Biten By The Endurance Life Style – 2015

I really wanted to put out some good sounding blog stuff that would “wow” my audience but here is the real deal is; I am an out of shape guy that found a way to improve my health. I wanted to live a big year before I turned 50, so I packed some cool stuff in that year.  Along the way I have found a pretty cool community too, the Oklahoma  endurance community; people of all sorts of abilities, those that compete at every level imaginable from local, state, regional, national and even on the world-wide stage for one local superstar. They are a people that motivate and inspire me to be a “better me”. I found that endurance sport not only helped me to get in better shape physically, but that it would affect me as much or more mentally and spiritually. So I am biten, time to get going again!

So here I am dragging myself back to blog again too . I plan on using the blog to help me with personal accountability and also self motivation. Anyone reading this, you should know that I don’t know squat at the end of the day about what you should or shouldn’t do in your endeavors with endurance sports, I am just putting out my own experience and don’t want to come across like I know a damn thing. If you want to leave some kind words of encouragement feel free, that fires me up!  I’m not sure how often I will blog this year, but I am going to try to hit it at least once a week.

From time to time I will probably blog about some other interest’s too; family, friends, good books, music, food, addiction recovery, spirituality…. some of the other parts of my life that I love too.

And as usuall, I always like to end with a little music.

IT’S OPEN ON THE BIG END, BABY !!!!!

I know that I have used this quote on more than one occasion, but I just love it ! It is so true too. I really like where my mind is going these days in terms of my fitness goals and triathlon goals. There have been plenty of occasions that I could have chased out some negative thread of thought and said “No way I can do this.” Even this morning at the pool I had one more occasion to get to ride someone else’s negative rift, but frankly I just feel to good about the progress made so far to allow that! I am still feeling pretty high from the weekend at the Austin Marathon, my confidence is growing. What was once my worst fear of an event, swimming, is now becoming one of my favorites. While I thought that my running times seemed so insanely slow, I made progress that was beyond what I would have thought possible. So today my mind is right on track!

I remember one thing that my mentors in another area of my life always told me “you can’t think yourself into right action, you have to act yourself into right thinking”. If I had not learned this lesson and listened to people that had learned how to make positive changes in their life and then taken actions that at times didn’t appear to even make sence, I wouldn’t have the life I have today. Truth be known, I would probably not be alive. So I keep that experience close to my heart when I hear those negative voices, either internal or external, giving me the skeptics chant. Those voices are only real if I act on them instead of acting in a positive way regardless of what else might be heard.

Learning to shelve the negative voices is only a part of the game though, watering the seeds of the positive life-giving voices is the other side of the coin. The more that I feed “the good wolf” the stronger it will get! So everytime I complete one more good workout , I feed “the good wolf”. Everytime I do my workout even when my mind might want me to slough off, I feed “the good wolf“. The smile I get after completing my swim workout, that is food for “the good wolf“. The time I spend getting to practise meditation, that is food for “the good wolf” too.  Every time I get the chance to give someone else a lift of encouragement and share my experiences with my difficulties and how I was able to walk through them, that too is feeding “the good wolf“. That’s what I want to be about, feeding “the good wolf“; not only mine but others too.

One of my favorite sayings that my mentor consistenly tells me is “life is open on the big end , baby” ! The guy helped me walk through some of the darkest times of my entire life and kept telling me that over and over.  He didn’t ever promise me it was easy though, but he always told me it would be rewarding beyond my wildest dreams. Ride a bike 100 miles? Run a half-marathon? Swim a mile? Do a 70.3 triathlon? Not even imaginable 5 years ago. Ride a bike 100 miles? Run a half-marathon? Swim a mile? Do a 70.3 triathlon? Hell ya !

And ya know what, that’s just what I can see and dream today! I believe in the un-imaginable today ! IT’S OPEN ON THE BIG END, BABY!!!!!

