Week 4 - Wednesday

I have been in a funk that past few days, I think it's mostly due to 3 hard weeks of training and the chilly weather. Being a summer baby I have never enjoyed winter that much, so needless to say I wasn't super motivated to swim this morning. Good news was I was inside and the water was warm. I had a plan to just do my warm up and then swim 1000 yards straight through but after my warm up I changed it up. I ended doing 4x50 hard then 200 swim, 100 kick, 200 swim and 4x50 (25 underwater kick, 25 swim w/fins).

Afterwards headed upstairs to lift, did. 4 sets of squats 10 reps @ 135, 8 @ 155, 6 @ 175, 4 @ 185 each set followed by pull ups, push ups and crunches. Then did 4 rounds of 500m row, 10 box jumps, 10 burpees, 10 mason twists with weight.

Had to drive to Des Moines today and while driving along I-80 I was scanning through channels when I came across the song Jack and Diane. I've never really paid much attention to the lyrics but the chorus stuck out, "Oh yeah, life goes on, even after the thrill of living has gone..." talking about the thrill and excitement of life when you are young and vibrant and full of enthusiasm but after thats faded the rest of your life is still there. Got me thinking, why do the best years have to be behind me? When I was in high school or college? I think the key ti enjoying life is by constantly searching for that next "thrill". It doesn't have to be wild and crazy stuff, heck as any parent knows watching your kids grow up in front of your eyes can be a fearful and thrilling thing. I try to live by a philosophy of being happy in my current circumstances and not waiting for the next "thrill" to bring me happiness, I've found when I am able to accomplish that then I really enjoy the present moment no matter what is going on in my life.

Until next time ... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

What's been going on?

Been awhile since my last post so time to play catch up here?

1. Family - Thanksgiving was great, got together with my wife's family and my brother even joined us. It was a really good time, I ate way to much and enjoyed every second of it. I'm really thankful for the family that I have especially my in laws, as mentioned before I really hit the jackpot with them. I did get to run my first ever Turkey Trot this year and didn't do to bad I might say, ran the 5 miles in 38:19 which was much faster than I had expected. Looking forward to Christmas and all the get togethers throughout the month, going to be crazy but what else is new. Boys have made out their Christmas lists and most of the shopping is done, I even bought a couple of gifts, crazy right? We are going tonight to size a bike for Caden so we can let Santa know just which one to get ;-) on a completely unrelated note, today is December 3rd and it was supposed to reach as high as 70* possibly, does not feel like Christmas when I could be wearing shorts.
  2. Paleo - Well let's just say Thanksgiving and the subsequent leftovers put a dent in my progress and left me really wondering if this lifestyle is really do able whilst everyone else around me is eating pasta, bread and all the things I can't have. I still really believe in the basic concept of the diet but I'm scaling back just a bit, before I was at about 85/15 paleo meals to non paleo meals now I'm shooting for more like 75/25. Breakfast, lunch and snacks are really not the issue as long as I've planned ahead accordingly, dinner is where it really gets tough. Frankly my wife and kids just don't want to eat what I'm eating and I really want to eat what they are having sometimes. And it is just difficult to prepare two dinners every night for myself and them. So I'm relenting a little and going to give in now and then when my wife makes pizza or pasta, besides there is only so much sweet potato's I can eat. I'm still dedicated to eating "clean" food and trust me I ate at McDonald's a couple times in the last 2 weeks and felt like crap for it. I'm trying to live a life in moderation but that just not something I'm used to, it's usually an all or nothing mindset for me.

3. Training - On the other hand my training has gone really good as of late. I've nailed over 100 miles on the bike in the last 2 weeks and topped 30 miles running last week for the first time since before the marathon. I also went over 1000 miles running for the year with my long run on Saturday which was my goal for the year. I have had higher yearly totals but that was pre triathlon days. I have made a declaration to get more serious about my strength training for the month of December, I will be lifting at least 3 times a week, doing a combination of explosive power lifting, body weight exercises, plyo's and other exercises creating my own crossfit style workouts. Found out the other day that the minimum weight for the Clydesdale division has been changed to 220 lbs so I may be contemplating gaining 5 lbs so I can keep competing. Gaining 5 lbs of muscle to compete as a clydesdale will be easier than losing another 25 lbs so I can reasonably compete in my age division. Not sure yet what I'm going to do though, it has been a really big and important goal for me to get to and stay under 200 for awhile now so not sure if I'm ready to give that up just yet, but this would qualify as one of those "good" problems to have, how many people really have a problem where they need to gain 5 lbs? I know right?

