Outnumbered

It's been a while since I last wrote, so now seems like a good time to get caught up.  Harper is now approaching 3 weeks, which sounds like no big deal, but to any parent, it's crazy.  To think that our last baby is already 3 weeks old.  Yes, I said last.  We get asked quite often if Harper will be our last and both Sarah and I, without hesitation claim, "oh yea!"  Not that we don't or couldn't handle a fourth child.  It truly comes down to logistics and finances.  Raising a kid is not cheap (ahhh....duh).  If you would have asked me just one month ago and asked me, personally, if I wanted a fourth kid, I would have laughed, asked, "are you serious," and come right back with a short two letter answer..."NO."  But, with Harper here, and most of the "honeymoon period" over and done with.  Having a third kid around the house isn't half bad.  Sure, it helps having Super Mom around the house all the time, but Sarah and I have adjusted rather nicely to being a family of 5 from the previous family of 4.  Sarah has been at home since Harper was born and will continue to stay home with her and the girls until the beginning of May, at which time, I have taken some time away from work to help out around the house and to keep Harper at home just a little longer, before sending her to childcare.  It really hasn't been all the bad around our house.  Hectic?  Yes.  Loud?  Sure.  Messy?  Oh yea.  Enjoyable?  You bet!  Sarah and I have helped each other out when needed.  Sarah is and always has been the baby whisperer of our relationship.  And truthfully, I don't really "do" babies.  Sarah and I have each taken on our own responsibilities based on our strengths.  Sarah cares for Harper and her around-the-clock needs, while I handle the two older girls, who don't have the same constant needs, but seem to have their own frustrations.

Cousins!

Grandma and Grandpa Kohl

Raising a baby will take a lot outta ya!

Simply adorable

As my title clearly states, Sarah and I are now officially outnumbered, 2:3.  3 munchkins to 2 adults.  It's not fair, not at all.  But that isn't the only way I am currently outnumbered.  There is also a current ratio of 4:1, yes, four to one.  That ratio is girls to boys.  As Three Dog Night infamously wrote years ago, "One is the loneliest number."  But honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way.  I love having my little girls.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have one teammate on my side, but, as I often say, everything happens for a reason.  I think if money was not an issue, Sarah and I would definitely try to have a 4th kid with hopes of my elusive son.  But, let's be honest, money is most definitely an issue and our house is not going to be growing overnight with the size of our family.  So, we are only able to have as many kids as our paychecks will allow.  Trust me, we are really pushing the limits of our paychecks to see just how many kids we can support every other week.  But I know neither Sarah nor I would have it any other way.  We are happy, all 5 of us.  

The first 3 weeks have come and gone so quickly.  Last weekend, we brought Harper and our family to Jennifer Lee Photography in Downtown Little Chute for our family pictures and Harper's newborn pictures.  We have only seen a couple of photos so far, but can not wait to see the rest of them.  That same day was Maya's Preschool Family Night at the YMCA.  For a dish to pass, Maya and I made little fruit bowls that were made to look like dolphins.  It was something I saw on Pinterest earlier that week (shared by my mother) and I must say they turned out pretty cool.    Harper has had a ton of visitors ranging from family, friends, and coworkers.  She is truly a blessed kid and lucky to have the family she does!  

Short Training Update

With it being so long since my last post, it has been even longer since I last wrote about my training.  I have registered for just about all my races for 2014 which means my race schedule for this year is just about complete.  I still need to register for the Door County Fall 50 Ultramarathon, but the registration period for that does not open until April 1st, so I still have a couple days until I even have the ability to register for that race.  There are a couple of other local races I have had my eye on that I have not registered for yet, those being the Neenah Duathlon on May 3rd and the Green Bay Triathlon on June 1st.  There are a couple of stipulations as to why I have not registered for either of these races yet.  First, the duathlon, it falls on the day after my cousins wedding.  Yea, not the best atmosphere to be in the night before a race, but we will see.  As for the GB Tri, I am scheduled to work the night before and the race starts at 7:00am in Green Bay.  I am done with work at 6:10am in Oshkosh, an hour away.  So, once again, it falls into a "we'll see" category.
As far as my training, it has been right where I want it to be for the end of March.  I am on track for the Green Bay Marathon on May 18th.  My shin/calf has been a non-issue ever since I took the three weeks off between January 6th and the 26th.  Since my 30 mile run on my 30th birthday, I have changed gears from a volume focused training plan to an intensity based training plan.  Each of my runs has a specific prescribed pace and purpose.  I have done Goal Marathon Pace workouts (6:50/mile), Tempo Runs (6:20/mile), Mile Repeats (5:30/mile), Long Runs (7:30-8:30/mile) and Easy Runs (6:50-7:50/mile).  I have still been doing intermittent bike and swim workouts between my running.  Today was actually the first day I was able to get my bike outside and actually ride outdoors.  It was about 36* when I went out the door this morning but was windy as hell.  It's always fun to do that first outdoor ride of the year, because it is always a rude awakening to remember the challenges of hills and wind.  It's so easy to forget that when your stuck indoors for hours and hours throughout the winter.

