The Chances

How a 250+ Pound Couch Potato Got Healthy

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Today's Tweets

08:33 Mt. Langley & Half Dome trip reports: tinyurl.com/c95duv if you're interested. #

14:04 New post on my blog: Today's Tweets: 14:41 Mapped 01/29/2009 Route (5.00 mi.) # 15:02 Comple.. tinyurl.com/cvyky3 #

14:22 WOW, Twitterfeed's behind. It just posted to twitter about my 2:30am LoudTwitter blog post hehehe #

14:22 nothing like confusing visitors! #

14:54 So, although I get off work at 4:30, #

14:54 I'm going to the gym. Right now. At 3pm. :) #

16:15 Here you go guys, a sugar ad from the 70s. It'll curb your hunger! tinyurl.com/ck95j3 #

17:39 Alright, I gotta go. I dare you not to watch the Super Bowl on Sunday. See ya. :) #

20:31 That made me laugh :) #

20:35 1 minute into BSG and my wife makes me pause for a restroom break. #

20:43 Not much Yes on blip.fm. ♫ blip.fm/~1webj #

20:57 May I just express exactly how in love with Starbuck I am right at this moment? :P #

20:57 Uh, the new Starbuck. Kara Thrayce. Have to specify, you see. #

21:38 Just finished off the last of my pumpkin ice cream. Sad, the last until next year. But oh, so good. #

22:06 MapMyFitness.com: Completed Weight Workout. 00:30:28 #

22:33 New post on my blog: Weight Workout: Today went pretty well at the gym. I ended up not even .. tinyurl.com/debfrk #

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Friday, January 30, 2009

Weight Workout

Today went pretty well at the gym. I ended up not even leaving for the gym until 3pm! I got lucky though, at least I was able to go.

I also need to apologize, lately I've just been so busy, not only have I not been able to blog as I had been, but I haven't been able to post responses either. I suppose it's just that time of year.

Warmup, 30 secs each, 3 circuits
* Jumping Jacks
* Split Jacks
* Squats
* Alternating Lunges
* Mountain Climbers

Workout
* Deadlifts, 3x7x115lbs
* Close-grip Bench Press, 3x3x135lbs
* Hammer Curls, 3x5x35lbs

Tomorrow's a 12-mile long run @ 9:37 - 9:52. No problem.

Today's Tweets

14:41 Mapped 01/29/2009 Route (5.00 mi.) #

15:02 Completed Tempo Run. 618 (kcal) Distance 5.00 mi. Duration 00:42:03 #

15:04 Why didn't MapMyRun.com not post my stats to Twitter? Grr. #

15:05 AHA! There it went. Hehe. #

16:04 New Flickr upload: 1-29-2009 Splits: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/c89edc #

17:38 Holy cow, they remodeled the Sacramento Fry's! It doesn't look like Incredible Universe anymore. #

19:49 Tivo tweeps, why is Tivo Desktop estimating 6 hours to transfer two 1-hour shows recorded on Medium quality? #

19:55 I just unfollowed someone. I felt bad about it, but I just had to. #

20:14 bbl, dinner :) #

21:09 OK, time to rewatch Lost with my wife. Is this new season great or what? #

21:09 (switching to the laptop) #

21:23 Speaking of which... it's the '00's, so where's our rocket packs? #

21:34 Is it me, or has John Locke just become major a-hole #1 this season? hehe #

22:32 OK, I'm off to bed. Goodnight. #

22:33 New post on my blog: Tempo Run - 5 miles: Today's goal was a 5-mile tempo run @ 8:22 - 8:37... tinyurl.com/d6keuh #

05:36 Wt: 168.8, RHR: 49 #

08:33 Mt. Langley & Half Dome trip reports: tinyurl.com/c95duv if you're interested. #

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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Tempo Run - 5 miles

Today's goal was a 5-mile tempo run @ 8:22 - 8:37. I'm happy to report that I nailed it, burning 608 calories in the process.



Mile 1: 8:19.52
Mile 2: 8:17.37
Mile 3: 8:21.74
Mile 4: 8:30.67
Mile 5: 8:32.51



I walked the rest of the way back to work, about 1/4 mile.

Also, can I say that I ran 5:05 per mile? For the last .86 seconds of course. That's 11.8mph for 14.85 feet! I was so proud of myself!

Gym day tomorrow. 12-mile long run on Saturday.

Today's Tweets

05:19 Wt: 168.6, RHR: 50 #

06:14 As a dad, it's my moral obligation to bug my kids as much as possible. #

06:15 To that end, I just sang the Feliz Cumpleanos (sp) Dora Happy Birthday song to my newly-7yo son. #

08:45 I love Fark headlines. #

09:43 Oh man, today's too cold to run. High's supposed to be 58. Shame. #

09:43 /me drips sarcasm #

09:43 Today's a gym day. :) #

09:45 Twitter has a 2000-follower limit? #

11:08 Living to be 80 is impressive. Living 28 more years after being shot IN THE HEAD, living to 80... that's amazing. #

12:16 Thinking about Lost, wishing I was watching tonight's episode instead of putting off going to the gym. #

13:37 STOP THE PRESS! GNC chocolate caramel protein powder actually tastes good! #

15:10 Back from the gym #

20:10 After 13 hours, I'm going home. Hurry, hurry, gotta watch Lost! Oh wait, it's been DVR'ed *AND* Tivo'ed, and will soon be on the computer. #

20:10 Mmmm, burning Tivo'ed shows to DVD a year before they're released. #

20:34 Is it racist to find the heavily accented Indian cashier humming along to country music humorous? #

20:57 RIP Billy Powell of Lynyrd Skynyrd :( #

23:15 RIP Billy Powell of Lynyrd Skynyrd, dead @ 56. tinyurl.com/b73pnv #

23:30 MapMyFitness.com: Completed Weight Workout. 219 (kcal). 00:33:00 #

00:04 OK guys, I quit. Goodnight. #

00:04 New post on my blog: Weight Workout: Well, today certainly turned into a long one. I made i.. tinyurl.com/cggv7z #

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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Weight Workout

Well, today certainly turned into a long one.

I made it to work on time, and the day really didn't go that badly. I got a bit lazy and put off going to the gym until 2, but the workout really did go well.

When I got back, people had been frantically looking for me. There was a problem with cell phone billing that needed to be resolved, because it looked like we were paying for twice as many cell phones than we really had.

Of course, I knew this wasn't the case, but I had to gather the information to prove myself. I finally left work at 8pm.

All I have to say is, thank goodness for DVR's! Lost was waiting for me, calling out my name. And may I just ask, Mr. Alpert, exactly how old are you?

Anyway. The workout. :)

Warmup, 30 seconds each, 3 circuits
* Jumping Jacks
* Split Jacks
* Squats
* Lunges
* Mountain Climbers

Workout
* Neutral-Grip Incline Press, 3x8x40lbs
* Chin-Up, 5, 3, 1
* Wide-Grip Barbell Curl, 3x8x60lbs

33 minutes, 219 calories. I had a nice talk with one of the gym rats there, he was asking about my running. We talk from time to time, but this time he seemed truly interested with what I was doing. He went on and on to his workout partner about how it takes a certain kind of person to pull themselves up out of the depths of fatness and start running. You ain't fat! You ain't fat, you ain't nuthin'! You ain't nuthin'!



Normally I try not to pay too much attention to him, but it was nice to have a bit of validation.

