Updated every Sunday. Are you fat? Are you sick of being so? Perhaps my attempt to lose it and run a race will inspire you, or at least give you some insight.
Current Weight: 216.6 lbs.
Savage Countdown: 21 days
Saturday Run:
2nd
Annual Peace River 5k Results – This week instead of running Circle B
Bar Reserve, I told my job (Mulberry Pharmacy) I’d run in a 5k race for them in
the name of charity. Naturally, I decided to GoPro it. I placed 2nd
in my age bracket (ages 26-34) with a time of 25:25. Not bad for my first
competitive run…so close to winning my first ever medal…
P90X Off week #2 /
Injury Update
Luckily
this was the muscle confusion week for the p90x program, and it might be my
last. I went and saw my physical therapist friend Rick about my arm, and it of
course came with good news bad news. Good news is that it’s nothing serious; my
muscle is just massively inflamed and needs to rest. The bad news is that its (as
he compared it) similar to tennis elbow which can take anywhere from 2 weeks to
6 months to heal. I have Savage race in 3 weeks. Lucky me! So I may have to
quit p90x completely since most of it relies on a mix of upper body and lower
body training, that or I can murder my knees and switch to just doing all lower
body and core workouts. Either way, I’m going to have to modify the program
just to finish the 90 days or just scrap it and invent my own routine. I refuse
to lose steam and quit doing the 2 a days when I’m this deep in, so Ill just
have to use my ingenuity to compensate! I’ll let you know my decisions next
blog!
Current Weight: 215.8 lbs.
Savage Countdown: 27 days
Saturday Run:
Kyle actually kept pace! At this rate, sure most of us are
going to bust our asses falling off of the obstacles, but at least we’ll make
it in good time if we keep running this fast!
\m/
The Fatigue
Prevails!
So on
Monday of this week when doing my normal cardio routine (metabolic running for
30 minutes and 15 minutes on a bike) I felt light headed and dizzy afterwards
and later that afternoon I had to do an upper body routine for p90x and my
wrist started to hurt worse than it ever has. After consulting 4 pharmacists
and 2 physical therapist (sometimes being a pharmacy technician has its perks)
they concluded that, quite simply put, my body is pissed at me because it liked
being a fat bum who could quote more movies than a human should be able to. I
pushed myself too hard too fast and need to step back, so now I have to tone
down all of my workout routines for the next week or so and let my body recoup
in hopes that my injuries will heal and I won’t lose any of my built up stamina
before the Savage race.
I’ve toned down the last few
workouts and after finishing it just makes me angry because I’m hardly winded
and not exhausted like normal, which honestly should make me happy, but the
fact that I’m being forced to take it easy is rather irritating, especially
with less than a month before the race.
Angry Jogger
Many people
have asked me to help them lose weight, and the first thing I always ask
everyone to do is to download the MyFitnessPal app and log their food for two
weeks with no dieting, and let me review it so I can help them setup a diet and
exercise routine. So far only two people out of numerous others who have
inquired have done so. If you won’t take the time to do something as simple as write
down what you consume, why would I want to waste my time helping someone who is
half-hearted about the whole process? That being said, I found this blogger
known as the Angry
Jogger, and I stumbled upon one of his article about using running for
weight loss, which includes a program
he wrote to calculate how much you can consume and how much you need to
exercise to lose weight effectively. I hope some of you who are willing to read
this guy’s blog entry might actually take it into consideration, because it
looks like a pretty solid (and easy) program if you aren’t able to use the
calorie journal app like I requested.
Upcoming 5k Race
Next week I should have an even
more interesting video to post since I will be running a 5k race with a bunch
of coworkers around Lake Hollingsworth for some Peace River Center
charity event. At least I get a free T-shirt out of it.
Injury Update
I have had it with my wrist, and
after doing a lot of research on it, basically the only way to get it to quit
hurting at this stage is to wear a splint, take an anti-inflammatory, and don’t
use it, aka skip my arm workouts for a week. I’ve
also been soaking it in Epson salts for 30 minutes every night to see if that
helps, but honestly I can’t tell if it is. This is going to suck donkey
balls, especially this close to the race where I wanted to up the ante
hardcore. Next week is the second rest week in the p90x program so it wont be
too much of a sacrifice I hope, and afterwards if all goes according to plan
and my wrist has quit hurting by that time, I might still have a chance on the
evil bars! That or I will plummet to a very chilly, muddy demise…and my ranting
is done.
Current Weight: 215.2 lbs.
