TGIF

I don't often look forward to the end of the week. I usually fell Friday as valid and energized as Tuesday (no one truly looks to Monday with eager anticipation). Today however I am ready for the weekend to begin. Something about that first week of jumping into an exercise and fitness plan.  Eagerly awaiting physical changes, anxious about the impending sore muscles and stiffness.

While I am pleased with the progress made this week I wonder ... about every thing that will come along and attempt to side track me. My motivation and purpose is simply me.
I want to succeed:
I want to run a half marathon.
I want to lose 40 pounds and
I want to lower my cholesterol.
Feeling fit and being able to bend over,
to tie my shoes without discomfort.
Moving gliding and travelling distances
on foot, enjoying every step.
To see my daughter and eventually
play with grandchildren when the time arrives.
Make love to my wife with being embarrassed
by my spare tire and love handles.

Today was weight lifting partially disrupted by a personal matter that was resolved.

TGIF and TGI over.

Moving isn't always as easy as it seems.

I honestly had difficulty today trying to remember what day of the week it was. Taking a day off yesterday was a good idea. Woke up and spent much of the day a little stiff and sore in the joints. Regardless of that I got out and ran (you say jogging I say tomatoes) this afternoon for four miles, felt pretty good at the end. Then played nine holes of indoor golf with my partner.

Now I need to start focusing on what I am putting into my body. Had a few beers last night and right now I don't think it was such a good idea. Otherwise I have been working on cutting out the fried foods (making solid progress), easing off the bagels for breakfast when I am too lazy to eat a proper breakfast and watching those snacks especially at night.

Looks like we are dodging the snow storm that all week long we have been informed that it would be measurable. Now it is a two day event totalling 2 - 5 inches.

I am going to make it to Friday. Short but direct ... I got out the door and ran today!

Paying attention and feeling guilty

I'm still here so I didn't hit the 355 million dollar lottery jackpot last night.

Yesterday's workout left me sore today, with a muscle pull in my upper back. Rested, by that I mean I did several errands I have been putting off and one I needed to get done today. Overall I am already starting to feel better and adjusting to the exercise. Funny even though I know my body was telling me that I needed to rest today I feel a bit guilty. I'm glad I do, but it's nearly bedtime and now it hits the hardest.

My energy and ability to focus has started to rebound. I was actually able to focus on a task this evening - creating a final exam for my students (I know they'll be happy that). My energy during the day is better and I honestly feel rejuvenated already. Back of my mind has half marathon, front has a caution sign flashing.

Tomorrow is a 5K plus run, and some indoor golf a little . I am so looking forward to the run.

So it hurts a little .. go or stay home?

Read a book titled The Long Run about Matt Long, a former firefighter from New York. He survived 9/11.  Would you believe me if I told you that was the easy part? A couple of years later he was run over by a charter bus while riding his bicycle to work during a transit strike in New York City. The bike he was riding was embedded in him under the bus.

My heel hurts. While I do not advocate ignoring pain, I do advise against wimping out. Though I have a heel spur, the podiatrists I visited didn't appear concerned. One told me that most people have a heel spur and that it is nothing to be concerned about, the pain I was felling was actually plantar faciitis. My heel hurts all the time, still I wonder. After all they practice medicine, they don't play.

Today a trial of riding a stationary bike, lifting and running today. Overall a pretty good workout.

These past couple of nights I have slept better than I have in a while. Good.
My concern is getting the stomach acid in check, I know that as the fat around my mid-section increases my gastric distress increases. Hoping this doesn't last much longer.

Me time

5K. Ran outdoors to spend a little time clearing my head. My computer screen is blank again so it is time to send it into the shop again. Second time in a month. Got home and found some sort of charge on my phone that I had to dispute with my service provider. I had to get a little belligerent but I did get it removed form my bill. The rep told me her supervisor was busy but would call be back in 24 - 48 hours if I would give her my phone number, I told the rep I would wait on the line. Why would the phone company that uses my phone number as an account number need me to give them my phone number so they could call me back? Two more attempts to get me to hang up failed and then they agreed to remove the charge.

