Here are a few races I’m looking at. The ones in bold I’m certain about and have already signed up for.

• Susan G. Komen Race For Cure 5k — September 25th or 26th, 2010
• Pumpkin Pie 25 / 62 / 100 Ride — October 3rd, 2010
• Mackinac Island Great Turtle Run ~10k — October 23rd, 2010
• Hot Chocolate 15k / 5k — November 6th, 2010
• Turkey Trot 8k — November 25th, 2010
• Rudolph Ramble 8k — December 12th, 2010

I’m still uncertain about the races in the late winter and spring but I want to plan at least one thing each month to remain accountable this fall, winter, and spring.

If you look at my weight-loss timeline you’ll notice a historic trend where I completely fall apart in the fall and usually gain back some or all of the weight I’d lost. That will not happen this time, I will not gain my weight back … this much I can assure you. I am going to do everything within my power to put some kind of structure in place to continue my motivation and inspiration.

What better way to motivate than to check off four things from my goal list … a 5k, 10k, 15k, and 100 mile race?

Running Progress

I didn’t get much running in earlier this week due to weather and work but I did get out twice yesterday, yep two times. Once early in the morning before work by myself:

and once after work with my wife:

Both were great runs and felt like my form and breathing were getting a lot better.

The morning run was a straight run without any stopping … just me listening to some music and doing whatever my body was capable of. The evening run was a training run as a part of our couch to 10k program (c210k) which is why it called for walking at the beginning, middle, and end of the run.

I have to admit at the end of the second run I was dragging quite considerably. I was starting to feel pain in my knees, ankles, and shins. Nothing major and to be freaked about, more like the general stress from pushing ones body to the edge.

I’m very excited for the races in the coming months and look forward to meeting up with fellow runners and maybe some other bloggers as well. Are any other Chicago area bloggers planning on running any of these races? Perhaps we can schedule a small meet-up?

It might be due to large amounts of weight loss or maybe because your up at 5 am and about to begin a killer morning workout. Maybe it’s because you passed on that extra helping of your favorite pizza or chose a green monster over a bag of M&M’s.

Whatever the reason, be resolute and happy for that new person for they’ve chosen a path less traveled in today’s society. It’s a challenging road full of road blocks and potholes but the rewards are numerous and amazing.

Along my journey I’ve recently had a number of who is that person moments that I wanted to share.

• This past weekend I was in a coffee shop in Batavia washing my hands when I looked up into the mirror and had to do a double take at the person looking back. Was that really me? Much thinner face, defined cheek bones, sweaty face, and broad smile … I’d just ridden 20 miles and now we had to turn around and do another 20 (to get home) and yet I was smiling. This was certainly not the old me, must be the new healthy me I’m looking at.
• Driving in the car yesterday, for some reason or another, I start looking at my hands and start moving my fingers. Are these my hands? They seem so foreign now days … gone is the fat on the back of my hands having instead been replaced with the underlying muscles, bones, and tendons I can actually see moving. No, I’m not trying to gross you out here but have you ever looked at the back of your hand while your fingers are moving? Mine have changed dramatically since I’ve dropped a lot of weight and they now seem a bit foreign to me.
• Walking down the isle at the market picking up some almond milk, spinach, bananas, and flax oil for some green monster smoothies. Really? Wait where’s the frozen pizzas, soda, ice cream, candy, and junk of the old me … who is this new guy? Gone are my old eating habits, found are the healthier habits of the new me.
• Lying in bed trying to get my daughter to sleep as I put my arms around my torso like I’m hugging myself (it’s actually comfortable). I can touch my back now? This may not sound like a feat to most but you have to see my before pictures to understand how big I was. Heck, sleeping in general is kinda new to me because I find I’ve taken on new sleeping positions that I hadn’t been able to do before due to how big I was.
• Working out in the basement doing lunges, crunches, dead lifts … oh my. I’m actually sweating a lot, way more than I used to when I started working out. You know they say a fit body sweats a lot right? If that’s the case then I think I’m the fittest man alive (kidding) because I sweat quickly and with gusto. Sure I’d sweat some before because I was overweight, that’s a given … this however is a whole different sweat for another purpose. It’s actually cold to the touch and evaporates fairly quickly which is what sweats supposed to do. Looking at my legs I immediately wonder who’s they are, they seem strange to me, muscular, sweaty, and thinner than my old ones.
• Departing the train today I take the stairs leaving union station, it’s three flights. Imagine two long tall staircases banking each side of a set of escalators going up the middle. The escalators are jam packed with people with a line at the bottom to go up at least 15 deep. I’m climbing the stairs solo … yea, you read that right solo. Who is this guy? I used to be on that escalator because a single flight of stairs left me winded. Now I climb all three flights and my breathing doesn’t change at all. I feel strong and powerful!

These are just a few of my moments in the past week, there are so many others it’s kinda crazy. I can’t explain very well exactly what it’s like looking in the mirror and having an unfamiliar feeling looking at myself. Someone I’ve known for quite some time now seems foreign to me, but at least I really like this new me and enjoy these new experiences.

One thing I forgot to mention which is 100% relevant and critical to all of the above moments … they were all accompanied with a smile

Have you had a “who is that person” moment recently?

Previous Weight — 275.0 lbs (on 8/10)
Current Weight — 272.8 lbs
Change In Weight — -2.2 lbs

That’s another 2.2 pounds lost in about three weeks time. It’s nothing like months ago but I’m so very happy that I’ll never see those pounds on my body again. They took a lot of sweat and time but my body is changing in some amazing ways right now.

Setting New Goals

I don’t know how I feel about setting weight goals for the next few months. No, I’m not saying I’m where I want to be … I already know that it’s 250 pounds. I don’t know if that’s the end of my mission though as I haven’t been at that number in a crazy number of years.

Anyhow, what I’m trying to say is that for the next few months I’m going to be training for our 10k race as my primary goal. I really want to run the entire race in under an hour without walking which will be a huge feat for me. My other goals are going to be continuing to work out 6 days per week, eating healthy, and staying connected to my blogging peeps.

I still want to be at my goal weight (or beyond) by the first of the year but given how the past few months of summer went I don’t want to be disappointed for not attaining that one goal I set when I’ve accomplished so many other things. I hope it doesn’t seem like a cop-out and I’m certainly not stopping, so far from it actually.

Instead … I’m going to set and work toward the other goals I mentioned yesterday and they are running my first triathlon and riding my first century ride next year. They’re huge and challenging and they’re the type of ongoing goals I want to make for the rest of my life to keep me healthy and fit forever.

What do you think? Should I wait until I attain my goal weight before I change it up or just do it and lose it as I go?

The Long Ride

Maybe you saw my posting about my new goal bike two months ago … or maybe you didn’t. Either way I went for a nice long ride today with the folks from my local bike club. It was a 40 mile ride from Downers Grove to Batavia and the returning trip, obviously we’re not going to have cars waiting for us.

I woke up this morning in a sugar coma, you know, because of the cake & ice cream yesterday … oh yea, and from the apple pancake (ala mode) I had for breakfast … and maybe from the bad mocha coffee(s) I had as well. Yea, so maybe I overindulged on my birthday, give a guy a break … at least I ate a healthy filet mignon, potato, and wine for dinner.

