matoatoa’s BodyBlog

March has run out on me. I will have to post a report in the next few days to assess what I managed to achieve. Tonight I ran for sixty minutes at a comfortable pace….burnin’ that fat. I have been tempted by HIIT but the long runs build that endurance that really counts in real life… except maybe when you have to out-sprint a 100 pound rottweiler.

The hulk kid came back from his mountain excursion last night looking like a mountain man. He climbed one volcano but the second was unattainable because of weather conditions. He didn’t lose any weight though, but I am proud he handled the six hour climb. He is a solid kid…but how can I trick him into another adventure???

Tonight I eeked out an 80 minute run on the treadmill just to see what it felt like. It was slow to start but I increased the speed every 10 minutes or so and made it through. I lost more than a kilo of water weight. The time passed quickly as I was watching a game on the screen built into the treadmill. No problem with the calf…so I will try a short run tomorrow. three days to the end of the month, where is all the time going?

Its raining tonight and the hulk kid is in the mountains. Hope he is dry and lost some weight today.

I managed a 45 minute run tonight. Nice and slow for the first thirty minutes then I picked up the pace for the last 15 just to get the metabolism and HR up. After an hour I had a protein shake. The months end is almost here already!!

I had a cranberry chicken and brie pizza last week on cheat night with the kids. My five year old and I usually share a pepperoni thin crust pizza…like every Friday night for the last two years. When I opened the box with the chicken, cranberry and brie pizza, my five year old says… "I’m not eating that…thats an ugly pizza!"

back to pepperoni…

into the future and I am not getting anywhere fast. This past week has been difficult with a guest in the house and easter social commitments and a funeral. No training for five days in a row…so I hit the weights tonight and ran for fifty minutes at a slow fat burn jog. I only ran about 7kms in that time span. I worked out the chest in the weights room and found that my dips have improved to the point where I can do three sets of 12. I should probably move onto weighted dips.

Tomorrow I have to try again to get the workout and run in.

It was dead calm on the harbour tonight as I eeked out 50 minutes around the bays. I avoided a hyper active pit-bullish looking dog, was intrigued by some people sleeping out (I think) and kept the HR up around 132 bpm mark. We have a guest staying at home so I spent time with him talking so there was no weights tonight which was a downer. I think I am getting definition on the upper body but the lower gut is hanging onto its fat. I got my results about the neck lump yesterday too - the verdict - non-cancerous. I’m relieved…and thankful in so many ways.

I did a 60 min very slow run tonight and burnt off some of the junk I ate in the weekend. I took short steps and tried to keep the Hr in the 120-30 bpm range. I lost 2 pounds in water weight. Hopefully I can maintain this for the rest of the week. I am determined to lose fat in the next fortnight as catchup for last month.

I have had no access to my computer this week. It died on Sunday so I have been waiting for my brother to visit and bring it back to life for me. He came today and a few hours later I was back online. What a cool dude he is…I will spare you the boring details of the computer problem. However, I went under the knife on Monday to get a lump removed from the back of my neck where my spine joins the skull. The surgeon said he could do it quickly, but 40 minutes later he was saying to the nurse he would need a chainsaw to get the lump out. It eventually came out, but through the numbess it felt like he was cutting a nylon rope with a blunt childrens workshop saw. Anyway, I was stitched up and got a good look at the thing sitting in a container of clear liquid. It was the size of a large marble with fibery bits sticking out of it. I am really hoping its not cancerous. I find out later this week so fingers crossed. The son liked seeing the wound with the stichy bits poking out…"what happen dad?…what happen?"

As for training I got a 30 minute, a 50 minute and another 30 minute run in this week. All were good and the last 30 minute run (on a treadmill) was fast. Looking forward to a long slow run tomorrow. Weights have also been steady, hitting 10 reps straight on chinups and getting 3 - 12 reps sets of dips going. I am looking forward to the week ahead and to catching up on a few blogs and forums I follow.

We have had a guest with us this week and he cooked chilli con carne for our dinner tonight. I didn’t want to eat too much because I wanted to run. In the end I ate two helpings and still went running. I ran 30mins gradually building up the pace every seven minutes or so. My HR at the end was 140bpm. This is less than what I am used to but it felt okay for now. I also went to the gym and worked out the chest.

Tomorrow is pizza night with the kids but I’m running.

I managed a slow run of 40 mins tonight around the bays. I ran hard for the last 10 mins to get the HR up. I’m baby sitting the boy tomorrow while the wifey goes to an opera. So I might walk up and down the stairs of my house and listen to sports radio or something. I want a good cardio strike rate this month and the pounds to disappear…at least two of them.

Just to restate, I want to lose body fat but also develop an endurance base useful for tramping, running around after the kids and walking up stairs and hills where I live and work. This month was my second month of running. In February, I wanted to continue to run 4-5 days a week at 40-50 mins. At mid month, I was to introduce one fartlek session per week. In the gym, I wanted to work on an imbalance in my left quadriceps acquired from an indoor soccer injury.

By mid-month I worked out that I had sustained some kind of calf strain injury so almost stopped running entirely for the second half of February. I know now how Seabiscuit must have felt, although he was a harder trainer than me and had four legs to worry about. No fartlek then either. However, I did manage some rowing and biking to keep the cardiovascular system at work.
 

Weight training proceeded with not much focus on the quad. My average time was around 40mins plus. My resting HR went from 68 and hovered around 66bpm most nights at sleep time. I ran or cardio’d 12 days out of the 29 days in Feb. My longest run was 50 mins. A poor months effort. Not good man…not good.  In the gym, I dropped a little weight on the dumbbell press so I could concentrate on good form. I prefer free weights where possible. I am bicep curling 35kgs for 3 sets of 12. And side lateral-ing 12.5 kg for the same reps (just for the record). My chin ups increased to a regular 9 reps in the first set. My short term goal is 12 chin ups in a row with full arm extension. Out of 29 days I think I missed going to the gym 12 cockadoody times!!! I think the cleaners miss seeing me on these late night visits. 

Overall, I have had a small bodyweight decrease. This is no surprise given my lack of cardio. I am regularly coming in under 218lbs (99kgs). My diet is still not hard core or hardcore or perfect, but I regularly get in my five small meals and watch the calories except Fridays and Saturdays. So weight is still going down, but only just. I have noticed some improvement in the chest…it’s getting a little harder and fuller despite the drop in the weight I lift. Hope I won’t need a bra some day. 

Anyway, thanks for reading this those who do. Thanks again to VT dad, and theKansan for inspiration, Rosie for injury and water drinking advice, and my wife who besides letting me out after dark, continues to both encourage and distract me from my training.  I am hoping March is better. Summary: February 2008:-   Running 12 days out of 29 Gym 12 days out of 29 Time/date/method   

50 mins/1 /run  

40mins/4 /run 

40mins /5 /run 

45mins/8 /run 

25mins/11/ run  40mins/12 /row 

35mins/13 /row 

60mins/14 /row 

50mins/15 /bike  20mins/16 /run 

45mins/21 /run 

30mins/26 / run