The results are in

OK, I know it's been about two weeks since I last posted, but I wanted to wait until I got my full Wellness results back. I finally did, and now I can move forward. Here's what I took from it.

The good

• My blood lipid profile was excellent. My triglycerides, total cholesterol, HDL and LDL cholesterol, glucose and lipoprotein levels were all in optimal ranges.
• My "risk" factors are low, including not smoking, rare drinking, no diabetes, no signs of osteoporosis and somewhat regular physical activity.
• Upper body strength. I scored well on every category. The aide even said my grip strength score was "through the roof," which shocked me. I never thought I had a very strong grip.

The bad

• Nutrition. This comes as no surprise to me. I sorely need to eat more veggies, less red meat and less high-fat foods. The only area I scored particularly well in was my intake of whole-grain and wheat carbs that are low in high-fructose corn syrup and gluten.
• Flexibility. Although I've vastly improved since I lost weight, I still have a long way to go, scoring a little low on my sit-and-reach test.
• Body fat percentage. This is the big one. I scored a whopping 26.8 percent, which stunned me, even though I knew my percentage was going to be high. The charts map me in the "obese" category here, even though my weight (179 pounds) and waist (34 inches) measurements were only slightly high.

With this information, I have formulated a lofty goal with a tentative plan, aided by Gordon Gridley, a friend and fellow swimmer who has undergone an incredible transformation himself. I'll fill you in on that a little more later.

The goal

• To drastically improve my overall health by the time our baby is born. This gives me about 12 weeks, as he is due in early June. I need to set an example for my family, one that will stick and hopefully encourage a healthy lifestyle for both Jen and my son. I would like to drop my weight down to 165 pounds and my body fat percentage to less than 15 percent (eventually to less than 10 percent).

The plan

• Diet right. I've never actually "dieted" before, but I'm going for it. I started last Wednesday and have been using a very helpful tool on my iPad called MyFitnessPal. It's an incredible app that logs my diet and exercise, keeping track of my calories and nutrition with an exhaustive database of millions of foods. I don't have to drop calories drastically, only a little bit. I mostly need to focus on what calories I consume. I should consume less than 20 percent of my calories from fat (less than 10 percent in a perfect world), with a rough balance of 50 percent carbs (the right kind with less bad sugar) and 30 percent protein. The best part is, I don't have to do any friggin math. MyFitnessPal charts those percentages automatically for me as I enter my food after every meal.
• Exercise more often, but not necessarily for longer. I don't need to log hours upon hours of cardio like the people on The Biggest Loser do, but I need to get cardio sessions in more often and every day if possible. I've pretty much slacked off since last November, rarely working out more than 2-3 times per week. I've been at it for four straight days now (including five of the past six days) and I'm gaining steam. Depending on how fast I shed the fat/pounds, I will eventually start doing more weight-bearing and strengthening workouts to add muscle. I set a reasonable goal of about 1-1.5 pounds of weight loss per week for now. Another fun social media app called FourSquare helps keep me motivated. You "check in" on your iPad or iPhone wherever you are at and can try to become the "Mayor" of certain locations by having the most check ins at that spot. My goal is to be the Mayor of Planet Fitness in Roy by the time my son is born, which will be tough, because there are some regulars there that have logged a lot of check-ins.

So, that's the tentative plan. I will fill in more details as I report back every Wednesday for weekly follow-ups, starting tomorrow.

Cycling madness

It's strange how my exercise has evolved over the past two years. I started out doing primarily swimming, then added some running, then slowed down the swimming and added some cycling. After my shoulder and knee injuries, that's turned into mostly cycling with a bit of running and almost no swimming.

My shoulder still hurts on a regular basis, despite hitting the pool only a few times this past month. I'm truly just weary of going back to the doctor, so I can get another bullshit diagnosis that doesn't tell me anything new and doesn't offer any new way to fix it. I'm no doctor, but I really think my rotator cuff is torn, especially after reading about Gordon's surgery and the type of pain he had before it. That would explain why it continues to hurt even though I rarely swim and I regularly do the tendinitis strengthening exercises I was given after my last visit to the clinic.

Oh well. Tons of cycling seems to be working for now, although I miss the water so much. I just don't consider myself a dryland guy. Prospects for a new job are in the works and with Jen being pregnant, I want to start fresh with a new workout regimen and better diet when the new year starts. I have to set an example for the rest of the family.