Ok, so I digressed, tell me something I don’t know. The point is I woke up bright and early this morning at 6am (same as on my birthday if it counts) and jumped on the bike excited to go for a ride. I wish I had brought my camera as I saw quite a few things fun things. The list included buffalo (yes real ones), Fermilab, some interesting sculptures and buildings within the Fermilab area, and me falling a second time due to clip-less pedals and an uphill start.

Don’t get me started on falling. It’s my second time falling, once on my inaugural ride with the bike in front of my neighbors and now this time at an intersection in front of 20+ other people. It does wonders on the self esteem falling on your buttocks in front of others … lol. At least this one didn’t hurt and won’t leave marks for a few weeks.

Anyone else had another similar fall in front of others?

Except for the fall it was an awesome ride with everyone and I can’t wait to get out again soon. I do enjoy the longer rides, it’s just hard finding the time to get them in.

As you guessed it, today’s my birthday! I’m 6 ^ 2 (36) years old today. Yea, I know … it’s all downhill to 40 from here.

Anyhow, here’s somewhat of a timeline of the last year including links to favorite posts, pictures, and other random things.

• Gained 25 pounds in at the end of last year (2009) after having lost 75 in the first part of the year.
• Released 4 iPhone applications into the wild after a year of design and development, see previous item for effect on my body.
• Started 2010 with a new found focus, resolve, and a revamped approach to getting healthy.
• Won the first round of a friends & family Biggest Loser Challenge, I love me some circuit training.
• Started emptying my container of “Future Clothes”.
• Shared some pivotal stories from my past.
• Welcomed our second child into the world, Bradley Paul Willson.
  
• Became a Weekend Warrior several times.
  
• I broke below 300 pounds for the first time in around 16 years.
  
• I became an iPad addict.
• I stopped consulting and took a new full-time job to focus on a better work life balance.
• I started running and training for my first race in October.
• Hit some summer challenges and plateaus but still broke 280.
• I got a new bike, one of my weight loss goal gifts!
  
• Attended the Healthy Living Summit and met some amazing new friends.
• Emptied my “Future Clothes” container, it’s all new from here.
• Checked off 3 items from my goals list.
• Lost a total of 120 pounds since last January and 60 since my last birthday (gained 25 then lost that plus 35 more).

Goals For The Year Ahead

• Get to my maintenance weight, whatever that might be. For now I’m targeting it around 250 pounds but I honestly have no idea.
• Be in a book, shhh … more on that soon, but yea, I’ll be in a book in 2011.
• Finish my first 10k in under an hour.
• Compete in a spring triathlon, any suggestions on a fun location?
• Finish my first century ride, again … suggestions?
• Be an understanding and supportive father, husband, and friend.
• Eliminate more crabs and make more friends, Fitbloggin here I come!
• Go kayaking at least once, I’ve always wanted to and regret that I didn’t do it in Alaska due to my weight.

My pant size has went down 4 inches … yes, you read that right. I started my new job at the beginning of summer and was in 44’s then. I remember because I purchased a bunch of new clothes for the new job. Well, a few months and only ~5 pounds later I’m down 4 inches to 40’s and I’m having to shop again because my pants are falling off. I haven’t been in size 40’s since like 1990, that’s 20 years folks … wow I’m getting old. Anyhow, while I’m going broke from buying all these new clothes I’m also celebrating a non-scale victory of losing inches.

It’s about progress, not perfection.

Remember that progress is measured in more than pounds on the scale. If your eating right and exercising then your body is changing. From recreating itself with the healthy food you eat to trimming and toning, your body is adapting to the stimulation you’re putting it through. The more it’s stimulated over long periods of time the more it’s adapting and recreating.

I’ve been battling with my ice cream cravings this summer but I’ve still been working out at least 6 days per week doing running, weight training, and lots of circuit training. While my final snack might have sometimes been less than ideal they were countered by all of my other meals being healthy and balanced. Moderation and consistent healthy eating won over bingeing and meal after meal of making bad decisions.

It’s about progress, not perfection.

I’m a runner now, well kinda. In the past 3 months I’ve went from being a non-runner to a wannabe runner. I’ve went from not being able to run for but a few minutes to being able to run for an hour and a half. I don’t expect to be able to run a marathon any time soon but it’s certainly in my goals to give it a shot.

Had you asked me four months ago if I’d be running three days a week I’d likely have said no. I would have probably said next year when I lost a bit more weight I’d give it a shot. Rather than put it off I decided to give it a shot and see how my body reacted. I won’t say it’s been easy but I will tell you it’s been rewarding and my body is stronger for it … another non-scale victory.

It’s about progress, not perfection.

I’m now more flexible, stronger, and have a much higher endurance. In the past several months I’ve been doing a ton of circuit training … it’s pretty much been my goto workout choice if I’m not running.

Thanks to circuits I can now bend easier than, jump higher, do actual pushups (actually quite a few), workout for over an hour without a break, and so much more. No, I’m not selling you on working out for over an hour, don’t take it wrong. I’m just saying that I used to have trouble making it 30 minutes let alone longer times. Since I always want to burn as many calories as possible I like to get about an hour in per day.

Being more flexible and stronger means I can play longer with my kids. I can do yard work without being in pain the next day. It means I can take the stairs without being winded. There are just to many things to list to be honest … a whole bunch of non-scale victories.

It’s about progress, not perfection.

As I’ve said, in my normal long winded fashion, it’s not always important what the scale weight change is. It’s about how you feel, how you act, and how your body and mind are changing along the journey. Sure the scale is nice and everyone loves to see it go down, just don’t get hung up on it being the only measurement of success.

Stop focusing on perfection and instead work on noticing progress.

Are you being too hard on yourself and focusing on the scale to much?

• I have two healthy, happy, and beautiful kids — can’t argue with these smiles now can you?

  

  Yes, I know he’s wearing pink pajamas, relax. They’re hand me downs from his sister and he was cold.

• I have new clothes & possibilities — I was cleaning this weekend and found my tub of clothes that I’d forgot about. They were clothes I’d been aging for the past 8~ years that I’d fit into someday maybe. You might remember my tub of clothes posting from before, well these were the bottom of the barrel, the last of the last. It’s now empty of future clothes, I’m now living in that someday maybe and inventing new possibilities one healthy choice at a time.
• I’m trying new things — As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve had a lot of firsts recently. Trying new things like food, exercises, sports, etc really makes you appreciate life and puts our lives into perspective. There is so much out there to try, appreciate, and grow from. So many new experiences that it’s silly to toss up your hands and give up on yourself. It’s never to late to lose weight, get healthy, find a new job, or reinvent yourself. Stop waiting and just do it!
• I’m looking for solutions instead of dwelling on problems — I’ve had several people tell me lately that I’ve changed since I started to lose weight last year. Somethings different this time … I wouldn’t say I’ve found my zen or my inner chi but my outlook on life and its associated challenges has certainly changed. Instead of looking at problems as insurmountable piles of complexity I instead look at them as lots of tiny opportunities to improve. This change in vantage point makes things seem much more manageable and solvable in the near term. Look at life as full of opportunities to improve instead of full of problems that are too hard to begin.
• I have a great support system — So many people don’t have a support system in place to succeed. Whether it’s an unsupportive spouse, significant other, friends, family, or co-workers … they all impact your day to day success in some way or another. I’ve posted before about being pulled down by crabs and I meant it. You have to surround yourself with positive, supportive, and motivated people to increase your likelihood to succeed and improve. My wife has been a huge supporter of me since day one. Anything and everything I’ve needed along the journey she’s helped me with, and I’ve done the same for her in return. People that are constantly complaining about themselves or their situation and aren’t holding themselves accountable and working toward change aren’t really in my inner circle any longer. You must surround yourself with positive uplifting people instead of emotional vampires.

