PR Day

This morning I decided to go for a pushup PR and did 85 in a row. I didn't think I had that many in me and it felt pretty good. I think I'm going to make Monday my PR Day and try to do one huge set a week. I did 85 straight situps right afterwards and then did 60 more pushups after I showered. The day is just so much easier when you start off with a healthy number. I was able to do two more sets of 60 before lunch and dinner and a set of 75 after dinner for 340 for the day. It didn't feel much like work and I like it that way.

I also ran a slow 3 miles with my roommate. I told him I wanted to go slow and stretch a lot for tomorrow's track day and he had to keep yelling at me when I started to go too fast. I think your legs get into some sort of rhythm and it actually felt harder sometimes to maintain the slower pace. It was also incredibly humid so we got good and sweaty despite our snail-like pace. Hopefully I'll be able to put up some good times at the track tomorrow.

Tonight, I went to my first yoga class ever. It's insane how tight my lower body is and it felt great to stretch out my hips and hamstrings. I was also the only male with 12 females; at only $3.50/class, I'll definitely be back.

I'm considering doing something a little crazy, which is nothing new for me, but I want Dookie's feedback this time. I'm thinking about running the Twin Cities Marathon on October 6th and then running the Marine Corps Marathon in D.C. on October 27th. Is that insane? I'm thinking that if I get in good enough shape for one marathon, I should be able to knock out two. I've never done a full before, obviously, but this just seems like the right thing to do. What do you say, Dave? The Marine Corps Marathon is offering a 15% discount for Active Duty Military if I sign up before March 24th...

OK, I just looked at the website and last year's marathon sold out to the general public within 2.5 hours of opening. It's not open to the general public yet so I just registered my brother and myself. BOOM that felt good. He'll be surprised when he finds out he's running a marathon but I know he'll be down. He'll probably want to do the Twin Cities as well but I have to decide if I want to do the double or not. Thinking out loud while I blog is fun.

Aaaand I just signed up for Twin Cities. Dave, I really did want your input but some sort of craziness has come over me. Holy crap I'm excited.

Pushups: Today-340 YTD-14460
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-120
Running: Today-3mi YTD-189.8mi
Marathons Registered For: Today - 2

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Fri, 08Mar - 203.4
Fri, 15Mar - 200.4
Sun, 17Mar - 202.4
Mon, 18Mar - 202.6

St Patty's Day

This was easily the most low-key St. Patty's Day of my life. I've spent many of these in Vegas going nuts but I kind of liked sitting at home and studying. The past week was really rough on the brain and body and I'm enjoying this calm after the storm. I managed 240 pushups in sets of 60 and feel pretty good about it. I'm going to try to make sure I do some rip deck sessions this week and put up some bigger numbers. Sobriety will help.

My roommate and I ran for an hour today and it was pretty miserable. I realized about halfway through that I haven't been eating much over the past week and was getting most of my calories through alcohol. I quit the alcohol on Saturday but didn't replace those calories with food. The entire second half of the run it felt like my stomach was trying to turn inside out and we ended up with a pretty slow time as a result. Another factor for the slow time may be the fact that I don't have the female running partner to impress anymore since they went home on Saturday. Also, it's heavy running around with a broken heart. ;) Anyway, here's the run:

7-mile run

I think this watch and website are kind of lame. It's hard to glean much good information from that graph. It was cheapish on Amazon and I might like it more if I used it every time I ran so I'll try to do that for a while.

After running I slammed a coconut water and ate a gigantic Greek Salad for lunch. For dinner, we had ribs, green beans, and mac & cheese. I'd say I'm doing a pretty good job replenishing those calories that I was worried about.

Pushups: Today-240 YTD-14120
Pullups: Today-5 YTD-120
Running: Today-6.95mi YTD-186.8mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Fri, 08Mar - 203.4
Fri, 15Mar - 200.4
Sun, 17Mar - 202.4

New Low

Only did 100 pushups yesterday in 2 sets of 50 and didn't make it out for a run. Today I'm going for a 7-8 miler and will try to do 60 pushups with every meal. I'm kind of ruining this nice cushion that I had for myself but I guess that's why the cushion was there in the first place.

Pushups: Today-100 YTD-13880
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-0mi YTD-179.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Fri, 08Mar - 203.4
Fri, 15Mar - 200.4
Sun, 17Mar - 202.4

Lazy Days

Did 180 yesterday in 3 random sets of 60. My shoulders are feeling a lot better and I know they're appreciating the rest. My body does ache but that's because of the booze. I did run a slowish 4 miles yesterday and the plan is to run 4 hard today. I'll try to get my watch to work and get something uploaded tonight. I'm somewhat surprised that I weighed 200.4 yesterday morning but I think it's more muscle decay than fat loss because I've been lazy as hell. It'd be nice to turn into one of those people who need to keep their weight UP, a totally foreign concept to my former fat self. I think I'm going to take it easy for the weekend, rehydrate and whatnot, and then crank out a bunch next week. I'm realizing that my final PT test is only 2 months away so I'll also need to work on my rip deck sessions. Fitness is so fun!

Pushups: Today-180 YTD-13780
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Week-4mi YTD-179.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Fri, 08Mar - 203.4
Fri, 15Mar - 200.4

Slackin'

Getting bad at pushups and bad at updating this thing. Did 150 on Monday in random sets of 30, 120 on Tuesday in 2 sets of 60, 180 yesterday in 3 sets of 60 and 200 today in 4 sets of 50 for a total of 650 in 4 days. Feels like I've been horrible but it really isn't the end of the world. Some Pilot buddies have friends visiting them and I've been more motivated to hang out and booze with them than do any severe pushup workouts. Their trip coincides with an academics week for me so there are no rules as to drinking before flying or whatever. It's the perfect storm for a shit show of a week. One of the females is a pretty strong runner so I logged a fastish 4 miles on Monday and then a fastish 3 miles yesterday and today because she quit on me before the end of the loop, haha.

Tuesday was track day and I uploaded the workout here:

8 x 200m

My splits were 32, 34, 34, 34, 36, 36, 36, 34 and my rest times ranged from 1:48-2:23 as I walked around the track. I don't know if I should try to standardize those times to ~2 minutes but I didn't realize I was spending 30 extra seconds walking toward the end of the workout. I ran 2 laps to warm up and 2 laps to cool down so I'm going to call it 2 miles. Tomorrow is supposed to be an off day but I like running with this female and it's their last day in town so I may make it out again.

I haven't been weighing myself but I have been drinking a ton of beer and eating poorly so I have that going for me. I'm going to make sure I get my Friday AM weigh-in tomorrow morning and see where I'm at. Don't feel like it's going to be too bad actually because of the consistent running.

Pushups: Week-650 YTD-13600
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Week-12mi YTD-175.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Fri, 08Mar - 203.4

I'm the worst

Honestly, there are times where I feel like the dumbest person in the world. I lost my phone somewhere in Panama City Beach this weekend and I seem to lose something every single weekend. It's just ridiculous.

I only managed 120 pushups yesterday and 120 today. Looks like I got 1879 for the week, not too far off the 2k goal. Hopefully my left breast won't feel torn tomorrow morning and I can go for 2k next week. I did managed to run 4 miles on Saturday morning and 3 miles along the beach today so that was nice. Not really looking forward to stepping on the scale tomorrow morning but that's what it's there for.

Pushups: Today-240 YTD-12950
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-7mi YTD-163.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Fri, 08Mar - 203.4

Sore sore sore

I thought today was going to be a total waste but my roommate's birthday party was pretty chill and I managed to take it easy with the booze. I'm heading to Panama City Beach tomorrow so I'll definitely make up for it down there.

This morning I did 61 pushups after breakfast and then did 60 and 30 at lunch and then managed 60 and 60 around dinner. Each set was pretty damn painful and I might take tomorrow off. My chest is in a constant state of dull soreness followed by a sharper pain as I try to crank out sets of pushups.

We're leaving at 0800 and I'm going to try to get my 4 mile run done on or around the beach, before getting all sorts of hammered. Maybe I'll take pics, holla.

Pushups: Today-271 YTD-12710
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-0mi YTD-156.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Fri, 08Mar - 203.4

Great day

I got my 500 pushups and my 30-minute run, holla! Just finished a 52 pushup set that rounded out a 208-60-60-60-60-52 day. My arms are quite sore and I have no idea how Kennedy can do 1k in a day or even double ripdeck sessions. The man is an animal. I woke up 15 minutes early today and knocked out a ripdeck session which made the rest of the day a lot easier.

