final numbers for the year

wow! i can't believe how quick 2009 flew by. i did my last ride of the year inside (sigh). here are the final number for all of the running and biking that i did courtesy of buckeyeoutdoors.com, the log i track all of my workouts on. next year, this should look a little different...as in there will be a fair amount of swimming logged in as well. i went to the YMCA this morning and made a 1 year commitment so i am ready to go come monday morning. however, i was just informed by a good friend who also swims there, that if the outside temp is 43° or below that they will not open the pool and that this is a city rule not a YMCA rule. nonetheless, if it's too cold on monday for them to open the pool, i'll go in the evening. when there's a will, there's a way!

RUNNING SUMMARY
Runs: 188
Avg. Time: 00:60:20
Total Time: 188:03:14 hours
Avg. Speed: 7.4 MPH
Avg. Mi Pace: 8:03
Avg. Dist.: 7.5 Mi
Total Dist.: 1401.0 Mi
Avg. Cal. Burned: 709.7
Total Cal. Burned: 132717

BIKING SUMMARY
Bikes: 336
Avg. Time: 01:40:44
Total Time: 563:29:50 hours
Avg. Speed: 20.5 MPH
Avg. Mi Pace: 2:55
Avg. Dist.: 34.4 Mi
Total Dist.: 11542.5 Mi
Avg. Cal. Burned: 1155.1
Total Cal. Burned: 387719

TOTAL RUN/BIKE SUMMARY
Workouts: 523
Total Time: 751:08:05 hours
Total Dist.: 12922.5 Mi
Cal. Burned: 520086

much love and peace out 2009!

my next tattoo

but i gotta earn it first...

rest days?

let me start off by saying that i hate rest days. a lot. i go a little stir crazy when i can't do at least a little activity everyday. for me, exercising in the morning really sets the tone for the rest of the day. i went back and scanned each month of my exercise log for the whole year and had exactly 9 full rest days total and a few of those were right after a marathon because i was too darn sore to move and a few were after i broke my toe. everybody is different and so i don't say that this is right for everyone so listening to your body is the key here. some folks come from the school of thought that you should take one day a week off to completely rest and some people really do need that rest day. my personal motto is resting is rusting. the less i do, the crappier i feel, the slower i feel, the grouchier i feel and that isn't a good combination.

over time, an avid exerciser can become more "in tune" with their body and can feel when something isn't quite right. about 6 years ago, my heartrate started to go thru the roof at rest and while working out. i was wired at night, had palpitations, lost 15 pounds in a matter of 2 weeks even though i was eating mass quatities of human consumption (i love that line from the coneheads movie). basically, i felt like crap. unfortunately, i didn't pick up on the subtle signs that were happening for 4 years prior to this and blamed my tiredness on working too many hours. i also ran about 4 marathons within this time period and should have known then that something was wrong. i was struggling just to finish, had a hard time breathing, had to stop and walk. i started to think it was all in my head. running 3 miles at 6 mph felt like i had just run a marathon at kenyan speed and i could barely catch my breath. finally, one day as i was between personal training clients, i hopped on the lifecycle bike, level 2, and within 3 minutes, my heartrate was 200 when normally, it would take about level 7 to even get a heartrate near 150 and for some reason at that moment, i recalled a conversation i overheard in the gym a few years earlier and i knew exactly what was going on. the symptoms i overheard were the same one's that i was experiencing...something was wrong with my thyroid. i made an appointment with my doctor, had blood drawn and sure enough, i had and still have, an overactive thyroid, otherwise known as a hyperthyroid. after some diagnostic tests, cancer was ruled out, heart trouble ruled out and as soon as they gave me the proper medication and dosage, it was like a miracle. i felt like a new person and i think this is where i got the nickname bionica. i seriously felt like i was the bionic woman. i never knew i could feel this good. still to this day, i follow up on a regular basis to make sure i'm on the right dose of med because it can change every once in a while. I use my running and cycling as a gauge and can tell when my med needs to be adjusted because i don't feel as bionic.

i'm looking forward to another good year, lots of great workouts with my triathlon mentors and my cycling buddies, some strong races, and rest days only as needed...did i mention how much i hate to rest?

