Weight, weight, don't tell me...

Precor AMT-- Adaptive Motion Trainer http://www.precor.com/comm/en/amt/amt100i/

This is a tough time of year to try and not gain weight, let alone lose any. I haven't ridden my bike to work but 2 or 3 days this year so I am having to rely on exercise in the gym. Thank goodness for the AMT. I am finding my 3 times a week 30-40 minutes on this machine to be a pleasure and not exacting a toll on my knees. I can crank out, get my heart above 160 yet not stress my knees. I can get my heart rate that high on the treadmill with when I have it on a steep incline, but it is not nearly as comfortable of an experience as the AMT and sure enough, when I get excited and crank up the speed, I take it in the knees. I pretty much am now saving my self for running long outside. Of course nothing beats a nice long run in the out of doors, the time passes so quickly and pleasurably. But the day to day exercise routine for me has been compromised by my eroded meniscus and swollen stiff knees really do affect my whole outlook. My current routine is to do Pilates mat class for an hour then 30 min on the AMT twice a week, and on the 3rd day I do a shorter mat workout, some sun salutations, push ups, hand stands and then do 40 min on the AMT. I guess this is working. I have been under 210 since September. I got to my all time low post 20s weight-- 204 as my training peaked for the Denver marathon in October. Post marathon and when I stopped riding every day, the holidays were upon me and I started to gain some weight back. As I started to creep towards 210 I would have a good week and drop down again, hovering about 207. I hit a few days at 211, but managed to keep below 210. Since the new session of Pilates started and I graduated to the intermediate class on Tues-Thursdays, I have rededicated myself to the p-diet and in a matter of two weeks I am now back down to 204. A few days of low-carb induction, then a return to sensible eating, combined with the AMT cardio and I am back on track. I really want to start weight training again, but I decided to see if I can get under 200 first. My experience in the past with lifting weights is that I gain weight from the increase muscle mass. My goal to reach 185 by May 21st will benefit from lifting, but more so, when I attempt my to return to triathlon this summer, I will definitely be aided by improved upper body strength. I discovered that losing 20+ pounds makes doing push ups a lot easier, and I can now do handstands quite easily. I suppose I could get all the upper body toning I need from push ups, but really hate to see my baggy triceps when I hold my arms horizontally during Pilates class.

The AMT routines I've tried recently are 1) intervals and 2) pyramids. For intervals I did 2 minutes for each resistance, and did 1-5-1-10-5-15-10-20-15-20-10-15-5-10-1. For pyramid I did 3 minutes each 1-5-10-15-20-15-10-5-1 then 1 minute each 20-1-20-1, and brought my heart rate back down at 1. I was able to achieve 165 bpm max on the pyramid and sustained 140+ for the whole workout. It made it interesting and I sweat like a pig so I believe it was working. The interval seemed less intense. Both burned 450 calories and covered 2.8 miles.

I bought some new tires for my bike on Sunday-- Continental top touring 2000. I bought some 37's which will help my inclement and adverse commute. When I start riding long I am going to get some road tires- perhaps some 25's. Now, there is nothing stopping me from riding, weather be damned! did I mention it was a high of 7 degrees today and its going to be colder tomorrow? hmmmmm. At least its not snowing.

A better day for America

Yes we can! Yes, we can bring a better day to America

We were shocked by the news from nearby DeKalb, the senseless shooting of innocent students at Northern Illinois University. This is getting close to home and several friends are directly affected knowing the students who were shot, shot at or at NIU. This could have happened at UIC. Clearly this could happen anywhere. In the last week there have been several such shootings on campuses around the country. Gun violence is at an all time high. The current administration's politics of fear and aggression have to be a major contributing cause to this increase in gun related crime. While Bush is pushing the Congress to enact new legislation to further erode our civil liberties, the one liberty they will defend above all else is the right to bear arms. Right on, if everyone had a gun, the students in the auditorium could have pulled out their Smith and Wessons and blown that shooter off the stage. Oops, that was just tech support coming to adjust the podium. More violence, more guns, the NRA's credo. And Bush is in the pocket of the gun lobby. Take a away the guns!

