I QUIT!!

Ever just get the feeling you can't do what you set out to do?  Does life ever just catch up to you, pass you, then leave you in the dust wondering why you can't ever reach your goals?  If you've never felt like this I would like to meet you...

My last post was a wandering rant about many things that bug me - about myself, others, this, that, etc.  Well, today is May the freaking 1st, and on the one hand I'm still discouraged, but on the other there are a few things that are going better.

So here's the reason for the title of this post, I guess: it's May, I've lost a grand total of 8 pounds so far this year (yeah, yeah, I know, it's something...), and the month of April was a nearly complete piece of s**t.  4 workouts the entire month.  FOUR.  WTF?  And like I said last time, a great many of the ones I didn't do were because I was just cranky.

So I get to that point where I just say "chuck it" (well, it rhymes with "chuck it," anyway; I promised to keep this rated G...) and go do whatever I want to.  Which is frequently not exercise.  

But all is not lost, faithful reader.  No, no, I will not quit.  There are seven months left in the year (actually, as I proofread, I realize that since it's May 1, there are really EIGHT).  That's more than half!  So I will somehow soldier on and figure out how to make the best of it.  Today, for instance, was a gorgeous day, so I rode my bike to the gym!  Two birds with one stone, as they say.  And tomorrow promises to be nice as well, so I will head out on the road bike in the afternoon and see where I end up.

Speaking of riding, I figured out over spring break that I have ridden a bicycle in eight states - Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, Tennessee, Georgia, New York, and Vermont.  I think that's pretty cool.  I would like to add a few more - Alabama would be easy, based on the Natchez Trace near my in-laws' house.  (I didn't get to ride that during spring break.  I was pissed.  Seriously.  But the distance I would have had to travel to get to the start, plus the ride and then the return trip, would have made a very long day for whoever ended up having to be my driver.  And since we were spending time with family, not riding, I decided against it.  I ended up doing several miles in the local mountain bike trails, making it at least twice as far as I did last year, so that was cool.  Alabama next time!!)  And our travels through the Smoky Mountains on the way home, even in cold, horrible rain, made me want to go back and enjoy their beauty on a bicycle.  

Well, like I said, it's May 1, so here's the monthly update:

    Starting weight, ca. Jan 1 - 226 lbs
    Weight on May 1 - 218 lbs
    Net loss 8 lbs
    April workouts - 4
        - 29 bike miles
        - 1 gym workout
        - 2800 calories burned
  355 miles so far on the bike for the year, pretty much all of which have been inside.  (That's more than I thought...)
    - Update on the tendinitis in my shoulder, in case you were wondering (if you weren't, I guess you can skip this...) -  movement is improving, the pain is lessening, but I can still really feel it when I do certain things.  Today in the gym there were several things I just couldn't do.  I've been stretching, icing, and taking ibuprofen.  Things are looking up.  The PT promises some new exercises to stretch and strengthen when I go back Friday.  (Why is it spelled "tendinitis," anyway?  It's about your tendON, so shouldn't it be "tedONitis"??  But it's not.)

There's probably more that I could write, but if I use all my stuff at once then you have nothing to look forward to!!  See you out on the road.  OR...  on the trail!  A down payment has been made not on the cool Cervelo S5 road bike that I considered, but rather a 2013 Salsa Mukluk 2 fat bike.  Here's a pic:

 Perhaps a ride to the beach, followed by a ride on the beach.  And stuff like that.  We shall see.  I will give you an update on that purchase, and other exciting life events, in the near future.  Stay tuned!!

This Will End Up Being a Rant...

Wow...  Been a while, hasn't it?  Yeah...  Remember the one post a couple months ago about how I'm lazy a fan of convenience?  And admittedly that's part of it.  But there are other factors at work here as well, and all kinds of things are on my mind, fighting for attention.

