The Hydration Paradox, Dumb Friends & Random Thoughts

According to an internet Hydration Calculater (yes, apparently such a thing exists) I should be drinking just about 120oz. of water every day. That's roughly 7 1/2 bottles from the time I wake up, to the time I close my eyes. Now I know in that total I should include overall fluid intake, however since coffee actually dehydrates you, I actually need to be drinking more like 9 bottles of water, iced tea, vitamin water or gatorade each and every day. Between the amount of time it takes to actually drink that much fluid, and the amount of time it takes to have 34 bathroom breaks per day I probably won't have too much time to train, let alone do the job that helps me foot the bill for my gym membership. In the past month I have been considerably more conscious of drinking plenty of water. On the plus side, I'm more hydrated, losing weight and overall feel better when I workout. The flip side of that is I always have to pee...like, can't run more than 5 or 6 miles without thinking I'm 20 seconds away from massive embarrassment. So, in addition to training my legs and lungs, looks like I better work on training my bladder too (or maybe just wear black shorts).

In one of my first blogs I stated I was going to do some "Aaron Karo style ruminations". After this blog, I was talking to a friend and he said, "dude, I enjoyed the last blog, but you sort of ripped off Aaron Karo". Well, considering I said that's what I'm doing, not making any money, and Mr. Karo has never heard of me, nor will ever read this, I don't think it is that egregious of an offense. After further thought, I decided to take it as a compliment...and start finding smarter friends.

Here's some random thoughts to peruse:

-The only thing that looks more awkward than an uncoordinated girl trying to keep up in a zumba class is an uncoordinated guy trying to keep up in a zumba class.

-Based on the trailers for Real Steel, I'm going to assume that there isn't another Wolverine movie due for a couple years and Hugh Jackman really needed a paycheck.

-"Matthew, I got a new car" - Grandma
"Oh yeah? What'd you get" - Matt
"A Ford something" - Grandma
"A Focus, Fusion or something else?" - Matt
"Yeah, it's black" - Grandma
Well then...glad we got that cleared up
(for additional laughter, all Grandma quotes are to be thought of in a thick Long Island accent)

-I love this Red Sox collapse so much I want to kiss and hold it. I may even buy it breakfast the next morning.

-How.Bout.Dem.Bills!!!

-Apparently Summer's Eve (killer company slogan by the way) is a major sponsor for MTV's Real World franchise. You would think if they were going for accurate sponsorships they would have signed on Valtrex
***Sidenote-Many comedians have already beat to death how cheerful those people are in herpes commercials. Forget them, what is with the joyful partners of those people? I feel like that is some major false advertisement. Moral of the story...if you go home and have to tell your wife or girlfriend you have herpes, don't expect a hug and a camera crew. Well maybe a camera crew, but only if Cops is filming in your area.

-Lastly, this week will be my last week as a member of New York Sports Club. Nothing against my old gym, but Lifetime Fitness is nicer and closer to my new place. I'll miss the open windows of NYSC that let me observe all the goofy zumba and cardio kickboxing classes. I'll also miss the lady who sings on the treadmill, and the dude who works out in jean shorts (he also has a shark tooth necklace). I won't miss the grumpy dude at the front desk, but hopefully he can finally land a date with one of the cute girls that has the same job (or finally land that elusive personal trainer position). Overall though, it was a great gym and a great company. I'm excited about the new gym, as it is easy the nicest one I have ever been to, let alone been a member of. Let's just hope the restroom is 30 seconds or less from the treadmills.

That's all for now,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

ps - If you enjoyed this, email/tweet/facebook a link out to your friends. More readers=more potential donors to the goal I am oh so close to reaching (less that $700 to go).

Guest Blog #3 - Throw down a donation, I’ll match it*; and, illogical training tactics.

