BRYAN 2.0

I woke up in the middle of the night to go pee-pee. As I walked to the bathroom I couldn't walk straight I was leaning right and having to push myself off the wall. I thought something was wrong, or I was beyond tired.  When I woke up, I was able to answer my earlier question. Something was wrong, though, and I felt off balance and nausea. I was so dizzy and off-balance when I got into the shower that I thought I would fall. I had my hands on the sides of the shower to keep balance. This off-balance feeling stayed with me all day. I checked my blood pressure, and it was fine. The feeling I had was similar to when you bend over and get up fast, and you see stars. I'm not going to lie; I was a little worried. I decided there was no way I would do the long ride I didn't do yesterday and eventually called my doctor.  I called at the right time. He had an opening at 3:30pm. He did a series of tests and determined it wasn't a brain issue. He narrowed it down to my ears and th...

I woke up with the sorest and most tired legs I've felt in a long time. My plan was to take the 4-hour drive home and then go on my 2-hour bike ride. It didn't happen. When I got home, it was later, and I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get the ride in before it got dark. Honestly, I just couldn't do it. My legs were spent, but I think it was mostly my mind and not being motivated to do it. It had been three straight days of drinking and not eating the best.  A part of me wanted to make it four days in a row. Instead, I fell asleep on the couch. I was so tired that I forgot to put on my CPAP.  After my nap I decided to stretch and then do some weight training. I knew if I didn't do anything it would be a slippery slope. I really pushed the weights. I'm continuing to increase it workout after workout and starting to feel the improvements.  I spent a lot of time stretching, especially my neck, hoping that stretching it would make it easier to stay aero in the ae...

I woke up this morning semi-roughly from having some Vizzy's and junk food the night before. My calf was feeling better, so I decided to go for a run. It was a scheduled long run of 1 hour and 25 minutes, and I planned to run but not that long, maybe an hour.  For the first 30 minutes, there were no issues. It seemed that the leg weight lifting, elliptical, and massage helped. Then, around 31 minutes in, I could feel the stress on my calves, which was not feeling right. It wasn't in the same spot as before, but it was tender.  Initially, the run was fun. However, there were sidewalks that ended, and it wasn't great for running. Then I went down a dead-end street and got lucky. At the end of the street, there was a park with trails running through the trees. It was really nice and made the ride much more enjoyable.  When I got back to the hotel, I felt okay. But as the day went on, my legs started to feel stiff and sore, which surprised me.  Prior to the game, we pick...

Friday is my off day and after work it was off to Michigan to attend the Michigan State Spartans vs Ohio State Buckeyes.  It's a four-hour drive, and when you have a convertible Corvette with 495 horsepower, it's hard not to go fast. There is a lot of weaving in and out to pass cars. It's like a mini race, and thank goodness I have Waze to let me know when there are Police ahead.  We got to Lansing, Michigan, by 7:30 pm, just before dark, and it was off to Walmart and Kroeger to get some food and drink. Alice got her rum, and I got my Vizzy's. When we got home, it was cocktail hour and pepperoni, cheese, and crackers. I also got some popcorn.  All the stuff I shouldn't be eating and drinking the second day in a row.  No Training - Rest Day

On Thursdays, I have double workouts: a swim and a bike ride, and it seems I always get it done in the time I have.  This morning, I got up a little late and pushed myself out the door for my swim. This swim was easier than most—more of a recovery swim and longer distance intervals. The only bummer was that my underwater iPod didn't work. It fell on the ground the last swim I had and bent the corner so that the on/off button wouldn't work. Later in the afternoon, between meetings, I slipped out and did a ride in the late afternoon. I thought I'd miss the traffic in the escarpment, which I did, but on the way, I ran into the mom and dads picking up their kids from school. I don't know which is more dangerous.  The ride was pretty good; I averaged over 25 kph, but the downside was that a piece of plastic covering wires in the bike's frame fell off. The wires are now exposed, and I need to contact Canyon to get a new one. I had a feeling this was going to happen as it ...

