Final Post!

Well, after many years of updating this blog weekly it is time to call it quits. I have moved on to the next stage of my life and have set a huge goal for myself. I thought it would be best to start a new blog dedicated to my new goal. Please follow me on my new blog at www.the-ironman-mission.com

Thanks for all the reads and comments over the years and looking forward to hearing from you on the new blog!

On Vacation

Well the time has arrived, I am officially on vacation for two weeks. It will begin with a few days of getting caught up on life, and chores, and then I will be heading to Europe for 10-11 days. I can't wait!!

Last week I was traveling in the US, Wichita Kansas specifically. It is a nice city but it was hot. It was over 100 degrees every day I was there. I did manage to run a couple of times in the heat, it felt good. The bad news was I ate out for four days. I tried my best to order the better things on the menu but that didn't always work out well. Getting on the scale Monday will not be pretty.

And imagine next week's weigh in, after having been on the cruise for a week, yikes!!!

I signed up for my first official 1/2 marathon this past week as well. It is on labor day weekend so it will be here in no time at all. I am not ready for it yet, I will have to do some training while on vacation!

Stay safe!

Vacation is approaching.

Our trip to Europe is quickly approaching and I can't wait for it to get here. I have a business trip this week which is unfortunate but when Friday comes I will be off for two full weeks!

I had a good week of training and capped it off with another victory in a sprint triathlon. It was my last tri of the season so now I have to wait and see how the final season standings fall out. There are a couple more events to come but I can't make it to either of them. Brittany also ran in a 10k race at the same event and had a great run for a personal best!

Tomorrow is a holiday for me in Canada so I am looking forward to that as well! I hope to get through a book I just started before my vacation begins next week.

The excitement is never ending!!!

The Olympics is here!!!

Every four years our house is transformed into a frenzy as the summer Olympics kick off. This year was no different! We were gathered around the tv for the opening ceremonies last night in London. We also had an Olympics cake to celebrate the occasion. Early this morning we were on the couch watching the first few events. The time zones always create issues during the Olympics, this year it means early mornings for us. The best part of the Olympics is the motivation it provides to us lowly age group athletes. I can't wait to see the triathlon events this year, being that I can relate to the athletes a little bit more. Let the games begin, and the sleep end!!

Ironman Lake Placid

Wow, so inspirational! This will be a short entry today as it is late and I am tired. You heard it here first. I will hear "Mike McEachern, you are an Ironman!" in the next two years. Stay tuned people, stay tuned....

Bone tired.

I am so tired right now. This week was a very busy one for me. I think I either drove to Kingston or Ottawa every night after work. All of it to setup Brittany's new house. I hate putting Ikea furniture together, lol. So I think she is almost ready. The van is still full of a few more items so there will be one more trip to Kingston. So on top of all of the travel time I was up early this morning for another triathlon. This one took place in Carleton Place. I did well but pulled a muscle in my left calf about halfway through the race. I got to the finish line but it is really sore now, and will be worse tomorrow. I finished 1st in my age group! So,that is my fifth triathlon this year and I am tired now, bone tired.I need a break, and the good news is that one is coming! We might do another event as a relay, Brit, Tyler, and myself, but we are not signed up at this point. Next weekend, Ironman Lake Placid! I am really excited about it, we are volunteering at the event. The only downside is that we have to dress up like rednecks as part of a theme. I am not amused at that, we will have to see how it turns out... Stay safe everyone.

OK, I am late!

Geeze, just when I think no one was reading my blog I am one day late posting and all the emails are coming in. "Where is your most recent update?" Well, here it is. It is good to know that some people are following the boring life of a 40 something guy with not mch to say. This past week was a busy one for me and the family. Brittany had her wisdom teeth out so that was interesting. Lots of drugs and nursing required, most from Jackie of course. I also was the co-organizer of a charity event this past Saturday. It was a poker run with Motorcycles. The event went well, we earned over $1000 for the charity which was great! We also learned a lot about how to run this kind of event, next year we will be even better!! I also competed in my fourth triathlon of the year yesterday. This one was north of Kingston in a town called Sydenham. It was a really tough course, particularly the bike portion. The hills were crazy big and it was windy as well. I bonked about 1/2 way through the run but still managed to get a second place. I continue to lead the overall standings for the Somersault Series for the year. I hope I can hold on to the lead all the way to October. Brittany and I are registered in another race next weekend in Carleton Place. I will need a break after that one as my body is tired, really tired.... Until next week, stay safe!!

Headache!

