Campus Nutrition

So one thing that I struggle with and assume many others do as well is how to eat healthier on the go.  I hate feeling trapped in my food choices on campus or on the town.  Now I should mention that I'm not a nutrition snob and refuse to eat anything not organic, free range, pulled with my own two hands or what have you.  In fact a good article on this can be found here.  While I do "watch" what I eat I try not to be snobby about it.  Yes, I eat organic when possible and I limit my red meat and refined flour intake.  Yes, I go out to dinner and eat steaks, bacon cheese burgers, fries, drink beer and enjoy pizza like the next guy.  I do all this while keeping in mind portions, how often I'm partaking in said debauchery, and where I am for the week.  To me this is a responsible and sustainable approach to eating.  I mean if you're counting and weighing and passing on delicious food why are you here?  Life is meant to be enjoyed not only physically but with all your senses.  Don't short yourself by missing out on food you WANT to eat!

O.k. off my soap box and back onto topic.  Campus nutrition is tough.  When I look at the selections in the cafeteria I see pizza, burgers, chicken, salad, chips, pop, and everything else college folk eat.  I'm not 18.  I have noticed that my metabolism has slowed as I coast down the backside of my twenties.  It's really amazing actually how fast it turned for the worst.  One day I was eating anything I wanted and the next day the love handles and belly began to grow and my face started to fill out.  Crazy.  To think I've been told it's only downhill from here.  Wohoo?  I'm determined to change that trend for myself.

O.k. back on track again.  campus food is not only very limited, but expensive.  Me being the cheap guy I am (see medicine ball build) I bring my own food/snacks.  One of the things I bring are these freeze dried fruit crisps by Brothers All Natural.  They come in a couple different flavors, but I love the Fuji apple and Asian pear. 

What's nice about is these is they don't bruise!  I hate it when I go to eat a some fruit and it's been smashed, dented, bruised or whatever from being in a backpack with 30#s of books.  The second snack I take to get me through the school day is something salty.  I have a sweet with the fruit, but sometimes that's not enough OR I just want salt.  Enter my new favorite "chip" garden veggie chips.

Believe me when I say that these taste nothing like a healthy chip.  They have three flavors that I know of; sea salt (flat, ribbed chip), lightly salted (they're shaped into straws), and rosemary olive oil (Stacy's favorite).  I'm providing a link because unlike the fruit crisps just a Google search may not be enough.  Check them out here.

That's it!  Add in some water and it gets me through my day without feeling terribly hungry until I'm able to get home and eat a usually late lunch.

Till next time I'd be interested to hear ideas of what anyone else does for food/snacks on the run, at work, or during class?  Post below!

Homemade Medicine Ball

Have you looked to see how much medicine balls are online?  Holy cow they are expensive!  One site that I looked at had 20# balls (hehe) for $100+!!  Now I know that there are some out there closer to the $30-$40 mark, but I like to do things myself and often times make things more difficult than they should be.  Sometimes it works out and sometimes it's a miss (my wife loves my little adventures) but I'm happy with the results this time.  The pictures aren't the best my lighting was terrible this evening.  None-the-less check it out!

So I went to Wall-Mart and picked up some supplies.  A rubber basketball, Gorilla Tape, a box cutter, and liquid nails, and sand that isn't shown.  I think everyone knows what sand is.

First thing I did was deflate the basketball.  Hind sight it didn't really make a difference, but safety first!  Ok so then I cut a triangle in the ball at the valve cut off the valve and placed an empty bottle in the hole I made.  This served as my funnel for the sand.

So from here I just filled it to my desired weight of 20# and then I had to seal the hole I made.  Insert liquid nails.

I know it's not the most good looking seal, but it's functional.  Once the seal dried I began to wrap the whole thing in the gorilla tape and BAM.  Done!

It's not the prettiest thing, but it cost me around $10.  Can't beat that!

Thursday August 25 2011

Bike

Yesterday I went for a leisurely early evening bike ride with Stacy and my biking buddy around our neighborhood.  Sticking mostly to the back roads to avoid the rush hour traffic we meandered around and were able to clock 11 miles in under an hour.  Like I said it was more of a "cruising" ride than actively biking.  I wasn't going to complain though because prior to our ride I had been finishing reading my Microbiology homework and re-writing notes from class earlier that day.  After 4 hours hunched over my kitchen table exercising my mind I was ready to stretch my legs and exercise my body!

