Arizona bound!

Sitting in the Memphis airport awaiting our flight to Houston and on to Phoenix/Tempe.  The training is done, just hoping it will be enough. I'm excited, nervous and humbled as I anticipate Sunday's Ironman event. My bike went on ahead last week and hoping I will find my steed in good shape and ready for the 112 mile mid portion of the race.

I have 17 hours to complete the event and hoping first to meet that deadline, but if possible under 14 hours. I will try to keep you posted. In the meantime, I want to thank my wife & son for joining me and for their encouragement along with so many other friends and family. It's my hope and prayer this process will be an encouragement to many others. Let's get off the sofa and move!

Morning boost from Starbucks at the airport

Big things a comin'

First an apology to those few silly enough to read my "musings"...& myself: sorry for the delay since my last post.  Life has been anything but boring over the past 9 months. I will try to update more completely over the next few weeks.

Today I'm sitting in the parking lot reflecting while my wife reads her Kindle, both of us awaiting the start of my son's next soccer game. Its fully fall in the south, mid 50's and overcast...an improvement from the wind and drizzle from the 6:15am departure from home and the first game this morning.  I'm not a huge fan of rain when I'm outside, but I love autumn with the leave changing & the snap in the air.

In one week, I'll turn 50. Half a century...that's hard to wrap my brain around!  I like so many before me feel like we've blinked and BOOM its here.  With the keys on my phone making it difficult to type I won't expound as much as I'm prone to do...and simply say I'm glad for every minute of my life both good and bad. I hope I squeeze every drop from the days I'm blessed to live and hopefully be a blessing to those around me in the process.

In one month, I'll attempt my first Ironman triathlon.  I'm excited and nervous at the same time.  My knees still give me some grief, but I've  been essentially injury free...another great blessing.  Several weeks ago I was able to participate in the Atomic Man half iron distance triathlon and had a blast there...more on that and some photos later.  Again, I hope and pray Ironman Arizona will be a successful journey for me and serve as an encouragement to others.

Well it's time for soccer...I'll check in later.

2012 reflections & what will we do with 2013?

Merry (belated) Christmas & Happy (belated) New Years to my family, friends & coworkers:

First, I would like to say how happy I am to be sending you this greeting, which means we survived the Mayan apocalypse on 12/21/12!...but from a purely non biased perspective I'm happy to say this month I've become a grandfather for the first time!  It certainly adds a new perspective on things.  A dear friend of mine asked me "do you know what grandchildren are?....they're a reward for not killing your children!"  With that said, my advice is "don't kill your children!"

It may seem odd to be sharing New Year's thoughts with you at the END of January, but I thought it would be appropriate to let the NEW part of New Year's wear off a little. (I can tell the new is wearing off when I see the parking lot at the gyms start to thin back out again)

New Year's day, I had the blessing of sitting down with my wife and four children to look back on 2012 (it's been a challenging year in our family) to see what we can learn from it.  Then we shared with each other our goals for 2013.  My daughter had the insight to say she'd like to have us all share what their favorite part of 2012 was and what we were looking forward to most in 2013...what a great idea.  If you haven't done the same yourself, give it a try.

As I reflect back on 2012 & look forward to the year ahead, there are several thoughts/quotes that mean a lot to me.  Hopefully you will find some or all of them useful (or entertaining) as well. 

1) The founder of Team Health (the Emergency medicine staffing company I've been blessed to work with since 2005) Dr. Lynn Massingale shared with me several years ago, "I've never had an original thought in my head, but I know good ideas & people when I see them."  I certainly have found this to be a great form of advice: Surround yourself with good ideas & good people. It will most likely bring the best out in you, especially when you consider the opposite.

2) I want to treat my body like I'll live forever and my soul like I'll die tonight.

3) New Year's resolutions.  It may sound like splitting hairs, but I prefer to set goals for myself, not make resolutions.  Over the past couple of years I've tried to sit down with my family so we can share our goals with each other.  This gives us a degree of accountability and a support system at the same time.  My desire is for us to have goals in the "4 foundations of daily life": family/relationships, spiritual, professional/financial and physical.  These goals need to be achieveable & measurable (example: "I want to run a 4 minute mile" unachieveable or "I want to run faster" unmeasureable).  I like to put them down in writing and look at them say 3-6 months later and see how I'm doing. If I need to reassess or readjust, that's ok.  But without goals or direction, you will fall prey to "if you shoot for nothing, you will hit it every time".

4) The Bible describes 3 men in the New Testament that I need in my life to keep me balanced.  (If you aren't familiar with these men, that's ok, but I would encourage you to read about them...like us they were far from perfect, but God used them in mighty ways): A Paul, a Barnabus, and a Timothy.  My "Paul" is someone more mature and wiser than myself who can share with me their successes and failures in a way to guide me in my own life.  My "Barnabus" is someone at essentially the same place in life as myself who can relate to my situation and encourage me as I do the same for them.  My "Timothy" is someone that I can be a Paul to; sharing my successes and failures to guide them along & invest in their growth/development.

5) The longer I live, the more I've been guilty of looking back and saying this has been a "good" or "bad" year, when in fact the "bad year" may have been full of many good things.  I have tried more of late to look at life as "seasons" with some being full of difficult winter storms and others peaceful springtimes.  Every season has it's purpose and they come without my control, so I will try to make the best of each one I live through good or bad, easy or hard, happy or sad. 

6) I want to get in better shape whenever possible, but there are 5 exercises I want to avoid: Jumping to conclusions, Flying off the handle, Carrying things too far, Dodging my responsibilities, and Pushing my luck.

I'm sure you may have more and better ideas/thoughts than these.  I'd love to hear them, so feel free to share.  In the meantime, good success as you move through the beginning of 2013!

The bee's knees....and why mine hurt...IT band friction syndrome

How many of you suffer from joint aches and pains?  Specifically knee pain?  More specifically lateral (outer part) knee pain?

As I plummet headlong towards the half century mark in my life, I look at aches and pains somewhat differently.  Most notably of late has been knee pain as noted in my last post.  For the past several years, my right knee develops a "tightness" after heavy exercise which usually eases up over the following days of recovery.  This past year I began to experience a new and more specific sharp/stabbing pain on the outer portion of my left knee that came to it's full glory while in the middle of my first marathon in December.  After discussing this with my friends in the medical/orthopedic world and online research, all signs were pointing to IT (iliotibial) band friction syndrome.  Being a family medicine/ER physician (which means a bad patient) and not sure where I wanted to go for orthopedic evaluation, I set myself up for xrays and MRIs of both knees ($5,000 for both before insurance....ouch!  Man that could go towards a REALLY nice tri bike!)  I shown below a 2 view xray of one knee (including my own goofy reflection) and one slice of the MRI through the knee.

