Thank you, best family ever.

It’s nice to sit back and count your accomplishments for the year and realize that you got there with the help of a fantastic support system, specifically an amazing family that has achieved quite a bit on its own in the very same year and it still going strong, full speed into the next year without showing signs of slowing down.

My amazing wife is a published illustrator, again. She might take her previous efforts of getting published in fantasy work lightly but it was really an affirmation that showed she’s had it in her all along. Not small potatoes either; however, this is big time now. Every major book retailer sells her new book, and it’s something she’s really proud of and me and the boys are pretty damn proud of her for it. It’s a major accomplishment and totally freaking cool to go to Amazon.com, search for her name and have legitimate results come up. People try their entire lives for something like that and never make it, this was her first try at children’s book illustration. First. Proud hubby, very proud.

My boys continue to amaze me on a daily basis but sitting back and taking stock of a year to realize how well they are growing up and how wonderful they are gives a different perspective on their overall achievements and development as boys on their way to adulthood. I say that lightly since I’m sure that if I pause for at least one second to let them get ahead of me I’ll be staring at two full grown men before I know it so there’ll be no resting and plenty of reflection on their years as well as mine. Especially since they’re doing so well with that growing up thing they keep doing.

I thank my family for being the type that pushes you to be better, the type that supports you along the way and the type that makes it easier to do the hard stuff because they are totally worth every bit of blood, sweat and tears that goes into it. Love you, best family ever, and happy new year.

I suppose on some level I understand people who get inspiration from a constant barrage of inspirational sayings and posters. The effect of a positive outlook on things seems to have a positive effect on life, or at least my life at this point in time. No, I haven’t been shopping at Successories and gone all kumbaya or whatever but I have taken notice of people that I follow for fitness tips and their posting of daily affirmation type of stuff and managed to pay attention without it turning me into a cultist or one of those people who won’t brush their teeth because of fluoridated water.

So, I’ve officially gone through one year of CrossFit and don’t think I would have expected to be saying that a few years ago when I took fitness a little less seriously (read: not at all). Sure, I’ve been an active runner for about five years now and have had a bit of exercise in some form for about that long as well. I started when I noticed my general overall health starting to turn into a less than desirable state and stuck with it in a general sense up until this year when I decided to train for the Chicago marathon and recognized the need for a little more in the training arsenal.

I’ve got a lot to be thankful for, a family that depends on me and a lot to look forward to, I needed to be in good shape and healthy and a lax approach to that wasn’t cutting it and didn’t want to get hurt or waste all that time training for something and have it up going to pot because I was too lazy to work hard. I’ve also made a conscious effort to eat better, paying better attention to what I’m eating and how often and have seen results. This year was good, but I can do better and realize now how my past efforts didn’t produce the results I was looking for. For as much as I tell myself I’m eating better, there are times when I don’t and simply just not paying attention to calorie intake, and that always winds up negating any previous efforts to right the wrongs so to speak.

There are a ton of programs and information out there on eating better an getting in shape and the CrossFit community is not shy about sharing what it thinks is the best for its athletes. A lot of the nutrition information centers around a paleo diet, which I can honestly say I’m not up for completely, it’s just not realistic. It does introduce a good amount of guidelines on how to eliminate sugars and carbs, which I’m trying to do more of but that’s where we come back to the realistic part. I do like cereals and oatmeal for breakfast (along with other things on the no-no list) and they don’t require a lot of prep time, so they get chosen over more paleo choices and I go on my merry way.

I can’t say I even really gave paleo enough of a shot to see if it would be worth the trouble but I’m not sure I even care. It’s just too much of a pain in the ass, even without kids and a 9-5 schedule. I think diet is one of those things that evolves as you get older and your body changes so just roll with it, be smart about what you eat and pay attention to how your body acts to certain foods. Maybe try different diets to get an idea of what works for you but if you can’t commit entirely just figure out what that diet was trying to teach you from the beginning and take away the good parts. Eating while training is a little different but I’m not on a level where it matters enough to become ridiculous about the whole ordeal.

I’ve got some loose fitness goals set for the upcoming year but I’ve come far enough at this point to know that I’m better off focusing on things one or two at a time and not trying to cram all the things together since I may or may not be able to do them down the road or however I’ve motivated myself in the past to push through training and meet deadlines. Barring any unfortunate setbacks, 2016 should be my best year yet.