As I said, my training has been going great so far, but I find myself needing to keep myself in check.  I find that am I constantly saying, "Hey, you aren't training for an Ironman this year!"  It's like I am always wanting to do more, go longer, add an additional bike ride or swim when and where I can.  Especially now, I need to just stay focused on my primary goal of running a sub 3 hour marathon, which I think I have been doing a good job of so far.  Tomorrow I have my third Marathon Goal Pace (MGP) workout.  I have been doing these workouts with a total distance between 12-16 miles with built in longer intervals completed at MGP.  For instance, tomorrow, I am scheduled to run 3 repeats of 3 miles done at MGP with 2-3 miles rest/recovery between intervals.  My total volume is 14 miles, so I am planning on running a 3 mile warm up before my first interval and end with an easy 2 mile cool down.  These are challenging, but very rewarding workouts.  I have high expectations for these workouts and hoping that they will properly prepare me for the Green Bay Marathon in a month and half.

My first race of the year is coming up in a couple weeks with the Oshkosh Half Marathon on April 13th.  My goal is to finish around 1:23 (6:20/mile pace).  If I am able to run a 1:23 half, I will feel very confident in running a 2:59 marathon a month later.  The only caveat is that I work the night before and after the race.  So fatigue will definitely play a factor.  I will still go out and try to run a 1:23 race, but my expectations are not nearly as high as they would be if I was not working the night before.

Our SWAT Team did a Photo shoot with a local newspaper
to recognize our SWAT Team of the Year Award.
This was one of the pictures taken.  Yes, that's me on the left.

With everything falling in place with our family and Sarah and I getting back into a routine, I plan on writing a little more regularly about my family and training life.

So....until next time!
Be fast, be strong, and carry on!

A Full House

It's hard to imagine exactly how you're going to feel when you get the call from your significant other when they call to say they think they are going into labor.  Especially being a guy.  I'll be completely honest, I have never grown to feel the love of a child before they were born.  It was always hard for me to feel that emotion when there is nothing tangible there.  Don't get me wrong, I obviously love the idea of the unborn child and I absolutely adore the child that will be coming, but I have never grown attached to the unborn child.  I have now gone through 3 pregnancies, 3 labors, and 3 births.  Each and every one was just as different as the child that has come as a result.  I still remember the exact details of when Sarah called me to tell me she was pregnant with each of the 3 kids.  I recall getting the call of her telling me either her water broke or she thought she was going into labor.  And I vividly reproduce the births of each of my daughters.  I'm not claiming to be a birthing expert or a pregnancy pro, but I feel I can at least say, "been there, done that."

During each of Sarah's past 3 pregnancies, she has always asked me, "do you love our baby?"  Referring to her enormous baby bump.  I would be upfront with her and simply say, "honestly....no."  I totally understand the love of a mother and her unborn child.  I could never imagine going through a pregnancy, let along labor and giving birth. I give every single mother out there so much credit and will never second guess a women when she talks about her labor or the pains and discomforts of being pregnant.  Women are amazing creatures.  But, for a father to say they love there unborn child, I feel, is a lie.  Sure, we love the idea of whats yet to come, but I have always found it difficult to have a true love for each of our daughters while they resided inside Sarah.

I have found, though, that all goes right out the window the second you see your new child.  You are overcome with joy, you smile from ear to ear, and your heart overflows with love.  It's the coolest feeling in the world.  One second your a husband, the next second your a father.  For me, this time around, I went from a father of two, to a father of 3.  I have been fully honest and forthcoming with my feelings and reservations about having a third child.  Sarah, I, and our daughters were happy, we were content.  Our lives were great, simple, and we had a routine.  Our lives worked.  We had things figured out.  Our family was complete....or so I thought.  Then the entire "I want to do an Ironman" thing happened, which brought on the whole "if you do an Ironman, you're giving me a third kid" thing.  I was happy with a family of 4.  Three kids scared me.  But I really wanted to do that damn Ironman.  I agreed to the deal and then right in the heart of my IM training, we learned that Sarah was pregnant...again.

Over the next 9 months, I would have mental debates with myself figuring out if having a third kid would be as easy/great as Sarah made it out to be or if it would be an absolute hell.  I kept telling myself that I was crazy for agreeing to have a third kid and that the Ironman wasn't worth the life of miserableness.  As the due date approached the reality of having our third kid became more unavoidable.  We bought a new car to handle the bigger family, we moved Delaney into Maya's bedroom with new bunk beds, we put together a ton of new baby furniture, and we bought all the new baby "stuff" to be prepared for when the new baby arrived.

This past Thursday, Harper Jean Kohl came into our lives, and every single feeling of doubt, fright, nervousness, anxiousness, and regret was immediately replaced with the feeling of love and joy.  It's an amazing transformation for the father.  We go from the idea of loving an unborn child to truly loving a new life that we are fulling responsible for helping bring into this world.  I believe that a women starts loving their new child as soon as they conceive, but the father doesn't truly love the child until the baby arrives.  It's a blessing that a mother gets the special bond and connection with the child before it's actually born, but a father isn't lucky enough to share that bond before hand.  I'm not complaining, but the process that a father goes through during birth is just as amazing as the birth process itself.  The emotions and the change that occurs when the father's child arrives is something I hope every man gets to experience at least once in their life.  It's an amazing feeling and there is absolutely no way I can truly explain it.

