2011 Mileage Goals

Goals for 2011: Swim, Bike, Run, Strength

489 hours total

Swim: 200000 yards

Bike: 2750 miles

Run: 600 miles

Strength: 49 hours

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2010 Training Totals

2010 Training Totals

Bike Totals: 1790.7 miles    135.74 hours    13.19 avg mph   119 bikes total   15 miles avg per bike ride

Run Totals: 462.35 miles     114.27 hours     4.04 avg mph   141 runs total    3.2 mi avg per run

Swim Totals: 96773 yards    33.69 hours     2872 yards per hour    53 swims  

Strength: 19.7 hours

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Cant Sleep, ramblings

I'm bumming. I wanted to go swim in a lake tomorrow morning but my sudden insomnia seems to be taking over. Plus it'll be around 44 degrees in the morning so yeah it is probably not going to happen.

My 10 miler will though. I'm fighting through some issues that are common I think for first timers completing a half marathon program. ITB irritation, lower back pain. Shin splints. In other words I need to strengthen my core and butt. I used to lift all the time but now not so much. Need to get lifting again. Movement prep and prehab too.

Good news if the rest of the year goes as planned, I'll have completed close to 300 hours of exercise. Thanks to Trainingpeaks.com (free plug) I can track quite easy. My ATP had 377 for the year but Appendicitis, food poisoning, and living with three little germ breeding monkeys made me come up a little short. However! That is more then I've exercised in more then 7 years combined! So positivity here is welcome and appreciated!

My diet leaves somethings to be desired but I've lost 30 lbs this year and have kept it off. I feel better then I ever have really since I married Summer. At that time I was in the best shape of my life.

So progress. It's a good thing. I recognize it, I appreciate it, and I'm grateful for it.

We're going to be welcoming a new little spirit into our home soon. I pray the birth of our daughter goes off without a hitch. We'll have four now. A lot of responsibility but a lot of fun too. Sometime after the New Year we should meet her!

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Posterous iPhone App? Awesome!

Just downloaded the new Posterous app for iPhone. It works great!

My Tri season is winding down. Summer is pregnant with our fourth child and is due in late January 2011. I'm training with a run focus to complete a half marathon on Jan 1st or so.

I ran my numbers for the year and also all my numbers since I started to train for endurance events in September 2009. The stats were very illuminating! More to come.

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Check out what Ray is up to in DC! DCrainmaker.com....Want a free Timex Global Trainer GPS sports watch? Enter the giveaway! http://ow.ly/2PRIY

Florida Challenge Olympic Triathlon-September 12, 2010

Florida Challenge Olympic Triathlon

September 12, 2010

It’s been a few weeks since I raced my first Olympic Distance Triathlon. 2010 has been a great year for me with my weight loss and my health in general. But the Florida Challenge would definitely live up to its name.

I picked this race because it was in my neck of the woods and it was during the right time for me with my training. I gave myself a good year to get into the kind of shape where I could complete the race and not die or pass out.

I planned to complete around 350 hours for the year. This is low for an Olympic and mid range for a Sprint distance season from what I have found on the interwebs.

Two weeks before the race, my family and I went to Washington D.C. to visit the sights and the awesome Smithsonian Museumsdf. The trip was great but on the way back we all caught a serious case of food poisoning. It was horrible. I have never been so sick. Eight hours of constant vomiting and diarrhea. Not fun. I don’t think I ever really recovered from that food poisoning when race day came. I realize now I was dehydrated and sick.

