back to blogging? or switching sports?

This season I qualified and was training for the tested powerlifting national championships in July and the IPL tested world championships in November. I asked my coach to let me push harder this year in training. He said he thought that was a bad idea but he'd program it if I wanted him to. Well apparently it was a bad idea, just like he said. I got my first two lifting related injuries. Nothing terrible. A pulled glute and a pulled oblique. They were bad enough I had to bail out of the national championships. I still had time to train have a good showing at worlds though. But when I was fully healed and got back to training I found I was severely burned out with powerlifting. So after about a month of contemplating I decided to switch sports top training for the 1500 meter, or mile track and field meet. It's not too terribly out of the blue. I competed in the 2018 and 2019 New Mexico games track and field 100, 200, and shotput taking 2nd, 3rd, and 1st respectively. 

One thing I noticed was blogging about powerlifting was BORING! But for done reason blogging about endurance athletics I have always enjoyed. Now that I started endurance athletics again I guess I'll start blogging again. 

The 2019 New Mexico games track and field

On Saturday June 29th I competed in the New Mexico games track and field. I ran in the 100 meter, 200 meter, and shotput. I finished in last place in the 100 & 200. But I finished in first place in the shotput with a throw on 10.95 meters, or 35 feet, 11 inches. This was the first time I'd thrown shotput since 1989, when I was in 8th grade 😁

Finally quit CrossFit

There was a three or four year period where I was struggling to decide if I wanted to do powerlifting or weightlifting. Dec 2017, after changing my mind a thousand times I decided to stick with powerlifting. I've been training and competing in powerlifting for 9 months and love it more and more every day.

Another struggle I've had is trying to figure out if I should do CrossFit or track and field training for cardio. I've been doing CrossFit since December and hate it. CrossFit is more effective than anything else I've ever done at making me lose weight. But the problem is I absolutely love training for track and field and despise CrossFit. It's not as effective as CrossFit. But I enjoy it more. Sunday I made a decision. After 9 months of lamenting I cancelled my CrossFit membership and started track training. Today was my first day of track and field full time for my cardio. I had a blast! I think I made a great decision.

The New Mexico games track and field meet

I haven't been paying much recently. I'll give you a quick update. I ran in my first track and field meet since 1989 a few weeks ago. I place 3rd in the 40-44AG. But I also pulled my right adductor during the race. I thurouthorenjoyed the experience. I'm contemplating starting track training.

I have a NASA powerlifting meet on July 14th. Training has been going well so I think the meet will go well.

The New Mexico track and field meet

Last year I was training to become a sprinter in track and field. After months of training I was only able to get my 100m time to 20 seconds. Not good. I stopped training sprinting and changed to CrossFit. I started training track again a few weeks ago. My first week I pulled an adductor. Then I had a couple uneventful weeks of training in the %70 of max effort range. Yesterday I decided to try an all out sprint. I ran a 15.9 second 100m. And I didn't injure anything this time! That motivated me to register for the New Mexico games track and field meet that will be held this weekend. That only gives me 5 days of training to prepare. And 7 days after that is the NMLWC weightlifting state championships. I'm a little worried the race will negatively effect my weightlifting meet. Last year I registered for the NM games track and field meet. But the day of the race I chickened out and didn't race. That was one of the only times I've ever chickened out from a competition of any kind. This year is my chance to redeem myself.

Registered for a Track and field meet

Now that I've been training consistently in both powerlifting and CrossFit and have lost 42 pounds I'm feeling more athletic and confident. I'm getting the itch to go out and see what my body can do. So yesterday I registered for the 9th annual Garden Swartz Great South West track and field classic. I signed up for the 60 meter and 200 meter dash. Best case scenario I do well. Worst case scenario I do poorly and will be able to look back years from now and say, "look how far I've come." The event will be held at the Albuquerque convention center on Mondo track. Mondo track is the 2nd fastest indoor track in the nation.

 This will be my first track and field meet since 1989! 27 years! Eek!

There beginning of 2018 is going to be super busy. In addition to all three of our kids involved in three different sports with practices all over the city. The kids and I have competitions all over New Mexico. This is happiness and living life to the fullest.

-Jan 7 wrestling, Moriarty
-Jan 13 powerlifting seminar, Albuquerque
-Jan 20 wrestling, Carlsbad
-Feb 3rd wrestling, Albuquerque
-Feb 10 9th annual Garden Swartz Great South West track and field classic, Albuquerque
-Feb 24th NASA open, Roswell
-March 17 USAPL state championships, Albuquerque
-April 28, NASA New Mexico state powerlifting championships, Gallup

