WWI: And the results are in…

Our weight-loss team, the Fitness Protection Program, came in 7th out of 72 teams in Wells Weighs In with an official loss of 7.54 percent.

Our weight-loss team back in January. We never did get an “after” picture.

The winning team, Waist Not Want Not, dropped an amazing 17.61 percent. Those four people, whoever they are (there were no pictures posted this year), won $1,000 and a YMCA membership.

Naturally, Dad couldn’t help noting that if we’d met our original goal of 10 percent, we would’ve placed third. And he did get his 10 percent, after earlier saying he couldn’t possibly lose more than 6 pounds. (It’s kind of funny how Dad keeps his actual weight a secret, even though he’s never been fat.) I also got 10 percent — actually slightly more than that, though I didn’t do the math. Colleen got 7.5 percent. Obviously Traci’s loss was somewhat less than that, but she was too aggravated to calculate it and no one on our team is brave enough to question her about it.

My cousin Jill’s team, made up of her and her husband, their son Shane and their daughter Jessica, lost 3.02 percent. (They’re all what I used to call “normal people” back when I was doing interviews with people I perceived to be thin. Obviously they weren’t as thin as they wanted to be, but they’re all in better shape now than when they started.)

The question now is, where do we go from here? Dad reported that his weight bounced back up a few pounds this week, which was also the case for Colleen and I. (I didn’t ask Traci.) He’s eager to come up with a new challenge to keep our family focused on health and fitness, so we’ll probably take a short break and then try something new. In the meantime, if he’s worried about needing a goal to keep him focused on his weight, I guess he could always accompany me to Weight Watchers …

Yoga pose for triathlon transition

So I put new shoelaces in my running shoes before Sunday’s triathlon — you know, the kind that lets you slip your shoes on without tying them — and while they did save me from tying the laces I still found myself dropping to the ground to pull on my shoes because they were too snug to easily slip into.

But … what if I had the kind of balance that allowed me to pick up a shoe and put it on while standing on one foot? Even better, what if I had enough strength to hold that posture even after a swim?

I’m no yoga expert, but I’m thinking that adding tree pose to my rather limited repertoire would help keep my butt off the ground during transition.

Here’s a video that may prove helpful.

Cucumber sandwiches

Naturally I had to try cucumber sandwiches after reading about them in Oscar Wilde and the Vatican Murders, another in the series of Gyles Brandreth’s mysteries starring Wilde and Arthur Conan Doyle (before he was knighted).

Turns out the scene in this book, during an English tea at the Vatican, was based on a famous scene from Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, which I haven’t read but sounds like a Victorian version of a Seinfeld spoof in which a character accidentally eats all the cucumber sandwiches that were supposed to be served to company during tea.

As far as the sandwiches themselves, mine were pretty simple: Cucumber slices dipped in lemon juice and then sprinkled with pepper arranged on crustless bread spread with cream cheese. (The Brits prefer butter, but not me.)

These would be a great addition to my collection of Dragon sandwiches, as you could certainly eat a pile of them (using Healthy Goodness bread and fat-free cream cheese) without racking up too many calories. The cucumbers give a nice crunch to what would otherwise be boring old cream cheese sandwiches. The lemon pepper taste was OK but I probably wouldn’t go to the trouble if I was making these just for me.

Fox Island Triathlon: Shifting out of straggler mode

I can’t believe how much fun I had during the cycling portion of this year’s race!

One of the many cool things about triathlon is how many chances you have to redeem yourself in the course of the race.

I lost my swim cap in the lake, but at least I still had my timing bracelet!

At Sunday’s Fox Island Sprint, I completely blew the start of the swim, first hesitating right off the bat when I thought I was losing my ankle timing bracelet and then going out way too fast. Completely winded and still seemingly miles from the first buoy, I bailed on my plan to try to do the whole 500 meters freestyle and switched to sidestroke. I alternated the rest of the way and came out of the water about a minute faster than last year — and ahead of four other swimmers, according to Colleen’s eyewitness report.

This may sound pathetic, but to me, beating anyone out of the water is practically cause for celebration. But I restrained myself, because A) I didn’t want to make anybody else feel bad, and B) I vividly recalled how last year I was totally unprepared for how badly I got skunked in the bike segment.

