Weekly Challenge: Week 1 - Get 7-8 Hours of Sleep

Mrs. GIAS and I are trying to really take this next 90 day round seriously.  So much so that we are setting weekly challenges for ourselves.  These weekly challenges start each Sunday and, in theory, they build on themselves for each of the following weeks.  Hopefully this gives us a little extra motivation, a mini-goal each week and something to focus on if we need that extra push.  Anyway, you'll see a new weekly challenge on GIAS each Sunday.

This week's challege is to get enough rest.  A person can't perform when they are exhausted and/or fatiguied.  We are doing intense workouts, sometimes more than one or two in a day, so we need our rest.  We work out at 5:00am everyday.  That means to get our full 7-8 hours of sleep, we need to be sleepingno later than 10pm.  Far to many times in the past we have told ourselves that we would go to bed early so we could be better rested but then we start watching a show and then all of a sudden its 10:30, we still need to get ready for bed and we don't fall asleep until well after 11:00pm or later.  Well, this challege hopefully ensures that we will be fast asleep in time for us to get our 7-8 hours every night. 

It's ironic that I'm writing this post just after 10pm, but I swear, I'm on my way upstairs to bed right now!

Round 4: Day 1 - 30:15: Upper Body Massacre

Today is the start of Round 4 using the hybrid routine we talked about previously.  On tap for today, 30:15 more affectionately known as the Upper Body Massacre.  The workout is a One on One with T-Hort where you do 24 sets, alternating 30 pushups and 15 pullups.  Each set is a different type of pushup (standard, military, staggered hand, diamond, etc.) and pullup (wide front, pullup, chinup, levers, etc.). 

I have to say I was a little worried about keeping up with Tony today as I had never done this workout and it had me a bit scared.  However, the consistent pullups and pushups in P90X was clearly a good primer.  I completed 360 pushups and 182 pullups and I kept up with Tony or exceeded his numbers on every exercise except for levers - where I am not ashamed to say, I failed miserably.  My new goal is 5 levers by the end of the round...

Overall I liked the workout and wasn't as sore today as I thought I would be after really working over my chest and back this morning. It was a great start to Round 4 and I think Mrs. GIAS enjoyed it as well.  That's right boys, Mrs. GIAS also did the Upper Body Massacre and while she can't quite keep up with all of the unassissted pullups (yet), she did keep up really well on pushups.  Oh, and she used pushup stands too, ya' know, so it wasn't too easy.  She's such a bad a$$.

P90X/P90X+/One on One/Insanity Hybrid

As you may have read, I just finished my third round of P90X and Mrs. GIAS just finished her second round.  We both admit that the last round was good and we made good progress in our fitness, although our diet could have been tighter around the holidays.  (What can I say, my wife and mother like to bake and I like to eat!)  Anyway, we decided tojump right back into another 90 day round although with a few changes.  We've done P90X "classic" a number of times now and we want to mix it up a bit - remember as Tone-Tone says, variety is the spice of fitness.  So what I did was take all of the Beachbody workouts that we currently own (yeah it's a lot - 12 P90X discs, 4 P90X+ discs, 15 One on One's and 10 Insanity discs) and put them into one massive hybrid workout routine that would offer us the structre that Tony Horton created with P90X but give us some different workouts to play with so we wouldn't get bored and plateau. We haven't done any of the Insanity discs yet and have only done a few of the One on One's, so it should be pretty fun to get some new workouts in.  Below is our schedule for the next 90 days, subject to change if we decide that it needs to be tweaked.  If you've done any of these programs, let me know what you think of this hybrid:

Phase 1: (Weeks 1-3)
Sun – One on One: 30-15/Killer Abs
Mon – Insanity: Plyo Cardio Circuit
Tue – One on One: Just Arms/Ab Ripper X
Wed – Yoga X/FOY/True Power Yoga
Thu – One on One: Plyo Legs/Killer Abs
Fri – Insanity: Pure Cardio & Abs
Sat – Rest

Recovery Week: (Week 4)
Sun – Insanity: Core Cardio & Balance
Mon – P90X: Core Synergistics
Tue – Yoga X/FOY/True Power Yoga
Wed – X-Stretch
Thu – P90X: Core Synergistics
Fri – Core Cardio & Balance
Sat – Rest

Phase 2: (Weeks 5-7)
Sun – P90X: Chest/Shoulders/Triceps/ARX
Mon – Insanity: Power & Resistance
Tue – P90X: Back & Biceps/ARX
Wed – Yoga X/FOY/True Power Yoga
Thu – P90X+: Total Body Plus/Abs Core +
Fri – Insanity: Max Cardio Conditioning & Abs
Sat – Rest

Recovery Week: (Week 8 – same as Week 4, above)

Phase 3: (Weeks 9 & 11)
Sun – One on One: 30-15/Killer Abs
Mon – Insanity: Max Interval Plyo
Tue – One on One: Just Arms/Ab Ripper X
Wed – Yoga X/FOY/True Power Yoga
Thu – One on One: Plyo Legs/Killer Abs
Fri – Insanity: Pure Cardio & Abs
Sat – Rest

Phase 3: (Weeks 10 & 12)
Sun – P90X: Chest/Shoulders/Triceps/ARX
Mon – Insanity: Max Interval Circuit
Tue – P90X: Back & Biceps/ARX
Wed – Yoga X/FOY/True Power Yoga
Thu – P90X+: Total Body Plus/Abs Core +
Fri – Insanity: Max Cardio Conditioning & Abs
Sat – Rest

Recovery Week: (Week 13 – same as Weeks 4 & 8, above)

Of course, I'll still be continuing my 6 triathlon workouts a week as well, and Mrs. GIAS's training for Hospital Hill will start soon also (yeah, I'll probably run that one too), so this should keep us pretty busy.

Cheat Meal

So at the end of each of my rounds of P90X, I allow myself a little nutritional armistice day and indulge on old favorites that I don't eat anymore to stay healthy.  It's something to look forward to and gives a bit of a reward for sticking to the nutrition aspect of my fitness (which is probably more important than the workouts).

Normally I go for pizza, 5 Guys Burgers and Fries or Oklahoma Joe's BBQ.  Today I was taking out my brother in law for a birthday lunch and he selected one of my oldest and most favorite places to go...Gates BBQ.  A perfect cheat meal.  If you are from Kansas City, this needs no explanation, if you're not, no explanation will suffice.  Let's just say I had the mixed plate with three ribs, sliced beef, sliced ham and a mound of french fries.  I don't even want to know what the calorie count was, but it was worth it.  Oh my was it worth it. 