The REALLY exciting thing about both of these studies is both were essentially normal except for evidence on both knees of IT band syndrome.  No bony, cartilage or ligament/tendon destruction!  The only thing I can think of better would be no knee pain.  I have done a fair amount of research on treatment and prevention of IT band (friction) syndrome that affects so many endurance athletes.  I will update with you as I work through these, but the one key piece of information I would like to share for now is this:

***The majority of IT band syndrome treatment and prevention information seems to be fixed on STRETCHING the IT band...which is important.  But as one writer put, much of the IT band is like leather and will not stretch that much.  Thus, STRENGTHENING the IT band PROPERLY seems to be of even greater importance.***

I have read more lately from and about a young triathlete/coach Ben Greenfield who is among a growing number of athletes and coaches ascribing to higher intensity and shorter duration training methods for endurance sports/competition such as Ironman triathlon. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is rapidly growing in popularity and in my opinion is a sound approach to general fitness.  More on this later with another post.  In my review of Ben's blogs/posts/products, I ran across his discussion of similar knee problems he had in the past.  This lead him to research and ultimately package the "best" (in his opinion) methods for treating IT band syndrome AND preventing knee injuries in his product Bulletproof Your Knee.   I have purchased Bulletproof Your Knee  which is a series of 13 modules/videos outlining exercises/treatment/prevention.  As I review this and put it to use, I will give feedback. 

In the meantime, train hard and live well!

To follow:  2012 reflections & what will we do with 2013?

                 HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)

Forces of nature, the next big step, and my first marathon...

It certainly has been an eventful 3 months since my last post (personally, professionally & physically) with a lot of stressors in all 3 areas...mostly good/normal stuff, but stress is stress.  By definition: A stressor is a chemical or biological agent, environmental condition, external stimulus or an event that causes stress to an organism. In nature, stress can NEGATIVELY cause things to wear down, bend, break or POSITIVELY reshape, move or strengthen.  The question is how will I (or you the reader) allow stressors to impact your life?

Athletic events since my last post:

Having fun with my son.



10/18/12: Take Your Girls Night Out 5k: This run in Jackson, TN was a breast cancer awareness event.  I had a great time doing this run with my son.  My time wasn't that great, but fun anyway with LOTS of PINK.

11/19/12: Registration for Ironman Arizona:  The next BIG step in my athletic bucket list.  In 2009 my wife & I watched the "Where are they now?" episode of  The Biggest Loser where I watched Matt Hoover compete/complete the Ford Ironman World Championship triathlon in Kona ( Matt Hoover at Ironman World Championship ) He missed the 17 hour cutoff by less than 3 minutes, but he FINISHED!  I turned to my wife and said, "I want to do that!"  Thus began my middle age fitness journey & triathlon fever.  I told myself I would try and not be foolish, but to push myself in ways I've never done before. This was not only to better myself, but in hopes of inspiring my family, friends & maybe even strangers to get outside of their comfort zones.  My plan was to slowly & steadily increase the distances (& hopefully speeds) with a goal of doing an iron distance triathlon (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run) by the time I was 50.  At this point in my life I have ridden a bike over 100 miles, but I've NEVER run a marathon (see below), and my swim distance record is 1.4 miles (with a few breaks).  Last Christmas my wife gave me a copy of You Are an Ironman by Jaques Steinberg which fueled the fire even more. I highly recommend the book, even if you have no plans of doing an Ironman.  The event & setting in Tempe, AZ seemed to me the ideal location for my first shot at this distance.  The only problem is it fills up fast!  Last year registration online for 1600-1800 spots for Ironman Arizona (IMAZ) filled in amost an hour.  Ironman Florida 2013 spots filled in under an hour less than 2 weeks ago.  So I put myself in front of the computer at 12:55 that afternoon hitting the refresh button every few seconds with my heart pounding as the 1:00pm open registration time approached...1:01pm the "registration not open" message remained & I began to panic.  Hitting the refresh button one more time, there it was!..."register now".  I clicked immediately and hammered through the fields and paid the obscene amount to hold my place.  I later found out open registration for IMAZ filled in 40 seconds!  Stay tuned as I embark on this journey.

11/22/12: 8th Annual Turkey Day 5k: Thanksgiving day run in Jackson to raise money for RIFA.  My wife & both had good times (literally and figuratively).  23:03 for me, my fastest since college.

11/23/12: Raquetball with Grandpa Ron: My 73 year old father taught me to play raquetball 35 years ago. We get together 2-3 times a year usually with a couple of my kids and enjoy a 3 generation match.  He can still beat my 16 & 20 year old sons, (but just barely).  It gives me hope for the future to see my dad stay active and for us to all enjoy this together!

Smiling "before" with my wife in the 34 degree morning air.

Smiling "after" in the warmer afternoon, sore but thankful.

12/1/12: St. Jude Memphis Marathon:  The good news: I survived the event & had a great time.  The bad news: I did not run the whole time, experienced the worst knee/orthopedic pain I've ever had, and finished at 4:59:10 (11:25 min/mile pace)...well below my goal of 4 hours.  The harsh reality: If you don't train properly and prepare (as for almost everything else in life) you will suffer needlessly and not perform up to expectations.  Last year the St. Jude event was my first half marathon, which I trained for and finished under 2 hours, followed by 2 more half marathons in Feb. & March of this year with progressively better times.  In April I was in New Orleans for the Ironman 70.3 event with a slower half marathon time but on the tail of a 2 mile run & 50+ mile bike ride (swim was cancelled due to bad weather/waves).  Since April my longest run/training was 11 miles (due to lack of discipline & nagging new left knee pain kicking in at the 8-10 mile mark every time).  Rather than address the knee issue & rehab it properly, I complained to myself and others, "piddled" & ultimately paid the price.  On race day, I felt good until 11 miles & the knee pain kicked in suddenly like a spike under my kneecap.  My brain starts loudly advising that I should make a right turn shortly ahead and cruise on in with the half marathon group.  My heart says to me "your pain right now is NOTHING compared to what many of the kids at St. Jude go through as they are treated for cancer", so run/walk on. As this internal argument went on, I decided to push on with the thought that anything past 13.1 miles is a personal best for distance running.  That seemed very reasonable except I had no idea what I would do should I have to stop in regards to getting back to my wife (running the half at the same time).  Each mile marker/rest stop I would get something to drink and experience increasing pain in the side of my knee which worsened every time I stopped to walk & for 30-40 seconds after resuming a run.  With this pain I would replay the sign I saw last year held up by a St. Jude patient as I ran through the campus: "Thanks for running, since I can't!"  Crossing the finishing line at a slow run with a smile, I was spent but so glad to look up and see my wife (who finished her half marathon run long before) waving from the front row of the stands.  I'm thankful for the chance to have done this & share the experience with so many others.

Next post: "The bee's knees...why mine hurt so badly"

My apologies....for a 5 month disappearance...BIRD!!!

Well, I've fallen prey to the procrastination monster terribly.  I keep putting off posts because of the things I want to share and then something else comes along.  One of our family's favorite quotes from the movie The Spiderwick Chronicles.....is "Bird!" shouted by one character always in midthought/midsentence whenever (easily) distracted by a nearby bird he'd love to eat.

I WILL update in more detail, but athletic events since my last post:
3/31/12: Andrew Jackson half marathon
4/7/12: Tour de Griz
4/22/12: IM 70.3 in New Orleans
5/12/12: Strawberry Festival 10k
5/19/12: Memphis in May Sprint triathlon
5/20/12: Memphis in May Olympic distance triathlon
9/1/12: Sunrise Century bike ride in Clarksville, TN
upcoming: 9/8-9/12: MS150 bike ride in Tunica, MS

Life has certainly been busy, which has gotten me off track somewhat training wise, and I have also "fallen off the wagon" with MyFitnessPal over the past few months....guess what?...pounds started creeping back on.  I look forward to bringing more detail to these updates, even if for my own recollection, but I still hope and pray others will benefit from the struggles and successes they read about here.

See you soon!

