Conventions: The next endurance sport?

I'm writing from brightly lit Las Vegas, Nevada. My home for the next few days is a hotel room at the Imperial Palace as I partake in the annual right of passage known as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). CES is a 4 day electronics trade show, the worlds largest I might add.

Getting around Vegas effectively is mostly about walking. If you're leaving the strip there are taxis or buses, but for moving from casino to casino, nothing is more effective than travelling by foot. However, when you're here for leisure, you walk from one casino to another, then you sit down for a while to gamble. When you're here for a conference, you walk from casino to casino (or the LV Convention Center), just to walk around some more once you get there.

It can be grueling, standing in line for nearly everything you do, constantly on your feet in temporary booths with carpet no thicker than a kitchen rug. There are very few places to sit, and most are taken by women or the people working the booths. It's also mentally draining, because there is no place you don't wait, except maybe in your own room. Very little happens quick with a convention this big.

That's why I'm so glad for my triathlete training and experiences. We triathletes know how to suffer. It's part of what we do and who we are. It's in there, the ability, and sometimes even the need to suffer in order to achieve. And talk about mental toughness, I know no one mentally stronger than a triathlete. You can't suffer as hard as we do for as long as we do without a resolute mental fortitude.

So, while I lumber on towards the end of my trip, and I keep a keen eye for the next big technology, I'll also be looking for anything I can find at the show or from my experience here that will help me continue to grow in my ability to handle suffering.

But for now, I'm off to soak my feet in the giant soak tub I upgraded my room for.

I LOVE swimming

When I was a baby/toddler, my parents took me to swim lessons at the YMCA. I evidently loved the little plastic frog they had to play with there, but disliked the diving board (I once displayed my displeasure by pooing on it.) I feel like I enjoyed swimming from a very early age.

When I was a kid, I used to swim quite a bit. We got a pool when I was 13, the hottest summer I can remember growing up. Prior to that I would swim at the neighbor, who had an in-ground pool. There were the occasional visits to campgrounds, other friends, YMCA trips, and the times at summer camp.

Summer camp was Camp Tawanka. I went 3 different years, and my favorite time of each trip was at the waterfront, swimming. During my trips as a teenager, I was a strong enough swimmer to be allowed in deep water, and even completed the lake swim. Back then it seemed like a long swim, easily the longest swim of my life. When I pull up Marr Lake on google maps today, it turns out that swim was roughly 2/3rds of a mile, round trip.

This leads up to last night. Rachelle and I have been working off an Ironman training plan she found online. Because we're doing a 70.3, we've been cutting the training plan roughly in half. Our training plan is fairly aggresive, I think it's written for someone already in excellent shape, or with previous Ironman experience. I've been careful to back us off when I think a workout is too much this early in our training.

But last night called for a 1600 yard swim. And I was READY. I can't say I was super fast, but I did it. Under an hour, and some of the time was spent on slower strokes (breast stroke), or doing pulls (where a small float device holds your legs up and you swim with just your arms).

It felt fantastic, and not only is it one of the 3 primary triathlon disciplines, but it's a fun way to workout. You dont get all sweaty, and it's tremendous exercise for the whole body, plus cardio. And it's an area where just getting in the laps and building strength I can definitely make some strong improvements.

I just can't wait for summer to start swimming outside at Walden Pond again.

Sticking it out

Yesterday was interesting in that I woke up in fear of the scale. Not because of anything I had done to get away from the plan, but rather because I had such a big drop the day before, I was afraid somehow I'd given some of it back by taking one more recovery day to build back up from the effort that was the Lowell 1st Run.

The good news was that not only did I not give any back, but I was down another pound! Totaling now 7 lbs since just the 1st of the year is making for quite a week of positive results. This was not a result of luck, but rather of sticking to the plan I'd made and eating the right foods in the right portions.

Our exercise regimen for yesterday was a good 50 minutes on the bike, at sometimes challenging but not overpowering levels.  Then a quick 15 minutes on the track before we were done for the night. Rachelle was craving dessert, and we have this wonderful place, Berryline, right down the street. Their primary product is a frozen yogurt that has all the trappings of soft-serve ice cream, but retains the tangy taste of yogurt. It's also a mere 25 calories per ounce, with no fat. Plus they offer as many healthy topping choices as unhealthy ones. AND they had free apple cider yesterday to boot.

