There is no fast track to fitness.

I nearly set myself up for failure last week. I almost signed up for my 3rd year of long course triathlon (70.3 miles, or "half ironman") training. Ha! That just goes to show you that staying on plan is hard even when the plan is to not have a plan.

Thank you Mike and Jo for guiding my head back safely from the clouds.

I have enough on my plate with school and work, and a full race season with shorter, hopefully much faster, races. I will have more time to outreach to people wanting to get into the sport. There are a handful of people in my running club who are going to do their first triathlon this year. That is so exciting to me because it shows that not only is the sport picking up more and more people, but people are realizing that cross functional and cross sport training can be very beneficial to your overall health.

I said this before, and I shall say it again. Triathlon saved my life.

What many people do not know is that anyone can do a triathlon. So accomplishing a triathlon in and of itself is nothing too amazing. What is amazing is when people make life changes, find their motivation and inspire other people to make healthier choices in life. That I applaud! I applaud setting a triathlon as a goal and working towards that goal. Now THAT is an accomplishment, because now days people just do not seem to want to work for anything.

There is no magic pill to weight loss. There is no shortcut to fitness. Them be the breaks. Sorry.

It is a cycle and for some reason, only a few people get that. Triathlon/running is as much about finding a happy place in fitness and health, as it is about the camaraderie that comes from participating. You will never find a larger group of cheerleaders as you do in the triathlon and running circuits. We may race against each other, but we always celebrate each other’s victories, and share in each other’s defeats. The only bad day, if you have your heart in the right place, is the day where someone gets hurt.

I have met some amazing people along the way. I have also met some real jackasses. Two people who clearly fall into the former category (as in amazing people) are my friends and former RACING GREYHOUNDS teammates Jeremy Hagerman and Craig Weaver.

Together they have started this amazing triathlon team called "Team Motiv-8" (you can find them here: http://team-motiv8.com/), and their principles are solid: to motivate and to inspire. Major shout out to them and I am on board 10000000% to help them succeed in any way possible!

It is time to act as an ambassador to the sport and to health and fitness. I am walking proof that anyone can go from overweight slug to athlete. You just have to realize that not all athletes are rock solid in form and top of the pack in races. We come In all shapes and sizes. We come from all places in life. Everyone has an equal opportunity to reach the ultimate finish line… a lifetime of health and happiness.


So with that I decided to add a different purpose to my 2011 year. I am taking the slow and steady approach and will be chronicling my journey from mediocre to fit. I will take my baseline weight, my baseline measurements, and will perform a fit-test to have baseline numbers.

Through my exercise and vegetarian diet, I expect to be able to transform myself. However, the proof will be in December when I leave for Florida.

Each week I will do a quick summary, each month a fit test. I expect struggle, but then again this is not a flash in the pan, this is my lifestyle. It must be sustainable and realistic. I travel a lot for work. I work a lot. I have 6-day-a-week classes to finish my Masters work. I have a puppy, and am working on my house and health with my man Mike. I am a member of a cycling & triathlon race team, a swim club, and a running club.

And just like you - I have a life.

So follow along with me and see how it can be done. How you can turn your life around with small steps. How everything we do adds up exponentially.

I will not be posting my food intakes.
I will not be posting up my workouts.
This is not going to be an exercise and fitness log as I already have that at dailymile.com and beginnertriathlete.com.

This is my Journey blog.

So as such what will I be posting?
I will be posting out total minutes or hours in my weekly summary.
I will be posting up any information I come across, or an occasional recipe or workout that I felt was pretty exceptional in either skill or ease of mastering for those of us not blessed with 4 hours a day to work out.

This is the lifestyle of balance and fitness that I have striven for, for so many years. 2011 is the year of doing it!

Peace, love, and running.
RedZone

Peace, Love, and Biking... a study in expansion of self

Happy Holidays all!

Well, after a truly difficult 2009, things had to change in 2010. My only New Years Resolution is to work harder towards the things in life that I want. One of the biggest things is health. Not just one of the biggest, possibly THE biggest. And not just fitness and exercise either, but true health all around - physical and mental. Personally, I realized that I have taken the word "health" for granted. I run and am active as you all know, but I do not know that I engage in what I would call a truly healthy lifestyle 365.

A lesson that I learned hard in June (which is a lesson everyone can and should walk away with) is that just like your financial bank account - without making deposits into your health bank account, you may not have enough to cover the big checks.

My journey to a healthier life is participating in more whole-body and soul activities while staying active my entire life. A HUGE part of that is growing a long and healthy life with Mike.

I applied and was accepted to the RACING GREYHOUNDS (in all caps) competitive racing team for triathlon, while Mike applied for and was accepted to the RACING GREYHOUNDS touring road cycling team! While we will have different focuses in our journey, we are part of the same bigger team which is exciting and will keep us both motivated while still branching out on our own.

In 2010 I will be going for a few Half Ironman triathlons, and in 2011 I am contemplating going for the full Ironman distance, work and personal life allowing. :-)

Mike is starting his triathlon and road bike adventure and as such we will be doing some bike tours (MS 150, Susan G. Komen, etc.) as well as some fun local triathlons, and definitely a few road bike races along the way.

In support of this, our new adventure, and obviously loving our awesome new Road bike, Mountain bike, Cyclocross, Touring and Triathlon team members, we are selling tickets to the RACING GREYHOUNDS team fundraiser being held at Woodland Lanes, one of our sponsors.

Each year, The RACING GREYHOUNDS raise funds for their upcomming events. They do this in a fun way, providing hours of bowling and entertainment for a pretty low cost. The details are such:

WHEN: May 28th, 2010
TIME: 8 pm - 2 am
WHERE; Woodland Lanes, 33775 Plymouth Road, Livonia, MI 48150
WHAT: Unlimited bowling, pizza, music, and fun for one low price!
COST: $25 per ticket

I know that this is pretty far out in the future, so if you are interested in tentatively attending, let me know and I will send you the link to order tickets from directly. Mike and I have room at our new house for people to crash afterwards if you plan on driving from outside the Metro-Detroit area. No worries about logistics!


I wish for you and yours a happy and healthy 2010, and many more years to come.

Swimmy swim swim and Bikey bike bike. Santa Claus is coming to town!

Sadly, I start too many posts in this fashion. Post something then run for cover for a few weeks. Last I posted was what, over a month ago now? Great blogging practices are not being put to use around here.

Some life things have changed. Mike and I purchased our first house. We moved, and now we are geting used to home ownership. Fun times!

We have a 3 bedroom, 3 bath ranch with a large porch, stoop, and a full deck in the backyard. We also have a 2.5 car garage (detached). The basement is finished, which works out well for us.

The basement serves as a video game / training room. It is finished in such a way that we have a bathroom, a laundry room, a large open area which is carpeted, and an additional back room with an epoxy floor which will be perfect for bike maintanence purposes.

We now have the near ultimate in home fitness areas. Bikes on trainers, P90x workout stations, yoga/pilates area, and free weights.

The only thing I am missing is a treadmill and an endless pool. For sake of space, I will go to the gym if I really need to run or swim and the weather is not permitting. Although, I really would like a treadmill... we will see how this winter/spring goes for training.

Lucky for me - the South Oakland YMCA is all of 2 miles from my front door. And, bonus! The North Oakland YMCA is all of 5 miles from my office.

This training room will come in handy for us, particularly me for my 2010 race season.

Life change #2 for me...

Mike and I were both accepted to the Racing GREYHOUNDS for the 2010 season. I was accepted to the racing team, Mike to the sport team.

Unlike FAST which was more swim focused of a club, the GREYHOUNDS are a competitive racing team from Cycle to Fitness so they are bike focused. They have Mountain Bike, Road Bike, Triathlon, and Cyclocross teams and events, with a 5 race minimum to be on the team.

I have not turned away from FAST and to some of my friends in FAST the decision fo rme to join GREYHOUNDS was not a shock. I turned down the 2009 GREYHOUNDS acceptance because of my affiliation with FAST. I decided though, that it is in my best interest to move to the GREYHOUNDS and to work on my cycling skills on and off road.

I am still swimming this winter for FAST in the swim meets and I have some major points to gain in the State meet this year.

The only real difference for me will be my kit come tri season.

My base building adventure has not started only due to pure laziness on my part. I have travelled a lot, and have spent all moments not travelling, doing home things.


Tonight I am doing the P90x fit test, and taking my pre pictures. NASTY will pretty much sum up my appearance, but in 90 days I should see improvement.

I am also hitting the pool and my bike again, and working in yoga and running to round it all out.


Gotta get a groove on!