Now, where was I? Ah, yes. So now it's 11:30, and I'm off to bed. Tomorrow's my 5-mile tempo run, which I was dreading even the though of last week. But after Tuesday's sprints, it doesn't seem all that bad!

Today's Tweets

05:31 Wt: 168, RHR: 48 #

07:51 I'm lucky I can get in 6 miles midweek. #

08:09 I didn't realize until just now how much I've missed the Tuesday morning office 24 discussions. :) #

08:11 Sequencer Hero (TM) #

08:11 Our new game simulates dragging notes onto little staves, it's TRACKER HERO #

10:10 After 3 years of eating one way it's damn hard to change. #

10:17 People panic when I'm not at my desk. I run for an hour, come back, and the same person's emailed, left voice mail, and has called my boss #

10:17 THREE times. #

10:19 Seriously, unless you buy at health food stores exclusively it's hard to avoid HFCS. #

10:39 but that's fuel for the run, you see #

11:11 WOW that Garmin foot pod's battery sure has a short lifespan. Guess I won't wear it all the time now. #

12:40 Back from my intervals, btw. :) #

13:13 Real voice mail message: "Hi, Greg, I was wondering if there's a way to retrieve emails, because I deleted all of mine." #

13:44 Greatest American Hero: www.cfhf.net/lyrics/images/greatest2a.jpg #

13:48 Mapped 01/27/2009 Route (5.33 mi.) #

13:50 Completed Sprint Intervals, 6x800m, 90s rests. 719 (kcal) Distance 5.33 mi. Duration 00:49:27 #

14:04 New Flickr upload: 1-27-2009 Intervals: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/ara4pc #

17:24 OK time for Diet Dew, and remember, Biggest Loser is tonight! Gotta watch those people refuse to work, then blame everything but themselves! #

20:16 I'm @ Red Robin with my son, for his 7th birthday. he picked it as the place he wanted to go. #

20:38 My son asked the waitress if he could still have the ice cream if she didn't sing. #

20:40 Biggest Loser when I get home. #

21:55 SWEET! Spirit of the Marathon is going to be showed on The Documentary Channel on 2/4 at 9:30am #

22:02 I'm one of the King's kids, I do deserve the best, I want a... <a new car!> #

23:34 New post on my blog: Food, Intervals, and Surprises: What Do I Eat? At the beginning of mara.. tinyurl.com/ab82kh #

23:36 Alright, blog entry complete. I'm off to bed. Nite all. #

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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Food, Intervals, and Surprises

What Do I Eat?
At the beginning of marathon training, which coincided with the first week of January, I started transitioning away from low carb eating in order to provide my body with the carbohydrates needed to remain fuelled while running. I also upped my caloric intake from around 1200 per day to 1720 per day.

The past month's been great, both with the gym and with my running. Last week was a bit meh, but I can't complain too badly about it. We all have ups and downs, and that was just a bit down. This week's much better, and the outlook remains good.

Yet, I was worried. That's just how I am, when it comes to my weight, I get amazingly obsessive. I weigh every morning (you can see that in my tweets). With the added calories and transition away from the low carb lifestyle, I expected to gain weight. That's exactly what I did, and yesterday morning I weighed in at 170 pounds. That's 12 pounds higher than my all-time low, which is 158.

It took every bit of energy I had not to be stressed over it. I expected at least some weight gain, especially since I've been drinking protein shakes both before and after my weight workouts. It's just difficult, given my obsession with the numbers on the scale.

So yesterday afternoon, what happened? I went down a notch on my belt! I'm now on the last hole. The next step, of course, would be to buy a new one. Obviously, something's working!

So I grabbed my workout book, and decided to do the calorie equation for losing fat, not just "weight". After calculating, the numbers show that given the time I spend lifting weight (which honestly isn't all that much) combined with my running, I need to eat even more.

So starting this morning, my new magic number for calories is 2400 per day. It actually makes sense with what I'm reading in the Hal Higdon marathon book I bought, and in Runner's World. Runner's World said I should be eating around 300g of carbs per day, while Higdon gives a number closer to 400g! I was having a tough time adding food in general, but more specifically, adding carbs. Even with eating carbohydrates every meal, with sticking to 1720 calories per day, I was only reaching around 200g of carbs. Something had to give, and having the extra calories makes it a lot easier to make the other numbers.

Am I expecting to gain more weight? Yes. But this morning, my weight was back at 168. I think it's going to work out. I'll keep everyone updated as to how it goes.

Sprint Intervals
Today was intervals for me: 6x800m @ 7:22 goal, 90s rest intervals. Warmup & cooldown were 10 minutes apiece.



1: 3:38.30, 7:16/mi
2: 3:38.04, 7:16/mi
3: 3:40.93, 7:22/mi
4: 3:46.08, 7:32/mi
5: 3:53.51, 7:47/mi
6: 3:50.86, 7:42/mi

Someone on Twitter told me she found the 800m intervals easier than 400m, but you know what? Nah. They're harder, especially those later ones. That last one was the endless interval.

And next Monday, it's 1600m intervals! At least I'll only have to do three of them.

And the rest intervals? I walked them except for the last 15 seconds of each, something like that. That walking felt good, to be sure.

From the Hearts of Babes
Tomorrow's my son's 7th birthday. We were at Toys R Us tonight because my wife wanted to buy him one last present, a Transformers blanket. She wanted to surprise him, so I had taken him into Raley's to pick up some bananas and just waste some time while she bought his gift.

When we came out, my wife was talking to a homeless woman. As my son and I approached, the lady thanked him for being such a grown up boy, and how what he did touched her. Here's how my wife explained it to me.

My mother-in-law, wife, and his cousins, had all pitched in money to give him for his birthday. When he got it, he said mom, I want to give some of my birthday money to someone who doesn't have what we have. It didn't end there though, after having that conversation with my wife, he went to school. She didn't realize it, but he brought a dollar with him.

Another boy at school's family lost their home and are currently living in a shelter. I guess my son knew about it because he overheard the boy talking, so he took it upon himself to bring a dollar to school to give to the boy. When he told me this story, his eyes were aglow with the joy of giving.

Was I misty-eyed? You bet! I gave him a giant hug and told him how proud I am of him. This all happened without promting from us. He wanted to give some of his money to someone in need (which in the end was the homeless lady outside of Raley's), and in addition, he gave to a little boy in need at his school.

God has truly blessed us and I am in awe of my son. Happy birthday, Gregory.

