Has Anyone Seen My Mojo?

It appears my mojo left me. I can’t seem to recall where I left it, but I suspect it’s hiding from me.

 

 

Every morning our alarm goes off at 4:40 am. Almost every morning I feel like rolling over and going back to sleep. When I first started going to the gym in the morning, I didn’t feel this way. I was pumped up, ready to go, ready to see what progressions I would make this week. Lately, I think I’m bored and depressed. That tends to happen with me a lot. Basically, I think I need to shake things up…and soon!

On Friday, I went and checked out a new obstacle gym near where I work (like 5 minutes down the road – convenient!). It’s not huge, but it’s got specific obstacles you’d encounter in races (wooden walls, cargo nets, monkey bars, etc). They don’t have a membership fee and only charge a “drop in” fee per class. They also have convenient times for the obstacle fit classes on certain days, at 6:30 pm, so we could change at work and pop over there in time (getting out of work at 6:00).

We’ve been creating a team between girls in my department and some of their family members (I think we’re up to 8). I’m a little bummed no one else that I’m friends with would be willing to do it, but if the other girls can bring in some strong dudes to help us get over some of the obstacles, I’m all for it. I can only do my best to control the anxiety of doing something challenging with people I don’t know.

I think after the holidays we’re going to start going there at least once a week. They offer a Groupon for discounted classes, plus they offer their own discount if you buy a bundle of them all at once. All in all, I think it would be worth it to at least work on the obstacles themselves, while I continue going to Planet Fitness to get stronger overall.

I’m hoping to also work yoga back into my rotation. I really notice my flexibility seems to have disappeared and I’m way more sore than I was when I was doing yoga before. I don’t know how I’m going to do everything I want to, but I’ve got to sit down and figure it out at some point or I’ll lose my mind. I’m a creature of habit and I need routine – it calms me down.

 

 

I really need to be better about my eating too. I’ve been fairly normal in the healthy stuff, however the snacking has gotten out of control. There are treats almost daily at work and while I used to be able to resist with little willpower, I can’t seem to very well lately. Posting my weight on my blog each week has made me more anxious than accountable, so I may take a break from that. I’ll probably still do a Face The Music Friday, with my fitness for the week and, of course, my wonderful song choices…but I may take a break from the scale. I haven’t decided yet. Not only will I probably not post about it, but I’m thinking I may even want to just not weigh myself at all for a while. Maybe I’ll do it here and there, or maybe I’ll only do it at my monthly check-in when I do measurements.

Right now, I just want to enjoy the holidays. I want to not be worrying about this crap. The chalkboard comes out soon. Plans will be made.

I WILL follow through.

2014: A Look Ahead

I only have 2 goals (as of right now) for 2014: finish a half marathon and a Tough Mudder.

I’m trying to finalize my list of races I’d love to do in 2014. I went a little crazy in 2013 because it was my first year of running and I wanted to RUN ALL THE RACES!  I ended up doing 15 5K races, 2 of them being obstacle courses. I’m trying to be a little more controlled about what I do this year and paying more attention to dates and scheduling. Last year, I ended up having 5 races in 5 weeks and it was definitely overload, for myself and for Tara.

I’ve got my main list, but I also have months where I’m unsure of the dates of certain races because they haven’t been announced yet. I’ve got to decide in certain months what races I really “must” do and what can wait until next year. Some races I wanted to re-run, I may just need to skip doing them again, but we’ll see.

Here’s a breakdown by month:

January 1 – Frosty 5K – Seekonk, MA – I haven’t decided on this one yet because of how cold it will probably be. I’d like to do it, but I’m also not sure what our plans will be on New Year’s Eve and not sure I’ll want to get up early for a race on a holiday off. Tara’s not keen on the idea of that either, so that may be a deal breaker.

Nothing planned in February or March, although I may want to do the Tour de Patrick, which is 3 local St. Patrick’s Day races on two back to back weekends. Last year, I did the St. Patrick’s race in Providence only. It was sponsored by my work and was my first 5K ever. I wasn’t running yet at that point, so Tara and I walked it together. I thought it was a nice race and think it would be cool if I’m able to complete the “tour”.

