For those that don’t know me, or are just learning who I am from these journals, I’ll give a basic sports background, and why I got into running and what it has led to.
I was involved in sports year round for the majority of my youth baseball, soccer, basketball, tennis. I played on many reputable teams which only fueled my competitiveness, but soon became bored with much of the training because it was usually the same. Believe me, running liners, push ups and sit ups at age 11 can takes it toll on the imagination.
I stopped playing tennis, soccer and basketball at about the same time so that I could focus on baseball. Though I can’t take it back, and I’m glad I made some of those decisions, but definitely would have done things a bit differently. It was the diversity of the sports that had given me an edge. Constantly adapting to new knowledge or specialized skills that could be used in the other games. Ex. Single’s tennis, with the quick movements helped with fielding ground balls, or slide tackling and bicycle kicks in soccer, leading to diving catches in baseball. What I didn’t realize at the time is that being competitive in all these sports and taking lots of energy to figure out the best way to approach the different small aspects of the game was what made each game a little easier and more enjoyable.
When baseball became my life, I trained in wooden bat leagues, with friends every weekend, at the track and weight room. It was all these other activities that made it possible to find success in baseball. We had an incredible time in our 4 years of high school baseball, two league championships (1jv, 1 varsity), 3 playoff runs, beating the #6 team in the country, and getting second place in the big school playoffs. All of a sudden baseball was over and I decided to look ahead to the next phase of my life.
In college I stopped playing sports almost all together and just went to the weight room, but that was just boring, and I was often sidetracked by extracurricular activities. I gained a bunch of weight and felt lethargic. My metabolism was slowing down a little, due to lack of exercise and poor eating habits. Campus food and alcohol were key components.
I had never really enjoyed running because it had always been associated with training, but I began going out and getting some exercise. After the initial annoyance, it grew on me because it is outdoors, fresh air, when you take a break it feels incredible, and when you finish you realize it only took about 45 minutes. The other thing I love about running outdoors is you can immediately change the pace and challenge yourself in ways that it’s impossible on a treadmill. Interval sprints, hills, backwards running, or simply making it to somewhere of importance.
I’ve always been fairly health conscious, always in shape, usually eating health, constantly active, so being out of shape had been foreign to me. It was difficult to begin training again, not having an ultimate goal other than getting into my old shape. Every other time it had been because I wanted to be a starter, be faster, stronger, or have more endurance than the next person. I started running everyday and challenging myself to lose the excess weight. I watched what I ate, but nothing even close to what I am doing now. The weight came off, and then I didn’t want to stop. I kept running while at school, by the way, it’s a little harder to run at higher altitudes or with poor air quality. If you live in the Bay Area, love the air, it’s amazing.
A good chunk of time passed, and a marathon had crossed my mind a bunch of times, but it’s one of those things that you put off because right now isn’t the best time to do it, or you’re not in shape for it. NOT TRUE. Right now is the best possible time to start and you will inevitably get into shape. Running 20-30 miles and doing cross training each week, and eating healthier foods because you feel the difference in performance. Your body will be in the most ridiculous shape, and you won’t recognize yourself. I’m about a month into training and I have the best body of my life, and I feel absolutely incredible. My mind is working nonstop thinking about ways to improve myself and others, I am essentially more efficient every single day.
I’m not encouraging everybody to go out and start training for a marathon, it’s literally not possible for a lot of people, but realize that once you start training for your first big goal, and you really get into it, you’ll never want to stop. There are so many different types of events, benefiting different causes, all over the world, or in your backyard. It’s awesome living in Palo Alto because there are constantly events going on in the surrounding 50 miles. Bay to breakers coming up in May, though they got rid of a lot of the fun (from what I’ve heard, I’ve never been involved in it, stupid serious fun killing corporate sponsors). You’d be amazed how many 5 and 10k’s there are around your area.
Here's a pretty awesome idea some of my friends are doing. They walk every morning, and when they have walked the equivalent distance that they reach New York, they will take a trip to New York. It’s going to take a while, but think of the shape they are in walking everyday and accumulating 2,954 miles (Google Maps), and knowing that you’ll be in New York as a result of exercise. Anybody that accumulates that many miles, certainly deserves a trip.
The point, be creative with your quest, but get out and start doing something today. Do it with some friends if you have to. I’ve been training since November, first simple exercise and nutrition and then more advanced for the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon on May 31. I knew from the beginning that it would be a serious task, and that it would be necessary to make drastic changes in my lifestyle. Some of the most important steps in my quest have been November 8, registering for the marathon and investing the 95 dollars in the event and having a set date, becoming involved with Team in Training, and fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, If you want to donate I and many cancer patients and families really appreciate it, and starting this daily journal which has already helped myself and numerous others begin their journey towards better health.
Health and nutrition are exponential, if you eat well and exercise today it won’t ONLY benefit you today, it will help you next week, next month, next year, 5 years, 10 years, etc. And if you keep it up, you’ll start turning back the time and you really should feel between 10-40 years younger.
There’s absolutely no reason not to do something today. Lift some light weights, walk around the park, jog in place, jump rope, bike to the store, eat an apple, play tennis/racquetball, jog to a friends house every time you exercise, walk the dog again, play some catch (football, baseball, Frisbee), drink more water and get that metabolism going, eat some greens, whole grains, get more sleep or better sleep, push ups, sit ups, headstands (I’m working on it), pull ups, swim, walk up some stairs, make a 1 week goal, make a month goal, make an ultimate goal, register for an event, benefit some group, pick some flowers, do yard work, stationary bike, treadmill, machines, whole grains, legumes, so many others I can’t even begin to list.
So my challenge for you today is to go and sign up for whatever you’ve been putting off because it’s going to take too much time or whatever the reason might be. As soon as you make that commitment your life will change. And then as the training gets going it gets easier and harder, it becomes easier to do the harder work.
I hope you gained something from this journal, if you think these give even the slightest bit of help to somebody, pass the site on. Even people you haven’t talked to in years, because once they start changing their life maybe you’ll find you have something in common again and will rekindle a friendship.
If you are interested in donating to my fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, everything helps. Here is the website:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/sj/rnr09/rgreenfield
Thanks for reading, have a great day,
Ryan
Remember to do something today to benefit the rest of your life
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Feb 26 Feeling pretty rested
Sorry about missing the last 2 days, I’ve been a mix between really busy and taking days off. It occurred to me that I should take some time off from training or else my body is just going to shut down. I’m still keeping up the diet, but just giving myself yesterday and today off from any kind of strenuous training. Today I’ll do core and bike around to various activities.
I’ve also been adding a lot more food to my diet, because frankly, I wasn’t getting enough. I found that sustaining concentration for the entire day became quite difficult. Also, it’s really hard to eat too many calories during a day, when my diet consists of oatmeal, fruit, vegetables, brown rice and legumes, so I may begin adding more fish and tofu to the diet. I’ve eaten a lot more the last 3 days and already feel a huge difference.
On Tuesday I buckled from part of my goals and had a shot of Jaeger. I didn’t feel too bad as it was Fat Tuesday (holds no significant meaning to me) and haven’t drank in over a month. The alcohol didn’t feel right in my stomach, which might be because my body isn’t used to it anymore, or because it’s Jaeger. This will be one of 2 times that I fail to follow the alcohol rule. The other being my birthday, which happens to fall on a worldwide drinking holiday, St Patrick’s Day. Do you think St Patrick would be ecstatic that his day is associated with ridiculous amount of binge drinking? Though I guess lots of people end up at church as a result of it.
Last night I began helping one of my friends with training. I love her motivation and dedication toward reaching the goals. I can almost guarantee success with those 2 words, but only when they are true, and not just a two week health phase.
I understand why people are looking for the quick fix, but seriously, how many times must it be stated that quick fixes don’t work. The best way to become healthy is to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Once you begin enjoying exercising and how good food makes you feel, you’ll stick to it. It’s fine to diverge for short periods of time if you’re getting burnt out, just remember that you should go back soon, because it doesn’t take long to forget the amazing feeling.
Start slow, keep at it, and have goals. If you’re trying to lose 5 pounds, it should take at least a month of good nutrition and exercise to be able to keep that off. Most of the beginning weight is water, and will come back quicker than you think, plus it will discourage you and prevent future lifestyle changes. By having and sticking to long term results you can ensure that the get fit quickly isn’t on your mind, and after a few months it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll feel better. Less weight and increased muscle is synonymous with more energy, endurance, healthier heart, increased weight loss, and more efficient metabolism.
I think of diet and exercise together. When I used to eat bad foods or drink, I would go out and work them off to reach equilibrium. Believe me, running sprints after a night of vodka, will make you quit drinking, or exercising.
The other day on a different site I went on a rant about exercise and nutrition and healthcare. I am going to post it on the blog right before this one, under the title “Health Rant.”
That’s all for today, I’ll be back on the workout grind Saturday, as I might take tomorrow off, making sure my body is fully rested before another long run. Keep in mind that when I say taking time off I’m not including the miles of biking that occurs as a result of my daily schedule. Today I’m biking to Mountain View and back to Menlo Park. Work exercise into your daily routine. Walk to a store and get groceries, or go on a walk with a loved one, it’s great to get out even if it’s raining, just bring an umbrella.
Have a great day,
Ryan
I’ve also been adding a lot more food to my diet, because frankly, I wasn’t getting enough. I found that sustaining concentration for the entire day became quite difficult. Also, it’s really hard to eat too many calories during a day, when my diet consists of oatmeal, fruit, vegetables, brown rice and legumes, so I may begin adding more fish and tofu to the diet. I’ve eaten a lot more the last 3 days and already feel a huge difference.
On Tuesday I buckled from part of my goals and had a shot of Jaeger. I didn’t feel too bad as it was Fat Tuesday (holds no significant meaning to me) and haven’t drank in over a month. The alcohol didn’t feel right in my stomach, which might be because my body isn’t used to it anymore, or because it’s Jaeger. This will be one of 2 times that I fail to follow the alcohol rule. The other being my birthday, which happens to fall on a worldwide drinking holiday, St Patrick’s Day. Do you think St Patrick would be ecstatic that his day is associated with ridiculous amount of binge drinking? Though I guess lots of people end up at church as a result of it.
Last night I began helping one of my friends with training. I love her motivation and dedication toward reaching the goals. I can almost guarantee success with those 2 words, but only when they are true, and not just a two week health phase.
I understand why people are looking for the quick fix, but seriously, how many times must it be stated that quick fixes don’t work. The best way to become healthy is to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Once you begin enjoying exercising and how good food makes you feel, you’ll stick to it. It’s fine to diverge for short periods of time if you’re getting burnt out, just remember that you should go back soon, because it doesn’t take long to forget the amazing feeling.
Start slow, keep at it, and have goals. If you’re trying to lose 5 pounds, it should take at least a month of good nutrition and exercise to be able to keep that off. Most of the beginning weight is water, and will come back quicker than you think, plus it will discourage you and prevent future lifestyle changes. By having and sticking to long term results you can ensure that the get fit quickly isn’t on your mind, and after a few months it’s almost guaranteed that you’ll feel better. Less weight and increased muscle is synonymous with more energy, endurance, healthier heart, increased weight loss, and more efficient metabolism.
I think of diet and exercise together. When I used to eat bad foods or drink, I would go out and work them off to reach equilibrium. Believe me, running sprints after a night of vodka, will make you quit drinking, or exercising.
The other day on a different site I went on a rant about exercise and nutrition and healthcare. I am going to post it on the blog right before this one, under the title “Health Rant.”
That’s all for today, I’ll be back on the workout grind Saturday, as I might take tomorrow off, making sure my body is fully rested before another long run. Keep in mind that when I say taking time off I’m not including the miles of biking that occurs as a result of my daily schedule. Today I’m biking to Mountain View and back to Menlo Park. Work exercise into your daily routine. Walk to a store and get groceries, or go on a walk with a loved one, it’s great to get out even if it’s raining, just bring an umbrella.
Have a great day,
Ryan
Health Rant
If you don't know that exercise is beneficial for your health, shame on you.
Our bodies have evolutionarily been trained to associate our physicality with our level of health. If you become sedentary, your body thinks it’s sick or dying. If you're active, it thinks that you're on the hunt for food and remains healthy. And will rebuild itself accordingly, essentially you evolve or decay. I prefer to evolve.
After you do any kind of physical activity (hungover or not) your body is flooded with endorphins which are essentially pleasure. The body appreciates being used, and tends to hang around a lot longer if daily exercise is included in the routine. Once the next growth cycle occurs, it will rebuild itself more efficiently.
Start exercising and your metabolism will restart, you'll feel incredible, people will notice, and your self esteem will skyrocket. Don't, and you'll join the millions of people who are depressed due to their bodies thinking they are sick and dying.
It seems obvious to me what needs to happen in order to combat sedentary living, depression, obesity, etc.
But that's only half the equation.
Nutrition is the other half.
Think of it this way, if you exercise everyday, but eat junk, you'll be around the middle of society in terms of fitness, but you don't have the necessary nutrients. If you do the opposite, you'll still be around the middle, but you will be physically less able than the majority, but getting all your nutrients. If you suck at doing both, you're just a drain on society and will be taking up our already too expensive health care costs. People who don’t care are a burden on the entire country and world (we could be helping save people instead of helping peoples’ failure to take care of their own health).
However, if you exercise and eat nutritiously, you are the beacon of hope for our struggling society. I don't believe that people who take care of themselves should be required to pay for the lack of insight of those who obtain fully preventable degenerative diseases.
I am tired of excuses, bitching and moaning, diet crazes, quick fixes, and ignorance. Everybody needs to take some time everyday to learn about what to do with their life to optimize health and keep money away from unnecessary spending on obesity related ailments. When you're done exercising eat something that resembles a natural meal you could find on a morning stroll, not a bunch of corn resembling a hamburger. Be educated about yourself and food that turns into you.
Our tax money shouldn't be spent on those who don't care. I bet we could have universal health care if the system were restructured and didn't give so much to those who are the biggest drain. Make them pay for their own issues, let me have free or cheap hospital visits.
To sum this up, eat well, exercise often and your body and mind will function at full capacity and you will notice drastic changes.
Our bodies have evolutionarily been trained to associate our physicality with our level of health. If you become sedentary, your body thinks it’s sick or dying. If you're active, it thinks that you're on the hunt for food and remains healthy. And will rebuild itself accordingly, essentially you evolve or decay. I prefer to evolve.
After you do any kind of physical activity (hungover or not) your body is flooded with endorphins which are essentially pleasure. The body appreciates being used, and tends to hang around a lot longer if daily exercise is included in the routine. Once the next growth cycle occurs, it will rebuild itself more efficiently.
Start exercising and your metabolism will restart, you'll feel incredible, people will notice, and your self esteem will skyrocket. Don't, and you'll join the millions of people who are depressed due to their bodies thinking they are sick and dying.
It seems obvious to me what needs to happen in order to combat sedentary living, depression, obesity, etc.
But that's only half the equation.
Nutrition is the other half.
Think of it this way, if you exercise everyday, but eat junk, you'll be around the middle of society in terms of fitness, but you don't have the necessary nutrients. If you do the opposite, you'll still be around the middle, but you will be physically less able than the majority, but getting all your nutrients. If you suck at doing both, you're just a drain on society and will be taking up our already too expensive health care costs. People who don’t care are a burden on the entire country and world (we could be helping save people instead of helping peoples’ failure to take care of their own health).
However, if you exercise and eat nutritiously, you are the beacon of hope for our struggling society. I don't believe that people who take care of themselves should be required to pay for the lack of insight of those who obtain fully preventable degenerative diseases.
