A Heart in its Right Place

Pic: Team Continuum wins the team division at Montaukman

We all know someone who has battled cancer, or who is fighting the fight as we speak. It's so hard to know what to do or say to help, especially when it's someone you love. John is helping a cause that is important to him by raising money to help amazing people like his godfather.

Read about it here: johnhirsch.org

And check out Team Continuum. They raise money to help provide direct assistance for families in hardship due to a cancer diagnosis. I think that's really an awesome thing to do. When my dad was sick we were lucky because his employer continued to pay him while he wasn't able to work. This is incredibly rare and I have met many people who haven't been as lucky. These people are the people who will receive assistance from the efforts of Team Continuum.

Desparate Times, Desparate Measures

I guess it can be hard for guys to get beat by a girl, something that Ironman Bobby actually has first-hand experience with. It also seems that getting beat by a girl (at anything) is even more painful when the girl is your girlfriend. You may have heard of CGBBMGFS (Can't Get Beat By My GF Syndrome) before. The symptoms make the illness easily diagnosable and include but are not limited to:

- shameless begging
- empty promises
- nudity
- exaggeration
- unrealistic expectations of others
- and an inability to accept reality

Here are some textbook examples of a patient suffering from an extreme case of CGBBMGFS. These examples were found on Twitter:

@j_hirsch "RT come on y'all! @IronmanBobby with a week left the interview of @j_hirsch is only 30 downloads behind @holisticgurus: www.Ironmanbobby.com"

@j_hirsch "Peeps, I will get all kinds of naked on the next one, now go to www.ironmanbobby.com so I can beat @holisticguru"

@j_hirsch "@2for1 I know, I know. But seriously, come on peeps, I must get 30 more downloads!!! www.Ironmanbobby.com"

@j_hirsch "@bryanhammer dude, surely you could watch it again from your work machine! Come on people, I NEED this one!"

@j_hirsch "@SKDickey watch it and help me win and I will lower taxes, cut debt bring war or peace (u pick), make jobs, schools, take some clothes off"

@j_hirsch "Judging from my fb status I am close to beating @holisticguru in # of downloads at www.ironmanboby.com go there and download me!"

Often, patients will show symptoms in more than one location. Here, we believe this may be the same patient, but found on Facebook:

"John Hirsch I only need 30 more people to download my interview on www.ironmanbobby.com to beat my gf's interview! come on peeps, go to that site! PLEASE! I must win!"

And in the most desparate cases, symptoms can spread to the blogosphere:

johnhirsch.org

If you believe that you or anyone you know may be suffering from CGBBMGFS, please contact the help center immediately at 1-800-YOU-LOSE. Again, that's 1-800-YOUR-GF-IS-AWESOMER-THAN-YOU

Oh, and check out our informational video here.

Thank you.

If You Are a Pheonix

Today I have a serious story to tell you. I got some great news and I’m excited to share :)

Pic: My dad, my baby sister Nikki and me, taken on a cruise a couple of months after his diagnosis

Background

In 2005 my father was overweight, had high cholesterol, and many of the other typical health concerns that men face in their 50’s. I was graduating from New School University and my family came to NYC for the event. My dad showed up with a large lump on his neck, no big deal. He had gone to get it checked out the day before and the doctor said it looked like a swollen lymphnode. They did some testing anyway. We weren’t concerned.

After graduation I went to visit my family in MA for a couple of weeks before I started a new job. When I visit my family I try to do as much as I can with them, so when my dad said he had an appointment for lab test results I decided to go with him. On the way there I jokingly said to him, “what will you do if they tell you you have cancer?” (always with the dark humor) and my dad responded, “what will YOU do?” Neither one of us thought it would actually happen.

When they called him from the waiting room he said, “Are you staying here or coming? For moral support…” I laughed with him as I followed him into the exam room. I don’t remember much up until the doctor said, “Well Jim, I’m afraid I have some difficult news for you. Your lab results show that you have cancer.” This is the part I remember clearly, I didn’t really HEAR what the doctor had said. I heard it by watching my father. I watched the color drain from his face the way it happens in cartoons. I watched my strong, brave, indestructible father faint in front of me. It was at that point that I became the adult. I was strong, brave and indestructible. I was scared out of my mind. I held him and then I called my mom at work to tell her that our lives were about to change. “Come home”.

From that day EVERYTHING changed. I was living in NYC and driving to Boston every weekend (and any other chance I got). My dad quickly went from bad to worse. He had stage-4 throat cancer and we had no idea what was going to happen. With chemo and radiation he lost energy, weight, and he lost his ability to swallow food. He had to get his calories through a g-tube. He couldn’t do much more than lie on the couch and sleep. He was SO scared for his life and he couldn’t hide it from his four girls or his loving wife. Sometimes we would see his sense of humor sneak through… like when friends would come over and he would make jokes about “having lunch” through his tube, offering some to everyone. I have so many scary memories from that time. The scariest part was that I couldn’t find my dad, but I knew he was in there somewhere.