 

St. Patrick’s 5K – March 2013

 

April 19 – BAA 5K (part of their Distance Medley) – Boston, MA – This distance medley for the BAA races is one of my must do things this year. I think it would be awesome if my first half marathon would be part of this distance medley. I grew up on the South Shore in MA, about 20 minutes south of Boston and would love to do something of this magnitude near my hometown. They haven’t announced the dates for the 10K or half yet, but those are in the summer and fall I believe.

April 27 – Newport 10 Miler – Newport, RI – This might be good practice for me to reach my half marathon goals, plus it’s in Newport and you can’t really go wrong there in terms of scenery.

May 3 – Cox Rhode Races – Providence, RI – I did the 5K last year and enjoyed it. This series also has a half marathon, so I don’t know if this should be my first half marathon goal or not. I don’t know if that’s enough time to train (with my miserable, injury-prone body) or not. If it’s not, the 5K could be a time I just try to beat from last year. I also don’t know if it would be pushing it if I did the half and then did the Tough Mudder at the end of the same month.

 

Cox Rhode Races/National Grid 5K – May 2013

 

May 31st – Tough Mudder – Mt. Snow, Vermont – I WILL do this. If it takes me 6 hours, I will FINISH a Tough Mudder. I’m working on getting people together to do it with me. So far, a couple of girls in my department were interested in doing it, but not sure if they’d actually follow through with it or not. I feel like one of them might and the other…well, I don’t have high hopes for her. I feel like it would be great to have some guys on the team to hoist me up over walls I can’t get over, but overall I’d like to be able to do everything myself. Whether or not that can happen, I’m not sure, but I’m going to do everything possible to see that it does.

 

Down & Dirty Mud Run – June 2013

Foam Fest 5K – July 2013

June – not much going on here. I’d like to do the Gaspee Days 5K in Warwick, RI again and see if I can beat my best ever 5K time. I don’t know when that race will be yet. The only other thing I noted was the Warrior Dash on 6/28 in Barre, MA. I fell in love with obstacle racing this year and would love to do more than just the Tough Mudder, but this one may be a wait and see.

July – I would LOVE to do the Finish At The 50 at Gillette Stadium on July 3rd, but unfortunately it starts prior to me being able to get there since it’s a night race and I work until 6pm, about 45 minutes away from the stadium. It will be difficult to get the time off, but I might see if I can anyway and if I do, then I’ll register.

August 9 – Spartan Race – Amesbury, MA – I’d love to do this and I feel like it’s got plenty of time in between Tough Mudder so I wouldn’t be all banged up too close together (LOL)!

August 17 – Falmouth Road Race – Falmouth, MA – I think this would be an awesome run with the history behind it and all the people that run it every year.

Two other possibilities in August could be the Bobby Doyle Races or the Pawsox race. I really want to do the race at Fenway, but it requires fundraising goals that I don’t believe I’d ever meet (based on past experience). The Pawsox race would still be running onto the diamond, just on a smaller scale.

September was my crazy month in 2013, but could also happen again in 2014. I would LOVE to do a repeat of 3 races I’ve already done (NK5K, Surftown 5K (or maybe half this year) and CVS 5K), but also want to add in the Zooma Cape Cod 10K or half. No dates on any of those yet so it’ll be played by ear.

October 5 – Ocean Road 10K – Narragansett, RI

Some other October things I’m considering are re-running the Halloween Monster Dash in Providence, the Wicked Half Marathon in Salem, MA (which may be in September) and/or the Run Wild Zoo Run at either the Stone Zoo or Franklin Park Zoo in MA.

 

Halloween Monster Dash – October 2013

 

The only November races I’m considering right now are doing the Turkey Trot again and/or the Pell Bridge Run. And December, I’m only considering the Jingle 5K again. I enjoyed doing the trifecta of Run Rhody holiday races and would probably do all 3 again…but we’ll see.

 

Downtown Jingle 5K – December 2013

 

I feel like I have the mentality that I can conquer my goals. Now, I just need my body to follow through.

Face The Music Friday #13 (They Say It’s Your Birthday)

OK, so as a side note, I have another amazing coincidence occurring, much like my 50th post happening on the 50th Doctor Who anniversary. It’s my birthday today (Dec 13th) and this is my 13th “Face The Music Friday”! Fun!

I’m gonna keep the boring stuff to a minimum this week because it’s same old, same old.

