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RETURN OF THE FIGHTING MINNOW

7/18/2014

Yesterday’s blog was a long one, so today I’ll keep it short.

I headed back to the pool today; it’s been 8 weeks since I’ve done battle with the pool. This fact made me nervous enough that I bailed on a swim workout with KB last weekend. My ego totally got in my way!

I was really expecting it to be a rough go because of how long I’ve been out of the pool. Well maybe a break was just what I needed. I think my cardio has gotten better in the past two months; I didn’t struggle nearly as hard with my breathing, which was a win. I’ve been on the bike a lot, so maybe that’s helped my cardio.

I still don’t feel overly relaxed or fluid in the water, but not feeling like I was running out of air is a big step in the right direction! The issues I’m having with my heal worked against me a little, but even that wasn’t too horrible.

By far the best part of the day was not having to do battle with a skull crusher (AKA swim cap) I got my hair cut Monday and went back to a nice short cut, this was fantastic!

The pool is the perfect place to apply the new mentality of looking at what I can do as opposed to what I can’t. So we’ll see how things go and I’ll tell my pride to suck it up the next time KB asks me to go for a swim.

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GET OUT OF THE WAY

7/17/2014

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I consider myself to be pretty good at most things I attempt. While I frequently make fun of my swimming abilities, or lack thereof, I can indeed swim. Once upon a time I was a very good swimmer and with some work I can be good again. One of the few things I’ve never been any good at is running. I have a great many friends and family members who are runners and they are constantly telling me how wonderful and relaxing it is to run, I am constantly wondering what kind of hallucinogenic narcotics are in their morning coffee!

As a softball player it was simple, hit the ball in an area that would allow me to get to first base or smack the sucker a quarter of a mile and try to get all the way around without passing out. In addition to softball I also played soccer and while we did a great deal of running, it was generally short bursts that would end after a pass down field or the ball went out of bounds. I also played football, but I was lineman, the extent of my “running” was basically getting on and off the field.

I can remember being in school and being told either in gym class or track practice to go run a mile. I’ve had the same reaction to that statement for as long as I can remember, “you cannot be serious!” You can take one look at me and know I’m not a runner!

Several of my friends are runners; they run 5ks, ½ marathons and full marathons! A few years back I got myself to the point where I could run a 5K, this was huge for me! Not only did I break the mile marker, I was running over 3 miles! But it was a short lived victory as I developed a condition called compartment syndrome in my leg. I won’t bore you with the specifics of it, but it required surgery and basically ended my running career.

Once I had surgery and stopped running I started something else…gaining weight! And once I gained weight I had multiple reasons not to run. For example, my knees and my back and ankles and my foot and the list goes on. While I’ve been working out for a few months now, running hasn’t really been on my radar and I’ve been pretty ok with that. While KB is a marathon coach she seems to be pretty content to leave me out of that mess…until now!

KB runs marathon training a few days a week and while MK attends them as often as possible, I have never even entertained the idea of going. They do all manner of crazy things, hill workouts, speed workouts and distance workouts. These things hold a place on my to-do list, right next to having a root canal! In my mind, the idea of going to a running event of any kind is nothing short of insanity.

It is not uncommon for MK, KB and I to have a group chat going on social media. We harass each other, encourage each other, complain about our workouts and complain about how perfect KB’s hair always seems to be. I made the mistake of saying that I had enjoyed doing two workouts on a day prior and MK "suggested" I come to the marathon workout that night. Once I stopped laughing I replied with something to the effect of “no”. At this point I figured I was relatively safe, KB had not commented and I went about my day.

Shortly before I left my office we got a massage from KB saying she would see both of us at marathon training. Wait…WHAT?!! HA HA…she can’t possibly be serious right? Yea, she was totally serious. <insert total panic here> This is a problem, this is clearly a challenge, but it’s one that I know in my mind I can’t do. What to do…what to do…what to do!! Looking back, the internal battle was intense, but a little funny. I had already chickened out of a swim workout last weekend and felt like crap for it; this would be the same if I didn’t go. But if I did go I had no doubt it would be nothing short of humiliating. What if my knees hurt? What if my heal hurt? What if my foot went numb? What if I tripped and fell flat on my face?! What if this and what if that. In the end my inability to turn down a challenge trumped everything else and I went.

