October 24, 2007

Iron will

My triathlon coach Pete Alfino of Mile High Multisport is awesome. I'm really grateful to have such a knowledge person in my corner who's only concern is to make sure I become an Ironman. I've had a bad coach before. After 5 months with the bad coach I was slower than before I had hired him. I am especially grateful for Pete because I've seen what an unmotivated coach can do to an athlete. Coach Pete is a GREAT coach!

I got an email from coach Pete recently stating I should stop worrying about completing the Silverman by the cutoff time. He said out of all the years he'd been coaching he'd only had one athlete DNF. & that athlete brought it upon themselves by not finishing scheduled workouts etc. Not his exact words, I'm paraphrasing. He told me to think positive. So I sat down today & thought about all the things I'd done to ensure I'd complete the Silverman.

-I ran & biked religiously, rarely missing either.
-lets see....um....uh....there has got to be at least one more thing!Sorry coach. This just has not been a good 4 months for me.

I've skipped almost every swim in the last 10 weeks. I've gained just shy of 40lbs. I'm working 86 hrs a week. I'm not sleeping anywhere near enough.

So then I go over the numbers of my expected Ironman debut. I keep coming up with the same time.

18 hrs.

1hr 45 minute 2.4 mile swim, that is IF I have a great swim.

On my bike I average just over 12 miles an hour on my training days. That's 9 hrs 20 minutes on the bike if there are no problems at all. Just mile after mile of feeling good.

On my training runs I have been averaging 14.45 miles in 3 hrs. That's a 13 minute per mile average. My training run is relatively flat. The Silverman has 3900 feet elevation gained & lost. So if I take into consideration that I'll be running tired from a swim I haven't trained for, & a bike w/ 9300 ft of elevation gained & lost I'm guessing a marathon time of 6hrs 45 minutes.

10 minutes worth of transitions.

Exactly 18 hrs.But that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter when it comes to me. I'm a hard headed stubborn SOB. I have determined to finish this race. & when I am determined to do something I have ALWAYS gotten it done. My high school football coach called me a gamer. He told me when he saw me practice he thought I'd be 3rd string offensive lineman if I made the tam at all. I was only 170 lbs as a freshman & I seemed to get pushed around allot in practice. Luckily the first game of the season we were winning big time. So he started taking out his 1st string players so other kids could play. I dominated the rest of the game. The next game he decided to put me in on a few plays because our starting left guard was struggling against a particular opponents dominant defensive lineman. My coach didn't think I'd do well because our starting left guard was 225 lbs., I was only 170. If he couldn't stop that guy how could Cody? But he had to try something. That defensive lineman he sent me in to block outweighed me by over 30lbs. I shut him down the rest of the game! I started all 4 years of high school football. My coach had said there are some people who just show up on game day. Some people whom competition awakens some kind of beast inside them. I'm one of those people. It's not that I don't give it my all in practice, I do. But on game day I play beyond my means.

I was on the State penitentiary's Emergency Response Team (ERT) for 5 years. My rookie year on the team they brought in the State Police's ERT to teach us how to do a proper riot line. Apparently they are the states best @ conducting a riot line. I won't argue w/ that. They were dang good. They had our biggest ERT members try & break through or take them out. None of our guys could & we have some VERY big/aggressive guys on our team. As I was watching the state police completely dismantle out teams biggest & baddest my competitive side came out. I kamikazied their line & took out their whole right side. All that was left of the right side was a pile of bodies, batons, & scattered helmets. I paid dearly. Can someone say police brutality? But I folded their line like a stack of cards!

A couple years ago the team was called in to do a cell extraction on an inmate. They assembled a 5 man team to do the extraction on an inmate. 4 of the biggest Officers in the state Penn, & me. This inmate had been in prison his whole adult life. All he did was lift weights & eat. He had arms like legs & legs like people. This inmate has many priors for hurting officers. The team was stacked biggest to smallest. Our 1st officer in line was Aaron B. He was an offensive lineman for UNM & heavily scouted by the pro's until an injury ended his career. His specialty is moving anything that should be too big to be moved. Next in line was Robert P. He could bench press over 500lbs & shortly after this extraction he tore some ligaments in his arms while doing curls. The amount of weight he could curl was so much his body just couldn't handle the weight. They were all huge except me. At the time I was only 225. When the door opened we all charged in to restrain this convicted felon. From the rear of the line I saw one officer after another go down. Some hurt, some just tossed aside like a rag doll. Next thing I know the inmate & I are the only ones standing. He charged me & at the time of impact I saw bursts of bright stars, I was nearly knocked unconscious by the impact. But somehow I held on to that giant son of a gun. I threw my arms around his neck & put him into a standing front naked choke (same thing as on this video, but done from in front of opponent). My legs weren't touching the floor as I held on to his neck he was so tall. He started to sway back & forth. After what felt like forever, but in reality was only a second or two he fell backwards, unconscious onto the floor. Game over. Check mate. End of story.

I have no doubt I'll be an Ironman by midnight Nov 11th. All of my training shows I won't finish in time. But I know better. I will be an Ironman.

