August 31st, 2007 Workout – Weights
My strength is shooting through the roof. I think I must have had some kind of mental barrier that was keeping me from really pushing myself before. I was able to add another 10-15 pounds to most of my lifts this workout. Maybe I’m just more motivated now and I want it more. Whatever it is it feels great and I feel like I’m making real progress.
Tomorrow I’m going to try out the treadmill to see how my body reacts. I really want to avoid knee problems so I’m going to take it slow at first. One of my goals is to run a 10k road race in the Mississauga Marathon next summer so the sooner I can start working on my running endurance the better.
Before bed shake
I got some casein protein powder in from trueprotein.com. I haven’t been able to find much variety in casein powder locally and what I have seen is pretty much double the price compared to True Protein. I’ve been taking a scoop of casein, a handful of frozen strawberries and some water and blending it into my before bed shake. Casein with water alone is really gummy and chalky – when I added the strawberries it actually tastes great – I feel like I’m having desert.
Why casein protein and not whey? Whey protein is digested by your body very quickly. Casein protein sort of gels up in your stomach and gets digested very slowly. So while I’m sleeping, I have a constant trickle of protein being digested and available to my body, preventing it from entering a catabolic state – or eating itself because it’s hungry while I sleep.
August 30th, 2007 Workout – Cardio
Another day, another ass-kicking delivered to me by the stair climber. Today actually felt like it was getting easier so I increased the difficulty ;)
By the end my legs were jelly and I had to wobble out of the gym.
August 29th, 2007 Workout – Weights
After skipping yesterday’s workout I felt the guiltiest I had in a long time so there was no way I was missing today’s workout. I couldn’t believe how bad I was feeling for missing it but I was able to turn that feeling into motivation and had my best workout yet. I was able to add 10 pounds onto all of my lifts this workout and it felt like I could have added more. Since I started last month all of my lifts are up 20-25% overall and my endurance is through the roof.
Ugh
I had a really crappy day yesterday and I ended up skipping my workout at the gym.� Every urge in my body and mind was telling me to just go but I fought it and didn’t go.� Now I feel guiltier than I have in a long time.� It was the first workout I skipped in a month and I’m not going to skip another workout for the next month.� I don’t want to break the new patterns I’ve setup and I won’t do that.
August 27th, 2007 Workout – Cardio
First day back to work and I had some other things to catch up on around the house after being away for so long, so I skipped the gym today. Instead I did 20 minutes of HIIT on my recumbrant bike. Having that bike around has saved my ass a few times already when I just didn’t feel like driving over to the gym.
My cardio and muscular endurance has improved quite a bit as well over the last month. I’ve seen how it’s improved in real life situations over the last couple of days. Saturday we were at the fan expo at the convention centre and walked around for a good 5 straight hours – normally my legs would be sore and I’d feel exhausted, but I felt good to go and even took the dog out for a walk when I got back. Then when walking the dog I did a few sprints with him to help him burn off some energy and I got way less winded than I usually would. The hard work is starting to pay off!
August 25th, 2007 Workout – Cardio
Went to the gym today and did 20 minutes of HIIT on the stair climber. I don’t know what it is about that machine, but it completely kicks my ass every time I use it and makes me feel like I’ve never exercised in my life. I love it :)
August 24th, 2007 Workout – Weights / Massage
I had a full body massage booked at the Health Spa at Turning Stone on Friday morning so I got up early and went to the gym. They actually had a pretty nice gym with about a dozen different cardio machines, a full set of weight training machines and a full set of dumbbells and benches. They even had a squat rack.
I did my normal cardio warm-up on the elliptical and then did a full body workout using the dumbbells. It’s definitely a lot harder than using the machines and you feel a lot sorer after as all your stabilizers get worked. I felt a little sluggish while warming up as I was on maybe 4 hours of sleep but after 10 minutes I felt great and totally awake.
After the workout, I went back to my room and showered and changed. Then I went down to the Health Spa for my massage. The spa at Turning Stone was really nice. The locker room had showers, a jacuzzi, a steam room and a sauna. They give you a nice bathrobe and slippers and you’re allowed unlimited use of the room and a private pool / hot tub that’s part of the Spa. After getting changed into my robe I was lead to the waiting area of the locker room where they had nice chairs and free drinks, fruit and baked foods. After waiting for a bit, the massage attendant came over and lead me to one of the rooms.