My weight this week is:

189.2

Beginning:  240

Last week:  190.2

This week: -1 lb

Total loss:  50.8 lb

 

Fitness this week:

Saturday – Unscheduled rest day – too much fun going on with friends staying with us

Sunday – Downtown Jingle 5K

Monday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 22.5 lb each side, Fly – 80 lb, Cable uppercut – 10 lb each side, Push-ups to failure – 6, 6, 5 (none with knees)

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 85 lb), Rope pull-down – 32.5 lb, Kickbacks – 12.5 lb

Ab Crunch – 80 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 25 lb, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 45 sec x 4

Tuesday – Walked – 45 minutes

Wednesday – Back, Biceps (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Row – 35 lb, Back Extension – 100 lb, Pull-up (Assisted w/ 120 lb)

Regular Bicep curl – 17.5 lb, Hammer Curl – 17.5 lb, Reverse Curl – 17.5 lb)

Thursday – rest

Friday – Walked – 30 minutes

 

After having a great weekend with our friends, I really didn’t want to go to work this week. Last week was a short week for me at work, as I took Thursday and Friday off. Those 3 days I did work though…let’s just say they were ROUGH. For everyone in our department. I don’t know if it was something in the water, but it was a very, very miserable week. I was concerned going back on Monday would be more of the same, but it’s been a surprisingly calm week, for the most part.

Monday and Tuesday seemed to go by pretty quickly. On Wednesday, we had our sales department Secret Santa dinner at the hotel next door to our office. I got the most awesome gift I could have possibly gotten: a Doctor Who mug!

 

We had a nice dinner together and some of our district managers, who were in town for training, came down to say hi. We had some apps (mini Beef Wellington, sesame chicken strips, spanikopita, bacon wrapped scallops and then a cheese/fruit/cracker platter), a pasta bar (3 different kinds of pasta with whatever toppings you wanted to mix in for the chef to cook right in the meeting room) and then a whole table of desserts (chocolate mousse pie, pumpkin pie and assorted little pastries). They also served us coffee, tea, hot apple cider, egg nog and hot chocolate. Not only that, but the new VP was there (it’s his first year with us) and he opened a tab for us at the bar! I only had 1 drink since I would have to drive home afterward, but I thought that was really nice of him to do.

Yesterday I had my 6 month skin screening appointment and figured I’d be in and out before work. She checks me over every 6 months because a few years back I had a “pre-cancerous” mole removed from my back so it’s more precaution than anything else. Well, she checked me all over and then took a bit longer with my upper right arm. Then she grabbed the light up magnifier thingy to look at it more closely. I never noticed it before, but there was a tiny black mole on my arm, kind of off to the side so I’d never really notice it in everyday life. She said once she looked at it under the light magnifier that she could tell it was two different colors and misshapen, so she decided she’d do the biopsy and send it off to be checked. Easy peasy, 2 stitches and no pain. That’s my kind of procedure! Of course today it feels like someone punched me in the arm when I was putting a new bandaid on, but if I don’t touch it, I’ll be fine. LOL

After the appointment, I headed to work and found some nice gifts on my desk from some of my coworkers. A couple of them were going to be out today (plus I’m leaving early for a half day), so they decided to give them to me early. I love how thoughtful they were with their choices.

 

The wrist things were given to me to try out while running and I can’t wait to see how they work. They also know how much I love Yankee Candles so they gave me a cute “White Christmas” scented candle, plus some car jar air fresheners. Then, of course, my favorite coconut almonds…YUM! I eat them all the time as a snack at work. They know me far too well.

When I got up this morning, I had my favorite blog waiting for me – my loving wife’s blog, Bitsy and Bug! She wrote a special post just for me! Awww!

Let’s get this party started, shall we? Today’s musical selection is going back old school. You can’t beat a classic Beatles song!

Birthday – The Beatles

 

 

 

 

 

Face The Music Friday #12

My weight this week is:

190.2

Beginning:  240

Last week:  188.1

This week: +2.1 lb

Total loss:  49.8 lb

 

I feel like my body is rebelling against me in some way. For the last 2 months I’ve consistently gained slowly to the point that since the beginning of October (2 months) I’ve gained 8 lb overall. I don’t understand it. I haven’t done anything differently in that time, other than change my diet (for the better, eating different and more veggies) and increasing my caloric intake from 1200 daily to 1600 daily (which was recommended because of all the working out I’m doing).

