Lots of Changes

So besides the new baby we're also moving and I just wrapped up my job.  More content will be coming soon, including my race report from first race post baby.  I've been getting the workouts in sporadically but something had to give and unfortunately first it was this blog and now with the packing its my exercise.  We'll be done in about a week so I'll write then!

Stress Relief

Exercise is my stress relief. Its my outlet. I used to play a lot of video games but found that they instead caused more stress in anxiety. With triathlon training if I'm having a bad day I can take it out on the water, pedals, or pavement.

Day 2

Bike

I just got on the trainer for about 30 minutes. I was more interested in seeing what zones I could hit and how long I could maintain each effort. Its been a long time since I've gotten on the bike. Felt good though. It helped melt away some of the stress I had been carrying through the day. I was even able to solve some work problems afterwards because it cleared my head.

Being Flexible

Well I never said this was going to be easy. Going to start from day 1 again but I'm starting to feel like I've mentally regained my mental commitment to testing my physical limits.

One of the things I've learned about becoming a parent is you often learn to be more flexible. You're no longer just compromising with your significant other but you're compromising with another person who you can't even reason with.

When things don't go your way and there's nothing you could have done about it, its important to acknowledge that fact and just move on as quickly as possible. Remaining flexible in life is, to me, what Bruce Lee was describing in his "Be like water" analogy:

Day 1

Swim

I'm just taking things one at a time. I know personally that my swim is the weakest so that's the part that I have to spend the most time as I get back into race shape.

I swam for a little over 15 minutes, just doing drills to work on my form. I felt surprisingly good. I guess it has to do with me spending most of my swims in the open water. The pool just seems like a piece of cake now.

Open Letter to Endorphin Fitness Ironman Team

All,

I can't begin to describe how immensely proud I am for all of you. For most of this past year I watched as you constantly pushed your physical and mental boundaries with your training and commitment.

All of your EF teammates here in Richmond watched and cheered you on as you took on Coeur d'Alene Ironman. It was great entertainment for me while I was up with the baby! I was excited as I saw your stories of perseverance and accomplishment. I know for some of you the race did not go exactly as you anticipated but you made it through your training and to the start line and that's pretty amazing to me.

I hope all of you get your well deserved rest. I can't wait to see all of you to hear your stories and get out there training again soon. You all are a true inspiration!

Sincerely,
- Ryan

A Little Out of Tri Shape

I'll admit it. Keeping up with workouts with a baby is hard. I thought that I would be able to maintain my regiment but have quickly fallen out of that. And now after two weeks of sporadic activity I've gotten out of tri shape. I need to get back on course! So I'll be starting another exercise streak (I said it was hard, not impossible). This time though, the emphasis will be on the at least 10 minutes of activity everyday more than anything else. I just need to build up a consistent routine again.

Mentally wise, I need to remind myself I'm not where I used to be and I think that was holding me back. I've had the mentality that I could compete at the age group level and when I couldn't get the workouts required for those goals in I just wouldn't do them. So now my goal is just to finish a sprint triathlon. After that, I'll reevaluate where my fitness is and raise my expectations accordingly.

Finally I'm going to sign up for a race, the 3Sports Sprint Triathlon. I'm a firm believer that you need to have a goal on the calendar to work towards to in order to achieve optimal fitness.

Morning Run

This was my wake up call. I was surprised how hard it was. I did get into a groove after a mile and a half but I feared that if I kept pushing it I would be spent for the rest of the week.

Strength Workout

I just did one set of everything. Some of the exercises involved quite a bit of balance and I'm starting to realize that is a weak area in my strength fitness.

New Mantras

Well that ended quickly. I had gotten up my most recent exercise streak up to 10+ days but with family in town to visit the little man that just went out the window.

I think we've fully acclimated to having a child, at least as best as we can be. In fact, my wife actually started triathlon training too! I better watch out, I was with her during her entire labor and if she endured all that I'm sure she'll be kicking my butt in no time.

I've decided that I'm going to live by two new mantras; basically they are new phrases for me to live by. The first one, No Excuses is actually inspired by a teammate of mine. In one of his posts, Grayson gives an amazing race report describing what its like to compete for first place. The part that struck me the most though and inspired this first mantra was the following:

But many other triathletes out there felt the need to tell me why they were not on the top step today. And I could have responded informing them that I raced with a concussion, that just a few months ago I was out for six weeks with a gnarly sprained ankle. Or that my body was rejecting all fluids today and I puked all over myself multiple times in this race. Or I could tell them how I just got done with my final exams on Tuesday to finish with Dean’s List for the semester. I could tell them all my setbacks over the months and years. But that would not accomplish anything. Because its not what we face that makes us the athletes who we are, its how we respond.

Its crazy that we're considered teammates even though we might have trained together once. That's what Team Endorphin Fitness is all about. His race report and personal perspective are so inspiring I"m going to include a link to it one more time.

The second mantra I've decided to use Keep on Trucking. This has been inspired by the fact that while I'm making the personal commitment not to make anymore excuses, I've also got to keep on moving forward when things don't go my way. There were several workouts that this week where I just felt dead tired. I wanted to stick with my commitment not to make excuses but I wanted to also ensure that I did something to finish strong mentally and physically.

What about everyone else? Do you have some personal mantras that you use on a daily basis?

Past Week's Training

5/31/11 Hard bike in the morning and strength class at night
6/1/11 River swim in the evening
6/2/11 Sprint run workout in the afternoon followed by strength class

So I Lied. Well Kind Of...

Remember when I said I might hold off on another training streak? Truth was I already had it my mind that I was going to start another one.

My current priority list looks as follows

1. Take care of family stuff.
2. Work.
3. Learn more work related skills and continue physical training.
4. Blog when have some extra time.

It sucks that the blogging has fallen at the end of my priority list but I know I'll be back in a more consistent rotation once I've gotten used to things. I mean if I don't blog they I don't get comments like this:

Even without a daily training streak blog from you, I'm still encouraged and motivated by you, bro.

And Eris isn't the only person who has something like this to me. Its pretty cool when you feel you've motivated other people in some sort of way.

So here's the super short version of this past week's worth of training. I like to call it Super Secret Solo Training (S3T) since a lot of it has been on my own at random times of the day.

5/21/11 6PM - Pool Swim
5/22/11 8PM - Long trainer ride
5/23/11 8PM - 6 mile run
5/24/11 730PM - Strength Training
5/25/11 8AM - Technique trainer ride, 6PM - River swim
5/26/11 930PM - Technique run
5/27/11 6AM - River swim

Obviously my training is all over the place right now. The hardest part of all of it is just making myself do a workout. I've missed group workouts the last several weeks from just not being able to wake up in the morning. I know, I know I have a kid now but I know there are people out there doing way more with their time with way less sleep.

Much Respect to Crossfitters

Just tried to do "Chelsea". I only did about 11 rounds. That's not even half way!

Ask Questions. The 2011 Version

In today's age we really have no excuse to be left wondering about most questions. Long gone is the waiting for answers period of wondering about something then having to wait until you get your hands on an Encyclopedia or ask someone who may have the knowledge you are seeking.

Today, with the internet, most answers are literally at our fingertips. You won't find answers to the bigger questions such as "why am I here" but you may find something to guide you to your personal answer.

So what are the hottest resources available to us in 2011?

• Google. The search engine is by far the most powerful resource. It amazes me how so many people still don't know how to utilize this tool. You can literally ask it anything and it will find some kind of answer for you. If you're results are obscure it means your query probably was too. Like everything it takes practice to utilize it but if you use it everyday you'll ability to find answers quickly will vastly improve. Here's more tips on how to use google search specifically.
• Wikipedia. This is the modern day Encyclopedia. You'll find a lot of factual information on it. The big criticism about it several years ago was that since the content was user generated that it had a lot of information that wasn't accurate. Now you don't have to worry about that so much because there are so many writers/editors that the content has become more reliable. I mean they even have a wiki article on the Reliability of Wikipedia.
• Other People. The original way of finding answers. But now you have social resources such as Facebook and Twitter. Curious about what everyone thinks about something? Just post it to your Facebook wall or tweet about it and you're bound to get a response.

So go out there! Find answers to your curiosities.

I do warn you though. Mastering these skills can be somewhat like opening Pandora's Box. You may find your curiosity to be never satisfied.

Master of Snooze

I have become a master of the snooze button. The good news is that I've stuck with my commitment to continue and develop my programming skills. The bad news is that its taken me pretty late into the night the entire week. That combined with my little guy crying sometimes during the night results in very little sleep.

6:30AM

Team Run

After only 3-4 hours of sleep and hitting the snooze button about 8 times I finally got myself out of bed to go to run practice.

The workout was pretty tough. My main goal was just to make it there. I didn't even think about doing anything intense. Coach Tyler had a different idea. I don't remember the details but I think I did several pretty hard 800s. My legs were pretty spent at the end of it but like I said I was satisfied with just making it out there.

I Do Remember How to Swim!

9:00PM

Swim

It seems like ages since I last swam. It was actually about three weeks ago to be exact.

