Beards, Barbells, and Beer

[NurseKnuckles]

Sounds like a plan al

 

[DrBdan]

Do it. I think the smart money is on Dan but I have lots of room for improvement.

Mon Aug 18, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching

- Squats
45x8
95x5
135x3
175x2
215x5
(+belt)
250x5
280x6

Not bad. The 6th rep of 280 was a bit sloppy but everything else was good.

- Cable rows: 3x20.

 

[DrBdan]

I tried a bunch of new beers on the weekend. Nothing that blew my socks off but here's some notes:

StoneWall Light - Recommended by NurseKnuckles. This is a light beer with a hint of lime. Oddly it comes in a tall can that is only 355ml so it's skinny like a Red Bull can. Odd choice. Anyway, it was a grainy tasting beer with an aftertaste of mild lime and a bit of hops. For a light beer it's not bad but nothing special. The lime taste was nice. Corona with a slice of lime is better but also triple the price. I probably won't buy it again but as Nurse commented in the pub, it's a cheap refreshing beer for the Summer.

AC/DC Lager - Yes the band AC/DC have put their name on a beer (and also an energy drink according to their website). It's a generic lager. Kinda grainy, no hops. Poured into a glass it's a plain, uninspiring yellow colour. Meh. Not bad but not good and also not cheap so why bother? Other than to say you are drinking AC/DC's beer.

Rickard's Lederhosen - Apparently this beer is so new that it's not even listed on Rickard's website and there are no pictures of it in Google images. I found this pic on a beer review website. But I digress... This is an Oktoberfest style lager which usually means lots of malt and it fits the bill. It's a nice malty beer but has a bit of a metallic aftertaste. It's 6.5% ABV and you can taste a bit of the alcohol in the aftertaste but it's not terrible. Like most of Rickard's line-up this is a drinkable, average beer.

Double Trouble Prison Break Pilsner - A solid pilsner from Guelph's Double Trouble Brewing. This one is a bit maltier than you'd would expect from a pilsner but still has some hops in the aftertaste. It won't blow your mind with flavour but is a nice crisp pilsner.

I currently have another Stonewall Light, a Waterloo IPA, a Shock Top Raspberry Wheat, and... a fourth beer that I can't remember left in my fridge. I'll probably drink them next weekend and report back.

 

[DrBdan]

Forgot to mention a beer that I tried a few weeks back...

Flying Monkeys Stereovision - Flying Monkeys is in Barrie, about an hour north of Toronto, so I've tried a lot of their beers. They have a funky style which is reflected in their beer labels and the beers themselves.

This is an American Kristall Wheat. Most wheat beers are unfiltered so they are cloudy but this one is "kristall" meaning it has been filtered and is mostly clear. The American part is that they have combined a typical wheat beer with an American amber ale. What you get is something that has the smooth, slightly sweet taste of a wheat beer with a nice hoppy aftertaste. It seems to get mixed reviews online but I liked it and thought it was an interesting twist on a wheat beer. It was probably a bit heavy to drink a lot of (I find this with most wheat beers) but it was tasty.

 

[MilkManUK]

The AC/DC beer may not be up to much, but Iron Maiden have a beer which is actually decent, if you can get your hands on it over there.

 

[DrBdan]

Dang, the LCBO actually has the Iron Maiden beer. Kinda sucks that a 500ml bottle is $5 but I'll give it a try.

 

[MilkManUK]

Dang, the LCBO actually has the Iron Maiden beer. Kinda sucks that a 500ml bottle is $5 but I'll give it a try.

I liked it. Hope you enjoy it.

 

[DrBdan]

Tues Aug 19, 2014

Conditioning (LISS)

- C2 rower: 11 minutes, a bit over 2.5 km. My 5k pace was around 20:30.
- Treadmill: 12 minutes
- Stairmill: 12 minutes

35 minutes total, plus a couple minutes cooldown. I was going to do 5k on the C2 but my lower back was getting a crazy pump (probably from having squatted yesterday) so I stopped after I broke 2.5km. Heart rate in the 135-145 range.

I'm going to be busy tomorrow and won't be able to play hockey in the evening. Then I'm on vacation next week so I'll probably miss it as well. After Labour day the group shifts to playing on Tuesdays which I'll probably join and it actually works better with my schedule so instead of doing conditioning at the gym I'll play hockey.

