Exercising off the intertubes (sort of)

Can you be considered a lurker if it is on your own blog? I am about, I just have not gotten a post written in a while.

I have taken up running on the treadmills after work so I have not been posting any workouts lately. The battery on my foot pod is dead and it seems a little silly to upload workouts with just the heart rate data on it.

I have however been getting some running in. I ran on MWF the 1st, 3rd, 5th, WF the 10th, 12th and today, Monday the 15th. The distances were 1.5, 1.75, 2.0, 1.75, 3.1 and 3.1 miles. That is right kids, I have built back up to my 5k distance a week before my scheduled run. (for those that don't remember I am scheduled to do the Gobble Grind 5k this Sunday) Hooray for me! :)

It is nice that my company provides a workout room. We have 4 treadmills, 5 ellipticals and 5 stationary bikes along with a few dumbells. (along with 3 foosball and 5 ping pong tables) The only thing that sucks about the room is that there is no TV, no radio, if I am lucky there may be one more person there running but otherwise it is a 30' x 60' room with nothing going on. It is enough to make you die from boredom when you are running for 40+ minutes with no visual or audio stimulus. Am I finished yet?

I still do not have an "official" weigh in. The last time I used the "official scale" at work with weight and body fat percentage the batteries were dead in it. Last Friday I did get on one of the other scales in the workout room after running 3 miles...I came in at 299. I am hanging steady but I had to take a notch up on the belt the other day. I must be building my legs up again. Then again the measurements from the last post show that I am slimming down.

Well I am off to bed readers. I have noticed that I need more sleep and I sleep harder than I was before running so much. Good thing I have the house now instead of the apartment, the neighbors would be beating on the walls to get me to turn the alarm down.

I am reading Early Retirement Extreme by Jacob Lund Fisker, author of a blog by the same name, and he had a good quote that caught my eye today...Health is the presence of something positive, rather than the absence of something negative.

Tim VanOrden of Running Raw said something similar a year or two ago. I paraphrase: if modern medicine's goal is to get you to a "feel good" state of zero from a scale of -100 to 0 just imagine what you would feel like if you ate right and exercised, going from 0 to +100. Wouldn't that be amazing.

(a bunch of my awesome, holistically energetic and health-conscious friends at a birthday bash/going-away party over the weekend...I am on the left)

'night all...

New monthly measurements are in

Woohoo new measurements are in and they are surprisingly good. Apparently I now have a neck again. Had a nice loss on my chest and waist too. Guess I need to get on the scale again to see what the weight has done in the last few weeks that I have missed.

11/6/10 [fixed date to Nov from Oct]
Right Arm below Tricep - 13.5" (-.25")
Chest (arms up) - 49" (-3")
Waist (at navel) - 48" (-2")
Hips - 49" (-.5")
Right Thigh - 25"
Right Calf - 18.5" (-.25")
Neck - 19" (-.75")

9/26/10
Right Arm below Tricep - 13.75"
Chest (arms up) - 52"
Waist (at navel) - 50"
Hips - 49.5"
Right Thigh - 25"
Right Calf - 19"
Neck - 19.75"

Let them eat cake, the weekly weigh in

OK, I was a little bummed out this week with the weigh in. On both Sunday and Tuesday I did liquid-only fasts and was feelin' skinny. As I mentioned in yesterday's post though I have a few caveats for this week's numbers:

• I switched to jeans instead of shorts
• I forgot to empty my pockets when I weighed (two key rings, wallet, cell phone)
• and the scale's battery was almost dead

I figure the first two were enough to add an additional pound or two. The third point could completely mess things up all by itself. Officially it was a loss, albeit a small one. I guess we will see if things average out next week, assuming that they put in fresh batteries.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Weight 299.6 (-0.2)
BF% 39.1 (-0.1%)
Fat lost (+0.2)

Total lost: 15.2 lbs

Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Weight 299.8 (-1.8)
BF% 39.0 (+0.1%)
Fat lost (-0.4)

Total lost: 15.0 lbs

Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Weight 301.6 (-2.0)
BF% 38.9 (-2.0%)
Fat lost (-6.9)

Total lost: 13.2 lbs

Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Weight 303.6 (-11.2)
BF% 40.9 (+4.4%)
Fat lost (+9.3)

Total lost: 11.2lbs

Friday, August 6, 2010
Weight 314.8
BF% 36.5

Catching up the run logs

Hi guys. I realized that I was letting my run logs were stacking up on me and figured I was due for a post.

Last week I only made it out for two runs. I snapped the pic below after my Thursday run. Either I had some kind of reaction to the mushrooms that I found on the 3rd or I somehow got a the weirdest chigger outbreak I've ever had. Anyway I ended up with these itchy red hives from the ankles all the way up both legs and a spot or two on my upper body. I noticed the breakout on Tues. the 5th and I still have less itchy spots today, the 14th.

