Off Season Diet

March of 2012, weighing about 175-180

I have always wanted to do a short 3-5 day cleansing diet.  I know that I eat a pretty clean diet, at least cleaner than most.  But,  I do have weaknesses.  Especially, over the past month.  It seems as though I have been making up for lost time since finishing the IM.  My diet has been more of an "eat what I want, when I want it," type of diet.  I have had beer, lots of processed foods, breads, crackers, granola bars, cereals, sweets, and ice cream.  It has been a complete 180* shift from what I was eating - and even then, my diet while training for the IM wasn't what I intended.  It was kind of tough, since I was always hungry.  I was constantly eating.  I tried to eat healthy, nutrient dense foods, but sometimes, a simple granola bar, or bowl of cereal was just easier.  But now, my training volume has dropped off the face of the planet.  I went from 15-20 hours of training a week, to about 4-5 hours a week...tops!

My post Ironman trip to Mexico, still hovering around 175

Back in 2009, and about 155, with a marathon PR of 3:03

Also, since I started working 3rd shift full time, my body has changed.  Not terribly, but the difference has definitely been noticed.  When I started with Winnebago County, I weighed in the range of 155-160 and now, I'm in the range of 170-175.  That's 15 pounds heavier!  Over the past year to year and a half, I have really wanted to get back down to that 155 range, which was lean and fast.  Weight can have a significant effect on running and biking times.  It's estimated that simply losing 10 pounds can result in a decrease of 15-20 seconds per mile in a 5k, which can knock off nearly a full minute, with everything remaining constant.  That crosses over to nearly a 10 minute decrease in a marathon time, with no change to your fitness, just weight lost.  For cycling, it's a little more difficult to estimate, but it's said that for a 160 pound rider riding up a 5 kilometer climb at a 7% grade, it would take an estimated 30 seconds longer for every additional 5 pounds of body weight added.  So, in other words, if a rider were to lose 20 pounds, they could do the same 5k climb a whole 2 minutes faster!  It's pretty obvious that there is a direct correlation to weight and speed in running and cycling.

High Cliff Triathlon, 2009

In attempt to drop my weight back down to the 155-160 range, I will begin a rather strict diet that will not only allow me to drop the excess weight I have put on over the past 2-3 years, but also fuel my body appropriately to be an efficient endurance machine (hopefully).  I will start with a 3-4 day cleanse/detox to clean out the system prior to initiating my new diet.  Starting on Friday, October 4th, I will start an Apple Detox.  It's pretty simple actually.  Eat nothing but organic apples, drink warm beverages, and drink either apple juice or apple cider.  I can eat as many apples as necessary to stay satiated, but there should be an fasting element to it.  At the end of the 3rd or 4th day, it is recommended to drink 2 tbsp of pure extra virgin olive oil to assist with processing whole food again.  I am choosing to do this cleanse/detox for a couple reasons.  First, it is something I have always wanted to try for the mental aspect as well as the health aspect.  Second, it will aid in starting a new style of eating for me.  Lastly, it will give me a head start with getting used to the lower daily caloric intake.  I have definitely been used to stuffing my face every day.  The past year I have eaten like a grazing cow, just throwing what ever is in front of me into my face.  And that needs to change.

Another from the Fox Cities Marathon, 2009

After completing the fast I will begin eating a higher fat diet than usual.  My plan is to not follow a strict diet each and every day, but to eat generally less food in volume, but much more nutrient dense food.  I will basically eliminate carbohydrates completely and increase fats and protein.  If I were to guess, while I was in the bulk of my Ironman training i ate about 70% carbs, 15% protein, and 15% fat.  My plan, now, is to be more around 15% carbs, 20% protein, 65% fat.  Why in the world would you eat so much fat???  Well, the human body burns fat as its primary fuel source at lower intensities, including low intensity exercising... i.e. running, biking, and swimming.  Many ultra runners and serious endurance athletes follow this type of diet, also called a ketogenic diet.  I want to at least give this diet a shot and be able to say I tried it.  I will not follow it to the letter, as many ultra marathoners do.  But, rather follow it closely, while still supplying my body with sugars when it needs them, such as before an intense 5k or short duration of a race.  My goal is to ultimately turn my body into a lean, light, fast, efficient fat burning machine.  A typical day would look something like this...

