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!

Fun in the Sun

Well, made it another week getting through the push ups.  52 days thus far.  Last week was also the most I have ran in a long time as well.  Ran 23 miles including 8.5 miles on Saturday.  The weather was mild and low wind, felt like I could have ran 10 miles.  We'll see how this Saturday goes, I may try to push it to 10 miles and see how that goes.

This past weekend we went to the Wisconsin Dells and stayed at the Wilderness Resort.  Pretty phenomenal place, massive hotel structure with a lot of different water parks in the resort.  On Monday I spent a lot of time in the pool, specifically laying on my belly.  I lubed up a few times with sun tan lotion, but found later in the day I should have worn a swim shirt too.  Monday night was rough with chills and achy feelings.  I think it was sun stroke. Here are the symptoms:

• Hot, dry skin
• No sweating (usually)
• Skin is first flushed, then pale or purple
• Hyperventilation (rapid, shallow breathing)
• Rapid, bounding pulse (alternates between a higher intensity than normal, then disappears quickly)
• Body temperature rises rapidly to 40°C or higher
• Headache
• Muscle cramps
• Dilated pupils
• Signs of mental disorder may include incoherent speech, disorientation, confusion, aggressive speech or behavior, agitation and hallucinations.
• Lethargy or stupor (reactions become extremely slow and sluggish)
• Convulsions
• Loss of consciousness

 Nope, must have just been the sun combined with a 42 oz margarita!

Some fun pictures from vacation:

None-the-less, feeling better now, just putting on some aloe and trying not to be too much of a baby about it!

Back to push ups, because of the burn I did not do push ups yesterday so I skipped basketball (thus eliminating the possibility of an errant hit to the back) and did the Murph today.  I have redesigned the Murph to start with a 3 mile run, then do 20 sets of 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, 15 body squats, then finish with a 1.5 mile run.  Though, because I missed push ups yesterday the 10 push ups became 20.  It was intense, but felt really good afterwards.  

Push up stats over 11K done!

Value Golfing

I crossed the 10K mark today!  It has taken 45 days to get this far.  Right now pacing 101 push ups ahead of schedule.  At this point it has just become part of my daily routine to the point that I don't think about it, I just do it.  I am sure there have been changes in my physiology but I think with the pace and gradual nature of this routine I am not seeing dramatic effects.  Anyway, still have my eye on the Spartan race in November and ensuring I can handle the upper body strength obstacles.  I do test myself at the playground with the boys, but not being in proper gear and not being prepared to grunt out my movements I am not sure I am getting a good reading.  Though I do handle the see-saw pretty well.

One a separate note I went golfing last week at Chaska.  My dollars per stroke was exceptional!  The front 9 I shot a 74, clearly a little rusty, but back 9 was much better shooting a 54.   128, ouch.  But, if you take my fees of $32 and divide it by my total strokes of 128 my cost was $.25 per stroke.  I can say I am not sure that many people are getting much more value that I do.  In any regard, it was a perfect day to be out golfing and the master himself, Duc Correa taught me a thing or two about ensuring having a good follow through.

Lastly, I am starting to transition my training to prepare for the half marathon for the Fox Cities Marathon. This passed Saturday I pushed a 7.7 mile run, which is the longest run I have ever done at one time.  My average pacing was around the 9:30 per mile.  Rested yesterday and today I pulled off a 6.5 mile run (9:10/mile).  I'll need to confer with an expert in marathoning that I know (Angela Bilbrey) regarding a training strategy. Right now I would say I could probably get to 9 or 10 miles if I pushed it, but will need to keep training to get to the magical 13.1 level.  I still would rather put a 0.0 sticker on my car just to be ironic!  Interestingly after my run on Saturday and today my weight was down to 225.5 lbs.  I have not been that low in 6 years and puts me 30 pounds down since my ACL repair.

Awesome video leading up the US Men's National Team game tomorrow against Belgium:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaTmXuQr0LA

A few stats on my push up routine:

So far the majority of my push ups have been completed at the Y, 25%.  A combination of at home and at the Y round out the rest. 

Here is an update on my overall progress:

Just shy of 20%.  52K all the way!

Go Plank Yourself!

Well the ankle is starting to return to a normal color and size.  Tough week having to alter my workout, no basketball, or running.  Also, I missed boot camp last week and it looked like a fun one doing many different routines plus running up and down the parking ramp.  Hopefully they will come back to that one sometime this summer.  On the plus side I did a lot of planking (good overview of planks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvxNkmjdhMM), push ups, and pull ups last week.  Thinking a head to the Spartan Race in Nov. my biggest concern are the monkey bar type of obstacles.  I am thinking I need to up the amount of pull ups I am doing to help get me through those obstacles.  But, before that, I need to get my ankle better and train for the half marathon in Sept.  Thinking I might be able to go for a longer run this coming week.

