Race report and back to training

Raced this weekend in the Jetton Sprint. It was my first ever open water swim, in fact the it was the first time I have ever swum for time in open water. Spent plenty of time swimming in oceans and bays but never in a race.   My race report is here:

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=440120

I finished second in my race category – not sure what to think of this.  Given it was my first open water swim, not bad. Actually lost in transitions – the bike portion was spot on. Time to work on open water.

The two weeks leading up to the race and especially the last few days up to the race were super hectic and stressful. Although I felt rested the morning of the race, I know the stress was not what I needed for the race. But I was reminded what I was doing here –

Much more than a win or loss – its about a mission. So its back to training hard core again.

Changing up training

I have been following a training program for most of the year:

Monday run and lift, Tuesday swim and spin/bike, Wednesday is spin with a a brick, and lift, Thursday is a long run, and Friday was swim and lift. Saturday was a big day of at least two of swim, bike run – and every fourth week the volume came down. Been a great routine. But its time for a change.

Much how I have changed my lift routine every 8 weeks or so – its time for a change. So Monday I am adding the swim for long course – and looking for a long ride on Tuesday. Trying to add an athletic conditioning class or two in as well – think football or lacrosse workouts here lead by the guy who does my personal training.  It’s a great workout.

Want to add more swimming, including more open water. Running – looking to make it harder so start adding incline on the treadmill – volume with running has never been the issue – but maybe more riding versus running. Its hard to make it all fit.  But I need to change things up to keep it exciting and not make it exercise..

Next Race is right now June 9th at Latta

Dealing with disappointment in racing

I had circled the end of April on my calendar for one of my “A” races of the year, the Huntersville Sprint. It marked my one year anniversary in the sport. My training was pointing to this race, with a true taper.

As the race approached, I was ready. My weight was great, my rest was perfect – felt great. The day before I changed tubes on my bike as I added a disc cover. Felt great the morning of the race.

Hit the swim and it went well – was almost a minute faster than last year and T1 was the same. Grabbed the bike and was ready to explode when my tire burst about 300 yards into the ride.  I walked back into the transition area where bike tech changed my tube and promptly blew the new tube. My tire was shredded by the bead. I was done for the day, big fat DNF.

I was crushed. took me a while but I loaded my bike stuff up and turned in my chip. Loaded everything into the car and saw the results for the first part of the race. Figured I would have podiumed the race (later confirmed it). I went home – just crushed. I had done it to myself in changing the tube.  Felt so stupid.

I went that morning for a long ride and my bike was trashed. It was in sad shape. but I rode anyways to forget. Over the this day and the next two I trained hard, partly because I needed to release the energy and partly as I way to just get over the disappointment.

What’s next

I took my bike to the shop and got it overhauled. I finished its transition to a a full TT setup . New handlebar, brakes with cables and new shifters with cables, and a new chain. I took the bike out right after its overhaul and it was just plain fast. Feels great and I am in a very, very good aero spot.

I race again this week at Jetton Tri – my first open water swim. I am anxious and nervous all in the same breathe. I want to do an Olympic race but I am struggling for the right one. Over the mountain sounds really nasty but it fits my schedule..

What did I learn

Mistakes happen – the question is how do you recover. I got over the race in about two days – it was hard to look at the results knowing I should have finished no worse than third. But its just a race.

The purpose of training is to race; and I will race again. I am new to the sport and have lots to learn. And I now have a goal for 2013 – HFFA sprint – I owe you one and I will get mine.

Turning my road bike into more of a triathlon bike

I bought a road bike but I train and ride for triathlons. So as I get ready to enter race season, I have been obsessing about do I need a true triathlon bike? I like my road bike a lot. So here is the plan so far.

1. I have clip on aero bars – had them since I had the road bike. I have been focusing on the fit here

2. I picked up for cheap a profile design altair full carbon front wheel tire – I really have liked this one a bunch

3. I focused on my body geometry and getting tighter and closer – so I bought a new seat and post – a Profile Design Profile Fast Forward Aluminum Seatpost and a Profile Design Tri Stryke Ti seat – to get me closer to a 78 degree angle

4. I flipped my stem from +6 to a –6 to lower my body into a more aggressive angle.

So far what are the results – I think it is as good as it will get – its as close to a true TT bike that I can get it – and my test rides feel good, less tired legs and more power with less effort. Stay tuned

Why I run on a treadmill

One of the most interesting if not controversial parts of my fitness routine is not that I run but where. Simply put, I run almost exclusively on a treadmills. The only  time I do not run is for races.

I get a lot of advise to not do this – but here is the reason why. My doctor, who has seen the MRI of left knee with degenerative arthritis, has consistently told me stick to treadmills. The cushion from treadmills is important to my overall health. So, I am stuck to being a hamster.