Breakfast (eaten late in the morning after a 12-16 hour overnight fast) : Avocado, with a few eggs
Lunch: Nuts, vegetables, fish filet
Dinner: Salad with sardines

Pretty basic, eat clean, eat unprocessed, and know what the hell your eating!

I want to give it a serious attempt before I quit.  I want to do it for 3 months, I figure that will allow me to develop an honest opinion on it as to whether or not I feel any different or if it is even worth it.  That will bring me to the new year, January 4th, 90 days.  It will be a new challenge of sorts, but a fun one - and what better time to try something like this than now.  I have no concrete plans for the future that I need to be concerned with, so if I fall flat on my face and find out the diet isn't for me and my fitness suffers, oh well.  I can at least look back and say, "hey, I tried that once."

Inked

If you have ever done a triathlon or a running race, chances are you've seen one.  You might not have known what it stands for or what the hell it even is.  If you've never done an endurance race, you might have seen one at your local YMCA or health club.  It's the stamp only few are allowed to get - the sacred M-Dot logo of Ironman.  The M-Dot tattoo is damn near a must for any Ironman finisher.  Ask any IM finisher and they'll agree and probably show you their tattoo at the same time.  Even people who hate tattoos get the M-Dot.  It's more than a tattoo, really.  It's a symbol of accomplishment.  A tattoo is permanent, there ain't no going back after getting a tattoo.  Just as once you cross the finish line of an Ironman, you are forever an Ironman.  No one can take that away from you.  Personally, I gave up a year of my life, sacrificed time away from my wife and kids, missed out on time with friends, and spent WAY too much money on nutrition and gear.  Getting this tattoo doesn't change anything that happened over the past year.  It doesn't get any time back.  It doesn't solidify the fact that I finished the race.  It really doesn't do anything.  But it will be with me forever, reminding me of the amazing things we can accomplish if you are determined and motivated enough and willing to make the sacrifices.  It most definitely was not easy, hell there wasn't one easy thing about it.  But, I remained determined to finish and see my goal of becoming an Ironman to fruition.

Ever since I started in triathlon, I started brainstorming ideas for an Ironman tattoo, knowing one day, I would be in the position to get one.  I knew exactly where I would get it - my right calf, I purposefully left that space blank on my body for my Ironman tattoo.  Last year after registering, I really started to dig for designs and think about what I wanted to get.  I always had an idea of incorporating a bike cog and chain with the M-Dot.  I also knew I wanted something different.  As I said before, the M-Dot is a very popular tattoo, so I wanted mine to be different, but still have the M-Dot be the focal point of the tattoo.  My second idea was the incorporate a Mexican sugar skull with the M-Dot to symbolize the mortality of life and how alive I felt accomplishing my dream, yet at the same time, feeling like death during certain parts of the race.  An Ironman triathlon can be related to life, that it has it's ups and downs, the difficult times when you just want to quit and go home, yet it has it's great times, when you feel invincible.  It has a clear cut start and a certain and ceremonial end.  Plus, I have a fascination with Mexican art and skulls.  So below was my idea I came up with.

But after coming up with the design I felt as though the sugar skull had so much going on, that it took away from the simple M-Dot logo, which, like I said, I wanted to be at the forefront.  So I came up with a new design with the bike cog and chain.

Which evolved into this:

I took my design to my artist at The Bear Spot Tattoo in Kaukauna - and before you knew it I had this..... A kick ass tattoo, that incorporates all 3 sports, swimming, biking, and running.  The M-Dot is clearly the focal point of the tattoo.  I have the bike chain wrapping around my calf which is connected with a plate on the front with 140.6 stamped in, which is the total miles of an Ironman triathlon.  It turned out better than I imagined and am so pleased with the work done.  