Yes, I have a headache. It makes writing in my blog kinda difficult. In fact, I can't remember much about the past week right now. Oh yeah, I had visitors in town most of the week for work, that was time consuming and cut into my training time. I did manage to sign up for my next race, next weekend in Kingston. I am hoping that my transition Matt and new wetsuit both arrive soon so that maybe I can use them in my next race. It is Canada Day today so we will all go down to the waterfront to watch fireworks later. We plan on meeting my son's girlfriends parents down there. That could be interesting, maybe we will enjoy ourselves, maybe not, lol. Did I mention that I have a headache? I lost at golf yesterday to my brother. It was close but in the end he beat me. That doesn't happen very often, good for his self esteem I guess. Did I mention that I have a headache?

Triathlon #3

Well I travelled up to Smiths Falls for my third triathlon of the season. For some reason I was VERY nervous about the swim in this race. I was playing head games with myself about whether I should wear the wetsuit or not. I scoped out the course and in the end decided to wear it. I was glad that I did as I had a goos swim. There were a couple points where I was kicked and hit but by far I was calmest I have ever been during a race swim. It was very hot during the race so the bike and the run were tough. I tried to conserve some energy during the bike but it didn't work as I ran out of energy during the run. My run time wasn't awful, but it could have been a lot better. So, after all that about my race, how did I do? I won my age group once again. I guess I can't complain about that now can I. I compete against myself primarily, and I was pleased with my race!

Weight gain...

I just can't figure it out. I workout regularly, well if I am honest, I work out a LOT. I feel strong and all, but I continue to weigh more than I would want to. And I gain weight at strange times (mostly Monday mornings which are my weekly weigh in days). I would think about throwing in the towel, lose hope of ever getting to my goal weight, but that is just not me. I am competitive so I will keep trying to solve this puzzle. I just wish I was a bit closer to my goal weight.

It was Father's Day yesterday and everything went well. I got a number of cards and also the go ahead to pick up a new wetsuit. The bad news was that everywhere I looked they were out of stock! I might do a deeper search later today to see if I can find one somewhere. I might pick up a new tri-jersey as well.

Next week I have my next triathlon. It is in Smiths Falls. I went there to check out the bike course this weekend and it was a tough one! This next race will be a real test for sure.

Stay safe everyone!

Simple Post - The winner!

Not much to say this week other than the picture below. You are looking at the winner of the Ottawa River Triathlon!! Yep, its me!!!

My first one!!!!!

Another Move In

Well we got the keys to Brittany's new house on Friday afternoon. This is the place we hope she will be staying for the remainder of her University stay, hopefully 3 years. It is an older house that had three male students in it previously. IT was very dirty. It has a good layout, plenty of space for her and her two friends, but needs a good coat of paint. The landlord was very hestitant to allow us to do any painting. I think he has fears of hot pink going everywhere. We really just want to freshen up the walls, it would make a world of difference to the overall appearance of the house. We had Brittany pick a colour for her bedroom. She went with Malted Milk. It is a cream colour, almost white really. I was a little disappointed by it all. I was hoping that it would be a touch darker but not much I can do about it now. We spent Saturday and Sunday working on the painting of her room. When I say we I mean me and Jakie and Mom, Brit was too busy with her job. So it is Monday now, her room is completed. I think we will move on to the railings and stairs next. They are really dirty looking. Overall it will be a nice place once it is cleaned up some more. I hope her roomates like her!!! Stay Safe Everyone!

Week of good weather!

I would have to say that summer weather has finally arrived. It has been awesome weather here all week. In fact, it has been very hot on some days. It has been necessary to have sunscreen with me at all times this week. My training has gone well this week. I had a good pool swim mid-week. I attempted to swim in the river yesterday in my wetsuit but it was FREEZING. The wetsuit helped with the temperature but my hands and feet were numb after only a few minutes. I didn't want to risk anything so I got out after 5-10 minutes. I had a 2 hour bike ride yesterday and a 1 hour run earlier this morning!

Brittany is pushing for her, Tyler, and me to do a team Triathlon in the near future. I think we would do pretty well. She will swim, I will bike, and Tyler will run. I think it will be a fun event, but I also think that there won't be much competition as there are not many teams that compete.

My eating has been very bad, nothing new there. I would say that I need to change that, but I have said that before and I have had little success. I think I will drop some old friends off of lose it and find some new ones. It is time for new motivation to kick start my discipline.

That's all for this week!

Triathlon Completed!

Yesterday I completed my first triathlon of the season. I had competed in this same event last year so I was interested to see if my times had improved. Guess what, they did! I beat my previous time by about 4 minutes overall. That is an awesome improvement if I do say so myself. I ended up in second place, only 12 seconds out of first place. Now that hurt! Only 12 seconds! Looking back I certainly could have been 12 seconds faster if I had known I was that close to first place. Lesson learned for next time, leave everything out there, never assume I am out of the running.

