Being comfortable living outside my comfort zone

"Who you'll be next year... that's unknown. Shock yourself out of your comfort zone, because that's going to lead you to the next version of yourself."

... and ice, lots of ice.

It's been a few weeks since my last update. I decided that I would start running and see how it goes. I started the couch to 10k program and it has gone very well. My knees are holding up and I feel good. As long as this is the case I will keep running. For anyone who hasn't tried couch to 5k/10k it is a very good way to start running. Its a nice mix of walking and jogging. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to start running. I have my first scheduled race. I am running the Thanksgiving Day 5k in Atlanta. Jamie is running the Half. I just wont be ready for that distance yet, but this will be the first of many races to run with Jamie!

I'm still putting in 3-4 miles a week in the pool and will most likely be relegated to pool swimming until the spring. I would love to get some open water swims in, but I just don't think it going to happen logistically. I am not comfortable going by myself and will need to find a local tri group to swim with.

Weight watchers new smart points program has been so easy. It feels nice to have a handle on my nutrition again. I lost another 2.5 lbs since my last post and have now lost 5 lbs on WW in 2.5 weeks and 13 lbs since August 3rd. I guess its just going to take a little longer and take a little more work the older I get to drop these lbs. Its just a mental grind and I just have to keep moving forward week by week and pound by pound.

Bike update: Fingers crossed, but I should be putting a down payment on a bike. More to come and pics to follow.

I will probably only post once every few weeks, but if you really just have to know what I am up to, you can find me on Strava.

I guess we will just call this Week 1

I mixed things up last week, and ended up starting weight watchers with my wife. I have done WW in the past with success and felt I  needed a little motivation to get my eating habits and nutrition back in check after powerlifting and eating ALL the food. Its just another layer of accountability. It's also really nice to be on the same plan as Jamie. Meal planning is so much easier and we only have to cook one meal, instead of cooking multiple things for each others nutrition plans, and the kids benefit too! I'm sure as I really get into training I will need to adjust my nutrition around long workouts, but for now, I'm really just trying to drop pounds and increase my cardio. I started WW on Tuesday and had my first weigh in on Friday morning. I lost 2.5 lbs for the first week. If I can keep that rate of weight loss then I will be at or just below goal weight for my race in April.

Training was good this week. I did 5,000 yards in the pool and had a long training swim on Friday going 2,400 yards (1.5 miles) in an hour without breaks. The craziest thing happened. The first 8-12 laps are always the hardest. You play mind games. Like maybe I will only do a half mile today or maybe I'm not feeling it today. Whatever the thought, as soon as I get past that and settle in then I'm good to go. Previously I hadn't swam longer then 1 mile without stopping, so I really wanted to see how far I could go in an hour. After about lap 45 or so I just got into this zone. I wasn't thinking about swimming, I was just doing it and I was somewhere else. My stroke, the way I felt, or in this case didn't feel. It was just awesome. About lap 80 I noticed that I had this amazing rotation and hip drive. It took about a month and probably close to 10 miles, but I really felt like I "found" my stroke in the pool. It was a huge breakthrough and I was really excited. I also was really pleased that I was able to maintain my pace from lap 1 to lap 96. I honestly could have kept going, it was a really great feeling.
Aside from the swim, I walked several nights and did several strength training sessions.

It has been a very encouraging week and I'm really excited to get back in the pool and see how a full week of WW will look on the scale.

Powerlifter to Ironman

Dreams never die, sometimes they just get forgotten. I cant remember how old I was when I saw my first Ironman Triathlon on TV. Maybe 10? It was Saturday afternoon on ABC Wide World of Sports. I watched all the coverage. I was mesmerized by what I saw on the screen. I thought to myself, someday I want to do that. As the years went by I always looked forward to seeing them race in Kona. I always watched, thinking the same thing... someday I'm going to do that. Of course I had no idea of what it actually would take to undertake such a race. The amount of time training, the amount of physical endurance, and mental fortitude it takes is at times still unfathomable for me. It has a time limit of 17 hours. Let that sink in. 17 HOURS. 17 hours to finish a 2.2 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, then top it all off with a 26.2 mile run (a full marathon).

Fast forward many years later, a month shy of my 40th birthday. I'm a broken down, over weight, middle aged guy. Five years ago I made a similar change and lost a large amount of weight and was in arguably the best shape of my adult life. I felt confident, like I could do anything. At the time I was lifting weights and ended up falling in love with powerlifting. It felt good to be so strong and to see the numbers keep climbing. My totals got bigger, along with my waistline. There is a saying in powerlifting, "There are no skinny champions". I took that to heart! I gained a lot of muscle, but I also gained a lot of fat back too. At the time I was on my way to smashing my age and weight group deadlift record, so I didn't care. Breaking records was all that mattered. I had already set the state deadlift record and was just 25 lbs away from the national record. I was training 2 hour a day (on top of working a full and part time job and juggling family responsibility) I was dedicated to my craft and put the work in to be the best I could be. Everything was going to plan. My next meet the national record would be mine. Then disaster, I hurt my knee deadlifting. I tried again later in that session. It wasn't good. I took another week off and tried again. The pain was still there. I don't know how, why or what happened, but I just went into a funk. I didn't have my training to look forward to, I wasn't able to do much of anything in the gym. So I just ate and felt bad for myself. One week, turned into one month, turned into 3 months, turned into a year with only minimal training in between. A few months ago I recommitted to getting back on the platform, but only ran back into the same issues. Nagging injuries. Aching joints, and knees. I decided it was time to retire from powerlifting. 

I was flipping through channels and I saw it again. It wasn't in Kona, but it was an Ironman event. It stirred up something inside me. Then I thought, no... I'm too old and out of shape, I have terrible knees, I'm not a runner, excuse, excuse, excuse. Then I saw something so powerful. It was an older man in his late 70's winning his age group. The announcers said he didn't start doing Ironman until his mid 50's! This guy was killing it! All those excuses I had made in my head didn't hold any weight anymore. Here is a guy in his mid 70' living life and doing a freaking Ironman. I just had to remind myself that "can't" needs to be removed from my vocabulary. I can do anything I put my mind to. I can be an Ironman. I looked up some shorter races and decided to sign up for an Olympic distance tri. 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike and a 6 mile run. Its not an Ironman, but it is a start. I am also planning on signing up for  Ironman 70.3 Augusta (Half Ironman, 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run) which will be in September of 2017. I would absolutely love to do a full Ironman in 2018, but lets take one race at a time. 

So here I am. I have a race in April. No bike, 70 lbs to lose and I cant run a mile without stopping. I have ALOT of work to do. I'm saving for a bike (they are expensive!) I'm walking, I still need to lose a few more pounds before I start pounding the pavement and destroying me knees. So that leaves me in the pool and the bike trainer at the gym. I started swimming a few weeks ago. I have fallen in love with the water. I love getting to the pool early in the morning, and  feeling the quiet peacefulness under the water. I may not be able to run a mile without stopping, but I can swim one without stopping now! 

This is the start of journey. I will start a weekly blog to keep me accountable and use it as a training log. Feel free to come along for the ride or just check in. Also, if anyone has a road bike or knows of one or just feels the need to donate to the cause let me know. I need some wheels!