Week 3 Comes To An End

That's right, I'm already 3 weeks into my Triathlon training, I can hardly believe it.  It was a weird week of workouts.  I worked out at odd times, but the same routines on the same days.  I think that helped me from being bored.  I also discovered the steam room at the Y, LOVE IT!!!  The week ended with a 21 minute run and a set of swimming drills. 

The swimming drills were 1200 yards long that's double my first workout.  The run was 3 sets 5 min run, 2 min walk.  This is the same set up as the last 2 sundays.  I covered 2.5 miles in the 21 minutes, my running pace was 7 min 4 seconds, I've been shooting for 7 min mile pace during my workouts. 

My weight is still dropping, I'm down under 174 pounds today after working out, so 170 is inching closer.  I've got chili cooking in the crockpot, there is swiss steak baking in the oven, and tarragon chicken is gonna get put together this afternoon.  Laundry is tumbling in the basement, I'm calling our DJ in a few minutes to book him for the wedding, then its off to the car wash.  A very busy and very productive day.

When we get back from the car wash it'll be time for USA vs. Canada hockey along with an attempt to fix my leaky kitchen faucet, eeek!!!  Dad, expect a phone call or two.  When that's all done I smell a little Nintendo Wii coming on, either Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, or Smarty pants.

I've got the Wii itch because yesterday we watched my youngest cousin for a couple hours.  His older sister Maggie had a middle school basketball tournament in town.  After the first game she started having chest pains and trouble breathing.  We watch Ethan while they had Maggie checked out.  Turns out she was just dehydrated and they went on to take 2nd place in the tourney.  Meanwhile Ethan came shopping with Lisa and I for bike bibs, played a rousing game of 8 ball on my pool table (it used to be our grandfathers), and then played guitar hero and mario kart with me. 

I found 5 pairs of bibs yesterday at my Local Bike Shop (Healhty Habits) here in the quad cities.  I got 2 sets of Craft Bibs Mediums, normally priced in the $170, a pair of Craft Bibs Small normally priced in the $120, a pair of Craft Bibs Small normally priced in the $100 range, and a pair of Louis Garneau normally priced in the $80 range.  The kicker I only spent $350 on all of these bibs, in essence I bought the 2 high quality pair and got the other 3 for free!  The best part of the news was that I fit into small bibs! 

Well one more week of the initiation phase of my Triathlon Training, then I get 8 weeks of the base phase.  The end of the initiation phase also marks the end my laid back weeks.  March is loaded with fantasy baseball drafts and the NCAA wrestling tournament.  All that leads into Easter, 5k's, etc...  Thanks for checking in for another exciting blog post.  Have a happy and healthy week.

Amazing News

So first of all we took Lisa over to Iowa City last night to have her feet re-examined at Running wild.  They moved her from a moderate support shoe to a neutral support shoe, hoping that her left foot would still not go numb, but that the pain she was experiencing in her right foot would also go away.  The extra support on the arch was causing her to run on the outside of her right foot.  She's at the gym trying them out right now!  Hopefully she comes home with Amazing News!

For me the amazing news happened at the YMCA shortly after 10am.  I made arrangements to take a long lunch today because the Y was offering free Body Fat testing with calipers, circumference measurements, and blood pressure readings.  Now I've been doing circumference measurements since December I've gone from a 39" chest to a 37.5" chest, measured under the pecs.  I've gone from a 41.75" hips to a 39" hips measured around the widest part of the hips.  I've gone from a 16.25" neck to a 15.25" neck, and from a 39.75" waist to a 35.25" waist measured 1 inch above the belly button(more of a belly measurement than a waist measurement).  I've also never had a problem with my blood pressure, today it was 120/68.  Usually its around 110/70.

What I was really excited for was the caliper testing of the body fat.  I've been using a floor scale at home that reads body fat % and hydration %, I've also been using the scale at the gym that uses electric current to measure body fat %.  I've heard and read that these scales are very sensitive to how hydrated you are and I've seen first hand that the scale can give me a 6-10% swing depending on what side of a workout I'm on. 

I've done some research on caliper testing and while it is more accurate than these scales there is human error involved and each person may test each subject a little bit differently.  I still was anxious to see how the calipers stacked up to the scales.  The scales have shown me anywhere from 12.7% to 24.5% over the last 2 weeks.  Usually my reading is between 16% and 22%.  I expected the calipers to come in around 15% body fat, but they shocked me by coming in at.... boy did I bury this lead or what....  10.9%  That's right I'm under 11% body fat, now accounting for error I could be as high as 15% but I'm much lower than I expected to be.