Today though, I just rode the bike before doing some light lifting and ab work. I signed up for a 30-minute circuit training session at my gym tomorrow, so I'm kind of excited for it.

Total distance: 9.7 miles cycling

Break from rest

I haven't worked out at all since last Friday, trying to let my body rest up, recover and taper for Bear Lake next Saturday. Today I went to the gym just to get my heart rate up a bit and warm up my muscles.
I kept it short and sweet, riding 20 minutes on the bike and then doing a quick one-mile sprint on the treadmill. I followed it up with some light weight work on my legs and arms, doing nothing that would put strain on my shoulders. No ab work today, though. Maybe tomorrow.

I was particularly inspired today knowing Gords was in the middle of crossing the English Channel, even as I type. He's kicking ass so far, well on his way to accomplishing the monumental feat. You can track his progress here. http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=08lOCEPFE797pCPfsKG2qcDWn6FPhNKBE. Also, I watched the finish of the women's open-water marathon at the Olympics on the TV while on the treadmill. Exciting stuff. I'm so amped for Bear Lake, even if it surely will hurt like hell.

Total distance: 5.65 miles cycling, 1 mile running

Early bird: 8,500 yards sucka!!

I wanted to get in one last big swim for July, so I got up SUPER early this morning for a long swim in the pool. The weather forecast showed a possibility for rain at Pineview, so I didn't want to risk it. That meant I had to get up even earlier, because the lap swim hours at the rec center go from 5-9 a.m. I took a half-dose of a sleep aid to help me fall asleep early and I was up at 6 a.m. sharp.

The clock in my car just as I left the house. Yuck...

I was in the pool by 6:30 and it was surprisingly busy. The lifeguard said it's usually pretty crowded in the early-morning hours. I'm glad I'm not a morning person. Anyway, I was able to snag a half-lane and got to work. I stretched a bunch after warming up my arms before taking off and it helped, because I settled in quickly. Normally, my arms don't loosen up until about 1,000 yards, but I was good to go after 500. I brought some treats (Cliff GuChomps and a PowerBar Energy Gel) to feed on every 45 minutes, trying to down them quickly, so I could simulate open-water feeding.

After the first 45 minutes, I was going strong, just over 1.5 miles. By the second feeding, I slowed down a bit, but only about 2 minutes off my earlier pace, so I was happy with that. By the time the third and final stop came around, my shoulders were getting tired and starting to hurt. Usually, my bad shoulder is the only one that starts to hurt, but both were by this point. I was almost at 4.5 miles, so I slowed down my pace and eventually switched into breaststroke for the final 500 yards or so, not wanting to injure myself. When lap swim ended at 9 a.m., my watch read 2:32.07 and I didn't quite reach five miles, but I came close. It's still my high for 2012 by far.

Note the suction lines around my eyes. And I look sort
of cross-eyed staring into the little camera on my phone. Ha!

I'm glad I got up early and did it, but my eye sockets are hurting. That's a lot of suction on the skin. I look super racoonish today. I am ordering some new goggles this week for open water swimming, which hopefully, will be more comfortable. The ones I have are great and have served me well, but they are meant more for pool training and hurt after a while in longer distances. Gords (who is just about set to swim the English Channel) recommends a few different pairs, and they are both reasonably priced, so I'll probably order one today.

P.S.: I barely eclipsed the 20-mile mark for this month, making up for a crappy June.

Total distance: 8,500 yards (4.86 miles)

Double dip with a little salt

Today was such a wonderful day for swimming. First, I hit the pool for a nice easy mile early this afternoon. I actually did it, to make sure I was getting a decent amount of yardage in, just in case I didn't do to much in the Great Salt Lake open water clinic in the evening.

View from the top of the boat ramp before I jumped in.

I was stunned to see how many people were at the marina when I arrived around 5:45. Josh and Gords have really done a great job with these and more and more people seem to be interested in open water because of these two guys. They did a nice little talk, going over some of the basics of open water and then we all jumped in.

