Winter,Winter,Winter

Sorry for the delay in writing. I've started writing several times but after reading what I wrote, I ask myself, "what the heck did I just say". It's been a crazy week, both at work and with the darn weather.

First, it dumped rain Sunday and Monday. So much that our town had quite a few flooding problems. The lake by our house went over the spillway which is absolutely beautiful. When you live here, it's easy to take for granted the beauty of the area. Were blessed to have all four seasons as well as the scenery to go with it. Here's a picture of my son looking over the spill way:

A few more pictures of the lake. Definitely looks like a gloomy day. Just wait, the day is young.

This morning the weather report said, "30% chance of snow with no accumulation", so I was hoping to maybe get a short ride in. Well when I looked out the window at about 1pm this is what it looked like:On top of the weather, I've just been slammed at work. It's easily going to be a 60 hour week. I usually don't get home until around seven, I help my boys with homework, ride the trainer for whatever amount of time I can stand, then try to spend a little time with my wife before going to bed and starting over again the next day. The joys of owning your own business. It definitely has it's ups and downs.

The diet is still going well, but I seem to be stuck at 172lbs. With regards to the Weightloss challenge, "Big and Beautiful" is going to make sure it's tight race. She's currently lost 9 lbs and we're only 30 days into the challenge. That is so awesome. Dieting is not an easy task and she is kicking some major butt.

Before I go, I have to mention Doug from Minnesota. Last year I think he commuted to work everyday but 5 days. That is truly impressive. I saw the weather report for Deluth this morning and it said -40 degree windchill. After frequenting Doug's Blog, I had to email him to see if he rode to work today. He replied that his office was closed due to the severe windchill temp, but (and get this) he still got in a short ride and said it wasn't too bad. Now when you want to use the weather for an excuse not to ride, just think of Doug in Minnesota. We've got nothing on him here in Arizona.

That's about it for now. Thanks for reading.

23rd Day

It was about 40 degrees here today but it was a comfortable 67 degrees in Phoenix which is where I happened to be today. I had to take some oxygen tanks down to have them filled so I figured I might as well make a day of it. A friend of mine who is training for something like his 5th Ironman met me at the base of South Mountain. It's a 7 mile climb with about a 1700ft gain in elevation, a beautiful ride this time of year. It was nice to wear shorts for a change. I hit a heart rate of 179 which hasn't happened in a while. I felt really good except for the typical burn I get in my gut. It doesn't ever hurt when I eat, just when I maintain a high heartrate for a while. It's in the epigastric area right below the bottom of my ribs. I usually have the legs and lungs but this burn really holds me back. It's very frustrating.

The diet is going well. I've managed to stay away from the coffee and have done pretty good staying away from sugar. I'm actually about 4 lbs ahead of schedule. I was hoping for at least 5 lbs a month so this is really good. I started at 182 and I'm currently at 172. My goal was 165 by May but I may go even a little lower if I can. It's definitely made a big difference on the bike.

Here are some pictures of todays ride. This is a view from the bottom. We ended at the towers.

Its a quiet road to the top. Very little traffic on a weekday.

Here's Rick headin' up. How anyone climbs in AeroBars, I have no idea.

The view from the top. Sometimes you can't see anything because of the smog, but today was a good day.

And then me, being useless as usual. The gut is slowly disappearing.

Thanks for reading

PS: In regards to the weight loss challenge. "Big and Beautiful" is right on my tail. She's lost 8 lbs. "Just Me" and "Siomha" is on her tail both with 5 lbs lost.

Where Is GOD?

Do you ever find yourself asking this question? I've had a strong belief in God for as long as I can remember. As a matter a fact, I can't really imagine Life without HIM, but we've definitely had our share of arguments. I spend much of my bike rides in conversation with The Big Guy. I do though find myself questioning Him at times. I know there's a reason for everything under the heavens and I fully accept that and respect it as well. My degree is in biology with a minor in chemistry (I know very little about chemistry) so I tend to be one of those with a lot of questions. It is only recently that I'm starting to find answers to many of my questions.

The other day I was following a pickup truck up the hill from Whiteriver (I was in my car not on my bike). There was a young Apache girl in the back and it was freezing cold outside. I first got behind this truck right outside of Whiteriver. As we started making the climb back up towards Hondah, (you could see the girl was trying to cover up. With the windchill, it had to be pretty close to zero degrees in the back of that truck. We finally reached the stop light at Hondah and I pulled in behind them. It was there that I could see the girl crying. She was so cold and there was nothing she could do about it. The cab was already packed full of people. It just broke my heart.