What this means most of all is that my weight loss goal of 165 seems to be unhealthy.  I had made that goal based on a body fat % in the mid to upper teens.  I have reset my weight loss goal to 170, and I've dialed back my daily plate goal to 1 pound per week.  And since I weighed out at 175.7# tonight I have 6 weeks until I hit my final number.

Moral of the story: Hu Hot makes anything better

So I did my 2nd T15 of my training season, and at first I wasn't very happy with the results, but the more I've thought about it, I'm happy with my improvement.  I swam 750 yards in 14 minutes 50 seconds.  That is 100 yards farther than my last T15 which was only 2 weeks ago!

I also was cheered up by the fact that my running seems to be going very well, I was running at or faster than 7:00 per mile during my workout before the T15.  My weight loss continues to go well, I'm 1.3 pounds down from where I was a week ago.

This weekend in Des Moines, Bike World is having a warehouse sale.  Shawn and I are planning on heading over early saturday to be there when the doors open.  Shawn is looking at a new trek and I'm looking for inexpensive bib shorts.  I was hoping to also shop for things to get my brother outfitted for riding, but his team won their dual meet last night and he'll be in CR for the state team dual tournament.

See Shawn is buying a new bike, I'm buying his old bike(since it has better components and a triple crankset) and then selling my bike(double crankset, good beginner bike) to my brother, everyone wins.  I swear by this time next year I'll be done buying things to get me started in this hobby and I can just go out and ride and have a good time....right?

One last note, we took Lisa to Running Wild in Iowa City, she was having issues with her left foot going numb while she was running in her Nike's.  Running Wild suggested she go up a 1/2 shoe size and switch to a medium support shoe.  We picked out some New Balance shoes that fit well and felt good on her feet, the numbness problem is solved!!! However, there is a new problem, now she is getting pain along her arch on the outside edge of her other foot....so tonight we are making an over and back trip to Iowa City, to try and rectify this newest problem.  On the bright side we get to have Hu Hot for dinner.

This week is going to be a whirlwind, I need a vacation pretty soon, good thing NCAA wrestling finals are coming up quickly.

Week 2 done

Well I've finished off my 2nd week of Triathlon training.  The swimming workouts have gotten much longer up to 1000 yards from 600 yards, and I've made my way through the first color set of drills.  Tuesday I start in on the Blue set, and do my first T15 since training has started, we'll see how much of an improvement I've made.

My initial T15 was 650 yards.  I'm hoping to break 800 this time around.  I tweaked my ankle running on the treadmill last Thursday but it was just fine running yesterday afternoon at the Y so no worries there. 

My biggest hurdle right now is being able to count my laps when running at the YMCA's.  The downtown Y has a 1/14th of a mile loop and the Bettendorf Y is a 1/16th of a mile loop.  20 minutes of running leads to nearly 40 laps, which is really really easy to lose count.  My heart rate monitor tracks distance, but it is based on stride length and I don't have it fully dialed in yet so my speed and distance is off on that as well, such is life, maybe by race day I'll have it perfected.

I've got 2 pretty easy weeks leading up to the start of Fantasy Baseball drafts then its my trip to Omaha for the NCAA Wrestling Finals.

The best 4 word sentence in the english language

PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT!!!!!!

That's right starting tomorrow, training camps will open up all around baseball.  Some actually don't start until later this week, but this means spring is getting closer. The Baseball Prospectus is out, Bill James has released his handbook, Fantasy Baseball magazines have hit the shelves, the Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast has started taping (check it out on espnradio.com or on itunes for free)  

Fantasy baseball drafts are coming up I've got 3 leagues this year, a free Head to Head points based league that I put together to introduce some first timers to fantasy baseball.  A lot of the people have played fantasy football and I'm hoping this is an easy transition for them into the wonderful world of Fantasy Baseball.

The 2nd league is my longtime Head to Head points based league we had all 10 members return this year which is GREAT!   Should be a very competitive league.  We did tweak some rules this year so it will be fun to see how everyone adjusts.

The 3rd league is my favorite league because it is a Roto Style league.  The league is very competitive and will come down to the final 2 or 3 weeks of the season.  We are doing an auction style draft for this league which is the first time I've done a baseball auction draft, that alone makes this league fully interesting.  

Tune in throughout the season to see how good or bad my teams are doing and listen to me whine about all the bad breaks I've suffered not only from my fantasy team, but from the horrible Chicago Cubs that do nothing but break my heart year in and year out.  But like a battered wife I can't leave them, they just keep sucking me back in.
 

Weight goals

I hit another goal on the wii fit today.  I weighed out at 177.9 pounds.  The wii fit didn't even yell at me this time for losing the weight too quickly like it did the last time.  I got a fireworks display and a chance to set my next goal.  I picked 13 pounds in 2 months or 1.5 pounds per week.  That will put me at 165 pounds in mid April right before my first 5k of the year. 

