Sunday, July 31, 2011

Golf is Exercise

Back from an amazing weekend just south of Birmingham, AL, where 54 holes of golf rocked my world. As you may recall, it was supposed to be 72 holes of golf. Let's just say the group was in agreement after the first 18 Saturday that it was time to go home. Biggest stat of the weekend??? - I lost 5 lbs in three days, without your traditional running and biking. Apparently roughly 250 golf swings over 36 hours is quite the workout.

My running routine shall resume once I can feel the rest of my body. Right now I have blisters on most of my toes, my back is in knots, and my hands aren't quite sure what to do.

I returned home this afternoon to discover our HVAC drain line backed up and flooded some of a our condo. Despite being in the field of insurance restoration, I literally stared blindly wondering what to do. Still trying to figure that out, so forgive my absence for a couple days.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Dear Dude in the Red Van,

I'm going to find you. Probably on a Saturday night after a bourbon or two. [Just kidding Mom]...but seriously.

Can you tell I almost died today? So I get started on my run, my usual path, my usual attire. I'm roughly .75 mile into my run when my life flashes before my eyes in the form of a red minivan. I've provided a rough sketch of the crime scene to assist in this dramatization...


After the fact, I saw hand come up in the rear view mirror as I'm in full COME AT ME BRO mode. I briefly considered following him, but he had a V6 vs. my 10:00/mile. Whatev, it appears he lives in the neighborhood, which means I'll find him eventually.

Ok so today is about training. I've run, I think, six times in the last two weeks [as well as one bike ride, which still hurts to this day]. My first run following the green light from the surgeon was a slow jog/walk around a familiar path. It is a 2.6 mile loop that I completed in 38 MINUTES. 38. Quite the obvious and humbling jab for someone who at one time could turn in a sub 22 5K. In my defense, it is South Carolina in July and running a cool 106 on the heat index meter. BUT...there's good news...as of this evening, I've bumped that 2.6 miles to a full 5k and trimmed my time down to 28:25. AND it's still a stifling 95 when I run in the evening. I'm feeling ok at this point, but there is one thing troubling me. Feel free to weigh in my tremendously in shape followers [Jer & Tim...one day Dad to be of Demontez Schwantes]. My problem on the runs right now is not cardio...I don't think. My breathing is pretty regular when I finish, and I'm not totally spent. Rather, my legs are in tremendous pain. Some days its IT band stuff that I've known for years, but other days they feel like I'm running with a vise grip on each thigh.

Tonight was likely my last run of the week. Thursday evening I leave for Birmingham via Atlanta for a 72 hole golf outing. I feel certain Friday and Saturday will set me back a few days, as Alabama heat + golf + Coors Light over a sustained period of time is bound to cause trouble.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Focus, Brian

Back to the ADD thing. See, I sat down 30 minutes ago to start my entry for tonight before sitting down to kill things on Black Ops. Instead, I wasted a half hour trying to fit a sweet picture of some running clydesdales into my header. As you can see, unsuccessful.

Someone pointed out to me that they enjoyed my first post, but didn't really know what was going on. I quickly realized that I failed point out the focus of the blog. Rather, I quickly touched on it without emphasizing that part. So just so we're clear, I WANT TO FINISH A TRIATHLON. Oh and real quick...

Shamelessly promoting IRONMANNAISE and Jer's Marathon Recap. The former being a friend's blog tracking his Ironman training and latter being my brother Jeremy's race recap from when he qualified for the Boston Marathon. Both are excellent reads.

Back to focusing. I almost signed up for a Tri but then scheduled my first surgery, negating any hope of completing a Tri at the time [circa late 2008]. I haven't picked out a race yet, but most likely I'll be looking at the early months of 2012. In the meantime, I have a couple other goals in mind, listed below:

1. Memorial Day Weekend 2012 - Assuming the US Cycling Championships are once again in Greenville, I intend to participate in the P3 [Palmetto Peleton Project] Stars and Stripes Metric Century Ride.

2. Rock N Roll Half Marathon Nashville - This race is in late April. I haven't decided if I want to make a big trip of my first Half, but I'm entertaining the thought. If I could get Razor Sharp on board, that would help.

For the sake of adding pictures for entertainment value, here's me now followed by what I hope to get back to:










Not gonna lie though, at this point I'm pretty much...






That's all for tonight. Just wanted to state why I was putting you all through the misery of reading. More tomorrow on training - also known as the playing the lottery with South Carolina weather patterns.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Beginning?

Hi. Hello there. So this is how it feels? I always enjoyed blogs, but never imagined I'd start one. Guess we're all suckers for something. I don't really know how to start...so here we go.

Ok, first off, I think I have ADD. So if my posts are scattered and unorganized, there's a reason [in my head]. I also hate losing a thought and will change the subject promptly to keep that from happening. Even further, I'm terrible at writing. In high school, I scored a 2 on the AP English exam while receiving a 5 on the Math. Go figure. I'm also currently raging to Butch Walker, so the typos are on him.

So. The Beginning. Started running in college to counteract the other things I was doing. I actually managed to lose weight freshman year and thought I was in good shape. Fast forward to senior year...I fracture the tibia in my right leg and am sidelined from life from October to March. Except for partying of course. Fast forward some more, because this blog isn't about what happened in college. I graduate and move to Atlanta....

Here are the figures. I'm a fresh 21, 5'11" and 195 lbs due to my lack of activity...thanks Nate. Hopefully Nate will make an appearance in the comments section as he is ultimately the catalyst for this blog. My previously mentioned tibia was fractured by my good friend, Nathan Frey, during a pick up game of football. Moving on...my office in Atlanta had a nice gym which allowed me to develop the following schedule at least 3 times a week:

Lunch: StairMaster [laugh all you want Gents, it works]
Evening: Usually either ran, lifted weights, or both

This is where the dream began. I had friends getting into Triathlons and I was immediately tempted. I wanted to buy a bike, I had to buy a bike. But then I went shopping for something else. Now's a good time to introduce Laura to the saga. Laura's now my wife, my better half as they say. I must say she plays as much a role as Nate in being a catalyst for this blog. Not only did I scrap the idea of a bike [and possibly a new truck] for an engagement ring, but she also convinced me to have surgery. Surgery...let's go there...

I won't get into details, but Laura forcefully recommended that I go to a doctor about something. Turns out a had to have surgery to my lower back. No worries, right? This was in January of 2009. Let's fast forward to April 2010. Laura pays it [the fact that I chose her over a road bike] forward. She bought me the bike I had always wanted...







Best day of my life outside of 6/20/2009. I promise.

Fast forward to July 2010. Surgery #2 [the first one didn't work]. Same surgery, same doctor. I would later learn he sucks. My new obsession with the bike is put on the shelf. The next few months were pretty uneventful, so let's push on to June 2011. I tried running a couple times in April/May but it ultimately it seemed pointless. Surgery #2 didn't work either...I guess I should've mentioned that earlier. So I have Surgery #3. New hospital, new doctor. Dude's legit. I'm out of work for 4 weeks, but the procedure is successful. Which leads us to...

Today. Here we are. I can finally count on no more surgeries, no more road blocks. Just me, the pavement, and some semblance of a dream. So going back to the figures...I'm 26 and 230 lbs now. HUGE.

That's it for The Beginning. Entourage starts soon.