Jun 26

Jun 26 Dads...Weekly Weight Update

As I'm sure you are all well aware, last week we celebrated Father's Day. Every year my sister and I ask my Dad what he wants for Father's Day. Every year we get the same answer: "I just want to be acknowledged that I'm your Father". Dad is a simple guy with simple needs. He loves his family above all else and doesn't need gifts or even time of to relax. All the guy has ever wanted was for his family to be safe and happy. OK, so sometimes he wants a beer with lunch, but that is it.

Two good looking dads being checked out by a woman in a pink shirt.

This dude taught me how to be a Dad by showing me how to do things right. He worked hard to provide for his family but I always remember him being there. Baseball coach: check. Track meets: check. Boy Scout Camping Trips: check. (OK, so he would have gone and has gone on the camping trips by himself but he still took off a month from work just to drive across the country to go backpacking with me so it still counts). Even today if you ask the guy for something he gives it to you and more. Every fall I'll ask to borrow some equipment to clean up my yard. I don't ask for his help just for the equipment. And every fall there he is working on my yard as if it was his own. Dad taught me the dirty jokes of George Carlin and the love of the Atlanta Braves. Dad taught me to push myself whether it was catching a double header in the Georgia summer heat or hitting the pavement to run that extra mile. Dad showed me how to be a dad. Thanks Dad.

Sunday was a good Father’s Day but it was followed up by a less than pleasant week. I woke up early Monday morning (like in the middle of the night) with a sore throat to challenge all sore throats, a headache, and body aching all over. This was not a good sign. I went in to work for a few hours to make sure to catch up on anything that needed catching up on but then I headed home and to bed after picking up some Theraflu to ease the suffering. It was anything but a feel good Monday but it wasn’t surprising given both Rizzo and Cece have been sick at some point over the past few weeks. I suppose it was just my turn to suffer.

The classroom didn't want to pay for real books so they just included a picture.

Monday was basically a lost day as I had virtually no steps registered by my FitBit (I did, however, get my sleep goal of about 14 hours). Tuesday I was feeling a bit better but still not great. I had a training course that I had to attend which, even though it isn’t as relaxing as sitting at home binge watching Arrow, it can be more relaxing that being at the office. It was still a long day of sitting in a classroom listing to a guy try to sell software to everyone in attendance instead of learning about internal controls and fraud in small businesses. I was happy I made it through the class without falling asleep on the table.

On Tuesday afternoon I wanted to try and at least get in some exercise. I had read somewhere a million years ago that exercise can help to increase recovery from an illness. The general idea is that if you get in some modest exercise your body will create additional white blood cells that will attack whatever is ailing you. It may have all been a big pile of BS but I’ve been trying to live by those rules for a while so I went out for a short jog, doing intervals of 3 minutes of jogging and 1 minute of walking.

I was just able to squeeze in the run between two thunderstorms. I went out just after one storm finished to get in at least 30 minutes. At about the 32 minute mark giant raindrops started to fall so I started to sprint. This wasn’t the best idea and I could feel my lungs full of gunk. The rain came faster and I ran harder. I had about 500 yards to go when the sky opened up. I went into full on sprint. I made it to the house without getting overly doused but my lungs were on fire and I was spitting up some gross stuff that we all have seen during a cold. Good idea or not I made it through the run.

Thursday was the last day of school for students. Rizzo was excited and for the last day of school. So much so that she decided to take a day off from working out. Rizzo is an animal when it comes to exercise. She gets up at 4:30am nearly every morning to either go running or head to the gym. We are both morning people but in very different ways. Rizzo gets up early to go to the gym and exercise to start her day. I get up early so I can take my sweet ass time to get ready for work and to watch TV. She spends her mornings pounding the pavement. I spend my mornings showering, making breakfast, and then slowly drinking coffee while I either watch a nerdy show on Netflix or read a book about history. The point is that to celebrate the last day of school Rizzo took the morning off from exercise. She still got up early but just so she could flop back down on the couch to cruise Facebook on her phone. She more than deserved the day off from exercise.

I was feeling better on Thursday so I still kept my class at our new gym, Orange Theory. This week was Peak Week which meant that each day there was a challenge. One day was to hold a plank as long as you can, another was to run a mile as fast as you can, and on Thursday when I went the challenge was to finish a 2000 meter row as fast as you can. To give us American’s some perspective that is about 1.24 miles. The challenge was definitely difficult since this was the third time I had gone to a class at Orange Theory. I went out hard and fast but had to slow down as I felt like my lungs weren’t fully recovered from feeling so sick (I was still coughing during the class) and my legs were on fire from rowing. I was able to finish the challenge in 7:51 seconds which was the best in the class but nowhere near the top for all times. I’ll get to check again in 6 months

Friday is usually the night we take Cece up to Friday Night Live in downtown Herndon. We were in the car on our way but were concerned about the potential of rain. Not that rain had ever killed anyone but neither Rizzo nor I felt like even taking the chance so instead we decided on a much healthier option: we went out for pizza and beer. It was a good decision because we both got to eat some good pizza and try a new beer (and Cece got to eat her favorite: macaroni and cheese). It was a bad decision because it resulted in eating pizza and drinking beer which is never a healthy thing to do when trying to lose weight.

Saturday was a beautiful day which consisted of the farmer’s market for some good groceries, mowing the grass which resulted in lots of steps and miles, getting in a good long run, and playing some cards. Of course, I suck at poker so I lost $40 in a matter of minutes but at least I ate a copious amount of Oreos and had a few beers which I sure was going to result in some negative results. That's okay because I had a good time at the tables.

As always, Sunday morning was the moment of truth. And, as expected, I gained weight because I ate too much food without having the energy to burn it off after being sick all week. The results weren't too terrible but I did gain a pound which brings the current weight to 205.6 meaning the total weight loss so far is 62.2 pounds. I'm hopeful that having a full and healthy week of eating and working out should result in losing this extra pound next week.

I wish I could blame being sick this week on losing the weekly Bring It On! challenge but I can't. Wait, yes I can. I'm writing this blog so I can blame anything on anything. Rizzo had a good week at 50.3 miles. It was nothing compared to her prior week but it still dominated my sick butt. On Monday of this week when I spent most of the day asleep I only had 1.7 miles. In a whole day! That means it was inevitable that I would lose and my 35.6 miles was just proof that being sick makes it hard to move. So, it wasn't really my fault. It was the virus. F-U virus. It is all your fault that Rizzo will win this month. I guess it's about time she won. It has been awhile.

P.S. Rizzo is whining (is this a typo or did I do it on purpose? you decide) this month with 180.9 miles to my 160.5 miles. I figure if RIzzo sits down for the rest of the month then all I'll need is 4 miles a day. That shouldn't be a problem.