Ben hasn’t swam a stroke in months — and he could tell.

This year I at least had a road bike and was familiar with the course, but I hadn’t practiced much. It was easy to picture getting smoked by all those crazy fast cyclists, but as long as I avoided the dreaded sheriff’s deputy motorcycle escort as the last-place rider, I figured I could take it.

Sure enough, I wasn’t too far out of the park before one of the other swimming stragglers passed me. But then an amazing thing happened: I actually passed another cyclist. A guy, even. On a road bike. He clearly was a rookie, and possibly thought, as I had last year, that biking could only be so hard. No matter. I muttered something encouraging and pedaled faster, gaining confidence.

I knew that last year I’d averaged a miserable 10 mph in this hilly, 20K course. Now I had a speedometer, so I figured as long as I stayed above 14 mph or so, I’d shave several minutes off my time.

It was cool to get farther into the course before I saw the first cyclists returning. Progress! Also, I hadn’t completely lost sight of the guy who’d passed me. More progress. This definitely wasn’t taking as long as last year, and I wasn’t panicking on the hills. Then, as I turned onto the loop that catapulted us onto the return course, I realized I was gaining on a cyclist who’d appeared up ahead. Amazing!

“Don’t worry,” I said, “you’ll pass me again soon enough.”

And he did — within a quarter mile or so. But he didn’t’ blow by me, and soon I passed him again.

My bike race competitor.

We kept up this little race within the race the rest of the way back, both of us passing the occasional cyclist, including a couple of people peddling furiously on mountain bikes but getting nowhere fast. Finally, I passed my cheerful adversary for good about a quarter mile from the park. Whatever my bike time turned out to be, it was faster because of this guy. And my ride had been a lot more fun, too.

Despite not training, Ben came pretty close to his time last year.

I was so euphoric as I hopped off my bike and took off on the run that I didn’t really notice how many people I was passing, but there were several along the winding road out of the park. After that, the run itself was surprisingly uneventful. Everybody else was too far ahead for me to seriously consider trying to catch. There was nothing to do but keep an eye out for Ben among the returning runners.

Eventually I saw him, looking far more worn out than last year — not surprising, given that he’d put in practically no training. He’d later report that he struggled on both the swim and the run. But because he improved on the bike and in the transitions — last year he’d forgotten to pin his number on his shorts before the swim — his overall time was about the same as last year, around 1:35 (we’re still awaiting the official results.)

Note to self: Work on looking more euphoric at the finish!

It was cool, heading back to the park, to realize how many people were behind me this year. I gave a high-five to my cycling nemesis as we passed and called out “Good job!” to the others. Incredibly, there was still one person leaving the park as I approached.

I had no idea what my time might be as I turned onto the winding road that led back to the finish line at Bowman Lake. I knew it had to be better than last year’s 1:57. I kept wishing I had someone to push me, but I picked up the pace on my own, eager to see what the clock would say.

Ben and I test the water.

Finally it appeared around the bend, reading 1:42. My actual time, according to the little slip of paper I got from the timing table, would turn out to be 1:40. A 17-minute improvement — enough to move me from straggler to near the middle, 43^rd out of about 60 participants. Incredible!

It was amazing to realize I was now more of a competitor and not just a finisher, at least in the “weekend warrior” sense of the word. Instead of just being glad it was over, I kept thinking how much fun I’d had. I can’t wait to do this again. And this time, I really mean that!

Next time around, I hope to be as relaxed as these folks before the start of the race!

Fox Island triathlon highlights

Lining up before the 7 a.m. start.

I can’t believe how much fun I had at yesterday’s Fox Island Sprint Triathlon. Cutting 17 minutes off your time will do that. Instead of battling to stay out of last place, I actually came in closer to the middle of the pack, placing 43rd out of about 60 participants in 1:40:29.

I’ll have a report on the race tomorrow, but here are a couple of highlights on the day:

• The biggest difference came on the bike, which was as fun this year as it was stressful last year because I actually got to race somebody other than the traffic cop pacing the last place rider. I don’t have a time yet for that segment, as the official results aren’t yet posted.
• Despite not doing any training — he skipped both swim team and track to focus on JV baseball this year — Ben finished in about the same time as last year. (Around 1:35, though now I can’t find his little timing receipt.)
• 

  Boy, that water was cold!