29 Min Swim - 58 Min Bike - 17 Min Run

29 Min Swim - 4:50am
1400 yds
48.28 yds/min

58 Min Bike - 5:30am
20.07 miles
20.76 mph

17 Min Run - 6:30am
1.7 miles
10 min/mile

It's very early (4:30am) on what should be my rest day, but I'm off to the gym to get in some swim/bike/run.  It's weird because going to the gym Saturday morning is something that I look forward to all week, even though it's super early and I know I'll be tired.  I'm sure it's because there is some novelty to it still, I wonder how long that novelty will last and keep motivating me out of bed in the cold to go do cardio for a couple of hours.  I guess it doesn't matter right now, because I got up fine this morning and had a great session.

When I got to the gym it was me, the guy behind the counter and one girl on an eliptical machine that I had never seen before.  The parking lot (above) was pretty empty, a far cry from the hustle and bustle that a weeknight at 5:30pm brings.  I like the peacefulness, the quiet, the ability to go in and just work.  I didn't see Frizzy McBlonde Hair or Brownie VonCrop Pants at all today, I don't know where they were.

I got into the locker room, threw my bag in my locker and hit the pool.  (Old Navy showed up right as I was going into the pool, he lifted for a half hour and then proceeded to do his usual circuit of every cardio machine in the place for 15 minutes a piece - nothing out of the ordinary.) Today is a shorter session becuase it's the end of my recovery week so it was only 29 minutes, but I was determined to work on my technique, flip all of my turns and drop my stroke count, at least a little.  I ended up flipping all of my turns on all of my 100yd intervals.  I also did them on a strict 2 min interval (start then finish 100 yds and start then next one two minutes exactly after you started the last one...if you finish in 1:45 you get 15 sec rest, if you finish in 1:55 you get 5 sec rest).  I was consistently finishing at 1:45 and taking 15 seconds rest and felt like I could have done these intervals ad infinitum.  My first 25 of each of my 100s was my best technique wise and my technique would fall off as I got more fatigued.  My stroke count was averaging 20 but I had a few lengths where I really focused and got it into the 17-18 range.  This still needs an immense amount of work.

I finished my yards and hit the locker room to put on some shorts and a shirt and headed to the spin bikes.  I hopped on my favorite (second from the right, back row) and started to pedal.  Spinning gives me the opportunity to listen/watch my Zune and do some people watching.  By this time in the day (5:45am or so) there are a few people filtering into the club.  One guy that I hadn't seen before was working with the cable machine and dumbells doing triceps, biceps and rows.  It was odd because he was only using one arm at a time and I wanted to tell him to just get another dumbbell and do both arms at the same time.  I should have shouted like one of those infomercials, "I can cut your exercise time in half!" and I wouldn't have been lying.  The other odd thing about this fellow was that he was wearing a weight belt, which is pretty unnecesary doing cable exercises and using 20lb dumbbells, but I'll let that slide AND he looked like he had in some chew.  Y'know, smokeless tobacco.  I couldn't figure this part out because I know people do stupid things, but dip during a weight routine seemed extrodinarily odd.  I was somewhat releived, but more bewildered when he went to the drinking fountain and figured out that it wasn't dip at all.  It was a mouth guard.  Why on earth does this guy need a mouth guard to use a cable machine and dumbbells?  Does he hit himself in the face a lot?  Does he expect that someone will come by and elbow him?  Is weightlifing a contact sport now?  Seriously, WTF?

Anyway, I finished my spin and hopped off and jumped onto a treadmill to finish out the trifecta for the day.  I started the run at 5.5mph and sped it up by half a mile an hour every minute or two until I got up to 7mph (8.36 mile avg).  This was a better running session than I expected after already swimming and biking for an hour and a half before starting.  This is the first time I did all three sports right after each other and I realized taht I think (with more training, of course) I can do this.  It was a nice realization because it felt like I did a mini-tri of sorts today and I didn't collapse or die or feel like I couldn't go on.  Hopefully that feeling lasts.

Round 3: Day 90 - Fountain of Youth Yoga

Last workout of Round 3 of P90X is complete!  FOY ("short") yoga this morning with Mrs. GIAS.  I've talked about FOY before so I won't go into detail here.  It was a pretty uneventful session.  I was fairly tight in my legs from yesterday's sessions, but the stretch was good.  

35 Minute Bike (Stationary)

35 Min Bike (Stationary)
12.8 Miles
21.94 mph

The bike ride was pretty uneventful. It was much shorter than what I have been doing lately, so it wasn't too hard and I kept a good pace with my cadence in the 90's the whole time, which is good.  The girl next to me took 8 (yes I counted) phone calls on her iPhone during her 30 minute ride, each from a different person.  That's pretty impressive, not only that 8 people would call her to chat, or that they would do it all within 30 minutes of each other, but that she would take the calls, all of them, while working out.  I don't get eight phone calls a day and this girl gets eight without even trying.  Clearly I need a new social circle.

Also, I started listening to Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen in audiobook format.  It's a fascinating tale of a tribe in Mexico that runs super long distances, barefoot and have no real injury or health problems.  I'm only a bit into the third chapter, but so far it's really good.  I'll try to remember to do a full review when I finish it.  For now, take this quote from the second chapter,

But why? Antelope don't get shin splints. Wolves don't ice-pack their knees. I doubt that 80% of all wild mustangs are annually disabled with impact injuries. It reminded me of a proverb attributed to Roger Bannister, who, while simultaneously studying medicine, working as a clinical researcher and minting pithy parables, became the first man to break the 4-minute mile: "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up," Bannister said. "It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."


So why should every other mammal on the planet be able to depend on its legs except us? Come to think of it, how could a guy like Bannister charge out of the lab every day, pound around a hard cinder track in thin leather slippers, and not only get faster, but never get hurt? How come some of us can be out there running all lion-like and Bannister-ish every morning when the sun comes up, while the rest of us need a fistful of Ibuprofen before we can put our feet on the floor?

17 Minute Swim

17 Min Swim
700 yds
41.17 yds/min

I know you're asking yourself, "Geek, why is there a picture of Harvey Firestein, star of stage and screen, at the top of a post about swimming?"  Oh, gentle reader, we'll get there, just keep reading...

It's a recovery week for my Tri training (as well as P90X) which means shorter training sessions.  I went to the gym today after work for a short swim (17 min), followed by a short bike ride (35 min).  The swim was pretty good, I did 700 yards and really focused on my stroke technique.  The swim is all about technique and efficiency.  I NEED to get more efficient in the water.  I am horribly slow and inefficient right now.  My stroke count per length is 20-21, I think it should be more like 13-15.  I decided that I need to have a swim coach dissect my stroke and help me with some drills. There's a trainer at my gym that does lots of triathlons that I think I'm going to hire to break down my stroke and help me get better.  More on that in a later post, I'm sure.

