Starting over is better than not starting at all.

In this world there are many different factors that can hold one back or derail ones goals of achieving something. That has happen to me but things change. You get going on your life path and think that this time will be different than all the other times before. This time you will be able to stick with your plan and you will be achieving your goals that you have set forth in the time frame that you what it accomplish them. Then life looks at you and says "that is cute when he tries. Lets just do this and this and time to start over from scratch." And so I sit here right now scratch day +1. I have decided this is it. I got knocked down and have gotten back up. I am going to do 2 months of dedicated training. If I stick with it then I will join the Y to add the swimming to my training. I feel like if I can stick to the training that I have in place from a mental stand point, then I will stick with the whole thing and compete in Triathlons next year. I understand that injuries or just normal life events could slow down the plan, but from a mental stand point I can let that stop me. I can say "oh well I will just go back next Monday and start from where I left." Cause what happens is Monday comes around and I find an excuse not to go back on Monday. Then Tuesday the same thing and I am the type of person that has to start on a Monday or it just doesn't feel right. I have created that mentalty in my head that "if I don't start on Monday then I can't workout the rest of that week."

So here we are. I will be doing this blog again while I train. Talking about what I am doing, what works, what doesn't, products that I use and supplements that help me thru my training. I will also be shouting out the great support group that I have behind me on a regular basis.

Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy day and reading this. Hope you stay around for the journey that is about to come.

When life tells you it is time to change priorities for a while\ I am sorry!

I don't even know where to begin. I feel like I have to say that I am sorry to all my readers, to the companies that I support and that have supported me. To friends, family and social media friends and family for not blogging in awhile however it is when life has to step in and take control. I started a new job the June where we had training from June 2nd to August 23rd. During this time, the training was so redundant that by July I was able to blog almost everyday while here at work. Then training was over and I had a schedule of 5am to 2pm. Now for people who know me I am a night owl. I usually go to sleep around 2am even if I have to get up at 6:00am . So having to get up at 3:45 in order to make it to work by 5am, meant I had to go to bed sometime around 11pm which was so foreign to me. After about a week and half of that schedule and one morning zoning out while driving to work which caused me to drive a mile past my exit to get off the interstate, I said to myself that this schedule just wasn't going to work for me. With this schedule I thought originally that it would be great. I would get off at 2pm be able to go straight to the Y (once I had gotten to a point where I could join) get my swim training in, then later in the day still be able to get my bike and/or swim in. However after that issue of driving past the exit to go to work, I walked into work that day scared and worried that I could fall asleep at the wheel coming to work. Someone was looking down on me cause by the time the boss got to work, first thing he did was ask me if I could switch my hours to 8am to 5pm and I jumped at that opportunity quickly. But in doing a new job or new position within a job, priorities have to change sometimes. When I was working 5am to 2pm, I would get home take what I would hope would be a 30 to 1 hour nap, then get up and enjoy the rest of my day before going to bed around 10 or so. However that little nap would become 3 hours. So it would be like I was getting home at 5:30pm just like before the difference was that I only had about 4 and half to 5 hours to get stuff down instead of 8 to 9 hours when I was going to bed at 2am. So get up around 5:30 get ready for the gym, get to the gym around 7:30 cause of spin class being over so I would have access to the bikes. Get down with workout at 9 then have an hour to eat and go to bed. That left me no energy to do anything else. No blogging, gaming or even just watching more than 1 show on TV. So things that I enjoyed suffered. I took another whole week off from training cause when I would wake up from my "nap" I would still be so tired due to the fact that it technically wasn't a nap but my body trying to sleep. You know when you nap too long how you feel even more tired and exhausted then before you went to sleep. So now after a week off from training then a week on, then I got a sinus cold which I could not breathe at all. Before we I was weightlifting not being able to breathe thru your nose was not that really big of a problem. Breathed thru your mouth, pound the weight up and go. However Triathlon training and not being able to breathe is not the same LOL. So that was another week off from training. So now we are feeling better and tonight is back at it. I am eager to get back at it but there is other things going on in my head that I will talk about in another post (right after this one LOL)

So again to Mio Global, SOS Rehydrate, Align Footwear, Swiftwick Socks, Skratch Labs, Jaybird, Gu Energy, Prime Nutrition and other great companies, I am truly sorry I have been quite on social media and on my blog. I was re-tweeting everything you guys would post but now Twitter for Android doesn't let me know when you tweet something so I have to figure that out in order to get back to the Re-tweeting. I have made it a mission to post something to the blog everyday even if it is short from now on. 