My ripdeck time actually went up to 10:39 but I think I ran about as bad as you can run. Early on I got black(situps) 2-5-R2-4-A-A-K-9-8-R3-7-T for 86 situps and only 5 pushups and then at the end I got 5-9-8-Q-6-T-A for 64 pushups. My beloved Ace of diamonds took me 33 seconds to complete! I also think my reaction time was slower because it was 0545 in the morning. My times were Pushups 4:01 Situps 6:38 after having Pushups 3:29 Situps 6:57 last time. I refuse to believe that my pushups got that much worse. Anyway, next time I will PR. For sure.

My 5k training schedule called for a 30 minute run today and my time was decent. There are a few hills that suck and 30:28 isn't too bad. I think I'm going to set my goal at 20 minutes for the 5k so that's 4 minutes per km so that's 48 seconds per 200m so that's 1:36 per 400m and 6:24/mile. Hmmmm. May be a bit ambitious but I guess it's better to set your goals too high than too low. I love that sentence where I do math as I type. Lol.

Ughhhh just added up my numbers and I'm 61 short of being 1/4 of the way to my 50k. Ummmm nope I'm not gonna do it. I'll just get 61 in my first set in the morning and be happy with it. Goodnight.

30 minute run

Pushups: Today-800 YTD-12439
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-4mi YTD-156.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Tue, 05Mar - 203.2
Thr, 07Mar - 203.4

Beast

The other guy in my 50k pushup bet decided to do 1k yesterday so I'm feeling a little inadequate. I got 300 done today but forgot to blog and now I'm in bed blogging from my phone. I'll get the numbers added tomorrow. I'm planning on waking up early and getting a morning rip deck session out of the way tomorrow and aim for around 500 done in addition to my 30-minute run. We'll see. I'm feeling a tad worn out, but no one ever died from doing too many pushups.

Intervals

Dave told me how to run my intervals but unfortunately couldn't make me competent at operating my watch. The first lap didn't get recorded but I'm certain that it was my fastest lap. I figured the watch out while walking a lap and got some good data for the last 4 laps. Then I forgot to turn the watch off and it recorded a sick fast time on my drive home. And now it just took me an hour to learn how to upload the run and I'm not sure how to link it here. I'll get better at this but for now, I consider it a bit of a fail. Here are the numbers regardless:

Lap 1: ???
Rest Lap: ???
Lap 2: 1:17
Rest Lap: 3:47
Lap 3: 1:19
Rest Lap: 4:04
Lap 4: 1:20
Rest Lap: 4:03
Lap 5: 1:20

Pretty good times overall, next time I'll be able to link a graph and it'll be more interesting. I did run 3 laps as a warmup and then stretched so I'm going to count this as a 2-mile run.

Today was a bit of a bitch because we had class from 0730 until 1600 with an hour of lunch in between. I had to do pushups in my full uniform which always sucks and people love to make jokes when you work out during class. I got 4 sets done today, 240 total, and I feel like I might be able to start extending my sets to 65 or 70 pushups. So that's nice.

Pushups: Today-240 YTD-11639
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-2mi YTD-152.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4
Tue, 05Mar - 203.2

Running fast

Got my ripdeck time down to 10:26 but my abs are really slowing me down. They're usually pretty fast, hopefully they wake up soon. I also did 2 other sets of 60 to get to 328 for the day. Add in a 3 mile run and I'd say it wasn't a bad Monday. Tomorrow I'll go for another 300 or so and I get to run 400m repeats which is a lot of fun.

Pushups: Today-328 YTD-11399
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-3mi YTD-150.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Fri, 15Feb - 200.4
Fri, 22Feb - 203.4
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4

Boring

Did 60 on Saturday and 180 today. Pretty uneventful weekend, just got drunk and didn't work out. My foot is finally feeling like it can handle a few miles so I'm gonna hit the road tomorrow. I'll also get a ripdeck session in to get me jumpstarted for the week. I'd like to get 2k/week while I'm in classes and not waking up at 0350 every morning. I'm also going to try to follow this schedule and hopefully be fast by May: http://www.halhigdon.com/training/50935/Advanced-5K-Training

Pushups: Weekend-445 YTD-11071
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-0mi YTD-147.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Fri, 15Feb - 200.4
Fri, 22Feb - 203.4
Fri, 01Mar - 203.4

Montgomery

Passed my check ride, hanging in Montgomery for the night. Did 120 for breakfast, 60 for lunch, and then 25 tonight. The 25 were done in this weird yoga style that's supposed to be better for your shoulder joints but it actually hurt my shoulders more than usual and worked mainly triceps so they were much harder. Anyway, 205, I'll sum them up when I don't have to blog on my phone. And I'm definitely going running tomorrow despite my sore foot. It just needs to happen.

Abs

It's insane that my abs were still sore today from Monday's ripdeck session. I decided 3 days was enough rest and knocked out another session, improving to 10:50 for the 208 pushups and situps. If my abs ever get back in shape, I'm gonna kill that workout. I guess this is what happens when you ignore a muscle for over 2 months. That's probably the reason why I can't do pullups either. Sigh.

Tomorrow I have my Instruments Check Ride. That probably doesn't mean anything to the 3 readers of this blog but it's just another flying test. These tests are stressful but they represent another step toward graduation and getting the hell out of Alabama so I welcome them with open arms. Wish me luck tomorrow.

Pushups: Today-268 YTD-10626
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-0mi YTD-147.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Fri, 15Feb - 200.4
Fri, 22Feb - 203.4
Mon, 25Feb - 207.8
Tue, 26Feb - 206.4
Wed, 27Feb - 201.8
Thu, 28Feb - 203.2

Paying the price

Bleh, woke up today feeling sore all over. My foot is the most troubling, feels like a bit of a stres fracture in the top part. I decided to take the day off and have been stretching it out. It hurts to do that but the more I stretch it, the less I think it's a fracture. Hopefully it feels better tomorrow. My arms felt weird as well and my abs still hurt so I did just one set of 60 pushups for the day. I'm happy with 10k in 2 months but I was hoping for a bit more. The past week or two have been pretty brutal but I guess that's what happens when you binge drink like a 19 year-old. Oh, also my weight fluctuated down like crazy. I think I was dehydrated and maybe that's why my foot felt/feels like crap. Let's hope that's all it is.

Pushups: Today-60 YTD-10358
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-0mi YTD-147.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Fri, 15Feb - 200.4
Fri, 22Feb - 203.4
Mon, 25Feb - 207.8
Tue, 26Feb - 206.4
Wed, 27Feb - 201.8

Grindin'

Fitness really is quite the grind. Especially when flight school takes up so much damn time. A lot of people come down here and get super fat by the end and barely pass their final physical fitness test. I'm pretty proud of what I've done and hopefully it'll continue. My abs were pretty sore today but I'm looking forward to round 2 of ripdeck tomorrow. Today, I did 60 pushups per meal and ran 5 miles with my roommate. The run was intense and we finished a semi-hilly course in 37 minutes when we normally do it in 40-42 minutes. I think I'm addicted to running and it feels pretty awesome. 3 of my toenails are dead/dying and soon I'll be one of those running weirdos with no toenails. I love it.

Pushups:- Today-180 YTD-10298
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-5mi YTD-147.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Fri, 15Feb - 200.4
Fri, 22Feb - 203.4
Mon, 25Feb - 207.8
Tue, 26Feb - 206.4

Rip deck

I bought an iPad app called Ripdeck that uses a deck of cards and lets you customize what you want each card to mean. My buddies Ryan and Ryan use ripdeck and make 2 suits situps and 2 suits pushups with values 2-A ranging from 2-14. You end up doing 208 of each by the end of the workout and try to do it as fast as you can. I did it in 12:09 but one of the Ryans is down to 8:26 so I have my work cut out for me. My situps are really weak right now but they'll snap back into shape soon. I also did 60 at each meal so I managed 388 for the day. Surprisingly, my legs felt pretty good and I considered a short run before reconsidering. I'll definitely do 4-5 miles tomorrow, need to keep this momentum going.

