No workout today.

So I decided on the run last night over class and go figure, last night's class was a long run.  The good thing about doing it on my own though was that I was finished before class would have even started.  Plus I was able to have dinner with Hila and her family.  We ordered Chinese, steamed meat dumplings, mmm mmm good.  I love them.  Two points a piece and such a better option than just about anything else on the menu.  I ended up going three points over my daily allowance yesterday but it was worth.  Tonight we are out to dinner again for Sarit's birthday at Silverado.  Probably going to get the salmon, not sure what they do differently to the salmon there but it is fantastic.  I usually skip the potatoes and get extra vegetables.  Do that and add a salad and you have a great healthy dinner.  The most important thing tonight is skip the Ozzie Rolls, not only the most important but also the hardest.  They are sooooooo good!!  But also something like four points a piece.  Dinner is at 6 PM so that means no class or run tonight.  I just have to make up for it this weekend.

5-4-3-2-1 Round # 2

500 Jumping Jacks
400 Squats
300 Sit Ups
200 Push Ups (on my knees, shoulder...remember??)
100 Burpees
As fast as you can in any order you wish.

43:15, this go around.  That is six minutes 15 seconds faster than last time.  Quite the improvement I would say.  The only thing I have done differently in the last two months is consistently workout.  The workout was still crazy hard but it seems that I have just gotten stronger.  At first my goal was to get under 40 minutes since I was right at the 20 minute mark when I was half way through the workout.  I could tell that that was not going to happen so my goal changed to just beating Linzi, well that did not happen either...  Got beat by three girls actually, and I believe by a good 5 minutes or so.  Well done ladies.  I am interested to see how it goes after another two months of workouts.  I'll get you next time, Gadget! Next time!  The way I broke the sets up this time was I did 10% of each set 10 times.  So all 10 sets were like this and in this order; 10 burpees, 30 sit ups, 20 push ups, 40 squats, and 50 jumping jacks, repeat.  I liked breaking up the exercises like this a lot, except the damn sit ups, once again this was the hardest for me even though I was only doing 30 at a time.  Looks like I need to strengthen my abs up.  This time I also pulled my car close to us and played music.  This I think contributed a lot to the success.  The music was just enough to take your mind of the monotony of doing so many of these exercises in a row with no one talking out loud.  I think the entire class agrees with me as well.  Next time there will be a radio involved again for sure.  FYI - I already feel the soreness in my chest from the push ups, even though there were all on my knees.  I just love being sore.

I normally do my long runs on Tuesdays but my schedule is a bit off this week so not sure yet if I am gong to go to class or run tonight, decisions decisions.  With missing last week's two runs it may be a good idea to get in an additional run this week, especially since we are less then four weeks away from the Army 10 miler.  As much as I love class, I really need to focus on the training for the race and for the MOCO Epic.  There will definitely be a long bike ride on the books this weekend as well, going to try for 2.5 hours.  Not going to be easy but I can do it!!!

He will be greatly missed.

As many of you already know tragedy has struck our family.  My father in law passed away last Monday and it has been a hectic week to say the least.  Hila and I have been staying with her mom and spending as much time as possible with the rest of the family.  We have had several guests and visitors throughout this week and that has been quite comforting.  People have brought us flowers, meals, food, wine, and anything we have needed really.  Thank you to all who have been by the house or have sent kind words to us, your thoughts and prayers have been much needed.  Giora was a great man, father, husband, brother, and friend, to just name a few.  He will be greatly missed.  I was not his son but he treated me like one and loved me as if I were his own.  I will be forever grateful for his kind words and his unconditional love for me.  I only hope to one day be half the man he was.  I told him many times but I will say it again, I love you Giora and I will do whatever I can to protect and provide for your family.

Unfortunately during this past week I have not paid one iota of attention to what I have been eating.  It has been bad, really bad, but as of now I am back on track with counting points and getting back to working out.  On Saturday I did venture out on the bike for just under two hours for a total of 12.5 miles.  It was the longest I have ever ridden and really my first workout in close to a week.  It felt great, riding a bike is just fun.  Even more than the fun I just needed the workout, I needed to burn off some frustration (and calories).  Nothing like an exhausting workout to make you feel just a little bit better about anything else you have going on in your life.

