Sick and Tired of the Cold

I am just sick and tired of the cold.  At least the last two mornings I have been able to watch the sun come up over the Potomac as I drove to work.  That means it is not cloudy and the days are getting longer.   Spring has to come sooner or later—I am hoping on sooner. 

Saturday and Sunday I donned my Army suit for the first time since returning from Afghanistan and it was back to the one weekend a month thing.  It has been nice to be off, but I can’t complain about the additional cash.  Plus it was good to see all the folks I haven’t seen since we got back.  The down side is not really any time to get in a workout. 

I did not work out  Monday morning.  I just did the weigh for our Family and Friends Biggest Loser.  I was not pleased, but I had a fair amount of alcohol and really bad food as I watched the game.  I was only down half a pound.  Whoops.  So Monday after work (the weather was fairly nice) I hit the road for a painful 4 miles.  The first half of the run I could not get loose nor really work up a good sweat.  According to my training plan I was only suppose to run 3 miles.  Since I am still learning all the side streets in the new neighborhood (yes I did Map My Run, but..) I took a wrong turn and ended up doing 4 miles.  The second half was much better than the first half, so I will categorize it as a good thing. 

Tuesday morning I was up and hopped on the trainer for a 10mile spin.  In the new house I have my own office/workout room.    I love it.  I mounted a TV on the wall so I can watch TV, a DVD, or stream Netflix.  I will have to get pictures up soon.   Tuesday afternoon I did an ab workout.  This morning, it was effing cold so I opted to do another ride instead of a run.  For entertainment during the ride I streamed an old George Carlin HBO Special, “Doin’ It Again”.  I forgot how funny that man is. 

This afternoon I am scheduled for some speed work in the pool.  I hate sprints. 

Now off to earn a living.

How to ruin a marriage and I don’t mean mine!!

This morning after I was done stretching and doing an ab workout I came across this very interesting article, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703439504576116083514534672.html, and was truly fascinated by it. Initially, I was fascinated by the author’s view point on the Waxmans. My initial though on the article is what is the author’s bias? There appears to be some major gaps in the writing. If he gets up early and works out, so what if she wakes alone. He is the one getting up earlier. Either the author has a bias against endurance athletes or athlete in general (was he the band or a nerd and mocked by the jocks) or was Mr. Waxman really that big of a selfish pig. Then I started reading the reader comments.

I was amazed at how many people think that training for a triathlon, specifically Sprint or Oly, all that crazy. The ones that really stood out to me were the women complaining about their husbands training. What is wrong with someone (male or female) deciding to push themselves and tackling a new challenge? What is wrong with getting off the couch and shedding that belly fat (I know I need to)? As I continued to read the comments I was struck by 1) the number of women (who don’t appear to work out) complaining, 2) the number of men who whined in general (I make the impolite assumption they were just fat and miserable, 3) the number of ladies who praised their husbands for being supportive, and 4) the number of men who complimented their wives/girlfriends for working out and looking good.

Anything in moderation is usually a good thing. Addiction to something, even exercise when it affects your relationships, falls into the Lazy Triathlete’s category of “BAD”. But who decides that it has been become a problem? How much is too much? Seven hours a week? Ten hours? Fifteen? 7-9 hours a week is not really excessive if you do you the math. One hour a day for 4 days a week and then 90 minutes on Saturday and Sunday gives you seven hours of working out. I realize you have prep and travel time which adds another hour or two. However, that appears to me to be a small price to pay to push yourself and accomplish something, make yourself healthier, and to look and feel better.

Please take some time and read the article and let me know what you think.

This afternoon I went for my first run on my training plan. It was suppose to be an easy 30 minute run. Well it was a SLOW one. After riding 30 minutes and swimming 30 minutes the last two days, my legs were rather heavy and the run was slow. But I did about 3 miles in those 30 minutes after work. My resolution is to follow the training plan as best as I can (weekends with Battle Assembly will be difficult) and to work out after work. New house, new habits.

Buying a new house, moving, cold weather, and working out

Ok, it is not really a reason, more like an excuse.  I haven’t been that good on working out over the last 3 weeks.  My excuse is that we bought a new house, moved, my wife went out of town for two weeks and I was putting stuff together and cleaning up the place.  Did I mention it was cold too?  Cold is lame, I admit it.  I have been much colder in my life than it has been here lately. 

