My Life is Adventure

I completed day 15 of the Couch to 5K running plan last night. The instructions for day 15 are

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then jog two miles (or 20 minutes) with no walking.

No problem, mostly. The first five minutes was the toughest—I think the knowledge that I was just starting out and that I had “so far” to go played into this though.

To give myself incentive to finish the Couch to 5K plan, I’ve entered the 2007 Race for the Cure® - 5K Run September 22nd. Anyone wishing to make a donation may do so here.

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Hot, hot, hotter! That was the temperature, not my playing in the first tennis match on Saturday. The “first match jitters” killed me, but I warmed up quickly after that. My partner and I finished out 1 and 2 (1 win, 2 losses) for the entire weekend of the 2007 Lubbock Combo League.

The first match was a challenge mainly because I was serving very poorly. I felt we should have been much more competitive against this particular team. However, they did end up undefeated over the entire weekend.

The second match was a battle. After loosing the first set quickly, we battled back and I served to win the second set. The match went to a 10 point tie-break, which I again served to win!

The final match was another battle. Jerry and I were able to break the other team twice, but then they broke both of us, and then me again to win the first set easily. We were down 2-5 in the second set and then battled back to tie it 6-6. The tie-break happened quickly and we went down 4-7.

I ended the weekend with a list of things to work on—the first thing on the list is my serve. Also, I’m still working on the Couch-to-5K running plan. The next step requires me to run 20 minutes or 2 miles without stopping!

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I’ve got Gatorade and clean socks. Sound like I’m getting ready for a sock-hop marathon? No, just a tennis match. This will be my first USTA event, the 2007 Lubbock Combo League. The entire event occurs in a single weekend. I’m entered in the Men’s 6.5 Flight. My team has practiced together twice. After meeting my doubles partner, Jerry, I feel confident that we’ll win at least a few matches…if I can hold serve at least some of the time.

Summer and I will both be participating in the 2007 Lubbock Adult Fall League. I’m in the Men’s 3.0 Flight, and Summer is in the Women’s 2.5 Flight. This is Summer’s first time to play tennis competitively. She is receiving tons of compliments about how fast she’s picked up the game…and everyone wants her on their team!

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Summer and I were scheduled to begin tennis lessons this last Sunday. We decided to “warm up” the day before so that our lesson was not the first time with a racket in our hands. We hit the ball for a while played one set Saturday morning with our friends Forest and Kelly Wilde (they won, 5-2). Our tennis lesson was rained out and is now rescheduled for this coming Saturday morning. I’m really excited about having real tennis lessons and getting to play tennis again. Summer is feeling apprehensive about other people seeing her play. We’ve been watching videos of tennis matches to get “pumped up”. We watched Wimbledon (Kirsten Dunst, Paul Bettany) the other night too.

For those interested in tennis in Lubbock, I’ve done a little research:

• Places to play tennis in Lubbock, TX
• South Plains Tennis Association

Summer and I are taking lessons at the Burgess-Rushing Tennis Center. I’ve discovered indoor courts at The Falls Athletic and Tennis Club, but the membership dues are pretty high. At any rate, we’re going to be looking for opponents…so dust off your rackets and start stretching those legs!

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Shane wrote a post a while back entitled “Slow Out of the Gate” well recently it’s more like the gate opened and we slammed it shut, pad locked it and then sat down and ate a snicker bar. First, lets justify . . . we were out of town for a week, then a wedding . . . and ate out the whole 2 weeks. And this week I had my wisdom teeth out. This is making for a hard recovery. We are frusterated with ourselves, and hopefully so are you.

Second, Tony and Becky Depiero (in case you haven’t heard by now) are expecting. Well, lets rephrase this . . . Becky is expecting. For some reason this news made Tony, Shane and I start acting like we were pregnant too (eating whatever we want, whenever we want it). Hmmm. If I am being totally honest then I should say that Becky (the real prego one) is eating better than all of us.

Moving on, some of you have been asking “have you mastered Tennis?’ The only Tennis we are mastering is on our Nintendo Wii. Some of you are asking “When do you climb the peak?” Thinking about that makes me throw up a little. We are not prepared.

So here is were you all come in. Send us your motivating stories to help us get back in the groove. You can email them to us or put them in the comment section. Let us know what you are doing and how you are doing it! Our first motivating story comes from John Shepherd (Shane’s dad):

You may remember that about three years ago I started a weight loss program. I drank a can of Slimfast for breakfast, another for lunch, and then ate whatever Janet and Elizabeth were having for supper. Over a period of a year and a half, my weight fell off from 285 down to 250. Trouble was that I found a plateau there and just didn’t lose any more for about eight months.

At the end of October 2006 my doctor decided that I had demonstrated effort so he directed me to a new diet: two eggs (Any-way), crisp bacon or sausage, cheese, fresh fruit, and juice for breakfast; vegetables for lunch, and salad for supper. The general idea is a high protein breakfast for energy through the day, then tapering off to the salad. ‘Anything eaten after 6pm goes to fat.’ After two and a half months my weight was down to 230, but my blood pressure was falling off too much, so the doctor reduced the blood pressure med by half, and now it is creeping back up. Today my weight was down to 220, something of another milestone. My triglyceride, LDL and HDL cholesterol are all well within the acceptable limits now. I have a lot more energy and going up and down stairs is a whole lot easier on my knees. My waist is down 5-6 inches. I feel like I’m making progress. Target weight is ~205. At that point, I believe I will be at approximately my ‘Fighting weight’, just needing to work on endurance and muscle.

