Day 221: Starting Where I Left Off

I took a total of 8 days off with a medical excuse and I decided to start back where I left off.  Not only was I sick with a fever, body aches, and all the wonderful things that go along with having some kind of cold/infection, but I had a coughing fit that threw my back out.  So on top of everything I was temporarily crippled. 

I don’t know if you have ever thrown your back out but let me tell you it is painful.  It hurts to sit, hurts to walk, just hurts all the time.  Again the only way to heal is to take it as easy a possible. 

Now, my back is a dull ache and my cold is reduced to sniffles it is time once again to start back up the exercise.  This afternoon we hit the gym and in particular I hit the treadmill.  To ease my body back into the workout routine I did 30 minutes at a medium speed and a 6 incline.  My legs felt good and I only coughed a couple of times. 

In the end I had worked up a nice little sweat.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, we sure did.  Now I need to formulate a workout plan for the New Year.

Daily Recap:

Matt & Kelly: 30 minutes treadmilling at the gym 

Day 220: Have to Pause for Recovery…

Woke up this morning with a fever still at 102 and I could barely move.  I did get a doctor’s appointment for this afternoon and it couldn’t be sooner, I feel awful!

At the doctor’s office I got examined and was still running a temperature of 100.  My blood pressure was great through after being elevated about a year and half ago and that I attribute directly to the exercise I get. 

I got a script for antibiotics and was told to rest for 7 to 10 days and that I would probably be infectious for another three days or so.  I was advised not to do anything except rest and I couldn’t really argue with that since I felt like I had been hit by a bus.

We had to cancel a trip to Denver and I am going to have to pause the Blog to give my body time to recover. 

I will be back when I am healed. I don’t expect it to last more than the 7 to 10 days recommended by my doctor. 

Merry Christmas!

Day 219: Fever

Kelly waited for me to get home to hit the gym.  I was really feeling worn out and jokingly I asked her if I felt like I had a fever.  In reality I did.

I was running a fever of 99.8 degrees and we decided I probably should not head to the gym and spread whatever contagion I have around.  While she went to the gym I broke out the weights and did a light full body workout.  I really wish I hadn’t. 

In a little over 2 hours I felt completely like crud!  My whole body ached and my fever had risen to 101 degrees.  I had the chills and muscle pains, a severe headache, and my hips and thighs were killing me.  By 11pm my fever had risen to over 102 despite taking cold medication and ibuprofen.

Because my fever kept rising Kelly kept taking it every hour or so.  By midnight I had hit 103.3 and we had decided that if it hit 104 I would go to the doctor.  Luckily after another round of cold meds and a lukewarm shower we got it to stabilize at 102. 

It was safe to say I had the funk and needed to make a doctor’s appointment in the morning.

Daily Recap:

Matt: Light full body workout with a fever

Kelly: Treadmill workout at the gym

Day 218: Treadmill Time at the Gym

After work it was again too cold to run outside so I suited up and hit the gym yet again.  I have to be pretty close to getting my free T-Shirt for going 20 times in 60 days. 

As I jogged my throat started getting soar.  It was crazy like I could feel a cold coming on but it was not quite there.  By the end of the run I wasn’t feeling too good at all.  I called it, made my way back out to my car, and went home. 

Soon after I started getting body aches that I attributed to the workout.  Bottom line is I just wasn’t feeling good.  Hopefully after a good night’s sleep I will feel better tomorrow. 

Day 217: The Day After

We got up this morning and hit the gym for some post party workout.  Today’s mission was 30 minutes jogging on the treadmill to burn some of the calories consumed the night before.  I was shocked at how easy it was.

My legs felt good and I didn’t even check the time until I was over 12 minutes in.  Usually I think I have been torturing myself for 20 minutes only to find out it has been 4.  I finished with an average pace of 4.34 miles an hour. 

I had a good sweat and felt pretty good as well. Not bad for the day after a party, I guess that was our reward for leaving early and not drinking ourselves into oblivion like some the people we saw were doing.

Daily Recap:

Matt and Kelly: 30 minutes on the treadmill

Day 216: Christmas Party!

