Where Has The Time Gone?

I'm sorry I haven't updated my blog in such a long time. A lot has happened since my last update. I'm still training but to any specific plan, just swimming, running and cycling. It's been really hot so cycling and running haven't been what I've wanted. I have the Tour de Cure coming up on the 23rd so I'm excited about that.

Well since the last update, I did the Mesquite Rodeo 62 mile ride. It was a good ride but I was definately not ready for it. Luckily I wasn't that hot or humid and there was a slight breeze. I got a RoadID after seeing a pretty bad crash during the ride. A guy was laying unconscious on the middle of the road. I suggest everyone have one, whether they're swimming, running or cycling. Click on the banner to get yourself one.




I completed my second half marathon called the Wounded Warrior. I ran 6 miles non stop and then had to use the restroom and it all went downhill from there. I lost my rhythm and couldnt get it back. I finished exactly as my last half marathon 2:37. I also completed the Liberty by the lake 10k. All I have to say is that it's poorly supported and very hot with no shade.

I'll try to update this more often and not forget about it.

Classic Rock Rotary Sprint Triathlon

This day started like any other run,bike or triathlon. The night before I packed everything I needed into my bag and went to sleep around 10pm. I set my alarm at 4:41 and snoozed it until 5am. I got up and did my morning routine (I'm sure you don't want know what that is) and loaded my bike and bag into the car. I left the house around 5:20am and drove for about 30 minutes. When I got there I noticed there weren't that many cars.

I unloaded my bike, grabbed my bag and headed over to the transition area. I got marked and the lady marking asked me if I was a Clydesdale, I guess it's pretty obvious I'm overweight, so I got a nice big "C" on my left calf.  It was very cold, maybe low 50's before the sun came out and mid 50's after the sun was up.

When I got to my rack it was a mess, they told everyone to hook the bikes with the handle bars but of course not everyone's bike was able to hook up that way. Then you had the people who brought their whole wardrobe in their bag and took about 4 feet of space. I guess I got lucky I was not in the low numbers with the competitive people. I was actually joking around with the other people in my area about the lack of space, in the lower numbers people were actually arguing about space. I managed to snap a pic before the event started.

Note the position of my helmet

We all lined up at the pool, even numbers on one side and odd numbers on the other side. I slowly moved up the line and finally it was my turn. I wasn't nervous until I finally hit the water. I swam about halfway down the pool and I lost control of my breathing. Not only was I not putting my head under water but I couldn't get a whole breath in. I was gasping for air but I made it to the end of the pool. I grabbed the wall for about half a minute and I went again. It was hell not being able to breathe properly and I actually managed to take a gulp of water. I passed at least one person but they passed me again when I had to catch my breath at the wall. I continued to grab the wall for half a minute until the end. I was embarrassed of my swim knowing everyone was watching me grab the wall.

I hurried on to the transition area still dazed and confused from the swim. As soon as I went outside the chilly wind hit me and put me into even more of a confusion. I put my shirt on, grabbed my sunglasses, put my socks and shoes on and I hurried out the transition area....this is where the "note the position of my helmet" comment comes into play. As I was getting ready to run out the transition area I hear someone say, "Don't forget your helmet". I touched my head and no helmet. In all the confusion of not being able to breathe properly and the cold hitting me, I forgot to put my helmet on. So there I went running back to my area to get my helmet. Next time I'll make sure I put it next to my shoes.

As soon as I got on the bike I started burping for about 5 minutes, I'm not sure why that was but my guess was it has something to do with the water I ingested in the pool. About half a mile in we turned north into the chilly wind. This did not feel good at all, I was tired and cold. At the halfway mark we turned around and finally got a break from the wind and cold. Everything was fine on the bike. I reached the transition are and put the running shoes one.

The run started out pretty good and about half a mile in my stomach started cramping up. I should have gone to the restroom to poop before the race. About a mile and half a guy caught up to me who was also a Clydesdale and we got to talking so that made the run easier. He slowed down with a mile to go because his legs were cramping up. I finally finished and could not be happier about it. Results are as follows.

 I came in last of the Clydesdale :(

 

Tuesday's A Day Closer To The Weekend

Training is still going fairly good. I'm still not doing as much as I should since I'm doing P90X. I'm in week 3 of that and I'm tired and sore. Last night I went running after doing my workout and I barely finished 3 miles. It was a combination of me being tired from the workout and the humidity that did me in.

