Swag's Health Journal

2009-05-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

I swam this morning and it highlighted the fact that I have a lot of work that needs to be done to be ready for this triathlon. It felt good though and I swam 900m, which is 100 more than the swim leg of the race. I think I can be ready but it is going to take a strong effort to get there.

My form was not good and I am going to have to really work on it if I want to be efficient.

Anyway, I loved it. It felt good to be in the water.

Another try...

2009-05-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

It has been a year since I even thought about this blog but I have got back into the swing of exercising. After the holiday season I tipped the scales at whoping 206 lbs or 93.5 kgs. That is the most I have ever weighed so I set a goal and at the end of January started about achieving it. The goal was 180 lbs. I routinely heard that I didn't need to lose weight but fortunately those people never saw me naked otherwise they wouldn't have been saying that. My time in the UK certainly did not help as I didn't eat really healthy. But I can make many an excuse for my spare tire.

Anyway things have changed. I am now on the verge of reaching my goal. At this mornings weigh in I hit 180.8 lbs (81.5 kg) and 19% body fat. I am pretty excited to be at this point and have set new goals and while I have not attained my weight goal just yet by accomplishing my next goal I will blow 180 out of the water and probably get down to about 175 by mid June.

For a long time I have wanted to enter in a triathlon and this weekend I signed up for the provo tri. I signed up for the sprint (shorter distances) and couldn't be more excited despite the fact that I will have to swim in the Provo Utah Lake marina. Anyway I was so excited I went out and bought some tight shirt that is supposed to help me and even tighter pants.

I have my first swim session in the morning and I will be getting up at 5am to go hit the pool.

I am so anxious and excited about this event. Sitting at the back of my mind is my next goal but I am not sure that can be a reality as it is a little selfish and I need to think long and hard about that one but I will list it here now just so that it is written down.

The St. George Ironman. Approximately 140 miles of hell. Swim 2.5 miles, bike 112 and run 26.2. The event will be in Utah for 5 years and I figure I can work up to it.

Anyway, I'll be posting more.

Swag

I'm Back!

2008-01-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

Yes, that right I am back! I got sick a few months ago and got out of the routine of running then it got really cold and I stopped running. I did buy a bike trainer that ended up being cracked and had to be shipped back then we had some expenses that ate up the money I had set aside for the trainer so I never got one. Needless to say I was using excuses to not exercise. But I was given a new pair of running shoes for my birthday with gloves for Christmas and I have run out of excuses so I have been running a couple of times this week.

During the holidays Samantha dragged me kicking and screaming to see the musical Wicked in LA. I really didn't want to go see some musical about the Wizard of Oz. Anyway, I LOVED it and all i listen to at work is the sound track. I highly recommend it. So how does this apply to exercising and what not? Well I realize that often there are things we just do not want to do until we do it, there after it becomes enjoyable and repeatable and something to look forward to. That is how I feel about running. You dread it until you do it then it is great. So in essence I am back and running and enjoying it!

Months to Build, Days to Destroy

2007-09-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have been quite ill for a week and a half now, but I started improving late last week and decided that I needed to get back into my exercise habits. I arranged to go riding on Saturday morning and while I felt okay I realized that I was still not at my regular level of fitness. My muscle tone that I had been establishing was gone, by lung capacity was significantly diminished and I was feeling like I was out of energy. It proved to be a tough ride in general but I loved it. It was great to get out again.

During the ride Kyrk (my cycling buddy) made a comment about our bodies but it has so many applications to other aspects of life. He said "months to build days to destroy" and I have thought about that this week and it is so true. I have been exercising for a few months now and my body was starting to change and get stronger and it was gone in no time at all. A marriage can take years, decades a lifetime to build and it can be destroyed in minutes. A relationship with your children can be ruined in no time at all by something as simple as using harsh words. Fortunately my body will come back and be restored and without getting too religious relationships and many other aspect of life can be restored through repentance.

Anyway I am looking forward to getting out again.

I hate being sick

2007-09-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

So I have come down with the flu and I am achy and sick. It has really disrupted my exercise routines and I am not fond of it. I want to get out but my body just wont let me. I hate it.

Freezing Cold and Tired

2007-09-08T17:48:00.001-07:00

Okay, okay it has been a week (at least) since I posted. In the time I have gone for a solo ride, which is much tougher than going with a friend, run once or twice but today's exercise was on a pretty grand scale.