I kind of felt like an overeager fool at first, because after the "lesson" I was the first one in the water. I was pretty amped and immediately took off before the rest of the group. I finally purchased a Safe Swimmer from Josh and I was excited to try it out, so I set out for a buoy Josh told me about a little earlier. I seemed to hit the buoy in no time and flipped around to head back up to the boat ramp. I passed the group on my way back and it seemed like they were heading out to the same white buoy.

I'm so happy I bought one of these. I was pleasantly surprised with it today.

The salt wasn't bothering me nearly as much as it did last year, and it was nice to be able to stop once I reached the buoy and pull my bottle of water out of the Safe Swimmer to rinse out my mouth a bit. I did the same thing once I returned to the boat ramp. I was feeling good, so I went right back out and once I swam out of the marina, I saw Josh and Chad by a different buoy (green one this time) and swam to meet them. It was nice to finally meet Chad and chat with the two of them for 30 minutes or so, floating lazily in the warm Great Salt Lake water, while we waited for the rest of the swimmers to all finish up and return to the ramp. I'm not positive how many yards I swam, but Josh gave me some rough calculations based off his GPS, so I think I guessed fairly accurate.

The lake was so calm and the weather was perfect. I didn't think I'd be so excited for next week's race, especially after the experience I had last year, but thanks to today, I feel much more confident about it.

P.S.: I really need to invest in a waterproof camera, so I can take some good shots during swims, now that my open water season has officially began.

Total distance: 4,200 yards (sum of both swims)

Sluggish one-mile test

I was determined to set a new one-mile pool best today. However, three things didn't bode in my favor. First, I stayed up way too late, playing video games with Kelly, Zack and Wes, so I woke up with only an hour of lap-swim time remaining. Second, while in the pool, stupid kids were messing around in my lane during lap swim, which was really distracting, when I got kicked in the face twice. The Roy Rec Center is usually pretty good about keeping them out, but hey, at least I got some open-water "combat swimming" experience. Haha! And third, my shoulder is still effing sore. I think I did too many bloody push-ups earlier this week and it hasn't fully recovered.

Anyway, I still felt relatively good during my swim. I gave it everything I had and for the first time in a long while, I honestly thought I might puke once I finished. I was encouraged until I looked at my watch and it read 28:51. Crap!! I didn't even beat my best mark for 2012 (28:47), let alone my all-time high (28:36). I'm sure I didn't lose count this time, and its frustrating to see that you only missed a mark by just 15 seconds over the time span of almost a half-hour. That's less than a half-second per lap difference.

Oh well. When I left, they had another 50-mile swim certificate waiting for me at the front desk. That's the third one I've earned and call me a 7-year-old child, but I took it home and slapped it on the fridge. Yes!!!

On a side note, Gordon showed me the design for the GSL marathon swim medals yesterday, and I thought it was pretty dang cool. I love the local "brine shrimp" tribute. That's only one of many reasons GSL is unique, so I think the design was particularly cool.

Total distance: 2,850 yards

Speed sets kicking my a$$

A week ago, I received the newest issue of Swimmer in the mail. There was a fun little article about developing a sense of pace and getting better at negative splitting long sets. With only five weeks left until the Great Salt Lake swim, I figured it's probably time to work on my speed a little more, now that my distances are on the rise. Doing one mile is no sweat now. I'm actually almost back up to three miles again. But I want to smash my time from last year's GSL 1-mile swim, so I'm going to focus on speed a little more, at least for the next month or so.

The newest edition of Swimmer.

A few days ago, Gordon blogged about Brandon Slaugh, who won the GSL swim with a time of 26:17 last year. That's pretty dang fast and the dude did it backstroking the whole way. I finished in 33:39 (13th out of 23, and 8th out of 15 non-wet suit swimmers). I'd love to be able to get around 28 minutes this time, perhaps finishing in the top 10 overall and top 5 in the non-wet suit category..

Warm up
200 free
Core
10 x 100 free (on 1:30, rest 20 seconds)
4 x 200 free (on 3:15, rest 20 seconds)
250 sprint
Cool down
300 breast and free (alternating every 50)

The sets were seriously tough. There's a huge difference between being able to go long distances at a leisurely pace and being able to do those same long distances quick and getting faster as you go. Today was a big wake-up call. Just the 100 free sets were difficult to keep my time. Twice I ascending to 1:31, which isn't good, but once I descended down to 2:49. I kept the rest of them consistent, though. However, I was able to negative split the 200s, doing 3:16, 3:15, 3:15 and 3:13. Still, that's only 1800 yards (about a mile) and I had 20-second breathers between them. I need to be able to drop those times a bit and slowly eliminate the breathers.