I have the Classic Rotary Rock Sprint Tri this weekend. I had issues with passing people in the pool last at the Caveman Sprint Tri but  Luckily this time the pool is a 50 meter one so there will be more time to pass people. I looked at the course for this weekend and it's not too bad. Ride 10km North and then 10km South. I really wish they'd put up more information like parking, transition areas and exits for the swim, bike and run parts.

Hipsters, Making Rides More Dangerous

We've all seen them and most of us have thought about throwing a rock at them, Hipsters. They can easily be recognized by their fixed gear bikes, beards and oh yeah not wearing a helmet. But I'm not here to tell you that I don't like hipsters, I'm posting to tell you that they're actually making it hard for us to ride our bikes in the streets.

Let me start with this. You see a guy riding a bike on the sidewalk you think no biggie, on the other hand you see a guy riding a bike on the street and you want to get around him. For those of us who have road bikes we can keep up with traffic fairly well, use hand signals and don't weave in and out of traffic. Well these guys (hipsters) don't care. They don't wear helmets, weave in and out traffic without signaling and go fairly slow.

I was driving down a three lane street close to my house one day and this guy was on the left lane and not going very fast. All the cars had to move to the center lane to avoid him. After about a mile he just jumped the curb and continued on. I can tell by the faces of the drivers that they were not happy that they had to move to the center lane to avoid him. This was not an isolated incident either, which brings me to my point. The more and more hipsters that ride on the streets, the less that drivers care about bicycles.

I've lived in the same area for about 3 years now and have always gone out riding with no issues. Recently drivers have become more aggressive. I was riding my bike a couple weeks ago and this one driver passed me on the left about 2 feet from hitting me and quickly got back on my lane, again almost hitting me. It wouldn't be and issue if there were bike lanes in the area but there aren't any. So please hipsters stop being such reckless riders and making the actual rider's commute less dangerous.

Tri-ing to keep up

This past week has been a busy week. Last Monday I went for a swim at the gym and also started P90X. I started with Core Synergistics and it kicked my butt. Tuesday I woke up sore all over but felt great. When I got home I did Cardio X so I was happy that I didn't do any other type of cardio during the day. Wednesday I went swimming again and continued on with P90X. By Thursday I was extremely sore and tired so all I focused on was the workouts and no swimming, running or biking.

Saturday I had the Muenster Germanfest ride. I was not able to do the 40 miles that I hoped cuz I was still sore and tired. I only ended up doing 22 miles. I'm slacking pretty bad with the running, which I shouldn't since I have the Wounded Warrior Half Marathon in June. I need to step it up and run.

There's only 12 days left until Rotary Classic Sprint Tri so I'm excited about that. I hope I improve from the last tri I did.

We Shall See

Well I can tell you that training hasn't gone as I would like. I've hit a slump and don't feel like doing anything lately. I've gone riding, running and swimming but not as I would like. Yesterday during lunch I went for a swim and forgot my good pair of goggles so I had to use the pair that leaks and fogs up. It wasn't too bad but not as good as I would like.

I started P90x yesterday so I'm hoping I don't fail like the last time I tried it 3 years ago when I hurt my back two weeks into it. I'm doing the Lean P90x since I don't want to build too much muscle, I just want to lose fat. I had my heart rate monitor on me while I was doing the Core Synergistics and it said that I burned 1100 in 58 minutes of the workout. After I was done my shirt was soaked and I felt great.

I'll keep this updated on the P90x and triathlon training.

At least I TRIed (part deux)

This is the photo section of the Tri.

The Pool

Finished the Swim

It Was a Windy Ride

Finally to the Run

I'm in pain, damn shin splints

Finally the prize

At least I TRIed

Yesterday was my first sprint Tri. The day before I packed my goggles, bike shoes, towel, shirt, water bottle and a couple of Gu packs. I put my numbers on my bike, helmet and shirt. I was ecstatic about the next day. I tried getting good sleep by going to bed at 10 but I was nervous and kept waking up every hour.

Sunday I woke up at 4:30am very tired, I stumbled out of bed and the nerves set in even more. This is it, it's race day. I grabbed my things and loaded up my bike. The drive there was fast but I was still falling asleep. I got there and didn't know what to do except follow the other people. I unloaded my bike and aired it up. Walked over to the transition areas and observed what everyone else was doing. I walked over to get my timing chip and then walked back to the transition area. I stripped down to my tri shorts and walked over to the pool.