October 22, 2007

To imature not to






I somewhat caught up w/ my sleep today. I got a solid 6 hrs. Not much as I
should. But as much as I can considering I have to support 4 people on the NM
state penitentiary's pay. We are the second lowest paid corrections in the
nation, but to be honest if I wanted better I could get better by going to
school or working corrections @ another state. I'm
complacent-er-comfortable-whatever one should call it.

After I woke up I went for a run. During my run I realized my left knee, hip,
& lower back has completely healed up since I tossed out my old work boots that
had one of the air bubbles in the sole pop.

On my run today it started snowing. Surprised the heck out of me. It only
snowed for about 10 minutes & it didn't stick to the ground. But dad-gummit, it
snowed alright..

Now, before I tell you what happened on my run today I need to explain to you
that I run w/ my dog. I don't keep her on a leash because she is EXTREMELY well
trained. When running w/ her if I snap the fingers on my right hand she'll run right next to me on my right side. She'll run next to my left side
if I snap the fingers of my left hand. When we come up to a road she'll sit next
to me until I yell "Go!" at which time we'll both run across the road.

About a month ago as I was running w/ my dog I passed in front of a housing
developments main office. Out of that office a woman ran out of it yelling at me
"put that dog on a leash or I'll have the home owners association fine you!" She
apparently thought I lived in that area. I don't, I just run through there
frequently. So I yelled back, "you can fine me if you can find me!" Apparently
that really made her angry because since then she has been waging her own
personal war against me. Every time I have run by her office she has ran out
after me doing or saying something. Of course I have to admit I am running by
her office as frequently as possible because I'm getting an immense amount of joy
out of her continued threats. So far she has come out of her office & taken
pictures of me & my dog as I ran away. She's run out yelling she's going to press charges
& have my dog put to sleep once she finds out where I live. LOL. Last week she
ran out of her office yelling every cuss word imaginable. I stopped running once
I was about 35 yards away from her, turned & said with as much innocence as I
could put into my voice "what?"
"How many fu**ing times do I have to tell your dumb a&@ to leash that fu#&ing
mutt you dumb white sh*t head!" That is exactly what she said. Luckily I have a great
sense of humor. So rather than getting mad & getting into a verbal confrontation
I said "I'll leash my dog if someone will muzzle you." LOL. Wasn't that much
better than doing something stupid? Well apparently she didn't find this funny
because she took off running after me. She must be a runner because she chased
me for almost half a mile! @ one point she came pretty close to catching me.
She's a pretty fast runner! LOL.

So today I ran by her office & I was thoroughly disappointed to see she was so
engrossed on her computer that she didn't see me. I even walked up to the window
in front of her office & stood there for a bit drinking some Gatorade. Still no
dice. So I decided to go on with my run & see if she saw me on my return. On my
way back I passed by her window again. She just typed away & did not see me.
Well that just wouldn't do! I've been really enjoying our little game. My only
assumption is that she must be enjoying it too, right?

I walked right up to her window again and stood there for awhile to allow her
to catch a glimpse of this fine Clydesdale of a man. I stood there for almost 4
minutes without her ever seeing me. So I did what every fun hearted individual
would do, I banged on the window to get her attention. I got an even better
reaction than I could of wished for! She jumped up out of her chair & hollered
like she was on fire! When she looked @ me I pointed @ my unleashed dog, smiled,
stuck my tongue out at her, & then took off running as fast as I could while
laughing so hard tears were rolling out of my eyes! I know, it was immature, but dang it was
funny!

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her run out of her office & jump into her car. Alright! I thought, she's wants to try to play chase w/her car! Many run trails wined throughout
that huge housing development & I'm pretty familiar with them so I started
running to areas that were as far from her & her car as possible. Apparently
she's pretty familiar w/ the area too because every time I thought I'd lost her
she'd come screeching around another corner after me again. I was getting a
little freaked out after about a half hour of this. I decided this wasn't fun
anymore. I did end up getting away without her seeing where I ran too. I think. But my 1
hr recovery run ended up being a 1.5 hr hard run w/ about 4 miles of intervals
in the middle of it.

You know, I think I'm not going to run near there for awhile. Fun is fun, but
she took our game to far this time. LOL.

October 21, 2007

Ain't got time to bleed or Stupid is as stupid does

One of my favorite movie scenes is in Predator, an 80's flick starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The scene takes place after a gun fight. Jessie Ventura got shot in the arm & one of his squads men said "your hit, you're bleeding man". Ventura spits a huge steam of chewing tobacco out of his mouth & replies "I ain't got time to bleed".My situation last night was nowhere as cool or dramatic. But when I'm as tired as I was last night, I need to find motivation where I can. So my mantra for last night was "I ain't got time to be exhausted."

Friday morning I got off of a 12 hr shift, slept 2.5 hrs, and then set out on a 5hr 45 min brick. I rode out from my house on the south side of Santa Fe, rode through Santa Fe via one of the only pedestrian trails in this non-cyclist-friendly city. Then rode south on the I-25 frontage road. Then hopped onto 285 & rode past Eldorado and the girls ranch. Half way to Clines Corners I turned around to head back home. I thoroughly enjoyed that ride. I got to ride through some of the most beautiful sections of this area. It was actually the first time I'd ridden through there. I'd not done that ride yet simply because I'm not that familiar with the area. That is the rout I'll be heading out on Nov 18th when riding to Hobbs NM on my bicycle to visit my family for Thanksgiving. So I thought I'd better do the first part of the first leg so I won't be riding blind so to speak.

