Pushing Up And Flying High

We resumed our Labor Day push-up tradition. Andrea did 500 push-ups in 45 minutes, Eason did 600 in an hour. I did 800 push-up in 50 minutes. It was a windy day, so Eason and I took our "dementor" kite out on the canoe.

More pictures and video below:

Turkey Run 2017

We ran in the Turkey Run again this year. Andrea did a little better than previously, but Eason did much worse.

More pictures and complete results below:

Sweet Bungalow Goodbye

We had great weather on our last weekend at the bungalow, which didn't make it easy to close everything up. We spent lots of time on the lake every day, and even got to take a kite out onto the lake, even though Eason spent a lot of time completing his TabSpace Chrome extension, and we still made up for a lazy Labor Day weekend and did our push-ups. I did 500 push-ups in 30 minutes, and 600 after 40 minutes. Eason did 500 in 40 minutes, and Andrea did 500 in 60 minutes.

More pictures below:

2017 Rye Derby

We ran in another Rye Derby. This time only the kids and I ran. We all made significant improvements over previous times. I'm not sure how the times are calculated as I know I came in a good two steps before Andrea.

Here were our times:

Weights Vs Cardio and Body Goals

This is one of the most comprehensive analysis I've ever seen on the controversial debate over the benefits of aerobic versus anaerobic exercise, especially for the purpose of weight [fat] loss. Is is far more comprehensive, and I suspect accurate, than the CNN article that recently came out on the same topic.

My Rye Y Story

Each year, Y staff and volunteers encourage members to share their personal stories, from the back stories that brought them to the Y to the successes and challenges encountered on the road to healthy living. Interviews are conducted in the Y's lobby in the fall, within a story "booth" made from a large gym mat. When I was approached by the staff at the Y about participating in their Rye Y Story project I was intrigued. I thought it was something like StoryCorps, so I agreed to do it. Once I started, I quickly realized that this was very much a marketing opportunity, where people could share their personalized testimonials. This was a bit awkward, since my experience there is very mixed. There are plenty of very friendly people, and plenty who are not friendly, and many who are very inconsiderate. I made the most of the situation I and enjoyed reading about other people's stories. Overall I thought it was a very positive experience and one of the many things the Y does to build and strengthen the community.

See My Rye Y Story below:

Turkey Run 2016

We ran in the Turkey Run again this year. Andrea did much better, but Eason did a little worse.

More pictures, video, and complete results below:

Labor Day Push-Ups 2016

We continued our Labor Day push-up tradition, and even though we all went in to it thinking that we would not do well due to injuries and lack of practice, we all beat our previous records. Then we did a little extra just to see if we could.

Check out the pictures and video below:

Another Day, Another Derby

As seems to always be the case lately we ran another Rye Derby with no practice. Even though Eason has been running track in school, none of us prepared at all for a 5k. Eason decided going in that he was going to take it easy. He finished in ~28 min, which is faster than our last derby, but a couple of minutes slower than our last 5k. I ran with Andrea, and I was really proud of her. She was having a really hard time, but she never stopped and was able to sprint at the end. We came in at 36:14, which was a major improvement for her. Aviva also improved. Afterwards we had some fun at the post-derby festival.

Here were our times:

Turkey Run 2015

We all ran in the 3.2 mile Turkey Run. I didn't even try to keep up with Eason, who finished at about 26:00. Instead I ran with Andrea, who finished in 41:00. (These are the times we calculated from when we crossed the starting position. The official times are below.) were both significant improvements over our last run.

More pictures below:

Labor Day Weekend, Push-Ups And More

We did our usual Labor Day weekend activities of running, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, eating, and a good amount of laying (and floating) around, plus, of course, or Labor Day push-up contest. The contest is supposed to be 500 push-ups in an hour.

More pictures and video below:

A Family That Runs Together...

For the first time all four of us ran the local 5k derby together. In the past I would run the 5k with Eason, and Aviva would run the one mile "fun run" with Andrea. But since Andrea was able to run 3.5 miles with me in practice a couple of weeks ago, she was eager to try it in a real race. Her goal was to run the entire race, no matter how much she had to slow down. Meanwhile, my goal was to keep up with Eason, which might be hard considering I had not trained at all.

Trot To Liberty Science Center

After Andrea and Eason ran in the 1 mile turkey trot, we all ran off to meet our friends at the Liberty Science Center. The kids climbed around in the Infinity Climber and played at the Skyscraper exhibit, and we saw the the Rubic's Cube exhibit, the Tesla Lightning Show. The whole day was a lot of fun.

More pictures and video below:

Bad Form: Why Your Core Workout Isn't Working Out

In Why ab workouts are a waste of time personal trainer Steve Steinberg gets it right about how the only way to achieve abdominal definition is to reduce the fat around your belly. And because spot reduction is a myth, the way to do this is primarily improving your diet and increasing muscle mass (which burns calories throughout the day), and only secondarily with cardiovascular exercise. So if what you're looking for is definition, you never have to work your abs again.

2014 Rye Derby

We all ran in the Rye Derby again this year. Eason and I ran the 5k (3.2 miles), and afterwards Aviva and Andrea and Eason ran the 1 mile fun run.

Check out the results and pictures below:

Up And Down And All Around Cape May

After we got up we got breakfast and went to The Lighthouse. We had a great view of the ocean and Cape May. Then we went walking along the beach on the west side of Cape May Point. The kids collected shells and horseshoe crab shells. The we went and rented a four seat pedal car and road around Cape May. Then Eason and I did our weekly 5k run up and down Beach Avenue in Cape May. It took us between 34 and 36 minutes. At night we went to the movies.

More pictures and video below:

Derby Practice Run

Today was our last day to practice for the Rye Derby in Rye, so we tried to run as close a course as we could to the actual Derby course. We had to take an alternate route towards the end of Playland Parkway since it is not open to pedestrians, but we managed to minimize the detour and maintain the same distance.

We made the mistake of running right after lunch on a full stomach and Eason had a hard time. Towards the end there were lots tears and complaining, but he persevered. In the end, despite the crying, we cut a minute off our best time and ran 3.3 miles in 34 minutes. The best part of all is that, after all his complaining and wanting to stop, it took all of 30 minutes afterwards to be glad he didn't and proud of what he accomplished.

Running around Rye

Eason and I have been training for the Rye Derby. Today we ran 3.3 miles in 35 minutes.

View Running with Eason on 2014-04-06 in a larger map.

Labor Day Weekend

On our long labor day weekend Eason and I continued our Labor Day push-up challenge.

But that's not all we did. There was running and swimming and boating and some celebrating as well.

More pictures below:

Spring Derby 5K

I ran my 3rd 5k with Eason, at the Spring Derby. He did a lot better than he did at last year's derby. This time we accomplished three goals:
1) no stopping
2) no injuries
3) no tears
And he came in ahead of me at 30:30!