Getting back on the wagon!!!!

So training lately has been what you might call a little lacking. As well a lot has happened since our last blog entry of almost 2 weeks ago! I know people have been in suspense for the next great great entry by yours truly. Actually I'm sure you hoped it was Kristi writing because her english skills are a 'tad' better. I guess you'll have to take what you can get :)

Kristi's bum is "on the mend" as our chiro has said and I suffered a torn calf muscle during a long run, so I haven't really been able to run much. Kristi had her longest run ever yesterday at an amazing 20k and our wonderful coach Carolyn just gave us our October schedules. It's going to be one hell of a month. Forget about all the swimming, biking and strength training. If all goes well I will have run 235km in around 22 - 23 hours in the month of october with my biggest week at around 60km or 37mi! For some that is the amount they run during an off week but for me that is crazy amount of ground to cover. I'm excited to heal up and get back at it!

Guess what else is going on today! It is Disco's 1st Birthday!!! The little girl has definatly become quite a larger part of our life then I ever anticipated. She constantly makes us laugh and has become quite attached to her mum... In fact every morning Disco now cuddles up into Kristi's belly and demands a belly rub....

I know what you are thinking. These people need a life, but if you met Disco I'm sure you would warm up to her just as much as we have. Also we have a life, it's called triathlon.. oh wait you ment social life.... ya you got me there...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DISCO!

One Month and 7 Unwanted Pounds Gone!

So it's been a month since the last unflatering photo and it's time to step on to the scale again to see if any of the blubber has come off. Well I'm happy to say that it has. I'm now down to 184 for a total loss of 7 pounds in the last month. I've decided that my goal weight is going to be around 160 pounds so I've got another 25 to lose. Looking at the pics it seems my man boobs have gotten a little smaller, but all in all there really isn't all that much difference. Oh well, hopefully the scale will continue to dip in the direction I want :)

Pain in the Butt

Yesterday I had my first ever visit to a chiropractor to address my piriformis syndrome (yes, I correctly diagnosed my own butt pain) and the neck pain that has been bugging me since our car accident last week. He did what I guess was a preliminary assessment, gave me some exercises to do to help with the piriformis, and asked me to come back on Friday to deal with my neck.
It was a very interesting experience, unlike any medical treatment I've ever had. He started out by asking me a bunch of questions and then had me stand up with my shoes off and looked at, I think, the overall alignment of my body. He then did a bunch of interesting things like assess my knee tracking (bad), check my balance (bad), and compare strength and flexibility on the two sides of my body.

Now for the really interesting part. He spent quite a few minutes doing this very crazy thing which he called "applied kinesiology." Basically, he asked me to make a movement with a body part to isolate a particular muscle or muscle group, and resisted the movement with his hand to determine, he said, if my muscles were firing properly. According to the doctor, I should be able to resist the force he was applying on every single exercise because it was not a strength thing, and he wasn't applying much force. At one point, though, he found a few leg motions during which I was not able to work against his resistance. He proceeded to poke me in a few places along the front of my thigh, and had me try again. And somehow, magically, I could suddenly resist the force he was applying against my movement. To further baffle me, I suppose, he had me jump up and down on the ground, then try again. I could not resist. Then he poked me again. I could resist! What was going on?!?!

I went back to my office and Googled "applied kinesiology," and most of the websites I found were articles explaining exactly why it's a crock of poo. I'm not so quick to judge, though. I fully believe that my body (and all of existence, really) works in ways that I don't yet and may never really understand, but I still want to try to understand it. One of the very fascinating arguments against AK, as they called it, was that my ability to resist my doctor's force had nothing to do with the precise locations where he administered pokes, and everything to do with my belief that he had somehow made me stronger by poking me. This phenomenon, called ideomotor motion, is in my opinion a hundred times MORE exciting than the idea that he somehow reset the energy along my meridians...or whatever he said he was doing. If the two of us believing that he was making my muscles work better did in fact make them work better, that is pretty powerful stuff!!

I have so many questions for this doctor, but he seemed a little rushed, and I'm not sure he's into patient education all that much. I can't blame him, really. He had patients lined up practically out the door of his small clinic. I even saw Simon Whitfield, a professional triathlete, leaving the clinic as I was going in. Next time, I think I will ask the doctor to poke me exactly where he pokes Simon.

Ironman, Holidays and More

Well it's been a long two weeks since my last entry. Kristi and I went to Ironman Canada, and then off to Hawaii where we lay on the beach away from phone calls and computers. Sounds relaxing hey... well kinda... A lot happened in the past two weeks but I'll try to keep it short :).

So on August 25th we headed off to watch Ironman Canada, to cheer on our friends taking on the race this year, and to sign up for the grueling task next year. I can't really explain what it is like in Penticton the day before the race. You are constantly overhearing conversations about strategy, race day nutrition, and course conditions. The little, quiet town is full of triathletes who have come from all over the world to compete in the race. This year, 2350 people would jump into the water for the mass start.

On Sunday we got up early and drove from my parents house where we were staying (and eating way to much good home-cooked food) to the race start in Penticton. Watching the swim start was something else. Seeing over 2300 people dive into the water all at once was inspiring. Next year, we'll be in that mess of people. After the swim started we I headed into the water, standing almost waist deep to watch the competitors come in. I was able to snap a few pics of some of our friends coming out.

After all of the swimmers were out of the water, we headed out for breakfast and then decided to drive the bike course and cheer everyone on along the way. It was also a good chance to see what we would be up against next year. Well it's not going to be an easy bike.... It was pretty cool driving along beside all the bikers. I felt like we were watching the Tour de France from a team car, zooming from cyclist to cyclist along the way.

For the run, we headed back to Penticton and got a bite to eat with some friends at a patio along the course. The food was pretty bad but the view was pretty good, so I guess it was a good trade off. We saw a bunch of people we knew starting the marathon and Kristi started to cry. She was getting quite emotional taking it all in. The day really is quite amazing, and watching people you know struggle through it is even more inspiring.

After eating, we drove out to the run turnaround and then went back to Pentiction where we got a spot at finish line and cheered people on as they finished over the next 4 hours.

Watching the race was incredibly inspiring. Seeing so many people out there searching for their limits and testing what's possible really opens your eyes. After watching the race, I now understand why people go back and do this over and over again. We left Pentiction excited to start our journey next year to the finish line. Next year we'll take on the race and, hopefully, inspire someone else to redifine what is possible, just as we felt watching all of the amazing people out there that day.

As for the holiday which has caused this long delay in updating our blog, lets just say that Kristi and I both got sick pretty sick, we saw a sea turtle swiming in the ocean (very cool), and our car was rear ended on the way back to Victoria from my parents place.