Listening to what your body is saying to progress in your training/Mio Link

Training feels great while you are doing it. You get out there, get in the rhythm, sweat, push and when you get done you are spent but feel great about it on the way back home. Once you get home, you do your after workout ritual whether that is using a Normatec, foam rollers, frozen Sprite bottles with water in them (ME), stretch, elevate legs etc. Then the next day you just wake up, maybe sore or a little pain in a small spot somewhere, but think oh that is fine. You repeat that 3 to 5 days or more a week. But that pain doesn't go away, or you feel more tired than normal, or your heart rate is higher than normal during your training or when you wake up. Do we really listen to our bodies or does our Ego get in the way? Then we are so shocked when we are sidelined by an injury and think back to all the little pains we felt leading up to this injury.

Well this time I listened to my body and took a week hiatus from all training. And hopefully you reading this will think about what I am about to say and why I made the decision to take a break for a week to see if maybe your body is telling you "Hey bud, take a little break and let me recharge." So 2 Fridays ago (08/08/2014) was my last week of the 4th month of my Tri Training for the 2015 season. That workout was the longest, farthest and most resistance I have ever had on the bike then my run afterward had been again the longest and farthest so far. It went great like all my workouts have been so far. Pouring sweat, legs felt great and huge smile when done. Got home did my rolling of my plantars with Sprite bottles frozen with water in them. And the weekend I felt good. I could tell I pushed past my comfort zone by the way my legs felt on Saturday but it was a great feeling. Monday comes along and I can't wait to get back into the gym. I wake up and right away put on my Mio Link to check my Heart Rate. It is about 3 beats higher than normal but don't really think much about it. If you have been reading along, I was changing up my workouts last week. Going from a 3 day a week to 5 day a week schedule. So I was super excited to get in there that night. About an hour before leaving work, I got what I call a hot spot on the back of my Achilles tendon. It didn't hurt but was tender. I start doing little stretches when I can at work. It kind of comes and goes for the next hour at work. When I get home from work, I do my usual thing I always do since because the spin room is used till 7:15pm, I take my little 30 to 45 minute recharge nap LOL.I don't set an alarm to wake up in time to be at the gym by 7:45pm. So close my eyes and take my siesta. When I open my eyes, I am expecting to jump up and get going. However my body had different plans. I feel like I somehow interrupted the Sandman giving me a dose of sleep dust. I am so tried but I am going to go. Swing my feet to the floor, instantly Achilles looks at me and goes "Hot Spot!" so I reach down and start rubbing it. My Ego grabs hold of my mind and tells it "hey we are biking only today so it will be fine. You can stretch it every time on the drop stroke." Okay my mind says sounds good LOL. Then I look at the clock. 8:15pm!!! What happened?? So I put 1+1+1 together and get "I will give myself a day break and go on Tuesday thru Saturday straight" Obviously my mind was not in control cause not only was I going to a 5 day a week schedule but now I had committed myself to 5 days back to back. So Tuesday morning I wake up, check my Heart Rate and it is 5 beats higher than normal, Achilles is still tender and I am groggy as all get out. Just need to work on stretching the Achilles today at work and will be ready to go once I get my Redbull in me. Day goes by, Redbull helped, Achilles isn't a problem all day, I am feeling better about getting to the gym. Get home again *yawn* think I will take my little nap to recharge before heading out. Off to nappie world I go. Wake up feel like I have been drain of all energy, Achilles is now constantly hurting and again overslept. I am now upset at myself. Okay this is it. I will go on Wednesday or question about it and go from Wednesday to Sunday. Still only 5 days in a row (you might see where my mind is and is not working by now) I will be just fine. So not to just repeat what I said before but lets just say Wednesday was a repeat of Tuesday, however my mind finally understood math and the 5 days in row was actually 9 says in a row. So once I woke up after 8pm on Wednesday common sense tapped me on the shoulder and said "do you not see the signs??' 1. Your Mio Link has been telling you every morning that you resting rate has been at least 5 beats higher than normal, your Achilles has been looking up at you and saying "Friday you pushed me a little to far. I need so rest to repair and rebuild." and your naps have been over 2 hours (those aren't naps if they are that long, you are sleeping idiot LOL). So that is when I realized that my body had been given me signs this whole time. I think that if I didn't have the Mio Link and I didn't know what my heart was doing it could have gone a different way. So jump to today. Achilles is completely back to normal, heart rate is back to where it has been when I wake up and I felt some what rested this morning when I woke up. And the biggest thing, I am so pumped to be starting my 5 day workout schedule tonight.

