Strong Kids - Strong Families -- Weekly Check In Aug 17

Wow! and Wow again!  Yesterday was awesome.  I watched my younger daughter along with 130ish other kids do the Strong Kids Youth Triathlon in Owasso, OK.  The event was well organized and everyone was so supportive of all the kids.  Parent, volunteers and participants alike all cheered on each and every kid along the way as they swam 100 meters, biked 3 miles and then ran a mile.

 A big shout out to the Owasso YMCA and Bailey Medical Center for the great job they did hosting this event.  It was inspiring to watch all the kids (most with huge smiles on their faces) as they took on this feat.   This is why I love the sport of Triathlon.  Yes, I know people want to win, but the sport of triathlon is more introspective. It's about being a better self about competing against the distance. It's about perseverance. It's about supporting your fellow athlete.  One of my favorite things to do now is watch full circle videos produced by Ironman.  They tell inspirational stories of the athletes and then show segments of the race including the last hour or two of the race with Mike Reilly telling everyone you are an Ironman.  One of the coolest things I have ever  I witnessed in sports was in one of these videos. A triathlete gave his hard earned  finisher metal to a participant that missed the cut off time by just seconds.   It is awesome watching the intimate moments as those individual cross the finish line.  I got that same feeling watching the kids cross their finish yesterday.  Four miles or 140 the fact that they set a goal and achieved it.  That is the point.  I will now go for a swim!

My week was good.  Lost 3 lbs and felt strong all week.  I love my new schedule.  I was able to work out most mornings.  While still taking my daughter to school and picking her up.  It was awesome!

Weekly Check In - July 27 - AKA - Bounce Back Week!!!!

Bounced back in a big way this week!!! Lost 8 pounds baby!  After a tough week last week I hit my calorie goals all but one day this last week, but Frank and Lola's was totally worth the cheat and you need that occasionally!!!  I am also getting very excited about school starting.  I am in a great new school building (well, new to me, the building has been around for over 100 years.) With a great new room.  It's so big I feel like I need to put a couple of goals at each end!

MY NEW SCHOOL BACK IN THE DAY!

 I got some great training this week at our local Great Expectations training from two wonderful trainers (Thank you! Rhonda, Jentri (who is a finalist for Oklahoma State Teacher of the Year) and follow middle school campers for making the week GREAT.)

SOME OF MY FOLLOW GE CAMPERS

And thank you to my wonderful wife for allowing me to still get my workouts in AND time in my classroom.

Milestones:  I swam a mile Saturday with my face in the water all but the 50 meters of back stroke I would do at the end of each 350 meter set, and my last 800 was two minutes faster than my first 800. I also kept up with Renee for the most part in my 3rd 350 m set! Renee swims a lot and is sooooo smooth in the water. I want to be like her when I grow up (as a swimmer that is!) The life guard even commented that I looked much strong at the end! Also walked/ran a 5k on Friday and felt great after.  I starting to dig this exercise stuff more and more!!!

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and here's my week folks!!! Hope to have a few more like this along the way!

So It Begins!!!!

My younger daughter is an active being.  She has to be moving.  She rarely sits through a whole movie and does not like reading.  Why, not because she doesn't like the stories, not because she struggles; she is an excellent reader.  It's because it would require her to sit still for an extended period of time, and by extended I mean 10 minutes.  On any given day she does no less than 100 cartwheels, shoots baskets, jump on the trampoline, rides her bike, shoots some more baskets, practices pitching and runs around the block. If she is not moving, she is really, really tired or sick, and sick usually doesn't slow her down much.

Last year in an attempt to get the older daughter off the couch we signed both girls up for a program at our local YMCA.  The program is called Girls Rock and Run.  The program runs for 12 weeks, two nights a week.  In the beginning the coaches talk with the girls about empowering themselves, positive self image and other life skills with small physical activities.  As the program progresses the coaches start moving the girls into a walk/run program similar to Couch to 5K which culminates in the group participating in the Run the Streets (Another great Y program) 5K in the fall.  Registration, a program run shirt and a new pair of very nice running shoes are covered in the cost of the program.

Both girls completed the program last year, and the older daughter can now claim to be a 5K finisher, but the younger daughter has been bitten by the running bug.  She loooovvveees GR&R.  On the way to this week's session she even told me she wants to run a marathon, and I have no doubts that she will.  As a matter of fact I see her, more than likely, embracing triathlon as well.  This kid love to swim and bike as well.  I'm sure she will be a future workout partner for me.  Knowing this motivates me to quickly get to the point where I can keep up with her or at least not slow her down too much.