I sat down watching what everyone was doing and got more and more nervous. A friend of mine who has done other sprint tris was there so that relieved some of the nerves. We got to talking when one other guy that we ride with came along; this was his first tri as well. After about an hour of waiting I finally hit the water.

I jumped into the water and pushed off. Lap one and two were fine but as soon as I hit lap three I caught up with other swimmers. I passed a couple and then hit a bottle neck of about 3 other swimmers. I tried to go around but got kicked in the face instead. I lost my breathing rhythm and couldn't get back into it so I had to swim with my head above water. At some points I had to walk to wait to pass a group of people. I finally finished and jumped out of the pool.

I ran to the transition area and wiped my feet and put on my socks, shoes and shirt. Grabbed my bike and helmet and ran out. I got to the point where I could hop on my bike and started the bike portion of the tri. As soon as I took a left onto the street I hit a gust of wind and I knew it was not going to be a fun bike ride. For the most part the wind was on my side but at a couple of points it was hitting me straight one. After two loops I headed over to the transition area.

I took my bike shoes off and put my running shoes on. I started to jog off the transition area and I knew this was not going to be a fun run. Right off the start it went into the wind. I hadn't even gone more than a thousand feet when I started getting shin splints. I had to stop a couple of times because the pain was too much. This lasted for about 1.5 miles when I stretched out my legs. After finishing one lap I knew I had one more to go. I continued on and with about a fourth of a mile I had to stop again. I was walking when the person next to me says "you have a bit more energy to make it to the finish line?". I responded with a yes and we both took off. It's always nice to have some stranger motivate you. We both ran and finally crossed the finish line.

Since I signed up for the Clydesdale division there were only 22 people and out of those 22 people I came in 18th. It's not the best by far but I can finally say I finished a triathlon. Now I'm going to work on losing more weight so I can improve my time in future sprint triathlons and finally move to an Olympic or half ironman triathlons.

Nerves Are Setting In

I'm usually not a person to get nervous about anything but for some reason as the days get closer to Sunday I'm getting more and more nervous. I'm not sure if it's the fact that it's my first Tri or maybe that I'm not in that good of a shape to be wearing skin tight shorts in front of a group of people. I don't mind it when I'm at the gym and there are 6 people tops in the pool, but on Sunday it's going to be a lot of spectators. Oh well I'm sure I'm not the only fatty doing this and who cares what people think, I'm doing this for me and me only.

On another note I went and bought some Tri short Monday and tested them out at the pool. They were pretty comfortable in the swim so I'll have to see how they do on the bike and run part. I can't test the bike until Thursday because it's getting tuned up right now.

Tour Dallas

Saturday me and Cally did Tour Dallas. It was 30 miles starting in downtown and taking you through Lakewood, White Rock Lake and back to downtown. It was a nice change to do a leisure ride and not wanting to go as fast as I can. Here are some pics.

I Like New Things

I went for a swim yesterday and it wasn't all that good. I did about 3 laps and I couldn't breathe so I had to stop. I would go two more laps and couldn't breathe. Not sure if I was just tired or hungry but it wasn't a good swim. I'm going to have to step up the swim if I want to finish at a decent time for the Caveman Sprint Tri. I was looking at the results for last years Caveman Sprint Tri for the Clydesdale 1-39 group and I definitely need to improve my swim and run.

I'm improving on my weight but I don't think I'll be below 200 before next week. I've lost 11 pounds since I started writing this blog. I started at 226 and I'm now 215.


On another note I just ordered some new aerobars since I don't have a Tri bike. They're some Profile Design T2 Plus.

Click on me to enlarge

Rock and Roll Half Marathon

Here are some pics from the Rock and Roll Half Marathon. What a small world that we live in that out of 14,000 people I finished right in front of my girlfriend's coworker(in black) without even knowing it.

Starting Line

Almost there

A few more meters

Last bit of encouragement

Gotta finish

Finally

2:37:01

What a sense of accomplishment

On another note...

I haven't updated my training or anything for that matter in a while. It's not that I'm not training but I keep forgetting to update it. I guess I also forgot to mention that I signed up for the Rock and Roll half marathon. Well that was yesterday.

I started off fairly good and was going strong up to mile 2 when we hit a hill and started getting shin splints. I bought some compression sleeves and they helped a lot because the shin splints only lasted about half a mile. Without them they usually last about 2+ miles. I got all the way up to the hill but had to walk and catch my breath. A friend of mine came back to get me so that was encouragement and I kept running. I continued on to mile 5 where I encountered another hill and I wasn't too happy about it. Again I had to take a break from running and walked for about two minutes.