So that’s why I’m smiling today … what are you happy about today? If your not, why not, and what can you do to turn that frown upside down?

• HLS Friday: The Fritos Tour And Party
• HLS Saturday: A Day Of Learning
• HLS Sunday: Inspired And Motivated

I went out this weekend and picked up some new running shoes because my old ones cried uncle. The past few months of running have really accelerated their death:

After their early demise I headed out to my local New Balance store to check of their running shoes. I wanted to try something different this time, more focused on running. It turns out my shoes were already near the high end in their running shoe line but I got my first shoe analysis on their treadmill anyhow.

The shoes I was wearing had a stabilizer on both sides of the foot but after my analysis I found out I was a pronator (I kinda knew this already) which meant ideally I really only needed support on one side. After trying on a few different shoes I decided on these cool red New Balance MR 1226 running shoes.

Sweet looking aren’t they? I’ve always been partial to red. Oh yea, they also changed my width from 4E to 2E … maybe I’ve lost foot weight or I’ve had the wrong width for a while now, I’m not sure which.

Music + New Shoes = Personal Bests

I took the shoes out for their inaugural run today. I wanted to see how far I could go just running … no c210k program, no beeping, just me running as far as my body would let me.

I did change it up some though by wearing my camelback hydration pack instead of running with a water bottle in my hand. This actually worked out well considering how darn hot it was. I also ran with music today, I know shocker isn’t it? I usually just run and listen to my body but since it was just me today (no wife) I figured I could use something to help get outta my own head while running.

Running with music was a first for me and it turns out both it and my new shoes worked out pretty well.

As you can see I walked a few times, I’d say about a miles worth of the 8.25 miles. Still though, 1 hour 34 minutes isn’t to shabby for 8.25 miles considering the walking. I felt great the first 3/4 of the workout and that first 1/3 was all running except for a quick nature break.

Toward the end I could tell some of my foot muscles were being used differently due to either the shoes of the distance I was running because they were sore. That was the primary reason I had more walks toward the end, I had to give my feet a break for a few.

All in all though I hit a new personal best 5k running it in 32′ 46″ and a new 10k personal best of 68′ 26″, WOOT!

My First Green Monster

After everyone at HLS had raised their hand (except for me) when asked if they’d had a Green Monster I felt compelled to try one. Turns out they’re pretty damn tasty.

I’m still working out the right ice mixture and which almond milk to use (sweetened or unsweetened?) but I really enjoyed them. After having three this week I can honestly say I’ll be including them into my regular rotation but I will be trying to embed a bit more protein.

My next first, which I’m making tonight, is going to be overnight oats. I’m going to try a recipe with kefir.

Did you try anything new or hit any new personal bests this week?

I started the final morning like everyone else, with a group run / walk. The turnout this morning was a bit higher than on Saturday.

I think everyone ran different distances this morning, much like our healthy journeys. For some reason I think an official run after such an inspirational weekend would have been an even more amazing end to HLS but this was great as well.

Running south along the lakeshore I couldn’t help but think about the things I’d learned and the people I’ve met this weekend. I don’t know why I felt such a camaraderie with these people, I’d never met them IRL … yes I’d been a reader of some of their blogs for a while but honestly most of them were new to me.

I’d never lived with them, worked with or out with them (until this weekend), went to school with them, or anything else that so often creates a lasting bond between people. They were however a group people that had a common goal and determination … to live a healthy, happy, and inspirational life. This was our bond, and for most of us our instruments were either our blogs or the blogs of others.

These were people that didn’t know me 48 hours earlier (my blog isn’t Caitlines) but they were rooting me on while I attempted to run, saying good bye to me, and telling me how inspiring my story was. To me it’s the other way around, each and everyone one of them had the inspirational life story. Whether it was an eating disorder, a life long battle with weight loss, or just the challenges of life being life … each and every one of them were inspiring and motivational in their journey toward a healthier self.

I know how hard it is to even start living a healthy life let alone if they’ve been doing it for years with challenges along the way. Our blogs are often how we tell these stories, they’re our platforms for sharing our successes and failures, they’re our personnel podium at which people interested in a healthy life come to listen, learn, laugh, and hopefully support us.

HLS was an intimate place for people with similar stories to come to celebrate our successes and meet IRL others that have traveled similar paths. A place to come to absorb positive energy and inspiration.

According to my Nike+ I only managed a 5 mile run this morning but in actuality I’d say that it was a 4 mile run, a 1 mile walk, and a whole lotta happiness and fun.

I look forward to following all of the blogs from the summit and following everyones journey. Yes, I subscribed to all of the feeds … I’m an equal opportunity reader and supporter.

I leave inspired, happy, and motivated to make a difference … to change my approach to blogging and to help others on their journey. I have all kinds of questions and ideas brewing in this head of mine, maybe a few will even come to fruition.

Did you attend HLS? Were you inspired and motivated?

(photo courtesy)

It was early enough that there was an amazing view waiting to greet us in front of our hotel:

I managed a 3.5 mile run and 1 mile walk which was a great way to open the day of a healthy living summit. There was a first for me this morning, actually two firsts.

1. The first time I’ve ever run with anyone who wasn’t my wife or kids.
2. The first time I’ve run in downtown Chicago. Even though I live in the burbs I’ve only been running for a few months so I’m not quite Mr Explorer when it comes to running yet.

It was actually really nice running downtown for a change. Not only was the change in scenery amazing to look at but the path was well kept and there were actual working water fountains every quarter mile or so. Kudos to Chicago for keeping it clean and friendly to all!

No morning would be complete without some good coffee:

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While I didn’t manage to talk anyone else into getting coffee with me that didn’t prevent me from enjoying it.

The Summit

After cleaning up and enjoying a great breakfast from Thomas, Stonyfield, and Quaker (thanks!) the summit began in full force. The sessions I attended were:

• The Keynote
• Fueling for Fitness — Perform Well And Recover Quickly From Your Workouts
• Stepping Up Your Blog Photography
• The Ups And Downs Of Pressing Publish — Getting Real About the Blogging Community
• The Five W’s of Strength Training
• Stop Staring Over Your Shoulder — How To Avoid the Self-Comparison Trap

Since this is shorter recap posting (yea short right) I’m not going to go into huge depth on all of the sessions but I do want to share some tidbits that hit home with me for a few of the sessions … I’m also planning few other postings in the future that were inspired by these sessions.

Fueling for Fitness

This presentation was presented by Rebecca Scritchfield of Balanced Health and Nutrition and Heather Calcote of Dietician on the Run. I was very excited when I saw this on the schedule given how my wife and I have had bonking and post workout energy issues in the past.

