Well Recovery

 I had the back surgery 3 weeks ago, a microdiscectomy to remove a chunk of disc between the L5/S1 vertebrae. As predicted, as soon as that chunk of disc was removed the pressure came off of that nerve and the pain went away! This is very good! I still have a noticeable muscle atrophy in my left calf, and I can't bend over or lift more than 10 lbs, so this is still a bit frustrating. 

The good news is that I finally finished grad school! Actually the last day of class is Oct 11 and they will mail me the diploma in December, but I finished all of the coursework. My shiny new degree is an MBA in Finance and I'm graduating cum laude (I finished undergrad thankya laude)

So now I feel good and have lots more free time but still can't do anything. It is what it is, I guess!

The Surgery

Well, just 11 days after the marathon in Colorado I went in for surgery to repair an umbilical hernia. That's a hole in the abdominal wall right at the top of the belly button. When I gained all of this weight, some fat poked through the hole and gave me a half inny-half outy belly button that was just weird. Kelley and the kids made fun of me enough to make me want to get it fixed. This problem will not fix itself, surgery is the only option, and if a piece of stomach or guts squeeze through the hole it can be painful and sometimes fatal, if irritation around the hole causes internal bleeding. Better to get it fixed now.

You have to wake up really early for surgery. So nothing to eat or drink after midnight, and I had the alarm set for 4:45 to get to the hospital on time. Funny thing happened, though. Around 3 am, the phone starts ringing and something is shining into our bedroom window? I walked out to the living room in my skivvies to find a cop on my deck! After turning off the alarm he asked if we owned a pickup truck. I said we did, that green Ford parked in the front yard. He then told us it wasn't in the front yard anymore! Someone stole our truck, went on a joyride through Cary. Turns out a friend of his stole a suburban, and they were racing down Maynard ave when a Cary Police officer found them and pursued the high speed chase!! This is insane!

Eventually the truck was found in some apartment complex parking lot where the thief escaped on foot. The thief even set the parking brake! So strange. The truck was not damaged. But the cops did have to toss it for fingerprints, as well as they checked my car for fingerprints. So far the thief has not been caught. The hardest part of that whole affair was dealing with the cops and driving to Cary to pickup the truck without being able to have any coffee or breakfast! We got back home and the cops left at 4:35, just 10 minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off.

Ready to sleep or get breakfast

the "before" belly button

Kelley thought this picture was disturbed. What is that giant pink orb back there?

Still mean mugging with my duel IV's in the back of my hands

The surgery itself went fine. I talked to the doctor, the nurse had never heard a stolen car story the morning of surgery before, we had a few laughs. Eventually they wheeled me back to the OR and I heard "here comes the good stuff" and the next thing I knew it was 11:30 and I was back in recovery.

The surgery was a laparoscopic robotic procedure. The doctor actually sat off in a corner playing a video game that controlled the robot. It went in through my side, stitched up the hole, added a mesh in the middle of the layers of the abdominal wall, then sewed in the mesh. Really cool and it was all over in about 2 hours.

now flat?

got some cool new scars

The "after" belly button

Recovery is the hardest part. We scheduled the surgery for after the marathon because I can't do any kind of training or lift anything over 10 lbs for 4-6 weeks after the surgery. I don't do well with idle hands, so this was really hard for me. 3 weeks after the surgery I had a follow up and the doc cleared me to resume normal activities, but still take it easy for another week or two.

This surgery was the last prerequisite in the transition I'm trying to make to revitalize my overall health. Now it's time to get to work!

MB PR

This weekend was a blast! I got to hang out with a lot of old friends and totally blew away my own expectations for the race. I absolutely nailed a 3:46:32, and never walked for the first time ever. It was a special valentines day away without the kids, just special time with me and Kelley.

Friday afternoon we started later than expected, but still got the kids dropped off and headed down to Myrtle Beach. We made it to the expo in plenty of time.  After grabbing the gear and swag, I found the beer tent.

IPA for the win!

 The part about this weekend that I was really looking forward to was seeing so many friends. At the expo, we ran into my friend Laurie, who I haven't seen since high school! She actually graduated with my brother Michael, and was a church friend who now lives in Fayetteville with her family, and they were all at the expo too. Really cool to see her again.

After we actually got dinner from the bar upstairs from the expo. It was a really nice environment, great food, and it wasn't crowded. Pretty decently romantic spot for Valentines day! Plus Kelley got to sit in a tremendous oversized chair.

Totally interested.

