Busy Day (Day 238)

This post is for Friday, April 9th, 2010.

My day began early releasing the hounds, drinking coffee, and having my new favorite breakfast of Cascadian Farms Organic Maple Brown Sugar Granola Cereal. I then roused Kim up and as she got ready for work I got in 30 minutes on the spin bike. After my ride I worked on some more book work and prepared to hit the gym.

I'm a day behind with my workouts due to the day I missed with the life insurance exam earlier in the week, so I was due to train arms instead of legs. I decided this would give me the opportunity to get in a good amount of time on the treadmill pre-workout since I didn't have to worry about my legs being weak afterward. I did a combo of intervals/jogging/walking for 60 minutes. I felt great afterward. Even with a good bit of walking/recovery after the intervals I still did 6+ miles in less than 60 minutes. The arm workout was kinda ho-hum. 3 sets of press downs, 3 sets of reverse grip press downs for triceps. Biceps consisted of 3 sets of heavy dumbbell curls, then 3 sets of cable curls with a straight bar.

I spent the rest of the day trying to run errands around town and get my meals in. While shopping I found lots of fish on sale which I snatched up. So Kim and I have a weekend of salmon, tuna, scallops, and shrimp to look forward to. Late in the evening after dinner, Kim the Pug and I walked about a mile and a half for my final exercise of the day. BodyBugg reports 4200+ calories burned and I took in less than 2200.

This weekend we should get in a couple of runs for Kim, a leg workout, and a lot of late night baseball (the Braves are in San Francisco so Saturday's game doesn't start until after 10PM). Have a good weekend everyone.

Random Picture of the day. My new neighbor has moved in across the street. I've ever so cleverly named him Mr. Hawk....

Half My Usual Workout & Pics of Kim's Engagement Ring (Day 237)

This post is for Thursday, April 8th, 2010.

I woke early planning to do my usual thing of walking the Pug, releasing the remaining hounds, feeding the cats, waking Kim, and then heading out on a 3+ mile run. The weather didn't like my plans. I spent my morning bringing dogs in and out very quickly as thunderstorms moved into the area. Shortly after all the animals had been tended to, the rain began. No running outside. I began a little bookwork that stretched into multiple hours. I did get in 30 minutes on the spin bike during the morning though. Well into the afternoon I finally finished (to a point, it never really ends) my bookwork and headed out into the world.

Still raining, so still not outside running at all. Arriving at the gym about 4 hours (and 3 meals) later than normal I jumped onto a treadmill with the intention of running 3.5 miles at a constant speed. The gym didn't agree with my plans this time. Firehouse Gym has installed new large HD TVs in the cardio area (which are not in HD because they would have had to rewire 1/2 the building to get HDMI cables to reach from the receivers to the TVs, but they look pretty darn good) and one of the employees tried to change the channel to find the Masters on at the request of another member riding an elliptical behind me. She changed the channel on the TV, not the receiver, leaving us with a wonderful static image to watch. She tried & tried in vain to get something back on the screen. Nothing. Finally, reluctantly I waved her over to my treadmill and took one of the remotes and found the signal. During this time my paused treadmill timed out. Yay! I think I'd done about 18 minutes at this point. I switched to an elliptical for 10 minutes, and then switched back to the treadmill for another 15 minutes. I think I got in over 3 miles total on the treadmill alone, so I guess it was a decent cardio workout. Unfortunately, we never got to see the Masters coverage while I was there. We ended up on the Golf Network. They were talking about the Masters, just not covering it at that time. After the cardio I trained back. I was out of sorts, training so late in the day. I began with 3 sets of hammer strength high rows, then 3 sets of hammer strength pull downs, followed by 3 sets of t-bar rows, and finally 3 sets of straight arm press downs. I burned about 3800 calories on the day. Not bad for running about 1/2 of what I've been doing as of late. I'll push tomorrow and try to get in a bike ride, six miles or so of running, and a workout.

