Wedding Vacation Begins

Yeee Haww!!!! It's Monday!!!!

I don't think I have ever been so glad it is Monday. I worked yesterday so I can leave early today and head for the mountains. I got up at 5:30 and was at work by 6am. I spent all weekend packing for the trip. It is been 7 years since I have gone out of town on a 2 week trip (unless you count my 3 week study abroad to the UK and Ireland.) I grabbed a muscle milk on the way to work (usually 7-11 has myoplex) I dont like the after taste but it was a better choice than drive-thru. Faithfully by Journey came up on the radio and the lyrics "being apart ain't easy on this love affair, two strangers learn to fall in love again, I get the joy of rediscovering you" made me tear up a little. I am excited to see Ellen tomorrow. These 3 weeks have gone by fast. My running shoes are washed and I plan to stay active once or twice a week while I am away. I am splitting the 15 hour drive into two days. I plan to be back to posting July 5th.

Avalanche of old habits

In March 2010 I went to the Transformation.com Dallas Seminar. (I would like to pre-face that I not longer support Transformation.) Bill Phillips said this and it stuck with me. I am of course paraphrasing,
"We always have to keep moving forward because that avalanche of old habits and thoughts is right behind us and the minute we stop it will overtake us and we will be right back to our old way of living"
I like BFL program and Bill wrote the book so I give him credit I just do not support his new program. That being said here is a good post by Bill.
"The motivation to transform is high when you're hanging on by a thread. For example, a drowning man makes all kinds of promises to God that he will right his ways and change his life. But once his feet are firmly back on the ground, his motivation to do the work necessary to change instantly becomes very low. He is comfortable again.
All too often this happens in the transformation process. When someone has a personal health scare or reaches a moral rock bottom, their willingness to commit themselves to the transformation process is high. Their compliance is strong. They're excellent students and they get great results. Their results can be so good, in fact, that their motivation to keep on growing all but dissolves. And they find a new comfort zone, which leads to transformation trouble.
It's imperative we understand that every comfort zone becomes a "comfort trap" eventually. Any place that we can hide out and indulge in excessive amounts of so-called pleasure will become dangerous as it fosters apathy addiction, as well as removes us from the natural flow of evolutionary pressure. The key is becoming more comfortable with continual change and less comfortable with staying the same. And that is so important in our transformation process. But, unfortunately, it's something that we can easily overlook.
To keep moving forward, .... continually accept new challenges and invite positive pressure into your life. This works most every time. Challenges like transforming your life's greatest adversity from tragedy to triumph, to overcome an addiction, or even train for and complete a marathon can really keep us on our toes mentally and emotionally. Embracing challenges keeps us in the dynamic flow of life, and it also keeps us from getting stuck..... It also helps us to become more comfortable and excited about life while we're in the process of change."

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I started out this 6 Week challenge at 176.6 lbs 17.5% Body Fat and today I am 178.8 lbs 18.4% body fat. I had hoped to lean down some more or just keep my progress and I gained 2.2 pounds (2.0 pounds of fat)

Last night I went to the gym with intentions of Spin class and yoga class. About 10 minutes into spin class I decided to skip out on yoga so I upped my intensity and really pushed. My legs were burning, I was breathing heavy, and I was dripping with sweat. I will be out of town the next two Wednesdays so I will not get a chance to do Spin or Yoga again until 7/6. I got home from the gym and took a shower. I paid some bills online then I get hit with intense hunger. I got in my car and drove aimlessly trying to think of places where I could eat a Paleo meal. I ended up at 7-11 by my old university. With protein on the brain I bought 2 hard boiled eggs, beef jerky, almonds, and string cheese. After I scarfed down this meal I parked my car and walked by the bars next to the school. I went into my favorite one but there were a bunch of NHL fans so I left right away. I walked back another one with a big patio and saw and old friend of mine but did not say hello. I walked around in the dark heat then I drove home and went to bed. I had alot on my mind and it felt good to sort out my thoughts in a place that was comfortable to me 3-6 years ago. How do you balance holding onto things from your past and moving on into the future. I feel that aside from some basic personality traits I am not the same person I was in 5 years ago in college and the person I was in college was a 180 degree change from who I was in high school. I embrace change but sometimes pulls your life in a whole new direction at the expense of old friendships. I am excited to become a married man very soon and wonder what the next stage in life will bring. Maybe going to yoga and clearing my mind would have been a good idea. :) At the present moment there is nothing wrong and alot of exciting times coming soon. I guess I am just at a crossroads looking back, examining where I am right now, and moving forward into the future.

Monthly Progress

Data is fun the Analyze! My title at work is GIS Analyst. GIS stands for Geographic Information Systems.I decided I have never look at my spreadsheet in a monthly progress type of way. Comparing one week to the next does not give the bigger picture so I put together this chart to see how recent months compare to previous months/years.

