If it does not challenge you it will not change you!

Day 24

I woke up with out much sleep with this thought, I am the happiest I’ve ever been which also makes me the saddest. Polar opposites but so true, I am eternally grateful for the most wonderful family and friends anyone could ever have. Yet I am sadden by the overwhelming reality that nothing last forever.  One hundred years ago ranchers lived on the same road I live on. They had families and children, dreams and hopes. All that is left is the wooden skeletons of their homes and their essence blowing in the wind. And so is true of all of us. 

Live every moment to its fullest, live out loud, and full of love! Breath in every ounce of every moment, hug everyone you love every chance you get. Because, to quote a great song, it won’t mean a thing in a hundred years!

Bone yard to redneck ridge than back home to the most precious things in my life and a party to celebrate all that is good in life!!! I love you all!

Day 25

Pretty chill day. Still people left over from the Rainbow neck festival. Kids played all morning and just great conversation with great friends, and great coffee!

Did not drink at my own party, but I was oh so tempted by the thought of a cold beer by the fire late night. Instead I went to bed and was happy with that decision come morning!  I got a really mellow jog in, running behind my daughter on her bike. Then I camped in the front yard last night with her, she loves sleeping in tents!

Day 26

Meet with the trainer today and he kicked my ass. I mean he annulated any thoughts I had that I was getting in shape. I almost puked; I think I might have squealed a couple of times.  Is it possible to hate a tire? Who knew it was so hard to jog holding a sledge hammer over my head? IIt was hard, but I made it through and I enjoyed it, maybe even loved it?.

There is something great about working out when you do not have to think. The trainer has everything ready to go and I just have to perform. He set me up for my next couple of weeks and encouraged me to try and take 5min off my 5k time this week. He said it is all in my head at this point and shouldn’t be that hard, we’ll see about that.

We have also been talking about me starting to work for him part time and getting certified as a trainer which I am really excited about.  

This is hard work, and I realize that no matter how good of shape I get into, it is always going to be hard work!

Day 27

Got a guy from the AmericInn corporate office in town, seems like a nice guy. We’ll see how his review of the hotel goes, got to meet those brand standards!

I am going to get in a mellow 45 minute run today. Just running anywhere from 5-6 on the treadmill pretty tired from yesterday, but not too sore. I set up my schedule for the next couple of weeks last night.  As I was doing it I realized just how life changing this is. I have a work out set up for almost the next 20 days straight with two rest days sprinkled in there.  Just a guess but it probably took me 3 months to get twenty workouts in before!

If it does not challenge you it can not change you!

Clear your mind of can’t...

Day 21

Ran 3.2 miles yesterday in 28.48, one of my goals is to knock about 10 min off that time so I have a long way to go. I am going to rest today and take my daughter camping. This has been a really bad work week for me. Hope it gets better soon.

Day 22

Camping with my daughter was one of the best experiences of my life. She is such a great little kid and a really cool person to hang out with.  Rest day felt good,  but I did cheat a little, couple of marsh mellows by the campfire?

All in all it was a good day 22. It is a fact that if you want to create a habit you must consistently do something for twenty one days. Well hopefully this new lifestyle is a habit now and forever.

Today I continued this habit with a 10 mile mountain bike ride up to Sylvan Lake. I towed my daughter up there in her chariot which defiantly adds a bit of a challenge. The ride took about 1 hour 15 minutes round trip, with a couple quick stops. Last ½ mile is a bitch, stayed in the second ring the whole time.

Day 23

 I did the Treadmill workout today, still the hardest workout I do. Such an ass kicker, and man do I sweat.  

While all that sweat is dripping off of me I am reminded just how hard this endeavor is. Whatever the outcome at the end of this year, one thing is certain. I will have worked harder than I ever have in my entire life and I will no doubt be mentally and physically stronger.

Early morning mountain bike tomorrow followed by the Rainbow Neck Festival!

