Well, I want to start with the fact that I finished all my workouts last week and I felt great. Sorry for the no-blog-posting over the weekend, but I was busy. I had an...emotional weekend, and I'm not in the highest of spirits now, but I'm pushing through.
This is my recovery week. Not a whole lot to say today as I didn't do Insanity today, but that was because I took the chance to go snowboarding. However, I'm going to hit the ground running early tomorrow morning and I can't wait. And even if it means doing it this Sunday, I will do all six of my Core Cardio & Balance workouts, so I'm not skipping, just postponing. I'd like to do it on Wednesday, effectively doing it twice, but worst comes to worst I will do it Sunday. I also have a Cardio Abs from last week I have to throw in somewhere. I'll figure it out.
Otherwise, I'm doing alright. I'm trying to up my motivation level for working out and better scrutinize what I eat and drink so I can start finally seeing the numbers I want on the scale. However, I know I will get there if I keep doing my workouts and being true to you all and true to myself.
No updated countdown for today. :( Wednesday I will count down two though!
Monday, February 13, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Day 38 — Plyo Circuit and Dedication
Rarely has a movie ever moved me in the way that Senna did. I mentioned Ayrton Senna, the late, great, three time World Champion Formula One driver in yesterday's blog. Thinking about him again led me to finally watch the Sundance Film Festival award winning documentary about his life—which is available for streaming on Netflix for anyone who is interested. If you like racing, documentaries or just witnessing sheer will and determination of the human spirit as it pushes the limits of what is physically and mentally possible...watch this movie as soon as possible.
That being said, today was a rough day. Didn't work much sadly because I need money, but I started finally receiving the disbursement of my student financial aid, so I can finally take a breather and not be so worried about how I will pay my bills week to week.
However, after spending some time with my ex—which really helped me relax as her and I have been great and close friends since before we dated—I dropped her off at the bar, had a beer, came home and pushed play. I didn't sit down at my computer and log into Star Wars: The Old Republic, I didn't start reading Gizmodo or Facebook. I simply filled up my water bottle, pressed play on the last bit of Senna that I had to finish while I put my workout attire on and just did my Plyo.
Frankly, I love the Plyo Circuit. I will definitely keep that routine in my back pocket on cold and rainy days when I don't feel like running long after I am done with Insanity. It avoids boredom, I can crank through the warmup, and I just find the first rotation fun. I am terrible at the second rotation as it is almost pure upper body and core which are much weaker for me than my lower body, but I pushed through and really feel like I made improvements today.
As I mentioned yesterday, I stopped using my phone to time how much of my workouts I was resting. That helped a lot today. The times I did rest didn't make the workout feel as choppy as they normally do, and it forced my to mentally push myself farther without being able to look at a clock and think, "well, I'm on pace to beat my previous time already, so I can take it back a notch and relax." It was a great tool early on in Insanity to see improvements day to day, but now I think I can rely simply on listening to my body, knowing how I look and feel, and the fit tests every two weeks.
I didn't eat the best, but it was by no means terrible. The biggest problem I have is getting caught in the trap of skipping breakfast which leads me to gorge at lunch because I am starving and thinking, "hey! I didn't eat breakfast, so that is a whole other chunk of calories I can eat now!" That is a terrible way of thinking about my diet and I am determined to fix it.
That's all for now though. I am determined—with some new tools I found online—to get up and out of bed at 6 AM tomorrow morning to do my workout, eat a good breakfast, and start my day off right. I have a fun day tomorrow seeing one of my favorite indie artists, Jenny Owen Youngs, tomorrow at Schuba's in downtown Chicago. I haven't seen her perform in years and I used to have a bit of a friendship with her, so I'm excited to 'rekindle' that if you will. Plus, now I am old enough to sit and drink with her after her set is over! Not too much of course though, in moderation.
Also, I fixed the numbering of days for my blog posts to match the days since we started this regime and group as opposed to how many days into Insanity I currently am. Twenty-one down—thirty-two left to go!
