2012 done and dusted, roll on 2013

What a Year it has been, I really think that this was one of the best Years I ever had the fun to experience.
I have learned so much , my health has been amazing I have found a sport I have utterly fallen in love with so yes 2012 was truly amazing.
Lets put some Details into 2012, firstly had the huge Honor of meeting Chrissie Wellington , have even a smiling picture of her and myself ;o)
Health wise : NOT A SINGLE COLD all Year long , that's really nice what makes it even nicer is that I'm a Alpha1 Carrier and I have been rather sick in the past ,in previous Years my Diet existed out of Antibiotics for many wees of the Year also I didn't get a single injury even though my Training has gone up quite a bit.
That brings me nicely to my next good part , Training , I have done this Year ( so far ) 2130 KM in Cycling ( mostly ) running, swimming and Hiking , that combines to 220 hrs of Exercise.

In comparison  in 2011 I managed to do 953 km ( cycling, running etc) which was 126 hrs .
I have done 4 Sprint Triathlons and 15 Running Races ( all short distance 5-10 km ) .All this was made possible because I finally took my Weight loss seriously , funnily enough I don't think I did all the exercise to loose weight , no it was the other way around , I enjoy doing exercise which made it possible to loose all this weight.

I have learned a very important lesson , loosing weight for the sake of loosing weight without a purpose doesn't work for me , I have to have a goal and archiving that Goal also means loosing weight.
So what about 2013 and Goals ....
Oh yes big time, I will do my Triathlons ,at least Olympic distance, however I will not exclude to get ready for a half Ironman  distance in 2013, all this must mean that I have to shed the last 10-12 extra Kilo's I'm carrying.
Additionally i just have been voted into the Committee of my Triathlon Club , I think that is a ad on incentive to get 2013 right .
I do not expect 2013 to run all the way smoothly , I have planned in certain hiccups which might cause problems , would be stupid to expect that everything is plain sailing.

But back to the Training's data from the beginning, I looked into my Training's Details nearly with a Microscope and found my biggest problem, it's called consistence , or rather lack of it. In one week I might have done 5 hrs of training , in the next week just 1 hr and the following week 8 Hrs of Training.
If I can level that out that it will nearly be plain Sailing but for now I just will look forward to the new Year and the new lessons I will learn.

Overview of 2012 ... 

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE !!!

10km Santa Run's and what else ?

Haven't blogged in a while , just because not much did happen lately, however I did yesterday another 10km Santa run. The Run was on the Beach and we were all running , walking in Santa suits.
Imagine to see over 1100 People ( Grown ups and kids )  all dressed in Red Santa Suits on a Beach. Doing these kind of Events, that's what it is all about for me, I don't want to win Races,I just love the buzz of these Events.
The Weather on top of it was perfect ,the Day had started out rather miserably but in the afternoon when the Run started the Sun came out and it was just perfect.
As just mentioned ans stated in many previous Blogs, I don't want to win Races I never will be fast, however , yesterday I was defiantly too slow.
I need to get some more speed under my belt because I want to do in March a half Marathon , which I know I will be able to manage the Distaste with pure stubbornness, however that can't be my goal .
 I want to be able to run that event and enjoy it and not dreading the last 8 km of the Event and i want to manage it in 2 hrs 20 min ( Slow for other people , blazing fast for me )
Which means again back to basics , regular running training ( boring but necessary ) .
I have put some measures into place to make sure that I will do my regular running Training , more about this later.
I also have put together my Racing plan for 2013 , I'm so looking forward to the next triathlon Season. I will decide after the Half Marathon in March what my longest Triathlon distance in 2013 will be, little voice in my Head still hopes for the half Iron Distance .
Swimming is going great ,again I'm slow but I don't fear a 2km Swim as such, i know with  regular training i can manage that easily enough, i have dropped off a bit on the Cycling, weather has just turned a bit nasty, hope to replace that with Spinning, haven't done that in a while either.
Running yep hope my secret plan works and lastly Core Training , I know i have to do it, otherwise  I get injured, so once a week back to the Gym doing Body Balance. that's a great mix out of Yoga , Pilate's and Thai Chi.

Great Sunset after the Santa Run 

10 Km race finished with a bit of out sch

Yesterday Night was the Mark Pollock 5km/10km Run in the Dark Race and it happened nearly all over the World, in many places here in Ireland but also in New York and many other places. I hope that everyone enjoyed it as much as I did, So lets start first with the Race Report.
I knew 10km running would be though for, it is actually amazing how quickly the body wants to forget the kilometers / Mileage you have already put into it.
As soon as you stop or slow down , the Body forgets and you have to start again , maybe not from scratch but pretty low anyway.
Last Year I did bucket loads of 10 km races , I even did a half marathon . This Year I did Triathlons and shorter races , so amazingly 10 km running was a real Challenge.
That happens if you don't regularly train, OK I knew upfront it would be though and my only goal was to enjoy it and finish it. Still I kept looking at that damn watch and something in me hoped I would run a decent time , the first 5km were fine, or as fine as they could have been.
It was mentally though because it was a 2 Lap race, so it would have been very easy just to step to the left after 5km and finish it but after I had already bailed out on the Weekend from a group Cycling ride after 20 km I decided not this time, it gets too easy to bail out if you do it too often.
The next 3 km were not too bad either , I got slower and slower but that was kind of OK , then the cramps kicked in, and they kicked in big time ,  I gritted my teeth and started to have a rather weird looking running / walking style , sometimes with jumps in it when the cramps kicked in.
But the Crowd and the other competitors were great , they just encouraged me to go on and while I was in Pain I also was thinking of the Guy who should benefit of this Race , Mark Pollock a Blind Adventurer Racer who got paralyzed a couple of Years back, if you don't know him just Google him, an absolute amazing Guy who doesn't seem to accept the word NO.
So with that in mind i finished a beautiful 10 km Race, the scenery was amazing during the Race thousands of Runners in the Dark and we all wore Safety armbands with blinking Red Led's , just seeing those thousands of red flashing Led's was stunning .
Than the real Highlight came after I had passed quite happily the finish line suddenly I saw Mark Pollock talking to other competitors and I got my chance to have a quick chat with him and shake his hand. Which means I had the Honor this Year to meet and greet Chrissie Wellington and meet and greet Mark Pollock , two very amazing Persons in their own right.Both have a very similar Mindset , they do not accept the word NO, meeting people like that is rather special.....

NEVER EVER GIVE UP 

The Wonder Drug : Physical Activity !

I borrowed this Sentence " the Wonder Drug : Physical Activity"  from a Speech I was listening to last Week  during a Patient Conference and it made a pretty big impression on me, because I think I'm living proof that this sentence is very true.
The Conference was held for Alpha1 Patients , it is annually conference to which I try to attend every Year.
Since I'm a Alpha1 carrier and no one can tell me if I ever will run into serious Heath Problems I tend to keep an Eye on the developments in the Research of Alpha1.

It is quite interesting and disturbing at the same time , no one knows why some Alpha1 Carriers ( which i'm ) get serious Lung and liver Disease, however it seems to be a small percentage of carriers who get affected. I know that smoking active and Passive is a huge factor.

I'm not smoking and I don't allow anyone around me to smoke , however I was for easily 25 Years of my life exposed to passive Smoking and that honestly scares me quite a bit , I just hope that this will not bite me at some stage.

Anyway the patient conference was very interesting and one of the guest Speakers was a psychologist, he spoke about Stress,if you are stressed your immune System might get affected and that is something a Alpha1 Patient can't afford and probably no one can actually really afford.

