My wife, the biggest loser

Cathi called me at work one afternoon a few months ago and told me she spent $50 to join a weight loss competition among 107 other ladies!  I wasn't too thrilled with that information, but Cathi worked her butt off.... Literally!

She is a running machine.  Over the past several weeks, not only has she been eating like a monk, but she has been running over a hundred miles per week!  Last week she set a new personal record of running 120 miles in one week (She NEVER runs on Sunday either).

So on Tuesday this week the 8 week competition ended and this afternoon she was given the results.  She won!  She lost 21.66% of her body weight over that time.  Losing just over 38 pounds.  The second place finisher lost 19.38%.

I asked Cathi to bring home from the results meeting some stats if they would give them to her.  I'm a total nerd and wanted some data.  Much of it is very disturbing....

Out of 107 participants:

• 54 ladies over 200 pounds

• 37 out of the 54 dropped out (68% gave up)
•  Average lost among those who stuck with it in this group was 6.4% 

• 51 ladies over 100 pounds

• 25 out of this 51 dropped out (49% gave up)
• Average lost among this group was 6.8%.

• 2 ladies over 300 pounds

• 1 dropped out and the other lost 3.4% total (50% gave up)

I figured at the beginning that there would be some drop out rate, but not that much!  And I had no idea that given such a huge field that she would be victorious and win the title, and a $1000 check!  She won several things along the way for being the biggest loser for several weeks:  a hour long massage, a months pass to a tanning salon (Thanks for giving that to me Cathi!), and a $25 gift certificate to a metal craft shop.


Congratulations Cathi for not only doing so well and inspiring many people, but for ending up looking like a supermodel!  That was the best $50 she ever spent!

4.5 miles and feeling great

Tonight Cathi took me to the Syracuse Community Center where I ran for 45 minutes and felt great!  I was able to do a couple laps at a really fast pace, but my normal pace was pretty slow.  But I didn't care, I didn't walk and felt like I could keep going once I got to 25 minutes into it.  Before 25 minutes though I wasn't feeling so great.  It takes a while for my body to get past that rebellious stage I guess.


4.5 miles total

One small step

Today at noon I went down, stretched and had set a mental goal to go 4 miles.  That would be a new PR for this round of "runningness".  At mile 2 I couldn't believe I set that goal, I wanted to quit so bad!  But I kept plugging away, and taking sips from my water bottle but kept the same pace.

1.0 miles @ 6.0 mph
2.5 miles @ 6.2 mph
.25 miles @ 6.5 mph
.25 miles @ 7.0 mph

4.0 miles total

4 miles is wimpy, but it was a stepping stone to another day and a victory for today!

3 miles of torture

I promised my team I would run at least three times this week, so at 1pm I reluctantly went downstairs and ran:

1 mile at 6mph
0.125 miles at 4mph
1 miles at 6mph
0.5 miles at 6.5 mph
0.125 miles at 7 mph
0.125 miles at 3.5 mph (warm down)

3.125 miles total

Pure torture today.  Not a good attitude.  Need to work on that.

Keeping my mind busy while running

Today I tried a new strategy during my run.  I set the pace at 6.5 mph and counted every time my right leg touched the ground.  I found out that I do roughly 180 or so paces per quarter mile.  So I imagined that each pace was 1 yard.  Actually each pace comes to about 2.3 yards.  I kept telling myself only 1200 yards left (when actually it was 1.6 miles).  Today's run was a little less painful than last run and I went a little further.  Joanna was on the Eliptical and Sup was on the other treadmill.

2.75 miles in 25:03

Oh and every run starts and end with a good 5 minutes of stretching and also ends with 50 pushups without stopping.

2 miles in 18:30

Todays run was tough.  I started out at 6.8 mph and had to pull back cause I was just dying.  But I did end up doing it all the way without walking.  Felt great afterwards, but it was tough today!

Day 2

I really should have ran last Friday, but I didn't come in to work, so I didn't get access to a treadmill.  Today I ran at a faster pace:

13 minutes @ 6.5 mph
1 minute @ 7.0 mph
:30 @ 7.5 mph
:30 @ 8.0 mph

15 minutes total @ 1.66 miles

It was tough, I didn't like it, but it wasn't pure torture.  I'm honestly not looking forward to the days where I have to increase to 30 - 40 minutes.  But one day at a time right?

