Back in the Saddle

My new nemesis.  The machine, not the girl.  I don't even know her.

But I know she's not doing it right, because she's smiling.  FALSE ADVERTISING!

I'm in a Biggest Loser contest at work.  And I plan to win!

So, tonight I had a buffet.  BUFFET OF CARDIO, that is!!

I started with 10 minutes on the elliptical.  It made my lower back hurt REALLY BAD! So I moved to 5 minutes on the stationary bike - and felt like my calves were going to cramp up the whole time.  So I finished with 5 minutes (0.5 miles) on the treadmill (yes, running!) and my calves felt the same way there (except for those final seconds when I made it go really fast - then I was too busy trying not to die to worry about exploding calves).

I thought the elliptical would be fun.  At first, it was - kinda bouncy and stuff.  But then that lower back pain set in, and got worse and worse.  Of course, the searing pain in my lower back DID take my mind off the discomfort in my quads and hamstrings... Anyway, they need to call it the ecraptical instead.

But, I kept my heart rate up at about 150 the whole time.  20 minutes of cardio is a good start.

I will win this thing!  (My goal is to drop 25 lbs and 5.3% of my body fat in the next 12 weeks.  This may require periods of starvation...)

Photos Found

Apparently, someone posted some photos on Facebook of all the runners about to cross the finish line in that Thanksgiving Day run I did.  So, here are the ones of me and my running buddy, Ryan:

 Here, I am not actually running, I am balancing on my one tippy toe.  Hey, that's hard work!

Near-death experience: here, I am clearly gasping for breath to save my very life.

The last ten feet of my running career.  Turkey, here I come!

If - and only if - I have lost 25 pounds by next Thanksgiving, I may, perhaps, MAYBE, might consider doing this madness again.  ONLY if I lose that weight.  Because I hate running.

Impulse

No, that's not me...I haven't been fitted for mine yet.

My name is Michael, and I've been clean and sober from running for 51 days.  Until today.

But I have a good excuse.

Actually, it's all Griff Neilson's fault.  He posted on Facebook something about it being a good idea to get 5-10 minutes of cardio in before you start a weight training workout.  (Personally, I think this is just junk that trainers make up because deep down inside they hate us flabby people.)  But I trust Griff's judgment, and he's one of the nicest guys I know (despite all this "health and fitness" silliness), so tonight before my workout I thought "well, I guess I'll get on the stationary bike" - but then, on a crazy impulse, I walked over and got on my old nemesis the treadmill.

And ran.

I know, NUTS, huh?

But I figured I could handle 5 minutes, since the first five minutes never bothered me much anyway.

Of course, about 3 minutes in, I already had a stitch in my ribs, but I completed the 5 minutes, covering an even half mile.

Of course, I still hate running.  But I may actually do it again.  I'm crazy like that, I guess.