
2) they make themselves that way to be fast. Either way that pretty much makes me as unsuited for swimming as any human being can get. Anyone who's seen me knows I carry allot of junk in my trunk. My friends say I have a Ghetto Buttey. I would argue if I could. But I can't, because I store enough excess calories in my butt it could feed a small country.

Another thing I noticed was every swimmer had to weigh in as soon as they got out of the water. A few of them got quite the butt chewing. I could feel their pain. As most of you know I've been struggling with my weight. In the past 5 years my weight has been from 292 to 200 & everywhere in between. 3 weeks ago I was on a roll. I'd lost 56 lbs. in 4 months. I'm not sure what happened 3 weeks ago. Usually I only eat uncontrollably when I'm stressed or sad. I wasn't stressed or sad 3 weeks ago, but I started struggling to not gorge myself with food. I'd do well for a couple of days, then BAM, out of nowhere I'd be shoveling amazing amounts of food down my gullet. I've been writing down everything I eat. For some reason that seems to stop or slow allot of my overeating. But on Sat I stopped tracking my food intake when I hit 100 weight watcher points. For those of you who aren't knowledgeable about weight watcher points that means I ate well over 5000 calories. I know, I know. That's allot of food. At least I know what the trigger that day was. All the other days of cheating I have no clue. There is good news though. Although I've had a few "bad days" recently I've had enough good days to counter them. I'm at 201 lbs. 6 lbs. from my next goal. 11 lbs. from my ultimate goal. Wow, I can't believe it. I'm only 11 lbs. from 190. That just seems to good to be true. After seeing how much faster I was on the bike at this year's Stealth duathlon compared to last year, I realize that to lose another 11 lbs. would be HUGE. I only weighed 15 lbs. lighter at this years Stealth compared to last year, yet my average speed on the bike was 3 mph faster. I've set up a couple of goals with a time frame to help me attain those goals. Usually when I set a goal & write them down I'm good about focusing myself. Especially since they'll be written down on my blog where others can see how I fair. So here they are
1) To be 195 by the Atomic Man Olympic distance Duathlon (my favorite race of all time) on April 27th. That's 6 lbs. I need to lose in 4 weeks. Plenty of time. Very accomplishable. My PR at this race is 3 hrs 1 min. I accomplished that time weighing approximately 230. This is by far the hilliest course I've ever raced on so racing light will be very important with all the climbing. 195 would put me at 35 lbs. lighter than my best Atomic time.
2) To be 190 by the Buffman & Squeaky Olympic distance triathlon (my 2nd favorite race) on May 18th. That's an additional 5 lbs. in 3 weeks. Also very doable. My PR at the Buffman & Squeaky, or The Squeaky Buttman as I like to call it was 2 hr 52 minutes done at an approximate weight of 235. This is on the exact same course as the BSLT 70.3. Anyone who knows the BSLT 70.3 knows that its a very hilly & difficult course in a horribly hot climate. If I accomplish this goal I'll be racing at a whopping 45 lbs. lighter than my weight at my PR!!!
3) to maintain 190 until IMAZ IN Nov, & hopefully the rest of my life. 190 at IMAZ would put me at 66 lbs. lighter than my DNF attempt at Silverman. It's also very important I get & stay below 200 because I've already raced 2 races for the SW challenge series as an age grouper. No sense not racing as a Clydesdale if I'm not under 200. Well, those are my goals. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for tuning in.

The greatest day

Yesterday I was a little down because I had to work another overtime, but I was missing my family very badly. So we decided to take the family to the park before I had to go in. It ended up being one of the best days of my life.
Pic 1Cody got to swing for the 1st time. He LOVED it. Nothing but smiles, which is adorable because he only has to teeth in the very front.

Pic 2. First time down the slide. He enjoyed It after the first time. The first one he wasn't so sure about.
2 to slide
My little monkey. Climbing a rock wall by herself at only 30 months old!
Last week he sat up for the first time by himself

Stealth duathlon 2008

At today's Stealth duathlon there were 6 Outlaws. Carl, Mark, Naomi, Karen, Greg S., & myself. Mark was the fastest Outlaw of the day taking 2nd place overall. Mark, Naomi, Carl, & Karen took 1st place in their divisions. Greg took 2nd. And I took 3rd in my first ever race as an AG (more on that later). My cousin Chris took 2nd in his AG & 4th overall in a field of 64. He had the 2nd fastest bike split of the day. I wanted to give a shout out to Jason McClure. He took 2nd place Clyd in the SW challenge series last year. This season he showed up having lost a ton of weight. He's taken 1st place in both of the races he's done as a skinny, 6 foot 6 inch Clyd. He finished today in a time I'm guessing was around 1;22. His bike split was screaming fast. No one deserves it more than him.

The day was a little chilly, probably low 60's. But it felt much colder because of the wind. The wind was blowing a good 20 miles an hour. At the run start I was looking at Jason McClure wondering if I'd be able to hang w/ him today since he'd lost so much weight. I wasn't racing today as a Clyd for the first time in my tri career. I'm racing in the 30-34 ag, but once I start a revelry like Jason & I have I'll always compare myself to him. I was also looking for a fellow blogger Juan Braino. He's currently 1st place in the South West challenge series 30-34 Age Group, the age group I'm competing in now. I have competed against him one other time at the Sully's Super Sprint in 2007 & it was a battle. He & I kept passing each other on the bike over & over again. I ended up coming into T-2 half a bike length before him & pulling away for the win in the pool. But that was his 1st race, he's more experienced & faster now. I never did end up seeing him today. I'm not sure if he raced or not. At the start of the run I took off fast. You see, I've always been a faster runner than most Clydes (excluding the 2 regional clyd legends Brian Pilgrim & Arnold Ciniceros) so I try to get far enough ahead on the run so that I can not give up enough on the swim & bike to stay in the lead. I felt a little slow on the run. I finished the 5K in 24;45, that's slightly under an 8 min mile. Last year I did just under a 7;30 per mile. I was ahead of Justin, but unsure of how much. At T-1 I had an average transition & started off on the bike. I saw Justin coming into T-1 about 2 minutes behind me. That's not as large of a lead as I would usually need to finish the race ahead of him. Once I started on the bike I noticed immediately that I was powerful & fast. Much better than I ever had before. For the first time I was passing people left & right! I couldn't count how many people I passed, but I can tell you only 1 passed me the entire race. That was a shock. I've never been much of a cyclist before. I figure my speed increase was from dropping almost 50 lbs since Nov. I ended up finishing the bike in 55 minutes & change averaging over 20 miles an hour on the bike for the first time ever. My previous bike PR was on a duathlon that had a bike course of only 9 miles long. This race was 30K & still with double the distance & w/ very windy conditions I kept up an ave that was .7 miles an hour faster than my previous PR. Not to shabby. I can't wait to see how my times increase when I get to my ultimate goal of 190 (approximately 25 lbs lighter than today, yes, I did gain about 10 lbs during my 2 week taper & 3 days of carb building). I finished with a total time of 1:19 taking 3rd place at my first race as an AG. Even better was that I finished 13 overall! I ended up keeping my 2 minute lead on Jason that I had built up on the run.

This race has always been one of my favorite races, next only to the Atomic Man Duathlon & the Buffman & Squeakey Oly distance tri. I've always loved this race because its one of the flattest courses in the South West. On flat courses I can utilize my Clydesdale power without being hampered by my weight. I usually finish well at this race. As a matter of a fact this was the 1st race I had ever taken top 3 in the clyd div back in 2006. The RD's at this race has always been the wink link. They've always struggled doing things like starting on time, getting the race results out often 4 hrs after the last racer finishes or not at all, not having the course marked, etc. Today everything was handled impeccably. There was even an amazing pasta dinner served at the awards ceremony. I'll definitely be back to race again at the next Stealth.

Thanks for tuning in, I'm out!

Oh, if anyone knows if Juan Braino completed this race, & what his placing was I'd be very grateful if you'd tell me. He's going to be very tough competition. I'm looking foreword to it.

One LONG week

Since my wife has become a stay at home wife I've had to start working at least 6 days a week to make enough money for us to continue living the same life style. Let me interpret my last sentence for all you non-triathletes out there. We cut back on everything except bike equipment, running shoes, gels, Bars, sports drinks, & race entry fees. Why did I fall in love with one of the most expensive sports in history?

Most of the time I like my job. Most of the time I find it challenging, exciting, and look forward to getting on duty to see what interesting thing will happen during that shift. But this week was one of those weeks that tested my patience, made me question what I'm doing with my life. Why the heck am I working in a place where people would jump at the opportunity to kill me. I've had multiple attempt on my life there and I keep going back. Apparently Mama did raise a fool. Here at the State Penitentiary we recently got a new Warden. I really like this new Warden & expect that he will reverse allot of the problems that has developed over the last 3 years. I've worked at the Penitentiary of New Mexico for 12.5 years & this is by far the worse I've ever seen this place. Its not the new Wardens fault that the place has a ridiculous amount of problems even compared to other prisons that have bad reputations. He inherited the issues from the last Warden who was given the choice of quitting or being fired. The last Warden ran this place into the ground.

