Thanksgiving

Well, the workouts have been coming in nice and strong. My runs have been consistent and my goal is to get approximately 4 miles a day in, or incorporating 20-45 minutes of the stationary bike with my workouts. My lifts have been strong as well. I have been working chest out 2x a week, shoulders 2x, arms 1x and legs 1x... all heavy and with fierce intensity.

I recently has a discussion with an old friend of mine regarding taking this blog to the next level and integrating discussions, equipment, and workouts, with videos and examples of our workouts. We starting doing hardcore Crossfit type workouts before Crossfit existed. We are excited to get started soon.

Yesterday I ran 7.5 miles and lifted weights for approximately 1 hour. The run took me 1 hour and 15 minutes in 43 degree weather. Today I lifted for about 46 minutes and hopped on the bike for 20 minutes and completed a Tababta 4 minutes workout on the Concept 2 Rower at my gym. it was grueling.

Up at 5:15am, strapped my GPS watch on and hit the road. The rain was light, I ran approximately 3 miles, jumped in the shower and was out the door quickly. After a 13 hour day. I arrived home at around 7pm. My original intention was to go to Gold's gym and get a workout in, but I was way too exhausted. Tomorrow I plan on getting up at 5:30, running 6 miles and completing some calisthenics before work.

A change in the direction of the blog

Okay, when I first started this blog, I had the full intention of devoting the content to Versaclimber related topics. In retrospect, I realize that this would have given me about 1 month full of content until there would be absolutely nothing left to be said about the machine. Being that I currently do not own a Versaclimber anymore, the shift of this thread will be to fitness related topics in general. I will focus on my workouts, training, and goals, and I will take feedback from viewers in general. I will use this forum as a medium to transcribe my daily fitness routines and keep record of the progress. Any thoughts?... Anyone?

Today, I awoke at 5 am to a light pitter-patter of rain. I snoozed the alarm for another 15 minutes and threw the blanket back over my head (I always sleep with a blanket over my head). At 5.:20 am I arose and threw my Nike Free's on and headed out into the big cold world. I trekked around 4.3 miles and arrived back at my place shortly after 6am and rushed to get out of the door by 6:45am to head to Manteca, CA.

Workouts in the morning seem horrible. You are up before anyone else, you are sweating when you should be sleeping, and you generally feel cranky.... until you start breaking those first few drops of sweat. Suddenly, the 48 degree climate does not bother you and your adrenaline kicks in and by the time the workout is over, you congratulate yourself for not dragging ass and getting a workout in. It is a great way to start the day.

It has been a long time. Many things have changed since June. Let's see... the biggest news is that I will be a dad come April. We are very excited about the new edition (it will be a boy) and we cannot be happier; however, we did get rid of my last Versaclimber partly to make room in the spare bedroom for the baby, and partly because I wanted to use the money for other things. I am keeping my eyes open for a commercial VC to purchase. In other news, I have been working as a dentist in the San Joaquin Valley for 3 months now. The commute from San Jose to Manteca, CA is a pain, but I am making it happen. I have been very active with the cardio since I finished dental school this past June. I try to do an hour of cardio on my workout days and my lifting has been strong. I am alternating between an exercise bike and running outdoors and I have really been enjoying that. I feel better than I have in years since I am getting my heart the workouts it used to get many years ago when I used to wrestle and run track. It feels good just to get out there and lift something heavy and run around some. I have been using a heart rate monitor watch for almost a year and it is fantastic. It is a Garmin 305 GPS and heart rate monitor. I use it on most days that I run. It keeps track of my progress, average heart rate, distance ran, pace per mile, calories, and a bunch of other stuff that I never looked into. For anyone that has not used one, these watches are really great because you can set up a race against yourself to keep you on pace. For example,: let's say that you run a routine route several times, each time you record the route with your watch, it is saved in the watch's memory and the next time you run that same route, you have the option of pacing yourself against the best time that you have ran/biked in the past on that same route. It essentially works as a virtual trainer and it is really cool.