Savage Countdown: 34 days
Saturday Run
Today it was just Kyle and I, and since he keeps sprinting
every time we run I thought I’d teach him how to do metabolic running (high
intensity for 2 minutes, low intensity for 1 minute, rinse and repeat) so he would
learn to pace himself. Granted he almost died…again…we finished with a better
time than last week (almost an hour flat). We can only go up from here!
Stick to your guns
Overall the
only thing new I’ve tried this week has been switching to Greek yogurt and
upping all of my cardio with harder resistances and faster treadmill settings,
which reminds me, if you want to work on your reflexes try running fast on a
treadmill and stepping on the moving and stationary side stand simultaneously,
if you don’t have ninja skills face planting will be part of your immediate
future, as I learned…the hard way. I’ve lost nearly five pounds in one week and
while I can’t pinpoint it precisely as to what caused it, thus far its pointing
to the yogurt, which I only switched to because it has 5 more grams of protein
in it and more casein, so my muscles I’ve attained will stick around a bit
longer. It could also be the start of the Saturday runs, but we do that at a
rather leisurely pace so I don’t think that’s the case. Either way, if I keep
at this rate, ill actually hit 200 lbs. before the race, which I hate to admit,
would most likely cause me to scream like a giddy schoolgirl who just received
a my little pony.
Injury Update
My wrist is doing a lot better since I started using a stem
machine (the machine that shoots electricity into you, Frankenstein style) on
it. Having to prolong working on my pull ups this long though has put a severe
dent in my fear of being able to finish the evil bars. I’ve had to go with the
options of A) lose a lot of weight before the race as to compensate for not
being able to pull my ass up or B) find a miracle doctor in the darkest
trenches of a desert who will give me robot arms. Since I cannot afford a plane
ticket to where said doctor is currently working on a master plan for world
domination, I have to go with option A. Thats all I really have for this week.
Current Weight: 220.4 lbs.
Savage Countdown: 42 days (my new countdown clock until raceday)
Saturday Run:
Again we ran the Circle B
Bar Reserve running trail, and I am happy to say that we tried running the
trail in reverse this time and it was MUCH better…that plus the sun wasn’t out
so none of our runners almost died this time. We also saw a lot more of the
wildlife out and about, especially the hogs and birds. We even saw a baby gator
death glaring people on the trail, how fitting. Overall we finished running
about 1:13 so we not officially have a bar set to work towards for the next week.
Mixing P90X and
Wing Chun:
This week marked the beginning of
phase 2 of my P90X journey, and because of how I decided to modify my workouts
for this week, my muscles are definitely getting the full benefit of the muscle
confusion. Monday was Labor Day and since I had the day off, my friend Carlos
invited me to a free boot camp class in his club at the Lakeland Wing Chun Kwoon downtown. I didn’t
want to give up my P90X for the day so I just went ahead and did my morning
workout routine, my P90X mid day, and finished off with the Wing Chun that
evening. Luckily at the boot camp many of the moves were very similar to the
P90X program with a few added variations of new moves (personally, I liked body
slamming the 100 lb. dummy after kneeing it in the groin 10 times with each
knee, unfortunately my wrist did not) which I did find extremely refreshing.
After the class Sifu Och offered me
to train for free for the week and I accepted, initially thinking I’d just skip
my P90X to go to the Kwoon instead. Later that night I had a much better idea,
I decided to just combine my morning workout routine with my P90X one and do
Wing Chun in the afternoon. I thought this would be an easy way to build up my
cardio and muscles even more (and it is), but easy isn’t how I would exactly
put it, brutal is more fitting.
The first day wasn’t bad, but on
the second day I was already starting to feel it already. I actually passed out
at the bar (not drunk, which is a first) and didn’t wake up until my friend Ben
shook me maybe fifteen minutes into my cat nap on the bar of the Pulse. On day
three people at work started saying how I looked like the walking dead. The increased
work outs and having to cut an hour out of my sleeping in the morning in order
to get both workouts in before work was taking its toll on me. I decided after
day four I wouldn’t continue because I needed a break and would rather relax in
the afternoon at least once during the week, and was disappointed when I got to
the Kwoon since I found out that Thursday is there tournament training day so
there was no beginners class, but I did get padded up and beat up by high
school sophomore who has an incredible future in fighting if he keeps kicking
that hard (he even bruised my rib). I only did that for about half an hour and
decided to throw in the Cardio X DVD just for the hell of it because I didn’t
feel I had a complete workout being beat up by a minor.
I am happy to say I thoroughly
enjoyed doing Wing Chun for the week, but I can’t afford to attend the school,
so I may just up my P90X routine to include the 3 a days still this next week
and see if it is still helping or if I need to back off before I become a
complete zombie.
