Ryan Gives it a Tri

No, I haven't abandoned this blog. I just haven't had anything to report weight loss wise. I am down to 203.4 but I have been holding there for nearly two weeks. I am trying my best to break this horrible plateau but nothing seems to be working. Still, I am not giving up. The bright side is I am running better and biking farther than ever. That progress is something to be proud of as well.

Now that I have the recumbent bike I have decided I am going to try to make it my goal to participate in the Big Dam 100. It’s a “fun ride” here in Arkansas at the end of September that allows anyone to enter. I ran across a blog/ video or two that shows recumbent bikes participating so I am sure it will be ok for me to enter with my bike. I am going to do the metric century (68 miles) because I am pretty sure there is no possible way I will make it a full 100 miles having only started riding again as of Sunday. Still, it gives me a goal to work towards and I am excited about trying this event out again. I participated in it in 2007 and it was a lot of fun. My main goal is to finish, but it would be a really cool thing if I could come in under 4 1/2 hours. I am not certain I can do this second goal, but I’ll give it a try ;)

Only down .6 pounds to 204.4 this week. Still, it is moving forward. I didn't gain the weight overnight and I can't expect to lose it overnight either.

This is my new recumbent bike. I finally had the chance to take it out and ride it yesterday. Yeah, I got looks from people because it isn't the norm but I don't care. It's just nice to be able to ride again.

This one's a little late but it is a holiday weekend here in the United States, so I am doing it when I can. I weigh 205 on the nose as of today. So, I'm only down just over a pound this week. Still, it is progress. Plus, I've hit the ten+ pounds lost mark so I feel good about that as well. But, I lost that pound really early in the week. That means I've probably hit a plateau. A plateau is basically when your body has gotten used to the amount of exercise and calories you are consuming so it tries to hold on to its fat stores. So, yesterday I did a bunch of yard work and then went and ran. I slept until about 10:30 today because of that one. It felt nice to be that tired from working out, though. Today, I am hitting it even harder with different exercises to let my body know it can't get comfortable with a certain level of activity. It's something that any trainer or anyone who has lost weight will also tell you that you have to do. It isn't always the most fun thing, but it does work. I'll talk more on that this week when I have some time. Until then, if anyone has any advice for me on getting over plateaus, it would be much appreciated!

It's that time again! Saturday morning is weigh- in day. This morning I weigh 206.4 pounds. Last week at this same time i was 209.6 pounds. So, we're looking at 3.2 pounds for the week. That's an ok rate to be losing vs the 6 pounds I lost last week (Which was entirely too much to lose in a week). I'm looking forward to this week. I probably will break the 10 pound mark for total weight lost!

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WuB8BhUJrc) This is pretty interesting stuff.

But, I do know that no matter what I decide, I’m not giving up on my health. I’ve just got to find a plan B. Any suggestions are more than welcome.

This past Sunday I only ran about 2 miles before I had to stop. My feet had gone numb and it was painful to run. Today, I got new shoes with the help from the nice folks at The Sporty Runner (A special shout out to Yvonne in particular. She was a huge help). If you're in this area and are looking for running gear, I recommend them. They're nice and supporting a local business is always a good thing. With that bit free advertising out of the way, let's get back on track. I tried running again today with my new gear. While I feel the shoes did help, I still had foot numbness after running for about 2.5 miles. I immediately quit when it began to become noticeably numb in my feet rather than pushing myself and causing problems. Today was also not good for my diet. I feel into the "looks healthy" trap. I'm sure anyone following this blog who has gone on a diet can relate. The looks healthy trap is when you find an item on a menu at a restaurant that LOOKS healthy enough, only to discover that the item in question is WAY worse for you than you thought. I was considering not eating tonight to make up for it but I realized that was an equally unhealthy choice, so I had a reasonable dinner. Still, that put me above my calories for the day, even with exercising. All this got me a little down on myself. I just learned I can't ride a normal bike any more, now my feet are having problems, and to top it all off I screwed my diet up today. I started beating myself up and asking, "What's the point?" But, before I got too far into the pity party I stopped, took a deep breath, and made myself put a new spin on it. Let's say for the sake of argument that the race organizers finally get back to me and don't let me use a recumbent. Well, that's ok. There's always running and trying to get better in that discipline. Let's say this problem with my feet only gets worse and I have to stop running. That's ok too. I can walk. I can swim. I can check out yoga or something. There is ALWAYS a goal and ALWAYS a way to move even when my body doesn't want to cooperate. We're dealt the hand we're dealt and we have to do the best we can with what we've got. I know that it is going to take a lot of hard work and determination to see this through and the limited time I've been doing this isn't enough to really see the long term benefits (or problems for that matter). But, I know if I keep it up and continue to be a realist with my health and to listen to my body, I can at least reach the goal of having a better quality of life. I have to remind myself that this is what this is all about. But, on the bad days it sure is hard to remember.