Pre-Workout

• Try to have a meal or snack around 1-2 hours before working out
• Fresh, dried, or frozen fruit, low fiber carbs (yes white bread is good), oatmeal, fig newtons, or peanut butter & crackers. Essentially you want something high in carbs, low to moderate protein, and lower in fat as fat is hard to digest.
• Avoid dairy, too much juice, fat, or high fiber as it may cause GI issues like dumping syndrome
• Try to drink water or a sports drink 15 minutes before and during your exercise

Hydration During Workout

• Goal is at most 2% body weight loss during a workout
• Workouts < 30 minutes water is sufficient
• Workouts > 30 minutes use electrolyte and carb replacement sports drink
• Workouts > 2 hours use an endurance sports drink
• Avoid flavored waters, fruit juice, and soda due to acidity, high sugar, and low electrolytes (see dumping syndrome above)

Fueling During Workout

• Fuel before you feel tired
• Workouts < 60 minutes you should have adequate stores in your body
• Workouts 60 – 75 minutes should require 100 – 250 calories
• Workouts > 75 minutes consume 1-2.5 gels or a 60 oz sports drink each hour
• A good refueling option is Honey or Agave. Honey packs have ~16g of carbs per packet and are free at Starbucks (5 finger).
• You can also try Bars, Sports Gels and GU’s. The key is convenience and using what fits your body.

Recover After Workout

• Whatever you consume the ideal ratio of carbs to protein is 4 : 1
• Some people carry pizza for their post workout fuel
• Other options are fruit, bagels, smoothies, and drinkable yogurts
• Chocolate milk recently beat a leading sports recovery drink in aiding in post workout recover due to it’s ideal carb to protein ratio.

I can’t wait to try out this information during my next run especially since I have an excuse now to drink Chocolate Milk.

The Ups And Downs Of Pressing Publish

This was a panel discussion led by Anne P. and contained Heather, Julie, Sana and Andrea. A few random things I learned and / or took away:

• I don’t blog enough about my bad eating side … it’s there, just something I consciously and subconsciously never really blog much about. From time to time I post something but that might give the wrong impression to people that I don’t eat bad often.
• Our community is a powerful force and as a blogger I am influential in my own small way.
• It’s important as a blogger to engage the blogging community more. I think I’ve done a fair amount of this but certainly not enough. A big step for me was attending this conference.
• We’re all story tellers and pushing publish gives everyone access to whatever story your telling on your blog.
• I failed to share my story … by the time I had the nerve to share my story of why I started blogging and how it has helped me the discussion was over. Talk about nerves fail! No worries though, I’m sure I can manage a blog posting on the topic.

Stop Staring Over Your Shoulder

This was another great session that was led by Caitlin and Gena and had lots of great bits of advise embedded within it. This is far from the entire list of the insight presented but it was the things I made note of that struck a chord with me.

• Everyone should go check out Katie and read her posting entitled How blogging Changed My Life. It’s a very moving story and a great read.
• I want to make a Green Monster, I don’t know why I haven’t yet. Scared of Spinach maybe? No I’m not doing it because everyone stood up except me when asked if they’ve tried it, I honestly just want to try one.
• There are downsides to food (or fitness) blogging like food fads (gluten free, allergy free, raw, diet plans etc) and orthorexia.
• There are upsides like new recipes, culinary inspiration, and inspiration to re-evaluate set lifestyle ideas.
• I should share more of my success and failure during my journey, it’d help people relate more to me and my blog. I certainly have failed a lot, I’m just not always posting about them.
• It’s important to distinguish your reality from other peoples reality. Sounds simple enough but how many people can truly say their blog is distinctive? It’s ok to be different, really it is.
• Perfectionism is not healthy … we should be focused on being healthy, not being perfect.

I’m certainly planning to watch this session again when it’s available online because I found myself contemplating the ideas presented during the session getting into my own head and zoning out … attention fail!

Boxing Baby

After a long day at the summit I was so ready for a workout to get my blood flowing. The folks over at LA Boxing put together a free class for attendees to try out a boxing workout.

While more people were supposed to attend it ended up being only Mindy and I which honestly was actually kinda cool. We had the trainer pretty much one-on-one for a killer workout.

First we did a 15-20 minute circuit workout with 15~ different stations. I was absolutely dying when it was done and I’ve been doing circuits for most of this year and felt like my circuits fitness was solid. Man did I get schooled … I now have to find some new highs.

We then moved on to doing some bag work doing 1 min moves followed by 15 seconds of rest for about 15 minutes. Again, I was maxed out during the bag work. I kept pushing it and never gave in though … I think this impressed the trainer some, at least I like to think so. My form was off a lot but he worked with me repeatedly on trying to clean it up.

That was followed up with about 15 minutes of shadow boxing in front of some mirrors focusing on form. I think doing this before the bag work would have helped my form a ton. I now know proper form for a jab, hook, and uppercut.

Finally we finished up with about 10 minutes of bag work again doing 1 minute circuits working through the punches again as fast as possible followed by 15 seconds of rest. I was sweating like crazy and pretty much just wanted to collapse on the ground after we were done. I did manage a few minutes of stretching but I was cooked.

Thanks to LA Boxing for putting this class together. It was an awesome workout and has really peaked my interest in boxing as a workout option … and … I found a location in the suburbs near our house. I’m gonna see if Amy wants to try it again with me.

Our Indian Feast

After a long day at the summit and a killer workout a bunch of people met up later in the evening for a great indian dinner.

We had some great appetizers (I’m not sure what all of it was but it tasted great).

I ordered one of my favorite Indian dishes, Chicken Muckney.

The End

Well not quite, I have one more posting about Sunday mornings happenings that I’ll post tomorrow.

The conference was a lot of fun and it was great to finally put faces (and voices) to some of the blogs I’ve read for a while now. It was also great to meet so many new bloggers. It’s always refreshing and revitalizing to surround yourself with like minded focused people all with a common goal … living a healthy lifestyle.

I’ve already subscribed to everyone (yes everyone) of the blogs from the conference. I’m an equal opportunity reader that gives everyone a few reads to catch my interest.

Le Tour de FritoLay

Anyhow, yesterday was a really fun day that started with a longish bus ride to the FritoLay in Beloit Wisconsin. I know you don’t necessarily think about FritoLay when you think healthy eating but they really do have some great healthy snacks and have for years. Heck, if you look at a bag of Lays chips you see the ingredients:

You can’t get any simpler than that, 3 ingredients total … potatoes, oil, and salt.

On the tour we actually learned that the whole process from potato form into bag only takes about 15 minutes and to top that off, a lot of the potatoes that go into the bags are yanked out of the ground that morning at like 3am and make it into a bag by around 9am~ give or take transportation time. Locally grown FTW!

The people who put together and gave the tour were very friendly and knowledgeable. The tour of the factory was like 45 minutes and there is a great flickr gallery of photos. If your interested in seeing me in a hair net, safety goggles, and ear plugs … and I know you are, there are a few shots of that for posterity and a bit of humor.

A few cool things that I learned on the tour about FritoLay and the plant itself, in random order:

• The Beloit plant received the LEED Gold Certification in 2010. It’s an award given to companies that are following “Green” building practices and are working toward self sustainability. This plant actually has goals of eventually being fully self sufficient utilizing various green technologies.
• They produce 600 million bags of chips annually, those are crazy big numbers.
• They use 500,000 potatoes per day.
• They have a patent on their own potato. It’s one that can be grown with less imperfections to make better chips. I tried to kind a link to the patent but couldn’t. Anyone have a link?
• They inject nitrogen into chip bags to remove the oxygen in order to maintain the freshest taste longer. Oxygen and time causes the oil to break down faster, remove the oxygen and it breaks down slower.