A couple of things:

1. I know that my run times on the treadmill do not translate to the road times; but not sure how to translate them.

2. It gets a boring and lately been looking for treadmill workouts lately to make things more interesting

My motivation towards triathlons

My oldest daughter calls me a freak, because I workout so much. My wife is concerned because of the time I spend at the gym. And I find myself working out really hard some days, to the point of exhaustion. Why? What is the the motivation. I have three reasons that I can identify.

1. I never, ever want to meet this man again

I never want to be this big again – having lost the weight, I have a real fear and thus commitment to keep the weight off. As I told my wife, this is a daily fight – there are foods that I just crave and love that what caused me to weigh over 300 pounds plus a lack of exercise. So the mirror and scale are my friends, and a measure of where I need to focus.

2.  I want to win or do what I can to win

I am very competitive – when I was into golf I took my handicap from the high teens down to a 5 at one point.  If I am going to  race, I want to do what I can to be competitive. The fact that I was able to finish on the podium at some local races last year has made me more committed in the off season to step up my training. Plus I am still new in this sport, and trying to find myself in it.  The fact is the Huntersville Sprint at the end of April will mark my 1 year anniversary in the sport.

I picked up some training materials and made a commitment to training, hiring a personal trainer, and developing a focus on getting fitter and hopefully faster. So my motivation is to go what I can to make myself as prepared as I can when it comes time again to toe the line.

3. I need a competitive hobby and golf is out

I need hobbies that let me compete. I believe men my age need hobbies to balance life and for me it needs to have a competition, with goals and ways to measure myself.

I use to play golf a ton, but with a new work schedule and a set of creaky knees I have not had the time to play golf. I gave up my membership to my golf club (that was a hard decision but I could not justify the costs). For now, that’s triathlons. Part of the motivation is to see how far I can go – and to challenge myself to get better, fitter, stronger and faster. What about longer distances?

Likes talk training–the whys and the hows

Time for a training update – last year I picked up this oh so little book – Triathlete’s Training Bible – in which it discusses training plans (shock) and periodization. I decided after reading it, I would give it a try along with two other things: logging every workout in more detail and hiring a personal trainer (shudder) – so the rest of this blog will be an update

Personal Trainer

This one was actually a tough choice – I have been lifting on my own for a while while losing weight and then training – but I knew I was in a bad rut. At the gym I train at, there are several certified trainers. In fact, choosing one was going to be interesting – you see people know me and my story – so whomever I chose, I was choosing sides. I went with a guy name Bear Robinson. Why Bear? Because his company is named Hardcore Serious Fitness (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hardcore-Serious-Fitness/104629356283710), the name is absolutely spot on; and it is basically what I needed. So Bear and have gotten together 3 times now – he devices a workout, we do it and then he emails to me. I do the workout for 4 to 8 weeks and then we change.

What has been the effect? Pure awesomeness – look his workouts are hard – when we change over like we did last week I dread them. I hurt a lot and some days they just plain suck.

But, He has made me stronger, my core has improved dramatically (have a little bit of six pack wanting to emerge) – I have seen dramatic improvements in my running, and my riding is stronger (having a stronger core translates to more aero longer).

I still have no balance ( I might have the worst balance of anyone EVER) – but Bear is trying. The only part that has not seen improvement is my swimming but I think it will come. So personal trainer was a big plus.

Logging every workout

I had been logging my workouts on dailymile.com. When I purchased a Garmin 305, it opened a whole new world for logging my workouts. I settled on SportTracks as my desktop solution. Thanks to my friend Jonathan Savage and his plugin, I am able to load my workouts from SportTracks to dailymile. I wrote my own plugin for loading the workout to TrainingPeaks. Why two – not sure yet to be honest.

SportTracks also opened me to the idea of Training Load, which I have been tracking. This has been spot on for me. yesterday I was tired, and did not wan to work out. However, I had rested and how strong workouts, which more of a reflection of my training load and not my actual rest. Conversely, I had plenty of rest in the  past but no legs – and my training load help me understand the why.

Logging workouts also gives a view of what I have done – PRs, old rides, etc. So big fan – huge tool. You cant manage what you don’t measure – so logging the workouts, although tedious are are about analysis.

Links

http://www.trainingpeaks.com/ui/public/profile.aspx?p=Chris%20K%20Brown

http://www.dailymile.com/people/chriskbrown#ref=tophd

Training Plans

So the plan – its been interesting. I started my fourth period this week (Base 1). Each period is suppose to be 4 weeks, three weeks of work with a week of recovery. Here is some feedback:

1. The 4 weeks period is important – to fit my schedule I stretched some periods to five weeks (adding a 4th work week); sounded great but it really was hard

2. Rest week is important – when I did the extra week it made really hard to get my accumulated recovery back. Very, very hard.

