.
marylin monroe
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Are you average?
I know a lot of people women who are trying to lose weight. And what I have come to realize while interacting with these women, is that we { including yours truly}have a set image or a number in terms of kgs in our mind as to what is a healthy weight or how a healthy person looks or how you want to look. It is a good thing, to have goals, to have a target which you can work towards. But the
How To Lose A Couple Hundred Pounds
Hey everyone, I don't have much time at the moment, but I wanted to get this link up. Fitness guru, personal trainer, and Ironman triathlete Ben Greenfield interviewed me on his most recent podcast. I'm a fan of Ben's and I was really honored to be interviewed by him.
The Interview is extremely personal. It's one thing to write about weight loss, or post some before and after pictures, but to talk about my fears, how I felt, and what life was like before...well, it was hard to talk about and hard to listen to. It's important though. Obesity is a problem and it's one we need to talk about. People need to know that you can live through it. Anyway, please be sure to give my interview a listen...
The Interview is extremely personal. It's one thing to write about weight loss, or post some before and after pictures, but to talk about my fears, how I felt, and what life was like before...well, it was hard to talk about and hard to listen to. It's important though. Obesity is a problem and it's one we need to talk about. People need to know that you can live through it. Anyway, please be sure to give my interview a listen...
Who is this prachi??
I can't recognise her.
The one who is actually feeling so bummed for missing a workout!
Seriously guys, I really wanted to do the Jillian Michael's 30DS shred today, but didn't have enough time today. I woke up 10 minutes late, enjoying the cozy bed and pleasant weather after the recent heat spell in Mumbai. I managed to finish my Week 5 Run 1, but that just didn't leave
In The News!
Thanks to the Ottawa Daily Times for the great story! If you're suffering from obesity, or just want to lose some weight, it's possible. It can be done, and this is how I did it.
INSPIRATION!!!
Ernestine Shepherd, 75-Year-Old Bodybuilder, Will Make You Feel Lazy
Posted: June 11, 2012
Who Who says getting old has to slow you down?
A 75-year-old year grandmother from Maryland is proving that it’s truly never too late to get in shape.
Ernestine Shepherd of Baltimore kicks each day off with a 10-mile jog at 2:30am before hitting the gym to train clients and maintain her
The SuppVersity Student Spotlight: Duong Nguyen - Twelve Weeks of Intermittent Fasting Got Duong a Mind-Boggling, "Aesthetically Muscled" Physique
 |
| Image 1: Duong at the beginning and end of what is one of the most impressive 12-week transformations I've seen in quite some time: -31lbs on the scale; -4" off the waist and +0.5" chest circumference! |
The SuppVersity Student Spotlight! I want your stories! You do not have to be as ripped as Duong to inspire others. Maybe you are the admirable former fat guy, who fought off diabetes, the cancer survivor or former anorexic, who is about to start a new healthier life or "just" a geeky physicist like me, who loves the way working out and eating healthy makes him/her feel - whoever you are, tell me your stories and give others the chance to be inspired by your success!
His name is Duong Nguyen and the way he managed to change his body within no more than 12 weeks is so amazing that I will let the pictures (cf. image 1) speak for themselves and just have Duong tell you the inspiring story behind his new "athletically muscled" self [I edited the headlines, put some emphases and wrote the captions for the images]. |
| Image 2: Before becoming an inspiration for others, Duong got inspired by the story of "America's Personal Trainer", Tony Little. |
As a young kid I was never lean or thin like a lot of other kids. I wasn't obese, but was considered "fat" especially as an Asian person.
I remember back when I was in 5th grade, my older sister would tell me that I should exercise. When I asked her why, she would respond with "so you don't look so fat". Me being in 5th grade at the time, I didn't care about looking fat. I knew she didn't want to look fat (not sure of the reason though), but at that time I didn't care that I was fatter than the other kids.
Even Duong needed "a Little" inspiration
However, what actually convinced me to finally start working out was an infomercial...a Tony Little (cf. images 2 & 3) infomercial to be exact!