So YOU get to hear about them all!  Isn't that exciting??  And let me tell you, there's a lot of crap up there between school, weather, exercise, food, and on and on.  So here goes :)

This weather sucks.  Yep.  It does.  I don't care if "we live in Michigan in April, what did you expect?" or anything else.  What a total piece of dung this spring has been.  So far in April, according to local weather the other day, we have had 17% of available sunshine.  We usually have 52%.  What that means is that if it's daylight hours and the sun should be out, it's usually out 52% of those hours.  Not THIS spring.  17% is all we've had so far.  (Full disclosure - today was a beautiful day.  But cold.)

So you know what?  I rebelled.  Yep, I showed that shitty weather.  I didn't even exercise more than twice after we got home from spring break.  (Where the weather also sucked.)  I won that one, didn't I?  I actually got in my car one day after school and totally blew off the gym for the day.  Because it was crappy weather.  And I didn't even care.  (In case you're missing this, the gym is actually indoors and impervious to weather.  I was just being pissy.)  Sigh...

My monthly bike mileage also sucks.  Lots of things here, some weather, some time, some just like the above examples.  It's been a struggle to get motivated!  Yay, let's go outside in the rain and cold and ride a bike!  Or better yet, let's go into the dank basement and do it!  And Georgia, what a great state that was to ride in.  Actually it probably was; we had one half-decent day and I rode 20 miles.  The second day we wandered around UGA's campus in the cold rain.  Reminded us of Michigan...

I haven't hit the weights enough, either.  This one is actually not totally avoidable.  I've been dealing with some tendinitis issues in my shoulder.  "It's pretty common in guys your age," says my doc.  I hate him.  Tall, skinny, good-looking.  Younger than me...  (Actually he's a really good guy and I'm totally kidding here.  But you get the idea.)  My somewhat poor conducting stance has caught up to me, and the repetitive stress on my rotator cuff tendons has brought on some pain issues.  So physical therapy for a while.  I can still lift, but I need to be cautious.  (By the way, did you see the affected area I mentioned?  The rotator cuff.  Drives me crazy when people think it's the rotator cup.  Anyway...)

Body issues aren't just for teen girls any more.  I have a lot of conversations with students.  About a lot of things.  And I can tell you that there are very few people in the world that I inhabit that are completely happy with themselves.  So if there's one thing lately that has gone well, it's that I've had a couple talks about body issues with a couple kids.  And they're kind of surprised to find out that I'm not happy with myself, either.  Here's a very cool ad from Dove that anyone who has ever had self-doubt about their looks should watch.  It's worth the six minutes:
 

My job is still pretty cool.  I enjoy most aspects of my work.  The kids are awesome, especially when I can engage them in the topic we discussed in class today, which was about what we're going to do with all the kids next year - we'll have 200 people in the band and they need a place to be.  And it was cool to hear kids talk about how much they appreciate the sense of community we have built in the band room over the years.  And it was also cool to hear an awesome question from a senior who wondered where I wanted the band to go from here, and another senior who suggested that maybe smaller communities could be established within the bigger community and we could still have the magic.  (OK, he didn't say "magic."  But still.)

And during one of my "I'm skipping workout today, nyah, nyah, nyah" afternoons, I re-connected with a kid with whom I'd sort of lost touch.  And it was a moment (over an hour, actually) that was well worth giving up pumping iron for.

Know what sucks, though?  Hearing from people who have never set foot in the classroom since they were in school that I and my colleagues don't know how to teach and don't care about anything but our paychecks.  Mostly politicians.  From one party.  But this will not get political, so I will move on.

There have also been moments this month when I wonder if this is what depression feels like.  I don't think I'm depressed, in the physical sense of the definition; I think about how awful it would be to feel this way all the time and not be able to really do anything about it.  And I know that the weather and related circumstances can have a big effect on this.  So welcome to April in Michigan this year.  

So there you go.  It's been a month to remember, as they say.  I don't think they actually say that, though.  And in reality it's one I'd just as soon forget.  So May is coming up (in less than a week!  holy cow where is the year going???) and with that will be warm weather and more riding.  (And junk food at Tulip Time - if you think I'm giving that up then you really don't know me at all...)  And some May flowers.  And they had better be darn GOOD May flowers.  If April showers bring them, then we are in for some amazing frickin' May flowers.  Dude.  Ridiculous weather.