Once I got home I finished the ride off w/ a 45 min run. I felt pretty dang good considering I'd done my workout on almost no sleep. As soon as I got home I got ready for another shift @ the Hate Factory. I was scheduled to work a 12 hr shift that night. As soon I got to work I volunteered for another shift tomorrow night (Sat night). About 8 hrs through my shift I am thinking I'm on the tail end of a rough night. I was REALLY tired, but functioning relatively well considering it was 4am, I'd pushed through a 6hr brick & was working on such a small amount of sleep. I got a call from the shift commander about that time letting me know l got 1B control center @ the Super Max facility for 12 hrs Sat night. Shortly after that I got another call from my shift commander advising me I got a mandatory overtime for 4 hrs at the end of this shift. Great. Just flippen great. The supervisors hand out the 12hr shift overtimes before the 4hr overtimes on purpose. The way the policies are written here @ the State Penitentiary is once a person volunteers for a post on their day off they HAVE TO show up. If we don't show we get an AWOL. If we knew we were going to have to work a 16 most officers wouldn't plan on coming in that night for another 12. Without officers coming in for thier day off the Penn would be in a state off emergency due to a staff shortage. The supervisers/administraters here don't care if a person shows up so tired that they are a threat to security. They want a body to fill the post, no exceptions or excuses.

So now I was stuck having to show up for another 12 hr shift 8 hrs after getting off an unexpected 16 hr shift. To add insult to injury I was scheduled for a 2 hr run after this unexpected extended work day. I know what I should of done. I should of gotten off work and gone straight to sleep so I'd be rested for work that night. I could make up my run tomorrow morning when I got off of work. But no, I'm much to stupid for that. I got home, allowed myself 4 hrs sleep woke up and did my scheduled 2hr run. Stupid stupid stupid!!!

Sat night was one of the most difficult nights I'd had in recent memory. I was so tired I had to stay standing the entire night. The minute I sat down I'd start nodding off. To make it even worse I kept thinking the only way I'm going to get gains from my training is if I get enough sleep & rest. The only time a person recovers and gets stronger is when they are sleeping/resting. Sleep is a commodity I have not been privy to recently. I'm scheduled to work again tonight for another 12hr overtime shift. I can rest plenty once I'm dead. For now I ain't got time to be exhausted.

October 18, 2007

Picks to fit the posts

Couch-potatoe-to-Ironman & I



My wifes first day as a stay at home Mom


My baby girl feeding my incredible eating machine. You see, he's already almost as big as her.


My wife, Grandfather, 2 kids & I


This is, from left to right- Michael Lovato, Me, Amanda Lovato (did I mention I got to hug her) and The Man Couch-potatoe-to-Ironman

chub rub & calorie counting

I did an 8 mile run today. Felt pretty good except for my chub rub. For those of you who don't know what chub rub is you are in good physical shape, & good for you, stay that way. Chub rub is what happens when a person runs when they are overweight. They (me) have extra weight around their thighs so when they run the inside of their legs rub together with so much pressure that they develop raw spots on the inside of their thighs. I worked with a guy by the name of Don Trujillo today. He's a former marathon Olympic hopeful & a local (obviously since I worked w/ him tonight). I told him jokingly about the bloody spots on the inside of my legs & how bad it'll be after the marathon part of my Iron. He immediately went into teaching mode. More on what he taught me later.

I've always been attracted to diets that I could eat as much as I wanted. The Atkins, Paleo, etc. I found those are easy to lose weight on but I am completely unable to keep the weight off. The reason is because those unlimited calorie diets demand I cut out things completely out of my diet. Perhaps there are people out there who can never eat bread, pasta, sugar, etc ever again. But I've found many many times over I can't.Don explained to me calories in & calories out. How to figure out how many calories I need each day. And how to count calories once I figure that caloric # out. Now counting calories is common sense I suppose. But there were some things I didn't know. Such as what percents of carbs/protien/fat to eat. How to know when to adjust my daily calories. It didn't take long to explain all that to me. Why the heck have I been trying to make all this so dang complicated for so many years? As I thought about it I started getting pretty dang exited. I could live life like that. If I splurged on a unlimited calorie diet like the Atkins I was screwed because the whole basis of the diet was to completely avoid those foods. If I'm counting calories & I cheat I need to simply minimize the amount of the bad food I had, figure out the calories I ingested, & then adjust my calorie intake the rest of the day to accommodate my indulgence. Seems simple enough. My first step is to figure out what my calorie needs are. That is perfect timing because my coach told me to NOT diet this close before my Silverman because if I try & do an Iron w/ my body at a negative of any kind it can & probably would ruin my race. So I'll guesstimate where I think my calorie needs are right now & stay in that general area for 1 week. If @ the end of that week I've lost weight my caloric needs are greater. If I've gained weight I need to decrease my daily calories. The first week is apparently imperative that I stay as close to my guesstimated daily calories as possible. @ the end of the week if I gained 2 lbs I know that my daily calorie needs are about 1000 calories a day less than what I ate because 1 lb of fat is 3500 calories.