I am tired of excuses, bitching and moaning, diet crazes, quick fixes, and ignorance. Everybody needs to take some time everyday to learn about what to do with their life to optimize health and keep money away from unnecessary spending on obesity related ailments. When you're done exercising eat something that resembles a natural meal you could find on a morning stroll, not a bunch of corn resembling a hamburger. Be educated about yourself and food that turns into you.
Our tax money shouldn't be spent on those who don't care. I bet we could have universal health care if the system were restructured and didn't give so much to those who are the biggest drain. Make them pay for their own issues, let me have free or cheap hospital visits.
To sum this up, eat well, exercise often and your body and mind will function at full capacity and you will notice drastic changes.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Feb 23, Alcohol
So, I was able to take the spinning and yoga classes again. Incredible. I didn’t feel so great in the afternoon, not really sure why, maybe still recovering from the 8 mile workout on Saturday. I hadn’t recovered properly, and may have just been feeling my body trying to recover. In any case, the spinning class seemed extra hard today and by the end I was pretty exhausted but felt much better than before the class. The yoga class was cool, and learned how to do a headstand. I’ll post a picture when that is possible. Probably in the next few days if I practice.
My cousin Todd made an excellent observation in regards to my training. He noticed that I was doing jump roping on my cross training days, and that it might lead to injuries due to strengthening the calf muscles, which are being rested on the cross training days. It hadn’t even occurred to me, and I’m glad he mentioned it. If anybody else notices odd pieces of my training, please let me know, sometimes I just overlook things and won’t piece obvious informant together. I still plan to practice jumping rope, it will just be on days that I run as either a warm up or cool down, or in between periods. That way I get a good cardio workout, and get m calves engaged, but still let them rest.
One thing that always occurs to me for a while and then fades into the background is the importance of breathing. Everybody should know that it’s been happening since birth, and that it will continue on its own until death, unless circumstances arise. How many people actively think about their breathing, and go out of their way to control it, or to become aware. Since the training began my lung capacity is surely greater. I pity people who smoke, because you are basically poisoning yourself. What good does smoking really create? A sense of calm, that you’ve Pavloved. Come on, what good can possibly come from consuming burning plants and other substances that lead to buildup in your lungs. It’s simply foolish to think that people who smoke are cool or the “in crowd” it’s long been the opposite. If you do smoke, in 20 years do you want a hole in your throat, trouble breathing, cancer, probably heart disease, etc., you might be shit out of luck for smoking related diseases if a system is created based on personal accountability.
I haven’t mentioned before that I love water, and think that everybody should love it as much as I do. Just a few moments ago, my eyes actually lit up when I saw a quart of water sitting peacefully on my desk. Partially because it meant I didn’t need to get up and get some, but more because my body must really want it and love it. Why would people allow their bodies to become dehydrated? If our bodies are…60% water (looked it up) than becoming dehydrated is just really sick and demented. I wake up every morning and drink a class of water because my body has been working for the previous 7-8 hours on rebuilding and evolving me. It deserves it, plus it gets my metabolism going immediately. I try to have enough water that I don’t get thirsty, and so that I don’t need to drink anything during my meals. It’s been said that drinking during eating dilutes the stomach acid. I don’t know if it’s true, but if you think about 5,000 years ago, I bet they didn’t have a Nalgene bottle handy when they ate their meals, let alone dispensers, or soda and alcohol. Maybe if they happened to eat near a watering hole, but certainly not for the majority of their meals.
Another thing I love is good quality beer. If you don’t know by now, I have given up drinking until after the marathon. It’s unhealthy and expensive enough that it’s not the greatest training aid, and I don’t mind giving it up for a few months. Empty calories, dehydration, diuretic, hangovers, lethargy, these seem like enough reasons to stop at least for now. I have had my share of experiences with alcohol and certainly a few times of overdrinking, but at this stage in my life it has dawned on me that binge drinking might be one of the most detrimental activities that people do on a regular basis. Flooding the body with empty calories, lowering inhibition, decision making just out the window, spending a small fortune, treating the liver and rest of the body like it doesn’t matter is certainly nothing to brag about. Not to mention, staying up late and mixing drinks.
I can only wonder what the body is thinking when it first encounters alcohol in the system. It’s not a food it would recognize, and it’s not a drink that occurs naturally without some fermentation, and often tends to be accompanied by shitty food and poor judgment. Am I being poisoned and tortured could be a possible question.
Don’t get me wrong, I love beer, just that quality and moderation are the key. It’s just that seeing people drink large quantities of tasteless alcohol with the overall purpose of having a good time are being extremely short sighted. What about later that night or morning when the body is working itself to the limit trying to fix the issues created? Or the next morning when you get up and realize that you should drink about a gallon of water, and knowing that the entire day will be lost. Or even next year when you haven’t exercised in a month, are eating bad food and generally feel terrible.
The point, know what you are consuming and why. A drink a day won’t do anything negative to your system, unless that one drink is a gigantic Irish Car Bomb, or a triple shot of Jack. If you aren’t in the best shape and are under the assumption that tomorrow or the next day or next week is when you’ll start changing your life, you should probably stop drinking. Alcohol has a tendency to be accompanied by the sedentary lifestyle, and poor food choices. Maybe the government didn’t have prohibition correct, but all the health reasons and issues DIRECTLY related to alcohol are still obvious pointers that it needs to be regulated at some level. Or at least stop showing all of these ridiculous ads about how great it is, and how great it will make your life.
Why can’t it be like the tobacco industry, where they still sell it(though they shouldn’t be allowed to), they just can’t spend money advertising on tv. Then at least young people won’t have to be influenced as much, and the companies could actually start creating some quality beers and maybe donate some of the ad money towards the issues they are unfortunately causing (AA, DUI deaths, road damage, prison overcrowding, substance abuse, violence, theft, teen pregnancy, STD’s, lots and lots of stupid decision making). Obviously not all completely alcohol or its distributors fault, but the widespread idea that alcohol is the way to have fun does not make the problems go away.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow,
Ryan
My cousin Todd made an excellent observation in regards to my training. He noticed that I was doing jump roping on my cross training days, and that it might lead to injuries due to strengthening the calf muscles, which are being rested on the cross training days. It hadn’t even occurred to me, and I’m glad he mentioned it. If anybody else notices odd pieces of my training, please let me know, sometimes I just overlook things and won’t piece obvious informant together. I still plan to practice jumping rope, it will just be on days that I run as either a warm up or cool down, or in between periods. That way I get a good cardio workout, and get m calves engaged, but still let them rest.
One thing that always occurs to me for a while and then fades into the background is the importance of breathing. Everybody should know that it’s been happening since birth, and that it will continue on its own until death, unless circumstances arise. How many people actively think about their breathing, and go out of their way to control it, or to become aware. Since the training began my lung capacity is surely greater. I pity people who smoke, because you are basically poisoning yourself. What good does smoking really create? A sense of calm, that you’ve Pavloved. Come on, what good can possibly come from consuming burning plants and other substances that lead to buildup in your lungs. It’s simply foolish to think that people who smoke are cool or the “in crowd” it’s long been the opposite. If you do smoke, in 20 years do you want a hole in your throat, trouble breathing, cancer, probably heart disease, etc., you might be shit out of luck for smoking related diseases if a system is created based on personal accountability.
I haven’t mentioned before that I love water, and think that everybody should love it as much as I do. Just a few moments ago, my eyes actually lit up when I saw a quart of water sitting peacefully on my desk. Partially because it meant I didn’t need to get up and get some, but more because my body must really want it and love it. Why would people allow their bodies to become dehydrated? If our bodies are…60% water (looked it up) than becoming dehydrated is just really sick and demented. I wake up every morning and drink a class of water because my body has been working for the previous 7-8 hours on rebuilding and evolving me. It deserves it, plus it gets my metabolism going immediately. I try to have enough water that I don’t get thirsty, and so that I don’t need to drink anything during my meals. It’s been said that drinking during eating dilutes the stomach acid. I don’t know if it’s true, but if you think about 5,000 years ago, I bet they didn’t have a Nalgene bottle handy when they ate their meals, let alone dispensers, or soda and alcohol. Maybe if they happened to eat near a watering hole, but certainly not for the majority of their meals.
Another thing I love is good quality beer. If you don’t know by now, I have given up drinking until after the marathon. It’s unhealthy and expensive enough that it’s not the greatest training aid, and I don’t mind giving it up for a few months. Empty calories, dehydration, diuretic, hangovers, lethargy, these seem like enough reasons to stop at least for now. I have had my share of experiences with alcohol and certainly a few times of overdrinking, but at this stage in my life it has dawned on me that binge drinking might be one of the most detrimental activities that people do on a regular basis. Flooding the body with empty calories, lowering inhibition, decision making just out the window, spending a small fortune, treating the liver and rest of the body like it doesn’t matter is certainly nothing to brag about. Not to mention, staying up late and mixing drinks.
I can only wonder what the body is thinking when it first encounters alcohol in the system. It’s not a food it would recognize, and it’s not a drink that occurs naturally without some fermentation, and often tends to be accompanied by shitty food and poor judgment. Am I being poisoned and tortured could be a possible question.
Don’t get me wrong, I love beer, just that quality and moderation are the key. It’s just that seeing people drink large quantities of tasteless alcohol with the overall purpose of having a good time are being extremely short sighted. What about later that night or morning when the body is working itself to the limit trying to fix the issues created? Or the next morning when you get up and realize that you should drink about a gallon of water, and knowing that the entire day will be lost. Or even next year when you haven’t exercised in a month, are eating bad food and generally feel terrible.
The point, know what you are consuming and why. A drink a day won’t do anything negative to your system, unless that one drink is a gigantic Irish Car Bomb, or a triple shot of Jack. If you aren’t in the best shape and are under the assumption that tomorrow or the next day or next week is when you’ll start changing your life, you should probably stop drinking. Alcohol has a tendency to be accompanied by the sedentary lifestyle, and poor food choices. Maybe the government didn’t have prohibition correct, but all the health reasons and issues DIRECTLY related to alcohol are still obvious pointers that it needs to be regulated at some level. Or at least stop showing all of these ridiculous ads about how great it is, and how great it will make your life.
Why can’t it be like the tobacco industry, where they still sell it(though they shouldn’t be allowed to), they just can’t spend money advertising on tv. Then at least young people won’t have to be influenced as much, and the companies could actually start creating some quality beers and maybe donate some of the ad money towards the issues they are unfortunately causing (AA, DUI deaths, road damage, prison overcrowding, substance abuse, violence, theft, teen pregnancy, STD’s, lots and lots of stupid decision making). Obviously not all completely alcohol or its distributors fault, but the widespread idea that alcohol is the way to have fun does not make the problems go away.
That’s all for today, I’ll be back tomorrow,
Ryan
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Offday trends
There seems to be a few interesting trends occurring on days that I do not workout. I tend to eat refined foods, lack motivation and feel a little less enthused about the entire day. My plans for the day included a list of 22 things to finish. Thus far I have completed 13, and plan to finish at least 5-6 more before I go to sleep. It was a fairly productive day, and I took some detours from the known path, but it seems that my exercise directly affects my productivity and willingness to adhere to my set plans.
One of the things I accomplished today was for my future development. I bought a jump rope. If you have been following, it has become a portion of my cross training workouts. It’s an incredibly fulfilling exercise and incorporates cardiovascular, coordination, stamina, and lots of concentration. By the end of this training I want to continuously jump for 30 minutes. Maybe run a couple miles while jumping rope, that would be a pretty awesome feeling to accomplish. I’ll try it at the next track workout, maybe you’ll see me, and wonder WTF is he doing, and I’ll just be happy in my own little zone pursuing one of many short term goals. Never stop exploring and experimenting, you haven’t tried everything.
I am excited for tomorrow’s spinning and yoga, which will take a toll on my presently EXTREMELY tight and sore muscles. After 8 miles yesterday at around 8:30 pace my legs are very happy for 2 days off from running. I am curious/scared/excited for the longer runs which will challenge my perseverance and help me set personal goals. The biggest mistake yesterday was not drinking enough liquid. I looked at some websites and they repeatedly emphasized the importance of flushing your body with liquid, which is one of the 22 tasks today, though it may be too late.
Another odd observation is that I consume more calories on days that I do not workout. It can be partially explained from a book I recently read called Younger Next Year, in which they state that when you don’t exercise your body thinks that you are sick or dying. After these crazy workouts my body feels almost to this state of being, but this could explain why I have no motivation, because my body is conserving everything for the day in which I can continue my exercise and be “living” again.
I have still been receiving some questions and skepticism towards my new diet which excludes meat and dairy products. I am not doing it because of the running, it just happened during a period when I need to be conscious of my consumption and the evidence against those products was great enough to push my will power behind a vegetarian diet. I also promise you that the complete proteins are being consumed, though not by way of meat (whole grains and seeds/nuts, whole grains and legumes).
I’ve also come to the conclusion that it is near impossible to overeat if the consumption is based on food that is recognizable. These foods keep the appetite at bay for longer, and are more easily processed by your entire digestive system. Plus they don’t cause drowsiness like the sourdough rolls I’ve been eating. They taste incredible, but make me feel lethargic, which is why at this very moment I will be banning them from my diet until the day that I succumb to their appeal.
Being interested in food and nutrition has led me to another highly understated point. Stay away from empty carbohydrates. If you’re interested in apple juice, eat an apple, orange juice, eat an orange, etc. You’ll be getting much more nutrition, it will taste about the same, and may be cheaper (unless you’re buying sugar juice, in which case, have you read anything I’ve written thus far?). But seriously, stay away from soda and other useless drinks.
I encourage people to check out my nutrition diary, located here:
http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=nutritionfitnesshealth
Keep in mind that everything I am doing is not just for this marathon, but for an overall life goal of changing society towards the prevention of unnecessary diseases, prolonging satisfactory life, and staying active until the end. If people choose to ignore me, so be it, at least you’ll feel the benefits.
In other news, in the very near future I will be helping a friend with a lifestyle change and am excited about the passion and dedication being shown thus far.
If you’re interested in ways to become fit in the next 2 months and forever, please let me know. I don’t have enough time to help everybody all the time, but I’ll do my best to provide some kind of advice to help you achieve some goals.
I hope everybody is enjoying these journals and passing them on to friends. I really enjoy hearing about how they are impacting lives and providing incentive for accomplishing goals, or just simply a “hi” or “good job”. It brightens my day and helps me run or train a little harder and faster.
Also, if you’re interested in getting my opinion on other topics I’m always happy to share. Discussions and knowledge are what I live for, though I may not be educated whatsoever in the topic, they are fun and provide at least a bit of entertainment as long as both parties are open to the other side, which I may choose to discuss just because.
Anyway, hope you had a great weekend, now have a great week,
Ryan
One of the things I accomplished today was for my future development. I bought a jump rope. If you have been following, it has become a portion of my cross training workouts. It’s an incredibly fulfilling exercise and incorporates cardiovascular, coordination, stamina, and lots of concentration. By the end of this training I want to continuously jump for 30 minutes. Maybe run a couple miles while jumping rope, that would be a pretty awesome feeling to accomplish. I’ll try it at the next track workout, maybe you’ll see me, and wonder WTF is he doing, and I’ll just be happy in my own little zone pursuing one of many short term goals. Never stop exploring and experimenting, you haven’t tried everything.
I am excited for tomorrow’s spinning and yoga, which will take a toll on my presently EXTREMELY tight and sore muscles. After 8 miles yesterday at around 8:30 pace my legs are very happy for 2 days off from running. I am curious/scared/excited for the longer runs which will challenge my perseverance and help me set personal goals. The biggest mistake yesterday was not drinking enough liquid. I looked at some websites and they repeatedly emphasized the importance of flushing your body with liquid, which is one of the 22 tasks today, though it may be too late.
