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Friday, April 30, 2010

Challenge 2: MAY - 30 workouts 30 days

Month one is almost done, I'll report back tomorrow with the numbers and thoughts on the first month of the preseason. Great start but the fittest of my life is a long way off so May will need to be as tough as 2 a days in a NFL training camp, but unlike some vets who like to conveniently have contract talks during camp and "sit out" the hard work, I'm ready. On the exercise front  - one goal for May:

"Workout for at least an 1 hour a day for  30 straight days"

Then a rest day Monday May 31st, until then at least one hour of activity (and no dog walking will no longer count). hikes are fine, core and strength training, cycling, tennis, swimming, run/walks are all in the mix. Seems pretty simple but I know life creeps in including an anniversary, a visit from my Mom and a lot less structure at work but I know it is doable. The rough plan:
Saturday long ride or run
Sunday Tennis training
Monday run plus push ups
Tues ride and tennis plus core
Wed run and swim plus push ups
Thurs ride or run plus core
Fri ride plus push ups

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

all about the process but...

I know I've been talking up the benefits of soul sport and doing things for sake of doing things but this year I also need a bit of focus to keep me pushing through. The plan is to have a dozen or so monthly challenges and a final biggest challenge at the end of the the 45th year to put a cap on what I hope to be a journey to my fittest year ever. So far some conventional ideas a half ironman, a double century bike ride, a marathon, others??? I need some creative help.. the goal is something that will be doable 14 or 15 months from now (by June 2011) but will seem like a stretch! thanks

Monday, April 19, 2010

Heading down.

Weight starting to get back in line and exercise on the up take. So very weird???  Backed off specific training plan and in the last week played tennis 3 times, had 3 hr plus hikes, 2 weight workouts and a long bike ride. Never really did like to be told what to do maybe that is even the case with a training plan. Oh well.

Thinking through my soul sport post and it wasn't really accurate. Having an end goal is actually quite motivating for me, but too structured a training program to get there seems to drag me down and take the fun and play out of the whole thing. Turns into "a have to do" rather than "a want to do", need to investigate this some more. There is a lot of research out there that would support the idea that obligation is way less powerful than passion (or positive affect in research speak). So maybe I need to keep reading and in my own mind understand the type and general training I should be doing but still leave me some room to play and listen to the body somewhat day to day. Anyway if you are reading this I need to come up with 12 challenges for the year of 45. I've already committed to ride the distance of the tour de france by the end of summer, technically Sept 21, 2010 3600 kms or 2250 miles. Other cool suggestions welcome, I may do more than 12 so please leave a comment if you can or dm on twitter.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

#I8this 1 for 1

Way too boring for everyone to track every bite online but i did write it down today, weird 3 pm cereal snack and a bit too much polenta at dinner but otherwise met all the goals for today 1/1

Soul surfer and the art of working out

So in my working life I study leisure, no not a typo, I have a PhD in Recreation and Leisure Studies and teach/research at a local university. More on that later, but one of the things I'm really interested in is why people do, and continue with certain activities. I'm really fascinated by this idea of doing things just because, true intrinsic motivation.  The whole soul surfer idea, surfers or snow boarders who don't compete but just look for challenges out there. Been watching a great video podcast on this kind of person (check out http://www.theseasontv.com/) also http://www.zentriathlon.com/ also seems to get this, plus he is entertaining as hell! This idea of pursuing excellence but not necessarily in a formal organized competitive,way is really cool. One summer i had a chance to golf early often by myself and loved the idea of not keeping score but just getting that perfect felling of hitting a great shot or even creating interesting and challenging situation on the course to try. Same with tennis for me, nothing like getting into the rhythm of hitting tons of balls just trying for the perfect sound, feel and swing.
  Being the analytic sort I've discovered a pattern that my pursuit of a leisure activities seems to be inversely related to the precision of my plan and the formality of an event! Sign up for a century ride and my bike gathers dust, develop an intricate couch to 5 k plan with ever second timed out and the couch wins. I have enough of a psychology background to know that we could talk about fear of failure or success and goal avoidance and a whole bunch of stuff but really looking at this I think the answer is pretty simple. I really hate to add external incentives to my favorite activities. In the past I loved to play tennis for hours and hours a day as a kid and teen and then I taught tennis and eventually it became my full time job, a dream job to some but it started to kill my passion for the sport. A passion I'm just getting back nearly 20 years later.
This whole idea of soul athletes is something I'm develop a research project one, so if you are one of them send me an email love to talk to you!

