Welcome 2016, 2015 was great but I know you are going to be even better!

Happy new year everybody! Hopefully you had a great 2015 excited about the potentials for 2016. I'm not big on making resolutions, because I believe it is better to live your life goals but the beginning of the year always gives us a clean slate and something fresh for us to work on! Of course I did not accomplish all my goals for 2015, I'm a firm believer if I would have I didn't set enough goals. CDA did not happen for me last year and of course I was bummed about it, but failures should not drag you down they should build a fire inside of you so that you keep going after your goals to you accomplish them. For the past 10 years my 2 biggest goals has remain the same, *lose weight *finish Ironman. I have been working with a non-triathlete friend on my diet conclusion that I have not been real with myself as far as how I eat! Just because you regularly do 3 to 6 or by grades is not mean you can eat whatever you want! To lose weight, you have to eat like you truly want to lose weight and that means being vigilant and what goes on your plate it in your mouth. I see friends drinking IPAs after their bike rides and of course I want to drink IPAs after my bike ride but that is not conducive to losing weight. Also, I have a new triathlon coach and it is definitely unique to do as I'm told not as I want to do! But this is the year that the demons gets slane. I do what she tells me, I do not do what I think I should do. If you've ever been a self coached athlete me know what I mean! Old habits or difficult to break every now and then I screw up and do more than I should but she keeps me in line. 

I appreciate you checking on my blog, please feel free to comment so I know who actually took the time out of their life to check in on me! Another goal for me this year is to update this blog on a much more regular basis. 

Took my Zipps out for maiden voyage!

I purchased a new set of Zipp 606s for IMCDA. Well Ironman did not happen for me this year, so they have been sitting and waiting for their day! Yesterday was their day! I set out to do a 60 mile ride with Amanda, and this was her first big ride with her new tri bike! I decided it was time to take my zipps out for a ride! These wheels are amazing, they are definitely worth the hype about them. They are fast and spin smoothly.

We rode SART, which is the Santa Ana River Trail that goes from Corona to Huntington Beach! We started at Greenriver and had an extremely fast ride to the beach! I averaged close to 20 mph in some parts and overall was extremely pleased with my performance. I am in dealing with an ear infection for the last couple weeks so my training time has been pretty minimal and it definitely showed up on the way back to Corona   I hit the wall at about 50 miles in the last 5 miles were brutal! I did average 16.7 mph overall so I am very happy with that! I Crampton spasms several times at the end of the ride, a day later I am still having a lot of muscle cramps but that is part of the fun I guess!

10k run

I had a great run today, I could definitely tell I had not recovered from yesterday though! 6.2 miles in one hour 27 minutes. I know it does not seem faster a lot to you but I've been dealing with a nagging low back injury that I have been working my way back from and just a couple weeks ago I was averaging 17 minute miles! I'll take it, I'm happy to see things moving in the right direction. Next week I have a mock half Ironman with my local Tri group, and two weeks from today is my first triathlon of the season and the day I turn 50!

Tough ride!

I had a great ride yesterday, but things got really tough! I hit road debris and about 22 miles into my ride and it made me flat. I change the tire but something went wrong with my CO2 and I wasn't able to fully fill my tire up so I had to finish my ride with the tire that was about half full. I wasn't able to get the MPH that I wanted to but that's life and that's the way goes during Ironman is well. I had a pretty considerable headwind coming back so let me get really tough as well! All in all it was a good ride but I only average just under 14 mph.

Happy Saturday!

Happy Saturday and happy Valentine's Day everybody, I hope your training is going very well! I am on my way to LA for a 50 mile bike and followed up with a 5 mile run. I am reaching the height of my build for Oceanside right now so I'm feeling a little drained and a little under the weather but you have to get it done!

1.2 mile swim & 4 mile run

I woke up early this morning which seems to be the norm for me these days. 330 is awfully early to wake up, but I knew if I went back to sleep I'd end up oversleep and not getting my working out. So what did I do? I got up made coffee and put on YouTube and started watching Ironman videos that I headed to the pool for a 1.2 mile swim and then came home change clothes and went for a 4 mile run! I really feel as though my training is starting to come together so I'm excited to share that with you guys!

4 1/2 months till IMCDA!

4 1/2 months or 136 days until IMCDA! All systems are a go, I am feeling good and strong but it is definitely time to step it up. My diet still need to get a little cleaner, and there is absolutely no excuse at this point and training to miss a workout! I would say I'm about 80% of mailing my targets which I am very excited about, but it's time to step it up to 100%!

Happy New Year!

Happy new year everybody! And yes it is the best time of year to set new goals because everybody gets to start fresh.to be blunt, if you're setting the singles year after year and just changing the expiration date you need to have a long hard talk with yourself and see where your priorities truly are. Weight loss is something I've been striving towards for a decade now and it seems to allude me year after year! I trying hard and often but honestly I have finally come to except it is my diet that is holding me back.

