Tri or Die

Soreness, my old friend

2012-03-08T07:40:00.000-06:00

Its a new month and I am finally starting off on the correct foot.

You can see where I am so far on my goals at the bottom of the site. I am considerably further thus far as compared to this time in previous months. I have taken off almost as many days as I have trained, but I am finally starting to put in more honest and complete training sessions.

Yesterday was my long run day. I was aiming for 9+ miles on the treadmill since it was so so so windy outside, I only managed 6.4 miles. I learned that those technical "dri-fit" shirts that sell for way too much money or you get from races are actually very important.

I ran in an old softball shirt yesterday and I could tell a difference by mile 2. The shirt was so heavy and compressive due to the sweat. I felt as though I was wearing a weight vest. Also, wet cotton does not perform heat transfer efficiently... aka. I was hotter than hell. I definately ws overheated by mile 5 and by the end of my 60min on the treadmill I thought I was actually going to hurl. I was lightheaded, felt major pressure in my head and couldn't walk very well.

Lesson learned.

Thankfully I was fine. Im sure if I would have tried to restart the treadmill for another 3-4 miles I would've been sick or passed out. I probably need to pay more attention to my clothing choices when I run at the Y. There are only a couple fans for the entire gym there and it gets very hot. I should also try and focus on eating something full of carbs an hour before I leave work now that I am pushing my distance up.

I cooled myself down in the pool with 750yds before they shut down for a safety break at 6pm. I could feel the soreness as soon as I got off the treadmill in my lower calves. This pain has only become worse as the day went on. Im currently wearing my CEP compression sleeves to work for the day. It is truly amazing what these sleeves will do for my legs, I love science!

Today I am going to work on making some adjustements to my bike trainer and re-aligning my aero bars on my bike, then its a bike session since it is so nasty cold and rainy outside. I found a good interval workout for the trainer that I downloaded into my Garmin watch last week that I will try out. I'm sure Gracie will be glad that I am coming home instead of going to the gym today as well.

Heres my bike set up on the new trainer. I still need to finish adding shelves and setting up the workout room but it is finally getting there. Just added some OSU orange curtains that really spice up the room.

OH the weather outside is... weather

2012-03-05T21:19:00.000-06:00

Welp, I didn't make my enhanced goals for February, (50 mile run, 6 hour bike, 8 mile swim). I could have gotten there if I did not take a week off when we adopted our new dog/hopeful-training partner Gracie.

She says hi.

I am going to try and meet the same goals again. The weather is finally starting to get nice outside and the days are getting longer. I am finding myself running out of excuses not to go outside and run or bike. I was actually able to get the bike outside and ride around Lake Draper last week. It felt great and reminded me how much I hate the Oklahoma wind.

Just in time for all this nice weather I have finally purchased a bike trainer. I know, Im dumb, but it was on sale... and I am a sucker for sale ads that list anything over 60% off in my email. It will be nice going into next fall, and for the days when its too windy or I just do not want to try and fight traffic to get to a lake. I can tell a huge difference though in my percieved efforts though, it feels like I am biking through wet sand.

As for my runs, I have increased my long run day to 9 miles. I am a little shocked to see how well my legs are coping with the longer distance, but I am not upset at all. I can tell a large difference though in how my feet feel in my new race shoes compared to my older sets of shoes. It seems like upgrading in January was the right time.

Lastly, I have finally increased my swimming days to over 1 mile in the pool. I have found that when I focus on intervals of 250m or more, I can find a balance between boredom and soreness and spend more time in the pool. I have been trying to focus on my form alot more in the recent weeks, instead of my speed. I know its all in my head at this point, but I feel like I can lay down some speed in the pool already, I just need to be more efficient at doing so.

Just a couple more weeks before my season begins with the March in Okarche Duathlon. I am extremely nervous as this is my first race with the TriOKC group, and my first Du. I just need to keep my head down, focus on expanding my workouts on the bike and getting outside more, and I will be fine. Hopefully I can train some confidence into myself over the next couple weeks.

I will get the graphs updated at the bottom to March's tomorrow, and be sure to watch the sidebar for my current races that I am signed up for. I will be posting more often now, and plan to start writing about some of the equipment that I use and have used, as well as posting more pictures from training and races.

Its going to be a fun ride this year.

Chirp...Chirp...

2012-02-23T14:00:00.000-06:00

It has been a little quite around here.

I did not intend to take such an extended abscence from the blog, but I did. So there.

I do intend to start posting more frequently. Race season is nigh, I have lots of new gear to get broken in (along with those back muscles I seemingly forgot to workout over the winter) and the weather is finally starting to cooperate (albeit a tad bit windy).

I have still been updating my monthly training as seen in the graphs as the bottom of the page. My February goals were to run 50 miles, cycle for 6 hours and swim 8 miles. I feel as though I will complete the swim, and possibly the run. The bike is probably a no go.

I developed some knee pain from the bikes at the Y so I stop riding them as much and the lack of warm weather has kept me inside. I did finally invest in a cheap trainer so I no longer have any excuses not to be hitting my cycling marks.

My swimming has improved dramatically to the point where I usually do a 1500 meter session everytime I go. Except for tuesday. I had a pretty significant pop in my right shoulder cuff every time I stroked on that side, regardless of how much pressure (or pull) I applied, so I cut Tuesday short. I will get back in on Saturday and see how things go.

