The Day After

Well, I made no real attempt to have a "Primal Thanksgiving." I ate lots of stuff that Grok wouldn't recognize. But I started the day at 199 so hopefully any damage done will be temporary. I'm just going to avoid the scale for awhile--no need to subject myself to the shock!! :-)

I had a couple of great racquetball matches this week. Tuesday was great only in that I got in a good workout. Ron whupped up on me like an unwanted step-child; however, we got in a total of four games and it was some great work. Wednesday I repeated the same sequence that I did the last time I played Neal. I lost the first game but came back and won the last two. I'm pretty damn proud of myself for taking that last game. The second game was tough and I was sucking some serious wind at the end. I started the third thinking I really didn't care about the income. But then the competitor in my took over and I played hard. Great workout!

Good Sportsmanship and Good Eats

If you watched any sports news this past week, you probably saw the story of the golfer who reported a mistake he made (using an unapproved golf ball) which caused him to be disqualified from a tournament after it was over. Doing so cost him any chance of getting his full status on the PGA Tour next year. I was part of an incident this weekend that while not having the same financial implications, still was pretty impressive. I was the referee for a swimming meet on Friday, and I disqualified a swimmer for taking off early in a relay race. Later during the day, the team's coach approached me and said that he checked the results that were posted, and that the DQ wasn't noted. He went on to say that although some people associated with his team didn't want him to say anything, he didn't want a deserving team to miss the finals because of a clerical error. I checked with the scoring table and sure enough--the operator had failed to record the DQ. We corrected the error and the deserving team DID make the finals. I'd like to think that any coach would have done the same thing in that situation, but I know that some wouldn't. This coach showed some real integrity and I hope it rubs off on his swimmers.

Now more to topic. As you know if you've been following along, swim meets tend to put me in a situation where I am faced with great temptation to veer from my chosen path to eat healthy. This two-day meet was no exception. But I'm happy to say I did very well. I passed on all the pastries and other goodies. Friday I had three barbecue sandwiches but I scraped off the meat and tossed the buns. I followed that up with an apple and a banana. This morning I had two bacon and egg breakfast tacos without eating the tortilla. The rest of the day I snacked on fruit from a bit fruit salad. So I "done good." Now it's on to Thanksgiving!!!!

Orange You Glad To See Me?

This is what I found waiting on the kitchen table when I got home from my bicycle commute. We're talking some VERY FRESH oranges with absolutely no pesticides involved in their production. I know that to be true because this is where they came from:

When we moved into this house over eight years ago, there was a little stub growing out of the ground. As it got bigger, I kept campaigning to cut it out because it was going to end up fighting for space with the mesquite tree. Well, my wife won that battle and I'm glad. These are great tasting oranges and the price is definitely right!!

Staying The Course

Not much new to report other than I'm doing a good job of sticking to my nutritional plan, and things are looking good on the old scale. I've been consistently under 200 pounds every time I step on it--even after having a fairly large lunch yesterday at our company Thanksgiving gathering. I'd sure like to get a larger cushion going into Thanksgiving!

Things are not going quite as well with my exercise program. I am consistently riding my bike to work, and getting in my racquetball matches; however, I haven't been doing the pushups or doing any weight lifting. I'd like to make a declaration of renewed commitment like I did a couple weeks ago about my diet, but I'm not ready to go there. I'm thinking of breaking out my kettlebell workbook to do that program at home in the evening. Of course, "thinking about it" won't produce much in the way of results! :-)

I do have a couple other posts semi-drafted in my head but they require some visuals to go with them. The camera battery is charging!!

Take No Prisoners!!

Just a quick post.

I played racquetball with Ron today and for whatever reason, he decided to inflict a beat down after I scored 11 in the first game. I scored a total of three points in the next two games. Ouch!

I took my wife to lunch at a great Japanese seafood buffet on Veteran's Day. I ate lots of healthy and delicious food, and ended it with a sliver of cheesecake. Yummy!

A Look at the Past for a Glimpse of the Future

I was looking through some old files on my computer yesterday while considering putting up a Veteran's Day related post when I ran across this photo. This was taken in '86 or '87 while I was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base. I was at the peak of my running phase--this would have been taken close to the time I had completed the Las Vegas marathon, and while I was running 40-50 miles a week. My weight then floated in a window between 182 and 187. If I was gearing up for fast 10K, then I would make an effort to get to the lower end of that range. This was a good news/bad news situation. The good news was that I felt like I was in great shape, and despite being a slow runner (my fastest mile was 5:55 on a slight downhill with a tailwind), I could still run a pretty decent 10K (40:18 PR). The bad news was that I was often fighting injuries like a bad case of trochanteric bursitis and a chronic case of plantar faciitis. As a matter of fact, it was the PF that finally caused me to abandon running and take up cycling.

This is what I want my "after" photo to look like except with a little more upper body development. Fifteen pounds to go!!

The "Surge" is Working

Back on October 27th, I lamented about how I was straying from the path and starting to put on some weight. I had managed to escape the 201-205 window I had been operating in and had hit 211. On that day I posted the following:

IT STOPS TODAY



Well I have done very well since and when I climbed on the scale this morning, it read 200.0

I haven't touched as much as a single Hershey's Kiss since that day despite being surrounded by constant temptation. The push is on - 185 pounds is the target!!

Halloween - An Epilog

Just a quick note on last night. I had a great time with the trick-or-treaters, especially the many little ones that showed up at the door. But the best thing is that, unlike last year, I didn't eat a single piece of candy! I think that bodes well for my effort to make a big push. The weight IS going to come off!