We always stay at the La Quinta near the starting line, but now they have added a back road that leads to a Target. And you know that means we loaded up on cheap valentines day candy.

Saturday morning came early. 5:15 my alarm went off and I got downstairs to get some breakfast. I discovered it was pouring down very hard rain and it was really cold. Not a good combination. The race started at 6:30 with the crankchairs starting first at 6:25. I knew we were cutting it close when we saw the crankchairs cruising by as we were walking to the start line!  haha, that's a bit too close. Still, I got my good luck kiss, she went to the half marathon side of the street, and I started looking for the 3:45 pace group. They had a 3:35 and 4 hour pace group, so I figured I would get somewhere in between them.

I wasn't going to run with anything that wasn't waterproof, so no music. Figured I could just talk to people. It was 41* and raining at the start. I got to wish a "good luck" to the people I just elbowed my way through, and then we were off! Lots of people were running in trash bags. I didn't want to have to discard anything later, so I just took off. Hit start on the garmin when I got to the starting line and the rest is history.

Mile 1 was in the dark, but the rain did stop.The halfers started on the left side of the divided road, and the full marathoners on the right. Before the first turn we had to cross over the divided median, and I saw a bunch of the halfers looking at me funny. So of course I had to raise both hands in the air attack-zombie style and said "it's the attack of the full marathoners", which I thought was pretty damn funny. crickets. I got nothing out of those people. But I did split an 8:09!

Mile 2 the sun came up. Since the rain was gone and the streets were still crowded, there was plenty of challenge to puddle dodge. Split an 8:07.

At 2.75 miles, something strange happened. I got passed - by a girl. While this would not otherwise be noteworthy, it was the first time I got passed on the day. And she looked at me funny, like she was surprised to pass me. It was odd. Mile 3 split 8:17.

I could see the 3:35 pacer in there, and figured I would hang out near that guy for as long as I could since I still felt great. When Kelley checked the weather forecast the night before, every hour the chance of rain would decrease while the listed wind speed would increase. And the winds were supposed to swirl, so there would always be a headwind. fun times. I did start drafting. Here there was still plenty of people in the race who were bigger than me, so I put them between the wind and my face. While it might not have smelt particularly great, it did make things easier. And I don't think it was too noticeable.  Mile 4 in 8:12, I took my first gel at the mile 4 aide station.

Mile 5 goes out by the airport, and there is usually a band playing there. This time as I ran by I got to thank them for coming out, then they started playing Folsom Prison Blues. 8:46 thanks to the extra time to take the gel.

There is a timing mat through this little shopping village at the turn around, then back towards the airport. Mile 6 was 8:12, then mile 7 was 8:31.  As I was running back towards Ocean Blvd, I could see all of the runners still going to the shopping village. Right before we split off, I found Kelley at my mile 7.5 and got to say hi to her and blow a kiss. Very motivating to know that she was getting through the miles with a smile. Mile 8 was 8:30, and I took another gel then.

Once you get on Ocean Blvd, you stay there until about mile 21. That one road has the majority of the course, but by then it's over an hour into the race so the sun is up, there's a tailwind pushing you forward (sometimes), and you get to see the boardwalk and the ocean.  It's beautiful, and monotonous, and you just let your mind wander and watch the miles run away. Mile 9 was 8:20, then mile 10 in 8:28. Right after the mile 11 marker you start seeing signs for the halfers to split off, which they do. Once the vast majority of the people peel off and head for the finish line, you get a slight depression and a peaceful calm at the same time.  Mile 11 was 8:17. I found another guy from Raleigh who thought I was crazy, but he had a wild beard and was pretty fun to talk to. He was doing a relay, and ran from mile 6 to 10. Great talking to you Tim, ended up being some fun miles.

At the mile 12 aide station I had to stop and poop. I took another gel first, then had to wait on the port-a-let for a little bit. If you've been counting, all of these miles so far have been in the 8 minute range. Mile 12 took 8:14, then mile 13 was 9:49, thanks to about a 90 second crapper stop. It felt good to lighten the load, but I was ready to get back out there.

I hit the 13.1 halfway point at 1:50:44, not a bad split. Again, I was just feeling good and taking each mile as it came to me without any real feeling of push or elevated heart  rate. Pretty crazy indeed.

The second half of the course goes up into North Myrtle Beach. The starting line is on 21st ave, and we finally turn off of Ocean Blvd somewhere around 68th st, if that gives you a frame of reference for how far into North MB we get. Now, start by understanding that there is nothing interesting about North Myrtle, nothing happens there, it's just a few small hotels and lots of beachfront houses. I don't remember much about these miles, but I'm not sure if that's because they are boring, or mindless, or just all looked exactly the same. They were all uphill, however. Which I thought was odd.