The Birth Story

Both Maya and Delaney were born at 38 weeks to the date, exactly 2 weeks prior to their scheduled due dates.  Harper's due date was March 26th, which had me convinced that she would be born on March 12th.  March 12th came and went with no signs of coming.  Harper would officially be the longest baby Sarah would carry.  I had SWAT training from 8-4pm on Thursday and Sarah also worked a full day of work.  At 4:00pm I was walking out of the Sheriff's Office after training was done, and I received a text message from Sarah, saying that she felt like she had been having contractions all day and that she was calling our family doctor for a suggestion on how to proceed.  Our doctor requested her to go to the hospital and get evaluated.  Sarah was just getting out of work, so she drove directly to the hospital from her job in Green Bay and I did the same from my work in Oshkosh.  We both arrived at Appleton Medical Center around the same time and went directly to the Birth Center.  The hooked Sarah up to a couple of monitors that record her contractions and the baby's heart rate.  It was about 5:00/5:30 and her contractions where about 2-6 minutes apart and she was about 4cm dilated.  The nurse said that she would recheck her in about an hour to an hour and a half and then call our doctor with the updates.  If Sarah would make any progress they would keep us there until the baby arrives and if not, they would send us home.  Sarah and I then walked the halls of the hospital for about an hour to help her cope with the pains of the contractions.  At 7:00pm, the nurse came back to recheck her.  At this time her cervix had softened up a little bit and they decided that they would admit her and have her stay until the baby comes.  We were told that our family doctor (who is also Sarah's OB) would be at the hospital around 7:45 and would come and attempt to break Sarah's water to help the birth process along.  We had the feeling that the baby would be born in the early morning hours of the 14th (1am-4am).  Knowing this, Sarah sent me home to get her bags and stuff we had all packed up for the actual day that Harper was born.  I left the hospital around 7:15am and went home to change out of my work clothes, feed the dog, and grab some stuff for the next couple days for Sarah.

While I was at home, I received a call from Sarah around 7:40, saying that her water had just broke, so I should hurry up and make my way back to the hospital.  I was just packing up the car with the stuff so I was just about to leave anyway.  I left our house around 7:45.  While I was on my way back to the hospital, my phone rang again, this time it was a number I didn't recognize.  It was our nurse.  She sounded frantic and a little panicked.  She asked me where I was.  I said I was on my way and be there ASAP, about 5 minutes.  She said, "well, Sarah's delivering, so hurry!"  I hung up and said, "Are you F@#*ING kidding me?!?" out loud with a large grin on my face.  I got there as quick as I could.  Sarah's parents also just got to the hospital just before I did and Sarah's dad and brother parked my vehicle which allowed me to just pull right up front.  They also brought all the stuff upstairs for me.  I ran up to the room as quick as I could.  It was 8:08 when I walked into the room and Harper had already made her appearance.  I looked at Sarah, laughed, and said, "are you serious?"  We just looked at each other and chuckled.  We didn't say anything else, we just both laughed at the fact that I had just missed the entire birth of our daughter.

Neither of us were upset though.  Sarah was seriously born to give birth.  She is an amazing woman.  She is notorious for incredibly fast and easy births.  Granted, easy is all relative.  I still can only imagine the pain of birth, but I digress.  Sarah's water broke at 7:38pm and Harper was officially born at 8:01pm, just 23 minutes later.  Amazing.  Literally everybody missed it- our families, Sarah's sister, our doctor, and yup, even daddy.  Harper was delivered by 3 nurses.  They didn't even have time to set up the room for birth.

Harper has been adjusting great to her new life and her family.  She weighed 7lbs 7oz, was 20" long, and had a 34cm head.  She has been struggling to eat which isn't as bad as it initially may sound.  Her nurse thinks that since the birth was so quick, she didn't have the opportunity to squeeze out all of the amniotic fluids which normally happens with "normal" births.  So they think that her stomach still has some residual fluids in it which typically leaves a baby feeling "hung over."  This feeling is what is keeping her from eating regularly, but should subside after that fluid is excreted through general digestion or by vomiting.  Either way, she has only lost 7oz in 36 hours, which is actually the least amount of weight any of our kids have lost in that same time frame.  So, there is little cause for worry at this time, it's just something we are monitoring.  Other wise, mommy and baby are doing well and looking forward to starting our new life as a family of 5!

Delaney Singing to Harper

Life After 30

I am officially a 30 year old.  For as anxious and mentally beating myself up about turning 30, now that I am actually 30, there is no difference - other then the fact that I now have to say I am 30 and that I am now in a different age group for races (M30-34), of course.  The time surrounding my actual birthday was fantastic.  It was exactly how I would have wanted it to go.  I spent a lot of time with my wife and daughters, my extended family, and yes, I successfully ran 30 miles on my actual 30th birthday as I had planned on doing.  I figured with so much going on in a couple weeks, I'd take some time to just share everything that went on during that time.

