Shorewood Scoot Race Report 2012

This past Saturday was the 2012 Shorewood Scoot.

I was pretty excited about this race, as it was being held at Rock Run Preserve. That's my home running area. I know the trails there as well as anyone, so I figured I had a good shot to PR.

The race started in the Joliet Public Library parking lot and about a tenth of a mile in made a sharp right turn onto the paved trail. I knew it was going to be tight through there, so I made sure we (Jerry and I) started near the front.Once clear of the turn, I attached myself to a group of men and women that were hustling and I decided to make an effort to stick with them. 2 of the women scored a podium finish, so they were quick. First mile went by and I felt great with a 6:45 effort.

Second mile was still at 7 min, but the third mile I dropped back a bit. I still ended up staying at a 7:04 avg pace, which was by far my best effort.

Finished with a 21:55. My PR and 4th in my Age Group.

All in all, a great event. Fun course. I hate that they didn't use chip timing, (every race should) but it was still a great overall event.

Next up is the J Hawk Latebird Triathlon in Whitewater, WI on September 30.

Why are you waiting?

Today, I'm going to just talk a little about procrastination and the benefits I've had from getting going eating better and working out.

Some of the things I've heard are "I'll start up when i'm in shape" (don't get me started. You'll get in shape when you're in shape?), "I'll start on Monday", etc.

Look, I've been there. I can't tell you how many times I've said "Ok, I'll start my workout schedule on Monday", or "I'll be eating better come Monday". Why wait? Do it today.

When you put off a workout or the start of clean eating, what generally happens is that something comes up. We're all busy. Have jobs, kids, etc. When you don't make it a priority and get after it today, it makes it much easier to duck your workout by saying "Oh I'm not feeling quite right", or "I'm going to my kids practice today so I don't have time to workout".

You MUST schedule your workouts ahead of time and get them done. They MUST be as important to you as your job, your family time, etc. I'm not saying to go late to work, or miss time with your family, but schedule it ahead of time so you can do everything. Maybe you don't need to watch American Idol this week. Will that kill you? No. Will not working out and eating like crap kill you? Yes, eventually.

Let's discuss some of the benefits I've had in the last year or two due to me getting in shape.
First, this is what I used to look like:

I made the conscious decision to stop eating fast food everyday, make my portions smaller, and eat six times a day. I'm down about 60 pounds and feeling as good as I ever had. 

Here's all the positives I get from being smaller:

I'm able to hold my son, Derek, and play with him at his rate for hours on end (I used to be fatigued after 5 minutes and would have to pass him off to Andrea)

I don't break folding chairs when I sit in them anymore

I don't fall down as often as I did before (much better balance)

I recover from small injuries much faster

I get to wear more flattering clothes that I never could have worn before

I'm able to compete in all sorts of races, 5k's, half marathons, triathlons, etc.

I sleep better

I'm depressed far less

Sex is MUCH better (trust me, people. Being healthy and having sex sure beats being heavy and trying to do it :) )

I have gotten a much more diverse pallet when it comes to food. I eat a ton of new foods than I ever tried before.

These are just some of the great things that have changed in my life.

are

These would never have happened if I kept pushing things off until tomorrow.

So the question is... Why are you waiting?

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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Injuries Suck! and other crap

So, this past Saturday, my planned workout was swim 1000m then run for an hour. Got the swim done, no sweat, however, 15 minutes into the run, I started to feel a tightness in my left rib cage. Turns out I displaced a rib for like the hundredth time. Which meant ZERO training this week.
Sitting on my ass is VERY frustrating for me. It drives me batty. I can't just sit and not train. Drives me insane. However, I know that if I push it, I won't be able to run my triathlon next week.
So, instead of working out, I'm having to adjust my diet. I was enjoying eating a ton of carbs all day when I was burning off 1500-2000 cals a day. Now I'm forced to cut WAY back.

Bummer, I know.

