<p>One of the things that made exercise “fun” was pushing myself to try new things. A confluence of factors came together between Thanksgiving and New Years. chintzy mentioned burpees. I stumbled across this burpees video on YouTube:</p>
<p>And, then after the first of the year, both Zuzanna and Alwyn Cosgrove in New Rules of Lifting for Abs were making do workouts that alternated between swings and burpees.</p>
<p>So, I figured that today I should go back to my “roots” with a burpee/swing workout. My usual six minute sets, three rounds of 12 swings and 6 burpees in each set. Three sets. Got Shania Twain’s *Rock This Country *on the iPod that powered me through the final two rounds of burpees in the last set. </p>
<p>So, yeah, I was sweating like a pig and panting like a dog, but I enjoyed my 20 minutes of exercise today!</p>
<p>I may have reached my goals before many of you, as I started working out six years ago to conquer the dreaded (TRULY dreaded) osteoporosis. My family history and my petite frame absolutely dictate that I will get it if I don’t take serious precautions. So I started lifting heavy things over my head in order to forestall it.</p>
<p>Fast forward six years: I’ve lost 12 or so pounds (I’ve very petite to begin with), I’ve dropped an entire size, I’ve got “bigger guns than my 22 y.o son,” and – this is the best – my posture is fantastic. My core is so strong that I want to stand up straight; it’s no effort to do so; and so I can easily draw myself up to my full 5’. </p>
<p>I look at least 10 years younger than i really am. I will never stop what I’m doing.</p>
<p>That’s quite motivational. So, for you, physical exercise was the driving force. Shedding a few pounds and getting more ripped was a side consequence. </p>
<p>I have a sneaking suspicion that this is probably the way it is for a lot of us close to our ideal target weights.</p>
<p>I think that the biggest lesson for me was Idad’s 5 pound wins. Five pounds isn’t so much – but repeated over and over again, that makes a huge difference. Meanwhile, the focus is on THIS five pounds, and when you’ve made it, you’ve won – rather than my prior focus on X to lose and 5 pounds doesn’t look that big in comparison. Just a different way to look at it mentally, but an enormously different mindset that is, for me, very helpful.</p>
<p>I guess the other thing I’ve learned is that there ARE guys out there that actually like clothes and like shopping. Learn something new every day.</p>
<p>Got my 10 mile run done, which is a real confidence booster after over a year of injury issues. It was a little cooler, which helped. I was pretty much dreading it, but even the last couple of miles went OK. Now I can go enjoy watching my running friends make fools out of themselves at the Beer Mile. H rode 60 miles on his bike. Tomorrow I am back on the bike for about a 30 mile ride. </p>
<p>Ate Greek yogurt and blueberries after the run, which isn’t enough, but the dog was insisting on a trip to the dog park. I’ll go finish my leftover black bean and goat cheese tamale from last night.</p>
<p>Beer Mile No, I do not think I can run that, but I’m hoping that someday I will be able to run the infamous High Heel Race. My fab 4-inch Jimmy Choos are probably crossing the OR-WA border inside the belly of a FedEx truck as we speak.</p>
<p>I need to digest my breakfast, and then I’m off to run my 10 miles.</p>
<p>Feared for my safety at the gym today. Lifting on 3 hours sleep after S’s all night grad party was a challenge. I’m considering trimming the boxwoods now, but I’m not sure if handling an electric trimmer is pushing my luck.</p>
<p>Ah, all night grad parties. We hosted one of those here and my wife and I took split shifts – I stayed up til about 4 (cooking buffalo chiceken wings at about 2 am) and she got up early for the breakfast shift.</p>
<p>I fear for my safety today, too. I’m going to do a commemorative workout. Carrying two 45 dumbbells down the driveway to the mailbox and back up the hill, just to remember what it was like to get the mail 16 months ago. I’ve already carried them up the stairs from the basement and they are a serious load.</p>
<p>Probably pair that with some Airdyne intervals.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I’ve got a load of Izods and cotton t-shirts in the dryer on high heat, trying to shrink them because LARGE is now falling off me.</p>
<p>Successfully ran a 3 mile trail (actually 1.48 miles twice). Temp around 78 degrees, nice breeze, gravel surface. Really pleased to find a lot of my regular loops on livestrong - don’t need to map them all! I won’t tell you how long it took me, but I did it. </p>
<p>H is walking on his own tonight. Let’s just say we needed a break from each other. :)</p>
<p>Ran just under 11 miles on the Beer Trail, 1.5 hours. The Aphipod water bottle performed well, and despite the heat and scorching sun I felt great. H did a personal best biking his usual route. Now we are heading home for some serious yardage, as in " 20 cubic yards of beauty bark" that are waiting for us. The weekend is going to be filled with fun activities :)</p>
