I Finally Get It

It's been a while since I last updated this blog. I finally have something to say again, so it was time for an update.

First, a bit of back-story. You will need it to truly understand what I am talking about in this post.

As many of you know, I have been trying to get into better physical condition. I hired a trainer a number of years ago to push me and get me into a much more healthy state. I was able to drop from my high of 250 pounds to a much more manageable 205. I would love to get below 200, but I am not sure it is ever going to happen. I am a big guy. I come from big, Northern European farming stock. My grandfather was big, my dad was big, and I am big. Let's just say that I am much more suited to lift up your car as opposed to run along side it.

Also, I have always toyed with the idea of entering the draw for the Hawaii Ironman. Dreading it if I ever got picked as swimming, cycling and running are not strong suits for me at all. Running in particular. Remember, I'm a big guy and not built for distance running.

So, last year, I started running on the treadmill as a good form of cardio. I was getting bored with the elliptical machine and decided that running might not be all that hard (yes, I am an idiot). I am a fairly stubborn guy so I started running by setting the treadmill at 5.0 mph with an incline of 2% to mimic outdoor running and I would run for an hour. I was too stubborn to give up. The first few times I would have to drop the speed a bit as my heart rate would go a bit too high for my liking, but I would run for the hour.

I didn't do this religiously, but I would try to run as regular as my schedule would allow. I tried to run twice per week, but it eventually dropped to nothing.

This year, I decided to try running outside. I would run with my trainer for a bit to a point in one of our parks and then I would do other exercises. I think the furthest we would run would be a couple of klicks. Nothing to far. On days when my trainer wasn't able to work with me, I would run in the river valley. I started with a 5 km loop and then found a 7.5 km loop that I could do in less than an hour. I am not what one would call speedy.

So, today I decided to try a route based on my home. I created a 10 km loop using Runkeeper.com  and made sure it wasn't too challenging. There are a couple of hills in it, but nothing major. The hills coming out of the river valley downtown are a nightmare so I didn't want something that was going to kill me right off the bat.

I got up this morning, had my breakfast and coffee and then got ready to go out. I changed into my running gear, put on my new RoadId bracelet, set up my new heart rate monitor and GPS, stretched and went outside.

As soon as I set foot out the door, the skies opened up and the rains came down. It wasn't a lot of rain and as I am a big guy, I get damp running anyway. I started out on my run despite the wind and rain. As I got into my run, I looked at my watch and noticed that my pacing was a bit faster than I was used to. I chalked it up to a bit of extra adrenalin and told myself to slow down. I didn't. When I was running downtown, my pacing was around 6:30 per km. This time, every time I looked, I was closer to 5:30 per km. A full minute faster was not something I expected.

So, as I was running in the wind and rain, I would pass people sitting in bus shelters waiting for their bus. Many people in their vehicles would drive past me on their way to wherever they were going. I ran by some people moving into their new home (well, new to them anyway). I ran past trucks trying to deliver their loads and buses filled with people on their way to wherever. The whole time I was thinking of when I used to be one of them and see someone outside running in the inclement weather. When I would pass them I would immediately think that the person running was nuts. Something was wrong with their head. Why would they run in the crap like that when I am sure they have a nice warm, dry place they could be in instead. Well, this time, I was that crazy guy and yes, I did have a nice warm, dry place that I could have been in. I decided that my health was worth a bit of rain and wind. So I continued running.

As I would check my watch, my heart rate was doing nicely, my pacing seemed to be fast but steady, and the klicks kept racking up. Before I knew it I was at the quarter way mark, then the half way mark, then the three-quarter way mark. I could see my finish and I still had energy to burn. I am sure that I could have gone further, but 10 km was the furthest I had ever run all in one time. Before last year, I couldn't even say that I had run 10 km combined! So I stopped. I stopped my GPS from tracking so it could set my run program and I could analyze it to death. Here is what my watch told me:

• Start time: 1:23 pm
• Duration: 1:02:01
• Distance 10.02 km
• Average Heart Rate: 151 (86% of max)
• Max Heart Rate: 170 (97% of max)
• Min Heart Rate 88 (50% of max)
• Calories 1170 KCal
• Fat burn % of calories 10%
• Average Pace: 6:11 min/km
• Maximum Pace: 5:00 min/km
• Max Altitude: 662m
• Ascent: 55m
• Descent 30m

The things that shocked me the most were the duration and pacing. I have never run that fast. I never did it on the treadmill. I never did it outside with or without my trainer. I never thought I could run that fast. I know, for many of my friends who run they are thinking that I am slow. But to me, that was speeding. And that pace was set even though I had to stop for traffic lights 5 times. I don't think it would have dropped my pace much, but my pace was faster than the watch said.