Before we left everyone had to get a fun shot with Mr Cheetos himself:

On the bus ride home we played a plant trivia game. For once my anal note taking skills during presentations paid off and I won this cool Terracycle Lays backpack that my daugher is going to absolutly LOVE!

I’ll post some pics when she christens it with her toys.

We took home a absolute ton of swag from the plant. Most of the items were actually manufactured on the site, but not all.

Pretty awesome ahe? I want to thank everyone from FritoLay for giving us the tour and being such gracious hosts. They really did open my eyes to how much FritoLay is doing to make their products healthier for the consumer as well as make their plants more environmentally friendly.

The Babysitter

Our return bus was running a bit late and everyone was getting a bit concerned that they were going to miss the evenings festivities. Heck, a lot of them flew in the day before just for the party.

Like the ever concerned and highly opinionated nerd that I am, I pointed out that from where we were we’d likely be 1.5 – 2 hours (depending on traffic) … but … if we wanted to jump off at the first stop near the blue line we could catch it into the city and be at the hotel in 40~ minutes. Being a train leaving from the airport it likely wouldn’t be full this late in the day nor would it be running late.

I suggested it being a little nervous in how it would be received but our leader Catlin liked the idea of getting there on time as did most of the bus. I was of course instantly concerned that I might ruin everyones evening. Last thing I wanted was 15~ angry female bloggers the evening before the summit started … talk about bad publicity.

Fortunately fate was on our side and I made a good call. Everyone made it with ample time to change and we beat the bus by 40~ minutes. Woot! I even received a new nickname, babysitter … hehhe.

The Welcoming Party

The evening party thrown by OpenSky and was a lot of fun. It was really great meeting everyone from the conference in a casual setting where we could just chat and mingle.

I have to admit something weird though … and this happened most of the weekend for me … it was very weird and awkward walking up to everyone introducing myself. I don’t usually have trouble as I’m a pretty outgoing guy but this particular group was not only all female (98%) but they were all heath & fitness bloggers or professionals.

It was a double whammy! Heck, I’m still dealing with my own new body image and I don’t always have a ton of confidence to walk up to knowledgeable fellow bloggers to introduce myself. Do I even know what I’m doing? Sometimes I think I do, sometimes I don’t.

Again, this was totally me in my own mind … no one made me feel uncomfortable at all, actually quite the opposite. Everyone was very friendly and open and interested in getting a males perspective on things. I wanted to thank everyone for that and apologize if I was quiet or sometimes seemed shy.

The more I talked to everyone the more comfortable I became but it was far from second nature.

Anyhow, that ended the first day of the summit for me. I left around 9 when that event ended and headed back to the hotel to relax before the next day. The first day was a lot of fun and it was great to put faces & voices to some of the blogs that I read.

Let me digress for a moment into my distant past, cue fuzzy cut scene. Imagine a big kid (me) playing defense in 7th grade football. Imagine playing your first skirmish game against another local school. Your facing off against new kids in a new environment trying to size them up … all of your teenage prepubescent testosterone flowing.

Now imagine the coach telling us to find the hole and “sack” the quarterback. Now picture me doing this, 4-5 times in a row and imagine how embarrassed the other coach must be and how he’d be yelling at his kids to block me and fill the damn gap. Cool right? Well only partially right … now envision my coach yelling at me in front of both teams for sacking their quarterback so much. Apparently I was supposed to block their runners for some reason … with that perfectly huge hole between me and the quarterback ripe for a sacking?

Even at the age of 12 I wasn’t stupid nor was I tight lipped (yes I’ve always been outspoken). I took off my helmet, explained how stupid the coach was, how obvious the play was, threw my helmet at his feet and quit … I walked right off the field and never returned to football again. Just like that I made up my mind that it wasn’t the sport for me. While I was a large kid and may have fit the football mold the coaching style of that one coach ruined the game for me.

Knowing the athlete is one of the basic tenants a coach needs to understand. There is a difference between yelling to motivate someone and just yelling to demean them.

The other coach was yelling to motivate and engage his team in an attempt to help them elevate their game. My coach was yelling at me to demean and belittle me, even if he did honestly think I should cover a running back (that obviously would never catch the ball if I had already sacked his quarterback to the ground before he had a chance to throw it) I was dutifully executing his original plan yet was yelled at for it.

Yelling != Motivation

While that may seem obvious it’s not always easy to determine when it’s yelling to make a point or yelling to motivate. Depending on the coach or trainer they’ve either got it or they don’t.

They either successfully choose the right moment in time to help you elevate your game and get that extra repetition or push through some barrier … or … they make you feel like a failure, crush your motivation, and make you want to quit.

It’s always been difficult for me to find a trainer that really motivates me. They usually either just watch me work out using their little clip board or bark orders with little to no communication.

And another thing that bothers me, how can fitness trainers be out of shape? It just seems like an oxymoron to me, but I digress.

That might be a reason they don’t motivate me I suppose … if I don’t view them with credibility or competence they aren’t going to motivate me very well regardless of how much yelling is involved.

I guess that’s why I’ve liked the Bob Harper DVD the first few times I used it. There is the right amount of yelling to motivate and straight talk to push through barriers. I felt great when I was done and it made me want to use it again and again.

Do you have a coach, trainer, or DVD that really motivates you to perform at your best?

I’m certainly going to be posting more this and next week though, that’s for sure. I have the Healthy Living Summit coming this weekend and all of the activities surrounding it. I’m planning on participating in the Frito-Lay plant tour on Friday, the welcome drinks Friday night, the indian dinner on Saturday, and the 5k (if it’s still happening) on Sunday morning … to name a few. I’m sure they’ll be more as my schedule permits.

I’m very excited for the conference though, it’s gonna be a blast to meet a lot of the people who’s blogs I read. Is anyone here (assuming I have a few readers left) attending HLS?

My amazing wife told me to just make it easier on myself (and her I think) and just stay in downtown Chicago this weekend. It’d be some seriously painful late night train commuting and driving if I were to go back and forth all weekend since I wanted to attend so many of the festivities. I can’t even imagine how the 5k would work Sunday morning … and now I don’t need to. Thanks sweetie!

Quickie Weigh-In

I might as well throw in an update on my progress while I’m at it since it’s been a while. I weighed in this past Friday (though I didn’t post it) and here were the results:

Previous Weight — 276.8 lbs (on 7/7)
Current Weight — 275.0 lbs
Change In Weight — -1.8 lbs

Yes, that’s a loss of 1.8 lbs but it took me a month. I know … I know … A loss is better than a gain, I keep telling myself that, especially with the summer and my ice cream addiction. I don’t know why this heat makes me crave it so much but it does.

Swimming … gotta have an ice cream when we’re done.
Long walk in the heat … gotta get an ice cream.
Great run with the kids … goes perfect with an ice cream.