3. It works – I am getting stronger but it’s a long road. The base period has been about expanding by aerobic base (Duh) – lots of spin classes followed by runs, double workouts (swam and biked today). I am getting either near or at the best shape of my life thanks to this plan.

4. Its a lot of hours in the gym – to get 2 hours of work in is like 2.5 plus hours in the gym. I had to scale back my actual work load after three weeks. I over estimated what I could do. And the actual hour thing – well that’s the hard part. I honestly have no idea how someone could do more – its beyond me.

So where am I – I am getting tired of training frankly – I need some races to help stem the tide and break up the monotony of training. I am also ready for it to warm up so I can ride outside more. First, because I am tired of spin classes and second because it is longer workouts (a 25 mile ride outside is over an hour while 30 plus miles is getting into the 2 hr range).

Start Date End Date Phase Planned Hrs Actual Hrs Race 10/31/2011 11/6/2011 Base 1 7.5 9   11/7/2011 11/13/2011 Base 1 9 11.25   11/14/2011 11/20/2011 Base 1 10 10.75   11/21/2011 11/27/2011 Base 1 10 8.5   11/28/2011 12/4/2011 R&R 6 6   12/5/2011 12/11/2011 Base 2 8.5 9.5   12/12/2011 12/18/2011 Base 2 11 11   12/19/2011 12/25/2011 Base 2 11 10.75   12/26/2011 1/1/2012 Base 2 10 9.5   1/2/2012 1/8/2012 R&R 5 5 5k 1/9/2012 1/15/2012 Base 3 8.5 8.5   1/16/2012 1/22/2012 Base 3 10 10   1/23/2012 1/29/2012 Base 3 11 11.25   1/30/2012 2/5/2012 R&R 5.5 5.5   2/6/2012 2/12/2012 Build 1 9.5     2/13/2012 2/19/2012 Build 1 10     2/20/2012 2/26/2012 Build 1 9.5     2/27/2012 3/4/2012 R&R 5     3/5/2012 3/11/2012 Build 2 9     3/12/2012 3/18/2012 Build 2 9.5     3/19/2012 3/25/2012 Build 2 9     3/26/2012 4/1/2012 R&R 5   Cool Breeze Triathlon – B Race 4/2/2012 4/8/2012 Crash Bike? 10     4/9/2012 4/15/2012 Peak 8     4/16/2012 4/22/2012 Peak 7.5     4/23/2012 4/29/2012 Taper 4   Huntersville Sprint – A Race 4/30/2012 5/6/2012 Base 3 8.5     5/7/2012 5/13/2012 Base 3 10   Jetton C Race 5/14/2012 5/20/2012 Build 2 9     5/21/2012 5/27/2012 Speed work 9     5/28/2012 6/3/2012 Speed work 9   Henderson Oly? 6/4/2012 6/10/2012 R&R 7   Latta Triathlon B Race  6/11/2012 6/17/2012 Build 8.5   Gold Rush??? 6/18/2012 6/24/2012 Build 9   Shelby Sprint?? 6/25/2012 7/1/2012 Speed work 9     7/2/2012 7/8/2012 Speed work 9     7/9/2012 7/15/2012 Taper 4   Tri Ballantyne A Race 7/16/2012 7/22/2012 R&R 6     7/23/2012 7/29/2012 Build 10     7/30/2012 8/5/2012 Build 10   Stumpy Creek ???  8/6/2012 8/12/2012 Build 10     8/13/2012 8/19/2012 Build 9     8/20/2012 8/26/2012 R&R 5   Lake Norman C Race 8/27/2012 9/2/2012 Build 11     9/3/2012 9/9/2012 Build 11     9/10/2012 9/16/2012 Taper 7   Angels Race 9/17/2012 9/23/2012 Build 11     9/24/2012 9/30/2012 Build 11     10/1/2012 10/7/2012 Taper 7   Take Flight A Race 10/8/2012 10/14/2012 Off       10/15/2012 10/21/2012 Off       10/22/2012 10/28/2012

WDW Trip Report

The cast of characters

Me, 44 – certified Disney World expert and fan

Ginny – 45 – married to the fanatic and fan

Anna – 15 and huge Disney freak

Ruth 13 – Bigger fan than Anna?

Huck – turned 8 (El Ocho) on the trip

Erich – adopted son from Alabama along for the ride

Background

We have been heading to Disney for ten years now but it had been three years. Our last trip was not our best as Ruth got quite sick in the middle and my job was really hard to ignored that week. But we had racked up some Disney points and all felt the need to see Mickey again. This will likely be Anna’s last trip to WDW as part of the family where she is living at home. She is a sophomore in high school, hard to realize we celebrated her 5th birthday at WDW when she was in kindergarten. I remember our flight down with a set of parents who had teenagers going to WDW, wondering if my girls would want to go when they were that old. Um, yes.

