Tasty Morsels

For Tuesday, Jan 04, 2011

The only good thing about having a trip start out so very badly, is that you appreciate anything that goes right after that.

My flight from Tampa to Minneapolis boarded on time, but there was an issue with the pilot’s backup oxygen mask and we couldn’t take off until that was fixed. About an hour later, the toilet in the back of the plane overflowed. Now it would be a race to see which was fixed first! They brought in maintenance to shut off the water. Great, one toilet for 175 passengers (and one toilet in first class for only 8 passengers). But we were still waiting for the oxygen mask to get fixed.

And I had a middle seat with a crying baby right behind me. This is gonna be a really long 3 hour flight.

I called Orbitz for Business knowing I would be missing my connecting flight to Boise. The next flight out was at 5:45, but it was booked solid. They booked me on the next available flight at 9:30pm. Instead of arriving in Boise at 2:00pm, I’d be getting in at 11:30pm. So much for being well rested tomorrow!

2 hours after the scheduled time, we finally took off (first morsel). The older lady sitting next to me was a real joy to talk with. And that crying baby… slept or played and laughed the entire flight (another morsel).

When I arrived in Minn, I checked with Delta and was able to get on the standby list for the 5:45 flight – and I was the first one on the list. Oh, and they gave me a food voucher for a whopping $6 (another morsel). That covered part of my $14 lunch (I had a chicken wrap, fries, and iced tea).

For exercise, I walked the length of the airport about 3 times (another morsel) and stopped in a shop where I bought a new shirt (another morsel).

Finally, it was time to go to the gate. I sat patiently watching the plane board. The overhead monitor showed that one seat had not yet been claimed – maybe I had a chance. There were four passengers waiting for a standby seat. A few minutes later, the monitor showed all seats had been claimed. Still, I waited. After they finished boarding, the called my name and I was the only standby passenger to make the flight.

It was another long 2.5 hour flight, but the Boise airport is small and I got my bag and caught the shuttle to the hotel. By now it was 9pm.

Like a Christmas present waiting to be unwrapped, I can’t wait to get out tomorrow to see what Boise looks like!

Frogman

For Sunday, Jan 2, 2010

Frogman Swim

I had an early run with Robin Hawk this morning. We had to limit it to 50 minutes since I had to get going as soon as we were done. The run was nice, jog 9 minutes, walk 1, five times. We were a little surprised that it was overcast today, and actually started drizzling. We were not expecting that!

After the run, I picked up Dawn Clark and headed to the Gandy Bridge for the start of the Frogman 5k swim across Tampa Bay. It was a nice start to the event as there was a rainbow adorning the start line! What a great turn out! 67 participants were braving the cold water (around 53 degrees), head wind, and light chop. Darry Jackson brought out his swarm of kayakers and there were a few stand-up paddlers as well.

Boat support for the Frogman Swim

On Board: Eric Herman, Tim Kennedy, Chris Burke, and Bryant Davies

Dawn Clark with her kayaker, Kathy Selles, getting ready to start.

I watched the start, then drove on to Picnic Island to be there to greet my friends who were participating in this great fundraiser to benefit wounded Navy Seals and their families. The first swimmer was out of the water in 1 hour and 3 minutes. The last swimmer was in after about 2 hours and 35 minutes. Roger Little was second to last in 1:30, but he is 70 years old! There was one swimmer out of the bunch who did the swim with no wetsuit.

Dawn finished at around 1 hour 45 minutes after a rough start having to stop for about 10 minutes to mess with her wetsuit. When I greeted her on the beach, she smiled, and I frowned. Her smile was just not working and it really concerned me. The lower left side of her lip wasn’t moving. Why would that happen? Could it be that she was just cold – early signs of hypothermia? It looked kind of like Bells Palsy? Could she be having a stroke brought on by that much time in the cold water? I looked at her eyes and her pupils were pinpoint. Not good.

“You’re freaking me out” she said. “Well you’re freaking me out” I said.

There was no medical tent at the finish line. I took her to the car and we tried to make some shade around her head so that I could see if her pupils would dilate. They did, slightly, but we didn’t create much shade either. We got her out of the wet clothes and into warm dry clothes and got her a cup of hot chocolate. Sure enough, as she warmed up, her smile was back in working order!

Later that day, we had a nice, warm, relaxing dip in the hot tub… that’s sure to get the last of the chill out!

Frogman Finishers

What SUP for the New Year

It's a new year and time for some new plans.

I've been so busy with traveling lately that I haven't had much time for fun, let alone getting in enough training for my "Goofy Challenge" next weekend. I am so not ready for that event. So the goal is to just get through it and then get on to some fun new things.

That means Stand Up Paddle (SUP). Tim ordered his new board just before Christmas and I ordered my board on 12/30 - the same day his arrived. I can't wait until it arrives!

On New Year's Eve morning, Tim, Chris Burke, Carl Selles, and Eric Herman headed out to christen Tim's new board. What a great day it was! Beautiful sunrise, warm air, but really cold water.

