Okay, so I said earlier that I was needing a health related goal to help continue loosing weight. Last year, it was running a 5k and getting up on a wake board. I had never had the arm strength to drag my fat butt out of the water, but last year I did all of these things. Then I promptly stopped loosing weight. This year I've decided that I'm going to participate in the Bountiful Triathlon .
This tri is a "Sprint", which means that it is possible for normal people to do. I say that, as I have a few friends and coworkers who compete. One of my management team is currently training for his first Iron Man, and he is nervous.
I've spoken with a few people who have done this, and they said it is a nice start, although they have mixed feelings about Bountiful's. The deal is that this triathlon runs in reverse. You do the running first, then biking, and then the swim. Usually this is the other way around. I will be competing as a Clydesdale, which means a really big guy (+200 pounds). The one guy that I spoke to who has only run two sprint triathlons told me that he really preferred the Bountiful format.
So, last week I started my preparation, and I have until August to be completely ready. I'm starting by getting to the point I can run for a half hour straight. When I say run, I mean shamble along while moving my arms in a running motion. I haven't done much running over the winter because it was cold, and I was in the gym (which is kind of cross-fitish.) Now, we are running more as a gym, and I've started running three days a week using the Couch to 5k program from coolrunnings.com. This week, I alternate between running for 90 seconds and walking for 90 seconds. By the end of the program, which is eight weeks, you are just running for 30 minutes straight.
On the other days of the week, I'm going to the gym, and I just got my bike out and in working condition. I plan on just using my mountain bike for this race, and seeing as I used it for transportation for more than a year of my life, I think this will be fine. I might end up buying some narrower tires for it, but I don't have really beefy off-road tires anyway.
In the summer I'll work on swimming at my parents' house, and the local pool. I've already told my brother, who swam in high school (and did really well), and his son who has swam in high school that I'll need pointers. I've also spoken with my step-dad about it as well. He taught swimming for a long time, that's why they have the pool.
I really think I could complete this tri right now, but it would take me a long time. So you start with a 5k run, then move onto a 10 mile bike ride, and finish with a 350 meter swim, in the indoor pool.
Now I've got to get serious about my diet. I know that I changed my diet when we went on vacation last year, and haven't really gotten serious about it since. I haven't been horrible, but I haven't stayed focused on eating right either.
I'll be giving updates on the training as I go along, so wish me luck.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Soccer Saturday
Saturday was supposed to be really stormy, and by the end of the day it was. It started nicely, however.
I started the day running our Bountiful Baskets site. It is a food co-op that is growing like crazy. We discussed our upcoming changes, and we'll be moving earlier in the day next month.
I furtilized the lawn and did some housework. Then the weather turned bad.
This also coincided with the start of my oldest soccer game. As I said before, we've changed from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3. Out last game was fun to watch, even though we lost. This game started out great, with my oldest anchoring the right side of our defense. The other team could barely get the ball across our half line. When they did our defense shut them down.
Our midfield has got it suddenly, like a light switch was turned on. Two of our players, D and M, are working almost flawlessly together in our central midfield. They are winning balls and making beautiful passes.
Our wing players are a great mix. Our left wing is a super skills player, M. He is kind of slow but has such amazing ball control and vision. He kept playing balls that would make me cringe because he didn't play the obvious pass. But he made perfect through passes that beat four defenders and let a striker off by himself one-on-one with the keeper. Our right wing is a bundle of energy and is everywhere on the field. He, CS, is very skilled as well but makes really good runs.
Our defense has been working well together, but they really balanced out yesterday. They were attacking and covering for each other. They were making nice passes to the wing, not right up the middle like we did last season.
Our forwards have come a long way too. We have one with so much raw talent, C, he had at least five shots in the first 15 minutes. The other two have gained confidence and are starting to make the right runs.
We could tell that it was only a matter of time before we scored. And finally C ended up one-on-one with the keeper. He drew him out and picked his spot.
My oldest ended up being subbed in and left forward, which is unusual. He took the opportunity and made a run in, trapped the ball and put us up 2-0.
The other team only had one real chance to score. They had a break away, but their forward played the ball too far forward. Our goalie ha it covered, but grabbed the other player earning a penalty kick. Our keeper, J, can get down on himself when he gets scored on. He lined up, and the forward took the shot. Our goalie moved the right way, but it looked like he would be nutmegged, when the ball goes between your legs. He sat down hard and trapped the ball by sitting on it. It was crazy. That is how the first half ended.
