Record

Alright, today was officially the hottest day in the History of Vancouver Washington 107 degrees. Broke the previous record, 106 degrees, which was set all the way back yesterday. Thats right, we've broken the all-time highest temperature ever in Vancouver, twice in 2 days, thats two days in a row. I can't believe it. We literally went and saw G-Force today just to get out of the heat. Good movie though, but still, I paid like 50 bucks for tickets and snacks just to escape the heat. Oh well, I guess shit happens. I can't wait, its supposed to be like 87 Sunday, it'll be awesome, lol.

Alright, tonight went on another chase the girlfriend run. Its actually pretty hard. 27 minutes, 2.9 miles, 343 calories. Just about the same distance (as far as I can remember) as the other day, but a few minutes faster, and I think a few more calories. It seems to be a pretty darn good workout. I can't wait until it cools off like 20 degrees, then we can do it during the day, instead of after 9 at night, and be able to go further and longer as well. That'll help a lot, kick up the effort. Haha tonight I surprised her a bit, I sprinted, like Usain Bolt sprinted, okay well obviously way slower, but I was bookin it. Blew right past her on her bike, it was great, she was like holy crap. Damn it was tiring though.

Almost forgot, I swam today. Not much of a workout, primarily just to try to cool off a bit. But still, its a few more calories, and thats the point, burn as much as possible, every little bit helps.

Final thought: On the news, they just said that people drove from as far away as Olympia (roughly a 2 hour drive) just to line up in hopes of buying an air conditioner. All stores are completely out of stock. I shelled out $270 like 10 days ago, barely beat the rush, got the 2nd to last one of the particular model. It barely even makes a dent when its this damn hot. As I've said before, its purely ridiculous. Oh well, at least I've experienced history. The 2 hottest days in Vancouver history, as well as the longest heat way in the Portland Metro Area in like 30+ years.

Sorry, not fitness related I know, but I'm just tired of it. I can't wait for it to be over. On the plus side, I drank almost 5 liters of water yesterday, Most I've ever drank by far.

Work tomorrow, in the heat, YAY. Lol, Okay, well I'm done bitching about weather. Hopefully cooler days, and more pleasant posts are in the near NEAR future. I'm off to bed, night.

Weigh-In 7/27 + workout

Weigh-In

234.2 lbs-- down .8 lbs

Definitely not too shabby considering I didnt really get a workout for the last half of the week. The best part of it is, my hydration level was actuallly higher, so its not like I just sweated off a bunch of water. Which of course I did, but I managed to improve my hydration despite working out in the hot sun (and sweating like crazy) for 3 days, and I even lost weight, sweet.


Alright, lets flash back to my birthday. My girlfriend got me a kick ass pair of kicks, Nike running shoes to be exact. My dad got me an IronMan heart rate monitor, only problem is, I hate wearing those straps. So today we went back to Sports Authority and got a nice brand new strapless one, and its freaking awesome. It does basically everything, HR, calories burned, distance, speed, pedometer, plus stop watch, and its a regular watch too.

So back to today, utilizing both of me new toys I went for a nice run. Make that a late night chase after my girlfriend riding her bike. Ridiculous thing is, we left at like 9:30 and it was still well over 90 degrees, hell its like 11:30 right now and its still 90. But anyways, it was awesome. Total stats: 31 minutes, just short of 2 miles (like 1.89), 330 calories.It was really fun, so I think we're going to be doing that frequently.

NEWSFLASH!!!! Its now officially under 90 degrees, 87 in Portland. Earlier it was several degrees warmer in Vancouver than it was in Portland, so I'm hoping Vancouver is under 90 too. This is fu#(!ng rediculous. Lol, I love summer in the NorthWest but its not supposed to be this hot.

PS--- Oh yeah, almost forgot. Shaq was on WWE tonight, saw it on the news, thats freaking awesome. I love Shaq, hes hilarious. HAHAHAHAHA I totally just said "Love Shaq", remember that song "love shack" from back in the day? it was awesome, It was in the Flintstones movie, I think.............. Okay, that officially means its time for me to go pass out.

Weekend Recap

Bad for the waist line. Good for the bottom line.

Okay, the last 3 days have been absolutely crazy at work. Tons of work to do, which means that I've been super active, and most of it out in the heat. I've definitely been struggling to stay hydrated. On top of that, lots of work has been cutting into my sleep, so I've been tired after work. Unfortunately, 4-5 hours of sleep a night are definitely not enough to fuel a full busy day of work and a solid workout. So I havent gotten in a workout for a few days. And of course, I'm weighing in tomorrow morning, and not looking forward to it at all. I'm just gonna cross my fingers and go for it, and I'll post on it tomorrow.

