d_p_pank’s BodyBlog

I find going out with friends to be a challenge sometimes. I think I hit that point where I can have fun with the people I’ve always hung out with, it’s just I don’t find the fun in drinking the entire night or eating yummy fried food. Here’s the kicker. We went to a place that was a little more high end that even had a pretty complete menu. Me being extremely careful with what I ate went for the mahi mahi with roasted red potatoes with a side salad. The mahi was blackened and heavily seasoned so it was mostly ok except for the part where it was rinsed with some of the establishments H2O. I’m glad I tried sipping their H2O so I knew it was a water taste and not bad fish. The salad would have been better if they just plucked the weeds from the ballpark next store.

Anyhow my point is. . .if  you are going to bitch about being overweight and how you are not happy about what you look like, take 5 minutes and replan your nights entertainment. I like to get a good buzz going every now and then, but I’ll typically be going for either a high end specialty beer or one of Napa’s reds. Not the sweet tasting mixed beverage with the sugar and the shot. I guess that’s all a personal choice. I did have a good time hanging out, I’m just not a believer in the eat, drink and get fat approach. I prefer to enjoy life and be merry.

My other favorite part of going out was watching all the smokers pool outside the establishment now that the entire state finally went smoke free. I understand it’s an addiction both physically and mentally, but after a while of spending half a night away from most of your friends wouldn’t you feel like you missed out on something?

Regarding getting up. I did make it to the gym today, even though spinning was cancelled I did get in my last full leg workout before snip and insert day. I made sure to do all the things that weren’t machines that I won’t be able to touch until sometime in 2009.

I do have my food planned out for my next two weeks on crutches. I even have a pot of soup frozen so I can heat and serve instead of allowing my non-cooking or unhealthy cooking friends and family from fattening me up too much while I’m less than mobile.

Ok, I’m glad I made it to spinning class yesterday and then found the energy for a good chest workout. Spinning is the closest thing to running I should be doing right now. I don’t want to have to much swelling/inflamation going into surgery. Today is supposed to be my last day for all the NSAID’s with my pending surgery. Ice is my friend again. Definitely had a major eat whatever day as I ended my day with a post-coaching hawaian pizza split while watching the Pens v Islanders at the local sports/pizza joint with my hockey friends. The good part is I had fruit on my pizza and only had a small Coke. Beer and Pineapple are an odd combo.

I did make it through the entire chest workout and even fit some ab and tricep work. I’m trying to make this next week as fun as possible since I realize my mobility will be limited until around Christmas.

The winter grey is here and I was really thankful for soccer to be played indoor last night. My team never likes the cold weather and were extrememly mis-matched skill-wise last night. My team is basic travel team and they were matched up against a cup-level select team last night. They only lost 3-2 so I tried to explain to them that they played very well. It was the third goal that forced me to realize they needed to pull back and work on frustrating the other team as the other teams midfielders were all able to dribble through the defense. It’s always fun to tell a bunch of 10-11 year olds that our formation is going to change mid-game. I had no other options as my slower defenders were getting beat too easily by the other teams fast footwork.

I have added a yoga type static stretching warm up for my team as the facility we play at has no real warm up space for 10 kids on 8 teams at the same time. So far its worked as I’ve been using this time to reinforce what I expect them to do when they step on the field.

I’m really on a kick right now as I’m expecting lessened activity in less than 2 weeks.

1. Sticking to a healthy nutrition plan. I made soup again last night while watching the election returns.
2. Fitting in at least 45 min of cardio a day. I’m typically breaking my workouts into an AM and PM or lunch.
3. Hitting legs every third day. I need to have my right quad/hammy/calf combo ready for the new graf.
4. Coaching. I enjoy passing on my athletic knowledge to those younger. I’m also learning the importance of teaching others how to best utilize their individual players to create a successful environment for their players.
5. Oh killing my arms so they are ready for two weeks of crutches.
6. Trying to stay sane. . . .

Number 6 is the biggest challenge right now. I’ve stored up on DVD’s and TV shows I need to catch up on during the first week, however I need to reprogram my brain to take things slow all over again.

Here is my one election issue that I’m still not settled on. . .why is Healthcare an issue? Why do we worry about it in just terms of Healthcare? Living a lifestyle where I do my best to make sure I’m in good health, I get frustrated by all of our high cost health care issues. I’m hoping we take this health care issue to the next issue. Let’s create a nation of Wellness, not just health care.

The countdown is on until new ligament day. I’m trying to keep my sanity. I’m trying to push myself up until that point. My goal was to get back to my pre July 1 weight before the ACL reconstruction. I put on about 10 pounds after I had my knee cleaned out and the old screws removed. I’ve been sticking to the eating part pretty well, even though I get the weird looks at work when I bring my little Coleman with me. The big trick is making time for at least 45 minutes of cardio a day. My other big challenge is doing a complete leg workout every three days to keep my quads/hammy/calf strong and ready for the post op brace/rehab.

 In the field of amazement is the little soccer team I coach. Yesterday was their first indoor game 7v7 on a Futsal sized goal. I had a few kids from one of our club’s other teams to about 7 members of my outdoor team. Amazingly they won their first game with a last second goal. My normal outdoor goalkeeper played midfield and pulled out the game winner. Anyhow today was the last game for their outdoor season and I had to put him in goal today. He was able to beat the top team in their division with his leg strength.

The amazement is where I have to turn the blinders on. Going into my planned surgery, I’m getting a lot of doubters wondering why I’d do this since I’m extremely functional in the average (read non-athletic) adult world.  I know that without doing this I’ll be back in pain at some point very shortly if I continue to stay active. Blinders also come in handy when listening to parents who wonder why I’d have my best field player, play in goal the day after he won the game for the team indoor. At age 10-11 my goal is to develop my entire team into complete soccer players. There is no need to pigeon-hole one of my kids into one position.

Now if only the rehab is done and I could go back to coaching by example. Ooops I guess that’s where the patience comes in. . .

I can’t wait for the election to end. . .I’m for whichever candidate will promote a wellness plan for this corn fed nation, not a health care plan.

Yep. I really hate baseball fields without running water, bathrooms, warning tracks and batting cages. Why? I never get warmed up just right or stretched properly so when I had to tag up on a fly ball to score an insurance run last night my hammy shot some pain. The ice last night was OK. Now to see if stretching will help at all. I was really planning a heavy leg day today also.

I’ve been having a difficult time adjusting to the fact that I really need to have my ACL reconstructed again. I remember how much fun those first few months really were between therapy and taking my brace every where, and wearing it everywhere.

I did manage to get up this AM to do my legs. If I’m going to be knifed I will make sure my muscles are ready for the recovery part. I HATE crutches and I’d love to see fireworks somewhere on the 4th. Oh wait in the Pittsburgh area there is no need to wait they are always around.

Anyhow today was one of those days to lock in. I listened to a quick talk from the US Congressman who represents part of my town, just not my block. Thanks to the gerrymandering during the last drawing of districts they split my town down the middle to get that extra Republican district. Mr Republican Congressman just happens to sit on the ENERGY committee. I am so not looking forward to the $200/barrell of oil that is coming oh so soon (translates into $6/gallon for gasoline.)  At that point I really need to rethink the driving to work part.

Tonights game which was 55 miles from work and 35 miles from home all in opposite directions was rained out due to a quick thunderstorm. Luckily I did not make it the whole way out to the field. I did manage a little evening cardio with some extra free motion squats. My legs should feel great tomorrow.

Tomorrow is game 3 so I need to really lock in and support my team.