Exercise update: I made it to the Y today for some workout time. That means I hit the Y on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday so far this week. Pretty good. I am reminded today of how much better my mood is when get some movement. No wonder some people get to the habit of doing this stuff first thing in the morning. I've never been that guy, but maybe I'll get there. I didn't do anything fancy today, just 32 minutes on the elliptical and 1 set of lots of different weight things, but it all adds up. I'm scheduled for 12:15 spin class tomorrow, so I'll get cardio one way or another.
It also occurred to me that I haven't worked since last week so my mood may be influenced by that as well. I'm sure there's something to be learned there, but I'll save that for another time. I wonder how many people are sacrificing their health for their job? I wonder if you actually have to?
My head always jumps to the big goals, but let's just stick to moving more for now. Big goals can come later.
Nutrition update: No big news. Continued to work on reducing diet soda intake. Probably eating less junk because I'm not running out of the office for lunch, but I can't say I'm eating markedly better because I made sure there was plenty o' crap in the house. I'm getting back on the scale tomorrow, but for now I'm just trying to get in motion again rather than attach to a number. That will come with the program that starts in January.
Random Musings: I read a thing on a greatTwitter feed called the99percent (linked below, not about OWS) about New Year's resolutions. It talks about using a Reflect, Select, Remove approach. it made sense to me today. I'm going to work on reflecting on what has and hasn't worked in 2011, probably in a blog entry, and then select 2-3 impactful goals for 2012. And finally and most importantly, I'm going to remove some of the things that I'm doing that may prevent me from achieving my goals.
Obviously health and wellness will be a primary goal and one of the main impediments to achieving that is making time to do it. When I look for things to remove, I see the computer and the Internet and one of my time wasters. So I'll look for things to trim. Games on FB seems the easiest so good bye to Bejeweled Blitz, Zuma Blitz etc. I also want to use this blog in the best possible way, so I think it will be a weekly event starting on Sunday the 1st. That should keep me focused without stealing too much time from what really matters.
Enjoy your New year and I'll see you on the 1st. Here's a link to that site from Twitter I mentioned if you are interested. the99percent
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
You just keep starting
Fitness update: Today has been ok. I took Cameron for a short hike and then got myself to the Y for 30 minutes on the elliptical plus some random weight lifting. It's not real focused but it is exercise and it's where I am right now. Once again, I noticed the positive effect getting some exercise has on my mood. Need to keep that learning in mind. I'm certainly not as fit as I was a couple months ago, but that is irrelevant, I just need to move more now.
Nutrition update: I have been drinking less soda since I've been away from work. Understand that my version of less is more than most anyone else would drink in a week, but I am reducing it and that's progress. I did weigh in this morning and I am large, no doubt. My holiday food choices have been mediocre, which probably qualifies as progress:) I'm choosing to not publish my weight until my biometric screening on January 5th. I figure that's a good place for a "before" moment. I'll probably include a picture then too. Between now and then, I'm just trying to do a little better than I have been.
Random Musings: I've had time to consume some media over my break so here's an update. I finally watched The Kids are All Right a couple nights ago. I thought it was fantastic. I laughed, I cried, I found catharsis. What more could you ask of a movie? The short synopsis is that it is about a family headed by two women in which the kids seek out the sperm donor they've never met. The interactions with the donor drive the movie, but what makes it sneaky good is all the lessons to be learned about family and marriage. I was struck by just how "normal" the main characters' marriage is even though it's same sex. Thank goodness people are trying to protect us from that (insert sarcasm here). What I saw is that being married and a parent is hard, no matter the circumstance. It's also funny and awkward and the best thing most of us will do. Anyway, I recommend the movie highly.
If you are wondering about today's title, it's based on a concept my Dad plowed into my head. He always talked about the only way to quit smoking was to keep quitting, meaning that if you slipped one day you just quit again after that. Seems to make sense to me with health too. Yesterday is just sunk costs if it didn't go well, you just start again today. Sounds suspiciously like AA, but long-time readers will know that I think my behavior reeks of addiction anyway, so maybe that's why one day at a time appeals to me. I started taking better care of myself today and I'm sure I'll start again tomorrow.
Happy Boxing Day
Nutrition update: I have been drinking less soda since I've been away from work. Understand that my version of less is more than most anyone else would drink in a week, but I am reducing it and that's progress. I did weigh in this morning and I am large, no doubt. My holiday food choices have been mediocre, which probably qualifies as progress:) I'm choosing to not publish my weight until my biometric screening on January 5th. I figure that's a good place for a "before" moment. I'll probably include a picture then too. Between now and then, I'm just trying to do a little better than I have been.
Random Musings: I've had time to consume some media over my break so here's an update. I finally watched The Kids are All Right a couple nights ago. I thought it was fantastic. I laughed, I cried, I found catharsis. What more could you ask of a movie? The short synopsis is that it is about a family headed by two women in which the kids seek out the sperm donor they've never met. The interactions with the donor drive the movie, but what makes it sneaky good is all the lessons to be learned about family and marriage. I was struck by just how "normal" the main characters' marriage is even though it's same sex. Thank goodness people are trying to protect us from that (insert sarcasm here). What I saw is that being married and a parent is hard, no matter the circumstance. It's also funny and awkward and the best thing most of us will do. Anyway, I recommend the movie highly.
If you are wondering about today's title, it's based on a concept my Dad plowed into my head. He always talked about the only way to quit smoking was to keep quitting, meaning that if you slipped one day you just quit again after that. Seems to make sense to me with health too. Yesterday is just sunk costs if it didn't go well, you just start again today. Sounds suspiciously like AA, but long-time readers will know that I think my behavior reeks of addiction anyway, so maybe that's why one day at a time appeals to me. I started taking better care of myself today and I'm sure I'll start again tomorrow.
Happy Boxing Day
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Thoughts on Christmas Eve Morning
Random Musings: It's Christmas Eve. It is a day of wildly mixed feelings including the joy of seeing your kids get something they really wanted and the smoldering anger when it is apparent they got something they didn't (I mean don't they know there are kids with nothing! Yes I'm a cliche). There is hope though. My 10 year old seems far less self-centered than my 7 year old, so perhaps time=progress?
If you are lucky like we are this year, you get some time with extended family. Of course my family is extended in so many directions, I'll never see them all, so someone always feels left out I suppose. Like I said, the holiday season is a mixed blessing.
As for my health and fitness, I'm still stuck a bit in neutral. There has been marginal improvement in my blood pressure, but my weight has actually increased and my diet is still a nightmare. I also managed to not get any real exercise for two weeks, Rather than write another "now I'm making a stand" blog posting. I'll just get on with the business at hand.
Exercise update: As noted earlier, I haven't been doing much other than walking my dog and going to my daughter's basketball practices this month. I am pleased to say that I got myself to go to the Y yesterday and just did 30 minutes on the elliptical. It was eye opening. I have really been struggling with mood lately. In fact, I'd say I'm struggling with some moderate depression. This is a particularly stressful year at work and my reaction is always to get tunnel vision and drop everything to get through what needs getting through. At first this feels ok as I eat junk, sleep poorly, and skip exercise in a faux heroic effort to shuffle paper or get through grant season or whatever ginned up crisis I have at work. However in hindsight, I get moody and difficult at home and my health (mental and physical) goes south.
I was struck yesterday at the palpable positive change in my mood from just 30 minutes of cardio. It is certainly a lesson worth holding onto. Walking the dog doesn't relieve stress and depression, but getting the heart rate up in the 150's does. Of course the Y is closed today but the lesson remains.
Nutrition update: In the spirit of doing something different, I have signed up for a rather pricey health promotion program through my company health plan. Starting in January, I will be attending classes called A New Me. it has weekly classes and bi-weekly small group coaching to help you make the positive changes that lead to better health. In other words, it's a de-porking program:). The part I really like is that there is a lot of bio-metric screenings and measurements over a year, even after the classes end in April. The coach in me likes to have numbers to try to beat.
Here's to hoping I finally realize I need to eat differently and act differently to be healthy, much less to be the middle aged athlete I want to be.
I'm sure you'll hear lots of New Me updates in the blog.
Anyway, sorry for the gigantic gap between posts. I'm working on it.
Happy Holidays
If you are lucky like we are this year, you get some time with extended family. Of course my family is extended in so many directions, I'll never see them all, so someone always feels left out I suppose. Like I said, the holiday season is a mixed blessing.
As for my health and fitness, I'm still stuck a bit in neutral. There has been marginal improvement in my blood pressure, but my weight has actually increased and my diet is still a nightmare. I also managed to not get any real exercise for two weeks, Rather than write another "now I'm making a stand" blog posting. I'll just get on with the business at hand.
Exercise update: As noted earlier, I haven't been doing much other than walking my dog and going to my daughter's basketball practices this month. I am pleased to say that I got myself to go to the Y yesterday and just did 30 minutes on the elliptical. It was eye opening. I have really been struggling with mood lately. In fact, I'd say I'm struggling with some moderate depression. This is a particularly stressful year at work and my reaction is always to get tunnel vision and drop everything to get through what needs getting through. At first this feels ok as I eat junk, sleep poorly, and skip exercise in a faux heroic effort to shuffle paper or get through grant season or whatever ginned up crisis I have at work. However in hindsight, I get moody and difficult at home and my health (mental and physical) goes south.
I was struck yesterday at the palpable positive change in my mood from just 30 minutes of cardio. It is certainly a lesson worth holding onto. Walking the dog doesn't relieve stress and depression, but getting the heart rate up in the 150's does. Of course the Y is closed today but the lesson remains.
Nutrition update: In the spirit of doing something different, I have signed up for a rather pricey health promotion program through my company health plan. Starting in January, I will be attending classes called A New Me. it has weekly classes and bi-weekly small group coaching to help you make the positive changes that lead to better health. In other words, it's a de-porking program:). The part I really like is that there is a lot of bio-metric screenings and measurements over a year, even after the classes end in April. The coach in me likes to have numbers to try to beat.
Here's to hoping I finally realize I need to eat differently and act differently to be healthy, much less to be the middle aged athlete I want to be.
I'm sure you'll hear lots of New Me updates in the blog.
Anyway, sorry for the gigantic gap between posts. I'm working on it.
Happy Holidays
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Not a flying start
At the beginning of the month I set out some pretty good objectives. For the better part of the month I didn't meet them. I aspired to work out 4 days a week and never did hit that one until this week.
So, I need to once again regroup. I feel like I'm off to a pretty good start over the holiday. I went from a real workout on Tuesday, to leading basketball practice on Wednesday evening. That in turn led to a 2 mile Turkey Trot with my nephew and family Thanksgiving morning. Friday was an off day and yesterday I did a decent workout at the YMCA. Today was a 60 minute hike with my son. Shockingly, I felt better today than I had in while, stunning...
Activity level is up, but I'm just getting started. I am a 41 year old man with a weight problem, high blood pressure and bad knees. I often say I need to attack this project like someone with a real health crisis. I wonder why I pretend that is hypothetical...
So my objectives for November just became my objectives for December, as a reminder they are:
So, I need to once again regroup. I feel like I'm off to a pretty good start over the holiday. I went from a real workout on Tuesday, to leading basketball practice on Wednesday evening. That in turn led to a 2 mile Turkey Trot with my nephew and family Thanksgiving morning. Friday was an off day and yesterday I did a decent workout at the YMCA. Today was a 60 minute hike with my son. Shockingly, I felt better today than I had in while, stunning...
Activity level is up, but I'm just getting started. I am a 41 year old man with a weight problem, high blood pressure and bad knees. I often say I need to attack this project like someone with a real health crisis. I wonder why I pretend that is hypothetical...
So my objectives for November just became my objectives for December, as a reminder they are:
#1. Blood pressure needs to measure 120 over 80 consistently or I go see my Doc to address it medically
#2. Get my weight under 200 pounds and quit drinking soda (these support objective 1)
#3. Workout at least 4 times a week and include strength training at least twice a week.
I must say if the blood pressure isn't under control by January 1, anyone left reading this should harass me to get to the doctor.
That's all for now, but look for more frequent updates as I shift my focus to health rather than the 27 other things I let steal my focus. It's a cliche, but I can't help with anything or anyone else until I get myself ok.
I must say if the blood pressure isn't under control by January 1, anyone left reading this should harass me to get to the doctor.
That's all for now, but look for more frequent updates as I shift my focus to health rather than the 27 other things I let steal my focus. It's a cliche, but I can't help with anything or anyone else until I get myself ok.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
A brief update
So things are going Ok. I've dropped a couple pounds, mostly from not eating ice cream late at night. My workouts are erratic at best, but that is sort of ok for now since we've established that I know how to exercise. I just choose not to manage the rest of my health picture very well and that choice is where my focus has been recently. I will add that I haven't done well the last 5 days or so. We had a death in the family and I used that reason to take less good care of myself. I have no idea if that's right or wrong, I just know it happened.
So I need some November objectives (not goals, goals don't work)
#1. Blood pressure needs to measure 120 over 80 consistently or I go see my Doc to address it medically
#2. Get my weight under 200 pounds and quit drinking soda (these support objective 1)
#3. Workout at least 4 times a week and include strength training at least twice a week.
Those look a lot like goals, but whatever.
Random Musings: I mentioned above that my grandmother passed away last week. I could write a long tortured piece all about that, but that's not really where I'm at. I'm more struck by what you could learn at most funerals. In sum, you don't have to be a big deal to be a big deal. My Grandma never had a college degree or a high powered career. She always lived in a small town and as the years went on, she stayed closer and closer to that little town and her little house. And yet, I spent two days at a wake and a funeral seeing how much she mattered to people simply because she was in their life. I could have learned the same lesson from my maternal grandfather 20 + years ago, but I wasn't ready. He was a farmer who left school in 8th grade and spent the last 20 years of his life very disabled and yet, I met a church full of people who felt his impact in their lives too.
So, what have I learned (as all educators ask). Well, I feel like most of my ambition has flown out the window, at least in a career sense. In my little work world, I'm a bit of an important person (sort of, it seems weird to say), and it doesn't bring me much joy. My joy is when I can use my role and my resources to help someone; other than that being "important" kind of sucks.
My ambitions are changing. I know they have something to do with deeper human connection and re-discovering some of the confidence the tumult of my 20's stole from me. That's about how far I've gotten:)
Oh yeah, there were lots of pictures of younger me at the funeral. Not only have a gotten tubby, I'm not sure anyone ever aged more in a decade than I did from 30-40. I guess that refocuses me on the work of this blog...
Monday, October 24, 2011
Resurrection
Hi. I'm back.
A few weeks ago, I suspended my blog because it felt a little bit like the hamster on a wheel show. In other words, I was just writing about not getting anywhere. My hope was that I would get a little more focused and could return to this blog with renewed optimism. I had also just about reached the end of my rope with my health, meaning that training for the Urbanathlon was not allowing my foot to heal, if it even could. So, I decided to back off from training, blogging etc. Let me update you on how that has worked out.
The Good News: My foot feels a lot better. Not perfect, but a lot better. I'm glad to say that giving it rest has been successful in getting rid of the point specific pain which was starting to be a major issue. I was afraid that level of pain might have been permanent and while there is still stiffness, the acute pain has gone away. I have hope that if I get my body where it needs to be, I can run again someday. I was really afraid I had done permanent damage, but rest was still the cure.
