As I said in my mobile post - the official WW weigh in has me down 4.1 lbs! hooray!  Resiting  the fudge temptation paid off.  And, I'm going to bring all the left-over fudge with me to the New Year's Party so I can be rid of it forever.

The gym was packed this morning.  Luckily the only thing I needed to do was arms - so I didn't have to stand around and wait for a bench or squat rack.

I'm so stoked that I was able to go up on bicep curls again.  Arms have always been a struggle for me and going up in weight is a constant battle - today I felt like I 'won'! :D

(And no one laughed at me at the gym today either!)

Standing Barbell Curl:  6 x 60 x 2

Hammer Curl:  6 x 25 x 2

EZ-Curl Bar - 6 x 60

Hanging Leg Lifts:  6 , 8

Cable Kneeling Crunch:  10 x 110

Week 2 - Day 3

I was planning on running on the treadmill at the gym, but, as I said it was BUSY and not only were they full, but there was a line!  I was waiting in line, but as I stood there looking out the windows and saw the sun shining outside I decided to brave the cold and get some Vitamin D.  So, I headed home, grabbed the dog, a dozen layers of clothes and headed out.  It was cold(ish) but fantastic, and to my surprise when I came home and downloaded my watch, almost all my running intervals were over 5MPR and all my walking intervals over 3.5MPR - so I ended up with my best pace to date!  (1.9 miles in 26:46 for a 14:07 pace) And the sunshine did wonders to elevate my mood! Yay for outdoor running.  

Almost forget - did the 'test' for my chin ups - the goal is to be able to do 20 chin-up this year.  Of course I can only do assisted chin-ups right now.  So for the test, I did 7 with 155lbs of assist.  When I get to 20, I'll start from the beginning again, but at a lighter assist weight.

First official weigh in. Down 4.2 pounds.

Well, today went really well.  I was thinking there might be a little bit of a struggle but I guess last night's fight with the fudge was the worse of it.

As for the gym - it was a fantastic workout

Incline Dumbbell Press: 6 x 45 x 3
Dumbbell Bench Press: 6 x 50 x 2
Decline Dumbbell Press: 6 x 45 x 2
Dumbbell Shoulder Shrug: 10 x 75 x 2

I feel like I could actually push more weight on these, but leveraging dumbbells into place by myself is a bit of a challenge. Ah well - I'm still making improvements and that makes me happy

Almost the end of day three and the Feast Beast is starting to raise his ugly head.  It's almost always at this time during my diet that he starts to say WTF Mate.  The Feast Beast likes carbs and the simpler the better.  He started with just a little poke, a little prod -- then tonight, when I opened the fridge to take out the chicken, there, staring me in the face was fudge.  The urge to grab a piece of chocolate and shove it my mouth hit me like a punch in the stomach.  I was literally frozen in place for just a second.  But that second was all it took for the 'Real Me' to remember my goals and shut that fridge door.  Unfortunately that didn't shut down the Feast Beast.  He continued to whisper at me that "it's not the New Year yet"  and "This might be the last chance to have sugar for a long long time".  With the fridge closed it was easier to tell him to to "STFU" and get on with my evening.  Day four is usually the make or break day - I can tell ya here that I'm not going to break.

Warning!  - the video below can offend -- well, just about everyone - but it's funny.

stickK

Hey! I created a Lose Weight Commitment on stickK.  Help me stay on track by becoming my Supporter! http://bit.ly/dNANaL

The alarm went off at 5:00 and I SO didn't want to get up.  I kept hitting the snooze justifying it by thinking I didn't really HAVE to be to work until 9:30...

So, I finally drug myself out of bed just before 6:00, got my crap together and headed out the door.  Luckily, traffic is good this time of year, so I was in the gym and working out 7:02.  Back Day, lovely back day!  I like back day as much as leg day.  Except of a lingering/nagging shoulder issue, working out my back always feels great.  I've been trying to take it easy because of my shoulder, but today I just got the urge to go for it!  And... my shoulder held up and I went up on every exercise! woo hoo!

Lat Pulldown: 6 x 125, 6 x 130, 6 x 135
V Bar Pulldown: 6 x 135 x 2
Cable Row: 6 x 135 x 2
Dumbbell Row: 6 x 55
Hanging Leg Raise: 6 reps x 2 sets
Cable Crunches: 10 x 110, 6 x 110

What really surprises me though is that I went back and checked my logs from when I was working out VERY consistently in 2006 - My high for Lat Pulldowns was 125 -- High for Cable Rows:  115.  Maybe all the swimming I was doing had some advantages?  Or maybe because the chiropractor fixed the popped rib/pinched nerve in my back/shoulder?  I donno.  I just know I'm happy to see some good numbers like that.

 Then it was over to the treadmill.  Same workout as Monday.  I did the first running interval and thought "Oh my god!  I don't know if I can do this!"  My legs felt like lead and I could tell that my heart rate was MUCH higher then last time because I was huffing and puffing after just 90 seconds!  But, I gutted it out and finished the whole thing.  Yes, there was times when I had to 'grab on' to the treadmill for a second or two but I didn't lower the incline and I didn't change the speed.  1.9 miles in 29 minutes.  No, I'm not setting any speed records, but the goal is incremental improvement.  I'm 100% sure that the hard leg workout yesterday and the lower carbs/calories had a lot to do with my struggle today.  But I'm also 100% that I'm a better person for having worked through it!

In other news, I've now joined two contests (other then my own) on Weight Loss Wars with the chance of winning almost $300 (so far) if I can have the greatest weight loss %.  That's got me in a happy motivated place right now.  I'm also thinking about setting myself up a monetary challenge on Stickk.  Can't decide if I want to make it short or long term though.  I'll have to think about that one.

Oh!  and I've been getting super excited while looking through the race calender for the year.  I want to do them ALL!  The one thing I know I'm not going to be able to do is the San Francisco Sharkfest Swim.  The thing fills up fast (as in, it's full up usually in January), and I'm just not going to have the $150 in the next few weeks.  But, some things I know are going to be on my schedule is the Central Valley Oli Tri (where I PRed a few years ago)  and the Bridge to Bridge Run.  Oh! and I'm also putting the Midnight Half Marathon on my schedule because running around at midnight just seems like an awesome way to do my first Half!

Mulligan

Alright - I decided that I'm going to combine my Triathlon Blog and my Weight Loss Blog into one.