Running has improved as well, as long as I wear my compression sleeves. I have no clue if it has become a mental issue at this point or not, but I seems to have lots of shin and ankle pain whenever I do not wear them. I finally retired my Zoot Ali'i 3.0 race shoes and invested in some new Zoot Ultra TT 5.0's. They feel amazing and my trainer set of Zoot are still clicking off the miles. I am trying to start pushing my long runs up towards the half-marathon point, but seem to be moving slowly.

I have my first major even at the end of March, the March in Okarche Du. 5k run, 18mi bike, 5k run. That will be loads of fun and great experience to run and meet all the people in the local tri club I have joined.

I will post more soon, as I have tons I can talk about. See everyone around.

Moving time

2012-01-10T07:26:00.001-06:00

Just to let everyone know, or just those annoying spam bots that seem to frequent this site, I will not be posting for the next week or so. Ive been busy trying to get everything set up for moving to a new house this weekend.

Ill keep my training totals up to date, but that's about it. See everyone in a while!

New Year

2012-01-03T09:53:00.001-06:00

Man, its been a nice couple of weeks off from work and this blog. I tried to get out and run a little bit and get in a few weight workouts, but nothing to intense. I'd like for the weather to start heating up again so I can start putting in some miles on the bike, but we will see what Oklahoma have in store.

I am so excited about 2012, and its only just begun. I cannot wait to attempt a International distance Tri and half marathon this summer. I am more than pumped to start working towards placing at a sprint tri and further increasing my 5k speed into the 6 min mile range. Pretty advantageous goals for me, in my mind, but I believe I can do it.

This time last year, I was an overweight (230lbs on a 5'10" frame), sedimentary engineer, who wouldn't run a quarter mile to save my life and didn't even know if I could still swim. I've now completed several 5k's, setting PR's at each attempt and breaking the 8 min/mile mark, completed my first sprint tri, become completely obsessed with triathlons and endurance racing, spent a ton of money on said obsession (ugh), and lost about 30 lbs.

2011 was a good start, a gentle kick compared to the beating that 2012 is going to be regarding my personal weight and goals.

I came close to hitting the 50% mark on my December goals, which is super shitty, but I was sick for a large portion of the month. I have set January's just south of December's goals (50 mile ran, 5 hours biked, 4 miles swam), and I feel confident I can achieve them. I will be moving into a new house later this month, but hopefully that will not interfere too much with this months training.Its only 4 months till the OKC Memorial Half Marathon (Might change this race) and 5 months till my International distance tri in Irving, Texas.

I have several books (4 total) I need to read through and I am very excited to add a set of aero bars to my bike in the next few weeks. I will be posting more once I have more dense, or useful, information to share, but everyone should be excited for this new year. Its a fresh start and a great time to break down personal barriers that are holding you back from what you want.

Vacation days

2011-12-14T20:57:00.001-06:00

Oh, its great to be on vacation for the rest of the year.

It is nice being able to do 2 workouts in a day now that I have some time. I started with a 2.5 mile run that I never really got into the groove of or I would have pushed further. Tonight I just finished a .5 mile swim. I'm a little sore from my weights yesterday, but I plan on pushing through tomorrow and doing 2 more workouts. No idea what ones thought yet.

I probably need to buckle down and get more consistent on my running. I have a lot of miles to make up if I plan on making my December goals. I am at 20% for my running, 25% for my swim, and have yet to get on the bike.

Tomorrow looks like the rain will clear up and I may go get some decent miles and time in the seat. Im getting really anxious to get back on the bike, I hate not being able to ride.

I also picked up a couple new books. "The Triathletes Training Bible" by Joe Friel and "Trizophrenia" by Jef Mallett. I'm working on Friel's book right now, but man is it technical. Its all about heart rate zones and lactic acid thresholds. Its awesome. It is hard to make use of all his workout knowledge without a heart rate monitor... so I guess that is next on the list. Im looking at a Garmin Forerunner 410xt or 310xt. A Forerunner 910xt would be baller, but I do not think I can afford the 500-600 price tag.

Well, Im off to go read some more of my book. Ill make sure to talk about anything that I find interesting.

P.S. Make sure to check out the latest issue "Outside" magazine. They have a great breakdown of some of the Kona athletes from this year and has a good story about the Kona Ironman. They also have a good section on debunking workout myths. Such as, static stretching is not really good for you, work on dynamic stretching. Also, a core workout is not as esssential as everyone makes it out to be. If you are practicing for any specific sport, the abs will come.

Getting wet

2011-12-09T18:01:00.001-06:00

I'm still feeling a bit sore from my weights on tuesday. I plan on getting back to the gym on Monday and then probably wednesday or thursday. I obviously need to be focusing on weights since I am soo sore.

I took yesterday off. Had some depressing news yesterday and decided not to workout and spend time with a loved one. I got back at it today. I knocked out a short 1.5mi warmup run and a 600m swim. Im feeling better and more relaxed in the pool finally, I just start to get nervous and overthink everything after the 500m mark. That will get better with time. I am well on my way to meet my december swimming goal though, so yippie!

I've had a seriously upsetting revelation this week. Im back to being a fatty. My new 32 waist pants are starting to feel tight, I've crept back up to 205 lbs, and I look horrible. Nothing like a triathlete.

