Erg Record

I made a 10K in 43:18 the other day on level 3. Monday I'm going to go to level 4 and sprint for the first 2K (my sister and coworker are going to watch my 2K to observe form). I'm sad I can't run at the moment since my toe is still broken, but I am enjoying the burn of 3,600 additional calories each week on the erg.

Diet is holding well: 5-egg white omelette in the morning (eggology) with a teaspoon of flax oil, and then 1/2 cup oatmeal. Then I eat 4 times/day, consisting of 4oz grilled chicken breast and a bunch of broccoli and black beans. After one tall glass of red wine at night, my total calories per day are under 2,000 which is fine for now.

In other news I see my ENT on Tuesday, and I'm going to scream at her since surgery has been ineffective. WTF? The good news is that two of my friends out here sympathize -- one has similar symptoms but she says not nearly as painful; the other has a friend who went through a 3-4 year fight with chronic pain flying all around the country until she finally found a doctor who could figure out the issue. This is great news to me since no one seems to understand what this is like, and in fact many people think it's all in my head. Never give up, never surrender!

Pre-Thanksgiving Weigh-in

It's been a fun last week or two getting back into exercise after my month hiatus thanks to surgery. I've been rowing 6 days/week, 10K meters per day, increasing the level on the erg every 4th day. Today I just did my first 10K at level 3 in a pretty decent time of 45:40. But now I'm about to head out to a Thanksgiving feast, and I wanted to weigh in beforehand. My day started out at 203.2 lbs, 19% BF. I am going to measure tomorrow to get an estimate of increase after this most calorie-dense of holidays.

The Secret to True Happiness is... Exercise!

I was watching Night at the Museum 2 on the airplane the other day and Teddy Roosevelt, played by Robin Williams, mentioned this in the film: "The secret to true happiness is exercise."

I was thinking about that in the last few days as I've started up my exercise routine again after a month of nothingness due to doctor orders. All I can say is I've been loving it. I'm doing 10K on the erg one day, then an hour of spinning or other cardio the other. No weights yet, but I'll get there next week.

His quote makes sense on multiple levels. Why is exercise so important?

• Decreases chances of chronic diseases
• Burns fat
• Leads to increased oxygen consumption, which in theory boosts mental capacity
• Weight training requires more food, which means I get to eat more
• Being physically fit works well not just with the ladies but also with any customers. I remember the days back in 2006 when I was 8.5% bodyfat and people I just met (or had not met at all) treated me differently, as if I was a celebrity. I remember one of my friends from college, who is this 6'2" male model, has always been around 4%BF and pretty huge. No matter where he went, both girls and guys gave him more respect.

So, in conclusion, life is simply better with exercise, and, in particular for guys, weight training. It's win-win. Yes, I'm still in pain because my sinuses seem to be resistant to my surgery, but I can continue to exercise without them being fully healed.

So here's to hoping I can get back on track with my training regiment!

V - Lisa Teeth Fail

I started watching V, a modern reincarnation of the 1980s science fiction TV series. One interesting note about all the alien visitors, mentioned in the first episode actually, is that each alien is considered attractive by human standards. Well, the Hollywood filmers missed one small frame. Consider Lisa, a pretty blonde played by Canadian actress Laura Vandervoort. As you can see, very cute:

But check out her a few frames before when she's smiling happily at her human pseudo-crush:

Yikes, looks like she had something stuck in her teeth. Just in case you can't see:

Nov 1st Update

I'm waiting for my flight back to the Shire and thinking of my current situation. Diet is on track again, after my weekly gorge (yesterday), I'm very excited to get back to black beans, broccoli, and the wonderful quinoa.

Sinuses are still infected but I am noticing some difference from my nerves. Different signals suggest there is still a lot of stuff going on in there, and there is still a bunch of stuff coming out. I see the ENT again in a few weeks so then we'll see how things are going. I have not yet felt like the heavens have opened and all my pain in my face has gone away; rather, I still feel like someone shoved their fist inside my face right behind my eyes, grabbed onto my sinuses, and have squeezed really tightly. Yes, that's my life.

Workout has been on hold for the last few weeks due to surgery. Hopefully I can return to the game this week; I just need to figure out what exercise I can do with a broken right big toe and a damaged right rotator cuff. I'm thinking I'll just stick with the erg 3x/week and weightlifting 3x/week. I do want to add in yoga 2x/week so maybe I'll have long Tue/Thu workouts (~10K on the erg, then 75 minutes of yoga). We'll see -- I still don't feel I should be lifting too much weight.

On a good trajectory though, I'm looking forward to getting back into the game.