Here is what it looked like:

Pace is in grey and heart rate is in red. You can see that I was able to keep my heart rate in a great fitness zone. I didn't get out of hand but it's easy to see where it starts to burn some of my fat stores instead of the sugars in my blood. I will be tracking this to see if I can keep my heart in the yellow zone longer as I run more.

So what does all of this have to do with the title for this post. Well, I finally get it. This run felt great. I felt great during every moment of this run. There were times when my brain would tell me to quit, but I wouldn't. The numbers at the end showed me that I had accomplished something that I never thought I could. Even with the wind in my face and the rain coming down I couldn't imagine myself wanting to be doing anything else. I was happy just putting one foot in front of the other and listening to the sounds of the world around me. I finally get what all of my running friends were talking about. This was actually fun. Don't get me wrong. I know there are going to be days where I won't get that feeling and I will be slogging through just to get my runs in. But now I can actually see myself entering a half-marathon and not just working to complete it, but actually running it to a respectable time.

I don't think that I will ever become a world class marathoner or ultra marathoner or anything like that. But I may just become one of those recreation runners that you see with a group of people in some of the nastiest conditions mother nature can throw at us.

I am going to try to write more about my running experiences in this space, so let me know what you think.

Dear Saskatchewan Roughriders

Dear Saskatchewan Roughriders:

As I sit here on my couch watching another rough effort against the winless BC Lions, I have come to realize a couple of things.

The first thing that I realize is that I really miss the atmosphere at games at Taylor Field. Since moving to Edmonton, I have only been able to get to a handful of home games in the past 9 years, but I hope to get to more. (I know this game is in BC, but I realized it nonetheless)

But, the second thing I realized is much more profound. I liken our relationship to a father and a child (me being the father and you being the child). Let me explain.

Like any father, I love you unconditionally. I supported you when you were at your worst (2-14 springs immediately to mind) and I have celebrated with you when you were at your best. I wasn't around for the 66 win, but I have been there for every appearance at the big game for the past 42 years. And like any parent, I will continue to be there as long as I am able. However, just because I love you doesn't mean I can be disappointed in you. And let me tell you, right now I am very disappointed in the road you seem to be going down.

It looks to me like you are trying so hard to excel that when it doesn't work, you give up. As individual players, it looks like you don't trust each other to do trust that each of you will perform. This causes you to second guess each other and try to help at the detriment of your own game. It looks like you are always trying to "hit the home run" instead of playing ball control and sustaining drives. I know, you are trying to impress everyone by showing that you can make the sexy, big play. But, you can bore us all to death playing ball control if it means that you play as a team and win games.

It looks like you are going into games with the expectation that because you have been to the final for the past 2 years, the opposition is going to lay down and let you win. As professional athletes you must know that when you are successful you are the targets for every team next year. They each want to prove that they can take you down. And this year, you have been letting them.

I know, you have had your heart broken as some of your favourite players have moved away. But that doesn't mean that your heart had to go with them. You need to look inside yourself and realize that your heart is still in Saskatchewan and you need to let it show. You need to stand up and say that you are still the Saskatchewan Roughriders and players will come and go, but the team remains. You need to go out and play your hardest knowing that players will break your heart again.

Because I love you, I am starting to think that I have been much too lenient with you and you are starting to slide. Maybe it's time for some tough love from your parents. Don't get me wrong, I will still be there for you, but now it's time for you to step up and be there for me. I don't want to punish you, but perhaps I need to take away some of your freedoms until your attitude improves.

So let's make a deal. Right here, right now. You need to step up and improve and I will continue to allow you your celebrations. But, if you don't then I don't want to see a single celebration for anything. That means no celebrating sacks, touchdowns, first downs, interceptions, fumble recoveries, and any thing else that you seem to want to dance about today. Right now, you have nothing to celebrate. So what do you say? Do we have a deal?

