I woke up this morning with a lot of pain in my hip. I know it was something I did during our run yesterday since it hurt when I went to bed. When I stood up out of my bed, I felt like my leg was gonna shoot straight up through my hip and into my rib cage. It hurt real bad.
I popped a few advil and iced it at the recommendation of my wife. That made it feel a little better.
Throughout the day, I was wondering if I would be able to do our bike ride tonight. It was supposed to be 20 miles, but I wasn't even sure I could do 2. As the day went on, my hip started feeling better. By the time my wife got home from work around 4:30, I had decided that I was gonna give it a try.
Boy did I. And when I say I, I mean we.
We did the same route we did last Monday. Except this time, we cut 5 minutes off of our time and averaged a full mph faster. 16.4 to be exact. There were a few times that I felt like an engine. My legs were like pistons firing away. I think I had a cadence somewhere between 90 and 100 while on slight inclines that made me feel like I was going down hill. It was wonderful.
Lesson for me today? Don't make decisions too soon. Wait it out and see what happens. You may be surprised at what you can accomplish if you just give things time to develop.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Day 15
My wife and I went for a long run today. 6 miles.
I spent my day at work dreading the very idea of this run. 6 miles is far for a big guy like myself. I also wasn't sure that I would make it through pain free. Turns out I didn't, but isn't that running?
I had to remind myself periodically that I cannot set limits for myself. I can do anything. It's nice to surprise yourself sometimes.
I used the idea of "chunking" to get through it all. I divided the run into a few different parts in my head. It's easier to get through when you feel like you're making progress. I also managed to map a run that was basically three of our normal runs combined. I got through the first one, no problem. Moved into the second part and I felt like I was flying. There was a large section of trail, which is fun, but it's definitely more difficult than road running... easier on the knees, but harder to run on. The last bit on the road felt like I was finishing up our normal 3 miler. Maybe because it was the same end, maybe because I was feeling good.
I noticed a little tweaking of different joints and muscles here and there. Foot, knee, hip, shoulder. Yeah... shoulder. When I got home, I took my shoes off really quick because I thought I had something in my shoe that was bothering me. Wrong. I have a blister. A big one. I'm hoping that it heals up before I need to run again on Wednesday.
The Garmin we use to track our speed wouldn't find the satellite, so we just clocked it. 58:23. That averages to a 9:41 mile. Not bad. I think our natural pace is somewhere between a 9:30 and 10:00 mile. I'm happy with our run tonight. Lots of workouts scheduled for the rest of the week. Looking forward to it.
I spent my day at work dreading the very idea of this run. 6 miles is far for a big guy like myself. I also wasn't sure that I would make it through pain free. Turns out I didn't, but isn't that running?
I had to remind myself periodically that I cannot set limits for myself. I can do anything. It's nice to surprise yourself sometimes.
I used the idea of "chunking" to get through it all. I divided the run into a few different parts in my head. It's easier to get through when you feel like you're making progress. I also managed to map a run that was basically three of our normal runs combined. I got through the first one, no problem. Moved into the second part and I felt like I was flying. There was a large section of trail, which is fun, but it's definitely more difficult than road running... easier on the knees, but harder to run on. The last bit on the road felt like I was finishing up our normal 3 miler. Maybe because it was the same end, maybe because I was feeling good.
I noticed a little tweaking of different joints and muscles here and there. Foot, knee, hip, shoulder. Yeah... shoulder. When I got home, I took my shoes off really quick because I thought I had something in my shoe that was bothering me. Wrong. I have a blister. A big one. I'm hoping that it heals up before I need to run again on Wednesday.
The Garmin we use to track our speed wouldn't find the satellite, so we just clocked it. 58:23. That averages to a 9:41 mile. Not bad. I think our natural pace is somewhere between a 9:30 and 10:00 mile. I'm happy with our run tonight. Lots of workouts scheduled for the rest of the week. Looking forward to it.
Start of Week 3
Discouraging morning so far. I am back to square one on weight... 259.
I'm more annoyed about it than I am concerned, though. I hate to make excuses, but it was my birthday weekend. I drank and ate farm more than was necessary, but damnit I had a good time. The lack of concern comes from what I know will be my week this week.
We changed our training schedule for the half marathon to try to hit our peak a little sooner so we can do the Atlantic City Half Marathon. Because of my bike ride on Saturday, it threw off our normal training week. In order to fit in our long runs, still have a few bike rides, and some shorter runs... here's what the next 7 days looks like...
Monday - 6 mile run
Tuesday - 20 mile ride
Wednesday - 4 mile run
Thursday - 3 mile run
Friday - 57 mile ride
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - 7 mile run
The training is too intense to even want to drink alcohol. As long as I can manage my food intake a little better, I should be fine for weight loss. I might even get back on track. Wish me and my legs luck.
Also, I did my push-up test this morning. I got 30.
I'm more annoyed about it than I am concerned, though. I hate to make excuses, but it was my birthday weekend. I drank and ate farm more than was necessary, but damnit I had a good time. The lack of concern comes from what I know will be my week this week.
We changed our training schedule for the half marathon to try to hit our peak a little sooner so we can do the Atlantic City Half Marathon. Because of my bike ride on Saturday, it threw off our normal training week. In order to fit in our long runs, still have a few bike rides, and some shorter runs... here's what the next 7 days looks like...
Monday - 6 mile run
Tuesday - 20 mile ride
Wednesday - 4 mile run
Thursday - 3 mile run
Friday - 57 mile ride
Saturday - Rest
Sunday - 7 mile run
The training is too intense to even want to drink alcohol. As long as I can manage my food intake a little better, I should be fine for weight loss. I might even get back on track. Wish me and my legs luck.
Also, I did my push-up test this morning. I got 30.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Healthy Meal 1: Chicken & Spinach Tacos
Tonight my wife and I were relaxing in front of the TV when she told me she was starting to get hungry and generously offered to let me cook by saying, "Want to try to make one of your healthy meals tonight!?"
Sure. What do we have?
So I look around in the fridge and in the pantry to start generating an idea. I start with the chicken and spinach. How can I make this work well? Not too hard to do, I guess, but I wanted to make it interesting. I decided on chicken tacos. But what else can I use?
Ingredients:
1 package of chicken
1 bunch of spinach, washed
4 hard or soft taco shells
1/3 sweet onion
1/2 tomato OR 1/2 can of diced tomato, drained
shredded cheddar cheese
extra virgin olive oil
garlic powder
salt
pepper
I chose to use a can of petite diced tomato with green chili peppers for my recipe.
Start off with the prep work. Rinse your baby spinach well in a colander.
Next, dice up your onion into small pieces.
Last for prep is to slice up the raw chicken. Slice it thin, about a half inch wide, and make strips that are about 2-3 inches long.
Now it's time to start cooking.
Heat about 1-2 Tbs of olive oil in a large pan. Once the oil is hot, throw the onions into the pan.
Once the onions are translucent, add the tomatoes. Let this mixture simmer for a few minutes until the juice reduces. Put the mixture into a bowl for later.
Rinse your pan and toss a little more oil on it. Let that heat up and then put your chicken on. Season the chicken with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook until the chicken begins to brown.
Once the chicken is done, it's time to eat.
Put down a layer of spinach on a soft taco shell and then layer the chicken, tomato and onion mixture, and then top it with a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese.
My wife eats gluten free, so she doesn't normally eat soft taco shells. She made hers in hard taco shells and they looked beautiful!
If you decide to make this recipe, let me know how you like it! I'm not sure what the calories are in it, but I know that it's healthy. My wife always tells me to "eat the rainbow." That's not a skittles commercial. She means to make sure I eat lots of foods with a large variety of color. Just look at the picture and you can see the different colors. I've got red, green, white, and orange all on one plate. There's plenty of protein, at least 1 serving of fruits/veggies, if not two, as well as some dairy and a grain. That hits all of the major food groups and I must say... this tasted pretty delicious. Try it out!
Push-ups
We forgot to do our push-ups yesterday. Maybe forgot isn't the right word. We chose not to do the push-ups after our 50 mile bike ride... except we continually reminded each other that we had push-ups to do yesterday until we ran out of time. So we did them this morning.
Today, our push-up workout was 5 sets in the amounts of 16, 17, 14, 14, and then a max out set of at least 20. That's a minimum of 81 push-ups.
This was going to be the first time I would attempt to go beyond my initial max-out test results of 19. And I was gonna try to do it after 4 sets.
Turns out the push-up workouts are working. My abs were still sore from the last workout we did. Also, I was breezing through the first few sets. When it got to our max out set, I was a little nervous, but I was also feeling pretty good. I hit 5, 10, 15, and then 20 push-ups. But kept going. I squeaked out 24. 85 push-ups this morning.
Tomorrow, we'll take a test to see if we can continue on to week 3 or if we need to repeat week 2.
I'm pretty confident that I'll move into week 3, but I'm a little nervous about the workouts that are coming. If I get into the third category, which I fully expect to, I'm going to be doing A LOT of push-ups next week. It's scary, but I also know that I'm setting limits for myself that I shouldn't.
If you set limits for yourself, ignore them, and bust through them. Don't hold back on anything just to make life easier for yourself down the road.
Today, our push-up workout was 5 sets in the amounts of 16, 17, 14, 14, and then a max out set of at least 20. That's a minimum of 81 push-ups.
This was going to be the first time I would attempt to go beyond my initial max-out test results of 19. And I was gonna try to do it after 4 sets.
Turns out the push-up workouts are working. My abs were still sore from the last workout we did. Also, I was breezing through the first few sets. When it got to our max out set, I was a little nervous, but I was also feeling pretty good. I hit 5, 10, 15, and then 20 push-ups. But kept going. I squeaked out 24. 85 push-ups this morning.
Tomorrow, we'll take a test to see if we can continue on to week 3 or if we need to repeat week 2.
I'm pretty confident that I'll move into week 3, but I'm a little nervous about the workouts that are coming. If I get into the third category, which I fully expect to, I'm going to be doing A LOT of push-ups next week. It's scary, but I also know that I'm setting limits for myself that I shouldn't.
If you set limits for yourself, ignore them, and bust through them. Don't hold back on anything just to make life easier for yourself down the road.
Day 14: Birthday Update
Hey, did anyone know that a hurricane came through here last night?
I haven't been posting much in the last few days because we've been really nervous about Irene coming through. My family has a beach house in Cape May that I'm still worried about, but it looks like we're gonna be fine here in PA.
