Motivation

So a few times a week my wife goes to the gym after work. So I go pick her up from her office and we go together. On those days it's easy to motivate myself to go to the gym since she's going with me. But on those days where she doesn't go it's a different story. It's so hard to get distracted with everything at home especially the couch and the television. Neither of those ask much of me. They don't make me sore, or gasp for air. They just ask that I put my feet up, relax and turn my brain off. Unfortunately, it's that kind of stuff that got me to where I am today physically. The another issue I'm having with motivation is that the training for the marathon has become my job in a way in lieu of actual employment for the time being. So I often find myself looking at it in terms of work instead of working out and fitness. Plus I'm finding that a lot of the early excitement about training for a marathon has worn off a bit. I'm still excited to attempt it...I mean finish it. It's just now I'm starting to get into more of the grind and it's getting harder. I think I need some more inspirational guitar solos to get me going again. All that being said, I still get off my ass and went to the gym on Wednesday and put an hour in on the treadmill. I set it up so that there are hills while I'm doing it as well to simulate being outside a bit. It was a great workout and I got in and got out just before the evening rush which made it even better. And I felt great afterwards which I always do, it's just hard to get going. That's the way it is with us fat asses, we don't get started very quickly, but once we get going we're hard to stop.

What motivates you guys? Or if you have any motivational tips let me know.

Has It Been That Long?

I just realized that it's been a week since I last made a post. Ooops. I could of sworn I did one much sooner. You'll have to forgive me, but I have a lot going on in my brain these days so unfortunately some things fall through the cracks, mainly updating this here blog. More on that in a second.

I have still been working out regularly, although last week was a little weird because my building manager had our entire bathroom ripped up because it was leaking into her bathroom down below. They told me it was going to be done by Thursday, but it wasn't fully finished and usable until Saturday. Since I thought it would be done Thursday, I decided to do an extra long workout to get out of the apartment while they did all the new tiling work for the shower. Then when I got home drenched in sweat they told me the shower wouldn't be finished until Friday. Really? Let's just say it was a fairly smelly couple of days and Saturday couldn't come quick enough for me.

Fast forward to this week. As I've said in earlier posts, my main concern right now is focusing on getting in shape. So I'm putting the running on the back burner for a little bit. I will resume the running part at some point soon, I was just getting frustrated with it and instead of pissing myself off too much to the point where I stopped, I decided to just workout and get in shape and then resume the running regimen. So with that I've been doing a lot of work on the elliptical at the gym. I love the elliptical for two reasons. One I feel like I'm still getting a good cardio workout because I can really feel it in my lungs and also it just kicks my ass every time, which is great because I need regular ass kickings. I'm definitely better at doing the elliptical now then I was in the past. I can do 40 minutes on it without my knees killing me like they used to. Also, my balance on the machine is greatly improved. I can actually do the whole workout on the machine now without my hands if I want to. I used to almost fall over the second I took my hands off. So every time I went to drink my water bottle I had a near death experience. The other great thing about this is I can now play Solitaire on my iPod while I'm working out which I love to do because it takes my mind off the workout and helps the time go by quicker. Unfortunately, the ability to balance on the elliptical doesn't help my game at all. I swear that damn iPod cheats. I can't prove it yet, but I will. I think it secretly knows I'm anti-iPad, so it's trying to make my life miserable.

And one last funny note that I just had to add to this blog because I like to amuse you all when you read this. So as I said before I've been a bit space brained lately. I don't know if it's just because I have a lot on my mind, if unemployment is causing my brain to atrophy or if it's genetic, but either way I was really loopy yesterday. So while I was working out the song Foxy Lady by Jimi Hendrix came on and there's a part of the song towards the beginning where he whispers "Foxy". And since this is an old monophonic mix, that part only came into my left ear. So when I heard it I snapped my head to the left thinking the person next to me whispered that. It freaked me out for a second and then my brain of course finally caught up and realized it was just Hendrix singing. Anyways, it was a weird moment. It's great how the brain does that stuff to you even if it's embarrassing.

FRIDAY

So Friday started out really bad. I woke up and as always I checked my email first thing to see if there was any news on the job front. Unfortunately there was. I received another rejection email for a position here in LA that I had applied. It hurt a lot, especially because I was more than qualified for the position. I was even willing to take a pay cut from what I was making to take the job. I don't know why but that email upset me to no end. Looking for more jobs just made me even angrier. This is seriously frustrating. So I decided to walk away from the computer for a bit and just go for a walk. I had a couple of errands I needed to accomplish anyways so it was a good excuse to go outside and get some exercise. About a mile into my walk I started forgetting about how angry I was about the job and the search. Even though my job situation didn't improve at all my attitude toward did. At least for a little while. When all was said and done I did 3.5 miles of walking that day with a brief stop at Best Buy. FYI I don't recommend playing a game of FIFA World Cup where you're the US and the other guy is Mexico. We had tons of Mexicans standing around us watching the game as if it were a real match. Every time the other guy scored they would get excited. It was funny. I love to see people get passionate about sports, even digital ones. That definitely helped cheer me up. I really needed that pick me up.

