i feel fresh

MS150, ms150, ms150, is all I hear. Which is good. Keeps reminding me that I need to get ready for the ride. I’ve been training a lot this year. Almost every week I ride over 30-50 miles, and 3 days a week I’m in the gym, lifting weights, and riding again on the bike machine.

So this past Saturday, I rode the Hershey trail from beltway 8 to fry rd, and I must say, it was a peace of cake. I felt so fresh afterward that it didn’t even feel like I rode. I must be improving my stamina, and my leg strength. Need to start doing some more hill training now.

I weighed myself this morning and I’m at a total lost of 16.5 lbs! wOOt!

Monday 03.15.08
Worked out alone today. My workout partner sold me out for a pair of tickets to a Rockets game. But I still hit the gym up and pushed through. Focused on shoulders and legs than 30 minute cardio on the bike machine.

my first compliment

Today during my lunch break, I went for my usual hair cut from Cindy. Guess what she says? You look thinner. I cracked a huge smile and I said thanks! I’ve been working out and dieting. I asked her how she could tell, and she replied back saying that my stomach went in.

I was fist pumping in the air but in my mind of course. But that was my first compliment from someone saying that I actually lost weight. I guess it’s starting to show!

On another positive note, I weighed myself today and I’m down another 1 lb. So in total I’ve lost 14.5 lbs. I’m so stoked. I’m not even eating my fit anymore. I’ve weaned off and started to eat as healthy as I can and try to keep up with eating 3 full meals including snacks.

I can also tell my stamina for lifting and cardio has increased but my strength is still weak. I’m kinda sad to see this but I guess I’ll take weight loss over strength. Once I hit my target goal, I’ll do some strength training.

Thursday 03.11.10
Since I didn’t get to workout the past 2 days, I decided to focus my workout today on all upper body. Chest, triceps, biceps, and back. Took some muscle milk after. Feeling good.

On a sidenote*
Please pray for C, her vision is getting a bit fuzzy. I think she’s got a mild flare up and it’s effecting her vision a bit.

perception

I came accross this article while stumbling and thought it was interesting. You can find the original article here.

Something to think about….

Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:

The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:

A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:

A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:

The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

1 hour:

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities.

The questions raised:

*In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?

*Do we stop to appreciate it?

*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.

How many other things are we missing?

case of the mondays

Monday is finally coming to an end. Had to stay at home half the day taking care of home stuff since the builder was coming by to take care of some warranty.

I’ll keep todays post short.

Monday 03.08.10
Focused on legs and shoulders today. Then 30 minutes on the bike machine. Today the bike machine was tough as hell. Tackled the random hills and my legs were burning.

six more weeks till ms 150

Only six more weeks till ms 150. April 17th weekend. It’s been almost a whole year since I’ve last biked it, and it’s right around the corner. I can’t wait till it’s over. I know it’s going to be grueling and the most challenging thing I will ever do but these training rides every weekend is starting to take a toll. I keep having to wake up at 5:30am to drive an hour out to train against the hills.

This past Saturdays training ride was in Columbus, Tx. About an 1.25 hour drive out towards Austin. Only rode 50 miles but the hills were killer. Not only that, but my quads were in pain from the start from the lunges I did on Wednesday. Damn those lunges. I hate them so much. Damn you lunges (shakes fist in the air). Even though the ride was tough, I’m glad to say that I finished it with somewhat of an ease.

Another week starts. That means another workout session starts all over again. Tomorrow will be legs and shoulders.

1 lb down

This morning I weighed myself and I’m down another pound. Total weight loss, 12.5 lbs now. I always weigh myself in the mornings and it almost sets the mood of my whole day when I see how much I’ve lost or gained.

Thursday 03.05.10
Worked out backs to the point of just pain. I could barely pickup my shorts. Biceps and a few poor attempts at push ups after a workout.

hell = lunges for eternity

Yesterday I decided to workout with Alex to see what kind of workouts he does. I could always learn a few new workout techniques. We did some back, abs and lunges. I believe that hell is a place where they make you do lunges for eternity. I hate lunges so bad, I believe the devil invented lunges. Other than that, I jogged for the first time in a long time. I just hate the act of “running”. I would only run if I had to run for my life. Overall good workout. Thanks Alex.

Also we happened to go to a Signature LA Fitness, and wow, it was nice. Every machine had it’s own TV! And all the machines were so new and clean, and even had ipod/iphone charger on each machine. Not only that, but the machines had touch screen interfaces with nice animation. To top it off, they have towel service. Too bad there isn’t a closer one near my house.

Wednesday 02.04.10
Worked out back, abs, and legs.

I gained about 2lbs over the past few days, but I’m back down again. So still at 11.5 lbs loss.

testing out new macjournal software

Got a bundle of apps for $20 on macheist.com.

So far so good.

working out is becoming easier

As the days and weeks go by, it’s becoming much easier to get myself into the gym and workout. It definitely helps having a friend that’s always working out with you and to keep you accountable.

With the all the dieting and exercise, I also gave up many things in my daily diet.

I quit drinking diet drinks, especially diet coke. Even though it’s diet, the “fake sugars” spike your blood sugar level and mess with your metabolism. Thus make you gain weight. Plus all the chemicals are not healthy for you.

I stopped drinking alcohol. Since the new year I’ve drank maybe 2 nights so far. That’s much less than what it used to be. I miss my beers, my pale ales, IPAs, and stouts. I still miss my whiskeys and scotch on the rocks. Damn this diet.

I eat much healthier, so in away I gave up big portioned meals, gave up missing breakfasts, and started eating more raw veggies. The big key factor to losing weight is, eat 3 healthy meals a day, and eat high protein snacks in between. So try and eat every 3 hours or so but in portioned amounts. Eat as much raw foods, that are high in protein and low on the glycemic level.

Tuesday 03.02.10
Todays workout consisted of chest and triceps. I realize I’m pretty weak. I can’t throw up as much weights as I used to. I used to max out around 235 lbs on the bench but now it’s barely 150 lbs. Tempted to start compound lifting to maximize my strength but my friend is convincing me to do high reps instead with lower weights. Maybe a combination of both will work.

11.5 lbs and counting

Since I’ve started working out at the gym early Feb. I’ve lost a total of 11.5 lbs. For awhile my weight was stuck at only 4 lb loss, but as soon as I changed my diet to my fit foods, I’ve started dropping weight by the pounds. So in the last week and half I dropped over 7.5 lbs. Pretty crazy.

My fit foods is great! but I’m starting to miss eating asian foods, and pho, and chicken burgers, and veggie pizza, and the list goes on. But I got to get it together and pull through till I hit my goal.

Monday 03.01.10
We mainly focused on shoulders and legs. We usually do this on Fridays, but I wanted more time between leg workouts and biking. After my workout, I had a protein shake from Milk Muscle. Just one scoop instead of two. I don’t want to bulk up from this stuff. Just want a good source of protein right after a workout. We’ll see how this goes.