General Jackassery

1/14/2009

Water Intake = 128 oz Diet Soda Intake = 64 oz
04:30 1 Cup lowfat plain yogurt, half cup of grape nuts, 1 cup mixed frozen fruit, 2 slices of turkey breast (510)
05:30-06:45 Ice Hockey (-793)
08:15 Can of Mt. Dew and the remainder of the yogurt, grape nuts and fruit mix.(calories counted above.
08:30 Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Nut Bar (170)
10:15 Quaker Simple Harvest Apples and Cinnamon and an Apple (225)
11:45 SW Chicken Chili and Salad bar at Jason’s Deli with medium Diet Coke (refill) (900)
17:30 Beef Taco Salad at home, 2 oz Tostitos Natural Blue Corn Chips (1200)
20:00 45 Minutes of Hard cycling on the trainer (-936)
21:15 ¼ Raisins and Nature Valley Bar (300)
Basal Metabolic Rate = 2416.6
Total Cal Consumed = 3305
Total Cal Burned = 4145.6
Calorie Delta = -840.6
Calorie counts are based on nutritional and exercise info found on the internet using google search.

1/13/09

Water Intake = 128 oz Diet Soda Intake = 46 0z
06:00 Quaker Naturals Oatmeal, two homemade regular milk biscuits with 1 tbsp shedspread
Margarine and two pieces of jimmy dean regular sausage (670)
10:00 kashi honey almond flax chewy (140)
11:00 Foot Long Oven Roasted Chicken Breast with provolone cheese, lettuce, onions, salt and pepper and lite mayo with cheddar cheese potato chips and a medium diet pepsi with a refill. (1070)
15:00 Can of Diet Mt. Dew
17:30 Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Peanut Bar (170)
19:00 6 oz Chicken Breast Broiled, 1 cup of green beans, 1 cup of Mac and Cheese (427)
20:30 ¼ cup of raisins (130)
21:15 44 minutes on the trainer (-936)
Basal Metabolic Rate = 2416.6
Total Cal Consumed = 2607
Total Cal Burned = 3352.6
Calorie Delta = -745.6

Since I’m the type of person who tries to hide what I eat so other people won’t know, I’ve decided to post everything that I eat here. Good or Bad, I’m going to post anything that’s gone into my mouth on this website for the next couple of weeks at the very least. I’ve gone out to the internet to research the calories that are in my food and I’ve posted the calorie count along with the my base metabolic rate and the exercise that I do in a day. So you’ll see my intake vs output. Good or bad.

Here was yesterday’s Intake and Output.

1/12/2009

Water Intake = 96 oz Diet Soda Intake = 88 oz
04:30 Peanut Butter and Jelly on Wheat and Diet Pepsi (535)
05:30-06:45 Ice Hockey (-793)
07:10 McDonald’s Sausage and Egg Biscuit, Hash Browns and Large Diet Coke (620)
09:00 Two Little Debbie Oatmeal Crème Pie (330 Cal each – 660 Cal)
11:15 Nachos Bell Grande and Supreme Taco with Large Diet Pepsi (1000)
14:15 Orange and a can of Diet Mt. Dew (45)
16:30 2 oz Pringles and a can of Diet Pepsi (320)
18:00 Taco Salad and diet Mt. Dew ( 3 oz Tostitos Natural Blue Corn Tortilla chips, 4 oz ground turkey with taco seasoning, ¼ cup Sargento Mexican cheese, 1 Tbsp Sour Cream) (676)
20:20 15 minute walk with dogs. (Negligible)
20:40 44 Minutes on the Trainer (-936)
Basal Metabolic Rate = 2416.6
Total Cal Consumed = 3856.0
Total Cal Burned = 4145.6
Calorie Delta = -289.6
Calorie counts are based on nutritional and exercise info found on the internet using google search.

A couple of years ago I started off down a road to wellness. I joined LA weight loss so I could learn to eat healthier and so I would have someone to hold me accountable for what I ate. I also started training for marathons and slightly less than two years ago I completed my first marathon. The end result was that by the summer of 2007 I had lost 56 lbs. In October 2007 I trained for and completed a second marathon while raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

After my second marathon, things started to go downhill. I trained so hard for the marathon and pushed my body so hard to finish the marathon that I sustained some injuries that just wouldn’t go away. See, I’m not a runner and my choice of words, “I finished a marathon,” is not an accident. I’ve never run a whole marathon and in my opinion I’ve never finished a marathon well. Both efforts pushed my body and mind to their limits and it took days just to be able to walk normally again after the effort.

