Yay Weekend!

It's been a long work week, so I'm looking forward to Friday. Plus I have a half day tomorrow. Woo! Zim and I are headed to Adamstown to check out Stouds brewery and their farmer's market. If we have enough time we might head down the road to the Record Connection to check out the music store. Too bad it's gonna be cold out tomorrow.

If I get up early enough before work I might try to get a quick run in. I just don't know if I feel like getting up at 6am. There's always after work as well.

Today I tried P90X2's total body work out. Pretty good. I couldn't do any of the pull up or push up moves, so I just did curls or something in place of them. I also have been using lighter weights. I'm sure if I was at 100% it would have totally kicked my ass. There were some interesting balance moves in there too. I was going to try a 15 minute run afterwards, but decided to not press my luck. The 50+ mph wind guests around here helped cement that decision.

Happy weekend!

Do the Humpdy Hump

Ran outside for the first time in 11 days! Managed an 8:44 mile, and ended up running a bit over 10 minutes. REAL happy that I'm feeling nothing aching. I'm still not 100% in my ribcage/shoulder, but I'm surprised on my progress. I worked out with my dad doing:

10 squats
10 shoulder presses
10 tricep switch grip
10 power knee
10 curl up/hammer down
10 kicks
10 in & out biceps
15 calf raises

Repeat 2 more times

Finish with 15 push ups and 5 moves/12 reps Abs

Cardio: 20 minutes treadmill or elliptical

He did the treadmill, me the elliptical. When I got home, I tried out my run. Happy with myself!

Playlist: JB Beverly & Mischief Brew

Juicin'

The past few days I been working out indoors, riding the elliptical. I've increased my times as well. I'm able to do some ab work too. Today I had to go into work early because someone called out, so I didn't get my workout in till after dinner time. I actually had a normal gym session. I did 35 minutes on the elliptical, 20 minutes of legs machines and various squats. Those one leg wall squats SUCK!! Afterwards I did about 5 minutes of ab work. It was weird being at the gym at night. It wasn't that busy and recognized some faces I would see from when I'd go all the time at night a few years ago. Least I got a workout in.

I might, if I feel good, try a mile run on Wednesday. It's supposed to be almost 60 degrees! Crazy! We had snow this morning. I'll take the 60 degrees!

On another note, Zim bought a juicer the other day. He finally got to mess around with it tonight. Pretty cool. I got to sip at a wheatgrass and raspberry drink. Interesting. The wheatgrass honestly didn't smell all that appealing, but with the raspberries, wasn't too bad. He also made an apple and kiwi drink but I wasn't home yet to try one. He said it was real good. I'm sure he'll be messing around with it even more in the coming weeks.


Playlist: Operation Ivy: Energy
The Orphans: Raise the Youth

Thursday Quickie

I'm typing this during the first intermission of the Rangers v Flyers game. Not that I'm a fan of either team really. Anyways...yesterday I worked out with my dad. He wanted to do arms, arms we did. I used 5 lbs weights on all shoulder exercises and 10 lbs on biceps. Some moves I felt tight or a bit uncomfortable, but overall I felt good. I didn't even attempt push ups or any chest moves.

Today I went to my gym and did 25 minutes on the elliptical at a semi vigorous pace. Then I grabbed my book and pedaled away on the stationary bike for a half hour. Both activities felt good. I still have to put my left arm in weird positions to relieve my ribs from the jolting.

I might take the day off and rest tomorrow. Plus it's supposed to snow here right before the evening rush hour. I'm sure I'll be driving in the thick of it being that I'm done work at 4. Oh well. Least I can break the Jeep in for some snow driving!

Playlist: Brown Bird: Salt For Salt

Getting Better

Tuesday is almost over and I'm feeling much better than I thought I would by now. I'm still in some pain in certain movements or if I cough. I'd say I'm about 50% back. I took it easy Sunday and Monday. I've been taking Aleve, icing, compressing, using the foam roller, and just resting it up. I was going to take today off but got bored of sitting on my couch on my day off, so I went to the gym. Everything went well! I didn't push myself. I did 20 minutes on the elliptical, which was slightly uncomfortable at times. I found putting my left elbow out with my hand on my hip felt better. The best position was placing my left arm behind my back almost looking like a speed skater. I got a couple looks. After, I did 20 minutes on the stationary bike in which I felt no pain. So I got 40 minutes of cardio in, not bad at all. Rather be inside today anyways. It was a nice balmy 20 degrees around here.

