Scott cycles…

He ShOoTS! HE SCORES!

Okay – I owe you all a better web update and I promise – it’s COMING!  That being said – Here is a photo of Derek and his winning science fair project!  Many of you probably helped/participated!  THANK YOU!  It was fun for everybody!

And the winner is... DEREK!

For three straight day…

I feel like I have run for three straight days. It all started on Saturday. I did the run home from soccer thing again. I went a different way and poured on the gas a bit. When it was all said and done, mapmyrun.com said I had run 5.75 miles in about an hour. I had more left – but wasn’t sure and the “climb” home hurts.

Sunday – feeling stupidly inspired, I set out on a 34 degree jaunt. I ran about 4.85 miles. Maybe more, maybe less – not sure. I was running harder to stay warm. I was pretty tired after that. I think my time was about 51 ish minutes?

Well, today I go to work and the guys email me and say want to run? I say … maybe … look at the weather and realize its about to get ugly again. UN-FUN! So … I say ok. It’s only 4 miles. Let me tell you… there is no casual warm up pace at the beginning of a lunch run. My head almost popped off we were going so hard. At least, that’s how I felt. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25859372 I guess we weren’t REALLY going all that crazy fast, but I wasn’t ready. My goal, was to stay with the guys. I did stay with one of them. The other one dropped us like a bad habit with about 1/2 mile to go. It was kind of cool as the guy with the Garmin was telling me where we were (1 mile, 2 mile…) and at 10 minute miles – I could see if we were up and down. I really think I buried myself today and hope I can show some restraint tomorrow.

I’m sad to say my last cycling endeavor was 45 minutes on the rollers on Friday. That’s okay – I’m working on a goal right now. One of the guys at Church invited me to ride to Alabama with him sometime this summer. I’ve heard it’s the thing to do on the Silver Comet Trail – so I guess I should entertain the idea.

One negative side effect of this working out – I am cold a lot. Like right now. My blood is moving slow, my HR is low … and I m cold. I guess it’s good and I wonder if I acheive my current goal of 190 – if I will be cold all the time? I won’t have all my grizzly bear fat … will I miss it? I hope to find out!

Until next time – stay warm and dry!

Almost on call!

Monday morning, at 5:00 am I start my first on-call rotation at my new job.  Well, sort of.  I’m the backup guy for a week, then I become primary the following Monday.  Little nervous about that – but we will sort it out!  I actually have real work to do at 5:00 am Monday morning, but hey … that’s ok.

Originally, I thought I would be running at 5k run in about 8 minutes.  Unfortunately – it is not for 28 more days.  February and March – the numbers are on the same days – which is screwy.  Why the TV station said it was today – I have no idea – but it’s 3/27.  Some of you may recall I ran my first 5k on my birthday, 2 years ago.  It was fun … and I’m returning this year with some training, I should be about 20+ pounds lighter on race day – so that should help me get a better time.  There’s a rumor that I will be running a 10k next Saturday.  A fast, flat one – not like the PeachTree.  It basically depends on Derek’s soccer game schedule.

Just a little mention of what is on tap – we are going to be gluing fake fingernails on one of our cats in the next day or so.  That should be about as much fun as … hmm…. well, the good news for you is that we plan on video taping the event.  He’s not hip on the idea…

Derek had his first soccer practice on Thursday, Max has his today.  Basketball is over.  Derek’s team only lost 2 games out of about 10.  They don’t keep score in Max’s – but he had fun, so it was a success!  I’m done coaching – that was odd how it all shook out.

Kind of waiting on warm – where is it?  Bull butter it’s cold in the mornings lately!  We moved here 2 years and 51 weeks ago.  It was NOT this cold!

Hope you have a great weekend!

As they say “The form is coming along”

One of the clear indicators of Scott getting in shape is I get dizzy.  Not in a bad way, not all the time, but as I get fit and loose weight, I occasionally get light headed when I stand up too fast.  I’ve achieved that.  The good news is – once my body gets used to that, it stabilizes a good deal and goes away.  It may seem strange to think that I’m excited about getting dizzy.  I’m really not excited about that – I’m just happy to be working out again and knowing it’s working.  (BTW –  the reason is my blood pressure has gone down, which is a good thing!

Some of this could be caused by all the new stuff I am doing.  This past week I ran over 14 miles, did the eliptical machine on 2 days and rode 30 miles.  I’d love to tell you that all the running and eliptical stuff helped my ride, but I’m not so certain.  The first 15 miles went great – the second… well, I survived!  I think the fitness helped, but my legs were tired from over 9 miles in the 2 days before, I was tired…. it was great to be back on my bike!

Next “stop” on the Scott World Oddity Tour – a 10k race saturday after next.  I hear it’s a great course for setting a PR – much easier than the Peachtree – so that is what I will try to do!