In the last month we've had 3 education personnel, & 1 officer fired for bringing in banned substances or contraband to inmates. 1 inmate committed suicide, one officer had his throat cut wide open (somehow the jugular was the only thing on the right side of his neck that didn't get sliced wide open), one inmate was stabbed 83 times in the chest, neck, face & eyes, 10 officers has had urine or fecal matter thrown in their face, in the last 5 days we've had 2 inmate overdoses, & 4 correctional officers terminated for excessive force. That would be allot for even a large prison. The facility I work at has less than a thousand inmates and 240 security staff (also known as guards, but don't ever call a corrections officer a guard, WE HATE THAT). That's a very small population of inmates to have so many problems. While working inside the prison we have to do unit checks every half hour. While doing our unit checks we have to insure all the inmates are in their cells & alive. If an inmate ever dies, kills himself, kills someone else, escapes, or is found with any contraband in his possession or cell the officer on duty is held responsible. The last 4 days I was able to work at St. Vincent's hospital watching one of 2 inmates who are there for overdosing. I usually love hospital duty because my only job at the hospital is to make sure the inmate doesn't escape or kill someone. The inmates health is solely the hospitals duty. That's less responsibility for me. I'm all for avoiding responsibility. Speaking of avoiding responsibility, here's a story on how I avoid responsibility. I run & bike along highway 14 when I train. The prison has trusties (inmates who are getting out of prison soon so its assumed they won't do anything to affect their upcoming release) who keep the roads and areas surrounding the prison clear of trash. The inmates often times have their family or friends drop off drugs, knives, & other things onto the side of the road where the inmates will be working the following day so that the trustees can pick up the contraband that was dropped off. The inmate then keesters the contraband (keester means to hide the object in his rectal cavity) to smuggle it into the prison. During my run today I found a steak knife on the side of the road that was completely wrapped up in Saran Wrap. The reason it was dropped off pre-wrapped was so that the inmate could insert the knife into his butt as soon as he found the knife without worrying about cutting up his insides. The officers assigned are supposed to the conduct periodic strip searches & pat downs throughout the day to try & prevent the smuggling of items into the institution. By Federal law only medical personnel can conduct body cavity searches, not that I have any desire to do that, I just mentioned that so you'd understand the limits of our duties. So, back to my story of avoiding responsibility; as soon as I found this knife I ran back to the traffic control building & handed the knife to the officer on duty(he's a rookie, or he would not have fallen for this). Its human nature to grab something from someone when its offered to you. As soon as I handed the officer on duty the shank I had found I said "What's that in your hand?" He said,"uh, I looks like a knife. Why you'd give it to me?" I said, "Wow, you found a shank while on duty? You realize you'll probably get a letter of accommodation for that right?" "Really?"
"Ya, call the supervisor from your facility & show him where you found it, but leave my name out of it because I'm off duty."
"Ok. Gee, thanks. I owe you one. Why don't you want credit for this?" the Fish asked me. We call new guys fish rather than Fu@&ing new guy. New officers seem to prefer the name Rookie, but that would be too nice. So handing off the knife & all responsibility, I continued on my run & I knew he felt this was a win win situation. We kept a dangerous weapon out of the prison, he gets to get a pat on the back, & I don't have to worry about going into work & completing 4 hrs of paper work. The bad news is that he'll be in work late tonight filling out paper paper work, keeping track of the evidence, etc. Its a win win for me, not him. I guarantee you he'll be upset with me for awhile, but I justify my actions by telling myself I taught him a very valuable lesson. Hehehe. 2 weeks ago I did the same thing to my Captain who was on duty. I saw a silver pipe on the side of the road with a green, leafy substance in it. I went up to the Captain on duty, held out my hand with the pipe in it hoping he would take it. When he didn't take it I said "hey Captain, can you smell this & tell me what you think it is?" He took it & started to raise it to his nose, I turned around & headed back onto my run. He knew he'd been had. I heard my Capt yelling obscenities at me for at least a quarter mile. Guys been there for 23 years. He should know better. I'm full of lessons this week. I guess I'm a teacher at heart. Haha!

I appear to be bouncing around allot on my post today. I'll attempt to refocus on my hospital duty; because of the danger level of the inmate at the hospital he had two officers with him at all times. This inmate has priors for everything from murder, throwing urine & feces in officers faces, & rape. He had grabbed a needle from a nurse once who had just given him a shot & stabbed her with it. She now has Hepatitis C because of him. He's a bad man. Scum of the earth. Not only was the inmate very dangerous, but to make it even worse he's a cry baby to boot. Working with him would of been bad enough, but the officer I was working with was equally annoying. I was ready to chew my own arm off to escape by the end of the night. The inmate kept crying all night long, saying things like "I don't feel good. I hurt. I want go home. I don't know why trouble always follows me. I rarely do anything wrong, but I seem to be the only one getting caught. If I'd of had the same opportunities in life you did I'd of been successful too." I can only hear so much of that before I lose all patience. At 4;30am the Drs. decided to remove the Foley from the inmate. He yelled like he was being murdered. He screamed for over half an hour. I'm ready to strangle this guy by 5 am. The Dr.'s told this inmate he had to urinate 80 milligrams by 7am or they would put the catheter back in. They told the inmate to pee in a container so they could measure how much urine he'd released. At 5 am I told him I wanted him to be quiet the last hour of my shift. I told him after I left he could talk, cry, whine, & blame everyone else in the world for his current situation. But until I was gone I didn't want to hear a peep from him again. I told him if I heard him open his mouth again I was going to empty his urinal into the toilet & flush it so the nurses would assume he hadn't peed at which time they would shove that catheter back in.

The officer I was working with that night was equally annoying. We saw an infomercial for a machine that makes your shaving blades never go dull. I told the officer that our shaving blades are not really dull when we throw them away. What happens is that the water evaporates & the mineral deposits left on the blade is what makes the blade feel dull. If you dip your blade in baby oil after your done shaving your blade won't have that issue. He replied "I'll tell you one thing that I heard worked. Pyramids." I was waiting for a punch line or something. None came. I was thinking to myself what the heck does that mean? I was afraid to ask because most of the things he was saying all night long were OUT THERE! But curiosity killed me. I asked "what does pyramids have to do with blades?" He said "that's the reason the Egyptians built the pyramids." Still not understanding his reasoning I asked "Why?"
"oh, you didn't know? The Egyptians built pyramids to keep their knives sharp." "Must of been a big dang knife", I replied. He just looked at me with a blank look that screamed "wait, wait, I think I missed something." Usually, he had. He then told me that he had bought a snow globe that had a pyramid in it and he'd been keeping his razor on it, but so far he couldn't tell a difference. How is it I always have to work with the crazy ones?

you're invited to compete in an Aquatic century challenge

One of the reasons I'm doing so well on my training & weight loss is I am VERY competitive. I love a good challenge. On weight watchers online there is a message board called the Fitness Challenge. You can join a challenge you see that interests you, or you can start one of your own. I'm competing in 3 that i have found interesting.
1) is called The Biggest Loser, yup you guessed it. Just like on TV, but you can't get voted off. It's a 12 week challenge that you compete to lose the most weight. There are 6 teams (mine is the Blue Crew). You compete as an individual against everyone on all teams, & also we are competing as a team. So far I'm in first place with 18 pounds lost in 4.5 weeks.
2) The tour the country challenge: You find a place you travel from and a place you travel too. Mine is Muscle Beach Ca to Virginia Beach Va. 2,746 miles. Each day of training you post how many miles you have trained, add that onto your total miles trained since March 1st. And how many miles you have left to complete your particular mileage goal. I'm shooting to complete this in a 6 month period.
3) An aquatic Century. I track my swim mileage each time I swim seeing how long it takes to rack up 100 miles in the pool. I'm hoping to complete this no later than Dec.

I was hoping to get some other fellow bloggers & Outlaws to compete in the aquatic century also. I figure I'll post my monthly progress on the Outlaw message board at http://www.outlawstriathlon.com/ & the Mile High Multisport blog at http://milehighmultisport.blogspot.com/ at the end of each month. Anyone else want to try their hand at an aquatic century? Feel free to log your progressive mileage at the Outlaws message board also. good luck & happy training.

USAT rankings

The USAT rankings are out. IN 2006 my USAT ranking in triathlon was a 67.95. In 07 it was only a 65.23. Either everyone else got faster, or that extra 25 pounds I raced with all last year slowed me down. For my peace of mind I'll say it was everyone else got faster.

My duathlon ranking for 2006 was 65.95. This year it was a 68.21! A big improvement, but still not something to brag about.

Overall I think there's going to be some serious changes in my USAT rankings in 08. I'm really excited about this season.

My Weight Watchers weigh in was today, I weighed in at 202. I am now officially at the lightest I've ever weighed as an adult.

improvements

When I fail at something I always try to come back stronger & smarter. I realized after my Silverman DNF I had ALLOT of improvements I needed to do to be able to accomplish an Iron distance event. Going into the silverman I was overweight, I rarely swam, I had poor strength to weight ratio on my bike, I was a horribly slow cyclist at long distances, & my speed at long distance runs was poor. So far since Nov I've lost 51 pounds, I've been swimming more now than I ever have, I'm already a much better runner at long distances, & I'm doing a great program built by Pete Alfino of Mile High Multisport to improve both my endurance & speed on the bike.