I don't remember the exact product he was selling at the time, but I'm sure it was a series of videos showing people how they can workout at home to lose weight. What I remembered most about those infomercials was the story about how he got into a car accident, stopped working out and ate like crap because he felt sorry for himself. Image 2 shows the picture they showed of him looking all bloated and out of shape.
 |
| Image 3: Tony Little after his 1st accident - yes, this the guy from image 1! |
Seeing these before pictures and then seeing Tony Little as he was on the infomercial in the great shape that he was, had a huge effect on me!
Seeing what he looked like in his before and after pictures made me think that it was possible for me to make a change to my body with exercise!
So after seeing his infomercial multiple times (it was always on tv), I started to do some of the exercises Tony showed on his infomercial and this is how I got started working out.
The exercises were just things like push ups, sit ups, and other calisthenic type exercises, but I felt like I was getting results just from doing these simple exercises.
Then, when I was in 9th grade, my parents bought me a Weider home gym and weight set which allowed me to workout with weights. I fell in love with lifting weights and was able to build a decent base just from working out at home. I was still fat but I was getting stronger and could tell by looking in the mirror that I was gaining muscle!
Supplements are part of the game ...
This also was the beginning of when I would start using supplements. The story of how I got started using supplements is probably the same way a lot of others started; seeing an idol/role model sponsor a supplement and thinking that was how you can become just like them.
My favorite football team at the time was the Denver Broncos and Shannon Sharpe was one of my favorite players. He endorsed the supplement company EAS and I thought if I wanted to get big and muscular like him, then I needed to use EAS supplements. So I ordered some Myoplex meal replacement packets and Creatine HP as my very first supplements.
I remember making some great gains using the meal replacement and creatine so I was totally sold on using supplements! I believe I must have gained 20 lbs over a course of 3 months. I thought "Wow, these supplements really do work!"
... but lifting heavy and proper nutrition remain the foundations of success
I didn't start lifting real "heavy" weights though until I joined the football team in the 10th grade. The program they had all their players on was a basic periodization program based on the Bigger, Faster, Stronger principles.
I gained a lot of strength and muscle mass doing this but unfortunately, I still did not know much about nutrition at the time. All I read about was how I needed to eat large amounts of food to gain muscle...which I did, but I also gained a lot of fat doing this. So, after I was done playing football, I wanted to lean up and look good with six pack abs, so I attempted my first diet in order to lose fat. At the time, the no carbohydrate/Atkins diet was all the rage so that's what I went with.
Progress means learning from mistakes
 |
| Image 4: Duong before starting his 12-week intermittent fasting approach to a new, ripped self. |
Needless to say, my first dieting attempt was a failure. Sure I lost fat but also lost a lot of muscle and strength. I also did not even end up with a six pack!...perhaps a very blurry one at best.
And now of course that I was smaller, I wanted to bulk up and be big again. At this time, I still hadn't learned the proper way to bulk yet, so I basically just ate whatever I wanted. I was still under the impression that I needed to stuff my face in order to grow.
You need to experiment in order to find what works for you
I also tried several different lifting methods/programs during bulking. I remember trying 5x5, HST, German Volume Training, DoggCrap Training, and other various programs that I found online. Some worked better than others but the experience and knowledge I gained was crucial in my overall development.
After a couple of these bulk/cut cycles, I did learn over time how to be more successful at each one, which means I retained muscle while cutting, and kept the fat gains at a minimum while bulking. Notwithstanding, bulking is still a difficult undertaking for me as you can see in my before picture (cf. image 3) - I just love to eat!
II. What Worked for Me
 |
| Image 5: This is the 'new Duong'! Looks like a celebrity, doesn't he? |
The potential for muscle loss during the fasting periods did concern me, but seeing all of Martin's clients' before and after pics displaying their success inspired me to give IF(intermittent fasting) a try for this cutting period. So I read all that could about intermittent fasting on Martin's website and started my cut.
It's all about making a diet your diet
Martin's recommendations call for a 16 hour fast and an 8 hour feeding window. My fast ended up being longer with a shorter eating window, but that was just because it fit my schedule better.