I'm calling it "Tri-ing to Lose"  and you can find it here:  http://shawn-nawlb.blogspot.com/

PS:  NAWLB = "Not Another Weight Loss Blog!"  which is kind of how I feel - lol

Hit the gym this morning and did my thing.  Leg day, one of my favorites.

Barbell Squat:  6 x 205 x 4
Leg Press:  6 x 590, 6 x 610 (still trying to find my max here)
Stiff Leg Deadlift:  6 x 175 x 3

I could feel that my legs were tired from my run yesterday, but I still managed to push the weight I wanted.

I've made more progress on a Tri Training plan.  I'm still planning on easing into it.  Focusing on weight lifting and running for right now though I'm still tempted to throw some swimming in.  I'll see how I'm feeling at the end of this week, what with the reduced calories and all.

Also in the 'good news' department my home scale says I've dropped a pound or two already! yay!  I'm interested to see what the WW scale says on Friday.  I didn't check my home scale before going WW so I don't know how different the two are.

Tired and have a headache, but, I had a 100% on plan day - woo hoo!

In other business, I set up a couple of other external influences for myself today.

I joined not one, but two challenges over at Weight Loss Wars.  One of them I created myself and is really just to keep myself accountable, but the other cost money AND has a monetary reward if you 'win'.

I also took some starting photos last night - NOT pleasant

And I found out today that I'm going to have to take them again when I start the challenge on Jan 8th.

I kind of need to anyway because the quality sucks - trying to take photos in the mirror - not good.

Oh my god - look at that wheat belly.  I can see all the crap food I've been eating.  I'm looking just like my mom and grandmother - this HAS to stop!

New pictures at the end of every month.

And last, but not least - I'm working on my race schedule and training plan for the year.  Things are going to be slowly ramping up for me, and I'mreally excited about it.

Almost forgot!

Hit the gym this morning and got my workouts in.  It was at the Mil-Gym.  It was nice and quiet, just the way I like it.  I'm really dreading next week and all the resolutioners!  Maybe I should have planned a rest week that week - heh

Anyway - I got my Shoulder/Triceps workout in:

Dumbbell Front Raises: 6 x 15, 6 x 17.5, 6 x 17.5
Seated Dumbbell Press: 6 x 40 x 3
Side Lateral Raise: 6 x 25 x 2
Triceps Press-Down: 6 x 60 x 3
Lying Triceps Extension: 6 x 50 x 2
Seated Dumbbell Extension: 6 x 60

Then I jumped on the treadmill and did week 2 of my 5K program.  Still doing 5MPR on the runs and 3.5 MPR on the walking all at 1.5% incline.

Kept the 12 Min per Mile pace up for all of the 90 second intervals so I'm still hanging with that goal - hooray!

I'm trying to get back into the habit of logging/blogging...

The good news is, unlike other times when a laps in my blogging meant a laps in my focus - I've actually been doing very well.  Well, on workouts at least.

Wednesday was a back workout:

Lat Pull-down: 6 x 125, 6 x 125, 6 x 130
V Bar Pull-down: 6 x 130, 6 x 130
Cable Row: 6 x 130, 6 x 130
Kneeling One-Arm Row: 6 x 50

Followed by an interval run/walk following the Podrunner series.  I'm following the program using 5 MPR (12 min mile) for the running portion and 3.5 MPR for the walking.  I'm hoping that'll allow me to do a 5K at a 12 Min per mile pace.  We'll see - I managed to keep up the pace for the whole 60 seconds of each interval, so that's good.

Thursday was a Back and Traps at my 'other gym' in Sacramento:

Incline Dumbbell Press: 6 x 45 x 3
Dumbbell Bench Press: 6 x 50 x 2
Decline Dumbbell Press: 6 x 45 x 2

Dumbbell Shoulder Shrug: 10 x 70 x 2

Friday was a holiday but I hit the gym anyway - it was Arms and Abs day:

Barbell Curl - 6 x 55 x 2
Hammer Curl - 6 x 25
Close Grip Ez-Curl Bar - 6 x 60 x 2
Hanging Leg Lifts - 6 x 2sets
Cable Kneeling Crunch - 10 x 100 x 2

Weirdest thing happened at the gym though.  I was standing, doing my workout when this guy walked passed.  He was staring, so I did what I normally do, I smiled (a little) and nodded.  The guy started laughing!  He looked me up and and down and then laughed so more before walking away.  I still have NO IDEA what that was about - but oh well.  I shrugged it off and went back to my workout.

I was supposed to get one more run in over the weekend - but that didn't happen.  I didn't feel like running on Christmas Day, I was too busy enjoying having all my kids over, and Sunday we spent all day walking around Six Flags so I feel like I at least got a workout in.

As for nutrition.  Well, it's sucked.  Let's just say I've enjoyed the holiday and leave it at that.

But, I do want to talk about my plan for a minute.

Remember, back at the beginning of this blog when I mentioned ADHD?  Well, I'm sure what I'm going to say here is going to seem very much in line with that.

First thing is:  I joined Weight Watchers.  I know, I know, by now you've counted three different nutritional plans that I've mentioned, and I've only been blogging for about a week!  But, hear me out.

I know that I do best when there's some sort of external pressure associated with a goal, or task.  Weight Watchers has a public weigh-in/forum as part of their program and THAT is the portion of their system that I am using.  I'm also playing with the online site and smart phone ap.  The new WW program places emphasis on whole foods, fruits and vegetables, and I'm thinking I can use the points system to do a fairly simple weighed and measured Paleo Plan.

And what about Medi-fast?  That's not very peleo, and frankly I have always felt a little guilty while on the program.  Yes, I see results and I see them quickly, but I've always wondered at what cost.  So, I'm going to spend this week 100% on Medi-fast and any left over food I have will be emergency food for those days I forget or get too lazy to pack a lunch.  No excuse to head down to the Burger King when I've got a high protein tomato soup sitting in my lunch drawer that I can eat instead.

To that end I've got 6 dinners per week planned on a calendar along with recipes and shopping lists.

One other thing I would like to note - the more exercise I do, the more I want to do!  lol!  I've found myself wanting to add more work on my 'weight lifting only' days.  I've noticed that I have access to a gym with a pool at least two days a week (once at my Sac gym on Thursdays and then either day on the weekend).  Maybe it's time to add a little aqua cardio to my program?

Ooooooor - maybe I'll reign my ADHD self in and finish my running program instead! lol  I've got plenty of time after this 5K in Feb to roll back into some swimming and biking.   Let's just say that Tri's are starting to call my name again.  And it's a nice feeling.