It’s ridiculous I tell ya but at least I’m not gaining. It’s been a hard summer of few to no losses but darn it, I haven’t given up. We’re getting our workouts in 5-6 days per week and most of our meals are near perfect. Heck, we even picked up a few new fitness DVD’s to spice things up:

Bob Harper: Pure Burn Super Strength

I wasn’t sure what to expect with this DVD but after doing it twice in the two days since I purchased it all I have to say WOW. I was completely nuked after these workouts and can’t wait to go back for more. I really like how Bob pushes yet motivated me throughout the workout. I guess I like to be yelled at when I work out, but that’s another blog posting.

Jillian Michaels: Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism

A pure cardiovascular circuit training DVD that really pushes you. It was a good change-up from some of the weight training circuit DVD’s she’s done in the past.

I’ll post more details on them in the future … needless to say they’re a great addition to my circuit training arsenal and we’re (the wife and I) usually covered with sweat when we finish.

Do you have any new DVDs or routines that are keeping you going this summer?

Running …

It’s certainly been challenging doing the c210k program but I’m actually doing quite well I think. The heat has to have been the biggest challenge to date. It’s so hard running in near 100% humidity, I can’t stress that enough. It’s like running under water and is a constant sweat and hydration management nightmare.

On a positive note though, I’m usually averaging a 10-11 minute mile depending on said temperature and my energy levels. We’re in week 8 right now which has us running 7+ minutes and then walking for 2 for ~70 minutes. From this point on the run times go up dramatically and the walks stay at 1 or 2 minutes.

I had to dump my Vibram Five Fingers around week 4 of my running program. I think my weight was (and still is) a bit high to run in them as my feet were usually killing me for several days afterwards. I’m not talking sore as in running sore, I’m talking sore as in pain and I can’t walk very well. While I still use them 100% for all other workouts, and absolutely love them, I’m use regular running shoes for my 10k training.

We’re planning now to run in at least are few 5k’s before our race in October to test out our legs. I’ve never ran a 5k before (officially) nor have I run with anyone other than my wife. Both should be interesting and I’m sure I’ll have a thing or ten to say about them when I do.

Despite my two wheeled diversion I still managed to find time for workouts. I actually just finished up Week 7 of the Couch to 10k iPhone application from Felt Tip. It’s been a fun and well designed little application so far and it’s helped us to keep on track and following a controlled regiment for our race in the fall. The program is 13 weeks in duration with 3 days per week of running. It’s essentially an interval application that starts with 30 second running and 4 minute 30 seconds walking 7 times in week 1 and ends with you running for the entire duration of a 10k race when your done in week 13. We’re about to start running for 5 minutes and walking for 1 minute for about 70 minutes total in week 8, wish me luck.

Do you have supportive crabs?

In my random snippets of train time, when I wasn’t reading cycling blogs, I’ve been listening to a good health & fitness book on audiobook (more at a later date on which one) and they had a great analogy that really hit home with me the past few weeks.

Working out and getting healthy is a lot like crabs in a bucket.

People around you tell you what you can’t achieve, they often times tell you your wasting your time to try to lose weight or get healthy. They make fun of what your eating and are always making excuses as to why they can’t do it or better yet they want something for nothing. When you do succeed, they resent your success and don’t want you to get any further. They’re dragging you down like crabs in a bucket, each one pulling down anyone that manages to get above them.

What’s weird (and regrettable) is that often times the people closest to you pull you down and are the worst offenders of all … Poor choices are easier to justify when others around you are making the same poor choices.

Be responsible for all of your results, positive or negative, and realize that the choices of those around you influence your success so surround yourself with healthy positive people, not emotional vampires.

Do you accept responsibility for your positive or negative state? Are you responding to or excusing your current state?

Anyhow, on to the weigh-in … I’m going to do a summary up to last week, last week, and this week all in one swoop.

Previous Weight — 280.4 lbs (on 6/9)
Last Weeks Weight — 278.6 lbs
Current Weight — 276.8 lbs
Change In Weight — -3.6 lbs in 4 weeks

Not what I’d call inspirational but at least I’m down right? Progress, not perfection!

In order to own up to the last month and to see if I can’t improve on my losses, here are some things I’ve been doing differently that I think have led to poor losses this month and what I’m going to try to do to squelch them.

• Less Circuit Training — I’ve been running more, usually 3 days per week, and I’ve still tried to get weight training in for one day which leaves 2 days of workouts. For those I’ve either been cycling or doing the elliptical trainer at the gym. The fact of the matter is my body loves circuit training and I feel amazing when I do it. I’m going to get back to 2-3 days of circuits and 3 of running (till after the race) and double up on a circuit day doing traditional weight training. This isn’t so bad as I can do a quick 20 minute circuit routine after a heavier weight session. My rides are going to have to be seen as above and beyond more than replacing a workout.
• Bad Summer Food Choices — The heat and our laziness has led to far to many meals out. No, not every night or even close, it’s mostly just the weekend, but my body doesn’t react well to hardly any food from restaurants in their buttery high salt goodness. We need to squelch the multiple weekend meals out and stay on track. A free meal and maybe a healthy meal are about all I can handle before my body rebels.
• It’s Hot & Sticky — I’m just lazy at night in the heat and don’t want to cook. About all I can do here short of wearing a backpack air conditioner is get unlazy and push through it. We’ve been swimming a few times with the kids which has been fun and helps to cool off. The side effect of swimming though is a stop on the way home for some ice cream (part of those bad summer food choices) … hey, swimming and ice cream go hand in hand! I know … I know … less ice cream stops.

I’ll keep you posted in the coming weeks to see if I can pull these changes off. I think the food change is the largest contributor to my poor month to be honest. I haven’t been missing workouts, just changing the types of workouts I’ve been doing.

Goal Adjustment

As you may have noticed I missed my goal of 275 pounds by the end of June. I was 3.6 pounds from the goal. I knew it was going to be challenging but thought I could do it. I was certainly on track at the beginning of June but four weeks of poor performance will trip anyone up.

Due to missing this past goal and because it was so critical to my birthday goal (end of August) I’m going to need to tweak my next goals to make them actually attainable. Rather than shooting for 250 by 8/28 I’m going to shoot for 260 lbs. That’s still 16.8 lbs in the next 7.5 weeks which I think is quite challenging especially given the past four weeks and the fact that the summer is only going to get hotter.

I’m hoping for some big weeks but I don’t want my goals to be based on hope, I want them to be based on hard work and to actually be attainable.

What do you think, doable? Crazy? How are your summer goals going thus far?

Anyhow, I thought I’d share a nice laundry list of what I ended up with on this sweet bike.

• 2010 Lynskey Cooper Titanium Frame Size ML in Satin Finish
• Alpha Q Carbon Fork
• Cane Creek 110
• SRAM Force Front and Rear Dérailleurs
• SRAM Force Cranks (39 / 53 x 172.5)
• SRAM Force Brake Set (Front & Rear)
• SRAM Force Double Tap Levers
• SRAM Force Cassette (11 x 26)
• SRAM PC1070 Chain
• FSA Wing Pro 31.8 Handlebar
• FSA OS190 Stem
• Michelin Pro 3 Race Tires 700×23
• Mavic Ksyrium Elite Wheelset
• FSA SLK 31.6 x 350mm Seatpost
• Selle Italia SL Carbonio Flow Black Saddle
• Cinelli Cork Black Bar Tape
• Speedplay Zero Chromoly Pedals
• Sidi Dominator Mega Shoes

And here are a few quick pictures (aka bike porn) of the bike itself.