These are my new running shoes. They are majestic. More about buying my second pair of running shoes in a matter of two weeks coming very, very soon.

Saturday is weigh- in day. I am shocked how much I have lost! Also, I misspoke in the video I should have said six, not seven. I had just woken up. I'm using that as my excuse.

Today was a sad day. I started my bike regimen and only made it 20 minutes before I had to stop. 7+ years ago I was a serious cyclist and rode nearly every day. In that time, I developed nerve and tissue damage from being in the saddle too much. It gave me all sorts of fun issues that I won't go into here. Needless to say, I went to a doctor for it and he told me that I needed to stop riding or the damage I had caused could become permanent. So, I gave it up completely. What the wreck didn't take away, this other issue did. I sold pretty much all my biking gear and thought I was done for good. Then, just a few weeks ago I got the bright idea to do this triathlon thing. I thought to myself, "Surely with as little riding as you would be doing, the pain would be minimal or nonexistent. Besides, it's been nearly 7 years since you really rode a bike hardcore. You've got to be healed up by now." Oh, how wrong I was. I went to the gym today and rode a stationary bike. Within 5 minutes I noticed a dull pain. By the end of 15 minutes it had turned into an ache that I couldn't reposition myself to get rid of and by the end of 20 minutes I was in agony. I knew this was more than just mere discomfort. I had experienced it before and I knew then that if I continued, I would be harming myself. So, I can't ride a bike at all. Biking is 1/3 of the event I am wanting to do. Looks like my dreams of doing a triathlon are shot. Maybe. After the doctor told me I had to stop riding, I got a recumbent trike as a last ditch effort to keep on going with cycling. I eventually sold it as well because I didn't have the room for it at the time and riding it was not very safe (Conway has since gone on to put in many more bike lanes and bike paths, which are an absolute necessity for riding a recumbent trike). So, I sent a message to the race organizer asking them if they would consider letting me participate with a recumbent bicycle. (I don't want to push my luck by trying to get a trike out there.) Here's what I sent: Dear DLT Events, I am interested in participating in the CATS sprint triathlon in Conway on September 20th. It would be my first ever triathlon. I am a few months into a (somewhat late) new year's resolution to live a healthier lifestyle and get back in shape. So far, I have done quite well in meeting my goals. One of my resolutions was to push myself to participate in an event that I have never done before and triathlons seemed to fit the bill. I do have one issue, though. Due to a medical condition from an old injury, I cannot ride a normal bicycle. Sitting in the normal biking position causes me a lot of pain. So, if I was to participate, I would need to ride a recumbent. I was wondering if your organization would let me participate with such a bike. As much as I would love to ride a normal bike, I can't. I know some triathlons don't allow them because they feel they provide an unfair advantage to the rider, but I am not riding one for that reason. I simply cannot sit on a regular bike for any length of time. I just really want to see if I can do this. If you are on the fence about letting me in, you don't even have to count me in the rankings. You can just mark me as a participant or something like that. I just want the chance to prove to myself I can complete this. I know this was a long- winded email. I apologize for that. It's just that I had to admit to myself today that I have this limitation, and rather than immediately give up on my goal, I thought I would reach out to you. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Ryan Tucker I'll let you all know what they say. If they don't let me do it, there's always running and swimming. If that happens, maybe this blog's name will change to Ryan gives it a bi, which will probably increase my readership tenfold ;)

