Working out during a one-man show.....in friggin Scotland!

We found a gym to do the Thursday workout in today. Needed it because there's no other way to do chin ups or lat pull downs in the house we're staying in......after some poking around we found a great gym, mapped the bus route there, worked out HARD....is anyone else ready for a recovery week?!?!?! And an hour after we finished, I was starting the one man show.......holy crap!

I love it, though....it is amazing how much stamina you can find with the right mind set.

Tomorrow is a run. Probably in the rain....again. But that's cool.

Jen's folks are in town to see the show....how cool is that?!? My in-laws travel to Scotland to see me perform. They are great friends. Anyway, we ate with them tonight and it posed some challenges, but we came out of it without being too bad. Still probably eating a bit too much later in the evening.

Looking forward to the last three days here, then getting back to the states. But I want to be very present for my last 72 hours in a wonderful foreign land.

Much love your way, fellow bloggers!

-Rob

Running in the Rain in Scotland

Howdy everybody!

Wanted to share a really cool experience with you all. Jen and I are in Scotland. We have done a good job with keeping up with our workouts over here. The only day we missed was all day on the plane...they kept stopping us from jumping rope in the isles. Damn airline rules!

Anyway, we had our interval run yesterday. We have found a nice park not too far from our flat. Hee hee......I love using all the terms that are new to us....flat, loo, privy, dustbin, carpark, rubbish, petrol, allu-MINIUM can......but I digress.....

It was a cold, rainy day. And by cold, I mean the kind of day we might have in late October. Really kinda chilly. I have loved the weather over here.....we are getting a break from the dog days of Indiana. But yesterday was lousy and chilly.

So Jen and I finished teching our show and came home and went for our run. Walking to the park it was so nasty! We both had this posture of....well....icky-ness. And then as we ran...the "importance" of the bad weather just melted away as we got into what we were doing. And the really joyful part was that as we walked back home, feeling like we had really conquored something, it was still raining pretty good, and WE DIDN'T CARE!!! It was actually enjoyable to walk in. A gift from the workout....a new perspective on the rain....we were already soaked, so who cares!

Watching other people struggle to keep the rain out, wincing against it, made me wish everybody could feel what I felt at that moment. Like a kid playing outside...

Okay, off to do a weight workout, then my first performance over here.......send me the mojo, folks......

Peace,

Rob

Hello From Edinburgh!!!

Sunday Night......can't remember the date!

Jen and i are having a very intense time here in Scotland. Travel has been tiring, and we haven't even started the Fringe show yet! But tomorrow we will to the tech for it in the morning, and then jen and i will do our interval run. We searched out a beautiful park to run in today.

So easy to see why Europeans don't have the obesity rate we do: Today Jen and i walked easily four to five miles. We will do that most days we are here. We will NOT be counting that as our workouts!!!! No way. That's just a part of life here, and when we get home, we will try to incorporate it more into our lives in Indy.

Nutrition has been the biggest challenge so far, but we have been pretty good. We ate at a Vegitarian place tonight....the oldest vegitarian restaurant in Edinburgh! It was great and we were very healthy with our choices. All salad....the only starchy things were some yams cut up and a multi grain roll. And now that we are in a house we can cook more for ourselves. Went shopping today and bought great grub for the next week.

We have been lousy with counting the calories. Just trying to make good choices. We will definintely pick the counting back up full time when we are back home. We ARE looking at the labels of everything we buy and making informed choices. Still tough to read some UK nutritional labels, though......

Sorry Chris, I don't think haggis will pass my lips. Although people say it tastes good, I can't do it. I DID however have a glass of twelve year old scotch that made me think I could learn to be a drinker.........

okay. now that we have better computer access i will be writing more.

Wish us luck on the tech tomorrow....and the interval run!!!

Peace,

Rob

Half Marathon Run and Sleep!

Howdy Pilots!

