Meeting Dean Karnazes

**Continued from the Day 7, Thank Heaven Post**

So there I am, on my way to Salt Lake Running Company at 8:30 on a Thursday night. To my surprise, it was packed when I got there. There was a line of people all dressed in running gear. (Go figure!) Without looking too closely I thought that maybe they were all there for race packet pickup for un upcoming race this weekend. 

I looked around at race belts for a few minutes, selected the ones I wanted and headed up to the cashiers desk. He hadn't seen me shopping due to the amount of people in line at the front of the store. He said, "Oh, I'm sorry, we're closed down for the night." He must have seen the confused look on my face, the "then why are there still so many people here?" face, because he promptly said, "But Dean Karnazes is here signing autographs!" 

Dean Karnazes is known as "The Ultramarathon Man" and sure enough, I turn around and standing at a podium signing posters and books is Dean. Well,  you better believe I ran and got a poster and waited in line to meet the legend himself.  For those of you unfamiliar with dean, he made history in 2006 when he ran 50 marathons, in 50 states in 50 days. He has also WON, not raced, but WON the infamous BadWater 135 ultramarathon. A 135 mile race through death valley, in the middle of July. 

....AND if that's not impressive enough, here's the real kicker, he has won the Badwater 135 TEN TIMES. TEN TIMES.

So I waited in line, listening to this guy give running advice to those who were asking for it, making conversation with everyone and having a great time. When it was my turn, he smiled and said hello and began signing my poster. I told him how I have just gotten into running within the last 6 months, and how I would eventually like to do a 50 mile ultramarathon. (specifically the Pony Express Ultra). 

He took that into consideration as he finished signing my poster;

And here's the icing on the cake, Dean looked me in the eyes and said, " I have no doubt you will (run a 50k), You have the fire in your eyes!" and with that he shook my hand. 

It was an amazing experience for me, to meet such an accomplished athlete. Just another stamp in my passport on my journey to becoming an Ironman.

Day 7, Thank Heaven

Today has been quite an eventful day. It's day 7 of my 6th Whole 30, so one week in and filling incredible. It's amazing how almost instantly, my body feels so much stronger a day or two into Whole 30. I don't feed my body much crap when I'm not on Whole 30, but I can tell a drastic difference when I'm 100% strict with myself.

A week or so ago a friend of mine posted on facebook that they were selling their indoor Kinetic bike trainer for $150 bucks. I thought longingly about the trainer for a long time, only to find out that it had been sold.  As luck would have it (for me!) the sell fell through and it was once again up for grabs. So Kathy, being the amazing wife she is, told me we could think about it. 

Well, Kath happened to be reading an article online last night about how to be your best triathlete self, and the article stressed the importance of being strong in the bike portion. Kath instantly looked over at me and said, "You should see if that bike trainer is available" 

24 hours later I drove away with the trainer! 

Also today I had my weekly physical therapy appointment. Today was the day I have been waiting for since June, the anti gravity treadmill day. Since I am getting so much closer to my triathlon, my physical therapist is beginning to test my strength with running. 

I arrived at P.T. and first he did some grafting on my leg and ankle, where they take coco butter and rub it on your leg and use metal tools to "rub ya down"-the purpose being that the irritation it causes promotes platletes in  your blood to rush to that area and begin repairing the joints, tendons and muscles in the irritated area. This in turns promotes healing of the part of your body that is injured.

Next we headed over to the anti gravity treadmill. Which looks like this:

Photo courtesy of Kearny Hub

You put on a special pari of running shorts that have a zipper at the top and then you step into the center of the treadmill and they zip you in. The machine is turned on and it calibrates to your weight and begins filling with air. You feel your body weight begin to rise and it takes as much of the weight of your body off your ankles/feet as the P.T. sets it to. It was a really cool feeling. Then, sweet victory, I got to run!

I haven't run since June and today, on the Alter G machine I ran for 20 minutes without stopping, no pain and it was just like I had never taken a day off of running. Tomorrow, Monday and Wednesday my physical therapist is going to have me come back and do the alter g machine again and again to see how repeated running sessions feel on my ankle. With any luck I could be running across the finish line at my Triathlon, instead of walking. 

After 2 1/2 hours of P.T is was dinner time, and tonights dinner was delicious Paleo Orange Chicken, Broccoli and green onions. 

