Superbowl, and a different kind of pregaming...

Superbowl Sunday means a few things. First and foremost, it means football. Secondly, commercials. And third, but not necessarily last, it means food. I do not count the half time show. It is a contrived act, used by musicians to promote themselves, the NFL to make more cash, and most importantly it usually has nothing to do with football. I think who sings the national anthem and how it's done are more important, and generally more impressive. Three halftime shows stand out...ever. First was Superbowl XXXV, when the Ravens beat the Giants. The halftime show included Aerosmith, NSync, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, and was produced by MTV (around the same time MTV stopped being relevant). The show was great, and it ended with all of them collaborating on a version of Walk this Way on par with the Aerosmith/Run DMC version from the 80s.

Then, the following year, U2 did halftime. I'm not really sure how the band from Dublin worked its way into a tribute to America following 9/11. But you know what? It worked. That halftime show took on its own significance in American culture, as the name of every person that lost their life that day was run over the scrim behind them. Very moving.
The last of the three, came two years later. That's the one with Janet Jackson. If you don't know what happened, call the FCC.

Back to the food, though. Food is important. You have to plan for the Superbowl like you would for Thanksgiving. There are sacrifices to be made. Plus, in my case, it doesn't hurt to get a good run in before, as well. Today, that's exactly what I did. With over 6 hours of pregame festivities, interviews, and other media lead up to the kickoff, I decided it was best to hit the gym.

A run was all I needed, and even though it was around 40 degrees out, I decided inside was better. It was a great choice. My runs lately have been great, and even though they're on the treadmill, these runs haven't been deceiving. Using the random button, or simply setting the incline really makes a difference, because it helps translate the workout to the road.

Today, I ran for 40 minutes, with 5 more walking. The first 35 minutes were done at speeds between 6.3 and 8.5 mph (minutes 32-35 were done at 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, and 8.5 mph respectively). I changed speeds when the song changed on the iPod. In the 45 minutes on the treadmill, i had gone 4.7 miles, and burned 869 calories. Right now, I feel great, and there's about 2 hours to kick off. Plus, the music during this run was mostly things I hadn't heard in a while.

Workout playlist:

1. Handlebars-Flobots (Doesn't this remind you of Eminem? Interesting video, too)
2. Of All the Gin Joints in All the World-Fall Out Boy (Probably my favorite Fall Out Boy song. In the words of Altieri "Great Tune!")
3. I'm Not Over-Carolina Liar (The best discovery of 2008)
4. You're the Reason I'm Leaving-Franz Ferdinand (Great song, bad fan video...I'm not into House. I think he's rude. Then again, I used to think that Michael Scott was just painful to watch. Things change, so this might)
5. Send Me on My Way-Rusted Root
6. Welcome to the Black Parade-My Chemical Romance (Great with the key change)
7. Denise-Fountains of Wayne
8. The Fallen-Franz Ferdinand
9. Teenagers-My Chemical Romance (Flippin scary)
10. Beat It-Michael Jackson (Eddie Van Halen's solo is still awesome, and the video is still pretty great, despite the dancing gangs)
11. God Gave Rock & Roll to You-KISS (Really, I prefer the Wyld Stallyns version, check out Keanu's sweet beard...oh and they didn't even bother to cover the fact that it was still the KISS version in the movie)
12. Shake It-Metro Station
13. Eleanor Rigby-David Cook cover

Feast & Friday

Due to the winter weather, the school lunch scheduled for Thursday was postponed to Friday. A dilemna to say the least, because the meal was my all time favorite school lunch. Today, it is known simply as roasted turkey with gravy. However, to many of us school lunch purists, it is regarded as turkey feast. Though it may look like cat food, it tastes like heaven. I have a weakness for it, and always buy it, though I've cut down on the "double," and even ask for a student portion.

So, despite the fact that I was working out in the afternoon, I ran down to lunch (letting my students out 2 minutes early) to get my share. I've noticed school lunch is a bit better than it was. I can get carrots on demand, and there's always a 100% natural fruit juice available. The flavored milks (chocolate AND strawberry) are all made with skim. Even the vegetables seem of the steamed, frozen variety instead of out of a can (much preferable). Additionally, with the feast, there is always some cranberry sauce, as well as a dinner roll or stuffing. Yesterday, it was the roll. Did I mention they had the little sherbet cups, too? Yeah, that was a bonus.



Lunch was delicious, and seemingly nutritious. But, with it being pizza night, I was certain I'd need a great workout to balance everything. The Friday workout started as it has for a month. I began with squats (3x12-15 @ 135, which I believe became 15-15-13), followed by SLD.


