Trying new things

So I decided to try something new today, something I've never really done before. The Elyptical.

I was on it for about 10 minutes and my legs were shot. Holy crap was it hard. The shitty part is, I think I only burned like 45 or 50 calories. But It was a good workout nevertheless. After that I did a little big of weight training which was fun. I think I need to be doing more of that, especially like core work.

Its now Monday night, day 3 of my weight loss week. And I haven't had a very good 3 days workout wise. And thats probably being pretty polite about it. So, needless to say, I need to step it up for the next few days if I"m gonna have any chance to accomplish my goal in 2 weeks. LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO.

But hey, on the plus side, I think I found a 4th cardio option. I shouldn't have much problem getting bored with my workouts.

Quick update

Alright, yesterday got in a decent workout. Went swimming, didn't really do laps, spent the whole time chasing down dive rings. So still got in a good amount of swimming, and it was fun.

Tonight, man was the pool ever packed. There were like 10 kids, and its a kinda small pool, so it was crowded. And of course, a crowded pool makes it hard to do much swimming. So, unfortunately, I didnt get too great of a workout in today. Tomorrow will be better for sure.

I'm still pretty happy about my weigh-in earlier. I think my arms are a little bit leaner. And 1 of the 2 pairs of swim trunks I couldnt fit into a while back fits now, I wore them tonight, and the other pair doesn't quite fit yet, almost, but not quite. Anyways yeah, things are going pretty well right now, hopefully I can keep it up for another few weeks.

Weigh-In 6-27-09

234.2 lbs -- down 2.4 lbs

34.6% BF -- up .3%

Yay for another good week. 4 lbs left to reach my goal, and about 2 weeks to do it. I'm kinda nervous, but I still feel good that I can accomplish it. I have to be really good over the next two weeks, and workout really hard. If I do that, I should break the 230 mark without issue. I'm really hoping that I am able to do it. But lets just see what happens this week. And we'll go from there.

Nothing like a good rest.

Alright, so today I've been sore all day long. My legs are a little less sore than yesterday, but man my back has been hecka tight all day. So since I've been feeling so tight all day, I decided to take the day off. Hopefully a day off won't hurt my weigh-in too much. I've done pretty good the rest of the week. Hopefully my body will feel better tomorrow and I can get in a good workout.

Today

Okay, had kind of not a great day.

First, I went for a swim. My shoulder was doing its clicking thing, but it was uncomfortable. So I ended up not doing much of a workout.

Then, I went for another run. My legs were really sore after my hard run yesterday. That, possibly combined with the swim earlier, meant that I had a pretty crappy run. Ended up doing like 1.15 miles in 20 minutes, mainly walking. Atleast I did the walking on an incline for most of it. But even with that I only managed like 120 calories, thats counting the 5 minute warm up on the bike.

So I had kind of a crappy working out day. But on a slightly better note, I had my first Fiber One bar today, an apple streusel one, it was freakin awesome. Also, in the past few days I've turned down Oreo's (the only food I'm addicted to) and really yummy looking chocolate cake with fudgy frosting. Its hard to turn down food that looks, and sounds, really good, but now that I've actually done a little of it, I'm pretty proud of myself. I've also completely stopped drinking soda, I still eat fast food, but I've stopped eating fries, which should cut out a lot of fat, I'm doing everything I can to avoid chips, and candy, and as much junk food as I can. I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to actual nutrition, but I think I've made a lot of progress in cutting out a lot of the bad, and mainly unnecessary, things that I'd eat all the time. So thats a minor victory.

meme tag?

Okay, you are supposed to answer the questions, remove one you dont like, and add a new one of your own.


What is your current obsession? Other than getting in shape, there are a couple cell phones I love, but can't afford.

What are you wearing today? shorts, t-shirt, old Nike's that need to be replaced

What’s for dinner? I had meatloaf, it was pretty good.

What’s the last thing you bought? Uhm, a pair of swim goggles for my girlfriend.

What are you listening to right now? America's Got Talent.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go? This is actually kind of a tough one, I guess I'll say, the podium to collect my 80 million dollar lottery check.

Which language do you want to learn? Japanese.

What do you love most about where you currently live? Actually, I want to move.

What is your favorite colour? Blue, followed by green.

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? At the moment, probably the swim trunks I wore today that didn't fit a month ago.

Describe your personal style? Laid back.

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on? Okay, shoes, heart rate monitor/gps thingy, not really sure what I'd do with the rest, maybe UFC tickets.