off to finish the rest of my run from this morning. kind of got a late start since i procrastinated because it felt too cold, so only got half of my run in. i sure hope i dont run into mister know-it-all out there like i have been doing lately. i'm in no mood for his shenanigans today and unfortunately, i can't outrun him... darn it!

much love and peace out!

blog comments?

i had a few people mention how difficult blogger makes it to leave comments so i researched a little and found out how to change the settings. those of you who had trouble before may want to try it again. if i did the settings correctly, you should be able to leave a comment without having to sign over your first born child. also, i found that when i post a comment to answer someone back, it doesn't take on the first try and i get an error message but then i hit the submit button a second time and it takes the comment. don't know what that is all about but it works and i'll keep doing it that way. if anyone knows any other secrets about how to work around some of these blogger quirks, let me know. thanks!

making my list and checking it twice

picture proof that i really did do triathlons at one time back in the day. i can't believe i found this picture from the st. anthony's triathlon on april 26th, 1998. i weighed about a good 20 pounds more than i do now too. it's all a blur, especially the swim but i know now that i'm ready to tackle triathlons again with more knowledge and a hell of a lot better fitness level. in a nutshell, once i can get my nervous system and muscles to remember how to swim, and keep practicing proper technique, the rest should fall into place. at this point, it's just a matter of getting to the pool and doing what i need to do and that's to simply swim. in other words, it's not rocket science and i prefer to keep things simple. i'm not a gadget person. i don't need a heart-rate monitor to tell me i'm working to hard or not hard enough and i don't need gps to tell me where i am or how far i need to go.

i made a list of what i need to start swimming next week and i'm going thru my drawers here at home searching for stuff i know i already have. 2 pair of goggles (2 because one belonged to JC and i don't think he'll be using them anytime soon), swim cap, 2 swim suits (i can't believe they are still intact and not eaten up by dry rot), kick board, pull bouy, and i think that's all i need. if anyone thinks of anything else i need, shoot me an email or leave a comment. last but not least, a few things on the list that i do not have...anti-chlorine shampoo as i have this immense fear that my hair is going to be damaged beyond repair and will turn green from all the chemicals. is this true? if it is, i don't want to even find out so off to sally beauty supply i will go this weekend to buy this special shampoo. the other item on my list is a belt to hold the race number. i had one before but have no idea what happened to it. this will just be my excuse for having to visit the new ironman triathlon store that just opened nearby. so i am ready to rock and roll at the 'Y' come next week. i do hope it warms up just a little.

i also recently found someone who lives nearby who will be swimming first thing in the morning and we made a plan to meet twice a week and hold each other accountable to show up. even though we are at different levels of fitness, we have the same goals. i will be there!

much love and peace out!

goodbye 2009, hello 2010!

time really does go by fast as you get older. why is that? another decade gone just like that. now it's time to take stock of this year and plan bigger and better goals for the new year. overall, 2009 was a good year; no complaints here. i still have a wonderful job with a very strong company, i have wonderful friends around me, a roof over my head, and a wonderful life partner who supports me in all of my endeavors...although he thinks i'm a little crazy sometimes, he still "gets" me.

i was fortunate enough to run 2 marathons this year. one, here in tampa and the other in beautiful san francisco. i feel blessed to live in a state that i can ride my bike and run outside year round. unfortunately, the weather messed up a few of my planned cycling events this year so i'm hoping that 2010 cooperates better with me.

some goals i have for 2010: run the gasparilla half marathon on february 28th. i was going to run the full marathon but just don't have the mind set to train for another 26.2 yet. the last marathon took a lot out of me mentally and physically. it took a long time to learn but i do try to listen to my body and i heard it loud and clear. it said, "KC, don't do the full marathon, concentrate on the swim, swim, swim, and more swim and like it! don't spread yourself too thin." with that said, i'll start that routine the first week of january then put that all together with the bike and swim and do a sprint triathlon on March 28. i have a couple of other tri's in mind but mostly, i have my eyes on the prize which is the great floridian triathlon - a 2.4 mile swim/112 mile bike/26.2 mile run on october 23, 2010. there will be lots of training to do this year but i enjoy it thoroughly and the reward is priceless; something i can't even put into words.

in a nutshell, sport mirrors life. at least for me it does. it's not just about another workout. it's so much more than that. i'ts a steady dose of sanity without having to pop a pill. it's the place i find my peace. somehow a good run or bike ride erases the craziness of everyday life and then you wash, rinse and repeat.

