The Missing Link

Made it out to lunch today with Davis and Mike Gonzalez. I can't remember the last time I've seen Mike. He switched jobs at the bank and said he should be a lot more flexible and be able to do lunch more often. I don't have much room to talk because I have barely seen any of our friends lately but Mike has been a hard guy to connect with the last few years. It was good to see him and not much has changed because our conversation ended up involving lots of talk about working out. Mike might be the person I spent the most hours at the gym with during college. Freshmen year I worked out with Denny and Tyler from FW a lot. Sophomore year I lived at home Fall and Winter and was running quite a bit and can't remember who or if I lifted that consistently. But after that it was a revolving group of Mike, Jimmy, Gough, and a few others. Hard to believe that it has been over 10 years since then. No wonder I'm having a hard time remembering many details. I'll never forget driving down in Jimmy's car and if you didn't have enough u-pass cards to park for free having someone get out and lift the gate arm just high enough to drive under.

Yesterday I managed 2 sets of 50 pushups one in the morning and one in the afternoon. My chest is pretty sore from Monday's 600. I did a short run to the restaurant and then had Davis drive me back to the office.

Pushups - 100 / 16985 YTD
Pull ups - 0 / 1006 YTD

Running - 2.75 / 124.34 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 167.34 YTD

Where's Dave

Up to this point I've done a decent job of making progress even if I wasn't writing daily. This break was different. As each day went by where I didn't do anything I was becoming less motivated to write daily updates. After the race and playing soccer last week my shins have been really hurting. I haven't run for a week now. They are starting to feel better but even working on the cabin causes them to flare up. All this adds up a to a week with a whopping 1 mile run, that was my warmup before soccer last week. I'm glad we have the week off and then only one more game left this season. 

I haven't done a whole lot better for pushups in that time either. I did 40 on Wednesday, Saturday, and Monday to total a pathetic 120 for the last 7 days. I managed to right the ship today and knocked out 600. 40 before leaving for work, 40 after getting to work, 300 at the gym  (9 sets of 34 or 33), 50 before leaving work, 30 w/Urijah on my back after getting home, 40 an hour later, and finished with 4x25 while writing this. I did 3 sets of 10 pull ups at the gym and some other bicep stuff.

What I lacked in working out I made up for in manual labor. I worked on the cabin 3 days straight starting Friday. Which was one of the main reasons there was no running or pushup'ing. Sticking with this challenge is important but I feel good about having a handle on working out and working on the cabin is going to take priority during the summer. It is going to be a race again the calendar to get enough done to make it usable before the snow starts coming. I made really good progress on the electrical work and had an electrician out on Saturday to help and Tasha's Dad helped out on Sunday. The stress level is still pretty high but it feels good to be turning the corner and having things cleaned up and seeing things come together. This weekend a guy I know from high school is going to come up and lay some pipe. Not sure how much too expect to get done but the first time he went up we made quick work of the supply lines. 


Pushups - 40,40,40,600 (720) / 16885 YTD
Pull ups - 30 / 1006 YTD

Running - 1 / 121.59 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 164.59 YTD

Day after

I could tell first thing in the morning that I wasn't going to get my real big monday pushup number. I wasn't feeling really sore anywhere but I think in general my body was worn up from the weekend. I did sets of 50 and 40 before leaving for work and then at the gym 3x10 on pull ups and 10x30 for pushups between my other exercises. I did one more set of 50 before leaving work and took the night off.

Urijah keeps talking about wanting to run another race so I'll have to keep an eye out for other events that have little kid races.

We had swimming at night so by the time we made it home at 8pm I was ready to just sit on the couch. 14 hours on the go is quite the day.

Soccer tonight if my shin lets me play. It hasn't been happy after the race.



Pushups - 440 / 16165 YTD
Pull ups - 30 / 976 YTD

Running - 0 / 120.59 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 163.59 YTD

Out of retirement

My work is a sponsor for Beat the Bridge and along with that they will pay employees entry fees. I can't pass free stuff and even though I would like to be running more before doing a race I decided to sign up. Friday during lunch I ran 4 miles to keep my legs loose before Sunday. I left my watch at home so I have no clue how fast I was going. Our exciting Friday night was renting Hotel Transylvania. I'm not very picky but didn't it was a stinker. In hindsight Adam Sandler hasn't faired too well in animated movies. 

Saturday I got up early and went to work on the house. I ran some wire, ripped out some old wire, did some demo, then ran more wire before cleaning up a bit. We have an electrician coming up to work on the house next weekend so I'm pushing to get ready for him. I sat down and actually watched the Sounders game on TV last night and it was one of the most exciting games I can remember. Lots of goals (4-2 Seattle) and a number of other close chances.