Today's Tweets

05:41 Wt: 170.2, RHR: 49 #

05:43 Do I panic just yet? For the record my low weight was 158. #

09:46 Back, finally. Nah I'm not panicking about my weight, that doesn't take into consideration body makeup, fat percentage, muscle #

09:46 While I've always maintained that people who immediately jump to "it's probably muscle" might be fooling themselves #

09:46 This morning regardless of my weight, my belt is down a notch. So I'm going the muscle route. ;) #

10:37 "WAAAAH! We're Yuba City! WAAAAH! We're Marysville! We suck, WAAAAH! Give us money, WAAAAH!" tinyurl.com/abvcm2 #

13:05 OK tweeps, it's business time. #

14:28 Back from the gym, 'twas a good day! #

14:31 WAUGH! Today's split peas are 82g of carbs & 30g protein, ohhh baby hehehe #

14:31 This after whining about weight this morning. ;) #

15:18 MapMyFitness.com: Completed Weight Workout. 185 (kcal). 00:37:07 #

16:43 OK, I'm off. And for @ cyberpenguin specifically: I'm getting Diet Dew. Fear its wrath. #

16:44 Don't forget your Jack Bauer fix tonight, people!!! #

19:04 New Flickr upload: Gregory Tells About the Flag: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: Gregory got t.. tinyurl.com/dx4est #

20:57 So who's 24 #

20:57 Let's try that again. So who's 24'in with me tonight? :) #

20:58 Went by Staples tonight, got a 100-pack of HP DVD-R's for 25 bucks. #

21:42 I just did some calculations for calories in/calories out. According to this, I've been eating 600 calories too little. #

21:43 This after increasing by 500 calories a month ago hehehe #

21:49 The formula also factors in time lifting weights and time running. It sounds good anyway, hehehe #

21:49 It claims that it loses 2 pounds of fat per week #

22:25 The Senate is so amazingly busy, they're delaying the DTV deadline by 4 months. They just didn't have time to go digital I guess. #

23:28 OK boys & girls... I'm off to bed. Nite all. #

00:34 New post on my blog: Weight Workout: Today went very well in the gym. So far, this week is g.. tinyurl.com/dcst6x #

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Monday, January 26, 2009

Weight Workout

Today went very well in the gym. So far, this week is going much better than last. I know, it's only been one day, but I can dream, can't I? :)

Warmup, w/45lb bar, 5 reps, 3 circuits
* Overhead Squats
* Squats
* Lunges
* Good Mornings
* Romanian Deadlifts
* Bent Over Rows

Workout
* Bench Press, 3x4x135lbs
* Single-Arm Dumbbell Row, 5x4x60lbs
* External Rotation, 4x3x20lbs
* Swiss-Ball Crunch, 20x10 (200 total)

Simple post tonight, I know. But Jack Bauer wore me out. Stop it, Jack!

Today's Tweets

07:13 Wt: 168.8, RHR: 49 #

17:52 What is MATW? #

20:23 Did she just say she's going to "mullet over"? #

21:56 OK all, time for bed. Work in the morning. Nite. #

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Sunday, January 25, 2009

Today's Tweets

07:11 Wt: 167.8, RHR: 52 #

07:14 39yo. You happy? (grumble) 21%bf, 8hrs sleep, 5'6.5", anything else? #

07:16 My 3yo just told me to put on my running clothes so I can "running very fast" #

07:37 Well Twadget doesn't seem to work. Heh. #

08:46 Did you know I'm supposed to be doing a long run? So why am I on the computer with that horrible Garfield movie in the background> #

12:18 Done with my long run. #

14:44 Andy on The Office just said, "COME ON!" Heh. #

15:01 Mapped 01/24/2009 Route (11.03 mi.) #

15:04 New Flickr upload: Weather012409: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/agpjxz #

15:04 New Flickr upload: 1-24-2009 Splits: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/auue3y #

15:15 Completed Long Run. 1,267 (kcal) Distance 11.03 mi. Duration 01:55:14 #

17:17 Something weird's happened to the Garmin Training Center on my PC, it keeps telling me that it doesn't match the device #

17:17 Like, every single time. #

17:17 It still syncs though. #

18:34 New Flickr upload: Weather012409-alternate: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/d45zxg #

20:04 New post on my blog: Long Run - 11 miles: Today was my 11-mile long run. It went pretty well.. tinyurl.com/blf5hj #

21:03 I swear, every time Steve Martin hosts SNL it's like he's teaching them how to do it. They don't even come close. #

21:23 Woo, got my reservations for Burlington Campground, May 1, 2, 3, & 4... The Ave Marathon is on the 3rd. Driving home on the 5th. #

21:51 OK, time for bed. Nite all. #

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Saturday, January 24, 2009

Long Run - 11 miles

Today was my 11-mile long run. It went pretty well overall, at least, I think I had the best run I've had in a while.

I do, however, think Sporttracks failed me a bit. Actually, it was the GPS2Power plugin that failed.

I use GPS2Power because it shows weather information, and today's run was annoyingly windy on the way home, to the point of having to walk when gusts would come up (and even then, having difficulty even WALKING because of the wind). On the laptop, I looked at the weather and it looked exactly how it felt.



The splits reflect exactly what happened to me with the wind.


There was hardly any wind before the 5.5-mile turnaround, then suddenly it was so windy I could barely run. The last 3 miles were the worst, the gusts made it hard to even walk.

Then I put the data into the desktop, but look at the weather data:


You'd think it was a completely different run! Anyway, I'm going with the laptop's data.

Today was an 11-mile long run, with a goal of 9:37. I swear, I was confortably running ~9:00/mi until the wind started. In fact, I can remember at one point thinking I might run all 11 miles at marathon pace. Hah, silly me.

It actually began with a stoplight that I had to wait to change, the wind started about a half-mile from there. The last 3 miles were the worst! I had to walk during some of the gusts.

Splits
Mile 1: 9:04.66
Mile 2: 8:52.75
Mile 3: 8:57.63
Mile 4: 9:21.89
Mile 5: 10:35.09
Mile 6: 10:42.93
Mile 7: 10:32.42
Mile 8: 9:58.18
Mile 9: 11:34.01
Mile 10: 12:27.75
Mile 11: 13:05.35

1:55:12, 10:28/mi average pace, and hey, I burned 1267 calories.

When I came in from the run, my wife warned me that my 6-year-old son was in trouble, and was in his bedroom, but be warned about how it looked in there. Come to find out, he had been told to clean up his room, but instead he dumped the contents of all his shelves onto the bedroom floor! All his million books, all his toys, all his clothes, everything.

I was expecting to see this, so I opened the door carefully. When I did, my son was climbing up the side of the bunkbed, and had opened his window and was shouting to his friend next door! He was supposed to be cleaning up the mess he had created.

I have to admit, I lost it a bit. He was having trouble stepping through the mess to get out of his bedroom, so I told him I'd handle it. I picked up the bookshelf and tossed it across the room, then said come here, now.

He's now banished from his own bedroom. He's not allowed in there unless he's actively cleaning with either myself or my wife with him. Right now, he's sleeping in a sleeping bag in the living room. Tomorrow after church, he knows we're going in there, and anything on the floor is being boxed and taken out of the room. He's losing all that stuff for a while, since he can't handle it being in his room.

So today was the great adventure. As far as my long run is concerned, I'm happy with it overall. I strongly believe I would have made a 9:00 pace or less the entire way, had it not been for the wind gusts. Tomorrow's a day off from exercise, and honestly, I'm looking forward to it.

