I am eating veggies and salads, but I get goddamn cravings for fast foot, and sometimes I still give in.  I was bad today and got a single burger from DQ.  Why? I dunno, but I feel like shit now, so I guess my body’s telling me no.  I try to give in a little smarter and not get the fries or the huge coke, but it still doesn’t help my goals.  I will buy some burger meat next time I shop.  It will be cheaper to make my own than to get Whataburger or whatever.  Maybe healthier too, since I’m cheap and lazy and won’t mess with fries or chips at home.  Maybe I can get some whole wheat rolls to use. 

My cardio has improved.   I was able to go from two minutes and feeling like I was dying to three minutes and then feeling just kind of beat.  Then we went over to the open floor and set up some cones, and did some football conditoning, which I could feel a burn in my thighs and calves.  I was still doing okay, but taking longer to catch my breath. 

He bailed on me about 1215a, and I went ahead and called it a night.  I got home and felt that I should have done more.  Next time I will pack my mp3 player and do weights alone if he needs to go.  I also could probably do more cardio on the treadmill later, and if not, at least on the bike or something.

I feel like although I’m trying, and although I feel better overall, that I could be doing better/more.

Skipped the gym.

for Friday I ate a sandwich with grilled chicken, peppers, onions, olives, spinach leaves and ranch.  Been drinking water and iced tea.  Tonight I did some cardio, and then did some weight training till I was sore.

Had a fucking asthma attack at work, got sent to clinic.  Well, they said it was asthma.  I don’t know if I believe it, I suspect it’s my allergies flaring up.  I haven’t had asthma for years.  Got a steroid shot and some other stuff.  Felt like I could take twenty guys all night, so I worked if off in the gym.  Doc wants to monitor my breathing and my blood pressure.  It was a bit high too.

Today, I ate two hot dogs with mustard, on the road.   I didn’t eat all of the bun, rather used the bun to hold it while I drove.   I also had unsweet iced tea.

Tonight I ate a roast beef sandwich on a whole wheat roll.  I didn’t like the roll.  The sandwich had chipotle mustard, onions, and green peppers on it, with two slices of swiss cheese. 

Then at 11pm I went to the gym to meet up with my partner.  We started off on the treadmills, and determined that to meet our goal of a mile in a minimum of 10 minutes, we had to set the speed to 6 mph.  We were able to sustain this pace for two minutes.  We then relaxed back to a more comfortable pace.  I chose to power walk at 4 mph.  After five minutes, we went back to 6 and completed another 2 min. 

After that we proceeded to to the bench press – three sets of ten.  Our weights were different.  I did one set at 100, one at 85, and one set till burn out at 70.  I believe I managed 21 reps on the final set.  My partner has greater upper body strength than I do, but not as much stamina. 

After the bench press, we took a 50lb dumbell to the staircase and placed it at the top.  One of the tests we must overcome for police academy is to climb a set of stairs, retrieve a 50lb weight, descend the stairs with it, ascend the stairs again, put it down, and return to the base of the stairs.  I do not know the number of stairs the PD will use.  Our staircase has 16 steps.  We completed three trips each, with my times continuing to be 26 seconds even.  Individual events other than the one mile run are not timed separately, but we do not have the entire course to train with, and must rely on our own facility to do the best we can.  Both of us feel that I can surpass 26 seconds.  My partner was marginally faster than me.  Part of our problem is the round nature of the dumbell, and having to stabilize it as we place it.  I suggested trying the exercise with a kettle bell next time. 

This concluded our activity for today.  We both feel that we could be more productive – however our lack of cardio endurance is wearing us down.  The greatest obstacle for both of us will be the run, so we have decided to focus on stamina first. 

My post workout meal was a glass of milk – probably 8oz.  One pork chop with a little BBQ sauce and a couple dill pickle rounds.  And lastly a smallish spinach salad with carrots, cabbage and broccoli, parmesan cheese – the real kind not the pizza hut shit – and some caesar dressing.  I’m thinking about switching to balsamic vinaigrette, but a good one is hard to come by.  I’m not sure if I should be worried about the fat content in my caesar dressing, as I try to keep it to a minimum.

Went to the gym, did enough cardio to make me want to die – I’m going to need my inhaler again, either my bronchitis is still there, I got asthma, or I’m allergic to something down there.  We also did the kind of situps involving a medicine ball and an inclined bench.  Didn’t have much energy left, but climbed stairs to the 8th floor and walked back.   I still want to do some weights, but we were pretty dead by the end of the night. 

