food and Exercise 12/9, 12/10

Just catching up on my food and exercise.  Going to be tough, as I am forgetting things quickly!

Friday, 9 Dec Food:  cereal with milk and banana, fibre bar, last of the leftover crackmac.
2 reese cups (doh!, but not from the evil bowl @ work - from my freezer), a babe ruth bar and some finger food at my company holiday party.

Friday exercise:  Gunner with a 2 mile run.

Saturday food:  Greek Strawberry Yogurt and a banana.
Eggs benedict and a few potatoes, hot chocolate and a large glass of milk.
A PB&J sandwich for a mid-afternoon snack and a glass of choc milk
Salad and a stuffed chicken breast for dinner.  And you know it, a large glass of choc milk.  Yes, I LOVE milk!

Saturday exercise.  GUTR #4.  That's all.

tomorrow I'll do about 55 miles on the bike followed by a 5ish K run.

jd

December 8th

just catching up on making some notes about my food and exercise routine. 

Have to start with Dec 7, as I did the guest blog last night.  I hope everyone took a moment to remember those who fell when Pearl Harbor was shelled.  It's been 70 years now.  I heard on the news that there were actually some Veterans from Pearl Harbor in attendance at the ceremony.  That is what started the US involvement in WWII. 

The 7th was a good day for exercise.  Got in 1.5 miles with Gunner in the am, ran with Bo and Tedd for 4.3 miles after work, then went straight to the aquatic center for a swim. 

Decided to do 1000m.  I'm really starting to feel the glide!  Tedd described it as a feeling of surfing, and I really am starting to feel it.  Not with every stroke mind you, but it happens pretty frequently.  I'm really starting to improve.  That really gives me a lot of confidence for White Lake. 

What about food on Wednesday?  Well, still stuck on cereal for breakfast.  Had a fibre bar for a mid-morning snack.  Lunch was pretty good, a chicken salad sandwich and a salad.  Bad part of that was the giant chocolate chip cookie and a large sweet tea. 

Dinner?  crack mac and a glass of choc milk.

After all of that, I didn't get into bed until 1030.  I had to get Gunner out for one last walk before bed, and it just got later and later.  The previous night, I didn't get into bed until after 11pm.  That is really late considering I still get out of bed at 445am.  Right now, I'm about to pass out, so this is going to be quick from here on out!

Thursday started the same as most mornings.  A 2 mile run with Gunner followed by a bowl of cereal. 

Running out of stuff to eat for a mid-morning snack, but had another fibre bar. 

Lunch.  You judge, I'm thinking not the best - Baked chicken and a portion of mac and cheese.  The mac is nothing like crack mac, but it isn't horrible.  Ok, this part of my lunch is REALLY bad - banana pudding. 

Dinner was a salad and the next to last helping of crack mac.  After tomorrow I'll be good for a little while.  Of course, a glass of chocolate milk. 

Workouts:  2 x 2mile runs with Gunner.  Spent some time with my foam roller trying to work out the kinks in my calves.  Not sure if that's going to take at all!

Guest Post: The Importance of Exercise for Individual's Dealing with a Cancer Diagnosis

So I was recently contacted by David Haas and he asked me if I would be interested in hosting a guest blog.  Since I am a bit of a cancer soldier, doing what I can to aid in the fight against cancer, and his post is very relevant to that subject, I thought it would be a neat idea.

He sent me the following blog.   Some good information here.

The Importance of Exercise for Individual's Dealing with a Cancer Diagnosis

When you are going through the various emotions associated with a cancer diagnosis, one of the last things you are interested in thinking about is exercising to stay fit. However, when you have cancer it is very important to maintain some degree of movement every day, doing this can positively affect how you feel physically and emotionally. Exercise will help you to have more energy, which in turn, will improve your quality of life. 



To achieve the aforementioned benefits, you do not have to become a body builder or exercise fanatic, all you need to do is take 10 minutes out of your day to ride a bike or walk around the block. 