I see instances like this all the time on the reservation. For a while I found myself asking God, "where are you". There's so many children down there living in unbelievable poverty. Were up here on the hill living our cozy lives, there are people down there (many) with very little.

First of all, please know that I'm just as conservative as most that go to church. You work hard, you get rewarded. It's the American way. More and more, I was asking God, "where are you." I've been reading the Bible more this year along with a good book titled, "The Case for Faith". My trust and faith in God has grown immensly this year. Our pastor at church has been touching on this subject as well. He gave a figure the other day regarding how many people are living in poverty in our own country. Then compared it to how much we as Americans spend at Starbucks. I don't remember the numbers but the amount of money we spend on our gourmet coffees alone, could put an end to hungry children throughout the world. Not just here, but everywhere. That just blows my mind.

You see, the question shouldn't be, "Where is God", because He's right here. The question is......Where are we? What are WE doing to alleviate these problems? He has given many of us so much, but what are we doing with it?

I'm fortunate to work in the healthcare field so the opportunity to help arises all the time. We try to make it policy at work not to talk about the charity we do, but I will say (this is the commercial for Alpha Oxy-Med) I am unbelievably proud at the amount of people we have been able to help. We will never be a million dollar company, because we give almost as much as we bring in, but I always try to remember the Gifts that God has given us and what He expects us to do with them. We are all truly blessed. Some of us just need to look a little deeper.

Thanks for Reading

Get Out There

For those of you still not motivated yet, watch this video. You gotta watch till the very end.

100%

Did you catch tonights episode of The Biggest Loser? The one thing I noticed with a few of the participants was their ability to make excuses. Who got kicked off?? The one making the most excuses.

There's one thing I really love listening to and reading, motivational talks!!! Vince Lombardi was by far one of the best, "The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor. " It doesn't matter what you are doing, whether it is your job, exercise, riding your bike, cleaning your house, if your not going to give it 100% then why bother doing it?

I've coached little league for the past 7 years. I don't care if we lose by 50 points (well I do but you get the point) as long as each kid out there gives 100% of themselves. And only they know in their heart if they are giving a true 100%. It's a lot to ask 9-10 year old ball players, but with time you can see the difference in their efforts. This is true in everything we do. So many people are happy with mediocre. Remember that old Army commercial, Be All You Can Be. Why not???? Why settle for anything less?

Back to losing weight..... We're on day 15 of the challenge so far. If you haven't lost a pound, ask yourself if you've done everything you can to succeed at losing weight. I weighed again the other day and was still at 177 pounds. I've been riding, pretty much sticking to my diet, and I hadn't lost anything. The key word there was "pretty much". After quitting coffee and getting sick of tea, I started drinking hot chocolate, it's a much smoother drink than tea and it's not coffee. Heck, I might as well just swallow 3 tablespoons of sugar. Simple sugar is going to change to fat just as quick as a big mac. So I ask myself, am I giving this diet 100% effort. We'll I'm back to tea and lots of water. I know for a fact when I weigh next week, I will be lower than 177. And I promise, I won't even use my "thyroid problem" as an excuse :)

So if you are reading this, if your working toward something, ask yourself if you are giving it all you can give. As Vince put it, "Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. "

ps: if you are part of the weight loss challenge. Quit the sugar and high fructose corn syrup!!! Do something that gets your heart rate up for at least an hour. You will be happy with the results.

Thanks for Reading.

Another Good Early Season Ride

It was 29 degrees when we started but we were able to get in a good 2 1/2 hour ride today. We started at the Show Low City Park and headed out towards Clay Springs. It would have been beautiful had the wind not been blowing but as usual anything beats riding the trainer. There were four of us today. One even being my wife. She's going to be a powerhouse come springtime. I can't fill her in on too many training tips, otherwise she'll be kicking my butt. Although it was just a spinning ride, she flew up the climbs. It was a good day except for the idiot in me, didn't charge the new Garmin that I was all excited to use, needless to say it was dead at the start.

It's hard to believe that just 6 days ago this is what the weather looked like: Below is the view from my office window on Monday.

Here's the road in front of our house. Thank goodness the roads were totally clear today. No complaints with the snow though. It makes for a much nicer spring, especially come fire season.