I had no expectations to negative split this course but you can certainly see my interest level wain in these miles.
Mile 14: 8:22,
mile 15: 8:38,
mile 16: 8:36 (took another gel),
mile 17: 8:19 (ok must have had a tailwind),
mile 18: 8:44,
mile 19: 8:29,
mile 20: 8:34 and another gel

And that was the most interesting part of North Myrtle. Consistent, plain, meets expectations.

Mile 21 went in 8:58, that's where the course turned and we started running uphill into a stiff headwind again. Heading back to the start/finish line there's a couple of out-and-back spurs to keep the competition in sight. I knew the aide stations at miles 16 and 22 had gels provided on the course, so I took those. Mile 22 took 8:50.

My personal best distance record was 21 miles without walking. So this time I really wanted to get that gel at the mile 22 aide station without having to take a walk break, and I did! So excited to finally break through that one. And I still felt like I didn't need to walk after that, so I figured I'd shoot for 23. Mile 23 took 9:23, but I didn't walk through it. Finally, the first mile over 9 minutes besides the poopy mile 12. This time it was fatigue that slowed me down. My quads were burning. My ass was on fire. Calves were totally starting to melt down. But I was not dehydrated, so I didn't hit the wall at mile 23 like I usually do.

Mile 24 was 8:47, and this might be the biggest surprise. Again, no walking, extending that PDR. To turn in a mile in the 8's that late in a marathon is insane. Never thought I would do that. Mile 25 took 9:19, that's more like what I was expecting. Actually, these really late miles for me are usually in the 10 to 13 minute range, so this whole thing was uncharted territory. And I still wasn't walking. Just trying to maintain good running form. I didn't have to go fast, just had to keep going. I think it was around mile 20 or 22 when I felt confident about my ability to break 4 hours.  But mile 26 was 9:09, and that's out of this world crazy.  I was finally back at Broadway cruising up towards 21st ave again. When I saw that finishing chute I knew it was real.

Not only was I going to break 4 hours (goal!) and set a PR that I didn't expect to get, I was going to smash that PR and might actually get under 3:50, which would also surpass most of my friend's marathon PR's.  And I never had to walk. That was totally unexpected and incredible. I never actually believed that I could run the entire length of a marathon without walking or falling apart in the end. insane.

I came through the finish line on fire and hit stop on the garmin. I got my medal, then looked at the garmin. When I read it, I screamed it. I read it again out (and very) loud - THREE FORTY SIX THIRTY FIVE YEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHHHH shouted as loud as I could, and the announcer guy even said how happy we apparently were to finally be finished running 26.2 miles. He was right.  I'm not a 3:46 marathoner. I'm maybe one of the typical middle/rear middle of the pack guys who's going to struggle and train hard and maybe break 4 hours once. My old PR was 3:56 in Charleston marathon 2012, and I never actually expected to break 4 hours again. I'm 38, way too old to get any faster. But I just did, and by around 10 minutes. that's absurd. No way I would have predicted that.

As soon as I finished screaming for pure joy, Kelley was right there. She ran the half in 2:33, after only getting in 2 training runs since early december thanks to a piriformis problem. She had enough time to go back to the hotel, get some warm clothes, and make it back down in time.

Right before the scream

and right after!

As soon as I started making my way out of the finishers chute, I got caught by my good friend from college Meredith. Haven't been able to hug that neck for maybe 18 years (she graduated before me) and this, right now, is the time when I run into her? I still haven't come down from the endorphins, still jacked up high and crying over my time and that's when I have to introduce Kelley and meet her friend too. Not exactly my most photogenic moment. Loved getting to see her, but that was crap timing. We need to catch up when I can put together two coherent thoughts.

Finally, I've calmed down enough to take in some fluids and food, and process what just happened.

wow.  just wow. that was totally unexpected.

So was this!

Kelley captioned this "we found an elephant at the finish line of the marathon", and I started making jokes about how I know I've put on a little weight but that's just cruel. ha! The fence here is just to keep the beer drinkers in, not the elephants out.  Interesting fact, did you know elephants eat Fruit Loops? The trainer guy would throw fruit loops and peppermint candy on the ground and the animal would pick them up with his trunk and eat it.

Afterward we got enough fluids and walked around a bit, it was time to head back to the hotel. The elephant followed us out, and we got a few more pics.