At the same time I was applying to grad schools. But I just couldn’t focus on completing the applications. I was about to give up when my mom told me she knew of a holistic nutritionist and she thought I’d be really good at doing something like that. I agreed with her and did some searching. I found IIN and everything fell into place. I started school immediately, with a mission to help my dad. I shared everything I learned with my family. I took over his diet. When I wasn’t able to be there I told my mom what to feed him. He was very limited because he had an incredibly difficult time swallowing food but we found certain foods that worked really well for him. Nutritionally we built him back up. We were also keeping his swallowing muscles strong so that he wouldn’t have to live with a g-tube forever.

He started to recover. His chemo and radiation ended and to celebrate he decided to train for the inaugural NYC Half-Marathon and race it with me. He was amazing. He was running/walking 14 miles at a time. He was eating healthy food and he was back to being himself. Throughout this journey it was unlikely for him to pull through his sickness, yet he did. He fought and he won.

Pic: My healthy dad and his healthy lunch last Sunday

Present

A couple of weeks ago I got some fabulous news… my dad got his CT scan results back. He is now CANCER FREE for 3 years!!! He's healthier than he has ever been. In fact, he’s just as passionate about eating well as I am. He’s even inspired other people in his life to take control of their health. In a conversation with him recently he said, “Christine, if I could go back and change anything I WOULDN’T. Cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me.” I agree. Completely. And with my whole heart. I have my dad back… better than new.

For the past several years I have kept this idea at my core. I was having a conversation with my boyfriend about this last night. He actually brought up the topic in reference to his own journey over the past year. You can look at anything terrible or scary that has ever happened and then place your finger on exactly why you should be grateful for it. I try to imagine where I would be without the challenges that I’ve had to face and the events that have molded me. I can appreciate the lessons I’ve learned along the way and the strength I have earned. It’s when you think you’ve been burnt to the ground, or that the rug was pulled out from underneath you… you’ll never get up again. But you have a choice. You can fight. You can pick yourself up. You can learn and grow and take risks and then, suddenly, you might find that you’ve become better than new. That’s when you can look back at your life as it was and recognize that without the bad things, not only would the good things not exist in contrast, but you might lack the ability to recognize or appreciate them anyway.

You wouldn’t change anything. The bad things can be the best things that ever happened.

"god help you if you are a pheonix and you dare to rise up from the ash, a thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy while you are just flying past" -Ani Difranco

Pic: Me and my dad enjoying an ice cream at Old Orchard Beach

Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Recovery

Sunday was the last day of off-season for me (finally). I really missed having the routine of training and I also noticed it was MUCH harder to make healthy eating choices while I was less active. It was also harder to motivate to do anything because I got stuck in lazy mode. I tend to be very Vata, so without routine I can become imbalanced and spin a little out of control. Because of this, taking a break really makes me appreciate my very active lifestyle. I had visions of days filled with working, hiking, rollerblading, yoga and crazy amounts of cooking. Instead I played with a puppy, twittered, played with a puppy, slept, hiked with a puppy and caught up with non-triathlete friends. Believe me, it was far from terrible.



Training

And I have a new coach! I’m really excited about this because I have this friend Phil and I pretty much think whatever he does (triathlon) is what I should do. He used this very same coach for kicking ass at IMLP this year and now that I’m in for next year it’s clear that I should just do whatever Phil did. You can check him out at www.johnhirsch.org.

Monday - was day #1 of my new training plan. It was a rest day. Boy did I feel rested by Tuesday.

Tuesday - ran easy for 45 mins.

Wednesday - went to the pool in my bikini and swam 2500 yds.

Thursday – should have been on my bike for an hour but my bike gears are broken so I spent the bike hour wishing REALLY HARD for a shiny new bike.

Friday – did the famed ZenTriathon Mega Swim Workout. Swam 3000 yds in an hour with rest intervals. I started doing this workout in the summer and it helped make me faster but my arms started to get really buff. I had to cut back on it because boys were afraid to talk to me. It’s like aqua-steroids.

