The kick-off to the second-half of the running season starts today. It feels like just yesterday I was saying I’m not going to enter any more of these organized races. My sister-in-law either should become a District Attorney with her persuasive ‘tude or I’m just a sucker for a medal. What? No medal, just a performance T? I guess I’ve just been found guilty!

And They’re Off!

In either case, I’m glad to be tagging along — it is fun to participate with others. Notice how I didn’t say run with others, only participate. I’m a Hermit Runner — headphones and my thoughts, but I certainly do notice I thrive in race scenarios. Ninety-nine percent of the time I have gone into a race feeling like the UCSC Banana Slug, but I come out like a UNLV Running Rebel. The 1% was during a Moonlight race where the start time was 7pm. 7pm in the middle of a Northern California summer is just cruel.

Life lesson #85 – In many circumstances, 99% is 100%. The pursuit of perfection can lead you to be imperfect with added strife and disappointment. Tony Horton, “do your best and forget the rest” sums it up very well.

Plus, this race actually falls on my scheduled run day. I was suppose to run a 6-mile run today anyway so why not get a shirt for my efforts. Finished 21st in my age group, 57th for all males, and 75th overall.

Laboring on Labor Day

Morning weight = 170. Post run weight = 168

Today’s Food:

• 6:15am – Pre-run Nutrition
  • Herbalife24 Prepare (2 scoops)
  • Herbalife24 Hydrate (1 stick)
  • 1 banana
• 9:15am – Post-run Nutrition sponsored by Whole Foods
  • Various grains, nuts, Greek yogurt, soy milk, berries and other fruits, and flaxseed. Quote of the day from one of the young volunteers in charge of the flaxseed station and in response to what is it. She said, “It’s flaxseed — it will make sure flaxseed stronger in your body” OK … whatever you say.
• 9:45am – Post-Post run protein. Meeting with family at a local restaurant.
  • Over medium egg and 3 potato wedges. Not hungry, but want the protein I didn’t get from the Whole Foods snacks.
• 12:45pm – Labor Day Grub
  • 1 plate of homemade pasta with Quorn soy ground
  • 1 serving of peach slices
  • 1 serving of fruit salad
  • 1/2 cup of fresh mango
  • 1 serving of homemade cranberry quinoa salad
• 3pm – Fun Sized Snacks
  • 1 Payday fun size bar
  • 1 Snickers Peanut Butter Square. I’ll stick with the original.
• 5:30pm – Finishing leftovers
  • 1 plate of homemade pasta with Quorn soy ground
  • 3 pieces of garlic bread. With about 10 kids of various ages at the party, these went fast.
  • 1 homemade Rainbow Cake
• 10:45pm – Herbalife24 Restore

Meal 1.1 – Post Race Fuel

Meal 1.2

Meal 2

Meal 3.1

Food and Exercise

Today’s Activities:

•  Labor Day Race! My first 10K and I loved it. Before you know it, you’re done! Paced myself against other runners with nice strides for the first 2 miles. Passed this group when I noticed their were laboring on Labor Day and caught another group with great strides. Ran with this group for a little over 2 miles and when I noticed they were gassing out, politely passed them (runner’s etiquette) in an open area and never looked back. Had negative splits each mile and finished mile 6 at a sub 8-minute mark.
• Forgot to bring my Clif Shots so my sister-in-law actually had a few bucks on her and we went to Whole Foods (aka The Starting Line) and bought their equivalent, Vega Sports. All natural, blah, blah, blah. I bought a packet, but it in my pocket, thought about using it, but didn’t want to change my routine.

Labor Day Run

Splits

Shout to all the runner’s on this day that participated in the ceremonial “donation of the shoe” post race.

The Sole of a Runner

Monday, September 2, 2013

Since Saturday’s scheduled long run morphed into Friday’s long run, I have officially been recovering for 2 whole days. When you work out constantly, you certainly appreciate these two little words … “off” and “day” Ask anybody who has done Insanity or P90X and they’ll all eventually get to the same message … “I enjoyed my Sundays (insert any day of the week) because it was my off day.”

