I bought a new pair of running shoes this week. Even better, I actually used them last night for the second time. I'm not sure second time is really accurate. I mean, I wore them on the treadmill at the gym for 45 minutes, so that should count for something, right? I broke them in on the actual open road tonight for another 45 minute run. Again, perhaps run isn't the correct term for what happened out there. Maybe a little background is in order.
About 18 months ago I was given an opportunity to join a wellness program sponsored by my then employer. I jumped in with unbridled enthusiasm, mostly because the program was so darned easy! Simple, calorie balancing meals throughout the day, mixed with a 6 day per week, 30 minutes per day workout program. I was desperate to lose weight, at that time I weighed over 150 Kilos (I'm so embarrassed about the actual number that I'm daring you to do the conversion to find out the number in pounds), and had tried and failed at a number of diets. Long story short, the program worked. I lost about 65 pounds in 5 months, and then slowly lost another 20 pounds over the next 7. Then in February, I got laid off. And I held firm for a few weeks with the exercise and diet, but slowly pulled away. Part of my weight problem is probably recognizable to 90% of people out there who have one too: I eat because I'm unhappy, then I'm more unhappy because I don't like the way I look and feel after overeating. That cycle is almost perpetual motion, someone should figure out a way to harness that energy, it could solve the world's energy demand for years to come. But I digress. I fell back into my old ways and realized that I have put back on 15 pounds. And it's not like I feel good about the food that I've been eating. To the contrary, I've been sliding into eating, well, not to put too fine a coat of lipstick onto this pig, but I've been eating crap.
I needed a new goal. So I set one. My cardio workouts (which are 3 per week, the other 3 days are weight workouts) have consisted of time on the treadmill at a fast walking pace with a medium incline. This gets me to a specific heart rate during exercise (I use a Polar monitor for accuracy) that is supposed to maximize my fat burning potential. Which sounds good, but I actually want to do two different things with my workouts moving forward. I want to get out of the gym and into the real world. I'm doing that with this so-called running. Second is that I want to participate in a real world athletic event by the end of the year. My first thought was an event in my home town called the 'Turkey Trot,' however, they have moved that 10K run from Thankgiving Day proper to the Saturday prior, and I won't be able to attend.
But somehow I will participate in some run, more likely around Christmas, I am even more determined than ever. I don't want to be concerned about a scale reading, I want to celebrate an accomplishment out in the real world! Eventually, I hope those real world accomplishments will give me the confidence to get back to my real love, in terms of working out, swimming (there's no way I'm going to put on a swim suit in front of people right now!) So finally to finish my story about last night: my first run in the wild was more a mix of fast walking and what can only generously be called jogging, but as I've heard too many times, every journey begins with the first step, or attempted stride as the case may be.
About 18 months ago I was given an opportunity to join a wellness program sponsored by my then employer. I jumped in with unbridled enthusiasm, mostly because the program was so darned easy! Simple, calorie balancing meals throughout the day, mixed with a 6 day per week, 30 minutes per day workout program. I was desperate to lose weight, at that time I weighed over 150 Kilos (I'm so embarrassed about the actual number that I'm daring you to do the conversion to find out the number in pounds), and had tried and failed at a number of diets. Long story short, the program worked. I lost about 65 pounds in 5 months, and then slowly lost another 20 pounds over the next 7. Then in February, I got laid off. And I held firm for a few weeks with the exercise and diet, but slowly pulled away. Part of my weight problem is probably recognizable to 90% of people out there who have one too: I eat because I'm unhappy, then I'm more unhappy because I don't like the way I look and feel after overeating. That cycle is almost perpetual motion, someone should figure out a way to harness that energy, it could solve the world's energy demand for years to come. But I digress. I fell back into my old ways and realized that I have put back on 15 pounds. And it's not like I feel good about the food that I've been eating. To the contrary, I've been sliding into eating, well, not to put too fine a coat of lipstick onto this pig, but I've been eating crap.
I needed a new goal. So I set one. My cardio workouts (which are 3 per week, the other 3 days are weight workouts) have consisted of time on the treadmill at a fast walking pace with a medium incline. This gets me to a specific heart rate during exercise (I use a Polar monitor for accuracy) that is supposed to maximize my fat burning potential. Which sounds good, but I actually want to do two different things with my workouts moving forward. I want to get out of the gym and into the real world. I'm doing that with this so-called running. Second is that I want to participate in a real world athletic event by the end of the year. My first thought was an event in my home town called the 'Turkey Trot,' however, they have moved that 10K run from Thankgiving Day proper to the Saturday prior, and I won't be able to attend.
But somehow I will participate in some run, more likely around Christmas, I am even more determined than ever. I don't want to be concerned about a scale reading, I want to celebrate an accomplishment out in the real world! Eventually, I hope those real world accomplishments will give me the confidence to get back to my real love, in terms of working out, swimming (there's no way I'm going to put on a swim suit in front of people right now!) So finally to finish my story about last night: my first run in the wild was more a mix of fast walking and what can only generously be called jogging, but as I've heard too many times, every journey begins with the first step, or attempted stride as the case may be.
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