Today's Tweets

06:14 Wt: 167.8, RHR: 49 #

06:58 Listening to The Choir: Chase the Kangaroo #

08:00 Well that sucks, the tweet I sent in the car didn't work. Therefore: I *was* listening to The Choir: Chase the Kangaroo :) #

08:02 Oh wow, my Choir tweet did go through. Heh. #

09:29 On the way into work someone noticed my slight hobble this morning. "Little rough walkin, there, eh?" Yeah, I'm old. #

11:11 So she's rebooting. Reboot fix everything. #

11:13 THE HUMANITY! I left my sweaty tights & socks from yesterday in my training bag. #

11:20 The tights also soaked my workout notes. GRUMBLE! #

11:21 Her name is Angel. #

12:59 At the gym, trying to figure out what a flexion is. #

14:32 AGH! What I thought was tilapia was really chicken. #

14:39 Guy from my church just called me asking for his W2. I guess his old boss's name was Greg, so he searched the phonebook "GR->send" #

14:39 When I answered, "This is Greg" he thought it was his old boss hahaha #

17:06 MapMyFitness.com: Completed Weight Workout. 132 (kcal). 00:30:00 #

21:43 and don't mind Fakecetera anymore hahaha #

21:46 Yeah poor Peter Cetera has a core following but never got as big solo as he did with Chicago #

21:46 They haven't done too badly, but again, core following #

21:46 I've seen Chicago 3 or 4 times live, but it was all post-Cetera #

21:46 the first time I only saw them because of my gf at the time, but the show was really good #

21:48 In the late 90s a lot of the big rock bands wre touring as dual-headliners so I got to see a lot of them, which was cool #

21:48 Now though life's different, and they charge so much for tickets I doubt I'll see one anytime soon, unless Jon Anderson gets better #

21:51 I think with Christian music at first I listened to soundalikes but in the end listened to unique bands #

21:52 So my favorites gravitated towards the alternative bent, 77's, The Choir, Adam Again, DA, etc #

21:52 One cool thing about going to see and listen to relative unknowns was you could always meet them and have conversations #

21:53 I saw The Choir once where the promoter screwed up, there were like 30 people there. I loved it. #

21:54 The same happened with Mike Roe, I got an email on the 77s mailing list that he'd be playing at suchandsuch address in Sacramento #

21:54 When I got there he was just helping a friend at a gig... in the parking lot of a pawn shop #

22:18 I just found myself snacking, before I realized it I'd eaten a bunch of crackers. Whole grain, but still, it's after 10! #

22:18 I'll work 'em off in the morning. #

22:18 I sure hope tomorrow's run goes well, I haven't had a good workout in well over a week. It's getting annoying. #

22:20 I need to go dig those books up, they're in a box somewhere unless I threw them away. Probably did 10 years ago. #

22:21 If for no other reason, What About Rock and What About Christian Rock are good historical records of the rock hysteria of the 80s #

22:22 You can plop Bob Larson right into that group. #

22:23 TO THIS DAY I can't hear the satanic messages in Stairway to Heaven #

22:24 "What're you lookin' for the devil for, when you aughtta be lookin' for the Lord!" hehe #

22:28 ...and Christians wonder why people see us as freaks. #

22:32 11 miles in the rain, baby! #

22:33 Nite all. #

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Friday, January 23, 2009

Today's Tweets

05:42 Wt: 168.4, RHR: 52 #

06:37 Voices carry? Rain 'til Tuesday. #

07:54 Finally at work, getting ready to eat breakfast. :) #

08:43 Push the little daisies & make 'em come up. #

09:05 May I just say that Lolo Jones is hot? #

09:07 Wow. I blogged about 24, Battlestar Galactica, and Lost... but not the inauguration. #

09:43 What I wanna know is why users think computers work they way they WANT them to work rather than how they're designed to work. #

09:43 I might want my car to fly, but it ain't gonna. #

09:56 Is there a way on the blackberry to purge all messages in the inbox from the device only? We use IMAP. #

10:11 At least until my Pre arrives. ;) #

10:46 User: "Oh, oh, Spybot's coming up, should I Allow or Deny?" Me: "What is it trying to update?" User: "I don't know!" FLASH PLAYER UPDATE #

10:47 Why can't people learn to read EVERYTHING in a window and not just 1/8 of it? #

10:47 Well that's positively boring: a scrabble meetup that got tagged as "hiking" #

14:06 Well that run sucked. I seem to be having more and more of them. :( #

14:20 I was a tad overdressed today though, I'm sure that had at least a bit to do with it #

14:36 Mapped 01/22/2009 Route (6.22 mi.) #

14:41 Completed Tempo Run. 695 (kcal) Distance 6.22 mi. Duration 01:06:30 #

16:36 Boss calls. "Do you have an IDE drive Tim can play with?" Tim wants to clone a system. I give Tim the drive. "Oh, I thought you would do it" #

18:18 Have any of you had a chance to touch Paul Bellini? #

20:03 Rewatching the Lost season premiere. #

21:03 OK, done rewatching Lost. I'm off to bed. #

21:04 New Flickr upload: 1-22-2009 Splits: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/akquv3 #

21:04 New post on my blog: Tempo Run - 6.2 miles: Today was my tempo run, this would be #4 of the .. tinyurl.com/bx6e8h #

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Tempo Run - 6.2 miles

Today was my tempo run, this would be #4 of the FIRST training. Only 14 more to go! Hehe. It was supposed to be 1 mile easy, 4 miles @ tempo pace (8:22 - 8:37), 1 mile easy. Right afterwards I thought I did horribly, but in retrospect other than walking a few times in the middle, it wasn't too bad.



Mile 1: 9:10.23
Mile 2: 8:23.75
Mile 3: 8:48.05
Mile 4: 11:45.96
Mile 5: 9:00.24
Mile 6: 14:50.49

Yes, I more or less walked the last mile.

So I was getting down on myself for not doing well, but I realized that last night I only got 3 hours' sleep. That might have had something to do with it, along with working my legs pretty hard at the gym yesterday. In the end, I think I did pretty well.

Tomorrow I'm back in the gym.

Today's Tweets

05:33 Wt: 168.8, RHR: 48 #

06:32 The international radio reporter's name just now was Aleister Wankin. #

07:30 Radio question: 50M ppl do this ea yr. Caller answer: go to the super bowl. #

09:34 Lost is back tonight, woo! #

12:38 Darn floor, big bite. You are earth, water, and light. #

12:38 Off to the gym. :) #

12:46 Someone at work asked me if I run more than I work now. I guess I'm the "office runner" now. #

14:06 WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALT! #

14:26 Heh, people complaining that the recalled peanut products have disappeared from the vending machine. Idiots. :) #

14:30 We don't usually feed processed things to the kids, so PB&J is all made by us, and the PB is ground personally by me. #

14:30 I just ground some this morning actually. Best kind on earth. #

16:15 Yet still enjoy Twilight. #

17:02 Off for some Diet Dew. BTW, I have a case of Diet Code Red in my drawer at work. Later. :) #

18:16 License plate seen on the way home: NUDEGUY #

23:09 Anyway I had to abandon twitter for Lost. That's one show that demands full attention. #

23:10 I do love the direction, it's becoming more like Primer now. In a good way. #

23:41 pushup time #

23:49 Oh yeah... 100 Pushups Week 3, Day 2 (repeat): 20, 25, 15, 15, 30 #

23:57 MapMyFitness.com: Completed Weight Workout. 265 (kcal). 00:41:00 #

00:00 MapMyFitness.com: Completed 100 Pushups, Week 3, Day 3 (repeat). 100 (kcal). 00:8:00 #

00:01 ...and with that, I'm off to bed. Nite all. #

00:04 New post on my blog: It's TV Heaven (with a weight workout to boot): For TV, the past few we.. tinyurl.com/crat82 #

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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

It's TV Heaven (with a weight workout to boot)

For TV, the past few weeks have been simply wonderful. Some of my favorite shows have returned with a bang.



The ragtag fleet found Earth, only to discover it was lay waste by some sort of nuclear destruction. Weirdness abounded. The 13th tribe were Cylons, we now know that the last Cylon model was... Ellen Tigh? Starbuck really did die on Earth, yet she lives and breathes? The people who we discovered were Cylons are having memories of 2000 years in the past?

