67 is the new 50

Keep on rockin' in the free world Dominick!

9 mile style

Very good first half of the week...

I got in all my scheduled training and exchanged my basic core workout routine with the patented Staylor's Stability Sphere Success System aka 5S.

I had also been planning on some extra credit work today for my pre Thanksgiving workout and it worked out nicely.

The set up is this: In training for Handies I understood that it was going to be an 8 mile hike but for training I was doing a 4.5 mile hike.....sound stupid yet? :( To make it worse I was not wearing a pack in training and would need to carry a 17# pack on the climb. My reasoning was that I understood two things.

1)Half of 8 is 4...I trained the 4 miles to get up.
2)My desire to make it back home would assure me that making the second 4 was a given.

I gave no thought to the Pack other than I needed it and was going to carry it.

Well, in retrospect I under trained for Handies and determination accounts for a good 75% of my success there. One of the lessons I learned was that I didn't want to repeat the mistakes I made there because mistakes = pain on the mountain. My next route looks like it will be 7 miles with an 18# pack so rest assured I will train a minimum of 10 miles with a 25# pack long before I step foot on my next 14er.

Today was my first run of that type of training and I got up early and did 9 miles with a 15# pack. I would have carried 20#'s today but the pack I was using is insufficient for it. In addition to just hiking it I used liquid nutrition on the walk as well as follow up protein post workout. I'm working to make sure my nutrition is better for my next climb than it was last time. It turns out I suffered a lot more on the mountain than I needed to if I'd only taken the time to add a few scoops of powder into a few water bottles and done a bit more planning.....I'm working on that.

A successful week

I met my goals for this week and cutting down the Ross by 50% I am very happy to say was effective. I'm doing the same thing next week with an eye towards making the first increase in Dec. and getting the full program early next year.

I had a strange moment walking in a Lowes parking lot a few days ago when it hit me that I was going to make my end goal sometime next year. When I say it hit me I mean that it was a significant feeling. There is still a lot of work ahead of me, and a lifetimes worth on the other side but....

I'm going to reach my weight loss goal sometime next year.


It felt strange to realize that it's getting closer to a reality than just a "goal".


In addition to my main routine I got a chance to do a test run for a backpack hike I'm going to to on Thursday AM (more details later) to dig a small caloric hole that the T-day feast is going to go into. :) I also got a chance for a core workout with my buddy Shaun It was eyeopening, challenging, and fun at the same time. Shaun is a competitive (successfully competitive) athlete, a coach, very knowledgeable guy, but most importantly :) he is a top level Barista in a VERY exclusive little bistro called Cafe'de Staylor. You'd be hard pressed to find better coffee within 1000 miles or more but then again you'd be hard pressed to find this place as well. (sucks for you).

It was a good week and I'm happy with how it all went down. The only "bad" part was that my Tuesday conditioning workout almost killed me. My back was destroyed for 3 full days and it's not even 100% now. I am hoping that when it comes back around next week I'll be in a better place for the workload. It caused me to stay off the kayak this week and that was a bummer but I made a judgment call that overtraining/injury wasn't worth the risk to get out this week and took a pass and It was HARD to do on Fri for sure because I wound up with several hours free when the weather was perfect...damn that was hard but having tweaked things already and needing to nurse them back, I know it was the right call. :(

More in a few days....

Last bit of Handies

I guess it was 2 months ago that I climbed Handies and today I lost my last external physical reminder of the event....my big toe nail. I was thinking that I'd keep the thing after the first month and that the black would eventually grow out. Not the case, the entire shebang fell off today. Not sure what I'll do now. I've grown used to looking at my jet black big toe everyday and remembering how it got there. The next 14er is still approx 10 months away. :(

At least I have Rosstraining to perform attempted murder on me because my lower back is killing me right now. I know for sure I'm on the right track based on the sheer pain of it all. I had reached a point of stability in my weight loss that I could just feel was going to be permanent (set point)if everything stayed the same. I think my body had adapted to the level of exercise and diet I was putting in and had grown comfortable in that spot. Sensing that I decided to move into a much tougher training schedule and make sure my nutrition is together. My goal is to jot something down every few days now until I have successfully gotten everything back on track.

