Sunday, May 26, 2013

Old Man

Well the weekend has been as awesome as advertised and I've made a lot of new friends. Faith and Chris have a cool little crew and I'm really going to enjoy my time here. Their best friends are a couple named Ellen and Nekos and they're some of the coolest people I've ever met. Ellen keeps a blog here and I'm almost embarrassed to link it because it's so much better than this blog. But there it is.

I'm titling this old man because my lower back has been absolutely killing me. It was a little stiff after the PT test on Monday but nothing really came of that. Then I ran 5.7 miles on Friday morning and felt really good but throughout the day, my back really stiffened up and it almost felt unbearable. We went to a sweet house party and then a cool little bar with live music but I was miserable the whole time and probably not a lot of fun to hang out with. Yesterday, it started to loosen up a bit throughout the day and I was optimistic that the bad times were behind me. I drank a lot of tequila at dinner and I was feeling pretty good. Then this morning I woke up and it was worse than ever. I'm hobbling around real bad and while I can sit without pain, as soon as I do anything even remotely stressful to my back, sharp pains shoot up and down my body. It really sucks. I was planning on going for a short run this morning and trying to stretch it out but it's just not feasible. It's just so sore. Fuck getting old.

I did 100 pushups on Friday morning and then was in too much pain for the rest of the day to do any more. Yesterday I was feeling better and managed 150 before heading out to the park to listen to music and getting a little tipsy. Today I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do any. We're going to a BBQ at Ellen and Niko's house and I'm going to get shitfaced and self-medicate that way.

Tomorrow I drive back to Bama for my last week at Fort Rucker. It's still a bittersweet feeling but this trip Nashville has made it feel much more sweet. There's just so much more going on here and I love hanging out with Chris and Faith. Life is good...as long as my back decides to loosen up at some point.

Oh, I forgot, I bought a condo. Haha. It isn't perfect in every sense but it'll be really great for my purposes. The 2nd bedroom is tiny and wouldn't really be feasible to host a second roommate but it has its own full bathroom and will be fine for hosting guests. The master bedroom is huge so I'm going to keep my Queen bed up in Clarksville and buy a new King size bed. Faith has agreed to be my interior decorator and I'm pumped for her to turn my condo into a home...or whatever. She's done a great job decorating their house here and she knows me pretty well and will be a lot of help. The location is really great, 1.5 blocks from 5 Points which is a local hotspot with a bunch of bars and whatnot and then I'm 1.5 miles from downtown which is where I'll take all my guests when they come to town. I'm also 1.5 miles from Chris and Faith and we'll be hanging out a lot this summer. Can't effing wait.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Nashville

Finished my lame class today and headed up to Nashville. It's a bit of a drive, almost 6 hours, but Chris and Faith always make it worthwhile. They made a delicious salmon, quinoa, and brussel sprout dinner for me and we drank a bunch of Coronas. They have a lot of BBQs and parties planned for the weekend and I can't wait. I didn't run or do pushups today but I did 9-9-6 pullups with 2 minutes of rest between sets. I'll add the numbers tomorrow, goodnight for now.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Bored Bored Bored

I'm going a little crazy waiting for graduation. This class we're getting is extremely boring and it's a pain in the butt driving all over post trying to get clearing papers signed. Thankfully, we have a 4-day weekend coming up and I'm heading to Nashville to hang out with the Bendts and buy a condo so life should get more interesting this weekend.

For now, this is what I'm doing at night:


This afternoon, James and I had a special guest on our run, Mr. Brian Roche. He's back in town for two weeks and wanted to run with us. James and I put a bit of a hurting on him but we managed to do 3.69 miles at ~7:30 pace which felt decent in the heat. We were all sweating like madmen by the end of the run. I thought James uploaded the run but I can't find it anywhere. Anyway, 3.69.

This morning I woke up and did a 50-40-30-20-10 pyramid with 1 minute in-between sets. It's a great workout and doesn't take much time. I did two random sets of 50 this afternoon and did one set of 50 after dinner and my boobs hurt so much that I was ready to call it a day at 300. Then Marina started talking trash so I agreed to do 50 for every set of 10 she did, up to 4 sets. Well, she's kind of a beast and started doing sets of 20 but thankfully didn't make me double my ante. We're up to 3 sets and will be doing #4 shortly. Thanks to Marina, I'm going to hit my goal of 500. God bless shit talkers.

Speaking of shit talkers, I just signed up for a 12k run with my main man Dookie on June 8th. It's a hilly course and we've agreed not to leave each other but I have a feeling that may go out the window for the last km or two. He's quite the beast of an athlete and it's going to be fun to be able to run with him a bit. I'm trying to get him to come out for one of the halfs that I'm doing but he's got two young children and a lot on his plate.

