JeffDauler

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Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:11:53 -0500

APPRECIATION

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:53:34 -0500

This is the most recent blog I wrote for CNN. I wrote it while reflecting on the kick-off weekend, when all of the triathlon participants and the CNN crew met and hung out for the first time.

Look At All This STUFF!

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:47:14 -0500

CNN totally hooked all of us on the FitNation team with the tools we need to dominate and document the Malibu Triathlon in September.

For cycling supplies, we went to Atlanta Cycling to get fitted for our bikes, and we also got a helmet, shoes, pedals, and cleats.

- Garneau bike shoes and helmet
- Shimano pedals & cleats
- Cannondale Synapse Carbon 5 105 performance road bike

For measuring our performance while we train, we all received a Garmin Forerunner 310XT.

To document the experience for CNN and our own personal archives, they gave us each a GoPro HD Hero2 camera, waterproof housing, handlebar clamp, and head strap.

FuelBelt gave us race laces, race number belt, water bottle and bike bottle-holder, 2 & 4-bottle fuel belts, palm water bottle, belt water bottle, and a visor.

We also got swim fins, The Complete Idiots Guide To Triathlon Training, assorted water bottles, t-shirts, backpacks, and notebooks.

In addition to the ‘official’ goodies, fellow teammate Nancy gave all of us a small ‘Positivity’ bracelet to wear and Carlos brought us each a bit of Malibu sand to remind us where we are headed. One of last years triathletes, Nina, gave us each a journal with a touching personal inscription.

It’s been exactly one month since Dr. Gupta came in studio...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:00:06 -0500

It’s been exactly one month since Dr. Gupta came in studio and announced that I was a member of CNN’s ‘Lucky 7’ and would be joining him for the Malibu Triathlon in September.

I’m still alive. And I still laugh at how shocked all of my Bert Show family was.

Life Moves Pretty Fast

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:58:18 -0500

I wrote a blog for CNN about my new time management rules. You can click here to read it: http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/01/future-triathlete-its-time-to-schedule-everything/

Below are the steps I took to implement what I wrote about. I hope they’re helpful, and please use the comments if you have ideas or tricks that work for you.

Here’s how I did it, once I decided to do it:

- I made a master list of EVERYTHING I had to do. Errands, phone calls, work meetings, personal obligations, work-outs, parties, haircuts, laundry, meals. All of it. Seriously … everything that would take more than one minute of time went on one sheet of paper.

- I used Google calendar to start inputting it all. And once I did that, other things came to mind, like ‘pack for trip’ when I put in a trip. Or ‘grocery shop’ when I was blocking out meals. I was VERY honest about how much time things would take. If I had a dinner, I would include time to get to and from the restaurant. I was blown away at how much time is ‘used.’ Leaving something off or underestimating the time is cheating. It’ll make you feel like you failed and it will stress you out. Better to budget for an hour and have it only take 40 minutes than the other way around.

- Lump things together, like ‘phone calls’ and then in the
description put a list of everyone I owed a call to. ‘Errands near work’ included a list of things near my radio station, etc. And overlap things. I return calls while running errands. I cook and do laundry at the same time.

- I looked at the calendar CONSTANTLY and I added stuff to the calendar CONSTANTLY. And I stuck by it. If I was on the phone with someone that I budgeted 15 minutes for, I would tell them at the start ‘I’ve got something coming up at 7:30, so I wanted to call you while I had a free 15 minutes! How have you been?’ Once you have the schedule, you are accountable to something … and you see how jacked up your night / tomorrow / week will be if that 15 minute call goes for 60 minutes. Once you have that perspective, it gets MUCH easier to manage those who try to occupy your time.

I like this better than the Chobani.

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 09:38:10 -0500

I like this better than the Chobani.

Saturday: I had a hamburger served in a GLAZED DONUT. (Relax,...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:24:39 -0500

Saturday: I had a hamburger served in a GLAZED DONUT. (Relax, food po-po. I split it with a buddy.) Appropriately named the Sublime Burger, you can enjoy this decadence at Cypress Street Pint and Plate.

Sunday: My biggest fear is to be with all my FitNation teammates and not be able to find a bike helmet to fit this dome. I was at Dick’s on Sunday afternoon, and decided to try some on all by myself. Success!

Today: I received a text from my friend(?) ‘Souper’ Jenny Levison instructing me to ‘put on my big girl panties’ and meet her at a spin class today at noon. After blowing her off last week, I have no choice but to meet her there. My first one. Wish me luck …

Yesterday vs Today

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 14:25:02 -0500

Yesterday was shitty.

Food was delivered to the station in the morning, and I ate too much of it. Then I got fast food for lunch. Then I had a frozen pizza for dinner. No physical activity. If I was being graded on my health … I failed yesterday. Big time.

But today is a new day, and (so far) it’s going well. I’ve already had one little victory, and I’m pretty proud of it.

I’m meeting a friend for lunch, and just as I arrived at the restaurant he sent me a text. He would be about 30 or 45 minutes late. Rather than sit at the bar and have two beers and a snack, like the old Jeff would’ve done, I left the restaurant. I went for a 30 minute walk around the neighborhood. The weather was beautiful, and it was neat to see this part of town as a pedestrian.