I highly recommend Girls Rock and Run.  It is a great program for empowering young girls to become strong, fit, confident young ladies.  I know mine have.

Younger Daughter crossing the finish line of her 1st 5k

Sunday Morning Check In Week 2

Taking the Baby to a Softball Camp in the Morning - So Checkin In early this week.

Sunday Check-In Week 2

Milestone:  

On my swim yesterday I blew bubbles (used proper breathing technique) for 800 meters of the 1600 meters I swam (I normally swim using a hybrid side crawl/freestyle that allows me to breath freely) This was also the last 800 meters.  Working on getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Realization:

While walking around the golf course in NW Arkansas watching a lot of very good golf.  Had and I walked almost 4 miles.  Wow, that was tough, but not as tough as it would have been three weeks ago.  Man, I have a long ways to be ready for 140.6 but relishing the journey, and a big big thank you to Christina Kim for making my young golfer's day.  

Christina Kim was already our fav player!
But this just raised her about 100 notches in Had's book!!!

So here is my results from this week.  I will post pics every 8 weeks and hopeful a time lapse at that time as well if I can figure it out.

Respect - Honesty - Caring - Responsibility

Normally when I swim at my local YMCA I use the little round doohickies on the lane markers to count laps.  Yep, I'm a counter.  Truth be known I could very easily have been OCD in that way.  I have strong tendencies, but I digress. However, this swim was on a Sunday when there is no lap swim, but an extra long open swim time.  So I took the girls and told them I was going to swim laps across the pool for the first 30 minutes and then they could waller (southern term for hang all over) me as much as they wanted the hour after that.  So, how was I going to keep track of my laps.  This caused me a little stress.    See, OCD tendencies.  Then I notice this painted on the wall in big block letters. 

RESPECT

HONESTY

CARING

RESPONSIBILITY

I'm sure these have been there all along. I just didn't notice before.  I began swimming and decided to swim a lap for each letter.  As I swam I also contemplated the serendipity of me discovering this mural and how these words sum up my journey on which I am embarking. 

Respect!  This term will be to cornerstone of my journey.  I have a new respect for life.  We have to live each of our days on this Earth to the fullest.  We have to love like each day could be our last.  Being healthy is just being respectful to your loved ones, because with better health we will have a better chance to have more days to fill with love.  

Honesty! This is a term I probably considered the most.  In the past I have not been honest with myself.  I told myself I was happy.  The weight was not keeping me from living the life I wanted.  Really Brian?  I told myself I was exercising more than I really was.  I told myself I was eating better than I really was.  In this journey I will have to be honest with myself, be my toughest judge.  This journal with all eyes on it will help in that respect.  If I am not honest with myself and you the data will show it, and that is where you come in.  HOLD ME ACCOUNTABLE!!!!

Caring! This term is self explanatory!  I now care about my health.  Enough is enough.  Getting healthy will allow me to care for my wife and girls and future Grandbabies, and my wife's mom and my mom and dad if the time comes.  

Responsibility!  This journey has heightened my sense of responsibility.  I now feel responsible not only to motivate my own family, but all who come in contact with my journey.  I want to be successful not only for myself, but for all. Hoping that when I meet my goals someone else will take the bull by the horns in their own life with whatever they want to accomplish.  

On Sunday I did it.  I swam one lap for each letter and brought more focus to my coming week on this journey.

Father's Day Thoughts

“Whatever the parents are doing, 

the kids will follow suit.” 

- Bob Harper

I know every child psychologist that has ever lived has probably espoused this thought in one way or another, but Mr. Harper and all of those child psychologist are right.  For the last few years my wife and I have been working with our daughters on food choices and expanding their palates.  They fought this tooth and nail.  They could eat Mac and Cheese and bread and some more Mac and Cheese topped with a brownie and ice cream.  They knew this wasn't healthy, but it was what they wanted. New taste and textures were avoided and usually met with gagging and screwed faces.  We cajoled. We begged. We bribed. We fought. We reasoned.  New foods, better foods, less food, this was just not going happen. We had given up! Then about six months ago I embarked on this journey.  I didn't ask anyone to follow me on this journey, but they did.  My oldest daughter especially has stepped up and is trying new foods, making great portion choices and asking a lot of questions about what she should try next.  She still has a very picky palate, but she is trying.  All this not because of anything I said, but because of the example I am setting with my actions.  Bob Harper you have it correct. My child is following suit and this is the most powerful motivation of all.