Anyway, see you later.  Time for me to get back at it.  Suck it up and get on the bike.  And back to the gym.  And maybe a re-start on the better food idea; that was going well for a while:)  Have a good one!!  

Travels (and Travails...)

Hey!  It's been a couple weeks since my last post; I hope you haven't missed me too much!  Here's the latest stuff that popped into my head:

We're traveling for spring vacation again.  I have to be honest here: I really don't like traveling.  I mean, I like the stuff we DO when we travel, but I seriously don't like being away from home that much.  I've always been kind of a home body, and as I get older I don't know if that is getting worse or if I'm just more set in my ways.

So anyway, here's a problem with traveling that has bothered me as I've aged: food.  Lots of food.  

If you're a regular reader of these musings, you know I have somewhat of a problem with self-control.  So when we travel to far-off lands (Tennessee, Wisconsin, and this week we add Georgia to our list), it requires stopping places to eat food.  Which is usually of the type that is wrapped in paper or a cardboard box and comes with a side of deep-fried something or other.  Occasionally we will stop at a Subway and at least make an attempt at good food, but usually it's somewhere else.  

I can usually do OK lately; rather than a Big Mac and large fries I'll get a regular burger, and I try to stay away from carbonated beverages on long rides as well.  I also try to balance things out at least a little - a small meal at lunch if I know we will also be going out for dinner, for instance.

Best thing about traveling?  Well, this week the winner of that award is a toss-up between my father-in-law's ability to put a large chunk of some kind of animal in the smoker in the morning and serve deliciousness by 5:30 p.m., OR the fact that I brought my bike and can ride here in the mountains.  

It's a reasonably friendly bicycling area around here - Columbia is about 40 miles south of Nashville.  The country roads are too narrow for my liking, and there's usually a drop-off at the edge that scares me, but I can usually manage to find a beautiful route that takes me up and down some sweet rolling hills, past creeks and over bridges.  Very picturesque.  Except that even in this beautiful country gravity still only works one way...  I long for the day when I can retain enough momentum from a screaming downhill to carry me up the next uphill, but I guess that would be boring.

Want to know the most amazing rides I've ever done?  Along the Natchez Trace National Parkway, a 440-mile linear park that goes from Nashville to Natchez, Mississippi.  It's closed to commercial traffic, the roads are wide and smooth, and there's very little vehicle traffic of any kind.  And the sights and sounds (and lack of sound...) are amazing.  Have a look - I plan to ride these two sections tomorrow, and make it to the Alabama state line:
    Hohenwald - Summertown

    Waynesboro-Collinwood

It will be about 50 miles, and the weather forecast (get this!!) calls for a North wind!  Seriously, a tailwind for 50miles!  That never happens.  Probably shouldn't get my hopes up, I suppose :) 

Anyway, the riding down here is beautiful.  One of the things I'd like to do at some point in my life is ride the entire 440 miles.  I believe it's officially the longest national park- its entire length is part of the National Park Service.

So what do you do for exercise or an eating plan while away from home?  Feel free to share your thoughts here.  Just keep away from the obvious - I'm not going to start eating carrots for meal stops!  I would also like to hear about your favorite vacation spot or activity.  Or you can just finish reading this and enjoy the experience...

It's the end of the month, but the update will have to wait until I get home next weekend.  March was pretty good for the workouts, considering that it is the busiest month in my school year.  For sheer volume of stuff going on it even beats the fall marching season - the fall is mostly one or two things a week, where March this year was jam-packed with daily lengthy rehearsals for the musical, four performances of the musical, two jazz concerts, State S&E, a high school band concert, a middle school concert, and a tour of the elementary schools with the Symphonic Band.  If you're keeping track that is ten performances in a month.  I managed only ten workouts, so it all balanced out, right?  We shall see what the scale has to say next week.  Up for the month of April will be a more concentrated effort to eat right AND exercise.  Rumor has it that the combination of these two things is the key...

So What IS This Exercise You Speak Of?

