Personal Success

So here is a little story about me and some friends. So a few years back, I used to be on the heavier side, as in I weighed 253 lbs and was like a fat tick that had been sucking on the hind side of a cow for 3 days. I loved to smoke, drink, and eat unhealthy foods like a pirate enjoys rum. The only problem was that by leading a lifestyle like this was what led me to be so over weight. So one day I stepped on a scale and decided to change it all. I wanted to eat better, exercise and loose weight. The way I went about doing this was to begin by eating 3 meals a day and raising my heart rate for a minimum of 30 minutes per day at least 5 days a week. The main exercise that I would do was running. I would get on a treadmill and run for 30minutes everyday no matter what. As I began this process, the weight began to drop from my bones like the rain from the sky. At first it was hard then it became easy and enjoyable.

I guess I have better will power or self-control and some people just can’t do it, but loosing weight is simple. Don’t eat shit and exercise. Also works out to this simple equation:

Calories Burned Per Day > Calories Consumed Per Day = Weight Loss

It’s that simple people. Anyways through this process I lost a bunch of weight and I am now down to 178lbs. Thru this whole process it wasn’t the big losses that impacted my life the most it was all of the big gains. What I mean by that is I gained something that has truly had an impact in my life in some many ways. I gained a love for running, and eventually swimming and biking. This new found love an appreciation for an active lifestyle have not only impacted my outlook on life but I feel have had an impact on others lives as well. This was most apparent this past weekend in Madison, Wisconsin.

Back in November 2007 a long time friend Laura approached me about running a half marathon. I gave her a run down on everything I knew about running and all of my lessons learned. I told her that day that if she signed up for a half marathon, I would come and run it with her and support her the entire 13.1 miles. Well come February of this year she signed up for her first Half Marathon in Madison, Wisconsin on Memorial Day Weekend. It also turns out that my sister lives in Madison. So I planned on visiting with them and hanging with my friends for the long weekend. While all of this was happening my sister has become a triathlete and set her sights on a sprint distance triathlon. I was so happy to hear that she has also found the sport that I love.

On Saturday morning I went with my sister for her first open water swim in Madison. I could tell she was a bit nervous but I knew all along she would do just fine. We got into the water and swam for about 25 minutes. It was a good swim and the she came out of the water saying all the same things that people who have never swam in open water say the first time they swim. I gave her a few pointers here and there but she did great, and I was really happy to be there for support.

Endurance sports are an enigma in the sense that while you are racing you have no team to support you but you can rely on others for encouragement and support while racing. Its perplexing but every race I have ever done people will also be there to encourage you and help push you forward. To complete an endurance event requires that one put time and effort into training for it. Most of this training is many times done solo, with just yourself and no one else. It can be mentally taxing at times but rewarding. In fact it is one of the reasons I like the sport because, my training time is my time and no one else’s time. So with all of that being said, I wanted to be there for my sister and for Laura as their team.

I am glad to know that I can help support others in their effort and search for endurance sport achievements. I am appreciative of the fact that I was able to run with Laura for 13.1 miles and encourage her along the way. It also was extremely nice of her to say that she enjoyed my presence along the course and express her gratitude for the encouragement I provided her. That was one of the best feelings in the world to hear her say those words.

With this story now being told I want to bring it full circle and comment on how my losses (weight) turned into gains (love of running), which in my heart has made me who I am today. I also feel like this transformation that I have undergone has had an impact on others lives as well. I can think of numerous people who are close friends or family that gone and since done similar endurance type events to what I have completed. I have since day 1 always encouraged everyone and anyone who expresses interest in running in a race or something to do it. I am always glad to offer anything I can do to help them along the way as well. I hope that I can eventually reach out to many other people to set a goal and achieve it.

There is no better way to describe how you feel after completing an endurance event; that is “PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT”. I feel that the reasons for this are numerous and plentiful as the sea is deep. One of the major reasons this feeling encompasses your body when you finish an endurance event is that “YOU” and no one else but you ran that 13.1 miles or swam, biked, and ran 140.6 miles. All of this you did and no one can ever take that away from you no matter what. I am glad to see others achieving personal success and allowing me to be a part of it, for that I am grateful.

Have a good day!

This busy life, this busy life, we're all just hanging on...

Well I had a 6 mile tempo run this evening and wanted to make it 7 but I had to cut it short. For quite sometime now, I have been interested in purchasing a pair of racing flats. The reason for this is 2 fold. One its widely known amongst runners and published many times in runnersworld that a runner can shave 2 seconds off his mile/min time with each ounce you drop in shoe weight. The current shoe that I have been wearing weighs in about 13 - 14 oz and shoe I purchased weighs only 9.5oz. I purchased the Zoot Ultra Tempo +. I suggest you click on the link and check out all the specs. So right off the bat, I am shaving approximately 4 seconds off my minute per mile time and in say a 6.21 mile race this would equate to a total of almost 50 seconds off my entire race. That is alot of time. The second biggest factor is that it gets hot in Texas and I sweat profusely, especially my feet. My other running shoes may start out at 14oz but by the end of 7 - 13 miles they could weigh upwards of my guess 20 oz. I know after my Half Ironman, my shoes felt like bricks, from all the sweat and water I was pouring on myself. So these ZOOT shoes have special drainage holes and also don't hardly retain any water. This was one of their goals in design. I feel this will help me significantly. They also are designed to wear barefoot, so I can save an extra 30 sec in transition.