I’ve been doing more strength training, but not NEARLY enough to cause that kind of weight gain. I still have cheat meals, but I’ve always had those throughout this entire weight loss journey. It’s the only way I can maintain the healthier lifestyle I adopted. If I NEVER had any junk food there’s no way I’d stick with it. And I haven’t eaten enough that I could possibly be gaining as much as I am each week.

I’m very frustrated, very sad and really angry. This doesn’t bode well for someone like me.

 

 

 

I was much better with my workouts this week after the Thanksgiving holiday and went every day Mon-Thurs like regular again. Today is my scheduled rest day and then I’ll be ready to start another week tomorrow.

Fitness this week:

Saturday – Unscheduled rest day – extended holiday

Sunday – Unscheduled rest day – extended holiday

Monday – Elliptical – 45 minutes

Tuesday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 20 lb each side, Fly – 80 lb, Cable uppercut – 10 lb each side, Push-ups to failure – 5 (no knees), 20, 15 (last two on knees)

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 90 lb), Rope pull-down – 30 lb, Kickbacks – 12.5 lb

Ab Crunch – 75 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 22.5 lb, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 45 sec x 4

Wednesday – Elliptical – 45 minutes

Thursday – Back, Biceps (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Row – 35 lb, Back Extension – 95 lb, Pull-up (Assisted w/ 120 lb)

Regular Bicep curl – 17.5 lb, Hammer Curl – 17.5 lb, Reverse Curl – 17.5 lb)

Friday – rest

 

I’m gonna pep the music back up and pick another one off my running list. This one always gives me a little extra quickness when I hear it come on. Excuse the fact that I couldn’t find a decent video I liked.

Too Shy To Scream – AFI

 

Face The Music Friday #11

My weight this week is:

188.1

Beginning:  240

Last week:  186.9

This week: +1.2 lb

Total loss:  51.9 lb

 

I’m still dealing with residual bloat that usually hangs around for two weeks, but this also includes Thanksgiving yesterday as well. I’m not gonna lie, I ate what I wanted and loved every minute of it. It’s not a whole lot of fun not eating your favorite foods for one day because you’re dieting. One day isn’t going to screw up a year’s worth of progress and I just keep telling myself that. Back on the horse we go!

 

 

My workouts this week weren’t stellar. I took 2 unscheduled rest days this week because I just think I needed it. My body has been fighting me with soreness lately and I think it was yelling at me. I still did pretty well overall (going up in weights again this week on most exercises) and I rocked my Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning so it’s not all bad!

Fitness this week:

Saturday – 50 min elliptical

Sunday – Shoulders, Legs, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

DB OH press – 20 lb, DB front raise – 12.5 lb, DB lat raise – 10 lb, Barbell upright row – 30 lb

Leg press – 90 lb, Leg extension – 70 lb, Leg curl – 80 lb, Hip Abductor + Adductor – both 160 lb, Calf Extension – 70 lb

Plank – 45 sec x 4

Monday – Unscheduled rest day

Tuesday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 17.5 lb each side, Fly – 75 lb, Cable uppercut – 10 lb each side, Push-ups to failure – 7 (no knees), 20, 17 (last two on knees)

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 95 lb), Rope pull-down – 27.5 lb, Kickbacks – 12.5 lb

Ab Crunch – 70 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 20 lb, Cable hold – 15 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 45 sec x 4

Wednesday – Unscheduled rest day

Thursday – Turkey Trot 5K (recap to come)

Friday – rest

 

For the music this week, I’m going slow and serious. My choice this week was Breathe Me by Sia. Not only is the song itself haunting (and been used in numerous TV shows and movies), but it strikes a chord with me for other reasons. I may or may not decide to write about those reasons some day, but for now, they’ll stay with me.

Think about friends or family you have that may be struggling. Give them a call. Give them a hug. Tell them you think about them. Tell them you love them.

 

Face The Music Friday #10

My weight this week is:

186.9

Beginning:  240

Last week:  183.2

This week: +3.7 lb

Total loss:  53.1 lb

 

Ahhh, I really hate being a woman sometimes. Let’s just say, we’ve entered the danger zone for the month. I’m not concerned with my diet or workouts this week because I did well with both, so the only thing I can say is this much of a gain is due to a little word rhyming with goat, boat, coat…what is it…I can’t think…oh yeah – BLOAT! Grrr. Stupid Mother Nature. I know you all love reading about it. You’re welcome.