Sometime between the two marathons I lost my edge with nutrition. I plateaud on my weight loss, I stopped going to LA Weight Loss centers and really relied on the training to keep the weight off. I had this mentality that I needed to eat more because I was running so much, and while that’s a true statement, what I was eating to boost my caloric intake was totally wrong. I justified eating double quarter pounders by saying that I could afford to eat those since I was going to do a long run on the weekend.

Overtime, those double quarter pounders were a habit that was all too easy to fall back into. That was after-all how I’d eaten for a long time before I joined the weight loss program. After I came back from the second marathon and was injured, I kept eating but wasn’t training. I gained about 10 lbs between October and Christmas. It was the holidays; I would get back to training in January after I healed up. I took a new job in December, Sarah and I found out in January that we were expecting Micah and life just continued along at a blistering pace.

Jackie and I signed up to run the half-marathon in Nashville in April. We thought doing a half would be a nice way to slowly get back into training. We had both gained weight back, we both had injuries to get over and the half marathon is a much more forgiving distance. This was a plan that would have worked but my eating habits weren’t good. There’s only one thing worse than eating habits, my training habits. I just couldn’t get back in the groove. April came and I considered not running the half. In the end I “finished” it, but it took so much longer than it should have. By the time July rolled around I had gained 30lbs back and I can’t run more than a mile or two without having knee problems.

I always told myself that if I had a something to train for, I would work hard enough to be able to complete it. The problem is that I’ve always looked at it from the standpoint of training and I’ve never put the training with the nutrition.

I’ve always looked at eating the right foods as a diet, something that is short term until you loose the weight and once the weight is off you can go back to eating how you want to. I know…..for someone who’s supposedly smart, that’s pretty stupid logic. But, it doesn’t change the fact that I think like that.

They say that first step towards recovery is recognizing that you have a problem.

I have a problem. I eat when I’m stressed. I eat when I’m bored. I eat when I’m tired. I know the types of food that I should eat. The types of food that I could eat that would help me with stress, boredom, tiredness, depression. The kinds of food that I would not feel guilty eating, but just today I went down to the cafeteria, bought two oatmeal cream pies and ate them both. I ate them fast so no one would see me eating them. I ate them fast because deep down I was embarrassed that I was eating them fast to hide the fact that I did eat them. I played hockey this morning though, I burned a lot of calories so it’s okay. I won’t gain weight because I’ve already burned those calories.

I’ve disappointed myself on a regular basis because I hide away somewhere and eat snacks that I should leave alone. I want to loose the weight that I’ve gained back and more, but I haven’t found a way to let the snacks and the junk food go.

It’s been over a year since I posted anything on this site and you’re going to have a wait a little while longer. Life has been very hechtic and a lot has happened in the last year. That said, I’m ready to start writing again. I just have too much going on today to start back right now.

November 21, 2007

Hello Team,

I hope this letter finds you all in great health and happiness this Thanksgiving holiday. I realize that I have taken way too long to get this letter out to you, but it has actually taken this long for me to find the words to describe the experience that has been the last 6 months of my life.
As you know, six months ago I set out on a journey to do something that would honor my friend Brent. I decided I wanted to find a way to help others while helping myself at the same time. While I was trying to find the means to do this, I came across an organization called “Team-in-Training.”
My decision to join Team-in-Training was not an easy one. It’s hard enough to train for a marathon, but training for a marathon and trying to raise money added an entirely new dimension. I wasn’t sure this was something I could accomplish but I knew I had to try. So, with the help of my friend Craig and some long discussions with my wife Sarah, I made the decision to take on the challenge.
I spent months getting up early just about everyday of the week, including Saturdays and Sundays, to train. I ran, I biked, I played hockey, I hiked, and I did anything and everything I could think of to build strength and endurance for this. I wrote letters and did everything but beg for people to donate to this cause. I met people I’d never met before and I asked them for their help. I asked my doctors, coworkers, physical therapists, friends, family and perfect strangers I’d met on the plane. I worked my way through several injuries and did my best to make it to the start line in October, healthy and prepared.
My original goals were to raise a minimum of $3300 and to finish the marathon stronger than I had finished my first. In the end, I raised a total of $3950. When, I got to the start line of the marathon I wasn’t sure how I was going to do. It was a cool morning and everything felt reasonably good. I decided I would try to finish in 4 hours and 30 minutes. I took off and everything went really well for the first 20 miles. Yeah, I said 20 miles. Then as I did in my first marathon I started to have some problems with cramps and was forced to run/walk the last 6 miles of the run. I finished in 5 hours and 48 seconds. While it wasn’t what I’d hoped for, I finished and I improved by 36 minutes over my first marathon time. I was tired and my legs kept cramping for the next couple of hours after the marathon, but, I was happy.