Hockey's back! I was pissed about the whole lockout, but I've come around and decided to watch a bit. The NHL has such a loyal fan base but it continues to do the wrong things. And the fans still come out to watch. Ticket prices are ridiculous to afford these insanely long contracts, and still teams like the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Phoenix Coyotes exist. I could rant more, but it's not worth it. Eh, guess who's the Flyers v Devils game tonight?

Playlist: The Rooftrees: Introduction the Rooftrees
Brandon Kelley and the Wandering Bird: I'd Rather Die Than Live Forever

Sunday Sunday Sunday

I feel better than yesterday, but I'm still in a bit of pain. I took the day off from any workouts. I did use the foam roller for a little bit. I'm definitely going to take tomorrow and Tuesday off too. If I get itchy to do anything, I'm just going to walk or ride a stationary bike. Yup yup.

How bout those 49ers?

Serattus Anterior

If that rings a bell, I feel your pain. Literally. For 10 plus years I've been dealing with this plaguing injury. I've been to the ER twice, doubled over in pain, demanding painkillers. Fun times. I'm weary of deep chest presses and too many pull-ups. Straight acts it up. Knife stabbing pain in between your top three ribs and continues around your scapula. It's scary too. If you don't know better you think you're having heart problems or a collapse of a lung. It's painful to breathe. Sometimes doctor's will prescribe anxiety pills to help with that feeling. I've learned to deal with it throughout my years fortunately.

I've said, I went to doctors and they couldn't give me a realistic diagnosis. Rotators cuff. Nope. Shoulder problems? Negative. inflamed shoulder girdle? Maybe. I stumbled across what was really wrong from a bit of research. Serattus Anterior. That muscle that extends to the bodies first few ribs, across the ribcage to the body's shoulder blade. Around a man's pec, and a gal's boob. So much fun. Found this injury has happened with my brother and sister. They were never given an answer to their chest/shoulder pain. Shoulder girdle maybe? Nothing certain. We've all had the same area of pain.

Treatment? Shut it down. Sucks, Anti-Inflammatory pills. Deep massage tissue at insertion points. Aleve. KT tape. Heat. I tried the foam roller today as well.

Today I pushed it. I should have known better. After a workout with my dad, I tried a 4.3 trail run. Felt great during my run! Absolute crap afterwards. Lotsa pain. I had Zim KT me up, took Aleve, and working on Vodka three. This is a terrible, terrible injury to deal with. Moving hurts. Breathing hurts. Luckily, I'm on a pain level of 4 outta 10. When all the buzzes and whistles burn out, it goes to a 7. It not too much fun.

Just wanted to shed light on this crap ass injury. No joke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serratus_anterior_muscle

On the Quick

45 minutes boxing and calisthenics after work this late afternoon. Had a nice sweat! In a few hours I'm off to the Colonial Theater for their cult movie night. They're playing "They Live" which I've never seen before. I'm DVRing the final "Fringe" episode and the new "Portlandia". So sad to see Fringe go, but at least it was consistently good and didn't drag on a couple more seasons then it needed to.

Take it Easy Thursday

I, as you can read by my title, took it easy today. I decided to go for a quick run in the late morning. Did a decent paced 3 plus mile run. I run with my phone, so about a mile and a quarter in my phone ran. Normally I wouldn't pick up for a strange number, but I thought something might have delayed my tattoo appointment. I picked up and it was a representative for the Scottrade account I created the other night. I continued to have maybe a two minute conservation with the guy. I can only imagine what he thought I was doing. Anyways, it threw my run off a little. Least I got a run in!

Oh yeah! Test ran in my new Brooks Pure Flow 2s. Holy crap!! Probably the MOST comfortable Brooks I ran in. This is coming from a Brooks loyalist! Lightweight too! Just a penny under $100. Totally impressed!

Showered up and hopped into the Jeep to Integrity Tattoo. Got my crows done and got some lunch. Pretty full day!

