BRR! Cold Outside!

So this morning I got up at 4:50AM . . . yeah, like before 5. I'm trying to make this a Tuesday morning ritual, and maybe now that Nita has gotten the bug, it'll be easier knowing how much crap I'm going to catch for NOT being there. Oh, I guess I should mention the REASON I got up so early is to be in the pool for the 5:30AM Triathlon class at the Mel Korum YMCA in Puyallup. So this morning, I met Nita at the Y and we headed to the pool. Our workout went something like this:

• 4 X 75 free with :10 in between each 75
• 8 X 50 Kicking With Fins alternating flutter and dolphin
• 300 free
• 10 X 25 drills, first four one armed, last 6 10 kicks between each stroke.
• 2 X 150 on the 3:00 with 1 X 100 easy
• 2 X 150 on the 3:00 with 1 X 100 easy

I'm probably missing something but that's about 1,850 yards ... the leader, Lisa, said we did 2,000 . . . so I'm missing something.

After the Pool, we headed up to the spin room for 30 or so minutes . . . my Pilot read 6 miles even when I left.

Finally the group headed out for a run . . . yes . . . out as in OUTSIDE! We realized as we started that A) it was cold, B) it was dark and C) most of us were wearing black (it is slimming after all). So probably not the brightest group at 7:00 in the morning, but we WERE motivated. I forgot to strap on the Garmin for my run, BUT I was able to map it out online and came up with about 1.5 miles. Actually the run felt really good. I only walked for about 5 seconds at the top of the only hill. I used Map My Run to map it out, so if anyone wants to see it, you can find it here:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/us/wa/puyallup/208126452334968048

Here's what I'm shooting for in terms of workouts, probably through March:

• Monday - Arms & Chest in the weight room followed by 30 +/- minutes of cardio
• Tuesday - Triathlon Class at the YMCA
• Wednesday - Legs in the weight room
• Thursday - Evening Spin class at the YMCA
• Friday - Shoulders and Back in the weight room followed by 30 +/- minutes of cardio
• Saturday - OFF
• Sunday - Long Run or Ride with DaBoyz

Will I make 6 days a week every week? Probably not, but it's what I'm shooting for right now. If anyone wants to join me, I'm happy to have as many accountability partners as I can get. :-)

I Don't Have To Be Perfect, Just Getting Better . . .

Sunday will mark 5 months that I've been a cyborg. On August 24th of last year, I had surgery to install the LapBand to FINALLY get my weight under control. As I look back over the past year, it was February of last year that I seriously started to consider weight loss surgery, I've had some triumphs and some setbacks. But mostly, I've learned a lot. The one realization that I've come to that has hit home more than anything else though is that I don't have to be perfect. I'm really good at beating myself up when I don't execute on something perfectly. If I intend to run 5.5 miles in an hour, but only manage 5.25, I say really horrible things to myself. Or if I plan on having a protein shake for breakfast, but inexplicably end up in the drive thru at Jack In the Box, I call myself really nasty names.

I strive for perfection. I think we all do to some degree, it's what we do when we don't hit it that matters. If we miss by a little or a lot and it keeps us from trying again, then we don't grow. But when we realize that we can't all be perfect all the time and that's OK, then we're able to move beyond what we did yesterday and do better tomorrow. I'm good about talking about how much I want to do, but I'm not so good at discussing the times I don't do it. That's where my blog has helped me. I can look back on my triumphs and to some degree, my failures and learn from past mistakes and do better next time.

Right now, I'm stuck. Since May of 2009, I've lost "prit-near" 75 pounds. It's by far my biggest triumph in the area of weight loss I've ever had. I've lost 50 pounds before and even 60, but 70 is new territory for me. For the past 3 - 5 weeks, I've hovered between 282.5 and 286 pounds. When you consider I started at 356, I'd say I'm doing pretty good. But getting below this 280 pound mark has been a real bugger for me.