I will be back to boot camp tonight and a long run tomorrow.  I am ready to get back to it and back on track.  Wish me luck.

It's my birthday!!!

Finally made it out on the bike on Saturday, oh how I have missed you little bike.  I can tell it's been awhile because my butt hurts from the seat.  If you did not make it outside this weekend then shame on you.  This weekend was one of the most beautiful weekends I remember in a long time.  Perfect temperature, no clouds, just beautiful.  Actually it was a bit cold first thing Saturday morning but the sun heated things up nicely by the time I made it out to the trail.  I took some pictures while out riding because every time I came out to an open part of the trail I was dumbfounded by how pretty everything looked. (all pictures are from my phone and seem to have come out a bit blurry, sorry)

So today is my birthday and I took the day off from work.  Did have a slight hiccup already today since we went to the Burke boot camp site at 6 AM and no one showed up.  I ended up contacting the trainer and she was super apologetic but she said she emailed the class and notified them there would not be class today.  Of course I am not an actual member of this class, I just go when it's convenient for me, so I did not get the memo.  Oh well, it happens so now I just need to figure out what else to do with my morning.

Hila is working from home today so that means I get a nice home cooked breakfast (10 points).  

I know looks amazing right!!!!  I assure you that it was. (Thanks Hila)

Tonight we are off to dinner somewhere, it's a surprise so I will update where tomorrow but I have no doubt it will be fantastic.  I know for sure there is a bottle of Kosta Browne awaiting our consumption as well, that's enough to make anyone happy.  

Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup

Another boot camp class in the books, that's five days in a row working out.  Not going to be able to make it out tonight though due to dinner plans with family.  Hopefully the ground dries up by tomorrow morning so I can hit the ole' dusty trail, mountain bike trial that is.  Definitely looking forward to getting back on the bike, it has been too long.

Hila has finally come home to me from Paris, I picked her up last night.  After boot camp while I was waiting for her I stopped to get some dinner at Hunan Chinese Gourmet in Fair Oaks Mall (anyone who knows me knows I go a bit bonkers for Asian food).  I ordered the beef noodle soup...first of all, I am getting ahead of myself, let me back up and give a little back story.

When we were in China a few years back I had this soup there, no clue what it was called, I mean the menu was in Chinese but they had a picture of it and it looked amazing.  I ended up having this soup every day except once, and that day I had it twice!  The restaurant is called Mr. Lee's (China's version of fast food but incredibly better than McDonald's).  I googled the name when I got back in the states and found a picture (below) in the hopes that one day someone with knowledge of China could tell me what this soup was called and if it was available here in the states.

So one night several months after our trip we are out to dinner with a friend Dominique and her family, they are of Malaysian descent, and I happen to bring up the soup.  I show her mom the picture and she says, "Oh that's Szechuan Beef Noodle Soup."  After months of searching for this soup she knows what it was just by looking at the picture, I am Jack's utter surprise.  She also says there is a restaurant in Fair Oaks Mall that has it, if we were not already at dinner I would have driven there that night.  So me being the patient man that I am we wait until dinner the next night to try it out, and my oh my what a treat.  The soup was not exactly the same but close enough that I felt like I was eating the same soup, I loved it.  Absolutely amazing.  So last night since I had some time before Hila's flight landed, and Fair Oaks Mall is just a quick hop and skip away from boot camp I thought what better time to indulge.  It had been awhile since the last time I had this soup and even as of this morning, I want to go back for lunch today.  You know what my birthday is on Monday, I think I just figured out what we will be doing for lunch!

Keep calm and drink more water.

All day yesterday I was trying to find the time to post and I was just too busy to fit in even a few minutes of extra time.  Crazy day for me yesterday for sure.  I made sure I set aside some time this morning to post.

So let's see, Oh yes, 7 miler.  Ran Burke Lake on Tuesday.  One lap of the lake is 4.5 miles, so what I did was run 3.5 miles around then turnaround and run back the way I came.  Not an easy feat by any means.  I normally just run the lake, one lap, that's it.  So when I am about a mile from the finish I start to push it out to finish sooner and I know I only have about 9 minutes of work left.  So to see the last mile ahead of me and then realize that I am just at the halfway point and need to turnaround was a little disheartening but I did it.  Yes I reached that runner's high!  The run was hard at the time but totally worth it by the end.  One thing that made it harder was the oppressive heat, 90+ degrees is tough, really tough to workout in.  Just needed to make sure I replaced all the water I lost.  I easily drank 2 gallons of water!