Because of the state of emergency along the NJ coast, we couldn't get down to the beach house to secure it. My parents told me that they were having some friends down there move some furniture inside for us, but I really wanted to get down there to do some stuff to secure the house last week. If we find out that things were real bad down there, I'm sure I'll be down this week at some point to pick up the pieces.
I learned that I'm a little bit of a control freak. I don't like to feel like I have no control in a situation, whether it comes to small stuff like driving, or big stuff like weather. Maybe I need to work on the little stuff.
Yesterday was my 26th birthday. To celebrate, my wife, brother, and friend went on a 50 mile bike ride with me. It was a lot of fun. We were hopeful that we wouldn't get hit with the hurricane before we made it back, at least to the cars if not the apartment. After the second rest stop at mile 25 or so, we got annihilated with rain. Luckily, the downpour only last about 15 minutes or so.
We got to ride wet for a while, but eventually made it back to the start/stop area and had a great lunch. The rest stops on this ride were also really great. Lots of baked goods, shot blocks, gels, and one stop even had a gluten free section that my wife could enjoy.
When we got back to our apartment, we had a few beers, showers, and then relaxed until a few more friends showed up. We went out to dinner and then came home to enjoy some more beverages before going to bed.
This morning, my friends left early. Now I'm at home with my wife, relaxing, and enjoying some time with her. Today's also a rest day from working out, which is great. Although, I am looking forward to my run tomorrow...
I haven't been posting much in the last few days because we've been really nervous about Irene coming through. My family has a beach house in Cape May that I'm still worried about, but it looks like we're gonna be fine here in PA.
Because of the state of emergency along the NJ coast, we couldn't get down to the beach house to secure it. My parents told me that they were having some friends down there move some furniture inside for us, but I really wanted to get down there to do some stuff to secure the house last week. If we find out that things were real bad down there, I'm sure I'll be down this week at some point to pick up the pieces.
I learned that I'm a little bit of a control freak. I don't like to feel like I have no control in a situation, whether it comes to small stuff like driving, or big stuff like weather. Maybe I need to work on the little stuff.
Yesterday was my 26th birthday. To celebrate, my wife, brother, and friend went on a 50 mile bike ride with me. It was a lot of fun. We were hopeful that we wouldn't get hit with the hurricane before we made it back, at least to the cars if not the apartment. After the second rest stop at mile 25 or so, we got annihilated with rain. Luckily, the downpour only last about 15 minutes or so.
We got to ride wet for a while, but eventually made it back to the start/stop area and had a great lunch. The rest stops on this ride were also really great. Lots of baked goods, shot blocks, gels, and one stop even had a gluten free section that my wife could enjoy.
When we got back to our apartment, we had a few beers, showers, and then relaxed until a few more friends showed up. We went out to dinner and then came home to enjoy some more beverages before going to bed.
This morning, my friends left early. Now I'm at home with my wife, relaxing, and enjoying some time with her. Today's also a rest day from working out, which is great. Although, I am looking forward to my run tomorrow...
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Day 10
My wife and I had a run planned for today. 4 miles. It felt great.
We ran our normal 3 mile route with a few extra blocks here and there. On our way back, I was really feeling great. I got to wear a new pair of socks and a new pair of compression shorts. I'm not sure if that was the real factor, but it sure didn't hurt. I could have gone farther. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's 3 miles.
I want to discuss an element of wellness that I was thinking about today as well. I was at a Wawa, probably somewhere I shouldn't have been, but I was getting something for my wife... and ended up getting myself something as well. But that's not the point of the story. I was in line behind a woman who was walking up to the check-out with a 1/2 gallon of milk. When she got up to the counter, she asked the guy for a case of cigarettes. I forget what brand but that's not important. I happened to eaves drop on the price. 60 bucks. 60 BUCKS for a 1/2 gallon of milk and a case of cigarettes. I can't imagine the milk was more than 3 bucks.
Holy hell.
First of all, my personal experience with smoking has been a burning piece of bamboo when I was about 10. I felt nauseous for days. I obviously have no desire to ruin my health with cigarettes. Even if I did, I'm relatively certain that I would never be able to afford the cost of those things!
My birthday is this weekend, and I have been asked numerous times what I want for my birthday. I don't usually have a good answer for this question. Most of the stuff that I want costs much more than I think a birthday present should cost. But I know I can tell you quite a few things that I would want with 120 bucks, what I imagine that woman spends on cigarettes every month. A new pair of bib shorts for cycling. Running shoes. Gels (for energy). Books. Compression shirts. Shorts. Sunglasses.
I'm sure if I spent more time on it, I'd be able to come up with a bunch of other things.
Why would people spend so much money on something that causes cancer and ruins their health when they can buy so many things with that money that would enable them to be more healthy and enjoy life!? It just doesn't make any sense to me!
This does make me reevaluate my choices, sometimes. What am I spending money on that isn't necessary? What can I get with that money I saved that will make me more healthy and support my new lifestyle?
We ran our normal 3 mile route with a few extra blocks here and there. On our way back, I was really feeling great. I got to wear a new pair of socks and a new pair of compression shorts. I'm not sure if that was the real factor, but it sure didn't hurt. I could have gone farther. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's 3 miles.
I want to discuss an element of wellness that I was thinking about today as well. I was at a Wawa, probably somewhere I shouldn't have been, but I was getting something for my wife... and ended up getting myself something as well. But that's not the point of the story. I was in line behind a woman who was walking up to the check-out with a 1/2 gallon of milk. When she got up to the counter, she asked the guy for a case of cigarettes. I forget what brand but that's not important. I happened to eaves drop on the price. 60 bucks. 60 BUCKS for a 1/2 gallon of milk and a case of cigarettes. I can't imagine the milk was more than 3 bucks.
Holy hell.
First of all, my personal experience with smoking has been a burning piece of bamboo when I was about 10. I felt nauseous for days. I obviously have no desire to ruin my health with cigarettes. Even if I did, I'm relatively certain that I would never be able to afford the cost of those things!
My birthday is this weekend, and I have been asked numerous times what I want for my birthday. I don't usually have a good answer for this question. Most of the stuff that I want costs much more than I think a birthday present should cost. But I know I can tell you quite a few things that I would want with 120 bucks, what I imagine that woman spends on cigarettes every month. A new pair of bib shorts for cycling. Running shoes. Gels (for energy). Books. Compression shirts. Shorts. Sunglasses.
I'm sure if I spent more time on it, I'd be able to come up with a bunch of other things.
Why would people spend so much money on something that causes cancer and ruins their health when they can buy so many things with that money that would enable them to be more healthy and enjoy life!? It just doesn't make any sense to me!
This does make me reevaluate my choices, sometimes. What am I spending money on that isn't necessary? What can I get with that money I saved that will make me more healthy and support my new lifestyle?
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Day 9
What an interesting day. It started off with a bike ride, then an earthquake in the afternoon. I wonder what the rest of the evening holds for us...
I got up this morning at 6:20. If I'm being honest, I hate waking up early. Especially if I don't need to go to work that early. But for the betterment of my health and fitness, I'm trying to get used to it.
My wife and I had a 20 mile route planned for the day. She's working late tonight, so a night ride wasn't gonna work out. We left this morning by 7:00. It was 55 degrees. It's been a long time since I've had to wear long sleeves on a bike ride!
My wife and I agreed that 15mph was a good goal average. Since our 47 miler on Saturday was just over 12mph average (remember that it rained and we struggled hard core), I didn't think this would be too lofty of a goal. We accomplished our goal. 15.4mph average. I was happy with that for this morning. It took us about an hour and 20 minutes, but I know we worked hard enough. My legs were hurting all day.
Last night we missed our push-up workout by accident. We'll do those tonight instead. Looking forward to it.
Also, if you want to know where I was during the earthquake... I was at the mall with a client. I didn't feel it.
I got up this morning at 6:20. If I'm being honest, I hate waking up early. Especially if I don't need to go to work that early. But for the betterment of my health and fitness, I'm trying to get used to it.
My wife and I had a 20 mile route planned for the day. She's working late tonight, so a night ride wasn't gonna work out. We left this morning by 7:00. It was 55 degrees. It's been a long time since I've had to wear long sleeves on a bike ride!
My wife and I agreed that 15mph was a good goal average. Since our 47 miler on Saturday was just over 12mph average (remember that it rained and we struggled hard core), I didn't think this would be too lofty of a goal. We accomplished our goal. 15.4mph average. I was happy with that for this morning. It took us about an hour and 20 minutes, but I know we worked hard enough. My legs were hurting all day.
Last night we missed our push-up workout by accident. We'll do those tonight instead. Looking forward to it.
Also, if you want to know where I was during the earthquake... I was at the mall with a client. I didn't feel it.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Start of Week 2
Today is the start of week 2 of my second 90 day challenge. I've already learned a little bit about myself just from week 1.
Since I designed a training schedule, it's much easier to decide when and for how long I will be doing a workout. This takes the guess work out and removes the opportunity for me to slack and have a crappy workout. If you get lazy about working out, I recommend creating a schedule so you stick to it and do what you have planned. There certainly have been times when I plan to go ride for 20-30 miles and end up doing 10 because I came out and some road I wasn't expecting to, close to home, and just decide, meh... that was enough.
I don't mind running so much anymore. We still haven't had the chance to get to the running store, but we're going to try to go this week I hope. We're having our running style analyzed so that they can help us pick out the best shoes for us. Pretty cool. I'm sure I'll have a lot to write about that day.
What I have learned about running is that trying to do 14 miles in 4 successive days is a bad idea. At least at this juncture. We did three 3 mile runs in a row, then a 5 mile run the very next day. That was a bad idea. Of course, our bike ride yesterday of 47 miles hurt pretty bad too. I can definitely feel it in my hamstrings this morning.
On a cycling note... I learned that my brand new breaks suck hard core in the rain. I was pulling full on yesterday and could hardly get myself to slow down let alone stop at some points.
I'm finding that this push-up program is not very difficult to keep up with. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's much easier than I expected. I just need to catch myself at the right time of day to do it. Usually in the morning, I guess.
I haven't had the chance to create a healthy meal yet. Mostly because of getting home late from work a lot this week. Also, my wife's graduation party put a damper on that for the weekend. We ended up coming home with roughly 6 pounds of pulled pork. I probably am eating pork for the next few days for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I found that at the party, I struggled to resist temptations. There is a reason that I don't buy certain foods or bring them into my house. If I have cookies, I will eat them. Period. We had cookies at the party. Big ones. I'm pretty sure I had at least 5. On top of the pork sandwiches, pasta salad, and countless peanut butter filled pretzels. All of which I'm sure was really healthy for me. Before the party, I'm pretty sure my weight was way under what I needed for the week.