PS- The girlfriend wants everyone to know that she is now home. Lol she saw that I mentioned her leaving. She's a goofball haha.

Blogging is.......

less fun when you aren't feeling particularly successful.

Yesterday, I ended up not working out at all. After waking up at 4 am in order to get my girlfriend to the train in time (don't ask me why she insisted on getting up THAT early), I just could not manage the energy to get off my ass and workout. Ironically, the 24oz rockstar I had to wake my self up, ended up not giving me any energy for the day, and made me feel kinda sickly all day, which didnt help.

Today, had a busy day at work. Came home and went for a swim. When I first got to the pool I was all alone, so I got in some laps. Then some other people came, and sort of kidnapped the deep end, so I ended up going cross ways in the shallower end and kind of focusing on shorter "sprint" like bursts instead of normal laps. So even though I didn't get in the 30+ laps I was hoping for, I did get in some a bit of good swimming. And let me just say, I can definitely feel the layoff of not having swam for a few weeks, it sucks, lol.

But, after the really good day I had Wednesday, I'm pretty disappointed with my last couple of days. I'm gonna have a really busy weekend at work, like crazy busy. But on the bright side, that means more money, and I get off at 3 both days, so that'll leave me more time to workout. Not to mention that my GF comes home sometime Sunday, which I'm looking forward to.

Anyways, bad last couple days, Hopefully I can turn it around, and quick.

PS- Since I have to go to work at like 4 am both days this weekend, my weigh-in will probably come Monday, not that I'm particularly looking forward to it.

Yesterday

Okay, had a good day yesterday.

Went for an afternoon swim. Got some good laps in. And I got a tun of sun, haha. I'm burned now, it was suprised how red my arms were lol good stuff, good stuff. Anyways, Got some good swimming in, kinda forgot to count laps, but I know I worked up an appetite.

Then in the evening I went for a run. 30 minutes, 2 miles, 180ish calories. I wanted to do probably another lap or so more in that time, but I was kinda tired, probably from the swim. And I was pressed for time so I couldn't go for much longer than that. But 2 miles is a good effort for sure.

Alright, put my girlfriend on the train a couple hours ago, so I'm alone through the weekend. Should be able to get in a really good swim today, and another cardio session tonight, depending on how I feel. Plus, I believe that we're going to get a barbecue today, so that should be pretty awesome. Looking forward to eating barbecued food, yum. As for now, I'm hungry so I gotta find some food.

Shifting Gears

Went for a swim today. It was packed because of the heat. Probably got in about 15 laps, not a full workout, but a good return to the pool. I havent swam in a few weeks. I think I figured out the dead time at the pool, where its empty enough to actually swim, so I'm gonna give it a shot tomorrow, and kick that pools ass. Then after that I'm gonna go for an evening run, or maybe a bike, and kick its ass too.

I've kinda regressed a bit over the last few weeks. So I've decided that I definitely need to step it up if I'm going to start hitting my weight-loss goals. That means two workouts on days I don't have work, and 1 super hard workout on days that I do. That should help to get me where I need to go.

recap + weigh-in 7-18

Okay, its been a busy weekend.

Saturday was the day we celebrated my girlfriends birthday. Went and bought her some clothes, then took her to dinner, and spent several hours in an arcade. What do we have to show for it, you may be asking? A giant tennis ball, a fiberoptic lamp thingy, a deck of round playing cards, and a couple of rubber things that pop up into the air, not to mention a nice big dent in my bank account, lol. Didn't get a workout in, but it was a fun day.

Sunday was my girlfriends actual birthday, but we both had work. I had a super busy day. Didn't get my couple hours of extra sleep that I normally do, so I was tired right off the bat. Don't really feel like going into details of my shitty job, but suffice to say, I worked my ass off nonstop for like 9 hours. By the time I got home I was exhausted and lacked both the energy and the motivation to workout. Although, with a little extra cash I ate dinner at Old Chicago, it was really good, They have an absolutely ridiculous variety of beer there, haha well over 100 kinds.