With my aunt Carol (our childcare provider) being out of the country, visiting her sister in Spain, for the good part of 2 weeks, I had taken off from work starting on Thursday, February 27th.  Doing so gave me 4 days off from work, in addition to my already prescheduled 3 off days.  I had a full week off from work!  Come Friday, we planned on getting together with my family and my in-laws and getting together for dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Downtown Appleton.  I originally wanted to get dinner at Stone Cellar Brewpub (my favorite) but had to make alternative plans due to the size of our group and the inability to make reservations on Friday nights at SCB.  To make up for this change of plans, I met my mom and dad, JD, and my brother and his girlfriend at SCB for a few beers before heading to Sangria's for dinner.  After dinner we all came back to our house for drinks, cake, and a game of dominoes.  Every year for my birthday, Sarah's grandmother makes me a from-scratch carrot cake, from a recipe she concocted herself.  The carrot cake is to die for - so rich and moist, with a delicious cream cheese frosting.  To go along with the carrot cake, my mom made a batch of Monster Cookie Dough Cupcakes from a recipe that was going around on Facebook.  The cup cakes were very very very rich and heavy.  As per the recipe, my mom scooped the frosting onto the cupcakes with an ice cream scooper....no joke.  So you can imagine the sugar overload on just a single cupcake.  As good as they were, it was almost too much of a good thing.  

Saturday was a more laid back day with no real plans at all.  I didn't do much of anything on Saturday and just hung around the house with Sarah and the girls.  Sarah brought the girls to the Circus in Green Bay in the afternoon which the girls absolutely loved.  Later that night, we went over to my parents house for one of my favorite dinners - homemade lasagna.

Sunday had arrived and my official birthday had arrived.  I stayed in bed as long as the girls would allow me to, which ended up being about 7:15am - which isn't too bad, actually.  The girls and I had breakfast together, which has become a regular tradition of ours.  After I got the girls all set for the day, I headed out the door for my epic birthday run.

I'll be honest with you, when I had woken up, it was damn cold, -4 was the actual temperature with windchills around -17 and there was about a 1/2" to 1" of fresh snow that had fallen overnight.  I was really considering just driving over to the YMCA and running my 30 miles on a treadmill, just to avoid the cold and snow covered roads.  It certainly did not help that it had snowed pretty much every day for the past 2-3 days before my birthday, which lead to the roads being completely covered with snow as it was, not to mention the side walks.  I sat there thinking about how miserable it was going to be out in the bitter cold for over 4 hours straight.  I then thought, on the other hand, how flat out boring and miserable it would be running on a treadmill for over 4 hours.  It was a toss up.  I opted for the fresh air and running outdoors, regardless of how cold it was.  I thought to myself, I would not torture myself on my birthday and would just suck it up and dress warm.

I had all my fuel preset from the night before and kept it all indoors, just inside our front door to prevent it from freezing.  I had my 3 mile route all planned out, and I dressed super warm.  I was finally ready to begin my run.  I brought our dog Bella along for the first lap and she appeared to be having fun and didn't look tired after the first lap, that I brought her along for the second lap.  After each lap, I stopped inside to warm up briefly and grab some fuel.  After my second lap, I figured that 6 miles in the cold was enough for my dog, although the way she looked at me after I took the leash off, I still think she wanted to join me for more.  The run progressed nicely and I never really got too cold.  I never stopped my watch throughout the run so my time included all the breaks I took after each lap.  During one of my breaks my Aunt Carol and Grandma FaceTimed from Spain to wish me a happy birthday, which kept me inside a little longer than usual, but I was ok with it.  During another pit stop, I helped my wife get Delaney down for a nap.  And then on a third pit stop I actually stopped to relace my shoes, as the laces seemed to be bothering the top portion of my feet.  It seemed to alleviate some of the added pressures on the top of my feet because after I relaced my shoes it was no longer an issue.

Throughout the run, I consumed about a total of 850 calories.  I used Hammer Gels and Perpetuem solids during the first 5 laps of my run, and then Perpetuem Drink and Solids during the second half.  I felt great throughout the entire duration of the run, which honestly surprised me.  I finished with a time of 4:21:06 with an average pace of 8:37/mile.  Like I said, I never stopped my watch during my breaks,  so this time is including my downtime.  Based my mile splits of the miles run between my breaks, I's estimate that my actually average running pace would be in the ball park of 8:10/mile.  Looking back on the run itself, it definitely had its ups and downs; its good times and bad times.  It didn't start getting truly had until about mile 21.  It was at this point were I started to actually get cold and that the cold air started to have an effect on my breathing.  The cold air made it difficult to breath and it seemed to tighten up my chest a bit.  Don't get me wrong, I could still breath plenty well, but it was at this point where it seemed that I started coughing more frequently as I attempted to breath.  There was a couple times when I really questioned what the hell I was doing.  I asked myself, why the hell I was out in the sub zero temperatures, running for hours and hours, when I could be inside in a warm house, enjoying time with my wife and kids - and on my birthday of all days???  I really questioned myself around laps 4 and 5, just before and right around the half way point.  It was at that point where I had already ran about 12-15 miles, but still had another 18-15 miles too go.  But then I started thinking about my life and life in general.  It dawned on me that running, especially endurance running, and specifically challenging yourself specifically, has a lot of similarities to life.  Just like my very own life, there were times where life sucked, where I wanted to give up on something, times where you just wanted to quit and take the easy road.  Also, just like in life, I had moments duirng my run, where I was at complete peace, almost a state of euphoria.  I was happy, calm, and relaxed.  I was listening to my breath, focused, and just "there" - in the moment.  Life has the same ups and downs.  It has short bouts of good times and frustrating times, it has just as many times where it seems like you'll never get out of a funk.  It may be days, it may be weeks.  But knowing that it will not stay that way forever can be comforting.  Just like endurance sports, you have to come to expect times where you feel like absolute shit, times when you want to slow down, or even quit.  You need to know that you need to do what ever you can do to get those thoughts out of your mind and refocus your energy on the task at hand.  You need to know, with confidence that those feelings will pass.  You will overcome your struggles and you will be better for it.