So far my best swim at a race was at the Jay Benson where I swam 400 meters in 8:30. That is an average of 1:56 per 100 meters. Today while swimming I did a 500 meter warm up, followed by 3X500 yards #1 free style, #2 paddles & PB, #3 free style. On my first 500 after the warm up I swam free style 500 yards in 7:45. My 2nd 500 yard free style I did in 7:31 for a 1:30 ave per 100 meters. That's an improvement on my average swim time of 26 seconds per 100 meters. If hypothetically I was able to keep up that average over an Iron distance I would complete the swim portion of an Iron in 1 hr 5 minutes compared to the 1 hr 50 min swim that I completed at the Silverman. That would of been a 45 minute faster swim. I would of been close to the bike cut off if I'd of had 45 minutes more time on the bike. If I consider that I'm allot lighter so I'd be faster & a better climber on the bike, I'm positive I'd of completed the Silverman's bike leg before the cut off. Even in Nov at 256 pounds the run was never a concern for me. I'd of been slow, but there was no doubt that I'd of completed the marathon by the cut off time. I'm signed up for Ironman Arizona in Nov of this year. I still have 8 months to improve all 3 disciplines. I'm motivated & approaching my training with more intelligence, with a better diet, & I'm making improvements on my swim hand over fist. I hope that will be enough to complete a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, & a 26.2 mile run in 17 hrs. There's not many things I've wanted more than to become an Ironman, especially since I failed so miserably at my first attempt. You see, I believe it's not how hard you can punch, but how hard you can get punched and continue.

I decided to check my measurments today. Last time was 3 weeks ago

.........Nov 08/ Feb/ .Today/changes in last 3 weeks
Chest 43.5/ 41.5/ 41.5 / no change
arms 16.75/ 16 / 15.5/ -.5 inches
stomach 46.5/ 40.25/ 39/ -1.25inches
hips 49.5/ 44.5/ 43.5/ -1 inch
quads 31.5/ 27/ 26.75/ -.25 inches

Total loss in 3 weeks is 8 lbs & 3 inches.

Mile stones coming out the ying yang!

I weighed in today at 207 pounds. 3 lbs away from being the lightest I've ever been as an adult. 2 lbs away from losing 50 lbs on Weight Watchers. 8 lbs away from breaking 200. 12 lbs away from my ultimate goal of 195 (although I'm beginning to rethink my goal weight). & 16 lbs away from having lost 100 lbs by triathloning!!!!!!!

No turning back now

I did it. There's no turning back now. I sent in the registration for the March 16th Stealth duathlon as an age grouper 30-34. Looks like the Stealth will be my coming out race. LOL. I hope to be below 200 lbs by then. I'll race the 30-34 even if I'm not below 200 on race day because even if I'm not sub 200 by the Stealth I will be by my next planned race. I have 3.5 weeks to lose 10 lbs.

I got a look at the results of the John Stermer duathlon that happened in early Feb at White Sands Missile range. There were only 2 men in my age group. One of them was Juan Braino, I've beaten him before. Looks like I passed up a great opertunity to get some points in my new division. You snooze you loose.

Thanks for tuning in!

back again & an Xterra

Last week I had to drive to Lubbock TX to visit my Aunt who had an aneurysm removed from her brain. I was there for 3 days & during that time I shoveled everything I could into my mouth. I was raiding the vending machines, & leaving any restaurants I visited in an emergency shortage situation. By the time I left Lubbock I was weighing in at 220.

The day after I returned from Lubbock I got back on the diet wagon. I've lost 6 of the 10 lbs. gained. I'm not going to beat myself up over the gain because it's been my MO that at the times I'd gained a little weight I'd say screw it & stop watching my diet at all. That didn't happen this time.

The day I returned I was dedicated again. That's good news in my mind. I consider this progress.

I've always wanted to do an Xterra triathlon. I've been in good enough shape to complete one for at least 3 years. What has stopped me is that my MTB is a 1994 rigid frame Raleigh mountain bike that is too large for me. I figure if I was going to do an Xterra I'd do it right or not at all. I've been saving & praying for a new or used MTB with shocks for about 6 months. Since my wife has become a stay at home Mom funds have been short, so in 6 months I've saved a whopping $160. While in annual training for work this last week someone who knows me as a triathlete asked if I was ever planning on trying my hand at an Xterra. When I told him of my plans he smiled & walked away. I didn't think much of his odd behavior because we correctional officers are an odd bunch in general. The next day he showed up with a MTB with front shocks, & he gave it to me. It was a bike he had won from a sweep stakes held by Bullet Bourbon. There was only one given out per state, he won it & gave it to me. It is light, fast, in mint condition & has less than 4 miles on it. God is so good to me. Its amazing to me how he answers prayers even when it is something as frivolous as whether or not I have top of the line equipment for an off road triathlon. Life is good when Gods on my side.

quicky

Haven't had much time to post recently. I had to go out of town to visit a sick relative in the hospital. I gained 10 lbs while I was there (emotional eating). Then last week I had annual training for work. I'm back up to 214. For a quick post I'll list my measurements. I've gained a little weight since last post. But not too much. & I'm back on the wagon, that's what matters most I suppose.
measurement/ previous measurement in Dec\
Chest 41.5/ 42.5 lost 1 inch
arms 16 inches/ 16.5 lost .5
stomach 40.25 inches/ 44 lost 3.75 inches
hips 44.5 inches/ 46.5 lost 2 inches
quads 27 inches/ 30.5lost 3.5 inches

This just in....Breaking news. 100th post

This just in....Breaking news. 100th post reveals shocking (sort of) news!
Well peeps it's my 100th post. I've seen other bloggers do some really neat posts for their 100th. My favorite was Athena diaries Hyku. It just so happened that last night I made a decision w/ my 2008 multi-sport season. So announcing it will have to be the interesting thing I'm doing for my monumental 100th. I have decided to race the rest of the season as an age grouper. I won't be doing any more races as a Clydesdale (que music now). To be competitive at the 30-34 AG I really need to be racing at no more than 190 lbs. That's 20 more lbs I need to lose. That'll be 66 lbs lost since Nov. 102 lbs lost since I started this beautifull sport of triathlon. Weighing less than 190 would probably be better, but I want to be swift, not gaunt. I don't need to end up being Bubba's girl friend at work:)

My next race will be the Stealth duathlon. I think the Stealth will be one of my 2 best opportunities to get some decent points for the SW challenge series as a 30-34 age group. The other race I will probably get decent points at will be the GRADY WILLIAMS MEMORIAL FREEDOM DAYS TRIATHLON. I believe I'll get decent points at those 2 races because there are never many people who compete at those 2 events. Well, I can't believe I'm going to attempt this, but alas, I am. Wish me luck peeps, I'm going to need it. By the way, anyone know if Seth Wilkie aged up to 35 yet? Gosh I hope so.

Simple things amuse me

I comute to work on a 1994 Raliegh mountain bike. I'd been riding on the same pair mountain bike knobby type of tires now for 2.5 years. The tires were weather rotted, cracked & even worn down to the wire mesh in a few areas. But I can be frugal so I stead fast refused to replace the tires until they actually blew or would np longer hold air. The rear tire blew yesterday so I got a new tire at the local bike shop, but only one because I won't replace the other one until it dies on it's own. The new one is a slick, also called a road tire. On the way to work I was SO much faster due to the new slick tire! I was so impressed by how much faster I'd gotten to work using the same effort I told work I was going to be 30 minutes late. I spent that time riding back & forth to work 2 times(yes, I live very close to work). LOL. I'm very easily amused. My wife calls me a nerd. I won't tell her so, but I know she's right.

I found out something interesting today while riding home in 2 inches of snow & ice. Slicks suck! I busted my butt. I had no idea how much more unstable a slick is than a knobby in snow & ice until today. I know now, and I've got a bruised ego to help me remember. Because, of course I fell in front of the entire shift of my fellow co-workers right there in the parking lot. I was getting whistles, laughs, & honks from vehicles, all to let me know that my incident was seen & apreciated. Oh, the life & times of a triathlete.

Ramblings

I weighed in on Sat at 211!!! I've gotten down to 211 only 2 other times as an
adult. I've been under 211 only once before.

My plan of adding calories to my diet seems to be doing great thus far. I feel
allot better throughout the day & I'm feeling better during my workouts I didn't
feel bad before the added calories. But there is an improvement of how I feel
during my cardio sessions now. Best of all when I'm running & biking I feel SO
VERY LIGHT! It feels like I'm floating up the hills. I've never felt like this
before. After my long days I don't feel beat up like I used to either. When I
weighed more I didn't think I felt beat up because I'd never really been light.
It's just how I thought everyone felt after LSD's. But now when I'm done w/ my
long days I realize that I do feel much less abused.