Much love and peace out!

are we almost there yet?

so the goal this year somehow evolved from a training log i started on july 2, 2007. i was lurking thru someone's blog i happened upon and she had this really nifty workout log and it read, click to see my entire workout log so i did. i was so impressed that i registered and started my own log and to this day, have religiously kept up logging every workout i do. eventually, i found this neat feature called reports so i clicked on it and was able to pick a specific time frame and see what i had done up to that point. on one occasion last year, i pulled a report and was amazed to see that i was at about 7,000 cycling miles with 4 months left in the year. that's where the goal started. i said to myself, you should at least try to get in 9000 miles for 2008 and the last 40 miles to reach that goal were logged in on December 31, 2008...talk about cutting it close but it was done and i was thrilled. so it would only seem natural to beat that total mileage in 2009. i said my goal is any mileage over 9001 and looking back now, i can't believe i will be surpassing that by 2,500 miles come next week.

here's a great way to look at it, i've cycled 5 round trips from Tampa, Florida to Austin, Texas this year or 31.5 miles everyday. that's a lot of riding but i had a great time working toward the goal. don't know if i'll get that many miles in for 2010 because my focus will be completely different but i should still manage to get at least 10,000 cycling miles...not shabby at all.

the picture posted above is of my first roadbike. i bought it at a schwinn dealership on s. dale mabry that no longer exists. picked it up for about $700 with some entry level campy components, it was a steel frame (gasp!), and i threw some aerobars on it for the few triathlons i did in the 90's. i found some of the race pictures recently from st. anthony's from 1996/1997 and i look like an amateur for sure but ya gotta start somewhere, right?

much love and peace out!

light bulb moments and life goals

we all have them at one time or another throughout our lives. sometimes we ignore them and other times they light a fire under our ass. one of my most vivid light bulb moments happened in high school, in my senior year. i'll be the first to admit that i slacked off big time in high school. call it what it is-laziness. basically i was living by the motto, a C will get you a degree. as a senior, we were expected to start making plans for what we wanted to do after graduation, as in continue our education. so as normal protocol would have it, i get called in to visit with my personal guidance counselor, mr. winters, our first and last visit. His exact words to me after looking at my grades, "you should just go to a vo-tech school." i was pissed! not that there is anything wrong with vo-tech school but i felt like he wrote me off without even really knowing anything about me. that stuck in my head forever and as tramatic as it seemed at the time and as wrong as i thought it was that he said that to me, it made me say, "i'll show you." i think i did finally find the right path, graduated at the top of my class at u.s.f. in exercise phys. and built a very succcessful personal training business. the rest is history and i'm living a lifestyle i chose for myself and have absolutely no regrets.

here is one of my favorite quotes that pretty much sums up how i live my life today thanks to mr. winters' 1988 smack down:
All my life I've always had the urge to do things better than anybody else.
~Babe Didrikson Zaharias

i've had the pleasure of meeting several people lately who have made some very positive changes in their lives because of light bulb moments. they are for real! i'm glad i met them and you all inspire me as well. as a (semi-retired) personal trainer, i can appreciate the sacrafices people make to reach their goals. with the new year almost upon us, i hear it all around me, i'm going to lose weight, i'm going to start exercising, or whatever the resolution or goal happens to be. i try to keep the personal trainer in me silent because i've learned over the years, you can talk until you are blue in the face and make all the sense in the world, but most will not listen. how rare it is to see even just 1% of those people really make that commitment and stick to it? i don't understand it, i'm not sympathetic at all and i don't accept excuses lightly. to me, excuses are just reasons to fail.

i've made my goals (not resolutions) for the year. i fully intend to see them thru as i have every goal i have made since graduating from high school.