Today I weigh 256.5. That's a 2.5lb loss despite my ridiculous lack of control over the weekend.
In order to prepare for my bike ride on my birthday, this coming Saturday, I'm going to do what I normally do for events such as these. To ensure that I'm in good form for the day of the ride, I will be detoxing my body from all pollutants. That means no smoking, no drugs, and no drinking of any kind. And since I don't smoke or do drugs, all I have to do is hold off on drinking until Saturday night. No problem. I can do anything when I'm motivated enough. With the amount of workouts I have planned for the week, I will more than likely be just fine for my weight loss, assuming I don't completely lose control again on Saturday night.
Since I designed a training schedule, it's much easier to decide when and for how long I will be doing a workout. This takes the guess work out and removes the opportunity for me to slack and have a crappy workout. If you get lazy about working out, I recommend creating a schedule so you stick to it and do what you have planned. There certainly have been times when I plan to go ride for 20-30 miles and end up doing 10 because I came out and some road I wasn't expecting to, close to home, and just decide, meh... that was enough.
I don't mind running so much anymore. We still haven't had the chance to get to the running store, but we're going to try to go this week I hope. We're having our running style analyzed so that they can help us pick out the best shoes for us. Pretty cool. I'm sure I'll have a lot to write about that day.
What I have learned about running is that trying to do 14 miles in 4 successive days is a bad idea. At least at this juncture. We did three 3 mile runs in a row, then a 5 mile run the very next day. That was a bad idea. Of course, our bike ride yesterday of 47 miles hurt pretty bad too. I can definitely feel it in my hamstrings this morning.
On a cycling note... I learned that my brand new breaks suck hard core in the rain. I was pulling full on yesterday and could hardly get myself to slow down let alone stop at some points.
I'm finding that this push-up program is not very difficult to keep up with. I'm not saying it's easy, but it's much easier than I expected. I just need to catch myself at the right time of day to do it. Usually in the morning, I guess.
I haven't had the chance to create a healthy meal yet. Mostly because of getting home late from work a lot this week. Also, my wife's graduation party put a damper on that for the weekend. We ended up coming home with roughly 6 pounds of pulled pork. I probably am eating pork for the next few days for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
I found that at the party, I struggled to resist temptations. There is a reason that I don't buy certain foods or bring them into my house. If I have cookies, I will eat them. Period. We had cookies at the party. Big ones. I'm pretty sure I had at least 5. On top of the pork sandwiches, pasta salad, and countless peanut butter filled pretzels. All of which I'm sure was really healthy for me. Before the party, I'm pretty sure my weight was way under what I needed for the week.
Today I weigh 256.5. That's a 2.5lb loss despite my ridiculous lack of control over the weekend.
In order to prepare for my bike ride on my birthday, this coming Saturday, I'm going to do what I normally do for events such as these. To ensure that I'm in good form for the day of the ride, I will be detoxing my body from all pollutants. That means no smoking, no drugs, and no drinking of any kind. And since I don't smoke or do drugs, all I have to do is hold off on drinking until Saturday night. No problem. I can do anything when I'm motivated enough. With the amount of workouts I have planned for the week, I will more than likely be just fine for my weight loss, assuming I don't completely lose control again on Saturday night.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Day 7: Insanity
I woke up this morning at 5am with a really bad stomach ache. Probably from the amount of food I consumed last night at my wife's graduation party. I fell back to sleep and woke up again at 7. I wasn't due to get up until 8 so we could go to mass. I told my wife I probably wasn't going. I didn't.
I spent the morning on the sofa trying to make myself feel better. I did get to watch the second stage of the Vuelta a Espana, though. That was fun.
We had a 45 mile bike ride planned for today. While my wife was at church, I was mapping the route in hopes that I would feel better and I could go for the ride. Luckily, by about 11:00, I was feeling good enough to ride. We left at around 11:45 or so. We got home around 5:00. Yep. 5:00.
Here's why.
We left for our ride and I knew it wasn't going to be a real easy one. My wife hadn't been on her bike in probably a month, but we have a 50 mile bike ride next weekend for my birthday that we're doing. We spent money on it, so we're not chickening out. I thought it would be nice to try a similar distance while we build for our 100 mile ride at the end of September (and the mere 75 back the next day).
I mapped a route that literally went almost straight to a Wawa, went around in a small 2 mile loop, and then dropped us back on the same roads we were on to start with. Sounds simple enough. The loop had a category 5 climb, the lowest of the categorized climbs, but I thought it would add a nice element to the ride because we have no idea what to expect next weekend.
The first half of the ride was a little slower paced, but we may have made a few turns as well. We saw a bunch of bike riders participating in the Livestrong Challenge. That got me all pumped up for our group rides this summer. I'm still a little giddy about it. We made it to our destination, Wawa, just as we realized the literal black clouds sneaking up behind us. By the time I had gone in and gotten us some water, it was drizzling and we could see huge lightening bolts shooting across the sky. 22 miles from home. Shit.
As we're standing there debating what to do, I get this text message from my brother: "At the 1 hr mark of my ride I conquered the wall (not in Manayunk, another hill that we call the wall somewhere near Kimberton, PA). In my jubilation I yell out I am the king of the mountains. Thor, the god of thunder, disagreed and broke the silence with a mighty roar and followed up with buckets of rain. For the next half hour I rode in sheets of rain. For the next half hour I rode in sheets of rain, pushing hard to get home. The rain subsided as soon as I reached the front door. This was just a warning. Once I got everything inside the real storm began. Hope your ride went better."
My response: "20 miles from home with 2 cat 5s to go. We're f***ed. It's starting here." We sat under an awning at Wawa sharing a gallon of water and watching Thor do his thing. It was pretty neat, but at the same time, we were a little worried about how we were going to get home.
I had a general sense of which direction we were going to be heading. The sky was black over that way too. We eventually noticed that the storm was slowly moving from right to left while we faced home. That meant it was going away from where we were planning on going. Once it moved enough for our liking, we left.
Almost immediately after we left, we came upon a bridge. A metal bridge. A wet metal bridge. If you ride bikes, you know that wet metal is the worst possible thing to try to ride on. My back tire was fish tailing despite being super cautious. I stopped and walked across so I didn't fall. My wife did the same. Then we looked up the road. Literally up. Our first Cat 5. Daaaaaaamnit.
This was not only our first Cat 5 of today, it was my wife's first Cat 5 EVER. To our knowledge, she has never been on a categorized climb until today. She rocked it. The second one hurt more, I think, but she beat that one up too. After the first climb we wound ourselves down a mountain of sorts. We got a little bit lost, but once we were back on familiar roads, we were better able to estimate how much longer we would be out. But Mother Nature had different plans.
We made a right turn to cross a small bridge and just as soon as I crossed that bridge, it felt some thick rain drops. About 5 seconds later, I felt A LOT of thick rain drops. The sky literally opened up on us and the buckets of rain that my brother was texting me about were coming down right on top of us. This rain eventually subsided, but not before we got completely drenched. We worked our way home wet and kind of miserable. By the time our hands started to look less like dried fruit and more like fingers, the rain started again. The next 45 minutes was pretty terrible.
We made it home. Just in time for the rain to stop. The rain stopped right as we turned into the parking lot of our apartment building. We walked our bikes upstairs and dried them off. Now we're making dinner and sitting around in sweatpants.
This just goes to show that things don't always turn out the way you want them to, but here's the caveat... find something about the unplanned experience you just had to make it worth it. I saw people doing the Livestrong Challenge. Now I'm totally stoked for a group bike ride next weekend and I know that I'll be pumped about it all week.
I spent the morning on the sofa trying to make myself feel better. I did get to watch the second stage of the Vuelta a Espana, though. That was fun.
We had a 45 mile bike ride planned for today. While my wife was at church, I was mapping the route in hopes that I would feel better and I could go for the ride. Luckily, by about 11:00, I was feeling good enough to ride. We left at around 11:45 or so. We got home around 5:00. Yep. 5:00.
Here's why.
We left for our ride and I knew it wasn't going to be a real easy one. My wife hadn't been on her bike in probably a month, but we have a 50 mile bike ride next weekend for my birthday that we're doing. We spent money on it, so we're not chickening out. I thought it would be nice to try a similar distance while we build for our 100 mile ride at the end of September (and the mere 75 back the next day).
I mapped a route that literally went almost straight to a Wawa, went around in a small 2 mile loop, and then dropped us back on the same roads we were on to start with. Sounds simple enough. The loop had a category 5 climb, the lowest of the categorized climbs, but I thought it would add a nice element to the ride because we have no idea what to expect next weekend.
The first half of the ride was a little slower paced, but we may have made a few turns as well. We saw a bunch of bike riders participating in the Livestrong Challenge. That got me all pumped up for our group rides this summer. I'm still a little giddy about it. We made it to our destination, Wawa, just as we realized the literal black clouds sneaking up behind us. By the time I had gone in and gotten us some water, it was drizzling and we could see huge lightening bolts shooting across the sky. 22 miles from home. Shit.
As we're standing there debating what to do, I get this text message from my brother: "At the 1 hr mark of my ride I conquered the wall (not in Manayunk, another hill that we call the wall somewhere near Kimberton, PA). In my jubilation I yell out I am the king of the mountains. Thor, the god of thunder, disagreed and broke the silence with a mighty roar and followed up with buckets of rain. For the next half hour I rode in sheets of rain. For the next half hour I rode in sheets of rain, pushing hard to get home. The rain subsided as soon as I reached the front door. This was just a warning. Once I got everything inside the real storm began. Hope your ride went better."
My response: "20 miles from home with 2 cat 5s to go. We're f***ed. It's starting here." We sat under an awning at Wawa sharing a gallon of water and watching Thor do his thing. It was pretty neat, but at the same time, we were a little worried about how we were going to get home.
I had a general sense of which direction we were going to be heading. The sky was black over that way too. We eventually noticed that the storm was slowly moving from right to left while we faced home. That meant it was going away from where we were planning on going. Once it moved enough for our liking, we left.
Almost immediately after we left, we came upon a bridge. A metal bridge. A wet metal bridge. If you ride bikes, you know that wet metal is the worst possible thing to try to ride on. My back tire was fish tailing despite being super cautious. I stopped and walked across so I didn't fall. My wife did the same. Then we looked up the road. Literally up. Our first Cat 5. Daaaaaaamnit.