Crossing the finish line at the Iwo Jima memorial was and will probably always be one of the most memorable moments of my life. It was like the end of a journey and finishing was such a relief. I’ve never considered myself good at accomplishing goals I’ve set for myself. This wasn’t perfect, but it was a good start. I did it!

This experience has been one that is truly beyond description. I think I actually grew more emotionally than physically. Your generosity has been a lesson to me that I need to be more generous with my time and my money. The frailty of human life has been a lesson that I need to cherish every moment that I’m here on earth and that I need to love my family and friends more. The support of this team of people that was assembled to help me achieve my goal has been a lesson that “we” can accomplish anything and we can beat cancer. The strength of the people who are fighting cancers of all types is a lesson that my suffering is miniscule. The sum of these lessons is that we are truly blessed to experience all things, good and bad, in life. These experiences shape us; they make us better, stronger and hopefully ever more passionate about the things we love. That is the lesson about life that Brent taught me. Brent loved life and he let everyone know it.
I know that my words are not the most eloquent, but I hope that when you read this letter you’ll understand what an experience this has been for me. There is no way I could have done it without the generosity, love, support and encouragement I received from my family, friends and even those of you who don’t even know me. Special thanks go out to my wife, Sarah, for supporting me through this whole endeavor; to my sister, who has treated me like a rock star this whole time and to Craig Herr for helping me find a way to raise the money. Thank you all so much for helping me honor Brent and everyone who has been touched by cancer.

Sincerely,

Todd L. Watts

Linkin Park’s new album “Minutes to Midnight” really is pretty distinct from what they’ve done in the past. I mean they have the usual catchy tunes they always have, but there are several songs on the album that seem a little out of their usual comfort zone of screaming. “Hands Held High” stands out as one of their best ever, I think.

Hands Held High

turn my
mic up louder I got to say something
lightweights step it aside when we come in
fell it in your chest / the syllables get pumping
people on the street they panic and start running
words on loose leaf sheet complete coming
I jump in my mind and summon the rhyme I’m dumping
Healing the blind I promise to let the sun in
Sick of the dark ways we march to the drum and
Jump when they tell us that they wanna see jumping
Fuck that / I wanna see some fists pumping
Risk something / take back what’s yours
Say something that you know they might attack you for
Cause I’m sick of being treated like I have before
Like it’s stupid standing for what I’m standing for
Like this war’s really just a different brand of war
Like it doesn’t cater to the rich and abandon the poor
Like they understand you in the back of the jet / when you
Can’t put gas in your tank / and these fuckers are
Laughing their way to the bank / cashing the check
Asking you to have compassion / have respect
For a leader so nervous in an obvious way
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
And the rest of the world watching at the end of the day
In their living room laughing like
What did he say?

Amen, Amen, Amen,

In my living room watching / I am not laughing / cause
When it gets tense I know what might happen
The world is cold / the bold men make action
Hate to react or get blown to fractions
Ten years old / it’s something to see / another
Kid my age drug under a jeep
Taken and bound / and found under a tree
I wonder if he had thought the next one could be me
Do you see / the soldiers / they’re out today they
Brush the dust from bulletproof vests away
It’s ironic / at times like this you pray
But a bomb blew the mosque up yesterday
There’s bombs on the busses / bikes / roads
Inside your market / your shops / your clothes / my dad
He’s got a lot of fear I know
But enough pride inside not to let that show
My brother had a book he would hold with pride
A little red cover with a broken spine
On the back / he hand wrote a quote inside
“when the rich wage war it’s the poor who die”
And meanwhile / the leader just talks away
Stuttering and mumbling for nightly news to replay
The rest of the world watching at the end of the day
Both scared and angry like
What did he say?

