Follow along through the challenges of fatherhood and fitness

Follow me as I grow as a father, continue to improve my fitness, and hopefully continue losing weight towards my goal of 60lbs (10lbs to go! 8.25.12).

I never set out to be overweight but I love beer, wine, scotch, and all sorts of terrible food. I didn't choose to get out of shape it just sort of happened. All that changed when I found out my wife was pregnant in December 2010. I decided it was time to set myself up to be a fitdad not a fatdad.

No one ever said it would be easy though. Dealing with a newborn and trying to continue exercising as well as being there for my wife as her husband and friend. As our son gets older and our family grows what impact will that have on my fitness and diet? Stay tuned to find out! Subscribe via email, or add me to your reader. Please make sure to share on twitter, facebook, or follow along by adding your email to my list.

Do you have a diet or exercise product you would like reviewed in the blog, please contact me at fitdadorfatdad@gmail.com

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Moments,

"You will never have this day with your children again.  Today is a GIFT.  Breathe and notice.  Study their little faces and feet.  Relish the charms of the present.  Enjoy TODAY...it will be gone before you know it." -Jan Hatmaker.

The moments we have with our kids are fleeting.  Sure the long nights seem like they drag on forever, the temper tantrums frustrate and annoy us but really when it all comes down to it we love our kids.  Part of me wants them to just stay young and innocent forever, part of me can't wait to see what they will become.

I take a fair amount of photos and videos of my kid, (ok who am I kidding...it's excessive).  But I make sure that when I am taking those pictures that I am not missing out on the quality time I need to spend with him.  I don't want my kid to grow up and think my face looks like the lens on my Canon.  Most of my photo shoots with Noah when he is posed in an outfit mom picked out last all of 20 minutes.  I wait until he is asleep to edit the pictures and the rest of my time is dedicated to "Daddy Noah time."

I consider myself pretty lucky because I don't have a job that requires me to travel.  I may work long days, but I get just as many days off in return.  When I spend the day with my son we spend the whole day together.  We play chase and hide and seek.  We play with trucks and trains.  We read countless books and we sometimes nap on the couch.  We eat together and we learn together.  Sometime I learn as much from him as I hope he learns from me.

Noah is slowly picking up the pace when it comes to talking.  He has a handful of words that we understand and the rest is just babble.  But the other day while playing in the tub I caught this video of him that I had to share.   If you have ever seen Mickey Mouse Clubhouse you will know what he is saying...even if you haven't I think the video is pretty adorable. 

It's the moments like these that i don't ever want to forget.  These are the moments I could watch on replay in my head forever.  They never cease to make me smile.



Monday, April 15, 2013

A Sad Day for Running...and our country.

Finishing a marathon is an accomplishment regardless of whether you are first or last.  Runners regardless of speed are a surprisingly tight bunch.  We get each other, we understand why we run, we all understand joy and suffering we feel in a race.  Many of us feel a connection to each other as soon as we know that another "runs."  Today that connection makes many of our hearts heavy and saddens us.

I am sure you have already heard about the absolutely cowardly act that was committed at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  I don't need to go into details about how terrible this act was or how my heart breaks for anyone killed or injured by such a cowardly act.  I hope that the authorities find who did this and make him/her pay for their cowardice.  Attacking innocent people is by far the weakest thing a human can do and right now my blood is boiling with anger and pain.

My thoughts and prayers go out to any and all affected by this tragedy.  The running communities around the world feel your pain, and are praying for you.

Today, when I saw the coverage what I really looked for was the people helping.  Those public servants as well as citizens who turned towards the explosion and ran to help.  Those are the heroes today.  The people who without second thought ran to those who could no longer run.  Many of our public servants (fire, police, EMT, etc)...will have a busy and tiring night ahead of them.  If you see them, thank them and offer them support...today they need you more than ever.

Be safe if you are in the city, and report anything suspicious to the proper authorities.

Ron

Saturday, April 13, 2013

The Knee story, and my achilles (ugh)

Throughout my "athletic" career...mostly high school sports followed by limited activity in college I have been mostly injury free.  Aside from a broken wrist in high school, I haven't broken any other bones that I know of and my joints have been basically injury free.

When I first started getting back to running I was in sorry shape, my best description of that shape was blobular...or maybe roundish.  (Those are shapes right?)

My fitness level was probably a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10.  So getting back into the swing of things was definitely a shock to my system.  I had the usual soreness due to lactic acid buildup and using muscles that I had not used in years.  Once our mileage for the half marathon training began to ramp up I started noticing that my right knee really hurt on impact, like a sharp stabbing pain.  It got so bad that I actually broke down and went to see Dr. Stone at UPMC Sports Medicine here in Pittsburgh.  After a battery of tests he confirmed to me that I didn't have anything terribly wrong that a little stretching and physical therapy couldn't fix.

