Last night while putting one of the boys to bed, an article in a magazine jumped out at me. The topic was in regards to the misnomer about core strength and exercises. This hit home being that is what my focus is on now. The misnomer comes from the idea that in order to strengthen the core, dynamic exercises are needed, these being crunches, leg raises and twists. One of the biggest eye openers was that these are the same things that researchers do to a cadaver when they are trying to damage the spine. Ouch… So, if working the muscles with dynamic exercises is bad, what is the correct way to strengthen the core? The suggestion is for static exercises or those that require the stabilization of the core during movement of major muscle groups. Being able to hold the core rigid under stress is the key. Bridges, planks and the hunting dog poses where among those suggested.
To update, my progress, I've been doing crunches in the am. Because of the years of neglect, I've been able to get two sets of 50 in before my back aches to the point that I cannot continue. That changed this morning. My goal was to hold a plank pose for 30 seconds and do 3 sets, then move to the hunting dog for 3 sets of 30 seconds also. Well, I was only able to make it to 2 sets of 30 for the plank before my back went on me. Hopefully, after a couple session, I can get to 3 of 30 and add the next pose.
Generally, I feel a dull ache in my abs now but my back has been fine all day. I am going to change to 3 set of 20 seconds every other day and hopefully I can hold the pose and form for the entire time.
Nutritionally, I was able to also read an article in a running magazine regarding a philosophy on running nutrition. I am going to look of a book that was referenced and hopefully start preparing a meal a week if not two along that philosophy. In the mean time, I have started to limit my portion sizes and am consuming an adequate amount of water. My next step will be to have nutritional snacks available at work. No more energy bars, but switch to fruits and nuts.
So far the scale is still at 0 and not climbing. I consider that progress over the scale climbing. Tomorrow I will get into better defining my goals for the coming year and maybe even breaking them down into shorter term goals. But for now, I need to lose weight and gain core stability.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Weekend #1
Although it is only the first week, I can tell it is going to be hard trying to find the time. I tried to carve out 15 minutes a day for working out, well that turned into one 15 minute session for the entire week. Even at that, I was asked what I was doing. So anyway, the time that I was able to get some core work in it felt good. I was able to get 50 crunches and 25 leg lifts in before my back started to hurt. Tonight, I plan on getting Conrad to bed and doing more.
Meals and nutrition is probably that area that needs the most work for me. It is not secret that I don't eat right. I limited my coffee this morning to two cups, down from the 10 on Saturday and large Latte on Sunday. Breakfast was a cup of instant oat meal, flavored of course, and lunch we actually a breakfast consisting of two eggs over easy hash browns, whole wheat toast and ham. The good news on the food front is that I am getting my 64 oz of water in.
Let see if I can continue the week with at least the core work and water. The nutrition will come along shortly. I am hoping by keeping a log of my food it will identify my short comings. My exercises are getting logged also. The format is still up in the air, but for now, they are going into my PDA.
All in all, this weekend felt good
Friday, October 2, 2009
A New Begining
My purpose for this blog was to verbalize some of the thoughts that were bouncing around in my head. Over the next 9 months, I would like to change it to a log of my progress in training. As I get closer to moving up to the next age group, I am hoping I can be more competitive.
What needs to done to be competitive next year.
With my training year done, a vacation done and my body rested, now is the time to start thinking about next year. First, the races that I want to do. I want to be ready to race the Big Fish on Father's day. Second, I want to race the Running fit series of races at Island Lakes. What are my top three goals going to be during the season? For these I need to look at my weaknesses.
First I need to look at my mental toughness. Why is it that I don't push through on races? Is it that I am not competitive or is it that I'm not willing to be competitive? Well, I do believe that I am competitive. It gets to me when I see people passing me on each of the legs. That leads me to not willing to compete. The question then becomes who am I competing against. The answer is myself. I need to set a goal for each race and work towards that, not only during training, but during the race.
The swim is probably my strongest and I don't get passed too often there. Next year I will start closer to the front of the pack and try to hang with the leaders. I should be able to start towards the front, but on the side and not have an issue.
The bike is my next strongest event. There I feel that in the years past, I was strong, but this year, the course got in my head. Either that or I was saving it for the run. It has been my experience that when I get off the bike, it is very difficult for me to run. Maybe I saved too much. The know how and experience are there, the motivation in missing.
My toughest event has always been the run. This year I want to complete a race with out walking the majority of the run leg. For that I need to build a good base. That brings me to my second goal: to build a good solid base that will allow me to run an entire 5k.
My last goal is going to be the enabler for the second. To lose weight. My current weight is almost 30 pounds over what is should be. Therefore I need to lose 30 pounds.
How am I going to accomplish these goals? As they always say, "How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time" I am not going to layout an entire season of training. But, if I layout 4-6 week blocks, the task isn't as intimidating. Keeping the long term goals in mind, 2 or 3 blocks will be looked at a time. This will give me the opportunity to change as I go.
With that said, on to the first block. Being 9 months before the first event, the plan is to start out slowly. The first 4 weeks I am going to work on building core strength. Not only will this benefit me in the long run, but it facilitates blocking out a small chunk of time, starting with only 15 minutes a day.
Hopefully I can make updates on a weekly basis if not more often. So lets start my journey.
What needs to done to be competitive next year.
