Its crazy to think that Christmas was almost a week ago. So much stress, planning, visiting, spending, more spending, oh yeah and stress, did I say that already?....for one day. I guess I wouldnt have it any other way, at least for right now anyway. Im not saying we are 'Christmas with the Kranks' - run off somewhere south to spend christmas, but each year the kids get older, i think we creep closer to that. Knowing that i was going to loose two days because of both the gym and the pool closing for the holidays, the week was a little compressed last week. The boy also completed all his workouts ( 3) for the week last week and I am really proud of him for sticking to his commitment, again fingers crossed on how long it will last, but for now its great to have him come with me in the mornings.
The week went like this:
Monday: Weights/Cardio + 500m warm up/750m swim ( 15:05min)
Tuesday: 500m warm up swim/750m swim (16:10min)
Wednesday: 14.5km ride + 2mile run + 1500m swim
Thursday: Weights/Cardio
Friday: off
Saturday: off
Sunday: Weights/Cardio
So not too shabby. 3 swims, 3 theboy work outs and a good bike ride and a small run.
Over the next little while I am going to be focusing on the following things:
Biking: Longer Hill rides on a lower intensity setting ( 10-11)
Swimming: Kicking and keeping my hips up in the water
Running: Small hills, small runs on a lower intensity
Weights: Low weight and higher reps
I am hoping to really start to get my legs ready for hills. I did not do really well with the hills, ever, actually, but the bike part of the triathlon last summer really killed me. So instead of pretending they dont exist, I am really going to start getting over my hillphobia over the next couple of months.
So last week I talked a little about the changes I am trying to make to the food intake, i dont want to say diet, because its not a diet. So basically it goes like this:
Morning: Coffee, then yogurt around 10am ish
Lunch: Salad, if not a salad then something around the 600 calorie mark which could be a sandwich, or veggies or soup.
Dinner: Salad, if I had a salad for lunch then I dont have to have one for dinner. If i had something else for lunch then a salad has to make up 1/2 of my dinner plate. If no salad then the plate needs to be 1/2 veggies, 1/4 protein, 1/4 carbs. 
Only veggies for seconds.
Night: 2L of water, no food if possible. If a snack is needed then cereal, or popcorn. 
For me the Night is the hardest. I dont usually sleep well and can be up at like 2am for the day sometimes so the first thing i usually go for is a snack, and usually its a non healthy option because i am mad that I am awake and get pissed thinking how crappy my day is going to be because i cant sleep, which is hilarious, because then i get pissed because i just ate something that isnt helpful for what I am trying to do, which leaves me double cranky for the morning.
The only up side right now is that with all the exercise and double work out days, I am pretty tired most nights and have been sleeping most of the way through. 
Now I know this may not be the right way to do things, and having a coffee primer in the morning and very little until lunch is probably not the way to go, this is what I am doing for now and aside from really really wanting lunch to roll around I think i have been doing alright. Now there is always going to be a couple of extras here and there, but I am trying to offset the next meal depending on what the extra has been that day.
For example, I had a couple of hand fulls of peanuts yesterday before dinner, so at dinner I cut my carb portion in half and added more veggies. Things like that.
This stuff usually doesnt go well for me, so I think just trying to be conscious of what I am eating and when is the real goal for now.
I will be really happy when the holiday part of the break is over, I find myself always having way more junk food options available in case we have friends or family drop by, so my will power is in constant flux. The couple weeks leading up to the break I didnt buy any junk food things and really enjoyed not having the temptation in the house, we will be going back to that very soon.
So that is it for another week, this week has been very good so far, so hopefully it will mean a #cigarSunday down the road.
Hope that you all have a safe, happy and healthy New Year!
All the best,
​Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan

Hey look at me! Keeping up with blog posts, and Christmas week to boot! Great week last week! Theboy got out to the gym with me twice, and at some point he may start to look like he actually enjoys out and it isnt a painful experiment in father-son relations. I keep trying to remember how things went with my dad when he brought a massive stationary weight lifting station into the basement when i was in my early teens. I am thinking it was very similar to what is happening now with Theboy, except we are in a public place. I am sure at 13, i mistook posture and breathing advice the same way Theboy is taking it from me. Hard, if i had laser beam eyes you would be in pieces right now, looks; stubborn determination with an occasional grunt and trying to get to the next machine before I am done on the last one so I cannot offer my helpful, genuine, kind guidence.
I know somewhere in heaven, my dad is laughing his ass off right now and dancing around singing a father revenge song that sounds remarkably like Bruce Springsteens Born to Run.
Regardless of the grunts, laser beam desired eye stare downs, upon completion of each work out, when asked if he had fun he grants me a sheepish 'yes' and shall we try again tomorrow, another 'yes'. 
I have completely changed my gym sessions around because of Theboy, and I gotta say, I am not only enjoying having him as a wingman, but it is forcing me to bring weight training back into my life. I have really stayed away from the weights after the second hernia operation, from threat of my doctor to remove an appendage or two if i ever lifted anything over 20lbs. But keeping the weight low and focusing on reps has been a great change from just doing cardio. 
Our typical routine goes like this:
5min cardio machine - TheBoy picks
5min cardio machine - TheDad picks
1 full round of each machine (9 in all) 
2nd round of 2-3 of the machines
Ab rocker
5 min cardio machine - TheBoy picks
Stretching
This usually takes us between 45-50min and we have been going around 530-6am in the morning.
Again sometimes get the death eyes when i wake him up, but he is quick to get changed, and brush the teeth. I am hoping this continues for a while, fingers crossed.
So Last week went something like this:
Monday: off
Tuesday: Weights + Swim ( 750m specific leg and arm work + 750m swim)
Wednesday: 30min run + 30min bike
Thursday: Weights + Swim ( 750m leg and arm work + 750m swim)
Friday: Swim ( 750m leg and arm work + 750m swim) -- got my time down to just under 15min - so thanks Mike 'Da Chair' 
Saturday - Christmas Baking Round 1
Sunday - Christmas Baking Round 2