The real story comes after the swim, which brings us to Harvey up there.  So I finish my swim and head into the locker room to change into some shorts and a shirt so I can hop on a stationary bike.  While I'm doing the combination to my locker a guy comes out of the shower, a guy who looks and sounds stunningly similar to Harvey Firestein, but with bigger earrings in both ears - oh and buck naked - and asks me (no kidding) "Do you wax your back? I waxed mine once and it hurt like hell.  I also shaved 'down there' once but since I'm not 'cut' after words it felt like a razor blade between my thighs." 

Wha?  Did he really just ask me that and tell me that?  And WTF, I've been aquainted with him for about 10 seconds and now I have both verbal and visual confirmation that he was never circumsized.  This is entirely too much information for a casual locker room conversation.  Harvey continued to talk and give me the once over - yeah, I'm pretty sure he was checking me out - in the locker room - naked - and I'll admit it...it was weird.  

I was friendly and chatted with him about something for a minute or two, trying to get my clothes on and get out the door.  Then he says, "Do you dive? 'Cause once I went to a lake and jumped off of a platform that flopped my belly pretty good and it hurt.  My wife told me that was a pretty stupid thing to do.  I suppose we all do stuipid things when we're young."

Oh, I see what you did there, Harvey.  Nice attempt at trying to manuver your way back into the closet with that wife comment, but I'm afraid that's not going to work.  Having a 2 minute naked conversation with a guy you just met which include the topics 1) waxing your back, 2) your nether regions, and 3) your abundance of foreskin,  all while you are taking uncomfortably long looks at my abs...I don't think your half-hearted comment about your fake wife is going to convince anyone of anything. 

Harvey, perhaps next time we should ease into naked conversations with strangers.

P90X Core Synergistics

Core Synergistics, you are only scheduled to do it recovery weeks in P90X so sometimes you forget about it with all of the other workouts.  Then, it's like an old friend that comes back to work you over twice in just a couple of days.  I've said it before and I'll say it again...this is a great workout.  After two court hearings today, I'm at the gym tonight for a short swim, short bike and maybe, if I have time, a short run.  It'll be like a mini-triathlon.  We'll see how that goes.

Oh and by the by - only one more workout tomorrow to complete Round 3 of P90X.  I'm kind of excited, mostly for my cheat meal reward at the end of the round, (which I'll explain on Saturday) but also becuase Mrs. GIAS and I will be heading straight into another round starting Sunday. More to come.

Patience "Hummingbird" Yoga

Patience "Hummingbird" Yoga is a new yoga routine Mrs. GIAS and I did this morning at our regular 5:00am workout slot (it's a Tony Horton One on One - of course).  As said before, this is a P90X recovery week, so the schedule is a little different than our usual three days resistance two days cardio and one day yoga. 

I had been wanting to try this yoga DVD for a while and today we were scheudled for X-Stretch, which is a 60 minute stretching routine.  X-Stretch is good, and you feel nice and relaxed at the end, but a little extra intensity is always a nice addition in my book (not to mention I love yoga).  So even if it's a little harder than X-Stretch, it will be a nice substitute workout with a similar relaxing effect.

Anyway, after some cheesy Tone-Tone at the beginning doing a few "ohm-outs" (yeah, you've got to watch to understand) the routine was a nice, quiet, relaxing session.  Until I got into Savasana ("Corpse Pose" - literally lying on your back, eyes closed and motionless) that is, and our daschund, who usually hides under his blanket during our workout, decided that would be the perfect time to lick my face. 

Nice way to end a relaxing session, dog tongue on my mouth.

Honey - An Old Wive's Tale Turns Out to be True!

As you know, B has recently had a terrible cough and had a terrible time trying to sleep.  So bad, that Mrs. GIAS and I had to miss a morning workout (a rare occurence for us) to deal with B.  This entailed me going to the drug store late at night to see if there is any medicine that a three year old can take (there's not) and then trying everything from a vaporizor, extra pillows and every other non-medical remedy we could think of.

Well, two nights ago, Mrs. GIAS said that she had some luck on Facebook with a few "home remedies" that we should try.  The one we used that seemed to work wonders (read: B has slept through the night the past two nights with NO coughing) was to have her take a teaspoon of honey before bed.  I was skeptical at first, but I have to tell you, now I'm a believer.  Then I found this article in the Times UK:

"Natural honey is a more effective remedy for children’s coughs than over-the-counter medicines, researchers say. A dose of buckwheat honey before bedtime easily outperformed a cough suppressant in a US study.

Honey did a better job of reducing the severity and frequency of night-time coughs. It also improved sleep quality for children and their parents."

The article didn't mention if this worked for adults as well, but I kind of hope I catch B's cough, just so I can try it.  Geeky and awesome.

P90X - Core Synergistics

Sometimes 5:00am just seems to come a little earlier than you think it should.  Part of that may be that I was up a little later than usual watching the Jayhawks destroy the Tigers - which was well worth it, of course.  Anyway, B did great last night and was only up once due to her cough at about 10:30pm or so, then she settled down and got some much needed rest.  Which of course means that Mrs. GIAS and I got our rest as well.  Just enough to get up and crush Core Synergistics this morning.  This is one of my favorite P90X workouts because it is almost exclusively compound moves and gives you a great total body workout from your arms, core, legs and back.  I always feel spent at the end of this one and today was no exception.

Sick 3yr Old

B, our 3 year old, has a nasty cold and cough and was up most of the night, meaning of course that Mrs. GIAS and I were up as well. We ended up putting B on the floor of our room to settle her down and try to get some sleep - she was very uncomfortable. (By the by, we have NEVER had either of our children sleep in our room on ANY occasion, so that tells you how bad this was getting.)

B ended up sleeping a bit, but we were still up every couple hours dealing with her - which is fine, that's just parenting. Anyway, with her on the floor of our room and both of us being exhausted from being up all night, I turned the alarm off a little before 5am and let Mrs. GIAS and B sleep a bit longer. It's our last P90X recovery week of this round (only 5 workouts to go!), so we can make up the workout later this week. I might do something this evening when Mrs. GIAS is at her bowling league, maybe a short run or some intervals, we'll see.  UPDATE: Yeah, instead of intervals, I ate two turkey burgers and watched an episode of Fringe on the DVR...so that's almost like working out.

One on One FOY Yoga

Ah, short yoga. Mrs. GIAS and I have two yoga routines that we go between, nicknamed by us as "long yoga" and "short yoga". Long yoga is Yoga X from P90X (about 90 minutes), and short yoga is from Tony Horton's One on One series called Fountain of Youth, a much more managable 47 minutes of Yoga.  (Horton, or Tone-Tone as we like to call him early in the morning, is the creator of P90X as well.)  Normally, I prefer long yoga, unless our schedule is extra tight in the morning, which today being Sunday with church at 7:30am, it was. My plan was to also try to get up earl(ier) and run (see previous post) before yoga because we had a full day planned and I didn't want to have to work in my run some other time during our busy day.