Most importantly about Galatica, Ronald D. Moore and Co. have been making it up as they go along.



After a 2-year absence, Jack Bauer's back! After questioning by Senator Clarence Boddicker, he's now working for the FBI. No wait, he's working for the immortal Methos. No, he's working with his former CTU cohort and current zombie, Soul Patch Tony Almeida. And to complicate matters, according to the episode description, next week, "Jack Bauer takes matters into his own hands."

You don't say?



Finally, the long-anticipated return of one of my favorite TV series of all time was tonight. Any series that's been around a while has its ups and downs, and Lost has certainly had its share of them. But tonight? Tonight, Lost regained all the excitement it had in the first episode and then some.

One thing I've complained about with a lot of shows, including Lost, is that at times they look down on the audience. You really can't blame the producers, it's one of those facts of life. How do you serialize something when people don't pay close enough attention to remember something that happened three years ago?

So they created "Previously on..." segments, but I've always viewed those as saying, "Look, we don't think you're intelligent enough to remember this, so here's a clip of it again." Unfortunately, in the process, they ruin the surprise that's coming up in the episode. The same thing happens with credit sequences, if you see certain actors or actresses in the opening credits, you know certain things will happen.

Tonight there was no "Previously on..." segment. I suppose you could argue that the repeat of the 3-hour finale last week, combined with the 1-hour special before the season premiere, was just an extended version. That may be true, but what happens if you watched just the premiere?

There were serious payoffs for longtime viewers. I didn't spend the time writing all of them down, but they were there. We didn't have to see a Previously on... segment to know the significance of the plane. The moment we saw it crash, we knew "when" Locke was. The compass that Richard gave to Locke, the same compass he was waiting for the child-Locke to pick so many years before. Hurley's father sitting down to watch Expose (somebody buy Cheech a Tivo). And let us not forget the dramatic return of Mrs. Hawking!

In the end, it was two extremely riveting hours. I'm seriously looking forward to the rest of the season.

Did I Mention My Workout?

Went to the gym today...

Warmup, 3 circuits, 30 seconds each exercise
* Jumping Jacks
* Split jacks
* Squats
* Lunges
* Mountain Climbers

Workout
* Elevated-heels High Bar Squat, 3x12x135lbs
* Weighted Back Extension, 3x12x25lbs
* Wide Grip Barbell Curl, 3x12x50lbs
* Incline Dumbell Triceps Extension, 2x12x(2x20lbs)

41 minutes, 265 calories burned

Then tonight after my extended 3-hour TV session:

100 Pushups, Week 3, Day 2(repeat): 20, 25, 15, 15, 30

Now I can happily go to bed. Tempo run tomorrow, and it's supposed to rain. Yippee! We need it, actually.

Today's Tweets

05:50 Wt: 167.8, RHR: 53 #

09:27 Would that be the magnificent mall of America? #

10:02 New Ad-Aware, "Ad-Aware Anniversary Edition" www.lavasoft.com/ #

10:03 Wow, I hope that kid they just interviewed doesn't run for President. Sheesh. #

10:03 (MSNBC) #

10:04 Dianne Feinstein: "Very distinctive signature." #

10:16 Strange, MSNBC was rock solid throughout the inauguration but now that other things are going on it's choppy. #

10:16 (the MSNBC stream) #

10:35 Fuji apples make the world go 'round. #

10:47 So will Barack Obama now be shooting hoops with secret service agents? #

10:47 Or will it be like the old beer commercials, Barack's friends say "Oh man he's changed, he's changed" then see a pool full of beer? #

11:24 My wooted backup Reebok HRM's arrived. Woot! #

12:05 Alright, time for me to run. Back after I cry. #

13:16 Back from my run: sprint intervals, 10min warmup, 12x400m, 10min cooldown #

15:00 Wow, I just combined the ravenous bugblatter beast of traal with the black beast of aaaagh and didn't even realize it until now. Cool. #

15:04 From what I understand the Forerunner 305 isn't very accurate for elevation, at least not like the other product lines (like etrex) #

15:08 Mapped 01/20/2009 Route (6.12 mi.) #

15:24 In and around the lake, mountains come out of the sky, and they stand there. #

15:25 Completed Sprint Intervals - 12x400m. 761 (kcal) Distance 6.12 mi. Duration 00:58:24 #

16:34 New Flickr upload: 1-20-2009 Intervals: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/7m96gs #

17:21 Guy @ combo cstore/quiznos wanted me to test fountain diet dew @ quiznos. Who am I to argue? #

17:21 On my way home w/bottled diet dew. #

20:37 YEAH!!! "Try and pick up that dumbell and push it up over your head!" #

20:47 PAH! The Turbo Tax Dead Presidents are creepier than the Burger King! #

20:47 ...but not as creepy as Zombie Orville Reddenbacher. #

20:58 I also don't expect REI to follow me back! #

21:04 New post on my blog: Sprint Intervals - 12x400m, 6.12 miles: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH! Sprint int.. tinyurl.com/9c2ujg #

21:06 I told him I was tired of that crap and he honestly didn't know why I was offended. #

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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Sprint Intervals - 12x400m, 6.12 miles

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!

Sprint intervals today. 10min warmup, 12x400m @ 7:22 (90sec easy rest), 10min cooldown. Here we go.



Interval 1: 1:46.65, 7:06/mi
Interval 2: 1:47.95, 7:12/mi
Interval 3: 1:44.83, 6:59/mi
Interval 4: 1:49.85, 7:19/mi
Interval 5: 1:52.70, 7:31/mi
Interval 6: 1:51.63, 7:26/mi
Interval 7: 2:01.36, 8:05/mi
Interval 8: 1:52.71, 7:31/mi
Interval 9: 1:54.19, 7:37/mi
Interval 10: 1:56.81, 7:47/mi
Interval 11: 1:53.31, 7:33/mi
Interval 12: 1:56.61, 7:46/mi

7:22 was the goal for the sprints. I didn't make the goal every time, but man, they were tough! 90 seconds wasn't near enough rest time between sprints, hehehe.

I did learn one lesson after the last time I did them though: I avoided running over the freeway altogether! I couldn't have been close to goal otherwise. When you're running for two minutes, stopping completely for 30 seconds is huge.

6.12 miles, 58:28.60, 9:33/mi average pace, 761 calories burned.

