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!