P.S. Good song to help you relax and enjoy the evening—though since most of you are likely sleeping, maybe save it for tomorrow—New Slang by The Shins. Great song, especially for you Coach. Head out on a solo walk down the beach with that in your ears on a day when you are stressed towards your limit and I assure you will come out the other side a new woman!
That being said, today was a rough day. Didn't work much sadly because I need money, but I started finally receiving the disbursement of my student financial aid, so I can finally take a breather and not be so worried about how I will pay my bills week to week.
However, after spending some time with my ex—which really helped me relax as her and I have been great and close friends since before we dated—I dropped her off at the bar, had a beer, came home and pushed play. I didn't sit down at my computer and log into Star Wars: The Old Republic, I didn't start reading Gizmodo or Facebook. I simply filled up my water bottle, pressed play on the last bit of Senna that I had to finish while I put my workout attire on and just did my Plyo.
Frankly, I love the Plyo Circuit. I will definitely keep that routine in my back pocket on cold and rainy days when I don't feel like running long after I am done with Insanity. It avoids boredom, I can crank through the warmup, and I just find the first rotation fun. I am terrible at the second rotation as it is almost pure upper body and core which are much weaker for me than my lower body, but I pushed through and really feel like I made improvements today.
As I mentioned yesterday, I stopped using my phone to time how much of my workouts I was resting. That helped a lot today. The times I did rest didn't make the workout feel as choppy as they normally do, and it forced my to mentally push myself farther without being able to look at a clock and think, "well, I'm on pace to beat my previous time already, so I can take it back a notch and relax." It was a great tool early on in Insanity to see improvements day to day, but now I think I can rely simply on listening to my body, knowing how I look and feel, and the fit tests every two weeks.
I didn't eat the best, but it was by no means terrible. The biggest problem I have is getting caught in the trap of skipping breakfast which leads me to gorge at lunch because I am starving and thinking, "hey! I didn't eat breakfast, so that is a whole other chunk of calories I can eat now!" That is a terrible way of thinking about my diet and I am determined to fix it.
That's all for now though. I am determined—with some new tools I found online—to get up and out of bed at 6 AM tomorrow morning to do my workout, eat a good breakfast, and start my day off right. I have a fun day tomorrow seeing one of my favorite indie artists, Jenny Owen Youngs, tomorrow at Schuba's in downtown Chicago. I haven't seen her perform in years and I used to have a bit of a friendship with her, so I'm excited to 'rekindle' that if you will. Plus, now I am old enough to sit and drink with her after her set is over! Not too much of course though, in moderation.
Also, I fixed the numbering of days for my blog posts to match the days since we started this regime and group as opposed to how many days into Insanity I currently am. Twenty-one down—thirty-two left to go!
P.S. Good song to help you relax and enjoy the evening—though since most of you are likely sleeping, maybe save it for tomorrow—New Slang by The Shins. Great song, especially for you Coach. Head out on a solo walk down the beach with that in your ears on a day when you are stressed towards your limit and I assure you will come out the other side a new woman!
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Day 23 — Confessions, Rededication, and 2/3 of a CP&R
Where to begin? I am now officially two days and two (kinda) exercises into Week 4 of Insanity. The Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs that is supposed to be on the Monday of Week 4 I did on the actual Week 4, two weeks ago. I failed yesterday to follow my gut feel and do my workout when I know I should have. However, I still hold that I have not skipped one workout...technically.
As for today's Cardio Power and Resistance...that is an interesting story. A bit of preface here, I watch these DVDs on my computer and do these workouts in my room. I don't like being watched—both in general and when I workout. I still very much fear how people see me which is a huge part of why I wanted to embark on this journey. I wanted to build my confidence through hard work, discipline and a self respect for accomplishing something truly difficult. For those of you whom have read my blog up until now, I wanted the same feeling of accomplishment that I got at the end of my long BWCAW trip—especially after that nine hour paddle out—only multiplied by about ten.
So, my computer desk is the obvious place for my water glass which I obviously need for hydrating during my workout. By now, it may be obvious where this is going. In my haste to reach for my water glass during the last warmup rotation, I knocked it over and onto the very expensive gaming keyboard that my ex girlfriend got me for my birthday last year. So in the midst of using my electronics knowledge to try and save this very cherished possession—it is one of the most thoughtful and sweetest things anyone has ever given me and also the only item in my life that makes always makes me think of my ex while also always making me smile—I am going through the emotional turmoil and anger of possibly losing one of my favorite things in the world. After all, I love to write, but typing is definitely my medium, and this is the best keyboard I've ever used, and I use it for hours every day.
