Hard to run carrying all this milk

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong...I swam an hour and 2 miles on Friday night. Ran a 2 hour half marathon on a trail on Saturday morning. Then a 3 hour (2:45 - 48 miles bike 15 minute run) brick on Sunday....I went into the weekend weighing 195 I left the weekend 195.

I don't know how to train, lose weight and MAINTAIN POWER at the same time ....that is without starving. I'm constantly hungry. Even while I write this all I can think about is the giant jar of Peanut Butter with honey on my counter. Which is why I'm sitting here drinking a giant bottle of water trying to curb the hunger. I know throw it away. The PB not the water that is. If that weren't there it would just be something else. Like milk. I drink milk every night at bed time. It is a life long habit and I lost weight doing it before but I'm beginning to think I'm gonna have to suck it up and let it go for a while.

Took my first crack at timing 1,000 in the pool tonight and finished at 19:34. Anything under 20 minutes I could live with. Hopefully within six weeks I'll have that under 19 maybe even close to 18. A guy in the next lane challenged me to a race and he beat me by a body length. Course he caught just after my 1,600 but he still beat me fair and square.

I know men aren't supposed to be worried about weight. Get your weight up not your hate up. Thing is that my endurance feels great my body feels great I'm finishing my workouts strong not exhausted. However, when you're running a trail chasing the world's fastest unknown Venezuelan (my buddy Jose) and carrying around what amounts to 3, that's right THREE, extra gallons of milk its a little difficult to not get frustrated.

December Numbers

I'm really psyched to be able to post some numbers from an entire month of training, even though it was the holidays and there were several missed days either recovering from tough workouts that I'm not used to yet or recovering from the holiday sweets....gee wonder why I can't drop some of that weight. :)

Swim: 12,500 yards
Bike: 240 miles
Run: 56 miles
Strength: Unknown but roughly 5 hours a week.

ps: How bout dem Phish!

1 and 15 to 11 and 5. Wish they could have had a better outing yesterday but ay things are lookin' up babee

Welcome Back, Your dreams were your ticket out

Hola! Long time no see! I wonder how many times I've now come back to this blog with reports of running and dreams of races never seen.

Just another blog that never gets updated. For the first time since my divorce I actually have a membership to a pool. This past weekend I swam 3000(not continuous) for the first time since the Great Floridian race over 3 YEARS AGO.

Holy Cow Batman!

On the family front we are on official countdown now. The baby is due on January 6th. My wife is a private person so I'm going to limit the inclusion of family in the majority of posts going forward.

Here's the real kicker. Since getting remarried I've gained 30lbs. All that work to get rid of this sludge in the first place and its just steadily crept back. I've been training for 3 weeks straight now and my endurance is getting better every day but I've just not been able to drop the weight yet.

I've laid out my 2009 ATP (Annual Training Plan) with my first 'A' race being the gate river run in March with a goal of being top 1000. I figure that means I need to run it in the 1:10 range. We'll see right now I'm running just a touch more than 5 miles an hour in Zone 1. And about that St. Anthony's that I mentioned 2 or 3 posts ago ALMOST A YEAR AGO? That registration was deferred to this year. No way I'm missing it this time around.....

Some visual evidence....a picture from my 30 mile ride on Sunday.

I promise I will be back to post the progress.

An interesting video on the current financial turmoil

Recent Trip to Chicago

 

The Big Announcement

For old friends that keep up with me through the blog. My wife and I are expecting our first child together in January.

I have no idea what to do with this blog

I'm barely running and not racing at all...We started a softball team and that has kept me busy since February. The surf this year has been near non-existent and oddly enough though still active all I've been doing is gaining weight since I quit running...wonder if there is a correlation :)

In addition to softball I've also taken up learning to make beer...don't worry I AM NOT DRINKING ALL OF IT. Its genuinely a hobby but I'm sure has not helped with the weight.

The price of gas has got me commuting on the bicycle more but even that has been hit or miss with the hectic schedule and now when I should be sleeping preparing to rest up for my first crack at getting back to early morning running I've been up working all night.....If anyone out there knows this blog still exists...I'll let you know how this goes.

Poor? Arthur Blank?