Since I have lived in Utah I have looked at Mt Timpanogos everyday and I have never reached the top. Well now I have, and she can never mock me again. I went with a friend from work and we began on the trail at 1:30am (Timpooneke Trail). As we started the parking lot was full but there was nobody to be seen so we started up in the dark (there was no moon until we reached the saddle and even then it was a sliver.) Before long we had the unusual sight of lights bobbing along the trail for miles. There must have been at least 50 people in front of us and it didn't take long before we reached the first group and passed them up, from there the Sea Biscuit took over and we didn't stop for a break until we had passed the majority of the hikers and from there we passed them all before we started the climb to the saddle.

I realized as I was going that my exercising efforts were starting to pay off. I have found that my heart doesn't beat at a million miles an hour anymore and it is not my heart that gives out, it is leg strength and muscle burn that gets to me long before my cardio gives up. So that can be easily worked on.

Anyway we reached the saddle and if any of you have ever been there it is quite dramatic as it is the first time you see over into the Utah Valley and the wind almost knocks you off. Just prior to this I started to feel a little light headed and I was worried that altitude sickness was starting to effect but I had no other symptoms. I finally realized that I was getting dizzy because of my headlamp constantly bobbing around in front of me. This is a bad place to be feeling dizzy as there are many tricky sections to navigate and lots of loose shale to slip and fall on and it was very cold. Anyway, we made it to the top in 3 hours and 45 minutes, the downside was that we needed to wait about another 1.5 hours till sunrise, that was cold so we huddled in the hut at the top and after about 20 minutes there was a steady flow of people cramming themselves into the shack all hoping it share body heat but it is entirely pointless as there is so much wind.

After a long cold wait the sun finally showed up at 7am and we could all warm up. Coming down was fast and we ran for about 2 miles of the 7.5 miles. We did see a bull moose on the way down.

All told we went to 11,777 feet in altitude and hiked about 15 miles returning to the car at 10:10am. It was a great hike.

PE Lessons Finally Learned

2007-08-30T06:48:00.000-07:00

This morning was a tough morning to get out of bed. I think a late night 2 nights ago and plenty of stress at work were weighing into my sleepiness. Anyway after two snooze buttons I got out of bed and found it was raining but if I was up I may as well go anyway, so I set off and found the rain a welcome companion.

I don't know if they taught this in any other PE classes but at my school they taught us that when you run you should breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth because it would be more efficient or some other garbage like that. Needless to say I sucked down as much air as I could when I ran because I was out of shape and I didn't care one bit about "in through the nose, out through the mouth, in through the nose out through the..." it was more a matter of opening my mouth as wide as I could and gulping it down just to survive and there never seemed to be enough oxygen (there is even less here in Utah than back home because of the altitude.) The down side to the rain is that it seemed to stimulate about a hundred trillion million bugs. So I am sure you can put 1 and 1 together, I ran through swarm of these things and lets just say I had my protein for the day, all 100% of it. So the real PE lesson is "In through the nose, out through the mouth so the bugs don't get in!" If my teachers had of been honest to begin with I would have believed them and run in that fashion. Who wants to swallow bugs, apparently not PE teachers.

Good run though and and I pushed myself to run with better form (after all, it is all for looks, right?) and to not take rests. On the same route a week or so ago I found that I had to stop about 3 times to walk (maybe even 4 but I don't remember,) today I stopped at the half way point then ran it home. I used different markers to run to and then keep going. I am not sure how long my body is going to keep believing the lies my brain is telling it..."oh, just run past that tree then walk for a bit." My brain is laughing at my body the whole way knowing it has not intention of stopping to walk.

Sea Biscuit

2007-08-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

I had a great run this morning. I had forgotten how great the morning really is. I had a full moon with a reddish hue at about 6:15 and it flirted constantly with some clouds on the horizon. Then as the sun started rising there were some grey clouds a few miles away that were raining and they were highlighted by the peach light cast by the sun. All very romantic and way to sappy for this manly blog. (LOL)

I have discovered that I am a bit like Sea Biscuit. A couple of hundred yards ahead of me there was a lady running and all I wanted to do was run her down and pass her. I don't think it would have even mattered if she was in a wheel chair, in my head all I wanted to do was go past her. So I did, it was great motivation. Then I realized I did it on the bike ride on Saturday as well. This really is great motivation and highlighted the need to continually set goals. As soon as I passed her my goal disappeared and I wasn't quite prepared for it and I found my body stopped responding the way I wanted it to. It took more effort to run when I didn't have a focused goal. I guess the moral is that I need to plan ahead for when I meet my goals so there is another goal waiting.

Great Ride

2007-08-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

My ride this morning was great. I left the house at about 7am and rode to meet Kyrk at his house. I learned very quickly that if the sun is not out and you are going down hill it is very cold. Kyrk was waiting with a spare pair of arm warmers (yeah I know that sounds like a sissy thing to wear but you need it), Kyrk then said "How does it feel to wear tights and arm warmers?" My manliness was taking a beating and I had only ridden a mile.