The bad news: Although I had great intentions of staying with my fitness plan (just no running) when I backed off Urbanathlon training...I just haven't. In fact I'm 6 pounds heavier than I was 6 weeks ago. It's not that I stopped exercising entirely; I just did it sporadically. This once again demonstrates that my approach has always been flawed. Prior to this time off, I had ramped up my exercise to a pretty impressive level, but my weight loss had been minimal. Obviously that means I was allowing my food intake to grow also. And then, when you back off on the exercise, you are able to gain weight pretty damn rapidly. This is actually a pretty profound insight for me. It makes me see why my "exercise your way to fitness" plan has always failed over time.
Also on the bad news front, life has gotten a little complicated this fall. I've been asked to take on some pretty significant new responsibilities at work, some temporary and some permanent. I do appreciate being seen as someone who can do these things, but it's a lot and I'm spread as thin as I ever have been. In addition, my grandmother is terminally ill which has been difficult for all in my extended family. From my selfish stand point, it has simply meant that I'm not meeting anyone's needs recently. I'm not available at work as much as folks want because there are just so many projects and people right now. I'm working very long hours, so I'm not home as much as I want and I have almost no free time (oh yeah my wife works every other weekend, so we have 4 days per month where my whole family is home together) so I'm feeling like I'm not doing everything I could for family in relation to grandma. The logical part of my brain knows you can't meet all those obligations, but logic and guilt aren't friends. Anyway, for me it means stress and stress means food...
My blood pressure is iffy, my sleep sucks and I need to get a handle on all of that.
The Plan: The plan for the next couple months is simply to lose some weight and take better care of myself in general. I still have dreams of events and the title of the blog holds, but reality is I keep getting hurt at my current weight. I will focus on elliptical machines and rowers and bikes for a while. In addition, I'm going to try to get more serious about strength training. It seems very clear that I am missing that from my fitness history and every article I read says it is the key to weight maintenance.
Around the New Year I'll reevaluate to see if I'm ready to start training for anything in specific. My dad is a regular reader of my blog and suggested that maybe I just focus on biking, since I seem to enjoy that so much. It's an idea of merit and we'll see where it goes. I still like the multi-sport stuff, but as I head for 42 we'll see if this body can do that. Honestly, right now I just want to look better naked and get my health back to a better place.
I keep telling myself to act like I have a health crisis and when you look at my BMI and Blood pressure, it's not acting.
This will also be a good period to see what I want to do with work. If I'm honest, there are parts of it I really like, but none worth dying young for. I meet too many people my age, particularly men, who seem to be trading health for money. It seems I've spent 10 years debating a change, perhaps this year can be the one where I either make one or settle in.
Anyway, I can whine about work somewhere else, this is about trying to be the pig in the bacon and egg breakfast of my health. You remember, the chicken is interested, the pig is committed.
Thanks for your interest and wish me luck or just laugh at my futility in trying again...
A few weeks ago, I suspended my blog because it felt a little bit like the hamster on a wheel show. In other words, I was just writing about not getting anywhere. My hope was that I would get a little more focused and could return to this blog with renewed optimism. I had also just about reached the end of my rope with my health, meaning that training for the Urbanathlon was not allowing my foot to heal, if it even could. So, I decided to back off from training, blogging etc. Let me update you on how that has worked out.
The Good News: My foot feels a lot better. Not perfect, but a lot better. I'm glad to say that giving it rest has been successful in getting rid of the point specific pain which was starting to be a major issue. I was afraid that level of pain might have been permanent and while there is still stiffness, the acute pain has gone away. I have hope that if I get my body where it needs to be, I can run again someday. I was really afraid I had done permanent damage, but rest was still the cure.
The bad news: Although I had great intentions of staying with my fitness plan (just no running) when I backed off Urbanathlon training...I just haven't. In fact I'm 6 pounds heavier than I was 6 weeks ago. It's not that I stopped exercising entirely; I just did it sporadically. This once again demonstrates that my approach has always been flawed. Prior to this time off, I had ramped up my exercise to a pretty impressive level, but my weight loss had been minimal. Obviously that means I was allowing my food intake to grow also. And then, when you back off on the exercise, you are able to gain weight pretty damn rapidly. This is actually a pretty profound insight for me. It makes me see why my "exercise your way to fitness" plan has always failed over time.
Also on the bad news front, life has gotten a little complicated this fall. I've been asked to take on some pretty significant new responsibilities at work, some temporary and some permanent. I do appreciate being seen as someone who can do these things, but it's a lot and I'm spread as thin as I ever have been. In addition, my grandmother is terminally ill which has been difficult for all in my extended family. From my selfish stand point, it has simply meant that I'm not meeting anyone's needs recently. I'm not available at work as much as folks want because there are just so many projects and people right now. I'm working very long hours, so I'm not home as much as I want and I have almost no free time (oh yeah my wife works every other weekend, so we have 4 days per month where my whole family is home together) so I'm feeling like I'm not doing everything I could for family in relation to grandma. The logical part of my brain knows you can't meet all those obligations, but logic and guilt aren't friends. Anyway, for me it means stress and stress means food...
My blood pressure is iffy, my sleep sucks and I need to get a handle on all of that.
The Plan: The plan for the next couple months is simply to lose some weight and take better care of myself in general. I still have dreams of events and the title of the blog holds, but reality is I keep getting hurt at my current weight. I will focus on elliptical machines and rowers and bikes for a while. In addition, I'm going to try to get more serious about strength training. It seems very clear that I am missing that from my fitness history and every article I read says it is the key to weight maintenance.
Around the New Year I'll reevaluate to see if I'm ready to start training for anything in specific. My dad is a regular reader of my blog and suggested that maybe I just focus on biking, since I seem to enjoy that so much. It's an idea of merit and we'll see where it goes. I still like the multi-sport stuff, but as I head for 42 we'll see if this body can do that. Honestly, right now I just want to look better naked and get my health back to a better place.
I keep telling myself to act like I have a health crisis and when you look at my BMI and Blood pressure, it's not acting.
This will also be a good period to see what I want to do with work. If I'm honest, there are parts of it I really like, but none worth dying young for. I meet too many people my age, particularly men, who seem to be trading health for money. It seems I've spent 10 years debating a change, perhaps this year can be the one where I either make one or settle in.
Anyway, I can whine about work somewhere else, this is about trying to be the pig in the bacon and egg breakfast of my health. You remember, the chicken is interested, the pig is committed.
Thanks for your interest and wish me luck or just laugh at my futility in trying again...
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Capitulation and reloading
I can't do the Urbanathlon (at least not well)... In my current health, I'll never do a longer distance triathlon either. This is the reality I've had to face this week. I have lots of guilt and regret over the Urbanathlon, but I've been fooling myself to try to get to it.
A few bottom lines have emerged:
- When I rest my foot hurts less (but has never completely recovered) and every time I run it hurts more. Truthfully it hurts most of the time and I'm creating other issues by protecting it when I walk.
- Every time I get past 3 miles on a run, I seem to hurt myself
- My blood pressure is out of whack and it ain't just caffeine (been monitoring at work and it is generally 130 something over 90 something)
- Without a doubt, I can no longer use event training in isolation as my weight loss program.
- Limping through Sprint triathlons brings limited joy
- As fit as I may or may not be, I'm not pleased with how I look. My BMI says I'm obese and while that may be dubious, the fact that I am too heavy is not debatable.
Bottom bottom line... I weigh too much and it impacts my health at every turn
So those are my current outcomes from my current methods and as we know you don't get new results with old methods.
So, I'm shifting again.
I have no events on the calendar and I'm not adding any for now. My sole health focus will be doing things that lead to achieving a healthier weight. For now, that will be biking, swimming, and other low impact activities. This way I can see if my foot is ever going to heal. I can see if my BP can be managed. I can get my stress under control and build a diet that befits a 41 year old man, not a 20 year old miscreant. I also will use my fitbit tracker to see if I can add activity to my day in general, rather than rely on a workout to make-up for the bad behavior of the other 23 hours of the day.
I weighed myself this morning and clocked in at 197.3. That's actually lower than expected, but not healthy. I would like to weigh 170 pounds eventually, but for now I'd like to see what losing 5 more pounds does for my health.
I have to admit the Blood Pressure thing unnerves me a bit. It's been going on for a couple years, but I've always been able to get enough good readings to convince myself I'm ok. That is less true since January and not at all the last week. I'm going to continue to monitor it daily and if I don't see progress by the end of the month, I'll see my doctor.
My dreams of triathlons etc. have not gone away, they are just postponed until I can improve my overall health. Doing some things differently is so tough, the inertia of life keeps you in the same patterns. I use the following quote on my work emails and it strikes me as too true today.
"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones"
I think I'll keep updating this blog, but you can expect it to much more about weight loss for a while. I'm sure I'll randomly muse as well. My work has been great fodder lately, but more another time on that.
Wish me luck. I still believe you don't have to give into getting older and accepting lesser health, you just need a new plan. Just like Stalin, I'm good with new plans, my room for improvement is on the implementation side:)
A few bottom lines have emerged:
- When I rest my foot hurts less (but has never completely recovered) and every time I run it hurts more. Truthfully it hurts most of the time and I'm creating other issues by protecting it when I walk.
- Every time I get past 3 miles on a run, I seem to hurt myself
- My blood pressure is out of whack and it ain't just caffeine (been monitoring at work and it is generally 130 something over 90 something)
- Without a doubt, I can no longer use event training in isolation as my weight loss program.
- Limping through Sprint triathlons brings limited joy
- As fit as I may or may not be, I'm not pleased with how I look. My BMI says I'm obese and while that may be dubious, the fact that I am too heavy is not debatable.
Bottom bottom line... I weigh too much and it impacts my health at every turn
So those are my current outcomes from my current methods and as we know you don't get new results with old methods.
So, I'm shifting again.
I have no events on the calendar and I'm not adding any for now. My sole health focus will be doing things that lead to achieving a healthier weight. For now, that will be biking, swimming, and other low impact activities. This way I can see if my foot is ever going to heal. I can see if my BP can be managed. I can get my stress under control and build a diet that befits a 41 year old man, not a 20 year old miscreant. I also will use my fitbit tracker to see if I can add activity to my day in general, rather than rely on a workout to make-up for the bad behavior of the other 23 hours of the day.
I weighed myself this morning and clocked in at 197.3. That's actually lower than expected, but not healthy. I would like to weigh 170 pounds eventually, but for now I'd like to see what losing 5 more pounds does for my health.
I have to admit the Blood Pressure thing unnerves me a bit. It's been going on for a couple years, but I've always been able to get enough good readings to convince myself I'm ok. That is less true since January and not at all the last week. I'm going to continue to monitor it daily and if I don't see progress by the end of the month, I'll see my doctor.
My dreams of triathlons etc. have not gone away, they are just postponed until I can improve my overall health. Doing some things differently is so tough, the inertia of life keeps you in the same patterns. I use the following quote on my work emails and it strikes me as too true today.
"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones"
I think I'll keep updating this blog, but you can expect it to much more about weight loss for a while. I'm sure I'll randomly muse as well. My work has been great fodder lately, but more another time on that.
Wish me luck. I still believe you don't have to give into getting older and accepting lesser health, you just need a new plan. Just like Stalin, I'm good with new plans, my room for improvement is on the implementation side:)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
A brief note
Exercise update: I ran my four miles on the treadmill while Hannah was at log-rolling class. It felt ok, but I am anxious to see how my foot feels in the morning. Time will tell I guess
I also have bike commuted this week to work, which is a nice way to add a little activity to the day. I hope it all starts to make a difference. I've been monitoring by blood pressure at work and it is not good. I'm going to work at it for the month and if I don't get it back to normal, I guess it's time to give in and see my doctor. Must lose weight, reduce stress and get caffeine out of my diet.
Nutrition update: Still too much soda, but less. Also, I ate marginally better today. Maybe I'll get serious yet. I had a disastrous weigh in this morning that reflected my behavior over the long weekend. I was back up over 200 pounds for the first time on the new scale. Hopefully it was a pendulum swing and I can get momentum moving the other direction. I'm trying to convince myself that it is life and death, because who knows, it just might be.
Random Musings: I'm still targeting Saturday as D-Day for the Urbanthlon, but the scale today and my BP readings over the last year are giving me a longer term focus. I just need to get healthier, darn it.
Work has been ok, but I'm still overbooked and can't be as effective as I wish I was. I'm trying to get a handle on things and focus on what has impact and meaning for me. No one else is helping me prioritize, so I'll use my own methods. My family has lots of fun stuff planned this year, so I'm looking forward to that too.
And this ends a fairly weak blog entry, but at least I blogged two days in a row. Routine seems to put me in a better place (says the man who feels a need for change:)).
I also have bike commuted this week to work, which is a nice way to add a little activity to the day. I hope it all starts to make a difference. I've been monitoring by blood pressure at work and it is not good. I'm going to work at it for the month and if I don't get it back to normal, I guess it's time to give in and see my doctor. Must lose weight, reduce stress and get caffeine out of my diet.
Nutrition update: Still too much soda, but less. Also, I ate marginally better today. Maybe I'll get serious yet. I had a disastrous weigh in this morning that reflected my behavior over the long weekend. I was back up over 200 pounds for the first time on the new scale. Hopefully it was a pendulum swing and I can get momentum moving the other direction. I'm trying to convince myself that it is life and death, because who knows, it just might be.
Random Musings: I'm still targeting Saturday as D-Day for the Urbanthlon, but the scale today and my BP readings over the last year are giving me a longer term focus. I just need to get healthier, darn it.
Work has been ok, but I'm still overbooked and can't be as effective as I wish I was. I'm trying to get a handle on things and focus on what has impact and meaning for me. No one else is helping me prioritize, so I'll use my own methods. My family has lots of fun stuff planned this year, so I'm looking forward to that too.
And this ends a fairly weak blog entry, but at least I blogged two days in a row. Routine seems to put me in a better place (says the man who feels a need for change:)).
Monday, September 5, 2011
The roller coaster
Exercise update: I've been lax in updating, so I'll catch up a bit here. My last "serious" workout was Saturday. I ran 2+ miles on my treadmill because itwas cruddy outside weather wise. It was the end of a week of low mileage dictated by the Hal Higdon program I'm following this go round. I have to say that my run felt crappy and so did the one on the Thursday prior. As I've mentioned in other posts, I'm attributing it to dietary slippage. At least I hope that's the case.
This week is a big week for me. I have a 4 miler scheduled on Tuesday and a 5 miler on Saturday (Thursday is just 3). I'm going to try to reduce soda and other crap and see how the runs go. I've committed to making a final call on the Urbanathlon by Saturday so this should be telling. If I can do 5 miles on Saturday with minimal discomfort, then I'm locking in and making travel plans etc. If I feel like crap or if more importantly my foot feels like it's going to fall off, then it's back to the drawing board.
The foot thing is eroding my morale and confidence. Just when I think it's improving, I'll have a day where it is beyond stiff and sore when I wake up. I suspect rest will improve it, but I'm also afraid that I'm just going to have arthritis in my foot for the rest of my life, a less than pleasing thought. At some point, I'll give it an extended break from impact exercise and we'll find out. It's just figuring out whether that starts now or post-Urbanathlon that is difficult. I'm sure that shedding 20 lbs. wouldn't hurt it a bit either.
Oh well, big week I guess and I'll know way more by Saturday night.
Nutrition update: I'm am still a self-sabotaging non-serious person when it comes to food. It is with remarkable ease that I slip into my old habits of exercise a lot and eat what I want. In political parlance, I am fighting the last war not the current one. This time tested strategy of mine has only led to being large and fit, with a foot that may fall off at some point.
I'll write more if I ever grow up about food.