So everyday I would wake up, fast until around 3:30 pm when I would have protein shake followed by a workout, post workout shake, and dinner. Then maybe 1 or 2 hours later, I would have another protein shake. I squeezed my entire calorie intake for a given day into that short 4-5 hour period.
In terms of what I ate, I followed a low carbohydrate, high protein, high fat diet. On most days, I would eat chicken thighs and whole eggs for the high protein, high fat content along with some veggies and berries or a grapefruit.
You can't max-out on every workout - listen to your body!
For my weight training, I did a full body split training 3 times a week. Two of those days were "heavy" days so I trained using weights where I could only get 5 reps. The other day was a "medium" day so the rep range for that day was 8-12 reps.
My off days from weight training were reserved for either cardio or rest depending on how I felt. If I felt good, I would go do cardio. Otherwise I would just stay at home and rest. Most of the time I felt good, so I ended up doing cardio 3 or 4 times a week most weeks.
 |
| Image 6: BCAAs were a staple of Duong's supplement regimen |
I felt certain supplements were very helpful with my cut. Here are the supplements I took advantage of during my cut:
- BCAA's & creatine - used for possible muscle preservation and anabolism during workouts
- Fatburner / thermogenic - used to decrease hunger, provide energy, increase mood, and increase metabolism
- Testosterone booster - used to increase testosterone, decrease estrogen, and control cortisol
III. What I Think, Finally Made the Difference
All in all, I have been weight training for about 10 years now but I have never really been satisfied with the way I looked until fairly recently.
More specifically though, my recent cut in the before and after pictures above was a difference of 12 weeks. I went from 189 lbs down to 168 lbs and am still continuing to cut. I would have to say that this has been my most successful cut so far as I seemed to have retained all my muscle and actually gained strength during the 12 weeks. I am also the most "ripped" I've ever been been.
 |
| Image 7: Already ripped and still making progress; two current progress pics at 165 lbs. |
IV. Suggestions for Others
If I had to go back and do it all over again, I would definitely have wanted a mentor with the proper knowledge and experience to guide me. Although there was a lot of information available in magazines and the internet, I never quite knew what information was right. Having a mentor to guide me [or the SuppVersity to study < comment Dr. Andro ;-] would have saved me years of training incorrectly, not dieting right, and using a bunch of crap supplements.
 |
| Attention: If you want to "hear" more about Duong, listen to Carl Lenore's Super Human Radio on Thursday, July 28 2011 at 1pm ET Duong and me (Dr. Andro) will be talking about his journey. update: Show is now available as podcast, click here to download! |
Advice from Dr. Andro: Don't forget to visit Duong's blog Aesthetic Muscle for more information about his awesome transformation!
Also remember, that consistency is the key. Even though I didn't know what I was doing in terms of nutrition for most of my weight training "career", I was always consistent with the weightlifting. I may not have been training and eating optimally, but I did love lifting weights and was able to build a decent amount of muscle over the years. I just didn't learn about proper nutrition until fairly recently and this was when I was truely able to transform my body.
Meet Your Moment
Check out this awesome video from Team CLIF Bar. It's really cool! So what are you waiting for? Go meet your moment...
If
Rudyard Kipling's If serves as a mantra to Chrissie Wellington. I recently read an interview from Chrissie. According to that interview, she writes the first few lines of If on her water bottles.
"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,"
I read the poem today, briefly, before meeting Lana for lunch. Later on, while I was swimming, my mind wandered back to it. I've had a string of bad workouts. I thought I was perhaps over trained. Maybe, but more than that, I think I've been letting some negative stuff that has been thrown at me creep into my efforts.
It was, to an extent, easier when I was alone in my basement in the winter. Now there are suddenly eyes on me, eager to reward my efforts with criticism and negativity. There are people that want to see me fail, and there are people jealous of my success in transforming my life.
In a way, I suppose I should be happy that I have critics present. It means I'm doing something worthy of the effort of criticism. It also means I have to learn to be confident enough in myself to let that negativity roll off me. If I let those thoughts in my head, I can't perform at 100% of my ability.