I had decided to take a break every 3 months for a week to repair and recharge. But if you are seeing signs from your body, listen to them. Tell Mr. Ego to shut up and take a break. Will a week off set you back? Maybe if you are new it will slightly. Taking a week off now or having to take weeks or month off cause you "powered" through the pain and got injured, you tell me which you would prefer.

Thank you to Mio Link for the help with my training. It has made a world of difference and opened up more possibilities than I had before. Thank you to everyone that takes the time out of their day to read these posts. Hope I can help at least one person.

After 4 months of training "where am I"/ The supportive community that is Triathletes.

Just wanted to give a little update on where I am both physically and mentally. Also I have been wanting to express my feelings regarding the community of Triathletes and their supportive nature to even people they don't know.

I started this triathlon training 4 months ago. As I have said in a previous post, I have always wanted to do Kona since the past 10 years. If you read http://40yroldgamingtriathlete.blogspot.com/2014/07/how-one-sport-can-completely-become.html it says what my reasoning behind finally starting the training. So I made a training decision last night while spinning away on the bike. Ever since I started my training, I have been doing bike/run blocks. My long rides now is about 2 weeks away from hitting 2 hours then I hit the run which is pushing 30 minutes right now then abs after that. So on (what use to be Friday) my long day I am looking at almost 2 hours and 45 minutes, which I understand is nothing compared to once I build my base enough to take it to the 70.3 to 140.6 training levels. However during the week as I increase my ride and run as I have been if I stay with the same training route, I will be hitting the same 2 hours and 45+ minute workouts 3 times a week. With everything that I have started doing in my spare time ie ( blog, Lionheart Racing Series, iRacing, WOW and LOL) the days are just running out of hours for me to get the needed rest to recover from my training. My Tri training is my #1 priority so with how my training is scheduled now, the other things have to suffer. Most of you who are reading this has probably already come up with the decision that I made last night on the bike. I will be splitting up my training for a Monday, Wednesday and Friday to a Monday, Tuesday. Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday morning routine. You see what I have been doing to increase my seat time and run time is adding 5 minutes to my ride every week each day and doing the 'rule" of no more than 10% each run workout. That has come to a 65 minute bike (including a 5 minute warm-up) with 1.60 mile run then abs on Monday, 75 minute (including a 5 minute warm-up) bike with 1.60 mile run then abs on Wednesday and a 115 minute bike (again with the same warm-up) then 1.60 mile run with abs on Friday this week. So next week I would add 5 minutes to the bike and the 10% to the run. I said to myself that I would be capping my bike to 2 hours cause as I increase resistance on the spin bike (which is like using a bigger gear) the distance would increase each week instead of constantly increasing my time in the seat. But more so I will be competing at the Sprint and maybe Olympic distances next year. The 2 hour ride right now is almost the complete distance for the Olympic distance. Plus what I am sure a lot of you are saying is "Where is the swimming??" LOL Well that is also that will need to be added to this whole training schedule. I will be joining the Y hopefully here soon. When I was out of work for those 3+ months, it set us back so I had to make some sacrifices and joining the Y has been one of them. If however it doesn't seem like I will be able to join this year, I have already been looking into just competing in Duathlons next year until we can fit that into our budget. Little off subject there but now back on track. Going to the new schedule will keep me in the gym for now more than the 2 hour bike on Monday and Wednesday (once adding the 5 minutes each week gets me to 2 hours) and I will be doing my runs on Tuesday and Thursday until I hit 6.2 miles. Then I will finish up on Saturday with the 2 hour bike plus the 6.2 mile run once I get there. This allows me to build the base that I need plus frees up time in the evening for my #1 fan and my kids when I have them plus allows me to cover more of the other activities that I am doing. Which now includes recording and uploading to YouTube videos of my gaming and racing. I feel like because the past couple of weeks I have been feeling like there just isn't enough hours in the day that things have been neglected  ie this blog which I hold almost at the level of how committed I am to my Tri training. Also I have never really said where I am with my run training so now everyone knows. I feel like that is behind compared to the bike plus I am taking it slow and steady so that I hopefully won't get any injuries that could set me back for next year. By my calculations it will take me another 14 weeks or by January to hit the 6 mile mark which is perfect for the 2014 season to start in late February or first of March. With the help of my Mio Link I know that I am staying in my fat burning zone to train the safest best way possible. By training my body to burn fat first then use my carbs next allows me to last longer in a race. I will be letting you guys know how that goes next week. I will be starting to do it this week just cause it is my last week with my kids for the summer and with what is going on with them and me it just works best to go ahead and do it tonight and Thursday and Saturday even though I did my normal block last night. Mentally I am in such a great place when it comes to the training. I am so excited to get started with the swimming part and to compete my first race next year. Other than feeling like there isn't enough time in the week (which I am hoping this new schedule will fix) I am doing great which it has been awhile since I have felt like that. Physically I am still amazed some days at where I have gotten to. I did 21 miles on the bike last Friday my longest distance and time on a bike then went straight to the 1.43 mile run afterward. That might be a lot to most of you but to me it was huge. Also with the help and support of people and companies which I will get to in the next paragraph LOL. I look forward to every day in the week especially the training day which now will be 5 days a week, so I am excited to be able to get my workouts in that I need and not feel like I am losing any time for other things.