I know from myself if when I'm stressed over a longer period of time, I will get a cold or bronchitis.
So not being stressed is very important to me. One relieve for stress is physical activity , which brings me nicely around to the purpose of the Block , being a Alpha1 Carrier who tries to get fit with physical Activity .
I have now 4 month and 5 Days to get ready for my Half marathon, at the moment i can maybe run 5km without getting into huge problems and I'm slow I mean really slow but I have done now some training's runs and I'm slowly getting into the habit .
 I also have on my Breakfast Table the Training's plan for the Half marathon,every morning when I have my coffee I see it and that is a good reminder that works actually better than to to hang the Plan onto the fridge or something like that.
The good thing about the half Marathon plan is I know that this is only a intermediate Goal if I manage to get this done decently then late in 2013 I will try to do a Half Ironman and even that thought is very existing and a bit scary.
 I have already realized that I miss my Triathlons and I'm currently planning my 2013 season, so looking forward to do it again.
i believe if anyone even thinks of doing a Triathlon he/She is probably already hooked

So more Swim , Bike and RUN .....

everything from 5 km to Half Marathon

This morning I had a 5 km Trail Race and I have ot say that was a though one, the Trail mostly consisted out of Bog or at least that was my impression but even though I got wet and very muddy I really enjoyed that race, I did the "short" version of the Race since I knew I wouldn't be able to do 10 km of this type of race at the moment.
I did the same Race last year and managed to do the 10 km distance , OK just about.
Anyway my running has been a concern of mine , so when last week a friend of mine told me he had signed up for a half Marathon in March, that got me thinking. I realized the only way I will get into regular running habits again is with a scare factor, so the same evening I signed up for that Race as well.
I have done one other half Marathon before so I know how long 13.1 miles / 21 km can be.
Since I have some bigger plans for later in 2013 that half Marathon will be a huge stepping stone. If I manage to pull that one of in a for me decent time then I will go ahead to do a half Ironman late in 2013.
In regards to scare Factor that Idea can't get much bigger but I know I want to do this.

Funnily enough , last Year when I did my first Sprint triathlon another Friend of mine did actually on the same Day on the other site of the World a full Ironman.
 I heard the other that She wants to do another Ironman next Year. It sounds weird but it will be  huge boost for me, that I know a Person who will train to do twice the Distance of the same type of Race.

I'm writing this on the same day when the Ironman World Championship in Kona are about to start, I an hours time. In will be glued to the live Stream to watch all these amazing Athletes.
Time to get ready to watch an amazing Race with amazing athletes ,  I believe this Year there are 5-6 People on the Start line which are over 80 Years of age, not really possible to get a better inspiration

Perfect Weather for ......

The Weather is at the moment a mix out of everything , some Days filled with Rain but mostly it is just a very nice Autumn. The Weather would be perfect for Cycling and running , Cycling no problem , I actually was out today and did roughly 30 km in the rather Hilly Surrounding of the Wicklow's .

 I really love doing this, getting out on a Saturday or Sunday and doing a reasonably long cycling ride.I also was out yesterday on a short hiking trip , I mainly was out to help out as a Marshal in a Mountain Running Race but after my Duties were finished, I continued to do a nice short Hike .

I try to Break in a pair of new Hiking boots,  I guess they will need a bit more work, since I got yesterday 1-2 small blisters , that can be normal with new Hiking Boots and I suspect that I need to get a different pair of Socks.

I'm planning to do some tougher hikes over the next couple of Weeks so would be nice to get those boots sorted before I'm stuck with Blisters somewhere in the middle of nowhere.

Running , this is and stays my weakest Link , I did last weekend a 5 mile Flat course running Race , beside finishing second last, the Race  did hurt, no real surprise since I haven't done any other running lately, not yet quite sure how to get over that laziness.

It's not purely Laziness on my Site, I know I still fight with my Winter Blues , how do I know that ? I'm still rather tired and still often rather moody , I recognize the Symptoms and I know that exercise is the best way to sort it out, but getting of the Couch can be rather hard. 

 I hope that Hiking will help me so that I get back into running, and I defiantly  have to do some serious running Training, like Speed Training , hill training etc.

My recent Weight Gain should be a additional motivation , I have gained 1-2 kg  , in my World that's usually not much ( not for somebody who lost over 30 km of weight ) but amazingly I feel it very much , I actually feel uncomfortable with this added Weight again. 

Next Weekend is a 5 km Trail run , doesn't sound much , it did last Year the 10 km Version of that Race and it was the toughest Race of the Year , so 5 km of this will be more then enough to get to my current limits.

out and about 

Winter Blues , oh no

last Week was rather scary , I think I was hit with a very bad Case of Winter Blues , Winter Blues is also called Seasonal affective Disorder is something I have diagnosed on myself 2-3 Years ago.
In my Case when this happens I just don't have any energy to do anything and I'm in a rather grumpy mood. A couple of years back when I realized that this seems to happen  more and more in the Winter month, I started to google it and looking at the Check list for Winter Blues I can tick every single box. So I bought a Light Box and Vitamin D and Last Winter I came through the Winter much better then in the previous Years.
So for this Winter Season I had already bought again my Vitamin D and planned start to take it from the beginning of October, I didn't even really think about it too much, but oh Boy the last 10 Days were bad and I mean really bad.
At work I was just extremely irritable, I tried to keep to myself as much as possible and put on the professional face , I made sure I didn't cross anyone path. There was no Reason to be so grumpy to anyones, but I just was.
In the Evening I  was so tired that I did go very early into my Bed and didn't want to wake up even after over 9 hrs of Sleep.
So I started to take my Vitamins early last Week and I have set my Light box again on a Timer , so in the morning I wake up when the Light Box makes my Room bright as Day.
This is not a miracle cure but Yesterday was the First Day where I felt finally like a Human being again.
If you suffer from Winter Blues , exercise is recommended , there was no Way that I was able to to any real kind of exercise last Week so I forced myself to at least cycle to work .
I have been cycling the whole Summer, but cycling over the last couple of Days felt like I had to start all over again.
I was barely able to climb small Hills but thankfully Yesterday that again felt much better.
So now I finally look forward again, a really good feeling after 2 Weeks of Hell . Now I hope I can get my Winter Training together, because I really want to be ready for next Seasons upcoming Triathlons.
The Plan is to work hard enough, to be able to do a Half Ironmman next Year.
That will be huge step from my Sprint Triathlons this Year, I'm not really afraid anymore of the Swimming ,I have seen the improvement of it, this Year and I know I'm not even remotely at my limit. Cycling is not a problem either , I just love cycling, running is the big Problem.
This is the one discipline I actually slowed down this Year and running more then 5 Km at the moment is a struggle, but being aware of it should be a good start to fix it.
Time to hit the Road, which will help to get to my Goal and fight this very annoying Winter Blues

The Magic of a Light Box, it really Works for me !

some late updates

did go on Holiday directly after my last Triathlon , so didn't get a chance to write a nice Race Report , so now with nearly 3 Weeks delay here it comes.

I started my Triathlon adventure last year with exactly this Triathlon , so I was very curious to see if and how far I had come in the3 last Year.

First of all , since I know now what to the expect when I not so nervous about a race anymore and I also know now what to eat at which state . Last year I had totally forgotten to eat a Breakfast and was starving about the time my Race Wave started . This was not an error I have repeated, I had my Breakfast and I had my snacks and waited more or less patiently until my Race started. This was again not a Race to win anything or finish at the top 10 in my Age Group , this Race was about me and only me.

So the Swim started, a short 600 m River swim, I still was one of the slowest swimmers in my Wave group but this Year no one from the next Wave group passed me and i was nearly 6 minutes faster then last Year , that felt great. Still felt rather wobbly when I came out of the Water but managed to get out of the Wet suit and onto the Bike in under 4 minutes , good time for me. so now a 16km Cycle Ride started and in hindsight I have to say that I took it too easy on the Bike but at the time of the Race I had the feeling that my legs and lungs were bursting , quite a few Racer past me on the Ride again I improved my cycling time over last years time , only by 4-5 minutes but anyway no too bad.

Last Stretch would be the toughest one for me , the Run , I knew it would be a muddy Trail run so I had early on decided to wear Trail runners, that was a pretty good decision . The Run was only 4 km Long but for me it felt more like 10 km , I was really tired by the Time I reached the finish line. I had managed to improve my time from last year by 13 minutes and i enjoyed every minute of that Race.

Yes I'm fully and utterly Triathlon hooked and I actually will try now to do a really good winter Training and can't wait to see which effects this will have on next Years Triathlon Season .

A colleague of mine was wondering the other Day how I had managed to loose so much weight and I started to tell about my Triathlons and how much I enjoy doing this , his simple reply was : I see how much you enjoy this you are  beaming all over your Face while talking about this and that puts it to the point . as soon as I start to think about Triathlons , I get exited.