Today's Tweets

06:16 Wt: 168.8, RHR: 60 #

06:16 Rough weekend, I guess. :( #

09:09 anywya! #

09:09 Nobodywya! #

09:09 New HBO series: The Wya #

09:25 Dunno what I'd do without online support (twitter, blogs, messageboards) #

09:29 Rule #1: Before singing the national anthem, know the words. Rule #2: Don't walk onto hockey ice in heels. tinyurl.com/7kadz4 #

11:34 Trying to get finished with morning stuff so I can get to the gym. Now you watch, I'll go over there at 2. Mark my words. #

12:38 Sure, this protein shake tastes like vanilla. If you define "vanilla" as "taste bud stabbing". #

13:05 At the gym, an hour before I thought. Cool. :) #

14:17 Done at the gym, failed at 30 Day Shred Level 2. Prob was the headphone wires, I guess L2 is for home. :P #

16:33 MapMyFitness.com: Completed Weight Workout. 160 (kcal). 00:35:00 #

16:35 MapMyFitness.com: Completed 30 Day Shred. 76 (kcal). 00:8:30 #

16:36 OK time to gather my things and head home. #

16:37 This week on Nip/Tuck: sex, with a minute or two of surgery. #

16:50 Diet Dewwwwwwwwwwww. #

19:01 At Cub Scouts with my son. #

20:46 15 minutes to 24, woo! #

20:46 So spoiler alert, 15 minutes warning hehe #

21:29 "The FBI won't be here for 15 minutes? How do you know?" Jack Bauer's timed FBI responses for every city in the nation. Duh. #

21:36 First "dammit" of the evening, and not even spoken by Jack. Bloody shame. #

21:39 Is Fox showing the Pink Panther uncut? They showed a theatrical PG logo for it. #

21:48 ...and with his handy dandy Treo 755p, Methos pretends to use GPS when he's really viewing a static image. #

21:50 Fergie's computer holds her past? What, her crack dealer's cell phone number? #

22:05 Silent timer. This can't be good. #

22:08 The dammit-to-kill count doesn't look good. #

22:10 "Agent Red Hot. This only goes to show that Jack Bauer can kill you even when he doesn't try." - blogs.4bauer.com #

22:31 100 Pushups, Week 3, Day 3: 14, 18, 14, 14, 20. #

22:41 Watching Babylon 5, Season 5: "The Corps Is Mother, The Corps Is Father" #

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Monday, January 19, 2009

Today's Tweets

#

07:18 Wt: 167.8, RHR: 49 #

07:37 Official times for the 5k are online. I wasn't #6 for age group, I was #8, and #17 overall. #

08:43 At church, Diet Dew at the ready. #

09:18 I have a First Marathons book, there's a nun in there that started running in her habit in her 50s. #

12:18 That's like the population of the town I live, all running Rock & Roll Marathon Arizona. #

14:56 Starting my 10-mile long run. Joy! See ya soon... #

19:07 I'll blog on it later. #

19:08 There is a positive though, I burned 1200 calories. #

19:30 Nobody has Diet Dew anymore! The "dealers" are all bums! #

19:58 Driving at the moment. #

20:21 Home now. #

20:54 Mapped 01/18/2009 Route (10.01 mi.) #

21:05 Completed Long Run, Yuba City Bike Path. 1,200 (kcal) Distance 10.01 mi. Duration 01:49:14 #

21:34 New Flickr upload: 1-18-2009 Splits: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/8e6u77 #

22:04 New post on my blog: Long Run - 10 Miles: Question: do I suck, or don't I? I realize that's.. tinyurl.com/7p3bfb #

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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Long Run - 10 Miles

Question: do I suck, or don't I?

I realize that's a strange question to be asking at the beginning of a blog post, but follow me here. Today was my scheduled long run. Week 16 of the FIRST marathon training plan, a 10-miler, with a goal of 9:22/mi. I tried to keep closer to 9:00/mi, which I did for the first 4 miles or so.

When the bike path I was running on ended, I turned right and ran to the 5-mile point. As I turned around, I decided to walk back to the path, which turned out to be about 1/4 mile away.

As I reached the path, I just felt compelled to walk further. I ended up walking 1/2 mile total when I started running again. At the end of mile 6, I was still running slowly and ended up resting at mile 7 by walking another 1/4 mile.

I tried to pick up the pace beyond 9:00 and ended up running 8:30 for a while. In the end though, it was too little too late, and my average was 10:11.

So how about it? I finished 10 miles, and under normal circumstances I wouldn't be complaining about a 10:11 average. But here, I didn't come close to the goal, and I walked 3/4 of a mile. Do I suck?

Anyway, here's the map.



And here are the splits. The last part of the graph is actually 16 feet, according to the Garmin. Heh.



Mile 1: 9:10.73
Mile 2: 9:03.49
Mile 3: 9:01.04
Mile 4: 9:16.60
Mile 5: 9:29.61
Mile 6: 14:48
Mile 7: 9:53.05
Mile 8: 12:19.49
Mile 9: 9:12.99
Mile 10: 9:36.34

Total 1:41:53, 10:11/mi average, 1200 calories burned.

And that ends Week 3 of FIRST training. Tomorrow's the gym and 30 Day Shred.

Today's Tweets

04:47 Wt: 165.8, RHR: 50 #

05:21 Watching Banned From TV, getting ready to leave for my 5k. #

05:22 ack Band From TV, sorry :) #

07:22 Just got to where the Frost or Fog 5k is, they barely got here. I suppose it doesn't start for another 90 minutes. Heh. #

07:48 His, not hos. Haw. #

08:13 Alright, time to get off my encounter-suited butt & do something. Ditching the phone, see ya on the other side. #

09:51 5k: 25:13 (8:09/mi) Garmin, 25:01 on the clock. Official is forthcoming. #

10:04 What's up with this Knudsen Recharge? "All Natural Sports Drink", but only has 30mg sodium, 30mg potassium. #

10:07 They've brought out a printer, here we go. :) #

10:19 Hmm. Got a package of flax seed w/tamari organic rice cakes. #

10:36 Official: 25:16, #6 in my age group. Not under 25:00, but I'm happy with it. #

10:50 OK time for Diet Dew. #

11:08 Driving home now. It's an hour, whee! :) #

14:21 At IHOP, waiting for too much food. #

17:20 What made that 5k take so much out of me today? I've been dragging all day. #

17:50 Actually I do know why the 5k took it out of me, I didn't sleep well last night. I was sore from the 100 Pushup challenge! #

19:00 Mapped 01/17/2009 Route (3.10 mi.) #

19:05 Completed 2009 Frost or Fog 5k. Distance 3.10 mi. Duration 00:25:13 #

19:34 New Flickr upload: 1-17-2009 Splits: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/7wcbbv #

20:04 New Flickr upload: 2009 Frost or Fog 5k: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/8jhmlh #

21:33 New post on my blog: Freeze or Fog 5k & Quarter Marathon: Today was the Frost or Fog 5k/Quar.. tinyurl.com/8h555x #

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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Freeze or Fog 5k & Quarter Marathon

Today was the Frost or Fog 5k/Quarter Marathon in Chico, CA. It does make me wonder, why 1/4 Marathon? It seems like an odd distance to me. Why not 8k, or 10k?

I did the 5k. My PR for the 5k is 25:09, my goal was to break 25:00. I didn't, but I came close: 25:13. You can tell I was trying in the first mile, but the route was funky, getting down to one-runner width at times. They tried to keep us off the street, and in the process took us on some skinny trails.



You can tell how wacky it was from the Google Earth map (click for a larger version).



Mile 1: 7:53.01
Mile 2: 8:32.40
Mile 3: 8:10.64
0.1 Mi: :37.40 (6:34/mi)



Now if only I could have maintained that 6:34 for the whole run, I would have jammed! :)

In the end it all turned out ok. I was 8th in my age group, out of 12, and 17th place overall. Average pace was 8:09/mi. Official time was 25:16, which is pretty darn close to my Garmin's 25:13. Click here for a complete list of times, and here for age group. Interestingly, with me being #8 in 30-39, and #17 overall, 8 of the top 17 finishers were in my age group.

Afterwards, they had Knudsen Recharge as a sports drink. It didn't taste all that great, only had like 50mg of sodium, and 30mg of potassium. I would have preferred a Powerade Zero, but I left that at home.