Food was good the entire day, until dinner. Kim was not feeling great and wanted to eat something other than grilled fish. So we went to eat Mexican. I was excited too. Something different made my mouth water. She had a shrimp soupy thing and I had a carnitas burrito. Very tasty. Really bad. Whatever. Up to that point in the day I'd only had about 1000 calories (a little less actually) so I probably ended up with a negative balance on the day, but not by much. I informed Kim the rest of the weekend for me would be clean eating. Either grilled chicken, fish, or NS.

Below is a pic or two of Kim's engagement ring. A few people had asked for a pic a while back, so here you are....

Day 236

Yesterday Kim and I began with a short walk/run around the lake. Only about two miles. Kim went to work afterward and I went to the gym. I jogged six miles on the treadmill before training shoulders. I'm feeling a little stronger each workout now. Not really sure why. The only thing I can think of is the added protein in my diet and that I've acclimated to all of the cardio pre-workout now.

Giving up the PB has been much easier than I expected. All went well throughout the day yesterday. I did get a little hungry just before dinner (Kim had to work late) and ate a granola bar. I ended the day with about 2300 calories and burned well over 4000. I'm back to weighing all of my food again too. No more eyeballing the amounts of cereal or my carbs with dinner. We're still eating mostly fish in the evenings (Mahi-Mahi, or salmon) and I'm eating lots of grilled chicken breasts during the day. I'm getting excited about working in a small steak this weekend.

After dinner last night I finished off the day with 15 more minutes on the spin bike as I watched the end of the Braves game. Easy to ride and watch a game. Time seems to fly by.

Dentist, Exam, and a Hawk (Day 235)

Since the last post I've survived the dentist visit and completed my exam for a life insurance policy. Everything went extremely well. The dentist visit was actually enjoyable (the numbness was kinda cool, plus the staff at the new Dr.'s is great) and the physical was very quick, and painless. My resting heart rate was under 50 (~48bpm), my blood pressure was all good, weight and height measurements were relatively close to what I measure here, so all in all a good exam. The nurse verified I was in fact alive, didn't have anything that looked like I was going to die from any time soon, so hopefully I'll have a policy in place within a few days.

Monday I trained chest, ran about 6.5 miles, and did another mile and a half on the elliptical. I had some time to kill before I had to be at the dentist, so I hit the spin bike at home for 30 more minutes before going to get the first fillings I've ever needed.

Tuesday I was told by the insurance agent not to exercise, or eat, or drink any coffee, or do anything before the exam. So I waited, and waited, catching myself almost pouring a cup of coffee, or making a bowl of cereal. Once the exam was over I was in an ill mood from lack of food and not getting in my morning run. As I was about to make a protein shake my parents called and invited me to lunch with them and my sister. I decided since I was starving I'd go eat with them. After lunch I decided to take the day off. I felt tired, and weak, and I'd run about ten days in a row without any rest. So I rested Tuesday.

Tuesday evening I went to the big city of Chattanooga and picked up my newly repaired Mac Book Pro. Apple repaired all issues (even though the warranty expired 2 years ago) for free. I. Love. Apple.

Wednesday will be back to running, eating on plan, and training. Plus with a Braves game on in the evening I'll be sure to get in some additional time on the spin bike while watching the game.

Below is a picture of a Red Shouldered Hawk that made an appearance this morning as I was having breakfast and coffee on the front porch. Shot with an old, slow, Sony A100 DSLR, Sigma 500mm lens, on a Gitzo Monopod. I'm about 150 yards away, 50 foot below the hawk.

Giving Up PB (Day 233)

We had a great weekend. We watched some baseball, had dinner with friends, visited with family, and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We also trained a good bit.

Saturday I ran ~6 miles and biked about 20. Sunday Kim and I jogged intervals in the morning, then I rode the bike about 30 minutes before we went out for the day. Once home for the evening I ran (jogged, whatever) another 3 miles. The evening run was terrible. It was about 85 degrees, I was running on a full stomach, and I kept catching minor cramps in my abs and calves. But I finished the run.

With all of the cardio I've been getting in each day I've expected to lose some of the last bit of weight I gained on vacation. Well, it's not really happening. The only thing I can think of is I'm eating to much Peanut Butter. So my next step is to remove the beloved PB from my diet for awhile and see how things go. I'm still tweaking other areas (like amount of calories per meal, ratio of carbs to protein, etc.) of my eating as well. I think I was eating too large of a breakfast for a week or two. I'm down to granola cereal before my run now.