No fence or anything, we're just walking down the street when the beast comes up behind us

incredible

That's a swinging tale

Have you ever wanted to Stranger Rodeo an elephant? I was seriously tempted to grab hold of that tail and see how long I can hang on. Maybe if I hadn't just finished a marathon. At the time, the elephant was walking much faster than I was. Opportunity lost.

What made this marathon different?
I've been trying to figure out why I was able to hang on and suffer longer this time than ever before. Maintaining good form is key, yes. As is the mental capacity to keep pushing out miles when your legs are on fire and you want to stop. But I really  think it's got to be the plants!

My fitness overall is still elevated from the B2B full iron distance in October, yes. that takes a long time to calm down. But we did the Paradigm Diet challenge in December, and those habits stuck around. We still eat a mostly vegan diet, and it's become easy to know when my weight is up a few pounds or I just feel heavy from eating too much sodium or meat. And we now know how to make that stuff all go away within a couple of days. I finished the Challenge at 175 lbs, 18% bodyfat - that was in December - and I hit the starting line - in February - at 175 lbs, 18% bodyfat. This was done on purpose. I know when I'm not properly hydrated and need to make a smoothie for breakfast the next day. I know when we need to make some Colon Blow for dinner to push some of that weekend meat through the system.  Overall I feel better, have more energy, and look younger than I did before thanksgiving.

When this becomes a long term habit, the long term effect leads to increased endurance and greater overall fitness. The extent of this was totally unexpected. I mean just 4 months ago I did the Ironman marathon almost an hour slower! (4:37 run split) Nobody is going to claim they can take an hour off of their marathon time in 4 months. It's got to be the plants.

The Paradigm Diet - the basis of our fueling
Starting the Paradigm Detox Day 1
Finishing the Paradigm Detox with a 5k PR

What Else did we do?
After getting all cleaned up, we hit the Planet Hollywood for lunch, and it was quite overrated. Then we hit the outlet stores for some shopping. I got some Kenenth Cole dress shoes that are beautiful (yes I'm secure enough in my masculinity to admit that). Then we got to meet up with the Boys!

Dean, Pat, and Jon are fraternity brothers from college. Pat ran the half, as did all of their wives. I was looking for these people while I was on the course, and they were looking for me. We all get together in the spring for a guy's weekend of heavy drinking, there's about 10 of us that usually jump in. But today we all got to hang out for a couple of beers before dinner, then had a really nice meal together. We all left the kids at home, so this was really special and fun. Like I said, on this trip, getting to see old friends and spend time alone with Kelley was just as important as running the race.

Sunday morning we cleaned up, grabbed breakfast and hit the road back to Raleigh. The whole weekend was fun, social, and fast. The only thing I could have asked for was more of the same. Kelley got to see some people that I didn't. I love being plant-powered, glad I pulled out such a strong race. And I'm grateful for a quick recovery too.

Now let's turn it up and hit the trails! March 1st (yes 2 weeks away) is the Umstead Trail Marathon. Nothing like 26.2 in the woods, this is going to be fun. It's another 1 star Marathon Maniacs streak!

Why Vegan?

Going into the start of ironman training on Saturday this new vegan lifestyle has an important purpose.  I wanted to write something up that explains the expected benefits and reasons behind why I made that switch.  We've had plenty of stints with vegetarianism before, usually lasting about 6 months and resulting in weight loss and a more ideal body composition.  Sometimes we just get to poor to afford to buy meat at the grocery store.  It is a great thing to cut out to save some cash.  But this time was very specific.

Being vegan means cutting out meat as well as all other animal products including dairy and eggs.  I love eggs.  Even doing the vegetarian thing I would still take in sometimes 9 eggs a day.  And for the record, as long as my body weight was in a normal range and I got plenty of exercise my cholesterol stayed at normal levels.  Every day since I was a kid I finish off with a bowl of cereal in milk about 10 pm.  As a family we used to go through a gallon of milk every day.  And don't get me started on cheese.  Lowfat colbyjack, pepperjack, and american cheese are staples in the fridge.  I also had yogurt almost every day.  These things are much harder to cut out than chicken or pork.

So why do it?
Some people go vegan for ethical reasons. They think it's wrong to kill animals just to eat them or drink the lactation of another species.  I come from a family of hunters and am squarely not in the ethics camp.  I'll gladly take the head off of that chicken for you, just don't put it on my plate please.  Farms raise animals that are meant to become tasty morsels on our dinner plates.  Say what you will about factory farms vs free range chicken, that's another debate.  I'm not going vegan for ethical reasons.