My calf was messed up, and I couldn't run, but I didn't want to do something.  I was exhausted and didn't want to work out, so I napped. When I woke up around 8:45 p.m., I felt much more motivated to work out. I knew that if I didn't, it would be a slippery slope.  This workout focused on my legs. I've not done any leg weight lifting. I went to LA Fitness, and if there was a leg machine, I used it, including my calves.  After I did that workout, I decided to try the elliptical. I couldn't run, but I was able to do the elliptical without my calf hurting. It was a win.  This afternoon, I had a massage, the first in a long time. I figured that the massage could help loosen my calf and upper back. It turns out it was the worst massage I've ever had, and I'm an expert. I've had a lot of massages.  The person giving the massage had me waiting at the table for 15 minutes. Then, she didn't even do every body part and focused on areas that were not an iss...

I woke up this morning motivated to lift weights. I headed downstairs and started cranking it. I lifted as heavy as I could to get a pump. I wasn't worried about hurting myself. I felt strong. I'm feeling like a new, revived person.  After lifting, I did five core exercises. I'm starting to realize how important it is to strengthen my core. I should be stretching as well, but I haven't yet gotten that level of motivation. I need to get that motivation. I know I need to start stretching regularly. I have this intuitive feeling that my calf issue is caused by knots in my left calf, and stretching should help that.  This afternoon was bike-fitting day. I found a local chiropractor who offers bike fittings. I wasn't sure what to expect or if he was any good. When I put my bike in the car, I noticed the hub skewers were not like the ones I'm used to. They are flat on the end and wouldn't work with a stationary bike trainer, which is needed to do a bike fit.  I wa...

Monday is an easy workout day; it's only an hour of swimming. However, I don't enjoy swimming, so I mentally have to push myself out the door for each swim workout.  This swim session was the first one I would try my prescription goggles. I've never had them before, and when I swim with my non-prescription goggles, I can't see anything other than blur. These goggles are great. I was concerned they wouldn't be properly fitting, but they felt great, did not let in water, and I could see.  It was a high-intensity session today, with some all-out efforts for some sets. Yet, again, I felt strong; just like last week, it carried over.  There was another guy at the pool, another Ironman, Jay. I still consider myself an Ironman. He was swimming in the lane beside me and helped push me without knowing it, trying to keep up or go ahead of him during the intensity portion of the workout.  About halfway through the workout, we started conversing while resting between sets. He...

Today was my long bike ride. Although an hour and thirty minutes is not a long ride, it was on the schedule.  Before the ride, I had to put on my new bike computer, a Wahoo Elemt Bolt. It took a lot more time than I thought it would. I'd say it took me a couple of hours just to figure it all out, setting up the display, connecting to the power meter, cadence, and heart rate monitor, and then putting on a safety flashing light on the front of the bike.  It shouldn't have been that hard when I think back after doing it all. But that's after looking at many YouTube videos and reading online.  I'm glad I did take the time to put on the bike computer. It made the ride much more enjoyable to see my speed, wattage, cadence, and heart rate monitor on one screen. I've never trained with a power meter before, and seeing how much wattage I was pushing was interesting.  When I was pushing 250 watts or more on the bike, it felt like old times. Even when I was pushing 300 watts o...

I'm doing something I'm not used to when I was training in the past. I'm spending time smelling the roses and still training but not enjoying life's journey.  Our day started with breakfast at Grandma's Cupboard, another well-known place in Syracuse. It had a great atmosphere. I had oatmeal and a spinach omelet. It was the best omelet I've ever had.  Then, it was on the road with a stop in Rochester. We did a little cruising around downtown—it's a nice little city—and then I heard they had a college football game. I assumed it would be a big game, but it was like a high school football game with about the same number or fewer fans in the stands. We didn't stay long, but it was a fun experience.  It was this weekend that convinced me that we are only going to attend Big 10 football games—the games that have world-class press coverage and cameras on drones that hover over the field.  When we got home, I decided to do some weight training in lieu of my run....