Greetings, faithful readers...  Hard as it is to believe, two weeks have passed since I last posted on this blog.  Spring is fast approaching and it is time once again to think about "serious" exercise.  The kind we can all do outside, enjoying the west Michigan sunshine and warm temperatures, you know?

I thought that since that exciting day is coming when we can put away the snow blowers and shovels and hang up the winter coats, it was time to write about what I like to do for exercise.  

And first off, let's establish this:  I don't like to exercise.  Seriously. I mean, I understand the benefits, and I enjoy being outdoors and doing things usually, but the idea of "exercise" just sounds too much like work.  BUT... if you do it right, it's fun.  Here are my favorite things to do that end up being "exercise."  I'll put them in order from the most recent through the stuff I've been at the longest, just so I can have an order.  I like having things in order...

1.  Rock climbing.  If you read my last post you already saw this.  If you didn't read it, why not??  Go read it.  I'll wait for you to get back.

Cool.  Glad you enjoyed it.  

Climbing is something that even two months ago would have been the furthest thing from my mind to fill the categories of "enjoyable," "fun," or "something I could totally see myself doing ever in my life."  Had a blast.  I need to go again soon.  Oddly enough there is a real-world application for this activity, though it strikes me as insane.  Apparently you can climb on real rocks and mountains.  No way.  Yet here is a picture of my nephew Bronson doing just that in Colorado.  Talk about something you'll never get me to do...

2.  Weight lifting.  For many years now I have joined with several guys from church in TB's basement (we call it "TB's Gym."  We even have shirts...) to pump iron.  Tom is a lifter from way back, and his home gym rivals that of virtually every hotel I have ever stayed in, most schools, and even a couple actual gyms.  We use a combination of free weights and machines to achieve major buffness.  Years ago we got to move all of that from one house to another.  You can't even imagine.  We stopped counting at around 3,000 pounds of weight that he owns.

Here's how things go.  Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4 p.m. (not a minute later, thank you very much...) we head downstairs.  Depending on the day we do chest/back (or chest/biceps), biceps/triceps (or back/triceps), and legs/upper body on Friday.  We alternate days since the idea is to give the muscles at least 24 -48 hours rest between workouts.  So Monday we do one upper body group, Wednesday the other, and Friday legs and upper body.

The coolest part of lifting?  Studies now show it can prevent Type 2 Diabetes - check out this article on the topic.  Type 2 Diabetes is genetic to a degree as well as preventable to a degree.  Lifestyle choices and diet are huge here, as is the "predisposition" to it, which I interpret as "not quite genetic, but close."  And since Doc's demise was brought on by heart disease, high blood pressure, and T2D, I need to be careful.

The other coolest part is the guys I lift with.  TB, Jason, Dan, Daylin, Tim, and assorted others who have drifted in and out of the group are a lot of fun.  TB complains that I talk too much, but if I'm gone for too long due to school stuff he definitely misses the witty repartee...  Once we even took a field trip.  Grabbed a 150-lb sled and took it to VanRaalte Hill.  Good times were had by all, as evidenced by the hurling and these pictures:

3.  Bicycling...
I have probably enjoyed exercise more on a bike than everything else combined.  Hopefully you have all ridden a bicycle at some point in your life.  If not, go get on one right now.

Back in the spring of 1989 I was thinking I needed something to do to get into some form of exercise again.  I was teaching in South Bend, was engaged to Dana, and looking for something to do.  Brian Payne, a young trumpet player in the band, and a couple buddies did team triathlons.  He said I should get a bike and we could ride together.  It would help him train.  Thus began several decades of getting my ass kicked around the countryside by various people in my life: Brian, my brother Kevin, MC (who would later hire me to work at an actual bike shop!!), and eventually son Nathan.  Bought him a bike for his 17th birthday.  "What a great way for us to bond and enjoy each other's company.  I can teach him the way of the bike."  Lasted about three rides before his youth and energy left me in the dust and put him in the groups on the front of the morning rides...

This is him in his first race that summer.  You can tell the role that genetics have played here.  He looks JUST like me.  Tall, skinny, fast...

