Home again

My wife & I had baby #3. He was 7 pounds 10 ounces. He was born via C section on the 12th. He's perfect in every way.

I have a great wife. We were in the hospital for 3 days & each day my wife would feed baby Rion so he'd sleep well, & then she'd tell me to go workout. The whole time we were in the hospital I never missed one workout.

Once we got home training became a bit more difficult. Since my wife had a C section I've been taking care of her while she's recovering, while also trying my best to keep my 4 & 2 year olds occupied & happy, & try & hold & bond with baby Rion. The amount of training I've been able to do has been cut by more than half. I don't mind at all, just stating the facts. My long rides have been cut from 4-5 hrs to 1.5-2 &, my long runs have gone from 13-15 miles to 6 miles. Consequently my goals have changed. I went from my goal being The Silverman Half in November of this year & the Mountain Man in Aug 2010, which are both 70.3 distance triathlons. Now my next A races will be the Jingle Bell & Polar Bear triathlons in back to back weekends in Dec. I have absolutely no idea what my next A race after that will be. I don't know how much time I'll have to train, but more importantly I don't think we'll have the money for me to do any half Iron distance races which cost $250 & up or any Iron distance races which cost $500 & up, depending on the popularity of the race. Plus I'd have to travel to any 70.3 or Iron races, & we can't afford to travel either.

I am also now officially without a coach. The 5 weeks I'm taking off of paternity leave have stretched us beyond the breaking point financially. I'm hoping I can afford another coach mid next year, but to be honest I'm not sure we can rebound by then.


So, the only 2 things I do know about next years triathlon season is that I'll be doing local races, & I'll most definitely be a Clydesdale again next year. I'm doing poorly with the weight loss, gaining rather than losing. My current weight is 215. I don't mind doing local races or being a Clydesdale at all. The local races here in NM are fantastic. & the Clydesdales here in the SW all know each other & offer each other great support. I just wish I could stay under 215 pounds, which I'm thinking wont happen....again. Thanks for tuning in

a kinder gentler aproach:-)

I've been in the hospital for 4.5 days with my wife & new born son & while there realized my point of view on my previous post should have been presented differently. More on the bith of my wifes & my new born later, once I catch up on some sleep.

How's this:

First & foremost the RD's of races should have C/A divisions. I've sent out emails to all but the Alpine. I'm hoping I can get as many people to email the races RD's to request this as possible, even if their not a C/A.

I understand that there's no way to know which triathletes in a race are C/A's or where they finished among each other. So there's no way to know who should get 2-10 points. But the series has always given 1 point for just finishing a SW Series race. In my opinion I think the C/A's should STILL geta the 1 point for competing & finishing a series race.

I don't think the 1 point should be Johns responsibility to figure out. If a C/A emails & asks for the point because they did the race then they get the point for finishing that race. At least then their not completely out of luck. If a C/A doesn't care to ask for the 1 or 1/4 point & never gets it then no harm done. It's a very easy & uncomplicated way of giving at least some credit for completing a SW series race.

I could understand in part why someone would say,
"if you want the series points there are plenty of other races in the series. Just do one of the other ones."

or

"If that particular race is that important to you then you should do it for the joy of that race, not the points."

I just think giving the C/A's the choice to do the series race without at least a point for finishing isn't really much of a choice at all. I already had the choice to do any race not affiliated with the series. I do 10-15 SW series races EVERY YEAR because I love competing not just in each race individually, but racing in an entire year long series where I can get credit & points for competing in ANY of multiple races affiliated with that series. If it's in the series I feel it should be in the series for everyone at least in part. Leaving out a group, or three groups is still unfair to those groups left out. A 1 or a 1/4 point (if more than 8 races are completed) at least recognizes that a person or group of people did that race in the series.

Don't isolate me & my kind just because we're fat. Just kidding.... unless of course me planting that picture of a fat kid being left out of all the AG games pulls your heart strings, then by all means feel it baby! LOL.

I can understand everyone has different points of views on any one subject & by no means am I trying to say "I'm the only one who's right here."

I truly hope I didn't offend anyone by posting my feelings on this issue. & please understand I'm not one of the series haters that only write about the series because they resent the series. The reason I'm so passionate about this particular subject is because I'm truly passionate about the series, the competition, & camaraderie that comes from the SW series. As a Clyde I want that feeling at ALL the SW series races. Not just some of them.
Peace,

no love for the Clydesdales or Athenas

Some of the South West Challenge Series races don't have Clydesdale or Athena divisions. Before that was OK, the series still gave SW series points to the Clyde's & Athena's who competed in the races that didn't have divisions for the bigger athletes.

I recently found out the series won't give points for Clydesdale's & Athena's next year if they race in a SW series race that doesn't have Clydesdale & Athena divisions.

I'm not very happy about this. I think C. & A.'s should be allowed points for racing SW series races w/ no C. & A. div's. I'd be OK w/ that as long as it's mandatory for a race to have C & A divisions to be allowed in the SW series. That isn't the case though. I was told the series will put pressure on the RD's to have a C. & A. div, but if they choose not to then "it will be your choice to do the race or do one with those divisions." quote unquote.

Just wondering how everyone else feels about this?

In the meantime I was hoping I could get you guys to email the RD's of the races w/out the C. & A div's to request them to have them next year.

Perhaps even email the SW series & request that if they impliment this polocy to make it mandatory to have Clyd & Athena div's to be eligable to have thier race in the series. If they dont want to make it mandatory then don't have that polocy.

Here are the races I competed in last year that didn't have C & A div's were the
1)College nationals (sprint) owned by the RD's for BSLT 70.3 & the Buffman & Squeaky. marti@buffalospringslaketriathlon.com
2)The Santa Fe triathlon. tcr@tcrproductions.com
3) 2 years ago I did the SULLY SUPER SPRINT TRIATHLON & they didn't. But I haven't raced this race since then so I don't know if they do or do not . jbaade@sulross.edu

re-evaluate

I'm readjusting my goal of getting to 180 pounds. I've decided I'm going to try to get to 200 & maintain it.

Seems every time I get to 200 pounds & I get to the point where I'm about to drop below it I fall off the wagon for 3 or 4 days & gain 5-9 pounds. I figure I need to think about the long term. It would be better for me to maintain 200 than to keep attempting to drop below it, fail, then become disheartened & gain all my weight back. So it looks like I'll be racing the 2010 triathlon season as a Clyd again. Once I feel comfortable about my ability to maintain 200 poundsfor awhile I'll try to start dropping again. Until then I'll do my best to dominate & terrorize the Clydesdale division.

Hey, keeps me from having to rename my blog:)

would u say a prayer for my wife & unborn baby?

My wife & I had another check up for our unborn son today. He's due date is Oct 18th. The Dr. expressed concern of a vaginal delivery. 2 years ago when our 2nd child was in delivery he got stuck. His head had came out, but his shoulders wouldn't. He was stuck there for so long the Dr's started to freak out, they called for more staff & emergency equipment. At the last second before performing an emergency C section my poor wife had been able to push my son out. He was purple, wasn't breathing, & had no pulse. It took over 4 minutes of the medical staff working on him before he came back to us. That was the most difficult thing I've ever gone through. Even now 2 years later when the Dr. asked me to explain what happened I started crying. Silly I guess, it's over & my boy is fine, but it still chokes me up even thinking about it. I know if God wanted my son to be with Him my baby boy would of been in a better place. As hard as I try I could never be as good of a father as Him. But I was , & am selfish. I want my babies with me. The hardest thing for me as a follower of Christ is to accept Gods will unconditionally even when it goes against what I want. I'm working on that. But I'm not to where I should be.

Anyhow, our Dr said she doesn't want to risk that again. Our unborn son is measuring the same size as our 2nd child did at this point. So she set up an apointment for a C section on Oct 12th at 12:30pm. I pray to the good Lord he allows my son & wife to heal from this. I also pray He gives me the strength to accept his will no matter what it is. If any of you prayer warriors would be willing to do the same for me I'd be gratefull. It says in the bibble not to be afraid for He is in control, but I'm weak, & I am scared. I'd sure apreciate any extra prayers. Thank you.

multi-sport

I love multi-sport training. There's nothing about it I don't like. It's challenging, it allows me to eat more without any weight gain, it makes me more focused on maintaining a healthy weight, it teaches my kids how to live a healthy active lifestyle, it makes me sleep better, it makes me more focused & determined of a person, destination races allows my family to see parts of the country we never would see otherwise, it makes me better equiped to defend myself & my coworkers, it's a stress reliever- there's times when I'm in a bad mood that my wife, without a word spoken will bring me my cycling gear, when I return from a workout I'm happy go lucky again!

