Archive for December, 2004
Post-pourri
Today, I was Santa for 60+ kids, ages 1-6 (mostly 2-3). It was interesting. First off, the suit was way too big. I had to wear a vest under it, and even then, I had to tuck the extra fabric under me while I was in the seat.
Several percent of the kids screamed/wept/ran in fear. A small percent were willing to sit *near* Santa, or have Mom sit on Santa, and they sat on Mom. A very micro percent were Santa FIENDS, and they kept coming back for more and more.
One kid asked for Slimecano. One kid wanted the power ranger with the big blade. He kept explaining the blade to me. And then making slashing actions with his arm. Twin boys both said, “Well, I broke my digger.” “Well, he broke our digger.” And so, I extrapolated that maybe they wanted a digger.
When they didn’t know what they wanted, I’d say helpful things like, “How about a pony?” And their parents would start bugging out, making slashing actions across their throat, as if to say, “Ix-nay on the ony-pay.” So, I’d say, “How about a toy train set? Or maybe a new little brother or sister?” Some people have no sense of humor.
I did a home workout this morning, as the kid is still getting over her sickness, so my sleep has been a battered commodity. But hey, I read this book recently that got me jumpstarted on my weight loss efforts. I liked his thought process on most of it.
This guy used to be a big fat guy, and an all around wreck. He put his life in order, and then decided to overachieve. He’s run a pile of ultramarathons, including doing the Badwater twice. He also did the Grand Slam (4 100 mile ultras in one season), and then decided to beat up the old Guinness Book record for World’s Fittest Man. Sure, why not? So, I found his book interesting.
What I ended up doing with the book was just deciding to follow the fitness and nutrition parts for the next four weeks. Fairly blindly. I’m going to do more fitness than he’s got scheduled, but I’ll follow the menu items pretty darned close. I’ll let you know if it works at all. : )
So, what’s on the horizon for this week?
A-ha
It appears that by adding Haloscan, I blow out the blogger comments already in there. Whoops.
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Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.
Recovery and Listening
I learned a great lesson this week. Progress doesn’t have to stop with injury. It just requires that you shift the front you’re attacking.
Wednesday morning, my back twanged really bad while in the middle of a deadlift. Just before the injury, I was saying to myself, “My back feels rounded. I think it should be arched–ow!” And then I had to stop working out.
Yesterday, I could feel the burning area where the lats had torn *and* this new lower back twang. I also felt soreness in my left triceps area, and a few other random spots. So, I listened to my body.
I did nothing at the gym today. I did nothing yesterday. I did 1/2 what I set out to do Wednesday. Instead, I’m all for recovery right now. I’m giving my body the opportunity to rebuild. I also upped my protein intake (not that I’m usually light on it), to make sure my body had the right materials to build back muscle.
It’s obvious that I hit things a little too hard. That’s not a big issue, because I’ll just recover and set back to work. That said, I’m glad this all happened now, and not around the time of my marathon.
I’ll just go forward, adjusting some of my efforts, and make sure that I’m allowing for proper recovery between workouts. I think this comes out of trying the fitness test I wrote about weeks ago, and then trying to fix everything rapidly. Just like running, it’s slow and steady progress that brings us to our success.
I’m still feeling powerful and mighty. I’ll hit things Monday with a renewed vigor. Until then, I’ve been focusing on my mental struggles, my challenges with eating of late, and hitting whatever fronts I can hit while waiting for the muscles to recover.
That’s the great part. You don’t have to stop training when you’re injured. You don’t have to shut down all efforts to move forward. Just shift. Move your efforts away from what you can’t do, and hit what you can.
Another Thing
If anyone wants to blow $300 on me, doesn’t this just look TOO fun?
Power
I was browsing a book yesterday about a power workout, by a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu master named Gracie.
I’ve read his stuff in the past, and think his martial art is downright amazing. If I had the discipline, the money, and the several extra hours to throw into my week, I’d probably want to learn this martial art over any other. But whatever. This is about power.
The workout in his book was SO dynamic, and focused heavily on functional power. I mean, this guy needs a lot of power to be able to throw people around, fight while on the ground, and whatever else he does. (Having absolutely no ability to speak intelligently on Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, I’ll let you form your own visual image of what they do).
I like that. I’m big on functional strength. That’s what I liked about Core Performance
, by Verstegen. That’s what I like about parts of the lifting I’m doing now. I just get the feeling that I’m building muscle for a purpose, and not for chrome.
Kat and I were talking about that this morning. She was mentioning that she’d started doing some specific exercises when she noticed something shifting in her daily power. I think that’s at the heart of all this effort. I mean, why work out if you’re not sure what you’re going to do with your body?
But there’s a rub, too, right? If you’re training for multisports, you’re likely having to find some happy mediums, right? There are books about it, I notice.
But what if you’re training to be a superhero? Military training is the closest I can imagine. What’s anyone else’s thought?
Are You Fit?
