Making A Comeback

It has been a long time since I’ve posted on my blog and there are a plethora of reasons why, but I wanted to give everyone an update on what’s going on and what I’ve been up to over the last year or so. If you have read this blog in the past, you are aware that last year I was pursuing a goal of finishing a half-ironman 70.3. Along the way, I was going to participate in other triathlons and my first full marathon.  I came extremely close to my goal of completing the 70.3…just about 10 days away to be exact!

After competing in the Great Snake River Triathlon sprint distance (my first river swim race which was awesome) and having a decent race (in which I placed 3rd in my age group), I settled back into my half-ironman training. That fateful morning August 6th, 2013 is a day I won’t ever forget.

That morning, I woke up early to go on about a 75 minute hill ride. As I left my driveway, my chain fell off my bike (which had never happened before) and I nearly ran into my mailbox. I fixed the chain, cleaned my hands and went on my merry way. It was a chilly morning and I nearly turned back twice to get a jacket but decided against it. Less than 1.5 miles from my home, after taking a drink from my water bottle, I was getting back to my normal riding speed before something happened…

I remember distinctly hearing the sound of a crunch behind me like two cars getting in an accident. My initial reaction was to look behind me and before I could do that, I remember being propelled forward. At this point, I have conflicting memories of what happened…but the next thing I know I was on the side of the road sliding gravel very fast. I ended up rolling into some grass along the side of the road and laying on my stomach. My first reaction was to look up and see what had just happened. I saw a car stopping which gave me some comfort. I then laid my head on the grass and came to realization of how much pain I was experiencing. My mind was racing and all I could think was “I was just hit by a car, I was just hit by a car, I was just hit by a car” over and over and over again.

It took a minute for the individual who hit me to get over to me. When she came over, she asked if I was ok and my response was “I don’t know.” She asked if I could stand up and I repeated “I don’t know.” I was probably more rough with her than I should’ve been but in my defense I was dealing with a pretty serious incident and the beginnings of shock. After feeling that all my limbs were still intact, I slowly got back on my feet. My left ankle was really tight but I was able to walk on it…kinda. I really didn’t lose it until, I hobbled over and saw my bike…

You can see where my bike landed, the helmet is where I ended up.

Seeing my bike sent a flurry of emotions through me that made me realize that the training I had been going through for the last 10 months was not going to come to fruition. It was very hard for me, and at that point, I couldn’t fight off the tears anymore. I called my wife and told her what had happened and I called a friend to come pick me up. By the time my good friend arrived, I was in a state of shock, shaking almost uncontrollably. He got me and my bike home, and with the help of my neighbor got me in the house. A little bit later, I was having x-rays on my ankle revealing that it was broken. After that, the road rash which compromised a large portion of the left side of my body was cleaned, which was very, very painful.

Two days later, I underwent surgery (which a few months later would end up in a second surgery) to insert two screws into my left ankle to put it back together. The surgery really took me out of commission for awhile both physically and emotionally. I was really in a funk for a period of time because of all I had put into getting ready for a race that wouldn’t be able to attend. I was fortunate to have good friends and family to be so caring and compassionate to me and my family. My faith played a big part in me being positive about the whole situation. I made it a point to attend church the Sunday after my surgery because I really felt it necessary to show gratitude that the situation wasn’t worse.

I felt the need to attend church just a few days after my surgery because I felt it was important to show my gratitude that things weren’t worse.

I have started and stopped writing this post many times and debated about putting it out there. In the end, I’ve decided that I wanted to share my story because it does have a happy ending which I intend to share in coming posts. This is the first of many to come.

Bikers, be careful out there. Motorists, be careful out there. It is important for me to say that I have no ill feelings towards the individual that hit me. I know there are lessons that I have and will learn from this and I’m sure the same goes for her. My intention is to share more about this incident as time goes forward because I have some lofty goals. In the end, life is good and it is our job not to forget that!

Quote of the Day

“Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.”
-Abraham Lincoln

Have a great weekend!