So, after a great day at work, a good day at the gym, I got to have a healthy snack (I opted for strawberry flavor with blueberries for a topping) and 12 ounces of apple cider. All that for a mere 7 points. Well less than I'd burned off that evening at the gym.

While I had a few extra points, I stayed inside my exercise points earned, stayed within the plan of eating healthy foods whenever possible, even as snacks, and making sure my calories in for the day do not exceed my calories out.

The magical, mystical recovery day

I lost five pounds overnight.

When you read a statement like that, it sounds like the kind of claim made by any of a hundred different weight loss product infomercials.But it's true. I lost five pounds last night.

When workout plans talk about recovery days and rest, I originally assumed it was strictly to provide tired muscles some rest in order to avoid overuse injuries. But today I remembered reading about what happens when muscles wear down during exercise and the amount of energy they use in recovering energy stores and proteins that are actually broken during exercise.

5 pounds.

It sounds like a lot because it is. It's about 1.66% of my body weight. Sadly, it's both impossible and extremely unhealthy if I were to sustain a rapid weight loss at a daily level like that. But that loss allows me to feel a lot better about the Lowell 1st Run, and reminds me that there's another contest I'm in. The one against my weight.

And I'm not going to come in dead last in that one.

Dead Last on the First

Rachelle and I regularly race on major holidays. With the exception of Christmas, there isn't a holiday that isn't suited for racing. Over the past 3 years, I've raced on Memorial Day, July 4th, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Sure, it's easy to stay home, watch sports, have a couple beers, and eat large portions of food. But if I'm going to change my lifestyle to allow the change in health and weight I want, these are the kinds of days I need to limit.

Yesterday being New Years Day, we participated in the Lowell 1st Run. It's the first edition of what they're looking to make an annual event. They had 5k and 10k race options. We competed in the 10k distance. It was a well organized event with custom bib numbers, great finishers medals, a challenging course, and they even gave away "heat sheets" (they look like giant pieces of aluminum foil) to keep runners warm after the race.

In all, it was a great day except for one thing: I came in last in the 10k. With the 5k and 10k starting at the same time, this means I was the last person on the road.

Last, as in Dead Last.

I like to think that the first time the saying "dead last" was used, it was about some sort of race where the competitor who came in last crossed the finish line and promptly died. It may sound morbid, but at least the deceased wouldn't have had to know the ignominy of hearing that phrase uttered about them.

And even when no one says it, it doesn't mean it doesn't come into your mind when you're in that position. I've been last before.

This is actually the 3rd time I've finished last in an event, and the 8th time I've been last in my agre group. You would think that having it happen before would prepare me. When you're last, there's a feeling of failure that creeps in to mute the feeling of accomplishment that comes from finishing the race.

While I have finished last now 8 times, I have also won my age group 5 times over the 37 races I've done. I know the feeling of looking back and seeing my nearest competitor struggling to keep pace with me, and not being able to do so. I know the elation of having no one ahead of me. It makes the race seem shorter, the pain seem less, and it makes you feel like you can go even faster.

Knowing what it's like to win makes losing that much harder. Instead of feeling faster and stronger at the end of the race, each step forward is an effort, and the areas that hurt simply won't be ignored. My first two miles were a little slow, but each mile after that was essentially at a speed I have walked in the past. And I was running this event. My end result was over 2 minutes slower than the person who finished ahead of me. I came in at a less than respectable 1:32:23. This was my second slowest 10k, behind only my first ever event.

With all the dark thoughts and disappointment, there are still some positives to take out of the event:

• I ran the entire race. It may have been a slow shuffle sometimes, but I didn't walk a single step. This is the first time I've run a whole race, and it took far more effort than walking.
• I hadn't properly trained for this distance. I've been running 1 to 3 miles, with no recent longer runs due to the holiday travel.
• My nutrition was a mess. I had only an early morning bowl of cereal before the 11 AM race. I know better than this, and was hungry by the end of mile 2. This is not an excuse, merely something that I know I need to rectify if I'm to post better times. 

This is just the first race of many for the 2010 season, and I know I will look back on this in a few months with much better times under my belt.