How one sport can completely become an obsession and take over your life....in a good way :-)/#TrainWithHeart

I have said this before in earlier post about how I finally decided to start my triathlon training this year. If you haven't had a chance to read my post about my decision to start this journey to what I hope will be 140.6, for 10 years I would always watch NBC's coverage of the Kona World Championships. Every year while I was watching all those amazing people suffer and conquer the course I would say to myself, "I am going to start training for that this year" but didn't. So for whatever reason I had this year, whether it was being 40, the great support I have at home that I didn't have the years before or it was time to just do it; I have started this year. And after 3 months of training, it has become part of my DNA.

I have always wanted to be huge too. It is two conflicting goals that I have had in my life. I am 5"8" and have always wanted to be the size of Jay Cutler, Phil Heath or even the GOAT Arnold. I always thought 250 lbs was the weight I wanted to be. I knew what it would take it go from the 165 lb person I was to 250 and I don't mean the weights, food or the time in the gym. I knew it would take chemical enhancement and I was okay with that (or so I thought). About 3 years ago I decided that it was time. So I started the daily routine of eating every 2 hours 7 days a week. Going to the gym and doing absolutely no cardio cause now I am "bulking" LOL. Also went online and got the closes thing to pure chemical enhancements. Now with having those in my system I had to worry about my liver, blood pressure and testosterone production shut down. Oh the things that you have to do to reach your goals in this sport. When I started I weighed 175 and in 6 months I jumped to 210. I was definitely bigger. People that hadn't seen my in years, didn't even recognize me and where amazed. But how healthy was I? After walking up stairs, I was short of breath. My face was always a shade red from the elevated blood pressure. All I thought about was lifting and eating. My Twitter feed was nothing but full of bodybuilders and supplement companies. I snored louder. I just felt like total crap the whole time. Then came the stomach issue. I had to have my Nissin redone because not only had the one I had 12 years ago come undone but my stomach had twisted and was now above my diaphragm and under my lungs. The doctor that did the endoscopy said that people that had the same issues that I had, when they had to go to the emergency room they didn't make it cause the twist in the stomach had constricted the stomach to where no blood was getting to the rest of the stomach. So obviously the gym was put on hold for awhile. And the weight that I had put on started to drop off quickly. I had another habit that was terrible for me. I would kill my lungs at least 15 to 20 times a day and had the most important person in my life (other than my kids) asking me to stop but it is more addictive than heroin. So here comes November 2013. Again on NBC the Kona World Championship is on the TV. And again like the last 10 years there I am on the couch saying to myself "2014 I am going to do Kona in 2 years." Jump ahead to April 2014 and the click.

I don't know where it came from and I don't know why it happened. But I began my training. I stopped killing my lungs cold turkey. I mentally associated that after I worked out even one puff would completely destroy everything I just did in the gym. 4 months later and still not even 1 puff and don't even crave one either. So my journey began. I cleared out a lot of the bodybuilding Twitter feed, I canceled all the email list I was on regarding bodybuilding and replaced all of that with Triathlon athletes, companies and associations. I would find a great group of people that were all doing triathlons not to win but for themselves. The majority of professionals actually interact with their fans on Twitter and Social media. Companies would also interact with their customers. This was all knew to me. Now I am not saying in the bodybuilding world the companies and athletes don't, just that to me more of the pros in the triathlon world would interact with their fans. I would listen to races from all over the world, watch old races on YouTube, read everything I can about what is going on in the triathlon world. I would find a couple of people that would be inspirational to me by following their journey as they trained and competed in triathlons. It was great to see how supportive people in this world is to be so supportive of each other and cheer people that they haven't ever met before.