Winding up the year

So this year’s racing season is winding down and it’s been a bunch of fun. I’m happy that I’ve come through it relatively unscathed and with some good lessons and things to keep in mind for the coming years. Having finally run a full marathon, I’m happy to say that it was way more of a positive experience than a negative one. I didn’t come at all close to my goal time due to IT band issues around the 30k mark but my first half marathon had the same issue on the opposite side and I’ve never had an issue with it since. Hopefully with a bit more strength training and a stricter training schedule I’ll be able to do another and meet my goal. I’m hopeful that I can do it and will continue to work hard training through winter to carry on a little bit of the momentum I’ve built up to this point. Although my running schedule has gone down considerably since the marathon. I took about two weeks off from running after and a full week of doing pretty much nothing right after and once I finally got back to doing things again it felt great.

One thing’s for sure, the combination of strength training along with a running schedule produces much better results for me than just different types of running. I can see a lot of what I did helped but probably needed a more regular schedule of lifting along with running since my core is still very weak and always pretty much has been. It’ll be interesting to see what a strong core feels like and how it helps with everything else as much as it’s supposed to.

I’ve got one last race this year, maybe two if I do the Roselle turkey trot again, but after that it’s off season until next year. I’ve got two halfs booked for next year, at which one or both I hope to get a PR under 2 hours. With the experience gained from previous racing seasons I think I know what to work on and how to go about it. Should be fun.

Soon

Jimmy will be starting preschool soon. Very soon. Honestly, it’s three-year-old preschool so I can’t feel like he’s completely grown up but it does mark a milestone and I can already picture myself at his first day of kindergarten, which will be hard. After that, I’m sure the time will start to fly by like it has been doing with Charlie.

Jimmy hasn’t been growing up as fast as Charlie did though, he’s still very much a little kid with an adorable little kid voice and adorable little kid feet. Even though he’s very capable for a three-year-old, he’s still kind of a baby still. I like that it’s not going by so fast since sometimes it seems like we missed out on Charlie being little Charlie since he’s always been in such a hurry to grow up.

With that, Charlie is still very much a little boy and reminds us of that every now and then with his little kid fits and all the fun things that emotional six-year-olds come with. Plus the influences of all the older children he’s always playing with. It’s certainly difficult to battle the insane amount of nonsense that comes from having a bunch of other children around all the time, especially when they don’t act the way you’d like your child to act and ultimately influence behavior.

Goal progress

If you scroll down a couple clicks (or maybe just a half of one), you’ll see a short list of goals I set for myself this year. I’m pleased to say that I’ve actually made progress on some of them.

First, I’m registered and fully on my way to being ready to run the Chicago marathon. It’s a huge step for me as far as setting a fitness goal and I’m anxious, nervous and excited about the day, which will be here sooner than I think for sure.

The marathon was certainly my biggest goal for the year but the others on the list have gotten some attention as well. Running a sub 2 hour half is probably not gonna happen this year but I do have one half left to run this season so I might surprise myself.

I’ve come somewhat close to running a 6:30 mile (7:13) but I have yet to actually set out specifically to run a PR mile time. I only tracked the new time at the first mile of my last 5k. I’ll keep on this one until I get under seven minutes, or get to 6:30.

I haven’t ridden much at all this year or even thought about registering for a half century so that’s pretty much out for the year. I’m also not gonna even come close to 1,000 miles as a total for the year. I’m sure I won’t even break 500 so maybe another year for that one too.

The last goal (that was totally optional, mind you) surprised me. I wound up going to a CrossFit class in late December last year and I got hooked. It was totally the thing I needed in order to get in better shape overall and I saw results really quickly. I’m now wearing the same pant size I was in high school and feel much stronger. It’s helped me attain most of what I’ve achieved this year and I’m sure why I’ve remained injury free the whole year while racking up the training miles. It feels great and will remain a significant part of my fitness routine for a while to come. Plus everyone there is really great.