Tonight was my company Christmas Party and we had planned on hitting the gym but with time running short I wound up just lifting in my garage.  I got a full body workout in and then had to go pick Kelly up from her stylist.  After that it was a quick race home to shower, change, and head out for a free dinner and drinks. 

The food is usually bad, but that is okay since the company spends most of it’s money making sure the bars are free flowing all night.  Do you know how to spell happiness?  O P E N B A R!

The theme this year was Casino night and since neither of us gamble (it’s not that we are opposed to it, it’s that it simply doesn’t interest either of us) we were board.  Around 10pm we had had all the party we could take and headed home for an early night cap.

Daily Recap:

Matt: Full body workout free weights in the garage. 

Day 215: Home from Dallas

Kelly came home from Dallas today.  I did a light full body workout and 100 jumping jacks.  Tonight also starts our 12 days of Christmas.  We watch a different Christmas movie nightly until Christmas.  We are big fans of the classics.  If you are interested here are some of the movies we watch:

It’s a Wonderful Life

The Bells of St. Mary’s

White Christmas

Holiday Inn

The Bishop’s Wife

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Story

We sprinkle some new movies like Fred Clause and Elf.  It’s great fun and a great way to put yourself in the Christmas spirit. 

Daily Recap:

Matt: Full body workout

Kelly: TBD

Day 214: Colder Than I Thought

It didn’t seem that cold at first so I thought it would be a good idea to hit the pavement for a jog this afternoon. I was wrong.  Half way out of my neighborhood the wind whipped through my sweatshirt and it was freezing. 

As I jogged I pulled my hands into the sleeves to keep them warm.  It was so cold my ears hurt every time the wind blew.  I put up my hood and all it did was catch the wind like a sail and send it down my shirt.  Running faster doesn’t do any good since I am going to time and not distance.  I turned my head with each gust of wind trying to keep it away from my face. 

I have lamented many time my hatrid for jogging in the cold.  It is even worse when the nature keeps hitting you with guts of wind that blow so hard  you can feel them penetrating you shoes.  Needless to say the best part of the jog was when it was over.

Daily Recap:

Matt: Jog outside in the cold

Kelly: TBD

Day 213: Had to Hit the Gym

Rain.  I am not running in freezing rain that just sucks.  I hit the gym hoping it wouldn’t be full again. It wasn’t.  Monday must have been some kind of fluke since it was back to the way it normally is. 

As I jogged on my treadmill I watched a workout class doing their warm up.  They run around the gym from upstairs to down and back up.  Maybe that is what I should do.  It would give me people to talk to that are looking for the same thing, looking to lose weight, eat healthy.  I imagine it could be like a support group for fat people. 

May be they have sponsors like in AA.  I could call up my sponsor and say, “I am parked outside a Krispy Kreme and am thinking about a dozen chocolate covered cream filled donuts.”  They could then talk me off the ledge.  “Don’t eat the donut,” they would say, “it’s never as good as you think it is,” which would be a lie, but I would agree, put my car in drive, and leave with the “Hot” sign flashing in my rearview mirror. 

If only you could have your cake donut and eat it too.

Daily Recap:

Matt: Treadmill at the gym

Kelly: TBD

Day 212: Not Taking Chances

I didn’t want to chance the gym being packed and the temperature wasn’t that bad outside so I decided to take a run out side.  I considered a mile in doing three miles again but I had gotten a late start and the sun had started to set. 

For dinner I went paleo and ate a pound of shrimp with collard greens and tomatoes and okra.  I felt I needed it after all the eating I did in New Orleans made my work pants feel tight.  I also decided that after the first of the year I am going to go back to straight paleo and make a legitimate run at counting calories to see if I can shed some of this weight. 

Daily Recap:

 Matt: Ran outside since it was a nice day

Kelly: TBD

Day 211: Busy at The Gym

Time to lift heavy again.  I hit the gym anticipating that it wouldn’t be that busy and boy, was I wrong.  It was packed.  Packed like I have never seen this new gym before.  There were so many people lifting there was a wait and people sharing machines.  I, for my part, stuck mostly to the machines today since the benches along the free weight area were all taken and there were a lot of missing free weights. 

I only assume that this is because it is the first day back from the weekend.  From shoulder press machine to chest press machine I set them all at my max weight for 12 reps and raised the weight and lowered reps as I went. 