Pushups:- Today-388 YTD-10118
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-0mi YTD-142.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Fri, 15Feb - 200.4
Fri, 22Feb - 203.4
Mon, 25Feb - 207.8

New Orleans

Epic City. Great food, legal to drink in public, great music, etc. Having a half marathon on a Sunday morning is a little sadistic, however, and my legs were cramping as I stood in my corral before running a single mile. I ran the first 10 miles with my friend's wife and then did the last 3.1 a little faster. I kept a 7:24 pace for that last stretch but we were so slow for the 10 miles that I only managed a 2:01 time. In the nearish future I'd like to run another one and shoot for something in the 1:40s. For that race, I won't drink vodka/car bombs/sake allll day the day before. Pushups were a total bust due to the fact that I was either drinking or running all the time. I did 60 on Friday morning, zero on Saturday, and 100 today in 2 sets of 50. Tomorrow I'm going to try out the ripdeck card game app that incorporates situps with 232 pushups. I haven't done a situp since December so that should be fun. I'll also do some tomorrow morning to push myself over 10K.

Pushups: Weekend-160 YTD-9730
Pullups: Weekend-0 YTD-115
Running: Weekend-13.1mi YTD-142.85mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Fri, 15Feb - 200.4
Tue, 19Feb - 207.8
Wed, 20Feb - 204.4
Thu, 21Feb - 202.2
Fri, 22Feb - 203.4

Great Day

Flew like a champ today and was very productive with my homework. I also managed to do 300 pushups and run 5 miles. These will be the last miles before my half marathon. I'm going to run this one socially but the training has made me want to train up and do one for time in the nearish future. My shoulders are still a little creaky but the pushups are coming a bit easier. Just in time for a weekend in New Orleans. Glorious.

Also, it's kind of amazing how weight can fluctuate like mine is right now. I had a huge Mexican dinner so I probably won't go down any further but gaining 7 lbs and losing 5 back immediately is pretty amazing. Let's see how many I can put back on this weekend. 7 lbs or bust.

Pushups: Today-300 YTD-9570
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-5mi YTD-129.75mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Fri, 15Feb - 200.4
Tue, 19Feb - 207.8
Wed, 20Feb - 204.4
Thu, 21Feb - 202.2

Flight School

It's been rough this week. Went to class at 0500 and didn't get done with homework until 1800. Had a few small breaks but most of it was flight planning and studying. I did 100 pushups this morning but my shoulders felt like crap throughout the day and only was able to do another 100 at dinner. I really think NYC pushed my fitness back a few months. I did manage to lose 3.4 lbs of water or shit or whatever so maybe once I get back to a normalish weight I'll be able to run and pushup like I used to. The half-marathon this weekend will be good for that...Friday and Saturday nights in New Orleans, probably not so much.

Pushups: Today-200 YTD-9270
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-0mi YTD-124.75mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Fri, 15Feb - 200.4
Tue, 19Feb - 207.8
Wed, 20Feb - 204.4

Feeling like a Fatty

Only did 120 pushups today, running my 5-day total to 540. Not gonna cut it. Maybe someday I'll recover from the endless vodka from the weekend. I did run 5 miles, making it 12 miles over the 5 days. Most impressively, I weighed 200.4 on Friday morning and 207.8 this morning. That seems pretty bad ass.

Pushups: Today-540 YTD-9070
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-12mi YTD-124.75mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Fri, 15Feb - 200.4
Tue, 19Feb - 207.8

Turrible

Did one set of 60 on Sunday and one set of 50 today. My body aches from all the booze and travel. I did run 7 miles through Central Park on Sunday so there's that. I'll add the numbers on Tuesday, it's bedtime and I don't feel like firing up my laptop. Tomorrow I hope to get back to 120 per meal and running a couple of miles per day. Thank god all weekends aren't 3-days.

NYC

I'm in a secret location this weekend. Today, I ate my weight in food and drank my weight in beers. Went to some awesome bars and ate some awesome pizza. Yesterday I did 190 pushups and today I did 120. No running or pill ups, blah. Will add the totals later.

Check Ride

I have my first Blackhawk check ride tomorrow. A check ride is a test of your flying ability and oral knowledge. Obviously we don't need to know thaaaat much because we've been flying for <20 hours but it's still pretty stressful and I've been studying all day.

The sun came out and taunted me but I skipped running and only did 60 pushups with each meal. Tomorrow morning I'm doing 120 for breakfast no matter what and 120 for lunch no matter what. That way I'll have 240 in the bag if my travel day is too tiring and I don't get anything done at night. On Saturday I hope to get 3-5 miles in and then 9 on Sunday, one week before the half marathon. Also, I hope I can get some sweet pullup action on Saturday, hopefully I can find a park with pullup bars. I might not have any new blog entries until Monday but, shit, then again maybe I will.

Pushups: Today-180 YTD-8530
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-0mi YTD-112.75mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Sat, 09Feb - 202.2
Sun, 10Feb - 204.0
Mon, 11Feb - 204.0
Tue, 12Feb - 202.4
Wed, 13Feb - 200.8
Thu, 14Feb - 202.0

Sore

My chest and arms are super sore today. I think I'm going to do that pyramid thing a couple times each week until I can get all the way up to 50 pushups and then work on getting faster times. I still managed to do 150 pushups with 60 at breakfast, 40 at lunch, and 25 on either side of dinner. I'm pretty sure I could have done more with those other sets but I was in pain and decided not to push it.

I also ran 4 miles on the treadmill in 30 minutes and felt pretty good. This half marathon is going to be a lot of fun. I'm pretty happy with myself today because I flew 3.1 hours in the morning and was feeling really drained. We usually fly 1.2 hours but we had to make up time so they flew the hell out of me. Flying is still so physically and mentally draining for me and I'm really proud of myself for making it to the gym. I was eating healthily all day and then my roommate dragged me to $0.25 wing night and my day was shot to hell. Maybe tomorrow I'll go a full day without any horribly unhealthy food.

Pushups: Today-150 YTD-8350
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-115
Running: Today-4mi YTD-112.75mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Sat, 09Feb - 202.2
Sun, 10Feb - 204.0
Mon, 11Feb - 204.0
Tue, 12Feb - 202.4
Wed, 13Feb - 200.8

No Fly is No Fun

It's been thunderstorms and lightning for 3 straight days here so we haven't been flying. We still wake up at 0350 and show up to school at 0500 but we just sit around and get asked questions about the aircraft and aerodynamics. Normally the class is a pain in the ass but flying is your reward for putting up with it. Now, there is no reward and school is just painful. At least we get to go home by 9ish, work that's done by 9 AM isn't too terrible.

I did manage to do 120 pushups around breakfast, complete a 5-10-5-20-5-30-5-40-5-30-5-20-5-10-5 pushup/pullup pyramid before lunch, run 7 miles before dinner, then do 120 pushups around dinner. So the day wasn't a total waste. 400 pushups and 40 pullups and 7 miles might be my best day ever. Toward the end of the pyramid I was doing 2 pullups then resting then 2 more then 1. I videotaped myself for posterity and it's funny to see me struggle to pull myself up to the bar. I'll save the video and maybe post it later when I have a majestic one to show everyone.

It's pretty awesome having Dave blogging his workouts here. Daut, Ryan and I just had a Twitter conversation about being meatheads and it's so nice having workout "partners". This 50k pushups would be such a chore if I didn't have these other people along for the ride. Thanks, other people!! There's an app called ripdeck that Ryan uses for pushups and situps. It's a basic pushup/situp card game but it looks like fun and is easier than using a real deck. I'll probably start using it after the Half Marathon since I don't feel like destroying my abs while running these distances. I haven't done any situps since December 1st, hope the running has kept my core in some sort of shape.

Pushups: Today-400 YTD-8200
Pullups: Today-40 YTD-115
Running: Today-7mi YTD-108.75mi

Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Sat, 09Feb - 202.2
Sun, 10Feb - 204.0
Mon, 11Feb - 204.0
Tues, 12Feb - 202.4

Imbalanced

I am having an incredibly tough time with pullups. I did 300 pushups today, easily, and figured I'd work on some pullups. One 6-1 pyramid and my chest is on fire and I'm quitting for the day. I don't really feel it much in my back but clearly my chest is imbalanced. It's mostly the upper part of my pecs that feel like they're going to tear every time I do a pullup. It's so weird because I used to knock out 8-10 randomly without any issues. On Thursday, I'm going to try a pullup-pushup combo workout that goes 5-10-5-20-5-30-5-40-5-50-5-40-5-30-5-20-5-10-5 and see how fast I can complete it, only resting as much as I need to rest. Maybe I'll do that workout a few times a week if I like it and shoot for lower times each week. It adds up to 250 pushups and 50 pullups which seem like nice numbers for a little upper body session. We'll see.