Yesterday was my first day back from 4 days of overeating. Bad news is that after those 4 days, it will now take longer to get to my goal weight of 180. But the good news is so much better than the bad news was bad! I'm back on the road to being triathlete thin!

Every time I've failed to drop the weight, went on a food binge, or gained more weight back than I had lost I learned something about myself & my food issues. I'm not saying I'll ever be "cured" of my love for, or my emotional dependency of food. But everytime I fall into my temptations I learn something, each time I back slide & figure out what caused it or how I recovered and I gained a tool I can use next time. Each time I learn from my failure I'm more likely to regain control of my overeating more quickly & am able to have the binge happen less frequently. Each time I fall off the wagon it slows me from reaching my goal, but for the first time I know without a doubt I'll get there.

1st time to fly a kite

It's now a little under 3 weeks until baby #3 is here. I've been trying to do as much with my 2 oldest as possible so they don't feel ignored. That is always a fear of mine when there are big changes in the family or our life. So my wife & I both have been making sure they are....spoiled:)

Today I took my son & daughter to the park to play. The park my daughter refers to as the choo-choo park. My daughter played with a set of twin girls for an hour and a half while my son and I played on the see-saw & I pushed him in the swing. Afterwards I took them to the baseball field and we flew a kite for the first time. My daughter was amazed, my son could have cared less about our kite:) Good times.

My babies are napping right now. Once they wake up I'll put them in the bike cart & I'll do a 2 hr bike with an hour in z-3.

I....must....hurt....you

Now that I'm done with the Redman Half Iron I'm in recovery mode. I'm waiting for my coach to give me the green light to start training again. He doesn't want to start hammering my body until I'm recovered enough to avoid injury. I'm waiting impatiently. I'm salivating in anticipation. I'm more focused than I've ever been.

In November 2007 I attempted the Silverman Iron distance triathlon. I failed. The Silverman has been my only DNF in 54 multisport races. A DNF is when a person quits or is pulled from a course. The only reason an athlete is pulled from a course is when they are to slow & don't meet the minimum cut off time.

On November 11th 2007 I was to slow. I DNF'ED. At mile 92 of the bike I found out I wasn't good enough, wasn't fast enough, wasn't strong enough.

Now it's payback time. I'm going back to that course & I'm going to destroy it.

I'm on track to weigh between 188-190 pounds by race day. The lightest I've ever raced at was 192 pounds at the Jay Benson triathlon in May 2008. I had the best race of my life. In triathlon skinny isn't a body type, it's a tactical necessity. I plan on this being the first race of a new era. One in which every race from here on out I'm no longer a Clyd. From this years Silverman on I'll be an age grouper.

This time on Nov 8th 2009 I plan on putting a hurting on that Silverman course, rather than that course hurting me.

Before the Silverman in 07 I told my Dad who was dieing of emphysema I was dedicating that race to him, & I never even crossed the finish line.

on November 11th 2007 I was going to run across the finish line of my first Ironman holding my 2 year old daughter. I never even made it to the finish line.

This time I know what kind of punishment the Silverman has to offer. This time I'm light, this time I'm physically & mentally prepared, this time I will cross that finish line with a great finishing time!

recovering from a PR & a new coach

Well, I'm post Redman. I was excited about my new 70.3 PR of 5 hr 30 min. I never dreamed I'd be that fast at that distance, especially considering all the rain, standing water, and mud from flooding on the bike & run course. I realize the biggest reasons for my increased speed was my low body weight- low for me anyways, and great coaching.

My coach is having me take off until Friday, then we'll evaluate how I feel & start training for the Silverman half Iron which is schedualed for Nov 7th. The Silverman is a very hard course with lots of climbing. So low body weight at the Silverman will be even more important than it was for the Redman. I feel I can get to 190-195 by then, & 180-185 by the New year. If I can get to that weight I'm going to race all of 2010 as a 35-39 AG. Racing as an AG, & under 200 pounds for an entire year has always been one of my biggest goals in triathlon. Wish me luck!

I'm ahead in the South West Challenge series. The athlete closest to me in points is a guy named George Ferland. Apparently he's very fast. He's won the Clydesdale division in every race he's competed in the last 2 years. There are 2 races left for the season. Essentially what it boils down to is if he races in either one of the next 2 he will be champion. If He doesn't compete in either of the 2 remaining I win the series. I'll keep you informed.

After the Silverman I'm going to be looking for a new coach. I've been with the coach I have now since the summer of 06. Coach Pete is awesome and he has shown me what nearly perfect triathlon coaching is like. He's good. Very very good, & he knows how good he is. Consequently and understandably he is raising his prices at the new year. I just can't afford to keep him on. $ is the one & only reason I have to get another coach.

I've had bad coaches before. Nothing is more aggravating & disheartening. I had a feeling this was going to happen with Coach Pete, so I'd been keeping my eyes open for other coaches for awhile. If this happened I was planning on hiring a retired pro cyclist by the name of James Webster who coaching here in Alb. Then, after speaking with my current coach this weekend, he told me he has some coaches who have signed on to coach for his company who are outstanding. He also gave me a discount on the coaching he's giving me until the Silverman as an incentive to stay with Mile High Multisport coaching. I'm now unsure what I'll do. 50/50 I guess.

James Webster is a local coach. That's a plus. He made a living from being a pro endurance athlete, the knowledge he'd have to offer based on his life experiences in pro cycling would be priceless. He returns phone calls very quickly, the negative side of him is that the times I emailed him, he took a long time to respond or never responded at all. Although I must point out I wasn't his paying athlete, so a slow response is understandable to a point. The other negative side of James is that he & his triathlon club has a pretty serious blood feud going on with mine. My tiathlon team, the NM Outlaws have always been such a supportive & kind group of people, I am unwilling to leave the NM Outlaws. I doubt James would be willing to coach me if I refused to join his team & race for "the enemy".

I trust my current coach whole hearted. If he says the coaches he has working for him are good I believe him. He'll also be over seeing the coaches under him, so I'll still have Coach Pete there giving advise to my new coach, explaining my strengths & weaknesses & how best to deal with them. There is also the fact that I have some serious food issues that coach Pete has been very patient with. I'm unwilling to tolerate someone saying something stupid & inconsiderate like "just be more mindful about what your putting in your mouth".

For right now I don't know which way I'll go for a new coach. I'll keep you informed.

Thanks for tuning in.

2009 Redman Half Iron & Halfmax Championships race report

I completed the Redman Half iron triathlon Saturday Sept 19th 2009. This was my fifth half iron race.

The Redman's race packet pickup was unorganized, chaotic, & took forever.

On race morning there was a %20 chance of rain. Shortly after I set up my transition area a torrential downpour started. within 20 minutes the transition area was filled with an inch of standing water. The rain had flooded the surrounding area so badly that the RD was contemplating making the race a swim/ run/ swim.

They ended up postponing the race 1.5 hrs. thankfully they still had the race as planned, just a bit late.

I swam the 1.2 miles feeling comfortable & much faster than I've ever swam in an open water mass start. My finishing swim time was 35 minutes 45 seconds. A PR of 8 minutes!

The transition area was very long & I was in the worse placing possible. About as far from the entrance & exit for both the run & bike a person could be.

Before the race start I had placed all my race equipment inside a water proof gym bag to prevent my race gear from getting wet. I was expecting a slower T-1 time from having to dig my cycling gear out of the bag. Surprisingly my transition time was relatively fast. 1 minute 46 seconds.

The 56 mile bike was a NIGHTMARE! The first 25-30 miles of streets had puddles of water at least on inch deep. There was a 100 foot section where the water was so deep the USAT officials had a mandatory dismount to walk our bike through the 16 inches of water that had flooded an intersection. I believe most RD's would have handled these conditions poorly by making knee jerk or imprper decisions. The Redman RD handled the situations & obsticles perfectly. Throughout the entire course the volunteers were AWSOME!