Diet

During my “off-season” (it was 4 weeks), I gained a little bit of weight. If you know me in person you know that this is NOT a bad thing at all. I’m not underweight and I’m within a healthy range, but I need to work at my diet to keep weight on when I train a lot. So for 4 weeks I stuck with a healthy diet but it was a very relaxed healthy diet. I had treats, I paid less attention to increasing protein and I obviously didn’t eat any training foods. I was still eating gluten-free and mostly vegetarian (more on that later). I noticed that the less active I was, the more food I ate AND the more junk I craved. This is a perfect example of the Primary and Secondary Food theory that I teach to my clients. Anyway, I don’t have “skinny” jeans and “fat” jeans but I do apparently have “off-season” and “on-season” jeans. I made the switch and appreciated my new WOMANLY figure (boobs and butt). Normally I look more like a tall little boy :)

So now that I’m back on with my training I’m also back on with my training diet. I already notice the difference in my cravings and hunger level. My on-season plan is simple:

- start my day with my Nutiva Hemp Shake
- plan my meals around vegetables then add protein and carbs/grains
- continue keeping my diet free of wheat (because I have a wheat sensitivity)
- consume minimal amounts of caffeine, alcohol, dairy (yogurt is an exception), sugar and processed foods



I have to say that this healthy eating and awesome training has both improved and become easier because I have so much support from my boyfriend. I’m so grateful and feel very lucky to have him in my life… which is not to say that I would discredit past relationships, every one has been valuable and beautiful in its own way. I’ve always been a lucky girl.

I Feel Pretty

Just a quick funny story... I'm blogging it because it was too long to tweet :)

So this week I'm back in the pool because I started a brand spankin' new training plan. I also recently moved into a new apartment and have been unable to locate my "sporty" swimsuit in my yet-to-be-unpacked boxes. My dilemma: the thought of wasting my new coach's time by missing workouts already was depressing... so I went to the pool anyway, armed with the only swimsuit I could find (a pretty white string bikini complete with sparkles, flowers and sequins). I wore an old race swim cap in hopes that people (other triathletes) might still take me seriously.

Today was my second swim in this fabulous get-up. I was doing a crazy hard interval workout by Brett and at one point a man stopped me and said, "yoo muss be european". So I was all, "why? are europeans wicked fast swimmers too?" and he was like, "no, becuss yoo are weering ze string beekeenee".

So much for being a badass.

I Eat Boys Like Bobby for Breakfast: ToughGirl Race Report

Once again, the fun began at the HFWT the day before the race. It was awesome having everyone together to fit bikes, go to packet pick-up, and chow down. I love hanging with my buds before, after and even during tri-events. That's what it's all about for me. THANK YOU to Kate and Phil for always having your doors open.

This was my first official half-iron distance triathlon. The course was definitely Tough and the run was INSANE, which I kinda loved. I was also racing @IronmanBobby because he decided to pick on a girl and I wanted to teach him a lesson.

Since people ask me all the time about training and racing foods (for some reason) I'll include my nutrition details. For breakfast I had 2 eggs, gluten free toast, water and coffee.

I have to admit, I was a bit nervous before the race. I don't race often so I don't have a great pre-race set-up and packing routine. I was sure I'd forget something. My main focus was to get through the swim because that's the part that makes me the most anxious. Before the swim I had a delicious banana since breakfast was a few hours earlier. Starting the swim was weird because the water was shallow (hip level) and everyone was walking out pretty far. Someone once told me that as long as your hands aren't touching the bottom you should be swimming. So I started swimming as soon as I could. The water was choppy and it made it hard to know if I was staying on course. And it tasted funny. I know, I'm not supposed to drink it.

Swim: 37:23

Coming out of the water I was told that I was in second place (in my race against Bobby) but I wasn't concerned. I knew he'd beat me in the swim. T1 was slow because I was thinking about how much I hate triathlon and that it was stupid that I signed up for IMLP 2010. On the way out a guy fell over next to me or I pushed him. I can't remember. I thought he was Bobby.

T1: 2:31

I started out taking it easy on the bike to save a bit for the run (where I would squish Bobby). I was also on a borrowed bike and didn't want to crash (again) so I needed more time to get used to it. Once I settled in I started my gel every hour and race cookie at halfway plan. At about the 8 mile point I heard someone yell "Go Holisticguru!!!" and I was all, "who the heck was that?" I thought about who came to the race with me and none of my peeps volunteered. This guy was wearing a volunteer shirt. So then I realized I didn't know him. He knew me. Then I realized I was famous. Then I was thinking how am I going to wear a big floppy hat and oversized sunglasses when I'm racing so that I'm not always recognized by my crazed fans? Then I realized I was getting ahead of myself. Regardless, that guy got me all pumped and that was the moment when I started racing. His name was @IronmanLongRunr.

The rest of the bike was hilly and fun. I started to think about how much I love triathlon and how psyched I am that I registered for IMLP 2010.

Bike: 3:25:18

As I got closer to transition I saw Bobby already on the run but walking up a hill. He was pretty far ahead of me but the fact that he was walking meant that I could likely catch him. Even if he just walked up the hills. T2 was uneventful.

T2: ?

