"Stagger, Stagger, Crawl, Crawl"

I am relieved to report that there have been significant improvements in both nutrition and exercise as the Warrior Dash is within 60 days.  The bad news is that it's all come within this last week.

I'm just completely writing off the month of March as loss.  I don't know why, but I found myself in a dark funk out of which I just couldn't seem to crawl.  There were no issues of either a major or minor degree to which I can attribute this malaise.  That whiny little kid that lives inside my head took over, stomped his foot, kept yelling, "I DON'T WANNA" and won out over saner moments.

While I didn't track all my food intake last week, I did well enough to have lost 3.4 pounds on Tuesday's weigh-in.  I blew the dust off my mapmyrun.com app this past Monday and, so far this week, have logged 27.9 miles of walking/jogging in eight workouts of 7.5 hours.  Good thing, as my wife and I have been eating out more than usual this week due to work demands.

A chimichanga plate for lunch one day, a large smokey pepper jack turkey sandwich for dinner one night, and a cup of clam chowder, a blue cheese pecan chopped salad and a 6 ounce steak for dinner last night were not good choices.  You've been warned.

Still, I feel pretty good about the progress made.  I am dutifully tracking both calories and Weight Watcher's points for EVERYTHING I'm eating and drinking.  I'm doing MUCH better with getting out the door and doing cardio.

Now, if only I could find that elusive motivation for adding strength training....

Idus Martii

That wonderful plan from the last post was, like Caesar, set upon by 60 or so conspirators and assassinated.

I lost an entire one pound in the first two weeks of March.  I went for a jog/walk twice and did the 3-mile walks with dogs eight times.  The strength training plan never left the blog post.

I got busy with doing some work with the prayer garden at church in preparation for Holy Week, so there was some physical activity to the point of sore, achy muscles for a couple of days after each of the two weekends, but nothing according to plan.

Tomorrow marks the first day of spring.  Warrior Dash is in 74 days.

Like the death of Caesar on the Ides of March that marked the transition in Roman history from the Republic to the Empire, tomorrow MUST bring a transition from plan to action.

Completed: Operation Loophole

In an almost subliminal maneuver, I started this journey with a loophole.  February had no plan for walking, running, or any strength training.  The idea was to just gradually get into getting off my rear and walking and/or jogging, thinking that, as the month continued, I would cover the same distance walking less and jogging more, and that the momentum to exercise would snowball.  As usual, I started off strong and motivated.  I got a few jog/walks in, hooked up with one of the other guys for a long Saturday walk, and took each of my three dogs for a mile walk for at least three times a week (3 miles total).  I wasn't planning to do any other exercise, and I followed through with that part of the plan perfectly.  I managed to gain a couple of pounds so my total weight loss was only 3.6 pounds since starting the month.  And then....

I have tons of excuses for fading over the last couple of weeks.  My wife's birthday.  The weather turned cold and wet.  There was a Valentine's weekend getaway with my wife.  Work got busy.  There was a weekend men's retreat.

This isn't to say that I didn't do anything during that time.  I did walk.  Maybe twice a week the dogs each got a trip around the block (1.5 miles total) or, on more industrious days, around the other loop in the neighborhood that was closest to the house (3 miles total).  But I didn't do the 3.7 miler, and there was zero jogging.

So as I start the last week of the month, the momentum is practically at a standstill, but the motivation is still there.  I mean, I'm signed up for this thing.  The Warrior Dash is coming.  My buddies are going to be there and I think they expect me to do more than just walk the course and skip the obstacles   I definitely expect more from myself.

At the outset, I said that this month was just to get acclimated and that I'd develop a real, more serious plan to start next month.

Next month is four days away.  Here's the plan starting Friday, March 1st.

Walking/jogging:  Implement the "Couch-to-5K" running plan (http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml).    This plan is for nine (9) weeks, and I have roughly 12 weeks before the Dash, so I'm thinking for the last three weeks I'll add a bit more aggressive plan (speed work?) or a plan that will start me toward a longer run (from 5K to 10K).  I'll save that decision for when I get there.  I'm committing to three times a week (takes into consideration bad weather, changes in schedules, etc.).  Ideally, I'd like to do Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings, followed by walking each of the three dogs the half mile loop around the homestead as a cool down.

