Al...most...there...!!!

Well, I am coming up on my year long goal of 52,000 push ups.  Currently I am at 49,901 or 95.96% of the way there, about two weeks to go.  It's been interesting trying to make sure I hit my weekly quota throughout the year, with trips, sickness, oversleeping, general lethargy types of things getting in the way.  But, I always made sure I tried to plan a head (like when I got the family snip) or catch up (like when I had the flu).   Overall, it's been a fun experience.  Now I am starting to think about what to do for the next year.  Right now I am starting to pick up more and more on pull ups.  I do 200 a week (100 on two different days).  So there might be something there.  Haven't decided on what yet.

Aside from just the push ups, I am planning on completing 2 half marathons this summer.  My goal is to finish at 7:45 per mile or better. I am hoping to get into the top 10% for all runners and in the top 20% for the men's group.  In addition to all that I am hoping to do the Super race for the Spartan race this summer.  Then next year I'll need to do the beast to complete the trifecta.  Then I will have a super cool medal!  Woohoo!!!

Lastly, I have picked up a new addition in my work outs, hitting the heavy bag.  I do it twice a week for 45 minutes each time.  Full sweats and go for the whole time.  Makes for some good sweat!  Also, helps augment some running and gives my knee a rest.

Well that's the brief update for this time.  I'll report back on the finish!  Go Bucky!!!

Crazy video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFPsvF3UOdo

Stats:

Home Stretch!

Hi All.  It's been awhile since I last blogged about my push ups, but that does not mean I have not kept up on them.  Currently I am almost 89% of the way there.  Out of all the things I am doing from a fitness stand point the push ups have become the easiest.  I am trying to incorporate more pull ups into my routines now as well.  Also, I picked back up hitting the heavy bag.  I use to have one in my home 10 years ago, then started doing other things.  I realized they have one at the Y so I have started using that.  It's a work out that goes quickly.  Last Tuesday I grabbed my gloves and did 15 minutes on it and the time just flew by.  Then on Thursday I decided to go 45 minutes and that went quickly as well.  Throwing on some tunes and hitting the heavy bag in sweats was a nice change of pace.

Big week this week for my men's league rec basketball team, we are in the quarter finals of our playoffs against the second best team in the league.  It will be tough, but if we can limit turn overs and play some sound defense we can win.  Last week was a good win, down 9 with 3 to go we came back to tie it and to win in overtime.

Have the Cellcom half marathon coming up in May.  Looking to try to finish in the 7:30-7:45 min per mile range.  My training has me there already so I'll keep pushing it and hope the adrenaline can take me through to the finish.

The push up chart look a lot different than a few months ago:

Update!

All I have not blogged in a while, been super busy!  I have been keeping up on the pushups though. Currently at 78% of the way through.  Over 40k done since I started this.  Keeping a good pace to hit 52k in the year time frame.  Also running has been going well.  I ran 8.3 miles last Saturday at a 7:36 per mile clip.  Now I need to push that to 13 miles and I will be right were I want to finish in the Celcom!

E$

Aroo!

Hi All,

Since I have last blogged I've passed a few milestones.  The first being with the push ups.  I have now exceeded the 50% mark and have completed over 30,000 push ups since I have started this venture.  Additionally, I am down about 10 pounds since I started this craziness, though I have also started running 20 miles a week so that has helped as well.

 I finally competed in the Spartan Race at Miller Park.  It was a pretty cool experience, they had obstacles set up all over the stadium.  You started out by running from the bottom tier to the top tier.  Then had to complete 50 skips with a 10-15 pound jump rope.  There were obstacles that had you walk up and down the steps in the top tier with 30 pound water jugs and then sprint around the top of the stadium.  Then you worked your way down the stadium to complete some obstacles in service areas of the stadium.  This led you outside to complete some more.  While out there I had to complete an obstacle that was a barbwire army crawl.  I started out by doing the army crawl but that was rough on the knees, and this was about 20 yards in two different set ups.  I found that rolling through worked better.  Except, when I finished the second one I was a little dizzy, so I stood up and thought I could start running, to which I did, but started falling to the left and tripped over the curb and busted through the Spartan tape.  After everyone finished asking if I was all right I continued on with the rest of the course.  Now we headed back into the stadium which was pretty cool because we went through the players locker room did some push ups, then had a few things to do in the Brewers bullpen then on to the rope climb.  I thought I would be able to do it no problem, but there were three tough arm obstacles before it and I did not complete.  That will be something I target for my next race.  None then less I finished the last few obstacles and completed everything in 57 mins.  Which was good as I was targeting a less than an hour.  Though, after going through it I felt I should have finished in 45 mins.  The biggest challenge is you end up bunching at the obstacles and actually stop which costs you time.  I passed as many people as I could, but it still cost me time.  The next Spartan Race I will compete in is the Super, probably in Chicago.  That is double the length of the Sprint races (which is what Milwaukee was).  So I figure it will not be as congested.  It was a lot of fun and I would recommend it to anyone.

None the less, my next round of athletic achievements to come are:

- Winter basketball league
- Cellcom half marathon in May
- Streetball in June
- Spartan Super in Sept.
- Fox Cities half marathon in Sept.