Anyway, I came back to my workout after putting my keyboard into the oven (on dehydrate at about 100 degrees (This, along with placing the electronic item in a bag with raw rice, is the best way to revive items that have come into contact with water (water doesn't instantly damage or kill electronics, but the electricity to them needs to be removed as quickly as possible and then they need to be dried thoroughly))). However, I was very emotional, though at that point mostly angry and frustrated. So, in the last warmup rotation I pushed a bit too hard on the vertical jumps. I banged up my knee snowboarding a two weeks ago—during my original Week 4—and it still hurts some. Well, after thirty seconds of jumping so high, hard and fast that my dad heard my palms pounding on the ceiling from upstairs...let's just say my knee wasn't happy. I ended up skipping the majority of the latter half of the workout, though I did cool down and stretch. I was just so angry and frustrated and in some decent pain and worried about injury that I just gave up.
However, as I listen to Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons—which right now is at exactly the same point it was when I was doing those vertical jumps :)—I know that I am truly rededicated this time. I will redo today's workout next Tuesday during the recovery week just so that I can say I completed every single Insanity workout, but I'm not going to dwell on it.
To that point, I'm making three changes this week starting today and tomorrow. The first one is that I'm ditching my chess clock for my timing my workouts. I know that it has been useful to motivate me to keep pushing and to beat my old times, but the times that I didn't beat past times it was really deflating to not see progress every day. Along with that, I'm only weighing myself once a week. I don't think it is discouraging me, quite the opposite. I think when I don't see improvement in my weight I am using the day-to-day fluctuations of body weight as justification for the lack of change as opposed to what the reality is. So finally, the last change is meant to fix that: I will start tomorrow logging everything I consume—including water because I know I'm not getting enough.
So, I won't make ya'll read any more today—though from your comments about my blog maybe I should write even longer posts every day—but I will leave you with a quote that motivates me every day by legendary Formula 1 driver, the late Ayrton Senna:
"By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, competing to win. And the main motivation is to compete for victory, it’s not to come 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th. I race to win as long as I feel it’s possible. Sometimes you get it wrong? Sure, it’s impossible to get it right all the time. But I race designed to win, as long as I feel I’m doing it right."
To me, this quote is the embodiment of not only what we all are doing, but what I am trying to do right now with not only my life, but specifically this workout regime. I am rededicating myself to win, and I am betting on myself to win. Too often I settle for 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th. It is time for me to not only know and believe that I can win, but to push through that ever closing 'gap' between my desire to finish and my desire to quit. There is no doubt in my mind that I can do this. I have the recipe and ingredients for success, now it is time to put them together.
Thanks everyone for all your support. Twenty down—thirty-three more to go!
As for today's Cardio Power and Resistance...that is an interesting story. A bit of preface here, I watch these DVDs on my computer and do these workouts in my room. I don't like being watched—both in general and when I workout. I still very much fear how people see me which is a huge part of why I wanted to embark on this journey. I wanted to build my confidence through hard work, discipline and a self respect for accomplishing something truly difficult. For those of you whom have read my blog up until now, I wanted the same feeling of accomplishment that I got at the end of my long BWCAW trip—especially after that nine hour paddle out—only multiplied by about ten.
So, my computer desk is the obvious place for my water glass which I obviously need for hydrating during my workout. By now, it may be obvious where this is going. In my haste to reach for my water glass during the last warmup rotation, I knocked it over and onto the very expensive gaming keyboard that my ex girlfriend got me for my birthday last year. So in the midst of using my electronics knowledge to try and save this very cherished possession—it is one of the most thoughtful and sweetest things anyone has ever given me and also the only item in my life that makes always makes me think of my ex while also always making me smile—I am going through the emotional turmoil and anger of possibly losing one of my favorite things in the world. After all, I love to write, but typing is definitely my medium, and this is the best keyboard I've ever used, and I use it for hours every day.