This was not only our first Cat 5 of today, it was my wife's first Cat 5 EVER. To our knowledge, she has never been on a categorized climb until today. She rocked it. The second one hurt more, I think, but she beat that one up too. After the first climb we wound ourselves down a mountain of sorts. We got a little bit lost, but once we were back on familiar roads, we were better able to estimate how much longer we would be out. But Mother Nature had different plans.
We made a right turn to cross a small bridge and just as soon as I crossed that bridge, it felt some thick rain drops. About 5 seconds later, I felt A LOT of thick rain drops. The sky literally opened up on us and the buckets of rain that my brother was texting me about were coming down right on top of us. This rain eventually subsided, but not before we got completely drenched. We worked our way home wet and kind of miserable. By the time our hands started to look less like dried fruit and more like fingers, the rain started again. The next 45 minutes was pretty terrible.
We made it home. Just in time for the rain to stop. The rain stopped right as we turned into the parking lot of our apartment building. We walked our bikes upstairs and dried them off. Now we're making dinner and sitting around in sweatpants.
This just goes to show that things don't always turn out the way you want them to, but here's the caveat... find something about the unplanned experience you just had to make it worth it. I saw people doing the Livestrong Challenge. Now I'm totally stoked for a group bike ride next weekend and I know that I'll be pumped about it all week.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Day 6
It's currently about 9:30am on this beautiful Saturday morning. My wife is off from work for the weekend because we're celebrating her graduation from Thomas Jefferson University tonight at my mom's house with a party! Today also happens to conveniently be a rest day for us. We didn't need to set an alarm, but we still woke up around 8:00. Not working out feels weird.
Yesterday, we decided to run 5 miles around the Valley Forge Park trail. It's exactly 5 miles around the entire park if you take this trail. We were scheduled for a 4 mile run, but we may be changing our schedule to be able to do a half marathon that's a little sooner and a little cheaper than the one in Philly. We both suffered. The weather was supposed to be rainy, but it turned out being sunny. And hot. That might have been a contributing factor to the suffering. The end of that run put us at 14 miles in 4 days. Too much for me. I told her I'm not doing 4 days of runs in a row ever again.
On the bright side, when I got home I was able to log my final days worth of workouts for the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award that I signed up for 8 weeks ago and encouraged you all to join me. I only had 2 people sign up, but I'm pretty sure neither followed through. Yet. Here's what I got from it...
I got more than that super cool award, though. Not tangible, of course, but getting things isn't always tangible. I learned stuff about myself. I learned that in 8 weeks, I can work out for 45 hours and 45 minutes. That's just under 2 full days of exercise! I really feel like I earned this award because I changed my lifestyle to be active. I did exactly what this award was created to do.
Now, since I earned this award, I had the option to try it again or to move up to the Presidential Champions set of awards. You can earn Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals in this group of awards. The bronze award, which I am going for first, is 40,000 points. After my 8 weeks, I only need 15,249 points to earn it.
I must that although this challenge may be silly and feel like you're back in middle school gym class, it motivated me and kept me on track. My wife jokes that she wanted to participate because "damnit, I want those stinkin' gold stars!" Right back to middle school, right?
I still have my group on the website and encourage anyone who wants to be more active to join the challenge and try to earn the Presidents Active Lifestyle Award. There is a link and group number on the right bar to join.
Yesterday, we decided to run 5 miles around the Valley Forge Park trail. It's exactly 5 miles around the entire park if you take this trail. We were scheduled for a 4 mile run, but we may be changing our schedule to be able to do a half marathon that's a little sooner and a little cheaper than the one in Philly. We both suffered. The weather was supposed to be rainy, but it turned out being sunny. And hot. That might have been a contributing factor to the suffering. The end of that run put us at 14 miles in 4 days. Too much for me. I told her I'm not doing 4 days of runs in a row ever again.
On the bright side, when I got home I was able to log my final days worth of workouts for the Presidential Active Lifestyle Award that I signed up for 8 weeks ago and encouraged you all to join me. I only had 2 people sign up, but I'm pretty sure neither followed through. Yet. Here's what I got from it...
I got more than that super cool award, though. Not tangible, of course, but getting things isn't always tangible. I learned stuff about myself. I learned that in 8 weeks, I can work out for 45 hours and 45 minutes. That's just under 2 full days of exercise! I really feel like I earned this award because I changed my lifestyle to be active. I did exactly what this award was created to do.
Now, since I earned this award, I had the option to try it again or to move up to the Presidential Champions set of awards. You can earn Bronze, Silver, and Gold medals in this group of awards. The bronze award, which I am going for first, is 40,000 points. After my 8 weeks, I only need 15,249 points to earn it.
I must that although this challenge may be silly and feel like you're back in middle school gym class, it motivated me and kept me on track. My wife jokes that she wanted to participate because "damnit, I want those stinkin' gold stars!" Right back to middle school, right?
I still have my group on the website and encourage anyone who wants to be more active to join the challenge and try to earn the Presidents Active Lifestyle Award. There is a link and group number on the right bar to join.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Day 4
For a day that ended up being relatively uneventful, it started off as an event.
I worked from home today, and my wife didn't have any plans that meant she would need to leave the apartment, so we decided to sleep in. We got up at 7:00am.
We debated last night what time we would want to run today. I looked at the weather and determined that the morning would be best. My wife prefers to run in the morning. I'm content getting it over with in the morning so I don't have to worry about it all day. Not that 3 miles is anything to worry about, but I build it up, I guess.
When I woke up, it was dark outside from the clouds, but it wasn't raining. Yet. We got ready for the run and then went outside. As we were about 30 steps from the front door, we heard thunder. Ugh. Apparently you're not supposed to run in a thunder storm. But we did.
We started off the run in a light drizzle that continued for all three miles. We did a different route than normal which put us on a big hill that both of us hate. This route avoided the gravel path that we normally take which meant we'd probably stay cleaner.
As we approached the front door again, the rain picked up. We jogged back into the building then went upstairs to shower, grab breakfast, and start working. Before I knew it, the rain had stopped and the sun came out. It has been sunny all day long with no signs of the storm that was predicted last night.
Oh well, at least we got our run in and out of the way early. I'm pretty excited to get on my bike again after 3 days of running!
I worked from home today, and my wife didn't have any plans that meant she would need to leave the apartment, so we decided to sleep in. We got up at 7:00am.
We debated last night what time we would want to run today. I looked at the weather and determined that the morning would be best. My wife prefers to run in the morning. I'm content getting it over with in the morning so I don't have to worry about it all day. Not that 3 miles is anything to worry about, but I build it up, I guess.
When I woke up, it was dark outside from the clouds, but it wasn't raining. Yet. We got ready for the run and then went outside. As we were about 30 steps from the front door, we heard thunder. Ugh. Apparently you're not supposed to run in a thunder storm. But we did.
We started off the run in a light drizzle that continued for all three miles. We did a different route than normal which put us on a big hill that both of us hate. This route avoided the gravel path that we normally take which meant we'd probably stay cleaner.
As we approached the front door again, the rain picked up. We jogged back into the building then went upstairs to shower, grab breakfast, and start working. Before I knew it, the rain had stopped and the sun came out. It has been sunny all day long with no signs of the storm that was predicted last night.
Oh well, at least we got our run in and out of the way early. I'm pretty excited to get on my bike again after 3 days of running!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Day 3
My wife and I woke up early this morning again for a run. I'm trying to get these runs in early in the day so I can get my work done on a normal schedule. Getting up at 6:30am, however, isn't easy when I'm not getting to sleep until 11pm or later. I need to get more sleep.
Today, we had another 3 mile run scheduled. We set out on the same route as yesterday. This time, however, we decided to push hard and end at mile 3 instead of 3.3.
The beginning of this route is a little bit down hill. We started fast on accident. When we made it to mile 0.5, I was starting to feel the speed a little bit and had to gear down somewhat. At mile 1, the route has a slight incline. It hurts me every time. My wife hates it too. I'm always really tired at the end of it, but luckily there's a small down hill to recover.
At this point, I could tell we were at a much faster pace than yesterday. There's about a third of the run that goes down a gravel path. This is that third. That third isn't so bad, but I feel like we slow down here a little bit.
As we got off the path, turning back onto the street, my wife picked up the pace. I had to continually use my inspiration from yesterday. When I felt like I couldn't go any further, I'd tell myself it was just bullshit. I'd tell myself that I was feeling fine and I was enjoying myself. After a while, I was feeling better and pushing harder than I had been. We finished a lot faster than we had yesterday.
Our route was exactly 3 miles. We finished in 27:54 with an average pace of 9:16 per mile. Not too bad.
Today, we had another 3 mile run scheduled. We set out on the same route as yesterday. This time, however, we decided to push hard and end at mile 3 instead of 3.3.
The beginning of this route is a little bit down hill. We started fast on accident. When we made it to mile 0.5, I was starting to feel the speed a little bit and had to gear down somewhat. At mile 1, the route has a slight incline. It hurts me every time. My wife hates it too. I'm always really tired at the end of it, but luckily there's a small down hill to recover.
At this point, I could tell we were at a much faster pace than yesterday. There's about a third of the run that goes down a gravel path. This is that third. That third isn't so bad, but I feel like we slow down here a little bit.
As we got off the path, turning back onto the street, my wife picked up the pace. I had to continually use my inspiration from yesterday. When I felt like I couldn't go any further, I'd tell myself it was just bullshit. I'd tell myself that I was feeling fine and I was enjoying myself. After a while, I was feeling better and pushing harder than I had been. We finished a lot faster than we had yesterday.
Our route was exactly 3 miles. We finished in 27:54 with an average pace of 9:16 per mile. Not too bad.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Inspiration
Inspiration comes from everywhere. I find a lot of inspiration in watching people, listening to stories, and reading. Reading is something that I've recently started to enjoy a lot more. I guess that's part of my "growing up" process. Of course, lately, I've been choosing books that I'm hoping will be inspirational and relevant to what I'm trying to accomplish.
During my last 90 day challenge, I posted some quotes from a book called "Born to Run." If you enjoy running and wouldn't mind reading a little bit of an anthropology-type book, you would really enjoy this. It's a very easy read. Written mostly in the style of say-a magazine article. Probably because the author occasional writes for Runners World magazine.