I have truly and utterly amazed at the support and help from the triathlon community since undertaking this challenge. I have heard from people that are just like me; beginners, from people who are winning or placing in their age group all the way to pros commenting words of encouragement about what I am doing or going through. Whether it be @RunTriMom in Chicago, @Iron_Mummy in Singapore, @davemirra, @mickydymond, @ben_bostrom (which is still awesome as F$%^!!!), @mburskey, @runhanley, @rudemuscle, @bigdaddyrob5428, and a ton of other ones to companies that have helped me and encouraged me. I got to start with the best and first @MioGlobal. They have been absolutely amazing, supportive and I would not be training the way I am without them. Second but definitely tied for first is @SOSRehydrate for their amazing support and what an amazing product they make. I can't wait to use it again Friday on my long ride and run (be on the look out for a review of their AMAZING product). Align Footwear is a new edition to the Team Jeremy. Having Plantar Fascittis and bad leg alignment their insoles have been absolutely amazing and so benefitail (again another review on the way). @SLSTRI, @PrimeNutria, @Swiftwick Socks, @HTFU (for great clothes), @Tyrsport (which I am hoping will be on Team Jeremy soon), @WattieInk, @Skratchlabs to name just a few. Plus the number of professionals that have either retweeted or Favorited my tweets or blogs.

Again thank you the person that takes the time out of their day just to read this. For the first 2 months, I got 700 views in the first month, another 700 in 3 weeks, then the most amazing thing happened. I got almost 2000 views in just 2 weeks and it is still going strong. I can not say how humble I am by that. I am constantly trying to improve and add things to this blog. Thank you everyone!!!

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.

Training without Ego: One of the hardest thing leaving that at home/MAF Training

Ego: the thing talking in your ear telling you to go faster, to not let the person next to you do more than you, even though you are in pain to keep going. Wait that is all? You can't go farther? You just need to quit!

Now there is a difference between pushing yourself and letting your ego take over. In pushing yourself, you say to yourself "you can do one more rep or one more set." You push yourself by doing more than you did the time before. Letting your Ego take over is worrying what people think about what you are doing in the gym. As an example, the person beside you is running at a faster pace and you increase your pace to match theirs even though it might be double what you are use to doing. When you have a very good training program in place but go above and beyond it just cause you are worrying about what people think about you while you are training or working out.

Now when you have your ego in your ear and let it take over but you stick to your training program, it will start to make you feel like you are not doing enough, you are failing or not going to succeed in your goals. And that is where I am in my running training. My cycling is going great. I am increasing my cadence, distance and effort all the while staying in my Green Zone. So I can tell that I am growing, getting better and my endurance is improving. However my running (if you can call it that) to me feels like it is never growing, never progressing and the discouragement is growing. I have been increasing my mileage according to the "rule" of 10% each week. I have been getting off the bike, doing abs and then hitting the run straight away. I can set it to a pace that allows me to run about .2 to .3 miles then I go over my Green Zone and have to start walking for .1 to .2 miles then I can run for about .15 and the cycle starts over. I get on the treadmill to run not to walk and run. This is the MAF training is though. You use the 180 formula to determine your Aerobic Zone and train in it. However you HAVE to check your ego at the door. MAF is the best way to increase your endurance and build a base but it is also the slowest way to do it so that you prevent injuries. Last nights training was a high of the fastest I have done on the bike in mph and a low with still having to walk. And it isn't cause I feel like I have to walk like I can't finish the workout but because I go outside of my Green Zone on my Mio Link. I just want to run the whole time but I have committed to this type of training and if it works for Mark Allen for his triathlon training then it has a good history of working.\

