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Get Fit Slowly

physical fitness that makes sense

My First 10-MilerToday

Saturday morning, after Pam’s weekly long run with her running group, we went out to lunch with another family.  We hit the local Chinese buffet restaurant.  I ate a big, unhealthy meal and felt totally crappy afterward.  I hadn’t eaten at a place like that in a long time and my body didn’t like me at all.  I also didn’t run on Friday so I needed to get a workout in.  Dutifully, Pam and I drove separately to the restaurant so that I could go to the gym after lunch and she could take the kids home for their nap.  At some point during the morning, I told Pam that I wanted to run for an hour–and that since the NFL playoffs were on TV at the gym, I could coax my body into staying on the treadmill that long.

So I left the restaurant burping up Chinese food and MSG, dreading my run at the gym.  I got there and the game had just started so I did too.  I don’t run for an hour very often so I had a plan to get myself through it.  I would run for 2 miles, and then walk for 3 minutes.  I did this 3 times in the hour and when it was over I didn’t feel badly at all.  So I kept going.  By the time half time was over, I had been on the treadmill for 1 hour and 42 minutes and had run my first 10-miler ever!

I ran those last 4 miles in 40 minutes.  My pulse averaged 160 bpm during the course of my run with a maximum of 176.  I was definitely working hard, but my lungs felt great the whole time–I didn’t feel winded at all.  Because my body isn�

What I Ate TodayYesterday

So, one day of logging everything that I ate is in the books. It’s only 7:40 in the evening, so I may have another cup of yogurt or another string cheese or something…But you get the idea. Taking a look at the bar graph and you’ll see that my diet is too high in fat and too low in protein, but the carbs are just about right. It’s so hard for me to find easy to eat high protein foods that don’t involve throwing a steak on the grill. I might have to investigate some protein powder supplementation. What do you guys do to get your protein?

I also ran 4 miles in 36 minutes on my treadmill and immediately ate a handful of nuts and a string cheese to replenish the calories lost.  I don’t think I ate enough today, but I still feel like I was eating all day.  That’s a good thing though, right?

Lack Of Sleep May Lead To Hard ArteriesYesterday

I just read a recent article in the LA Times that provided a link between a lack of sleep and an increased risk of artery hardening.  According to the article, over a 5 year study, 27% of people who slept less than 5 hours a night had coronary artery thickening.  12% of those who slept between 5 and 7 hours a night had hardening while only 6% of those who slept more than 7 hours per night had artery hardening.

Researchers aren’t sure as to the reason behind the correlation.  However, they do speculate as to some possible reasons.  First, your blood pressure is higher when you’re awake.  If you spend more time awake than you should, then your average blood pressure may be high enough to cause some hardening of your arteries.  Another possible reason may be due to stress.  Stressed out people tend to sleep less, eat poorly, and exercise less.  All of these things also contribute to artery hardening.  Stress also increases blood pressure and levels of a hormone called cortisol which has been shown to cause similar effects.

Whether or not this study is repeated later–it was a very small study that definitely needs some more work–getting enough sleep is a very important aspect of being fit.  Inadequate sleep has been linked to health problems such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.  Health benefits aside, I like to get enough sleep for one simple reason.  I like to sleep!

Mac’s 2009 Health And Fitness GoalsJanuary 5

I guess I’ve been silent long enough. That time of the year is hear again. It seems everyone under the sun–from fitness blogs, to news agencies, to the local rag–all have articles where people are listing their New Year’s Resolutions. Inevitably, they deal with diet, health and fitness. I’ve read somewhere that 50% of resolutions fail within the first month and that they mainly do so because people aren’t specific enough with their goals and they don’t set up a plausible plan of action (POA) to achieve said goals. Goals such as I’d like to lose weight, get in better shape, or become a better person don’t have a lot of teeth to them and so they’re easy to forget about. I don’t want to fall in to that trap so I’m going to tell you about a few very specific goals I have for the upcoming year. But first, let’s talk about some of the progress I’ve made. In the past year I’ve:

• lost 22 pounds
• decreased my body fat by 6%
• went from a non-runner to a frequent runner
• competed in my first 10K race and 2 other organized races of shorter distances
• took my shirt off at the beach and didn’t worry about it

I didn’t accomplish all of the goals that I set for myself in 2008.  For example, I thought I would have reached my goal weight by this time.  Instead, I’m only about half way there.  I also would have liked to have been a little more consistent with my blog posting last year.  I

Thoughts on 2008, Goals for 2009January 1

At the start of 2008, I set an ambitious goal for myself. I weighed 207 pounds with 33% body fat. I decided that I wanted to lose 40 pounds by the end of the year. It didn’t happen.

First of all, it took me a long time to get started toward my fitness goals. I mostly sat around and wrote about getting fit instead of doing anything about it. It wasn’t until a Get Fit Slowly reader prodded me into action that I was able to get off my butt and get to the gym.

Two steps forward, one step back
For several months, I did well. I exercised. I tried to watch my food intake. (I ate healthfully for me, but that’s not saying a lot.) By mid-summer, I had dropped 20 pounds and was down to 26% body fat.

Then, of course, I injured myself while training for the marathon. Several of you &madsh; most notably Greenman2001 — cautioned me that I was ignoring the “slowly” part of my mantra. I didn’t heed your warnings. Instead, I kept plowing ahead.

When a family health crisis occurred and my nagging injury did not improve, I lost my focus. I was able to tread water for a couple of months, but by November I was starting to put on weight. Now, at the end of the year, I’m back up to 197 pounds and 31% body fat.

It would be easy to become frustrated by this turn of events. Actually, however, I’m pleased. Sure, I wish I’d kept off the weight I’d lost, but look at the net gain for 2008. I lost 10 pounds.