Taking that much time away from the water can be daunting. Swimming is such a feel and technique driven sport that you've got to do it all the time to be good. One of our coaches always talks about how crazy he thought it was that swimmers would spend thousands of hours in the pool only to get a several second gain on their swim time.

So I had my reservations before going to the pool. At first I was going to do a Master Swim class but then I convinced myself that it would be too intense. I ended procrastinating for quite a bit longer. In the end I eventually built enough motivation to get at least a 30 minute swim.

The swim went surprisingly well. My biggest take away is that I think I'm in a much better spot mentally with swimming. I expect some pretty big gains with the rest of this year's training. I even gave myself a personal rule to never touch the wall with my hands. I used this in order to force myself to do flip turns. It was a great time!

A Digital GTD Tickler File

My GTD workflow has been going well. I had to skip the last couple of weeks because of the whole parenthood thingy. I've been meaning to share how my GTD system works here but to be honest its rather geeky and pretty involved. Once I've got it 100% hammered down I'll share what I do.

In the meantime here's a link to a digital tickler file that I created using the code described in this post. I couldn't find something like this anywhere online so I went ahead and created it myself. I have a physical Tickler File in my filing cabinet but I don't keep much in it as I've been trying to make my workflow more digital.

Hope it helps!

My First Date with "Cindy"

I tried to wake up for the morning team bike but there's something about becoming a new parent that messes with your sleep schedule. I can't quite put my finger on it.

Anyways the alarm rang at 5:15, I woke up and mumbled some half awoken encouragements to my wife about how great of a job she was doing and then passed back out. Woke up again at 6:15 only to curse myself for sleeping in. By the time I was finally out the door at 6:30 it started pouring down rain and thundering. DRAT!

10:00AM

Trainer at Home

Several hours later I was finally on my bike. I've been using the JetBlack Z1 Fluid HYDROGEL trainer and I'm not quite sure how I feel about the ride. Its nothing like the Kinetic Trainer we use at EF. The biggest adjustment I've had to make is that the JetBlack seems to have so much more initial resistance. Gears I would normally hit with the Kinetic seem impossible to hold with the JetBlack. I guess in the end it'll be better since the more resistance will make me stronger but there has been an adjustment period.

I ended up only riding for about 25 minutes. My Mom was flying into town so I wanted to squeeze in as much as possible before she arrived to the house.

"Cindy"

I've mentioned before that I've been interested in doing crossfit but didn't have the time. Since I was working out from home I decided to go for my own mini version of a crossfit workout.

The workout was "Cindy" which I've heard great things about. I only did three rounds which I'm sure is pretty lame by crossfit standards but I'm trying to squeeze in as much as possible with little time.

Training Streak Broken

The title of this post is one of the first things a buddy commented to me after the birth of my first child. Obviously because of my two week disappearance from blogging its been quite the adventure so far.

It was crazy I had literally just finished writing this post when my wife revealed to me she had been labor for about an hour. Let me tell you, helping your wife through labor is no easy task. Its a lot of physical work. So much that I was going to consider it part of my training streak. I'm tempted to document all of it here but I think the reason why it hasn't been described from the male's perspective so much is because it seems like a right of passage for first time dads.

I will say this: bring warm clothes because hospitals are cold, bring plenty of snacks for you and your wife (she loved cliff shot blocks), and be patient. The labor took over 44 hours. For those of you keeping track from triathlon perspective that's about four Ironmans for elite athletes and at least two to three for everyone else. My wife's a warrior. I told our coach at EF that I'd be scared of her whenever she decided that she would try out a triathlon. I don't know how you lady's do it but I do have a new profound respect for all mothers.

Going back to the streak. Yeah, its over. It was great I had made it to 113 straight days of working out. I could honestly say not only did I think I was close to if not the best shape in my entire life but I also felt like I had the most consistency and control over my life as well. Then the little one arrived. Things got kind of chaotic but like everything you adjust and move on. After the first five days I made a mini attempt to get another streak of about four days going (bike/run, long run, stretching, brick/strength) but I decided that it would be best to focus on what's most important right now, my family.

This isn't to say that another one won't start tomorrow but in the grand scheme of things its moved down my priority list. The little guy does seem like he'll be quite the competitor though. He had "the ideal term heartbeat" all through those 44 hours of labor. I'm going to have to stay in somewhat good of shape to keep up with him.

More Projects Please

I've decided that I've neglected developing my programming expertise for far too long. Sure, I do a lot of reading and I come up with a lot of ideas but I never go through with starting or finishing them. Sometimes I think I should find a job as a professional thinker rather than programmer.

Since today is my first day back at work I wanted to spent the majority of the day programming, including free time. They say that you should love your profession so much that you want to continue doing it in your free time. To tell you the truth I'm not sure if I feel that way about my profession but at the same time I haven't given it an honest shot. I've read books and learned about a lot of new interesting things but I haven't spent enough doing what it all boils down to: coding.

So I coded up a new project and shared it over at github. The code basically creates sequential integer directories given an integer that specifies the end point. It seems trivial but I wanted to do this for several reasons:

• I needed an excuse to code.
• I wanted to learn more about Ruby.
• I wanted to practice doing TDD.
• I needed to create 31 sequential folders for GTD. I had been meaning to create a digital tickler file but never got around to it. Following the Don't Repeat Yourself principle I decided to use this as an opportunity to code rather than sit there and create 31 new folders by "hand"

Like I said this seems trivial right now but if I recall correctly a mile seemed trivial two years ago and look how far I've come.

Days 110 - 113: Like Waiting for Christmas

I know. I've been slacking on the blog posts. And once again, no the baby isn't here yet. My training is still coming along but the anticipation for this little one is really starting to wear on me. I think I've had restless sleeps for the past week or so and this is supposed to be the time where I get the most sleep!

I was really trying to come up with a scenario that describes what the anticipation of having a first child has been for me. I've come to the conclusion its a lot like the first Christmas's you remember as a kid.

You hear about this magical day but you're still a kid so you don't really grasp the time so you shrug it off and say to yourself it'll come when it comes. This is how I kind of felt when we heard about our due date. We were super excited but at the same time realized it was a long ways away.

Then things start to happen around you. You notice toy shops promoting Christmas and decorations coming out of the attic. You feel the excitement start to build up inside of you. For me this was the kind of emotions I was going through when I first really started to feel our baby kick in my wife's belly.

Finally, the tree is up and your presents are wrapped. This is where you just go berserk as a kid. You're constantly eying your presents. Even picking them up to shake to see if you can got some kind of sense of the joy that is contained inside. As the days go bye the crazy excitement continues. It even keeps you up a little longer each night as you stay in bed. This has been the past two weeks for me.

Its crazy. I was pretty calm and collected. When people asked, I would always say "he'll come when he's ready and we're just happy to have him." Somewhere along the line the crazy man switch got turned on in my head. No more! Starting tonight I will try and resemble my once non crazed self. That is until the little guy comes. Can't wait!

4/27/11 6:00AM

Team Swim

This swim happened so many days ago I can barely remember how it felt. This is what early parenthood must feel like. I remember that it went well. I felt strong and I'm pretty sure I left the workout with a positive feeling.

4/28/11 6:00AM

Team Run

We did a 30 minute race pace or slightly harder run. It went OK for me. I think I squeezed in close to 4 miles. I did have some tightening in my calves. I talked with our coaches about this and they think its because I've been focusing on my foot landing rather than lifting my legs during my run. I worked on that for the last mile and I felt the sensation more in my hamstrings than my calves. It makes sense that this would be more efficient as its the larger muscle group. I did 6 for the day total.

4/28/11 7:15PM

Strength Class

This was just as tough as last Thursdays class. Squats, pushups, box jumps, step ups, and more craziness. I'm loving this class. Think my body is starting to wear down. I'd say it'll adapt but by the time it gets close the little man will be here.

4/29/11 6:30AM

River Swim

This went better than my last swim in the river. We still had a pretty good current which was challenging physically and mentally. I just don't like the sensation of being pushed off course but I know I'll get used to it again. Because of my discomfort I stuck with just swimming half way across and back. My sighting went really well though. By my next river swim I should be fully used to it again.

4/30/11 7:00AM

Long Ride

I wanted to stay close so I didn't bike too far with the main group. I think I ended up getting about 20 miles in but that's okay with me. Just liked that I made the ride more enjoyable and relaxing than anything else.

Brick Run

This was just like the bike. I was trying to pull the most joy out of it as possible. Loved the weather. Got a little over 2 miles in and hit some pretty good paces in the process.

Conquer Your Fear of Going Fast

To be victorious in the race against the clock, one must push through mental and physical barriers.

Fantastic piece at USAT on overcoming your mental limitations to reach higher speeds.

Day 109: It Feels a Little Different

6:00AM

Bike/Run Time Trial

I'm not sure what it is but racing hard feels kind of different. I was thinking it may be because I'm just coming off that knee injury but I think its more a feeling of control.