 

 

No new foods tried this week, but have regularly added broccoli in now. In terms of workouts, I decided I’d try the bike at the gym as my cardio since I opted not to run regularly at this time. In the past I would have just gone on the elliptical, but I found when I used it while I was injured early on that it still bothered me. Maybe too similar to running? Who knows! I hate biking because the seat hurts my butt, but I figured I’d give it a shot. What I discovered though is that it KILLS my hips…so I may be switching back to the elliptical next week. We’ll see! I’m pretty satisfied with the gains I’m making in my strength each week. This week I actually felt strong for the first time while working out. I definitely loved that.

 

 

Fitness this week:

Saturday – According to my Fitbit, we walked about 4.5 miles around Newport on our adventure

Sunday – Shoulders, Legs, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

DB OH press – 17.5 lb, DB front raise – 10 lb, DB lat raise – 12.5 lb, Cable rear delt – 5 lb each side

Leg press – 85 lb, Leg extension – 65 lb, Leg curl – 75 lb, Hip Abductor + Adductor – both 155 lb, Calf Extension – 35 lb, Glute – 65lb

Ab Crunch – 65 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 17.5 lb, Cable hold – 12.5 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 40 sec x 4

Monday – Cycling– 30 minutes

Tuesday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 15 lb each side, Fly – 70 lb, Cable uppercut – 7.5 lb each side, Push-ups to failure – 4 (no knees), 20, 14 (last two on knees)

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 100 lb), Rope pull-down – 25 lb, Kickbacks – 12.5 lb

Ab Crunch – 65 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 17.5 lb, Cable hold – 12.5 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 40 sec x 4

Wednesday – Cycling– 30 minutes

Thursday – Back, Biceps (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Row – 35 lb (switched to dual pulley), Back Extension – 90 lb, Pull-up (Assisted w/ 122.5 lb)

Regular Bicep curl – 17.5 lb, Hammer Curl – 17.5 lb, Reverse Curl – 17.5 lb

Friday – rest

I’m BEYOND excited because it’s finally here!!! Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary episode of Doctor Who. Ten is back! Rose is back! We find out about “The War Doctor”! SO MUCH SQUEE!!!!

 

 

Tonight we’ll be heading up to MA to stay with Julie and Dan for the weekend. We’ll have a viewing party for The Doctor in between sweat sessions at the gym on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I love going with Dan because he’s like a walking strength encyclopedia and he definitely is a great gym partner! Too bad we can’t always go together!

Now on to the music! If you thought I was going to do anything other than things relating to Doctor Who, you are sadly mistaken. If you’re bored by my geekiness at this point, you can stop here! Here are a few gems that I love. Enjoy and have a great weekend!!

 

 

And the official trailers for tomorrow! So pumped!!

 

 

Face The Music Friday #9

My weight this week is:

183.2

 

Beginning:  240

Last week:  185.4

This week: -2.2 lb

Total loss:  56.8 lb

 

Another successful weight loss this week. I’ll take it! Running on the other hand, not so much. Starting late last week and becoming more noticeable on Monday was my knee pain again from my IT band. I roll like a maniac, but I need to get better about the PT stretches. I stretch after every run, always, but I do the stretches I did before I got hurt. I haven’t been good about keeping up with the specific strengthening that the PT gave me. So that will start again this coming week. I can’t stand being injured or being in pain all the time. I just want to run!!

One point of success is my new attempts at food. I’m 4 for 4 on the new veggie front. I’ll now be including broccoli, peas, spinach and asparagus. The first time I tried the spinach it was disgusting, but apparently Tara had cooked it too long and didn’t realize (even she thought it was bad and she loves spinach), so we tried again and it was pretty decent.

Other than that, the only new thing I’ve been trying is coffee. I’ve decided I’m now a coffee drinker (especially now being up and at the gym at 4:45 every morning), so I’m trying to find little sampler packs so I can experiment with different flavors. So far, I’ve liked almost every one I’ve tried – except this morning. I tried one called “Cafe Caramel” and it was SO sweet. I didn’t even add anything to it because it was so sweet. It definitely tasted like caramel, but I wasn’t sure that was a good thing. I had trouble finishing it.