Andrew Jackson half marathan and more......

Well, the half iron race in New Orleans is now 24 days away and I have to confess my resting pulse rate is running 10-15 bpm faster just thinking about it!  It's a mixture of excitement, fear of the unknown (I've done all of the disciplines at the needed distances and more, but NOT at the same time), and self beating thinking "I should have trained more!".  But my wife in her wisdom reminded me gently "isn't this supposed to be fun?", translation: do the best you can and enjoy the process.  Even if I'm not "fully" prepared (and I've never met a competitor that felt they were), it has been a joy to grow, learn and develop. 

This past week I was reminded frustratingly of something that occurs all too often among folks trying to get in shape.  You define a plan, you stick to it, you start to see results, and BAM!!!, you get sick or injured.  All in all, I've been pretty pleased with my training regimen, but had big plans for this past week.  I just came off of a 3 night shift stretch and the morning after, felt kind of draggy and just slowly got worse.  This was joined soon by nasal congestion, sneezing, headache....some of the worst allergy symptoms I've experienced in a long long time!  I have a half marathon coming up this weekend and haven't run much in the past 2 weeks, so I made myself do a 7 mile run on the treadmill.  It went fine form and time wise, but took much more out of me than it would have normally.  Just a gentle reminder from above, that I'm not the one in control.  My take home lesson: do what you can, even if sometimes you may not feel like it.  Conversely, don't overdo when you are ill/injured and be prepared to take a break even if it's unplanned or longer than you had anticipated. 

In 2 days 3/31 I will be attempting my 3rd "official" half marathon, the Andrew Jackson (marathon, half marathon, and 5k) to benefit the Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse.  The bad news, my wife's knee is giving her a lot of trouble lately and she is unable to run the half (still trying to decide if she'll try the 5k).  The good news, my 15 year old son is now signed up to take her place and attempt his first half marathon.  Since he's never run over 7 miles at one time, I've outlined a plan for him to try run 4 miles, walk 1, run 3, walk 1, run 2, walk 1, run in the last 1.1 miles.  He's really quick in the 5k, so I think the hard part for him will be pacing and trying not to go too fast.  My youngest daughter will be doing the 5k.  So I'm obviously tickled to have another "family" sporting event.  These two kids are also in the middle of a busy soccer season with our local high school....GO BULLDOGS!!!

I've slacked off on my entries to MyFitnessPal.  A few days I got a nice email from them reminding me of the benefit of continued accountability and last night I went ahead and entered the day's eats/activity.  Will try to stay on track.  My weight has remained stable, but one can never be too careful!  Accountability is a valuable thing not only with physical fitness, but also in just about every other area of life: financial, spiritual, emotional...  Just something to think about.  Don't you think it's a whole lot easier to let areas of your life "slide" in to trouble areas whenever you don't have someone/something to keep you accountable?  If you have experienced that, pick an area and find someone you trust and ask them to help you.  It's certainly tougher at the onset, but can provide huge benefits over the long haul!

Just keep swimming....swimming swimming swimming!!!

With just over 40 days until IM 70.3 New Orleans I'm starting to run out of "peak" training time as I prepare to "taper" in hopes of not being injured/worn out before the big day. 

Swim:  One of my biggest fears/challenges/concerns is the swim portion in triathlons, especially as the distance gets longer.  I have slowly increased my practice swims to the 1,900meter/1.2 mile distances I will have to swim in the actual race.  After reviewing previous similar event results, the "middle of the pack" for men 45-49 is about 45 minutes.  Anything over 1hr 10min will take you out of the race before you ever get on the bike.  Last summer I was able to swim a mile in about an hour.  I had a good swim 3 days ago and was able to get 1,900 meters in just under 54 minutes.  Immediately afterwards I was able to do 2x50 meters at 1:00-1:10 min.  My goal is 45-50 minutes for the swim portion and I feel I should be able to reach it without being completely shot for the bike and run.

Bike:  My wife and I continue to use our indoor (Kurt Kinetic) trainers for bike riding even though it is FINALLY starting to warm up outside.  We have several of Troy Jacobson's "Spinervals" dvds and I've found them to be very useful for keeping our bike workouts interesting.  The trainer has also allowed me to "tweak" the settings on my (first) tri bike which hopefully will make my outdoor rides more beneficial and comfortable.  I'm on my last day of a 3 day work stretch and hoping the weather will allow me to ride outside this week.  I'm quite anxious to see if the indoor training has paid off.  The bike portion of the half iron (70.3) tri is 56 miles.  My goal would be to finish in 3 hrs, but that is averaging 18.7 mph for the entire ride...which I've never done for that distance before.  More realistically I feel I could do 17mph which would put me done in about 3hrs 20min.  See below for my next "big" bike workout/brick.  Will keep you posted.

Run:  Unless I sustain an injury between now and April, my goal of finishing the half marathon portion in 2 hours or less remains the same.  February 25th was a big day for my wife and I as we travelled to Oxford, MS for the Run for Hope 5k/half marathon.  Less than 2 weeks before the run my lovely bride decided she wanted to do the half marathon (she was signed up for the 5k, and her furthest training was 7 miles) even if it meant walking large portions.  After my "concerned doctor/husband" warnings, she persisted and I agreed to switch her over and cheer her on.  The bad news: it was COLD (30's starting temp/high 40's finish), and HILLY.  The good news: we both accomplished our goals.  She was a champ over the whole distance and finished in just over 2:50 running across the line after a 0.6 mile hill at the end.  I'm really really proud of her!  I was able to finish in just over 1:52 (7th out of 24 in my age group).  More importantly for me, it was 5 minutes faster than St. Jude in December with a lot more hills....thanks to continued training since December in all 3 areas.  This was much needed encouragement.  I'm not an immensely competitive person, but I have to confess I enjoyed passing 2 younger guys in the last 100 yards of the run (one in his 20's that passed me a half mile earlier before the "big hill").  My pace was right at 7mph or 8:33min. mile.  I certainly don't plan on running that hard/fast in New Orleans, but hope my speed/pace will be more steady on the flatter course.  My next big training goal is in 3 weeks: Andrew Jackson 5k/half/marathon in Jackson, TN.  My plan is to integrate at least 20-25 miles of cycling BEFORE I run that morning to prepare my body/mind for doing all three a few weeks later.  Here's hoping all goes well!

A "brisk" 33 degree start of the Oxford, MS Run for Hope 1/2 marathon!

My "champion" running to her first half marathon finish!!!

Less than 60 days until Iron Man 70.3 New Orleans....injuries & more

With less than 2 months until my first half iron distance triathlon, I have to confess I've experienced excitement, anxiety, anticipation & frustration.  At this stage, I hope to keep it all in perspective as I continue to train. 

While doing some cross training with weights 2 weeks ago, I bent slightly at the hips and leaned over to put down a barbell (at the same weight I've used for weeks/months) and felt a "POP".  Almost dropping to my knees, I was very painfully reminded of how important good body mechanics are.  The old saying I've told my patients for years, "lift with your legs, not your back" was ringing in the back of my head.  It took almost a week to recover 80% range of motion and completely shut down my other training for a while.  Talk about frustrating!  The good news is rest, ice first for 1-2 days (then heat), anti inflammatories and gradually increasing range of motion got me back on track.  I'm still having some discomfort, but that's ok, just glad to be moving again.