It was a taper week for me so my training was limited. I did a few light rides, swims, and runs. I fear that the low calorie burn will show on the scale on Monday morning. But at this point, having a silver medal will cheer me up!!

Stay safe everyone!

Pool Time!

So this week we opened our pool for the year. It is always an exciting time as it means summer is coming and we can spend some time outside (finally)! The water temperature is curently in the low 60s so no one will be in the water anytime soon! I have not put the heater on yet, it would cost too much to keep the water warm at this point. We will let mother nature do a bit of the heating first.

This week was my last hard week of training for my first triathlon of the season. I had some long swims, rides, and runs this week. Next week will be a taper week so I will be taking it easy, or at least that is the plan! The triathlon is on Saturday morning, so exciting right?

We have been eating out a lot this week. Today is Mother's Day so there will be more bad food to consume. I think I ate out 3-4 times this week. Not only is it expensive but it is also very bad for weight loss. Another date with the scale tomorrow will not be pretty!

Another week has passed..

So time seems to go by very quickly doesn't it? I remember when I was younger thinking that 40 was old, like over the hill. Well guess what, I am in the over the hill category now. Of course, age is just a state of mind. So I choose to be 25!! This week was a busy one at work, lots of deadlines and such. I think this summer will be a stressful one for both Jackie and I at work. Hopefully we can stay employed through this recent economic downturn. I have continued to train really hard. My weight is not moving at all, but I must be building muscle. I have been thinking about the 2013 Lake Placid IronMan. We are volunteering at the event this upcoming year which gives me a chance to stand in a line and get an entry into the 2013 event. I need to look into this more and make sure I know when and where the sign up occurs. I don't want to miss it! At is point, I don't think I can do the IronMan, but I have a year to train right? Stay safe everyone!

All together again

Yes, the family is all back together once again. Brittany wrote her last exam on Thursday and we picked her up that evening for the drive back home. We had to make many trips up to the 6th floor of her residence to load everything up in the van for the trip back home. It is crazy how much stuff she has. It will be nice next year as she has rented a house so we can leave the stuff there over the summer, less packing and unpacking from this point forward (hopefully)! She is currently looking for a summer job to help out with the upcoming school expenses. She can get a few hours here and there coaching gymnastics but would prefer full time hours all summer somewhere else. This upcoming week she will have to make job hunting her number one priority. The bottom line is that year one is complete and I am very proud of her. She has grown immensely this past year and maintained excellent grades as well, and hopefully all of her scholarships! Now if I could just get her to clean her room we would be all set!

Does anyone read this stuff?

Ah, the thousand dollar question. Does anyone really read my blog? Comment if you do so I know someone is listening! I started my new triathlon workout program this week and it is kicking my butt. The workouts are both long and hard and sometimes they are two a days. I am enjoying the challenge, just not sure I can keep up with the program. Monday is an off day and I am looking forward to that for some rest and recovery. I weighed myself this morning to see how I was doing. I am up about a pound. All of this working out and I still can't lose weight anymore. I guess I have just lost the ability to drop pounds like I used to. I will keep trying of course. I would be marginally happy if I could maintain where I am today long term. Well, honestly I would like to be 5 lbs lighter. I have a project due at work this week, it is stressing me out. Anyone want to help with developing a financial benefits case? Drop me a line if you do. We have ants in the house. I hate ants. There is poison out everywhere but I am not sure we are gaining on them at all. I will give it another week and then report back.... Stay safe!

I am back!!!

It has certainly been awhile since I wrote in my blog, things have gotten crazy busy. I spend 8 days in Belarus delivering humanitarian aid. It was an awesome experience, one that I hope to make an annual event. The highlight of the trip was that I got to visit my Belarussian daughter three times while I was there.  She is all grown up now, it is amazing how big she is! Everyone in her family is doing well. It was hard to leave them, but I had to get back to my family in Canada.

I purchased a new Triathlon program called Tri4P. I am excited to get started on it. It will begin on Monday and will kick my butt. I signed up for my first tri of the year on May 17th in Ottawa. I am looking forward to it but at the same time I know I am not in as good shape as I was last year at this time. I am heavier as well. I have some work to do but I have 6 weeks to get ready. Will it be enough?

Brittany is in her final exams now so I am thinking about her. I hope she does well and doesn't stress to much about them. Brandon has another possible gig lined up for a local festival. News of his greatness is getting around, lol.

