not with my daughter, you don't

well, i guess i should recap the last couple of days. on tuesday, darrin and i did another 3 miles. nothing special. on wednesday, we played indoor soccer in an adult league for 1 1/2 hours. i know most of the guys, and we don't get too serious. darrin has never really played soccer before, but he figured that he'd get a decent workout, and came along. he did fine. scored two goals in his first game! maybe they were just taking it easy on him... anyway, last nite we did another 3 miles, and man was it cold. we did a little out and back, and on the way out it felt pretty good. then we turned around and realized that we'd been running with the wind. brr. i was wearing a wool hat, and when i took it off, there was ice all around the sides where i had been sweating! have i mentioned my dislike for the cold??
the reason why i've been only running 3 miles each time is because darrin is in training for the indianapolis mini marathon with a local group called wabash valley road runners. they have a schedule that he follows. well, since i haven't decided on which races i'm doing yet, i figured i'd just follow his schedule. he does the long saturday runs with them, and i do the long run on my own. i'm sure our mileage will be going up in the coming weeks. i think the long run this weekend is five miles. not really a long run, but better than nothing.
oh.. i almost forgot...
something really scary happened on tuesday. my kids and i went out to eat at a local chinese place while my wife went to class (she is studying to get her RN). there were two women ordering at the counter when we got there (it's not a buffet). one of the women was VERY large. i wasn't really paying any attention to what they were saying, since i had to figure out what my kids wanted. the big woman had apparently finished ordering and the chinese girl behind the counter told the woman her total, which was $27.58. she then turned around, passed the ticket to the kitchen workers, and said "we have beeg order!" i just figured this woman ordered take-out for her family (naturally, i was wrong about this - apparently, she had already eaten her family.) i did find it strange, though that the woman with her simply ordered a single meal. anyway, they sat down to wait and we ordered. 4 entrees and 5 drinks for $32. we went and sat down, and i really didn't think about it anymore until they brought out the big woman's food on trays! that's right, this beast of a woman was going to eat $27 worth of food herself! she had to put a couple of the entrees on another table because her friend's food wouldn't fit!! i didn't know whether to laugh or be disgusted. either way, it was impressive to see her inhale all of that in less than 15 minutes. i mean, that food was disappearing faster than billy joel's hair (have you seen that guy lately??). i was a little concerned, though. my daughter is only 5, and i feared that she could have been easily mistaken for an egg roll by that behemoth. i'm happy to say that we all escaped unscathed.
oh yeah, i weighed in today... no change. hmmm. i thought i would have dropped a pound or two. must've been those damn cookies from earlier this week....

you can't have just one

nothing exceptional to report today. darrin and i put in 3 miles last nite. i felt really strong, and pushed the pace a little. we finished up in slightly under 27 minutes, so just under nine minutes per mile. not bad. i was colder than normal though. the weather channel said it was 27 degrees as i walked out, but it felt colder than that.
i just finished up my turkey-on-whole wheat sandwich, and it really filled me up. i've cut my food intake drastically for the last three weeks or so, and i'm noticing that it is taking less and less food to make me feel full. that's a good thing. a couple of weeks ago, it was much more of a struggle to avoid eating. i mean, there were times that our dog was beginning to look plump and juicy, and i found myself imagining him being served over a bed of rice in a nice marinara sauce. but...i have moved on now. i am no longer ruled by the unrelenting dispassionate force of hunger and weakness that bec.... wha? what's this? a coworker just came in my office sporting a homebaked batch of the most beautiful cookies...
ooh.
nice.
chocolate chip.
sure, i'll have two...

hey, this sh@# really works!

i was hoping to get some good running in this past weekend. hoping is the operative word here... well, saturday was a wipeout. bitterly cold, 25mph winds, and snowing like crazy. sunday, though, was actually not too bad. it was only about 15 degrees, but there wasn't any wind. i was out most of the day with my kids at soccer training, where we will go every sunday until march. it was evening by the time i got home. i called darrin, fully anticipating that i would have to force him to get out run in such cold. but as it turned out, he had already run! he wanted to run while the sun was still out so it would be warmer. grr. well, i ended up eating dinner and helping my son study for his social studies test that he has today, and the next thing i know, it's 11:00, i'm sitting in bed, and everyone else in the house is asleep. i was intent, but not necessarily satisfied, with the fact that yet another weekend had expired with no running gains. then it hit me. i remembered.... the blog. i would have to actually write that i had the entire weekend, with one day of decent weather and i still didn't drag my fat lazy ass out there for a measly 30 minutes of exercise. that put me over the top. i rolled out of bed, threw on a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt, and put in nine laps around my neighborhood. nine relatively enjoyable laps, actually. just so you know, nine laps in my neighborhood equates to a touch over three miles. i did a tenth lap as a cooldown. it was cold, but once i got warmed up, i felt fine. i didn't bring my watch, so i have no idea how long it took me. i felt strong the whole time. i actually got into a groove for a while, something i haven't been able to do so far. hail the blog! hail the blog!