26.2 miles = marathon

wow! i remember when i thought 26.2, a marathon distance, was next to impossible until i actually did one. let me take you back to the mid 90's for a moment when i was working as a fitness consultant for baycare health systems. i was working a late shift one night, which was rare for me, since i'm such an early bird. Not many people were around, so i began straightening up all the magazines and came across a runner's world magazine. as i began thumbing thru it, i saw a pretty, one page ad for the 5th annual disney marathon. something about that ad caught my attention so i neatly ripped it out of the magazine, took it home, and stuck it up on the refridgerator. i had decided at that moment that i would give myself 6 months to train for this "next to impossible" event. at this particular time, my longest run was about 5 miles and an average pace of 9-10 min/mi. i kept the training plan simple, add 5-10 minutes to my long run each weekend and by gosh, it worked. instead of focusing on mileage, i focused on time and knew that if i could be on my feet running for at least 4 and a half hours that i could do this marathon. i can remember on many occasions, after doing my long run, sitting with ice on both knees. they weren't injured, they just weren't used to all this new found pounding.

january 11, 1998 - orlando - disney marathon
one of the best experiences of my life. period. i wasn't that fast, but finished in a respectable time of 4:08 and i remembered thinking as i crossed the finishline, that i could have kept on running another 10 miles if need be. and that's all she wrote, i was hooked!

next marathon needed to be more challenging so san fran here i come. that entailed running up and down parking garages in downtown tampa for hours on end and it worked like a charm. ran that marathon in 4 hours...and that was with hills! getting a little faster now.

qualified for my first boston marathon at disney in 1999 with only about 30 seconds to spare. it was never in my plan to qualify but it happened and i was happy, happy. as soon as i got home, i was making the travel plans and filling out my application for boston. as a side note, i've been fortunate enough to run 3 more boston's. overall, my goal for any marathon i run now is to run it in a qualifying time regardless of whether i decide to go to boston that year or not.

i saw a funny shirt the other day and it read, Oh, you ran a marathon? that's cute! and then it had a swimmer/cyclist/runner and the number 140.6 underneath it. sure made me feel like a loser : )


hope everyone has a wonderful christmas eve.
much love and peace out!

calm before the storm

after all these years of day dreaming about doing an ironman (or just an official ironman distance event), i've finally started to put all the pieces of the puzzle into action. i turn the big 4-0hh next year and wanted to do something special to commemorate/celebrate it since i believe in getting better with age. slowing down is not an option here. my goal is to do the great floridian race on october 23, 2010. this race is an ironman distance and in a very hilly part of florida too!

a little bit about me: i love to challenge myself and i'm my own worst critic. i expect the best out of myself. i was always very active as a child but once i got into the teen age years, it wasn't "cool" anymore, so i followed the crowd and became a couch potato. i didn't play any kind of sport in high school but was eventually talked into doing cross country my senior year so i could have something else listed in the yearbook besides just a class picture. needless to say, this couch potato could barely run 3 times around the track without gasping for air. so sad! i even remember my first c.c. meet and i think i finished 2nd to last and back then i believe that it was a 2 mile distance and if my memory serves me correctly, i finished in about 28-29 minutes. disgraceful! did i continue to run after that? hell no! back to couch potato status. eventually, i had an epiphany of sorts thanks to the most important person in my life, and decided to make some serious changes. i did not like the unhealthy road i was heading down. i joined a local fitness club on valentine's day 1989 (yes, i remember that day very well) and i have never looked back. i have worked out ever since and it has evolved widely. started out with just weight training, added a little stairmaster for cardio, bought a fully rigid mountain bike, started riding the trails at flatwoods before anyone hardly knew these trails existed, went to the university of south florida and got a degree in exercise physiology and made it my life's work. all of a sudden i found myself running a little, bought my first roadbike a steel lemond-alp'd'huez, started dabbling at north shore pool in the mid to late 90's and felt fit enough to do St. Anthony's a couple of times and a few sprint distance tri's. eventually, i lost my way to the pool (no secret that i'm not fond of swimming) and started really hammering out the marathons. to this day, i've done 4 boston mary's, 3 ultra marathons, and about 25 other marathons. but enough of the marathons already. i need more! and that leads me to now. with such a solid base of running and cycling (11,000+ miles to date for the year 2009), i am ready to add the swimming in...my weakest and most loathed activity. i sound negative about it but really, i'm looking forward to it very much and can't wait to get started. the love of my life asked me what i wanted for christmas and i asked for a year membership to the Y by our house so i can really work on the swim. i am determined now more than ever before to get it down this time around. i want to embrace swimming like i do the running and cycling. i will begin my swimming on January 4th and will be blogging about the good, the bad, and the ugly as i go along.
Much love and peace out!