Reflections

You're exercising, you're eating right and the scale is starting to move in the right direction.  You are feeling better and actually starting to feel good about yourself.  Then it happens ... your walking down a street, you see a reflection of yourself in a window and you don't like what you see.  In fact you hate it.  You try to put it behind you and continue to move forward but it happens again.  You see a video of yourself or a picture and all hell breaks lose!!  One step forward and two steps back.

Your self esteem drops and you begin to doubt yourself all over again.  So what is one to do??

Stop looking in mirrors ... maybe?

No you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep moving forward...and maybe put the mirrors away!

The pool is calling my name ... early morning tomorrow!!

The Best of Luck and updates

I know it has been almost three weeks since I have written.  Life has been a bit busy but I am moving along.

Before I go any further, I want to give a BIG SHOUT OUT to my friend Maureen Kenyon.  Maureen is up in Canada right now getting ready to participate in the Mont Tremblant Ironman!  I am so excited for her and want her to know that I am cheering really loud for her and know that she will be awesome!!  The hard work is done, trust your training, keep smiling and have fun!!  And just think when you are done you can have several plates of food :-)

As an update from my end ... I am starting to get into a rhythm with my workouts.  I have been swimming and running.  I will admit my bike is collecting some dust but in time I will get back on it.  Everyone knows when faced with a choice I am in the pool first before I get on my bike.

The scale has been moving too.  I am down 16.5 pounds (if my scale isn't lying).  When the scale goes down I always question my scale; if it goes up I trust it.  However, for the last two months it has been going down.  I have been feeling better.  The IBS seems to be controlled for right now and acid reflux hasn't bothered me at all even when traveling.

Still moving forward ... one day at a time!

Have a great race Maureen!!!

Heaven

Today has been a good day ... well I take that back it has been a fabulous day.  I  weighed in today and I am down another pound! A total of 12.5 to be exact.  Now I have to admit I checked the scale three times to make sure.  After I celebrated i finished packing and got everything into the car so I could be prepared to head out of town straight from work.  Where am I going you ask?  Well, Heaven, my happy place also known as Lake Placid!

I am here to cheer on my friends, fellow tri club members and complete strangers as they compete in the IRONMAN Lake Placid. 140.6 miles of training, strength, guts and emotion! It is an accomplishment that many wish they could do and few can say they have.

I don't think there has been a time that I have said I will never do an Ironman but I don't have my calendar marked. This fall I start my doctorate so I don't think it is wise to do it for the next few years. My goals are weight loss, grad school, building my strength back up and doing more triathlons; doing another 70.3 and maybe after grad school I will think about it. Oh and I still need to work.

I don't think I have told you this story before but if I have I apologize. In 2005 I ran my marathon in San Francisco. After it was over my parents sent me a card to congratulate me and my father wrote a note to me and asked, "what's next, Ironman?"

I still have that card, I am just waiting for the day I can say yes!

Week One

A week ago I wrote about the 100 Day Challenge.  I decided to start it on Saturday, July 12th and over the last 8 days I have to admit I missed 2 days.  Monday was poor planning on my part, I had something going on in the AM before work, a lunch meeting and then the CNY Triathlon Club's monthly meeting.  I didn't get home until very late and I was too even try to do anything.  Thursday was the other day I missed which was a travel day for work and again way too tired at the end of the day.  However I don't feel defeated because I missed two days, I worked out 6 other days including today.  I didn't give up or throw in the towel.  I tried again the next day.  I will just add those two days on at the end.

This morning I woke up around 7:15, had a cup of tea, a half of a bagel and headed out for a morning workout.  I walked for over 30 minutes.  It was a beautiful morning and others must have agreed because the trail was busy in Dryden.  I am heading out again for workout number two...another swim.  You know I can't resist a good swim!

The stomach issues are still going on, I have my good days and my bad days and some surprise days!  I am taking each day as it comes and trying to make the best of it.  The scale moved again this week so I must be doing something right!

Each day is a challenge and you have choices to make. You can sit back on the couch and say I can't or you can accept the challenge and keep moving forward.

Today I accept the challenge!

100 Days

So at the end of June I ended up back in the doctor's office dealing with my GI track; acid re flux, the fact I was losing my voice (didn't want to get sick again) and a lovely female issue I won't mention.  While sitting in with the doctor I was telling her all my tails of woe but was most excited to tell her I was back running again (she is a triathlete too) and she was happy to hear that.  After I shared my good news we went one by one down the list of the problems.

She explained to me that the GI track issues could be a result of a few things stress, travel, all the antibiotics I was on etc.  She also explained to me that it could take a while for the inflammation to go down and for things to calm down.  So I have to just take it one day at a time.  We discussed nutrition and she advised me to take a fiber supplement.  We then moved on to the re flux and she explained that the reason I was losing my voice had to do with my acid re flux ... the acid was causing irritation in my throat which effected my voice.  Some people were probably thrilled that I had lost my voice, I was just happy to have an answer and excited that I wasn't sick again.