This is something I've experienced in my professional life, and dealt with well, because there I am sure of myself and my abilities professionally. Not so in athletics. I'm very much just "finding my legs" in the athletic world, and learning my way around. That's going to have to change, there is no room for that uncertainty in what I am about to attempt this year. I'm going to have to bring my 'A' game mentally as well as physically.
----
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
–Rudyard Kipling
"If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,"
I read the poem today, briefly, before meeting Lana for lunch. Later on, while I was swimming, my mind wandered back to it. I've had a string of bad workouts. I thought I was perhaps over trained. Maybe, but more than that, I think I've been letting some negative stuff that has been thrown at me creep into my efforts.
It was, to an extent, easier when I was alone in my basement in the winter. Now there are suddenly eyes on me, eager to reward my efforts with criticism and negativity. There are people that want to see me fail, and there are people jealous of my success in transforming my life.
In a way, I suppose I should be happy that I have critics present. It means I'm doing something worthy of the effort of criticism. It also means I have to learn to be confident enough in myself to let that negativity roll off me. If I let those thoughts in my head, I can't perform at 100% of my ability.
This is something I've experienced in my professional life, and dealt with well, because there I am sure of myself and my abilities professionally. Not so in athletics. I'm very much just "finding my legs" in the athletic world, and learning my way around. That's going to have to change, there is no room for that uncertainty in what I am about to attempt this year. I'm going to have to bring my 'A' game mentally as well as physically.
----
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!
Tuesday's Time Trial
This is sort of a follow up to my 2009 post titled “Three miles in my head.” Anyway, this is the play by play of the 20k time trial I rode Tuesday, 4/6/2010.
My 20K warm up ride showed me that the course was going to be hard on this particular night. We had 30 mph winds coming out of the south west with gusts up to 36 mph, making about 2 miles of the course directly into a headwind, and 6 miles an awful combination of a slight headwind and a very nasty cross wind. I ran with my disc cover in back but I dropped my SRAM S80 front in favor of my Shimano R500 training wheel. I think the deep wheel was just too dangerous in the crosswinds.
Mile 1: Decent start, but I’m struggling to get up to my FTP (220Ws at the time), maybe there was too much time between my warm up and the start? First turn done, headed due south, no problem making watts now, wow this wind is strong!
Mile 2-3: My breath is extremely ragged, so I know I’m anaerobic. I need to push hard now though, because the wind will be on my side on the back side of the course. I’ll spin out of my 50x12 by then and bleed off power, so I’ll stay anaerobic for a while.
Mile 4-6: I’ve passed a lot of riders, but I haven’t passed Lana yet. That’s great news; she’s riding very well for having only done three TTs. I struggled to hit 15 Mph my first year, but she is pushing 16s and 17s already. Her race season is going to be pretty amazing I think.
Mile 7: Well, it had to happen. For the first time this season I was passed at a time trial. I’m doing well, and I can be a fast cyclist, but it’s going to take some time to get my legs stronger. I’m not sure how fast I can be, but I think I might have some potential to be top third of the pack at local events.
Mile 9: I sure can’t wait for our post race smoothie. I must be burning some serious calories. I wish I had nutrition, but even if I did I wouldn’t break my pace to take it in on a 20K TT. I might need a little more pre race food.
Mile 10: Hurray for a tail wind. I must be going more than 30. It won’t last long though; this north bound stretch is short. I did this interview today for a local paper and the reporter said I was inspiring. I’ll never get used to the idea of being inspiring just because I fixed myself by putting down my fork and picking up some running shoes.
I’m pushing hard. I’ve been on the edge, probably mostly on the anaerobic side of that edge, of my AT for about 30 minutes now, and I only have a few miles left. My vision is a bit blurred and grey on the edges at the moment, so I know I’m about at my max HR.
There’s Lana. I shout “I love you lambda” as I pass. She shouts back “six ahead.” She’s giving me recon on my position. That’s awesome, I'm a lucky guy.