The training has taken off for me. If I miss a workout just cause of life, I can tell it changes how I feel. I feel like I am going backwards if I miss the workout. I feel amazing after a workout and I have struggles during the workout. I decided to take my workouts to a higher level. Heart Rate training using the MAF training way. Thanks to the innovative and amazing company of Mio Global, I started using their Mio Link. This strapless heart rate monitor was amazing. The Link goes on you wrist like a watch. So there would be no chaffing or uncomfortable chest strap to have to deal with. Being able to see which training zone you are in by a flashing light that corresponds to the heart rate zone you set by their Mio Go App is easy and very convenient. This one thing has taken my training to a level where I believe I will be able to do a full Ironman in 2 years time. So I thank them every chance I get and here I am doing it again. Thank you Mio Global for creating such an amazing helpful product. #TrainWithHeart is their slogan and it is fitting on many different levels.

Triathlon is now part of me and my world. Everyday I think about my training, how the last workout went and how the next one will be. I like, share, + and retweet on a daily basis companies that I support and follow and that have supported me and helped me. Like SOS Rehydrate, Swiftwick Socks, Mio Global, Skratch Labs, Align Footwear and SLSTri just to mention a few.

SOS Rehydrate has really helped me with my hydration during training and just support and motivation. Getting dehydrated is a thing of the past for me thanks to their great product. I will be doing a detailed review of their product in the near future. Also I will be doing a review of Swiftwick Socks and Align Footwear as well.

So I end this humbly and honestly to the people that take time out of their day to read my blogs,to say THANK YOU! I am no English professor, journalist, grammar expert or professional writer. I share this blog with whoever reads this to motivate, help or just entertainment you during your day. It takes putting your ego aside and bringing to the front any insecurities that one might have when they decide to do a blog. So again I can not express enough how appreciative I am of everyone of the hundreds and hundreds of people out that support each other in this Triathlon world.

Does Compression Sleeves work? That is the question.

I have been seeing many of the professionals wear them during races, I have wondered if they actually work. I use to run cross country in high school and I did a lot of running at The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. So I have always had bad shin splints while running. So after doing some Googleing, I came across many people saying that they have helped them but there isn't real scientific information about it. And in my research I came across the company SLS3 (http://www.slstri.com). I got a pair of FXC Compression Sleeves in Lime Green to match my Lime Green New Balance Shoes. When I got them in the mail and opened them up I thought to myself "Man those are too small to fit on my shins" LOL.

Once I put them on, I realized why they were so small. They stretched out to fit my whole shin and were very snug. I had only been triathlon training for about a month so, being sore and having shin splints were a very common issue I was having the day after my workout. So I thought this will be a good chance to see if these work. So when I got these in the mail, it was also my long ride and run of the week. Perfect opportunity to test these out. I really really pushed hard that workout to make sure to test them out. After an hour and half ride then a 30 minute run, I was done for the day. I do have to say it was one of my most enjoyable runs that I have had in a long time. It was until about 25 minutes into the run that I realized.....NO SHIN SPLINTS!!! I almost tripped on the treadmill when I realized that. But I didn't get to excited cause it was just one workout so we will have to see.

The next day I woke up and was prepared that as soon as I put my feet on the ground that I would feel the great feeling of sore calves and quads from the workout. I put my feet on the ground and nothing at all. Got up and walked around and could not believe it, not one bit of soreness at all. Plus my legs felt like they did get a workout the day before but they felt like I could go again for another round that day.

That has been a month ago. The workouts have gotten only harder and harder, longer and longer! And absolutely not another case of shin splints, which I could scream from the top of a mountain about. Plus the recovery time is so quick now, I now realize when I watch the pros wear them I understand why!! One thing that I am going to want to try is a Compression Sock, due to my Plantars Fasciitis. So the question that people ask......Do Compression Sleeves work???? In my opinion, YES!! I WON'T TRAIN OR RACE WITHOUT THEM!

What I learn from the MIO Link in TRI Training!/Shout out to single training parents!!

So this week has been the first week of having my boys for summer and using my MIO Link. So why do I bring that up you ask? Well let me tell you LOL. This week I got my boys for the 1 of my 4 weeks during the summer. So my typical day now is getting up earlier than normal, making sure they get up, eat breakfast, get dressed, brush teeth, drive them to my folks house (who they stay with while I am at work), drive to work, get down with work, go pick them up, get the back home, cook dinner, feed them, go to the gym, get back, get them in the shower, snack, in bed then get me in bed then repeat LOL. And yes I know that is what the majority of parents, mothers or single mother do on a regular basis if they are working out and handling a family. And it isn't that it is too much for me or that I resent it at all. What I found out I would have never known if I haven't had been using the MIO Link. Now let me explain.