baby steps

oh, hey, i forgot... it's weigh-in friday. and the scale doth reveal: 202. that's 7.5 pounds since january 4th. not bad, considering i haven't been able to run much. that'll do, donkey, that'll do...

ridiculous reality

let me start out by saying that i am not a reality-tv fan AT ALL. i have never watched survivor, or any of the other reality tv stuff, and find most of them to be repulsive or annoying. except for american idol, that is... i wasn't planning on watching it, but my wife was watching one of the first episodes last season, and, although i was sure i would hate it, i watched it that nite too. and i've gotta tell you, i found it quite funny seeing people make complete asses out of themselves. now, i have no real problem with folks who sacrifice their self esteem for 30 seconds of national attention. if you want to be humiliated in front of 20 million people on national tv just so mama can have her moment to be proud ("cuz mama, i ain't goin to no kollege!"), by all means go ahead. but... watching the premiere this week, it amazes me that some of these morons get up in front of simon and the crew with absolutely no hint of talent, and then get upset or end up crying because they were mocked, insulted, and rudely disposed of. geez, take your punishment and go away already. i mean some of these people make me sound like Pavarotti (or at least Milli Vanilli...) hey, i have to admit - my shower and alone-in-the-car performances are exceptional. speaking of that, tell me this hasn't happened to you:
you're in the car singing to a song on the radio, and you're thinking to yourself "hey, i really don't sound too bad. maybe i can sing a little".... then the song ends slightly before you expected to, leaving you singing without the music and vocalist. oooh, reality sets in..."oh my gosh, i do really suck!" yes, yes, such are the cruelties of life....
hey, i want to thank amy for being my first blogger buddy. she lives in san francisco and competed the sf marathon last year. she's re-upping this year (right, amy??) and has a half marathon coming up on february 6th. good luck, and remember, this is just a training run!! she is trying to convince darrin and i to come to sf this summer and run the marathon with her. we are encountering some resistance to the trip from our wives, aka: mean, evil people who will not let immature 30-something husbands spend money foolishly, uuhhh, i mean, aka: breathtakingly beautiful women who are the complete and absolute center of our universe, and who we would gladly sacrifice ourselves for their every whim. hmm, i still need to work on that...
anyway, more on that to come.. the weather here is not cooperating, FREEZING cold and snowing this weekend. it's supposed to get in the 40s next week though. it's really sad when the 40s seems warm.
'till next time...

i need a goal

i am goal-driven. if i do not have something to strive for, i find my motivation waning. i have to find a goal race for this year, so that i force myself to get off my lazy ass and do what i know i need to do. i would like to find a marathon or long distance triathlon sometime this summer. the problem is that most marathons are not held in the summer, for obvious reasons. the spring and fall are difficult for me because my 10-year old twin sons are competitive soccer players, and we have games and tournaments all during these seasons, all around the midwest. i'm involved with their team, and don't want to miss them kicking the pants off of some hotshot team from larger cities. besides that, if i would have to do any traveling to my event, it's very difficult to do that when school is in session. when i did ironman florida, it was in november and i went by myself because we couldn't justify taking the kids out of school for 4 days to see me race. while i enjoyed the event, it didn't feel totally satisfying. i'd love to be able to cross the finish line of something like an ironman with my kids. that would be so cool.... so, that leaves me to find a summer event. there is a 1/2 ironman in july in muncie, indiana, about 2.5 hours from here that is a well run event. i did it in 2003. that race in 2003 was my worst ever. i completely bonked on the bike, and even though i had to walk most of the 1/2 marathon, refused to quit. i learned alot about nutrition from that race... anyway, that right now is my top choice. i'd really like to do a marathon, though. unfortunately, there just aren't alot out there in june, july, or august. the san francisco marathon is july 31, and it sounds like an interesting event. darrin and i both think it would be a fun trip. our wives, however, aren't quite as excited. it certainly won't be a cheap trip, since with my four kids, that makes six plane tickets, but i'm still working on it. i'll have to decide soon, though...
well i ran about 3 miles last nite. the weather was not too bad. mid 20s, but no wind, so it actually felt pretty nice. i ran in a sweatshirt and shorts and was never cold. i covered the distance in about 28 minutes, so a little over 9 minute miles. i find that i am having difficulty getting into a groove. i remember when i was training a couple of years ago, after a mile or two, it felt like i was on cruise control. i was never that fast, but i felt like i could crank out unlimited 10 minute miles. i would run 8, 10, 12, or even 16 miles and still feel pretty good and not get my heart rate up. now, i fight the whole time, rarely ever getting truly comfortable. i know this will come with time, but i'm innately impatient.

