6:00 AM no set class this morning, aka the Tracy and Tara show.  I don’t know if they realize how essential their friendship was to our groups cohesiveness.  T & T have that boundless friendship which could only be developed by years of drunken celebration, interpersonal counseling, and having a deeper file on skeletons in the closet than the other persons mate.   

What started as an average group stretch turned into the T & T iPod morning dance jam.  They picked songs, and then danced around, giving everyone a reason to start the morning with a laugh and a good happy feeling about the day.

It is hard to explain the energy that is created after a week of this difficult schedule.  As time goes on there is an addictive energy in the air that begins to permeate into your skin.  People feel good about themselves; it’s a strange feeling to be around so many people who feel good all day. 

8:00 AM Hike Solstice Canyon.  As a group we decided to hike Solstice Canyon.  At breakfast I sat and had breakfast with Maggie and Susan.  They had originally planed to hike the Beach, but I think my comments about Solstice got them excited about the canyon. 

In returning to Solstice Canyon I forgot how tough the initial, and climb was, about the first fifth of the climb is pavement.  It’s a very steep pavement, which causes my calf muscles to tighten up.  Surprisingly the climb was easier than on Tuesday.  We only had to rest a couple of times during the ascent.  

A combination of feeling guilty about opening my big mouth and having Maggie and Susan do a hike maybe they didn’t’ want to do, and because I wanted Mary to really push herself, I chose about half way thru to back track and meet up with Maggie and Susan.  Maggie and Susan are competent hikers but I don’t deal well with guilt, even if it’s completely imagined.  Of course when I meet up with them, they love the hike, and I’m thinking “Hey asshole, how about you stop projecting your issues on other people.”

Mary Kicking Butt Today…

If you can't see her she is that tiny black speck near the top right corner.

As a result of the rains we had the previous day the creek was washed out and we didn’t do the crossing, which meant that we had to backtrack up the ridge we had just come down.   When I reached this point Mary had almost lapped me, I decided then to try and catch up with her.  I pushed myself hard and after 30 minutes I met up with her near the descent to the paved road. 

Trying to catch up with Mary.

Saturday hikes are done by signup, a kind of player’s choice hike thus the van numbers no longer determine the groups.  As a result we had a few people in our group that we hadn’t hiked with before.   Sandy and Paul who are husband and wife happened to be on our hike.  These people are phenomenal.  They are in excellent physical condition.  Sandy ran the length of the hike at least 3 times.  Paul must have done the entire distance twice.  What’s even more impressive is their age, I’m not sure of Sandy’s age but Paul is 68.  68!  He doesn’t look any older than his 50’s. 

Following the hike I had my free session with the nutritionist.  She helped reinforce the principle that above all else weight loss happens as a result of expelling more energy than you consume.  There is no way around this fact.  All diets and programs are either an attempt to follow this principle without calorie counting or a bunch of bullshit.  

So the math that was figured out for me yesterday is as follows:

My Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) is about 2800 calories on the conservative side; this means I will burn 19,600 calories a week doing my daily activities in life.  If I can burn 1000 calories each of my 5 workouts a week I will burn an additional 5000 calories a week.   My total weekly caloric expenditure will be 24,600 calories a week. 

My goal is to lose 5 pounds a week which equates to 17,500 calories a week.  This only leaves me 7100 calories a week to consume.  I think the number is actually higher because I’m confident my RMR is higher.  In any case it’s a basic blueprint for my dietary plan when I get home.  

I had an afternoon workout session with Michael.  Today’s session was an hour and we worked on more kettlebell techniques.  What’s interesting is that because of the variety of the motions I’m not concerned on how many kettlebell swings I’m actually doing.  This is such a great workout. 

I have video below of my swing technique and Michaels swing technique.

My fatass trying to do the same thing.

Today is a day of much transition because all the 1 week stay people are leaving today.  I apologize if this post is a bit nonsensical, but my cognitive brain function is not so high.