I think I just made myself sick

Haven't worked out in 2 weeks. Check.

Had surgery within those 2 weeks. Check.

Doctor told me to take it easy for a few weeks. Check.

Ignored what doctor told me. Check.

Feel like I am going to throw up after my workout this morning. Check.

I have to get back in a routine.  I have to fight past this.  I have to eat my eggs now.

ian

And so it begins...again

I am going to do it.  I am going to do things that months ago I thought were impossible.  I am going to go out and prove to myself that I can do it.  What is it?  I have a list...I have a plan.  Of course I have had so many plans in my life, so many, too many to count.  I sometimes shake my head and wonder what happened to all those plans.  But recently some of those plans have panned out.  Some of those plans have actually come to fruition, much to my disbelief. 

When i crossed the finish line of the Bridgeland Triathlon, I held in tears of joy, or accomplishment, or something like that.  I had taken my sunglasses off somewhere during the run that morning because the sweat was hitting the glass and it was irritating to look through.  But when I turned that corner and saw the end in sight, just hundreds of yards away, I had to put them back on because I had emotions swelling inside of me.  Joy.  Happiness.  Sense of pride.  call it what you want but it was a feeling that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I enjoyed it so much that I went to Disney World. 

When i passed the finish line in the Houston Triathlon, and actually passed people doing it, that joy was back. 

Now I have a plan.  I want to get better.  And then I had surgery.  The details suck, but I cannot ride a bike for the next 5 weeks, and I cannot start training until tomorrow morning.  And train I will.

I have a list of things I want to accomplish this next year.  I have 5 months to get ready.  The list needs to be put on paper, and it needs to be done.  Will I accomplish them, I think I will.  I think it will get me ready for 2014, which will get me ready for 2015.  If the Mayans are not correct, then the next few years will be huge.  I am going to cap 2015 with a full Ironman, 140.6 miles of pain, adreniline, joy and pride.  But I cannot get to the top of the ladder without the first rungs.  So here are the first rungs of 2013:

1. MS 150 - Houston to Austin bike ride that is not 150 miles, but actually about 178 miles.
2. Kemah Olympic Triathlon
3. Kona sprint triathlon
4. Bridgeland Sprint triathlon
5. Houston Olympic triathlon
6. Katy Triathlon
7. Pflugerville Triathlon
8. Houston Half Marathon
9. Monster Mash 15 k
10. Tough Mudder Houston

Tough Mudder looks to be the new triathlon in my sites next year.  It is a 10 mile obstacle course with ice water swims and electricity involved.  It looks fun.

But to get there I still have some things to acconmplish.  Here are the things that are going to get me to those goals:

1. 17 week training program for running.  This will get me to the 13.1 mile mark and get me ready to run.  I hate running, this starts tomorrow.
2. 17 week training program to develop core strength.  If the words planking bring to mind pictures of people laying on tables on the internet, then this is not for you.
3. December brings 25 mile bike rides twice a week.
4. January brings 35 mile bike rides twice a week.
5. February brings 40 mile bike rides twice a week.
6. March brings 50 mile bike rides once a week.
7. Swimming starts in March, regardless of water tempature.  Thousands and thousands of meters a week.
8. Run, run and run.
9. A new menu consisting of no more "health" foods.  Protein based, healthy menu.
10. Hutting my target weight of 220 lbs by March, 48 lbs to go.

This starts now.

ian

Well after 1 week...

I have dropped a few more lbs in the last week.  I am now down 93 lbs from the start of this journey.  I want to drop another 5-7 by the begginning of August.  I limped towards the finish line last week with training.  I did more swimming than I had planned and lost a lot of running due to a nagging calf injury.  I hit the gym today after a 25 mile bike ride.  It was my first road bike ride on a road bike.  I bought a new bike on Friday.  I purchased a Specialized Allez.  It is soooooo different than what I have been used to riding.  I had been riding a mountain bike that I had for years.  It served it's purpose.  So the bike ride today absolutely wore me out.  It is just such a different ride.  After the ride I came home, hit the gym and did my normal Chest/tricep/core workout.  Then I hit the pool and did a 1000 meters.  One of the highlights of the swim was an uninterupted 400 meter swim.  It is the longest swim I have done yet.  I still did my training laps but that was nice to get the triathlon distance out of the way.  My nutrional side has yet to fail.  Outside of a planned 4th of July event where I had a steak and some fixins, I have not had any meat since last Monday.  I had originally plannned on just cutting back, but now I ma off the meat until August 5.  That is the day of the Bridgeland Triathlon.  If I make it in, which my triathlon friend Brandon believes I will, then afterwards it is meat eating time.  If I am not in, it is meat eating time. 