I picked up my packet early so I didn’t need to be there super early for transition. I set up my stuff and went to the swim start. Summers brought the kids with her and bless her she is 5 months pregnant and they weren’t great for her at all.  The swim start was delayed because the Half-iron race started first and they needed to move the buoys in from 1.2 miles to the .93 miles. A lot of the spectators were saying that the half-iron swim was long. The best female was at 35 minutes or so. They brought the buoys in but it seemed it was still longer than normal. The swim started, we were to swim in a weird square counter-clockwise. I positioned myself to the far right of the start to stay clear of the fast swimmers. We started and it was alright at first, the water was warm and the visibility wasn’t great but it was a lake so I expected that. I got a little panicky after 5 minutes or so. The swim seemed so slow. I was swimming at my race pace I thought, 2:15 per 100 or so but it took forever to get to the first buoy. I settled in and didn’t really have a problem sighting since the buoys were nice and large. For some reason Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody came into my mind so that helped me get through the swim. Turns out I was like 4 or 5 to last. At the end a black guy in a TYR speed suit passed me doing a breast stroke which was disheartening. The swim took 53:25 or so. Now if do the math that means 3:14 per 100 pace for the 1500 meter swim. I don’t think I can swim that slow freestyle if I tried, maybe breast stroke or back stroke but not that slow. I think the swim was .25 mile long. Which meant the swim the half-iron was long too, I was proud of myself I finished it. The swim always makes me apprehensive before the race.

Transition 1 went fine.  Ran in got my bike shoes, helmet, socks on and headed out. 24.85 miles awaited me. A really big hill was immediately after the exit and I was in a big gear so that sucked. Not a great start to the bike. And it would get worse.  I had a bagel with peanut butter and oatmeal for breakfast on race day. Pretty soon on the bike I started to burp up the peanut butter and bagel. Not good. I started to drink to try and hydrate, but the drinks were orange Accelerade with Crystal light extra flavoring. I usually do fine with that mixture but that day it was undrinkable. I drank about half a bottle on the bike but couldn’t drink anymore it was too sweet. All I had besides the drinks was GU gels which were gross too. So I was unable to feed or hydrate and my stomach was not cooperating with severe stomach cramps. My head got super heavy and I almost passed out on the bike a couple of times. I got to the last turn around and got a fresh bottle of water. I dumped most of it on my head and it felt so good! That helped, but only temporarily. About five miles from the Transition I started having worse cramps and I knew I needed a porta potty ASAP. Of course none were found on the bike. So I had to settle for a big oak tree off the road. Hopefully no one saw me but I couldn’t help myself, I was very sick. I got back on the bike and tried to make it to the bike finish. The hills of Clermont were no joke. It was 95 degrees and the heat index was 121 degrees.  I almost quit on the bike. My head was hard to keep up and I felt nauseous and gross after the side of the road incident. But I made it in. I went to transition and thought about quitting so more. I was really close to calling it a day but I noticed that my heart rate wasn’t skyrocketing or super high. It was high but not so much that I needed to quit. So I decided to coat myself in some more sun screen and head out on the run which would be walk.

For the run/walk, I decided I would walk for at least the first two miles. Maybe for the last four I would feel better. But the first two miles had me contemplating quitting still even after the T1 revelation. But I made it to the first aid station and dunked my head in cold water, drank a little coke, drank a lot of water, and starting taking Endurolytes, which are electrolytes in pill form. Those I think would save my day. I started this routine with each aid station. It got me through. I finished in 5:15 or so dead last for the Olympic distance.  In fact on the results they didn’t have my run time so maybe they closed the race and didn’t realize? I don’t care really I finished it and met one of my goals for the year.

Things I learned…

-do more bricks! I don’t think I was ready for the Oly distance switchover from swim to bike and bike to run. I did some bricks but with short bikes after swims or short runs after bikes.

-ride the race course earlier or close to the race course. Clermont is not Florida. Florida is flat and Clermont is NOT! Over 3k of climbing on a 25 mile course, I was not prepared for that.

-food poisoning is serious business and it kicked my butt and altered my race. Don’t know what I could have done with that.

-change my nutrition for Oly or longer races. My nutrition sucked and didn’t help my weakened condition on race day.

But overall I’m happy with it in perspective. It didn’t go my way or anywhere near where I’d hoped. Especially since I hoped to finish in 3:30 or so and I ended up at 5:15.