Anyway it was either being cautious or being lazy but I didn't want to push it last week just in case I had any type of respiratory inflammation associated with the breakout.

This week I got out on Tuesday & today and got some miles in. I ran out 2 miles and varied how much running I did on the way back in.

I am going to be a glutton for punishment and go out mushroom foraging again on Saturday with the KC Outdoor Adventure Group (event link here). Sunday I am going to shoot for doing the virtual 5k event on Facebook (link). This is basically just one of those get out and do sumthin' type of events...no set location, no set time, just go do it.

I forgot my weekly Wednesday weigh-in post it at work again. Officially nothing much happened but I have a few caveats/bitches about this week's reading. If I remember I will make a post in the morning when I get to work.

Wednesday weigh-in

I am back to being good this week for the most part so far. We are having a pizza lunch at work today for all the folks with birthdays this quarter. I shall try to limit my consumption and stick to veggie lovers but I make no promises. I am due for a run this evening so I will try to work off some of the extra calories...

Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Weight 299.8 (-1.8)
BF% 39.0 (+0.1%)
Fat lost (-0.4)

Total lost: 15.0 lbs

Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Weight 301.6 (-2.0)
BF% 38.9 (-2.0%)
Fat lost (-6.9)

Total lost: 13.2 lbs

Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Weight 303.6 (-11.2)
BF% 40.9 (+4.4%)
Fat lost (+9.3)

Total lost: 11.2lbs

Friday, August 6, 2010
Weight 314.8
BF% 36.5

Tea time, miles completed & a fine day off

Greetings friends, family and thrill seekers. How in the world did you manage to find this blog? :)

I made use of some of my stockpiled PTO and made it a three day weekend. I've come to the conclusion that I need to take a few more of those.

The Bad
It has been a week since the last post; I have shamed myself into action. For shame that I skipped out on running all week for being too tired or letting other things postpone my run. For shame that I spent the last week eating so poorly that I refused to do the weigh in on Wednesday.

As well as The Good
I joined my buddy J.R.'s KC Outdoor Adventuring Meetup group. Between Saturday and Sunday I spent 6 hours hiking out in the woods mushroom hunting. While I am certainly poorly equipped for the off the beaten path activities I had a great time doing it. We are already discussing taking climbers instruction classes for bouldering and tentatively thinking about a group skydiving day. One of our members has over 1000 jumps under her belt.

While out hunting yesterday I found a choice wild Reishi mushroom on the base of a stump sticking 4 inches out of the ground. After doing a water fast all day while it was brewing I am tonight sipping Reishi Tea as I compose this post. While I have had it before this is the first batch I have ever made. J.R said I found enough to make about 5 batches (gallons) so I will be enjoying it for a while.



I did remember to bring the Forerunner to record a track log the 2nd day out. We made it two miles in a couple hours. Wish I would have remembered the 1st day when we were out almost 4 hours across the lake to the southeast shown below.


I also got a run in this afternoon. I could tell that I had not went out in a week. That is OK though because everything goes in cycles. I get another chance to improve.


After all else is said and done today I went to the store tonight and got 3# of apples and 2# of grapes. I am going to try and get more raw again. The carb-cycling thing worked ok but I am not feeling the energetic 'uplift' I did when I was last on the raw eating way.

Now, what to do with those three dozen eggs in the fridge...

'Til next time.

Vital statistics exposed, film at eleven

I debated whether to share this post with my Facebook friends. It is one thing to be an anonymous voice on the web but to hang out all you are to all your friends is another; I think measurements are a pretty personal thing and many would be scared to post them online. However, I started this thing two years ago to have accountability, so (in my best Yoda voice) share them I will.

9/26/10
Right Arm below Tricep - 13.75"
Chest (arms up) - 52"
Waist (at navel) - 50"
Hips - 49.5"
Right Thigh - 25"
Right Calf - 19"
Neck - 19.75"

I do find it somewhat interesting looking at the variations in the measurements from this post to what I posted January last year where I was at the same weight. (check the archives) A little bigger here, a little smaller there. One point I might mention with today's stats...these were made a hour after my run vs. sitting at home after getting up in the morning. Didn't know if perhaps the legs might still be swollen from exercise. Eh. It will all average out I guess.

I am about due for another video. It has been a month and I'm down something like 15 lbs. My 42 jeans are comfortable, I got to tighten a notch on the belt and I think my face is thinner. I'll try and get something posted this week.

I got out today and pushed out another half mile gain onto my normal run distance. I ran 2.5 miles in the cool morning breeze. Not bad for a 300lb guy a month back into a fitness routine.