Anyhoo, short yoga was good today, the run before hand really warmed my muscles up and I was able to stretch better and deeper than I have in a while. I think the extra blood flow and loose muscles helped quite a bit. If I can drag my a** out of bed before 5:00am, I think that I'll probably run a bit before my next yoga session because the stretch seemed to be so much better. We'll see...

29 Min Run (Treadmill)

29 Min Run (Treadmill) - 5:00am
2.85 miles
10:01 min/mile

I woke up a little earlier than usual today...before 5:00am...on a Sunday...to run...on a treadmill...what is wrong with me?  I wanted to start my run before Mrs. GIAS got up and came down to do our regular morning workout (short yoga today). Anyway, I flipped on the TV and James Cameron's The Abyss was just starting on HBO so I watched that while I ran on the treadmill. As an aside, Jim Cameron can make a movie...underwater drilling platform with aliens, sweet.  The Geek loves movies with aliens.

Anyway, it was a good run, I was tight and tired so I started at 5mph for half a mile, then ramped it up to 5.5mph, 6.0mph and 6.5mph every half mile after that for 29 minutes, settling in on 6.5 mph, although I think I could have gone faster. I know, I know, but anyone can go faster than that, Geek.  But you see, gentle reader, I've said it before and I'll say it again, running is an acquired taste for me, and right now it tastes like poop. 

I was working on my breath and on forefoot striking today, rather than the heel strike that I usually run with. I have read a bunch of stuff saying that forefoot strikes cause less injury and naturally shortens your stride to make you more comfortable when you run. Yeah, it's a little weird, but it plays to my geekiness and after trying it, I didn't seem to mind it at all. I'll try it some more on my runs to see what, if anything changes...perhaps running will taste less like poop.

97 Min Bike (Stationary)

97 Min Bike (Stationary) - 6:00am
32 miles
19.79 mph

After my swim I hit the locker room, threw on some shoes and hopped on the stationary bike.  (Yeah, it was warmer here this week, it topped out at a scorching 40 degress...not nearly warm enough for me to brave an outside ride just yet.)  I rode for 97 minutes and went 32 miles, a pretty decent little workout. My heart was clicking and I burned a bunch of calories.

I watched IronMan on my Zune, which passed the time nicely, although I feel like I need to put some more movies on there to keep my occupied, I think I've seen most of the ones on my Zune a few times now.  I wonder if someone knows a cheap and easy way to put movies on a portable device...

Anyway, Old Navy was there again, working hard. I think he used every piece of cardio equiment while I was on the bike and I think he did weights while I was swimming. You've got to respect that guy, probably because of his service, but also becuase he wears athletic socks with stripes.  I also saw Frizzy McBlonde Hair, although she was a little later than usual as she didn't come in until 6:15 or so. I also am going to go ahead and name a third regular, Brownie Von Crop Pants (yeah, brown hair and crop pants, it's early, what kind of creativity do you want from me?)  I've seen her a few times in the morning so I think she's ready for regular status.

At any rate, it was a good bike session, lots of sweat.  I also finally remembered my water bottle, which is also helpful.  I stopped once for a quick bathroom break about 30 minutes into the session. This isn't a big deal becuase the bikes only time you for 60 minutes before you have to reset them anyway so I would have had to stop and reset at some point no matter what. It did get me to thinking about what I do in the middle of a triathlon when I need to go to the bathroom...I mean when you're swimming it probably takes care of itself, but on a bike...ahh, but I digress.

Anyway, finished that ride and went home for some oatmeal, egg whites and a protein shake. I should note, I lost about 5lbs  from my workout this morning (yes, mostly water weight which I promptly gained back at breakfast) but I still need to be extra careful to make sure I get enough fluids and calories...passing out would be almost as bad as peeing myself.

48 Min Swim

48 Min Swim - 5:00am
2200 yds
45.83 yds/min

I was at the gym extra early because my training distances are getting longer and I still wanted to be home shortly after B and G wake up; what can I say, it's the weekend and I love my girls. Thus, I got up at 4:30am (yeah on a Saturday that's supposed to be my "rest day") and got to the gym a little before 5:00am.

I did a 100 warm up, then 21x100 with 15 seconds in between (I think I took 30 seconds after 10x100) and I flipped all of my turns at the 25yd and 75yd points and I got so into the zone that I ended up flipping a few of my other 50yd turns as well. Mostly, I took 2 breaths (instead of a flip turn) at the 50yd point and continued to swim. Right now in the pool, it's all about breath and endurance (yeah, yeah, technique too, but mostly I just want to make sure I don't drown).

At 24 Hour Fitness the pool area is connected directly to a dry sauna, wet sauna and whirlpool, all kind of in one big chlorine smelling concrete room.  There was a guy there that sat in the sauna (and then out of the sauna on a bench, alternating every 10 or 15 minutes) that was watching me pretty much the whole time I was swimming - which is fine. But I have to wonder, it's 5am on a Saturday, why in the he** did you come to the gym to sit in the sauna and watch some guy swim laps (poorly). Seriously, WTF?  I'd never seen him before so he couldn't have known that I would be there, so I think pedofile with infactuation of geeky 31 year olds is probably out.  Can the sauna at 24 Hour Fitness really be soooo good that you wake up early on a Saturday to hang out.  Kind of weird. 

Finally when I was getting ready to cool down, just a slow(er) 100 free and breast stroke mix, he came down to the side of the pool and hopped in.  Then he asked me how many laps I swam, and I almost wanted to ask him why he wasn't counting...but I didn't. Of course, I held that on the inside and just casually told him. As I got out, he got into the pool to do some walking/water sprinting as I went into the locker room. Wonder if he'll be there next week...

P90X Kenpo X

Oh Kenpo X, how I consider thee a waste of time.  Yeah, it's part of P90X and everything works together blah blah blah. But after doing this workout so many times (38 times now, me thinks), it just doesn't seem as intense as other things I could be doing to burn calories.  And the fact that Wesley Idol is giggling like school girl in the background half-a$$ing it not in his proper horse stance just pisses me off a little bit.  (Yeah, that's a little inside venting for those of you who have given the X a try...watch Wesley in the back and you'll know what I mean.)

Anyway, this is the first Kenpo routine I used 5lbs weights in each hand for the duration of the workout. It helped to make my punches and arm movements significantly harder and got me a better burn in my arms and my heart rate was up more than usual (still not great, but better). It still wasn't the intense sweatfest I'd like it to be, although with as much as I'm working out right now, an easy routine once a week isn't bad. I would definitely use the weights again, although I think weighted gloves that are a tad lighter may help my form.

