X-Training, Lunges, HCC, Golf and During Shots

Cross training went well as always - Squats, Bench Presses, Dead Lifts [you can read the program I do in the tab].  Did my lunges, but tried to do them a little faster than normal and got a great BURNNNNNN.  Then did Jamoosh's thrilling thirteen.  Hit every goal Jamoosh set, but cheated on the push-ups only doing the last 8 on my knees.  All this before 8 am.  Then I quickly showered and packed up my golf clubs, sandwich and stuff to race to the carpool place.

My friend Scott was coming in from London Ontario, to pick us up in Oakville and Mississauga to go golfing way up in Aurora [look on a map if you don't know].  With Dwight who had some great news, and we hadn't seen for 3 months.  I got behind the steering wheel and as I was backing out I cranked the wheel around to put my rear-end in the street, and my arms said "ah ... no".  Man was I weak.  Then I put my foot on the accelerator and it felt like I was trying to push a rope!  This was going to be a terrible golf game.

Here is one during picture.  From left, Scott (Mr. Humor, Insurance salesman by day, Insurance salesman by night - partner or VP in some company in London that ... sells insurance?), Dwight (Mr. wild-a@@ swing, CEO of some company in Ottawa), me (Mr. running man wannabe, President of Voxavox Inc.), and Eric (The most interesting man in the World, his blood smells like cologne, CEO of E.B. Sana).

You will notice much less belly hang in this picture.  But as I said it is a DURING photo.  I'm 5'11" a real shorty compared to these guys.  One really interesting thing I discovered here at Cardinal Golf Club-Redcrest was that on the 9th Tee there's a phone that you can call the restaurant on and order stuff - and then when you drive by on your way to the 10th they serve it up for you.  So we ordered.

I got myself a nice all-beef hot dog grilled on a BBQ that I had to bite before I could take a picture - tomatoes, onions and mustard.  This is the only way to eat them.  Notice the sunshine everywhere.  We went on to the 10th and teed off.  All of a sudden the sky opened up and we even saw what might have been a tornado "V" starting to develop.  Sirens started everywhere, and like rats leaving a sinking ship you could see little golf carts appearing on all paths, from behind burms, and through woods and all were racing to the club house.  We rushed into the clubhouse, but we had left the cigars and lighter in one of the carts.  Eric and Scott immediately ran out to save them but got drenched.

Cigars saved, we bought some refreshments and split a clubhouse sandwich (in a clubhouse!) and waited out the storm.  The storm passed quickly we left most of the food and drink on the table and ran to the carts to get out there as soon as possible.  We finished the round successfully with one more photo - I was in pain but I did not whine.  I only got two pars on the last 9 - the first 9 was a blur.  I don't believe the columns were wide enough to write in all those 11s and 12s for me.  Scott stated several times, "Andrew, I thought you play golf".  Dwight was on his blackberry the whole time saying "Get me out of here".  Eric was silent - he is a strong man.

Mission accomplished I looked like a golfer and had lots of fun.  But it was fun because Scott got 4 free rounds from the golf course and suggested the adventure which was about 3-hours drive one way for him, Dwight had 2 hours while me and Eric a measly 1 1/2 hours.

From left, me, Messrs. Dwight, Scott, and Eric.  One last thing.  You will not believe Dwight's wild-a@@ swing:





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Welcome Luke, Katherine (Forward Foot Strides), The Green Girl, The Turtle, and Kovas (Iš kur tu esi? Any relation to Ed from the NBA?).

Tempo Wednesday and Before Shots of Running Man Wannabe

Well today was a tempo run that boring-coach Adam did not make into a 3.0 k  from a 2.5 k.  He also did not send me a great link on improving your Marathon time.  [Thanks Adam I'm running my first race - a 5k - in about 4 weeks.  Great having you stay right on topic.]  It's a good overview of sports science and the way the body it thought to work and perform well.  He also nodded in a non-legally binding way to me increasing my weekly distance by 15% rather than 10%, before I taper off on the race week.  I'll be putting these changes into the program tab. [Note: Adam is not a coach and does not give advice, this is a joke, closed course, professional driver, your mileage may vary - really just wanted to paste his head on someone in Paint.]

Today's tempo times with a 6:33 pace (10:30 per mile):

Split	today	week ago	2 weeks ago	3 weeks ago
0.5 k	2:47	2:51	2:52	2:45
1.0 k	3:14	3:08	3:12	3:14
1.5 k	3:17	3:28	3:47	3:30
2.0 k	3:34	3:20	3:46	3:32
2.5 k	3:31	3:16	3:44	3:24
3.0 k	3:16

What's interesting is the more I pull out the run in the first 500 m, the slower I seem to recover in the second 500 m.  I bet the first 200 m of the run is fast ... my body is going "WTF? Are we running again?" and it's trying to keep up, but then quickly I drop down in speed, start my breathing, launch a couple of snot rockets,  [projectile vomit] throat clearing horks and I'm ok.

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Here is a before picture from late May 2010.  I'm actually soaking my feet in Stanley Harbor in Hong Kong, that behind me is a piece that turns into the South China Sea and then the Pacific Ocean. This picture is interesting because what you don't see on the left is that a bunch of environmentalist started running towards me once I started struggling out of the water.  They were all pointing at me and yelling in Chinese "a whale has beached itself we must push it back into the water!" ... That's about the time I started to loose weight and not eat all those executive meals my EMBA program was feeding me.  If this kinda travel pictures are interesting to you check out some more on my Facebook page search for Andrew Opala - I think they are shared without having to friend me, but please do if you are so inclined.

Here's another (still before) at the Great Wall standing beside my buddy and classmate Scott.  I think the belly is quite pronounced - and it's not the horizontal stripes baby.  It's the real thing! ... some real after pictures will follow shortly tomorrow.  I'll see if I can snap a good one when I'm golfing with friends (Scott being one in fact).   But it's really not after ... it's DURING - I expect to go a lot further.

Thanks for the requests, I would have wanted to show the before once I had the washboard stomach, but what can you do?  My goal is to become a [RILF - Runner I'd Like to ... Feed] healthy individual with a long life that does not become a burden on my family once I get older.  If you want to check out a washboard stomach go to Chris's site: BQ or Die and see him out at his aqua-training.  Just rub your shirts clean on those abs!

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Welcome to my new friends: Wannabe Runner, Candace, Jill, Heather, Christine, and Elizabeth.

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I'm officially in the Core Club, even though Groucho said "I'd never join a club that would have me as a member".