As for the strength training, well, let's just say that's going to be the bigger challenge.  I have NEVER enjoyed anything about it.  But I know that it's going to play the bigger part of the Dash challenges.

My wife's trainer suggested the following strength plan (for beginners?), and I'm going to start with it for six to eight weeks:

     On Monday, Wednesday and Friday do the following routine:
          3 sets of 12 push-ups with a 30 second rest between each set
          3 sets of 12 push-ups with feet on box with a 30 second rest between each set
          3 sets of 12 close-grip push-ups with a 30 second rest between each set

     On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday do the following routine:
          3 sets of 12 squats (any kind: body weight, sumo, with dumb bells)with a 30 second rest between each set
          3 sets of 12 reverse lunges per leg with a 30 second rest between each set
          3 sets of 12 hip bridges with a 30 second rest between each set
   
     And each day:
          20 sit-ups with a 20 second rest
          20 toe touches with a 20 second rest
          20 reverse crunches with a 20 second rest
          20 dead bugs followed by 20 sit-ups and then a 20 second rest
          20 toe touches with a 20 second rest
          20 reverse crunches with a 20 second rest
          20 dead bugs

Hopefully, by the end of the six-to-eight weeks, I'll be ready for more of a challenge, and I'm currently looking at the workout program from Men's Health (http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/workout-program-0) to carry me through to the Dash.  As with the running plan, I'll make a decision about that when I get to that point.

As February comes to a close, Operation Loophole is over.  It's time to man up, get serious, and get with it.

"He made my feet like the feet of a deer...He trains my hands for war...."

MTSS, not TOFTS

I weighed in this past Tuesday and had lost 5.6 pounds the first week back on Weight Watchers.  I'm really glad I got off to a strong start, and it was more of a loss than I expected, but having a good showing the first week wasn't that big of a surprise since I've been on this roller coaster ride a few times now:

     1)  I'm a guy and we can drop a significant number in a hurry when we try,
     2)  I went from zero activity to a bunch of long dog walks and a few jogging/walking solo excursions, and
     3) I tracked everything and stayed within the allowed points.

On that last item, I did pretty much wipe out the additional weekly allowance, but still stayed within the boundaries.  The one thing I love about Weight Watchers is that NOTHING is off limits.  A splurge (high point value) is expected (hence the additional weekly points), but can be easily compensated by going with lower point values on other meals during the day or tacking on some extra activity (which earns you more points).  If you're dealing with a weight issue and don't know about Weight Watchers, check it out.

My first jog/walk was last Friday.  I had plenty to keep me busy over the weekend, bleeding into Monday, so I figured I'd do a Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday schedule this week for the jogging attempts.  I'm still doing the 3.7 mile loop close to the house, but, I was hoping that I could hook up with a couple of the guys on Saturday for a little morale/camaraderie and try out a different terrain where they lived (there's a natural green way there instead of the paved roads and concrete sidewalks where I live which is more like what we'll be running for the Warrior Dash).

Tuesday was good.  I felt good starting out and even better when I finished.  I didn't go on Thursday.  No reason, but plenty of excuses.  Today (Friday), I wanted to compensate and get on the road early, but I got caught up in work stuff and couldn't cut loose until about 1:30.  Working from home full time has its benefits.

I'd had a big breakfast and, while I was a tad peckish, figured I could put in the hour or so before having lunch.  Plenty of coffee during the morning, several glasses of water before starting out, so I thought I was ready to go.

As soon as I went outside, my legs felt a little tight, so I did some stretching.  I started out jogging down hill and kept jogging until my shins started bothering me...for a whole, full, entire four minutes.

FOUR minutes???  C'mon!  The first time out, my worst was five.  And it wasn't my shins, but I'd started out too hard and fast and got winded.  Man!  So, I walked for a while, then started jogging again down hill.  As I started up the next hill, I wanted to push to get to the top (it wasn't that steep or far), but I just couldn't make it.  More walking.  I kept pushing on like that until I was about a mile or so away from the house.  At that point, I felt like someone had taken a pipe to my shins.  Twenty minutes in, and I was done.

Of course, I was a mile away from home, so I just walked the rest of the way.  I was disappointed.  My shins were killing me and I wondered why I hadn't brought my cell phone to call my wife for emergency assistance.  Heck, I don't think I've even told her about the route I'm taking and to come looking for me after 24 hours.  But as I kept walking it hit me:  dude, you've been at this for a single week!