From here though I was very grateful for the girly arm warmers and will be investing in a pair at first chance. Gear is expensive though and I will blog about that a different day. So we got going and I was feeling pretty good about myself in the Lindon section of the ride (Lindon, UT) and then we reached the mouth of the Provo canyon and the winds just about blew me off the bike. It was a tough, stiff head wind and it didn't really let up the whole ride. I made it to Vivian Park in pretty comfortable fashion though and enjoyed it. I was a little apprehensive about continuing up South Fork as I knew it was all climbing but I said I was ok and pushed on. It was a a reasonable climb (for someone of my skill anyway, a purist will be laughing at my last comment) but I felt better than I id when I did Suncrest (Alpine to the top of the hill above Draper.) Toward the end of the climb I was starting to worry about my ride back and how I would handle it but I was forgetting 1 thing...ADRENALINE!

When we turned to come back down the hill it was awesome, I hit 40.8 miles an hour, not the fastest I have gone but there were a lot more turns and blind corners it was awesome and it gave me what I need for the whole return ride. We made it back to the mouth of the canyon in no time and from there we had a few hills but after doing South Fork there was nothing that would really challenge me. Don't get me wrong it was still effort but it was doable.

We went 34 miles, in 2 hours and 22 minutes, average was 14.7 and max was 40.8. It was an awesome ride.

Cute but dangerous

2007-08-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

My 3 year old decided that it would be great to meet me at work and take me to lunch. I thought it was a very cute idea until I realized I was being used and manipulated by a 3 year old. She had no interest in quality time with dad, when asked where we should go she had her mind on one thing and one thing only... McDonalds! That was a killer for me. I tried to convince her that there were better places to go but how can a good healthy salad compare with a Fun Zone and chips and chicken nuggets and whatever else McDonalds sells. Needless to say we went to Mac'ers. The things we do for a cute face.

My only reprieve is that I am going on a good ride in the morning with a good friend that will psh m harder than I would push myself... thank heavens for friends.

Beautiful morning but...

2007-08-23T06:32:00.001-07:00

I got up at the usual time (6:10) and started out and it wasn't long before I started to feel tight, particularly in calves. My body just did not want to respond this morning, the entire run was tough and I found that I needed to take a couple of short breaks to give my body a break.

Today was the first day I ran with an ipod and I am undecided about whether I like it or not. I find that when I run without it I use the sound of my feet and breathing to set a cadence to run to, when I didn't hear that today I struggled to get into a good rhythm.

I went 2.9 miles today.

Anyway it was a great morning for a run as there were storm clouds all around and the odd bit of lightning. Made for a good run despite my body.

Junk Food is Tough

2007-08-22T21:38:00.000-07:00

So I have quickly discovered that there is a lot of junk food out there. When you are not consciously trying to avoid it you never realize how much you consume. In the last 2 days I have been bombarded with brownies, chips, pizza and the killer....soft drinks. I decided it would be near impossible and impractical to cut myself off so I am going for a moderation approach.

Anyway, I am getting into running and while I am only doing about 2.5 miles a day I am working on trying to be consistent and going greater distances without stopping or walking (granted it has only been 3 days.) Anyway the most important thing about this is that I am enjoying the exercise.

I am looking forward to a longer bike ride on Saturday, it will only be about 33 miles but I really love getting the bike out. I have a friend that has recommended "Crossfit" I'll check it out later.

My Attempt

2007-08-20T06:27:00.000-07:00

I really want to run a triathlon and so in an effort to do that I have decided to document the attempt to get into shape and do it. I have been riding my bike for about a month now, I love my bike, but I need to do more. So I have found a rinky dink little family triathlon put on by the local high school that I intend to enter into.

I currently weigh 190lbs or 86kg and have 23.5% body fat. I want the weight to drop down to 170lbs or 77kg and the fat to get down around 9% to 11%. As you can see I have a long way to go.

I think the hardest thing about this will be the diet. It is hard to eat truly healthy but I will endeavour to do so, except for the fact that I just received a big box of Australian goodies, thanks mum.

So I went for a run this morning and I was only chased by one dog but I think that may be the solution to dedicated running. I seem to run really well when chased by a dog, so anyone in the Battle Creek area of Pleasant Grove please feel free to let your dogs loose around 6:15am.

I find that the top of my legs and my over sized love handles really itch when I run. It is annoying and very distracting and I am not entirely certain why it does it. I think that it is that my body is unaccustomed to the exercise and the circulation of blood.

Anyway it was a great start to the day and I am feeling good, but I suppose the first day of school was never tough either. I'll be running again tomorrow and then riding my bike to work.