Another odd observation is that I consume more calories on days that I do not workout. It can be partially explained from a book I recently read called Younger Next Year, in which they state that when you don’t exercise your body thinks that you are sick or dying. After these crazy workouts my body feels almost to this state of being, but this could explain why I have no motivation, because my body is conserving everything for the day in which I can continue my exercise and be “living” again.
I have still been receiving some questions and skepticism towards my new diet which excludes meat and dairy products. I am not doing it because of the running, it just happened during a period when I need to be conscious of my consumption and the evidence against those products was great enough to push my will power behind a vegetarian diet. I also promise you that the complete proteins are being consumed, though not by way of meat (whole grains and seeds/nuts, whole grains and legumes).
I’ve also come to the conclusion that it is near impossible to overeat if the consumption is based on food that is recognizable. These foods keep the appetite at bay for longer, and are more easily processed by your entire digestive system. Plus they don’t cause drowsiness like the sourdough rolls I’ve been eating. They taste incredible, but make me feel lethargic, which is why at this very moment I will be banning them from my diet until the day that I succumb to their appeal.
Being interested in food and nutrition has led me to another highly understated point. Stay away from empty carbohydrates. If you’re interested in apple juice, eat an apple, orange juice, eat an orange, etc. You’ll be getting much more nutrition, it will taste about the same, and may be cheaper (unless you’re buying sugar juice, in which case, have you read anything I’ve written thus far?). But seriously, stay away from soda and other useless drinks.
I encourage people to check out my nutrition diary, located here:
http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=nutritionfitnesshealth
Keep in mind that everything I am doing is not just for this marathon, but for an overall life goal of changing society towards the prevention of unnecessary diseases, prolonging satisfactory life, and staying active until the end. If people choose to ignore me, so be it, at least you’ll feel the benefits.
In other news, in the very near future I will be helping a friend with a lifestyle change and am excited about the passion and dedication being shown thus far.
If you’re interested in ways to become fit in the next 2 months and forever, please let me know. I don’t have enough time to help everybody all the time, but I’ll do my best to provide some kind of advice to help you achieve some goals.
I hope everybody is enjoying these journals and passing them on to friends. I really enjoy hearing about how they are impacting lives and providing incentive for accomplishing goals, or just simply a “hi” or “good job”. It brightens my day and helps me run or train a little harder and faster.
Also, if you’re interested in getting my opinion on other topics I’m always happy to share. Discussions and knowledge are what I live for, though I may not be educated whatsoever in the topic, they are fun and provide at least a bit of entertainment as long as both parties are open to the other side, which I may choose to discuss just because.
Anyway, hope you had a great weekend, now have a great week,
Ryan
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Feb 21, Second Long Run
Last night I became a little anxious in anticipation of the running this morning. I hadn’t exercised for the entire day and knew that it would begin soon. I guess this is just what happens when you put a large chunk of effort towards a goal, and each workout feels great.
It was absolutely beautiful out at the Baylands this morning, around low 60’s, clear sky, enthusiasm, and water belts. We went out in phases and for different distances. My group was running 8 miles, and because we hadn’t warmed up we went out really slow, though some people sped on. There were volunteers at the 1.5 mile point, which seemed to take forever to reach, probably because we started really slow. They cheered us on, offered drinks and an opportunity to rest. I had a water belt and had drunk a Strawberry meal replacement shake around 6:45 and didn’t need much hydration or rest.
I stayed with the pack for a while and then decided to challenge myself, physically and mentally. I made short goals to catch up to the next person, hang out with them for a few moments and then move on and catch the next person. Sometimes it took a really long time. At around the 3 mile point I began seeing the other groups heading back towards the starting point, and seeing how it’s a 4 mile there and back I knew the halfway point was near.
As I neared the halfway more familiar faces and jerseys began appearing, all of whom had already finished the first 4 miles and were on their way home. It’s really uplifting to have people chanting “Go Team,” smiling, waving, and telling you good job. I remembered this and tried my best to offer the same encouragement on the way back.
The halfway point was a line written in flour, and seemed out of place being right before an underpass, but it was a great feeling knowing that it would only take another 40 or so minutes to finish. On the way back I kept imagining that these were miles 10-18 of the marathon. It would be unfair to consider it miles 18-26 because those are the miles that people tend to forget due to muscle and mental fatigue. I was tired, but knew that keeping the pace was necessary to combat giving up, plus it would put me down if I knew it were possible to finish stronger.
I stopped 3 times to catch my breath and have a sip of energy drink (nothing bad, just tea extracts). I started to recognize all of the familiar turns and there were a lot of people on their way back to the start, each time passing people I tried as best as possible to say at least something to them. At one point, one of the Captains, Andrew, was singing to keep his feet on pace. It was pretty cool, though I could tell that as a result he was losing his breath, but having a great time.
At around the 6 mile point, right before the volunteers the outside of my foot began to bother me a little bit. I figured it was probably a blister or something and tried my best to keep from changing my stride or thinking about it, as those might lead to some kind of compensative injury. I passed the water station, waved and continued knowing that in about 10-12 minutes I would be done. I began running with somebody with around 1 mile left and we slowed our pace a little for a few minutes. With about ½ mile left I told him that I was going to start speeding up and that he was welcome to join me. I rounded the last turn and lengthened my stride, finishing strong. During that time my foot began to feel like it was cut, but didn’t hurt enough to really care.
It was a great feeling to finish, especially with lots of cheers and smiling faces. After finishing I stretched for a while and talked to a couple people. Today’s run was a lot of fun, and I highly suggest the Baylands trail that starts at San Antonio Road and Terminal Avenue. For those interested, I finished in 1:08
I hope everybody has a great day.
Take care,
Ryan
It was absolutely beautiful out at the Baylands this morning, around low 60’s, clear sky, enthusiasm, and water belts. We went out in phases and for different distances. My group was running 8 miles, and because we hadn’t warmed up we went out really slow, though some people sped on. There were volunteers at the 1.5 mile point, which seemed to take forever to reach, probably because we started really slow. They cheered us on, offered drinks and an opportunity to rest. I had a water belt and had drunk a Strawberry meal replacement shake around 6:45 and didn’t need much hydration or rest.
I stayed with the pack for a while and then decided to challenge myself, physically and mentally. I made short goals to catch up to the next person, hang out with them for a few moments and then move on and catch the next person. Sometimes it took a really long time. At around the 3 mile point I began seeing the other groups heading back towards the starting point, and seeing how it’s a 4 mile there and back I knew the halfway point was near.
As I neared the halfway more familiar faces and jerseys began appearing, all of whom had already finished the first 4 miles and were on their way home. It’s really uplifting to have people chanting “Go Team,” smiling, waving, and telling you good job. I remembered this and tried my best to offer the same encouragement on the way back.
The halfway point was a line written in flour, and seemed out of place being right before an underpass, but it was a great feeling knowing that it would only take another 40 or so minutes to finish. On the way back I kept imagining that these were miles 10-18 of the marathon. It would be unfair to consider it miles 18-26 because those are the miles that people tend to forget due to muscle and mental fatigue. I was tired, but knew that keeping the pace was necessary to combat giving up, plus it would put me down if I knew it were possible to finish stronger.
I stopped 3 times to catch my breath and have a sip of energy drink (nothing bad, just tea extracts). I started to recognize all of the familiar turns and there were a lot of people on their way back to the start, each time passing people I tried as best as possible to say at least something to them. At one point, one of the Captains, Andrew, was singing to keep his feet on pace. It was pretty cool, though I could tell that as a result he was losing his breath, but having a great time.
At around the 6 mile point, right before the volunteers the outside of my foot began to bother me a little bit. I figured it was probably a blister or something and tried my best to keep from changing my stride or thinking about it, as those might lead to some kind of compensative injury. I passed the water station, waved and continued knowing that in about 10-12 minutes I would be done. I began running with somebody with around 1 mile left and we slowed our pace a little for a few minutes. With about ½ mile left I told him that I was going to start speeding up and that he was welcome to join me. I rounded the last turn and lengthened my stride, finishing strong. During that time my foot began to feel like it was cut, but didn’t hurt enough to really care.
It was a great feeling to finish, especially with lots of cheers and smiling faces. After finishing I stretched for a while and talked to a couple people. Today’s run was a lot of fun, and I highly suggest the Baylands trail that starts at San Antonio Road and Terminal Avenue. For those interested, I finished in 1:08
I hope everybody has a great day.
Take care,
Ryan
Friday, February 20, 2009
Yesterday and what I do everyday
February 20, 2009
Believe me when I say this, I am having so much fun during my new lifestyle. I’ll get into details as they come.
It gives me a quality of life unmatched by any point in my life. Getting much higher quality of sleep, because my body needs to rest after the exertion during the day, and it doesn’t need to worry about digesting the food, because everything I eat is whole, and could be recognized in nature. Then adding in daily exercise that is no stroll in the park.
Here’s what I did yesterday:
• Woke up, had some water, a little later ate my oatmeal, but noticed that I had finished the soymilk.
• Walked to the library with my backpack to pick up the 2 books I had reserved(Jump roping book and a nutrition book about eating within the seasons) I’ll let you know how they are, as I haven’t started them yet.
• After going to the library I decided to walk to downtown Palo Alto, which is about 1.5-2 miles away. Not going at any quick pace it was a really nice walk.
• When I got near downtown I saw an elderly person walking with a walker/chair, but going quite fast. I crossed the street and talked to her for a minute or so, then continued on after hopefully brightening her day in at least a minimal way.
• After going to whole foods and getting everything I needed (including an apple because I hadn’t eaten in a few hours) I walked around and visited some people at the fitness center.
• I walked home and ate some food before going to coach baseball and then to my marathon track training.
• In total I walked around for about an hour and a half, but it flew by because I was accomplishing various tasks and enjoying a beautiful day. I encourage everybody to go walk around if you can’t think of something to do. Even walking in the rain can be an experience you won’t soon forget, and take somebody with you.
• The bag I brought on my bike must have weighed at least 25 pounds (baseball bat, gloves, cleats, running shoes, change of clothes, water).
• I biked with this bag to the practice which is about 2 miles away, had practice and went to Stanford.
• I arrived at Stanford and began jogging, probably about 6-8 laps.
• We did our drills, but by the end I felt like I had just warmed up. They were going to do core exercises but I had done them the night before, and didn’t want to over fatigue my core so I just kept running until they were done.
• I ran 3 laps with some of the mentors, and then kept going working on intervals (jogging/running faster) for a couple laps, and then decided to do some 95-100% sprints for 100 meters. I ran the straightaway at full speed and then jogged for ¾ lap and then did another 100 meter sprint at full speed. After that I jogged a lap or so and then made my way back to the group as they were just finishing their core exercises.
• All of that felt really good, and I was spent when I began stretching.
• I bought a foam roller and used that a little bit. I plan to become a master with it.
• After the workout I stopped by a friends house for a few hours and actually ended up at home around 12, I grabbed some food and got ready for bed.
• By the way, today I spent a total of 26 dollars including food (but the soymilk will last 2 weeks and the foam roller will last a year), and used 0 gallons of gasoline.
• So on a per day basis today cost me about 4 dollars. Keep that in mind, that’s how I live my life. Simplicity is powerful.
If you haven’t realized by now I like to do things to the maximum and then go a little further, simply because I figure that we change ourselves when we exert ourselves outside of our comfort zone. Plus the same exercise or nutrition habits become easier the next time if you do it 100% this time. Essentially I am evolving everyday that I challenge myself, and then once I’ve evolved, I become more efficient the next day.
Here are the basic things that I have done lately that have drastically improved my quality of life and promote development:
• Sleeping 8 hours per night
• Exercising at least an hour per day (except rest days where I stretch), most of the exercise is quick paced and focused on increasing strength or endurance, being very productive during that time.
• Eating really healthy foods (whole grains, salads, legumes, nuts, fruit, vegetables)
• Taking supplements from Usana (fiber powder, vitamins which are incredible for post activity restoration) I can feel the difference in my entire body, let me know if you want to learn more about Usana.
• Drinking lots of water
• Reading instead of watching tv
• Socializing everyday
• Listening to soothing music
All of those are really basic and we all know to do them, but yet, they lack in the majority of peoples’ daily lives. If that is the case for you, do something about it, if you’re doing 4 of them, do 2 more this week and then add the other 2 the week after, and once you start doing them, keep going. I’m at about 3-4 weeks of doing all of the above and I feel incredible. I wish you could know how I feel, which is why I keep stating it. I FEEL INCREDIBLE.
Please pass this on to people who are interested in their health or nutrition. It might motivate them to change their lifestyle, worst case they don’t like it and never read it again.
Everything here can be done by everybody with minimal effort; it’s just about motivation and dedication. Once it’s part of a daily routine, you won’t even think about it, it just happens, and your body and mind will thank you.
Also, read the other journals, I usually have information that can help anybody, and cover various topics from sleep to motivation.
I am making my diet available online at this site
http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=nutritionfitnesshealth
I’m looking forward to today, I stretch and massage from the foam roller, and just take it easy before an 8 mile run tomorrow morning.
I should mention that I don’t look at my training as for a marathon, which will just be a segment in my life; I plan to continue this lifestyle forever. I feel way too incredible to stop.
Take care,
Ryan
Believe me when I say this, I am having so much fun during my new lifestyle. I’ll get into details as they come.
It gives me a quality of life unmatched by any point in my life. Getting much higher quality of sleep, because my body needs to rest after the exertion during the day, and it doesn’t need to worry about digesting the food, because everything I eat is whole, and could be recognized in nature. Then adding in daily exercise that is no stroll in the park.
Here’s what I did yesterday:
• Woke up, had some water, a little later ate my oatmeal, but noticed that I had finished the soymilk.
• Walked to the library with my backpack to pick up the 2 books I had reserved(Jump roping book and a nutrition book about eating within the seasons) I’ll let you know how they are, as I haven’t started them yet.
• After going to the library I decided to walk to downtown Palo Alto, which is about 1.5-2 miles away. Not going at any quick pace it was a really nice walk.
• When I got near downtown I saw an elderly person walking with a walker/chair, but going quite fast. I crossed the street and talked to her for a minute or so, then continued on after hopefully brightening her day in at least a minimal way.
• After going to whole foods and getting everything I needed (including an apple because I hadn’t eaten in a few hours) I walked around and visited some people at the fitness center.
• I walked home and ate some food before going to coach baseball and then to my marathon track training.
• In total I walked around for about an hour and a half, but it flew by because I was accomplishing various tasks and enjoying a beautiful day. I encourage everybody to go walk around if you can’t think of something to do. Even walking in the rain can be an experience you won’t soon forget, and take somebody with you.
• The bag I brought on my bike must have weighed at least 25 pounds (baseball bat, gloves, cleats, running shoes, change of clothes, water).
• I biked with this bag to the practice which is about 2 miles away, had practice and went to Stanford.
• I arrived at Stanford and began jogging, probably about 6-8 laps.
• We did our drills, but by the end I felt like I had just warmed up. They were going to do core exercises but I had done them the night before, and didn’t want to over fatigue my core so I just kept running until they were done.
• I ran 3 laps with some of the mentors, and then kept going working on intervals (jogging/running faster) for a couple laps, and then decided to do some 95-100% sprints for 100 meters. I ran the straightaway at full speed and then jogged for ¾ lap and then did another 100 meter sprint at full speed. After that I jogged a lap or so and then made my way back to the group as they were just finishing their core exercises.
• All of that felt really good, and I was spent when I began stretching.
• I bought a foam roller and used that a little bit. I plan to become a master with it.
• After the workout I stopped by a friends house for a few hours and actually ended up at home around 12, I grabbed some food and got ready for bed.
