I know in my last post, I promised an article on smiling. I still plan on publishing that article, but I decided to postpone it for a bit due to the heavy research lifting required.
This post is short and sweet. I’m still training for my Triathlon in August. It is fun. Lessons I have learned so far:
- Rigid training schedules do not mix with full-time work schedules, work at home dad duties, wet and cold spring weather. I just can not bring myself to swim, bike, or run on the exact days the rigid training schedules require. I’m going to require a more flexible training schedule pronto. The rigid schedules make it difficult to plan a life. While I search for a more flexible schedule, I continue to workout, but I just don’t do it on the exact days the schedule requires. Here’s my average workouts for the past couple of months:
- two 40 to 60 minute swim sessions a week, (Wed & Sat)
- one 60 to 75 minute bike ride a week, (Thursday but not always)
- two 35 to 60 minute runs a week. (Tuesday and Friday, but not always. It depends on the biking days.)
- two to three 20 minute circuit strength training a week. (Mon, Wed, Fri?)
- Exercise alone will not generate weight loss, but it might change your body structure. I’ve been exercising regularly now since Groundhog day. Since the beginning of the year, I have lost 10 pounds. When many of my fellow weight loss bloggers are losing 2 to 3 pounds a week, I’m totally not losing that much. However, I have noticed my belt needs to be tighter than normal, my shirts feel a little bigger, and my pants are starting to fall down without a belt. I think my body is gaining muscle. Yet, why am I not losing weight? My eating habits have not changed. I still eat food I know is not good for me such as fast food hamburgers, french fries, ice creams, chocolate candies, and all sorts of other no-no’s on any diet. I guess I’m just happy I’m not gaining weight.
- The more I exercise, the better I feel about exercise. When I first start running, swimming, biking, or weight lifting, I think of all the other things I could be doing with that time. I think do I really need to be doing this exercise. I think isn’t there another way to get physically fit? Then, after I go for a little while I settle in and exercise is tolerable rather than unbearable. Then when I’m finished, I feel good. Still, there are often times, I complain about my muscles being sore. I whine to my wife asking her if running ever actually feels good, because now I don’t feel it. Give me a mountain or a trail to hike, and I go for hours, but running not so much (yet).
- I salivate over gear. There are so many triathlon, running, swimming, and biking gear that I could spend all sorts of money. I try to resist the urges. I don’t want to be that guy with the billion dollar golf clubs shooting 130 on the golf course. So, I resist the urge to buy new gear for now as I try to identify if I’m into triathlons for the long haul.
So, as you can see with all my exercise, combined with my busy technology consulting and training business and my fatherly duties, blogging and side projects take a back seat. I’ll keep posting when I can, and I’ll make some progress on a new design for Simpleweight sooner or later, but my physical fitness comes first these days. Its my priority action.
What have you learned from your habit of exercise and diet?