My task tonight is to pack my gear bag and get my bike ready to ship tomorrow.  I have to drop it off at Jack and Adam’s for shipping with TriBike Transport.  It’s hard to believe this is happening.  After a couple of false starts, am I really doing this again?  I’m both excited and nervous to be this close to my second Ironman.  The race is in eleven days.  If all goes well, I’ll be able to say that I’m a two-time Ironman.  Even though I’ve done this before, I’m still unsure about it all.  I look forward to the day that my confidence overshadows my doubt.  Maybe that’ll come with the third or fourth or fifth or sixth or twentieth Ironman.  God willing, there will be that many!

As of this morning (Tuesday of week 2), I am down 5 pounds.  It was touch and go last week on the weight issue.  At first my weight went up, but then it started going down and has been steadily going down these last few days.  I’m happy with the progress.  Super happy.  And I think there’s room for greater progress if I can manage my food intake a little better.  I’ve been good, but not perfect.  I can do better.

The tough part has been the workouts with Christina.  On Friday, she annihilated me during our third workout of the week.  I think part of the struggle was that we did the session at 10am, when it was hot, rather than at 5am, when there was no sun.  But I also think she just had me doing some difficult lifts and combination upper and lower body things that my body wasn’t used to.  The most difficult exercise for me was holding the kettle bell up to my chest and squatting down to a seated position on a bench and then getting back up into the standing position using only my legs.  I was still sore from earlier workouts, so every bit of stress on my thighs hurt like hell, both going down and going up!  By Friday afternoon, I could barely walk, which made me wonder how I was going to ride on Saturday.

On Saturday, I did the Luckenbach ride and, as I expected, I struggled through it (45 miles of hills) because of my left thigh, which still hurt like hell.  I wondered if I’d injured it, so after the ride, I visited the medical tent.  They told me to ice it and take some Ibuprofen, and that made all the difference.  By Saturday night, it felt much better.  So I don’t think it was an injury.  I think it was just wear and tear of the workouts with Christina. 

Sunday, I rested to let my leg recover.  Last night, I swam, again to let my leg fully recover.  This morning, I ran, and it felt pretty good.  I think by tomorrow, I should be at 100% again.

To recap, the program is working, Christina is working me hard, and I’m feeling good.  At this rate, I shouldn’t have any problem hitting my weight and body fat goals, but I can do better on the food intake.  And I will.

I had my second RevFit workout this morning.  We did upper body.  Somehow I was expecting today to be easier than Tuesday, but it wasn’t.  To start, I was still sore in my legs and butt from Tuesday.  Christina described it as the kind of soreness that makes it hard to sit on the toilet.  Not hard to stay there but hard to get there!  And she was right.  The squatting movement has been killer on my legs since our first session.  But today, the warmup helped dissipate some of that soreness in my legs.  Then we killed my arms.  We did pushups and more kettle bell work.  We did walking planks where I had to start bent at the waist, with my hands touching my toes.  Then I had to walk my hands forward into a plank.  Then I had to lower myself onto my forearms, get back up and walk back out of the plank.  Since it doesn’t require any equipment, I’ll be trying that one more at home.  It hurt.  We also did a lift with a 45 pound bar.  That’s the one that really killed me. I’m curious to see how sore my upper body will be tomorrow!

Part of the program is that they gave me a heart rate monitor that tracks calories burned.  During my session, I burned 374 calories.  Later today, I’ll be running, so I’m hopeful that means I’ll burn something in the neighborhood of 700 calories today.  I’d never though of workouts in terms of calories, but it makes sense to think of both food and exercise that way.  It helps that they require me to track intake in calories as well.  I remember my friend Jenny saying to me once that weight loss is not rocket science.  It’s simple math.  Good point, my friend.  I can do simple math.

Holy smokes, this morning was tough.  I was dripping sweat by the end of the warmup.  That’s right.  The warmup.  And don’t ask me what we did for the warmup or the rest of the workout.  I don’t remember.  It’s all a big blur, but I heard the words “lunge”and “squat” a bunch of times, and there was much counting involved.  And there was a kettle bell.  I don’t understand kettle bells, but I will.  Eventually.

My legs were absolute mush at the end of the hour.  In fact, as Christina got in her car to ride away, I had to lie down on my yoga mat and just stay there for a bit.  I looked at up at the stars – yes, there were stars because we finished at 6am – and revelled in the glory of my first RevFit finish. 