I've written about a diet and starting to get healthy. This was the kick I needed to really focus up. It also didn't hurt that I realized I would need to buy a XXL wetsuit at my size. Anything with an X in it is unacceptable in my mind. I've never had to buy anything in an X size, and I really do not want to. I still feel fat buying larges. So yea. Goodbye awesome food and eating out at lunch. Also, goodbye soda during the work day.

I am hoping that by starting with making healthier lunches, taking healthy snacks like carrots, eating small breakfasts in the morning instead of skipping and eating junk from the vending machine and cutting out soda (at least at work for starters) will help.

I also have great help from my friend on facebook. I mentioned my wetsuit dilemma and they all pitched in with their thoughts (both literally and not-so-literally calling me a fatass). That always helps...

I'm gonna try and get a long run in tommorrow of about 6 miles.

Updates

2011-12-07T23:00:00.001-06:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that I am not going to be posting alerts to new post anymore unless they are worthwhile post. I don't want to be letting everyone know I've posted, and sticking it in all their feeds when it sjust me bitching about how much I want Taco Bueno or how sore I am.

When I have something worthwhile, or when race season picks up again, I will probably start posting more and putting alerts back on twitter, facebook and G+.

I still plan on posting hopefully every couple of days about the things I come across when trying to adapt to offseason training and stocking up on the gear I need.

I hope I am doing a good job with this blog and have not scared everyone short of my girlfriend and mom away. Feel free to comment or email me if you have any issues with the blog, want to share a story or link (and Ill go ahead and tell you no, I do not want a free Ipad 12. Keep the spam to yourself) or have any advice you think will be useful. I welcome discussion.

Hello soreness my old friend...

2011-12-07T22:26:00.001-06:00

Took the ol' strength training workout for a spin yesterday. Yep. Im sore.

Im uber sore. I forgot how deep the soreness can reach into your thighs and lats. While it makes it difficult to not look constipated at work, it means its working to some extent.

I definitely feel it will be better once I split it into 2 days. It will also probably be better once I never go back to the Midwest City YMCA, that place is ghetto and ill-laid out. When I am trying to super set squats with leg extensions and leg curls, I do not want to try and meander my way through the treadmill forest and cross a 3 lane track. Just saying.

Despite the soreness, I got in a 500 m swim today. This is the last time I will exit a pool at 500 m. My short days need to get longer and I need to get some 1+ mile days in the mix. Its going to be so boring, but I have to get started on training for the international tri in June.

I did some research today on cold weather clothing and It did not make my "more clothing vs. trainer" decision any easier. To purchase a wind jacket, baklava, gloves, arm warmers, leg warmers and shoe covers, I can jsut purchase a used fluid trainer... and thats if I get the cheapest of all the above items, not even the nice stuff. Good thing is we have a few days that should be in the 50's and 40's so I will probably go purchase some gloves and a baklava and head out for a ride. I need to be out on the bike since I will probably be too sore to do anything else.

Well off to bed. Hopefully I can find a cheap pair of gloves and baklava tomorrow at Sun & Ski. I do not feel like spending 150 bucks on just those two items at Schlegels Bike.

Don't call it a comeback

2011-12-05T20:45:00.001-06:00

So yea, November happened. I've talked about it enough. Time to learn from my mistakes and kick December's ass.

I've nailed down a strength training schedule that I think will work for now. I plan on adapting it more for my needs after a couple weeks, but I found one that basically worked what I wanted so I am going with it.

I'm using a plan outlined on active.com by a man named Mark Allen. If you have not heard of Mr. Allen and you are a triathlete. Google it. Now. You could also go check out a book "Iron War" by one of the writers for the Triathlete magazine. Its an amazing story about how he and Dave Scott legitimized this whole crazy sport of suffering that we all love. They pushed this sport to the mainstream, while also pushing the limits of human endurance and performance. They are quite heroes.

The original article can be found here, along with his outline on how to work into this workout. How I am using it is below:

SS = Super set (run the excersises on top of each other without a break in between. Rest between sets)

SS: Wide grip bench press 2 x 15 reps
Lateral Pulldown 2 x 15 reps
SS: Barbell squat 2 x 15 reps
Leg extensions 2 x 15 reps
Lying leg curls 2 x 15 reps
SS: Tricep kickbacks 2 x 15 reps
Lying tricep overhead extension 2 x 15 reps
SS: Curl 2 x 15 reps
Dumbbell lateral raise 2 x 15 reps
SS: Backwards lunge 2 x 15 reps
One leg, weighted calf raise 2 x 15 reps (each leg)
Leg Press 2 x 15 (this is a great way to blast out the finish of a good workout.)
Sit-ups (one set. Focus on center, left then right abs)
Plank 1 x 60 seconds minimum

90 second rest in between each particular set or SS; 45 sec rest while inside a SS

This is a pretty large single workout, especially since I haven't weight trained since August. I will most likely add in some more cardio/core to the end and split this into 2 workouts. Maybe add some more focused sets where I lack. I plan on trying this out for a few weeks; focusing on form, not weight. The goal is not to look like an ed hardy d-bag, but to tone up and prevent injury in the spring. This will also help me cut down on my weight.

