Saturday, June 6, 2009

CFF Pool Party

11:ooam: I slept in a little bit this morning, but I was still up by 8 or so. I did however really enjoy my morning and didn't rush out the door to go and work out. I wanted to make it a calm morning cause I know that I'll be heading to a CFF pool party later on and those are anything but calm. They raise a ton of money for CF, but that's generally the last reason people are there. I've always had a slight objection to events like that, but when it comes down to it, it's all about the money. That's the CFF's job. Raise money to find a cure and that next great med. There is no other non-profit out there that does such a great job in moving forward on it's mission. If I have to watch a bunch of people gather together "in the name of CF" who actually have no idea what CF is BUT they are writing checks, then I guess it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. Much better actually. It also puts "pressure" on me to go to these events and carry the torch so to speak and talk to as many people as I can about the disease. I've met many great people over the years through CFF events and many of them stay involved with the Foundation in some sort of capacity.

Ok, sorry, I got sidetracked. So I headed to the gym around 11 with some making up to do. I had to do my back workout that I missed yesterday PLUS arms. I knew it was going to be a long gym session. Mandi and I were looking forward to arms (especially because of the upcoming pool party :)) but back not so much. We did bicep and triceps first which went really well. It felt like we were both moving in slow motion, but the clock also seemed to slow down. About an hour into our workout Mandi mentioned that it felt like we had been there for 3 hours. By the time we got to back we were both super fatigued. Instead of the normal 5 lifts that we do for back, we ended up doing 3. The last exercise was wide grip pull ups and I couldn't finish my sets. My upper body felt dead. I was glad that we did most of our back workout though cause I hate missing workouts and I wouldn't have felt right if we didn't make up at least some of it.

Side Note: The CFF pool party was a huge success. It seemed busier than last year and I heard that they sold over 14,ooo dollars worth of pre-sale tickets. I'll try to get a number this week of exactly how much the event made. After a day in the sun, Mandi and I spent the rest of it relaxing. There was no more working out or exercising, but plenty of grilling and hanging out. Just what the doctor ordered...speaking of, time to do my treatments.

Total Distance for Day: 0 miles 

Friday, June 5, 2009

Feet Are Feeling Better Today!

8:00am: So I did the whole "5 more minutes" thing at around 6:45 this morning and wouldn't you know it, all of the sudden it was 8! It felt so good too! I got to bed way later than usual last night so I probably needed it. J Bell was ready to go the minute I woke up and wouldn't leave my side until I told her to grab her leash. I was a bad daddy yesterday and she didn't get her walk so I know she was extra excited. Not doing anything on my feet yesterday was probably a good thing though cause my feet felt better this morning than they have for a long time. I got out the door a little later than normal so it was definitely a hotter out. Jeezy for Sheezy was dragging her tongue quicker than normal and I think I broke a sweat about 200 yards into it. Got to love 90 degree heat at 8 in the morning! 

I was coughing quite a bit on the walk this morning but a lot of it was on purpose. I felt some mucus stuck towards the bottom of my throat, top of my lung area. You guys know what I'm talking about. It feels like there is a rock or something in there and it takes some really deep coughs to get it moving. I was moving stuff up and getting quite a bit out, but was also making myself out of breath in the process. It's hard to cough, walk, spit, and breath at the same time! I just did a quick 2 miler because I wanted to save my feet for cardio later. I have some making up to do for yesterday and I want to put myself in the best position to get it done. 

Total Distance: 2.0 miles    Time: 34'04"

5:30pm: So the day my feet feel better I'm of course swamped with things to do. I lost track of time today and by the time I got my head above water it was to late. We are hanging out with friends tonight for game night, so I needed to get back and showered for the 7:30 start. I was only able to get in my chest workout (which was very good), so I'll have to do arms with back tomorrow. It will be another full day tomorrow though with a CFF pool party to attend. Hopefully I'll be on the ball tomorrow and be able to get in some cardio as well. Me thinks that there will be no sleeping in! Current Weight: 185 lbs.