We planned different, renting points via a DVC broker for Animal Kingdom Lodge with a savannah view. Ginny and I knew we wanted to stay on property – it was just a matter of where. Renting points was a great move and  The DVC Rental Store  (dvcrentalstore.com) was an amazing experience. What a great store.

We planned to got the first week of January, and decided that the girls would run the 5k. It would be Ruth’s first one and sounded so exciting. The crowds were suppose to be smaller leading into marathon weekend plus the weather was suppose to be ok. Rather take cool over hot. We booked four nights at AKL and then added a day at Sea World on the way down.

In late October, Ruth received a concussion that set her back significantly. She had symptoms for weeks, meaning no physical exercise. We prayed that she would be ok for the trip, with plans to forge ahead. Two things changed: I would run the 5k in her place and she was cleared for the trip the week before. Systems were all go.

The Trip

My mindsight

 

Heading down

We drove this time – flying was too expensive and with the 5 of us – well the gas was cheaper than the baggage fees. We left later than I expected but we were of on Jan 1st. We stopped in Columbia, SC for lunch and I was surprised at how many restaurants were closed. Five Guys to the rescue. we headed all the way down to Lake Mary – 95 was crowded but I made great time. We stayed at the Homewood Suites right off I-4 – great hotel at a great price – we had a huge three room suite as everyone had a bed.

Jan 2, Seaworld, getting wet , Erich arrives and Hoop de due

Anna and I were up early – we went to the local Y – she to swim outside in a heated pool and me to run 5 miles. We came back, cleaned up and ate the breakfast  again the Homewood suites was great.

Today was Seaworld – I am an absolute Disney snob BUT Seaworld is a great beautiful place. The funniest part of the day is when we got there Huck said he wanted to go to Disney (after I had spent $14 on parking) – we told him if he wanted we would go (knowing that on Jan 2nd it would be mobbed) but convinced him to stay. We had fun – the sea lions were a hit, and the new whale show was nice – Huck wanted to get wet so he and I sat on the second row – man that water plus 70 degrees was cold – had the pizza buffet for lunch – it was expensive but good and provided one of the absolute funniest, most memorable moments of the week – Huck’s comedic timing was amazing.

We finished up with the dolphin show (really good) and then off to the airport.

Erich Crowson is a Davidson grad who are family has adopted – our girls especially are fond of him. So we invited him to come down, all expenses paid and he agreed. This would turn out to be a very, very great thing.

It took as a while to find Erich but we found him and headed to Buena Vista Suites for the night. This hotel was recommended –it was just ok with the six of us – Ginny and I shared one queen, the girls another with Erich and Huck on the pull out –

That night we went to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue – we have been before a long time ago and I had been as a kid.  I know those out there who have complained of the changes due to legal issues but it was great. Our six bits was awesome, smaller than usual but very good.  This video has my cast http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uun38crRaLg

Food was good (dessert was great) – we sat right by the stage and I knew we were going to be in the show. Sure enough Erich was chosen to be the Indian Brave – and he was awesome – just amazing. It was beyond hilarious.

This show and night set the stage for the rest of week – lots of fun and just plain laughter.

The weather turned much colder that evening, a preview for the next 2 days.

Jan 3rd – Heading to MK and dinner at Whispering Canyon Café

Today was our first Disney day and headed to Magic Kingdom it was. First I got up and headed over to AKL to check in – yep at 7:45 – to get my dining plan, room keys and tickets. Back to the hotel for the rather lame breakfast – we all just laughed at it. We got a much later start than I planned – it was cold and it was crowded at MK – much more than we had hoped for. We had to scramble to make plans – riding Buzz Lightyear as stand-by then fast passing Buzz and Space Mountain. We had plans to go to lunch at Kona Café but instead decided to eat in the parks – which was a mistake – mainly because of how lame the food was. In fact, MK has no real good counter service.  Did I mention it was crowded. We did managed to do Splash mountain in the cold – but we left after a while to head over to AKL.

We are in Kidani Village – room 7328 and it was simply breathtaking – great space – planty of room even with six (air mattresses for the girls, pull outs for Huck and Erich, while parents get the bed) – the tub was a huge hit.

We had dinner that night at Whispering Canyon Café with friends our. ours and their 3 young children – Katie and Jonathan were a young couple we know when Jonathan was at Davidson – so seeing them and interacting was great. But Whispering Canyon was not our favorite and the one table meal that I will not repeat.

Back to MK we went – bundled up – the crowds were much less and we able to ride a bunch of things. Cold but still doable. Out of the parks by 11:30 and home after midnight – tired but having had a great day.

Wed Jan 4th – Day of slowdown

We were tired – our plan had been to go Hollywood Studios but my wife so wisely had us slow down. After a lazy morning, we made our way to the Polynesian for Ohana’s for brunch. Had reservations for 10:30 but it was closer to 11 when we were sat. I love the breakfast here – great character interaction and good food.