Tim with his new Oxbow board.

Sunrise SUP.

SUP in front of The Pier

So... my goals for 2011? After finishing Goofy, I'll focus on SUP and XFit. With XFit, I'll work on the intensity of the training (finally) and schedule a few short, fast, and hopefully fun events including some 5k runs and maybe a few sprint triathlons. Maybe St. Anthony's and, if I get a wild hair, Gulf Coast Triathlon (half ironman).

Nutritionally, I'll try to focus more on my Alcat diet and see if it improves my health and reduces the inflammation. I'll be posting results on training, racing, and any insights on the nutrition.

Here's to a happy and healthy New Year to all!

Diet: Week One

It has been an interesting week. Dr. Brunson wants me to keep my calories to about 1200 per day, spread over 3 meals and 2 snacks. That hasn't been has difficult as I expected.... except for on a very bad allergy day.

With the Alcat blood draw scheduled for today, I haven't been allowed to take my allergy medication for the last three days. Everything really peaked yesterday when my allergies were bothering me so much and I just couldn't breath, and I craved everything!!!

So my daily caloric intake looked something like this:
May 6: 985 calories, 34% from fat
May 7: 1164 calories, 30% from fat
May 8: 1441 caloreis, 32% from fat
May 9: 1328 calories, 29% from fat
May 10: 1069 calories, 31% from fat
May 11: 1861 calories, 31% from fat yikes!

May 8th was the Hurricane man swim. I had a bad allergy night and was up and out of bed at 2:30AM, even though I didn't have to leave the house until 5:00AM. I volunteered while Tim competed in the 2.4 mile swim. It was really windy at the beach and the water was very choppy.

Once we got all of the athletes checked in, I went for a very, very brisk walk on the beach - about 4 miles. No running for me because I just could NOT breath!

Tim finished in 52:40. That fast and he was only 3rd in his age group. The top three in the 50-55men were all 52 minutes and change.

After the swim, we attended the breakfast banquet... that's where most of my calories came from, even though I tried to make a light plate... but who can resist sausage? ... or bacon?

Sunday was Mother's Day and that didn't help the diet either. But I didn't do so bad considering I had two meals out! We went to 4th Street Shrimp Company for lunch (fried shrimp, cole slaw, and sliced tomatoes). At least I didn't have any french fries!

Dinner was at Pete & Robins house and I ate pretty well there - small quantities.

My weigh-in this morning was actually better than I expected.

Starting weight was 131.4, today 129.2. Starting body fat as 29.7%, today 28.5. At least it's going in the right direction.

And I was so happy to be able to take a Zyrtec-D! I can breath, and the post-nasal drip is pretty much done. I should actually be able to run tonight... maybe even 4 miles! Woo hoo!

Post Frase

Day one of the diet went pretty well but was also enlightening. Dr. Brunson wants me to consume only 1200 calories per day, with 20 to 25% coming from protein and I want to keep my fat intake between 20 and 30%.

Results for day one:
Calories: = 1203 Carbs: 43% Pro: 25% Fat: 29%

I also drank more fluids than usual and I think that helped a lot.

It will be difficult to keep the calories around 1200, but I'll do my best. As I track the calories throughout the day, I discover that I don't have much left for dinner. Last nights dinner was an Orange. I'll have to be a little more careful with how I spread out the calories.

So, Fraser made it home... finally.

The poor guy really had the trip from hell. First, his flight from Scotland to Florida was canceled because of the volcanic ash. So he completely missed the St. Anthony's Triathlon. I finally flew over here the Monday after the race.

He was very excited to get here and build the new Project One bike that Trek sent to him. It is truly an amazing bicycle!


He was able to train here for a few days before flying to St. Croix for this first race there... and his first race on the new bike. He finished 5th overall, which was a great showing considering the stiff competition and that he was not acclimated to the heat and humidity.

Before leaving for the airport to pick him up, I received a message from him that the flight from St. Croix was canceled due to electrical difficulties so he had to spend another night in St. Croix. This also meant that he would miss his flight from Tampa back to UK. So he got up at 2am to call British Airways to re-book the return. That meant buying a new ticket (at 850 pounds). Hopefully his trip insurance will cover the cost.

So, I retrieved him from the airport on Monday evening and his next flight out would be Wednesday. That gave him a couple of days to relax and do light training.

On Tuesday evening, he went online to reserve his seats only to find that the British Airways agent booked him on the 5th... of November! Panic was setting in again. He called them up and, after about 15 minutes on hold, he finally got in touch with someone who was able to help him. Luckily, they listened to his story and didn't argue with him and they were able to change his flight to the 5th of May - and there were still seats available.



Wednesday morning, he set out for his final ride in St. Pete, fully decked out in TREK/KSwiss apparel! I made him a huge late lunch/early dinner of roast beef, skirt steak, parsely potatoes, ginger/honey carrots and salad. And... key lime pie!

