Saturday Kim and I decided not to run. Instead we played some tennis. I loved tennis when I was in high school and a few years after. But I haven't set foot on a court in about 15 years or so. It was pathetic. I mis-hit more shots in the hour we were there than I mis-hit in 10 years when I played before. I tried some serves. Terrible. Two out of ten went in. By the end I had regained a little bit of a swing and could volley well from the net. Kim didn't have too much fun, she expected to be able to hit the ball well. I reminded her it was only the 2nd time she'd tried to play tennis as an adult and that we were there just to get some exercise and have fun. As a result of the tennis, I'm now sore all over. I'm sore in weird places from running at a sprint, from serving, lunging, etc. We did have a pretty good workout and I hope we can go play again and have a more relaxed, enjoyable time.
Sunday we did go for a nice jog around mid morning. Kim had the best run so far. She pushed about a mile and a half before we stopped. We only walked a small portion of the route before returning to a jog and finishing the 3 miles. I went to the gym and ran another 3 (and felt terrible the entire run) and then trained abs.
Sunday evening my parents joined us for grilled fish, spaghetti squash, grilled veggies, and a salad. The rest of the weekend we ate pretty healthy, other than Saturday night, which we took off completely.
Monday is back to the 6 miles a day + the usual workouts. A little over a month to go before Warrior Dash, then I can ease up on the running some.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
A House Nearby Exploded Today
Yep, a house a couple of streets away blew up today. Kinda puts my running/training/dieting in perspective. More about the explosion below.
This morning began with me waking very early due to Kim's iPhone alarm going off non-stop for what seemed like hours (probably wasn't more than a few minutes). She's a deep sleeper. Usually I'm not. I wake easily and usually in a very good mood. Kim typically does not. So I got up and did my usual thing of taking the pug out, getting some coffee, releasing the remaining hounds, and feeding the cats. Kim rose a little later and I began my first hour on the spin bike as she got ready for work. I decided not to run around the lake today so my sore leg muscle could get a little more rest. I next hit the gym where I did do some very slow intervals (between 6 & 7 mph) and then walked for a bit, then finally finishing up with a little more jogging before moving to the elliptical for about 15 minutes. So with another hour of cardio complete I moved quickly through an arm workout. 3 sets of press downs, 3 sets of rope press downs, and finally 3 sets of reverse grip press downs for triceps. Biceps began with 3 sets of seated incline dumbbell curls, 3 sets of standing hammer curls, and 2 sets of concentration curls. Whew! I was beat when I left.
Back home I changed into some dry clothes, had a new and improved Labrada "Carb Watchers" Lean Body Protein Shake (Chocolate Ice Cream flavor), and headed back out to work for a bit. After finishing up my few errands, I hit the local sushi place for my afternoon snack. I had salmon, tuna, tilapia, eel, shrimp, and white tuna. Pretty good (especially for my little town).
Once back home I was sitting at my computer in my office, doing something very productive like looking at FaceBook or something, when I felt the house shudder followed instantly by the sound of a very loud explosion. Shock wave followed by sound wave. I've been in a couple of earthquakes so I knew the order of the shaking and explosions were wrong (the last earthquake I was in last month, there was a loud boom, followed by shake, shudder, shake). I was up and running outside before I really realized what I was doing. I had my keys (so I could grab my police scanner out of the car, or drive away if necessary), my phone (because I figured something bad had just happened right outside my house and I'd need to call 911 any moment), and most importantly, my camera. Once outside I found nothing. Nothing but a beautiful day. The only strange thing was every dog within ear shot was going nuts. I turned on the scanner and heard the initial call of a possible explosion. Withing a few seconds I could hear more and more calls ringing in the background as the local 911 switchboards lit up. The subdivision that is just upstream from our lake was where the explosion occurred. Now I could see smoke rising from the area. One house was completely obliterated. Nothing left. 15 others were damaged. Some type of a gas leak occurred and the house blew at about 3:25PM. No one was home. The local school buses hadn't made it to the neighborhood yet either. Everyone was very lucky. Had anyone been inside they'd have been a goner.
Over the next hour I watched FaceBook and Twitter as my local town lost it's collective mind. Some people swore they'd seen a jet crash into the house. Others knew for a fact the house contained a meth lab. Nonsense. The explosion blew outward, not like an impact where something hit it and then the structure collapsed. And for the amount of force generated by the explosion it would have to have been the biggest meth lab in the world. The explosion was felt miles away and heard on the other side of the county. But none the less, the local lunatics went wild with stories. And of course everyone tried to drive into the area to see what had happened. Absolute lunacy reigned supreme for a few hours this afternoon. I think things have calmed somewhat now (except for the families that were involved, and the idiots who have been trying to sneak into the neighborhood). For the record, once I realized that the explosion was not right outside my house, I did NOT attempt to run to the area and sneak around the police to take pics. I did think about it though.