Last night at boot camp was much the same, close to 90 degrees.  Of course it was cardio day as well so needless to say it was hard.  Boot camp is always hard but cardio day is especially hard, you never really get a break from work.  It's constant, from one exercise to the next with little to no break.  Yes, we get a solid 15 seconds, which just sitting here seems like a decent amount of time but try doing burpees for 45 seconds and then tell me how quickly that 15 second break goes by.  I am telling you it's fast, before you know it you are back to those burpees, sweating your keister off!

Hydration is key during weeks like this.  I am willing to bet most of you out there do not drink enough water.  I can feel when I have not had enough water.  I fell sluggish, drained and I tire easily.  When I am well hydrated I feel unstoppable, I can run faster, push harder and I just all around feel better.  On an average day I drink at least a gallon of water, days like this week easily two gallons.  I rarely drink soda, maybe one a week, but I do have coffee each morning and sometime wine at night.  I make sure I drink even more water if I have the wine.  It's important to replace the water you lose from sweat and from anything that will dehydrate you like alcohol.  I go with the one for one plan, one glass of water for one glass of wine, seems to work well for me.  Goal for the day, drink up...the water that is.

The world is my playground.

Other than my wife being out of town and the Redskins losing it was an all around great day yesterday.  Made it to boot camp after about a week off.  Although I did not stay for the second part of class.  I was thinking all day that the game was at the normal start time of 8:30, luckily I was informed of the 7 PM start time or I would have missed most of the game.  After class I shot over to Weight Watchers and pulled in a 3.2 pound loss, booyah!!  Felt great to get the gain off from my last weigh in.  Gotta keep focus this week and pull off another great loss next week.  Yesterday was also my first class with our new trainer Kristina.  Great class and my legs are definitely sore today, not to fear though I am sure I will loosen them up tonight with the 7 miler I have planned.  This will be my longest run yet and there is something about a run of this length, you actually get to a euphoric feeling when you are complete, a runner's high.  I don't feel it after a 3 or 4 miles but once you get up to 7 miles I think you burn though all your bodies natural resources and all that is left is the feeling that you accomplished something great.  Even though it will be hot as blazes tonight, I long for that runner's high, it's going to be awesome!

Also finally have my bike fixed up and repaired from the pedal breaking off.  I am thinking this Friday I will head over to Laurel Hill and ride till it gets dark.  If I ride all of the trails shown on the map it's about 10+ miles total.  I love this trail and it very similar riding to what I will be doing for the MOCO Epic 25 miler.  It has been a few weeks since I have been able to ride and I am beyond excited to get back out on the trails.  Really need to make sure I am riding twice a week until the race, especially since I have taken so much time off.

Something I have been thinking about a lot recently is how much I workout outside of the gym.  I have a gym membership but have not even been in a few months, since I got my sling off.  I used to think that the gym was my only place to workout, if I couldn't make it to the gym then I simply was just not going to workout.  I love working out outdoors, hot, cold, rain (although I still have not been able to get a rain run in yet... hmpf).  Well the heat sucks sometimes, like tonight its supposed to be close to 90 but you know what, hey I will sweat more, which means more weight loss!  You don't need a gym to workout, all you need is yourself, shoes (hell you don't even really need shoes), and a little motivation to just get your butt out the door.  Maybe that's one reason I love my boot camp so much, we are outside.  We spend so much time indoors it's nice for at least an hour a day to just be outside.  

Time to turn it on and get it in check.

I am feeling better after last week and my back is not bothering me at all.  I had not felt any pain in a few days but was thinking that after my run yesterday (a run usually agitates the nerve) that it would start hurting again.  Thankfully no pain at all.  Thank God!