A better day has got to come to America. Our war budget is breaking the bank. Since Bush has been President the economy has crashed, violence is up, Federal response to natural disasters has dwindled and the USA's standing in the world has gone from one of respect to revulsion. Yet the big important issues to the GOP remain anti-abortion, pro-Iraq war, tax cuts for the wealthy, supporting windfall profits for Big Oil, decreased funding for health and human services, and strong support of the NRA. Anti-environment to support exploitation of domestic resources-- the GOP continues to take a page right out of Ronald Reagan's book. Compassionate conservatism? Where is the compassion? Yet there is surely hope on the horizon. The ground swell of support for Barka Obama is exciting, encouraging and enlivining. Why do I support Barak Obama? When I hear him give those "big speeches" as Hillary calls them, I get goosebumps. No other candidate has ever excited me as much. Bill Clinton came close. In the very heighth of the impeachment debacle, his State of the Union address was absolutely stunning. A true statesman and marvelous orator. I was so dissapointed when Billary rolled out the negative campaign against Obama prior to the South Carolina primary. Since then Bill has been absent or when campaigning for Hillary, much more positive. With the nomination hanging by a thread, it could get ugly. Texas and Ohio may be the deciding states. Let's hope it doesn't come down to the super delegates or a brokered convention-- as exciting as that would be. We need party unity and we must be sure to win back the White House. A better day for America is all we can hope for.

Pals forever

Oak Park Indian Guides: Potawatomie Tribe at Camp MacLean, Wisconsin Feb 10, 2008

Pals forever, that is the motto of the Indian Guides, and the time we spend together, just us guys, fathers and sons, is so very special. This weekend we braved the snow and cold and did the winter campout with the Prairie federation at Camp MacLean, near Burlington, WI. This particular YMCA camp is very rustic and the only activities avaialable were sledding or crafts. We made several runs and a braved the toboggan chute, but after a few hours of being wet and cold, we opted for the crafts and made several necklaces and bracelet's. Our tribe won first place in sled appearance, though our Klondike like sled did not do very well in the race. Clearly some more engineering is needed. We won second place in the tribal chant but our accumulated tribal property, including the new dream catchers we made in January, still does not amass to the same collection some of the older tribes such as the Saux Fox, Ute and Cherokee have. The whole tribe except for our newest members all made the camp out and are pictured here. The Bones left early and are not in the picture, nor are the Kellys. It was -7 with -45 wind chill when we got up on Sunday morning, so not a lot of folks stayed to play. What a great time was had by all.

My trip to southern Illinois was postponed due to inclement weather. I got a call at 6 AM this morning in time to stop me from getting on the Saluki. The ice storm shut down SIU today and likely tomorrow too. My trip is rescheduled for March 17th. It should be nice weather by then, especially in Carbondale. I have played my cards close to vest and have not discussed my reasons for going to SIU with any but my closest confidants. It will be hard to stay mum for another month. Seeing the schedule they arranged for me it will be a daunting though very exciting venture down yonder. They had me scheduled to meet with no less than 30 folks including the Dean of the College of Sciences, the Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate College, professors from other departments on the search committee, plus all the faculty in the Department of Physiology. Each of the colleagues who agreed to write letters in support of my bid have been most encouraging and supportive. One good thing about even entering into this is the positive effect its had on my own self esteem. Imagine me being a chairman of a department. I can do this, yes I can! I anticipate that this is an exercise at this point and likely the best that will come of it is leveraging me into a better place her at UIC. However the idea of a more bucolic life in a college town nestled in the Shawnee National Forest is most attractive. Realizing that the nearest Trader Joes is 100 miles away in Saint Louis and that there are no Starbucks in Carbondale puts this into perspective. Great places to ride my bike though, no doubt about it. We could buy a farm and raise alpacas. But how are the schools? It's a college town, right? much to consider and this will be on hold for another month.