On the 4th of January, I went in and had my band adjusted. Literally for the next 10 days, I couldn't get nearly anything down. I thought for SURE this would be the breakthrough I needed to get me below 280 pounds finally. About all I could get down were protein shakes and protein drinks. Since I'd been having trouble getting enough protein in my diet, this was (I thought) a good thing. But no, still hovering between 283 and 286 . . . . this morning, I weighed in at 285.

Now, I'd LOVE to think that with the working out I've been doing, I'm building muscle and losing fat. I do think to some degree that's true. I've (overall) lost 6 inches in my waist going from size 44 jeans to size 38. I've lost 4 inches in my chest, going from a size 56 to a snug 52 and I've lost over 3 inches in my neck. So I know my body is changing in radical ways, and all good I might add.

But the blasted scale is my nemisis. Ultimately when I see my doctor on the 1st of February, my measurements won't mean a THING to him, only the number on the scale. He won't care what my body fat percentage is, he'll only want to know how many tubs of butter are no longer on my frame. While I see the benefit in this initially, I was (am) morbidly obese afterall, at some point it SHOULD matter to him that while I only lost 2 pounds, I gained X pounds of lean muscle and lost Y % of body fat. But it won't. It's called "Weight Loss" Surgery for a reason. Not "Body Composition" Surgery.

So now, my life is all about tools. What are the tools I need to employ to ensure my success on the scale? The first tool and the biggest of course was the LapBand surgery itself. I knew going into it that it wasn't going to be a panacea for me. This was a tool and like ANY tool, not properly utilized, it won't help.

Next up is Gym/Exercise time. I have to dedicate time to exercise. The problem is that left to my own devices, and given the option, I'll skip the gym more often than not. So accountability partners are key too. My normal people to work out with, Brandon, Nita and Steve, have tons of things going on that lead us to NOT workout together more than we do. So I've tried to find accountability partners that have a similar schedule as me. So enter, Carl and Josh from my office. So far (two weeks in or so) it seems as though we're able to motivate each other to be there and give goodly amounts of crap when we're not. Another tool.

Today I got my Bodybugg (http://bodybugg.com/). It's the little device you see on NBC's The Biggest Loser. They wear them on their left arm and occasionally you'll hear one of them mention "I haven't hit my burn for the day". Really what it does is sit on your arm and measure how many calories you burn during the day. So if the "weight Loss Math" is correct, if you burn more than you consume, you WILL lose weight. BUT there are caveats and hopefully this device will help me find them. For example, if you're supposed to have 2,000 calories per day and you have FOUR, your body will start to shut down and hold on to every calorie as if it were the hope diamond. So you have to be within reason. A 500 calorie per day deficit will help you lose 1 pound per week. My goal is just over 1.5 pounds per week from now until July. So I picked this little guy up to help me figure this all out.

Will report back later and let you know how all the tools are working out.

The Sloth Is Gone . . .

So yesterday I posted on Facebook that I'd be in the Y at 7AM this morning for a workout. Well that didn't happen. But I DID get up and get on our Precor elliptical for a workout this morning at 8:15. :-) I did 45 minutes, 3.44 miles, 6410 strides and burned 728.8 calories. Felt good!

I've gained a few pounds over the past couple of weeks, so I need to get in and get them off before heading to the doctor on the 4th for my next band adjustment. But I gotta tell you, the prime rib I cooked on Christmas Eve was SOOOOO worth it! :-)

5 Miles and a 5K TTT (Treadmill Time Trial)

So this afternoon I headed to the YMCA in Puyallup to get a workout in. When I weighed myself this morning, I FINALLY saw the number 289.5 (i.e. LESS than 290) on the scale. The last time I was at this weight was July of 2008 just before the Ocean Shores Sprint Triathlon. Any dip below this will be uncharted territory that I haven't seen in years. At this weight, I've now lost 66.5 pounds since May. Over the past couple of months, I've been getting in the gym 2 - 4 times a week and mostly running. I'm finally starting to get my running legs back. Meaning that I'm actually starting to ENJOY running again. It's been a LONG time since I've enjoyed running. Like 20 years. I still don't have the endurance that I used to have, nor the speed, but I don't hurt as much after a run as I have in the past.