We headed back to AKL, where plans for the day became apparent – Disney Quest for myself, Ruth, Huck and Erich. Mom and Anna were planning to lay low for a while. We did Disney Quest for 3 hours then met back up.

We had plans for Epcot but then well we split. Erich and I headed back to Disney Quest (dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express), while anna went to dinner with our friends. Ruth, Huck and Ginny went to Epcot to see Illuminations.

I loved spending time at Disney Quest – I grew up on arcades and the chance to play old favorites plus new favorites was easily one of the highlights. Anna had an absolute blast at Kona’s. It was a great day enjoying the world of WDW outside the parks. We went to bed early, primed for the a day at Hollywood Studios.

Thursday Jan 5th – Studios and great dinner at Kona’s

Up early today for Studios – we had a goal to have  to make by opening – it was downright chilly (37??) when I went to Chic-Fil-A. having a car was a huge bonus. Everyone was up and ready and we headed over to Studios. We had another ticket problem at the gate (was a re-occurring theme) – but we managed to all get over to Toy Story Mania – with some fast passes to boot. Ginny and I did squeeze in a picture of just the two of us with Donald and Daisy – priceless.

Toy Story Mania – everyone loves this ride and the queue is just great. Erich would later comment that this is his favorite ride.  After this, we split up – Erich, Ruth and Anna off for Rock-n-Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror while Ginny, Huck and I hung around and did some shopping. We eventually hit Toy Story Mania again (amazing how the fastpasses go – by 10:30 fastpass time was 6:50 and the next day they were out all together by 10am) – then Star Tours, a first. Huck loved, while Ginny and I experiences some sickness – and we met up with everyone there –

Note: we should of planned ahead to get Huck in the Jedi show – it was our fault.

Lunch was at ABC Commissary – it was ok for counter food – not terrible not great – then we hit Muppets. The Muppets was one of absolute favorites 8 years ago but is really, really showing its age. Plus with 3D now so prevalent – this attraction needs some help. Still really cute.

We split up from here – not sure what Anna, Ginny and Huck did – Ruth Erich, and I had fast passes to Rock-n-Rollercoaster – which was a blast – man that ride is too fun. Ruth wanted to go again, while Erich and I waited. It took longer so I sent Rich along to the Indiana Jones show – they said it was fun.

Ruth and I scouted space for the parade and we met up on Hollywood Blvd – used a ton of snack credits on popcorn and soda – and caught the parade – I would say its ok. I liked the Pixar focus.

After the parade we headed back to the ranch – dropped off Erich, Ruth and Huck (who was super tired) while Ginny, Anna and I made our way over to ESPN to pick up our packets for the 5K tomorrow.

This took longer than I hoped but we did enjoy shopping in the expo – Ginny got some new shoes and I got compression socks.

Back to AKL and we actually hit the pool – it was maybe 68  – more like the hot tub. Huck and I did do the water slide – BRRR. Water was warm but the walk was brutal. Still fun and relaxing. My legs were tired and not too excited for tomorrow.

We had late reservations at Kona’s (7:35) and did not get seated until after 8. It was busy and it took forever – and I was mighty hungry. BUT the meal was awesome – I had the steak which was great – everyone’s meal was fabulous and the desserts were equally great. I hade Pineapple upside down cake which was the worse. Dinner was so great we decided to come back tomorrow. We missed the fireworks unfortunately – due to the late start.

We headed home, going to bed way too late for tomorrow’s early wake up

Friday Jan 6th – 5k and EPCOT day –our warmest day

The alarm rang way too early for our 5k – with running as Ruth. Seriously it was just too early – and cold. But we hoped a bus and hit the trail over to EPCOT.  Cool moment of the Day number 1 – Ivan Castro – a famous runner was on a bus and I introduced myself. It started to dawn on me on how big of a race weekend this was – something far bigger than I had ever done.

We made our way over to the starting line and waited and waited for the start – it was cold, – my resting heartbeat was down to 48 at one moment.

Anna and I eventually went to the 7 to 9 minute corral and got started. I went left – the wrong way to go. Within the first 2 minutes ran into two old woman walking who were in the way – made so mad. My first mile was lousy as I weaving all over the place. At that point I relaxed, enjoyed the scenery with the last 1.5 miles in EPCOT – what a fun experience – even in the dark. I could have easily PRed the race but celebrated the ability to run the race – two years ago I would have never dreamed this one.

I finished about 90 seconds or so in front of Anna (she went right and I passed her at mile 1). She and I waited for a long time for Ginny (she started some 20 plus minutes behind us. We met up, got our clothes and headed back to AKL.