This is a rest & test week for me. I'll be doing a 1000 meter swim TT to find
out my 100 meter T. I'll also be doing a bike & swim TT to find my lactate
threshold levels. I'm REALLY excited to do these tests. I've been very dedicated to my swimming since my DNF @ Silverman. This has been the only time I've EVER swam consistantly. My 100 ave has usually hovered around an abismal 2:15 to 2:20. I'm expecting a drastic improvement. I have no idea what to expect from my LT tests because I haven't tested them in at least 6 months. I have always been the type of person that likes to test my LT
frequently because I want to be absolutely sure I'm training in the correct
zones. My coach doesn't have me test my LT very frequently. I probably prefer to
test my zones much to frequently. I'm sure that has something to do with my
obssesive compulsive tendancies. But hey, if I wasn't O.C. I would have given up
on my health & good eating habits on any one of the hundreds of times I have
failed before. But I'm like Rocky Balboa. When I take a beating & go down, I'll
come back angry & even more determined & focused.

I'd like all you out there to notice the new picture of my daughter & I on the
left hand side of my blog. Isn't she georgous? She gets her beauty from her Mom who also is quite the looker herself. I plan on putting a picture of my son up this week. He's a handsome blond w/ blue eyes & a smile that is bound to melt hearts. God must really love me because I have been truly blessed by him.

Thanks for tuning in, peace! I'm out!

Moderation is my Kryptonite

I've been worrying recently that my weight loss is progressing to quickly. I decided to ask my fellow bloggers their opinions because almost everyone of them are triathletes or fitness buffs. When there is someone as dedicated to fitness and health as triathletes are they almost always have a ton of knowledge to accompany their dedication. Almost everyone of you said just go with the weight loss as long as I'm not bonking or becoming weak. Well, my endurance has been fine, & I'm gaining strength relatively quickly. So the first day I continued to follow the WW's plan to the T. Then Then yesterday I got an email from someone who had some interesting #'s to show me:

I've lost 43 lbs in 11 weeks. Each lb is 3500 calories. That's a total of 147,500 calories I've lost. Divide 147,500 calories by 77 days is an average loss of 1,915 calories a day. I'm no nutritionist, but I think I know enough to admit that is too much.

So yesterday I added 1000 calories to my diet. I was planning on continuing to keep up that amount of added calories to my diet each day, but last night I just didn't feel right about myself. I realized all my life my biggest problem is moderation. I have always been an extremist about every thing I do. I either don't work out at all, or I workout 15 plus hrs a week (I worked out 18 hrs 44 minutes last week). I either eat way to much or way to little.

I'm not sure if this is a good plan, but what I have decided to do is gradually add a little more calories each week until I have stopped losing weight. Hopefully at that time I will be at my goal weight. By doing that I'll be exercising moderation, while hopefully still accomplishing my goal. I have no idea if this will work well with me. But it seems like a sound plan when I try & rationalize it in my own mind. But then again I've always been very good at convincing myself there are very rational reasons for any of my extreme decisions. So essentially I don't know if this will work, but I'm going to try it.

My greatest fears at this point are:
1) Not eating enough & my body thinking it's starving. Thus my metabolism slows down.
2)Adding too many calories & gaining weight. I have a tendency to say "screw it" when that happens & giving up very quickly when I see something in my life not working just the way I want it to.

So my thinking is if I gradually add more calories I'll avoid getting frustrated by no weight loss, but Ill also be adding more food into my diet to avoid my body into thinking I'm starving. I sure hope this works.

a question for you peeps

I was wondering if I could get your opinion on a couple questions I have on this whole weight loss thing. On the Weight Watchers system I'm eating about 1900 calories a day (38 food points). Plus for every 100 calories I burn I get to eat 50 of them. I've been averaging around 9500 calories burned a week through exercise (95 Activity Points or AP's). The WW system has me replace 4250 of those (exactly half of the calories burned). So far on WW I'm losing an average of 4-5 lbs a week. Right now I'm at 213. This is only the 3rd time since high school I've been below 215. As a matter of fact, the lightest I've ever been as an adult was 205 in 1999 when I got on a 6 month nothing but tuna diet. I'm already 16 lbs away from my ultimate goal of 199 (although I have to admit I'm starting to dream/wonder if my body could handle getting to 190). I've lost 43lbs since Nov 13th. Even though it's been great fun watching my weight drop so quickly I think I need to try & slow that to a 2 lb a week loss. Increasing the calories I replace from working out seems in my mind to be the best way of doing that. That way on the days I don't work out hard I won't be eating extra calories. What's your opinion? Should I attempt to slow the loss or enjoy being the incredible shrinking man? & if you do think I should slow it, what way do you think I should go about it? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

The South West Challenge series is finally posted!

2008
SOUTHWEST CHALLENGE SERIES
A DUATHLON AND TRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

The South West Challenge series is the largest & oldest multisport series in the world. It's made up of races throughout New Mexico & West Texas. You compete in 5 year age groups starting w/ 18 & under. Then 19-24, 25-29, 30-34, etc. You earn 10 points for first place in a SW series race, 9 for 2nd, 8 for third, 7 for 4th, etc. The top 3 people in each division at the end of the year wins the south West Challenge series.

3)WSMR DUATHLON
FEBRUARY 9TH
5K Run/30K Bike
Brent Jones (505) 678-3374
brent.k.jones@us.army.mil
http://www.wsmrmwr.com%20(click%20on%20%22bell%20gym%22)/
Bell Gymnasium / PO Box 400
WSMR, NM 88002
Registration Deadline: January 26 FIRM
NOTE: MUST be at security gate BEFORE 0600!!

SULLY SUPER SPRINT TRIATHLON
MARCH 9TH
3 Mile Run / 15 Mile Bike / 360 Yd Swim
Ryan Baade
jbaade@sulross.edu
http://www.sulross.edu/
P.O. Box C-23
Alpine, TX 79832
Race day Registration Allowed

*4)STEALTH DUATHLON
MARCH 16TH
5K Run / 30K Bike
Gordon Benton (505) 572-2391
gordon.benton@holloman.af.mil
www.hollomanservices.com
Sports & Fitness Center
1051 Connecticut Ave
Holloman AFB, NM 88330
Registration Deadline: March 8 FIRM

MVTC TRIATHLON
APRIL 6TH
5K Run / 25K Bike / 500M Swim
Don & Genia Shepan (505) 524-7824
DONEUGENIA@aol.com
No website at this time
3007 Ronna Drive
Las Cruces, NM 88001
Early Registration - March 29, Late - April 5; No Race Day
USAT SANCTIONED

TAX DAY TRIATHLON
APRIL 12TH
5K Run / 35K Bike / 400M Swim
Brent Jones (505) 678-3374
brent.k.jones@us.army.mil
http://www.wsmrmwr.com%20(click%20on%20%22bell%20gym%22)/
Bell Gymnasium / PO Box 400
WSMR, NM 88002
Registration Deadline: March 29 FIRM
NOTE: MUST be at security gate BEFORE 0600!!

5)ATOMIC MAN DUATHLON
APRIL 27TH
10K Run / 40K Bike / 5K Run (Fat Man)
4K Run / 15K Bike / 4K Run (Little Boy)
Jeff Johnson / Jarrod Clark (505) 577-4353
duathlon@ triatomics.
www.triatomics.org/duathlon
P.O. Box 45
Los Alamos, NM 87544-0045
Registration Deadline: April 26 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

RANSOM CANYON TRIATHLON
MAY 4TH
500M Swim / 30K Bike / 5K Run
Marti Greer (877) 719-4957
http://www.triatomics.org/duathlon
http://myweb.cableone.net/janolesinski
P.O. Box 93726
Lubbock, TX 79493
Registration Deadline: May 3 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

6)JAY BENSON TRIATHLON
MAY 11TH
3 Mile Run / 12 Mile Bike / 400M Swim
Paul Walton (505) 837-9400
paul@sportsoutdoor.com
active.com------(available for registration February '08)
6915 Montgomery Blvd. N.E.
Albuquerque, NM 87110
Registration Closes At 400 Participants
USAT SANCTIONED

*6)BUFFMAN and SQUEAKY TRIATHLON
MAY 18TH
1500M Swim / 40K Bike / 10K Run
Marti Greer (877) 719-4957
marti@buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
www.buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
P.O. Box 93726
Lubbock, TX 79493
Registration Deadline: May 17 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

7)THE DOG HOUSE SPRINT TRIATHLON
MAY 18TH
500M Swim / 17.6 Mile Bike / 3.1 Mile Run
Marti Greer (877) 719-4957
marti@buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
www.buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
P.O. Box 93726
Lubbock, TX 79493
Registration Deadline: May 17 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

8)MILKMAN TRIATHLON
JUNE 7TH
500M Swim / 20K Bike / 5K Run
Larry Marshall (505) 734-5415
lmarshall@fbfs.com
http://www.milkmantriathlon.com/
P.O. Box 399
Dexter, NM 88230
Registration Deadline: June 4 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

FRANCES STEVENS TRIATHLON
JUNE 14TH
7K Run / 35K Bike / 400M Swim
Brent Jones (505) 678-3374
brent.k.jones@us.army.mil
http://www.wsmrmwr.com%20(click%20on%20%22bell%20gym%22)/
Bell Gymnasium / PO Box 400
WSMR, NM 88002
Registration Deadline: May 31 FIRM
NOTE: MUST be at security gate BEFORE 0600!!

