May 26, 2011 - Working smart and hard.
Lately I have been really crushing it at the gym! I've been feeling pumped and ready to go, so I've been going. And going, and going, and going. The other day I did a full upper body workout followed by long run. I've been almost everyday this week and last, looking like "that guy". You know the one, when you're walking into the gym and "that guy" walks out drenched and you think, "He just finished a tough workout!" That was me! It feels great! Tonight, while I was running, my knee started feeling a bit sore. May have been the weather (HUGE storms just rolled through, and yes I still went to the gym), but I decided to hop off the treadmill and jump on the elliptical for the last 15 minutes. Did some abdominal work and stretched. Stretching, I realized tonight, is something that I'm severely lacking and will be incorporating it into all of my workouts from now on. Anyway, feeling a bit sore in my legs, my whole lower body actually. You think it may have something to do with my hardcore leg workout on Tuesday night? And so I'm toning it down just a hair. It takes balance to walk the line between sore and injured, and injured is what I CAN'T be right now.
Someone once said, "Work smart, not hard." But imagine what you could accomplish if you did both. My eating is under control; I'm eating small healthful meals every 3 hours. I'm rotating my exercises so I'm not always working the same muscle groups. And I'm taking one rest day a week, which is all you need. Hopefully by July or August I'll be at the weight I want and close to the physique I'd like. If that happens, I'll post pics. :)
Good night all! I'll try my damnedest to keep this ball rolling!
:-D
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Making of a Warrior
May 14, 2011 - Warrior Dash!
Today I crossed an event off of my Bucket List... Warrior Dash! Not only did I complete all obstacles, but completed the entire length (3.02 miles) in 36 minutes! Taking into account the obstacles and traffic jams, when we ran (and we ran almost the whole way) that makes a less than 10-minute mile pace! Yay us! I'm sure I wouldn't have kept that pace without Sarah's support and guidance.
So, the first obstacle was basically wading through shoulder-deep water (sometimes deeper) which made your clothes, socks, and shoes 15 pounds heavier! As soon as we got out of the water, there were cars, vans, and trucks blocking the route which had to be climbed over or through. Between the cars were laid out tires.. very hazardous on the ankles! After navigating the junk yard, we hopped over a wall (about 3.5-4ft high) and immediately under barbed wire. Up and down in that fashion about 8-10 times (I wasn't really counting, I was just getting through it).
Then came the most intimidating obstacle... The Great Warrior Wall. This was a 10ft (?) wall with a dozen ropes dangling from the top. Climb the rope, feet on the wall, get over the top, and climb down. In retrospect not difficult, just daunting. We climbed a large set of tires to get up the next hill and proceeded to run again. A little ways down the route, we climbed a rope net up and over in a similar fashion (and height) as the Wall but with less of an incline (that is, not vertical!!). About a quarter mile past that (uphill through the woods) was another rope net, this time horizontal about 4ft off the ground. Some folks cheated and walked the beams holding the net up, but Sarah and I did it right!
Then came a long stage of running and uphill walking. In the middle was an obstacle called Arachnophobia, which was just lots of bungee cord tied between the trees. Turned out to be a team building activity since we were all working together to not get smacked in the face by bungee that was let go too soon by the person in front of you. I think this obstacle was meant to create a huge traffic jam and space out the racers before the finish. Just my opinion though. Pretty soon we came upon what appeared to be a low-lying hut made of black plastic. I mention low-lying because the point of this obstacle was to navigate, on hands and knees, through near pitch black darkness. After that came more running and then the real fun began!
You haven't seen a slip 'n slide like this before! I can't really describe it too well since Sarah and I both dove right on and down, down, down.. face first! Hooyah!! After crashing at the end (and then being crashed into) we headed straight into the mud! A scramble on knees and elbows through thick thick mud, keeping low due to the barbed wire about 6 inches above the mud. I felt like I was in boot camp. But, I was getting dirty, which is what I had planned from the beginning. After the mud pit came. what I called the Warrior Wash. More water, but this time we had to crawl/climb/hop over logs and barrels that were floating in our path. There goes all the mud. And finally, now that we've been rinsed, time to dry... The Warrior Roast, where we leapt over two flaming piles of wood. (Not dangerous, really, more of a photo op, but still fun!).
So there we have it! Now officially a Warrior! Got into clean dry clothes to feel semi-normal again and went back for beer, turkey legs, and live music. Good times had by all and worth every ounce of energy spent.
Today I crossed an event off of my Bucket List... Warrior Dash! Not only did I complete all obstacles, but completed the entire length (3.02 miles) in 36 minutes! Taking into account the obstacles and traffic jams, when we ran (and we ran almost the whole way) that makes a less than 10-minute mile pace! Yay us! I'm sure I wouldn't have kept that pace without Sarah's support and guidance.
So, the first obstacle was basically wading through shoulder-deep water (sometimes deeper) which made your clothes, socks, and shoes 15 pounds heavier! As soon as we got out of the water, there were cars, vans, and trucks blocking the route which had to be climbed over or through. Between the cars were laid out tires.. very hazardous on the ankles! After navigating the junk yard, we hopped over a wall (about 3.5-4ft high) and immediately under barbed wire. Up and down in that fashion about 8-10 times (I wasn't really counting, I was just getting through it).