The Redman RD's exagerated, the bike course was not nearly as flat as they had claimed on the web. I rode a disk, and regretted it. I'd of been much faster on a pair of tri-spoke wheels. Of the 5 half's I've done both Soma & the 5430 has easier bike courses. It was pretty large rollers the whole way out & back, throw the free standing water into the equation & that led me to have a long & slow bike. I also bonked at mile 40. My bike time was 2 hrs 57 minutes.

I had another great T-2 time of 1 minute 54 seconds.

The majority of the 13.1 mile run course had flooded. There was at least a quarter inch of water on most of the course with an occasional low area being 4 or 5 inches deep.

I had bonked on the bike & didn't start feeling better again until mile 6 of the run. I was shocked at the half way mark of the run to see my time was only 53 minutes! Even with the bad run course condition & me having bonked I was on my way to a run PR. I started picking up the pace from mile 6 to mile 10. At mile 10 my hamstring started to cramp up so I tried switching my run style up. I ran more heel to toe which puts more of the stress on the quads & relieves it on the hams. That prevented my cramping in the hamstring from getting worse, but the cramping didn't go away. It was still there grinding away on the back of my leg.

At mile 11 my lower back started to seize up. I ran through the pain.

At mile 12.5 I saw another clydesdale 100 yards in front of me so I picked up the pace hoping to leave him in the dust. That was a mistake. Half way to running him down my quad & ham in my right leg cramped simultaneously & so badly I had to lay down right in the middle of the course. I laid there for about a minute trying to work the cramps out. Once they went away I got back up & tried to run as close to my pain threshold as possible without pushing so far as to cramp up again as badly

Somehow even with the water on the run course, the sporadic rain, & the horrible cramping I still PR'd the run by over two and a half minutes with a 1 hour 54 minute time.

I ended up having PR'd my half iron time with a 5 hour 30 minute 11 second race. I finished 8th total out of 28 Clydes & 273rd out of 750. I wonder what time I could of completed the race in if it wasn't for the poor conditions? I also realize that if I finished so well with those kinds of conditions I obviously had a great fitness level, so I'm looking foreword to CRUSHING the Silverman half in a 7 weeks. Without a doubt my coach is the bomb!

I must say I've never seem more aproachable & friendly RD's than the Redman's RD. I would do the Redman again, but only if they are NOT a part of the Halfmax series!.

The Halfmax National Championships promised to give out national awards for top 3 in each AG plus clyd's 39 & under, clyd's 40 plus, & same for the Athenas. They didn't. As a matter of a fact there was nothing there at all that that showed any hints the Halfmax being there or a part of anything at the REDMAN at all. There wasn't any awards, swag, or even any recognition from Halfmax. I believe the Halfmax is just a gimmick. Just a way someone has thought of to try & steal $ from athletes & race RD's. There's still no info posted anywhere on who finished in what place for the Halfmax National Championships. Only the rsults for the Redman. A felow Blooger triathlete went and complained to a Halfmax rep & the Halfmax rep said if she complained they would disqualify her! One of my biggest goals this year was to qualify for next years Halfmax National Championships. Now that I know what a shabby & untrustworthy organization they are I WONT race the Halfmax Championships even though I did end up qualifying by time. Dont get taken, ignore anything and all from this organization.

Cochiti swim, great support, & my dang weight issue!

Today I took my family to Cochiti lake. My wife & I had a picnic & played with our babies. After that I put on my wet suit & did some open water swimming. I felt fast & comfortable. Much more so than any other open water swim I've ever done. Part of that is I'm 27 pounds lighter than my normal race weight. I fit in my wet suit better so I don't feel like I'm being squeezed to death by a boa constrictor. The major reason I felt so comfortable in the water is I'm swimming consistently for the first time in my triathlon career. Imagine that!

I am dieing to find out how far it was from the shore line at the swim area, out to the buoy on the far left, following along the outside of the boat buoy's, until the far right shore line. If anyone knows please let me in on the secret.

I'm so very grateful for the support system I have in life & in triathlon. I've fallen off the diet wagon for the last 3 days. It started on my first full day of vacation. Celebration is a big food trigger for me. I'm sure excitement about my up coming race is also a huge contributing factor also.

On of the first motivators for me to stop overeating was today I drove to Alb & picked up my bike from JusMe. He cleaned & tuned up my bike. He even took off the race numbers I'd left on my bike from the last year of racing! As soon as I saw my tri-machine looking completely clean & ready to roll I got motivated to race! And who can race fat? Not me!

The other big help was a great guy & blogger was in town for work. I got to hang with him, talk triathlon, & even watch an episode of The biggest Loser. While here he talked to me about triathlon racing & our issues with weight. He helped me realize I'll never be cured. I can't be perfect ALL of the time. But I can be perfect %85 of the time. I was beginning to feel after 3 days all was lost & I was on the downward slide. But like JusMe says,"it's not a road without some bumps along the way".

I'm bound to get knocked on my butt on from time to time. That doesn't make my journey to becoming an ultra-thin, ultra endurance triathlete a failure. & failing at accomplishing that goal wouldn't even make me a failure. I'm a success at what's most important to me, being a follower of Christ, a father, & a husband. 10 years ago I wouldn't have thought I could be worth 2 shakes of a dogs tail at any of those things. But I am.

Giving up on my weight loss goal would mean I had stopped trying. & I don't believe I have any quit in me. I'm a stubborn, hard working, dedicated man in all things. Diet just seems to be the one area I'm going to have to get up & dust myself off from most often. & tomorrow I'm going to do just that. For tomorrow I WILL be a success. I will be back on the wagon. I will eventually fall off again. I know that, but I will continue to get up as many times as it takes to succeed at becoming the triathlete I so desperately desire to be.... a thin one.

A great wife, great triathlons, & a kicking boy

Last week I did a 1000 yard Time Trial & shattered my old PR. My previous best was around 17:30. I swam a 14:39 last week. I'll be wearing a wet suit during my upcoming race, which makes a person more buoyant & fast. I'm expecting to break my half Iron swim PR by 5 minutes.

Like I said in previous posts, I'm in full blown taper mode & rearing to race! I feel good & have been averaging a weight between 200-204 pounds. Wish me luck!

New news! My buddy won't be able to utilize his Silverman Half Iron Slot, so he gave it to me! My cousin Chris & I are going to race the Silverman Half triathlon together. The Silverman is Nov 8th. I suspect I'll be weighing approximately 190 pounds by then. The lowest I've EVER raced before was 192, & I was SMOKING FAST at that race! I plan on weighing less than that at the Silverman. & I will no longer be a Clydesdale!

One year out of every 5 my cousin & I are in the same Age Group. This is one of those years, & since I will no longer be a Clyd, he & I will be in the same wave start for the Silverman. That makes for a pretty exciting race component! By no means am I expecting to have a finishing time anywhere near his, he's a natural triathlete. But it will definitely make the race more fun & challenging!

Let me break something down here, let me explain to you how amazing & supportive a wife I have. Sept 19th is the Redman Half Iron in Oklahoma city Ok. That's 4 weeks before my son, baby #3 is due. The Silverman half Iron in Las Vegas, Nevada is Nov 8th, 3 weeks after my son is due. That my wife is willing to let me leave her for a race with an unborn child & 2 toddlers is mind boggling to me! What she'll be going through will be much more difficult during each of those 2 triathlon trips than ANY Half Iron I could attempt! I thank the Lord for her every day.

I work nights, & every morning when I crawl into bed my unborn son and I play for half an hour or so. When I lay in bed next to my wife I lay my hand on her stomach he'll start kicking, kneeing, & elbowing my hand, I'll poke him back. Yesterday morning for the first time I felt him push against my hand with his hand.... I felt my boys hand for the first time! It was very exciting & touching for me.

Again, I'd like to point out what an amazing wife I have. I lay down to sleep at 6:30am and my boy & I poke at each other for half an hour through her stomach. She patiently puts up with our rough housing with each other until one or both of us boys falls asleep.