Plus, it takes a lot of concentration to grip a dumbell while doing Kenpo moves and not punch yourself in the face.

P90X Legs & Back/ARX

Woo-hoo, today is th last resistance day of P90X Round 3. Legs and Back gets a little old because you do it every week during the X, but it's always a challenge, which I like. I did my usual 130 pull ups (unassisted) and used 20lbs dumbells on all of the weighted leg routines.

Of course we followed with ARX.  M really pushed me on this today to do advanced versions of every move (which we've done before) but ARX after Legs and Back is tough because so much is focused on your lower body and hip flexors. After an hour of working my legs, holding them straight and flexing for another 15 minutes is a real challenge.  Anyway, we got through everything with flying colors except for my second nemisis, the dreaded Mason Twists.  I only got through about 45 (instead of 50) with my legs up.  I don't know why I have such a hard time with that stupid exercise, it just wears me out (and it's the last move).  I'm convinced this was a mental preparation error and if I had just focused more before starting and didn't chit-chat about Tony and the Kids I wouldn't have had this problem.

It's OK, do your best forget the rest.  I'll get 'em next time.

29 Min Run (Treadmill)

29 Min Run (Treadmill) - 7:45pm
2.42 miles
12 min/mile

I hopped off the Air Bike and did my short run for the week, 29 minutes. This was weird as it was the first time I went from the bike to the run. My multi-sport training or "brick" training thus far has only been from swim to bike. In any event, my legs felt a little weird (read wobbly) when I first started, but once I got going for about 15-20 minutes, I felt great, like I could go forever.

I think I need to up the speed on the treadmill to really challenge myself, but I like having a steady and respectable pace to build my volume. I think for my long run on Sunday (which is a recovery week long run, so actually shorter than usual) I will up the pace to 6.5mph and see what happens.

28 Min Bike (Home Stationary)

28 Min Bike (Home Stationary) - 7:15pm
8.67 miles
18.58mph

Rode the Air Bike 950 for the first time today and let me tell you, it's ghetto fabulous.  I'm sorry I don't have a picture of it yet (it's pretty close to what is above, except with a bigger "fan" in the front and instead of the sexy fitness model, imagine a lumbering Geek) but it basically feels like you are straddling an industrial fan with pedals.  Not only do you feel sexy, but it is nearly the loudest piece of stationary fitness equipment I have ever come in contact with.  I "permanently borrowed" it from my sister who was storing it in my parents' basement as a way to get some indoor mileage in at home...it's really just a bonus to create my very own wind tunnel in our basement.

Anyway, I amped up the resistance and tried to pedal through consistently for about 28 minutes to make up for my shorter bike routine on Tuesday. The Air Bike wasn't bad; it has decent resistance and gave me the workout I was looking for. It was nice to bike in front of the TV where I watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy on DVD (KU game wasn't on until 8pm, instead of 7pm like I thought).

The one weird thing (besides that image of me stradling an industrial fan that you'll never be able to get out of your head) is I'm not sure I trust the Air Bike's digital display. I think it's metric, which is fine, but I couldn't really tell for sure, I may have acutally been biking at 33 mph the whole time, although that doesn't sound quite right because at that speed I would have won the Tour de France. Converted, it's about 20.5mph, which may be slightly more accurate.

P90X Yoga X

The bottom lower quadrant of my left back is still sore, but is a bit better than yesterday. Yoga today was very beneficial for stretching it out and working out the kinks. However, there are a few moves in Yoga X that required twisting or torquing that my mind thought were a good idea but my back disagreed. I went ahead and bagged it on those moves, opting for a child's pose variation.  I also noticed that I wasn't as flexible in grabbing my feet and bending over because of the tightness in my back.  Still got through more than 95% of the asanas and the stretch helped immensly.

30 Min Bike (stationary)

30 Min Bike (stationary) - 6:30pm
58 Minutes Scheduled - need to make up 28 minutes
10.71 miles
21.4 mph

24 Hour Fitness was pretty busy, as it usualy is on weeknights after work, but I still found a stationary bike to ride.  I kept my cadence in the 90s for a good solid ride. I actually rode next to Sally for 20 min or so; she's a trainer at the gym who has completed multiple Ironmans and I've talked to about tri-training.  I felt good that it seemed that she was running a cadence at a similar pace that I was, hopefully my self proscribed training schedule won't be a total waste of time.

The one big bummer of the training session was that my Zune conked out of batteries so I had to opt for whatever was on the TV in front of the bikes.  I ended up listening to Colbert for most of my ride, which wasn't too bad. Nothing too eventful, but I did cut the bike short because I promised Mrs. GIAS I'd be home in time for a 7:30pm dinner and if I'd done the full 58 minutes, I would have missed it.  I'll have to try to make it up later this week.

29 Min Swim

29 Min Swim - 5:45pm
1250 yds
43.1 yds/minute

It was a good swim today, I did 100 warm up, then 5x100, 20 sec rest between, 6x100 15 sec rest between, fliped turns at 25 and 75,  and took two breaths at the 50 turn. Stroke count was around 21 and I finished with a 50 cool down breast stroke.

I looked at some videos and tips on line before my swim to try to improve my form.  Technique in swimming makes all the difference in the world and I feel like my technique is terrible.  Today, I vowed to work on keeping my head down, arching my back and having my hand slice the water at my goggle line before reaching forward to increase my glide.  I still didn't get the glide that I would like but everyonce in a while I felt like I was using better form. 

It's a slow process, but hopefully I can keep improving and not embarass myself...or drown.  Really either of those would be a bummer.

P90X Back and Biceps ARX

That problem with the lower quadrant of my back on the left side is still killing me.  Luckily, as before, front to back movement wasn't bad once I tensed the muscle, but the first rep on everything was murder. However, oddly enough, once I got a rep done, I could finish out the set and even went a bit heavier than I have before on a lot of exercises.

I also, oddly enough, felt like my pullup form was better today than it has been, possibly because I was trying to pull straight without any body english which would torque my back. Yeah, my back hurt, but I think it made me focus on a few form issues that may have been a minor blessing in disguise. 

As per usual in this workout, by the end, my biceps were on fire! The back-double bicep pattern really gets your arms a workout. 

ARX was good today, a few of the exercises with body twist hurt and I couldn't do any oblique v-ups on my left side, it hurt way too much. I did get a solid 50 mason twists in and those felt as good as they ever have.