Pushups: Today-300 YTD-7800
Pullups: Today-21 YTD-75
Running: Today-0mi YTD-101.75mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Sat, 09Feb - 202.2
Sun, 10Feb - 204.0
Mon, 11Feb - 204.0

Running is Fun?

Last night I went to see Broken City. I definitely recommend checking it out. Russel Crowe and Mark Wahlberg are great and the plot is pretty good. There are a lot of little plot twists and things that I would normally consider corny but they're really well done in this film. I ate a ton of Mexican Food before the movie so that's probably why I weighed so much in the morning. I ate a bunch of Ribs tonight so I'll probably weigh a lot tomorrow as well. I think keeping track daily is good just to identify trends before they become habits.

Assuming we were running at 9 AM, I woke up at 8 AM today ready to make breakfast and relax. However, I had a text from James saying that he wanted to go running at 8 so I ate a banana and slammed some coconut water and went for our 12-mile run. He picked a pretty brutal course so our time isn't great but I actually enjoyed myself out on the roads today. This half marathon training has me seriously thinking about running a full marathon this summer/fall with my brother. If you have a running partner, it's great to spend 2 hours or so just bullshitting about life and whatnot. My feet are getting all blistered up but they're a lot tougher than they've ever been. Anyway, here's a link that he posted:

http://tinyurl.com/axfwpjm

I did two sets of 50 pushups tonight and called it a day. My shoulders hurt and hopefully I'll get back to 300 a day tomorrow. Supposedly we're due for some thunderstorms which would prevent us from flying and I'll have more energy for pushups. Holla!

Pushups: Today-100 YTD-7500
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-54
Running: Today-12mi YTD-101.75mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Sat, 09Feb - 202.2
Sun, 10Feb - 204.0

Healthy Weekend

Today I decided to round off my number and did 5 extra pushups in one of my sets. I also did one pullup pyramid from 6-1. I would like to start having more intense workout sessions but right now I'm enjoying my light sets around meal time. I think I'll go crazy one of these afternoons and knock out 500-600 in a pop but I'm not quite ready for that yet. I have my Contact Check Ride on Wednesday and I have Thursday off so maybe Thursday I'll try to blow out my shoulders and tear my pecs.

I didn't mean to go running today but it was so nice outside that it felt criminal not to. I'm planning on doing 12 miles tomorrow and I'm feeling a little too sore for that but I'm sure I'll feel better in the morning. And I'll take it slow and loosen my legs up as I go. I'm going to take my GPS watch so maybe I'll have a sweet map on here tomorrow. Wish me luck.

I have no idea why I'm tracking my weight. I think 205 is pretty damn good and I just want to make sure I don't get lax and balloon back up to 215 or so. I went to Montgomery a few weekends ago and was right around 209-210 and decided that I wanted to get back down a bit. Apparently one of the best ways to lose weight is to simply keep track and write it down every day. That way, you're constantly thinking about what you're eating or how much you're exercising and these little decisions add up. I had a pretty good weekend as far as eating goes. I usually eat real well during the week and let myself go on Friday and Saturday but I've been a good boy. Obviously I just want to look sexy on the beach. SPRING BREAK WOOOOO!!!

Pushups: Today-185 YTD-7400
Pullups: Today-21 YTD-54
Running: Today-4mi YTD-89.75mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8
Sat, 09Feb - 202.2

I am so weak

So, when I do pullups it feels like my pecs are going to tear. I don't think this feels very good so I did 3 sets of 6 and quit. I also managed 3 sets of pushups for 180 today. I can't believe that Dave did 300 in sets of 25. I would want to kill myself. I also got a good run on the treadmill because of the bad weather. I set my time to 42:00 randomly and started out with 8-minute miles, planning on running 2 and speeding up if I felt good. Well I felt good so after 1/2 a mile I bumped it to 7:30 miles for 1/2 a mile then toggled between 8 mph and 8.6 mph for the rest of the run. When the clock hit 42 minutes, I had run 5.75 miles which felt pretty good. Tomorrow I'll focus on pullups again if my pecs aren't torn.

Pushups: Today-180 YTD-7215
Pullups: Today-18 YTD-33
Running: Today-5.75mi YTD-85.75mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Sat, 02Feb - 204.2
Sun, 03Feb - 202.4
Mon, 04Feb - 204.4
Tue, 05Feb - 202.6
Wed, 06Feb - 203.6
Thr, 07Feb - 203.8
Fri, 08Feb - 203.8

Better

I got 300 pushups done today and went on a 4-mile ruck march with a 50-lb rucksack. It doesn't count towards running but it still helps me work up a sweat and build leg/back strength. It's so easy to hit a biggish pushup number when I start out with 120 at breakfast. There's no excuse for not doing that every day, just pure laziness. Tomorrow I'm going to focus on pull ups and running. Promise.

Pushups: Today-300 YTD-7035
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-15
Running: Today-0mi YTD-80mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Sat, 02Feb - 204.2
Sun, 03Feb - 202.4
Mon, 04Feb - 204.4
Tue, 05Feb - 202.6
Wed, 06Feb - 203.6
Thr, 07Feb - 203.8

And Again

Still feeling sore and blah. I'd say I was getting sick but I don't like to say those things. Went running but my calf was really tight and never loosened up so I stopped after a mile and ran back home. Stretched for a while but it's still tight right now. My arms have also been real sore and have a really weird ache to them. I've only done 3 sets of 50 today and I think that's going to be it. No pullups. I'm going to blame it on the carrot cake and lasagne from yesterday. This old man needs his beans and spinach and egg whites for optimum performance. I made a huge pot of lentils tonight and I'm pumped to eat them for breakfast. I sure hope this general soreness goes away in my sleep tonight.

Pushups: Today-150 YTD-6735
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-15
Running: Today-2mi YTD-80mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Sat, 02Feb - 204.2
Sun, 03Feb - 202.4
Mon, 04Feb - 204.4
Tue, 05Feb - 202.6
Wed, 06Feb - 203.6

Bleh

Not real motivated today. Flew like crap and my shoulders hurt. Got 180 pushups done and nothing else. I ran out of eggs this morning so I'm blaming it on my lack of breakfast. Most important meal of the day. I also ate a bunch of lasagne and carrot cake for dinner which I never do on weekdays so I need to do a lot tomorrow to make up for today. Tomorrow I will eat a big breakfast and have some results. Maybe.

Pushups: Today-180 YTD-6585
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-15
Running: Today-0mi YTD-78mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Sat, 02Feb - 204.2
Sun, 03Feb - 202.4
Mon, 04Feb - 204.4
Tue, 05Feb - 202.6

Case of the Mondays

0350 came pretty dang early this morning. I've spent most of the day in a sort of daze, the kind of Superbowl hangover that I hope the 49ers suffer from next year. I had a pretty good flight this morning, considering my tired state, and I'll be better tomorrow on 8 hours of sleep.

My first set of 60 pushups was scary awesome, I really felt like I could have kept going to 80 or 90. I was just a machine and felt bionic. Then I ate breakfast and took a shower and did another 60 and din't feel quite as strong. But whatever was in those brownie/cookie/reeses/icecream combo desserts really worked and I need to eat some before my next PT Test. I managed to get 300 total today and I'm pretty happy with how February is starting out. My lats were pretty sore (pathetic) so I skipped pullups. I'll try a 6 pyramid tomorrow to feel better about myself.

I was sitting around dreading my daily run when my roommate walked by on his way to the gym. I decided to get off my butt and hit the treadmill while he did the elliptical and got 5 miles done. I was planning on just running 8-minute miles but I started feeling pretty good and I bumped it up to 7.5-minute miles for miles 3 and 4 and then ran a 6:58 mile for mile 5. All told, it was 5 miles in 37:58 and then I got to cool down during the extra 2 minutes. Treadmills feel like cheating sometimes but I don't think there's a better way to keep a consistent pace. If I were running on the street, I would have slowed down to catch my breath multiple times.

Anyway, I'm really tired and planning on going to bed at 1930. Homework's done and I have some laundry to fold before turning in. Life is really thrilling here in Southern Alabama.

