Mike's latest post was music to my ears. Well, not really music because he's writing and not singing. But I was happy to hear, I'm not the only one out there trying to come up with ways to deflect the barrage of treats coming my way.

I do have a few tips that might help. I came up with some of these after I returned from hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. My metabolism was burning through food for about two weeks after I finished. My appetite however, was enormous for more than a month. Big problem.

I discovered if I cooked meals for myself, I ate less than if I went to a restaurant. Secondly, I ate tons of small meals throughout the day. Plain yogurt with berries for breakfast, and then about every hour to two hours I would have one of the following: fruit, some carrots, a tiny handful of nuts, some more fruit, maybe some saltines. For lunch, I grabbed fresh spinach, sprouts, tomatoes, a little avocado, cheese, red onions, mustard and threw it into a whole wheat pita or onto some wheat bread. My dinners were never tiny. But I was never famished, so I ate less.

As far as alcohol goes .... avoid egg nog and other creamy alcoholic drinks as well any mixed drinks with soda. A lot of people like to mix vodka with tonic. But tonic can contain 90 calories in an 8 ounce serving. There's always light beer. My husband likes the Michelob Ultra.. I typically drink wine, which isn't necessarily low calorie. But when you compare it to a White Russian, it is.

Finally, I try, try, try to follow this advice. When in training, drink the first, sip the second and refuse the third.

Well I can tell you that I am really excited to begin my quest to complete my first triathlon. I have been trying to find something new and challenging to direct my energy toward in a positive manner and I know this is it. My past experience in athletics and fitness is soccer, football, riding motorcycles, cycling, surfing and weight training. So, as confident as I am that I will be able to complete the triathlon, I am definitley going to be putting the majority of my playtime from now until May into training for this monstrous task.

Cycling will hopefully be one of my strong points. When I was putting a decent amount of attention into it, I was cycling about 100 miles a week. Not really too much for the true roadies out there, but I was pretty happy with it. Unfortunately, I have only been getting in 20 miles here and there as of late. I really do enjoy cycling and the tri will be ininspiring me to get out on the road more often.

The most experience I have in swimming is surfing which is a whole lot different than just going for it without a flotation device. I am plenty willing to learn and would be stoked if anyone could offer me any tips on how I can start getting ready for the 1 mile swim. Think baby steps.

Growing up, I always hated running. Don't get me wrong, I played soccer for over 10 years and whenever we were playing a game I would run like crazy. I just could never find the motivation to run back then. I actually did my first 2 mile run in probably 8 years last week and I found out that I don't hate it anymore. Wooohhoooo! However, I did get some shin splints the days following the run. I am currently trying to learn how to avoid them at all costs.

I'm off to the gym. Please feel free to comment on my blog with any advice. I am open to suggestions .

• Mike D.

It's hard to believe I'm really going to be in a triathlon.  Just thinking of all of the training we're going to be doing is painful but I can't wait to be in shape.  I went running with Javier last night so it's looking like it's on!

Swimming will be a big jump for me as I don't know any fast strokes and have always had trouble timing breathing in the water.  I haven't swam a mile since scout camp and that was doing back stroke.

The biking and running shouldn't be too much of a jump for me although I have not actively done either one of them for some time.  Of course, I've never been in a road race on a bike before or in a 10k run for that matter.  I ran a marathon 3 years ago with my cousin and I've been talked in to a couple of 5ks.  Other then that a jog a quarter and a bike ride every couple of weeks are about all I get in exercise wise in addition to weekly sports.

My exercise over the summer consisted of Ultimate Frisbee and Basketball.  Then I injured my finger playing basketball and haven't really exercised consistently for a couple of months.  Not that I was in that great of shape before hand ... I've been slowly building up a gut since the marathon.

I've never been into weights.  I've always just done push-ups and sit-ups once a day.  Problem is I've stopped doing them over the last year (hence the gut).  I was never perfect at the push-ups and sit-ups before but we're talking like once a month now.   So basically, I'm feeling pretty pathetic.

In high school, I ran cross country and worked at a bike shop.  Of course, back then I didn't really have to prepare much to be competitive.  I just went and did it.  Last night we ran our second mile in around 8 minutes and I was winded - and that's all we ran was  2 miles:)

Now I'm 33, still single and out of shape.  It's time for me to get in shape and to stay in shape.  I'm hoping this triathlon will help me do just that.