Body, Mind, and Soul

When I first started this blog several years ago the original title of the blog was “Body, Mind, and Soul”, so today I am going to go back to that pattern for this post. There are lessons that I am learning along this Road To Glaveston;  some new, some old with renewed strength. So with this being my first post in over a week, I feel somewhat refreshed and not nearly as over-whelmed in writing this morning. I like the tri-concept of body, mind, and soul; it seems to weave a really beautiful tapestry of life.

Body- Physically last week I was to have a recovery week in my workout routine. If recovery was the goal, I acheived that. I had two scheduled days of rest and ended up with 3 rest days. There were three workouts that were my highlights, each for different reasons. My swim workout was awesome this week, I really enjoy getting into the pool. I wouldn’t have ever thought that swimming would become so enjoyable. For me to come full-circle in swimming is a big deal! My favorite run this week was Saturday’s Fridgid Five in Edmond. We did this event with my brother in law. He wanted to do a run to celebrate his 70th birthday, so we had a nice dinner out with them on Friday and met them for the run on Saturday.  Jim has been a lifelong runner and has done the Boston Marathon a couple of times too. I know my wife felt good about doing that with him too. She feels like her mom would have been proud to see them running together. The bike ride on Sunday at the lake was really relaxing, it was to be 90 minutes of riding just for enjoyment. I put in my headphones and did lake laps. It was refreshing too, helped me to get my head clear.  Hopefully with the recovery week I will be able to hit this week  in full gear. We will cap the coming week off with a good trip to Austin for the Livestrong Marathon.

Mind-  My mind is in pretty good shape this week. Mentally I feel pretty positive about where I am with the Road To Galveston. There are times that I wonder “are you friggin nuts?” but those are usually fleeting and I don’t feed them with second thoughts. But more importantly there are times that I think “what else can we do?”, the opening up of a wide range of possibilities is so refreshing to me.  I don’t just mean what other exercise goals, not just the thought of another physical challenge like maybe a 140.6 or maybe something like a Leadville 100 bike challenge; I have some other challenges that are teasing me too. The ability to put my mind in better focus towards goals is opening up some other new possibilities that I have thought were maybe lost to my age.  So stay tuned this year, there just might be some other journeys on the horizon.

Soul- Spiritually this last week was really good. I had the opportunity to spend some time with another man listening to his life story; the good, the bad, the ugly. I love getting to do that, it is a real honor and priveledge. If you have never had the chance to sit down and tell someone your entire life story, warts and all, not withholding anything, give it some thought. Maybe it might be something you would consider for Lent this season. Richard Foster talks a little about this in his book Celebration of Discipline, and I believe that it captures the spirit of two verses in particular in the Christian faith James 5:16 ” Confess your sins one to another that ye may be healed.” and Matthew 18:20 “Wherever two or three gather in my name, I am with them.” When I get the opportunity to listen to someone like this, it reminds me of how we are all just human, trying our best and at times our ‘not so best’, and really I have never felt anything but a real sense of love and care that I know comes from our best “Spirit”. It also helps me to loosen some of that hyper-criticalness I have toward myself too. Looking forward this week towards Lent, I know that I have one commitment that I want to be diligent with, that is daily meditation. As far as something that I might sacrifice, I still am not sure what that will be. I am looking forward to this season though, it is one of my favorite times of the Christian faith.

So there you go! That’s the recap from last week. Hope you find something useful in my ramblings today.

Don’t you just LOVE THE GRAMMYs? Today’s tune is from Ed Sheeran and Elton John singing A Team. Elton John was a true ‘elderstatesman’ last night, what a great man he has become.

Have a blessed week.

It’s An Inside Game

This morning it was COLD outside at 7am ! I was so tempted to roll over and go back to sleep and wait until later in the day to do my run. When we do Landrunners Becky usually leaves before me to pick up Cynthia, they usually do a little more than I do,  and then I leave a little afterwards. It was so tempting to just get back under the warm covers when she left, but I didn’t. Now that it is 3:30 in the afternoon I am glad I didn’t do that, but it was so tempting.