For those of you who missed my last post, a very brief introduction: I am Matt’s buddy from growing up in Pittsford, NY, and he has convinced me to run the marathon with him. He has often called me ‘the dumbest smart person I know.’ To back that up, I am only (ostensibly) running (in theory) the marathon because Matt has this painful race on his life bucket list, and he couldn’t find anyone else to try it alongside him. If you ask me, then, that’s kind of like a black pot calling a black kettle black, while all the shiny China from grandma (that’d be anyone not running the ‘thon) sits back, looking good in the cabinet and inclining at a comfortable angle on those plate-holder things…
But let me share with you another bit of information before you decide whether Matt’s assessment is correct: I offset this perception with some intelligent (you be the judge) tactics in two key subject areas related to this race:
1) Fundraising
2) Training tactics
For fundraising, I recently bombarded about 75 business school friends with an email requesting their help with our effort to raise $2,620 to Donate Life. I learned about five valuable thing in business school, and paid about $80k to do it, so the cost of learning a tactic associated with that request, to me, was about $16k. I can’t speak for how much everyone else learned, but they paid similar amounts, and at least they got some classmate spamming them for money 15 months later, if nothing else. So that’s that.
HERE’S THE CATCH/TACTIC: I promised each of those people I’d donate an additional $5 for each person who makes a donation to our marathon-running cause (the charity/foundation Donate Life). So far, they’ve hit me up for about $75, and I’m on the hook for $ BILLIONS untold more still (or $300, if you wanted to be picky about it…).
For Matt’s friends and family reading this…the first ten people who donate next, who I don’t know personally, I’ll also donate $5 to match the donation from each of you!!!!!
There you have it…a psychological tactic relying on feelings of guilt and shared sacrafice to get people to do something. Just cost me $16,000 for the idea! Plus $75 so far but I hope that number goes up!!
On the topic of training tactics, I’ll keep it short for now. I have learned that when it comes to something as dumb as readying yourself for a marathon, you must not only do logical things to stay in good physical health, but illogical things to challenge your body and also to keep your mind occupied. I present to you my top two such items for this week…
a) I am going to Brazil for 10 days starting tomorrow, but the training must continue. Therefore I will run in one of the world’s most smog-choked cities (Sao Paulo) at mountain elevations. Category: illogical physical challenges likely to result in black lung.
b) I occassionally do runs on park trails in my current home, St. Louis county. I have been known to take a look around, during moments of powering through pain, and point my arm/index finger to the sky at a forty-five degree angle only after I’m sure no one is looking. It is a mix between declaring myself #1, and encouraging myself to keep going forward. Category: illogical things to keep your mind occupied and look stupid at the same time.
I have some other moves in the arsenal, but I need to test them a bit more before I know they are tough enough to recommend to you. Stay posted, and I look forward to matching your donation!!
- Andy G.
P.S. If you need your own motivational video/tactic for any reason, I suggest trying this clip on youtube. Matt will like it for its Jeter reference, hate it for its Ray Allen (kryptonite to SU) reference, and like it for its Melo reference. See you in a couple weeks…

Andy

How 'Bout 'Dem Bills, Odd Discovery, & Links

I spent the majority of this past Sunday either sitting in an airport, on a plane, sitting in traffic or sleeping. Because of the amazing time I had at my cousin Rachael's wedding, I wasn't able to watch most of Sunday's football games. I was however able to listen to the Buffalo Bills crazy comeback win to move to an improbable 2-0. I'm not booking playoff tickets yet, but as a pretty diehard fan of a pretty historically inept team, a couple weeks of success is a welcome break from the normal fall Sunday. I'm sure this will all come crashing back down to earth as hated Patriots, led by man's man Tom Brady, come into town, but it sure has been a fun start to the season.

Since I've been writing this blog, I've been delighted to see the traffic to my posts gain traction almost weekly (with the exception of the power outage hiccup...Don't worry I'm not bitter). I decided to research where most of my traffic was coming from. By far, Facebook was the biggest source of traffic. Twitter was the second most, followed by google searches and my friend Meg's blog (Thanks Meg!). Seeing that this was popping up in google searches, I was curious what the searches were. Optimistically I was thinking "marathon blog" "marathon training blog" "matt stendardi is hot", etc... were going to be the most likely searches. Well, sadly I discovered I get the most google traffic from people searching for shirtless pictures of Wesley Snipes, due to a previous post. Sadly for Wesley, this blog doesn't make a dime, so it won't exactly help him out with his current predicament.