Just realized that today's pushups pushed me over the halfway point to 50,000. May 22nd is the 142nd day of the year(I think) and if I can finish on day 284(October 10th?), I will be a happy camper. I actually feel better than I have in a long time, the pain is almost purely muscle soreness with just a touch of shoulder pain mixed in. Pullups tomorrow morning, driving to Nashville in the afternoon. Can't wait.

Pushups: Today-500 YTD-25344
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-414
Running: Today-3.69mi YTD-307.15mi

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Lazy Days

It's strange being done with flight school. We have a lame class from 0730-noon but other than that my only responsibilities lie in getting some paperwork signed and not getting a DUI. I get to spend a lot of time hanging out with Dominic so I can't complain too much.


My old roommate, Brian, is back in town and we were supposed to go running today but it was just too damn hot. It was 90 degrees with high humidity and we both kind of bitched out. My ass and legs hurt quite a bit, probably from pushing my drunken legs too hard on those two miles, but I definitely could have gone out and done something. We've agreed to go tomorrow and have made a pact not to bitch out. We'll see. I did do my little 8-8-8 pullup session and then just did 11 more for a total of 35 today. I'm gonna go for 9-9-9 on Thursday, wish me luck! I'll leave you with a pic of Brian and me from his graduation. Why does he look like a midget?


Pushups: Today-0 YTD-24844
Pullups: Today-35 YTD-449
Running: Today-0mi YTD-303.46mi

Monday, May 20, 2013

PT stud

It's not my term, it's just what they call people who max their PT Test! I did 91 pushups, 87 situps, and ran 13:15 which combines for my best result ever. I'd really like to get faster so that I don't hate my life during the third event. That 13:15 was pure heart and "want-to" because it sucked for about 1.9 miles. The last 0.1 mile I could see the clock ticking down and couldn't think about how much it hurt to breathe because I had to get across before it got to 13:19.

I think this is proof that cramming for this type of test doesn't work. I did the anti-cram and tried to destroy my fitness for a week and was unable to do so. If I had been lazy for the past two months and tried to build my fitness over a week, obviously that wouldn't have worked out too well. So the moral is, live healthy for the most part but don't be afraid to let your hair down every once in a while. Going crazy from time to time is what keeps me sane.


I did two random sets of 50 around lunch and then did the pushup game with James right before dinner.  I was planning on doing extra pushups after the game to make it to 500 for the day but the card gods blessed me with 349 in the game, rounding my number out at 540 for the day. Not too bad! I'm going to take tomorrow off, work on some pullups, and try to bang out another 500 on Wednesday. I don't think I'll be able to make it to 27.5k and stay on my 5.5k/month pace but there's still time to make sure that May isn't a huge disaster.

It's really hitting me that I'm moving in 10 days. It symbolizes the closing of a huge chapter of my life and it's feeling really bittersweet. I had a great time down here, learned a lot, and made a lot of great friends. My roommates are the best people in the world and I get to hang out with this guy every day. How could I not feel a little emotional about leaving this?



Pushups: Today-540 YTD-24844
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-414
Running: Today-2mi YTD-303.46mi

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Wasting Away

Damn, it's been a whole week since checking in. I traveled out to Wyoming and Denver and was pretty worthless throughout. Did one set of 60 pushups on both Monday and Tuesday, 300 on Wednesday, 200 on Thursday, 60 on Friday, 50 on Saturday, and 25 today. Looks like 755 to me. That's how many home runs Hank Aaron hit. Cool. I ran 2.34 miles on Monday and 3 miles on Thursday. This was a pretty horrible time to go on a huge bender because my PT test is tomorrow but this one is basically pass/fail and doesn't really play a role in determining anything. We'll see how it goes.

Last night I wasn't even that drunk but started wrestling with my stick buddy and smashed my eye on the corner of a couch. Afterwards, I got real drunk. Sigh.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to do 500 pushups and get to 500 every other day until the end of the month. It just must be done.


Pushups: Week-755 YTD-24304
Pullups: Week-0 YTD-414
Running: Week-5.43mi YTD-301.46mi

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Lazy Weekend

Argh. My laptop won't turn on and I'm pretty sure I finally broke it. Typing on the iPad is painful and I just spent about 2 minutes trying to get left alignment set up. I guess all my paragraphs will be centered. 