That is the exact reason why I do what I do.  I love the challenge of it.  I love the excitement of it.  I love knowing that the benefits of my sport far exceed better cardiovascular health.  I know that I am a better father, husband, employee, friend, and community member because I run.  I am a better person overall because I put myself into challenging, uncomfortable situations and work my way through them.

My girls and I at our hibachi dinner

After my run, I was sore....duh!  I took a warm shower and sat down with a bottle of Sah-Tea Beer, brewed by Dogfish Head Brewing along with 2 pieces of that homemade carrot cake.  For dinner that night, we went out as a family, just the 4 of us to a local Japanese hibachi restaurant.  I wanted to surprise Maya by taking her there for dinner as she has been asking to go to "the restaurant with the fire on the grill."  Once there she was so happy and surprised.  Her joy made my night.  

By the end of my birthday I was in a great mood.  I was happy.  I was again reminded how lucky I am in life.  That I have 2 absolutely adorable, beautiful daughters, a caring, supportive, and loving wife, and a wonderful family including my in-laws.  I may be turning 30 and getting older everyday.  But, I know that each and every day is another day I get to spend with the ones I love and that I truly have the greatest life I could ask for.  I am truly blessed and fortunate to be were I am in my life and to have done everything I have done to this date.  But, rest assured, that I am not done.  I am not satisfied where I am and have plenty I still want to accomplish, places I want to see, and things left to learn.  I may be 30 and I may have had a great life to this point, but by no means am I depressed about getting older, I am excited and motivated about what is left for me to accomplish and experience!

With my 30 mile run under my belt, it's time for a rest/recovery week from running and training.  Truthfully, it really isn't even going to be a full week.  On Tuesday evening our SWAT team received an award from the Association of SWAT Personnel - WI (ASP) for the SWAT Team of the year.  It was a cool award to receive and an honor to be recognized by our peers.  I returned back to the routine of working third shift on Thursday night which is the start of a new training "week" for me.  When I started training/running again back in December, I was training specifically for the Green Bay Marathon.  Since then, my main goal was to build a strong base.  One that would help sustain another two and a half months of marathon specific training.  I also wanted to build a large enough base to allow me to run 30 miles on my 30th birthday.  So far, I'd say I'm doing pretty good with my base building (considering I can cross off half of my list).  So with the birthday run behind me, it is now time to shift gears from the easy long runs to more speed, tempo, and threshold running.  I have revamped my original training plan slightly due to my recent "injury" to my right calf.  I say "injury" (with the quotations) because, I am not 100% sold on the fact that I was ever truly injured to being with.  I still think it could have just been some significant wear and tear, inflammation, or something along those lines, as opposed to a full blown injury.  Basically, I tend to believe I was in the realm of an "overuse injury" which almost always leads to a full blown injury if not treated with care.

All the teams that won SWAT team of the year

My new training plan follows my standard 9 day work week, as opposed to the traditional 7 day, Monday - Sunday week, like my original plan did.  I also spread out the running days more to avoid more back-to-back run days.  My total volume is actually pretty close to where it was with my original plan and many of the same workouts are still in my new plan.  I will still be relying on weekly easy long runs, mile repeats, tempo runs, and long intervals.  I also inserted more swim and bike days to make up for the days the used to be run days.  So all in all, there was minimal changes to the plan, more of a shifting around of workouts, to allow more thorough recovery from the pounding of running high volumes.

I brought the girls to the YMCA to swim on Monday after running

As far as my diet and nutrition, I have recently fallen right back into my piss poor habits of overeating and having little to no self control with sweets and treats.  After completing my Whole30 back in late February, I felt great, probably the best I have ever felt.  From that day through today, I progressively ate worse and worse, culminating on the days following my birthday weekend.  I won't include my birthday weekend as that has always been a special time for me and I do not try to limit what I take in and how much I take in.  I just try to enjoy the treats on the few days that surround my birthday.  But after my birthday, we had leftover cake, cupcakes, cookies, snacks, and on top of it all, Sarah brought home Girl Scout Cookies on Tuesday after work.  Needless to say, I ate and ate and ate plenty of Girl Scout Cookies, cereal, processed foods, chocolate covered cherries, anything that was made with or from chocolate, I ate.  My plan was to enjoy the week before my birthday with no diet restrictions as a reward for eating so well during the Whole30.  Shortly after my birthday, I wanted to conduct an experiment of 1.  I wanted to eat a diet comprised of nearly the exact opposite foods that are allowed on the Whole30.  My plan was to eat a high carb, grain and plant based diet void of any and all meat and animal products.  I would eat this way for 28-30 days and monitor how I felt day-to-day along with how I felt throughout my training.  I would then compare those 4 weeks to the 30 days I spent on the Whole30 back in January/February.