It's Tuesday, and workout wise, everything has been going well.

Sunday before bed I made sure that I had my phone charged, my podcasts loaded and my headphones working.  I also loaded up a yoga session (just in case) and threw my heart monitor and garmin watch inside my bag so that I was all ready to start back into the cardio training.  The next morning I hit the gym nice and early only to discover to my ultimate frustration that I had left my phone at home along with my headphones, watch and heart rate strap! So, basically my entire workout was over 40 miles away :(  I headed in anyway and did a workout from my head.  When I checked back later, it wasn't that far off from what I had planned.

Front Lat Raises:  6 x 15, 6 x 15, 6 x 20
Dumbbell Shoulder Presses:  6 x 40 x 2
Side Lat Raises:  6 x 25, 6 x 27.5
Lying Triceps Presses: 50 x 6, 55 x 6
Seated Triceps overhead press:  50 x 6

Then I went over to the Treadmill, warmed up for 5 minutes, pushed the incline up to 1.5% and did intervals - 2 minutes running, 3 minutes walking for 25 minutes.  After 30 minutes I had gone 1.8 miles.  Not too bad for a first day back.

This morning I hit the gym bright and early once again.  It was leg day - that always makes me happy.

Squat:  6 x 205 x 4
Leg Press:  6 x 560, 6 x 580
Stiff Leg Deadlift:  6 x 175 x 3

Felt tired but GREAT after all of that.

The food front hasn't been as great.  I got my new shipment of Medifast meals on Friday and I was really excited about all the new stuff like pancakes!

Friday night I went shopping and got a big load of meat and veg for my one 'lean and green' meal per day and I felt ready.

However, Friday night also started the great bake off.  Rum Balls, Oatmeal Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Biscotti etc all went into my oven - and portions of each also went into my mouth!

Saturday started well with Medifast pancakes, and a bar early in the day, but I folded when we went to the Dicken's Faire and bought a bag of cinnamon and sugar roasted almonds.  Later in the day I topped all that off with more baking and more 'tasting'

Sunday started with a brunch for a friend's birthday and ended with more baking and more tasting.  By the time I woke up on Monday morning, I had a terrible stomach ache weighed 220 lbs!  up almost 3 lbs from a week ago - DARN HOLIDAYS!

Yesterday, my lunch(s) were at home (along with my phone) but I had a bunch of meals stashed in a drawer at work so I figured I would be ok.  And I was.  I even got my husband to fix dinner so that it was ready and waiting for me when I got home.  But, then there was more baking and more cookies and more batter testing and bleh!

Of course there's the chance that going heavy at the gym is putting some of this weight on me, but certainly not all of it.  I just know I'll be glad when the holidays and all the partying and cooking is done! Cause apparently my will power isn't enough to overcome the magnetic pull of sugar cookie batter!

I would hate to think what I would weigh if I wasn't 'dieting' while eating all this cookie dough! lol!

My goal right now is not to beat myself up over my less then perfect start and keep working to make each day a bit better then the day before.  I'm in this for the long haul and that means learning to live life - and sometimes living means enjoying a fresh baked cookie (or three)

Happy Holidays All!

Hi, and welcome to my blog.

Despite the fact that this is my first post here, this is hardly my first blog, so, on the off chance that you’re interested in a little history, I’ll point you to those old posts.

In Dec 2002 I decided to start a Body-for-Life challenge and to chronicle my progress through the 12 week contest.  Little did I know that that little blog would turn into a 8 year chronicling of the ups and downs of weight loss. 

My highest weight in that time:  240lbs

My lowest weight:  170

I also had a lot of posts about weight lifting and what I was doing at the gym.

But through all those years, no ‘ultimate success’.

In Oct 2008, I joined Team and Training and signed up to do a triathlon (at 240lbs).  I started a blog to chronicle my training as a way for folks to track me and (hopefully) donate money to the cause I was supporting, the leukemia lymphoma society.  When I finished the training and did the race I found I had been bitten by the triathlon bug, and the blog stayed up as I chronicled my races and struggles.

I struggled with keeping both blogs going and keeping relevant information on the appropriate blog.  Then, 2010 hit and I fell into a big giant slump.  Both blogs went ‘dark’.

And, so, here we are, on the edge of 2011 and I’m finding myself on a journey again.  I’ve been hitting the gym regularly ala my ‘Body for Life’ days, I’ve started a regimented diet, and I’ve signed up for a 5k race in Feb.  It just seemed to be a good time to pull all my thoughts into one place and start the new year with a bright shiny new blog.  And this, my friends, is it.

So, what is this blog about then?

It’s about a lot of things.  It’s about my getting to my goal weight – and staying there.  It’s about getting strong and getting fit, and getting my head in a good place.  And it’s about laughing a little along the way.

Who am i?

Well I’m a wife to a wonderful, amazing, and supportive husband, a mom to three great kids.  (22, 19, 17) and I work full time as an IT Project Manager.

Where am I at?

I weighed in on Monday at 217.2 lbs.  I’m going to the gym 5 days a week and using a training program called Max-OT.  I’m on a diet program called “Medifast”, because it’s simple and works for me, but I believe long term that the Paleo/Primal lifestyle is the way to go and it’s where I plan to live my ‘maintenance life’.   I’m currently signed up for a 5K in February and I’ll be starting a couch to 5K program next week.  As I’ve worked/struggled with my weight over the years, it’s become apparent to me that I’m a food addict, there will be portions of this blog that is related to that.  I’ve also recently come to suspect that I have ADHD.  So, as I learn more and get skills to deal with that, I’ll post here as it relates to my fitness and weight loss journey.

Where do I want to be?

Weight wise I want to get to 130 lbs.  2011 is the year I reach that number.  While I do that, I’m going to maintain, if not improve my overall strength (muscle mass).   Later in the year I’m going to return to training for and competing in triathlons.  I want to go back to some of the old tris I did and beat my time.  As I drop the weight, that should get easier and easier to do.

Please, feel free to post questions, comments, encouragement or… whatever… but realize that my blog is really a journal for me.  A way for me to take stock, record my journey and explore my own thoughts and feelings.  Although I might entertain/enlighten someone along the way, it’s not my primary focus, and if you don’t like the way or content that I post, I’m OK with that.  Don’t expect me to change.

2010 - kicked my ***

So here's the deal...

