Here I sit on the eve of another challenge…………………….where to start.

The last challenge was a total crash and burn. No excuses, it is just how I let things turn out.

This challenge will present its own sub challenges. On day 3 we leave for a weekend in the North Woods. These weekends are historically filled with lots of food and booze. I know I will partake in the latter, but I intend to watch what I eat.

About halfway through the challenge, the wife and I leave for an annual ski trip that we take with 3 other couples. We stepped up the trip a notch this year and will be going to CO for 4 days. Once again an annual trip that revolves around good friends and lots of decompressing. The upside, is that I will probably ski three full days! So there will be some exercise.

The above two trips are what lead to me lowering my goals a little for this challenge.

CE: 80/104
RT: 12
CT: 15
PG1: lose 10 pounds
PG2: run outside 5 times

See you in the morning bright and early!

This challenge has been a struggle for me to date.

The hardest part is that I let my eating slip between challenges and have been slow to get back on track. Today went pretty well and I should be able to log two clean eats!

As soon as my wife gets back from taking a couple in our neighborhood dinner (just had a baby), I will head downstairs and knock out a CT before I eat dinner myself.

Then it is off to the chilly garage to attempt some car repair.

As I have previously written in this very short blog, I have struggled with this challenge. Todays QotD made me realize what the problem was.

It is not that I don’t want to eat better.
It is not that I don’t want to lose more weight and get in better shape.
It is not that I don’t think I can do it.

It is that I have been receiving compliments lately about my weight loss and I am becoming complacent.
It is that I have been lazy and not making my breakfast in the morning or packing a lunch.
It is that I have been making excuses about being too busy to eat properly.

The time has come for me to quit making excuse and starting making my own destiny……………….

Tomorrow is a new day and I will take control of it.

I am starting to get things back in order for this challenge.

I managed to get 2 CT’s and an RT in this weekend. I ate decently as well.

Hopefully this is the start of my turn around.

Well I have been pretty bad at this blogging thing!

I am a week into my third 52DC. This challenge has been more challenging than the previous two.

I am off to a rocky start but working on getting back on track. I have slipped with my TNT eating plan.

I have started the HGM workout plan that was put together by Mens Health. So far I like the exercises a lot. The program is customizable to the equipment that you have available to you.

I have made it a goal to keep this blog more up to date.

Week one is in the books.

I am pleased with my progress so far. I only lost 0.5 pounds, but also lost 0.5% body fat.

I am a little behind where I would like to be for my RT’s at the one week point. I am shooting to get 2 to 3 in per week with the same number of cardio sessions.

The TNT diet has been going pretty good. I am through the first few chapters of the book as well. I have been limiting my carb intake pretty well most days. Todays intake was on the high side, but overall still a good day of eating. There will be a stop at the grocery store tomorrow to stock up on necessities.

A quick note to add to my post about my daughters race: I caught a glimpse of a fiery competitiveness in her during the race. She was actually chasing down the other kids in front of her.

Saturday marked the second time I have competed in the Ore to Shore (www.oretoshore.com) Mountain Bike Epic.

This all started in the spring of ‘07. My friend Nate challenged me to a mountain bike race as motivation for getting in shape. Nate routinely competes in different races around the state of WI. I didn’t manage to lose a bunch of weight in preparation last year, but I did compete and complete the race.

So for 2008 i made a better effort to lose weight and get in shape. I fell short by about 15 pounds for the weight that I wanted to lose before race day. I feel I trained better this year. Pushing myself more and logging more miles prior to the race.

Race day started pretty chilly (65F). Right as we were lining up to roll out, the rain came. The rain was probably one of the best things that could have happened. The course has a large amount of sand. The rain packed it down some, making parts of the race easier to navigate. As the race started, I did my best to keep pace with Nate. (Nate has been training for Spring Triathalons and is about 30 lbs. lighter than last year) As he pulled away, I concentrated on keeping a good pace and not killing myself in the first part of the race.

As the race progressed I noticed that I was ahead of my goal pace (2:30). At the 20 mile mark I had only been on the course for about 1:40. I was heading into some of the hardest part of the course, but was feeling confident that I could easily beat my goal time. As I finally emerged from the trail and onto the last stretch of pavement, I felt a burst of energy. I shifted into a higher gear and set my sites on the guy about 100 yards ahead of me. I wasn’t able to complete catch him, but I did finish strong and ahead of my goal time. Final result was a race time of 2:18:32.3. That equates to a 12.2 mph pace.

When I compare this year to last year, I was 28 minutes faster overall at a little of 2 mph faster pace!

The highlight of the weekend was riding behind my 7 year old daughter as she competed in the Little Rock 4 mile race. She did awesome! She finished in 28 minutes and 42 seconds and never quit pedaling.

The Fall challenge has officially begun with day one in the books.

I ate pretty well yesterday. I wasn’t able to get any exercise in (that counted) do to packing and getting everything ready for the weekend trip.

We are leaving this afternoon for the UP. We will be staying at my inlaws lake cottage south of Marquette, MI. On Saturday I will be participating in the Ore to Shore Soft Rock Mountain bike race. This is a 28 mile race from Negaunee, MI to the Lake Superior shore in Marquette. This will be my second time doing this race. Last year my wife thought I was nuts, she probably still does. Prior to last years race, I had zero mountain bike race experience. I now only have one race under my belt.

My goal is to beat last years time. I finished in 2:42 last year. I am shooting for under 2:30 this year. My 7 year old daughter has decided that she wants to participate as well. She will be doing the Little Rock race. This is a 4-mile event for any age up to 16. She is really excited. Of course, this means I will be riding and additional 4 miles after my race, but it is worth it!

I also reached a bench mark weight yesterday. At the start of the challenge I weighed in at 230 lbs. I have not been below 235 in almost two years. There is a long way to go, but I am on my way.

Despite my previous blogging efforts, I did finish the Summer 52DC with a Gold medal.

Looking back, I hit a two week stretch where I didn’t do a CT or an RT. I just made my clean eat goal of 80, but fell short on my two personal goals. I lost 9 lbs. bus was gunning for 10. I also didn’t get 100 miles in on my bicycle.

I sort of started this fall challenge early. I decided last week Wed. that I was going to switch my eating plan to the TNT plan. Do to time I will probably stick with the Belly Off workouts. These are convenient because I can complete the body weight exercises at home.

The TNT plan has been going decently for about a week now. I will weight in Wed. morning to start the challenge and see if I hit my two week goal to lose 5 lbs.

I have been riding my bicycle a lot more to gear up for the mountain bike race I will participate in on Saturday. The race is called the Ore to Shore. It takes place in the UP ending in Marquette, MI. I will be participating in the the Soft Rock 28 mile race. Last year, at about 245 lbs., I completed the race is 2 hours and 42 minutes. I am lighter and I think I have been training better this year. My goal is to complete the race in under 2 hours and 30 minutes.

The race and the fact that we will be staying with Family should make the first weekend of the challenge interesting.

I can’t weight to kick things off on Wednesday!!

I can’t believe it has been almost 4 weeks since I last wrote in here.

Overall I am doing pretty good with this challenge. My clean eats have dropped off from my last post. We have been out of town a few weekends and I got a little carried away. I need to work on that. I am still putting in the effort though.

CT’s and RT’s have been up and down. I think I have 9 of each complete and about 3 weeks left to do the rest. I am working on getting to bed at an earlier time so I can try and get an RT in before I leave for work. Getting up between 4 and 5 a.m. to get that done has been hard. I haven’t done it yet, but I also have not been to bed before 11 p.m. in a while as well.