Appleton East Patriot March 5k - Race Report

I have been slowing creeping my way out of my post Ironman funk the past week or two.  I have been doing so by easy, simple workouts, without the use of any electronics and just enjoying the simplicity of the sport of swimming, biking, and running.  It's been great, actually.  I have really enjoyed just getting outside, enjoying the fall Wisconsin weather and not worrying about pace, mileage, speed, or time.  It has truly been relaxing and almost therapeutic.  I have since registered for the Freaky 5k (10-26-13) and the Appleton Turkey Trot (Thanksgiving Day), which have both become staples in my fall race schedule, no matter if I am working or not.  They always seem to be a great way to close out my racing season since they are short and require little to no training (relatively speaking).

This past week, I went to the Appleton YMCA for a morning swim, when I randomly saw a poster for a 5k race at my old high school.  The race was on a Monday evening at 5:30pm - HA!  A perfect time for a 3rd shifter!  I immediately told myself I was going to do it, just for fun.  I checked for more information online later that day and saw that the 2012 results only had about 70 runners finish, which is a very small number of runners.  But, I knew Tony, the guy who won it last year and knew that he is one hell of a runner so I at least knew that the overall draw for competition would be there.  But, Sarah is on call every Monday, which means, I am 100% on kid duty every Monday until I leave for work.  So, there goes my plan of running the race by myself to win it.  But, for once, believe it or not, I was actually OK with it.  Hell, I was way more then OK with it, I was actually kind of excited about it.  I decided right then and there that I would run the race WITH my kids...pushing them in the stroller.  This is something I have never done in a race of any distance.  I have definitely pushed them on my training runs before and know first hand how much more difficult it is to push a 2 and 4 year old around.  You notice every minor change in the grade of the road and you definitely notice the slightest bit of wind.  So this was a new challenge for me - to see how fast I could run a 5k while pushing a stroller weighing around 75 pounds.

Training Plan  

Ha!  WHAT training plan!?!?  Here's a sneak peak at what my exercise routine has consisted off since IM Wisconsin.

 See, not all that impressive is it.  Not to mention that my diet has consisted of beer, Cheerios, ice cream, granola bars, pizza, and just about everything I haven't eaten in about a year; and about NONE of the good stuff I had been eating this past year.  So needless to say, I wasn't expecting much!

Day/Night Before

This was only my second or third race of any distance that didn't start in the AM, so it was a little different, which was alright.  When you are looking to break out of a funk and take advantage of what I couldn't, wouldn't, or didn't do for the past 10 years, different is actually kind of nice.  I worked my usual 10p-6a shift Sunday night into Monday morning and then went right to bed, knowing I had to wake up around 3:30pm to leave to pick up the girls from child care and then get to the race.  I woke up a little after 3:30pm and was right out the door.

Getting to the Start Line

After picking up the girls, I swung by my parent's house to pick up my dad as he too was doing the run with us.  We got to Appleton East High School around 4:30 and got registered.  They also were holding a kid's run which started at 5pm (30 minutes before the 5k) and it was free, so we signed Maya up for the run.  She was so excited, it was cute.  

Kid's 1/4 Mile Fun Run

Maya's race started at 5:00 and it was a single lap around the 400 meter track.  Some of the high school student volunteers helped group the kids together by age as they planned on starting the kids (2-12) by age.  Once the kids were in their groups, the volunteers helped the kids warm up with your stereotypical static stretching (will that EVER change???).  I was curious to see how Maya would do running a full quarter mile, especially since she has never done it.  Would she quit half way and say her usual, "It's so far!" or would she be the opposite, and say her usual, "Look, Mommy, I'm running fast like Daddy!" as she runs circles around the living room at home.  When she started to took off at a near dead sprint and I thought, oh boy...it's only a matter of time before she starts walking and says, "I'm tired."  But she didn't, she kept running.  She only stopped once to take off her shoes, as they started to fall off.  Delaney even jumped out of the stroller and starting running behind Maya.  I was so happy and proud!  Maya ran the entire quarter mile to the finish line and Delaney ran the entire half lap since she started.  They each got their first ever finisher's medal - and one proud dad.  