2010 wasn't so great a year for me.  I lost focus, stopped training and gained back some of the weight I had lost in 2009.

On the flip side I did get some things accomplished.  I moved, I got a new less stressful, better jobs AND in the past few months I've started going back to the gym.

I feel like I've regained focus and that I'm on track to get back to being an athlete again!

That being said, I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to do with this blog.  It started as a way to chronicle my training as I went through Team in Training for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society.   Then, as I found I liked doing Tris, and wanted to continue doing them, I kept posting to this blog about my Tri tribulations.

However, this was only a small window of the 'big picture' of my 'athletic life' and I actually had an older blog that I was maintaining that had years and years of my weight/training struggles posted to it. I found myself struggling to decide what to post to that blog and what to post to this one.  I didn't want them to be mirrors of each other, and was trying to keep information that was related to the 'subject' of the blog on each blog.

As you might guess, with two subjects so closely intertwined, it got difficult and as my motivation fell, so did my posts.

Now I'm left with a quandary.  As I start to ramp back up in both endeavorers, getting fit and losing weight what do I do with these blogs?  Do I continue them, but keep them separate?  Do I retire one or the other of them?  Or, do I close them both and start a third blog with the focus being my entire 'fitness' journey.

Given that my posting has been so sporatic that neither of these blogs get much of a 'visit' I think the third option might just be a good idea and a great 'clean slate' for 2011.

Goals for tomorrow

1 - Take my vitamins

2 - Take my fish oil

3 - No grain no sugar

4 - Take it just one day at a time

I wanted to say something about #4

A few years ago I read "Rational Recovery". Knowing that my weight issue was related to a food addiction I thought this was an important program to read and understand. Weirdly enough, I think that it might have caused a problem for me. You see, this program drills on the idea that you make a commitment (to a diet - or recovery program) for life. That if you are going to do it, you do it forever - and there's an implied "or not at all".

But today I decided to go back to an old adage of mine - "just get through today" -- because honestly, sometimes all I have is enough strength for today - and I've found that if I string enough 'todays' together, soon it's weeks and then months and in that time I've made progress and frankly, in weight loss progress is the key.

And, on another note - I was rather inspired on Friday night when while out drinking with friends, one of my best (male) friends mentioned how amazing I looked when I had dieted down for my wedding. Honestly I didn't know anyone had really noticed. That made me feel really good and I would really like to look and feel that amazing again.

To that end - the plan is week is to string together 7 'one day at a time's - hit the weights 4 days this week and do at least 3 days of cardio.

The good news is, I'm no longer at the job I hate and my stress levels have gone down by 80% - If I could just figure out the money situation - I would have no stress at all :D

Why Can't I Lose Weight - Pre Work

Since we've determined that the problem with my weight is 'in my head' I'm going to take a look at some of the tools I've purchased over the years that are designed to help me with this. One is a program called, "I've I'm so smart, why can't I lose weight?"

I'll be posting my thoughts on the questions in this program here to save and refer back to later... and so, without further ado. Here's my thoughts from the 'pre-work' chapter.

My Story

How much do you weigh right now?

as of this morning, I weighed 209.6

Why do you weigh this amount? What is your story on how you gained this weight?

I first remember being aware of my weight my freshman year in high school. I weighed 125lbs and thought I was fat. I believe part of this feeling came from growing up around my mother and her sisters who were all 5'1" and 110 lbs or smaller. I always felt like a big clumsy giant around them. Then there was just the overall 'anorexic' mentality of the 80's to deal with.

It was sometime in my freshman year when I started dieting. I remember going to lunch and having nothing but bullion and dieters tea to eat. I probably ate 700 to 900 calories a day, none of them 'good'. Luckily I was never able to keep my calories that low for long but I believe the 'damage' had already begun.

I ignored my weight as much as possible after that, but I continued to gain. My mom would put the whole family on super restrictive diets (Macrobiotic) that had me spending all my lunch money on candy and junk food. By the end of my Sophomore year, I was up to 145.

I moved away from home and into my Grandparent's house that summer. I gained 20 more pounds along the way and then kept at 165 until I graduated high school and then, three days later, got married.

I got pregnant immediately and the pounds piled on. I was also desperately unhappy. Getting married at 18 was a HUGE mistake, but being pregnant (and defying my family when I got married) made me feel 'stuck'. When my daughter was born 8.5 months later, I was at 185 lbs.

From that point on, my life has been a yo-yo of weight loss and gain, and there's hardly a program or gimmick I haven't tried.

I believe weight watchers was the first. I did it after my son was born and dropped from 207 to 185. Between the positive attention this got me from men, and the negative attention from my husband, I believe I panicked. One 'cheat' became two cheats, and two cheats became days of being off plan.

The weight came back, and stayed. Then I got pregnant with my third... It was a rough pregnancy and I was on bed rest for a great deal of it. I got used to 'laying around' and got really good at conserving energy. After my daughter was born, my weight climbed up and up and up and before I knew it I was at 230 lbs.

It was at this time that I discovered Susan Powter. Low fat and exercise became my weight loss tools. Until my gall bladder complained and I had to have it removed.

Then is was 'Opra's trainer's' diet, and atkins and carb adicts. I would lose a few lbs, then gain them again, never really seeing real success.

Then I found weight loss workshop through my church. For the first time ever, I learned that my issue was probably not just the food I was eating but reasons I was eating it! I learned about emotional eating and other issues along those lines.

Unfortunately, knowing was only 1/2 the battle. I still wasn't finding lasting weight loss.

Then, 13 years after getting married I finally took the steps and got a divorce. It was stressful and exciting and frightening and thrilling all at the same time. I didn't think about my weight or food or anything like that. For some reason I ate when I wanted, what I wanted and lost weight. I looked and felt great. No, I didn't get to my 'goal' but I maintained at 185 for about a year.

Strangely enough, shortly after meeting someone new and falling in love, and starting a new job with a 2 our commute, my weight started to creep back up. I fought it - I bought books and tried one diet after another. Still, I managed to creep back up over 200!

Then, my commute shortened and I found Body for Life. By following the guidelines, and exercising daily I managed to get down to 180lbs! The lowest of my adult life! Then, things changed at my job. I started having a 2 hour commute again. The weight came back slowly, but it still came back. I couldn't seem to get back into the rhythm of food and exercise. I tried other things - burn the fat feed the muscle - and nearly every other thing I could get my hands on!

