A Hero Lost

Today we honor and celebrate the life of Ray Brytowski - the man we call husband, father, brother, grandpa, great grandpa, son and friend.

In these few sentences I will not be able to account for all the things my father meant to me and Ray meant to everyone. The many lessons I learned from the man who had a deep love of family, a wonderful sense of humor and an incredible amount of strength and integrity.

This man I call father was fiercely loyal to our country and served in the Air Force for 20 years. It was while in the Air Force that Ray met his wife of 56 years - Betty. Those of you who were blessed to be someone my father called friend knew that he would of given you the shirt off his back, without a comment or complaint. And although he was never an outwardly religious man, he certainly lived his life with strong morals and values, respecting and caring for people. That is not to say he didn’t tease anyone who had a sense of humor. Ray hugged and kissed continually reminding us that he loved us.

My father was a cheerleader for all three of us kids and was even awarded “outstanding Cheerleader” from my sister Patti’s senior volleyball team. Dad was at every event we participated in, cheering us on to success, no matter how good or bad we were in the sport. Whether travelling the countryside with Lynn’s drill team or teaching me how to snap a football for a single wing offense or breaking his wrist in the father daughter broomball game with Patti…my father was in his glory while participating in our activities.

My father’s love didn’t end there… his devotion and admiration for my mother was always an example to me and my sisters. Even through his Parkinson’s and bouts of cancer, his concern was for his “Betsy”. My father also found a great deal of joy in the company of all his grandchildren… full of love and happiness whenever he spent time with any or all of them. His joy was topped off with the recent arrival of his first great grandchild Ashley.

Although I have only scratched the surface of whom and what my father was all about- none of this is a surprise or news to those who knew Ray. The depth of his character, the love he felt for family and country penetrated quite deeply. Ray was not a man who needed or wanted a great deal of attention, he simply received it because of the kind hearted man he was. And although he not physically with us, I and many others will be forever touched by the man I call my best friend!

In Loving Memory - Ray Brytowski 1928-2008
The 567th Strategic Missile Squadron

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Where are all the Heroes?

Is that a Flashdance song? Crap, now I have the 70’s running through my head. I’m going to have to listen to KT’s High School Musical video to get that out of my head. (Kind of like eating liver to get the foul taste of lima beans out of your mouth.)

I wonder where my fellow heroes are. I kind of feel like Frodo – Where’s the Wizard and the King?...If ever a wiz there was?? (Man I need a beer.)

I took the last week off and had a vacation with my daughter. Very enjoyable. Very resolution – ie. But now I feel like I had to knock off the rust…again.

Workout

Janda sit-ups: 10 reps. I only felt like I had the grove on a few, but that was all I had.
TGU’s 5 x 1/1 (The idea is to kill my abs and then endure through the TGU’s)
Swings 16kg 5 x 10/10
Bike: 5 minutes
Swings 16kg 5 x 10/10
Bike: to finish out the 50 minutes




50:12 - Duration
534 - Calories
50% - Fat
151 bpm - Max heart rate
87% - % of max
123 bpm - Average heart rate
71% - % of max:

1:14 - Hard Zone
9:50 - Medium Zone
39:11 - Light Zone
113 - Heart Zone Training Points

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I had no horse.

It honor of Big Brown’s loss at the Belmont, I officially ran out of steam.

I started out with Norwegian Man Makers – 20 Swings at the top of the minute, followed by a minute on the ski machine. I had intended to do 15 sets of this. At the third set I realized that yesterday’s workout was a pretty good one and my arms were fairly fatigued. At the sixth set I was feeling a tightness in my back. I took a minute off to roll around to stretch my back and crack just about every vertebrae in my back. I finished out four more sets of swings without the ski machine and hopped on the bike for the remainder of my time. It was grueling, but I finished it out soaking wet – unloading a UPS truck in summer type soaking (Speaking of Big Brown).

