A long journey from Fathappy to Fithappy with and Ironman in sight

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bradcfairchild
bradcfairchild Posts: 74 Member
in Success Stories
Ten years ago I did the Coeur D'Alene Ironman. I did good, top 10-15 percent of my age group, but haven't really been in that good of shape since. I was fit and happy hence my fithappy word. My world blew up somewhere in the middle. I got divorced everything changed, but that lead me to my new life and my new wife who is more awesome than I can say. Life is as good as it has ever been. Still I have not stayed in great shape. I've been battling my body. I've been fathappy for 10 years. I have not mastered my eating therefore managing my weight at 10 - 20 lbs over where I want to be. A couple years ago my left foot started showing signs that I had a Neuroma. I finally removed it about a year after it started getting so painful that hiking, skiing, walking and running were becoming a real pain. After the surgery and some recovery time, I did something I'd been thinking about,... signing up to do Coeur D'Alene Ironman again! A ten year check up, so to speak. I signed up about a year and a half before the event, I thought I was on my way to getting into shape, but then something snapped. It end up that I got Sciatica, a pain down my left side that pretty much stopped me in my tracks. I had a tear between L5 and S1, a cyst between L4 and L5, and another smaller cyst between L3 and L4. I'm getting through it but cautious of doing too much. I'm stretching a lot. Recently I ran over 6 miles but ten years ago that was a normal everyday type of run.
I'm writing this as a success story because I fully intend to get into good enough shape to participate in the St George half Ironman in May 2016 then the Coeur D'Alene Ironman in August 2016. I'm not sure what if anything, I'm asking or if anyone else will read this. It's nearly April 2016. I have less that 2 months to get ready for the half and about 5 months to be ready for the full. I have my spreadsheet set with goals and milestones. My goal this time is to finish with a smile. I guess what I need is good vibes and reading other success stories.
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Replies

  • LuckyNumbers
    LuckyNumbers Posts: 208 Member
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    Good vibes being sent your way. B)
  • LemonBreeze
    LemonBreeze Posts: 4 Member
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    Good for you !!
  • ElizabethOakes2
    ElizabethOakes2 Posts: 1,038 Member
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    L5-S1 is a *kitten*, I swear. :( BUT you're on the road to recovery and you can do this!
    Just keep the finish line in sight in the back of your mind and you'll get there. :) (Also, ice packs are your friend...)
  • bradcfairchild
    bradcfairchild Posts: 74 Member
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    Ice pack should be my friend. ibuprofen is my friend. Everyone's stories are awesome. I love that were all trying
  • ecobiorah
    ecobiorah Posts: 26 Member
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    Wishing you well
  • bradcfairchild
    bradcfairchild Posts: 74 Member
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    Got up at 4:20 AM and ran 5.7 miles this morning. I figured it was better than just laying there trying to go back to sleep. Beside I wont have time to work out after work. All my longer runs lately have ended in .7 miles, curious. Does anyone else run early in the morning when they can't sleep? One good thing is there are very few cars on the road.
  • trish2011
    trish2011 Posts: 31 Member
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    Best wishes Brad. I'm interested in triathlons. I'm not imagining the Ironman, but the Olympic distances sound reasonable to me :)
    I just started working out, and I'm seriously over-weight. I set a goal for 4 weeks to do 3 miles on the stationary bike, 2 on the elliptical and 1 mile in the pool. (I love swimming.) I accomplished that goal in 9 days and now I'm setting a new goal, focused on running.
    It would not be a good idea for me to run at my current weight... I'd like to keep my 44 year old knees in workable condition. I am going to run 2 miles on the stepper/jogger in 20 minutes by 4/27/16. I did a 13.11 minute mile yesterday, so I think 2- 10 minutes in 4 weeks is a reasonable goal. I need to figure out the proper name of the machine... I'm not sure if it's an arc trainer... basically it mimics the feel of running without the impact.
    My short story is I was an active in HS but gained weight after I stopped playing field hockey. I know I can be successful, and that success is now.
    I hope you continue to have success. I love that you have a spreadsheet with your goals and milestones!!! Thanks for your story!!
  • bradcfairchild
    bradcfairchild Posts: 74 Member
    edited March 2016
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    Good luck to you trish2011. Anything we do to get/stay healthy is worthy of our effort. You are right about taking it easy on the knees. Definitely take the running slow. Swimming is most people's fear for Triathlon's so you have that to your advantage. I wish you all the best.
  • ClubSilencio
    ClubSilencio Posts: 2,983 Member
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    You are one tough son of a gun!

    I hope your training goes smoothly as possible and you complete the Ironman with a smile on your face!

    I think Ironmans are one of the ultimate athletic achievements!
  • orange_hoodie
    orange_hoodie Posts: 65 Member
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    Cheering for you!
  • bradcfairchild
    bradcfairchild Posts: 74 Member
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    I had a successful 10 mile run over the weekend. Feeling strong today.... Except for the extra two bagels this morning and then the free dessert they offered me at lunch. I gave in... to all three. The Strawberry shortcake was good. :smiley: The bike ride in and home should help. You know, for me, food is the problem. I'm not strict with my diet so loosing weight is so much slower than it could be. I'm finding the discipline to go exercise, so why can't I find the discipline to eat less, pass on the sweets, etc. It seems that if I could figure out the diet side of things, life would be much simpler, and I wouldn't "have to" exercise as much?