• By the way, today I spent a total of 26 dollars including food (but the soymilk will last 2 weeks and the foam roller will last a year), and used 0 gallons of gasoline.
• So on a per day basis today cost me about 4 dollars. Keep that in mind, that’s how I live my life. Simplicity is powerful.
If you haven’t realized by now I like to do things to the maximum and then go a little further, simply because I figure that we change ourselves when we exert ourselves outside of our comfort zone. Plus the same exercise or nutrition habits become easier the next time if you do it 100% this time. Essentially I am evolving everyday that I challenge myself, and then once I’ve evolved, I become more efficient the next day.
Here are the basic things that I have done lately that have drastically improved my quality of life and promote development:
• Sleeping 8 hours per night
• Exercising at least an hour per day (except rest days where I stretch), most of the exercise is quick paced and focused on increasing strength or endurance, being very productive during that time.
• Eating really healthy foods (whole grains, salads, legumes, nuts, fruit, vegetables)
• Taking supplements from Usana (fiber powder, vitamins which are incredible for post activity restoration) I can feel the difference in my entire body, let me know if you want to learn more about Usana.
• Drinking lots of water
• Reading instead of watching tv
• Socializing everyday
• Listening to soothing music
All of those are really basic and we all know to do them, but yet, they lack in the majority of peoples’ daily lives. If that is the case for you, do something about it, if you’re doing 4 of them, do 2 more this week and then add the other 2 the week after, and once you start doing them, keep going. I’m at about 3-4 weeks of doing all of the above and I feel incredible. I wish you could know how I feel, which is why I keep stating it. I FEEL INCREDIBLE.
Please pass this on to people who are interested in their health or nutrition. It might motivate them to change their lifestyle, worst case they don’t like it and never read it again.
Everything here can be done by everybody with minimal effort; it’s just about motivation and dedication. Once it’s part of a daily routine, you won’t even think about it, it just happens, and your body and mind will thank you.
Also, read the other journals, I usually have information that can help anybody, and cover various topics from sleep to motivation.
I am making my diet available online at this site
http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=nutritionfitnesshealth
I’m looking forward to today, I stretch and massage from the foam roller, and just take it easy before an 8 mile run tomorrow morning.
I should mention that I don’t look at my training as for a marathon, which will just be a segment in my life; I plan to continue this lifestyle forever. I feel way too incredible to stop.
Take care,
Ryan
Thursday, February 19, 2009
This may change your life, pass it on to friends.
I am excited at how many people have told me that these journals and my dedication to my various missions are inspiring them to take action within their own lives.
I am making my diet available on this link:
http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=nutritionfitnesshealth
I started using the same site for my exercise, but it’s not publicly available, so I’ll think of something.
Here are some of the comments thus far. Definitely inspiring me to continue, and add information as it presents itself. Skip down if you don’t want to read them, there’s still a full journal.
Hey Ryan,
I never thought I'd be eating uncooked oats but your oat cereal tastes great and it's simple to make.
Keep up the positive energy, loving it. I’m going to actually forward this on to a few of my coworkers, as they to enjoy being in involved in Marathons.
You're efforts are inspirational and keep up the great work!
Love the blog! Thank you for setting this up!
Congrats on your first long run!! Sounds excellent.
You're inspiring me.
I'm proud that you are working so hard at being healthy, and I know that it takes a lot of hard work to establish a good diet and to work out every day even when you might not feel like it.
Hi Ryan ... I was thinking about it more yesterday ... you should start a blog.
I enjoyed reading your journal. Great motivational encouragement for this 50 year old half drunken bull rider.
I am so enjoying your journal.
You're inspiring me work at it.(Referring to diet)
This is a great blog! I love your dedication. This core workout looks like something I'd enjoy.
Your blog is awesome! So inspiring. I am going to try some of the stuff you've posted on here :0)
Thanks a lot everybody!
Now to the journal…
It’s surprising that it’s already been 2 weeks of journals and about 3 weeks of my new diet. Lots of people still wonder how it’s possible to exclude meat and drastically change a diet, and the only thing I can think of as a response would be that they would be doing the EXACT SAME THING if they felt like I do everyday.
I really believe that nutrition and exercise can prevent the majority of diseases. We are a nation that is now one of the least healthy, yet we have the monetary resources to prevent and cure most ailments. Some ailments are beyond our money and technology, but someday that should be different. If we are able to incorporate a lifestyle that takes pride in being fit and healthy, and only allocating funds towards the problems that require money to learn the technology, our healthcare budget will decrease, universal healthcare would be possible, and we would be one of the healthiest nations.
It’s no question that our healthcare system needs a major undertaking at the preventative level. We NEED to limit all forms of obesity. It’s leading us on a path that will make the universal healthcare impossible. If people exercised an hour everyday, and consumed food that couldn’t survive for longer than a 2 weeks without molding, we could allocate more funds to programs that promote prevention and education. Everybody should know that obesity leads to diabetes, heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, lower quality of life, depression, and a huge allocation within our national healthcare budget.
There’s no 1 company or person to blame, but there are a mighty many that are freely jamming products and ideas down our throats, making us ignorantly believe that we can lose 5 pounds every week and remain healthy, drink soda and have more energy (maybe for 45 minutes, not during our life though), don’t even get me going on the Atkins diet or any other “diet,” life is about moderation and doing positive things for our bodies.
Here’s a list of things that I don’t agree with:
Pharmaceutical companies being allowed to advertise on television and give doctors incentives to prescribe their products to treat one problem and then add a number of side effects, let alone other problems down the road. Take the time to learn and practice, it will save your life.
Large scale food corporations selling ground up corn and fake food as real products. Look at the ingredients on your food labels, it’s appalling. I consider most of this audience fairly intelligent and capable of understanding and caring what’s in our food, but think about the rest of the country, that either hasn’t been educated on the matter or doesn’t care.
The government allowing ridiculous corn subsidies, do you think they would do it if 50% of the products entering supermarkets weren’t made of corn, and made by the companies with huge lobbying budgets? So the government is paying for a large amount of our obesity, SWEET.
Companies “safely” spraying pesticides on a lot of our food. Believe me, it’s not just vegetables, fruit, corn that’s fed to cows.
Companies feeding our livestock(if you can even call them alive) with soy and corn, living in small pens/cages for a few months until they’ve been fattened up enough to slaughter inhumanely and sell to people are luxury goods. Also think about how sick the animals are from living on a diet they aren’t meant for, and being unable to exercise. Imagine if your diet consisted of pesticide laden corn and grain, and didn’t get any exercise. Now imagine eating meat and drinking milk from these really healthy animals.
Here’s a list of things I do agree with:
Holistic health approaches, being aware of what you are consuming, and taking into account where it is being shipped from, because most products are not created anywhere near where you live. Produce grown in
Eating locally, and not in excess. Stop spending so much money on food, the more you spend, the less healthy(think of snacks). I probably spend about 5-8 dollars on food per day, and that’s a really high estimate. I have routinely been around people who have spent 10 dollars per meal, not including snacks or alcohol, so at least 25 per day. I certainly don’t make a lot of money, yet I’m able to eat and live a lifestyle that allows me to stay healthy, save money, and be fulfilled.
Again here’s what I consume:
Oatmeal and some additives (raisins, cranberry, macadamia nuts, almonds, cinnamon, fiber, bran, soy milk, a bunch of seeds)
Fruit as snacks
Salad (lettuce, spinach, seeds, legumes, some dressing)
Brown rice with legumes, and seeds
Vitamins at night to make sure I get everything.
Lots of water
I am essentially living a gatherer lifestyle with supplements and I’m getting all of my complete proteins, vitamins, fiber, spending between 5-8 dollars, and best of all not starving. I’m in the best shape of my entire life. And I’ve been doing this for a few months, I can’t wait until the marathon. A while ago I was overweight by like 15 pounds, never again, I feel way too great.
Exercising and becoming involved in local physical activities, the list is endless. It may change your life in ways you could never imagine.
I’ll go off the top of my head
Biking, jogging/running, hiking, swimming, rowing, kayaking, yoga, pilates, aerobic classes, lawn bowling, bowling, baseball, basketball, golf, tennis, racquetball, walking, rollerblading, skateboarding, weight lifting, climbing, gardening, constructing/building, handball, squash, soccer, cricket, darts(just because it’s awesome).
I’ve never participated in a bunch of these, there are lots that I’ve probably missed but it’s simply something that needs to be done in order to live a full life. In the last year I have done 17 of those. How many have you?
Here is my exercise routine last night after working 9 hours, it took some motivation, but afterward I felt incredible, and slept really well.
10 minutes biking
5 minutes core: upper abs, obliques, lower abs, lower back(2 exercises)
5 minutes jumping rope(I’m going to the library and picking up a book on jump roping)
10 minutes biking at really high intensity
5 minutes core again
23 minutes doing pecs, biceps and shoulders
15 minutes biking at moderate rate as a warm down
10 minutes stretching
And then biked home at 11pm.
Sorry to make this journal somewhat negative, but it’s what people need to hear. I keep saying it, but if you would mimic at least part of my routine, you will undoubtedly feel healthier. I don’t miss alcohol, unhealthy snacks, staying up too late, all because I know they aren’t beneficial, and they lead to the following: hangovers, lethargy, and tiredness/headaches.
50% nutrition + 50% exercise = 100% body satisfaction. It’s not an easy path to drastically change a lifestyle, but it’s entirely possible and will do wonders for every aspect of your life.
If you like to sleep, wouldn’t you want to have a better quality of sleep every single night?
If you like eating unhealthy food, wouldn’t you feel better knowing that your metabolism could handle it by way of exercise?
If you like reading, walk/bike to a park and read there, then walk around the park and just observe.
Without obtaining knowledge and taking steps to change and evolve, we are simple beings with no chance of long-term survival.
Take care, and do something for your body today,
Ryan
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Feb 18, 2009 My Diet and important things to consider
February 18, 2009
Hey, so yesterday I found a website that allows people to input their information and find out the nutritional values and calories of their foods. It was fairly labor intensive the first time but because I eat the same stuff everyday it’s pretty easy to add the same foods.
Here is the link to my diet:
http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=nutritionfitnesshealth
On the right side it will show what I ate the previous days or most recently
In addition, I plan to make my exercise log available once I figure out the best method.
Yesterday’s workout went a little like this.
I walked to the library (about .5 mile away) and dropped off a near-due book. This took about 10 minutes and served as my pre warm up. After getting there, I looked for the other books that I put on hold online (it’s really easy and efficient), they weren’t there so I left and began to lightly jog for 10-15 minutes. I stopped by my friend’s house and stretched while talking to him about his school and how his test had gone. After those 10 minutes I proceeded to Reach which took about 10 more minutes. At Reach I ran for 7:30 minutes at a 7:08 pace (it’s slow to start and I wasn’t going too fast at the beginning), and did 15 push ups. After that I left and jogged back home, which was approximately 15 minutes.
When I got to my street I decided that to go walk in the park instead of going inside. I walked around, and ended up in the community garden which by then was completely soaked and muddy and took a bit of finesse to stay clean. I picked up a few pieces of trash and recycled a can, which I think is ridiculous that people don’t clean up after themselves.
Anyway, so I went through the garden and then went home, stretched for about 15 minutes and then showered and waited for a call that was coming shortly after.
What I realized during my run were a few important things.
• We need to be accountable for our own happiness, obviously it helps to be around positive people, but if you don’t put yourself in those places, or don’ maximize your time, it’s a little more difficult to be fulfilled.
• Earning our meals and sleep is important. What I mean is that if you don’t exercise the entire day, what makes you think that you need 3,000 calories. It just doesn’t make sense. Being sedentary is what happens when your body thinks its sick, or resting and needs to conserve energy. Plus if you’ve been resting all day, why would your body still need to sleep, and you’ll get really low quality sleep.
• If everybody made their diet public, I bet obesity would go down. The reason, we are already a little self-conscious, so if people could actually see with full honesty what others and themselves are eating, it might encourage them to 1)educate themselves and others on healthy habits 2)change their own diet 3)just simply be aware of their habits and be willing to change.
• Use your time wisely; during my workout I accomplished at least 5 things: Returned a book, talked to a friend, exercised, let my mind roam, stress release.
• And the last thing, a question for you
When did you feel most physically fit and active?
My assumption is that most of you would say middle or high school. This is because we are for the most part constantly surrounded by exercise of some sort, or being required to do physical education. In addition, our bodies are functioning efficiently due to eating fairly nutritious foods that our parents provided and sometimes force-fed. Why do these habits stop? Because it’s easy to lose sight of our health, and it unfortunately feels good to be lazy. Thankfully it feels better to be active; most people just don’t remember what it really feels like.
In terms of physical fitness, it was either sophomore year of high school or now. At that time I was training in the off season at the Stanford Track running stadium stairs, sprints, and working out for hours preparing for varsity baseball. And right now I’m training at least an hour a day, getting ready for a marathon. But when taking diet into account for how I actually FEEL, it’s most certainly right now. I’ve never been more aware of what’s being consumed and how it will benefit my over the training and my entire life.
Think about your food and exercise exponentially. If you drink a soda and a cheeseburger and don’t exercise more than walking to a car, getting out and walking into an office, and the same routine home, the health damage isn’t just immediate, it stays with you until you burn it off, leading to higher cholesterol which will lead to medication or obesity, leading to diabetes, leading to heart disease or heart attack and eventually premature death. This is an exponential and theoretical time line, but none the less important and quite real. Now imagine doing that everyday.
• Get at least 1 salad per day, it’s really easy, and usually very good.
• Eat some fruit; find some that you can eat everyday and eat it everyday, variation is better, so find a couple you trade off.
• Get enough water, more than you think, yesterday I had 7 glasses and I was still extremely dehydrated this morning, also due to exercising, but I’m going to have at least 10 today.
Take care and be healthy and happy,
Ryan
Hey, so yesterday I found a website that allows people to input their information and find out the nutritional values and calories of their foods. It was fairly labor intensive the first time but because I eat the same stuff everyday it’s pretty easy to add the same foods.
Here is the link to my diet:
http://fitday.com/fitness/PublicJournals.html?Owner=nutritionfitnesshealth
On the right side it will show what I ate the previous days or most recently
In addition, I plan to make my exercise log available once I figure out the best method.
Yesterday’s workout went a little like this.
I walked to the library (about .5 mile away) and dropped off a near-due book. This took about 10 minutes and served as my pre warm up. After getting there, I looked for the other books that I put on hold online (it’s really easy and efficient), they weren’t there so I left and began to lightly jog for 10-15 minutes. I stopped by my friend’s house and stretched while talking to him about his school and how his test had gone. After those 10 minutes I proceeded to Reach which took about 10 more minutes. At Reach I ran for 7:30 minutes at a 7:08 pace (it’s slow to start and I wasn’t going too fast at the beginning), and did 15 push ups. After that I left and jogged back home, which was approximately 15 minutes.
When I got to my street I decided that to go walk in the park instead of going inside. I walked around, and ended up in the community garden which by then was completely soaked and muddy and took a bit of finesse to stay clean. I picked up a few pieces of trash and recycled a can, which I think is ridiculous that people don’t clean up after themselves.
Anyway, so I went through the garden and then went home, stretched for about 15 minutes and then showered and waited for a call that was coming shortly after.
What I realized during my run were a few important things.
• We need to be accountable for our own happiness, obviously it helps to be around positive people, but if you don’t put yourself in those places, or don’ maximize your time, it’s a little more difficult to be fulfilled.
• Earning our meals and sleep is important. What I mean is that if you don’t exercise the entire day, what makes you think that you need 3,000 calories. It just doesn’t make sense. Being sedentary is what happens when your body thinks its sick, or resting and needs to conserve energy. Plus if you’ve been resting all day, why would your body still need to sleep, and you’ll get really low quality sleep.
