So Happy to Let Myself Down in 2011!

2011 brought me more change than a clever sign can bring a bum.  I figured that by this stage of my life I'd be "stable."  I'm glad I failed to meet my expectations!

There were drastic changes in my life, personally, physically, and even professionally this past year.  A lot of the changes just happened, out of nowhere.  Some happened gradually, developing as minor changes occurred.  Some were direct consequences of specific decisions made.  

In the past year my wife's parents and my parents moved to Tucson (I live about an hour's drive south).  Before we saw them maybe once a year, now we see them at least once a month, if not more!  That's pretty sweet. I got to run a lot with my youngest daughter over the summer and my relationship with my oldest daughter really got stronger this year.  We never had a bad relationship, but just sometimes rub each other the wrong way.  I changed some behaviors I had with her, and communicated my desires for a better relationship.  It helped!

This was really the year of the bicycle.  In October of 2009 I bought the first bike on the left.  At the time it was a huge investment, $300!  But, I couldn't run because I was too heavy.  At the time I weighed about 265 pounds.  I quickly outgrew that and purchased the white bike in the middle.  I put about 5,000 miles on that bike and decided to really take the plunge.  I sold my guitar equipment to finance the purchase of the last bike on the right.

 

In January of 2010 I was down to 240 and decided I'd train for a 73 mile "race" (really a charity ride) that happened to be on my 38th birthday.  I had never ridden more than 33 miles at that point and completion of that distance was a scary thing.  As the time grew closer, I knew I could make the distance (I'd done it a few times), and I developed a time goal of 5 total hours.  My wildest dream was to finish in under 4:30, earning a "silver" medal. 

Then, fourteen days before the race I tore my right hamstring.  I strained it running and it tore by kicking my leg out trying to keep the dog from running out of the door!  Now the whole thing was in doubt.

I toughed it out, literally.  I did my best effort and I finished in 3:45 and change!  It was an intensely emotional event for me, ranking with the most powerful single moments of my life to date.  I was literally overwhelmed during the latter third of the race, thinking about all of the changes that had occurred. 

That was it...I was hooked on racing. 

A few weeks after the bike race I participated in a Warrior Dash...kind of.  I limped through it really.  My hamstring was a bit touchy, but that promised to be too much fun to pass.  Plus, I had purchased entrance for my wife and oldest daughter (youngest was too young last year).  My cousin and brother-in-law joined us and we had a blast.

This past year I bought my wife a bike!  It's pretty much awesome to be able to ride together.  My dad bought a road bike.  My father-in-law bought a road bike.  My cousin bought a road bike.  My uncle bought a bike, then got my other cousin and aunt involved in riding.  My mother bought a bike.  My sister bought a bike.  My other sister already had a bike, but started riding more.  My brother-in-law bought a road bike.  How crazy that we're now a biker family!?!

One big change just happened yesterday, I sold my motorcycle.  I've been trying to sell my motorcycle for a while. First, I never get to ride it, second it's expensive, and third, none of my gear fits anymore!

However, I'm still a biker!  The picture on the left is in the summer of 2009 with my mother.  I went on a day trip with my parents to the top of Kitt Peak.  It was a great ride!

Over the summer I hoped to get into running shape.  All I did was suffer injury after injury.  Once I got all of that straightened out (for now), I was able to participate in two 5Ks, a 10K, and a half marathon.  In addition, I participated in El Tour de Tucson, the 111 mile leg.  In fact, if you throw out the first 5K, all of the events happened in a six week stretch!

My brother-in-law not only sponsored my participation in El Tour de Tucson, he participated, after only riding for about 3 months!  My oldest daughter and father joined me in the last 5K, which was a pretty cool experience also.

The thing that I'm surprised by most is how much of a family event all of this has been.  Not too much when everybody's got their own busy schedules, but on race day.  We all go to the race together and participate in some form.  Then we engage in some good people watching and spend the remainder of the day hanging out.  It gives us a fun, common experience.  I never would've guessed!

I know I shouldn't feel like a slug...

This was the first week back at school and I'm doing something new there.  A lot of planning, executing plans, adjusting plans and so on.  I have some high goals for the year and it's going to take a lot of work to reach those goals.

With that said, work can't be any higher than #3 on my list of priorities.  Yet, I feel that this week it got in the way of priority #2, exercise and health.  I didn't eat well, and didn't do all of the things I had planned.  I missed a run because of plantar fasciatis and didn't do a long ride this week.  Instead of riding a planned 80 at a slow pace, I ended up riding 22 at a high pace.

See, exercise and health is a priority just above work.  However, that comes in behind family.  I decided that since I wasn't training for a race yet that I should blow off the long ride and spend the day with my family.  They were heading to Tucson.  My daughter helps with Guide Dogs for the Blind as a puppy raiser.  There was a planned outing at Cold Stone Creamery (I didn't have any ice cream though). 