After dinner, I decided to hit up REI, as I need to get my hands on a good running belt for my race number. REI is quite literally my favorite place to shop, and I joke the the outdoors, training and fitness is my religion, so going to REI is going to church. REI Church.

My Salt Lake REI, I looked like a creeper taking this photo tonight.

I did't have any luck with race belts, but they did have training axles for my indoor trainer. You replace your rear axle with the training one to avoid scuffing yours up. So armed with my training axle in hand I decided to make one last stop at Salt Lake Running Company, to see if they had the running belts I was looking for. 

....Because the rest of the story is so good, it deserves it's own post. See my next post for what happened next. 

Day 6, Cycle Bitch.

Today is Day 6 of Whole 30.  Breakfast was chicken tortilla-lesss soup with a dollop of Guacamole. 

photo courtesy of Paleo Comfort Foods, I ate my soup too fast this morning to even remember taking a picture.

After work I went and picked up my mom at work and she and I headed to a local park to have lunch together. I had Bora Bora fireballs, green beans and black olives for lunch. It's so nice to still be able to have lunch out and about, but eat the food that I've prepared at home. 

My mom and I had a wonderful time catching up. She wanted to know a lot about Whole 30 and Paleo. She asked a lot of questions about eating clean, and why certain things aren't allowed on Paleo and/or Whole 30. It was fun to answer all of her questions. She mentioned that she want's to read "It Starts With Food." 

I'm feeling excited that my mom is showing some interest in the program, I know she'd rock it, if she decides to do it. 

My mom works really close to the bike trail I love to ride on, so after lunch I hit up the bike path and put in a 12.22 Mile bike ride, with an average speed of 15.5 MPH. 

This was an out and back ride.

It was a great workout, and a beautiful ride.

Dinner tonight is Tuna fish lettuce wraps with roasted asparagus and a mix of roasted sweet and white potatoes.

Finished Product

Brush with olive oil, salt, pepper and bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes

Cube, brush with olive oil, salt, pepper and bake at 425 for 30 minutes.

Day 5- Kitchen Closed

Today is day 5 of my Whole 30 and so far I'm going strong and feeling great. 

Have I wanted chocolate every single day? Yes. 
Have I actually had any chocolate? No.

Did I have a random craving for a whole can of frosting tonight while watching reruns of 'The Office'? You betcha I did.

However, gone are the days that I dwell on those cravings and let those moments run the rest of my night. I have a good friend, Gini, who is doing her first Whole 30 with me right now. She lives in across the country from me but we text daily and keep each other updated on how we are doing. 

She has a really cool philosophy that I'm going to share with you. 

So Gini is (was) a late night snacker (like most of us, including me). Her sugar cravings really hit hard in the late evening after dinner. So, during her whole 30 she has a "Closing the Kitchen" policy. After dinner is made and lunches are packed for the next day, she does the dishes, turns off the lights and 'Closes the Kitchen' for the rest of the night. 

I think this is BRILLIANT! If I tell my brain (or maybe even say out loud to myself) that the kitchen is closed- I'm finding that I don't think about food after dinner. Armed with a bottle of ice water I settle into my book, or to work on my blog. 

Tonights blog writing looks a lot like....this......

Totally easy, not hard at all to blog with a 17lb cat on your chest with her tail covering your eyes.

Triathlon Training- T-Minus 2 weeks

This morning I went out to Stansbury Park, in Tooele UT. About a 45 minute drive from my house. Stansbury park is the perfect place for Triathlon training because you can jump in the lake, then cycle and run around the city which is relatively flat and rural.

I swam once around the lake, a distance of about 500 Meters. I toyed with the idea of doing another lap around, but the water is so smelly that I had to get out. Beautiful, but smelly. 

That spec is me. 

Once out of the water, I headed to my transition area that I had set up right outside our car. I wanted to practice my transitions as best I could without being at the actual race. 

Once I got my shoes, helmet and sunglasses on, I took off for a 13 mile bike ride. I did a few loops of the same route, because I'm not too familiar with the area. I was able to get some good speed in, and felt the burn in my quads.

Once the bike was done, I hit the road again. This time for the walk portion. I am in the middle of healing from an ankle injury, so I am not cleared to run at the moment. I was still able to have a great 3 mile power walk and when I made it back to the car I was beat and thirsty!