Cycling with Cindy

Cindy and I really have a wonderful time cycling together. Today I rode to and from the base and then after lunch Cindy and I went for 20 km ride together. My total for the day was 40 km. I thought it was really neat that where Cindy and I cycled this afternoon was an area that we couldn't have attempted a few months ago. It's this wonderful hilly area where the hills are constant but not too big, so when you build up momentum heading downhill you can feed into the momentum all the way up the next hill.

A few months ago we would have been huffing and puffing. Today it was just fun!

Triathlon #3 for the year

Today I did a sprint distance triathlon. I started off with a 20 km cycle (50 minutes) to and from a meeting I had, followed by a 6.7 km run/walk (1:05) with Cindy. We ran about 4.3 of it at a really good pace. Then I swam 750 meters (26 minutes) at a nearby pool. Feeling great but a little tired. I'm guessing that's to be expected.

I don't know if I mentioned the pool before, but it's this really random 50 m Olympic style pool (6 lanes) in the middle of a little village. This guy built it as part of his home, as his children are both competitive swimmers. All the neighborhood kids are there on the weekends and they are teaching swimming lessons to the kids. Some of these kids are growing up with problems in their home like alcohol, drugs, or abuse. It's great to see such a positive outlet for them to develop a skill in.

The owner, Sompap, met the head of Thailand's Triathlon Federation the other day. He had come to see the pool and check it out for the Thailand National Olympic team as a practice facility. Sompap mentioned that he knew a Khun William who was interested in starting a triathlon event in Chiang Rai and now the head of Thailand's Triathlon Federation is planning to have coffee with me next week.

Wouldn't it be cool if we could partner up on developing the event into a real community blessing for the area? I'll keep you posted.

Visit to Chiang Mai

Cindy and I headed to Chiang Mai for a meeting that she had scheduled. The hotel had a nice pool and I did 75 lengths, which I figure was about 750 meters. I was quit thrilled with doing that and I was able to do the "crawl" stroke during the entire swim. I'm learning to relax, slow down, and get comfortable with swimming these distances. The panic feeling of needed to gasp for air is calming down and I'm starting to feel like I can swim better. I also did 30 minutes in the weight room and really enjoyed doing the work with dumbells and free weights. It felt good to get in a good workout "on the road".

Weekend Rest

Friday I overdid it... big time. On Friday morning, Cindy and I ran 8 km together. In the afternoon, I was scoping out a prospective triathlon course and did 40 km cycling on some CRAZY hills. (That is not the course we'll use.) I was a hurting puppy by Friday night.

This weekend was about rest and recovery. Cindy and I did Tae Bo on Saturday AM, which is a great aerobic workout that I've found works well for me when I need to recover. Saturday and Sunday we went up to Huai Khum resort, about an hour north of Chiang Rai. We did some walking at the resort and I got some writing done.

This morning, we had the owner of the resort take some family pictures for us. Here's one of the family this morning.

Record Run Together!

Today, Cindy and I went for a walk/run together for 8 km. I had run a longer distance individually, but this was the longest Cindy had run and the longest we'd run together. We took this picture on our return home. While Cindy's just starting running, she's faster than me and makes me pick up the pace. I'm thinking that running together is going to help me quite a bit in training for October's Olympic distance triathlon.

It looks like a Chiang Rai International Triathlon is going to happen at the end of May. There's some building interest and our school's mission club is considering sponsoring the event. I'm pretty excited about it and will work on the logistics of it, as well as run it. The Chiang Rai Triathlon will be a sprint, which will be wonderful prep for the Olympic distance.

This afternoon, I went out for a bike ride to scout a possible route for the triathlon. It was rough and tough! I'm thinking that will not be our course. It was lots of steep grade hills, roads with gates across them, and a few off-roading spots. I'm thinking that our first triathlon here needs to be more of a flat course to help all of us beginners, me included!

Law Laew!

Yesterday afternoon, a friend wrote to say what an encouragement I'm being to him in his weight loss journey. I'm so thrilled to be able to help some others start this process or encourage them on the way. For me, it's a real sense of accomplishment, that I've learned enough along the way to help others. I really sense that God has a plan for these lessons I'm learning.

Last night Cindy and I were going over to the YWAM Base for worship and a talk by this week's DTS speaker. On the way we stopped at a local place where students often eat. The food's inexpensive and we know that they do a great "Pad Paak Ruam Sai Gai", which is sauteed vegetables with chicken.