165 has a major significance for me.  When I was a senior in High School I ran cross country at 165 pounds, and when I turned 18 and got a new driver's license I weight 165 pounds.  According to my license I weighed that for 3 years, but we all know I was 185 when I started college and 205 when I got my new license.  The next 2 months are very very important for my weight loss goal and that just happens to coincide with the most important 2 months of my triathlon training. 

In other news, Lisa and I tried out some new soup recipes.  One for Chicken and Potato Gnocci soup which was pretty good and the other for Chicken and Wild Rice which I really liked.  I got that recipe from my cousin's blog

http://vitality-beyondfitness.blogspot.com/

My cousin majored in Nutrition at Iowa State University, and while it is the lesser of the 2 between U of I and ISU she really seems to know here stuff.  If you are interested in Nutrition information her blog is a good source for basics, recipes, etc....

Triathlon Training #2

Well I finished the first week of Tri training.  I don't feel like I was pressed for time anymore than a normal week of training, I did feel there were days that I wasn't doing enough, but Tuesday and Thursday made up for that.  My body isn't sore, I think that is a really good sign, and I feel like my swimming form is getting better the drills really do make sense at making it easier.  Week 2 of 17 starts tomorrow, with lifting, abs, stretching after work, I get to sleep in tomorrow morning!  

It was a busy day here today, laundry, grocery shopping, workouts, making 2 batches of home-made soup, along with doing Lisa's taxes.  I didn't finish the airbus yesterday, in fact no one did....at least in the allotted time.  Austin took it down in 47 minutes and has vowed to try again and win this time.  I did a long and hard enough workout yesterday that I stayed under my net calories for the day. 

This week should be the end of me in the 180's.  I'm hovering between 178 and 181, by this time next week that shouldn't be a problem!  Thanks for checking in :)

Weekend of Meat: Airbus Challenge and Dollar Hot Dogs

So this weekend I have dubbed the weekend of meat.  Friday night is a home wrestling meet for the Iowa Hawkeyes, it's also dollar hot dog night at Carver Hawkeye Arena.  So my weekend is going to begin with me eating way too many hot dogs and watching the Iowa Hawkeye wrestlers dominate another overmatched opponent.

Saturday is the big day though, the morning is going to start off with a 90 min - 2 hour workout (need to burn enough calories)  I'll do a 45 min bike ride as part of my triathlon training and through in 60-90 minutes on the elliptical, followed by some shopping for new furniture for the Acacia Fraternity house.  When that is all done around 1:30PM I will head down to the Airliner Bar to take on the Airbus challenge.

The airbus is a burger that is 2 patties over a pound of beef, 4 slices of cheese, 4 slices of bacon, 3 onion rings, a pound of french fries, a giant bun, plus lettuce tomato and pickles.  If you can eat the whole burger in 30 minutes or less you get a free T-Shirt!   I've estimated this meal as 3300 calories!  Now you understand the long workout. 

There are at least 4 of us attempting the challenge, maybe as many as 6 of us.   If you want to come down and eat a normal sized meal and help cheer us on we'll be at the Airliner at 1:30PM.  Pictures to come next week with results of the carnage.

http://www.dailyfork.com/2009/02/the_airliner_bar_dares_you_to.php

QCA Rap Group Black Fist Entertainment

I would like to thank Joe Gro for the link to this music video, check it out, there are some talented individuals in the QCA

Triathlon Training #1

I started the Tri-training on Monday.  Monday's are the really light day, I do a 10 minute warmup on the elliptical do 6 lifting exercises as supersets with no rest 3 sets of 20 reps, I do a set of ab and core muscle exercises and finish up with 15 minutes of stretching. 

If Monday is my easy day then Tuesday is the tough one.... I got up at 4am and got on the trainer.  I rode the bike for 20 minutes, got my heart rate up above 75% of max heart rate and held it there for the 20 minutes.  After work, I headed down to the downtown YMCA to run 5 sets at 3min run/1min walk followed by 2 sets of drills out of the fitness swimming book.

It felt good to be back in the water and I kept my heart rate between 65% and 70% max heart rate.  The drills are focusing on balance in the water, proper positioning to limit drag an proper technique to increase power.  I think I did pretty well, and the points of focus for the workouts were easy to feel and adjust for. 

For Wednesday the workout is one set of drills, should only take 20 minutes which is great.  I like quick and easy lets me get home and take care of some things around the house.

Triathlon Introduction

Since I've decided to do RAGBRAI(biking) and all these running races, I figured a triathlon is only a little bit extra training(swimming), and since I used to be a pretty good swimmer or at least good enough to teach Red Cross Swimming lessons and be a lifeguard at the good old Chariton Municipal Swimming Pool, I figured my swimming skills would come back to me.