I didn’t quit and I finished so I’m satisfied. Two weeks later I’m thinking that although I finished I hurt myself more by keeping going. I lost a lot of fitness. My bike and run splits are down, down to what they used to be. I guess I am recovering but man it sucks.

 

Next year, a half-ironman distance race! 

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Heartland Sprint Triathlon-Sebring FL June 20, 2010
I didn’t realize at first that this was father’s day! For many months I had planned for this race and didn’t realize that it would fall not only on father’s day but my second son Jacob’s 7^th birthday.  We celebrated Jakey’s birthday on Friday.  And I celebrated father’s day way early with a new iPad several weeks before.  So I had that going for me which was nice.

I made a reservation for the Residence Inn in Sebring. We drove down in the early evening. I was originally going to go by myself but I convinced Summer into bringing the kids since it was Father’s day and all. So we set off and got there around 8:30 pm.  Luckily, the race allowed race morning packet pick up so we didn’t have to rush. I took a couple of Advil PMs and went to bed early to get up at 6 am for the race!

I got up and hit snooze on my iPhone several times, making me late. The hotel was only a couple of miles from transition. So I decided to go get signed in, set up transition and then come back and pick up the kids and Summy. Well that didn’t work out. I got there got my chip, and transition set up, and had a whooping  15 minutes to spare before the first swim wave took off.  I called Summer and explained the situation and she wasn’t too disappointed. Since we find out we’re expecting our 4^th child, she has had serious problems with morning sickness and nausea. So running around downtown Sebring stuck for the whole 2 hour race was probably not her most exciting idea. So I was on my own. Ironic I thought since I was expecting to do rice by myself anyway!

I made my way to the swim down the hill. The swim was in Lake Jackson, once out of the lake we had to run up a hill through sand to the transition area. I waded out to the swim start. It was very shallow for awhile and I had a chance to swim a little bit to warm up. I had a yellow cap so that meant I was the in the fourth wave. Each wave started four minutes apart with the start at 7:30 am. So I meandered over to the swim start. It was .25 mile square, that started and finished about 50 yards out in the water so I would have a little jog up the hill to the bike portion.

I went to the far right of the start since I didn’t want a mash up for the start. I knew I would swim a little bit farther but I didn’t want to get hit too much. The swim went great except I didn’t start my watch at the beginning so I don’t know what my true swim was since the race time is off due to all the running in from the water and beach to the timing mat. I didn’t go really fast, the race said 2:45 every 100 yards so it was 440 yards so the race way 12 minutes or so.

The T1 time was five minutes and most of that was getting sand off my feet. I hate the sand. I would go to the beach more often if it wasn’t for the sand! T1 took almost 6 minutes but again most of that was running to T1. I took off on the bike without much trouble and headed out.

The bike was a lap around Lake Jackson with some machinations at the end into some orange groves and then back into transition. I was ready to hammer and pound away in the big ring since it was race day and I had done SO much zone 2 little ring training sessions. My bike was tuned up and ready and no longer had the annoying click from a loose bottom bracket. I felt great on the bike. Things were coming smoothly and I was passing people. Pretty soon I realized I was over 21 mph for the first few miles. I didn’t stay in aero as much as I wanted. My HR was around 160 bpm for the whole bike ride and my mph was 18.4! A new PR for sure; one of my goals for this season was to average 17 mph for the whole bike leg in a race. I didn’t care if it was a super sprint, or the Olympic. But I did it! Feels great.

