Exercise Day : Mining in Skyrim can be fun.

I decided to stay in today. It's slightly cold and I lack the motivation to go out in the brave new world. So I did some mild stretches to my legs and arms. I already had my PS3 on with Skyrim running. I just bought my property in Falkreath. I have been doing laundry earlier today and left my character to mine clay. Then I thought, well I need a good amount of stone. I set Atelah to quarry stone for the thirty minutes of exercise. I ending up exercising a little longer than that, but more on that in a moment. After thirty-seven minutes of elliptical training, I quarried 2112 pieces.

As usual I used my trusty blip.com app on my iPad keep me occupied. I watched a crossover review of Obsurus Lupa/Diamanda Hagan Review for "God of Vampires." It was a horrible film and an alright review. Some of the jokes didn't exactly hit for me. It was a thirty-seven minute video and I thought I'll just stop when I hit thirty minutes. When that thirty minute mark came up, I felt kind of silly i couldn't do another seven minutes. So seven minutes later I was finished and quite tired.

I feel a little refreshed as I write this. With tomorrow as my day off, I might shake things up abit and do something different. We'll see; as I have been told a many times before.

Day 2: Bad Choices

On to day 2.

I have used the elliptical machine before. It has some nice simple settings and features: incline & resistance control, preset programs, a timer, a fan. All of these run off your own movement. After moving the device to the hallway, nothing works. I went ahead and used it anyway. I was committed and i just did a mild set of stretches. More on the latter in a moment.

I watched a video of the cinema snob on my lovely iPad for the duration of the "run". It was a video review of a die hard knock off called "Crackerjack". The 24 minute episode was quite enjoyable; but after 12 minutes of not knowing how far i was going and no fan, I didn't feel so fresh. That was my second poor choice; my first was using weights in the stretches.

Prior to the elliptical machine, I did some quadricep stretch for 20 sec or so for each leg. Another 20 sec. on a modified calf stretch where i have my back leg perpendicular. Then I decided to push it a little more with two 5 lb weights. I did 10 reps of arm lifts with a weight in each hand. This was followed by 10 reps of arm curls. I performed 10 reps of the same calf stretch where I had one arm stretched out and one at my hip. I held this for 30 sec for each calf. For the finale I did 10 squats with a weight in each hand. It doesn't seem to be very much and to be frank i sound like a silly. However, my legs still hurt a little bit and I haven't really done very many stretches for quite some time.

I did power through those last 12 minutes on the elliptical.  It wasn't pleasant. Overall, this activity took a little over 32 or so minutes.

Tomorrow I may wake up a little earlier and run outside. I also have to fight my urge to play Skyrim. I just downloaded Dawnbreaker and have created a new character in the spirit of this new release. That or choose between the elliptical or a mixed work out that involves more crunches and push-ups.

To be honest, I'd rather run.



[Also, if anyone has a better way to term any stretches feels free to tell me. I'm not a hundred precent sure on all the names. I just mimic what i have remembered]

A "Newer" Me

I have decided after a many stop and go's of me running; I will be writing about my endeavors everyday, wether it be good or bad. I'm mostly hoping for good. I don't expect these entires to be terribly long. Hopefully though This will help me keep in check for the task at hand. This is the third month I have tired to run/walk, more like a strong walk/jog, in a consistent fashion. The best i've done was just two weeks. In my defense I have been losing weight thanks to the DASH Diet. I've dropped from 260 to 238, my last weigh in prior to today. [I had yet to weight myself when I wrote this sentence.]

My goal is 30 minutes of exercise a day. This can entail jog/walking, elliptical machine with some simple hand free weights and wii fitness. Wii fitness would be a combination of boxing and yoga.
I'm planing on dropping down to under 200 lbs. (I'm 6' 0")

I'll do a weigh in every 6 days or so.
Current weight: 237 lbs
I am using the GPS+ pedometer ultimate.

Today's stats:
I have taken 3833 steps; an equivalent of 1.8 miles.
Duration: 31 minutes and 56 seconds.

I mostly walked the entire route. Kinda lame, I know. I walked/jogged on the nearby snow covered bicycle trail. It was a balmy 34° F. The sun was shining. We are getting more sunlight everyday, as one would hope. Saw a couple of runners out there with me along with a handful of dogs.

For "running" I have a goal I want to reach before I turn back at 15 minutes. At 2 miles there is a Costco's. After that there is a Target down the road from there. At the intersection of the Target, you turn to the left where it follows to the next major road. Half between there are train tracks. Then there is a bakery/cafe at left of where the intersection road and major road meets. I saw the Costco's in the distance today. I'm hoping to reach that by mid march. So a good start, I guess.