NOTE: This race and seeing the half marathon the next day made me realize that I am pretty good shape – I could run that half if I had wanted to – I was much better shape than many people

Today was a rest – split up day. Ruth really wanted to spend the day with our friends and we made that happen. They tried Hollywood Studios and it was a bust but she had fun. Huck, Ginny and Anna enjoyed a day at the lodge and the pool. The actually got sun – Bonus!.

Erich and I decided we would go off and he would pick the park – EPCOT it was. We headed over there by say 10:30 – immediate fastpasses to Soarin followed by Test Track (30ish wait). I saw were GM is renewing Test Track – good. Needs some serious TLC. But still so fun.

I went shopping at Mouse Gears (one of the best places to shop in all of WDW) while Erich did Mission Space. I can not handle that ride – we met up and started to make our way around the World Showcase – we stopped in Norway (Maelstrom – Yes) – Germany, Japan, America(did lunch (Erich got his Turkey Leg) and the show), France (picked up some pastries on snack credits) and through Canada to Soarin.

Soarin is awesome and likely one the best rides ever at Disney – reminds me some of the old Magic Kingdom ride “If you had wings” ride on super steroids.  Seriously fun – we got the bottom row od the bottom car which was not great but wow.

We headed back to the ranch – I still do not get EPCOT.  We joined everyone at the pool for swimming and the hot tub – great way to end the day.

I walked over to Jambo House to explore while everyone else was getting ready for dinner – ran smack into Ethan Zoran and Jenna Mosca of Survivor – they were running the half the next day as I guess sponsored celebs. Although I liked the Mara House, going into Jambo House made me appreciate the quiet of Kidani again.

Dinner was back at Kona’s with the same waiter and even better dinner. Wow – we feasted on our last night at WDW. The girls had the this great idea to hit the parks – so we added a day to Ruth’s pass and the two went off together to MK. It was so much fun to watch them take off – and they had a blast. A really awesome memory was made.

Erich, Ginny, Huck and I rode the monorail to the Contemporary –to shop – this has changed since we were last here. Fun time and then back to Poly for Wishes.

Back to AKL – were Ginny had packed some as we were leaving tomorrow.

Jan 7th – Huck’s Birthday at MK and the road home

Today is Huck’s 8th birthday – El Ocho – which we had planned to celebrate in Magic Kingdom. We had breakfast plans at Crystal Palace at 8:35. We left AKL, out new favorite resort by 8 but with the half marathon it took much longer to get over to ML. And of course Ruth’s ticket would not work – so we made over to Crystal Palace by oh 9 – I did get fast passes to Peter Pan before we sat down.

Crystal Palace was great – um puffed french toast – and Huck loved the signed card from Pooh and friends. We ate a great breakfast – and then hit the parks. Anna ran and got fastpasses to both Buzz and Space Mountain. We rode both (and Transit) while Huck also got a ride with Ginny on the Raceway. He got his license!!

From here we walked over to Fantasyland and did Pooh – really liked the new queue. We got surprised fastpasses to Mickey Philharmagic which we gave away, while we did Peter Pan. Erich was amazed that people wait so long – it will be interesting to see what happens with Peter Pan when the new part of Fantasyland opens. It needs some help.

Off to Frontierland – we fastpassed Big Thunder then rode Splash. In fact, Erich, Ruth, Anna and I actually did the mountain range as our last rides in a row. After Splash, Huck and Ginny went back towards Buzz while we rode Thunder and Space on fast passes – Erich timed our entry on fastpasses from the time we entered to ride on each at 5 minutes – Brilliant.

We met up Main Street – Huck was just plain exhausted – the trip had worn him down. I have this image of him sitting in Erich’s lap – just content. We finished up some shopping and left. Time to head home – tired, overjoyed and having way more than of our fair share of fun.

The monorail ride back to our car took forever but we got Erich to the airport with an hour to spare and started heading north – ending up in Savannah for the night. 

Closing Thoughts

Erich asked me a great question – what have I not done at WDW – and I think I am down to 7 things:

• At AK – Dinosaur, Whirl, Tough to be a Bug,
• At EPCOT Crush and the ride through the land
• At Studios – Idol (although I did do Millionaire) and Sounds Dangerous

What this means is that this trip was more about the experience of sharing with my family than any one attraction or thing. The mere fact that I missed all of Animal Kingdom and did not really make me sad was a sign that this trip was so much more than about a certain ride.

In fact, my most poignant memories are of laughing and sharing so much with my girls, with Huck and Erich and my wife.

Some highlights for me:

1. Watching my girls tear off from the front desk of the Polynesian together to do Magic Kingdom together.

2. Laughing at all of the inside jokes of the week – some truly priceless moments of joy and laughter. It was a week full of jokes.

3. Sharing our love of WDW with Erich and Erich being so graceful in jumping right into our wild bunch. I was more than a little worried about how bringing Erich into the mix would work out, but it really made the trip so more enriching.

