Good to be back (doug)

So, I had to go back 16 Brian posts and 30 days to find my last post. Yikes. After my BRONZE MEDAL in the KY STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS, I deserved a hiatus (after all, I'd only just taken the prior 3 weeks off). Well, that and it was [almost] the holiday season at that point. We went to Dayton to celebrate xmas with my family over one weekend, then headed to FL to celebrate a belated Hanukkah and New Years with Al's folks for a while, so I've been busy being lazy. I think I was laughing at myself for being 11 lbs. heavier 30 days ago. Well, if that was funny, then I was HILARIOUS coming back from FL last week. I think I gained another 6-8 lbs. over the xmas/new year trip to Florida. Shocking, too, considering I worked out almost every day down there (3 6.5 mile runs, two boot camp classes, two spinning classes, golf, and numerous tennis matches). Clearly, all that exercise was not enough to offset the eating and drinking that went on over the same period. Anyway, I weighed in (just for reference) upon returning to the 'Ville, at a cool 183. That's a full 20+lbs over my "marathon" weight of April 2009. Now, as my buddy Jon (50MileJon) noted, that's not necessarily an ideal weight either, but it's a reference point, nonetheless. All that said, the vacation was excellent and worth every pound.

I'm back now, already back on a solid workout schedule again, and have started using "The Daily Plate" again (I credit much of my initial 60 lb weight loss to TDP, and some of my 20 lb "relapse" to the fact that I stopped using it about 3 months ago). TDP is a calorie in/out tracker that was recently purchased by LIVESTRONG dot com (don't hang up yet, Lance haters). This ought to be a post of it's own, but I don't want you to have to wait another 30 days, so let me just say as quickly as I can that it is a HUGE help to me when I'm trying to get my eating/exercise plan back on track. Sometimes you just don't realize how much your putting in your body, and (even without being anal or exact about it), TDP at least makes you aware of how you are doing approximately. Some days your way over your recommended calorie intake, somedays you're way under (days with long rides/runs, etc.). Regardless, it helps you realize how to plan your eating and exercise, and just makes you aware of what you're doing. Half the battle, if not more. I enter every little pretzel snack (110 calories for 17 pretzels) and bottle of beer (200 calories for a Fat Tire 2 Below), and every bit of exercise (approx 550-600 calories burned in a 50 min. spin class). I know it's not exact, but I have it set up to my weight and goal to "maintain", and I know I want to be somewhere around 2100 calories each day. It worked wonders for 2.5 years, and I literally gained 20 lbs over a few months after ditching it (I switched from a blackberry to a Droid phone that didn't have the TDP app). Knowledge is power. I'm back to the bberry and back on TDP. I'm also training for a late January sprint triathlon (reverse order), the Triple crown of running here in Louisville, and the Nashville Half Marathon, which I'll be running with Alison and my best friend Tony (who lives in Nashville and who is on his own quest to lose about 40-50 lbs.). I'll keep you posted, or get him to post if possible (fat chance, no offense, T). As B mentioned, I'm also planning on riding the Barry-Robaix race in Michigan in March (I need to register asap), and then I have plans to do a couple Olympic distance Tri's this summer in addition to at least one half ironman (Steelhead, maybe). So that's it. Glad to be back. I'll keep you posted if anything interesting happens, otherwise look for a B-R race report in March from a 170 lb. blogger.