But it took a wedding for me to really find my motivation - my own. I was marrying the love of my life and I found leanness lifestyle. I payed an incredible amount of money to be part of the 'elite' program with one on one coaching -- I was going to finally breath through all these barriers and reach my goal. I went from 214 to 169 by my wedding!

I felt amazing and was happy beyond belief.

But, once I got home, job stress got the better of me. I started skipping workouts and eating off plan. A death in the family gave me the excuse to drop my coach and the weight started to come back again.

for some reason I couldn't seem to stop it. I read books, I tried programs, but could't seem to stick to any of them for more then a week or two. I did the Food Adicts program and Diets to go... The gain continued... higher and higher until I reached a frightening and sobering 240lbs! I was at my heaviest ever.

I was approaching my 40th birthday fat and miserable. So, in an attempt to motivate myself I joined Team in Training and signed up to do a triathlon. I trained for months and months. Miles and miles of running and biking and yet, still, I managed to eat enough to keep up with the burn. 5 months after signing up and month after my 40th I was still at 240 lbs.

But, somehow completing that triathlon did something for me. I came back from that trip with a focus like I had never had before. I started MediFast and continued to train for triathlons. Suddenly I was on a roll. The weight was falling off and in just a few months I was down almost 60 lbs.

And yet, I couldn't maintain it. I would look at my medifast meal at lunch and would find 1000 reasons not to eat it. One skipped meal turned into two and soon I was off the program completely.

My weight bounced up a little bit afterwords but nothing terrible at first. The weight gain was slow and subtle. Just before my 41st birthday I was just over 200 again. It was then I discovered Paleo. I loved everything I was reading so I gave the program a 30 day trial. I lost 12 lbs. But again I strayed. A Reece's here, a cinnamon roll there and the weight slowly started to come back. Which brings us to today - with me committing to go back to Paleo (or Primal) eating and weighing almost 210 lbs.

Ideas to think about

1. Why did you order this program

I read the book, loved what it had to say and hoped that the program would help me apply the program and finally reach my goal weight. I've started it again because I want to be rid of my food addiction.

2. What to you hope to accomplish within this program?

I want to rid food and weight as being a focal point in my life

3. Do you feel now as if you will succeed at this program?

It's hard to feel positive. I've tried so many things - even this program before and yet I'm still not at a healthy weight.

4. Are you willing to try all the exercises and homework?

YES!

5. What is your biggest fear about your weight?

That I will never be a success

10 Major Events

Write down 5 major positive events in your life and 5 major negative events.

positive

1. Meeting Nigel

2. Marrying Nigel

3. Getting promoted to the SWAT team

4. Moving to San Francisco

5. Getting divorced

negative

1. Moving away from Shoshoni

2. My parent's divorce

3. Getting married to 'w'

4. Getting promoted to vCIO

5. Moving to Mountain House

My life would be better if...

My life would be better if I was thin because I wouldn't have to focus on my weight and be worried about how it's effecting my health and fitness.

Being thin is: important - people view you differently if you are thin

Thin people are: just like everyone else - just thinner

If I was thin I would feel: as if I could focus on other goals for once

By body is: fat but fit, but bound to give out on me eventually

My legs are: Ok from the knee down - but disgusting from the knee up

My stomach is: ruined from having kids - it's lumpy, bumpy and yucky

My butt is: Flat, but wide and dimply

My arms are: not too bad, but bigger in real life then I think they are when I look at them.

My face is: getting old - but has a nice jawline and good cheekbones. It manages to look thin despite the weight.

More thought-provoking questions

1. How would you feel if you could never eat sweets again? Deprived - as if life were 'unfair' - and frightened

2. Who do you blame for being overweight? I blame myself Can you forgive them? I've not been good at forgiving myself but I'm willing to try.

3. What would motivate you beyond doubt to lose weight? My instinct is to say "I don't know" because I feel like I have tried everything. Perhaps - enough money to pay off my bills. Or if the life of someone I loved were threatened.

4. Were you happy the last time you were thin? I think so - but then I don't think I was happy 'because' I was thin. It's probably more likely that I was thin because I was happy.

5. Do you enjoy exercise? actually I do, when I do it. It's remembering that an motivating myself to start that's hard.

6. Do you sweat? YES!!! How do you feel about sweat? I feel good as if I've accomplished something.

7. What do you believe your weight says about you? It says that I eat more then I need to

Good for you to know questions

1. What are you willing to sacrifice to lose weight? My 'inner brat' doesn't want to sacrifice anything. and my head says I would sacrifice almost anything (not the people I love or my health) and yet, my inner brat always seems to win.

2. What aren't you willing to sacrifice to lose weight? My health, the people I love

3. Would anyone in your life be upset if you lost weight? My oldest daughter, maybe, since she has a weight issue.

4. On a scale of 1-10 how important is it for you to lose weight? 7?

5. What will happen if you do't lose weight? I'll stay the same size, maybe get bigger. I'll probably get diabetes

Starting point questions

1. When did you first start having an issue with your weight? about 15 (or sooner)

2. What diets have you tried? too many to list (see above)

3. What causes you to overeat? Celebrations, stress, sadness, boredom, cravings, feeling tired

4. What do you think the issues are? I eat for the wrong reasons.

5. What do you struggle with? saying no to my feast beast.

Think about this questions

1. What is the most upsetting issue, other than our weight, pressing on your mind right now? Money!!!!

2. What do you fear about this situation? That I won't be able to pay the bills and that N will find out how EFFED up our finances are right now

3. How do you currently manage stress? I try not to think about the problem - distract myself - or pretend there isn't a problem (and spend money we don't have)

4. How much joy to you currently create in your life? very little

5. What gives your life meaning? At the moment, I don't feel as if my life has much meaning. I often find myself wishing God would just take me off this earth because it's all about stress and worry.

6. Do you believe you are living the life you are meant to live? No. I hate my job and think there is something better out there. I also don't feel as if I live for God the way I should and I feel guilty about that.

7. What do you want other people to know about you? That I am someone who can be counted on for support.

Epiphany?

Last night after posting my workouts I came to a realization.  I'm ignoring my strengths to focus on my weakness.

While on some level this might seem like the right thing to do, but on another... it seems a little backwards;  especially in triathlons.

Let me explain.  I'm a good swimmer.  Maybe even a little better then average.  The fact that I can go out and complete a 1/2 mile open water swim after not touching the water for eight months, and still manage to stay in the upper/middle of the pack, I believe, speaks to my swimming aptitude.  Because swimming is so easy for me, I've been completely ignoring it in my training.