By the time I got home, the shin problem had disappeared.  I mean, I could still feel that I'd pushed myself, but it was to the point where I was able to walk without feeling like a cattle prod was stuck to them with each step.  In fact, since I'd failed to complete my planned activity, I took each of our three dogs for the half-mile loop around our block.

I knew about "shin splints" from my earlier years of running, but, like everything else now, there's a neat and cool new medical term for it.

"Medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS)" sounds so much better than getting "too old for this stuff (TOFTS)."

Still waiting to hear if the other misfit toys are going to want to come out to play tomorrow....

If at first you don't succeed...you're normal

Part of embracing the Warrior spirit is the "spirit" part.  My friend Jeff, of Barstool Pastor fame, was out of town over the weekend and asked me to fill in for him.  I picked a topic that has been a thorn in my side for quite a while, and when I was finished, I actually felt more encouraged.

I think this topic is appropriate to the Warrior Dash thing, because, like training for it, there have been so many times I've been determined to follow a course of action only to repeatedly fail.

Here are my notes from the get-together (and thanks to the Crew who showed up for the support).  I'd be glad to field any questions or requests for additional comments.

Repeat Offenders

3 February 2013

Romans 7:15, 18-19 (NIV):

·         15) I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

·         18) For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

·         19) For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

I didn't write this scripture, of course, but I could have.  When I got back to God a few years ago, I thought that fighting sin was the main thing in the Christian life.  I knew there was plenty wrong with my walk with Christ - I'd taken more than a quarter century detour and knew I couldn't get back where I needed or wanted to be right away.  But the more I tried to live the life I thought I was supposed to, the more I realized how far away I had gotten.  Obviously, I needed to work and pray harder for strength to overcome?

"Yes, Lord, I need to give up this sin. I've tried to over and over, and I've managed to push it aside for a while, but somehow I can't seem to stop failing.  Please help me!"  Have you ever said something like that?

The verses from Romans above, written by the Apostle Paul, seem to reinforce the idea that Christians are doomed to fail.  I mean, if even the great Paul of the New Testament can't overcome sin, who are we to think we can do better than him???  Do you feel, like I do, that some days you're on a rollercoaster ride of striving to do what's right and other days where you feel like you're falling flat on your face every time you try?  Days when you're on fire for Jesus and other days when you feel like your best effort is a lost cause?

What are we supposed to do?  Just give up?  Just keep sinning, feeling miserable about it, praying for forgiveness, and making (sometimes half-hearted) efforts to try again tomorrow with a (sometimes ever-decreasing) belief that it's going to be different?

Toward the end of chapter 7, Paul gives us the answer:

·         24) What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

·         25) Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

When I think to myself, I hear voices in my head.  Am I crazy, or do you do that, too?  There's actually a dialog going on in verbal, non-spoken English inside my head.  The cat starts screaming at 7:00 AM and I think and hear in my head, "I need to feed the cat to get it to shut up," after thinking and hearing in my head something completely inappropriate for this conversation.  Same thing happens when the bartender comes up and says, "You ready for another?"  This time, though, there are competing voices.  "Sure!  Why not?  It's early," says one.  "But, don't you have to get up early in the morning," asks the other.  There's some back and forth.  Ultimately, one wins over the other.  Unfortunately, it's not always the right one.

Isn't that the battle?  Paul indicates that we have a struggle between the flesh and the spirit; the old man and the new one -- the Christian.  Paul himself admits to failing, so why should we expect not to?  We'll never be rid of sin in this world -- only when we die or are raptured and free of the flesh.

We were born into sin as a result of man's fall from grace in the Garden of Eden.  Sin is our nature; it  is our natural state.  We belonged to Satan.  But like a child rescued from an abusive home, when we accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior, God took us from Satan, washed us clean, and put us on a path to be what He originally wanted us to be:  loved by Him and loving Him in return; God who doesn't just love, but IS love.  But Satan doesn't like losing.  He hates it, and hates us for leaving him.  He is our past, and that, I think, is one reason why we struggle.  Like children in this world in that same situation, we are pulled back into what we've come to know:  doubts, fears, and mistrust.  As much as we are now loved, we expect the worst that came before, and we fall back into our old habits reflexively, instinctively.