It's supposed to be nice upcoming week so hopefully no trainer rides this week. We'll see.

Thanks for reading

Day 11

It was a good week as far as the dieting goes. I pretty much lived on fruit for breakfast, a salad for lunch (no dressing) and a small portion sized dinner. And yes I've still had no coffee. I've learned that it's not so much the coffee that I miss, but all the stuff I put in it. I love lattes and every time I go into the coffee shop, it takes all I've got not to get one. Today was probably my worst day. I took my 8 year old to breakfast before school so we both had a Denver omelette and a hot chocolate. That was actually my most fattening meal of the week, so I would still consider the week a success.

Yesterday I had to go down to Phoenix to have some oxygen tanks filled. I figured while I was down there I would get a ride in. After all 66 degrees is much more enticing than our 40 degrees. I rode South Mountain for the first time and it was great. It's a beautiful ride. Since it was a weekday there was very little traffic which made it that much more enjoyable. The view from the top is amazing, if you can get past the smog. I had hoped to get some pictures but of course forgot my camera.

I've ridden everyday this week except for today, and surprisingly most of those rides have been outside. I just couldn't find the time to get one in today. All my rides have been slow longer rides in hopes of it helping me to lose more of the fat. (Long slow rides are the best way to teach your body to utilize fat instead of sugar). It's tedious but I hope its worth it.

I'm getting my wife out tomorrow for a longer slow ride. Actually I think there is going to be four of us out there freezing our butts off. It's a lot more fun when you get more riders out there for a casual ride. I got my new Garmin 305 today and can't wait to download the info. I know I'm behind the times a little but I'm excited to use it. A friend of mine showed me how to download it to my training program on training peaks.com. After downloading it, you can look at your entire ride on the topo map and see what your effort was anywhere on the map. I try to keep my heart rate below 155 on these slow rides and with the Garmin I'll be able to see how compliant I am. At least it will make the ride a little more entertaining.

I'm still at 177 pounds but I'm definitely feeling better. I've still got 12 pounds to go but I'm happy with the progress so far. I'll write more tomorrow after our ride.

Thanks for reading.

FRIENDS

Have you ever stopped to think how many truly good friends you have?? I remember when I was a kid my dad would tell me that as I got older I would be lucky to count the amount of GREAT friends I have on one hand. As I grow older, I find that he was pretty close. I have tons of "acquaintances" but truly good friends, you know the ones you can pretty much tell anything too and expect an honest answer, the ones you can trust not to tell anyone else, the ones that truly want the best for you and have a deep concern for you, these kind of friends don't come easy.

I've got three of those friends. Two of them currently live in Phoenix (one is hopefully moving back soon) and the other one I'm truly blessed to work with. These guys are each special to me in their own unique way. It's funny because all three of them are totally different from each other. The one thing they do share is impeccable character. I would trust each one of them with anything in the world. These are friends that you may not speak too for months, but as soon as your back together, it's like there was no absence in between.

I think friends like this, God places in your life for a reason. Maybe they are in your life for a reason, and on the flip side maybe you are in their life for a reason. Whatever it may be, cherish the bond you have. I don't believe it comes easily.

Another funny thing about strong friendships is, I don't think you choose them. They just happen. Like I said, I've got three great friends. The first I've known since JrHigh/High School. I never would of imagined in a million years we would be as close as we are today. We survived Jr. High and school together, even survived a college semester as roommates. This guy knows as much about me as I know about myself. The memories we have are just amazing. He has been a real blessing throughout my life. This is a friendship that I will cherish forever.

The second is probably the weirdest of meetings. I had Gross Anatomy when I was an undergrad. (yes we got to cut up dead people) The lab was locked so one night those of us that showed up early got stuck waiting outside. This goofy looking guy, was talking to everyone. He gave a new meaning to the word outgoing. He just had good karma about him. We ended up being lab partners that night, and after class he needed a ride to the other end of campus. In the car I was playing a Christian group called Petra. Right off he knew the group (pretty impressive for a college kid to know a Christian Rock group) so that got us talking about various thing (mostly God). The rest is history. We've been close ever since.