But I'm just over a week from my first triathlon.
Here's the equipment I have for it. It's a ridiculously long list.

Trisuit (sexy)
Swim goggles
Timing chip strap
Swim cap (to be provided by the tri)
Cycling shoes and pedals
Aero bars
Softride bicycle
Helmet
Garmin 305 GPS watch
Clif Shots for nutrition
Water bottle filled with gatorade
Vibram Five Fingers outfitted with Yankz shoe lace system
Number belt
Headband or Visor (Haven't decided yet)
All this tucked neatly into a cool transition bag

Can you believe all that? For just an hour and a half of work... WHEW!

Anyway, I'm hoping to start training people next year for Tri's. So, let's hope this goes well!

Image from http://www.oddee.com/item_96906.aspx

Triathlon training

So my next challenge for this year has been training for the Naperville Triathlon. I'm about halfway through the second week of training. It's AWESOME! I never thought I would be one to enjoy swimming, but I've been looking forward to my swim/run workouts. Tough stuff but I'm getting better. After the first day where I panicked and couldn't figure out how to breathe, I've come MILES forward. (Literally almost).

Strangely enough, cycling has been the one where I feel like I'm going to be weakest. I'm ordering aero bars this week hopefully which should help a little, but of the three disciplines, I feel like I'm behind on cycling. Running is fairly strong (hoping it's going to top off a bit by race day) and swimming gets better everyday.

So to show you all my training schedule so you can see how much suffering I'm doing...

 WEEK 1: The first week of training is designed to get your body comfortable with logging consistent time and distance in each sport.

MONDAY: off Always use Monday to let the body recover and rebuild. This is your only day off every week, so don't feel obligated to cross-train.

TUESDAY: swim 500 meters, run for 30 minutes

WEDNESDAY: ride for 1 hour, weights/strength training

THURSDAY: swim 500 meters, run for 30 minutes

FRIDAY: ride for 45 minutes, run for 20 minutes right after bike session

SATURDAY: ride for 1.5 hours, weights/strength training

SUNDAY: swim 750 meters, run for 45 minutes

* WEEK 2: The distances will increase only for weekend workouts. Hills and speed training are added during the week.

MONDAY: off

TUESDAY: swim 500 meters, with 5x25-meter sprints; run for 30 minutes, with 3x sprint work on a short, steep hill

WEDNESDAY: ride for 1 hour, 20 minutes moderate intensity, 20 minutes hard, 20 minutes moderate; weights/strength training

THURSDAY: swim 500 meters, with 5x25-meter sprints; run for 30 minutes, including 5x1-minute hard intervals with two minutes of easy running in between

FRIDAY: ride for 45 minutes, with 3x sprints on a hard hill; run for 20 minutes easy right after bike session

SATURDAY: ride for 1 hour 45 minutes, weights/strength training/strength training

SUNDAY: swim 1,000 meters, run for 1 hour

* WEEK 3: Continue to build on previous workouts and increase speed training.

MONDAY: off

TUESDAY: swim 750 meters, with 10x25-meter sprints; run for 30 minutes, with 4x short, steep hill sprints

WEDNESDAY: ride for 1 hour, with 25 minutes of hard effort in the middle; weights/strength training

THURSDAY: swim 500 meters, with 4x50-meter sprints; run for 30 minutes, including 4x2-minute hard intervals with two minutes of easy running in between

FRIDAY: ride for 1 hour, with 3x hard hill runs; run for 20 minutes right after bike session

SATURDAY: ride for 2 hours, weights/strength training

SUNDAY: swim 1,000 meters, run for 1 hour

* WEEK 4: This is race week, so drop off on your training intensity as the big day approaches.