The other primary reason people choose vegan is for their health.  A vegan lifestyle has been used to correct the body's imbalances and purify or flush out things like excess body fat and impurities stored from HFCS or the chemical additives in a McDonald's hamburger.  Like in the China Study book, veganism is used to extend life spans or fight cancer.  I am a huge believer in anything that is going to keep me in optimal health for as long as possible.  So I started doing my research.

Here's my sources:
The Paradigm Diet - written by an MD in California, very medically oriented
The Thrive Diet - written by retired pro triathlete Brendan Brazier who started Vega One
Forks Over Knives - documentary covering the China study and lots of other studies. If you only take one thing from my list watch Forks Over Knives. It is amazing and eye opening.
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead - incredibly interesting study of juicing and weight loss
Food, Inc - study of farming and organics
Food Matters - incredibl documentary about farming
Freakonomics - made me shift the way I interpreted things
Eat & Run - Scott Jurek, I'm still reading this one now

My Focus
The breakdown of an ironman training plan is to workout twice a day six days a week for about 9 months.  It starts to get a bit long in the build phase.  There are two main keys to surviving this regimen, fuel and recovery.  Typical whole food vegan fare breaks down to about 80% carbs, 10% protein and 10% fat, also known as 80/10/10 or 811.  It's all fruit and veggies.

The Paradigm Diet does a really good job of explaining fuel and digestion.  The primary purpose of the book is to identify the foods that can be easily consumed, taste great, need minimal cooking or prep, and fuel up for a tough day.  It comes down to sweets, greens, beans, and seeds.  By sweets, he means fruits.  Berries, apples, bananas, etc.  The best thing about paradigm foods is that you can eat unlimited quantities, the more the better.  In fact if you can get 3000 calories a day from paradigm foods go for it.

All foods have to be liquified in the stomach before they can be absorbed.  If you find chunks of steak or mushroom floating through a blood vessel then something has gone horribly wrong.  The stomach has to produce acid that liquifies animal products, and that acid actually breaks down most of the protein anyway.  It leaves the body in a more acidic state and promotes indigestion and reflux.  Fruits and veggies get absorbed in the small intestines, carry lots of water to keep the body hydrated and tons of vitamins.  Keeping the body alkaline has lots of benefits too, including helping with fat burning.

The Thrive Diet promotes recovery.  It's a much looser stance on vegan than just paradigm foods.  Since the author was a pro triathlete he knows what it takes to train and race on plant power.  The stomach digestion stuff?  The body has to work very hard to produce all of that acid and get rid of it after the food has been broken down.  Animal products including meat eggs and dairy are very hard for the body to handle.

I don't want the body to work that hard to digest my food.  I want the body to work very hard to recover from my workouts.  All those carbs are going to give me plenty of energy to fuel the next workout.  So faster recovery times means that if I hit the bike before work, I should be totally recovered by the time I hit the pool in the evening.  Get plenty of sleep after that and I'm ready to do it all again the next day.  The extra fuel means that I can push this workout hard, and the faster recovery times means I can push the next workout even harder. 

Whole foods vegan also means nothing out of a box.  This means my beloved breakfast cereal in cow's milk is out.  Regular vegan CJ could still do cereal with almond or soy milk.  But whole foods means no dried pasta or cereal or anything processed or out of a box.  Shopping at the farmer's market time.  Tofu/tempeh is about the limit of processed that I want to do.

Kelley's in as well.  We went vegan as of Jan 1, and absolutely love it.  I love it!  Vegan meals have so much flavor.  It's all new textures, new combinations, there's nothing plain or boring at all.  And we really haven't gotten into too many salads yet.  I bring my lunch to work a lot more.  One of my favorites has to be 3 bananas and 2 apples, plus whatever other fruit we have laying around the house.  Tons of energy and hydration.  I've been working out pretty hard, and the recovery times are a lot faster.  Scott Jurek talked a lot about recovery times in Eat & Run.  And he put lots of recipes in there too. 

So if you take the best parts of Paradigm in fuel and digestion, and combine it with the recovery aspects of Thrive and Eat and Run you get my basic plan.  I want to stay healthy, happy, and awake during the entire training plan, and I really believe that a whole foods vegan approach is the best way.

