not competing in the the Angel Fire ultra trail run and family stuff

I've been wanting to compete in the Angel Fire 50 kilometer trail run for a very long time. I signed up earlier this year expecting that the race would motivate me to start running again. It didn't. I doubt I've ran a total of 30 miles in the last 21 months and I'm tipping the scales at 250, so unfortunately I wont be running in the Angel Fire 50K. That's ok, the longer it takes me to earn an ultra endurance trail run belt buckle the more I'll appreciate it when I do.

On a more personal note, I hadn't heard from my natural father since I was 13. A while back I found him and we rekindled our relationship. For a little over a year everything was beyond perfect. He went camping with my family, called me multiple times a week, and visited every few months. He was the father I'd always wanted him to be. It was wonderful feeling accepted by a parent, that's not something I've had much of in my life. Then just as suddenly as the last time, he disappeared. He turned his back on me while I was going through a really hard time. The timing wasn't his fault, but it still made things much more difficult for me to deal with. In that same month I'd ended my relationship with my mother. She has borderline personality disorder. Severing ties with my Mom hurt deeply even though it was best for both of us. That same month I found out my step 1st (of 3) step Dad who raised me from the age of 2 to age 15 had died. He was an alcoholic and he and my Mom had a horribly abusive relationship, but he was a great father to me. For years I desperately wanted to find him and tell him how grateful I was for all he had done for me and taught me. To tell him at least one more time that I loved him. I never got that chance. I found out he died living alone and in poverty. The conditions he was living in the last years of his life horrified me, riddled me with guilt. Anyways, back to my natural father. I had called and sent letters with no response. After almost 6 months of not hearing from him, not knowing if he'd died or if I'd done something wrong he sent me a letter that said he couldn't be in contact with me because he was on vacation. A few months more of not hearing from him and I get another letter claiming he had high cholesterol and the only way for him to get the numbers down was if he cut me out of his life. I would have been OK if he decided not to be in my life and was honest about the reason, but him feeding me a line of bull shit made the whole situation hurt much more than it needed to. A few days ago, approximately a year and a half after he severed our relationship he sent me a fathers day card and in it he was honest about his reasoning. Reading that letter helped me heal a lot. He told me the truth, and that was what I needed to be able to find closure. I'm so grateful for his honesty. You might be asking what the heck that has to do with fitness and me getting back to an ideal body weight? I hold everything in, refusing to allow myself to feel. When the emotions become too overwhelming to hide from I numb the pain with food. I'm hoping now that I've found closure with my natural father I'll be able to start eating to live rather than living to eat.

 

Just in case your wondering, I don't regret having had the parents I did. The things I went through, the abuse and piss poor parenting I had was the catalyst that made me into the family man I am today. I'm a darn good Dad and a grateful husband. If it wasn't for what I had gone through as a kid I wouldn't fully appreciate the healthy relationship I have with my wife and the joy I find in my kids. It's as if I'm reliving the childhood through my family I wish I had experienced. Life is wonderful, I'm happier than I ever dreamed I could be.

duathlons, bloody nipples, and other uncomfortable things

I hadn't trained much in the last 14 months, so I knew I'd be sore the day after yesterdays race, but I forgot that there are things that hurt from racing and/or training other than muscles. One of those things is bloody nipples. Sounds painful doesn't it? It is. It's pretty common though. If you run and bike for long distances, and your shirt rubs your nipples each time you take a step running or peddle, it eventually rubs them raw. So this is the end result:   

 

And my arm pits are chaffed raw where my tank top style shirt ended in my pitts. The shirt got rubbed back and forth in between my arm and arm pitts as I ran, and this is the result:

 

And my butt crack is chaffed- don't worry, I didn't add a picture of that.

And my gooch is rubbed raw. Are you new to cycling and don't know what a gooch is? A gooch is a cycling term for the area of your body you sit on when cycling.

Makes you want to go out and do a duathlon or triathlon doesn't it?

temporary digression

I'd been on a low carb diet I'd read about in the book "The art and science of low carb performance" for two and a half weeks. In that time I'd lost 17 pounds. Although I was getting fantastic results I became frustrated because that book didn't go into a lot of detail about how to eat their version of a low carb diet, so I started eating a more traditional diet for endurance athletes and promptly shot back up to 235 pounds. The book "The art and science of low carb performance" mostly explained why a low carb diet works for ultra endurance athletes. The book said I should buy the book "The art and science of a low carb lifestyle" for a more detailed explanation of how to eat his version of a low carb diet. So I purchased the book "The art and science of a low carb lifestyle" and started reading it last night. I'm back on the low carb diet as of this morning and am expecting a lot of the confusion I had previously to be worked out by this book.