I've been using the Runervals 1.0 and 2.0 workouts to keep my treadmill running interesting. But the thing I don't like about the runervals workouts is that you just never get a sense of "How long could I really go at this pace?" Because they're interval workouts, you have a period of exertion followed by a period of rest, repeat. GREAT workouts no doubt, but they just don't give you a sense of what you could do if you just started to run. So today, my goal was to do a 5K (3.1 Mile) Time trial on the treadmill. Now I had done this a couple times in 2008 while training for the Triathlon. The first time I did it, it was just under 40 minutes. The last recorded time I could find back in my blogs was 37:42. Going in today, I was shooting for under 35:00. That's right, I'm getting a little cocky about my running. I know the interval training I've been doing has been making me a stronger runner and even though I've only been working out a couple months, I'm already able to do more than I was doing prior to the triathlon last year.

So I started walking at 3.5 MPH for the first .05 - .07 (don't really remember) miles and then kicked it up to 6.0MPH. The first mile clicked in at 11:00 flat. So I kicked the treadmill up to 6.1 for the remainder of the run. I don't know exactly what the 5K was done in . . . but it was UNDER 32:00 . . . 31:44 . . . I hit the lap button on my Garmin to keep track of it, so when I download the data, I'll know for sure. But yes, UNDER 32:00 a full FIVE PLUS minutes faster than the fastest 5K I ran last year (that I tracked). AWESOME! The run is by far my weakest event in the tri . . . so I'm focusing heavily on it over the winter. Now that the 5K was out of the way, I remembered that Carl had said this morning he did 5 miles on the treadmill, so I said to myself . . . Me too . . . I walked from 3.1 miles to 3.5 miles, then ran an easy 5.5 MPH jog to 3.75 miles, then walked to 4 miles, then ran at 6.0 MPH to 4.75 miles and walked from 4.75 to 5.0 miles. I did the 5 miles in 56 minutes 42 seconds (I know THIS because I took a picture of the treadmill with my iPhone). Under an hour averaging 5.3 MPH over the whole thing. I think that's pretty good! Also, the calorie counter on the treadmill read 996.2 calories. But I put in my weight and age late, so I'm sure I burned over 1,000 calories by the treamill's count.

I'm feeling REALLY good that I'll be able to do the Olympic distance triathlon in July. (.9 Miles Swim, 25 mile Bike and 6.2 mile Run) My uber-stretch goal is to do the half iron distance (70.3) trialthlon (1.2 miles swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile Run). Now I've never run more than 8 miles in my life, so this would be a HUGE accomplishment. But I think I'm on track with my weight . . . and if I can kick my training up another notch, I think I can get there. So stay tuned . . .

The Video Studio Comes to Life

I think by now everyone who reads this blog with any regularity knows . . . I'm a geek. It's a badge I wear proudly. I like knowing that nearly anything that's thrown at me technically, I can solve it. While I've officially been out of the geek world for 7 years now, I still maintain my membership and often find myself involved in one project or another that requires that I put my geek hat back on. Here's the latest project:

Starting very soon, I want to start producing my own videos for my blog on Real Estate. These are intended to be quick tips videos and will cover topics like: Current market trends, new listings on the market, tips for buyers, tips for sellers, etc. Whenever I do something, I want it to be as professional as possible. I just like High Quality stuff, it's a quirk. So if I'm going to do video, I want it to look and sound as good as possible, without breaking the bank.