This morning I was resolute in waking up and hitting the road on my bike at 5.  I wanted to see how well my new lights worked on my bike.  Good thing I woke up and tossed my butt outside because it was beautiful this morning.  Dark, quite, the sky full of stars, crisp air, and no vehicles were even on the road.  It. Was. Awesome.  I have never seen the stars as bright as they were this morning since moving to Missouri.  Back home I saw it all the time because the light pollution was practically zero; I grew up in a small town.  There wasn't a cloud or even a haze in the air this morning everything was in High Definition!

Gear (quick light review)

I jumped on my bike and took off going what felt like a million miles an hour.  It's awesome how much faster it feels you're going at night and you can't reference objects.  I had to make a small adjustment to my front light and point it down a little farther, but because the straps are only velcro it was easy to do on the fly.  I didn't think I would like the velcro straps, but they've proved to be handy already.  The white front light is blindingly bright and the rear red light is better than nothing.  I'm a little disappointed in its brightness, but with the flashing setting used I think it does the job.  It's better than nothing and if I was going to be on back roads with absolutely zero ambient light I would upgrade to brighter and larger lights.  You cannot ride (without difficulty) with only these lights.  They don't illuminate the path ahead of you far enough in my opinion making avoiding potential hazards difficult and last minute.  

Bike

My ride was nothing special, clocking just a hair over 9 miles, but it was a good time and great stress reliever.  Anytime on my bike in my mind is awesome no matter how quick it is.  There is nothing like starting your day on the right foot and biking or running is my "right" foot in the morning.  It puts me in the correct frame of mind to tackle my day and it's safe to say I'm addicted.  I've never been a morning person and still to this day if I wake up early and do nothing I'm miserable.  Throw in a light workout during the morning and I'm feeling great; it's crazy.

Have a great day everyone!

I'm Still Here!!

Hey everyone I just wanted to update all of you and say that I’m still around! My schedule has drastically changed with school revving up for the Fall semester so I’m working on revamping my workout times, blog times, class times, study times, eating times, sleeping times, and all the other “times” that have/need to change.  Have no fear though as I have some great recipes to review, a little bit of exploring in my local area to tell you about, and general updates to share.  I plan to be back on a schedule very soon with reliable updates.

As for my workouts I’m attempting to see if keeping my 5 a.m. bike ride is feasible with my classes and staying awake during lectures; I can only drink so much coffee.  I’m not a fan of afternoon workouts or evening workouts, but as the night lasts longer and if the temperature EVER begins to cool off that might be what I’m left with.  I’m also beginning to think about what I’m going to do when I’m unable to ride my bike due to snow and ice.  Any ideas for a novice from anyone that has gone through this?  I can’t afford a trainer so I’m thinking I’m going to try my luck at…building…one…maybe? That could be fun or disastrous, time will tell!

Asian Grilled Skirt Steak

I just wanted to post a recipe for an awesome healthy dinner recipe.  I found it at Health Bent and let me tell you it tastes great.  I was a bit of a skeptic when it said to use the skirt steak, but I followed the recipe to a "T" and it tasted great.  What is awesome about this recipe is that you get great taste without all the sodium from lots of soy sauce and it is gluten free.  I let it marinade in the fridge for about six hours, pulled it out and grilled it up.  It doesn't get any easier if you ask me.  Here is a picture of how mine turned out.

 

www.health-bent.com

Wednesday August 17 2011

This morning I set out on a thirty mile ride a little later than normal and I paid for it.  Starting out the traffic was horrible as people were heading to work and I also fought the late morning wind.  Looking back I suppose I shouldn't complain to much about the wind because there was a chance for rain also and I made it home dry.  I was a little worried about going out by myself, but it seems if I want to get any distance rides under my belt I'm going to do it alone.  There are some groups in m area that ride, but I'm not sure if I'm up for riding with those guys.  The last thing I want to be a drag on a group and get left in their dust.  