I FINALLY was able to get into the local university aquatic center and have been building up my swim distance/endurance.  This in my opinion will be my greatest limiter (weakness).  My goal is to finish the 1.2 mile swim portion in 45 minutes or less.  Right now I'm doing well to finish in an hour.  I have a lot of work to do!  I'm hopeful my technique will improve as well as endurance.  It just gets frustrating to be able to bike for several hours or run for 2+ hrs without too much difficulty, but wear myself out swimming for an hour.  At this stage I'm reminded painfully of another famous triathlon quote: "You won't win a triathlon on the swim (by swimming 2-10 minutes faster), but you can sure lose (by wearing yourself out)!"  I've been hitting the pool about twice/week and really need to be in the water at least 3 times.

Running update: I had a nice 10 mile training run last week (and a long swim the same day), without too much next day soreness.  Tonight after work, my lovely bride and I will drive to Oxford, Mississippi for the Oxford Run for Hope (http://www.oxfordrun4hope.com).  The original plan was for me to do the half marathon (as a training run) and she was going to do the 5k (with hopes to do the half next month in Jackson, TN).  I'm proud to say she has slowly increased her mileage (often doing run 5 minutes/walk 1 minute method) and wants to try the half tomorrow!  Hopefully I'll check in soon with a picture of us both smiling with our medals together.

Triathlon training update....80 days to IM 70.3 New Orleans!!!

Well, the training continues as does my fight to stay on a balanced diet.  In spite of the weight I've lost so far and keeping it stable through Thanksgiving and Christmas feasting (in moderation), I still remain a carb junkie!  I often feel I could live entirely on junk food (cookies, chips, candy, JUNK!!!), but not successfully.  Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was feeling that I didn't really need the accountability of MyFitnessPal (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/) and slacked off with my entries...bad idea.  I've gotten back on track and find it still very helpful to track what I'm eating and what I'm doing exercise wise.

After completing the St. Jude half marathon in December, I went ahead with the "next step" and signed up for the Iron Man 70.3 in New Orleans, Lousiana this April 22nd (http://ironmanneworleans.com/).  Last year the weather/wind (on Lake Ponchartrain) was so bad the swim portion was cancelled with only the bike and run portions completed. The Half Iron distance as shared before is a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run.  My goals (for accountability) are as follows: swim 0:45-1:00, bike 3:00-3:30, run 2:00-2:20, and allowing for a 0:15..(15 minutes) for transition times T1/T2, for a total of 6:00-7:05 (6-7 hrs).

For swimming, I've been slow to get started this winter, but ahead of the past two years.  I've had two sessions with a swim coach who has been immensely helpful already, first pointing out that I was basically not using my legs.  After, begging/calling I finally got into the Wellness Center at Union University in Jackson with it's 25 meter indoor pool.  I've done 2 training sessions there and I'm still astounded at how easily I'm winded after short distances.  I have worked up to almost 400 meters freestyle in one set without "dying" (1500 to add to that....ugh!).  My goal is a minimum of 2 sessions swimming/week and hoping for 3.  My dear wife for Christmas ordered me the new Garmin Forerunner 910xt (https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=419&pID=90671) which was finally released last week.  I'm a geek and this thing is a technological wonder.  The coolest feature for now is the swim metrics which allows detailed breakdown of stroke count/length/lap times for different sized indoor pools, on and on.... more on this later.  Thanks honey!

Cycling has been going fairly well indoors.  My wife and I have similar "trainers" to utilize our own bikes to ride in place.  I've purchased several "Spinervals" cycling workout videos by Troy Jacobson (http://www.spinervals.com/) which we've found to be very good at wearing us out.  I have a 5 year old triathlon specific bike I purchased a few months ago that I'm slowly "tweaking" to my frame and posture.  Hopefully as I train more I will be able to move into a deeper aero position.  I'm still building my aerobic base and hope to slowly integrate more speed work as I go.

In the area of running, I'm scheduled for a "training" half marathon 2/25 in Oxford, MS (http://www.oxfordrun4hope.com/) and another 3/31 in Jackson, TN (https://sites.google.com/a/andrewjacksonmarathon.com/ajm/home).  My wife is planning to run the 5k portion in Oxford and shooting for her first half marathon in Jackson on 3/31 with me (this race also has a 5k and marathon option).  In the interim, I'm continuing running/training on the treadmill 1-2 times/week.

Although my job allows me to work fewer days than many, my working days are 12+ hours long and involve over 2 hours of travel (sometimes day shifts up at 4:10am and home at 7:30-8pm and some nights) making it difficult to hammer out a "routine" for training.  I hope that I can stay disciplined enough to take advantage of the time I have off and not get worn out or burned out or neglect my family in the process (which by the way, they have been a great source of encouragement).  More to follow.

So you want to get (back) into shape?

I'm making this post after the first week of January to let the "New Year's Resolution" hype and fervor die down.  Last week as I drove to work before 6am I passed a 24 hr fitness facility in my small hometown.  Normally I would see 1-2 cars....or none, but on this day the lot is completely full! As I pass the glass front of the gym, I cannot see an empty treadmill or elliptical machine.  The room is packed with people and I'm sure all with good intentions of making it happen this year unlike years past.

I write this entry with the deepest desire to see people succeed at becoming healthier and achieving their (healthy) weight loss goals.  But please dear reader, be reasonable about your expectations!  In 2007 one study estimated the money spent on weight loss at $55 billion!  Now estimated at over $60 billion.  How many of you have purchased a piece of exercise equipment that you used for approximately 2-6 weeks, then it slowly turned into a clothes rack until in shame you put it in a garage sale or gave it to Goodwill?  How many of you have purchased P90X or some variation on the theme in a video or book format and only made it through the first 2 workouts?  One of my pet peeves as a physician and consumer in regards to the fitness/weight loss market and the tons of info-mercials associated with them is the hard bodies you see represent 1 in a 1,000 of those who tried product X.  A similar practice is seeing these folks in incredible shape with the implication that got in that shape using the Ab-matic 2000 or whatever machine is being advertised.  The majority of these folks were already in great shape to begin with.  That said, I do not want to take away from the testimonials that you may see, as I hope they are true to what they say.  I also don't want to say that P90X or some similar plan won't work for you.  Just be prepared for a radical change from your normal level of activity. 

The majority of the weight loss/fitness market does a huge injustice to the population at large....it plays on our pain.  We are sitting in front of the television feeling bad about how we look or what poor shape we are in, then BAM, right in front of us is that man or woman in perfect shape and smiling as they workout!  Reality check: when I'm exercising that hard it's hard if not impossible to be smiling/cutting up, so I'm already set up for failure when I try to do what they are doing.  All of the diet pills and supplements advertised somewhere in their ad or literature will insert a phrase something like this: "Use this in combination with a balanced diet and regular exercise to maximize your weight loss".  Can you get in shape and/or lose weight using the stuff you see on the internet or TV?  Absolutely!  Are these things necessary to lose weight or get in shape?  Absolutely not!!!

