Fitquest 7/29/07

A week and a day and we're off to hiking in the white mountains for a week, so I'm debating when to take a fitquest break - need to save the knees.

Yesterday I just did the bike path on my, well, bike... :) Good ride.

Today Karen and I hike Worchester Mountain. I tried something new... not complaining about it being slow or there being lots of stops. Eh... not sure it worked for me, but it could have been worse.

Anyway, I sure was tired. It took most of the hike up to kinda wake up. I stayed up trying to read the new Harry Potter, but I was tired then - more tonight.

Fitquest 7/26/07

Meh, standard run. Went to Oakledge park via the bike path. Wasn't too bad. Nice hot day - I love running in the heat. Sometimes I think I think too much about my running when I'm running. It's better when I just pay attention to my breathing and try to lose myself in the music or thinking about something else. Makes the run less laborious.

The nice thing is that my weight is still hovering/fluctuating between 185-187. That relative consistency is nice. Body fat percentage is also fluctuating between 21%-23%, which is a BIG difference, since that's really a matter of 3-4 pounds, which I guess actually makes sense with the weight variances.

Fitquest 7/25/07

I felt like I needed to put some power into the workout again, so I biked the North Ave route to the high school to get some 100m sprints in. The ride was smarter than the bike path ride there for sprints, since the knees hurt less.


There were two kids there, from what they were talking about it seemed like they were heading to college for their first years after summer. Distance runners. While it's great to keep track of laps, I have never liked running longer distances on a track. Ick.

So, I got in 4 100m sprints:
1 - 13.84s
2 - 14.28s
3 - 14.38s
4 - 14.62s


Not too bad. The first one is about 1/10th of a second faster than my previous fitquest fastest, and the rest were respectably good enough.

Fitquest 7/24/07

Note to self - be more up front with the wife when planning an exercise oriented outing. Saturday I asked her to go riding on the bike path with me. We did, for a little while when I realized she was less interested in the exercise aspect and I wasn't interested in the "looking around at the lake and stuff" aspect. Arguments ensued and I didn't end up getting that ride. Thankfully after things cooled off I did ride out to get groceries so I took the long way and got some exercise anyway.

This morning I got out for a run. I'd been putting it off a little because of the knee pain, but I don't like putting it off. Hell, my weight is even looking like it's doing something more steadily. I might have to thank my sister-in-law. I commented last week that I don't like to eat in the morning before I run because I hate the feeling of food in my stomach when I run. Yuk. But she reminded me that the breakfast jump starts the metabolism. Doh... how could I forget that. So I've been eating a granola bar before I run in the mornings. My weight last night (yup, an evening weighing) was 187. Hehe, 12 more pounds and I'll no longer be lying on my driver's license.

Anyway, I'm pushing a little further on my runs, trying to get farther in the same amount of time. I bumped into the Math Department Head on the bike path - he's a great guy - so I stopped and chatted a little... and it threw off my time a little. I think I ended up doing a 65 minute run (remember, I often end up walking up one of the hills, at least part way).

Good stuff.

Uncle Chris pt 2, the proof

We did take pictures when we visited the neice. Actually, the room was full of people, but I think we got a few nice pictures and here is one. She's so tiny. And in case I didn't say it before... I forget, her name is Mollie... which I read before I heard, so it kept going to my mind as "Millie". I better get that out of my system.

Mom is good and everyone is home now.

Uncle Chris

Last night at 10:30 pm, I became an uncle. My youngest brother Rob and his wife Nicole has their first child, a girl. It was actually about 12 hours after the first call he gave us that her water had broken. No one knew how long it would all take start to finish.

I don't think I'll post much personal info on them or her... not really up to me. So, if they update their blog with the details, you can get them there.

In any event, I'm very happy for them. We'll be heading there to meet her this morning.

Bach to me

Yesterday Julia put me through a test of sorts. I forgot to bring my scales practice sheet in with me - I was transcribing it more neatly to another score sheet and left it at my laptop. She opened up Bach's Sonata No.1 and picked a spot and told me to play and name the notes for a few measures. It was slow as death and I did make a few fundamental mistakes that I was able to self correct with a little verbal nudge, but I did pretty well in her opinion. Coolness. I want to ask her how I'm progressing... slowly, right on, quicker than the average beginner adult... something. I might not want to know. Thankfully I do know I'm having fun with it.