Race day, we loaded up the troops and took off around 6:45. It was a madhouse at the stadium. There were 5000 runners along with a big contingent of walkers that started before the run. I had run 5 miles at lunch a few weeks ago and felt like I was pushing it even though I didn't warm up. I averaged 7:18 that day so I was hoping to be somewhere around 7:10 per mile today. I foolishly started way too far back in the pack and had to really fight through people the first mile. I was weaving in and out like crazy. But being so far back gave me an odd motivation to keep blowing past people. A couple hundred meters in a noticed a woman frantically passing people at the same pace I was. It was funny because we ended up running near each other then entire race and congratulated each other at the finish. I was really consistent and ran increasingly faster miles as the race progressed. My official time was 33:33 (6:45/mile). I was really surprised and felt great about the time.

I've only run a 5 mile race one time before this. That was FIFTEEN years ago. Can't believe how long ago that was and how old I am now. I googled and was able to find the results from that race. The Seafair Torchlight Parade run was super cool and I might try to do it again this year. You run through the parade route and there are thousands of people cheering. God bless the internet because I found my old result and can't believe that I beat my time from that race (34:21). This was the summer before my sr year and I hadn't done a lot of runs longer that 6 or 7 miles back then. Whereas now I do quite a bit of longer runs but don't have near the speed I used to.

http://athlinks.com/result/43981/64213/33077616/98210429

I wasn't the only one running a race today. We signed Urijah up for the 'diaper derby'. He had a huge grin running to Tasha. He is impossible not to love. 

Now these are kind of matching shirts I can go for

I don't think he understands the urgency of the race but he had a lot of fun

3.5 miles in and flying past people

Pushups - 0 / 15725 YTD
Pull ups - 0 / 946 YTD

Running - 9 / 120.59 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 163.59 YTD

Ups and downs

40 pushups in the morning, 10 sets of 30 between sets at the gym (including 3 sets of 12 pullups and one set of 5 at the end of the workout), set of 60 before leaving work. Starting to get my groove back at the gym which has me feeling really good. I'm only going a couple times a week but with all the other exercise I can see a huge difference.

Things Brandon has given me over the years: laptop, camera, car, and now motivation to get back in shape. What a guy! I guess I should add in numerous hangovers to things he's given me.

I really want to get back to working on the rip deck app. Google just announced some libraries  for gaming on android that would handle the communication between devices and score tracking that would make it easy to do the workouts together.

In bad news. Someone is using my credit card. Charges include iTunes, Walmart $500, Match.com, and another dating site. Amex was good and caught it pretty quick so hopefully it will be painless to take care of.

Pushups - 400 / 15725 YTD
Pull ups - 41 / 946 YTD

Running - 0 / 111.59 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 154.59 YTD

So busy

Our schedule right now is so packed. With the kids having swim on Monday and Wednesday and me with soccer on Tuesday it wipes out the entire first half of the week. Unfortunately they don't have swim lesson classes that are only once a week.

Tuesday I worked from home and then went to another losing effort at soccer. We had some good chances but couldn't finish anything. My only workout for credit was the 1 mile warm up I've been doing before games.

Wednesday I went for a run during lunch and did 6 miles alternating between easy and hard every half mile. The hard times ranged from 3:10-3:17 and easy from 4:30-5:00. I'm not making it to the track at all but at least I'm mixing in some faster pace running.

Pushups - 60 / 15325 YTD
Pull ups - 0 / 905 YTD

Running - Tuesday 1, Wednesday 6 / 111.59 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 154.59 YTD

Mondays aren't all bad

Somehow Mondays have become my big pushup day. I started with 40,45,40 before leaving for work. Did another 30,30,30,35 an hour after getting to the office. At the gym I did 16 sets of 25 between my others of pull ups (10x4), curls, and sit ups. Did one more set of 50 with the folks at work. And then a final set of 50 in the evening. I was hoping to get more in at night but my elbow started hurting and I didn't want to over do it.

We had our first lesson for this swim session and have both boys doing it this time. Urijah might be able to swim on his own by the end of these lessons. Although he is more interested in dunking himself under water than swimming. Dawson didn't cry so that's good.

Pushups - 750 / 15265 YTD
Pull ups - 40 / 905 YTD

Running - 0 / 104.59 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 147.59 YTD

That week went by quick

Well I did 700 pushups last Monday and only 165 for the rest of the week. How is that for balance. I can't even say that I was resting. Here is the lightning recap for last week. 