During my vacation two weeks ago, I demolished a book entitled "The Sportsman" by Dhani Jones. Dhani used to play linebacker for the NY Giants and Philadelphia Eagles. He completely revived his career while playing in Cincinnati for Bengals. This book, however, has less to do with football, and more to do with traveling. Dhani hosted a TV show called "Dhani Tackles the Globe" on the Travel Channel. This book recounts the adventures that he went on and gives you a behind the scenes look at what his life was like during the off season from the NFL and the "on season" of being a host of a travel show.
During his travels he did things such as muay thai fighting, cycling a Gran Fondo, participating in soccer, rugby, strongman, and even the highland games. Although he wasn't successful in each sport, he learned something from his time spent in each country.
While reading this book, I found a few quotes/stories that I want to share because I found them to be incredibly inspirational.
And here is my favorite quote, said by Dhani's father...
During my last 90 day challenge, I posted some quotes from a book called "Born to Run." If you enjoy running and wouldn't mind reading a little bit of an anthropology-type book, you would really enjoy this. It's a very easy read. Written mostly in the style of say-a magazine article. Probably because the author occasional writes for Runners World magazine.
During my vacation two weeks ago, I demolished a book entitled "The Sportsman" by Dhani Jones. Dhani used to play linebacker for the NY Giants and Philadelphia Eagles. He completely revived his career while playing in Cincinnati for Bengals. This book, however, has less to do with football, and more to do with traveling. Dhani hosted a TV show called "Dhani Tackles the Globe" on the Travel Channel. This book recounts the adventures that he went on and gives you a behind the scenes look at what his life was like during the off season from the NFL and the "on season" of being a host of a travel show.
During his travels he did things such as muay thai fighting, cycling a Gran Fondo, participating in soccer, rugby, strongman, and even the highland games. Although he wasn't successful in each sport, he learned something from his time spent in each country.
While reading this book, I found a few quotes/stories that I want to share because I found them to be incredibly inspirational.
“One success, but that’s what keeps us going amidst all the difficulties and failures that we experience in whatever craft we’re trying to master.”
-Dhani Jones
“There’s always an ‘I’m not enough’ or ‘It’s too much.’ And a lot of the time, it’s bullshit.”
-Dhani Jones
And here is my favorite quote, said by Dhani's father...
“Sow a thought, and you reap an act; Sow an act, and you reap a habit; Sow a habit, and you reap a character; Sow a character, and you reap a destiny.”
-Commander Samuel L. Jones (Father of Dhani Jones)
Day 2
It is the morning of Day 2. I just finished an early morning run with my wife. We got up at 6:30. I don't have a client today until 10:00.
I mapped out a 3.3 mile run (we're scheduled for a 3 miler today). We did the whole thing and in decent time too. I'm not much of a runner, but I know it's good for me and I enjoy it much more than I used to. We took 31:40 to complete the run. Our average pace was 9:39 per mile. Better than I expected. I was anticipating a 10 minute mile pace. I'm happy that we exceeded my expectations.
At the start of the run, my knee was really bothering me. It went away after about a quarter mile. I iced it when I got home to make sure it didn't swell up during the day. After all, I've got another run tomorrow and Thursday followed by a bike ride on Friday.
I'm hoping that some time this week we can go to the running store to get some new shoes. Mine are toast.
I mapped out a 3.3 mile run (we're scheduled for a 3 miler today). We did the whole thing and in decent time too. I'm not much of a runner, but I know it's good for me and I enjoy it much more than I used to. We took 31:40 to complete the run. Our average pace was 9:39 per mile. Better than I expected. I was anticipating a 10 minute mile pace. I'm happy that we exceeded my expectations.
At the start of the run, my knee was really bothering me. It went away after about a quarter mile. I iced it when I got home to make sure it didn't swell up during the day. After all, I've got another run tomorrow and Thursday followed by a bike ride on Friday.
I'm hoping that some time this week we can go to the running store to get some new shoes. Mine are toast.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Day 1... part 2
Just finished my push-ups. I can feel the tightness in my chest, which is nice. I haven't felt this in a while... not since I tried p90x. Of course, now that I mention p90x, I could probably last the 90 days now. Maybe that's for another challenge.
I figured correctly in my earlier post that today would be difficult because I'd want to go for a run or ride or SOMETHING. I just don't want to hurt myself today and then not be able to finish the week strong. Instead, we're gonna go for a walk.
I figured correctly in my earlier post that today would be difficult because I'd want to go for a run or ride or SOMETHING. I just don't want to hurt myself today and then not be able to finish the week strong. Instead, we're gonna go for a walk.
Day 1
Here we go. Starting over. I have to admit that the first 90 days that I did wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be. I also really think that the goals kept me on track and gave me structure that I really needed.
The program I will be using from www.hundredpushups.com says to take an exhaustion test before beginning so you have a baseline to go from. I completed 19 push-ups in good form and will be starting at Week 1 on the 3rd column from the left.
Not too scary. Yet.
I've also created a running program to incorporate cycling into the mix until the City to Shore Ride, then I can focus solely on the running to meet my half marathon goal. This is a 12 week running schedule. Here is the schedule for anyone who cares to look at it.
The program I will be using from www.hundredpushups.com says to take an exhaustion test before beginning so you have a baseline to go from. I completed 19 push-ups in good form and will be starting at Week 1 on the 3rd column from the left.
I've also created a running program to incorporate cycling into the mix until the City to Shore Ride, then I can focus solely on the running to meet my half marathon goal. This is a 12 week running schedule. Here is the schedule for anyone who cares to look at it.
Blue is a bike ride. Green is a run.
My baseline for weight is 259. I will be working my butt off to lose all 26, if not more, of the pounds that I am setting off to lose. I hope this training schedule as well as the push-ups really help with this. I need to get my eating tuned in a little better as well, though.
I think my biggest challenge for today is knowing that I fell behind in my weight and not having a workout scheduled for today. Here's to a new challenge and to meeting goals! I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about this week. Stay tuned!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
New Goals: 90 Day Challenge #2
Tomorrow will begin my second 90 Day Challenge. The beginning date is, August 15. The challenge will end on Day 90, November 13. Some big things are going to be happening for me during these 90 days. I turn 26 on August 27. I will be participating in a 50 mile bike ride on my birthday. I also have the City to Shore (Please Donate!) on September 24th & 25th. Then we have Halloween and a big move! My wife got a job in New Jersey, so we’ll be moving at the end of October. This means big changes for us!
I’m excited about this challenge because I’m going to challenge myself in a lot of different ways. You may notice that this is not as much of a “creating good habits” challenge as it is a “health and fitness” challenge. I think I’ve built a good base with the habits I created in my last challenge, and now it’s time to go to the next level and get myself into gear.
For those of you who are creating goals of your own, I advocate for setting anywhere between 3 and 5 goals. I have 4 for this challenge.
Goal 1 – Running
Goal 2 – Push-ups
Goal 3 – Meals
Goal 4 – Weight
Defining the goals:
Goal 1 – Running:
My wife and I have been talking about running a lot lately. Arguably, her favorite form of exercise is running. She even ran the Philadelphia Marathon two years ago. Something that I greatly admire about her. For this running goal, I will be training for a half marathon. My wife would like to join me in this training. We may participate in the Philadelphia Half-Marathon, however, because it’s so expensive, we might also just run a half marathon on our own by mapping our own route.
I will post my training plan when I figure out which one I want to use.
Goal 2 – Push-ups:
I’m realizing that the shape of my upper body is not quite what I want it to be. I also don’t feel as strong as I want to. I don’t enjoy going to the gym anymore. There was a time in my life where going to the gym and pumping iron, so to speak, gave me a lot of enjoyment. But let’s be honest, lifting weights isn’t always practical. It’s also expensive to join a gym. I want to get into the habit of doing body weight workouts in my own home.
My push-up goal is to be able to do 100 push-ups in a single set.
At last glance, my weight was 254 pounds. According to some websites I’ve read, you push up about 66% of your weight. That means with every push-up I do, I’m lifting 167 lbs. Dang. Hopefully that weight goes down quickly during these 90 days. I’m sure the push-ups will be easier if I have less weight to lift!
In order to accomplish this goal, I found a website with a push-up program that I want to complete. Here is a link: http://hundredpushups.com.
The program runs in a 6 week cycle, however, in order to move up to the next week on some weeks, you’re required to take an exhaustion test. If you pass, you can move on, if you don’t, you repeat the week until you can pass. This gives me an extra 6 weeks to pass through the weeks and meet my goal. Anyone interested in attempting this with me?
Goal 3 – Meals:
I want to create healthy meals for me and my wife. Last week I made a great Mexican inspired meal that I think was pretty healthy, with the exception of the tequila I put in it. Steak with rice and beans and a tequila lime sauce. I also added some jalapeno, red bell pepper, tomato, and cilantro.
Yeah. I can cook.
I think it’s reasonable to ask myself to come up with an original dish at least once every other week. Since 90 days is approximately 13 weeks, I’ll be setting the goal of creating 7 new healthy, well rounded, meals during these 90 days.
Goal 4 – Weight
Since I didn’t accomplish my goal for weight loss last time, I will attempt it again with the same goal. I want to lose 26 pounds. This is an average of 2 pounds per week. I’m hoping that the half-marathon training along with the training for City to Shore at the end of September will allow me to accomplish this goal a little easier.
Here’s how I’ll be tracking my goals on the side bar.
Running – x/13.1 – x is equal to the longest distance run to that point.
Push-ups – x/100 – x is equal to the highest number of push-ups completed in one set to that point.
Meals – x/7 – x is equal to the number of healthy meals I’ve created to that point.
Weight – x/26 – x is equal to the number of pounds lost to that point.
Starting with a clean slate. All aboard the Matt Train. Here we go! Round 2! WOO WOO!
Oh weather...
I'm sitting here attempting to plan my week out so I can do some workouts. It's currently raining, so I decide to check the weather for tomorrow. While looking at the 10 day forecast, this is what I saw...
It's gonna rain. A lot.
Addressing past goals
It's time to decide if my first set of goals have become habits. The answer is yes. Mostly.
I'm not even going to address my water goal because I've done so numerous times at this point. It stuck. I still count my glasses.
Working out is now a habit. I took a few days off at the beginning of the week because my knee hurts. My Dr. Wife (Doctor of Physical Therapy as of Friday. YAY!!!!) told me that my quad could be injured in some way. I've been icing it a lot. It hurts if I'm walking on it for a while, so I figured it'd be best to not run or cycle on it. I did get the itch to get out mid week and ended up going for a few runs and rides.