With my training year done, a vacation done and my body rested, now is the time to start thinking about next year. First, the races that I want to do. I want to be ready to race the Big Fish on Father's day. Second, I want to race the Running fit series of races at Island Lakes. What are my top three goals going to be during the season? For these I need to look at my weaknesses.
First I need to look at my mental toughness. Why is it that I don't push through on races? Is it that I am not competitive or is it that I'm not willing to be competitive? Well, I do believe that I am competitive. It gets to me when I see people passing me on each of the legs. That leads me to not willing to compete. The question then becomes who am I competing against. The answer is myself. I need to set a goal for each race and work towards that, not only during training, but during the race.
The swim is probably my strongest and I don't get passed too often there. Next year I will start closer to the front of the pack and try to hang with the leaders. I should be able to start towards the front, but on the side and not have an issue.
The bike is my next strongest event. There I feel that in the years past, I was strong, but this year, the course got in my head. Either that or I was saving it for the run. It has been my experience that when I get off the bike, it is very difficult for me to run. Maybe I saved too much. The know how and experience are there, the motivation in missing.
My toughest event has always been the run. This year I want to complete a race with out walking the majority of the run leg. For that I need to build a good base. That brings me to my second goal: to build a good solid base that will allow me to run an entire 5k.
My last goal is going to be the enabler for the second. To lose weight. My current weight is almost 30 pounds over what is should be. Therefore I need to lose 30 pounds.
How am I going to accomplish these goals? As they always say, "How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time" I am not going to layout an entire season of training. But, if I layout 4-6 week blocks, the task isn't as intimidating. Keeping the long term goals in mind, 2 or 3 blocks will be looked at a time. This will give me the opportunity to change as I go.
With that said, on to the first block. Being 9 months before the first event, the plan is to start out slowly. The first 4 weeks I am going to work on building core strength. Not only will this benefit me in the long run, but it facilitates blocking out a small chunk of time, starting with only 15 minutes a day.
Hopefully I can make updates on a weekly basis if not more often. So lets start my journey.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Fuel From Your Lawn
I have a friend that asked a question the other day. "Is it possible to create a small switchgrass pelletizer. so that someone with a small rural homestead could efficiently grow and harvest their own fuel?"
This sparked an interest in me, and questions started to arise. In order for the fines of grass to stick together, how little or much moisture is needed? What is the actual process that pelletizing takes? And, most of all, why would someone want to do it?
Why? Having renewable resources is a hot topic these days. Man has been using fire to heat homes since the beginning. Wood as a fuel is what people default to when you think of this. Burning corn has been an alternative that is attractive because it is renewable on an annual basis unlike a tree that takes decades to grow. Switchgrass, which can be harvested multiple times a year produces as much if not more heat per pound as corn and depending on the desisity of the pellet can rival wood.
Next, I was looking at the process it takes to produce pellets. First, bales are chopped into small chips and or fines. These fines are then dried to a moisture content of 10-12%. then the fines are mixed, extruded out a die and cut to length. In the mixing process moisture or steam in added to facilitate the fines to bind together during the extrusion process.
Once the process was set the question is how to get this process to a size that can be mobile, affordable and easy to use and monitor. Having worked with a farmer in the past the designed a built his own harvester, I started to think of ways to pelletize cornstalks, hay, and straw to a density and form that can be used by cellusoic ethenol plants. But this led me away from the original quest of a rural homestead being able to grow its own heating fuel.
How would you like to mow your grass and get fuel for you home at the same time. The clippings from your lawn mower would be chopped into small fines, compressed to reduce the moisture, and extruded into pellets that will burn in a pellet furnace. Now any piece of property becomes a source of fuel. Road sides are mowed and the pellets are used to fuel the boilers in our municiple building and our schools get theirs from mowing the football and soccer fields. Or the fuel in burned to produce steam for a turbine that powers our building.
This sparked an interest in me, and questions started to arise. In order for the fines of grass to stick together, how little or much moisture is needed? What is the actual process that pelletizing takes? And, most of all, why would someone want to do it?
Why? Having renewable resources is a hot topic these days. Man has been using fire to heat homes since the beginning. Wood as a fuel is what people default to when you think of this. Burning corn has been an alternative that is attractive because it is renewable on an annual basis unlike a tree that takes decades to grow. Switchgrass, which can be harvested multiple times a year produces as much if not more heat per pound as corn and depending on the desisity of the pellet can rival wood.
Next, I was looking at the process it takes to produce pellets. First, bales are chopped into small chips and or fines. These fines are then dried to a moisture content of 10-12%. then the fines are mixed, extruded out a die and cut to length. In the mixing process moisture or steam in added to facilitate the fines to bind together during the extrusion process.
Once the process was set the question is how to get this process to a size that can be mobile, affordable and easy to use and monitor. Having worked with a farmer in the past the designed a built his own harvester, I started to think of ways to pelletize cornstalks, hay, and straw to a density and form that can be used by cellusoic ethenol plants. But this led me away from the original quest of a rural homestead being able to grow its own heating fuel.
How would you like to mow your grass and get fuel for you home at the same time. The clippings from your lawn mower would be chopped into small fines, compressed to reduce the moisture, and extruded into pellets that will burn in a pellet furnace. Now any piece of property becomes a source of fuel. Road sides are mowed and the pellets are used to fuel the boilers in our municiple building and our schools get theirs from mowing the football and soccer fields. Or the fuel in burned to produce steam for a turbine that powers our building.
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