My running workout today was to be a 90′ run, mostly in Zones 2 and 3. I stayed pretty true to the plan, there were a few times that I would get out of Zone, but for the most part I held myself within Zone 3. My top heart rate in Zone 3 is 160 bpm. I did notice after the run I had downloaded the data off my Garmin that my pace within those Zones has improved, so that’s a good thing. I got a little down about my slowness a few weeks back. I think the testing last week and then some of the intervals made me see that I can and will improve, it just isn’t an over-night deal. One thing I am reminded of is the fact that “fast changes” in life rarely translate into sustainable longterm change. So what it takes is just what it takes! I did notice that my legs felt pretty shot afterwards. I think some of that might have been the night befores bike workout that I didnt finish until 10pm, I did that workout “out of order”. I was actually suposed to have down a 200o yd swim yesterday, but I wasn’t sure I could get it in on Friday with work so I switched it with the bike.  Amanda sent us (her clients) an email and it talked about keeping workouts in the order because they were designed that way for a reason, I’ll do better next week. 🙂

I also added stregth training this week. I am to do two workouts per week. Today I did the one that I needed the weight machines, it went just fine. It was a set of 6 or so workouts to be done in 3×10 set, actually 2×10 and 1x 15 this week. I thought of doing the other set at the same time, but I held back and saved that set for tomorrow. I can do those execises at home, so I will knock that one out in the morning before the afternoon ride.

My attitude is doing better today. I still need to get better at doing a setting meditation EVERY day, it just makes such a difference. Getting that time to let things “settle”, even when it doesn’t “feel” like it is doing anything at the time, always makes my days go by better. A little time with the Creator goes a long way. Ya know, how can you have a relationship with someone if you don’t spend time with them? Or like one of my mentors used to say, “how you going to know what God’s will is in your life if ya never spend anytime with God asking him?” Good point, huh?

Right now I am reading three books; Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time by Marcus Borg, Living Buddha, Living Christ by Thich Naht Hahn, and Body Mind Mastery by Dan Millman. I have really enjoyed all the books by Thich Nhat Hahn, they helped me find some new tools for life and some new perspectives that in some ways I had never had, but in some ways I had always had. The Borg book is kind of challenging for me, actually it feels kind of like my struggle with learning to swim. I am going to just push thru it and see what happens with it. The Millman book was a gift from my daughter for Christmas, Phil Jackson is a big supporter of this book, that endorsement alone makes it worth giving a read.

Well I am going to cut out, it’s 4pm and I am thinking its about dinner time. 😉

Just found this song today, Caught By The River by Doves. Really like it too, reminds me of spending time at the park watching the ducks and squirells when I was going through some tough times. 🙂    

Awesome Swim Workout

Today was another day where I could feel confidence growing in the water. Actually it was there even before I got to the pool, I was genuinely looking forward to the workout. Now for those that have been following my swim workouts and issues, you know that is light years ahead of this time last year! A big part of today was mental, I was in a really good frame of mind this morning when I went to the pool. I keep coming back to good ole’ Yogi Berra’s quote “Baseball is 90 percent mental, the other half is physical.” So true in the water for me. But to actually be going to the pool and looking forward to having fun with it is an amazing jump forward, even a big just over two months ago.

Todays workout was 2000 yrds total.

8x25x10R (All Catch-Up)
8x25x10R Swim
8x50x20R Fins (Odd: 25 Kick, 25 Swim; Even: 25 Swim, 25 Kick)
8x50x20R Swim
6x75x25R Fins (25 Left Arm; 25 Right Arm; 25 Swim)
1×200 Swim
6x25x15R CD

It felt so good to be able to do the drills and the lengths and not be stressed about it. I was smiling and happy the whole workout today. The most difficult was doing the 6x75x25r (25 Left; 25 Right; 25 swim). My left is so much weaker than my right. It also reminded me of how much weaker my left side is doing single leg drills on the bike and how my left knee is the one that starts to show weakness on runs too. But back to swimming, this was a fun day! It feels good to have days like this, days where you think “if I just keep doing the work, race day will be so much fun.”