So this year, the up coming year of 45, I'm trying to get that athletic soul back! I'm still having goals but the plans will be much looser and the events will be viewed more like challenges (just words but we all know words can be very powerful), my plan will be to get out there and take on challenges as they come (some will be events but the training will be focus NOT the ultimate performance on the day) if I feel good I'll ride a bit more, still push through the tough days but no 1 min intervals or power monitors, sorry Chris Carmichael, just time and mileage and even not that some days.

Now if you read the last post on food good in chance in June that I'll be presenting my rational for a detailed half marathon program!!! but for now my goals are pretty straight forward. As my fitness improves more specific training may be needed but maybe I can just do the soul sport thing, constantly challenging myself to get better everyday, sounds kinda corny but also like a whole lot of fun!

FITNESS COMMITMENTS
Walk every day
Light flex/yoga in the am and pm
Breathe hard and get sweating at least a couple of times a week
Work on getting stronger a couple of times a week.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

eating hmmmm #I8this

So the key for the pre season is to get the diet in order. A message from my lovely wife(M) pretty much outlines how its been going, it has my attention just not my action!

J: I'm going to start cutting gluten out of my diet
M: That sounds like a great idea
J: Do we have any flour? I want to make bread
M: (shakes head sadly while heading out to buy chicken breasts and salad)

So what am committing to much more publicly for the next 2 weeks?

no alcohol
drink 2l plus water a day
no red meat
keep a food diary


So today
Scottish oatmeal cooked in light soy milk with walnut, and babes honey local and yummy
 2 espresso and a coffee (honest at least!)
Thai kitchen noodles, chicken breast, 2 cups of frozen Asian veg mix
for later snack banana and Brazil nuts
dinner salad chicken breast blue cheese dressing and avocado
snack leftover oatmeal

Monday, April 12, 2010

Getting the rust off!

Well a week or so in and spring training is indeed required. Sore knees, a tricky little back issue and way less on the training log than I had hoped, but it has started. Managed a few decent bike rides a couple of strength workouts, some tennis and a bit of walking..... all and all not to bad in the fitness department. Nutrition on the other hand is atrocious! Crazy bad carb craving, eating way more calories than I need and just some plain dumb mistakes, well not mistakes but conscious choices. It is an important difference!! HELP is on the way.....Chicken breasts are cooked and salad is in the fridge, soy milk and oatmeal, are readily available so no excuses. The weird thing is actually like to eat healthy. For me it is all about habit and structure. If I plan to eat a certain way and keep it up for a few days all is good, unfortunately it works the other way as well. I need to limit my choices to a couple of things for breakfast, same for lunch and bit more variety at dinner AND  I'm not a great guy to take off a weekend, just doesn't work at my age, actually not sure it really works for anyone!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Challenge 1: April ride the Tour de France

I'm going to ride the Tour de France, no I'm not suffering some sort of delusion, no Armstrong like comeback (can you comeback if you've never been there?). No this is a little mind game to get some km in on the bike. My goal is to ride the distance of tour before the summer ends. So between April 3 and December 31, 2010  I'm going to ride at least 3600 kms (2250 miles) the distance of this year's tour. On my monthly check in I'll report my kms. First ride in today, damn cold but super fun! If you happen to stumble onto this blog I'm looking for a dozen or more challenges (one for each month of the 45th year). Suggestions welcome and needed!!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

And so it begins

April 1st, the day  training camp begins. Always loved the idea of spring training just never really acted much on it, as you might guess coming from a former 324lber!  Training camp runs from April 1 to June 20. 81 days to get ready to get fit, sounds a bit excessive but I am smart enough and old enough to realize that at 44 you need to build slowly and with a plan if you want to move forward. I'm following an older Outside Magazine article, http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/200205/200205shape_of_your_life.html for the next three months. Essentially it is a pretty basic program with interval workouts 3 times a week and strength training twice a week. I'm playing with it a bit to adapt to my issues like a touchy back and adding in getting back on the tennis court and getting in a longer bike ride on the weekends.

The starting numbers are:
weight 243 lbs
chest 45 inches
waist 44 inches
hips 46 inches

By June 20 I plan to have the following numbers.
weight  219
chest 44
waist 39
hips 43