T2 went by in just a couple of minutes. Ran in dumped the bike switched shoes, put on my hat, ditched the iPhone and took off. The first mile was absolute torture! I was with some middle aged women who were complaining the whole time. One lady kept saying, “see you at the finish” as you passed her walking then she would start to run and pass you! And on it went over and over with several different people. She was annoying. Eventually she stopped running and started walking I guess since I never saw her again. The run was around downtown Sebring and then they ran us right by the finish, and back around to the finish line. I walked the aid stations at every mile. I ran the rest of the way except for a minute or two in a grass section after mile 1. It was really a gulch by the railroad tracks. I hate grass! I ran the rest of the way in and passed some more walkers, but more runners passed me. I even saw one girl who was doing the race as a relay walking! She was so skinny and walking a 5k. Here I am 300+ and running most of the way after doing the whole race. She still beat me.  I made the final turn and sprinted through the finish. The 5k was done in 40:25. The time at the finish line was 1:59:30, but I knew since I was in the 4^th wave it was quicker than that.
My goal for the race was 1:55 or faster, and I ended doing the race in 1:48 or so and with a new PR in the bike leg and run leg. The bike leg was 2 mph faster than ever before and the 5k was 15 seconds faster.  The swim sucks at this point. I haven’t put as much time into as I’d like simply because it’s a hassle to get to the pool and work around pool schedules. Sometimes I feel like I’m getting slower with my swimming.
The rest though is going great. I am definitely in favor of zone 2 training for a base.
Next up is the Florida Challenge Olympic Distance in September which will be hilly and hot. But it’s my A race and I hope to be under 300 lbs for that race. That would be awesome!

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Waldo Tri Race Report

Waldo Sprint Triathlon 3/7/10 Race Report

I was a little depressed at first going to this event because my family wouldn’t be there to cheer for me. My wife Summer and I just received a new calling in our church which requires one of us to teach every Sunday so she stayed in Apopka with the kids. I hadn’t been getting very good sleep the past two days since I was debating on whether or not to attend the Biggest Loser Casting call in Tampa. Eventually I decided to not attend the casting call since I had already sent a tape in and it would screw up my timing with my race. My weight loss and health is a marathon, a process, which might take years, and pipe dreams of a cool weight loss reality show may not help that.

So I drove up to Gainesville. Made a stop to pick up some GU Tri-berry like I like and also picked up a running hat and something to wear before the race since there was a FREEZE alert for all of Alachua County. That made for wonderful thoughts about the upcoming swim! I got dinner at Texas Roadhouse to go, ate light, and took 3 Advil PM to make sure I got my sleep.  I feel asleep at like 8:30 pm watching a really cool HBO sports documentary about Magic and Bird. I woke up at 4:45 am. I was disoriented at first but I realized where I was. I dreamt about playing High School football again and my coach was Bill Clinton, go figure.  It was a long vivid dream too. I felt like I was sleeping in when I got out of bed at 7:00 am. That meant 11 hours of sleep which made up for past two nights of 5 hours of sleep.

I was greeted at my car to a completely frosted windshield. The temp said 34 degrees on instrument panel. Took a minute to defrost and I drove the 30 minutes to Waldo. On my arrival, there were a lot of people riding their tri-bikes, getting warmed up. Thankfully, the start time was 9:00 am. Good thing or we all would have frozen to death! I checked in and asked what the water temp was…. The answer I got was a balmy 60 degrees! Wonderful! My previous lake swim at Lucky’s was at 64 degrees so I knew what I was up against. I had a secret weapon though, my Blue Seventy neoprene swim cap! I loaded the transition area with all of my crap, and started to put my wetsuit on. I couldn’t get it zipped! I had to ask my neighbor in the Transition area to help me out and she did. Triathletes are so nice! I put my caps on and made my way down to the water.  I got in immediately; I knew that if I didn’t get in right away I would get the shock of the cold water and start to freak out slowing me down.  I did a few little laps and put my face in and blew bubbles. I wasn’t that bad! My arms and feet went numb but my head was warm.  I stayed in the water until the start. It was a waist deep start.