Lessons From The Elliptical

So Thursday turned out to be a pretty good day for me. I was wrapping up another quick temp editing gig. The guy that I was doing the editing for seemed really cool and that made the editing so much easier. I can't tell you how nice it is to have someone who is not only excited about what you're doing, but also appreciative of you being there and doing it for them. Too many bosses I feel, act like they're the ones doing you a favor by having you there and I guess to some extent that is true, but that doesn't mean they can't appreciate what it is you're doing for them. But anyways this is supposed to be more about me working out and exercising right? No it's my blog and I'll do what I want. I'm a blog rebel. I have to play by the loose structure of constrictive regulations you all call "rules". Except it's my blog and I guess I made the rules myself. Is it still rebellious if you break you're own rules? Or would that just be self-loathing?

So to the fitness part. I decided to do another session on the elliptical machine. I've started making sure all my workouts are over 30 minutes. Especially since I don't feel like I'm hitting a good sweat zone until about 15-17 minutes into the workout. So last night I did 40 minutes on the elliptical. At first that sounded like a great idea. I even put a fair amount of resistance on it to help increase the workout. But then about halfway into my time I remembered how much the elliptical kicks my fat ass. The last half of the time was pretty brutal. My feet started hurting, I was sweating like crazy and just sucking wind. And through it all I kept going. It's almost as if last night was a metaphor for everything I'm going through right now with training and the job rejections. Even if there are low points in the middle of the whole thing, I just have to keep on pushing through it, because eventually the positive will come. You can't keep a good man down forever that's for sure.

Getting Exercise and Getting Things Done

So Monday was another day at home looking for work, but I also had to get some stuff done as well. So I spent the first part of my day on the internet combing through the vast networks of job postings and then I decided to go run some errands. Or should I say walk some errands. Since I didn't have any heavy lifting or shopping to do, I decided to walk everywhere that I needed to go. And I even lost 5 pounds in the process. No it wasn't because of the length of the walk, it was because I got a much needed haircut. My hair was beyond hair helmet. It was more like a hair protective shield. It's amazing how great you feel after a haircut. I really felt like a new man. Plus now when the interviews start coming, I'll be ready. And it was yet another nice day so it was great to get outside and breathe the "fresh" air. Fresh being a relative term here in LA. Since I wasn't in a hurry to get anywhere, I made sure to take the long way everywhere. All told my journey was 5 miles of walking. I actually thought it was going to be longer, but 5 miles is a good distance and once I hit my stride I really enjoyed myself. Monday was definitely a very uplifting day.

Another Day Another Treadmil Session

So Thursday I ended up taking the day off from working out. I wasn't feeling very well and I was chasing down some leads all day for a couple of jobs. One of which turned into a phone interview later in the day. And it went really I feel. So we'll see what happens.

Friday was another day of job searching, but I went to the gym after my wife got off of work. I was all ready to do another run/walk day. And for the most part everything was going fine. I was able to run as long as I felt I should. Then I felt something go awry in my shoulder. I didn't think shoulder pain could curtail running, but it did. Every step I took jolted through my body and made my shoulder hurt like crazy. Definitely one of the weirdest things that's happened to me so far since I started my training. Instead of running I just decided to do the rest of my time on the treadmill walking briskly and with intermittent hills. All told I did 45 minutes plus the 5 minute cool down. Still felt like I got a good sweat so that was good. I know that the important part is getting in shape so if that means just a brisk walk then that's fine.

AAAARGH!

So I decided to do a run/walk outside yesterday instead of trying to deal with all of the madness that is involved in going to the gym. I figured it would be great to not have the hassle of fighting for a treadmill and I could just go outside do my little routine like I do at the gym and everything would be great. Apparently I must have been drinking the Kool-Aid at work. When I was putting my clothes on I felt like this was going to be the greatest exercise day yet and that little singing bluebirds were going to fly out of my ass as I went along too. Cuz after all shouldn't my great workout also make the world a little bit brighter as well. As you can probably guess from the title of the post. None of that happened. It was a bad day and a bad evening workout all together. Here's what happened.

First I spent the day being hassled by the bossman about the project I was working on. He came in, gave me a ton of notes and then came back an hour later wondering why everything wasn't done. Then gave me some more notes for the road. Then came back wondering why the project wasn't done. Then sat with me for fifteen minutes making changes to stuff and then leaving me telling me he didn't like it. Then about twenty odd minutes later I got a call from the other editor telling me they had another project that needed to be started and that mine was going to be put on hold and that I wasn't needed anymore. So I figured at least I can go home and have a great workout.

Fast forward to the workout. I did just as I would do on a treadmill. I had my five minute warmup walk. Then I started running. Again I don't know if I'm just running too fast outside or what. I tried to keep my speed to what felt like the same speed as the gym but I have no real way of telling. Long story short I wasn't running for as long as I felt I should be able to at this point. And found myself mostly walking. To make things worse, being outside made my allergies flair up so about the last mile I couldn't breathe very well. Now I remember why I didn't like to go outside that much. All told I still did about three miles which is cool. It was just really frustrating. One day I feel like I'm making progress and getting somewhere and the next I feel like I'm back to square one. I think I might need to reassess where I am and where I want to be and maybe retool my workout plan. Maybe I just need to concentrate more on getting in shape right now and not the actual running part. Suggestions etc. would be greatly appreciated. Sorry I haven't done a weigh in lately either. As of this morning I'm at 268. So down 10 from the beginning so that's decent. I knew this wasn't going to be easy and it hasn't been at all, but having you all to kvetch too has been helpful and cathartic.