Then last night I realized, that if I took a little extra time and actually focused just a little on my swimming, I could probably really kill the swim portion of the tri and give myself some additional breathing room when it came to the run.  By ignoring my strongest event I was losing out on a chance of making my weakest event less of a handicap.

So, I'm reworking my schedule to add in more swim workouts and committing myself to stop skipping them.

Maybe with a little work I can (as my husband put it)  catch 5 waves :D

Week One - Check

Week one of thirteen is in the books - managed to put in all my training except the one swim I had planned. I'm ok with that. Three runs and two bikes for a total of 56 miles for the week is a pretty big accomplishment.  and, I logged 5:46 in training time.

First day was a strength workout that included 'hill bounding'. Only there are no hills in Alameda - so I modified my workout to 'stair bounding'.

After a 15 minute warm-up run I did 8 sprints of the stairs, with a 10 second sprint after reaching the top. Then it was a recovery jog back to the bottom of the stairs to do it. It was a short, but intense workout. What was funny was that while I was pooped after doing the stairs, after a short recovery, I was hardly felt like I had run at all and was feeling like I should do more! That's a good sign that I'm starting out on the right foot.  2 miles for 26 minutes

Day two was hill repeats on the bike. We've already established that there are no hills worth speaking of here in Alameda, so I do simulated hills on the trainer... In some ways I think training on the trainer is harder because there's no coasting it's 35 minutes of spin spin spin... 2 minutes of hills with 3 minute recovery 5 times  8 miles for 35 minutes

So, Thursdays are going to be my 'hard' run day. I know, it sounds strange for a 2 mile run to be hard, but I have have a goal of doing the Bridge to Bridge 12K at a 11 min/mile pace. So, thursday is when I'm training at this pace and for me, right now, 2 miles at 11 min/mile is HARD! Hopefully this'll get easier as training goes on.

For the actual 2 miles of my run (the .4 was warm-up) I managed to average 11:16 min/mile. A little above goal, but I'll be doing this same run next week and maybe I'll be able hit that 11 then.  2.4 miles and 28 minutes

Saturday I decided to ride with the Oakland Yellow Jackets.  This ended up being my longest ride to date. I was really happy with how the ride went - enjoyed the team, and the ride itself was fantastic. Just enough of a challenge on the hills without being overwhelming. The pace was perfect for the distance because I ended feeling I could still go more. AND I didn't fall once!  41 miles 3 hours 45 minutes of training logged.

Today was my last workout of the week -- Hooray!

I was so tired today, my legs just didn't want to move! even after 10 minutes of warming up I didn't feel warmed up and when it came time to put on the gas just a little bit - the engine just didn't want to go. Still, I made it through even when I wanted to quit! and managed to log the final 2.8 miles in 34 minutes.

I am calling this week a complete success.

For next week the plan is:

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Leg/Abs and running hill repeats (Might stay and run in SF for this one)
Wednesday - Chest/Biceps and biking hill repeats (Probably on the trainer)
Thursday - Back/Traps and 3 mile run for pace
Friday - Shoulders/Triceps
Saturday - Endurance Bike - (probably try to catch up with the yellow jackets again)
Sunday - Run 45 minutes Fartlek and 1500y swim

Oli Training starts

Start of a new training cycle.  Planning on doing an Olympic Tri in October and that's the focus now, although I have a few fun races I plan to do along the way, including the Bridge to Bridge.  I also plan on doing a intense resistance training program, mostly because I like and enjoy lifting weights, and it's nice to spend time doing something I'm good at :D

This week's schedule

Tuesday:  Run - Hill Bounding
Wednesday:  Bike - Tempo Hill Climbs
Thursday - Run - 2 miles goal pace
Friday - Rest
Saturday - Bike - 20 miles steady
Sunday - Run - Fartlek  and Swim - 1500 Yards

Yes - my training is going to be run heavy - it's really what I need the most help with so I've decided to add an extra run day in there.

Next race is the third try at the tri for fun in Sacramento on August 8th.  Hopefully I'll be able to break the 2 hour mark this time.

Well Hello

I'm not sure if anyone visits this blog anymore. Heck, I don't like to visit it myself, it's rather depressing!

The shear number of "ah-ha moments", "epiphany" and "On Fire" posts here only to find myself STILL not at my goal... well, it makes me wonder if I'm ever going to get there.

And yet, here I am. Still here. Still fighting the 'good fight'.

What's become obvious to me over the years is that my relationship with food is what many might call an 'addiction'. I 'use' food for many of the same reasons that others might use alcohol or drugs. That's one of the reasons that 'diets' for me, have to be all or nothing. There has to be a clear line of what is allowed and what isn't. Clear boundaries need to be in place.

But, on the other had, I need to learn to deal with the things that make me turn to food. Pain, Stress, desire for pleasure... all these things have me looking for food and eating too much of it.

So, what do I do now? I'm not really sure to be honest. Isn't the first step admitting you have a problem? I've done that, but then I've done that before too. What I haven't always done is acknowledge that I can't deal with this via 'normal' means. I need a clear, black and white line when it comes to food. And I need to observe it with a "No Choice" mentality.

That means I need to cage my feast beast and not give him the power to talk me into crossing that line. I need to address my addictive voice when it starts it's siren song. Address it and defeat it.

So far today, I haven't crossed the line, and I have no plans to cross it ever again. The feast beast will die, I will be free.

The plan? Well the plan is simple. Medifast with additional calories allowed as long as it's veggies fat and/or protein.

For exercise. I'm going back to the Met-RX weight lifting program, but 4 days a week. Plus I'm doing my triathlon training.

I'm also looking for more ways to enjoy life that aren't food related. I'm going to discover a life that isn't covered in chocolate sauce.

This morning I got up early and did a good leg/ab workout. Tonight I've got a 45 minute run planned.

Wednesday: RT = Chest and Biceps | Cardio = Brick Workout (Bike + Run)
Thursday: RT = Back and Traps | Cardio = Run
Friday: RT = Shoulders and Triceps
Saturday: Swim
Sunday: Swim & Brick

Took some time to recover this past week.