Today’s workout:

Swings, Ski and Bike

24kg 6x 10/10, alternating with a minute on the Ski machine
24kg 4x 10/10
Bike @35 minutes

51:23 - Duration
701 - Calories
30% - Fat
167 bpm - Max heart rate
96% - % of max
141 bpm - Average heart rate
81% - % of max:

11:04 - Hard Zone
35:50 - Medium Zone
4:29 - Light Zone
161 - Heart Zone Training Points

24 - 60 second recovery

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The Busy Man’s Workout.

I tried something like this last week and I loved it. It’s not your fat burn zone or cardio workouts. In fact it is not intense at all. But by its very nature I actually spend less time huffing and puffing in the gym/basement. I managed what I consider an incredible work load last week, and even today I can tell that my muscles have been adequately fatigued. What did I do?
I did a new set every hour on the hour. Today it was about 2.5 minutes for every set. Five sets took me a total of 12.5 minutes. I did 5 ladders of 4 rungs, long cycle clean and presses (lccp), which means a clean before every press. That’s 24kg; 1 x 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4 at the top of every hour for five hours.

Last weekend I did five sets of:
53kg 5/5 push presses,
24kg 5/5 clean and press,
16 kg clean and press, and
24kg 5/5 rows.

Each set on the top of the hour.

Something a little different.

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Decisions, Decisions

I had two great and hard (though undocumented) workouts so far this week. Yesterday I was wondering where was I sore and which workout was it from. Today’s emphasis should have been a grind, but I decided to go with a ballistic to flush out my legs. Monday I did 32 Kg swings for the first time and I was still feeling the after burn.

Today’s workout:

Swings and Bike

24kg 5x 10/10
Bike 5 minutes
24kg 5x 10/10
Bike 5 minutes
24kg 4x 10/10; feeling fatigued
Bike 5 minutes
16kg 1x 10/10/10/10/10/10/10/10 (The equivalent of 4 straight sets continuous, not top of the minute.) Wow. I can remember when I started and three sets of double swings made me want to hurl.
Bike 5 minutes


0:41:49 - Duration
615 - Calories
40% - Fat
176 bpm - Max heart rate
101% - % of max (Hooorah)
147 bpm - Average heart rate
84% - % of max

16:48 - Hard Zone
24:03 - Medium Zone
00:58 - Light Zone
141 - Heart Zone Training Points

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Slaying the Dragon.

I don’t know about slaying, but I definitely battled one of my dragons today – Kaitlyn’s school district. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX It’s very trying. Very draining.

The point is, though, that we all have our ‘Dragons.’ Galen with his rehab. Swami with his ‘motivational issues.’ Whatever. These demons are enough to bowl us under and they have many names: complacency, immediate gratification, fatigue, time constraints, denial, gluttony, ambivalence, physical limitations, the Green Bay Packers, and Lite Beer. I could go on and on.

What I’m trying to get at is this: We are each of us a Hero. That’s what the banner says anyway. And I like being a Hero, a Hero for Kaitlyn. (If you knew the whole story, you’d say, “Wow. She’s come a long way.” And she has. There’s still a slew of ‘Dragon’s yet to slay. But I’m going to keep at it. I’ve got time, a little meanness, and a whole lot of stubborn on my side.) But as Heroes, we’ve got to watch each other’s backs too. Prop each other up and cheer each other on. I’m talking about commitment and accountability brother. (The crowd roars.)

I correctly predicted that this blog was dead. Summer’s starting to show its ugly (and busy) mug, and I’d rather be grilling than typing at a computer. Well, it’s time to beat this horse some more. I’m not sure what’s going to help Swami motivate. (Maybe if he started posting some of those great articles he e-mails.) Galan is ready to start a new 5x5 program once he gets the doctors approval. Me? I’ve gained a ton and am close to my original weight. It’s a combination of lack of accountability, gluttony, and weight training without the added cardio work that keeps me in the dreaded ‘Fat Burn Zone.’

What d’ ya say boys? (One cricket chirps softly in the background.)

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