This weekend was pretty lazy because the week was so draining. Tomorrow is my last flight of flight school so I did a lot of studying and sleeping. And a little drinking on Saturday. Ran 4 miles on Friday and 3 miles today. Only did 330 push-ups all weekend. And 24 pull-ups. Such a bum, I am.

These pics are all interesting to me but maybe no one else. Deal with it. 

Pushups: Today-330 YTD-23549
Pullups: Today-24 YTD-414
Running: Today-7mi YTD-296.03mi


Thursday, May 09, 2013

Nights are Killing me

The night shift is crushing my soul. It's pretty brutal getting home at 1:30 in the morning and having to unwind from flying a crazy beast of a machine for 1.5-2 hours. And you have to sit in the back while your stick buddy flies so really you're using these night vision goggles for 3-4 hours a night and my eyes are constantly watering at the end of the flight. We missed a lot of days last week so we're flying extra this week and our final check ride still got pushed back to Monday. Totally sucks, way to ruin a perfectly good weekend.

This morning I was a bit of a zombie but I managed to complete one of the 50-10 pushup pyramids with 1 minute between sets. I am going to try 55-5 on Saturday. It's only 30 more pushups total but I have a feeling that it'll be a lot harder. I was planning on doing a situp pyramid but didn't feel like it so I just did 80 as fast as I could and got them in 1:57. I have 2 minutes to do 77 and it's always easier with someone holding my legs so I think I'll be fine there. Didn't run at all today, gonna try to run fast with James tomorrow morning.

Here's a better picture of my beautiful office. My God it's fun.


Pushups: Today-150 YTD-23219
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-390
Running: Today-0mi YTD-289.03mi

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Felix Day!

The Mariners had a day game today and I got to watch Felix for the second time this year. He's the man, obviously, and the M's won 2-1. I've never been so glad to be on the night shift.

Real quick blog entry before I run to the flight line to plan tonight's flight. I did 3 random sets this morning of 70, 70, and 60 pushups for 200 on the day. I also did 8-8-8 pullups with 2 minutes in-between. I think I'm going to stick with the 2-minutes for now and get up to 10-10-10 then start doing pullups with my boots on and whatnot. No running today but I did buy a crazy altitude mask for training. Not sure how I'm going to run in this thing and not get arrested but we'll see.


Pushups: Today-200 YTD-23069
Pullups: Today-24 YTD-390
Running: Today-0mi YTD-289.03mi

Tuesday, May 07, 2013

Running

Today I did some speedwork with my roommate. It's a good thing they allow gays in the military!


The plan was to warmup for 15 minutes, run 400m, rest 1 minute, run 800m, rest 2 minutes, run 1200m, rest 3 minutes, run 800, rest 2 minutes, then run a final 400m at the same pace as your first one, then run a 15 minute cooldown.

I think we ran a little too hard from the house to the track, running1.5 miles in 11:07. We rested for 3 minutes and then ran the first 400 in 1:25. I was really hating life because I haven't run hard since I tore my hammy. Also, this night schedule is really fucking with my eating schedule and I feel like I have less energy than I usually do. I weighed in at 197.4 lbs today which I think is a little too skinny. Instead of resting for 1 minute, I made us rest for 2 minutes and then we ran the 800m in 3:04. Instead of resting 2 minutes, I made us rest for 3 minutes and then ran the 1200m in 4:53. Struuuuugling. We rested for the proscribed 3 minutes and then ran the 800m in 3:14. We rested for 3 minutes(instead of 2) and I ran the final 400m in 1:21.

James kicked my ass in the 1200m and second 800m but I out kicked him for the final 400m. He was a 3-year letterman Defensive Back at the same high school that Matt Leinart went to so he's definitely fast. We drank some water, walked around, then ran 1.18 miles home, slowly, in 9:27. I can't figure out how exactly to take out the little bit of walking that we did so I'm just going to count the entire 5.34 miles.


Next time I'll try to stick to the 400m-1 minute-800m-2 minute-1200m-3 minute-800m-2 minute-400m timeline a little better. I only have 2 weeks to improve quite a bit and don't really feel like it's gonna happen. I think I'm going to try the workout again on Friday and then again next Tuesday.

I definitely feel like this is going to evolve into a running blog with pushups as the side story. I think running is a little more interesting anyway and I'm excited to see how the marathon training goes after the PT test. Speaking of pushups, I've done 3 sets of 60 today and I'm planning on another 60 before going to fly so I'm just gonna call it 240. My shoulder still feels like shit so I'm taking it easy. Oh, and I did one set of 70 yesterday morning.