In the past, when I was training heavily, I never took rest days unless I was totally burned out. Now, I look forward to my rest days with glee.  Even though I'm away on a road trip, I still keep focused on my diet and eat as well as possible. I wasn't perfect, but I wasn't coloring too far outside the lines, and considering that it's a bit of a holiday weekend, I did really well.  I tried to stay with the meat as much as possible, and we went to Dinasours, a well-known barbeque spot in Syracuse. There was lots of good food. I did some popcorn twists for snacking, mixed berries and grapes, and some White Claws at the game. You have to live it up a little. Even though I had some drinks, it wasn't like a couple of weeks ago when I had way too many. I didn't want to do my training on Saturday with any type of hangover or with my body beat up from debauchery.  Rest Day - No training.

Today was a busy day. We are heading to Syracuse for the Syracuse Orange football game, and I wanted to leave the house earlier in the afternoon. I had a busy work day and needed to squeeze in my swim and bike ride.  After waking up, I headed to the pool for my swim workout. I felt good and that I was becoming a stronger swimmer. As much as I dread going to the pool, once I get going, I get into it, and it's not so bad.  As much as I hoped to finish work early, I couldn't get out the door for my bike ride until 2:30 pm. It was supposed to be an easy ride, and I didn't push too hard, but again, it was hard to keep my heart rate down as low as I was supposed to, and the sweat kept pouring.  I was sweating a lot after my first ride on my new bike. On this ride, my bike looked like I spilled Gatorade on it, but it was my sweat spots. I will have to start wiping my bike down after every ride or at least cleaning it weekly. I've never been one of those guys who cleans his bik...

I held off all day to do my scheduled threshold run, which is a 5 km race pace, and I had mixed feelings.  On the one hand, I wanted to see how fast I could go if I didn't have to worry about my heart rate, and on the other hand, I was not looking forward to the pain and suffering it could bring. For the second day straight this morning, my legs felt strong and not sore. The switch was turned on, and my legs stopped being sore on Monday, the beginning of my 10 weeks of training.  I was hoping to get away around 3 p.m. to do my run, but work got the best of me, and the earliest I could do it was after dinner. I didn't mind that as it was cooler, 21 C, but it still required me to push myself out the door with a bit of a full belly as I had finished dinner 30 minutes prior.  Here's the bottom line of how the run went. Based on the first 10 weeks of training and this run, I'm not sure I'll be in good enough shape to race in December. I may be in good enough shape to fin...

My new bike, a Canyon, has been sitting in my garage since Thursday, and today, I got an early morning email that the bike builder from Velofix would be at my house before 10 a.m. Awesome. It would be the first time I get to ride my new bike.  I'm glad I paid the extra money to get a pro to build my bike. It took him less than 60 minutes, which means it would have taken me all day, and I don't know if it would have been built correctly. The other advantage was that the guy who built my bike is also an Ironman triathlete, probably in or around my age group, and he was a wealth of information.  After the bike was built, he walked me through many of the features and what to expect. I don't know where I would have gotten this knowledge elsewhere, or at least not as early into this journey. It was simple things like charging the shifters, how to shift, how the cassettes work differently than traditional ones, and even simple things like how the front water bottle works.  I sti...

I woke up today tired. I had my 3:30 a.m. pee break and couldn't fall asleep for over an hour. When I eventually did fall asleep, I didn't want to get up. I forced myself out of bed at 7:30 a.m.  Today's session was a swim workout. As always, I'm not a fan of swimming and have to psych myself up to go every time, and today was no different.  I was able to get away near the end of the day to slip in an hour of swimming. The swim was uneventful until I felt I had lost the key to my locker around halfway through. I had visions of me not removing it from the lock and someone opening my locker and taking my wallet.  Right after, I thought I jumped out of the pool and hustled to my locker. The lock was still on, and I looked all over the floor and bench and could not see my key. When I got back to the pool, I tore apart my swim bag and emptied every pocket. No key.  At this point, I had a decision to make: Should I cut the swim short and try to figure out how to get into m...

