I'm back ... but not all of me

Whew!  It's been a while.  Just let me say, life gets crazy busy sometimes.  Let's see ... since my last post (where I figured out I am actually mortal) Erin finished her first year of college ... we spent a weekend in the Palomino Palace in Fayetteville, AR for a bike race ... Erin moved back home for the summer ... Luke graduated high school ... Dylan played another show ... Luke enrolled in college ... we've gone round and round with AT&T about our cell phone service (don't get me started) ... and Sherrie and I have been along for the ride.  I've felt (and maybe even looked) a bit like Crazy Harry from the Muppet Show.

I have so much to write about that I don't know what to write about ... ever had that problem?  I think that's what they call "being overwhelmed".  Apparently this time of year can do that.  Cycling season, Triathlon season, Wedding season (no ... not anyone in our family ... just three to officiate in the next -6-8 weeks), Youth Camp season, etc.  It can wear a man out.

In the meantime, I have been working out like crazy to be in better shape before my first tri of the year.  I've been putting in 4-5 hours a week of swimming, cycling, and running.  I'm just a little over a week away from the OCCC Super Sprint Triathlon.  When I decided to try triathlons 2 years ago, this race was the first one I entered.  So I'm anxious to compare my fitness now to then.  I've shaved about 10 minutes off of my 5K time since then so I think I'll do alright.

Even with all of the busyness I've stuck with my weight loss plan.  MyFitnessPal has kept me on track and I am thankful.  Back on March 31st I announced my goal of being under 200 lbs for my first tri of the season.  In my last post (about 5 weeks ago) I weighed in at 202.  Well, after many miles and hours of sweat and exercise, I now weigh ........  (are you ready?)
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It's been a loooooong time since I've seen a 1 at the beginning of my weight.  It's hard to pinpoint but I think this is the lightest I've been in 19 years.  Shortly after Erin was born I went from working construction to sitting at a desk and working on computers.  It took a toll.  It has taken 19 years to get back to where I once was ... but thankfully it's not all of me.

Sleeker and lighter,

bb

P.S. -- my new goal ...... 180 by Labor Day

The Descent to Mortality

I've been coming to grips with my own mortality ... no, I'm not dying ... other than the natural process ... just realizing that I'm mortal.  It's been happening for a while ... aches and pains in the morning that I didn't have the night before, getting up to pee in the middle of the night, alternating from glasses-on to glasses-off to see things at different distances ... you know -- stuff old people complain about.

My final descent into mortality took place yesterday .  I've been pretty computer savvy for a number of years ... worked in the IT field for about 12 years, did some consulting, and have been the on-call tech support for friends, family, and the fire department.  But I've noticed recently that technology keeps getting a little further ahead of me each day.  People ask me questions about their computers and I have shrug my shoulders and go, "Hmm ... I don't know."  Anyway, we've been looking for a new computer for the tech booth at church.  I've searched website after website trying to find the right one.  Finally, yesterday, I did what I swore I'd never do ... I walked into Best Buy and bought one off the shelf.  I even asked for help.  I felt humbled when I walked out of that store ... a little more like your average human being. 

As I said, that was my final descent ... a couple of other things that have pulled me down to earth ...
3. Video games -- I grew up with Atari and Intellivision ... I really thought I'd be one of those cool dads who would keep up and could whoop their kids in video games.  Alas, the descent started.
2. Wrestling, sparring, etc with my boys -- let's face it, they're faster, more limber, and in better shape than I am.  I can't keep up.  I'm not super-human ... dangit!  The descent accelerated.
1.  The aforementioned trip to Best Buy -- SMACK! Descent complete.

For those of you old enough to recognize you're not "all that" anymore ... what were the three points on your descent to mortality?

On the bright side, there's still some life left in me and I plan on doing my best to suck the marrow out of it.  So here's my progress this week ...

Decent week of working out.  If I can workout at least four hours a week I think I'll be alright.

This is the best part ...