One of the best things about this blog is that it inspired my buddy Dookie to get back into shape. He's always been a beast but with two kids and a full time job and various other projects he had slipped into worse shape than he wanted. He's already putting up bigger pushup numbers than me and I feel like he's going to do this running workout and shit on my times. Here is a link to his blog, check it out!

Pushups: Today-310 YTD-22869
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-366
Running: Today-5.34mi YTD-289.03mi

Monday, May 06, 2013

Springfest

Springfest is an annual huge college party at the University of North Dakota. I have some friends in flight school who went to school there and they convinced me to go up there for the weekend. It was a hell of a time and definitely lived up to the hype. Here are some random pics I had on my phone.


I was true to my word and did zero pushups this weekend. I did manage to get a 4.91 mile run in on Sunday, fueled by eggs and beer. Here's a map of that:


I accidentally left my watch on so it shows me going all the way to Minneapolis before the battery died. The first part in what matters. I still feel kind of slow but I'm not in pain so hopefully the speed will come back.

Pushups: Today-0 YTD-22559
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-366
Running: Today-4.91mi YTD-283.69mi

Friday, May 03, 2013

No Fly again!

The weather was shitty again so we didn't fly. The thing that sucks is that the weather doesn't have to be thaaat bad to make flying with Night Vision Goggles unsafe and night time is when the most fog and other visible moisture forms. So apparently this is pretty normal for Night Flying but it still sucks. I came home and started drinking wine with my buddy Jack but the wine sucked so I moved on to Rum and Coconut Water. The coconut water is kind of an addiction of mine and even though Jack went home around 10 and James went to bed at 10:30, I stayed up until 12:30 drinking. I didn't really realize what was happening until it was 12:30 and I was drunk. I think that may be the first time I've ever gotten drunk all by myself. This is when you know you have a problem. I think my main problem is that I love coconuts too much.

If you take nothing else from this blog ever, take this: DO NOT BUY CHOCOLATE SHOP WINE. EVER. Super gross.


Last night our dogs started fighting really bad and I jacked my shoulder up trying to separate them. It seems like I always have a new excuse...getting old really sucks. Anyway, my right shoulder is in a lot of pain so I'm going to limit myself to the 50 I did this morning. I don't know how many I'll get done this weekend because I'm going to be partying too much but that rest could be a good thing.

James and I went for a 3.23 mile run this morning that was pretty slow. My legs were weak but didn't feel much pain which is a good sign I think. One good thing about the run is that we had negative splits...7:34 first mile, 7:20 second mile, 7:15 third mile. I love it when that happens. Anyway, he linked it here:

Pushups: Today-50 YTD-22559
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-366
Running: Today-3.23mi YTD-278.78mi

Thursday, May 02, 2013

No Fly No Bueno

Yesterday we didn't fly because of shitty weather. I have 6 flights left and then I'm done with flight school so I hate to see days go by wasted. Here's a pic from my desk and a pic of my broken face. Good times.


Yesterday I did pullups 2 minutes apart, 8-8-7. My last one on the second set and my last two on the last set were a bit of a struggle and I had to kick my way up a bit but I still got there. Once I get to 10-10-10 I'll start to do them with my shoes on then my boots then figure out other ways to add weight. 10-10-10 with 45 lbs should be right around the corner!

I ran 2.62 yesterday which is coincidentally 1/10 of a marathon. I only ran a 7:11 pace so if I ran that 10 times in a row, I still wouldn't qualify for Boston. How ridiculous. To protest, I signed up for 3 half marathons last night; two in Kentucky and one in Indiana. Here are the links:


I'm also considering these:






I feel like a bit of an addict. I ran another 5.01 today and felt like crap. Night flight line is a bitch because I don't eat a good dinner ever and I think my running is affected negatively. Once positive note is that my hamstring feels pretty good. It only gives me issues when I don't run for a day and let it get stiff. Once I'm done with school, I should have a pretty regular schedule and be able to get into a better running groove. Anyway, here are the maps:


I did zero pushups yesterday but did a 50-40-30-20-10 pyramid this morning with a 1 minute break between sets and just finished a card game with Jack, logging 277. The morning pyramid is something I did to get ready for the Army and is one of the reasons why I've always been ahead of my peers in the pushup game. It was a lot easier than it ever was two years ago(obviously) and I'm thinking about ramping it up to 60-50-...-10. I did a 60-...-10 pyramid with situps right afterwards and that might be part of the reason why my run felt shitty. Regardless, I feel like I'm starting to get some good forward momentum going, feeling good.

Pushups: Today-427 YTD-22509
Pullups: Today-23 YTD-366
Running: Today-7.63mi YTD-275.55mi