What are you going to do after this? Shower, sleep.

Your favorite smell? I've actually never even stopped to think about......maybe fresh baked food?.

Do you collect anything? not really.

What makes you follow a blog? Mainly if its interesting. I'll gladly take any other tips.

What's your favorite kind of onion? Not really a fan of onions.

What’s one thing you dream of doing? Triathlon- Chicago 2016 Olympics, haha, Suggestion from my girlfriend after I jokingly mentioned it earlier, cant think of anything else.

What is your biggest regret? Letting myself get as far out of shape as I have, and not starting to fix the problems earlier.

What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day? I don't like the rain so uhmm...... do everything possible to avoid going out in it?

Do you have a tattoo? Nope, I keep saying I want to get one, but its yet to happen.

What are your favorite books? I like the Harry Potter books, an audio book I have about overcoming procrastination, and the Triathlon training book I got before I started working out seriously.

Are you left handed, right handed, ambidextrous, or a little of both? Lefty, and proud of it.

Are you a big fan of memes? Prior to seeing this one on Jack's Blog, I'd never heard of a meme.

Okay, I don't have 8 people to pass this on to, so I'm gonna skip that

5k

Alright, this time I have a question. How long does it take to train for a 5k?? I grabbed a flyer today for a 5/10k. It looks fun, and I want to do it. There is only one problem. The event is August 1st. Thats a little more than a month away, and I'm not in anything close to good enough shape to run that far. I want to do it, and I can train as hard as my lungs will let me. I just don't know if thats long enough to train from virtually nothing to running that distance. Right now, The most I've done is like 2 miles in 40 minutes or so, including warm up and cool down. I'm gonna go for a run tonight and I'll see what I can do and how far I really need to go. So I'll see what that tells me and update this as necessary. But I would like to know, if you have experience or know what you're talking about, is a month long enough to train for a 5k?

UPDATE
Alright, "virtually nothing" may have been a bit of an exageration, but I still have quite a ways to go. After a 5 minute warm up biking, I ran 2 miles in 26 minutes and about 15 seconds. Thats about 13 minute pace, which isn't bad considering thats the longest I've ran straight. I guess I should mention that I only walked for maybe 2 minutes and ran the rest of the time. So I'm kinda proud of that. I maybe could have done a bit more but man I was tired as hell. I think I'll do some more running over the next week or so and then see if I think theres a realistic shot at doing the 5k or not. Still I'd like some input as to normal training schedule for a beginner 5k.

Titles are hard to come up with

Had a really good swim today. Got 25 laps in. Plus I went earlier than normal so I got some sun. That was nice. I like sun, haha. I think my next few swim workouts are gonna be structured like this: 1 lap, 1 lap (warm-up), 10 laps in a row, 1 lap, 10 laps in a row, 1 lap, 1 lap (cool down). I've been doing 25 laps for the last couple workouts and it seem a pretty good total. So, I think I'll do this for maybe the next week or two, and then bump it up a bit. I will definitely let you know how it goes.

I'm kinda getting bored blogging about the same thing every day. So I think this is a good time to see if there are any questions any of the readers would like to have answered? Ask me something, anything, fitness or sporting related, and I'll do my best to give a good answer. Lets see if we can't mix it up a little.

Workouts

Yesterday (Saturday)- On the bike, 45 minutes, 12.5 miles, 300 calories

Today (Sunday)-- Bike, 30 minutes, 8.6 miles, 240 calories

Wow, I think I have to say that today's workout was way harder than yesterdays. I did the "speed interval" program today, and man is it hard. There was probably some lactic acid training mixed in there two, because in the 1:40 intervals my heart rate would go from about 140 to about 170, then back down to 140ish on the next (low) interval. Needless to say, I was dripping by the end of the workout.

The weather has been kinda crappy lately, hopefully It'll get better soon so I can get back into the pool. Otherwise I might just have to say the hell with it and swim in the rain lol.

One last point, Over the past week or so I've been getting some comments from readers I didn't even know I had. Which is totally awesome. I am extreme grateful that anyone is even reading this and love all of your comments. But just for the fun of it, if you're reading make yourself known. Leave a comment or start following or something to let me know you are. Also, let me know if you have any suggestions on how to make this blog better, it will be much appreciated.

June 20th = Day 1

This picture is my official start of the Missouri 60. Lets see how much better I look, and how much my story changes in the next 60 days.

See, I told you the cell phone pic would suck, lol.