My unborn son knows the difference between my touch & anyone else. He only plays like that when he feels my hand. If my wife puts anyone else hands in the same spot on her stomach my son won't play with them like he does me:) My boy & I have already developed a bond & trust. I love being a Dad!

ibuprofen

I got this off the NM Outlaws webpage. It's awsome info. Thought I'd share

Phys Ed: Does Ibuprofen Help or Hurt During Exercise?

By Gretchen Reynolds

Dan Saelinger/Getty Images

Several years ago, David Nieman set out to study racers at the Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile test of human stamina held annually in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. The race directors had asked Nieman, a well-regarded physiologist and director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the North Carolina Research Campus, to look at the stresses that the race places on the bodies of participants. Nieman and the race authorities had anticipated that the rigorous distance and altitude would affect runners' immune systems and muscles, and they did. But one of Nieman's other findings surprised everyone.

After looking at racers' blood work, he determined that some of the ultramarathoners were supplying their own physiological stress, in tablet form. Those runners who'd popped over-the-counter ibuprofen pills before and during the race displayed significantly more inflammation and other markers of high immune system response afterward than the runners who hadn't taken anti-inflammatories. The ibuprofen users also showed signs of mild kidney impairment and, both before and after the race, of low-level endotoxemia, a condition in which bacteria leak from the colon into the bloodstream.

These findings were "disturbing," Nieman says, especially since "this wasn't a minority of the racers." Seven out of ten of the runners were using ibuprofen before and, in most cases, at regular intervals throughout the race, he says. "There was widespread use and very little understanding of the consequences."

Athletes at all levels and in a wide variety of sports swear by their painkillers. A study published earlier this month on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that, at the 2008 Ironman Triathlon in Brazil, almost 60 percent of the racers reported using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory painkillers (or NSAIDs, which include ibuprofen) at some point in the three months before the event, with almost half downing pills during the race itself. In another study, about 13 percent of participants in a 2002 marathon in New Zealand had popped NSAIDs before the race. A study of professional Italian soccer players found that 86 percent used anti-inflammatories during the 2002-2003 season.

A wider-ranging look at all of the legal substances prescribed to players during the 2002 and 2006 Men's World Cup tournaments worldwide found that more than half of these elite players were taking NSAIDS at least once during the tournament, with more than 10 percent using them before every match.

"For a lot of athletes, taking painkillers has become a ritual," says Stuart Warden, an assistant professor and director of physical therapy research at Indiana University, who has extensively studied the physiological impacts of the drugs. "They put on their uniform" or pull on their running shoes and pop a few Advil. "It's like candy" or Vitamin I, as some athletes refer to ibuprofen.

Why are so many active people swallowing so many painkillers?

One of the most common reasons cited by the triathletes in Brazil was "pain prevention." Similarly, when the Western States runners were polled, most told the researchers that "they thought ibuprofen would get them through the pain and discomfort of the race," Nieman says, "and would prevent soreness afterward." But the latest research into the physiological effects of ibuprofen and other NSAIDs suggests that the drugs in fact, have the opposite effect. In a number of studies conducted both in the field and in human performance laboratories in recent years, NSAIDs did not lessen people's perception of pain during activity or decrease muscle soreness later. "We had researchers at water stops" during the Western States event, Nieman says, asking the racers how the hours of exertion felt to them. "There was no difference between the runners using ibuprofen and those who weren't. So the painkillers were not useful for reducing pain" during the long race, he says, and afterward, the runners using ibuprofen reported having legs that were just as sore as those who hadn't used the drugs.

Moreover, Warden and other researchers have found that, in laboratory experiments on animal tissues, NSAIDs actually slowed the healing of injured muscles, tendons, ligament, and bones. "NSAIDs work by inhibiting the production of prostaglandins,"substances that are involved in pain and also in the creation of collagen, Warden says. Collagen is the building block of most tissues. So fewer prostaglandins mean less collagen, "which inhibits the healing of tissue and bone injuries," Warden says, including the micro-tears and other trauma to muscles and tissues that can occur after any strenuous workout or race.

The painkillers also blunt the body's response to exercise at a deeper level. Normally, the stresses of exercise activate a particular molecular pathway that increases collagen, and leads, eventually, to creating denser bones and stronger tissues. If "you're taking ibuprofen before every workout, you lessen this training response," Warden says. Your bones don't thicken and your tissues don't strengthen as they should. They may be less able to withstand the next workout. In essence, the pills athletes take to reduce the chances that they'll feel sore may increase the odds that they'll wind up injured — and sore.

All of which has researchers concerned. Warden wrote in an editorial this year on the website of the British Journal of Sports Medicine that "there is no indication or rationale for the current prophylactic use of NSAIDs by athletes, and such ritual use represents misuse."

When, then, are ibuprofen and other anti-inflammatory painkillers justified? "When you have inflammation and pain from an acute injury," Warden says. "In that situation, NSAIDs are very effective." But to take them "before every workout or match is a mistake."

The spoiled under 30 crowd

When I was a

kid, adults

used to bore

me to tears

with their

tedious

diatribes about

how hard

things were.

When they

were growing

up; what with

walking

Twenty-five

miles to school

every

morning....

Uphill...

Barefoot...

BOTH ways

Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of stuff like that on my kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a darn Utopia!

And I hate to say it, but you kids today, you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter - with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take, like, a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!


Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butts! Nowhere was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the darn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up! There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone. Cause - that's how we rolled, dig?

We didn't have fancy stuff like CALLWAITING! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'Asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! ! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen... Forever!

And you could never win.. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!


You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were out of luck when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your rear and walk over to the TV to change the channel! NO REMOTES!!!


There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rats!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove! Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980or before!

Regards,
The Over 30 Crowd

---

my family in training

My daughter who will turn 4 later this month has really been getting the hang of riding her bike. Today I took her to ride in Santa Fe on a bike/run trail that follows the NM Rail Runner. She thought this was the neatest thing. I in turn was amazed that she rode almost 2 miles!!! Wow. That's a LONG ride for a 3 year old. I'm a VERY proud Daddy today.

As we were driving home I told her how proud I was & that she did absolutely AMAZING! Aparently this went straight to her head because she told me "I'm ready to race you Daddy. I'll beat you too."

Tomorrow I'm going to take her & our 2 bikes to the New Mexico Corrections Academy track where she & I will have our first race. I'm sure I'll look back at tomorrow fondly the rest of my life. I'm also pretty sure her statement that she can beat me in a bike race will come true, sooner than I'd like to imagine. Early teenage years perhaps? Earlier knowing her. My daughter truly is a natural athlete. She is leaps & bounds ahead of most kids (including the boys!) her age in all things needing any athleticism.

My son who just turned 2 is more like me. Athletics don't come naturally to him, but he has a determination level that's astounding to see. Sometimes when I'm at the house working out my kids will attempt to do what I am doing. Anything from crunches to lunges. My daughter has always been able to mimic whatever it is I'm doing quickly & with very little direction, then pump out reps using perfect form without much thought or effort. My son doesn't pick up the form nor is he able to do the exercises as easily as she did at the same age. But he'll stay trying to master it long after my daughter (who is 2 years his elder) has grown bored & wondered off.

Last week my son continued to do walking lunges up & down the house with me until he hit muscle failure. Unwilling to stop in-spite of hitting the wall he looked around for a solution. I then watched in amazement & pride as he walked over to the couch & continued doing lunges using his hands on the couch to help lift his fatigued little body, getting in those extra repetitions. I do love fatherhood. It is so rewarding to watch each of them develop their own little personalities & strengths.

My training for the Sept 19th Halfmax National Championships is going almost as well as my children's training;) I'm fluctuating between 202- 205 pounds which is a fast & powerful weight range for me. I'm now down to 17 days until race day. My nutrition is on the money & my taper is going GREAT! I'm mentally & physically prepared & motivated for for this race.

The Halfmax will be my 6th Half Iron distance triathlon in the last 4 years. I think I have it within my grasp to beat my personal best Half Iron time of 5hrs 36 minutes & change. Stay tuned to see how things go!

Thanks for reading.

Ready to race!