Today I get to go back to the dentist. WooHoo! I've also got to find some fish for us to have for dinner, get some more gas for the grill, workout, and hopefully run again late in the day (after the dentist). Tomorrow I get to experience a physical for a life insurance policy. Even more fun....

Spring has arrived in Georgia. Everything is in bloom. I'll get to run around with my camera over the next few weeks taking pictures of flowers (one of my favorite subjects). So on that note, some of the first flowers to bloom below, and one of my other favorite subjects follows...

Training, Grilling & One Precious Pug (with pics -Day 230)

This post is for Thursday and Friday, April 1 & 2, 2010.

The past couple of days have been brutal, training wise. Thursday I did intervals with Kim in the AM, ran 3.5 miles on the treadmill at the gym, trained arms, 1 mile on the elliptical, rode 10 miles on the spin bike, and finally ran one more short interval with Kim late in the evening. 10 miles running/elliptical and 10 miles on the bike. Friday I ran alone around the lake early in the morning, then did 3.5 more miles at the gym, then I trained legs. I actually had a good leg workout. I felt relatively strong. I had planned on running or doing intervals again late, but by the time Kim got in from work my legs were already sore from the workout. In general since making the switch off of NS foods (for the most part) & increasing the running, I've been getting crazy sore after my workouts. I always get sore, but this is like I've never worked out before sore. Feels good, in a "oh my gawd I'm freaking sore" kinda way.

@Lili - my carb intake % is about 42-45%. Protein is about 38-40%. Fat makes up the rest. I would like to drop the carb level a little, drop the fat a little, and pick up the protein. Don't know if that's really possible right now with all of the running. Maybe after the "warrior dash" I'll alter my diet further and drop off some of the PB or rice. Food right now is great. Lots of grilled chicken breasts, salads, and grilled fish. One day I'm gonna add a small steak (4-6 oz.). Not yet, I'm loving the fish too much right now.

Saturday I'm gonna run a few times (well, I plan to anyway), train abs, watch the final Braves spring training game, and get in one session on the spin bike. I've already bought salmon and shrimp for dinner so I know we're grilling out again (this way I won't cave and end up eating out somewhere).

Pic below is of the pug. She had just finished a bit of my mahi-mahi. The meal she finished off is below the pug (mahi-mahi, salad, & spaghetti squash).

11 Mile Day & Eating Post NS (Day 228)

Yesterday I ended up with the most cardio I've done to date. Over 11 miles of running or elliptical. Less than 2 miles were on the elliptical. I burned over 5000 calories yesterday (according to the bodybugg). Obviously cardio work has become the dominating part of my workouts. I'm still training with weights, typically 6 days a week. But the cardio has really taken over. Most of the things I do now are done in prep/support of the cardio workouts. What I eat, what I drink, the times of meals, etc. I also make sure I get whatever else I have to do during the day finished as quickly as possible so it won't disrupt the planned workouts.

My meals have changed somewhat since beginning the transition off of NS. My breakfasts now consist of a cup of coffee, a bowl of granola cereal (I'm loving Cascadian Farm's Maple Brown Sugar Granola Cereal) and a serving of Fage' 2% Greek Yogurt (with some sorta fruit or honey topping). My morning snack is usually a Protein Shake (currently still using Labrada Lean Body Chocolate). Lunch is a grilled chicken breast (between 4-6 oz). My afternoon snack lately has been a Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter Sandwich (love that stuff, and it has less calories than regular peanut butter). Dinner is grilled fish as of late, with a salad, and some other veggie. Dessert is a Skinny Cow Ice Cream treat of some sort. I have been eating one additional thing after dessert (just been hungry), which I'm cutting out. Some days my calories get up as high as 2100-2200. Yesterday I didn't break 1800. I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks of "on" plan eating (no reasons in the near future for an off meal) and hard training to see how I manage with continued weight loss using non NS foods.

Below is last night's dinner. Arugula salad with veggies, some low fat dressing, a little rice (I've been craving rice like crazy) and seared sea scallops, topped with a little Parmesan cheese.