Life lesson #84 – Google shabot and it will change your life.

Morning weight = 171

Today’s Meals:

• 8:15am – Herbalife Shake.
  • 8 ounces of Old Orchard Healthy Balance Apple Juice
  • 2 scoops Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder
  • 1 scoop Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla
  • 1 cup of Baby Spinach
  • 3 Costco Frozen Strawberries
  • 8 Costco Frozen Blueberries
  • 2 Costco Frozen Pineapple Chunks
  • 1/4 cup Mountain High Plain Yogurt
    • Herbalife Supplements
      • Multivitamin
      • Joint Support
      • X-tra Cal
      • Herbalifeline
      • And Much, Much, More! See MyFitnessPal chart
• 10:50am – Krispy Kreme glazed donut. Just another reason why I love my church. Grateful for the Krispy Kreme! Been at least 2 years since I had one of these babies — still not my favorite, but it sure does make for a grateful communion!
• 1pm – Mexican Food
  • Breakfast burrito with hashbrowns, eggs (no meat)
  • Fresh roasted jalapeños
  • Green Tomatillo Sauce
  • Tortilla chips (7 total)
  • Fresh carrot and orange mixed juice (6 onces)
• 5pm – Payday Fun Size candy bar
• 7:30pm – Chinese Food
  • Veggie Chowmein
  • Honey Walnut Tofu (yes, tofu!)
  • Herbalife Supplements
    • Multivitamin
    • Herbalifeline
    • Cell Activator

Meal 2

Food and Service

Today’s Activities:

• Church service.
• Prep for tomorrow’s Labor Day Race and post family get together at our house. My sister-in-law who is running as well and her two kids stayed the night to get in as much extra ZZZZZZ’s as possible. The race is in our backyard, almost literally, and it kicks off the second half of the Tour de Fit! The plan for tonight … sleep by 10:30pm which means I’ll be asleep by 11:30pm and rise by 6:15am which means I’ll rise at 6:35am. My sleep and rest/rise is something I am still working on. If this was a Twitter post, I would follow that statement with a #NightOwl

Sunday, September 01, 2013

My nephew is big into anime and happened to mention there was a local anime convention. So, being the great uncle that I am, I told him I would attend. I would sacrifice for him. And bumping into Mega Godzilla didn’t hurt. Mega Godzilla

Truth be told, I love toys. Not a fan of Halloween in August, but I love toys. Started in the 80’s, ran out of space in the early 90’s, discovered eBay in the early 90’s, built some shelves in the late 90’s, and after more shelve space, here I am again.  In the 25+ years of toy, comic, sports memorabilia, and music collecting, I’ve eBayed, donated to people I know and people I don’t know. One of the more rewarding experiences, donated about 75 Beanie Babies to a great friend’s 4th grade class. She teaches them well — my wife and I actually received a thank you letter from the class with reasons why they choose the Beanie Baby. Never agreed with Bill Cosby any more — kid’s do say the darndest things.

Life lesson #83 – You don’t have to dress up like a superhero to be a super. Make a difference in someone’s life.

Morning weight 170

Today’s Meals:

