The Best Laid Plans...

Much has changes since my last post over 2 months ago.  And I will offer processing and dealing with those changes as a feeble excuse to my absence from this blog.

In summary and straight to the point, I don't live in Colorado anymore.  The nickle version of the story is that in the world of defense contracting, and given the current state of defense spending, my contract went away in Colorado Springs.  That in and of itself wouldn't have been so bad had my previous company had a contract I could have fallen back on.  But when we lost a contract competition that we couldn't possible lose, I had to resort to Plan B. That plan involved energizing my Virginia connections from my first company after leaving the Army.  The end result was a long drive from Colorado to Virginia in late January and playing geo-bachelor until the end of the school year when the family will join me.

The impact, of course, is that my goal of getting to the top of Pikes Peak on successive weekends now has to be changed.  Traveling back to the Springs in August isn't logistically possible, and now living at sea level (more or less) would be something off an additional challenge.  It's a hard pill to swallow because with the exception of the week or so between Christmas and New Years, I was getting out and pounding the pavement on a regular basis.  I had also registered for two half-marathons and was working towards a qualifying time for the Pikes Peak Ascent with a half in the first week of March.

Like I said, the best laid plans...

It's kind of unfortunate because I was getting to the point where I was starting to really enjoy my evening run.  On a couple of occasions, I had the opportunity to run at night with the snow falling.  Those were very cool runs, with the snow reflecting in my headlamp and the ambient noises muffled by the snow.  If running is ever peaceful, it's at night when the snow is coming down.

However, in change there is opportunity.  Until my family joins me this summer I'm living with friends of ours in Fredericksburg.  The wife in this couple is preparing for a figure competition in April.  We are having our own  friendly "biggest loser" competition.  It's provides us both with motivation since we are a bit competitive.  It also makes eating right rather easy since the house is more or less devoid of food that is bad for you.

I found a Crossfit gym here in Fredericksburg to go to.  Adam is the owner at RARE Crossfit and along with running the gym (the "box" in proper Crossfit parlance) organizes endurance events such as mountain bike races and 10k runs.  The gym also has a group of folks who go and compete in endurance events together.  In fact, just this weekend a group ran in a 50k ultra-marathon here in the area.

So, while the ultimate goal of the Pikes Peak Ascent and Assault on Pikes Peak has changed, their are other goals and motivation out there.  I'm looking forward to an adventure race with my brothers-in-law in March, and other events in and around the area as long distance goals to work towards.  I also look forward to going over to RARE every evening and having my butt handed to me by the trainers.  The cool thing is that everyone their despite their fitness level has their butt handed to them.  The shared suffering leads to camaraderie and makes being separated from the family by 1600 miles a little easier to handle.

So the journey continues.  And while the finish line might not be at over 14,000 feet in elevation anymore, there are still plenty of goals to work towards, even if I'm not sure exactly what they are at this moment.

Fueling with Green Energy

I wish it was as easy as simply going for a run, riding the bike, or doing the daily dozen.  Then there is that "eating thing" to consider.  Damn.

A couple of weeks ago I was driving the girls to swim team practice, and heard one of the many radio commercials for a varity of diet products.  This particular commercial promoted a Human Chorionic Gonadatropin, or as it is most regulary referred to, HCG.  In general, HCG is a protein based hormone produced naturally by the body of pregnant women.  I'm not a girl doctor so I'm not going to try to explain what it is supposed to do for pregnant women, but it has been promoted since the 1950's or so as aiding in wieght lose.  In the last 5 - 10 years, it has become increasingly more popular here in the United States.

I have friends who have used HCG and followed the associated diet protocol with great success and have the pictures and scale resultes to prove it.  So, when the commercial stated things that I was vulnerable to ("conducting product research in your area", "first 50 callers", etc) I called the number and ordered my HCG.

There is a strict diet protocol to follow while taking any form of HCG product.  Last Tuesday I began the most challenging portion.  My food intake was limited to 500 calories a day, with a very strict menu from which to find those 500 calories.  The theory is that the HCG causes your body to burn body fat in order to provide the requisit daily calories.  This portion lasts for 21 days.  Following are two more 3-week periods with associated diet protocol without taking any of the HCG product.  During the first 3-week period, body wieght losses average about 1-2 pounds per day. 