Having been on the other side of a game like this we knew it would be hard for the other team to get out of their half. One coach went shofar as to predict we would get two more goals and a shutout.
The second half started much like the first, with us controlling the game. C added another goal in a one-v-one situation. The D, our central midfielder chipped the keeper from 25-30 yard out. One of our other forwards, JF, charged the goal and put a rebound away (this was a controversial offside decision, even out coaches thought he was off. Our linesman was new, and we aren't sure he understood the offside rule. He actually tried to call M offside while he was dribbling the ball forward.) My oldest was put back in at leery forward and put another shot away.
The game ended 6-0. The boys were so excited. The wife is sending me a photo and video of my oldest first and second goals and I'll post them as soon as I get them.
I started the day running our Bountiful Baskets site. It is a food co-op that is growing like crazy. We discussed our upcoming changes, and we'll be moving earlier in the day next month.
I furtilized the lawn and did some housework. Then the weather turned bad.
This also coincided with the start of my oldest soccer game. As I said before, we've changed from a 4-4-2 to a 3-4-3. Out last game was fun to watch, even though we lost. This game started out great, with my oldest anchoring the right side of our defense. The other team could barely get the ball across our half line. When they did our defense shut them down.
Our midfield has got it suddenly, like a light switch was turned on. Two of our players, D and M, are working almost flawlessly together in our central midfield. They are winning balls and making beautiful passes.
Our wing players are a great mix. Our left wing is a super skills player, M. He is kind of slow but has such amazing ball control and vision. He kept playing balls that would make me cringe because he didn't play the obvious pass. But he made perfect through passes that beat four defenders and let a striker off by himself one-on-one with the keeper. Our right wing is a bundle of energy and is everywhere on the field. He, CS, is very skilled as well but makes really good runs.
Our defense has been working well together, but they really balanced out yesterday. They were attacking and covering for each other. They were making nice passes to the wing, not right up the middle like we did last season.
Our forwards have come a long way too. We have one with so much raw talent, C, he had at least five shots in the first 15 minutes. The other two have gained confidence and are starting to make the right runs.
We could tell that it was only a matter of time before we scored. And finally C ended up one-on-one with the keeper. He drew him out and picked his spot.
My oldest ended up being subbed in and left forward, which is unusual. He took the opportunity and made a run in, trapped the ball and put us up 2-0.
The other team only had one real chance to score. They had a break away, but their forward played the ball too far forward. Our goalie ha it covered, but grabbed the other player earning a penalty kick. Our keeper, J, can get down on himself when he gets scored on. He lined up, and the forward took the shot. Our goalie moved the right way, but it looked like he would be nutmegged, when the ball goes between your legs. He sat down hard and trapped the ball by sitting on it. It was crazy. That is how the first half ended.
Having been on the other side of a game like this we knew it would be hard for the other team to get out of their half. One coach went shofar as to predict we would get two more goals and a shutout.
The second half started much like the first, with us controlling the game. C added another goal in a one-v-one situation. The D, our central midfielder chipped the keeper from 25-30 yard out. One of our other forwards, JF, charged the goal and put a rebound away (this was a controversial offside decision, even out coaches thought he was off. Our linesman was new, and we aren't sure he understood the offside rule. He actually tried to call M offside while he was dribbling the ball forward.) My oldest was put back in at leery forward and put another shot away.
The game ended 6-0. The boys were so excited. The wife is sending me a photo and video of my oldest first and second goals and I'll post them as soon as I get them.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Week in review
This last week was crazy. I've been staying in the office lately, but had a full week out and about. It meant I really didn't have time to sit down and record any thoughts.
Spent the first few days at Salt Lake Community College for their benefits fair. Then off to the state capital to meet with all of the state agency HR directors.
Yesterday, April 12th, we had wonderful weather that included snow, again. Mainly rain.
Of course, this was the oldest first soccer game. We ran a little behind, but made it during the first half.
We've changed up our playing system this spring. We were playing a 4-4-2 (four defenders, four midfielders, and two forwards), and now we're playing a 3-4-3. My oldest has been a standout defender, but he's trying to cheat a little too much. The head coach moved my son up to midfield for the second half, and he was a scrapper. It was fun to watch him push people off the ball (in a legal way), and just to see him run. This is a big change from last fall. Joining the wrestling team, and their tough conditioning has really made a big difference. Our kids played such pretty soccer. I know it sounds weird, but it was impressive.
