Blog Nine - Milestone(s)

To be more correct, five (5) milestone! Did a cycle routine (random hill) at an easy level but for a scheduled 15 minutes. In that time I maintained an average speed of 20.9 mph. I pushed myself to complete 5 miles before the timer elapsed which, I might add, required me to really push hard. Little did I know the program (routine) also include a two (2) minute cool down period. But the accomplishment was 15+ minutes on the bicycle without major ass pain.

Woohoo!

I'm still doing strength training at each visit. I'm also getting into a good job of rotating the number of daily gym visits. For instance, today I did only one visit. Tomorrow I'll be going twice. I think Wednesdays will be my regular day off no matter what.

Additionally I've gotten the missus to start joining me. She'll need time to acclimate to regular exercise as I did but I think she's looking at me as a symbol of encouragement. Or maybe it is feminine defiance in the face of male accomplishment. After all, "anything he can do I can do better" is not a thought far from the core of her being. It is that backbone of hers I love the most - well the rest of her body is kind of hot as well so now I'll just take that back. (PS: She doesn't read this blog btw!!!)

Blog Eight - Walls or Safety

One of the things I found myself considering today is at what point am I punking myself? I have been getting pretty regular with my exercise (woohoo!) but today I found myself not into the rhythm of it. Was forcing myself on the cycle and at that was not performing at the level I have been. Then when I got to my second phase of exercising I got through one complete set of dumbbells and then I simply quit at the next set. I got up and left the gym entirely. 

The thing that I feel is that my body said, too much - stop now or you'll regret it. But I worry that perhaps I gave up too easily. Thus when hitting the proverbial "wall" is this preventing harm to myself or preventing me from becoming a better person. After all, my body has had two decades without real exercise (I mean dedicated regimen) so do I trust it to make these decisions or should I continue onward via pure will & determination?

Today, I trust it.

Tomorrow?

Blog Seven - 2 More Weeks Later

Interesting development, I aggravated my old acid reflux problem. It wasn't giving me heartburn but it was causing me slight palpitations and a throbbing pain. This would become more pronounced as I exercised. Given my current health is it any surprise that I would get worried that I was pushing myself into some sort of cardiac incident?

However my primary care (She's a nurse practitioner - ironically nicer to deal with than 99% of all doctors I've met!) gave me another look over, an ekg just to be sure, and gave me something for the acid reflux. She also gave me two bits of good news: First, my ekg was better than hers (!) and that I have successfully reduced myself close to 300 lbs. "Significant weight loss" was her words.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier but I don't know how much I weigh nor have I been looking at my chart when the office weighs me as well. Goal identification is as important as goal accomplishment. I know that my goal is not weight loss but lifestyle change. The weight loss is a secondary benefit.

So many people I know focus on the numbers and not the process. When the numbers don't meet their hopes or expectations, defeatism starts to creep in. My only failure(s) is not a few pounds gained or lost but not trying. And yes, I will trip and lay on the ground a bit to catch my breath but I believe that I will always (at some point) get back up again and go right back to it.

Well, when I put my mind to it that is.