The 3rd annual CrossFit Hellbox triathlon race report

I really wanted to compete in the 3rd annual CrossFit Hellbox triathlon in Rio Rancho NM. But the 2nd WOD looked brutal. So instead of competing I spectated. Turns out the WODs weren't as bad as they looked. I could have completed it. I may have been one of the slowest. But I could have done it. I should have done it. I only need 14 more triathlons to complete my bucket list of 100 multi-sport events. And I've never done a CrossFit triathlon before. 100 multi-sport events completed would have looked great on my athletic resume! Earlier this year I also chickened out of competing in the New Mexico games track and field meet. If I'd have signed up my finishing time would have put me in third place in my age group. Am I turning into a coward in my old age? I used to sign up and compete in ANYTHING! Even if it was something I'd never done or had very little experience. I have a new resolution. I'm going to stop being so cautious and tentative. I've gotten soft since turning 40. That's going to change! I have no clue how long I'm going to be on this Earth. So I want to make the best of it while I can. I'm going to register for all sorts of stuff next year. Anything at all that I'm doing or have done in the past I'm going to compete in. Especially if it's considered a "state championships". I'm putting this out there now. Next year I'm going to compete in the:
1) 2018 NM games for weightlifting
2) 2018 NM games for track,
3) the state state championships USPL (powerlifting)
4) the state championships for NASA (powerlifting)
5) the state championships for USPA (powerlifting)
6) some sort of 2018 CrossFit games, local or otherwise
7) the 4th annual CrossFit Hellbox triathlon
8) and possibly one or more other multi-sport events.

 Next year will be epic. Did I really just use the word epic? What am I 12 years old?

New Mexico games track and field 2017 results

I had registered for the 2017 New Mexico games track and field 100m dash for the Masters division 40-44 age group. The weekend of the meet I was feeling sorry for myself because I'd been working a lot of overtime and hadn't trained like I wanted to. So I ended up not competing. I just looked up the results and there were only 2 people in my division. If I'd of competed I'd of been in third place at least.

1st place: Chris Barrett 12.67
2nd place: Vince Ortiz 13.14

Next year I will compete!

Weightlifting and track training

Last night after work I trained at the gym for  a couple hours. By the time I got home, prepared my meals for the next day, and got my uniform ready it was time for me to go to bed. This Morning I woke up early and completed a track workout before my overtime post. I'm still slow at track sprinting but I'm gaining speed very quickly. Hopefully I will have improved enough by July that I won't completely imbarrass myself at the New Mexico games.

I haven't been this dedicated since my triathlon years. It feels good. Apparently all I needed was to be away from weightlifting to realize how much I missed it. I'm sure I'll be improving a lot more now that I've my love for weightlifting and track and field has reawakened.

Earlier this month I sent my powerlifting coach an email that said I was going to stop powerlifting and go back to weightlifting. I paid him for an extra month in the hopes it would keep there from being any hard feelings. I never heard back from him. That can't be a good sign. I feel bad. He's a great guy. And he's an absolutely amazing powerlifting coach. Me firing him is no reflection of him. It's just my love of weightlifting keeps pulling me back.

day 1 training for the New Mexico games track and field

I went off the deep end and registered for the New Mexico games track and field. I'll be running in the 100 meter event on June 24th. That's in 49 days. I'm pretty sure I'll be the heaviest athlete to have ever ran in a New Mexico games track meet. Probably the slowest too. But in the next 49 days I'll be the best me I can be. And I'll be having fun getting there.

I woke up this morning and did sprints. My two boys, ages 7 & 9  ran with me. They both beat me pretty badly. It made their day. Nothing but smiles after. My youngest held my hand the whole walk home. I think training for the track meet will be a great bonding experience.

Starting training again

A few days ago I bid for my shift/days off/post for the next 7 months at my new career. I'm going to start training for sports again after my new post starts. Depending on what my hours were going to be would determine if I was going to train for weightlifting or powerlifting. My new schedule works really well for powerlifting, and doesn't fit the hours for weightlifting at all. I called up powerlifting coach Rich Kahle out of Las Cruces New Mexico and asked him to start coaching me again. He agreed. We start on March 29th. I will also be training for track and field too. Between powerlifting and track I'll be training 7 days a week. I haven't trained 7 days a week since 2011 when I was a hard core triathlete. It looks like my tentative schedule will be:

Powerlifting on Monday's, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays. 

Track on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The New Mexico Track and Field state championships will be held on June 24th and the NASA New Mexico state powerlifting championships will be held on April 29th. That doesn't give me much time to train for either of these. But even if I do poorly I can use those performances as a starting point. 

Track running/training

I tried doing some sprints today with my sons during my daughter's volleyball practice. I was planning on doing some workouts for middle distance track running. I was planning on running:
1x600
1x400
1x200
1x100
My back didn't hurt. So that's great news. What I wasn't expecting was is how bad of shape I'm in. I couldn't run that far. By the time I was at the tail end of the 600 I was running a slow jog. So my boys and I shortened the distance to 7x300.

I really enjoyed it. That got me to thinking. Track sprint training doesn't take long and I could do it pretty much anywhere. Like during my kids practices. Which is important because I spend a large amount of my time taking my kids to and from wrestling, volleyball, cheerleading, etc. I don't have much time. I might have a new goal. Track running. Perhaps join a club? They even have a New Mexico master's track and field state championships.