Amen, Amen, Amen,

With hands held high into the sky so blue
As the ocean opens up to swallow you….

This past weekend, I participated in a Bicycling Team-Relay. For those who thought I was going to be an official on this thing, that wasn’t the case. I actually rode my fair share of miles and help make this thing a reality. The idea was to start at the southern end of the Blue-Ridge parkway and work our way north to the northern end in Waynesboro, VA. Due to run ins with the park rangers last time we got off the parkway in Boone and proceeded along highway 221 to Adney Gap in Virginia. This allowed us to keep a follow vehicle behind the rider at all times for safety and comfort reasons as well as the Ultra-Marathon Cycling Associations rules. Since none of us had actually ridden on Hwy 221 we weren’t sure what the terrain was like, so we guessed how long it would take us and made the determination that we would arrive at Adney Gap at daybreak to get back on the parkway. At that point we would have 135 miles remaining to finish. As luck would have it, we arrived in Boone right on schedule, meaning we were averaging a little above the expected 15 mph. When we started on Hwy 221 we realize that it was a really good road and there were no major climbs, the longest climb was about 2 to 3 miles and it was a pretty shallow grade. We arrived at Adney Gap almost 3 hours ahead of schedule. We basically budgeted enough time to average 15 mph and make it to Adney Gap right at daybreak. In reality we average over 18 mph on 221 and arrived at Adney Gap and the BRP at 3:30 AM.

The only record for the Blue-Ridge Parkway was set by a solo rider: 469 miles, 29 hrs 36 minutes. After the first failed attempt and after watching Kari struggle to maintain an average that was well below that speed we weren’t sure that we could beat that time. We all felt like we had to do whatever we could to beat it, but the time is absolutely phenomenal for a solo rider. You have to understand that it is extremely difficult to average over 15 mph on the BRP due to the constant elevation change. To give you an idea, the climb out of Ashville is 17 miles long. The climb out of Cherokee is 11 miles long only to go down for 3 and up for 5 more. So, our goal was only to beat the 29 hour 36 min record. It didn’t really matter by how much, only that we beat it. After all there were 4 of us and 1 of him.

Reaching Adney gap two and half hours ahead of schedule was huge. Not only did it virtually assure us of beating the record, but if we could maintain the speed we would smash the record. But, 135 miles of big hills still remained with perhaps one of the steeper climbs on the parkway still to be tackled. So I challenged the guys, I said “it’s 3:30, we have about two and a half hours until day light, let’s try to get to less than 100 miles remaining before the sun comes up.” That meant riding about 36 miles in 2.5 hours. We did it. Then we kept setting small goals and counting down the miles. With about 25 miles left we saw an organized century ride was taking place on the Parkway and this was all the incentive we needed to finish strong. It was like having a rabbit out there. The amazing thing was we all had almost 100 miles in our legs, no sleep, and we were all pretty much toast, but we were smoking the people who were on the century ride. It made me feel pretty good to drop people on climbs after riding 90 + miles.

At mile marker 3 (the markers count down from South to North, so we always knew how far we had left) we all got on our bikes and road in to the finish. We started at 8:30 Saturday morning and we finished at 12:00:12 on Sunday afternoon. For those who don’t care to do the math we finished in 27 hours and 30 minutes and 12 seconds. Our official time will be 27 hours 31 minutes, but whose counting. We beat the solo rider by over 2 hours.

I can’t thank Jackie Whitaker, Josh Burton and Matt Pinkston enough for all of their help. Without them we couldn’t have done this. I’d also like to thank John Dye for letting us stay at his place in Franklin on Friday night. And I’d like to thank Rodney, Anthony and Ryan for letting me be part of the time.

I’m sure it seems like all I post about lately is cycling, but I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that I’m still training for the Marathon in October and despite suffering some set backs due to injury, I have actually made up all of the ground that I lost and am now ahead of schedule.

