Working in a Little Exercise Around Life

That's me catching my son's warm-ups. Long work weeks and all-day baseball tournaments make exercise challenging.

I'll tell you what I was thinking. "Gee, June is the month with the longest days. Even if I'm busy, I can work out late in daylight. I should pledge to exercise every day in June." That's it, that's what I was thinking.

What I forgot was that June is the month that everybody in my profession is overloaded, working morning, noon, and night, and that my eight year old has started playing tournament baseball, which means driving across the county for at least four games over the weekend. Yesterday was the second such tournament. You'll see below I tried to make the best of it.

So it has been a busy month. I've been creative and gotten in as much as I can. Missed four days so far, but have made up for them with some double sessions.

My other regret is not getting to your blogs and commenting on them as often as I should. If I haven't been by lately, know I'm really proud of your efforts and am deeply touched by all the supportive comments you have left me!

June 20 - Boo!
Worked all day, attended a 7:00 PM high school graduation, and joined the family at one of the boys' baseball all-star games under the lights. Got home at 10:30. Long day.

June 21 - 30 Minute Round-trip Walk to a Work Event Instead of Driving and Fighting for Parking
I don't normally exercise "on the clock", but considering this was a 12 hour work day and I could walk nearly as fast as drive to an event with scarce parking, it made sense. And, the "to" trip was on my lunch, so really, a win-win for everybody. Plus, I got a more up front and personal look at my work community - a very good thing.

June 22 - Walk in the Late Night Air
There's something about the feel of the air on a late June night. It's chill enough to be crisp, but not to be cold. The walk on this particular night brought the sensation of bathing in air, like the relief you feel jumping into a pool on a warm summer day. I love it.

June 23 - Short Walk
I attended a retirement party for a person I work with that extended to 9:00. It didn't leave much time for exercise, and I don't regret it. I had a great time and she deserved it.

June 24 - Boo!
A crazy kind of day where my wife and I were playing "zone" defense in trying to cover our parental responsibilities, plus two kids who were spending the night with us to support a friend running the half-marathon in Seattle early the next morning. Long story short, I didn't get home until 8:30 and I had four kids under the age of 11 with me. No exercise.

June 25 - Hour-long Bike Ride with Son and 30 Minutes of Walking
Saturday brought tournament games at 12:30 and 6:30, with a four hour gap in between. We planned ahead and brought bikes for my older son and me to ride. The fields were on a bike trail and we took an hour-long leisurely ride. As a "bonus", parking was tough and I logged 30 minutes walking to and from my car, parked clear across the park.

June 26 - 30 Minute Walk
Another late-night walk after a day of baseball. Like on the 22nd, the air felt great.

Hope your June exercise is going great!

Getting Creative for the June Boom

A rain forest? Nope. My neighborhood.

I'm finding it's necessary to get creative to get my time in on the June Boom. Earlier this month, I took long bike rides to work and to meet my wife for dinner. This week included walking to a store after work and parking far away from the Mariners game. These made the difference between falling short and having a decent week. To the June Boom update!

June 13 - Short Walk
The week started with a 7:30 pizza party for my older son's baseball team. One of the weight loss pitfalls of fatherhood, let me tell you. I came straight from work and didn't get home until close to 9:00. Got out and took a short walk around the neighborhood.

June 14 - Walk to the Store and Baseball with Kids
Got smart and after work I walked to a store instead of driving. 25 minutes, round-trip. When I got home, my younger son begged me to play baseball with him, which led to a 45 minute impromptu game. He had just gotten his catcher's mitt and the smile on his face was worth it.

June 15 - Boo!
Just another crazy day. Worked late. Picked my son up from baseball practice a fair distance from my house. Was supposed to be over at 7:30, but didn't end until almost 8:00. We were 20 minutes from home and hungry. Was close to 9:00 before dinner was over. Not today with the exercise. :-(

June 16 - 30 Minute Walk
Pretty normal night. After dinner I got out for a 30 minute walk.

June 17 - Lots of Walking
I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get much in, so I walked to lunch. Not long at all, maybe 5-7 minutes each way. That evening brought a stop at a ball field to watch a little of my younger son play and then take my older son to the Mariners vs. Phillies game (I'm from Philly, if you didn't know.) As "luck" would have it, parking was very limited when we got there and we parked 2/3 mile away. All in all, a lot of steps this day without formal exercise.

