Day 12

Ahh nothing like an Inglorious Bastards/Twilight meme.

But I digress...

Day 12 was my last open water swim before the Steelman next weekend. It was my best (and longest without a break) swim to date. We started off with a 250 yard loop and took a quick break and then did a 500 yard loop. I did much better this time with sighting where I was going. In open water there is no line to look at like there is at the bottom of a pool so the only way you can see where you're going is to actually look up. That took some practice but after 2 days at the pool I was much better this time around.

Swimming in open water does take some mental focus because it can get kind of boring especially since there isn't anything to look at to distract you. I'm glad I had these open water practice swims because I can't imagine having the Steelman be the first time I was in open water.

9 more days until the big day!

Tomorrow's workout is going to be moving all of my stuff out of my apartment and into my new one. Should be a good workout too considering I'm moving from a third floor apartment to a second floor apartment in a different building.

Day 11

Day 11 was a quick run (only about 1.5 miles) because I went to go see Inception (ridiculously awesome movie)

While I was Running though a kid ran up next to me and lengthen my strides to get more power out of each step. In my head i was like "Yeah ok whatever kid. Hit puberty before you start giving me advice." Well as it turns out he was right. I started lengthening my strides and felt like I was going faster without putting forth that much more effort.

It just goes to show that even 12 year olds know more about bare-foot running than me.

Day 10

Well its official. After today I'll have to start using my toes to figure out what day I'm on.

Today was another swim. I did 1100 yards in the pool only resting every 250 yards or so. Other than that not much to report.

Long days=short posts

Day 9

Day 9 ended with a nice 2 mile run through the neighborhood. I've noticed that running hills with the VFFs are a lot easier than in regular shoes. I've also noticed that my calves feel a lot harder than they used to.

I know I'm repeating myself a lot but the VFFs are amazing shoes.

I'll be really interested to know what I weight on day 30 (right before I leave for college). I'm only weighing myself monthly so I can measure noticeable changes and not just fluctuations from day to day. I'm in completely new territory in terms of exercising from here on out so I really can't predict any results.

Post your guesses of what I'm going to weigh at the end of day 30 and whoever is closest wins a candy bar. Remember I started at 230lbs on day 1.

Swimming tomorrow.

Day 8

Holy crap I had a good swim tonight. Everything clicked. Normally during my swims I swim a lap and take a break because I am so out of breath. Two laps without a break was pushing it. However, today I found my groove and finally figured out how to pace myself.

I was able to do 5 laps (250 yards) at a time without taking a break.

Even after each 250 yard set I was still feeling great and breathing normally. The Wilkes-Barre Triathlon (in which I am only doing the swim) is looking a lot more doable. That is a 1500m swim (about 30 laps I think) and I was really worried about being able to even finish that until today.

Oh and fyi the Steelman is only 800 yards so I have that in the bag.

Awesome day.

Tomorrow might be a late night run.

Day 7

Wow day 7 is over. I honestly never thought I'd make it this far. In my entire life I have never worked out for 7 days straight. Its a pretty good feeling.

I went for a 3.1 mile (5km) run today which was the longest to date in my VFFs. My feet are a little sore but overall I felt pretty good. It was wet and nasty out but thankfully that cooled things off so it wasn't too bad out.

The Steelman is in 2 weeks. I'm starting to get nervous.

Day 6

Today was hotttttttttt. Around 95 degrees. So what did I decide to do? Go biking on a highway of course. My Mom and I decided to check out the bike course for the Steelman Triathlon to get a good feel for how it was going to be race day. I was pleased (sarcasm) to find out that the first quarter mile was a massive uphill. After that it was just rolling hills which weren't too bad. It was a little frustrating to know that for every downhill there was going to be an equal uphill because the course was one big loop.

The bike I'm using is my Dad's racing bike for when he did triathlons a couple years ago. The seat is a racing seat and therefore very thin and rock hard so my butt is killing me. (insert crude joke here)

I think tomorrow will be a run just to complete the triathlon for the weekend

Day 5

I just got back from Peddie Lake in NJ. It was a lot harder than swimming in a pool for several reasons...