• 8:15am – Herbalife Shake.
  • 8 ounces of Old Orchard Healthy Balance Apple Juice
  • 2 scoops Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder
  • 1 scoop Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla
  • 1 cup of Baby Spinach
  • 3 Costco Frozen Strawberries
  • 8 Costco Frozen Blueberries
  • 2 Costco Frozen Pineapple Chunks
  • 1/4 cup Mountain High Plain Yogurt
    • Herbalife Supplements
      • Multivitamin
      • Joint Support
      • X-tra Cal
      • Herbalifeline
• 10:45am – Kind Bar – Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate. Sometimes, you need just a little extra energy while walking the Con floor. These vendors are ruthless with their pricing negotiations.
• 12:45pm – Thai Food. Remember vegetarians, ask for no fish sauce!
  • Veggie Pad Thai with tofu and no fish sauce
  • Thai Pineapple Fried Rice
  • Massaman curry with tofu
• 2:30pm – Bag of Nacho Doritos. Salty snacks also help to negotiate the Con floor and the Con vendors.
• 7:45pm – Vietnamese. Remember vegetarians! Ask for no fish sauce and they usually have Bragg’s Amino Acid dipping sauce as not just an alternative, but a better, tastier alternative.
  • Vegetarian Vermicelli Bowl with fried tofu, fake chicken, and no fish sauce!
  • Fried egg

Meal 2

Meal 2a

Meal 3

Food and Fun

Today’s Activities

• Arrived at the Sacramento Anime Show at 10am to beat the crowds and also because I had no idea what to expect. Been watching this Heroes of CosPlay show and I envisioned buses upon buses of unicorned, zombified, or googled-people wandering the streets. I guess this convention doesn’t draw the attention of the larger ones, but it didn’t detract from all the fun I had with my wife, nephew, and niece. Took me back to my days of walking the convention floors at sportscard shows in the mid 80s. Met some great, enthusiastic people and seeing people fully enjoy something passionately is a bonus.

Saturday, 08-31-2013

So, Runkeeper is an absolute tyrant when it comes to training. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, all building up to a long Saturday run. Saturday obligations more often than not don’t allow for a two-hour run so I’m having to modify to fit my life. Knowing the long runs are the ones designed to build my endurance, I am happy to report I choose the Saturday long run over the shorter Friday training.

Life lesson 82 – Choose the narrow path — the ones that don’t have the shortcuts. Take for example, this guy I met at Target. He was sitting in the Starbucks lounge area with a classic 80’s icon, the Rubik’s Cube. Without going into detail, apparently this was called a Lubix Cube because Lubix fabricates the spinners to make them move smoother and faster, but that’s not the point.

Solving the cube in less than 16 seconds is no small feat, but it didn’t happen overnight. Turns out, he was the 1982 Chicago Speed Champ, Tony Snyder. He found shortcuts to solve the puzzle faster, but he didn’t take shortcuts to figure those out.

Take 15-seconds to watch Tony’s result of decades of persistence and passion. Solving the Cube

Morning weight 170.5. Post run weight 167

Today’s Meals:

• 8:15am – Herbalife Shake.
  • 8 ounces of Old Orchard Healthy Balance Apple Juice
  • 2 scoops Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder
  • 1 scoop Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla
  • 1 cup of Baby Spinach
  • 3 Costco Frozen Strawberries
  • 8 Costco Frozen Blueberries
  • 2 Costco Frozen Pineapple Chunks
  • 1/4 cup Mountain High Plain Yogurt
    • Herbalife Supplements
      • Multivitamin
      • Joint Support
      • X-tra Cal
      • Herbalifeline
• 9:30am – Pre-run nutrition
  • Herbalife24 Prepare (2 scoops)
• 10:30am – During run nutrition
  • Herbalife24 Prepare (1 scoop)
  • Herbalife24 Hydrate (1 stick)
• 12:30pm – Post Run
  • El Monterey Bean and Cheese Burrito
  • Herbalife24 Rebuild Endurance (2 scoops)
  • Herbalife Instant Chocolate Shake (1 scoop)
  • Silk Pure Almond Milk (8 ounces)
  • Herbalife supplements:
    • see list on MyFitnessPal
• 4pm – Costco Samples
  • Afghan spinach flatbread (3 return trips for samples – delicious. We bought some home)
  • 3 types of chutneys (mango, jalapeno, green)
  • Cedar Lane bean and cheese burrito (1 bite – didn’t even finish – not delicious)
• 6:45pm – Trying a new pizza place in a new city
  • 4 slices of Gourmet House Veggie Pizza (brick oven)
  • 3/4 slice Peach Pie
  • 1 cup of vanilla ice cream
  • 1 serving Fried Onion Strings
  • Herbalife supplements:
    • Xtra Cal
    • Joint Support
    • Multivitamin
    • Cell Activator
    • Herbalifeline
• 9:45pm – Specialty donut
• 10:45pm – Herbalife24 Restore