So today I went for my first run in them and I wore socks of course and will slowly start to not wear socks a little bit each run every now and then. Because remember these shoes are also only for my races. All I can say is that I felt fast and I think that guy in the store that told me he is very surprised someone recommended me the shoes they did 3 years, because I needed a neutral shoe and not a mild stability shoe. I felt smoother running in the and my foot strike felt more natural. My next pair of shoes will not be a pair of New Balance 768's. I will go with what he recommended a pair of Brooks Defiance. For me I always thought if its not broke don't fix it but, I guess it always helps to get another opinion on what type of shoes I should wear. I think I will go to another store and see what type of shoes they recommend as well. I will also not tell them what I wear and I what others have said. This will be like my own little science experiment. 

So this is a big training week for me. I have about almost 6000 yards in the pool, I will have almost 20 running, and end up with about 65 miles on the bike. I am doing the Memphis in May Olympic Distance Triathlon on Sunday. Its in Memphis obviously ! We have a free place to stay so Tommy, me and Mike are all gonna do it. This will be Mike's first long distance triathlon. Its gonna be a great day for him.

For me, I am just excited to race and be amongst good company. I feel like I can set a new PR for myself and hope that the weather is great. I am looking forward to averaging above 21 mph on the bike, and also hoping to hit less than 8 min/mile on the run. For the swim, I would like to see myself end up with a time of about 26 - 28 min. I really want to ice my transitions too. I will be for the first time trying to jump on the bike with shoes already on it. I think even though I don't use rubber bands when I practice I am gonna get some and try it on Saturday evening. I am actually really glad I am doing this race before my next Half Ironman race. It will be another good gauge for how my training has gone since my march race. I did alot of traveling and didn't do all I wanted to do.

But really the truth is work is really busy and so is training. I just have to start to suck it up because I also know that there will be times at work that it is not so busy too. I am thinking today I will put another quote on the wall to look at. I already have:

Discipline is doing what you don't want to do so you can do what you really want to do.

I will add this one or something like it...

Even if you had a bad day, an evening workout will always make you feel better.

These quotes are kind of for morning and night respectively, in that when you want to hit snooze, don't because if you do you will never get the joy from finishing that second half ironman. And also when you just want to eat and go to bed at 8pm don't because you can get in an hour workout and then eat and be in bed by 9pm instead, and if you had a shitty day the endorphins from the exercise will make you feel even better.

Oh by the way if you see these things in the grocery store called sweet potatoes buy them. They are great, and you can really easily cook them in the microwave and unlike a potato they actually taste good with nothing on them, and I think they might be better for you too, I am not sure on that one. I am now hooked and they only take like 6 minutes and they really fill you up.

Too busy at work to post but not too busy to work out

So I haven't posted in a while, but its mainly been because I have been working alot then I come right home and either work out or just go right to bed. Last weekend I went on a trip to Austin, TX. I was able to take my new car that I got since my old one got totaled. I purchased the same thing a G35 4 door car but its a different color, graphite silver. My trip to Austin was for a 90 mile ride from Austin, TX to Shiner, TX. The reason we rode to Shiner was to visit the Shiner Bock Brewery The ride proceeds went towards the Lance Armstrong Foundation. It was a fun time. My 2 friends Mike and Tommy also did the ride with me. We stayed in one of the nastiest hotels ever. But we probably spent less than 16 hours there the entire weekend so it wasn't bad for the price. We ended up only riding 85 and we made it to the Brewery and proceed to eat fajita's and drink ice cold shiner bock beer. I have posted some pictures below. My friend Tommy had 3 flats during the ride. They only gave you 4 free beers and you couldn't buy more, but us being the people we are, managed to have a few more. A great time was had by all. After the ride we had motor coaches take us back to Austin. Once in Austin we met up with a friend of mine Ann. I met Ann through my old girlfriend and I always have a great time hanging out with her.

I had a good series of workouts so far this week. I took sunday and monday off to recover from the ride and rest my body. On tuesday I did a 6 mile run in the morning, then on wednesday I swam 2500yds in the morning and did 30 minutes of yoga in the evening. Today on thursday, I did 20 minutes of Yoga in the morning and I had speed work this evening. I was a bit apprehensive as I haven't done track speed work in a while. I normally only do tempo runs that are close to half marathon pace or about 7:00 min per mile. So today I started off with really easy jogging for 2.5 miles to the track, then when I got to the track I proceeded to do 4 x 800m intervals at 3:00 minutes per 800m with a 1:45 min rest interval in between each 800m. I finished it off with some plyometrics, or like skips, and karaoke twists, etc. Then I had an easy 2.5 mile cool down run back to my apartment. So I logged in 7 miles today. Tomorrow, I am planning to go for a nice easy ride for about 1 - 2 hours after work, and scheduling a 15mi run on saturday morning.

What has been nice lately is that I have been riding my bike to work. Its great because I don't waste gas, its good for the environment, and it takes almost the same amount of time to drive as it does ride. I think I will begin to do this more often especially since my work has now changed our dress code. I no longer have to wear a tie to work. I am now allowed to just wear khakis and a button down. This is way more conducive to riding a bike to work as opposed to slacks and a tie. 

Training has been good and am a little tight from running but will continue my yoga and all will be good.