Anyway the first ten miles went great.  Before I knew it I had reached my twenty mile loop turn around point in thirty minutes.  I was fifteen minutes faster than my previous ride to the same point.  I had never ridden past this point in the road and assumed that the shoulder would continue along the highway.  I was wrong.  I went from having a nice five foot shoulder to three feet and then maybe two feet of shoulder.  I swear the strip I was riding on wasn't much wider than the handlebars on my bike.  Fortunately it was nice new asphalt and the ride was smooth for a quarter of a mile and then it was like riding on the moon.  To say the least the four miles before and after my fifteen mile turn around point were a little stressful.  Riding back home I was headlong into wind and it drained me.  I was on the busier side of the road, riding into the wind, gassed, and wishing I had worn glasses.  The dust and dirt that you catch is amazing.  I now understand why you always see rider wearing glasses.  They are a must when riding on open roads.  My eyes were tearing up and streaming water to my ears.  At mile twenty four the numbness set in.  I was feeling it in the back of my thighs and pinkies.  Obviously I need more time in the saddle to condition myself to the rides.

Route Stats:

Activity - Biking

Time - 1h:46m

Distance - 30.14 miles

Average speed -17.0  mi/hr

Total climb - 160 yards

Hotel Workout

Hope everyone had an awesome Friday.  I spent mine driving so I missed an entry and my workout yesterday, ugh!  Sorry!  It seems like since starting this blog travel has spiked and I hate missing entries.  Thanks for the patience and enjoy todays entry!


Ahh hotel workouts, always interesting.  I like to think of them as Christmas presents.  You knever quite know what you're going to get.  Will "that guy" be in there running and lifting weights like he is at Golds Gym.  Will there be spandex and stretching by some unknown stranger in the middle of room.  What type of equipment will be present?  Will the hotel be blasting the A/C so it mimicks working out in a meat locker?  If we're comparing then will the heat be blasting as well?  I truely didn't know what to expect this morning at five when I awoke from my very, very short night of sleep thanks to some unruley children in the room next to mine.  I saw 12:30 AM and am pretty sure it was close to 1 AM before I slipped off into my short slumber.  I had debated whether or not to knock on the door on my way to the "gym" and then run down the hall to repay them, but my goodside won and disuaded me from completing said annoyance on the basis that karma is a "you know what" and my day is young.  There was no sense in starting out on the wrong foot this early.


I was pleasantly surprised and happy to find that the gym was pretty awesome!  I was the only one down there for a most of my hour workout.  The hotel had three treadmills, 3 elipticals, a bike, lot of free weights (dumbbells), a weight machine, medicine balls that double as a sort of kettleball, and yoga mats.  There were huge - I mean enormous - framed mirrors a one wall lined with mirrors.  The view was great, wink wink.  Ok that was weak attempt at a joke and I know it wasn't funny but that's all you get this morning.


Now I'd be lying if tell you that I half expected this gym to be nice since it's at the Embassy Suites Omaha - La Vista/Hotel & Conference Center.  It's a huge hotel, but you knever know.  Maybe they spent all their money on the hotel and didn't budget for a gym, who knows!


Ok finally my workout.  I ran on the treadmill this morning and set out for six miles.  A little optimisitc I know, but it helps me.  I had the iPod pumping tunes, settled into my pace around an 8:30 mile and took off.  I wanted to see how well I could perform at a steady pace and made my first mile or so at a speed of 7.  I'm assuming the speed is in miles per hour (unless there is some treadmill running secret I don't know about) so from here on I will use "mph".  It felt great and I was cruzing along so I bumped it up to 7.5 mph and then finished my run around 8 mph.  Overall, I'm very impressed with my progress.  I ran a 5k equivelant somewhere in the 25-26 minute range with gas to spare and that makes me feel good.  Usually in the past I've been dog tired, but not today!  Unfortunatly I couldn't track my run on my phone so the stats will be off a little, but my philosphy is something is better than nothing.


That's all for now.  Hope everyone has a great Saturday! 