Last year when I raced sprint triathlons and short runs it felt like I was just dying. I would cramp up so badly. I remember one race my coach just told me to calm down my breathing and I think this has been the key difference. I've done a lot of yoga that has allowed me to focus on how my breathing affects my muscle recovery. The body is a really an amazing thing once you take the time to notice and learn to control its inner workings.

The time trial itself went well. I'm guilty of doing quite a bit of drafting but I did finish the bike and run feeling like I had nothing left to give. I'm also happy with the current speed I'm maintaining off the bike. Now I seem to be only loosing about 20-30 seconds off my usual run pace rather than the 1-2 minutes I was loosing last year. I just need to keep on working at it to get comfortable with getting the legs turning after a hard bike.

7:15PM

Strength Class

I'm really digging these classes. Its a shame that I'm just getting back into them before the little bugger arrives but that's life. Just got to be like water and flow with it.

Days 104-108: Getting it All In

Nope, the baby isn't here yet. Yep, the exercise streak is still going. I've been busy the past several days. I've also realized that hardly anyone reads this blog on the weekends. With that being considered I've decided to start condensing several days of training into one post just for brevity.

4/21/11 6:00AM

Run Time Trial

I was pretty scared of this run going in. I had no idea what kind of pacing I could hold so I feared that I could potentially blow up mid way through it and just have to walk.

I ended up starting very conservative and tried to chip off time with each loop. In the end I did the 2 miles in 12:41. I'm pretty happy with those results. Still just glad to be out there running again. I know what my body is capable of so that time will come down eventually.

4/21/11 7:30PM

Strength Class

We've got a new strength trainer at EF (we'll miss you Rusty). She. Is. a. Beast. I think her saying was "Tough...not mean. Mean...not cruel!"

The workout was grueling in a good way. It definitely settled any thoughts I had about trying to replace my strength training with crossfit. I ended up being sore a good four days afterwards. Got to get this in in order to get faster/stronger.

4/22/11 4:30PM

Technique Swim

The day just passed me buy. I had to literally sneak this swim in. I had to go to EF since the pool at the Y was full. I just worked on my bilateral breathing. Tried to take it somewhat easy as it had been a pretty hectic week.

4/23/11 4:00PM

Long Bike

We had some pregnancy videos that we had been meaning to watch so I just got on the trainer. I ended up doing about an hour ride with 30 minutes of zone 4 intensity in the middle. Great ride. My legs felt strong.

Brick Run

Did about a 2 mile run right off the trainer. It was a gorgeous day outside so I just tried to put the fatigue in the back of my mind and just focus on enjoying the day. So glad that I can run again.

4/24/11 8:00AM

Long Run

10 miler. I couldn't believe that I ran this far! It was at least 3 miles further than my longest run this year. Marco, a buddy from EF, had to do 20 miles so another friend and I joined him for the second half. The run felt great. The last 4 were tiring but again its just wonderful to be out running.

4/24/11 3:30PM

Mountain Bike

I went downtown to hit the Forest Hill trails with some Mountain Bike friends. I have a long way to go. I think I might of sweated more during this short ride than my 10 miler earlier in the day. The sheer terror kept me on the edge the entire time. I did have a lot of fun but I do realize I have a ways to go before I'll feel comfortable on those kind of trails.

4/25/11 3:00PM

Enjoyable swim

It was our "rest day" so I just did a nice easy swim. I tried to make it as enjoyable as possible. I did a lot of flip turns and even practiced doing flip turns for snake swims. I know having these kind of positive moments with the swim will only make me stronger in the long run.

Day 103: Visualizing Victory

6:00AM

Team Swim

As you can tell from my last several posts about my swim things haven't been going the way I would have liked. Things could have gone south really fast for today's swim as well as it seemed like one of our toughest swims of the year.

Once I saw what the workout was going to be yesterday I did have a couple of bouts of fear. Instead of letting that negative energy overtake me though I decided to visualize what it would be like to be successful at the workout. I tried to imagine every time my mind would falter and what I would do to overcome it. Instead of focusing on the workout as an opportunity to get stronger physically I viewed it as an opportunity to get stronger mentally. This mental preparation helped out a lot.

During the swim there were moments where I wanted to just stop in the middle of the pool but instead I told myself "small victories will make you mentally stronger." I used that as my own personal mantra for the day. The workout was still tough (think we did about 1500 yards at max effort) but I do feel like I left victorious. Got to finds those little wins whenever you can.

Day 102: Keep Pushing it Harder

Its so awesome training with other people and coaches. There are a lot of social benefits but also competitive ones that make you want to push yourself harder to keep up. Last year I was a front of the pack kind of guy but no more. Everyone on our team has gotten stronger and I've got to continue to push myself to improve. Triathlons are also increasing in popularity so we've got quite a number of speedies on the team for me to chase. I've found that this year has been more of a mental battle than last. Love the challenge though!

6:00AM

Team Intensity Bike

This was similar to last week's workout. We practiced race scenarios such as surging ahead of a bike pack and then holding onto the lead. Its pretty challenging. It was crazy to think that these are the kind of things professional cyclists maintain when they're in an actual race.

Love that this is coached also. I always think I'm hitting my maximum effort but then I'll hear Coach Tyler saying "go up another gear!" It takes a toll on my legs but I know its making me stronger.

Brick

I've made a mental commitment with myself to come off the bike harder and faster. Last year when racing I would loose so much off my usual run pace when coming off the bike. It could have been mental but it also was probably that I wasn't training hard enough for my bricks. I was pretty spent by the end of the run but like I said its all making me stronger.

Weekly Review 3.1 - Open to Suggestions

Time to complete: 43 minutes

That's more like it. Now the key is to actually get some things done that I've had on my list for the last several months.

I guess one issue with me is that the idea of working in context doesn't necessarily apply to me. I work from home. So I always have the option of deciding between doing home stuff, computer stuff, phone stuff, or reading stuff. So what usually happens is that 1) I get overwhelmed and not really know what to focus my energy on or 2) just focus everything on one context and not get things done in other areas. Any GTDers out there who have suggestions on how I can separate these things out to more effectively get things done?

Training Streak: Day 101

6:00PM

Core workout/Stretching

Had a good session of doing some ab and core exercises. We also did some pretty intense stretching. I often have mixed feelings about this workout because I'm not sure if I'd rather do this than Yoga. But today I tried to bring to the workout the concept that I feel is most essential to me personally regarding Yoga: the ability to breathe and relax. We'll see tomorrow morning how effective this will be.

Weekly Review 3.0

I have been doing these for the last several weeks, I just didn't take the time to post them. Plus they kind of didn't count since they were not on the day I had designated in my personal rule.

That's the way life goes though right? You get unhinged from your routine and you must pick and choose the things you can and can't do. But if you've built a good habit, you eventually get back to it. That's the main indicator that you've built a strong habit.

• March 30. Time to Complete: 39 minutes
• April 7. Time to Complete: 1 hour 25 minutes
• April 12. Time to Complete: 1 hour 40 minutes

As you can see my times have degraded. Things that I've learned to improve this process are to stay on top of clearing not only your inbox but also making sure you reward yourself by checking off your lists as well. For me personally, if I'm consistent with these things then I can have a really short weekly review.

Day 100: Looking Back

Wow! 100 straight days of exercise. Trying to remember why I started this streak in the first place I looked back at some old posts and realized it boiled down to just trying to be more consistent.

Since starting this streak I now regularly make it to all of my coached workouts. I even managed to do this despite suffering a pretty significant injury. But this isn't the only area where I've gained more control over my life.

• I read the Bible and work on my spirituality daily. This is a more recent development. I try to start every day with this so that it can help me put the day into perspective.
• I floss daily. This may not be a biggie to some people but I think I went through all my years of college without seeing the dentist. To say that my oral hygiene was lacking would be an understatement.
• My GTD system has improved. I've made drastic improvements to the way I get things done. This is due to the fact that I do my weekly review consistently.
• I read more often. I used to love to read in High School. Over the years with TV that habit kind of just died. I now carry a book with me just about anytime I go out.
• I cook more often. My pregnant wife loves this one. I used to cook a lot during college but somehow also got out of that habit. Admittedly this has stopped the last several weeks but its mostly because we've been doing a lot of other things to prepare for the little man.

I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this streak going, especially when my wife goes into labor and we bring the little guy home. As most of you who answered the poll suggested, its no problem, I can just start over again. I'm happy with the progressed I've made and look forward to continuing to grow personally.

7:00PM

Solo Run

My goal was to do at least a 6 mile run but it had been a long weekend and I was feeling kind of lazy. I decided that I also wanted to push the pace more to see if I was back to my old speed. This ended up being a mistake.

By mile 3 my calves were tightening up and decided to wrap things up to fight another day. I'm just thankful that I got to go out and run.

As a tip to new runners (this currently applies to me as well), its better to go slower when you're increasing either the distance you run or the amount of time you spend on your feet. The speed will come naturally once you establish a good base of mileage. Then you can start throwing things in to help increase speed such as hill work or speed work. Just be consistent and listen to your body (again, just telling myself this).