After the hill on mile 5 I lost my energy so I took some sports beans. Unfortunately I didn't have any water to take with them and my stomach starting cramping up. That lasted all the way to the end and was not too pleasant. I lost feeling on my legs at mile 6 and my knee started popping so I slowed down until it stopped popping which was about three minutes.

At mile 9 the 2:30 pacer caught up to me and I ran with her until mile 11. As I was running all I kept thinking is that I was half her age and she was talking and running like it was nothing while I'm barely keeping up with her and running out of breath. At mile 11 I couldn't take it anymore and I started walking. Not sure how long I walked for but it seemed like forever. I started running again until I hit mile 12 and walked for a second until someone came from behind and said "we're almost there you can do it". It's funny how a random person can encourage you to keep going. After about a minute I heard the crowd cheering and knew the end was near.

Finally I went around a turn and saw the finish line. That was the best sight I had seen all day. I sprinted across it and finished at 2:37:01. I was shooting for 2:30 but I'll take whatever time as long as I finished.

As I'm writing this I can help to think how much I'm hurting and that this is only a third of what a half Ironman is. I have a lot of training if I want to complete that. 

Holy Smokes Batman....

...I forgot to update this for three weeks. So I guess I'll start by saying that I'm not going to update with everything I've done in the past three weeks. But I will say I'm still training. I still haven't gotten back on the saddle but plan on doing that this weekend. I've been swimming at least once a week and running at least 3 times a week. I went running last night but only for 2 miles and my thighs were getting chaffed so I had to stop.

This weekend I'm doing the Dash Down Greenville 5k so we'll see how that goes. March 27 I'm still doing the  Rock and Roll Half Marathon so I'll post the results (if I finish). April 2nd I'm doing Tour Dallas bike ride and then April 10th is the Caveman Sprint Tri; my very first triathlon ever.

Cold Weather is NO Fun

This past week was not a good week for training. It was icy and snowy for most of the week. Sunday most of the ice had melted so I decided I'd go for a little run. Well it was still pretty cold and I didn't do too good. I went about .75 miles and I couldn't breathe. I walked the rest of the 1.25 miles and was not happy with my performance.

Monday I went in to do my speed work. I did .15 mile at 4.0, 1 mile at 6.1, .50 at 4.5, .75 at 7.0 and .10 at 3.5. Then I went to do some lightweight squats and other leg exercises.

Yesterday I went to sports authority and bought a swimming cap and some swim shorts (A fat man should never be seen in these, unfortunately I need them). I went to the gym to swim and I forgot my swim cap in my car so I had to swim without that. The shorts helped out a lot and I was there for about 45 minutes. I didn't keep track of how many laps I swam because I was just trying to work on my technique. I am not struggling with my breathing anymore and now I just have two focus on my posture.

I Got So Much Ice You Can Skate on it

Monday was a good day for an outside run since the weather was in the upper 50s. The plan for that day was to do 6 miles (3 times around my apartments). The first loop was a bit hard since I was going against the wind. Once I finished 2 miles I turned around and ran the other way so I didn't get bored. Once I reached 4 miles I checked my phone and I was at 51 minutes which was not the pace I was hoping for. I was hoping for a 10 minute per mile pace. I started a faster pace once I saw that and finished the 6 miles in 1:10:50.

Tuesday I was planning on swimming but there was a bit of ice on the roads so I just went home after work.

Wednesday I didn't go to work. This was nice but I'm bad when I stay home, especially when you have a girlfriend who loves to bake when she's bored I ended up eating bad :( . I decided to go to the gym to swim a bit. I've never swam at the one close my house and didn't know they had a salt water pool. After 10 minutes I was tired. I woke up today with my upper body sore. I guess this is good since most half ironman are in salt water. I've decided that from now on I'm going to go to this one. I've also decided I need to invest in some tri shorts, a swim cap and some fins.

No Water Big Problem

This past week I really didn't do much except swim one day since my leg was hurt. It still hurts when I touch it but I decided to tough it out and go running on Saturday. So I grabbed my phone and drove over to White Rock Lake. My plan was to run 3.5 miles and then turn around and run 3.5 miles back. I decided to do White Rock Lake because they have water fountains and I would not have to carry a water bottle with me. This was a big mistake. I got about 2 miles in and decided to stop at one of the water fountains and to my surprise no water came out. I was starting to wonder how much longer I could go but I kept going until I reached the next water fountain, again no water came out.