Its hard to feel bad for a guy with a couple billion dollars in Home Depot fortune but the Michael Vick fallout continues and Petrino is out. Mr. Blank seems like a such a kind man for a gozillionaire and it just seems like his football team is going out of its way to break his heart. Luckily for him he is an "avid runner" who logs 20 miles a week. For me the opportunity to get out and put in some miles and not think about anything but what I've been reading in my Bible and one foot in front of the other is real pleasure. I don't know if Mr. Blank is Christian but for me personally thats where its at. Peace.

Even the head coach of my beloved Dolphins who is 0-13 has not given up. And Huizenga does not seem near as dedicated to the phish as Blank is to the Falcons. Arthur how bout you make a bid for the Dolphins last I checked Home Depot was worth about $8 a share more than Blockbuster.

Clermont after a 2 year hiatus - for real this time

Ironman? Iron distance? I don't care what you call it on that cool October night in 2005 I did it in fourteen hours and twelve minutes. I have the pictures to prove it. 6 months after that race I went to participate in a Sommer Sports race the same day as the daylight saving time I was an hour late I got a speeding ticket and a half mile into an Oly-distance my chain broke. This by the way was also at the height of my divorce. That was in April of 2006 and my only DNF. Two years and 12,000 excuses later and I finally got a chance to go back out to Clermont to train for long distance triathlon. Went with my buddy Jose very slow pace just out riding the hills 4 hours and 60 miles later and my legs was butta. Have the pictures to prove that too.

Signed up for St. Anthony's AGAIN gotta get ready. Of course two days after I signed up I started noticing that that irritation in my hamstring and butt are still acting up. My amateur diagnosis is piriformis. Im hoping this doesn't end up same deal as the knee and hanging out for a while.

Runners High

Sweet for the first time in a loooooong time I actually experienced a couple of short but blissful runners highs tonight. Short 45 minute very slow paced run but for a good 5 minute span on two different portions I had that feeling like I can run forever. I know its minimal but I can feel it.....only problems going on right now is my right hamstring is really tight. I don't know what the deal is but I can feel it right up to my butt.

Only slightly more amusing while I was looking for an image to go along with this post I came across this Japanese rock group. Not really my style. Don't understand a word. Funny.

Not one triathlon this year...but there's always a silver lining

I got married. She has 2 kids. I have 1. We have 3. 9,5 and 4. Beast is the youngest.

I also got a new training partner.



I'm not going to say much in regards to the family other than life is good. Of course while building this relationship I've gained 20 pounds and life has been pushing me around ever since. By that I mean work...lots more work and the requisite family time. I've been running a couple of days a week. We have a yellow lab puppy named "Cooper". He's only 7 months old but I've got him running with me. Great running partner though I never take him over 5 miles. Not fast just slow and steady as I've not really been training for anything.

For Thanksgiving I did the Outback Distance Classic 6k (the distance part of that title is that there is also a half marathon). 6k in 27:32. That's a 7:33 pace for those who attend our public schools. Yes, I went to public school too :). Not bad for a 20 pounds overweight fatbody. So over the past few weeks I've been working on riding the bike and getting my endurance up. I've got my swimming to a mile in about 30 minutes and I've spent the better part of today (while smoking a turkey man is it good) setting up my 2008 Annual Training Plan (ATP).

I've attempted to find a race every month but because I'd like to do the Great Floridian (iron-distance) again I've had a hard time finding a couple half irons that fit the schedule. Potentials (pending availability of course) that I've put into the ATP as "B" races are the Gulf Coast Half on May 10th and then 2-3 Olys including St. Anthony's in April. Not a whole lot of halfs in Florida in the middle of summer. Something Mid August-Early September would be ideal. My new wife is encouraging me a great deal and I've been trying to warn her that all this can be very time consuming so we'll see how she feels mid-season. If its too much maybe I'll only do Florida Challenge (half) instead of GFT.

All of this is of course "Lord Willing" and provided I'm able to stay injury free etc. You know how it is.

PS If you've found me and you're wondering what happened to the old web site well I was paying for the domain etc because I used to like to do free lance work. When I let the hosting expire my blog settings went with it so essentially all I had to do was come into blogger and turn off the FTP must not have been that important.

PS PS Im going to be 30 in 3 days.....Lord Willing.

Luke 1:47 "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,..."