Sore Tomorrow!

I spent over an hour moving heavy, wet snow today. I AM going to be sore tomorrow. That was my only workout for today, but I think it was enough.
In the morning, I had to go over to my neighbor's house. She's an older lady (80), who isn't really comfortable with technology. Her phone wasn't working, or so she said. In fact, the problem was she'd managed to turn off the ringer, perhaps as she was trying to fix an underlying problem - it seems like when her phone or power line gets spiked, she needs to pull the power plug to reset it.

Dinner and a Show

On Saturday evening, I went to a chain Mexican restaurant (no, not the one whose initials ar TB) and saw a slightly familiar face there. It was a guy in a running shirt. As it turned out, it was a guy whose name I knew, and we'd likely been introduced several years back, but neither of us remembered the other. We chatted for several minutes while his wife patiently sat by. After this, I ate my dinner and during this, enjoyed a show.
This restaurant has a menu item, the Enchilada Dos Manos (two-handed enchilada), and if you finish it, you get a $5 gift certificate. Three young guys came in. Two ordered the Dos Manos, and began eating. During the time, they were laughing and joking around. Their friend was using a cell phone camera to take pictures. I should say that both of these guys were 20ish, apparently in good shape, and pretty big, probably about 200 lbs each, maybe a bit over. The eventual result was both did manage to finish and get the gift certificates.
While I can't either condone or encourage this kind of overeating, it was fun to watch them going at it.

Back to School, Well Sort Of

My classes this semester are on Mondays and Thursdays. I'm taking two math courses, one is the fourth and final calculus class, the other a statistics class. The calculus class was at 9:30 this morning, and when I got there, the prof had not yet arrived. We waited about 15 minutes, then there was some griping, and a couple of students left. After a few more minutes, we all got up to leave, and as I got to the hall, two students came back, having checked with the department office. The office had called the professor, reached him? (not sure, but think he's male) and found out that he thought winter break ended next week. Pretty lame!

Rock Wall, Quick!

On Monday morning, I got a phone call, can you come in at eleven and work the rock wall for 2 hours. It was for a girl's group activity, scheduled long before, but accidentally left unstaffed. The girls ranged in age from about six or seven up to high school. Things went well until one girl panicked. She started crying and froze on the wall. It's not really a big deal, but she was being belayed by a fairly inexperienced belayer. I told the belayer to crouch down, but rather than just crouching, with the effect of lifting the girl slightly, unloading her arms and letting her know she was being held by the rope, she played out rope as she sank down, yielding no effect.
Since my climber was down, I was able to walk over and grab the girl by the hips, tell her that I had her and she she was OK, she then let go of the wall and was lowered down. Truly no big deal, but a harder experience than necessary because it was not brought to an end as quickly as possible. It bothers me when problems aren't handled effectively.

Stanley Steamer Photo

An image of a 1920 Stanley Steamer lifted from the gallery portion of the www.stanleysteamers.com website.

My Current Weight Loss Strategy

One day this past fall, I was climbing my stairs and felt like my legs were straining. It was this moment that is responsible for the strategy driving my effort to lose weight. I realized that I'd gotten very out of shape. So, I decided to build up my muscles, and to lose some weight.
My plan is two-pronged, and is based on the fact that muscle needs more energy to stay vital that fat. I've begun a weight lifting program and simultaneously started an aerobic exercise program. So, prong one is adding muscle mass to increase my basal metabolism. Prong two is aerobic exercise to burn calories. Paired together, I expect this plan will yield good results, but only time will tell.
I will say this, back in the 1980's, I first got into lifting weights. At that time, I was also doing a fair volume of exercise. Most winters, my weight would grow to about 160 lbs., up from a summer weight of about 140 lbs. The seasonal deviation was a byproduct of less winter activity paired with greater emphasis on lifting. Over a period of about 3 years, my weights for both winter and summer grew by about 5 lbs. as I added muscle. During this period, my ability to gain and lose weight seemed easier than at any other time in my life.
My goal is to get back to a weight of about 160 lbs., which I consider to be my "running weight." I expect this effort to lose about 27 more lbs. will take about a year.

Blistered!

I got to the gym today and thought I'd forgotten my socks. I looked into my gym bag and didn't see them as I double checked, so I walked my 45 minutes without them. As I neared the end of my first half-hour, I could tell that my foot was blistering. I thought I was the top of the base of the second toe of my right foot. It as actually the middle of that toe, and by the time I was done, it had popped. I also had a hot spot on top of my left big toe.
Meanwhile, in the shower I noticed some irritation on my er, equipment. Without my glasses, I couldn't really inspect it then, but when I returned to my locker, I took a look. Remarkably, it too had apparently blistered, but due to the feet, I hadn't realized.
Finally, the kicker, after my workout, I went back into the gym bag and saw there a pair of workout socks.

186.5!

I was right that my efforts at the gym and watching my diet were about to pay off. I weighed this morning and my weight was 186.5 lbs, down 2.5 in the last week. I'm pretty sure it's real weight loss, not water weight or any such thing. I just have to be careful not to hurt my shoulder, this patting myself on the back is tough on the shoulder.
Of course, I have no friends on www.running.about.com's forums competing against me, so this is for myself only - if any of you check the about site, see the forums section, and look for the Stan vs. Mike and the new (I hope I have this right) Lorrie vs. Wendy threads.

No Reruns!

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. - George Santayana

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/us/politics/12obama.html?hp

I'm pleased to see our President-Elect taking a good look at history to try to manage our current economic crisis. After the anti-intellectual bias that I felt "Shrub" Bush displayed during his two terms, it's good to see his successor looking to learn the lessons history has to share. Now, of course, the conditions are not the same, but still, there are many similarities.

Four In A Row

I was at the gym again on Sunday, and it was my fourth day there in a row. My back, though not a hundred per cent, is much better than it was. On the treadmill next to me was a 60ish woman who was using a program on the treadmill. The problem was she was in over her head. When it would speed up, she wind up running with her ass stuck out, hands clamped to the rail, keeping on the machine only by virtue of her arm strength. Of course, I was no prize myself. I had CNN on the TV in front of me, and there was a high speed chase in Kansas City being shown. I steeped off the left side of the belt, suddenly going off balance, getting out of alignment, etc. I'm sure it would have been a funny scene if I'd fallen off.
Anyway, I'm trying hard to diet. I'm burning about 400 calories each time I'm there. Since I started this the last week of last year, I think I should be coming into the muscles have grown, but no weight has yet been lost phase. It's the point at which so many dieters get discouraged and quit, but not me. I've been through this before, and I know. Now's the time when the hardest work has been done, it time to see the reward come. I'm waiting for that pound or two a week to kick in. I should have weighed yesterday morning, but forgot, hopefully this AM.

3x

I got to the gym thrice this week. I was struggling a bit with a spasm in my back. I think handling some heavy luggage last weekend irritated it. I seems to be getting better, but I still get a twinge now and then. I lifted only twice, Monday and Friday. On Thursday and Friday, I did 45 minutes of walking, burning about 300 calories each time.

Back To The Gym

I've got to confess that i only made the gym once last week. I hope to get to at least 3 this week. I did
leg presses today, at 210#, 2 x 10;
leg curls @ 80#, 2 x 10;
Chest press @ 120, 2 x 10;
rows @ 120, 2 x 10;
pull-ups @ 120 (190 - 70 lb assist), 6
Walking - 20 min at 4+, 2.1 mi

I'm pretty fatigued now. I need to get into another math course for spring. Gym was crowded, though not awful today - think the New Year's crowd is mostly daytime workers.