Wow John, We are impressed! And feeling really guilty.

I am sure that Tony & Becky have some good advice for our pregnant friends out there too!

While waiting for your stories to come in, we will be getting our groove back in the Shepherd house.

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I started out January strong…working out at least 3 times each week, eating well balanced meals, skipping Cokes and sweets.  Somewhere around week 3 “the slacking” began.  I don’t know if it was the seemingly endless barrage of sleet and snow, extra pressure at work, or just lack of constitution.  Fortunately, thanks to Summer, I have continued to eat well…it’s just the exercise that has fallen by the wayside.  I didn’t weigh before starting this, but I can tell from the way my pants fit that I have already lost some!  February is here, and it’s time to kick it up again!

My plan is to follow the Couch-to-5K Running Plan suggested by Becky last month as soon as the temperature is over 50 degrees.

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Okay, okay, so we really had a rough time climbing to the peak of Guadalupe Mountain last year, well, we have decided to not let this mountain defeat us. We are so excited to announce that Tony and Becky Dipiero have agreed to challenge the mountain to a dual with us in April. Yes, they do know the whole story and still want to go with us. Now, those are good friends!

This plan has really increased my drive to work out. My goal: to make it to the top without vomiting! We are going to do a few things different this time . . .

number 1. Bring water (lots of water)

number 2. Exercise and train like nobody’s business

number 3. No driving home the same night

number 4. Have a day of relaxation, rest, and pampering the following day.

number 5. Take along great friends to laugh with and cry with along the way

This is going to be good. We are excited and would like any words of wisdom you have for us. We will post the exact date of the climb soon. We will also have Tony and Becky post what they are doing to train for this adventure. Are we crazy or what?

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So we have made it almost 2 weeks eating healthy, and so I have a few of my favorite meals, snacks, and recipes to share. My favorite breakfast recipe comes from 5 A Day cookbook

Cinnamon Oatmeal with Dried Fruit
6 oz. grapefruit juice
3/4 c. water
1/4 ts ground cinnamon
1/8 ts salt
2/3 c. old-fashioned oats
2 tbs brown sugar
your choice of chopped dry fruit and nuts ( I used craisins)

In a saucepan mix juice, water and salt and boil. Stir in oats and reduce heat stirring for 5 minutes. Let oatmeal stand until desired thickness and then stir in brown sugar and fruit and nuts.

Next, my favorite meal from last week comes from the Mayo Clinic William Sonama Cookbook (one you must own!) We had this for dinner and Mai loved it too! Here is the gist of the recipe-
Cut up yellow squash, zucchini, mushrooms, bell peppers and saute in skillet with olive oil- Add 1-2 cups of cooked whole grain brown rice to the veggies. Mix in garlic powder, fresh chopped basil, fresh chopped parsley, salt and pepper. Then I added chopped grilled chicken at the end (which I grilled on my Forman grill). It was great!

My favorite snack this week has been garlic and rosemary triscuits, and all natural Dannon peach yogurt.

Now, Shane and I have also allowed one bad day a week. This helps stop those pesky cravings of certain bad foods. And it helps me from cheating all week. So, on our bad day I must admit that despite the ice and freezing temps, Shane drove to Whataburger and got burger and fries. Then for dinner, he braved the ice again and got us mexican food. Oh, I love bad days. Any suggestions for our next bad day?

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I’m excited about the running plan Becky pointed out, but so far the weather has not cooperated. The temperature has not risen above 30° F in three days; the forecast is for highs in the 20s to 30s until Thursday.

Summer has talked me into doing pilates with her during this cold streak. I was reluctant at first…not only because I want to run, but also because I don’t want to become an exercise video kind of guy. I’m not even sure what that means, but it never seemed to me like something a “man” should participate in.

Regardless, I did participate…twice now. It was much more difficult than I anticipated. I almost didn’t make it through an entire 20 minutes the first time. Today, I’m happy to report I did 33 minutes of pilates. I expect that I will be able to complete the entire workout in my next attempt. I’m still not sure it’s “manly”, but it is definitely good exercise.

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I began exercising on Monday this week. On my first “outing” I decided I would run from my front door…around a school (about three block away)…and back home. As I neared the school it was apparent to me that I was not going to be able to run the entire distance. My knees and calves were throbbing, and my rapid breathing could not keep up with my oxygen needs. From that point, I adopted a pattern of walk one, run one for each block I ran (four around the school and three back home. By the time I reached my front door my head and ears were also throbbing painfully. I went inside, continued moving around the house for about 15 minutes while I cooled down, and then did some stretching. It was 30 minutes before the throbbing in my head began to slow down. I called in sick to work the next day.

The next day, after sleeping in (it turns out 8:20am is about all the “sleeping in” you can do with a 15 month old in the house) and a leisurely morning, I decided to have another go at it…fast walking pace only. My muscles are sore from the previous day, but it feels good to be moving. The entire trip (same path as Monday) took about 25-30 minutes.

I took Wednesday off. My goal for the week is to exercise 4-5 times. The weather forecast for the weekend will make this a challenge. Unfortunately, this probably means that we’ll have to put off starting Tennis until next week sometime.

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