Then came the most intimidating obstacle... The Great Warrior Wall. This was a 10ft (?) wall with a dozen ropes dangling from the top. Climb the rope, feet on the wall, get over the top, and climb down. In retrospect not difficult, just daunting. We climbed a large set of tires to get up the next hill and proceeded to run again. A little ways down the route, we climbed a rope net up and over in a similar fashion (and height) as the Wall but with less of an incline (that is, not vertical!!). About a quarter mile past that (uphill through the woods) was another rope net, this time horizontal about 4ft off the ground. Some folks cheated and walked the beams holding the net up, but Sarah and I did it right!
Then came a long stage of running and uphill walking. In the middle was an obstacle called Arachnophobia, which was just lots of bungee cord tied between the trees. Turned out to be a team building activity since we were all working together to not get smacked in the face by bungee that was let go too soon by the person in front of you. I think this obstacle was meant to create a huge traffic jam and space out the racers before the finish. Just my opinion though. Pretty soon we came upon what appeared to be a low-lying hut made of black plastic. I mention low-lying because the point of this obstacle was to navigate, on hands and knees, through near pitch black darkness. After that came more running and then the real fun began!
You haven't seen a slip 'n slide like this before! I can't really describe it too well since Sarah and I both dove right on and down, down, down.. face first! Hooyah!! After crashing at the end (and then being crashed into) we headed straight into the mud! A scramble on knees and elbows through thick thick mud, keeping low due to the barbed wire about 6 inches above the mud. I felt like I was in boot camp. But, I was getting dirty, which is what I had planned from the beginning. After the mud pit came. what I called the Warrior Wash. More water, but this time we had to crawl/climb/hop over logs and barrels that were floating in our path. There goes all the mud. And finally, now that we've been rinsed, time to dry... The Warrior Roast, where we leapt over two flaming piles of wood. (Not dangerous, really, more of a photo op, but still fun!).
So there we have it! Now officially a Warrior! Got into clean dry clothes to feel semi-normal again and went back for beer, turkey legs, and live music. Good times had by all and worth every ounce of energy spent.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Leave it on the field!
May 2, 2011 - Tired, but ready for more!
So, yesterday was interesting. I woke up feeling rather depressed, gave myself a stern talking to followed by a pep talk and went to the gym. This worked extremely well! I was pretty darned happy the rest of the day! I ran 2 miles on the treadmill at a 10 minute pace, kicking it up to a full out sprint for the last 100m on each mile. I then went to a Roller Derby match. Now there's some excitement! I was a standby medic, so I had the best seats in the house. Then I went to work and carried a man down a flight of stairs.
Then, the roller derby after party. I drank a beer (I don't drink beer) and talked with new folks, maybe made some new friends, bowled, and had a great time. Life is good!
Today I met with Katie and she worked my arms so well that I could barely lift them. Good feeling! Tomorrow is lower body. Thursday is gonna suck, I'm sure. Strangely, I'm looking forward to it. I finally feel like I'm getting back into the swing of it!
Sarah is in her last week of grad school. Extraordinarily tough, I can't even imagine. I'm trying not to say things like, "Only one more week!" Because that could be (would be) exaggerating a deadline and only bring more stress. Instead, I try to appeal to her background of track & field, basketball, and frisbee. Sports analogies, at least to me, give more of a sense of "near accomplishment" rather than one of "time's running out". And, while I was giving some advice, I was kind of listening too. "Leave it on the field" is one that I decided to take with me to the gym tonight. I pushed it to exhaustion and it felt... well, I hated it while I was doing it, but when I finished, it felt GREAT! As I'm sure Sarah feels and will feel.
So, feeling good! Going to the gym daily, gonna try and keep that up! And eating, as will probably always be the case, is an ongoing battle! Bygones. Good night!
:-D
So, yesterday was interesting. I woke up feeling rather depressed, gave myself a stern talking to followed by a pep talk and went to the gym. This worked extremely well! I was pretty darned happy the rest of the day! I ran 2 miles on the treadmill at a 10 minute pace, kicking it up to a full out sprint for the last 100m on each mile. I then went to a Roller Derby match. Now there's some excitement! I was a standby medic, so I had the best seats in the house. Then I went to work and carried a man down a flight of stairs.
Then, the roller derby after party. I drank a beer (I don't drink beer) and talked with new folks, maybe made some new friends, bowled, and had a great time. Life is good!
Today I met with Katie and she worked my arms so well that I could barely lift them. Good feeling! Tomorrow is lower body. Thursday is gonna suck, I'm sure. Strangely, I'm looking forward to it. I finally feel like I'm getting back into the swing of it!
Sarah is in her last week of grad school. Extraordinarily tough, I can't even imagine. I'm trying not to say things like, "Only one more week!" Because that could be (would be) exaggerating a deadline and only bring more stress. Instead, I try to appeal to her background of track & field, basketball, and frisbee. Sports analogies, at least to me, give more of a sense of "near accomplishment" rather than one of "time's running out". And, while I was giving some advice, I was kind of listening too. "Leave it on the field" is one that I decided to take with me to the gym tonight. I pushed it to exhaustion and it felt... well, I hated it while I was doing it, but when I finished, it felt GREAT! As I'm sure Sarah feels and will feel.
So, feeling good! Going to the gym daily, gonna try and keep that up! And eating, as will probably always be the case, is an ongoing battle! Bygones. Good night!
:-D
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