Winter blues

So, the past few months, I hadn't been really working out as hard as possible. I've been in the middle of the winter blues and the offseason of racing. I especially have issues when it comes to winter. Depression hits every year, the lack of sun really hits me hard. I eat more than I should (I'm a comfort food eater), I tend to gain weight and generally just walk around miserable. Not fun for me and not fun for my family either. Cabin fever doesn't help either.

I have had an issue with depression for the past 7 years or so. From what I've read on CTE's, there's a good chance that that's what I have going on in my brain from years of professional wrestling. For those of you unfamiliar with CTE's, CTE stands for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy and it's a progressive degenerative disease in the brain. Stems from repeated head trauma and concussions and is seen a lot in boxers and pro football players. Symptoms include loss of memory, dementia, depression etc. Depression and memory loss... I definitely have those two locked up.

I have found solid exercise is one of the few things that can help me snap out of my funks. Having a race goal to look forward to helps me increase my training and keeps me focused on working out and keeps my mood up

Now, spring is around the corner. Daylight savings time is a couple weeks away and the first race is two weeks from tomorrow. So, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. That said, I jumped up my training big time recently.

I went from running 3 times a week and swimming twice a week to now doing 3-4 runs, 4 swims and 3 bikes. Add to that some intense strength and conditioning training 2-3 times a week and I can tell you there is a difference. This week alone, I shed about 8 pounds from just the increase of work. My mood is much improved, my confidence is better and I'm eating better. I found a new level of running speed this week and swimming is getting a bit easier. My energy levels feel better, I'm not snapping at everyone and I'm able to kind of roll with things better.

In conclusion, I have found that my training and workouts are my best defense against my depression. I'm looking better, feeling better, and just doing better in general. Go outside, get some work done and enjoy life... It's better than feeling bad sitting indoors...

Year In Review, Goals for 2013x and More Excuses

Hey fitness peeps. Got to give you the review of my year followed by a small rant.
Let's start with the good stuff.

This was my second complete year racing and had it's ups and downs. To start I had a PR in the 5k in March (which I later disregarded due to the course not being the correct length. Damnit, Naperville). And competed in my first half Marathon in the Lucky 21k. Which was followed immediately by a bad back injury that I got while dead lifting. BLEH.

Soon after my injury, I tried to transition from Vibram Five Fingers to traditional running shoes. I gave it a good four months, but I just couldn't get comfortable running like that. I felt like I was always trying to step over the heel of my shoe. Plus I started getting pain in my toes. So come August I switched back to VFF. I used them for my first triathlon in Naperville and less than a month later knocked out a very good PR at the Shorewood Scoot. More than a minute faster than I had run before.

The summer prior to August was pretty light as I just couldn't get going in the Adidas Adios I was running in and I was still struggling with the back injury and developed a rib injury in late July. Much chiropractic help eventually straightened that out and I felt much more comfortable come September.

Completed my second triathlon in September and finished fourth in my division. I still feel like I could have won it, had my nutrition been better. We'll see how next year goes.

In October, I competed in my second Half Marathon and had a bad IT band issue rear it's head. Much use of the foam roller has really helped in that aspect.

So it's December, and I've had to get my cardio back after the IT issue (oh and a neck injury in October limited my training as well) and I'm almost back to where I need to be. I've switched over to Merrell Road Gloves as my primary running shoes. I'm getting used to them, but finding they're very close to the VFF but provide me with just a little more padding to keep my feet intact.

Goals for next year include the following. Get my weight down to a more manageable 180, Compete in 5-7 triathlons, win my age group in at least one race, get my PR under 21 minutes for 5k and continue building my personal training business.

So now onto the excuse portion of my blog..

I hear all sorts of excuses. My favorite being the following two. 1) no time to train, 2) no money to train.

For every time I hear these two things, I no doubt have these same people do the following. Post on facebook about all the different TV shows they're watching, post about the new tattoo they're getting, the McDonald's and Pizza they're buying, the drinking they're doing, the trips they're taking, the nails they're spending a bill on, the tanning packages they have, etc.

Seriously. A personal trainer is a MUCH better investment than any of the previous things. Getting smashed is overrated. This is coming from someone that used to drink 3-4 times a week. Not being able to remember where I spent 80 bucks is something I do NOT miss. Those nails you're dropping a ton of money on? Guys look at your body first, and not having painted nails isn't going to kill you. Having high cholesterol and being obese will. That tan? A fit white body looks better than a large overweight body. That tatoo? Great. But wouldn't you rather be able to play sports without feeling like you're sucking air through a straw?

In conclusion, STOP with the excuses. You can workout for less than an hour a day (I have clients with kids, full time jobs and they can do it). A trainer is a relatively inexpensive investment especially when you drop your fast food eating habits, smoking, and whatever excesses you have have.

I've heard them all. And they're all crap.

J-Hawk LateBird Triathlon 2012 Race Report

The key to this race was my diet. Or lack there of.

I fell off the wagon big time before this race, and didn't train on the bike as much as I should have, but anyway, here's my recap.

The drive up to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was quite nice. Virtually no highways and some beautiful scenery.

Arrived about 3 hours early and I knew going into the race I was in trouble. I had ingested pizza on Friday, cheesecake on Saturday and had ZERO bowel movements. Sorry to be disgusting, but that's something that is very important to one's digestive health and with no movements, I was concerned about cramping.

The Swim

The swim was staged in waves of 3 in each lane. I was in the 44th wave. One of my competitors didn't show up, so I shared the lane with another guy in my division.