Dreary Ass Day

After work I decided to make it an inside day. Off to the elliptical!! I warmed up with some ab work, then did 20 minutes of lower body. Extension, flexion, abduction, adduction, calf raise, sitting leg press, and a glute press machine. Tried to max out on some of the machines. Finished with 2 rounds of 20 squats and 1 minute of wall squats. Tough! Finished with a half hour of 4 plus miles for 30 minutes on the elliptical.

Afterwards watched Chelsea blow a 2-nil lead, to only draw with Southampton, at home. Head shaking. Only took a point home. Blah!

Bought a new pair of Brooks on gift cards tonight. Pure Flow2. So freakin comfy!

New tattoo tomorrow! Crows.

Workout of the Day

Just got finished this:

1 minute plank
10 burpees
20 body squats
8 pull-ups
20 jumping lunges
30 second sprint
15 push-ups

Repeat for a total of 4 times.

Monday Monday

Back to the grind! Sunday, I decided to beat out the rain in the morning and get a run in. I ran 5 miles in a little over 41 minutes at a 8:14 pace. It was a bit foggy out, but it wasn't bad at all at 10am. I came home and did around 10 minutes of abs.

Today was a gym day for me. It was threatening to rain all morning so I rode the elliptical. After I worked on upper body strength. Upped my weight on a few machines too. The gym was a little busier than usual, then I remembered it's January and all the newbies are sticking with the New Year's resolutions. Good for them!

Off to watch WWE RAW and Anthony Bourdain's The Layover.

Insanity Saturday

Yesterday I heeded my own advice and took the day off from working out. My body definitely was thanking me. Zim and I were going to check out the home opener of the Philadelphia Wings (Lacrosse) but decided not to drive into Philly due to the down poring rain. It would have taken us over an hour and a half to get there because of how backed up 76 during crappy weather. Oh well. It been probably 20 years the last time I saw a lacrosse match. We ended up just going out to dinner which was awesome. I tried venison again. It was DELICIOUS! The handful of times I tried it I was a kid, and I don't think my mom really cooked it right. I found it too gamy and pretty nasty. The venison yesterday was cooked outstandingly. After a great meal and a few beers we went home to watch Smackdown and I had a couple of vodkas. I called it a night around 10pm and slept in till 8:30. BEST SLEEP EVER!

I watched Chelsea beat up on Stoke this morning, taking a much needed 3 points. Directly after the match, Zim and I headed to the basement to do Insanity: Pure Cardio. It's pretty much non stop moving for 30 minutes. Kicked my ass this morning! I might start to do more of the Insanity DVDs. They're always pretty tough. Now to start the rest of the day!!

Happy weekend!

Thursday Night Fights

After working and running around a bit this morning, I squeezed in a nice trail run with Zim. He was never on this trail, but I knew he'd like it. It was much more drier than it was a few days ago. We ran close to 40 minutes for 4 and 1/2 miles. He runs much quicker than me on non-pavement so I got my pace up to an 8:45 mile. I was pretty happy about that. Afterwards I showered up and headed to the boxing gym to watch some sparring.

Today was one of the busiest I've seen it ever. We had fighters from Bethlehem, Coatesville, Allentown, and Philly. I didn't exactly ask everywhere they're from. Plus our own Phoenixville boys. Man, it was like amateur fight night there! Exciting! We had a Pro fighter spar too. Best fight of the night. Two of our 16 years olds sparred and looked good as always. They just were a bit tired from sparring the day before. Workhorses!!! Altogether we had 5 fights, lasting 3 rounds. Good times!

Tomorrow I might take the day off from working out. I think I might be getting seasonal migraines. It should NOT be 50 plus degrees in the middle of January in Philadelphia! It should be more like the lower 30s. Could be why my shoulder and neck were tight. I've been also getting slight headaches. I'd rather these slight pains then the flu. As long as they stay "slight". This flu stuff is getting scary though.

Playlist: Alkaline Trio: From Here To The Infirmary
H2O: Go!

Here's one of our boys Rich

Humpty Hump Day

After work, I took a nap, then started on an upper body workout with Zim. We did P90X shoulders and arms. My left shoulder still is slightly sore, but I worked through it with barely any uncomfort. That's a good thing!