Random Musings: My trainer and I parted ways this week. We probably should have months ago because our schedules never lined up. She is free for small windows during weekdays and I have to find a way to escape the office every time we try to meet. She also has a very young son and a fireman husband who make her schedule complicated and we've had to cancel on each other several times. In fact, I finally realized we had only trained 10 times in 12 months. If I'd done the math sooner, maybe I'd have pulled the plug sooner. She was very nice about it and I'm suspecting she'll be famous someday, like in a Biggest Loser kind of way. But in the meantime, I'm back to training myself; a place that's pretty comfortable really.
Having a bit of a melancholy Monday, but this too shall pass. The Olympic triathlon that inspired this blog seems pretty distant, but I'll get there. I've also come to believe that you better not count on your work for fulfillment (too many factors you don't control), but that's not so depressing, it just means I need to look at a broader palate of options for personal growth. There seem to be some out there and I'll write more about them sometime. I have a serious urge to change stuff and when you've settled in a community and career and you like it there, you have to work a little harder to find the novelty that makes life interesting.
This week is a big week for me. I have a 4 miler scheduled on Tuesday and a 5 miler on Saturday (Thursday is just 3). I'm going to try to reduce soda and other crap and see how the runs go. I've committed to making a final call on the Urbanathlon by Saturday so this should be telling. If I can do 5 miles on Saturday with minimal discomfort, then I'm locking in and making travel plans etc. If I feel like crap or if more importantly my foot feels like it's going to fall off, then it's back to the drawing board.
The foot thing is eroding my morale and confidence. Just when I think it's improving, I'll have a day where it is beyond stiff and sore when I wake up. I suspect rest will improve it, but I'm also afraid that I'm just going to have arthritis in my foot for the rest of my life, a less than pleasing thought. At some point, I'll give it an extended break from impact exercise and we'll find out. It's just figuring out whether that starts now or post-Urbanathlon that is difficult. I'm sure that shedding 20 lbs. wouldn't hurt it a bit either.
Oh well, big week I guess and I'll know way more by Saturday night.
Nutrition update: I'm am still a self-sabotaging non-serious person when it comes to food. It is with remarkable ease that I slip into my old habits of exercise a lot and eat what I want. In political parlance, I am fighting the last war not the current one. This time tested strategy of mine has only led to being large and fit, with a foot that may fall off at some point.
I'll write more if I ever grow up about food.
Random Musings: My trainer and I parted ways this week. We probably should have months ago because our schedules never lined up. She is free for small windows during weekdays and I have to find a way to escape the office every time we try to meet. She also has a very young son and a fireman husband who make her schedule complicated and we've had to cancel on each other several times. In fact, I finally realized we had only trained 10 times in 12 months. If I'd done the math sooner, maybe I'd have pulled the plug sooner. She was very nice about it and I'm suspecting she'll be famous someday, like in a Biggest Loser kind of way. But in the meantime, I'm back to training myself; a place that's pretty comfortable really.
Having a bit of a melancholy Monday, but this too shall pass. The Olympic triathlon that inspired this blog seems pretty distant, but I'll get there. I've also come to believe that you better not count on your work for fulfillment (too many factors you don't control), but that's not so depressing, it just means I need to look at a broader palate of options for personal growth. There seem to be some out there and I'll write more about them sometime. I have a serious urge to change stuff and when you've settled in a community and career and you like it there, you have to work a little harder to find the novelty that makes life interesting.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Soda Bad
Nutrition update: I've been a bit of a mess for the last couple weeks. I have completely fallen into the trap of eating whatever I want because I feel like my exercise has increased. I have exacerbated that recently by a backslide on caffeine intake through soda. As an example today, I drank two 20 Oz. bottles and another smaller bottle with lunch. Some is regular and full of sugar and calories and some of it is diet full of Nutrasweet and death. Neither makes me feel very good.
Bottom line is my running didn't feel good today and my weight has crept up 1.5 pounds in a week or so. My current habits suck and need work. I'll start tonight by making sure I don't top off my day with ice cream.
Exercise update: My running program has been lighter this week. I think that is to let my muscles acclimate and strengthen. Tonight was just my 2nd 2 mile run of the week. Unfortunately this one was a struggle, which was a stark contrast to Tuesday night, which felt great. Maybe it was the heat or maybe it was the soda overdoes or maybe it was a combo of both, but it felt crappy.
I'm not taking a rest day tomorrow. Instead I'm meeting with my trainer over my lunch hour. That should be a good kick in the pants and a good launch into fall. I also promised my daughter a sporty band (sold by my trainer), so I hope I remember to get one. I'm sure I'll get shredded, but I'm actually looking forward to it. Hopefully my foot will stay just sort of bad, like it is now.
Random Musings: It's been an interesting time at work. I'm always a bit overwhelmed the first week or two because the pace gets so frantic. There have been real contrasts, where one moment I'm leading a team that might get a grant that will really help students and two hours later I can't get a team to talk about coordinating snacks for students in their classroom. It's hard to feel like a difference maker and then immediately feel totally ineffective in the same day.
Someone sent me an intriguing job posting from out of town and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. We aren't inclined to move, but it might be fun to see if I could even get in the mix for this sort of job. More thoughts to come soon I'm sure.
And then many days, I look for simpler paths too. My lunacy is never too far away:)
Bottom line is my running didn't feel good today and my weight has crept up 1.5 pounds in a week or so. My current habits suck and need work. I'll start tonight by making sure I don't top off my day with ice cream.
Exercise update: My running program has been lighter this week. I think that is to let my muscles acclimate and strengthen. Tonight was just my 2nd 2 mile run of the week. Unfortunately this one was a struggle, which was a stark contrast to Tuesday night, which felt great. Maybe it was the heat or maybe it was the soda overdoes or maybe it was a combo of both, but it felt crappy.
I'm not taking a rest day tomorrow. Instead I'm meeting with my trainer over my lunch hour. That should be a good kick in the pants and a good launch into fall. I also promised my daughter a sporty band (sold by my trainer), so I hope I remember to get one. I'm sure I'll get shredded, but I'm actually looking forward to it. Hopefully my foot will stay just sort of bad, like it is now.
Random Musings: It's been an interesting time at work. I'm always a bit overwhelmed the first week or two because the pace gets so frantic. There have been real contrasts, where one moment I'm leading a team that might get a grant that will really help students and two hours later I can't get a team to talk about coordinating snacks for students in their classroom. It's hard to feel like a difference maker and then immediately feel totally ineffective in the same day.
Someone sent me an intriguing job posting from out of town and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. We aren't inclined to move, but it might be fun to see if I could even get in the mix for this sort of job. More thoughts to come soon I'm sure.
And then many days, I look for simpler paths too. My lunacy is never too far away:)
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday magic
Random Musings: As I've mentioned here before, the fitness level you get from running is just different. It is problematic in many ways, but just feels like a more fit place than other cardio I've done and I've done lots of cardio.
I was reminded of this over the last 3 weeks when I've shifted to run centered program. Basically I just run on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then go for a "long" run on Saturdays. I cross train 2-3 other days and rest on Fridays, but the bulk of the work is the three running days. Much as it was when I trained for a 1/2 marathon in 2006, I am stunned at the gains you make in just a three day a week program. I ran my longest run in months yesterday and felt pretty great (with the exception of my foot, which I'll say more about later). I am pretty certain I'll make to to the Urbanathlon in October, but after that I think I'll need to get in the pool and to spin class for long enough to let this thing actually get better, if it can.
On a totally unrelated note, I was just visiting with my daughter as I was typing this and she was describing her anger at someone who uses a shock collar on their dog. We've talked about it lots of times, but today I was struck by the beauty of the certainty of a 10 year old. She just "knows" that it is wrong, period.
Although I am arguably wiser now that I am older, I really miss the certainty of youth. I used to know so many things that I just knew were true and now it seems there are no real truths out there, just continuums to fall upon somewhere. Maybe that's why people find religion or only watch the news channel from "their side"; it is just so much more comforting to be absolutely sure. Of course as a former history major, I know that people who were absolutely certain of their beliefs were usually the most dangerous historically. See what I mean, everything has multiple sides...
Exercise update: Yesterday I completed the four mile run on my schedule. It's the longest run I've been on since probably June or so. It felt pretty good. I've elected to use the Galloway method on my long runs, which means I just schedule walk breaks in from the beginning rather than running to exhaustion. In this case, I ran four minutes and them walked a minute and then repeated that for 4+ miles. I'm not tracking as scientifically as I usually would, but the whole run took less than 40 minutes, so I'm ok with the pace as well. I'd love to run 7 minute miles, but for now, under 10 will do.
Unfortunately, my foot hurts today (the day after), worse than it has for a couple of weeks. Lots of stiffness and some point specific pain returned. I'm going to bike for cross training today and rest tomorrow. If I can get in to the chiro tomorrow and stay off the foot til Tuesday, I'm hoping it will bounce back. As I've said, it's an on-going struggle.
I'm also glad to say that I'm re-connecting with my trainer on Friday. We were both very busy this summer, so it's been months, but it seems like a good way to keep momentum going into fall. I'll work harder with her than I would on my own.
One more thing, I did cross the monkey bars at Myrick Park this week, so I have hope for October:)
Nutrition update: Not much to say here, because all evidence would indicate I'm not a serious person about nutrition. I'm still trying to compensate with exercise and now a few vitamins. I am frustrated that with months of exercise and fitness goals, my weight loss has been minimal and this is the obvious culprit. The question as always is when will I actually do something about it? I'll update you if I ever do.
I was reminded of this over the last 3 weeks when I've shifted to run centered program. Basically I just run on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then go for a "long" run on Saturdays. I cross train 2-3 other days and rest on Fridays, but the bulk of the work is the three running days. Much as it was when I trained for a 1/2 marathon in 2006, I am stunned at the gains you make in just a three day a week program. I ran my longest run in months yesterday and felt pretty great (with the exception of my foot, which I'll say more about later). I am pretty certain I'll make to to the Urbanathlon in October, but after that I think I'll need to get in the pool and to spin class for long enough to let this thing actually get better, if it can.
On a totally unrelated note, I was just visiting with my daughter as I was typing this and she was describing her anger at someone who uses a shock collar on their dog. We've talked about it lots of times, but today I was struck by the beauty of the certainty of a 10 year old. She just "knows" that it is wrong, period.
Although I am arguably wiser now that I am older, I really miss the certainty of youth. I used to know so many things that I just knew were true and now it seems there are no real truths out there, just continuums to fall upon somewhere. Maybe that's why people find religion or only watch the news channel from "their side"; it is just so much more comforting to be absolutely sure. Of course as a former history major, I know that people who were absolutely certain of their beliefs were usually the most dangerous historically. See what I mean, everything has multiple sides...
Exercise update: Yesterday I completed the four mile run on my schedule. It's the longest run I've been on since probably June or so. It felt pretty good. I've elected to use the Galloway method on my long runs, which means I just schedule walk breaks in from the beginning rather than running to exhaustion. In this case, I ran four minutes and them walked a minute and then repeated that for 4+ miles. I'm not tracking as scientifically as I usually would, but the whole run took less than 40 minutes, so I'm ok with the pace as well. I'd love to run 7 minute miles, but for now, under 10 will do.
Unfortunately, my foot hurts today (the day after), worse than it has for a couple of weeks. Lots of stiffness and some point specific pain returned. I'm going to bike for cross training today and rest tomorrow. If I can get in to the chiro tomorrow and stay off the foot til Tuesday, I'm hoping it will bounce back. As I've said, it's an on-going struggle.
I'm also glad to say that I'm re-connecting with my trainer on Friday. We were both very busy this summer, so it's been months, but it seems like a good way to keep momentum going into fall. I'll work harder with her than I would on my own.
One more thing, I did cross the monkey bars at Myrick Park this week, so I have hope for October:)
Nutrition update: Not much to say here, because all evidence would indicate I'm not a serious person about nutrition. I'm still trying to compensate with exercise and now a few vitamins. I am frustrated that with months of exercise and fitness goals, my weight loss has been minimal and this is the obvious culprit. The question as always is when will I actually do something about it? I'll update you if I ever do.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Urbanathlon dreaming
Random Musings: I've been a tad lax about posting lately and I apologize. Do not fear that it means I have fallen off the health wagon though. On the contrary, I've been doing pretty well. I'm following my running program for the Urbanathlon and even mixing in some strength training and pull-ups and stairs.
My foot continues to be a mystery. For the most part it seems to be improving, but just when I get too confident it gets sore and a little scary. I'm planning on just managing it and getting my butt to Chicago in October. Today feels pretty good.
Exercise update: It's been a good week. I ran 3 strong miles on Tuesday night and followed up with 37 minutes on an elliptical last night. Today is a shorter run with some strength training. I usually try to blend things by running to the park and doing a few monkey bars. It works well, but can un-nerve parents with kids when they see a solitary man getting in line for monkey bars:)
My long run scheduled for this weekend is 4 miles, which will be my longest run in weeks. Obviously I'll be a bit light on miles in October, but I'm just going there to finish. Even if it involves trailing my brother-in-law all day, I'm going to enjoy it:)
Nutrition update: My weight is stalled even as I exercise more. That should tell us what we need to know about the state of my nutritional behavior
My foot continues to be a mystery. For the most part it seems to be improving, but just when I get too confident it gets sore and a little scary. I'm planning on just managing it and getting my butt to Chicago in October. Today feels pretty good.
Exercise update: It's been a good week. I ran 3 strong miles on Tuesday night and followed up with 37 minutes on an elliptical last night. Today is a shorter run with some strength training. I usually try to blend things by running to the park and doing a few monkey bars. It works well, but can un-nerve parents with kids when they see a solitary man getting in line for monkey bars:)
My long run scheduled for this weekend is 4 miles, which will be my longest run in weeks. Obviously I'll be a bit light on miles in October, but I'm just going there to finish. Even if it involves trailing my brother-in-law all day, I'm going to enjoy it:)
Nutrition update: My weight is stalled even as I exercise more. That should tell us what we need to know about the state of my nutritional behavior
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Building momentum
Random Musing: I'm feeling a tad old today. I woke up at 5:40 a.m. and just stayed up. Not sure what woke me up (although my bladder was in on it), but going back to sleep just wasn't going to happen. Sadly, it didn't really bother me and I enjoyed the quiet of the house for 90 minutes or so. That's what I mean about being old:) Oh yeah and my daughter turns 10 tomorrow, which isn't helping my feelings of aging either. Love her bunches and can't believe it's been 10 years already.
On a totally random note, my stat tracking for this blog says I had 28 hits from teh Netherlands yesterday. I wonder what sort of keyword search brough them here
Exercise update: I woke up with a little foot stiffness today which was disconcerting. But I haven't been icing or taking any ibuprofen, so maybe I need to think a little bit prophylactically rather than waiting and reacting to owies.
Anyway it loosened up so I could complete the 30 minutes of cross training my schedule showed. Today I chose to do 30 minutes on a StairMaster, a machine I haven't used much for years. It seems like a good idea with those Soldier Field steps as part of the Urbanathlon. It was a pretty good workout although I didn't get my heart rate real high.
In addition to those 30 minutes, I spent some time working on upper body strength training. Today's new addition was the pull-up machine. I'd never used it before, but it is basically a set up that allows guys who can't do very many pull-ups of their body weight to do pull-ups with a selected amount of support to lighten the load. It was nice because even though I wasn't moving my whole weight, I was getting in 3 real sets of pull-ups. Hopefully, my strength and my weight will meet in the middle some day and I won't need an assist, but for now this is great.