Day 99: Breaking in the Trainer

8:00AM

Home Trainer Ride

With the baby's imminent arrival I decided to get a bike trainer. I don't think I'll be able to get away for many workouts so I'm going to have to be selective for what I can do at the house versus at the gym.

The ride was pretty challenging. It was the first time I really put this trainer to the test. I wasn't hitting the gears I typically hit. I attributed this to either the lack of coolness in our apartment or the lack of team environment to motivate me.

In the end I realized I had the back wound way too tight. You could actually see particles of my rear tire that had worn off due to the friction. Looks like I'll be in the market for new tires soon too!

Day 98: Wetsuits - Another Creative Way to Burn Calories

6:45AM

Pool Swim

Bummer. The water at the river was way too high and the current was crazy fast. We were standing out there just watching debris breeze by in the water. That would be a creative open water swim practice, how to dodge debris.

I wanted to get some sort of swim in so I just headed to the Y. I didn't do any structured work out I just did some random stuff to feel like I got some kind of exercise.

I've really been out of the swim lately. I've been trying to analyze what is different this year than last. I'm thinking its probably higher expectations. Last year, I was so new to swimming that all I could think about is my improvement. This year all I've been focusing on is getting through a workout. So for my last lap all I wanted to do is try to experience the joy of swimming and take in what I've accomplished. I need to start making sure I end every swim workout like this for my mental sanity.

Getting In and Out of My Wetsuit

I've forgotten how much of a workout getting in my wetsuit can be. I wanted to do this today because it took me about 10 minutes to get out of it last week which is quite unacceptable for a T1 time.

These things are tight. I think it takes me at least 20 minutes to get it on right. Its a workout in itself! I wonder how many calories I burn doing it? How long does it take everyone else to get into theirs?

Getting out of it was straightforward today. I think it took about 20 seconds. What I did was wear the suit for about 30 minutes to let it stretch out a bit. I also used a trick from last year which consisted of applying body glide to the areas that the suit gets stuck when removing. For me this means putting body glide on my wrists, forearms, and calves. I also put it on outside of the suit in the same areas to minimize any kind of friction when removing the suit.

Whew! What a workout.

Day 97: Keeping Up with the Youngins

All kinds of shape, sizes, and ages train with us at Endorphin Fitness. They do personal and adult coaching but what they have national recognition for is their development of elite youth triathletes.

These kids are often around half my age or less and boy are they fast in every aspect of the sport. That's why I consider it a moral victory when I keep up with one of them in our workouts. Granted this week is still a rest and recovery week but like I said, its a moral victory.

6:00PM

Team Run

I was a little late getting to practice so I had to quickly do my warmup. By the time I was done the rest of the team was already doing their race prep run. I asked Michael what we were ding and he explained to do a 250 meter run at race pace and then a 150 meter run easy for about 6 to 8 sets. I asked him what pace to hit and he suggested my typical run pace for an international distance race. Then he threw in "just run with Robbie".

Now Robbie is one of the Elite youth. I could kind of keep up with him last year but I think he's hit puberty full throttle. Plus I'm just coming off my injury but those are all excuses. Regardless I kept up with him for 4 out of the 6 sets. The last one he got about a couple strides ahead of me, I think he's got that killer instinct going where he knows how to break someone mentally on the run. Also, I was running at a way faster click than international distance race pace. I was probably running at my sprint distance pace.

I'm pretty happy with myself though. I know I'm still not back running wise to wear I was 6 months ago but these little steps and hard work will get me there. Who knows maybe I'll even be able to catch one of these youth in a race. In the meantime I'll keep on taking these moral victories.

Training Streak: Day 96

6:00AM

Team Swim

This was just another swim. We threw in some sighting practice and fast starts to simulate racing in the open water. I need to get used to the sighting/breathing rhythm again. Whenever something affects my breathing rhythm with my swim I tend to fall apart. Its just going to take more practice.

Day 95: Practice Like You Race

6:00AM

Team Intensity/Technique Bike

This week is a rest and recovery week for our training since a lot of people are racing this weekend. For bike class we did a shorter workout but we tried to simulate the different phases of racing (ie - the start, hills, preparing for the finish).

I didn't have my heart rate monitor going because I broke my garmin at the race on Sunday. Even though it sucks, I still think this is a good thing as it allows me to really focus on the feeling rather than being dependent on what my watch is telling me. Its kind of crazy, the two triathlons where my Garmin was acting up I actually placed in my Age Group so maybe I should just not use the thing at all.

I felt good on the bike overall. There were some moments of fatigue from the weekend but I wanted to really focus on what I feel haven't worked on enough this past several months, transitioning to the run.

Brick Run

Because I've been injured I haven't been able to run off the bike the way I've liked. In fact this might have always been a weak point as I only remember one race where I came off the bike really strong. So I've decided to commit myself to coming off the bike hard like it was a race and then settling down.

I got my shoes on really quick and ran out the door. We were just doing about a lap of 100 yards so that our coach could yell out the kind of zones we should hit. I actually felt really strong. The first several laps I was settling into my pace but at the end I was really starting to hit a groove. If I want to perform well this is an area that I have to continue to focus on.

Training Streak: Day 94

8:00PM

Yoga

It was a stressful day. The wife and I actually did a Yoga session via Netflix. It felt great. By the end of the session I felt totally relaxed. I need to be sure to do these sessions at least once a week.

Day 93: Inaugural Chasing Chics Triathlon

Race day! Today I did the first Chasing Chics Triathlon. It was a sprint triathlon so the swim was 300 meters, the bike was 13 miles, and the run was 3.1 miles.

For the pool swim I was about 40 seconds off my seeded time which was surprising because I don't think I passed anyone or got passed. Maybe the person behind me was just drafting off of me the entire time.

It was a bit chilly outside so the bike was nippy. I got to try my new aero helmet or as Ate Joy likes to term it, "sperm head". This is the area where I was most improved. I think I averaged a little over 24 mph on the bike. All that winter training paid off!

The run was hard. My legs still aren't quite used to coming off the bike or even running fast in general. It took me about a couple of miles to get them turning the way I wanted to. I had some moments of weakness where I wanted to just walk but I'm glad I ended up finishing the race.

Overall I did great. It was just fantastic to be out there. I placed 3rd in my new age group (30-34) and 26th overall. It was only a field of about 100 guys but placing is placing. It gets me kind of excited to think about how well I do once I get my full run fitness back. I'll get there eventually.

Training Streak: Day 92

3:00PM

Practicing Transitions

I'm racing tomorrow so I didn't want to do too much. I got on my bike and just practiced my transitions. These require practice because I like to do them similar to the way shown in the following video.



After getting that practice in, I put my bike on my brand new trainer and just got a light workout in. I feel great! We'll see how the race goes tomorrow.

Day 91: Paralyzing Fear

Yesterday we took some teammates from EF rock climbing. One of our teammates had a fear of heights that was so bad it was amazing just to get her out there.

We got her on the wall several times and with each climb she got higher and higher. We couldn't quite get her to the top though. The main thing that stood in the way were moments of fear. She would get be smoothly climbing up the wall then hit an area where she didn't know what to do next and just then just start to freeze due to fear and panic. I tried to sympathize with her but I could not really understand how she felt until this morning.

6:30AM

Team Open Water Swim

The water was freezing. I think it was somewhere in the 50s. I was late getting there so I didn't really take the time to look at the currents. Big mistake.

The rest of the team were doing laps around several buoys. I started swimming in the direction of the first buoy but started to get distracted by the cold water on my face as well as trying to sight for the first time in several months. Next thing I knew I was swimming directly towards my teammates.

I lifted my head up and started to tread water to figure out what I was going to do next. Suddenly I found myself drifting away from the group. A part of the current took a hold of me. Mentally I felt fine and don't recall panicking. But I did request that one of the coaches in a boat come get me.

Once I got back to shore we still had quite a bit of time left so I wanted to continue to swim. I swam a lap and had to fight the current to get back. Then as I prepared for another lap I found myself just standing there thinking about the current. I was frozen. Fear had begun to sink in my mind.

I was eventually able to get several more laps in but I was a little bothered how the fear had taken a hold of me and prevented me from swimming more. I know my swim fitness is strong so it wasn't a physical limitation. It was all mental.

I think fear is important. It warns us when we're about to do something reckless or dangerous to our well being. When it becomes a problem is when it prevents us from doing stuff that we know we can do. It becomes mental battle. I'm not sure what the best method to fight fear is but I've always subscribed to just getting out there and trying again. I'll let you guys know how next week's swim goes.

Day 90: Pacing Life

I've come to realize that pacing isn't just applicable to running and swimming. You've got to pace yourself in your daily life. You work too fast and you'll start to get diminished returns. You'll overlook important details and eventually get burned out. Work too slow and you'll find yourself susceptible to laziness. The important part is to find the right pace for you. Even in life, smooth is fast and efficient.

