Did you know that there are 2,160 individual steps in climbing 120 flights of stairs at my private gym?
Did you know that it takes 40 min. to climb 120 flights of stairs if you go at a steady and deliberate pace?
Of course not because nobody climbs 2,160 stairs consecutively but that is what I was doing last Sat. It all started innocently enough talking with my pal Shaun....but athlete trainer/types have a way turning things that start off innocently enough into something that is all trainer-ish and athlete-ified. Thanks Pal. ;)
So that is how my routine I had evolved to approx 800 steps that I was going to add about 100 steps to over the course of the next few weeks getting up to about 1,200 as my regular work out turned into in instant challenge to jump from sub 900 to over 2,000 damn near instantly... Like this old football thing right, "get out there and give 110%"
The best part of this exercise had less to do with doing it (the physical) and prepping for it as the plan was to go "as if"...as if it was a 14er to include pre-nutrition, the mental game, etc.. I sort of had no doubt that I was going to be able to do it I just wasn't sure how hard it would be and I wound up going into it with something like a siege mentality. OK, it's only some concrete stairs I know but now I think it's very VERY effective to take a task like this and attack it rather than just doing it. I could have done the exact same workout without the added pieces of the puzzle and it would not have been as effective....at least I would not have gotten as much out of it.
Cool stuff.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, December 27, 2008
I take requests
In an email chain going a little further into my 80/20/10 theory Paul says..
"This would make an excellent blog post"
Here it is. ;)
Here is the exact spot I started thinking about the 80/20/10 theory.
I sat for 20 min on this clearing and talked myself into acceptance with stopping here and turning around. The summit bid takes a dramatic turn for the most difficult portion of the climb right here and I "knew" it was going to be "impossible" for me to make it. After a long spell of thinking I came to realize this exact spot is a place I've been a thousand times in my life. It is so easy for me to outperform the bottom 80% it shouldn't even be fair to them.
You could put me on an island with 100 random people and give us all a task and bet you last dollar on the fact that I (at any point in my life) will finish in the top 20%. Easy money bet.
But that day was different I somehow became aware of the idea of how much of a relative cop out it is for me to always stop here. Like I said it's very easy for me so in a way I've done a lot of things that were ironically "equal" even the bottom 10%...they were not trying very hard either. :(
Not sure if it was the elevation or other factors but I slowly decided I could not stop here. I didn't really think going on would result in making the summit I just had to go further for further sake. I just really didn't want to be 80% guy anymore...I was getting pissed off to be honest, and not about this climb but past endeavors that I should have probably done better at. I had accepted besting 80% and giving myself a little high five all too often. I could have stopped at that clearing knowing that the story of climbing to 13,000 feet would be enough to get that normal 20% spot I was used to. Even the rare 10% of people I would meet up with would not be enough to bother me because I could still take comfort in performing better than most. That day I decided to just go further....that's all just further.
One thing led to another and I made the summit.
I'll say this much, and it's the most important thing I took from the entire experience:
I did believe in the clearing that me making the summit from there on that day was impossible. I was sure of that and accepted it as fact. An hour or 2 later I was looking down at the previously "impossible". That is the moment where something changed for me watching myself do the impossible. Had I thought I might be able to do it I could not have accomplished the same thing.
I believed it was impossible for me and then I did it anyway. Maybe is was all the senses working that amplified it and literally standing on top of it was more than symbolic.
So there it is...the start of my 80/20/10 theory.
14ers are not the thing of course it could have been anything, it was just my thing. 14ers are not EPIC events...it was just epic for me at that point in time. It's all relative.
"This would make an excellent blog post"
Here it is. ;)
Here is the exact spot I started thinking about the 80/20/10 theory.
I sat for 20 min on this clearing and talked myself into acceptance with stopping here and turning around. The summit bid takes a dramatic turn for the most difficult portion of the climb right here and I "knew" it was going to be "impossible" for me to make it. After a long spell of thinking I came to realize this exact spot is a place I've been a thousand times in my life. It is so easy for me to outperform the bottom 80% it shouldn't even be fair to them.
You could put me on an island with 100 random people and give us all a task and bet you last dollar on the fact that I (at any point in my life) will finish in the top 20%. Easy money bet.
But that day was different I somehow became aware of the idea of how much of a relative cop out it is for me to always stop here. Like I said it's very easy for me so in a way I've done a lot of things that were ironically "equal" even the bottom 10%...they were not trying very hard either. :(
Not sure if it was the elevation or other factors but I slowly decided I could not stop here. I didn't really think going on would result in making the summit I just had to go further for further sake. I just really didn't want to be 80% guy anymore...I was getting pissed off to be honest, and not about this climb but past endeavors that I should have probably done better at. I had accepted besting 80% and giving myself a little high five all too often. I could have stopped at that clearing knowing that the story of climbing to 13,000 feet would be enough to get that normal 20% spot I was used to. Even the rare 10% of people I would meet up with would not be enough to bother me because I could still take comfort in performing better than most. That day I decided to just go further....that's all just further.
One thing led to another and I made the summit.
I'll say this much, and it's the most important thing I took from the entire experience:
I did believe in the clearing that me making the summit from there on that day was impossible. I was sure of that and accepted it as fact. An hour or 2 later I was looking down at the previously "impossible". That is the moment where something changed for me watching myself do the impossible. Had I thought I might be able to do it I could not have accomplished the same thing.
I believed it was impossible for me and then I did it anyway. Maybe is was all the senses working that amplified it and literally standing on top of it was more than symbolic.
So there it is...the start of my 80/20/10 theory.