One thing I have started to notice is that the push ups are becoming easier and easier.  What I am going to try and focus on is how many continuous push ups I can do.  Last week I set the base line for myself at 56 at one time without stopping.  My goal is to try and get to 100 consecutive.  By the time I get done with these I would like to get to 200 consecutive.

On a separate note, maybe not a motivational video, but very well done by John Oliver.  Especially during the world cup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I

Push up update 17.25% done 9,101 push ups completed!

I Believe That We Will Win!

Well, the good news from last week is that I had 101 bonus push ups completed due to getting a head during the week and then cranking out a bunch more in outdoor boot camp.  By the way, something very fun to do, outdoor boot camp.  We did this routine with a deck of cards.  Each suit represented a different exercise and then you had to do the corresponding amount of reps as the value of the card.  Every five cards you sprint a certain distance and then do another five cards until you complete the deck.   That was a nice little routine.

The bad news is street ball did not go as planned.  Day one went well with going 2-0. Though, in the second game we were blowing the team out 14-4 and I jump up to catch a pass and a guy on the other team under cut me.  When I landed my left foot somehow was stuck in the ground and I severely sprained my ankle.  I iced it all night and wrapped it, but I couldn't get any lift on my shots and was basically playing one legged on Sunday.  The frustrating part is we had the team to win it all this year.  Same thing happened 3 years ago when I blew out my ACL.  None-the-less I will be back next year.  Not smart enough to give up.  Going to win that damn tournament!

Here is my award for my efforts this year in street ball:

Next up on the agenda for summer achievements is the Fox Cities Half Marathon.  I am hoping at some point this week I will be able to get back to running as I would like to do the long distance runs on Saturdays to get ready for the half.

US Men's National Team has put out some great promo videos.  Here is another one prior to the win over Ghana today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DGByZjKkSI

Pacing a head on push ups!  Over 15% done already!!

Fight or Flight

30 days in, 13.46% of the way through, and 7,000 push ups completed.  Only 45,000 to go!  Actually, I am surprised at how fast the last 30 days have gone since I started this endeavor.  While there is still a long way to go, I feel I have made a pretty good dent in the amount, well, at least the bar chart has some noticeable difference as seen below.  I still get asked from time to time how its going and if I am sticking with it, so its nice to see that some people are thinking about it.  My hope is it will help inspire others to do some thing that seems a bit crazy or far out.  Last week I read "Spartan Up!" by Joel De Sena the founder of the Spartan Race.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the book but it actually was pretty solid.  Essentially the book is about inner drive and motivation.  Joe discusses examples from his past as well as from others how they overcame different challenges in their lives, especially at points when it would be much easier to give up.  He gives a good perspective on food and diet, though I will admit I have a ways to go when it comes to food and self control.  But, I aspire to do and be better when it comes to that area, baby steps I guess.  Ultimately he talks about how we as humans usually tend to give up or give in too soon as that is how we are wired with the fight or flight mentality.  When in wrestling I always thought of it as the, "its easier to lose than it is to win" mentality.  Basically said, its easier to give in to another's will than it is to impose yours.  At least that is in sports, in a relationship or at work its easier to jump to conclusions or let ones emotions get in the way than staying even keel and reasoning through the situation.  All stuff that takes a lot of mental determination and discipline to work through.

This up coming weekend I have one of my main nemesis sporting evens coming up, Neenah Street Ball (https://www.streetball3on3.org/Default.aspx).  This will be my 8th year competing with last year being my team's best finish losing in the semi-finals.  All the years I have played the couch potato division and still struggle to win.  I think that is what fuels me on even more to win.  And win I will, this is the year!  My vision for winning is taking the winning bracket with the Richmond St. Pub team being victorious, and having it hung up at my Dad's bar.  This will be the year to do it.  I have a good team, we've been playing basketball 3 days a week all year.  We are ready!  Not to mention, if this little guy can bounce his face off of playground equipment, receive three stitches in the lip, and the next day be flailing himself around the house with reckless abandon, then I can Spartan Up and handle some basketball!

Interesting video of the week in honor of the up coming World Cup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy1rumvo9xc

Australia's obesity problem worst in world: Report

First full week back was interesting.  Was like I was off for a month!  Felt good though.  The biggest challenge last week was the pull ups for the Murph.  It was the first time in two weeks I completed that routine and I could feel every back muscle sore, but at least it was a good sore.  We'll see how I go tomorrow for this week's Murph.

Traveling this week so I'll need to do a bunch of hotel workouts along with keeping up with push ups.  I found some good work outs on YouTube from Fitness Blender (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lvKyuhdAT0) this one happens to be a 1,000 calorie workout.  Good stuff as it gives you a type of boot camp you can do on the road or at home if you can't get to the gym, and its free!  As I have told my wife, one of my fitness goals is to avoid being the fat guy in b roll or stock footage for news reports.  For example, this article: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101708894

Anyway, making consistent process and still on track for 52K!