I had a good sleep last night. The CPAP was on, which made a big difference. That said, I still didn't feel 100%. I still had the after-effects from Friday night.  I wanted to run early this Sunday for my long run, but I couldn't. My legs were so stiff, and I needed time to just walk around and try to get loosened up. Rather than run early, we went out for breakfast. I had a vegetable omelet and beef vegetable soup. When I got home, it was warm, and there were no clouds in the sky, so I pushed myself out the door to do my one-hour and fifteen-minute run. I did a one-hour and thirteen-minute run on Thursday, and this would be my second one-hour-plus run in the same week.  I don't know why, but it takes me about three minutes to get into a grove. My chest seems tight, my heart rate is high, I'm stiff, and the beginning of the runs is very uncomfortable. I have never had that experience before, and it is somewhat concerning.  The run was through Bronte Park, mainly through...

I woke up in rough shape. I got to bed around 1 am, according to my Apple watch. I have no memory; we drank way too much last night.  I didn't get out of bed until 1 pm, and I still felt like I was still a little drunk. It was not the condition I needed to be in to do my Saturday long bike ride, and I started my day with regret and knowing I was self-sabotaging myself.  I was a little bummed because, under normal circumstances, I would have done my ride in the morning, now it's 1 pm, and before going for a ride, we went out to eat at Lone Star and had chicken fajitas, and I drank lots of diet coke.  I knew if I drank alcohol at the restaurant, it would be the beginning of the end, and I would start sliding down a slippery slope. I reflected that I've seen some weight loss and getting in better shape, but I'm far from my goal. I'm probably down 10 lbs, which is a win, but I"'m still 40 lbs to go.  Getting some food and lots of diet coke in my stomach helped ...

Today was a rest day. No training.  However, I set myself back by having too much to drink. It started with an early lunch, and then when we got back home, it continued at the Pig & Whistle, the bar we have downstairs. It was a bit of a blur as I called my brother and had a conversation, and then we called my sister and had the same. I think, but I can't remember that we got to bed around 1 am, and I have no memory. I drank way too much.  There's not much to report. Drink, get drunk, and then have late-night snacks and throw myself off my diet. I'm not sure why I did this to myself. It's self-sabotage, which I've identified as part of my DNA.  My new bike arrived today—finally. I had some issues with UPS having their wires crossed. I paid the duties and taxes, and they didn't have a record of it, which delayed delivery. Had they not had their wires crossed, the bike builder would have had it built by now and ready to ride. 

I just don't get it. I've been training since July 21st, and my bike riding speed has essentially not changed. Today, I did a ride and averaged 23.3 kph. My very first ride was 22.4 kph. That initial ride was so out of shape that I could hardly keep my head up.  Fast-forward 7.5 weeks, and I'm only riding 23.3 kph after a minimum of 60 hours of training. How the F#ck can that be? I started looking at bike times in 2020 when I wasn't in great shape. My average speed was anywhere between 27 kph and 29.9 kph, which is where it should be. Since then, I have yet to average 25 kph. To put that in perspective, the speeds I'm averaging right now are mountain bike speed averages.  The only thing it could be, or hope, is that the wheel bearings are rubbing, and resistance is slowing me down. All I could think was that it had to be the bike. If not, do I have some sort of Lou Gerhigs disease or something? Or have I passed my prime so extreme that I'm now an old man? Yet, o...

I had one session on my training schedule today, a 1 hour and 10 minute run. This would be my longest run in a long, long, long time.  After I woke up, I decided whether or not to run this morning, this afternoon, or after dinner. I decided not to run in the morning because I got up too late, and was too cool outside. I didn't run in the afternoon because I had an impromptu meeting. I didn't run before dinner because I thought it was too warm and windy.  Then I realized that at 7 p.m., I better get out and run, as I don't like running in the dark. I hadn't eaten dinner yet, so running on an empty stomach was better, or my heart rate would be elevated.  Tonight's run was a big win. I managed to keep my heart rate relatively low, under 140 bpm for most of the run, and not once did I walk. I ran the entire time. It was a first. My average pace wasn't great, at 7:01 per km average, but I did my longest run to date and didn't walk or get injured.  I miscalculated...