I obviously didn't hit my weight goal. I'm ok with it as long as I continue to drop weight long term. My new set of goals that I will release in the next few days should address that a little better.
The only goal that I am concerned didn't stick as a habit is my alcohol goal. I drank a little more during the past week than I had been, however, on Saturday night, I didn't drink at all. I'm beginning to hypothesize that during the last few months of my first 90 days I was drinking every drink that I was allowed to. I think I didn't want to waste any of my allotted drinks. However, over the weekend, I had 3-4 drinks on Friday and none on Saturday. I wasn't afraid of losing any drinks, because right now, I'm able to drink whenever I want. I need to wait on this one a little more to see if it stuck.
Stay tuned for the new goals. I'm pretty excited about them.
I'm not even going to address my water goal because I've done so numerous times at this point. It stuck. I still count my glasses.
Working out is now a habit. I took a few days off at the beginning of the week because my knee hurts. My Dr. Wife (Doctor of Physical Therapy as of Friday. YAY!!!!) told me that my quad could be injured in some way. I've been icing it a lot. It hurts if I'm walking on it for a while, so I figured it'd be best to not run or cycle on it. I did get the itch to get out mid week and ended up going for a few runs and rides.
I obviously didn't hit my weight goal. I'm ok with it as long as I continue to drop weight long term. My new set of goals that I will release in the next few days should address that a little better.
The only goal that I am concerned didn't stick as a habit is my alcohol goal. I drank a little more during the past week than I had been, however, on Saturday night, I didn't drink at all. I'm beginning to hypothesize that during the last few months of my first 90 days I was drinking every drink that I was allowed to. I think I didn't want to waste any of my allotted drinks. However, over the weekend, I had 3-4 drinks on Friday and none on Saturday. I wasn't afraid of losing any drinks, because right now, I'm able to drink whenever I want. I need to wait on this one a little more to see if it stuck.
Stay tuned for the new goals. I'm pretty excited about them.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
City to Shore 2011
On September 24th and 25th, I will be participating in the National MS Society's MS150 City to Shore bike ride. On the 24th, my wife, brother, and good friend will be riding 100 miles from Cherry Hill, NJ to Ocean City, NJ. The second day, we will be riding 75 miles in the other direction.
The City to Shore is my favorite ride of the year. It's by far the largest group ride that we participate in, it's flat as can be, and it gives us the opportunity to practice drafting and group riding better than any other ride. I've also got a personal connection to this ride.
After graduating college, I was at the beach with my folks and mentioned that I really wanted to do something about my weight. My step dad suggested doing the City to Shore. He had done this ride years earlier and had a great time. Although he would be unable to participate in the ride with me, my good friend who still rides with me came along. We rode 75 miles one way on our first year. I rode my step dad's old trek hybrid bike. My friend rode his dad's 1970's road bike which shifting on the down tube. It also was incredibly too small for him. But we did it.
This ride is the reason I got interested in cycling. It's great because you meet people, talk, challenge yourself physically and mentally (especially when the rain comes and the wind starts blowing), and most importantly, it gives you a goal to set your sights on.
At the end of the ride in Ocean City, my wife (then girlfriend) says to me, "I think I want to do this next year." And she did. So did my brother. But this time, we set our sights higher. We did 100 miles in one day. The first time any of us had ever attempted a century. It was difficult. Especially since my spoke broke on the century loop (an additional 25 mile loop to make the route 100 total). I had to wait for a support van to come fix my spoke. I sent everyone up ahead to the rest stop and ended up waiting about 30 minutes and learning that I was the second to last person left on the century loop.
Needless to say, I wasn't happy with looking like the slow poke. I hopped on my bike, thanked the mechanic, and pushed at 25mph or more up to the rest stop a little over 5 miles up the road. When I got there, huffing and puffing, I handed my wife my bottles, asked her to refill them, and then off we went. Finishing that ride was a great accomplishment. If any of you ride or run, you know how your muscles can cramp up if you rest too long. Just getting back on the bike was difficult, let alone churning out relatively high speeds for the rest of the ride.
For our third year, we decided to do the two day ride. 75 miles in each direction. The challenge here is doing a long ride, resting, and then getting on your bike the next day with a sore butt and tight legs just to complete the same ride, in reverse, the following day. But we did. And it was awesome. Our first day felt a little unorganized. We were not working as a team to draft and pull ourselves along. Day two was entirely different. It felt like everything clicked. Even with the sore legs we managed exactly the same average speed the next day!
This year will be our fourth ride. We'll be completing the longest ride that they offer, 175 miles in two days. I'm extremely excited, however, I do not have the funds raised yet to be able to participate.
In order to participate in this ride, we each need to raise $300. I have currently raised $160. I hate asking for money from people, but if you've got a few bucks to donate to a great cause, I would appreciate your continued support. Please visit my Participant Center and donate.
As a bonus, I'll send an e-mail to the people who donated to me with an update on the ride soon after it's over. Please help me out!
The City to Shore is my favorite ride of the year. It's by far the largest group ride that we participate in, it's flat as can be, and it gives us the opportunity to practice drafting and group riding better than any other ride. I've also got a personal connection to this ride.
After graduating college, I was at the beach with my folks and mentioned that I really wanted to do something about my weight. My step dad suggested doing the City to Shore. He had done this ride years earlier and had a great time. Although he would be unable to participate in the ride with me, my good friend who still rides with me came along. We rode 75 miles one way on our first year. I rode my step dad's old trek hybrid bike. My friend rode his dad's 1970's road bike which shifting on the down tube. It also was incredibly too small for him. But we did it.
This ride is the reason I got interested in cycling. It's great because you meet people, talk, challenge yourself physically and mentally (especially when the rain comes and the wind starts blowing), and most importantly, it gives you a goal to set your sights on.
At the end of the ride in Ocean City, my wife (then girlfriend) says to me, "I think I want to do this next year." And she did. So did my brother. But this time, we set our sights higher. We did 100 miles in one day. The first time any of us had ever attempted a century. It was difficult. Especially since my spoke broke on the century loop (an additional 25 mile loop to make the route 100 total). I had to wait for a support van to come fix my spoke. I sent everyone up ahead to the rest stop and ended up waiting about 30 minutes and learning that I was the second to last person left on the century loop.
Needless to say, I wasn't happy with looking like the slow poke. I hopped on my bike, thanked the mechanic, and pushed at 25mph or more up to the rest stop a little over 5 miles up the road. When I got there, huffing and puffing, I handed my wife my bottles, asked her to refill them, and then off we went. Finishing that ride was a great accomplishment. If any of you ride or run, you know how your muscles can cramp up if you rest too long. Just getting back on the bike was difficult, let alone churning out relatively high speeds for the rest of the ride.
For our third year, we decided to do the two day ride. 75 miles in each direction. The challenge here is doing a long ride, resting, and then getting on your bike the next day with a sore butt and tight legs just to complete the same ride, in reverse, the following day. But we did. And it was awesome. Our first day felt a little unorganized. We were not working as a team to draft and pull ourselves along. Day two was entirely different. It felt like everything clicked. Even with the sore legs we managed exactly the same average speed the next day!
This year will be our fourth ride. We'll be completing the longest ride that they offer, 175 miles in two days. I'm extremely excited, however, I do not have the funds raised yet to be able to participate.
In order to participate in this ride, we each need to raise $300. I have currently raised $160. I hate asking for money from people, but if you've got a few bucks to donate to a great cause, I would appreciate your continued support. Please visit my Participant Center and donate.
As a bonus, I'll send an e-mail to the people who donated to me with an update on the ride soon after it's over. Please help me out!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
End of (My First) 90 Days
90 days ago I set out to create new life habits to make myself a healthier person. When I reflect back on the goals that I set for myself along with all of the other things that occurred during the past 90 days, I can see a huge change in myself physically and mentally.
Since this blog was founded on the basis that you can create new habits in 90 days, I want to discuss the goals that I set and whether or not they've become habits at this point.
Water - I wrote about this a few weeks into the 90 days and said that this goal was pretty well accomplished. I tracked the goal regardless. I drank 2 liters of water every single day for all 90 days. If you're not much of a water drinker, I recommend you try this for two weeks. Replace the amount of juice, soda, or iced tea that you drink with water. You will feel much better and it may help you lose weight.
Alcohol - Although I accomplished my goal, I did not surpass it. I believe that I have made great strides with reducing the amount of alcohol that I drink. There are numerous days a week where I have no alcohol, but I'm not sure if that's because of the goal or because I've really changed something. I'm still concerned that I will drink more than I should, so I'm going to monitor this for the the next week and see what happens. If I feel like it's become a habit, I wont redo the goal. If it's not, I will continue my alcohol goal for as long as I need to.
Exercise - I think I've accomplished this goal pretty well. I exceeded the goal by two weeks, in fact. I love to do all of the sports and cardio things that I've been doing lately. I also have found that I really don't hate to run as much as I used to think I did. Not that I'm good at it or anything, but I feel more comfortable doing it. My wife and I are even thinking about going to a running store to buy some new shoes and have someone check out our gait to see which shoes will be best for us. My current cross trainers are completely worn out.
Weight - I woke up at 254lbs again. That's a 19lb weight loss. 7lbs less than my goal. I'm disappointed that I didn't reach my goal, but I know that my body has changed pretty drastically since I started. Instead of giving excuses about why I didn't reach my goal, I'm going to concentrate on the positives. Here are some side by sides to show the positives.
Side view is really the most drastic, I think. My posture has improved a little bit, I think. You can also see a reduction in the fat on my lower back along with a pretty serious reduction in my belly fat. My upper arms seem to have thinned out slightly and the roll off fat on my back where my elbow is is gone. There's still a little bit of a crease, but I expect that to go away pretty soon.
I've had some aspirations arise since I started this 90 days as well. I'd already planned on a two day 175 mile bike ride (100 miles on day 1 and 75 on day 2), but I'm thinking that after that, I might want to try a half marathon. If I had the time to train for a full, I would consider that, but it's gonna get too cold outside to be able to train for that, I think. I have talked about doing plyometrics to try to become more explosive, get faster, and jump higher. My wife pointed out that if I want to be able to sustain endurance, that plymo's may not be the best idea right now. Plus, Ultimate Frisbee season is over so I probably don't need those skills just yet. I can concentrate on losing weight right now and then focus on plyo's another time.
Overall I've seen a lot of positive change. I will continue to lose weight with the goals I will be setting for the next 90 day cycle. I've got some thoughts in my head, but haven't decided on anything for sure yet, so I'm not going to put it out there. Look for a new post by the end of next week with the updates.
