Exercise update: As today's title might suggest, my wife and I actually got to go work out together today. I had planned on going to the Y by myself after work, but things ran late and I came home instead with the thought of running on the treadmill. I knew I needed to be home by 5:15 so Anne could go to spin class. When I got home she suggested I come along. My daughter was at a friend's house who said she could stay for dinner and my son came along to the Y, so I got to go to spin class.
My wife and I got together in large part because we liked to do active, physical things together (besides that, for you in the gutter), but as life has piled on with kids etc. we just don't do that sort of thing as often (or the other thing too gutter boy:)). It was a good reminder as I try to sort out what matters in the 2nd half of my life. We always like each other better when we remember to get some time in doing the things we like to do together. I'm not a good enough husband to give marital advice, but if I were I'd recommend this sort of thing.
And of course a 45 minute spinning class burns over 600 calories according to myfooddiary.com.
Also on the exercise front, I am glad to say I went out on a limb and signed up for the Chicago Urbanathlon today. After reading about if for years and dreaming of doing it, my brother-in-law and I decided to follow through. If you'd like to learn more you can go to http://www.menshealthurbanathlon.com/.
My wife and I got together in large part because we liked to do active, physical things together (besides that, for you in the gutter), but as life has piled on with kids etc. we just don't do that sort of thing as often (or the other thing too gutter boy:)). It was a good reminder as I try to sort out what matters in the 2nd half of my life. We always like each other better when we remember to get some time in doing the things we like to do together. I'm not a good enough husband to give marital advice, but if I were I'd recommend this sort of thing.
And of course a 45 minute spinning class burns over 600 calories according to myfooddiary.com.
Also on the exercise front, I am glad to say I went out on a limb and signed up for the Chicago Urbanathlon today. After reading about if for years and dreaming of doing it, my brother-in-law and I decided to follow through. If you'd like to learn more you can go to http://www.menshealthurbanathlon.com/.
It's basically a 9 mile race with obstacles and a climb up the Soldier Field stadium steps and jumping over taxis and a bunch of other ridiculous stuff. More of us should go!!! October 15th baby.
Nutrition update: All is good on the food front today. I got my Bolthouse Green Goodness Smoothie in this morning to get some fruits and veggies. I'm within my calorie plan too. I do eat a lot of breads and carbs, but I'm working on it.
French Fries have stayed off the menu for the entire month, victory is near. Diet soda is the next thing to go.
Of course a spinning class gives me more wiggle room on the amount I can eat, a good lesson about getting daily exercise. Gotta keep yesterday's minuscule momentum going. I'm not sure if I imagined it, but my pants feel looser...we may just have liftoff. Or I stretched them further than usual...
Random musings: I may have said this before but when I was a kid I believed you could do anything. As an adult I now know that you may be able to do anything, but you cannot do everything, you have to make choices.
I kind of forgot that maxim today when signing up for the Urbanathlon. I went ahead and did it without actually telling anyone who lives in my house. They are all nice people, but with Anne working every other weekend and all of our kids activities, I have been a bit presumptuous about filling in any available gaps (and some that aren't available). Of course I'm married to a very nice woman and she wouldn't tell me no flat out, but the look about adding this one has made me re-think the summer schedule. The only two events I'm signed up for right now are the Castle Rock Triathlon in July and the Urbanathlon in October.
The problem is I've mentioned doing a half marathon in August, the Waupaca Triathlon in August and the Olympic Distance tri that inspired the blog in September. I think that may be a bit much for my family, particularly since I never pick events all that close to home (someone who lives in my house thinks I have trouble with small achievements and always need them to be bigger, hmmm, naaah) And I can't forget I have also been flirting with going to graduate school. That of course would only involve 6-8 Saturdays per semester:)
My grad school decision is on hold for a bit, but I think I have some conclusions about my training and event schedule. As you know, I've been stunned at how long this reclamation project is taking. However, I remain the pig in the bacon and egg breakfast (committed not just interested). That means my time frame becomes irrelevant in some ways because I'm going to live an athlete's life as long as I can.
So my instinct today is to let the Olympic Tri slide until next spring. Not only will that keep my project going longer, it leaves room for the Urbanathlon and for seeing my family.
I want to believe this isn't compromise or failure, it's just readjusting. It is odd though that it bugs me so much that my first blog entry says Olympic Tri by the end of the summer. I hope I'll forgive myself for making it Olympic Tri within a year. That's not a bad thing, right?
The Ultimate dream is Ironman, but that seems a long, long way away. For now the Urbanathlon is what I really want to do athletically.
Did you ever see Shark Boy and Lava Girl? Probably not, but the lesson is that our dreams aren't wrong or that we fail. The hero, a little boy named Max says "Dream a better dream, and then work to make it real."
What does that have to do with anything. Well today the Urbanathlon feels like the better dream.
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