I'm all healed up from my stomach flue & back on track with my training. I'm on the maintenance diet so I will be approximately 202 pounds on race day. Being on the maintenance diet for 3 weeks before the race will ensure I'll be fully prepared physically for my race, the Redman half Iron Sept 19th. I'm feeling great, training well, all things seem to be lined up for a great performance.

There are 58 Clydesdale's 39 and under signed up for the Redman, but only 8 of us had race times fast enough last year to be in contention for the Halfmax National Championships, I'm one of the 8!!!

I figure since I'm going to maintain my weight at 202 until after my race now would be a good time to take my measurements. I can't remember the last time I measured myself.
Chest 43 inches
Stomach 39.75 inches
Butt 44.5 inches
quad 26.5 inches

that's a first!

I woke today wanting to eat, needing to binge. That same old story for me. Its never easy getting so close to a goal (185-195 pounds) & seeing it, in one single day start to slip away so quickly. That is exactly what has always happened to me once I get near or at my goal race weight. There is a clear difference in the way a craving feels & an upcoming food binge feels. Once I feel a binge coming on I've never once been able to avoid it. Worst of all is that it takes weeks or months to get pointed back in the right direction.

When I woke up today I needed to EAT, & it wasn't just a food craving, it was a binge. I adjusted my DietPower from having me lose 2 pounds a week, to a maintenance diet. That gave me 1000 calories a day more to eat, plus whatever I may earn in working out. I ate a good breakfast with lots of water, some coffee, & a bit more fat than I usually would have. Through trial & error I have learned moderate amounts of fat help satisfy cravings & bad food tendencies. Having coffee helps too, not sure why, but it most definitely does. & obviously water helps because the body can confuse dehydration & hunger (great advise Misty, thanks). After the first meal my cravings subsided, not much but at least I didn't feel like eating EVERYTHING!

I did the same thing for lunch. I ate what I was craving, which was 2 egg sandwiches with mayonnaise on whole wheat bread. I also had a bunch of water & a diet Mountain Dew. Not the best meal for an endurance athlete, but my goal today was to right the ship, not eat the perfectly designed athletic recovery meal here. Now, did you notice I was able to stop at 2 sandwiches? The list of foods I ate doesn't go on for half a page here!!!!Shortly after lunch I felt almost no cravings at all. By golly I did it!!!!!! I'm still on track to getting to 195. Perhaps even 185!!!!! This is the first time I was able to stop the evil downward spiral! HURAY!!!!!!!! Good for me, bad for competing Clydesdales everywhere:)

reevaluating my goals & the beginning of a family tradition

This Sunday I got the worst stomach flue I've ever had. I'll save you the gruesome details but along with the usual problems it also came with horrid cold shivers, the sweats, and aches all over. Although I'm well enough now to go to work, my stomach still gets upset if I eat anything other than bland foods. Most people would lose weight under those circumstances. Not me. I have to avoid foods like saltine crackers, Nila Wafers, & Graham Crackers because those are my comfort/binge foods. Even when I'm struggling to keep food down due to sickness I can still eat enough of them to gain weight, & today marks the third day of me being unable to eat anything but my kryptonite foods. Before I got sick I was 205, now I'm afraid to get on the scale for fear of what I'll see.

The good news is I feel motivated to start eating healthy again as soon as my stomach can tolerate it- tomorrow, hopefully. The desire to eat well comes as a relief to me. This is only the third time I've been at or below 205 since starting to compete in triathlons.When I'm at or below 205 pounds I'm very fast. Last September weighing 204 I qualified for the Half Max National Championships, something I had never even dreamed I could accomplish.

It's always some minor bump in the road such as this weekend that knocks me off the diet wagon. I've been on a roll continuously dropping weight the last few months. This will be my first true test of whether I can right the ship. I'm hoping & praying to God I can. The Red Man Half Iron is in 3 weeks & next year I'm planning on having "my year to remember", the kind of year I could sit around & tell my Grand kids about. That happening hinges upon whether I can stop the momentum of eating my comfort foods, it depends on whether the stress of being unable to be in complete control of my diet has started the landslide I've been all to often unable to control, it depends on whether I can stay on the diet wagon PLUS lose another 1o pounds after that.

The usual weight my body tends to want to maintain even with the high amounts of miles I log each week swimming, biking, & running is 227. My (new) goal is to race at no more than 195 all of 2010, but he truth be known I'd rather be at 185.

During this struggle I have had of loving ultra endurance triathlons, having a slow metabolism, & a tendency to eat for emotional support I've noticed a pattern. The lower I get my body weight, the more of a struggle it is to maintain that weight. If you frequent my blog you may have noticed my goals have changed. I had hoped of racing all of 2010 at 185 pounds, and dreamed of 175. Not anymore. I'm unsure, shaken to the bone. I keep thinking to myself,"how can this be happening AGAIN?". When in fact I don't yet know if it has.

I've dropped to my dream weight two other times. Each time I reached my goal weight I self destructed. I'm praying to God the combination of having lost weight much more slowly this time, having more knowledge of the nutritional needs of endurance athletics, & having a goal that isn't as strict will keep me on the right track this time. Or, perhaps I'm just fooling myself.

All of next years dreams, aspirations, & desires are dependant upon what I'm able to accomplish tomorrow with my eating. This time I have prepared myself with a contingency plan. This time when I start to feel myself crave foods &/or eating, I wouldn't just keep plugging along trying to ignore it like I had in the past, hoping the desire would go away on it's own. It never does. I always knew it wouldn't. "Failure to plan is planning to fail". This time I have planned that if at any time I feel like I am going to fall off the wagon, I'd go to a maintenance diet. Trying to maintain my weight rather than lose 2 pounds a week gives me an extra 1000 calories a day to eat & enjoy. That new plan, hopefully, starts tomorrow. So I guess you can tune in here to get the uncensored version of my eminent success or failure.

This year I planted a garden. Sunflowers, tomatoes, cantaloupe, green chili, jalapenos, yellow peppers, zucchini, grapes, & rhubarb. Fast forward to when the plants start to sprout, the zucchini looks nothing like a zucchini should. Once it's fruit stated to grow I though it was a watermelon. It wasn't until later I realized it's a pumpkin plant.

My wife & I are expecting baby #3 (if it's up to me it wont be our last) in October, so growing pumpkins this year seems appropriate. I have come to the conclusion that growing pumpkins every year would make a great family tradition to start on the year our October baby is due!

LOL. This is the life & times of a Christian triathlete, a father, & a husband of the woman I've always dreamed of. Who could have known all that would of resulted in so much time spent training, dieting, & chasing so many children:)

I-25 Paseo Del Norte interchange study

As some of you may know from my blog I am constantly complaining about having to cross I-25 on a bicycle. There are no roads with bike lanes crossing I-25 anywhere in the northern Corridor so cyclists are forced to ride in traffic causing poor cyclist/vehiclist relations to say the least. Albuquerque is currently in the planning stages of an I-25 Paseo Del Norte interchange study. Please contact these people and ask them to build bike lanes or a bridge specifically for pedestrians/cyclists. Please email this to everyone you can & ask them to do the same.
Here is their contact info
www.north i-25/contact.html

My best workout of 2009!!!

Today I ran 13.1 miles with one of my best buddies who's blogger name is JusMe. This was the single best workout I've had all year, as a matter of a fact it was the best workout I've had since last summer!!!!

JusMe rode on his bike next to me carrying all my water bottles & gels as I ran. Every so often I'd put my hand out & say "bottle", or "gel", he'd hand it to me, I'd take a swig or pop a gel, hand the bottle or empty gel pack back to him & continued running, never breaking stride.

I ran great today! The first 5 miles was zone 2. Miles 6-8 was zone 3. Miles 9-10 high zone 4. Last 3 miles C/D in zone 2. I finished the 13.1 mile run in 2 hrs 15 minutes. Considering only 5 miles of the 13 was higher than an Airborne shuffle, I believe that if I ran all out today I could have absolutely shattered my half marathon PR. I ran today having pushed myself hard the last few weeks. No rest or recovery at all. I was slightly fatigued, but still ran like a carnivorous gazelle!!! I'd say today bodes well for my upcoming Half Iron in Sept!