9)GALLUP TRIATHLON
JUNE 21ST
375 Yd Swim / 20K Bike / 5K Run
Ginny DeVries (928) 729-2691
http://www.sulross.edu/
mailto:jbaade@sulross.edu
1901 Red Rock Drive
Gallup, NM 87301
Registration Deadline: June 18 FIRM
USAT SANCTIONED

BUFFALO SPRINGS LAKE 70.3 TRIATHLON
JUNE 29TH
1.2 Mile Swim / 56 Mile Bike / 13.1 Mile Run
Marti Greer (877) 719-4957
marti@buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
www.buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
P.O. Box 93726
Lubbock, TX 79493
Registration Deadline: June 28 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

10)TRI-RAIDER SPRINT TRIATHLON
JUNE 29TH
500M Swim / 20K Bike / 5K Run
Marti Greer (877) 719-4957
marti@buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
www.buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
P.O. Box 93726
Lubbock, TX 79493
Registration Deadline: June 28 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

11)GRADY WILLIAMS MEMORIAL FREEDOM DAYS TRIATHLON
JULY 5TH
1.5k Swim / 10K Run / 40K Bike
Debbie Dusenbery (800) 448-1240
fmncvb@earthlink.net
www.farmingtonnm.org
3041 East Main
Farmington, NM 87402
Registration Deadline: July 4 / No Race Day Registration
USAT SANCTIONED

12)BOTTOMLESS TRIATHLON
JULY 12TH
400M Swim / 12K Bike / 4K Run
Jan Olesinski (505) 624-2698
mailto:jbaade@sulross.edu
http://www.sulross.edu/
900 Mason Dr
Roswell, NM 88201
Registration Deadline: July 8 FIRM

CITY OF LAS CRUCES DUATHLON
JULY 19TH
5K Run / 26 Mile Bike / 5K Run
Claudia Chavez (575) 541-2558
http://www.sulross.edu/
mailto:info@gsriogrande.org
P.O. Box 20000
Las Cruces, NM 88004
Race Day Registration Allowed

ODESSA TUMBLEWEED TRIATHLON
JULY 27TH
20K Bike / 5K Run / 500M Swim
Steve Talbot (432) 362-4301
http://www.sulross.edu/
mailto:jbaade@sulross.edu
3001 East University
Odessa, TX 79762
Registration Deadline: July 26 FIRM
USAT SANCTIONED

TALL CITY TRIATHLON
AUGUST 2ND
500M Swim / 20K Bike / 5K Run
Christine Thomas (432) 682-2551
cthomas@midlandymca.org
www.midlandymca.org
P.O. Box 954
Midland, TX 79702
Race Day Registration Allowed

13)SOCORRO CHILE HARVEST TRIATHLON
AUGUST 9TH
400M Swim / 20K Bike / 5K Run
Fred Yarger (575) 838-0920
ssr@socorro.com
www.socorro.com/ssr/chile
P.O. Box 1508
Socorro, NM 87801
Registration Deadline: August 2 FIRM
USAT SANCTIONED

LOS ALAMOS TRIATHLON
AUGUST 16TH
20K Bike / 400M Swim / 5K Run
Garry Wolfe (505) 662-8173
garry.wolfe@lacnm.us---lacrec@lacnm.us
www.losalamosnm.us/rec
2760 Canyon RD
Los Alamos, NM 87544
Registration Deadline: August 14 FIRM / No Race Day Registration

14)F-1 TRIATHLON
AUGUST 23RD
800M Swim / 14K Bike / 4K Run / 14K Bike / 4K Run
Jan Olesinski (505) 624-2698
olesinski@nmmi.edu
http://myweb.cableone.net/janolesinski
900 Mason Dr
Roswell, NM 88201
Registration Deadline: August 19 FIRM

YUCCA TRIATHLON
SEPTEMBER 6TH
10K Run / 48K Bike / 400M Swim
Brent Jones (505) 678-3374
brent.k.jones@us.army.mil
www.wsmrmwr.com (click on "Bell Gym")
Bell Gymnasium / PO Box 400
WSMR, NM 88002
Registration Deadline: August 23 FIRM
NOTE: MUST be at security gate BEFORE 0600!!

TREFOIL F-1 TRIATHLON
SEPTEMBER 7TH
1.5 Mile Run / 6 Mile Bile / 1.5 Mile Run / 6 Mile Bike / 800M Swim
Bobby Gonzales (915) 532-7272
info@gsriogrande.org
www.gsriogrande.org
9700 Girl Scout Way
El Paso, TX 79924
Race Day Registration Allowed
NOTE: Kid's Triathlon In Addition, Distances TBD

15) PATRIOT TRIATHLON
SEPTEMBER 14TH
400 Yd Swim / 25 K Bike / 5K Run
Andie Talmadge (505) 239-4246
andie@fitfundamentals.com
www.fitfundamentals.com OR www.TriSportFitness.com
Rio Rancho Aquatic Center / 655 Loma Colorado
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
Race Day Registration Allowed
USAT SANCTIONED

SPC COTTON COUNTRY SPRINT TRIATHLON
SEPTEMBER 20TH
5K Run / 13 Mile Bike / 300Yd Swim
Dee Dee Odorizzi (806) 894-9611 x2236
dodorizzi@southplainscollege.edu
www2.southplainscollege.edu/cottoncountry
1401 College Avenue
Levelland, TX 79336
Race Day Registration Allowed
USAT SANCTIONED

ELEPHANT MAN TRIATHLON
SEPTEMBER 28TH
1.0 Mile Swim / 26.5 Mile Bike / 6.0 Mile Run
Kori Mannon (575) 744-5187
kori@valornet.com
www.mannonmotion.com
P.O. Box 492
Elephant Butte, NM 87935
Registration Deadline: September 14 FIRM
USAT SANCTIONED

16)STEALTH TRIATHLON
OCTOBER 12TH
5K Run / 30K Bike / 700M Swim
Gordon Benton (505) 572-2391
gordon.benton@holloman.af.mil
www.hollomanservices.com
Sports & Fitness Center
1051 Connecticut Ave
Holloman AFB, NM 88330
Registration Deadline: October 4 FIRM

17)DEFINED FITNESS DUATHLON
Date?
5K Run / 30K Bike / 5K Run
Shawn Gale (505) 888-7097
sgale@defined.com
www.defined.com
4080 Ridgerock Rd
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
Registration Deadline: ???
The following two races will kick off the 2009 season,
and will not count for points in 2008.

JINGLE BELL TRIATHLON
DECEMBER 7TH
5K Run / 25K Bike / 400Yd Swim
Mark Mico (505) 907-7378
Mark@TriSportFitness.com
www.TriSportFitness.com
1735 Brenda Rd
Rio Rancho, NM 87124
Race Day Registration Allowed
USAT SANCTIONED

POLAR BEAR TRIATHLON
DECEMBER 13TH
5k Run / 40K Bike / 400M Swim
Brent Jones (505) 678-3374
brent.k.jones@us.army.mil
www.wsmrmwr.com (click on "Bell Gym")
Bell Gymnasium / PO Box 400
WSMR, NM 88002
Registration Deadline: November 29 FIRM
NOTE: MUST be at security gate BEFORE 0600!!

Could it be true?

I wanted to weigh in this morning again in case being under 215 was some sort of wonderfull dream or unreality. 214.4. It IS a dream come true & it is reality. I'm so freaking excited! My wife told me last night I've lost so much weight it feels like she is having an affair:) I can't believe this has happened. Thanks S. Baboo for turning me onto Weight Wathers online for men. I'm finally starting to look like the person I've felt like my whole life. I used to look at myself in the mirror & think to myself "I don't know who that person is." Now I look & I think, "Hey, I recognize that prson! That's me. That's the Cody I've always known I was."

Happy as a pig in poo

Hey all! Despite a rough couple of weeks I have accomplished goal 3 for my goals this year. I weighed in under 215 today!!!!!! 214.7 to be exact! This is only the 2nd time I've been below 215 since high school! Now I'm off for a run & a swim. Peace!

money and a run TT

The last 2weeks has been kind of rough. I worked an incredible amount of overtime so my family can get ahead on bills. The goal is to get our savings up, then pay off enough things that I can take a full 2 days off a week. I earned 890 dollars more this pay period than what we need to pay the minimum amount on our bills. Our plan was to use that cash to get our savings up to a certain amount this pay period, then start paying stuff off starting next pay period. Well wouldn't you know it crap happens. We had to buy my wife a new pair of glasses, which we should of done 6 months ago. Got oil changes on both vehicles, also overdo. Had to get a repair man out to fix our water heater. And my front derailleur on my bike broke. Everything that could go wrong & cost money happened. Next thing I know all of the extra money is gone! & then our van breaks down. So that's where the extra money from next pay period is going. CRAP! Oh, well.

On to the good news. Today I ran an 8.5 mile TT all in zone 2 in 1he 27 minutes. Last week I did the same run in the same heart rate zone in 1hr 36 minutes. I've knocked off 9 minutes, that's over 1 minute per mile! Most of that has to do with my weight loss. But the temperature probably had something to do with it also. Today it was in the high 30's. Last week I did the TT in the low teens. Either way, it's a great way to start a new week!

