I Made Team in Rowing

I made Team in Rowing this evening.  When our class is at the gym, we can test for Team by meeting a specific criteria.  I've been rowing for about a year now, and I thought that I had a great chance at making Team by rowing 500 meters in 2:05 or less.  My time for rowing 500 meters this evening was 2:01.  Wahoo!

2.8 Pounds

I keep random things of varying significance on my wall at work next to my desk.  There are conference call line numbers, lobbying reporting rules, horoscopes, pictures of my 5-month-old nephew, a goal and quotes.  On January 6, 2011, during the first few weeks of starting out with my weight loss, I wrote my horoscope for the day on a yellow sticky note and put it on the wall:  "Getting close to the finish line is not the same as crossing the finish line."  I don't know if that has ever felt more true than this week.  A few months ago, I wrote my goal weight on another sticky note and stuck it to the sticky note with my horoscope.  Right now  I am 2.8 pounds away from my goal weight, and while I've always known that I was going to get there, it now feels like it is really going to happen.

Let's take a look at my stats:

December 18, 2010 - started out at 238.2

June 30, 2011 - First weigh in below 200, at 199.2

Weigh in on 4/26/2012:  161.0

238.2 - 161.0 = 77.2 pounds total weight loss

Weight loss goal:  158.2

161.0 - 158.2 = 2.8 pounds away from my goal weight

 

At school yesterday, we learned about Personal Training Program Design.  We had to start out with setting our goals and creating a workout program to get there.  I'll be using my own program for the next 3 weeks at school.  I've already seen from the first day how things don't always go according to plan.  The dumbbells that I wanted to use for an exercise were either nowhere to be found, or being used by somebody else.  Then there was an exercise that I wanted to learn, but couldn't find my instructor.  There will always be some changing of the plan while on the go.

My goals for the next 3 weeks:  

• Hold plank for 2 minutes and 30 seconds
• Do 10 military pushups (chest touching a board 2 inches off the ground)
• Lose 2.8 pounds

Working out is so much easier when you have a focused goal.

Luminous

I love working out in the morning. Today is the first day that I have made it to the gym on my own in the morning since I started my personal trainer certification course. This morning when I was driving to the gym, it was very foggy from the rain yesterday. When I left the gym after a good workout, the sun was trying to break through and the light trying to break through the clouds was pink. And it reminded me of Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It, where he writes, "At sunrise everything is luminous but not clear."

Here's a song from the Beatles for your morning.

Dumbells

Yesterday was a turning point in the gym portion of my classes. Our instructor showed us exercises with the dumbells. This was really great because I've used dumbells, I like dumbells, and hadn't used weight machines very much previously which is what we were using exclusively before last night, so I'm finally feeling like I'm getting a good workout. I'm learning things that are useful. And there's so much that can be done with dumbells.

Taxes and Other Thoughts

If there is one thing that I never look forward to, it is working on my taxes. I just really can't stand putting all the info together, even if TurboTax is doing most of the work. I just get really annoyed. They're mostly done.

Anyway, the other thing I have been thinking about is my personal workouts. I realized today that I have not missed a workout, I'm still getting 5-6 workouts a week, but I haven't worked out on my own at a gym since March 31. I've been working out with my trainer or my school, or at the yoga studio. Nothing on my own. I would have worked out this morning, but I overslept. I need to set some goals and start working on them again.

I'm hoping to get into more of a normal routine next week with my workouts and school, etc. This week I'm getting taxes and state car inspections out of the way.

Caballo Blanco

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall is a story about Caballo Blanco and a race that he put together in Mexico. It's a story that had inspired many people, myself included. I was sad to find out today that Caballo Blanco was found dead in a national park in New Mexico. He went out on a 12-mile run and never made it back.

I was just going to go for a walk today, but I ran instead. Well, for most of the time I ran. Thanks, Caballo.