Today I went on a 9 mile run and it hurt. My problem during the run wasn't my endurance. My endurance was sufficient. My problem was that I'm just to heavy to run long distances right now. My body was beat the heck up after that run. I'm very motivated about training for my first 50k ultra endurance trail run, but I'm afraid I need to postpone training for an ultra until I'm at a lower body weight. Hopefully now that I have the book "The art and science of a low carb lifestyle" I'll be more capable of getting to that lower body weight so I can resume training for my goal of earning my 1st ultra endurance trail run belt buckle.

low carb and endurance running

I'm currently attempting to build up my run miles for next years Angel Fire endurance trail run. It'll be a challenging 31 mile run over mountains and through valleys using national forest trails starting at the base of the Angel Fire ski resort. Currently my endurance is poor, I have a long way to go. Last week my longest run was 6 miles. I ran it slowly and it was uncomfortable.

Earlier this week I started a low carb diet I read about in "The art and science of low carbohydrate performance". It's a low carb diet for endurance athletes. When I started this diet I assumed my endurance and speed would decrease. I was also fully expecting to feel horrible. So far I feel great. Today I ran a little over 7 miles consuming nothing but water and felt fantastic. Feeling even better than I had felt on a traditional endurance athletes diet was not what I was expecting, but that is exactly what has happened.

On my first day of my low carb diet I lost 2 1/4 pounds. I'm back into the 220's again! So far I'm loving this.

The 2013 Angel Fire Ultra Endurance trail run 50 K

In 2004 I completed my first triathlon. I was slow, out of shape, and over weight. Finishing a triathlon opened up a passion and love for endurance athletics that's hard to explain. I became insanely motivated and goal driven. My motivation was to become an Ironman. I've done 2 of them. Training for, racing in, and finishing an Ironman was a tremendous experience! One of the best experiences of my life.

 I still love endurance athletics, but am needing a bit of a change to keep me excited about training. I've decided to try being a runner for awhile. I've been running exclusively for a week and loving it. Now that I've been training consistently the next step for me is choosing a goal that excites and motivates me. I've decided to try earning an ultra endurance trail running belt buckle. The shortest distance trail run an athlete can compete in to earn a buckle is 50 kilometers, or 31 miles. There's an ultra endurance trail run in Angel Fire NM that gives belt buckles to the finishers. It's supposed to be an insanely difficult course, tons of steep long mountain climbs where the trails are filled with a massive amount of loose rocks and pine cones. I love a challenge! So now my goal is set: The Angel Fire ultra endurance trail run 50 K in June of 2013!

Ultra endurance trail running

I've always enjoyed training & racing for short course triathlons. I've found that the longer the race I'm competing in, the slower I am compared to everyone else. Since 2003 I wanted more than anything in the world to be an Ironman, but truth be told, I hated training for Ironman triathlons. I still have nightmares of having to do bricks consisting of 100 mile bike rides followed by a tune up run. Then the next day doing 2-3 hour runs. Uhg! That was no fun for me at all! Yet I trained for Iron distance races for 5 straight years before I finally accomplished my Iron dream.

Now that it's over I'm training exclusively for sprint distance triathlons & am having the time of my life!!! So with that in mind, why in the world have I started dreaming of something that is even harder than racing an Ironman? I've awakened a desire I very well may regret! After my 9 mile trail run in the Sangre De Cristo mountains I decided I'd like to attempt an ultra endurance trail run. No time soon mind you, 1st & foremost I have to accomplish my current goal of finishing in the top %3 of a USAT sanctioned sprint triathlon, but I would like to give it a shot. My cousin Greg is planning to do a 50 miler soon. Yup, that's right, I said 50 MILER! That's the mid distance. The big dream of endurance runners is the 100 miler. No, don't worry, I have no desire what-so-ever to do a 100 miler. But a 50K or 50 miler does sound appealing- unfortunately.

For those who are new to such things as ultra endurance trail running, if a person finishes a race of that distance they get a finishers belt buckle. I proudly have my Ironman Arizona finishers medal hung on my bedroom wall for all who visit my house to see. But a finishers belt buckle I could have with me anytime I'm in public & am dressed, which is all the time- thus the appeal of the belt buckle. Why the appeal of a 50K or 50 miler, I have no idea. But I know me, & once I have some crazy dream or goal in mind I always follow it through. I'm thinking the one I'd like to try eventually is the Palo Duro trail run. I'll let you know when I decide to shoot for my new dream, until then I'll be having a blast training & racing the sprints.

Thanks for tuning in!