We also tried a new recipe that Tara concocted – stuffed peppers. I don’t think I’ve ever had them before but they were really good. She used red peppers, chicken sausage, brown rice, onion, parmesan cheese and some seasonings I can’t remember. It was delicious!

 

 

Fitness this week:

Saturday – Running (outside) – 27 minutes

Sunday – Shoulders, Legs, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

DB OH press – 15 lb, DB front raise – 7.5 lb, DB lat raise – 10 lb

Leg press – 80 lb, Leg extension – 60 lb, Leg curl – 70 lb, Hip Abductor + Adductor – both 150 lb, Calf Extension – 30 lb, Glute – 60lb

Ab Crunch – 60 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 15 lb, Cable hold – 10 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 3, Plank – 30 sec x 4

Monday – Running (treadmill) – 27 minutes

Tuesday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 12.5 lb each side, Fly – 65 lb, Cable uppercut – 7.5 lb each side, Push-ups to failure (knees) – 18, 12, 13

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 105 lb), Rope pull-down – 22.5 lb, Kickbacks – 10 lb

Ab Crunch – 60 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 15 lb, Cable hold – 10 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 3, Plank – 35 sec x 4

Wednesday – unscheduled rest day (IT band/knee pain)

Thursday – Back, Biceps (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Row – 35 lb (switched to dual pulley), Back Extension – 85 lb, Pull-up (Assisted w/ 130 lb)

Regular Bicep curl – 15 lb, Hammer Curl – 15 lb, Reverse Curl – 15 lb

Friday – rest

 

 

A couple of funny/nice things I’ve seen the last couple of days that I wanted to share as well. The first is this really sweet story and then after that is something SO true about me (just ask Tara)!

Jim’s Last Group Run

Hangry People

Now it’s time to pump up the jam! This week’s selection is a favorite of mine for my pace: Anna Sun by Walk The Moon. The video is actually really fun too (considering I just watched it for the first time right now). I love the way it builds up slowly and then it’s an all-out party!

 

Face The Music Friday #8

My weight this week is:

 

185.4

 

Beginning:  240

Last week:  186.5

This week: -1.1 lb

Total loss:  54.6 lb

That’s more like it now. I like putting a negative sign instead of a plus sign. This is the first full week I’ve completed with my new routine and mixed up eating. I made it to the gym every single morning by 5am and got my workout out of the way. I feel like it lifts a weight off of me when I think about having to go when I get out of work so that was a nice benefit. I also branched out in my menu and didn’t have the same thing every day. I even added two new veggies to the list of things I’ll eat – peas and broccoli. They’re not favorites obviously, but I’ve decided I’m OK enough with both of them that I’ll add them into my menu.

I’ve also decided on Fridays that I’m going to add in my fitness for the week so I can see how I’m progressing, as well as my monthly measurements that I take to watch that as well. Just throwing it all out there and you guys will all make me feel accountable.

Fitness this week:

Saturday – Running (outside) – 24 minutes (still building back up after IT band injury)

Sunday – walked approximately 3.5 miles around the Wrentham Outlets according to my Fitbit

Monday – Running (treadmill) – 24 minutes

Tuesday – Chest, Triceps, Core (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Bench Press – 10 lb each side, Fly – 60 lb, Cable uppercut – 5 lb each side, Push-up to failure (knees) – 13, 11, 12, 8

Tricep Dips – (Assisted w/ 115 lb), Rope pull-down – 20 lb, Kickbacks – 10 lb

Ab Crunch – 60 lb, Torso rotation w/ cable – 15 lb, Cable hold – 10 lb x 30 sec, Knee Raise – 10 x 4, Plank – 30 sec x 4

Wednesday – Running (T) – 24 minutes

Thursday – Back, Biceps (all sets of 4, 8 reps per set):

Row – 40 lb, Back Extension – 80 lb, Pull-up (Assisted w/ 130 lb)

Regular Bicep curl – 15 lb, Hammer Curl – 15 lb, Reverse Curl – 15 lb

Friday – rest

Inches lost so far, only recorded since January 2013:

Chest – 4.75″

Waist – 6.25″

Hips – 7″

Thighs – R 5″, L 4.5″

Arms – R 4″, L 3.5″

This was a very exciting week for my wife and me. In late June of this year, DOMA was ruled unconstitutional. This was  the MOST exciting development to come out of the last few years for us. Let me back up and tell you why.