I’m ashamed to admit that I walked on the track with a less than positive attitude. I was pretty damn sure that I was going to have an epic failure, but I figured if I did they wouldn’t make me come back. MK wasn’t there yet, which might have been a good thing…LOL! They were warming up with a lap around the track, that’s not a warm up for me, that’s a max distance. I hit half a lap in the time it took everyone else to finish a lap. My mind raced with things like “what the hell are you doing here?” “You are an idiot!” “Could you run any slower” …you get the point. For better or worse my own internal beat down kept me distracted and somehow I managed to get around the track. Then I did it again.

At some point MK arrived and I think I may have tried to strangle her. We moved on to two laps, crap! I had to take a break while the rest of the gazelles ran in circles like there was nothing easier in the world! As I stood there watching and being totally jealous the reality hit me, the only thing that was really in my way was me. I had let my mind decide that previous failures would dictate future attempts. No, I was not going to run a 6 minute mile, but who cares?

I started trotting around the track and KB ran with me, she clearly realized the issue and we had a little chat. She told me all the things I already knew but refused to see (I was too busy berating myself), I was getting around the track and really I was doing ok. I wasn't flailing around like a wounded animal and I was relatively consistent in my times. I did have an issue with my foot that took me out of the last couple of laps, but I had done a mile or so and that’s pretty good for me.

The point is there will always be obstacles that I cannot control, like the weather or how many hills are in a run or a ride, but how I think is totally within my control and has a profound impact on my performance. Things my happen that will prevent me from doing as much as I want, I my knees are not a fan of running, but that needs to stop being an excuse not to try at all. The single fastest way to fail is not to try at all.

I am glad that I went, I’m glad that I have great people in my life who believe in me! Did my running get any better? I’m not sure that really matters; there was a bigger lesson to be learned. I did considerably more than I thought I could and I figured out that I need to focus on what I can do and stop worrying about what I can’t. I need to get out of my own way! The question shouldn't be "what if you fail?" it should be "what if you succeed?"

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SATURDAY

7/12/2014

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After 90 minutes of sleep I had to get up and get to the karate school for Black Belt testing. Some of you will understand the weight of that statement, some will not. For those that do not, I cannot explain it to you; just know that it’s a long day for both the candidates and those of us helping to run the test.

At some point we took a short break and I checked my tablet and found a Facebook message from CK that my phone had been found! My first thought, “you have to be kidding me” I phone call later I found out that the individual who stole my phone sold it to a young man late last night for $20 ($20? Seriously? I again question the intelligence of the SDTC) At any rate this young man tried to use “his” new phone only to realize that it wouldn’t work. It’s funny how that happens with the service has been suspended. At some point he gave the phone to his mom who looked at it and in reading the messages on the phone figured out pretty quickly that the phone was stolen.

What happened from there restores a little bit of my faith in people. She tried to reply to the text messages that we had sent last night, but because of the service being off was unable to do so. She then looked at my call log and seeing 104 missed calls from CK, she called that number from her cell and proceeded to tell CK how she came to have my phone. She provided us with her first name and her cell number. CK gave me that info and I called the lady. She was extremely nice and was willing to do whatever was necessary to get me my phone back. I let her know that I had filed a police report and therefor needed to notify them that we had located the phone, she had no issues with this, she believed her son “needed to learn to lesson”

I called the number the officer had left me with yesterday and spoke to a very nice officer, he seemed to struggle a little to understand the situation. He seemed to fully understand that my phone had been stolen, it would seem stolen goods are a common occurrence at that particular YMCA. What he couldn’t get his head around was the fact someone called to return it He informed me that this “never happens” and he needed to call his supervisor to find out what to do.