Pushups: Today-300 YTD-6405
Pullups: Today-0 YTD-15
Running: Today-5mi YTD-78mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Sat, 02Feb - 204.2
Sun, 03Feb - 202.4
Mon, 04Feb - 204.4

Super Sunday

I didn't get much accomplished today. Too hungover and lazy during the morning and obviously watched a lot of TV in the late afternoon. Very happy to see the Niners lose. Jim Harbaugh is my least favorite person in the NFL, love seeing him mad.

The one thing I did do in the morning was a small pullup pyramid, 5-4-3-2-1 with 30 seconds in between sets. I'm going to try to do those every day until I can go 10-9-8-etc and then try to add a weight belt or vest or something. Pullups are pretty awesome and I suck at them currently.

I ate a ton of bad food at our little Super Bowl soiree but I made myself do pushups before each brownie/chocolatechipcookie/resses/icecream concoction that my buddy's wife baked. I ended up with 300 on a day that I felt crappy so I consider that a huge win. I'll probably weigh a lot tomorrow morning but that's what I do on my weekends. I'm pretty sure that my weight will always be at its lowest on Friday or Saturday and at its highest on Monday morning.

Pushups: Today-300 YTD-6105
Pullups: Today-15 YTD-15
Running: Today-0mi YTD-73mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Sat, 02Feb - 204.2
Sun, 03Feb - 202.4

Yeahhh Buddy!!

I'm pretty pumped that my buddy Dave is joining me in my random quest for fitness. He's quite the competitor and physical beast so hopefully his addition will provide me with extra motivation. Beyond thrilled to have him along for the ride. He'll be posting his daily totals in the comments section of each post. If nothing else, now I have a responsibility to someone other than myself to make a blog post every day. Thanks, Dave!!

I got extremely drunk last night and was only able to do 100 pushups before the drunkenness took over. I did run 12 miles in the morning so the day wasn't a total waste. They were 12 slowww miles with my friend's wife (9:45 miles) but I don't really care. Training for this half marathon is really just about putting the miles in for me. I'm considering running another one in the nearish future and I'll run that one harder. This morning I weigh 1.8 lbs less than I did yesterday morning, probably because of dehydration from the alcohol.

Pushups: Saturday-100 YTD-5805
Running: Saturday-12mi YTD-73mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3
Sat, 02Feb - 204.2
Sun, 03Feb - 202.4

February Goals

Today was slow, 180 pushups and no running. I'm running 12 miles at 7 AM tomorrow so I figured I could take a day off to rest up. I did a set of 60 after every meal and my arms and chest are feeling sore but it's a good sore that means I'm pushing myself to do more.

I talked to my buddy Dave today and he said that only doing pushups is going to leave my body in an imbalanced state and that I should start incorporating pull ups. My boobs are looking pretty good but my back and biceps are wasting away. I had been thinking about pull ups before our talk but I didn't want to be too sore to accomplish my pushup bet. I'm feeling good with respect to the pushups and I think I can handle doing a few pull ups every other day so I'm going to start those up. Maybe I'll start a log beneath my other running totals.

As far as running goals go, I think I just want to run 5 times a week, culminating in the half marathon on February 24th. I don't really care how many miles I run, if I get out there 5 times a week the numbers will take care of themselves. I'd also like to get to 10k pushups by the end of the month, anything else will be gravy.

I weighed myself and I was 204.3 this morning which is up from the 200.2 that I weighed after Christmas break but down from the 209.0 that I weighed in Montgomery last weekend. My weight fluctuates like crazy but I'm going to track it just to see the trends. Maybe I'll record it daily for the week and then delete the daily steps once I get to next Friday. We'll see how it flows. If the blog starts to get too cluttered, I'll stop.

Pushups: Today-180 YTD-5705
Running: Today-0mi YTD-61mi
Fri, 01Feb - 204.3

January = success!!

I ran 4 miles today but only did 100 pushups. I felt pretty sore and decided not to push things. That still puts me at 5525 for the month with 61 miles. I'd say that's a success after my ultra-lazy month of December. I still put on weight this month because I eat like a madman when I work out but I'm running better and doing more pushups than I was on January 1st and that's what matters. Weight be damned. It is almost beach season so I might spend February eating better and drinking less. But I doubt it :)

Pushups: today-100 ytd-5525
Running: today-4mi ytd-61mi

No Fly

Today was a no-fly day because of weather. Winds were gusting up to 40 knots and there were thunderstorms in the area. Both of those things make flying a helicopter very dangerous. We still had about 4 hours in class going over some Systems stuff but it's certainly less tiring than flying.

I managed to get 6 miles in on the treadmill(running in a storm isn't exactly my cup of tea) and 400 pushups. I'm running too many miles and have developed a pretty gross blood blister on the front pad of my right foot. I'm going to run about 3-4 miles on Thursday and Saturday and then try to knock out another long one on Sunday. We'll see how the blister develops but I'm hopeful that it starts healing and not spreading.

As far as pushups go, I started doing 60 per set this morning since I was on to my next 5k, and it worked out pretty well. I was a little tired after the run so I only did sets of 50 before and after dinner. But I did get 5 sets of 60 and 2 sets of 50 for that 400 total. Pretty pumped, I think it's my new high for a day. I could probably do more but I like being fresh(ish) in the morning and knocking out 60 on either side of breakfast. I love this bet because I'm not super motivated to do pushups on my own. Honestly, the hardest pushup to do it #1 of each set because I have to mentally tell myself to get down and knock em out. Once I'm down and knocking em out, it's no problem at all to get up to 50 and, hopefully from now on, 60. I'm hoping by the time I reach 10k, I'll be knocking out sets of 60 with ease and I can bump it up to sets of 70. Maxing the Army Physical Fitness test is only 76 pushups for someone my age so if I can get 70 in one shot, I'm doing pretty well.

Anyway, class and hopefully flying tomorrow at 5 AM so it's bedtime for bonzo. It's raining right now and I love the sound at night. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna sleep like a baby.

Pushups: Today-400 YTD-5425
Running: Today-6mi YTD-57mi

5K!!

Just finished my 200 for the day. My bicep still hurts and I'm being lazy. It feels good to hit the milestone though...I'll definitely try for 5k/month and finish the bet by October. I do feel like I should start doing more per day, we'll see once my bicep feels better. Flight school is just so draining and I don't feel like doing many outside of meal times. Maybe I'll start doing 150 per meal or something like that. We'll see. Anyway 5k/month is a fine pace, I'm not too worried about it.

Pushups: Today-200 YTD-5025
Running: Today-0mi YTD-51mi

Frisbee Elbow

My Bicep and Elbow hurt really bad yesterday and I realized it was because of some frisbee throwing that I did on Saturday. It's pretty sad that a little disc could have such an effect on my arm. Anyway, I didn't do any pushups in the morning and struggled to knock out 50 on either side of dinner for a measly 100. I did, however, run 9 miles in the early afternoon so the frisbee session didn't totally cripple me. And the arm feels better now, I'm about to do 100 and get the day started right. Will definitely have 5k after today, holla.

Pushups: Monday-100 YTD-4825
Running: Monday-9mi YTD-51mi

Montgomery

Had an awesome weekend in Montgomery. In the future, I think I'm going to choose one night as my go big night and relax/DD on the other one. The second night of heavy drinking is always pretty painful and I can only take so much in my old age. I got 200 pushups done on Saturday and then we went to a house party where the host challenged me to do clapping pushups with him. He was able to do 10 and I did 25. Boom. It felt weird doing pushups in the middle of a party but the 50k pushup bet is an intriguing thing and everyone wants to take shots at me. Today I only knocked out 100 because my body just isn't feeling great. Tomorrow I'll get 100 at breakfast and hopefully roll from there. I'll shoot for 275 to get 5k out of the way. 5k/month gets me done by November, sounds great to me. It's bedtime for bonzo, alarm starts ringing in 7.5 hours.

Pushups: Sat/Sun-325 YTD-4725
Running: Sat-3mi YTD-42mi

Alcohol!!

Managed to get 200 done before getting hammered last night. I'm in Montgomery for the weekend to visit an old friend. It's sad when Montgomery qualifies as a big city but I'm enjoying my time away from Rucker regardless. Gonna run the booze out of my system and hopefully have the energy for some pushups then get right back to boozing it up tonight. God bless America.

Pushups: Friday-200 YTD-4400
Running: Friday-0mi YTD-39mi

Rolling

Got another 350 done today and ran 5 miles. My feet are pretty sore so I'm going to take tomorrow off, run a short 3-4 miles on Saturday, and then try to knock out 8-10 miles on Sunday. Should be fun. It's nice to get back in the swing of things. Inertia and Momentum are so powerful both physically and mentally. Love being on the right side for now.