May had the biggest weight gain in the past 2.5 years.

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Last night I went to the park around 730pm and it was still sunny and hot. For the first time I was like, "I don't even feel like walking right now." I tied my shoe laces and just did it anyway. The park has every 1/8 mile marked so I run 1/4 mile then power walked 1/8 mile for the first 1.5 loop then jogged at a steady pace the second loop. The last 1/8 of the second loop I busted out in a full out sprint after being annoyed by a group blocking the sidewalk both ways. I ended up with 2.98 miles in 30:01. This morning I passed up the drive-thru and had a Myoplex.

C3.5D6D2 Part II

I ate poorly yesterday and this morning. It happens when I take 3 days off working out and eating clean. Monday is usually a transition day and Tuesday is usually back on track. I am fighting the urge to just go thru the motions until I leave town on Monday for the wedding. I did really good for 3 week after the end of my last challenge but I have been struggling with motivation since I got back from the wedding in Missouri 3 weeks ago. Afterward I pretty much did just running and now it is going to be 100 degrees the next 5 days. http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/fitness/monthly/76013 I hate to admit it but I am kinda bummed I was not able to reach my goal of a 10K in under an hour. I found all those runs in the coming months so I can pick it back up once the Honeymoon is over at the beginning of July. I am in a slump fitness wise but I am excited about the wedding and had hoped to get is peak shape for our Honeymoon. I went to the same place we are going 2 years ago and keep reminding myself I am 30+ pounds lighter and I felt great back then. If only being fit wasn't a mental battle.
It has been more of a mental battle trying to maintain and reach new goals than it was to lose weight from 246lbs to 190 lbs. 190lbs was my only goal for a year and a half and once I reached it I was scared about what to do next. I had a 2-3 month period in-between reaching my "goal weight" and finding and starting body-for-life. I went to the gym 4 days a week but I felt aimless. I was still in the pounds down on scale equals progress mindset. I feel like I have moved past that and I have another mental hurdle to cross to take things to the next level. I don't love running but it is a measurable way to set goal and stay maintained. Alot of the time I feel like with all the exercising I do I should be making more progress on burning off fat. I have had periods where I push really hard but I burn out and eventually realize that I am neglecting other things in my life and losing tough with friends. Going to my friends funeral in March made me rethink how important losing the last of my gut (something I have despised since 1st grade) is in the big picture. I burnt off all my rocket fuel escaping the gravity of obesity and now as I float thru space I see things as infinite. That is what staying uncomfortable is all about, exploring the limits and finding they are limitless.

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Last night I got a call from my roommate on my way home from work asking if I wanted to go to Wing Stop. I was very hungry and said yes thinking I would do my lifting after I ate. I ordered 7 piece boneless strips, 4 lemon pepper and 3 teriyaki. I could not stop myself from snacking on the fries and ended up finishing my order plus 2 of my roommates boneless wings. It was a little after 8pm when I left and being full I decided not to go to the gym and get in bed early so I could run before work. I woke up around 3am ready to go but went back to sleep because it was too early as the gym opens at 5am. I woke up again at 5:30 but I have to leave the house by 6am to get to work on time. I put on my running shorts and went outside and it was almost 80 degrees. I picked up a dumbbell and did a set of 8 curls on each arm followed by 12-15 pushups, 20 crunches, 12 shoulder raises, jogged in place, laid in child's pose for a while, then did other yoga poses that help my back. After two nights of going to bed around 9pm I feel very well rested. This was my first time to exercise since my 1.36mi run on Thursday evening. The scale said 186.8 this morning. Good thing I have some Irwin Naturals Bloat-Away cause I ate Taco Cabana for breakfast.

Quotes of the Day

"He who knows enough of things to value them at their true worth never says too much; for he can also judge of the attention bestowed on him and the interest aroused by what he says. People who know little are usually great talkers, while men who know much say little. It is plain that an ignorant person thinks everything he does know important, and he tells it to everybody. But a well-educated man is not so ready to display his learning; he would have too much to say, and he sees that there is much more to be said, so he holds his peace."

"Those that are most slow in making a promise are the most faithful in the performance of it."

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

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I had a great weekend! 6 of my friends met up at my house on Friday and we drove down south to Float the Comal river. Our group of 10 set up camp around 11pm in the dark and the weather was perfect. 70s at night and mid 90s during the day. We rented tubes Saturday afternoon and had a fun float. The river is has almost a loop and there is an area where you can get out and walk a few blocks and float it over again. I lost my sandals and when I got near the stairs I slipped and fell, but my head broke my fall. (Ouch) Unlike most years I made sure to re-apply 100 SPF sunscreen and I did not get burnt. I did not want to be peeling on our wedding day. I got home around 5-6pm yesterday and planned to take a nap so I could watch the NBA finals but I ended up just going to bed. I was awoken around 10ish with texts saying the Dallas Mavericks won the championship. I was kinda hoping they would lose game 6 so I could see game 7 on Tuesday. Now I am back at work and well rested sipping on coffee. I need to double on water today and finish this week out strong. I will be driving to Colorado after work next Monday.