Mile 11: This is it. I know my chance at a PR isn’t there today, the wind was just too strong. I also know I’m going to average about 4 watts less than last week. I’m more disappointed about that, but 4 watts is a level of variability I can live with. What I can’t live with is leaving the course without feeling like I left every last ounce of energy here.
Mile 12: After red lining it for so long, I have to finish up hill into a 30 mph wind. The adrenalin takes over and I’m out of the saddle pushing as hard as I can. I can feel myself getting very nauseous, but that is going to have to wait until after the finish line. I can’t hear anything but the wind, I can just hardly see the people standing at the line, and I yell out “20” my finishing number as I cross the line.
I hold back the nausea and cool down, seeing my HR in the low 180s after a few minutes I know I was really pushing. I wasn’t first, and I didn’t even beat my own power output from last week, but I do know that I gave everything I had to give on this particular day. I can accept that. I still don’t know that I’m ok with being someone else’s inspiration, but if I have to be inspiring I want the strength of my commitment to bettering myself to be what inspires other. I'm better every time I ride, if only in small imperceptible ways, and that's what I'm trying to prove to myself every time I'm out here, doing my thing.
My 20K warm up ride showed me that the course was going to be hard on this particular night. We had 30 mph winds coming out of the south west with gusts up to 36 mph, making about 2 miles of the course directly into a headwind, and 6 miles an awful combination of a slight headwind and a very nasty cross wind. I ran with my disc cover in back but I dropped my SRAM S80 front in favor of my Shimano R500 training wheel. I think the deep wheel was just too dangerous in the crosswinds.
Mile 1: Decent start, but I’m struggling to get up to my FTP (220Ws at the time), maybe there was too much time between my warm up and the start? First turn done, headed due south, no problem making watts now, wow this wind is strong!
Mile 2-3: My breath is extremely ragged, so I know I’m anaerobic. I need to push hard now though, because the wind will be on my side on the back side of the course. I’ll spin out of my 50x12 by then and bleed off power, so I’ll stay anaerobic for a while.
Mile 4-6: I’ve passed a lot of riders, but I haven’t passed Lana yet. That’s great news; she’s riding very well for having only done three TTs. I struggled to hit 15 Mph my first year, but she is pushing 16s and 17s already. Her race season is going to be pretty amazing I think.
Mile 7: Well, it had to happen. For the first time this season I was passed at a time trial. I’m doing well, and I can be a fast cyclist, but it’s going to take some time to get my legs stronger. I’m not sure how fast I can be, but I think I might have some potential to be top third of the pack at local events.
Mile 9: I sure can’t wait for our post race smoothie. I must be burning some serious calories. I wish I had nutrition, but even if I did I wouldn’t break my pace to take it in on a 20K TT. I might need a little more pre race food.
Mile 10: Hurray for a tail wind. I must be going more than 30. It won’t last long though; this north bound stretch is short. I did this interview today for a local paper and the reporter said I was inspiring. I’ll never get used to the idea of being inspiring just because I fixed myself by putting down my fork and picking up some running shoes.
I’m pushing hard. I’ve been on the edge, probably mostly on the anaerobic side of that edge, of my AT for about 30 minutes now, and I only have a few miles left. My vision is a bit blurred and grey on the edges at the moment, so I know I’m about at my max HR.
There’s Lana. I shout “I love you lambda” as I pass. She shouts back “six ahead.” She’s giving me recon on my position. That’s awesome, I'm a lucky guy.
Mile 11: This is it. I know my chance at a PR isn’t there today, the wind was just too strong. I also know I’m going to average about 4 watts less than last week. I’m more disappointed about that, but 4 watts is a level of variability I can live with. What I can’t live with is leaving the course without feeling like I left every last ounce of energy here.
Mile 12: After red lining it for so long, I have to finish up hill into a 30 mph wind. The adrenalin takes over and I’m out of the saddle pushing as hard as I can. I can feel myself getting very nauseous, but that is going to have to wait until after the finish line. I can’t hear anything but the wind, I can just hardly see the people standing at the line, and I yell out “20” my finishing number as I cross the line.
