I'm invincible, but my shins are not!

So I apparently have bad grammar.  Honestly  I do have spell checker turned on.  But as I was reading over my last blog post I definitely noticed several grammatical errors.  So I fully appreciate your patience while I figure out the difference between  "it's" and its.  LOL.  I'm kidding, I know the difference, I just type super fast and I tend to miss some of the details like; no, an apostrophe doesn't go there.

Despite my flaws in writing,  I'm doing pretty great.  I don't know if this applies to everyone, or if it is just something I feel.  But after I get a hard workout completed, I feel great!  A bit sore, and I have aches and pains all over, but I feel great.  What I mean by that, is that I'm excited, I feel a bit more passionate about everything I'm doing. I have more energy to devote to the things I feel are important.  My mind seems a bit more clear.  Yeah, I have pain all over.  Not to be cliche, but No pain, No gain right?

I like feeling great, it gives me a great attitude and it makes me feel like I'm invincible.  I also feel less stressed about what is going on around me.  My work life feels more positive, and when I get home I feel ..  who am I kidding, when I get home I pass the fork out.  Ha!   But when / if I don't pass out I am more engaged and I have a slightly better attention span.  Wife might disagree with me there.

I will say that going day to day is rough.  Sometimes it is hard to be so positive, and sometimes it comes easy.  Today has been a good day, and I'll take that as a win!  So while I'm in a great mood, and I feel like I can share anything.  Let me do what I love to do.. Complain!  Yay!

So what is the deal with shin splints.  Like for real?  They are just the worst!  I am pretty sure I have some because every step I take feels like my damn bones are breaking.  I do feel like I mask it pretty well.  I'm not limping around or anything.  But let me tell you, they are wicked.  I've had them before too, when I use to dance in a Portuguese folk dance group.  yeah, you read that right. I was a Portuguese folk dancer! LOL.  Now you're never getting that out of your head.  Haha!

So hoping to have a full recovery for Friday's workout,  I'm taking it fairly easy.  I've been pretty good about my diet.  So far, only been cheating with some yummy IPA's .. LOL  but all my meals have been pretty low carb.  I'm excited for Sunday's weigh in.

For now,  here is the workout deetz!

31 splat points,  not bad.  We did a lot of weight room, so naturally i'm going to be sore as all heck! I had Aaron today. Yeah, he is the "are you okay?" coach.  And yes, he did it again to me today.  My heart rate was spiked after a 30s sprint at 7.0 speed.  That was after running at 5.0 for 5 minutes straight!   I was literally dying, and I'm pretty sure Aaron thought "this is it! He is going down!"  ha!  Well I have you fooled Aaron,  I made it!

Definitions of Success

How do we really define success.  I think there can be a little bit of success in all that we do.  I take win's, however small they are, as small milestones toward my greater goals.  I'm totally feeling successful these days.  I know I have not written a post in a little while.  Frankly it is hard to come up with witty, and interesting things to talk about on a daily basis.  I'm also not an award winning writer, so there is that. Ha! 

A day or two ago, I stepped up on the scale.  I normally don't do it until Sunday, but I was freaking out a little bit because I have not been running as much as I should.  But I have been sticking to my Keto diet.  Even when sticking to a diet, you still suck in a few carbs here and there. Old habits are hard to break, and let me tell ya, that Trickster IPA get's me every time!   But here I stand, looking down at little red numbers hoping that it's readout is something positive.  Then, Boom!  197.2!  I've still lost a few more pounds, a total loss of 17.8 pounds. 

These are wins, and I look back at what is getting me there.  I'm following my diet, 99% of the time.  I do cheat a little here and there.  I had sushi the other day, which is a little carb heavy, 27g,  but when you are already on a strict diet and consuming virtually zero carbs in everything else you eat.  You are close to the Keto allowance of 20 /day.   So hey,  I'm not perfect, but 99% of the time I am!  I feel that is still successful and my results are proving that I'm right.

All success has some reward.  It could be as good as a good feeling.  I do this fairly often,  I see tuns of people walking by a small piece of paper that is on the floor.  Someone clearly dropped it, whether it was a wrapper, a trashed receipt, or just some garbage.  But I, most of the time, will pick it up and throw it away.  Keeping our facility clean, because I think others appreciate it and I also don't like litter.  But that is a win for me, a little bit of success and I end up feeling good about it.

