New routine, Goals, Join me in October for SJ RNR Half Marathon

A new routine. For this next week I plan to wake up around 6am and get my exercise done during the early morning, then I can feel great the rest of the day, and choose to work out later if I want. This also forces me to go to sleep earlier than usual.

There are some obvious trends for healthy individuals. Getting enough sleep, eating healthy foods, exercising daily. This means getting to sleep at a reasonable hour, having a good idea of what’s to eat during the day, having a schedule, and having enough energy to exercise efficiently each day.

My new routine will include spinning on Wednesdays and weight training on Monday and Wednesday. I did spinning today for about 45 minutes on my own and it was incredible, being able to dictate my own results. It seemed much easier than the hour with the teacher on Monday’s, and it is nice to be in charge of one’s own workout. After the spinning I stretched my legs and then started on an upper body routine that lasted about 45 minutes. Today was chest and triceps, nothing too extreme as I don’t want to overload my body with muscle, just make sure that all those muscles don’t disintegrate from non-use.

This morning I had my oatmeal with some shake and fiber powder, for snacks I consumed an orange, apple and half a bar before working out and then the other half after finishing. When I got home I had 2 pieces of toast with peanut butter and another shake that included 2 scoops of shake, 1 of fiber, some oatmeal and a banana all blended together with some soy milk. It was really good and filling.

One other interesting thing I’ve noticed as a result of exercising all the time is that I only marginally enjoy music during exercise. It used to be a necessity, but since Team in Training has outlawed mp3’s and headphones it’s become natural to avoid excess distractions. It’s nice when there is music in the weight room, if it helps you, but bad music is detrimental to any workout, and often leads to a lack of caring and wanting to plainly get out quickly. This is why personal mp3’s are nice, but also only if the headphones and cords are tolerable, and don’t provide too much distraction. Time spent shuffling through songs is precious time to be exercising and ultimately traveling home after a great quick workout. Shuffling through songs is horrible and should be avoided at all costs, get a play list and leave it alone. Maybe skip to the next song, but don’t worry about choosing.

Have a goal and then find a new one, before you even finish the first one. Most recently I’ve been talking to a friend I used to work out with almost everyday, and we’re going to start getting into duathlons (biking, running events). I by no means have completed the marathon, and still have about 10 weeks of training, but now I’m getting better at cycling and as stated before will be doing it twice a week, not including the daily biking I do as transportation. I also have a friend who has offered to train me to ride a century ride (100 miles biking) which I plan to complete in the near future. Then maybe from there do a duathlon of half marathon and 50 miles biking. Who knows, the point is, keep striving to better yourself and the results will continue to pile one. The other day some people thought I was in high school, which is a complement since I am 5 years out of high school. I feel like high school was yesterday and I’m in way better shape now than then.

If anybody is interested, I will be running the San Jose Rock and Roll Half Marathon on October 2, 2009. I have a cousin who I’m pretty sure is running it as well, and I will be doing my best to persuade a bunch of family to join us. A group of 10 people would be absolutely awesome. I encourage anybody who wants to change their life to just do it, you have about 6.5 months to train which is way more than enough, even if you start next month.

I can promise you that it will be the best you’ve ever felt in the last 20-40 years once you complete it (assuming no injuries and other problems). You’ll love yourself, and you will be hooked to exercise, which is the most important thing as the years tack on.

Give it a thought, and make the decision in the next 2 months, it will be a good time.

Have a great day,
Ryan