I couldn't ask for a better set up.

Last night i was talking with a personal trainer named Dan. He's been a personal trainer for 10 years and has agreed to take me in and set up my nutritional and weight lifting routines. This guy seems really excited to do his best to get the most out of my potential. Thing is, i joined my gym 4 years ago, and he's the first person i've asked for help, and the only reason i asked him is becuase he's the only personal trainer that was there when i signed up, and is still there now. He's also a great and friendly guy.

SOOOOO, living with a coach, having a PT to go to to set up nutrition and weights...looks like next year i could make some incredible gains, so long as i stay focused!

As for last night, i swam for 45 minutes, (only did 1400m but i was helping a guy with his stroke for a little while) and lifted, then talked to Dan.

For the next 3-4 weeks he told me to increase my reps to 15-25 and lower my weights, so that's what i'm gonna do. Some 'base strengthening' for when i go see him about some serious workouts.

Got home and wasn't hungry (hadn't eaten anything since lunch, but lunch i had All you can eat Chicken!) but i ate a piece of chicken and some veggies anyway. I've been getting to bed a little later then usual lately but thats only because i rented a fun game for my Xbox, after i return it on sunday things'll be back to normal.

Plan for the Holiday:
Ride today indoors using a spinerval tape.
Ride tomorrow morning at 8am with Diane
Eat like a mofo
Drink like a lush
Friday: Go to Henry's wedding
Saturday: Mid afternoon ride
Sunday : Run maybe.

This foot thing: it's really beginning to eat at me because i can't really consider it an injury. It sort of developed, and as far as i know no amount of rest will 'heal' it. It's just a mechanical thing. Why didn't it happen last year? Looks like i have to try on a new pair of sneakers. : sigh : I'll be happy when i find the perfect sneaker. I just don't haev the money to go buying another pair of sneaks. I really thought these Brooks Beasts were the godsend. In terms of my achilles they were...I'm just not convinced an orthotic will work, i think i'd be better off getting sneakers. I may just go up to gainseville and do the track test and video gait test to make sure i get into the right sneaker. I'll have to talk to Carl about that, he said there's a great runnign shoe store up there. Maybe i'll do that around Xmas, or just after. For now i'm going to have to use the eliptical. i can't imagine using the eliptical for 2 plus hours....but i do what i have to do.

Since i'm still in my 'fitness' stage, (Base building begins at the end of Jan) i guess it's not that big of a deal. I still may do the OUC Half marathon in 2 weeks, then again, i may be just asking for trouble. We'll see.

Last night i had chicken and veggies, and today for lunch the same thing. I mixed up broccoli, asparagus, carrots and green beans in a pot and steamed the crap out of em till they were mushy...mmm mmm good!

I'm actually thinking about going out with the roadies at 8 am on Thursday for a pre dinner ride, then going directly to rex's house to drink and have a good time.

Tonight, SWIM LIFT! i'm really beginning to enjoy this day (swim lift days). I forgot my HR monitor but that's ok, i'll do my workout then lift, then chicken and veggies!

One thing i wanted to mention about friday...I did swim and lift. :) Then i ate chinese :( This was just a chinese weekend for me i guess.

Oh yeah, and about my ride yesterday..earlier last week i made a small (2 degree) adjustment to my aerobars which seemed to really help. My neck wasn't stiff barely at all after my ride and i just felt more comfortable while riding.

Goals for teh day are to eat right. No workouts on monday.

What a beautiful ride today...yep, i rode today instead of yesterday. Yesterday was just a lazy day for me...: shrug : nothing i can do about it now.

Today though, i woke up at noon (!) and immedietely left the house to go for a ride. I planned on 3 hours but only ended up with 2.5...more on that later.

The one thing i want to point out today is as i was riding back, hte sun was going down and the shadows were growing long...and the tempereture was perfect...i started to day dream back to my childhood...when it wwas near dinenr time and i was riding my bmx,scooter,rollerblades home to eat. The sun'd be going down, i'd be dirty as hell from playing with friends all day...it was just a great feeling. Made me smile.