To the point of Weight loss , this is still a slow Process but today the Scale showed for the first time my weight to be under 70kg ( 11 Stones ) . 

For the Winter Season I'm planning to do a lot of weight Training also hopefully again some Yoga  and of course more swimming cycling and running .... 

Chrissie Wellington and my Couchpotato

a couple of days ago I had the honor of meeting Chrissie Wellington in Person, I guess anyone who ever had any kind of interest in Triathlons knows who this amazing person is.
First She did a book signing and we all got our Picture taken with her and  later in the evening She held a talk , it was a Talk from a Triathlete ( Professional one that is ) to other Triathletes.
That women is just amazing and the Passion She shows about Triathlon and Charities She is helping is kind of contagious.
A person like Chrissie Wellington is very clearly a driven person and that certainly is not a bad thing, only with that kind Energy a person can archive what She has archived.
So that brings me back to me and my internal couch potato, I'm very clearly not driven and do not confuse this with laziness, I work hard but I'm not a person who is looking constantly up the career ladder.
My big problem is a small voice in my head , this voice says "Do an Ironman" .The Rest of me tells me "you are bonkers", the internal Couch potato says : "you can't do this"
But then that small little voice is asking a simple Question : Why can't you do this ?
There have been Cancer Patients who are doing it , people of all ages are doing it , why shouldn't I be able to pull this of?
And there is no answer for this one, I'm healthy , I have more then enough time in my life to put the proper Training into this. I have the basic Triathlon kit. No Reason not to start this.
Except the Fear of failure, but listening to Chrissie Wellington made pretty clear to me She is experiencing the same kind of fear and not there are plenty of other people who do fear this kind of Challenge, it is normal to have this Fear the trick is to overcome it.
I believe rather strongly to pull this kind of adventure through, I would need to be driven at least to a certain extend and here is the funny thing , I start to believe that being driven can be learned. I think to learn it, I have to surround myself with People who are driven, a Triathlon Club is the perfect ground for this.
I also think reading the right books  from People who have archived something amazing by being driven will help, Chrissie Wellington , Mark Pollock are some good starters.
That kind of charisma can rub off, I have defiantly changed since I have changed the People who surround me.

Olympics and Triathlons

I have to admit it I'm addicted to the Olympics, I 'm watching events I never ever under normal Circumstance would watch , Weight lifting , Rowing , Gymnastics are normally not events for me, but during the Olympics this all changes. I love to watch all this and more, I guess the reason is knowing how much time and effort each and every one of these Athletes has put into getting into the Olympics. Those Guy's and Girls have trained endless hours.
On Saturday I was watching the Lady's Olympic Triathlon and was glues to the Stream what a Race. If you haven't seen it , try to look it up, really impressive stuff and this Week it is of course Track and field Events. I will spend many hours watching it.
So with that Race in mind, I had yesterday my small Little Sprint Triathlon, that one was my 4th ever Triathlon and even though I knew roughly what to expect it still is all kind of new to me.
This time the huge Challenge for me, was the swim. It was a lake Swim, so far I have only done River Swims and when I arrived at the lake yesterday I realized,  how big the difference would be.
The Lake looked huge and the turning Buoys were far out, plainly it looked scary.
I know I can swim 750m without getting into trouble and that's exactly what I told myself before the start. When I got into the water I started to divide the Swim, my first Goal was the first Buoy, nothing else was in my mind, just the first buoy, when I arrived there, I only concentrated on the second Buoy and then the last bit was the stretch home. That action plan worked amazingly well .
I have that trick from Chrissie Wellingtons book , OK She is doing Ironman's and not my tiny Sprint Triathlons but I thought, what works for her, will do for me nicely ( many thanks for this Miss Wellington ). So the Swim was done and I had decided to go as hard as possible on the bike , I didn't want to care about the run yet and after 10 km my legs were really tired and for every small Hill I had to change into the small gear, but I soldiered on.
 Lastly the run , again I used the Tactic from Chrissie Wellington since I was not able to run the whole stretch, so I did pick a goal a few hundred meters down the road and ran to that point, walked a bit and started to run to my next point and that way I reached quite happily the finish line, I was probably the 10th last in the Race but I don't care, I finished the race and that is all that matters to me.

Those Buoys are far out ...... 

Race Weekend

So my Race Weekend is done and dusted and I have to say I'm rather proud of myself, but let's start at the beginning , here is a Race Report .
I had signed up for a Sprint Triathlon on Saturday, this would be the 3rd Triathlon I have ever done , so I'm clearly still a novice but at least by now I have a rough Idea what will happen at which stage at this type of a Race.
 Triathlons are great, but at the same time rather complicated, you have to think of everything ahead, you have to make sure that your Transition area is setup nicely etc. So by now I know what I need where.
 As usual with Triathlons it was a rather early Morning , I had to drive over 100km to get to Kilkenny where the Triathlon was happening. I arrived there with plenty of Time ( the way I like it ), did setup my Transition area and checked the exit from the Water Area.
 I had been told that it is a really long path from the Water Exit to the Transition Area. I didn't fancy running that Barefoot so I had brought some old runners which deposited at the Water Exit.

I had barely done this, when I already had to get ready for my Race start , so I did get into my Wet suit and put my Prescription Goggles on. I'm really very shortsighted and I don't fancy Contact lenses but the Prescription goggles are doing a good job. So with that I walked down to the Water Start.We had to walk down a busy Main Road and we must have looked rather strange in our Wet suits .
At this stage I just wanted to start the Race , or rather get the swim done, because I know this is by far my weakest discipline. I'm not competitive ( except against myself ) so I don't want to win anything I just want to be able to finish a Race.  It was a River swim and it was completely downstream, which was nice, the current made it possible for me to get a rather fast time for the 750m .
 Swim done , old runners on, and of I ran / walked to the Transition area. The whole Body feels really strange after a 15-20 min Swim . So I took my Time to get onto the bike part. The cycling section was 24km long, 12km in one direction and then 12 km back, straight Road which was downhill in the first 12km and of course uphill on the second 12km.
When I did this I was smiling all over the place ( pictures proof it ) , it was on and of Raining during the Race but i didn't mind this too much. Last Section then was the run, 5.3 km which  I took my time, they didn't had any Kilometer markers, so it was hard for me to judge how much longer I had to go but the finish Line arrived and I was just very happy to have another Triathlon in the bank. Overall it took me a little over 2 hrs to finish this, and I was really surprised that I felt I could have continued on,
so that was my Saturday .
To make my weekend complete, I also had signed up for a 7km Trail Race on Sunday ( am I mad ?answer is :probably ) as mentioned before I'm not competitive I just want to finish these kind of Races and this Run had appealed to me, so I had decided to do 2 Races in one Weekend .
I really enjoyed that Run , it was hilly, it was though but not boring ,It took me 49 min to finish and a 7-8 Years Girl was faster than me ;o)
Again I felt like I could have continued, that made me thinking , I had this feeling already now after a couple of Runs and in particular after a couple of Hikes. In the Past I was just dead and was barely able to crawl to my Car, these Days I'm tired but these is Gas left in the tank. That is a truly amazing feeling.
When I told my Colleagues of my Racing weekend I got a few glances which clearly stated that I'm a bit mad, especially when I told them next Weekend is the next Triathlon.

Weightloss

I had actually not planned to write another post until until I had done a triathlon at the Weekend but this morning something happened and I thought I wanted to share it and also put it down for me as a reminder. I have written in several past posts that I have been Obese , practically Morbidly obese and that I have been loosing weight now for a couple of Years , lately I have actually heard quite a few Compliments like : wow you have lost a lot of Weight.
Problem is, I don't really see it that obviously when I look into the Mirror or see pictures of myself. On top of it my Weight loss seems to have stopped and I'm stuck with my 71kg ( 11.18 Stone ). I try not to get frustrated with it, because i know this is kind of normal after somebody lost a lot of Weight and I try to be patient, but anyone who is on this Journey knows probably that having patience can be though.
Anyway let's come back to the Reason of this Post. This morning when I did get my clothes out , I decided to wear my good old trusty blouse  ( that thing has kind of a timeless design ) .
This blouse is roughly 15 Years old and it has gone with me all the time, quite a lot of this time it hung in the Closet because I was too big to wear it and I mean it was not only too tight I actually was not able to close the Buttons when I tried to wear it.
So when this Blouse started to fit again at some stage last Year I was actually over the moon.So I got this particular Blouse out of the Closet and did put it on, and I realized that the Blouse is now far too big for me, I nearly can wear it as a Kimono or as a very loose fitting Blouse, this means I easily lost 20com around my Chest and very likely even more over my Belly Area.
What I want to say with this, Scales and pictures don't always tell the full story. I have achieved to much and I will finish this journey at some stage as a person which is in the normal weight range , which is not too far away.