The Swim 750M

The countdown ended and off we went! I had positioned myself on the left hand side towards the back and I let a lot of people go in front of me since I knew that most were going to swim faster then I. I was surprised at how easy and calm I was during the swim. There was some bumping and kicking going on too. It was kind of fun! This was the first real mass swim start in my short racing career. I stopped at each one and in retrospect should have just kept going at each one. They kept occurring until the third buoy. The course was a large triangle with three buoys in the straight away. My time in the water was 18:16 which meant about 2:03/per 100 swam. A new PR, pretty fast, the time seemed like it took forever. Since I had my wetsuit I was able to use my HR monitor belt so I was able to see for once what my HR is on my swim. The average HR was around 148 bpm and 154 was the max. Not bad I guess. Don’t really have a benchmark but when I count my HR at the pool it is around 132 or so. This swim really makes me excited to go back to the Lucky’s Lake Swim and get better at the Open water thing. I really enjoyed it even though it was freezing!

T1

Once out of the water you had to run out and into transition which was a little run. They did the timing all by hand by giving your number to volunteers as you entered and exited transition. Hardly scientific.  I should have stripped the wetsuit while I was doing the run up but I didn’t think of that. It took me about 5 minutes get the suit off and to do the sock, sock, shoe, shoe, glasses, helmet, go! Got on the bike and headed out.

The Bike 20K

The bike was an out and back on the rural roads of Waldo Florida. The terrain was mostly rough black top with gentle rolling hills that were deceiving as I drove them the day before the race. I envisioned myself challenging one of my goals for the season which was to stay at 17 mph for the bike leg of a race. I ended up at 16.2 mph which is a new PR for that distance. I stayed in the big ring and switched between the middle three gears in the back ring for most of the ride. I tried to get Aero for as much as I could but I worried about hydration for the run so I sat more then I wanted to. Plus my HR was spiking after T1 and I wanted to calm it down. It came down but stayed around 158 or so for the duration of the bike. Which reminds me, I’m going to change my limits on my Polar HR monitor for race day, and it drove me nuts all day since I kept it from my base training. Going to put it up to 170 or so for races from now on; other than that the ride was uneventful. I saw a girl cheat at the turn around and cut the bike short by a quarter mile. I didn’t see her number or I would have reported her. I don’t generally mind cutting corners but not in a race. What’s the point? Why race? I motored in on the bike and thought that I had beat my goal of 45 minutes. I was actually short by about a minute. Bike leg was 46:09.

T2

T2 was inconsequential. I dumped the bike put the running shoes and hat on and headed out. You had to run back to the lake and then back to transition then head out to the course for the 5k run. 

The Run 5K

My plan was run 8 min take 2 min off for the run leg. But I thought in the back of my head, if I felt good I would keep running tackling another goal I set for this season which was to run the whole run leg of one race. Out of transition the HR was spiking again. I couldn’t do more than 5 minutes before walking for two. I never walked for more than two minutes the whole run. I think I walked 4 times. After you passed transition you ran a square in a park which was cross country type running. I didn’t like that at all. I hadn’t trained for it and wasn’t prepared for it. I was going fast but my HR spiked again. I lasted 6 min before walking. Finally I got out into the roads where you would run into a neighborhood and then back to the finish. The run in the neighborhood was great. I got some water took a GU gel and made up some time I think. I made my way back to the park almost done. For some reason I thought I had to run to the lake again to get to the finish so I stopped and walked again like 200 yards from the finish! Stupid! I ran in and finished 1:53:46. My goal was to beat 2:00 and I demolished it! I just wished I had run the rest of the way! My run time was 40:43 and I would have beat 40 minutes easy if I hadn’t had stopped. I didn’t even sprint the finish. A little disappointing but not really, I’m proud of myself.

I improved so much. My swim time was a revelation. Slow but better and the cold water really had me worried. People drown in lakes you know.  The bike was good. I look back at my rides and none of them are in the 16 mph range. So that’s better too! And the run was awesome! Ran harder than I thought I could, and I know I could have run harder. Today the day after, my quads are killing me and my calves are shredded too. Need to do some more movement prep and hit the not foam roller.  Next race up is the Super Sprint tri in Clermont at Lake Louisa in April. Should be super-fast.

