I didn’t get a chance to post anything in the past week due to being extremely busy, but I made sure to carve out some time to write today. I’ve done 2 warm-up weeks, then finished 5 weeks of base training already, with just 6 weeks of base until I formally start the build phase. In looking at my totals, I’ve done 12 hours, 45 minutes of swim; 22 hours 20 minutes on the bike and 11 hours and 52 minutes running. This totals just 46:59:00.

Really, only 47 hours in 7 weeks? Feels like it should be more, but I’ll take it for now as its been a challenge. Last weekend, I was thankful enough to actually get outside on the bike for both my Saturday and Sunday rides, but that was short lived as this weekend returned to being cold (and next weekend will probably be colder). I actually felt pretty strong when outside on the bike, this could be a good year if this little test is any sign of where I’m at aerobically … I think much of it is confidence as well, I just feel better and more comfortable on the bike. Another confidence booster comes from the recent bike maintenance/work I’ve been doing, which I think has always been a stress point for me. I’ve never had confidence changing tires, rims or doing anything mechanical on the bike, but that fear is gone now.

I was able to finally get my FLO60 and FLO90 rims built out this weekend, they look great. I used Michelin Pro 3 Race Tires and Vittoria latex tubes (with Vittoria extenders) and of course a Shimano cassette. It all went together very easily with the help of the FLO Cycling website, I have to say that these guys are fantastic, they really care about their customers (as well as having a great product that’s affordable). In addition to all the how-to’s on their products, I remember sending an email to them back in December asking for an update on my delivery and within an hour, I had a response… you can’t get better than that in this day and age.

I will post some bike porn once I put the rims on for a ride and get my Fizik red and black handlebar tape, Brittany is going to look awesome (for those that don’t know, Brittany is my bike).

So on another topic, I’ve met my goal weight of 180 pounds quite easily after just 7 weeks, and I’m actually maintaining around 179 pounds at this point. Eventually I’ll make the push to get down to 175, however I may not need to consciously do that as the training only gets worse from here, so I expect to burn the remaining fat from my mid-section sometime over the coming months.

Which leads me to today’s rant about my choice of diet…. and the statement that I want to make clear to those who email me, and those people I know personally who think I have an eating disorder. Why is it that when someone eats healthy, is picky about avoiding processed food and won’t eat sugar or dairy, are they considered to have a disorder? I personally think the disorder is something the people who choose to eat processed carbohydrates, chemicals, cows milk, processed sugar and gluten in just about every meal have. When I was at the store getting seasonings yesterday, I checked out the food choices of the guy in front of me who was checking out… and I noticed there was not one bit of nutrition in his whole order. It was all bread, Cheetos, cheese, cookies, ice cream, frozen dinners and stuff like Kraft mac&cheese and “ghetto” meat (warehouse processed) .. no fruit, no veggies, no good calories … just garbage.

But I’m on the one with the disorder? I don’t think so… being Paleo is the way we were built and i’ve never felt better in my life, you should try it.

So while i’m on a roll, lets talk about all these infomercials I flip through each morning while channel surfing .. every one of them guarantee weight loss, whether its a fad diet, or some fancy machine along with a testimonial that you really shouldn’t believe about “how I lost 44 pounds in just 3 months.” YOU NEED NOT SPEND ANY MONEY on a fad diet, just choose the right foods because its the only way to sustain it. Remember, not all calories are created equal and FAT is not the enemy … 400 calories of veggies are not the same as 400 calories of cookies, believe me. In addition, our bodies are built to process fat, the right kind of fats though (not cookies), so stop making it the enemy and realize the benefits that the right fats can make in your diet. Then we talk about the fancy workout machines… you must remember that exercising makes you more hungry, so you can use any fancy machine you like, or run as many miles as you can, but if you don’t have a good diet to fuel yourself and recover with made up of fruits, veggies and healthy fats, you’ll never lose weight and just continue to do more damage (after the initial loss).

OK, so flame away now, I’m done with my rant …

I don’t like doing a rant, but if another person tells me I am “weird” or “I have some disorder”, I’m going to point them to this post …

Oh well, train hard and stay healthy until next time…