She did say it was time to move on, so she had me buy the Wohlfahrt Melodious Studies book. I picked that up this afternoon. I didn't get a chance to practice today, so tomorrow I'll be sure to put some time in on it.

Update, I had a chance to try the new book out... um, yikes. It has me jumping from the A string to the G string in ways I'm not comfortable with yet... more practice for sho'.

Fitquest 7/20/07

I'm wondering if there's even a point in posting daily accounts of my activities other than keeping me honest. I'm thinking of moving to a weekly, but that would mean I need to log my stuff on paper, and if you ask my wife, that's likely to either not get done or become another pile of mess at the foot of my folding laptop table.

Anyway, shortened bike path north to high school run, but instead of turning off to the high school I ran down to the beach area to find out how much it costs to rent kayaks (Karen REALLY wants to do that). $20 for two hours. A little steep, but really not that bad, as long as it comes with the safety vest. :)

I retrieved Karen's bike from the shop as well, so perhaps tomorrow we'll do another ride in lieu of a run.

Fitquest 7/19/07

Yay, I got my ass out of bed earlier this morning. Perhaps I can keep doing that. I like to run early, I just hate being up early in the morning. So I got out at 9am instead of the typical 10am. I suppose if I didn't stay up so late it'd be a lot easier... but I like staying up late. Lord of the Rings Online always calling my name.

Anyway, I ran the bike path northward. No high school stop this time, I continued on about a half 2/3 of a mile farther (I don't feel like mapping it right now) before turning back.

While on the return run I caught David walking the path... very cool. That SOB just looks thinner and thinner each time I see him... he looks great, so he's kinda giving me a little more hope.

The new running shoes are breaking in well. The feel is comfy and my typical foot pain is no longer, other than the standard pain of running 6-7 miles.

Fitquest 7/18/07

Tired tired tired morning... that and sore shins (shin splints), so I happily did Hip Hop Abs again. Double dose, and this time I tried a lot harder to keep my mid section tight.

It was pretty good. I still don't get the burn from the actual "dancing" though. Funny how the second DVD mentioned "not sitting and doing crunches, etc.", but the last 5 minutes or so of it actually are on the ground. Not doing crunches, but still doing similar type activities. I did get a burn from that. Frankly, I used to do crunches and other stuff to a tight burn each time. I didn't mind it so much, but in the end, I don't recall it doing much. I believe I'm getting a fat burning process with this. Hey, the weight is trickling off, and the body fat percentage is coming down ever so slowly. I'm hoping all of this fitquest stuff is putting me in a place where my metabolism does some work itself, and the 10-17 pounds of fat I hope to lose starts to come off a little faster. 2 pounds a week would be nice, but I can't rely on that. Let's face it, I like food and even though I'm eating less and eating smarter, I still like some less than healthy stuff.

Fitquest 7/17/07

Wow, entering my info only 30 minutes after getting home form the run.

It was a North Ave to the High School run day... only 2 miles each way... even that felt long. But the sprints were nice. The new shoes still have breaking in to be done, but I did feel better. My previous pair was size 9.5 or 10 (I don't feel like looking). These are 10.5. The 10's just didn't feel right.

So, on to the sprint times:
1 - 100m 13.94s (see, already 0.03 better than my previous best first ;) )
2 - 100m 14.12s
3 - 100m 14.59

All said and done, still not too bad. One of these days I'll get to the track fresh without the 2-2.35 mile run first.

I did see a funny thing running home. Some guy on a gixxer flew by me (toward me) and only seconds later flew by me (from behind). A few seconds later and the cops were right in front of him (coming at him) with their lights on. All said and done, while he took off to get away, there were likely 4 squad cars that were trying to find ways to cut him off. Who knows if he got away. I hope he got caught. He was likely doing about 50+ in a 30... just not cool in a neighborhood area, give the rest of us riders a bad name.