Now for the temperature. When i got up i remembered it had gotten to 40 last night so i put on my desoto trisuit, and zipped on my sleeves onto my sleeveless jersey and put that over the suit. When i walked outside it was pretty warm and i debated on whether or not to leave the jersey at home, but i kept it on becuase i was out of sunscreen and 2.5 hours in the sun is just looking for a burn.

Good thing i kept them on. Even though i was sweating a bit at the start of the ride, it didn't take long for that sweat to start getting cooler with the cool wind and my speed. I ended up at 34 miles at 15.1 mph. One thing that sucks is the trail only goes 15 miles...at mile 14.5 it splits off onto another trail, and as i found out today, there's a reason no one goes passed that part. GHETTO city! I literally turned around after a couple miles and rode the ROAD back to the fork because there were a lotta shady people on the trail and i didn't want them screwing with me. Not fun.

The bad thing today is i couldn't make up my mind what to eat and ended up eating chinese :S fuck i'm an idiot, but it could have been worse....somehow right?

Overall i'm happy i rode, and even really enjoyed the time of day i rode...coming back with the sun going down. Cleaned my room and now i'm going to go see Bond!

Well last night just plain sucked. TOTALLY sucked. Here's why.

I left work at 5 pm and forgot to transfer money between two of my accounts (just something i needed to do), got to the gym, put the pad in my sneaker that the podiatrist gave me to help with my foot problem, started running and within 5 minutes the burning and numbness was back so i ended at 30 minutes, then on the way home i was supposed to pick up dinner for my roomates and drove passed the place, turned around, didn't have enough money for what they ordered so i had to remove stuff, then got home and just vegged, pissed off.

To make matters worse, i slept wrong last night and my neck is KILLING me. I'm looking VERY forward to my swim tonight and lift. I hope my neck crink goes away.

Tomorrow i'm going to ride with Diane and talk more about living together and stuff out at the Trail.

First of all, holy crap am i hungry! I miscalculated my snack portions today and i'm starving! Luckily Michelle had some rice cakes for me to spread a little peanutbutter on. So i'm content now, and i can have a shake later...for dinner though, not sure what i'm going to do.

Another thing...i'm feeling a bit sad right now too and thought i'd share my thoughts.
Michelle (For those of you who don't know was my girlfriend for a few years, we broke up, got back together, and are now broken up again...for the final time) is now seeing someone else after a few weeks of being broken up. This didn't really bother me that much, but deep down i was feeling something i just couldn't figure it out.

Well i've figured it out. While going to lunch yesterday (i work with her) we were in the car together and it was just weird. She hasn't really talked to me or confided anything to me, and generally been shady about her dealings (feeling guilty? Who knows, who cares) with me. I asked her opinion on a few subjects as i expressed mine and she didn't really have an answer. Basically i figured it out. Someone who i confided every thought to, every idea or dilemma, someone i talked to and at everytime something crossed my mind is now gone. She won't confide in me anymore so i'll not confide in her. She doesn't care about my life anymore.

Thats fine and dandy, but it sorta sucks because i'm always happier when i can express myself ALL THE TIME (hence this journal) but i'm happIEST when i get expression back. Writing on blog is like talking to a brick wall, i don't get feedback, which is also important to me.

I think the suddeness of it all sorta is what is making me sad, but i'll get over it and find another confidant...unfortunately with my time restrictions it'll probably have to be someone online or something, i don't have time for girls! :)

Wow, i sure am sore today. Thats good but i gotta lift again tomorrow...heh. Tonight i have all my stuff for running, i just havn't picked a place to run yet. It does get dark quickly and there's not a whole lot of lit places to run. It's definitely safer to run in Metrowest, so it'll be around there somewhere. I also forgot my fuel belt, but it's so cool out, a 60 minute run shouldn't require too much hydration, i might just make a store stop.

So my goals for the day were met for the most part. Yesterday I:

Ate well
Rode on my trainer for 45 minutes
Went to bed at exactly 11:10.

Today's goals are:
Eat well
Run for SIXTY minutes
Go to bed before 11

I added a new link to the left, to my coolrunning exercise log. Just enter tburt75 as the username, and triathlete as the password. Then you can view what i've been doing!