With the start of the new year I am also starting a new whole 30 challenge! The whole 30 challenge is a very strict Paleo method of eating where you consume no sugars no bread no dairy no lintels no sweeteners and no alcohol! I did a 30 day challenge back in October and lost 20 solid pounds from it!

The biggest challenge with this challenge is meal preparation. You must be prepared or you will not make it! I am very thankful that my wife is supportive of this and she does a pretty darn good jobof keeping my meals prepped! The biggest drawback to this method of eating if you do not get to eat a lot of the foods that are your trigger foods! You have to eliminate these foods.Long endurance training can also be an issue, keeping your energy levels up for training sessions be on an hour is difficult when you can't consume the traditional endurance athletes nutrition! It just takes moreplanning and preparations though!

5 mile Time Trial Run.

Great run today! 5 mile time trial at Los Alamos Sports Park. Each loop is just under a mile do I ran 5 and a half of them. My running has suffered dearly since getting injured and putting on weight. I've been working with a coach and I'm happy to say my 5 mile time trial has gone down from 1:20 to 1:08 in two months. Even better my last mile was a 12:28. Progress is slow but exciting when you get to see it!

40 mile bike after a long Thanksgiving weekend!

Had a great Thanksgiving weekend and I think my body needed a couple re-feed days! I slept in this morning didn't get out of bed till almost 8 o'clock and I saw a message from my coach that I needed to get a 2 1/2 hour ride today and didn't really surprise me but I've kind of thinking I'd be able to do about an hour and a half so I knew I was behind the gun anything I did would be windy. So I decided to head out to the Santa Ana River Trail and get it done. 15 miles in the my bike I flatted on my rear wheel which is always twice as big of a pain in the ass to change as a front wheel! But I got it done like a pro jump back on my bike and finished my ride! I put in a total of 40 miles an hour average 16 miles an hour. I was very happy with that!

How big of a workout do I need a day to burn off what I ate yesterday?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and had a chance to enjoy your family and recharge your batteries! I did excellent day we drove out to Los Angeles and spent the day in Santa Monica my wife had a wonderful turkey dinner waiting for us when we got there! Friday morning I met my training partner, Mitch, for a pool swim. We did 1500 yards in my average pace was one minute 40 seconds which is really good for me as very happy with my swim.I just scheduled right after work so I did a 5 mile run and I cut off six minutes from my previous 5 mile run so I was very happy with that. I hope everybody has a most wonderful weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy thanksgiving to all! I went out for my 26 mile time trial this morning. It was a great ride. It started pretty cold but once I got moving it was perfect! I averaged 16 mph with some good climbing and even a little wind! 

Now it's time to go put down some turkey!

124 Days to Oceanside 70.3!

Today starts my build for Oceanside 70.3. Honestly I had a pretty rough start, could not seem to get out of bed this morning at my usual 4 AM. I slept until almost 630, then got up dusted myself off drink my coffee and headed to the pool for my 1100 yard workout session. Thank goodness my coach ease me into this week because I don't know what happened my motivation this morning but it definitely was a little lacking! I went to 24 hour fitness hoping that their pool had reopened and I was the second one in after it is been shut down for a couple weeks for maintenance!

Pain Cave

My coach gave me the weekend off from training so that I could be nice and rested up for my Oceanside 70.3 build that starts today! I also deviated from my whole 30 eating plan for the weekend as well. But the biggest thing I accomplished this weekend is getting my training room set up so I can start doing my morning ride indoors on the days that I cannot get outside. 

Rest Weekend!

My coach gave me a rest weekend, two whole days without training before my build for Oceanside starts on Monday. What the heck I'm going to do with myself for two whole days without training? Lol

7 mile long run.

I did a 7 mile run this morning, it felt okay  but running is still very uncomfortable for me. I am very hopeful that as more weight comes off running gets easier and easier. 

Beautiful rainy day in Southern California!

Good morning all it's a beautiful rainy day in sunny Southern California. We really really need to rain here so I'm not complaining about it at all, you just have to adapt to it!

Up at 4 AM to have coffee

In CrossFit by 5 AM

Now a 3 mile run

In the office by 8 AM to turn the power on!

What are you doing today to make your life great?!

7 mile trail run.

7 mile trail run up at the Santa Rosa Plateau! My low back is still causing me grief but it does seem to be improving quite a bit. So lucky to have such an amazing place to run as the plateau. 

40 mile bike with some GOOD climbing!

Great bike today. Starting to feel stronger on climbs. Still a long way to go but definitely feeling like I'm making progress! I made it to Tenaja Rd over 15 minutes faster than when I did it 6 months ago! I'm doing three beastly hilly races next year and the only way to build confidence in the hills is by training in them. 

1 Mile Swim

Do you ever have to sit in your car just a little extra while your favorite song is playing getting you all pumped up? Yeah me too! It's 50° outside I'm heading in to do my swim set.