Since then I have been keeping tract of what I eat and how it affects me.  I have been dealing with my stomach issues as best I can and trying to not let it take over my life.  I am feeling better but not 100%.  I have been exercising and I have lost 10 pounds!!

So I am sure you are curious about the title "100 days"?  John "the Penguin" Bingham is a famous marathoner who has never won a marathon.  For years he was a columnist for Runner's World Magazine; he has written several books and he has promoted many of the Rock n Roll Marathons.  I have met John several times through his work with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and Team In Training.  He is a wonderful motivational speaker as an average runner.  Through Facebook John started these 100 day challenges in which he challenges individuals to exercise at least 30 minutes a day for 100 days.

I started thinking about this last week.  Since this last year was a struggle with training, traveling and getting sick I hadn't signed up for any triathlons this summer.  And I couldn't tell you the last road race I have completed either.  So I decided that this summer and this coming fall will be a time to build my endurance and get in shape again.  I didn't want to focus on just one race and that finish line.  I want to focus on getting healthy and back in shape.  This will take discipline and motivation, which can be a weakness of mine but I know this is the only way I am going to get back on the starting line again.

So with that in mind I decided to start my own 100 days challenge (I hope you don't mind Penguin).  I started Saturday, July 12th with a great swim and then today I ran/walked for 33 minutes in the morning before the rain started.  During this challenge I have to complete at least 30 minutes of exercise a day.  The exercise can vary from swim, bike, run, yoga, strength training etc. And when I complete the 100 days challenge the date will be Sunday, October 19, 2014.  That will be the day before my 44th birthday ...

Challenge accepted!!

What is Miso??

So I am about to tell you something about myself that some people know but I am sure a majority do not.  Some may think that this should be listed under "too much information" but I am going to share it anyway.  I have IBS, irritable bowel syndrome and it has been inflamed or out of control for the past few months.  Of course following doctor's orders I have been taking my probiotic supplement regularly but it doesn't seem to help.

I am a regular person, if you know what I mean? However lately it has been on full blast and sometimes I only have seconds to make it to the bathroom (TMI?).  Well lately I have been doing some research on line, I am sorry Cookie I admit that I have read WebMD and other sites, and what I have discovered is that my GI tract could be tied to my immune system and if my IBS is out of whack, this could explain why I am getting sick all the time.  I was sick for seven weeks between the beginning of April and the end of May.  I took a few weeks off from being sick and now I got hit with something else.  I don't feel as bad as I did during the spring but I lost my voice and I am a bit congested.

I am tired of popping the probiotic pills so I thought maybe there are some natural foods that could help me and get me regulated again.  We all know that Yogurt is a huge staple when it comes to probiotics but did you know that sauerkraut and pickles were too.  Guess who will be buying some pickles soon?  I love pickles and now I can enjoy them even more.  Sourdough bread is supposed to help along with soft cheeses such as cheddar, Parmesan and my all time favorite GOUDA.  Wegman's cheese shop here I come!!

I also read how some foods are considered prebiotics which help with the good bacteria in your gut and could help with the process.  These foods include pistachios, oatmeal, bananas, honey and maple syrup.  do I see some pancakes in my future?

And then I read about some foods I had never heard of before, Kombuda?  This is a natural soda that is also a natural probiotic and you can find it in your refrigerator section in your grocery store.  There was also Tempeh, what am I supposed to do with that?  Full of protein and a probiotic but is it really food?

And finally Miso?  This is supposedly a Japenese soup that can be eaten for breakfast?  Has anyone ever tried it?  This could be quite the adventure adding these foods into my diet!  And hopefully it will work too!

Tri-ing to start again

This blog had started after I completed my first 70.3.  I had done a blog for News10Now or Your News Now, whatever they call it, I can't remember.  That blog was prior to my Ironman 70.3, I enjoyed writing that one so I decided to start this blog.  The only problem with starting this blog about training to complete my second 70.3 ... that 70.3 never happened and my plans had to change.

This past year has been a tough one for me, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure, something I have never had to deal with before.  The first medication I tried I became allergic to and the second gave me asthma.  When I started taking the medication I would head out for a run or compete in a triathlon and during the run portion I would not be able to control my breathing.  During one race I had a bit of panic attack because I didn't know what was happening to me.  My doctor ended up sending me for a stress test and the cardiologist was the one who discovered the problem.  My heart was fine but he figured out that it was the medication causing the problem.  Switched medications again, problem solved ... sort of.

I travel a lot for my job and that put me into a bit of a rut with my workouts.  It was hard to train on the road and complete all the workouts that needed to be done.  I started to get discouraged and a bit burnt out from it all.  And then in April I started to get sick, with what I thought was just a cold, but it lasted for two months.  I was on three bouts of antibiotics and countless other medications and I was sidelined.  I barely had enough energy during that time to get out of bed in the morning.  I was miserable.

Now I am trying to start again, trying to find the fire and desire deep down inside.  This time around I can't focus just on a finish line I need to focus on the journey.  I need to take this one day at a time, get healthy and lead a healthy lifestyle.  This is the reason I decided to change the title of the Blog and what the Blog will be about.  This blog is no longer focused on one race but on the journey to find the fire again!

Mo