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