For pictures of the explosion try here and video from and Atlanta news chopper that was in the area here.
Kim made it home a little after all of the excitement and we had grilled salmon with jerk seasoning along with some beans and rice. We then walked Jumping Jack Flash for a bit before dark. My final cardio of the day came as I watched the Braves beat the Padres tonight. Over a 4000 calorie burn again today and I consumed somewhere above 2500. Really doesn't seam as important compared to your house blowing up....
This morning began with me waking very early due to Kim's iPhone alarm going off non-stop for what seemed like hours (probably wasn't more than a few minutes). She's a deep sleeper. Usually I'm not. I wake easily and usually in a very good mood. Kim typically does not. So I got up and did my usual thing of taking the pug out, getting some coffee, releasing the remaining hounds, and feeding the cats. Kim rose a little later and I began my first hour on the spin bike as she got ready for work. I decided not to run around the lake today so my sore leg muscle could get a little more rest. I next hit the gym where I did do some very slow intervals (between 6 & 7 mph) and then walked for a bit, then finally finishing up with a little more jogging before moving to the elliptical for about 15 minutes. So with another hour of cardio complete I moved quickly through an arm workout. 3 sets of press downs, 3 sets of rope press downs, and finally 3 sets of reverse grip press downs for triceps. Biceps began with 3 sets of seated incline dumbbell curls, 3 sets of standing hammer curls, and 2 sets of concentration curls. Whew! I was beat when I left.
Back home I changed into some dry clothes, had a new and improved Labrada "Carb Watchers" Lean Body Protein Shake (Chocolate Ice Cream flavor), and headed back out to work for a bit. After finishing up my few errands, I hit the local sushi place for my afternoon snack. I had salmon, tuna, tilapia, eel, shrimp, and white tuna. Pretty good (especially for my little town).
Once back home I was sitting at my computer in my office, doing something very productive like looking at FaceBook or something, when I felt the house shudder followed instantly by the sound of a very loud explosion. Shock wave followed by sound wave. I've been in a couple of earthquakes so I knew the order of the shaking and explosions were wrong (the last earthquake I was in last month, there was a loud boom, followed by shake, shudder, shake). I was up and running outside before I really realized what I was doing. I had my keys (so I could grab my police scanner out of the car, or drive away if necessary), my phone (because I figured something bad had just happened right outside my house and I'd need to call 911 any moment), and most importantly, my camera. Once outside I found nothing. Nothing but a beautiful day. The only strange thing was every dog within ear shot was going nuts. I turned on the scanner and heard the initial call of a possible explosion. Withing a few seconds I could hear more and more calls ringing in the background as the local 911 switchboards lit up. The subdivision that is just upstream from our lake was where the explosion occurred. Now I could see smoke rising from the area. One house was completely obliterated. Nothing left. 15 others were damaged. Some type of a gas leak occurred and the house blew at about 3:25PM. No one was home. The local school buses hadn't made it to the neighborhood yet either. Everyone was very lucky. Had anyone been inside they'd have been a goner.
Over the next hour I watched FaceBook and Twitter as my local town lost it's collective mind. Some people swore they'd seen a jet crash into the house. Others knew for a fact the house contained a meth lab. Nonsense. The explosion blew outward, not like an impact where something hit it and then the structure collapsed. And for the amount of force generated by the explosion it would have to have been the biggest meth lab in the world. The explosion was felt miles away and heard on the other side of the county. But none the less, the local lunatics went wild with stories. And of course everyone tried to drive into the area to see what had happened. Absolute lunacy reigned supreme for a few hours this afternoon. I think things have calmed somewhat now (except for the families that were involved, and the idiots who have been trying to sneak into the neighborhood). For the record, once I realized that the explosion was not right outside my house, I did NOT attempt to run to the area and sneak around the police to take pics. I did think about it though.
For pictures of the explosion try here and video from and Atlanta news chopper that was in the area here.
Kim made it home a little after all of the excitement and we had grilled salmon with jerk seasoning along with some beans and rice. We then walked Jumping Jack Flash for a bit before dark. My final cardio of the day came as I watched the Braves beat the Padres tonight. Over a 4000 calorie burn again today and I consumed somewhere above 2500. Really doesn't seam as important compared to your house blowing up....
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
The Benefits of Walking & Oh God There's a Snake (Day 243)
This post is for Wednesday, April 14th, 2010.