Missouri 60 / Sin-Free Summer

Okay, so while scanning my little portion of the weight-loss blogosphere over the last few days, I've come across two great ideas.

First, the Missouri 60. A challenge being orchestrated by The Anti-Jared. The Idea being Take a picture of yourself today, then another in 60 days, and see how much you can change your life in the mean time.

The other is a personal goal from Tony at "I dont want to die of a heart attack at age 25". He calls it the Sin-Free Summer, or something to that affect. His goal is that he won't eat any junk food, or make any excuses for the entire summer.

Although both are not "official" challenges, I'm in to both of them. No excuses all summer. And I'll be posting a picture, one way or another, later today. It'll most likely be a cell phone pic, so it'll probably suck, but I'll get it on here.

I'm gonna have an awesome summer, and make my life better in the process.

Note- I dont know how to link to other blogs, if someone tells me I'll give Anti-Jared and Tony the respect they deserve.

Other note- I think I've decided, when I reach my ultimate goals (185 lbs) I think I'm gonna get a tattoo to commemorate the accomplishment.

Weigh-In 6-20

236.6 lbs-- down .4 lbs

34.3% BF-- down .3%


Not bad for a short week. Last weigh-in was Monday. Worked out 4 of the 5 days. Didn't really do a workout yesterday, I walked up and down a decent sized hill but that was it. I definitely didn't do good eating yesterday either, not a particularly good day, topped off by some Ben & Jerry's and some Oreo's last night. So I wasn't expecting that great of a weigh-in. I'm satisfied with an (almost) half pound loss this week. I'll have to pick it up next week if I'm going to reach my goal. The weather looks kinda shitty for the near future, so I might opt to ride the bike (or maybe treadmill if my lungs feel okay) for the next few days, instead of swimming. Still not bad options, although I've seen the most results from swimming. So we'll see how the weather holds up this week, and if I can manage another good number. Wish me luck.

Damn

Remember how I was talking about that possible breakthrough yesterday? Well I only did 22 total laps tonight, but I did a lot endurance wise. I did 2 separate laps for warm up, then 5 in a row, took a little breather, then did 13 laps with virtually no rest in between. Thats right, 13 laps in a row. A few days ago I could only manage 3 in a row. That tells me it was a mental barrier more than anything. Even as I was in the midst of the 13 tonight I found myself continually saying "okay, my arms are tired, time to stop" and "alright, I'm out of breath, this is gonna be the last lap". The difference is, this time I didn't give in. I gotta say I'm pretty happy, albeit tired, at the moment. At this point, I'm looking forward to being able to build on top of this effort and do even more. And I'm definitely looking forward to weigh-in this week. Hopefully I'll actually be able to do it on Saturday this week, don't think work will get in the way again. Not expecting another big number, but I think it'l be a loss again.

P.S. I'm glad someone liked my little lesson on my last post. You're comments are eagerly awaited. And, if it is worth it to the few people that read this, I'd be glad to try stuff like that more often.

Possibly a breakthrough

Okay had an awesome workout tonight. Just got done. Swam 25 laps. 4 more than last time. Boy am I tired. The part that may be a breakthrough is the part that I did more consecutively that I had before, a lot more. Previously I had only done 3 consecutive a few times. Tonight, I did 4 laps. Then I did 5 laps, then 2, then another 5, and another 5, then 3 to end. Plus 2 laps as a warm-up and that equals 25 laps. Holy crap am I tired. 5 laps is pretty exhausting, but I like where it puts me. I think I just made a pretty big leap in the direction of my goals. We'll see how I feel tomorrow and if I can keep up that pace or not. If I'm able to do that, its gonna help me a lot when it comes to a) swimming a lot farther (triathlon training) and b) obviously getting in shape and losing weight. Hopefully I'll be able to have another good workout tomorrow after a day of work. Right now my arms are pretty damn tired, as am I.

Also, I haven't mentioned this on this blog yet, but as a lot of you may know, swimming is a great source of "pumps". For those that don't know, "pumps" is what happens when you're blood vessels dialate and fill with blood after a muscle is worked strenuously. Thus, your muscles get really big an defined. Swimming, due to the constant and strenuous nature, produces huge pumps. So after I get done with a good hard swim, my chest and arms feel huge. Its pretty awesome, lol. Hows that for a little physiology lesson?

Monday and Tuesday

Monday- I didn't feel like swimming, so I figured I'd try out that whole running thing again.