Day 1 - 1.5 miles in 15 minutes

So today I started Day 1 of my Beginner training plan for the Ragnar Relay this June.  It went really well.  I stretched out good before and after the run, and did 50 pushups afterwards too.

I did 14:30 @ 6mph, then :30 at 8mph.  then 1 minute at 4mph

Piece of cake.  Sweat a little bit, and didn't run out of breath.  Talk about starting out slow!  I like it!


Total distance: 1.5 miles in 15 minutes

More Pain relief

When I got in to work my back was still giving me crap so I went downstairs and lifted:

Feet up Bench press:
4 x 12 @ 135
@80 crunches

Pain was diminished significantly, but still annoying.

Another round of legs up bench

Did another round of legs up bench press:

4 x 12 @ 135 slow and deliberate

@ 100 crunches

Felt great!  I really like this lift!  It's much more deliberate and as a result provides more benefits and especially clears out the lower back pain.  After lifting today, my back is free of pain.  I don't get it.

Just what the Dr. didn't order - feet in the air bench press

So yesterday I went to see the Chiropractor since I was still having issues with my lower back. I woke up on Sunday morning with a very stiff and painful lower back on the right side. The Chiropractor moved my legs around and tried adjusting things (which seemed really rushed to me and almost completely ineffective). He did show me a couple cool stretches that he suggested I do.

Example of feet up bench press

When I left the office I felt nearly as crappy as when I walked in. This morning's swim was cut way short because of the pain intensity in my back. I did the stretches the Dr. suggested, but still felt pain and stiffness. Decided that in order to reduce the back strains I really should work on my core so I went down at lunchtime (which I haven't done in ages) and did some crunches:

100 crunches
Feet up Bench Press: 4 x 12 @ 135

I know that 135 is light, but given that I haven't lifted at all in the past couple years, plus that it was feet in the air 135 was just right. It forced me to go slow in order to balance the weight. The lift was more deliberate, controlled, and put the pressure all along my back rather than mainly on my shoulder blades. Why didn't I do this earlier? That lift all by itself was a million times more effective than the visit to the chiropractor. The pain is completely gone in my back. I can walk normal, bend over. Now I'm not going to go test it out, but I think feed up bench presses did the trick for me.

So if you have lower back pain, definitely give it a shot. Plus it's a good lift for really isolating the pecs in the bench press. Definitely won't get anywhere near the amount of weight for a normal bench lift, but it's a great drill.

10 Mile hike on Wheeler Creek

This afternoon I hiked 10 miles with Steve Ross and the scouts. Had a scary hour when five of the boys decided to take off ahead and they were so far ahead we were convinced they took a fork that took them somewhere else.

A biker was coming down and we asked her that if she caught up with five boys to tell them to STOP! Until we get there. So annoying! We finally did catch up to them and reviewed safety while hiking in groups.

Had fun and I took Max (our St. Bernard) who was slobbering all over and panting like crazy, but he did well.

Top 50 Triathlete Blogs

I was just notified that this blog made the list of top 50 informative and inspiring triathlete blogs by physical therapy assistant schools.

Cool. Too bad my focus isn't on triathlons at the moment and the posts just aren't coming in on a normal basis. Right now the focus is on swimming.

Three sets

Had several errands at lunch, one of which was going to the Post office on 2nd south. Talk about a government operation! Line had about 12 people in it and took me 25 minutes to get through.

Did the following:

DB Front Raises: 3 x 12 @ 25
Crunches: 3 x 50
Pushups: do as many as you can in one minute (80 total)

Next time I'll have to do more, but I had to cut it short today thanks to the US Postal Service.

Fitness Test

My work introduced a wellness program last month and I finally got a chance to take the fitness test which involved four exercises:

Pushups: 75 in one minute - Excellent
Crunches: 67 in one minute - Excellent
Three minute Step Test: 79 (my heart rate for one minute after doing three minutes of steps at 96bpm) - Excellent
One mile walk: 13:30 (Good - barely)

The whole family did this test. It was hilarious to watch Oliver try to do crunches and pushups. And the kids all loved doing the step test. They got out stools and did the test several times.