6:00AM

Team Intensity Run

Today I did my first threshold workout. I ran about four miles total with the middle two being miles at threshold pace. I'm pretty happy with my results. I was able to hit around 6:25 on both of those miles. That's just several seconds slower than my pre injury threshold pace.

I did notice my legs were fatiguing and tightening up. I also don't think my running technique is as efficient as it used to be. That's something I'm going to have to keep an eye on as I work my run base back.

Day 89: Quick Poll

As some of you know my wife is pregnant with our first child. In fact she could pop any day now. Obviously this will affect my Exercise/Training Streak. I'm pretty torn as to how I'm going to handle the streak so I decided to create a poll to see what everyone suggests. You can find it on the right sidebar of my page. It'll stay open until next Wednesday. I'm eager to see what you guys think!

6:00AM

Team Intensity/Technique Swim

This swim went a lot better relative to my past several swims. The main set consisted of 6 x 200s at Olympic distance race pace with very little rest in between. For the most part I held on. I had a couple of stops at the wall to either pass someone or let someone pass me.

I know my swim is getting stronger but its still a drain on me mentally. I guess that's why its my weakest of the three sports. For the next winter I'm thinking about taking a break from biking and running and just focus purely on swimming. Its so technique driven that I think I need to lay a better base down.

Day 88: The Streak is Still Going

The streak is still going on. I just had too many activities over the weekend (10K, Birthday, VCU game) to keep up with posting. Somethings got to give right? I retro blogged most of my workouts. You can find them here, here, here, and here. One cool thing is that people are actually starting to ask about this streak. I ran into an old running buddy at the race and he asked me all about it. People are reading!

6:00AM

Team Intensity Bike

I wouldn't say this was our hardest workout but it was challenging. It involved building from zone 3 to 5 while spending x amount of time in each zone. We did two sets of this. I felt really strong at the end until Coach Tyler told me to kick it up two gears. I think that might of been the longest last 30 seconds of a bike ever!

Brick

By the end of the Bike my legs were dead. They were also still worn from football. Looks like I have to work on those fast twitching muscles. I gingerly got off the bike and leaned against the wall as I put my run shoes on. I can honestly say it was probably my slowest transitions.

The first mile was tough. I threw in some striders but I found myself trying to catch people in the process. I decided to take the pace down just a little since I didn't want to risk pulling a hamstring.

After the workout I did stretching, a massage roll, and an ice bath. I'm still walking gingerly around the house. Hopefully I'll recover soon.

Anton Krupicka: On Being Real

Anton manages to concisely describe while he does trail runs. Excellent read. Any description or quote wouldn't do it justice. Check it out! NOTE: For Facebook and Twitter people that got here, just click on the post title to get to the article.

[Source: Running Times Magazine]

Day 87: Stretching Again

6:00PM

Group Yoga/Stretching

I know it has to do a little with playing football yesterday but I lost a little bit of my flexibility. I've also been guilty of not stretching too hard after exercises last week. I need to get back into though. Race season is upon us and if I don't keep up with stretching the potential for injury and body fatigue go up.

Day 86: A Little Flag Football

I was supposed to get a ride in today but I was still recovering from the VCU game and my birthday party. I kept on putting it off for the rest of the day until I heard from my buddy about their football game in a flag football league. They needed an extra person so I figured that would count as enough exercise.

I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared because I didn't want to risk injuring myself again. But hey, taking a break from your usual routine is okay just as long as you're smart about it.

What I found out is that football is not my thing anymore. I think I had as many interceptions resulting from me fumbling and tipping balls as actually caught passes. Had fun though, it was just like old times being out there with the guys and playing some ball. Time to go back into retirement though.

Day 85: 2011 Monument 10K

Hooray! I finally get to participate in an event that I payed for. I had to miss the Richmond half and Shamrock half due to injuries. I didn't race my fastest but it was great just to be out there.

Race Nutrition

Race day for me started the night before. Last year I took nutrition for granted since I was just coming off doing a marathon. Several members from the team went to PF Chang's. I had the chicken noodle soup with extra noodles plus some white rice on the side. Had to carb load! I'm really happy with this meal as I didn't feel any stomach issues during the run.

Henry

When I got to the race we all met at the Cathedral for pictures. We went early because we wanted to cheer on one of our younger athletes in the Kid's Run. Henry is a 10 year old kid whose been working hard to finish his first mile race. What make's Henry unique is that he has cerebral palsy. Rusty described the disease as a "group of non-progressive, non-contagious motor conditions that causes physical disability in human development. With CP, your muscles become spastic and can tighten up for no apparent reason, making physical movement VERY difficult." In Henry's case he equated that running a mile would seem like running an ultramarathon for traditional runners.

I wanted to go out and support this young man for a couple of reasons. For one was because he gave a wonderful impromptu speech at our annual banquet. I'd try to describe it but I wouldn't do justice to his delivery. The second is a bit selfish, I just wanted to feel a little inspired prior to the race. I think that often we take some of the basic things we do daily for granted. I can't recall every mile that I've ran but I bet you Henry can. For these kind of reasons, you'll sometimes just see me smile or yell during a workout just to appreciate the experience.

The 10K

The run went really well. I paced a teammate and she ended up getting a PR. I was surprised at how my body responded. I had some hesitation as I was scared my legs weren't ready for that many miles at that speed but I felt strong. I'd even say that I probably had a couple of more miles in me at the end of the race.

I just love doing this event. For one it was my first endurance event in my adulthood so I figured I'd do it annually no matter what. Its also fun for the sheer amount of people. I think there were something around 41,000 people registered. That's nuts! There's a ton of support and fun games like the costume contest. Costumes were a little toned down this year and I think its probably because everyone was more worried about the game later in the day.

Once again, I'm just glad I got to go out there and experience it. This run got me really amped and I can't wait for my first race next weekend.

Training Streak: Day 84

2:00PM

Technique/Intensity Swim

This swim wasn't too bad. The workout called for a lot but I shortened it because of tomorrow's race. I'm not sure if I'm back to my swim form from last year. These pool workouts are starting to drain me a little bit. I'm looking forward to open water swimming. We usually do these with the sunrise so its great to just be out there and enjoy nature. I know. I'm becoming a granola.

Training Streak: Day 83

6:15AM

Tempo Run

That brick is affecting me a whole lot more than I thought. This morning my legs still felt heavy even though I was wearing my running flats. I did a quick mile warm up followed by a tempo run. The tempo run consisted of me doing a mile and a half where I brought it up to race pace on every straightaway. Despite the sluggish beginning, my legs started to loosen up and I started to work in some times close to pre-injury. I still have a ways to go but I like the way I'm progressing.

I followed this run up with another ice bath and compression socks. I think I've done all that I can to prepare my body for the 10K. I know I'm not hitting it too hard but I still have to be conscious about listening to my body.

Training Streak: Day 82

6:00PM

Team Intensity Swim

Man! Another tiring swim. This is getting repetitive.

As with the last several swims I found myself fighting my mind to continue. I even sat out a couple of laps just to stay with my group (I made them up in the end).

Today though my body physically told me to stop. I cramped in my right hamstring which has never happened to me before. Its weird in the water I've gotten cramps in my calves and even my toes. I guess it shows how intense swimming can be! It can be pretty scary in the water but the key is not to panic.

The positive news is my swim stroke is really improving. I can tell because I've gotten my stroke count down significantly with some swim golf. I also can't be too hard on myself about feeling beat, last night's brick was tough and I did move myself up a couple of swim lanes today.

Training Streak: Day 81

6:00PM

Hard Brick

THIS WAS A TOUGH WORKOUT.

We did an 8 mile bike at race intensity followed by a 2 mile run while still maintaining race intensity. For one this was a pretty tough workout but if I had to dissect it I'd say taking too many chances on the bike wore me out.

We had about 30+ people out there so drafting was going to happen. I was with the second fastest group and on several occasions tried to outrun them. As Coach Tyler would term it, I probably just wasted too many of my bullets on the bike. If I had just taken what the situation gave me and just drafted the entire time I probably would have been able to stay with the first group.

All the wasted energy on the bike made my run pretty challenging. It didn't help that this was the second brick I've done this season. It took quite a while for me to even get started but once I did I felt like I was lifting dead weight for that first mile. Eventually I got my legs turning that second mile.

Overall I'm really happy with how I performed today. I know I'm much stronger today than yesterday because of the challenge.

Training Streak: Day 80

I've been getting behind on several things so I'm going to switch back on the original format of the training streak for now.

6:15PM

Trail Run

I wanted to establish that I had a good base for this weekend's Monument 10K. As I said before I don't plan to run the race as hard as I can as I don't think my legs are ready for that yet. Instead I'll be pacing a fellow teammate through the race.

This was a fun run. I went around Deep Run Park twice. The first loop I remained overly cautious trying to avoid roots and just get my body warmed up. The second loop the sun was setting and I wanted to take more chances. I didn't work myself too hard but the trail terrain did serve as a good challenge. I think I did about 5 miles.

I'll be ready for Saturday.

Day 79: Best Trainer Ride Ever (Go Rams Go)!

