Caught In The Whirlwind
Posts tagged exercise
Lost In The Park
May 19th 2009
It was really, really nice out yesterday. Just a little chilly, but sunny and warm enough to go outside and do some outdoors-y type things. So my friends and I wandered out to one of the local town parks in hopes that we could find some hiking trails through the woods like we did last weekend.
We went to a different park, but as we found out, it was just as large as the first one and had a lot more hiking trails. Enough to require a trail map to make sense of it. As we came to find out though…their trail map kinda sucked.
The first warning sign was that the trail map indicated an entrance to a trail that did not exist. We wandered down the road a little further and came to a path that lead into the woods that wasn't on the map, but we figured we'd follow it in anyway. It seemed to lead to a system of trails but we couldn't figure out where we were on the map. And a couple of intersections later we had lost track of where we were in relation to the park.
The trails themselves were pretty cool. Right in the woods, and through some interesting nature type areas. If we end up there next time I want to take my camera to get some pictures of some of the trees (if we can ever find the trees again that is) because they were really cool. It was a little bit muddy though. Like…a lot muddy. We were able to avoid most of it by cutting through the actual woods.
But, back to being lost. Eventually in our wanderings, we came across the back of a sign. As we passed it and turned around to see what it said we were surprised to find that it was warning us that the way we came was leaving the park land and the trails were going to become unmarked. At this point, we had two thoughts: "We left the park land???" and "The trails are supposed to be marked???"
Eventually we discovered that the trails were color coded. But the map was labeled with letters and no colors. So even if we found a trail, we had no idea which trail we were on or which direction we were supposed to be going on it. I have half a mind to write a really nasty letter to the town about their "map" and their "marked trails"
We stumbled off the park land again once more (also without being warned until we were back on) and then found ourselves on the red square trail…whichever trail that was supposed to be. Then we found the blue trail and realized that blue was "A" and we were back on the trail that we thought we were on from the beginning. Finally! Which was good because we were starting to get hungry.
We jumped off the trail at the first sign of the park showing up through the wilderness, but ended up walking into a bog type area. Ahhh…nature. What would a springtime walk be without mud. Eventually we found our way back to the park proper, although we ended up behind the maintenance building near where they store all the various pieces of equipment.
And thus ended our outdoors adventure for the day. It sounds like we've got a lot of options for outdoor walking in the area. A lot more than we thought we had. It's amazing what's local if you're actually looking for it.
I'm Never Doing That Again
Jul 7th 2008
After sitting on my friends couch for most of the weekend as mentioned in my last post (which was exactly what was necessary…very relaxing) I decided that Sunday afternoon I was going to go out for an extended bike trip, about 15 miles. I normally do 7-8 miles but since it was a nice day out and I had all day considering it was a weekend…well…might as well get out and enjoy it.
And enjoy I did. For the first 7 miles. This portion of the trip was mostly downhill or on flat terrain and it was pretty nice. Had a good breeze, made good time. I stopped about halfway through to get some water and to rest, and then continued on with my route. Unfortunately, this is where trouble struck.
I knew that the second portion of the route was going to be less fun than the first due to the fact that it had several uphill sections that was semi-steep. What I didn't realize was that almost all of the remaining 7.5 miles was up hill. About halfway through this section I started to feel like I was going to die. It was also getting warmer out and I was starting to get worried about heat stroke or something. Adding to my problems was the fact that I swallowed a bug at one point which almost made me puke.
Eventually I made it to the final downhill section at the end of the route and coasted the whole way back home. My body rewarded me with a stunning headache last night and a baby one this morning. On the plus side though, I did see about a pound and a half drop on the scale. Some probably temporary, but at least it didn't go up.
I don't think I'll be doing that again for a good long while.
Living Healthier…Again
Jan 7th 2008
For the past couple weeks I've been trying to get back on the healthier living bandwagon. I was getting tired of how much weight I had put on over the past year and I finally became motivated to do something about it. What was also helpful is that a couple of my friends were motivated to do the same thing at around the same point that I decided to get back on the bandwagon so we've been kinda supporting each other. It helps to have other people around to keep you honest.
