MrFreefall383

That's a lot of miles. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

The usual is the case here, still pushing myself pretty hard. Haven't done any biking this week, the onboard computer's still temporarily in the shitter, and it feels like the bike is fighting me, so it could need some liquid go-juice. Other than that, my 800 yd timed swim is now under 14 minutes, my 3 mile run has stabilized for the moment at 21:57, lifting numbers are increasing slightly, and this week has been tough. Although I'll be honest, it flew by. I guess because I had so much to do, I didn't have time to think about how slow the week was moving. Either way, I'm at the very end of the workout week, and I'm still in one piece, so I'm kind of surprised by it as I said I would be. That means next week is going to be even worse. As the SEALs say, "The only easy day was yesterday." "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Today was a mid-weight conditioning day, with some dips, pullups, pushups, flutterkicks and crunches mixed in there for good measure. I definitely have to get in more dips, pullups and pushups though, because they all suck. Definitely making forward progress everywhere else though, so I'm still happy. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Absolutely true. Even I give into the junk food demon every so often. It can be very necessary sometimes for the sake of sanity. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Working out regularly again, wrote up a new fitness plan last night for the rest of this week, and it's really aggressive. If I make it out of this week without anything hurting too much, I'll be very surprised. And I'm going to submit my plan on the CG form to the CO, and see if I can push him for the HPC position. Another benefit I have going for me is that despite the delays to my qualification as a watchstander due to station maintenance duties and lazy shipmates, I still managed to take and pass my communications watchstander board last night and impressed my BM1. The CO's going to know it because my qualification paperwork passes his desk before I get to stand watch alone, so I'm bound to be on everyone's A-list within a few days. Which also means I can safely put in for a leave chit for my August break and hopefully nobody will think twice about it. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Hey, thanks for posting that. Good to know we're appreciated. I spent my Independence Day chaperoning Joe Boater from our 47-ft MLB making sure he didn't blow his face off. Thankfully the night was largely uneventful. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Didn't work out yesterday, was messcooking all day, then got tasked with night ops on the 47 for the fireworks. Talk about a perfect day. Dirty dishes during daylight hours, chaperoning Joe Boater so he doesn't blow his face off with pyrotechnics in the twilight hours. Couldn't have celebrated July 4th any better. As for today, was messcooking all day again, but with a far easier cook. And she's kind of cute. But she's recently divorced with a restraining order on the guy and a 1.5 year old daughter with him. Her daughter's cute as a button though, I got to play with her a few times throughout the day, and got to hold her for a little while. That rocked my socks. So I was pretty motivated to workout tonight, and decided to polish my Oxfords for my comms board tomorrow, and someone dumped a bucket of water on me from the roof, soaking the shoes. Let's just say that got me even more motivated. So I jumped into my workout gear, went to the weight room and busted my ass for an hour on the weights, then went outside and ran some agility drills on the helo pad and almost got run down by the station's mountain bike and some jackass who decided it would be a funny idea to run me down while I was doing crossover steps. Lots of growing up to do around this station. But at least I didn't miss more than a day of workouts. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Lighter is good! Good job! As planned, I passed my weekly fitness plan to my CO, and he looked it over and was impressed. He knows I'm organized now, he knows I push myself pretty hard, and he said if he sees the fitness plan on the Coast Guard's Personal Fitness Plan form, he'd be happy to put me in the Assistant Health Programs Coordinator position, so now I have to find out who the lead HPC is. Don't remember that title in the chain of command. Anyway, the last few days have been insane workouts. Swimming two days in a row, lots of lifting and ab work, and a bike ride today roughly 30 miles long. Abs still need plenty of work, and the bike is fighting me for some reason, but everything else rocks. Building muscle, trimming fat, and gaining tons of endurance. The big goal here is joining one of the special law enforcement teams in the Coast Guard, either Taclet, Ledet, MSST, or MSRT. MSRT is the toughest of the group, Taclet is right up there, followed by Mistys and Ledet. I'm shooting for MSST or Taclet, with MSRT as my long reach. I certainly benefit from being at this station too, because one of our engineers was prior Taclet, and our XO was in a senior position in the Boston MSST, and he said he'd be happy to send me down there for a day to shadow them and see what they do and how they do it. Updating my fitness plan on Sunday, and I'll keep updating in here. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Sunday was a swimming and very light lifting day, yesterday was supposed to be a mid-weight lifting and ab day, but I had to do non-skid all day instead. Ah, the life of a Coastie. It was a workout though, so I can't say I sat around on my ass all day. Today I said fuck it, and worked out no matter who said otherwise. Ran 3 miles in 21:57, 7:19 pace, then 50 reps on the Leg Press at level 8, whatever that is on this machine, have yet to find out. Then I did 50x2 Squats with two 20lb weights in my hands. Then did 200 Crunches, 100 Flutterkicks, and 1 minute of Swimmers. Tomorrow is another swimming day with some lifting and ab work, and Thursday is a cycling day. Finally got all my sign-offs, so I'm just studying for my exam board on Saturday and doing uniform maintenance. Should be one hell of a week for fitness. And the CO will definitely be seeing my fitness plan tomorrow, and we'll see what he says about making me the HPC. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Couldn't post it earlier because we've been busy with St. Peter's Fiesta around here, including the infamous Greasy Pole. A bunch of drunks try to cross a telephone pole suspended over the harbor by a large platform. The pole, as the name suggests, is very slick. At the end is a flag pole and a red flag. Anyone who gets to the flag moves on to the next round, but that's usually not many. More often than not, it results in nasty injuries, and we're put out there to maintain security and prevent more serious injury if someone messes up. It's a 4+ hour event everyday of the weekend, so I've been rather tied up. That said, I'm still working out like nuts. In fact, I managed to come up with a formal plan for the rest of this week, Sunday to Sunday, as far as what I'm doing for my health. Taking into consideration lifting, cycling, swimming, running, and ab work, and what days I'm working and not working, I think the schedule looks good. I guess I'll find out for sure when I finish the week. On the other hand, whether it works or not, I'm sure the CO would be impressed to see such a clear plan, and would definitely follow through on his suggestion of making me the station's fitness trainer. And that will definitely go a long way toward getting the career I want in the Coast Guard. That and my work ethic, I'm pretty sure I can get anywhere I want to go. Who else is still working at becoming a straight up badass? "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