I felt slow instantly. The other guy took off and was WAY ahead early. I could tell he slowed near the end after he opened up the huge gap, but he was a length ahead of me when he got out of the pool. I felt my side tighten during the 6th lap. Not good. Ended up with a 9:45. Not too bad, considering I did a 9:32 for 400 meters in Naperville and this was a 500 meter swim.

T1
First transition was something I worked hard on to fix. At the Naperville Tri, I had a 3:35 Transition as I struggled to get on my socks, shoes, etc.
This time, I went sockless and had no problems getting going and did a 1:34. Not bad at all

Bike
As I jumped onto the bike, I saw the leader in my division and the guy in my pool lane just ahead (I trimmed some of the two minutes I lost on the pool by hustling to T1 and getting that transition done quick), I figured, hey I can catch these guys and pull ahead.

This is when it went all wrong. Not 5 minutes in, I started to cramp everywhere. Legs, back, side. I was in pain and felt like I was riding in molasses. Just couldn't get going and watched the leaders disappear in the distance. I lost 4 minutes on the bike ride. 44:04 as opposed to 40:48 in Naperville. True we were more exposed in the wind, but I blame myself. I just didn't have any energy and was fighting my body.

It was the worst part of any race I've ever had outside of the last two miles in the spring half marathon.

T2
1:35 for my second transition. This included one of my toes getting caught in my toe shoes. I will not be wearing them next year for any tris. However, due to getting out of my cycling shoes faster, I improved from 2:07 in Naperville. So not bad, but I should have been closer to 1 minute flat.

Run
I had trained hard for the running portion and that saved this race from being really bad. I was in pain from the outset of the run. Couple notes. This was a trail run. Which I instantly loved because that's how I train usually is on the trails of the Crumby Rec Area. However, I didn't have the right shoes for this run at all. I was hurting from the rocks going into the bottom of my Vibram Five Fingers early on.

About a mile in, I finally settled into a halfway decent groove (Couldn't push any harder due to all the cramping and pain in my side). Mile 2 wasn't too bad and I caught one of the guys in front of me that was REALLY struggling. I dusted him, then as I hit Mile 3 and another climb, my quadriceps started tightening up... I tried to push through it, and at one point tried to stretch my leg, but couldn't bend it far enough into my hand. I just decided to get through it. It loosened up during the next downhill section and then as we hit a tenth of a mile to go, I was able to FINALLY go hard. Not my usual 5th gear run, but I pushed hard. Final time 25:28. All things considered, on a MUCH tougher course than Naperville, this wasn't that bad. However, with my training, I should have been down in the low 23's at the most.


Overall time 1:22:17

Diet killed me. As did my lack of bike training and my newness to the swim. I really felt that I could have won this in my division. And if I would have eaten correctly (My diet since August 5th has been pure garbage.) I probably would have and definitely would have placed in the top 3. I ended up as the 38th best time and 4th best in my division.

I like this race (However, not a huge fan of the cotton t shirt. Note to all races. Please give out tech shirts rather than cotton. I'll happily pay an extra ten bucks for it.) and I'll be back in May for their Earlybird Tri and next fall for their Latebird tri.

Next on the docket is a buttload of strength training for the next three months. Then, I'll be planning my 2013 Schedule. Already planned are these two races, the Naperville Tri, the Chicago Triathlon, and the South Shore Tri. That's five, plus races I'm waiting to hear on are a Ironman 70.3 that's close, the Rev 3 Tri in Wisconsin Dells and whatever else I can pick up. I'm hearing there are a lot of tris in the Wisconsin area, so I may be looking there.

So the key to performance isn't just training. It's your diet. Lesson learned. Time to get better.

Race Report for Naperville Triathlon

August 5th, 2012 was my first ever Triathlon at the Naperville Triathlon. I had always been intrigued by the format of three different disciplines in one race and was happy to finally give it a shot.

I got to the race at around 5am and found my transition area. It was under a tree. lol

Good news is that it was easy to find. Bad news was that it was on the grass.

The start sent us out in waves of 4 people that went out every 5 seconds. We lined up by our projected swim speed. I originally said I would swim at a 10 min pace. However, I got impatient after waiting for 20 minutes or so and decided to move towards the front of the line. 

Finally got in, and actually felt comfortable swimming. I was worried about wearing myself out during the swim, so I took it nice and slow. Ended up around a 9:32 swim.

I made up some time on the way out of the swim as I'm more accustomed to running barefoot than most of the other runners.

Ended up passing two or three people on the way up to transition. T1 wasn't good. I wasted too much time getting on my cycling shoes and socks. Now, I know better and I'll just be putting on the shoes without socks and not putting them on until the bike starts.

My bike ride was about 40 min flat. Not too bad, considering again, I wasn't pushing real hard because I wasn't comfortable with the shoe/cleat system (I bought them about 5 days before the race). I still made up some good time during the ride and wasn't tired as I came into T2. Again, made a mistake here and kept my shoes on my feet. I have since practiced and I'll be getting out of the shoes closer to transition and going barefoot.

Finally, the run. I've been struggling running this year as I tried switching over to closed toed shoes and I just have not had the speed I've been looking for, nor the speed I had back in March. So about two weeks before the Tri, I switched over to my Vibram Five Fingers again. 

I did ok on the run. 24 min. Again, was worried about gassing out. I shouldn't have that issue next time.

All in all. Great time. I'm hooked. This was the best experience I've had in any type of racing. Overall, I finished in 1:20:27. Not bad for my first one. My goal for the next one is going to be around a 1:14. 

Thanks to Andrea, who has been fantastic supporting me. The next Triathlon is the J-Hawk Latebird Triathlon in Whitewater, WI at the end of September. Next 5k is September 2nd in Bartlett.

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