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!

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!