Running v. Cycling

So here’s my take …

Running is one of the least efficient forms of transportation.
Cycling is perhaps THE most efficient forms of transportation.

Being very inefficient – Running burns a lot of calories.
Being efficient – cycling does not burn as many.

It’s easier to run harder than it is to ride harder on a bicycle.
It’s easier to ride easier than it is to run easier on a bicycle.

It’s warmer running in the cooler temperatures. (less wind-chill)
It’s easier cycling in warmer temperatures.  (more wind chill)

Running is harder on more parts of the body.
Cycling is specifically harder on the crotch.

I have never been able to get used to the jarring of running – but it is getting better.
I’ve been able to get used to numerous saddles.

Running is easier to get ready for.
Cycling is ease to carry water with you.

Having EEE feet – running is easier to find shoes.

Running downhill sucks.
Nothing beats a 35 mph downhill left hand corner after a long climb.

Running events are fun and encouraging to beginners.
Cycling events are elitist and often annoying even to experienced riders.

Everybody gets a T-shirt at a running race.
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Running shoes are easier to walk in.
You aren’t supposed to walk in cycling shoes.

After a month of running, I don’t feel any faster.  I can run farther, but I’m slower than a turtle.
After a month of cycling, i’m usually seeing a marked improvement in average speeds an comfort.

All that said… I’m actually enjoying running lately.  I find running on a treadmill more tolerable than time on a trainer.  Mentally, I ‘m just able to do it better – I don’t know why.

My Unsolicited Review of the Body Bugg #bodybuggtweet

As some of you may know, I’ve been using the BodyBugg for just over 4 weeks.  Many have asked me “Do you like it?”, “Does it work?” – well – here’ my story.  I’m sticking to it!

First – if you don’t know, the bugg is a small device you wear on the back of your left arm.  It’s light, comfortable and you really get used to it quickly.  All day long, as you go through the paces of your every day life – it keeps track of your motion, your skin temperature and your core heat release or something like that.  You can go read all about it – but in short – it keeps track of how many calories you burned through the day.  At the end of the day, you can view a graph that looks something like this:

Daily Activity Log

It gives you a standard time (mine is 5:00 am to 11:00) as that’s my typical day.  If you aren’t wearing the unit, you can tell it what you did and it will calculate all of your stuff based on your weight and the activity you did.  Form 12-5:30 ish, I was asleep.  I didn’t wear it so it says I burn 1.5 calories per minutes sleeping.  If I wear it, I get a little more credit for sleeping (1.8-2.1 calories per minute) but your arm can and will get itchy from wearing this thing 24×7.  They actually recommend NOT wearing it one hour a day (at least).  As you can see, I don’t burn many calories at work, but you can also see that during my lunch break – I did a nice eliptical workout.  The numbers on the bugg differ (greatly) from the fitness equipment – but more on accuracy later.   All of this data is transmitted to the computer by a little online java app (the provide).  It’s a pain on the Mac, but I can get it to work.  They also have a wireless uploader – but I have no experience with that.

One of the neat things – which can be done with any inexpensive pedometer as well – is your step count.  “Fitness experts often use the number of steps a person takes as an indication of their daily activity level.  The software set my goal at 10,000 – which is a lot, but at the same time – very achievable.  The bugg keeps track of this for you and you get a daily graph like this:

How Many Steps?

On any given day, if I don’t work out – I’m in the 7-8,000 range.  I’m trying to change that through simple lifestyle changes like parking in the back of the parking lot – much like the gangstas with their fancy hondas.

As you progress through the day, you REALLY have to keep your food log if you want this to work.  It’s tedious but it works much better if you do keep track of EVERYTHING.  Portions are key.  I’ve started to measure and weigh things and my weight loss is coming in pretty close to what the bodybugg would predict.  When I loosely guestimated everything – it wasn’t so close at all.

All of this comes together on a common section of the page that looks like this:

Core Screen

You will learn to hate that woman in her pink jacket – I don’t know why… but you will.  You can see my calories burned, how much I consumed and my deficit.  I can tell you – it may have been that I was making too big of a deficit or it may have been that I didn’t log my food correctly last week, but this week I kept the deficit right around 1000 calories and the math worked out.  (3500 caloris = 1 pound – my weight loss was VERY close to that equation).  How do I know this? when you look at the week – you get a graph like this:

Measurement Based Details

Based on the amount of weight I lost last week – over a 7 day period, I had an average deficit of 1500 calories a day.  In a week where I FOUGHT to be accurate in my food log – I came up with this as my “food log based deficit”.

From the Food Log

As you can see – I was really pretty close.  Honesty – measuring – and some self control helped out a lot!  Being honest with your food diary will also help you show things to other people as you can do a complete download of your food diary.  Here you go – this is what I ate!  Food Report

They provide a food plan and everything, but I have not used that yet so I really cant comment.  I do like the nutrional analysis that it comes with each day.