3.5 pounds, baby!  I know I can't do that every week, but it's sweet when it happens.  3 more to meet my goal of being under 200 before my triathlon in June ... 22 more to hit my goal for this year.

I'll leave you with some words from wise King Solomon ...
"It is a gift from God to be able to eat and drink and experience the good that comes from every kind of hard work." ~ Ecclesiastes 3:13

Blessings!

A mere mortal

The "D" word

A man once said, “Discipline is remembering what you want.”  I kind of agree with him, though I think I would change it to "Discipline is working for what you want."  I'm very capable of remembering without doing.  It's discipline that makes me get my butt up off the couch to do.

It's been a while since I've really demonstrated much discipline in my life outside of family, job, and church.  Those are kind of like automatics for me ... like breathing or blinking ... you just do them because it's part of your life.  But developing discipline in other areas is a whole nuther deal.  You see, I'm not a disciplined cyclist ... I'm a convenient cyclist.  I'm not a disciplined triathlete ... I'm a convenient triathlete.  

So I've been working on being more disciplined and here's what I've found ... I don't like it.  I like the results, but I don't like having to set boundaries or work too hard to achieve my goals.  I want it to come easy.  I want to lose weight without having to watch what or how much I eat.  I want to be faster without doing the drills that help make me faster.  I want to be well read and current without having to read.  There ... that's the ugly truth about me.

I think this whole discipline issue bleeds over to other areas of our lives ... both the lack of it and the cultivation of it.  So recently I have become more disciplined with my exercise, more disciplined with watching what I eat, and more disciplined with my spending.  That's not to say that I've mastered it, just working on it.  I'm hoping that those things will rub off to other areas like reading, time management, and putting stuff where it goes.  I'm working on the theory that discipline begets discipline.


What about you?  In what three areas do you need to develop more discipline?

I was more disciplined about working out this week ...

dailymile's use of awesome is probably closer to accurate this week.  I had to get up and do when I would rather stay down and don't, but it was worth it.  Eight workouts and over 4400 calories burned.  I need more weeks like that.


It paid off on the scales as well ...

Two pounds down!  MyFitnessPal.com has really helped out.  It has caused me to be more accountable about what and how much I eat.  Plus it has motivated me to workout more ... nothing like a one-hour bike ride to "buy" a thousand more calories of food.  Granted, it has only been one week but I like the added discipline it has given me concerning my diet.


I'll leave you with this from a guy named Paul ...
"Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come."


I'm just trying to stay healthy as long as possible so I can help others see the benefits in this life and in the life to come.  


Be disciplined,


bb

"But muscle weighs more than fat"

I'll jump straight to it this week ...

5 workouts ... 3823 calories burned ... great week ... maybe even approaching awesome, right?

Check out the scales ...

That's right ... I gained a pound!

Wait ... before you say, "That's okay, muscle weighs more than fat", just know that I will hunt you down and find some way to hurt you.  A pound is a pound whether it's fat, muscle, rocks, or feathers.  Granted, muscle is leaner than fat, but I'm trying to lose pounds here.  Less pounds means faster times ... or at least that's my theory (I think I might actually be right on this one).

Theories concerning my inability to lose weight abound ... all the way from eating too much to not eating enough.  So I've decided to start tracking my calories, fat, and carbs in relation to my exercise.  I have friends and family with that cool Lose It! app on their iPhones/iPods but I don't have one those (though I am weakening).  I've tried writing it down in a notebook and then using all of my fingers and toes to do my gazintas (thank you Jethro Bodine) but I tire of that after about two meals.  But last night I found MyFitnessPal.com. 

MyFitnessPal allows me to enter all of my exercise and food, how much I want to lose and by what date, and then it calculates how many calories I have "to spend" that day ... I went over yesterday ... way over.  I'm more on track today.  But now I've found another website that I will probably spend too much time on ... figgerin' and cipherin' and all that stuff.  I already spend enough time on BeginnerTriathlete.com and dailymile.com logging my workouts.  "Then drop one," you say, but they both have features I like that the other one doesn't have.  If that's all I have to worry about in life then life ain't too bad.  And let's not even get started about how much time I may or may not spend on Facebook ...