I am back to boot camp this week and will be doing a class and half since our two classes have been combined.  It will be nice to add in another 30 minutes of exercise especially since we are about a month out from each of my races.  Time to turn it on a bit.  I just hope that I can stay injury free.  These injuries have really put a damper in my training.  I have missed several runs and boot camp classes.  I am getting a bit nervous with the running since I have not kept the plan the way I intended.  I have another long run tomorrow, 7 miles, so I will see how I feel on that run.  Yesterday I was doing some work around the house and decided to go for my weekend run right after I ate lunch, literally right after.  I was worried that if I waited too much longer that I would end up skipping it.  I had dinner plans and football was on so there were too many distractions that might keep me away from getting that run in.  So even though I just ate I said screw it I can do this and went for a run around Burke Lake.  Probably not the best idea.  I did complete the run but it was hard and I was cramping.  In hindsight I should have just waiting an hour and I would have been fine.  But if I waited that hour would I actually have made it out for the run??  We shall never know.  

I have not done too well with my eating this week either.  With the holiday dinner on Wednesday and eating more easily prepared food (Trader Joe's frozen food section...) since Hila is has been out of town, I could have done better.  We will see how I did tonight at the weigh in.  Honestly I am worried.  I had the big gain last time and really need to get this in check.  No more tomfoolery, from this point on I am on it.  Counting everything, no cheating and actually spending some time in the kitchen preparing more healthy meals.  If I stick to the plan and I can achieve my goals!!

Feeling a bit under the weather today.

Feeling a bit under the weather today.  Headache, body aches.  Pretty much just feel like crap.  Going to take it easy at work, take some Advil and see how I feel about working out tonight.  Signing off early today...

Here is the dessert we had last night, one of my favorite pies for sure and it's only four ingredients.  Can you guess what the main one is???

Long run - check!

Finally got in my long run and it felt great.  I didn't know how I was going to feel with my back issues and the fact that I have missed a few runs recently so I just took off at a nice leisurely pace, a speed I know I could keep up with for a longer distance without walking and I actually had a really good run.  I was debating on how to get in 6 miles at Burke Lake.  I really didn't want to pass the finish line which is only 4.5 miles then continue on further then come back again, that kind of messes with the head some.  So all I did was run 3 miles around the lake and then turnaround.  Fantastic idea and worked wonderfully.  Anything that makes a run/workout easier on the brain is good for me.  The more I have to think about it or the more I have to worry about it the harder it becomes.  For me the out and back run is the best mentally.  You know that as far as you run out you have to run back the same distance.

Probably won't have time tonight to get a workout in with family coming over for dinner.  But I will be at boot camp tomorrow with the new class and new instructor.  So we are combining two different classes, our's that starts at 5:30 and the adjacent class that starts at 6.  One good thing about that is any day where I want to workout for an hour and half instead of an hour all I have to do is stick around for the end of the other class.  That will definitely be in the cards on the days that I can.

Tonight is going to be tough with food.  I will take pictures but I can assure you that there will be a full spread on the table tonight.  I even hear there is a special surprise for dessert, I will take a picture and you can try to guess what it is.  Unless you have had it before, I bet you can't guess.

Some success and some failures this weekend.

Some success and some failures this weekend.  I did not make it three for three this weekend and what I skipped was my long run...again.  Not good.  I will be back at it tonight, I am thinking Burke Lake or somewhere where I can get close to 5 or 6 miles in.  I cannot blame anything other than laziness for my missing the run.  We were out and about all weekend but I could have fit it in, I chose not to.  I chose to stay home and hang with the missus.  I should have run, oh well all that means now is that I need to get back out there and do it.  Tomorrow is a family holiday dinner so not sure I will be able to make to bootcamp then either.  We are also supposed to find out about our new trainer at some point today.  No clue who he/she is going to be but looks like I am going to miss the first and second workout with him/her regardless.  I will have to get the inside scoop from one of the girls in class.

We did make it to the Labor Day boot camp class yesterday though.  Something like 40 plus people and CFC raised over $500 for the Life with Cancer house, an absolutely great charity.  So proud to be a part of that.