P90X Ploymetrics

MHR 211
AHR 151

Wow, what a good sweat that was.  I had a great Plyo session today.  No matter how many times I do that workout, it's always a challege.  I went "Johnny Extreme" and Tony says today and kept a faster pace than the trainers in the video.  It must have been a bit warmer in the basement than usual because I got a great sweat going during the workout.  Mrs. GIAS loves the winter workouts because when it's warmer outside (and thus, warmer inside) I sweat like a maniac during some of our workouts.  To the point of her slipping on the floor from the "moisture".  She hasn't had to deal with that in a while but unfortunately today I had to towel off the tile a few times for her.

The other item of note, my heart rate maxed at 211 today, which is the highest I've ever recorded.  I suppose this could be a fluke, although my monitor is pretty accurate.  To give some perspective, my maximum heart rate doing the simple equation is 220 minus my age (31) equalling 189.  That means 189 should be as high as my heart goes.  I have occassionally pushed it into the 190's and topped off at 204 or 205 once or twice.  I figure, I'm a fit guy, the regular equation probably doesn't apply all the way.  But 211 seems...dangerous. 

I need to keep an eye on that or else sweat won't be the only thing Mrs. GIAS is cleaning up off the basement floor.

48 Min Run (Treadmill)

48 Min Run (Treadmill) - 3:00pm
4.3 miles
11:09 pace/mile
MHR 173
AHR 124

Great run, I felt sluggish the first 20 or 30 minutes (like I always seem to) then started to feel great. My "second wind" came around the 30 minute mark and I felt like I could have kept going.  I wanted to run during nap time because I'm watching my girls today, but B never did actually fall asleep.  After her required two hours in her room, I went and got her and laid her in my chair next to the treadmill.  I told her she needed a little more quiet time so I flipped on Sesame Street while I ran.  I'll admit it, Sesame Street is not the best entertainment for running on a treadmill...in fact it's terrible.  But hey, being Dad comes first, right?

P90X Chest Shoulders and Tri

AHHHHHH!  My lower quadrant on the left side of my back is killing me.  I think I pulled a muscle or tweaked something because it hurts like crazy.  It hurts more when I torque from side to side rather than straight movements, thus pushups and most curl exercises weren't too much of a problem.  Once I tensed my muscle I could isolate and didn't put too much strain on my lower back.  I'm not sure what I did, but the child's pose stretch at the end (right hand over left) almost killed me.  We ennded up skipping ARX today so that we could get to church on time.

I guess I couldn't be in too much pain because I hit a new PR on Plyo Pushups...16!

88 Min Bike (Stationary)

88 Min Bike (Stationary) - 6:00am
29.6 miles
20.18 mph
MHR 150
AHR 122

After my swim session I did a quick change and hopped on a bike.  The first 20 or 30 minutes were sluggish, either from general fatigue after swimming or just because my body isn't aclimated to this much cardio yet. 

At any rate, after I got warmed up I really turned it on and felt good through the whole workout. I need to remember that if I just put my mind to it and turn off the "I can't" and push through, I don't need to stop. Unfortunately I forgot my water bottle today so I stopped pedaling twice for about 20 seconds both times to hop off and get a quick drink at the fountain, other than that, my cadence was high 80s or better. I watched the first hour and half of Casino Royale on the Zune - what a life saver!  Watching a movie makes the time pass so much faster, especially when the people watching is minimal becuase it's so early in the morning. 

There were two people there that I had seen before.  I shall name the first guy "Old Navy" because he looks to be mid-late 40s and wears a Navy shirt every time I see him(I assume he was/is in the service) and is working hard.    The other girl that I see all the time I shall call Frizzy McBlonde hair...this name speaks for itself.  There was also a hispanic girl that lifts weights that I had seen before, but she does not get a nickname yet, maybe next week.  The other handful of people I couldn't recognize. 

44 Min Swim

44 Min Swim - 5:00am
1900 yds
43.18 yds/min

Each swim session seems to get better and better.  Today I had my "long" swim of the week and ended up warming up for 100 yds and then doing 17x100's on the 2:20 with flip turns after the first 25.  My other turns I limited myself to two breaths and then back to it.  I'm trying to train my body to remember how to breath in the water (not like Aquaman, like a swimmer...duh).  It's a learned skill so that your body knows how to get breath quickly, let it out efficiently and hold efficiently.  I think if I make incremental changes each time I swim I should be gradually increasing the number of flip turns and distance I can go without stopping. At least in theory.

24 Min Treadmill Run

24 Min Treadmill Run - 7:00pm
2.4 Miles
10:00 pace/mile

A treadmill run is a treadmill run is a treadmill run.  I ran...steady...like a mouse on a wheel...for a fake 2.4 miles...'nuf said.

P90X Kenpo X

It's the end of the week, so it's time for some Kenpo X.  Mrs. GIAS and I like to joke waaaaaay too much during this routine.  We've done it so many times we know all of the corny jokes and cues and could probably do it without the video even being on (that's what she said).  Anyway, today Mrs. GIAS threatened to "Kenpo" me if I didn't start paying attention to the workout and stop harassing her.  I'm afraid if I attack her she's going to use the ancient art of "cardio kick-boxing" to wear me out...'cause that's probably a useful defense.

P90X Legs & Back/ARX

My legs and shoulders/back were sore this morning from yesterday's bike and swim sessions.  Accordingly, I didn't use very heavy weights on the leg exercises due to being tired and sore. I still had a good workout, these extra cardio sessions are just taking a lot out of me right now until my body adjusts to them.

Pullups were about normal, but a little weak.  I got my reps in, but I need to work harder on making sure I get a full extension on and get out of my head about making sure I hit my rep count. ARX was great, even though I was fatigued I got through it with no problem including all 50 mason twists without too much trouble...I may have been able to do a few extra (but I didn't).

29 Min Swim

29 Min Swim - 7:00pm
1200 yds
41.38 yds/min

This was my best swim session to date (OK, I've only had like three, but still...).  I did a 100 warm up, 10x100 free on the 2:25ish (basically go 100yds and rest 30 seconds, ended up being a bit faster than 2:30, probably not quite 2:20).  I added a flip turn after the first 25, which is a nice improvement.  I need to work on flipping every turn so this will be something I try to build on every session endurance.  I finished with a 100 cool down of free, breast and back.

Since I biked first tonight my clothes were sweaty and sloppy, which is gross to put back on.  It's not so bad if you're already wearing sweaty clothes, but putting them back on after they've been in a locker for 30 minutes is terrible.  So to give you a wonderful visual image, I went home commando rather than put the wet stuff back on.  Clearly I need to think about the logisitics of working out at the gym better for next time.  Perhaps a set of spare clothes.  I also didn't take a sweatshirt, so I left the gym in shoes with no socks, track pants with no shorts, a white undershirt from work and an overcoat...a little weird.