Exercise Components
Experts have stated that every sensible exercise program has three components. Even an exercise program that includes only a little of each of these components is ideal. 



Stretching


Stretching helps keep your muscles and joints flexible, which is important for everyone, from the people diagnosed with colon cancer to the people diagnosed with a rare cancer like mesothelioma. Any individual that is bedridden for any length of time would find stretching extremely beneficial.



An Aerobic Workout


An aerobic workout gets your blood pumping by speeding up your heart rate. Some of the more common aerobic exercises include brisk walking or jogging, bicycling on a stationary bike or outdoors and swimming. 



Strength Training


When you strength train you build your muscles and tone your body. This helps you maintain your strength while you are dealing with your disease and when a patient is receiving treatment that can weaken the body.



Exercise is Important


In 2009, the American College of Sports Medicine conducted a study that stressed that cancer patients need to avoid being inactive. Dr. Schmitz, the lead author of the Abramson Cancer Center in Philadelphia stated that programs for cancer patients that are similar to the cardiac rehab programs would be extremely beneficial.

Dr. Schmitz has stated that the cancer patient’s quality of life will improve and is the main benefit of maintaining a regular exercise program. 



Dr. Schmitz, along with her partners in the study, has created realistic, but aggressive guidelines for the cancer patients’ exercise program. This program avoids any tasks that may be too difficult for a cancer patient to overcome. For instance, certain medications or therapies that are used to treat cancer have a tendency to make the patient prone to have bone fractures. This must be realized when creating an exercise program tailored to the cancer patient.



You can ask your support person at the hospital if they have a personal trainer available that caters to the needs of cancer patients. If they do not, contact your local health clubs to inquire about fitness personnel that are trained to work with cancer patients. Do not be apprehensive about asking for the trainer’s documentation concerning his licensing and/or experience.

Suffering, but not in a good way

Tonight my peeps got together to enjoy another sufferfest. I was so bummed I missed it. What was I doing instead? I was sitting behind my computer working on the team's kit order. Well, I'm ready to send the order out, so I guess it is worth it. You could say I was suffering, but not in that good sufferlandria way.

However, I still got about 3.5 miles of running in today. 1.5ish this morning with my boy Gunner, and another 2 miles after work with him again.

Food? Not the best today, although I was able to stay away from the bowl of chocolate. Today was the holiday meal at work, so the feasting was big at lunchtime. Turkey, stuffing, mac and cheese and a salad. Followed by some cream pie with caramel and chocolate. Total indulgence.

Breakfast was cereal and I had another protein bar for my mid-morning snack. With the gorging at lunch there was no need for a mid-afternoon snack.

Dinner was to finish up some of the burrito makings. Still have some stuff left, but the ground beef is gone.

Two bottles of beer as I worked on my stuff.

Overall, probably not the best food day, but any day I can avoid that bowl of chocolate is a good day.

12/5

Today was a good day. Not only did I manage to completely avoid some very yummy chocolate treats in the evil bowl at work, I actually ate a good lunch and had my mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks that seemed to work so well earlier in the year when I managed to drop some weight.

Breakfast needs some work - cereal is just so quick and easy.

Dinner, ok, not the best, but not the absolute worst either - a plate of crack mac. gotta love some leftovers!

As for workouts, along with my runs with Gunner, I went to the pool again this evening. I've been reading the book 'Total Immersion" by Terry Laughlin with John Delves. This is an interesting book that really speaks to my inner engineer. The way they describe swimming with such an engineering approach makes a lot of sense.

I've been working on following their advice, and perhaps it is paying off. Of course, each day in the pool gives me a little more strength that allows me to be that much stronger the next time. While I am not breaking any speed records, I can tell my 50m lap times are improving.

the last visit to the pool I did 1050 meters in about 29 minutes. Tonight, I passed that mark in about 27 minutes. Then, I kept going until I totaled 1500m. Stopped the clock at 47 minutes. Still pretty slow, but I felt really good about it.