At least you're doing something. If your schedule prohibits you from doing your normal fitness routine, but you get in as much as you can anyway, then you're still a badass. I can't even say that for myself right now, although the last week or so I've been busting my hump for it no matter what. That's the best you can do sometimes. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Good deal, sounds like everyone's doing pretty well, with the exception of the broke ones. Broke ones, get better! Then start turnin' and burnin' twice as hard as before. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Happy Birthday! "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

New orders rock. Have fun in Tokyo bitch! Don't get too drunk. Those chicks love drunk Americans, and they love getting them into trouble even more. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Am I the only one still working out now that it's hot outside? "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Pisses me off. I just saw him live last year. What an amazing talent. I guess we all knew it was coming eventually, he was old and definitely not in the best of health, but damn, still gonna take me a while to comprehend it. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Yeah, that would be the Senate. The House doesn't have enough clout to be packing a bill like that with BS. And the Senate is notorious for pushing their own agendas. I would know, I had to read Senate and House legislation when I interned in Washington. But yes, this is a good thing. As a Coastie for all of 4 months, I already know that the current MGIB offers a very significant value at a very small price. If it offers more at the same price, then you can at least say that the country really does care about our troops. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Happy Birthday! "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

OK, no thread, so I'll start it. Finally started working out again this week. Been so swamped with watch qualifications, I couldn't find any time or energy for working out. Did some lifting Wednesday, then did a 3 mile run on the treadmill yesterday in 23:45 down from 25 minutes, and did a whole bunch of upper and lowerbody lifting. I'm going to find out the hours at the Y today and go for a swim, because apparently the Grand Isle has a contract with them, the sailors onboard that nice little WPB can work out for free. Next door at Station Gloucester, we were told we get the pool for free with our military ID, so I'm going to find that out. On other notes, I finally reviewed what's called my IDP, or Individual Development Plan, with the CO, and upon seeing that I want to cut down my run times and do a triathlon before I'm transferred to A-School, he said he might consider making me the station's new "Health Programs Coordinator", the guy who will help fellow shipmates come up with effective fitness plans, and if they're having trouble with their semi-annual weigh-ins I get to shadow them and get them under their max allowable weight. Imagine that, Station Gloucester Health Programs Coordinator, Seaman David Bajorin. I like where this is going. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Been working out everyday since I arrived here at Station Gloucester, although this weekend was filled with family visits, so I haven't worked out at all. And the next two weeks are going to be a struggle to find any time to work out at all because I'm qualifying on comms and standing some strange hours on watch. I guess I'll figure something out. But I've been running on the treadmill, lifting, doing all my pushups, abs, the usual business plus some, and I'm definitely gaining muscle mass. I guess joining the Coast Guard did change me. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Don't have any solutions for you sadly, but if you were really worn out, you should have slept better. I do have a story. Goes to show that sleep-walking can occur at any age. While I was in USCG Recruit Training, one of our guys woke up in the middle of the night. Or we thought he woke up in the middle of the night. Another recruit ran into him on the outboard end of the racks walking to the stern of the squadbay toward the firewell. When the other recruit asked his buddy what he was doing up, he stopped at position of attention, stared blankly at the bulkhead behind his fellow recruit and said, "I have to make sure the fire extinguisher is still there." He then proceeded to sleepwalk to the fire extinguisher, feel it up, then jumped back into the rack and passed out. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

No car dealerships are honest. They're all out to f*** you. That's why I stopped going to my dealership and found a good local mechanic with an ASE certification standard. ASE is short for Automotive Service Excellence, which is supposed to always meet warranty standards for all manufacturers. I know because I want to start a performance tuning shop, and want to get ASE certified. So find a good-guy shop with ASE techs, and all that shit will cost you far less, and half of it probably won't have to be replaced. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Been waiting for the right one. It started by accident, I had some ugly relationship history in my high school and college years, and now it's by choice. I don't date now because I figure the right one will find me, so why go looking for trouble? That said, I'm going to reinforce the same of my kids when I eventually have some. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Would be interesting, wouldn't it? So I did in fact run the gauntlet at the jungle gym. Planned two different routes, ran both about 5 times, cut ET on every run, and the 16 lbs. didn't change anything. Actually ran the course faster with the weight than without. No more serious weight routines until I settle into Gloucester, but I think life in the DOG is in the cards somewhere. I'm going to try for it, whether I make it or not. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche

Well hey, at least the near-coronary experience was worth the win. Damn the school grounds for almost giving Aunt Jaye a coronary. I promise I won't give myself a coronary, but if I can't make it through the obstacle course first time around without injuring something, then I guess I'm too old to kick in doors for a living. "If at first you don't succeed... well, so much for skydiving." - aviation cliche