Basically as it was described to me there were muscles in my legs that were much stronger than others.  The stronger muscles were pulling stronger than the weaker muscles and then pulling my knee out of alignment, which in turn was causing my pain.  Dr. Stone asked me how flexible I was and how often I stretched after working out.  To which my answer was..uhhh I don't stretch much.  I think if he could have he would have whapped me upside the back of my head.

I took my new exercises home as well as a new stretching regimen and within 7 days the pain in my knee was nearly gone.   I resumed my half marathon training and continued on.

Since I started this new running program I am really beginning to test the extremes to which my body can handle a stressful workout.  I have been very diligent with stretching and adding to my overall flexibility.  The problem I run into is working 12 hour days on my feet.  I don't have a great deal of time  to stretch those days so I find that I am coming home very tight and strained.

About two or three weeks ago I noticed the pain returning in my knee around the same time as I was having some hamstring and calf cramping issues (while sleeping).  I took a few days off from running at the request of my coach and used the foam roller and stretched constantly throughout the day.  Within about 5 days the pain had subsided and things began to return to normal.  I eased back into a few runs and then resumed the more intense and long workouts.

Fast forward now to this past thursday, I was walking downstairs to the gameroom to squeeze in a speed workout while Noah napped.  I stepped awkwardly near the bottom of the steps and felt what could best be described as a twinge in my calf right above the achilles.  I didn't really think much of it and begin to warmup for a pretty intense progression run.  My goal was to run 4 miles at 8:00/mi pace followed by a progression of 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, 7:10...then warm down and stretch.

The first 4 miles felt ok, with occasional pain shooting up from my calf, but nothing consistent or serious.  By the end of the 7:30 mile the pain was a lot more frequent and by the end of the 7:20 mile every step sent a jarring pain up my leg.  I decided to heed coach Ross' advice and stop when pain like that happens because, 1.  I am not a hero, and 2. Pain usually causes you to alter your form therefore ending up with additional injury.

I struggled (more like hopped) up the steps, stretched and showered.  I walked around all day Thursday and Friday with quite a hitch in my get-a-long.  I continued to stretch and massage my calf all day on Friday.  The pain was only noticeable Friday when I would walk down steps or up hills.  I made a mental note to make a Dr. appointment Monday if the pain had not resolved.  I personally felt like this pain was again associated with tight muscles as opposed to an actual tear or more grievous injury.  I woke up this morning nearly pain free, still mildly noticeable when I walk down stairs though so I will continue to monitor myself and see a Dr if this persists.  I work all day Today, Sunday, and Monday so hopefully by Tuesday I will feel well enough to give an easy run a shot.  I am three weeks out from the marathon relay and I really don't want to miss this event.

So the lesson today readers?  Stretch.  Stretch A LOT!  Become more flexible and don't be a hero, if you have pain stop doing what you are doing and fix the problem don't just run through the pain and hope it gets better.  A good rule of thumb for stretching is 1 second for every year of age.  I try to do multiple stretches after every workout of each muscle group that was used during the workout.

If the pain lingers any longer than a few days or you cannot perform normal day to day functions without suffering it's time to go see a doctor.

Thanks for reading!  Happy Running!

Ron

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my fathers birthday.  Happy Birthday Dad!!



Growing up I think we all at some point revolt, push back, and fight our parents.  We as humans are growing up and growing into who we will be some day.  In that self exploration and development there is a great amount of revolution and turmoil against the establishment.  In this case, the establishment being my parents.  I am sure there are plenty of times where we clashed and where my anger spilled over into boiling teenage angst, only to be told just wait till you get older.  Wait till you have kids...

My parents are the loving supportive type that I am sure at the time were frustrated and angry at us for pushing back so hard...but at the same time forgiving enough to understand that we were kids and we still had a great deal to learn.

Life can be a powerful teacher.

Of course without my dad I wouldn't know the value of hard work, an ethos that he preached and practiced.  I wouldn't know the value of saving money (I think he might still have his communion money stashed away somewhere).  I wouldn't know the value of laughter and the strength of a strong family bond.  Without that I wouldn't be the man I am today, I wouldn't be the parent I am today.

Now that I have a child (soon to be children) of my own I find myself saying "I am becoming my parents..."  OR..."Man, I sound just like my dad."  I look in the mirror and see him telling me just wait till you have kids.

I may not have ever said it enough as a teenager dad, but even when I was a little sh*t and mouthed off deep down I knew you were right.  Deep down in my core I hated that you were right and now I look back and realize that I am glad you were so damn correct.  I am happy that you stuck it out and pushed us to go to college, you taught us patience, and also made us humble.  I am glad I had a strong male influence in my life to guide me and mold me.  Not many people are that lucky, for that I am blessed.

I hope some day I can do that for my sons.

Love you Dad, Happy Birthday,

Ron

(P.S. Sorry for causing you to have so much gray hair... :)