Total Distance for Day: 2.0 miles

Thursday, June 4, 2009

You've Got To Do Your Treatments

6:30am: I decided to go to the gym this morning cause I will be traveling today and I wanted to make sure that I got my workout in. Today was legs/shoulders which is the quickest workout that I do. It worked out well that it fell on the day I was traveling. I was going to do some cardio also, but my feet are still sore from the last couple of days, so I figured that I'd give them a break this morning. I'll probably be giving Jezzabel a walk tonight when I get back into town. 

My lungs feel a little bit cruddy this morning, so although I'm traveling, I'll make sure to stay faithful with my treatments. In the life of a CFer nothing is more important than being active AND doing treatments. Like it or not, that's just the way it is. The CFF pours all of this money into improving our medications and then some of us just blow them off. I get it, treatments are sometimes a pain to do. Sometimes it feels like they are over taking your life. But you know what, get over it. I don't know how else to say it. Do your treatments and live, or ignore them and die. If I take four hours out of each day to prolong my life by 10 years (just throwing numbers out), then I'd say I'm getting a pretty good deal.

Side Note: I got home a little later than expected so all I did today was get to the gym. Looks like I have some making up to do the next couple of days!

Total Distance for Day: 0 miles (I think I just threw up a bit in my mouth)

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The Trapdoor of the Stomach

7:15am: I was up a little late last night due to the CFF event that Mandi and I attended, so I decided to sleep in a bit. When I finally rolled out of bed and put my feet on the ground, I could feel the after effects of our long walk yesterday and the day before. Both of my feet were sore and my legs were a little sleepy still. I knew that I should cut back a little bit this morning in terms of my walk distance. Jezzabel had been whining since who knows when so I knew I had to get up and out the door in a hurry before she blew a gasket. As it has been, the weather was perfect for the walk this morning. Slight breeze and probably around 75 to 80 degrees. If only it stayed like that all day.

My lungs felt pretty good from the time that I woke up, but I knew that I had some stuff deep down in there to work out. I tried to keep a good pace to really make my lungs work. The whole walk I was occasionally bringing stuff up but most of what I was spitting out was post nasal drip type of stuff. It wasn't until the final push of the walk when I started walking uphill that I really started huffing and puffing. The deep coughs soon followed and then, you guesses it, I was throwing up on the side of the road. I'm sure many CFers out there can relate to this: once it starts, it's really hard to stop. It's almost as if a throw up trap door has been opened and there's no closing it until your body is good and ready. I must have unknowingly swallowed a lot of mucus and snot the whole night because that's all that came up. With me though it's to the point that I barely break stride, I kind of just turn my head, let it fly, and keep walking.

Total Distance: 2.0 miles   Time: 34'44"

5:00pm: Mandi and I hung out at her house today to wait for a sink repairman that was supposed to show up between 12pm-4pm. Yeah, he didn't show. We were able to get plenty of work done, but it messed up the ol' work out schedule. We finally got to the gym to do arms and I felt kind of weak.  I was hungry all day long and just kept eating and eating but never got full. I'm not sure if I didn't get the proper nutrition or I needed a nap, bit whatever it was I felt lethargic at the gym today. I'm also starting to think that the weights actually weigh different amounts at the LA Fitness near Mandi's house as opposed to the one near me. It could also be that the free standing bars weigh different amounts. Mandi thought that some of the lifts today felt heavier too. I was still able to increase most of the weights on my tricep lifts and I actually did dips unassisted for the first time today in what feels like forever. I was only able to do 2 sets of 10 unassisted, but I thought that was pretty good improvement from starting out with 120 lbs of assistance. Hopefully I'll be able to do sets of pull-ups with no assistance soon as well. Current Weight: 185 lbs.