If you find yourself drawn to one or many of the products I've described, please stay with me.  I'm no weight loss expert and I've struggled myself, but with over 20 years in the practice of medicine I've seen a lot of things come and go.  I want to share with you the things I feel will benefit us all over the long haul.  If you are looking for a quick or easy way to accomplish this, stop reading now and go to a different blog!  It's my experience getting in shape or losing weight is like "getting rich"....slow, steady, with lots of discipline and hard work.  In all of my research and experience, there is no successful substitute for the "eat right and exercise" approach.  The key thing to remember is start with small consistent changes and build on that.  I will go into more detail in posts to follow.  But for now, if you are thinking about joining a gym, buying some equipment, videos or books....I challenge you to try this:  For 2-4 weeks spend 10-15 minutes 3-5 days a week in the privacy of your own home and walk/run in place or do jumping jacks or dance.  If you can't or won't do that the other things you are considering will not motivate you more!  The one exception is that some people (women more than men) tend to be more consistent with exercise in a group setting.  If you are that type of person, find 1 or a few people who are willing to take on this challenge with you (or this I would consider a reason to join a gym/YMCA...to take a fitness class you wouldn't do on your own)....just don't bite off too much at the beginning or you will burn out and quit.

More to follow!!!

2011 year in review

It's been a LOT longer than I planned since my last post.  I have a few things to document/chronicle for future reference & hopefully to encourage those who might stumble onto this blog by accident.  Overall 2011 was a year of significant improvement for me from a health standpoint.  It was a time of putting back into practice things I have been preaching to patients and my own children for years.  I share some of these things not as a bragging post, but a time to celebrate with gratitude some of the good things that have happened from a health/fitness standpoint in hopes of encouraging others.  In the next few days I hope to make a post with some general "startup" diet and exercise suggestions for those who are wanting to start off the New Year in a healthier way....stay "posted".

August 2011:  Up to this point I have been "trying to eat better and exercise more" (both of which are good things to do), but without a significant plan of action.  For years I have told people if they are TRULY serious about health/weight loss they needed to keep a food diary for at least one week (longer is better).  By logging EVERYTHING put in your mouth it's easier to account for weight loss/gain.  I truly wish I had a dime for everytime I've heard someone say, "I just don't eat that much". 

Modern day solution to this is:  www.myfitnesspal.com

Shy of the actual work of exercise and eating right, this in my opinion is one of the most powerful fitness/weight loss tools around....and it's FREE!!!  You just have to use it for it to work. Since August of 2011 I have been able to slowly and steadily lose and keep off almost 20 pounds.  More on this later.

September 2011:  My wife and I rode in our first century (100 mile bicycle ride) on our tandem bike at the Sunrise Century in Clarksville, TN.  The good news: we completed the ride.  The bad news: it was over 100 degrees by 10:30am and in spite of lots of fluid intake I got dehydrated and had some horrible leg cramps.  My oldest and youngest child also joined us for the 33 mile option of the same ride which as a parent couldn't have made me prouder as they encouraged each other together to ride over twice as far as either had done before!  Here's a link to that ride's website:  http://www.clarksvillecentury.com/

The following weekend, my wife and I participated in the Multiple Sclerosis society's MS 150 ride in Tunica, MS riding our tandem again for just shy of 150 miles over 2 days (quite a bit faster and easier than we did in 2010).  We had the opportunity to meet and ride with some truly amazing folks including several living with MS.  Again, I'm reminded what a blessing good health truly is!  Link to 2012 MS 150: http://biketns.nationalmssociety.org/site/PageServer?pagename=BIKE_TNS_homepage



October 2011:  We completed an "out and back" ride from Patti's restaraunt in Grand Rivers, KY down most of The Trace (a winding hilly beautiful 2 lane drive) going through Land Between the Lakes into TN.  We logged 70 miles that day on our individual road bikes with a good friend/neighbor of ours.  Also, I started some "more serious" running/training for my first half marathon (St. Jude in Memphis) coming up the first weekend of December (see below)

November 2011:  We rode our tandem on the shorter leg of Tour de Reelfoot with another couple.  The distance wasn't too bad at 30 miles (didn't have time to do the 66 or 100 mile option), but the temperature in the 30's at the start made it "interesting".  http://www.nwtncyc.org/id19.html

A HUGE event for me as a dad and husband was the gathering of family and friends for Thanksgiving day in our home, but a real treat was running the Turkey Day 5k that morning with my wife and 3 of my 4 kids.  My wife, youngest son and myself all had personal best times in spite of the 30-40 degree weather.  http://www.goldsgym.com/gyms/tennessee/jackson/216/page/19437/11497

December 2011:  Ran/finished my first half marathon (13.1 miles) the first weekend of December at the St. Jude Memphis Marathon weekend.  Was able to make it under my goal of 2 hrs without injury/mishap.  There were almost 10,000 runners in the half and full marathon event that started together and another 7,000 that ran in a 5k or 1 mile family fun run.  The whole event has raised over $4 million!  I started this as a fitness goal and finished it humbled again by some amazing kids/staff/family along the route including a run through the St. Jude campus with one child holding a sign saying "Thanks for running since I can't".  I'm ashamed of how little I did fundraising wise, but plan to be very aggressive about this next year.  Lord willing I will run the full marathon next year.  Check out the marathon weekend website for info on fundraising for St. Jude and opportunities to run in the 1/5/13.1/26.2 mile options: http://www.stjudemarathon.org/

I've tried to include websites for these events to give you some ideas for 2012.  It certainly helps to motivate yourself to do some difficult things when you are doing it for someone else's benefit.  Look for similar opportunities in your area.

Late/Lost entry for November 1, 2011

Well, my efforts at blogging are certainly not the best, but as I like to say "It's a process, not an event."
I'm pasting below an entry made from November 1st, 2011.  I had planned to add photos to the post, but couldn't get them in and ended up missing the post.  I'm going to be playing a little "catch up" over the next several weeks and hopefully provide some useful and/or entertaining information in the process.  Thanks for your patience!

here's the old post:

Well, it's been an eventful month or so since my last post.  Healthier eating and 
regular exercise are becoming more and more a part of my "routine", which is 
what I'm hoping for.  I still could eat a dozen Subway cookies or a bag of chips at the 
drop of a hat, but have discovered that after having less sugar over time it makes me 
kinda queezy when I eat too much now.  Thus far my body has tolerated increasing levels 
of running and bicycling, which I'm excited about.  My weight has slowly gotten to a 
point that I have not seen since 1995.  For that I'm grateful.  I'm a little leary about 
the upcoming holidays.  Last year I was doing well until my birthday late October, then 
BAM Thanksgiving and BAM Chirstmas with overeating at every stop.  This year I made it 
through my 48th birthday without gaining and hoping to do the same through the holidays.  
I'm convinced one can enjoy good food IN MODERATION without being legalistic or 
miserable.  Will keep you posted through the holiday season of 2011.  





The first weekend of October my wife and a good friend of mine rode the majority of the 
two lane road dividing "Land Between the Lakes" known as The Trace.  This is a 
beautiful hilly ride with the leaves beginning to change.  We parked and started from the 
parking lot of Patti's 1880's Settlement in Grand Rivers, KY.  Our ride was 70 miles 
total, 35 miles out and back.  

My first Olympic distance triathlon.....triathlon distance basics

Well the last opportunity for an Olympic distance triathlon (often referred to as an "oly") anywhere near home coincided with the weekend we rode the MS 150 the second week of September.  Other choices were slated to be states away and I'm not to the stage of travelling to race.  I've heard the Nash Vegas tri in Nashville is a good one.  Hoping to hit it next year if it doesn't conflict again with the MS 150.  That said, I felt it was time to get creative....  I'm pleased to announce the 1st annual Doktirbob's Homegrown Oly tri September 16th, 2011 went well.  Participants.....um 1.  Since it was my first time to do these distances together, my time of 3 hrs 17 minutes was my best.  Had hoped to break 3 hours, but now I have a definite goal. 