Meal 2

Meal 2.1

Meal 3

Meal 3.1

Today’s Activities:

• Saturday should be the long run day, but Saturday is also filled with non-run obligations. Good to be flexible, but don’t take the easy route. Hotter than I wish, but I also need to get acclimated to the weather. Last week was a breeze and I was actually able to spring the last mile. This week, I had to stop and walk twice.

11 miles

Friday, 08-30-2013

As we inch closer to the Labor Day Weekend, I’m getting excited. Not because of the long weekend and definitely not because of the traffic. I stopped being “Can’t Wait For the Weekend” Guy a very long time ago. I am excited to have family and friends over for a ceremonial “End of Summer” gathering. Oh, and a few of us are actually registered to run in the first organized race of the second half of the year.

Life lesson #81 – Don’t be “Can’t Wait for Weekend” Guy. You will only be make yourself miserable Monday 8am to Friday 5pm. That’s a lot of self-imposed misery,

It’s a 10K. I can never remember the distance in miles — always have to Google “10K equals how many miles?” Come on, you can’t tell me I’m the only one. 

Apparently, of the entire population of the world. About 7 billion people (this I didn’t have to Google), only 23,400 people are searching “10K equals how many miles” Now I’m hoping with this extra focus on 10K and cutting a pasting images of the distance, I will officially reduce the search results to 23,399. I declare for now on I will remember 10k = 6.2. And if that fails, when I’m running, I’ll just keep an eye out for the finish line when I reach 6 miles.

Morning weight – 170.5

Today’s Meals:

• 8:15am – Herbalife Shake.
  • 8 ounces of Old Orchard Healthy Balance Apple Juice
  • 2 scoops Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder
  • 1 scoop Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla
  • 1 cup of Baby Spinach
  • 3 Costco Frozen Strawberries
  • 8 Costco Frozen Blueberries
  • 2 Costco Frozen Pineapple Chunks
  • 1/4 cup Mountain High Plain Yogurt
• 11:30am – Microwave Madness
  • El Monterey Bean and Cheese burrito
  • 2 tbsp Sunny Side sour cream
  • 15 Lay’s Original chips
  • 14 Tostitos Restaurant style chips
  • 1/4 cup of Tillamook 4 cheese Mexican blend
    • My specialty, ghetto nachos
• 3:00pm – Ghetto Nachos
  • Tostitos 14 chips
  • Lays Original Lays 7 chips
  • Tillamook 1/4 cup
• 3:30pm – Fresh peach
• 6:15pm – Chinese Food
  • General Sesame Tofu (1 1/2 servings)
  • Steamed broccoli (1/2 cup)
  • Egg drop soup (1 1/2 cups)
  • Egg fried rice (2 cups)
  • Steamed rice (1/2 cup)
• 9:30pm – Cuchinta with grated coconut (1 piece)

Meal 2

Meal 2.1

Meal 2.2

Food and No Exercise

Today’s Activities:

• DirecTv installed today. I didn’t do it, but I enjoyed watching. Bye bye Xfinity, hello DirecTv.

Thursday, 08-29-2013

Although I had my last physical therapy session yesterday, the information I learned to regain the range of motion in my left shoulder and alleviate the stinging/numbing in my right arm wasn’t all I got out of it. When someone is tugging, pulling, and generally treating you like an 80’s corn syrup-filled toy Stretch Armstrong, you get to talking about other stuff.