My Fitbit tells me I wasn't very active the rest of my day. I'll live with that I guess. I'm sort of tired. I'm also a little bummed that I seem to have stopped swimming and biking since the triathlon. training for the Urbanathlon seems less balanced. It is getting me to do some strength training, so I can't complain too much. I'm hoping to hook back up with my trainer in September and I'm sure she'll get some strength work in too, usually more than I want:)
Nutrition update: I feel like I need to really focus on some weight loss with my diet, but today wasn't really a step in that direction. It's not that I pigged out or anything, I just gave in to one of my all-time favorite treats. Anne brought home frosted molasses cookies and somehow over the course of the day, 3 of them have entered my digestive track. One of the yummiest foods on the planet, but not really made for trimming down my frame. Room for growth I guess.
Just a stretch and strengthen day tomorrow, which is good because my whole day will be dominated with staff meetings as everyone comes back to campus. Enjoy the amazing weather everyone.
On a totally random note, my stat tracking for this blog says I had 28 hits from teh Netherlands yesterday. I wonder what sort of keyword search brough them here
Exercise update: I woke up with a little foot stiffness today which was disconcerting. But I haven't been icing or taking any ibuprofen, so maybe I need to think a little bit prophylactically rather than waiting and reacting to owies.
Anyway it loosened up so I could complete the 30 minutes of cross training my schedule showed. Today I chose to do 30 minutes on a StairMaster, a machine I haven't used much for years. It seems like a good idea with those Soldier Field steps as part of the Urbanathlon. It was a pretty good workout although I didn't get my heart rate real high.
In addition to those 30 minutes, I spent some time working on upper body strength training. Today's new addition was the pull-up machine. I'd never used it before, but it is basically a set up that allows guys who can't do very many pull-ups of their body weight to do pull-ups with a selected amount of support to lighten the load. It was nice because even though I wasn't moving my whole weight, I was getting in 3 real sets of pull-ups. Hopefully, my strength and my weight will meet in the middle some day and I won't need an assist, but for now this is great.
My Fitbit tells me I wasn't very active the rest of my day. I'll live with that I guess. I'm sort of tired. I'm also a little bummed that I seem to have stopped swimming and biking since the triathlon. training for the Urbanathlon seems less balanced. It is getting me to do some strength training, so I can't complain too much. I'm hoping to hook back up with my trainer in September and I'm sure she'll get some strength work in too, usually more than I want:)
Nutrition update: I feel like I need to really focus on some weight loss with my diet, but today wasn't really a step in that direction. It's not that I pigged out or anything, I just gave in to one of my all-time favorite treats. Anne brought home frosted molasses cookies and somehow over the course of the day, 3 of them have entered my digestive track. One of the yummiest foods on the planet, but not really made for trimming down my frame. Room for growth I guess.
Just a stretch and strengthen day tomorrow, which is good because my whole day will be dominated with staff meetings as everyone comes back to campus. Enjoy the amazing weather everyone.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
A Very Active Day
Exercise update: I was on my training schedule for a 3 mile run today. I'm proud to day I was up and done with that by 8:30 a.m. Oddly today was the first day in the last several that I woke up with stiffness and soreness in my foot. It's odd because yesterday I didn't do a darn thing exercise wise. Perhaps exercise helps it feel better? Anyway, I ran my 3 with a couple one minute walk breaks thrown in and felt pretty darn good frankly. I think I'll re-confirm my brother in law for Chicago in October and start thinking about places to stay. Hope that didn't jinx my health. This next week should see if I can get past that 5k barrier,which would feel like a big deal.
As my title implies, today was really active. We took a day trip to Whitewater St. Park near St Charles Minnesota and hiked for 90 minutes, hut the beach and just generally enjoyed the day with some friends. My fitbit says I'm over 21,000 steps today which is a high for the week. Just my kind of day really. My wife said that if I can run three miles and three hours later hike the bluffsides for 90 minutes, I should be able to do the Urbanathlon 8 weeks from today. She's right, I just won't do it fast, which is always frustrating but is reality at my age, weight and stage of fitness.
Here's an Urbanathlon video for those who are curious http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fFSQ40sgZA
Nutrition update: No major news on this front. I was proud of passing on Mr. D's donuts when my family stopped on the way out of town, but other than that it was a pretty typical day of good and not so good choices. The great caffeine project continues and I now hope to be soda free by September.
Random Musings: No real insights today other than I like active days with my family. It's fun to watch Hannah hike with three adults and not miss a step. I have no illusions that my kids will be athletes (I left them a little short on DNA for that), but I hope they are active and engaged. It's just so good for you on a number of levels.
Still trying to get my head screwed on abotu Urbanathlon in the sense that just finishing would be a win. It's advice I give to lots of people for lots of races, but my mind has trouble buying it for me. Kinda stupid really...
As my title implies, today was really active. We took a day trip to Whitewater St. Park near St Charles Minnesota and hiked for 90 minutes, hut the beach and just generally enjoyed the day with some friends. My fitbit says I'm over 21,000 steps today which is a high for the week. Just my kind of day really. My wife said that if I can run three miles and three hours later hike the bluffsides for 90 minutes, I should be able to do the Urbanathlon 8 weeks from today. She's right, I just won't do it fast, which is always frustrating but is reality at my age, weight and stage of fitness.
Here's an Urbanathlon video for those who are curious http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fFSQ40sgZA
Nutrition update: No major news on this front. I was proud of passing on Mr. D's donuts when my family stopped on the way out of town, but other than that it was a pretty typical day of good and not so good choices. The great caffeine project continues and I now hope to be soda free by September.
Random Musings: No real insights today other than I like active days with my family. It's fun to watch Hannah hike with three adults and not miss a step. I have no illusions that my kids will be athletes (I left them a little short on DNA for that), but I hope they are active and engaged. It's just so good for you on a number of levels.
Still trying to get my head screwed on abotu Urbanathlon in the sense that just finishing would be a win. It's advice I give to lots of people for lots of races, but my mind has trouble buying it for me. Kinda stupid really...
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Building momentum
Exercise update: This is my third consecutive day with relatively little pain in my foot. I am guardedly optimistic as I was able to run 3 miles on Tuesday and 2+ miles tonight. I think the combo of chiropractic, some rest and new shoes just might work.
As I said I ran two miles tonight and I was supposed to do some strength work as well. I didn't really do much strength work but I made the run more fun by going to Myrick park and Emerson Elementary school and trying out the monkey bars that were so tough just a few days ago. I think I may have freaked out some families there by coming through and not having any kids with me, but I was able to do better on the monkey bars, which is to say I made it over 4-5 of them after just hanging in place last week. Two things were different, I was a little more determined and I wore bicycle gloves to protect my effeminate hands:) I also left quickly before the parents called the police...
Things felt better, but there is a long way to go.
Nutrition news: Today is probably a C+. I've backslid on caffeine, although today was alittle better. More concerining was an impromptu trip through Taco Bell for a mid-day burritoand 800 spare calories. It wasn't even that good, it's the type of choice I can't really explain. Diet is certainly my nemesis, but I'll just keep trying I guess.
Random Musings: The last few days have been close to prefection in terms fo weather. Cool nights, warm sunny days and moderate rain... Better enjoy because it will probably change.
Hope everyone is ready for back to school. I'm not really, but school starts anyway:)
As I said I ran two miles tonight and I was supposed to do some strength work as well. I didn't really do much strength work but I made the run more fun by going to Myrick park and Emerson Elementary school and trying out the monkey bars that were so tough just a few days ago. I think I may have freaked out some families there by coming through and not having any kids with me, but I was able to do better on the monkey bars, which is to say I made it over 4-5 of them after just hanging in place last week. Two things were different, I was a little more determined and I wore bicycle gloves to protect my effeminate hands:) I also left quickly before the parents called the police...
Things felt better, but there is a long way to go.
Nutrition news: Today is probably a C+. I've backslid on caffeine, although today was alittle better. More concerining was an impromptu trip through Taco Bell for a mid-day burritoand 800 spare calories. It wasn't even that good, it's the type of choice I can't really explain. Diet is certainly my nemesis, but I'll just keep trying I guess.
Random Musings: The last few days have been close to prefection in terms fo weather. Cool nights, warm sunny days and moderate rain... Better enjoy because it will probably change.
Hope everyone is ready for back to school. I'm not really, but school starts anyway:)
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Moving along
Random stuff: Urbanathlon hopes are a little higher today. I was pain free pretty much today after yesterday's run. Let's hope the streak continues.
Certainly busier at work all of a sudden with classes a week away. Lots of last minute registrants and the majority of the faculty made appearances as well. it's good energy for the most part.
I also had a great visit with the people from ahaprocess about the poverty training I'm doing at Western and how they are going to start working with Higher Ed specifically. I'm very excited to see where that goes and how I might be involved. First time in months I could think of a decent reason to go for that doctorate. Not that I'm planning on it right now.
Anne and I spent the night thinning my wardrobe. For a guy that never buys clothes I had accumulated an interesting collection of out of date and too small items...
Exercise update: I went to the YMCA today and spent 37 minutes on the elliptical and did a little bit of upper body lifting afterward. The best news is my foot didn't hurt. Boy I hope I've turned a corner on that. Tomorrow is run 2 miles and strength training. Maybe I'll grab some gloves and run to some monkey bars.
Nutrition update: By most measures today is a success. No fast food, under 2000 calories and lots of water. the only bad mark is that somehow I drank two bottles of soda today. One regular and one diet. My dark mistresses caffeine and Nutrasweet aren't letting me go easily.
I'll keep the fast food streak going and try to work on the soda habit one day at a time. Spoken like true addict.
Certainly busier at work all of a sudden with classes a week away. Lots of last minute registrants and the majority of the faculty made appearances as well. it's good energy for the most part.
I also had a great visit with the people from ahaprocess about the poverty training I'm doing at Western and how they are going to start working with Higher Ed specifically. I'm very excited to see where that goes and how I might be involved. First time in months I could think of a decent reason to go for that doctorate. Not that I'm planning on it right now.
Anne and I spent the night thinning my wardrobe. For a guy that never buys clothes I had accumulated an interesting collection of out of date and too small items...
Exercise update: I went to the YMCA today and spent 37 minutes on the elliptical and did a little bit of upper body lifting afterward. The best news is my foot didn't hurt. Boy I hope I've turned a corner on that. Tomorrow is run 2 miles and strength training. Maybe I'll grab some gloves and run to some monkey bars.
Nutrition update: By most measures today is a success. No fast food, under 2000 calories and lots of water. the only bad mark is that somehow I drank two bottles of soda today. One regular and one diet. My dark mistresses caffeine and Nutrasweet aren't letting me go easily.
I'll keep the fast food streak going and try to work on the soda habit one day at a time. Spoken like true addict.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
The numbers don't lie
Random Musings: It was weigh in day today. My scale at home said 196.7, which is less than the 199.1 I weighed a few weeks ago. My negative mind ascribes it to atrophy:)
I also had a health screening at work today which was a follow up to the same event two years ago so our health plan can watch us decay over time. Combined with my most recent labs of the last few years some interesting patterns appear.
I have weight and height from August '09 and August '11 only.
My height stayed right at a solid 5'8" (good maintenance)
My weight was 194 in '09 and 198 today (my scale at home was lighter due to nudity and dehydration...)
My BMI went from 29.5 to 30.0 making me officially "obese." The whippet thin health educator said my BMI was surprising because I look so normal, but then went on to say that shows you just how heavy people have gotten... I now hate her
My blood pressure clocked in at 139/93 but that seems like an outlier, although certainly worth monitoring.
Here are some other numbers of interest:
Total Cholesterol:
8/07: 214
12/08: 198
8/09:181
1/11: 188
Today:185
Good Cholesterol (HDL):
8/07: 32
12/08: 32
8/09: 35
1/11: 35
Today: 29
Triglycerides:
8/07: 160
12/08: 113
8/09: 88
1/11: 126
Today: 139
LDL Bad Cholesterol:
8/07: 146
12/08: 143
8/09: 128
1/11: 128
Today: 128
Glucose Blood Sugar
12/08: 106 pre diabetic
8/09: 98
8/11: 94
So what did I learn? Mostly this looks like 4 years of being stuck in the same place. My triglycerides and BP are freaking me out a bit, and my overall cholesterol is down (although my lack of HDL is an issue), but basically I'm just treading water. That seems about right and matches my perception of the last 4 years.
I'm due for a physical in January and I think I'll ask for new labs to see if I can get anywhere between now and then. If I change nothing, then nothing changes.
Exercise update: It was really hard to get myself out for a run today. My mind is convinced that my foot isn't getting better and then I went to the trail to run (because it's softer) but there were too many people to change comfortably into my running clothes in the car.
By the the time I'd turned around and gone home, I'd convinced myself that I was too heavy to do running (in part because of the health educator saying few of us are built to run) and that I should just work on biking and weight loss for 6 months to give my body a chance to actually run. I was also telling myself that maybe I didn't have the enthusiasm for a big event for the Urbanathlon and what was the point anyway...
So, all that stuff may be true, but it really shouldn't have had much to do with whether I worked out today (run or not). Long story short I went home and ran for 35 minutes around the neighborhood. It felt ok and I'm icing my foot as we speak. Will I stick with the Urbanathlon...TBD. Will I get my fat ass fitter? It is now my top priority in life.
I ran 35 minutes today and walked my dog for 20 more. It felt ok, although my foot felt warmer and more fatigued than the other one. Maybe it's all in my head? Tomorrow is a cross training day so I think I'll work on some strength stuff and some non-impact cardio.
My fitbit says I'm over 12000 steps today and that's a record so far. At this point, fitbit is a sort of steroid laden pedometer, but I like it. I just need to learn what else it can do.
Nutrition update: My biggest win today was not going out for lunch. My heart said Culvers, but my brain (and a phone call to my wife) said go home and I did. I did indulge in some crap after my testing (weird ritual), but overall a good day.
It would seem the key to fixing my HDL cholesterol is diet, so I'll keep trying to improve. Regualr readers know it is my biggest issue.
Bless you all and I hope to soon be less than obese, whether I Urbanathlon or not...
I also had a health screening at work today which was a follow up to the same event two years ago so our health plan can watch us decay over time. Combined with my most recent labs of the last few years some interesting patterns appear.
I have weight and height from August '09 and August '11 only.
My height stayed right at a solid 5'8" (good maintenance)
My weight was 194 in '09 and 198 today (my scale at home was lighter due to nudity and dehydration...)
My BMI went from 29.5 to 30.0 making me officially "obese." The whippet thin health educator said my BMI was surprising because I look so normal, but then went on to say that shows you just how heavy people have gotten... I now hate her
My blood pressure clocked in at 139/93 but that seems like an outlier, although certainly worth monitoring.
Here are some other numbers of interest:
Total Cholesterol:
8/07: 214
12/08: 198
8/09:181
1/11: 188
Today:185
Good Cholesterol (HDL):
8/07: 32
12/08: 32
8/09: 35
1/11: 35
Today: 29
Triglycerides:
8/07: 160
12/08: 113
8/09: 88
1/11: 126
Today: 139
LDL Bad Cholesterol:
8/07: 146
12/08: 143
8/09: 128
1/11: 128
Today: 128
Glucose Blood Sugar
12/08: 106 pre diabetic
8/09: 98
8/11: 94
So what did I learn? Mostly this looks like 4 years of being stuck in the same place. My triglycerides and BP are freaking me out a bit, and my overall cholesterol is down (although my lack of HDL is an issue), but basically I'm just treading water. That seems about right and matches my perception of the last 4 years.