14ers are not the thing of course it could have been anything, it was just my thing. 14ers are not EPIC events...it was just epic for me at that point in time. It's all relative.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
New gym membership
Monthly dues: $0.00
Crowds: None
Equipment/ machines available: The "stair climber" is always open.
Parking available: Tons..it's in a parking garage (free parking).
I read that the best training simulation one Denali expedition crew uses is climbing flights of stairs. Above is a pic of where I will be spending many hours between now and next summers 14er climb. :) I've only made two trips to the stairs so far but in those short sessions it's obvious that I should have climbed a few thousand flights before my last 14er...under training was a serious mistake I made (won't make it again). I suffered more than I had to getting up.
I'm going into my next climb 20X's more prepared than I was for Handies. I will take the lessons learned/mistakes made and make the corrections necessary to take my climbing to the next level. When I step onto the trail head next time I'll have the satisfaction of knowing I'm prepared and that the glitches I'm aware of will have answers at the ready.
By the way if you haven't climbed 20, 30+ flights of real stairs lately, maybe go see what it feels like.;)
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Paid with pork chops
Not exactly, it was more like a tip/gift but a customer gave me these pork chops yesterday from part of a MASSIVE pork chop cook off they were having. I tasted them but couldn't really dig into them at that time. No worries...around my house somebody will always be ready to eat and the chops found a happy home in no time. :)
Training is going well and I will be making a % bump up next week. I'm getting a lot stronger however the effort isn't. I'm starting to realize it's coming back to the mental side of things. The early stages are so much more mental than physical as you are developing new habits and learning to deal with the types of changes that can serve you for the rest of your life... Doing something like a 6 week cabbage soup diet is mentally easy...(probably physically hard with hunger, sickness, weakness, etc..)but it's a no brainer. You just follow the directions and you're done.
Re-learning how to eat in a healthy/clean way involves mental work on the first level of figuring it out as well as another less talked about level of changing your habits. Food is another addiction and you can't simply replace ice cream with carrot sticks for a "presto chango" instant healthy lifestyle makeover. There are some deep discussions you have to have with yourself.
I am finding the same thing with exercise/training. It does not get easier when you get stronger (for me anyway). It's about the mental aspect and I don't have the words for it yet. Words like acceptance don't work because they sound too much like a grieving process... I think what is happening is like other habits/rituals. At some point you stop thinking about the why or how and this is something you just do because "it's what you do". The notion of it getting physically easier when I got stronger/lighter/faster is turning out to be like youthful daydreaming or wishful thinking. It aint getting any easier and I know the further I go the harder it gets every time I take the next step. The mental joke is looking out a year ahead and calculating the increases.....uhmm yeah. ;O
I was reading a story about a rock climber who climbed a route called Magic Mushroom in 24 hours. The story details the climb but it goes in depth on the type of work this guy had to put in to pull it off. It goes over the exhaustive prep work and pre-climbing of sections he did. A team climb (as a test run of the route), his next failed attempt at it, and finally his successful run. They gave a lot of detail on the work it took and it was very time consuming and supremely difficult. These are the types of things people do that live in the upper 10%. When you make up your mind to get closer to the top 10% you have to realize what demands the universe is going to put on you to get there.
I've got a long thought process that goes over the bottom 80%, the top 20%, 10% theory that I've been working on I'll save for another day but the gist of it is this:
Getting the the top 20% of an endeavor is something I have found very easy to do in life. It doesn't matter what it is. The reason is that 80% of people are easily bested with near minimal effort. Most people don't like to admit it but they are pathetically minimalistic when it comes to doing things. They will do the absolute minimum allowable by the universe around them. The ABSOLUTE minimum. In many cases like a job or something if you just show up on time with a willingness to try/do/learn you will be outperforming people straight away.
I discovered at an early age that I could rise above most people in most endeavors by applying slightly more effort than them. With a little hustle I have always been able to become part of the upper 20% in the category. This elevated state was enough for me to feel a slight sense of accomplished. The problem with all of that is when you break it down I am still doing what the bottom 80% do.. slightly more, a little more effort...and stopping right there at the threshold of "better than".
The upper 10% are much different!
They seem to be operating amongst/against themselves. Slightly more and a little better do not enter into their thought processes. They are after the most, the best, the biggest. This difference in perspective shoots them far out above the 10% below them and into a different galaxy from the bottom 80%. These people are perceived as insane often because...well they are literally operating in a different world most of the time. This 10% world does not operate and revolve around the things most people take for granted as "normal" or the way things work.
Anyway...I'm rambling on, My point is easier is not something I see ahead of me from where I am now. I've traveled a fair way from back there to here, I see there is a longer trail ahead of me, and I notice some big hills ahead on the trail.....it's going to take more effort than before to get over those hills. I think over the horizon there are even bigger hills:
Bottom 80% would not have made it this far.
Top 20% would get over the next series of hills to get a big enough lead over the others to claim a victory and stop there with a comfortable lead.
Top 10% are looking forward to seeing what the trail will offer over the biggest hill they can see far off in the distance....what will be next after that? The are not looking where they are in relation to the 80% or even the 10% below them because nobody else but the top 10% are still in the game at this point. All they have is themselves and each other to high five over the next hill.
I've been a 20%er most of my life but I've got my eyes on the back of the 10%ers heads on the trail in front of me....I think I might be able to catch up to them if I keep at it. They are having all the fun up there.
Friday, November 28, 2008
Thursday, November 27, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
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....
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....
Thursday, November 20, 2008
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. ;)
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. ;)
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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
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
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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......
Saturday, October 18, 2008
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. ;)
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