I am curious if I will have the same aches this go around with the training. When I was last training, I had some crazy pains in my forearms during curls that I could never identify a cause for. Hopefully that is gone. I still have a ton of articles to read that pertain to strength and developing the physique of a triathlete, I will filter that knowledge in later in the month.

As for my goals, I have decided that I will start where I left of in November for my running. While I only managed a measly 36 miles in November of running (my girlfriend will knock that out in a week, not even in peak training.... ugh) I will, not will try, will get to 100 miles. So 64 miles in December.

As for cycling, I'm still out. I got 3.5 hrs last month and almost 60 miles, but I would rather try and tell a crossfitter that crossfit is stupid than ride an indoor bike again. (PS. If you have never met a crossfitter and heard them talk about their ~~cult~~ gym, consider yourself lucky. They are obsessed to the 10th degree. Not a bad thing... but not an awesome thing either... sorry guys) I am working on getting a trainer or rollers and will makeup for my lack of cycling then. It is Oklahoma though, so it may get warm enough to ride soon. Who knows.

Swim is still at 4 miles. This was easy. I only knocked out a 1 mile last month, that was only due to laziness. I will get 4 miles easy this time.

Another great site to get tri specific training information is trifuel. Here is a link to an aggregated strength training list.

I also vow, right now, to stop sneaking Taco Bueno lunches at work. It has to end. Im going to miss those party burritos. Diet, or at least a more conscious observance of food and nutrition, starts now.

The key is knowledge. Knowledge of how badly I burn out. Knowledge of how I need to warm up prior to a swim to make it more effective. Knowledge that my half marathon is only 5 months away, and my international distance tri is only 6 months away. Knowledge that my new shoes seem to be broken in finally and my new compression sleeves for my legs work magic. Knowledge that I can do this. That I will do this. I will not give up, go too hard, overcompensate, race old men on the treadmill, use the cold as an excuse, fail to embrace the suck and pain.

December is so going down.

(check in throughout the month to see whether I epic-ally win this, or epic-ally burn out and become obese)

November Failures

2011-12-05T09:46:00.001-06:00

Ugh.

This is not what I wanted to be writing in December. I didn't even get to 50% on any of my goals and Im currently still sick, as I have been since thanksgiving.

This was not how I was supposed to begin the off season. Almost no real, insightful research done. Almost no advancement in any area of the multi-sports. I guess that I need to call this character training and move on with my life. Whining and refusing to look at my November spreadsheet do not make this past month any less real.

I am going to post my December goals tonight. Its already the 5th and I need to get them down and started. Sickness be damned.

I will admit that I have learned to be more realistic. I tend to be a little too aggresive (read: delusional) when setting goals or benchmarks for myself. Going from a high workload prior to my tri in September, to a fairly lazy October, to a hyper active November was terrible. I developed pain in my legs and right knee from overuse (I think). I burned out on all my goals. I lost control of any glimpse of a diet I was holding.

Long story short; too much, too fast can be detrimental. I know that probably everyone knows this already, but its good for me to write this down and look at it. I need to be more conscious of my decision, and their long term effects.

I plan on getting back into the flow of things and hitting the gym later this week. I am fairly depressed of how cold it is already. I despise riding the bikes in the gym, and just want to be out on my bike. I have debated buying a trainer to ride indoors, but its not really in the budget right now. Next year.

The solutions is to buy some shoe covers, full gloves, helmet cover, gator and wind jacket so I can ride in the 40's and 50's. I tried to ride around in the high 30's (with none of these things) following my girl around the Tulsa Marathon route while she ran, but could not feel any of my extremities afterwards. It was awful.

Sidenote: There is a fine balance between going fast to finish a ride because it is cold, and going slow because it is WAY colder when you ride over 20mph...

I will get my goals posted later and update the graphs at the bottom tonight after work. Maybe I should print out my progress in November and put it on my wall. A not-so-subtle reminder to get the work done and not try and overdo it at the beginning.

Staying in Touch

2011-11-29T12:33:00.001-06:00

Sorry its been so quite around here lately. The holidays coupled with a cold have not made for the best training times.

I have conceded that I have not met my goals for this month, by a long shot, but I learned quite a bit. I will try and talk more about everything I learned and look back over the past month here soon.

Falling off the Bandwagon

2011-11-19T20:50:00.001-06:00

I'm off, lying in the ditch somewhere...

I'm burnt out. I have realized that jumping from my October workouts (basically nothing) to trying a super advantageous November workout was a bad idea. The bricks everyday of the week except sunday and monday when I play tennis was silly. I am glad that I was able to keep it up for 2 weeks, but I am tired. Physically and mentally.

I have a ton of weird lower body ailments. I am assuming most of them are mental issues stemming from my lack of motivation and maybe some shin splint issues that have crept back up. The best explanation for the shin splint is overuse. I did not work up to my distances and workouts enough to let the muscle build.

Lesson learned.

I flaked out on my workouts thursday and friday of this week, and only got a couple miles in this morning before heading to Tulsa for the marathon. I am going to focus on working out 5 times a week, but I do not plan on doing any more bricks. I do not want to run myself too ragged and too exhausted (mentally and physically) and give up completely on my long term goals.