They did make up for it for food though. They had fresh bagels, peanut butter (I don't do cream cheese), this apricot coffee cake that was DELICIOUS, and all sorts of rice chips. They also had organic rice cakes, which I got for my wife.

The organizers were very friendly and forthcoming with things. I watched them do the timing, which I hadn't seen before. They didn't use chips, they went with a system you runners are already familiar with. One person sat at a laptop clicking the lap button for each runner. People at the finish line were grabbing the tags off the bibs, which they put in the same order as the laps. Then they just input the bib numbers in the order they were stacked, and printed it up. Easy to get wrong, but they had times posted pretty quick.

All in all, it was a good morning. A little chilly at first, but certainly not anywhere near some of those lows in places like Chicago. By the time I was driving home, it was well into the 50s.

Tomorrow's my long run. 10 miles. I'll have to do it in the afternoon, which I really can't complain about. It's going to be a nice day.

Today's Tweets

05:45 Wt: 165.6, RHR: 51 #

07:59 Good morning, all. I'm at work. I'm sure you're glad. #

08:01 OH man, I just overheard the accountant tell Janitor that he needs a raise to make 3, no, 4 times what he makes now (cont) #

08:02 (cont) but when they give it to him, the catch is he'll have to stop asking if the checks are ready, and stop refusing to get direct deposit #

08:02 That made my morning, man. :) #

08:21 Frost or Fog 5k tomorrow! I'm angling for a PR, gotta get under 25 min. #

09:21 I need to reduce my tweets.93 Updates/Day: Tweets 36X more than the Twitter founders! 60% Conversation Chatty 8%. Yipes! Links Linked #

09:58 Testing out TweetDeck. Eh, not too bad. #

10:02 Well this is much nicer. Beats the webpage all to he-double-hockeysticks. #

10:16 On the lighter side of things, ladies, can you do this? SFW: tinyurl.com/9p6qrb #

10:24 Ooh, ooh, BSG's back tonight! Frakkin' ay. #

10:27 Hey look, Diet Dew! *gulp* #

10:35 Just got an email: new Dharma Special Access video, dharmaspecialaccess.com/, pass: bharosa #

12:14 At the gym, because it's Business Time. #

13:39 Back from the gym. HOO-WEE, was that good. Weight workout + 30 Day Shred Level 3 on the Treo. It worked out VERY well. #

13:40 250 calories in 20 minutes with 30 Day Shred! #

13:51 I love you too, evaporated. You're so much more colorful here than on TCF! #

13:51 Much more odorific, too. #

13:57 I wish users would figure out the term "multitasking" as it pertains to a computer. #

14:12 But I'm with you, we need more Lois. Preferably in a bikini, in slow motion, coming out of the water. #

14:21 What I said: "Unplug the cable from the wall." What he heard: "Unplug the cable from the computer." English, people! English! #

15:22 MapMyFitness.com: Completed 1/16/2009. 121 (kcal). 00:24:15 #

15:25 MapMyFitness.com: Completed 1/16/2009. 250 (kcal). 00:20:23 #

15:28 I wish MapMyFitness would post a link to the workout when it posted to twitter. Minor beef. #

16:13 I gotta say, I'm diggin' TweetDeck. I gotta get it installed at home. #

16:43 And with that, I just realized, it's time to head home. Narf. #

17:06 As I bought my Diet dew a guy in a Firefox t-shirt walked in. As got in the car a guy with a Transformers shirt walked out. #

19:20 back from eating dinner #

20:19 It's not a cool car that I drive, barely well but still alive, you might laugh when I arrive, it's not a cool car that I drive. #

20:20 It's now -24 haha #

20:20 It's not a cold couch where I sleep, 10 feet wide, 11 feet deep. Pray the lord, my soul to keep, it's not a cold couch where I sleep. #

20:24 well much anyway #

20:27 My wife's stopped making mashed potatoes, and has replaced them with mashed sweet potatoes. And I like it. #

20:28 Oh geez, I still have week 3, day 3 pushups to do. #

20:28 After the walking pushups in the 30 day shred, I dunno #

21:30 Well... 100 Pushup Challenge Week 3, Day 3 FAIL!!! 22, 30, 20, 20, 5... 3... I'm done. Does this mean I repeat Week 3 next week? #

21:43 That's it for me. I'm off to bed. Nite all. #

21:46 MapMyFitness.com: Completed 1/16/2009. 00:10:00 #

22:04 New post on my blog: Weight Workout + 30 Day Shred + 100 Pushup FAIL!: Gee, Wally. How can w.. tinyurl.com/85np83 #

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Friday, January 16, 2009

Weight Workout + 30 Day Shred + 100 Pushup FAIL!

Gee, Wally. How can we wear out Greg's arms?

Weight Workout
Today was gym day, so I did what was on schedule.

Warmup
* Overhead Squat
* Squat
* Good Morning
* Barbell Lunge
* Romanian Deadlift
* Bent-over Row

Workout
* Neutral-Grip Incline Press, 3x12x40lbs
* Chin-Up, 5,1,1
* Bent-Arm Lateral Raise & Rotation, 3x12x10lbs
* Swiss-Ball Side Flexion, 3x12

24 minutes, 121 calories burned.

Yup, you got it right. I did FIVE chinups in the first set, I was quite proud of myself. I was actually surprised at how strong I felt on the first one, so I knew I'd do well. This is the first time I've been able to do 5 of them since, well, the first goaround with this program about a year ago. When I came back to it I could only do one, so things are improving. I was also seeing definition in my shoulders while doing the raise & rotation, always a good sign.

30 Day Shred
So after the weight workout, I headed into the cardio room for the 30 Day Shred. I'd previewed the whole thing, and decided I'd just jump right on into Level 3.

My big question is, why the heck didn't Jillian Michaels have the DVD when I bought the book?!?!? I got such a better workout listening to her rather than stopping to look down at the book. A couple times I had to stop to look at it to see how to do an exercise, but most of the time that wasn't an issue. The times I had to look at the video were the times I wasn't bouncing around anyway, so it was cool.

A few of the exercises I wasn't able to do all of, mainly because of not being able to see the phone while doing them. I ended up having to fish it out of my pocket, look, and by the time I was able to do them, Jillian and her minions were finished. It's not that big a deal though, I know what to expect next time around.

Then of course there were the jump squats that I had to stop doing before she did. That just means I need to improve.

The biggest thing, however, is my heart rate and amount of sweat I tossed off. During the walking pushups, the sweat was DRIPPING off my head, onto the floor. Holy cow! Speaking of pushups, I was a tad nervous about them affecting my performance with tonight's pushups. More on that in a minute.

20 minutes, 250 calories burned! I burned as many calories as the same amount of time running. Not bad.

100 Pushup Challenge
Tonight was Week 3, Day 3 of the 100 Pushup Challenge. I didn't quite make the goal, so it looks like I get to repeat this week again. Not a big deal, considering I started on week 3. The sets were: 22, 30, 20, 20, 5... 3... I was done. I just couldn't crank out that final set of 28.

I do wonder if I hadn't been doing the walking pushups (about 10 of them? I wasn't counting, it was 30 seconds' worth) during the shred, if I would have been able to pull off tonight's.

What About Tomorrow?
Tomorrow morning is the Frost or Fog 5k/Quarter Marathon up in Chico, CA. I'll be doing the 5k at 9am. So it's off to bed in order to get plenty of sleep! My goal is to break 25 minutes.

Goodnight all, and if you're racing, good luck.