As you can see there’s quite a number of cool components to oogle over. For the short distance I’ve ridden it I can already say it’s amazing. My average speed is noticeably higher, I can stand and attack and not feel like my bottom bracket or frame is going to explode, and I feel like there is a crazy amount to learn and strive for with this bike. So far I couldn’t be happier and really think this is going to help my fitness greatly.

I had my first embarassing biking incident last evening. This is my first bike with clip in shoes so I’m a 100% novice at using them. They feel great while riding but I’ve only had to stop and clip out while riding a few times. Last night when I was coming home after a short ride I clipped out on my right foot and proceeded to tilt and fall left, hard onto my hip. I scuffed up my new seat, got freaked out that I broke my bike, bruised my ars and my ego as well as my neighbor was sitting there watching me.

Needless to say I’ll be clipping out both feet all the time upon arrival from now on.

I’m happy to report, though a bit hesitantly, that I will have more time to post on the blog because my bike researching is complete. No, I’m not skipping buying a bike and nothing bad happened to me. I did however encounter a really really good deal on a road bike that was one of those right place right time kind of finds. I know it’s accelerating my goal gift a few months but my wife is on board and thinks it’ll help keep my workouts on track and keep me motivated this year. What do you think?

While I was researching my bike options including components, frames, saddles, proper bike fit etc. a bike showed up in the Lynskey Loft that was steeply discounted. The loft is where they place slightly used and new bikes discounted to clear their onsite bikes usually due to cancelations, bikes they used for photo shoots, or demos. Anyhow a new Lynskey Cooper with an SRAM Force build showed up with a steep enough discount that it fired off my early purchase alarm. The bike had only been used for photo shoots and had never been ridden plus it was a 2010 bike. To own a titanium bike now would be amazing!

Yes, as you’ve already guessed I pulled the trigger on the bike … actually it should be here some time tomorrow. I’ll post pictures when it arrives … it really is an amazing bike with amazing components. Now I just have to keep doing awesome over the next few months and I won’t feel guilty for pulling the trigger early.

I know you may be wondering how bike researching stopped me from blogging. First, you have to realize how detail oriented I am as well as how anal I am about researching all options for everything I do. Second my schedule for free time is fairly tight, I have several hours per night on a typical night but that includes time to workout and assumes that our kids go to bed without trouble. Something had to give and it wasn’t going to be my workouts, unfortunately it was my blogging.

Anyhow, enough explaining … I’m geeked about the bike and plan on seriously augmenting my workouts with some nice early morning rides every week. Details and ride information to be posted in the near future.

Weigh-In Update

It’s been a few weeks since I last weighed in due to some scheduling and laziness on my part. Combine that with bad Sunday food choices, like on fathers day, and I didn’t want to stress myself with a bad weigh-in. I instead wanted to focus on workouts, nailing our running schedule, and not falling off plan which I’ve done well.

I’m still planning on weighing in next week for my end of June goal of 275 pounds. I think I’m a bit off from the mark but I’m planning on kicking some butt between now and then.

How have you been doing? It’s been a while since we’ve talked.

I was pleasantly surprised when I started riding this season that not only was I able to go a long way, even on the first ride, but I was able to do it without a sore behind. Heck, I was even able to tackle the hills with some tenacity and came out wanting more. These are things that were much harder last year when I was 60+ pounds heavier. My bike also seemed to be less stressed this season with my lower weight and I was having a ton of fun.

Are You A Clydesdale or Athena?

I’m sure your asking … ummm, a what? Yea I was at first as well … most people dont take to kindly to being called a massive horse. Cycling is normally a sport of 140-160 pound riders on sub 17 pound bikes and a few of the high end bikes can’t even be ridden if your over 190 pounds. If you’re over that racer weight you’re kinda an outcast or in this whole new Cyldesdale category of cyclist.

A male is referred to as a Clydesdale and a female as an Athena (nicer than a horse I guess) and your in these categories if your over 200 pounds. I’m sure your thinking like I am, that’s most of America now days isn’t it? It seems like it to me at least but maybe I’m a bit jaded being in a community of people working on losing weight and getting healthy.

Carbon Fiber or Titanium

Given my special weight constraints while cycling I’ve been trying to research bike components and frames that can handle the stress I will put it under without folding the frame or requiring a lot of maintenance (aka $). I’m sure your thinking I can just drop into any local store and grab a bike and I’ll be just fine right? No, that’s not how I really roll nor would I recommend anyone do that.

I really like to have high quality components with solid craftsmanship and I’m going to be putting upwards of a 100 miles in a good week onto this bike. Try doing that with a Walmart special at any decent cadence or speed and come out alive. The difference in shifting, braking, accelerating, road shock, noise, or a million of other things is very noticeable with higher quality components. As the adage goes, you get what you pay for.

Right now I’m trying to narrow down the frame material. I’d like to graduate out of Aluminum (my current mountain bike) and into something stronger, stiffer, and lighter. I’m not at all concerned about the weight to be honest, the options just happen to be lighter and I should be the one losing the weight before the frame needs to. I’ve been looking closely at Carbon Fiber (CF) and Titanium (Ti) as options for the frame.

My biggest problem right now is weeding out the opinion from the reality when it comes to CF. I really love what the manufacturers are doing with CF, check out the frame on the Trek Madone 4.5 and the Look 566, a few of the CF bikes I’ve been checking out. Pretty sweet ahe? I’m just concerned about the things people claim about CF like:

• It’s fragile and cracks easily — Drop it on the ground or against something, sliding in a crash, hitting anything small and you can easily render the frame unsafe.
• It fails fast — When it does fail it fails catastrophically and very quickly at that. There are a lot of horror stories online about CF frames collapsing seemingly out of nowhere.
• It’s hard to get warranty claims fulfilled — Because of the fragile nature of CF number of manufactures seem to deny claims unless you do tons of fighting.

Some of these have merit and some not so much, it’s just hard figuring out the reality from the opinion. If you happen to know some details I’d love to hear from you.

I know people online tend to vent a lot but the mere presence of these stories cautions me. I’m not overly harsh on my bikes, actually the bike mechanic said he was impressed with how clean my bike and frame were given that they were 10 years old. Despite that though I have dropped it a few times and I’ve actually crashed trail riding at least 3 times. It’s hard for me to imagine that my expensive frame could be toast after a small crash or fall against a flagpole or something.

This is what’s led me to look at Titanium (Ti) as a frame material. I’ve specifically been looking at the Lynskey Cooper and Litespeed Xicon frames. They’re the only two frames remotely in my price range as Ti is pretty darn expensive. Fortunitly for me there’s a glut of Ti on the market and the economy is depressed thus manufacturers have responsed with cheaper frames.

It’s still very light (not as light as CF), extremely strong, and nearly impervious to scratching or other small damage especially if you go with the natural frame and not painted. The weakest point in a Ti frame actually is the weld which is much easier to inspect visually than every square inch of the frame like in CF. About the only things people can say bad about Ti is the price and the fact that the frames can’t be shaped as creatively as CF.