Since this blog was founded on the basis that you can create new habits in 90 days, I want to discuss the goals that I set and whether or not they've become habits at this point.
Water - I wrote about this a few weeks into the 90 days and said that this goal was pretty well accomplished. I tracked the goal regardless. I drank 2 liters of water every single day for all 90 days. If you're not much of a water drinker, I recommend you try this for two weeks. Replace the amount of juice, soda, or iced tea that you drink with water. You will feel much better and it may help you lose weight.
Alcohol - Although I accomplished my goal, I did not surpass it. I believe that I have made great strides with reducing the amount of alcohol that I drink. There are numerous days a week where I have no alcohol, but I'm not sure if that's because of the goal or because I've really changed something. I'm still concerned that I will drink more than I should, so I'm going to monitor this for the the next week and see what happens. If I feel like it's become a habit, I wont redo the goal. If it's not, I will continue my alcohol goal for as long as I need to.
Exercise - I think I've accomplished this goal pretty well. I exceeded the goal by two weeks, in fact. I love to do all of the sports and cardio things that I've been doing lately. I also have found that I really don't hate to run as much as I used to think I did. Not that I'm good at it or anything, but I feel more comfortable doing it. My wife and I are even thinking about going to a running store to buy some new shoes and have someone check out our gait to see which shoes will be best for us. My current cross trainers are completely worn out.
Weight - I woke up at 254lbs again. That's a 19lb weight loss. 7lbs less than my goal. I'm disappointed that I didn't reach my goal, but I know that my body has changed pretty drastically since I started. Instead of giving excuses about why I didn't reach my goal, I'm going to concentrate on the positives. Here are some side by sides to show the positives.
I'll address some of the changes on the front of my body first. As you can see, my spare tire has gotten a lot smaller. There's more space between my "chest fat" and the top of my belly fat. My belly has also come up a little bit. More importantly, my clothes fit better. I'm wearing polo shirts that didn't fit me 90 days ago and I'm more comfortable in my pants.
Side view is really the most drastic, I think. My posture has improved a little bit, I think. You can also see a reduction in the fat on my lower back along with a pretty serious reduction in my belly fat. My upper arms seem to have thinned out slightly and the roll off fat on my back where my elbow is is gone. There's still a little bit of a crease, but I expect that to go away pretty soon.
I've had some aspirations arise since I started this 90 days as well. I'd already planned on a two day 175 mile bike ride (100 miles on day 1 and 75 on day 2), but I'm thinking that after that, I might want to try a half marathon. If I had the time to train for a full, I would consider that, but it's gonna get too cold outside to be able to train for that, I think. I have talked about doing plyometrics to try to become more explosive, get faster, and jump higher. My wife pointed out that if I want to be able to sustain endurance, that plymo's may not be the best idea right now. Plus, Ultimate Frisbee season is over so I probably don't need those skills just yet. I can concentrate on losing weight right now and then focus on plyo's another time.
Overall I've seen a lot of positive change. I will continue to lose weight with the goals I will be setting for the next 90 day cycle. I've got some thoughts in my head, but haven't decided on anything for sure yet, so I'm not going to put it out there. Look for a new post by the end of next week with the updates.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Day 90
Officially, today is the last day of my first 90 day challenge. I am sorta sad that it's over, but I'm excited to mix things up a bit. Since today is the last day, I will not post a picture until tomorrow morning and I will not post a weight until tomorrow morning. My post today is gonna be about today.
This morning I continued my trend of waking up early. I got up at 6:15am for our end of the year Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. I got to the fields super early and warmed up with my brother who got there not too long after I did. Unfortunately, there's not much to write about in regards to the tournament. I didn't play particularly well, and neither did the team. We lost both games and with that, the "toilet bowl." We came in 12th out of 12 teams. Disappointing.
I'm trying to decide if I really hate this getting up early stuff. I figure if I can get to bed early, waking up at 6 to get a good workout in might not be the worst thing ever. But then again... it might be. Work drains me more than vacation and weekends, for sure.
I currently sit on my sofa with the Phillies game on the TV. I'm bored, which is partially why I decided to write a post today. I used to get bored and eat or throw a video game in or something. What do I want to do instead? Go for a run. Do I think things have changed for me? Yes.
I'm still in the process of planning goals for my next 90 day cycle. I will certainly be taking suggestions, but I'm also going to be taking a break after tomorrow from tracking things. I'll reflect more on this tomorrow.
Stay tuned. Pictures & Reflections tomorrow.
This morning I continued my trend of waking up early. I got up at 6:15am for our end of the year Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. I got to the fields super early and warmed up with my brother who got there not too long after I did. Unfortunately, there's not much to write about in regards to the tournament. I didn't play particularly well, and neither did the team. We lost both games and with that, the "toilet bowl." We came in 12th out of 12 teams. Disappointing.
I'm trying to decide if I really hate this getting up early stuff. I figure if I can get to bed early, waking up at 6 to get a good workout in might not be the worst thing ever. But then again... it might be. Work drains me more than vacation and weekends, for sure.
I currently sit on my sofa with the Phillies game on the TV. I'm bored, which is partially why I decided to write a post today. I used to get bored and eat or throw a video game in or something. What do I want to do instead? Go for a run. Do I think things have changed for me? Yes.
I'm still in the process of planning goals for my next 90 day cycle. I will certainly be taking suggestions, but I'm also going to be taking a break after tomorrow from tracking things. I'll reflect more on this tomorrow.
Stay tuned. Pictures & Reflections tomorrow.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Day 88
I woke up early again this morning. This time, for a bike ride.
I rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, and threw on my bike clothes. I walked downstairs and grabbed some breakfast while filling my water bottles. When I looked outside, it was a pretty cloudy day and probably somewhere in the mid to high 70's. After the 100 degree heat waves we've had, mid 70's almost feels chilly.
I threw my shoes on and went out. I started out of Cape May and started to get a little mist from the clouds. I don't think much of it. I roll over the bridge and head towards Wildwood. I climb over another bridge, and this is when things start getting bad.
It's no longer misting, but raining lightly. The bridge has gathered some moisture, and as I cross over the metal grates, I completely lose control of my wheels.
Now. Let me explain a few things about riding a bike for those of you who haven't done so in a while. When your back wheel starts to go sideways, you can still manage to control the bike relatively well with the front wheel. Continue in the direction that you were going, don't turn your front wheel, and the back will eventually recover, for the most part. When your front wheel starts going sideways, you're screwed.
Both of my wheels started going sideways, except I lost control over my front wheel. My entire bike started to the left. Luckily, no cars were coming. My right foot popped out of my pedal. Not sure why I pulled out my right foot, it wasn't going to do me any good, because I was gonna fall to my left.
Luckily, I managed to gain enough control before falling and my right foot being out allowed me to adjust my weight distribution and bring my bike back up to center. PHEW!
I'll set the stage for this portion of my ride. The roads are wet, it's raining pretty hard at this point, and I'm in Wildwood on the other side of a bridge that I have no interest in going back over after what just happened.
I'm not sure if this rain is supposed to get better or worse, but it seems to be slowing down. I got to a road that I knew would take me to the Garden State Parkway. I assumed I could figure out how to get back home from there, so I went that way, avoiding the bridge I had just gone over. Apparently this wasn't the best idea either.
As I went this way, I had to cross another bridge. This bridge was not steep in the least, but I completely lost the shoulder of the road that I was riding on. Fine. Deal with it. As I got to the top of the bridge, I notice the same metal grating that I had almost gone down on. So I slow down, coast over it, trying to maintain my balance. I make it across, and immediately start hearing a "fap fap fap" noise. My tire's flat. I'm in the middle of a bridge with no shoulder and my tire is flat. There is no stopping here, but I don't want to ruin my rim.
Luckily, my tire is still half inflated, so I coast down to a spot where I can stop and do my repair. I flip my bike over, and it almost immediately starts to downpour. I feel like I'm standing under a waterfall. I run my fingers inside my tire to see if I can find anything that might have punctured the tire. Nothing, so I replace the tube and put the tire back on the rim.
The only inflation system I have with me is a CO2 cartridge pump. I know from the past that these things get really cold when they start to shoot air into your tire. Not holding the cartridge is kind of out of the question. I only have one, so if this doesn't go right, I'm 7 miles from home with no way to get back. I let the air out of the cartridge and it immediately starts to freeze. I go to remove the cartridge from the pump, and my hand is now stuck to the cartridge. Think "A Christmas Story" when that kid gets his tongue stuck to the pole.
Once the rain melts the cartridge off of my hand, I put the wheel back on and hope it holds out. I'm now trying to get home as fast as I can without going back over those two bridges again, so I get going.
I finally find a road that looks somewhat familiar, so I get on it and ride.
I eventually make it home. My clothes are completely soaked and all I want to do is get them off and hop in the shower, but I've first gotta wipe my bike down and clean up all of the grime.
What a miserable ride. On the bright side, I guess it makes for a decent story.
I rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, and threw on my bike clothes. I walked downstairs and grabbed some breakfast while filling my water bottles. When I looked outside, it was a pretty cloudy day and probably somewhere in the mid to high 70's. After the 100 degree heat waves we've had, mid 70's almost feels chilly.
I threw my shoes on and went out. I started out of Cape May and started to get a little mist from the clouds. I don't think much of it. I roll over the bridge and head towards Wildwood. I climb over another bridge, and this is when things start getting bad.
It's no longer misting, but raining lightly. The bridge has gathered some moisture, and as I cross over the metal grates, I completely lose control of my wheels.
Now. Let me explain a few things about riding a bike for those of you who haven't done so in a while. When your back wheel starts to go sideways, you can still manage to control the bike relatively well with the front wheel. Continue in the direction that you were going, don't turn your front wheel, and the back will eventually recover, for the most part. When your front wheel starts going sideways, you're screwed.
Both of my wheels started going sideways, except I lost control over my front wheel. My entire bike started to the left. Luckily, no cars were coming. My right foot popped out of my pedal. Not sure why I pulled out my right foot, it wasn't going to do me any good, because I was gonna fall to my left.
Luckily, I managed to gain enough control before falling and my right foot being out allowed me to adjust my weight distribution and bring my bike back up to center. PHEW!
I'll set the stage for this portion of my ride. The roads are wet, it's raining pretty hard at this point, and I'm in Wildwood on the other side of a bridge that I have no interest in going back over after what just happened.