That's all for now, stay safe everyone!

Charity

What is it about helping others that creates a sense of fulfillment in ourselves. Whenever I feel down the easiest way to improve my mood is to get involved in some small way with helping others. Later this week I head to Belarus on a humanitarian aid trip. Me and a group of other caring individuals will be delivering food and other necessities to impoverished individuals in the contaminated zone of the Chernobyl disaster.

It will be a long trip across the Atlantic. I fly from Ottawa to New Jersey, from New Jersey to Warsaw, and then Warsaw to Minsk. From Minsk it is a four hour drive to the small town of Chausy. It has been eight years since I have been there. During my last trip I stayed on a collective farm. I had no running water of bathroom facilities and there was 6 of us in a one room house. Sounds awful right? Funny thing is it was a very fulfilling experience! I hope my upcoming trip has the same effect! Wish me luck!

Sick sick sick

Ok, this past week was no fun at all. I got sick on Sunday night of last week and today is the first day that I feel human, a full week later. I spent most of the week on the couch in a daze, watching mindless TV. The good news, I am caught up on all my TV, the bad news, I feel like a slug.

I figure I have lost about a month of fitness progress. All of the missed workouts as well as how much energy and stuff I have lost over the past week. And most importantly, confidence. If you don't feel it that makes it hard to believe it.

So this upcoming week will be an ease back into it kind of week. I did a very slow jog this morning, and ugh, it hurt. And it was slow as molasses in January. Things can only look up from here.

Have a good week everyone.

In a rut....

It has been a bad week. Just a number of little things but they do add up. My workouts haven't been great, and I missed a few due to my boss being in town. My weight has ballooned big time, I am at my worst ever for about 1.5 years. As I said, just a poor week.

Looking forward, this upcoming week will be a good one! Lots of exercise and good eating habits. It is time to get control back once and for all.

Positive thinking

Why do we as a human race continue to focus on the negative things around us. Most of us concentrate on the worst thing that can possibly happen, then we obsess about it until it eats away at us. In the end, very rarely does that obsession come true. But then we start the cycle all over again.

I am no different. If you have been following my blog you know that I can certainly be a negative thinker. One example is my battle with weight. I always assume the worst will happen each Monday morning when I get on the scale. The crazy thing is that by that point in time there is absolutely nothing I can do about it!

We could all use a bit more positive thinking in our lives. Each morning when you are still laying in bed think about three things that you are great full for, that will start your day off on a positive note!

Stay safe everyone....

Think Positively

It is so easy to have the mid-winter blues at this time of year. In fact, I usually fall into a funk in the winter months. The cold weather, the snow, lack of sunlight, all contribute to a poor state of mind. I am trying really hard to think positively this winter and stay out if the funk. There are many things to look forward to, in fact each individual day is worth looking forward to!

I recently rejoined a charity as a board member and it has done wonders for helping my attitude. It is funny that by helping others we often help ourselves in the process. I would recommend that everyone get involved in some process where you are helping others on a regular basis. I think you will find that it creates a greater sense of contentment in your own life.

So get out there and volunteer to something you are passionate about.

Spring?

It is beginning to feel a lot like spring in my neck of the woods. It has been above freezing for a number of days now and most of the snow and ice has been melting. I have still been running on a treadmill indoors but I noticed a large running group outdoors today. Maybe it is time to get my cold weather gear out and do some cool spring running!

From a biking perspective there is still no way I would go outdoors, it is still to wet and cool. When you are doing 20mph on a bike with the wind in your face it can get really really cold!

I still would like to do more weight training to strengthen my overall fitness. I really only focus on cardio and I think weights would do me some good. My problem is that I am still a slave to my heart rate monitor and cardio just plain burns more calories. I know that maybe longer term a stronger overall body would enable me to burn higher overall calories but I can't get myself to believe that.

Kettle bell workouts maybe?

Progress?

I might finally see some progress on the scale this week. I have been tracking my weight throughout the week and I am on track for a loss tomorrow morning. Of course, I have to get through today first.

It was a swim day for me but I skipped the workout. A little later this morning I am helping to load boxes onto a truck for shipment to Belarus. This is a six hour job and will be very physical work so I think I will burn lots of calories doing that. The side benefit is that it will get me out of the house so I won't get the opportunity to snack all day!

I have a few trips planned for the upcoming weeks so maintaining weight will be difficult. Next weekend I leave for a week in Vegas for a work conference. There will be many food temptations at the conference so I will need to be very careful. Luckily they have a good gym at the hotel so I hope to continue my workouts on that trip.