Afterward, I watched the dreadful Chelsea v Swansea Capital One Cup match. Ugh, All I can say is *sigh*. Tonight, I'm going to see Zero Dark Thirty. At first I had no care to see it, but the more I read and heard about, I got really interested to see it. Plus I really liked Hurt Locker. We shall see!

Take It Easy Tuesday

After dinner last night my left shoulder started to feel incredibly tight. My muscles must have been in a knot. I figured it happened because of my anxieties running on the trail. I sure as hell didn't feel like falling so I'm sure I tensed up every time I saw mud. My shoulders were instantly pushed up. I used to do that as a nerve ridden kid in grade school. Anyways, I broke out the foam roller, which I never really used before, and tried to roll my knot out. It did feel better, but I only tried it for maybe 10 minutes. So today, I trained my dad focusing on legs and abs, and popped in P90X2 Recovery and Mobility disc. My shoulder felt better, but still tight during the workout with my dad.

Recovery and mobility was great. It starts off with stretches and yoga moves, and then goes into 20 minutes of using the foam roller everywhere. It felt good, it was painful, and after all said and done, why the hell wasn't I using a roller before?? Even with the pain it can inflict, I feel MUCH better. My shoulder is still a bit tight, but feels a helluva lot better. THANK YOU foam roller. I will definitely use one a couple times a month.

On an awesome note, all the coaches at the boxing gym got personalized jackets. And my name was spelled right! They are real nice jackets and very much appreciated!

Playlist: Arcade Fire: The Suburbs

Trail Run

The last time I ran a trail was September, and the Philadelphia Eagles had a winning record at 2-0. I was listening to them play the Ravens on my IPod. The Eagles barely won that game, and ended up at 4-12. So, it's been a while.

It was pretty nice out today. Sunny and temperatures in the 40s. And it's been dry for the past couple days. I laced up my Brooks trail sneakers and hit the dirt. It was a little muddy and wet the first half mile or so, but after that it was pretty dry. I ran altogether 5.7 miles in 52 minutes, and average about a 9 minute pace. Not the fastest, but nice for the first time back in a few months. It was a real nice run!

Here's a picture of the trail and the Schuykill river:

Startin' the Week

I was going to take today off, but decided to get in a good sweat. Plus I felt a little guilty from eating paella and other Spanish goodies at Madador's last night for my sister's 40th birthday. And they had Old Chub Scottish Ale on tap! Soo good! Anyways I did a little over 40 minutes of boxing and abs. Not too bad for starting the week off!

Vacation Almost Over

My vacation comes to an end tomorrow. Boo! We didn't go anywhere too far. We pretty much took day trips. Wednesday, Zim and I took the train to New York City. It was quite chilly out, but I wore my under armor under my clothes. We bummed around Time's Square and grabbed lunch at the Pig N' Whistle. We caught the 2 pm showing of Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theater. It was AWESOME! I've wanted to see Phantom for like 20 plus years, and it totally lived up to the hype for me. Afterwards, we walked to the Empire State building and grabbed some coffee before headed back to Penn Station. Had a boatload of fun.

We also went to the Titanic exhibition at the Franklin Institute. It wasn't the largest collection, but definitely worth a look. Pretty interesting stuff. I think my favorite pieces were the old playing cards and bottles of champagne that still had champagne in them. Pretty cool.

Yesterday, we just kinda chilled out doing a movie and then dinner. Good times!

Other than Wednesday, I found time to work out:

Thursday: P90X Back & Biceps followed by a mile run.
Friday: 50 minutes of boxing and abs

After the Southampton v Chelsea FA Cup match today, I'm planning on going for a run. It's gonna be cold! Chelsea's up 1-4, so I'd say it's safe to say they move on to the next round.

First Run of the Year

Today I had a nice chilly 4 plus mile run on the trail this afternoon. I was running a few seconds under an 8 minute mile pace. The trails was only a touch wet and slushy in a few areas, so I wasn't too afraid to run hard. I came home and finished with about 5 minutes of abs.

Done!

Tomorrow Zim and I are headed to New York City for the day, so I'll be getting enough cardio in just walking around the city. Gonna be a cold day too. Really looking forward to it! I haven't been in the city of New York in jeez...26 years or so. Should be a good time!

Playlist: MGMT