Mountain Lion and Iron

Day 19

Monday Morning! Good bike ride yesterday, 13 miles 57 minutes. Think I am going to head to the gym today.  I feel like lifting some weights.  Need to get rid of some stress. Just one of those weeks where nothing bad has really happen, but I don’t know. Every job I have ever had has just been about making money. I have never worked anywhere that I loved. Maybe no body really likes their job, but I have always had this fantasy that someday I will find something I like, and be able to support my family..  Hopefully it is not getting too late in the game. Currently I probably have one of the best jobs in this area so I am not really complaining about my job, just that I am unable to have a ton of passion for it. Most of the time I am babysitting my employees that are 10-15 years older than me, the other half of the time I am babysitting the guest, most of which are type A pilots. For the record anyone wanting to become a pilot, know that you will just be a glorified bus driver with possibly the worlds worst work schedule.

I am getting off topic. Just been one of those weeks. Hopefully a little work out will lift the spirits?

Day 20

Great workout in the Gym yesterday! I pushed my self so much harder than I usually do. I keep bringing this up, but normally where I would stop a work out or a set seems to be the half way point. I have not even been counting reps until I already feel like I can’t do anymore.

Later in the evening on my drive home I saw a mountain lion. This was a first for me and defiantly has me contemplating my next trail run. I am going to stand up from this computer right now and go run on the treadmill. Not because of the lion, but because I am stuck at work.

On a really exciting note I am already starting to see my abs for the first time since I was about 13. Eating is going well, but I have to do a better job tracking my calories. I am not really a big eater and am finding it hard to shove 2500 calories in my mouth.

Also exciting is that I have had two people tell me that I have encouraged them to start their own fitness journey, and that has been the most rewarding thing yet.  Much Love!

Day 18

Yesterdays work out went well. I did the gym drop in which was $5 bucks and well worth it. I will do that again next week when it is time for this work out. I did notice that most people talk more in the gym than they work out. I overheard these two guys talking about the upcoming election.  Just a suggestion, spouting of your political views in a gym or any public forum where other people you do not know can hear you will most likely lead to someone like me thinking you are a huge asshole.  Just saying.  I  head phoned up and got to work, putting iron to the shoulders, legs, back, pecks, biceps, and abs, all in a circuit workout form.

In the afternoon me and the fam went on a three mile hike. My four year old killed it, walked the whole way! I carried my 17 pound son for about 3 miles and that was defiantly an extra back workout. It was so fun to start doing outdoor stuff with the whole clan. As usual the White River Forrest did not disappoint, really beautiful!

I think today I will get out for a road ride and next week I will get back on the mountain bike as well as prepare for the first annual Rainbow Neck Festival!!!!!

Other than that I went and checked out some roller Derby last night which was awesome.  I got to witness the unleashing of Taber-Tooth-Tiger, more to come on this.

Peace out. Happy Sunday.

Trust the process.

Day 12

Rest day today! No exercise which is nice. I feel like it is a deserved day. My daughter is having a sleep over tonight with her good buddies. Our house will go from a 2 kid 1 dog house, to a 4 kid two dog house sometime around 3pm. Maybe rest day is not the right term?

Looking forward to just spending some time with my wife, even though we will have some extra company. 

Day 13

13 is my dad’s lucky number. I think of that every time I see a 13.

Rest day number two was great day on the ranch with the family. Had to work a little, but had a relatively relaxing Sunday. A little fishing, and a little shotgun shooting. All in all a good day! Looking forward to a nice MTB ride in the AM!!

Day 14

I mountain biked for about 45 minutes before getting rained out.  I meet with the personal trainer tomorrow.

Day 15

Killer work out with the personal trainer! I ended up losing about six pounds in the last two weeks. We are looking to build a little muscle on my frame so we upped my caloric intake from 2000 to 2500 and hopefully that will maintain me at 150. I was not trying to lose weight but it was awesome to know that there was some change going on. Meeting with the trainer was totally motivating. This is the time where I normally start to lose focus, but meeting with the trainer is the reminder I need to stay on point. Also I have not weighed 150 pounds since highschool.