Dinner – two sausage links, a hand size of pasta, a slice of bread, and the rest of the salad.  No tea in the house, so I’ll be drinking some milk.

Anyway, for lunch I had a couple tacos and a quesadilla from Taco Bell.  And a Mountain Dew.  I didn’t eat it all because for some reason it tasted like shit.  I usually love Taco Bell.  I was very disappointed.  But the work food sucks ass on Sundays. 

For dinner I had a small salad with my favorite creamy dressing, two big slices of crusty bread with country crock on it, two italian sausage links – didn’t finish the second – and pasta with sauce.  The pasta was about the size of my open hand on the plate and I think I’d have been good with one sausage.  I was filled.

I also had some diet coke.

Then I met up with a co-worker that wants to do the same thing I want to do and we went back to work to use the company gym.  We did some cardio on the treadmills, which I am sorely lacking in stamina.  My new Aasics were nice though and my feet didn’t hurt at all. 

Then we set up some agility routines he knew from his days of football, which I think will help with the PD’s obstacle course.  http://police.amarillo.gov/pdf/Physical_Agility_Test.pdf  There’s details. 

We also used an incline bench and medicine ball to do some situps that were a real bitch. 

I want to work in some weights, too.  We’ll go again tomorrow.

Ate Whataburger with fries and a coke after work.

Didn’t do jack shit today.

Maybe a salad for dinner.  I’ll be working all night so I plan on packing more chicken and beans for the middle of the night. 

You might be wondering where all this goddamn chicken and beans came from.  Well…I had a desire for red beans.  I had a bag of em and all the stuff to make some, and I made the whole bag.  I also made a whole chicken.  I got the whole chicken for $4.50 and there’s more meat on it than the $10 pack of breasts.  Well, I kinda had to cook it all. 

For exercise today, I rode my bike for a half hour and my legs are cramped and I was at that stage between okay and out of breath the whole time. 

I was going to get the Dolph Lundgren Maximum Potential workout video, because Dolph Lundgren is the shit.  And he’s fucking huge.  I also want to be “the shit” and “fucking huge”.  Well, not really but I think he’s as good a source as any for cheesy workout instruction.  Alas ’twas not meant to be.  VHS…1987…not a torrent in sight. 

Maybe I’ll try some Tae Bo.  I need something to do inside too, and I’m a bit of a weenie when it comes to working out on my own.  On one hand, I prefer the solitude, but on the other I’m often at a loss for what I could be doing.

Evidently I thought yesterday was the third.  Anyway, I took the last of my chicken and split it between a dinner to take with me and a salad.  I got a salad with croutons, cheese, chicken, carrots, and of course, lettuce.  And some creamy caesar dressing.  I love that kind.  I ought to find a vinaigrette I like…

For dinner I ate some more chicken, two scoops of the red beans I made, eight wings – baked and homemade – and a can of RC.  Oh, and I’m sipping on some bourbon.

I have to work nights tomorrow so I don’t know what my schedule will be like for tomorrow and friday.  Hopefully I’ll feel up to riding for a while at least.

Otherwise, I’ve eaten -

2 thin pork chops

A handful of carrot slices

two or three scoops of red beans and sausage that I’ve made for dinner.

a few ounces of chicken I roasted earlier.

Oh, and currently drinking unsweet iced tea.  Had a bit of apple juice too, I never measure anything, but I’d say the size of two shot glasses. 

Oh, and I rode my bike around for about a half hour and my fat ass is tired.  I will attempt to lift some weights after diner.

ETA – I did a very basic dumbell workout after dinner.  I have 15lbs each on the bars, and the max I can go is 20.  I can get new plates later if I want more, but for now that will be fine.  I did bench press, shoulder press, bicep curl, tricep…row?  I was able to do 2×10 for bench press and bicep curl, and 1×10 of the others.  It’s easy to see what I neglected back when I went to the gym – I haven’t done jack in months.  I also did 2×10 crunches and 2×10 leg lifts.  We did that in my karate classes, it works the lower abs.  I can’t do a full situp.  I don’t think it’s because I’m weak, I think it’s because my belly is in the way. 

I also found out I’m not able to do a single pushup.  Well, not the right way. I’ll work on that tomorrow.

I’ll have to come up with some shit to write here. I succeeded in the cheap ass grocery challenge though, and now I’m in a better financial situation.

However, it taught me how to shop for bargains and reduce my overall grocery bill.

Win-win.