The Journey Defined

Ironman = 140.6 miles of pain (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run[marathon distance])

The Accident

I have to start somewhere so here it goes. It all started one Sunday afternoon July 10th 2005. That was the day I tore my ACL for the 3rd time while playing basketball. Anyone who knew me before this date knew how passionate I was about playing basketball. In college I scheduled my classes around making sure I could be at Gimble Rec Center on Friday afternoons to get the best “runs” in.

Giving up B-Ball

I weighed my lowest in years on 7/10 225lbs. BTW I have not gotten back there since. It is amazing how many calories you burn playing basketball. Back to the story. I had ACL reconstruction surgery on July 29th that year. After that surgery I decided that I would have to put the sport that defined me as person for so many years behind me. I knew if I ever played basketball again I would tear my knee to shreds and it would be better for me to just give it up and do something else. But what???

The Commercial

I am guessing it was about August 1st 2005 (guessing because I was high on pain meds) when I saw this Gatorade commercial. The commercial had Keith Jackson narrating and it featured this Ironman triathlete named Chris Legh. The commercial talked about Chris had almost died of dehydration in 1997 while competing in the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii but how he “snapped the tape” at the 2004 Coeur D’Alene (Idaho) Ironman. After watching the commercial I thought “I can do that”. Mind you I was still high on pain meds but I was resolute “I can do this”.

The Meeting

I had been going to knee rehab for a few weeks when one fateful day my regular PT (physical therapist) wasn’t there. There was this kinda cute replacement that day named Stacy. Anyone who knows me knows I like to talk. Strangers are friends you haven’t made yet. Maybe I was still delirious from vicodin but I was telling Stacy about how I was going to the an Ironman. She must have thought I was crazy but she was like “I do triathlons” I was like really? I said let me guess you’re a swimmer? She was like how’d you know my shoulders? Yeah, its kinda obvious. But she said if I needed some swim lessons she’d be available. I told her I would take her up on it one day.

SWIM BIKE RUN

The truth is up to this point in my life the furthest I have swam nonstop was 25 meters (one trip down in a gym size pool), the furthest I had biked was about 20 miles on my mountain bike (I had never owned a road bike), the furthest I had run was a 5k which I did on a treadmill on my 30th birthday (about a month before the accident.

First Steps

October 10th(or close to it) I set up times to meet Stacy for swim practice. I bought a road bike. I bought some running shoes. I turned out be a decent swimmer, and my big legs and lungs helped me on the road bike more than I ever anticipated, but the run… let’s just say I am glad you don’t drown if you decide to walk.

Fast Forward

My first triathlon was on 3/11/2006 in Athens, TX. It was a sprint distance (300m swim, 14 mile bike, 5k run). I weighed in at 248. I of course was in the Clydesdale class and I had a respectable time considering I had my timer chip fall to the bottom of the pool twice. I did 2 other sprint triathlons that year along with riding in the MS 150 (150 mile bike over 2 days) with an average speed of around 19mph, I ran in a 5k and competed in 3 mountain bike races. I even got meet the guy in the Gatorade commercial and took a picture with him. I told him he inspired me and that I picked my first Ironman (CDA) because of him.

2007

I only did 1 triathlon and my weight had ballooned up to 294.4 at one point. I lost 17 lbs in November but put most of that back on so far in December. Today December 22nd 2007 I weigh in at 288.0.

Blog rules

This blog will document my 6 month journey from today 12/22/2007 till the day of the race 6/22/2008. This blog will only deal with my weight, diet and training. I will keep personal things about my job and family out the blog unless it is necessary and relevant. My meals will be categorized into 3 main groups. Bad, Medium, and Good. Bad, we all know (pizza, hamburgers, fries, sugary drinks), Medium are foods that could be bad but made healthier or good foods made a little bad (homemade burgers low in fat, salads with full fat dressing, subway sandwiches with cheese and dressing) then there’s the good stuff (steamed veggies, salads with vinaigrette, grilled chicken, salmon) you get the picture. I will at the very minimum document my weight and if I do a workout I will tell you what kind.

Reason

I need to keep myself accountable and by you reading this and knowing it’s out there will help me do that.

Current Stats

Weight 288, Swim 0 times weekly, Bike 0 times weekly, Run for 1m 40sec minutes at 5mph. My diet can best be described as transitional. Stay TUNED!