So, today was my first day to give my swim training a go. Let’s just say that I have a LONG way to go with that discipline. My arms and back muscles are screaming at me right now. I really pushed it harder than I should’ve. But, I feel that I had good reason to. You see, as I was swimming back across the swim area at Beaverfork lake, a large turtle popped up out of the water to say hello. At first, I thought it was a snake because I could only see its head. Then, I recognized the marking and calmed down a little. My ease was only momentary, though, as the turtle apparently thought I was a log and started swimming towards me to get on my back. I out- swam a turtle today and probably swam faster than I ever have in my life. Thanks for the motivation little guy. But, if it’s all the same to you, I’ll be joining the gym down the street that has a pool to do my swim training from now on.

I like to check off when each day is done. It makes me feel like I’m getting achievements on the xbox or something :)

In my early 20s (up until I was 26), I was in the best shape of my life. I would ride 60 miles on a bike every day after work. I entered a Race for the Cure 5k in my home town on a whim because, hey, why not? I got 2nd place in my age division and I’d never run a 5k race before in my life. I ate a vegetarian/ vegan diet and counted calories and tracked nutrition like it was my job. In short, I was obsessed with being fit. Then, one day, I stabbed a handlebar through my leg while practicing mountain bike jumps. I had to get over 30 stitches in my leg and the blunt force trauma messed up my leg muscle pretty bad.  I sat out of any and all exercise for over 3 months while I healed.  In that 3 months, I continued to eat like I was still exercising for 2-3 hours a day. Needless to say, I gained weight. I gained A LOT of weight. It’s been 7 years since I was a “health nut”. In that time, I have flirted a little bit with slimming down here and there but I’ve never been committed to it quite like I was back then. More often than not, I have focused on getting fit for a few months and then I will, inevitably, fall off the wagon. Ignoring my health and eating poorly has taken it’s toll over these years. Besides the weight gain, I’ve suffered from knee and back problems, I’ve developed a fatty liver, and I have been diagnosed with high blood pressure (I have since gotten the blood pressure under control, thankfully). I have no doubt that if I don’t make a change, my issues are only going to get worse. While these factors are certainly good motivators to get healthy, they aren’t what made me take the plunge into trying to go full on “health nut” again.  No, the biggest deciding factor on that was two-fold. The first is that I have the looming specter of death at a relatively young age from heart disease. My grandfather on my mother’s side died of a severe heart attack at 61. Before that, he had heart surgery in his 50s. I am built just like him. He died when I was 20 and I felt like I never got enough time with him. I think a lot of my family feels that way. I don’t want to die that young.  My second motivator to do this is related to the first. My girlfriend is younger than I am and I want to be with her for many, many more years. I’ve never loved another person like I love her and, for some reason, the thought of not growing old with her terrifies me. I want many years of quality life with, not only her, but all of my family. There are many other factors for deciding to get healthy and I am sure I will talk about many of them in the future. But, those are the big ones. In order to meet these goals, I’ve decided to do a sprint triathlon in September. Having a big goal like this pushes me to train and get fit. I’ve always done better when I’ve had a goal like this in mind. I’ve decided on a triathlon because, in the past, I’ve had complications arise from focusing on one discipline too much. When I ran all the time I started developing knee problems, when I biked all the time I developed prostate issues from being on the saddle too much. I’ve read that training for triathlons is some of the safest endurance training you can do because you aren’t focusing on just one discipline and it is less likely to lead to injuries that come from doing something repetitive too much. Of course, that’s only what I’ve read. We’ll see what happens when I get out in the real world and give this a go. This is the first week of my training for the triathlon. I’ll be back in a few days to give a wrap-up on how it all went. 

This is me on May 4, 2015. I think it's in the fitness blog handbook that you kick the thing off with a "before" picture.