Nutritional Analysis

I could have picked a day I ate better to post this – but well – I’m being honest here.  I ate it it happens!  (check out the calcium… 1234 – that’s kinda funny!)  I realize I need to work on more protein.  I plan on discussing the protein/carb ratio with some people who have a clue – something I generally lack when it comes to that stuff.

You can also keep track of your overall progress.  I find this a little “lacking” but gets the point across – so I guess it’s not all bad!

Progress Information

Just a lot of space to show this information and the graph is weak at best!  Free applications like Calorie King and Calorie Count will blow this away:

Weight Loss Graph

So – what is all of this about?  Weight loss.  Why is this of ANY benefit?  I mean – weight loss is theoretically FREE!  Eat less, do more – lose weight.  Poppycock!  (I always wanted to use that in my blog).  As any of you who have ever battled with weight loss know,  it is a total mind game.  It sucks.  You want to eat as “comfort food” makes you feel comfortable but then you hate yourself for eating it.  You try to workout and think “Wow, I worked out, I can eat anything I want!” but really – you can’t, as you only burned a fraction of the calories the fitness equipment told you you burned.  It’s not easy – but the Body Bugg DOES HELP!   At least it helped me to understand things.  They claim it’s at least 90% accurate and I’m leaning towards believing them.

The downfall of the system would be a combined factor of cost and the work you have to do.  I got mind for $179 with a year subscription (a $99 value).  The standard one will set you back $199 – with 6 months.  You have to use their website which costs money.  I don’t have to worry about that for 49 weeks – but it is a cost.  The work – you have to log the food.  It’s a pain in the ass sometimes.  Then again, so is being fat.

So – let me break it down for you:

Pros:

• Reasonably accurate monitor of your calorie burn
• Comfortable
• Easy to use
• Almost invisible for me, women with sleeveless… well?
• Fun to use

Cons:

• Cost
• Tied to their software
• Finicky on the Mac
• Food diary is not as robust as others
• No instant feedback w/out $80 wrist unit
• It’s not water proof, only water resistant.  That scares me when the rain potential goes up.

Worthy of comment:

• You HAVE to keep a food log or it’s worthless – but accountability is key
• The software is hooked into Twitter, which helps find others using it if you have questions
• You “get” a training session which I hear is “more useful than expected” – but mine is not until next week.  It’s a 1 hour phone call.
• I’ve HEARD it can be flakey on a bicycle – I don’t have experience yet, but look to change that soon.

If you are willing to commit some time and focus to your food log.  If you want to know what your body is doing, this is a good tool.  If you aren’t going to keep your log up to date, you are probably better off getting a pedometer and counting steps (at least that’s what I think).

As Forest would say – That’s all I have to say about that!

Questions? comments? concerns?  You know where to find me.  I’d be happy to reply!

Mixed

First – a confession – I actually thought we were going to have our memorial service on Saturday – but it turns out we did it on Thursday.  Things went quite well…Everybody was sad.  We cried, we remembered how much we love that little fat fellow and put him to rest.  A sad day, but we know he is better off now.

Yesterday was Basketball day and what a day it was!  Derek continued to dominate on the defensive side of the game, throwing his hat out there on offense as well.  Hard to believe you would be on the edge of your seat for and 8 year old basketball game, but it was crazy!  They actually ended in a tie.  I kind of wish they went to overtime, but that’s not the Upward way.

Maxwell scored his first ever basket in a game.  This was huge.  He’s the youngest and the smallest kid on his team and he really wants to be big.  He got the ball and shot it.  It sat on the back of the basket, leaning on the backboard for about 3 minutes (probably seconds, but it seemed like a long time) and then it dropped in!  I was coaching the team (which if you know me, you know how scary/bad that is for the team) so I was right there!  The crowd all cheered… so did I!  He was so happy!

Sarah and I saw Invicitus.  Her review of the movie differs greatly from mine.  I liked it ok.  I agree it was a bit slow, but overall – a good movie.  Sarah could find no socially redeeming value in the movie.  I thought it was more of a sports movie – rather a history-ish movie about Nelson Mandella and the Rugby team.  I’d recommend it – but zero stars from Sarah.

That’s about it… Oh – and apparently only a few people think I look like John Malkovich – I don’t know.

A good day

Today has gone better than yesterday.  I’ve had my ups, I’ve had my downs – but you know what, it’s ok.  I’m sure tonight will be interesting.  Trying to guide Max and Derek though their grieving should be different, but we can handle it.