This process is going to lead to something great!

Day 16

When it rains it pours. What a shitty work day. I did get in a 50 min bike ride approximately 13 miles, average speed about 15.6. My arms are still sore, and I am in search of a work out bench. I can not wait to get home. Treadmill work out tomorrow.

Day 17

Woke up this morning sore and did not want to work out. Family is sick, work has been stressful but, I worked out. Treadmill work out, slayed it! However the insides of my elbows are still sore from the bicep work out the trainer gave me.  My work outs, or rather when I am half way through my workouts or in the middle of my rides when I am exhausted, have become one of my favorite times of the day.  Anyway, I am locked out of my own blog so this is a diary at the moment till I can figure out how to get back in.

Day 17

Lately, when I have been eating, I am not really concerned about flavor as much as nutrients. It is interesting because food is no longer recreational. It feels no different than a work out. Food has become a means to an end. I now realize just how often I ate for comfort in times of stress. How I would be in a shitty mood at work and say oh fuck it let me go get some Burger King or whatever, Burger King is about 100 yards from my office. Now I am just more concerned about what the food is going to do rather than how it is going to taste.

I was talking with the trainer the other day about living with no regrets. I can honestly say that I do that. When I look at my kids I can not imagine changing one thing about my life.  That being said I wish I had been making these health choices for a much longer time.

Today I went for about a 5-6 mile trail run that took me about an hour. My time would have been better, but I ran into a heard of cows and bulls and set off a bit of a stampede. What a cool trail run I found by my place, so beautiful.  

I felt great the whole time. It is like my brain is in some one else’s body. I keep waiting to get tired or want to quit but the more I run the faster I go and the longer I want to go for. After the first 10 minutes once I am warmed up it just feels like I could go all day!

I also try to keep reminding myself that this is a very selfish endeavor. Taking an hour a day everyday just for me was not something I was doing before and again my wife has been so cool about it. However I believe it is making me a better father and husband. At least I hope so.

Tomorrow I think I will pay a drop in fee at the gym because I was unable to find a bench and I need it for the work out tomorrow. If you are reading this you know I figured out how to get back into my blog.

I have been doing a lot of self reflection during my work outs and I just feel so blessed and thankful for everything and everyone in my life!

Trust the process! Much Love!!

Seven ate nine....and 10, and 11.

Day 7

Day 7 went well. This treadmill workout is no joke. I puked again after it, trying to stomach a  protein powder and water mix? Despite that I felt great! Food is going well. I am just so focused on the outcome I really have not had the craving to cheat yet. I am only seven days in, well see at seven weeks if I feel the same way.

Day 8

No treadmill workout today!! On my way to go rip a Boneyard on my mountain bike. This week is five days of working out. I can not remember the last time I put in five days in a row of work outs? It was probably in high school, or five days straight snowboarding before kiddos. I am going to stop writing this and head out for a ride! Such a nice day here!!

Ha… Wow what an ass kicking. I think my body was expecting a rest day, but off we went for a Boneyard (5.75 miles, 1000ft elevation gain, steep ass decent) which usually takes me a little less than an hour. Yesterday it took me an hour and a half. I am pretty sure I should have had more calories when I went out. 

I can usually make it up most of this on my second ring, but yesterday my legs were not there so I had to granny gear up which makes the technical parts harder. By ¾ of the way up I started to feel a little better but I think I was just a bit delirious. I missed a turn at the top to the pool and ice rink decent and actually had to climb the road back up. When I got to my car and started to get off the bike I was not sure I was going to be able to stand up,  lower back was so sore.

After an awesome dinner, chicken with quinoa and zucchinis from the garden, we put the kids to bed and then ourselves. I slept well last night!