A lot of training a head!


Push up stats:

Push It! Push It Real Good!

Hi All.  Its been a while since I last posted.  Things have been a little crazy over the last few months.  Since the last time I have blogged I have started a new job, started some home renovation, and completed a half marathon.

My goal in completing the half marathon when I started training was to finish in under two hours, once I started training I realized I could do that and my new goal was to finish at an 1:50.  Fast forward to the race.  To start with, it was crazy at the starting line as all racers started there vs. having half marathoners start elsewhere, etc.  My first race like this so I didn't know.  Then the race started in waves, and I was part of the third wave.  So the race started, and I waited with anxiety building.  Each racer had a chip in their bib so you don't have to worry about when you start, that was one less thing to worry about.  Finally, I was able to get started.  The problem was the walkers and very slow runners seemed to create an impenetrable horizontal line making it very difficult to get by them.  It took me almost 2 miles to finally clear out from the crowd.  That caused my first mile to be over 9 minutes, which was much higher than I wanted my first mile to be.  Once I cleared the crowed I was able to make up some time, actually my 3rd mile was under 8 minutes, which was 20 seconds faster than I had practiced for.  That had me a little worried, so I slowed it down a little.  Finally at about the 5 minute mark I caught up to the 2 hour pacers, once I passed them I knew I was getting back on pace.  As I was chewing through the miles I must have passed hundreds of people and Mapmyrun was telling me my pace was better than I practiced for.  Once I hit the 10 mile mark I was under an 8:20 pace and I was feeling good.  I thought about it and said to myself screw it, only have a 5K to go, lets push it.  A good idea until I hit mile 12, the last mile was tough given I pushed my pace well above what I practiced for.  The last three miles I was faster and faster and was pacing under 8 minutes a mile.  Finally, I came down the finishing stretch and just put my head down and ran.  Crossed the finish line at 1:48.  Beat my goal by 2 minutes!  So, now that I have that bug, I am training for the Celcom in May and targeting less than 8 minute miles and a finish of 1:40-1:43.   So far in training things are going well.  I have done an 8 mile and 9 mile run with about 7:48 miles.  Just need to keep adding the distance and keep that pace and I will be there in May!

With all this craziness I have been keeping up with the push ups.  I am about 2 weeks away from hitting the 50% mark!  Stats below.

Be sure to check out this group, Post Modern Jukebox.  Outstanding talents!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXYWDtXbBB0&list=TLpvGSeBMY0EhJL-bt-r8oxPrIFdEvCwFH

Grinding

2000 more push ups completed since my last blog post.  I have also completed my second Monday's worth of 200 consecutive burpees.  This week was tougher than last week to finish.  Probably due to not enough recovery time.  Though my philosophy is to keep grinding through things vs. just "resting".  It's interesting because I subscribe to a lot of different exercise type of feeds and they all have different advice on how to stay healthy.  At the end of the day I find whatever gets you out of bed each day and staying active is what works, from there tweak and keep it interesting.  The thing I need to tighten up on now is my eating, especially at night.  My weight has steadily been dropping but I am to the point now where I need to improve my diet so I do not let all my heard work go to waste.

Along with keeping up with my push ups I have been able to stay consistent with my running finishing up an 11.4 mile this week on Saturday with an 8:29/mile pace.  This weekend we'll be out of town so I'll be able to get a little extra rest before the final push to the half marathon at the end of September.  I'm feeling pretty good that I should be able to finish in under two hours.

Great speech from Steve Jobs at the Stanford commencement in 2005:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Update on the push ups:

Burpeeeeesssssssssss!

Had a few weeks from off from blogging, but not working out!  First and foremost I have been keeping up well with the push ups.  The last three weeks on Monday's I have adjusted the type of burpees I have been doing.  Now I just do regular burpees vs. the suicide burpees.  Two Monday's ago I did 3 sets of 50 and then a regular set of 50 push ups.  Then last week I did 1 set of 100 burpees, 1 set of 50, and 2 sets of decline push ups.  Today, I was shooting for 100, which I achieved, but I figured I can do more so I pushed it to 150 continuous burpees then 50 regular push ups.  Next week I may try to push it to 200 continuous push ups.

On the running front things have been picking up there as well.  The last two weeks I have ran courses that I complete last month.  The first course was 7.8 miles.  The first time I ran it I paced at 9:22 per mile.  This time I ran it at 8:44.  Then last Saturday I ran the 8.5 mile course.  The first I ran it was around the 9:22 mark, then this time I ran it at an 8:33 pace.  This week I will be running the 10.5 mile course for the second time.  I think I ran it around 9:30 or 9:40 mark last time.  If I can get in around 9:00 or less I will be on my way to pacing 2 hours or less for the half marathon!

July has been a busy and fun month.  We have been to Green Bay for a 1K kids fun run, T-Rats game, down to Milwaukee to see the Brewers play, the Dells for a nice family vacation, and down to Madison to see some friends, visit the Capitol, visit the New Glarus brewery, and of course see the Toy Train Barn (http://www.whrc-wi.org/trainbarn/)

Video of the week:

Work out with Jimmy Fallon and the Rock:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rVNzu7smmw

Push up stats:

Over 27% of the way done!