Now back to some summer stuff for the day.

Fitquest 7/16/07

Yesterday I got Karen out on the bike for about a 14 mile round trip ride. Scary was that we passed our downstairs neighbor heading back on the bike path. Why scary? She left only a few minutes before us, meaning she got pretty damn far... she was running. Made me feel kinda lame. But hey, all in good time. Did I mention that I was never a distance runner? I HS I ran the 400m and 4x400m primarily and the 4x100m, with a spattering of 200m , 100m, thrown in for points from time to time. Oh, and obviously the pole vaulting. Distance to me was running a whole mile.

I also got am email from Shawn (the head track coach) with some info for me regarding pole vaulting. I joined the National Pole Vault Coaches Association and perused some of the training vids on the site. Incentive!

Today I did my bike path south route. I took it relatively easy during some of it. I was wiped out for some reason. I think the bike ride in the sun took a lot out of me.
I ended up walking for probably about 1/4 of a mile of the run, actually likely closer to 1/2 because I often walk part of the uphill return, as it often kills my knees, and it's really only the path up from College St. to Battery Park.

Oh oh oh... and I got new running shoes. The others, I swear were killing my feet. They are about 4 years old, perhaps 3, but that's pretty old by today's product standards. I've likely put well over 200 miles on them. I don't know what I should be able to put on flats, but road running helps kill the treads.

Busy day

We were supposed to go hiking this morning with a friend, but he called at about 8:30 to double check, based on weather reports. They said it was a 40% chance for thunderstorms where we were planning to go, and at that moment, it was raining here... I hate to START hiking in the rain. We decided not to go.

I was sorta hoping to have a valid reason to not go anyway because I was happy to have a day where nothing was scheduled and I could get my wife to go out with me on the bikes for a ride. We did. It was relatively slow and relaxing, but it was a decent workout compared to hanging around the apartment. ;) On the way back we stopped off at the repair place and she left her bike to get a new gear shifter installed and a tune up. Hopefully she'll get it back soon. I'd like for her to join me in my workouts. She's no runner, but if she rides while I run, it'll be good. I'll also have someone to be my starter at the track for my timed runs.

We got home and had some quick lunch type food and I decided to play some more Wii sports. It still cracks me up that I can work up a sweat playing that game, but I love it.

I also finally registered in a straightedge forum I've been sorta checking out for well over a year. Actually, I had it in an open tab i my browser, and more specifically the main page... not the forum, but I had it there to make sure I didn't forget about it. My del.icio.us list tends to just be as convoluted as my regular bookmarks... thus the primary reason I rely so heavily upon session restore in FireFox. I also waited to join until I read a few posts about the brand of sXe supported there. Some sXe forums are adamant that in order to be sXe you must be in the hardcore scene, either listening to hardcore or buying it or going to shows... all due respect, but that comes off as just a marketing ploy to me. I tried to like hardcore. I found a group that I do like called Isis, but then I found out they are really "Sludge" more than hardcore... whatever the hell
that is. Anyway, they have a remix album that is totally ass kickin dark ambient meets hardcore meats I don't know what. And since they aren't edge, hehehe, then it's doubly pointless to point out as an effort to appreciate hXc. So, I tried... I don't like hardcore, I don't like punk... I just don't.

I also called Bob at Napa about the paint situation... grrr, Tuesday morning he said he should have an answer. I guess I'm slacking anyway, I still need to sand down some parts, especially the panels I let the paint solvent sit on too long and they got a little eaten up. GRR. I might have to bondo the indentations and such - quite annoying. I suppose I should to it tomorrow, but I need to get started on the computer room redesign.

Crap, and I didn't get in any violin practice time. YAR!!!

Isn't summer vacation grand?

Bound to happen

Last night, whicle watching a movie on the couch, I was laying on my side with my right arm bent and standing upward. Karen was leaning up against me and ended up applying more pressure than was likely good... my shoulder dislocated. It didn't hurt, but freaked me out. I told her to get off my arm and I slowly rotated my arm to get the4 shoulder to pop back in. She started to cry. I guess one might think that two surgeries on the shoulder would have made it much better, but the doc said it, there's always the likeliness of it happening again. I guess the good is that it took a couple years for it to happen.