They have finally learned what we've been teaching them about possession. We haven't had the speed to play the ball up and over, no boom ball for us. And as coaches we've tried to keep them from doing that anyway. We had lots of shots on goal, but their goalie was good, tall, and had a mustache (he's only 12). The other team scored because our goalies couldn't stop the rebounds. They did make the initial saves though. We lost four to one, but our team seemed very upbeat.
Now you'll start seeing more soccer from me. Have a great weekend!
Spent the first few days at Salt Lake Community College for their benefits fair. Then off to the state capital to meet with all of the state agency HR directors.
Yesterday, April 12th, we had wonderful weather that included snow, again. Mainly rain.
Of course, this was the oldest first soccer game. We ran a little behind, but made it during the first half.
We've changed up our playing system this spring. We were playing a 4-4-2 (four defenders, four midfielders, and two forwards), and now we're playing a 3-4-3. My oldest has been a standout defender, but he's trying to cheat a little too much. The head coach moved my son up to midfield for the second half, and he was a scrapper. It was fun to watch him push people off the ball (in a legal way), and just to see him run. This is a big change from last fall. Joining the wrestling team, and their tough conditioning has really made a big difference. Our kids played such pretty soccer. I know it sounds weird, but it was impressive.
They have finally learned what we've been teaching them about possession. We haven't had the speed to play the ball up and over, no boom ball for us. And as coaches we've tried to keep them from doing that anyway. We had lots of shots on goal, but their goalie was good, tall, and had a mustache (he's only 12). The other team scored because our goalies couldn't stop the rebounds. They did make the initial saves though. We lost four to one, but our team seemed very upbeat.
Now you'll start seeing more soccer from me. Have a great weekend!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Easter Egg hunt #1
We had my side of the families annual Easter egg hunt yesterday. We had 24 children running around.
Our youngest, who is autistic has never really taken part. He would find one piece of candy and stop to eat it. Yesterday, with some prodding, we got him to pick up eggs and put them in his basket. He tired of it before the end of the hunt, but did really well. The wife has all the photos, so once they are up I'll link them.
We spent the morning "rodent shopping" as the wife called it.
The children were all excited when they saw that the bunny had brought them bikes, or in the case of the oldest a skateboard. I road around the block with my daughters. Excellent morning.
Our youngest, who is autistic has never really taken part. He would find one piece of candy and stop to eat it. Yesterday, with some prodding, we got him to pick up eggs and put them in his basket. He tired of it before the end of the hunt, but did really well. The wife has all the photos, so once they are up I'll link them.
We spent the morning "rodent shopping" as the wife called it.
The children were all excited when they saw that the bunny had brought them bikes, or in the case of the oldest a skateboard. I road around the block with my daughters. Excellent morning.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Happy Easter weekend!
This is what I saw on Friday April 6, 2012 when I left for work. Hooray Utah weather. 
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Wednesday Recap
Wednesday was one of "those" days. Basically I had long boring stretches, followed by insanely busy periods. Everything was completed though, so that's nice.
When I got home, I was in charge of dinner. We had fish and chips. We'll, I say we, but the kids didn't want to try them, I didn't have any malt vinegar so I only ate one, and my wife was happy with her tartar sauce. I should have taken a picture, they looked great.
I cut the fries, or chips if you're British, on our mandolin, the cooking kind not the guitarish thing. The only problem was I couldn't find the thick slicing blade, so they were super thin. This led to having half burnt, half potato chip fries. Not my finest moment.
Besides that I did a little laundry. Exciting times.
When I got home, I was in charge of dinner. We had fish and chips. We'll, I say we, but the kids didn't want to try them, I didn't have any malt vinegar so I only ate one, and my wife was happy with her tartar sauce. I should have taken a picture, they looked great.
I cut the fries, or chips if you're British, on our mandolin, the cooking kind not the guitarish thing. The only problem was I couldn't find the thick slicing blade, so they were super thin. This led to having half burnt, half potato chip fries. Not my finest moment.
Besides that I did a little laundry. Exciting times.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Weekend, Monday, and Tuesday
So this weekend was general conference, and I had tons to do. In typical conference weekend weather, it got cold and rainy/snowy. That kept me from working outdoors.
The wife wanted to make some bread, so I looked around and found a simple recipe for Amish White Bread. I let her sleep in and made the bread. By the time she was awake my kids had polished off one loaf, and each batch makes two. Shortly after we finished the second. So, I made more bread. Those two loaves were gone by Sunday morning. So I made another batch that was finished by Monday morning. In under 48 hours my family ate six loaves of bread.