Let's round out with some links for the evening:

-Pretty crazy read for you online poker fans out there

-For some unknown reason, we're still not quite tired of Charlie Sheen yet

-Very interesting reaction from Jim Boeheim regarding Syracuse's impending departure from the Big East

-If you saw the Mayweather/Ortiz boxing fiasco this weekend, check this out

-Yep, (Mac users nod happily)

-Looks like I'm not the only one excited about the Bills start...still cynically preparing for the inevitable though

Got a guest blog from Andy coming up tomorrow, and I'll be back with a training update (big change coming at the end of the month).

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Unsolicited TV Review, Family Weddings & Stepping Up When Called

After 8 seasons, HBO's hit comedy Entourage wrapped up this past Sunday. DO NOT READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU WATCH THE SHOW, BUT HAVEN'T SEEN THE FINALE. BIG FAT SPOILER ALERT, EVEN THOUGH I'M SURE YOU CAN PREDICT EXACTLY HOW THE SHOW WENT. While the first couple seasons of the show were funny, raunchy and pretty much replicated the lives most of us would want to have with our three best friends, the show took a turn somewhere in Season 3 or 4. It became more predictable, less outrageous, and got a little bit sappy. Sure, you still had Ari screaming gay slurs at Lloyd, various hot naked chicks, and even a storyline involving a porn star, but it still seemed a little forced. It's like the guy that graduated from school 5 years ago, but still goes back and demands a beer pong game, a room of freshmen girls, and shotguns Pabst (Before any of you say it, I go to the bar when I'm back at school...and I only shotgun Miller Lite. So there). My point is, that dude, like the show, had to figure out whether to go left (more raunchy) or right (more serious), instead it was four or so seasons of the same. While everyone was pleased Ari fixed his family (or did he? Make sure to watch through the credits...apparently that movie career isn't jumping off for Jeremy Piven), Vince seemed to settle down, and Eric got his girl, I think everyone was really hoping for one more house party, random hot nude chick, and meltdown from Johnny Drama. In the end, it was a show I enjoyed, thought was pretty funny and kinda good, but could have been great. It was a multiple course meal that fizzled after the first two courses...much like these random analogies. Step up your game HBO, because Californication is everything Entourage should have been.

This weekend I'll be taking my running shoes down south to Atlanta to celebrate the wedding of my cousin Rachael. While two of my other cousins are married (and I'm older than all of them), I wasn't able to be at those two weddings, so I am quite excited. Not excited to answer questions about whatever lady is or isn't in my life, or excited to sit in an airport, but if you give the big guy music and an open bar, you get a happy big guy. Plus my dad's side of the family (the Italian side) is very fun and only has everyone together every couple years, so it should be quite a reunion. Good food, good drinks, good company, and tons of bad dancing...can't wait!

Lastly, and most importantly, we have had some pretty insane weather over the past couple weeks here in the northeast. All joking aside, this has done a tremendous amount of damage. For many families, they are out of homes, and with the current economic state, out of the resources to provide for their family. My friend Tim is starting an effort to raise money for his hometown in Pennsylvania which has been decimated by flooding. While he has a fundraising goal, the best part about this effort is that you can contribute anything. Clean your closets and find clothes, get rid of canned food that you haven't had in months, those old blankets will provide a comfortable night sleep. So while times are tough, and you may not have the cash, you can still contribute. CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ON THIS CAUSE. So go ahead and show some love to a community that needs more of it that you can imagine.

That's all for now,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Playoff Beards, Wedding Madness & Links

There are four things I truly love in this world:
-My Family
-Lumina Resort
-Hot chicks in yoga pants
-The Rocky Series (1-4 with a mini honorable mention for number 6...5 was a disaster)

For this reason, in addition to some general morning laziness, I've decided to grow a beard as I'm charging through the home stretch of training (started the last 10 weeks for those counting). The way I look at it, was that in Rocky IV, as our short roided hero was preparing for the biggest challenge of his life, he went into the Russian tundra, grew a beard and trained like a mad man. Also, guys in the NHL look pretty bad ass with their playoff beards (except you Sidney Crosby...that was just terrible). Quick Rocky side-note; there really wasn't another training montage would word, 1 and 2 he was basically mentally challenged, 3 would include running shirtless with dudes in the water, 5 never happened, and 6 he was old and had varicose veins (on that note, it is understated how ridiculous the premise for Rocky Balboa is. A 60 year old former champ is supposed to compete with an undefeated champion in his prime? Unless there was a weight-class difference and the current champ was on the same drugs as the "amblance guy" that fight wouldn't last longer than 2 minutes). So, even though I've never had more mixed reviews over a change in appearance, the beard is staying around for a few weeks (unless my company comes up with a facial hair policy...gotta keep gettin' that check).