This morning began with me on the spin bike for an hour since I couldn't run. My aggrivated leg muscle felt fine on the bike. I headed to to the gym after the spin and walked uphill for 30 minutes and then hit the elliptical for 15 more minutes. I felt a little tightness in my right quad during the treadmill walk, but otherwise felt fine. I trained back after the cardio. 3 sets of pull-downs, 3 sets of hammer strnegth rows, 3 sets of y-bar rows, and finally 3 sets of straight arm press downs.
After the gym I returned home with plans to go on multiple dog walks during the day so I still hit my goal of a 4000+ calorie burn on the day. I began the dog walking with one of my big dogs, Daisy, and Jumping Jack Flash. We walked an easy two miles (for me and Jack anyway, Daisy was tired by the end of the walk) during mid afternoon. A little later I took another one of our bigger dogs, Zoey for a walk. She and I went alone so she wouldn't get distracted with Jack and would stay close to me so she could spend a little time off leash. She loves to swim and took no fewer than three swims in the lake. My final walk of the evening was with Kim and the Pug. Same two miles. Easy as can be. The excitement of the day came during the first walk. I was lost in thought concerning the benefits of walking and the calories I was burning on a very leisurely walk (more on this in a bit) when I noticed Jack has attacked something and was doing battle off to my right. I quickly grab Daisy's leash with both hand just as she takes off in a dead sprint to join in. Daisy is a good sized dog. About 90 or so pounds. She's strong. She nearly ripped my arm off and drug me behind her. But I held her back and then brought my attention back to Jack. I was worried that he'd caught a baby rabbit or a little squirell or some other cute furry woodland creature. I feared I was gonna have to seperate him from the animal and then see how badly it was hurt, and decide if I needed to put it down or not. Not to worry, the cute furry critter wasn't so warm and fuzzy after all. He'd attacked a snake. Now I considered releasing Daisy into the fray. I yelled at Jack to stop and to my amazement, he flipped the snake high into the air and trotted off. Daisy and I went to investigate. We found a healthy snake who seemed quite scared of us.
My thoughts before the snake encounter about exercise, walking etc. left me thinking about the matter all evening. I use a bodybugg to track my calorie burn each day and I know pretty well how much I usually burn when running, training, walking, resting, etc. I had never really thought about it much, but today I realized you can get a tremendous benefit from walking alone. I was unable to run an inch today, but I still burned well over 4100 calories. I did much more cardio time wise today than I would have done if I'd been able to run, but still, that's a lot to burn doing all low intensity cardio. The key in this thought process is ANYONE can do what I did this afternoon. You might not be able to walk 3 different 2 mile walks the first day you start, but you could do something and build your way to multiple calorie burning walks each day. If you're already losing weight by calorie restriction (like a NS type diet) but haven't been getting any exercise, adding some easy paced walks will help with your weight loss significantly.
Daisy pictured below...
Good day with my meals. Breakfast was the usual coffee and granola cereal, morning snack of a protein shake, lunch was a chicken breast and a granola bar, afternoon snack was a NS white chocolate chunk cookie, and dessert was ice cream. Dinner was a tragedy. Kim prepared a huge pot of black beans with vegetables and I grilled mahi mahi. While bringing it inside, I accidentally dropped both pieces onto the very dirty garage floor. I screamed. The mahi mahi looked so good. I ended up having a left over chicken breast and Kim had egg beaters. I felt terrible.
Photo below is Jack doing his thing, chasing everything he can at the lake.
This morning began with me on the spin bike for an hour since I couldn't run. My aggrivated leg muscle felt fine on the bike. I headed to to the gym after the spin and walked uphill for 30 minutes and then hit the elliptical for 15 more minutes. I felt a little tightness in my right quad during the treadmill walk, but otherwise felt fine. I trained back after the cardio. 3 sets of pull-downs, 3 sets of hammer strnegth rows, 3 sets of y-bar rows, and finally 3 sets of straight arm press downs.
After the gym I returned home with plans to go on multiple dog walks during the day so I still hit my goal of a 4000+ calorie burn on the day. I began the dog walking with one of my big dogs, Daisy, and Jumping Jack Flash. We walked an easy two miles (for me and Jack anyway, Daisy was tired by the end of the walk) during mid afternoon. A little later I took another one of our bigger dogs, Zoey for a walk. She and I went alone so she wouldn't get distracted with Jack and would stay close to me so she could spend a little time off leash. She loves to swim and took no fewer than three swims in the lake. My final walk of the evening was with Kim and the Pug. Same two miles. Easy as can be. The excitement of the day came during the first walk. I was lost in thought concerning the benefits of walking and the calories I was burning on a very leisurely walk (more on this in a bit) when I noticed Jack has attacked something and was doing battle off to my right. I quickly grab Daisy's leash with both hand just as she takes off in a dead sprint to join in. Daisy is a good sized dog. About 90 or so pounds. She's strong. She nearly ripped my arm off and drug me behind her. But I held her back and then brought my attention back to Jack. I was worried that he'd caught a baby rabbit or a little squirell or some other cute furry woodland creature. I feared I was gonna have to seperate him from the animal and then see how badly it was hurt, and decide if I needed to put it down or not. Not to worry, the cute furry critter wasn't so warm and fuzzy after all. He'd attacked a snake. Now I considered releasing Daisy into the fray. I yelled at Jack to stop and to my amazement, he flipped the snake high into the air and trotted off. Daisy and I went to investigate. We found a healthy snake who seemed quite scared of us.