Now time for a kitchen update. I had ordered some new hinges for our cabinets, because our old ones had been painted over and I had to use an extractor to get the screws out of over half of them. Turns out I ordered the wrong hinges, so I set about removing the paint. After soaking them in paint remover for a few hours I soaked them in mineral spirits. They looked pretty good. I finished antiquing the cabinet boxes themselves by painting them our cream color and then using a stain over the top. I have re-mounted the doors, but have not antiques the exterior face yet. Right now I don't have any pictures of the installed doors, but I'll update the post later with some.
I spent some time cleaning and the normal weekend activities.
As for Monday of this week we had a soccer scrimmage, and this was the first time the oldest got to play since his concussion. He had spent the day skateboarding and his legs were tired. We played a really good team and they picked us apart. One of our coaches was really discouraged, but our best trainer showed up a little late and was able to get some good play out of our team. I think after we've played a few games we'll be okay.
Tuesday I had a cardio day at the gym. My weight-loss has plateaued and I spent some time talking with the trainer about why this is. One thing he asked was if I had any fitness related goals. Last year I did. I wanted to run a 5k and wakeboard. I did both of these things. Now, it's like I've made it. So, I'm now setting my sites on a sprint triathlon. My bike isn't the best for this, it's a mountain bike with big knobby tires, but it will work. I have access to a pool for swimming. But to start I need to run more. We have a fitness room at work, and for $5 a month I can use it. I think I'll start the Couch to 5k program. I know it isn't great to train on a treadmill, but we do enough running at the gym to get in street running three times a week. This program takes eight weeks.
There is a tri in Bountiful that is popular, but one is run in May, and I think they usually do one later in the summer. If not, I'll find one. By the way, if you know of one in the SLC area in August let me know.
I spent most of Tuesday evening cooking. I got complaints about the smell, but the kids ate everything. The reason they complained? Garlic and Apple Cider Vinegar. I made BBQ chicken and some pan fried garlic potatoes.
Ad for today? I guess I'll write about that tomorrow.
The wife wanted to make some bread, so I looked around and found a simple recipe for Amish White Bread. I let her sleep in and made the bread. By the time she was awake my kids had polished off one loaf, and each batch makes two. Shortly after we finished the second. So, I made more bread. Those two loaves were gone by Sunday morning. So I made another batch that was finished by Monday morning. In under 48 hours my family ate six loaves of bread.
Now time for a kitchen update. I had ordered some new hinges for our cabinets, because our old ones had been painted over and I had to use an extractor to get the screws out of over half of them. Turns out I ordered the wrong hinges, so I set about removing the paint. After soaking them in paint remover for a few hours I soaked them in mineral spirits. They looked pretty good. I finished antiquing the cabinet boxes themselves by painting them our cream color and then using a stain over the top. I have re-mounted the doors, but have not antiques the exterior face yet. Right now I don't have any pictures of the installed doors, but I'll update the post later with some.
I spent some time cleaning and the normal weekend activities.
As for Monday of this week we had a soccer scrimmage, and this was the first time the oldest got to play since his concussion. He had spent the day skateboarding and his legs were tired. We played a really good team and they picked us apart. One of our coaches was really discouraged, but our best trainer showed up a little late and was able to get some good play out of our team. I think after we've played a few games we'll be okay.
Tuesday I had a cardio day at the gym. My weight-loss has plateaued and I spent some time talking with the trainer about why this is. One thing he asked was if I had any fitness related goals. Last year I did. I wanted to run a 5k and wakeboard. I did both of these things. Now, it's like I've made it. So, I'm now setting my sites on a sprint triathlon. My bike isn't the best for this, it's a mountain bike with big knobby tires, but it will work. I have access to a pool for swimming. But to start I need to run more. We have a fitness room at work, and for $5 a month I can use it. I think I'll start the Couch to 5k program. I know it isn't great to train on a treadmill, but we do enough running at the gym to get in street running three times a week. This program takes eight weeks.
There is a tri in Bountiful that is popular, but one is run in May, and I think they usually do one later in the summer. If not, I'll find one. By the way, if you know of one in the SLC area in August let me know.
I spent most of Tuesday evening cooking. I got complaints about the smell, but the kids ate everything. The reason they complained? Garlic and Apple Cider Vinegar. I made BBQ chicken and some pan fried garlic potatoes.
Ad for today? I guess I'll write about that tomorrow.
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