Palespyder’s Web

So I have restarted again, how many time have you heard that right…I decided as an accountability measure I needed to start blogging daily on my progress and failures.

Day 1: Core Synergystics. This workout was pretty tough, but at the same time I love the way it makes me feel. All day I was able to feel like my core was tight, my back was straight, and my posture was good. The workout consists of quite a bit that I will detail out next week as to ensure this post does not end up 500 pages long.

Day 2: Cardio-X. It is just what it says it is, Cardio. This workout has a good mix of Plyometrics, Yoga, and Kenpo that keeps the heartrate up for almost the entire workout. I love the rush I get from this one as well.

Day 3: Arms and Shoulders + Ab-ripper-X: The arm workout just blows your arms and shoulders up, I was exhausted by the time I was finished. The ab-ripper is gonna take me some time to get worked up to the whole thing. I was able to do about 15 reps of 3 exercises this morning before I had to stop.

All in all I think that so long as I take my weight loss in small chunks and keep pushing play I should be okay. I think the Power 90 X workout is what is going to take me to where I want to be.

Kindra and I started our new diets and workouts today. I was not able to complete the P90X workout completely, but that will come with time I think. The workouts are excruciating for me being this fat. I weighed myself when I got to work and realized I have broken the 300 mark, that does not sit well with me at all. Being this heavy reminds me of when Austin was born. Oh well that is what the diet and exercise are for I reckon.

Got to see Rhiannon this weekend, that was amazing. We did nothing all day but drive around and goto lunch, but being able to spend time with her is one of my favorite things. I am going to work to make sure that she and I can see each other more. I want to start watching her wrestle and attend some of her band stuff. I think that now that she is older she understands the situation a bit better and can see why I do things the way I do. I think this is the start of a great thing in our relationship, which is fantastic because I miss her so much. She is my baby girl.

School is going good, some of these problems really work my brain and force me to figure out the way to solve them which I like. It is so funny how hard Math like this is when you have not done this type of thing for 20 years. I know in time this will get easier.

Things are going well, life is good.

So I have decided after some very wise counsel that I am not ready for the level of competition that is Crown Tournament. I am not financially, emotionally, or physically ready for something of that magnitude. There are so many things to consider in being Sovreign that I don’t believe that 1/2 the people who enter ever think about. You are responsible for so much stuff and in that so much money that I don’t know that I will ever want that responsibility.

I restarted Power90X (again) and I am on Day 3, I am sore but happy. Kindra and I are really motivated to get fit and get back to the bodies that we should have. I am looking forward to the first cycle and even more to the end of the second cycle. I hope in 6 months to have the body I have always wanted and look the way I should have always looked. Only I can make that happen! I want this and need this!

I am also working up a workout for the pell and for the boy to work on. I really want him to succeed, I just am not comfortable being made to feel like a father figure, I said I would help him get his armour together and help him learn to fight. Putting me in the situation of hollering at him for one thing or another is not really within my comfort zone.

I start school tonight. I am still a bit apprehensive, but that is just my nature. I have never been one for new situations, but I always seem to get through them okay and end up making friends along the way. This semester is is easy, just one math class. Next semester I will probably do two, depends on how the load affects me. Should not be to bad though. I have been thinking that Psychology may be the way for me to go. Nothing says I have to do it all at once, I can start with a BA and then go for a MA if I decide to persue that path. Only time will tell.

Other then that, Kindra got her cast off, she is still pretty irritated that she cannot immediately move it and make it do her bidding, but that will just take time.

After sitting and watching Calontir’s 53rd Crown Tournament and seeing Ostwald best Anton on the field winning the Crown for Kaye, I decided it is my duty to fight in the next one. I started training today with Couch 2 5K week 1 and over the next 6 months I will work myself out. I also started doing the Warrior Diet and so far I am not hungry, but we are taking about only having been up for 2 hours, it’s a long way to 6pm tonight.

I will be working on the pell when I get home tonight and will be going back to Cai’s practices and taking Dan with me. I will work with him to get his stuff together and will start trying to get him in some armour so we can determine whether he enjoys it or not.