Its easy to see others lay out their workout plans and think/assume/decide that you can perform at that level. Its hard to know what else everyone has going on in their personal lives (read: not documented on the internet). If triathlons or endurance sports are your life, and how you make your money, you can probably afford to work on 2-3 different sports every day. When you work 8-10 hrs everyday, then have personal matters to attend to and then, on top of everything else, try to workout 2-3 sports every day; its a whole different story.

This underlines how much of a sacrifice this is going to be going forward. Training for a half marathon and a olympic triathlon will be doable, but once I move on to further distances, my life will be very cramped. I will go ahead and apologize to my better half for the lack of attention she may receive during those days (she may even enjoy not having me around all the time). All good things require sacrifice, I just need to decide in the coming years whether I am willing to sacrifice my personal life, and the ability to grow a family to achieve a full ironman distance tri.

(Some of you may say I can train very minimally and still complete a full ironman or redman tri, but you obviously do not freaking know me. I cannot just "complete" anything. Its one of my many quirks.)

Start line of the marathon the day before. Luckily we are staying at a hotel that backs up to the end of the last corral, about 4 blocks from the start line.

The infamous "better half" going over her race gear for the ump-teenth billionth time this weekend.

More to come later, but rest assured this is not me giving up, bailing out or being a bitch (as several of my friends have asserted); it is more of taking a more logical approach to this. I have 7 months till my next tri, no need to be putting in a peak training schedule just yet and risk injury.

Just repeat: slow and steady, slow and steady

Feeling Good

2011-11-16T20:09:00.001-06:00

Quick post for the night.

I thought about the post I wrote about motivation all day today, before and after I posted it (I had written most of that post prior to tonight, I just saw that video and decided to post it during my lunch). Needless to say, I was pretty amped by the time I made it to the gym. I was even excited to get into the gym.

I decided to forgo running tonight as I am having some really intense shin pain. I planned on compressing them if I can find my socks and taking ibuprofen tomorrow and seeing if that fixed it. I concentrated on cycling and swimming. (excuse alert) I hate the seats on the bikes. I've said it before, I'll say it again.

There is no way to maintain a 100+ rpm cadence and not rub your thighs to death on the fat seat. Not everyone who uses the gym is obese and needs that giant and wide of a seat. I got in about 10 miles or so before I got tired of my legs and ass hurting from the seat. I hopped in the pool and knocked out 500m in 10 min and called it a night.

I'm running pretty far behind in my goals, and its looks dark and gloomy ahead for my chances of making all of them, especially with thanksgiving coming up, but I am going to try and give it my all. I have already drawn some conclusions that involve my workouts and setting goals from this, but I will hold off and bore everyone with those at the end of the month.

I don't know if I will be able to get a post in before the Marathon, but I will try and get something up about this weeks workouts, my new strength program, and the running expo before the race by Monday.

Motivation

2011-11-16T12:27:00.001-06:00

"Stay hungry, Stay foolish" - Steve Jobs

This quote may seem a little overplayed lately, but it is a very important idea. It can be applied to any facet of humanity, and the lives we all live.

As it pertains to me and this blog and my life, is that I need to never be satisfied. Never think myself out of something. That I should not stand in the way of my own happiness and goals.

I'm writing this because it has become something I am starting to make more of a focus in my training. Motivation has always been my downside. When I do have it, I'm unstoppable in my own mind. When I've lost it, I just cannot seem to get clicking again, and it is hard to find it again. I like to believe that everyone needs to be hungry, to have that fire, to obtain what we want and need in life. Thanks to this idea, I have undergone a sort of transition over the past year in regards to my motivation.

I started to work out just as something to do, everyone was doing it (please do not feed me any lines about this...ugh). I was not setting goals, or working towards being more productive, healthy or more importantly, happy. Though, over this past year I have become hungry. Insatiable would be a better word for it...

Out of this hunger, I decided to do very foolish things in the eyes of many of my friends and family (e.g triathlons, running, etc.). This doesn't mean they were bad things, which I have done many stupid foolish things in my life, many of which way too many people know about (college humor). They were just things that were not normal to my lifestyle or goals. I want to be healthy, I want to create a better me and become more happy with everything in my life. Losing over 30 lbs was a good start, and did make me happy. But that wasn't enough.

I wasn't staying foolish.

This is why I decided to do something I never though I would be able to do, triathlons... and now I am aiming at marathons and century rides. I'm called crazy all the time, but I know that crossing the finish line and hanging my bib number up on my wall give me satisfaction that I haven't had in years, that I am starting to crave.

Everyone needs to be hungry. If you find it hard to find the motivation you need to get out and get healthy, lose wieght, run, be more sociable, perform better at work, anything... just look inside. Rediscover that need to improve and find the happiness that comes with it, stop being content.

I've came across a short video from a man who transformed his entire life, lost over 120 lbs to finish a full Boston marathon and Ironman triathlon. I know it definately reminded me why I am doing all these foolish things, and reminded me that the workouts everyday after 8 hours of work are for a purpose.

Happiness.

(I know there are tons of videos like this out there on the interwebs, but I just can't resist a good video set to coldplay...)

 I know there are

Don't drink and drive... run instead!

2011-11-14T19:29:00.001-06:00

Whew, I've been ~~lazy~~ super busy lately.