Hikes and Triathlons

Today I did another Hike , it was a Charity Hike organized by the Company I work for , or rather organised by me and some colleagues .
A couple of Month ago I was asked if I would choose Route for a Charity Hike, I happily enough agreed to do it, and suddenly a couple of weeks ago they asked me if we could it on this Weekend. Since it was one of my few free Weekends for a couple of weeks, I said yes.
Problem was, I needed at least 1 other Person to know the Route , just in case we had to split the group into slow and fast Hikers. Which meant I had to do this Hike already a couple of Days ago as a test run with a colleague to whom I showed most of the Route. Today was then the real thing, I realize now that it is quite nerve wrecking when you feel responsible for nearly 20 people and to walk them in the Irish Mountains.
I had chosen a route which was mostly on safe ground and to call it a challenge, I had included 2 Peaks,those where not too high but rather steep, as it turned out some people couldn't make the second Peak and I stayed back with them , which was fine with me.
 Thankfully the Weather was perfect , it was not raining but at the same time not blistering warm. So we managed to get everyone safely of the Mountains, but I suspect there will be quite a few People with very tired legs tomorrow.
I really hope my Legs will be OK, because I really want to get in a Cycle Ride into my Legs, I have my next Triathlon next Weekend and I haven't cycled all week long , OK I haven't done any running either but I have done bucket loads of walking and hiking that should hopefully should be good for something.
I'm really proud of my swimming , I managed to swim yesterday for the first time 1km in the pool , it took me roughly 30min, I know that this can be improved but for the moment I see that my swimming is really getting better , faster every week.

complicated Post

This post is very complicated for me , because it will be about me and my Emotional Journey. I have no real Idea where to start so I guess I start with some facts.
Six Years ago I was Obese , probably morbidly Obese , my BMI was apparently around 40 +.
My height is 161cm / 5.3 Feet and my Weight back then was roughly 108km /17 Stone , I'm now down to a Weight of 71km /11.2Stone which is a BMI of 27.4. This is in the overweight Category but I'm still loosing Weight.So far some nice numbers and facts but I had to listen at some stage into myself and start to wonder why the heck I became that obese in the first place and the truth can hurt.

I would say the last 5-6 Years have been a very amazing Journey and the truly amazing part about it was, that I did not realize it until recently.
The simple truth back then, was that I was addicted to food but I believe in my Case,  this addiction didn't just happen because I liked Sweets and Sugar , no I think the Food was replacing Emotions in my Life. Food was actually constantly on my mind, I guess the reason for that was, if I did think about food, I didn't  need to think about the thinks I didn't want to think about.
 I was never good in showing my real emotions, so I guess I needed an outlet and food was it.
So when I started seriously with Weight Loss , I did not realize that in reality I wanted to get my emotional life fixed.
I'm barely able to recognize the Person who I was 6-8 Years ago and I'm so happy even though that part of my personality will always be with me, but it doesn't play any mayor role in my life anymore.
Back then I believe that I was depressed, I'm not an expert in this, but I'm a expert about me and I don't have any other Word for it .
My real Journey out of that black hole started actually even over 11 Years ago , when I made a rash decision to leave Germany and move over to Ireland.i had a secure Job in Germany I had enough money  etc but I did not have a happy life.
I wanted to start a fresh new life, but it then took a couple of more Years to get the next steps done.
So what did I do that changed me ?
Hard to explain but I think bit for bit I removed emotional ballast which in turn removed weight. A couple of examples :
Back then I was great in giving sarcastic comments , these days I believe Sarcasm has only the purpose to hurt others and to hurt myself, so even when I have sometimes a sarcastic comment on my lips I'm not saying it out loud.
The glass is either half full or half empty , this is actually a very powerful old saying .
Even these Days if think the Glass is half empty, I force myself to see the positive things and tell myself the Glass is half full. Try it , it really changes the perspective. One example is my Alpha 1 ( I'm Alpha 1 Antitrypsin a carrier ).I'm fully aware that so one can tell me if I ever get emphysema or any other lung / Liver related Health problems. A couple of Years back I was convinced I would get Emphysema. Today my thinking is, it might come or it might not come, however as long as I'm able to I'm going to kick this crap.
 Which means I have to do healthy stuff like exercise and eating healthy. I'm fully aware I will sometimes fall back into this black hole but these Days I have one huge advantage, I will know that I'm in the hole and will work myself out of it again. That was the big problem in the past I did not realize that I was trapped in a very dark place.
So for everyone who is on a long journey, do not despair, it can take a long time. I'm still traveling on my journey and I'm not sure when and if it finishes, I know I still have some emotional issues which are not fixed but I have learned to be patient and that I will need to put effort into it and I will do it step by step.
So why did I write this post , I think I was ready for it, but I still needed a catalyst to start it and that catalyst was going to the Roxette concert ( see previous post ). I have realized that their Music have been with me, when I was in that Dark hole and it brought me joy back then and they are again with me when I'm at a much brighter Place.
Oh yeah by the Way  I still enjoy food ( Actually these Days I'm able to enjoy it  ), I still like the crappy Fast food but at the same level I love my healthy food and my body is actually more often then not craving healthy food, but when I want to have fast food i will eat fast food , even though my body can't really tolerate it anymore.
I guess that's it for today , more to follow but one important last couple of words :

THANK YOU ROXETTE ( Marie and Per ) for creating Music that's helps to inspire me :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ2hJAuQHvQ

that Concert that blew me away

this is probably a rather unusual Blog today it is not directly Sport related or maybe it is. So where to start, ok lets start 20 something Years back , when I was a Teenager and I really liked the Music from the Swedish Rock/Pop Band Roxette .
At that time I really would have loved to go to one of their Concerts to see them live , however I did not really have the Money to do that kind of stuff.
Anyway over the Years I continued to really enjoy their Music and when they stopped ( I don't want to say they broke up because they didn't ) , I was kind of sad.
Then in the News it came out that Marie from Roxette had a Brain Tumor and the next thing I kind of heard that Chemo and operation fixed that problem. I certainly wasn't following that story closely and I still was listening from time to time to the good old Roxette Songs. Two Years ago they finally announced that they would do another Album and Roxette was back. Back then I did read up on what happened to Marie a bit more ( Still not in depth though ) , I learned that She had lost Eye Sight on the right Eye. Anyway the new Album came out and I kind of was disappointed with it. After listening to it over the last couple of Days I still haven't figured out what found disappointing about it back then, I really love the Charm school album now, it's different and still pure Roxette and that's a good thing.

This Year then the Touring album came out called "Travelling" and I fell so in love with it. I personally think that the Tourism and Travelling are the best Roxette Albums + plus everything else.
So when the chance came now to see them live I grabbed it and yesterday that evening came, I can't compare this to any other Roxette Concert , especially not the ones from the past, but reading up on it , it seems that everyone agrees on this : being able to see Per and Marie perform Live together is one of the most stunning things they have experienced.
Lets put it that Way, If anyone would offer me Tickets for pretty much every concert on the planet or 1 Ticket for another  Roxette Concert, I woldn't need to think which one I would take.
That Women yesterday on the Stage had a couple of Years ago one of the toughest survivor  fights that you can get, yes I believe it has left some scars and I think She can show them with pride. She might not be able to jump all over the place anymore, but that Voice and that music left me with something I can't even describe  .
To fight and win that battle She has fought and give us 2 amazing hours is something very special for me and probably for quite a few other People on this Planet.
Since last Night I actually have seen many Interviews from Per and watched on Youtube that amazing Concert where Marie joined Per for 2 Songs in 2009 in Amsterdam. By the Way if anyone has such friend as Per is seemingly to Marie , make sure to not let that person down. Per is the big Brother of Marie and that makes Roxette for me even more special.
On one of the Comments in Youtube ,somebody mentioned something like this :
When I have a bad Day , then I just tell myself : You feel Bad , see what Marie has gone through .
I think that puts it to the point, if you have a goal in live to get healthier , fitter slimmer etc and you don't have a outstanding health reason from preventing this, then there is really no excuse to achieve that Goal . With that in mind I jumped this morning onto my Bicycle did put Roxette on my MP3 Player and had the perfect (Joy)Ride.