i hate winter

one would think that since i have lived in a cold climate my entire life (i was born in new york and lived in connecticut before coming to indiana), i would like it.... or be used to it... or at least not despise it. but no. every year it gets worse. it's so bad anymore that i start dreading it in the middle of summer. i'll be sitting there watching the fireworks on july 4th, and in the back of my mind i'm thinking "man, in another three months it will be starting to get really cold again..." isn't that pathetic?
well, today i've reached the pinnacle of hatred for cold weather. it was -4 when i turned on the weather channel before i came to work today. -4. negative 4. i assume there was also some wind chill you could throw on top of that, but i think once you get to -anything, all else is pretty much moot. it's the middle of the afternoon now, and it has risen to a paltry 17. it's supposedly going to get warmer, though. i will get a run in soon. we'll see how bad it is tonite. i'll admit that i don't like to run when it's cold. some people would actually run in 0 degree weather. not me. i would much rather run in 110 degrees than 0 degrees.
i suppose that beckons the obvious question: if i hate the cold weather so much, why don't i live somewhere warmer? that's actually a good question. it basically boils down to the fact that my family is comfortable where we are. i have 4 relatively young children who like where we live and i can't justify uprooting everyone simply because daddy doesn't like the cold.
oh well, enough ranting. i know i just need to get out there and run regardless. but... it's cold. really cold. and it might even be windy........

in the beginning...

oh my... where to start...
i guess the first thing i need to do is say that i've read other people's blogs, and, for the most part i'm doing it for the same reasons they are. motivation. this text is here for me more than anything else. if anyone else wants to read it, then do so at your own risk. i will document as much as i can about what i am doing workout-wise, nutrition wise, and, well, anything else i feel like writing about-wise. hey, it's my blog. if you want anything else, get your own. or ask -- i might agree. then again, maybe not. i tend to let my emotions get the best of me, so don't be shocked if there are some colorful descriptions, or moodiness. some days, i may go on forever about nothing, others i might not log at all. it just depends on how i feel. oh, and in case you haven't noticed, i rarely capitalize. not sure why. don't really care...
ok, now i suppose a little about me. i am 36 years old and am married to a wife who doesn't have any idea what it is like to do any serious endurance events. this is not to say she is unsupportive. she just absolutely cannot figure out why someone would want to do a marathon or triathlon. she has also never crossed a finish line of a race with people cheering for you. i have four VERY active children and am a systems administrator with a major oil refinery in the midwest. needless to say, i have precious little time to train. most of my running takes place late at night when everyone is asleep, or early in the morning on weekends before the kids' activities start. biking takes place almost exclusively on the weekends. swimming takes place... well, rarely. i have a friend, darrin, who is training for a half marathon and wants to do some triathlons with me. we run alot together. well, when we run, we do it together. alot. you get the idea...
ok. a little of my athletic background.. i was always into sports as a kid. i excelled at soccer, and played competitively a long long time ago. well, after i got married and had kids, i also got lazy. i gained alot of weight, topping out at a whopping 220lbs on my towering 5'8" frame. as my children got older and began their own sports endeavors, i realized how out of shape i was. in april, 2002, something snapped, and i became motivated to lose weight. a friend of mine, who had absolutely no athletic background, had recently completed an ironman triathlon, and that seemed really cool. so, i set the same goal for myself. a few months later, in the summer of 2002, i got my weight down to about 170 and completed several short triathlons. in 2003, i completed a half-ironman, then in november, 2003, i accomplished my goal. i successfully completed ironman florida. not with a great time, mind you, but i finished it. it was one of the proudest moments of my life.
then a weird thing happened. i realized that i had no goals after the ironman. there was nothing to train for. in january, 2004, i was downsized from my job and the rest of 2004 was spent depressed and looking for a job. i gained back virtually all of the weight and did no training at all. i got my current job in september, 2004, and started to get motivated to lose this flab. that brings me to now. i would say that my reborn attitude toward fitness has really come back in the last month or so. i can't believe i put all this weight back on. at least i know it is possible to lose it all, as i have done it before. my new goals are to complete a long distance run or triathlon in 2005, and an ironman, possibly lake placid, in 2006. the ironman folks have this saying that i kinda like:
swim: 2.4 miles, bike: 112 miles, run: 26.2 miles, brag: the rest of your life. that really is true, but when i am asked about it, i feel almost hypocritical when i'm discussing completing what is one of the most difficult endurance events in the world, and i am so out of shape. while i don't think i was ever in unbelievably fantastic, 4% body fat, lance - you've got nuthin' on me shape, i wasn't in my present pass-the-donut shape either... oh well, i digress....
my beginning weight for this project was 209.5, on january 4. i will weigh myself every friday. on the 14th, i weighed 206. i lost 3.5lbs, mainly due to the fact that i ate drastically less.
that brings me to today...
the weather has been wacky so far this year here in central indiana. it stared out rainy, but warm, and the past few days its been freezing cold. wind chill to -10. brrr. that's a little bit too cold for me. the weather forecast says it's supposed to "warm up" to the 20s in a day or two. running will commence then. speaking of that, i guess i should mention that darrin and i have been running sporadically for the past few weeks. in between dodging typhoon-like downpours, and now arctic cold, we have been out running a few times. usually 4-5 miles at a 9-10 min/mile pace. nothing special, but it's a start. when my weight starts dropping and i can get a little more consistent running, i'll feel better.