Completely forgot about this, as you can see not a top priority. Since my first post a lot has changed in life. The biggest change has been my commitment to fitness and specifically my exercise progression to simply being motivated to hit the gym and get in shape to now focusing my training efforts to completing my first Half Ironman triathlon in March of 2014 at Oceanside 70.3.
When kid #2 arrived I had a thought that I never wanted to be the Dad that had to say no to some request from your kid due to lack of fitness or simply being unable physically to due something based solely on my laziness and being out of shape. I was never one that got large, due to having tall skinny genes, but I did gain weight in college and never really was able to shake my body by Budweiser. As a kid and all through high school I was active in running and other sports but did nothing physically between the ages of 18 and 33. That's 15 years of a whole lot of nothing. Except the one time my sister in law talked me into running a 5K in 2004. This endeavor ended up with me getting a stress fracture in my foot and wearing a walking boot for a few weeks, which essentially ended any comeback before it started. So back I went into athletic hibernation.
In late 2009 we welcomed our second child and it all changed for me. The company I worked at was offering a gym membership for basically nothing and decided to sign up. I started out with a real simple body weight only 20 minute routine and did that for a few weeks. Eventually I added a 10-15 minute session on the elliptical after the workout and it just grew from there. Then on the cardio front I started riding the stationary bike but was still fearful of running due to my 5K experience. After getting bored on the bike I finally decided that I was physically strong enough to run on the treadmill. As a kid I loved running, started running 5Ks in middle school and ran cross country and track in HS. I started real slow and gradually worked my way up to a nice pace on the treadmill. This really got the running bug started. I grew bored of the treadmill quickly and began seeking out 3 miles routes around the gym. About a year after my initial gym workout, along with a good friend, I decided to run a 10K in Nov of 2010. I trained pretty hard for this race and was excited to get back into a race environment. As soon as Wayne Brady (no joke) fired the starting pistol I was hooked. I ran a great race and finished 3rd in my age group. Podium in my first 10K ever. This really started the ball rolling. In March of 2011 I ran another 10K (3rd in age group again), a Trail Half Marathon in June and finished the year with another Half Marathon in downtown LA.
After experiencing early success in my first year back and getting up to a half marathon fairly easily I decided to try my hand at the ultimate test for any runner. I decided to run 26.2 miles and choose the 2012 LA Marathon as my next challenge. I found a running plan that suited my goals and got working. Won't go into too much detail here as there is very little secret as to how you train for a marathon. You run and you run a lot. So much in fact I completely burned myself out on running by the time it was all over. I ran a great race and finished in the top 10% overall for the race but I was so done running. I needed a change of pace or I was going to bail out completely.
During this experience I had re-connected with an old friend who had recently gotten very serious about triathlons and was constantly dropping hints that soon enough I would join him in what I considered at the time a crazy person sport. Plus I had zero experience swimming for fitness. I had grown up in the pool and at the beach but never did I swim laps. Once the marathon was finished I began riding my bike and really fell in love with it. I remember the exact moment it happened. I had just finished climbing Mulholland heading East toward Las Virgenes and began to descend. I was going about 30 mph and having a blast, I can remember thinking I need to do more of this. So I did, I rode twice a week and then three times a week. It was at this point that I thought maybe I need to try swimming. And that was pretty much it. I took a few swim lessons, signed up for the Malibu International distance (Sprint was already sold out) and bought a road bike. The rest is sort of history now.
This has been a 4 year journey to this point, I did not decide to do Half Ironman triathlons overnight, I took steps to this point and am enjoying the ride.
Stay tuned maybe now I'll blog more. Unlikely but we'll see.