YES IT IS POSSIBLE ( Roxette Fans will understand this ):

Roxette Video

Don't forget to look at the Positive Things in Life ! 

Picture of a Rainbow I was able to shoot today , thought it was fitting for this Blog 

Enjoying a new Gadget

I have to admit it ,I'm a Gadget Freak . it's kind of annoying because Gadgets are firstly very often expensive and secondly usually not needed .
They are extras,very often nice extras but no gadget on this planet will make me a better Athlete , to become a better Athlete the only Way to do it is to put in the Effort.
Anyway I know all of this above but I still buy Gadgets when I can afford them and I enjoy them, now I have bought a Garmin Forerunner 210 , this will show a bit more than the time.
This Watch is a GPS Enabled Watch and it shows pace Distance Heart rate and after the Workout I can upload the Data and track where I did Run or cycle along . Garmin is very persistent in telling that it should not be used for swimming , so it's a Toy for me to track my cycling and running.
Which I have done over the Last 2 Weeks and it is a bit scary , I had not run with a Heart Rate Monitor for ages and when I started again with it i kind of had hoped that my Heart Rate would not be so high again , it shows even on a "easy" run my Heart Rate is usually at 80 Percent .
This shows very clearly that I'm missing base fitness and quite a bit of it . The only Way to fix it is doing more Exercise , especially running.
So that means running , running and more running. I also used my Gadget during Cycling and my Heart rate and speed is much better there ( No real surprise i love cycling and use every chance I can get  to cycle around ).
In Triathlon Cycling is my favorite Part but since Triathlon exists out of 3 Parts i need to make sure that the other 2 parts are ok as well.
Next Week is a Duathlon on the Plan and in 3 Weeks a Sprint Triathlon , looking forward to these Events.Even though the Duathlon is missing my so much beloved cycling

10km Trail race not quite done

My Legs are still in agony , I had yesterday a 10km Trail Race ( 2 laps ) but I had to call it a day after the first lap, I felt so tired and exhausted that I knew I would not be able to finish a second lap. My Legs also were still extremely tired from the Night Hike the Week before.

Even with the Night Hike in my Legs I still should have been able to finish the Race, this shows very clearly the lack of running I have been doing lately, I still don't like running very much but it is part of Triathlons and I love Triathlons so I better get my running Training in.

I have at least a small excuse, the Food Poisoning from 2 weeks ago , took really it's toll. I still have small problems with my Stomach and I guess that will take another couple of Days to clear up completely.

I have signed up now for 2 more Triathlons and one Duathlon , the first Triathlon is in 4 Weeks time , that should give me plenty of time to do some proper Training . The Duathlon is in roughly 2 Weeks time, I remember quite clearly watching exactly this Event 3-4 Years back when I was still obese ( did weigh easily over 100 kg ) and realized back then that I wanted to do one of these one day. So this Year this Day will come. Looking backwards I can't really believe how far I have come , lost over 30 kg of Weight and have started to do Triathlons, I would call that quite and achievement .

Now the next stupid Idea has started to form very clearly in my Head , I thing in a Years time I want to be ready to do a Half Ironman.

If I really want to get to that Goal that will mean really serious Training but I think I'm ready to go down that road.

Lets see what the next couple of Weeks / Month will bring

Finish Line of the Trail Race not finished Business , 

this one will be on the Calendar next Year again 

20km Night hike done

I have finished the 20km Walk the Line Night Hike , which took place from Saturday to Sunday Night, here are some impressions it left with me .
Firstly really happy that I was able to finish it without too much of a struggle, I think that shows that my Fitness Level has improved quite a bit , the Hike itself was a mix out of everything , the first 8 km were really challenging ,really though terrain , with Boggy area's , with deep hidden Holes , Rain that didn't want to stop and one or two step enough Hills.
The second part of the Hike was more or less about finishing it , it was along a well worn path and therefor much easier to get through that, I did get cramps later on but I guess that was just because my feet were working quite hard to keep the balance.My Boots are not the best and if I do this next Year again I definitively will need to invest into a really nice pair of boots and probably a another backpack ,my Backpack is really nice and good but not ideal for a though Hike where you have to have enough emergency Equipment with you .
I guess I will do it again next year, I just really hope that we will have for a change really nice summer Weather on the other site if it really nice out there I might be eaten up by midgets .
So whats the plan now, I really want to do another triathlon and I found one that looks really nice and is at the end of July , that should give me some time to put in some more training and then do that Sprint Triathlon , in between I will have one or two Trail Races . I don't really see them as races ,chances are that I will finish last anyway but it's a good training for me

Night Hike ahead

tonight I'm doing the Walk the Line Night Hike, this is a 20km / 30 km hike through the Mountains organised by the Mountain rescue. So I guess I should be rather save,  I originally had signed up for the full option 30km but I have had a really a bad Case of Food poisoning last Week . I was not able to eat anything for a couple of Days, not a Diet I can recommend .
I lost nearly 5 pounds of weight but a huge amount of that was fluids and I still have not fully recovered from that .
So I have asked the organizers to move me to the 20 km option , which will be though enough .I did last year the 30km Night Hike and it has been the toughest thing I ever did in my life, I really hope that I have improved this Year on my Fitness so that it is not so extremely hard but i will see tomorrow.
To be honest now I just want to have this Hike out of the Way, after that I'm planning to do a 2-3 weeks intense Training Block for a couple of Triathlons I'm planning for the end of July beginning of August.
I'm actually looking forward trying to get as much as possible out of my body via Training so that I will be better prepared for those Triathlons.
I think that's the first time in my Exercise life where I want to do training not because it's healthy , or it will help me loose weight, no this Time I want to Train to improve what I'm doing in a race

For everyone who thinks of starting with Triathlons , I have only one Recommendation : Go for it !
But be warned you could be seriously hooked ;o)
So better start to pack my stuff for tonight and then I will relax for the rest of the day , it will be long Night and i just hope the Rain and Wind stays away ( Forecast is pretty grim ) .

another Race report, this time it was Tri time

done and dusted it is , today I have successfully finished my second ever Triathlon , it was over the Sprint Distance and I have finished quite far at the end ( even though the Race Result numbers show different at the moment, the Computer had a glitch and did not calculate my swim time).
Anyway this Race was never about position, this Race was about two things , firstly , do I really like Triathlons ( I suspected that after my first ever Triathlon last Year ), secondly if I like Triathlons , how far can I go and can I improve on it .

First Question is answered with a Yes , oh yeah I like Triathlons very much,I think I like most about them is, that beside that they are physically Challenging , for me they are mentally even more challenging.
The Swim part is the Scary Part and I have learned today I just need to do more Swim Training and then I  should be fine.
The cycling part is the easy Part, I have figured out that I really love Cycling, today  I took it easy on the bike because I knew I had to run 5km after the 20km Cycle ride and  I was not sure how my Body would react to it.
The Run was strange, I had the whole time the feeling that I was running really slow and at the and I was only 3-4 minutes slower than my personal best and I could have continued after this . I was not exhausted or drained .
So that brings me to my second Question , can I improve on this and yes I believe I can improve this if I manage to get a regular Training in and don't find excuses for not training. I'm pretty sure that I can chafe of easily 6-8 minutes from my Swim ( 750m in 23 min ) ,I'm even more convinced that I can cycle much faster, easily 8-10 min ( 20km in 48 min ) , the running  part is the hardest  ( 5km - 37 min ) , I would love to get here a tiny bit more out of it but that would require real dedication to running and not sure that I have that in me .
I think I will not do any other Triathlons until August that would give me plenty of time to train and do some other crazy exercise stuff , like the upcoming 30km Night Hike

What's going on and what is happening

So took me a while to sit down and write this post , first of all results of the Ultrasound, yes they found some knots in the Thyroids but they are very likely not dangerous, at least that's the current status. Will need to keep an Eye on it and  hopefully talk soon to a specialist to see if this is really the whole Story.