He did say that the meal held him easily until he got to London.

It looked like his travel luck was also changing. The airports in Scotland and Ireland had been closed again due to the volcanic ash, but opened just in time for him to complete his trip home.

Fresh Start

When is the best day to start a diet? Jan. 1, 1st of the month, on your birthday. Whatever. Mine is right after meeting with my doctor.

I did that today.

I've always known what to do to manage my weight... eat healthy, 5 meals a day, exercise often. I know about macro nutrients, micro nutrients, supplements, and all kinds of weight management issues. So why can't I do it myself?

I might finally know the answer.

I'm paying Dr. Brunson a lot of money just to lose 10 pounds. It's not like I need to lose 50 or more... it's just a measly 10 pounds! But after meeting with Dr. Brunson, I feel very encouraged.

I complained to him about being soooo tired.... all the time. We thought I might need more B Vitamins, or more Vitamin D, or maybe my breathing issues were making me tired. But then he suggested that I take an "Alcat" test. The test I will take will be a blood test that tests you for sensitivity to 200 foods, food additives, molds, and environmental chemicals. Once Dr. Brunson remembered that I am allergic to egg whites and have other bad allergies, he suspected that foods might also be causing me problems.

So, my new food and exercise journal starts tomorrow. I get the Alcat test one week from today. I'm not sure how long it will take to get the results, but I can't wait.

So, here are the starting stats, according to Dr. Brunson's Tanita scale:
Weight: 131.4
Body fat: 29.7

Goal
Weight: 120
Body fat: 22%

Not Enough Sun in Florida?

So here it is, April 13 (a lucky day) and I have been behind again in my blog posts. We'll see if I can do better from here on out. And I probably will because I have a LOT going on in the next few weeks! Plus - I just went to the doctor yesterday for my annual physical and there are a few things I'll want to track.

First, my doctor and I talked about my foot. It is healing slower than I would like, but at least it does seem to be getting better.


Here is a picture of the MRI I had in January. This is the view of my right foot from the bottom. If you look at the 2nd metatarsal (from the right), about 1/3 of the way up the bone, you can see the break. I think all of that dark stuff along the bone is the inflammation.

My doctor wants me to get another MRI to make sure that the break is completely healed and that the pain I feel is just inflammation or muscle cramps. BUT... he was concerned about the results of my blood test which showed that I was low in Calcium (8.7 mg/dL on a scale of 8.7 - 10.2) and very low in Vitamin D (21.7 ng/mL on a scale of 32.0 -100.0).

Who would have thought that I could be low in Vitamin D when I live in the Sunshine State??!! After all, your body produces Vitamin D from exposure to the sun. But Tim pointed out that, where I used to run in the morning, I've been doing CrossFit for about 18 months - mostly indoors - and then I work inside all day. And this really cold winter made it difficult to get outside as much as I used to.

I was supplementing with a multiple vitamin, Vitamin B complex, and calcium. But I did slack off (except for the Vit B) once my training lessened during my recovery. My doctor will provide a Vitamin D/Calcium supplement and hopefully that will speed up this recovery!

April 28th starts my doctor managed weight loss program. I am very happy that he will work with me on this, since I am not really that over weight. But my weight has crept up and I just can't seem to get ahead of it. My goal is to lose a good solid 10 pounds, 15 would be awesome - but no more than 15!! You would think that it wouldn't be so hard to focus and lose 10 pounds, but I just haven't been able to manage it.

I think that with the doctor monitoring my nutrition and energy, I'll get the kick start I need to make this happen more easily. I'll probably get a Vitamin B12 shot and then the increase in Vitamin D will help with my energy slump.

This Saturday is Tim's Tampa Bay Marathon Swim. He will do a 2-person relay with Brian Rimmel and I will be kayaking for them. I plan to go half way like I did last year but if the weather is good, I hope to go the entire distance.

Then, I leave on Tuesday for North Carolina and come home on Thursday. Fraser Cartmell will arrive on Tuesday and hopefully Julie Dibens will come in later in the week. Julie has been sick and may not race St. Anthony's this year. I am really looking forward to seeing Fraser because he is so happy to be a part of the TREK/KSwiss Triathlon team. His enthusiasm is contagious, but it is especially heart warming to see him so happy - and racing well!!

At CrossFit, I have switched from the regular workouts (WOD's) to CrossFit Endurance and I am just loving it!! The workouts are longer and more intense. Today's WOD nearly killed me! We started with 5x 1 rep max deadlift. I did 135#, 145#, 155#, 165#(f), 160#(f) so 155# goes in the book. I did 160# just a couple of weeks ago, but my SI (lower back) is bothering me again and that probably held me back.

After deadlift we did 4 rounds for time of 10 Kettlebell swings (35#) and 10 Burpees. I finished in 5:28 sucking wind. That was so hard... but I got a good sweat going!