So anyways, I didnt manage a workout over the last two days, whch leaves me 5 days to kick some serious ass and try to keep Jack from catching me for at least another week. Hopefully I can break 230 before he catches me, that would be nice,

WEIGH-IN 7-18
235 lbs-- down .4 lbs

I guess I cant really complain about a .4 loss in a really short week, so I'll take it. Also, I decided I"m going to stop paying attention to body fat percentage, at least until I get down to a point where its a relavent point. It just seems to be flucuating randomly without bearing as to my change in weight. As I think I've mentioned before on here, the method that scales use to measure body fat is not very accurate to begin with. So, I think I'll just ignore it until I hit a weight loss goal or two, or three, haha then it might actual reflect change.

Gotta snap myself out of it and get in a hard workout today. Gotta do it, gotta do it. I'll post it later.

Hot Hot Heat

Wow, so it was hecka hot today, like 94. And believe me when I tell you, my job sucks when its hot. It sucks big monkey balls, lol. So, by the time I got home today, I was hot, sweaty, exhausted and sunburned. Not to mention probably a little dehydrated, and hot, very hot. I did go swimming, didnt get in much hard swimming, cuz it was packed, but damn did it feel good.

But thats not really the point tonight. The point is this:

I just remembered something, or possibly realized it, The best part of weight-loss blogging isnt actually the blogging. Don't get me wrong, I think its helped me a lot to be able to talk about my journey, complete with victories and defeats, to an audience who is always supportive. But I think to me, the best part of blogging is being able to follow along with other people's efforts. People like Jack Sh*t, The Anti-Jared, Heather, Tony, and all the others. Its amazing to see other people going through the exact same things that I have and am currently. And all of the stories are excellent, and inspiring, and just plain awesome, not to mention fun to read. I Can only hope to get to the point where my writing is that good, with a story to match.

Suffice to say, there are big, big things I want to do in the near and mid-term future, and with an ample amount of inspiration provided by my fellow bloggers, I think I'll get there at some point, even if it takes a little longer than I'd like it to.

11:32

Yup thats right, I officially did it today. I ran a mile in 11:32. Accomplished my first goal with 28 seconds to spare. I was a little worried at first, first lap took like 3:03 or a little over 3 minutes, but I made up time from there.

That was more or less my entire workout. A 5 minute warm-up, little stretching, successful mile, then basically cooling down until the 20 minute mark. Total workout = 25 minutes, 1.5ish miles, 250 calories.

Whew I was tired, it was pretty hard. But regardless of difficulty level, I freaking did it. Needless to say, I'm happy. At least I was able to hit one important goal around my birthday lol.

Anyways, about 13 hours until I'm gonna be watching Harry Potter, can't wait. I'm hella excited, its gonna be pretty kick ass.

Birthday Weigh-In (7-13-09)

I've been putting this off all day, guess I finally have to do it.

235.4 lbs -- up .6 lbs

33.2% BF -- down 3.5%

Not gonna lie, completely and totally disappointed. Alright, I knew I wasn't going to lose like 5 lbs and hit my goal, but I hadn't even thought of gaining. I mean I worked out really hard this week. I absolutely have to get my eating under control, and no more soda. I've been letting myself drink some pop here and there the last few weeks, and what do you know? I gained over a pound in my last two weigh-ins. Not that its the only thing to blame it on, but its a factor, there are a lot of calories in there.

Also, I think I need to start swimming again, I had been losing consistently when it was nice and I was swimming a lot, then it got a little cooler and I stopped swimming and I haven't been doing as good since. I got an awesome pair of running shoes for my b-day, so I'm gonna be breaking them in as well, but I really need to get back in the pool.

Gotta get back on the path and start succeeding again. Tomorrow is a new day, and it'll be better.

Last Chance Workout

Haha, figured I'd channel a little Biggest Loser since tomorrow is my weigh-in and all.

I did a hard workout today. 30 minutes on the treadmill, did 2 miles, burned 325 calories. Whew, that was the most I've sweated in at least a year or two. Great workout. Burned over 10 calories per minute, and that was including some warm-up and cool down.

Breaking News---- Alright, I completed 5 laps in about 16:05. My warm up lasted just about 5 minutes, maybe a little less, and was about a lap. So subtract 1/4 mile, and 5 minutes, and what do you get? A roughly 11:00 minute mile. Which meets my first goal of breaking 12 minutes. Which is totally freaking awesome. I think I'm going to attempt to do it again, preferably straight up with no math involved, lol, just to corroborate and make sure its legit before I "scratch" it off my list. But if nothing else, at least I'll have one goal to celebrate doing on my b-day, if the miracle weigh-in doesn't happen lol.

