I'm running

Well, I've ran twice is the last 3 days. Both times was a short 2.5 mile loop from my house. I was fine both times and I ran about 10 minute miles. My heart rate was about 130-135 so I've lost some fitness since right before Florida. I'll get it back though. My feet and body overall felt fine. My stride is really short and that sucks, but it'll come back slowly. It feels weird to run that slow, but I know it's what I have to do to come back.

On Tuesday morning, I weighed 194. This is the starting point for my weight loss challenge. I only gained 3 pounds since a week after IMFL so I guess that isn't too bad. Also, I was eating like crap the few days before Tuesday. We'll see how this goes over the next few months.

I went to yoga this afternoon for the first time since spring. It was good. I went to a hatha star class at YogaYoga so it was more like a beginners class. I wanted to start off lightly again since I haven't been in awhile. It was good. My hamstrings are really tight though.

Today, I did some volunteer work. I went to Performance Wellness here in Austin and volunteered. They are a medical clinic that does stuff such as PT, massage, chiropractic care, ART, and other stuff like that. I volunteered to get some experience to make sure that this career change is something that I want to pursue. I think it is. It's completely different than what I'm used to but I picked it up pretty quickly today. I was actually getting hands on experience with patients doing ultrasound on some patients and helping another do some ART work on other patients. One thing though is that I was exhausted after being there for only a few hours. It's a lot more physically demanding than sitting in a chair in a cube all day, but that's awesome. I get to do almost 10 hours of work tomorrow so we'll see how I feel at the end of the day.

Shoe mileage: 97 miles

I'm back!

Well, I'm back to working out. Well, kinda. I did an hour on the trainer on Thursday with Texas Iron. It hurt. This morning, I did the taco ride with ATC. I got my ass kicked. I was trying to draft off a girl and she dropped me. It corrected my humbleness but has given me a lot more motivation to get back in shape and kick some ass. I know that I can ride with the B pack at least but not right now.

I'm going to try to run tomorrow, but the weather is pretty nasty here right now at 40 and rainy. I guess I can still run in the rain so that's good. I was going to go and do yoga tomorrow, but my yoga studio is closed.

No tattoo yet because the ink shop was closed on Wednesday. I'll go on January 3rd which happens to be my birthday.

Not Much

Not much going on with me right now. I'm working out whenever I feel like it or not working out whenever I don't feel like it. I'm participating in an athletic study at UT and that was the most exercise that I've done since IMFL. I was on the bike for over 3 hours on Monday. I didn't feel good afterwards, though. I tried to go to work but left at 2 hours because I felt like I was really hungover. Not good but I have to do it again next Monday. At least I'm getting paid for it.

I'll start running next week after my last trial. I'm looking forward to it. I found a problem with my feet. I think my orthodics didn't have enough padding to help my bruised mets heal so I switched back to normal insoles that are a little bit more cushy. Man, that cleared up my problems almost immediately. I probably won't be able to swim for a few weeks because hopefully I'll finally be getting my IMFL tattoo tonight. We'll see though.

Drinking beer in the name of science!

As I said before, I'm participating in a study with an ExPhys guy to test some theories how sweat loss rates affect athletic performance (and they stick a thermometer up my bum). I have to do 2 big trials with the 1st one this Friday and the 2nd one on the 18th. For each trial, I have to try to eat the same, drink the same, sleep the same, and exercise the same for 3 days before each trial. Well, for the 2nd trail, it's right before what seems to be the biggest social weekend of the year for me. To account for this since I plan on drinking a decent amount before the 2nd trial, I'm drinking beer tonight and eating chips and salsa. It's fun.

Today's workouts included a trip to the gym to lift weights. It was actually a very quick workout and I was back to my desk at work in an hour. It works though. I think I hurt my arm though. I have this one band of tissue running down the inside of my bicep that hurts pretty badly when I stretch my arms in certain ways and when I tough it. It may be a nerve or something but it sucks. I also spun for just over an hour today for the trial.

I found out something about my foot. I got orthodics to help out with my foot and keep it healthy. After IMFL, both of them were bothering me somewhat badly. The pain that I was feeling in my metarsals heads was just not going away. Two days ago, I decided to ditch the orthodics and put in regular insoles in my shoes. My feet now feel great! The original insoles are cushy and provide enough support whereas it felt like the orthodics had very little cushioning and wouldn't let my met heads heal. I'll keep the insoles in for a week and see how my feet feel then. Hopefully, I will be running again soon!

Jerseys & Rock Climbing

Thursday I did one of my trails for the study that I'm doing. It was actually a pretty long initial trial. I also had to have a thermometer type thingie up my butt for a couple of hours and that wasn't pleasant. Friday was suppose to be a weightlifting day, but I gave blood instead. Saturday was suppose to be an easy ride with ATC. I pussed out on that because it was cold and I haven't been feeling well the last couple of days and I didn't think the cold would be that good.

But I did get some free breakfast tacos and then went to J&A's. Since they are moving, they had all of their sleeveless and shortsleeve jerseys on sale for 50% off. I got a couple of Pearl Izumi jerseys. This is where I talk about my body some more. Now, for shorts I can usually get a medium and I'll be fine. Now, with jerseys, I have to be pickier. For sleeveless jerseys, I can usually get a large and be fine, but for the short sleeved jerseys, I have to start with an XL. That's how wide my shoulders are and how funky my body is.

Today, I went rock climbing with some people that I know. It was my first time on real rock and first time I've climbed in about 3 years. It was fun. I climbed 5 routes and made 2 of them. They weren't hard but I'm just super scared of heights. The last climb was so scary that I had to get off the rock because I was shaking so badly. It was just a mental issue. I could've made it, but not in that mental state I was in. It was fun though. My forearms are toast and my fingers are raw. I'm completely exhausted right now and I'll probably be in bed by 8:30 tonight.

Down is good

189lbs this morning. Down is fantastic!

Now that I'm nearly a month post IMFL, my body is still a little weird. I used to have a resting heart rate of 50 with a blood pressure of about 105/60. Now, those numbers are 60 and 112/70. Not up much, but still up. I know that for a few weeks after IMFL my RHR was closer to 65. I feel like I'm fully recovered but these number indicate differently.