I'm due for a physical in January and I think I'll ask for new labs to see if I can get anywhere between now and then. If I change nothing, then nothing changes.
Exercise update: It was really hard to get myself out for a run today. My mind is convinced that my foot isn't getting better and then I went to the trail to run (because it's softer) but there were too many people to change comfortably into my running clothes in the car.
By the the time I'd turned around and gone home, I'd convinced myself that I was too heavy to do running (in part because of the health educator saying few of us are built to run) and that I should just work on biking and weight loss for 6 months to give my body a chance to actually run. I was also telling myself that maybe I didn't have the enthusiasm for a big event for the Urbanathlon and what was the point anyway...
So, all that stuff may be true, but it really shouldn't have had much to do with whether I worked out today (run or not). Long story short I went home and ran for 35 minutes around the neighborhood. It felt ok and I'm icing my foot as we speak. Will I stick with the Urbanathlon...TBD. Will I get my fat ass fitter? It is now my top priority in life.
I ran 35 minutes today and walked my dog for 20 more. It felt ok, although my foot felt warmer and more fatigued than the other one. Maybe it's all in my head? Tomorrow is a cross training day so I think I'll work on some strength stuff and some non-impact cardio.
My fitbit says I'm over 12000 steps today and that's a record so far. At this point, fitbit is a sort of steroid laden pedometer, but I like it. I just need to learn what else it can do.
Nutrition update: My biggest win today was not going out for lunch. My heart said Culvers, but my brain (and a phone call to my wife) said go home and I did. I did indulge in some crap after my testing (weird ritual), but overall a good day.
It would seem the key to fixing my HDL cholesterol is diet, so I'll keep trying to improve. Regualr readers know it is my biggest issue.
Bless you all and I hope to soon be less than obese, whether I Urbanathlon or not...
Monday, August 15, 2011
Signs of progress
Random Musings: I do apologize for the long delays in posting. I seem to have fallen apart a little bit since the triathlon in July. Since the tri ended on July 23rd, I let a combination of lost momentum and growing foot trouble kind of knock me out of the box. I ran a couple of times, but mostly stuck with dog walking. In fact, I have not swam a stroke and only biked once since the 23rd of July...
So why would I call today's entry signs of progress? Well there have been a few.
- I got on the scale last Friday and had mysteriously lost 2.5 pounds. I verified it again today and it appears to be real. it makes me wonder if training for an event does really impede weight loss, at least in the short term.
- Between getting off my feet last week and getting some treatment, my feet feel the best they have in weeks. Not perfect, but much better. With some new running shoes, I was able to get back out and run 2+ miles on Saturday and it felt pretty good.
- Starting a path towards the Urbanathlon seems to center me emotionally as well. Which is to say I feel better when I exercise, stunning huh?
Actually that last observation has been the one that floored me the most. I went out for a run Saturday after not doing much of anything for the week. I hadn't realized the level of stress I had been accumulating until I went out and just sweat. It's a sneaky thing. For about 10 days, I had been choosing to have a beer (some days) and lounge in the evening because it seemed recuperative, but in reality I felt fatigued and was starting my brain on the very familiar hamster wheel of looking at 11 different life/career pathways that I'll probably never go down...
Taken individually, they probably all seemed somewhat reasonable, but when looked at as a group, it's just crazy agitated anxiety manifesting itself in my own particularly idiom. Good words huh?
Anyway, I think I'm better now.
Exercise update: As I said above, I took an extended recovery period after the triathlon and to see if my foot would bounce back. Last week, I did elliptical and weights on Monday and then ran on Saturday. The good news is my short run felt pretty good, the bad news is that it was pretty short.
I also decided to try to swing on some monkey bars to prepare for the obstacle in the Urbanathlon. That was not good. I am definitely going to have to improve upper body strength between now and then and it is two months from today. I also tried to do some pull-ups but was only able to do a pull-up, singular. There is certainly room for improvement.
I also purchased a new fitness tracker at www.fitbit.com. It's kind of cool, it tracks and syncs my activity with my own website and compares me to my peers. It kind of appeals to the competitor in me and I hope it helps unlock the key to getting my weight under control.
Nutrition update: As I said earlier, I appear to finally be losing some weight. I am now tracking food on the fitbit site and we will see how that goes. I'm working on my caffeine habit and I'm getting close to being off it. I backslid a little bit last week when I returned to work, but I'm down to 1-2 cans a day right now and should be clear by the end of the month. I'm drinking regular soda, so I'm more accountable for the calories. It also cuts down on my Nutrasweet and I wonder if that is connected with the unexpected weight loss?
Tomorrow I have a health screening at work for our insurance plan and should get more numbers to monitor. I'm curious about Blood pressure and Blood sugar as both have been issues in the past. I'll post more when I know more.
So why would I call today's entry signs of progress? Well there have been a few.
- I got on the scale last Friday and had mysteriously lost 2.5 pounds. I verified it again today and it appears to be real. it makes me wonder if training for an event does really impede weight loss, at least in the short term.
- Between getting off my feet last week and getting some treatment, my feet feel the best they have in weeks. Not perfect, but much better. With some new running shoes, I was able to get back out and run 2+ miles on Saturday and it felt pretty good.
- Starting a path towards the Urbanathlon seems to center me emotionally as well. Which is to say I feel better when I exercise, stunning huh?
Actually that last observation has been the one that floored me the most. I went out for a run Saturday after not doing much of anything for the week. I hadn't realized the level of stress I had been accumulating until I went out and just sweat. It's a sneaky thing. For about 10 days, I had been choosing to have a beer (some days) and lounge in the evening because it seemed recuperative, but in reality I felt fatigued and was starting my brain on the very familiar hamster wheel of looking at 11 different life/career pathways that I'll probably never go down...
Taken individually, they probably all seemed somewhat reasonable, but when looked at as a group, it's just crazy agitated anxiety manifesting itself in my own particularly idiom. Good words huh?
Anyway, I think I'm better now.
Exercise update: As I said above, I took an extended recovery period after the triathlon and to see if my foot would bounce back. Last week, I did elliptical and weights on Monday and then ran on Saturday. The good news is my short run felt pretty good, the bad news is that it was pretty short.
I also decided to try to swing on some monkey bars to prepare for the obstacle in the Urbanathlon. That was not good. I am definitely going to have to improve upper body strength between now and then and it is two months from today. I also tried to do some pull-ups but was only able to do a pull-up, singular. There is certainly room for improvement.
I also purchased a new fitness tracker at www.fitbit.com. It's kind of cool, it tracks and syncs my activity with my own website and compares me to my peers. It kind of appeals to the competitor in me and I hope it helps unlock the key to getting my weight under control.
Nutrition update: As I said earlier, I appear to finally be losing some weight. I am now tracking food on the fitbit site and we will see how that goes. I'm working on my caffeine habit and I'm getting close to being off it. I backslid a little bit last week when I returned to work, but I'm down to 1-2 cans a day right now and should be clear by the end of the month. I'm drinking regular soda, so I'm more accountable for the calories. It also cuts down on my Nutrasweet and I wonder if that is connected with the unexpected weight loss?
Tomorrow I have a health screening at work for our insurance plan and should get more numbers to monitor. I'm curious about Blood pressure and Blood sugar as both have been issues in the past. I'll post more when I know more.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
And so it begins...again
I was tryingto think of something deep to post after falling apart post triathlon, but my first ever post captured it fine, so posted my first "best of"
I'm tired... I mean I am lots of things, but mostly I am tired. I'm tired of not sleeping very well. I'm tired of taking my kids to the pool in the summer and not feeling comfortable with my shirt off. I'm tired of my start/stop approach to fitness which has led to a 10 year accumulation of flab around the middle. I'm tired of of being schlubby and schlumpy and feeling a slide into a nondescript middle age.
So, in order to violate the rules of insanity (same action/same results etc.), I'm going to try to do things differently. I'm going to Blog and share whatever happens. I'm going to start with a goal of updating this daily to tell you what I did or didn't do to work towards my goals. Maybe that will be the answer to breaking the pattern of get fit and then get unfit, get fit (but not as fit as before), get even more unfit and so on.
I have some very clear goals.
I want to take the kids to the pool and feel like somebody might look and say, "hey for 40 that dude is in shape", I want to go on trampolines with my daughter at Riverfest, but I have to get under the weight limit... I also want to complete the Urbanathlon October 15th, and I want this project to complete with an Olympic Distance triathlon, which is something I've never done before. I also hope I end the summer with a new take on my middle years, one with a bit more enthusiasm. We'll see how it goes. I just want a new point of view on existence, is that too much to ask?
If anyone ever reads this, thank you for taking the time. It's the beginning of a great adventure.
I'm tired... I mean I am lots of things, but mostly I am tired. I'm tired of not sleeping very well. I'm tired of taking my kids to the pool in the summer and not feeling comfortable with my shirt off. I'm tired of my start/stop approach to fitness which has led to a 10 year accumulation of flab around the middle. I'm tired of of being schlubby and schlumpy and feeling a slide into a nondescript middle age.
So, in order to violate the rules of insanity (same action/same results etc.), I'm going to try to do things differently. I'm going to Blog and share whatever happens. I'm going to start with a goal of updating this daily to tell you what I did or didn't do to work towards my goals. Maybe that will be the answer to breaking the pattern of get fit and then get unfit, get fit (but not as fit as before), get even more unfit and so on.
I have some very clear goals.
I want to take the kids to the pool and feel like somebody might look and say, "hey for 40 that dude is in shape", I want to go on trampolines with my daughter at Riverfest, but I have to get under the weight limit... I also want to complete the Urbanathlon October 15th, and I want this project to complete with an Olympic Distance triathlon, which is something I've never done before. I also hope I end the summer with a new take on my middle years, one with a bit more enthusiasm. We'll see how it goes. I just want a new point of view on existence, is that too much to ask?
If anyone ever reads this, thank you for taking the time. It's the beginning of a great adventure.
Monday, August 8, 2011
briefly
Exercise update: I went to the YMCA today and did 32 minutes on the elliptical machine. I followed that up with 10-15 minutes of upper body weights on the cybex machines. Tomorrow I'm starting a 10 week 15K program I found on the Internet to get ready for the October 15th Urbanathlon. it leaves lots of time for cross training so I can make sure I get the stregth training and interval work I'll need to complete the obstacles. My foot continues to be a challenge, but I got some teatment today and we'll see how it goes. It felt good right after but is pretty sore right now. Tomorrow I'm scheduled for a 2 mile run.
Nutrition update: I tracked everything today so far on myfooddiary.com and I think I'm doing ok. I sent away for a Fitbit to use as a tracker of activity and food when it arrives. it will sync with my computer automatically, it looks pretty cool. it's supposed to measure movement and activity all day (although not biking or swimming, you enter those yourself) and even monitor the quality of your sleep. I hope it works like it appears to.
Random stuff: I went back to work today after a week of vacation. It's always a bit disorienting at first, but I'm glad to say my attitude was better. I'm trying to not take it all so seriously and just try to do a little good for people while providing for my family.
Big election day tomorrow. I'm voting Shilling and I hope everyone else who can does...
Nutrition update: I tracked everything today so far on myfooddiary.com and I think I'm doing ok. I sent away for a Fitbit to use as a tracker of activity and food when it arrives. it will sync with my computer automatically, it looks pretty cool. it's supposed to measure movement and activity all day (although not biking or swimming, you enter those yourself) and even monitor the quality of your sleep. I hope it works like it appears to.
Random stuff: I went back to work today after a week of vacation. It's always a bit disorienting at first, but I'm glad to say my attitude was better. I'm trying to not take it all so seriously and just try to do a little good for people while providing for my family.
Big election day tomorrow. I'm voting Shilling and I hope everyone else who can does...
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Back in the saddle post vacation
Random Musings: I've been on vacation all week and apparently that means I took a vacation from blogging as well. I am such a creature of habit that once I stopped blogging daily, I pretty much stopped blogging. I'm hoping to get back to it with more frequency starting right now.
We didn't do a big cross country trip for vacation this year as we have the last couple years. Between an anniversary (10 1/2 years, 11 in a couple weeks) trip to Vegas, a piano purchase for our aspiring rock star son, and a week to Camp Ehawee for my daughter, we thought we'd be more budget conscious this year. So, I took a week off from work and we spent the middle 3 days in Wisconsin Dells. We had a great time.
I had a plan of staying in a non waterpark hotel so that we would go out and do the touristy things we never do on our trips to the Dells. I have fond memories of a similar trip with my Mom when I was a kid, so I thought why not? We stayed in a 2 room cottage at the Black Hawk Motel, which turned out to be pretty nice actually. My kids are not real daredevils , so the regular pool was a treat for them and we had an in room jacuzzi, which my son enjoyed repeatedly (in the nude btw, which he thought was awesome. I fear for the future). I'm not sure what audience the Black Hawk was shooting for with the cottage... It had a queen bed in one room and two queens in another, so it was family friendly, but in addition, it had mirrors on the ceiling and surrounding the hot tub, which would suggest a somewhat different intentionality...
Oh well, it worked for us and we'd stay there again and it was reasonably priced for a two room cottage. If we were more budget conscious even, we could have had even cheaper room in the clean and nice, but dated, motel section. We used the motel as home base to go to several Dells tourist attractions, including Wizard Quest, jet boat adventures (see before pic above), and the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory. We also took a trip on the Ducks and enjoyed each of our little tourist adventures. The trip was exactly what I had hoped for. I even managed to go running on the middle day, which I can talk more about in a bit. We topped off vacation week with a day trip from home on Friday to Lark Toys in Kellogg MN, a neat place for anyone with kids or grandkids. And now we are home, tired and happy and putting our yard back in order and trying to find the rhythm of home life again. I am due back at work on Monday and it will get real busy real fast with school starting on the 22nd and all the preparation that goes into being ready.
Vacation is always needed to me and this one was timely. It reconnected me with the people I care most about and reminded me that children's point of view is sadly lost on us as we grow older and we think we grow wiser.
Exercise update: I am bummed to say that I have partially done exactly what I hoped I wouldn't. I did the triathlon on July 23rd and haven't been working out regularly since. The tri was 2 weeks ago today and my "work outs" have been one bike ride the Monday after, a 20 minute run last Monday and a 30 minute run on Wednesday in the Dells. I might be forgetting one other short run, but I can't remember, so if it exists it must not have been much. My other exercise has been walking the dog, yardwork and my pretty active vacation time.
My plan had been to not treat the tri as an ending but rather as a through point on the way to the next goal, but... well it's obvious I didn't do that. Today is 10 weeks until the Urbanathlon and I can run about 30 minutes comfortably (I'm comfortable during I mean), so I have a ways to go.
The other major issue getting in the way is continued trouble with my foot. Maybe it was the pool time in the Dells or just a lot of time on my feet, but by Friday my foot was pretty miserable. In fact Friday frightened me because I felt weakness in my right leg in the middle of the day which seemed associated with clenching my foot all the time to protect it. It seemed to get better with a couple Advil and some time off my feet. It was much less stiff this a.m., so I'm going to try to give it more rest and ice and Advil for a couple days and see where we are at. I'll probably try to get to the Chiro as well on Monday or Wednesday. I must admit, I was pretty depressed about it yesterday and thought maybe the Urbanathlon was going to be out of reach, but I'm not ready to give up on that yet. I'll focus on what I can do and on healing. Even if that means I don't run until next Saturday, I have 9 weeks to get ready and I can work on strength and other cardio in the meantime.
