Outdoor Running & Temptations

Another beautiful day today. Winter can stay away for good, at least until December - we all like white Christmas'.

I took advantage of the weather and went to the local park and worked out again. My goal, via Twitter (MistrTyler) was to run for 20 minutes non-stop. It was a success! I opened up with some stretching and some walking to warm my body up and then was off. I wore my pedometer on my shoe as usual and from start of walk to end of run was roughly 23 min 45 sec. I took a picture of my watch which says 24:25 (I forgot to stop it because I wanted to take a picture of the water fountain that was not giving me much desired water!).

I also took a picture of my shoe that read 1.64 miles.

To be honest, I didn't map anything out and just started running. It is a lot different with all of the hills but I also attacked those hills -- I actually changed direction to run into a neighborhood that looked hilly. I need to learn how to run on the different surfaces that I don't get with my treadmill. Don't get me wrong...that treadmill has been a life-saver but I won't be running my 5k on the treadmill.

I played tennis again and came out with the win again. We played the best of 7 games. I won the set 4-3. It was a bit tougher playing after the run than yesterday when we played before the run.

I still have some a couple more miles tonight to do but will put some time in between the two different workouts. I'm feeling pretty good.

As for the temptations. Today was another teacher's birthday and they had a counter full of sweets and goodies. Can you guess which snack I had?








Calories: 1943 cal.

Workout: outdoors - 1.64 miles; indoors - 1.44 ; total = 3.08 miles

How Much is Mental?

My wife and I were talking tonight about weight loss and working out in general. I know that I sound like a broken record saying, "You can control two things - what you put into your body and how much activity you do", but I do believe it to be true.

I use to want both of us to live a healthier (and still do) lifestyle but failed to take on any kind of leadership or set any type of example. I would get upset when things did not get done in that area of life but now have come to realize that it has to be done for that person. The way that I do things is not for everyone to do the same way. Working out and eating right is for that person to do on their own, in their own time. I've gone away from talking about me and my wife and have moved into the general audience.

How much of this lifestyle change is mental?

I think that I have been blessed with the ability to focus but what about the person that struggles with it. Is it their body that prevents them, financial reasons, or simply a mental level that one has to get too before reaching that point of conviction to live a healthier lifestyle?

I have decided to take on those three aspects for the next two weeks to find an answer; this will not be the only answer. This is how I will do it.

1. I will push my workouts harder these weeks.

2. With the exception of my treadmill, I will not use any local gyms, membership, or outside equipment that requires money. I will use things around my apartment and will add full body resistance workouts.

3. I will post my thoughts about my cardio and resistance workouts.

This may not be scientific but it will be interesting to see what comes as a result if anything.


Calories: 2235 cal.

Workout: 3.14 miles

Feb 11th & one HUGE cramp!

Last night I played basketball as I do every Wednesday and Sunday night and it was a really good time. The first half of the night I did not make a single shot but made up for that the second half of the night. Since I started on the treadmill I have noticed that my energy and endurance level has gone through the roof when it comes to playing on those nights. I can play at a higher level of intensity for longer periods of time. That has been a gradual thing that has taken a while to get too -- not just this year. This year has just helped in making activity easier.

I only talk about basketball because it brings me to the subject of muscle cramps. Last night at about 2 or 3 in the morning. I woke up with a MAJOR cramp in my left calf. I usually have a pretty high tolerance for pain but that cramp woke me up and had me calling out. It woke my wife up. It was not good. It probably took 10-15 minutes for it to subside enough so that i could get back to sleep. Any quality sleep after that was in only in small increments. I'm limping around today because the muscle is still pretty tight. I doubt I'll get the miles in that I'd like to tonight. I had a cramp like this in high school during basketball practice when we were doing bleacher runs and the calf muscle was like an indention, (looked like it was sucked in to the bone), in my leg. Does not feel good at all.

So what causes muscle cramps (involuntary contraction of muscle)? I searched around for some information regarding this and this is what I found.

Muscle Cramp Causes.....Muscle Cramp Solutions
1. Dehydration ................Drink more water
2. Not enough rest ...........Take breaks to replenish and regroup
3. Over exercising............Take breaks in between
4. Vitamin Deficiency.........Vitamins and/or change of daily diet
5. Insufficient Warm up......Warm up before exercising/playing
6. Poor Circulation............Looser clothing, Do a warm-up
7. No cool-down period.......Come to a gradual close of workout

Here is a site that has some pretty good information regarding Muscle Cramps and prevention of them.

Food Intake:

1. 1 3/4 cup of Raisin Bran Cereal
2. cup of coffee
3. Banana
4. oven roasted chicken breast
5. sweet and salty peanut bar
6. last of the super bowl health snack
7. 12 oz sprite
8. white chip macadamian nut cookies (2) from Subway
9. oven roasted chicken breast salad
10. Mixed berry/Banana smoothie
11. 60 + oz of Water

Workout: Treadmill - 2 miles


Miles til Year Goal: 922.36