 

Trends

I’m currently traveling for business and I’m noticing something and I wanted to see if I’m the only one noticing this.  Today, on my first flight, I sat next to a triathlete and avid runner.  I’ve overheard people behind me discussing running Tough Mudders, I saw a guy in the airport wearing an Ironman finisher shirt.  It isn’t just today either, it seems like nearly everywhere I go I’ve been seeing this trend of triathletes and endurance athletes…am I the only one?

This guy that I sat next to on my first flight is also a big proponent of the paleo diet, so he gave my some insights and things to try when I get back.  Anybody have any thoughts on the paleo diet?

So, am I the only one noticing a trend towards more fitness or am I just seeing this now because I’m in the sport?

Another Recipe

I wanted to share one of my new favorite treats that we have been making lately.  They’re quite similar to no bake cookies and are quite tasty.  As I said in my Improving Nutrition post, I really am making an effort to watch what I eat and improve my eating habits.  With that said, it is pretty difficult for me to get through a day without sweets…quite difficult actually.  This recipe has come in handy and really helps when I get a snack crave.

I don’t know if they look all that great in the picture, but I sure like them!  One little variation we did which I liked was to mix half chocolate chips and half peanut butter.  It has been a great snack for me to keep in the fridge at work for when the munchies come along.  They really are a healthy little snack because they have peanut butter, oats, coconut,  and flax seed…outside the chocolate chips, its a very healthy energy packed meal.  Anyway, I don’t foresee this turning into a food blog, but I’m guessing I should be concerned that I am reposting something from a blog called Joyously Domestic…anyway, the recipe can be found here.  Enjoy!

Improving Nutrition

So I have to be honest…and this is very hard for me to admit…I LOVE to eat. Yes, I know it is hard to believe but I am addicted to food. I love breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between. Having grown up in the south, I love my food fried, greasy, delicious, and fattening. My favorite meal would have to be breakfast…I love home made biscuits, dried-beef gravy, sausage, bacon, fried apples, hashbrowns, eggs, molasses…just a perfect southern breakfast.

Slowly, but surely, I am learning to improve my eating habits.  One of the biggest things has been portion size.  Rather than waiting that full feeling to stop eating, I have been trying to stop eating before I feel full.  That isn’t the easiest task in the world, but I have been able to do it with some success.  Lately, I have also been doing my best to eat better.  I know that is a vague statement but I have been able to transition to some more healthy choices on the menu and I can honestly say that it is making a big difference.  Something that inspired me was a recent post from Iowa Tri Bob about his recent pursuit of eating better and trying different diets/nutrition “techniques” for lack of a better word.  After reading that, I spent some time reading up on different things he had posted and I made a decision to “improve.”  Yes, I know improve isn’t a quantifiable objective, but that was the goal.  With that in mind, here’s some things that I have discovered.

First, I’m a big fan of green smoothies.  These have been my meal of choice after my weight workouts.  I don’t really have a recipe, but this is generally what I throw in; spinach, skim milk, ice, a small amount of honey, greek yogurt, ground flax seed, and a fruit of some sort…generally frozen peaches or a banana.  I love them and they are extremely nutritious.  In fact, my two little girls generally will ask for them for breakfast now.  So, a green smoothie along with a couple scrambled eggs and a piece of whole grain toast are generally my breakfast after a harder weight workout.

Second, I’ve discovered some ingredients that had not known about before.  These would be flax seed and quinoa.  Flax seed is a fantastic ingredient for so many dishes for a triathlete, it is very high in fiber, omega-3’s, and is very effective in reducing inflammation.  You can add it to just about anything as well.  To get the best results with flax seeds, grind them, the shells are pretty tough to digest apparently.  Quinoa is another ingredient that I had never been exposed to before a couple of months ago at a family party.  It has a huge protein content…among other things.  If you haven’t ever googled quinoa recipes, give it a shot.  You can add quinoa to just about anything and increase its nutritional value.

Before this post gets too long, the main point is that I am finally coming around to the fact that exercise alone can only get you so far…and I am finally getting to be ok with that fact.  The last six weeks, we have had a family health challenge and I decided to actually put some effort into my eating habits and I have seen tremendous results.  So, learn from my mistakes and actually put the effort into eating well.  There’s a whole world of nutritiousness out there that is quite tasty and well fuel your triathlon engine even further than you thought!