Life lesson #80 – Heed the advice and direction of experts, especially when they also show a level of expertise. For example, don’t ask someone that has been 50 pounds overweight for countless years how to lose weight. Do ask someone that is having success what they are doing and follow their lead to experience the same success. In this case, Doug participates in mega hikes and mini tris — earned the right to say what he has to say.

Techniques were reinforced to prevent damaging this 42-year-old body any further during the next 100 days of marathon training. Run on soft surfaces. Run different routes. Why different routes? To prevent from running the same slopes and bumps and angles of roads. Why soft surfaces … self-explanatory.

So with this reinforced knowledge, off I go. New route. Soft surface. 99% trail and grass. Great to see new things while chugging along and it is noticeably different running on grass, mainly mental focus. Had to really pay attention to each step so not to roll my ankle in a pothole, but I’d take an ankle roll over stepping into dog or geese poop any day!

Morning weight 171. Post run weight 168.5.

Today’s Meals:

• 8:15am – Herbalife Shake.
  • 8 ounces of Old Orchard Healthy Balance Apple Juice
  • 2 scoops Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder
  • 1 scoop Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla
  • 1 cup of Baby Spinach
  • 3 Costco Frozen Strawberries
  • 8 Costco Frozen Blueberries
  • 2 Costco Frozen Pineapple Chunks
  • 1/4 cup Mountain High Plain Yogurt
• 12:15pm – Indian Buffet – All Vegetarian
  • 1.5 Heaping Plates, as described by MyFitnessPal
  • Herbalife Supplements
    • Multivitamin
    • Herbalifeline
    • Cell Activator
    • Male Factor
    • Joint Support
    • Mega Garlic Plus
    • Total Control
    • Garden 7
    • Tri-Shield
    • Aminogen
    • Ultimate Prostate
    • Florafiber
    • Xtra Cal
    • Nature Made B12
• 6:15pm – Secret Shoppers! (but don’t tell anyone)
  • Jolly Bee service was great! Place was clean. Unfortunately, we couldn’t taste the meat dishes so we brought along our carnivore family to give us their thoughts, but not before I took the dessert off the plate. Remember the old McDonald’s apple pies — deep fried and they burned your mouth every single time. Well, they had that same pie, but with banana langka and all the deep fried goodness! One word … wow! And for the record, the other food had no leftovers so that’s a good sign.
• 7pm – Vietnamese Sandwich Shop recommended by the salon that cuts my hair. My only complaint about bahn mi sandwiches is the bread tears up the roof of my mouth, like I just ate 10 bowls of Frosted Flakes. You’ve had that feeling — it ain’t just me. They guaranteed this place is different.
  • Veggie, tofu bahn mi. $3 for a full sandwich! Subway may have their $5-footlong, but they aren’t even in the same league as these sandwich artists!
  • Freshly made garlic bread roll. Saw it coming out of the oven and couldn’t resist. And oh yeah, at 4 for $1, wasn’t a hard decision.
  • 1/2 can of Orange Crush
• 7:30pm – Vietnamese Che (also a previous recommendation from the salon)
• 10:30pm – Herbalife24 Restore

Meal 2

Meal 2.1

Meal 3

Meal 3.1

Food and Exercise

Today’s Activities:

• Woke up late and will need to pay the price. I have found mid-morning runs don’t quite give me that “runner’s high” — I find the increased temperatures and broken food and bathroom routines make me feel a bit sluggish. And today I’ll be trying a route consisting of 99% grass and trail. The 1% is only to cross the street.
• How I felt — much tougher running on grass, at least I think. I may think differently if I did this run between 7-8am, but at 9:30ish, who knows. Bottom line — much better on my body and I finished with great splits.

5 mile slow/fast

Splits and Intervals

Wednesday, 08-28-2013

From every week, to every two weeks, to every 3-4 weeks, I see Doug. I don’t know who would complain about physical therapy — it’s the best $15 I can recall spending in quite some time. Feels like you need to leave a tip, but I’m sure that’s frowned upon and a little creepy.

