Why Do I Train? Why Do I Sweat & Go Through The Pain?

For me this has really become a private journey of self discovery.  I am going to be turning 34 shortly and this is something I need to do for myself and my family.  I use to be in stellar shape, sporting a 6-pack  and being in the best shape possible only about 5 years ago.  Now I've found between getting my Master's degree and work, I am behind a computer most of the day.

 

As a result, my weight has increased to a point where I could conceivably have health issues further down the road.  Okay, the realization is I will have health issues further down the road.  This lifestyle is just not acceptable for me anymore, nor is it fair for my son and wife who need to know that as a father/husband I will be around for many years to come.  

 

I know some people reading this will say that is some pretty deep stuff, he's only training for a race.  Well it has to have deeper meaning for me to succeed.  It really is for me,  as I mentioned earlier "a journey of self discovery."  This race and the training gives me a chance to set a realistic goal for myself that is going to be both fun and motivational.  It will also allow me to reach my personal goal to have more energy, allowing me to be more active in my life.  

 

I've had to ask myself some serious questions before I started this whole thing.  One of the first questions I asked is if I wanted to blog on the experience.  I initially didn't want to, because it has been my experience that the more bragging about exercising I do the less likely I am to succeed.  You know the old adage, talk is cheap, action is louder than words.  Well I do agree with that.

 

So I decided to compromise, there will be no bragging or talking about how much weight I am going to lose, nor will I spend time talking about advice to lose weight (at least most of the time:).  The fact of the matter is this time I'm going to take it one day at a time and give everyone an honest (a very honest) viewpoint on my successes and failures in action.

 

So here it will begin: When I started this plan, I was 250lbs.  Today I am 235 lbs.      

Excluding the holiday, I have stuck with my lifting, my running and my nutrition for the last three weeks.  I find that shin splints are my worst enemy. The boredom of endurance running is a close second.  The latter has prompted me to buy a new pair of shoes.  It really slowed me down the first day of training.  

  

The new shoes haven't helped that much, so I've now looked to using compression guards and additional stretching to help offset the pain.  Now for the former, I have to tell you I hate endurance running, always  have.  I have found, however, that I really enjoy speed interval training at night so that should keep me fairly motivated.  The hardest part will be dealing with the continued shin splint issue.  Luckily I have a pretty good support network of friends who have given me some good advice. 

 

Overall lifting has gone really well.  I've been able to increase most of my weights from the prior weeks.  My strength quotient is up 10 points from when I first started.  I really enjoy lifting and find once I start listening to some good music it pretty much becomes second nature for me to get a lift accomplished.  I have come up with a pretty solid range of nutritional supplements to help with recovery and growth.  Of all that I am using, I have found the AKG powder to have given me the best results so far. 

 

As for nutrition, excluding the holiday, I have done remarkably well with a few minor daily setbacks here and there.  My coffee intake has been successfully reduced to 1 cup per day.  I have started Ori Hofmekler's "Warrior Diet."  It's a completely different approach to eating.  It's always hardest around 5pm daily and especially on  Friday nights.  Saturday I've allowed myself to get back to normal eating requirements for the weekend with Sunday being more of a splurge day.  Well this Sunday came around and I have found that my new eating routine is taking over and I barely cheated or was interested in eating during the day.  The goal this week will be to do some variations on food choices so I don't get burned out.  

 

So here's to a new healthy start for myself.... and I hope everyone reading this who is looking to get into shape stays dedicated and encouraged throughout their own personal journey.