45 Min Bike (Stationary)

45 Min Bike (Stationary) - 6:00pm
14 Miles
18.67mph

The most interesting thing today was me not checking the pool schedule before I arrived.  I usually like to swim first, then bike, however there was a problem with that today.  When I walked into the pool area with my suit and goggles ready to go, there were 20 fat women playing splash doing water arobics in the pool until 7pm.  I got stared at for a minute while I tried to figure out what the hell they were doing. Then after asking the "instructor" when they would be finished, a few of the women said that I was welcome to join them.  So that was awkward.

Instead I switched clothes and went out to bike before my swim.  I had a good biking session today, kept it at level 12 for most of the time (5-10 min on level 14).  Still not sure what the max level is or what I "should" be doing with that.  Hopefully I'll figure that out before long.  I listened to Garden State Soundrack during my ride.  It's really good and I hadn't listened to it in a while, but I realize that meloncholy indie rock probably isn't the best thing for riding a stationary bike.

I ended up getting pretty sweaty (more than usual it seemed) and did a lot of people watching, which is like an amatuer sport for me.  The gym was very full and had all the stereotypical participants, everyone from big guys lifting heavy with bad form to a few people wandering around not quite sure what they should do and sitting for a minute on one thing and moving to something else. 

Oh, and 20 women playing splash doing water aerobics in the pool area.

P90X Yoga X

Ohm.

Ohm.

Ohmy what a nice yoga session.

P90X Shoulders & Arms/ARX

Shoulders and Arms is one of those routines where it's "just good old fashioned weight lifting, 101."  You do curls and presses and tricep extensions.  If you do the work, you get the results.  It was a great session today.  I used heavier weights on most exercises today, trying to really push out my reps and it was awesome.  Had a good ARX session as well, nothing of great importance, just a solid session.

P90X Plyometrics

Plyometrics today was...fine.  Somedays you feel great, somedays you feel lousy, somedays you feel...fine.  I did an extreme pace and stayed ahead of Dommy (you'll have to watch the videos to see "Downhill Dommy" do the routine).  But I felt a bit lethargic.  Not the best Plyo workout ever, but not the worst.  It was...(everybody together) fine.

44 Min Treadmill Run

44 Min Treadmill Run - 1:00pm
4.04 Miles
10:54/mile pace
MHR 172
AHR 155

Today was my first experience with a "second wind". I'd heard about this before, but I hadn't really had a moment where I could say, "hey, that's my second wind" (except maybe after mexican food...gross).  Anyway, I watched the pilot episode of Grey's Anatomy and as I got to about the 30 minute mark, all of a sudden, my legs felt lighter, my breath was under control and I felt great.  I felt like I could run forever.  I had a second wind.  I hope I can find this in my runs in the future.

It was awesome. 

P90X Chest & Back/ARX

Who doesn't love Chest and Back days?  It's 24 sets, 12 sets of pushups, 12 sets of back (6 sets pullups, 6 sets weighted back exercise).  This is such a killer workout, it gets me every time.  Body weight exercises are great because you go for your max reps on them every time so it's always challenging and always leaves me sore.

I remember the first time I did C&B, it was the middle of the warm up - arm circles for about two minutes - 5am on a Sunday and I was by myself in my basement, intimidated as all get out.  I thought after those arm circles that maybe this program was a little too challenging...it was the freaking warm up!  I can't believe I almost quit before the workout even started last year.  I'm glad I didn't and now, even though I still have a Pavlovian response to the music in this workout (it makes me nervous and sick to my stomach) I vividly remember that day, pushing through and finishing the workout.  "Too many people stop way before they should," as Tony says.  Ain't that the truth. 

30 Min Swim

30 Min Swim
1200 yds (100's, all freestyle, no flipturns)
40 yds/min

I went to the pool a few weeks ago right after I got my membership to 24 Hour Fitness to see how much of my competitive swimming I'd retained.  I thought since I swam competitively in high school (ehem...14 years ago) I thought the swimming portion of my training would be a breeze.  I figured I'd hit the pool, do about 1500-2000 yards on 1:30 interval, you know, nice a slow to start out.

Well that first session in the pool was an eye opener since I figured out that I couldn't swim an entire 100 yards without stopping to gasp for air like a goldfish laying on the floor.

Well, I guess this means its a good thing I have about 20 weeks to get ready for this race, I'm apparently going to need every minute I can find.

50 Min Bike (Stationary)

50 Min Bike (Stationary) - 5:45am
15.6 Miles
18.67 mph

This was my first time on a stationary bike for any extended amount of time.  It actually didn't feel bad.  I started on Level 4 for about 20 minutes, but that was pretty easy, so I upped it to Level 8 for the remaining 30 minutes.  Not really sure how high the levels go, but I'll up it to 10 next time to see what happens. 

12 Min Treadmill Interval Run

12 Min Interval Run - 7pm
60 seconds on 30 seconds off

I wanted to get a little training in tonight but was pressed for time.  I had been reading about the effectiveness of interval training as opposed to regular endurance cardio training and thought tonight was as good a night as any to try it out.  Thus, I hopped on the treadmill and set it at 10mph (6:00 mile) and ran hard for 60 seconds.  I hopped off and walked in my basement for 30 seconds and then hopped back on for another 60 seconds.  Rinse, repeat. 

The workout was hard and my heart rate was all over the place (I think I topped out in the 190's - that's getting to be danger territory for my ticker) which is what's supposed to happen.  I liked it and will try it again, although I'd like to do more research to see if it helps the endurance building that I need to be doing for a triathlon. I'll let you know what I find out.

40 Min Treadmill Run

40 Min Treadmill Run - 7:15pm
3.6 Miles
11:07/mile pace
MHR 172
AHR 157

OK, last time I ran on the treadmill it was terrible.  My side cramped up, I was tired and it was overall just not a great experience.  It's as if the triathlon gods were baiting me into quitting before I really got started.  Throwing their subtle warnings to the wind I hopped back on our treadmill tonight for 40 minutes, probably one of the longer (timewise) runs that I've ever completed.  I ended up feeling much better this time around and watched re-runs of Community and Parks and Recreation.  Nothing too spectacular, but I finished feeling strong and ready for my next run.

24 Minute Treadmill Run

24 Min Treadmill Run - 7pm
10:54/mile pace
MHR 170
AHR 160

I ran for the first time on our basement treadmill.  Great purchase decision there, we bought it three years ago and it has officially been used once.  Anyway, I watched the KU game while I ran and unfortunately for my first run I had a side cramp throughout the duration of the run.  Not only do I hate running and this was the first run of my triahlon training, but I had a cramp to make me really averse to running again.  Great way to start, Geek.