8:18

So after a little bitching and moaning about not trying, I went out this morning and tried a little. It resulted in an 8:18 mile. While not a personal best I’ll take it as a little victory and be happy with it. Especially cause I didn’t die and it didn’t feel like that was all I has in me. I’m not sure I could have easily carried on a meaningful conversation but I would have at least been able to converse in a manner resembling someone who might have just been punched in the stomach by a really weak person.

Tomorrow and Wednesday I’ll be back at CrossFit and then resting Thursday, or maybe I’ll work in another short run on a CrossFit day. Either way, I’ve nudged the bar a little higher for myself and am itching to move it higher.

Full speed ahead?

I know I don’t push myself as hard as I should. I know my times for avg. pace, mile and 5k can be much stronger than they are and am sure I don’t eat well enough for someone who is carrying about 20 pounds too much and should be paying attention more to that.

I’m dismayed by this because I know that I’m not trying hard enough and giving up when I can push harder. Not really sure what is stopping me but I’m going to have to figure it out in order to get ahead.

With about six months of CrossFit under my belt at this point it’s time to start pushing harder and eating better. Nothing’s gonna happen if I just continue to go through the motions and not push. That includes getting some willpower and eating better. I’m not getting any younger and refuse to let aging catch up with me.

5 Goals for 2015

I know, I know, a list. If I don’t actually set goals, I’m not gonna meet them and one begins meeting his goals by first writing them down. So there. I am going to do this crap next year, but start training for it all now cause I’m old and it’s gonna take awhile.

1. Run a full marathon. This is pretty much cemented at the top of this list. Be it Chicago or one of the suburban ones, I’m going to run a full marathon in 2015. I’m not setting a goal time but will do my best to train well so I don’t just do the whole “I did it” thing when I didn’t really do it at all. No, I’m not gonna cget a 26.2 sticker for the back of my car afterward.

2. Run a sub two hour half. I’m pretty sure that if I didn’t have a crappy training season that I might have actually come close to doing this in 2014 but alas, nein.

3. Run a 6:30 mile. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

4. Ride a half century. I’m setting myself up for something in 2016, Ironman Steelhead. Doing a half century will at least give me an idea whether or not part of a tri is even possible. I’m positive I can swim 1.2 miles but of course will cross that brideg when I’m fully training for it.

5. Run a 1,000 miles. I’ve never really tracked my runs faithfully or kept to a rigorous training schedule in preparation for anything big and if I intend to do any of the above without seriously hurting myself it’s about damn time I set some goals.

6. (bonus) Do more weight training. Whether this is body weight excercises or actualy weights or resistance bands and such it needs to be done more. I’m getting older and things aren’t as strong as they used to be. Actually, this isn’t a bonus one, consider it a solid number six on the list. In fact, it should probably be up at about number three.

I’m pretty sure I could stretch this list and come up with ten goals but in the end it’d probably be five good ones and five fluff that I probably wouldn’t meet anyway. 2014 was kind of a bust for me really, I had a few injuries and didn’t run my first half anywhere near as well as I wanted to, mostly due to an injury during the race which I’m sure came from insufficient training. This year’s running season serves primarily as a reminder that this shit ain’t easy and needs to be taken seriously, especially at my age. It won’t be easy, but it will be worth it.

One race left to go this season [15k on Nov 9] and then time to move on to off-season training. Trying to decide whether or not to do the Chicago half-marathon series or try for the full Chicago marathon next fall. Despite a woeful half-marathon debut, I really enjoyed the race and the energy of it was enough to get me hooked. Looks like I’ve gotta actually pay attention to those training programs and do some strength training. Onward and upward!

Edit: will most likely do the half marathon series (probably just two of the three) and then one full in the fall. I’m apparently determined to kill myself.

As much as I’d like to do my 10k this coming Sunday, I’m thinking I’m not ready, or at least my toe isn’t. I could be stubborn and just head down in the morning and attempt to run/walk the thing but that might just totally screw any healing I’ve had to this point and pout me out for my half marathon, which is this year’s reason for training. The Chicago 10k is a fun race and it’s right along the lake shore so it’s pretty, but there’s always next year. I surely wouldn’t have been able to beat last year’s time anyway, even though that time wasn’t all that great to begin with. Gonna sign up for this one instead.

I really have no idea what I'm doing.