Range of motion has improved significantly from the first session and this being number 5. It is clear that Doug sees I am putting the effort in away from the hospital and he has been spending more time with me as well.

Life lesson #79 – People will match you effort for effort. If you aren’t putting in the sweat equity, honestly ask yourself if you can expect the same from someone else.

Morning weight 169.5

Today’s Meals:

• 7:15am – Herbalife Shake.
  • 8 ounces of Old Orchard Healthy Balance Apple Juice
  • 2 scoops Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder
  • 1 scoop Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla
  • 1 cup of Baby Spinach
  • 3 Costco Frozen Strawberries
  • 8 Costco Frozen Blueberries
  • 2 Costco Frozen Pineapple Chunks
  • 1/4 cup Mountain High Plain Yogurt
• 11:30am – Left, leftovers
  • 1 1/4 cup of homemade Potato Au Gratin with Quorn Grounds
  • 1/4 slice of a homemade peach galette (fancy word for pastry)
  • 8 fluid ounces of Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey to wash down my Herbalife supplements:
    • Multivitamin
    • Herbalifeline
    • Cell Activator
    • Male Factor
    • Joint Support
    • Mega Garlic Plus
    • Total Control
    • Garden 7
• 3pm – Kind Dark Chocolate and sea salt bar
• 5:30pm Chipotle (revisited — tasted so good yesterday, had to come back)
  • 1/2 Veggie Fajita Bowl
  • White and brown rice
  • Veggie black beans
  • Guacamole on the side
  • Sour cream on the side
  • 1/2 Large cheese quesadilla. Yesterday’s small just didn’t cut it.
• 7:30pm – Press screening of The Grandmaster
  • Regal Theatre Popcorn with butter, small bag
  • 10 oz Sprite
• 10pm – Kraft Easy Mac, 1/2 package
• 10:30pm – Herbalife Mango Aloe (8 ounces) with Herbalife24 Restore to end my day

Meal 2

Meal 3

Meal 4

Food and Physical Therapy

Today’s Activities:

• Physical therapy session #5 (4th with Doug). Learned a little more about his family during our 30+ minute sessions. Much more relaxing since session #2 (1st with Doug). It’s that awkward silence when two people are in each other’s “space” and even awkwarder when the two people are both guys. Just glad he’s a professional!
• Since my progress is moving ahead of schedule — he initially told me that “frozen shoulder” symptoms could last more than a year. I guess I liked the challenge because I’m way ahead of the curve. I am able to hang (close grip only) from a pull-up bar. Wide grip is still too much stress and even with close grip, I can’t actually pull-up without damaging something or re-damaging something. Pull-up verdict – not worth it just yet, but I’ll get there.

This will be my last session. Expressed my sincere gratitude to Doug for his time and efforts and will continue the plan towards full recovery. Pull-ups are just around the corner.

Tuesday, 08-27-2013

The big picture:

• Friday, 08-23-2013, 170.5 (Buffet and 11-mile run)
• Saturday, 08-24-2013, 171 (Buffet, dessert, and fantasy football fun)
• Sunday, 08-25-2013, 173.5 (Portion control and helping a friend)
• Monday, 08-26-2013, 171

Morning Weight 171. Back to average and that is a good thing.

What does this reveal? You can eat and still maintain, but there is a price to pay. Either through sweat equity or self-control. Life lesson #78 – Pay the price of discipline or pay the price of regret, either way you pay. This is not an exact quote from one of my mentors Jim Rohn (not the King of Smack guy, but he’s cool too!) Bottom line … choose wisely.