As I exited the park I ate a race cookie. I was on a mission and I set out to catch Bobby, with a HUGE smile on my face. I LOVE running and I decided that my run goal would be not to walk, not even for a second, no matter how tough it got. At mile 4 I passed Phil coming from the other direction as he was almost done with the race. There was a guy in front of me (#111) and I decided to keep him in my sight. I liked his pace. Running over the dam was beeyouteeful and it led to a switchbacky trail nightmare. The kind of nightmare I live for. I didn't walk even though most people did. I caught #111 and ran with him while chatting him up instead of walking. Just before the turn around I saw Grant and he told me that he saw Bobby ahead of me but I would cach him because he was taking walk breaks. I gave him a high five as a thank you for the information. Then I saw Bobby (after he passed the turn around) and he said that I would catch him by mile 9. I picked up the pace and #111 came with me :)

After the second time crossing the dam there was a huge downhill. I was going to warn my new friend that I run SUPERFAST downhill but decided to surprise him. He couldn't keep up. I dropped him. Running downhill, out of his life forever. I bet I'm his girl who got away.

Meanwhile, I was having a gel every hour and water at almost every aid station. I kept thinking everyone in front of me was Bobby. I climbed the Fake Bobbies like a ladder until I caught him at mile 11. He was taking a walk break (turns out he had a run/walk plan that worked really well for him). I told him to run with me, slowly, and we could finish holding hands. He said we had 17 minutes to run 2 miles and finish under 6 hours. I thought that would be pretty sweet but knew it was too early to pick up the pace without having my wheels fall off. Bobby decided to try anyway and ran ahead. Wicked fast. As the distance between us grew, as I was holding steady, Bobby was screaming and cheering for me "COME ON GURU! LET'S DO THIS!" At that moment I loved Bobby and I loved triathlon and racing. I also missed Coach Adam because if he was there screaming at me I would have been running a 6 min mile the rest of the way.

Sadly, Bobby blew up in the last quarter mile. He was walking again and I tried to get him to come with me. He just cheered for me and told me to keep going. He rocks.

I sprinted to the finish hearing "here comes #234, Christine from NYC, with an impressive sprint to be finishing a HIM".

Run: 1:57:59

Phil, Kate and John were waiting there for me at the finish. I was SO happy to have them there. As soon as I collected my hugs, a bee stung me on the neck. Asshole.

1st HIM finish time: 6:03:09

6th in my AG

Thank you again to Phil and Kate for being the awesomest kind of friends. Thank you to John for lending me pretty much everything I needed and for being a kick ass athletic supporter. And thank you to Bobby for pushing me (he ended up with a 45 minute PR).

I've been so many places

I've traveled all over Europe, but the US is foreign to me. I grew up on the East coast, I've stayed somewhat local, I've been to the states that touch my own. I went to Florida when I was too young to remember and SF twice to visit friends and attend a wedding. That's about it. This summer I decided to go on tour. Or, well, it sort of happened that way. The best part is that I can call it "work" even though its been exhaustingly fun. If I manage to squeeze in a podcast or an interview, counseling sessions or a blog post, I'm working. If I laugh until my abs are sore I'm playing. Most of the time I'm doing both. I love what I do.

*The fun (hard work) started the last weekend in June with our Mega Deth Training Weekend in Lake Placid. Then I flew to TX to finally meet Texafornia in real life. I laughed and "worked" my ass off there.

Some Texass cactus. I wasn't skeered.

*From TX I took the following week/end with the fam in MA for a race that I completely flaked out of by not registering in time. I ended up having a beautiful solo ride along the MA/NH coast instead, which I can't wait to do again.

*Then I flew to Oregon to visit my good friend and web designer Molly Bermea. It was an awesome non-triathlon related weekend. We went rafting and hiking and I got to relax, a lot. We even ended up on a CA beach at one point (which I am SO counting as a destination when I tally up my summer travels).

*After OR I had less than a day in NYC before packing up and heading back to Lake Placid for IMLP. That totally rocked. And yes, I completed my self-supported HIMs and had a ton of fun. All the guys had a great Ironman day and I signed up for IMLP 2010 (no biggie).

This is what the sky looked like after I registered for IMLP. I think it's a good sign.

*During my Lake Placid trip I took 2 separate days to be the airport limousine service for some friends to Burlington, VT. While I was there I made a day (or 2) of it.

This is the car I drove to VT. The car happens to be ON A BOAT.

*Back to NYC for 3 days then to Block Island for a visit and a race. John won the BI sprint overall and I scored 1st in my AG. I should race more. So I'm gonna.

Yesterday I had a blast at Coney Island. Thursday I'll be at an amusement park in Bristol, CT. Saturday I head to West Virginia for a race. Virginia is for lovers, not workers. When do I work? This IS work. My life RULEZ.