I’ve been on a Lennon kick here lately. Let’s go with Mind Games today!

Hope you all dream big and move towards it too!

It’s Not All Roses

Generally my attitude is pretty high and positve; today it wasn’t so much. I wasn’t just way down or anything, I just had a taste of reality when I was looking back over yesterday’s run times. So I played with that for a little while knowing that I had to go out for an afternoon swim workout. There is a certain fairness and honesty about getting into shape, there aren’t any shortcuts. Physically, what you are is what you are. Fitness, it is what it is too. No magic buttons to push or free advance cards, just work. Inspiration seems to be a word that kept coming up this week, sometimes you can grab that emotional boost. I love when that happens! Then somedays you just have to ignore your emotions and negative mind and put in the work.

Today was a day that I had to “just go to the gym and swim”, do your work. I had already made a commitment to meet Jason at the pool so that always helps. Accountability, that’s a big part of working with friends and having a coach. I want people to hold me to the path that will get me to where I want to go. So we met up to do our swim. It went pretty well too. Afterwards I felt good, I always do when I ignore that negative crap and do what I am supposed to do. Technically I felt that my “breathing” was off a little, I need to get that breath a little sooner than I was today. The last 4 x 25s I tried to get real conscious of doing that right. The catch-up drills help me with that too. I even thought about doing that last 4 x 25 all as catch-ups, just to work on correcting that. Might talk to Doc about that next time we talk.

I did have a nice talk with my coach today. We talked about the “slow” run thing and we are going to do another “heart-rate” zone test the following week. This week we are going to bring in strength training. So I am looking forward to that too.

So does my mind mess with me sometimes, hell ya. Does it last, only if I let it. And that reminds me of another story. 😉 A story that the Abbess Master Jian Mao told us one night at Budda Mind Monastery. “You know how to get a ball to stop bouncing? Stop bouncing it.” So I try my best to just let the negative crap pass, don’t fight it but don’t play with it either. It never lasts to long if I turn to something positive or God forbid call someone else and see how they are doing!

This tune always cracked me up! Outkast and Roses, that’ll work!

Be Your Own Inspiration

Today as I was running I was thinking it would sure be nice to meet some people that are at the same begining level that I am. I had a mentor that used to like to say “seems like just about the time I think I am leading the pack, I look up and I realize I am dead last”. Well I had to laugh at that this morning; I never “lead the pack”, that is for damn sure, but I was right there around the tail end of the group. Today I was to do a 2:05 hour run. With the weather that was coming in our way I knew I wanted to get up and get it done! So joining my wife and daughter at the Landrunner’s 8 mile run was a great way to get out there and get it done.

While I was one of the last ones to finish, that didn’t mean it was a bad run for me. I know that my starting point isn’t where most the other people’s starting point is. I also know this, there are still a bunch of people laying in bed too that are behind me! 😉 So my goal today was to follow the directions for my workout. I wanted to try to stay in my Zones when it asked me to, no matter how slow it might seem or be. It went pretty well too. I did a much better job of staying focused on my run. If it asked me to stay in Zone 2 I tried to keep in that Zone, if it asked me to step up to Zone 3 I pushed it on up. I did do the water stops as they came up. So after I finished the 8 mile run, I went on to complete the rest of my 2:05 hour run. It was kind of cool looking up when I was on the last 1/2 mile and seeing Becky, my wife running toward me. She was to do 16 miles today, so she and our daughter started an hour before the scheduled run.