Ive broken the 25% mark on my running goals. Too bad it has taken me 1/3 of the month to get there. I am lagging very far behind in my bike goals (11%) and I'm starting to get doubtful on whether I will make it or not. 15 hours is tough to get when I have to use the bikes in the gym. SOOOO boring. I'm gonna try and give it my best shot though, and see how close I can get. I'm pretty far behind in my swim, but I'm confident I can get to 4 miles by months end. I need to work on staying focused on the indoor bike and treadmill, as I find myself getting very distracted. Please let me know if you have any good distraction tips in the comments.

On that note though, I want to send a special thanks out to all the women who put on nice smelling lotion, then go workout. You're making the world a better place, one smelly gym at a time!

This past weekend I experience too awesome new events. My OSU cowboys going to 10-0 and routing Texas Tech, and running in the McNellies pub run.

The pub run, for those who are not lucky enough to have heard of it, is a 4 mile run through the hilly downtown Tulsa blue dome district. The fun twist is you get to down 3 12 oz guiness beers during the run. I have never run , at least an organized running event, while drinking, and I must say that it was a blast. It was pretty rough after the first beer, getting used to all the sloshing, but it wasn't as bad as you would think. The hardest part was just chugging the beer. I completed the 4 mi run in 35:06, which is a 8 min/mile and I am pretty pleased with it.

Too bad I had the great idea to "pre-game" the run by drinking a couple light beers during the OSU game before the race. Terrible idea. It made the first couple of miles really really rough. I should not have done that. Lesson learned. I also learned not to get too cocky when you're still 40 yards from the finish line. I did this to a friend of mine I was running with and he ended up out sprinting me to the end... what a jerk. Here is a picture of said jerk. (Just kidding Eckhart, even though you swear you don't read my blog...)

It was an awesome time though in the end. I got to meet up with a friend in Tulsa I do not get to see too often, have some good drinks, get in some running, and watch my Cowboys roll yet another football game. Totally worth the 1.5 hr drive there and back to Tulsa. Can't wait to run next year. I need to get to where I can run this in 20 min or less to win the main prize of a huge free bar tab. (We all need goals...)

I have one last 5k left this year, on thanksgiving and I think that is going to conclude my racing for this year. The rest of my time is going to be spent on training for a half marathon and an olympic tri. I plan on racing in both next year, along with some 10k's and probably a sprint tri, possibly a cycling race.

I have decided on my first olympic tri. I am going to compete in the Playtri Festival, Olympic distance triathlon in Irving, Texas on June 3rd. I may compete in a sprint tri before that, but I will be busy training for the OKC half marathon in April primarily. You can keep track of my upcoming races by looking in the tab to the right.

Im trying to play around with some new layouts and scripts for the site, so look forward to those in the future. Ill try and get another post up this week, I have some other thoughts I want to talk about, but this post is already too rambly (sp?). I will be at the Tulsa marathon this weekend though, so I will try and get some good pictures as I follow my girlfriend around the full course on my bike... or try to at least... so there may be a good post about me getting lost and mugged in Tulsa next week.

Here a few more photos from the race:

Some of the costumes worn at the race.

Drinking and smoking go hand in hand, I am not sure how it worked into the run though...

Finish line.

Mass drinking event that was the finish line. You did get 2 free beers as soon as you finished.

My better half, who got me motivated to do this run... and I am so glad she did now.

Post-workout views

2011-11-09T20:49:00.000-06:00

I am starting to like the nighttime skyline of OKC much more than the sunset skyline.

The clearing after the storm

2011-11-09T20:28:00.000-06:00

Nothing crazy happened today... and I was cleared of damage in my wreck, the guy was trying to pull a fast one! Woohoo!

This was great motivation to get to the gym today, even though I just wanted to sit and watch my roomate play the new xbox game he got yesterday...

I got up to the Y and was surprised how fast I found my rhythm on the treadmill. I settled into a nice pace (6.5) and set off for at least 30 min. I noticed the older man (older than me that is) was wearing a "tri-okc" group shirt. He had been running for a few min more than me when I started, and we both were pacing at the same rate. I noticed he looked at my numbers a couple times, as I was at his. I hope you can see where this is stupidly going...

He increased, I increased. He increased more, I increased more. I was competing in the worlds most boring race on a damn treadmill at the Y. How stupid was this. we were up around a 7.5 pace when he increased more up to around 8 and I finally snapped out of my stupidity and slowed back down to a 6.0 pace. Im upset for 2 reasons:

I broke out of my rhythm, on a day I was wanting to put in a good distance, for some silly spitting contest on a treadmill at the Y.
The old bastard beat me.

I talked to him a little bit afterwards once he was on his cool down and I was taking a short walk break (< 1 min, I overdid it a bit). Im really glad he didn't call me out or mention our little race. Maybe he was just increasing his pace on his own, and not racing me, but in my mind, we were bitter enemies racing to the death. He talked about doing an olympic tri a little bit, and told me I should really join the local tri group. I may look into this more in the coming year.

I got off after 4 miles, got in a good 500 yd swim, left the Y, drove back to the Y to pick up my goggles I left in the showers, went home. Not a bad workout. I only had a slight pain in my right foot. Im starting to get a buldge on the pad of my foot around my 3rd and 4th toe. I plan on webmd'ing it later, but I am sure it will just tell me its cancer (like every ailment always is on webmd).