A lot of hoopla has been made about VCU not deserving to be in the tourney. I'll admit, even though I was a season ticket holder last year I still had my doubts.

All of the talking heads said at the end of the day, if you look at VCU's resume prior to the tourney they didn't deserve to be included. Just like when hiring for a job position there is only so much that words and numbers on paper can tell you. Resumes often don't answer the most crucial questions.

What is their quality of leadership? How well do they work as a team? How do they perform when their backs to the wall? Most importantly, do they learn from their mistakes?

There were several games this year where VCU had a lead and somehow lost it in either the second half or last minutes of games. That was the poor defensive team. That was the team that didn't belong in the tourney. But they've learned from their mistakes, made adjustments, and improved in areas where they were weak. That's the kind of team I'd want in the tourney. The one that continues to get better and learns from its past misfortunes. Not the ones that peak early in the year only, get their number one seed, and then get bounced from the tournament.

2:30PM

Trainer Ride

This substituted for my long ride of the week. I put my bike in the trainer and just watched the VCU game. It was a fantastic ride. When watching the frantic pace VCU had on defense and offense during the first half I could not help but feel ultra energized for my ride. Usually I get bored while watching a movie while on a trainer. Not today. Great job Rams!

Day 78: Quickening Recovery

I've really been trying to get back into running. My goal is to be ready for next weekend's 10K. I don't plan to race it but to help pace (a zone 3 effort) someone through the race. My first race (all out effort) will actually be the following weekend.

In order to get the appropriate miles before the race I've been doing some extra stuff to expedite my recovery between runs.

• Stretching and Yoga - self explanatory
• Muscle massage - after just about every workout I massage my leg muscles with the stick to "reduce muscle soreness, stiffness and pain"
• Ice baths - I do these after every run I consider to be intense. My first year of running I used to only save these for when I did 10 miles or more but since I'm just getting back into running I have to do this for our intensity workouts and when I'm increasing the mileage.
• Compression socks - I wear these throughout the day to continue and improve the circulation in my legs.

So far all of this has helped. The days I don't do a combination of these measures I can really start to feel the muscle soreness associated with running.

9:00AM

Run

I had a lot of activities to attend today so I had to squeeze this in the morning. I ran my old route that I used to train for my first 10K. Its just a 3 mile run but it has several big hills and steady declines. I like it mostly because of the challenge of the hills.

The run went well. I was able to maintain a sub 8 pace even during the sections with the big hills. My breathing wasn't where I wanted to be but I suspect this was because of the colder temperatures outside. I'm going to go for a long run on Monday and see if I'll be ready for the 10K or not.

Day 77: Another Tiring Swim

The entire week I've been out of it. I think its probably because I'm just getting back into running and my body is adjusting to the new activity.

6:40AM

Optional Intensity Swim

I did not want to get out of bed for this one. Fortunately I had Marco to motivate me to get out of bed and get the workout done.

The swim was especially tough considering how worn out I've been. I think the technique drills alone took us about 30 - 40 minutes. Then we had the main set which was 10 x 100s fast. I think after the second one the doubts started to creep in my mind. I was able to overcome these and still finish the workout. I think we swam somewhere around 2000+ meters.

Its crazy to think about how far I've come with my swim. A year and a half ago I could barely swim a length. A year ago I would sometimes take myself out of swim workouts early because I didn't think my body could handle it. Nine months ago I would not do our entire open water swims because I couldn't imagine myself swimming continuously swimming for that long. Now I've conquered all those fears and doubts, but its cool to remember that it all started with one length of the pool.

Day 76: Run is Progressing

6:00AM

Team Intensity Run

Today, was the first time I participated in the entire team run workout. I had been held back the past couple of weeks because I had just gotten back from injury. Overall my legs feel good. They can't handle some of the paces that I hit last year but I do understand that I'm still rebuilding my run base.

Speaking of run bases, did you see this post by Anton Krupicka? He had to take a couple of weeks off because of foot soreness and the flu. He's trying to build his fitness back up and what does he do on his return? Oh, only a 102 mile run week which includes around 25k of elevation. Kind of puts things in perspective doesn't it?

Nutrition

I am horrible at keeping track of this. Any tips from dieters out there?

Day 75: Mental Toughness

Our minds are powerful tools. It can help us get through anything just about anything. This is one of the reasons I find endurance training/racing so fascinating. We literally push our bodies to the point where even our minds start to deteriorate and tell us not to go any further. But with a little bit of will power you find yourself willing your mind to take it even further. This is what I consider to be mental toughness, the ability of using your mind to get through things even though you have some mental (and physical) reservations.

One thing that has stuck with me during all this training is when someone was trying to alleviate stress from people worrying about race day weather. He said "you can't control the weather or the course itself, all you can control is your mind." Its such a basic concept but we take it for granted and I think its applicable not only to racing but also our daily lives.

6:00AM

Team Swim

Today's swim was challenging mentally. The main set consisted of 150s at a Zone 4/5 effort.

Swimming distances between 150 and 300 are kind of tough for me because I'm afraid if I go too hard I'll wear myself out. They're almost like running the 400 or 800 in track. Just like those run races you have to be mentally disciplined in setting the right pace for yourself and also holding it as you get through the last 50. Challenging stuff!

Nutrition

Consumed 2827 Calories - my eating pattern is still erratic. I think I can get my diet under better control if I eat at the same time every day.

Weekly Review 2.1

Time to complete: 47 minutes

I'm getting faster at this. I listened to my Ate Joy's suggestion and tried to make sure to clear my inboxes as much as possible. This time would have been faster if I didn't get distracted by some actions. I attempt to complete them while doing the review and they serve as a time suck.

On the positive side even though this is my second attempt (major number is attempt number and minor number is the current streak) at a weekly review streak I've done them for five consecutive weeks which I think is a big win. Now I just have to consistently do them at the same time and be more efficient with them.

Day 74: Refreshed!

Man I'm glad I just did yoga yesterday. I feel great! Getting my nutrition under control also seems to be helping.

6:00AM

Team Intensity Bike

We did a descending ladder focusing on hitting zones 4, 5, and 6. For me the sets hitting zones 4 and 5 weren't too bad but I got pretty unraveled when we did the sets for zone 6.

I could feel my mind fighting me and telling me switch to an easier gear. Its weird when you hit those points of exhaustion and your in a literal mental battle with yourself. I wonder what it is that helps us keep on going? Sheer will?

Another thing of notice is that I was sweating like crazy. I don't think it was any hotter in the training room so I guess it might be the extra calories I've been consuming. I might have to start tracking my weight to be sure. Some elite athletes that I've talked to said they notice drops in their performance when they weigh an extra pound. I don't think I have that kind of self awareness but who knows maybe one day.

Brick

This run felt amazing! It was my first brick of the year and the first time I ran on the rode since I hurt my knee. It took me a little while to get the legs turning but I felt the run progressively start to feel effortless. I kept my cadence high and felt in a great shape after the end of the run. Its great to know that I'm recovering well from my injury.

Nutrition

2382 Calories Consumed - day isn't over yet.

Boxer + Syndicate FTW!

I come from an era where we had to launch our video games from the command line. So every time an emulator comes out I get a little nostalgic.

Over at Daring Fireball Gruber shared a link for Boxer, "The DOS game emulator that's fit for your Mac." I promptly installed Syndicate and relived my adolescent days.

I don't think Syndicate was one of my favorite DOS games ever, but I distinctly remember the summer I first played it. My Mom was working on some Oil Tankers in Turkey and I was stuck on base hanging out with her coworkers. Their solution for entertaining a 12 year old kid? Syndicate and "Some Kind of Wonderful". Great times!

Day 73: My Body is Telling Me to Take it Easy

It took a lot for me not to run or swim today. The weather was so beautiful outside and I'm really itching to get back into it as fast as I can. But after reevaluating how I've felt the last couple of days I decided it was best just to take the day off from running, biking, and swimming. Instead I decided to focus on nutrition and Yoga. I know it'll pay dividends for the rest of the week.

9:00PM

Yoga

I did some yoga just to prepare my mind and body for the week. I'm so glad that I've added this into my routine. The most I've gained from it so far is gaining more control over my breathing. The cleansing breath has been essential for not only getting oxygen to my muscles but also to helping me relax. If you're married or in a long term relationship this is a must have skill. I'm sure its essential for parenthood but I can't confirm yet.

Nutrition

2840 calories - Alright! I got the calories in. Now I just have to focus on getting a little bit more and the right kinds. No more tubs of ice cream.

Day 72: First RABA Ride

NOTE: I know these posts have been showing up a day late. I can assure you that I'm doing the workouts just not posting about them as early. I'll get back on track soon.

9:00AM

Long Ride

A friend at church has been trying to get me out for a long ride for a while now. The main thing that's been preventing me is that I always like doing team rides with Endorphin Fitness. This weekend though I didn't have a choice since everyone was down at Virginia Beach for the Shamrock Half. Glad I finally decided to go out and do this ride.

We did a total of 46 miles. Pretty crazy considering that I haven't done any long rides this year.