I think it's important to say that this part is hard. Harder than the initial weight loss. It's a challenge to get started and mentally tough to stay the course when results are slow to show up but the initial phase is easier than what comes next.

I don't know what the final stage(s)look like yet but I feel like I've definitely entered phase II. The things that brought me 50#'s of weight loss, vastly improved fitness, and all my previous results are not enough anymore to continue onward. Phase II requires you keep all of that and add MORE. I want to keep a record of all of this to remember, be accountable, and possibly share it if it can help anybody else. Bottom line: it gets harder along the way....not sure what comes next but it's war right now.

I'll get back to doing weekly weigh ins soon but for now it's not important. It's become a small detail lost in the big picture. The things you do now, next week, this month...those are going to shape next year. The individual #'s are very important (and won't go untracked) but now isn't the time to look too closely at it. As a measuring tool sure, but the focus and attention has to be on something to bring longer term success right now or else you can wind up doing something stupid just to make temporary gains (losses). Not worth it! My weight isn't dropping right now and I know that but the ass kicking structures I'm building right now are going to resolve that issue. ;)

Bigger water shorter sets

The weather was perfect this weekend so I took the opportunity to get the kayak out in some bigger water. I got over to Telfair and it was sweet! Instead of the 6 min trip across my neighborhood lake Telfair took me 35min out and 45min back. Not only do I get over an hour on the water it's a cooler trip. There is tons of wildlife out there with ducks, several kinds of cranes, turtles, and whatnot. I learned that for now 80 min of continuous paddling is enough to toast my arms. :)

My goal this week was to break down my Rosstraining into small enough chunks that I can manage it. I decided on a full 50% reduction in the beginning program for a week and then gradual builds up to the full program. I cut 50% because I'm determined to be doing the full program in 2009 and it's really hard for me. I felt like 50% was realistic enough that if i don't do it it's not because I "can't". I pretty much forced my own hand here.

Yesterday was strength training and at 50% it was not all that hard. I can do it for a week and bump it up without much trouble. Today was conditioning and core. I still have to do core but I'll be doing my full core routine and it will be fine. I just did conditioning at 50% and this is my weakness.....it is extremely difficult. I managed the 50% mark but it was a little woozy. I'll be able to go at 50% on this but it's hard and might take me 2-3 weeks to start bumping this part up.

So......report is so far so good on my goal for RT. I'm going to get there....more in a couple of days.

Harder than hard

I wanted to be posting all bout how great my Rosstraining was going....

It's harder than that...it's not going so great.

In a way I feel bad but in another way I feel encouraged because I have a plan now. Next week I'm going to break down the beg R.T. program in as small of chunks as necessary for me to complete. I'm going to build on that (no matter how small it is) and I'm going to build up to the full routines even if it kills me.

This plan is fool proof because either I'll make the goal or I will be dead and weighing only 21 grams should make completing the exercises a LOT easier. :)

I'm going into a tunnel now RossTraining or die!!

Updates to follow shortly......I hope. :o

Time for massive action

What an crazy time since my last post.

My buddy Shaun gave me the short notice challenge last week that went something like this "Dude what are you doing day after tomorrow because I have 2 plane tickets to Chicago and 2 tickets to UFC 90 burning a hole in my pocket....what's up"?

We ended up doing a whirlwind 24 hour trip that jammed about 4 "normal people" days into one outlandish adventure. Damn that was fun! :) It deserves it's own post with pictures so I'll get something together later this week about the madness that was our Chicago UFC adventure.