One of the reasons I felt good about it is because when I hit my lap button on my forerunner, it gives me my lap time. Last time, I saw most of my times in the 1m20s range. Mostly over 1m20s, but a few under 1m20s. This time, I saw many lap times that were in the 1m15s range. The fastest I recall was 1m13s. Still there were quite a few in the 1m20s or more range, but I was definitely feeling stronger and my technique is improving.

Speaking of technique, I know I could benefit from a coach, but I'm a stubborn fool and like to see what I can do all on my own. If I decide to do a full Ironman, I'll spring for a real coach. For this half, in one sense, I'm going it alone (well, I'll have plenty of support from my friends of course).

Here's the official food list for the day:
bowl and a half apple jacks/cheerios mix, with milk and one banana

Protein (builder bar) for mid-morning snack

Pork tenderloin and two orders of veggies (a corn / lima bean / green peas medley and a cauliflower / broccoli / carrot medley). Sweet tea (ok, shoot me)

Fibre bar for mid afternoon snack

Dinner - crack mac and a glass of chocolate milk.

Workouts:
2 x 2mile runs with Gunner. He is sacked out big time now. That running is very good for him!
1500m in the pool.

12/4 food and workouts

Food:
2 bowls of mixture Cheerios and Apple Jacks (generic) with milk
Glass of apple juice
One home-made burrito
Some scraps of cheese as I prepare the crack mac
TBD, but you can guess that Crack Mac will be on the menu.
About 6 bottles of Miller High Life.

Workout(s):
2 miles running with Gunner, inside just long enough to drop him off, then back out for another 3.5 miles (total 5.5 miles).

Today's ramblings - 12/4

Yesterday, Bo posted that he had run 8.5 miles. Last week, I know he and others ran 7 miles. So, I had to ask if peeps were training for a half marathon. Of course, they (unknown who exactly right now) are training to run the YMCA Resolution Run Half marathon on Jan 7th.

Bo asks if I want to join them. Well, of course I do! However, I'm not sure i've really been running all that much. Yes, I get between 1.5 and 4 miles a day with Gunner on most days (he has to get his run in you know!), but I haven't really been doing any long distances on my own. The most recent long distance has been a 5.5 mile run (today) and a 5 mile run (thanksgiving day).

I felt totally fine after today's run, in fact, I had no intention of stopping when I did, but those home-made burritos caught up with me and I had to make a bee-line to the restroom instead of the 2 mile route back I had planned (was hoping for 6.5 to 7 miles today). Well, I do know I'll get the extra miles - Gunner will need another run this evening...

The longest I've run in the past 5 years has probably been only about 7.5-8 miles. I have a month and I have a pretty good base because of the runs with Gunner. I suppose if I can get some longer runs in during the week, and longer runs on the weekend, I should be fine.

This will be good training for the Off-road tri I want to do in Febuary (11th). The Winter challenge is a fun little tri with a 7ish mile run, 6 mile paddle and a 10ish mile mt bike. I did this race a few years ago, and it really is a blast.

Talk about a difficult transition - run, paddle, bike! After that run you have to fold yourself into your kayak for 30-45 minutes. Your legs get completely cooled down and might even start cramping while your upper body does all of the work. I'd love to have video of the racers coming out of the boats and running (if you want to call it that) towards the transition with the bike. Your legs just don't want to work AT ALL!

Well, I'm looking forward to that, will have to make plans and see if any of my peeps are going to do it.

I'll post the complete day's food and workouts in another post, but wanted to get this down before I forget:

Food:
2 bowls of mixture Cheerios and Apple Jacks (generic) with milk
Glass of apple juice

Workout(s):
2 miles running with Gunner, inside just long enough to drop him off, then back out for another 3.5 miles (total 5.5 miles).