As a family, we can do anything if we set our minds to it. My mind is set. Is yours?

Sincerely,
One of your many parents.

Operation 204 - Chapter 42

Happy Thursday!

This is another two-fer update as I am going to tell you about Monday's Absolution class and today's run. I also have some good news, but I'll get to that later.

Monday's class was interesting. The class that I attended was held at a different location of World Health than I normally go to. I usually work out at the City Centre location, but the Absolution class there doesn't fit my schedule. So, I found a class that does. Monday night's at 7:30 at the location on 50th Street and 137th Avenue. It is relatively new and used to be a Club Fit before the merger.

Anyway, as this was a newer location I thought that this gym would be a nice place. Yeah, it really wasn't. It was small, cramped, and seemed to be full of "juice monkeys". Ah well, at least I was there for my class. The class right before mine was a Zumba class which is a new take on aerobics. It involves high energy dancing to a driving beat. It looks like the people there were having fun. Anyway, as soon as that class was over, we could get in for the Absolution class. However, the downside to immediately following a Zumba class is that the room smelled like a hockey locker room. So, at this point I am not having high hopes for the class. I am not enjoying the location, the room, or anything.

So, our instructor comes in, introduces herself and tells us about the class. Here was the surprise for me. The class focuses on the core, of course. It does this by having us do various exercises. Each exercise lasts for 1 minute. The class lasts for 36 minutes and there are no breaks at all. Oh crap. As Karissa will tell you, I enjoy my rest time in between exercises. This was essentially a 36 minute superset.

I don't remember all of the exercises that we did, but a short list of what I do remember consists of crunches, crunches with a twist, reverse crunches, wide leg crunches where we had to reach for the opposite heel, reverse crunches with a leg extension, a held crunch while scissor kicking, a side crunch while also lifting the legs, a superman starfish move, and a few others. All I know is that after a certain point in time, my body was just in pain. It was the toughest class I have ever taken - and that includes my time when I took Mathematical Economics during my undergrad degree. But, the 36 minutes did fly by and by the end, I felt good. I plan on taking the class again next week. It will be a new set of exercises so I am looking forward to it.

That takes me to today's run. Today was one of those days where I had zero energy at the end of the day. I really didn't want to go to the gym at all, but I forced myself to go there. I can tell you right now, that there was something telling me not to go. I get there, get signed in, and head to the locker room. I enter my code to open the door and it doesn't work. I try it again, still no chance. So, I try a third time and same result. I head back to the desk and the girls up there say "not again" and check my file. It seems that they gave me a new entry code and didn't tell me. I take the new code and in I go.

I get to my locker, dial the combination and the lock won't open. I try it again. Nope. Again. Nope. I head back to the desk and they check my combination to make sure I am using the correct one. I head back into the locker room to try again, same result. Finally the locker room attendant opens the lock with his master key and I take it to the front desk to try it. They can't unlock it either so I had to get a new lock. So now I need to remember a new entry code and a new locker combination. I was sure that at this point in time, the world was telling me not to work out.

So, I said screw the world, and I went to the treadmill! Again, I set it up for 60 minutes at 5 mph and away I went. Here are the numbers from today's run.

Elapsed Time: 70 minutes
Calories: 923
Distance: 5.38 miles
Distance Climbed: 271 feet
Average Speed: 4.61 mph
Average Pace: 13:00 / mile
Average Heart Rate: 152 bpm

Once I get a few more data points I will graph them to see my progress.

Anyway, the run today was tough. As I said earlier, I didn't want to be there, but I made sure that I finished it anyway. I fought for every mile that I ran and it was tough. No pain this time, but my breathing was a bit more laboured than usual. The last 15 minutes was really tough, but I dug deep and made sure that I completed the hour. I feel really good now for doing the run and the body feels pretty good too. I made sure that I stretched well before running and I think that helped.

So now to the good news. I reached my goal of 204 pounds. I really didn't think that it was possible when I started my plan, but here I am. 39 pounds lighter than the beginning of my workouts and 41 pounds lighter than my high weight of 245. I am quite proud of myself for getting here, but now I need to set a new goal. Now that I am here, I believe that I can do better. So, my new goal is going to be 195 pounds. I haven't been there since high school so I am going to do my best to get there.