Man, I'm SO glad i trained last night. I can't believe how good i feel after each workout and the morning after, yet i still can make excuses. :( Regardless i'm nice and sore today, i'm going to ride for an hour on my trainer tonight. Since i bought groceries i will EAT RIGHT today. ;) Wish i had gotten just another hour of sleep, been going to bed around 10 each night but last night i didn't get to bed till midnight.

GOALS:
Eat well
Ride for an hour on my trainer
Go to bed before 11

The water...its quite an enigma for me. Some days it just comes together, i flow through the water, feeling the water just flow over me, into the crevice of my shoulder and over my back. I swam for a half hour and only took in water 3 times witha misbreath. I've gotten my rotation back and now i breathe evenly on both sides. I guess i just can't swim slow. The slower i swim the more i break down and more pissed off i get. Today my avg heart rate over that half hour was 14 beats higher then my running and cycling avg HR. It was 149 with a max of 174.
Weight lifting after swimming as hard as i did was tough. Once i got ot shoulders i was tiring quickly. Something to note: I won't be doing anymore squats, and while in the pool i noticed my lower back aches...so i added some lower back weight training to my routine.

One more note: I saw the most beautiful girl i've ever witnessed at the gym today. Her stomach was so perfect, her form so incredibly balanced, and a beautiful face to go with it...it was hard not to stare. I was in awe. And to top it all off she had a friendly demeanor, not a haughty one. What would i do with a girl that beautiful? Totally make a fool of myself i suppose. It's dangerous to be in a relationship with a girl that beautiful...god the power she'd have over me; it'd be frightening. It's nice to dream though.

My good deed for the day: A guy was complaining about his goggles leaking so i gave him one of a few spare pair i had in my bag. He was quite thankful and they didn't leak (of course, they're speedo!) and he was able to finish his set.

Did groceries today...finally. And made some plans with Diane to move in together. What could be better? She a coach, me a triathlete....who wants to be a coach. So that should happen December 25th or so.


It's almost 10..i got home tonight at 9:30. Pleasantly exhausted. I like working my ass off...it really lets me sit down and think of the finer things in life...think deeply. I'm exhausted physically but not mentally and being in that state generates more ideas and creativisms then any other time in my life. I think of most of my stories and grand plans right after a workout where i'm just vegging. Good stuff.

While i was in Wal*Mart doing groceries i kept thinking of how a relationship would work. I simply can't come up with a solution that would be fair for both sides. I work out so much, and when i'm not working out i'm planning my future and doing things towards that end. From now on i have to approach a girl like this, 'Hi, i'd like to date you but we can only see each other on saturdays and sundays, just during hte afternoons because i have to go to bed early for my monster workouts..." Who the fuck would agree to that?? Looks like i'm going to be single for awhile. and as it always is...it sucks and is good. Good because less complication, less reasons to skip workouts. Bad because for christs sake i'm a 23 year old male who can't get any punanie!

Why are people so stupid! After two years of telling him how to lose weight, keep it off and be healthy the rest of his life, he tells me today he's going on Atkins. NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! God damn son of a bitch motherless goat herder! Gaw...some people never learn.

Supposed to swim tonight, but instead gonna hop on my trusty trainer for 45 minutes....hmmm after i weight lift. Yeah. Or shit...maybe i'll just go swim and lift. I can ride tomorrow when i'm SUPPOSED to.

Well it certainly has been awhile hasn't it? Quite a lot has happened since Friday and here's a short retelling of it.

Friday i didn't make it to the gym. I was thinking about my first century on Sunday and didn't want to be overly sore like i was last sunday. I had forgotten all about the wedding i needed to go to on Saturday....

Saturday rolled around and i went to the wedding. The guy at the bar was pouring em like he owned the place and i promptly got trashed with a camera in hand. I had the greatest fun taking all 308 pictures with the $1000 digicam i got from a friend. ANd those pics were the best of the reception. Soooo...we went to a bar afterwards where i had another drink and saw Lisa (girl i dated awhile ago). She gave me her number (i called and left a message tonight, i won't hold my breath) and later on i dropped Michelle off at the Ale House. Went home and crashed at about 1:30.

Woke up at 7 am and puked up about 3 full drinks worth of undigested alcohol in my stomach. After that i felt pretty good and was going to get ready to ride when my left hamstring just siezed. I had to spend the next 20 minutes stretching it so i could walk on it. It was so tight you'd think....i took pictures while crouching for say...4 hours? Shit. Not only that but the wind outside was blowing 30mph and making my blinds go crazy.