Outside Magazine’s latest issue has a little quiz to see if you’re fit. I can’t do at least two of these categories, so I’m not fit, according to these standards. But wow. Something to point towards.
Chest Do push-ups on a stability ball, feet on the floor. Do 3 sets of 20. If you’ve never done these, they’re killers.
Shoulders/Back Do 3 sets of 5 pullups with 10% of your bodyweight strapped onto you. I can’t do 1 regular pullup, unweighted, yet.
Arms Curl 1/2 your body weight with a barbell using both arms, one rep. I can do this one.
Abs Do 3 sets of planks, 30 seconds each time. Easy cheesy.
Quads Do a two-legged standing broad jump. You should be able to clear 120% of your height in distance. (You get that, right?) I have no idea. Not one for hopping.
Ankles and Calves Stand on one leg, holding the other foot against your knee, and get up onto your toes. Stay up there for 50 seconds. Ditto. No clue.
Forearms Take a 45 pound plate and hold it by your side with just your fingers for 25 seconds. I want to try this one.
These are all fairly neato measures, eh? They are mostly functional, too, to what someone might do outside or during a sport of some kind. Think mountain climbing, maybe.
(See how this all fits into the idea of wanting to be Batman, or Jason Bourne?)
Facing 2005
What are your goals for 2005?
When you look back on 2004, are there moments that define how far you’ve come?
If you were to write a completely egotistical holiday letter, what would you put in there for “brags?”
Well Then
Friday was an all day offsite “fun” day with the team. I enjoyed it. We did bowling, both candlepin and tenpin. (Which I still have to call “big ball” and “little ball,” much to the chagrin of the employees of Lanes & Games.) I ended up with the top tenpin score of the day, 134. (Shows you how non-pro we all were, but one guy even had his own ball). It was fun, and man, you can burn a few calories and tweak butt muscles throwing those balls around.
The weekend was nice. I worked three hours at my favorite little independent bookstore, where I am now a guerilla bookseller. I’m not paid, but instead receive free books in return for my ability to convince people to drop $150 on gifts they otherwise might not have purchased. I *love* this job more than any, because it mixes my passion for reading with my interest in pushing my opinion on other people.
On Sunday, my folks took the family to see Jordan’s Furniture’s new Beantown store. This was a weird experience. First off, the Jelly Belly people have all kinds of jelly bean sculptures in there. Second, there’s a giant muppet-like Green Monster, eating a New York Yankee. Third, there’s something called Liquid Fireworks, which is a huge exhibition of fountains that dance, change colours, and do all kinds of rocking things to music. Oh, did I mention there’s a trapeze school? I’m not kidding. This big-ass trapeze thing, just like at a circus, only you can pay $10 to go and get a lesson and try it. Holy crud. Little kids were scaring the pants off me trying this out. I’d consider it, but evidently, I’d have to drop 38 pounds to qualify. What a motivator.
Today, the gym was a little rough. I pulled muscles in my lats along my left hand side. What a youch. Felt like fire. So, I had to baby everything to do with my back muscles, but was able to hit everything else with power and fury.
I’m really hitting my program hard. I’m also trying to convince myself that weight loss is important (as for whatever reason, my motivation seems a little flagging in that specific department). The results are showing visually, and I’m stronger than I’ve been in ages (would be the best, but for my powerlifting days, when I’d lift obnoxious amounts of weight).
Running? I’m still doing that, but low mileage. I’m focusing on speed, and calorie burning. BUT… the latest issue of Trail Runner came, and I’ve got at least five races picked out for 2005 now.
Has anyone done marathon distance two months in a row before?
Glad to read everyone’s blogs. I didn’t respond as much as I’d like, but I checked in with everyone.
Checking In With Coach
When I decided to fire my Inner Critic, I decided I needed to replace him with an Inner Coach. This is definitely a task that requires constant attention and feeding. Lately, my Inner Critic has been poking around, asking if his old job is available. Today, I gave him another dose of “You’re fired.”
So, I’ve spent a lot of the day (in between work chores) talking with the Coach. I asked him if he was still proud of my work. Of course, he replied. I asked him if I’m moving in the right direction. Yes, of course, but you have to stay vigilant. I agreed. I talked with him about needing some kind of external reminder that I’m still balls deep in the challenge. He agreed. I wrote something up to remind me of such things. Just a little list of phrases (in order) that should be the mental process I use for determining how my days will be spent.
Where I’ve been slipping, I’m addressing it flat out. I can’t do half measures of things, that’s for sure. Today has been much better. My spirits have been a little weak of late, but spending time looking inward, even if it’s at work, is always the solution.
The most important part of my journey since August 2003 has been learning that none of the rest of it matters if I don’t work on my self-esteem and the core issues that brought everything upon me in the first place. I believe people cannot have SUSTAINABLE success with fitness, weight loss, or anything in life, if they don’t address the roots of what they intend to change.
Thanks, Coach. Missed you for a little while, there.