• If everybody made their diet public, I bet obesity would go down. The reason, we are already a little self-conscious, so if people could actually see with full honesty what others and themselves are eating, it might encourage them to 1)educate themselves and others on healthy habits 2)change their own diet 3)just simply be aware of their habits and be willing to change.
• Use your time wisely; during my workout I accomplished at least 5 things: Returned a book, talked to a friend, exercised, let my mind roam, stress release.
• And the last thing, a question for you
When did you feel most physically fit and active?
My assumption is that most of you would say middle or high school. This is because we are for the most part constantly surrounded by exercise of some sort, or being required to do physical education. In addition, our bodies are functioning efficiently due to eating fairly nutritious foods that our parents provided and sometimes force-fed. Why do these habits stop? Because it’s easy to lose sight of our health, and it unfortunately feels good to be lazy. Thankfully it feels better to be active; most people just don’t remember what it really feels like.
In terms of physical fitness, it was either sophomore year of high school or now. At that time I was training in the off season at the Stanford Track running stadium stairs, sprints, and working out for hours preparing for varsity baseball. And right now I’m training at least an hour a day, getting ready for a marathon. But when taking diet into account for how I actually FEEL, it’s most certainly right now. I’ve never been more aware of what’s being consumed and how it will benefit my over the training and my entire life.
Think about your food and exercise exponentially. If you drink a soda and a cheeseburger and don’t exercise more than walking to a car, getting out and walking into an office, and the same routine home, the health damage isn’t just immediate, it stays with you until you burn it off, leading to higher cholesterol which will lead to medication or obesity, leading to diabetes, leading to heart disease or heart attack and eventually premature death. This is an exponential and theoretical time line, but none the less important and quite real. Now imagine doing that everyday.
• Get at least 1 salad per day, it’s really easy, and usually very good.
• Eat some fruit; find some that you can eat everyday and eat it everyday, variation is better, so find a couple you trade off.
• Get enough water, more than you think, yesterday I had 7 glasses and I was still extremely dehydrated this morning, also due to exercising, but I’m going to have at least 10 today.
Take care and be healthy and happy,
Ryan
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Feb 16 & 17 Core again
February 16 & 17, 2009
Yesterday I worked out when I was completed spent, but my body really enjoyed it. I hadn’t done anything physically taxing during the entire day, and when I exhausted myself I started feeling incredible.
The workout was once again the “muscles nobody likes to work out,” but this time it wasn’t so bad. I actually enjoyed working them out because I can see how important they are for successful training. The other day at the track workout there was an injury prevention person talking to us and one of his major topics was the core. I had been ignoring this essential part of my body for a while because I assumed that it was strong enough, and that eventually I would get around to doing it, or because it’s a nuisance, or so I thought.
There has been an incredible change in my physical ability since this training began, and recently it has been almost exponential. I attribute at least part of it to my diet, and dedication, but recently there has been a lot of emphasis on my core (upper abs, lower abs, oblique, lower back). It’s important to do all of them or else, well it’s not balanced. I said before that for muscles you don’t want to work out it’s important to understand how great it will be right after you complete the set or in a week when they are stronger, because simply, they are a burden to exercise.
That all changed last night when I did my new cross training routine
• Cycling 10 minutes to warm up
• Upper abs, oblique and lower back 5 minutes
• Jumping rope 5 minutes – I highly suggest this, it’s a lost art. You can make it interesting doing it backwards, eyes closed, one foot or alternating, butt kicks, high knees, going around the room, it’s really open to imagination, plus it’s really hard to do it for 5 minutes straight regular, and boring.
• Lower abs and lower back 5 minutes
• Cycling 10 minutes, changing the resistance and standing at times
• Repeat the jumping rope
• Repeat the abs/oblique/lower back
• Repeat lower abs and lower back
That entire sequence is 50 minutes, and then you can do 10 minutes of stretching. Last night I used a foam roller, which I think I mentioned in a previous journal. It’s incredible; it gets into the muscles and varies the massage in ways that are impossible with regular stretching.
By the second go round I was looking forward to the core conditioning. It finally occurred to me that it is probably the single most important portion of your body in endurance events because it keeps the body connected and is constantly being slightly rotated, thus needs to be in really good shape. It was almost as if my body and mind made my core feel great and wanted me to exercise them for better future condition. I can’t describe it, but I’m looking forward to working out my core in a couple days.
Today is my light running day and I may do yoga tonight. I’ve been slacking on the daily yoga/stretching, and my sleep habits have been sub-optimal, but I still feel really good. I don’t want to overdue my body, because it will most likely lead to fatigue and sickness, which are both detrimental to a long training regimen.
I’m going to finish Younger Next Year today, and start another book, maybe The Omnivores dilemma again. Reading has opened up so much information to me, and it’s an easy way to have interesting conversations that oftentimes are completely different than how they started.
I think that’s all for today, maybe I’ll write another journal tonight to make up for yesterday.
Have a great day,
Ryan
Yesterday I worked out when I was completed spent, but my body really enjoyed it. I hadn’t done anything physically taxing during the entire day, and when I exhausted myself I started feeling incredible.
The workout was once again the “muscles nobody likes to work out,” but this time it wasn’t so bad. I actually enjoyed working them out because I can see how important they are for successful training. The other day at the track workout there was an injury prevention person talking to us and one of his major topics was the core. I had been ignoring this essential part of my body for a while because I assumed that it was strong enough, and that eventually I would get around to doing it, or because it’s a nuisance, or so I thought.
There has been an incredible change in my physical ability since this training began, and recently it has been almost exponential. I attribute at least part of it to my diet, and dedication, but recently there has been a lot of emphasis on my core (upper abs, lower abs, oblique, lower back). It’s important to do all of them or else, well it’s not balanced. I said before that for muscles you don’t want to work out it’s important to understand how great it will be right after you complete the set or in a week when they are stronger, because simply, they are a burden to exercise.
That all changed last night when I did my new cross training routine
• Cycling 10 minutes to warm up
• Upper abs, oblique and lower back 5 minutes
• Jumping rope 5 minutes – I highly suggest this, it’s a lost art. You can make it interesting doing it backwards, eyes closed, one foot or alternating, butt kicks, high knees, going around the room, it’s really open to imagination, plus it’s really hard to do it for 5 minutes straight regular, and boring.
• Lower abs and lower back 5 minutes
• Cycling 10 minutes, changing the resistance and standing at times
• Repeat the jumping rope
• Repeat the abs/oblique/lower back
• Repeat lower abs and lower back
That entire sequence is 50 minutes, and then you can do 10 minutes of stretching. Last night I used a foam roller, which I think I mentioned in a previous journal. It’s incredible; it gets into the muscles and varies the massage in ways that are impossible with regular stretching.
By the second go round I was looking forward to the core conditioning. It finally occurred to me that it is probably the single most important portion of your body in endurance events because it keeps the body connected and is constantly being slightly rotated, thus needs to be in really good shape. It was almost as if my body and mind made my core feel great and wanted me to exercise them for better future condition. I can’t describe it, but I’m looking forward to working out my core in a couple days.
Today is my light running day and I may do yoga tonight. I’ve been slacking on the daily yoga/stretching, and my sleep habits have been sub-optimal, but I still feel really good. I don’t want to overdue my body, because it will most likely lead to fatigue and sickness, which are both detrimental to a long training regimen.
I’m going to finish Younger Next Year today, and start another book, maybe The Omnivores dilemma again. Reading has opened up so much information to me, and it’s an easy way to have interesting conversations that oftentimes are completely different than how they started.
I think that’s all for today, maybe I’ll write another journal tonight to make up for yesterday.
Have a great day,
Ryan
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Feb 15, 2009 randomness
February 15, 2009
I have been pondering the idea of 100% of your daily calcium and if this is accurate for the majority of peoples’ diets. If you consume products that take calcium from your bones, wouldn’t you need more calcium in your diet to reach equilibrium? Therefore, if you consume products that take X% away from your bone density it seems obvious that the daily requirement would need to be greater. But, if you have too much calcium, it creates calcium deposits on your bones and makes them weaker.
If you drink a soda it will take 32 glasses of water to neutralize the effect of acidity. And as a result your body is going to neutralize it at the expense of your bone density.
To neutralize the depletion it is assumed that you can drink or consume dairy products, but these actually deplete calcium because it too is acidic and must be neutralized. What are we to do?
When I find an answer to this dilemma I will share it, but until then, eat sesame seeds (2 Tablespoons have 35%, black sesame seeds have 40%). I’ll look for other sources of ridiculous amounts of calcium that are not based on dairy.
I still strongly recommend reading The China Study. It has changed my life in ways that most people can’t understand because they may not be willing to take such drastic eating habit alterations. I think that awareness needs to be addressed and can help lead to preventative measures in the fight towards a lesser impact of diseases.
If you’re interested in losing weight, becoming healthier, and feeling better, read Younger Next Year, it goes through the process of getting back in shape so that ANYBODY can do it. I bought it because it looked like a good resource to understand why people get trapped in a cycle of sedentary living, and how to address the importance of getting back in shape. Some of the more interesting information is about how when we don’t move around our body thinks that we are sick and needs to store all of our energy, thus leading to a lower metabolism, increased fat storage, and an overall weaker body. But once exercise is included in the daily routine, all of that stuff basically reverses. Darwinian rules still apply.
We are hunters and gatherers, not sitters and sleepers.
Today I went on a walk for about an hour with my mom. My legs were pretty tired from the run yesterday, but it felt good getting them some exercise. The rest of the day I just hung out, read Younger Next Year, took a nap, and ate. We got back just in time to stay dry, as about 30 minutes after returning, a storm began, that hasn’t let up since(7-8 hours later).
Tomorrow I can’t take the spinning and yoga classes. Instead a different workout will be created, incorporating all of the different parts that need to be addressed (Cross training: biking, jump rope and elliptical, core, and stretching).
If you have an extra hour in the day, start exercising. It will do wonders to so many aspects of your life. If you watch TV for 2 hours a day, cut it down to 1. Exercise really is the greatest anti-depressant, and will make you want to drastically change your life.
I’m on a quest to stop watching TV, as it’s just a way to kill some time, and doesn’t really add anything productive to my life. If I want to relax or rest I can read or sleep. Remember we are hunters and gatherers, not sitters and sleepers. We need to continue acquiring knowledge in order to evolve intellectually, and staying fit to prevent decay and stimulate growth.
If you get a chance, check out some of my older journals, you might acquire some bit of knowledge that could change your life.
Take care,
Ryan
I have been pondering the idea of 100% of your daily calcium and if this is accurate for the majority of peoples’ diets. If you consume products that take calcium from your bones, wouldn’t you need more calcium in your diet to reach equilibrium? Therefore, if you consume products that take X% away from your bone density it seems obvious that the daily requirement would need to be greater. But, if you have too much calcium, it creates calcium deposits on your bones and makes them weaker.
If you drink a soda it will take 32 glasses of water to neutralize the effect of acidity. And as a result your body is going to neutralize it at the expense of your bone density.
To neutralize the depletion it is assumed that you can drink or consume dairy products, but these actually deplete calcium because it too is acidic and must be neutralized. What are we to do?
When I find an answer to this dilemma I will share it, but until then, eat sesame seeds (2 Tablespoons have 35%, black sesame seeds have 40%). I’ll look for other sources of ridiculous amounts of calcium that are not based on dairy.
I still strongly recommend reading The China Study. It has changed my life in ways that most people can’t understand because they may not be willing to take such drastic eating habit alterations. I think that awareness needs to be addressed and can help lead to preventative measures in the fight towards a lesser impact of diseases.
If you’re interested in losing weight, becoming healthier, and feeling better, read Younger Next Year, it goes through the process of getting back in shape so that ANYBODY can do it. I bought it because it looked like a good resource to understand why people get trapped in a cycle of sedentary living, and how to address the importance of getting back in shape. Some of the more interesting information is about how when we don’t move around our body thinks that we are sick and needs to store all of our energy, thus leading to a lower metabolism, increased fat storage, and an overall weaker body. But once exercise is included in the daily routine, all of that stuff basically reverses. Darwinian rules still apply.
We are hunters and gatherers, not sitters and sleepers.
Today I went on a walk for about an hour with my mom. My legs were pretty tired from the run yesterday, but it felt good getting them some exercise. The rest of the day I just hung out, read Younger Next Year, took a nap, and ate. We got back just in time to stay dry, as about 30 minutes after returning, a storm began, that hasn’t let up since(7-8 hours later).
Tomorrow I can’t take the spinning and yoga classes. Instead a different workout will be created, incorporating all of the different parts that need to be addressed (Cross training: biking, jump rope and elliptical, core, and stretching).
If you have an extra hour in the day, start exercising. It will do wonders to so many aspects of your life. If you watch TV for 2 hours a day, cut it down to 1. Exercise really is the greatest anti-depressant, and will make you want to drastically change your life.
I’m on a quest to stop watching TV, as it’s just a way to kill some time, and doesn’t really add anything productive to my life. If I want to relax or rest I can read or sleep. Remember we are hunters and gatherers, not sitters and sleepers. We need to continue acquiring knowledge in order to evolve intellectually, and staying fit to prevent decay and stimulate growth.
If you get a chance, check out some of my older journals, you might acquire some bit of knowledge that could change your life.
Take care,
Ryan
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Feb 14, first timed run - 5k
February 14, 2009 Timed 5k
Hey, so it seems that I forego my journals on days that I don’t work out. I’ll try to work on it, maybe talk about the diet aspect of this training regimen.
Anyway, this morning at 8am we had our first timed run. The distance was 5k or approximately 3.1 miles. I started out with the goal of 24 minutes, approximately an 8 minute mile.
I woke up after some pretty good sleep and ate a half vanilla, half chocolate meal replacement shake. This one was a little different as I used hot water so it resembled hot chocolate. They are surprisingly filling. After that I got ready and biked over to the Stanford track and met with the other 50 or so people. There was some extra time so I jogged around, and then we all went on a group jog, stretched and prepared for the timed run.
Before the run there was some serenading by Mayank to coach Amy, from a secret admirer(Somebody hired Mayank to sing to her). It was pretty good song and I could see a lot of the women getting excited and teary eyed.
I began the run with 3 others: Isaiah, Mayank, and Ryan. We ran together for the first mile and a half and then Isaiah took off and left the 3 of us to watch him leave into the distance. A little while after that I began to feel the urge to take off and slowly left Mayank and Ryan. It was really fun, and the mentors and coaches along the course were encouraging and enthusiastic. At one point one of them said, “Good job, it’s like running in the park” and I responded, “yea, a giant park.” That was at around the 2.5 mile point and I was beginning to cramp up a tiny bit, but definitely not willing to stop by any means. The humor definitely helped me escape the ensuing pain for a few moments and helped me before the final turn and straightaway.
It got a little scary when at the last turn because I thought we had to run a lot further than where the ending really was. I was going by my watch and it was at about 21 minutes, expecting to finish around 24. I started lengthening my stride, which took a toll on my breathing, but I knew it had to be over at least sort of soon. I kept looking for Isaiah and the orange cones signifying the finish, but didn’t see them until about 100 yards away. At that point I just started increasing my speed and finished strong. I destroyed my goal of 24 minutes, finishing in 22:10. Isaiah and I walked back, he had finished 40 seconds earlier. Mayank and Ryan finished about 15 seconds later, I’m not really sure when, I was completely drained and just focusing on recovering my breath.