A couple of weeks ago Sarah and I were in Nashville to visit her family and I decided I wanted to go for an 8 mile jog. It was supposed to be a recovery run so I planned on taking it nice and easy. However, I was also still recovering from the trip to the Blue-Ridge Parkway and I decided to let myself sleep as long as I needed to sleep. Unfortunately I woke-up about 10:00 and didn’t start my run until about 10:15. This in and of itself was stupid, but factor in the fact that I hadn’t had any carbs for the last two days, I only ate 5 grapes prior to the run and I didn’t bring anything to drink along with me and you have a recipe for disaster. Needless to say I bonk 4 miles in and I ended up walking the majority of the 3.5 miles back home. I took a short-cut home because I didn’t want to have to go over the hills I run on the way out. That bonk was probably a good thing because I’m still learning my body and now I realize that I’ve got to take fluids with me even on the shorter runs.

The next weekend I did a 12 mile run with the TNT group, we walked the first mile, but I ran the next 11 miles at about a 10 min/mile pace. That’s right where I wanted to be on a mostly flat course.

This past weekend we where in Nashville again and I needed to run only 10 miles because the TNT schedule does a long run and then a step back every other week. I knew that I was going to miss a long run in two weeks because of the record attempt, but I’m also not going to be able to make the group run next week so I wanted to do a slightly longer run than was on the schedule, then do a small step back this coming week.

So, I went on the U.S.A. Track and Field site and plotted out a course that was 14.7 miles around Sarah’s Parent’s house. Friday afternoon when we got up there I hopped on my bike and rode the course with a que sheet, stopping at every turn to note the mileage. When I got back that night I put it all in a spreadsheet and calculated the times that it should take to get to each turn. That way I could actually start slow and finish faster. By the time it was all said and done I had a nice que sheet that had me averaging about 10:46 / mile for 14.7 miles.

I got up a 5:00 on Saturday morning, started running at 5:40 and finished the run 1 minute ahead of what I had planned. I was pretty happy with that, I had planned my run well and executed my plan well. I plan on using that strategy for every long run I do from here on out. I think it will be really helpful to keep me on pace.

After the run was over I was tired, but I felt really good overall. Most important was the fact that I had no blisters or any last effects.

Now back to cycling. Since we’re getting really close to the next record attempt for the BRP, Rodney wanted to get a feel for what it would be like to ride during the “worst” hours of the night which are between 2:00 and 4:00 A.M. So on Sunday night after Sarah and I got home, I met Rodney at 11:30 and we went over to Redstone to ride. We started at 12:00 and rode until 4:00. We got 65.5 miles in in just under 4 hours. No problems staying awake, but it made for a hard day, the next day. Oh well, it was pretty nice to ride on a 4 lane road and be able to have your own lane with no vehicular traffic.

Anyway, long story short, everything is on track, now I just need more help with fundraising and I’ll be good to go!

Well, we’re back from the Blue-Ridge Parkway safe and sound. My buddy Kari rode a phenomenal 28 hours straight for a total of 344 miles on the Blue-Ridge Parkway two days ago. Here’s how the last couple of days have gone from my perspective.

I went to bed at about 11:00 on Monday night and was up at 4:20 on Tuesday morning. Kari showed up at my house at 5:30 and we loaded up the bikes and stuff for the trip and headed out to pick-up Rodney at work. By 6:45 we had Rodney’s stuff loaded up and we where on our way to the Mountains. We stopped at South Pittsburg, TN for gas and food and then headed off to Cherokee, NC. At about 2:00 in the afternoon we where in Cherokee at the start of the BRP and Kari and I took off on our way.

To give you a feel for how the BRP is, Cherokee is 2000′ above sea level. The BRP starts there and works it way up to 5150′ in the first 10 miles. Then you go back down about 3 or 4 miles and you start back going up to 5700′ after another 5 miles of climbing. After that you have a 9 mile descent back down to about 3100′ before you climb to the highest point on the parkway at over 6000′. It took me 2 hours 20 minutes to ride over the first two climbs and down to the base of the climb up to the highest point on the parkway. Rodney took over after that and rode for another 30 miles or so. By the time we reached the Pisgah Inn, 61 miles in, Kari had created a 10 mile gap between him and us. In other words, Kari was 1 hour ahead of Rodney and me.

