Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Candotujuh – the ReDo in 2009

Though my good friend Andy didn’t pose the question again this year, I think it a more than worthwhile endeavor to review the year past, reflecting on what was achieved, what wasn’t, and what the plan for next year is, as his questions inspired me to do last year.

In theory, the original commitment was supposed to be year-long effort to make major changes. Probably that was a bad theory. Really this project is about lifestyle changes, and those cannot and should not last only a year, lest the entire process need to be revisited, again. That is, these are lifestyle changes, for life.

Therefore, I am happy to be carrying on the project and the blog. In some ways, that’s an indicator of success. But, it is probably also an indicator that there is plenty of room to continue to improve, certainly many goals not yet attained.

Last year, I said I wanted to hit 115 kg (250 lbs) and run a marathon in 2008. Neither of these happened, and I am disappointed in myself about that. I completed a half-marathon, and I suppose that is emblematic of the year. Good stuff, but not as good as I would have liked it to have been. Though the year, I had some periods of lackadaisicalness and lots of bad nutritional decisions. Another indicator is this blog – in 2007 I averaged a post nearly every week but in 2008 it was barely more than once a month. My weight is basically the same as last December, which is both good and bad. Bad in that I didn’t achieve the reductions I had aspired to. Good in that it didn’t increase, and – though I don’t have clinical data to prove it – I feel confident that my body composition improved. Without doubt, I am stronger than I was a year ago, my lifts have been consistently heavier than they were a year ago. I have a resting pulse in the 50s and excellent blood pressure numbers too, which are good indicators of good cardiovascular condition. But, my tickers is still pumping blood to lots of mass that it shouldn’t have to support, it only seems logical that’s not good in the long run. Also, my knees and joints would supremely benefit from less load.

I have mentioned the influence of Crossfit numerous times in previous posts. Among the primary concepts are the hierarchy of physical development being rooted in nutrition and the effectiveness of anaerobic exercise. Neither of these, of course, are new revelations. There is an old quote that I cannot fully recall that says something to the effect that good advice is not worthwhile in its novelty but its function as a reminder. You can check out page 2 and page 8 for elaborations in Crossfit Journal preview for the concepts I am talking about.

At any rate, my revised plan is to focus less on marathon workouts, and more attention on intensity in workouts and dedication to more systematic, dedicated nutrition. Specifically, the Crossfit regime espouses “Paleo” dieting for quality; that is, if you didn’t eat it as a caveman (because it didn’t exist), don’t eat it now. And “Zone” for quantity control through the ‘block’ system to control ratios of macronutrients and overall caloric intake. Certainly the greater challenge for me will be the latter; I have done well the last couple year in eating relatively healthy food, it’s just been too much of it.

Anyway, that’s the plan. In the short run, fat and happy is true. But, that doesn’t work in the long run. The ramp down on caloric intake will involve some grumpiness, compulsions to cheat, and occasional wavering commitment. However, the science is unmistakable. And the timetables are irrefutable: you can do thousands of calories damage in just one sitting of much less than hour, but it takes hours of intense work to burn off those same calories. Add job, family, and travel – you just have to make good decisions on the input side or you’ll never get ahead because there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

Therefore, I am happy to set for the plan for Candotujuh – the ReDo in 2009. Wish me luck. I welcome your support. And, I encourage anyone out there of thinking of making his or her own big New Year’s resolution to give it try. I have devoted most of this posting to talking about shortcomings and areas to be improved. But, overall, I feel much better than I did two years ago. The timing is arbitrary, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is making changes to improve yourself, your quality of live, and perhaps quantity of life.

Happy New Year! Best wishes for 2009.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

"Fight Gone Bad" - (Do They Often Go Well?)

A few burner workouts this week, as well as a couple of rest days. Over 13 hours of exercise through 5 workouts for a total of 8427 calories. On Tuesday, it was two sessions of RPM to bid farewell to friend and instructor JJ who is moving on to expand their business internationally. Over two hours of intense spin is not your typical farewell party, but who really likes the stale chips and staler conversation at the conventional going away shindigs?

After gathering great insights from sipping the Crossfit Cool-Aid for months (moving away from training philosophy focused on bodypart splits lifts – legs on Monday, chest on Tuesday, etc. – and mindless, mostly ineffectual, and often cut short sessions of ‘cardio’), I am ready to take big gulps. I started with my first pure WOD: Fight Gone Bad last Saturday. Below are some pictures of the aftermath. The blur of the first image is fitting – that’s about how I felt.

My big challenge is to stay focused on workouts and make reasonable decisions through the holidays. But, today’s more immediate challenges are walking, standing, and any movement involving legs – which are still torn to shreds from my first “Fight Gone Bad” on Saturday; it feels like my fight gone badly was with Muay Thai champion.

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating for three rounds. The stations are:

1. Wall-ball: 9kg ball, 10 ft target. (Reps)
2. Sumo deadlift high-pull (Reps)
3. Box Jump (Reps)
4. Push-press (Reps)
5. Row: calories (Calories)

The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. One point is given for each rep, except on the rower where each calorie is one point.

Hoping to get in some good workouts through the holidays with some vacation time. Happy Holidays to all!



Monday, December 15, 2008

Jakarta Donkey Kong

Singapore Marathon 2008

It took a long time (but not quite as long as it took me to post about it). But, I finished the half-marathon. I couldn't run the whole thing - I had to walk most of the second half, but I did cross the finish line. My cardio capacity wasn't really challenged, but my legs were in severe pain. Ankles, knees and hips were all hurting with each step for the last 6 miles or so. It was amazing to see the championship runners, taking part of the Standard Chartered Race Series. The half-marathon starts an hour after the marathon, so we met the lead runners during their finishing stretch and these guys were still running paces that I couldn't keep up for 40 meters, let alone 40 kilometers. I am a crossfit.com addict these days, and they are a bit critical of marathon runners - saying their focus is so intense on long-duration cardio that they lose so much strength capacity and make themselves into non-well-rounded athletes. But, seeing these guys run like that was both amazing and inspiring. They may not be able to do a pull-up (neither can I) and the crossfit crew would criticize them for lack of functional strength, like they could not pull their own bodyweight back up the edge of a cliff if they fell in while running down some trail, but it was amazing to see nevertheless.

It took me about 3 days to get back to my normal walk. I took the remainder of the week off from the gym, though rather unintentionally – it was more a function of being overwhelmed at the office and trying to get body caught up on rest than consciously wanting to take that much time.

I am proud of finishing the race, but I don't plan to do another one soon. I still want to run a full marathon someday, just when I don't know yet. But, for the near-term, I want to focus on shorter races, where there is less impact on my joints and I can focus on pushing my heartrate harder and pace quicker. There are some 5K races coming up in Jakarta after the holidays as part of the Jakarta Race Series, and I look forward to more races – especially knowing how much shorter they will be!

I'm too cheap to pay for the hi-res pic, so all you get is this small one.