Thursday August 11 2011

What a difference a couple days...err a week makes.  It was a late bike ride today but the weather was beautiful this evening.  So nice in fact that I saw a couple of hot air balloons floating around and some wicked looking helicopters.  They looked like commercial aircraft, but like nothing I've seen before.  Anyway back to the ride.  I really didn't have any direction except forward.  Total distance was just shy of ten miles and it was a meandering ten miles at that.  I was really powering up the hills tonight and wasn't feeling as winded as I usually do.  I noticed that I wasn't shifting to easier gears nearly as much as I used to do also.  So I guess that translates into progression?  I am worried that I will have a flat tire tomorrow though.  I was powering up my last hill and a car was following closely behind me so I was holding a straight line and before I knew it I slammed into a giant pot hole.  Of course once I hit hole the car decided to pass me.  Naturally!  I was able to stay up right and not flip over my handle bars by hopping my front tire up, but until I figure out how to "bunny hop" my road bike my rear tire is going to take the brunt of the pot hole encounters.  What would you have done?  Take your chances swerving to miss the pot hole and cut the car off or hit the pot hole and try not to fly over the handle bars?  I'll leave it there and I look forward to seeing if anyone weights in.

Route Stats:

Activity - Biking

Time - 38m:26s

Distance - 9.8 miles

Average speed -15.3 mi/hr

Total climb - 166 yards

Spok Light Set

New gear!  So with darkness beginning to set in earlier and sticking around longer, I picked up a Spok LED light set for my bike from the REI in Boise, ID.  

I had a couple hours to kill before my flight and rather than sitting in the airport I decided to look for things I can't get at home.  Anyway I've attached the lights to my bike and I'm satisfied with the mounting.

It's definitely not the best mounting system - I use the word "system" loosely - but it will suffice.  The lights mount to your bike via a long tooth velcro strap.  This allows for great flexibility for differing handle bar thickness but might be viewed as lackluster to some.  For $20 bucks though I'm not going to complain to much...yet.  OK maybe just one quick "observation" on the rear mount.  The light mounts to the bar that your seat is on which forces it to be sideways.  Time will tell if this will work or if I will have to rig my own mounting to move the light somewhere else.

I won't regurgitate the specs, you can find them here.  I will say however that the lights are very bright and will work well for drawing motorist attention.  If you're looking for an actual light to brighten your path when riding then these aren't for you.  I'm taking them out tomorrow morning for their first ride and will have a review on them afterwards.

“Esto Perpetua”

Wow, where did time go?  So much has happened in the last couple days this is going to be a huge entry and photo heavy!  For starters if you don't already know from the title I'm in Boise for a little adventure getaway and it's great.  Leaving the humidity and getting into the wilderness is awesome!  Friday I braved the busy sky's, thunderstorms, and aircraft mechanical problems and flew into Salt Lake City. 

Flying into Salt Lake City, UT

A quick dash to my next gate and I was able to catch an earlier flight to Boise ten minutes before it pushed back from the terminal.  Whew, it was close.  The trip from Salt Lake to Boise was fast.  So fast in fact that they didn't have time to serve everyone drinks and peanuts!

Mmmm...beer

Once I landed in Boise I was starving and met some folks along with Stacy at the Texas Roadhouse for dinner.  I don't remember the last time I actually ate at a Texas Roadhouse, but I was reminded why as soon as I stepped in.  It's not the healthiest of choices for places to eat.  But I wanted a tall beer and they had plenty of good stuff to choose from so what the hell right?  I ended up choosing BBQ chicken breast and apple sauce for dinner and drinking every last bit of my hefeweizen beer.

Saturday was my first full day in Boise and when we travel Stacy and I like to seek out unique places and sample the local flavor.  Saturday morning for breakfast that flavor was Java Coffee and Cafe and it was amazing. 

Bacon, Egg, and Jack cheese Croissant

 After breakfast we wandered around the city and stumbled on a huge farmers market.  It was probably four blocks in size and packed with all sorts of locally produced goodies.  From Bison and Elk meat to organically grown veggies and candles to Alpaca wool bags.  It was awesome to say the least I wish we had something like this back home.

The Market in Boise, ID

After the market it was off into the mountains.  For white water rafting on the South Fork of the Payette River.  We ran Class III-IV rapids and for those that have never been rafting; do it.  Don't think about it just do it, because it's something you will never forget.  I've been three times which hardly makes me an expert, but I know enough to say it's a blast.  The guides are true river rats and are hilarious.  The trip took about three hours and the weather couldn't have been better.  They make the trip very enjoyable and if I'm ever back in Boise I will be visiting the guys at Cascade Raft and Kayak for another trip. 