The Olympic distance (1.5km/0.93 mile swim, 40km/24.8 mile bike, 10km/6.2 mile run, total distance 51.5km/31.93 miles) is the shortest standardized distance triathlon.  "Sprint" distance tri's have each segment's distance set at the discretion of the race organizer.  The swim can range anywhere from 150-800 yards in a pool or open water (usually 750 meters), a bike ride of 3-15 miles (usually 20km/12.4 miles) and a run of 1-5 miles (usually 5km/ 3.1 miles).  Beyond Olympic there are two other standardized race distances the "Half Ironman" or Ironman 70.3 (being 70.3 miles total distance) and the grand daddy "Ironman" distance (at 140.6 total miles).  The Half Ironman distance includes a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and a half marathon run of 13.1 miles.  The Ironman is double these distances.  Please see the Wikipedia review of the sport for more details  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triathlon

I review these things for you to say that triathlon and cycling have been great motivators for me in an organized approach to weight loss/control and general fitness.  It is vital that you do something that is reasonable to start with and advance as you are able.  As an example, Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a great way to get in shape, but it's not for me.  Regardless of the fitness option you choose, I would suggest setting both short and long term goals.  Shoot for something just out of reach and work toward it.  Once that goal is reached, reassess and set another goal to maintain or reach further.  Many people set an "end goal" with nothing between.  Without short term goals, if the "end goal" is not reached anything short can be seen as a failure.  My "end goal" is to complete an Iron distance triathlon (hopefully within 2 years).  Christmas 2009 my goal was to complete a sprint distance tri in May of 2010, and so on.  I realize my body, schedule, life may not allow me to reach my end goal of an Ironman, but with the intermediate or short term goals victories can be won along the way hopefully making me a better person in the process. 

A friend of mine is considering an exercise regimen with little or no aerobic activity going on right now.  I suggested that they start walking in place in their living room walking in place with larger than normal swings of the arms and lifting of the legs for 5 minutes a day 4-6 days a week.  First goal: do this CONSISTENTLY 4-6 days/week to establish the habit of exercise.  If they can establish that routine for 1-3 weeks, it will be easy to build up to 10 minutes and later 20, then increase intensity.  When I started riding my first road bicycle in the winter of 2009 I thought I was going to die after 7 miles at 10 miles/hr.  But I had to start somewhere.  We all do.  Once a consistent pattern is developed, the sky is the limit.  Remember it's not complicated: Eat Right and Exercise (or as my Dad says Eat Less and Move More).  Good success to you!!!

Riding mountain bikes at Hillman Ferry (Land Between the Lakes, TN)

Another ride under our belt

Well, per my previous post, I was a bit worried about not having enough recovery time from our first century ride in Clarkville, TN 9/3.  We were already signed up for the Multiple Sclerosis society's Rock N Roll 150 the following weekend.  We did this ride last year and "survived" it much like we did this year's century ride.  Last year we had only ridden about 20-30 miles max on the tandem and did not have it "dialed in" which was a big factor.  I had a racing saddle (Fizik Arione) mounted for me which was a big mistake as I'm not that flexible....so my butt was screaming by the end of day one with only 74 miles done.  My wife's knee had been giving her trouble and he seat was set about 1-2 inches too high compounding the issue (she later had the knee scoped and is doing much better with it).

This year with that ride and Clarksville under our belts, I was able to tweak the seating around and get the fit just about right.  We finished the first day of 74 miles with beautiful weather and a decent rolling average speed.  Unfortunately the group was smaller by almost 150 from last year, I presume from economic and time restraints (each rider is responsible for raising $300 to participate).  Needless to say, after the previous week's ride and dehydration/cramping experience, I was pouring the Gatorade down until it was coming out of my eyeballs!  We took advantage of every rest stop, although I feel we could have passed some of them up this time around (maybe next year).  The following day looked as good or better weather wise (getting into the mid to upper 80's by the end of the ride).  I would consider myself an "advanced novice" rider at this stage of the game with a few group rides and many 10-30 milers done.  I say this because more advanced group riders are quite comfortable with drafting (riding wheel to wheel to save some energy).  I have drafted only a few times on my road bike but have never had the opportunity on the tandem.....until day two of the MS150.  We were riding several miles of nice flat averaging 16-20 mph with moderate effort.  A large group of riders from Hernando, MS came up on us and allowed us to join their peloton (group of riders).  They were a gracious and fun group of riders who communicated very well with each other.  For any non cyclist readers riding in a group gives you an several advantages (drafting, multiple sets of eyes looking for trouble, someone to talk with, someone to help you if you have a malfunction/flat, you get there or get lost together) and some disadvantages (if the lead rider misses a hazard or wipes out, the domino effect can be good only when seen on YouTube, motorist tend to get aggrivated by being held up by a group or riders, some riders are more aggresive than you may be and end up way inside of your personal space).  That said, this group was great!  The lead rider slid in front of me and I almost felt the tandem bike lurch forward from the loss of wind resistance.  I found myself backing off from pedaling so hard/fast and stil able to maintain 18-20 mph with much less effort.  I had to explain this effect to my wife at the next rest stop as she kept feeling me slow the pedaling pace again her push.  Unfortunately, their rest stop was shorter than ours and they rode on.  At about mile 30 we got to "The Wall" a roughly 1/2 mile fairly steep climb (the toughest of the ride).  Approximately 40-50% of the riders end up walking part of the way.  Last year we were able to pedal the whole way (toward the top at a whopping 4mph).  This year we topped the Wall at 6mph...yee haa!!!  I will try to add below a photo of us at the top of The Wall with the hill behind us and another cropped shot showing some perspective and some of the "walkers" coming up the hill.  It was a great experience overall and any pain or fatigue we experienced along the way, certainly pales compared to the struggles those with MS deal with everyday.  We were honored to be able to participate again this year and hope to for years to come.

A belated update and my first Century ride

I have held off with updates, hoping to add photos (as well as being a chronic procrastinator).  Enough good things have happened (and a few not so good), so here we go.

First, I've now done several mile swims (unfortunately none open water) and my times are getting better.  It's a total of 66 laps down and back, initially with a 2-4 minute rest every 5 laps, now down to about a minute rest every 10 laps.  My biggest concern regarding swimming is technique.  I've had no formal training and suspect my form is not what it needs to be.  Obviously as the distances get longer, the need to be efficient becomes more and more important.  I just got a dvd from http://www.triswimcoach.com/ that seems to have gotten many good reviews.  More feedback to follow on that.