So, this means I need to take a few days of being really careful with that arm and hope that it really was just about the wrong pressure at the wrong time. I knew that was the way it would happen also. I'm always careful when my arm is bent just so. I still don't feel comfortable with some positions, so I freak out. I also test the limits a little bit from time to time - it always seems fine - and pull it back. I know it's not as strong as the other shoulder.

Of course now this makes me worry about my plans for pole vaulting in the spring. I need to strengthen the shoulder and keep it tight. I'm glad it's my right arm and not the left. It might be hard to take it easy while playing the violin if I messed up the left shoulder.

Fitquest 7/13/07

I'm not a quick learner... or I'm just stubborn... but I'm still sore today. I also slept in later than normal... long night last night, we went the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the drive in.

I ran anyway. The shortened bike path north route. I could feel my muscles (and fat) bouncing in a few places that proved quite sore. There's really nothing more than can be said about it.

Fitquest 7/12/07

The knees and shin splints need a break today... badly. So, I did Hip Hop Abs, but just one of the DVDs. I realize that I need to pay more attention to keeping my abs tight while doing the workout. That's hard, but I'm guessing that's the real trick to it all.

Anyway, 30 minutes on that and I felt like I need some more, so I turned on the Wii for the first time in a while. As always, if you do it right, the Wii Boxing is a fun workout. I bounce around and shout at the TV when my Mii isn't doing what I am. I swear... someone needs to make an actual boxing game for Wii that does real boxing moves, and not just a bunch of moves that twitchy kids can pick up easily. Even better would be a martial arts game that has the Wiimote, nunchuck and two additional connections for the feet... technology is there, someone's gotta be able to do it.

Anyway, yeah, so Wii boxing, bowling, tennis and baseball for a little while, I think about 45 minutes. Not too bad... but I gotta say, I was still plenty sore.

Fitquest 7/11/07

I thought I'd change it up today. I rode my bike path north to the high school path on the bicycle this morning. I figured if I rode, I'd have more energy to do more sprints. Well, I did sorta. Actually, the bike ride kinda hurt my knees and shins and tired my quads out more than thed run normally does. I had more energy, but I was more sore.

I only got 3 100m sprints in.
1 - oops, I missed the stop button on the stopwatch... but it had to be either low 14s or possibly even a nice 13.something... but I really can't say for sure.
2 - 14.35s
3 - 14.60s, and it hurt.

My knees hurt enough that I rode home the North Ave way. It's a 2 mile ride versus the 2.35 mile path. In case you didn't know, I also live upstairs... so walking the steps up kinda sucked as well.

I think I might need to take a running break tomorrow. Hip Hop Abs perhaps? I dunno.

Fitquest 7/10/07

OK, I cheat. I just wrote yesterday's fitquest entry a moment ago. I've been busy with other things, so I don't get around to immediate posts. This one is the same day though (july 10th).

I had to go to Barre to meet with my teaching team to plan some new behavior models to use during the next year... and a few other things. That meant I didn't get home until around 5:30. Half of my ride home I was trying to figure out what I'd do for my workout though. It's pretty much how I'll have to deal with it when school starts up again. Yuk!!! I prefer running in the morning... less people around.

Anyway I decided to just do a run. I did this path but only going to Harrison Ave. then turning back. I don't feel like making the map for it right now... sanoodi doesn't really have a good editing feature to take previous paths and alter them.

It was HUMID like mad. Soup all the way. I had to lift my t-shirt collar up over my mouth and nose a few times so I didn't suck down a family of flying insects that were swarming the path. That said, it was a good (if not shorter than I could have done) run. I was also think about how I am getting back into decent shape already and that when the NH White Mountains trip comes in August - as long as my knees hold out - I'll be in great shape and might give the boys a serious run for their 19 year old money.

Oh, and I weighed myself before showering... 187# and 21% body fat (tanita scale).
I didn't eat a lot of food today, but still.. that's a positive measure. Obviously it means nothing really until it's a stable weight, which it is not yet. But positive motion nevertheless.