My thoughts before the snake encounter about exercise, walking etc. left me thinking about the matter all evening. I use a bodybugg to track my calorie burn each day and I know pretty well how much I usually burn when running, training, walking, resting, etc. I had never really thought about it much, but today I realized you can get a tremendous benefit from walking alone. I was unable to run an inch today, but I still burned well over 4100 calories. I did much more cardio time wise today than I would have done if I'd been able to run, but still, that's a lot to burn doing all low intensity cardio. The key in this thought process is ANYONE can do what I did this afternoon. You might not be able to walk 3 different 2 mile walks the first day you start, but you could do something and build your way to multiple calorie burning walks each day. If you're already losing weight by calorie restriction (like a NS type diet) but haven't been getting any exercise, adding some easy paced walks will help with your weight loss significantly.
Daisy pictured below...
Good day with my meals. Breakfast was the usual coffee and granola cereal, morning snack of a protein shake, lunch was a chicken breast and a granola bar, afternoon snack was a NS white chocolate chunk cookie, and dessert was ice cream. Dinner was a tragedy. Kim prepared a huge pot of black beans with vegetables and I grilled mahi mahi. While bringing it inside, I accidentally dropped both pieces onto the very dirty garage floor. I screamed. The mahi mahi looked so good. I ended up having a left over chicken breast and Kim had egg beaters. I felt terrible.
Photo below is Jack doing his thing, chasing everything he can at the lake.
Vastus Medialis (Day 242)
This post is for Tuesday, April 13th, 2010.
My morning started off great. Up relatively early, coffee, and then off on 3+ mile run with Jumping Jack Flash. Felt great afterward. Next I headed to the gym and pushed my speed a little on the treadmill, running 8mph for 1+ miles, 7mph for the next 1.5 miles, and then slowed to 6 mph to finish up. Kim arrived at the gym as I entering the 6mph phase, so I decided to do some intervals as she got in a jog. Somewhere towards the end of the 6mph and beginning of the intervals, I noticed a sharp muscle soreness in my lower right quad. When I slowed to a walk it was very noticeable, but when I returned to a jog it went away. So I ended up staying with a jog the remainder of the time. I finished up with 5.5 miles on the treadmill and then trained shoulders as Kim left to return to work. As the workout began the pain in my quad returned and hasn't left since. It hurts when I walk upstairs or put my weight fully on my right leg. Guessing I have a very small strain in the Vastus Medialis (muscle in the quad near the knee). No running tomorrow. I'll try to spin, walk the dogs, and even the elliptical to see how it feels and hopefully find some way to get in my cardio. My shoulder workout went well. 3 sets of shoulder presses, 3 sets of side lateral raises, 3 sets of upright cable rows, 3 sets of rear delts, and 3 sets of shoulder shrugs. After the gym I did get in some additional walking. I took the Pug for about a mile and a half walk during the afternoon in an attempt to get her some exercise. She was very hot and had to go swimming in the lake. Kim and I walked again with her for about a mile after dinner. She (the pug) was much happier on the second walk (much cooler temps). So on the day I had about 8.5 miles of jogging/intervals and 2+ miles of walking. Pretty good day.
When working out I typically train covered up. By that I mean I don't wear tank tops, or sleeveless t-shirts, or anything revealing. Usually I wear a UA undershirt along with a some type of over shirt. No particular reason, just my thing and I'm comfortable training that way. Over the past few days I've gotten so hot at the gym that I have on occasion had to kinda roll the sleeves of my shirt up a little. In doing so I've noticed the return of something I haven't seen since my days as a personal trainer when I worked out with the crazy bodybuilders. Vascularity. The veins that used to bulge out of my arms and chest have begun to return. Now just to train & diet hard enough to be vascular when I'm not training. This is already the case to a certain extent. My calves, legs, forearms and even biceps have become vascular even when I'm resting. Hopefully within another month or so maybe my shoulders and chest will do the same.