I got dressed and out the door. By the end of the run I was refreshed and ready to continue with the afternoon. Sometimes it's the me time that I enjoy the most. Time alone with my music and my thoughts that allow me to reflect on the day's events and clear my mind so I can move into the things to yet come.

Today things are a little out of sorts as I am a bit tired. But feeling better overall.

off the couch and moving

Day of rest and preparation.

I have been looking into several programs to follow in this quest to get my weight under control. One suggestion in nearly all is that I take one day a week as a "day off." A day I do not have to focus on keeping everything in check. In the past when I worked on using these couple of programs, I found it very helpful and actually not wanting to"go hog wild" all day long.

While I take today off, and I usually plan it around days my team has a game, I nap, snack and recuperate from the week's work. Today however I am searching for a plan to incorporate weight lifting into my regiment. Understanding weight lifting plans and the jargon is a bit like trying to comprehend Klingon: sets, reps, max weight.

I fear this part as I don;t like those first day lifting when It causes muscle soreness and aches. I am telling myself that I will be easing myself into these workouts, much the same way I am gradually going to be increasing my running time and distance.

To compensate ie: get out the door, am cleaning part of the house. This is bigger than it sounds and I am usually not allowed to clean several areas around the house. It appears that I don't clean deeply enough ... two possible causes first I'm guy and I don't like to clean messes I didn't make, secondly I don't clean very well (this may or may not be intentional).

Tomorrow it is back to work and stopping at the gym on the way home.

Good luck getting out the door!

What great day!

I was riding home yesterday from doing some errands and Nickleback's song "If Today Were Your Last Day" came on. Of course with it being New Year's Eve it fit perfectly with my thinking about the impending year. What is it about our mortality and the "new year" that causes us to care?  Shouldn't it be on our birthday that we reflect and recommit ourselves to what ever it is we resolve to quit on in the upcoming months. I don't see very many people returning to the gym in February as I do the middle three week in January.

What if today were my last day? Narrowed down and twisted a little to create a focus, what if the last day were caused by a lack of physical fitness?

"Gee Peter these gates are more pearly than I could have ever imagined?"

"Thank you Arthur we work hard on keeping the image here clean and tidy, OK then let me look this up, you are by way of a heart attack brought on by a cholesterol block caused by a diet rich in deep fried food, with no exercise to speak of in ... Oh my, quite a long time!"

"Yeah that sounds right, but here I am none the less. do I qualify for entry or am I off to the sweat lodge down stairs?"

He looks carefully at my file and reads my record. A few grunts, some chuckles"Oh no you didn't!" turns the last page of my heavenly file and gives me the final verdict, "You got  it, but there is a little glitch you will need to rectify first. You see there is a clause in our agreement that you will take care of you body. Since you haven't completed that part you will need to meet these requirements before passing through the gates and into eternal bliss."

I am a little concerned as he hands over a sheet of paper with :
12% or less
2-4 pound a week maximum
handwritten on it.

"Mr. Peter sir what does this mean?" I am a little confused. He informed my that I would need to lose some the fat I decided to store on my body and I would have to do it losing no more than 2-4 pounds a week until i reached 12% body fat or less before I could enter. "So I just sit here outside the gates watching everyone come through until I make that goal?" At this point I am pretty anxious about getting started on heavenly pleasures.

"No that would be cruel, you will be placed in an environment that you are more accustomed to, a setting just like you left, until you meet your goal, you have an eternity to get it done, just like you believed on Earth. Only now you really do have eternity to get it done. You can put it off until tomorrow forever."

"Purgatory?" I question.

January 1, 2011  I am 5'10" tall and currently weigh 223 pounds. My cholesterol generally matches my weight. No really it does freak me out a bit. I have enjoyed beer and fried foods, very much this past couple of years probably to excess.

I have an account on MapMyRun.com and will be using a log to document eating habits and exercise patterns.

My lovely wife has signed us up for our first 5K on March 13.

Today I got out the door and ran 2.8 miles.