Changing It Up This Morning

I got up this morning planning to get in either a bike ride or a run but alas it was raining...I had lifted last night so a resistance session wasn't in order...so I broke out a Bob Harper DVD that I picked up off his site several months ago for $5.00.
As I unwrapped the DVD I was thinking how tough could this really be? Well damn, It was all I could do to last 30 minutes before I had to take a break...it was tough, my quads and glutes were on fire, even after several hours I could still feel the fire.
Not an easy workout by any stretch of the means and well worth the $5.00/

Eating My Way Across The Top Of The Gulf

Took a 6:00 AM flight out the other morning heading for Panama City, FL.....no not "Spring Break 2012" but for business in Mobile, AL. A road trip with a couple of colleagues and that means one thing and one thing only.....a Gulf Coast food tour.

By Tuesday evening we were all suffering from our early flight so when the subject of food came up it had to be something quick and some place that served beer. The decision reached was hot dogs (rock, paper, scissors can solve most any major decision). We asked "Siri" where we could find hotdogs and she found us a place just a few miles away, halfway to paradise, now for the beer part. A phone call to the restaurant and the question asked..."Do you serve beer?" "No"..Sad Face...then we heard these magical words...."but feel free to bring your own!"....what, seriously...I love Alabama!....We wheeled into Mike's Smokehouse Market six pack in hand with our focus set on hotdogs and beer, but the focus quickly changed when we were greeted with samples of pulled pork and smoked chicken (marketing 101)...so two meats, coleslaw and "Mac-N-Cheese" (a vegetable) and out on the patio for a BBQ feast. We were served a selection of sauces, mustard based, vinegar based, ketchup based... you name it, it was there. Mike even came out to visit us while we ate, we offered him a beer but he turned us down saying something along the lines of "If I start now I'll never make it back into the kitchen", Mike I appreciate your honestly and it left us with one extra beer. Meal 1 complete......

 

The next day for lunch we headed out for Firehouse Subs but we ended up at Cheryl's Cafe & Market and good thing we did. As soon as we opened the door we could smell all of the home cooking and see all of the homemade deserts.
I settled on the Reuben (hold the dressing) with a side of fresh fruit...amazing and one of the best sandwich's I've ever eaten and I'm a "sandwich guy" (225lb 5'8" do the math). If you are ever in Spanish Fort, AL it's worth the stop....Meal 2 complete.

 

 

The last stop  Original Oyster House.....when we pulled in I was thinking to myself "I wonder how many Original Oyster House's there are n the world?" because I bet I've eaten at three of them. The meal started with a large Yuengling, fried green tomato's with a side of fried pickles.....I never said it was a healthy trip. My dinner choice none other than Shrimp and Grits...wow as my taste buds delighted....the grits were not to cheesy and the shrimp not to blackened......The portion was just right we all left full but not suffering with that "I'm stuffed" feeling......Meal 3 complete.

You don't get great road trips every week, hell my arteries couldn't handle it, but when you do it's nice.....and yes I ran a 5k one morning and hit the gym the other so at least in my mind those two events erased all the fine Southern food.

Rituals

Rituals....I don't really have many, I'm no where near OCD, for the most part I go with the flow.
But.......when it comes to shoes I do have a ritual. I usually buy a pair of shoes and then they sit in their box for a minimum of 48 hours, then I finally break them out for their initial wearing, in today's case it was a trip to the gym, then I return home sit on the bed, unlace them and put them nicely on a shelf and return to wearing the older shoes, which have now been demoted to "Everyday" shoes (i.e. worn while washing the car, cutting the grass..etc...). I go over in my mind that these are my "NEW" shoes and I plan to wear them for only exercising in......fast forward three weeks and I'll be kicking these babies off without unlacing them and where ever they land they'll stay till I need them again.....yeah I don't have many rituals.

Another Month In The Books

It was a month of trips...Atlanta GA, Jacksonville FL, Charlotte NC, Baltimore MD and then back to Jacksonville FL.....with that being said the swimming and biking suffered but all in all I was somewhat pleased with my numbers.

For March I'm planning to do
Swim - 4000 yds
Bike 25 Miles
Run 25 Miles
and also including several hours of strength training.

The Winter 52DC finished up this week as well......my numbers.

CE: 93/104/90 (103.33%)

RT: 13/10 (130%)

CT: 10/10 (100%)

PG1 (Cycling): 10/10 (100%)

PG2 (Swimming): 15/7 (214.29%)

48 exercise sessions over 52 days, I can't say that I'm disappointed in that number. I'm still loving cycling and swimming and hopefully as the weather warms the hotels will begin opening up their pools.

9 Ways to Get Rid of All the Crap in Your Life That’s Holding You Back

Another not so original idea and post from me. It's Tuesday morning I'm in an airport and I'm tired.

 LINK

1. Remove Yourself From Negative Environments
This is a biggie for me.....I am a "Glass Half Full" kind of a guy.

2. Shut Down Social Spaces
Between Twitter, Facebook, FourSquare, Pinterest, etc.......

3. Forget About Checking Email Five Times an Hour
This one is tough, I call it the "Death of distance", between smartphones, iPads and such we are always "Connected" or "On".