I'm excited about the Redman Half next month. I'm planning on breaking my 70.3 PR & qualifying for the 2010 Halfmax national Championships. Keeping in line with Courtney B. & Marks M.'s Facebook posts, "Do or do not, there is no try".
Yoda

On a roll or Righted the ship

My training has been great for the last 2 months. I've been consistent with all 3 triathlon disciplines, core work, strength training, diet, & for the first time in years I'm even getting the sleep needed for proper recovery. My cycling which has been consistently strong all year has gotten just a tad bit stronger, my swimming is at an all time best, & my running has finally started to improve again.

All things seem to be lining up for a great race in Oklahoma city on Sept 19th. That's going to be one of the most important races I've competed in. It's the Halfmax National Championships. It's a race that an athlete has to qualify for. I qualified last year in Boulder Colorado at the 5430 long course triathlon with a personal best Half Iron time of 5hrs 36 minutes. I'll be weighing on race day about the same as I did at last years 5430, approximately 200-204 pounds.

Last year @ the 5430 my swimming was poor, my biking was good, & my running was exceptional. Like I said earlier my swimming & biking is better this year comparatively, but my running isn't up to where it was. I'm hoping the improvement in the first 2 disciplines will even out the lack of running speed & endurance.

I have 2 goals for the Redman Halfmax Championships. The first is to finish under 5hrs 45 minutes. The next goal, which will be much harder to accomplish, but is doable if I stick to the race plan set up by my coach Pete Alfino, is to set a new Half Iron PR of under 5 hrs 36 minutes & 27 seconds. Whish me luck!

As most people know in ultra endurance athletics body weight is VERY IMPORTANT for success. Paying meticulous attention to calories in/calories out is vital! Since early June when I signed up for dietpower I've been kicking tail! I've lost 21 pounds & I believe maintaining a consistent racing weight around weight of 185 for all of next season is attainable for the first time in my triathlon career.

Simply put everyone who is watching their diet has a bad day on occasion. If a person cuts out all the fun foods it's inevitable they're destined to fail eventually. One piece of pizza or any kind of junk food while trying to cut weight is just fine & is actually a good thing to break up the monotony a bit. But because I'm an all or nothing, OCD kind of guy when I have a bad day & temporarily fall off the wagon it can take awhile to regain control & focus. A long while indeed.

This morning I had a bad time with the diet. I got home after a long shift & was very tired. Fatigue is a trigger for over eating for me. Because I work at nights I was missing my babies & wife, which is another trigger for my emotional eating. To top it off I had a bit of an argument with a family member the night before, & BAM! A diet implosion this morning when I got off from work. I ended up going to sleep having downed 1900 calories while watching a Net Flix movie. Ugh.

Once I woke up I decided it was a new day & opportunity. So I decided to jump back on the proverbial wagon. I ate 3/4 cup cottage cheese & 3/4 cup grapes with coffee, & set off to burn off those extra calories. I went on a 1hr 35 minute bike ride consisting of a warm up, 3X12 minutes at high zone 4 with 5 minutes active recovery, then hopped off the bike & went on a 2 mile run. From my workout I ended up burning 1900 calories & earned enough extra calories that I was able to negate my early morning feast & was even able add a small taste snack to the usual meal I take to work! Current weight 206.2. Ah, the wonderful life of a Multisport athlete! How very sweet it is!

How to cross I-25 on a bicycle

On a post earlier this month I was complaining how hard it is to ride a bicycle from the Journal Rail Runner stop over I-25. A fellow triathlete & Clydesdale was kind enough to answer my question. I'm excited about trying it, but am starting to ramp down my training for the Redman triathlon in September. So unfortunately I won't be able to do the ride from the Journal Rail Runner to my house until after Sept 19th. Here's his response, & thanks again Kurt!

The easier way would be going east on the bike trail to the North diversion trail, go south and it goes under I-25. Then from there, there are many bike paths to get up to the canyon.

Weekly weight

This week I spent completing my annual training for work. Annual training is always a bit rough for me because I work nights & sleep days. Annual training is 7:00am-5:30pm which leaves my sleep schedule in chaos. By the time I get out of class I'm exhausted & pinched for time to get in my daily workouts. Stress & fatigue usually sends me straight to the refrigerator looking to stuff my face. But amazingly I held to the diet all week. I missed one strength & one swim. Bit all else went well! Current weight is 207.6.

There's 35 days left until my A race, the Halfmax National Championships in Oklahoma city. At this point I'm feeling dang good on my bike & swims. & I'm feeling like I'm doing the best running I've done all year. Feels like I'll be having a great race. Even better than I originally was hoping for.

This Sunday will be my sons 2nd B-day party. We'll be having it at a park in Albuquerque & inviting all of his little friends. It's things like this which makes life so grand.

The Chili Harvest triathlon race report

The Chili Harvest triathlon was, as usual AWESOME! This is always a well put on race. & I feel this year they surpassed their usual greatness. The only down side to this race is how rough the road is. This road is so rough that my bike computer popped completely off myo bike. But I'm not even complaining about that, if every race I do is flat, has no turns, & has great roads I'd get bored with triathlon really quickly. I just consider this the Paris- Rubeigh Grand Tour of triathlons. On a side note this race gave out CO-2 applicators & shirts made of special water wicking material. Not to mention great finishing prizes.

This race was really important for my South West Challenge Series standings I'm well ahead of the next placed Clydesdale, but this is my last South West Series race for the year because I have a child on the way.

During the swim I felt really good & felt like I was having a great swim. 3/4's of the way through the swim a lady in her fifties passed me doing the back stroke. Yes, I'm serious. I wasn't sure if she was a bad Mamma Jamma or if I was swimming much slower than I felt. I ended up finishing the 400 meter swim in 7 minutes 16 seconds.

I had an average T-1 of 1 min 34 seconds.

There were a lot of turns, bumps, & climbs on the bike so I didn't feel like I was going all that fast. I just never felt like I could build up that much momentum. But my finishing time was a surprising 36 minutes 16 seconds, which averaged my bike time to 20.9 MPH. Pretty good for a Clydesdale I think.

My T-2 time would have been great, but I dropped my race belt & had to turn around to pick it up & had to try put it on a second time losing precious seconds. I ended up having a 53 second T-2.

My run was decent. Comparatively to previous years I was slow. But this year I've been struggling with my running. I finished the 5K run in 24 minutes 15 seconds which averaged to 7 minutes 45 seconds per mile.

My finishing time was 1 hr 10 min. I finished 1st place Clydesdale 40 & under, & 46th out of 350 overall. Most importantly my triathlon club The New Mexico Outlaws won the state club championships for a fourth straight year. We are the only team to have won more than 3 years in a row!

The awards ceremony was held promptly. The placing & times of all placing athletes were announced. & there were GREAT prizes for anyone finishing 1st place in their division. They gave out a half gallon jug & a gift certificate to get filled at a local micro-brewery.

Cycling over I-25 in Albuqurque

I'm very blessed living here in Northern New Mexico. The Albuquerque & Santa Fe area is very conducive to running & cycling. There are great running & cycling trails in & around Albuquerque. Santa Fe has great areas to bike outside the city limits, yet God help you if you try to bike inside them.

Now that the New Mexico Rail Runner is open, my favorite weekend activity is to take my bike on the Rail Runner from the Santa Fe 599 stop to the Albuquerque Journal stop West of I-25 on Paseo Del Norte. I then ride my bike from the Journal stop to Paseo Del Norte, then Tramway to Route 66, then north on Highway 14. It's approximately a 70 mile ride from the Rail Runner to my house. The Rail Runner is a dream come true for cyclists & triathletes-well, a dream come true mostly. Has anyone else realized it's a nightmare to get from one side of I-25 to the other on a bicycle?

The overpass of Paseo Del Norte has no bike path & it's a nightmare to ride on that street in traffic. On Paseo Del Norte there's not even a side walk going East bound. Not that a side walk would help, it's illegal for cyclists to ride on sidewalks. Now, I'm not complaining about that particular law I agree cyclists shouldn't ride on sidewalks. But where does that leave us who ride rather than drive to get from one side of I-25 to another? Alameda & San Antonio don't have bike paths to allow safe passage over or under I-25 either. Where does the transportation department expect us on 2 wheels to cross without causing cycling deaths & vehicular road rage? Is there a great crossing I don't know of? If not is there a movement to get something done? If there's not yet a group pushing for a crossing, & anyone else agrees that there needs to be one please tell me. Feel free to email me if your not comfortable posting comments on my blog.