The foot thing is weird. It goes up and down with soreness, but on Wednesday I decided to run anyway and it feels like it warms up and feels ok running. However, I feel like the next day it's much worse and it worries me that I'm setting myself back. Part of me says just train and trust that running feels ok, part of me worries that I'm making the situation worse, and part of me thinks, I'm 41 and have a crappy arthritic foot that will be an issue from now on...
See, I can even be neurotic about foot pain. I suppose I can still play the MRI card or maybe massage therapy.
Nutrition update: I haven't been using the food tracker again until today. I tried not to go too crazy on vacation, but with all the restaurant food, I'm sure I didn't do great. I'm tracking again today and I will get back on the scale tomorrow and go from there. I'll be stunned if I haven't gained a pound or two frankly.
It feels like a good springboard time for my nutrition because my wife and kids are talking about healthier eating as well, so we can support each other.
As any of you know, I have been beyond frustrated with my lack of weight loss during this project but I am pleased with some dietary growth. I am drinking little or no soda most days and feel on my way to getting that monkey off my back as well. I did much better with this on vacation than expected, so I should be able to build on that even as school year stress sets in. I'm also using fruit as a snack option more often, now to add those salads...
More reports to come (shorter I promise) as I get back in the habit of being accountable to the cyber world from my fitness and nutrition goals and apparently share other random thoughts that people occasionally find interesting or relevant. Or maybe you just feel better because I'm way more messed up than you are and that builds your confidence:)
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Birthday thoughts
Random Musings: So today is my birthday. I'm 41 today. Its not a real notable birthday; last year seemed like a much bigger deal obviously. At this time last year I was eating lunch in Estes Park, Colorado after hiking up a mountain with my wife and father. Today, I'm just hanging out with my kids while my wife works. It seems about right.I'm always reflective at birthday time and today is no exception. My first inclination was to make some massive pledge about how I'm setting aside everything to work on my health for the next 365 days, which isn't a terrible idea, but then I figured something out. I was out running a few errands (including new running shoes, which I'll explain more in a bit), and I sat down at one of those blood pressure machines at an in-store pharmacy. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here before but my BP has been a bit dicey for the last several years. They haven't made me take meds, but I've had to monitor it at home and once they didn't want to let me leave a pre-operative check-up until it came down. Needless to say, it's been concerning and is related to weight, caffeine, age and genetics I suppose. I had fallen out of the habit of tracking it until today when I was very pleased to see it clock in at 121 over 78, which is pretty darn good for me.
Even better, the machine also showed a resting pulse of 50, which is a solid 10-20 beats per minute less than it was in the winter time. So, why am I telling you this? Well, it was evidence that what I am doing is making a difference. As frustrated as I get at my weight and my lack of washboard abs, there is no doubting I am much, much healthier than I was in April and over the winter. I was so busy trying to get to a goal, I kept forgetting to enjoy the progress even when I noted it. After all, as much as I want to look good at the pool, I want to be a 75 year old Ironman triathlete someday and that takes time, time that should be enjoyed, not just endured.
I don't think I need to make a a commitment I may not keep to behave perfectly for a year and set aside all other things to achieve health. Rather I must remember:
We are what we repeatedly do
And I must think about what I want to do repeatedly (besides the obvious of course). I trained repeatedly for 3 months and I regained the ability to be a triathlete. I repeatedly make questionable choices with what I eat and therefore I weigh a certain amount. I repeatedly self-analyze and obsess about multiple options for the future and as a result I usually change very little, because I think and ponder and obsess rather than ever choose:)
So, in my 42nd year I am interested in finding a new level of health and recapturing my self-identify as an athlete. In my 42nd year, I am interested in doing work that not only supports my family, but does some good for the world and for my soul. In my 42nd year, I am interested in broadening my interests beyond my career and building on my strengths to find the place of most potential. Deep Huh?:)
Now what do I need to do repeatedly to go down those paths and enjoy them? Fitness for one really seems to be a matter of repetition...time to get back with my trainer Danni, track my food, and maybe blog more regularly among other things.
Oh, by the way, the photo above is from a birthday roughly 20 years (give or take a year) ago. No real symbolism other than it's a birthday party photo and is the last official sighting of my abdominals:) I was repeatedly detassling corn that summer, which is a good fitness plan.
Exercise update: I've taken a bit of a break this week for a couple reasons. The first is just post-tri recovery, which is mostly bs. I felt fine Monday and biked, but stuck to walking the rest of the week.
The second has been more troubling. My foot has been killing me and by Tuesday it had progressed to feeling like a nail through the front of my foot most of the day. I was getting very down about it, but then on Wednesday I decided to just keep pursuing treatment. I went in to my chiropractor and decided if that didn't get us anywhere than it was back to the podiatrist and if that didn't work, I'd look for more options.
I was very pleased when my chiro said he was very confident I wasn't suffering from plantar fasciitis again, but rather I just had some pretty good joint inflammation from the pounding my feet have taken. The prescribed treatment is rest and ice, which I've been doing in addition to the the electro-stim Dr. Breidenbach did on Wednesday. My feet felt great Thursday and have been a little sore since, but I think I see the path to health for my feet and I'm greatly pleased it's not the old ailment. Of course, every pound I drop will help all my joints including my feet. I also went and replaced my running shoes today. I had purchased a Reebok shoe that took advantage of the more "natural" feel and I think that has been an issue. Perhaps a thinner man with better bio mechanics could benefit from a thinner shoe, but I need cushioning for now.
Nutrition update: I've been tracking food pretty well this week. Wednesday night was my only train wreck, otherwise I've been with the plan, even on light exercise days. I've had some back sliding on soda consumption, so I don't get my monthly massage, but I'm back on the wagon today.
No major indulgences planned for my birthday or for the vacation in the Dells next week. I prefer feeling strong and healthy to feeling bloated and full of crap.
Thanks for indulging a long post, but what could you expect. Blogging about yourself is pretty self-centered and when you add in the birthday...
Happy July 30th...
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Weigh in Day
Random Musings: I seem to be trying an every other day entry mode for now. Let us see how it goes.
I weighed in this morning for my official weekly weigh in. If you recall last week was a low low point which inspired some changes. I'm pleased to say that those changes (daily weighing and tracking food) yielded some results. I showed a weight of 199.1 pounds. Not where I want to be, but I am glad to be under 200. I pigged out pretty good after the triathlon on Saturday, but I have been very disciplined since. Let's hope we keep going well moving on. The goal is now to be under 190 for the Urbanathlon
I continue to be concerned about the pain in my right foot. It feels a lot like the plantar fasciitis I struggled with several years ago. I'm trying to use ibuprofen and chiropractic to manage it. Hopefully that will keep me afloat.
Exercise update: My foot really hurts. It's like a nail in the ball of my foot right at the base of my toes. I'm going to take today off. I had plans at the Y, but I forgot my socks:)
I'm feeling a lot of fear about my foot, especially when I'm trying to ramp up my running for a run centered event like the Urbanathlon. Rather than stress I'll get some chiro treatment tomorrow and if that doesn't help, I'll get in to the podiatrist as well. I don't want to give in to the injury.
Nutrition update: Today has been pretty solid. I didn't go out for lunch. I chose to come home and make a sandwich instead. I'll probably miss my calorie target because I'm not exercising at all, but that's ok. Tomorrow is "get your foot fixed day". Time to get out of denial.
I weighed in this morning for my official weekly weigh in. If you recall last week was a low low point which inspired some changes. I'm pleased to say that those changes (daily weighing and tracking food) yielded some results. I showed a weight of 199.1 pounds. Not where I want to be, but I am glad to be under 200. I pigged out pretty good after the triathlon on Saturday, but I have been very disciplined since. Let's hope we keep going well moving on. The goal is now to be under 190 for the Urbanathlon
I continue to be concerned about the pain in my right foot. It feels a lot like the plantar fasciitis I struggled with several years ago. I'm trying to use ibuprofen and chiropractic to manage it. Hopefully that will keep me afloat.
Exercise update: My foot really hurts. It's like a nail in the ball of my foot right at the base of my toes. I'm going to take today off. I had plans at the Y, but I forgot my socks:)
I'm feeling a lot of fear about my foot, especially when I'm trying to ramp up my running for a run centered event like the Urbanathlon. Rather than stress I'll get some chiro treatment tomorrow and if that doesn't help, I'll get in to the podiatrist as well. I don't want to give in to the injury.
Nutrition update: Today has been pretty solid. I didn't go out for lunch. I chose to come home and make a sandwich instead. I'll probably miss my calorie target because I'm not exercising at all, but that's ok. Tomorrow is "get your foot fixed day". Time to get out of denial.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
And off we go
Exercise update: Recovering from triathlon today, so I stuck with walking the dog. I am pleased that I'm not really sore today from yesterday's efforts. Part of me thinks that means I could have tried harder, but the other part says I followed the plan of using it as a training day primarily. I think it also shows I've built some endurance and ability to recover. I'll get back to regular workouts tomorrow.
The Urbanathlon is 11 weeks from yesterday, so I'll tweak what I'm doing to include more strength training. I'll also focus more on running and include some stairs to prepare for Soldier Field...yikes!!!
Nutrition update: I watched what I ate carefully today and myfooddiary.com would indicate I've been pretty successful. I'm right on the edge calorically and I'm at 9.8% saturated fats when they prefer 9%, but it's a good start. I'm planning on weighing in tomorrow (and every day after) and setting an Urbanathlon goal of 10 pounds lighter than whatever number I get.
Random Musings: Yesterday's post about the triathlon is the most read post I've put up. Thanks for spreading the word, it's very encouraging when people follow what I'm doing and even make comments or suggestions. Rehabbing this old carcass is surely taking a village.
I am debating posting less often (every other day or twice a week or something). Some days the posts are pretty banal and some days I just don't have much to say. I'll think about it for a while, but if anyone cares one way or the other let me know. For today at least, I feel if I speak less often I might have more to say?
Hmmm, I wonder where else that might apply for me:)
The Urbanathlon is 11 weeks from yesterday, so I'll tweak what I'm doing to include more strength training. I'll also focus more on running and include some stairs to prepare for Soldier Field...yikes!!!
Nutrition update: I watched what I ate carefully today and myfooddiary.com would indicate I've been pretty successful. I'm right on the edge calorically and I'm at 9.8% saturated fats when they prefer 9%, but it's a good start. I'm planning on weighing in tomorrow (and every day after) and setting an Urbanathlon goal of 10 pounds lighter than whatever number I get.
Random Musings: Yesterday's post about the triathlon is the most read post I've put up. Thanks for spreading the word, it's very encouraging when people follow what I'm doing and even make comments or suggestions. Rehabbing this old carcass is surely taking a village.
I am debating posting less often (every other day or twice a week or something). Some days the posts are pretty banal and some days I just don't have much to say. I'll think about it for a while, but if anyone cares one way or the other let me know. For today at least, I feel if I speak less often I might have more to say?
Hmmm, I wonder where else that might apply for me:)
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Old (yup), Slow (but getting better), TRIATHLETE
Exercise update: Well I made it:) For the first time in 4 years, I was able to complete a sprint distance triathlon. Only triathletes would describe something that takes most people at least 80+ minutes as a "sprint". My sister and I got up early this morning and went to Castle Rock Park to swim 1/4 mile, bike 16 miles, and run 3 very hilly miles.
We both made it. I had done this same triathlon in 2007, but I was at a different point then with fitness and particularly with weight. I can't remember exactly but I was at least 10 pounds lighter than I am today. This has not been lost on me in planning the next event this fall...
My 2011 time was 1:37:39, which compares to a 2007 time of 1:32:13, so I'm 5 minutes and 26 seconds slower four years and 10+ pounds later. I'll take it as a great place to relaunch. My additional time was spread across all phases really, although I took bigger hits on the swim and run than on the bike. I might have gone a little faster if I'd run with more determination, but I reminded myself this was supposed to be part of my training, not the end result, and took a few walking breaks when I was tired.
I'm pretty confident I could get under a 90 minute sprint with some more training, some weight loss etc.
I relearned a lot today, here are a few highlights
- You have to protect your nipples. Like the rookie I seem to have become again, I did not and there is a chafing issue:)
- I needed more swim prep. I did all my work in a pool and it just isn't like open water. I wasted a lot of time swimming way off course and floating on my side in panic, even though I had the endurance to do the swim. Choppy waters were a challenge.
- Prep your equipment better. I lost the computer on my bike because I had dislodged it bringing the bike over and it flew off during the race. Not only does this mean I have to buy a new one, but I rode without knowing my speed or distance all day. I also didn't wear my heart rate monitor, which would have been nice too...
- I'm a good biker, but I could get a lot better, average looking folks passed me regularly
- Most important, I love spending Saturday mornings at this sort of thing and definitely want to do more, although that may be next year since I need to focus on the Urbanathlon now.
That can wait until tomorrow though:)
Nutrition update: I'm eating whatever I want today, and a lot of it...
I will get back to working on weight loss tomorrow. I'll weigh in on Monday and work down 10 pounds from there for the Urbanathlon. It's going to be important for my joints and to do monkey bars, climb walls etc.
Diet will be a renewed and necessary focus.
Random Musings: Not only did today make me feel really good, it was extra good because I got to bring my sister Jessica through her first tri. She did great and learned many of the same lessons I had to relearn. I hope we'll do more together in the future, it's much more fun to go to these things with someone. Historically I've been a bit of a lone wolf.
I'm going to work hard to remember what a good day today was when my spinning mind starts trying to figure out how I want to spend my time on the planet again. Interestingly, I think that's one of the things I like about triathlon and other events; my mind is focused and relatively quiet for almost 2 hours. It's one of the same things I used to like about coaching basketball games. You get to be in the moment, which is always hard for me.
Anyway, it was pretty great day, I'm tired and if my brother-in-law got some good pics, I'll share them soon.
We both made it. I had done this same triathlon in 2007, but I was at a different point then with fitness and particularly with weight. I can't remember exactly but I was at least 10 pounds lighter than I am today. This has not been lost on me in planning the next event this fall...
My 2011 time was 1:37:39, which compares to a 2007 time of 1:32:13, so I'm 5 minutes and 26 seconds slower four years and 10+ pounds later. I'll take it as a great place to relaunch. My additional time was spread across all phases really, although I took bigger hits on the swim and run than on the bike. I might have gone a little faster if I'd run with more determination, but I reminded myself this was supposed to be part of my training, not the end result, and took a few walking breaks when I was tired.
I'm pretty confident I could get under a 90 minute sprint with some more training, some weight loss etc.
I relearned a lot today, here are a few highlights
- You have to protect your nipples. Like the rookie I seem to have become again, I did not and there is a chafing issue:)
- I needed more swim prep. I did all my work in a pool and it just isn't like open water. I wasted a lot of time swimming way off course and floating on my side in panic, even though I had the endurance to do the swim. Choppy waters were a challenge.
- Prep your equipment better. I lost the computer on my bike because I had dislodged it bringing the bike over and it flew off during the race. Not only does this mean I have to buy a new one, but I rode without knowing my speed or distance all day. I also didn't wear my heart rate monitor, which would have been nice too...
- I'm a good biker, but I could get a lot better, average looking folks passed me regularly
- Most important, I love spending Saturday mornings at this sort of thing and definitely want to do more, although that may be next year since I need to focus on the Urbanathlon now.
That can wait until tomorrow though:)
Nutrition update: I'm eating whatever I want today, and a lot of it...
I will get back to working on weight loss tomorrow. I'll weigh in on Monday and work down 10 pounds from there for the Urbanathlon. It's going to be important for my joints and to do monkey bars, climb walls etc.