Pushups: Today-350 YTD-4200
Running: Today-5mi YTD-39mi

Army Life is my style

I really think the Army has added a ton of years to my life. When I'm away from the Army, I binge eat, drink, etc., and I refuse to work out. Once I'm back on post, I study hard, go to school, and work out. It's so refreshing after all the years of trying to kill my body. I still try to kill my body but it's on a 2 day per week basis now instead of 365 days a year. Anyway, flying was awesome today and I did 250 pushups and ran 4 miles. I felt really good running even though I had taken 10 days off and I'm going to try to run 9-10 miles on Sunday. We'll see how that goes. I could have done more pushups too but I feel good and I'm hoping to feel good tomorrow as well. Instead of killing myself for 350, I'll stick with 250 and hope that tomorrow I can get into the 250-300 range again. If I get to 5k by January 31st I'll be a happy camper. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to demolish my PT test in May. Can't wait to knock out 120 in the 2 minutes that we're allotted.

Pushups: Today-250 YTD-3850
Running: Today-4mi YTD-34mi

Threeee-Fiddy!!

Just did pushups 301-350 and now it's time for bed. The key is the morning. If I eat a good breakfast and do 100 before flight line, it's all gravy from there on out. If I do 50 or zero in the morning and eat a shitty breakfast, everything seems like a chore throughout the day. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Now, if I could only get back on the running train...

See you at 0350, cruel world.

Pushups: Today-350 YTD-3600
Running: Today-0mi YTD-30mi

Traveling

I got 150 done on the day I traveled back to Bama. Not bad for a travel day. I feel decent this morning, will hit a couple hundred I think. I should also get back on the running train, probably 4 miles. We'll see.

Pushups: Today-150 YTD-3250
Running: Today-0mi YTD-30mi

Beer is bad

Did 250 on Friday, was feeling great. Then got to my brother's house and got hammered, only did 50 on Saturday, got hammered again on Saturday night, and labored to do 100 today. Beer really is a pretty crushing thing. We're gonna try to avoid it for the next month or so. I have a half marathon to run on Feb 24 and I haven't run in over a week. More veggies and protein, less beer and carbs. Yes we can.

Pushups: weekend-400 ytd-3100
Running: weekend-0mi ytd-30mi

Standard

Did a standard 150 today. Boobs hurt from yesterday. My competition does 500 in a session, I definitely am not there yet. I'm going to DC for MLK weekend and hopefully my bro will motivate me to knock out a bunch.

Got a 95% on my 2nd Blackhawk Systems exam and I still don't feel like I know what's going on. Army tests are such a joke. Tomorrow I get to fly if the weather cooperates. Can't wait.

Pushups: today-150 ytd-2700
Running: today-0mi ytd-30mi

Encouraging

Today I did 150 pushups at breakfast and it felt great. When I tried to do 251-300, I felt a clicking in my left arm and stopped at 260. I was pretty worried but managed to do two more sets of 50 around dinner and had no issues with the arm. Not sure what happened but hopefully it was just odd positioning or something. I haven't run in a week and that needs to change. Inertia is a bitch.

Pushups: Today-360 YTD-2550
Running: Today-0mi YTD-30mi

Hmmmm

Just did 50 before bed, I'm officially worried about my motivation and it's 2 weeks in. Waking up at 03:50 every morning is rather exhausting. Blahhhhhhhhh.

Pushups: Today-50 YTD-2190
Running: Today-0mi YTD-30mi

Oy Vey

The weekend was quite a disaster. I took Friday off and hoped to do a ton on Saturday and Sunday but only managed to get 200 done while drinking and binging and watching football. 200 on a 3-day weekend is not acceptable. I got 150 done today but I'm no longer supremely confident that I can make 50K. It's feeling like more of a chore and my shoulders still don't feel great. Blahhhhh. And I haven't run since Thursday. Perhaps the Seahawks loss is a blessing in disguise...I can now focus on working out and flight school instead of spending infinite money traveling around the US to watch them play.

Pushups: Weekend-350 YTD-2140
Running: Weekend-0mi YTD-30mi

Like Clockwork

Another 4 miles and 150 pushups. I'm a machine. Running always saps my energy, I think I need to get most of my pushups done before going running because they are a real chore after a run. My competition, Ryan, is taking a different route to 50k pushups, taking multiple days off and then knocking out 500 in a day. I don't think I could do it that way and will keep plugging along at my pace. It's working so far and I really hope I start seeing strength gains soon. For now, I just feel a general soreness at all times. The running can't help. Tomorrow is an off-day for running but I will be driving to ATL so I won't have a ton of time to knock out many pushups. We'll see how I feel but it'd be nice to get 300 or so on a no-run day.

GOOOOOOOOOOOO SEAHAWKS!!!

Pushups: Today-150 YTD-1790
Running: Today-4mi YTD-30mi

Tired

Flight school is exhausting. Post from bed, was falling asleep then remembered I need to update daily. I think the YTD numbers are correct, will fix tomorrow if not. Gnight, cruel world. See you at 0400.

Pushups: today-150 ytd-1640
Running: today-4mi ytd-26mi

Morning Person

Today was basically a repeat of yesterday. I felt great in the AM but only did 50. Then I had to force myself to do 50 before dinner and 50 after to get to 150 for the day. I'm on AM Flight Line for the foreseeable future, which means I show up to work at 0500 and go home at 1230 every day. I'm going to need to get used to knocking out at least 100 when I wake up, before I go to fly, and then doing a bunch more around lunchtime, when I get home at 1300. There's a point, around 1500, when every ounce of energy is drained and pushups become much harder. I did get in a 4 mile run at 1530 so the day wasn't a total waste. GO HAWKS!!

Pushups: Today-150 YTD-1490
Running: Today-4mi YTD-22mi

AM energy

Woke up this morning feeling great, like I wanted to do a thousand pushups. But I only did 50 and went to class all day. I did 50 during a break but by the time I got home at 1600, I was exhausted and had to force myself to do two more sets, before and after dinner. So I got 200 done but I'm pretty sure I could have done 200 this morning alone. Next time I wake up feeling that good, I'm going to do 100 minimum. Tomorrow I start my 0500 flight line days and 0400 wake-ups. I'm even going to miss the National Championship game so that I can get to bed at a reasonable hour. Rooting for Bama to lose but really, I hate both teams. Thank goodness I can skip this one and focus on the Hawks. GO HAWKS!!

Pushups: Today-200 YTD-1340
Running: Today-0mi YTD-18mi

Pretty nice little Sunday

Seahawks win!! They play the Falcons next week and you can bet your sweet tush I'll be in Atlanta to cheer them on. I think Cliff and Molly are going to be in the area so it'll be some good family bonding time at the football game. There are tons of tickets available online, it shouldn't be too hard to score some for this one.

I ran 7 miles today with my friend James and felt infinitely better than I did on Saturday. I still hacked up a ton of phlegm and my lungs crackled like a chain smoker but I never stopped running, even if I did slow down a lot on the hills. But for a hilly course, I was proud of my 8-minute/mile pace. By February 24th, the New Orleans Rock and Roll Half should be no problem.

I also did 200 push-ups today. The push-ups themselves are coming easier but the motivation to do ANYTHING after 7 miles of running is hard to muster. I'm so glad I made this bet, I believe I'll do about 2-3x as many pushups as I would have otherwise. And push-ups are a part of my job so they're pretty important.

Full day of school tomorrow, boooooo. School is for fools!!

Pushups: Today-200 YTD-1140
Running: Today-7mi YTD-18mi

Bleh

I can't seem to kick this cold. I still have raspy breaths and get pretty congested at night. I went for a slow 3-mile run today and it felt horrible. I'm glad I went but I was wheezing and coughing the whole time like a 82 year-old man. Time waits for no man so I need to keep training but right now my body's telling me no. Just gotta make sure the mind is stronger.

I did sets of 50 pushups after each meal today and did one random one in the mid-afternoon for a total of 200. I think I could definitely do more but I'm going to keep on taking it easy. My body seems to be responding pretty well and I like where I'm at. It's definitely a marathon and there's no need to be killing my shoulders to get too far ahead of pace. I'm slowly building a decent cushion as it is and will probably continue to do 200-300 a day until next weekend at the earliest.