In my fitness journey I am being rewarded by feeling better and losing weight.  And I really feel good and motivated to keep going!  It's hard to make diet and fitness a lifestyle, but it is necessary.  As I approach 45 years of age,  I feel aches and pains in my body all the time.  My sciatic nerve shoots pain down my leg virtually all day long.  My tummy frequently goes on the fritz, and I'm fairly certain that IBS runs in my family.  My dad screams at me all the time,  "you should take probiotics, it works miracles!"  Ha! Dad!  But I truly believe that a healthy diet and being more fit helps alleviate some of the pains of getting older.  Maybe not all of them, but a little bit of relief makes a world of difference. At least it does for me.

Today's Progress
I rocked out a solid work out today.  While my splat points were down,  I had a more weight lifting workout. I was doing some sort of bench press and my arms literally felt like jello tube extensions from my shoulder down to my fingers.  It was hard, and my back was hurting and I was really miserable.  My coach today calls it "uncomfortable", blah, blah.  You try being in this body for a day and tell me if your miserable or just "uncomfortable" when you heart is racing at 107% on the heart rate monitor.  :P   Complaints aside, I keep going because I want success. I want to beat this and I want to be in great shape this summer.  It's already starting to be gorgeous out!  Time to feel great!

Day 14 - No gain, no loss, lots of pain, but I am still all in!

So it's been a week, roughly, and I stepped on the scale last night.  No significant gain, but no real loss.  I can't help feeling a bit disappointed by that. Last week, I did slack a little bit because I was sick.  But I have been pretty good about sticking to the Keto diet.  I also did do some workouts.  On Monday, I went for solid run in my neighborhood, I made sure I got my 25 splat points in!  So come on! What's the deal here?

On that note, I did notice that running in my neighborhood is not the same as running at Orange Theory.  I went to OT today and for the same exercise duration I hit 45 splat points.  So clearly I'm pushed more in OT than when I run out of studio.  Regardless, it was a good run and I do like the cold chill while I'm running outside. 

In general, running is hard.  It hurts in the knees, my feet, and virtually every step comes with some form of pain.  I have to will my way though each minute and keep fighting to finish my workouts.  But that seems to go with everything in my life.  I've never quite had any sort of easy path.  I've always had to work hard for anything and that has always lead to a good result.  So running is no different for me. 

I've been doing a bit of introspection lately, and  I have been analyzing the things that I complain about. I feel like they are relatively insignificant compared to others.  I'm clearly not appreciating what I have and where I am at in my career, nor have I really taken in how fortunate I am.  I have a great job, I have a nice house. I have a wonderful wife that takes care of me.  Come on, what do I really have to complain about?  So this is being added to my overall self improvement goals. 

When I rebooted this fitness campaign I set these goals

• Loose 35-40 pounds
• Learn to care about the right things ( Eat right: Keto Diet )

So adding to that list is "Learn to appreciate what I have".   I think this goal is a solid way to stay motivated. I need to stay positive, push my limits and really show myself what I am made of.  I'm getting super pumped up and motivated just writing about it.  So I'm pretty sure this is going to work. Ha! 

Today,  I pushed a bit harder than normal in OT,  I smashed a whopping 45 Splat points, and I picked up my running Push Pace to 6.5.  That was my all out before!   Granted I felt like I was going to die, but I didn't!  This is kind of funny, I never see the coach go up to other people and ask if they are okay, or how they are doing.  But this coach Aaron,  he definitely keeps an eye on my heart rate.  When I'm pushing at 103%  to 107% in the red zone,  he comes over and gently pats me on the back and says "how are you doing, are you okay?".   So he is either a really nice guy or he thinks this fat old man is going to croak if I get to 110%.  LOL.

No matter what, I'm proud of what I accomplished so far.  I'm roughly 15 pounds down.  I am an accomplished human, and I have learned to care about my health.  I'm on a road to recovery and now I'm not feeling that down that I didn't loose any poundage over the last week.  I do look forward to pushing through and hitting my goals.  I just need to work hard, appreciate life, and keep learning!