25 minutes, 200 calories, 1.6 miles

Not a bad workout, I tried something a little bit different. Did my warm up walking on an incline of about 3.5. Then ran an entire lap at 5 mph. Did the next two laps with 1/4 lap walking, then running the rest. Rounded out the first mile (including warm-up) in 14:04, minus the 5ish minute warm-up and thats 3 minute laps for the final 3 laps. Which if my math is right, and I know it is, would be on pace for a 12 minute mile, which I believe is one of my goals. Sweetness.

Not so sweet, after that workout my asthma went crazy. That sucked big time. Okay, something I've yet to mention on here: Here in the Portland area, we had this really weird storm roughly 2 weeks ago. I say weird because it was sort of a freak mix of conditions. Anywho, the storm ignited asthma in tons of people who've never experienced asthma before, including myself. They (the news) said that the only way to get rid of it was to go to the hospital and get a treatment. Only problem is, I dont have insurance, and definately don't have money to go see a doctor. So I've been fighting it for 2 weeks and I don't know what to do.


Tuesday (today)- I went for a swim. Was not feeling it at all. It was kinda strange actually. Like, I wanted to swim good and long, just was sorta out of it or something. I ended up swimming like 15 laps or maybe a little less. Which I mean isn't all that bad, thats more than I was doing before the last couple weeks, but less than the good workouts I've been getting lately. But I guess as far as "bad" workouts go, it wasnt all that bad. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to push it harder tomorrow. Plus I'm gonna try to talk my girlfriend into playing some tennis too. That'd be fun, haven't played tennis for a couple of weeks.

Better late than never

Okay, so its two days late. But I weighed in today.

237 lbs- Down 2.4 lbs

34.9% BF- down 2.8%

Another good week for me. I'm so happy to see the weight finally starting to come off. That means I've lost about 6.6 lbs in the last 3 weeks. It also means I have 7 lbs to lose in the next month. Its not going to be easy, but I'm starting to think I'll actually be able to accomplish my goal. I really do not want to get ahead of myself and start thinking that its already been done, so I'm trying to kind of focus on the "task at hand". But to be perfectly honest, now that I'm starting to see s ome results, every now and then I have some of those I cant wait until its over type of thoughts. I kind of have a problem with daydreaming how I want to be instead of the actual reality. Thats not necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes I can get a little carried away and lose track of what needs to be done to get to the reality I want. I'm gonna try my hardest not to let that happen. I want to keep up he level of success I'm having right now. And hopefully I'll drop that 7 pounds.

Kinda shitty day

First I guess I should mention, Yesterday I had a really good swim, did 21 laps in about 30-40 minutes, the other day I did the same work in about an hour. That'll definitely lead to better endurance.


Now for today, it basically sucked. Went to work for a few hours. Did a little work around the house, not what I wanted to get done. And I did nothing else. Not the run I was thinking about, not the swim I normally do. Hell, I didn't even do the stability ball workout I was going to improvise as a fill-in for not doing anything else. Lazy ass day. I'm ready for bed. Tomorrow I have to get off my ass for sure.

Update

Okay, just to let you know, until I get the computer fixed all the way, which might not be for a while, I probably won't be posting daily. But, I'll try to keep up with it as much as possible.

Wednesday- Wasn't feeling very good, so I rested.

Thursday- Swam 21 laps, one more than last time. I figure if I can add a couple laps a week I'll be doing pretty good. One thing I definitely have to do is work on my endurance. I've done 3 consecutive laps a couple times, and it absolutely kills me. Two is difficult, but manageable, So, I'm gonna keep doing as many "doubles" as I can throughout my workouts, and try to build up from there.

Friday- Tired after a long day of work. Didn't feel like working out, so I didnt. Took that day off too. Still got in 5 good hard workouts this week. Good week for sure.

Today- Its Saturday. I had work so I couldnt' do my weigh-in this morning. I'm (hopefully) gonna do it tomorrow, and post it tomorrow night. I'm gonna go do a nice hard swim tonight. Looking forward to it for sure.

Today is exactly one month until y birthday, July 13th. So that means I have exactly 1 month to lose 9 lbs to reach my goal. I got some work ahead of me. I have to be really careful about my eating habits. I need to do at least 5 workouts a week, and I need to start mixing some running and biking back into my routine. All I've been doing for the last few weeks is swimming, which is good, but I need to be doing everything I can do. Come to think of it, next time I have a day off, I might just go for an outdoor run. I like running on the treadmill because it tells me how far and fast I'm going, and it seems like I go faster on the treadmill then I do outdoors, Plus, it seems to be easier on my shins. But I think I might try to go out for a jog or two, and see how it works out.

still having computer problems

Need to get a new one, too bad I'm broke haha. Stupid computer.