Then, I went to the bench (3 x 12-15 @ 105, which I got 15-14-12), and finished with dumbbell shoulder press on the physio ball.



From that point, it was up to run. The running was where I hoped to make up for my lunch/dinner combo. Though lunch was reasonably nutritous, I had to be concious of the fact that it was pizza night, and how I lose some control (BTW, I only had 6 slices).



The LifeFitness treadmill is great, and my favorite piece of equipment at the gym. Its deck has a great shock aborber system, and its incline changes feel like actual hills. It is the closest thing I've found to actually running outside when using a treadmill. I love its random setting, because every "trail" is random, and elevation changes occur every 30-60 seconds. That makes it less boring, as long as I have a good soundtrack. So, I generally use the random setting at level 1-3 (depending on the time I'll be on the machine). For this workout, I set it at level 1, for 35 minutes, using training paces (6.3-6.5 mph). In that time, I ran 3.8 miles, which is decent. Over the next ten minutes, I slowed down, then walked. In all, I went 4.6 miles in 45 minutes, and felt pretty awesome afterward. Sweaty, sure, but I felt great. In all, I had burned 786 calories, which I felt helped to make up for any digression that may follow with dinner. Additionally, I had weighed in for the contest yesterday, and I had no change. My current weight is still 227.



Workout playlist...seemed like even MORE Fall Out Boy than usual, plus a lot of Queen. Randomally using my workout playlist (50 songs out of 90, chosen by least recently played, and then played at random), I just realized I may be a junky for Fall Out Boy, the Killers, and Jimmy Eat World. Queen was a given a LONG time ago. The list yesterday included...

1. Sophmore Slump or Come Back of the Year-Fall Out Boy (Everytime I hear, I love the line "We're the therapists running through your speakers." You know why? Because everytime I hear it and I'm running, I really think they are. It helps. Even if Pete Wentz's hair scares me...)


2. Fat Bottomed Girls-Queen (Always helps...)


3. Under Pressure-Queen w/ David Bowie (What a great video...ICE ICE BABY!)


4. Sleepwalker-Wallflowers


5. Short Skirt/Long Jacket-Cake


6. Sugar, We're Going Down-Fall Out Boy


7. Dance, Dance-Fall Out Boy


8. I Don't Care-Fall Out Boy (Really, iPod...3 in a row?!)


9. Don't Stop Me Now-Queen (Freddie, you look like a Muppet)


10. Thnks Fr Th Mmrs-Fall Out Boy


11. Where is your Boy Tonight-Fall Out Boy


12. Disease-Matchbox Twenty
13. When You Were Young-The Killers
14. Tie Your Mother Down-Queen
15. Seven Seas of Rhye-Queen
16. I've Got All This Ringing in my Ears and None on my Finger-Fall Out Boy
17. America's Suitehearts-Fall Out Boy (Intro and Key changes make this fun to run to)
18. Great Expectations-The Gaslight Anthem (Fresh sound, yet classic)
19. Pressing On-Relient K (1 Great Song to End the Run)
20. Good Ride Cowboy-Garth Brooks (2 Great Songs to End the Run)
21. Read My Mind-The Killers (and Stretch)

Sabotage

I've been known to sabotage myself in the past. Imagine, you have a great week. No real snacking to speak of combined with a healthy dose of exercise. Why not a little reward, right? That's all well and good. In fact, I'd go insane if I didn't do it. Unfortunately, I've been known to over reward. For instance, finding myself with a virtual day without work (I had to go in, but had no responsibilities for a single day), my colleagues and I got egg sandwiches on Friday morning. Not bad, except that it was also pizza night at home.

The recent discovery of Rossini's is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing, because there hasn't been a really good pizza place in town since we moved here. This one looked crappy, so we never went. Then, a few recommendations later...bam, we're in...and it was GOOD. Enough that it has become the place of choice. That takes a lot, because I am loyal when it comes to pizza. Only, I can't control myself when it comes to pizza. I'll tell myself I'll only have 3...4...5...6...8 slices. I'm like a bottomless pit. As long as there is pizza, I'm hungry for it. This is partially why I give up pizza for lent. At least I don't do the binge thing for 11.5% of the year (that's what 6 weeks out of 52 equals, math majors). It's not a bad set up, but still, I love it too much to cut pizza out entirely.

Sorry, sidetracked-So, it was pizza night, and I had a great egg sandwich at work. Combine that with the following day was also my daughter's birthday party. Though I worked out on both days, I don't know if I compensated enough on the cautious eating on Saturday to make up for the binge on Friday. At one point, I caught myself eating buffalo chicken tenders too fast, and decided I wouldn't have another for the rest of the night. I didn't, which at least impressed me. Still, it's been a rough weekend on the eating front.