So what about you?  What three websites do you spend the most time on?  What did we do before the internet? 

Eight weeks until my first triathlon of the season ... let's see if I can lose 8 pounds off my frame and 8 minutes off of my time.

Just lose it!

Mr. Chunky

Band dad

I've been a dance dad, a football dad, a tumbling dad, a cycling dad ... now I'm adding band dad to my list.  Not marching band, but garage band with guitars, amps, etc.  We're headed to Chickasha, America tonight for Dylan's band, Agora, to play a show at the Oddfellows Music Hall.  It's a quaint little hole-in-the-wall venue with a split stage that holds about 50 people.  Nice, clean place for a young band to get a start.  They've played there once before but didn't have their drummer.  This will be the first time with the full band ... I'm looking forward to it.

They've had trouble coming up with a name.  They started out as Meet the Blinding ... not bad, but people had trouble remembering it.  Then they switched to Sheridan only to find out about a week later that there's already an up-and-coming band by that name.  For now they've settled on Agora ... a Greek word for "open place of assembly."

I was trying to get them to go with Johnny Olympic and the Thundercats or Mr. Lincolnflash but they didn't heed my advice.  Personally I think they're going to regret it ... those are great band names destined for big things.  One time I came up with The Blacktop Jelly Beans, but that didn't go anywhere either.  Maybe I should start my own band, but the only thing I can play is the cowbell.

What about you?  Ever come up with some crazy band names that never left the garage or the recesses of your mind?  Ever come up with three crazy band names?  Can you make up three right now?

Another weak week of working out.  !!! Excuse alert !!!  Easter week is always busy for me ... probably one of my top three busiest weeks of the year.  So I only managed to workout once and it was a fairly easy swim.

I still think Dailymile.com doesn't understand the meaning of the word awesome. 

I didn't gain any ground on the weight loss, but I didn't lose any ground either.

This week is already off to a better start in the workout department so hopefully next week's scale report will be better.

Until then ... rock on!

Mr. Lincolnflash

Who am I?

There was a message on the answering machine when I arrived at the office today ... "Hello, this message is for Pastor Brad ..."   Pastor Brad?  I'm not offended ... in fact I find it kind of funny.  For some reason people have a problem getting my name right.  I don't know why.  I've always thought it to be an easy name ... though I guess there are variants on the spelling ... Brian / Bryan / Bryon.  And of course the misspelling ... Brain, which was on my cake at my 4th birthday party where HoHo the Clown was the guest ... but I digress.

I can understand the Brad, though, it starts with the same two letters as Brian ... so there could be some aural confusion.  What I've never figured out, though, is the stage I went through shortly after starting Cornerstone Community Church that people called me Rick ... "Hey Pastor Rick!"  To which I just responded, "Hey!"  So I guess I perpetuated it.  The odd thing was it wasn't just one person, it was like three or four.  To this day, my friend Faith still mockingly calls me Rick. 

The one that threw me the most, though, was the time someone thought I said my name was "Brown Black".  Really?  Brown Black?  You really think my parents would do that to me?  You really think that anyone would name their kid Brown?  Shortly thereafter I learned of music producer Brown Bannister ... I guess it was possible.  Surely it wasn't my Okie accent.

So, there's this week's story and this week's three thingy (I really need to come up with a name for this). 
1.  Brad
2.  Rick
3. Brown
So what about you?  Any odd/strange name variants? 

Report time!  It was a "meh" kind of week as far as workouts go ... still trying to shake a nagging cough.

3 workouts are better than none, but I need to do better.  My Saturday ride was a killer, though ... 20-30 mph winds!  I worked like a sled dog that day.

Good news on the scales with only three workouts.