Hurt hamstring
30mph winds
HILLY 102 MILES

I don't want to DNF my first century, so i went back to bed. Later that day i watched Harry Pothead 2 which was decent.

Today i got my CycleOps Fluid2 trainer! YAY! All i need now is a VCR and i can start watching tapes. I put the trainer together and rode it for a few minutes, it's pretty cool, works nice. Interestingly enough they give you a skewer to use for the trainer. When i took off my Dura Ace skewer and picked up the factory one they give you, i noticed a SIGNIFICANT difference in weight. WOW! i didn't know skewers could weigh that much! heheh. But thats the one i'll use for awhile.

Today i'm back on the horse, and tomorrow i'm going to swim maybe...definitely ride if i dont' swim...and lift.

I'm starting to lose my motivation for swimming...and thats a bad thing considering all my tri's next year will be about 1 mile swims. I'm not sure why, i used to love the water. Something i'll have to ponder for awhile.

Two days till my 102 mile trek accross clermont. I can't say that i'm nervous, but i'd be lying if i told you i wasn't the least bit worried. The roadies gave me some encouragement. I'm getting a new bottom bracket next week because mine won't stop squeeking, but other then that i should get my trainer and be happy next week.

Tomorrow i'm going riding with diane for about 20 easy miles as a warmup to sunday. Also to talk about coaching.
GOALS:
EAT GOOD
SWIM/LIFT
Get decent sleep

Oh yeah, got back from the ortho today and the doc will make me an orthotic to help, but it'll cost me $275. as if i need any more things to spend money on. :rolls eyes: Just one more thing to add to the list. He gave me some pads to put in my sneakers that should help for now...

Did 45 minutes on the elipse, and ate well today.

Well i'm a slacker, yesterday i didn't workout and i ate semi crappy because iw as at a convention all day. Tonight i'm going to bike for 45 minutes and elipse for 45 minutes. I've eaten well today, but not much. Check out my fitday results, so far at 1pm i'm only just over 1000 calories. :( i'll see if i can't get that up a bit.

GOALS:
Eat right
WORKOUT

Well i tried to complete my last goal of yesterday...get decent sleep by going to bed at 10, but the phone rang 4 times till midnight and i couldn't get to sleep after that. last time i looked at the clock it was a few minutes to 1. I'm not tired today but i am a little sore from lifting.

Something to mention about my lifting session last night, i was pretty focused. Some of my old 'beastly focus' came back from my earlier days of lifting and i started concentrating on the muscle groups and squeezing the shit out of them. It definitely worked on my shoulders because they're pretty tight today.

Today during work i gotta go to a Photoshop convention so i'm not sure what i'm gonna be able to eat. Also, i'm supposed to bike today and i'll go to Bally's and do the stationary for 45 minutes or so. I may even do an additional 1/2 hour on the elipse. I'm pretty stoked about losing 4 pounds last week. It's a lot of weight, but i'm not concerned about it since it's my first week of weight loss. If i drop 4 this week i won't be overly concerned, but if i drop another 3-4 the week after i'll start looking into why i'm losing so fast.

Ok i did all my goals so far, the pool was closed so i did 45 minutes on the elipse, then lifted. It was cool to see 2 of my old lifting buddies from when i was a hardcore super duper uber lifter. My knees hurt from doing squats though, not sure if i'm gonna keep up with that one.


ALso: Jumped on the scale before my workout...234...down 4 pounds from last week. thats good. funny thing is when i got on the scale after it said 230...? i'll go with the 234.

My trainer shipped today, hoping to get it next monday. I feel much better today. I'm going to swim and lift today at the gym.

I'm about to go to Moe's for lunch because i didn't cook lunch last night. I'm gonna get a chicken burrito with no sour or guac. I'll try and estimate my calories and crap on my fitday site, but it won't be ALL that accurate. I brought some shakes into work so i'll drink one down at around 5 for pre workout build up.

Cyberswimclub ends at the end of this week and i think i'm going to just take the last 5 weeks and repeat them. I've spent enough money on traithlon for this year, i can't afford to renew.