I think with this info & Justins guidance on my emotional dependence on food I can whoop this thing! Perhaps not all @ once. I need to be patient (not one of my strong suits let me tell you). & I need to realize set backs from time to time are inevitable. As long as I keep those 2 things in mind I think I can make this a life style change. I have decided that before. But I think this time, with this info I can do it. I'll start the calorie reduction Nov 12th. The day after the Silverman. Thanks for tuning in. I'm out!!

October 17, 2007

IM article

My coach sent me this. Thought you all would injoy itIronman It follows you everywhere. Like an ever-present shadow or an alter ego, and at times it can follow you like an annoying guilt-inducing time management stalker. But most often it follows you around as a confidence-inspiring best friend. Ironman is always with you. You realize in this crazy and dynamic sport that Ironman is not just a logo on the products that appear everywhere around us---on supermarket shelves, in clothing stores and bike stores. Ironman is not just a race or a goal. Ironman is a life-changing experience that irrevocably gifts you with intense lessons about yourself and a fitness level that is often unsurpassed. Whether you are training to race in your first Ironman, or you’ve finished nine World Championship Ironman races in Hawaii, this experience stays with you. When you mention the words of Ironman triathlon to other people, it changes things. It changes things in you, and it changes things in them. Telling someone you’re an Ironman or that you are going to do one commits you in a binding way. It has been said that when you fully commit to something or someone, you find it easier to tell other people. It’s also been said that once you are fully committed to something or someone, you are bound by your word and your internal commitment to yourself. Wearing an Ironman T-shirt opens the door for people to talk to you in airports, on the street, or in restaurants. And like a club with a secret handshake, when you see other people who have finished an Ironman, there is a silent understanding. Most relationships are forged with a common experience, and the bond of experiencing an Ironman is one that breaks conventional relationship boundaries. Just go to Kona---or Lake Placid or France---to witness people from all over the world with ultra-diverse backgrounds becoming part of a very special and supportive family. With the commitment to train and race in an Ironman, you’ve started along the yellow brick road that will present you with far more than the lions and tigers and bears of your own self-doubt and fear. Training gives you a strong heart, physiologically and emotionally. Racing will grant you courage. Finishing will give you dauntless confidence. This yellow brick road to Kona, Hawaii---or to any Ironman race worldwide---will be jammed with lessons. You’ll rapidly learn that biking shoes are like ice skates on the slippery floors of grocery stores and that a bike can seem just a few pounds lighter than your running shoes. You will also learn very difficult lessons that will shake and sort your priorities in life like a powerful earthquake, revealing the basic truths that support who is really important to you. If you’re not myopically focused on the size of your chain ring, or your finishing time, then Ironman just may teach you what you honestly value in your life. You will learn the basic lessons of what to eat, how to train, and how to run a marathon after being glued to your bike seat for more than 112 miles. You will learn that the wind, the rain, the heat and the struggle are often overshadowed, even forgotten, when you reach the last few miles of an Ironman and find the courage to break through your own boundaries. It is inevitable that when you watch an Ironman, or when you do an Ironman, the words never or never again will pass through your mind as you click your running shoes together at mile 15 of the run and say, “I wish I was home, I wish I was home.” But then you’ll realize that it’s within the Ironman experience that you just may find yourself more at home than laying in your bed on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Ironman may follow you like a shadow, but like all kids, you’re destined to find out that your shadow is a mere representative image cast by an object blocking illuminating rays. And that object is you, rebuilt with the adventurous fortitude of the Ironman experience. Let your running shoes click together in your next stride and glance down at your shadow. You’re home.

October 16, 2007

Never to old to learn

Dang it, she was right again. You'd think after being W/ her for 7 years I'd of
gotten used to saying that. My wife is right more often than I like to admit.
The visit with my Grandfather went great.

He's 79 years old and has an advanced case Parkinson's disease. I'm glad my wife coerced me to do this. I'm not sure how long I would had to try to rebuild a relationship w/ him. Not to mention the fact that since I'm a parent it's not about me anymore. I need to be thinking of
my children. That is their Great-grandfather,their only one. My responsibility
as a father is to give my children every opportunity in life that I can, while
insuring their safety. I must say it is imperative I keep my children away
from my natural Father. But to be honest, it was a knee jerk over reaction to
distance myself from all the Hansons just because there is one bad apple in the
bunch. My natural Father is unsafe for children to be around because he has
paranoid schitofinia. His family is, & always has been good people. It's not their fault he's the way he is. It's really not even my Fathers fault he's dangerous to the people around him either. It took someone as loving as my wife to show me that. My Grandpa really had always been good to me. Every memory I have of him is of him being incredibly kind. It's interesting how when a child is hurt by someone, everyone they associate w/ that person they learn to avoid. I'm just glad I learned that after all these years he never stopped loving me unconditionally.

When we first showed up I thought perhaps his mind had deteriorated because he was not saying much, he just kept starring at me & my babies. But after about an
hour he started talking allot. Turns out he was just in a state of shock. He
didn't even know he had any Great-grandchildren. These are the only ones he has.
I sure am glad my wife & I went to visit him. My wife & I have made plans to
visit him again in Nov. That's when I plan on riding to Hobbs for Thanksgiving. I know I say
this allot, but life is sweet, and all the time just seems to get better.