Slalom Rapids South Fork (1800+/- cfs)

Sunday morning for breakfast we found le Cafe de Paris and what can I say it was another great place for breakfast.  Of course I ordered the french toast and Stacy ordered a much more healthy scrambled egg and trout (maybe salmon) dish which looked delicious as well.  Once we finished breakfast it was time to explore the north and we took a long drive up to beautiful McCall, ID.

French Toast

The scenery is amazing and if anyone has any love for the outdoors they would be in heaven in the Boise National Forest.  Highway 55 takes you north out of Boise and runs along the Snake River and provides great photo opportunities along the way.  The trip to McCall took about 3 hours so lunch was at a quaint place called Bistro 45.  It wasn't a hole in the wall restaurant but it was close.  It reminded me of the type of place that if you didn't know about it you wouldn't go there.  It was by luck that Stacy and I even found the place.  We had been wandering around looking for a place when we smelled something good and BAM!  Down some stairs and to our right was a single door and some tables and decided to try it.

Turkey & Swiss w/ House Greens

I had the turkey and swiss with a mayo pesto, fresh tomato, roasted peppers and a salad.  It tasted like a cross between a pizza and turkey sandwich; yeah it was good.  On the way home we pulled over and stopped to snap some photos of a set of big rapids on the Snake river. 

Snake River rapids

Finally to wrap up the day we dined at Fork Restaurant and there I ate the best and most unique salmon dish I have ever eaten in my life!  It was amazing and I wish I had taken a picture of it.  Maybe tonight I will get a picture when we go back for dinner.  Yes it's that good that Stacy and I are going back tonight.

I Think I Over Did It

Ugh!  I'm hurting today.  I am still feeling the effects of yesterdays workout and it sucks!  When the alarm went off this morning at five I was totally lost.  Have you ever had that happen?  Then you lay there wondering "is it the fire alarm, am I dreaming, is my phone ringing, what sick person would set an alarm for five in the morning?" only to figure out you're the idiot and it's time to go pedal a bike in the dark!!  I'll tell you though, the longer I stick to this routine the more I learn about what it takes to fit and the more I question why so many fit people are such happy people.  Today I was not happy.

Today was a test - pure and simple - from my body and mind to see if I truly am going to continue this life style change.  I told myself it wouldn't be change if was easy and if it was easy everyone would be doing it.  Fortunately, that was enough for my stubborn side to win and carrying what felt like twenty pound weights on my arms and legs I pulled myself out of bed and onto my bike for a quick ride.  I had to warm up a little to get the muscles awake and primed for movement so that I wasn't trying to pedal with 2x4's for legs.  Down the road I found that somehow the hills that I ride grew in the last couple days and with my body in protest I was huffing and puffing more than normal.  Three loops later it was over and it couldn't have ended too soon. 

I'm going to call my ride today completed, but not enjoyed.  Which is OK because I realize that there will be days I'm not going to enjoy every mile and it's going to be tough to grind through the workouts.  So I think tomorrow will be a day off for "extended recovery" from Wednesday's workout because I'm really dragging today and I think my body is telling me something.

Route Stats:

Activity - Biking

Time - 42m:30s

Distance -8.92 miles

Average speed - 12.6 mi/hr

Total climb - 134 yards

Lessons Learned: 

Don't think...just get it done.

Happy Hump Day

Today was little different than others in that I was late getting out of bed, I had to write a paper for a Biological Psychology class, and wrap-up some other work that needed to get done.  That meant that my workout was pushed off till later.

Anyway after getting finishing my work that had to be done today it was off to get my workout in.  I'm not a big fan of doing my workouts in the afternoon unless it consists of wetting a line in a local pond.  None the less I went out to the garage and set up some tunes and prepared for the pain that was ahead of me.  I didn't want to run or bike in the heat so I found a workout online from Crossfit St. Charles.  They had posted a free home and travel workout that I found and decided to try out.  The workout was called the Prison Workout.  It consisted of nothing but 20-19-18...3-2-1 burpees.  Between each set you're supposed to walk across the room (I did it in my garage) and then complete the next set working down from twenty.  When it's all said and done you end up completing 210 burpees!!!  It's burpee hell and if you don't know what a burpee is google it or youtube it.  If you're tall like me with long legs it's even more difficult.  I was very close to quitting somewhere between 100-120.  I just told myself to make it to 155 (set 10) then I could stop.  Once I hit 155 I told myself that it was down hill from here and I was out of the double digit set and into the home stretch.  Well this mantra/tricking myself worked and I made it through the entire workout in 34m:18s.  When it was over I was wrecked to say the least, but it was a great cardio workout.  Covered in dust, dirt, and sweat my legs, arms, core, knees, and everything else was screaming, but I finished.  It felt great to push myself to the edge and a few steps beyond what I thought I could do.  