I'm gonna do a 20 mile ride this saturday in preperation for the century ride this sunday. I've come to the conclusion that i MUST NOT worry about the century and just do it. Worrying about it will put me in a bad mindset and that'll doom me.

Goals for the day:
Good diet the rest of the day!
SWIM AND FRIGGIN LIFT DAMNIT!
Get decent sleep.

Oh and here's the trainer i got.

CycleOps Fluid2

I'm in a really pissy mood today, can't quite figure it out. I can't satisfy myself it seems. Ideas, hunger, awakedness....nothing is satisfying today. Can't seem to smile. Hoping tomorrow i'll be over this. The weather is good, friends are good...just...not happy in the place i am right now. I am a little tired but-

So last week was good...i had a good diet, exercised every day except sunday...first week down. Now not to screw up this week. ;)

I went to see Bowling for Columbine...go see this movie. It's amazing.

I have a lot more to say but deadlines at work are screaming...

Last night my legs started feeling really beat up again. Just aching and painful. I went to bed this way. I woke up this morning to a relatively fresh set of legs, but my upper body (shoulders and chest) are really beat up now...but from experience i can attribute THAT to weight lifting. I'm really glad i only did one set of each exercise, otherwise i'd be really hurting today. I"m debating whether or not to go to the gym and do the eliptical or to run anywhere.

I'm really going to be careful this coming Sunday at the 102 mile horrible hundred ride. I know i can complete this ride, but i don't really want to suffer too early so i'm going to make sure i have plenty to eat on the bike. Nutrition is the last thing i should have to worry about. I'm officially putting my time at 7 hours. I don't care whether i go over or under, thats just a realistic estimate i'm giving myself.

I really can't wait till the doors open for me to become a coach, i really want to coach people, i really want to get out of the 'office' life. Get active for a JOB for a change, do something i REALLY enjoy, be my own boss. Have intimate relationships with athletes who will depend on me to bring them success.

Looks like i could turn another leaf in my life, if Diane is willing to show me the ropes.

Just a quick note: I was feeling really beat up...like post race beatup. I decided to go and rent a movie, and get some food in me. When i ate the sandwich and salad i felt SO much better. Really had a bad case of mal nutrition today starting with my workout. Definitely gotta get more food in me, specially if i'm doing ANYTHING for 3 hours.

I just burned 2400 calories...oh my god. I drove an hour this morning to meet Diane at the Van Fleet trail. This is a VERY boring trail. No turns, No hills, no nothing but trees for 30 miles.

Let me just say, i LOVE riding with women! It's nice to be able to talk to these women with no alterior motives (sex) at all. We're totally honest with each other and their views on life are so much different and interesting then the guys i know. MOstly because i can predict my friends probably, but it's a really nice change. Found out Diane has had an incredible life, and she can help me get T3 going...even help me get certified and start getting started as a coach! that would rock!

So we ended up with 40 miles, at 14.8 avg. I tell you, this trail is so friggin flat my ass hurt at the end. I had to keep standing up to change positions. A few things contributed to my last 10 mile semi-bonk.

I didn't have enough fuel for this 3 hour ride. i only brought enough for 2 hours.
I lifted for the first time in forever yesterday so my legs were a litlte achy as were my traps and tri's.

No big deal...i can't believe i'm going to do 100 miles next sunday. But you know what? I havn't really hit a WALL in a long time, and i'm either gonna hit it or complete it. I'm actually looking forward to pushing myself to a limit i've never been to before. I'm thinking it'll take me 7 hours. Thats a long time to be in the saddle.

I also broke my chain on the trail, but quickly fixed it. It didn'ttake me more then 10 minutes to fix which is good. It would have been quicker but i put it through my deraillur wrong and had to re-do it.

Overall i was glad the ride was done, but also very glad i did it.

I got some work to do now, and also think i'll take a short nap. hehe.

I don't know why, but watching other people weightlift pisses me off to no end. 8 out of 10 of these dolts have the worste form in the friggin planet. Here's a guy with 45 pound dumbells in each hand, doing the "S" swerve with his body just to get it up to his shoulder. He's gonna break his fucking back one of these days. And the sad part is, the poor sap could probably barely put up 25 pounds with proper form. And here's another poor sap, on the bench: 2 45 plates and 2 25 plates on each side. He's a decent sized guy but with proper form he could never lift that, everytime he pushes the weight up his back arches like the McDonalds arches. I'd rather see someone do half reps then bad reps. Pisses me off so bad, just can't figure out why...why should i care?? BAH.

