Turbulent Times!

Well when I started this little Ironman adventure, targeted fundraising for Kids with Cancer Society, and to raise awareness around DIPG (diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma) I anticipated a lot of potential obstacles and challenges.  COVID-19 and closure of gyms and pools was not on the radar at all!

That being said I come back to the challenging reality that Ronan Smyth and his family grappled with from the day of his diagnosis with DIPG due to his far too early passing.  I know from the brief conversations I have had with his mother and from seeing some of the posts on Facebook, that Ronan faced no shortage of challenges and bad days.  So I persevere.  

At this point there is already a lot of talk about Ironman Canada at the end of August being in potential jeopardy of cancellation.  I suspect that some of my larger lead up events in July are even more at risk.  Nothing I can do about that and I continue to prepare as if the races will happen.  I continue to work with the Kids for Cancer Society to get a fundraising page up and running with specific reference to what I'm doing and noting my commitment to the legacy of Ronan.

So at this point - from a health and athletic standpoint - things are going well.  Aside from the lack of a swimming opportunity right now (and contrary to popular belief about Canadians, snowbanks don't make for much of a substitute for open water) I'm keeping a pretty consistent effort on both my bike and run components.  This sometimes is including brick efforts as well - get off the bike and go straight to run.  I've also continued to work on core strength with those workouts happening about three times a week.  At this point the minimum hours committed to physically getting ready is no less than 7 hours per week and has sometimes peaked up at 11 hours or even more on occasion.

On top of that I have continued to get to Ironman at a weight that is far less than I have ever competed at before.  Post-Christmas turkey I weighed in at 204 pounds.  This was "only" 10 pounds over my usual race weight of 195 pounds.  For those of you who don't know, a guy weighing 200 pounds or more is lovingly classed/called "Clydesdale".  For women I believe the similar term becomes "Amazon".  I didn't want to be in that neighborhood again so committed to a significant weight loss plan since Christmas.  What has that meant?  Well starting back in the first week of January it meant a calorie intake of 1,755 per day.  Over time that has been reduced to where I now sit at a targeted calorie intake of 1,319.  So pretty sparse and routine meals for a long time now.  One of the recent unintended consequences of that has been a flare up of gout in my right foot!  A consequence, apparently, of too much salmon and not enough water.

The results, though, speak for themselves.  As of this morning I now weight in at 173.6 pounds - over 30 pounds down since Christmas and over 20 pounds down from best/worst race weight for an Ironman!  My goal of at least 170 pounds is easily in sight now with the potential of even getting to 165 pounds around Easter.  I feel like Dwayne Johnson in The Game Plan - light on my toes!  It is around Easter that I will cease the weight loss and commit even more fully to more intensive training.  And hopefully swimming will become an option again!

That's the status report during this time of lockdown and social isolation.  In an ironic way, this reality has helped keep me focused on training and personal health as a lot of other distractions have gone away.  

Keep well.  Stay safe.  Let's keep doing this.

__________________________________________________

Greg Hadubiak, MHSA, FACHE, CEC, PCC

President & Founder - BreakPoint Solutions

gregh@breakpoint.solutions 

www.breakpoint.solutions 

780-250-2543

Helping leaders realize their strengths and enabling organizations to achieve their potential through the application of my leadership experience and coaching skills. I act as a point of leverage for my clients. I AM their Force Multiplier.