It was a good experience, definitely putting everybody to the task of overcoming physical and mental barriers. I talked with a few people afterward and had some shake, and an antioxidant bar. We stretched and later listened to a person from SMI about stretching and he gave us some really good information. His #1 thing, don’t go in a hot tub or hot bath after exercise because it increases the inflammation. This makes sense, if you ice your body after exertion the body will heal faster, so heat does the opposite. He talked about foam rollers, and how beneficial they are. He had us try them out on part on the IT band, which nobody really stretches. It was excruciatingly painful, but felt really good in a sick kind of way. Apparently, that’s a good thing.
I’m going to buy one of those at the next track workout. The other main points he made are to keep the core in really good shape, and to stretch differently before and after. Before exercise you should do about 2 seconds of stretching, the reason: the muscle will stretch for 2 seconds and then try to contract. It will stop contracting after 25 seconds, but you don’t want to hold it in that position. Therefore after the workout it’s good to stretch for about 40-60 seconds at a time.
It’s amazing how great I feel right now. I have said it before, but the days I workout, I feel absolutely incredible, and the days I don’t, somewhat down. Keep that in mind the next time you don’t feel so great, go do some exercise, it will get you back to equilibrium quickly.
Anyway, I need to go get some stuff done, have a great Saturday, or whenever you read this,
Ryan
Hey, so it seems that I forego my journals on days that I don’t work out. I’ll try to work on it, maybe talk about the diet aspect of this training regimen.
Anyway, this morning at 8am we had our first timed run. The distance was 5k or approximately 3.1 miles. I started out with the goal of 24 minutes, approximately an 8 minute mile.
I woke up after some pretty good sleep and ate a half vanilla, half chocolate meal replacement shake. This one was a little different as I used hot water so it resembled hot chocolate. They are surprisingly filling. After that I got ready and biked over to the Stanford track and met with the other 50 or so people. There was some extra time so I jogged around, and then we all went on a group jog, stretched and prepared for the timed run.
Before the run there was some serenading by Mayank to coach Amy, from a secret admirer(Somebody hired Mayank to sing to her). It was pretty good song and I could see a lot of the women getting excited and teary eyed.
I began the run with 3 others: Isaiah, Mayank, and Ryan. We ran together for the first mile and a half and then Isaiah took off and left the 3 of us to watch him leave into the distance. A little while after that I began to feel the urge to take off and slowly left Mayank and Ryan. It was really fun, and the mentors and coaches along the course were encouraging and enthusiastic. At one point one of them said, “Good job, it’s like running in the park” and I responded, “yea, a giant park.” That was at around the 2.5 mile point and I was beginning to cramp up a tiny bit, but definitely not willing to stop by any means. The humor definitely helped me escape the ensuing pain for a few moments and helped me before the final turn and straightaway.
It got a little scary when at the last turn because I thought we had to run a lot further than where the ending really was. I was going by my watch and it was at about 21 minutes, expecting to finish around 24. I started lengthening my stride, which took a toll on my breathing, but I knew it had to be over at least sort of soon. I kept looking for Isaiah and the orange cones signifying the finish, but didn’t see them until about 100 yards away. At that point I just started increasing my speed and finished strong. I destroyed my goal of 24 minutes, finishing in 22:10. Isaiah and I walked back, he had finished 40 seconds earlier. Mayank and Ryan finished about 15 seconds later, I’m not really sure when, I was completely drained and just focusing on recovering my breath.
It was a good experience, definitely putting everybody to the task of overcoming physical and mental barriers. I talked with a few people afterward and had some shake, and an antioxidant bar. We stretched and later listened to a person from SMI about stretching and he gave us some really good information. His #1 thing, don’t go in a hot tub or hot bath after exercise because it increases the inflammation. This makes sense, if you ice your body after exertion the body will heal faster, so heat does the opposite. He talked about foam rollers, and how beneficial they are. He had us try them out on part on the IT band, which nobody really stretches. It was excruciatingly painful, but felt really good in a sick kind of way. Apparently, that’s a good thing.
I’m going to buy one of those at the next track workout. The other main points he made are to keep the core in really good shape, and to stretch differently before and after. Before exercise you should do about 2 seconds of stretching, the reason: the muscle will stretch for 2 seconds and then try to contract. It will stop contracting after 25 seconds, but you don’t want to hold it in that position. Therefore after the workout it’s good to stretch for about 40-60 seconds at a time.
It’s amazing how great I feel right now. I have said it before, but the days I workout, I feel absolutely incredible, and the days I don’t, somewhat down. Keep that in mind the next time you don’t feel so great, go do some exercise, it will get you back to equilibrium quickly.
Anyway, I need to go get some stuff done, have a great Saturday, or whenever you read this,
Ryan
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Feb 12, 2009 First Thursday Workout
February 12, 2009
Today began with 23 minutes of yoga/stretching. I didn’t quite make the 30 minutes that I set out for. After that I just kind of relaxed. My pecs were kind of sore from the push ups the night before, and I knew that it was necessary to save some of my energy for the track workout tonight.
Not too much happened during the course of the day, had my daily bowl of oatmeal, cleaned up some stuff, had my daily salad. Around 3:30 I rode my bike about 2 miles to help coach a little league baseball team. On the way I stopped and talked to my friend’s mom who happened to be outside their house. The practice was fun, gave some advice, and when that was done went I biked over to Stanford for the workout.
I didn’t know what to expect from the workout as I missed last weeks due to a work conflict. I showed up about 15 minutes early and started jogging. By then it was pretty cold and I’m very glad I brought a beanie, gloves and a jacket. I ran about ¾ of a mile before the program started. We talked for a bit and then were ushered off to run a mile, stretch, and began drills. The drills were surprisingly fun and brought me back to high school morning practices for baseball, though we weren’t forced to run liners until a few unconditioned players gave back their breakfast. The coaches at TNT are a bit nicer.
I am now looking forward to the Thursday night workouts as they will be getting more difficult as the preparation for the marathon heads forward. This coming Saturday will be a timed 5k(3.1 miles). I’m looking forward to seeing what pace I can complete. A few months ago I was running a 5k in roughly 25 minutes, and considering my new diet, being in better shape, and not dealing with the boredom of a treadmill, hopefully my time will increase.
I mentioned the book Younger Next Year last night, and as I read it this morning a few things made sense, and are happening in my life as a result of TNT and a marathon.
#1 Working out in a group.
At the team workouts there are about 40-50 people all doing the same thing, a few people cracking jokes or grunting, but we are a little family. The authors of the book stressed the importance of exercising with a partner or group. It will be this person that drags you out of bed and forces you to exercise some days, others the opposite, or the motivating force to get out and go to the class. I really do enjoy working out on my own, and dictating my own successes, but I also remember the times when my friends would be pushing me that extra 40 yard dash, and trying to beat me(as far as I can remember they never did). Or as a part of that baseball team, running the liners, or miles in 40 degree wet weather, all the while the other schools’ players were probably sleeping. Because there was a dedication to some unknown reward that family was able to accomplish the impossible and the benefits far outweigh the sacrifice. In the TNT and LLS case, we know exactly what we are fighting for, and that’s an even greater feeling, because our efforts are being rewarded on a daily basis. Knowing that everybody out there training is outside their comfort zone, but the sole purpose is to make somebody, somewhere a little more comfortable.
#2 Doing it everyday
I have had the San Diego Marathon in my sights since November 10, 2008. Since that point I have been sick twice, and worked out on average about 4-5 days a week. I have read a marathon book, a diet book, I’m working on a general exercise book, a few running magazines, and talked with numerous people. And while half of this doesn’t even count towards what I consider to be my training, it has all benefited me in some way. The point, every single day I look forward to knowledge and experience that will help me for the rest of my life. From doing yoga a couple times a week to starting spinning for the first and second times and absolutely loving it, these little pieces of my life are going to be the reason that miles 20-26.2 are just another phase(not fun, but necessary), and that I will someday complete the Boston Marathon. I certainly won’t be a frontrunner, but someday I will have that mental image and the physical picture on my wall to prove it.
That’s all for tonight,
Ryan
Today began with 23 minutes of yoga/stretching. I didn’t quite make the 30 minutes that I set out for. After that I just kind of relaxed. My pecs were kind of sore from the push ups the night before, and I knew that it was necessary to save some of my energy for the track workout tonight.
Not too much happened during the course of the day, had my daily bowl of oatmeal, cleaned up some stuff, had my daily salad. Around 3:30 I rode my bike about 2 miles to help coach a little league baseball team. On the way I stopped and talked to my friend’s mom who happened to be outside their house. The practice was fun, gave some advice, and when that was done went I biked over to Stanford for the workout.
I didn’t know what to expect from the workout as I missed last weeks due to a work conflict. I showed up about 15 minutes early and started jogging. By then it was pretty cold and I’m very glad I brought a beanie, gloves and a jacket. I ran about ¾ of a mile before the program started. We talked for a bit and then were ushered off to run a mile, stretch, and began drills. The drills were surprisingly fun and brought me back to high school morning practices for baseball, though we weren’t forced to run liners until a few unconditioned players gave back their breakfast. The coaches at TNT are a bit nicer.
I am now looking forward to the Thursday night workouts as they will be getting more difficult as the preparation for the marathon heads forward. This coming Saturday will be a timed 5k(3.1 miles). I’m looking forward to seeing what pace I can complete. A few months ago I was running a 5k in roughly 25 minutes, and considering my new diet, being in better shape, and not dealing with the boredom of a treadmill, hopefully my time will increase.
I mentioned the book Younger Next Year last night, and as I read it this morning a few things made sense, and are happening in my life as a result of TNT and a marathon.
#1 Working out in a group.
At the team workouts there are about 40-50 people all doing the same thing, a few people cracking jokes or grunting, but we are a little family. The authors of the book stressed the importance of exercising with a partner or group. It will be this person that drags you out of bed and forces you to exercise some days, others the opposite, or the motivating force to get out and go to the class. I really do enjoy working out on my own, and dictating my own successes, but I also remember the times when my friends would be pushing me that extra 40 yard dash, and trying to beat me(as far as I can remember they never did). Or as a part of that baseball team, running the liners, or miles in 40 degree wet weather, all the while the other schools’ players were probably sleeping. Because there was a dedication to some unknown reward that family was able to accomplish the impossible and the benefits far outweigh the sacrifice. In the TNT and LLS case, we know exactly what we are fighting for, and that’s an even greater feeling, because our efforts are being rewarded on a daily basis. Knowing that everybody out there training is outside their comfort zone, but the sole purpose is to make somebody, somewhere a little more comfortable.
#2 Doing it everyday
I have had the San Diego Marathon in my sights since November 10, 2008. Since that point I have been sick twice, and worked out on average about 4-5 days a week. I have read a marathon book, a diet book, I’m working on a general exercise book, a few running magazines, and talked with numerous people. And while half of this doesn’t even count towards what I consider to be my training, it has all benefited me in some way. The point, every single day I look forward to knowledge and experience that will help me for the rest of my life. From doing yoga a couple times a week to starting spinning for the first and second times and absolutely loving it, these little pieces of my life are going to be the reason that miles 20-26.2 are just another phase(not fun, but necessary), and that I will someday complete the Boston Marathon. I certainly won’t be a frontrunner, but someday I will have that mental image and the physical picture on my wall to prove it.
That’s all for tonight,
Ryan
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Feb 11, 2009 Workout and Younger Next Year
February 11, 2009
Today I was still feeling the effects of poor sleep from the other nights. I worked in the morning after my daily oatmeal, and was exhausted by 1pm. As a result I took a nap and felt amazing. I went back to work from 5-9 and then did a good cross training workout for 45 minutes afterward. It’s amazing how much of a workout can be accomplished in such a short amount of time.
I biked for about 10 minutes, did 30 push ups, jumped rope for about 3-4 minutes, went back on the bike for another 5 or so, did more push ups, did 5 minutes of jump roping, did 5 minutes of biking without sitting down, and putting the resistance higher, worked on my core for a little bit, did a bit of stretching and it was done.
I also made a decision that each morning I will do 30 minutes of stretching/yoga upon waking up, and then another 30 minutes before going to bed.
Today I also began reading a book titled, Younger Next Year. It’s for people in their 50’s and 60’s, but I saw it at Borders and thought it would be good to find out what people in that age group are thinking, and what their barriers to exercise and good health are. There are 2 authors, one with a real life experience of becoming younger as a result of exercising and taking better care of himself, and the other is a doctor that focuses on preventative lifestyles, and helps his patients live more fulfilling lives. It’s quite interesting and an easy read. I read about a 1/6 of the book in an hour or so. I’ll pass it along to anybody interested when I finish in the coming days.
They take an evolutionary approach to describing a sustainable life. Here are a few sentences.
Biologically, there is no such thing as retirement, or even aging. There is only growth or decay. And your body looks to you to choose between them. Fast food, sedentary lifestyles, modern stress, loneliness, retirement and old age have no evolutionary basis. Your physical brain does, and it is ancient and primal beyond anything you can imagine.
If you know me, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for. The un-detailed evolution behind why we are who we are. In any case, it’s an awesome book, and I haven’t even scratched the surface.
Hope all is well
Ryan
Today I was still feeling the effects of poor sleep from the other nights. I worked in the morning after my daily oatmeal, and was exhausted by 1pm. As a result I took a nap and felt amazing. I went back to work from 5-9 and then did a good cross training workout for 45 minutes afterward. It’s amazing how much of a workout can be accomplished in such a short amount of time.
I biked for about 10 minutes, did 30 push ups, jumped rope for about 3-4 minutes, went back on the bike for another 5 or so, did more push ups, did 5 minutes of jump roping, did 5 minutes of biking without sitting down, and putting the resistance higher, worked on my core for a little bit, did a bit of stretching and it was done.
I also made a decision that each morning I will do 30 minutes of stretching/yoga upon waking up, and then another 30 minutes before going to bed.
Today I also began reading a book titled, Younger Next Year. It’s for people in their 50’s and 60’s, but I saw it at Borders and thought it would be good to find out what people in that age group are thinking, and what their barriers to exercise and good health are. There are 2 authors, one with a real life experience of becoming younger as a result of exercising and taking better care of himself, and the other is a doctor that focuses on preventative lifestyles, and helps his patients live more fulfilling lives. It’s quite interesting and an easy read. I read about a 1/6 of the book in an hour or so. I’ll pass it along to anybody interested when I finish in the coming days.
They take an evolutionary approach to describing a sustainable life. Here are a few sentences.
Biologically, there is no such thing as retirement, or even aging. There is only growth or decay. And your body looks to you to choose between them. Fast food, sedentary lifestyles, modern stress, loneliness, retirement and old age have no evolutionary basis. Your physical brain does, and it is ancient and primal beyond anything you can imagine.
If you know me, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for. The un-detailed evolution behind why we are who we are. In any case, it’s an awesome book, and I haven’t even scratched the surface.
Hope all is well
Ryan
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Spinning #2, yoga, refried beans, vegetarian diet
February 10, 2009
This morning I woke up and felt amazing(read yesterdays post about sleep if you didn't get a chance). In part due to the spinning and yoga class which tired me beyond belief. Going to sleep at a reasonable hour and receiving a higher quality of sleep certainly helps me function. The second spinning class was much easier and the yoga afterward helped stretch my muscles, ligaments and tendons. Between classes I ate a Usana Oatmeal Raisin bar and changed clothes so that I wouldn’t be hungry and soaked during yoga. Seriously if you’ve never tried spinning, give it a try it might just change your life. One of my coworkers thanked me afterward for suggesting it.
I ate my oatmeal this morning and it kept be sustained for quite some time. Then a salad for lunch after a couple pieces of sourdough bread.
This afternoon I have begun experimenting with legumes. The other day my mom made some refried beans which were incredible, so I decided to try the recipe out. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Pinto beans are an incredible source of fiber and protein with brown rice, not to mention they are probably one of the cheapest products in a store.