This should be an interesting two weeks.  Hila is going to be out of town for most of the next 10 days and I will be on my own.  I will need to make all my own meals, if I am being honest that NEVER happens.  I am spoiled rotten, everything about my meals is taken care of for me.  We went shopping yesterday so I have everything I would need to be successful while she was away.  It will be difficult but I will work through it...somehow.  I just need to plan in advance and make sure I actually spend the time prepping and preparing good healthy food.  It's just so damn easy to order out.  Usually the portions are huge and always less healthy than if they are prepared in the house.  At least when you prepare the meal yourself you know exactly what is going into the food.  I struggle with eating healthily when we order out.  I feel like if I am paying for it then I am going to get what I want.  That mentality has not worked for me in the past.  So while I may order something one night while she is away, I will be preparing all food myself most every other night.  Wish me luck.

Just saw this picture and thought it was fitting since its exactly how I felt after missing the run this weekend.

The hardest part of any workout is just getting there...

Wow, what a weekend it has been so far.  There have been so many events that I don't really know where to begin.  I will just start at the beginning:

Friday - Off to the National's game we went.  My goal was to avoid the pizza, failed.  My goal was three beers, failed.  Now looking at the bright side, as a group we ordered a pizza so I only had two small pieces instead of the massive slice they serve you if you just order one slice.  (I counted it as 8 points a piece).  Secondly, I ended up having four beers, I mean it's a baseball game OK?  What really got me was the snacking on the ballpark peanuts.  While great, totally unnecessary.  A few small handfuls added up to 6 points and didn't really do anything for me.  I would have rather had another slice of tomato pie.

Saturday - Now things get interesting.  My wife, Hila has started what she calls the Girlfriend 5K.  What she has done is get a group of her girlfriends together and they have all agreed to run a race in October.  She has somehow been able to get 17 girls to agree to do this, phenomenal woman, my wife.  What a fantastic idea.  In the group of girls there are all different fitness levels, from marathon runners to girls who don't even prefer to drive 26.2 miles.  They are doing a program called Couch to 5K.  This is one of the most basic running plans I have ever seen but the idea is obviously to get someone from couch potato level to 5K running level in 8 weeks.  For us who are active we have forgotten about the first couple workouts/runs where we literally wanted to die after the workout.  I am reminded of these times again seeing the girls here yesterday.  Some of the girls met here at the house and all ran together.  I really like this.  What I like about it is the fact that not only are these girls working together, even the stronger runners are participating in the run/walk program as well.  The non-runners need time to get acclimated to running and we all know that takes time.  I am really proud of all these girls and I wish them the best of luck on their training in the upcoming weeks.

While the girls were doing their run, I also ran and did a quick 3 miler (27 minutes 55 seconds - fastest run yet!!)  Afterwards all this the girls hung out for breakfast, and what did they have???  My Chocolate Smoothie!!!  A smashing success, all the girls loved  it.  Just seeing this picture makes me want one.  So I have to give props where props is due.  While we were making these smoothies, one of the girls, Hilary suggested adding some instant coffee to the mix to add a type of java flavor.  Let me tell you that it worked, I will definitely be doing that again!  Thanks Hilary.

Here is a group shot of the lovely ladies (plus mascots) post workout and breakfast.  (Team WTF - Where's the Finish?!)

Later in the day Saturday we had a few friends over to BBQ and ended up lighting up the fire pit.  My main concern with this was making sure I watched was I was eating and drinking.  This was the second night in a row of having an abundance of options for food and drink.  We all pitched in and helped with food and grilling and all in all I would say it was another smashing success.  I did end up using 59 points but I had been saving my weekly's and planning accordingly.  I also used some of my activity points but I feel great because I kept things in check and did not wake up today regretting any severe buffoonery.  Plus any night when the fire pit is burning is a great night in my book.

For breakfast this morning Hila made me a healthy version of Eggs Benedict.  Soo good.  Yes yes, I am that lucky!!!

At some point today I need to fit in a 6 mile run.  We have to go out around lunch time so I am thinking it will be later in the day, hopefully it does not get too hot.  Maybe it will rain and I will finally get my rain run in, I have been wanting to try that for weeks.  My boot camp program in having a Labor Day charity boot camp class tomorrow in Vienna at 8 AM, definitely going to that!!  I love that I know I have a committed workout scheduled and I don't have to worry about getting myself to the gym or out for a run.  For me the hardest part of any workout is just getting there...