On a side
note, my right wrist is starting to really bother me because of the carpel
tunnel (or at least I think it's that) so I’m going to try doing more wrist
stretches in order to have it ready to hoist my ass up many of these obstacles.
Before I get to the Obstacles Breakdown, a few updates:
P90X Update:
This week was the off week for the first 30 days of the P90X
program as to cause muscle confusion so the next 30 days I bulk up, which means
I’ve been doing nothing but stretches, Yoga, and Core Synergistic (Obscene core
work) workouts all week. On the bright side I got to attempt 2 new P90X DVDs
from the bundle, and here’s my quick summary of them:
Stretch X – Bullshit. All he did was combine all of the stretches from the
other DVDs and make one collaborative DVD that isn’t that helpful. The
Yoga DVD was much more helpful stretching and overall workout-wise.
Core Synergistics - I had no idea what Synergistics was prior to this DVD, and
now I know…working more than one muscle group at once. Half of the excercises I
can do in my sleep, the other half I can’t even do. It’s going to take some
work to bring this workout up to par for me.
Supplements:
I’ve finally had a noticeable difference due to the
supplements, and definitely not a desired one. The CLA that I’m taking
apparently does break down your already stored fat cells and puts them in the
blood stream for energy and for you to use. The part they neglect to mention is
that if you don’t use it the pill basically starts to work like a water pill,
which basically translates to the past week since it’s been my off week, I haven’t
been working out as hard and I’ve been pissing like a race horse the last half
of my shifts all week at work. The things one learns from being his own
personal Guinea pig.
Saturday Run:
This was my first time running the Circle B
Bar Reserve running trail, and though we had to cut it short due to one of
our runners having a near death experience, it was still a lot of fun. Here’s
the stop motion video, I’ll post the live action one later once I get a chance
to edit it (on a side not, I am thoroughly loving my new GoPro black edition).
The Obstacles:
From what I’ve discovered after
reading online, Here are all of the obstacles that I get to endure during
this 5-6 mile race:
Shriveled Richard:
"Jump into
one of our mammoth ice water baths. This one is cold. It's certainly not an
ideal situation for men in speedos. In fact, this obstacle is brutal."
That just.....ouch...
Prep: You can’t really prep for this one aside from deciding
to wear a wet suit beforehand. You have to jump in a muddy pit of ice water and
duck under 2X4’s into it. Yep, it’s going to suck.
Rubbers:
"Sprint through an uphill sea of tires.
Don't fall on your face."
Prep: This is one of the things I am VERY grateful to P90X
for, they have an entire section on pretending to jump through tires on the
workout of a few of the DVDs and hopefully that comes into play here and will
help out.
Thor's Grundle:
"Duck under the wooden baffles to
get a face full of mud. It's disgusting, we know."
Dirty girls...I like.
Prep: It’s the Shriveling Richard with no ice and a ton of
mud added. I live in Florida, Mudding is literally a sport down here. I got
this.
Back Scratcher:
"This is a disgustingly long series
of wooden walls, hay bales, and barbed wire crawls. Most people would rather do
100 burpees if they had the choice (you don't)."
Prep: They had an obstacle similar to this at the Warrior
Dash when I ran it in February, but due to not watching where I was stepping I
messed up my ankle early on in the race and could only go over the smaller
walls. I’m about 30-40 lbs. lighter now than I was then, which should make my
life a lot easier and allow me to actually be able to do this entire thing.
Nutt Smasher:
"The Nutt Smasher is our version of the
balance beam... on crack rock. It's long, wobbly, and most of you will end up
falling off into the mud. Oh yeah, and the awesome people from Autism Speaks
sell water balloons here, so don't be surprised if you get a balloon to the
grill."
Prep: I’ve for some reason always been good at balance beams
so I haven’t really prepped for it at all, but I’m sure the Yoga will help with
that. I was unaware that they let Autistic kids throw balloons at you on this
obstacle, which, damn it, this obstacle went from being the easiest to my ass
is totally falling off of it…
96"" Stiffie:
"An intense climb over an 8
foot wall. Most people can't make this climb unassisted, so don't be afraid to
ask for help."
Prep: Other reason I’m glad I lost weight is so my friends
don’t take one look at me when asking for help and the only reply I get is “oh
HELL no!”
Swamp Trail (aka Shoezilla):
"Run through thick,
shoe sucking mud. We collected over 1,000 shoes from this obstacle alone after
our last race."