Great day with food. No 1000 calories worth of nuts to mess up the day. Coffee and granola for breakfast, yogurt for a snack, chicken for lunch, granola for a late snack, tilapia with collard greens, pinto beans, and spaghetti squash for dinner, and a dessert of a granola bar and a skinny cow ice cream sandwich. 2300 or so calories on the day and BB has me burning ~4300.
Tomorrow should be interesting trying to find a way to do cardio. Hope I can just rest the one day and then get back to my running.
My morning started off great. Up relatively early, coffee, and then off on 3+ mile run with Jumping Jack Flash. Felt great afterward. Next I headed to the gym and pushed my speed a little on the treadmill, running 8mph for 1+ miles, 7mph for the next 1.5 miles, and then slowed to 6 mph to finish up. Kim arrived at the gym as I entering the 6mph phase, so I decided to do some intervals as she got in a jog. Somewhere towards the end of the 6mph and beginning of the intervals, I noticed a sharp muscle soreness in my lower right quad. When I slowed to a walk it was very noticeable, but when I returned to a jog it went away. So I ended up staying with a jog the remainder of the time. I finished up with 5.5 miles on the treadmill and then trained shoulders as Kim left to return to work. As the workout began the pain in my quad returned and hasn't left since. It hurts when I walk upstairs or put my weight fully on my right leg. Guessing I have a very small strain in the Vastus Medialis (muscle in the quad near the knee). No running tomorrow. I'll try to spin, walk the dogs, and even the elliptical to see how it feels and hopefully find some way to get in my cardio. My shoulder workout went well. 3 sets of shoulder presses, 3 sets of side lateral raises, 3 sets of upright cable rows, 3 sets of rear delts, and 3 sets of shoulder shrugs. After the gym I did get in some additional walking. I took the Pug for about a mile and a half walk during the afternoon in an attempt to get her some exercise. She was very hot and had to go swimming in the lake. Kim and I walked again with her for about a mile after dinner. She (the pug) was much happier on the second walk (much cooler temps). So on the day I had about 8.5 miles of jogging/intervals and 2+ miles of walking. Pretty good day.
When working out I typically train covered up. By that I mean I don't wear tank tops, or sleeveless t-shirts, or anything revealing. Usually I wear a UA undershirt along with a some type of over shirt. No particular reason, just my thing and I'm comfortable training that way. Over the past few days I've gotten so hot at the gym that I have on occasion had to kinda roll the sleeves of my shirt up a little. In doing so I've noticed the return of something I haven't seen since my days as a personal trainer when I worked out with the crazy bodybuilders. Vascularity. The veins that used to bulge out of my arms and chest have begun to return. Now just to train & diet hard enough to be vascular when I'm not training. This is already the case to a certain extent. My calves, legs, forearms and even biceps have become vascular even when I'm resting. Hopefully within another month or so maybe my shoulders and chest will do the same.
Great day with food. No 1000 calories worth of nuts to mess up the day. Coffee and granola for breakfast, yogurt for a snack, chicken for lunch, granola for a late snack, tilapia with collard greens, pinto beans, and spaghetti squash for dinner, and a dessert of a granola bar and a skinny cow ice cream sandwich. 2300 or so calories on the day and BB has me burning ~4300.
Tomorrow should be interesting trying to find a way to do cardio. Hope I can just rest the one day and then get back to my running.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Grilled Tofu (Day 241)
This post is for Monday, April 12th, 2010.
Monday began with my typical breakfast of coffee and a bowl of granola cereal. I waited on the temps to warm just a bit and then headed out on my morning jog. I ran the usual 3.1 mile route, stopping briefly to retie my shoes about a mile in. I finished in less than 30 minutes, which is pretty good considering the hills, the pause for shoe lace tying, and uneven terrain. I had a pre-workout snack and then headed to the gym. I started on the treadmill running intervals between 6 & 8 mph, one minute each, for the first 3 miles. Then I backed off into a walk for a few minutes. Kim arrived at the gym to get in a little cardio, so I stayed on the treadmill and ended up jogging some more and got in a total of 4.4 miles. She headed home to clean up and have lunch and I began my chest workout. 3 sets of machine presses, 3 sets of a different type of chest press, 3 sets of incline presses, and 3 sets of machine flies.
Once home I had some lunch and then got ready to try to find us some fish and chicken to grill over the next few nights. While stocking up on grill items, I made the mistake of buying a small can of wassabi almonds. Dumb. I ended up eating most of the entire can. Won't make that mistake again at the grocery store. ;)
We grilled tofu (with a little BBQ sauce on it) for dinner and it was great. That's definitely something we'll have to add to the rotation of our dinners. After dinner we took Jumping Jack Flash on a 2 mile, easy walk around the lake. So on the day I totaled 9.5 miles. Roughly 7.5 jogging/running, and the rest at a leisurely walk.