I have had quite a few comments about my new vegan/vegetarian diet.
Here are a few reasons that I don’t want to eat meat or drink dairy products:
• The feed for the animals may include the following: soy, corn, other animals, which in itself are not bad, but being fed to animals that should be eating grass, seems pretty inhumane.
• Pesticides and other non-natural additives to food and the feed
• Being in a small pen probably means they don’t get much exercise. Similar to a cubicle (sorry but it had to be stated, if you get up and walk around during the day you’ll feel better) P.S. I’m not calling any of you livestock, just stating my thoughts and opinions.
• The animals may be very sick from eating the above and not exercising
• Milk from sick cows due to not eating grass? You can see why that wouldn’t be healthy
• Bacteria can easily be transmitted in slaughterhouses
• A lack of oversight and quality assurance in many industries(How can they possibly oversee all of the processes)
• Too many handling points between the small pens and the supermarket vendors
• Animal proteins being correlated with higher cases of cancers, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes type I and II. In small doses, not many problems, but…
• The “western” diet is the root cause for most of the above diseases, and the very large consumption of animal proteins is the foundation of the “western” diet.
I understand that other foods have pesticides and additives, which is why I eat organic and locally grown food when available. This also cuts back on emissions due to shipping food thousands of miles.
I consider myself an herbivore with omnivore tendencies.
The refried beans came out really well. They take a few hours to cook, but well worth it. I served it with brown rice and thus ate a complete protein. If you’re interested in the recipe I can post it on one of the future postings.
I will be heading on my run in the next 5 or so minutes, and it should alleviate any stress that has been accumulated during my day of not really doing anything. Sorry to anybody that is stressed. My motto in life is along the lines of: “Why be stressed, it’s really not worth it”
Or you’ve heard of the saying “Don’t worry be happy.” I completely believe in this.
My bullet points took over this journal so I will leave stress to another days topic, soon though as it’s incredibly important to be aware of.
One thing that has become noticeable over the last few weeks is this, when I work out my mood increases like you wouldn’t believe.
Cherish today,
Ryan
This morning I woke up and felt amazing(read yesterdays post about sleep if you didn't get a chance). In part due to the spinning and yoga class which tired me beyond belief. Going to sleep at a reasonable hour and receiving a higher quality of sleep certainly helps me function. The second spinning class was much easier and the yoga afterward helped stretch my muscles, ligaments and tendons. Between classes I ate a Usana Oatmeal Raisin bar and changed clothes so that I wouldn’t be hungry and soaked during yoga. Seriously if you’ve never tried spinning, give it a try it might just change your life. One of my coworkers thanked me afterward for suggesting it.
I ate my oatmeal this morning and it kept be sustained for quite some time. Then a salad for lunch after a couple pieces of sourdough bread.
This afternoon I have begun experimenting with legumes. The other day my mom made some refried beans which were incredible, so I decided to try the recipe out. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Pinto beans are an incredible source of fiber and protein with brown rice, not to mention they are probably one of the cheapest products in a store.
I have had quite a few comments about my new vegan/vegetarian diet.
Here are a few reasons that I don’t want to eat meat or drink dairy products:
• The feed for the animals may include the following: soy, corn, other animals, which in itself are not bad, but being fed to animals that should be eating grass, seems pretty inhumane.
• Pesticides and other non-natural additives to food and the feed
• Being in a small pen probably means they don’t get much exercise. Similar to a cubicle (sorry but it had to be stated, if you get up and walk around during the day you’ll feel better) P.S. I’m not calling any of you livestock, just stating my thoughts and opinions.
• The animals may be very sick from eating the above and not exercising
• Milk from sick cows due to not eating grass? You can see why that wouldn’t be healthy
• Bacteria can easily be transmitted in slaughterhouses
• A lack of oversight and quality assurance in many industries(How can they possibly oversee all of the processes)
• Too many handling points between the small pens and the supermarket vendors
• Animal proteins being correlated with higher cases of cancers, heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes type I and II. In small doses, not many problems, but…
• The “western” diet is the root cause for most of the above diseases, and the very large consumption of animal proteins is the foundation of the “western” diet.
I understand that other foods have pesticides and additives, which is why I eat organic and locally grown food when available. This also cuts back on emissions due to shipping food thousands of miles.
I consider myself an herbivore with omnivore tendencies.
The refried beans came out really well. They take a few hours to cook, but well worth it. I served it with brown rice and thus ate a complete protein. If you’re interested in the recipe I can post it on one of the future postings.
I will be heading on my run in the next 5 or so minutes, and it should alleviate any stress that has been accumulated during my day of not really doing anything. Sorry to anybody that is stressed. My motto in life is along the lines of: “Why be stressed, it’s really not worth it”
Or you’ve heard of the saying “Don’t worry be happy.” I completely believe in this.
My bullet points took over this journal so I will leave stress to another days topic, soon though as it’s incredibly important to be aware of.
One thing that has become noticeable over the last few weeks is this, when I work out my mood increases like you wouldn’t believe.
Cherish today,
Ryan
Good Sleep is your Greatest Ally
February 9, 2009
Sorry for missing yesterday’s journal. I couldn’t think of much to write about and used it as a complete day off. Maybe just lazy, the rest of this journal should explain it.
Today’s topic is sleep and how vital it is to our health.
Saturday and Sunday I found myself lying on the couch, exhausted. Saturday can be explained from running 6 miles and then other activities that simply drained me of my livelihood. This led to lying on the couch, watching tv, and taking short naps until 2:30, going to sleep and then waking up around 8. As a result Sunday I was tired when I woke up and had a few things to accomplish and after they were accomplished, I was back on the couch doing the same thing as Saturday until 12:30. I woke up at 6:45 this morning and was definitely not fully awake. I had some English breakfast tea and went to work at 9:30, after completing roughly half of what I had listed to finish before work. By sleep calculations I should have been well rested because I had been resting from about 7pm until around 7-8, but I certainly did not feel it.
The quality of sleep drastically declined over the last 2 days and as a result, I will be following a strict, no falling asleep on the couch lifestyle change. After 2 straight days of resting and getting horrible nights sleep my body has not been enthusiastic about the morning, which is usually the time of day that I most look forward to.
I’ve noticed that the nights I go to sleep after working out and have not rested are the mornings that I wake up and can tackle the world. I am able to instantly get things done without caffeine and feel invincible and concentrated for at least the first half of the day. I have a natural drop off around 2-3, but considering waking at ~7, this is pretty satisfying.
Usually on the good quality sleep days my mood is better, appetite is sustained, concentration is maxed out, will power is greatest, and have the motivation to tackle various projects will great efficiency. On days like today, my mind is racing trying to accomplish a few tasks but having difficulty. My awareness is lower, and my will power is a fraction of usual, though I will be heading to spinning and yoga later, so hopefully that will help my sleep tonight and get me back on track tomorrow.
Another possibility for my lack of energy is the refined food I ate last night and this morning. My brother makes an incredible sourdough, and it tempts me. In other news I have succeeded in consuming oatmeal and a salad everyday for the last 2+ weeks. And I think the vegan diet is coming along. I feel as though my body is functioning more efficiently and as a result wants to continue the vegan diet.
Sometime in the next week I will be setting up a blogging site with these journals, and also making my diet and exercise patterns available for public view. They may include the following: food consumption, calorie expenditure from exercise and daily activities, weight, and hours of quality sleep, though I can’t promise that it will be daily, or that all of that info will be included. I don’t think that bad sleep should count towards the night’s total.
As I don’t feel too marvelous today, I’m going to leave it at this.
Here are some ways to get good sleep:
• Stay hydrated
• Eat a couple hours before bed, so that you’re body has fully digested everything
• Exercise a few hours before going to bed
• Include good healthy food in your diet
• Lie in bed when you want to sleep, try to avoid reading or other relaxing activities in bed
• Keep naps to a minimum, or at least keep them early.(try power naps)
• Only watch tv for a little while, if at all
• Give yourself 6-9 hours to sleep, not including the time it takes to get to sleep
• Try to avoid caffeine after around 2pm
• Don’t lie awake worrying or stressing over things, in the morning if it’s still an issue you can resume.
Have some good sleep tonight and forever.
Ryan
Sorry for missing yesterday’s journal. I couldn’t think of much to write about and used it as a complete day off. Maybe just lazy, the rest of this journal should explain it.
Today’s topic is sleep and how vital it is to our health.
Saturday and Sunday I found myself lying on the couch, exhausted. Saturday can be explained from running 6 miles and then other activities that simply drained me of my livelihood. This led to lying on the couch, watching tv, and taking short naps until 2:30, going to sleep and then waking up around 8. As a result Sunday I was tired when I woke up and had a few things to accomplish and after they were accomplished, I was back on the couch doing the same thing as Saturday until 12:30. I woke up at 6:45 this morning and was definitely not fully awake. I had some English breakfast tea and went to work at 9:30, after completing roughly half of what I had listed to finish before work. By sleep calculations I should have been well rested because I had been resting from about 7pm until around 7-8, but I certainly did not feel it.
The quality of sleep drastically declined over the last 2 days and as a result, I will be following a strict, no falling asleep on the couch lifestyle change. After 2 straight days of resting and getting horrible nights sleep my body has not been enthusiastic about the morning, which is usually the time of day that I most look forward to.
I’ve noticed that the nights I go to sleep after working out and have not rested are the mornings that I wake up and can tackle the world. I am able to instantly get things done without caffeine and feel invincible and concentrated for at least the first half of the day. I have a natural drop off around 2-3, but considering waking at ~7, this is pretty satisfying.
Usually on the good quality sleep days my mood is better, appetite is sustained, concentration is maxed out, will power is greatest, and have the motivation to tackle various projects will great efficiency. On days like today, my mind is racing trying to accomplish a few tasks but having difficulty. My awareness is lower, and my will power is a fraction of usual, though I will be heading to spinning and yoga later, so hopefully that will help my sleep tonight and get me back on track tomorrow.
Another possibility for my lack of energy is the refined food I ate last night and this morning. My brother makes an incredible sourdough, and it tempts me. In other news I have succeeded in consuming oatmeal and a salad everyday for the last 2+ weeks. And I think the vegan diet is coming along. I feel as though my body is functioning more efficiently and as a result wants to continue the vegan diet.
Sometime in the next week I will be setting up a blogging site with these journals, and also making my diet and exercise patterns available for public view. They may include the following: food consumption, calorie expenditure from exercise and daily activities, weight, and hours of quality sleep, though I can’t promise that it will be daily, or that all of that info will be included. I don’t think that bad sleep should count towards the night’s total.
As I don’t feel too marvelous today, I’m going to leave it at this.
Here are some ways to get good sleep:
• Stay hydrated
• Eat a couple hours before bed, so that you’re body has fully digested everything
• Exercise a few hours before going to bed
• Include good healthy food in your diet
• Lie in bed when you want to sleep, try to avoid reading or other relaxing activities in bed
• Keep naps to a minimum, or at least keep them early.(try power naps)
• Only watch tv for a little while, if at all
• Give yourself 6-9 hours to sleep, not including the time it takes to get to sleep
• Try to avoid caffeine after around 2pm
• Don’t lie awake worrying or stressing over things, in the morning if it’s still an issue you can resume.
Have some good sleep tonight and forever.
Ryan
First TNT Saturday Run
February 7, 2009
This morning I woke up at 7am, and had to somewhat rush to get ready. I drank a Usana strawberry meal replacement shake, and it certainly gave me quick energy without bogging me down with digestion. I accumulated some clothing and my bike and my mom drove me the majority of the way.
Today all the runners in the Mid-Peninsula(Silicon Valley) and North-Peninsula(San mateoish) met at Stanford around 8am for our first longer training run.
It was pretty chilly at the beginning but as the blood started flowing, and the sun made more of a presence the morning became quite pleasant. Our warm up consisted of approximately a half mile and then stretching. They split the runners into 2 groups, 3 miles and 6 miles. They suggested that people running the San Diego full marathon do the 6 miles, so I ushered myself to that group.
We began our run, and I somehow ended up near the front of the pack. We were on a 3 mile loop, and one of the runners at my pace was a captain, we kept a solid 9 minute pace. The run was nice, running along El Camino and passing by the Stanford fields and Palo Alto High School, then along a trail and through Stanford campus, and then did it again. On the second loop, as we approached the turn El Camino the sun really beamed down and provided some necessary heat.
I talked to the captain Romelie for a while, and she decided to head back and talk with another runner, so I was kind of left to myself, though 2 other runners had caught up and I just listened in on some of their conversation.
An excellent thing about Team in Training is that everybody is enthusiastic and willing to help. Plus you can learn from just about everybody. I never really felt fatigued until the last mile, but by then I knew we were really close so I just continued as if it were my duty to complete at the same pace. Plus the fatigue was minimal. Another loop could have been completed, but it certainly wouldn’t have been ideal.
Upon arriving at the finish, I was greeted by cheering and enthusiasm. It was very nice, and I can only imagine what it will feel like at the end of 26.2 miles and thousands of enthusiastic onlookers. Hopefully the training will enable me to truly enjoy the marathon experience and not feel terrible when I complete, and be able to enjoy the remainder of the day, and the next week where I plan to lie on the beach and relax.
The only problem I faced during the morning was post workout. I noticed that the food being offered was mostly refined carbs and juice drinks. While I did dabble in some of the grapefruit juice, which surprisingly wasn’t too sour, it should be noted that if you eat a piece of fruit or some other whole food, your body will probably process it slightly more efficiently. Immediately after finishing I ate an oatmeal raisin usana bar, and to this point(about an hour and a half later) haven’t been hit with any hunger. I’m assuming that the meal replacement shake this morning is still active in my system. I stretched for what felt like 25 minutes, but also know that the people who didn’t stretch afterwards and went straight to the food may feel some additional soreness. Yoga has taught me to keep it slow, steady and long term.
I’m planning to post these journals on a blog, but probably won’t get around to it until next week.
If you haven’t read my other journals, and are interested let me know and I can send them to you. Also, if you’re interested in forwarding these messages to anybody, please go ahead.
Anybody that has any nutritional advice, or is looking for some, I want to set up a separate blog concerning nutritional information.
Read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, it has drastically changed my life and I feel better because of it.
This is something that Plato said:
“We shall eat animals only at our own peril”
Here are some of my day-to-day goals
• Not drink alcohol for the entire training period from a few weeks ago until the marathon
• Eat meat sparingly
• Have at least 1 salad per day
• Consume less dairy products
• Sleep 7-9 hours per night
• Read everyday
Have a great Saturday,
Ryan
This morning I woke up at 7am, and had to somewhat rush to get ready. I drank a Usana strawberry meal replacement shake, and it certainly gave me quick energy without bogging me down with digestion. I accumulated some clothing and my bike and my mom drove me the majority of the way.
Today all the runners in the Mid-Peninsula(Silicon Valley) and North-Peninsula(San mateoish) met at Stanford around 8am for our first longer training run.
It was pretty chilly at the beginning but as the blood started flowing, and the sun made more of a presence the morning became quite pleasant. Our warm up consisted of approximately a half mile and then stretching. They split the runners into 2 groups, 3 miles and 6 miles. They suggested that people running the San Diego full marathon do the 6 miles, so I ushered myself to that group.
We began our run, and I somehow ended up near the front of the pack. We were on a 3 mile loop, and one of the runners at my pace was a captain, we kept a solid 9 minute pace. The run was nice, running along El Camino and passing by the Stanford fields and Palo Alto High School, then along a trail and through Stanford campus, and then did it again. On the second loop, as we approached the turn El Camino the sun really beamed down and provided some necessary heat.