Day Nine

Treadmill workout today… I am paying really close attention to my diet today. Not just what I eat but when I eat it. I hope this will help with my energy level during today’s work out. We’ll see…?

Food timing is key.  Had a great work out today, feeling good!

Day 10

Awesome mountain bike ride 8.65 miles felt really good. Not too technical of a ride, but good fun single track. Feeling really positive and motivated.

Went to the Thursday night concert and probably cheated a little on the caloric intake. All really healthy food, all home made, but I ate a lot and it was good!

Day 11

Treadmill workout today and I pretty much have this thing dialed. I always feel like I am or should be done half way through, but I keep going and make all four sets, and it is defiantly getting easier.

I get the weekend to rest, no workouts. I am going to watch what I eat really close and figure out what mountain bike ride I am going to do on Monday.  Next meeting with the personal trainer is on Tuesday and I am a bit nervous, but excited to see where this goes.

These past two weeks have been a good start. Really challenging, but I feel like I am already in better shape then when I started. The only real revelation that I have had is that this is going to take a lot of hard work and time. Being in great shape is a life style choice and other things are going to have to go away to make time. I cancelled a lot of my cable channels to help pay for my personal trainer and coincidently I notice that I have watched almost no television lately. I’ve tried watching some of the Olympics, but for the most they are boring.

It has been eleven days so only 354 days until I reward myself with a beer. I wonder if I will want one by than?  I wonder what my body will look like 354days from now? I wonder how I will feel looking back at the beginning of this blog? I wonder if everyone I know will be sick of hearing about my workouts and what I eat? I wonder if it will all be worth it? We’ll see?

I have been taking weekly pictures, but those will stay with me till the end. If anyone is reading this, Thanks!, and have a great weekend.

359 days to go!

Day 5

Today was a perfect Colorado day, and a quick warm up run in the white river national forest could not have been more beautiful. Despite waking up feeling sore I had a great run once I got going, kind of felt like I was floating, no soreness and lungs felt great.

Did the treadmill work out in the front yard and made it through all four sets again. Although I can not make it through the 20 pushups after the first set, I end up breaking them into two sets of 10. Leg thrusters are hard and I end up stopping after 10 taking a couple breaths before doing the final five. A great sign of accomplishment for me will be when I just crush this treadmill workout.

Most of what I did today was help take care of my sick four year old, who was puking with a fever. I felt really bad for her and ended up sleeping in her bed all night to take care of her, hopefully the sickness doesn’t get me.

Part of my dinner tonight was a fresh salad out of my wife’s incredible garden! She is an amazing gardener and it is awesome to be able to walk outside to get vegetables.

Day 6

Rest day! Not really feeling that sore today. My daughter is feeling better!!

Another just awesome day here in the CO! As I mention earlier I am currently living outside of town in the middle of the Colorado wilderness.  We have no neighbors for as far as the eye can see, and the solitude is perfect. The more time we spend out there the more my wife and I are starting to love the feeling of living like this. We have been blessed enough to have live in a similar situation in Vermont years ago but had forgotten how much it suits us. We are however just renting/caretaking this place so our future here is indefinite. We are enjoying ever minute, because like everything in life it is not forever! 

Next year we may be living in a condo in Vail again or maybe Vermont? Only time will tell.

Day Three

Day three is in the bag and I made it thru all four sets of the treadmill workout. The third set was slow and the forth set was at a crawl, but I finished! I was spent. Circuit training is really hard, exhausting, but hopefully in the end rewarding.

Eating went really well. I have replaced beer with seltzer water out of a can and it is working really well. Went to Eagle’s Thursday night concert and did not really crave a beer. Food has been all natural and super healthy. My one cheat has been coffee with some chocolate milk in it. Other than that no sugar, tons of fruit, veggies, and meat! Another rest day tomorrow work out on Sat.