Hmm?  Oh, sorry, I went away for a second..

Anyway, I have met more cool people and enjoyed exercising more on the bike than anything I can name.  Dennis P, JD, J Squared, Berger, Aaron, Tyson, and so many others have become good friends and riding companions through the years.  Dennis, JD, and I made our way across the entire state one summer day a few years ago.  150 miles from Montague to Bay City.

Here's Dennis.  His jersey - "Veni, Vidi, Vomiti" - is Latin for "I came, I saw, I puked."  Awesome.  He and I and many others have had amazing conversations over the many miles, all while improving our cardiovascular health, lowering our blood pressure, and building muscle, all in a non-impact sport.

I'll write more about my cycling adventures in future posts.  I will tell you about the 24-Hour Challenge, the event that made me more proud of myself in one weekend than I thought possible (followed by the same event a year later in which I lost 9 pounds in 36 hours and wished I could just lie down in the road and get run over...).  The ODRAM should get more than a mention.  A One Day Ride Across Michigan.  Pretty cool.  Dawn Patrol, Holland Hundred, Crazy Bastard, all of these have been a part of my last several summers and winters.  I might even talk about indoor training rides, but those suck.  Pedal your asbestos off and go nowhere...

Anyway, this has gone on long enough for one day.  Here are a few more shots from the bike for your enjoyment.

Looking down from a bridge on the Natchez Trace near Nashville, TN.

The bridge from the road below...

Kaat, me and Roy on the breakwater at Holland State Park,
New Year's Eve 2011-2012.  Fatbikes...

A few weeks ago on the first 40 degree day of
the year.  Windmill Island on my
Cannondale Bad Boy.

So there you go.  See you next week or so.

You're Driving Me Up the Wall!!

Look at that sign.  Can you read it?  "Climbing is DANGEROUS," it says.  And guess who has gone rock climbing not once, but twice?? That's right, dear readers, Yours Truly, forever a person whose motto was (OK, still is...) "I was built close to the ground and that's where I like to stay," has climbed a wall.  Several, actually.

I planned for a couple of my blog posts to be exercise-related; I always figured that they would be about bicycling.  But I had so much fun the past couple weekends with this new adventure that I thought I would tell you about rock climbing first.  And it's probably going to be a long story, so I included some pictures for those of you who need some breaks.

The biggest reason it will be slightly longer than usual is the person referenced in the title.  Everyone should meet Daylin.  There has probably never been a person quite so, well, unique.  And, over the past few years in my class, he has indeed driven me up the wall.  And down it.  And over the edge.  And everywhere in between.  We get along great, unless we're not getting along.  He's quite an awesome trumpet player to go along with everything else - last year he was the Lead Trumpet seat in the Michigan All-State Jazz Band, this year he earned an Honorable Mention in that group, and this summer he will be heading to Europe with the Blue Lake International Jazz Orchestra.  This kid has serious chops...

He's also part monkey.  Or maybe mountain goat.  Several times the past few summers I have had him out to the house to climb on my pergola roof above the deck and trim the vegetation.  Our neighbors saw this and asked him to cut some limbs down that were hanging precariously above their garage.  And all of this he accomplishes without benefit of a ladder - just hops up to the nearest handhold and hoists himself up to whatever he's doing, walking along the 2x12's as though he's on the sidewalk.

This is him here.  He's "bouldering" in this shot - no ropes, just traversing across the wall using hand and foot holds.  More of a horizontal travel than vertical.

So a few weeks ago the family he's living with took him rock climbing in Kalamazoo.  Angie's brother Chris works there and is quite an accomplished climber, and they figured quite correctly that Daylin would love it as well.  What I never figured is that I would end up going, too, or especially that I would enjoy myself.

First let me say that I have no strength in my forearms.  Ten-plus years of lifting weights, and it's as if my fingers, hands, and arms have no real strength.  That was OK, though, Chris said, because the forearms are basically a conduit for holding on.  Hands and fingers do need some strength, but basically you are supposed to learn to kind of "hang" on the wall as you look for your next spot, rather than cling to it and hold yourself with your arms and fingers. So the second time around was a little better.