My normal workout all last week was, green zone on the Link on bike, abs and green zone on run. The green zone being determined using the MAF training formula. All week last week it was like this. So I get my boys Friday night after my long ride and run. Have them over the weekend, which means late nights staying up with them and not the best sleep. Come Sunday night to bed early and get up early. Now because I am getting up earlier and do all the things to get them ready in the morning and getting me ready, I don't check my heart rate first thing when I wake up. I had been doing that and getting between 57 and 61. 57 usually the day of my next workout and 61 on the days right after my workout. So this week I am going at it not knowing where I stand. Also with having the boys, I decide that my legs could use a 3 day rest rather than a 2 day rest. So workout on Tuesday instead of Monday. I get in to the gym. Like I have said before same workout from week 4 of Month 2 but increase time in seat by 5 minutes and increase run by 10%. So that means a 45 minute ride after a 5 minute warm-up. On these "shorter" rides I try and stay at 90 rpm the whole ride. Now I want to say again doing this on the Spin Lifecycle GX is different than if I was doing it out on a road bike on the road, cause the Lifecycle DOES NOT have a coast gear. So it is pedaling the whole time at 90 rpm. I don't know who that works out between being able to coast and not being able to. In my mind I am doing a time trial in a race cause they hardly ever stop pedalling. So I get into the groove and see the wonder green light flashing on my MIO Link the whole 45 minutes, I felt great, legs where good, bottom getting more and more use to the seat in saddle. Absolutely perfect. Then on to the abs. Now if you have seen the picture in the post were I showed you my ab exercises you will remember seeing the Corkscrew. Now one thing about this is it can be hard on your back from the lifting and twisting at the same time . I had been doing 23 reps for all of my abs exercises up to that point. So I get to the Corkscrew and I hit 15 and it is like someone is sitting on the bottom of my feet. I can not do hardly any more. I don't understand this at the time. Can 1 exact day put me that far back and have I lost that much in one day extra. Now I know from bodybuilding that this isn't possible. So I split it up into 2 sets of 15. Every other ab exercise no problem what so ever. So on to the run.

This is were if I didn't have the MIO Link I would have had no idea what my body was doing. The last workout on Friday I got to be able to up the pace for a bit and still keep it in the green zone. So I set the speed to what I did on Friday and got started. About 5 minutes into the run, I caught out of the corner of my eye what I thought was red flashing instead of green . So I looked down and that was right FLASHING LIGHT RED! I just thought to myself, there is no way. this is the exact same pace as I did Friday after a ride that was double the time that I just did. Now it was at a slower pace than what I did today but that shouldn't make a huge difference. So quieted my breathing till it went back to green which only took a half a minute. But 15 seconds later there it was again RED RED RED. So I slowed it down and stayed green the rest of the way. However instead of completely enjoying the rest of the run, all I was doing was thinking about "What is going on here" What has changed from last week to this week. My kids!! Now I am not saying Kids will slow down your progress LOL, but what I am saying is that the new added stress of daily chores taking care of them has increase my stress level and has hindered my ability to recover as well as when they aren't with me. Now I would take having this time with me over them not having me for sure. But getting to the title, my run felt the exact same as it did on Friday to me. But if I didn't have my MIO Link I would have never know that I went out of my Aerobic zone and into my Anaerobic Zone. The whole goal of the Aerobic(Green Zone) is to train the body to use fat first before using stored energy. So the whole time I am in the Green Zone I think to myself "Burn Fat Burn Fat show me that 6 pack" LOL. So thank you MIO Link and MAF training to allow me to take my training to another level of knowledge and being able to listen to my body!

So with that I salute the training parents, single parents who have to do their daily chores of child raising, work and still train and recover. HUGE HATS OFF TO YOU!!!

2nd month TRI training/MIO Link/SLS3/ZOOT Sports/Prime Nutrition/ALR/Pre & PostJYM/Sof Sole/RAAM LOTR

I have had this blog going almost everyday since May 24th 2014, and in that span of time I have had over 612 people that have taken the time to read my blog posts!! That is so humbling and amazing to me. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT HAS READ EVEN ONE OF MY POSTS!!