@Lili - I don't know if I'll carb load for the race or not. I don't really think I'll need to since I'm already used to running a good bit more than the actual distance of the race. I need to do some research and see how to properly prepare. This race (for Kim and I anyway) is all for fun. I think we (maybe just Kim) are gonna run in costumes. I do know that I will NOT be training legs the week of the run. I'm afraid I'll get to the fire pit, try to jump it, and land in the middle of the fire. So no squatting or leg pressing leading up to the run. Also, I don't know if you saw my response to the question about protein so I'm gonna re-post it below.
"@Lili - I've been taking in around 180-200 grams of protein per day. The % ends up being between 38-45%. Usually landing right around the 40% mark. 40-45% carbs (still kinda high compared to how I used to eat back when I trained with the bodybuilders) and the rest as fat. My calories feel high, but I know they're not. Just gotta get used to a different daily level. I am cycling down on protein/calories on my off days from running and training. That ends up usually being one day per week. I throw in one high calorie day as well, typically the day before the low day. Weird, I know..."
Pic below is our grilled tofu!
Monday began with my typical breakfast of coffee and a bowl of granola cereal. I waited on the temps to warm just a bit and then headed out on my morning jog. I ran the usual 3.1 mile route, stopping briefly to retie my shoes about a mile in. I finished in less than 30 minutes, which is pretty good considering the hills, the pause for shoe lace tying, and uneven terrain. I had a pre-workout snack and then headed to the gym. I started on the treadmill running intervals between 6 & 8 mph, one minute each, for the first 3 miles. Then I backed off into a walk for a few minutes. Kim arrived at the gym to get in a little cardio, so I stayed on the treadmill and ended up jogging some more and got in a total of 4.4 miles. She headed home to clean up and have lunch and I began my chest workout. 3 sets of machine presses, 3 sets of a different type of chest press, 3 sets of incline presses, and 3 sets of machine flies.
Once home I had some lunch and then got ready to try to find us some fish and chicken to grill over the next few nights. While stocking up on grill items, I made the mistake of buying a small can of wassabi almonds. Dumb. I ended up eating most of the entire can. Won't make that mistake again at the grocery store. ;)
We grilled tofu (with a little BBQ sauce on it) for dinner and it was great. That's definitely something we'll have to add to the rotation of our dinners. After dinner we took Jumping Jack Flash on a 2 mile, easy walk around the lake. So on the day I totaled 9.5 miles. Roughly 7.5 jogging/running, and the rest at a leisurely walk.
@Lili - I don't know if I'll carb load for the race or not. I don't really think I'll need to since I'm already used to running a good bit more than the actual distance of the race. I need to do some research and see how to properly prepare. This race (for Kim and I anyway) is all for fun. I think we (maybe just Kim) are gonna run in costumes. I do know that I will NOT be training legs the week of the run. I'm afraid I'll get to the fire pit, try to jump it, and land in the middle of the fire. So no squatting or leg pressing leading up to the run. Also, I don't know if you saw my response to the question about protein so I'm gonna re-post it below.
"@Lili - I've been taking in around 180-200 grams of protein per day. The % ends up being between 38-45%. Usually landing right around the 40% mark. 40-45% carbs (still kinda high compared to how I used to eat back when I trained with the bodybuilders) and the rest as fat. My calories feel high, but I know they're not. Just gotta get used to a different daily level. I am cycling down on protein/calories on my off days from running and training. That ends up usually being one day per week. I throw in one high calorie day as well, typically the day before the low day. Weird, I know..."
Pic below is our grilled tofu!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
No Rest Day (Day 240)
Sundays are typically my rest day. But after last week's rest day (where I was irritable and ill from all of the rest) I decided to get a little exercise in. Kim and I went on a jog this morning. She took the lead and set the pace. She was in a very frisky (read that to mean sorta ill) mood and as a result the pace was quite quick, for us. At the 1/2 mile mark we were just over 3 minutes (this is running on dirt roads, with hills) and we finished the first mile in less than 8. No land speed records, but fast for us. We slowed to a walk and recovered for a minute. Kim then decided to head back to the house so she could go to work for a bit and I continued the normal route to complete the 3+ miles I wanted to run. Even with walking the little bit after the first mile and having to stop and tie my shoes twice, I still finished the run almost a minute faster than my usual time. I need to get Kim to set the pace from now on.
I hung around the house until the gym opened at 1 and then went in to train abs. 3 sets of machine crunches, 3 sets on incline crunches, 3 sets of v-sits, and 3 sets of crunches. I stretched for a few minutes and then got on the treadmill with the intention of walking up-hill for about 30 minutes. I ended up jogging for 50 minutes instead (with little 5 minute warm up and cool down walks).