I got a pull up bar for Christmas from my wife. I've been doing pull ups at home 3-4 X a week. When i started doing the pull ups I could only do one. In 3 weeks I'm now up to doing 6 easily. It's part strength increase, part weight loss, & it's all good!!!!

My last weigh in had me at 219. I gained a couple lbs from the sressfull couple of weeks I've had & i eat when I'm too stressed out. But this is a new week & I'm going to do my best at jumping back on the weight loss band wagon.

Thanks for tuning in! Peace!

Training stats

I had to post my training miles on my NM Outlaws triathlon team web sight tonight. I had no idea I was training as much as i have been. My coach even wrote me an email telling me to be careful not to go into overtraining or get burned out. At the time I had no idea why. But now that I saw my training stats I'm shocked. I had no idea I was training so studiously.

Total training this month (only 17 days into Jan too!) 40hrs 15 minutes.
last week alone was 16 hrs 9 min.
Biked 160 miles
Ran 51 miles
swim 10,950 yards
8.5 hrs of strength training
3 hrs 1 min of core.

Bloody COLD!

Last night was the 2nd day since Dec 15th that I took off from work. I celebrated by going & running hills. Last night an arctic FREEZE also decided to visit the area. It was -5 with the wind chill degrees last night when I went out for my run. Freaking -5 degrees!!!! In less than 10 minutes the water in my bottle had starting freezing. By the end of my 5.8 miles worth of gallivanting around in my size 11 Brooks Adrenalins my water bottle was frozen completely solid!

This morning I ran to the gym for a light weight lifting routine. The weather channel said it was 1 degree & the wind chill made it -10 here in Santa Fe. Even though it was beyond really uncomfortable I was not going to let the weather affect my workout. I was determined to do the workout I was planning on doing. I think there's something in the Gator Aid that deteriorates triathletes brain tissue! We triathletes do things that just ain't right.

On a side note, I weighed in this morning at 216 & when I flex my stomach I can see my top two sets of abs. There's probably not allot of triathlon blog readers out there on Weight Watchers. But for those who know of the WW system, in the 2 months on WW I've only had one week where I've earned less than 90 activity points in a week.

My body has a tendency to carry allot more muscle than most people do even when I'm not lifting weights. I went to the weight room last week & a co-worker said I've developed a Bo-flex body. I'm still grinning uncontrollably.

weigh in

There's simply not enough hours in the day. I've keep meaning to catch up with my peeps & my blog, next thing I know almost 2 weeks has passed.

Sat was my weigh in, I weighed in at 218. Down from 256 on Nov 13th. A 38 lb weight loss thus far. For the first time I'm beggining to believe that sub 200 is with in my grasp!

a great weekend

What a great weekend! It started out with me doing my weekly weigh in on Sat morning. I weighed in @ 224!! I've lost 34 lbs. since Nov 13th. I'm at my racing weight from last year when I was at my fastest as a triathlete. I'm well on my way to my goal weight of 199!

Sat night I worked vehicle patrol, which is the best post at the prison. While on that post I was able to listen to the Patriots & Giants game on the radio. I'm not a big fan of either team but it was wonderful to be able to listen to the game that the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season. I was able to listen to history being made.

Sun morning I watched UFC 79 that my wife recorded on TiVo for me. The Chuck Lidell vs. Silva fight was the most hyped MMA fight in at least 6 years. It was an amazing fight. I'm so glad I was able to warch it.

Then Sun after church I picked up the bike I've had on lay away for 6 months. It's a gorgeous Raleigh Cadillac addition road bike. I'm so excited to take it on the first ride today.

On a side note even with all the hrs I'm working I haven't missed a single schedualed workout since my failed attempt at going Iron. Yup, that even includes swimming! Anyone who knows me knows that me swimming is a near miracle!Sorry this post is so short & impersonal. I'm working an average of 86 hrs a week & still keeping up with my training, so time has not been something I've had much of. Peace! I'm out!

Back to the daily grind

The training has been going well inspite of the incredible amounts of over time
I've been working. I swam a time trial today and it was the fastest swim TT
I've ever done. 1000 metes in 19;46. Still laughable I know but progress none
the less.

My family & I went to Nevada in mid Nov & then to Hobbs NM immediately after
that for some vacation & racing. Although we had a great time & we needed to get
away for a bit it was really bad timing. It set us back financially where we had
no room to be set back too. I'm paying the price now. I've worked a 12 hr shift
all but 3 days this month. If all things go well I'll only need to work 12 hr
shifts everyday until mid-late January. After that I'll only need to work about
70 hrs a week to support my family. That's still allot. But it's better than the
86 a week I'm working now. There's light at the end of the tunnel, but I must
admit it's been a heck of a struggle both physically & emotionally. For the most
part I'm ok with working allot. I really like my job & my wife has really helped by fixing all my meals, packing my gear & food for work, & is doing 100 percent of the house work. My only job
is bringing home the $, triathlon training, & spending as much
time w/ my children as I can. The only day I felt it was more than I could bear
was Christmas morning. Because I work nights & sleep days my wife decided to
take the kids & spend the night at her parents house to celebrate Christmas
there. I wasn't there to watch my children open their presents on Christmas.
That has me me down right depressed. Other than missing my children's Christmas I
am handling all the hours & the stress of our finances relatively well. I'm
constantly tired and often times cranky but I'm staying the course. I am trying
to keep in mind that God would only put me through this rough time if he knew I
was strong enough to get through it In a way I'm honored that he's putting this
test in front of me. If he had me go through my whole life without any stress that would make me wonder if he knew I was too weak to be tested. It's times like this when I feel like I am too weak to do what needs to be done that I lean on him. 3 more weeks of overtime is all I need to do to be caught up. At times that feels like such a short amount of time. At others I'm thinking to myself "how the heck am I going to get through this, I'm already SO tired."
If there are any Christians reading this I would be very grateful for prayers.
The power of faith & prayer is amazing!
Thanks peeps. I'm out.

December

For the first time in my life I'm losing weight in a healthy way. I'm not doing
a low carb diet. I'm not starving myself or losing tons of weight quickly. I'm
eating low fat proteins, lots of raw veggies, fruit, & a little bit of fat free
milk & whole grains. Most shockingly I'm utilizing portion control without going
over board & starving myself! I weighed in on Sunday at 233. 23 lbs lighter
than Nov 23rd. There's only been 2 other times I've gotten below 220 since
adulthood. On both of those occasions by the time I got to the point where I was
thin enough for abdominal muscles to be seen & I started to work the abs in
hopes of getting the elusive 6 pack, I'd start gaining the weight back. I'm not
certain I'll get to the point where I'll be that thin this time. But just in
case I've started to really hammer my abs. My coach has me working my core 2X a
week. On top of that I've also started doing a pretty fierce abb routine a
couple times a week on my own. I'm keeping my fingers crossed & my food intake
in check. I'd love to have a 6 pack-heck, even a 2 pack for once in my life.

My work has us post bid every 6 months for days off, shift, & post. 6 months ago
was the first time in my 12 year career that I was able to get the tower. We
bidded on our posts again this week & low & behold I was able to get my sweet
tower again! Oh how I love this tower. I do up there what I'm unable to do even
at home. I sit there drinking coffee, & watch my peaceful surroundings. I don't
have to get up to vacuum, take out the trash, or change diapers. I just kick
back watching the surroundings. That's been my job for the last 6 months & now
will be my post for the next 6 too. Ah, the peaceful tranquility of seniority.
I'm #26 on the seniority list of 300 employees now. & 5 of the officers ahead of
me are eligible for retirement in the next 6 months. It's possible that since
the posts we man are based off of seniority I may be able to continue working
the tower until I retire. 8 years 10 months & counting. Life is sweet!


My Mom took my Mother-in-law, my wife, I, & my daughter to see the Nut Cracker this
weekend. That was one of the best times I've ever had! Not only because it was only
my 2nd day not working a 12 hour shift the entire month of Dec (my other day
off being the 9th for the Polar Bear tri). But because my 27 month old daughter
is completely fascinated with any kind of dancing. She'll sit through an entire
episode of Dancing w/ the stars. She runs around for hours throwing her hands in
the air & spinning in circles pretending she's dancing. I was a little worried
that she'd get bored & start misbehaving. But from start to finish she was
completely focused on the performance on stage. She'd see something she liked &
start clapping & yelling yeah, oh, & even an occasional awe! Most of the time it
was when everyone else decided to clap too. But there were quite a few times
when she she was the only one applauding. She didn't notice or didn't care if
she was the only one clapping. She was just a bundle joy the entire performance. I thought it was the cutest thing I'd ever seen in my life. I must admit there
was a few times when my eyes filled with tears seeing how happy she was. Being a
parent is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me. I never knew any
one thing could bring me this much joy. Ah, life is good.

Got tagged & weekly weight

I got tagged by Michael Lovato. Pretty cool! I have to write 5 interesting
things about myself. When I read that I figured it would be no problem. I've
realized since trying to write this that I'm really lame! Can one of my
interesting things be I'm really boring? Lets see....

1) I played a season as the left side offensive tackle on a semi-pro football
team called the Albuquerque Assassins. I weighed 250 lbs at the start of the
season, but my coach said I needed to put on weight. So I bulked up to 270 in
about 2.5 weeks. Gaining weight is as easy for me as breathing is for most.