The third friend is truly a miracle. I actually met him for the first time at my "2nd" friends wedding. He's just a real down to earth, God fearing guy. He's got a great family, he's a great dad and a super husband . After I met him for a very brief time at the wedding I didn't see him again until we both ended up teaching temporarily at Blue Ridge Junior High. For some reason we hit it off. We tend to have the same beliefs about God, about character, family, all the important stuff. I'm actually blessed to work with him everyday. Sure we have our bad days (we see each other more then we see our families), but we compliment each other very well. He's more the mellow one at the office where as I'm the moody pain in the rear. :)

I hope others are as lucky as me. I'm fortunate to have these guys around. I do my best to thank God everyday for each one of them. They have taught me about the person I want to be.

Thanks for Reading

Day 5

So far so good. It's Saturday and I got another ride in today before the snow hits again. I got in a good 28 miles miles of spinning this morning. The temp wasn't bad but the wind was miserable. The upside was there was a tailwind on the way back. I still feel pretty week on the bike. Even spinning I seem to have trouble keeping my heart rate down. I'm not sure if this is still just effects of the Thyroid Ablation or what. I can only hope it will get better.

I got in 30 minutes on the trainer last night. I didn't do it so much for a workout but did it in hopes of alleviating some of the soreness from the P90X workout. I did the Leg Workout on Wednesday.....Thursday wasn't bad......Friday I could barely walk. You know the saying, you walk like you have a corncob up your #@#, well that was me. Today was much better thank God.

I weighed in after my ride today and was 175#. I'm sure most of that was water loss from the ride, but it helps the motivation when you see those numbers go down. Today I've only had Ramen for lunch (no breakfast before my ride), Chips and Salsa (gotta have this to watch a football game), and I believe I'm have a veggie burger and sugar snap peas for dinner. Not a bad day. Actually not a bad week.

I hope everyone in the challenge is doing well. I would love for some of them to email me so that I can post notes on their progress. I think I'm going to start adding some "hidden quotes" on the web page. If those involved in the challenge find the "quote" first, I'll give out some sort of prize. Actually I'll start now....the first challenger to post their plan/goals in the challenge forum I'll give a $10.00 gift card to the Coffee Hut in Pinetop (We have a winner). Remember you need to sign on with the user name you used when you registered for the challenge (so I can find you to give you your prize).

It's starting to rain outside so it looks like, at least the beginning of the week will be spent on the trainer. Oh so boring!!

That's it for now.

Thanks for reading.

2nd Day

So far so good. I've stuck with the diet and got a workout in two days in row. I weighed in at 179 # today.

Heres the menu for today:

Breakfast: Fruitbowl and a cup of Chai Tea

Lunch: Mike was nice and bought me a Mandarin Chicken Salad.

Snack: One chocolate sucker (I got a bag of See's Suckers for Christmas, I'll have one a day until theyre gone.

Dinner: Fist Sized portion of Spaghetti with tomato sauce.

30 minute ride on the trainer.

40 minute P90X leg workout

For those of you who don't know what a trainer is. Here's a picture. It' s torture device developed to put your bike on indoors. It is the most boring of activities. I'll usually put a bicycle video on the laptop and watch that while riding.

You never know how much you eat until you stop eating it. I'm amazed at how many times today I wanted to snack on some type of sugar filled food.

I hope the rest of you are doing well with the first two days of the challenge. Like I said, the first month is the hardest. After that your in a position to not let yourself down. Just tough it out. If you feel like snacking, grab a glass of water and start some sort of activity. After a while the snack thoughts will deminish.

Thanks for reading.

Good Start

It's the first day of the year and so far I've gotten off to a good start. When I went out to warm up the car this morning (going to meet Chuck for our first ride of the year), the little temperature thing in the car said it was 35 degrees. That was pretty good considering I rode the other day and it was only 32 degrees. So I just packed the typical Fair weather gear in the car. Long sleeve jersey, Insulated Jacket, tights, toewarmers, earwarmers, and gloves.

When I got to the Show Low City Park where I was to meet up with Chuck, the car thermometer said 23 degrees. Holy crap it was cold. This wasn't even considering the wind chill. Heading out, my cheeks and my fingers were already pretty numb. I could only hope it would get warmer. And it did. But not much. We got in 30 miles of zone 2 work. It felt really good to be out on the bike. It was a good ride. A great way to start off the year. When we got back, I checked the thermometer again...33 degrees. Definitely not much of a heat wave. Now that we know we can survive these temps, we won't have much of an excuse not to get out during these colder months. It's so unbelievably important to get in these base miles and to lose the winter fat. It makes spring time riding much more enjoyable.