To put things in perspective, Rodney has ridden the BRP many times and he said they used to always leave Cherokee early in the morning and it would take them about 7 or 8 hours to get to the Pisgah Inn. Rodney and I rode that distance in 4.5 hours and still Kari was 10 miles ahead of us.

Anyway, Rodney and I picked up our bikes and drove ahead to catch back up to Kari and as we were heading in to Ashville Kari saw a sign that said “Folk Art Center 2 miles.” He pointed at the sign and indicated he wanted to stop there to grab some food. So I drove ahead to the Folk Art Center and parked, I figured as fast as Kari was riding I could hop on my bike and start heading up the hill out of Ashville and Kari would eventually catch me, so I took off. About 30 to 40 minutes later, Rodney come driving up and asks if I’ve seen Kari. I said “no” and immediately thought, there’s no way he’s ahead of me, but if he is, I’ll never catch him and he hasn’t had anything to eat. About 3 miles later I see a flashing red tail light and realize “Holy Crap, that’s Kari ahead of me!” Then I think to myself, “HOLY CRAP, I’M CATCHING KARI GOING UP HILL!” That was bad news because it meant that Kari was slowing down. It was also bad news because he had gone an hour past where he wanted to go for eating. It took Rodney a while longer for finally decide that Kari must have past us while we were getting my bike ready. He finally found Kari and me about 11 miles into the climb out of Ashville. It was dark and I was ready to call it quits for the night so Rodney took over riding with Kari and they climbed another 7 miles before finally making to the top of the climb.

Fast forward….it’s now 3:00 a.m. and Kari is finally ready for a 15 minute nap. Kari has ridden from Cherokee, NC to Blowing Rock, NC a distance of about 170 miles. Rodney takes over driving and I nap off an on for the next hour and a half for a grand total of about 30 minutes of sleep. Kari is swerving all over the road, but he’s still going like the energizer bunny. It’s now 4:30 and Rodney is starting to get sleepy again, we’re going up a long hill and I say, “Just stop right here and let’s do a Chinese fire drill.” So we stop in the middle of the road, get out and run around the car and I’m driving again.

It’s another 3 hours before we make it to Doughton Park, 229 miles into the parkway. We stop and have breakfast and discuss options. Kari has been on the bike for 17 hours and at his current average speed it would be about 1 or 2 the next morning before he finished. So we decided to just turn around and ride back towards Ashville. We figured he would still get a lot of miles in and we would be closer to home with every mile. By now, Kari is starting to get pretty tired and his speed has slowed down such that Rodney and I have no problem staying with him. Actually, Kari was starting to have a problem staying with us. Of course, we had roughly one-third the miles in our legs that Kari had so it makes sense that he might be tired. Anyway, Rodney and I alternated about every 20 miles or so for the rest of the day until we got back to the entrance to Mt. Mitchell state park. I had planned to ride up to the top of Mt. Mitchell, but there was a thunderstorm approaching and I just didn’t want to take the chance of getting caught in nasty weather. So instead of climbing to Mt. Mitchell I rode down the mountain to Ashville about 26 miles away.

By the time it was all said and done, I had ridden 126.5 miles and been in the saddle for a total of 8.5 hours over the course of a 29 hour period. I had a lot of fun and I think I rode pretty well.

After we got done we headed into Ashville and got a hotel room so we could get showers. Then we headed out to grab a bite to eat before heading home. It was about 8:30 when we got on the interstate to drive back to Huntsville and within about 30 minutes of driving Rodney and Kari were out like lights. I made it almost all the way to Knoxville before I got dangerously sleepy and had to pull over in favor of another driver. Rodney took over and I tried to get some sleep between Knoxville and Chattanooga, but was not terribly successful. I think I might have gotten another 30 minutes or so and the rest of the time I was just resting my eyes. Anyway, we got to Chattanooga and Rodney had had enough so we switch out again and I got us back into Huntsville. It was about 2:30 when I finally got back home and probably close to 3:30 before I was able to wind down and get to sleep. All-in-all I was awake for the vast majority of a 47 hour period, rode by bike 126 miles and drove my car about 700 miles.

Now, that’s the life right there!