Alright, Monday, Swam for about an hour, did 15 laps (down and back). Funny thing about my pool is, its sort of coffin shaped, think Dracula. I asked the management of the apartments how long it is, and they don't know, go figure. So using the best of my measuring stuff expertise, its about 19 paces. No Idea how long that is in actual measurements. I'm thinking its somewhere between 15 and 20 yards. Anyways, Monday I did 15 laps. Tuesday, I did 20 laps, after 20 laps, I was exhausted, and completely starving. I probably ate away my entire workout last night haha, I was seriously hungry.

Speaking of eating crap, I guess I haven't got the eating thing completely down yet. Monday we went to Cold Stone Creamery. I'm not quite sure how wide spread the chain is, but its massively unhealthy, and very very tasty. So anyways, I was there, looking at the menu, I was gonna get a 110 calorie smoothie. Then I was gonna get a small ice cream. Then I ended up getting a medium chocolate pudding flavored ice cream with chocolate syrup, caramel syrup and peanut butter mixed in, in a waffle bowl cone. Took me two sittings to eat the whole thing. Pretty sure it was about 1000 calories. Since then I've been trying to be good. But I'm not gonna lie, I was pretty disappointed in myself after that.

Okay, so in my last post I mentioned that I heard on TV that morning was the best time to weigh yourself. Now I have concrete proof. Last night I weighed myself, 240. This morning, right after I woke up, 239. From now on I'm definitely gonna try to weigh in in the morning. And thats also .2 lbs dropped from last week. Not my "official" Saturday weigh-in, so hopefully I'll get some more good work in before Saturday and lose a little more weight this week. But for the most part, I'm doing pretty good.

Whew, Thrid post of the night.

I guess thats bound to happen after not having my computer for a week.

Oh well, this will be quick.

Side note- I hit enter, and posted this before I entered any text. HAHA. Also, on the news, drive-in church, listen to it on the radio, watch the preacher on a stage, seems lame, but to each their own.

ANYWAYS. Today, hectic, busy, physical, and exhausting day at work. Then I swam for about an hour. Right now, two laps (down, back, down, back) is about all I can do. But I'm starting to get the technique, or at least my version of it, down, so I'm sure endurance will come.

Also, I saw an article in some runners magazine, about how to double your distance in 6 weeks. Didn't buy the mag, but the gist was 3 days a week, 1 endurance, 1 maintenance (that looks like its spelled wrong), 1 speed training (aka Fartlek). So, I think I'm gonna try to mix in some more running along with my swimming, and see if I can increase my distance by a bit. That'd be nice.

Ok, wasn't quite as quick as I thought it'd be. Oh well, have a nice night, or day.

Weigh-In 6-5-09

as I mentioned in my last post.

239.4 lbs--- Down 4.2 lbs.

37.7 % BF--- Up a little bit, dehydration due to weighing myself in the morning before I had any chance to drink anything.

I already commented on this result in my last post. But I'm fucking pumped that a) I finally got some results, and b) I LOST 4 POUNDS. Only 9.4 lbs left until my goal, and roughly 5 weeks to do it. I actually think I got this. Wish me luck fo realz.

My Triumphant Return

Wow, the whole "gettin the computer fixed" thing took WAYYY longer than I thought it would.

Its been a weird week. Ok, Saturday, Sunday, Monday I worked out really hard, had a really good few days. Tuesday, I weighed myself in the morning, after hearing on tv that morning is the best time to do it, and discovered I had lost 4.2 lbs (down to 239.4 lbs). Needless to to say, I was super happy about that. Tuesday night I didn't workout because I had to work that night. Wednesday, I was gone all night so, didn't workout. Thursday, I had a really long day of work and was hecka tired, so didn't workout. Friday I didn't workout either, I'm not exactly sure why, not that it matters. Yesterday, I did my normal weigh-in, still 239.4. I managed to maintain a 4 pound loss after a few days of not working out. That definitiely makes me think that I might actually be getting my eating under control, at least a little bit. Then last night I had a good, really hard, swim. I'm getting better, finally starting to figure out how to breathe during stroke. Not pretty for sure, but I'm making progress, thats all that matters.