Today’s Meals:

• 8:15am – Herbalife Shake.
  • 8 ounces of Old Orchard Healthy Balance Apple Juice
  • 2 scoops Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder
  • 1 scoop Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla
  • 1 cup of Baby Spinach
  • 3 Costco Frozen Strawberries
  • 8 Costco Frozen Blueberries
  • 2 Costco Frozen Pineapple Chunks
  • 1/4 cup Mountain High Plain Yogurt
• 9am – Pre-run Nutrition
  • Herbalife24 Prepare (8 ounces of water, 2 scoops)
• 11:45am – Post run meal
  • Leftovers – 1 1/4 cup of homemade Potato Au Gratin with Quorn Grounds
  • 1/2 cup of fresh broccoli
• 3pm – Protein Break
  • 1 cup Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Vanilla
  • 1 scoop Herbalife24 Rebuild Endurance
  • 2 scoops Herbalife Instant Chocolate
  • 1/2 banana
  • 2 tbpn Skippy Extra Chunky Peanut Butter
  • 2 cups Full Circle Baby Spinach
  • 2 oz Mountain High Original Plain Yogurt
  • Herbalife Supplements:
    • Multivitamin
    • Herbalifeline
    • Cell Activator
    • Male Factor
    • Joint Support
    • Mega Garlic Plus
• 5:30pm – Chipotle Veggie Fajita Bowl. About 1/2 the bowl – shared with my wife. We ask for an extra scope of white and brown rice and it’s a perfect splittable meal.
  • Guacamole on the side. It’s free when you order veggie-style
  • Sour cream on the side
  • 1/2 Small Cheese quesadilla
• 7:45pm – Regal Theatre small popcorn with butter (1/2 bag)
• 10pm – Herbalife24 Restore and Hershey’s Kisses with macadamia nut

Meal 2

Meal 2.1

Meal 3

Meal 3.1 (Popcorn)

Food and Exercise

Today’s Activities:

• 10:20am – Runkeeper 4 mile + strides. The strides at a 95% effort. Noticed running later in the morning does feel a bit more draining. The weather heats up slightly, but nutrition seems to be the key to distance. My morning shake was 2 hours before. I did have 8 ounces of Prepare, but no half-banana. Overall, splits are good and confidence is building as I learn more about my body and nutrition.

4 miles + strides

Monday, 08-26-2013

OK. Friday’s Indian lunch buffet and an 11-mile run only amounted to a plus .05 pounds. Saturday’s pizza buffet, 2 pieces of dessert and ice cream with no other activity amounts to plus 2.5 pounds.

Life lesson #77 – Don’t underestimate the need to get moving! It is the difference from a successful plan and a failed lifestyle.

We just finished a 6 week series on the Book of Esther at church — the takeaway and message. This is the only book in the bible that does not mention God — ultimately, it mimics today’s society and its attempt to take God out of everything. The Book of Esther ultimately reveals God’s providence. I truly believe there are no coincidences or as it so commonly used today, “being lucky” I believe in the providence of God and I will use our pastor’s phrasing, “Coinci-God”

Morning Weight 173.5

Today’s Meals:

• 8:15am – Herbalife Morning Shake.
  • 8 oz of Healthy Balance Apple Juice
  • 2 Scoops of Herbalife Protein Powder
  • 1 Scoop of Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla
  • 3 Costco Frozen Pineapple Chunks
  • 2 Costco Frozen Strawberries
  • About 5 Costco Organic Blueberries
  • 1/2 cup of spinach
  • Mountain High Plain Yogurt
  • Herbalife Supplements (see MyFitnessPal below)
• 1:05pm – Mexican Restaurant. Keeping in mind the significant bump in weight, today will be a day of sharing to get me back on track. I split this with my wife.
  • Breakfast Burrito (hashbrowns, eggs, pinto beans, cheese, and rice)
  • Chips and salsa
• 2:30pm – Kind Protein Bar – Dark chocolate Nuts and Sea Salt
• 8pm – Homemade Veggie Goodness
  • Quorn grounds potato au gratin
  • 1 cup of steamed broccoli
  • 2 ears of white corn on the cob with butter
  • 2 1/2 slices of Heirloom totato in extra virgin olive oil
  • Herbalife Joint Support
• 10pm – Herbalife Herbal Aloe Mango

Meal 2

Meal 3

Today’s Activities:

•  3pm – Found out a friend purchased his first house and was moving today. Offered my services and the good news is that he had a UHaul and most of the bigger items boxed and ready to go. Started at 3pm – Finished at 5:45pm. In the Northern California heat, looked like I ran 10 miles. Congratulations to my friend — the new place looks great!

