Weekend Update

Jan 252010

Besides moving at an extremely slow pace, I actually feel pretty good for a Monday.  I don’t know if it was the 45 minute ARC Trainer workout this morning, or the lukewarm shower that followed, but today seems like its going to be be okay.

Here is a quick rundown of my weekend, in bullet form (ala Jessie).

  • Saturday and Sunday workouts kinda rocked.  Saturday workout consisted of an 8.7 mile walk on Saturday, which I did while wearing a 25 pound weighted vest and 5 pound ankle weights.  In hindsight this was probably a very bad idea (thanks David for the heads up!).  There are many good ways to get more out of walk, weighing yourself down really isn’t one of them.  Sunday workout consisted of a 5.6 miles walk (to one of the office gyms and back).  While I was at the gym I completed 60 minutes on the ARC Trainer and 30 minutes on the exercise bike. WooT!
  • I finally realized that I really REALLY should get new shoes.  I love my current shoes (Nike Reax), but I looked at the soles of them and realized that I had worn away a large portion of the tread.  I still have some money left over from paying bills so I’m going to try to head to a running store tonight or tomorrow to see what I can do.  I put these shoes through alot, and I wore them as regular shoes alot too, so I guess it was their time.

 

  • I watched a ton of CRAP on TV.  After working out on Saturday and Sunday mornings I didn’t feel like doing much else, so a large chunk of Saturday was devoted to a bunch of crap movies on Lifetime (the majority of which involved Teen Pregnancy, culminating the “World Premier Event” of the Pregnancy Pact), while a large portion of Sunday evening was devoted to Chowdown Countdown on the Travel Channel.
  • I made it to World 6 in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and made it past the first castle.  The fact that you can only save your game after the castles is really pissing me off too.
  • I took part in an event on Twitter that I believe is now being called Big Love.  It was between myself, MrsFatass, Nomorebacon, and Slimmin’ Sam.  I don’t really know to describe it, but you can scroll through my twitter page if you are truly curious.  You can also follow me while you’re at it, cuz that’d rock!

That’s pretty much it as far as the weekend went.  I have at least one more workout today to help ensure a nice weigh in tomorrow, and then probably some more crap TV tonight. WooT!

Happy Monday, everyone!  How was your weekend?

Challenges Update #3

Jan 222010

Round three of my Challenges Updates!  How are you all doing with your goals in the new year?

NEW YEAR CHALLENGES

New Year 100 Mile Running Challenge
-I am in 4th place with 59.34 miles. As of this writing I am neck and neck with Karyn, who has logged 59.95 miles.  Kickass, right?  We have a little less than a week and half left, and I’m still confident that I can finish this thing, and hopefully soon.  Weather permitting, I want to log some long walk/runs this weekend, so we’ll see :)

New Year 500 Mile Biking Challenge
-God, I am sucking at this challenge.  I am totally ready and willing to admit that I tried to take on too much at one time.  I have only logged 79.47 miles, but I want to at least get 100 miles in before the challenge ends.  Totally need to give a shout out to Alex though, 341.02 miles?  SCHAWEET!

PERFECT 10 CHALLENGE

And here is my Perfect 10 update for the week:

  • Lose at least 15 pounds (starting weight 245 pounds)–WooT! I am down 7.2 pounds, and super excited to finally be making some progress!  Maybe I’ll even lose MORE than 15 pounds :)
  • Run/walk/jog 200 miles–59.34 miles down, which means I logged a little over 25 miles since last week, AND, I’m over a quarter of the way done.  I can accept that :)
  • Strength train at least twice a week–FAIL!  It is very nice to know that I’m not alone in my feelings about strength traning, but I did still manage to get one upper body routine in.  This is something I definitely need to work on.
  • Run a 5k road race–Done, and done. I am now preparing myself for another race though, The Bear Run 4-Miler. WooT!
  • Finish at least one of this semesters college courses–Uhh…not yet, but I did some work done for the class.  With my current plan I have until mid-march, but I really want to finish it up sooner.
  • Beat Super Mario Brothers Wii–I haven’t really played since last week, so I’m still only past the first castle of World 5.  Lava has been replaced by some pinkish purple goo in this world, but it kills you just as well. WTF.

    •  

    Steve is also asking we post something that noone knows about us, so here goes:  This isn’t my first attempt at blogging, but has been the most successful by far.  Back in the day I jumped on the bandwagon with a bunch of friends and had my own blogger and livejournal blogs.  I found them not too long ago, and I couldn’t believe they were even still online.  Reading them, I realized I was a very whiny 20-21 year old, but I also realized that I had some pretty big ambitions back then.  If I stayed on the same track I was on when I wrote those blogs, I would probably be finishing law school right now.  Where am I now?  Struggling to get my bachelors degree. UGH!  Luckily I still have time to turn all of this around, and 4-5 years from now I plan to be in a MUCH better place :)

    HABIT.A.WEEK CHALLENGE

    Lyn from Escape from Obesity is hosting a Habit.A.Week Challenge. The goal is easy enough, to make a small change each work in order to live a healthier lifestyle.  The “habit” for this week was to eat more vegetables…

    …and I’m proud to say that I have been ROCKING THIS!  Most of my snacks this week have consisted of apples and oranges, I’ve had salads for lunch, and I’m made sure I had at least one vegetable side for dinner.  WooT!  Unfortunately, there is still plenty of processed food in my diet though, so I have some work to do, as usual…

    And…that’s it!

    TGIF and have a great weekend!

    Strength training sucks.

    Jan 212010

    You know those things that you should be doing, that you know are good for you, but that you really don’t want to do?  For some people, its quitting smoking or drinking, for others, its going on a diet.

    For me, its strength training.  My thoughts on the subject can basically be summed up in one word: UGH.

    I know it is important, and there really are a slew of benefits to it.  I know building muscle is important, and the like the idea of losing the fat and being greeted with a nice toned body, but still: UGH.

    About as much fun as getting my ass kicked in Super Mario Wii (aka. UGH)

     

    For me, strength training is boring and repetitive.  Also, despite all of the benefits, I can not shake the idea in my head that its a waste of time.  I feel like I can accomplish alot more, and burn alot more calories, if I spend that time on the ARC Trainer, or spend that time running, walking, whatever.  I also don’t ever feel like I accomplish anything doing it, when I was lifting some (some probably being a key word there, in hindsight) I never felt like I was getting to a point where I could add weights or reps, so I never felt I was getting stronger or getting anything to show for it.

    I know it’s silly, but I have no issue problem spending a couple hours at a time on walk, or on the ARC trainer, yet I cringe at the idea of spending 20-30 minutes lifting weights.  I was doing really good and doing a routine 3 times a week for a while, but I always hated those days, and one day I just slipped and its been almost all cardio since.

    Regardless, I have to do it, especially if I want the kind of results I am hoping for.  Thats one of the reasons why I made strength training one of my Perfect 10 Challenge goals, why I’m preparing myself for the 100 Pushup Challenge (and maybe the 200 Squats Challenge, which I just found out existed thanks to Andrew), and why I will be doing some strength training during my lunch workout today.

     Who knows…I used to loath the idea of running too, and I’ve fallen in love with that, maybe Strength Training will grow on me too.  In the meantime, UGH!

     How do you all feel about strength training?  Is there any other workout that you have to force yourself to do?

    Hope everyone is having a good day.  The weekend is almost here. WooT.

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