Brent Thomas posted about The 100 Pushup Challenge today, and I think I’ll take it up. It will help with some strength training while the cycling will help with the belly training.

You’re supposed to do an ‘initial test’ to determine how many pushups you do each session. But, knowing my limitations, I am going to skip that and see if I can even do Level 1 of the second column, which is 7 pushups. I am skeptical. And especially skeptical that, if I do 7, I’ll be able to do 7 more 60 seconds later (and then 5 more, and then 4 more). If I can’t, I will just drop down to the first column for the remainder of the program.

Last week was pretty lame on the riding to work front. Rode Monday, didn’t ride Tuesday, rode Wednesday, rode in the morning Thursday, but Megan picked me up after work. I had a meeting to go to. Which is exciting. Friday, I didn’t go to work because my Dad was in, but we went out on the trail. He and the girls walked, and I got 12 miles in. Yesterday afternoon was my first go at going on the trail from home, and it was a good time. I saw a deer on the side of the trail, and a dead copperhead in the middle of the trail. Nature Ride!
About a quarter of a mile from home I ran over something on the side of the road, and got a flat tire. LAME! It must have been a nail or something, because there was a clean, round hole in the tube. I took it to the shop today, and they fixed it. And while at the shop I bought myself a bike computer[1] for my bike. It will keep track of my mileage (total and per ride) and speed (average and max), and also tell me the time, temperature and let me know if my pace at any given time is above or below my average. I’m excited about it. My bike won’t be ready until Wednesday, though, because I’m also having the gear shifter/brake handles replaced, since one of them was acting a bit funky.
So, I’m not going to make my 200 mile goal. Which is sad. I didn’t expect to get 300, but I thought I’d reach 200.

[1]Special Note: It is a bad idea to buy things like this for yourself when you have a birthday just around the corner.

I’ve been dutifully riding to work, and this past weekend I put on some extra miles. We went out on the bike trail Saturday, and I rode 13 miles. Megan and the kids were walking, but I rode my bike. Part of my 13 miles was me backtracking to them, to see how they were doing. Then I went out for another spin. The reason i tell you this is because when I was mapping my ride, I forgot the part where I went back to them, which was 2 miles. So I rode 13, but only mapped 11. So, if I come within two miles of the 300 mile goal, I’m going to fake a two mile ride. Otherwise, I don’t care enough to do anything about it.

Then, yesterday, I rode ten miles to our church Psalm Sing. The hosting family generously offered me their shower, so I wasn’t nasty the whole time.

So, according to the website, I have ridden 124.37 miles since May 12th. I have through June 11th to get 300. If I ride to work everyday, that will be 61 miles, bringing me to about 185. So I’d need another 115 miles. Which, I can tell you, is not going to happen. So even though the goal on the website is 300 miles, I am amending it to 200.

My Dad is coming in for a visit this weekend, so I might not get out to the trail to get the extra 15 miles. So there is some pressure. But I’m gonna try it.

I didn’t start the challenge until May 12th because I was camping the whole first week of May, and didn’t ride at all. So, the month of May summary…
124.25 miles ridden. At current prices, that’s about $32 worth of gas.
7598 calories burned on the bike.
I hover right around 257, +/- 3 pounds throughout the day.

Also… on Friday I road home in 13 minutes, 19 seconds.

For those curious, I am 10 days in to my 30 day 300 mile challenge. I have only ridden 52 miles. So… It’s not looking good. On the other hand, I’ve ridden over 50 miles in the last ten days. Go me!

Oh! And my time is steadily improving. Yesterday, on my ride home, I made my record time… 16 minutes, 47 seconds. And that includes the pause I had to make for the guy to yell at me about riding on the sidewalk.

If anyone is interested in my progress, last week I took the week off, so I didn’t ride to work at all. The previous week I rode Monday (like I said), then Tuesday, took Wednesday off, and then rode in again Thursday. I didn’t go to work Friday, but I did ride to a prayer meeting in the morning.

Then I rode today. So, I’m still on the… wagon? Cart?

In fact, I signed up for a challenge today on MapMyRide.com to ride 300 miles in the next 30 days. That means I will have to put some miles on outside of my commute. We’ll see if I pull that off.

So, yesterday I ran two miles. Ran the whole way. It’s been at least ten years since I could run two miles.