Like my friends, I'm not going on some sort of a fad diet or anything. Portion control, eating things that are better for me, daily exercise is where it's at. A couple years ago I lost around 70-75 pounds but I ended up gaining it back because I lapsed into my old eating habits again after moving out from my parents house. The problem was, without somebody else around in the house, I didn't feel as guilty about snacking on foods I had laying around as I did when I knew somebody was there watching me. My portion size for lunch/dinner also increased from what I was doing before.
So now I'm watching how much I eat for dinner, not going for the extra helping of desert or another trip to the potato chips after eating my lunch.I'm also trying to drink more water during the day and cut out the number of times I'd snack on something…basically get back into my better habits from the last time I decided to lose weight. So far, so good as I've lost about 5 pounds since I started. We'll see where it goes from here. Hopefully it'll stick this time. I've done it once before, so I know it's possible for me to do it again.
This also has the up side of me saving money on groceries because I'm not snacking as often, therefore I don't need to buy so much crap.
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Healthier Living: Day 3
Feb 23rd 2007
I’m now on day three of my “Stop eating so much crap!” campaign and I’ve been doing all right so far. Haven’t really exercised much in the past couple days because I haven’t had the chance (Class last night and the night before, massive amounts of homework). It’ll happen tonight though.
The biggest thing is, I’ve successfully avoided vending machines for the past 3 days. Woot! And stuff.
Living Healthier: Take 2
Feb 20th 2007
Ok, so I know I’ve said this before. My last attempt at trying to be more active and eat healthier foods (and less foods) failed miserably. I can throw out all kinds of excuses as to why. It started out with me going through a really rough mental/emotional period, and recently I fell down the stairs/got sick so i couldn’t start back up again.
But now I’m serious. I’ve done this once before, so I know I can do it. Starting…right…now! Well, actually this morning.
So far so good, lots of water, not a lot of junk food. I successfully avoided raiding the vending machine downstairs at work at 3, so that’s a victory there. Now I need to keep it going. That’s the tricky part.
Here we go again. I know I can do it.
New Music! Woohooo!
Nov 21st 2006
Spock's Beard - Spock's Beard
I got a nice little surprise in the mail yesterday. The new Spock’s Beard CD arrived yesterday, a day before it was supposed to be released. It’s nice getting stuff like that before the release date.
I haven’t been able to listen to it much, so I’ll do a full review later, but from what I’ve heard, it sounds like they’ve continued their transition that started with Feel Euphoria from their Neal Morse era music to the post-Neal age. They’re slowly moving away from a pure progressive style into more of a hard rock with progressive tendencies. Which isn’t a complaint, because they pull it off, surely.
Nicks vocals also seem to be improving. Either he’s getting more comfortable with lead vocals or the songs fit him better, I’m not sure. My first impression is that it comes in behind Octane and in front of Feel Euphoria in my ranking of AN (After Neil) beard efforts.
In other news, I mentioned my campaign for trying to eat a little healthier and do more exercising last week. So far so good. It’s hard to tell at this poinit if it’s just normal fluctionations or a gravitational anomaly or something, but I’m down about 3 pounds or so since the start. Less snacky stuff, more healthy items and making sure I actually do exercise instead of making excuses about it.
A Resolution
Nov 14th 2006
About 2 years ago, I made a promise to myself to lose some weight. Which I did. I lost a lot of weight over a period of about 9 or so months. I ate better, exercised every day. I ended up losing about 75 pounds and dropped my waist size about 4 inches. But then, disaster hit, and it was all due to City of Heroes, as much as I hate to say it. I got into City of Heroes hardcore and let my exercise slack off, back to “couch potato” status. Then I moved out of my parents and into my own place and suddenly the healthy eating habits went as well. So, as a result, I’m back to where I started.
I keep trying to do the exercise thing daily, but then I slack off on the other part of the equation too.
No more. This is my public declaration that I’m getting back on the bandwagon to healthier living. Starting…NOW! No more candy. That’s the big thing. My nemesis is the vending machine down in the break room. And to keep myself honest, I’m resolved to posting here if I drop off again. Which seems like a good way of doing it to me, since I like to look successful 
Hopefully I won’t be posting about my failure later on this week.
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