One thing I like about this food stand is that she's always got a smile for me when I'm out on the bike or going for a run. She's seen me throughout this process drop the weight, and gain health. After we ate, we got talking and she asked how much I'd lost. I told her 41 kilos (91 lbs) and she smiled and started almost jumping up and down. "Law Laew! Law Laew! Law Laew!" It means you're already handsome!

After the worship meeting, several girls from a local group home all came over and were asking about the kilo's lost and how I felt. Several of them said they hadn't initially recognized me :-)

The day was filled with a great sense of acknowledgement for a job well done.

A Long Day

Sometimes you feel on top of the world, strong and powerful. Other days are tough. Today was more tough, but I was happy to see that I had a great workout by the end of the day.

I had trouble sleeping last night, just mindracing about work issues, and I got to sleep about 3 am and woke up about 5:30 am. Not a lot of sleep for a guy in training!

But, contrary to old patterns, I jumped on my bike and went to and from work (21 kms) then went for a walk/jog with Cindy in the afternoon (about 3.5 kms). Nothing like the massive effort on Saturday, but a respectable workout and something to be proud of.

I realized today that I'm probably exercising around 9-10 hours a week, on average over the past few months. That's pretty sweet and I can't imagine going back to much else.

Another thing that was cool today is that Cindy mentioned that I had gone for my first run in September, before my trip to the states. That run was to the head of our block and back. About 1 km! It's amazing what a few months of consistent effort will do for the body and mind!

Leapin' Lizards!

Today on the way home from the base, a lizard like this one ran alongside my bike. He was trying to race but I won!

Feelin' Strong

This morning I had a wonderful run with my wife, Cindy. She's starting the "Slow Burn" level 1 running program and I'll be running with her on Mondays and Fridays. We walked the first 15 minutes, then ran 15, then walked 15 at the end. It was really nice and we covered about 3 km or so.

After I got home and grabbed some breakfast, dropped the mountain bike rims/tires back on the bike and took off for work. We had some prayer time at the base this morning and it was really encouraging. After the prayer time, a staff meeting, and some accounting, it was back off on the bike for lunch at home. About 20 kms in total... Not bad.

Some days I feel really strong and today was one of them. I do find that after a rest day, I'm likely to feel quite strong. I'm thinking the day off yesterday was part of it.

I'm looking forward to Paul and Tim's race reports! Paul mentioned that he felt great after the race and had finished the last 5 km strong! How cool is that?

I'm going to do a bit on weights this afternoon, then off to a meeting at the school. Driving the car this time :-)

Some New Firsts!

Today was a day of some new firsts! In celebration of Paul and Tim's 1/2 marathons 1/2 a world away, I ran my first olympic distance triathlon. I did a 1.5 km swim, a 40 km bike, and a 10 km run. I'd been wanting to do this for awhile, and finally felt my endurance was up for it.

The run, I actually did first and then had a cup of coffee with Cindy. It was a 30 minute transition time :-) Then it was onto the bike for a 13 km ride up to a great 50 meter pool that's in the next town. It's 30 baht for the swim (about $1). One of the big accomplishments for the day was swimming the 1500 meters. I have never swum that far in my life and let me tell you, it isn't easy! Ouch! That is a LONG way in water. It took 56 minutes to do the swim. I'm gonna be workin' on that time!

After the swim, I got back on the bike to finish the rest of the 40 km. At the 29 km mark on the bike, I had another first! A blow out! Cindy came to rescue me and I was able to switch out to my mountain bike tire rims and finish the remaining kms of the 40! Below is a picture of the infamous kilometer #29 tire blowout. It was loud and spectacular!




My first olympic distance triathlon wasn't fast, but it was fun! I said several prayers for Paul and Tim during the run and bike portions. During the swim I couldn't think!

Lots of cheers for you guys from Chiang Rai!

Keep on truckin'

Today I weighed in and am back at my low of 270.5 lbs. It's really odd how weight will drop quickly for a few days and then settle into a range. I've been in the low 270's for a couple of weeks now. I'm looking forward to the 260's!

Several of my friends are running races in the states this weekend. I'm thinking of doing another "Chiang Rai Triathlon" here to celebrate with them.

