2/25/2010

I got the courage to get back on the treadmill yesterday morning and did pretty well. My knees were a little grumpy but nothing that I couldn't handle. I actually worked a little harder at increasing my pace so I can actually finish the event during daylight hours. :) Last night I had a really good swim session. I added some more to my training regimen and really felt good the whole time. I took 20 second rests between sets but ended up swimming 1860 yards in about an hour and a half. My knees didn't give me too many problems last night. I felt really good when I finished then went to the hot tub to relax. I spent about 10 minutes in the hot tub and when I got out I was exhausted! I went and took a shower then went home to have dinner. I managed to watch a little of the Olympics (watched Apollo Ohno win his heat) then shuffled off to bed. I have another event coming up this weekend. A bowling party. It looks like we'll have close to 30 people there including kids. The more money we can raise to fight these cancers the better. I came up with another fundraising idea last night and I'll see if I have the guts to pull it off a little later. I have a feeling I'll need a lot of help to pull off this idea. We shall see....

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SHAVE TO SAVE LIVES

Yes that’s right with your help we've been able to raise $3756.25 to fight these blood cancers. If I can raise $1000 in additional donations before 11:59 p.m. March 31,2010 I will shave my head completely bald (including the goatee). If I can help raise money to make it possible that we can eliminate cancer and cancer patients don’t have to go through the trauma of chemo-therapy and radiation treatment, I can lose my hair so they don’t have to. You can make your donation by visiting my website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/noh/wildtri10/whaddix

I will e-mail and post pictures on my Facebook page.

2/23/10

Michael and I had a good fundraiser on Wednesday. Michael ended up raising over $400 and I raised over $110. It was a good time.

We had a good group swim session together on Thursday. Time just seemed to fly by it didn't seem like we were in the pool for an hour at all. I was ready to keep going. We had some good conversations afterward.

I took Friday off from training and then met up with Deidra and some of the marathon team on Saturday morning. Deidra and I actually ran 10 miles! I would never have believed I could run 10 miles without walking at least some of the time. Many thanks to our good friend Andy who sacrificed his Saturday morning to give some much needed SAG help. Both Deidra and I were ready for some fluids and nutrition when we reached the half way point. I was very excited after the run. It boosted my confidence in the fact that I might actually be able to complete a triathlon. I may have overdone it a little though. I can't figure it out. I'm still having issues with my knee. Now the issue has spread to my other knee as well. I bought new shoes (which cost more than I've ever spent on a pair of shoes in my life) then I still had issues so I got some inserts (which cost the amount I would normally spend on a pair of shoes). I'm still having knee issues. I have to say I'm a little disappointed with the shoe store where I got my shoes. I've heard nothing but good things about them but they didn't really seem to give me the attention I expected. I continue to throw money at my knees where I could've used the old Nike running shoes and had the same amount of pain.

I've been looking on the internet and found some exercises that should help. I also might look into some sort of brace for my knee to see if that helps. I'm going to see an orthopedist to see if they have any suggestions. Maybe they'll find shoes that'll actually do the running for me! :) Who knows? It might not even be the shoes at all. We'll just have to see. If I don't get the issue solved I guess I'll just resign myself to having pain in my knee when I run. It's 13.1 miles. Should take (at my current pace) between 3 to 3-1/2 hours. I can deal with that. After all cancer patients deal with pain everyday and don't get a break from it.

I read somewhere that runner's knee can be caused by weakness in your thighs or by your hamstring being too tight. That makes sense to me. It seems I have at least a little of both of those going on. Whenever I run outside my thighs are always sore the next day which tells me they're not as fit as the rest of my leg. My hamstrings are always tight so I'm going to have to go back to stretching them daily and see if the combination of exercises for my thighs and stretching for my hammies helps alleviate the problem.

My knees were sore yesterday so i didn't do any running or cycling. Monday is my "pool day" so I went to the gym not fully expecting to be able to do much swimming. Normally when my knees hurt, they hurt when I swim too. But i went ahead and swam anyhow. I was pleasantly surprised when I jumped into the pool my knees didn't bother me. I swam for a while trying to follow the workout that Tim lays out for us. I did my 200 warm up then swam for 10 minutes to see how far i could go (a couple weeks ago I swam 12 laps). This time I swam 14 laps. I'm definitely showing improvement. The issue yesterday wasn't my fitness or soreness in my knees. I was trying the swim routine and it's the same one I've been doing for a couple weeks and as my friend Deidra so eloquently put it, and I paraphrase. I get bored stupid doing the same thing over and over. I stopped swimming after about45-50 minutes. I just couldn't take it any longer. I went and sat in the hot tub for a while. Sure felt good on those sore legs :)

2/17/10

Training has been a little slow the last few days. We had a good group ride on the trainers last Thursday and I've done some running since then but haven't really done what i wanted. I've been reading my Bicycling magazine and it has a winter training regimen. It looks pretty good. I'm going to start it ASAP. By my calculations I should finish it by April 23 which would be perfect timing for Wildflower.