A pound a week works for me.  By the way my goal is to be under 200 by my first triathlon of the season on June 12th.  You're thinking "that shouldn't be a problem", yet I seem to plateau at 200.  We'll see what happens in a few weeks.

Well as the old saying goes, "I don't care what you call me as long as you call me for dinner."

Sincerely,

Rick

Spring Break 2010

Spring Break 2010 has come and gone.  We spent part of our break in the quaint little town of Fayetteville in south central Texas.  Fayetteville is a town of about 260, approximately halfway between Austin and Houston.  Every year the the town hosts the Fayetteville Stage Race ... a bike race that winds through the rolling hills of the nearby countryside.  Luke was "super-excited" to be racing at this year's event ...

To be fair, he'd been running a fever the day before, was wracked with congestion, it was raining, the temp was about 47, and the wind was blowing 20-25 mph ... not a great way to get excited about a race.

We stayed at Lake Fayette about 5 miles from town.  Nice, clean, little campground.  Of course we stayed in the Palomino Palace.  The epitome of redneck luxury ... at least we were civilized enough to spread a table cloth.  Six of us lived in the Palace for three days and nights.  Six people sharing 126 square feet.  We were cozy ... needless to say.  Friday was beautiful ... Saturday was cold and rainy ... Sunday was cold and windy.  But all in all we had a good time.

Of course this caused me to think about the fun trips I had with my family as a kid.  Here are three of my faves ...
1.  Texas road trip with my Dad (1971) ... Six Flags, Lion Country Safari, Inner Space Caverns, Galveston ... we made the rounds and had a blast.
2.  Summers at Lake Tenkiller with my Mom (1976-81) ... water skiing, swimming, tubing, canoeing the Illinois River, riding in the back of the pickup all the way there.
3.  Nashville and Branson with my mom (1972) ... the original Grand Ol' Opry and Silver Dollar City before Branson was what it is today.

What are your three favorite trips as a kid?

Alright ... time for the report and it ain't good.

Yep ... Zero, zilch, nada workouts.  I was sick and then break started and I was busy trying to get everything ready.

It didn't hurt me too bad on the scales.  I put a 1/2 pound back on, but I'll probably burn that off this week.

Enjoy your family time ... it goes by fast.

bb

50 bucks

I could do without weeks like this one.  It started the way last week ended ... sick.  Lemme splain.  I went on a bike ride last Wednesday afternoon where I ended up being colder that I thought I was going to be.  Apparently I "caught my death of cold" or something like that.  While I don't believe cold air makes one sick, I do recognize that when your body is fighting to stay warm it doesn't have all the resources it needs to fight guys like this ...

Anyway, I missed only my second Sunday in over 8 years to preach/teach at Cornerstone.  Mild headache, low grade fever, cough, congestion ... the whole ball of wax.  Monday morning I was still feeling puny so I went to the doctor to make sure I didn't have a tumor, cancer, strep, etc.  The PA looked down my throat and said I had apparently caught some little bug but I wasn't dying.  She offered me a shot and a steroid pack thingy, but I am an avoider of drugs unless it's an absolute necessity ... so I declined.  "If you don't get better soon just let us know ... that will be $50."

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the price, the care and attention, or anything like that.  I like my doctor and his staff ... I think they do a great job.  But here's what happens ... I spend the $50 and I feel better the next day.  Nearly every stinkin' time!

So here's my new plan:  The next time I get sick, I'll wait a couple of days and then shuffle my snotting, sneezing, coughing self down to the convenience store and plop $50 down for lottery tickets.  That way I'll have a chance of getting rich while I trick my body into thinking I paid for medical care.  (I really think this might work if my doctor's office sold lottery tickets.)

All of this made me think about things I'd rather have spent $50 on ... so here's the Weekly Three:
1.  Dinner for the whole family at Chili's
2.  A new transition bag for my triathlons
3.  A fish pond for a family in a third world country

What would you rather spend $50 on?  Let me know!