After the gym I came home wanting to watch some golf and then the Braves game. Kim ended up not having to work much so we headed into town to run some errands. Afterward, we decided to eat at the local all you can eat Chinese Buffet. Ate way to much, but it was lovely. After we got home I was ready for baseball. My plans were foiled again. A 4+ hour rain delay was ongoing, so we went on a walk. 2 more miles (at a very easy pace). So I ended up with 9+ miles of cardio (7 jogging, 2+ walking) at that point. Later in the evening after baseball had begun, I felt tired and lazy while lying on the sofa, so I decided to ride the spin bike a few minutes during the game. Amazing how quickly 30 minutes flies by when there is something good on TV.
Other than my nasty buffet meal, I ate very well. Granola cereal for breakfast. Egg Beaters and veggie chorizo for AM snack. Pre workout meal was a granola bar and a NS fudge brownie. Post workout meal was 8 oz of grilled chicken breasts. Then came the horrible buffet (delicious). I was too full to think about a late dessert.
Tomorrow is a normal running and gym day, full of clean high protein/low calorie foods. I think we're having grilled tofu for dinner. Yum! Pic below is sunrise from a few mornings ago.
I hung around the house until the gym opened at 1 and then went in to train abs. 3 sets of machine crunches, 3 sets on incline crunches, 3 sets of v-sits, and 3 sets of crunches. I stretched for a few minutes and then got on the treadmill with the intention of walking up-hill for about 30 minutes. I ended up jogging for 50 minutes instead (with little 5 minute warm up and cool down walks).
After the gym I came home wanting to watch some golf and then the Braves game. Kim ended up not having to work much so we headed into town to run some errands. Afterward, we decided to eat at the local all you can eat Chinese Buffet. Ate way to much, but it was lovely. After we got home I was ready for baseball. My plans were foiled again. A 4+ hour rain delay was ongoing, so we went on a walk. 2 more miles (at a very easy pace). So I ended up with 9+ miles of cardio (7 jogging, 2+ walking) at that point. Later in the evening after baseball had begun, I felt tired and lazy while lying on the sofa, so I decided to ride the spin bike a few minutes during the game. Amazing how quickly 30 minutes flies by when there is something good on TV.
Other than my nasty buffet meal, I ate very well. Granola cereal for breakfast. Egg Beaters and veggie chorizo for AM snack. Pre workout meal was a granola bar and a NS fudge brownie. Post workout meal was 8 oz of grilled chicken breasts. Then came the horrible buffet (delicious). I was too full to think about a late dessert.
Tomorrow is a normal running and gym day, full of clean high protein/low calorie foods. I think we're having grilled tofu for dinner. Yum! Pic below is sunrise from a few mornings ago.
Warrior Beard and Star Trails (Day 239)
This post is for Saturday, April 10th, 2010.
Kim and I began the morning with a run/walk around the lake. We're pushing the distances she runs each workout now. We run the first mile at a decent pace, then walk a bit (up a hill), then run some more, recover a bit, then run the rest of the way back home. She shaved a minute off of her fastest time! After the cardio Kim was off to work for a bit while I hit the spin bike for 30 minutes. After the bike I had a meal or two and then headed to they gym for 3 more miles of running and then a leg workout. The running was easy. I varied my pace between 6 & 7 mph for the 30 minutes. After the treadmill I stretched briefly and then was ready to train legs. 3 sets of leg extensions, 3 sets of leg presses, and 3 sets of true squats for quads. Hams began with 3 sets of heavy straight leg dead lifts, then 3 sets of seated leg curls, and finally 3 sets of weighted hyper-extensions. Not a terribly grueling workout compared to what I did a few months ago, but I wasn't running 6+ miles a day then either.
So I had a good training day, and I ate good too, until after dinner. I was trying to stay awake long enough to watch the Braves game (they're on the West Coast, so the games don't start until after 10PM) and I got hungry late. I had a few snacks and justified eating a bowl of cereal late by deciding to cycle my calories high for the day. I felt I've been doing lots of cardio and training hard, so it would be fine to eat some granola. So I did. I had taken in about 2300 or so calories before the late snacking (that's about what I get per day now) and then added on to that. Oh well. BodyBugg had me burning ~4300 on the day, so a ~3000 calorie day wasn't too bad. Just more than normal. Now I know lots of NS folks will see this number of calories per day and freak out. It's OK. When I was eating just NS my normal calorie intake was 1500-1800 per day. At the time I was training 30 minutes per day during my workout, and doing no more than 30 minutes of walking up hill (which by the way is a great cardiovascular workout). Now I average no less than 90 minutes of cardio per day, plus my workouts. I'm purposely adding the calories so I don't, you know, die.