I'm not sure if this rain is supposed to get better or worse, but it seems to be slowing down. I got to a road that I knew would take me to the Garden State Parkway. I assumed I could figure out how to get back home from there, so I went that way, avoiding the bridge I had just gone over. Apparently this wasn't the best idea either.
As I went this way, I had to cross another bridge. This bridge was not steep in the least, but I completely lost the shoulder of the road that I was riding on. Fine. Deal with it. As I got to the top of the bridge, I notice the same metal grating that I had almost gone down on. So I slow down, coast over it, trying to maintain my balance. I make it across, and immediately start hearing a "fap fap fap" noise. My tire's flat. I'm in the middle of a bridge with no shoulder and my tire is flat. There is no stopping here, but I don't want to ruin my rim.
Luckily, my tire is still half inflated, so I coast down to a spot where I can stop and do my repair. I flip my bike over, and it almost immediately starts to downpour. I feel like I'm standing under a waterfall. I run my fingers inside my tire to see if I can find anything that might have punctured the tire. Nothing, so I replace the tube and put the tire back on the rim.
The only inflation system I have with me is a CO2 cartridge pump. I know from the past that these things get really cold when they start to shoot air into your tire. Not holding the cartridge is kind of out of the question. I only have one, so if this doesn't go right, I'm 7 miles from home with no way to get back. I let the air out of the cartridge and it immediately starts to freeze. I go to remove the cartridge from the pump, and my hand is now stuck to the cartridge. Think "A Christmas Story" when that kid gets his tongue stuck to the pole.
Once the rain melts the cartridge off of my hand, I put the wheel back on and hope it holds out. I'm now trying to get home as fast as I can without going back over those two bridges again, so I get going.
I finally find a road that looks somewhat familiar, so I get on it and ride.
I eventually make it home. My clothes are completely soaked and all I want to do is get them off and hop in the shower, but I've first gotta wipe my bike down and clean up all of the grime.
What a miserable ride. On the bright side, I guess it makes for a decent story.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Day 87
I'm a little bit disappointed with myself. I haven't been holding to my drinking goal. I'm on vacation, so for some reason, I feel like I can drink what I want when I want. I've held off on drinking before 5:00pm, but I know I'm still drinking too much. In an attempt to curb my drinking, I got a six pack of Michelob Ultra. It's meh... I have less interest in drinking now.
I also haven't been working out as hard as I wanted to on this vacation because my knee has been bothering me since Saturday's Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. I was finally starting to feel better last night, so I figured I'd wake up today and run. And I did. At 7:30am.
I know, I know... 7:30 is what time most of you start your commute (or maybe start working!) But I'm on vacation and I didn't get to bed until midnight. None the less... up at 7:30, out the door for a 4.5 mile run at 8:00. It felt good. I saw a lot of people out for a workout this morning. I also saw people preparing for a lifeguard competition down here in Cape May, NJ.
This is the USLA (United States Lifeguard Association)'s National Lifeguard Championship. There are lifeguards here from all over the country competing in crazy events. Apparently it's a 3 day event, so I'll probably try to catch some of it at some point, but for now I'm just sticking to my own thing.
Anyway, I'm proud of my run this morning. I hope to get out for another workout later today... maybe on the kayak... despite my blisters and funny looking sunburn.
I also haven't been working out as hard as I wanted to on this vacation because my knee has been bothering me since Saturday's Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. I was finally starting to feel better last night, so I figured I'd wake up today and run. And I did. At 7:30am.
I know, I know... 7:30 is what time most of you start your commute (or maybe start working!) But I'm on vacation and I didn't get to bed until midnight. None the less... up at 7:30, out the door for a 4.5 mile run at 8:00. It felt good. I saw a lot of people out for a workout this morning. I also saw people preparing for a lifeguard competition down here in Cape May, NJ.
This is the USLA (United States Lifeguard Association)'s National Lifeguard Championship. There are lifeguards here from all over the country competing in crazy events. Apparently it's a 3 day event, so I'll probably try to catch some of it at some point, but for now I'm just sticking to my own thing.
Anyway, I'm proud of my run this morning. I hope to get out for another workout later today... maybe on the kayak... despite my blisters and funny looking sunburn.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Day 85
I figured that since I'm on vacation, I should be able to find the time to make a few extra posts. Also, since it's my last week of my first 90 days, I figured updating more often would be nice for you guys.
My knee has continued to bother me from the Ultimate Frisbee Tournament on Saturday. I wanted to ride my bike this morning, but I need to listen to my body. I preach this stuff so I need to follow my own advice, even though that's extremely difficult sometimes.
Instead of riding or running, I decided to pull out my parent's ocean kayak.
Now, I've been out on these kayak's before. I would venture to say, I've been on kayaks more than 20 times in my life, but not much more than that. I'm not a rookie, but I wouldn't say I'm experienced. Kayaking for me usually looks like this: Get in the water, row out a little bit, rest while enjoying the motion of the ocean, row really fast, rest some more, turn back and try to catch a wave. This whole thing lasts about 15 minutes. Tops.
Today looked different. My brother went with me, so there was some of that competitiveness going on, but I set the bar high to begin with. My brother just wouldn't let me quit. If you've ever been to Cape May NJ (or even if you haven't), you may know that there is a lighthouse. The beach that we go to is called "The Cove Beach." The lighthouse is on the other end of the cove. Over a mile away. A little bit past this lighthouse is a jetty. I wanted to go to the jetty.
If you look at this photograph, you can see where the end of the beach is all the way in the background. That's where we went. We launch our boats from about where the two people are looking for seashells to the left of the lifeguard stand. It's far.
So we set out and rowed. It was getting difficult for me because my hands started to hurt. My left hand in particular. I was getting a blister, I had prune fingers, and my left pinky and ring finger on my left hand were hard core cramped.
The current in the water typically pushes with us on the way down to the lighthouse. I was really getting concerned about the current because I figured It would take at least twice as long to get back. When we finally made it to the jetty, we turned around, and found that the current was going the wrong way. Apparently we had been fighting the current the whole first half of our trip, and now it's gonna be with us. SWEET!
So after an hour and a half, we made it back to the beach. We pulled the boats up close to our chairs, opened our books, and enjoyed the breeze.
Oh. And my shoulders hurt like hell. :-)
My knee has continued to bother me from the Ultimate Frisbee Tournament on Saturday. I wanted to ride my bike this morning, but I need to listen to my body. I preach this stuff so I need to follow my own advice, even though that's extremely difficult sometimes.
Instead of riding or running, I decided to pull out my parent's ocean kayak.
Now, I've been out on these kayak's before. I would venture to say, I've been on kayaks more than 20 times in my life, but not much more than that. I'm not a rookie, but I wouldn't say I'm experienced. Kayaking for me usually looks like this: Get in the water, row out a little bit, rest while enjoying the motion of the ocean, row really fast, rest some more, turn back and try to catch a wave. This whole thing lasts about 15 minutes. Tops.
Today looked different. My brother went with me, so there was some of that competitiveness going on, but I set the bar high to begin with. My brother just wouldn't let me quit. If you've ever been to Cape May NJ (or even if you haven't), you may know that there is a lighthouse. The beach that we go to is called "The Cove Beach." The lighthouse is on the other end of the cove. Over a mile away. A little bit past this lighthouse is a jetty. I wanted to go to the jetty.
This image courtesy of TripAdvisor
If you look at this photograph, you can see where the end of the beach is all the way in the background. That's where we went. We launch our boats from about where the two people are looking for seashells to the left of the lifeguard stand. It's far.
So we set out and rowed. It was getting difficult for me because my hands started to hurt. My left hand in particular. I was getting a blister, I had prune fingers, and my left pinky and ring finger on my left hand were hard core cramped.
The current in the water typically pushes with us on the way down to the lighthouse. I was really getting concerned about the current because I figured It would take at least twice as long to get back. When we finally made it to the jetty, we turned around, and found that the current was going the wrong way. Apparently we had been fighting the current the whole first half of our trip, and now it's gonna be with us. SWEET!
So after an hour and a half, we made it back to the beach. We pulled the boats up close to our chairs, opened our books, and enjoyed the breeze.
Oh. And my shoulders hurt like hell. :-)
Start of Week 13: The Final Countdown
Today is the start of week 13. It is also day 84. That means that this coming Saturday, August 6th, will be day 90 and my first 90 day experiment will be over. This is exciting for me, because I've tried to do 52 day challenges before where you set goals and I always dropped out around day 30. I'm gonna make it this time.
I want to reflect on this idea for a second. Why did it work this time? Here's the answer: I made my goals realistic, but still challenging. I feel like I've made some real lifestyle changes that will stick with me for a long time. But what's next on my plate?
I'm trying to decide what kind of goals I want to set for my next 90 days. That's right. I'm doing it all again. I appreciate everybody who reads my blog, because without you, I don't have the embarrassment when I fail. I really do feel embarrassed when I don't do what I set out to do.
So what goals do you, my readers (aka my friends and family), think my new goals should be for the next cycle? I'd like to add a strength goal- pushups, pullups, something of that nature... maybe both. I may keep the alcohol goal, but adjust it some, and I certainly will continue to track my weight. But what else do you think I should do that I haven't thought of yet? I want some feedback on that.
While you think about it, I'll give you some body shot pictures. Also, my weight didn't change, but my body did. Weird, right? I'll save my side by sides for next weekend.
I want to reflect on this idea for a second. Why did it work this time? Here's the answer: I made my goals realistic, but still challenging. I feel like I've made some real lifestyle changes that will stick with me for a long time. But what's next on my plate?
I'm trying to decide what kind of goals I want to set for my next 90 days. That's right. I'm doing it all again. I appreciate everybody who reads my blog, because without you, I don't have the embarrassment when I fail. I really do feel embarrassed when I don't do what I set out to do.
So what goals do you, my readers (aka my friends and family), think my new goals should be for the next cycle? I'd like to add a strength goal- pushups, pullups, something of that nature... maybe both. I may keep the alcohol goal, but adjust it some, and I certainly will continue to track my weight. But what else do you think I should do that I haven't thought of yet? I want some feedback on that.
While you think about it, I'll give you some body shot pictures. Also, my weight didn't change, but my body did. Weird, right? I'll save my side by sides for next weekend.
I should also say that I'm at the beach, which is why the room looks different. My wife is not here, so my substitute photographer was my brother this week. I like the pictures my brother took, I think they really capture the box my scale travels in, but he's no replacement for my wife. I love you and miss you babe!
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