Ultimately, I am backing out of that decision.  I am doing so, because, when looking back at my W30 experience, I felt so good.  I had no digestive issues, no discomforts, no bloating, I slept good, I recovered from my workouts faster and felt great during my workouts.  I also find it ironic that by the end of my W30, my calf/ankle issue was nearly gone, but now that I have been eating less-then-healthy foods, I am starting to feel more pain in my lower right calf area.  So starting today, I plan on jumping back on the W30 band-wagon and eating a higher fat, lower carbohydrate diet.  I will focus on eating REAL food, specifically lean, organic cuts of meat, and fruits.  I will allow myself to eat some grains, an occasional bean/legume, full fat dairy, and some foods that have minimal added sugars.  I will avoid milk, gluten, and proceeds grains, such as bread, crackers, etc.  I will focus on eating square meals that are satiating and avoid eating anything my meals.  I will schedule my eat around my training - which means, when I do opt to eat grans, such as oatmeal rice, or amaranth, or other foods that are higher in carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes, squash, etc, I will eat then shortly before or just after training.  All other meals will consist of little to no carbohydrates.  It'll be an extremely clean form of eating again, with a few exceptions which will definitely be the acceptation, not the norm.  Eat this way, will allow me to eat meals without being overly concerned if it is indeed "Whole30 approved."  Also, eating this way, will give me a strict guideline to follow with a little more leeway in the plan to allow me to live my life without stressing over whether or not something has 1g of added sugar.

30 Years, 30 Miles

It's finally here, my 30th birthday.  For the last couple years, I had dreaded this day.  I honestly have been having a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept of turning 30.  Don't ask me why, especially when I consider everything that I have either accomplished or been able to do over the past 30 years.  Maybe, it's the fact that I am now the father of 2 beautiful girls, with a third on the way in the very near future.  Or maybe it's how much I have already accomplished throughout my life with the fear of not being able to match my success during my next 30 years.  Either way you slice it, I am turning 30 and there is nothing I can do about it.  I was pretty bummed about it until a week or two ago.  I was listening to a podcast with an interview of a 78 year old guy who still does triathlons and is still the race director of a very successful Ironman 70.3 in Texas.  He said that your age is literally just a number and continued to ask, "how old you you be, if you didn't know your birthday?"  It got me to think, There is no way I would say 30.  I feel better and healthier, or at a minimum the same, as I did when I was 23 or 24.  I said all throughout last year, that I was in the best shape of my life - and to be honest, I would say I feel even better today, then I did last year.  After really thinking about it, I have shifted from an anxiety over turning 30 to a new source of motivation throughout my next 30 years.  There is still so much more I want to accomplish, such as qualify and race the Ironman World Championships in Kona, HI, run a 50 mile, 100km, and 100 mile ultramarathons, qualify and race for Team USA at the ITU World Championships.  I also want to watch my kids grow up, find passions and hobbies of their own and be a part of their lives as they grow up and move throughout their lives.  I also want to travel the world and continue to explore some of the most breathtaking places on earth.

A couple years ago, I had the idea of running my age.  I didn't think much of it at the time and didn't act on it last year due to my ultimate goal of getting to the start line of Ironman Wisconsin healthy and didn't want to structure a training plan around running 29 miles on my 29th birthday when I had such a huge goal later that year.  So, this year was the year and how fitting that it would be on my 30th birthday, a rather big milestone (at least in my eyes).  I have never run anything longer then a marathon (26.2 miles), so running 30 miles would be a new adventure for me.  Not that it would be that much more significantly longer, but still pretty long.  I want it to be a nice and relaxed run, nothing compared to the intensities of a race.  I also wanted it to be a time of reflection of everything that I have done and everywhere that I have been throughout the last 30 years of my life.  So here we go....the past 30 years of my life, in miles.....

Mile 0 (March 1984): My true birthday!

Year/Mile 1 (March 1985):  The start of it all!  I honestly, don't remember much of anything from my first year....but then again, should I really be able to?  In January of 1985, just before turning 1, I took my first ever steps.  The true definition of the first steps in the journey of a thousand miles.

Year/Mile 2 (March 1986): My second birthday was my Golden Birthday.  Again, I don't truly remember much of anything from this year but I do know this was the birthday which I got a wagon for my birthday present which remained with me for most of my life.

Year/Mile 3 (March 1987): In August of 1987 I became a brother.  I still do not really remember much of anything, but I do know, I was a jealous brother - no surprise through, right? 

Year/Mile 4 (March 1988): This was my first full year of being the big brother.  I can't even begin to speculate how long it truly took me to get used to this role, but I'm sure it took me a while considering I was the only child for the first 3.5 years of my life.

Year/Mile 5 (March 1989): This was my first year of organized school.  I started preschool at St. Pious Church in Appleton.  I do not remember how often I went, but I know I went for a few hours in the morning.  It was also this year when I learned how to tie my own shoes.

Year/Mile 6 (March 1990): This was the first year of organized school with the Appleton Area School District.  I went to Kindergarten 5 days a week in the morning at Johnston Elementary School which was conveniently a block away from my parents house.

Year/Mile 7 (March 1991): After starting Kindergarten last year, I was now going to school for full days 5 days a week.  I made it to 1st grade wahoo!

Year/Mile 8 (March 1992): We took one of our first big family vacations this year with my aunts and uncles from my mom's side of the family.  We took a trip down to Florida to go to Disney World.  I remember the long drive, Sea World, and of course Disney World.  For what ever reason I can still clearly remember the "It's a Small World" ride being the most annoying thing ever.

Year/Mile 9 (March 1993):  After turning 9, I was finally old enough to start playing organized baseball.  I began playing Little League Baseball and played for Appleton Heart (our team name/sponsor).