I've noticed something with my workouts over the last two weeks. I'm regaining lots of my lost strength. I may have mentioned this before. It's more evident each workout now. I think a return to high protein meals has helped a lot. Doing all of the cardio & being in overall better shape helps as well I'm sure. But I train immediately after running usually. I should be weaker from exhaustion. Each workout I'm moving closer (slowly, mind you) to the weights and reps I was training with previous to beginning the diet. Hope the strength continues to return.
I've mentioned previously all of the running I'm doing now is in preparation for a 5K run which has different obstacles you have to navigate, called "Warrior Dash". It's all for fun, each contestant gets a Warrior Helmet, you can wear costumes, and there are multiple prizes awarded for best costume, best warrior scream, best warrior beard, etc. So with that in mind I'm still growing my Warrior Beard. It's about 5 weeks old now. I haven't shaved since before we went to Costa Rica & Kim accidentally unpacked my razor in the car on the way to the airport. So the pic below is me, about 1/2 way into the Warrior Beard growth. The beard goes away on May 24th, the day after the race. The pic below the Bearded Warrior is a star trail image I shot while waiting on the Braves game to start. I was trying not to eat the bowl of granola. I failed. Anyway, the photo is a composite of about 100 images, stacked to show the illusion of the stars spinning (it's actually the Earth spinning) over our house.
Kim and I began the morning with a run/walk around the lake. We're pushing the distances she runs each workout now. We run the first mile at a decent pace, then walk a bit (up a hill), then run some more, recover a bit, then run the rest of the way back home. She shaved a minute off of her fastest time! After the cardio Kim was off to work for a bit while I hit the spin bike for 30 minutes. After the bike I had a meal or two and then headed to they gym for 3 more miles of running and then a leg workout. The running was easy. I varied my pace between 6 & 7 mph for the 30 minutes. After the treadmill I stretched briefly and then was ready to train legs. 3 sets of leg extensions, 3 sets of leg presses, and 3 sets of true squats for quads. Hams began with 3 sets of heavy straight leg dead lifts, then 3 sets of seated leg curls, and finally 3 sets of weighted hyper-extensions. Not a terribly grueling workout compared to what I did a few months ago, but I wasn't running 6+ miles a day then either.
So I had a good training day, and I ate good too, until after dinner. I was trying to stay awake long enough to watch the Braves game (they're on the West Coast, so the games don't start until after 10PM) and I got hungry late. I had a few snacks and justified eating a bowl of cereal late by deciding to cycle my calories high for the day. I felt I've been doing lots of cardio and training hard, so it would be fine to eat some granola. So I did. I had taken in about 2300 or so calories before the late snacking (that's about what I get per day now) and then added on to that. Oh well. BodyBugg had me burning ~4300 on the day, so a ~3000 calorie day wasn't too bad. Just more than normal. Now I know lots of NS folks will see this number of calories per day and freak out. It's OK. When I was eating just NS my normal calorie intake was 1500-1800 per day. At the time I was training 30 minutes per day during my workout, and doing no more than 30 minutes of walking up hill (which by the way is a great cardiovascular workout). Now I average no less than 90 minutes of cardio per day, plus my workouts. I'm purposely adding the calories so I don't, you know, die.
I've noticed something with my workouts over the last two weeks. I'm regaining lots of my lost strength. I may have mentioned this before. It's more evident each workout now. I think a return to high protein meals has helped a lot. Doing all of the cardio & being in overall better shape helps as well I'm sure. But I train immediately after running usually. I should be weaker from exhaustion. Each workout I'm moving closer (slowly, mind you) to the weights and reps I was training with previous to beginning the diet. Hope the strength continues to return.
I've mentioned previously all of the running I'm doing now is in preparation for a 5K run which has different obstacles you have to navigate, called "Warrior Dash". It's all for fun, each contestant gets a Warrior Helmet, you can wear costumes, and there are multiple prizes awarded for best costume, best warrior scream, best warrior beard, etc. So with that in mind I'm still growing my Warrior Beard. It's about 5 weeks old now. I haven't shaved since before we went to Costa Rica & Kim accidentally unpacked my razor in the car on the way to the airport. So the pic below is me, about 1/2 way into the Warrior Beard growth. The beard goes away on May 24th, the day after the race. The pic below the Bearded Warrior is a star trail image I shot while waiting on the Braves game to start. I was trying not to eat the bowl of granola. I failed. Anyway, the photo is a composite of about 100 images, stacked to show the illusion of the stars spinning (it's actually the Earth spinning) over our house.
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