In Training...

This September I will be participating in the Stephen McClatchey 10th Anniversary Memorial Run. I'm doing this in memory of my daughter Ava who passed away shortly after her birth on April 14th, 2005.

This run is to raise money for the PBSO (Perinatal Bereavement Services Ontario). A charity that supports families who have experienced, essencially, any type of death or loss of a child (whether it was prior to or after birth).

If you feel compelled to donate to support my wife and I please do so by clicking the link on the left (it will show up as a payment to Karla (my wife). If not, I hope you'll cheer for us all the same.

This photo was taken today after I completed my run on the treadmill as I train for the 10K. I'm pretty pumped about it. Hopefully I can convince some friends or family to come down and shoot some video some of it for us. I'll post it here if I get it.

Bowflex Week 27 - More before and after shots

I get so many people who want to see before and after pictures from my Bowflex that I've dedicated this post to that.

In case you're new to the blog let me first post my before shot.

Yup, that's me in all of my glory during my honeymoon with my beautiful wife. I thought I was hot shit (I had a tan after all)!

Then, I took my first "Before and After" pictures on Week 9...

On week 17 I took some more pictures. None of these ever made the cut so I never shared them. I wasn't happy with how I looked.

I didn't take pictures for a while until recently. So here are my week 27 pictures!

One year later I'm still at it:

Week Whatever

So I'm at week whatever now in my training.
I've noticed that I'm doing cardio less and less and focusing more on weight/resistance training.

This was very evident last night when my wife kicked my ass while running. I just didn't seem to have the endurance I had only months ago. If you aren't living in the Toronto area then you don't know how hot it's been here. Just CRAZY.

No I'm not staring in an S&M Video,
It's me on the machine working out.

I'm back down to 165 again and the fat continues to slowly evaporate from my body. Worst is the love handle thing but I'm hoping time will take care of that.

Intimidation

So I finally did the unthinkable. I went to a GYM.
Yes...me...Mister "I'll never go to a gym" went to a gym.

I remember not that long ago thoughts of going to a gym were pretty intimidating. A gym isn't a place were unfit people go...it's place where FIT people go!! (or so I thought). I remember saying to my wife that buying the equipment was way better than a gym because I would use it. I would not use a gym membership.

Anyway, I made sure I got a few workouts in after my vacation out west. Now, just having been back less than a week I find myself in the United States again many hours drive away from the comfort of my treadmill and Bowflex.

I ate pizza for dinner last night at a pub named the Washington Street Ale House Pub. It was probably the most delicious pizza I've ever eaten.

I ate bacon and sausage and eggs for breakfast, it was also delicious. I skipped lunch because I was still full from my delicious delicious breakfast.

I made sure I had a healthy dinner and had a grilled chicken sandwich. It was not as delicious as pizza and bacon.

Regardless I knew I that skipping my workout would not help matters so I bit the bullet and hit the hotel gym.

I opened the door and somebody else was in there. I wouldn't go in...
Pretending I forgot something in my hotel room (courage perhaps) I turned around.

I went back later to find it empty so I started with the weights. Benched a few sets the worked with the lat bar for a bit. Some guy had come in while I was benching. I noticed his apprehension too when he saw me. I wonder, does everyone feel so shy about being judged??? That's a pretty sad comment on humanity.

He stopped looked toward me (I didn't look at him) and he turned around. Took a step and came back in and took a place on one of the bikes. I was very happy the the person who came to join me was just as self-conscious as I.

The weights were all very good although they feel amazingly different than the Bowflex. I don't know if I was lifting more or less weight though because I couldn't figure out how to tell. I just did it by feel.

Then, I got on the super cool treadmill with a computer screen built into it. WOW.
I started on that. During that time people came and left. I did a few programs on the machine including a fitness test and started training for a 10K run. I heard people coming and going behind me. All the while realizing that nobody else was keeping up with ME!

WHAT?????? How can this possibly be?? I actually caught myself checking my heart rate to make sure it was within "target range". *LOL*

Have I become one of those people that a few months ago I wouldn't have wanted to have seen me at the gym? Well, if so then nobody should ever feel apprehensive. Maybe it's good that we're all a little shy and self-conscious after all.