What Have I Been Doing?

The last time I wrote I was pretty down. My injury had returned and I was kind of at a loss, it was like I need to just be lost for a bit. So what have I been doing since?

Well I have been working out in different ways, my exercises need to be creative when I cannot run. I have been able to do my cycling without issue, I am very thankful for that. Swimming is progressing nicely, although I am in and out of the pool sporadically. I have been doing more weight training since my run volume has dropped.

The weight sessions have been intense for sure, I like it. I once watched a show about downhill skiers and the training they do outside of ski season. Their training involves lots of legs and painful exercises like hamstring curls. It makes sense, they have to have rock solid legs to hold a 90 degree knee bend and absorb bumps and 70 mph. My weight sessions reflect the skier's training I saw. I have been using my sauna to train mentally.

Sitting in a sauna for an hour at 150 degrees is just as mentally challenging as mile 9 of half marathon in half ironman races. All I want to do is open the door and flee the sauna, whereas in the race all I want to do is walk. It is very similiar with the amount of self imposed suffering that it takes to stay in them both respectively. This supports my theory that the run is will power as mush as muscle power. The phrase, "it's in your head, not in your muscles," holds true.

More importantly, as part of my New Year's resolution I wanted to improve my diet. I have done very well. I have been amazing with this. I eat salads, fruit, health proteins and avoid late night eating. I have totally defeated my crutch of chips and salsa, ice cream, cakes, cookies, and candy. I walk by all those foods dozens of times a day, I don't even care anymore.

I no longer misapproiate my formerly favorite foods that taste great but pack in the carbs. I beat it! I have already seen positive changes in my body, I feel better. As a result of my diet and my heavy weight training I can see that I am becoming more fit in terms of being lean and defined. It was something that I intended to do for a long time, I am so impressed with myself that I am well on the path, and it is enjoyable now where it use to be hard. I actually want to do all the things that were once hard to do in terms of diet.

Aside from not being able to run (I might be withdrawing from my 2 key half ironmans :(  (sadface ) I have made tremendous progress and am very happy with my current status. Healthy Body. Healthy Mind.

The New Year's Resolutions...I'm here to win

Every year millions of people make resolutions, resolutions for everything imaginable. I would bet that most have already broken their resolutions or used the "just this once" excuse. I, like everyone else, have a few things I would like to improve or change...

When I was in 4th grade I told my dad I wanted to be a state champion in wrestling. I can remember that year vividly as it was the first time in my life I did training that was considered "crazy" by other people, the first time I was doing things above and beyond what everyone else was willing to do. I remember that year I was on an absolute mission to take no prisoners and win at any cost. For that year of wrestling I started doing push ups and situps everyday, not most of the time, everyday. I worked up to 200 pushups and 200 situps each day and didn't miss a day. I can remember being able to out pushup the entire team of wrestlers at practice...including the coach. If the Rocky IV character was a kid I would have been him.


It became an obsession to do my workouts each day and nothing could keep me from it. I can remember suffering a semi panic attack at 2:30 am because I couldn't account for my last set of pushups the previous day. I ran it through my head over and over, I could only account for 175 though. So I rolled out of bed, cranked out 25 push ups and rolled back into bed satisfied.

During this time I was also on a very strict, self imposed, diet...amazing what I was doing so young, just amazing. I wasn't eating chips, candy, soda etc. Not a sampler, not even a bite. I never once questioned it either, like I said I was on a single minded mission. All this as a kid, it blows my mind! I was like a little machine, and I loved it. When it came to the actual wrestling that year I was untouchable. I was far superior mentally and physically to all my opponents and went undefeated, I only had 3 points scored on me all year. It wasn't that I knew hundreds of moves, that wasn't the case at all, I knew very little wrestling moves wise actually. That year I simply out-worked e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e. I was untouchable. I was 100% perfect in everything I did that year. I did the things that others were not willing to do and the results attest to that. This carried over to the next few wrestling seasons. My attitude was that I was there to win, anything less than first place was a disaster, if I placed second at a tournament I threw the award away because I wasn't there for second place, I was there to win, period. I make myself laugh when I think about my kamikaze attitude when I was a young kid.

