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!

Gut check at the Gallup triathlon

On June 13th 2009 I competed in the 3rd annual Gallup triathlon. I'd completed in this race 2 years ago on it's inaugural year, but had 2 flat tires a mile from the end of the bike. I ran the last mile of my bike that day so I could finish, but since I had to run the last mile I had a poor finishing time. I showed up this year hoping to redeem myself.
Now first off I absolutely love this triathlon. The only knock against it is that it's an indoor pool swim. I had a GREAT swim, finishing in 6 minutes 26 seconds & recording the 7th fastest swim of the day. The bike leg is pretty difficult. It's a very hilly out & back 12.2 miler. On the first half of the bike I was SCREAMING FAST! I was averaging almost 20 miles an hour, which for a mountainous course like that is very very fast. By the turn around portion of the bike I had passed a bunch of athletes I'd never even come close to finishing near. I knew I was having one of the best races of my life! At the half way point I heard the tell-tale & dreaded pst-pst-pst of another flat tire. This year I was racing on tubular tires which are much more difficult to puncture so I didn't race with a spare. With no spare tire it was pointless to finish because I'd have to push my bike the remaining 6 miles, but there's not an ounce of quit in this body. Not one ounce! I'd rather die attempting to finish a triathlon than say the course was stronger than me. So I started the long run back to the bike finish. Once I got to the end of the bike leg I was still needing to finish the 3.2 mile run. Even with the great times I put up in the swim & the 1st half of the bike there were 2 things that were certain-
1) I'd be finishing in dead last place today.
2) I'd finish. I've never been the best at anything I've done, but I've rarely seen anyone else who has the determination level that I do. 10 years ago while working as a correctional officer I got jumped unexpectedly by an inmate. He was much stronger & faster than me, plus he had the element of surprise. I'd be lying if I dint say he beat the snot out of me. The next day I showed up to work despite having loose teeth, & having lips that were so badly split & swollen they looked like hamburger, one of my eyes was almost swollen shut, & one of my ears was swollen with what could have ended up as cauliflower ear, yet I still worked an entire shift in that same cell block. At the beginning of my shift my supervisor told me to go to the hospital or home, but I refused. I don't quit, not for any reason. Period. No matter what the odds or the conditions, I do my best. I couldn't control if I had a flat. But I COULD control if the flat sent me home having not given my all. By the end of the run my bike cleats were nothing but nubs. Replacing the cleats would be costly, & my wife & I don't have much spare cash. I knew that when I started running with my bike & in my cycling shoes, but I didn't care. I had one goal in mind. Finishing. & finish I did. The bike ended up taking me two hours eleven minutes. When I started the run I assumed the race director would have pulled all the volunteers who would tell me which way to go at each turn. But even after all that time they were there clapping & showing their support. That the RD kept the volunteers out there that long is rare in triathlons & another reason why this race is worth doing. I was having a very fast run. If there was anyone left on the course I was determined to catch them. Of course there wasn't anyone left running but me, but I didn't drop my effort level one iota. I ran just as hard as I would have if I was winning. At the 2 mile mark of the run it dawned on me that it was only 2 weeks from the anniversary of my Step Dad's death. He was an amazing man & he taught me much about life. He had told me many things that if I applied to my life would make me successful. The one thing he never had to tell me was to be strong. To never give up regardless of how big or small the task at hand, & to fight for what I love & believe in. He never had to tell me that because he lived it. He was a shining example of how powerful a man could be & how deep of a well of strength a man who refuses to give up could call upon. He never had to tell me this because he showed me by example how to be strong each & every day of his life, even on his last. As I ran I realized that he was the only other person who would have continued to race on even though it was pointless to do so. He wouldn't have quit, & I didn't quit. As I ran my eyes flowed over with tears and they fell to mix with the sweat of strain, yet I continued to run with all my strength. At that moment I was no longer just running for myself. I was running as a tribute to the way he lived his life, & even to the way he died. With inner strength, pride, & perseverance. I never saw him quit at anything. Ever. As I ran I realized that if God was allowing my Dad to watch my performance from heaven, he'd be proud. I ran that day for all I was worth. I finished in last place, but I didn't finish alone. Bob Foster's example was there to lead the way.