In the end there were two guys on the weighted leg press so I just maxed out the machine again.  415 pounds with the added weight.  Then I got out of there as fast as I could.

Daily Recap:

Matt: Hit the packed gym and did a full body with machines

Kelly: TBD

Day 210: Home Again (Hiking the ATL)

Last night we found another great place to go in New Orleans: Frenchman Street.  It is a great bohemian area that is filled with artists and bars with live music.  We spent some time shopping the local artists and then sat a bar enjoying a local New Orleans band that was pretty good.  

This morning we flew back to the ATL and had lunch in the concourse waiting for Kelly’s other plane to take her to Dallas.  After she boarded I made my way towards baggage claim and though: How fast can I walk it without taking the train. 

From Concourse B to my car in the parking lot all walking with a 10+ pound backpack on and dragging a suite case took me 36 minutes and I was sweaty afterwards too.  I was going to count that as my exercise until I got home and decided to do a light weight workout since it had been a few days since I lifted weights. 

Daily Recap:

Matt: speed walk through the concourse out to the car and then lifting weights

Kelly: Hit the hotel gym in Dallas

Day 209: Cold in the City of Saints

Kelly only had to work until 12:30.  I decided to leave the hotel at a quarter till noon and take the senic route figuring it would take me about 40 minutes to speed walk to the Hilton.  Let me tell you it was cold out.  From a high the day before of 88 to the high today of 58 there is a huge difference.  According to the weather app on my phone when I left the hotel it was 49 degrees out and I believe it.

I started off walking down Decatur Street along the water but the wind was whipping in off the river making it even colder.  I crossed back over and took Chartres Street crossing on the other side of Jackson Square.  I zigzagged through traffic and back out to Decatur until I finally ended up on Poydras Street passing the casino.  I had warmed up from the hurried pace I was setting speed walking.  I though several times about jogging but decided against it. 

The plan was to take a cab back to where we were staying at the back side of the French Quarter but we got caught in a parade and we finally had out cabbie let us out.  Again we hoofed it, got temporarily turned around (lost) and finally after walking around in circles got headed in the right direction. 

The rest of the day was great with no snags.  We had a late lunch then a coffee and beignets at Café Du Monde again and got some shopping done for Christmas.  Tonight we plan on checking out Frenchman Street.

Daily Recap:

Matt: 40 minute speed walk French Quarter

Kelly: Walking around the French Quarter

Day 208: I Love New Orleans!

It was 84 degrees and sunny when we hit the ground in NOLA.  After checking in and getting some work done we set out towards the hotel Kelly will be working at tomorrow.  From door to door is 1.3 miles and we hoofed it.  Speed walking it with traffic and everything it took us about 20 minutes to get there. We were both a sweaty mess.  I even had on a long sleeved shirt. 

After checking it out we hoofed it back for a round trip of 2.6 miles.   We both had some work to do for an hour or so then we set out again for Café Du Monde. After a late breakfast we did some more pavement pounding and got sweaty again.  We hit lunch and headed back to our hotel.

We worked most of the afternoon while surprisingly a cold front moved in.  It went from 88 degrees to 60 in a three hour time period.  We were shocked when we finally headed out for dinner.  We stopped in for a night cap at Pat O’Brien’s before heading back. According to Kelly’s fit bit in total we walked almost 11 miles.

Daily Recap:

Matt and Kelly: Started with an intentional speed walk to and from the Hilton where Kelly is going to work tomorrow.  Then pounding the pavement all over the French Quarter. 

Day 207: It’s a Turn Around Day

Kelly fly’s in tonight from Boston so I decide to keep it light and do full body light weight workout.  I ran through my routine with no problems.  My legs felt a bit sore from the long jog yesterday, but other than that I feel fine.

I am mostly packed for New Orleans and I am pretty excited about going.  Last time I was in NOLA I went to get some beignets from Café Du Monde but they were filming a movie there and the dine inside was packed with  a line wrapping out the door and down the street. 

I hate standing in lines.  I took on look at the line and the filming chaos and everything going on and turned around and headed back to my hotel.  As much as I love Café Du Monde it is not worth an hour wait in line.