Thanks for the messages Justin. I followed your advise about my eating. I realized it is what it is. I simply tried to minimize it as much as I could & not dwell on what I couldn't change.

Peace! I'm out!

October 15, 2007

recon results & family from long ago

Well my recon mission went well. Sat morning I got off work @6am and completed my 2.5hr run in an atrocious time. Then I loaded all my family's luggage for a 4 day trip. Add my bike & that was one heck of a packed van let me tell you. We were supposed to have left our house in Santa Fe @ 10am. But my wife who is chronically late wasn't ready to leave until 12:30. I was really annoyed, but in all fairness one of her 2 only faults is her ability to be on time. So I usually ignore her uncanny ability to be 2-3 hrs late anywhere. Yup, 2-3 hrs. I'm not exaggerating. I HATE to be late so this is a great opportunity for me to learn patients.

Once we FINALLY left I slept while my wife drove & she was nice enough to log in every gas station, truck stop, eatery (is eatery a real word?), & hotel from Santa Fe to Hobbs on a piece of paper so I could plan my bike ride in Nov from our house to Hobbs this Nov. I didn't sleep well because the only other fault my wife has other than being late is her ability to drive, or lack there of. LOL. So now I know she's trying to drive while also writing down every possible stop a bicyclist may need to make. I just didn't feel safe enough to get very restfull sleep.

Here's the itinerary.
Day 1: I'll leave Santa Fe on Sun Nov 18th at day break. I'll refill my Gatorade in Eldorado, then eat/refill bottles @ Clines corners. From Clines Corners I'll ride all the way through to Vaughn where I'll stop for the night. 120 miles.

Day 2: Only one stop between Vaughn & Roswell. It's a rest stop @ the 56 mile mark. I can carry enough fluid on my bike for 3 hrs of riding. I usually ride at around 13-14 miles an hour. Approximately 52-56 miles. I'll need to load up on food/cliff bars in Vaughn and carry powdered Gatorade from my house because all that is available at this rest stop is water from a drinking fountain or Coke from a vending machine. I'll stay the night in Roswell. 110 miles.

Day 3: There are 2 gas stations in between Roswell & Hobbs that are exactly at the %30 & %60 mark. Perfect. 96 miles to my aunts door step.

The time spent here in Hobbs has been great. I'll spare all you the boring details. It is good enough to simply say we are having a nice relaxing time visiting my Grandmother, 2 aunts, & 2 uncles. I did go on an easy 1.5hr bike today (Sun). I would love to live/train out here. It is completely flat! A Clydes dream terrain!

My wife brought up my natural father's Dad today. His name is Bill. Grandpa Bill I guess. I haven't seen my Dad or anyone on his side of the family since I was 13 or so. Grandpa Bill lives here in Hobbs. My wife said we should probably call him and allow him to see his 2 grand children.I don't agree, he doesn't even know he has Grand children. & what he doesn't know won't hurt him I always said in mid school. So here I am @ 2am unable to sleep and stuffing everything I can find into my face. Food is where I go to find comfort. I've been doing great avoiding binging for almost a month. The last time I really had the need to jump head first into a Calderon of chips & ice cream I called a friend of mine who has the same issues. He talked me down so to speak. I don't want to call him now because of the time. He has a wife and 2 young children. Danm, I'm a nervous wreck. I haven't been this worried since my high school sweet heart's Mom caught us fooling around in their RV while in AZ on summer vacation. I thought for sure they were going to drop my butt off on the side of the road. Note to self: never take my daughter's boyfriend on summer vacations with us no matter how much we like him. Because if we like him that much, she probably likes him more.

On a side note here. My daughter keeps waking up crying. I'm not sure if it's because we are in a new place or what, she's having as hard of a time sleeping as I am. She's only 2 and she has my heart in her little hands. I am COMPLETELY wrapped around her little finger. The last time she woke up my wife went to comfort her. She yelled "No! I want my Daddy!" I always do the proper husbandly thing when that happens & tell her "Don't talk to Mommy like that. Be nice to her". But I actually like it. My wife is forever saying the reason she had another baby was because she wanted one that liked her. LOL. Luckily God graced us w/ a son 2nd time around. He's only 2.5 months old and already a Mama's boy. After Mom was rejected I went over and laid next to my baby girl. I asked her what's wrong. She's to the age where she can tell us some of the things that are bothering her. She just cried harder which meant she didn't know how to explain it. I asked if she needed her diaper changed: no. Was she uncomfortable (she's sleeping on a blow up bed next to our bed). No. I went through the whole gambit. No's to everything. So I asked her "are you crying because you're so pretty?" She shook her head yes & stopped crying. My wife and I lost it. We laughed until we had tears coming out of our eyes. That made my daughter mad & she pointed at us, said "NO!" And started crying all over again. LOL. I love being a Daddy. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me.