1. You can't see where the crap you are going. Its going to take some practice to learn how to lift my head out of the water to see if I am swimming the correct direction.

2. There are no breaks or anything to hang onto like there are at the edge of the pool.

Overall though it was a very educational experience and I am definitely going back on Friday (if anyone wants to join me)

Checking out the bike course for the Steelman Tri tomorrow morning... I hope I don't die in the heat

Day 4

Well day 4 is over and to be honest if it wasn't for this blog I wouldn't have gone out tonight. I had a long day at work on a building site trudging around looking for wires in an old abandoned data center which had no electricity and no AC. Needless to say it was a long, hot, sweaty day.

However...

I felt great running tonight. My body is adapting more and more to the Vibram Five Fingers (VFFs from now on) and tonight was the first time I have ever really enjoyed running. For the past several years after only a couple minutes into a run I could feel my Tibialis Anterior muscle (thanks for the anatomy lesson Leah) start to lock up which would eventually segue into my feet going numb. It was a very frustrating problem because I could never go farther than 2 miles without total numbness.

I don't seem to be having that problem anymore which is awesome :-)

Open water swim tomorrow. Should be interesting.

Day 3

Ahhh day three.

I was exhausted after work so instead of going to the pool I decided just go for a nice long walk. according to www.mapmyrun.com I went about 3.6 miles. It definitely helped my calves feel better from yesterday's run. The vibrams REALLY work those muscles because you calves are you shock absorber instead of the heel of a shoe.

Oh I saw a mom and baby deer on my way home. I was probably 50 feet away and just sitting there staring at me. Twilight (the time of day not the movie/book, ladies) is the best time to see deer.

Friday is going to be my first open water swim which is apparently much different from swimming in a pool. I'm excited though because it will be the first time I can accurately gauge how well I'm going to do in the swimming section of my first triathlon on August 8th.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do for tomorrow though so I'll have to ponder that.

Day 2

Well day 2 ended with a a great night time run wearing my Vibram Five Fingers. Now admittedly it wasnt a full hour (only about a 25 minute run). However, I cut it short because I'm not that used to running with these "shoes". From my reading you should take it easy when transitioning to the Vibrams because it is a drastic change for your feet.

Yeah yeah I know I'm making excuses but this is a fairly large change in life style and I want to ease into it. If i get injured this whole experiment gets a lot harder to complete.

And on a side note I almost ran into a pack of deer when i was way out in the back of a baseball field. Not the smartest idea I've ever had.

Until tomorrow (which will probably be a swim day)

OH and before I forget. My starting weight is (obligatory drumroll)... 229.8 lbs. we'll see what that number is again near the end of August.

Day 1

So day 1 was a strong start for me. I went swimming with my mom at a local middle school and did 1000 yards. Granted I took a break every lap or so because I was breathing fairly hard. It was a full 5 laps further (or farther... I'm not really sure) than my previous personal best :-). Oh and in my book a lap is up and back. Just an fyi.

I think what I am going to do is release my progress on a monthly basis. I'll have to get all my base lines tomorrow at work because they have a scale in the kitchen. Yeah I know... weird.

I think tomorrow will be a running day.

In the mean time here is something to think about

Day 0

So according to the CDC we all should be getting an hour of physical activity everyday. I feel like I should have put quotes around the word "should" in the previous statement because when it comes to physical activity I don't come even close to that number.

Now, I am not what you would call fat. However, I have been on the overweight side for most of my adult life and have always wanted to change that. I (and I'm sure I am not alone on this) have a hard time going to the gym just for the sake of going to the gym. I need something else to motivate me to get to get out there. Past successes have been various phys. ed. classes in college and a brief stint in the boxing club as well as the rowing team. I am signed up for two triathlons coming up in a couple weeks but I needed something a bit more long term.

That's where I came up with the idea for this blog and video project. My goal is to complete an hour of physical activity everyday for the next 365 days and take a picture of myself after these workouts. At the end of the year I'll (hopefully) be able to put together a video of similar to this. I'm sure this isn't a completely original idea but I think it will be fun to track these changes in a more interesting way than just a before and after shot.

Since today is day 0 tomorrow we'll start things off.

Wish me luck!