I had planned to run after, but my 7 mile run turned into a 5 mile walk with the occasional jogging spurt thrown in.  Did I mention that my legs were mush? Next time, we’re doing the upper body.  Hopefully, that means I will be able to run afterwards.

Did I mention that it was fun?  Well, it was.  Super fun.  Seriously.  I love a good, hard workout, and this was a really good, really hard workout.  Thanks, Christina.

Twenty days from now I’ll be racing Canada!  It’s so close.  I can’t wait.  And I’m so thankful that my mom and two of my friends (Rey and Erin) will be making the trip.  I want to do well for me and for them.  I want a fun trip and a good day.  I want to be cross that finish line and fall into a line of hugs and go to bed feeling strong and well.  I can’t wait.

Speaking of can’t wait, I have my first session with Christina tomorrow morning.  I’m actually nervous!  I’ve got all kinds of training and numerous races behind me but the thought of an hour with the little powerhouse I met last week makes me equal parts excited and nervous!  It’ll be fine, right?  She may kick my ass, but it’ll be in a good way, right?  Right? 

Cross your fingers.  Say a little prayer.  On both counts.

So last time I reported that I was starting the Revelation Fitness program.  A couple of weeks ago, Jim, one of the owners, came over, told me about the program, took my measurements, and help me set goals.  Then he told me to track my intake for two weeks and, at the end of that two weeks, we’d start the actual program, which involves nutrition oversight and training sessions three times a week with a personal trainer.

I’ve been tracking my intake, and I’m realizing that I eat very, very little protein and quite a bit of fat.  Some of it is good fat, but not all of it.  And either way, it’s more fat than I should be eating.  I also realize that I’m eating more at night and later at night than I should.  So I’ve learned quite a bit about my habits.

Last week, I met with my trainer, Christina.  She’s young and fit and seems very to the point in her communication.  I think I’m going to like her – and probably hate her at times.  She told me not to waste her time and to never say I “can’t” do something.  I’m allowed to say it’s hard, but I’m not allowed to say that I can’t do it.  I like that.  She also told me to think about how I want to look and to ask myself with each food decision I’m making – will this help me get there?  If not, then I shouldn’t do it.  That sounds so simple and makes so much sense.  I’m going to ask myself that over and over for the next twelve weeks.

She also told me to make my vision board.  So I did.  I took poster board and created twelve spots – one for each week – so that I can post my pictures of myself week after week as a reminder of where I’ve been.  I also listed my goals and put some photos of people I want to look like as a reminder of where I’m headed. 

My goals are:

(1) 124 pounds (down from 140);
(2) 10 percent body fat (down from 20);
(3) 5 pullups (from 0 pullups);
(4) 15+ mph bike on October 17 (from 13.5);
(5) a sub 5:20 marathon on November 7 (from 6.00); and
(6) a totally indulgent beach vacation at the end of the program, which I’m already working on scheduling.

I was also told to set a negative goal, which are goals that are essentially punishments if I fail.  I set two:

(1) I will not be permitted to read for pleasure for 6 months.
(2) I will have to pay for my sister Caroline to do this program.

I thought about posting my “before” picture here, but decided against it for now.  I hate it.  HATE IT.  I need to work on posting it or at least being willing to post it when I’m all finished. 

The other thing I did was buy the bikini I want to wear at the beach. It should arrive in the next few days.  When it does, I will hang it in my room as a reminder of what I’m working towards.

I was told to buy an outfit for my photo shoot. A number of the “after” shoots I’ve seen pictures from are girls in bikinis.  Some are in workout clothes, but many are in bikinis.  I don’t know if I’ll have the nerve to do the photo shoot in a bikini.  We’ll see.  Maybe I can work up the nerve to post the before picture and to wear the bikini for my after pictures.  Man, that sounds like a lot of nerve! 

I’m excited about my goals.  I’m excited about my vision board.  I’m excited about Christina working with me.  I’m excited to think about how I could look 12 weeks from now.  I’m excited to wear the bikini I ordered.  I’m excited to figure out how to eat long term.  I’m ready to go.

Tomorrow, I take the first set of photos (front, back and both sides) to send in to Christina, and I start tracking daily my weight, calories taken in and calories burned.  We officially kick off this week. 

Stay tuned.  And if you want to hang out during the next few weeks, let’s do something other than a meal.  Coffee, perhaps?  Or a walk, run or bike?

And away we go…