I originally got my inspiration from Jeff Shore, a real estate trainer that puts out a weekly video tip with regards to new home construction sales. They're only of a few minutes in length, but are high quality, load fast and look good. In addition to looking good, I didn't want my video production to break the bank, two things that generally don't go well together. It can either be good and expensive, or crummy and cheap. I set out to destroy that myth.

I do own a Sony High Def video camera that uses MiniDV tapes to record to. While this would have been perfectly suitable to what I wanted to accomplish, I've found the process of capturing the video from tape and uploading to YouTube, etc. to be somewhat cumbersome. So I wanted to find a good quality, inexpensive video camera to handle the shooting duties. I was originally intrigured by the Flip Video cameras because you could shoot video, plug them directly into your USB port and using the included software, upload the video directly to YouTube. Perfect. While at the National Association of Realtors convention in San Diego last month, I happened upon the Kodak booth where they were showing off their new Zi8 video camera. Slightly larger than the Flip, it had a couple of features that made it more attractive to me: Removable media, 1080p Resolution AND a Macro mode. The camera stores video on standard SD cards, up to 32Gb, which means if you REALLY wanted to, you could go for hours and hours of shooting and only be limited by how much media you could carry. Very cool. Now, for my Real Estate Videos, I'll probably never shoot in 1080p, but it's nice to have should I go on vacation or something. I've already thought of a couple of uses for the Macro mode, so the Zi8 seemed a better choice and at $149, I couldn't pass it up. (BTW, media is NOT included, so I bought an 8Gb SD card for $19.99 at Best Buy)

I already owned a perfectly good tripod, a Manfrotto, that I use for shooting stills and HDR of homes, so that will serve double duty for Video chores as well.

The Zi8 reviews mentioned that the Audio was a bit sketchy with the onboard mic, so I decided to make use of the external microphone jack and bought a wired clip on lavalier microphone from B&H Photo Video for $22.95. (Bescor TCM-88)

OK, with the video and audio taken care of, I needed a good background, rather than the blah walls that were in my office. Again, B&H came to the rescue. I found a really cool Muslin background, way bigger than I needed (10 X 12) for $65.00 from Backdrop Alley. It's their Sienna Brown backdrop and comes in it's own carry bag. There WERE cheaper options there, but I liked the color of this one.

I knew I needed to properly light my "studio". I did a lot of research on YouTube on how to properly light the scenarios I would likely be filming and came up with a 3 light solution. A Key light, A fill light and a Background light would be what I wanted. Also on B&H, I found a VERY cool kit from Westcott that comes with two 500W uLite housings, two 7 foot stands, two soft boxes and two 500 watt bulbs. As a bonus it comes with a green screen backdrop (also 10 X 12) for keying your videos (just like the weatherman!). In addition to all of that, it comes with Chroma Key software, some digital backgrounds and a copy of Adobe Premiere Elements (I think it's a trial copy). All of that for $199. In addition to the two light kit, I swung by McLendons and picked up a Halogen work light for $13.99 for the background light.

I also added a remote control for the Zi8 for another $9.99. AND because I'm a Member of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP), B&H shipped all that to me UPS 3 Day for free!

I already own a copy of Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, so the video editing tasks were already taken care of and should you decide to build your own studio, you certainly don't need to spend the $$ for Premiere (Although I'd appreciate it if you helped out my Adobe brothers and sisters) to make these quick videos, but with it, you know you'll NEVER need another piece of video editing software. But keep in mind there ARE cheaper solutions.

So having successfully secured space in my office building for the studio, I put everything together over a couple of days spending about an hour total getting it set up. I shot my first test video and am pretty happy with the results. The next step is to set up my laptop to be a teleprompter for me so I don't sound so unprepared when I do my videos for real. I'll set the laptop up on a stand directly in front of the camera and using something like: Easyprompter.com, I can have my script all set up and ready to go.

I've put links throughout the article to all the gear I'm using, but feel free to drop me a line if you want clarification on anything. I think this is going to be LOTS of fun!

Also, click HERE if you want to see the initial green-screen test video . . .