I particularly want to acknowledge my friend Paul, who's encouraged me since we met in October. I was in the states visiting and working out in the local gym. I remember I was down to 338 lbs then but really having a rough day. He came over and spoke just because he felt that he was supposed to give me some encouragement. We've been friends ever since.

This weekend he runs a 1/2 marathon at the Myrtle Beach Race. Paul's Blog can be found at: paultedder.blogspot.com

My new found Traineo and blogging friend Tim Wilson is running a 1/2 marathon this weekend as well. Tim's blog can be found at: blog.262quest.com

Bless you guys and you've got a friend in Thailand cheering you on!

Good distance but feelin' tired

This morning I ran 9 km and then biked to school, work, and home (25 km). I was zipping along on the bike but after a tough day I'm feelin' tired. I'm thinking that I'm maybe not up for back to back running days yet (or at least 9 km ones).

I keep getting close to the 260's, but haven't broken that barrier yet. That's part of the push but I've gotta learn to not push all the time... It's ok for it to take another week...

I'm also realizing with an increasingly busy schedule that I've got to plan out my training a bit more. Up to now, I've been deciding the night before what I plan to do. I'm thinking it's going to make sense to plan out a schedule, making sure to give myself light days and more challenging days, as well as days off.

Today's workout

This morning I ran about 9k and then rode my bike to work and back (21 km). I averaged 25.7 km per hour on the bike ride, which was pretty fast for me. Felt good!

Chiang Mai Trip

This weekend we went on a "pai teow", which loosely translates as "go places for fun". We went to the big city of Chiang Mai, a 3 hr bus ride away. We know it's a big city because it has a mall! Anyway, I put on my swimsuit to take the kids to the pool and there was no way to tighten it enough to make it stay on! Needless to say, I went out and got a new swimsuit.

Here's a picture of me and the boys playing in the pool.

Many of my clothes have gotten so ridiculously large that I've had to retire them. They've gotten sent to a nearby hilltribe village where they'll get turned into all sorts of items.

I had fun clothes shopping for the first time in years. My prior waist size was a 54, and the clothes I bought this weekend were a 42 waist. My shirts used to be a 3xlt, 4xlt, or 5xl. I bought several shirts in xlt (xl but with longer shirttails for tall guys). I'm amazed at fitting into sizes that I haven't worn in 10 years! I was having things custom made here but now I could buy things at the mall!

My new 42 waist shorts were actually loose enough that I had to get a belt...

We had a great active weekend, with several good walks and time in the swimming pool together. I read Stu Middleman's book, Slow Burn which is an incredible read about endurance running. I'm going to try to adapt his training schedule for my triathlon prep.

What a great weekend!

First Sprint Triathlon in 23 years!

When I was in my early 20's, I did a few sprint triathlons. Today, I did my first in 23 years! It wasn't an official event, just a one person Chiang Rai, Thailand race. I did 20 km cycling, 750 meters swimming, and a 5k run. Last weekend I did a 40 km bike and 10 km run, but I think today was a bigger effort for some reason.

My times were: Swimming 750 meters - 30 minutes, cycling 20 km - 1 hr, running 5 km - 35 minutes. I've ordered a book from Amazon about how to increase your speed and am looking forward to decreased times. For today, I'm reveling in the accomplishment of my first "Sprint" in years.

I also found it interesting that I was up for it today after my 1/2 hr of exercise yesterday. I think part of it was getting rid of the excess energy I couldn't exercise out yesterday.

(Sorry guys, it was only 5 km and I typo'd)

30 minutes of training hurts!

Today I had to take my own advice and chill! I woke up this morning late and was only able to get in 15 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes of weights. Then I was off to a day of meetings, errands, and more meetings.

It's so funny how the mind can change so quickly. 5 months ago, I didn't want to move for 30 minutes of exercise. Today it's just not enough!

Pushing the Envelope

Today was a milestone! Cindy and I went for a 42 km bike ride and then I went immediately on a 12 km run. Not quite a triathlon, but a biathlon! When I got back and showered and weighed, I had reached a new weight loss milestone as well, down 88 lbs. While that may be a weird number to be a milestone, it is exactly the weight of two water cooler bottles in Thailand, which weigh 20 kg (44 lbs) each! It's a tangible weight that I can see. I took a picture of myself with the two water bottles on my shoulders. Believe me, I'm glad to be rid of that weight!