Before hitting the ice cream shop we stopped by my in-laws house where there happened to be my favorite:  peanut butter cookies.  I had like 6 of them or so!  That's why I skipped the ice cream.  In my opinion, that was well played actually.  :D

On the way home today I started thinking about the week's events.  Last Sunday I rode a very difficult 62 miles.  I ran 5 on Monday morning, followed by another 4 Tuesday morning.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons I lifted weights for 45 minutes and then used an aerobic exercise machine for 30 minutes.  Thursday I used the elliptical machine for 45 minutes.  Friday was the day off.  Saturday I lifted for an hour then went on a two hour bike ride with my wife.  This morning, I slammed through a 22 mile route in an hour.  When I step back and look at it...that's a lot.

I just need to get back on the straight and narrow with diet.  I've found a good source of fresh cookies, $0.69 each.  I've also been eating too large of servings.  That combined with additional stress had made for no weight loss the past two weeks.

My family reunion is Labor Day and I'd like to break 200 by then.  I'm hovering around 205 right now.  It's going to take some discipline at the plate.  One big thing to help along those lines is planning.  I've got quinoa, lots of squashes and lettuce ready to go for the week.  We bought some wild salmon for dinner tonight and the week's meals are sound for balancing weight loss with fuel for exercising.

Unfortunately on the running front I've decided to give myself a full week off of running.  The plantar fasciatis isn't a big deal, yet.  I plan on keeping it that way.  In the mean time, my left glute/hammy is still sore and troublesome.  Between the two I think the best is to give it some more time.  The thing is, I am VERY excited about training for a half marathon, and I know I need to be healthy before I start.  That means I'll lift 4 times again this week, and if the weather permits (last week it did not), I should 140 to 160 miles on the ole bike.

Now, one of the things I plan on doing this year at school is wearing a tie everyday except Friday (I usually wear a school t-shirt on Fridays).  Tuesday was the first day of class, so I had 3 days of tie wearing this week.  Here are the proofs.  Quite a change from having a huge beard just a short time ago.  The pictures are in order, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 

 

Here I am at the Warrior Dash last April.

Family Long Run

Today I tried something new: I took my family with me on my long run. My youngest daughter is a runner, but can't keep up on a long run. The other two are not runners.

How'd I do it? Easy.

The trail was an out and back, about 8 miles in a riparian region. The plan was that I'd run the route and they'd walk and explore and take pictures. My youngest daughter could run as far as she wanted and when she got tired, could turn around and return to walk with her mother. No matter what, they'd turn around and return to the car after a certain amount of time and it would be a good family outing.

So, we hit the road at 6:15 am. It was a beautiful 70 degrees. Nice since the high was going to be 108! The plan worked ok, but we'll adjust a few things next time to prevent my partners from having to wait on me.

First thing is we'll take an extra set of keys. Second, their turn around time will be about five minutes after my estimated half way time. I need to recover and stretch when I get back anyway.

A recovery run in the evening, followed by a long run 8 hours later isn't a great combination. Write that one down. :D Today's run was a struggle even though I've run this route a few times before.

All things said, it was a great family event. We all had a good time and shared a common experience. It was a nice way to get out of the house and it didn't cost anything except the drive to the trailhead (10 minutes away). I don't think I'm overstating things when I say that my entire family is looking forward to doing it again. So, on Monday, we will. :D

Are You a Selfish Athlete?

On one hand, making healthy lifestyle changes is a personal responsibility. But if not to benefit those around you, then what good is it? Health is a long term investment. Who wants to live a long life of loneliness?

As we are living health-conscious lives, there are many things we will not leave to chance. We chose carefully at restaurants, cook more food and buy less pre-packed food. We act with intention regarding exercise duration and intensity and carefully plan out recovery time and methods.

In any of your relationships, you're a big part. So, as you're changing, your involvement in your relationships change. If you won't leave your lunch to chance, why would you leave your relationships to chance?

I am going to suggest that we act with intent and purpose in our relationships. First, as we change, our relationships change. Second, we steal time from our daily lives to exercise and often that time is taken from time spent in our relationships. And even if we don't take time away from our relationships, often our focus is bent so narrowly on running or a race, that when we're there, we're really someplace else.

We all have busy lives. The days are completely full. We will steal time here and there to exercise. We make a week's worth of lunches on Sundays because there's no time during the rest of the week to prepare them. But we're as good at squeezing extra time as we are at gauging our perceived efforts on a long run. The thing is, how many of us have intentionally scheduled daily activities to improve our relationships?

We have a lot of support for nutrition and exercise. A little community support here for all of us to be better in our relationships would be a good thing. Maybe you could respond with ways you've created to spend time with your families, or perhaps some ways that you could spend more time with them. I'm talking about small, day to day things.

A few ideas I have are to, doing chores together, evening walks, play games together, unplug the TV and see what happens. While my wife can't run with me, perhaps she could ride a bike along as I run once or twice a week.

So, please share any ideas or thoughts you may have along these lines. I know a lot of us here have families. How do you create time for them on a daily basis?