I decided that other than IM Florida I would do 5-6 other races. I figured a couple of sprint races and a couple of olympic races would help me stay motivated during the training for IM Florida. So my schedule broke down as follows.
May
Columbia Triathlon
Cascade Lake Sprint
July
New York City Triathlon
August
Lums Pond Sprint
September
Nations Triathlon
November
Ironman Florida
I may even squeeze in another race or two as my training will allow. I like the races as it validates the training, and long hours spent on the bike and in the pool. But again my ultimate goal is to finish the 2009 Ironman Florida in November!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Why Ironman?
I guess I am crazy or something but since I was a kid and watched my first Hawaii Ironman I have always thought of doing a full Ironman race. Now when I want to do something I just set me mind to it and do it. There is something about the long distance that is truly daunting. I consider it the greatest physical and mental challenge I will ever undertake. So even though I had only done a few races in 2008 and nothing longer than on Olympic distance I decided to go for it in 2009.
I was skipping the 1/2 Ironman distance and going for the full Ironman. I targeted Ironman Florida in November 0f 2009. So the day registration opened, I plunked down the registration fee and I was in. I figured Florida looked pretty flat and being a Clydesdale I thought a flat course would be a safe bet for me. So as I planned for my other races for 2009 I knew that everything I was doing was really a tuneup for the 2009 Ironman Florida on November 7, 2009.
I was skipping the 1/2 Ironman distance and going for the full Ironman. I targeted Ironman Florida in November 0f 2009. So the day registration opened, I plunked down the registration fee and I was in. I figured Florida looked pretty flat and being a Clydesdale I thought a flat course would be a safe bet for me. So as I planned for my other races for 2009 I knew that everything I was doing was really a tuneup for the 2009 Ironman Florida on November 7, 2009.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Why triathlon?
So why a triathlon? About 8 years ago (when I was about 325 pounds) I actually competed in a duathlon. Well I didn't actually compete. It was more like participating. It was a 2 mile run, followed by a 12 mile bike ride, followed by another 2 mile run. I was so over matched and unprepared it was embarrassing. I had done the race with a friend of mine. He did great, I didn't even finish. So it was with that thought that I started thinking about participating in a triathlon.
For me, triathlon is the ultimate test. You need to be good at three different disciplines, swimming, biking and running. While many people are good at one or two events very few are good at all three. It is the challenge of becoming better at all three disciplines that motivates me.
I live in an area with a very active triathlon community. I would see the lines of bikes streaming down the road every Saturday morning. I would come upon them when I started riding on Saturday mornings. So in March of 2008 a friend of mine convinced me to start swimming with a coach she was using. Now swimming was the one thing that had kept me from considering a triathlon. I was not a swimmer. If I am in a pool I can swim, but not the way you need to swim to compete in a triathlon.
So a friend of mine and I started training for our first triathlon in May of 2008. We trained for two months for the first race. And after a near death experience in the first race (strong current, cold water, high winds and first open water swim) we finished the race and decided to do another. So it was with that start that I was bitten by the triathlon bug. I ended up participating in 6 triathlons in 2008. Since I am over 200lbs I entered every race I could as a Clydesdale. My goal with every race was to finish uninjured and to not finish last.
I did manage to finish every race uninjured and was a mid pack finisher in my division. In 2008 completed 3 sprint races and 3 Olympic races. All in all I had a very good first year in triathlon. I decided I wanted to race bigger races in 2009 and challenge myself even more. So I set up a plan for 2009.
For me, triathlon is the ultimate test. You need to be good at three different disciplines, swimming, biking and running. While many people are good at one or two events very few are good at all three. It is the challenge of becoming better at all three disciplines that motivates me.
I live in an area with a very active triathlon community. I would see the lines of bikes streaming down the road every Saturday morning. I would come upon them when I started riding on Saturday mornings. So in March of 2008 a friend of mine convinced me to start swimming with a coach she was using. Now swimming was the one thing that had kept me from considering a triathlon. I was not a swimmer. If I am in a pool I can swim, but not the way you need to swim to compete in a triathlon.
So a friend of mine and I started training for our first triathlon in May of 2008. We trained for two months for the first race. And after a near death experience in the first race (strong current, cold water, high winds and first open water swim) we finished the race and decided to do another. So it was with that start that I was bitten by the triathlon bug. I ended up participating in 6 triathlons in 2008. Since I am over 200lbs I entered every race I could as a Clydesdale. My goal with every race was to finish uninjured and to not finish last.
I did manage to finish every race uninjured and was a mid pack finisher in my division. In 2008 completed 3 sprint races and 3 Olympic races. All in all I had a very good first year in triathlon. I decided I wanted to race bigger races in 2009 and challenge myself even more. So I set up a plan for 2009.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
How did it all begin?
So how did it get to this point? How had my weight gotten so bad that I know weighed 375lbs. On May 22, 2003 my life changed. That was the day I was reborn. I don't mean in the religious sense, I mean physically reborn. That is the day that I underwent gastric bypass surgery.
I was always active in high school and college, but over the years with work and kids I had let myself go to the point that I needed to change. I had lost weight in the past, always to regain the lost weight and more. I don't believe anyone wants to be fat or likes to be fat. I never really thought of myself as a truly fat person until the day I tried to ride a roller coaster at an amusement park. I was unable to pull the safety bar down and was told I had to get off the ride. Talk about a humiliating experience! It was two months later that I made the decision to do what ever I needed to do to get the gastric bypass surgery done.