Old Jeff would’ve consumed over 600 calories while waiting. New Jeff burned 160 calories while waiting. That’s a 760 calorie swing.

Still pissed about yesterday’s poor performance, but not letting that sabotage my mission. Today is a new day … a chance to be a little bit better than (and make up for the mistakes of) yesterday.

"Steadily, methodically create a GREAT life by stacking up one good decision after another."

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:30:06 -0500

“Steadily, methodically create a GREAT life by stacking up one good decision after another.”

- From my good friend, Coy Wire.

Little things count, like fruit instead of potatoes at...

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:09:58 -0500

Little things count, like fruit instead of potatoes at breakfast.

"Just keep moving forward. No matter how slow you go, you’re still lapping everyone on the..."

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:40:06 -0500

“Just keep moving forward. No matter how slow you go, you’re still lapping everyone on the couch.”

- I received as a comment on one of my posts from a person who made a similar journey as I am taking. Check out her blog: Swim Bike Mom.

"…your dedication, determination, and positive response to your journey has been so encouraging..."

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:49:53 -0500

“…your dedication, determination, and positive response to your journey has been so encouraging to me. I have gone from smoking a little more then half a pack of cigarettes a day to 4 or 5 tops. It’s a start and I’m going to keep improving.”

- I’ve gotten emails every day since announcing the triathlon with statements similar to what this person wrote. They BLOW ME AWAY. So humbled and happy about all of this.

I HATE TUESDAY

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:57:31 -0500

If there is one day of the week where I find myself more tired and unmotivated … it’s usually Tuesday. Something to be aware of and prepare for going forward.

Today wasn’t a great eating day AND I did ZERO fitness.

The good news is, I’m motivated for tomorrow. And, I’ll do some push-ups before bed.

And, I just got word from my Coach that she’ll be sending my training calendar over in the near future. Excited about that.

My Complex Training Program, In Depth

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 21:30:00 -0500

Lots of questions about the training programs and nutrition plans I’ll be following as I prepare for the Malibu Triathlon in September. I don’t really have anything specific yet .. but I will. I have some general guidelines: move more and eat better.

FITNESS & EXERCISE

The fitness goal right now is just to start moving. I’ve been walking / jogging for about a week, and I got in the pool tonight for about an hour. I’m going to write a longer post in a few days about the walking and jogging, as I’ve actually been dabbling in that for about 2 years now after a decade (plus) of no real activity of any sort. In the meantime, just move.

Find 15 minutes or 30 minutes or an hour just a few times a week and walk. Twice this week, start your lunch break walking outside for 10 minutes in one direction, then come back to the office. Saturday morning, walk 20 minutes up your street then come back. Sunday evening, take a 40 minute stroll around the hood. Guess what? You just walked for two hours. Do that for a month, you just walked 8 hours. Do it for a year, and you’ll clock over 100 hours of movement that you did not have last year.

NUTRITION & DIET

The nutrition goal is to simply start to think about what I’m eating, and make a few better decisions with those choices. Like I said here a few days ago … small things add up. Baby steps. Fleming’s brought food into the studio this AM … GREAT food. Mac & cheese, two different preparations of potatoes, steak, cheesecake. It was heavenly, and I had some. But not as much as I would have had a month ago. I prepared a plate with a few bites of steak, a bit of the mac & cheese, and a bit of the one potato that looked the tastiest. Just two (and by two, I mean three) bites of each. 2011 Jeff would have had a whole steak, a dinner-sized potion of the mac & cheese, and a slice of cheesecake … maybe a slice and a half.

So that’s the extent of my ‘program’ right now. Easy enough, right? I know you can do it too, in your own small way. Just have to decide, right now, to do it.

This was my afternoon snack today. My first experience with...

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:13:00 -0500

This was my afternoon snack today. My first experience with greek yogurt, and it was good!

21 Days

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:10:00 -0500

Remember what most experts say, and what Dr. Gupta mentioned when he was on the show last week:

It takes 21 days to change a habit.

21 days of forcing a new behavior in place of a bad one before it becomes your new ‘normal.’

The good news: If you start today, the bad will be gone and the good will be ‘normal’ by February 1.

Go.

I wanted to say congratulations on deciding to do a triathlon. I'll be sure to pray for your strength physically, as well as mentally, while you prepare. :)

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 20:06:13 -0500

Thank you so much!

Sunday Smart Decision

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 12:43:46 -0500

Baby steps.

Knowing that I’d be watching the Falcons game at a bar with beer and wings in close proximity, and eventually in my belly … I made a smart decision this AM.

Breakfast was a handful of almonds.

I REALLY wanted a Goldberg’s bagel with cream cheese. But I didn’t.

A small decision, but all the small ones add up, right?

Blog #1 For CNN

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:17:00 -0500

Blog #1 For CNN:

I’ll be updating this site pretty regularly, and I’m also going to be blogging from time to time for the folks over at CNN. Here’s my first entry for them. I’ll link all future ones here.

Took a walk as soon as I got up this morning because it was 50...

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 10:26:00 -0500

Took a walk as soon as I got up this morning because it was 50 degrees outside and this was the sunrise. Seriously? On January 7? I’ll take it …