What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

Wow, it has been over a year since my last post. Why? Well, a LOT has been going on and it just hasn't been a priority of mine to write anything. I can't say that this will change, but something has been percolating in my brain for the last few weeks and I just want to pour it out...

To kick it off, I need to give you that song... Of course, if you are even slightly familiar with "The Dead," you know that the title of this post came from The Grateful Dead - "Truckin'"

I have been a member of a website/app called Fitocracy for more than a year, now. The site is sort of the facebook of fitness. Basically, members post the workouts that they did for the day and share that information with their 'friends' on the site. Largely, friends encourage each other to improve their health and wellness. When I joined, I was very active. After a couple of months, things tapered off and I wasn't able to exercise as much as I had been. As well, I simply stopped visiting the site.

Recently, I have a renewed interest (and time) to improving my physical well-being. I started going for walks and doing some basic exercises. I also started using Fitocracy again.

Today, one of my fito-friends posted a question:
"Rest days question. - Currently my main aim is to lose weight, i.e. to burn as many calories as possible. Therefore I eliminated some rest days. Do you think this is ok?"

It made me think... What is considered rest and at what point would you be exercising too much?
...Time for me to share my history...
- When I was in high school (and jr. high), I had a paper route. I walked or rode my bike to deliver the paper for about 10 miles per day, 7 days per week.
- My school was too small to have a football team but playing football was one of my goals and dreams. So, I joined the track team to help me get into shape to play football in college. I was never much of a runner, but my goal was to be the next John Riggins (Washington Redskins, #44, running back). So, I figured that I could run the 100 yd. dash and throw the shot put on the track team. During track season, I went to practice 5 times per week unless we had a meet. This was added to my paper route.
- I joined a gym that was in the next town. It was about 12 miles away. I tried to get to the gym 2 or 3 times per week during the off-season - trying to stay in shape for track and - eventually - football.
- I was also a bicycle fanatic. I had a 12-speed bike (mountain bikes didn't exist back then...) that I would ride on the Rail Trail - I trail that used to be a railroad track - fairly frequently.

I was pretty active in high school. Even with all of this, I still maintained my 6'2", 220-230 lbs. physique. I just couldn't drop the excess fat. Granted, I didn't eat a spectacular diet...

When I went to college, guess what? I joined the football team! I went to campus three weeks prior to the semester for football 'doubles' - this is when you spend the morning training on the field, afternoon training on the field, and evening training on the field (shouldn't it have been called 'triples?'). In addition, you would hit the weight room to exercise. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner was always a buffet where we would eat enormous amounts of food! In those three weeks, I achieved the best level of fitness that I have EVER had - muscles grew, fat burned, and aerobic fitness improved!

Why am I sharing this? Well, the posted question made me think... At what point is it considered 'overtraining?'

My recent return to Fitocracy has me motivated to exercise. I am currently trying to walk every day for at least 30 minutes per day. Additionally, I am doing some body-weight exercises 3-4 days per week - sometimes more. Some days, my exercise is more intense than others but I will never be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger (for more reasons than one).

Personally, I think that each one of us has to 'test' our bodies to determine what we can handle and not be overtraining. Like anything else, as we work on something - whether it be weightlifting, walking, running, or other skills like writing, painting, playing an instrument - our skill and capabilities improve. If I was doing the level of exercise that I am currently doing, say, 5 or 6 years ago - I would definitely be overtraining! Now, I am more capable of handling the efforts I am putting in and I am not worried about it.

Either way, I intend to keep on truckin'...

I Want To Ride My Bicycle...

I want to ride my bike.  I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride it where I like...

These are lyrics from Queen's 'Bicycle Race.'  Actually, there are a couple of reasons why I selected this song to go along with this entry.  First, I really do want to ride my bicycle again.  It has been about four years since the last time I even tried to ride it.  Balance has been a major issue for me, and I just haven't felt comfortable enough to even get on to a bike.  Well, that and the fact that my really nice Trek bicycle was stolen several years ago and the bike that I replaced it with just isn't all that great...  Second, VidaCell and GreatLife International has sponsored a cycling team that has been doing wonderfully in their races.  I wanted to share a recent article about their success here.

For my part, I am really hoping to get back on my bike soon.  I have been walking a lot more and feel considerably stronger than I have in a long time.  Balance is still a bit shaky, but if I don't challenge myself I will never improve.  I need to clean up and adjust the bike a bit before I can use it, though.  Hopefully I can work on it and get a ride or two in before the end of summer.

Here is the article about VidaCell's bicycle team:

Team VIDACELL Zacatecas racks up multiple wins! 

Mazatlán, Sinaloa - June 4, 2010 - Team VIDACELL Zacatecas made its cycling debut last year with The Solidarity Road Circuit and have since racked up multiple wins in over a dozen road races throughout Mexico. The team’s initial successes won them an invitation to participate in the “Santa Rita 2010” held in Mazatlan, Sinaloa this past week. This $150,000 purse “Tour de France” style race is considered to be the most difficult and challenging cycling event in the country and covers over 250 miles in 3 days of competition.  What makes this new winning team so unique? These athletes are well into their 50’s and competing against 35 year olds...and WINNING! All nine members of VIDACELL Zacatecas team will quickly tell you the “secret” to their success. It’s a strict regimen of training, diet and, most importantly, VIDACELL! The fast muscle recovery and extra endurance from VIDACELL provides them more time on the training track to improve their performance.  In all of their events, the VIDACELL Zacatecas team has had significant wins on the “pedals” of Ricardo Reyes Gómez in the Elite category, Domingo “Asphalt Wolf” González and German Noé Camacho, the second current national champion in the Masters division, and the Mexican Cycling legend Hilarión Sánchez.  And the Santa Rita 2010 race? The photo in the upper left (of the composite photo) says it all as Miguel Ángel Barcelo triumphantly celebrates his first place win for the Master Category. Other team members placing high in the ranks were Hilarión Sánchez who won first place in the Master Estrella category, Juan José Andrade, José Garza López, Domingo González, Rafael Soto, José Ángel Meléndez, and Noe Germán Camacho. Congratulations to all of these athletes on Team VIDACELL Zacatecas!

Well, my own bicycling may have to wait a bit longer.  Our new obsession is to go letterboxing.  About a month ago, our local library held their regular Green Children event.  This is group meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of every month.  I wrote a quick article about Green Children a couple of years ago. Anyway, at this particular meeting, we were introduced to letterboxing.  We had previously heard about it but had never had a proper introduction. For this event, there were three letterboxes placed around the library with individual sets of clues as to their locations.  Prior to going on our hunt for the boxes, we were treated to an explanation of letterboxing, provided with our own, personal log books, and given the opportunity to create our own, unique letterbox stamps.  We were then released onto the library grounds with clues in hand to seek out the letterboxes.  Inside a letterbox, you will find a log book and a stamp.  Additionally, you may find an ink pad but this is not always present.  The idea is to use the stamp that you find in the box to stamp your personal log book and use your stamp to record your visit to that box in the box's log book.  Well, we had a blast doing these introductory hunts so we have continued with this activity.  Since the event, we have gone on three letterboxing hikes - our most recent one was today.  Well, during the hike today, I stepped on a rock incorrectly and turned my ankle.  It is not a serious injury, but as I have been able to take weight off of my foot and relax a bit, I can feel things tense up.  Walking on it has become somewhat painful, so I am going to need to let that injury recover before trying anything that might aggravate it.

If you are interested in exploring letterboxing for yourself, I encourage you to visit letterboxing.org to learn more about it.  If you like orienteering, you will likely love letterboxing.