So, what are you doing to keep your nutrition and eating in check?

 

Max Strength Phase Recap

This post is a little overdue but I wanted to share it nonetheless.  I’m now 3 months into my training and I have to say that it is going really well.  I just completed the Max Strength phase and it was challenging!  I spent the last 4 weeks in this phase and every week would progressively more weight.  The final week of the phase I was doing low reps of roughly 90% of my max.  Whereas the anatomical adaptation was low weight/high reps, the max strength phase was high weight/low reps.  Here’s how my max changed for each of the given exercises I completed:

Leg Press: 440, 525 – 19.3% increase

Shoulder Press: 220, 210 – 4.5% decrease (??)

Hamstring Curls: 160, 205 – 28.1% increase

Front Lat Pull Downs: 160, 190 – 18.75% increase

Tricep Pull Down – 130, 140 – 7.7% increase

I had increases in every exercise except shoulder press.  I don’t find that very surprising.  I’ve had some nagging shoulder pain that has impacted me most on the shoulder press.  I enjoy the weight exercises and have another month to go but I will definitely enjoy spending more time on the three disciplines.

Since finishing this phase I have spent some time swimming and running.  With swimming, I felt so much more powerful in the water.  It was a very noticeable difference.  With running, my form has been correcting because of all the weight lifting.  I have had a problem with my running form where my feet weren’t quite as linear as they could be.  I have noticed a huge change in that, I have significantly more control as I run.  I am much more linear in my form.

So, I definitely recommend for triathletes.  I haven’t yet raced since doing so much weight lifting but so far I can honestly say that this workout regime has had a huge impact on my preparation so far.

Have any of you coupled weights with your workouts?

Hi all! I don’t normally post recipes but my wife found this and we made it…very healthy and tasty! Enjoy!

And They Cooked Happily Ever After

First full week back to work = a fresh week to start a great series with a yummy little ingredient I’ve been seeing a LOT of lately – Quinoa – reminds me a little bit of Cous Cous, but much heartier and packed with protein.  I’ve come to learn too that it’s a great base for a lot of fantastic recipes too – Quinoa bites in particular.  A while back, I tried these delicious Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bites from Miki’s Kitchen and they were a perfect, healthy snack for anyone out there that is as Buffalo Chicken crazy as I am.  Bites are perfect really – they’re small – they’re cute – you can eat them with your fingers, and it’s generally assumed that you can have one or two extra, cuz’ hey! They’re bite sized!

Why else am I pushing Quinoa? Well, due to it’s protein punch package, it’s…

View original post 327 more words

Ali’i Drive Part 2

Ok, I sat down and watched a few more of these videos and wanted to share my favorite one.  This one is called Cult(ure), and talks about the triathlon culture, fashion faux pas, and even compares triathlon culture to nascar (I have to be honest, I’m still trying to wrap my brain around that one).  It is cool to hear these pro’s talk about how they see things.  Anyway…enjoy!

Ali’i Drive

So, I just happened to catch on Ironman’s Twitter today that Ironman has been producing a web mini series called Ali’i Drive on their Youtube channel.  I was surprised that I missed this because it really is a gem.  There are 11 videos out currently, each one is generally about 8-10 minutes long on different topics.  They are interviewing pros like Craig Alexander, Linsey Corbin, and Leanda Caves on different topics.  Here’s the video on pressure:

I thought I followed Ironman on pretty well every social media outlet that they had, but apparently not!  I just subscribed to their Youtube channel so I will make sure to pass along whatever other great pieces they put out!

How’s the winter training going??

Sports Illustrated Kids Sportskids of the Year 2012

Friends, I have to share this video with you. This is extremely touching and reminds me of the Dayton’s Legs.  If you can watch this without shedding a tear or being amazed by these young men, you are one tough cookie.  One thing that has drawn me to the sport of triathlon is the seemingly endless amount of inspirational stories that amaze me.  Enjoy!