Apr 13 / Sean Willson

Future Gruppo and Challenges

Challenges, Cycling, Exercise, Food, Motivation

A few weeks back I did a shout-out to get your feedback on my gym dilemma. It was actually quite revealing looking back on the posting as most of the comments knew exactly want I wanted to do based on how I wrote the posting … I wanted to join the gym.

You’ll be happy to know that I did just that this weekend, actually both my wife and I signed up. While it doesn’t open until June 1st I’m already really excited about it and during our walk this weekend we could be seen peeking into the windows checking out the construction of the new digs.

40 by 40 Challenge

I made a posting this weekend about a new personal challenge I’ve been thinking about undertaking, entering 40 races by the time I’m 40 years old. I think most everyone thought it was challenging yet doable but then I kinda felt wimpy when John said he was thinking about doing the same challenge but instead of doing it over 4 years he was going to do 40 races next year.

I think it’d be awesome to do something like that but wow it’d be crazy. I can’t even imagine what it’d be like doing that many events in a single year, especially with two kids and one of them being a newborn. Maybe the events would become the workouts when your doing a challenge that often. Then I might have more time with the kids but still it’d be crazy.

Is John crazy or am I for thinking I’m being wimpy? I think it’s a guy thing … we’re always into one upping each other.

Personal Reward

While I was out riding this weekend I realized that I’ve never mentioned one of my selfish motivations and a personal reward I’ve been planning on giving myself when I hit my 250 pound goal. A new bike … well to be more precise, a new road or cyclocross bike. I’ve been really envious of Elisabeth’s recent bike purchase and am awaiting her first posting with pics and a review.

I’m currently riding an 8 year old Schwinn Homegrown Factory mountain bike outfitted with road slicks. I had the frame replaced about 5 years ago under warranty when it cracked under my weighty abuse, right before Schwinn went out of business. Anyhow, it continues to serve me pretty well but I’ve wanted a road bike for at least ten years. As an avid fan of Tour de France and other european races and I’m always drooling over the riders new gruppo.

Obviously I’d look kinda funny weighing in at 450 pounds riding on an ultralight road bike huffing and puffing up the little hills. This image is obviously one of the reasons I’ve not yet pulled the trigger on one, that and I’m certain I’d spend a fortune on repairs due to my weight. To be honest I don’t even know if 250 pounds will be light enough for one but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. Until then it’s a nice motivation and reward I’ve been planning on for a while and even have wife pre approval for.

Weekly Workouts Recap

Here’s a quick recap of my workouts for this past week.

Monday, Morning (30 min): 2 min warmup, 28 min circuit training using 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels. I did Level 1 and then 10 minutes of Level 2.
Tuesday, Evening (35 min): Upper body weight training in the evening.
Wednesday, Morning (50 min): A very hard 50 minutes circuit training routine called No More Trouble Zones by Jillian Michaels. It’s very long but feels amazing when I finish it.
Thursday, Morning (50 min): I did No More Trouble Zones again, what can I say I’m a glutton for punishment.
Friday, Day Off: Nothing today, taking freeday along with no workouts.
Saturday, Morning (75 min): I took my bike out for it’s inaugural ride of the year. I rode 3 miles to a path and then did 3 laps of 3 miles each on the path before returning to the local coffee shop 4 miles away for a total of 16 miles.
Sunday, Morning (50 min): 25 min doing lower body workouts followed by 25 min on elliptical trainer doing HIIT.

Warrior Repeat

As you know I decided to repeat this past Weekend Warrior Challenge given how poorly it went last time. I’m really glad I did because this weekend went perfectly.

Get bike out for at least 10 miles — I succeeded at this one by getting my bike out for a 16 mile ride on Saturday.
Eat clean without leaking free meal — really took this one to the mat by not only eating on track all weekend but when we did go out I ate clean as well.
Cook a new squash recipe — Finally, I owned this one as well … not only did I cook the Zucchini and Spaghetti Squash “Lasagna” but I also made my first ice cream ever by making some Diary Free Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream. Here’s a picture of the finished lasagna from Sunday.

I know challenges shouldn’t really be “redone” … that’s kinda the point of them, they are a challenge at a point in time and sometimes you just have to call it done and move on. This one however really felt wrong and felt like I let the holiday get the best of me. I owed it to myself and my dedication this year to retry what I had set out to do originally. I couldn’t have been happier with how this weekend turned out.

How was your weekend? Did you do anything new and interesting?