It’s not just the beignets that I am looking forward to it is also the Gumbo and BBQed oysters from Red Fish.  New Orleans is a foodie city.  If you like to eat there really isn’t a bad restaurant to be found. 

Daily Recap:

Matt: Light weight workout

Kelly: TBD

Day 206: Endurance (3 Miles)

With the legs well rested I decided that today would be more of an endurance test and since it may also be the last decent day I would run outside.  I have noticed that when I run with the stop watch and RunKeeper I have a tendency to try to keep up a pace that I cannot comfortable keep. 

With that in mind I ran without either.  I started the stop watch on my kitchen table and figured I would stop it when I walked back in.  I started my jog.

The sun was warm in the spots where it shone through the trees in the shade it was cool but not cold.  I was sweating pretty good a half mile in.

I did my standard three mile loop and it felt good.  My legs didn’t feel tired and as I walked back into the house I was surprised that I had kept such a hurried pace.  From start to finish took me 47 minutes.  Running while knowing I am constantly being timed and feeling tired must, for the most part, be purely a mental thing. 

Daily Recap:

Matt: 3 miles at around a 4 mile an hour pace.

Kelly: TBD

Day 205: Blowing Steam Heavy Weights

Another traffic was awful day.  I seem to having too many of these lately.  I am sick and tired of it taking an hour and half to two hours to get home.  Especially when I am leaving the office at 4pm.  It was too dark to run outside, even though I could have put on my reflector vest and carried a flash light, it was also drizzling. 

I went to the gym with intentions of running my knees were still bothering me from the elliptical and I decided to rest them.  I hit the weights instead. 

My old gym always seemed to be a little on the chilly side.  Some of the instructors and staff would wear jackets around and there was always someone on the treadmill in long sleeves even in the summer.  My new gym doesn’t suffer from being over air conditioned. 

You can build up quite a sweat from lifting weights.  One thing more: the door at my new gym sticks as sometimes takes a little extra effort to open.  Imagine you just lifted heavy and you struggle opening the door to go to your car. 

Daily Recap:

Matt: Heavy workout lifting weights at the gym

Kelly: Back to back training sessions 

Day 204: Freedom to Run

Not being tied to the in doors made me want to run outside today.   It felt good to be outside with the wind blowing and the fresh air. Especially after having to workout in a dark basement the past 4 days. 

I had a good run but my legs got tired towards the end.  I am attributing that to the fact that I am now fatter than I was a mere four days ago.  Even though I was burning it up on the elliptical I was also stuffing my face.  It made me think of that movie where the guy is on a treadmill eating a piece of fried chicken. 

Now I have done it.  I am craving fried chicken. 

Honestly I have been feeling more than a little sick to my stomach for the past few days.  There should a limit to the amount of pasta salad a person can eat and you would have thought I would have found it.  I didn’t. 

Now I am paying for the extra weight on the run.  What do you do when even you sweat pants feel tight.  I am just kidding about that for now.  Seriously I have lose some of these holiday pounds and the holidays are not even over yet. 

Daily recap:

Matt: Ran outside in the fresh air and sunshine

Kelly: 1 hour with personal assistant 

Day 203: One More Day of Elliptical

Seriously, there is one more day left that I have to use this elliptical machine.  I spent most of the day taking all my stuff home and preparing for Kelly and her mom to come home.  My knee was really bothering me this morning but it got better as the day went on. 

I know I have over eaten this Thanksgiving since even my fat pants are getting a little snug.  Thank God I finished the pecan pie today and there is no more.  Luckily the sweet potato pie wasn’t as good as I thought it would be or else I would have eaten more of it too.

I am accepting the fact that I will probably not be watching what I am eating until after the first of the year.  It’s just easier that way during the holidays.  I will instead try (notice I said try) to eat less but still eat what I want. 

Why is it that everything that is super high in calories and sugar has to taste so good?  Well, not everything, like I said, the sweet potato pie was disappointing. 

Daily Recap:

Matt: Elliptical workout last day

Kelly: Walk around Paris all morning

Day 202: Go Dawgs! Beat Tech!

I thought elliptical machines were supposed to be good for your knees, however, after yesterday’s long workout my knees are bothering me today. I spoke briefly with Kelly about this and she said her knees bother her as well if she does a long workout using the elliptical. 

