One of the local TV stations plays this mass for shut-ins show on Sunday mornings. It's a low budget video production of Catholic Mass in front of a small, live audience. There's an organist and an awful choir. But the worst part is that it's actually called Mass for Shut-Ins! They couldn't have just called it Mass and let the "for shut-ins" part be implied? Damn!
Boot Camp - Week 8
You may be wondering, what happened to Week 7? Well, the last couple weeks have been a bit of a blur and I missed a session or two. But I stayed on track by squeezing in a couple runs and a climb up the CN Tower and made it to both sessions in
Week 8.
Monday's session felt awesome. I killed it. Wednesday's session was a bit tougher but I still worked surprisingly hard considering I'd been up late the night before. And then it was time for the final weigh-in. I'm pleased with my results.
Weight lost: 5lbs
Body fat lost: 8.5lbs
Lean muscle gained: 3.5lbs
Total inches lost: 6
I feel so much stronger than when I started and there's been a huge increase in my energy. I'm excited to keep it up but I want to try something different. I get bored so easily so it's important to keep things fresh to stay motivated. So I'm going to do the Couch to 5K program. I've already tried out a few runs but now I'm going to start over and commit to three runs a week. If I stick to it, I may be able to run 30 minutes solid by the end of the year. I won't be disappointed if it takes me longer though. This is the first time I've tried running so I don't really know what to expect.
Master! Master!
Just got home from having many pints of beer at the Beaconsfield with my old boss Cory. He's awesome and he's doing really well. Now, I'm home and pretty drunk, listening to Metallica, Master of Puppets on vinyl. Cause i still can't get enough after the show last night. I can barely type. But holy shit this album is so good!
Obey Your Master!
Thanks to my awesome Roadie, I scored two passes to the Metallica show at the Air Canada Centre last night, and what a kick-ass show it was!
The stage was set up "in the round", with the drum kit in the middle and multiple mics on all sides. When my brother-in-law, Dave, and I entered from the backstage area we were on the floor facing the back of the drum kit. As a result, the crowd was sparse (everyone was on the other side) and we were able to stand about four people from the edge of the stage. Then, about a quarter of the way into the show, the drums rotated and we were right in front of the action. Just in time for One.
One isn't necessarily my favourite Metallica song but it is the first I ever heard. None of my friends were into metal back in the day so I didn't know who Metallica was until that video came out. When it was time for the One's guitar solo, Kirk Hammett was right in front of us. I mean, like, 15 feet in front of us. I could see every finger on every string playing every note and it was fucking amazing!
The rest of the show just as fucking amazing. There were lasers and fireballs and the guys worked the crowd so masterfully that even the ACC felt intimate. They obviously know what the audience came to hear and played a setlist that heavily favoured their earlier albums.
- That Was Just Your Life
- The End Of The Line
- For Whom The Bell Tolls
- Holier Than Thou
- One
- Broken, Beat And Scarred
- My Apocalypse
- Sad But True
- The Unforgiven
- The Judas Kiss
- The Day That Never Comes
- Master Of Puppets
- Blackened
- Nothing Else Matters
- Enter Sandman
- Die, Die My Darling (Misfits cover)
- Motorbreath
- Seek & Destroy
Now, all I want to listen to is Metallica. On a related note, want to know another thing that makes my Roadie so awesome? He has all Metallica's early albums on vinyl. Time to fire up the turntable!
24 minutes, 14 seconds
That's how long it took me to climb the CN Tower today. All 142 flights.
I was really nervous going into it. Signing up seemed like a good idea. A good way to test my fitness after six weeks of boot camp. Then I remembered that I'm kinda claustrophobic, but by that time it was too late to back out.
It turned out to be much easier than I thought. There's a huge air shaft that runs up one entire side of the stairs, separated by heavy wire mesh, making the stairwell feel spacious. It also helped that the stairs and railings were open metal. I kept a steady walking pace. Perhaps I could have pushed myself a little harder but I was cautious about overheating and feeling suffocated.
All the recent exercise has done me good. The cardio was tough but my legs were super strong. My muscles didn't burn at all. My legs have felt more tired after a boot camp session. But let's see how I feel in a day or two.
All in all, the event was a bit tedious (2 1/2 hours of waiting for 1/2 hour of climbing) but totally worthwhile to be able to say that I took the stairs to the top of the CN Tower. Elevators are for suckers!