Total Distance for Day: 2.0 miles

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Lungs a Little Tighter Than Normal

6:30am: Because yesterday went so well I decided to do another long walk this morning, but this time Jeezy for Sheezy got the invite. She was super excited when I told her to grab her leash and we were out the door in a jiffy. Just to backtrack a little, I had trouble falling asleep last night (and it had nothing to do with the 2 cups of coffee at 9pm :)), but I woke up feeling refreshed this morning. My lungs also felt pretty mucus free although they were a little tight. Anyway J Bell and I took off on our adventure and the weather was again being my friend. It was actually a little hotter this morning, but I think it may have just felt that way cause I was directly in the sun's ray the whole time. Yesterday I was walking in the shade for about half the time. Today's walk was also different because half of it was uphill or slightly uphill. Talk about getting the lungs going!

The walk felt good and my feet almost held up the whole time. The ball of my right foot burned about .5 miles into the walk (which is new) and my left foot didn't hurt until about the 2.5 mile mark. I kept a good pace the whole time and J Bell helped out with only going potty about 4 times and rarely stopping to sniff. I think after the second uphill she didn't have the energy to veer off course and do any sniffing. Her tongue was flopping all over the place and you could tell she just wanted to get home. I could have gone longer, but I didn't want her to have a stroke this morning. My lungs opened up and I was able to get a good amount up and out. They still feel a bit tight, but I'm thinking they will be just fine after a treatment. I just need to ice my feet and suck on my nebulizer and this will be a great start to an even greater day!

Total Distance: 3.0 miles Time: 55'58"

4:00pm: So the rest of the day kind of got away from me. I was working on some stuff that I started this morning and before I knew it, it was 4. I had about 45 minutes to get in a workout before I had to get ready for a CFF event. I thought about skipping today and making it up tomorrow, but I figured that I had time to at least do something. I went to the gym and did two burnout sets. One on chest and the other on back. For chest, I started with 145lbs and did that as many times as I could. Then I took off 20 lbs. and did that as many times as I could and then took off another 20 and so on. I finally got all of the way down to the bar and I was only able to do it about 19 times. My chest felt like it had been torn. For back, I did the same type of thing but I did it with wide grip pull ups and instead of going down in weight, I went down in assistance. For instance, I started with 100 lbs. of assistance and worked my way down to 40 lbs. in 15 lbs. increments and did pull ups each time until I couldn't manage to hold myself up. Have I managed to confuse you yet? I hope so :)

Anyway, the key message for today is even if you're short on time, make sure you do SOMETHING. You've got to get your body into a habit. And for what it's worth, there's not many habits better for your lungs than exercise.

Total Distance for Day: 3.0 miles

17.85 Total Miles for the Week of March 25th

Week of March 18th: 11.75 miles
Week of March 11th: 17.2 miles
Week of March 4th: 17.7 miles
Week of April 27th: 15.7 miles
Week of April 20th: 22.9 miles
Week of April 13th: 18.75 miles
Week of April 6th: 20.95 miles
Week of March 30th: 31.7 miles
Week of March 23rd: 24.48 miles
Week of March 16th: 34.85 miles
Week of March 9th: 23.6 miles

Monday, June 1, 2009

Furthest Walk So Far!!!

6:45am: I decided to give a new loop a try this morning so I could walk in a different neighborhood and check out some cool houses. About a mile north of me is a neighborhood that I would absolutely love to live in cause each house is on at least half an acre and it feels like you're in another world. It's still in the heart of the city, but you have no traffic noise and it's mostly green all around with mountain views. Of course this is why it would cost me about 700,000 to get even a fixer upper in that neighborhood. A boy can dream though can't he?

Anyways, I took off this morning with an already slightly sore foot from yesterday but I was thinking that it only needed to be stretched out. The weather was PERFECT with a slight breeze and the sun shining. I may need to do a long walk at this time more often. I didn't bring J Bell along with me cause I didn't know exactly where I was going (and it's a good thing cause I had to jump a wall) and I didn't feel like stopping 800 times to let her do her business and sniff everything. I just wanted to take in the beautiful scenery and the gorgeous weather. I walked and walked, turned and went straight, up hill down hill, every which way it felt like this morning. I wasn't sure how long the walk was going to be (I went back and drove it later), but I really didn't care, I was enjoying it way too much to stop.