4. Kind of on the ground floor with helping to get a Tri Club going in the area. There used to be a pretty strong club but it has fallen by the way side over the years without a dedicated leader. A group of us got together the other day and started putting the pieces in place to organize another club. We are starting off real casual with just a Facebook page and seeing how much interest we can generate. I think what most people are really looking for is just a way to interact with other people training for tri's and get some organized training sessions together. There are so many resources available in our community just need one centralized location to direct everyone to them. I'm kind of excited to see where this could go, I'm really passionate about the sport of triathlon and really enjoy the training and people I've met through it in just the past year + so hoping it takes off.

Well that just about catches up, December is really a crazy month so I'll try and keep more up to date on posts but we'll see...

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Running, Birth and Death in the family

After taking it pretty easy last week I've gotten back into training again this week, Monday and Tuesday went great with some good workouts. Yesterday I felt pretty sluggish and made the decision to take a day off which turned out to be a pretty good idea as I had a good run and workout this morning.

Yesterday was a bitter sweet day for the Campbell family on the good I found out my cousin gave birth to her first baby, a little girl, on the bad we found out late last night that Deanna's grandmother passed away. I suppose it is a perfect example of the circle life, one life begins as another ends.

Plans are in the works for the visitation and funeral arrangements, I may end up having to miss the Bix 7 Race this weekend, but that really isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, there will be other races, Lord knows I've had plenty already this year.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Tuesday June 5th

Been a couple days since my last blog post so here's a quick update of what's been going on in my world.

Had an awesome weekend, got in a pretty decent run on Saturday morning with the LU Crew, ran mostly with John O. and we (ok mostly John) shared some interesting stories from past training days. It was a smaller group with lots of people busy with races, life and various other things. Afterwards I headed home picked up Lucky and headed back out for a quick jog around the neighborhood, I've been neglecting my buddy with running lately and I wanted to get a couple more miles in to hit my goal for the day so it was a good chance. Later on played some catch with the football out in the yard with the boys, before jumping on the trainer while they ate lunch. Caden had a t-ball game @ 1:00 and Deanna was shooting pictures at a wedding so it was a busy afternoon, we had dinner with Grandma Marilyn, it would have been her and Grandpa's 61st anniversary on Saturday and I think she really enjoyed the company (and the distraction) that 2 of her favorite great grandson's can provide. I ended up missing out on the LU Torchlight Parade but spending time with Grandma seemed like the right choice and I'm glad we go over there.

Sunday I got out early for a bike ride before Church, service this week was outstanding. The message was about living a life of Integrity and one of the biggest take aways for me was the comment/definition that Integrity is when your actions match your beliefs. This is something I have really been struggling with over the last year or so, I have felt a change in my life in the last few years, more so than just the physical transformation that I've gone through but also a mental and spiritual one as well. One of the reasons I am so passionate about my involvement with Live Uncommon is the "Give Back" and how our Race Team is helping some truly worthy causes. This has been one step of a journey for me to live a life of integrity and so far it has been an awesome one. The message from Church really identified and put a label to what I feel like I have been missing in my life, and then more I learn and understand hopefully the better person I can become, and the best example to my sons of what they should aspire to be as well.

Had a great swim Monday morning, one of those where I just didn't want to get out of the water and could have just kept going, but I needed to lift weights and I had already completed my workout. I have a big swim on Wednesday and I hope I have that same feeling then too. After work it was so nice out (it had stormed earlier in the day) when I got home a wrangled up the boys and Lucky and headed out for a jog around the neighborhood. The boys rode their bikes for the first 2 miles with me and then they wanted to run a bit so we ran up and down the block for awhile before heading back inside for dinner. After dinner we played Xbox Connect, Deanna got a fitness game through work that is a blast to play. Speaking of my lovely wife she and some co-workers have just started a fitness challenge at work and she got up early Monday and did a work out plus walked nearly 2 miles at lunch, I am proud of her and I hope she sticks with it, so far she is doing great she also joined me early this morning to walk on the treadmill while I rode the bike trainer, 2 days in a row plus I think she is planning on walking again at work today, AWESOME!

That is pretty much all for now, Caden has T-ball tonight then I'm heading out of town tomorrow for 2 days for work...

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Craziest week of my life

First just let me start off with I have had one of the craziest weeks of my life, and it hasn't all been good. Training wise everything has gone great even with all the hiccups I have experienced.

*A warning to any potential readers this is a long winded rant with a lot of whining and crying on my part about how my life has jumped up and bitten me on the back side. You have been fairly warned*

Monday, started with a great swim and lifted weights afterwards. Starting to get back into the groove with weight lifting and hoping I can reap some benefits from it in my overall fitness as well as my physique, yes I care about how I look and no I'm not shallow. Got an oil change* for my car cause it needed it and I was driving to Des Moines on Tuesday to pick up the President and COO of my company as well as our Facilities Manager so we could tour my market and scope out some new locations. After the boys went to bed hit the bike trainer for an easy night cap ride.