June 18 - 30 Minute Walk in the Rain
Here's a perfect example of something I would not have done without the June Boom. We sat through two baseball tournament games in the morning, played in an almost non-stop drizzle. It so dark, it was as if the sun never risen - ironic for 3 days before the summer solstice. Had just a few hours before a night commitment. It didn't stop drizzling, but I went ahead and walked anyway. The fern pictured above was from this walk, but what really told the story was that nearly every driveway had a plastic wrapped newspaper that was somehow still soaked all the way through.

June 19 - Father's Day Batting Cages and Biking with Sons
This day started with a 7:30 departure for a baseball tournament game (is this any way to live?). The game was at 9:00 and unfortunately (fortunately?) our team lost the first game, so that was it for the tournament. On the way home, I bought a softball bat and later I went to the batting cages with my younger son, followed by a 45 minute easy bike ride with my older son. It was a good day.

Eating Curfew to the Rescue as June Boom Continues

This great creekside trail kept me off the road part of the way between home and my dinner date

I'll get to the June Boom results in a minute, but let me start by sharing an eating development where I may have turned a corner.

Starting Wednesday, I imposed an eating curfew of either 8:00 or an hour after beginning dinner, whichever was later. As it happened, I had normal dinner times, so 8:00 was curfew. I had done this plan on the original Pounds Off Playoff, but layering it on top of my "normal calories" plan allowed me to control my calories from dawn to dusk, and then shut down for the night. On my NCDT eating plan (eat normal calories for your height, but double count junk food), I was routinely getting to the evening in good shape, and then eating mindlessly. That caught up with me big-time last week, but I took the weight off this week with the curfew. I'll give it a full post in a few weeks.

Now, the June Boom update!

June 6 - Throwing Batting Practice to My Boys
One of my goals with the June Boom is to involve my boys. On the eve of my 10 year old's Little League championship game, that meant 45 minutes throwing BP. When you also include retrieving the balls they smack all over the place, it keeps you moving.

June 7 - Boo!
This day was just not great. I planned to exercise late in the day, after getting home from the Little League championship game (which we lost, big-time) and school concert (10 year old son did the change-in-the-car thing and arrived in time to rock on the steel drums). The problem was that there was no time for dinner until 9:00 PM and I just didn't have it in me to go out after that digested. I'll make it up.

June 8 - Walking Before Work
Exercising before work sounds so good. Well, there's the shower efficiency, at least. But my work starts pretty early and I have a 25 minute commute. And I am not a natural morning person. With a night meeting slated to go to 8:00 PM (and it went to 9!), I knew I had to try. But honestly, it didn't feel as energizing as when I walk later in the day.

June 9 - Walking After Work
Hey, I'm a quick learner! "After work" came late again, as I went to a retirement dinner for a colleague, but I did get out there for a short and sweet walk. Kind of like Cal Ripken pinch hitting to keep his streak alive, but not every day is going to be an A+.

June 10 - Softball Doubleheader
In 2008, Seattle had the worst sports year imaginable. The Mariners lost 100 games. The Seahawks had their worst record under Mike Holmgren. The UW Huskies didn't win a game (and star QB Jake Locker got hurt and missed most of the season). And the Sonics? They left town. A long set-up to say...like 2008, everything possible has gone wrong for my softball team. We're terrible (nice folks, just not enough strong players). We've had many injuries. I'm playing like I got old overnight. And one of my teammates quit during the game on Friday. My normally upbeat coach actually got mad at us for being down and yelled (think of Tom Hanks' character as the coach in A League of Their Own), "Put on your (f'ing) happy faces!" Not quite, "There's no crying in baseball!," but close.

June 11 - Playing with Kids and Batting Cages
I tried. I planned a ride on the trail with my family, but they wiggled out of it. I planned a later ride around West Seattle after my younger son's team party, but it ran waaayyyyy late. So on this day I had to settle for some games at the team party and later, when I took my younger son to the batting cages and hit three rounds myself. Not a real rigorous day, exercise wise. Hey, my arms were sore after 60 swings, at least.

June 12 - Fourteen Mile Ride to Dinner (includes makeup for June 6)
After last week's great Sunday ride to work, I tacked on a little more and met my wife for dinner (thank you to the family that had a Magic Cards party and invited both my boys!). She was coming from work and we got to go to a destination I've always wanted to show her. To get there by bike was just really cool!

That's it for this week. I hope you're all doing well yourself and I'll try to check out your progress soon!

Great Exercise - Eating "Fail"

The Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound were visible on my ride to work

First, the good news. The June Boom is ON! I've completed the first five days and there are TWENTY others who have signed up with me to participate!

I'm tracking my progress daily on the sidebar, but every Monday morning I'll check in with a recap of the week.

