tortoise v hare

I was just listening to an interview with Darin Steen (I'd put up a link, but the interviewer only makes it free for like 24hrs), who is a fitness and motivational coach in Chicago. One of the topics he touched on was the effectiveness of high-intensity intervals like sprints versus low-intensity steady-state jogging. Since we are in the midst of Olympics fever, he said something like: "Whose physique would you rather have, a sprinter's, or a marathoner's?" (Here are some pictures I found on the net to illustrate the point:)

<<<--SPRINTER

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That marathon runner is slim and trim, but he's not solid like the sprinter. And I've always thought to myself: "When am I going to have to run 5k?" It's much more likely that I'll have to dash 100m -- to catch a child in the street or escape from an axe murderer. [Edited to add:] Or to dash across campus when I'm running late. [end addendum.] I've already been doing intervals based on my Abs Diet plan (I think it's in there), but it is always nice to vindication.

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MARATHONER>>>

the end of summer

week: +1.5
total: -60.5

gym: Tuesday/Thursday
tang soo do: Wednesday

We went out of town for the weekend, leaving Friday afternoon, so I didn't take the time to hit the gym that day, opting instead to pack. We spent the whole day outside in the park Saturday though (excepting the lunch break, when the sky opened up a downpour on us). We had packed a cooler for the trip over, but then we forgot to get the Blue Ice things out of the hotel room freezer. Oh well, we had finished most of the cold stuff on Saturday anyway.

School resumes next Monday. In some ways, it should be easier to make it to the gym, since it's right there on campus. However, it also gets a lot easier to find excuses to skip: tired after teaching, too rushed to go before class, too crowded at the end of the day, yadda yadda yadda. I am seriously thinking of asking about a locker there though, which would ease up some of my rushed-ness.

7 in 1 year

week: -2
total: -62

gym: Thursday, Sunday, today (Tuesday)= met goal!
tang soo do: last Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, missed Saturday's class for waking up late = 3/4 of goal

Almost exactly a year ago (I missed it by a few weeks here), I took my waist-to-hip ratio measurements for the first time. Since then, I have lost seven inches from both. I guess I have gained and lost weight proportionally for the most part. Nevertheless, I hadn't realized how much progress I'd made on that front, so, even though I haven't hit a WL record any time recently, I still have things to celebrate!

up early for me

week: -0
total: -60

Woke up this morning ... and I got myself a beer. No, wait, that was a different morning. This morning, I woke up at 7am and could not fall back asleep. So I decided to go ahead and get up and head to the gym; I figured that working out would maybe make me tired, and I could nap later. I just got home, so no nap just yet.

No post last week, because I had been out of town, and there was not much to report. Suffered some bad headaches on vacation, and they followed me home, so I did not work out Tues night or Wed at all. Sucked it up and went to TSD class on Thurs. Flash flooding from heavy rains on Friday -- driving through that mess always leaves me shaken (and stirred) so we cut class again, but made it out on Saturday and Sunday. So three sessions of exercise, not ideal, but decent.

My mini-project at the gym is to work up to doing pull ups unassisted. There is a machine that offsets through counterbalance (I guess) part of my weight, so I only have to lift a portion of my real weight. When I started this project, I set it on 100, and could only do a few. Today, I did 10 (barely) on 85. I won't be doing unassisted pullups any time soon, but I can definitely see progress, which is good enough for me.