First off let me start by saying that I am truly sorry for slacking off these past 2 days. It has been a very busy week. I have my kids this week for the start of my summer time with them. So I am getting up at 6 am, getting them up, dressed, fed. At the same time I am getting in the shower, dressed, make my lunch then get them out the door. They get to stay at my mom's house during the day while I am working. So full day at work, then 45 minute drive to get them, take them back home. I fix or pick up dinner for them (I stopped eating fast food unless it is Wendy's salad which I will explain in another blog by itself.) Then on Monday Wednesday and Friday I go to the gym after they have eaten. They get some gaming in then it is showers then bed and do it all over lol. So I got behind from posting and I am going to get caught up now.

Tomorrow marks the 2nd month of Triathlon training with an 80 minute ride plus abs and my run. Mondays training was a real good session. Had a 40 minute ride then my run. I can tell you that it does feel so good to be able to run since having the attack of the Plantar Fasciitis on my left foot. Now this does not go away instantly so I had to stop running for 2 weeks, research methods to easy and prevent flare ups and I purchased a set of Sof Sole insert that is made specificaly for Plantar Fasciitis. I can tell you hands down that they make a huge difference while I am running and day to day. When I am not running I put the Sof Sole inserts into every single shoe that I wear now. Absolutely no pain what so ever during the day. 2 things that I have learned that I have started to do to help manage the Plantar is as soon as I wake up in the morning I pull my toes back toward me and rub right where the heel begins on the bottom of my foot. What I have learned is that during the night while your Plantar starts healing when you wake up and instantly place weight on your foot it retears the microtears that were created from running the day before. By rubbing your heel and Plantar as soon as you wake up, you break up any scar tissue and get blood flowing to the Plantar which helps warm up so it won't tear. The second thing that I have learned and have started doing was I took 4 Sprite bottles filled them almost all the way up with water then put them in the freezer. As soon as I get home while I am drinking my post-workout concoction of Gatorade + Prime Nutrition Glutamine and ALR HumaPro tablets, I roll the frozen Sprite bottle under my left foot for a good 15 minutes to control any swelling that can happen. Just doing these 3 things has helped tremendously. So if you have Plantar Fasciitis, please go and purchased some Sof Sole inserts. Only $19.99, I will make a huge difference.

What can I say about MIO Link that I haven't already said? What a great amazing device! And even though I am a guy, I tell as many women that I know that they have to get this. I can only imagine how uncomfortable a chest strap for women can feel. It is so convient to just be able to look out of the corner of your eye to see what zone you are in. So if you are not seeing green and are seeing blue, need to push a little more. If you are seeing red, need to back it down. I have a Samsung Note 2, I have downloaded the MIO GO app on my Android phone. It lets you set up to 5 different training zones which is great for many different types of training. The App links up by bluetooth with the Link seamlessly. However the iPhone app has so many more features than the Android app for right now. The additional features from the iPhone will be coming over to the Android app some time soon which I am very excited for. Please if you are tired of the rubbing and chafing of a chest strap, then pick up a MIO Link. Works with Bluetooth and ANT+, IPhone and Android phones, so here is no excuse not to run and get one.

SLS3 FXC Compression Sleeves in Lime Green I am seen when I walk into the gym lol. So far they have been great. As someone who is still a beginner in the Triathlon field, my long rides and running have made my legs drained and a little sore. So far I haven't felt drained or any soreness in my calves nor have I gotten 1 shin splint. I use to get shin splints all the time but since I have been wearing the Compression Sleeves I have not. I will do a SLS3 FXC Compression Sleeve review this weekend after my long ride plus run tomorrow.

I will be looking at getting a new pair of shoes from a running store here in the very near future. I currently have a pair of New Balance 690 right now. I do like them however I just purchased them off the shelf and with no expert to see how I run to pick the right shoe for me. I have been interested in what ZOOT Sport has to offer due to Dave Mirra uses them. Now I am not usually a follower of what celebrities use, but Dave Mirra has been an inspiration to me with his Triathlon training and races. He has interacted with me on Instagram many many times which is so rare nowadays. As soon as I get a pair I will be doing a review of them. Also ZOOT has interacted with me on Instagram as well which let me tell you is huge in my opinion. If companies take time to interact with people that takes time out of their day follow the companies it can easily make them a loyal customer for life just for that reason alone.