So we must just come to the door of the gym and look your EGO in the face and like you would talk to your dog just say, STAY!!

Back in the saddle after a week of rest from Training/MAF Training

How does the saying go? You never know what you have till it is gone. Or in this case, till you take a break from it. I was still so very tired from this past weekend. On the way home from work, I was actually worried about falling asleep driving. Now before when I was lifting for pure size, if I took anytime off and was real tired I would just convince myself that I could wait till the next to get the workout in. Well we know how that usually goes, tomorrow comes and you talk yourself into going the next day and so on and so forth till it has been 3 weeks and you just say screw it I will start back up next month. Now I know not everyone is like that and couldn't imagine even saying that. However those people wouldn't have put themselves in the situation to be able to just skip a few days. But this time every day that I took off, I felt like I was letting myself down, losing my endurance, etc. But after I went in the gym for my first workout on Monday and looked down at my MIO Link and saw that I was already in the Green Zone even before getting started I knew it would just get worst LOL.

Oh Lifecycle GX and Treadmill, how I have missed you!! It felt so great to sit on that saddle, put my feet in, 5 minute warm-up, increase the resistance to a level higher than I have been and just pedal. Now I have yet to hit mid way in the resistance yet, but I am starting to get in the more difficult area for sure. So I planned on increasing the resistance and handling a lower cadence while my legs adjust to the increased work. It was great!! Sitting in the saddle after a 5 minute warm-up, then just pedalling along. About 30 minutes into the 50 minute ride, I could tell that the new resistance setting was pushing my legs to places they have never been before. And that new feeling felt so amazing. Got down with the ride and jumped on Abs. Now I have changed up one exercise from Abs and that is the corkscrew. The twisting was just hurting my lower back, so I added a alternating V-Sit twist. Which has worked just as good if not better. After burning Abs later then it was on to the run.

I have explained and gone over MAF training many times in my blog posts. And I have been doing it for a couple of months now, however even though I am increasing my mileage by 10% each week, the walk run part is getting a little old but that is the way to do it. I have to build up my endurance base injury free and this method is the best way to do it, but that little (or in some people) big monster called EGO starts to try and take over. So when I get on the treadmill and see people running and I am going from a run to a walk every .1 to .2 miles it can be discouraging. I think to myself "I am never going to be able to get to a point where I can run for a whole 5k without walking". But I also say to myself, this people right here running on the treadmill didn't just get done riding on a bike then going straight to a run. So that eases the EGO pain. And I continue along, cause the first time I bike for say 20 miles then run non stop for 5k will be the greatest day and such a accomplishment for me.

Stay tuned for more post and I promise at least 1 a day from now on even if it is just a thought or idea I have. Please if you enjoy these subscribe to this blog. Also I would love to hear from everyone any kind of criticism. Thank you for taking the time to read this as always.

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!!!

Start 3rd month training/Staying in the Green with MIO Link

This week has been the beginning of the 3rd month of training. According to http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=730, the 3rd month adds swimming to  the bike. However since I have already been doing the bike and I added run to it plus I have not been able to join the Y yet to start swimming, I have decided to just stay with the last week of the 2nd month increasing the resistance and I will gradually increase the time in the seat over each 2 weeks. I will also increase the resistance every month.

Man what a difference it was from resistance 4 to 5!! It was like I was pedaling uphill the first time on Monday. I had a 40 minute ride and by the end of 40 mins, I could definitely tell that I had pushed my legs more than I have. Wednesday was my 50 minute ride again at level 5 for right now. I always do a 5 minute warmup usually at level 1 just to get the blood flowing thru my legs. However after Monday's session, I found out that level 1 warm up isn't enough of resistance to get my legs ready for the level 5 constant ride. So Wednesday I did my warmup at level 3 to help with the change. Now I am checking my ego at the door, the http://www.lifefitness.com/commercial/grouptraining/lifecyclegx.html has up to 20 levels of resistance so I have many many levels still to go. At increasing the resistance at 1 level per month, I will be at level 14 by the time the 2015 Triathlon season begins in March. I just can't tell you how great I am feeling before, during and after each workout.