Total distance: 2,550 yards

Already excited for open water season

Yesterday, I got the latest issue of Swimmer Magazine in the mail. Almost the entire issue is dedicated to open water swimming. It has articles discussing feeding, safety devices, the top open water swims in the world and even a story on people having heart attacks during cold-water swims. Just thumbing through it was getting me amped for my first full open water season.

Gordon Gridley introduced me to the sport a few months into last season, so I didn't get to experience it from start to finish. This year, I already own a kayak, which technically isn't mine, but the owners live overseas now, so until they return, it's safe to assume it's mine. The real challenges will be getting my shoulder back into ship-shape for open water marathons and talking Jen into paddling for me during the weekends.

Gords, Josh Green, and Goody Tyler have been doing a ton of distance stuff in preparation for their big open water swims this year and I'm super jealous. Gords is swimming the English Channel, Josh is swimming the full length of Bear Lake and Goody is tackling the Catalina Channel. All three are monster swims of 20 miles or longer. I'll be fortunate to pull off my first 10k swim at Deer Creek in August. Hopefully, when my swimming and stamina have improved, I'll be able to meet up with those guys more often.

Anyway, I hit the pool for my second swim of the week today. I got there a little late, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to do a ton of yards, so I got in as many as I could before they kicked me out.

Here's what I did.

Warm up
100 free
Core
500 free (bilateral breathing)
4 X 200 alternating 150 free, 50 breast
Cool down
100 breast

It was all I could manage in just under 25 minutes, before the pool closed, but I was super stoked to swim a full 500 yards with bilateral breathing. I'd been having a hard time with just 150 yards in multiple sets, but I found that after about 250, I got into a bit of a rhythm and it got much easier. Distance swimming is nice like that. It really isn't that much compared to the thousands of yards I used to swim consecutively before, but this bilateral breathing thing is a whole different beast. I'm excited to try a longer one next week.

Total distance: 1,500 yards

Recapping my big 2011

It's crazy to think 2011 is almost over. I know everyone says that about every year, but this year was of particular significance to me. For those of you who don't know, I went and got my yearly check-up with the doctor in February. I knew I had gained a lot of weight since graduating from high school and even more so after I got married. But the doctor told me I was at a dangerous juncture in my life where I could really start to let myself go if I don't makes some changes my lifestyle now. I weighed in at 215, which was technically in the obese category and my blood work showed I had slightly elevated cholesterol, which shouldn't ever be a problem for a 24-year-old.

So, on Valentine's Day, I made a promise to Jen that I'd lose some weight and stop eating take-out so much. The fast food is a problem we've both had since getting hitched. I probably hadn't been to the gym in over a year, so I went and bought one of those "Biggest Loser" living-room workout videos. I was embarrassed to buy it, at first and I was even more embarrassed when I first started doing the 30-minute workouts. I was in such terrible shape and the first day almost killed me (I'm not exaggerating. I almost called in sick to work.). But after a while, doing the video six days a week, it started to get easier. I did those for about six weeks, and immediately dropped 10 pounds.

In April, I started mixing in a little bit of running. I started doing 1-mile runs around the neighborhood once a week, and by the first day of May, I pulled off my first 5k run at the Roy High track on a Sunday afternoon. I honestly almost broke down in tears, I was so excited, but I held them back, because Jen was with me and probably would think I was being over dramatic. Haha.

Also, during May, I wanted to see how I'd fare in a swimming pool. I probably hadn't swam laps in almost two years. It was hard at first, doing only a few hundred yards at a time, but I quickly realized how much I had forgotten about its benefits. I wrote about my exercise exploits on my work blog for the Standard-Examiner and about my renewed love for swimming and a local swimmer named Gordon Gridley (or Gords for those who know him) commented on it, recommending I try swimming in the 1st-annual Great Salt Lake open water marathon, which he was organizing in June. I was on the fence at first, but my friend Kelly wanted to start swimming again, as well, so we decided that would be a fun thing to try out.