I could not possibly be more excited about a Divisional Playoff game than I am for tomorrow. This teem seems to have limitless potential but in the NFL it's one and done so every game is going to be insanely nervewracking. And we're facing a team in their house that's on a 7-game win streak. Some Seahawks fans think it's a lock. I definitely think we're the better team and deserve the -3 that Vegas has given us but this game is not a lock. 15:30 can't come soon enough. GO HAWKS!!

Pushups: Today-200 YTD-940
Running: Today-3mi YTD-11mi

Android

This is my first post ever using the Android app on my phone. Its pretty simple and clean, I'm a fan. Today was a rest day for running and I knocked out 250 pushups. The sets of 50 are coming much easier and I really should have gotten to 300 but I got real lazy after dinner. My shoulders are talking to me a bit so I think I'm going to keep my max around 250-300 a day until they feel stronger and then I'll try to up the ante. It'd be awesome to get up to 400-500 a day and knock out this challenge in 100-125 days. We'll see if I get there.

Pushups: today-250 ytd-740
Running: today-0mi ytd-8mi

Lethargy

I've been pretty sick for the past week and feeling super lethargic which doesn't help my physical fitness or academics at all. I still managed to run 4 miles this afternoon but I was super sore and felt like taking the day off from pushups. Then my roommate made some delicious Thai Curry with Chicken and I managed to do 50 right after dinner then 40 a bit later and 30 just now. I feel strong enough that I could probably do 50 each time but I don't want to push things too far right away. My chest is starting to feel great but my shoulders and triceps take a bit longer. Anyway, I got 120 done on a day that I felt like doing nothing. I'll take it!

It's really really hard being in flight school right now. We had 2 weeks of Blackhawk class before break and we're supposed to have retained all that info after the long holiday. Fat chance! I felt like such an idiot in class today and will be studying hard this weekend to refresh my brain. I don't really care about the AFC Divisional games so I'll study and work out during the day and watch football at night. Sounds like a pretty nice little weekend to me.

GO HAWKS!!

Pushups: Today-120 YTD-490
Running: Today-4mi YTD-8mi

Back to the Grind

Today was pretty productive and provided a much needed buffer for the transition from alcoholic bum to professional Army Aviator. I got a load of laundry done, did some grocery shopping, went for a 4-mile run, and did a bunch of studying. My brain isn't working quite as efficiently as it was before break but I'm hoping it won't be too hard to shake off the rust. Tomorrow should be an interesting day of class.

I also got 200 push-ups done, with sets of 40-45-35-40-40 spread throughout the day. I am sorer than I hoped I would be but I'm thinking I'll get back into the zone soon. I spoke with my buddy James, one of the biggest PT studs I know, about the bet and he thinks it's going to be hard to accomplish. It's not necessarily the 150 push-ups per day, it's having the motivation and commitment to do them every single day. I'm going to try to do at least 200 per day so that I'll have some buffer on days where I'm just not feeling it. We'll see. So far, I can't foresee having too many issues.

Pushups: Today-200 YTD-370
Running: Today-4mi YTD-4mi

Happy New Year!!

I'm happier on this New Years Day than I have been for a while. I feel like I really accomplished a lot in 2012 and worked my ass off for most of the year. I'm hoping I remember this feeling and take it to 2013 like I did 2012. I'm also hoping I remember how much of a slacker I was for most of December and I don't do that in 2013. January is going to be wasted making up for my horrific December. For shame.

Last night, I decided to DD because my flight home was at 0600 and I was feeling kind of sluggish. I bought two bottles of nice champagne and shared them with everyone, drinking only 3 glasses myself. I was able to give 5 different groups rides home because the cabs were obviously never coming and it made me feel good to be the one to look after their well-being. I'm thinking that I'll make this my NYE tradition and hope that the good karma follows me into each new year.

I think I like getting really drunk when others are relatively sober and staying sober when others get shit faced. It's an obvious poker parallel too: When others are playing loose and aggro, you tighten up but when others are playing too tight, you start to shit on them. I think that I enjoy sticking out from the crowd. Who wants to be ordinary and drink just because it's NYE? Who wants to be ordinary and remain sober, just because it's a tupperware party?

The trip back to Alabama is always brutal. My flight left Sea-Tac at 0600 and I didn't get home to Fort Rucker until 1800. Beyond the 12 hours of travel, I have to deal with the emotional pain of leaving my favorite city in the US for my least favorite region of the US. Sigh.

I'm definitely excited to get back into my regimented lifestyle. I have proven many times that I'm terrible at self-motivation and I need the Army to force me to study and work out and be productive. It's so easy to just lie in bed while I'm at home and do nothing all day. My pushups came slowly and painfully today and I'm not looking forward to my first run tomorrow.

I did 50 pushups this morning before getting driven to the airport and I did 3 sets of 40 throughout the evening so I'm logging 170 for the day. Around December 1st I would never have considered doing only 40 pushups in a set but I'm not feeling 100% and had a long day. Hopefully I'm not too sore tomorrow and I can rely on my 50 pushups per meal plan. I'll end with a running total every day, something like this:

Pushups: Today-170 YTD-170
Running: Today-0m YTD-0m

GO HAWKS!!

Staying on Pace

I've been playing with the numbers trying to determine the best way to stay on pace for my running and pushups. I've determined that mentally it's easiest for me to shoot for 150 pushups per day and 10 miles per week. Neither of those look particularly daunting, especially considering that I like to do 50 pushups before or after every meal. If I never did a pushup other than the 50 pre-meal pushups, I'd still reach my goal. Too easy!! The running goal doesn't seem too bad either, but I'm going to try to make sure I spread my miles out over 3-5 days and not just run 10 miles on the weekends. The #1 goal is obviously to stay injury free for the whole year. Pacing and moderation will play a big role. Can't wait to do some pushups at 12:01!!

2013

I'm not really a huge New Years Resolution kind of guy but this year I feel like making a few. Thanks go my buddy Kennedy for booking me in a push-up bet. The number is 50,000 by 12/31/13 and whomever doesn't make it there has to buy whomever makes it a NFL, NCAA, and futbol jersey of the winner's choice. I know for sure that I'm asking for a Russell Wilson authentic Gray, whatever UW jersey is all the rage next year, and a Lionel Messi jersey of some sort...probably an Argentina World Cup '14 jersey, assuming they'll be released by then.

50K pushups is a lot, and I haven't done a single one in the past 3 weeks, but I'm fairly confident that I can do it. I'm also going to try to run 500 miles in the year but I'm less confident about that one. I have a half-marathon planned for February 24th in New Orleans so that should help my motivation a bit. It'd be nice to have someone betting against me but I think I'm just going to do this one on my own.

Lastly, I'm going to try to eat super healthy in 2013 and enhance all the exercise crap with proper nutrition. I really let myself go during November and December and I'm feeling like quite the bum. I'm excited to get back to Fort Rucker and put my nose to the grindstone...both academically and physically. I know the academics and flying will be forced upon me, no matter what kind of resolutions I make, but the physical health is all up to me.

I'll be tracking my progress on twitter and here on this blog. Hopefully I'll make more meaningful posts and fewer short tweets but I know how consumed I will be by Blackhawk school and I can't promise to devote much time to blogging. At any rate, I'm glad that this site is still around and glad that I was able to make one post in 2012. Here's to more blog entries next year and a healthy and safe 2013!!

Running in the Hood

Yesterday I was scheduled for a 30-minute run but we play soccer on Wednesday nights so I figured that would take care of it. If anyone's curious, here's my running schedule for the next few months. I talked to a buddy about training for the half-marathon and he said that his running coach recommended running for a set amount of time rather than a set distance. I have no running knowledge to speak of so I'm taking his advice.

I was short on time today so I decided to run around the neighborhood instead of heading to Greenlake. We're in a bit of a valley so there's less than a mile to run in any direction without hitting some major hills. I did three out-and-backs and felt pretty good but even the flattest route we have has a decent sized slope making the run much easier away from the house and more difficult coming back. One of these days I'm going to head to a track and run in flat circles to see how fast I can run.

Here's the map of the run:

I would like to have a more consistent pace but it's hard to run the same speed on a light incline and a light decline.

I recently read a book called Green for Life and I decided to add these green smoothies to my daily intake. On the Slow Carb Diet I stopped eating all fruits and I think green smoothies are a good way to reintroduce fruit to my life. Yesterday I made a smoothie with dinosaur kale, strawberries, bananas, and avocados. Today I made one with mangos and kale. The first one was delicious but the second one may have had too much kale and was a little bitter. I do think that these greens are full of awesome nutrients and will be great for my health.