Prime Nutrition has been helping me with my nutrition both during and post training sessions. I use the EAA and Glutamine with Gatorade every training day. During my ride I mix Gatorade with the EAA to keep my going and hydrated. For the post workout, as soon as I get done I take Gatorade and mix it with their Glutamine. Also so that I get my protein intake right away, I take the ALR Industries HumaPro tablets. I take 6 tabs each time. Here is the link to exactly what makes HumaPro such a great protein source: http://alrindustries.com/products/humapro-tablets . By taking this combination of Gatorade/Prime Nutrition/ALR HumaPr, my recovery time and hydration while working out has been great. What I am looking for now is a good pre-workout supplement. Like I posted before I was sent a 4 day sample of X2 Performance. I tried them and I can not say if I experienced anything different than when I didn't take them. Dr. Jim Stoppani has a line of pre and post workout supplement line that I have been interested in trying. He is great with interacting with people on Social Media to. Now it might be a day before he responds but he is bombarded with question on Twitter all the time. If I decide to get his supplements I will review them on here like I do with everything that I use.

Finally again a shout out to the incredible team of Dave Mirra, Micky Dymond, Dave Zabriskie and Ben Bostrom for their effort in the Race Across America which is still going on. Currently they are in second place only 3 km behind the 1st place team. Also a huge shout out to Rick Tillery who is handling the support vehicle and helping to keep the riders going since there is no stopping until they cross the finish line. Follow them on Twitter at @LegendsoftheRoad and on Instagram they have taken over the Bicycling Magazine account. Also don't forget you can donate to their racing on GoFundMe.com.

Thank you guys so much for your patience and understanding of the slackness of mine lately. Stay tuned for more of my training, iRacing, and hopefully many more reviews of many different products for the viewpoint of a 40 year old gaming triathlete!!

MIO Link Green lights Ride+Run/SLS3 Compression Sleeves/Planet of the Apes Podcast 2

So again I have failed all of you over the weekend by not posting each day. I say to myself on Saturday I will post about my Friday long ride and run and half of the 24 hours of LeMans. But then I am like well I don't want to post about LeMans till it is over. So then Sunday comes along and I realize 24 hours of LeMans is a post by itself. So here we are another 3 piece blog post spread out over 2 days lol.

I have been waiting all week to get my SLS3 FXC Compression Sleeves and on Friday they came in. I got them in Lime Green to go with my Lime Green New Balance shoes and my MIO Link shirt with the logo in lime green. Yes you have to coordinate your attire lol. So off I go to my 70 min ride with a run after the abs workout out.  I didn't make it half way into the gym to someone was stopping me asking me about my Link and the SLS3 Sleeves. It feels good hopefully helping companies that support their community. I thought to myself that I would really push this ride to see if the Sleeves work.  So I did 45 mins of the workout at 95 rpm rather than the normal 83. My MIO Link looked at me smiled and gave me the green light the whole time I was keeping it at 95 rpm. It is so easy to keep track of which zone you are in.  And no uncomfortable chest strap to worry about.  Women take note of you are using a chest strap and how annoying it is.  This is the answer.  Felt so good on the ride,  didn't get any of the micro cramps that I got before on my long ride.  Still too early to definitely say the Sleeves helped. I will have a more specific detailed post just about the SLS3 Sleeves after next week's workout.  But that was the best I felt getting off the bike.

On to the run after another one of my brutal ab workouts.  Thinking next week I am going to push it to 20 reps then after that go to 2 sets of 20/10. Run was great, getting better with managing my HR and keeping it some what in the green.  Still saw a lot of Red Flashing at me from my Link. Left foot was great.  Ice rolled it with the magically frozen jelly jars of recovery lol.

And finally before I go for this one,  which thinking about it might be 4 post this time I wanted to give another shout out to my Brother and his friend with Planet of the Apes podcast.  If you have iTunes it is in there to download but here is the link to episode 2 http://goapepodcast.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-first-official-episode-of-pota.html?m=1 please just take a listen just to support upcoming Podcasters.

Stay tuned for the next ones coming tomorrow.