Anyway, I came back to my workout after putting my keyboard into the oven (on dehydrate at about 100 degrees (This, along with placing the electronic item in a bag with raw rice, is the best way to revive items that have come into contact with water (water doesn't instantly damage or kill electronics, but the electricity to them needs to be removed as quickly as possible and then they need to be dried thoroughly))). However, I was very emotional, though at that point mostly angry and frustrated. So, in the last warmup rotation I pushed a bit too hard on the vertical jumps. I banged up my knee snowboarding a two weeks ago—during my original Week 4—and it still hurts some. Well, after thirty seconds of jumping so high, hard and fast that my dad heard my palms pounding on the ceiling from upstairs...let's just say my knee wasn't happy. I ended up skipping the majority of the latter half of the workout, though I did cool down and stretch. I was just so angry and frustrated and in some decent pain and worried about injury that I just gave up.
However, as I listen to Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons—which right now is at exactly the same point it was when I was doing those vertical jumps :)—I know that I am truly rededicated this time. I will redo today's workout next Tuesday during the recovery week just so that I can say I completed every single Insanity workout, but I'm not going to dwell on it.
To that point, I'm making three changes this week starting today and tomorrow. The first one is that I'm ditching my chess clock for my timing my workouts. I know that it has been useful to motivate me to keep pushing and to beat my old times, but the times that I didn't beat past times it was really deflating to not see progress every day. Along with that, I'm only weighing myself once a week. I don't think it is discouraging me, quite the opposite. I think when I don't see improvement in my weight I am using the day-to-day fluctuations of body weight as justification for the lack of change as opposed to what the reality is. So finally, the last change is meant to fix that: I will start tomorrow logging everything I consume—including water because I know I'm not getting enough.
So, I won't make ya'll read any more today—though from your comments about my blog maybe I should write even longer posts every day—but I will leave you with a quote that motivates me every day by legendary Formula 1 driver, the late Ayrton Senna:
"By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, competing to win. And the main motivation is to compete for victory, it’s not to come 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th. I race to win as long as I feel it’s possible. Sometimes you get it wrong? Sure, it’s impossible to get it right all the time. But I race designed to win, as long as I feel I’m doing it right."
To me, this quote is the embodiment of not only what we all are doing, but what I am trying to do right now with not only my life, but specifically this workout regime. I am rededicating myself to win, and I am betting on myself to win. Too often I settle for 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th. It is time for me to not only know and believe that I can win, but to push through that ever closing 'gap' between my desire to finish and my desire to quit. There is no doubt in my mind that I can do this. I have the recipe and ingredients for success, now it is time to put them together.
Thanks everyone for all your support. Twenty down—thirty-three more to go!
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Day 17 — Pure Cardio, Cardio Abs and Calisthenics
I really don't like this combo workout. I never seem to get a very good core workout from it and Pure Cardio is rough. However, I do feel myself getting stronger mentally and physically in Pure Cardio, and I am doing extra workouts on the side to improve my core and upper body as I don't feel I'm getting much improvement there from Insanity.
The problem reason why I get so little upper body work from these workouts is that my cardio and lower body are still not up to snuff, so by the time I get to the upper body portions, I am typically way too gassed to do much of it. So I have added push ups and barbell curls every other day and regular old situps—which I don't mind and don't understand why everyone complains about them—every other day.
On the improvement front, I completed the entire warmup without resting for the first time today. I was close yesterday, but I didn't want to mention it and jinx my chances for today. That is a big milestone for me mentally and I am very excited about it.
A question I have found myself having is about the deep lunges: How exactly should I be doing these? The muscles stretched by that stretch are flexible enough in me for me to go into a deep lunge, but there are two problems. The first problem is that I can't find a balance point where I am flat-footed—only pertaining to my bent leg of course—and my knee is behind my toe. How important—I fear the answers coming in screams and yells—is it that my knee is behind my toe and that my toes and heel are on the floor? The second problem may be due to my form—see the first problem—but I feel an interesting, though not painful, tightness in the calf and sometimes shin muscles in my bent leg in the deep lunge...any ideas why?