Anyway i ate a yogurt at 4 pm and started having stomach cramps by 5. I went to the gym and started doing some very nice swim work when the cramps were just too much. Every stroke and breath hurt. So i got out, changed and got on the eliptical. I had spent 15 minutes in the water so i spent half hour on the elipse. Then i did my full body circuit that i found on www.trinewbies.com under weight lifting. NIce program so far. Eager to get to the good stuff. A few friends of mine have done the whole 25 week program and seen gains in their power so i figure i'll do it.

I bought two boxes of protien light meal replacement shakes. That should last me awhile. I'll replace my dinners' with that.
I was a little suprised when i finished my workday 9-5 with only 1300 calories today. seems very low. I'll see what happens when i put my shake and shrimp on there.

Tomorrow i'm riding with Diane at a new trail, probably 60+ miles. that'll be good, then i gotta go into work and do some crap. Sunday i may go and hang out with francine but who knows.

I completed my goals for today...mission accomplished!

I got my helmet! I got my helmet! OMG OMG OMG it's SOOOOO comfortable! and sexy! I can't wait to ride with it tomorrow. I'm at work and i have it on...heheh.

Lunch: Ate my Boston Market, i was a good boy! Consistency Jed, CONSITENCY! Gotta stick to it.

Ok lets start out with my goals yesterday:
GOOD DIET: besides lunch (chinese) i did this well.
1 HOUR ON ELIPTICAL: Check.

Alright now goals for the day:
Boston market for lunch, white meat, a veggie no corn bread.
Swim, eliptical, full body circuit, go home go to bed.
No eating crappy.

My calvees are actually sore from the elipse last night. Thats crazy because when i run or bike for 3 times the amount of time they don't get sore. : shrug : progress i guess. Started my calorie counting...and as soon as i figure out how to make it public, i'tll be a link on the left. Oh yeah, I GET MY HELMET TODAY!!!! YAY!!! i can't wait! omg omg omg. anyway, tomorrow i'm going with Diane to a new trail to ride about 50 miles or longer. Then on Sunday i think i'll ride again. I bought my trainer today and should get it late next week, Cycle Ops Fluid2 Pro. 224 buckeroos! i've been saving for it, and it retails for 325 so i'm getting a good deal. Can't wait to spin every friggin morning on my own bike.

Also on the agenda: Buy shakes and snack bars. That'll be the staple in my diet again.

So i'm going back to my roots. I jumped on the scale today at the gym and i gained two pounds in the last few weeks. I'm PISSED! My eating habbits don't suck that bad, and my exercise habbits don't suck that bad...it's time to crack the fuck down. Back to the old fitness days when i was lifting and doing cardio religiously. IN an effort to maintain the sanctity of triathlon i thought i could run bike and swim my way to a nicer weight, but i can't bike becuase it gets too dark and now i can't run because my foots' fucked up. So i jumped on the eliptical trainer and was pleasantly suprised at how easy it is to just keep going on that thing. I used to do 2 hours a day, now i remember why. It's a very smooth machine.

I'm going back to shakes and veggies with chicken for dinner. Eggs in the morning. From this point on i'm going back to counting every friggin calorie that goes into my body and comparing it with my output. I'm going to be using the fit site to track my calories.

I'm just really dissapointed with myself, plus i can't stand my roomates any longer, i'm moving out at the end of next month and i can't bloody wait!

Well it's not Mortons Neuroma...it's a metatarsal that's pushed through the fat pad on the bottom of my foot and is pressing against the sensitive part of a nerve. I got xrays and this could be cured with an orthotic, or i may have to have surgury. Surgury would suck bad. Francine had surgery on her foot and couldn't do any weight bearing activity for 9 weeks! holy suck batman!

We'll find out soon enough. Today i blew one goal....i went and had chinese for lunch. :( I SUCK! just for that no 'off diet day' this weekend.