Prep: This is one of the other reasons I wanted to try out
the toe shoes, and alas, I concluded I shouldn’t run this race in them. I shall
just have to tie my shoes very, very tight, primarily because my running
microchip is on my shoe and without it I can’t claim my free beer afterwards.
Lumberjack Lane:
"Carry a log or maybe a sand bag
and march, soldier! Bad ass mofos grab two!"
Prep: I’ve been using my 5-year-old niece as a practice log,
this should be a walk in the park.
Big Ass Cargo Net:
"This obstacle is our big ass
cargo net. Climb up, then climb down. We hope you aren't scared of heights."
Prep: Was anyone else raised in Disney World aside from my ignoramus
brother and myself? Remember the huge ass cargo net at the Honey I shrunk the
Kids playground? Yeah, I have years of training for this under my belt, and
granted rusty, I’m sure it will come back to me.
Davey Jones' Locker:
"Jump off of the building into
deep water. This obstacle is fun as hell."
Prep: I have a mild fear of heights (which I find funny
since I have an overwhelming urge to eventually skydive), so I’m willing to bet
money I freeze up here…and that Sean will more than likely push me off then
edge.
Mach 7:
"Haul ass down this slippery mother. It's so
high you will need an oxygen mask. Our new and improved design allows more
Savages to safely slide at once."
Weeeeeeeeee!
Prep: Getting up the wall looks like a pain in the ass, but
doable with a short sprint, and who doesn’t like an industrial sized
slip-n-slide?
Barn Doors:
"We took the doors off of Uncle Jed's
barn and painted them Savage orange. Now you have to climb them."
Prep: This obstacle doesn’t look that hard so I’m guessing
they place it towards the end to mess with heavily fatigued people. No worries,
all the pull-ups I’ve been doing should help out a lot here.
Hay Stacks:
"We stack up the hay. High. Now climb!"
Prep: Why do I have a funny feeling the dueling banjos from
deliverance will be playing in my head as I climb over these things?
Colon Blow 5000:
"Crawl up and down our large
plastic colons. Okay, so they are actually plastic sewer pipes, but you can
still pretend like you are a little gerbil. It's pitch black in there, and
we've thrown in two barbed wire crawls to make it more interesting. Some people
call this our ""scarriest"" obstacle."
Prep: I don’t see how this is scary unless you’re afraid of
the dark, and if anything it just makes me consider wanting to wear knee pads,
because being someone who has crawled through sewer pipes (not for leisure,
either) this ridges will hurt, a lot.
Evil Bars:
"Evil bars are our twisted take on a
childhood classic. Remember your play ground's monkey bars? Well these are
longer, steeper, and more challenging than those were."
...well #%$@...
Prep: this is the obstable I fear the most. In my current
state I still cannot do 1 pull-up. I have a lot of work to do in the next month
if I have any hope of not falling off of it.
Swamp Ass:
"Tromp through the swamp. More mud. More
sweet, sticky, lovely mud."
Prep: Isn’t this kind of the same thing as the shoe sucking
obstacle? I’m seeing a lack of variety here.
Incline Wall:
"By the time you get to the incline
wall obstacle, your ass is pretty much already beat down. Your muscles are
already fried, and now you have to try to make your way up a slippery incline
wall. WTF Savage Race?"
Prep: This is why I need to start doing some form of
sprinting exercise, otherwise I will be doomed when I get to this one.
Tire Pendulum:
"We hang about 200 rubber tires from
ropes and let them swing. Get a few dozen people running through at once and
look out! These bad boys will be swinging everywhere, and believe me you won't
want to catch one to the face."
Prep: Something tells me martial arts training would come in
handy
Flaming Savages:
"Jump over rows of fire. Yes, real
fire. Please take this one seriously. Jump over it. Do not touch it."
Prep: Obstacle solely designed as a badass photo op. Not
that I’m complaining, in fact I love that I get my pic taken as I jump over
fire, I just always panic and can’t decide what kind of pose to strike while I
do it, heh.
Mud N' Guts:
"Low-crawl through delicious mud under
our signature Savage orange barbed wire."
Prep: A low Crawl is a walk in the park compared to most of
the obstacles on this list, so none is really necessary.
Mystery Obstacles:
"We can't give everything away
before the race. Expect a few surprises."
Prep: I’m willing to bet its going to be that hanging
electrical wire they have at the tough mudder races. It’s become a rather
popular obstacle and I’m fairly sure that since it’s in high demand they will
give the people want they want: electricity and pain!!!
With that, I bid you all farewell until next week!
.bmp)