I reached the halfway point and then turned around. I was exhausted and very thirsty. I decided to walk the rest of the way since I hadn't had any water. That was the longest 3.5 miles I have ever traveled. I finally reached 7 miles and finally had a drink of water.

Other than the whole no drinking water, the run went ok. Neither my shin nor my knee hurt so I think I'm ready to start running again.

Oh $h!t I Forgot to Breathe

I just came back from my lunch break. I went to the gym to swim some laps, again focusing on technique and not distance. This time it went so much better than last time most likely because of the new goggles I bought. They're some Speedo Vanquishers that I got at Sports Authority.I read alot of good reviews on them so I thought I'd try them out. They fit perfectly without hurting my eyes and don't fog up. That helped out a lot since I didn't have to take them off after every lap. 

I started off good and didn't have any problems with my technique(at least I think I didn't) but my breathing caused some problems. It's not natural for me to exhale as soon as my face hits the water and my instinct is to hold my breath. I know it's not good for you because you're storing the CO2 in your lungs, but it's hard breathe out constantly underwater. After about 6 laps and a few mouthfuls of pool water in my stomach I finally I got it down (mostly by watching the person next to me). Not sure how many laps I swam but I stayed in the pool for about 30 minutes with a half minute break between each lap. I'm feeling more confident about the swimming part of the triathlon now. Now I need to go swim more during my lunch break.

I haven't ran at all this week because I don't want to hurt myself even more than I already am. I might attempt to run on Saturday since it's supposed to be nice outside but we'll see. I feel like I'm not improving much on my run and I have a feeling this is going to be the hardest part of the tri.

It really needs to start getting warm again so I can get back on the saddle even if it's for an hour during lunch or after work.

Speedo Vanquisher

Up to no Good

Saturday was not a good day.I was supposed to do 5 miles but only did 3.5 miles. I ran out of energy about 2.5 miles into it. I realized I'm really starting to hate the treadmill. It seems that no matter what I do I can't keep my eyes off the distance results, I even put a towel and it I kept peeking. I think from now on I'm going to go run outside no matter how cold it is. I might even change my long run to Saturdays instead of Thursdays.

Sunday I had a soccer game and since I'm the goalie I come in to alot of knee to knee and knee to anything else contact. Well I slid for a save and my shin met the player's knee. Well my shinguard moved out of place with the slide and my shin grew twice its size. I got home and put some ice on it and it hurt like hell. I haven't been able to run or bike. I'm going to try to swim either tonight or tomorrow during lunch.We shall see how that goes.

You've caught the gingerbread man

Well I'm not too happy with myself right now but I guess I'm content enough to post it. I went to run last night and it didn't go all that well. I was supposed to run 7 miles but I only did 5. I was feeling fairly good at first. I was doing the first mile at 5.5mph then I walked for a minute at 1.5 miles. I continued on to 3 miles at 5.5mph and ran out of energy so walked for a minute. I continued on to 4 miles between 5mph and 5.5mph. After 4 miles I hit a wall. I had no energy, I was out of breath and my stomach was hurting. I listened to what my body was saying so I stopped at 5 miles.

After getting home I realized why my stomach was hurting... I had eaten a CliffBar more than two hours before I started running. The book I was reading said for me to eat something within two hours of running, biking or swimming. If you wait any longer your body is going to start digesting it and can possibly into dehydration mode. This is exactly how I felt. I had a Gatorade with me but that didn't seem to help. It made me feel full so I only drank half of it.

Since I've started working out I've eaten a piece of bread with some peanut butter 30 minutes before I work out and I've felt good throughout the run. On my long run days I eat a Shot Block halfway through, if the run is more than 3 miles. I guess I'll keep doing that from now on.

Swimming is Not as Easy as Breathing

As I mentioned on yesterdays post I was going to go swimming during lunch. I did, and let me tell you I was not happy. To start off with I knew I wasn't going to do good and I was just going to focus on my technique. I had read different places to make sure your chin is to your chest and to look straight down at the floor. This was not the only hard part. The other hard part was learning how to breathe while looking down at the ground.

Basically I do what most people who only swim for fun do....swim with your face above water. After trying the whole looking straight down technique I realized how hard this was going to be. I would focus on looking down and not on the breathing and would run out of breath. Then I would focus on breathing and would realize I'm not looking straight down. After a few laps I finally got a little better at it. I was doing the 2:1 breathing ratio, one breath for every two strokes. I was there for about 30 minutes and swam only about 6 laps (again focusing on technique not distance).