Fitquest 7/9/07

Short and sweet. Ran the northward path of the Burlington Bikepath somewhat unenthusiastically. The intent was just to get to the track and do some sprints. Since my speed has increased a little over the long haul... and I'm getting farther faster, I figured I'd have good reserves for the times sprints. 2.7 miles later and eh... I felt ok. The weather has been super muggy. If I didn't mention it before, I love running in hot weather but not humid. Nice dry heat. My other fave is around 75 deg C and rainy.
Anyway, I got in 3 100m sprints:
1 - 13.97s (the same exact time I got the first time I did a 3 100m sprint set)
2 - 14.22s
3 - 14.41s

So, my worst time was better than the previous worst time. I think Wednesday I'll bike to the track and see how much better I do without a 2.7 mile warm-up.


What appeared to be 3 young siblings showed up at the track right before my last sprint. They ended up at the long jump pit. I gave a quick piece of advice to one boy who ran the majority of the length of the runway, losing speed nearly halfway down, that he might get a longer jump if he shortened his approach. Then I left... to return on the 2.7 back home.

Lucky lucky lucky... shut up

So, today is 07/07/07 (no matter where you are viewing this on the globe) and all day during news casts have been commentaries about this being a "lucky day". Couples getting married in Vegas and all over because it's a "lucky day". For crying out loud people... you are stupid!

7/7/7 is a cool day, as numbered representations of days go. Not as cool as 6/6/6, hehehe, I'm sure xians all over were a little shaken that day. However, I can't say there's much really notable about the date... if I recall correctly (and I'm too lazy now to look it up for reals) today is Prince's birthday - erp, forget it, I looked it up and damnit, I was a month off. Yeah, it's that kinda year.

So, back to the nutjobs who are superstitious about something that is already knowable. Yeah, unless someone thought human civilization would be gone by now, it was already known that the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year into the new millennium. OMG, just wait until 2077, people will really lose their minds. Whoa, how about 2777, man thing will just be rockin. And 7777? Ferget about it... the party of the 78th century. Man-bot will marry man-bot hoping that their binary nuptials will be praised by all the good luck in the multi-verse.

Am I making too big of a deal about it?
I guess I made my point then.

I did accomplish a good chat with the guy (Bob) at NAPA this afternoon. I'm planning on repainting my motorcycle. He's gonna put in a call with the paint tech peeps to figure out what will be needed to create the color plan I want for my bike. I was disappointed to find that I'll likely not have a cheap method for airbrushing some detail work on it, but I guess we'll see what happens.

I started to repaint my mini toy model of the bike with a bright orange from my minis paint selection. Doesn't look so good... not smooth, but hey, it's just for fun. Hopefully I can start painting the real thing by late next week.

Fitquest 7/7/07

I didn't even want to run today... just didn't feel like it, but I'm trying to stick to it. I might not run tomorrow... too many commitments, so perhaps I'll squeeze in a Hip Hop Abs workout.

So I did run. It wasn't bad. I beat the rain and had excellent weather.

I was actually not expecting to run this far. Most of my runs have been closer to the 4-5 mile length... I'm slowly getting back to what I'd call the 8 mile in around an hour run... yeah, slowly. But when I got to where I normally get (see, I run out for about 30 minutes then return) I had more time than normal. So I kept running and kinda slowed the pace a little to get to Oakledge Park at about the 30 minute mark. I did end up doing a few minutes of walking... perhaps 5 overall. I was tired and my muscles were feeling wasted.

Actually, I didn't run this exact route. I had to stop by my friend's place to check on his cat. The distance is about he same and I'll reuse this route so I call it a wash.

Fitquest 7/6/07

Yeah, a mundane entry, but I need to try to enter them all. The run today was the same as the 7/4/07 run, but instead of heading toward downtown Burlington, I just completed the return trip home. I believe it's a longer run, but I don't feel like making the map for it right now.

I believe this is my shortest post.