MONDAY: off

TUESDAY: swim 500 meters, with 5x25-meter sprints; run for 30 minutes, with 5 minutes of fast-paced running in the middle

WEDNESDAY: ride for 1 hour, with 10 minutes of fast-paced riding in the middle

THURSDAY: swim 500 meters easy, ride for 30 minutes easy, run for 15 minutes easy

FRIDAY: off Always take off the training day two days before the race

SATURDAY: run for 10 minutes, ride for 20 minutes, swim 300 meters Easy, short training sessions in each sport to loosen up for the next day's race

SUNDAY: Race day

This weekend I have a brutal 1 hr and 45 minutes bike and a 1000m swim/ 1 hr run on the other day... BUSY weekend.

Since starting, I've dropped 10 pounds. I've completely changed my diet. Protein is now only about 15-20% of my diet with about 60% carbs and the rest fat. Big change from what I'm used to. Swimming is doing wonderful things for my shoulders, abs and chest, btw. 

So, I hope if anything, my workouts provide you some motivation to get out and get active. Not everyone is going to do a triathlon, but find something to shoot for.

Competition and GOALS!!!

Let me real quick take you back to January of 2010. I was 260 lbs. I was fat... fat fat fat fat fat!!!
Walking up the stairs at my office job was absolutely awful. I was exhausted going up a single flights.
So, I decided I needed a change.
I needed to make a goal. First goal was to run further than a mile without having to stop. Done.
Then I decided to run a 5k. My only goal was to finish it without stopping. Did it, even though my calf cramped up.
Then, it was to do a Warrior Dash. Did that last year.
Then to finish Spartan race. Done last year as well.
This year, I had to set new goals. A sub 23 min 5k. Done.
Competing in a Half Marathon. Done.
Then finishing in the top 10 % of Warrior Dash competitors. Done.

The point is, every time out I try to set a goal for myself to smash.

New goal is to compete in my first ever triathlon in August. I also plan on running Spartan Super Sprint, and possibly two more Half Marathons and a duathlon.

If you're not setting goals for yourself, you're stagnating. Even if today's goal is simply to run a 1/4 mile, make a goal, and get after that finish line!!!!

Warrior Dash and the Competitive Spirit

Warrior Dash was this past weekend. It was my second one that I've done. I know it's on the easier side of these adventure runs, but I love challenging myself and I prefer this to some of the Spartan obstacles as I feel like this race flows a bit better.

I displaced a rib about 10 minutes before running as I was warming up. Seriously, I can't get hurt doing anything cool, it's something very basic that always gets me. Once the race started, though, I was good to go and didn't feel it. I made a mistake starting about halfway in the back of my wave. No more of that. Too much traffic that I had to run through. Afterwards, that rib injury kicked in and I was on the floor. Holy crap... But my friend Vicodin was there... Thanks for that Laura.

My final time was 30:40. That's 5 minutes better than last year, and I felt like this course was harder. When I got done, I was jacked. I wanted to do something else, right away. I just felt so good about myself and my fitness level.

This is a stark contrast to my competitive nature from about 20 years ago. Before college, I didn't care and didn't work hard at anything. And in fact, I really didn't train at all in college unless you call binge drinking training. I just played hard when it came to sports. Now, however, I train hard for my events. I bust my ass and try to PR every time I can.

It's funny that as I've gotten older, I've wanted to compete more. Whether it was fights, or running, I want to win. Of course, when I say win, I mean I want to beat myself. I try to outdo myself each time. Try to find something new and challenging that I haven't done before.

I believe I'm going to do my first triathlon in August. I started bike training this week and I'll start my swim training next week hopefully. I'm way excited about it.

Thanks to Jerry, Andrea, Ray, and all my F'NRC peeps... Had a great time making some new friends.
Anyway, find something new and challenging for yourself this week. Try to make yourself a little better. No one is a tougher opponent than yourself.

Till next time!!!

Burpees!!!!

Burpees... I love them... And I hate them. My workout on Monday was simple. 300 burpees. Took me a bit to do them around my clients, but it was quite awesome.
The burpee is the single best fat burning exercise ever. When I get done, my calves hurt, my feet hurt, my ribs ache, etc etc etc. It hits almost EVERY single muscle in your body.