Triathlon Training Schedule

My Tri schedule is a bit meandering and doesn't take well to explanation day by day on a blog.  For that reason, I'll give you the short version of how it works, then you can see my progress each day.  I also had to modify the actual schedule a bit to conform to my life.  (If you really want to see a calendar version, click that link, it's pretty close.)

• This is a volume building program.  It might incorporate speed work later, but right now I'm worried (literally) about survival.
• The program is minutes based, not distance based, that is, my workouts will all be in terms of minutes, not miles (although I'll track all of it) 
• A typical workout would be "27 minute swim" - the distance is secondary.  Again, this is to build volume right now, not speed.
• Each week works each disciplne twice a week, one "short session" and one "long session"
• e.g. I swim twice a week, once for 30 minutes (short) and once for 48 minutes (long) - the times vary, of course
• The schedule is in five blocks, four weeks each block, the first three weeks build on each other by adding 10% per workout, per week
• The fourth week is a "recovery week", which is shorter sessions of each instead of a 10% increase
• The next training block takes the previous high numbers and starts adding 10% again

If my math is right, I've scheduled myself to finish training for the Kansas City Triathlon on May 23, 2010

P90X Results and Pictures

I started P90X in February 2009.  It was easily one of the best decisions I have ever made for myself.  In just a few months, I've gone from office drone who's idea of a good workout included lowering myself slowly to the floor before eating a pizza, to feeling the need to exercise everyday no matter what. I used to eat sporadically and when I did eat, I would over-indulge and eat pizza, fries and other processed foods.  Now I eat five times a day in small meals consisting of vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and fruit.  I'm sleeping far better than I ever have (albeit mostly because I'm now exhausted from waking up at an ungodly hour to exercise).  I can now do more pull-ups and push-ups than I ever thought possible. My flexibility and balance used to be comical at best (Mrs. GIAS would say my balance is still comical), let's just say I could not even come close to touching my toes; now I can grab my feet and hold a significant number of yoga poses without toppling over. Physically, I'm in the best shape of my life.  Don't ge me wrong, there's still PLENTY of room for improvement, but P90X has increased my fitness to a level I've never been to before (even after swimming competitvely in high school).

Here's a few stats to think about:

	Before P90X	After P90X
Weight	200	170
Waist	37	31
Body Fat	24%	13%
Cholesterol	233	159
Blood Pressure	130/90	108/70
Resting Heart Rate	85	60
Max Pullups	1	32
Max Pushups	27	58
Vertical Leap	11	18

[/Start Lecture]
So what's the secret?  It's easy, eat clean and do the workouts.  80% of the visible results of P90X (or any fitness program, really) are going to come from your diet.  If you eat good food, in reasonable portions, you won't gain weight.  If you add intense exercise six days a week, you're going to speed up your metabolism and get dramatic results.  The biggest problem I've seen with P90X is that there are a lot more "before" pictures than "after" pictures.  People start strong and then "fall off" the nutrition wagon or skip some workouts, feel overwhelmed and decide they can't "catch up" and then it's over.  It's too bad really.  The easy advice is to just keep pushing play.  You miss a workout; fine.  Push play tomorrow.  You slip up and eat a carton of ice cream; fine.  Eat better tomorrow.  Everyday you workout and eat well you make yourself healthier, don't let a couple of indiscretions ruin your goals.  Yeah, the original program is 90 days long, but really, it gives you the tools to be healthy for the rest of your life.
[/Lecture over]

Anyway, as you can see, I have totally bought into the P90X way of life.  If you have questions about P90X or anything related, let me know and I'll answer the best I can.* 

*I'm NOT one of Beachbody's "Coaches" (network marketing salespeople, you know, like the Avon lady) that will try to sell you anything, I'm just a satisfied customer.  If you are looking for a Coach, let me know and I'll be happy to point you to a few that I've met becuase there are some that truly do want to help people get fit and healthy and not just lock them into to buying fitness products every month.

I'm all in

Hey out there, I'm the Geek. 

I used to be pretty athletic when I was younger and played a few sports in high school.  Then I went to college, gained a bunch of weight and before I knew it I'd become an overweight, inactive drone who sits behind a desk all day.  I was not athletic, I was stressed out, and I was disappointed in how I looked and felt.  Last year, I decided I needed to change.  I saw the infomercials and I did my research (as any geek would do) and I ordered P90X. 

It is easily one of the best decisions of my life. 

I told myself that I would commit to 90 days to see what would happen.  I convinced myself that if I did the workouts, ate the right food and followed the program, no matter what, I would get some kind of results and I could decide to continue or stop at that point.  The decision to commit to that first 90 days changed my life and I haven't looked back.  It's been almost a year now, and I have gotten up at 5:00am six days a week to workout and I can't imagine what life would be like if I didn't. 

I'm eating better, I feel better, I look better, I'm happier, I have more energy and I'm stronger than I've ever been.  In fact, after my first round of the X, my wife, the lovely Mrs. GIAS, decided to join me for round 2.  Husband and wife doing P90X every morning together...geeky, yes, but honestly, it's one of the coolest parts of our marriage.

I love P90X, I love getting up early and working out, and I'm going to continue for the forseeable future.  However, now that I have this solid fitness base, I decided I should do something functional with it.  Thus, at the end of 2009 I decided to try my hand at becoming a triathlete.

I knew this would be tricky for three reasons...1) I didn't own a bike, 2) I didn't have a pool and 3) I hate running.  I solved problems one and two by buying a bike and getting a membership to 24 Hour Fitness.  I still hate running.  The next problem I knew I would have is being motivated to train and complete a triathlon.  Like with P90X, I decided that I would commit to one triathlon, I would train hard and finish it.  After that, I could decide if I want to do more. 

I thought this would be harder (and it is) than committing to P90X because these workouts are not just going down to the basement for an hour or two before work.  I have to plan, schedule and get myself to the gym (15 minutes away with no traffic) on a regular basis.  Then I have to sign up and actually compete against a bunch of other people.  How do I stay motivated do this and not quit? 

There's a great site called 6 changes that offers advice on motivation and committing to a goal (hat tip Fitbomb).  The site says:

Two steps in the 6 Changes method are extremely crucial, even if many people will be tempted to skip them:


1.Commit as publicly as possible to creating each new habit.
2.Log your progress daily, and very publicly.

These steps are extremely important — without them, you’re liable to drop your new habit at any time.

You need to be all in. You need to tell everyone. You need to be completely committed, or you’re wasting your time.

So yeah, I started this training blog.  I'm telling my family and friends about this site.  I'm not keeping my goals to myself.  I'm committing to post about my daily progress (and some other stories too), whether it's good news or bad.  I'm relying on you to read and keep tabs on me, to motivate me and to not let me slip up.  I am signing up for the olympic distance Kansas City Triathlon, May 23, 2010. 

I'm all in.