2) I've worked at the NM State Penitentiary since I was 19. Ok. Not that
exciting, like I said, I'm kind of lame. Well, I was on the SWAT team for 5 years
& had responded to multiple riots throughout NM. My team & I were the only ones
entering when all instincts were screaming to everyone to run out! You know I found out then that humans have a pack instinct, & when it kicks in it's very hard to ignore. A little better I guess.
Ok, how about I've almost been stabbed 2 times while on duty. Not just "I saw a dude with a shank 2 times." I mean in an active fight w/ an inmate
trying to stick me. I haven't gotten shanked yet knock on wood.

3) I married up. You ever see those couples where you think "what the heck is
she doing w/ him?" That's my wife w/ me. When on our honey moon we toured some
really old Indian ruins in Mexico. At that time I was almost 300 lbs The tour
guide kept having to wait on me because I was so out of shape. My wife was
zipping all over the place. She never once complained or commented on me being
only 27 & unable to walk at sea level. She's the only person I've ever met who
could be explained as truly not worldly. She doesn't care about looks or money.
Good thing or I'd still be looking for Ms Right;)

4)I rode my bike from Santa Fe to Hobbs NM. 340 miles. I know, not all that
exciting. But that is my problem here. I'm really unexciting! I had no idea this
tag would be harder than a physics pop quiz! LOL.

5) I have no idea what to put here..... How about for #5 I put: I teach my daughter horrible things. Like last weekend my wife told my daughter she had
to pick up her toys. She started crying, so I whispered in her ear what to say to
my wife. My gorgeous daughter turned to my wife w/ tear streaked cheeks &
proclaimed "But I'm only 2". She has been saying that to my wife at
least a couple times a day since. Hehehe. I taught her that;) I think its cute
now, but I know darn well I'll regret it when she starts using it on me. Until
then I've been laughing until I cry every time I hear her say it. Which doesn't
help I'm sure. For some reason she gets encouraged by her Daddy.

I tag Stacie B
JB from EPT
GI Jane
Deputy Dawg
Southern triathlete

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Weekly weight or tape

*

Now Mondays are my weigh in days. Last Monday I didn't post my weeight because I'd gained 1.5 lbs. I was up to 235 lbs. It really frustrated me because I hadn't cheated all week. So I decided to check my measurements in hopes that the tape would show an improvement ebven if the scale didn't. I'm writing the #'s as I write this so I'll be as suprised or disapointed as all of you.

Measurment sight/Last measurement/This measurment

Quads /31.5/ 30.5. A loss of 1 inch!

Hips 49.5/ 46.5 A LOSS 3 FULL INCHES!!!!

stomach 46.5/ 44 Loss of 2.5 inches

Chest 43.75/ 42.5 Lost .75

Arms 16.75/ 16.5 Lost .25

Total inches Lost: Hooly crap! I've lost 7.5 inches in a month!!!!!!!

Happy days baby!!!!!!!!!!!! Wooohoooo!!!!!!!!! I'm doing a nerdy dance right now. Sure glad you peeps can't see because i'm really bad at it!!!!!!!!

A cover up tattoo

When I was 18 I decided to get a tattoo. I didn't know exactly what i wanted so I browsed a book at a tattoo parlor until I picked one basically at random. There was no reason at all to go with that particular tattoo. It was Dizzy the devil. Dizzy was a cartoon character who was a baby devil but did good deeds. Once I became a Christian I began to hate that tattoo. This weekend I decided to cover it up with a cross. I felt it symbolic of the progression of my faith & change for the better once I accepted Christ. Here it is:

Heart rate training by article by Mark Allen

Most of my triathlon buddies already know how/why to train by heart rate, but I'm finding allot of people on the WW message boards that this article will help. This article won't fit on the WW message board so I figured I'd post it here so they could read it easily. If your triathlete you may just want to skip down to my post race report.

Heart rate training by Mark Allen

Working Your Heart The secret of training smart

How hard do I have to workout? How far do I have to go? I workout 2 hours every other day of the week and I still can't lose those last 10 pounds. Why do I keep getting injured when I try to run? These are all questions and comments people make about their training that seems to have no simple solution.
I want to give you that solution. It's called a heart rate monitor. Whether your goal is to win a race or just live a long healthy life, using a heart rate monitor is the single most valuable tool you can have in your training arsenal of equipment. And using one in the way I am going to describe will not only help you shed those last few pounds, but will enable you to do it without either killing yourself in training or starving yourself at the dinner table.
I came from a swimming background, which in the 70's and 80's when I competed was a sport that lived by the No Pain, No Gain motto. My coach would give us workouts that were designed to push us to our limit every single day. I would go home dead, sleep as much as I could, then come back the next day for another round of punishing interval sets.
It was all I knew. So when I entered the sport of triathlons in the early 1980's, my mentality was to go as hard as I could at some point in every single workout. And to gauge how fast that might have to be, I looked at how fast the best triathletes were running at the end of the short distance races. Guys like Dave Scott, Scott Tinley and Scott Molina were able to hold close to 5 minute miles for their 10ks after swimming and biking!
So that's what I did. Every run, even the slow ones, for at least one mile, I would try to get close to 5 minute pace. And it worked...sort of. I had some good races the first year or two, but I also suffered from minor injuries and was always feeling one run away from being too burned out to want to continue with my training.
Then came the heart rate monitor. A man named Phil Maffetone, who had done a lot of research with the monitors, contacted me. Phil said that I was doing too much anaerobic training, too much speed work, too many high end/high heart rate sessions. I was forcing my body into a chemistry that only burns carbohydrates for fuel by elevating my heart rate so high each time I went out and ran.
So he told me to go to the track, strap on the heart rate monitor, and keep my heart rate below 155 beats per minute. Maffetone told me below this number that my body would be able to take in enough oxygen to burn fat as the main source of fuel for my muscle to move. I was going to develop my aerobic/fat burning system. What I discovered was a shock.
To keep my heart rate below 155 beats/minute, I had to slow my pace down to an 8:15 mile. That's three minutes/mile SLOWER than I had been trying to hit in every single workout I did! My body just couldn't utilize fat for fuel.
So for the next four months I did exclusively aerobic training keeping my heart rate at or below my maximum aerobic heart rate, using the monitor every single workout. And at the end of that period, my pace at the same heart rate of 155 beats/minute had improved by over a minute. And after nearly a year of doing mostly aerobic training, which by the way was much more comfortable and less taxing than the anaerobic style that I was used to, my pace at 155 beats/minute had improved to a blistering 5:20 mile.
That means that I was now able to burn fat for fuel efficiently enough to hold a pace that a year before was redlining my effort at a maximum heart rate of about 190. I had become an aerobic machine! On top of the speed benefit at lower heart rates, I was no longer feeling like I was ready for an injury the next run I went on, and I was feeling fresh after my workouts instead of being totally exhausted from them.
So let's figure out what heart rate will give you this kind of benefit and improvement. There is a formula that will determine your Maximum Aerobic Heart Rate, which is the maximum heart rate you can go and still burn fat as the main source of energy in your muscles. It is the heart rate that will enable you to recover day to day from your training. It's the maximum heart rate that will help you burn those last few pounds of fat. It is the heart that will build the size of your internal engine so that you have more power to give when you do want to maximize your heart rate in a race situation.
Here is the formula:
Take 180Subtract your ageNow we need to adjust this number based on your current level of fitness. Make the following correction as it applies to you:
· If you do no working out subtract another 10 beats
· If you workout 1-2 times a week subtract 5 beats
· If you workout 3-4 times a week leave the number as it is.
· If you workout 5 or more times as week and have done so for a year or more, then add an additional 5 beats to that number.
If you are about 60 years old or older OR if you are about 20 years old or younger, add an additional 5 beats to the corrected number you now have.
You now have your maximum aerobic heart rate, which again is the maximum heart rate that you can workout at and still burn mostly fat for fuel. Now go out and do ALL of your cardiovascular training at or below this heart rate and see how your pace improves. After just a few weeks you should start to see a dramatic improvement in the speed you can go at these lower heart rates.
Over time, however, you will get the maximum benefit possible from doing just aerobic training. At that point, after several months of seeing you pace get faster at your maximum aerobic heart rate, you will begin to slow down. This is the sign that if you want to continue to improve on your speed, it is time to go back to the high end interval anaerobic training one or two days/week. So you will have to go back to the NO Pain, NO Gain credo once again. But this time, your body will be able to handle it. Keep at the intervals and you will see your pace improve once again for a period. But just like the aerobic training, there is a limit to the benefit you will receive from anaerobic/carbohydrate training. At that point, you will see your speed start to slow down again. And that is the signal that it is time to switch back to a strict diet of aerobic/fat burning training.
Keep your interval sessions to around15-30 minutes of hard high heart rate effort total. This means that if you are going to the track to do intervals do about 5k worth of speed during the entire workout. Less than that and the physiological effect is not as great. More than that and you just can't maintain a high enough effort during the workout to maximize our benefit. You want to push your interval making each one a higher level of intensity and effort than the previous one. If you reach a point where you cannot maintain your form any longer, back off the effort or even call it a day. That is all your body has to give.
This is what I did to keep improving for nearly 15 years as a triathlete. It is also the training the Lance Armstrong's coach put him on to recover from his cancer treatment when they saw that he could not handle the high end training anymore. And although it was contrary to what most cyclists do to prepare for the grueling Tour de France, it was what enabled him to capture the title there for the first time in 1999.