When looking back at the past few years I see that at some point I became unfocused and turned into the "90 / 10 kid." 90% of the time I was on, I was doing things right, however, 10% of the time I was blowing it. I found myself eating ice cream, chips and salsa, chocolate, missing workouts, making excuses, having a bad attitude, self doubt, and some days being lazy. Basically 10% of the time I was lacking in a way that would make my champion version ready to kick my own ass.

While I was still doing 20x times better than the average person I was still negating any opportunity and the full benefit of the hard work I was doing 90% of the time. It has been a few years since I have possessed that single minded take no prisoners or excuses attitude. An attitude that said "get out of my way or get run over, or you choose what you do, but this is what I am going to do; no matter if it doesn't fit the realm of normal."

Truly an attitude that says "I am not here to achieve 9 out of 10 goals, I am here to be achieve 10." I can now see that I haven't, in the past few years, dedicated myself to my "missions" 100%. It is my resolution to find the unyielding, take no prisoners, championship version that I once was. Certainly this is an absurdly difficult aspiration, very few people in the world can actually do it (or should I say want to do it for that matter). I know from the past I am one of the few that has it in me.

For the time being the workouts part are not an issue, I can't workout regularly due to an injury. Nutritionally however, I have noticed that I have slipped and that I am not as "cut" as I want to be (not to say I am overweight, I am still pretty ripped for a little guy). I have always been muscularly defined and mostly good with my diet so I know its not completely out of line, again it's the 10% that is the issue. I think my diet has become an issue of carbohydrates.

Most foods that are "treats," satisfying, delicious, and fun to eat are carb based. Ice cream, tortilla chips, chocolate bars, energy bars, cookies ect are all empty calorie carb bombs. As a result, my favorite foods are gone for the time being. Cookies, pie, cake, ice cream, chips and salsa etc have been out of my diet since christmas. It's hard at times because these were foods I enjoyed and ate everyday, but everyday it's easier and easier. Aside from low sugar jello or pudding or yogurt I don't eat most of the "tasty" things I was. It's already way easier to avoid those foods that I once was eating everyday.

I know what I am doing is right, I once heard, "don't give up everything you want (goals) for something you want right now (cookies). To everyone their own, we all must choose those things that excite and motivate us. My new mission will be very challenging, fun, and potentially rewarding. Regardless of whether you or I achieve our New Year's Resolutions is a not a matter for others to judge or hold us to, but more of an inner challenge for the person you have to answer to everyday. It's all talk until we can convince our inner selves that we are going to do it. ...Rule 76: "No Excuses Play Like a Champion. Winners do the things normal people are not willing to do."

Nordic Skiing

I am convinced, nordic skiing is by far the hardest physical activity that I know of. In no other sport have I felt like I was using my aerobic and anerobic system and weight training at the same time. Triathlons are hard for sure, but in triathlon you don't have to use every muscle in your body at the same time. When skiing I can feel every muscles from my feet to my shoulders are working. My arms, legs, and lungs burn alike. It's no wonder the best athletes in the world are nordic skiers. If you don't agree you are 1. crazy 2. haven't cross country skied, or 3. have the most developed cardiovascular system known to mankind.


Skating is so hard, after an hour of skating my g. maximus, g. medius, and hamstrings are just thrashed. Skiing hard for more than 10 minutes consecutively is quite possibly on of the most taxing things I have ever done. After and hour of skating I am fatigued, but satisfied knowing I "did something."

I am always impressed by the winter biathletes. They ski around the course at what I am guessing to be between 80 and 90% of their max heart rate and then have to stop quickly and shoot 5 targets with a racing heart. Winter biathlon is insane, it't insane to go from an aerobic activity (skiing) to a tecnhical skill (shooting) it's really an amazing sport to watch. I have had some luck being able to ski without aggravation to my illiotibial band so I plan to emphasize that over the winter months and hopefully kick the itb soon.

Last year I built up to 2 hours and 45 minutes of skiing in one session and I would like to hit the 3 hour mark this winter. I figured that would pretty much thrash me as much as the long brick workouts that I cannot complete currently.