October 13, 2007

Dreaded long day & a reconnaissance mission

This week I had a rough week of training. For some reason each of the workouts I did I struggled on. An eight mile run on Wed was the worse of the bunch. My left knee was hurting again like it has been for almost a month. So no surprise there. But this time my left hip and lower back was hurting also. That's usually not a problem though, I will just train through any pain. But for some reason I was so slow on every workout I did this week. Agonizingly slow. So consequently I was really dreading my long brick today. I was scheduled for a 6 hr bike followed by a 45 min run. To make me even less enthusiastic I got off of work @ 6am and was scheduled to return again that night at 6pm. When I got home I slept for as long as I could. I knew I needed to be on the bike by 9;30 to have enough time to complete my workout and then get ready for another 12hr shift of work. I got 2.5hrs of sleep. I was dang tired when I had to get up. To make me even less exited about my workout, my wife was home because this was her 1st day home as a stay @ home Mom. I missed her. Because we have been working opposite shifts I have only seen her once or twice a week for the last month. I really missed her! I decided to do the first part of my workout on my indoor trainer so that I could at least talk to her a little while I rode. I actually had a great time being with her while I got in my mileage. We talked for quite awhile. Then turned on the TV & we watched my favorite TV show The Biggest Loser. While watching the show Cindy pulled a stool next to my bike and we held hands for almost ten minutes. Holding hands while I rode my bike indoors wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world for either one of us. But we missed each other so much we were content despite the awkward angle I was having to ride in and how sweaty our hands were. I ended up doing 3hrs on the trainer. 1.5hrs was the most I'd ever been able to tolerate before. The last 3 hrs of my scheduled ride I rode from my house on highway 14 just south of Santa Fe, North on 14 past Madrid NM. While riding through Madrid I hit a pot hole and my new PDA fell onto the road @ 25 miles an hour. I Stopped, picked up the pieces & continued riding. I was pretty P.O.'d at having busted up my palm pilot. Yes, it is expensive, but the reason I was most upset was because it was such a kind and considerate gift from my wife And I ruined it in less than a day.I ended the bike ride feeling a little more tired than I usually am at that distance. 81 miles in 5hrs 51 minutes. I believe lack of sleep had allot to do w/ that. I hit 8 thousand miles on my bike today which was a pretty exiting mile stone for me. I felt much better on the run than I usually do after a long bike like that. As a matter of a fact, I felt great! I felt fast which is unusual for me I felt like I could of completed a marathon. Good thing considering I will need to run a marathon after 112 miles in the saddle in less than a month I ended up completing 4 miles in 40 minutes. I know, not what most would call fast. But it is for me.After my brick I started getting ready for work and noticed the air bubble on my left work boot had popped. Who knows how long I'd been wearing those boots with improper support for my left foot. I believe I have found the culprit of my nagging left knee, hip, and lower back issues lately. I'm really exited about the possibility of fixing that problem. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the boots were indeed the issue. After I finished getting ready for work I had some extra time to see how bad the damage was to my PDA. Believe it or not I was able to put the dang thing back together again and it still works perfectly! The back side is pretty badly scratched but that is the extent of the damage. No damage to the camera lens, the touch screen or anything else. I'd suggest the Teo 700 for anyone wanting a biker proof PDA.I suspect tonight I'll be exhausted. Tomorrow won't be any easier either. I will be doing a 2.5 hr run as soon as I get off work. & then the wife kids & I are going to be driving to Hobbs to visit my family. I'll get as much sleep during the drive as possible, by that point I'll be very sleep deprived to say the least.I've driven to Hobbs many times. But this time I'll be doing some reconnaissance. You see, barring snow, Sunday Nov 18th I'll be leaving my house on my bicycle. My destination....you got it, Hobbs. It will be a 3 day ride of a total of about 350 miles. I tell you, life is good. And I'm choosing to live it to the fullest.

October 11, 2007

New supermarket technology

The new supermarket near my house has an automatic water mister to keep the produce fresh. Just before it goes on, you hear the sound of distant thunder and the smell of fresh rain.

When you approach the milk cases, you hear cows mooing and witness the scent of fresh hay.

When you approach the egg case, you hear hens cluck and cackle and the air is filled with the pleasing aroma of bacon and eggs frying.

The veggie department features the smell of fresh buttered corn.

I don't buy toilet paper there any more.

IM article

My coach sent me this. Thought you all would injoy it.


It follows you everywhere. Like an ever-present shadow or an alter ego, and at times it can follow you like an annoying guilt-inducing time management stalker. But most often it follows you around as a confidence-inspiring best friend. Ironman is always with you.
You realize in this crazy and dynamic sport that Ironman is not just a logo on the products that appear everywhere around us---on supermarket shelves, in clothing stores and bike stores. Ironman is not just a race or a goal. Ironman is a life-changing experience that irrevocably gifts you with intense lessons about yourself and a fitness level that is often unsurpassed.
Whether you are training to race in your first Ironman, or you’ve finished nine World Championship Ironman races in Hawaii, this experience stays with you. When you mention the words of Ironman triathlon to other people, it changes things. It changes things in you, and it changes things in them. Telling someone you’re an Ironman or that you are going to do one commits you in a binding way. It has been said that when you fully commit to something or someone, you find it easier to tell other people. It’s also been said that once you are fully committed to something or someone, you are bound by your word and your internal commitment to yourself.


Wearing an Ironman T-shirt opens the door for people to talk to you in airports, on the street, or in restaurants. And like a club with a secret handshake, when you see other people who have finished an Ironman, there is a silent understanding. Most relationships are forged with a common experience, and the bond of experiencing an Ironman is one that breaks conventional relationship boundaries. Just go to Kona---or Lake Placid or France---to witness people from all over the world with ultra-diverse backgrounds becoming part of a very special and supportive family.