I know I go on and on about the MIO Link but I could not even imagine training without the use of a Heart Rate Monitor. And the Link is so great cause you can keep track of what zone you are in just by the color of the flashing light on your wrist. Don't have to slow down cadence, take hands off bars or any other unsafe practices to be able to see what you heart rate is. You set the training zones using MIO GO App then you don't have to worry about anything after that. The good thing about increasing the resistance is that it now is putting me in my Zone 2 or my MAF zone almost for the whole time in the seat. So I am training my body to burn fat first before using my glycogen storage for energy.

Speaking of MAF zone, it is also a great feeling to be in the Zone 2 the whole time now during my "run" LOL. Now I put run in quotation marks and added the LOL cause it really is a super fast walk. I am right there on the edge of a fast walk and starting to run. If I go to running then my heart goes to red, so I am walking fast as hell. It is an ego check for sure cause I so enjoyed running however the benefit is my Plantar Fasciitis has not been bad at all. I just keep saying to myself "I am building base and doing it the safest that I can to keep injuries to a minium.

Friday is my long ride. 5 minute warmup, 80 minute ride, abs then my run\walk. I just got down with yesterdays training and I am already looking forward to Fridays!! I AM ADDICTED!!!!

Again, thank you so much for taking your time out of your day and reading this posts. It does many a lot to me. If you would like please subscribe to that it will come to your email with every post I do.

End of 2nd month TRI training with my MIO LInk/MAF Training

What can I say at the end of the 2nd month of my training? Down 10 lbs, seeing abs that I have never seen before, feel absolutely great after every workout, mentally I have already embraced and caught the addiction bug of triathlon training. After 10 years of saying every January that I am going to do Kona Ironman, it is a great feeling to know that I am now in a very supportive group of triathlete competitors. Or I should say that I am a triathlon trainee lol. I am looking forward to the 2015 season to begin competing in March.

Friday's workout was an 80 minute bike with abs and run (speed walk lol). Felt absolutely great during the whole ride. My bottom is getting more and more use to being in the saddle for that long. However I will start looking into some chamois cream to help with the sore points that do form while sitting for that long. I have done a little research online about the different creams that are available. Once I select one to go with of course I will do a review of that cream. What type of creams have you guys used and which ones do you prefer?

Abs workout is so brutal but so rewarding! I am now at 20 reps per exsercise. I am thinking of adding 5 more reps which would make it 25 reps then instead of going to 30 reps, just adding another set on to them. So it would be 20 reps for one circuit then 10 reps for set 2. Also I think that I will add a excerise that aims for the upper abs cause it seems to me the workout is very lower and side ab specific.

Now on to my MIO Link and MAF Training since they are now going hand in hand. Using the MAF Training 180 formula, my zone 2 or aerobic zone is 140 - 130. Now according to Mark Allen http://www.markallenonline.com/maoArticles.aspx?AID=2 the add or subtract beats is based on how much you workout a week, which is a little different than from Dr. Maffetone's formula. So I used Mark Allen's base of how much a week I workout. Now some people will say that for Cycling you should use a different number for your zone 2 or Aerobic zone, but Mark Allen says to use this number for ALL cardio training. So that is what I am using. The great thing about the MIO Link is that it has 5 different zones you can set by using the MIO GO app. On the bike to keep it between 130 and 140 bpm right now is a push, but checking what my beats are it is so close to the 130 that I feel comfortable that I am still in the zone during my long ride. So seeing between blue and light green on my MIO Link during the whole ride was a great feeling knowing that my body is using fat first for energy before getting into fuel reserves. Now to the run! It has taken me almost a whole month to finally commit to leaving my ego at the door and shooting for green during the run. And let me tell you to go from running to a high speed walk is something that I have to tell myself we be very benefittal for years to come. If it wasn't for the ease of use of the MIO Link, I don't think I would be doing MAF Training. And for someone who is pretty vain to be honest, it feels real good seeing the flashing green light and knowing that for certain I am burning only fat.