I just checked Concept2's site and my 5k pace of 20:30 puts me basically in the 50th percentile, so middle of the pack. 75th percentile is 19:30 which seems like an achievable goal for the end of October.

 

[Aleks Sytsevich]

What's your 500m time, Doc?

 

[DrBdan]

I don't actually know since I usually just use the C2 for warming up or LISS. The last time I did 500m sprints I was around 1:45 which according to C2's website is also around the 50th percentile. On Thursday I'll do some sprints and see what I can get. 1:30 seems like a good goal.

 

[DrBdan]

...

I currently have another Stonewall Light, a Waterloo IPA, a Shock Top Raspberry Wheat, and... a fourth beer that I can't remember left in my fridge. I'll probably drink them next weekend and report back.

Turns out I actually drank that 4th mystery beer. It was Budweiser Crown (Google tells me it's called Black Crown in the U.S.), and as you can guess it was pretty unspectacular. I bought it because I thought "hey maybe it's not terrible" and yeah it's not terrible. Not good either but at least I could drink it. It's called an amber lager but it's pretty yellow. Tastes like a normal budweiser with maybe a bit more flavour. But that's like saying Florida is colder than Mexico, neither one is really cold and Budweiser isn't really a good beer regardless. I'm such a beer snob eh?

Also, I got my hair cut tonight and it makes my beard look even bigger and more ridiculous. I think I need to trim/shape the beard a bit now.

My wife was like "OMG you look Muslim!" and I was like "umm... maybe more Amish?"

 

[Tosa]

An Amish wouldn't have a moustache to go with the beard. Moustaches used to be a sign of a military man, and Amish are pacifists.

I think if you had the top really neat, it'd work. That way it the big beard looks like a deliberate choice, rather than just a lack of grooming.

 

[Aleks Sytsevich]

Agree with tosa. Get one of those hipster astro boy hair cuts. Groom the stache. You'll look like a real winner then.

 

[Dan O]

Curious to see what your baseline 5-hundo is. I did one two nights ago and I'm pretty sure I saw jesus.

It was awful.

 

[DrBdan]

An Amish wouldn't have a moustache to go with the beard. Moustaches used to be a sign of a military man, and Amish are pacifists.

I think if you had the top really neat, it'd work. That way it the big beard looks like a deliberate choice, rather than just a lack of grooming.

Agree with tosa. Get one of those hipster astro boy hair cuts. Groom the stache. You'll look like a real winner then.

Something like this? (This guy was on Big Brother Canada)

Curious to see what your baseline 5-hundo is. I did one two nights ago and I'm pretty sure I saw jesus.

It was awful.

I let you know on Thursday.

 

[Aleks Sytsevich]

Yes. The Kenny look.

 

[Tosa]

Yeah, but less goofy.

 

[DrBdan]

I trimmed my beard a bit this morning and I think it looks better. The sides are a bit shorter and more even so it looks less disheveled. We'll see how this goes.

Wed Aug 20, 2014

C2 rower, dynamic stretching, DCSW

- Bench
45x10
45x10
75x8
95x6
115x5
135x5
150x5
165x8
135x10

I did AMRAP for 165 and probably had one rep in the tank. It would have been sloppy so 8 reps was good.

- Facepulls: 4x20

The free weight section was super busy today and the cable row station was in use so I couldn't do rows. Facepulls will have to do.

 

[ThinkGreen]

Lol one of my little brothers looks just like that dude in the picture

 

[DrBdan]

This is my cat Mia. For the past 18 months or so she had been having some serious health issues. She almost died in Jan/Feb 2013 due to severe constipation and weight loss (due to not eating) but we nursed her back to health. She never fully recovered though and we were always having to give her pills and mild laxative to keep her regular (and whenever it got worse she would shit and piss all over the house). This Summer she developed gum disease and needed dental work badly. When we took her in for that the blood work showed that she had become diabetic as well (needing daily injections) so we decided it was enough and had her put down. This was back on July 31.

R.I.P. Mia

She is survived by her son Snoopy who is either lonely and depressed to just a lazy cat. I think it's a bit of both.