I mentioned earlier than I have been having some asthma issues in the cold. After reading a few sites, here are my solutions:

Wear a scarf or something around my mouth and nose. This will increase the humidity and temperature of the air entering the lungs, which will help unrestrict the airways.
I need to warm up more.
The more I run outside, and less I overdo it up front (never an issue for me...), the more quickly I will acclimate to the cold, and the asthma should reduce.
If all else fails, see a doctor.
Stop being a baby, other people do it. (this may not have been as helpful as the others)

Here are a couple site that have good information on cold running safety and asthma info.

That's all for tonight. I am still working on setting up a strength training program, as well as finding some good triathlons for the next year. I will put up another post about those, as I have rambled on enough for one night.

Don't forget you're tights

2011-11-09T07:36:00.002-06:00

Yesterday was sort of a culmination of everything bad. It was as if everytime I said or wrote down that I will not let anything get me down or frustrated, something just a little bit worse occured.

Things that happened since I wrote the last post:

I rear ended someone
I left my sunroof open and had to deal with a minor flood in my car driving to work (and eventually to said wreck)

I really just wanted to go home and consume about 40 party burritos from Taco Bueno, but I didnt. I went for a run.

I am going to try and look into this more tonight and post about it again, but on my last 2 runs, I have not made it as far as I wanted to. The cold air is killing my lungs. My body feels fine for the most part, and I feel strong enough to run more distance, but my asthma has different thoughts. Now it wasn't as bad yesterday as it was last week, which I guess is encouraging, but it is still going to get very annoying.

Another annoying thing, is when you go for a run and its in the 40's and its drizzling and you forget to take long tights for your legs... so you have to run in shorts... soooooo cold.

Tonight will be an indoor brick workout. I really need to put some time in on the bike so hopefully I can get a 5k and 1-1.5 hours on the bike. I have a hectic day ahead so we will see if I have the energy, but I am going to stay freaking positive.

Also, notice I have added a section to the right about my "Personal Bests" and "Upcoming Races". I plan on filling the races out more with some early season run's and maybe a sprint tri, but I will really be looking forward to finding my first Olympic tri. I get nervous just typing that. Look for more additions coming this week. I'll probably just add them, then write up one post about them all (read: I'm kinda lazy).

Goals

2011-11-07T22:51:00.002-06:00

I need to set goals. This is the next step, the first step.

Racing schedules
Workout routines
Goals
Diets

More to come on all of this.

FAIL

2011-11-07T21:41:00.001-06:00

Zen motivation

Today was supposed to consist of a small run then my tennis league game. Here it is... 8:45pm, tennis was canceled and I have not run.

The weather has been sketchy at best all day, and looked worse as I left work at 5 today (an hour later than I normally leave or planned to leave today). I figured tennis would be canceled and I would go for a run/swim brick around 6:30 or 7. Solid plan.

Too bad they were still planning on holding tennis at 6:30, so I headed up for my 7pm match, and was told at 6:40 they decided to cancel it. It is so frustrating driving up to Edmond and getting ready, just to have them cancel it as soon as I get there. There was lightning all night, but oh well. I got frustrated and decided to not rush home and to the Y for my workout. I got down on myself and made lame excuses. This is what "fatty days" Peterson does, not badass current Peterson.

This is a continuation of my trying to yell at myself and hate on myself. Out of pure coincidence, my friend Allison commented on my last post with a article talking about self motivation... and basically why I am doing it ALLLLLL wrong.

"Think about it. To your mind and body, a harsh, loud voice ordering you around is jarring, regardless of the source. You respond with stress and resistance whether from an outsider imposing his will or you imposing your will upon yourself."

This is a great quote that describes my problem to the T. I bark at myself, I yell at myself, trying to motivate myself to go workout or train. Even though, the thought of competing in the next race or event gives me so much drive and fire, I just cannot seem to connect the power to the ground. Its like I am swedish sportscar with no tires.

The article gives a great suggestion on how to deal with this though. Basically, I need to be more conscience of my self-motivation processes. Think about what is motivating me, relaxing, and not letting stress run my training. It seems so simple, I would never respond well to someone who yelled or barked at me. I would buck them in every way possible. Maybe reading this from someone else is what I needed to get more proactive about this issue.

So thank you to Allison, this is what I was looking for on this blog. Crowd sourcing my way through training and competition. Hopefully there are other that will find great advice from this blog like I already have. Here's to a more positive, conscience mental state going forward... and sorry if the last couple of post have been very negative or down, writing it all down is a great way to point out my negative tendacies and shows me what I need to change. Its all part of the process that I can look back on and laugh at (or is it with? Im confused).

Tomorrow is back to my running, hopefully 6+ miles, and then bricks the rest of the week and the Tulsa Pub Run on Saturday. I need to get the graphs at the bottom of this site moving back upwards ugain.

The full article can be found here.

BONUS: Things that happened while I was writing this post:

4.7 magnitude earthquake (in oklahoma) that shook my entire house

Resultant 5 phone calls

Lots of loud thunder and intense lightning
A full, unopened Dr. Pepper can falling off my end table and exploding all over my room and my Zoot shoes... (fits so well with the title)

Late nights and lame excuses

2011-11-05T09:59:00.001-05:00

I've been pretty busy the past 2 days but have managed to get 2 short workouts in.