The officer called me back a short time later at the karate school. After answering the phone and identifying the business with our standard greeting, he chuckled and asked why I was at a karate school. I informed him that we had an event going on the day. He proceeded to ask me a handful of questions, more for curiosity than anything else,

Officer: “so you take karate?”
Me: yes sir, I do
Officer: “how long have you done that?”
Me: 23 years
Officer: “Wow! So I’m guessing you’re a black belt?”
Me: Yes, sir. I am a 5th degree
Officer: “Wow! I think I’m really glad you didn’t catch whoever did this!”
Me: Not as glad as they should be!

He said they had spoken to the woman who called us and the plan was for her to deliver my phone to the police station. That way there was no interaction directly between us. She would drop it off; I would pick it up later. Perfect! A short time later I received another call from CK, the woman had decided for some reason not to deliver my phone to the police department, but to return it to the YMCA. I don’t know the reasoning behind this, she had already spoken to the police and they had her information, but I really didn’t care.

After testing was over I ran up to the Y and found my phone in an envelope behind the main desk. While it was completely dead and missing it’s otter box, it was finally back where it belonged. Once it had a charge and I restored service, I found that whoever had it restored it to factory defaults; basically they deleted everything on it! While this is an inconvenience, it’s not the end of the world as everything backs up to “the cloud” it’ll just take a while to get everything back the way I like it.

On to my next adventure…vegan grocery shopping with MK…LOL!!

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FRIDAY

7/11/2014

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Today was a great day! I had the day off and no early morning workout because I lifted with KB this afternoon which equals a few extra hours of sleep! So I was off to a great start!

As I reported a couple of weeks back, my heal has been giving me some grief. Doc is in need of some additional information, so I had a CT scan this morning, the tech I had was awesome and I was in and out in ten minutes! Another win!

Mom is doing some remodeling in her kitchen and dining area and wanted me to go shopping to help her pick out things. We wondered around our local home improvement store finding fixtures, paint, tile, etc. and overall had a pretty good morning together. Win!

I headed over to CK’s place as my bike was camping out there from my last ride and it will make my scheduled bike ride much easier if I have my bike. I got to spend some time chillin with friends for an hour or so. Then I made a quick stop at mom’s to see the renovations to this point, which are pretty awesome! Win and win!

I headed home to change clothes and let my four-legged babies out to run for a few minutes and then headed for the gym. I have been in the gym with KB before, but I’ve never actually worked out with her, in the back of my mind I was just hoping I could keep up! This is where the day got interesting.

At my local YMCA I rent a locker and have a padlock and all of that jazz, but to lift with KB I went up to her YMCA. Now I’ve been there multiple times in the past without any issues. I went into the locker room and put my little blue bag in a locker and went to find KB.

The workout was fantastic! It was challenging for both of us (I think) I know it was for me and KB was on her third workout of the day and had a cold. Have I mentioned how amazing she is? It’s incredible how much more you can do when you have someone there to motivate and support you. I had a goal to leg
press 700 pounds, let’s just say I may have exceeded that goal a little. Huge win!

I hit the locker room to get my bag and it’s gone. The locker is empty! Epic fail! Looking back I find it humorous just how fast the human brain can initiate a full panic. To be honest I thought I did pretty well, but KB said she saw the panic in my eyes when I told her my bag was gone. There were a variety of important items in said bag, cell phone, wallet, tablet…CAR KEYS! The first thing I did was check the parking lot, was my Jeep still here? Yes, win!

KB helped me search the locker room and we found my bag in a different locker, which still had my tablet and car keys in it! Win! A few lockers down we found my wallet; it still had all my credit cards in it. Win! But all my cash was gone, Fail! The only item we couldn’t find was my phone. While I was less than happy about it, I have insurance and could get it replaced. In the grand scheme of things this could have been much worse!

Because I no longer had a phone, KB called the police for me. MK had stopped by to say hi and she let me use her phone to made some calls home and to my cell phone provider. I called the insurance company and filed a claim, I should have my new phone Saturday.

When I go to the cabin with Doc I have no cell reception and I manage to survive just fine. Having no phone at home didn’t go as well. I needed to take my sister’s bike to the bike shop, but had no way to find the place without my GPS. I have no land line, so I had no way to make calls, which wouldn’t matter anyway, I don’t know anyone’s numbers anymore. And 90% of the time I send a text message anyway. The best I could do was to use Facebook messenger on my tablet and laptop.

