PHOTO: Florida Gulf Coast University Lake Swim.

The Race: Coca Cola, July 24th, Ft. Myers

This was easily my most comfortable race yet. I've heard ocean swims are easier because you float better and swim with the current etc. IMHO...nothing compares to fresh water. You drink a little water you dont feel like you're going to drown. Its great.

The only problem I ran into during the race is my heart was pounding so hard the first two miles of the run it was giving me back pain. I've had that a couple times in training but in training you can afford to stop.

Post race I participated in the Lean Cuisine Ocean Mile Swim (which was in a lake) . All im going to say is Swim-Bike-Run in that order not Swim-Bike-Run-Swim. I cramped so bad I breast stroked 3/4 of the mile.

Another Second place fat-tire finish [of 4 ;)] one of these days I'm going to catch that first guy.

Next Race Clermont ..... errr uhhh I think ... to be continued.

Pre Race: Ft Myers Coca-Cola

All right here goes number 4! My first tri road trip. Well sort of, its only 4 hours away, where I have family to stay with. I'll be leaving work early on Friday to hopefully get down there in time for a pre-race swim. Still, Im really psyched I've got a guy from work, Brent, coming with me this will be his second. I'm telling you this is addictive. Just to keep things interesting I did sprint work earlier this week and wore my legs out and fought to start the lawn mower tonight which has given me a nice sore shoulder but these things should have settled down by Saturday. This is a sprint distance again with an .5 mile swim a 15 mile bike and 3 mile run. I also plan to participate in an ocean mile swim afterwards. See ya next week.

PHOTO: Tri-ing for a Cure Ormond Beach - 2nd Place Fat-Tire

The Race: Tri-ing For a Cure, July 11th, Ormond Beach

Three down! If only you could see the grin on my face. I had this weekend my best race yet and placed 2nd in my fat tire group. As if I wasn't already hooked on this sport I can now never leave. Granted there were only 10 people in my group but I improved 7 minutes on my Memorial Day weekend race that was identical to this.

IM not going to go on and on with the boring details. I spent a lot of time during my training before this race riding bigger gears on the bike to increase my speed without killing my legs for the run and it worked out great. Also I should mention my shoes didn't come untied...Finally!!

My next race is in Ft. Myers in two weeks. IM a little nervous about this race as the swim and bike portions are longer. The 800m Swim is also in a lake which means you're less buoyant than the ocean. The bike is 15 miles my longest yet but my fitness should be good enough.

Around the Block

Diet and exercise are a godsend. I spent the better part of more than the last two years working hard on improving my professional skills and with it the size of my gut. I find it incredibly hard to balance the two, work and fitness, and anytime you do more of one you will always sacrifice the other. Inevitablly guilt over the lost time in one leads to overcompensation to make up for it and the cycle continues.

Triathlon at this point has taken a huge jump on the priority list and its not going anywhere. This is the greatest lifestyle on Earth and no amount of money or knowledge is worth ever going back to the old me.

I recenltly measured my neck, chest, arms, belly button, waist, hips(around my rear end), thighs, knees, and calves. I then compared those measurements to the same ones from January and found that I've lost in total 53 inches. This may not seem like much adding them all together but as a frame of reference its only 16 inches short of my height! 54 pounds since January and 73 pounds since June of 2003!

As you might already know the diet plan I use is The Zone. In a nutshell the Zone diet consists of breaking down the micronutrients: carbohydrates, protein, and fat, of your food into a ratio of 40% of Calories from Carbohydrates. 30% from Protein, and 30% from Fat. In order to make this ratio easier to find you divide your food into what they call "Blocks". 9 grams of Carbohydrate equals 1 Carbohydrate mini-block. 7 grams of Protein equals 1 Protein mini-block. 3 grams of Fat equals one Fat mini-block. The number of "Blocks" you're able to eat in a day are figured using your age, body fat percentage and activity level.

The easiest way to determine your body fat percentage is to use their online calculator: For Women | For Men . After using the calculator to determine the number of blocks you are to consume in a day you break that up into 3 meals and two snacks. Using me as an example I am allowed 18 blocks per day. Thats 3-5 Block Meals(15 Blocks) 1 mid-day snack (2 Blocks) and a snack before bed (1 block) for a grand total of 15+2+1=18! I know there is far more to it than this for instance all food is broken down from Most Favorable to least in each micronutrient group. I've also skipped all of the science behind it but as far as I'm concerned it works. It does what I want it to do and thats what I care about.

I've never felt better in my life. Of course this all takes the will power to follow through. I fortunately have had the benefit of a wonderful wife who prepared everything I was to eat for a given day and I did not eat one single thing she did not provide me. Special occasion or not. So if you don't have one of these get one!

In conclusion people can be fanatical about dieting and the arguments of low-carb vs. low-fat is as heated as a political debate. In many cases it IS a political debate including the low-fat crowds poster child Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine being card carrying members of PETA an animal rights group whos actions border domestic terrorism. Although I tend to fall into the limited eat only good carb crowd the truth is nothing will work if you're not completely committed to the endeavor.