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I had a great Spin class and yoga class last night. I looked at the calendar/spreadsheet and I can't believe it has been 9 weeks since my last Spin-Yoga Wednesday. It seems when I run over 5 miles it starts to hurt my back and Yoga is really helpful.

I was worried that after the honeymoon I would get lazy like I did last summer. I want to keep running and set a goal earlier this year to run a Half marathon by the end of the year (and a full by the ago of 30.) I also told my future father-in-law I would run the Palo Duro 20k (12.5mi) trail run with him this coming October. Since a half marathon is 13.1 and I want to get up to 12.5 by the middle of October I decided to find a 10K to run at the end of July to have a goal to keep me running. I plan to start a 14-week half marathon training program at the beginning of August. I searched a few websites and found a race to train for, the DRC Half on 11/6/11. I think I have gone off the deep end as I don't even know if I like running, I just like setting goals and reaching them.

Summer/Fall Run Schedule

Sizzling Summer 10K
River Legacy Park 7/23
http://sizzlingsummerhalf.com/Event_Details.html

Galveston Sand Crab 5k
10th & Seawall Boulevard 8/13
http://www.runintexas.com/galveston-sand-crab

Rahr & Sons Oktoberfest 5K
Ft. Worth TX 9/24
http://www.rahroktoberfest.com/

Palo Duro Trail Run 20k
Palo Duro Canyon 10/15
http://www.palodurocanyon.com/race.php

DRC Half Marathon
Dallas TX 11/6
http://www.drchalf.com/index.php

White Rock Half Marathon
Dallas TX 12/4
http://www.runtherock.com/

Quote of the Day

“Never give up. Never stop trying. As long as you're trying…you haven't failed.” Julie Whitt

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Good Morning!

I feel great and I am wide awake. Last night I finally got to run my 10k. It was sunny and 96 degrees but I made sure I had plenty of water (and some Gatorade) before the run. It was more mental than physical finishing. I got in the zone after 2-3 miles and it felt like my body was in autopilot. I finished in 62:15 (halfway at 29:22) which is not quite my goal but right about when I finished my last 10K (only 1 second slower) 5 months and 50 degrees ago. This route had more hills.

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Last night I got in an UBWO. I took two weeks off lifting to focus on adding distance to my runs. I am planning on attempting a 10K tonight or Thursday night to see what my time would have been. I am taking two weeks vacation for the wedding and might lose my endurance.

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I got an email from the race coordinators.

Dear Fireflyers, We hope you had fun at our second annual event. Thank you for all the constructive feedback. We ARE taking notes. There will be improvements for the race next year, namely a smoother packet pick up process and plenty of water. As well, we are planning to bring back the race to its original date in October (cooler temperature) and the original course route (no backtracking). Despite all the things that went haywire on race day, we still hope you had a memorable experience. Y'all did look awesome with all the flashing lights and costumes! If you have photos or videos, please share and tag us on Facebook. We would love to see them.

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Last night's 10k turned 5k was a fan experience. I got to meet Debbie Mo a fellow body-for-lifer I have known on the website forum for over a year. I got to run with Texas whom I have not seen in almost a decade. It was cool seeing 3300 runners in flashing LED lights. I finished in 32:26 (1:36 slower than my first 5k) but it was hot, too crowded to pass, and water was not available pre-race.

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June is off the a great start! I left work early to pickup the race packets for Sautrday's 5K/10K. A friend of mine who lives close to the running store I had to go to joined me for National Running Day Festivities. Arrived for the group run right as they were taking off and ended up doing 4.2 miles in 41:10. Afterward we got a free shirt, some food, and a protein shake. Then joined the promotional team for happy hour a few blocks away (I am not currently in a challenge). It felt great to get out and run. There were runners everywhere going in every direction.
Also, I was picked Top Male in the Coffee Crew Challenge on the Body for Life Forum.

National Runners Day

Happy National Runners Day!
Why do you run?
Make your own badge. Here is a link to a blank logo.
http://www.runningday.org/site/documents/logo.png

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Happy National Runners Day!

Here is a link to find a group run near you this evening. There are 6 in my area. www.runningday.org

I Ran with my running buddy yesterday at 7pm and it was sunny and hot. We took a Trail from the fountain by his grandparents house to the bridge by the High School baseball fields and then back. 4.21 miles together and I decided to just keep running back to my parents house so I could go watch the NBA Finals. 4.81 miles in 50:13, we stopped to walk a few times.

Clocking in at 44.6 miles May was my second highest mileage for a month since I started running outdoors in September.I did 56.1 miles in November but the first week of December my foot started hurting. I would like to get back to running 12-15 miles a week.