On the fitness front: Things are (and have been) fairly static lately...too static for sure and something started making itself known as soon as the shadow of Chicago was in the airplanes rear view mirror. This thing has been looming for some time now and as it started to make it's presence require attention one of those cosmic signs happened and then it was all over. The time has come to get back to where I started with the RossTraining. I was not in good enough shape when I started to make a fair go of it but that was then and this is now. I know it's going to be VERY hard and there has been a certain amount of dragging my feet leading up to this but here it is.

IT'S ON!

With only 2 months left in this year I am fired up to make these last 8 weeks count. I'm going to throw everything I have into the rest of this year for a bunch of reasons. One reason is just that I owe it to the year. I've accomplished a lot in 2008 and I can't let it ease out without finishing strong. I expect to have significantly increased blogging the next 8 weeks as well because there is much to go over and I want to document this phase to look back on later.

More to follow soon......

Kayak

Sometimes things work out the way they are supposed to....

Part of loosing weight is avoiding excess or "empty" calories. Of course life isn't about eating brown rice and broccoli 3X's per day so you shouldn't' get crazy militant about it if you do things like occasionally drink a beer or 2.

That being said when you have a capable all grain home brewery in your house, and always have beers and various styles on tap and in bottles within easy reach..(Like I used to have available) it's a conflict of interest. It has been nagging at me for a while now but my beloved hobby of brewing beer just doesn't fit into the lifestyle changes I'm making right now. It might be several years until I'll be in a position to handle having that much beer accessibility and I really needed to let it go for now. Instead of a passive hobby that gives me excess calories I really needed an active hobby to burn some calories...get out there and mix it up a little.

The idea to sell/trade my brewing gear for a kayak started forming and after some acceptance and grieving process of giving up my brew gear I know it was the right having to do for several reasons. A short while later a deal was hatched and off I went to pick up a kayak. I did tons of research and for my first kayak I decided on the yak board ocean kayak. I had 45 spare min yesterday so I decided to go grab my new toy at Academy...things did not go well. I wound up wasting 30 min with those clowns and despite my telling them clearly "I'm in a hurry but will buy one of these kayaks right now if you can tell me how to do it"....3 different employees trying to figure out what to do...eventually a guy tells me I am going to have to fill out an aquatic license paperwork of something but I could just throw away the registration papers when they mailed them to me, it should only take 10 min, blah, blah, blah,.. I walked out disgusted with how hard it is to buy things sometimes.

Having only 10min left I went into Gander Mountain and found the first salesman in the boat dept. I pretty much ran up to him and said "I have 10 min to spare and $300 to spend. I want an entry level sit on top kayak that I can just try out to see if I even like kayaks before I get something more expensive, can you help me?"

12 min. later I was driving away with my new kayak and 45 min after that I was in the water. :)

Today I took it out for the first real test. I spent an hour on the water this morning. The weather was perfect and after 20 min or so I realized I stumbled upon the absolute perfect kayak for what I wanted. There are some significant disadvantages to getting an entry level kayak like this and those deficiencies work directly to my advantage. For one this little 8'er is tippy....if feels WAY tippy when you first get in it. Excellent! It's a freaking core workout just to keep from dumping your ass in the water. HA! In reality it isn't that bad. It "feels" like you are going to topple over but I've leaned into it at a lot of angles and dug in pretty deep....it has not dumped me yet. I think having to balance it is a bonus for me. It tracks poorly (does not stay pointing were you want to go very easily) Perfect! This causes me to work harder to get where I want to go.

My goal was to get some exercise, upper body, and be active.

Because this kayak is so small it's a snap to transport to the water. I've had it out twice in the last two days and it's not a production at all. I can be in the water in under 15 min of just deciding I feel like it. This ease of use is vitally important. If I had to load up for half an hour and drive 30 min each way I'd probably be able to get it out 1-2 times per month. Now I can go out as often as I want.

If I'd have had time to research this kayak I never would have chosen it. It's only because I was aggravated and in a hurry that I just grabbed it. I think it's perfect for my needs and goals at this time.