Anyway, enough of that, on to my workout 'equipment' suggestions. Today's suggestion is a series of calisthenic workout apps for Android (maybe for iPhone, I didn't check). In truth, they are simply algorithms, but very helpful ones. You tell the app how many reps of a given workout you can currently perform in a row to exhaustion, and then tell it how many you would like to be able to do in a row. It then does some figuring and creates workouts for you in multiple sets along with timed rest periods between sets. You can even tell it if the workout was too easy, too hard or just right after you have completed it and then it tells you your progress towards your goal. I'm not sure what happens when it thinks you should be able to complete your goal, maybe it gives you a workout that is simply an attempt at your goal and you tell it if you completed it or not. I'll report back about that when I get there.
Either way, the apps are nice too look at, simple to use, and really make the task of improving muscular strength through calisthenics a much less arduous task. And since these are simply algorithmic workout generators, you don't even have to use them for the workout they were "made" for. I use the squats app for my barbell curls, for instance.
Well, that's all for now. Hope you all are still reading and enjoying these, I still enjoy writing them. Fifteen down—thirty-nine more to go!
Links:
Push Ups App (See the "More from developer" section for others)
The problem reason why I get so little upper body work from these workouts is that my cardio and lower body are still not up to snuff, so by the time I get to the upper body portions, I am typically way too gassed to do much of it. So I have added push ups and barbell curls every other day and regular old situps—which I don't mind and don't understand why everyone complains about them—every other day.
On the improvement front, I completed the entire warmup without resting for the first time today. I was close yesterday, but I didn't want to mention it and jinx my chances for today. That is a big milestone for me mentally and I am very excited about it.
A question I have found myself having is about the deep lunges: How exactly should I be doing these? The muscles stretched by that stretch are flexible enough in me for me to go into a deep lunge, but there are two problems. The first problem is that I can't find a balance point where I am flat-footed—only pertaining to my bent leg of course—and my knee is behind my toe. How important—I fear the answers coming in screams and yells—is it that my knee is behind my toe and that my toes and heel are on the floor? The second problem may be due to my form—see the first problem—but I feel an interesting, though not painful, tightness in the calf and sometimes shin muscles in my bent leg in the deep lunge...any ideas why?
Anyway, enough of that, on to my workout 'equipment' suggestions. Today's suggestion is a series of calisthenic workout apps for Android (maybe for iPhone, I didn't check). In truth, they are simply algorithms, but very helpful ones. You tell the app how many reps of a given workout you can currently perform in a row to exhaustion, and then tell it how many you would like to be able to do in a row. It then does some figuring and creates workouts for you in multiple sets along with timed rest periods between sets. You can even tell it if the workout was too easy, too hard or just right after you have completed it and then it tells you your progress towards your goal. I'm not sure what happens when it thinks you should be able to complete your goal, maybe it gives you a workout that is simply an attempt at your goal and you tell it if you completed it or not. I'll report back about that when I get there.
Either way, the apps are nice too look at, simple to use, and really make the task of improving muscular strength through calisthenics a much less arduous task. And since these are simply algorithmic workout generators, you don't even have to use them for the workout they were "made" for. I use the squats app for my barbell curls, for instance.
Well, that's all for now. Hope you all are still reading and enjoying these, I still enjoy writing them. Fifteen down—thirty-nine more to go!
Links:
Push Ups App (See the "More from developer" section for others)
Monday, January 16, 2012
Day 15 — Fit Test and Biweekly Wrapup
Well, the first two weeks are over and the results are in. My lowest improvement over my initial fit test was 7% in Power Knees, with my largest improvement being 50% in Suicide Jumps. Now to be fair, these are statistical outliers because I started with 100 Power Knees—which makes every percent of improvement harder to obtain—whereas I started with merely 8 Suicide Jumps, improving to 12—in which case each additional rep was worth over 10% improvement.