June 1 - Walking
I am not a morning person, biologically. Now, I work in a morning field and I've made the adjustment, but it just doesn't come naturally. Wednesday was a day with a 10 hour workday followed by a Little League game, the kind of day I wouldn't have even considered exercising in the past. ("Really, this is the day I have to start on?," I thought.) So I went with a 30 minute session before work. I was hoping to do intervals, but at 6 AM, all I could muster was walking. Jogged a few minutes near the end, but that's all. Still, proud I was active on a day I wouldn't have been without the challenge.

June 2 - Biking
Emboldened by my walk the day before, I actually biked before work! It was a short ride around the neighborhood, but I live on a big hill, so riding the neighborhood circle equates to about 60% of your time pedaling up hill. It's amazing how quickly hills can get your cardio going. A pretty efficient workout.

June 3 - Softball Doubleheader
I've had times where I've considered softball to be a pretty good workout. Not a great workout, of course, but good. Lots of running the bases, activity in the field, running in warm-ups, etc. Spread over 2 1/2 hours, that's not bad. This week, though, I did the warm ups, but in the game I didn't hit much and neither did my teammates. There wasn't a lot of running to be done. We got routed in both games. And then I added injury to insult, pulling a calf muscle in the second game. Disappointing night.

June 4 - Umpiring
I've mentioned before that my 8 year old asked that I volunteer to umpire his games (the home team supplies the ump at his level). Can't say no to that. Actually, I love being on the field with the kids (although there was a difficult coach to deal with on Saturday, which was less fun). Like softball, umpiring is not intense exercise, but it's two hours I otherwise would have been sitting. And crouching before every pitch must have some kind of value, I assume. Plus, my fingers get a real workout on the clicker.

June 5 - Biking to Work
I missed Bike to Work Day last month. In fact, I've never biked to work, mostly because there's no shower at work and there's no way I could look (or smell) presentable after a 12 mile bike ride. But I did it on Sunday! It was a beautiful morning and I made the trek. I added two miles to my 10 mile driving commute to avoid heavily trafficked roads and replace some of the drive with a bike path. Part of my commute has amazing views of water and mountains, so I really savored those moments on this trip. Twelve miles might not sound so bad, but with two pretty significant inclines, it pushed me. Why go into work on Sunday? I took an hour or so to straighten up the office, then Shannon and the boys picked me up on their way to the Mariners game.

The bad news...
I had a terrible weigh in Sunday morning, and frankly I deserved it. This week I ate way too much at night, including one totally absent minded outing to a major chain restaurant. It turns out two of their "appetizers" exceeded my entire day's calorie allotment. Major fail! I should have known better. And somehow, I just stopped counting calories in the middle of the week. Big mistake. Exercise alone is never enough, a lesson I've now learned for the 267th time.

Back to a week of discipline...

Hope you're all doing well with your June exercise!

Follow These June Boom Participants!

You never know what's going to catch on. Truth be told, I was afraid the "June Boom!" might be laughed off. It does sound like a made up challenge, doesn't it? But I worked up a decent logo badge and in this wonderful world of blogging, voila, instant credibility.

Little did I know SIXTEEN SEVENTEEN EIGHTEEN NINETEEN TWENTY!!! of you would join up! And I love it. In fact, this cheeky little challenge is taking on a life of its own. There are actually copycat June Booms going on out there using the official June Boom logo. But hey, if it helps people, that's great. You know what they say about imitation...

Here are all the bloggers who signed up with me. Bookmark this post and encourage them frequently!

Allyson at Circles of Zen
Alzie at Bye Bye Bulge
Amy at 125 by 25
Bailey at Bailey's Belly Battle
Bruce at BGoody Lose
Christina at Making Healthy the Norm
Chubby McGee at Chubby McGee
Clyde at The Clydesdale Project
Dr. Fat to Fit at Dr. Fatty Finds Fitness
Grace at Wannabe Former Fatgirl
Jessica at See How She Runs
Jo at A Well-Kept Life
Marilee at Woman Getting Healthy
Mer at We're Losing It!
Michele at Ruminations and Uncovering
Mo at We're Losing It!
Susy at Journey to a Well Balanced Life
Tish at Incremental Improvements
Tony at Tony Grogan

If you didn't know, I normally only post on Monday mornings. For the June Boom, I'll post my activity on the sidebar and then give a full recap every Monday. Today, I got up at the crack of dawn for a 30 minute walk before work. Jogged some at the end, but considering the early hour and the light rain, mostly walking was just fine. Will up the level this weekend.

Keep up the great work everybody!