With the commitment to train and race in an Ironman, you’ve started along the yellow brick road that will present you with far more than the lions and tigers and bears of your own self-doubt and fear. Training gives you a strong heart, physiologically and emotionally. Racing will grant you courage. Finishing will give you dauntless confidence. This yellow brick road to Kona, Hawaii---or to any Ironman race worldwide---will be jammed with lessons. You’ll rapidly learn that biking shoes are like ice skates on the slippery floors of grocery stores and that a bike can seem just a few pounds lighter than your running shoes. You will also learn very difficult lessons that will shake and sort your priorities in life like a powerful earthquake, revealing the basic truths that support who is really important to you.


If you’re not myopically focused on the size of your chain ring, or your finishing time, then Ironman just may teach you what you honestly value in your life. You will learn the basic lessons of what to eat, how to train, and how to run a marathon after being glued to your bike seat for more than 112 miles. You will learn that the wind, the rain, the heat and the struggle are often overshadowed, even forgotten, when you reach the last few miles of an Ironman and find the courage to break through your own boundaries. It is inevitable that when you watch an Ironman, or when you do an Ironman, the words never or never again will pass through your mind as you click your running shoes together at mile 15 of the run and say, “I wish I was home, I wish I was home.” But then you’ll realize that it’s within the Ironman experience that you just may find yourself more at home than laying in your bed on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Ironman may follow you like a shadow, but like all kids, you’re destined to find out that your shadow is a mere representative image cast by an object blocking illuminating rays. And that object is you, rebuilt with the adventurous fortitude of the Ironman experience. Let your running shoes click together in your next stride and glance down at your shadow. You’re home.

Palm pilot, Drizzit the pet snake N such

Like I wrote yesterday on my blog I not only don't mind working as much as I
have been. I'm actually loving it! The only thing I wasn't enjoying about it was
that I was really missing keeping in touch w/ my internet/email buddies,
checking out my tri club's chat board, surfing the web, & blogging. I simply
don't have the time to be on a computer at all. Well my wonderful wife took care
of that for me. She bought me a Palm Pilot (it's a phone/computer combined into
one small & portable device) that I can surf the web on, and even receive & send
emails from the same email account I have on my home PC! I thought it would be difficult to use, but it is suprisingly idiot proof. It works almost the same as my phone & my home PC would. Which I suppose makes sense because that is exactly what it is.
I was able to figure out pretty much everything w/ just the directions except
how to make it so that my Palm Pilot receives/sends emails on the same email
account as the one on my home PC. To get a little more spacific to show how cool it is when my home PC gets an email, my Palm Pilot gets the email too.



So anyhoo I needed to call technical support to synchronize it to my PC. I was
on the phone w/ technical support for 2.5 hrs trying to get that done. They'd
have me do something on the phone, then if it didn't work I would hear the
techy start typing furiously on her computer to see what the next step should
be. Sometimes it would only take a couple moments, but sometimes it would take
up to 5 minutes before she'd be prepared to have me try something else.
After about an hour & a half I started getting up between attempts to do things
around the house. Once she said she was ready to try something else I'd run back
to the computer/phone. On one of those times I opened up my pet snakes cage to
change it's water. When my tech person came back for round 72 or however many &
that point I went back to where my computer & phone was About 10 minutes before
I had to leave for work the synchronizing was finally complete.



I went to the kitchen to grab my lunch box & saw my snakes water bowl on the
counter. I finished filling it w/ water & put it into the cage where my snake
should of been. But my 6' snake wasn't in there anymore! Oh crap!!!
Let me give you a little back ground here. My wife is scared to death of any
snakes larger than a foot or so. Under a foot long & she can tolerate it- she
doesn't like it, but she can tolerate it. The only reason I was allowed to have
this snake was because I found it outside in our yard when it was a hatchling.
It wasn't any longer than 5 inches or so when I found it. It couldn't of been
more than a few weeks old because it still had that large head w/ odd bulging
eyes that snakes have when 1st hatched. I asked if I could have it, & she said
yes because she was under the impression that it was an adult. Honestly I didn't
tell her that it was an adult. But I didn't tell her she was wrong either. I
started feeding it as much as it would eat so it would grow as big as possible.
Next thing my wife knows we have a 6' snake living w/ us. She hates it, but
doesn't make me get rid of it because she knows how attached I've become to it.
I named it Drizzit after the star of my favorite book.



So it's time for me to go to work & my beloved Drizzit is loose in the house. To
make it even worse my Mom is on her way over & she's bringing her Yorkshire
Terrier she calls Guss. My bullsnake Drizzit is big enough to eat Guss. He he
he- no wait, sorry, that wouldn't be funny. I've gotten a demented sense of
humor after working 12 years in a super max prison. Remind me to tell you the
story of the inmate who I watched rip his own face off. Yeah, true story.- But
anyway, back to the story of the large free meal for Drizzit. He he he. Just so
you know though, Guss doesn't meet his demise from my snake. I'm not that
demented to write about it jokingly the night of the death of my Mom's dog. No,
he's not dead, I'm saying that hypothetically. Ok. Back to the story of Drizzit
the bull snake.