  Though the web site reported the water temperature at 75 degrees, a couple of racers who took their own reading warned me it was closer to 67 degrees. Glad I took a wet suit along!

• Bob shot photos for both The News-Sentinel and the race organizers. You can see his photos on the newspaper’s web site here, though I don’t think he’s posted the ones on the Fox Island Triathlon Facebook page yet. 
• In yet another sign of the proliferation of fitness events, my sister Traci didn’t get to the triathlon yesterday because she had to help put on a 5K for her Tri Kappa organization in Bluffton. (I probably should’ve helped her, but I was too wiped out. We didn’t realize the scheduling conflict until Ben and I were already signed up for Fox Island.) Ben’s cross country teammate Tyler Weirick won the race, and Traci’s 9-year-old daughter Monroe won her age division. (I don’t know either of their overall times, but Monroe ran her first mile in 8:34.)
• 

  Ben returns from the 20K bike segment.

   

WWI Week 16: What we lost — and what we gained

After weighing in back in January. We were all so busy on Thursday we weighed in separately.

Well, I never saw this coming. When we started Wells Weighs In back in January, Traci and I considered kicking Dad off the team because we didn’t think he could lose enough weight to contribute.

Turns out Grandpa somehow managed to come up with a 10 percent loss — while Traci got too busy and increasingly grouchy about the project, especially after her superstitious scale phobia kicked in. She was a good enough sport to report for her final weigh-in, but she was unhappy and vague about the results.

“This is why I hate the #**%% scale!” she snarled on Wednesday when we went for a run. “I know I’m getting in better shape. I’ve been working out.  I’ve been watching what I eat. My clothes fit better. ”

She just doesn’t trust the arbitrary nature of the number on the scale. Whereas that number — variable as it can be — has served as a beacon to me, helping me find my way toward better eating and exercise habits.

The question is, however much we lost, did we gain anything from this contest? I think so.

• Colleen’s loss of 10.2 pounds wasn’t as much as she was hoping for, but she’s gained quite a bit in the will power department these past four months.
• Grandpa, who started out skeptical but wound up getting more excited than any of us about this contest, wants to start a family fitness project. We may put some money in a pool and compete for most steps walked or pounds lost.
• I’ve gotten ridiculously good about nailing a number when I need to. Thursday morning I weighed in at my lowest weight of 2013, good enough for a loss of just over 10 percent. But I know that if I’d stepped on the scale by evening, I’d probably have weighed 4-5 pounds more — not just from overindulging but from drinking freely after restricting liquids for several hours before the weigh-in. In the future, I’d like to be less focused on a number — using it primarily as a guideline — and more focused on better fuel.
• Even though Traci was less than thrilled with how this contest turned out, she admitted during Wednesday’s run that she’s glad that it sparked her to get in better shape. And she’s all for a family health project, though if it’s up to her it may be more focused on fitness than on weight loss.

A swimming conundrum

So my hunch was right: My freestyle time IS slower than my sidestroke!

Last week I swam 500 meters of mostly sidestroke in 15:56. This week I swam 500 meters freestyle (head out of water) in 16:42. So do I go for the morale boost of completing my first-ever freestyle swim at Sunday’s triathlon — or go for a better time using a stroke that doesn‘t wear me out as much?

It’s possible that in the lake, freestyle would give me a slight advantage in that I could better see where I was going and maybe swim a more direct route around the buoys. (I remember last year I got slightly off course at one point.)

But the reality is, I’m going to be one of the last swimmers out of the lake whichever stroke I use. So I guess I’ll start out freestyle and see how it goes.

I’d like to beat last year’s overall triathlon time of 1:57, but the biggest chunk of that is likely to come in the bike segment — and it has more to do with having a better bike than being in better shape. Last year it took me 65 minutes to ride 20K on a mountain bike. Earlier this week I did the same course in 55 minutes on my antique road bike, but that’s without a swim beforehand.

I doubt I can surpass last year’s 30 minute 5K run. But ultimately I don’t want to get too caught up in what the clock says and just have fun.