Diet will be a renewed and necessary focus.
Random Musings: Not only did today make me feel really good, it was extra good because I got to bring my sister Jessica through her first tri. She did great and learned many of the same lessons I had to relearn. I hope we'll do more together in the future, it's much more fun to go to these things with someone. Historically I've been a bit of a lone wolf.
I'm going to work hard to remember what a good day today was when my spinning mind starts trying to figure out how I want to spend my time on the planet again. Interestingly, I think that's one of the things I like about triathlon and other events; my mind is focused and relatively quiet for almost 2 hours. It's one of the same things I used to like about coaching basketball games. You get to be in the moment, which is always hard for me.
Anyway, it was pretty great day, I'm tired and if my brother-in-law got some good pics, I'll share them soon.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
regaining a foothold
Exercise update: With three days to go to the triathlon, I opted for low impact cardio. I spent 42 minutes on the elliptical at the Y and went just over 3 miles. This was easier on my troubled foot and I don't think I'm losing much by not running much this week and focusing on feeling less pain in my foot.I'm hoping to use a hotel pool to swim a little in tomorrow night.
I also braved the heat and took my dog for a 15 minute walk. Swampy....hopefully we catch a weather break on Saturday. Looks dicey for thunderstorms.
Nutrition update: Back on myfooddiary.com... So far I'm within my limits today even with the donuts a co-worker brought. Donuts are my greatest weakness, without compare. I added them in and balanced with a lighter lunch and some exercise. I even used a measuring cup at dinner to make sure how many servings of tortellini I had. It was 2.5 cups by the way. I have 211 calories to spare before bed and might have ice cream or something else.
Time to re-stock the yogurt, that seems to meet my sweets needs on occasion and Men's Health says weight losers eat yogurt:)
Random Musings: I hopped on the scale this morning and it was significantly lighter than my depressing Tuesday. I've still gained over the last few weeks, but it was just depressing not suicidally depressing...
I'm traveling the next two days for work, so I may or may not have blog entries. It will be a challenge as always to make sure I don't overeat. Sometimes an all day meeting can leave you feeling mentally exhausted and you think you actually need food to replenish your imaginary calorie burn. I'm also going to be smart about socializing with my colleagues from around the state. Being social does not require overeating and beer.
So, if I don't write between now and Saturday, hope for good health and good weather. Hopefully it's the shortest triathlon I'll do for several years:) After all it's Olympic Tri or die and olympic is still a few goals away.
I also braved the heat and took my dog for a 15 minute walk. Swampy....hopefully we catch a weather break on Saturday. Looks dicey for thunderstorms.
Nutrition update: Back on myfooddiary.com... So far I'm within my limits today even with the donuts a co-worker brought. Donuts are my greatest weakness, without compare. I added them in and balanced with a lighter lunch and some exercise. I even used a measuring cup at dinner to make sure how many servings of tortellini I had. It was 2.5 cups by the way. I have 211 calories to spare before bed and might have ice cream or something else.
Time to re-stock the yogurt, that seems to meet my sweets needs on occasion and Men's Health says weight losers eat yogurt:)
Random Musings: I hopped on the scale this morning and it was significantly lighter than my depressing Tuesday. I've still gained over the last few weeks, but it was just depressing not suicidally depressing...
I'm traveling the next two days for work, so I may or may not have blog entries. It will be a challenge as always to make sure I don't overeat. Sometimes an all day meeting can leave you feeling mentally exhausted and you think you actually need food to replenish your imaginary calorie burn. I'm also going to be smart about socializing with my colleagues from around the state. Being social does not require overeating and beer.
So, if I don't write between now and Saturday, hope for good health and good weather. Hopefully it's the shortest triathlon I'll do for several years:) After all it's Olympic Tri or die and olympic is still a few goals away.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
I think this is bottom
Random Musings: Today was weigh in day. I knew I had been back sliding recently in many ways, although I felt like I had been compensating with exercise (I know that sounds familiar). Last weeks weigh in said 198 pounds on our new scale (which runs 3-4 pounds higher than the prior one). I've been thinking about daily weigh-ins, but haven't quite gotten there (danger alert, danger alert), although I did weigh myself Saturday and noted the 198.6, but thought I had time to work on it.
Today I stepped on the scale and clocked in at 201.1 pounds!!! That's right, I seem to have gained 2.5 lbs since Saturday. It is hard to describe how bummed out I was. Addicts talk about a need to hit bottom and if this isn't mine, I'm not sure what is... Then I tried to look at things more logically than emotionally.
Saturday night I had 4 beers at a neighborhood gathering, Sunday I had a brat for lunch and Culver's for dinner, yesterday I had Culver's for lunch and pizza for dinner. Also yesterday I decided I needed rest not exercise and added a beer to the evening to make the "relaxing" complete. And of course, I have somehow slipped Cherry Pepsi and it's calories into my diet over the last week. This is not the diet of someone focused on attaining a high level of fitness.
It was just July 5th when I announced that I didn't want to use the food tracker anymore because it was making this unfun. When I look back at that post, it just looks like the rationalization of an addict. I had weighed in heavy that day and hadn't been tracking well the week prior to that, so I decided that I would work out hard and just concentrate on putting good fuel in my body. Hmm, how's that working for you(me) (in the words of William Glasser and Dr. Phil).
So here I am, at rock bottom and feeling like the whole darn thing is a do over. I had intentions of doing the triathlon Saturday at less than 190 lbs. and I'll be lucky to be under 200... I wanted to go to the pool and maybe catch some middle-aged mother's eye and that ain't happening. I wanted to feel strong and healthy and confident and today I feel pretty far from it.
So, what do you do? You learn that delayed gratification is the act of being able to give up what you want NOW for what you want MOST. You get serious and decide that the joy of being pain free and able to complete an Olympic Tri or a half marathon or an Ironman is way better than a stupid cheeseburger today.
And how do I do that? Well for the third time, I go back and start tracking my food. I have clearly proven that I don't lose weight my way, let's see what actually sticking with it might yield. I also need to start weighing in daily since I don't seem to posses the discipline yet to wait a week at a time. And I will remind myself by thinking about the long range view, that no garbage I eat will feel as good as completing the athletic endeavors I'm interested in.
I hope all of you are patient with me,since my patience with myself is wearing thin. I would like this blog to become inspirational at some point for reasons other than "boy you can be really neurotic and still sort of function in the world".
I've eaten ok today and I'm going to the Y tonight. Project do-over commences...again
Today I stepped on the scale and clocked in at 201.1 pounds!!! That's right, I seem to have gained 2.5 lbs since Saturday. It is hard to describe how bummed out I was. Addicts talk about a need to hit bottom and if this isn't mine, I'm not sure what is... Then I tried to look at things more logically than emotionally.
Saturday night I had 4 beers at a neighborhood gathering, Sunday I had a brat for lunch and Culver's for dinner, yesterday I had Culver's for lunch and pizza for dinner. Also yesterday I decided I needed rest not exercise and added a beer to the evening to make the "relaxing" complete. And of course, I have somehow slipped Cherry Pepsi and it's calories into my diet over the last week. This is not the diet of someone focused on attaining a high level of fitness.
It was just July 5th when I announced that I didn't want to use the food tracker anymore because it was making this unfun. When I look back at that post, it just looks like the rationalization of an addict. I had weighed in heavy that day and hadn't been tracking well the week prior to that, so I decided that I would work out hard and just concentrate on putting good fuel in my body. Hmm, how's that working for you(me) (in the words of William Glasser and Dr. Phil).
So here I am, at rock bottom and feeling like the whole darn thing is a do over. I had intentions of doing the triathlon Saturday at less than 190 lbs. and I'll be lucky to be under 200... I wanted to go to the pool and maybe catch some middle-aged mother's eye and that ain't happening. I wanted to feel strong and healthy and confident and today I feel pretty far from it.
So, what do you do? You learn that delayed gratification is the act of being able to give up what you want NOW for what you want MOST. You get serious and decide that the joy of being pain free and able to complete an Olympic Tri or a half marathon or an Ironman is way better than a stupid cheeseburger today.
And how do I do that? Well for the third time, I go back and start tracking my food. I have clearly proven that I don't lose weight my way, let's see what actually sticking with it might yield. I also need to start weighing in daily since I don't seem to posses the discipline yet to wait a week at a time. And I will remind myself by thinking about the long range view, that no garbage I eat will feel as good as completing the athletic endeavors I'm interested in.
I hope all of you are patient with me,since my patience with myself is wearing thin. I would like this blog to become inspirational at some point for reasons other than "boy you can be really neurotic and still sort of function in the world".
I've eaten ok today and I'm going to the Y tonight. Project do-over commences...again
Monday, July 18, 2011
A day of rest
Exercise update: I had grand plans today of a swim or bike. Instead I decided to listen to my body and rest. I went to the chiro for foot treatment and it is somewhat better, but still kind of sore. I'm trying to treat it and keep training. I think yesterday's marathon of walking didn't help necessarily. Back tot eh gym tomorrow, regardless of the current heat wave. I do hope it's more reasonable by the weekend.
I have accepted the reality that I'll be doing this triathlon 20 pounds heavier than intended, but I'm doing it.
Nutrition update: Today continued what has been a very poor July. I seem to be taking every excuse to make bad choices in terms of food. Rather than drag out the same old story, I think I'll concentrate on improving for the rest of the month and see how I feel.
Random Musings: I've needed to readjust my goals when i realized I just wasn't going to get to where I want to be in this summer physically. Maybe I let that realization allow me to backslide. Can't forget the long obedience in the same direction. it seems the only way to move towards where I want to go.
I hope I can get myself to be more serious about this thing between now and October 15th. I really believe I can, but the evidence of that is sporadic at best.
I haven't felt like I've had much to say lately, but I'm trying to build a habit of writing daily, so forgive the brief posts as of late. I'm sure my usual loquaciousness and overwrought thinking will return.
I have accepted the reality that I'll be doing this triathlon 20 pounds heavier than intended, but I'm doing it.
Nutrition update: Today continued what has been a very poor July. I seem to be taking every excuse to make bad choices in terms of food. Rather than drag out the same old story, I think I'll concentrate on improving for the rest of the month and see how I feel.
Random Musings: I've needed to readjust my goals when i realized I just wasn't going to get to where I want to be in this summer physically. Maybe I let that realization allow me to backslide. Can't forget the long obedience in the same direction. it seems the only way to move towards where I want to go.
I hope I can get myself to be more serious about this thing between now and October 15th. I really believe I can, but the evidence of that is sporadic at best.
I haven't felt like I've had much to say lately, but I'm trying to build a habit of writing daily, so forgive the brief posts as of late. I'm sure my usual loquaciousness and overwrought thinking will return.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Always wear sunscreen
No big reports today. We spent most of the day with my brother and his family at Noah's Ark in the Dells. It was fun but it was ridiculously hot and the sun was an issue. As diligent as we tried to be with sunscreen, we all got too much sun.
I was feeling bad for Anne on the way home because her nose was red and I just realized at home that my shoulders are toast. I applied and reapplied sunscreen, but I guess it just wasn't enough for fairly extreme conditions today.
On the diet and exercise front, this certainly qualified as an "active rest" day. My feet were killing me after 6 hours at the water park, but I'm going to try to get into the chiro tomorrow to work on that. I didn't eat a lot, but it was pretty fatty stuff. We'll see the results on Tuesday, although I'm still planning on daily weigh ins for my own information.
Hopefully my feet are ok tomorrow and the morning shower on my shoulders doesn't make me scream.
I did have one insight today and that was that if I were going to be a teacher, Wisconsin Dells might be a good place to do it. You'd keep busy all winter working and then in the summer, you would be a very popular person for friends and family to come visit.
I was feeling bad for Anne on the way home because her nose was red and I just realized at home that my shoulders are toast. I applied and reapplied sunscreen, but I guess it just wasn't enough for fairly extreme conditions today.
On the diet and exercise front, this certainly qualified as an "active rest" day. My feet were killing me after 6 hours at the water park, but I'm going to try to get into the chiro tomorrow to work on that. I didn't eat a lot, but it was pretty fatty stuff. We'll see the results on Tuesday, although I'm still planning on daily weigh ins for my own information.
Hopefully my feet are ok tomorrow and the morning shower on my shoulders doesn't make me scream.
I did have one insight today and that was that if I were going to be a teacher, Wisconsin Dells might be a good place to do it. You'd keep busy all winter working and then in the summer, you would be a very popular person for friends and family to come visit.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Not quite as fit as I thought
Exercise update: I finally did a real brick (bike and then immediately run) today. It was 87 degrees and it felt really really bad. I hope it was the heat and not evidence that this chubby boy isn't as fit as hoped...
I biked for just over 50 minutes and struggled to run for 18 minutes. Oh well, onward and upward.
Nutrition update: A pretty good day. My food intake was reasonable, although I need to eat something before I go to bed and it is 9:30. We had our neighborhood block party tonight and I sort of forgot to eat and just had a few (4) beers. Not over consumption, but not a recipe for success either. No soda though and that is a plus.
Random Musings: I mentioned our block party above. It is one of the unique things about our little neighborhood that we gather annually and share some food, drinks, and stories. I've come to enjoy it more than I would have ever guessed. Every time I think about picking up and moving, I need to remember we are surrounded by good people, our people really. My favorite tonight was my 86 year old neighbor Charles. I can only hope to age so well. He's got a great sense of humor, is still active, and frankly makes getting older look pretty good.
No big fitness plans tomorrow, just off to meet my brother, his wife, and two of my nephews in Wisconsin Dells. It's supposed to be remarkably hot, but I'm looking forward to it regardless.
I biked for just over 50 minutes and struggled to run for 18 minutes. Oh well, onward and upward.
Nutrition update: A pretty good day. My food intake was reasonable, although I need to eat something before I go to bed and it is 9:30. We had our neighborhood block party tonight and I sort of forgot to eat and just had a few (4) beers. Not over consumption, but not a recipe for success either. No soda though and that is a plus.
Random Musings: I mentioned our block party above. It is one of the unique things about our little neighborhood that we gather annually and share some food, drinks, and stories. I've come to enjoy it more than I would have ever guessed. Every time I think about picking up and moving, I need to remember we are surrounded by good people, our people really. My favorite tonight was my 86 year old neighbor Charles. I can only hope to age so well. He's got a great sense of humor, is still active, and frankly makes getting older look pretty good.
No big fitness plans tomorrow, just off to meet my brother, his wife, and two of my nephews in Wisconsin Dells. It's supposed to be remarkably hot, but I'm looking forward to it regardless.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Recovering from a bender
Nutrition update: Well the last 36 hours have not been my best. I slipped into a "well I can substitute real (not diet) soda for Excedrin" routine that lasted a couple of days. On Thursday it was one soda in the morning and then my binge said "you know you should go to Culver's, you deserve that." So I did and I added a double cheeseburger and fries to my binge, along with more Cherry Pepsi. It was absolutely my worst lunch error in weeks. And weirdly enough, it wasn't even that good. It left me with an old familiar feeling somewhere between satiated and ill. I found that feeling less comforting than I did when we knew each other better.
The other noticeable change was that my red meat, grease and fat laden meal left me with no appetite until almost 9:00 that night. There might be a useful tip about protein and reasonable amounts of fat in there, but it wasn't a reasonable time. I ate ok at night but my grossness led me to think adding a couple beers to the mix was a good idea as well. Overall a bit of a train wreck.
