through the eyes of the Average Joe

Life is out there, we just need to live it

CTRL-ALT-DEL. Again.

By on June 1, 2023

Once again, I am restarting. If I had a dollar for every time I started over, I would have a much different financial outlook, but once again, here we are. I’m in a funk. I’m not sure exactly when it started, but I know it’s been for at least the last several months, if not longer. I’m sure part of it is due to making some progress, then losing it all due to various injuries and life in general. However, most of my issues stem from inflammation and pain while training. I do believe a lot of this is due to my sweet-tooth and I have proven many times that my body is very sensitive to sugar. When I cut out processed sugar completely, I can exercise daily without the help of Ibuprofen. Pretty impressive, yes, but, even though I know the benefits of staying away from sugar, I still struggle to put down the cake, cookies and ice cream. It definitely has a significant impact on my ability to train and live the life I want to live. This “on again, off again” cycle has been going on for the last few years, and has unfortunately resulted in several missed events.

Back in December 2022, I wanted to do the IDIDARIDE event. The IDIDARIDE is a fifty mile mountain bike ride through the White Springs, Florida area. Most of it is off-road, but there are a few areas where paved roads are necessary in order to get to the next trail system. I participated in this event many years ago, and I’ve wanted to do it again ever since. However, life doesn’t care about plans and for one reason or another, I haven’t made it back yet. However, I did sign up for the January 2023 event in December 2022 and I was all set to begin my training. I didn’t have very long to train, but I knew with some hard work and discipline, I could do it. But I didn’t. Injuries, other events, other commitments and a plethora of other “excuses” kept me grounded.  I tucked my tail between my legs and pitifully requested a refund from the event coordinator, which thankfully, was granted. No harm, no foul, right? While it didn’t cost me anything from a financial perspective, it certainly took its toll on my pride and ego. Crushed yet again. I signed up, paid, and had good intentions, but inevitably had to withdraw for whatever ridiculous reason. It is what it is and I cannot cry over spilled milk, or so they say. 

Fast forward to June 1, 2023 and I’m at it again. While I am clearly still in a funk, I’m hoping some consistent accountability can keep me focused and on track. A few months ago, I signed up for the longest event yet, a duathlon in December 2023. The duathlon consists of a 3.1 mile run, followed by a 56 mile bike ride, then finishing up with a half-marathon, which, for those of you who don’t know, is a 13.1 mile run.This will be, by far, the most difficult event I’ve ever trained for, and to keep me focused and on track, I am going to post my progress to my blog. For further accountability, I will post my training on a separate website that anyone can visit to follow my progress. I am doing this for several reasons. One, I’m a computer geek by trade and I like working on stuff like this. Two, I need accountability. If I update my blog and the training site frequently, it will help me to stay motivated as I myself can see my progress or lack thereof. And the final piece of this puzzle will be the tracking of my sugar intake,.I’m not quite sure how I’m going to report it, but it will either be on my blog or my training site. I will not get as detailed as how many grams of sugar I’ve consumed because that would be very difficult to record, but I will place entries somewhere on what was consumed. For example, today, I had two red velvet cupcakes, a Snickers bar and a 20oz bottle of Mountain Dew. While none of that is actually true TODAY, yesterday, I did have two red velvet cupcakes. And that is precisely why I need accountability.  I need to do better both mentally and physically, and that starts with a better diet that doesn’t force me to swim upstream against the current, which is exactly what I’ve been doing over the years by eating too much sugar. 

I have six months to train for this event. I really think I can do it, but it will take all of my will power to make the necessary changes I need to make in order to reach my goal. The plan at the moment is to train over the next six months for the Duathlon in December. If I can stay healthy and limit training interruptions, I will continue my training into 2024 and finally get to participate in the IDIDARIDE in January.


I definitely have my work cut out for me and whether anyone reads this or not, I will continue to post regular updates. I need accountability. I enjoy the technical aspect of creating and maintaining all of the moving pieces and It’s fun to look back to see “where I came from” while I carry on with my journey.

Here’s to new beginnings, even if they are quite frequent.

Cheers!

Visit http://training.joebarbone.com to follow my training activities.



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