The reason for this new weight goal is that I still have a few pounds of fat that I want to get rid of. If I keep working out and eating well then I know that I can do it. At the rate I am going, I expect to have my goal reached sometime in March, but they say the last 10 pounds are the toughest. Wish me luck.

See you tomorrow. I work with Karissa then, so I am sure she has created some new version of hell for me! Going to have to change the name of my chapters now too.

Operation 204 - Chapter 41

Happy Friday everyone!

It was my first workout with Karissa this year. I hadn't seen her since before the New Year's holiday, so I was both looking forward to and dreading this workout. I knew it was going to be tough - I had no idea - but I knew that I needed to get back into my routine.

My legs have been really tight from my running so I got to the gym early today to make sure that I could warm up properly and get all stretched out. I used the elliptical for 10 minutes then I stretched for another 15 to make sure my legs could handle it. I thought that today we would work on legs as we hadn't done that in a while. My guess was correct. We did legs. We also did some chest work, some back work, some tricep work, some bicep work, and finally some core work.

We started out on the TRX Machine again today. The first superset was made up of 3 exercises. We started with my favourite - suspended lunges! I did 12 per side then moved onto a mat to do a hellish push-up exercise as the second part of the superset. This time I had to hold at the top for 3 seconds, then hold at the bottom for 3 seconds. I had to do 10 pushups this way. The final exercise was TRX rows but only 10 reps for this wonderful slice of life. Then a short break. As Karissa thought my push-ups looked a little too easy, she decided to make them tougher by making me hold it for 5 seconds instead of 3. It sounds easy, but it isn't. The part that gave out was the shoulder blades from holding myself at the bottom of the push-up.

After those 3 reps, we moved onto the leg press machine. Normally I don't mind the leg press as I have quite strong legs. This wasn't one of those times. It seems that Karissa learned a new exercise from her trainer and decided to try it on me. This time we did a couple of warm up sets of 10 reps to find a good weight. We started with 4 plates, then moved to 6 plates, and finally 8 plates. So I had already done 3 sets of leg press. Then the hell began. The twist this time was to do 10 sets of 10 reps with a 30 second break in between. I had to have 1 plate removed after 7 sets as I just couldn't push the weight anymore. In case you are wondering, 8 plates plus the machine is 382 pounds. 7 plates is 337 pounds. So in total, for leg press, if you include my warm up, I pressed a whopping 45,610 pounds in a very short time. My legs hated me after that one.

From there we moved to another superset of which there were only 2 exercises. This time I had to do triceps dips on the bench - 15 reps. This time though, unlike the last time I did this exercise, i didn't get to use bent legs as a mechanical advantage. This time is was legs straight out in front of me so they couldn't help at all. Right after those, I moved to do 21s for the biceps. It has been a while since I have done these, so I'll explain them here. I don't even know what the barbell weighed that we used, but you start like any other barbell bicep curl. Starting at the bottom, curl the bar until the arms are parallel to the floor, then lower. Repeat 7 times. Then curl the bar all the way to the top and lower it until the arms are parallel to the floor. Repeat 7 times. Finally do 7 complete bicep curls. Those last 7 are going to hurt - no question. We repeated that tiny superset twice.

The final superset of the day also only had 2 exercises. I didn't mind these ones for some reason. Maybe because my core is getting stronger, so it seemed easier than I would have expected. The first exercise was a plank with a new piece. This time while in the plank, I had to lower both knees to the floor, then back up - all while holding the plank. Repeat 10 times. The second exercise was what we called a quarter Superman. On my stomach, arms spread out to the sides, lift one leg off the floor then lower it. Repeat 10 times per leg. You know you are doing this exercise right when you feel the back doing the work and not the butt. We did this superset 3 times.

After that, I was done. Day over. Off to the rest of my evening. My legs already feel that press exercise, so tomorrow is going to be interesting. I am so glad I stretched out before hand as I wouldn't have been able to walk at all after that.

Next week, I am changing my routine slightly. I am going to take an ab workout class on Monday so that means no running. I am moving that to Thursday then working with Karissa again on Friday. So, my week is, gym, curl, curl, gym, gym weekend. Not bad.

Oh, and for those of you keeping track, I have lost another pound and am down to 208. Getting really close to my goal, which means I should soon start thinking about my next goal.

See you next week.

Operation 204 - Chapter 40

Happy Monday everyone!

Another Monday, another treadmill day. Again I was dreading today's treadmill run. I curled 6 games on the weekend so I was a bit tired today. I know, all of you non curlers are laughing, but for any of you who have curled, you know how I feel. Non curlers, let me know when you have time and I'll take you out on the ice and we'll see how you do after a 30 minute practice!

So, the treadmill today. The gym was packed today, so I didn't get the machine that I like. There were still lots of treadmills available, but you know how it is, you find one you like and you want to use it every time. So, I used one that I haven't used before. It didn't quite operate properly, but I'll tell you about that later.

So today was another usual treadmill setup. 60 minutes followed by a 10 minute cool down. My heart rate max was set to 154 and the speed to 5 mph. The machine adjusts the incline to adjust my heart rate. If my heart rate gets too high and the incline is already at zero, then the machine will slow down automatically to adjust my heart rate.

I should let you know that I also use my own heart rate monitor as I don't always trust the ones on the machine, plus, to check your heart rate on a treadmill, you really should stop running to grasp the bars in front of you.

This time, the machine didn't slow down when my heart rate went up. I think that I peaked around 171 bpm, but I could still handle it. My breathing was starting to be affected, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle.

So, the run itself...let's split it into thirds. The first third was hard, the second third was harder, and the final third was pure hell. Again, I wanted to stop many times, but I didn't. I pushed through everything to make sure that I finished strong. My numbers show how I did this time.

Elapsed Time: 70 minutes
Calories: 942
Distance: 5.38 miles
Distance Climbed: 247 feet
Average Speed: 4.61 mph
Average Pace: 13:00 / Mile
Average Heart Rate: 154 bpm

That average heart rate includes the 10 minute cool down and the ramp up to get my heart rate up. So, I was clipping along a lot higher than where my training max is supposed to be. So, as I wasn't struggling too much, I think I need to find out where my max heart rate really is.

To that end, I will be getting tested here at Grant MacEwan College. They do a body age assessment, body comp analysis and a VO2 Max test. I am not looking forward to that, but it is a necessary evil if I want to train more effectively.

Anyway, I am so glad I have some motivation to continue working out, else I would probably stop and that wouldn't be good.

I also think that I am going to be moving my treadmill workout to Thursdays as there is an abs class that I want to take on Mondays. I don't want to do both in one night, as one seems to be enough. So, my week will look like: Gym (abs), curl, curl, gym (treadmill), gym (trainer), weekend. Not sure if I am going to go hit the treadmill this Thursday or not, but I'll let you know if I do.

See you later this week.

Operation 204 - Chapter 39

Happy New Year everyone!

This is going to be a quick post, as I was back in the gym today for a quick treadmill workout. Not sure why I went back to the treadmill as after last weeks workout, I was in pain for two days after. My legs were killing me for two straight days. My body is not used to running.

Anyway, I didn't feel like going to the gym today either. It was one of those days where I would have been quite happy to not go to the gym. I knew it was going to be tough. There was no motivation to go. However, I went anyway. The treadmill was tough. It was hard from start to finish. There were at least three times during my run that I thought about quitting. But I didn't. I pushed through it to finish.

The numbers this time were better than the last one. I started out slightly slower, 5 mph instead of 5.5 mph like last time, to let the machine handle the incline a bit more to get my heart rate up. It worked. I climbed a lot more this time as compared to last week.

Here are the numbers:
Elapsed Time: 70 minutes
Calories: 911
Distance: 5.2 miles
Distance Climbed: 267 feet
Average Speed: 4.45 mph
Average Pace: 13:27 / mile
Average Heart Rate: 151 bpm

So in all, I went further, climbed higher and burned more calories.

Also, my weight loss is continuing at a nice health pace of about 1 pound per week. I am down to 209 pounds. I haven't been this light in years. Down 2 pant sizes and 1 shirt size. Who knew that working out could pay off like this.

No workout with Karissa this week, so look for another workout post next week.

Operation 204 - Chapter 38

Good day everyone! This post is a bit late, but I am combining two workouts into one post. I am posting about Tuesday's workout with Karissa and today's cardio workout.

Tuesday was a tough day. Karissa and I decided that we would work on shoulders and abs. Take it from me, never do this combination with a trainer as that person will create some exercises that should never have been created. Mine was a Karissa creation and she even said that it was going to be hell. When a trainer says a workout is going to be hell, you know you are in for it.

Tuesday was made up of just 2 supersets. Actually it was just one superset and one drop set. So, let's start with the superset.

This time, the superset consisted of 7 exercises with no break in between. This was a test to see if I could complete all 7 exercises then take a moderate break and get right back into it. Some of the exercises were timed, some were distance, and some were reps. It was all over the place, but it was a monster workout.

We started out with getting into the plank position and walking forward down the hallway while maintaining the plank. The hallway is about 50-60 feet long. At the end of that piece of hell, I had to to standing side crunches (don't know if that's the name or not, but that's what I'm calling them). This movement meant reaching high with one hand then crunching down while raising the opposite knee to meet the elbow. 15 per side for this one.

The third exercise meant getting back into a plank and walking sideways back down the hallway. After that movement, we started exercises four, five, and six. Exercise four was a standard crunch with the legs in the air (thankfully I could keep my knees bent). Exercise five was a crunch with a twist - legs still in the air. Exercise six was one that Karissa called a dead bug. This one meant laying on my back and straightening both legs and pointing them to the sky. Also, point both arms to the sky. From this starting position, lower one arm and the opposite leg then return them to the starting position. These three exercises were done for one minute each. Damn, but it was painful. Very hard to do.

The last exercise in this superset was to get back into the plank and side walk down the hallway again. Finally, I was allowed to take a break. My shoulders and abs were killing me after just one rep. We did this two more times. Karissa was right, it was hell!

After we did these wonderful exercises we moved onto some lat raises to really tire out the shoulders. This is where we did the dropset. We started out by warming up with 10 reps at 7.5 pounds. We did this twice. Then we actually moved onto the set. We started at 12.5 pounds and did 10 reps. Immediately after, we dropped the weight to 10 pounds and did 12 reps. Immediately after that, we dropped the weight to 7.5 pounds and did 15 reps. At the end, I wasn't sure I was going to ever be able to raise my arms again. To make this harder, we did it seated so I couldn't use the mechanical advantage gained from standing. Plus, as the weights never came in front of me, I couldn't use my chest to build some momentum.

Needless to say, this workout was tough. Karissa did tell me that she wouldn't have most of her clients do this as it is a lot of work and she knew my shoulders could handle it. High praise from her indeed.

That leads me to today. Today was cardio day. Remember how I mentioned that I was planning on trying the treadmill instead of the elliptical. Well, today was that day. The plan was to do one hour on the treadmill. Again, the plan was to keep the heart rate at my training rate of 154 bpm. Well, somehow I finished it. The last 15 minutes were extremely painful. I even developed a blister on the bottom of my right foot. I think the sock bunched on that side. As I sit here typing this, my legs are tightening up and becoming quite sore. Ah well, I don't need them for a few days.

Here are my stats as taken from the treadmill.
Elapsed Time: 70 minutes
Calories: 686
Distance: 4.87 miles
Distance Climbed: 55 feet
Average Speed: 4.18 mph
Average Pace: 14:20/Mile
Average Heart Rate: 153

The heart rate was high and the climb was low due to a couple of factors. I started out at 5.4 MPH and was handling that quite well. The treadmill adjusts the incline based on the heart rate to keep it at the target. It was up to 2.1% incline when my heart rate hit 154 and went screaming past. The incline soon dropped to zero and stayed there. Plus the treadmill kept slowing down to get my heart rate down. It became almost too slow for my gait, but I'll talk to Karissa about that. Maybe my target is too low or something like that.

Anyway, my first foray on the treadmill was a success from my standpoint. I feel great tonight.

As a final point, and most of you will hate me for this, I lost weight over the holidays. I am down to 210 pounds. Very close to my goal of 204. I won't hit my goal by the end of the year obviously, but I am still shooting for the 204. Once I get there, I will readjust my goals. It may be time to think even smaller.

No Karissa next week as curling is taking precedence, but I will try to get a cardio workout somewhere in there. If I do, I will tell you all about it.