4. My wife leading us to slow down – I can be such the gung ho Disney parent – she really led us well in not going commando every day – and I listened as promised.

5. Seeing WDW through a boy’s eyes – characters were not important – high scores were very important – princesses were four letter words and transformers were amazing.

6. Food – we ate well for the most part – honestly we had two bad meals at WDW all week – pretty good.  I put on like say 4 pounds although they came off pretty fast. I ate very well, and enjoyed all of the food. I am officially a dining plan fan.

Finally, and most importantly redemption. WDW holds a very special place in my heart – I have a stated goal to spend a day in Magic Kingdom for every year I am alive – pretty crazy goal. Our trip in Dec, 2008 was far from magical – Ruth got quite ill which meanst she and Ginny had to become house bound and really made hard to do much of anything, my job was in real turmoil and I could not put it down and the whole trip just felt well unDisney.

This trip made up for that, and so much more. As Ginny and I looked back on this week, this is the best Disney trip ever – topping my favorites. Although other trips were more magical in some ways and we certainly have ridden more attractions in the past, this was more fun. This was a vacation to remember. It will be really hard to ever top this trip. 

Update on periodization

I have started using the concepts of periodization in my training, after reading about the it the Triathlete’s Training Bible. I am finishing up Base 2 this week so this makes 9 weeks into the process.

Getting the hours in

Part of the challenge is the actual volume – I initially way over estimated the hours I could do.  Mainly because the hours are just the actual hours – so if I run 5 miles in 42 mins – then I claim the 42 minutes only and not the time I spend getting ready, etc. With my strength training, I have set a base time and that’s it.

I had to dial down the number of hours forecasted pretty fast due to this factor.  I have increased the volume of my training, especially running. Part of this is due to my lack of outdoor biking as the weather has turned colder. The volume increase has been noticeable; as has the intensity.

I have added more Brick runs, which has been interesting. Challenging and rewarding.

The value of Rest and Recovery

The plan is 3 weeks on, with the 4th week of rest and recovery. With my schedule, I added an extra week in both Base 1 and Base 2 of real work, delaying the rest week. Sounded great on paper – but the reality is the plan of 3 weeks, one week rest is sound. Adding the extra work week is hard – my body wants that rest bad. So it appears those weeks are well spaced out and necessary.

The good news is that I do not have any plans to do any extra weeks.

Dec. 2011 What is next

Training Focus

Well my want to run triathlons next year – no shock there. I am working on my race schedule for next year, with two firm commitments in April – Cool Breeze and Huntersville – both sprints. My goals for these are pretty straight forward – get faster. Huntersville was my first ever triathlon last year so I really want to come back and be faster.

As such, I picked up the triathlon training bible – which has been simply great. It has helped me focus on my training. In particular, am experimenting with a training plan, that focuses me each week. What has been interesting is the actual amount of time I have spent training – what I estimated initially versus actual. My actual time, which I have been very accurate based upon my Garmin 305 – is a lot less- and I have to scale back my plans. The idea I could train 12.5 hours in a week – especially not riding outside is just ludicrous.

I have recently added a indoor trainer to the mix for riding. Can get very intense rides in a short time and focused on specific skills.

Getting a personal trainer – What

Ok, I did it. I hired a trainer to work with me. Bear Robinson is consulting with me on my strength training. Basically we meet and he walks me through a workout, which I in turn do myself for a set period of time. Rinse and repeat. He is helping me already getting stronger in some triathlon specific areas. I can feel it when I run and in the pool.

These are some tough workouts and I actively do not look forward to them. But its worth it

Data – and the geek

For my birthday I got a Garmin 305 watch, which lead me to start using a desktop program called Sport Tracks to download and manage my workouts. From there, I upload my workouts to Dailymile.com (thanks to a plugin from Jonathan Savage) and to TrainingPeaks.com (I wrote to simple export solution with lots of help from Jonathan Savage). It was/is fun to marry my love of programming and my fitness goals.

I also have a plugin to Sport Tracks that I am look at my training load – which fits into my training plan above. Basically training load looks at my short term and long term training affects – lots more here http://home.trainingpeaks.com/articles/cycling/what-is-the-performance-management-chart.aspx

Have training metrics is a way for me to to see where I am at – my recent down week was followed by a major PR on a 5 mile treadmill run. I remember running effortlessly.

My weight goals

Real simple – my goal is to keep the 100 pounds off to date – not really looking to lose more.  Given the amount of my current workouts I might lose weight but its not a goal..

What’s not on the list

Well, I am quitting my local golf club. Frankly the dues are getting high and I am not playing as much – can justify the costs anymore..

Turning 44 today–looking back and forward

So today I turned 44 – a big number – easy to say that I am likely half way there or more. WOW – kind of scary to write that down.  But instead of pondering that, lets look back the last 2 years.