We closed on the house 7 January and had the movers take everything out of the house on the 8th.  January 10th was a great day for my supervisory skills.  I had the locksmith, the FIOS guy (if you can get it, it beats the hell out of cable), Sears brought the new washer and dryer, the plumber, the yard guys, and the Geek Squad to hang the two TVs.  One in the downstairs den and one in my office/workout room.  I can now watch TV, a DVD, or stream a movie from Netflix as I ride the bike or work out.

I have lost 2.5 lbs in the last three weeks, so I am eating better.  That motivated me to get back to working out this week.  I was up at 5am Monday for an easy 30 minute ride on the bike.  Then after I got home I started a new ab workout.  I have to say that my abs are rather sore today.  This morning I got up and did a 30 min run, which is my third run in the last 2 weeks.  After work today I hit the new gym (we finally joined this weekend) and I swam about 30 mins.  The swim was ok, but an easy 30 min swim should not have been as hard this one felt. 

Tomorrow is another day on the bike.  Shooting for 35 minutes.  I want to get up to 45 mins before work, and then do the Ab workout after I get home.  All it takes is 21 days to get in the habit!!!!

Keep working hard everyone!!

Starting back HURTS

I ate way too much on December 31, but damn it was good.  Why can’t steam broccoli taste like a pepperoni pizza?  Just a random thought there.  The Bride loves WII Fit, especially the scale since it keeps her honest.  She has talked me into doing some of the WII Fit games, but mainly the weigh-in on there.  Of course she can see my weight, but I can’t see hers.  But I digress.  I weighed in at 179 lbs (rounding up).  Which was about 6lbs less than I thought I weighed.  So I am pretty happy that I had not gained as much as I thought I had.  My goal is to be at 160 by the end June.  I see no reason I can’t do that.  Well there is my love of pepperoni pizza. 

Saturday afternoon I headed out for my first bike ride of the year.  I planned on meeting a buddy of mine and doing about 20 miles, but he bailed at the last minute due to the possibility of rain.  So I headed down to Haines Point to do some laps.  I ended up biking an hour in some pretty chilly wind.  With the wind I was easily doing 18.5-19 mph and against the wind I was working hard to do 16.  I don’t remember when a short hour ride hurt so much.  But it felt good to be on the new bike for only the second time outside. 

This morning I was up at 5am and headed out the door for 3.5 miles.  It was a brisk 27 with a cold north wind as I started.  I am ashamed of how slow my 3.5 mile run was.  I don’t remember the last time I suffered through 10 min miles.  The good news is it only gets easier, well it gets faster.  Tomorrow, I am off to swim with the masters at the Y.  Soon, I will be moving to a new place to swim.  That is if we ever close on the new house, but more on that later. 

I think I am going to sign up for the Augusta 70.3.   If anyone has done that race I would love some info.

Now back to the closing.  We wanted to close last Wednesday, but due to a last minute request from the lender to the seller that did not happen.  The document was received late on Thursday, but with the holiday nothing was done on Friday.  I was not hopeful about today even though the Bride was.  If everything was completed today, we should be able to close on Wednesday.  Please keep your fingers crossed.

I hope everyone had a great New Years.  Lets all get back in gear.

Last Day of Gluttony

I have been back from Afghanistan now for a little over two months and I have done exactly what I said I was not going to do.  I have eaten like it is going out of style.  I have not run or swam like I should have.  I haven’t biked much either, but I have an excuse for that, which I will discuss in a minute.   The last real run I did was a Turkey Trot on a family vacation in the Keys during Thanksgiving.   That is how pathetic I have been.  After Thanksgiving we went spent 10 days in Puerto Rico and on cruise.  During this time I ate and drank WAY too much.  Two extra days stuck in Chicago over Christmas did not help either.

My excuse for lack of riding is this—I had to move the bike and trainer out of my house because it is on the market.  Our realtor has us keeping things in our house to a minimum.  Since the house is rather small I completely agree with her.  We were suppose to close on the new house on Wednesday but that did not occur.  Now we are shooting for Monday.  All I can say about the underwriters is tell us up front what documentation is needed.  That allows us and the seller to be prepared.  Don’t wait until the last “effing” minute to throw something new at us.  So lets hope Monday or Tuesday works out.

The good news is once we get settled in the new house, I have one of the four bedrooms as mine.  I am having a flat screen mounted on the wall so during the cold winters I can ride and watch some shoot’em up movies.  The new house is over twice the size of our current one and has been completely renovated.  I am excited to get in and get settled.

Today is the last day of Gluttony for the bride and I.  We have been grazing on appetizer foods as we watch football games.  Tomorrow I have a 20 mile bike ride scheduled.  I am excited to get out and ride the new bike some more. 

So much for 2010.  Lets all welcome 2011.