Well there we be many more to come today. I have just figured out that I can't do post on the weekend so Monday's will be post a plenty LOL.

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.

Getting stopped twice @ gym cause of my Mio Link/ X2 Performance does it work?/ Prime Nutrition Recovery/RunTriMom

UYesterday's workout was a short 25 minute plus the usually 5 miles that I have added to make up for not being able to run. So I didn't get any blue the first workout with the Link cause I had my zones set on Running Zones. So after figuring out mathematically my max HR (I know I should do a true test but I am still learning), I decided to add sprints for the 25 min part. So I did 2 minute 30 second sprints at 95 cadence then 5 min "rest" at 80 cadence at half the resistance as the sprints. One thing that was very interesting was when I was bent over in the aero tuck position the Link would be showing that I was in my target zone but if I kept the speed the same and sat up with my arms straight on the bars it would go to the red. That was very interesting. It was great being able to just catch out of the corner of eye the light blinking letting me know what zone I was in. I was stopped by 2 people at the gym asking me about the Link cause they have heard it but never seen one in person. They loved it and said they would be picking one up. Women if you are reading this and want to get started in HR training, PICK one up. No chaffing under the chest region.  I am friends on Facebook, follow on Twitter, Instagram, and her Blog Stephanie Johnson (@runtrimom), she is such a motivational person. I told her about the Link and how it doesn't rub the sensitive area on women and she sounded like she jumped all over it. So good to spread the word of a great company to people. Today ride will be 75 minutes plus 5 miles and will be at the lower zone so I will see blue today lol. I will start on Monday tracking my resting HR by putting the Link on as soon as I wake up.

It has been a little hard to judge if X2 performance is working or not. I definitely feel like I have more energy while I am working out but they have been short workouts. Today's long ride should give me I very good idea how it works. There are two good things that I know for sure. I am more focused during training and it doesn't not keep me awake with the natural caffeine.  Can't wait to try it again tonight. I have 1 left from the samples that were sent to me. On their website it did say that some people have to build up taking it to feel it's full effect.

I can't say enough about the great people at Pine Nutrition.  Even though their products and their backgrounds are for the fitness/bodybuilding area.  You can use them for endurance training. Since I have been mixing their EAA with my Gatorade during rides, then taking their Glutamine with Gatorade, I have felt hardly any DOMS the day after. Since today will be the longest ride that I have done Saturday will be a huge test. But I have faith in their products. Go to their website www.primenutrition.com and check out what they have for you.

Again thank you so much for reading this, it means a lot for you to take the time out of your day and look at this.

Why I subscribed to EGCrimsix/iRacing at Brands Hatch in Skippy/COD:Ghost

If you look at my other post EGCrimsix shows why he is on the World Championship Team Evil Geniuses!  http://40yroldgamingtriathlete.blogspot.com/2014/06/egcrimsix-shows-why-he-is-on-world.html, you can see that I am very impressed with Ian and his interaction with his followers on Twitch and Twitter. I have been watching his stream on Twitch now for a couple of days. Great content,  again interaction with his fans and he is dedicated to constantly improving his gaming skill. Last night was 2 days away from the XGames in Austin and while Ian and Evil Geniuses where trying to get a Scrim games going for some practice (which they couldn't which tells me other teams are not practicing) another team was streaming the new Mario Kart game. So it is that kind of dedication to improving the teams skill that also has me impressed.  And people wonder why EG is the reigning Champions. I watched and liked about 5 YouTube videos that he has on his YouTube channel. They were very informative and i can't wait to get home tonight and add what i learned to my practice. Please stop by there and subscribe to it. And go to his Twitch channel and support him with a monthly subscription like I did. You will not be disappointed at all. Can not wait till tomorrow and the live streaming of the first time ever COD:GHOST will be at a major non eSport Sporting event like XGames.

