Thanksgiving Shenanigans

Another Thanksgiving in the books.  I am happy to say I spent time with the ones I love and stuffed my face with entirely too much turkey.  Hot yoga and Kickboxing should remedy that after turkey day.  Here is how the Feist's get down.  Doesn't everyone shoot potato guns after eating to much turkey?  My wife is the best!

Happy thanksgiving to all and bring on the cookie season....you know who you are and you know what I am talking about.

Mission Accomplished

Sometimes in life you have to step back and just say wow this is freaking fantastic.  I have a lot of good around me right now and the last few days just hit me in the face with it!  My family is great.  Nic and I did a fun dinner with my parents and too way to many pineapple upside down cake shots! Then comes my friends.  How awesome is it to just hang out with a plate of nachos and watch football while chilling with your buds.  Beer + Football+ Nachos+ Buds has a special place in my heart.  (Notice I left off Vikings and just called it football)  Man they are terrible this year.  Stupid Packers.  Then comes health.  My 1st week of P90x went great.  I feel stronger than the last time I did it and yes I did take the pictures.  I will not be posting them but the personal satisfaction will be there when I finish this time.  I also did my first STRIKE class at Lifetime last weekend.  It is a modified boxing class with weights and aerobic workout.  Kicked my butt but motivated me to keep struglling so that that 5'4" 100 pould soaking weight teacher can't whip my ass so easy any more.  (did I mentioned she probably had about 3% body fat)
Now for a brief aside.  The title mission accomplished means one thing.  I got the job done.

"Now that I completed that race and know how to tape myself up appropriately I am going to run a 5k for work to try and raise money for the food shelf.  Goal is 7min miles flat and try to finish in the top 5.  No holding back this time so lets see what happens."

Above was my quote from a post a little while back.  The race came and went and I can't believe it.  I went out fast and the legs felt really good.  Finished with 6:52 average pace.  Didn't make the top 5 but there were 7 dudes that ran under 20mins so I don't feel disappointed about that one bit.  The other highlight of this race was that the company that I work for, Seagate US LLC, is donating 3000 dollars to the food shelf on the runners behalf.  It makes me feel great to know my company is supporting peoples needs and all I had to do was run a little race.

Finally, if you have noticed already I am quite chipper today, was work.  Things really came together today on my new assignment.  I am a design lead for a new product that is in development.  I completed my first technology update to customers in Britian and it went great.  Then I came home and found my 2nd patent plaque waiting for me on the doorstep.  It made me feel really good to know all the time and effort I put into schooling, working, listening, trying are paying off and I now have a good job because of it.

Patent #1 --> LINK

Patent #2(just got today) --> LINK


One other awesome aside and a shoutouts.  I am going to Ireland in March.  My best friend Luke is getting married next May and this is our bachelor trip for him.  We are going to sit down and rip through a bottle of Middleton to celebrate life and his new marriage.  I am so excited for him and Amy and they are so happy together. 

Now the shoutout.  Go Damon in Philly!  He is running his 3rd marathon and he is trying to break 3hours.  I know he will do it because we have a bet.  I told him that I would PR at the monster dash if he did.  Guess what it happened.  Then I told him I would PR at my 5k if he PR'd in Philly.  I did my part now he is going to do his.  (His Website LINK)

Peace

The winter training schedule

Round 2 of P90x just began.  Last time I tried this I had a huge success in building my strength and reducing my weight by ~10-15pounds.  This go is a little different for me.  My whole goal is to focus on form and muscle definition.  I also don't want to injure myself again.  The P90x program has lots and lots of pullups and pushups., I have weak elbows, not the best combo.  After what I just went through this year trying to get healthy running I now think that I understand how to listen to my body and adjust the pressure as needed to prevent injury.

I didn't do the photos last time but this time I think I will.  Lets see what happens!

Here is the schedule that I plan to follow for month1 :
Mon - Chest and Back in the morning.  Ab ribber in the evening
Tuesday - Rest Day or Yoga
Wed - Hockey in the morning
Thursday - Legs and Back in the morning.  Ab ribber in the evening
Friday - Shoulders and arms in the morning
Sat - Cycling at Lifetime with Kristi G or Strike in Plymouth or Yoga
Sunday - Light running and Heavy Leg lifting.

Here is the tricky part.  Trying to do a meal plan that looks like this.  I know in the end this is the best way to get results but damn I love to eat good tasting food rather than just healthy stuff all the time.


Now the fun part.  Why am I doing this again.
1.  Want to be healthy.  After my PR in the monster dash I have confidence that I can get the muscles I see on all the guys at lifetime.
2.  Want the strength to improve my golf game next year while maintaining flexibility.  Hence the Yoga!
3.  Improving my performance in Hockey.  Speed creates excitement on the ice and with the added strength I think I can try to get an invite to the friday league at our work!  Might take some extra sessions at the practice rink this winter too so the stick handling and footwork improve as well.

Season of Change

My life is getting flipped upside down.  The weather is getting colder which inevitably means the golf clubs go in the basement for the winter.  Minnesota was kind to me yesterday and let me finish with one last practice session.  A beautiful fall day, a litte windy, but still awesome.

As the golf season has been ending I have been trying to get going on a few other athletic fronts.  I finished a half marathon this spring in Fargo with a very very injured Achilles tendon.  This left a terrible taste in my mouth given that I like to do things well when I set my mind to them.  Hence me being stubborn I decided to try and run a 10 mile race in October called the Monster Dash.  The first 3 weeks of training went really well and then sure as heck my bad ankles started kicking in again.  This time with the encouragement of my wife I went to the doctor and found out what the heck was going on.  My orthopedic doctor said that I needed to support my ankles better and go easy for a few weeks before the training could begin again.  I finally listed to the advice of experts and just rested.  It sure paid off.  3 weeks before the race I started training again.  Hockey tape all over my feet but it was feeling good and my lungs were feeling good.  This race meant a lot to me because I knew if I pulled up lame that it would likely be my last.  I invited my parents to come watch my wife and I run just for that extra little motivation to keep me going.  They had never been to a race so they were really excited to see how we did.  The race started and it was off and running.  I wished my wife good luck and I took off.  The morning was cold but I had the right gear on and everything just seemed to be clicking.  I did the first 2-3 miles at a slightly slower pace then I normally start a race in hopes that the blood would start flowing and prevent me from getting injured.  Then I saw the 8min mile pace guy and I felt a sudden rush that things were going well  I blew by him and never looked back.  I kept telling myself the following, I don't wanna see that guy again today!  I made it all the way to about mile 8.5 and then I started to get really tired and was starting to worry my pace was slowing down.  Then out of nowhere a guy yells at me from behind.  Hey lets go Fargo I have been chasing you this whole way we are stopping now.  It was just what I needed and I made sure he knew it at the end of the race.  I set a PR for myself.  1hr16mins.  (thats a 7:38 pace)  My goal was 8min miles by the way.  My wife set a PR that day as well.  It was an awesome morning.  Now that I completed that race and know how to tape myself up appropriately I am going to run a 5k for work to try and raise money for the food shelf.  Goal is 7min miles flat and try to finish in the top 5.  No holding back this time so lets see what happens.

Next up:  The transition to hockey season and weight training.  Its going to be a busy winter.