My life without wheat, television and S.E.X.

It's been quite awhile since I've been able to update my blog as we're heavy into the racing season and my time on the road away from my office is significant. I thought an update would be appropriate on some things in my life that I either recently got started or recently eliminated from my life. The first being Serious Extreme Xross training (S.E.X). Sure, I've been a triathlete for the last 20+ years and I've been Xross training - however, after 20+ years of swimming, biking and running this no longer is Xross training - it's just normal training that my body has totally adapted to. In an earlier blog I wrote about taking on the P90X challenge with my good buddy Randy Lehrer. I started the P90X challenge the first week of February and successfully got through the 90 days and I experience amazing results. I was blown away at 40 years old that I could do an exercise and see such significant results - from the obvious physical change my body went through to the psychological gains I made coming from getting stronger as I was getting older. I now implement P90X workouts in my weekly routine year round and am looking forward to S.E.X. to help me age more gracefully.

About the same time I started the P90X routine I found out I was gluten intolerant - well that explains a lot of things (constant gas, many trips to the bathroom daily, etc...). Gluten intolerance is an allergy from anything made with Wheat. This created a significant problem as most of my diet was wheat based (pasta, energy bars, pizza, cookies, beer, etc...). How in the world was I going to continue training, working and racing with little to no carbs? Well - I soon found out that there are many other options (healthier) that soon replaced the old wheat rich diet. White rice replaced pasta, more fresh fruit and veggies replaced cookies (obvious benefit), and some things I just could not eat which I soon realized another benefit - weight loss. I started the new diet in February at 172 lbs and this week I am a much fitter 158 lbs all by simply changing my diet NOT restricting my diet. The benefits from a wheat free diet are many even for endurance athletes. I encourage everyone to read up on this topic and see if maybe some of your "mystery" symptoms are just a simple wheat allergy gone undiagnosed.

And lastly I continue to live my life without T.V. and I (along with my family) continue to receive incredible benefits. This is also an update from an earlier blog which I stated my family gave up T.V. in September 2009. I now can happily update that even my children have acclimated to life without T.V. I no longer get the questions of when are we getting the T.V. back or why can't we have T.V. - it's just not part of our lives anymore. I'm now on my 5th book since last fall and I recently completed an incredible book that all endurance athletes MUST read "Born to Run". An inspiring book that will motivate you to run longer and take a totally different outlook on buying your next pair running shoes. My current book is the "Art of the Start" a great book for anyone starting any kind of new business, church, club, non-profit or organization.

Bring it!

HFP Man

Helen Training Camp - Final Day and review

Got home late last night around 10:30pm and got very little sleep as I had a 5:00am workout scheduled this morning. That was bad planning but I got up anyway knowing two of my training buddies were counting on me being there. It ended up being a great workout but I'm quite tired now - looking forward to an easy day in the office.

The last workout for the Helen Training Camp was a fantastic 70 mile bike featuring 3 major climbs and a nice 30 mile "flat" section to close out the ride which we hammered. We started with 16 campers but only 8 started the ride and 6 finished the entire 70 miles. Another 5+ hour day in the saddle. We decided to start the ride later (11:00am) to get the warmest part of the day for the ride. Beautiful weather greeted us at the start and it quickly warmed up to over 70 degrees as we challenged each other up every climb. Winning the KOM jersey for the week was Kurt Molter who consistently road near the front all week on every major climb. He did not win every climb today but again was always near the front challenging. The now 50 year old Tom Lebuhn was strong all day and finished the day with a 3 mile pull to finish the 70 mile day that had everyone hanging on for dear life. Mark "the locomotive" Lemmon also showed all his ironman training over the last two decades paid off as he got stronger as the week progressed. After a nice barbecue dinner to celebrate the hard week of training there was one more competition left - putt putt golf. I was pleased to take the title in putt putt with Mark Lemmon second and Kurt Molter getting the final podium spot. First time putt putt golfer Curt Haywood put in a strong showing as well.

Already looking forward to next year. A big thanks to all the campers that hung in there and did all the workouts - you were a great inspiration for me.

Bring it!

HFP Man

Helen Training Camp - Day 5

Sorry for the lateness on this post - we were just having too much fun after the workout. Yesterday featured a 45 mile ride followed by a 30 minute run. Most skipped the run and opted to lay in the sun and hang with me as my ankle would not let me run. I was thrilled to be able to ride however, and my ankle did not really bother me too much. The ride featured one of the most difficult climbs of the week - Hog Pen Gap. Very steep and bumpy road surface makes this climb really tough. Tom Lebuhn dominated the climb followed by the camps King of the Mountain - Kurt Molter, then Scott Myers and then fighting for 4th and 5th was myself and Mark "The Locomotive" Lemmon. Nearly 3 hours to complete the entire loop. Everyone is starting to feel the miles in their legs.