    How do you get the healthy diet part to work? I'd like to hear your ideas. Thanks

    One bagel should have been plenty and I should have said no to the free dessert.
  • bradcfairchild
    bradcfairchild Posts: 74 Member
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    I really should be taking before and after pictures. I don't see any changes but I ran 13.5 miles and I feel good. The weight isn't melting away yet but something good has to be happening. I know I don't do enough weight training I've gotta figure out a way to do that more than once a week. I'm active, ride my bike to and from work a few days a week. (24 miles) I run 2 times are week. I use body glide machine a couple times a week. I do longer training runs and rides on top of that. I would have thought some pounds would have melted away by now. I already had strong legs from skiing all winter. I'm tracking my calories and activity with MyFitnessPal and on a spreadsheet. Last month I averaged about 300 burnt calories a day. This month I am averaging about 600 burnt calories a day. I know the math works so I must be calculating it wrong or my old body needs to burn a few more calories each day. I wonder how important calorie deficit consistency is? Some days I'm over, not many and not by much. Most days I'm under, some days I'm 1500 calories under. The biggest usage has been almost 2000 calories. My half Ironman is coming up in a couple weeks. I'm using it as training for the full Ironman in 3 months. I have weight goals, they are the only thing I am not achieving - yet.
  • kjurassic
    kjurassic Posts: 571 Member
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    You are going to succeed... I just know it. I like to run/walk very early a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings when the rest of the world seems to still be sleeping. I'm in FL so it's cooler then as well. I think you should eat the free dessert, but try just eating half of it? You surely seem to be active enough. Accuracy in weighing and measuring and logging is key. I bet if you start doing that you'll start losing. Good luck! Keep us posted!
  • bradcfairchild
    bradcfairchild Posts: 74 Member
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    Yesterday I saw hope in my workout and on the scale. Everyone needs days like that. It was a warm day, in the low 80's. I biked 2 hours in the morning then ran 1.5 hours in the hottest part of the day to get a hotter run in. I don't want to get to my half Ironman and run in some heat without training in it. I did yard work for a couple hours or so. Much of the scale was water loss, but still it's nice to see it down a few pounds. What's really nice is to be in good enough health to be so active. I thanks God for that.

    kjurassic Thanks for the encouragement.
  • bradcfairchild
    bradcfairchild Posts: 74 Member
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    My last report, I reported seeing a better number on the scale, when I read it again I wondered what I got down to, so I looked it up on my Spreadsheet. I recorded 203 lbs that day. I've only been recording my weight about once a week. Yesterday was another 3 hour workout and I saw 200 on the scale. I hope this is a trend. Weight is something that has been going up and down a bit in the last year. I've seen as much as 211 and a little as 194 lbs. 211 was earlier this month and the 194 was before the Sciatica hit me about Oct of 2015. The 211 really concerned me because I thought it should be headed down sooner and all it was doing was going up. I'm able to do some longer workouts at moderate levels which is super good. I'm going to give it some time and keep working towards my goal of getting in good enough shape to finish an Ironman with that smile on my face. If I did the Ironman in under 12 hours, that would really put a smile on my face, but just finishing would too. Last month started at 207 and ended at 204. This month went up to 211 and now is ending at 200, hopefully. Maybe I shouldn't weigh myself at all since I'm able to do the workouts I have set for myself. Weighing is just one of the factors involved. St George Half Ironman is one week and one day away. I'm pretty much done preparing now. It'll be interesting to see how I do with 2 months of training.
  • bradcfairchild
    bradcfairchild Posts: 74 Member
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    I ran home from work yesterday. It was 11 miles with one stop at the running store to buy some EFS liquid shot and another stop to stretch. The Half Ironman is this Saturday so it was probably excessive, so today I am going paragliding instead of riding my bike home. :smile:
  • Calibrate
    Calibrate Posts: 52 Member
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    bradcfairchild wrote: »
    Ten years ago I did the Coeur D'Alene Ironman. I did good, top 10-15 percent of my age group, but haven't really been in that good of shape since. I was fit and happy hence my fithappy word. My world blew up somewhere in the middle. I got divorced everything changed, but that lead me to my new life and my new wife who is more awesome than I can say. Life is as good as it has ever been. Still I have not stayed in great shape. I've been battling my body. I've been fathappy for 10 years. I have not mastered my eating therefore managing my weight at 10 - 20 lbs over where I want to be. A couple years ago my left foot started showing signs that I had a Neuroma. I finally removed it about a year after it started getting so painful that hiking, skiing, walking and running were becoming a real pain. After the surgery and some recovery time, I did something I'd been thinking about,... signing up to do Coeur D'Alene Ironman again! A ten year check up, so to speak. I signed up about a year and a half before the event, I thought I was on my way to getting into shape, but then something snapped. It end up that I got Sciatica, a pain down my left side that pretty much stopped me in my tracks. I had a tear between L5 and S1, a cyst between L4 and L5, and another smaller cyst between L3 and L4. I'm getting through it but cautious of doing too much. I'm stretching a lot. Recently I ran over 6 miles but ten years ago that was a normal everyday type of run.
    I'm writing this as a success story because I fully intend to get into good enough shape to participate in the St George half Ironman in May 2016 then the Coeur D'Alene Ironman in August 2016. I'm not sure what if anything, I'm asking or if anyone else will read this. It's nearly April 2016. I have less that 2 months to get ready for the half and about 5 months to be ready for the full. I have my spreadsheet set with goals and milestones. My goal this time is to finish with a smile. I guess what I need is good vibes and reading other success stories.

    I live in Coeur d'Alene. Thinking about volunteering this year since I only live a couple blocks from downtown. Let us know your race number and I will give you a shout out on the course!
  • bradcfairchild
    bradcfairchild Posts: 74 Member
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    Coeur d'Alene Ironman volunteers are awesome. Thanks in advance. You've made me curious to see if I already have a number. If I have one I can't see it. Thanks to you and all your friends who volunteer.
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
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    Congratulations!!! Tough conditions and tough course!

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