完（かん）

Catching up on random stuff

Transformers - Karen (the wife) and I went to the Monday 8pm showing... a whole day earlier than I originally expected to be able to go. We liked it. I liked it as LOT. Sadly, half of my friends hated it. I'm a music snob, but not really a movie snob. I guess my expectations are more easily met. The trailers made me fear that the Transformers would be too clinical and frankly, robotic. Thankfully after more of them came into play, their personalities came out. Could have been more, but it was there, so I was happy about that. The efx were amazing. The 3d models were insanely good. I wish they gave us a bone with some slower transforming shots. For years I wondered about the literal transformability of them. Probably 5 years ago I started to try to model Astrotrain (my triple changer Decepticon) in Lightwave 3D. I gave up because I struggled with a few details and didn't have a lot of time for side projects that were only for experimentation. Anyway, it would have been a little lame compared to even the Beast Wars or Beast Machines models.Those Canadian [Mainframe] modelers know their shit.

Anyway. The only problems I had with the movie were more about the cinematography - the fast pans and fast action made it nearly impossible to really get to take in the transforming action. Seriously... when we were kids, wasn't that one of the most important points of the cartoons? "How did they do that?" I also detest gun violence... and there was just far too much rat-a-tat-tat machine gun action for me.

The picture above is the costumed I made for the annual Halloween party our friends put on. I spent a solid two days on those costumes after some initial work. They could be better, but I lacked the funding to do a few things I would have done better... not to mention ideas I thought of while making them. The picture also really sucks... I have some that are nicer, but don't show the whole top to bottom of them. Oh well.. perhaps we'll pose some day just for a better picture. :)

There... movie covered. July 4th comes with fireworks, but in Burlington they are on the 3rd. I like that. We go to them every year, and sometimes friends join us. This year, we joined up with Jonathan and his new girlfriend (yeah, I said it) Lauren, and her friend JP. I think we both think that his new girlfriend is a pretty good choice. I like her a lot. She's pretty young, compared to us, arguably a solid two generations behind us, but she's "older" than her age. I like that she speaks her mind, and actually has a mind. Much more so than the typical person of her age I've run into over the last 5-6 years. She also just fits in with the group easily... so I'm happy for him and happy for us. Of course, she goes away for grad school in a month. I guess we'll play it by ear.

I just realized I need to post some more politically oriented stuff. I'm getting soft and I wouldn't want the one or two readers I have to think I've lost my edge. ;)

Fitquest 7/5/07

Simple today... I didn't want to run. So I again did the dual Hip Hop Abs blast. I tried harder to concentrate on keeping my abs tight through more of it, but damn that's hard. I suppose it'll be easier as they get stronger again and I start to get a nicer set of abs under all the flab. The good is that I get winded and sweaty during the total of about 53 minutes of activity. I'd love to know how many calories I'm burning, but I'll live.

I weighed myself after the shower and I was down to 189, which is what I was at before the workout... one should NOT weigh themselves that often... but it's a habit. However, the 189 is nice... I'm hoping I can maintain the downward more than the typical upward jolts. If my target for the summer is 170 lbs., I need to make some other choices to lose more quicker. Pros say losing about 1lb a week is healthy, but I'm hoping that by building more muscle that it'll do some of the work for me in a healthy way. I'm also trying to eat less. 3500 calories a week is a pound, so if I'm burning an average of 500 cals/day during the week, that alone should be a pound off, then limit the food by trying to cut out 3500 cals a week... by the time I get back to school, I should be pretty close... only 8 more weeks though, so that's only 16 pounds - not my goal. I guess to be honest, if I get the body fat % down to 18 or so, that would be good. But still, the weight is an issue for the pole vaulting. that said, I don't intend on getting up on a pole until fall, so I'm sure I'll be battling this crap all year unless I can get it back to my younger self metabolism.

Fitquest 7/4/07

This was the first time I ran south this year on the bike path. Frankly, I like it more, since there's more sun and I literally run close to the lake for a good deal of it. When I run all the way to Oak Ledge Park, it's nice because there's easy drinking water and some other niceties. The north bound one also has its charms. It usually depends on how far or for how long I'll be running.
Anyway, here's the map:


I did stop off at Quarterstaff Games to chat with Jonathan about gaming stuff, then I went to the garden to check on some progress on the plants (I just realized I never mentioned the gardern in my blog, I'll have to post some pix from it... before during and current). I have a serrano that's coming along nicely and the tomatillos are getting huge... err.. the plan, not the actual fruit.