So week two has begun.  Brandon was telling me that people just flat out dont show up to the triathlons.  They get cold feet.  They hurt themselves.  They forget.  Whatever the case he thinks there is a good chance that i am in the event.  I hope so.  I won't find out until the night before.  And that is all for today.  I have more swimming and light cardio tomorrow.  Ian

Happy 4th of July, day 3

I guess the easiest way to pass time on a stationary bike is to update this log. Swimming went well last night and I did it again this morning since I am not running for the next few days at least. I start with. 100 m freestyle to warm up. Then I do 2 200 m freestyle swims without touching the wall so I kind of have to do this loopy loop lap thing. Then I do 8 25 m arms only swims freestyle followed by 8 25 m sprints and capped off by a 100 m swim. So that is my km of swim. Now I am on. 15 minute bike ride on level 15 hill followed up by a 15 minute elliptical level 11 hill. Since it is Wednesday I have to do a back/bicep/core workout. Yeah! Today I planned on veering off the nutritional side since I have a steak waiting for me at a party that starts in an hour and a half. Other than that being a herbivore isn't that bad so far. God bless what is left of America! Ian

Day 2, July 3, 2012

Sitting here on a stationary bike listening to Coolio. I can think of no way to start my Tuesday. 20 minutes here, then 20 on the elliptical. Hill setting on both. I will hit the pool this evening for 1000 yards. I retweeked my calf yesterday running. I tweeked it last Wednesday am rested it for a few day but I think I hurried it. So I am going to change my cardio to non resistance or low resistance only. Stationary bike, elliptical, bike and swimming. The nutritional side went well yesterday. Started the day with a banana, 2 eggs, 1/4 of a cantaloupe and a glass of milk. Had 2 yogurts, an orange and an apple for lunch. Snacked on a banana and orange later. Ended the day with celery and peanut butter. All together a good mix up of food. Today should be similar but dinner will be bigger with salad and stuff since work ends at 6 today. Lovin it! Ian

Day 1, July 2, 2012

Hitting the gym this morning. Actually I am on the stationary bike right now. Doing a 15 minute ride on level 15 hill real quick. That will be followed up by 25 minutes on the treadmill at level 5.0 with zero incline. I will finish with the elliptical at level 11 hill for 15 minutes. Then my cardio will be done. That is the base for all my Monday, Wednesday and Friday workouts. Then I will go into a chest, tricep and core workout that will take about 40 minutes. I cycle the reps into 3 little sections. I will do bench, followed by one handed tricep pull downs followed by a side ab exercise. I will repeat it 3 times in that order gradually increasing the weight. Then I do the same with incline, rope tricep and shoulder shrugs. Then the final section of chest flys, front plank (core) and side plank (core). Then it will be done for the day. Of course then I get to go home and eat 2 eggs, 1/4 of a cantaloupe and a large glass of milk. It is going to be great. Only 3 minutes left on the treadmill left. A nice bone thugs and harmony song playing on pandora. Nice. Ian

1000 miles from nowhere...

I just crossed over the 1000 mile mark on my personal odometer today.  It happened somewhere in the middle of my 2 mile run today.  That is 1000 miles on the treadmill, stationary bike, eliptical machine, running track, the trail in George Bush Park and the streets of Cypress.  1000 miles of exercise, countless calories burned, countless mindless thoughts brought into my head and enough Pandora to make your head spin.  January 20 i started to track my miles, actually, January 20 I started to actually do cardio workouts.  Here is to the next 1000 miles.  Ian