Tuesday I hit the pool for my long swim and another round of weightlifting, lower body this time. Squats are my new best friend or at least that is what I'm telling myself as I get back into them. At one point in my "meat head" days I could knock out pyramid sets of heavy squats in the 400+ pound range and hit as high as 600 lbs. for single rep so maxing out at 195 for 8 reps is only a slight dent to my ego but I will work my way back up to something respectful again soon, okay maybe not 500 lbs but different goals these days. Afterwards got ready to hit the road for Des Moines, and that is where the adventure begins. Coming into Iowa City I failed to notice the speed limit change and the highway state patrolman and got myself a lovely ticket for doing 75 in a 55. While I was waiting for the officer to finish writing up the ticket I sent my boss a text for letting him know I might be a little behind. After getting back under way I made it all the way to Grinnell before my car suddenly seized up and died as I was traveling down the highway. Now I don't know much about cars, but I do know that when I pull the dip stick there should be some oil on it, mine was bone dry. Long story short apparently that oil change I got, the technician either installed the oil filter cap wrong, or something was defective and oil was slowly leaking out of my engine from Monday afternoon until 10:15 Tuesday morning when it seized and died. Good news is their insurance is going to cover the cost of rebuilding my engine and the rental car until it is fixed, bad news is it might be a week or longer until I get my car back, which by the way did I mention it's still in Grinnell.

I was able to get a ride to my store in Newton where my boss came to pick me up and then we started our whirlwind tour of Iowa.

Wednesday and Thursday where spent criss crossing the state going from Ankeny Iowa, to Newton to Eldridge, to Morrison, IL and then finally ending up in Anamosa Iowa on Wednesday checking into our hotel around 10:30 after spending close to 7 hours driving. Thursday we headed back to Des Moines dropped my boss off at the airport at 11:00 for his flight then drove an hour an half to Webster City so my Facilities manager could see the store up there before driving back to the Des Moines airport for her flight at 5:30. Oh and I forgot to mention that I did get a run in on both Wed and Thur morning, pretty darn proud of those 2 workouts, could have easily just said sleep in you deserve it but I pushed myself to get them done and was thankful I did. Then I drove the 3 hours home to the Quad Cities.

At this point I was tired exhausted and ready for a nice easy relaxing Friday before the weekend, but I first had to get a bike ride in Thursday night.

Friday morning I slept in and maybe it was good maybe it was bad but frankly I don't care at this point. Got ready to take Casey to school, dropped him off came home to get ready to head out for the day and got a phone call from his school, I had forgot to pack his lunch, crap. Okay I was going to drop it off when I left before heading to exchange rental cars, FYI Ford Escapes are not a very fuel friendly vehicle, they get about 20 mpg and only have a 12 gallon tank so when you drive as much as I do you may have to fill up 3 times a day. Exchanged for a Chevy Cruze which so far is knocking out 35 mpg's which I'm happy with. Headed on up to Maquoketa Iowa before going to my radio remote in Anamosa (yes the second time this week I will have been in Anamosa) when the school called me again, I had forgotten Casey's lunch a second time. At this point I felt like the worst father in the world and I'm not even going to use anything else that has happened this week as an excuse. I felt awful and the stress of everything else that had gone on this week left me a little bit down in the dumps.

Finally made my way to Anamosa for my radio remote, which went really well, one of the good things this week. After leaving the store at 6 I felt like maybe my week had turned around and was looking forward to a nice weekend. Got less than a mile away before I realized "Not so fast my friend" when I rubbed my eye and my right contact subsequently popped out and disappeared into thin air. I pulled over and I searched every where, I was afraid to get out of the car for fear of it being blown off but after searching endlessly I had no choice but to exit the car. I searched every inch of that car and could not find it any where. If you have ever worn contacts and lost one you know that usually the just stick to your cheek or fall in your lap if you are sitting down, but no, apparently a black hole opened up in my lap at the exact same time my contact fell and swallowed it up into the nothingness, never to be seen again. Great now I had a 90 minute drive home blind in one eye, and I don't see well at night with both contacts.

I was mentally broken at this point and not in a very good place, the worst part was I didn't think I was going to be able to do the one thing I knew would make me feel better...run! I can't run with my glasses on, it makes me nauseous and gives me a horrible headache so I was dreading that my group long run was going to be derailed. After finally convincing myself that I was going for a run come Hell or high water tomorrow I was able to relax a little before bed knowing that if nothing else I was going for a run tomorrow, it maybe a short one, but in my experience any run is better than no run at all.

This has been a very long winded rant and for anyone who made it through all that you are either a) very bored with your own life and read to many blogs b) a glutton for punishment or c) a pretty darn good friend, thanks for reading.


Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.