Anyway Exercise ,Sport and Triathlons.
First of all, I'm loving my new Bike , I have done 1 long ride (50km ) and several short rides and I so much enjoy that. The Weather was perfect for Cycling over the last 2 weeks , I hope that Training will have help me for Sundays Triathlon . That Triathlon will be my second Triathlon ever, so I hope I have learned at least some lessons from the mistakes I did in my first Triathlon last Year.
I have not done enough running, but that's something I can't change now, I hope that I have at least done the bare minimum of swimming Training.
All this will come together on Sunday , or not .
At the moment I'm busy with putting the list together what I will need for the Triathlon, I find it amazing how much stuff I carry with me, for a race that hopefully will not take much longer than 2 hrs.
One thing about this Race/Triathlons is amazing, I have no real Idea what I'm doing and I'm certainly not calling myself a Triathlete , however everyone around me who is not associated with Triathlons is calling me a Triathlete , which is quite funny since i still have that mental picture of myself in my head where I was 30 kg heavier than now ( very very obese ) , these Days I call myself overweight and hope to get to normal Weight at some stage this Year, but it's just funny to be called a Triathlete and on top of it , it makes me very proud of myself .
Next stop , Sunday Sprint Triathlon

no real news , but that might be good news

no real news on my thyroids, the blood result came back as normal but I have an appointment with a specialist only in November , I have a appointment for an ultrasound in a couple of weeks and I would like that my GP has a look at the Results of the Ultrasound, if he is happy, I'm happy.It took me a couple of Days to calm down , because according to Dr. Google  growing Thyroids with normal Blood results can have some nasty causes , but now I have made my own Action plan, Ultrasound first ,GP second and then we go from there.
Exercise wise, I still wait for my new Bike and I'm afraid to use my current Bike since I will get a good trade in Deal on it and if anything happens to the Bike that that Deal is gone, on top of it the Weather lately just has been horrendous, so not a huge amount of motivation to get out there.
I even skipped out of my last 10km Race, the Rain was really bad and I didn't feel like getting soaked in the cold.
I have another 10km race upcoming this Weekend and there is no real way of skipping that one, quite a few of my friends will do it as well , so the good old Group Pressure is on ;o)
Today was a special Day, the Triathlon Group had their first open Water Sea Swim of the Season and I don't mind to admit that I was nervous, the Sea is freezing cold , 9 degrees Celsius in fact . I took the swim in my own pace and only went as far out as I felt comfortable, which no one in the group did mind, it was  really good fun .
 So where I'm at the moment :
Training level not really intense enough but hopefully picking up again at the moment
Weight : Gained a couple of pounds ,reason see above , not enough Exercise and too much food
I have signed up for another Sprint triathlon in August, that will keep me busy , so Races in the pipe line are :
10 km Trail Race this Weekend
Sprint Triathlon beginning of June
30 km Night Hike end of June
Sprint Triathlon beginning of August
and very likely a couple of 10 km and Duathlons in between those Races

Another Race another Day and another Problem ?

Yesterday was another Trail Race, a 8km  Trail Race which I did last Year as well , last Year I finished last in that Race . So the Goal of course was to improve on this and I Improved it ,  I still ended up on the lower end ( 10th last in fact ) but not being  last and having 9 People behind ,me, plus quite a few non finishers is something . I also improved by around 5-6 minutes on the Time, however I can't really 100 Percent compare the Times , since the Course was a tiny bit different.
Next weekend will be the First 10km Road Run in 2012 ( So far every race I did was either on Trail or Beach or something like that ) . Will be interesting to see how that one goes.
Anyway all this is not my main Problem at the moment , as I mentioned in an earlier Post during a lung CT Scan they actually found out that my Thyroids are growing seemingly downwards in direction of my Lungs.
I'm booked for a ultrasounds in a couple of weeks time, but to be honest , by now the Panic Mode has nearly arrived. The Internet is great and fabulous Place but sometimes it gives an Amateur far too many information's, so reading up on this type of Thyroid issue I found some rather nasty possibilities and these are :
Best option : I'm a hypochondriac and nothing is wrong
Second best option :  Yes, Thyroids are a problem but that easily fixed with Tablets
Third option ( now we come to the nastier stages ) : the Thyroids need to be removed ( not a funny Idea with something that is in direct Neighborhood  to my Lungs and Airwaves )
Last Option is the Option that starts with the Letter "C"  , absolutely refuse to even think about that one.
Strangely enough since I have been told that my Thyroids are enlarged, I'm of course far more aware of my  "internals" and I really hope that in this Case I'm a Hypochondriac  and I Imagine the Symptoms.
I think I have a small problem swallowing, I have the feeling quite often that something is stuck down my throat. So if I imagine this, that would be fabulous , if I don't imagine it, then please let it be fixed with some tablets.
I will try to push all this into the back of my mind , it will not help if I make myself crazy , so I need to wait for the facts and Data . I usually function much better when I have Facts. Then I know where I'm at and what I have to do to fix problems , so to be able to do this I will try to keep up my Training and Race regime and with my Triathlon in June looming I better keep that up. There is of course this small voice in my Head that tells me that I will not be able to do these Races because of Health issues. So to my small little Voice, just shut up , I'm the Boss  and not the Couch Potato or any other small Voices. So training is a must. Happy Swimming , Cycling and running .....

First Adventure race finished

today was the Day , Today was Adventure Race Day and I did it, and finished it , really proud of myself.
Here is a summary of today's Pre Race , Race and the Rest of it.

The Day started early , very early indeed, I had to get up at 5:30 in the morning to get to the Race on time.I had been told that I had to bring my Bike into Transition Area by latest 7:45 even though my Race wave only started at 10:40.
 That was a very long and cold wait for me. The Weather in the morning was absolutely horrendous, we had Rain, Snow, Sleet and actually rather heavy Thunder and lighting.
So I asked myself, more than once what the heck I was doing out there and my little Voice which I like to call Couch Potato tried to convince me more than once, to go home but  I stayed on, and so my Race started.
 I did the shortest available Race option, which started with a 5Km Trail run , thank goodness by that time the Weather had actually improved ,after the 5km it was onto the Bicycle , roughly a 14km Trip down to a lake and here came the nasty bit .  A 1.5km Kayak stage on  rather choppy Water .
I was drenched within minutes and I was also getting cramps in my Legs and to top that off , at the end of the Kayak trip I had no choice other than to step into the Freezing Water to get to the shore.
So I had nice little Ice blocks instead of feet for the Rest of the Race. Now we had to cycle back the stretch we just came, I have to say my legs were in bits and I was not sure how I would be able to do the last bit, which was a 3 km run. On the Cycling stretch I actually was able to take over quite a few of the other Competitors of my Wave, but they all caught me on the last running bit. My legs just couldn't take anything else, so that meant I finished the Race and I finished it last in my Category. That is not bothered me at all, I'm just really happy  I did it and i finished it.
Will I do it again , to be honest not  sure , the atmosphere in those kind of Races is strange, it is not as cheerful as I know it from other types of Races, that might have been down to the Weather but I think it has more to do with the type of Race.
I will see , final Judgement certainly had not yet fallen on that. Now I will need a couple of Days recovery and then I need to get back into my Triathlon Training

Races and lung function test result

so today was my Lung function test and I'm very happy with the Results, no real change to last Year and that's good news , actually really good news. For me this means the hard work I did put into this Body over the last year has paid off ,so Exercise and Weight loss was and is the Key. Which means what I have started, I have to continue and if possible even improve on .
The only strange result was, the one from the CT scan of the Lung ,they could see my Thyroids and they were larger than normal. So I had to give today some blood and they will do an ultrasound of the Thyroids, to see if anything is wrong .
 It could be nothing or it could be something really nasty. I will try not to make myself crazy until I really know what the story is, the funny note on this I could blame that issue on Weight Gain . However i will not do that , I know that my eating habits have caused my overweight.
That was that ,on the other note I did another 10k Race last Saturday , it was a real Trail Race and it started on the Beach , I was practically last after 300m and I stayed there , the last km of the Race was again on Beach / Pebbles and  I was cramping like crazy . It took me 1hr and 17 minutes to finish the Race, I finished 3rd last and no I don't really mind that .
I have learned again, something from this race, I will try to put in some Beach running into the trainings program.
That reminds me Trainings Program, before the change from Winter to Summer time it was not a problem for me to get up in the Morning and do either running or swimming.
At the moment I'm a Zombie like creature in the early morning so I have not done a lot of Morning exercise , which means I haven't done much exercise overall
But I will restart this as soon as my Body gets used to the Summertime, I will not force it, it will come automatically
 .

running , cycling and ah well swimming

So what has been happening over the last Week , actually not much, I kept up my Training and that is where I actually have surprised myself quite a bit.