I looked for him as long as I could. But it finally got to the point where I was going to
be REALLY LATE if I didn't leave right then. I was hoping Drizzit wouldn't
surface until I got home from work & could find him. I wasn't @ work more than
45 minutes before my wife calls work & demands they send me home to get this
DA*M snake ouy of her house. I did notice she said her house, not ours. So of
course my supervisor can't just send someone out to relieve me from my post
quietly. He has to say over the radio "officer Hanson come to the front entrance
so you can go home and get a snake out of the house for your wife." Oh boy. The
comments stated being shot out of the radio right away. "Hey Cody you need an
extraction team to be assembled?" "hey Cody don't worry we'll call in the ERT
Team right away" someone even said "the snake is connected to Sancho so you
better bring a big net". For those who don't know what a Sancho is, it's Spanish
for "the other man".



When I get to the house I'm sweating because I ride my bicycle to & from work & I rode home as fast as I could because I was having visions of me getting home & finding Drizzit cut into pieces by my wife brandishing a shovel. When I got home & walked into the house I realized my worries were not realistic at all. My wife was on top of the kitchen table with a can of Spam
being pointed & the other side of the house like a pistol. Turns out she saw
Drizzit while preparing a pan for frying. LOL. I walked over and picked up my
snake ever so lovingly so as not to spook it & started walking towards my wife
while explaining that there nothing to worry about because it's our snake
Drizzit. I assumed that when I explained it wasn't a wild animal, but was our
pet snake she would no longer be scared. WRONG!!! When she saw me getting closer
w/ the snake she started screaming bloody murder! When Drizzit heard my wife
screaming he started thrashing around trying to get out of my arms to hide. When
Drizzit started thrashing around my wife let out a bone curdling scream that
should of awoke the dead! It reminded me of the scene in E.T. When Drew Barrymore and
E.T. are introduced and both start screaming uncontrollably. He he he.
I told my wife to calm down, she was scaring him. Wrong answer! After I finally
got Drizzit back into his cage my wife was FURIOUS that I was worried about the
snake instead of her when I should of seen how distressed she was.... She had a
good point too. Wish I would of thought of that before she pointed it out to me
none to kindly. He he he.



Well needless to say I didn't need to stay home to comfort her. I was
unceremoniously kicked out and told to go back to work before she made matching
wallets & boots out of both of us. He he he.

I'm back

Goodness, I have been completely out of contact recently. I've been averaging
72-86 hrs a week at work for about the last month. Originally it was because my
wife was on maternity leave & I needed to make up her income. But a couple weeks
ago she went back to work. That didn't go very well. She cried every morning as
she was getting ready for work, she also cried allot while @ work. After about a
week of that she asked me if she could be a stay @ home Mom. To be honest, when
I heard this I became elated! When she & I were both working we were working
opposite days. I already explained in a recent post the nightmare it was trying
to fit in the time to train for triathlon with that sched. I was always working
out @ odd hours, usually in the dark. During the time she was on her maternity
leave I worked a 12 hr shift @ night, slept, woke up at about noon, trained.
Spent a little time with the family, then back to work. It was so easy even
though I had to work at least 48 hrs of OT every 2 weeks to make up her pay. Well, tomarro, Oct 11th is her official last day of work.

My wife and I figured it out & with 48 hrs of OT every 2 weeks on my part we
can have the exact same lifestyle as when she was working.That would give me 3
days off every 2 weeks. But she & I have decided to go a step farther. We just
finished reading a book called "The Total Money Make Over" by Dave Ramsey. WOW.
What an amazing book!!! Already that book has changed our lives! We were, like
most people living pay check to pay check. We decided we didn't want to live
like that anymore. After reading this book we realized we don't have to. We are
now on our way to being debt free. Imagine that people, no debt at all. No car
payments, not even a house payment. Wonder how? Buy the book, you won't regret
it I promise you!

So to make a long story only slightly shorter, starting this week my wife will
be a full time Mom, I'll be working 7 twelve hr shifts a week unless I have a
race that weekend, and I'll be able to train at normal hrs of the day.
A few side notes. Most people are unable to train allot during the winter
because by the time they get off work it gets dark to soon to get any
substantial training done. Since I work at night that won't be an issue w/ me.

I had been steadily gaining weight for the last 8 months. I ballooned up from 211 to 250lbs a few weeks ago. The times I tend to have problems with my diet are when I get stressed, or life starts getting too rushed & chaotic. Well since I've started working this much I have been on this perfect schedule. I've been getting more than enough sleep, time to work out,
time with my beautiful wife, & time to train. When I am on a good schedule I
rarely splurge on food for comfort, which is a problem w/ me. So for the last
3-4 weeks I've been doing great on my diet. I've lost 8 lbs so far. The only
negative about me working so much has been I don't get as much time w/ my
daughter as I'm used too. But I've found that I'm replacing quantity w/ quality.

& the last side note is that since my wife & I have decided to pinch pennies I
have decided that I won't do another Ironman next year. They cost too much, &
it's even more costly to travel to them because there aren't any nearby. I feel
badly about that decision because a good friend of mine S Baboo really bent over
backwards on The NM Outlaws web site to inform/include me on what Iron races the
team will be doing as a team next year. Sorry S Baboo. I really appreciate you
making that effort on my behalf though.

I'm out. And until next time, PEACE!