However, one that was nice to see and a general baseline was Power Jumps. I started with 20 of those and did 30 in today's test—another improvement of 50%. The good news here is that each additional rep was only worth 5%, so this 50% is worth get excited about. The other satisfying things are the bar graphs which are all larger for today's date, and to see that most of the lines are either linear, or concave up since my "initial" fit test in November at the beginning of my last Insanity attempt. The concave up denotes that I am not only improving compared to the fit test on the first day of this Insanity attempt, but also that I am improving faster than I did over a nearly two month span of time beforehand—during which I wasn't exactly idle.
So, I'm sold. I know that I need to eat healthier and I have a long way to go, but that improvement was great to see in cold hard numbers. I'm ready for the second half of month one to get going! That's thirteen down—forty-one left to go!
Links:
Friday, January 13, 2012
Day 12 — Cardio Power and Resistance...Again
Not much to say about today really. The workout was good. Large improvement over Monday. Again, it is getting a bit repetitive, but I know that will happen. The nice part about that is that I can zone out and do some soul searching during my workout.
No aches or pains to report. I'm worried about my double workout tomorrow and snowboarding for only the second time in three years, but I'm sure it will go great.
Anyway, that's all for now. Things are going great and I feel fantastic. Eleven down—forty-three left to go!
No aches or pains to report. I'm worried about my double workout tomorrow and snowboarding for only the second time in three years, but I'm sure it will go great.
Anyway, that's all for now. Things are going great and I feel fantastic. Eleven down—forty-three left to go!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Day 11 — Recovery Day
Today was likely one of the most important days of my life. Little back story: I was attending Purdue University starting in 2007 and due to my emotional problems I failed out in the spring of '09. I have been working hard to transfer down to UIC (I was back at Purdue once but it was killing my bank account so I came back), and I just found out today that I would need five semesters of straight As to meet their new standards.
So, UIC is out and Purdue is back in. I've decided today that I'm applying for readmission there and hopefully I will get back in and finish up there. It is good in a way. I'm not tied here as much after this weekend—and I've always felt I left business unfinished there. I know I can avoid the financial issues I had before and I'll be a much better study and much harder worker, partially due to my Insanity driven discipline.
My workout today was great. I felt relaxed and empowered. Definitely feeling more flexible and much stronger. Rested two whole minutes less than last week's Cardio Recovery, so I am very happy with that and I'm back down to 214.4 which is exactly where I should be to meet my goal of 205 by March 3rd.
Didn't really eat anything today. I just woke up, started looking at school info and my day kinda spiraled from there. I ate chicken parmesan for dinner, but that was it. It was fantastic though and I treated myself to a Pepsi. I think my total intake for today will still be okay. Of course I am in no way thinking of or suggesting a starvation diet. It wasn't on purpose, it just worked out that way. Normal diet service tomorrow.
Now, I mentioned the BWCAW (Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness) yesterday. It is one of my favorite places on earth and I have barely spent three weeks total there. It is as untouched as wilderness gets nowadays other than remote parts of Alaska. The whole Wilderness Area is protected by federal law which means that there are no motors allowed anywhere inside, and the amount of people allowed in at any given time is regulated. It is a beautiful place for camping—obviously—and the fishing is unbelievable. Admittedly, it would be a tough trip for a vegetarian as you have to carry in everything you will need, but the BWCAW has permits for everything from day trips to two-week excursions.
I'm hoping to go again this year. My dad, my uncle, and a long-time family friend went last May and it was an amazing trip. Typically my Uncle Steve and Keith—the family friend—take a tow boat (a specialized power boat that carries canoes) right up to the edge of the wilderness which makes the trip into their favorite lake much shorter and easier. However, that tow service is expensive and neither my dad nor I could afford it. So, we took the longer fourteen hour paddle route with six portages along the route. It was a huge personal challenge for me. We didn't make it all the way in the first day which I was bummed about, so the whole trip I was determined to make it out in one day.
When we awoke on our departure day, it was clear and cool, a perfect day. However, as we broke down camp, the wind picked up—directly opposite of the direction we were headed. We paddled into the wind for most of the journey, but we persevered and made it out that same day. The shower, pizza and Jameson on the rocks that awaited me had never tasted sweeter. I hope to feel stronger this year, especially over the portages. I was the youngest on the trip by far, but I really didn't pull my own weight carrying our gear. In the canoe I made up for it, but that isn't going to cut it for me this year.