My sister has done a few triathlons and my brother did his first one last year.  Since my brother has decided part of the challenge of a triathlon should be doing it without any training he wasn't going to be any help with setting up my training regiment, so I turned to my sister.

Cassie hooked me up with a couple books (Fitness Swimming, and Strength Training for Triathlons).  The strength training book had a suggested training schedule for a triathlon and I used that to set my schedule for the next 17 weeks.  The swimming workouts/drills I took from the fitness swimming book starting with the green(beginner) workouts and working my way through the purple(intermediate).

If everything goes as planned when the Copper Creek triathlon gets here I will have completed one competitive 5k(River Run), done 4 weeks of initiation work, 8 weeks of base work, 4 weeks of race work, and 1 week of taper.  I've set a very conservative goal of 80 minutes, but deep down I would love to break 70 minutes. 

My goals for each leg are Swimming: 13 minutes for 750m swim that's swimming at 1.04 meters/second, and would put me in the top 75 for that leg based on last years numbers.  Biking 33 minutes: for 20k(12.4 miles) that's riding at 22.5 miles per hour, and would put me in the top 50 for that leg based on last years numbers.  Running: 23 minutes for 5k(3.1 miles) that's running at 8 miles per hour or 7 minute 25 second miles, that would put me in the top 100 for that leg based on last years numbers.  My goal is to keep my transition times down to a total of 3 minutes.  Add that all up and you get 72 minutes, meaning I need to figure out a way to shave 2 minutes off those times.  That's what the next 4 months is about.  I think the running portion gives me the biggest room for improvement.

Tune for updates on the training and race results.

Economic Downturn leads to Weight Downturn

This story starts way before January 2009, but that's where we will be picking it up.  The economy had taken a turn for the worse, the manufacturing plant I was working at had to lay off almost 1/4 of its employees.  I was supervising the 3rd shift. 

Since most of my shift was laid off, and because production was so slow all the employees were moved to the 1st shift.  This was the impetus for change in my life.  Being on a normal schedule allowed me to start working out on a more regular basis and I decided I was going to do the River Run in Iowa City and the Bix 7 in the Quad Cities.

I started training for both runs at the same time Ultimate Fitness, the gym I use in the quad cities, started a Biggest Loser competition.  I weighed in for the competition at 220 pounds and 33% body fat, a very impressive starting figure for a guy who is 5'8" tall and used to wrestle at 145 pounds and 5% body fat. 

Over the 2 months of the competition I got my lungs and heart used to working hard again and got my muscles to stop aching when I spent an hour lifting weights.  I also got my body weight down to 205 and my body fat down to 25%. This was good enough to earn me 3rd place in the contest!

I ran River Run, I ran Bix, I did 3 days of RAGBRAI, I ran Run with Carl, it felt like a good year but my weight loss had leveled out.  Going into the Hawkeye's Historic 2009 football season I was 207 pounds and 24% body fat.  I had maintained the results of the previous winter but hadn't made much for gains.

Football season is not an opportune time to lose weight and nothing really kicked in until my sister introduced me to The Daily Plate a wonderfull FREE website that allows you to track your calories consumed, track your calories burned, and to set weight loss/gain goals for yourself on a weekly basis. 

Food journaling has been the key to my success since then.  Over the fall I competed in another Biggest loser competition at my gym with very little success. I did finish 10th, not amazing but still placed.  I decided I had one last big push left in me and on November 30th I weighed in.  Thanksgiving had just ended, Christmas, New Years, and the Hawkeye's Bowl game were around the corner.  I knew the first 4 weeks were going to be extremely crucial to form habits that would carry through the holidays and beyond.

I started at a weight of 205 pounds and a body fat percentage around 24%.  I focused on cardio using the elliptical at the gym and riding my road bike on a trainer in the basement.  As of today, according to my scale at home, I'm 180 pounds and around 16% body fat. 

I've decided that I will be running River Run, Bix 7, Moonlight Chase, Run with Carl, doing the entire week of RAGBRAI, and completing my first triathlon this year.  I've set my weight loss goal at 170 pounds and 14% body fat. 

I've also entered another Biggest Loser competition at the gym  I weight in at 188 pounds and 26% according to their scale.  Currently their scale is reading me around 180 pounds and 20.3% body fat.  I should have a great showing in this competition.

Links to all these races are posted to the side along with a link to The Daily Plate.   Thanks for coming along with me on this journey, its going to be a blast!

The Begging of the Blog

I've decided to start blogging about my health transformation, my return to athletics, and random sports rants. Basically this is a journal for me but it will include links to websites I find useful or interesting along with a way for me to vent some of my frustrations or accomplishments.