Year/Mile 10 (March 1994): During 4th grade a tragic event happened that I truly think had a significant impact on my mind.  A girl I went to school with, she as not considered a friend by any means, but the fact that she attended school with me in the same grade was evidently enough of a relationship to have an impact on me.  In the spring of this year (I believe) she was accidentally shot and killed by her younger brother with a gun that was left insecure in the house.  I remember this having a significant impact on me and caused many sleepless nights initially.

Year/Mile 11 (March 1995): I honestly can't come up with anything of significance from this year.  With that being said, I am sure there was something that happened this year.  I am sure my mom will chime in with something after the fact.

Year/Mile 12 (March 1996): This year my family and I spent a week in January with my Grandma Kohl in Tucson Arizona.  This was my first time ever flying.  It was a great vacation and found it to be one of my favorite vacations to date.  We went to the Grand Canyon along with another smaller canyon/park that I do not recall the name of.  During the 6th grade I also started playing the trumpet.  I initially wanted to play the trombone but was told that my arms were too short (?).  Not really sure about that reasoning, but what ever.  It turns out that it was a great choice for me down the road as I would eventually become a pretty decent trumpet player.

Year/Mile 13 (March 1997): I started middle school this year at James Madison Middle School and was extremely nervous going into school this year.  It was something completely new to me.  It was the first year with lockers, taking the bus to and from school.  It was also the first year that I met my wife-to-be in band class.

Year/Mile 14 (March 1998): After my first year in middle school I got into the swing of things and got into a new rhythm.  I played football this year for a school for the first time as opposed to playing Pop Warner football.  This was also the year that I would say I started looking at Sarah as a crush.

Year/Mile 15 (March 1999): In 1999, I started high school at Appleton East High School.  I was both anxious and excited to starting high school.  The best thing that happened this year was Sarah asked me to home coming.  Yea, yea, I realize that I should have asked her, but I was way to nervous around girls and probably never would have asked her.

Year/Mile 16 (March 2000): During my Sophomore year of high school, my Grandma Kohl passed away on New Year's Eve/Day going into 2000.  I was spending the night with some friends and found out the news when I came home on New Years Day.  I took the news extremely hard.  It was the first real death in my family after the point were I was old enough to understand death.  I had some serious anxiety issues and attended several sessions with a psychiatrist.  As I said early, the death of a classmate during the 4th grade had a significant impact on me, so I think with this death being so close to me, it compounded and ultimately caused a high level of anxiety on me.  I worked through my issues with my family and Sarah.  My Grandma was active in my life and a huge supporter of my endeavors as a trumpet player in school bands.  She attended most, if not all of my concerts.  She was also a "snowbird" and would travel to Arizona every winter after New Years until the middle of March.  My family was planning on traveling to Arizona at the end of January to spend a week with her in the desert, which obviously never happened.

Grandma Kohl, Ben, and I at the Grand Canyon

Year/Mile 17 (March 2001): During my junior year of high school I started touring colleges.  I toured UW - Oshkosh and UW - Stevens Point first and then finally toured UW - La Crosse.  After touring UWL, I knew immediately that was were I wanted to go.  It was also at this point that I knew I wanted to pursue a degree in Exercise and Sports Science.  Later that summer, I learned that I was accepted to UW - La Crosse.  That summer I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to England with our High School band this summer for a week and a half.

Year/Mile 18 (March 2002): Senior year of high school came and went and I had finally graduated high school.  That year, I didn't play a full year of football due to suffering from a serious concussion in our Homecoming game.  I had my greatest year season ever of baseball during my senior year and lead the conference in Home Runs.  I was voted as 1st Team All Conference and also All Area.

Senior Prom with Sarah

Year/Mile 19 (March 2003): I remember I couldn't wait to start College and move away from home for the first time ever for my freshman year at UW-L.  But I learned very quickly that it wasn't all fun and games...well, it was still quite a bit of fun and games, with a small side of responsibility.  For some reason, I thought I was a good football player and tried playing college football.  During my feeble attempt at playing football, I learned very quickly that I was not nearly the football player I thought I was.  I also tried playing baseball and still to this day think I should have made the team (along with a few other guys who played that year).  After getting shot down in both football and baseball, I focused on lifting very heavy and had a pretty muscular body.  I weight 196 pounds at my heaviest and was about 12% body fat.  My thought was that I would try playing baseball the next year.  It was this year that I met Erik Mork at UW-L football training camp.  Little did I know that the two of us would end up becoming pretty good friends.

Year/Mile 20 (March 2004): During my sophomore year at UW-L, I rented an apartment and lived off campus.  Later this year, I learned that Erik Mork lived across the street from me and this was ultimately how I met Dave Danley - and the rest they say is history.  Pat Nissen also moved to La Crosse for school and attended the Technical College.  The two of us lived in the same small bed room and really tested our friendship.  This year was also the year that my Grandpa passed away.  This was the second death in the family, since my dad's mom passed.  I handled it much better and has the support of Sarah and my family and extended family to help.  Later this summer I was playing in a State Tournament for Fast Pitch Softball and tore my MCL.  Luckily for me, it dd not require surgery, but I was stuck in an immobilizer for 3 months.  It was terrible, from July through mid-September, I was hobbling around on crutches.  The good thing that came from this injury, was my doctor suggested that I start biking for rehab.  This was ultimately how and why I started biking and running.

