The Chances

How a 250+ Pound Couch Potato Got Healthy

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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