So all told, a very good week. Now I did earn a #cigarSunday for accomplishing my workouts for the week, but the weather on Sunday was standard maritime weather - awful, and I wanted to bank one so that I could have a #cigarChristmasEve or #cigarChristmasDay if i so desired. So for those looking for a #cigarSunday post this week, it will be forthcoming a little later.

I hope any of youse out there reading along this year, have a fantastic Christmas if you celebrate it, and for those that do not, a very healthy and happy new year. 

Peace, Love, Christmas Cookies
Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan

It is always amazing to me how busy life can get sometimes. Since the last post in October things have been flat out with work, home, and everything in between. My workouts have been on again off again over the last 6 weeks, i have had a major work trip to Las Vegas, XRing ( a pretty big deal in these parts); a couple of major projects at work, plus all the activities that my wee ones are involved in and a major shift with my wife working 45 minutes out of town, so the DATXI ( Dad Taxi) is in full effect now. 
But now that the holiday concerts are at an end, my christmas lighting is up, the end of the semester ebbs away into the break, I can take some time, get my wellness back on track, and begin training for this years adventures.
I came back last week with the following:
Monday: off
Tuesday: 12 mile ride + 1500m swim
Wednesday: 12 mile ride
Thursday: 12 mile ride + 2000m swim
Friday: Swimming Tutorial*
Saturday: 5km run
Sunday: Christmas Light Decorating

I was pretty tired last week and if you include the 3 christmas concerts and all the other things going on i was pretty happy to get back to 4 days of working out including 2 multi sport days.
The coolest thing about last week was finding out the one of the students i work with has an incredible background in competative swimming. I asked him if he would mind coming to the pool sometime to pick apart my stroke and he gleefully said yes, he loved to tell people what they were doing wrong haha.
So friend of the show, Mike 'Da Chair' Massery and I headed to the pool on Friday and pick apart he did.
Now, I have always thought of myself as a smooth swimmer, but this dude is like a warm knife through butter in the pool, right away I knew I was going to get some helpful advice.
Mike targeted 3 things that I needed to look at. One was my head placement. It seems I have gotten lazy ( shocker I know) and developed some bad habits. I tend to look at the bottom of the pool which allows the water to hit the top of my head, by just tilting my eye line up to look forward so the water is cresting on my forehead it felt like there was already less effort in my movement.
Second was my butt placement. Yup go ahead, get your zingers in. I have been giving myself a pretty hard line of crap in that I dont tend to kick much because i have been wanting to "save my legs" for the other aspects of the triathlon. Mike called crap on that pretty quick as different muscle groups are used for the bike and the run, and showed me a more efficient way to kick so it lifted my hips higher in the water so there wasnt as much drag anymore. 
Lastly, my arm pulls. I wasnt doing full extensions as I was pulling back. Mike showed me a couple of different options in terms of the way my hands should move through the water and how they should finish the pulling cycle.
I am still working on these things so I will report back after next week to update the progress, as it stands now, trying to think all of these things through while I am swimming, I am no longer the smooth swimmer I thought i was, I am more like a brain damaged eel with underwater tourettes syndrome. They may not hear you scream in space, but hopefully they cant make out what Im saying underwater either haha.
We also worked on flip turns as I am a baby and do not like them. But funny enough, when you are shown the correct way to do them, they are not that bad. See you can teach an old dog new tricks.
It was a great session in the pool, and Mike if you are reading this you can now come up for a #cigarSunday with those other two guys.
Looking forward to having another good week this week, as the lack of #cigarSundays of late has been very depressing.
I am working a new food system too right now, so I am more cranky then usual, which is fun for everyone, but more on that next week, ill see if i can stick to it for more then a week before i blog about it.
Just Keep Swimming...
Sean "BigBoyRunning" Ryan