My Grandma and Grandpa after my High School Graduation

Year/Mile 21 (March 2005): During my junior year at UW-L, I learned that I did not get accepted to Fitness program, and change major to Physical Education.  After deciding that education was not for me, I changed my major again to Sports Management.  During the spring of this year I completed my first ever multisport race at the Coulee Region Duathlon in the spring.  It's kind of funny looking back at the way I trained and prepared for this event.  I did pretty much every stereotypical first timer mistake known to man.  I ate a huge pasta dinner the night before and also a huge breakfast the morning of.  During the race, I fueled with way too many calories and also trained way too hard too close to the race.  Either way, I had a blast and was immediately hooked.  This summer, Sarah and I got engaged in Door County and had a huge party weekend at Peninsula State Park.  We had our college friends come from Minnesota and surprised her after she said yes.

Year/Mile 22 (March 2006): During my senior year at UW-L, I continued to study sports management and strength and conditioning.  I bought Sarah an early Christmas present this year of a new puppy.  It was this year that Sarah and I became pet owners for the first time.  Sarah completed her internship in Milwaukee, WI, at Froedtert Hospital.  I joined her in  Milwaukee throughout the summer of 2006 and lived with her and 3 other girls.  That summer I worked minimal hours at the Wisconsin Athletic Club throughout the summer.  Sarah and I both did our first ever half marathon in May at the Green Bay Half Marathon.  I also bought my first road bike this year and did my first ever triathlon at the Oshkosh Triathlon in August.

Year/Mile 23 (March 2007):  I finally finished my final semester actually at UW-L and then did semester long internship in Appleton at Sports Performance Advancement a private sports specific training studio.  In April of this year, my dad ran his first Boston Marathon and it was at this point that I made the promise to myself that I would qualify for the Boston Marathon some day.  Sarah and I got married in June and had an absolute blast at the wedding.  I finished my first marathon later that fall at the Fox Cities Marathon in September.  We then went to Cancun, Mexico in November for our honeymoon and immediately fell in love with Mexico and vowed to go back as often as possible.

Year/Mile 24 (March 2008):  Our first full year of marriage and bought our house, which we still call home.  We also returned back to Mexico, this time with both of our parents and spent a week in Riviera Maya.

Year/Mile 25 (March 2009):  We found out Sarah was pregnant just before my 25th birthday and in October I became a father for the first time.  On October 13th, Sarah and I welcomed Maya to the world.  She had to spend a short stint (4 days) in the NICU due to a potential heart issue.  It was at that point that I realized how much love you can have for someone or something that you have never had or seen before.  Everything ended up being just fine in the end, but it was still a long 4 days.  After becoming a father for the first time, my life changed for the better.  I learned what it meant to truly love someone else.  Nothing against Sarah, but there is totally different type of love for a child.  I think anybody who is a parent knows exactly what I am talking about.

Year/Mile 26 (March 2010): This year Sarah and I made the difficult decision for me to change careers from a Health and Fitness Coordinator to Police Officer in May to better help our family financially.  In May I ran a Boston Qualifier time for the first time at the Green Bay Marathon and ran a personal best in the marathon with a time of 3:03 at the Fox Cities Marathon later that fall.  In November of this year, I was hired by Winnebago County Sheriff's Office, which is were I am still employed yet today.

Year/Mile 27 (March 2011): We found out that we would be having our second child later this year and went to Boston in April to run the Boston Marathon with my father, which is and will forever be one of my greatest endurance racing memories.  A couple months after returning from Boston, Sarah gave birth to our second daughter, Delaney in June.  As nervous as I was prior to our second child, having 2 kids was not nearly as challenging as I had thought.

Year/Mile 28 (March 2012): I was finally able to convince Sarah to let me register for an Ironman race and did just that in September of this year.  After registering for that race, I immediately started my blog which was initially created to be a spot to write about my journey to becoming an Ironman.  Little did I know that the time that this blog would become so much more.

Year/Mile 29 (March 2013):  This year was probably one of the most difficult periods of time, in regards to the stress on our marriage.  This year was not only just a stress on our relationship but also our finances.  It all fell directly back onto me and my dream of completing the Ironman.  Ultimately, we worked through it and all the countless hours of me being away to train and I had finally become an IRONMAN with finishing Ironman Wisconsin in 11:37:09.  The days following IM Wisconsin, Sarah and I brought the girls to the Milwaukee zoo on Monday and then took the girls to Mexico the Tuesday after the race.  Even though the weather was not the best, it was still one of my favorite vacations since it was just Me, Sarah, and the girls.  It was so nice to just spend a week as a family away from everything and everyone.

Year/Mile 30 (March 2014):  A new milestone....30.  Yup, I am now 30.  WOW!  It's amazing to think that I am 30.  Not only and I just 30 years old now, but 30, married, 2 beautiful girls and a 3rd on the way...any day now!  I have done a lot of things in the first 30 years of my life that most people do not get the opportunity to do their entire life.  I have been and continue to be the luckiest man on the earth.  I am happy, healthy, and proud.  I have healthy, happy kids, a steady job, a caring, loving, and supportive wife, and I have been pretty successful in my endurance racing career.  I love my life.  I am excited to see what I am able to accomplish in my next 30 years.