Now, when I started on Tuesday I told myself I was a willing participant as long as I could continue to workout.  If I couldn't workout because of fatigue, then I was done.  If the HCG would cause my body to burn body fat to provide the necessary energy through calories, then I reasoned that if I was exercising, the HCG would cause my body to bun more fat to meet the needs from a workout.

- Tuesday: 500 calories, HCG drops, and a workout.  The workout felt good.  I felt good aside from being hungry of course.  When I woke up Wednesday, I had lost 5 pounds!
- Wednesday: 500 calories, HCG drops and a workout.  Again, the workout felt good.  I still felt good.  Still hungry, BUT on Thursday morning I had lost another 5 pounds!  10 pounds in 2 days, holy @$%&!
- Thursday: 500 calories, HCG drops and a workout.  Except...I couldn't finish the workout.  It was just a run around the neighborhood of about 1.5 miles.  I had a headache all day long and I'd been constantly hungry for 3 days now.  On Friday morning, I had lost 1 pound.
- Friday:  500 calories, HCG drops and no workout.  Headache all day long....again.  Now, add in "brain fog" and occasional jitters.  Fourth day of being hungry all day long, and now it was effecting my mood at home and elsewhere.

When Kim came home from work Friday I told her I didn't think I could do the HCG.  I know that without a doubt, I have to change my diet.  But jumping into the extreme end of the diet pool wasn't going to work for me.  Kim asked what the alternative was, which we discussed, and I settled on a diet program that came with the Rip-60 Fitness system I bought, and it started then and there at dinner on Friday.  More importantly, she supported me by saying, essentially, one-size does not fit all and do what is best for your goals.

I really shouldn't call what I'm doing now a "diet".  Rather, it is eating right, with an appropriate amount of calories.  Fish and lean meats for clean protiens.  Vegetables, fruit and whole grains for clean carbs.  Healthy fats which the body requires.  Extremely limited sugars and starches.  Incidentally, the HCG protocol also calls for a very clean diet over the course of the program, it is just extremely calorie restrictive in Phase 1 and I couldn't handle that physically or mentally.

HCG works for some people.  My friends who did it and had great results are proof, and I have great respect for them for being able to do it.  I couldn't.  Another friend of mine lost 15 or so pounds by simply cutting his portions in half at each meal.  (Unless I buy lunch for him, then he always seems to order the adult portion) 

The point is, find something that works for you. And find something that is sustainable so that it isn't a diet for a period of time, but rather becomes a habit or way of life.  I know I found mine.  The proof?

Thursday I couldn't run 1.5 miles without stopping, and I haven't run more than 2 miles in a long, long time. 

Tonight I went on a run and when it was over, I had covered 3.8 miles and I did not stop once.
 

An Eye on The Destination at 14,110 Feet

Excellence can be attained if you - care more than others think is wise - risk more than others think is safe - dream more than others think is practical - and expect more than others think is possible. - Anonymous

Ok, perhaps a bit melodramatic, but work with me. 

This update is about setting my goals, and I found this quote to speak to setting goals that take alot of work to achieve.  (On a separate note, it's a good thing this quote is by Anonymous, otherwise I'd have to come up with some sort of explanation about somebody who I may or may not know anything about, let alone who they are, and then go on to describe what I thought they were talking about when making the fabulous quote to begin with.  Anonymous just saved me a bunch of time and potential embarassment.)

I mentioned when I started Fighting the 40's that in order to leverage the motivation I have right now to lose 45 pounds, I need to have events on the calendar.  There is something about registering for an event, showing up on race day, wearing a race bib or a number, and looking around at that rest of the people waiting for the gun.  You feel the adrenaline, and while you know that you aren't really there to win, that the true test is against yourself, you also can't help but picking people out of the crowd that you want to beat.

And so, after thinking about it for some time now, I'm setting a goal for next summer by picking two events.  I've lived in Colorado Springs for nearly six years now, and I have yet go to the top of Pikes Peak.  In August of 2012, I intend to go to the top.  Two weekends in a row.

The Pikes Peak Ascent is a 13.32 mile trail run from Manitou Springs to the summit of the moutain.  Ok, 13.32 miles...just a half-marathon which is 10-months away.  I don't think "Anonymous" from the quote above would find that very challenging.  However, throw in 7,815 feet of vertical altitude gain, and suddenly it's not "just a half".