For that reason I kept it easy today by doing a fat burning workout rather than a hill climber or endurance.   The pace didn’t really push me and I still broke a good sweat during the workout.  That was not the highlight of the day though.  Yesterday my father-in-laws physical therapist gave us permission to get out and head to my house for some college football.

After being down most of the game UGA made a heck of a come back and won the game in OT.  The perfect ending to any day!

Daily Recap:

Matt: Elliptical workout

Kelly: Over 14 miles in Paris

Day 201: Day After Thanksgiving in Paris

So I am watching my father-in-law after his hip replacement surgery and he can’t be left alone so I find myself back in the basement with the elliptical machine.  Today I decided that with all the food I have been consuming I really need to up the amount of exercise I am doing and really burn some of these calories off. 

I put in a DVD that I found in the basement (anyone remember Excalibur the movie for the 1980s?) and set the elliptical on a 45 minute calorie burning workout.  I figured if the issue I have with my feet got to bother me too bad I would just take a break. 

I started watching the movie and working out.  Ok, I know some people love this movie but it is really bad.  The only good actor in it is Patrick Stewart who acts circles around the other actors. What is up with Merlin’s metal skull cap.  It seems to me that a metal skull cap would be the last thing you would want to wear in cold damp England. 

The movie was so bad it sucked me in.  I found myself watching wondering how much worse it could get and it was a good distraction from the boring workout.  The machine barked at me several times to hurry my pace and that I was falling behind. 

When it was thankfully all over I had burned 750 calories and my legs were shaky from the strain.  The best part was turning Excalibur off!

Daily Recap:

Matt: 45 minutes and 750 calories on the elliptical

Kelly: Walked over 11 miles in Paris

Day 200: Happy Thanksgiving! Turkey and Pie!

I hate turkey.  There I have said it.  I hate it with a passion.  I would rather have ham.  A holiday without ham just isn’t a holiday.  Today is Thanksgiving where we as a people sit down with the deliberate attempt to stuff our faces with as much food as possible.

After our really big lunch I dropped Kelly and her mom off at the airport for their trip to Paris.  That left me and her dad to eat leftovers and fend for ourselves. 

In my in-laws basement is an elliptical machine that we use to have at our house but we ran out of room. After I changed the batteries I hopped on for an afternoon workout.  That is when I remembered something else I hate, I don’t know if anyone else has this trouble but when I use an elliptical my toes go to sleep.  Eventually the bottoms of my feet tingle. 

I pushed through it.  I had chosen the hill climb routine.  It builds in resistance and forces you to keep up a rather hurried pace.  I sweating profusely and my heart rate got up to around 160.  The machine said that I could switch direction to exercise a different muscle group.  Going backwards was pretty dang hard. 

By the end I was feeling worn out.  So I dragged myself up stairs for a shower and then rewarded my hard work with a nice big piece of pecan pie with whipped cream!

Daily Recap:

Matt: Elliptical machine workout

Kelly: TBD

Day 199: I Don't Like TV Screens

I am not kidding with the title.  This week has been an absolute pleasure to drive to and from work.  There has been practically no one on the roads and I barely slowdown in the slow spots.  Since there is not really much going on I headed home early from work. 

It has rained most of the day and this afternoon isn’t much different.  I headed for the gym again this time for the treadmill.  After that there isn’t much to really talk about.  I started slow and at a small incline and increased both until I was at a 3.5 incline and 6 mph. 

I use the treadmills without TV screens.  For some reason I find the TV screened treadmills are distracting and I feel that I am too close to the screen.  I have run with treadmills that have screens before but I am not sure why these bother me.  Staring at the screen makes me a little motion sick   as I bounce up and down.  I tried turning off the TV but then you are looking at your reflection huffing and puffing back at you.  I realized for the first time that I make some scary faces while jogging.

Daily Recap:

Matt: Running at the gym on the treadmills without TV screens.

Kelly: Gym treadmill routine.

Day 198: Old Guys with Weights

Kelly did back to back workouts with her trainer and was too sore to hit the gym with me.  I wanted to hit the weights.  As I have mentioned before we have a new gym and since it closer to suburbia there are more older clientele.  There are a couple of older men I would think in their late 50’s and early 60’s who I have only seen one other time and they are serious about weightlifting. 