Well, that's all for today. I fear I had a typo yesterday on this line, but today is ten down, fourty-four left to go! Keep pushing everyone!
P.S. For anyone interested in seeing where my trip was, you can view a decent map here. We started at entry point 16, went north into Nina Moose Lake, then to Agnes, then into Lac La Croix at Boulder Bay, north around Tiger Bay, into Bottle Lake into Iron Lake and then from Iron Lake to Crooked Lake. We camped in the relative middle of Crooked Lake at Camp 1880 just north of Saturday Bay. Not a short trip by any means. Never did figure out the mileage. I'll have to do that at some point. Anyway, if that doesn't make any sense but you are still interested in the route we took, let me know and I'll try and get a better description together. Thanks!
So, UIC is out and Purdue is back in. I've decided today that I'm applying for readmission there and hopefully I will get back in and finish up there. It is good in a way. I'm not tied here as much after this weekend—and I've always felt I left business unfinished there. I know I can avoid the financial issues I had before and I'll be a much better study and much harder worker, partially due to my Insanity driven discipline.
My workout today was great. I felt relaxed and empowered. Definitely feeling more flexible and much stronger. Rested two whole minutes less than last week's Cardio Recovery, so I am very happy with that and I'm back down to 214.4 which is exactly where I should be to meet my goal of 205 by March 3rd.
Didn't really eat anything today. I just woke up, started looking at school info and my day kinda spiraled from there. I ate chicken parmesan for dinner, but that was it. It was fantastic though and I treated myself to a Pepsi. I think my total intake for today will still be okay. Of course I am in no way thinking of or suggesting a starvation diet. It wasn't on purpose, it just worked out that way. Normal diet service tomorrow.
Now, I mentioned the BWCAW (Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness) yesterday. It is one of my favorite places on earth and I have barely spent three weeks total there. It is as untouched as wilderness gets nowadays other than remote parts of Alaska. The whole Wilderness Area is protected by federal law which means that there are no motors allowed anywhere inside, and the amount of people allowed in at any given time is regulated. It is a beautiful place for camping—obviously—and the fishing is unbelievable. Admittedly, it would be a tough trip for a vegetarian as you have to carry in everything you will need, but the BWCAW has permits for everything from day trips to two-week excursions.
I'm hoping to go again this year. My dad, my uncle, and a long-time family friend went last May and it was an amazing trip. Typically my Uncle Steve and Keith—the family friend—take a tow boat (a specialized power boat that carries canoes) right up to the edge of the wilderness which makes the trip into their favorite lake much shorter and easier. However, that tow service is expensive and neither my dad nor I could afford it. So, we took the longer fourteen hour paddle route with six portages along the route. It was a huge personal challenge for me. We didn't make it all the way in the first day which I was bummed about, so the whole trip I was determined to make it out in one day.
When we awoke on our departure day, it was clear and cool, a perfect day. However, as we broke down camp, the wind picked up—directly opposite of the direction we were headed. We paddled into the wind for most of the journey, but we persevered and made it out that same day. The shower, pizza and Jameson on the rocks that awaited me had never tasted sweeter. I hope to feel stronger this year, especially over the portages. I was the youngest on the trip by far, but I really didn't pull my own weight carrying our gear. In the canoe I made up for it, but that isn't going to cut it for me this year.
Well, that's all for today. I fear I had a typo yesterday on this line, but today is ten down, fourty-four left to go! Keep pushing everyone!
P.S. For anyone interested in seeing where my trip was, you can view a decent map here. We started at entry point 16, went north into Nina Moose Lake, then to Agnes, then into Lac La Croix at Boulder Bay, north around Tiger Bay, into Bottle Lake into Iron Lake and then from Iron Lake to Crooked Lake. We camped in the relative middle of Crooked Lake at Camp 1880 just north of Saturday Bay. Not a short trip by any means. Never did figure out the mileage. I'll have to do that at some point. Anyway, if that doesn't make any sense but you are still interested in the route we took, let me know and I'll try and get a better description together. Thanks!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)