Busy, busy, will it ever end?

No time to write an actual entry so I'm just going to give a training update. It's exam time and well, yeah, busy busy. :(

Wed - I'm pretty sure that I did a quick 3.6 miles at Fernbank. But I could be wrong.

Sat - A very fast paced 2 hour ride with Nate

Sun - An easy 20 mile ride with Dad and Mr. Neuskabel

Mon - A very hot and humid run with Kristi. 3.1 miles or so in 27:06. (8:44 pace)

Tues (today) - A very hot and humid 2 hour hill ride with Judi after a quick 30 minute swim or thereabouts.

Monday Swim

After classes this morning I headed to the rec center at UC for a "quick" swim. My swims are never really quick because I'm quite possibly the worlds slowest swimmer. It took me a full hour to do 2150 yards. I split it up into a 100 warm-up, 2x1000 for the main set and a 50 yard cool-down.

On the up-side I am making progress. I can at least breath on both sides now comfortably. But I still can't maintain more than about a 100 yards of breathing every 3rd stroke which is pretty crappy. I'm also stuck at about a 1:50 on my 100 yard sprints. I really need a coach or something but it just isn't in the budget since I have NO job at the moment.

After the swim I had to go over Kristi's drop off her debit card to her from yesterday (she didn't want to take her purse in the park). She had developed a headache at work and I was tired so we just took a quick hour nap or so. It was nice. Then home and I've been working on on-line applications for the last couple of hours.

Good Ride + Good Friends + Kristi = Great Weekend!

So Friday I was scheduled for a 45 minute swim. Figured I'd get it in after class in the morning. Unfortunately my classes had given me a headache. It didn't seem all that bad by the time I got to the pool at the rec center but after 15 minutes my head was pounding. The next 15 minutes was brutal and I felt dizzy and sick. Sooo, I cut the workout short and headed back home.

I slept for an hour or two and took some advil once home. The combination got rid of the headache. And it was then off to work the Coke booth at our local church festival (St. Al's). Kristi and I were only supposed to work from 4:30 to 7 but wound up staying until a little after 9. I had the pleasure of getting all the drinks from the truck to the booth and taking care of all the ice as well. Kristi was taking money along with my mom and some friends of my parents were helping out as well.

From the festival Kristi and I went to Zip Dip for some ice cream. I threatened to get a face cone but she said she'd never talk to me again if I did. So I got Jimmies (i.e. sprinkles) instead. When I ordered Jimmies she asked what the hell Jimmies were. I was in shock! Her sister used to work at an ice cream place and she didn't know what Jimmies were. Apparently I'm old school because everyone calls them sprinkles now. But, I will continue to call them Jimmies if for no other reason than to annoy Kristi.

When saturday rolled around I was supposed to lead a 50 mile ride out of Bicycles and More. But, nobody showed. Judi had said something about her and Sandi doing a 50 miler out route 8 at 9:30 or 10 so I gave her a call to see if I could meet up with them. As it turned out Sandi chickened out but Amanda decided to join instead. As I rolled into the lot Amanda was already there waiting and Judi came in a little while later. At this point I already had 20 miles in for the morning. Because I road from home to the shop and then downtown.

Rt.8 is an extremely boring ride down along the river. It's shrouded in trees on both sides and is mostly flat with some rolling hills. I don't think any one of us actually enjoy that ride. But it's always better with friends. And I hadn't ridden with Amanda since some time last October I guess. So the tally on the Rt.8 portion was 55miles at an 18.3 mph pace. And I was tired when we were done.

But, no rest for the weary because I had to get to Kristi's another 5 or so miles away. And of course in order to get there I have to climb from the river all the way up Gilbert to MLK. It's probably a 2 mile uphill stretch that was miserable by myself. Eventually I got there and we had to leave ASAP so we could go back to the festival to work again. Fortunately she drove us back to my house so I could get a shower and then we were off.

Again I wound up hauling the 50 lb bags of ice and all the pop from the truck to the booth. Not exactly what I wanted to be doing but oh well. Right at 7 it started raining, bad. And because our booth was at the bottom of the parking lot it flooded! And we got all wet. But, we got to leave at that point because our scheduled time was up and it wasn't that busy.

Sunday it was off to Kings Island with the FREE tickets I had gotten from working the festival. This was Kristi's birthday present since she'd been talking about wanting to go for some time. We started off at Top Gun and then Son of Beast. We didn't have to wait for either ride which was nice and we got seats at the front. Which are, of course, the only seats to have. From SOB we headed to the Drop Tower. Drop Tower is badass because you just dangle there 26 stories in the air before it throws you at the ground! And it was WAY outside Kristi's comfort zone. But she enjoyed it afterwards. We hit all the big rides including the 2 new ones Firehawk and Diamondback. We had front seats on all of them including The Beast! Which is possible the best ride EVER! The only downer on the day was that the backwards racer was replaced with another forward looking train and I was PISSED! It just wasn't the same.