Second, my wife and I have "geared up" our tandem bicycle riding in preparation for the Multiple Sclerosis society's MS 150 ride 9/10-11/11 from Southaven, MS to Tunica 75 miles/day for two days.  Last week at my local bike shop, I encountered a recent retiree who logged 130 miles the day before and had ridden 80 miles "so far" at 10:30am.  Needless to say, this guy was a cycling beast.  I casually mentioned that I was looking to do my first century ride (100 miles) soon, to which he replied "check out the Sunrise Century in Clarksville, TN this weekend! (check out their website at http://clarksvillecentury.com/ ) 

This ride includesin addition to the 100 miler, a 33 mile "fun ride", and a 62 mile "metric century" (100km).  The normal sane person (or couple) would have signed up for the 62 mile ride considering the 150 mile ride coming up the following weekend.  But those sane people don't live at our house!  I ran it by my wife who says "let's do it!".  Another idea hits me.  I'm wanting to find ways to get/keep my kids moving, so I ask my 14 year old son if he'd be interested in the 33 mile ride (his previous longest ride was 13-15 miles).  He gives the thumbs up when the next phase of my plan goes into movement....calling his 20 year old sister to see if she'd drive in from college an hour or so away to join us for the ride (her previous longest ride being 12 miles this summer) and I'm tickled to say, she joined in too.  Everything is looking great, until we watch the weather.....95-100 degrees for the next several days with 70-80 degrees the day AFTER the ride.  We are up until midnight or later driving 2.5 hours to Clarksville Friday night after our local high school homecoming game (hint: not enough sleep), and up at 5:30am to get registered for the 7am start.  With approximately 1,000 riders present, you can cut the excitement with a knife.  This ride is touted as the flattest and fasted century in cycling, lending itself to an option to join the "elite peloton" which is a group of riders that must be able to maintain 25mph+ for the total distance! In 2008, the group broke 3 hrs 45 minutes! That group gets to lead off at 6:45 followed by the tandems (bicycle built for two)...that's us, and then the rest of the riders.  We take off like greased lightening (in our minds) in the cool morning air averaging 18-24 mph without too much effort.  At mile 25 or 30 we have our second rest stop and my first time to pee (hint: not enough to drink before the ride).  I'm feeling good and pouring the gatorade down like gangbusters.  At mile 50, it's starting to get HOT and where did these hills come from?  I'm making a mental note to mention to someone that this IS NOT FLAT (which I discover later is a relative term among cyclists and organizers).  At mile 60 I'm feeling like I've got 20-25% battery left for 40% more riding (make that 50% given the hills and heat) and did I mention I'm still not making any more urine?  I'm trying to be smart and take a long rest (shoes off, sitting down, helmet off, eating and drinking).  While I'm sitting on the ground I feel a couple of small localized cramps in the sides of my legs.  "Hmmm" I say to myself, "it's time for more bananas and gatorade", which I take care of and off we go.  250 yards down the road from the rest stop....POW!!!!  I suddenly feel like I've been hit in the leg by a sledge hammer with first one cramp, then another unlike anything I've ever felt in my 47 years.  We stop and I stretch my legs, with the cramps easing...that is until we try to pedal again.  The cramps are bad enough that I'm having difficulty even unclipping from the pedals, much less considering getting my leg over the top of the bike to dismount.  What to do, what to do???...so I hollar out to my copilot to pedal while I steer with my legs stretched out to the sides.  Now I've got a real dilemma: be conservative and smart and turn around to go back to the rest stop 300-400 yards away or try to ride 10-12 miles further and hope the cramps ease up and we don't end up stranded in the middle of corn and tobacco fields in 100+ degree heat.  Time to "call a friend", I say back to my wife, "what do you want to do?", "let's see if we can press a little further and see if the cramps ease up."  Sure enough after about 5 minutes of cheering on her part, easy pedalling and me praying and singing made up songs to God like a little kid, the pain slowly eases from my legs and off we go.  From my perspective 60 miles should have been the end of our journey that day.  We struggled through several other rest stops with cramps that were less severe if I didn't sit down.  I'm trying to drink gatorade, eat bananas, raisins and pickles to get my potassium and sodium up. At mile 86 (our last rest stop), I'm actually feeling some better, but hot and really tired (and still no urine out).  I'm searching for electrolytes, but the 800-900+ riders before us had depleted all of the gatorade, pickles, trail mix, bananas...there was only water and some cookies.  I'm feeling a little desparate at this point, now with only 3-5 riders behind us and 14 miles ahead.  I finally spotted a gallon jar that held the pickles served earlier, swallowed hard and in a soft voice asked for a cup of pickle juice. The volunteer pours me up about 6 ounces of the green stuff which I start to drink and discover that it is now at the same temp as our surroundings......desparate times call for desparate measures.  I found a tablet to mix with my water to add electrolytes, poured cold water over my neck/shoulders and off we go.  We get to the last 3 miles to discover what felt like a one mile plus shallow but constant UPHILL grade with us running on fumes.  If my cadence went above 45 rpm, my legs would start to cramp again and my wife was DONE.  Along the last 25-30 miles we met a young man obviously fit, but emotionally spent who was ready to catch a ride with the support (SAG: support and gear) truck.  We had some great conversation which included him being miserable riding by himself.  He joined us as we poked along 8-15 mph, getting a little more positive with each section we reeled in. 

The good news: we finished the ride being some of, if not the last ones in.  As we wearily rolled into the parking lot, there stood two of my children whooping and hollaring for us and grinning ear to ear.  Eventually we got the bikes loaded into the truck and off to Longhorn steakhouse for a celebratory supper.  It was as much or more of a joy to hear the tales of my kids and their 33 mile ride together encouraging each other and bragging on each other than it was to survive our 100 miles.  Definitely a proud moment as a parent.  As a side note, my wife at 105 pounds burned over 2,000 calories and me at 180 burned over 3,000 according to our Polar monitors.

The bad news: my hamstrings are fairly messed up.  I'm hoping and praying I can rehab them enough for our MS 150 ride this weekend.  Urine didn't come until 3-4 hours AFTER we finished the ride.

The quick life lessons: 1) On a possibly hot day, PRE-hydrate thoroughly and hydrate like mad during.  I thought I was drinking enough, but apparently not leading to some dehydration and severe cramping as a result.  2) Get PLENTY OF REST before a big physical event. 3) Pace yourself! I planned to take it easy at first and build up slowly if we felt good, but fell prey to the excitement of the moment.  4) Don't stack big physical events too close together.

I've known all of these things for years, and have usually followed them closely.  I'm now paying the price for not heeding my own advice.  Hopefully with rest, stretching and anti inflammatories we will be ready for a somewhat slower than planned pace ride in Tunica this coming weekend......stay tuned!

The dream for Triathlon continues.....

I will share more on this later, but as I've mentioned before, I've always been a pretty active guy.  However life "happened" and I allowed things to crowd in on a regular exercise routine.  In December of 2009 I hit 200 lbs (not a good thing unless I'm 6'2".....did I mention I'm about 5'7"?) which began my wake up call in the area of physical health.  Over the years, I've pretty consistently practiced what I've preached about regular exercise and a balanced diet with portion control.  As I've always said, "ERAE"...."Eat Right And Exercise".  Or as I later heard my dad say, "eat less, move more!".  With the reality of eating too much and not moving much at all ringing in my head and around my waist I hit Craigslist and found a couple of used roadbikes.  One for me and one for my lovely bride.  She got me a roller trainer and a pair of biking shorts (2 hilarious things to see in action on me!) for Christmas and I was off!  My first time out of the bedroom with the tight fitting shorts with my "muffin top" hanging over brought out a series of snorts and laughter from my teenage kids.  It was too cold to ride outside, so with the roller in a doorway to give me something to hang onto I started riding...15 minutes was all I could do the first time and it almost killed me!!!