Once in the room, they leave and tell you to lay on the table under a blanket. Then they come back in and the massage begins. The table was really comfortable and the massage was one of the most relaxing hours of my life, especially after the workout. Once it was done I went back to the locker room and chilled in the jacuzzi, the steam room and the sauna for a while. By the time I left the spa I was completely relaxed and felt awesome. I went up to my room and got my bag to throw in the car, checked out and then went back to the poker room. I sat down and played for maybe 40 minutes before I decided I was way too relaxed and couldn’t really muster up the focus to play seriously so I decided to get an early start and left. I talked to some of the people that I had played with the night before and had been playing all night. Then I looked around and realized there were at least 15 people I recognized from the night before with giant bags under their eyes and the same clothes on. Hardcore poker degenerates ;)
Vacation time – part two – poker!
I just got back from the second part of my vacation at the Turning Stone Casino and Resort in Verona, NY. I left here on Thursday morning at 6:30am and got there around 11:30am. Settled in, ordered up a junky room service sandwich and was playing poker by 1:00 pm. Other than a short dinner break and a few walking/stretching breaks, I played straight until 2:00 am ;) Played $100 and $200 max 1/2 blind no limit. At each table there were maybe 1-2 good aggressive players, 2-3 weak-tight players and the rest were mostly passive calling stations with the occasional aggro-monkey which always made the table more fun. Live poker is definitely way more entertaining than online poker and I’m going to try to play a little more often.
I managed to get stacked the second hand I got dealt – was in the small blind and got dealt two black jacks. UTG+1 raises to $7 which seems very low and from talking to him when I sat down I learned he played quite a bit, seemed decent from the first hand I watched so I thought he wanted some callers with that low of a bet. I figured he’s either on QQ-AA/AK or on a small pair. He got 5 callers before it got around to me and I called as well – I was thinking of re-raising, but I just sat down, wasn’t too sure of how the table played and I hate overplaying jacks – if I re-raise and he re-re-raises, there’s no way I can call.
Flop comes Jd 2h 6d and the pot is about $50 bucks
I check to the pre-flop raiser – he’s going to c-bet for sure and probably get a few callers to build a pot. He bets $7 – way too small – probably looking to see where’s at I guess. 2 folds, one guy raises to $20, 1 fold and 1 call. I re-raise to $50 and probably should have made it bigger but I think the same thing would have happened anyway. Pre-flop raiser folds after tanking for a while, raiser pushes all-in and the first caller pushes all-in too. At this point I know I’m against at least one flush-draw. I call and the cards get turned up – I’ve got a set of jacks, the guy who pushed has a set of twos and the other guy has Kd5d – SOOTED! I don’t fill up and the river comes a diamond – I lose my second hand of the day and a $300+ pot to K5 suited.
Other crap beats:
3 people limp to me in the cutoff with AJ offsuit – I raise to $15, small blind calls and the limpers fold. Flop comes AJT rainbow. Small blind bets $20 and I raise to $60 – he pushes and I call with top two against his pair of queens (???). Turn comes a king to give him a straight. I don’t fill up on the river and get stacked again.
Last beat – UTG+1 raises to $10, 3 callers and I call from the button with 8h 9h. Flop comes 8d 9c 3s. UTG+1 bets out $35 into a $50 pot – 3 folds and I push because he’s a huge calling station. He tanks for a while and of course calls – with a pair of a sixes. Six on the river and I get stacked for the third time.
In the end I finished up about $200 which was enough to pay for my hotel room (poker rate FTW) and my spa/gym pass and a massage. It stings a little that I could have more than paid for my whole trip had I not had those three bad beats against me, but that’s poker.
I ended up leaving at noon on Friday and got back at about 7:30 pm. The drive home was fueled by red bull as I was running on about 9 hours of sleep over the last 48 hours together with a super-relaxing massage. I stopped at the Waterloo outlets to do some shopping and then at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo to get wings at their birthplace. The Anchor Bar is in a pretty shady part of Buffalo – but is there really a nice part of Buffalo? ;)
I ended my vacation with only a single missed workout and I didn’t actually eat that badly. Thursday I ate pretty crappy food but I didn’t eat entire portions. Friday I was going to get some more crappy food but I ended up having a protein bar for breakfast and a turkey sandwich for lunch. The wings were pretty crappy but I wasn’t about to skip those ;)
August 22nd, 2007 Workout – Weights
I got back from the cottage this afternoon, unpacked, and headed straight for the gym. I didn’t have to drag myself there and I actually missed it while I was gone. Weird eh? The new patterns of behavior I’ve set for myself are becoming my reality now and I’m finding it hard to justify any excuse for missing a workout or eating poorly. Supposedly after 21 days of following a new behavior it becomes set in your mind. I definitely believe that now.