Saturday I leave for LA and even though it's only in the 60's down there, I'm excited for something a little warmer. Hopefully I'll be able to eat well on this trip and run well and not lose everything I've gained. Holla.

Chicken Wings

Last night I ate about 15 chicken wings from the Kangaroo and Kiwi while watching that ugly NCAA Championship game. This morning, I was 202.8 lbs which is annoying because I really want to see 199 on the scale at least once. It's totally an empty and shallow goal but sometimes I'm an empty and shallow person. Since turning 30, I've felt a ton of motivation to "grow up" and get in shape and whatnot that was never there in my 20's. I don't think I was under 200 lbs for a single day of my 20's. 30 is just an arbitrary indicator of age but something about those round numbers really gets me motivated.

So, the weight gained is a minus but I felt pretty good on my run today and that's a huge plus. I would probably rather be 230 lbs and a strong runner than 195 and a weak runner. I think that after running, I'll post the details of my last 3 meals and try to find correlation between food and running strength.

4/4 lunch(noon): Small Chicken Pho, Fresh Prawn/Pork Spring Roll
4/4 dinner(7 PM): 15 Chicken Wings at K&K and 2 large spoonfuls of Athletic Greens
4/5 breakfast(10 AM): 2 Eggs, Black Beans, Spinach, 25g Whey Protein
4/5 run (11:30 AM): 5 miles, 43:00, felt strong, 8 out of 10

Here's the map of my run:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/77438177

It seems like the high-calorie wings could have helped give me energy this morning. For now, I'll assume that's the case.

I re-read my last post and I realized that I made the Slow-Carb Diet sound like it left me sluggish and without energy. This isn't the case at all and I've felt great for the past two months. It's just on longer runs that I feel like I need a little more gas in my tank and I'm making the decision to eat more on days before longish runs. The Slow Carb Diet is amazing and I highly recommend it to everyone. The key aspects of the diet that I'll keep with me forever are:

(1) Eat a high-protein Breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up
(2) Don't drink calories
(3) Don't snack
(4) Schedule one cheat day per week or, at minimum, one or two cheat meals.

The cheat meals are key for discipline reasons. It's easy to pass up pizza or ice cream or chow mein when you know you can have it later that week. The author of the book claims that binging has a practical reason for boosting weight loss but I think it's mostly psychological. Anyway, I'm a big fan of what this diet has done for me and I can't recommend it strongly enough.

Someday my blogs will be about something other than the Slow Carb Diet. Someday.

Life and Stuff

I'm writing this on my iPad 2 which is an awesome device but isn't great for word processing. Portability is its best feature and it's great for Facebook and email but I don't know how many blog entries I'll want to compose on here.




On January 19th, I was 230 lbs and as of this morning I was 201. I've been following the Slow-Carb Diet from The 4-Hour Body and it's worked extremely well. I highly recommend it for anyone trying to lose weight. The book is only $14 on Amazon and could change your life. Anyway, I only mention it because I'm about to get off the diet. I'm training for a half-marathon in June and I haven't had the energy that I need for some of my longer training runs. A 5-day bender in Vegas hurt me too, but I think that reintroducing some carbs will help a lot. I want to use this blog as a sort of food and training diary...what I ate before certain runs and how I think they affected my performance. I think it might be interesting to read about and will simultaneously help me become a stronger runner. I also might get bored and quit blogging but that's a risk we're gonna have to take.

On Saturday, I'm heading to LA with my girlfriend for a few days. She was planning on flying to Japan on Tuesday the 12th, but for obvious reasons she canceled her trip. She's going to fly home instead and save the vacation time for a trip to Mexico this summer. On the 12th, I'm flying to Baltimore to visit my brother and his fiancé. Cliff is graduating from a nine-month Army course and he's really excited. My Mom is flying in on Thursday and it'll be a great little family reunion. Cliff is probably the best athlete I know and I'm looking forward to running with him. It's still a difficult concept for me to grasp, excitement about running, but I'm really starting to enjoy it. Who could have guessed it?

In May, I'm heading to Madrid for a week to play in the EPT Grand Final and the EPT Champion of Champions freeroll for all former EPT winners. It's not a huge prize pool but the tournament will be televised and sounds like a lot of fun. My good friend Mike Martin will be there as well and we'll probably check out a Real Madrid game while we're there. Madrid is an awesome city and the EPT Grand Final has to be the 2nd best tournament of the year, after the WSOP Main Event of course. Estoy muy excited!!

Ok, that's all for now. I'm planning on a 30-40 minute run tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes.

Travel Blog

I'm realizing that I blog a lot when I travel and I never blog when I'm at home. It's not really the life of Brandon but more like the travels of Brandon or something like that. Anyway, I'm fine with that. Feel free to check in periodically...if there are new entries, then I'm traveling somewhere cool. If not, I'm enjoying myself at home so stop harassing me for mundane entries about walking my dog.

I actually do want to write about something other than travel for a second. On Saturday, the Seahawks won the best game I've ever seen live and I've seen a lot of great sporting events. It helps that I had a decent amount of money riding on the game but it would have been phenomenal without any financial gain. After about a month of getting torn up by the media, we fans were fed up and Qwest Field was absolutely electric. It's always really loud and fun but Saturday was something else. I'll never forget the chills up and down my spine and the tears in my eyes when Marshawn scored that TD.

Someone asked on Facebook if Lynch's run is the equivalent of Edgar's double. A walk-off double is so hard to top in football but I actually think the analogy could work. Bear with me.

I think that the Edgar double helped kick off the "golden era" in Seattle sports where the Sonics, Mariners and Seahawks were all competitive for a lot of years. However, to me the double helps define the golden era as an era of underachieving. With all of the superstars and great teams that we had across those three sports, one of them should have won a Championship. Instead, the Mariners era is defined by Edgar's double...in the ALDS...and David Justice's homer against Arthur Rhodes in the ALCS a few years later. The Seahawks are defined by a poorly played Super Bowl XL, aided by some poor reffing. The Sonics era is defined by Mutumbo's finger-waggle. Tons of talent, no championships.

I'm hoping that the Marshawn Lynch run, and this overachieving Seahawks team, helps kick off a new era of Seattle sports. The Seahawks have no business being in the NFL's Elite Eight, yet here they are. I'm thrilled with the job that Pete Carroll has done and I can't wait to see what he can do with more talent on his roster. The Mariners have nowhere to go but up and it was just last Spring that people were calling Jack Z a genius. Did he get really dumb all of a sudden or were the Mariners victims of a lot of bad luck? We still have Felix in his prime, we still have Ichiro, we still have Guti. If the role players can play decent baseball, this team definitely has a chance to "overachieve". I think that only time will tell if the Lynch run will be as important as the Edgar double in defining Seattle sports but let's hope that it is.

OK, now that that's off my chest, I'm ready to blog about traveling again. On Monday, I'm heading to Singapore and I'll be spending 3 weeks traveling through SE Asia. Here's a link to my itinerary, in case you want to stalk me.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DahJ5SO-wQTHinCmpkUwZZZH9IFukWyd9qpaayOu5Ho/edit?authkey=CKSg9NsE&hl=en#

I'm really excited to see Kento in Singapore. He moved there 2 years ago and I promised that I'd visit him someday. It'll feel good to make good on that promise. I've also wanted to see Malaysia for a long time now and it'll be fun to lay on those beaches. Thailand is the land of smiles and I'm excited to return. My friends Will and Kat are Peace Corps volunteers in Thailand and we're going to spend a week with them as well. It's going to be awesome, stay tuned for pics and stories.

I've been learning French, using Rosetta Stone, and I really like it. I'm done with Level 1 and I'm on part 1 of Level 2. It's an awesome little hobby and I can't wait until I finish all 5 levels.

The other hobby that I just picked up is running, believe it or not. I've been getting faster and running longer but my foot has been hurting for the past week so I'm going to rest up for a while. I'm pretty sure that I increased my speed and distances too rapidly, considering I hadn't run in about 5 or 6 years. Here's my Garmin Connect page. Cliff bought me a GPS watch for Christmas and it's pretty sweet to look at the maps:

http://connect.garmin.com/explore?owner=bkschaefer#owner=bkschaefer&sortField=relevance¤tPage=1

That's all for now, please pray for my foot to heal.

xoxo