Anyways yeah, I'm pretty happy about that.

2 questions.

1. Does anyone know how (or if its possible) to upload a picture to my blog directly from my phone? As in send it in a message, seeing as how my phone isn't what you might call "smart"

2. Does anyone know how to set up a twitter feed thing, so I can post stuff that way? I know Jack Sh*t just did it so maybe he can help?

Woohoo

Okay, didn't get in a workout today, unfortunately I ran out of time for that. But on the bright side, I didnt eat that much, and UFC 100 was awesome. Its only the 2nd time I've watched an actual pay-per-view UFC. The other one was also at Hooters, but a few years ago,. It was hecka fun.

Alright well I'm tired and going to bed. 1 more day till weigh-in. Gonna do a huge workout tomorrow. If I'm gonna fail at my goal, I'm at least gonna go down fightin like hell, lol.

Quote of the day: "He had a horse shoe up his ass, I told him that a year ago. I pulled that son-of-a-bitch out of there and beat him over the head with it." -- Brock Lesnar, after winning his fight by KO and retaining his UFC Heavyweight Championship.

Speed?

Okay, tonight I did 2 miles in 30 minutes, including about 10 minutes total warm-up and cool down. So that means 1 1/2 miles in 20 minutes. Roughly 3:30 per lap, if my math is correct, haha. I decided to do something different tonight, so I ran with an incline. 1.0 for the majority, lap or two at 1.5, and one at .5, boy was it a good workout. I was absolutely dripping sweat. And now I'm eating a yummy apple.

Tomorrow kicks off the start of my birthday celebration. We're going to Hooters to watch UFC 100. Needless to say, I can't wait. I'm gonna try really hard to squeeze in a workout but its gonna be very difficult, got like 2 1/2 hours between work and when it starts.

Sunday, I'm don't really have any plans, other than work. Then I'll have plenty of time to workout.

Monday is by 22nd birthday. Its also my big weigh-in. We'll see what happens. Hopefully I'll make progress at the least. Not sure if I'll hit my goal, but I think I'll get closer, if not close.

Tuesday, again nothing planned.

Wednesday, we're going to see Harry Potter. Can't wait for that. Its gonna be hecka fun.

I'm gonna do my absolute best to work my butt off over the next few days, and keep up the blogging as well.

Endurance Pt 2

I'm kind of liking this whole pushing the limit thing. Hopefully it pays off when it counts.

I did an hour on the recumbent bike tonight. Stats: 61 minutes, 16 miles, 360 calories.

Man that was hard, my legs were so tired afterward. I guess overall it was probably easier than my run last night, but only because biking in general is less taxing than running. But it was a damn good workout for sure.

I think I finally figured out a very complicated idea, stretching. Okay, well obviously common sense, not to mention a college degree in fitness, will tell you that stretching is important. But myself, as I'm sure is common amongst a lot of weight loss warriors, have never really taken the time to do much stretching, and I've had the sore, stiff muscles and complete lack of flexibility to show for it. As of now, I am markedly more flexible then I once was, we're talking I could not get close to touching my toes, but I was still lacking in the area of post workout stretching. The last couple nights I've been making a concerted effort to stretch after the difficult workouts I've been doing. And boy can I tell you, I feel much much better. No soreness, I'm not stiff, my legs dont hurt, and my low back feels a lot better. I'm sure that a little added flexibility, as well as lack of soreness well allow me to keep pushing my limits and improving every day, every week and every month. That is, after all, the objective, to constantly push yourself and make yourself better every day.

Endurance

Wow, so today I pushed the limit. I managed to complete 3.1 miles. It took me 50 minutes to do it, about 5 minutes slower than was my goal. I had to do more walking in the last like mile and 1/2 then I wanted to, but I still managed to do it. For my first time, I guess I can't be too disappointed with 50 minutes. That is the farthest I've ever went for sure. And it gives me a good starting point to build from. I'm not really sure it I should treat it as just a singular workout or make 3 miles my new goal distance for normal workouts. Any advice from the runners amongst my readership would be much appreciated in this instance. I did a nice stretch afterward, drank some G2 (because I wasn't feeling to hot), then ate dinner. And now I'm feeling pretty good. I'm very happy that I was able to complete it.

I suppose, technically, I met my goal of running a 5k. Don't worry though, this doesnt count. The idea behind the running goals is that they be races. Not that I have to win or anything, but I want to actually participate in the events. I would like to be able to do a 5k in like less than 30 minutes. So, I definitely have a lot of work to do. But this is a damn good start, as far as I'm concerned.


