So what is Loeys-Dietz? Up until very early January of this year, I had no clue! It was not until I met an amazing woman, Anne, that I found out. Anne has a genetic disorder called Loeys-Dietz Syndrome (LDS) that affects the connective tissue in the body. People with LDS can have complications with their cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, skin and gastrointestinal systems. The majority of individuals with LDS are diagnosed with aneurysms (commonly called enlargements or dilations) of the aortic root. Aneurysms can also be seen in all of the arteries. They monitor for aneurysms since they are at a risk for death due to aortic dissection (aneurysm rupture or tear). Another complication observed in individuals with LDS is cervical-spine instability (instability in the vertebrae directly below the skull). Some with LDS have physical characteristics; others do not.
This past June, I attended the Loeys-Dietz Syndrome Foundation's (LDSF) conference and I was emotionally touched. I met some incredible people! I was amazed to see how so many people with LDS were in high spirits! Many viewed each day as a blessing. A few, as you would expect, were not in high spirits. They all have tough things to work through but many have learned to accept it and move forward with life! The conference is held in Baltimore every two years so it was a reunion of sorts for many of them. A large number of them keep in touch regularly through an amazing support group on Facebook.
While listening to the questions, the answers, the various stories and pep talks during the smaller breakout sessions on the first day, I started to wonder how I could help. I heard several stories about how so many of them truly missed exercising as they once could. I also heard stories about how difficult it is for parents to tell their children that they can not participate in contact sports at school even if they feel fine. Anne use to do strength and/or cardio workouts several days a week prior to being diagnosed with LDS in 2008. She can only, for the most part, swim and do light cardio these days. People living with LDS may never be able to train or even race in triathlons at the intensity that I do! It is highly recommended that they are able to hold a full conversation while exercising so that their heart rate remains low. What?!! No speed work? No tempo ride or runs? No all out sprints! Heck, during some of my workouts, I can barely say a word - except perhaps "awwww"!
I'm blessed to able to do what I do and what I enjoy. I'm not restricted to hold back during exercise. So, I am dedicating my upcoming Ironman race to Anne and all the LDS fighters! I will be competing in my second Ironman at the 2014 Ironman Florida on November 1st, 2014 in Panama City Beach, Florida. During my 2.4-mile swim in the Gulf of Mexico, my 112-mile bike ride, and my 26.2-mile run, I will be wearing custom LDSF apparel!
Take heart and donate now by visiting www.crowdrise.com/imfl. NOTE: We were recently made of aware that Crowdrise tries to charge you a processing fee that you DO NOT HAVE to pay!!! When donating, click on the words "Optional Processing Fee" and select 0%!!! LDSF has to pay a small fee regardless if you pay this optional fee.
Minimum online donation is $10. This is the minimum allowed by the website (Crowdrise) hosting the fundraiser.
You can also donate via a CHECK if you like!!! No processing fee paid by anyone!! :) Please make your check out to "Loeys-Dietz Syndrome Foundation" and simply give or mail to me or Anne. Please contact us for mailing address. Checks will be deposited in October or November since all checks will be provided to LDSF at the end of this fundraiser!
Everyone who donates will receive one FREE raffle ticket per every $25 they donate. Raffle ticket numbers will be emailed to you right after I get back from completing Ironman Florida! Raffle drawing will take place at Lakeview Harbor on November 7th, 2014 at 7:00pm. Lakeview Harbor is located at911 Harrison Ave, New Orleans, LA.
To see the current list of awesome raffle items you could win, visit http://raffle.fitadapted.com.
For more information about LDS, please visit the Loeys-Dietz Syndrome Foundation website.
Fundraising Websites - Crowdrise
(see my post on the re-engineered plan I used for 2014 Ironman Florida)
When I started eating low carb high fat (LCHF), I was avoiding sugars and grains as if my life depended on it. I trained and raced all of 2013 trying not to use sugars. Prior to switching to LCHF, I was using the typical sugary stuff that was not much different from what most people use. For me, the sugary stuff was always too sweet on long training days except when I used a custom formula from Infinit Nutrition. With the custom formula, you can dial up calories, add/reduce this or that, but the best part was you can set the flavor down to near nothing!
So, what the heck was I supposed to do for nutrition if I could not use sugars and trying to avoid products with wheat and dairy?
When I started eating a low carbohydrate high fat (LCHF) diet, I noticed that my athletic performance started to improve once my body made the transition to burning fat over carbs as its fuel source. I had also started Zone 2 training about two or three weeks after I changed my diet. During the first 10 days or so of switching to LCHF, I was extremely sluggish. Not only was my body moving slowly, so was my brain. The sluggishness subsided and the performance improvement started becoming noticeable within a month. I also noticed that my legs did not get the same burning sensations it did when I ran at the faster paces and that my recovery time was cut down substantially! A few podcasts I heard during that time discussed how others eating LCHF had also seen athletic performance gains and had faster recovery times. This totally intrigued me!
In my last post, I went over why I started training using heart rate zones based on maximum heart rate. I wanted to build a good solid “base” so I could continue to improve throughout the year and long term. I also wanted to be very efficient at burning fat. In 2013, for both the bike and run, I trained almost exclusively in Zone 2. I was in the process of becoming fat adapted so I did very little speed work. However, looking back, I should have done some interval or speed work.
So what the heck is training zones anyway?
The title of a recent post says it all about my past training methods, Training Like A Dummy... At the time, I did not know any better. I pushed hard each and every session. Over the next two to three years, I improved my training methods. On November 3rd, 2012, I signed up for Ironman Florida. Therefore, I had to figure out the best way to train quickly. I only had one year to go from a nervous newbie triathlete to a confident well-trained triathlete by November 2nd 2013. I wanted to not only survive Ironman Florida training but to also comfortably finish the 140.6 miles on race day. In order to keep this blog post from being overwhelming long, I broke it up into two posts. This post provides a little history as to why I trained in Zone 2. The next post will cover more detailed information about determining heart rate training zones.
In my previous post, I mentioned how I landed in the emergency room not long after I completed a 10K road race. It was an expensive lesson on how NOT to train. I learned a ton from the experience and it made me change my training methods. However, it still took a couple of years after the lesson for me to figure out how best to train.
First, a little background about how I only knew to training one way - train hard all of the time. In mid-2008 at age 42, I started working out at the gym for the first time in my life. I was enjoying the pains (muscle soreness) and seeing the gains I was making from working out several days a week. By the end of 2008 and early 2009, I was starting to" look in shape" due to weight loss and working out. Although I was being told I looked in shape, I did not feel like I was in shape because I would be exhausted after running a mere mile. So I set a goal to be in shape and to feel like I was in shape. Back then I did not train using a heart rate monitor as I do today. I did not know a thing about heart rate training, not even my maximum heart rate.