Bike Test Riding

I’m hoping to ride all of the bikes (or close cousins) before dropping the coin on one. I started this past weekend trying out a Lynskey R330 frame, it was the only Lynskey the LBS had but they could order me a Cooper. Unfortunately it was also tricked out with SRAM Red components, their top of the line group set. It can only get worse from here and while I was primarily interested in testing out the feel of the Ti frame it was nice to try out the SRAM shifting technology (more on that in a later post).

I was able to accelerate quickly on the Lynskey with little to no flex in the frame, very much the opposite of my aluminum mountain bike. The road noise wasn’t really noticeable or jarring but I wasn’t able to ride it very far either. It was certainly a completely different ride than my mountain bike, that’s for sure. I tried accelerating, stopping, fast turns, slow turns, hitting bumps on purpose, and some quick road obstacles and the frame was very stiff and responsive. Nothing in my limited skill set seemed to cause any concern while riding it.

I was mostly concerned about accelerating and how flexible the Bottom Bracket (BB) felt. Since it did so well I’m very excited to see if I can find an actual Lynskey Cooper or Litespeed Xicon to try out, easier said than done but I’m determined to find them as I have high hopes for these affordable Ti frames. I’m also planning on test riding the Trek Madone 4.5 or a low end 5 series as well as the Look 566. I’ll keep everyone posted when I do.

Previous Weight — 285.8 lbs
Current Weight — 280.4 lbs
Change In Weight — -5.4 lbs

That was way more than I expected. I was down a bit a few days after last weeks weigh-in but this is crazy. I have to admit I feel it this week, thinner that is. I’ve ventured into a new smaller bet loop but it’s not quite comfy yet. My pants and shirts that I just bought are all feeling big already and the other shirts I kept out of the box are downright ginormous on me.

I’m a bit more confident now in hitting this months goal weight of 275 pounds as that’s only 5.4 pounds away now. Last week it was a bit more insurmountable at 10.8 pounds. What a difference a week can make!

My goal for this new week is more of this last week, lots of focus and determination. It also helps a ton that my wife is firing on all cylinders now as well, two motivated people are always more powerful than one.

Do you have a significant other helping you along the way?

It’s Friday, I’m going to start on Monday.
I can’t start today, I’ve already eaten bad, tomorrow I’ll do it.
I’ll start on the first, I’m to busy right now.
I’ve already eaten bad this weekend so what’s a few more days.
I just wanna relax, it’s been a crazy week.
I don’t want to waste this food I’ve already bought, once it’s gone I’m all in.

The list goes on an on. Every time I wanted to start I could think of a million reasons why waiting a bit longer just made more sense. Convincing ones self that tomorrow is “close enough” is much easier than realizing that today is yesterdays tomorrow.

Stop The Insanity

Get off the couch, put down the snickers bar, and just start changing your life. Stop making excuses or future broken promises and do your self a solid instead.

Start now, heck start yesterday! You know what you’ve eaten the past 24-48 hours. Write it down and start from there. Waiting till tomorrow will get you nowhere quickly, there’s always another tomorrow waiting to take it’s place.

I’ve dealt with being sick, having sick kids, hurt backs, sore muscles, bum ankles, a pregnant wife, holidays, vacations, and a host of other obstacles and yet I still stopped the insane tomorrow promises and decided to live in today. I still found time to workout and eat right.

Yea, you might have to watch less TV, there’s a shocker. You might even have to get up early (or stay up late) to do your workouts. The key is to just do it and keep doing it however it works for you. Get creative, get crazy, just get moving.

You can do the same thing I’m doing … if I can do it I’m certain that everyone who really want it can as well.

Life Happens, Get Over It

You will fail at something along the way, yes I said you will fail … deal with it. Just don’t be afraid of it and don’t expect it not to happen to you because it will and if you think otherwise you won’t be getting on track for a long while.

What you have to do instead is plan for it to happen. No, I’m not telling you to sabotage yourself and go buy a chocolate cake and I’m not giving you carte blanch to eat bad whenever you want. Instead I’m tell you to prepare for failure by resolving to not give up and to not let that failure cascade till it gets out of hand.

If you have a bad meal or miss a workout no biggie. Don’t stress on making it up by working out more or skipping meals, that just leads to a host of other problems. Instead, just don’t eat another bad meal and make sure you don’t miss your next workout. It’s a simple solution to a problem that can seem overwhelming and riddled with guilt.

The key is to get going and once your going don’t let life stop you from living. You can still enjoy a nice meal out, a BBQ with friends, an ice cream splurge here and there and all without guilt … just don’t make it every meal and know when to stop.

Life will throw you curveballs in the form of food and obstacles to working out. Your challenge is finding creative ways to roll with the punches and keep being that healthy new you and to NOT give up and restart tomorrow. You and I both know how easy those tomorrows become days, weeks, and years.

The weekend wasn’t perfect but we did really well overall considering it was a lazy holiday weekend. We had two meal out when we ate bad but other than that we ate really well and even managed to barbecue a bunch of food on Monday. Are we as perfect as I’d like, no, but we’re doing the best we can while still pushing to be healthy.

Enough banter, now on with this weeks weight-in:

Previous Weight — 288.4 lbs
Current Weight — 285.8 lbs
Change In Weight — -2.6 lbs

After being up last week I’ll take this loss and run with it. Like I said, being sick it’s been hard to workout but I’ve still managed to get something in, maybe not as long as I’d like, but still a workout. No, I’m not crazy and working out with a fever, that part is gone and I didn’t work out then … I slept. This is the aftermath of the sneezing and coughing collateral damage. Nothing a little motivation and determination can’t cure!

Running Update

As you might remember, my wife and I are training for a 5.7 mile race in October. To get us on a plan and an organized schedule we started using a couch to 10k application on our iPhones. It’s a lot like the couch to 5k version except that it’s obviously designed for a longer race. A 10k is a tad over 5.7 miles so we figured it made more sense to use this application while training instead of the the 5k one.

Anyhow, we’ve completed the first three days of the program, actually did day three yesterday. So far so good … the intervals are really easy right now, only 30s of running and 5 min of walking for about an hour. It works up pretty quickly though so I’m not complaining.

After having not run for a few months my feet are still getting used to running on real cement and not a treadmill. I’ve been weight and cardio training for about 6 month now in my Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) but running is still hard on my feet.

After day three yesterday the bottoms of the balls of my feet are bruised again. I think my form is a bit off, maybe I’m coming down too much on my forefoot and not enough on my midfoot. Also, walking fast for me is actually harder than running in the VFF, call me weird. I actually had to switch into my regular shoes yesterday to walk home after we finished running my feet hurt so bad.

We have a few rest days now and then we’ll be back at it doing longer intervals. I’ll keep everyone posted how it goes.

Goals Update

I wanted to writeup a quick blurb on how my short and long term goals are faring. Entering into June I have a goal at the end of the month to be at 275 pounds. Obviously that’s a little over 10 pounds away which will mean that I’m going to need to drop 2.5 pounds per week over the next 4 weeks. Totally doable but certainly a significant challenge. I’m obviously going to keep the goal since I know I can do it but I’m going to have to be spot on this month.

I’m a little behind on my birthday goal of reaching 250 pounds. Nothing to cause me to cancel it but having a few weeks of slow to no losses if putting the goal seriously at jeopardy. Depending on now the June goal goes I may adjust my birthday goal.

How are your goals going for the summer?