I digress.

Weigh in was still around 190 lbs..

Fitquest 7/3/07

I decided to mix it up today and not run. Actually, in part because me knees are starting to feel the toil. I should start lifting some as well. I'm supposed to have fitness center access at UVM since I'm enrolled in a Continuing Ed course, but I'm afraid of running up there only to be turned away. Perhaps later in the week... plus it doesn't open until 11:30am, which is a little silly. Mid fricken day to me... I prefer to work out earlier if possible.

So, today I threw in Hip Hop Abs. No, I didn't buy it... let's just say I got it form a bunch of acquaintances. Ahem. It's actually a lot of fun. The instructor (Shawn T??) is energetic and not all too fake... sorts plays himself I think, so it's fun. The moves are funky-esque but not something I'd do on the dance floor. Doing those moves on the actual dance floor would make me feel like Ronald (Patrick Dempsey) from Can't Buy Me Love when he accidentally watched the PBS show about African tribal dances instead of American Bandstand or summat, and then did those moves at the high school dance... at which time he was the popular guy, so all the tools copied him like he knew something new. Oh... high school dances... hahaha.

Anyway. I've worked out to Hip Hop Abs before, once or twice, but it's been about a month. The first DVD has about a 30 minute ab routine. I did it and felt like it wasn't enough, so I put on the second DVD for the second routine which was a little less than 30 minutes. I can't say my abs are burning still (about 10 minutes after finishing), but I got a great sweat on, and did feel some of a burn during. I suppose I need to tuck my hips more meaningfully and so forth... so next time I'll work harder on that.

Maybe later today I'll lift the dumbbells a little bit... I need to get some more strength in my arms again... the biceps are looking a little pathetic.

Fitquest 7/2/07

Two days ago, the day after fitquest entry one, I spent the entire day working on repairing the inside of my motorcycle tank. This entailed emptying the tank of fuel, rinsing the tank, washing it with a cleaning solution, rinsing that, preparing the inside with another solution, rinsing that, drying the tank thoroughly (as in bone dry) and then coating the inside with a rust preventing chemical. The tank is seriously difficult to empty, which meant that it required tons of shaking and tilting and rolling. The workout I got seriously made up for not actually running, did I mention the times? I started around 12:30 or 1pm and didn't really finish until around 8pm.

The next day, as in yesterday, I could barely walk. Sore legs back and everything. I'm sure some of that was delayed pain from the sprinting the other day, but still. So, today was my first official exercise day back.

I still had a lot of soreness, but not enough to hold me back.
I did a short route to the high school track:



Even thought I was sore, I decided to try myself out with a 400m sprint to start. Yikes!
400m - 78.91s

Very disappointing. I don't know what I should have expected, but I was hoping to be closer to 70 seconds. Of course, I did just finish a 2 mile run to get there, but still. The sore quads were a factor, but I can say that I had a good stride until the 200m mark, where I slowed for typical race pace, but when I hit the final stretch, I didn't have the juice to kick it in. I didn't go all out, ala old school Chris... where I puked after many a 400m meet race, but I did push.

I walked it off with a walking lap around the track and sorta wandering around, contemplating the performance - preparing for the next sprint, which was just going to be a 100m. By now I had no good expectation for that sprint, but I had to put myself into it. I did some stretching. My quads had tightened up quite a bit. By about the 30m mark, I could feel them really hurting to the point that I shortened my strides. I wanted a good time and a hard workout, but it wasn't worth pulling a muscle, so I slowed it down.

100m - 15.16s

Not even close to the other day, but considering all factors, it wasn't that bad.

On the 29th (fitquest day one) I asked my little brother (is 32 little?) to do a 100m sprint timed... I think he's in better shape than I, not to mention, weighs significantly less. I wanted a basis to judge my times on. He didn't seem interested. Oh well.

Till next time. Tonight we go to an early showing of Transformers - I hope to do a review of sorts... maybe not.