Saturday – we will have a memorial service for Tiger.  It’s a small service planned for our back 40… (behind the fence).  We will bury his collar and remember him a little bit.  All are invited… we will not be providing seating or anything fancy, dress is as you are   You know – come to think of it … Tiger was always happiest IN the backyard – I’m going to do it inside the fence.  There was nothing as funny as seeing a 20 pound cat with his belly swinging side to side running through tall grass thinking his clawless self was some sort of jungle cat!  Yes – Saturday, we will remember our favorite fat cat!

I was reminded, internally, how good a “drug” working out can be.  I don’t know all the exact details – but I know that when you work out, specifically when you work out hard, you release a lot of chemicals into your brain.  Endorphins are part of that chemical cocktail.  All of the stuff releases into your mellon and makes your brain work better, which makes you feel better!  I had a good workout today.  Not my hardest, fastest, longest… just a good session on the Eliptical machine.

Tomorrow will be running – most likely.  I’m enjoying the running as long as I do it every other day.  I’m just too big to slam down on my body over and over again.  I need a break.  I’m pondering trying to re-start MaxFit on Monday.  I really like that program, I just found the doctor to be pretty much a loser.  He may be the greatest in the world, but if you wont reply to emails sent directly to you – you are a loser.

Tomorrow – I weigh in.  Things are going well on that front – I’ve got a long way to go – but I’m ahead of the past couple of years (by a good margin).  I’d like to be a lot lighter for the PeachTree… That will help me pull my extra 5 minutes off the top!

Today was the best and the worst

Sometimes, being an adult, you have to make the hard decisions.  You have to make the choice of life or death.  In this particular case, I had to determine the destiny of my very good friend, Tiger Patton.  I specifically say “Tiger Patton” so nobody gets any wrong ideas and decides to make jokes.  I know a few people have – and they didn’t understand – so I’m not mad.  I’m sad for my loss.

I have to share how it all went down and then go to sleep… or try to.

I couldn’t decide.  Thousands of dollars in bills, less money but an unsure procedure, or euthanasia.  I prayed about it and wasn’t getting that smack in the face sign I wanted.  I needed help.  I asked to see Tiger again.  They brought him in.  He was miserable.  He was meo-owning that’s a cross between meowing and moaning.  I got him to sit on my lap and we were “talking”.  I was sad and petting him.  His hair was shedding.  His bladder was the size of a softball and almost as hard.  I said “Tiger, I don’t know what to do.  I don’t know if you will stay sick? I don’t know if you are strong enough to make it.”  I blubbered on for a minute and Tiger stood up and walked away, he sat down in the corner and looked at me in a happy way.  He was a beautiful cat, he looked at me and I knew – he was giving me the sign I asked for.

I wont go into all the details, but I stayed with him until it was over.  We got a cute little paw print and will keep that.

Now – I’m sad.  I’m relieved.  I know that a cat who was plagued with painful issues is now happy, he is no longer sick.  The support from my friend and family on the phone, email, text and facebook has been awesome.

Tiger, I love you!

Tiger - a wonderful friend!

A good week

Things are picking up at work, which is good.  I don’t like being idle, I don’t like not knowing what I am doing.  My team has been tasked with a new project – not really what I was hired for, but a good project that will give us all an opportunity to get to not only know each other – but also get to know some people around and above us in the organization.

As I mentioned the other day – I am working out again.  I’ve done well this week and think I’m actually in better shape than I thought.  I ran about 2.5 miles in the wood yesterday.  The thing is, I thought it was 2 miles… it took a long time, but then I found out it was 2.5.  I’m thinking I want to try to get up early tomorrow and get in a good trail run at Kennesaw Mountain before the rain, but “early” and “rain” are two problem words.  I’ll try!

Weigh in – i’m not going public with the number until the beginning of Feb – but I can tell you I weigh a considerable amount less than I did last Friday.  The BodyBugg can’t be given TOO much credit for it, but it is showing me a lot.  It does require some work on my part, but provides tangible feedback and helps me to understand what I’m eating, how much it “costs” and how much I am burning.  As long as I keep the burn ahead of the fuel, the weight will go down.

As sort of an ongoing review of the BodyBugg I will give a bit of feedback.  It’s VERY easy to use.  Charge it up and put it on.  It does the work.  The software it “comes” with is lame.  The content is good, the application gives you good information but it has several issues.  On one occurrence, I could not load my data from the bugg in FireFox, I had to use IE.  On the mac, you can load it using Safari – HOWEVER – you have to set it to 32 bit mode if you are running Snow Leopard.  It’s not a big deal – but they need to get on top of that.  Finally – after you load it in Safari – the browser basically craps it’s pants.  Not a huge deal, but it’s egg on the face of the product… I personally think they need to do something like MotionBased did – and have a component you can install that will pull the data and transmit it for you.  If they aren’t going to do that – i’m sure there are a bunch of competent java developers out there – they could fix this!  (The app is written in Java).  So far – I really enjoy the tool.   I look forward to getting results next week and seeing how it all shakes out.