In today’s modern age there are apps that can be used to track cell phones, it would seem that my thief is aware of that and disabled the GPS as I was unable to locate the phone, even after re-enabling the service. However that seems to be where their intelligence stops. CK had been trying to call my phone and someone actually answered it! She asked to speak to me and the lady told her she had the wrong number, I believe CK made the statement “wanna bet?” and the stupid-dishonest-thieving-chic (SDTC) hung up. However she did not turn off my phone. For the next several hours we (every friend I could get) called
and sent texts to my cell.

I may or may not have mislead the SDTC into believing that I had tracked my phone when the answered it and would give them until 9am the following day to return it before turning that information over to the police. After a couple hours of this I turned the service off on the phone again about 2:30am. We'll see what happens.

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THE DEAL

7/10/2014

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I’ve talked before about my friend MK. She is the one training for a full Ironman Triathlon this fall. Before we go any farther I have to make mention of the fact she did a full 2.4 mile swim earlier this week and crushed it! This is one of many reasons why she’s my hero!

I’m pretty sure that in at least one (or more) of my other posts I have talked about the fact that MK and I frequently act like small children. We bicker about things and rat each other out to our trainer and laugh pretty much daily. I recently informed KB about an injury MK had been “hiding” and at some point she’s going to throw me under the bus for ordering Jimmy Johns yesterday.

My eating habits tend to be one of the things we banter back and forth about a lot. MK is a vegan, I am not. What does it mean to be vegan you ask? Per About.com: Veganism is a type of vegetarian diet that excludes meat, eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived ingredients. Many vegans also do not eat foods that are processed using animal products, such as refined white sugar and some wines.

Now, I will openly admit this is a healthier way to eat, in fact the only “negative” things I have found are that this style of eating can lead to a serious lack of some vitamins and minerals and this is very easy to correct. Having said that I feel giving up everything I love to eat is by its very definition “negative”. Let’s face facts, if I liked fruits and veggies, I’d be eating them now!

Mk frequently makes posts on social media about eating healthy and the vegan lifestyle and I frequently poke the bear! I think she has made it her mission to “convert” me to at least dome kind of healthy eating and I have made it my mission to not convert, mostly because I’m stubborn. In fact she is not the first person to take on this challenge, but most simply give up. Please keep in mind this is all in good fun, I have the utmost respect for MK’s dedication to living an active, healthy lifestyle, I just like to give her a hard time =)

It is out of this respect that I have decided to get a better understanding of something that is extremely important to her, her diet. This is not the first time I have done something like this. I feel that if you truly care for someone you need to understand the things that are important to them. And while it’s ok to disagree with the people in your life, you owe it to one another to have an informed and intelligent opinion. CK and I have had to agree to disagree on multiple occasions; it’s actually one of the coolest parts of our friendship.

Ok, on to “the Deal”. I have decided to “go vegan” at least for a short period of time. I have a vacation planed with a relatively large group that is my family and I plan to eat what is served during that trip. This should give me a better idea of what this is all about, but gives me a time frame I think I can live with. The idea of never eating pizza again makes me want to cry in public! In fact I’m trying really hard not to think about what I just agreed to do at all or I damn near have an anxiety attack! What’s the point of living without thinks like meat, cheese, pasta, dairy? Ok, I have to stop thinking about that stuff!

There were a few stipulations for me to agree to this.

This deal is good until I leave for vacation.
MK has to go grocery shopping with me.
This cannot break the bank!
I will eat how you tell me (within reason, I do NOT eat mushrooms, onions or peppers)
MK has to get KB to agree to this... If she thinks it's a bad move we a no go!

Now I highly doubt that I’ll go completely vegan in this short period of time, going “cold-turkey” would be bad, so we’ll cut back a little bit at a time. So here’s to being open minded and trying something new. My game plan to start this insanity this coming Sunday, that gives me a couple days to eat steak, pasta and ice cream! Wish me luck!!

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RETURN OF THE FIGHTING MINNOW

GET OUT OF THE WAY

SATURDAY

FRIDAY

THE DEAL

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