Jan 24

Hanging out with my wife at Starbucks this evening....how did we ever survive with dial-up internet? Once you connect to their WiFi and hit their landing page they have categories to browse I choose wellness and then was presented with many choices one of which was local runs and rides..I clicked on the link and found no less than 25 local places to run or ride all marked with distances and elevations. Being in Florida most of the elevations were 1".


Got in a RT before a marathon day of phone calls and projects. Changed up the routine a bit...added some exercises that I haven't done in a while and this evening I can actually feel some muscle soreness in places that I haven't felt it in quite some time. That is always a welcome feeling.

A Fan Of Design

I'm actually a huge fan of design. From something a simple as a pair of Chinese Tranquility Balls to the beauty and simple lines of a Chrome Prowler, I appreciate functional and beautiful and simple and original design...all in one item or or individually.

Years ago I can across Tom Peters and immediately felt this connection with his ideas and the way he wrote. In the past I've used him for ideas. Tom has his own ideas on design as well.
OK all that to get to this....Over the weekend I came across this interview with Scott Summit of Bespoke Innovations.
Here's a bit of it: "We recently caught up with Scott Summit, the industrial designer behind San-Francisco-based Bespoke Innovations, at AU 2010, where he was one of the keynote speakers. Bespoke Innovations has a clear mission: Apply good industrial design and rapid prototyping techniques to make kick-ass prosthetics. They don't do off-the-shelf parts--they interview amputees, find out what makes them tick, and design some seriously cool custom limbs based on their interests and tastes."
I'm fortunate no one in my family or for that matter no one that I know of has a prosthetic limb. I've seen some of the interesting designs of athletic prosthetics, but I figured that the cool design was based on it's function not what it looked like.
Why shouldn't someone have a prosthetic limb that reflects their personality? I have ink on my body, my ear is pierced, my head shaved and I have a goatee..so my personality must say that I want to look like everyone else. That aside, it's pretty damn cool that someone designs outside the box (I really dislike that phrase) but it's cooler that people have recognized it.

Jan 23

A very uneventful weekend (for a change) no travel, no major projects just a few trips to the grocery store, working in the yard, cooking on the grill and a couple of adult beverages...not beer...

Saturday afternoon I got in an RT..nothing that crazy..I got the sloshpipe out as well as the weight sled, and from the inspiration of TNTMan I tried doing countdown sets...I made it through 7 before the wheels came off..I think these may need to be their own session or at least at the beginning not the end of the workout.


I got to try out my new running shoes this afternoon....sweet. I love Nike Air Max shoes. The South FL weather was sunny with a slight breeze. The run was finished with firing the grill up for a ginger infused flank steak, and as the coals heated I kicked back with a glass of Gentlemen Jack on ice. It was a nice weekend.

Accomplishments week of 1/21

This Past Week
2 trips out of town (Tampa FL, Baltimore MD)
Saw snow for the second time this year
Had 2 beers last Saturday
Lost 3 CE's this week (Beer, Italian food on Tuesday and wings last night)
Lost 11lbs since Jan-5

Managed to only drop 1 lb this week - I'm sure this is a reflection of only lifting one day this week instead of 3 as opposed to the loss of the 3 CE's.

Nutrition Breakdown

Grams	Calories
Calories	1,836
Fat	85.2
Saturated	25.9
Polyunsaturated	14.0
Monounsaturated	32.1
Carbohydrate	90.5
Dietary Fiber	19.9
Protein	170.0
Alcohol	0.0

My carb intake is way below my goal and so are the calories, which is not good because I know how my body will react as it adapts to the lesser caloric intake -----I hold onto fat and lose muscle mass.

Today will be spent working in the yard with a RT and some slosh pipe work in the afternoon.