For the past couple weeks I've kept on an aggressive by quality training schedule. That will be a challenge to keep for a few weeks though, as I have three weddings to attend over the next five weekends. Sept. 17-Atlanta, GA, Oct. 1-Pottsville, PA, Oct. 9-Seattle, WA. Thankfully running is the least expensive form of exercise out there, because it doesn't take a great detective to figure out where the rest of my money is going to be going. Here's hoping to some good hotel fitness centers, and some self moderation on the open bar.

In honor of holiday week hump day (not nearly as dirty as it sounds), here's some links:
-The language is fairly NSFW, but this is hilarious. A former NFL player, Ethan Albright, was awfully upset about his player ranking in Madden 2007
-"I totally know how we can get the White House back...let's have a ton of big group arguments where we destroy one another's political foundation!"
-From the Better Late Than Never files -Good news: Football is back. Bad news: The Bills stink again
-He's an acquired taste, but Dave Dameshek cracks me up
-Fun twist on fantasy football
-Huh? What? How? Why? Huh?
Check in with everyone tomorrow!
Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Mother Nature's Tantrum, More Parents Stuff, & An Uncomfortable Steam/Sauna

First and foremost, sorry for the delay between posts. Between moving into a new place, and a New Jersey hurricane, I basically did not have home internet for a couple weeks. Considering I avoid trips to the office at almost all costs, showing up to write a blog would probably be professionally frowned upon. Anyhow, I'm back online and if anything, the hurricane helped me keep on a pretty good running schedule. It's amazing how willing you are to hit the gym when it is the only place that you can get a hot shower. Last week wound up being my first 30 mile week (33 miles to be exact, with a long run of 10.5). This week I'm going for another 30, but with a long run of 13. Now for how on schedule the running has been, work has been making everything else go in the exact opposite direction. I drive around for work, and when half the roads are flooded, that makes it considerably difficult. With the rain today, the roads flooded again making it seem like I was in a live action version of the Oregon Trail, fording a river. As far as the damage to where I live, it was pretty limited. Power was out for about 6 days, ruining the contents of the fridge, but other than that, we were in pretty good shape. I picked up some wisdom though on how to handle these situations in the future. I can't control the weather, what happens as a result of the weather, but I can control what information I pass along to my mom and dad. For the first few days, I received multiple calls/texts a day asking if the power was on (it wasn't), and when it was coming back on (had no idea...we'll touch on that in a second). It was almost like my parents were getting back at me for childhood road-trips when my sister and I would constantly ask, "are we there yet?". Overall I wasn't too annoyed by the whole power outage, except for the mayor of Morristown making daily guarantees it would be back on. When a road salesman has had it with your b.s., you are officially doing a terrible job. So after two weeks in Morristown, I'll have my ear out for the next round of mayoral candidates (you've got some time Tim Dougherty...pick your game up).

I've got plenty of stuff to write about (way too much for one blog) over the next week or so. Expect almost daily posts hitting all sorts of different topics.

I'll leave you on this little note though, which was easily as uncomfortable as I've been in a long time. As any reader of this blog knows, I enjoy poking fun at the eclectic mix of patrons at my gym. Today, after a 6.5 mile run, I went to the stretching mat to do a post run stretch and ab workout. about halfway through a middle aged guy got on the mat and did some sort of yoga workout (not weird at all, just a precursor). After the time on the mat, I hit the steam room and sauna for a bit (feels great after a long run and really helps your muscles loosen up). After 15 minutes in the steam room, I jumped over to the sauna, and a minute later the yoga guy from the mat came in. He was fully dressed, and started stretching in the middle of the room (kinda odd). He then removed his shirt and was doing some of the yoga poses (getting more odd). This was followed by a complete strip down, a new round of stretches, then plopping his sweaty naked backside on the bench and saying, "Hi, how are ya?" (what the hell?). Good times at the New York Sports Club and hopefully more frequent good times here on this site.

Hope everyone had a good long weekend, and I'll be back tomorrow,
Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi