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