I hold back the nausea and cool down, seeing my HR in the low 180s after a few minutes I know I was really pushing. I wasn’t first, and I didn’t even beat my own power output from last week, but I do know that I gave everything I had to give on this particular day. I can accept that. I still don’t know that I’m ok with being someone else’s inspiration, but if I have to be inspiring I want the strength of my commitment to bettering myself to be what inspires other. I'm better every time I ride, if only in small imperceptible ways, and that's what I'm trying to prove to myself every time I'm out here, doing my thing.
What I'm on...
This is my body. And I can do whatever I want to it. I can push it. Study
it. Tweak it. Listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I
on? I'm on my bike busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?"
-Lance Armstrong
it. Tweak it. Listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I'm on. What am I
on? I'm on my bike busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?"
-Lance Armstrong
Why It Matters
“Nothing can beat the CRR of the Open Corsa EVO CX II”
“Tuesday's ride put me at -23 TSB, I need to back down a bit for this part of the season.”
“There's no real reason to race that 5k, I need 50 seconds for the next VDOT and that's not happening in two weeks.”
“I got you a 2010 team GXP BB to go with your new crank.”
These are all small parts of conversations I've had in the last week. Living the life of a triathlete, chatting with other athletes, leads to a lot of conversations just like this. Bike mechanics, running, swim drills, and the stuff that goes with swimming, biking, and running, occupies are scarce free time. That's ok. It's fun, it's interesting, it keeps my mind as engaged as my body in this demanding lifestyle. It's a healthy outlet. It's a bonding opportunity. I wouldn't have it any other way.
There's more to being an athlete than training and polishing your bike though. Sometimes I forget that, but this weekend I was reminded in a big way.
Most Saturdays I wake up, eat some oats, do a bike workout, take a shower, and then get on with life. But there was something bigger on the agenda for last Saturday. Since the previous week, my six year old son William had been asking for me to take him to the track to run. He's been running the kids runs at our local 5ks, and he's really caught the running bug, to the point that he decided he wanted to practice.
By the time I was off the bike on Saturday, William had his running clothes on. We had lunch. “Dad, I'm going to eat good food so I can run really fast today,” he annouced. “That's a great idea, what do you think you should eat?,” I asked. “Umm, apples, bananas, and probably not ice cream,” he said. “That's all pretty good stuff,” I said. “And ice cream is okay sometimes too,” I added, “especially after really long runs.” William smiled and asked “Like 50 miles?” “Yes, I answered, especially after 50 miles.” Apparently he's an aspiring ultra runner...
A few minutes later we were at the track. Like any kid, William only knows one way to run. All out! And that kid is fast. We would slow down to a trot every now and then, but as soon as someone was anywhere near us, he was determined to run them down. We had run about 4 laps on the indoor track when I told him that 9 laps was a mile. After that, it was on. He was determined to run a mile. So we did. And we learned about pacing along the way!
My 6 year old has a better handle on eating, and can run a faster mile, than I did at 30. He loves his chocolate chip cookies, don't get me wrong. But there is room for cookies and fast miles in life. And after all that running, we had some cookies and played some playstation. There is room in this life for relaxing on the couch on a Saturday afternoon too.
Living the life of a triathlete has probably saved my life by giving me something healthy to throw my type A personality into, but if that weren't enough it now allows me to lead by example for my son. Sharing a run with him Saturday meant sharing lessons on pacing yourself, balancing work, and play, and making good food choices. It meant bonding with him, and lots of quality time.
So, it's monday now. I'm still talking about gear ratios and training stress scores, but my run with William is still at the front of my mind. I won't see him again until thursday, but he's already asking about our next run, and that's why it all matters.
Happy New Year!
2012 has been a great year for me. Turned 30!, tried something new at 30{running}, challenged myself, found a great balance between work and home. So overall it was a pretty great year, no regrets.
I am not into new year resolutions, because I believe if you want to start something good or change something, there is no better time than right now! Not resolutions per say, but there were a few