I did my markerset/TT run on Tuesday and my Markerset/TT on the trainer on Wednesday.  Thursday, I was having a really bad day, so I ended up just going for a walk with the dog.  Friday and Saturday I rested and recovered and then Sunday I joined up with Team Alameda to see what it was like to do a group ride with them.  Boy was I in for a pleasant surprise.  Fantastic group of people, and a great ride through areas I hadn't been before and where I probably wouldn't have gone by myself.  I think we ended up riding about three hours.  Hit a few challenging (for me) hills and overall just had a fantastic day.  The only bad parts were 1) my bike 'ghost shifting' in my low (climbing) gears and thus making the climbs 10 times harder then they had to be, and 2) getting caught in my clips and majorly biting the back of one of my legs with the opposite petal.  

BUT, there was one positive to all of that.  When one of the other riders took my bike for a spin to see if he had fixed my ghost shifting problem... HE nearly wrecked because he couldn't unclip.  All this time I thought I was just dorky and uncoordinated and part of the problem was that my clips were too tight!  He adjusted them for me and I have to say, I'm 100% more confident when coming to a stop that I can get out of my clips and not fall over!

The goals for this week are:

1) get in some quality weight training

2) spend some time doing yoga (trying to solve a tightness issue in my back)

3) clean up the nutrition!

4) Train

The training plan is:

Monday - Rest

Tuesday - Tempo run

Wednesday - Tempo swim/Tempo Bike

Thursday - Speed work (run)

Friday - Rest

Saturday - Bike/Run Race Sim Brick

Sunday - Open water swim

I'm finally starting to feel a little fire in my belly again - it's good to be back!

Lose It! Weekly Summary for Week of Mon, May 31st

Weekly Summary for Week of Mon, May 31st

for Shawn Mueller-Boddy

Daily Summary
	Budget	Food	Exercise	Net	+/-	Weight (lbs)
6/2/10	1,333	0	0	0	-1,333	207.4
6/4/10	1,333	0	0	0	-1,333	207.4
6/5/10	1,357	3,343	1,810	1,533	176	211.1
6/6/10	1,357	1,334	0	1,334	-23	211.1
153 calories over budget for the week
Gained 3.7 pounds this week

Nutrient Summary		% Calories
Fat	203g	40.3%
Saturated Fat	62g
Protein	259g	22.8%
Carbohydrates	420g	37%
Sugars	129g
Fiber	29g

Exercise Summary		Calories
Running	45 Min	528
Bicycling	1 Hour 5 Min	980
Swimming	20 Min	302
Total	1810

Report generated by Lose It!. For more information or to sign up for your free Lose It! account, please visit http://www.loseit.com

Well,  this has been a tumultuous year.

I've gained weight I didn't want to gain.  I've not trained the way I wanted to train.  I've had to change plans dozen of times (it seems).  And yet, yesterday, I finally got out and did a Triathlon.  It was a sprint, but, I did it.  And despite all the set backs of the year, I didn't do as bad as I had thought I would.  Hey, I didn't come in last! In fact, I think I might have even seen a slight improvement on my bike.

Overall, I have a lot of work to do to get back to the shape I was in last year, but I'm willing and ready to do it!

Next weeks a recovery week, with short runs and rides to recalibrate my baseline, then it's back to serious training to see how much I can improve before doing the same race on July 10th.

I'll have some fitness goals soon - weight goal - I'm going to drop 16 lbs.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

So, I mentioned that I haven't noticed a lot of changes with the change in diet. But, when I sat down and really thought about it, yes, I have. Now, I'm not having one of those "OMG, I can hardly stand it, where is all this energy coming from" transformations, but, I am seeing some interesting things going on with me.

Now, understand that I did a 'lowish' carb diet last year as part of my weight loss program, but it did include some dairy and some grains. It was also low fat and calorie restrictive. When I followed the program exactly as written I was always hungry, as in chew my arm off hungry. So, I would often supplement with nuts and generally felt better. I say all of this simply because, the fact that my body is already used to a lower carb intake could be one of the reasons I'm not experiencing a radical change in feeling/energy by going paleo. Or, it could just be that I haven't given it enough time.

Anyway - back to the changes I am seeing.

1) I'm losing weight. I'm not counting calories. I'm not going hungry. I'm not constantly watching the clock waiting for my next meal. I'm also not spending hours planning my meals for the day, and yet, I've lost 7.6 lbs since Jan 1st!

2) I'm not losing strength. Generally, dieting means having to compromise on strength training (and sometimes even cardio) and yet, I'm still putting up the same (if not better) strength numbers as the end of the year.

3) I have fingernails! I know, this is probably a strange thing to mention, but you have to understand that I'm a person who can't grow fingernails. My nails are normally super soft and very thin. They rip and break right to the quick, constantly. And yet, right now, I have nails that go beyond the ends of my fingers on all but one finger!

4) My sleep patterns are changing - for the better. Ask anyone, they'll tell you, I'm not a morning person. This wasn't helped by the fact that I often had trouble falling and staying asleep at night. Even after sleeping 8+ hours I would often wake up groggy and exhausted. Weekends were a constant battle for me. I would often not wake up until 10AM and could easily fall back asleep and stay in bed until Noon. Then Sunday night I would be laying in bed at 1:00AM staring the clock, stressed out because I knew I had to be up by 5:00 AM the next day.

This past weekend (a three day weekend for me), all three days I woke up 6:00AM (WTF!). Even after telling myself, "It's the weekend! You can sleep in" I ended up getting up before 8:00. I've also found myself falling asleep faster (in usually 10-20 minutes, instead of the HOURS it could sometimes take) and waking up in the middle of the night a lot lot less.

Now, my sleep patterns have always been cyclical, going from bad to worse at certain times of the month, so I'll be tracking the quality of my sleep for at least 30 days to see if it continues to improve, or even just stays as good as it is right now. If it does, then whoo hoo!

Oh, and last night, I made the most amazing pork stir fry w/tangerines and bok choy, and tonight we're having chicken that's been marinating in a homemade peach sauce. Nom Nom Nom!

And the 1/2 Iron Training Begins

One thing I didn't mention in my last post is 2010 will also be the year of the weight training. Hubby and I started getting constant at going to the gym late last year during the "off season". We plan to continue that effort through tri training. Normally that will mean hitting the gym for weights and stretching early in the morning (we get up at 4:00AM) and then doing tri training at night after work. Today however, since we got done with the weights early, and the run was only 30 minutes, we did our run right at the gym on the treadmill. Since the the weather's been bad to worse of late, and the focus was on running drills this actually turned out to be ideal.

Now, my back is sore from a killer weight workout, and I'm all energized from doing 30 minutes on the treddy - 10 of those minutes doing inseam drills.