Today's Tweets

06:01 Wt: 165.8, RHR: 58 #

07:48 Finally made it to work. Patchy fog was horrible this morning. But I'm alive. :) #

10:48 I ripped my hiking boots to shreds last year. #

11:24 Sadly, "normal" sized items don't get on clearance. #

11:37 PB&J on whole wheat and a banana. NUTRITION! #

12:04 Today's a tempo run, 2mi warmup, 3mi tempo @ 8:22-8:37, 1 mi cooldown... Saturday's a 5k race. Should I do 5k pace for tempo? Hmm. #

13:37 New Flickr upload: Yahoo Fail: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: FAIL! tinyurl.com/7b5w98 #

14:56 Ah, if only it were so easy. Email I just got: Greg when spybot opens up and ask if we want to allow changes do we click yes or no? #

14:59 Now that I'm back from my tempo run, and reading @ britishbulldog's dailymile entry... I gotta get out earlier! Traffic screws me up. #

15:13 I ALMOST had 1/2c macaroni & cheese with my chicken. Instead, I had 2c of lettuce, a tbsp of HVRL dressing, and an apple. -50 calories. #

15:27 Mapped 01/15/2009 Route (6.24 mi.) #

15:33 Completed 1/15/2009. 758 (kcal) Distance 6.00 mi. Duration 00:55:17 #

17:23 Diet Dew: my ticket home. #

20:34 New Flickr upload: Eggy Tivoguy: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: Mmmm, Tivo's tasty. The ketch.. tinyurl.com/a8yyyj #

20:39 Just finished watching Smallville. Someone give Clark a cape already. #

21:18 We go to the Avenue of Giants almost every year (we missed last year) at Memorial Day, which is my daughter's birthday. #

21:19 It'll be a little earlier this year. :) #

21:23 I love the fact that the gangs on The Shield are also on Sons of Anarchy. #

22:46 Watching: Babylon 5, Season 5, "Phoenix Rising" #

22:50 MapMyRun.com: Completed 100 Pushups: Week 3, Day 2. 50 (kcal). 00:08:00 #

23:04 New Flickr upload: 1-15-2009 Splits: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: tinyurl.com/995q3k #

23:04 New post on my blog: Tempo Run - 6.23 miles: I let time get away from me last night and didn.. tinyurl.com/8k2b3s #

23:04 OK, time for bed. Goodnight, tweeps. #

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Thursday, January 15, 2009

Tempo Run - 6.23 miles

I let time get away from me last night and didn't post a real blog entry, so I'll discuss it a bit here.

I was supposed to go to the gym yesterday, and had every intention of doing so. My stomach was starting to feel funky, but I drank the protein shake anyway. Before going to the gym, I went to use the restroom before going, when it hit: diarhea. By the time it had passed, my window for going to the gym had as well.

By the time I was able to make up for it on the stairclimber, I was too tired to do it. I had tried to rewatch last year's season finale of Lost, but was falling asleep during it! So I finally gave up. I didn't want to abandon exercise entirely, still had some pushups to do, so... Week 3, Day 2... 20, 25, 15, 15, 25. I was then able to go to sleep in peace. :)

Today was different. The schedule showed 2 miles easy, 3 miles tempo @ 8:22-8:37, 1 mile easy.

The two easy miles were exactly that, easy. In fact, my heart rate was in the mid 140's while I was maintaining a decent pace of around 9:00.

Mile 3 is when the pace was supposed to be kicked up, and it was going great. About 1/3 of the way in, an ambulance started going by, and the cars pulled over. I kept going, since I was on the sidewalk. I didn't think too much about it until I got to the freeway exit, which I needed to cross to keep going. The ambulance had long since passed by then, and as I approached, so did the cars. I ended up having to stop for about 20 seconds, waiting for the cars to pass! I ran faster in order to make up the time, and even found myself at around 8:00/mi on the way up the freeway overpass.

In mile 5, something similar happened. I had to stop for the cars to pass, which kept coming and coming. It was 15 or 20 seconds before I could cross the street to head over the freeway again. Once again, I picked up the pace, but all this extra sprinting really took it out of me and I was less than successful.

But that's ok, it was the traffic's fault, and dangit, that's who I'm gonna blame.





Splits
Mile 1: 8:57.34
Mile 2: 8:59.34
Mile 3: 8:45.06 (tempo, stinkin' traffic)
Mile 4: 8:24.95 (tempo)
Mile 5: 8:50.56 (tempo, more traffic)
Mile 6: 11:20.06
.23 Mi: 5:03.09 (walking)

Total: 1:00.20, 6.23 miles, 758 calories burned

Tomorrow's the gym, and THIS time my stomach shouldn't give me any grief.

Here's something else cool. I picked up Jillian Michaels' "30 Day Shred" last week, and finally got around to ripping the DVD and making mpegs. Why?

So I could put it into my Treo to take to the gym, of course!


My plan is to do the 30 Day Shred in the gym after my weight workouts. We'll see how it goes, I'm still not sure how that little bitty screen will work when trying to exercise.

Today's Tweets

05:53 Wt: 166.4, RHR: 56 #

10:48 Just remember everyone, today is Talk Like Jack Bauer Day, dammit! #

10:50 GAH!!! Patrick McGoohan died?!?!?!?! :( Sad day. #

10:50 RE: Patrick McGoohan: he is no longer a number, he is a free man. #

10:59 Talk Like Jack Bauer Day: tinyurl.com/9kjnfz #

11:13 Ripping 30 Day Shred to put into my Treo. #

11:14 I have a feeling it'll be a late gym visit again today. That's ok, that just means the afternoon goes faster. #

11:15 Huh. When DVD Decrypter's done doing its thing, it plays Dora the Explorer music. :) #

12:54 Chloe! What do you mean, it's JAMMED! Unjam it! Open a socket if you have to! #

12:57 RE my earlier tweet: that's what she said. #

13:44 RIP KHAAAAAAAAAAN! tinyurl.com/7hnofz #

14:46 DANGIT, I can't go to the gym. This afternoon my stomach's alllllll messed up. Touch of the poopies. #

15:30 I'd say about 100% of the time you don't need the watch. I just enjoy having something informational to look at, it passes the time. #

16:11 I haven't tweeted about it today, but I've been battling computer infection (spyware, malware, virus, trojan, who knows) for two days. #

16:27 I may not have gone to the gym today, but at least I got the 30 Day Shred onto my Treo. #

16:30 I can't get to sleep. I think about the implications of diving in too deep, and possibly the complications. #

16:32 Tonight I'll make up for the lack of activity by doing an hour on the stairmaster, possibly a 30 day shred session as well. #

16:32 Ghosts appear and fade away. #

17:12 You may not be aware of this, but Diet Dew is in my hand. Right now. #

18:13 THAT is one reason to love Twitter. #

21:08 I'm back! Now watching last year's Lost finale. God I've missed this show. #

21:08 More than 24. :) #

22:04 New Flickr upload: 30 Day Shred on Treo 755p: Gregoriopolis posted a photo: I ripped Jillian.. tinyurl.com/8j8n2c #

22:28 Was falling asleep watching last year's Lost finale. Definitely no cardio tonight! But there's still one thing I had to do before bed: #

22:29 100 pushup plan: Week 3, Day 2... 20, 25, 15, 15, 25. BARELY 25. Actually, I paused for two seconds at 22, then did the last three. #

22:41 Nite all, see you tomorrow. #

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