So here it is , on Saturday we did another "long" Bicycle trip with the Triathlon Club ,we managed to cycle 45km, in a tiny bit more than 2 hrs. That was amazingly fast and I have to say I was very surprised how well I was able to keep up and how well I felt after the Trip.
After that, I didn't think I would be able to do much on Sunday but the Weather in the Morning was extremely nice and even though my legs felt a little bit tired, I thought a short run should be fine.
The short run turned into a 11km run , very slow run, but anyway running for 11km just because I didn't feel like stopping was pretty impressive and it didn't stop there.
I knew my local swimming pool would be closed on Monday so in the afternoon I decided to have a go in the Pool, after a couple of Lanes just lazily swimming I decided to do some serious fast Lanes , I managed to swim under 1:30 min for 50 m  ( 2 x25 m ) under my belt . I was able to hold this together for 300m .That might not sound like much but for me that's really good news.
After this practically perfect Weekend, I didn't think I would be able to top that until this morning,
I had decided to try to run 5.5km in under 40 minutes,at the end I managed to run my fasted ever 5 km ( in 35 min ) . Again I know that's not fast for a lot of People but for me that's seriously fast, really happy about that.
That's the Training Part , tomorrow I will have my CT Scan of my Lung and I will have my Lung function test in 2 weeks time , lets see if there are any changes positive or negative in my Lung function.
But that's something for another time , before that I will have this Saturday a short Trail run and I'm planning to enjoy that one as much as possible .

My Sunday Trail Run 

weeks summary

not much to report this Week, I have been ticking the boxes with my ongoing Triathlon Training and I finally made it out for a nice Hike yesterday. We hiked for 14km in the Mountains and it was a nice warm enough Day, hope to do this now every other Week.
Today we did  a Swim training  Session coached by the Guys from the Triathlon Club  , we did some drills like pulling only with one Arm , that was really though.
But I have now some good ideas what I can do in my own swimming Time and  I know now that I will have to increase the Time I spend in the pool.
I also somehow need to get more Running Km under my belt , not sure yet how, because I'm really tired when I come home from Work in the Evening . I do a run on Tuesday and Thursday Morning ( the other mornings I'm in the pool) .
 Saturdays will be either a long Cycling Session or a Hike. I guess I will have to look at options like Lunchtime runs. Not sure about that yet.
So here is my summary of Last Weeks workouts  :

Total Km 91
Total kcal 5440
Cycling 64 Km
Running 10 km ( still far too little )
Swimming : 2.45 km ( Drills and Distance have to increase )
Hiking 14km

Weight is very slowly dropping , I kind of hope I'm building some Muscles at the moment and that's the Reason why the Weight Loss is so extremely slow but I reckon I should rather look to improve my endurance and that will defiantly will drop the Weight further .
Lastly I will have in 2 weeks time my CT Scan for my Lungs and in 4 Weeks time my annual Pulmonary lung function Test, will be very interesting to see if anything has changed in any direction.

another fight with the Couchpotato

The Couch potato was back in full force today , I really had to work hard not to give in,just to explain a bit, I seem to have 2 personalities, the first one who is the Couch potato who doesn't want to do anything other than sit at home and do nothing.
The other half of me wants to be fit and healthy and enjoy life.Today was another day of cycling with the Triathlon Club planned , that would have been the third time we did this and by now I know what to expect.
It's is usually a though ride but manageable, so  I don't understand why  half of me did not want to go.
Part of me felt it would be too though , too exhausting etc. the other part just wanted to do this, to see where my limits are.
Today I could not quiet down the  Couch potato and I think the only Reason I still managed to do the Cycling Trip, was that I blindly followed my Routine, usually when I have a race or Event I follow in the morning the exact same procedure ( I was not really aware of this until today ).
I get up early, so that I have plenty of time . I have a coffee , listen to the news , wait with breakfast until the optimal time ,get dressed , pack stuff etc.Today I had to follow this step by step and told myself in 5 minutes I will do this and in 10 minutes I will do that , with that I succeeded in getting out of the Door and do the cycle Trip.
Amazingly the Cycle trip was not even very though , we had a few new starters and it was this time a slower ride than last time , yes it was hilly again but I didn't mind.
At times it was actually too slow and my Legs got cold and to top it off I know I could have done a run after the Bicycle ride, that was the first for me . Very slowly I see improvements , I know I'm not even remotely ready for the Olympic Triathlon  but if I can continue the Training then at least I should be able to enjoy the Race in June.

Summary for February is :
4 hrs of running ( Far too little I know )
15:35 hrs of Cycling ( not bad )
1:15 hrs Swimming ( again not enough )
5:00 hrs of Yoga , Cross Training , Aerobics etc

There a space for bit more ;o)

and another Race in the bank

today was another short 4 km Trail Race , I had the option to do 8 km or 4 km, I decided to do the short Option and the Plan was, to run really fast and it worked out the Way I wanted it .
 Trail runs tend to be a bit tougher than Road runs anyway and it was slippery at certain areas and a huge amount of People which actually slowed me down once or twice. I think this is the first time that this has happened to me, I'm usually the one who slows others down. I gave it everything during the run and  I had to walk once or twice but  that was OK for me as well.
I just had a look at my stats this month and so far I have done only this month 241 km on exercise , most of it comes from cycling but 28 km from this is running, not even remotely enough on the running side but I'm getting there. I don't think I have ever done in my life so much exercise and  I actually enjoy it quite a bit.If this should be my so called Midlife crisis then I have to say , why didn't it come earlier ?
 I have a huge amount of Fun , I'm energetic and I love the Challenges I have given myself .
Next stop will be a couple more Trail Races and then in April my first real Adventure Race.
Training's wise , I'm looking forward to more Cycle rides with the Triathlon group and I'm seriously considering to do a triathlon Trainings Camp over Easter.

Cycling, Running and a Triathlon Club

Yesterday was a another "long" Cycling Ride with the Triathlon Club that I want to join. We did a 40km Ride which included one or two quite though Hills but  I have to say I really enjoyed most of that Ride.
In the Evening was the new members Meet and Greet Event from the Triathlon Club and  I got quite a few nice tips , it seems I have found my Triathlon Club.
I will order now the Club gear in a Couple of Days and I guess putting it on, during a Race will put a tiny bit extra pressure on,
 I don't really want to finish second last in Club Gear, just because I might not have trained enough,
that would be  a bit too embarrassing.
This will be another motivation to do good regular training, which meant that I was out for a short run this morning.
I also have realized that it is only 15 Weeks until my first planned Olympic Triathlon and I'm not remotely in a shape for that one yet.
At the same time I know that I'm improving all the time , I'm tracking my results with Endomondo and I checked now through the History , I'm getting faster , I do longer distances, and I do a lot more cross training , if I  can keep this up then a Olympic Triathlon in June should be possible

Discussions between the Couch Potato and the Racer

The Couch Potato and the Race is the same Person ,ME . The Part of me which is the Couch Potato was today very loud and very annoying ,it tried  to stop the Racer in me, nearly the whole Day.
Sounds Crazy ? Maybe it is, but here are my internal Discussion I had today with myself.
Today I was signed up for my first 10km Race of 2012, the Race was in the afternoon , rather unusual, but it should not make a difference it's still 10k.
So I woke up this morning and the Couch Potato immediately tried to convince the Racer to chicken out of the Race , first argument : Your Back is still to bad, if you run it will hurt more .
Racer, yes maybe you are right but it feels OK today and I at least can start and if it starts to hurt then I always can quit.
Couch Potato now : but it is cold and rains out there, you will get sick if you do it . Racer , I can wear a rain Jacket, but yeah I might not do it , you are right , the Weather is bad my Back is still not OK .
Couch Potato : Yippee , ten minutes later the Racer in me : are you crazy? If I don't go today, I again will end up sitting the whole Day around doing nothing.
Couch Potato : Yes, and what is wrong with that ? Racer , shut up, we are going .
And the Racer won this argument , I'm writing this, after I successfully finished my first 10k of the Season , yes it did hurt a bit and it was cold but I'm proud of myself that I did it .

This is for everyone out there who has this Couch Potato Daemon as well,  I always have to fight against it, but  I have to say these Day's the Racer has won more often then the Couch Potato.
 The best Way for me to win the Argument is to show on social Media ( Facebook / Twitter etc ) that  I will do a Race, as soon as I have written this on a Public Site, then it means to me a serious Commitment and that trick works for Races and events ( I'm still working on the regular Training bit ) .

The best Example for this is, when  I did last Summer my Night Hike , I was scared about that Hike , I was seriously in doubt, that  I would be able to finish a 33 Km night Hike , so to prevent me to chicken out of that, I posted like crazy on Facebook and Twitter and I did the Night Hike and i was telling everyone what I had signed up for.
It was the toughest thing I ever did, but  I did it and the Couch Potato in me was silenced quite a bit. however that was not the biggest Surprise.
The biggest Surprise came after the Hike, when I told the Guy who guided us through the Night, that I actually had wanted to quit at the First Checkpoint but something in me told me to continue ( probably the Racer ), his simple answer was : I wouldn't have let you Quit this, you posted so much about the Hike on Facebook/Twitter, from that I took it that you really wanted to do that.
So Couch Potato for the Rest of the evening you can take over  but tomorrow we are going for a Bicycle Ride .....

random thoughts of an Alpha1

today I thought might be good Day to talk again a bit about Alpha 1 ( Antitrypsin deficiency) also known as the Viking Disease .As mentioned before I am a so called MZ which means I have one normal gene ( M ) and one abnormal Gene ( Z) . Antitrypsin gets created in the Lungs gets into the Blood stream and protects the Lungs.
Without that Stuff you will very likely get COPD , Emphysema , shortly put, very nasty Lung and maybe also Liver disease.
I don't know if I ever get COPD or anything like that, no one one this planet can tell me, MZ shouldn't get any of those Disease unfortunately there are out the enough MZ who have huge health Issues , so since I don't know if I get it, I at least try to look after my health as much as possible.
I know that a lot of MZ are ignoring that there is a potential of getting seriously ill and even they know that they have one bad gene they for example still smoke ,yes it is scary to think I might get Emphysema but I have learned I can't ignore, took me actually more then 10 Years to understand that ignorance is not the answer .
So these Days I try to life healthy , I avoid pollution , no one in my surroundings is allowed to smoke , I try to eat healthy ( Work in Progress ) and I try to do regular Exercise and these Days I actually really enjoy doing Exercise , even though I'm the slowest in the running pack.
When I did last Weekend the first Cycle trip with the Triathlon Group I was and I'm still very existed about it ,not only because it was fun, but also for the first time this was something where I was for most of the time able to cycle with the pack.
Basically my breathing stayed normal and that gives me a huge boost in regards to Triathlon and fitness in general, I defiantly have a problem when it comes to running and I will know more in 2 month time, when I have my annual checkup but I guess for the moment I can keep up with cycling.
 Time to start the "racing" Season , on Saturday I will have my first 10km race of the Season , have I trained enough = No , will I be able to run the whole distance = No , will I be one of the slowest one or even last = yes maybe , will I enjoy it = YES

Today was the Day of Cycling

Today was my First Time that I was cycling with a Group, organised by a Triathlon Club, most of us were beginners and so the pace was nice and Easy, have to say enjoyed it much more than I thought I would .
The Weather was always on the Borderline of Rain and it was around 6-8 Degrees Celsius. The Ride actually felt nice and easy for the first 40 km , after that I was gone and Dead, the last 10 km was pure hard Work.
My Back is at the moment absolutely killing me and  I suspect I will have really sore Legs tomorrow , but when that Pain is gone I will look forward to the next ride in 2 weeks time.
Have to say the Experienced Guy's who looked after us were extremely nice and they gave some good advice , really happy with that , so I guess I have found my Triathlon Club now as well
Would love to write more about the Spin but I'm too tired now , more in the next couple of Days

Can swimming be really so complicated ?

I now usually three times a week in the Pool and try to learn how to Swim properly Free Style, the Day before the Swim I usually watch some Videos on YouTube, which explains some Swimming Techniques .
I don't really want to spend my Money at the moment on a Masters Class, so it's self learning for the moment , lets see how far I can get with this.
I think I know roughly what I'm doing, when I try to put the Video lessons into practice.
Never would have thought that swimming can be so complicated. Every time I'm in the Pool I see a improvement but it is not easy, Yesterday for example I decided to concentrate on the Breathing Technique , I think I swallowed half of the Pool water, the Theory is nice, start to breath-out as soon as your Head is under Water , turn Head and Breath in.
I think I will swallow quite a bit more Water, until I have mastered that part of the Swim, next step will be Bi lateral Breathing which I tried yesterday as well and actually it worked well for a couple of strokes, with the right Breathing Technique, then I started to swallow Water again.
I'm sure in a couple of Weeks time I will have put everything into place, so that I will be ready for the Open Water Swimming Season.
So much for the Swim Part , now the Running part, I still don't do much running , however I bought now the Audiofuel "run Faster" Series from Chrissie Wellington. I tried the Short 25 minute Track first time on a Treadmill, Holy Cow I was not aware that I could run that fast for that amount of time. OK it was only for 20 minutes but for me that's amazing. I hope I can stick with it , if yes then the Running Problem will a Problem of the Past.
So that's it for this Week, just one small part , not loosing Weight but also not gaining Weight , would love to get rid of the next 10-15 pounds but it's just not happening at the moment , it will come, I rather concentrate on Fitness Level and with that the last Pounds will disappear

Though Hike today

Today I did a Hike in horrendous Conditions, near Gael force Winds which practically blew me down the Mountain . I have to say I did not really enjoy most of the Hike, it was just extremely hard work, however at the same time I know that this Hike was a good Workout and it was a good feeling for the "Wicklow Adventure Race" .
 I'm planning to take part in this Race just have not jet fully decided if I do the Baby Distance or the Sport Distance.
The Difference between the Mini and the Sport Version is actually only that the running Part, for the Mini Version it is 4km Shorter.
Otherwise it's still 30km cycling and a 2km Kayak stretch and at the beginning it's a run in the Wicklow's, part of that is a Run which includes 600 odd steps.
Other big news is that I might do Gaelforcewest this Year, I tried this Race a couple of Years back and failed , that was and still is the only Race which has the Mark DNF ( Did not finish ) , I don't yet want to think about it because that Race will mean more serious Training .

The Steps for the Wicklow Adventure Race , loads of them ......

Hiking, Cycling , Swimming

Exercise wise I do at the moment a bit of everything , was out Hiking last Saturday and the the Wind on the Mountains nearly blew me down, but I really was impressed with my Fitness Level , it still was a though Hike for me but 3 Years Ago, I was crawling that exact same Route. This Time it was though but manageable.I'm planning to do now more Hikes which will help me for my Adventure Race in April, the First Part of that race ( Wicklowadventure Race ) will be on a very steep climb.And of course it will be invaluable for the Summer Solstice Hike , which I think I want to do again.
Also I have started to swim on a kind of regular Base and even after a couple of Times i see small improvement on my Free Style , the one thing I'm not doing is running and that's a real Problem, I need to get that going.I just can't find the Motivation for it yet.
Weight-wise no Change ,which means at the same time no gain of Weight and Health-wise , really happy at the moment , even a small Cold last week didn't even bother me at all.
I think I'm due for another Lung Function test in April ( something an Alpha one Carrier should have done on a Regular Basis ) not sure if my levels have dropped but if they have i don't really see an Impact because of the Work i put into my Exercise and my Weight loss.
So the Running bit , my first 10km Race of 2012 is in exactly 4 Weeks , so that should motivate me to do running , lets see .....