Checked out but getting ready to check in

It is just so DANG hard to focus on work before a vacation. We check in on Thursday but I believe I am already check out of work. It is a little lack of motivation and a little of not wanting to start anything new so there is nothing to break right before I leave or while I am gone. So if you think about it, all of it makes sense. Or I have justified it. Any who just ready for some fun and sun...........well looks like lots of rain too. No biggs. I can relax and have fun no matter rain or shine.

Sand should be a very interesting factor on this trip. And NO I am not talking about chafing. Ella, my 2 year old does not care a whole lot for the gritty stuff. When she comes in contact with it she tends to hold her hands as far away as possible from her body as not to infect the rest of her. Last year she sat in a beach chair with an umbrella over head and was just about as content as one could be. Now she is a year older and much more active, we will just have to wait and see. However there is a lazy river (my personal fave) and pools so I believe we are covered either way.

Bottom line I am pumped up and ready for the trip. Don't expect me to be super enthusiastic about work this week.

Keep your head up.......NO NO NO

Not that I am a fast swimmer or even an average swimmer but I am getting better. To my understanding, the idea is to keep your head down then turn your head to the side and breathe. This works great for about 30 yards then I get tired lose form and throw the head up. I feel like I would look like the loch ness monster cruising through the water. Assuming she did in deed exist.....or does she. Anyway, the form is getting much better and a bit of comfort is setting in. However it is still hard as hell. I managed to swim abut 750 yards(not with out breaks) in my allotted time. It is a little intimidating to swim next to the Hulk (Chris) who is swimming at least 3 laps to my 1. That's ok because I know that if i work hard enough one day I will still not be as fast as some of these guys. I'm good with that as long as I continue to give it my all.

Exercise and Weight Loss

So I get up this morning with plans to hop on the bike and ride for about 30 min before getting back home to make breakfast for girls and get ready for work. Doing something I vowed not to do I snoozed the alarm clock so was already running late. No time for a decent ride, I figure lets work on something I have been wanting to practice for a while. Jump rope. I know it takes a bit of skill and coordination but with practice i should be able to get it down. After about 10 minutes of awkwardness I was able to successfully jump that evil rope 25 times with out tripping. I think i will dedicate 5 minutes every morning after my ride/run or whatever to fine tuning this skill. Knowing that 15 min was not enough to count as a workout so I busted out a quick 1 mile run just to make me feel better about my morning.

185.....That is the magic number I set as my weight loss goal. For this run I started at 198. I have been bouncing around between 194 and 198 for a month or two and ready to see some more loss. Currently I am at 193. Several Colleagues and myself are in a competition based on % of loss. It is only for 1 month. We started on May 1st and it will end on June 1st. So far I have lost about 2 pounds a week which is a pretty healthy number. If i can continue that I should end up around 190 hopefully 189 by competition end. This will be the first time I have seen that weight since I blew past it about 9 years ago. I allowed myself to bloat up to a staggering 235+ before deciding to make a change. The + is there because I don't really know what my true weight was, 235 was when I quit weighing.

But since then I am down 40 pounds or so and am looking to drop about 10 more then I will reassess. Back to the challenge, there is a slight problem. It ends on June 1st. Well on May 21st my Family and some Friends are going on a vacation to Orange Beach AL. We will come back on the 25th. Vacation=fun, sun, some drinking and LOTS of eating. So 5 days left after that not to try and drop more last minute weight but to get back to where I will be going into the vacation. Fingers crossed about 190. Good news they have gym facilities on location. Bad news I don't fair well out of town. I will need to get out of the vacation mind set and remember my goals. That means rolling out of bed and hitting the treadmill or running around the property since I don't think splashing around the pool counts as swimming. I am going in with the expectation of returning home with a minimal gain. 2 pounds max.

EPIC DAY!!!!!!!! Part Deux

What once started out to be a once a month thing has now turned into a weekly event. Participation is growing by leaps and bounds with verbal commitments from others to join at later dates.

This EPIC day was a bit different from last week. We started out with 20 reps of lunges up the bleachers and up the entire lower deck compared to last weeks running up the stairs in the middle sections. Almost twice the steps. At the bottom we alternated box squats and push ups to complete the rep. Then it was time to head down to the field for abs. 250 crunches or obliques how ever you could stomach them. The bicycles were axed this week and rightfully so. It did make it a bit easier last week. Time to get off the ground and move into some foot work. James decided that we would throw in a curve ball and instead of just sprints we went with a 20 yard sprint followed by 20 yards of grapevine/crossovers(whatever you want to call them) 20 yard sprint then switch sides on the grapevine and then sprint it out for the last 20 yards. 3 of those and the next one replace the grapevine with skipping, completely James' idea. The last one was an all out backwards run for the full 100, which i won and then a slow.....did I say slow jog back to the PC for a shower and then off to work for a nap.

