Lot of catching up to do today. It was an eventful weekend.
Jackie and I got in a quick gym workout Saturday morning, and
I confirmed what I assumed on the leg press machine -- my 1rm is all of it, 400
pounds. I did a pretty varied workout because the place was more crowded than
I’m used to, and it wasn’t easy finding open machines. Jackie said she saw
someone next to her doing a crazy interval workout on the treadmill -- first a
sprint for a few minutes, then hand-walking the treadmill -- hands on the belt,
feet on the ground behind the machine in basically a push-up position -- then
flipping around with hands on the ground and feet sort of crab-walking. Then
back to sprinting, and so forth. Sounds super-intense -- I don’t know that I
could do that.
Later on Saturday, beer or Gatorade became beer and
Gatorade on Saturday. After the gut-wrenching triple-overtime
Rutgers win, I had a lot of excess energy to work out, so
I went for a run. And yeah, I wasn’t exactly sober at the time. I didn’t bother
with MapMyRun -- just grabbed Lily and went. I estimated 4 miles, but later on when
I mapped it out, it looked like closer to 4.5. No idea on time, which is
fine. I actually had a lot of fun, but my right leg didn’t appreciate the lack
of focus on form.
The other problem: Sunday morning. I gave it the old college
try, but after about 2.5 miles, my stomach really started feeling sour. I’m sure
I could have done a bit more, but there was no way I was finishing a long. It
also didn’t help that part of my route was flooded out -- in retrospect, that
was probably a sign that this run really wasn’t going to happen. I’m going to
have to try to sneak one in this week.
The larger issue here is that I really need to start getting
serious about my conditioning, and that means making some changes to other parts of my life -- not just diet and exercise. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this, and I think part of the
issue is that I’ve been approaching it the way a lot of people approach diets --
instead of just adopting a lifestyle in which you generally make healthy
choices, it’s deny-deny-deny-deny-indulge. But the bottom line for me is that,
as much fun as those days and nights can be, ultimately they’re getting in the
way of who I want to be -- and not just as a marathoner.
So, much like the idea of adopting an overall healthy
approach to eating, I’m committing myself to a healthier approach everything else, too. I
think there’s no benefit in turning funtime into the enemy; I just need to be more reasonable. The holidays will
be the holidays, and I’m not going to beat myself up for silliness at
Thanksgiving or Christmas. But ultimately, the reason I named this blog what I
did is that it’s about choices, and to reach my goals and be the man I want to
be, I have decided to change the way I approach those choices.
Mostly out of a sense of guilt, and partly because I needed
to give Work Out World my new debit card to keep on file, I got back to the gym
this morning. I’m really digging the kettlebell squats and jugglers -- low
impact, high cardio intensity and a great challenge for your core muscles. I
also tried a few new machines today -- a triceps press machine (instead of just
using the lat bar) and a biceps curl machine. The latter was especially
challenging and engaged stabilizing muscles, so that seems like a winner for
sure. I then did about 20 minutes interval training on the elliptical. Somehow
the program I was using had 6-minute segments -- that’s too long. I’ll have to
pay more attention to that going forward.
One last note about nutrition: I’m going to try Chia Fresca
as a pre-workout and recovery drink. I read about it in Born to Run, and
it does fit the nutritional profile I’m looking for -- protein, fluids, other
good-for-you stuff, with not a lot of calories. 16 ounces is good for before and
after a workout. It’s very easy to make -- 2 cups water, 4 tbsp lime juice (I
needed 3 limes, 2 tbsp Chia seeds and just enough sugar to make it palatable. (I
may try agave.) Shake well and refrigerate overnight, and shake again before you
drink it. The seeds will soften up nicely, and it’s very
refreshing.
Total miles since starting the blog: 53.2
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