In February 2009, we were married in MA because they were already performing same sex marriages. We really just did it so that Tara could be added to my health insurance at my current job – we’d already been engaged for years at that point. Tara was branching out to a full time nanny position and would be requiring health insurance and since my employer at the time was awesome and said they would add her if we were married, it was a done deal. We had a JP marry us at Seekonk Town Hall (just over the border with RI) with my best friends and Tara’s parents. Later that year, we had a reception for all of our friends and family, but that’s another post for another time.

So we’re married now, tra la la. Time moves on and in late 2011, I lost that job…which means neither one of us now had health insurance. We got temporary insurance and luckily neither of us got gravely ill in the meantime. I got a new job (the job I have now) in early 2012. The problem was they would NOT offer her health insurance because it was a company policy that they only would offer if it was federally recognized. It didn’t matter that we were legally married in MA, nor did it matter that by this time RI had passed a civil union bill (2011) and then later said it would recognize out of state marriages (2012). Even when RI had legal marriage passed in 2013, it still didn’t matter. We had to pay for her plan out of pocket every month. We only got the most basic we could to save on the huge payment each month, so she ended up paying for a lot of stuff that would be covered for me (like PT, lab work, etc).

It wasn’t long, though, until DOMA went down. The day the ruling came out, June 26, 2013, I was so excited. I immediately emailed our corporate HR department to see how they planned on proceeding. I was told legal was already talking about it and an announcement would be forthcoming. Around September I still hadn’t seen an announcement and was getting antsy so I followed up and she said an announcement would be made during open enrollment (November). I finally got the confirmation in late October that I would be able to add Tara to ALL of my benefits (medical, dental, vision, life insurance, THE WORKS!!).

Earlier this week, I submitted that enrollment. We’re going to save almost $150 a month by not having to pay for her terrible plans separately anymore! This makes the federal benefits that much sweeter that we’d already be getting, like if something were to happen to one of us, or for tax purposes.

In honor of this great personal achievement this week, my song will be Same Love by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

 

Face The Music Friday #7

My weight this week is:

 

186.5

 

Beginning:  240

Last week:  185

This week: +1.5 lb

Total loss:  53.5 lb

 

I know exactly what went wrong this week. It’s all on me and I’m not going to dwell on it. I’m beginning to form a plan that I’ll implement starting tomorrow after some grocery shopping tonight. I now have a gym plan as well. I’m all done staying up late to watch baseball, Halloween is over and it’s go time. Let’s get it on!!

 

 

Because my wife is amazing, she used race pictures from Sunday, plus pictures of Julie and I wearing Batman and Robin to work yesterday for Halloween, plus our cats and made this amazing “comic”. If you click on each “panel” it will enlarge so you can read the fine print. So fun!

 

 

To celebrate the Sox winning the World Series, this week’s music selection will be Tessie by the Dropkick Murphys (go to around 1:25 to start the song)! Yay Sox!!

 

 

Face The Music Friday #6

My weight this week is:

 

185.0

 

Beginning:  240

Last week:  185.8

This week: -0.8 lb

Total loss:  55 lb

 

Eh, a loss is a loss. I’m not even going to talk about it this week. I touched on it a little yesterday.

Speaking of losses, my poor Red Sox went the way the Cardinals did in game 1 last night in game 2 and made some stupid mistakes. Unfortunately, now we’re tied at one game apiece in the World Series. Let’s go boys! Bring it home!

Now, on to the fun plans for the weekend!! Julie and Dan are coming down this weekend and Dan and I will be running in costume on Sunday at the Providence Monster Dash 5K. It will be his first 5K race! Yay! Pics will come of us later in our awesome costumes!

After the race, down the street, they are holding a Food Truck Bash. I can’t wait! Trucks from Providence, Boston and NYC will all be competing and I can’t wait to try something from all of them! Sounds like so much fun! They’re having a costume contest so we’ll just stay in our costumes after the race for a bit and probably bring some clothes to change into once we register the costumes. I imagine I won’t be wanting to stay in my costume all that time.

For the song this week, I am posting the other one I was thinking of last week when I said I couldn’t decide. When this song comes on, I feel like I’m on an epic quest. It should definitely be in a montage of me ninja-kicking a bunch of bad guys!

 

Knights of Cydonia by Muse (and it’s a very strange video indeed)