Kelly and I registered as U.S. Masters Swimming members, so we could track our exercise progress and get ready for the big 1-mile race. By race day, I was down to 198 pounds and it was pretty fun, so we signed up for August's Deer Creek open water marathon. I met Josh Green, another local swimmer, who organized the 1-mile portion at the GSL race and I got a lot of good swim advice from him and Gordon over the next few months. Open water swimming was entirely new to me, given I swam in the safe confines of a lap pool in high school and the two of them have been a great source of inspiration to me this year.

Kelly and I trained pretty hard for our 5k swim at Deer Creek and that's when my shoulder pain first arrived. It was pretty bad at first, but I got some medication which helped me keep up my training regimen until the race. The race was awesome and my weight was down to 188 by then. I set my sights on the 5-mile race at Lake Mead's Slam the Dam, which was slated for October and I kept pushing through the pain. Unfortunately, a scheduling issue at work wouldn't allow me to take my vacation time and compete in the race. I was so disappointed, I decided to stage a 5-mile swim of my own, since I trained for the damn thing after all. So on Sept. 26, I went to the Roy Recreation Center bright and early, set out some Gatorade and Gel packs on the pool deck and went for it. And to my surprise, it was cake. I did it in just over 2 1/2 hours, but my joy didn't last long, for my shoulder was hurting worse than ever in the weeks that followed.

In late August, I had started supplementing my running and swimming with some work on the stationary bike. I hoped if I took it easy on the swimming and did more biking instead, my shoulder would heal. Unfortunately, it didn't and my doctor told me I needed an MRI to see if it requires surgery. I ignored him, because I couldn't afford it on my health insurance until the new year started (reset my deductible) and I kept swimming until mid November. I participated in the South Davis Masters swim meet, and a week later I did my first sprint triathlon at Weber State with Kelly and Jessica. Both events were a blast, but I finally had to throw in the towel, because it became too painful to swim more than a few hundred yards.

In the past six weeks, I've amped up my running and cycling and I'm training for my first 10k run, which is next week. Unfortunately, I'm now battling foot and knee pain, but that's life, I guess. I did a few light swims this month, but nothing major. My weight loss has slowed significantly, but I'm still losing, not gaining. I now weigh about 180 (35-pound loss so far) and I can see major changes in my body from the weight training I added to my routine about two months ago. I want to start swimming seriously again as soon as possible, but January still may be out of the question. I have an appointment with the doctor on Jan. 5, so I can finally fork out the money and start the process of rehabbing my shoulder. I'm still in the process of setting goals for 2012, so I'll have those ready to post by Saturday.

Thanks again to Gordon, Josh, Kelly, Jessica and most-of-all, Jen for all your support through this long process. It's been a helluva year, and outside of my injuries, which come with the territory, I'm now healthier than I've been in almost seven years. I still have a long way to go, but I'm looking forward to it.

Polar bear swim and tri training

I haven't hit the pool all week until today. Partly because I'm trying to taper for my swim meet on Saturday, but mostly because my shoulder pain has returned. It came out of nowhere over the weekend, which baffles me, because I haven't been logging a ton of yards.


I was scared to death of the 46 degree water.

 

Anyway, I finally hit the pool again today, but took it easy on my shoulder and simply worked on my turns and starts. I haven't been slacking off in the cardio department, though. Kelly and I ran the 5k course for our sprint triathlon on Monday and then we ran the same course on top of doing the 10 bike course yesterday. I did another easy 4 miles on the stationary bike today along with some light weight training before going down to the pool.

Also, I participated in my first polar bear swim with Josh, Gordon and Jake later in the evening at Bountiful Lake. The sun was almost set and I was pretty nervous. Josh measured the water at about 46 degrees and Gordon measured it at about 43. It didn't end up being much of a swim, for I jumped in and simply couldn't bear the cold and I got right out. Not Gordon though. He just dove in and went for it, swimming the 200 yards from the dock to the boat ramp. Yeah I know, I'm a sissy. It was nice to get to meet Gordon and Josh for the first time in person though, although it was under chilly circumstances.

On a negative note, I had my goggles on top of my cap when I jumped in. I must have been too caught up in worrying about the cold that I forgot to strap them over my eyes. I couldn't find them afterward and looked at a video Jen recorded, revealing that I lost them when I took the plunge. I loved those goggles, but they now rest at the bottom of the lake. Sad day....

Total distance: 600 yards