We all know the story of the Prodigal Son.  But I read something recently (can't remember where, sorry!), that really opened my eyes.

What if the prodigal son had died in that pig sty?  Would he have stopped being his father's son?  He certainly would have missed out on all the joy, happiness, and celebration of being reunited with his father and getting back to the life he was meant to have, but he would never have stopped being his father's child.  When he admitted his sins and came back to ask forgiveness; was willing to be treated "like one of your hired servants" just for the opportunity to be back home....  You know the rest.

When we started this discussion, it all seemed gloom and doom:  nothing ahead but failure as far as the eye could see.  But what a different vision Paul gives us just a few verses into the next chapter:

Romans 8:14 (NIV):

·         14) For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

God won't ever disown you.  You're His child; and a child of His is a child of His forever.  If you mess up, you don't lose that. 

Last point:  Christ died, without sin.  But He chose to take on ALL the sins of you and me and all mankind until the end of time so we could claim God as our Father and Christ as our Lord and Savior.  At the end, we find this:

John 19:30 (NIV):

·         30) When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

The Greek word Jesus uses is "tetelesti" which is translated in our Bibles as "It is finished." But it actually means "Paid in full."

We fight the flesh and fail daily; but what is it about the Spirit in us that refuses to just roll over and play dead?  It's because our Sprit knows the debt is "Paid in Full."

Last Call:  So, if fighting sin isn't the main thing in the Christian life, what is?

On the road again...

Today I started getting ready for the Warrior Dash to be held on Saturday, June 1st at historic Rural Hill in Huntersville, NC.  This isn't my first time; I actually completed the one here last year.  I say “completed” because there was more walking than running, and I skipped a couple of the obstacles.  I was with friends and it was fun, but I felt like a poser.

A little background:  I’m a 56 year old, former avid runner -- former as in twenty years ago.  My ultimate goal of training for and running a marathon was met in 1996(?).  As a result of a stress fracture, I never really got back into it again.  There were several failed attempts because I LOVED everything about running:  getting away from the daily office grind, dressing funny (electric blue running tights, anyone?), just getting outside with sun, wind, rain, sleet, snow in my face, the euphoria from the “runner’s high…” but I just couldn't seem to recapture the routine.

Over the years, I've also watched my weight go up and down like a roller coaster.  Last year, I think I topped out at around 215 and, for someone who’s an inch shy of six feet; it was not a good look.  I started exercising and joined Weight Watchers, but then life got in the way and that commitment fell by the wayside.

My buddy Mark got me thinking about being on “cruise control” in so many aspects of my life - just going along to get along.  Then, a week ago, my friend Bryan mentioned that he was signed up for the Dash and I, along with some of the guys who were on the sidelines as cheerleaders last year, should sign up as well.

That same evening, I did.

So, here I am pretty close to where I was this time last year.  I rejoined Weight Watchers, and my starting weight is 213.6.  For the next couple of weeks, my plan is to:

• use Weight Watchers online tools to track my food intake
• jog/walk at least 3 times a week

No pressure and no tracking time at this point, but keeping up with days and miles covered. During this time, I'll get a more specific training routine in place to include some weights.

Today was cold and windy for the Piedmont Carolinas:  mid-30’s and 13 mph winds.  I jogged (down hills) and walked (up hills) around a 3.7 mile loop through a couple of surrounding neighborhoods.  Then I took each of our three dogs, in turn, for a half mile walk (they’re each over 80 pounds, and collectively, they think they’re in the Iditarod; hence the three individual walks).  When I started, I felt like the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz and didn't look behind me for fear of seeing a trail of rust.  When I finished, I felt like “Hey!  I think I remember that guy!”

Today, I started getting ready for the Warrior Dash to be held on Saturday, June 1st at historic Rural Hill in Huntersville, NC.  Why?  Because, in spite of all efforts to tame that wild and crazy little boy from my past and in spite of all the self-flagellation over perceived weaknesses, failings, or shortcomings (and just out-right excuses), inside, there still beats the heart of a Warrior.

Interestingly, a single word quote came to me while I was out today.  It comes from the 1996 movie “Michael.” 

“BATTLE!”