Anywho, today is the first day of the rest of my life, it is time to get strong, get smart, and get my ass in gear on everything I have planned.

The more I read about the warrior diet the more sense it seems to make to me. You eat one big meal at the end of the day, and by big I mean 80-90% of your daily calories in one meal. The reason this makes sense to me is that our ancestors did exactly this. They would spend the entire day sometimes hunting and gathering and would sit at the end of the day and enjoy the fruits of their labors (no pun intended). I think this is something that though tough, once I got used to it would work really well for me.

The reason this appeals to me is because of events. During SCA events, I can fight all day, never having had anything to eat and then once I eat I night I feel really fantastic, my food tastes better, I don’t feel as bloated, and my body feels like it is getting the nutrients it needs to survive.

So I have been sitting around feeling sorry for myself for the past couple months. I am not exactly sure why, I just am. I started reading the 7 habits of highly effective people about 3 weeks ago and it is amazing the things that you find out about yourself in a book like that. I am reading it all the way through and then will go back and work each habit individually, I think that is the best thing for me.

I have also started thinking more about the way I want my kit to look and the persona I portray. I like the 14th century, I love the full case armour and stuff, but I am seriously considering a 1320-1330’s era person instead. It’s more chainmail and a Sugarloaf Helmet. I like this idea because it is something that is not done much, most people gravitate toward the later 14th century. Time will tell.

I am doing Couch25K this week and will add in more running and weights next week, I think that is the best course of action for me at this point as Thursday will be a bad food day for me and my back is incredibly sore this morning. I think I will train more like an MMA fighter then anything else because that is as close to what we do that I can get without developing a new workout routine on my own, which may happen eventually.

I started working out again this morning. I started with Couch to 5k Day 1 Week 1 and it was excruciating.  it’s funny to think that 3 short months ago I was able to run almost 3 miles without much trouble and now I am having trouble running for 1 minute. I know I will get back there, it’s just going to take some time.

I will be doing the Body for Life workouts coupled with the Couch to 5k running for the cardio portion. I should be ready in March for the Death March, but time will tell. If I am not ready, I cannot justify going all the way to New Mexico for the march. I will make it.

My overall Goal is about 70lbs and stuff. I will not get discouraged this time!

So I am going to start working on my new kit. I decided on 660 years ago today which makes it November 23, 1349. I am posting this so I can keep a link to the guy I would like to make my helmet.

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=105649&sid=b05776b3ad55613d26036a7ee39e965d

It is my hope to be able to make a bunch of the stuff myself we will see how that goes. Anyway, here we go..

To make my own 14th century armour or to buy it. There are many pros and cons of each, instant gratification being the biggest pro of buying it. But I think over the long run I should make it piece by piece. This would teach me a marketable skill as well as giving me a nice set of period-ish armour at a very low cost.

There are a lot of things to consider like a clean garage and tools that I need to make this happen, but I think this would be the best bet.

Today is the 8th anniversary of your death my son. In the past 8 years I have come to understand a great many things and to learn a lot about life, love, and death. What I have not learned is how to be a father, that lesson was stolen from me. When you were taken from me, it “broke” me in a way that I can never repair. The love I had for you is just as strong today as it has always been, yet I feel like I should be in a different place in my life.

These are the times I was supposed to be teaching you how to be a good man, a good husband, a good father, a good friend, and a productive member of the community. I should have been helping you get through a broken heart, I should have been the voice of reason when your mind has flights of fancy. I should have been giving you the stability, discipline, and friendship that only a father can offer, instead that was all taken from us.

Know my son that there is seldom a day that you don’t go through my mind. There is hardly a time when I do not think of you when something special happens or I see something beautiful. Your laugh, like a soothing waterfall to my ears, still echos in my mind and the perfect sound of you calling me Daddy still warms my soul.

I do not know what will happen in the future, but I do know I will start living my life to the fullest when I have fulfilled my vow of grieving. Today, as every other day, I miss you more then I can ever express, I love you, and I will see you again someday. Rest well my son.