The first half of the ride felt great. I held back as much as I could and drafted as much as possible. The one time that I did struggle is when I had to pull the group. It just happened to be at a time we were going up a hill so I didn't get to pull as much as I would've of liked.

The second half of the ride was pretty tough. It's probably because I haven't done any long rides in a while because I know my nutrition was good. Plus we were pushing the pace quite a bit (at least for me). I made it through most of the second half of the ride but about 3 miles away from the finish I bonked.

Overall I had a great time. Would definitely do it again and recommend RVA locals to check out raba. Only regret is that I didn't check them out sooner.

Day 71: In Need of Some Rest

I'm feeling pretty blah. Its probably because I'm still recovering from the week. Its also because I've thrown my nutrition plan out the window the last several days. I think once I get my daily routine back I'll be fine. On the positive side this is good practice, because once my son arrives all my precious routines will get thrown right out the window. New obstacles, new challenges. Life is fun that way!

7:00PM

Swim and Aqua Run

It was hard to find the motivation to even go to this workout. I really struggle with doing swim workouts by myself. If I don't do them in the morning my motivation for doing the workout decreases exponentially with time.

I did most of the workout despite my mental setbacks. I'm starting to get a real good feel for the water and am doing my flip turns more naturally.

I also noticed that when I do the kicking on the side drills it feels more natural on my right side than my left. This is weird because I breath on my right side so I would think that kicking on my left side would feel more natural. Just something to keep an eye on.

Nutrition

See above.

Day 70: Partying Hard

Wow! 70 straight days of working out. There were a couple of questionable days in there were I just did a brief 10 minute workout but overall I've been pushing it pretty hard.

Yesterday for Saint Patrick's Day I decided to party hard. I don't tend to drink at all so when I call up my buddies to go out for drinks I usually get a "so you feel off the wagon" response.

Its not that I don't enjoy to have a drink every now and then its just that I've chosen to prioritize other activities. But you do have to have a balance and as I much as I tend to work out and work I like to have these "party hard" days a couple of times a year just to reset.

9:00PM

Strength Workout

I spent most of the day recovering from yesterday evening so I didn't get to workout until the evening. My upper body feels real strong right now. I was surprised at the number of pull-ups I was able to in addition to the rest of my workout. Its weird, my body body doesn't really get sore from all this exercise anymore. It might be time to change up the routine a little. I hear great things about crossfit but I don't think I have the time.

Nutrition

Like yesterday this went out the window as today's diet consisted mostly of water and recovery foods.

Day 69: Barefoot Running

9:30AM

"Barefoot" Run

It was a beautiful day outside today. I'm still in the midst of getting back into running so I'm trying to remain somewhat conservative. For right now that just means to avoid running on the road and not to get the mileage too high too soon. I also take ice baths several times a week to help me recover faster between runs.

I went over to deep run park to just run on the grass. I also decided to wear my vibrams to simulate barefoot running. I do believe barefoot running helps improve running form but I also advise people who want to try it out to be cautious. Do it too much and too fast and you can really hurt yourself. For me personally, it helps me to focus on making sure that I'm striking the ground with the correct part of my foot. It also helps me maintain a high cadence by trying to minimize the force of impact my feet have with the ground.

The run was nice. It was a beautiful day outside. I ended up doing a little over 30 minutes. I might have pushed it a little too much because I got a couple of blisters and my calves were sore afterward. Great way to experience the beautiful weather though.

Nutrition

All nutrition tracking was thrown out of the window today due to Saint Patrick's Day

Day 68: Go Rams Go

I know a lot of people are upset about VCU making the tourney. I was a bit surprised myself. Even though I'm an alumni I personally didn't think they should of been added. There are just too many holes in this team's game: relying too much on the three ball, hardly any inside/outside working on offense, questionable point guard, etc. On the upside it does continue to emphasize the life lesson of not being in total control of the opportunities you think you deserve. You can only control how personally prepared you are when they arrive.

6:00AM

Team Technique/Intensity Swim

I was pretty tired from my late night last night so I didn't have many expectations going into this workout. Surprisingly it went really well. We did 5 x sets of descending 100s. With each 100 we were supposed to take off significant time. I think I hit this for each set which is pretty much all I could have asked for. I think I might of experienced one of those "clicks" that tells you your swim stroke has improved. Since last week I feel more control over my stroke and actually have a stronger feel for the water when my arms are pulling. I'm sure we'll have a time trial in a couple of weeks so we'll see how much I've improved.

Nutrition

2377 Calories Consumed with 32 Ounces of Water - I'm starving right now but I'm about to hit up the VCU game so I might be able to make up the last calories and water.

Weekly Review Reset

Time to complete 1:05

Well that sucked. I decided to reset my Weekly Review count back to one since I didn't accomplish the simple rule of finishing it before midnight on Tuesday. If there is a moral victory in any of this at least I completed the task. I also made myself do the review to completion regardless of how early I have to wake up tomorrow morning (I'm supposed to go swim at 6AM).

The review took long again and its mainly because I did not stay on top of emptying out my physical inbox. I let things pile in it over the last four days and spent about half of the Weekly Review emptying it out. Hopefully the fatigue I'm feeling right now will help hammer this lesson into my head. Off to bed...

Day 67: Short on Time

I'm a little short on time right now so I'm going to sacrifice a good post in order to stay disciplined with my commitments.

6:00PM

Team Technique Ride

We just worked on some bike technique outside. Mostly working on hill climbing. I felt strong and I think its mostly because of all the time I spent on the Mountain Bike over the winter. Coach Tyler also commented that hill climbing technique looked so much more fluid. It was a fun practice overall. Me and some of the other guys let our competitive nature take over and raced up hills. At the end of practice we even climbed up hills with just one leg clipped in.

7:15PM

Strength

Not my best strength class. Kind of goofed around a bit rather than focus on getting the work in. Probably has something to do with doing the bike directly before strength.

8:00PM

Quick Run

I want to get my run base back as quickly as possible so I'm trying to run at least every other day for now. I hit the treadmill really quick after strength class and squeezed in a mile run. My knee feels fine but as I was watching myself run it seems like my right leg gets bowlegged sometimes. I'm sure this has to do with my injuries but it could also be because I was on the treadmill. I'll monitor it over the next couple of runs to be sure its okay.

Nutrition

2518 Calories Consumed with 56 Ounces of Water

Day 66: Taking it to the Next Level

Well I'm at the point where I've done some form of exercise for 66 days straight. This is a rest week for our training group at Endorphin Fitness so I think it's a great time to take my training to the next level.

My first couple of years doing all this endurance madness I wanted to find every edge possible to improve. The first step was to do all the workouts which I've gotten back in the grove of doing. The next step was to eat healthy and take in the right kind of foods to help me recover more efficiently between workouts. For now on I won't only be tracking my daily exercise activity but I'll be tracking my food consumption as well.

I know some people are going to hate me for admitting this but I've always been the type that has had a hard time putting on weight. Its mostly because I forget to eat. My Aunt always sums it up perfectly: "some people love to eat and you just eat to live." Because of this issue there can be times when I'm not well nourished for my workouts so I have to consciously make an effort to track my calories.

I just recently started using livestrong's My Plate page to track my calories. According to them based on my current activity level and weight I need to consume about 3000 calories a day (which is consistent with what a nutritionist told me in the past). I haven't used "My Plate" enough to merit a review but I will once I have several weeks of using the application.

8:00PM

Knee Rehab and Yoga

Like I said earlier its a rest and recovery week for me and the rest of EF's group athletes. We still swim, bike, and run but we do a much lighter effort. This not only helps with recovery but it also ensures that our body are at their peak performance level when we race.

My workout was relaxing but hard because I had to practically force myself not to do anything extra afterward. I'm not racing with everyone this weekend but I should still stick with the plan and let my body recover.

Nutrition

2887 Calories Consumed with 56 Ounces of Water - I'm not sure if this number is 100% accurate but I'll trust MyPlate's predefined nutritional values for now.

Day 65: Trail Run

12:30PM

Trail Run

I've always wanted to get into to trail running. It was an amazing 75 degrees and sunny in the RVA today so the weather was practically telling me to do a run.

I went over to Deep Run Park. I feel more comfortable with that area now that I spent the entire winter biking their trails. I had a decent run, not too long. I'm still trying to remain conservative and build a good initial base. Plus trail running itself is an entirely different beast. You have to concentrate a lot more or else you'll trip over a root and face plant into the ground.

The run itself was beautiful. I've grown to love running and I think its mostly because of the different places it has taken me. Several years ago I couldn't wait to get out of Richmond but then I started running and a whole different side of Richmond opened up to me. I began to run in amazement as I started to get to know the different parts of the city. When we would run across bridges I'd just stare at amazement at the James River.

I think this is why I now feel a pull to the trails. Running has somehow made me appreciate the outdoors and nature a whole lot more. Trails are not like the road, they can very much be altered by the weather so regardless if you run the same trail each time every one can be totally different. I can't wait! I just hope to avoid the poison ivy and snakes.