The Plan
So getting my ironman finish time into the 11 hour range is going to come by volume.  There is no substitute for miles.  and miles and miles and miles.  Training for IMFL I was putting in 300 mile + months on the bike, and this time in the build phase I'm going to be staring down some 200 mile + weeks.  On the bike, volume breeds speed.  You don't put in 200 miles a week going 15 miles an hour.  It's only possible by reaching up into the 21 or 23 mph range.  In running, you can do speedwork, intervals, hill work, etc to speed up without volume.  For swimming, volume leads to a more efficient form so you end up getting in more yards per workout in the same amount of time = speed.  But on the bike miles are miles and you just have to hit the volume to get fast.  And if you do enough volume you get fast. The key is being able to keep the heart rate low.  When a zone 2 effort starts to produce 21 mph instead of 18 mph, you've got an 11 hour ironman.

Guess what maximum volume workouts take?  Patience, time, and fuel.  I'm starting Ironman training on Saturday with a very small swim/bike brick, 1000 yards in the pool and a 15 mile ride.  The 2 week warmup period is very low volume, but it will help my body get adjusted to the pattern of working out twice a day.  I'm going to tweet every workout - @SendCJToKona - just to be really annoying.  My build phase is 12 weeks.  6 of those saturdays will have 80 mile rides and the other 6 will be 100 mile rides.  That's going to take a lot of veggies to fuel those rides.  And I'm going to have to recover quickly from the bike saturdays to get in my bike run bricks on Sundays.  I'm not going to do 6 20 mile runs or anything that crazy.  But it's going to take a lot of fuel and really fast recovery to get in the volume that I'm looking for.  I really think that the vegan lifestyle is the best way to achieve that goal.

Ironman gave me a gluten intolerance

I've been seeing some new health research coming out about wheat and wheat gluten and how our bodies can handle it.  I've also been fighting some personal demons recently that made me want to research this topic more.  So now I get to be honest about some not-so-glamorous aspects of Ironman recovery and the 7 months that have followed.

Since this year has had a heavy focus on yoga, I've started reading more yoga blogs.  I've seen enough people posting on both running, diet, and yoga blogs about gluten intolerance, gluten allergies, and I've had some friends declare a gluten allergy recently that it just made me want to dig in more and research.

Turns out there are three flavors of gluten problems; gluten intolerance, gluten allergy, and celiac disease.  Celiac disease can carry some serious lower bowel problems, and there are tests available for that.  Your doctor can also test for any number of allergens, including a gluten or wheat allergy.  But there is no test for an intolerance.  The only test is to go two or three weeks without eating any wheat products and see if the symptoms go away.

Since the Ironman on 11/5/11, I have experienced the following symptoms of gluten intolerance:

• Rapid weight gain
• Excess abdominal fat
• Gastro-intestinal problems
• Aching joints
• Depression
• Eczema
• Headaches
• Exhaustion
• Irritability and behavioral changes

and I have not had any problems with these symptoms

• Irregular menstrual cycle
• Slow infant growth

So there is that.  Then I started finding book reviews on yoga blogs about Wheat Belly, a new book written by a doctor whose wife is a triathlon coach.  The doctor asks why do these triathletes, who are in prime physical condition aerobically, stick to strict training plans and dietary regimens -- why do they still have excess belly fat hanging out over the spandex shorts?  His theory is that modern wheat is the culprit.

Disclaimer: I purchased the book yesterday and have only read the introduction last night.  I'll share more Wheat Belly thoughts after I read the whole thing.  Any other information is what I've gleamed from other online reviews and blogs about the book.

In the two weeks after IMFL I put on 20 lbs.  That fits my definition of rapid weight gain.  It put my weight back up around 185 lbs, and the most disturbing part is that my bodyfat% went from 18.x% up to 22.x% depending on the week.  Since then I've been between 185 and 190, twice putting up MMNW's at exactly 189.6 lbs and over 23% bodyfat.  190 lbs is where I hit the absolute panic button and start thinking about amputation as a weight loss method.  My goal is to stay close to 175 lbs and keep my body fat in the teens.  At 11% bf is typically when the 6 pack abs start showing up.

Every winter I get these small patches of dry skin thanks to running the central heat in the house.  Usually I put some lotion on and the spots go away. This year they didn't go away entirely, but left a discoloration.  The dermatologist gave me some eczema medication that cleared up the spots.  Aching joints?  My back has been killing me for months now.  I'll go to the chiropractor when it gets bad, there's usually some migraine headache and heartburn problems kicking in by then too.  But the lower back pain is more of a constant aching thing that doesn't really clear up entirely.  Depression?  Exhaustion? yes and yes.  It comes and goes.  I can't imagine why running 4 full marathons in 4 months would leave me with exhaustion.  oh wait.  Still, a symptom is a symptom.  Irritability?  Behavioral changes?  What mood swings?  I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'll break your glass jaw if you question me again.  yea, it hasn't been a pretty couple of months for anyone in the household.   I've just felt out of balance for a long time now.