“Therefore, Ananda, be a lamp unto yourself, be a refuge to yourself. Take yourself to no external refuge. Hold fast to the Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the Truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourself. And those, Ananda, who either now or after I am dead shall be a lamp unto themselves, who take themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, shall not look for refuge to anyone beside themselves, it is they who shall reach the highest goal.”
— Mahaparinibbana Sutta

That is the story that kept coming to mind as I was running. I was thinking, I wish I knew someone who had started out much like myself that has already achieved the same goals that I want to achieve. The thing is, I don’t think I know anyone here locally that fits “my story. As I was thinking of that, inside I knew that I had to be my own motivation and had to let my own story be what pushes me on. The just may not be another story that I will find that can match mine. Sure there are similarities, but I think probably the most important thing is “finding that lamp of my own“. Isn’t that a life truth too? So becoming my own motivation was the message of the morning.

Well after getting home we went out to eat at one of my favorite places, Charleston’s. I had my favorite, grilled salmon with carrots and a side Ceasar. We had a really relaxing meal followed by good one hour massage. Now we are going to try to stay warm and watch a little football and basketball.

Hope you all have a great afternoon too.

Let’s go with Elton John’s Tiny Dancer for tunes today!

The Road Is Longer Than It Might Appear

At the first of the year I suspect we all set goals or have ideas of where we want to try to go, not only in our fitness life but other areas too. As a person that was never very athletic and didn’t get any physical exercise for many years I have really been blown away by how it has affected me. To me, it did so much more than just improve my physical fitness, it affected every area of life, life became more vibrant. So after I had completed my first 100 mile event, I felt like I was on top of the world and could do anything! This summer will mark my 3rd year of cycling, and while I do have some real lofty goals this year, I also have had to take a little humility on the road. Below I will tell you of just a few experiences that have been some of the growing steps and some of the more humbling ways I have had to come to grips with just where my starting point actually was.

After finishing my first Hotter N Hell Hundred, one afternoon my wife who is a marathon runner was going to go out for a quick run. Feeling all pumped up about my accomplishment, I said “hey, why don’t I come with you ?” She gave me a somewhat quirky look, but I think she felt like it was kind of sweet that I was willing to go along with her. So that seemed to trump the “doubt in my ability” skeptism that she had. I had no clue that cycling ability did not translate into running abilty. After jogging out the front door and maybe 30 yards down the street, I was done! I learned real quick that I was just a beginer in this fitness thing. I had “baby steps” to endure if I was to start running and eventually swimming too.

Getting an understanding of my true fitness level was one lesson I had to learn, and then in May of 2011, we came home to a house filled with smoke. It was the most surreal experience in my life, you never think that is going to happen to you. We hustled to get all of our pets out of the house while the fire department came. We were fortunate that we caught the fire in an early stage. So what does that have to do with my 2011 fitness goals? Life happens and some things just take precedence over my own plans and family needs had to be the focus. We were living in a motel for 3 months and it was a full 6 months before all of the construction was finished. What happened was all of those New Years plans just couldn’t happen.

Having made it through a chaotic 2011, I was ready to get going! In 2012 I wanted to do a triathlon! So I set out to do it with an organization that helped you with your training; great people and an organization with a wonderful cause too. So what was the catch? Well they met for swimming on Monday nights, a night that I had a previous commitment. This particular commitment was with a group of people who absolutely have saved my life. It is something that if I didn’t have it in my life, there would be no other goals. These people gave me life and helped me find a relationship with God in a way that changed me forever. I tried to justify not going for a short period until my event was over, but in my heart of hearts I knew where my priorities needed to be. This is the place that God gave me life, and it is the place where I get to be most effective in helping others have that same experience too.

My new fitness life is amazing, it has affected my entire life from the inside emotionally and spiritually and also physically too; but it hasn’t been an overnight event. I have had to take and am still taking many baby steps along the way. While my fitness goals do have a high priority level, they are not the most important priority; God and family have to be in the proper order too. It takes time to find that balance. It is more about finding a new lifestyle that can be balanced in all areas.

