Multi Athlete

One of the items on my 10 things to do before my 30th Birthday list is two complete 2 months of the P90x workouts.  Well this is something I have started right away, so I can try and stay on track with it and get the two months completed.

I first heard about P90x from my cousin, my first thought was ‘oh another lame workout video.’  I never really have heard p90x about before he mentioned it and after his description of it ’90 days of hardcore workouts’ my interest got the better of me and I started googling away.

P90x Community
Well turns out P90xers are kind of a group of there own, many blogs and you tube videos out there, some detailing the whole program and sharing everyone’s experiences with it.  The more I watched the more interested I got in it.  I got seriously addicted to the Youtube videos!

I guess word in the blogging world is you should already be in pretty good shape to even do the videos.  You can even be expected to complete some pull ups by the end of the program.  Which is already of interest to me, since I need to try and pump 8 out by my Birthday!

The Program
Tony Horton is your “personal trainer” through the videos, some may know him from other beach body workouts and he is pretty ripped.  Anyhow there are like 12 different videos to do and you rotate through them during the week.  The videos are couple weight workouts, plyometrics, one that is sorta like tae bo (kenopa) a yoga, and a hardcore ab.

My Thoughts
Okay by now I’m saying to myself wow I can’t believe I’m interested in this infomercial workout videos.  My cousin even lent me his when he was done with them and I took them and set them in my closet that was about half a year ago.  I mean I’m more of outdoorsy, biker, runner, snowboarder type of person, when was I actually going be able to dedicate like1 hour and half to these videos everyday, I would much rather go for a jog.

Really it was reading others blogs and watching their personal you tube videos that sold me on trying it out, it sorta looked fun (seriously if you have any interest in the videos go check out the post for them on you tube there are 100s of them to view).  Plus I could use some strength training, I haven’t been doing any in the last year and didn’t really want to fork out money for gym right now.

So I figured I would put it on my “things to do before I am 30” list.  I only had 60 days though, until my 30th Bday, but I figure hey if I make it 60 days, that’s better then nothing and maybe I’ll possibly stay motivated for the last 30 days. So I figured why not give it try and see how it goes, it just felt like the right time to do it.

Conclusion
I thought I would do possibly weekly (maybe more often at first since I’ll likely have more whining to do) updates on the program; I already completed day 1 and 2 yay!  More thoughts on the program to come.

Today is Feb 23rd which means one main thing to me……2 months left in my 20s!  That’s right on April 23rd I turn the big 30.  I started thinking about this over the weekend….it seems like just yesterday I was 29 and I made all these ‘do before your 30′ goals in my mind.  I don’t really know if I achieved many of them since they are always changing around as the days progress. I mean I did get some definite stuff done like travel for the whole summer (a ’summer break’ if you will),  I did some Kiteboarding in South Padre, I even lived on a boat.

As the big 30 approaches though, I started thinking of few last minute things I want to do.  I can be one of those people that says ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ and before I know it a whole month will fly by and I won’t have it done.  But I thought Feb. 23rd is a perfect day to make a list of things to do before I turn 30.  This will give me a solid two months to accomplish them.  Plus I want to start my 30s feeling good and motivated.

So I made a list of 10 things that I want to accomplish before I turn 30:

1.    Mountain bike at least 4 different spots in CA  (This is one of the things that i keep putting off, there is so much great trail riding to be done here and I want to experience some of it)

2.    Learn to ride a skate board ( I have pretty much wanted to do this since I was 8 years old, better late then never…even though I’m sure it will be embarrassing.)

3.    Do a running trail race (I want to start trail running, it so fun getting of the road, so I decided what better way to motivate me then to sign up for a trail race)

4.    Hike anzaborrego desert state park (This is suppose to be a really sweet state park in Southern CA, I wanted to go there last time I lived here, but never did, this time I’m going to do it)

5.    Read an adventure novel (Outside and Adventure magazine are always publishing the top classic adventure novels to read, I always go down the list and think I want to read one of these, but never do….what am I waiting for!)

6.    Volunteer for beach clean up (I really believe you shouldn’t just take from a place that you live and have fun at, you should give too)

7.    Learn to ride a dirt bike (Basically another thing I have wanted to do since I was 8, I’m sure I’ll be in class with a bunch of teenagers, should be fun!)

8.    Do first two months of P90x (P90x is video workout, supposedly it pretty hardcore, I have had the videos for awhile but the plan is 90 days….so I always find an excuse not to do them…I figure if I start today I can get the first two months done and then easily finish the third one all before summer…no more excuses….I will blog about my experience with this program)

9.    Get on a healthy balanced diet (Traveling makes you eat crappy, living on fast food and erratic meal times makes me feel like crud, but is an hard habit to break, I want to start eating balanced small meals through the day.  I will keep a food diary to keep on track and get balanced eating plan)

10.  Do 8 solid pull ups (I used to pump out pull ups all the time, but not lifting weights or hitting the gym very often has weakened me, right now I can’t do ONE.  So I came up with the number 8; five seemed to easy and 10 felt to hard.)

So this is the big list, before I wrote it I came up with 30 things I wanted to do and then narrowed it down to 10 things I really wanted to do, were affordable and hopefully pratical.

Over the next two months I’ll be blogging about getting the list accomplished and going into my 30s feeling GREAT!

If your a kiteboarder these words should hold a lot of excitement for you:

“It was the wicked and wild wind
blew down the doors to let me in….”

kiteboarding; My obsession, passion, quit your job because your lust was too strong kinda sport.  Always seeming to be a day behind or maybe it was in front of the wind….well regardless, I know wicked and wild wind isn’t easy to find not the kind I was looking for anyways.

But I’m learning to never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.

So I keep searching my car filled with all my worldly possessions and driving East and than South.

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.”
Buddha

Winter is a good time of year to contemplate things.  For the the last month I feel like I have been doing a lot of that……Laying around contemplating.  A lot of athletes are lucky because they plan out their whole race season in the winter months and this gives them a good idea of what their year is going to look like.  This is nice but when you do an array of sports like me and not very many competitive ones, this method doesn’t work.  So I really had to think about what I wanted to do with my time this year.  Did I just want to lay in my warm cozy bed and contemplate…….well yes a little bit….but in the long run no!

I need something new; a project, a life, a sport, a hobby….was it one of these things or all of them.  I wasn’t so sure yet.  The only thing I know for sure is I’m ready to get out there and do something.

After this month of contemplating I’m saying see ya later to my favorite city Chicago and with the parting words of….”It’s not you, it’s me.”  Things just do feel right this time around in the city, it doesn’t mean they never will again, but I’m not engaged in the city, I haven’t been feeling very alive.  Warm and cozy….yes, adventurous and motivated…..no.

A few reasons why it is cool to try new things:

May meet interesting people
May learn new things
May challenge yourself in new ways
May wake you up
May make you feel alive
May have a ton of fun

Soooo what does this mean……it means I’m going a new journey…..as soon as the last piece of furniture sells in my house TODAY!

R.E.M I am I am Superman

Love this song.  Recently heard it on one of the Simpsons eposide where Grandpa Simpsons, loses his fears and starts living more of a rebel lifestyle.

Good song makes me want to do new things.