Great day of working out. My opinion may change tomorrow when I can't stand upright due to the box squats and lunges. But it is swim day so all I have to do is not drown. Simple right.

Early to Rise

This is day two of my initiative to get up earlier as not to be so rushed to get out of the door. I am also trying to get in an extra few minutes of physical activity to get the blood flowing and to drop a few extra pounds. Yesterday I reluctantly rolled out of bed and rode the bike for about 25 min. That seemed to work pretty good. As not to tire out the legs I was going to find something else to do this morning but was a little achy and decided not to exercise. Last week I overworked myself (in the gym not at my job) and suffered through the entire week. So I am trying to ease into my new routine. This is also in efforts to get down to 185 and win the office "Biggest Loser" competition. The number 185 is just a goal, however the office challenge is a competition. It is a month long event that started on May 1st and will end on June 1st. Upside, I am the favorite to win. Downside, that means I am the fattest. I think I can handle the pressure.

Sink or Swim

So a few weeks ago I was having some leg pain when running so I decided i need to find an alternative for exercising. Hey, try swimming I told myself. Why not? I have access to a pool at the Payne Center ( our student and faculty workout facility on campus). So I got my swim trunks and my filppy floppys and off i went. Besides I grew up in the water swimming in lakes, rivers and oceans. Lap 1: Whoa whoa whoa what's going on. It is suppose to be simple. Turn head breathe in, face in water breathe out. My A$$. It was by far the most humbling experience I have faced in the past year and a half when I started getting serious about my workouts. Well you know what they say "Just get back on that horse and ride". So that is what I did. Yup, I bought a bike. Let me tell ya, my biking experience was far better than the swim. However, I am not willing to admit defeat so yesterday I did get back in the pool and it was better than day 1. I will continue to swim, bike and run in pursuit of a half IronMan.

Time for a habit change.

Certain activities or times I have always had carried habits along with them. For instance waking up with a cup of joe, a smoke after a meal(gave that up a long time ago) or cooking on the grill with and drinking a beer.


I no longer smoke and I don't drink that much coffee so I would like to talk about the bbq and beer. It is embedded into my brain that if I fire up the grill I have to have a beer. I am not saying that is a bad thing, but I grill A LOT. I very much enjoy cooking especially on the grill. Lately I have found myself cooking even more outside since the weather has been nice. This is coupled with my wife having these massive cravings for hamburgers right now.

Quick background: My wife and I are having our third child and her cravings in each pregnancy have been very different. The first was sweets, mostly peanut m&m's(bags and bags). This carried into Emily for her main mission is to eat just enough dinner to satisfy us so she can move on to dessert. For our second child she relied mostly on Mexican food. Not sure why cause she generally doesn't care much for it. That could be why Ella, a.k.a. mini me, is such a firecracker. She also loves chicken wings and ribs. So, during this third, and most likely last, pregnancy it has been all ground beef. Usually in the form of hamburgers. I am very excited and curious as to how our next girl will turn out. That's right for those of you keeping score at home the total is 3 girls. More on that later.

Back to my not so good habit. I am not saying I want to give up drinking beer. That is just ridiculous. What I am saying is that I want to try to get back to my "weekend warrior" approach to drinking. No beer during the week,  just the weekend. Grill or no grill I am going to stick with it. Now I may end up cooking outside less in the beginning but once I lay the foundation I feel like I will be able to grill some wonderful food and leave the beer and bbq combination for the weekend. Except when on vacation.

EPIC DAY!!!!!!!

Epic Day is a day that several of my friends/colleagues/training partners and I set out to be the BIGGEST BADDEST MONKEY FIGHTING PEOPLE that we can be. EPIC DAY went as follows:

-Slow jog to the University's football stadium(less than half a mile)
-20 sprints(toward the end a bit slower) up the stairs-on the return to the bottom 10 pushups for a total of 200
-250 crunches/bicycles what ever to get to 250
-5 100 yard sprints (Usain Bolt I am not)
-slow jog back to gym
-30 pullups
DONE!

It was an ass kicker for me but giving me a push to get out of my workout woes.

Workout Slump

Recently i have been in a funk when it comes to working out. I have chosen to eat instead of exercise. GAINED 5 POUNDS. Not happy about it but can only blame myself. This week has been a much better week. The diet has not been that great but the exercise has. I have added several things into my routine. First I broke down and bought a road bike. So this weekend i went for a few rides 15 miles both Saturday and Sunday. It didn't seem like much until I tried to run Monday. I was like wearing lead boots. I am sure the muscles will build and it will get better. The other thing I have added is a 100 pushup challenge.

http://hundredpushups.com/

This is a plan that should get me to 100 pushups in a few short weeks. I am in decent shape so I started on week 3. So by the end of the month I should be able to drop and give me 100. We will see. Also by the end of the month I want to weigh in at 185. A bit of a lofty goal but since i felt like i need a # then why not a low one. By the way I weighed in at 196 this morning. Yeah.