I talked to the captain Romelie for a while, and she decided to head back and talk with another runner, so I was kind of left to myself, though 2 other runners had caught up and I just listened in on some of their conversation.
An excellent thing about Team in Training is that everybody is enthusiastic and willing to help. Plus you can learn from just about everybody. I never really felt fatigued until the last mile, but by then I knew we were really close so I just continued as if it were my duty to complete at the same pace. Plus the fatigue was minimal. Another loop could have been completed, but it certainly wouldn’t have been ideal.
Upon arriving at the finish, I was greeted by cheering and enthusiasm. It was very nice, and I can only imagine what it will feel like at the end of 26.2 miles and thousands of enthusiastic onlookers. Hopefully the training will enable me to truly enjoy the marathon experience and not feel terrible when I complete, and be able to enjoy the remainder of the day, and the next week where I plan to lie on the beach and relax.
The only problem I faced during the morning was post workout. I noticed that the food being offered was mostly refined carbs and juice drinks. While I did dabble in some of the grapefruit juice, which surprisingly wasn’t too sour, it should be noted that if you eat a piece of fruit or some other whole food, your body will probably process it slightly more efficiently. Immediately after finishing I ate an oatmeal raisin usana bar, and to this point(about an hour and a half later) haven’t been hit with any hunger. I’m assuming that the meal replacement shake this morning is still active in my system. I stretched for what felt like 25 minutes, but also know that the people who didn’t stretch afterwards and went straight to the food may feel some additional soreness. Yoga has taught me to keep it slow, steady and long term.
I’m planning to post these journals on a blog, but probably won’t get around to it until next week.
If you haven’t read my other journals, and are interested let me know and I can send them to you. Also, if you’re interested in forwarding these messages to anybody, please go ahead.
Anybody that has any nutritional advice, or is looking for some, I want to set up a separate blog concerning nutritional information.
Read The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, it has drastically changed my life and I feel better because of it.
This is something that Plato said:
“We shall eat animals only at our own peril”
Here are some of my day-to-day goals
• Not drink alcohol for the entire training period from a few weeks ago until the marathon
• Eat meat sparingly
• Have at least 1 salad per day
• Consume less dairy products
• Sleep 7-9 hours per night
• Read everyday
Have a great Saturday,
Ryan
What Motivates You?
February 6, 2009
As today is an off-day from training I will keep the topic away from physical training and focus this journal on the mental side which will address something that is often overlooked during achieving goals and in everyday life.
Motivation. What exactly is it? Why is it important? Who creates or distributes it? When does it play a role?
It is something that keeps us on whatever path we may be headed towards. Whether positively or negatively influenced, it plays a vital role in our success or failure. Other words that come to mind are pressure, expectations, doubt, failure and many others. While these words are not all synonymous with motivation each can be the motivating factor for setting and achieving goals, or unfortunately the reason for disappointment.
I’ll give you some of my motivations for the often strange and unconventional decision making that certainly makes me an individual, yet just another part of society.
In middle school I was consuming numerous sodas and fairly toxic food, and after discussing this with my doctor he pretty much told me that if I didn’t change my diet I WOULD get type II diabetes. At the time I didn’t really know what diabetes was, just that it isn’t something to strive for. During this time, I was playing numerous sports per season, and probably in the best shape of my life(until now), also in the state of mind of being invincible. However I decided to change my diet and am happy for it as childhood obesity rates are skyrocketing and the obvious research is all pointing to diet and exercise as the main contributors. So that was about 9 years ago, since then my soda consumption has been limited to mixed drinks(which honestly, taste terrible, shots without chasers is how I roll), and now my nutritional habits are similar to that of well… a commune hippie. Maybe they all had it figured out, just that society wasn’t willing to accept that a bunch of unconventional types could be right. Don’t ask me, ask the government and media, actually don’t.
My motivation was a doctor who was truly concerned about my health and therefore led me on a path that kept me away from degenerative disease and towards a sustainable life.
During college, I did my fair share of binge drinking. I hope no photos surface. What I began realizing as I distanced myself from the freshman fifteen that was actually eighteen(whose counting), it began dawning on me that maybe my diet was terrible and leading me to feel lethargic and more of a waste of space than a contributing factor. My friends can tell you that I go through phases of substance non-use, and during these times my body rewarded me by feeling incredible, exercising daily, no anxiety, but due to peer pressure or boredom, or other factors I would stray from the motivating force of feeling on top of the world and dwell deep into the cave of apathy and poor self analysis. These periods were usually followed by another non-use period, where I felt incredible. Is this anyway to live a healthy and happy life? I think not, stay on the incredible side. We’ve all heard that moderation is a key to life, but when is the last time you didn’t over drink during the last 6 months? Or can honestly say that everything you’re doing for your body is beneficial. I certainly could not until recently.
I challenge each of you to look over every aspect of your lives and look for bad habits and postpone them for an entire 6 months and then determine if they are really worth continuing. I bet you’ll find something that you can do instead that is probably going to improve your life and lead to a happier and healthier life. Find the positive in stopping the negative. Life is a balancing act, be the gold medal gymnast, not the drunken bull rider.
These bad habits can include the following:
• Smoking
• Drinking
• Too little sleep
• Fast Food
• Drinking soda(stop, it’s depleting your bones of calcium, and pumping you full of acid)
• Postponing exercise until a later date(if you start today, you’ll feel better tomorrow)
• Being stressed over something, just let it go, it’s really not worth it.
You don’t have to go as extreme as cutting it off completely, but realize that everyday that you’re doing any of the above or parts of a list that isn’t mentioned, your body isn’t as happy as it could be. Self analysis is key.
To sum it up, my motivation for the last few months has been to live a sustainable life. By sustainable I am not referring to the green movement which I fully agree with, I mean that everything I do can be continued with pure happiness, without guilt, and done EVERYDAY.
Is your life sustainable?
If you’re interested in changing something for the better in your life, I and others are there to support you. One of my goals in life is to positively impact peoples’ lives. The hardest part is the first step, after that it’s just finding the motivation to continue. There’s plenty of support out there.
Have a great day,
Ryan
As today is an off-day from training I will keep the topic away from physical training and focus this journal on the mental side which will address something that is often overlooked during achieving goals and in everyday life.
Motivation. What exactly is it? Why is it important? Who creates or distributes it? When does it play a role?
It is something that keeps us on whatever path we may be headed towards. Whether positively or negatively influenced, it plays a vital role in our success or failure. Other words that come to mind are pressure, expectations, doubt, failure and many others. While these words are not all synonymous with motivation each can be the motivating factor for setting and achieving goals, or unfortunately the reason for disappointment.
I’ll give you some of my motivations for the often strange and unconventional decision making that certainly makes me an individual, yet just another part of society.
In middle school I was consuming numerous sodas and fairly toxic food, and after discussing this with my doctor he pretty much told me that if I didn’t change my diet I WOULD get type II diabetes. At the time I didn’t really know what diabetes was, just that it isn’t something to strive for. During this time, I was playing numerous sports per season, and probably in the best shape of my life(until now), also in the state of mind of being invincible. However I decided to change my diet and am happy for it as childhood obesity rates are skyrocketing and the obvious research is all pointing to diet and exercise as the main contributors. So that was about 9 years ago, since then my soda consumption has been limited to mixed drinks(which honestly, taste terrible, shots without chasers is how I roll), and now my nutritional habits are similar to that of well… a commune hippie. Maybe they all had it figured out, just that society wasn’t willing to accept that a bunch of unconventional types could be right. Don’t ask me, ask the government and media, actually don’t.
My motivation was a doctor who was truly concerned about my health and therefore led me on a path that kept me away from degenerative disease and towards a sustainable life.
During college, I did my fair share of binge drinking. I hope no photos surface. What I began realizing as I distanced myself from the freshman fifteen that was actually eighteen(whose counting), it began dawning on me that maybe my diet was terrible and leading me to feel lethargic and more of a waste of space than a contributing factor. My friends can tell you that I go through phases of substance non-use, and during these times my body rewarded me by feeling incredible, exercising daily, no anxiety, but due to peer pressure or boredom, or other factors I would stray from the motivating force of feeling on top of the world and dwell deep into the cave of apathy and poor self analysis. These periods were usually followed by another non-use period, where I felt incredible. Is this anyway to live a healthy and happy life? I think not, stay on the incredible side. We’ve all heard that moderation is a key to life, but when is the last time you didn’t over drink during the last 6 months? Or can honestly say that everything you’re doing for your body is beneficial. I certainly could not until recently.
I challenge each of you to look over every aspect of your lives and look for bad habits and postpone them for an entire 6 months and then determine if they are really worth continuing. I bet you’ll find something that you can do instead that is probably going to improve your life and lead to a happier and healthier life. Find the positive in stopping the negative. Life is a balancing act, be the gold medal gymnast, not the drunken bull rider.
These bad habits can include the following:
• Smoking
• Drinking
• Too little sleep
• Fast Food
• Drinking soda(stop, it’s depleting your bones of calcium, and pumping you full of acid)
• Postponing exercise until a later date(if you start today, you’ll feel better tomorrow)
• Being stressed over something, just let it go, it’s really not worth it.
You don’t have to go as extreme as cutting it off completely, but realize that everyday that you’re doing any of the above or parts of a list that isn’t mentioned, your body isn’t as happy as it could be. Self analysis is key.
To sum it up, my motivation for the last few months has been to live a sustainable life. By sustainable I am not referring to the green movement which I fully agree with, I mean that everything I do can be continued with pure happiness, without guilt, and done EVERYDAY.
Is your life sustainable?
If you’re interested in changing something for the better in your life, I and others are there to support you. One of my goals in life is to positively impact peoples’ lives. The hardest part is the first step, after that it’s just finding the motivation to continue. There’s plenty of support out there.
Have a great day,
Ryan
The Muscles nobody likes to exercise
Feb 5, 2009
It’s hard to do exercises that you don’t want to do. For instance, I had to alter the training schedule for this week because of a work conflict. Therefore I am taking 2 days off from running, but will be working my core and other parts of my body tonight. So far, it’s not too fun. I’m not sure if it’s because my core is weak right now, or if it’s just one of those muscle groups that is never fun to train.
Saturday is a timed 5K, approximately 3 miles; my goal is to finish in less than 24 minutes. Our training groups will be set off of these workouts, and I guess I should just suck it up and try as hard as possible. After all, Boston won’t just happen on its own.
On a positive note, my newfound diet is still going strong, oatmeal every morning, healthy snacks(usually an apple and Usana bar) at brunch, a salad for lunch, more healthy snacks, and then another salad and something else for dinner.
I highly suggest trying out this diet, it might seem weird eating oatmeal everyday and pretty bland, but if you prepare it like I do(Daily Journal Feb 3), it’s quite good. Plus, who doesn’t like a good salad. And best of all, your body will be so happy, that it will reward you with more energy and wanting to eat healthier. Another plus is that when you do eat unhealthy things, your body rejects them and makes you feel terrible. It’s food evolution. Everyday I notice that cravings for unhealthy food become less noticeable. I assume it’s because my body now knows what it feels like to be healthy. The last 2 weeks have been a true cleansing, and over the next 4 months I can only assume that my body will be even more efficient. I can’t wait to enjoy the feeling of even a month from now. Survival of the healthy good food!
BRB more core, hopefully it will click and I’ll begin loving working out my abs. For some reason it’s only the abs, not the oblique muscles. Don’t get me wrong, I love how they feel afterwards, it’s just during that is the burden.
The easiest way to get through the workout is to think about how amazing it will feel when you’re done. However, I think it won’t be as bad once the muscle group is well-trained and feels less of a strain on each rep. Therefore I figure, do the workouts until you’re suffering so that the next time it won’t feel as bad. Haha, that’s terrible, and definitely not motivating in the instant gratification point of view, but we’re teaching our bodies to feel good in the long run.
Some things to think about when training and setting long term goals.
• Weight comes off the body proportionately, aka don’t expect if you do abs, that all the fat is coming off the belly.
• Try to cut out bad habits, and cut back on alcohol consumption. I’ve never heard of a benefit to drinking during training as it dehydrates your body, and fills you up with empty calories.
• Make sure you stretch after exercising, otherwise everything you accomplished will go to waste. Learn to love stretching
• STAY HYDRATED(if I’m repeating things, it’s because they are important, I said this yesterday)
• Find a training partner, but make sure you are both pushing each other to accomplish the long term goals.
• Have short term goals that will lead you on the path towards the ultimate goal.
• But once you have reached the ultimate goal, don’t stop, set another ultimate goal.
Right now my ultimate physical goals are to run in the Boston Marathon, and finish a triathlon. I’m planning to do these by the time I am 30, so I’ve got about 7 years. Maybe do a Century ride before then also(that’s 100 miles biking).
Eat healthy, live happy, remain stress-free,
Ryan
It’s hard to do exercises that you don’t want to do. For instance, I had to alter the training schedule for this week because of a work conflict. Therefore I am taking 2 days off from running, but will be working my core and other parts of my body tonight. So far, it’s not too fun. I’m not sure if it’s because my core is weak right now, or if it’s just one of those muscle groups that is never fun to train.
Saturday is a timed 5K, approximately 3 miles; my goal is to finish in less than 24 minutes. Our training groups will be set off of these workouts, and I guess I should just suck it up and try as hard as possible. After all, Boston won’t just happen on its own.
On a positive note, my newfound diet is still going strong, oatmeal every morning, healthy snacks(usually an apple and Usana bar) at brunch, a salad for lunch, more healthy snacks, and then another salad and something else for dinner.
I highly suggest trying out this diet, it might seem weird eating oatmeal everyday and pretty bland, but if you prepare it like I do(Daily Journal Feb 3), it’s quite good. Plus, who doesn’t like a good salad. And best of all, your body will be so happy, that it will reward you with more energy and wanting to eat healthier. Another plus is that when you do eat unhealthy things, your body rejects them and makes you feel terrible. It’s food evolution. Everyday I notice that cravings for unhealthy food become less noticeable. I assume it’s because my body now knows what it feels like to be healthy. The last 2 weeks have been a true cleansing, and over the next 4 months I can only assume that my body will be even more efficient. I can’t wait to enjoy the feeling of even a month from now. Survival of the healthy good food!
BRB more core, hopefully it will click and I’ll begin loving working out my abs. For some reason it’s only the abs, not the oblique muscles. Don’t get me wrong, I love how they feel afterwards, it’s just during that is the burden.
The easiest way to get through the workout is to think about how amazing it will feel when you’re done. However, I think it won’t be as bad once the muscle group is well-trained and feels less of a strain on each rep. Therefore I figure, do the workouts until you’re suffering so that the next time it won’t feel as bad. Haha, that’s terrible, and definitely not motivating in the instant gratification point of view, but we’re teaching our bodies to feel good in the long run.
Some things to think about when training and setting long term goals.
• Weight comes off the body proportionately, aka don’t expect if you do abs, that all the fat is coming off the belly.
• Try to cut out bad habits, and cut back on alcohol consumption. I’ve never heard of a benefit to drinking during training as it dehydrates your body, and fills you up with empty calories.
• Make sure you stretch after exercising, otherwise everything you accomplished will go to waste. Learn to love stretching
• STAY HYDRATED(if I’m repeating things, it’s because they are important, I said this yesterday)
• Find a training partner, but make sure you are both pushing each other to accomplish the long term goals.
• Have short term goals that will lead you on the path towards the ultimate goal.
• But once you have reached the ultimate goal, don’t stop, set another ultimate goal.
Right now my ultimate physical goals are to run in the Boston Marathon, and finish a triathlon. I’m planning to do these by the time I am 30, so I’ve got about 7 years. Maybe do a Century ride before then also(that’s 100 miles biking).
Eat healthy, live happy, remain stress-free,
Ryan
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