Desert Triathlon Report

Desert Triathlon, which took place on April 20, 2008, featured two distances, sprint and olympic. The sprint option offered a swim of 400 meters, bike 10 miles, and a 3 mile run, while the international distance featured a 3/4 mile swim, 24 mile bike and 6 mile run. I completed the international distance. There is really nothing exciting about this course, other than it's dirty water incredibly fast and flat bike course, and a two-loop easy and flat run around Lake Kahuilla. Now, my experience in this event was a whole different story.

Before I dive into the different segments, a bit of prologue. Friday night, after having dinner with my girlfriend and her boss, I contracted food poisoning, stayed up all night on Friday throwing up. Saturday all day, I did not eat anything, and overall, was extremely dehydrated. I was contemplating on whether I should really do the race or just walk away. Then, I remembered Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Stop Whining" attitude and that's exactly what I did. So, come Sunday morning, I felt a little better. Went to the start line, picked up my packet, racked my bike, put on my wetsuit, and went down to start line.

Swim

The bell rang, I ran in the water along with hundreds of my fellow participants. The first five minutes, felt really strong and was surprisingly fast. Then, my hamstring started cramping, followed by my other hamstring, arms, sides, even neck. It was horrible!!! My rhythm went down the drain, I didn't even care where I was going. The lifeguard stopped me twice to tell me I was going the wrong way. That was really embarrassing! From that moment on, I knew that this race was not going to be easy. Long story short, I finally was able to finish the swim, got out of the water and was still cramped. Walked to the transition area, changed into my cycling gear and was ready to start pedaling.

Bike

Surprisingly, as soon as I got on the bike, the cramping went away. There is not much to say about the bike, other than it was a really fast and flat course. There was absolutely no wind, no hills, nothing that would prevent one from going as fast as they can possibly go.

Run

Again, nothing exciting about the run. After running a healthy 4 miles, I started cramping again. Luckily, the onset was slow and I was able to finish the race before I cramped up again completely. I did have to slow down a bit at the end.

After the event, Cynthia and I went to Denny's. This was interesting because the service we received at this Denny's restaurant was unlike any other. These people really seemed to care... I have yet to see service this good, not just in other Denny's restaurants, but also everywhere else. Our next highlight was when we stopped for snacks & gas (no, not the fact that it cost me almost $60 to fill up my Toyota Camry). Upon going to the register and using my credit card, the teller requested to see an ID.... no big deal, I showed her driver's license. Then, she commented, "Sir, do you have a second form of ID? This doesn't look like you." Reason being, I had a triple-chin on my photograph. When I re-took my driver's license photo, I weight around 210-220 lbs and I ended up showing her a photo of my Bank of America debit card, in which my weight was around 190 lbs. So, I guess, that extra 20-30 pounds was the deciding factor for the teller that I, in fact, wasn't trying to pull a fast one. In all seriousness, she really did make my day... most people would get upset when asked to present a second ID, but I took her comments as a compliment. This goes hand-in-hand with not only thinking positive, but also "being" positive to reach your goals, whatever they may be. Anyways, our last stop was at the outlet stores and back home for a nice evening of movies and popcorn.

Enjoy some pictures: My t-shirt reads, "Stereotypes are a real Time Saver

Me + Bike = Love

Jesus is my Health Insurance

Me and the Lady ... She loves this picture. Something tells me that
I'll get this framed as a gift for my birthday.

Calm and Ready.... Not!!

5:42 AM

Due to a few requests, here are some more "before" pictures. I can't confirm the exact dates of these pictures but they were taken in the past 2-4 years.

Above: This picture was taken in July of 2006. Approximate weight 230-235

Above: Ah, the good ol' UCLA days. Sometime in 2003. My dad is to the right of me.

Above: Partying in Vegas with my mom. Sometime in 2005

Above: Watching Shamu at San Diego Sea World. Summer 2006.

Interview and Desert Triathlon

I had the pleasure of getting interviewed by Kyle Battis, the manager of burnthefatinnercircle.com regarding my fat loss journey and transformation. I encourage anyone to please sign up and listen to the interview. I share a lot of my strategies and helpful tips and hints. Tom Venuto's Burn the fat inner circle is an excellent resource and community for anyone interested in health, fitness, losing weight, getting lean, etc. I cannot say enough good things about it and the amount of support and exclusive content (articles, interviews, tools, calculators, discussion boards, etc) that the site has to offer is absolutely amazing and can not be found anywhere on the internet. To get more information about my interview and the site in general, please visit http://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com/ or click here.

Desert Triathlon near Palm Springs, CA took place yesterday, April 20, 2008. I raced the "international distance", which featured a 3/4 mile swim, 24 mile bike ride, and 6 mile run. A full report with pictures will be posted in the next couple of days. Stay tuned!!!!!

Also, due to a few requests, I will be posting more "before" pictures sometime this week. I used my credit card yesterday on my way to Los Angeles from the Desert Triathlon at a local store. The cashier asked to see a second form of identification because she did not believe that the picture in my drivers license was actually of me.

New Website Coming Soon and Updates

Hi folks, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been working on a new website, discussion forum, and a blog, which should be up and active hopefully by the end of this month. I will post the active link as soon as it's presentable. It'll be very interactive and informative. Please visit this blog frequently or alternatively, leave me your email and I will email everyone as soon as it is launched. You can contact me by email at arkhag@gmail.com. In the meantime, if you'd like to support my cause and make a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, please visit here.
Here is what I have been up to and my plans for the next couple of months....

1. I've been really busy with my running group, scheduling, training, etc. If you live in the LA area, I'd love you have you in my group. We have great runs. Please visit the Santa Monica Running Group and sign up. It's free!
2. I've been training a group for the upcoming San Diego Marathon. They are a great group of people. Very motivated and dedicated. Although, it's too late to join that training group, I am planning to start a Long Beach marathon training group. If you'd like to sign up for that one, send me an email with your interest. I'll start the training from the very beginning... So, it's for all levels. Email me with your interest and I'll put you in the group. arkhag@gmail.com
3. My own training... Saturdays and Sundays, I spend about 11 hours in total training. Weekdays, I usually train about 2-3 hours per day. So, this has been really keeping me busy.
   
4. My upcoming races. I am planning to compete in the upcoming:
1. Desert Triathlon on 4/20/2008
2. Wildflower Long Course on 5/2/2008
3. San Diego Rock & Roll Marathon 6/1/2008
4. More races than I have space for.
   
5. My Job!!!! I work 8 hours every day.
   

So folks, I apologize for the lack of updates, but they're coming. Please stay tuned or give me your email and I will update you periodically. If I can help you in any way achieving your fitness, health, weight loss, and life goals, please don't hesitate to ask. I am a firm believer in the "pay-it-forward" idea and Randy Pausch's "enabling other people's dreams". Please visit his website, watch all his videos. There are a lot to be learned from that man.