Boot Camp - Week 6
This week was a bit weird. Monday's session was postponed because of Thanksgiving. Then I missed Wednesday's session because I was at the office until 10:30pm working on a new business presentation (we killed it). But I went for a run on Tuesday and to a make-up boot camp session this morning so I'm still on track. In fact, today I held Plank for two whole minutes! Yay for me! So I rewarded myself with a new pair of lululemon pants. I needed them. Honest. It was barely above freezing when I went to boot camp this morning. Way too cold for the cropped pants I was wearing.
I'm still determined to fit in a third workout so I think I'll pack my new pants when I fly to Calgary tomorrow (another new business presentation) and go for a run there. Provided there isn't any snow on the ground. I'm not THAT hardcore.
Boot Camp - Week 5
Boot camp was awesome this week! I'm feeling really strong and worked hard through both sessions. That's not to say that it's getting easy. I've yet to go through a class where at some point I didn't think, "Please let this be over!" But that's the whole point. Boot camp is group training and the role of the trainer is to push you harder than you would yourself.
I'm proud to say that I finally found time for a third workout this week. I went for a run (a run/walk, really) for the first time ever. Running has never appealed to me in the past but I felt the desire to try something different and it was really fun. Once boot camp is over at the end of the month I might try the Couch to 5K program, which should take me until Christmas.
Anyway, the last thing on my mind right now is exercise. I'm full of turkey, cake and wine, flaked out on the couch with the siblings, watching Murder Party in preparation for Halloween.
Bonne Nuit
This year I got an early start on Nuit Blanche and headed down to Liberty Village with my camera. The exhibits didn't blow me away. As always, it was the community that made it awesome. And this year I saw a different side of it - families with kids, older couples, sober people. Who knew?
The Apology Project was my favourite exhibit and the stand-out of Zone C. Though Fire and Sausage was suprisingly effective at setting the "urban disaster/catastrophe" tone. It seemed at almost every corner there was a group of people wrapped in emergency blankets around a bonfire patiently waiting for morsels of sausage and cups of hot chocolate. I wonder if the exhibit was as impactful (and orderly) later in the night, once the crowds descended.
I also noticed a number of attendees creating their own mobile exhibits involving costumes, instruments and bikes. I hope it catches on and there are more of them next time. It added to the participatory feeling of the night and made me think of events where the participants become the performers, like Burning Man.
Finally, I loved seeing Nite Lite as I made my way back up Strachan towards home. It was like a giant Lite Brite beckoning me, so of course I had to go over and play.
Boot Camp - Week 4 (Kinda)
Okay, so it's not technically the end of Week 4 because I missed Monday (stupid cold) and am doing a make-up session tomorrow. Plus, now that I look at the calendar, the four weeks were really three because we started mid-week due to Labour Day. Regardless, today was the Week 4 weigh-in and I'm excited to post about my results.
Weight lost: 2lbs
Body fat lost: 2.3lbs
Lean muscle gained: 0.3lbs
Total inches lost: 3.25
Doesn't look that exciting, does it? But when I consider that I didn't change my eating habits and failed to squeeze in that third workout each week, it's not bad. However, if I want more significant results (and I do), I'll need to amp it up for the next four weeks. The good thing is, I feel stronger now and have more energy so I can push myself harder without running out of steam or hurting myself.
Let's see if I'm still feeling so positive tomorrow. Boot camp two days in a row. What was I thinking?
Boot Camp - Week 3
Got lucky with the weather this week and did not have to do boot camp in the rain. It was close - on Monday it only stopped raining an hour before my session - but I stayed dry. Man, the rain sure brought out the mosquitos though!
I'm definitely stronger now than when I started. How do I know? I held Plank for one full minute! Of course, it happened to be the session where our instructor bumped us up to two minutes of Plank (which I could not do), but whatever, one minute is still a milestone in my books. Other people seem to be noticing the effects of boot camp too as I have received some very flattering compliments in the past few days.
Still haven't done the recommended third work-out though. But this week I had a reasonable excuse. I caught the cold from hell. It's been a few days but I still feel like death warmed over and will probably skip tonight's boot camp session as a result. Looks like it may be cancelled anyway, if the weather report is to be believed. I hope so, because then there will be a make-up session on Saturday and I won't technically be skipping.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