3.1 Mile Run

After the kids run, I got both girls strapped into the stroller and went to the roads to do a brief 10 minute warm up with short strides (pick ups) to see what I was getting myself into, running a 5k while pushing 2 kids in a stroller.  Then, the race started.  I took off at a moderate to hard pace with the stroller.  I was in a lead pack of about 5 runners, including myself.  However, I knew 2 of the 5 where not going to hang around as they were your usual "come out sprinting" runners, who almost always fade back after the first 100-200 meters.  After the first 400 meters, I was in third behind two runners I know from previous races.  I knew it would be tough to hold on while pushing a stroller, but I figured I would do my best.  By about the first mile, I passed the second place runner and was behind the lead runner, a woman, by about 25 meters.  My goal was to simply hang on and try to finish 2nd.  At the 2 mile mark, I was starting to gain on the lead runner and was now only about 10 meters behind her.  After passing the 2nd mile marker, we saw the police escort vehicle speed up ahead and make a sudden U-Turn and her and I immediately think, WTF???  The officer, yells out the window, "I missed a turn!"  At that time Her and I both slam on the breaks and run back towards the route.  At this point we saw the 3rd place runner make the correct turn, without missing it, so he was now magically the lead runner.  3 other runners made the correct turn before the lead runner and I were back on the route, now in 5th and 6th place.  It was at this point I decided to put the hammer down and see what I could do.  I made a 5 passes and was now back in 2nd place, only behind the guy who was in 3rd, but now in 1st.  The final 400 meters were run on the high school track.  It was a lap to the finish line.  He was about 200-300 meters ahead of me.  As he approached the finish line, I saw that he wasn't crossing it.  I immediately realized what he was doing.  He was going to allow me and the woman to cross in our rightful order, 1st and 2nd, before he crossed.  It was a true display of sportsmanship.  It was honorable.  I give him a lot of credit, doing that.  So, now as I came down the home stretch, the final 100 meters, I really hammered down for fear that the woman would have an extra kick that I wouldn't have since she wasn't pushing a stroller, and I didn't want to loose.  :)  Below is my run data from Garmin.

Appleton East Patriot March 5k - Details  

Post Race

I finished with an unofficial time of 20:29 and had a final distance of 3.30 miles from my Garmin.  A 5k is supposed to be 3.1 miles.  So the woman and I ran an extra 0.2 miles when it was all said and done.  Even with the extra bit, I still would have placed 2nd overall!  But due to the generosity of the other runner, I took 1st overall, while pushing a stroller!  Holy Crap, I would have never imagined I would have done that!  Based on my data, I was at 3.1 miles at 19:10, which is a great stand alone 5k time, not even considering while pushing a stroller.  Going into the race, I was skeptical that I had lost some of my fitness from training for the IM, simply due to my lack of training/exercising and my piss poor diet.  Evidently that wasn't the case at all!  I am surprised and ecstatic that I placed first, but honestly, the best part of the entire race was the fact that I was able to do it with my daughters.  This entire past year, I had put my training and racing ahead of them and never considered including them.  But, this was different, I wanted to include them.  I wanted to do it with them.  They were just as excited to "race with daddy" as daddy was to race with them.  I got to share that moment with them.  It was great!  

Other Notes

I would simply like to add the fact that it was rather comical, that Maya and Delaney really had no clue what I was doing during the race or how hard I was working.  Throughout the entire race, from start to end, one or the other was asking me meaningless questions.  "Are we following the cop car?"  "Are you running fast?"  "She spilled her water Daddy!"  (in reference to the woman ahead of us dumping her water on the street at a water station)  And my personal favorite, "Why did the cop go the wrong way?"  It kept me entertained throughout the tough parts of the race and made it seem easy and quick.

Lessons for Future Events

I am not saying I am going to do every race now pushing a stroller, although..... No, I think it might be something I do more often for sure, but there is still a joy in going out and just running as fast and hard as you can by yourself, until your lungs hurt and you feel like your heart is about to explode, but you tell yourself, "just another half mile!"  I enjoy the competitiveness of it all.  But when I am looking for an "out" or a race to just do to do, I'll definitely bring the girls along for the ride and share my passion of racing and fitness with them.