<p>Just did 20 minutes of weights at the Y while son was running.</p>
<p>I slept for several hours this afternoon - delayed effect from the tennis marathon yesterday. Knees and arms feel very good for a day after tennis. I attribute the lack of arm issues from the switch to a softer and bigger racquet. I attribute the better knees to losing weight and, perhaps, work on my adductors and abductors last week. The YMCA has two wonderful machines to work these muscles. One of the also works the glutes. In tennis, there are three types of movements: outright running when the ball is far away, side-to-side shuffle when the ball is reachable without running, and tiny little adjustment steps to get your body position just right for hitting the ball. The adductors and abductors are used in the side-to-side shuffle. The guy that I played yesterday told me that he couldn’t get the ball away from me - everytime he hit the ball, I was where the ball was. I did feel like I was moving very well.</p>
<p>I need to grab an exercise video for some aerobic exercise for tonight. Hopefully I can just toss it on the iPad - it’s a very convenient device for doing exercise videos.</p>
<p>1) I carried the 90 lbs of dumbbells from my house to the mailbox (about 50 yards) and then back up the hill to the house. Wow. No wonder everything was a struggle. That’s a lot of weight to carry around.</p>
<p>2) Airdyne intervals after that. Six 90 second intervals. Just about killed me.</p>
<p>3) Pan seared salmon with lemon garlic sauce and fresh brocolli for dinner.</p>
<p>4) The cotton t-shirts shrunk nicely after an hour on high heat in the dryer. The izod polo shirts, not so much.</p>
<p>I can’t even begin to describe the beer mile. I had NO idea… Turns out that “costumes” (or lack thereof) are part of all this. This meant a great deal of male nudity. One of our friends (in his late 30s) ran in a thong. He had a fake Flying Monkey Marathon tattoo on his cheek (the back cheek). (many of our friends have real Flying Monkey tattoos). I did not expect this. However, he was completely upstaged by the man in an outfit I’m not sure I can describe. It was about a 3 inch strip of fabric that went from his neck to between his legs (barely covering what it was supposed to cover, and it wasn’t all that opaque) and then ran up his back. So, basically, he was wearing a thin band of fabric. He is in his 50s. Not pretty. The women were more covered up, until post-mile pool time when there were some diving board games with some mooning etc.</p>
<p>The race itself was pretty interesting. I was one of the judges to make sure they had downed the whole can. We wore rubber gloves in case someone puked while we were checking the cans. They down a beer at the start. This ranged from chugging in 20 seconds to standing there like an evening at the local pub. Then they ran the 1/4 mile (oh-the host sported a Mohawk, loincloth and lace up Indian boots) and came back to the table and drank another beer. If you puke you have to run an extra lap. There were only 2 pukes. The female winner is a slow runner (5 hour marathoner) but a GOOD drinker. She won last year, too. The fastest runner (14 minute 5K guy) took forever with his beers and finished the mile in 22 minutes, which was over a 20 minute improvement over last year.
They said you don’t feel the buzz until you stop, and then you can’t even feel your face. No thank you.<br>
Beer Mile has real “national” rules. You can register your times if the rules of the event are observed. I also was in charge of checking in the beer- had to be at least 5.0 alcohol content. Someone claimed it was easier to chug beer that was a little warm. Ugh.</p>
<p>Lots of fun and good food afterwards. H cooked the burgers and hot dogs. I truly did not expect to see so much (pun intended) of these runners. No kids were allowed. Good thing. </p>
<p>Husband and wife competing against each other. She is one of the fastest runners in the state and is 49. He outweighs her by probably 120 pounds and is not a fast runner but can get the beers down. He edged her in the last lap.</p>
<p>We had the official digital finish line clock from the running club in exchange for donations to the charity the club supports. I called it hush money. The clock was whisked away to safety as soon as the last runner staggered in.</p>
<p>idad, your carrying two 45-pound dumbbells to “simulate” your previous weight reminds me of something else. Others will remember something similar, I’m sure.</p>
<p>When S1 was born six weeks early, he weighed 5 lbs 14 oz. Since babies lose weight in their first few days, by the time I brought him home he weighed 5 lbs 4 oz – slightly larger than a five-pound bag of flour. Whenever I hold a five-pound bag of flour or sugar, I am amazed at how small that weight is, and how small S1 was.</p>
<p>Cross posted with MOWC – Her post is much more interesting than mine!!!</p>
No, I do not think I can run that, but I’m hoping that someday I will be able to run the infamous High Heel Race. My fab 4-inch Jimmy Choos are probably crossing the OR-WA border inside the belly of a FedEx truck as we speak.</p>
</p>