4. Get Back To Pen and Paper
Years ago I took notes on a 3x5 card held together with a black binder clip and just the other day I mentioned to my wife that I need to go back to that method of tracking tasks and such.

5. Go to Bed Early
Rest is good

6. Get up Early and Utilize this Focus Time
I don't ever sleep half of the day away.

7. Say No More Often
For me this is a very hard one, I'm in the business of solving problems and more often that not that requires say "Yes" a whole bunch

8. Improve your Diet
Always a work in progress

9. De-clutter your Environment
I just cleaned closets and got rid of a storage unit last month.

I'm Not Sure If I Would Call What I Do Running

Time To Clean House

It was somewhat or a slow and laid back kind of a weekend. We bought some stained glass supplies, did some grocery shopping, cycled some, lifted some and then ended up with a few hours of down time....so it was time to clean out my RSS feeds.
I use Google Reader and it turned out that it was "watching" over 1000 accounts...Ughhhh so it was time to thin the heard. It was interesting to see how my reading habits have changed and even evolved over the years. I had several feeds on Bento Box Lunches (which got deleted) of course Fail Blog remained as a must read. The exercise group has also evolved from Squats, Bench & Deadlifts to now include Crossfit, and weight loss journeys such as Ben Does Life.  So I guess all aspects of our life must move forward or else we just wither away.
During my work travels I often get asked about a companies presence on Facebook, Twitter.....etc....should they have one, should they avoid a "Web Presence"...and the one thing above all that I always tell them is..if they decide to create a Twitter account, a Facebook account, a LinkdIn account is that they must...must...must...support it, update it, groom it, embrace it, whatever...otherwise they end up on the "delete" list when it comes time to clean house.
If you don't update your "Social Media" outlet on a regular basis you are going to end up deleted or worse irrelevant. When I decide to end the life of "Fricksworld" I said good-bye..that part of my life was over, I let everyone know it and then a couple of years or so later I fired up this site as I entered another phase in my life.
I surf across a whole bunch of web sites, from tech to exercise and a number of sites in between, and if I come across a site that hasn't been updated since 2010 I'm going to be hard pressed to spend much time there.

Picture Of The Day

Still waters run deep.......Swimming really isn't all that bad.

My Evening Project

My manly man bulletin board....

It Does Seem Legit......

Win a Lobster In a Claw Machine

So the other night I'm out with friends at Andretti Karting....lots of neon, music, video games, indoor go-karts and booze..the perfect environment for a bald late 40's adult just looking to relive his teenage years.

Even with all of those distractions I was enthralled by the Lobster Claw Machine LINK   
For $2.00 you can drop the claw of death and (hopefully) yank a lobster from it's salty home..then they cook it for you and even include a free side item........Just think for the low, low investment of $4.00 you and your lady (or man) can possibly dine on fresh from the tank lobster and a couple of sides.

Since all the lobster seems sedated and huddled in the corners of the tank I had to ask the "Lobster Boss" aka the worker standing closest to the tank..."Does anyone ever catch one of these beasts?" he replied that they fill up the tank with fresh lobsters a couple of times a week....my guess is that there's a bunch more $20.00 lobsters pulled from that tank than there are $2.00 lobsters...that's just my hunch.

A Map Of My Sprint-Tri

The Only reason That I'm Posting This

is because we had our Christmas party (don't ask) at a venue that was hosting a High School National Signing Day event.....
A Division I football recruit who was expected to make his college choice on Wednesday's National Signing Day festivities was instead in jail, being held on two charges of rape. Read More

I have no idea if Roger is innocent or guilty, that's a job for lawyers, courts, Judges etc...... I'm really not that much of a sports fan..well at least football that is...yeah I know I can have my guy card revoked for that last comment. Anyway TNT Man just posted about his wife's upcoming High School reunion and this article made me think back to 1982 and there was no one being accused of much more than failing a math or history test. What the hell has happened in the last 30 years? Why are we seemingly more tolerant of bad behavior? Disrespect? Is it MTV? Music? iPhones? I wish I knew.....

Distractions......

We've all had them......for some people distractions become excuses..then excuses become a habit and then a way of life......this week has been a week of nothing more than distractions. 4 days on the road and not one stitch of exercise, not counting walking through airports.
The week started with a Monday rest day, a trip to Atlanta, a day at the office, dinner with my parents and a late night hotel check-in.
Tuesday re-hire training at the office "We're putting the band back together" phone calls, meeting...etc... Wednesday more of the same, until 3:00pm when we hold our Christmas party (don't ask)..then and 8:30 PM hotel check-in, e-mail follow ups, a PowerPoint polishing and conversation with my bride. Tomorrow an early morning meeting, an afternoon flight and an evening stained glass class.......no where during these four was/is there any exercise......a week of distractions...not habits, nor a way of life. I've managed to keep my diet in check, a beer or so this evening, but nothing that extreme. I hope my body appreciates a four day break and I'm sure there will payback Friday morning as I hit the gym...