Today is a big evening: the Trump vs. Harris debate. It's very important that I get all my training done beforehand. I'm very excited to see how it goes. I started my morning with a 20-minute run. I was somewhat looking forward to it because it was only 20 minutes, but I was also curious about how fast I would run and how long it would take to settle into my stride with a low heart rate.  Surprisingly, I ran at a 6:40 per km pace. It's the first time in a long time I've been in the Sixes, and if I didn't know any better, by feel, it felt as fast as my previous runs. Needless to say, it was a pleasant surprise. I still had to walk a number of times, but the end result was semi-respectable.  My Sonr swimming music player arrived today. It was a replacement for the first one that didn't connect to my Mac. This one did connect, and I figured out how to transfer music, which I spent over two hours doing. I uploaded 600+ songs to it.  The next big test is whether it w...

This morning, I tried to resist but stepped on the scale. I planned to only weigh myself once a month, and 12 days before my next office weigh-in, I jumped on the scale. I needed to see if I was still making weight loss progress.  I'm 230.4 lbs, down 2.6 lbs in the last 19 days. It's not as much as I hoped, but it was enough to lift my spirits, knowing I'm still losing weight. It also felt good knowing that since I started July 21st, less than 2 months ago, I'm down 9.4 lbs. When I looked at my weight stats, it was the first time since April 23rd that I was 230 lbs. Then I peaked at 239.8 lbs (but the week before, the weight was 241 lbs) on July 21st, and now I'm back down to 230.4 lbs on September 19th.  Seeing the graph going back down to a weight of 230 lbs was a pick-me-up and what I needed. It's 230 lbs and 230 lbs includes more muscle than previously. It motivated me to keep my diet on track and do my swim workout this afternoon.  The swim was as all swims...

Today was my long run, a one-hour long run. It was a cool morning, 13 C. I got out the door around 10 a.m. The first 10 minutes were hard, weirdly. I don't know why, but I felt stiff and didn't settle into it. My heart rate increased quickly to 130 bpm; the session is to keep it at 130 bpm or less. After 10 minutes, I started feeling really good. It was night and day. I could hold a pace under 130 bpm for prolonged periods before having to walk to keep my heart rate down. When I did have to walk to keep my heart rate under 130 bpm, I didn't have to walk long, maybe 10 - 15 seconds, max 30 seconds.  It felt like a faster run than it was, disappointingly. The run was through Bronte Park trails, and the tranquil runs were through the trees. It's just beautiful. There is no traffic, and it's all trail running. You only have to be careful to not trip over a tree root protruding from the ground.  Other than the slower-than-hoped average running pace, I ran 90% of the time...

Today is my scheduled long bike ride if you call 2 hours a long ride, followed by a 20-minute brick run. I wanted to see how it would go as I've had two rest days this week, one of which was yesterday.  When I woke up, it was only 14C outside, and I don't like riding in cooler weather. Instead, I got on my computer and did a little work stuff, and around 10:45, I decided to get on my bike and ride. It was only 17C outside, and still more cool than I would have liked it to have been, but I wanted to finish earlier in the day than later.  The minute I got on the bike, I felt stronger and more in control of it than I had since I started this journey seven weeks ago. My goal was to keep my cadence at 90 rpm and not care about the speed, being more focused on keeping my heart rate under 122 bpm.  It was very windy today, more so than most days. Although I felt stronger, I thought this might be the day I could keep my heart rate low. That didn't happen. I tried, but I'm just ...

Fridays are my scheduled rest days. I was debating whether to take Friday as I took Tuesday as a rest day because I was so fatigued and burnt out. Hence, my cold sore started sprouting up.  Had my day been more relaxed, I may have slipped into a swim in the afternoon. Instead, I was slammed all day and didn't finish until 6:30 p.m. With a long ride and brick run tomorrow, I decided to take the rest day, relax tonight, and go out for dinner.  We went to Tin Cup, and I ordered a spicy chicken with rice dinner. I didn't eat the deep-fried bread; I figured the rice would benefit the body for tomorrow's training sessions. However, I did have four Nutrls: vodka soda drinks and lower calories.  I could have done without the Nutrls, but I wanted a relaxed buzz. I did, and I stopped at four. When I got home, I didn't continue, which I would have done in the past. It was both a win and a regret. When things go well, I tend to sabotage myself. From history, it appears it's in ...