During the 30 minutes I was there I started to realize that I need better goggles. I bought some about a year ago and when I tried them on at the store they were ok. Now that I'm swimming they start hurting if I wear them for more than 5 minutes. I started reviewing some goggles online and found some Speedo Vanquishers that got really good reviews. I went to Dicks Sporting Goods and tried them on and they felt great. I didn't buy them because I want to see if I can find a better deal elsewhere. We'll see how they work.

Run Run as Fast as You Can, You Can't Catch me I'm the Gingerbread Man

Yesterday I left work not feeling too energized, I'd been feeling sluggish all day. I got home and we made dinner but didn't eat instead I ate a piece of bread with some peanut butter about 30 minutes before running. I was planning on running at the gym but I decided to run around the apartments since I hadn't ran outside in a while. I pulled it up on Google maps and it's exactly 2 miles around the whole thing. I've ran that thing many times without knowing how long it really was since I was using the iMapMyRun app for my phone. It always said it was 1.92 but I noticed that it always cut some corners. I like this route because it has some good hills at the end (or beginning depending on which way I go).

I stretched for about 5 minutes before walking to the start. Once I started I felt pretty good and continued on. I finished the first 2 miles without a break but I stopped to check some messages on my phone for a minute. I continued on and finished 4 miles in 46 minutes and still had energy to keep going. This is a BIG improvement from when I first started where my 3.1 miles was 46 minutes. I divided it up and 46 minutes for 4 miles was about 11:50 a mile. I know it's baby steps but it's a step closer to my goal.

Today during lunch I'm going to attempt to swim at the gym. I say attempt to, because I'm going to be focusing on my technique instead of how long I go. On Thursday I'm running 7 miles so I'll update then. I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can start my cycling. I miss riding. 

A few pics

I realized that I don't have any pics on here. So I found some old ones to post. On another note I signed up for the Caveman Sprint Triathlon on April 10th in Farmers Branch. We'll see how that goes.

My current bike Trek 1.2

 

Road Bike I'd like to own (Trek Madone 5.2)

Tri Bike I'd like to own (Trek Speed Concept 7.0)

Germanfest 2010

Dash down Greenville 5k run 2010

Closer to my goal

Yesterday I got off work and drove to Dick's Sporting Goods to look for some Body Glide Anti-Pain balm but they didn't have any. Instead I got me some new socks with padding on them and some sports beans. I went home and waited for my girlfriend to get home so we could go to the gym. I ate the sports beans about 30 minutes before getting to the gym.

Once I got there I started running at a 4.5 mph pace. After about half a mile I got the urge to go pee really bad. I finished one mile in 13 minutes and then went to the rest room. I came back and started at a 5.5 mph pace but slowed down every once in a while. At the 3 mile (2 plus the 1 I had already finished) I took a shot block which helped out and gave me some needed energy. I think next time I'll take a Gatorade.

I continued on until about 4 miles where I slowed down to 4.5mph. After about a minute I started at 6.0 mph and continued on until about 5.5 miles. I slowed down and walked until 5.75. At that point I wanted to get done so I sprinted the rest at 7.5mph. I was really pleased with my run, I finished 5 miles in 57 minutes which is an improvement of 2 minutes and 45 seconds from last week's run. I finished the 6 miles in 70 minutes (57 minutes+13 minutes of the first mile before my rest room break). I think I'm going to start taking either a gel packet or some sports beans before my workouts. That really helped out. I think the socks helped out as well.

I weighed myself last night as well.....(insert dramatic pause here)...and I've lost five pound since I started 2 weeks ago. I'm now at 220 and my goal weight is 185. It's going to be hard to do this but I'm sure I can do it.

*Insert Running Here*

This week I only ran on Monday. My knee was hurting pretty bad but I was able to complete my speedwork. I didn't keep track of how fast I was going, all I know is that I finished 4 miles. I've been trying to eat fairly healthy and my girlfriend is being really supportive about it. We've stuck to lean meats and vegetables for dinner. I'm weighing in today so we'll see how I've done this week.

On Tuesday I went to Half Price Books and bought  'Your First Triathlon' by Joe Friel. I've been reading it and have learned a bit about nutrition before, during and after working out. Today I'm going to see how well I improve following what the book said. Today is my long run day and I'm supposed to run 6 miles. We'll see how that goes.