So my nutrition has been on point all year, and I still have some serious belly fat falling over my race belt.  Strangest Dunlaps Disease ever (my belly done lapped over my race belt).  I've run four full marathons, more 5k's, 10k's, and half marathons than I can count, and nothing I can do in training or traditional eating seems to shrink the belly.  Last Saturday was the FS 50 mile triathlon, last week's Monday Morning Naked Weight (MMNW) came in at 189.6 and 23.7% body fat.  Something has got to change.  Maybe I do have a gluten intolerance.

With the first Aquathon also being last Wednesday, it ended up being a recovery week.  Don't push the workouts super hard on Monday or Tuesday, race it up hard on Wednesday, then look into any real changes.  I decided to just go off of gluten for a while and see what happened.  So officially Thursday was my first day being gluten free.

The biggest change was in breakfast.  For the last 5 years I've had the same thing every day: oatmeal with raisins, a banana, honey and flax seed.  The new breakfast is scrambled eggs with bacon, sausage, or some other meat.  Gluten free doesn't mean low carb or no carb.  It means no wheat, which includes oats.  Rice, corn, potatoes, all fine.  It's just bread, pasta, oatmeal that are really off limits.  So my typical lunches are an omelet with toast or a sandwich have to become an omelet without toast or a sandwich without bread.  Or leftovers from last night's gluten free dinner.  The worst part about going gluten free is giving up beer.  That might not happen.  I don't drink much beer to begin with, maybe averaging one beer a month with one or two exceptions where I'll really tie one on.  I'll still have my one beer a month without guilt.

Saturday was a fun night.  An old friend of mine from high school moved from DC to Raleigh last week, so saturday we got to babysit her kid for a few hours while they were unpacking boxes, then they came over for dinner.  It was the first time I'd seen Jenny in almost 20 years and it was like no time had passed at all.  I'm really excited to have such good friends close by again.  I had a beer with the otherwise gluten free dinner of rice, marinated tomatoes, chicken, and black beans.  One of our favorite meals to begin with, easy to make into a vegetarian version, and they loved it.

This weeks MMNW?  185.0 lbs and 22.3% body fat.  That means I lost 4.6 lbs overall and 3.2 lbs of that was pure fat loss.  My pants are already fitting better.  My workouts over the long weekend have gone longer and harder than I was expecting, and they just seem more manageable.  This week is going to be more solid base and speed work, and I"m just going to keep letting this gluten free thing work its magic.  Stick to the plan.  Keep reading the book.  Let's just see what happens here.

So far I feel a lot better, more balanced, I rode 30 miles yesterday (on the stationary bike) with no back pain, ate good and felt good.  The joint pain seems to be gone, irritability is gone, depression is gone, and overall I just feel better than I did last week.  It may just be the perceived resolution to the problem, but I'll take whatever I can get.

Why?

I got 45 miles on the bike yesterday. it was as awesome as you might imagine 45 miles on the bike could be. Made pace with the splits, 15 miles in 45:13, 15 miles in 45:21, 15 miles in 44:38 avg about 20 mph (15 miles in 45:00 is 20 mph - just so Glaven knows). Fun times, ah tell ya

The hip is still twinging a bit. It's just enough to be annoying, but could be really painful if I try to run again too fast. This has me annoyed.

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Why do we do all this crazy shizzle?

Something has been disturbing me lately. Melanie (2nd Chances) and I have become close friends over the last year or so, and she had a tragedy last saturday that I'm sure some of you already know about. Mel's a single mom who works from home like I do. Her son Terron is 10, almost 11 years old. Last saturday Terron's dad, C, suffered a fatal heart attack. Of course I never knew C, but his death has been weighing on my heart lately as I wade through this hip pain.

Here's what we know. C was a smoker (sound familiar?), overweight (I lost 40 lbs last year), and only 34 years old when he died. I'm 34, people my age don't have heart attacks. Mel also informed me that he had diabetes and refused treatment.

That could launch a whole 'nother discussion about US health care reform, and just because you provide health care for everyone doesn't mean they will actually take advantage of it. C knew he needed to stop smoking, lose weight, and watch his diet to control diabetes and he did nothing. He could get all the insulin and other help he needed with no additional cost and he did not take it. So I'm not accusing the guy of being a health nut. But dying from a heart attack at 34 years old was not in his plan for controlling his diabetes, I'm sure.