Chili Harvest Triathlon

I'm packing for the Chile Harvest Triathlon which will be held tomorrow in Soccorro NM. The Chili Fest is the state club championships. I'll be racing for the NM Outlaws who are state champions for the last 3 straight years. This year we're having some tough competition from the Las Alamos Triatomics & Endurance Endeavors.

The state club championships will be my last race of the year for the SW Challenge series. Right now I'm ahead of the SW Challenge Series in the Clydesdale open division, I have a total of 66 points. My 2 closest competition has 46 & 34 points. I'm well ahead, but each of them knows I have a baby due soon & am unable to race the rest of the year- except for the Redman, which isn't part of the series. There are 9 races left in the series after this weekend. Plenty of races to surpass my measly 66 points. But I'm still hoping to wrap up the series & win my division for the third straight year if I can finish tomorrow in first place. If I can do that I'll have 76 points Which would still allow plenty of time for my competition to overcome:(

In 2006 I finished the Chile Harvest triathlon with a poor performance- yet still setting a PR with a time of 1 hr 27 minutes.

I'll be showing up at the race start this year weighing 207! I'm about 20 pounds lighter than I was when I PR'd this race in 2006. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to be a few seconds faster on the swim, I'm expecting to average over 18 mph on the bike this year which will be an increase of 5.5 mph from '06!!!! & I think I'll be about 1 minute faster on the run. All things considered I'm hoping to finish no slower than 1 hour 15 minutes which will knock off 12 minutes from my PR. Keep your finger crossed, because I really need the series points!

As I said earlier I'm weighing in at 207. I'm 7 pounds from my goal weight of 200 by the Redman half Iron on Sept 19th. & I'm 22 pounds from my ultimate goal of 185 which is the weight I'd like to try & maintain & race at all next season.

This month I had a great month of training. I thought I had hit a 600 mile month, but when I doubled checked my #'s I realized I missed it by 21 miles.

Swim 16404 yards
Bike 578.5 miles
Run 72.25 miles

Still going strong

This whole week I've been on a high. I finally had a good race this weekend at the Santa Fe Triathlon. I averaged over 20 miles an hour on the bike & had one of my top 3 swims ever. I'm sure a lot of my performance had to do with me finally completing all of my scheduled workouts. I was swamped with family obligations this summer and missed a bunch of workouts, but even when I did have the time to train I missed more than my fair share. A lot of that had to do with burnout from training for Ironman Arizona last year. I believe I'm back in full swing now!

I believe the other aspect of my increased speed is my diet. Before I was following Weight Watchers, which I don't believe is a great diet for endurance athletes. Most of the week I burn well over 1000 calories a day working out. On WW I only replaced half of what I burned, which left me at a huge deficit, which not only prevented me from getting the nutrients & calories needed to recover, but also left me furiously hungry all the time. Coniquently I was constantly falling off the diet wagon. All that yo-yo dieting was frustrating to me.

On my new diet regimen I'm rarely ever hungry. When I am hungry I do a quick swim, bike, or run at an easy pace to earn some extra calories. Since I get to eat %100 of the calories I burn it's very easy & worth while to do extra exercising.

Because it's so rewarding to workout extra, I've been doing a lot of zone 1 training on my indoor trainer while watching the Tour De France. It's very easy for me to lose track of time watching the Tour. Normally an hour on the trainer a couple times a week is all I can tolerate. While watching this epic bike race I'm putting in an hour and a half to two hours a day at least four times a week on top of my scheduled workouts. So far this month I've racked up 470 cycling miles. I'm hoping to hit my first 600 mile month without missing any of my scheduled running or swimming. I'll need to average a bit over 17 miles a day the rest of the month, but since this entire week is a recovery week I may miss my goal by just a bit.

My weight this morning was 213.6. I l'm down another 2 pounds this week, 14 pounds lost total while using dietpower. 28 pounds to go.

Thanks for tuning in!

2nd annual Santa Fe Triathlon

Today was the 2009 Santa Fe triathlon. This race was only 5 miles from my house, & used the same course I usually train on a daily basis. I can't come close to explaining how nice it was not having to deal with leaving a hotel, loading the car, & finding a race sight in an area I'm unfamiliar with. This was the most stress free race I've competed in all 6 years that I've been doing triathlons.

The race was extremely well ran. The only knock against it was they were a little unprepared for as many triathletes as they had. They should of had more bike racks. Everything else went off without a hitch. As a matter of a fact the results were posted online by 11 am!

The race was a 5 K Run/ 12.8 mile Bike/ 400 meter pool swim. The race start was packed! There were probably 350-400. I wasn't expecting that many to show. There were even more at this race than there was at the Milkman triathlon which was the Rocky Mountain championships.

Up until this year the run had been my forte. But this year I've been running like dog pooh. I started out this run feeling decent for a change. I really liked the way the run course was set up. It was %100 closed to traffic, the majority of it was on a bike/run trail, & it had a 90 degree turn around at the 2.5 mile mark. I like U turns on the run portion of a triathlon so I can see how much of a lead or deficit I have on my competition. I finished the run in 24:58. Unfortunately I was a good 10-15 seconds slower in T-1 today which is usually where I dominate.

I got on the bike & felt great immediately! From the very start of the bike I was hammering & passed a ton of people, but more importantly not a single person passed me. My combined finishing time of the bike & T-1 was a blazing fast 40 minutes 1 second . My great performance on the bike came as a complete & total surprise. This was a pretty hilly course, & saying I don't climb well is an understatement. & the last 2.5 weeks I've been training very very hard & entered this race with no taper or rest at all.

I had a great swim. Perhaps the reason I did so well was this is the pool I swim in daily. Home territory for me. I grabbed a lady's slip stream & drafted off her the entire 400 meter swim. I've tried drafting in the water before & had never been able to keep on their feet. Today I drafted perfectly! Finished the swim & T-2 in a combined time of 8 minutes flat.

Total race time was 1 hr 12 minutes 59 seconds. Unfortunately there was no Clydesdale division today, so I raced in the 30-34 AG & placed 9th. Like I'd said in earlier blog posts my ultimate goal is to race all of next year weighing under 200 pounds. As of this morning I'm 214. Today's race made me realize the ONLY way I'll be competitive as an age grouper is to race at between 180-190 pounds. I completed 2 races last year at 192 pounds, & boy was I fast! At the Jay Benson which was the same distance as today's race I finished in 1:04. I completed the Buffman & Squeaky Olympic distance triathlon in 2:40:57. I was definitely competitive in my AG at 192. At 180 I might even start placing top 3. Ah, the dreams of triathlon & the aspirations of SPEED!

Thanks for tuning in!

Goal 1 down 2 to go!

Today was a great day. This morning I weighed in at 215, which was my short term goal. Next goal is to be at or below 205 by the Halfmax National Championships on Sept 19th. Goal after that is 180-185 by New Years day! Ultimate goal is to compete all next year between 180-190 pounds. 12 pound down, 30 more to go!

I went on a 38 mile bike & a 2 mile run with with a buddy of mine. He's a former pro cyclist. He threw a beat down on the bike this morning.

After our ride he put on my new triathlon saddle onto my bike. It's at least a half pound lighter, not to mention it's dang perdy! I'll be trying it out on Sundays Santa Fe triathlon.

I'm excited about the Santa Fe triathlon this Saturday. I'm 12 pounds lighter than I was on my last race, plus I have a lighter & really fast looking seat. & you know how important appearances are. If you look fast, you must be fast!

The Santa Fe triathlon is all of 5 miles from my house. I'll be racing on my home territory. This will be my 10th race of the South West Challenge Series this year. So far I'm in 1st place in the open Clydesdale division with 78.25 points.