It’s intimidating to see a couple of old guys throw down on the pull down machine and then you follow behind them and have to set the weights lower.  Not that I could pull down what they had, I could, rather I could only do it a few times.  I followed them on the Chest Press machine too.  Not good.

I don’t think either one of these two have to worry about falling down and not getting back up.  I am not saying they had Hulk Hogan physics, they did not. They looked mostly normal but they were throwing down some weights for sure. 

I made it through my workout and was pleased to see that there was one place I could beat them.  Neither one maxed out the leg press machine.  I can and I can add weight to it. 

Daily Recap:

Matt: Feeling sad at the gym after two old guys show me up

Kelly: 1 hour personal trainer

Day 197: Cold Out There

After work it was jogging time however it was freezing outside. I suited up in two pairs of pants and three shirts and sweat shirt to hit the street.  I had to burn some calories for the upcoming Thanksgiving feast. 

Half way through I warmed up.  Even though I hate running in the cold it wasn’t bad in the areas where I could still get in the sun.  For one stretch of road I was almost hot.  I had my hood up on my sweat shirt and was starting to sweat that was until I turned around.

Coming back the wind was in my face and it was chilly.  My hood directed the cold wind around my head.  I tightened the lace on the hood but the wind was persistent.  In the end I was most glad that it was over. 

Daily Recap:

Matt: Run outside in the cold

Kelly: 1 Hour with personal trainer

Day 196: Heavy Yard Work

Was a slow Sunday we slept in some and hung around the house for most of the morning.  Then I remembered I needed to fix the step in the garage.  Recently we moved the fridge and now it won’t open all the way.  It is partially blocked by the step going into our house.

I started mid-morning working on that.  Ever have things momentum build on you.  You start with one simple project and the next thing you know…BAM!  That is how this snowballed.  I started with the step and needing some of my tools.  My battery drill was dead. As it charged I started cleaning out my storage shed that led me to finding my pruners and Kelly and I pruning a jasmine bush on the side of our house. 

That made me break out the rake to clean up the pruning and raking out a flower bed.  From here we weeded the flower beds and began breaking down the garden (including hand turning a quarter of it).  Next thing I know I am cleaning up behind my storage shed while Kelly is breaking down the barrels that we have had for almost a decade (it was time they were looking tired). 

Seven hours later I finished loading our trailer with trash that needed to go to the dump.  I was too tired and achy to do much else.  I thought about trying to hit the gym but I was covered in sweat and hungry. 

Daily Recap:

Matt and Kelly: Heavy Yard Work

Day 195: Just Jog

Alright, another day, another dollar.  I have long ago decided that I am not the most interesting man in the world.  As I have mentioned before I go to work, I come home, I make sure I get in my exercise.  That is it really. 

Today, although it was chilly outside I had to get out and feel the pavement under my feet, breathe some fresh air, and look at something other than walls. 

I laced up my new shoes and hit the pavement.  Although it was getting dark I carried a flashlight with me, but I didn’t  wear my fancy new reflector vest.  I jogged around the neighborhood.  There is a house that is on the market and looking very run down that has been having a lot of work done on it.  It is finally starting to look good.

I did a full round and half of the neighborhood before if hit my goal of 30 minutes.  I then went longer after all Thanksgiving was coming up.

Daily Recap:

Matt: 45 minutes jogging around the neighborhood.  

Day 194: Friday at the Gym

Friday night as you know means game night where we get together and eat food that was bad for us and play board or card games.  As usual it was raining and hateful weather that makes you want to crawl under a blanket and not come out for several days.

After a trying ride home thanks to the wet roads and the idiots that decide to drive on them at top speeds with no regard to those around them I finally made it home.  Kelly was off shopping with the niece so I suited up and hit the gym.

Tonight I only did the treadmill and it was really a test.  I started slow and built up both my speed and incline.  I started at 4.5 miles an hour with a .5 incline and ended at 6 miles and hour with a 3.5 incline. 

That was really it for the day and now I am off to eat some Chinese food and play Phase 10. 

Daily Recap:

Matt: Treadmill at the gym

Kellly: Treadmill workout.