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Lucky's Lake Swim

So I've been trying to convince myself to go down to the Lake Swim that is available to people in the Orlando area on early morning weekdays and Saturdays. A 500 meter swim both ways equal 1k. I have told myself several friday nights that I would head down and complete the swim as I went to bed only to talk myself out of it by being saying the weather was too cold and that I didn't want to drown!

My brother bought me an Xterra Wetsuit for my birthday and it arrived early this week. Now my excuses were evaporating quickly..... I still almost talked myself out of it. I couldn't sleep didn't get to bed until 1:30 am. I kept reading Ironman Ambition by John Callos and The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley, both readings made me more stressed by my impending challenge. It was one of those few moments in my life when I knew I shouldn't be doing something because I wasn't adequately prepared but I was going to do it anyway.

Summer wasn't going to come with me and I really wanted her to be there. We struck a deal and she said she would come. I woke up really early for a Saturday... 6 am. And we picked up two stragglers, Jacob and his friend Ethan whose family staying with us temporarily. Off we went for a quick 20 minute drive.

Once you get there, it is a huge house on a huge lot with the word's Aquatica on the gate with little iron swimmers on the fence. You drive down to the front of the house and then walk to the back yard to the dock where the swim starts.....

We got there too early and we waited for nearly 25 minutes with kids. Summer is a saint for dealing with them. I was useless cause I was nervous! Eventually a few men came to the dock there was one woman. They seemed very familiar with each other, some had swum there many times before it seemed. It was a little surreal because I had watched this many times on YouTube and on the website.

I got ready zipped up the wetsuit and got in the water.... FREEZING! The thermometer at dockside said 64.2 degrees Fahrenheit. I waited for everyone to go ahead of me which I think was a mistake. I had a pool noodle attached to my foot for safety.  First thing I noticed, after doing the breaststroke for awhile to get used to the water, was that I couldn't put my head in the water without losing my breath. I tried several times and I couldn't do it! I tried to do the Freestyle without putting my head under the water and I got tired really quickly. My wetsuit was so tight and I was very uncomfortable, and cold. I looked at my watch and a whopping 4 minutes had gone by. Plus my pool noodle was annoying me. I had run a string through the noodle and then tied that off to a ankle strap that surfer's use to attach themselves to their boards. The string kept getting caught on my toes and getting caught dragging the noodle. I got so caught up an panicked I actually used the noodle to float. And I went to my back and did backstroke for a little while too. This was my first time swimming with a wetsuit, so my hips, legs, and feet kept drifting up try to get me horizontal in the water. Which would have been a good thing if I could keep my head in the water!

Eventually I made my way up to the beach on the other side. It took me 20:49 to get across the lake. I got to the small little beach sat down and rested for a minute, and then I tried to fix the noodle set up. I moved the string down so it would be more of a longer setup and hopefully not get in my way. By this time, I was sweating pretty good and I was starting to adjust to the temp of the water. Towards the end of first lap, I was able to swim normally, so after a small prayer at the beach to keep me safe, I set out on my way back to my wifey and kids! I decided I would swim 25 to 30 strokes then stop and get my bearings... I kept losing my bearings in the water since there were no bouys just houses on the lake. The dock was tiny and not easy to discern. Each time I stopped to site I kept having to readjust. Apparently Summer said that I was zig zagging the whole way back. It took me 25 minutes to get back. I had the wind against me and a little chop plus the zig zagging. But I was able to seim normally the whole way back so that was encouraging... I made it back and finished. A couple of guys were finishing their second laps! It was exhilarating and quite a sense of accomplishment.

I got cleaned up and went and signed the wall as a first time swimmer and got my patch! They gave me a log sheet for the next time. At 25 crossings, they give you a swim cap. Cheesy but cool.

I definitely want to get back there and do the swim again. I need to learn how to swim straight! I think I'll wear some earplugs, and maybe a neoprene cap if the water is cold still. It was at 64 but it'll keep getting warmer. Who knows how many strokes and far I really swam. I certainly didn't swim in a straight line!

