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It’s been a year since my total gastrectomy. It flew by. I can’t believe where I am today. Although I’m very thankful for where I am, I still see I have a lot “healing” to become who I want to be.

For example – I went from 207 to 156 lbs and I’m hovering around 157 now. I’d like to build some muscle and get back to 165 or so. But – it’s been harder than I thought.

I also want to get back into regular training for triathlon and marathon. In order to do that, I have to have my eating dialed in and I need more sleep to recover from workouts. I used to rarely get sore, now I get sore after a decent workout. No big deal, but I need to do better at planning.

I have a 70.3 IronMan coming up in April and training is underway. After taking Nov/Dec off, I have lost a good bit of fitness. So – I’m going to have to be very disciplined to do this. Stay tuned!

Had a really fun time at the Kiawah Island Triathlon this weekend. Had a great race and I was 3rd in my age group!

On another note, hurricane Florence impact in Wilmington North Carolina to such a degree that they had to cancel the IronMan 70.3 triathlon. So I must change my registration for a similar race in April. I might run a half marathon or marathon of the holidays to stay in shape. Stay tuned!

Finished a 10 mile run as I prep for IM70.3. Getting there. Looks like the hurricane has us leaving town so I got one last run in. I’m hurting post run, but I’m not surprised. Hope the IRONMAN 70.3 isn’t cancelled because of the hurricane.

IRONMAN 70.3 training is in full swing and I’m close to peaking (in 3 weeks or so). I feel things are coming together, although, the training methodology is much different than that of the past. Rather than have aerobic days/recovery days, I take full days off. The reason is because I’m too sore to even do a recovery run or whatever. Hope it all works out.

I swam 1,500 meters this week and biked 40 miles. Felt pretty good overall.

Yesterday – I felt really good and wanted to see if I have improved my fitness. Thus – I ran a 5K to test my time and by my surprise, I did improve and had a new PR post total gastrectomy. I think I could have still been about 30 seconds faster but I’m not mad. My future goal is sub 20 min 5K.

There is a possibility that I’ll do the Kiawah Olympic Triathlon on Sunday (one week from today). However, there is a hurricane coming our way so the race might get pushed back.

Stay tuned and please share my fundraising page as I’m trying to raise money for stomach cancer research: https://give.everydayhero.com/us/support-no-stomach-for-cancer-and-join-me-as-i-race-ironman

Finished a 40 mile ride today as part of my plan to build and do the IRONMAN 70.3 in North Carolina. Felt decent! Ran out of time and couldn’t do a run after.

Felt pretty tired the rest of the day. Happy over all. Hope to get 45 miles on Saturday.

Finished my 4^th triathlon of the season and achieved another personal best. I shaved another 20 seconds off and finished in 1:06:23. The distance was 600y swim, 12m bike, 3m run.  I ended up getting third for the race and second overall for the series. I’m pretty happy with the races this year as my goal was to beat my times from last year when I had a stomach and apparently stomach cancer. Goal achieved.

Now – next step – IRONMAN 70.3 in Wilmington North Carolina October 13^th

 

This is really exciting, but also a bit concerning.  Since getting rid of my stomach, I can’t train as often as I used to because my muscles get sore and I don’t want to “overdo it”. My goal is to beat my last years’ time of 5:37:20. I would love to get sub 5:30:00. More details as we get closer.

 

I’ll keep everyone posted with my journey.

Many people have been contacting me asking how I am able to keep weight on while training for triathlon. It does take planning and a lot of effort. Just like dieting requires a plan, keeping weight does too.

I use a watch to remind myself when I should drink and eat. It has an alarm (nerd alert)

Disclaimer: this worked for me after 3 months or so. IT DID NOT WORK BEFORE THAT. Shortly after my surgery, these type of shakes made me very crampy, so I did them sparingly. However, after my body continued to adjust, I was able to “stomach” (hehe) the whole shake. It does take about 2 hours to drink. However, 690 calories in an hour is not easy to do in the beginning. And I barley have the real estate in my intestines to consume the whole shake as it is. Please go slow – and remember – everyone is different.

690 Calorie morning shake

10 oz almond milk

1 scoop protein powder

1 scoop weight gainer (naked brand)

1/2 frozen banana

1T peanut butter

Blend and enjoy (again – drink slowly)!

I hope it works for you!

I have great news.

Sunday, I raced in my third triathlon post total gastrectomy. I scored a personal best time, beating my fasted time pre-surgery, and got 2nd in my age group.

I have been working hard to get to this place and it felt incredible reaching this goal. There were times early in my recovery that I seriously doubted I would ever race again. Thank God those feelings are gone.

I have some exciting goals and plans on the horizon. Stays tuned!