I made the choice almost 2 years ago to lose weight and stop smoking. My dad's dad passed from a heart attack at 60, which is still young. And I have to tell every doctor that asks about my family medical history about it. Terron will have to tell every doctor that his dad passed from a heart attack at 34, and when he's our age will have to undergo a bunch of tests that might not have been needed if C had taken better care of himself. So I am feeling sorry for Terron's future hassles.

I swim bike run to fight my own demons. Smoking, overweight, high cholesterol, cancer, and when training gets hard I am forced to remember why I do all that crazy stuff. Sure I don't have to race as much as I do. I don't have to cover the long distances or keep challenging longer races like the half iron coming up. But that keeps me focused on a goal. When I take 2+ days off (no workouts thursday, friday or saturday.... thought I was going to start shooting people on saturday) it makes me very jumpy, and snappy. not too pleasant to be around. I don't like the way I feel or the way I talk to others. These are my demons, this is why I keep putting in the miles. If I didn't it could easily be Kelley telling you about our girls instead of Mel telling us about Terron. So C's death combined with my hip/ITB pain/running layout/lack of pool has left me with biking only. And mixed emotions.

And then there's Joe (rockstar tri). Joe's a real rock star taking on the challenge of triathlon for the first time at 48. And he's finished 2 half ironman's, the second one just a few weeks ago. Then he was out on a training ride on his bike when a car ran him down. He survived thank God, but after a few days in the hospital he's still discovering new aches and scratches. The sad and scary thing about bike/car accidents is that the car always wins. Bikes are designed to shatter (not splinter, b/c after the car runs you over it would suck to have shards of carbon splintered into your rib cage), so at least new bikes have safety built into the design. Joe was lucky.

Kelley's dad goes to a gym every sunday for one of the classess offered, and the instructor was a top age group triathlete. Until she was run over by a u-haul on the bike a few months ago. She is still in the hospital. She told Mickey that last week she could run 12 miles, now she was happy she could stand up for 12 minutes. Her injuries were more severe than Joe's. Box trucks like that are significantly heavier than cars. Her bike shattered.

My rules for the road are to stay off. I don't like outdoor workouts when it's too hot anyway, but now that fall is in the air I'm itching to get back outside. But there are rules. I don't run on roads besides cars because my lungs have to work hard enough without sucking exhaust. I like to go to the lake at Furman or some trails for my outdoor runs. I do not bike solo on the roads. My 45 miles yesterday was on the stationary at the gym. Long milage like that takes a lot of country roads, and I'm amazed how boring it is riding the same roads over and over again. A 2.5 mile loop in the neighborhoods is great to run. Hit it 3 or 4 times and that's a fantastic run. Ride the same loop twice and it's amazingly boring. So you have to find a long route, and I refuse to ride with less than 3 people. A group of 3 is much less likely to have car interference than a lone rider. Even two people riding can get separated, but with 3 or more it isn't as likely.

Generally riding is done through neighborhoods or down country roads, so there isn't much exhaust sucking done. But finding safe, challenging routes and consistent riding partners is incredibly difficult. So I stick with the stationary bike & treadmill, and sign up for rides like my upcoming Tour de Peach that include police support. Cycling as a community is gaining awareness amongst motorists, but we still have a long way to go before it is truly safe.

So if I don't bike, or swim bike run, there's weight issues, diabetes, smoking, and heart disease. If there is cycling etc there's cars mowing down people like they are pissed off about it. Seems like there's no way to win. And that has been weighing on me lately. Don't get me started about boats interfering with open water swimmers. ouch. And don't get me started about stupid cyclists that don't wear the right safety gear like helmets or blinking rear lights. or swimmers who wear a black westuit and dark swim cap in open water and expect boat drivers to be able to see them. But when you're dealing with people that know better and choose........ fuggit about it.

I'm just going to go out there and run my races, and execute my training plan. As long as I stay focused on my goals and hitting my milestones that's the best I can do. Yes I have to play it smart and safe. My heart breaks for Mel and Terron. And if I get run down like Joe then that's the way it happens. Everything is risky.

That reminds me, Kelley is convinced I'm going to die at B2B. Made me take out extra life insurance before the marathon and everything. I, of course, disagree. But she actively encourages me to drop the race because she doesn't want to be a widow yet. Her paranoias about death run far and wide, she also gets scared changing light fixtures out. I am gaining confidence about B2B with every workout, but she's still scared.

Have a great week! Sorry for the downer post, but like I said this has been weighing on me lately.