Today's a 3k swim followed by a killer 80 mile bike featuring Hog Pen, Brass Town (highest point in GA), Unicoi and a portion of Devils Branch loop. Today the weather will be awesome and will likely be our last workout before we head home Sunday morning.

Bring it!

HFP Man

Helen Training Camp - Day 4

Sorry for the lateness in my report on day 4 but I had a mishap during the scheduled 20k trail run yesterday. Thursday was the one day with a 70% chance of rain so we scheduled it for a run and swim only day. The Ruby Falls trail is a narrow single track with lots of off-camber tilts and a great deal of elevation gain. The plan was to run to Ruby Falls (about 5 miles), return on the road then run another 3 miles around the park lake. About a 1/2 mile from Ruby Falls I turned my ankle. In full stride I laid my outside ankle bone squarely into the dirt and then went head over heals off the trail. Swelling was almost instantaneous and the looked like I had a donut in my sock above my shoe. I tried to keep moving fearing it would lock up but just a 1/4 mile later I was required to hobble the remaining trail out to the falls. While everyone enjoyed the view of the falls I was sitting in the creek soaking my foot. After getting out of the creek it was clear I was not running back. Thankfully the park visitor center was just down the road and a very kind park employee drove me back to my truck. Later that day the rest of the campers swam 3k and called it a day.

My ankle this morning has much less swelling and I think I can get it into a cycling shoe for our 40mi ride of Helen 3-Gaps. I'll have to skip the 30 minute transition run but 2.5 hours in the saddle should be good. I'll make sure to send some good photos from the top of the gaps.

Bringing it in Helen!

HFP Man

Helen GA Camp - Day #3

Another beautiful day greeted us for an "easy" 75 mile bike today. This course only featured one 2 mile climb with a lot of rollers in between (like Southern Ohio). The pace was steady all day and most hills featured a race to the top with some epic battles between Scott Myers, Kurt Molter, Tom Lebuhn and myself. The ride started at 10:00am and we ended the day around 3:00pm. A big hand for Andrea Myers - she is a super woman. Hung with us the entire day and eventually dragged her bonking husband in the last 5 miles. I don't know a tougher woman than Andrea.

Amazingly I felt better today then the previous 2 rides. Fitness level is quickly going up. Still pretty tired after the ride and not up for much blogging. I hope to give a better camp overview at the end of the week with some interesting and unusual happenings from the week.

Bring it!

HFP Man

Helen GA Camp - Day 2

Very little time and energy to write much this evening. Just got done with what was the hardest workout day of my life. It started with a 3k swim at 8am and by 10:15am we were on our bikes for the most difficult 93 miles I've ever ridden. The ride just ended at 6:30pm. We had about 60 minutes of breaks throughout the day but a pretty steady pace all day. The ride had 8 category 1 climbs of over 31 miles of climbing!

Lots of good photos posted on my Facebook page from the epic day of training. More fun continues on Wednesday.

Bring it!

HFP Man

Helen Training Camp - Day 1

What a difference a year can make. Last year cold rain greeted us 4 out of the 6 days of the camp - which made it tough on everyone. This year is was 87 degrees when we checked into the cabin at 11:00am today along with clear blue skies and a light wind. Today's ride started on time at 4:00pm (late start for those driving in today) and on paper is the easiest ride of the week - an out and back 40 mile course to the base of Brasstown Bald and back. There was the optional climb up Brasstown Bald for those up to it. The ride leaves downtown Helen and immediately starts climbing peaking out at 15% grade at the top of an 8 mile climb. A quick 5 mile decent follows then another long slow climb to the base of Brasstown Bald (site of stage finish at the Tour of Georgia). Superwoman Andrea Myers joined her husband Scott and Kurt Molter for the extra 2.6 mile climb (Brasstown peaks out at 25% grades). The rest of us turned back and enjoyed the 6 mile decent to the base of Unicoi before climbing back up another 5 miles then enjoying the 8 miles downhill back into Helen. Curt Haywood, Mark Lemmon, Tom Lebuhn and myself stopped at a local park and soaked our legs in the icy cold Chattahoochee River for 10 minutes - Mark swears it will be the key to getting through the week. Total ride time 2hr 26min for 39.6 miles. Does that give you an idea of the terrain down here? Next up 80+ miles and 8 major climbs of more than 5 miles each (after 3k in the pool).
I'll be Twitting from the ride with pictures the rest of the week.

Bring it!

HFP Man