Week 9 is over, here comes week 10

This week I finished stronger than I have in past weeks. Yesterday morning I went trail running with my co-worker. What a workout, I thought that I was going to die, well not really but you know it feels when it seems  like you cannot take another step, then the necessary energy arrives. A few times I surprised myself when a burst of energy showed up. Today I ran to the end of my driveway and back a few times with the grand kids, for those who live in Clifton Heights you might be thinking that is not much of a challenge, it is a 1/4 mile from my house to the road.
This upcoming week is going to be rather full. Swimming Monday and Wednesday, running to work Tuesday and Thursday, Trail running on Saturday. I am going to add stair climbing on Tuesday and Thursday.

I have about 85 training days left, I am a little anxious about that. However, I have a good training plan and my co-worker is holding me accountable. Without his assistance I do not think I would be on track to be ready for the Lava Man Triathlon in time.
The swimming coach is wonderful and I look forward to this week lessons. Swimming is a whole new experience for me and I think I am starting to like swimming.
Hopefully I will pick up my bike by this weekend so I can start training on the bike.
The Kick-off for the Team in Training is November 12th, looking forward to that day.
Thank you for your support and I am counting on your thoughts and prayers.

Thanks,

Jack McGowan

Team in Training Team in Training Team in Training Team in Training Team in Training Team in Training

Week 9 coming to a close, and the event draws closer still (156 days to go)

This has been a good week. My swimming has improved dramatically. Saturday morning I will going trail running. I am conflicted over this journey, on the one hand I am making great strides personally not only in my physical fitness but meeting the physical challenges has had an effect on my mental and spiritual fitness as well. But, the motivation comes is rooted in the challenge faced by Charles making it difficult to fully celebrate the strides I have made. I am not sure if this makes sense to anyone else but I wanted to share that thought.
The motivation I feel is to the best I can for Charles and to be a part of the fight against cancer and in particular blood cancers.
I was talking with my co-worker about training and I am realizing that while April 1st may seem a far away I do not have an excessive amount of time to prepare, I am glad that I started 9 weeks ago and have made some progress. I have 156 calendar days to go, but I am thinking more like 88 days to account for various delays that will interfere with training. My challenge now is to balance my Home Life, Work Life, School Life and train for the Lava Man. I think my plate is a little full right now. School will be over before Christmas, so that will make more time available. Please keep me in your prayers.
Thanks,
Jack
My fundraising is moving along, I am still at 6% of my goal.

Swimming like a . . .

I am amazed at how much I learned the last two lessons. The coach is wonderful. I was dreading swim training, now I am looking forward to continued swimming. I was not swimming properly, the first lesson in September got me started; now I am making huge strides in my abilities thanks to my coach.

Run to work

Today at the encouragement of my co-worker, I parked about 2.2 miles from work, and ran to the office. What a great experience. The run back to the car in the afternoon was a little quicker. I think the training on the treadmill paid off. There is a big difference running on the road instead of the treadmill.
I am grateful to my co-worker for his help and encouragement. I have about 120 days to get ready for the Lava man triathlon with Team in Training. I am confident that as long as I press on I will be ready. I am grateful to everyone's support and prayers. I would not be doing this if it were not for the inspiration of my brother Charles and the strength he has displayed throughout his challenge facing Lymphoma and I am anxious to hear how the first round of treatment has gone. I know that so far it seems the treatment has been effective. Well I am about to go to the pool for my swimming practice.

Week 9 Summary Week 10 Training Update

In addition to last week being finals week, I was sick and not feeling well for most of last week and did not workout. Last night I had a great swimming session. I went to a Master Swimming group and the swim coach was very helpful. I made more progress in the one hour in the pool last night than I have during the past six week on my own.
My co-worker convinced me to run from a park and ride to work, what was I thinking. Well, Wednesday morning I will be running to my workplace. I am looking forward to the experience, it will give me a good chance to see if my training has paid off. I will be swimming on Wednesday night so tomorrow will be a busy training day.
Thanks to everyone for their support, I cannot tell you how much it means to me. My ultimate goal is to raise funds for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and your encouragement will help me reach that goal.

One step at a time

I am realizing that as I take small steps towards health I find it easier to make better choices. I was not feeling well the past few days; I have not been exercising, I should be back to exercising on Thursday. I just need to keep focused on the goal. When we are able to visualize our destination, the solutions present themselves. I will look up some more information on this, but it is worth noting that as I focus on preparing for the triathlon, opportunities for improvement present themselves.

Week 8 Summary

Well time marches on.
I was not feeling well for the last half of last week, but I did swim two days last week and it did not go as well as I was visualizing. I learned about a Master Swimmer group that meets twice a week so I am going to check them out.
The other thing I learned this week is I need to prepare my food ahead of time otherwise I tend to make poor food choices. Today I made sure that I have my breakfast set for the week and I will have some healthy soups to bring with me to work then If I forget my lunch I will have a good alternative.

Thanks and have a good week.