Let me tell you about iRacing. Me and my teammate Jon Carrigan did some more practice and then qualified at 9:45 pm so we would have a time for the 10:15 pm race. Got the 4th fastest time in my division so far so I am very happy with my time. Had 2 other people that were higher division than me and qualified a little faster than I did. I watched one of the drivers laps to learn from that was just .3 secs faster than me. So into the 10:15pm race, the 2 guys that were faster than me and my teammate from qualifying were ahead of me. I started 3rd with Jon starting 4th and behind Jon was someone that we know is overseas so has a terrible ping and has run up the back of a couple of drivers a few times and doesn't get any damage from doing it while taking the driver he runs all over out. So get the start fighting for 2nd coming out of 2nd, I was generous and gave way for turn 3 going into turn 4, gave him some room behind him. Now I watched at least 5 laps of his from qualifying and he took turn 4 very smoothly, how ever this time he decided to get hit the brakes in the middle of the turn which he never did before and the first place guy didn't even slow down. Very interesting and convient since it made me have to slam on the brakes which caused me to spin. Can you say brake check? So I spin Jon has to slow down, then here comes Mr. Drive all over you. He slams into the back of Jon and just destroys his car. And the damage to the rammer......NOTHING! I HATE HIGH PING DRIVERS! All of them use to as an unfair advantage. So I get towed and fixed and back out 1 lap down.  Out of 11 I finished 8th. And ironically stayed ahead of the second place driver who brake checked me in turn 4 and actually pulled away from him. So ironic if you ask me. Oh well put him down on the studied list and move on. Some people race with honor someone people have to drive dirty to overcome lack of skill.

Didn't get to the gym yesterday, wasn't the greatest day for me so just wanted to move my workout 1 day just to relax and chill out. But will definitely get to the gym tonight. It is a missing feeling when I do something like that. I am getting my cycle zones to out into my MIO Link. Stay tuned for more to come.

My first workout with Mio Link and X2 performance/Call of Duty Ghost/iRacing

What can I say! The Mio Link is a great heart rate monitor to have. It feels so natural and comfortable to wear on your wrist while you workout. It sync up with a huge majority of training watches. Wear both your watch and Link on the same arm for the best accurate reading. Yesterday was my mid ride training. So I did 5 min warmup then 35 minute ride plus 5 miles again to make up for running. There are 5 different heart rate zones that you can set on the Link. This was the first time I used heart rate as a guide to my training. I set my target zone on the Link for my running target heart rate.  After about 10 minutes on the ride and the light that changes color as you enter different zones on the watch never changed from the bottom zone (blue warm up and recovery zone) I did some Googling and realized your target cycle zone and running zone are different lol. Well that is what training is for to learn. So today I will calculate my cycle target zone and see how that goes. It was very interesting watching Mio Go on my Note 2 display my heart rate. It would increase when I would up my cadence but then once I stayed at that cadence for a while it would go back down to a stead beat. At the end of my riding I do a brutal ab workout that always leaves me breathless in the mid then at the end. Both times when I would get done with an excerise and be winded I was in the running target zone. One very neat feature was the light as you get closer to the different zones gradually change color, so you could set the zones on the Link using your smartphone application then leave the phone at home and you would know which zone you were in and how close to the next one you are. I just love forward thinking companies like Mio Global. Please look them up and get this great non chest chaffing wrist heart rate monitor. ( I wish I had a discount code for something to offer but even if I don't trust me you won't be disappointed at all). More on come each and everyday.

X2 Performance is a pre workout supplement that I have been wanting to try out a long with many others and hydration products. I plan on doing ad many reviews on here as I can with as many products that I can do to help people decide on what will work for them. I got the 4 bottle sample pack like I said from the Dave Scott webcast. They come in 2 oz bottles that are very convenient for carrying with you on the way to the gym or on rides. I popped one open and downed it as fast as I could. The taste is not the best I would say but you don't take supplements always for the favor. It isn't the worst that I have had but it isn't the best either. I workout kind of late compare to what other people do and I don't drink caffeine so the natural caffeine that is included had me a little concerned about it keeping me awake.  I could tell I had more energy during training and was more focused than usual. The best news was it didn't not interfere with me going to bed last night at all. I will be training again tonight for a shorter ride but with more intensity.  I will give another update tomorrow as well. So far so good.

Played about 2 hours of Call of Duty Ghost and again like with anything that you want to so better or get better with you have to practice practice.  And it was like a switch just was flipped and things that I have been working on just came together. Went even many times and DOUBLE once while still playing for the Drop Zone objectice. Makes the game so much more fun once it starts gelling like that.

Going to do some iRacing and more Ghost tonight. Skippy is at Brands Hatch and Indy Fixed Oval is at Texas!