<<See the tension in my arms?  Since I'm not reaching for the next hold they should be more relaxed and my weight should all be on my legs.  Part of this was clinging to the wall due to terror...

This one is better - my arm is taking the weight through its whole length rather than my biceps and forearms...












The next thing I learned was that my legs are still pretty short...  This is an activity that will stretch you in many ways.  Mentally is pretty obvious - looking for the next place to put your hand or your foot while making sure you're not going to lose your grip and that kind of thing.  (I'll get to a couple other mental things later.)  And physically, well, let's just say that the only muscles I know I didn't use were my triceps.  Feet, calves, quads, hamstrings, glutes, plenty of core, biceps, and forearms all got quite a workout.  Decent cardio, too, though again part of that may have been fear:)

So that's the climbing part.  The other half is the "belaying" part.  That's where you are in charge of the rope while your partner climbs.  There are procedures and routines for both positions.  Maintaining the correct amount of slack in the rope, for instance, or the speed with which the climber descends based on you letting out the rope.  There's the mental half again.

This is Daylin in the belaying position.  He's there to make sure I don't crash to the ground if I fall, and also to offer advice or coaching as to where the next hold might be.

Here's a big thing that was obvious to me even before I went climbing: there's a lot of trust required in this sport.  While you're climbing you have to trust the guy holding your rope.  If there's too much slack in it you end up jerking to a very unpleasant stop if you fall, and too little can be binding to your progress.  I am not a fan of high places, as most who know me can attest.  I was pleasantly surprised at my ability to get my feet more than 3 feet off the ground!  I actually have made it to the top of three sections of the easy walls, all while trusting that Daylin or Chris wouldn't let me crash.  Daylin is still working on trusting the rookie to belay him, but I'm getting better.  Haven't dropped him yet...

Another aspect of this that makes me happy is the group or partner deal.  I like working out with others.  I find that it helps me to stay on track and work harder as I try to improve myself and/or keep up with others.  And one thing that I know is good about it is the "encouraging" part.  You got this.  Move your right foot up to where your knee is right now; there's a spot right there.  That's it, now push up with your legs and grab that left hand.  There you go!  Now go for the next one...  These words, though perfectly familiar to me as a speaker of English, were coming from an unlikely source:)  He'll deny it, but Daylin is pretty good at the whole coaching and encouraging thing.  I even got a couple high fives after descending what for me was a precipitous height though for him would be a walk in the park.

After one of my descents:)

So that's the story of my climbing adventures thus far.  I wish there was a closer place to do this; Climb Kalamazoo is a 100-mile round trip, and it's 20 bucks a day to climb.  Not a bad price for the activity, but the travel time and fuel consumption make it a pretty long and expensive day.  But for the feeling of accomplishment and overcoming at least part of my fear of heights, as well as the excellent workout, this is a pretty cool pastime.  It gets to that whole "I can do that better" kind of mentality that makes you challenge yourself, which is fun.   It's also something I never would have thought I would be able to enjoy.  Here are some more pictures:

This is the "auto-belay" area - this man's rope is attached to a reel in the ceiling that operates similarly to a car's seat belt recoil: when you fall or let go, it prevents you from freefall.  No partner needed here, but it's a tough climb...

This is the main room - plenty of walls to climb.  Behind the left side wall is the more beginner climbing area, where I have made it to the top of three different walls:)

This route is used both for bouldering and practicing lead or free climbing - climbing and clipping into protection points as you ascend.  Daylin is at the end of a bouldering ascent route here and is preparing to jump down. 

Oh, since it's a new month, it's also time for a monthly recap.  Not bad weight-wise: I gained a pound in February, which actually was encouraging - with my crazy schedule, lack of exercise time, and convenience eating, I expected much worse.  I took an outdoor bike ride and hit the gym a few times in addition to my indoor training rides.  I think it was a total of a dozen workouts for the month, and only a one-pound gain, so I'm calling it mildly successful if not a win.