MFT

First I'll say I'm not a runner...seriously. I run/walk 3 or 4 times a week and at most I'll end up running/walking 400 miles over the course of the year, but I wouldn't say that I'm a runner.
To me runners are always those folks with single digit body fat numbers, they wear matching synthetic running shirts and shorts, own very technical watches for tracking laps, heart rate etc......they consistently turn in sub 10 minutes miles. Those things are not me. I usually run in cut-off sweat pants or basketball shorts or as my wife kindly calls them "Wife Repellent Shorts"...I wear cotton t-shirts which are heavy with sweat after a run....maybe there is something to all that synthetic material after all.
If you were to look at me the one thing that might tip you off that I might run at more than just the Domino's Pizza guy is my shoes. I love my Nike Air Max running shoes! I bought my first pair last year..they were a 2009 model..Nike actually date stamps their shoes. From the first time I wore them I was in heaven, they are the most comfortable shoe that I've ever worn. So comfortable that I have worn them for more than just running, they've been through countless airports, hiking on my honeymoon and more grocery store trips than I could ever count and this has resulted in them showing their age...
Well yesterday afternoon my wife surprised me with a brand new pair of Nike Air Max Livestrong edition....sweet. Putting aside thoughts on what Lance Armstrong did or didn't do during his cycling days what he started with Livestrong is nothing short of amazing. I wear a yellow bracelet it helps me to remember my family, friends and loved ones...many of which have beat cancer, are dealing with cancer and unfortunately have succumbed to cancer. My bracelet keeps me focused on doing whatever I humanly can to keep my body cancer free.
So this weekend I'll break in those new shoes, I'll wear them with pride, think of those family, friends and loved ones..yes Nike Air Max's are one of My Favorite Things.

Jan 20

I woke up this morning threw a frozen banana, blueberries, milk and a scoop of protein powder into MFT and created my 300 calorie breakfast drink. As I got ready for my morning workout I looked out back and noticed my kettlebells and decided that it was time to start working them back into my workout.....It became Kettlebell Thursday this morning. KB Snatches and foam rolling to warm up with then followed up by an intense 46 minute RT session......


I think that the fat loss template I was following is officially kaput....I'm sure it works but it's just so damn boring. The kettlebell swings managed to get the heart rate elevated just as the squat thrusts did....all in all a good workout.





I'm fighting a bit of a cold...I just love being trapped in airplanes several days a week...so I took my lunch hour and went for a run hoping that I could sweat this bug out of my system. 10 hours later I'm feeling better than I did this morning.

Jan 19

Everyday I try to learn something - today I learned that's very hard (almost impossible) to take a picture while using an elliptical....for some reason the picture comes out blurry no matter how slow you go.
This morning I was up at 5:00am and in the hotels fitness center...why so early? Because of the meal the night before. LIBERATORE's of Timonium for their Chicken Parmigiana & Calamari...Wow what a meal. Fresh sauce and fresh chicken made for a mouth watering dish.
So I lost a CE on the 52 Day Challenge, was worth it? Yeah..........

Warrior Dash 12 Days And Counting

2011 Central Florida Scottish Highland Games

Loaded up the sled yesterday and headed North to the 2011 Central Florida Scottish Highland Games in Orlando FL. The weather cooperated and stayed cool and slightly cloudy.

There were traditional Scottish crafts such as iron and leather working.

Scottish Country Dancing was also represented.

You also had a variety of Noggin Knocker sticks if you needed one.

Then onto the events.......there was weight for height. We saw some near weight for skull smashes as the competitors bodies started to fatigue.

The crowd favorite was the caber toss.

I, of course, had to try a few kilts on just for size...does this make my butt look big?

Fooducate and Beer

What would a Saturday night be without a bit of Fooducation and......Beer

As one that spends more than fair share of time in grocery stores here's an app that I find invaluable...Fooducate...scan the barcode on any food item and it will give you a grade, calories per serving and tips about the product.
The best part is that it will give you better options...kind of like Eat This Not This but without having to pay $10 for the book

Beers Of The Week(end)

My participation in the 52DC has limited my utter enjoyment of the barley and hops...but what's 52 day out of a long long life......a lot I tell you when it comes to beer. As I've I always said "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." Benjamin Franklin

First up Full Sail Amber ....I've always been a fan of amber beers, those light and low carb beers simply require me to drink to much to find my "Happy Place". I drank this with my Beef and Broccoli dinner and wished that I had bought another as I would have been inclined to help out cleaning the kitchen.





As a native Texan Shiner Bock has always been close to my heart.....but as the taste buds mature it's one of those those that I've kind of left a bit behind. I cracked the top on this one during dinner preparation and almost broke into a verse or two of Deep In The Heart Of Texas..... maybe if I had a few more on hand the taste buds would have COME back to life for this brew...until then there's a reason that we call it the Republic of Texas.

