The Unexamined Life Is Not Worth Living

So I have been reading this book with a group of guys and discussing the themes and topics within the pages.  Don't pick this up if you don't want to look inward and you don't want to reflect on the past, or to create a new future. Miller talks about life is like living within our own story.  We can write the story or we can let the story come to us and be written for us.

One quote that struck me was this: "I've wondered, though, if one of the reasons we fail to acknowledge the brilliance of life is because we don't want the responsibility inherent in the acknowledgement.  We don't want to be characters in a story because characters have to move and breathe and face conflict with courage.  And if life isn't remarkable, then we don't have to do any of that; we can be unwilling victims rather than grateful participants."

So my thought is: isn't this one of the reasons I compete in triathlons? Isn't this one of the reasons I go to Colorado to climb and hike mountains?  Isn't this why I want my kids to be their best?  I think it is.  I think it is because I want a better story for my life and I want my kids to have a better story for their lives.

OK, Let the Frustration & Panic Begin

As I have mentioned before I am doing Ironman Florida in November. I am very excited and would like to do well.  I have no illusions about winning, or getting on the podium, or even qualifying for Kona.  I just want to do the best that I can and let's face it, I am competitive and I want to fair well against some other people that I know are going to be doing the race.

Here are my problems: 1) I haven't lost the weight that I intended to lose, so that by March I can begin training at a lower and more ideal weight. 2) My training has been very inconsistent over the fall and winter to this point, so I haven't addressed the need to ramp up my running mileage, or swimming technique deficiencies, that I know exist. 3) And the biggest, I am now dealing with an injury.  A couple of weeks ago I felt an explosion in my calf. I am not injury prone.  I immediately started icing it every thirty minutes, put a compression sleeve on it, and kept it elevated. I even did some cold laser therapy for the purpose of speeding up the healing process. And of course, I basically did nothing in the way of training for the last two weeks (except swim a couple of times). An now, over the weekend, I felt the "pop" in my calf again.

This is getting to be a little too much.  I only have 38 weeks from this past Saturday to get all of this done.  It is truly "GO Time".  I don't have time for injuries, I don't have any other margin for error for lack of training or lack of commitment.


Let's see where this lands us.  Until next time....

Inconsistent Workouts, But Fun Times

Well, so far this off season, I haven't blogged in two months and although I have worked out, there has been no consistency.  I am going to start doing better at both. I did get a chance to run in the Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky with my wife over Christmas.

And I also got to run in Central Park in NYC twice on a recent guys trip.

More on both trips and the off season later.  Have a great Monday.

Are You Kidding Me?

I'm nervous from the moment I wake up.  This feeling has come upon me pretty suddenly.  I mean, I always knew that I may have been pointing this direction.  Realy!?!  What am I doing?  It's almost 12 noon.  Refresh.  Refresh again.  Refresh once again.  Is it noon yet?  Oh wow, it is noon!  What now?  Decision time.  I am sweating.  My heart rate is elevated.  I haven't been this nervous in a long time.  My hands are trembling now.  I can't focus on my thoughts.  I can't type.  What am I doing again?  My hear rate is through the roof.  This is too big.  This is too cool.  I'm not ready for this.  Am I?  Why is this registration form taking so long!  Are you kidding me?  Too late now, here we go!

Big goals, fear, excitement, huge grins, have I bit off more than I can chew.  We will see.  In 11 months and a few days I will toe the line.  I am ready to push myself to places I have never been.  Wish me luck.  Enjoy the video below (what an incredible inspiration!):

2011 Ironman Florida Highlights

Some of Us NEED Goals

I am a "Goal Oriented Person"

I do best when I am following a training plan. I stick to my commitments to appropriate food consumption and good nutrition when I track what I eat and write it down somewhere. When I am trying to reach a goal, if I just "wing it" I probably won't get to the final destination (I certainly won't get there as soon or as easily as I might have otherwise done).

So with that in mind: I know that my triathlon season is basically over after last month's Nashvegas Half Iron Triathlon on September 10th.

• I know that last off season, after I finished Branson 70.3 at the best weight I had been in probably the last 20 years (around 186 lbs), I let my weight creep back up.  I struggled with it all of the Spring 2011 and ultimately competed in Nashville, about 10 pounds heavier than Branson (around 196 lbs).  I was faster, but how much faster could I have been?
• I know that for the last three weeks my exercise has been sporadic at best. No swimming, no cycling, a few running races and training runs.
• I know that my eating habits and choices have been poor.
• I know that I want 2012 triathlon season to be much better than 2011.

So, I need some goals.  Here is the thought of what my off season goals are going to be:

•  I need to get to my true "Racing Weight".  I have come a long way since 2009, when I began this journey. I started at about 265 pounds or so.  I believe that my racing weight will be  somewhere around 170 pounds.  I need to lose about 30 pounds to get there.
• My swimming technique sucks. I must admit, it is the sport I spend the least amount of time on, but I should improve year over year.  I just haven't seen it.  I intend to get some instruction and find out what I am doing wrong.
• Increase my flexibility. My hamstrings are tighter than wound up rubber bands.
• Strengthen my core. I have tried using the P90X - Ab Ripper a few times. This is one hard workout (especially considering it is only about 16 minutes long).  I have realized that I have very poor core strength, and I have NO balance (several of the exercises require that you balance on your butt).
• Improve my cycling position in aero (an aerodynamic position). Biking is my strength and I want to push myself to get even faster. I am looking at whether I can get more aggressive in my position to generate more power and get more "free" speed.

I'm sure there are a lot of other things that escape me at the moment, but those are the big ones.  With a set of goals instead of winging it, maybe 2012 can be my best season yet.

Sometimes Fitness is Bigger Than Us

This weekend I had the opportunity to run a leg of the relay for the 2011 Tour d'Esprit with my tri team, Memphis Thunder Racing. The run is a 24 hour race to benefit medical missions in Haiti.  18 of us combined to run for 24 hours.

Sometimes make fitness a goal only for ourselves, and sometimes we make it for something bigger.  It was very cool to see a great number of the Memphis area running, cycling, triathlon and fitness communities get together for a worthy cause.

I think that is really cool!

Why Do I Do What I Do?

Well, I'm not exactly sure how this blogging thing is supposed to work, but I won't figure it out by continuing to do nothing.  So here goes my first attempt.

I am a searcher. A seeker. I question things (I laugh at myself a lot when I get frustrated and tired of hearing my kids ask why - I did the same thing. Sometimes I don't laugh, I get grumpy - another story for another post). What is it all about? How can I improve? Where do I get the knowledge or skill do do better?

These are the reasons I do what I do:

Reason #1 - My Lord

Colossians 3:23-25: ²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

This is one that I have hardly even come close to mastering.

Reason #2 - My wife

I love this woman and have since I was 18 years old.  We have shared a great deal of our lives together, but one thing is for sure. She makes me a better man, by being in my life.

 

Reason #3 - My kids

These are my pride and joy. Two of the best young ladies that I have ever had the pleasure to be around. What an awesome responsibility to be an example to them, to help them to grow and learn and to figure it all out. Wait a minute, I still need to figure it all out.  What gives?

Reason #4 - My friends

These people are the ones that I "choose" to spend time with, to build relationships with, to invest my life with. They make the good times better and the bad times more bearable.

Reason #5 - Fun (What's life without some fun?)

I can honestly say I am having more fun competing in and training for triathlons than I have for anything for a long time. I love the competitive fires burning again. I love the path of fitness that I am on. I love modeling healthy habits to others.

Well, I guess this is a start. That wasn't so bad.

These are the reasons I do what I do!

Make it a great day!