Holy crap it's cold here! It's like.....50 degrees! heheh. I think all the heat training i did this summer really thinned me out because i'm from Maine and i shouldn't be freezing in 50 degree weather.

As for my goals yesterday, i completed them all! Biked on the stationary for only 1/2 hour becuase my hamstrings hurt from teh uncomfortable seat (never thought i'd take my tiny racing seat over a big ass soft seat, but it really pushes against my hamstrings in my forward position and it hurts) then lifted upper body for a little while, then went home and played games.

Goals for the day:
GOOD DIET
GO and either RUN (depending on podiatrist app. today) Or go on the eliptical for one HOUR.

Forgot to mention: I'm going to see the podiatrist thursday. This 'hotspot' and numbness in my foot is not going away when i run so it's become a problem i can't handle anymore. This was my plea on coolrunning.com:
Ever since i raced at Disney i've had this recurring problem running.

I've been on these brooks Beasts for 3 months now and they've been a godsend in terms of no achilles pain or ankle pain. BUT, right between the two meaty parts of my left foot, The ball and the left meat 'pad'...DIRECTLY in the center is a spot that gets 'hot' after running for a short while. After a few minutes of this my pinky toe and part of the left side of my foot get numb, then the 'hot spot' starts to hurt with every foot strike.

I have no idea where this developed but it's really painful, even after running for an hour and fifteen minutes, i take my shoes off and the 'hotspot' hurts to walk on for a few hours after. When i rub it it seems like there is a bone close to the surface of the skin that's getting irriatated.

Any thoughts on how to prevent?

Or more importantly whats happening?



Someone suggested it's this:

Morton's Neuroma is a common foot problem associated with pain, swelling and/or an inflammation of a nerve, usually at the ball-of-the-foot between the 3rd and 4th toes. Symptoms of this condition include sharp pain, burning, and even a lack of feeling in the affected area. Morton's Neuroma may also cause numbness, tingling, or cramping in the forefoot.
Morton's Neuroma is a foot condition caused from an abnormal function of the foot that leads to bones squeezing a nerve usually between the 3rd and 4th metatarsal heads. Symptoms of Morton's Neuroma often occur during or after you have been placing significant pressure on the forefoot area, while walking, standing, jumping, or sprinting. This condition can also be caused by footwear selection. Footwear with pointed toes and/or high heels can often lead to a neuroma. Constricting shoes can pinch the nerve between the toes, causing discomfort and extreme pain.

The first step in treating Morton's Neuroma is to select proper footwear. Footwear with a high and wide toe box (toe area) is ideal for treating and relieving the pain. The next step in treatment is to use an orthotic designed with a metatarsal pad. This pad is located behind the ball-of-the-foot to unload pressure, and relieve the pain caused by the neuroma.

Last night it poured so bad, that a 1/4 inch crack in my window let in enough water to soak the PASSENGER seat as well as everything between. Anyway half way to the gym i realized i forgot to print my swim workout and forgot my sneakers. SO i had to improvise a swim workout and not lift. My swim workout was ok, but only lasted 20 minutes; here's why.

A hispanic lady who couldn't speak a lick of english was up at the front desk trying to get some sort of attention. This happens all teh time in Florida and i thought nothing of it. I walked in, changed jumped in the pool (not heated anymore...brrrr!) and started swimming. Now i have a problem with swimming now. My first 200 or so meters are so smooth, perfect, i mean i can really feel the water flowing over me and my body stay straight and high. But as i tire my form breaks down and i get angry and it breaks down even more. You wouldn't notice a difference if you were watching me ffrom poolside, but i can FEEL parts of my body pushing water and i can't stand it. I get frustrated and i just need to calm down and relax.

Anyway i'm resting between a set of 100m and i see that hispanic chick barge into the pool room, walk all the way around the pool and head for the emergency exit. I'm thinking, "People don't actually use those exits do they? The big red ALARM WILL SOUND usually causes them to find alternate ways of exiting a building" But not this smarty pants. She looks at the door for a second then just pushes through it. The alarm goes off.