I know that some people think that having gastric bypass surgery is the "easy way" to lose weight. I love it when some celebrity or some other person talks of how they lost 100+ pounds "without surgery". Then you see most of those people a year later and they are fatter than ever. Losing weight is easy. KEEPING THE WEIGHT OF IS THE HARD PART. I wanted to be able to play with my kids. I didn't want my kids to be known as the kids with the "fat" dad. I wanted to ski with them. I wanted to ride bikes with them. I wanted to get down on the floor and play with them. I wanted to ride on a roller coaster with them! I wanted to change my life for the better.
I recognized that keeping the weight off was my biggest weakness and I felt surgery was the one thing I could do to better my odds of successful weight loss. Gastric bypass surgery is becoming more acceptable all the time. I think as more people come to understand that keeping the weight off is more important than just LOSING WEIGHT, surgery becomes a much better weight loss solution for many people.
I had my surgery on May 22, 2003 at George Washington University Hospital. I knew when I left the hospital 3 days later that my life would be changed forever. I credit the doctors at GWU for saving my life.
I know it sounds cliche to say I knew my life would change forever but I really did feel that way. I knew I was going to do whatever I could to lose my excess weight and KEEP IT OFF! I kept a food log and did EXACTLY what my doctors said to do. I ate what I was supposed to eat and worked out every day. I actually started working out in the morning before work and the evening after work. I was committed to losing the weight. Over the first year after my surgery I had lost 145 pounds! I am WAY, WAY over simplifying what I did over that first year. I worked my tail off to lose that weight, but this is not a blog about the benefits of gastric bypass.
Over the next couple of years I continued to exercise and kept the weight off. But as any former competitive athlete knows, you eventually want more. I was in my routine of working out and maintaining my weight, but I wanted to do more. I needed to have a goal. I needed and wanted a goal to work toward. So I started running. I entered a few 5k races and liked it. I had never before been an active runner. But I started running regularly and enjoyed it. I loved being able to compete against myself, to better my time each race. Running a race was a way to measure my improvement.
Then in the summer of 2007 my friend Steve introduced me to biking. I had never ridden a bit with those skinny tires. So I went and bought a road bike. After a couple of rides I was hooked. I loved riding my bike. It was something I looked forward to each time I scheduled a ride. I looked for opportunities to ride. Before I knew it I was riding 20+ miles every Saturday.
At this point it was the fall of 2008. I had successfully kept off more than 125 pounds of my original weight loss. I was considered a gastric bypass success story. I had been running for a couple of years and biking for 6 months. The thought of a triathlon started to enter my mind....
I was always active in high school and college, but over the years with work and kids I had let myself go to the point that I needed to change. I had lost weight in the past, always to regain the lost weight and more. I don't believe anyone wants to be fat or likes to be fat. I never really thought of myself as a truly fat person until the day I tried to ride a roller coaster at an amusement park. I was unable to pull the safety bar down and was told I had to get off the ride. Talk about a humiliating experience! It was two months later that I made the decision to do what ever I needed to do to get the gastric bypass surgery done.
I know that some people think that having gastric bypass surgery is the "easy way" to lose weight. I love it when some celebrity or some other person talks of how they lost 100+ pounds "without surgery". Then you see most of those people a year later and they are fatter than ever. Losing weight is easy. KEEPING THE WEIGHT OF IS THE HARD PART. I wanted to be able to play with my kids. I didn't want my kids to be known as the kids with the "fat" dad. I wanted to ski with them. I wanted to ride bikes with them. I wanted to get down on the floor and play with them. I wanted to ride on a roller coaster with them! I wanted to change my life for the better.
I recognized that keeping the weight off was my biggest weakness and I felt surgery was the one thing I could do to better my odds of successful weight loss. Gastric bypass surgery is becoming more acceptable all the time. I think as more people come to understand that keeping the weight off is more important than just LOSING WEIGHT, surgery becomes a much better weight loss solution for many people.
I had my surgery on May 22, 2003 at George Washington University Hospital. I knew when I left the hospital 3 days later that my life would be changed forever. I credit the doctors at GWU for saving my life.
I know it sounds cliche to say I knew my life would change forever but I really did feel that way. I knew I was going to do whatever I could to lose my excess weight and KEEP IT OFF! I kept a food log and did EXACTLY what my doctors said to do. I ate what I was supposed to eat and worked out every day. I actually started working out in the morning before work and the evening after work. I was committed to losing the weight. Over the first year after my surgery I had lost 145 pounds! I am WAY, WAY over simplifying what I did over that first year. I worked my tail off to lose that weight, but this is not a blog about the benefits of gastric bypass.
Over the next couple of years I continued to exercise and kept the weight off. But as any former competitive athlete knows, you eventually want more. I was in my routine of working out and maintaining my weight, but I wanted to do more. I needed to have a goal. I needed and wanted a goal to work toward. So I started running. I entered a few 5k races and liked it. I had never before been an active runner. But I started running regularly and enjoyed it. I loved being able to compete against myself, to better my time each race. Running a race was a way to measure my improvement.
Then in the summer of 2007 my friend Steve introduced me to biking. I had never ridden a bit with those skinny tires. So I went and bought a road bike. After a couple of rides I was hooked. I loved riding my bike. It was something I looked forward to each time I scheduled a ride. I looked for opportunities to ride. Before I knew it I was riding 20+ miles every Saturday.
At this point it was the fall of 2008. I had successfully kept off more than 125 pounds of my original weight loss. I was considered a gastric bypass success story. I had been running for a couple of years and biking for 6 months. The thought of a triathlon started to enter my mind....
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