I'll keep you updated on how the battle with the bulge & my triathlon endeavors are going. Thanks for tuning in!

warning very very graphic pics, & more losses

This week has been an awesome week! My wife's B-day was celebrated this week. At the party I had to much cake & pizza. I was 1100 calories over to be exact. On dietpower, my new found dieting program, I am able to easily do a quick workout to earn extra calories. I got home, rode my indoor trainer trainer while watching the Tour De France. 1 hr 38 minutes & not only was I able to earn enough calories to negate my excess calories, but I had earned 200 calories more than I'd needed. Speaking of indoor training miles I've been logging a ton of indoor trainer miles on top of what my coach has assigned. Another successful day & successful week in the books! Current weight is 216. I'm down 11 & have 31 more pounds to go.

At work we call new employees fish. Partially they're called fish because they are wet behind the ears, but also because more often than not it's the rookies who either don't have the experience or common sense to avoid getting stabbed. So they are usually the ones flopping around the the floor like a fish out of water with holes poked in them from an inmate.

My oldest friend works at another facility & sent these pics to me, they are of a rookie who was a really big guy. He saw an inmate with a shank & rather than wait for proper back up or calling for the tower to open fire he decided his size, strength, & aggression would be able to overwhelm the skinny, yet armed inmate. Apparently that didn't work out so well for him.

One of the things I've learned from 14 years working in a prison is no matter how hot it is, bring a jacket with a liner, hoodie sweat shirts, and at least a few t-shirts, along with our mandatory uniforms. I wear all these into the pods, cell blocks, or dorms when I have my spidey sense tell me to be on my toes. There's been more than one time that this has saved me from earning extra holes to breath from, literally & figuratively, just like a fish.

Thanks for tuning in.

Continued weight loss!

A friend of mine named Sandra is an endurance athlete very similar to me- only she's a faster cyclist. She too struggles with her weight. it sucks having to struggle with weight when your an endurance athlete because low body weight is so very important to our speed and endurance. It has to do with our power to weight ratio on the bike & the height to power ratio on the run.

Sandra showed me a computer program called dietpower. It's AMAZING! I've been making great gains for the 2.5 weeks I've been on it & haven't fallen off the wagon once since starting the program. I was until recently doing weight watchers online. I found out that on WW I was hungry all the time. Like I've said a 100 times I'm an all or nothing kind of a guy. Once I fall off the wagon for one meal I may not gain control for days or even weeks. I believe the reason I was so hungry on WW was that I was only able to eat half the calories I earned from my workout. Being a long distance triathlete, it's fairly common for me to burn 4500 calories on a long day of training. Out of the 4500 I burned I'd only be able to eat 2250. In my opinion that left me at such a large deficit that not only was I STARVING, but even worse was that I wasn't getting enough calories or nutrients to recover from a hard days training.

Another thing than Sandra & I have in common is we've both turned to blogging to stay motivated, show our recent weight & athletic gains & losses, to share our battle, & perhaps to even help others who also have our issues with the battle of the bulge. Her blog isn't public or I'd share the sight with my peeps, but I'm very excited to watch her adventure.

I weighed in @ 218 this morning, down from 225 a little less than 3 weeks ago. I'm hoping to be approximately 205 by the Halfmax National Championships race on Sept 19th. I'm a fast triathlete at that weight. My long term goal is to be @ 185 pounds by Nov 10th. The lightest I've been since mid school was 188 pounds in May of last year. I think I'll be able to get to that weight using my new Diet Power. But more importantly I think I'll be able to maintain that weight this time.

On to the Tour De France!!! I'm a bit behind, stage 5 was today yet I just finished watching stage 4 on TiVo. Stage 4 was the team time trial. Stage 4 was the most exciting stage I've ever seen!!!!! & this Tour is turning out to be the most exciting Tour I've ever watched. I'm going to try to watch all of stage 5 today before I go into work. For those not watching YOU ARE MISSING OUT BIG TIME!

Peace peeps!

Good deed and the Tour

Today I celebrated the 4th of July with a 3 hr 20 minute brick workout with my best friend. We started at the Smiths @ Tramway & Central. We rode up into the mountains & after a 30 minute warm up we did 5X12 minutes in zone 3 with 3 minute rest intervals. We turned around 3 miles from Chilile. We ended up finishing 42.6 miles on the bike then completed off with a 20 minute run.

On the tail end of the ride I decided to ride past Smiths to get an extra 15 minutes of riding in. I didn't need to do this, but I made a last minute decision. 15 minutes past Smiths we turned our bikes around & we attempted to head back to our vehicles, but before we could we heard someone yelling in a near panicked voice "hey! Hey you on the bike! Help!"

I stopped my bike & looked around. I could still hear the voice yelling for me to help, but I couldn't see anyone. I approached some bushes on the side of a house & lying there on the ground was a little old lady who had fallen & was unable to get up on her own. When I reached down to help her up I realized just how old she was. Very elderly & frail. Apparently she'd been there awhile because her face was red & flushed from the heat & she had defecated herself. I told her I was going to call 911, but she got really mad & told me no! She gave me a number she wanted to call. Apparently it was the house we were outside of. After I told the person who answered what the situation was a 20 something year old kid came out of the house to help her in. I was pissed off because he left her there outside so long. He never checked on her or heard her yells. He should of been more aware.

The good deed having been done, we headed back to our vehicles to finish off the 3 hr bike ride with a quick 20 minute run.

Once we finished our days workout I headed to my in-laws house to catch the last 46 minutes of the Tour De France. I heard on Verses that Lance Armstrong is lighter at the beginning of this Tour than any of the 7 he had been victorious in. Sounds like a great start!!!

I wasn't sure- I don't think anyone outside of team Astana is sure who will be their team leader this year. At the end of the day Alberto Cantador took 2nd place, Andreas Kloden took 4th, Levi Leipheimer took 6th & Lance Armstrong took 10th place. I don't know if that means Lance will be a domastique for Contador or the other way around, but I know that if 4 of the top 10 riders of stage 1 are team Astana, that boads well for them. Either way I'll be watching EVERY day, each & every minute of the Tour this year to find out.

God bless.

Triathlon related things, me, & mine

This weekend I'm scheduled & have paid the registration fee for the Farmington Freedom Days Olympic distance triathlon. I've always wanted to do this triathlon & this year my schedule allows for it. Unfortunately I had a financial choice to make. Race, or upgrade my DirecTV to get the cheapest channel package that has the Tour De France. Unfortunately I can't afford to do both right now.

Like any good endurance athlete I have chosen the Tour. Especially since I have TiVo! I think this is best for me- at least that's what I'm telling myself- because I'll get a ton of base miles on my indoor bike trainer watching Lance Armstrong win another Tour. Plus I'm way ahead in the South West Challenge Series so missing one race shouldn't hurt my standings much- hopefully.

I don't know what I'm more excited about, watching Lance ride again, or the possibility of watching another American winning a French cycling race. In general the French really dislike American cyclists, yet in the last decade Americans have won more Tour De France races than all other countries combined! Gotta love it. I sure get a kick out of it!

My daughter has started riding what she & I refer to as her "big girl bicycle". She started riding it a few weeks ago. She's already a great runner & an awe inspiring swimmer for her age (4 years old this Sept). Now that she's nailing the bike riding I'm thinking she'll be finishing her first triathlon next year. The Jay Benson triathlon in May has a kids mini-triathlon. It's on Mothers day. I'm not sure if my wife will be excited or filled with dread watching another family member become a full fledged triathlete;)

I have found an amazing tool for triathletes. It's called Powerdiet.com It's a web site designed to provide a nearly perfect diet for athletes. On day 1 of being on this program I enter my current weight, the goal weight I'm wanting to achieve, & the date I want to achieve it on. Each day I enter my weight & the program finds my metabolic rate so that the sight knows exactly how many calories each day I need to be at a deficit to reach my goal weight on time. I also enter the time & intensity of my workouts each day & Power diet automatically adjusts to allow more calories. Power Diet doesn't estimate calories based off an average person like Weight Watchers Online, it figures out exactly what my calorie needs are daily. No guess work on my part at all.

The other thing I like about Power Diet is, as I enter the foods I eat the program shows me exactly how much total fat, protein, carbohydrates, & 33 of the major nutrients I've eaten. If I haven't eaten enough of anyone of those the site tells me & makes suggestions on what foods to eat that has what I'm lacking. Perfect tool for endurance athletes.

current weight: 218.8

Hope you all enjoy your 4th of July. Peace!