This alarm SOUNDS like a fort knox alarm, but the response time is zero. It's just going off....and off....and off....in an effort to curb the annoying sound i started swimming but everytime i went for a breath it was in my ear. So i got out, changed, talked to some people, and left...and it was still going off. No one cares. : sigh :

So i went to Michelles (She's wanted me to stay at her place for a few days because 3 girls got raped near where she lives on seperate occaisions lately) and did some laundry, and went to bed early. Like 10.

One thing i want to add is i will be posting DAILY goals on this site, then tell you whether i met them. They will be VERY repetitive, but they will discuss the decisions i have to go through each day.

Goals for the day:
I started the day off so far with a french dip sandwich.
I will eat the rest of my healthy food today, nothing fried when i go out to lunch. I have to go out to lunch becuase my car needs dropped off at the mechanic.
I forgot my biking stuff for the gym. I will go home, get my backpack and go immediately to the gym. NO SLACKING OFF.
I will bike on the stationary bike (My arch nemesis is the stationary bike) for OVER AN HOUR.

Where to begin.....lets rewind time back to last Thursday.

I took care of all my crap and went home in preperation for my ride on Saturday. A nice thing to note on Saturday is that after i took my bike apart and put it back together it shifts better then before. I no longer have to upshift two gears, then down one to get it to shift properly. It's more 'on demand' shifting now.

Saturday went as described below.

Saturday night i arrived at Rex's place for the LAN party. Had a hugely fun time there, but forgot my network cable on my return trip home so i couldn't log onto the internet sat night or sunday.

Sunday i went and saw Jackass, funny movie, and ran for 1:15. I have a trouble spot on my foot that keeps hurting real bad and i have to figure out how to deal with it soon. It's directly in the middle front of my foot, between the ball and the outer edge. It's a sharp pain and after a little while the left side of my foot starts to go numb. Not good. I was however chased by a dog on more then one occaison while the owners looked on and smiled. Not my idea of fun and i was close to just fighting the dog and killing it (which i've done before) just to prove a point to the owner.

Today: Day off. I finally did a weekend where i biked AND ran. I'm proud of myself.

Oh yeah and last night i went to this new restaraunt and had a ceaser salad...just plain jane. They put so much cheese on thsi thing that it looked like it was snowed upon. I couldn't even taste the lettuce or ceaser. It was nasty. :(

What a beautiful day and a beautiful ride with some beautiful women. When i got to the trail it was 8:30 and i saw phil. I talked with him for a half hour before getting on my bike and starting my ride without Diane who i was supposed to meet. About half a mile up the trail two women come up on either side of me and say, "What's your name?" I replied, "Jed."

Oh, i'm diane and this is francene.

Diane is a 44 year old Ironwoman who's not trained or raced in a few years. she's very nice and good humored and a decent rider.
Francene is a 31 (i thought she was 25 MAX) year old woman who does adventure racing, she's not been on her road bike in a long time. Regardless she held up very well. The beginning part of the ride avg was 15.2 for the first 15 miles. Once we hit the horse farm though, i put it in my big ring and did some sprints. Francene thought it was fun trying to keep up with me and egged me on to keep going fast. Diane dropped back after finding another friend she knew and Francene and i sped off. She's got a very good sense of humor and i had her laughing quite a bit. The great thing about this ride was that it was over before i knew it. Thtas the benefit of riding with people, you talk and boom, hte ride is over.

Diane wanted to go to Clermont next weekend to ride hills, and thats cool with me. We'll see who else joins us but it should be fun.

Now i'm going to a LAN party at my friends house to play Unreal Tournament 2003 till the wee hours of hte morning, then running tomorrow.

Well even though today i took the day off from work, it's sorta sucked. The bank had a problem with direct deposit and didn't get the money into my account till 2 pm. Here i am at WORK printing out some flyers for a freelance client i have, just to pass the time. Oh well. At least i got to sleep in a little. I wanted to ride for a few hours today and i just might do that, but after dropping off these flyers, and going to the bank, then going to the bike shop for the parts i need to re-assemble my bike...it may be too late. Either way i confirmed meeting Diane tomorrow at the trail so that should be good.

I bought a Bell Ghisallo Large Yellow (the odds of finding that on ebay are so slim, i had to buy it!) helmet that i've wanted for a few months now. They retail for $140 and i got it with buy it now for $85. Some good. So now i've got my helmet and trainer...i'm good to go!