I'm half tempted to start answering people differently when they ask..

"So what do you do?"

I climb mountains and kayak. ;)

Monday weigh in

Weight today 220.

I held on at 220 this week and at this point I'm used to that. It only starts to bug me after 3 weeks of holding because I am convinced that things are changing the scale does not see. First off I know how I feel and I also can see things like my forearms or ankles...I can tell that progress goes on that does not show up as a lost # on the scale (that can be measured in 7 days).

21 days is a different story and to me signifies either that I am slacking off or I have reached a new mile marker that requires more effort to get results.

For the virtual fight at 205 idea.....

It was a fun idea but it's not going to work for several reasons. :(

What I can say is that I got to a gym with my buddy Shaun and he showed me some Mui Thai techniques that were eye opening. I have never seen how to throw a Mui Thai leg kick properly. I had also never been hit with one....it hurts. :) Due to some introspective thinking I've decided that I really do want to get in a gym and learn various fighting styles I have not seen before and possibly get some instruction but my reasons are a lot different than I thought they were. I am not looking for the healthy competition in that arena..... I just like hitting things and learning how to hit them harder/smarter than the average Joe. Just how terribly rusty you get after taking about 20 years off of martial arts was brutally obvious in the first 10 seconds of hitting the bag. I don't like being that rusty and "unprepared" those are the reasons I'll pursue something to remedy that not because I want to test my skills and go for a trophy, ribbon , or patch. I used to hate that back in the day and only wanted to train and spar. Tests, competitions, breaking demos....I hate that stuff.

Anyway it's Monday and work is calling me. Booo work. -:

Monday weigh in

Jumped on the scale today.....

Weight today: 220

Loss to date: -50#'s

There is something mentally satisfying about crossing each new 10# increment and the 50# mark feels pretty good. It feels like a significant number to me at this point. I'm weird I guess but having lost 50 feels more substantial to me than the 2#'s more then 48 it actually is if that makes any sense. It's a nice solid number that looks big....it feels big enough for me to acknowledge it to myself.

My next intermediate goal is to "make weight" for an imaginary fight at 205.

My plan is over the next few days to go pick a UFC fighter at 205 and build a pretend fight with him where eventually I will set the date, start watching tape on him and train for the fight. I might even take a few private BJJ lessons or boxing lessons to add to the fun and "reality" of it all. The next 20#'s will be like a game.

Anyway, 220#'s today.... 50#'s down and my first 14er done and successfully marked on my peak list. Next target of 205 is coming online swiftly and my next 14er as well as some flatter but easily accessible weekend hikes are in the works. Production level is is good right now. ;)

False summit

Here is a very short vid I found of the last portions of some people climbing Handies. These guys are from http://www.neverbad.com and they are climbing all the 14ers and posting up on each of them.

It's the only representation I have found that shows the steepness of this section. I looked at a lot of pictures before climbing and most of it looked like a fairly gentle slope. I was surprised to see it for real because even the first 100 steps off the trail head (that are drastically more gentle than the reach for the summit) are much steeper than pictures would have you believe. For some reason grade/elevation does not translate well in pictures.

This vid gives and idea but even it is deceptive. The real tell is the guys voice when he says the words "steep" and "false summit". :) it's a real kick in the ass to gain the false summit BTW. You know for sure you will make it at that point because it's only 100 yards away but there is something cruel but appropriate about the mountain getting in an extra smack upside your head right at the end...ha ha, silly mountains.




http://www.neverbad.com/14er/2008/handies/tom/false%20summit.wmv

Handies Peak

Here are some initial pics of our Colorado trip. It was an incredible trip filled with fun, food, beer, and views.

I gained 1# that will be gone within 24 hours.

No problem considering the food porn I'm about to post......

Back to normally scheduled programing next Monday and more details of the climb to follow once I am done processing what happened. :) I need to gather my thoughts on the 14er but for now here is a hint of what it our last week looked like.