So, I’m still working on my goal of the 5K race this fall. Yesterday was a stepping stone day, as I “ran” a two mile course. And it didn’t take me much longer than the just-over-one-mile course that I’ve previously been running. Which means I’m running more. I also mostly have ditched the program that Megan found. I’ve found that my body is getting used to the strain, and the minute on/minute off thing doesn’t really push me. So I pretty much run for as long as I can (which is getting longer), and then walk for as short as I can to get my breath back (which is getting shorter).

So, while I’m still a pathetic loser in the running department, I think I’m making progress, and maybe in another month or so I’ll be able to keep a steady pace for a whole mile.

Well, folks… I’m reinstituting the ‘regimen’.

Each year Providence Church puts on a grand All Saints Day celebration. We kick it off the Friday before Reformation Day with our Reformation Day Ball. Much fun is had by all. And the festivities continue into Saturday, where the day is kicked off with a 5K race, followed by various sporting events for men and families alike, such as the stone throw, tug-o-war, three legged race and bobbing for apples. The games finished op with a big ‘ol picnic grillin’. Last year we had fried chicken and some kind of grilled sausages. Delicious. And the last event is the pie baking contest. And, I cannot be too quick to note that my wife is the two time, uncontested reigning champion.

So, my goal is to run the 5K this year. And it is looking like a long, long road to get there.

I began my regimen on Tuesday. Megan found a program somewhere or another, where you work up to being a runner, begining with cycling through running and walking. The first stage running one minute and walking two. So I did that. For about twenty minutes or so. And, boy, it was a workout. That should tell you how pathetically out of shape I am. Running for one minute winded me. By the third running cycle, I could barely run for the full minute. But… there you have it. And today I’m going to do it again.

I have left out the most exciting part, though. Near the end of my run Tuesday, I was crossing a street. Apparently the light changed while I was crossing, because a car just started going. Didn’t wait for me or anything… just kept right on going. I threw my arms out and shouted something along the lines of, “What’re you doing?!” I continued my little trot, only to discover that this driver had taken offense at my crossing the street, and had looped back around. A man jumped out of the car, swearing at me and accusing me of spitting on his car. I told him I didn’t spit on his car, and he then threatened to ’slap yo head’. He went and looked at the side of his car for spittle. He found none, of course, but that didn’t stop his faux macho demonstration. He continued to name call. I asked him if he found anything on his car. He must have been hard of hearing, because he shouted at me, “What?!”. I repeated my question. He replied that he didn’t come slap my head. So I took that as a negative. By this point, his shouting and grunting had caught the attention of some neighborhood boys that had been playing football nearby. They started with the name calling. I don’t really know why they decided that the other guy was the one to support. My guess is because they saw that he was lacking self-control, and they wanted to see a fight. So they got behind him to try to get him actually start something.

Their hopes were dashed, though, when I simply turned my back to the fellow (who, incidentally, was about 5′5″-a foot shorter than myself) and walked away. Threats were thrown out as I walked away, but I paid no attention. My mind was going back to the interview with R.J. Gore I had been listening to.

I haven’t been off to a great start on the regimen. I’ve only excercised a few more times since my last post, and when I last weighed myself, I had not lost any weight.

So… it’s a slow start. But… it’s still on.

So, yesterday was the first day of my new exercise regimen. I say regimen, but it isn’t really a regimen, I don’t think. I don’t have a plan, really. Except to lose weight.

Yesterday I took G&A in the jogging stroller for a job. Only… I ran maybe a quarter of a mile before I felt like my heart was going to explode. So I walked the rest of what I guess is a mile. Maybe a little more.

But, man… talk about seriously being out of shape. If I don’t change this, I won’t be able to keep up with the kiddos when we go to the park or something. Pathetic. I weighed myself last night, and I’m about 258 pounds now, which is the most I’ve ever weighed. In high school I was under 200. But I don’t want to be that lanky now. I’m six-five, so it’s not like I look hugely fat or anything… but I’ve got myself a nice sized belly.

I’m gonna shoot for 230, and see what that’s like. What’s a reasonable time frame to do that? One guy I know online lost 32lbs in four months… maybe that’ll be my goal.

portion size and exercise. Hey, they even rhyme. Someone should make a jingle out of that.

weight:258