Easy Hills and 2 Hard Runs

Wensday I went out with Judi for a 90 minute hill ride. Did a little over 21 miles with about 1220 feet of climbing. Cliff is one of my favorite roads because it overlooks the river (The pic is at the top this past fall courtesy of Judi). It was a pretty lax ride for me but Judi struggles on the steeps and it was obvious she was exhausted at the top of Fiddlers Green which is about a 17% grade.

From there is was off for a 30 minute run per my schedule. I wish I lived near some flat ground but unfortunately I don't. Which means my 30 minute easy run isn't really so easy since I'm going up and down hills the whole time. I was pretty well toast when I got back to the house.

From there I wound up falling asleep for a little while before getting up at 5 to take a shower and head to Bicycles and More (BAM) to lead out the liesure ride. It had just finished raining and the weather was kinda iffy so nobody showed up to go. Which was fine by me. Although I was hoping Andrew would come down to drop off my huffy which I loaned to him a few months back. For those that don't know the Huffy is a monstrosity that Ron from BAM and myself built from extra parts and a bike that was rusted out ready for the garbage. It turned out pretty fucking sweet if I say so myself.

Thursday I was scheduled for a 45 minute run and an hour in the pool. I headed down to Fernbank for my run but only managed 3.6 miles before running out of time and energy. I was exhausted. It was about 80 degrees with a 100% humidity and just miserable. Unfortunately I forgot to get a time on the run but it was probably only a half hour or so. Felt like an 8 or 8:30 pace.

Then back home for a quick shower and off to class. Thursday nights are my Power Plant Tech classes at least for now. Although my professor is extremely entertaining I couldn't stop thinking about my upcoming swim. I went to Urban Active and lifted for about 45 minutes prior to my swim and then did an hour in the pool. I've decided that instead of working on distance (which I know I can do) I'm going to work on form instead. So last night I concentrated on lengthening my stroke out and breathing to both sides. And I'm glad to say that the breathing is doing pretty well now. Although I'm still running out of air breathing every 3rd stroke. I can even get the stroke count down to about 15 on the 25 yard pool. I did do a few 50 yd sprints for the hell of it and turned in right at 50 seconds. Slow yes, but easier than before.

From there I headed to Kristi's. She was just getting out of class as well and we had a late dinner. It was some pasta and pork thing from Bertolli. You know, those frozen stove top meals. We've been pretty happy with them so far and they aren't all that unhealthy either. But the late night dinners need to stop! Or we'll never lose the wieght we'd like.

Why I write

In highschool I was never a popular kid. In fact, I was the fat loser that always sat in the corner without any real friends. At least no real friends in the classes that I was in. It's hard to get lucky enough to be with friends when there were 750 kids in my graduating class. And I weighed in at around 225 pounds at 5'9". I was obese and miserable.

After highschool I gave up pop, all pop and lost about 20 pounds. Which I managed to keep off. But, I still felt fat and just wasn't all that happy. January 1, 2008 was the day that I decided to finally do something about it. My goals were simple. Reach my optimum BMI at 155 pounds and find a girlfriend by January 1, 2009. In order to reach the weight goal I had to lose 50 pounds!

I attacked the weight from 2 directions. Eat better and excercise. So I gave up on sweets and snacking and just ate less. I also started eating more fruits and veggies and soups. Things that would fill me up without loading me up with calories. I knew that I wouldn't stick with a conventional excercise plan. It had to be something that I loved to do and because it was winter I chose to become a ski instructor. I lost 20 lbs in 3 months doing that! And had more fun than any other job I'd ever had! I also bought a real road bike because my bike was always something I loved as well. After ski season I hit the bike hard and lost another 20 lbs by July! By September I hit my weight goal of 155.

It was then time to find a girl. It took 6 months and many failed dates. But I found Kristi 2 and a half months ago and we really hit it off! It's scary how easy it has been with her. But we make each other extremely happy which is all that really matters.

Throughout the journey I've met some extremely amazing people that have kept me going through it all. And inspired me to stick things out and take on new challenges. Ron at Bicycles and More for giving me killer deals. Dom who like me helps out at the shop and is a complete pshyco! And then his girlfriend Judi from Miles and Madness. Bernie for convincing me to do the Ohio Valley MS150 with the Handlebars. All the Handlebars for just being badasses and rocking out giant mustaches for the ride. All Judi's crazy ironman friends.

So I write to keep myself in line and track my progress from day to day. Something that I started on Facebook a year ago now. It's also a stress release for me. So ranting from time to time is not out of the question either. Hope you all enjoy and happy reading.