But this was another example of how triathlon training is pushing me to my limits and I'm responding. I had ridden my bike farther then ever before, and now open water swim farther then ever before. Next is a nice long run. But I'm proud of myself. More to come.

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I'm on the verge.... On the cusp... About to start something great! Its my birthday today. I'm 31.

We had some cake and I've been watching football all day. All the playoff games have been duds, but its fun to do nothing sometimes. I've been doing nothing for two weeks now though. After the surgery I had to stop and then the doctor said no lifting till Monday, which is tomorrow.  So tomorrow I have some p90x, and some swimming to do. I want to wake up early around 6ish am and head out. And do some work too! I've been not working for almost a month now. 

Which reminds me I need to plan my workout week! More to come.

So I made some changes, I'm going to be posting more, I've added some widgets after an afternoon of tinkering with some html. I have no prowess whatsoever with Computers but I figured it out! I updated some really old links and will be adding more stuff on here as I move forward.

I completed 2 Sprint Tris in 2009. Now I'm off to a slow start in 2010. I was running on December 31st doing a three mile run. I recently was able to average 12:26 again for my mile pace for the first time in several years. So I was excited to get back out there. I felt some pains in my left calf muscle, pretty high up right in the meat of the calf. I ignored it as I usually do since I always have calf pain on my runs. I've been trying to incorporate more fore foot running in my runs landing on my midfoot instead of heel striking. I think I over did it. Kept going and the annoyance turned into red hot pain. I couldn't even walk without pain. So I was on the shelf. Hobbling around like a cripple. But more fun awaited me!

Two days later I notice a twinge in my right upper abdomen. It felt like an oblique at first, I've had that before and it was another annoyance with the calf but it keep going and was worse when I ate. Keep getting progressively worse until Sunday night, Summer was begging me to go to the doctor, but I didn't since I knew I had my physical on Monday morning. I woke with the pain worse then ever before, and went to the doctor. I got checked out and sent STAT to get a CT scan.

I had to drink this horrendous liquid called Barium Sulfate. I said on Facebook that it is white liquid creamsicled death or something like that. I choked it down and got the scan. I asked the tech if I could eat since I had been fasting for over 12 hours. She said sure. So I went to Five Guys for a burger and fries (I was rewarding myself for my pain.... pathetic) After the Bacon Double Cheeseburger, my doctor calls me and tells that I have acute appendicitis and need to go to the ER ASAP so my appendix doesn't burst and I die with a double cheeseburger in my mouth! I make all the calls, and I fight with the ER admins to get me admitted. I had to put my foot down and tell them that I didn't want my appendix to burst in the waiting room but they sent me up. My friend Dave from the Apopka Ward gave me a blessing and before I knew it they were prepping me for Surgery! It all happened very fast. I was telling Summer about money info and life insurance stuff cause I was worried!

They took me back to operating room, put my arms out straight on a skinny table and then made me tilt my head back so I wouldn't throw up my food I had just ate and kill myself. They gave me the gas and instantly (it felt like an instant! Actually 2:30 in real time) awoke in recovery with a lot of pain in my abdomen. The rest is a blur till I woke in my room 8 hours later. I talked to Dennis and Suzanne (Summer's parents) The nurse made me get up and walk. I was discharged later in the following afternoon, Tuesday. I've been home off of work and taking Percosets ever since. The one good thing is this break has given me a chance to rest my calf but the doc said no activities for 7 to 10 days from the surgery. So that would two whole weeks off for my calf and a week and a half for the appendix.

Crazy stuff, I can't wait to see the bill! We have insurance but I'm not looking forward to the deductible! Be using the FSA after all!

This week I'll probably go back to work in the middle of the week if everything heals ok then start walking until the two weeks is up. See the doc get the ok and then back on the training train. Finish P90X, and start base training.