Best of luck with your fitness goals in 2013!

Todays workout was a 2-1/2 hour bike ride followed by a one mile run. It was work, but good work! I even did a pretty good job of following my coaches directions for the workout today!

Tonight let’s go with a little FUN.!

Better Attitude = Better Workout

Four-thirty in the morning sure comes early, but it sure feels good to get up and get my swim in to start the day. I have never been a morning person but that just might change if I can get better at going to bed earlier. I know that I do feel more alive when I start my day after a good morning workout. I was reading somewhere that it really only takes about 30 days to change your sleep habit and get acclimated to doing that every morning. We will see, the jury is still out. 😉

The swim was to be 1900 yards. Looking back on the workout, I would say it went pretty well. My breathing technique was pretty good. I did struggle when I was stretching out to some longer distances, but on the second set I remembered to just relax and let it happen instead of fighting it. I was supposed to do a few more “catch-up” drills than I did, I wasn’t paying attention to my plan when I first got in for my warmup laps. I’ll be more attentive next time.

So this morning I copied my workout plan down and put it in a little sandwhich bag to keep it dry and by the pool. That worked out pretty well. One thing that I have seen several people use when they do their swim workouts is a counter. There are times when I struggle to keep my counts on laps. I might look into that when I go to the swim shop next.

So today my attitude was much better. I didn’t have that funk that I was carrying yesterday. I wouldn’t say it has all passed, but I feel a little better.

So far I have been staying off the sweets and candies like I had said I was going to do after the 27th! I still crave a Reese’s everytime I go to a quickstop though. I figure it can’t be any more difficult than getting off the smokes. I knocked off 4 pounds just from eating better this last week!

Well the new year is here, so time to get to work. Before I go here is todays tune, Little Wing by Neil Young.

Burr !!!!!!

Well the Road to Galveston was pretty chilly today. It was one of those days where emotionally and mentally I wasn’t in the best spot. On those days my best is just getting though the workouts, there was a run and bike for today. So that was what I set out to do. Becky wanted to get all of the Christmas stuff taken down and put back in the attic, so we set a time of 4:00pm to go out for our run. I was going to do my bike ride on the trainer later in the evening.

I don’t think it ever got above 30 degrees today, and the windchill was 16. At four we shut down the “decontructing Christmas Project” and got dressed for our run. Becky needed to get 4 miles and I was supposed to get in 35 minutes. It was just flat out cold. We ran at the trail around Oklahoma Christian again today. I just did a 17 minute out and back basically. I didn’t run with my Ipod today, I just wanted to get out there and get this stuff done. No frills or anything, get it done and get out of the cold! Today there was a mix of “fast” intervals in my run. They were just 30 second fast runs, with 1:30 easy jogs. I was reallly kinda surprised that my pace on the fast part was as fast as it was. It kind of reminded me of last January when I started out doing 30 second jogs and 1:30 walks, except this time I was actually starting to run. I felt good about it too, like if I could go from jog/walk last year then this year I can go from run/jog to all out run eventually. Maybe? Or at least knock my pace down significantly. So that was the good part of the run. Still feeling some good hope, even on a day where I am just a litte frazzled.

My workout called for me to just ride my bike 45-60 minutes any way I wanted, have fun with it. So I figured the most fun I could have since it was bone chilling cold outside was to ride on the trainer and listen to an album that I have been wanting to download. I downloaded OneRepublic’s Waking Up, great tunes! I didn’t really even look at my power or heart rate. I did still try to keep my cadence up around 88-93 range. It went pretty well. I felt good about getting it knocked out.

So tomorrow will be another day. Hopefully I will snap this stupid funk that I got in today. I suspect I will. Sometimes life throws us a curveball when we are just sure it’s going to be another fastball. I am going to get up early and do my swim workout at the YMCA in Edmond tomorrow.

Hope you all had a great start to your New Year! Here is my favorite tune from the OneRepublic album, Good Life: