Feb 13

It was a great weekend I managed a CT and an RT, saw a movie, cooked on the grill, cooked a turkey that we bought for Thanksgiving and cut the grass.







Since I cut the grass what would be better than tear it up with the weight sled.....my wife managed to snap a picture or two of my primitive landscaping tool.






We had seen a Spaghetti Squash recipe the other night on Diners Drive-ins and Dives and tried to recreate it at home.

We cut the squash in half and boiled the squash for around 10 minutes..... while boiling we sweated garlic and onions in olive oil and then added squash, sweet peppers, zucchini and mushrooms and let them cook down



After the squash got soft we scrapped it out and added it to the skillet after a few minutes we threw in some sauce and the spooned the whole mixture back into the cleaned out squash boats.






Throw on some mozzarella and back into the oven till browned.

All in all it's one of those recipes that we'd fix again and it turned out to be somewhat healthy.

There's An App For That

I'm on the information cul-de-sac this morning and what do I find but Confession: A Roman Catholic App. For less than $2.00 (less than a tank of gas my friends) you can avoid going to confession and I guess you'd call it "Phoning It In"......Have we really become that gadget and app dependent that we stray away from live person to person conversation and interaction?
And would the priest use and iPod or an iGod.

One of the participants in the 52DC has a goal of "Device Free Thursdays" there is no way that I could make that goal. Between a couple of cell phones, blue tooth this and blue tooth that it seems that I'm never not connected. My wife and I both check e-mail on our phones before we ever even get out of bed. I check in for flights from either the web or my phone. I can't remember the last time I ever talked to a travel agent. I remember when traveling it was too expensive to use the modem in the hotel room..so once 5 o'clock came you were pretty much done for the day, now a days if I get an e-mail at 9:00pm I feel compelled to reply. I was grocery shopping yesterday and remember seeing a bottle of wine that looked interesting I had the name of the wine but didn't know if it was a red or a white...so I pulled out my phone "Googled" the name found the type, a picture of the label and the price range for it...all while standing in the wine isle of the grocery store (yes, that's where I find only the finest of wines).

Devils & Angels

Yep it made me laugh......also

Accomplishments week of 2/11

This past week
Spent time in Atlanta, GA, Greenville, SC & Bonita Springs, FL
Barely did 4.5 miles of cardio
Got in 2 resistance training sessions
Lost 1.2 pounds

hSaw a nice number on the scale this morning, I'm down 13lbs since the start of the 52DC. My eating really suffered this week. I think I drank 4 or 5 Muscle Milks, 4 bags of Pork Rinds and probably 5 bags of Beef Jerky....it was one of those weeks where my food choice seemed to be Fast Food or something quick from a convenience store....My Mom and Dad did feed my Fajita's on Monday night...it's always good to share a meal or two with them.

Feb 8

Have you ever been to Subway and gotten one of those perfect TV commercial subs? Well tonight I landed a 6" double meat Turkey sub that was truly TV commercial perfect. I found a site that will calculate the calories in a Subway Sandwich...I'm not attesting to the accuracy but at least it gives me a number to put in FitDay.

I worked out at ZX Fitness in Laurens SC. Anytime I get to workout in a gym I take advantage of as many of their resources that I can. Tonight I got to do Box Squats which I haven't done in a few months, Barbell Shrugs and my favorite - Deadlifts.

Feb 7

Got in a double header yesterday an early morning 42 minute walk with my wife.....followed by an afternoon RT session......followed by some Michelob Ultra and the game. The exercise was all good, the beer? It was OK not terrible, not great..just middle of the road.

Super Bowl Sunday

Being the huge football fan that I am...not...I am one that's always ready for a party, Welcome Super Bowl.
As Mr Chicken relaxes in his hot tub, it'll start boiling in a few minutes, I'm readying the ingredients for Homemade Chicken Nachos (more of those damn carbs), beer and cheese dip and a huge veggie plate.

As I cut down on beer consumption my "Beer Love" does not lessen.
I picked up a 6 pack of Michelob ULTA (95 calories and 2.6 g of carbs) last night for the game. I've been down this light beer low carb road in the past, but I'm holding out that this time the taste might be different.....besides if Lance likes it, it can't be all that bad.

Accomplishments week of 2/4

This past week
Spent time in Miami, Ft. Lauderdale & St. Petersberg FL
Survived the "Warrior Dash"
Again just shy of 14 miles of cardio
Got in 3 resistance training sessions
Broke through the 220lb mark

219.6 was not that bad of a way to start a Sunday morning.

The Warrior Dash and it's death defying fire pit leap captured by SportPhoto and for the low, low price of $52.00 I can have all of my muddy memories to cherish forever.











The finish lines' Muddy Mayhem did in my warrior cap...Ugh I had a few Spring formal events on the horizon and that hat would've completed the ensemble.

Feb -4

I took Thursday completely off from exercise....it was a long day....it started before 7:00am and finished around 11:30pm when I pulled into St. Petersberg, Fl. When 5:30am came this morning it was just to early to do any kind of cardio.

Managed an after work RT before I fell into the Chipolte Burrito Bowl trap...The Burrito Bowl not that bad calorie-wise 570 which was OK the 65g of carbs was high but I knew what I was getting into. What put me over the edge was the 73g carb loaded Chips and Salsa....damn




As many different workouts that I've tried over the years the one below is next up on my list.

Feb 1

4.6 miles of an evening walk........there's something to be said for walking a neighborhood and getting the lay of the land. Right at 14 miles worth of cardio since Saturday..



So far the boredom of the new template hasn't set in but then again it's only week two ahhhhh the joys of Adult Attention Disorder...that's what I'm blaming it on. The squat thrusts do get the heart rate up.

Jan 31

Managed to get a jump on the day yesterday by nailing an RT early in the morning. I forgot how taxing DB Snatches can be on the cardio system.
Elevated-Inverted rows (Feet on a bench) from suspension straps also managed to to set a few muscles on fire.



Got in an evening walk with wife my last night, not long enough to count as any real cardio - but long enough for the two of us to talk and get caught up on all the things that are going on.

Still holding on around 221lbs and I'm thinking about throwing my diet a curve ball to see if that will restart my metabolism.

Warrior Dash 2011 A Recap.......

Yesterday was the Warrior Dash, It was possibly one of the best afternoons that I've spent...ever. It's not about finishing with a competitive time, even though there is a winner, how do you know what's competitive when it's a 3 mile race across junk cars, hay bales, under barbed wire and over logs and up cargo nets and through tires.....The fact that you hit the finish line with a huge smile on your face lets you know that you were competitive.



You're not an Official Warrior until you get your official warrior headdress.
Yes, you need to start the race with clean clothes, the cleaner the better.








Oh yea, I forgot to mention the two fire pits you have to hurdle just one obstacle shy of the finish line...the last obstacle you ask....well it's the Muddy Mayhem pit so just in case you are on fire the muddy murky dank water will extinguish your flames....






Lots and lots of costumes...the Harlem Globetrotters showed up.











The Jolly Green Giant and Mullet Man also made an appearance. These guys were drinking beer before the race...my kind of guys.











Batman and Robin without any alcohol...these guys were actually stretching and warming up.








If you make it across the finish line you get a medal! In 46 years of life this is the first time that I've ever gotten a medal......







Mud, Sweat and Beer - In this case one for each hand! Both Light Beers which equals one real beer, I think.

My wife filmed my amazing jumping skills...it's no wonder the hair on my shins is missing.

These guys filmed the race with a helmet cam....a pretty decent representation of the race.

and yes this counts as a CT I finished in 47:58 and placed 2404 out of 5159....

Accomplishments week of 1/28

This Past Week
I didn't travel
I didn't have any beer - some whiskey
Lost a CE last night to wings
Gained close to a pound
13 miles of cardio
Started a new workout template that I actually like



221.2 ahhh the mighty scale displaying my hearty wing fest from last night.
Not that concerned, I'm sure between the salt in the wings and the 4 or 5 Diet Cokes that washed them down it's a well deserved gain.






I need to get the calories up more, more almonds, peanut butter more calories dense foods. I'm burning 3000 calories per week on exercise alone I can afford to add some calories.

Jan 28

I got to work from the house today so I treated myself to a homemade bowl of shrimp and brown fried rice, Greek yogurt with fresh blueberries....Mmmmm Mmmmm good. Unfortunately any gained health advantage from my lunch was lost at dinner time - 18 wings later I left a full and satisfied customer - on well a CE lost. The only saving grace might have been the fact that I had a double header today, a CE in the morning and then a RT before dinner. How did I manage to demolish 18 wings less than an hour after working out? Who knows but I did take in a whole bunch of protein at dinner.

Managed to walk at a 4MPH pace this morning...sunny and Friday...sweet.

Last session of the new template and I like it each of the sessions. I'm planning on working in some sloshpipe exercises, sled work and farmers walks. I took measurements on Jan 1st and re-took again this evening - 11lbs gone and 1" missing from the waistline, an 1" off the thighs, 1/2" off the biceps, 1/2" off of the chest and as usual nothing missing from the calves....still 19 1/2"..

A day without laughter is a day wasted. Charlie Chaplin