I good friend of mine from church had done the Memphis in May triathlon with his son the year before and it hit me as a great opportunity to set a goal and hopefully have a challenging experience with one of my kids.  The sucker of the bunch was my youngest son Benjamin who already pretty athletic didn't need to train that much.  As soon as the weather was below freezing, I tried riding outside and then a few trial runs.  My first attempt at a 5k (3.1miles) was well over 40 minutes, with several "mall walkers" passing me along the way.  I didn't hit the pool at my neighbor's house until late April with ultimately 3-4 times swimming before the triathlon in May.  Ultimately, I survived the 400meter swim, 12-14 mile bike ride and 5k run and was hooked!!!  My son discovered that training in spite of being in good shape is really important as the swim almost killed him.  On the bike leg, 400 meters in, I came across a young lady who had already wiped out with a beautiful (and I'm sure expensive) tri bike laying to the side.  She was bloodied up from a large gash in her elbow.  The ER doctor in me would not allow a continued ride without stopping.  After rinsing her arm off with Gatorade and water....all we had with us until help arrived, I help some pressure and the bleeding slowed considerably.  With quite an injury, it's not surprising that she was crying.  What was surprising was they were not tears of fear or pain, but of all the training she had done only to wipe out this early in the race.  Shortly later, she came to the same realization for me and started pressuring me to leave her on the roadside.  She didn't want me to mess up my time for the race.  It was easy and funny to smile at her and say, "Lady, this is my first tri, so whatever time I finish is going to be my personal record!"  That slowed the tears some as we shared a laugh.  10 minutes later I was on the road getting passed like I was standing still by several riders.  Fortunately none of them were older than me (your age is written conveniently on your leg....I guess to make the body easier to identify should it be found dead or damaged....).  It was a joy to watch my son cross the finish line later.  It's a time we still laugh and talk about frequently.

Over the course of 4 months from Christmas 2009, I brought the diet under better control and started moving more....leading to a slow and steady loss of almost 25 pounds!  That's the good news.  The bad news....if you don't keep exercising and eating right, you'll go right back which is just about what happened around Thanksgiving 2010.  I've been slowly getting back on track, with an emphasis on the slowly part.  I was able to participate in the Natchez Trace sprint triathlon in March 2011 with similar distances only a longer swim of 550 yards.  That would be fine if one had trained, but I had not been in the water since October of 2010...almost 6 months!  Between that and swimming in 60 degree water, I was feeling rough.  I was late to register and thus 3rd from last getting in the water and next to last getting out.  Fortunately, I had biked and run some so I was able to reel in about 10-15 folks on the bike ride and another 5-7 on the run finishing 2nd in my age division.  That sounds great unless I tell you there were only 3 in my age division.  I was just glad to finish!!!  Much of that was do to the cheering of my kids and wife (we had come to Natchez Trace for the weekend camping as well).

As you can see from the finish line shot, I try to remain mature and distinguished at all times!

My goals for this year are at least one Olymic distance triathlon: 0.92 mile swim, 26 mile bike ride and 6.2 mile (10k) run.  Also, this year I have signed up for the St. Jude half marathon in December.  Hopefully you'll see some good headway as I prepare for these events.  I've never run that far before, so it will be an adventure.  Yesterday I swam a mile for the first time since I was 14.  Unfortunately, it was in a pool with several stops for respiratory distress!  It's certainly a different experience to do an open water swim, but you've got to start somewhere.

If you as a reader have never tried swimming, biking or running, I would highly recommend considering them as part of your exercise regimen.  Just please, please, please make sure your body is ready for the increase in activity if you're not already pretty active.  In later entries, I will discuss some ways to get started on a program if you don't already have one.  Hopefully the adventures of this short, fat (or fluffy) old doc will provide you some encouragement along the way!

I will close now so the wife and I can go for a bike ride in Jackson.  Good night!

K.I.S.S.-Keep It Simple (Stupid).....Eat right and Exercise

As I sit this morning trying to organize my thoughts (not an easy task for a self proclaimed ADD kid trapped in a grown up body), I'm comforted by the fact this blog emphasizes random musings not well organized.  Thus I can share these thoughts and hope enough of you are ADD enough to follow them!

For most of my childhood and adult life I've been a very active person.  I was never a "jock" but one who enjoyed (and still enjoy) all sorts of activities....riding a bike, rollerskating, skateboarding, water skiing, snow skiing, camping/hiking, running (not that fast) and so on.  After a long and ugly divorce ending in 2004 my "give a darn" got broken.  Emotionally, spiritually, financially and soon physically I was at an all time low.  Slowly I realized the world was not stopping to mourn with me and continued to go on at it's maddening pace while I was stuck in slow motion.  Prior to that even with my busy lifestyle I had kept up a regular exercise regimen primarily using a Nordic Track Skier (still available for sale and hands down my favorite piece of exercise equipment.  Here's a link:  http://www.nordictrack.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Category_-1_10301_12401_19554_Y )
20 minutes a day 3-4 days a week and eating a reasonable diet.  However, after the blow in my personal life, I feel into the rut of surviving the daily grind...shame on me!  The point is this, we all have had or will have stressful devestating events in our lives, but there is no good reason to allow them to keep us down.  Hopefully as time and space allow, I will share how things have gotten so much better.

Now back to "keep it simple":  There are a ton of exercise and diet plans out there...some of them are actually pretty decent.  I get nauseated at all of the infomercials I see for something like an Ab Blaster Max or Fat Zapper Plus showing pictures of people who are the one in 10,000 that have actually succeeded with the machine, plan, video....  Over the years I've read the packages for the dietary supplements, video exercise plans, and machines of torture 99% of which have buried in the information something to the effect of "success with this is best when used in conjunction with a healthy calorie controlled diet and regular exercise regimen".  In otherwords, they could sell you a multivitamin and a couple of rubber bands which when coupled with eating right and exercising will.....(drum roll please) lead to weight control and improved physical condition.  If you are one of the millions feeling bad about your weight and or physicial condition watching one of these commercials and thinking about ordering product/plan X.....DON'T!!!  Try first for 30 days marching in place in the living room or some other simple mundane physical activity for 20 minutes at a time 3-5 days/week.  If you cannot or will not do that, I promise you won't do it with the "magical" stuff you are seeing advertised.  If you are willing to do the mundane stuff for a month, then consider buying one of these other things as a reward to yourself.  The bottom line though comes back down to personal discipline....ouch! there's that word again.  Start small say 5-10 minutes/day for 3-5 days per week and build from there.  If you can establish a habit of exercising regularly for short periods of time, it will be much easier to build up to longer periods of 30-60 minutes.  Just something to think about.

A random start....at 5:09am

Well, I've pondered starting a blog in the past and here I am finishing of another night shift in the ER....why not start now?

It's my hope that sharing information, successes and failures will offer encouragement to other readers as they journey with me towards better health physically, emotionally and spiritually.  I am 47 years young with an amazing wife, 4 incredible kids teenage and young adult and work full time as an ER physician...so just like many of the rest of you younger or older, life is full of things that keep us "busy".  Being busy makes it difficult to adhere to a rigorous regular exercise program and increases temptation to eat out of convenience as well.  That said, it is not impossible to balance life and health....but it requires discipline.  Aaaaaaarrrrgghhhh!!!!  That word burns. 

As I attempt to journal/blog, I will do so with the goal of sharing past and present (and hopefully future) failures and successes in a way that will help us all have more successes and less failures.  Please join up and follow along and share your thoughts as well.  Hopefully we'll have some fun along the way!....but for now I have a patient to see.  Good night, er um morning!!!