Then we walked over to the school to do the 1 mile walk test. There were some teenage girls doing soccer practice and I'm sure Cathi and I looked like a nice middle aged couple walking there fast. "Look at the older fat people trying to exercise, hee hee!" I wasn't about to speed walk and look even more doofus like.

Shoulders, lats and tris

Flat bench Tricep Extensions: 3 x 12 @ 75
Pullups: 3 x 4 @ 195
Standing DB Front Raises: 3 x 12 @ 25
Crunches: 3 x 60
Standing Tricep Cable Extensions: 3 x 12 @ 40
Seated Cable Rows: 3 x 12 @ 160

Five minutes on the Rowing machine: 1341 Meters

I pushed it harder on the rower. Last month I did 1291 Meters in five minutes so this is a new PR. I'd like to keep doing these until five minutes just doesn't do anything. But for now, five minutes gets me sweating and breathing pretty good especially when I'm pushing it. Tried to keep my stroke rate to 40pm but ended up going around 35.

Lots of calories to burn

After last week's scout camp which included lots of good camp food, as well as Friday evening's visit to Golden Corral with the Lows, I had a ton of calories to burn with not so much workouts last week, so today's ride was pretty quick considering I had a little headwind to deal with from 500 S in Bountiful all the way in to Salt Lake.

Distance: 31.6 miles
Time: 1:34
Average Speed: 20.04 mph

Anything above 20 is great for coming/going to work because there is usually some wind to deal with.
------------------------------------
The ride home took the exact same amount of time. I really pushed it the last 2 miles down Gentile and as I turned off Bluff to go up 1000 W. My quads started to cramp up. I've NEVER had that happen before. So I pushed it a little. Need to spend more time on the bike if I expect to do the Pocatello to Syracuse ride this year.

Total miles for the day: 63.2
Time: 3:08
Average Speed: 20.04 mph

Mt. Harrison Ride 2010

Woke up at 6:30 and started to prep for this year's Mt Harrison Ride. Left at 7:10am. Made a quick stop at the convenience store about .25 miles from the start. Got some batteries. Good thing cause my GPS and MP3 player both went out and I had to load the new batteries on the ride. Would have been stuck without data, or tunes without it.

I felt great on this ride and didn't run out of breath to the point where I had to stop. I didn't stop once on this ride due to taking a break. I had my camelback filled with ice water, and had 3 buzz bites in my pack. I kept on spinning the whole time except for the 4 technical stops I had to make to change batteries, walk over snow that was impassable on a bike, go around a locked gate. I felt wonderful! I was able to reach the summit in 2:20.

Was reaching speeds of 47 miles per hour on the way down. It was a rush! Two hours to go up and less than 30 minutes to come down. Wow. There was alot more snow this year. I had to walk over alot more snow for longer stretches. The lookout was a little ominous with the rain clouds strong wind and lightning in the distance. Didn't feel comfortable up there hanging out.

I must say this ride is my favorite of the year!
Video below:

From Biking

Shoulders, abs and rowing

Standing over the head presses: 3 x 10 @ 95
Crunches: 3 x 75
Seated Cable Rows: 3 x 12 @ 145
Wide Grip Pull ups: 3 x 3
Standing DB Front Raises: 3 x 10 @ 20
Captains Chair: 3 x 12 straight legs

Did 5:00 on the rowing machine: 1300 meters.

Got a good sweat on the rower. That's a great machine.

Biked in to work

I was supposed to be driving down to Cedar City for Austin at the Summer Games, but since he is still learning to not procrastinate and to listen to his parents, we aren't going. So instead of taking the day off work for no reason, I biked in to work. According to bodybugg, I burn about 800 calories riding in to work, which seems about right.

Today's ride was nice. No wind and sunny.
Distance: 30.9 miles
Time: 1:37
Average Speed: 19.4 mph

The last 5 miles killed me. I was at a 20.0 mph average, but the rough roads really make a difference. When I'm on smooth pavement it sure is nice. That rough hard gravel crap sure is annoying. It's probably easier to maintain and lay down, but it is a step backwards in road technology in my opinion. Nobody wants to walk or ride on that stuff.