I often prescribe them for my clients as their homework, which generally angers them :)

Anyway, a simple way to increase your calorie burning and what not is to add burpees to whatever you're planning on doing workout-wise.


I've been doing them for a while, so when I want to really add some work, I'll simply churn out 100 of them.


But here's what you can do if you're new to these. Simply do 1 today. Then, 2 tomorrow, 3 the day after, etc, until your last day where you do 100!!! Sounds like it's ridiculous, but trust me, they get easier... Well, not easier, but manageable.


Here's how to do a PROPER burpee.

So, give it a shot... let me know how much you hate me afterwards :)

Obesity and American Eating Habits

Today, I'm including an article from Bodybuilding.com on obesity.
Obesity in America!

Along with this article, I'm including my own viewpoint. I got an opportunity to wrestle over in Portugal back in 2007. Some things that I noticed.
1) It's almost impossible to find meat for breakfast over there. Lot of pastries. For someone that eats 6 times a day and has a high protein diet, this was an issue for me, but I was able to find something eventually.
2) Portion sizes are WAY smaller over there. A large coke at McDonald's is still 20 oz (Remember the 1980's in America?). You just can't find the huge pigout meals that are commonplace in America. A Large fry was equivalent to a Medium fry here.
3) Condiments are a rarity as well. No dunking your fries in 10 lbs of catsup.
3) People didn't seem to be as sedentary and many people were out walking, biking, etc. Part of this is due to the price of cars over there as a Renault Cleo (Essentially the size of a Mazda 3) was somewhere around $38K. No big vehicles either.
4) All this said, supplements were massively expensive. A jug of protein that would be maybe 30 bucks here was around 75 over there.

So, I didn't see more than just a few overweight people across the pond. At the same time, you don't see the few really ripped and muscular women and men that you can see in the states. There was more of an average size. In fact, I was one of the larger people in Portugal in regards to muscle size.

The main thing to take from this article is portion control, portion control, portion control. Eating small meals and taking your time with them will keep you from overeating. I know everyone is busy, but instead of scarfing a Big Mac, maybe look at just a 6 inch subway sandwich on wheat and hold that mayo!

Excuses, excuses, excuses

Excuses... You know the saying. Everyone has one...
My goal is to explain away these excuses... Get you to look past them and realize they're not this huge obstacle.
First excuse (my favorite...): I don't have time. Yes, you work 8 hours a day. Yes, your kid has baseball games. But it's not like you need to put away 3 hours a night, 7 days a week to workout. You need 1 hour, 3 to 5 times a week. If you have time to go drinking on a Friday night or write a blog, or go to dinner during the week, you can workout. Same saying goes for food preparation. You can spend 20 minutes on a Sunday night to get your food together for the week.
Second excuse: I don't have the money. This is also a favorite as I ALWAYS here this one, then watch said person post on Facebook about going to McDonald's, partying, or smoking. Come on. Priorities, people!
Third: I'll come train after I get in shape. Ok, ya know what? These are all my favorites. This one though, is mind blowing. I had a person TWO years ago, tell me she wanted to train with me, but wanted to wait till she was in shape. I'm still waiting. Look, why would you wait to get into shape? If you could get into shape on your own, you wouldn't need a trainer, right? It's an excuse for "I don't want my legs to be sore that first couple weeks". Get over it, and get in there with your trainer!

The main point, is that if you REALLY want something (like a new body, the ability to wear a bikini, not being able to break a chair when you sit in it, the ability to get into those new jeans, break your best mile time, run a half marathon, etc) you will work at it and go for it. If you don't, you'll find a way to concoct an excuse and a year later, you'll be wondering why you look exactly the same.

PEACE peeps!

Oh, btw... here are some Mom's that have the same excuses you do, but still get in shape... Lora Coalson, Kim Dolan and Michelle Kyman. And if I had her pic, my son's mother is also in tremendous shape, works full time and goes to school full time... NO EXCUSES!!!