  (ran myself into the pavement)

Route Stats:

Activity - Prison Workout (burpees)

Time - 34m:18s

Distance - N/A

Average speed - 6.14 burpees/m

Total climb - N/A

Lessons Learned: 

Don't be afraid to push yourself.  I will conquer any obstacle.

Double the Fun

Good morning!

This morning was a beautiful stuffy morning and I was instantly sweating!  I was very excited to get on the bike and get moving so there was some sort of breeze even if it was a warm wet one.  Today was an odd day because I actually went for two bike rides!  One with my riding partner and another afterwards with my wife.

My first ride with my buddy was supposed to be about nine miles.  I use "supposed to be" because it didn't work out that way.  We started off great and our route was set up as a three mile loop.  What we failed to realize - I blame how early it was - is that in order for the loop to be three miles we had to ride back through our neighborhood!  We just kept going in circle not realizing how much we were shorting ourselves like a couple of idiots!  I know what you're thinking; kind of a Homer Simpson moment!  Again I stress it was early and we were not completely mentally awake.  When it was all said and done we had shorted ourselves out of a little more than a mile.  Ugh.  Frustrating.

My second ride with my wife was interesting.  Initially she wanted to ride twenty miles but that changed to ten before too long. Thank goodness too because I was dragging today.  Anyway riding down main street in rush hour is tough and stressful, but even more so when compounded with a lack of experience in that type of riding.  Holding a straight line with the thin tires and working the gears in heavy traffic was tough for my wife.  Like a champ though she pulled through and made me proud keeping right on my back tire the whole time.  It wasn't long and we were at our half way turn around point and made the return trip home safe and sound.  I'm so proud of her for getting out with me and braving the traffic!  It's great when fitness is a team effort.

Route (1) Stats:

Activity - Biking

Time - 37m:56s

Distance - 7.87 miles

Average speed -12.4 mi/hr

Total climb - 132 yards


Route (2) Stats
Activity - Biking
Time - 42m:03s
Distance - 9.54 miles
Average speed - 13.6 mi/hr
Total climb - 81 yards

Lessons Learned:

Ride your FULL route so you don't short yourself

Be overzealous in your goals you can alter it on the fly if needed

Monday August 1 2011

It's Monday and that means I was running this morning.  Since this is my first entry on running I should mention my relationship it.  When the alarm goes off on run days I hate it.  While putting my shoes on I'm dreading even stepping outside.  The first blast of heat and humidity is almost enough to send me back to bed, but I'm out the door and committed.  Once I start to run life gets a little better as I settle in a groove.  The little pains that rise when i start out subside and disappear by the time I'm out of my neighborhood.  I should note that my neighborhood is full of hills and no matter which way I go I'm always running up and down them.  I'm even running up a hill on the last stretch of my run when I'm flaming out.  Anyway, fast forward ten minutes and I'm soon out of my groove and into sucking wind climbing the first of three long drags up a hill.  Fast forward another ten minutes and I'm in the home stretch and final hill.  My run is now resembling some sort of modified shuffle, sweat is pouring off my face, arms, legs, and overall body in general, my shoulders are sagging, my core is loose, and my arms flailing I began to fall apart.  Luckily I hit the top of the hill and dragged myself home.

Now you might be thinking "Wow twenty minutes how far did he go?"  You may (or may not) be surprised that I didn't go that far, but I think that's OK.  I'm not the fastest runner but I'm steady and like to challenge myself which is why I drag myself out the door day after day.  I enjoy finding my limits and attempting to push past them.  Challenging myself physically is rewarding in its own right, but I also think there is a mental growth that comes too.

Route Stats:

Activity - Running

Time - 26m:23s

Distance - 2.95 miles

Average speed - 6.7 mi/hr

Total climb - 163 yards

Lessons Learned:

Pace yourself to save some gas for the return home.  Mile 1: 8.34 / Mile 2: 9:09.