My second trip is to Belarus to deliver humanitarian aid. There will be very little food there so I think I will not gain weight during that trip. In fact, I will be moving heavy boxes all day every day so my calorie burn will be way up for that entire week. I am starting to think about what food I will need to pack to take with me.

Stay safe everyone!

Wine anyone?

Is anyone else interested in wine? As with everything else I get interested in I learn everything I can about the topic. I have been listening to podcasts and looking online for courses. Unfortunately there does not look to be any courses nearby so I am left to continue to learn about this stuff on my own.

So red or white? Everyone must have a preference right? I was a white only for many years but I have ventured into the reds now. They are so much more interesting! I think the correct answer when asked that question is "both". It depends on the occasion and the meal pairing as well. And why would you want to rule out half of the available wines by choosing red or white exclusively?

That's all I've got for this week, stay safe everyone!

Wine Podcast

I have recently gotten into learning about wine. I have always had a passing interest about the various varietals of wine but I had never realized the complexity of the topic. As always, I started with searching iTunes for highly rated podcasts as a way to educate myself. I found an excellent one called "Wine for Normal People". Each episode discusses a topic or a type of grape, but does so in an easy to understand approach. This is not a pretentious podcast at all, it is designed for everyone to appreciate it.

I am trying to build up my wine cellar, lol. At this point we own about 8 bottles of moderately priced wine, some white and some red. I think it would be interesting to take a wine tour of Napa or Sonoma, or better yet Italy or France! Well, enough dreaming time for now, gotta get going on the weekly chores.....

Ironman 2012

Exciting news for this week! Me, Jackie, Brittany, and Tyler will be volunteering at the 2012 Ford Ironman in Lake Placid, New York. Last year we went to watch the event and I was very inspired. As a result we decided that this year we wold get more involved as a volunteer. We will be at one of the run aid stations, handing out fluids and such. We are all very excited for the summer to arrive so we can get going to this event!

So here is the kicker, once you volunteer you can then enter! It is very difficult to get into these events so one way to get in is to volunteer at a previous race. This gives you an entry into the following year's event. Can you say WOW. This puts a goal out there in front of me to think about. It is a long shot to think that I will be able to do this but it will be a motivating goal nonetheless.

I am still thinking WOW.

Mini Vacations!

Isn't travel fun? This week Jackie and I sent to London for a four day getaway. It was an overnight flight which was both good and bad. It was good that we didn't really lose any time traveling but it was bad that we didn't sleep and felt tired for most of the short trip. We had been there before but still had a list of things to do on this trip. They included a photo exhibit at the museum of Natural History, a trip to Hampton Court Palace, and a viewing of Mama Mia. We stayed at the Chancery Court Hotel in Holborn, which turned out to be very good. It was right beside a tube station and that is all you really need in London. We had a few good meals at good restaurants as well, including a French one in Covent Garden. Of course, we spent too much money as well!

Wouldn't it be great to be rich and just travel all the time? I wonder where we will go next, we tend to not venture to far off the beaten path. I would like to try somewhere in Asia Pacific at some point. Italy has always been on my list as well.

Eating is never controlled when traveling, that is the bad part. Tomorrow is weigh day and it won't be pretty at all. I did manage to get one workout in while in London as well as plenty of walking.

Back to Work

Well, it was a busy week. Holidays are over and it was time to start earning some money again. It was a busy week at work, and I was expecting it. I made some good progress on my goals as well.

On the home front we booked a mini vacation, for next week! We are going to London for a 4 day weekend. I have been there once before and it was fun, but expensive. We are staying at the Chancery Court hotel, which will be a new experience for us. We haven't planned the entire trip yet but it will include shopping and sightseeing and EATING.

So the EATING is the bad part, still having trouble with my weight. I just can't seem to drop the weight like I did last year. Of course, I will keep trying but the mini vacation will not help, I am sure of that. I did do all of my workouts this week, so that was a check in the positive column of life.

Have a safe week everyone!

Happy New Year!

Well the new year is upon us! What goals does everyone have planned for this year? If you don't set some goals you know you will never achieve them! Dream big! I have a few races on my goal list this year. I want to do more triathlons as well as beat my PB on the 1/2 Marathon distance. I have not picked out specific races to enter yet, but I will in the near future.

I also have a goal to win a lottery, I figure that will be an easy one to achieve though, no trouble there at all right?

In all seriousness, I want to do more traveling this year. This past year was focused on paying off debt so we didn't get away as much as I would have liked. Hopefully this year will be different.

And of course, I want to get back to my ideal weight of 170 lbs. I am not that far off it, but it will take lots of hard work to get those last few pounds!!

Have a great year everyone!