Stupid Gym

So I got home from work,got my running duds on, fixed my hair (only in LA do we get cleaned up and groomed to go the gym), grabbed my iPod and water bottle and hit jetted out the door ready for another awesome run/walk day going off of the success of the last two that I just did. Unfortunately for me the gym had other plans for me. The entire two sections of treadmills were completely taken. And the ones that weren't being used were broken. And I could see that based on some of the people's times, they were not sticking to the 20 minute max during peak hours. So how was I supposed to get my 45 minute run/walk workout in? I could also see that I was not the only one waiting for a treadmill. Others were circling them like vultures. I was in no mood to fight with strangers over a lousy piece of workout equipment. So I decided to use this day as an alternate workout day and I did 40 minutes on a stationary bike instead. But wait there's more. Just when I thought this workout couldn't get anymore disappointing, iPod dies. Yep. I had to do 40 minutes of working out with only the gym's pumped in crap for music. Do you know how hard it is to maintain focus and intensity in your workout when every few minutes the music is interrupted with advertisements for the gym that you already have a membership for! Are they trying to reassure me that I made the right choice in gym membership? Or are they afraid I might decide to somewhere else to workout? Anyways, I did my 40 and got the hell out of there. And I was sore too because those seats on the bikes are not designed for the husky gentleman. All told it was a bad night at the gym even though I did get a workout in. I think I'm going to start doing my run/walk days outside. The weather is great and it will give me a more realistic experience to what I'll be up against anyways. Plus I'll get to do some more exploration. What could be better?

The Road Taken

So even though Monday is "officially" a run/walk day for me, I decided to go outside and take walk after work. It was just too nice of an evening and the outdoors were beckoning me. Well as outdoorsy as it gets in my area.

Since it was about 7ish by the time I got suited up and ready to hit the streets, I decided to keep the walk to a short three miles instead of doing a full 5. The total distance ended up being around 3.5 when all was said and done. It was a great walk. I made sure that there were some hills that I had to go up and down as well to increase the workout benefit.

The best part about taking these walks to get in shape is that I'm starting to explore areas of my neighborhood that I didn't even know existed. Nothing crazy and seedy I assure you. It was really cool to see all these different houses, restaurants and stores that I've never seen before. Some of which I think I'm going to go back and visit. Especially this Japanese grocery store that I passed that has a food court. Wait. A food court dedicated to just Japanese food? Hell yeah! I know. The last thing I need is another excuse to eat and spend money that I shouldn't spend. So I'll wait until later to do the food court, but I bet they have some great sashimi grade fish which is super healthy to eat especially without rice.

I highly recommend using exercise as not only a means to get/stay fit but also as a chance to explore a little bit. Get out of your regular routine a bit. If you always make a right at one street, go left next time. That's how my adventure started and I'm glad I did it. My walk wasn't life changing like Robert Frost's Road Not Taken, but it did make me understand his poem a little more. I think.

Hit me up with some comments on what you find in your own personal explorations of your areas. Or a story of a discovery you've already had.

Finally

So I had a chance to go to the gym mid-day on Friday while some maintenance work was being done on my edit bay. I miss going to the gym earlier in the day when just about no one is there. It doesn't have all the hot, sticky feeling that the evening does when it's crammed full of people sweating and working out like crazy. On a semi-cold day (cold for LA that is) I've gone into the gym in the evening and had my glasses fog up. So this chance for an afternoon treadmill session was quite welcome. Not only did it feel great to be back in the gym for the first time since Monday, the workout itself felt great. I think this is the first time ever since starting this process where I've done a great run/walk day and then followed it up with a second great run/walk day. I think I've figured out some of the keys to my success finally. The biggest one being speed. I've decided to turn down the speed dial a little bit and in return focus on running for longer length of time. This really seems to be working for me. I've been limiting my running sessions to just 3 minutes for now to keep sticking with my couch to 5k plan, but I feel like I could easily do twice that time if I wanted to. I've also started extending the length of my workout as well. I'm trying to do my best to mimic the great run/walk days I had outside while I was back in the Bay Area. So what I've been doing is walking for 5 minutes to get myself warmed up. Then I did a run/walk regimen doing three minutes on/three minutes off for about 25 minutes and then I followed that up with a nice walk with some hills for another 15 minutes for a total workout of 45 minutes. I enjoyed that workout so much on Friday that I repeated it again on Saturday. This was partly because I wanted to see if I could do back-to-back days and still feel fine and I did. Saturday felt just as great as Friday did. So finally I think I might be making some breakthroughs in this process. We'll see. I'm going to try it again tonight after work and see how it goes. Good or bad, I'll keep you all posted on what happens.