Well, after many nights of poor and sometimes little sleep, Jen and I cashed it hard last night. Nine hours! I know it's not healthy to try to do "catch up" sleep. I need to get more each night than I do. Of course as I write this I am sure all of you are in bed!

Anyway, I went for a "mini" test run today and felt great! I ran 13.2 miles in a little under 92 minutes. And I didn't feel like I was pushing too hard. Just a good tempo run.

What I love about that is this: Four years ago I was prepping for my first mini and hoping for a time under 100 minutes. I ran that first mini in 90:16....great....except for the fact that I was OBLITERATED for the next five days! Pulled groin, torn up calves, and butt muscles that were very grumpy for a week......

Today I ran at a fair clip for me. Maybe not as fast as I could, but a good pace. And tonight I feel fine. A bit tight, but fine. Thank you yoga and better conditioning in my mind and body.

What do I need to work on in the next seven weeks? Meditiation. Meditation. Meditation.

Eliminating beating myself up when I "let myself down" or don't meet an expectation in life or the Project.

Accept where I am and keep kindly moving myself forward.

Jen and I are off to Europe tomorrow....after our weight workout! Send us good vibes as we keep the project flying high overseas......

Here's good vibes to all of you.....

Peace,

Rob

Working Out on the Road....

Hi Fellow Pilots!

Just a quick entry before bed. What a wonderful time Jen and I are having visitng my family in NY/Pennsylvania. My family had converged on my Mom's house to give it some much needed TLC. Ripping down wallpaper, painting most of the interior, and during the progects, so much laughter and sharing memories....and catching up! I am the last of seven so there's a lot of activity here!

And I am proud to say we haven't missed a workout. And Today's entry into the second phase of the strength was.....shall I say......In-Freakin-Tense!!!!! Wow....that was a highly challenging workout. There were a few times that I was laughing at how hard it was. And a few times I thought there was no way I'd get through it. And for the first time I had to stop in the middle of an ab set.....I also had to stop during the two-speed push ups. After the second round of two speeds, when I went to do the three fast push ups, my body froze in fear of doing a complete face plant! I had to just do three "pulses" of push ups.......

Anyway. We are back to full throttle! And tomorrow I run along the Deleware River and will probably see Eagles, Deer and have a remote chance of a bear sighting! I miss this countryside where I am from.

Oh! Monday's interval run was great. I find the minute on and "off" somehow less challenging mentally that the thirty seconds......it may be also that I let myself do more of and 8 to 8.5 rather than a 9 on the RPE scale. That made a big difference.

Okay. Must sleep. Tomorrow we run, kayak and at night I perform my show that I am taking to Scotland in a week. There's a beautiful old theatre here in town. Small and quaint, like the town itself.

Peace,

Rob

Friday's Aerobic "Classic"

Hi Pilots!

Today I took a "fond" trip down memory lane.....I did my aerobic workout on the Gauntlet at my gym. If you don't know, the Gauntlet is a big machine that is basically a series of steps that revolve and fall beneath you. It is like walking or speed walking or almost jogging upstairs, except you have rails for your hands if you need the aid. And I do use the rails, but I tend to go pretty hard for an hour, so I give myself the rails to help my form a bit.....

And to add to my fun, I am mowing our lawn. One acre of fun! And yep, it's just a self-push mower. It takes about two and a half hours. Just finished about 60% and came in to change shirts and take a break. Lotsa water.

My Gauntlet experience was interesting. Very challenging. More than I expected, but it's probably because I havent done that workout in a while, and even though we've all been running fools, different workouts push you in different ways. It was great to be so challenged by it and feel like I met it head on.....no friggin' excuses!!!

Also, have to cut myself a bit of slack as I gave blood yesterday.

Speaking of that......I have to get a mass note out to folks to donate blood. Very good thing to do, and all you have to do is get in the habit of it, then it's no big deal......

Looking foreward to yoga tomorrow, then a loooooong 730 mile drive to my Mom's!!!

Peace,

Rob