Tuesday - Skipped worked, built house
Wednesday - 4.1 miles alternating 4:00 easy 1:30 hard
Thursday - Soccer with a 1 mile warmup, 40,40 pushups
Friday - 5.71 miles, ones set of 85 pushups
Saturday - Wake up at crack of dawn work on house, Tasha's grandma's funeral
Sunday - Shovel rocks for 4 hours

Pushups - Thursday 80, Friday 85 / 14515 YTD
Pull ups - 0 / 865 YTD

Running - 10.81 / 104.59 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 147.59 YTD

Pics or it didn't happen.

Bonus pictures of the deer I found waiting for me outside the house Saturday morning and Urijah in a firetruck

Pushup gallore

I've been sore for the last week straight but pressing through. Saturday we made it up snowboarding. Going in the spring is pretty awesome to see people riding around in board shorts. We saw a couple girls wearing sports bras, one was welcomed the other we could have done without. We rode for a couple hours grabbed a beer and then went to work on our house for a few hours.

I took a break from workout numbers on Saturday and managed only 150 pushups spread through the day on Sunday. Today I decided to get after it. I did 40,40,20 before leaving the house. 34,33,33 shortly after getting to work. At the gym I did a set of 25 with each set a different exercise. It totalled up to 12 sets between various bicep workouts 3 of which were sets of 10 on pull ups. Back at the office before leaving did sets of 50,25,25. After getting home from work I went for a 3 mile run. It was 85 degrees today and I was absolutely dying and only ran 8:00 miles. I just finished the night with 4x25 to add up to 700 for the day. I'm at 1850 for the month already and for the first time in a long time pushups are ahead of running.

Pushups - 150, 700 / 14350 YTD
Pull ups - 30 / 865 YTD

Running - 3 / 93.78 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 136.78 YTD

Rubber legs

As great as my Wednesday workout was I am still paying for it Saturday morning. I've pushed myself to get some pushups in and was able to reach 1000 for a 3 day period which is pretty impressive. I spread randoms sets through out the last couple days to hit that point. 

Thursday

AM 40,40,20

PM 30 w/urijah ,35,35

Before Bed 25

Friday

12:10 35

1:45 35

3:35 35

7:20 35 w/urijah

On the flip side the squats have made it impossible to run. 

Thursday I had a 12 hour work meeting so between that and driving I was out of commission from 6:45am - 8:45pm. The fact that I managed 225 pushups is pretty good.

Today Tasha and I are going snowboarding in what should be 65 degrees of sunshine. I'll try to get some pics because it should be gorgeous. Slushy snow and weak legs will make for some humorous riding but its the last weekend of the year they are open.

Pushups - 225,175 / 13500 YTD
Pull ups - 0 / 835 YTD

Running - 0 / 90.78 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 133.78 YTD

May Day

MAYbe May will be my month. I wanted to get a jump start after barely hanging on through April. I did 40 pushups while half asleep before leaving for the park and ride. Did another 40 shortly after getting to work. At the gym during lunch I did 10 sets of 25 pushups, 10 squats holding a 40 lb kettle ball, 8 pull-ups, 90 second rest on the bike. I've never done much for leg workouts in the past. They've been like abs, I ran enough to not feel like I needed to do them. But I'm liking working in a cardio/leg aspect as a way to give my upper body a break but building endurance and all around strength. I joined the work pushup group at did a set of 75 before heading out for the day. I did a set of 40 when I got home, half hour later did 35 w/a naked Urijah on my back. And finally closed with a mini session of 3x40. Totalled up to 600 for a new daily high.

Pushups - 600 / 13100 YTD
Pull ups - 80 / 835 YTD

Running - 0 / 90.78 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 133.78 YTD

1/4 complete

Scary, I had to do pushups yesterday to hit the 25% mark. I looked back to the end of March and I was at 8500 on pace for 51k. As of today I am exactly on track. I'm in a little bit better shape on the running side. Starting the month I was at 87.14 and did 46.64.

Pushups yesterday was 4 sets spread through the day to total 134 and I jogged a mile when I got to the soccer field before stretching out. I always feel like it takes me a while to get into the game and I think that doing that helped. We won for the first time this season, which was a welcome surprise. First time we played these guys we were short players and lost like 7-1.

I met up with a buddy of Jamie's and talked electrical house stuff and he is going to help me do the work on his weekends. I was a little shocked because he's guessing it will take about 7 days for 2 people. I'm going to try and run most of the wire myself and have him focus on the more complicated work. Like everything else on the house, it will probably take longer that I'd like.


Pushups - 134 / 12500 YTD
Pull ups - 0 / 755 YTD

Running - 1 / 90.78 YTD
Treadmill - 0 / 2 YTD
Elliptical - 0 / 41 YTD
Run total - 133.78 YTD