Adjusted Reality

“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.” – Mark Twain

Ramblin’ Rose

Stop, Ramble Time!

Tri Minus One:


Last night, we completed a “splash and dash” type race (it was actually called PFive55), it was a 500m swim then 5k run).  I had a blast – both the swim course and the run were super nice (man made lake, and then a nice flat trail around said lake), but damn, running then swimming is HARD.  The bike definitely gives you an opportunity to catch a breather.  Coming out of a hard swim, throwing on the shoes, and immediately running was rough – I thought that it would be nice to not have brick legs, but I honestly would prefer brick legs than breathlessness!

My swim was a bit slower than I would have expected/liked (a little under 13 minutes), and I’m not sure why – I got a better start and felt like I had my rhythm most of the time, and I feel like I should have been swimming closer to 10-11 mins.  I think I went a little conservatively because I knew I had to run immediately after, and I haven’t been training that much speed in the water (since I’ve been actively working on my run and bike speed, swims have been mellower workouts).

My transition was pretty swift (although I did take a minute 30, which could get better with practice).

My run started, as I said, with me breathless, and fumbling with electronics (garmin and music) to get out of transition faster.  It took my garmin a while to get the satellites, and trying to run all out while booting up and finding a playlist was not fun, but I knew it would pay off since I just run faster with music driving me.  Next time, I think I’ll just make sure both devices are fully charged and leave them ON for this type of race (for tris, I don’t have to worry about the music since it’s not allowed, and the garmin on the bike is not as critical).  I got on the trail, and settled in somewhere between 9 and 9:30s.  Honestly, I’ve never practiced a swim to run transition and my body was a little shell shocked.

I was able to maintain below a 9:30 pace most of the time through mile 1 and 2, and started to pick up speed as I passed people.  I would kick into gear, make the pass, and then push myself to stay faster.  I stopped really relying on my garmin in mile 3 as I just ran as fast as my body and brain would allow comfortably.  I kicked it up a bit when I saw the mile 3 marker in the distance, and again when I passed it, and sped it into the finish line.  I finished around 28:30, which equates to about 8:50/miles.  Under 9s!  I was pretty happy with that!  I think I could tear that course a new one with fresh legs (and plan to go back and try), but also, that makes me pretty confident I can finish in the 27s on the tri (lungs a little more rested after biking; more speed training).

Approximately 43 minutes overall.  Race site is down so I don’t have the official times, but it was up last night so I remember the gist of it!  Once the pics are up I’ll post those as well.

Body Movin’ On Up:


So we’re about 4.5 weeks into project: half ass cleanse.  My highest weight was 174.8 (first week), lowest was 168.0 (second week), and I’ve been somewhere in between ever since.  I’ve been counting from the high point of the week and each week Monday’s weight has gone down.  Fluctuating less makes me less crazy so that is happy!

While I’ve not taken off all that much weight, things are looking and feeling different.  A pair of pants that didn’t fit well a couple months ago was lookin’ hot today.  My leg muscles are ridiculously poppin’ from the bike, the runs, and the strength work.  My arms and shoulders are starting to look more defined.  My tummy? Eh, well, there’s still some spare tire but I’m continuing to work the core anyway.

However, this style of eating (watching the sodium, less meat, more fish, less dairy, less wheat) is agreeing with me.  I feel really good when I’m able to generally stick to it.  Instead of being hardcore about it 3 days a week, I decided just to attempt to eat it for all the meals I could while not driving me crazy.  So if you make allowances for lean ground beef, I stuck to it about 2/3 of the time all week.  Most other meals I made healthy choices (but that Mediterranean sammich w/onion rings was AWESOME, and the brownie cookie half I had today was super amazing).  I have not been able to bring myself to track calories, but I think this might be a good step.

One major change that I’m very proud of?  I’ve cut out all artificial sweeteners for the last 2 weeks or so.  I think I may have had a bit of a fresca while intoxicated, but for the most part?  Off ’em.  Drinking soda water, decaf tea, and water exclusively.  After getting through the “wtf do I drink” and getting used to flavored seltzers, I actually don’t miss it.  And honestly, if all sodas were were as equally evil?  I would probably choose a regular coke over a diet for a very, very occasional treat.

I’m still considering the nutritionist heavily.  My confidence in this is growing, but I”m still not sold that I can do this by myself.  Incredibly slow progress is still progress, but it’s sometimes hard to make sure it’s still going the right way when it’s crawling.  I think I’m going to try an experiment next week but we’ll see if I can bring myself to do it…

Still making athletic gains, so I can’t complain.  I’m a poet, and I guess I know it?

Odds and Ends:


  • Zliten said last night that he wants to complete the Texas Ironman (140.2 or whatevs) before age 40.  Just putting it on the internet as public record.  To be honest, the bike part of it scares me the most.
  • Lots of tri tips (mmm, tri tip… oh wait, what?) for getting faster here!
  • Most stressful week of work this year.  We’re closing on a deadline, working towards a few other side goals, planning out the rest of the year’s milestones, and tensions are high.  While I have to work this weekend from home monitoring things, at least it will be in my PJs.
  • Besides the work time, looking forward to a nice mellow weekend after having BIG PLANZ for every weekend since about February.  On the docket?  Cleaning the house and thoroughly cleaning the kitchen (ants and flies, oh my), some outside workouting, lunch with the parents for mother’s day, and a celebration for a friend who just accepted a job Saturday night.  Yep, that’s my version of a mellow, do nothing weekend.  Heh.
  • Tied my race reports for each race to my race page, because duh, what a great idea!
  • It just hit me this week that I graduated college 10 years ago.  Crazy!  If you would have asked me what I’d be doing 10 years from then, I would definitely not have expected this… the plan was, one year off, then go back to grad school, get my Psych PhD, and become a college prof and do research like a mad scientist in a lab on people’s brains.  Instead, I have no interesting prefix on my name (I always thought I’d get a kick out of being Dr. Quix), didn’t even bother with grad school, but I head up a very successful video game. Woot!
  • Addicted to this tri forum – been a great resource to learn tips and tricks and get motivated!

I’m going to continue with the relaximication tonight and I’ll be back next week with more tales of getting faster, healthier, and awesomer.

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1 Comment

  1. Miz

    GOOD LORD YOU ARE HARDCOREBADASS.

    can you get any awesomer?
    Ill stay tuned.

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