Jack

Have a Plan

I think this may be obvious but when it comes to eating right it is important to have a primary and back-up plan for healthy eating. Today I forgot my lunch and did not have a good back up plan, on an impulse I bought pizza and ate a bunch of cookies which put me over my calorie limit for today.

Swimming Week 7

I went swimming today, it feels like I am not making progress. I am thinking about going to a swimming class in town which meets twice a week.  I know that I should get better at swimming over time. I am really encouraged by the support I receive when I tell others about my training and why I am participating in the triathlon.
The more I think about it the more I am convinced that having a strong "why" helps us accomplish our goals. In this case the reason why is to help support my brother.

Terrain trail

Today I was able to complete the trail with little modification, much better than last week, I am encouraged by my progress on the treadmill. Soon I need to start running outside.

Swimming

Today I was in the pool again. This session was a little better than the last session. Still not pretty.

Week 7 Summary

Where does the time go? I cannot believe it has been 7 weeks since I started this journey. Today I was able to run the treadmill terrain program, I did need to slow down the pre-programmed speed and reduce the incline but I did not stop running, so I made quite a bit of progress with my running this week. I want to thank everyone who offered words of encouragement on my swimming. I am frustrated by my swimming but if I take an objective look I really have been swimming less than one week, so I need to be patient with myself and maintain my focus on continuous improvement. I started working out on the Bowflex this week and I am looking forward to making progress wiht my strength training.
This week I lost 4 pounds, I had been stuck at 209 pounds for weeks and this week ended the week at 203 pounds.
Looking forward to start training on the bike as soon as I am able.
Today I met my Team in Training co-mentors and team captain. I am glad that I had a chance to talk with them and I have a better understanding of the Lavaman course.

What is the take away this week?
I have been thinking about what is different this time than the other time I have tried to get in shape. Two things:
1. Decision
2. Motivation
This time I made a decision to show support for my brother by participating with Team in Training. I am motivated to show support for him by doing the best I can.

Today I was watching Fostering Leadership and they offered the following suggestions for when opportunity knocks:

Seize that opportunity

Have courage

Step forward

Take calculated risks

Thanks for reading and I wish you all the best this week.

Jack McGowan

Back in the Pool

I was able to back to the swimming pool today, it has been three weeks since I was able to swim. I was not doing well in the pool, I do not know how the other guys make swimming look so easy. I guess I need to practice in order to improve. Somebody Please tell me swimming gets easier! I had more confidence three weeks ago than I do today.
I did not do as well as I would have liked with my workouts this week, I try to look at each day as a new start, but each day that passes is one less day I have to prepare.
Some may be wondering how I am doing with my 4 cokes in October challenge, I have had 0 Coke zeros this week, and it looks like I will finish the day and the week without having a soda. So that is $10.00 for the LLS this week. I Hope that some of you will consider matching my "coke free" challenge.

So far this week I am at 6% of my fundraising goal this week. Thanks for all the support.

Running today

I am not able to keep running through the terrain program yet, however, I was able to run more today than a few days ago. My goal is to run through the treadmill program without stopping by this Sunday. I have not been to the pool yet this week and oddly enough I miss going to the pool, never thought I would say that. I know that 6 weeks ago I would not have had a thought about not being able to exercise.
My co-worker has been very supportive of my efforts and today we were working on a plan on how I can shave an hour off my swim time.

Lets review why am I doing this?

I am doing it for several reasons:

1. I want to find a cure for cancer.
2. I need to get in shape!
3. I want to find a cure for cancer.
4. I want to stand with my brother
5. I want to find a cure for cancer.

How long is the triathlon?

I will be doing an Olympic distance triathlon that will consist of a:

- .93 mile swim

- 24.8 mile bike ride

- 6.4 mile run

The Jack McGowan transformation from Couch spud to multi-sport stud has begun. Please help me by going to:

http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/lavatri12/jmcgowau5t

This is my personalized fundraising page where you can make a very large, very tax deductible donation.

Week 6 Summary

Well it has been 6 weeks since I started. I realized this week that by making small changes to my diet and taking time to exercise I have made a big difference in my fitness level. I spent more time on the tread mill this week. I am finding it easier to run longer this week, the training is paying off. This week I intend to use the my Bowflex and follow the BowFlex Workout plan. That should take me through the next 6 weeks. The Bowflex comes with a food plan that is simple to follow and a big part of the plan is drinking water, the object is to drink a gallon of ice water.

I am limiting the number of sodas that I am drinking. The past few days I have been drinking a lot more water.  Drinking more water seems to be having a benefit and I am sure that as the month goes on I may find that I do not miss Coke Zero as much as I thought I was going to.

With respect to fundraising, I am grateful for all the support I have received so far.

If you’re interested in supporting the Leukemia Lymphoma Society you can go to my fundraising page at: http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/lavatri12/jmcgowau5

Each donation helps accelerate finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. My brother is among the nearly 958,000 Americans are battling these blood cancers.
Thanks,
Jack