Due to the "$50 Virus" (that's my new name for it), last week's workout wasn't that great (this one won't be so great either) ... but here's the report:

 I did manage to make some headway on the scales despite the lack of working out (probably due to the Chicken Noodle Soup diet):

Another pound ... yea!

Watch out for the $50 Virus ... it strikes when you can least afford it!

bb

The Palomino Palace

With the start of bicycle racing season upon us, it is time to dust off the Palomino Palace and get it ready for travel.  The Palomino Palace is our home away from home during racing season.  It is a 1986 Palomino Hard Side Pop-Up.  It sleeps five pretty comfortably ... it just doesn't hold the junk of five very comfortably.  We decided a couple of years ago that it would be cheaper to buy and use a camper when we go to races instead of staying in hotels.  And so far it has worked out.

On our way home from Colorado last summer the roof vent on the Palace finally had enough of the wind and broke.  So for the rest of that trip (and one more) we used good ol' southern engineering to hold the vent down ... duct tape.  Well I finally took the Palace up to Floyd's RV and had a new roof vent installed.  I'd like to do a complete makeover on the Palace, but that will have to come later (does MTV have a show for that ... like Pimp My Pop-Up?)  We needed an awning last summer so I got a tarp from Wal-Mart, a length of cable from Ace Hardware, and a couple of old tent poles from my brother-in-law and voila! we have an awning ... can you say "redneck"?

This brings me to this week's "three things" list ... name three things you know you really need to work on but you keep "putting duct tape on it" instead.

Here's mine:
1. The Palomino Palace ... a real awning, new paint, new upholstery, new tires, a refrigerator, etc
2. My garage ... I just keep "stacking" things off to one side thinking that will be okay until I can put it where it really goes.
3. My desk ... I just keep "stacking" things off to one side thinking that will be okay until I can put it where it really goes. (is there an echo in here?)

Be sure to let me know your "three things".

Now to something I actually do work on ...

Yep, I got six workouts in last week, so I will accept the "awesome" description from Dailymile.com this time.  Over 2800 calories burned ... not bad, but I'm ready for bike riding weather so I can get outside and burn that in one ride.



"But what about the weight?" you ask ...

A pound and a half!  Now that's more like it.  I'm almost back down to where I started the first of the year ... after two days of a stomach virus.  Progress is nice.  I know I can't expect this much every week, but I'll take it this week.


Now put away your duct tape and go do something!

bb

Three things I'm "supposed to like"...

I was thinking the other day about how there are things in our culture that if you're cool, smart, sane, blah, blah, blah, everyone just assumes you like / appreciate those things.  Yet I know we all have things that fit that category that we just don't care for.  Perhaps we've tried to like it because everyone else said how wonderful it is, but it just isn't working out for us.

I found this out a while back when U2 was touring through this area and then had one of their concerts broadcast live.  Understand that I missed out on the whole U2 phenomenon back in the 80's due to circumstances I may explain at some other time.  Anyway, everyone was raving about the concert tour, about how awesome it was, how cool Bono and The Edge are, how insightful their albums are, yada, yada, yada.  I've heard a few of their songs on the radio over the years and liked those, so surely I like U2 just like everyone else.

So I stayed up late on the night of the live broadcast of their recent tour to watch this band that, generationally, I should really enjoy.  And then I fell asleep.  I attributed my fit of sleep to being old tired since I can usually stay up late and watch King of Queens nearly every night.  So to prove that I like U2, I created a Pandora station that played U2 and similar bands (which I'm listening to right now, though I'm really not sure why).  After listening for a few days I made the startling discovery alluded to above ... I don't like U2.

There ... it's out.  I know that's tantamount to blasphemy in my generation, but they just don't do anything for me.  I'm not opposed to them.  I won't be signing up for any U2 boycotts.  I won't try to persuade other to my side.  But I probably won't be spending any iTunes bucks on them either.

All of this got me to thinking, "What else am I supposed to like, but don't?"

So here's my list of three things I am supposed to like:
1. U2
2. Watermelon
3. Lost

What are your three things?  I'd love to hear your response below.