Accomplishments week of 1/14

This Past Week
3 nights out of town (Tampa FL, Nashville TN & Port Charlotte FL)
Saw snow for the first time this year
Still no beer
Lost 10lbs since Jan-5


11 days into the Winter 52DC and here's where I stand.....The Clean Eats (CE) are going as planned. The Resistance Training (RT) & Cardio Training (CT) numbers are ahead of schedule but I'm really concentrating on getting the exercise in whenever I have the time.
The 40-4-40 is a reflection of the CT's & RT's. The Warrior Dash (Mud, Sweat & Beer.....baby) isn't till the end of the month and this morning I hit my weight loss goal.

I decided to change my weigh in day to coincide with my weekly accomplishment post.

221.4 was what greeted me one the scale this morning! After all these years I've learned at least one thing about my body and it is the relationship between carbs and weight gain and weight loss.....The goal has been to keep the carbs somewhere around 150 grams, using FitDay this has been repetitively easy and I can see a daily, weekly and monthly breakdown of my calories, nutrition and weight..

Jan 14

Managed to get in a workout today nothing that spectacular, but I got it done and out of the way.....
Back on the BBOE Fat Loss template, as hard as it was I did it. I added a few extra sets - Fallouts, Incline DB Press and some Kettlebell work so that I would make the 40 minutes.


Everyone wants to go to the ice rink tonight so who knows maybe
I'll end up on skates, it's only been 20 years or so how tough can it be? Planning to head to the beach in the morning for a CT, have a great Friday evening....

There's An App For That

I carry both the iPhone and the Crackberry, each has it's place and each has their strengths and weaknesses. I find the tactile keyboard of the Crackberry easier for typing and the iPhone has a better graphics display for watching movies and the latest You Tube Video.

With traveling my go to, must have application is TripIt! Once installed it monitors your e-mail account looking for your confirmation e-mail from hotels, airlines and rental car companies. Once it finds them it then organizes them inside TripIt as a separate itinerary for each trip. It gives you map of your hotel, touch the map and it opens up Google Maps and uses the iPhones GPS to get you there. If you travel with others you can create a group so everyone can see each others itinerary. You can also e-mail your itinerary to a loved one.

Now here's some really cool extra stuff that you get....it offers you seating advice, for example on a Boeing 737 rows 2-10 has and extra inch of legroom and rows 1-10 offer an extra degree of pitch in the seat.
It also lets you know of gate changes and delays...this afternoon our flight was delayed TripIt let me know a solid 5 minutes before the gate agent posted it.......5 minutes when your making a connection or trying to get home can be the difference in being able to switch flights or getting stuck for the delay...unfortunately today the 5 minute head start could get me on an earlier sold out flight.

Tripit offers a free and a paid version, the free version is all that I use but the paid version tracks all your hotel and mileage points. It's not worth the $50.00 yearly fee and the click through adds don't bother me.....I have it loaded on my wife's iPhone so see can always know where I'm at and hopefully what time I'll be back.

Jan 13

No exercise yesterday, due to flight delays and a late dinner.
One of the things I have a hard time when traveling is going from the Eastern to Central time zone. It's amazing just how much that one hour throws me for a loop. This morning I woke up as I usually do somewhere around 5:45, I rolled over to look at the clock and boom 4:45 welcome to Central time...Ughhhhh..



So I trudge to the elevator molest the buttons till I find the "L"...I shuffle to the front desk and mumble "Can you point me to the fitness center, please?" the desk clerk responds (just a bit to cheerily) "Lower Lobby"...back to the elevator and down another floor....I walked in and was greeted with a complete gym 7 or 8 resistance stations, a dumbbell rack that went up to 70lbs and a huge Cybex Machine. If you're ever in Nashville TN and need a hotel with a loaded gym, indoor and outdoor pool and close to the local attractions and the airport check out the Nashville Marriott.


I managed to squeeze in a 40 min walk on the treadmill. I tried doing ladders with the incline 1 min at 1% incline then 1 min at 2% incline etc... all the way up to 10%...it made the time pass a bit quicker. Then back to the room for and oatmeal, chocolate protein powder & peanut butter concoction and a shower. Have a great Thursday....