I also moved a lot up this morning. Without having Jezzabel attached to my arm I am able to keep up a faster pace. That faster pace gets me more short of breath and coughing which brings the mucus a flowing. I got up stuff that was way deep down in. At first I was coughing a little too deep and thought about tossing my cookies, but eventually that sick feeling subsided and I was able to cough deep enough to get the junk out but not deep enough to cough my stomach out. My legs started to get a little fatigued at about the 2.5 mile mark and it was getting hotter by the minute. Next time I'll leave a little earlier to avoid that heat on the way home. I drank almost 30 ounces on the walk though so I was plenty hydrated.

All in all it was a great morning and the furthest distance that I've walked so far (not including hikes)!

Total Distance: 3.6 miles Time: 1:03'43"

1:00pm: The rest of the day was full of work and "putting out fires" but I did manage to get to the gym. It was my shoulder and leg day which is by far the easiest day I have. It is also the quickest which came in handy on a hectic day such as today. I'm taking it easy on my legs for two reasons: one, to not put a lot of pressure on my foot, and two, cause I don't want to have big ol' legs. My calves definitely have room for growth, but all of the calf exercises make my foot hurt. My shoulders felt really good today and I only had pain on the last set of the last lift. Mandi and I didn't take any time off between sets and were in constant rotation between shoulders and legs. It ended up being a nice little cardio session as well. Current Weight: 186 lbs

Total Distance for Day: 3.6 miles

Sunday, May 31, 2009

The Key to Running

1:00pm: It felt really good to take the whole day off yesterday and just relax. I had to run errands and such, but to take a break from all exercise was much needed. I did however have a big itch to get back to the swing of things today. After church, breakfast, and a Good Will run, Mandi and I headed for the gym to work out our arms. As you know if you read this blog, arms may be my favorite day. Since my arms and legs aren't covered by anything while I'm at the gym, I can actually see "results" as I work out and it can be motivating. Don't get me wrong, it still looks like I have wet noodles for arms, but at least they're BIGGER wet noodles. Mandi's arms are also getting slightly bigger, but mostly more defined. While I do heavier weight and less reps, she does lower weight and more reps. I generally do 12,10,8 or 8, 6,4 with an increase in weight for each set. Mandi however usually does 3 sets of 12 all at the same weight. Soon, she'll be able to be a stand in for GI Jane! Maybe she could shave her head and do the sequel?

After the weight lifting portion we decided to head outside and go for a run/walk. We took off on our 3 mile loop and hoped for the best. I say that cause it was 100+ degrees outside, but I needed to push myself a bit after taking the day off yesterday. I of course was sweating almost instantly but we had water with us and I was also hydrating before and during our workout. In the very beginning my left foot hurt a bit and my right ankle had a bit of a kink in it. It only took my ankle about 5 minutes to feel normal, but my foot didn't feel better until the last bit of our walk/run. Just as we were making our way towards the last half a mile we decided to take a short cut to make it a 2.5 mile loop instead. We were both getting a little burned on the face and we certainly didn't want to test the sun in that regard. We ended up running the last .3 miles back to the car. I'm SOOO glad I was able to run, but let me tell you, it wasn't easy.

About 10 seconds after we took off all of the internal excuses started coming from my brain. "You're going to throw up" my brain said. "Seriously, just stop to cough out some of that flem you're choking on" he continued. "You haven't run for a while and certainly not in this type of heat" he shouted. Excuse after excuse just kept on coming out of me. I promise you this, I wanted to stop the entire time we were running. I wanted to run before and I was glad I ran after, but during, I wanted to quit. Running for me isn't easy. It's not easy for most. The key to running is to overcome that self doubt and just push through all of those internal voices and block out the pain. It's ALWAYS worth it in the end. I know it was only .3 miles, but it feels like I accomplished something much bigger. Current Weight: 187 lbs

Total Distance: 2.5 miles

Total Distance for Day: 2.5 miles