I do like working out, though, so here's my report ...

Two swims, two bikes, and a run ... not bad.  But did I lose any weight?

Half a pound!  It actually sat at 209.5 for a moment, but it landed on 210 and that's where I took the pic.










Take some time to exercise this week ... it's good for you.

And don't forget to let me know your "three things".

bb

Random Thoughts

#1:  We were watching King of Queens last night and I turned to my good wife and said, "I need Lou Ferrigno to live next door."  If you're not familiar with Lou, he was the Incredible Hulk back in the 70's and played himself as Doug and Carrie's next door neighbor in the aforementioned comedy.  In this episode he was "training" Doug and Carrie on the exercise equipment ... pushing them to their limits to get the best out of them.  Well, not Doug ... Lou played video games while Doug drank beer and slept ... but I digress.  ANYway, I just thought it would be cool to have someone who has demonstrated so much discipline in their lives to accomplish what he has, live next door so maybe some of that discipline might rub off.  Plus it would be cool to say, "The Incredible Hulk lives next door to me."

#2:  So I decided to have the oil changed in my good wife's car yesterday and it takes me three trips to get it accomplished!  Each time there was always someone already in the bay, which is no big deal, but it seemed like everyone of them were out of their vehicles doing their own maintenance while the oil was being changed.  Just struck me as odd.  The guy in the pic was checking stuff on the side, got up on top, walked around, etc.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get a good pic of the sign that says, "For insurance and safety reasons, please stay in your vehicle" ... or something like that.  Signs and warning are always for "everyone else" aren't they?

#3:  Nice day yesterday, so I donned these and went for a run. I'm a slooooowww runner but it was good to get out and put another 1.3 miles on my legs and my shoes.  When I bought my running shoes last January the girl told me they'd be good for about 500 miles.  I said, "Great, that will give me about 10 years before I need another pair!"  So far I'm on track.

Time for the training update:
Last week wasn't very good, but I knew that was going to be the case (see previous post).  Dailymile.com makes it sound like I'm incredible, though.  Once again, with only two workouts last week, they say I had an "awesome week!" ... I think they exaggerate.

But did I lose weight?
Uh, no ... but I didn't gain any either ... not what I wanted, but it's better than the alternative.

It's apparently the last nice day, before another week of indoor training.  I'm headed out on this ...

 
Later

...bb...

What the what?!

Have you ever come to Friday and thought, "How did I get here ... I don't remember the rest of the week."?  I'm having one of those days/weeks.  The week has been a blur and here I sit on Friday at noon writing my blog instead of my sermon ... which is "due" on Sunday.  I'll get it done ... always do, but I wonder where my week went.  Weeks like this remind me of the booklet Tyranny of the Urgent ... if you haven't read you ought to ... it's a quick read.  I think I may need to re-read it. 

Of course I usually bring it on myself.  "Sure!  I can do that."  "No problem, when would you like me to stop by?"  And I genuinely mean it when I say it ... I just have no self-control.  The urgent things can be good things ... often are ... like responding to fires, helping people with things, going to meetings, etc.  And somewhere out there there's a balance ... I just have trouble finding it.  And like this week, I've allowed the urgent things to push the important things aside. 

Anyway, on to the training report ...

5 days last week!  Woohoo!  (Though I can already tell you this week isn't going to come close ... see above)  I am ready for more temperate weather so I can move most of this training outside, though.  If you are running, cycling, swimming, jumping rope, P90X-ing, Insanity-ing (huh?) join me at Dailymile.com and we can encourage one another.

And now ... drum-roll please ...

Last week (bleccchhh!)

 

This week

Two pounds back in the right direction!  So let me see if I've got this straight ... work out two day a week, eat mass quantities of hot-rolls and biscuits, and gain 2 pounds ... work out five days a week, eat sensibly, and lose 2 pounds ... hmmm.  I may be on to something here.

Do what's important!

bb