I experienced a big setback in my personal life on Sunday. The choir director at our church has accepted a position at another church. I know this doesn't seem to be that big of an issue but she has been a friend, a mentor and really a bright shining light in my life. I can't imagine going to rehearsal without her there. She has really stimulated my growth as a musician and spiritually as well. I'm heartbroken and the rest of the choir is too. We are happy for her because it's something that will be perfect for her and her family but it's going to leave a huge empty hole in our lives. I haven't been as motivated to work out this week. I'm hoping to struggle through this.

Family Bowling

Family Bowling Day
to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Saturday February 27, 2010 2:00p.m
Solon Freeway Lanes
Adults: $20
Children $15
Everyone welcome!

Includes 2 games. Shoe rental, 2 slices of pizza and a soft drink.

Please RSVP to Bill Haddix by Friday, February 19 with the number of guests.

2/10/10

It's been a busy week (or so). We had our regular group swim on Thursday the fourth. I made certain to eat before hand and it seemed to really make things better. I had a couple of boiled potatoes and that seemed to last me through the entire session. I felt much better in the pool but still disappointed with myself. I was able to do most if not all of the swimming but i continue to have issues with cramping. Jan gave me an interesting article about swimmers whose legs cramp and that a possible issue is that I'm clenching my foot in an effort to point my toes. The article says that a relaxed "floppy" ankle is the right way to go about a long swim. Everything else seemed to work ok though.

I've been trying to kick up the training a notch and I really need to. I ran on the treadmill Friday morning then biked for n hour Friday evening. I took Saturday off. I just didn't really feel like doing anything On Saturday. I went for a run on Sunday with Jan and he's a better runner than I am so he really pushed my pace which I view as a good thing but I experienced some issues with my knee towards the end of the run. All in all I think we ran close to four miles. It's strange but I like running uphill more than I like running on a flat or downhill.

I went to the gym for a swim on Monday and did Tim's workout routine and felt great. I actually did more than the sheet and didn't feel like I needed to stop at all. Not even for the planned 20 second breaks. I really want to improve my running and swimming. When I started this training my whole objective was to get to the point where I could finish. (which is still the ultimate goal) Now I feel like I need to set my sights a little higher. I don't have a time goal to finish but i want to be able to finish the swim by going freestyle all the way. I want to be strong on the bike and want to be able to run the entire distance of the half marathon. Lofty goals I know. At this point in my training I'll be lucky to finish the swim without drowning. Looking at the bike ride there's a long decent with a left turn at the bottom. I can definitely see myself flying right off the road on that turn. We'll see how it goes. :)

I ran on the treadmill for a half hour Yesterday afternoon and once again felt great. I didn't really want to stop but I had to get going to choir. I got excited at choir that i actually sold some tickets for the Mongolian BBQ night.

02/02/10

Happy Groundhog's Day! I had a good night last night. I dragged my tail to the gym and actually swam the whole workout that Tim laid out for us. I did come to a disappointing yet not so startling revelation though. I might have mentioned before that it seemed like to pool at the gym is shorter than the one in Macedonia and last night I confirmed that belief. I asked the guy at the desk how long the pool was and he said 20 feet. (LOL so I know it's longer than 20 feet) I asked "It's 20 then?" and he said yes. :( That means I haven't been swimming as far as I thought. But i still managed to do the program Tim had worked out for us at the proper distance this time. It's just a bummer that I have to do an extra lap for every 4 that Tim lays out for us. It's all that turning around that gets me. Of course i won't have to worry too much about that at Wildflower. I watched a video of the "nasty grade" on the bike portion of the triathlon and it gets me all psyched up every time I watch it. Here's the link if you're interested: http://www.veloist.com/video/2010-wildflower-triathlon it makes me want to get out on my bike and tackle every hill I can find. Unfortunately I'm relegated to working out on my trainer for the time being. I really wanted to ride today but the forecast is for snow and I'm not willing to take that risk. We're not supposed to get much snow at the end of the week so maybe I'll get some quality time in on my bike. I think in another week or 2 I'll be able to ride outside a little more regularly.

I have a couple big events coming up for fundraisers. I'm going to be a guest grilller Mongolian Barbeque in Cleveland Heights on Wednesday Feb 17 from 6-8. It's not a bad deal. It's $25 per person, all you can eat stir fry, soft drinks, and a salad. it should be a lot of fun. Kids eat for $10. we'll have a raffle and a silent auction.

The second event will be an afternoon of bowling at Solon freeway Lanes. It's going to be Saturday February 27 from 2-whenever. You get 2 games, shoe rental, 2 slices of pizza and a large soda. Adults are $20 and kids are $15. I haven't worked out all the details for the bowling event but it should be a lot of fun.

02/01/10

I've been putting in a lot of time training lately and needed to rest a little. I took this weekend and just unwound. I understand that it's important to allow your body rest time to recover and build. My issue is that I'm trying to lose weight and I haven't eating properly enough. I've always followed the philosophy of eating well and exercising my tukus off to try to lose weight. I can't wait till i can start riding my bike to work again. It seems every time I have the opportunity to ride, it snows. So I took this weekend off. I ran on the treadmill on Friday morning and really felt pretty good. I'm finally getting to the point where I feel comfortable by the end of my run. Today I'm heading to the gym after work and plan to swim then run. I hope we don't get a lot of snow this week. If we don't I think I'll ride a few days.

We're having a fundraiser at Mongolian Barbeque n February 17. It should a lot of fun. $25 for adults and $10 for kids.