I went for a quick 5k in my neighborhood last night. I had some slight pain in my left foot pretty much the whole time, but I think I tied my shoe to tight (I hope). The big issue was that I started having an asthma attack about mile 2, so I just ran back to my house. I haven't had an attack since I was a kid, and I am assuming it is due to the cold air. I guess I'll just keep trying to run outside and hope I acclimate. I will try and look into this more sometime this week.

This morning, my better half got up early and went for a 20mi run so I decided I would go for a swim and cycle at the Y. Too bad I spent 30min looking for my goggles, which I never found. It's a stupid excuse (of which there are many I will try and pass on you readers), but it just threw me off my game. I still went and tried to spin for the first time. It was nice and I can see the workout advantages, but I just wasn't feeling it today. My legs never woke up. It also didn't help that I was slightly hungover from drinks with some friends from out of town last night...

This is, in my opinion, my greatest fault or failure. I do not find the motivation to dig deep and push through days like this. I hate myself for it. The entire time after I left the Y and drove to buy new goggles, I just kept hating on myself. This is my new goal to work on. I need to get over this "Debbie downer" mentality if I am going to be able to push through to iron distance races.

Well it's time for post workout bagels then onto college football. Go pokes!

This shit just got real

2011-11-04T13:02:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to drop a quick note today since I have started publishing the link to this blog.

I hope everyone will enjoy the limited content and keeps coming back to see what becomes of my journey into the craziness that is triathlons. I plan on updating several times a week, and Im sure more once race season comes back around, so while it may not be a flood of expert, quality, humourous information, it is coming! (I will also try to keep the number of run-on sentences down)

I will try and post some pictures from the Tulsa, OK McNellies pub run I am running next weekend (hopefully the only problem is trying to stomach the 3 Guinness beers, and not so much the 4 mile run), as well as the Tulsa Marathon that I will be not running, but will be at supporting my much more talented better half. So check back for more post about all that stuff.

Long term, I will be starting to look at Olympic tri races, as well as some sprint tri's (hopefully some that involve me traveling out of flat Oklahoma...) and working towards a half/full marathon race. Then onward to the 70.3 beast...

I only ask for your feedback. Let me know when something sucks, or is awesome and I'll make sure to stop /or not stop doing it.

Day 4

2011-11-04T07:46:00.005-05:00

I meant to post this last night but got caught up doing other things.

I've finished my second day of brick workouts and the third day of my challenge. I am quite surprised at my lack of soreness. Maybe this is an indication of becoming less of a fat ass and more of an athlete... maybe.

These past two days have also marked my first forays into working out inside the Y. I have not ran on a treadmill in a very long time, and I remembered why very quickly. While it is always nice getting to have all the "look at the wording on my tight yoga pants ass region" girls around (sorry babe), it still gets boring running on a treadmill. In the past 2 days I have only ran 2 and 3.1 miles respectively. I'm hoping that I will get over the immense feeling of boredom soon and be able to focus on increasing past the 6 mile mark.

On Wednesday, I followed my little 2 mile run with a bike session. Note, the stationary bikes suck. The seat is worse than my road bikes' was that one time I rode without cycling shorts on. Its too big (I can find an excuse to hate anything I swear) (there's also a "that's what she said" joke in there, but I'll try and refrain). I still got in a short ride of 8.5 miles before I got bored again and went home. I plan on trying to steal a spin bike next time and put in some longer times. I've only knocked off 30 min of my 15 hr goal.

Yesterday I bricked my 3.1mi run with a 400m swim. I do not think I have ever felt as good as I did yesterday in the water. I usually have to stop every 50yds to 100yds in the pool to catch my breathe but not yesterday, I was managing 150yds to 200yds. My breathing came natural, I fell into a very balanced rhythm, I could feel myself working on my immersion technique instead of just trying to bust out my distance as fast as possible.

Im not sure if the swim felt so good because I had burned off some energy before hand or what, but it was amazing. If I can continue to feel that comfortable, increasing to 1600yds in a session and beyond will come faster than I thought. I will play with this a little next week and see if I can find a correlation between doing my swim last in a brick, and how good the swim goes.

On a final note, I plan on working out tonight and hopefully tomorrow morning, which will keep me on pace for my challenge (please note the new dynamic graphs at the bottom, feel free to call me on days when I "phone in" my workout). I have friends in town so it may be a late night. Ill leave you with the best part of my workout so far this week. I get to walk out of the Y, into the parking lot, and see all the progress on the Devon tower in downtown OKC. It reminds me, if the crappy downtown OKC I grew up in can make itself into the town it is today, I can surely push myself into something I thought I never would be as well.

November Challenge

2011-11-02T22:45:00.006-05:00

Here is a quick post before I hit the sack for the night. I am following the lead of another triathlete blogger (or stealing the idea, however you want to look at it) and setting myself a challenge for November.

Race season is essentially over, other than a few pub runs and 5k's, and I am finding it increasingly hard to get motivated to train and work on my endurance.

Below are my stated goals that I am working towards for the month. I will talk about them more in my next post.

Running : 100 miles (for a run to count, it must be at least 20 min long)
Cycling: 15 hours
Swimming: 6400 yards (4 miles)
Strength: 8 sessions