Sunday, 08-25-2013

Once a year, there’s a phenomenon that brings friends and family together to talk trash, eat pizza, and pretend we actually know more than the suits in the NFL big house.

We Are The Champions!

It’s called fantasy football and this league has been dynamic since 1995. You can tell how long we’ve been together by our team names … they aren’t as eye-catching as some of the newer team names like “Turn Your Head and Coughlin” or “Butt Fumblers” or “The Walking Dez”. For example, I’m just TD.  Short, sweet, simple, and ultimately, when you win the league, you are just called champion!

This year is different … I’m the defending champion. I can stand a little taller and walk a little slower to the draft board, humming Queen’s iconic anthem. I’ve earned the right. Nobody mentions that it’s been since 2004 since I’ve been able to take that slow walk, but we live in a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately society.

Morning weight 171. Not too bad since I ate at an Indian Buffet yesterday. Maybe it had something to do with the fact I also ran 11-miles.

Life lesson #76 – 1 1/2 buffet plates and 11-miles equals .05 pounds. If you are on a weight loss program, would you rather run 11-miles or have a shake?

Today’s Meals:

• 7am – Herbalife Morning Shake.
  • 8 oz of Healthy Balance Apple Juice
  • 2 Scoops of Herbalife Protein Powder
  • 1 Scoop of Herbalife Formula 1 French Vanilla
  • 3 Costco Frozen Pineapple Chunks
  • 2 Costco Frozen Strawberries
  • About 5 Costco Organic Blueberries
  • 1/2 cup of spinach
• 12:20pm – Round 12 of the Draft, the pizza arrives! Last year winner pays, but it is the best $100 I’ve ever spent.
  • 5 slices of Round Table Gourmet Veggie
• 3pm – Homemade Peach Galette. I Googled it, Galette ultimately means they can charge 40% more than calling it a pastry. Thanks to the Midnight Baker — you are an amazing baker! 1/4 slice.
• 3:45pm – Homemade Ghetto Nachos – microwave goodness!
  • Lay’s Original Chips (15 chips)
  • Tostitos White Corn Tortilla Chips (7 chips)
  • Sargento 4 cheese mexican (1/4 cup) just spread over the chips
• 6:30pm – Japanese Noodle House
  • Vegetarian Broth Ramen – Mabo Tofu (2 cups)
  • Veggie miso soup
  • Veggie tempura (1 1/2 servings)
  • Veggie Dragon Roll
• 9:50pm – Peach Galette revisited, but a la mode.
  • Homemade Peach Galette 1/4 slice
  • Crystal Vanilla Ice Cream (1/2 cup)
• 10:45pm – Herbalife24 Restore

Meal 2

Meal 2.1

Meal 2.2

Meal 3

Meal 4

Today’s Activities:

• 9am – 1:30pm – 18th Fantasy Football Season Draft Day! Good luck to the fellas and the line of the day, after the draft was over, “See you next year.” Been playing with these guys for almost 2 decades, but only see them a single day every year. Oddly, I could walk right by one of them without recognizing them if I bumped into them at the mall. But, this is my most competitive league and it is always good humored fun. We don’t have the stereo-typical, “Fantasy Football Guy” and we don’t draft at Hooters. I could put up with FF Guy, but not a Hooters draft. Too cliche and not my idea of a good time.

Saturday, 08-24-13