Has anyone else gotten into trail running? Any great trails that you guys recommend?

Day 64: Totally Different

8:15AM

Team Outdoor Bike

Whew! It is totally different riding on the road than the trailer. I know this of course, when you make that transition its always hard. I know I've gotten stronger on the bike I just haven't been able to put it all together on the actual road yet. The factors of turns, wind, and elevation are just some of the new things you have to consider when getting back on the road.

My problem today was that I was late and felt the need to catch everyone. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. By the time I was up to the main group I was worn out. Coach Michael wanted me to stick with them and I did for a whomping 2 minutes. I think at that point I had a mini bonk. So instead of trying to power through it and kill myself I decided for the rest of the workout I was just going to work on being smooth.

"Smooth is fast" is a phrase that several people have told me before and its true. You just focus on being in perfect control and the speed comes naturally. The concept is applicable to running, swimming, biking, and even driving. For me on the bike this involves keeping my heart rate and cadence consistent. The way I've grown accustomed to doing this is choosing the effort I want to bike at and then using gearing to make sure I'm peddling at that effort. If I feel the peddles pushing me back a little (ie - getting tired or on a uphill) I switch to an easier gear, if they feel too loose (ie - downhill or last stretch of the bike) I switch to a harder one.

I did this for the rest of the workout and found myself going at a decent pace. I still need to get out there more to get used to the road.

Day 63: Banff Mountain Film Festival

Super late post. I know, bu we just got back from the local Banff Mountain Film Festival. It was a great exhibit of adventure sports, nature, and inspiration. It was also our first film festival so it was a pretty cool experience. I definitely would recommend checking it out if they do a showing in your town.

6:00AM

Endurance Swim

The workout plan was super simple. Just swim as far as you can. I had 1000 meters in my plan but I added extra. I broke into two parts. The first I just swam non stop without even counting the laps. I just used the clock on the wall as my guide. I think I swam for about 20 minutes non stop. The second part was a straight 500 followed by a 100 cool down. In all I think I got about a mile or so swim done.

I felt good. My shoulders and back did get tight afterward but I'm sure this is because of the tough strength class last night.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Day 62: Running in the Rain

6:00AM

Team Run

Woohoo! I attended my first team run in I don't remember how long. I didn't do the same workout as everyone else because I'm just getting back into running. I purposely left my Garmin at home so I wouldn't even focus on time but I'm sure I got a little over two miles done.

It was raining during the entire run which was fine with me. I was just happy to be out there. It could have been 30 degrees and windy and I would have still enjoyed the run. At different points I couldn't help but remember the joy I used to feel when running and just ran with a big smile. Its the little things you have to enjoy in life. For my run today, it was the rain hitting my face, just being able to be out there, and to see my teammates. I'm so glad that I got to experience this run.

7:15PM

Strength Class

These classes are starting to get to be a lot of fun. Now that we've switched formats I try to do the workout with as little rest as possible while also focusing on good form and control. We did a lot of back and core stuff so we'll see how tomorrow morning's swim goes.

Remember the ab wheel? I thought it was a made for TV gimick but now that I've tried it out, it can be quite challenging. The key is to do the right form and focus on working the correct muscles. As you "roll out" you have to make sure the wheel stays under your face or else you'll start to strain your back. When you "roll back in" you have to focus on working your ab muscles rather than your arms. To do this you can focus on the the same motion you do when your doing knee raises. Your knees won't actually move but by concentrating on that type of movement you engage your core muscles.

Day 61: Belay is On!

Yesterday

Quick Run!

I forgot to include this yesterday but for me its a pretty big deal. I did a 5 minute pain free run on the treadmill. No pains in the knee so I'm pretty satisfied. I was really worried at some points that this was going to be a life altering injury. Things aren't totally in the clear yet but at least I'm back to running.

6:00AM

Team Technique/Intensity Swim

This morning's swim wasn't too bad. I didn't feel like in full attack mode and I think maybe its because of the full day I had yesterday. It could of also been because it wasn't a coached swim. Fortunately, there were several guys who showed interest in doing the workout and I think we all just motivated each other to get it done.

I didn't feel anything in my knee which continues to excite me. I threw in a lot of flip turns during the main set and pushed off the wall with both legs. I'm excited about how well its getting incorporated into my swim.

6:20PM

Belay Test and Quick Climb

Hooray! I passed the belay test. It was pretty straightforward. I just had to go through the entire process of putting the gear on myself and assisting on getting it on the climber. Then we did an actual climb where he simulated falling a couple of times. A good tip here was to make sure that the belay rope was in the down position most of the time.

I had to get back home for work so I just threw in a nice quick climb and belayed for a couple of people.

3rd GTD Weekly Review

Time to Complete: 50 minutes

This was a quickie. I had been monitoring my lists and emptying my inbox throughout the week to make this easier.

I still think I can make it a little faster. One of the things I've been trying to do is digitizing everything. I still have project folders and tickler files but I think I've worked out a way to have those things on my computer. I'll try and incorporate that this week and see how it affects next week's review.

Day 60: Full Tilt

Great News! The orthopedic cleared me to run. In fact he said I should go "full tilt" with my workouts. Its kind of ironic that he said that this afternoon because that's exactly what happened with my bike in the morning.

6:00AM

Team Intensity/Technique Bike

This one made me feel like I had gotten hit by a truck. Remember my better than caffeine post? Didn't apply after this workout. I spent a good part of the day finding ways to summon energy to get things done.

We did 6 x 5 minute max efforts. By the time we were done I could barely lift my head up. It was a good 30 minutes after the workout before I started to feel like I was having coherent thoughts again. Fun stuff!

6:00PM

Belay Class

Nothing physical here but I just wanted to be sure I remembered the most important things for my belay test tomorrow.

• When making the figure eight, wrap the rope over top of itself and around then back down the hole. Brian said someone's wife described this as wrapping a rope around their husband's neck.
• When finishing the climber's not the rope can be brought back down threw the bottom hole.
• For the belayer, everything must be kept on the same side: the rope in the ATC and the opening of the carabiner. Before inserting the rope into the carabiner make sure the end is folded towards the wall.
• When belaying, never let go of the rope with your right hand. If you do the person will fall.

7:15PM

Strength Class

Had a fun time with this workout. I did all the exercises, including the ones that I was tentative to do because of my knee. I even hit the bench press for the first time in what seems like several years.

Day 59: Too Much of Anything

They say too much of anything is a bad thing. This is very true for training for endurance events.

You spend so many countless hours getting the miles in that it becomes part of your lifestyle. It gets to the point where if you don't get that workout in it really messes with your day. At least for me it does. While this is all good you have to be wary of working yourself beyond this point.

This is where people get "burned out". Your energy and mental toughness begin to quickly diminish in not only your workouts but also in other aspects of your life. I've been through this before and it was a very negative place. It almost felt like what some people would describe as depression. This is why its important to take those preemptive rest days.

Its nice to go all out and work hard but you do have to also listen to your body and let it recover.

6:00PM

Core Workout and Stretching

Today was a very light core and stretching session. I was getting ancy because I didn't feel like I worked hard enough to merit a workout. But then I remembered the importance of recovery. 59 straight days of exercise is quite a bit so I'm okay with having back to back "light" days.

Plus, I have an orthopedic appointment tomorrow. It would have been bad if I went in there all banged up. Cross your fingers for some good news!

Practice, Practice, Practice

I'm not sure what it is about my personality but I've always sought to try new things. I think I just like challenges. Although, simply overcoming a challenge is not usually enough for me. I want to feel like I've conquered the challenge.

As an example, several years ago I taught myself how to complete a Rubik's Cube. It wasn't enough for me to simply finish it once, I wanted to be able to do it at a whim. Once I got that down, I proceeded to seeing if I could solve a completely random cube under 3 minutes (sorry, I'm not a speedcuber). Only until I accomplished that did I feel I had mastered the feat of solving a Rubik's Cube.

I've applied this attitude to many other things that I've done: running, triathlons, basketball, etc. But for every thing I feel like I've conquered there have been busts along the way. This got me to thinking, what was different about the busts? How did I approach them differently?

The answer is rather simple. Its practice. With running and triathlons its straight forward. You have to "practice" all the time or you won't have enough of a fitness base to complete the race. With my Rubik's Cube example, I would bring the Cube with me to every break and give it a quick solve before going back to work. This isn't like the sense of what we think of as a traditional scheduled practice but it is the same concept.

repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency

[Source: dictionary.com]

One "bust" that I feel I've had was my programming skills. For the past several years because of whatever excuse I've allowed myself to just settle with my current knowledge and ability rather than seeking out ways to improve professionally.

In my search to find ways to improve my skills, I stumbled upon an old Yegge Post where he further emphasizes the need for practice.

The great engineers I know are as good as they are because they practice all the time. People in great physical shape only get that way by working out regularly, and they need to keep it up, or they get out of shape. The same goes for programming and engineering.

What about everyone else? Is there something that just needed a lot of practice for mastery? Can you think of examples where you didn't need any kind of practice at all?