The remainder of the workouts include:

25 miles on the bike tomorrow (we'll use the trainers)

45 min run on Thursday (The long run of the week)

30 min of drills on the bike Friday (supposed to be hill repeats - I'm thinking we'll just simulate with big chain on the trainer)

40 minutes of running w/hill bounding on Saturday (cross your fingers that the weather will clear like the report says it will)

and

30 miles on the bike on Sunday (again with the hoping for good weather!)

Yes, I know there's no swimming in there - that's because as of right now, I don't have any place to swim :( I canceled my membership in the town where I live, and I'm a woose, and I won't do open water swims when it's 50 degrees outside. My goal is to be able to do my swims on my lunch hour but that'll require me getting a second gym membership, something that's not in the budget (today). So, for now I'm going to have to rely on the the fact that I'm a strong swimmer and I've completed the 1.2 mile swim easily many times before...

That being said, I'll be signing up for a gym membership if I ever get some extra chashola, and I'll be hitting the OW as soon as the temperatures get reasonable.

PS: if you want more details on my weight training, I track it all at Daily Mile - and update twitter with my workouts (SAMBoddy69) You may notice I'm a much better weight lifter then runner - heh.

PPS: bought a second bike trainer over the weekend so hubby and I can workout together :D

2010 Goals

So, 2010 is upon us, and like most folks I've set a few goals for the new year.

I'm going to continue to do triathlons - I mean, do I have much of a choice? It's either that, or change the name of my blog :D

I've got one big goal for this year tri wise and that's to do a Half Iron Man distance race. I'm still finalizing my plans, but my hope is to do the "World's Toughest Half Iron Man" on May 23rd. I know, I aim High :D. This race is called "World's Toughest" because of the sheer elevation. I know, I know. If you've spend any amount of time on my blog you know I hate hills. Well, guess what, I'm the kind of person who likes to face my weakness head on - and so, I want to tackle the 1/2 Iron distance and hills all the same time. What's even better, this race has a 70.3 mile distance Duathlon. So, my husband is training for the same distance, same race. woo fun! Oh, and since this race is 18 weeks away, training starts this week.

I'm going to do a few other races along the way - some of the same races I did this year - overall, I plan to have some fun.

Now, if you've spent any amount of time on my blog, you can guess that the other big health and fitness goals is to get to my goal weight. Last year I started reading "The Paleo Diet" by Loren Cordain. I was intrigued, but wasn't ready to make such a drastic change. Then I bought, "The Paleo Diet for Athletes" by Loren Cordain, and Triathlete Coach Joe Friel. After some study and some deep thinking At the beginning of the year, I made the switch. How do I feel so far? Not really that different, I mean just a few weeks I'm not feeling as if my life has suddenly become roses. But, I'm not suffering giving up (most) dairy, grains and legumes so I'm going to keep with this. Mentally, at least, I feel healthier and that says a lot. I know I'm putting good food into my body, that has to be a good thing.

I know to a lot of people, this is rather extreme. And some might think my diet has got to be bland, but I'm actually really happy with the variety I've managed to have. Today I ate: 2 eggs and 3 turkey sausages for for breakfast, a turkey burger w/a couple cups of mixed veggies for lunch, and for dinner chicken w/beets and orange butter - yummy yummy! I've been having a lot of fun making dinners for new 'diet' and I hope you don't mind if I share them with you.

2009 Recap

The year 2009 was an interesting year for me.  I turned 40, and while not the introspective, page turning birthday that some experience, it did make me realize that I was getting much to old to keep putting my dreams and goals on hold.  If I was going to make a dent in my bucketlist, I better get a move on.

One thing I had be thinking about doing for years was a triathlon.  As I started to look forward to 2009 and my pending birthday, I knew that this was the year I was going to finally do it, so, I signed up with Team in Training and started training for Lavaman in Oct 2008.

At 240lbs, training was difficult.  I struggled with running and biking and was always the absolute back of the pack.  But, I persevered and through a myriad of struggles and injuries, on March 29th I started and finished my first ever triathlon.

It became clear to me that day that I was hooked.  But, it also became clear to me that I couldn't continue in this sport with success and with any longevity at 240lbs.  So, the day after we got home from Hawaii I stared, once again, to work on something that's been a goal of mine for 25 years;  to lose weight.

With race after race looming on my calender and the burning drive to "not be last" I stuck to my plan and  continued to lose weight week after week.  By August I was at my lowest weight in years and was feeling good.  I was also starting to feel a little 'competitive' at races, looking for more then just 'don't be last'.  I started trying to compete against others at the race instead of just myself.  I started having a lot less fun.

I was in the middle of Run Girl Run when I realized what I was doing.  Mid race I had an attitude adjusted why race if it made me frustrated and discouraged.  What was important was that I was out there, having fun, and on the road to self improvement.

Overall, health wise, I think I've had an excellent year.  In running I went from averaging about a 15:00/mile pace, with an average distance of 2.5 miles  to 11:00/mile pace, with an average distance of 5 miles.  On the bike I went from averaging 11 MPR on most rides, to being able to hold a pace of 16 MPR.  On top of all this, in body comp I lost just over 50 lbs, and dropped 5" off my waist and 6.5" off my hips.

Not too shabby

My Races for the Year:

2.25 Miles

Dog run Dog - 25:26

5K

Tough a Granite Trail Run - 37:47
Mountain House Run - 32:54
Skirt Chaser Run - 33:32

10K

Old Mill Run - 1:39:25
Skyline Mountain Run - 1:14:50

12K

Bay to Breakers - 2:08:10
Bridge to Bridge - 1:26:43

1.2 Mile Swim

Catfish Crawl - 46:23

1.5 Mile Swim

Sharkfest - 1:02:30

Super Sprint Tri

Deer Valley  - 59:44
Central Valley - 45:42

Sprint Tri

Napa Valley - 2:21:17
Anchorman - DNF (Got lost on the run)
SV Mountain Bike - 2:02:32
Tri for Fun (Pleas) - 1:30
Tri for Fun (Sacto) - 1:57:50
Tri Girl Tri - 1:49:22 (same race as Napa Valley)

Olympic Tri

Lavaman - 4:59:11
Central Valley - 3:16:46

Other

Escape from the Rock - 2:21:11 (No Bike)
Salmon Duathlon - 2:20:35

And that about sums up 2009 - I'll post again with some of my 2010 goals - it's going to be a GREAT year