Physical

2 years ago

I would weigh over 300 pounds on Dec 31st so its pretty easy to say I was 300+ when I turned 42. Out of shape, super stressed about my job and future, but at the same time I was deeply engaged as a person in some very positive things.

Still I was unhealthy physically for sure and not active. Which is wild given I have a daughter who was swimming 5 days a week. By now my weight loss story is relatively well known.  But it is always worthwhile to look back and remember. Four weeks after my 42nd birthday I would buy size 48 jeans – will never forget that moment.

1 year ago

I weighed 223 the week of my birthday. I had started in earnest spin class which was a great new way to lose weight and get in shape. I was done to a size 42 or 40 pants. I felt so much better about myself, how I looked and felt. Work still had its stress but I was handling much better. I could see my goal (100 pounds lost) around the corner. Our family was healthier.  I bought a new mountain bike which I rode and still ride.

Today

I weighed 205.6 today, and have kept my weight at or around 205-206 for 9 months. 

More than that, I have kept moving forward with my fitness level. I had my body fat measure at 17% the other day. I almost wonder what it was two years ago (40 to 50%?).  I entered and finished 5 triathlons, and won some medals. I found triathlons something I really enjoy and challenging. It was something I was encouraged by friends and found something new.  I bought a rode bike this year and have picked up rode cycling, which I really love. I picked up swimming which has been strange. By swimming I realized how much my daughter just plain rocks – seriously she is amazing at this sport. And then running – I hate to run but it is part of the deal. I have learned to run again.  One my highlights was I ran my first 5k at my gym at the end of March, and then came back last month and ran  the same course 3 minutes faster (actually over a minute faster per mile). Pretty awesome.

Today I rode 30 miles on my bike – the thought 2 years ago was laughable. And I bought size 34 jeans the other day. Pretty amazing.

Looking Forward

Very simple – I have pictures at 280+ and want to never go back.  Literally is the issue – I feel like the diet changes are rather permanent – as an example when I now over eat or eat too much sugar my body feels horrible. Too much soda makes me bloated and miserable.

Working out has become almost daily routine; and it’s a priority. More on that later.

I do want to play more golf but its been hard with my work schedule.

Work

2 years ago

I was on essentially my second job at Wells Fargo, wondering about  my future, not happy about my working situation and around a bunch of unhappy folks. It was stressful time, with an unsure future and watching my work life change drastically and not having a clue. This stress was tremendous and certainly lead to some my poor health.

1 year ago

I had my third job, and was still finding my feet. I remember so many days being on calls and having no clue what was being said. Literally drowning in the details and desperate to make some meaningful contribution. I knew in my heart it takes a while to come up to speed. But I was unwilling or too impatient to wait. I was very frustrated at times and wondering what I was doing at times. I took this job for lots of reasons, and one of these was to grow. I guess looking back this was part of the growth process.

Today

Still struggling to make impact at work but getting better. its been over 18 months since I took this job so I am more in the groove. Starting to know people, and be known. The nature of my job is so different. I work at home full time, going into the office about twice a month.

Working from home has been a revelation – the upsides are huge – more engaged in my family lives and my wife’s life. I am able to work out when I want and balance work time (working at night on deliverables). Combined with my smartphone, I am highly able to engage well into work shifting. A hidden success to my fitness goals is that I can most days get in the gym in the am and be out by say 10:30 before my first meeting. This has given a tremendous amount of time to work. I tend to work later (hence the hard time hitting the golf course). But my wife and family have truly enjoyed my new work style.

Family

Not hard to say that in the last two years my relationship with my family has improved. With vastly improved health, I am more engaged in their lives, and have more energy than ever. this last few months Anna has been home at night for dinner and we have been eating as a family like 5 plus nights a week. What a blessing.  Tonight Ruth told me one things she likes is that I am just there. Wow – it was heart warming and affirming to some choices I make.

Spiritual

2 years ago we were knee deep in college ministry at Lake Forest. With deep relationships with students and recent grads. But I was starting to feel like a burn out, and the last academic year was a struggle. I purposely focused on some older students. with Lake Forest-Davidson opening this year, and as a family we deciding not to go there, we have taken time away. Its has been great to have some freedom in our schedules. We miss the students, the interaction with our family. But at the same time, getting a break has been a wise, wise choice.  So we are prayerfully considering what is next. The irony is I am now on the College Ministry Committee at the national EPC. Very strange. And interesting

So looking forward

So what do I want to be saying in a year – what do I want to write this time next year:

1. I have a job that melds my need for accomplishment with my even higher need for engagement at home

2. My weight and overall physical health is the same or improved.

3. I have raced well all year and seen improvement.

4. My relationships at home are awesome

5. My family, my wife and I are engaged in ministry at our church.