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Fitness

Ridin’ Dirty with the BPMS150

May 14, 2017 by coleman Leave a Comment

I’m from Houston. My blog homepage says I’m from Austin, but I’m from Houston. If you actually want to get technical I’m really from West Monroe, Louisiana or as I like to call it Southern Arkansas.

The Houston Texans are my football team even when they aren’t winning. The Spurs are my basketball team, unless the Rockets are winning so then the Houston Rockets are my basketball team.

I went to the University of Houston and I have lived in the suburbs of Spring/Woodlands, the Heights, Montrose, and the urban sprawl of Westchase. My first corporate job was in the oil industry.

Every year there is an event that occurs in Houston that everyone knows about. No it’s not the Renaissance festival. It’s not Hurricane season. Every year offices and families across the city, even the nation are preparing for the ride of a lifetime and for other’s lives.

This event is called the BPMS150. From the BPMS150 website:

“The BP MS 150 is a two-day fundraising bike ride organized by the National MS Society, South Central Chapter. The ride is the largest event of its kind in North America, with 13,000 cyclists, 3,500 volunteers, and countless spectators along the route and at the finish line in Austin. The fundraising goal for the 2017 BP MS 150 is $16 million dollars to bring hope to many who are affected by multiple sclerosis.”

Truth day – at the start I really was more interested in riding my bike for ~150mi. from Houston to Austin more than anything. Of course I like supporting good causes, but really until recently I only knew of MS as a degenerative nervous system disease. My main motivator above all was to ride, but there is nothing wrong with that. This is part of the success and brilliance of fundraising events like the BPMS150.

The MS society does an outstanding job of generating awareness within and outside of the event. While riding you find sponsors of the event with portapotties dedicated to their name at break stops along the route. The line to warm water showers include information and stories of people living with MS. You find these sorts of publicity easter eggs all around.

Some bike riders are riding in memory of their loved ones and include photos with mementos affixed in various ways to the back of their bikes.  All of this gave me a much stronger appreciation for what we were really riding for.

13,000 cyclists rode in the BPMS150 and many others were present to support the event. The logistics to accomplish such a feat is nothing less than impressive, especially for how smooth everything went. This is from the start day, the campout in LaGrange, and through to the finish line.

You would think that 150 miles is impossible and that you would need to be in incredible shape, but that wasn’t the case. All anyone needs to finish the ride is pure determination. People from all walks of life, of all shapes, ages and types were finishing the race. You will be 12 hours in, butt sore and tired from peddling non-stop for hours, then look to your right to see someone’s granny outpacing you without breaking a sweat.  Not sure what can be more motivating than that at the  time.

The weather for the time of year was phenomenal. That is, except for the wind. We had a torrential headwind the entire ride. This isn’t hyperbole. Some other riders said that was the hardest ride in years. Baptism by fire, so next year should be a breeze.

I loved it, I absolutely loved the ride. I loved what we were riding for and got to get up close and personal with the countryside of my favorite state. The thing about bike riding that makes it better than all other forms of transportation is that you are going at a pace that is slow enough to let you enjoy your surroundings, but fast enough to not be impatient.

One day I will ride clear across Texas, but the BPMS150 made going nearly half the state extremely safe and obtainable by anyone who has the desire to try. It was a beautiful and inspiring time that may be one of the most memorable moments in my life. A lot of this had to do with the team I rode with. Some of the most amazing people I know. I’m happy to be part of such a good cause. More information about the MS Society, the BPMS150 and MS can be found at http://www.nationalmssociety.org/

Filed Under: Fitness, Health, Uncategorized

Humblebrag Weight Loss Post

March 17, 2016 by coleman Leave a Comment

After
Before

We are doing a biggest loser contest at work and I took the opportunity to share about how I lost 50 lbs two years ago. Not being the one to gloat…, yeh I know I have a personal blog so I’m working on getting over always getting over myself, anyway I never shared the story before but it could be inspiring. Also my emails were written pretty well so it would make for a decent blog post.

The photo below is my brother, sister and I taken 4 years ago. 2 years ago I lost 50 pounds using myfitnesspal to log calories and run on an elliptical for low impact cardio everyday. It really helps to have a tablet and your favorite show, movie or music to jam out to while exercising.

nov_2011

I forget exactly how long it took, but I want to say I lost 25 pounds in 3 months and the rest in 6. It may have been sooner, but I was counting calories more than pounds! This is going to be my same routine, but with a little more jogging when the weather is agreeable. 🙂
I think logging the calories was the hardest thing to do other than putting gym clothes on, because even though it doesn’t take long it’s one of those little things you would rather not do. Myfitnesspal is great for pre-packaged stuff and restaurant food since those are already in their database in easily scanned with the barcode reader. My own meals were easy since I knew what I was putting in the meal and what portions. Also, over time you build up a list of your favorite sandwiches/or meals and just re-use those. You don’t need an app for any of this either, but the barcode reading thing was cool.

That’s all great, but doesn’t work well with our catered lunches. When this happened I would find a comparable restaurant or prepared meal and use that meal in place. The salads should be easy and any other portions for sides since they are mostly raw veggies. Then add a good amount of butter because I suspect the veggies/etc can contain a decent amount 😛 . For the most part the same ingredients are rotated around and the app makes it easy to at least get an estimate. Then when I have to estimate I just kind of shoot high. It’s not really a perfect science, but the feedback you get daily that makes you think twice about eating that extra few girl scout cookies. Also you’ll notice your meal portions get a little smaller, the salads larger and over time you kind of just estimate in your head.

After awhile you don’t need to log, but for me this last a few months before I’m eating too many cookies again.

Don’t want to leave out how I exercised, which was wayyy simpler. The hardest part was getting started and sticking it through the first two weeks. After that it gets easier and I gradually increased the intensity and time, mostly time of exercising. I started at 10 minutes of elliptical for one week, then went up to 15 the next … so on until 45 minutes. The most important thing was just to do something every day, if only for 5 – 10 minutes and not get discouraged. If you skip a day, it’s cool but once you skip 2 and 3 it’s hard to get back on.
Guess an after photo would be helpful for anyone who doesn’t know me lol. Here’s me with a shovel.
me_with_a_shovel
So there you go. Now I just added my own post to the tons of how I lost weight blog posts out there. Looks like I’m making progress giving up keeping from doing something to be terminally unique or worry about advertising something cool I did. Think it’s because I’m getting old and the not giving a shit is settling in.
Cheers!

Filed Under: Fitness

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