So, the goal is to bounce back the next day right? Right... I had to go to Tomah early today to teach a workshop for staff, something I really like doing. But, since it was so early, my stinking thinking said, "go with one more Cherry Pepsi for just today" and so I did. I then did my 4 hour workshop and munched on primarily grapes and water all morning, so things were getting better.
When I wrapped up, I was flying pretty high after a successful day and positive feedback (which as we know I live for) and instead of eating the perfectly reasonable box lunch provided for me at my seminar, my brain said "get in the car, you deserve Chinese food (are you seeing a problem with treating food as something I do or do not deserve) and it's right in Sparta. Well even as I pulled into the restaurant for the totally inappropriate meal, I knew it was a bad idea and so I compensated...by drinking water with my massive portions of breaded chicken, egg rolls, and crab rangoons (yes that's pretty weak).
Thankfully this appears to be the end of this binge, I've gotten home this evening, exercised and feel much more balanced. I have very little appetite due to the grease bomb lunch, but I'll wait and eat something reasonable later. If I plant my feet here and get back on track, I suppose I'll live, but my goodness I gave myself a ridiculous 36 hours...by choice even though it doesn't always feel like it. I think those daily weigh ins need to start tomorrow...or Sunday:)
Exercise update: As I mentioned yesterday, I didn't exercise at all. Probably not surprising given the nutrition update above. Tonight I was inclined to claim fatigue and just stay home as well, but I made myself go to the pool and swim for 40 minutes. What a difference maker! I feel so much healthier and was able to swim an uninterrupted stretch of 600 yards (in addition to other sets of laps and drills), which builds confidence for Castle Rock in 8 days. The lesson of the day is that sometimes movement is the answer to fatigue as much as rest might be.
I may have mentioned I'm having trouble with my right foot for the last week. It feels like a bone bruise or something right at the base of my middle toe for lack of a better description. I may have hurt it at the pool with the kids last weekend. I went barefoot for 10-15 minutes because I forgot my water shoes (yes I'm old), and I haven't been right since. I'm trying to be gentle with it. I'll push through it tomorrow to get a brick training done, but if it's hurting after that, I'll stick to swimming and biking until the triathlon and hope that lets things heal.
The tentative plan is to brick tomorrow, use Sunday as play day to meet my brother and his family at WI Dells, train M-W, actively rest Thursday & Friday and race Saturday. Hopefully young Jessica will be ready to go too...
Random Musings: I realized this morning that I forgot to post an updated photo yesterday. Part of me wants to just wait a month because I don't think there has been a ton of progress in appearance (but there has in fitness, this chunky dude can move), but I should fight my instincts, so I'll try to get my daughter to take an update pic tomorrow.
Couple of recommendations for those who like such things...
- Marc Maron is on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight on HBO. Two of my favorite comedians/thinkers, it's got to be entertaining
- I'm just finishing a novel called "The Ask" by Sam Lipsyte. Ironically, Marc Maron recommended it on his podcast. It's very very funny in a twisted way and resonates with tortured middle aged men if you know any:)
More to come, I promise not to weenie out too often on writing like I did yesterday.
Stay cool.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
No new tale to tell
I took a total day off. Ate lousy, drank beer and didn't exercise. I don't feel great, but it was actually pretty great. Back on the horse tomorrow:)
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Running on (close to) empty...
Exercise update: I ditched the triathlon specific training plan a week or two ago to make sure I didn't view the triathlon on the 23rd as an ending event. Since then I've been training more by feel, meaning that I listen to my body and do more of what I want, along with the understanding that I need to make sure it includes running, biking, and swimming. That way I train right through the tri and spring toward the Urbanathlon....theoretically.
Today was a good example of that new approach. I know I'm a little light on swimming, but I didn't feel like waiting until lap time at the pool, so I chose running over biking. How did I do that? Well, I know my instinct is to choose the bike every time because that's what I enjoy, but I also know that running is the "best" kind of fit in my mind and I'm building endurance in that area.
Anyway, I went out and ran a fairly slow and comfortable 4.5 miles. I'm having a little pain in my right foot, like right at the base of my toes, but I seem to be able to work around it. My running involves a 3 minute warm up walk with lunges and I took a couple one minute walk breaks during the run as well. Even with that, I appear to be training at less than 10:00 miles, which means I'm getting stronger. I do have some aspirations of getting back in the 7 minute mile range (like when I was 30), but that is a whole other year-long project. I'm pleased for now. Long slow distance builds strength and some speed comes naturally. When I shift my focus to running and strength for the Urbanathlon, I expect some good growth as well.
Nutrition update: Nothing too weird to report today. I ate pretty well overall with my only slip being some Cherry Pepsi that I didn't need. I did that instead of an Excedrin for caffeine, but that seemed pretty flimsy even as I was doing it. I am noticing a decrease in my appetite lately. I hope that's a good thing. For example, after I blogged last night, I decided to indulge in some ice cream and made a fairly large bowl. I ate about half of it and realized I'd met my ice cream needs (physically and emotionally), so I threw it away. Tonight I made a massive portion of tortellini for dinner and only ate about 2/3rd's. I hope that's progress and not some unnamed disease that steals your appetite.
I'm flirting with the idea of weighing in daily (but only posting it weekly) as a greater tool for accountability each day. My fear is that I'll ride an unnecessary emotional roller coaster if the number swings tenths of a pound in the wrong direction....I'll think about it some more, but I'm leaning towards trying it for a while. When I weigh myself weekly on Tuesday, it's too easy on the prior Wednesday to pig out and promise myself I'll make up for it.
Random Musings: Today I'm wondering about how we lose track of old friends. I spent the better part of my 20's maintaining friendships with a group of people I grew up with and now we never see each other. The miracle of Facebook connects us a little, but it's weird to think that just over a decade ago, these were primary figures in my life and now I'm not sure what we are to each other. Maybe it's marriage, kids, careers or something else that gets in the way, but on certain days I feel kind of bad about it. Today must be one of those days. I'm pretty sure that my best friend outside my family currently is my 68 year old former boss...seems a little weird.
They say you can't make old friends, certainly true.
Today was a good example of that new approach. I know I'm a little light on swimming, but I didn't feel like waiting until lap time at the pool, so I chose running over biking. How did I do that? Well, I know my instinct is to choose the bike every time because that's what I enjoy, but I also know that running is the "best" kind of fit in my mind and I'm building endurance in that area.
Anyway, I went out and ran a fairly slow and comfortable 4.5 miles. I'm having a little pain in my right foot, like right at the base of my toes, but I seem to be able to work around it. My running involves a 3 minute warm up walk with lunges and I took a couple one minute walk breaks during the run as well. Even with that, I appear to be training at less than 10:00 miles, which means I'm getting stronger. I do have some aspirations of getting back in the 7 minute mile range (like when I was 30), but that is a whole other year-long project. I'm pleased for now. Long slow distance builds strength and some speed comes naturally. When I shift my focus to running and strength for the Urbanathlon, I expect some good growth as well.
Nutrition update: Nothing too weird to report today. I ate pretty well overall with my only slip being some Cherry Pepsi that I didn't need. I did that instead of an Excedrin for caffeine, but that seemed pretty flimsy even as I was doing it. I am noticing a decrease in my appetite lately. I hope that's a good thing. For example, after I blogged last night, I decided to indulge in some ice cream and made a fairly large bowl. I ate about half of it and realized I'd met my ice cream needs (physically and emotionally), so I threw it away. Tonight I made a massive portion of tortellini for dinner and only ate about 2/3rd's. I hope that's progress and not some unnamed disease that steals your appetite.
I'm flirting with the idea of weighing in daily (but only posting it weekly) as a greater tool for accountability each day. My fear is that I'll ride an unnecessary emotional roller coaster if the number swings tenths of a pound in the wrong direction....I'll think about it some more, but I'm leaning towards trying it for a while. When I weigh myself weekly on Tuesday, it's too easy on the prior Wednesday to pig out and promise myself I'll make up for it.
Random Musings: Today I'm wondering about how we lose track of old friends. I spent the better part of my 20's maintaining friendships with a group of people I grew up with and now we never see each other. The miracle of Facebook connects us a little, but it's weird to think that just over a decade ago, these were primary figures in my life and now I'm not sure what we are to each other. Maybe it's marriage, kids, careers or something else that gets in the way, but on certain days I feel kind of bad about it. Today must be one of those days. I'm pretty sure that my best friend outside my family currently is my 68 year old former boss...seems a little weird.
They say you can't make old friends, certainly true.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Just like starting over
Random Stuff: I weighted in on the new scale today and the new magic number was....198.0 :(
Actually I'm not that sad, I knew the new scale would weigh differently, but the irony of re-acquiring my start weight from April was not lost on me. It's just a new baseline to work from, progress will continue. Tomorrow...
Oh yeah and I saw on Facebook today that my brother is a lot faster than I am (at least on a treadmill). There is no reason for that to be true, so I may be committing to being much faster than him over the next year too:) Not that I have a competition problem.
Felt like the token liberal in management at work today, but I'll save that story for another time. God Bless Scott Walker, I'm learning so much about people.
Exercise Update: I planned on running tonight but I'm having foot pain and I'm just darn tired. I think I'll go a a good rest on this weigh in day and refocus tomorrow.
late addendum: Pizza guilt motivated em to go do 40 minutes on the elliptical at the Y. My foot loosened up and I feel pretty good. However I do not recommend 40 minutes of cardio within 30 minutes of eating pizza.
Nutrition update: Pretty good day, no major goofs. I avoided soda and fast food, although I am indulging in a small Tombstone pizza tonight to alleviate my depression. Well, that's only partly true... I'm not depressed, but pizza will make me briefly feel better. Tomorrow I'll start delaying gratification better. it's a concept my brother reminded me of that I'm supposedly good at:)
All cheap shots aside, it's a good idea...tomorrow. All things in moderation, including moderation.
Actually I'm not that sad, I knew the new scale would weigh differently, but the irony of re-acquiring my start weight from April was not lost on me. It's just a new baseline to work from, progress will continue. Tomorrow...
Oh yeah and I saw on Facebook today that my brother is a lot faster than I am (at least on a treadmill). There is no reason for that to be true, so I may be committing to being much faster than him over the next year too:) Not that I have a competition problem.
Felt like the token liberal in management at work today, but I'll save that story for another time. God Bless Scott Walker, I'm learning so much about people.
Exercise Update: I planned on running tonight but I'm having foot pain and I'm just darn tired. I think I'll go a a good rest on this weigh in day and refocus tomorrow.
late addendum: Pizza guilt motivated em to go do 40 minutes on the elliptical at the Y. My foot loosened up and I feel pretty good. However I do not recommend 40 minutes of cardio within 30 minutes of eating pizza.
Nutrition update: Pretty good day, no major goofs. I avoided soda and fast food, although I am indulging in a small Tombstone pizza tonight to alleviate my depression. Well, that's only partly true... I'm not depressed, but pizza will make me briefly feel better. Tomorrow I'll start delaying gratification better. it's a concept my brother reminded me of that I'm supposedly good at:)
All cheap shots aside, it's a good idea...tomorrow. All things in moderation, including moderation.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Starting to get excited
Random Musing: You should see my eyebrows. One of the things that happens to us early middle aged men is weird stuff starts to happen with hair. I am fortunate that most of the hair on my head is still present, nothing wrong with baldness in general, but when you are 5'8" and your head is a little larger than that...I'm not sure bald ends well. The day may come, but I'll wait as long as I can. My hair has been graying for 13 years though and is now well beyond "graying" to just "gray."
But back to my eyebrows. A few years back I added the occasional trimming of an eyebrow to my regimen of nose hair trimming and more recently some stray ear hairs as well (like I said middle age and hair). I just hadn't paid much attention to my eyebrows for the last couple weeks and when I did look this morning at work, I was surprised to see Andy Rooney's eyebrows looking back at me. As a man, I might have been happy if you said there was part of my body that stuck straight out rigidly for a great distance from the rest of my body...provided it wasn't my damn eyebrow! But I trimmed them up and my relative youth is restored until the next indignity.
On the excitement front, I am stating to get fired up about the Castle Rock Triathlon on the 23rd. It feels like a bit of a re-birth. I know I've done several of these sort of things in my past but the last one was 4 years ago and my life mileage is up since then, so I'm pretty proud to be ready for a sprint tri. Barring mechanical issues of bike or body, I'll be able to reclaim the word triathlete on July 23rd. That's pretty cool and I should remember than when I'm feeling flabby at the pool or depressed on the scale.
Exercise update: After two pretty tough training days, I elected to take a rest day today. My only activity was walking Jake the dog in the heat. I'm planning on running or swimming or both tomorrow. The rest day seemed to make sense, but I hope I don't regret it too much weighing in tomorrow. I already suspect the new scale will provide a higher number than the old one, but I must remember it's just a new baseline. I don't really weigh more, the scale is just new... That's not rationalizing is it?
Nutrition update: We have bagels in the house which meant one for breakfast and one for a snack later. And of course someone brought scones for a treat at work. When you combine that with a PBJ and apple for lunch followed by spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, I may be a bit carb heavy today. My body seems to love the carbs, but I need to wean off.
Also, I did drink a soda at work today. It wasn't diet, it was regular, so I avoided NutraSweet, but did add some useless calories. I may have cut back on the Excedrin too soon. I was working on a major headache at about 1:30 which sent me towards the warm arms of my new friend Cherry Pepsi.
On the good side, I seem to avoid most fast food and this is the least soda I've drank in years.
Have a good night and think light tomorrow morning, so I don't jump out the window.
But back to my eyebrows. A few years back I added the occasional trimming of an eyebrow to my regimen of nose hair trimming and more recently some stray ear hairs as well (like I said middle age and hair). I just hadn't paid much attention to my eyebrows for the last couple weeks and when I did look this morning at work, I was surprised to see Andy Rooney's eyebrows looking back at me. As a man, I might have been happy if you said there was part of my body that stuck straight out rigidly for a great distance from the rest of my body...provided it wasn't my damn eyebrow! But I trimmed them up and my relative youth is restored until the next indignity.
On the excitement front, I am stating to get fired up about the Castle Rock Triathlon on the 23rd. It feels like a bit of a re-birth. I know I've done several of these sort of things in my past but the last one was 4 years ago and my life mileage is up since then, so I'm pretty proud to be ready for a sprint tri. Barring mechanical issues of bike or body, I'll be able to reclaim the word triathlete on July 23rd. That's pretty cool and I should remember than when I'm feeling flabby at the pool or depressed on the scale.
Exercise update: After two pretty tough training days, I elected to take a rest day today. My only activity was walking Jake the dog in the heat. I'm planning on running or swimming or both tomorrow. The rest day seemed to make sense, but I hope I don't regret it too much weighing in tomorrow. I already suspect the new scale will provide a higher number than the old one, but I must remember it's just a new baseline. I don't really weigh more, the scale is just new... That's not rationalizing is it?
Nutrition update: We have bagels in the house which meant one for breakfast and one for a snack later. And of course someone brought scones for a treat at work. When you combine that with a PBJ and apple for lunch followed by spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, I may be a bit carb heavy today. My body seems to love the carbs, but I need to wean off.
Also, I did drink a soda at work today. It wasn't diet, it was regular, so I avoided NutraSweet, but did add some useless calories. I may have cut back on the Excedrin too soon. I was working on a major headache at about 1:30 which sent me towards the warm arms of my new friend Cherry Pepsi.
On the good side, I seem to avoid most fast food and this is the least soda I've drank in years.
Have a good night and think light tomorrow morning, so I don't jump out the window.
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