Non-Fiction Fitness

I have had some trouble lately with my diet and keeping my head in the right place when hitting the gym. As the weight is now building on the bar, things are really getting heavy and its begining to require full concentration to finish the routine (strong lifts 5×5). No more going through the motions. I feel i am getting close to the breaking point of my comfort zone. As my Bro would say “life begins at the end of your comfort zone” So i started at the door of the gym at 5 a.m. this morning by saying out loud that i want to be there and i’m looking forward to lifting today. AHHHHHHH the power of positive thinking (made it a little easier to get started). I will no longer start my gym session by saying to myself i dont want to do this. So as the weight builds i will just keep on keepin on, slow but sure.

I committed to run in the Race for the Roses 5k on April 5th.  Normally I would be fine with this but given that I have not run even once since the Marathon back on January 18th, I have a problem. Some how I need to get my 5k running legs back in less than 2 weeks.  I stepped on the treadmill after lifting today and attempted to give it a try.  20min later I was hating life.  Conditions were less then ideal.  I just got done lifting (Squats, Bench press, and Bent over Rows) so I was already tired.  The gym was freaking HOT, well maybe not hot but it was very warm.  There was no fan in sight that I could use to point at me.  The treadmill I picked had a very annoying, repetitive squeak to it. I had a cotton shirt on instead of a wicking one. And last but not least I felt like a whinny little bitch complaining about all of this.

Needless to say it was not fun but at least I started running again.  20min at a 9min pace for a total distance of 2.2 miles.  I’m tired but mentally I am pumped.

I’m Dead, or at least my arms feel that way

22, 30, 20, 20, 30

I had to rest for 5 min before I could do the last set

This being a crazy week the schedule for 100 Push ups has been thrown off a bit.  I never ended up taking my post week 2 test to see which group I fit in for the next few rounds. I just went ahead and said I would continue on with group 3 although I openly admit this could be a mistake, but we’ll see. Hopefully not.  Week 3 Day 1 was done mid week this past Wednesday.  Here is the breakdown.

14, 18, 14, 14, 23

I am surprised about how mental this can be.  On the last set of 14 I was beat and thought I had nothing left. Yet on the 5th and final set which required you to do at least 20, I ended up doing 23.

This past week has been just a big mess when it comes to fitness.  So far I have only been to the gym once, and I only did squats. The 100 Push ups has been thrown off schedule and I have still yet to run.  I got another post coming today about a new geek toy I got.  Stay tuned.

Happy birthday Tim. Don’t forget to do your pushups.

Got to the gym on time this morning (5 am) and got through squats (5×5 205 lbs) and then hit a wall on over head press. Just didn’t have anything left in the tank. I did 5×5 @ 100 lbs. on Sun. but couldnt even complete 1 set of 5 @ 105 lbs today. I know i can complete the weight, but i dont know why today my body (or mind) just would not let it happen. So the work out ended there and we went out to breakfast. Turns out I think lack of nutrition and sleep was my problem, two things i have the hardest time managing. I did do my 3rd day of onehundredpushups.com and added a few sets due to cutting out on the morning workout. 4,5,4,4,5,11,10. Bad days happen, but so do good ones! I have already decided tomorrow is going to be a good one!

This is a update of 100 push ups and also a test post from my iPhone

16
17
14
14
23

Day 1. 2,3,2,2,10
Day 2. 3,4,2,3,15

Back in January I participated in the Arizona Rock-n-Roll Marathon.  Since I crossed the finish line I have yet to dawn the running shoes once more.  I feel I need to say I have not ran for any reason like the Marathon was a bad experience. On the contrary it had quite a profound impact on me and I plan to run another here at some point.

So I have a whole list of excuses of why I have yet to return to running.

• I started going back to the gym and lifting.
• My treadmill crapped out on me.
• Its really hard to find the time to fit a run in.
• My GPS watch died so I don’t know how far my runs are.
• Its still too cold out.
• I don’t have night time running gear.

And I know I can come up with a few more excuses.  But that is exactly what they are, Excuses. I have been so far removed from running now that I feel like I am starting over.  So I started doing some searching on this thing they call the Interweb and found a article on ZenHabits called “Beginner’s Guide to Running“.  Head on over and give it a read.  Hopefully it will give you some good ideas and help you out if your trying to start up Running.

http://zenhabits.net/2007/05/beginners-guide-to-running/