The Assault on the Peak is 49 mile bike ride on the Pikes Peak Highway.  The first 24.5 miles is, again, from Manitou Springs to the summit, with an elevation gain of over 7700 feet with an average grade of 6.7% and a maximum grade of 10.5%. 

This past summer the Ascent and the Assault were run on successive weekends in August and should be scheduled at very similiar dates in 2012. 

So, I suppose the next question to answer is "why"? 

There are several reasons.   Maybe the easiest answer is, I suppose, the same as given to anyone who has ever been asked, "why climb the mountain?"  Because it is there. 

Another answer that I have already eluded to is that I need to have events to train for, and while these aren't the only events I'll enter, the back-to-back nature make then a natural goal for me.

Finally, by picking the Ascent and the Assault my training plan and the activity I need to do to lose the weight is more or less naturally dictated to me.  There is no "deciding what exercise to do today when I can't decide what to do".  It pretty much boils down to getting off my butt and running or mashing pedals.  So, no excuses. 

There will be other events I train for.  Adventure races.  Bike rides.  Football.  But, I just read that in order to register for the Ascent, I need a qualifying time in a half-marathon, so I need to go for a run.
     

And So It Begins

Welcome to my blog, “Fighting the 40’s”.  I guess the first question I should answer is why am I doing this?  Why would I choose to share information about my life in a public forum?  Maybe the better question is why would anyone care to read about it?  The truth is I don’t know if anyone will care to read what I am posting.  I’ll answer “why” in a bit.

I don’t believe my story is unique in any way or that I am different than anyone else.  I’m a 42-year old, middle-class family man with a wife, three daughters, two dogs, two cats, a mortgage, a job and all of the craziness that comes with along with it.  I’m not complaining.  I chose this life. 

Like millions of parents in this country, my days are filled with dropping my kids off at school and then going to work, sitting behind a computer at a desk all day, making my way home in the late afternoon or early evening to eat a quick meal, taking the kids to whatever practice they have that night, and finally arriving back at the house sometime after 8pm to try and catch up on the day with my wife and sit in front of the TV before going to bed and waking up to do it all over again.  Some weekends are filled with kids’ activities, others are not.  The weekends not filled with kids activities are usually spent recovering from the ones that were.  In full disclosure, my wife performs the same routine each day, and we do our best to divide and conquer in the evenings.  I’m certainly not “in this” alone.

Again, I’m not complaining, I chose this.

I am complaining about this…. I’m 42 years old, and I’m 45 pounds (or so) over weight.  As I said, I’m complaining, but not blaming anyone.

Over the course of the last few weeks, I decided I have had enough of not taking care of myself physically.  Its effects are far reaching, and while I don’t believe I am in bad health, it does affect my mood, how I feel physically, how I interact with other people including my family, and my self-confidence.  

I’ve been an athlete my whole life, until the last two-years in which I haven’t competed in anything.  And if I’m honest with myself, I haven’t competed at the levels I’m capable of for the last ten years or more because I’ve let myself go. 

Shit, I’m only 42!  I refuse to let a number based on the date stamped on a birth certificate dictate what I am capable of.  I think my mind is right.  I want to compete and be an athlete.  I still have that desire and drive.  But I’ve let this life I’ve chose become an excuse when it shouldn’t be and the result is 45 pounds.

So I began to create a list of goals for myself, in the form of events that I want to participate in beginning next spring.  Bike events.  Run events.  Adventure races.  I do know that I need goals and events on a calendar. 

And then I had the idea to write this blog.

My thinking is that if I write about this process I am embarking on and share my experiences, then I am accountable.  One thing I have proven to myself over the years is that I need to be held accountable to something.  Anything!  Maybe some people will follow this blog, maybe not.  If you have read this far and chose to follow my blog, I thank you.  I would only ask that you allow me to be accountable to you, and that you might utter an occasional “good job” when if you think it is deserved, and provide a swift kick in my ass when I need it.

So, that is "why" I'm writing this.  I need to talk about working out, and what I am eating, because if I am accountable at least to writing about it, well that's better than nothing.

And so it begins.  1 November 2011.  42-years old, 45 (‘ish) pounds over-weight.  Fighting the 40's.