What's Next

Who knows?  Who cares?  :)  Yea, right, who would believe that, if that's what I said.  Of course I have a plan....I ALWAYS have a plan.  Hell, I had a plan after IMWI, albeit a minor, minuscule plan, but a plan none-the-less.  From here on out, I want to capitalize on my huge fitness base I worked so hard to obtain during this past summer and exploit that into some new PR's in the 5k at the Freaky 5k on October 26th and then at the 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving.  I will be doing minimal training, but working in some basic fartlek (sounds like it looks - Fart Lick)(means "speed play") runs coupled with short distance long runs (6-8 miles).  I will also try to loose some of my muscle weight and get down to the weight I was back in 2009-2010 (150-155 range).  I want to get back down to that range for my 2014 race season to hopefully finally break 3 hours in the marathon.  I figure if that's going to happen, I need everything just right, just like in the Ironman.

So until next time!

Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

A Sunday on the Farm

With me working throughout this past weekend, Sarah was left looking for something to do to get out of the house to make it easier on me to sleep.  That way, she wouldn't have to worry whether or not the girls were being too loud.  Saturday was Downtown Appleton's Oktoberfest, which is a huge annual celebration where the entire stretch of College Ave shuts down for food vendors, bands, and beer stands.  It's an absolute HUGE draw for the area.  Sarah, her sister, and her mother brought Maya and Delaney there first thing in the morning to take advantage of the child entertainment.  They ended up staying downtown for majority of the day which absolutely wore out both the girls.  

Sunday was another fun day.  Sarah had plans of going to Mulberry Lane Farm in Chilton.  Sarah usually brings the girls here several times throughout the summer, but I believe this was only the second time they have been there this year.  The farm offers a lot of fun stuff for the kids including milking a cow, hay rides, a pumpkin patch....

Baby chickens,

Pony rides,

and full grown chickens,

The farm also has kittens, sheep, and pigs.  The girls love going to the farm and always have a blast there!

Getting My Nails Did

I'm honestly not sure if I have said anything on here about it or not, but back in June, my mother promised me a post-Ironman pedicure for Father's Day.  I have never had a pedicure before and I'll be honest, I kind of always wanted one.  And why not?  I run a lot and my feet are basically one giant callus.  My toenails are rough and all jagged.  Plus, you get your feet rubbed and massaged.  Why would you not want a pedicure?  Yes, I understand the stereotypes and sexism beliefs that say men shouldn't get pedicures, but I could care less.  Hell, Snoop Dogg gets mani's and pedi's.  I am who I am, what difference does it really make if I choose to get a pedicure or not?

Either way, my mother, Sarah, and I went to the Salon & Spa on Friday evening.  I was a little nervous at first.  I felt a little out of place, especially with all the ladies staring at me, as to say, what the hell is HE doing here.  Sarah, was a little embarrassed, but was kind of excited to see what kind of magic they could do with my feet.  She said right off the bat, NO PAINT.  My pedicure started with soaking them in the warm bath thingy that wreaks of femininity.  Then, they take care of the nails and the dead skin around the nails and then grind off all the calluses.  Finally, the best part, the foot and calf massage.  Then, she asked me if I wanted paint....I thought what the hell!  First, this is probably my first and last ever pedicure, so why not.  Second, I thought it would be kind of humorous, just because.  Like I said above, just because I were to get my nails painted doesn't mean I am anyone different.  Frankly, that kind of thinking makes me angry.  I hate those who are homophobic or think men can only be one way and women can only be the other.  That just makes no sense.  So, I thought, maybe I can change one person's ideology by getting my toenails painted.  So whatever, I got black toe nail paint on my nails.  Will it become a regular occurrence, no.

So there you have it, my first ever pedicure.  Did I enjoy it, yes, very much so.  Will I do it again, who knows.  Will I get my toenails painted again, probably not - that's a first time kind of thing.