2007 Polar Bear race report

Saturday I completed the Polar Bear Triathlon held at White Sands Missile range outside of Las Cruces NM. This was the fourth year in a row I'd done this race. The Polar Bear is the first race of the 2008 South West Challenge series & has the awards ceremony for the 2007 South West Challenge series afterwards. Consequently there is usually a somewhat large showing of people. Usually between 200-300 triathletes.

When I got to the race sight at 5:30 am I was amazed at how windy it was. There were gusts that had to be around 40 miles an hour. My first thought took me by surprise. I was quietly hoping they'd cancel the race due to the severe wind. I'm usually a race fanatic completing at least 10 triathlons, a couple duathlons, a half marry,a century, a few 5 & 10 K's each year. But I didn't want to race that morning at all. I don't know why for sure, perhaps it's because I've gained enough weight that I knew I'd have a poor performance & I was dreading seeing such negative results. Perhaps it's because emotionally I have not yet recovered from my Silverman debacle. Or maybe it's because I would of been humiliated by how much I'd jiggle inside my tri suit. I'm not sure, I just know I realized I was burned out on racing and thought it would of been a great idea to not race. If the race was canceled I could have visited with my fellow triathletes, & to me that kind of morning sounded like fun! Now it does need to be said I felt burned out on racing, not training. I still have a fierce Passion for training.

By 7 am the wind died down, the sun came out, & the temperature was at a comfortable range. No chance at all for a cancellation. So I begrudgingly set up my tri gear next to where I had placed my bike in the transition area. Once it was time for the race to start I heard my Uncle Travis say "better keep the transition area clear or I may end up falling on somebody". He's relatively new to triathlon & isn't yet proficient at doing a running mount onto his bike. He crashes occasionally taking down animals and small children with him:)

This race was a reverse triathlon consisting of a 7 Kilometer run, 30 kilometer bike, & 400 meter swim. Since the run was first it was a mass start. I started in the middle of the pack knowing that the weight I have put on was going to slow me down allot. Starting directly in front of me was Skoshi, one of my favorite people of all time. She's the sweetest person I've met in as long as I can remember. She's 5 foot tall if she's wearing platform shoes and barely 100 lbs. 15 seconds into the race Mark Mico runs up behind me & goosed me. People can get great reactions from a man who's been working in prison for 12 years. Skoshi came close to having to give a 230 lb triathlete hop a ride onto her back:)

That ended up being one of the top 3 worst runs of my life. I averaged around a 8:45 min mile. When I got on the bike I was pretty disgusted with my performance up to that point. The first half of the bike was slightly downhill and Clydes usually haul butt down hill. But I did not that day. At the half way point I started drinking some Amp energy drink for a little bit of a boost. I'd never tried this before in training or racing. But I didn't care if I had a worse race at that point. slow is slow. I suppose there are varying degrees of slow. But I'm not going to debate the specifics of slow here. I figured it couldn't get much worse.

I'm not sure if being passed to many times motivated me or if the energy drink worked REALLY well! But the 2nd half of the race was one of the best experiences I've ever had on a bike. Fat Boy got up & MOVED! About 10 Kilometers from T-2 I passed a 16 year old kid named John. John got really fast recently. He told me he's been running every morning & has lost almost 20 lbs. I was impressed to say the least. John had never beaten me on a run before. He did that day. He beat me badly too!His bike is probably his weakest event & once I passed him that first time it was a war the rest of the ride. I'd pass him, then he'd pass me a few seconds later. Apparently his weakest sport isn't very weak any longer. That boy laid a smack down. Once I got into the pool I had the best swim of my entire life. I passed John & my Uncle Travis around the mid point of the pool. 75 yards from the end I got a massive cramp in my left calf but kept paddling through the pain. Road Rash was watching me & told me I looked like a question mark in the water from that point on. Must of been a big question. LOL.

Not sure how, but I finished 2nd place Clydesdale 39 & under with a time of 1:49. That's only the 2nd time I've ever finished top 3 at the Polar Bear before. But that has allot to do with the big guns like Arnold Ciniceros and Felix Hinoso not toeing the line that morning. regardless of my placing I'm glad I bit the bullet & raced even though I only felt like spectating. That race revamped my love for racing. I'm exited about racing again.

After the Polar Bears awards ceremony I went to another awards ceremony for the 2007 South West Challenge mulisport series. The challenge series is made up of 28 races throughout New Mexico & West Texas. A person has to complete a minimum of 8 races to qualify for the series. They take a persons best 8 races to score the season. I was awarded the 1st place trophy for the Clydesdale 39 & under division.

All in all it was a great day. Best part of the day was being able to hang out with my friends & team mates after the race. A person can look the rest of their life & never find more supportive & caring people than you'll find at a triathlon.

Not this time

Last week was a week full of challenges for me. Both of my kids got a horrible
case of the stomach flue. My son had it the worse. Although I had experienced my
daughter having the stomach flue when she was only a few months old it didn't
make it any less scary with my son. He's only 4 months old & to watch him be
that sick was very distressing. Both my little ones ended up pulling through it
and are up to their old ways already. Thank God.

I got exited Saturday because I'd lost enough weight that none of my jeans fit.
My wife made a big deal out of taking me to Sears for a couple pair of skinny
jeans. What a great wife I have. She said all the right things to really make me
feel good about myself. When we got there we started searching for a pair that
would fit me, after about ten minutes we realized Sears didn't sell any jeans
that large. We went to 2 other stores at the mall looking for a pair large
enough to fit me. No luck. I'm still to big to shop for clothes in a normal
person store. Normally things like that upset me allot & when something bothers me I turn to food for comfort. I'm not going to lie, I was ready to start shoveling down some serious
food.

When I got home there was a package in the mail for me. I assumed it was going
to be my weight watchers book on eating out. To my surprise when I opened it up
it was a 3rd place trophy for the Silverman Iron distance triathlon. In case
anyone is not up to speed on the happenings of Cody-the-Clydesdale, I DNF'd that
race a couple weeks ago. That trophy sat there in my hands mocking me, my weight
problems, & all that I wanted so badly to be. Oh how badly I want to be an
Ironman. I've been a triathlete for 4.5 years & that entire time I trained for
one reason. To finish 140.6 miles in under 17 hrs. To hear "Cody Hanson, you are
an Ironman." To be able to get the M-dot tattooed on the back of my calf. All
that I desired was sitting in my hands in a painful reminder that I had failed.
There were only 3 people in the Clyd division at the Silverman. If I could of only finished the bike by the cutoff time I would of truly earned
that trophy. It was a beautiful trophy. I rarely get mad. It's always been
pretty hard to get me upset. Sitting there with my dream trophy in my hands that
I failed to earn & having to wear a pair of sweat pants because Santa Fe doesn't
sell jeans large enough for me was more than enough to push me over board. I got
2 boxes of brownie mix out & started making me a huge pan of feel good!
A couple of minutes before the brownies were ready I turned on the TV. I found
that the Ironman World championships was on. It had been on long enough that I
saw who the top 10 males & females were. I saw an idol of mine had made it into
the top 10. Michael Lovato. Most of my buddies don't know why I'm such a big fan
of his. A few years ago I was watching the Ironman Championships & saw that
there was a pro triathlete (Lovato) who was expected to finish top 5. Lovato got
severe intestinal problems on the bike & ended up finishing somewhere around 13 hrs & in 298th place. But dang it he finished! Almost every top tier pro
triathlete I'd seen to that point had quit when he/she was not going to finish
the race near where they expected. I understand why they do this. It would be
better to get off the course & DNF than risk ruining the next season due to
injury. But Lovato finished, risking injury, he simply refused to take the easy
route out. He continued on even when almost every other athlete in his position
would of stopped, he never quit! His fortitude brought him back into the money.
Often times God takes care of me even when I do not deserve it. I experienced a
couple of things that day that were painful & incredibly humiliating to me. My
family watched me search in vain to find any jeans that would fit & I now own a
trophy to remind me of one of the most painful failures of my life. When I was
ready to call it quits God put one of the only things in front of me that could
of pulled me out of my own self misery. I watched more & more athletes cross that finish line & I decided I was NOT going to DNF again! And part of my
plan had to be to lose this last 34 lbs. I turned off the oven, got out my
bike, rode to the correctional academy gym & hit a great 1hr chest & back
workout with the free weights, then I rode my bike across town to the pool & had
an incredible 40 minute swim. Went to the cardio room upstairs & did 3 sets of
10 minutes rowing to 10 minutes running, repeat. Then I rode to the Santa Fe
high school & ran up & down the entire stadium twice which took another 45
minutes. By then it was dark & rode I back home. Total time on bike round trip
was 2:10 minutes. I completed a total workout of 5hrs 5 minutes.

I want to become an Ironman now more than ever. Not only to prove to myself that I can can do it but also to show my children by example that as long as they continue to try, learn from their mistakes, & don't except failure they can overcome any obstacle.