The weirdest thing I have done yet is post up a picture of some dude with the body that I am shooting for on the refrigerator at the suggestion of my trainer as motivation and a tool for mental imagery. I am not in the habit of posting up topless pictures of guys or girls around the house.  Defiantly took a little shit from the wife on that one. He has no face which helps. My four year old really liked the picture which was both funny and reminded me she will be sixteen some day...

Day Four

Rest Day. Not too much to report. I am defiantly sore but feel good. Eating healthy is really good. I know that sounds so simple but to really just eat all natural food is the best medicine in the world, both mentally and physically.

Still really motivated, looking forward to working out tomorrow. Also really looking forward to three mountain bike rides next week. I am going to do two old ones, and pick a new one to check out.

Also just want to note that I could not do this with out the support of my wife. She has been really encouraging and understanding about the time commitment. Also, for the record my wife always cooks healthy, my unhealthy habits were usually consumed when I was solo.

Posting this blog is also a challenge because this is not stuff I would ordinarily share with other people. Hopefully it helps keep me honest. Peace!

Intro

I turned 37 on April first 2012. It is July 31^st 2012 and by my next birthday I will have eight pack abs. Why? Mostly, because I want them and because I live in the Vail Valley with insane athletes all around me and I want to be able to keep up.  Maybe this is my mid life crisis or my last attempt to hold on to my youth, but really it is a personal challenge. Can I do it? Can I change 37 years of habits to create new habits? Can I stop drinking beer for one year (I love beer)? Can I eat healthy? Can I sustain a 5 day a week workout schedule with a full time job, a wife, and two kids (4 year old and 4 month old)? Can I create the body that I see in the magazines with the body I see in the mirror?

For the last 37 years I have not been able to do any of these things. For one reason or another all attempts at the above goals would get side tracked. So to give myself a fighting chance I hired a personal trainer, and today was day one.

Day One

Day one with the personal trainer was exactly what I thought with a twist. We meet at a local gym and he was on the tread mill when I got there, which I thought was a good sign.  With in two minutes of introducing myself I was on the tread mill warming up. Ten to twenty minutes on the tread mill to warm up.  After a small fitness examination we got into our first workout.

One minute treadmill sprint, off the tread mill 20 dips, 20 push ups, 10 blasters, 20 situps, 15 leg thrusters with each leg, hold a headstand for 10 seconds, two 20 pound weights and do 10 squats to full extension.

He said before we got started our goal was four sets. I puked after one and a half sets. I think I drank my morning smoothie too soon before class. Whatever the reason, I puked on day one of my personal trainer. I was for the record embarrassed!

So that brings me to the twist. I knew the personal trainer was going to work me out, set up my workouts for the next two weeks, and help me get my diet in order. What I forgot or blocked out was how hard I was going to have to work to meet my goals. The personal trainer will not be doing any of my sit ups, push ups, running, bike riding, or puking for me. I am going to have to do all those things on my own and do them at an intensity level that makes me uncomfortable.

I am left very excited and look forward to completing four sets of the treadmill work out sometime in the near future. I get another shot in two days.

Day two

Day two is a rest day which I am thankful for. I am very sore all over. I mowed my lawn last night after the work out which was a workout of its own. My family and I are currently renting an 88 acre ranch on the outskirts of Eagle CO so it is not an ordinary lawn.  So muscles are sore and ego a little damaged from the vomiting incident, but I am very motivated.

Diet has been going well. Everything I read and everyone I talk to says this is 60-70% of the battle. A good friend told me I will get my eight pack abs in the kitchen. So I am doing my best to be diligent about what I eat. Scrambled eggs with spinach and a smoothie for breakfast, two apples for a mid morning snack, and now off to lunch to eat a chicken breast or piece of fish not sure yet.

The eating aspect will hard. As I stated above I love beer, cheese, twizzlers, doughnuts, sugar in my coffee, the list could go on and on. However that is the old me, what I love now is the idea of completing this journey. Tomorrow will be my first day working out on my own. I’ll let you know how it goes.