Quote of the day:

"If you're planning to take over the world, its a good idea to have a back up plan; like air conditioning repair." -- From the animated movie with hamsters (or possibly Gerbils, or some similar creatures), don't know what its called, but I'm 99% sure that the one that says the line is voiced by Tracy Morgan, I love that guy.

Two different swims

Last night I went to the pool for like an hour, but didnt really have any chance to swim because it was crazy crowded. I got in maybe 5 or 10 laps at the most.

Tonight, I sorta wasn't feeling too well, but I still managed 20 laps.

Weighed myself this morning, down about half a pound, only 4 lbs to go. I've lost 4 lbs in a week before, so I still have a shot. But I need to step up the intensity of workouts. I've done well eating the last few days, and I can probably improve that a bit too. If I do that, I think I can have a legit chance to meet my goal. Here goes nothing, exactly 1 week to go.

Fireworks Run

First off, not as fun as the title implies. Especially when I'm sick, a lot of firework scent in the air, although I do LOVE that smell, does not make breathing the easiest or most pleasant thing to do.

Anyways, went for my first outdoor run this evening. It was pretty nice, went during sort of "early dusk" I guess you could call it that, so it was pretty nice weather, not as hot as earlier in the day. Don't really know how far I went, guestimation would be about 2 miles based on random pavement markings on the path that had to have been used for some type of race that I didn't know happened. That, combined with warm up and cool down, came up to about 30 minutes. The markings say things like "8.2 miles" "8.8 miles" and "9.4 miles" along with their corresponding kilometer values, and their sort of in the middles of the paths I was on, so I'm just guessing at the distance. And, if it only took 30 minutes, 2 miles might be a little more than the actual distance. But anyways, I ran/walked for 30 minutes.

My shins feel fine, which is a pretty big development, because last time I ran outside, it hurt to walk afterwards. My legs are a little tight, but that just means I got some stretching to catch up on. So yeah, I'm pretty happy with my first outdoor run. I think I still prefer the treadmill, at least until I can one of those really cool, but spendy, heart rate monitors that tracks distance, speed, etc. Because I like how the treadmill tells me how fast and far I'm going, and tracks lap/mile times and all that tremendous stuff.

So now I'm alone, bored, watching the Macy's fireworks show on TV (because the big show here got cancelled and thus isnt on TV) and rambling on my blog. I think I'll leave it at that. So to all a Happy 4Th of July, and to all a good night.

Weigh-In July 4th

234.8 lbs -- up .6 lbs

36.7% BF -- up 2.1%

So I'm definitely not surprised I gained weight this week.Honestly, I'm just happy thats its only half a pound. I don't even think I got in 1 solid workout this week, not to mention the fact that I've been sick for the latter half of the week and not able to do much of anything.

Okay, so moving forward, I still dont feel good. My throat feels a little better, but my nose is going crazy. I'm now 4.8 lbs from my goal with 10 days to go, well 9, whatever. This is my final weigh-in before my birthday, next one counts. So, if I'm gonna meet my goal, its gonna take my best week yet. Its gonna take an awesome effort, and no slip ups what so ever.

Wish me luck, and show me some love, I can definitely use as much as you can dish out this next week or so.

Sickness........

SUCKS!!!!!!

Yeah, so I'm out of it tonight. Partially because my throat hurts and I'm all stuffed up, and probably also because I was out working in the hot sun all day. I know I'm burnt for sure. Gonna be in the 90's for like the next couple days too, so I'm gonna be getting a lot of sun.

Anyways, since I'm not feeling good today I'm gonna skip a workout, hopefully I can get some rest and get a good workout after work tomorrow.

Damnit

My stupid girlfriend gave me a stupid cold and now I'm sick. Shitty right? Lol, now she's yelling at me to not say that. haha good stuff. But yeah, my throat hurts and I'm all coughy, and thats on top of my allergies. So I'm not feeling too hot right now.

Got in a bit of a swim today. It started off decent, then after a while it got to the point where I was having some trouble breathing and then my nose starting bugging me, as in a lot of sinus pressure. Unfortunately I'm not having a good week at all, and it couldnt happen at a worst time.

I'm kind of starting to have doubts about meeting my goal in 13 days. 4 lbs to go, I've had a bad week and now I'm sick so I don't know if its gonna get much better in the next few days. I'm just hoping and praying that the scale doesnt completely implode this week.